Enchained
Mao Mao shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he wanted to sprint out the door. But alas, that wasn't an option, this was a family counseling session. Mao Mao sat in a separate seat from his sisters, who were lined up on a couch.
Minori sat on one end, and Violet on the other, and Ashaki sat between them, half ready should the two find a reason to start tearing into one another. Blue proposed a session of family counseling what felt like so long ago, and now here he was, with three of them about to be asked questions by his therapist.
Blue sat in a chair opposite the couch, marking a few things down on his clipboard. Ashaki stared at him intently, so this is the therapist that Mao Mao was seeing. She saw him come into Blue's office on the day she came into the kingdom. It would be so easy to look into this therapist's head and see how he thinks of them, but that would defeat the purpose of Mao Mao bringing them here. The therapist is supposed to poke their minds, not the other way around.
"Alright, let's get started," Blue said, resting his pen on the clipboard. "Tell me what you think of Mao Mao."
Ashaki wasn't expecting such a mundane start, she had to gather her thoughts. "I believe that our brother has found his stride as a hero-", but before she could continue, Minori stepped on her line.
"He's gotten so much stronger! He's definitely climbing the ranks to be a legendary hero!"
"Mao Mao has grown as a hero since the last time we've seen him," Violet finished.
Blue jotted something down, whispering something under his breath. "Okay, now how about a real answer?" The three of them were struck silent, eyes widened.
"What are you talking about? We gave you our answers!" Minori objected, offended at Blue's response to their answers.
"You gave me your opinions on him as a hero, but what about as a brother?" Blue asked them. Minori opened her mouth to retort, but neither she or Violet and Ashaki had answer to give. Their thoughts on Mao Mao as a brother, not a hero? What does that mean?
Mao Mao was at first touched at their word of praise, but now, seeing them at a loss for words, has left him feeling crushed.
"I see, then how about your last memory you had with Mao Mao that you remember fondly?"
Minori had an answer for this! "He and I used to trick or treat together when we were kids! We would mix and match costumes and use vocal manipulation to hit a house three times in a row! It was the best!"
"That's good," Blue wrote something down on the board again. "What about you two?"
Ashaki went through her memories, each one, picking it apart to remember if Mao Mao had even been present. Most of Ashaki's time in her youth was spent reading, or honing her technique in the Mystic Arts. The time she spent with Mao Mao was mostly in passing.
Violet was in a similar predicament. Violet had actually been the one to teach Mao Mao how to use a sword. But that was only because Hinata had asked her to. The time she spent teaching Mao Mao was time she thought about doing something else, to be away from Mao Mao.
"Hmm, I see," Blue wrote down something on his clipboard again. "Mao Mao, how about you? What do you think of your sisters?"
Mao Mao felt self conscious as his sisters turned to face him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "Well, what can't I say? They're amazing, they're capable of things that most people can only dream about. They're each strong and smart in their own ways."
"Thank you, Mao Mao," Blue looked back to the trio of sisters, another question at the ready. "Now I'd like to ask, what made three of you want to become heroes?"
The three of them took a minute to consider the question. This was probably the first time in a long while that they put any thought into it.
"I just wanted to find some strong opponents to fight if I'm being honest," Minori answered. Blue jotted down the answer, finding it a bit shameless.
"I believed it was a good way to help the community," Violet answered. Blue found this one rather basic when it comes to reasons for wanting to be a hero.
"I wished to uncover secrets of the world," Ashaki said flatly. Blue noted this as a more exotic reason, at least when compared to the other two.
The reason Blue wanted this family session was to compare their answers to questions with the one Mao Mao had answered in previous sessions. From what he could tell, their vanity was little more than he had anticipated. It was like each of the was the center of their individual worlds. Sure, Violet's reason was the most selfless, but she stumbled when asked about others, others who she should already have an answer for.
Mao Mao on the other hand, just wanted his family to give their acknowledgment. Selfish, maybe, but it came from neglect; these three on the other hand were the apple of their father's eye.
"Finally, what do you strive for?" Blue asked.
"What do we strive for?" Minori parroted.
"Whats your overall goal in life?" Blue specified.
"To be the strongest!" Minori roared with gusto.
"To be prepared, despite my situation," Ashysaid calmly.
"To-" Violet stopped, seemingly unable to find the rest of her sentence.
Blue believed he had an idea of what he's working with. Minori is a loose cannon, only doing what she's interested in. Ashaki is a control freak, wanting to be in charge of every situation. Violet, doesn't even know why she's a hero to begin with.
"I think I have everything I need," Blue sorted his papers, hopping down from his seat, he opened the door that lead to the waiting room. "I'll see you all next session."
"That's it?" Minori questioned.
"That's it," Blue affirmed.
The four Mao's found themselves outside of the office, standing in the middle of the street.
"So that was therapy, huh?" Minori said.
Shin stood out at the entrance to the Mao Monastery, donned in his golden armor. Last night at dinner, Brunhilde had told him and Cleo that she was heading out today. When Cleo had asked their daughter where she was planning to go, Brunhilde told the Pure Heart Valley. How many would that make? Five? Just one short of having all of their children in one place.
Brunhilde stepped out from the monastery, a bag of travel supplies hung over her shoulder, and her spear in her other hand. Brunhilde stood next to her father, both of them overlooked the mountain range.
"Be sure to tell your siblings that your mother and I say hi," Shin told Brunhilde.
"Sure, sorry I couldn't stay longer," Brunhilde replied.
"That's fine, did you at least tell your mother goodbye?"
"Of course," Brunhilde said, hefting the bag over her shoulder. "I really should be going now."
"Have a safe trip!" Shin said as Brunhilde started trudging her way to Pure Heart Valley. Shin watched her walk her way down the mountain, thirty minutes went by before he decided to reenter the monastery.
Shin was just about to hop out of the armor before Cleo came down the foyer. "Shin! Has Brunhilde already left?"
"Yes, why? Is something the matter?" Shin asked Cleo with concern.
"Everything's fine, it's just," Cleo pulled out an envelope from her pocket, the paper looked aged and covered in many layers of dust. "I found this under the bed in Mao Mao's old room."
On the front, the letter had 'To My Sisters' written on it. A letter Mao Mao wrote to his sisters? Mao Mao hasn't visited the monastery in almost ten years, so the letter is at least that old.
"I'm sure it's not important," Shin assured her. "Let's hold onto it, next time one of the girls comes home, we'll give it to them then."
Cleo looked down at the letter. "Maybe, but I have the feeling it's important."
After the family counseling session, Ashaki had went to investigate the Ruby Pure Heart. After failing to locate the missing journal of monarch thirteen, she decided to turn attention to some other mysteries of the valley. The biggest being the Ruby Pure Heart itself.
Ashaki rubbed her palm across the jewel's facets and cuts, smooth to the touch. This is much too big to be natural, but if it was natural, it would explain why the jewel was touched with magic. Ashaki's contacts allowed her to see the magic that covered the gem, it has a pinkish color to it.
The magical aura that covered the gem was thin, probably wearing off as the years go by. The crack in the Ruby Pure Heart however, was devoid of the magic that blanketed the gem. In fact, it looked like something was seeping out of the crack, a mauve color. Something about it felt wicked, and evil.
Ashaki floated off the top of the gem, lowering herself down onto the massive crack. The mauve essence was much denser towards the back. Taking a couple of steps into the crack, a splitting headache sparked in her head. Crumpling onto her knees, Ashaki gripped at her skull, trying to subdue the feeling of her head splitting in two.
Just barely, Ashaki brought her eyes upward, where she saw an image like none other. A beast, it's figure was obscure, a series of lines gave her a vague image of what it looked like.
"W-what are y-you?" Ashaki managed to get out. The beast leaned forward, in tandem, the pressure in her mind spiked. "N-not yet! I'm not going to fall, j-just yet!" With a wave of her arm, Ashaki fanned the mauve essence away from her, and the headache vanished all at once.
Not wasting any time, Ashaki turned heel and flew out of the crack, building distance between her and the Ruby Pure Heart. Turning back, Ashaki looked at the enormous gem.
The presence that she just felt, she had never felt anything that dark, that evil, that... corrupt. At this moment, Ashaki realized something, she was panting, and sweat covered her body, and her heart was pounding. She had never felt anything like this. No, that's not true, there was one other time.
Writer's Note:
Sorry if the chapter is a little short. I've been a little torn after seeing that the creator of Mao Mao, Parker Simmons, finally revealed the names for two of the sisters (one name technically). He showed that Minori is actually the hat sister, and the name for the scarf sister is actually Amala.
After seeing that, I was curious if I should go through the story and edit what I have so far so that the sisters have accurate names, or if I should wait until all the names were revealed and release a copy of the story where all the names are accurate (Mao Mao's Sisters: True Name Edition)?