Nightmares

After her close encounter with the Ruby Pure Heart, Ashaki went back to Sheriff HQ. It was after midnight, Mao Mao and his friends had already turned in for the night, Minori was lazily slumped on the couch, and Violet was assuredly on the garage couch already. The only one not present was Tanya.

Ashaki walked up the stairs to the attic, where she had made a makeshift mattress of things she had found. Settling down, her eyelids became heavy, it became hard for her to stay awake. She hated going to sleep these days, almost every time she falls asleep, she has that dream, that nightmare.

[Dream]

Ashaki ran through the streets, panting in a panic. She hastily checked all the alleyways, looking desperately. When their mother had returned, she was furious with them, told them to go searching. Now Ashaki and her sisters were running through the town, trying to find him.

Ashaki rushed by a shop with a decorative mirror in the display window, when she looked at it she saw herself, shorter, younger, about ten years younger.

Running into a intersection, Ashaki came across Violet. Violet donned the same worries expression she did, swiveling her head as she searched through the crowd.

"No sign of him?" Ashaki asked. Violet looked back at her, begrudgingly giving a shake of her head. "Damn it."

"I found him!" The two looked up to find their sister Hinata, hovering over the intersection, pointing them to the southwest. "Ashaki, you have to hurry!"

Ashaki and Violet began running at top speed. 'Ashaki, you have to hurry', Hinata didn't call out to Violet, that must mean he's hurt and needs medical attention. Winding through the town streets, they came upon the area where their sisters were waiting for them. Brunhilde was keeping the onlookers back, gesturing with her spear for them to step back.

"Ashaki!" Minori called out. "Hurry, he's hurt bad!"

Ashaki ran up to examine the damage, but she wasn't prepared for what she saw.

Hinata knew she shouldn't be here, but she wanted to at least see her brother up close at least once. Hinata crept into the Sheriff HQ from the office window, remaining light on her feet. From here she could see Minori resting peacefully on the couch. Before she could take another step towards her brother's room, Hinata spotted the emerald green light pouring out from the attic.

Hinata floated up the stairs, where she found a door. The light poured from the holes, under the door, through the lock, everywhere light could get through. Slowly opening the door, Hinata peaked inside, seeing Ashaki floating midair, her eyes glowing an ominous green color.

Hinata didn't need to see anything else, she immediately closed the door. Ashaki was having powerful dreams again. Last time wasn't any fun, and this one was probably worse.

But it was still too soon to reveal herself just yet. Pulling back one of her sleeves, Hinata looked at the charm around her wrist. Mulling it over, Hinata came up with an action to take. Speeding down into the garage, Hinata pulled Violet off the couch, the swiftly flew up the stairs, kicking Minori in the stomach before diving behind the couch. Once she was out of sight, Hinata heard the thud of Violet hitting the floor.

[Dream]

Blood, lots of blood. Up until now, Ashaki had only ever treated small wounds, and the occasional broken bone. But this, this was too much, she wasn't prepared for this.

Ashaki stood there eyes wide, her breath quickening, her heart pounding. She could see her sister's mouth moving, but nothing made it's way past the beating of her own heart.

It felt like the pounding was coming all over the place, from the buildings, through the ground. What was this feeling? In her years of being a hero, she had never felt anything like this. It was terrifying!

Hinata left his side, stepping up to Ashaki, grabbing her sister by the shoulders, she shook the green clad Mao sister, hoping to bring her back to her senses.

"Ashaki please!" Hinata begged, tears began welling up in her eyes. "Please! You're the only one who can help!"

"I-I-I d-don't know if I-I c-could-," Ashaki stammered, tripping up over herself. "I-I mean, th-there's just s-so much-"

"Forget this!" Minori cut in, pulling off her cape, placing it over the wounds, and applying pressure. "Ashaki's useless, we're on our own!"

Minori jolted up, clutching her stomach. Why did people punch her in the gut while she was out cold? Was there a running joke she wasn't in on or something?

Violet stumbled up the steps, looking for whoever threw her off the couch. Her eyes locked onto Minori, who was doing the same.

"Do you think that was funny?" Violet harshly whispered. Minori looked back at her confused. "I'm not in the mood to do this tonight."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Minori bit back. "I was sleeping until someone punched me in the gut!"

"Like I'm going to believe that," Violet replied, smacking Minori in the back of the head.

"Why you-" Minori sprung off the couch, grabbing hold of Violet's kimono. "I don't know what you think I did, but I've had it up to here-". Minori's eye widened, looking past Violet and up to see an emerald glow coming from the attic. "Oh no."

Violet looked back, to where Minori was focusing on, and her eyes widened too. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah," Minori confirmed. "Ashaki is having a nightmare, and it's getting worse."

[Dream]

Ashaki was ashamed of herself. All that reading, all that information gathering, for her to be prepared, only for her to freeze at the moment of truth. What kind of hero was she, to just stand there and watch someone slowly die?

She could feel it, the eyes of her sisters on her, judging her, mocking her. They sat in a room just short of the family operating room. Right now, their mother was in there trying to do what she could. Ashaki wanted nothing more than to go in there and help their mother like she always did, but after what happened in town, Ashaki doesn't even trust herself.

Their mother exited the operating room, her scrubs covered in blood. Ashaki couldn't hear what she was saying to them, she didn't need too since she could read lips.

Violet propped herself up against the wall, Minori dropped to her knees, Brunhilde sat back down. Hinata though, she broke down on the spot, crying and sobbing, tears cascading down her cheeks. Hinata looked back to Ashaki, and all that stared at her was unwavering hatred.

"How long have you known about this?" Violet asked as she and Minori climb the steps.

"I don't know, a few days? A week?" Minori said, lacking confidence in her answer. "In all honesty, it's getting hard to keep track of how many days we've been here."

Violet wasn't satisfied. They stood outside of the door, silently daring each other to be the one to open it. Last time was a disaster, their father wasn't home at the time, and their mother was able to inform them what was happening.

Ashaki performs Mystic Arts with her imagination. What that means is, if she understands something well enough, she can know how to use the arts on it. But if ever anything is ever beyond Ashaki's imagination, she'll have a hard time doing anything.

Even to this day, Minori still didn't understand what that meant, but that was how their mother explained it. But because of this, Ashaki's mental state affected her powers, and a nightmare was the worst way for her powers to go out of control.

Before, it took all four of them to pin Ashaki down, while their mother put a temporary block on Ashaki's powers. Now it was just the two of them.

"Should we get Mao Mao?" Minori asked.

"No, we shouldn't be a further inconvenience," Violet told her. Taking a deep breath, Violet reached for the door knob.

[Dream]

Ashaki now stood in a funeral home, laid before her was a coffin, and she dared not to look at the body that was resting in it. Ashaki looked to her right, Hinata stood next to her, and beyond her was the rest of the family. Well, almost all of them.

None of them wore their usual colorful clothing, instead, they wore dark grey variants of their usual styles, their capes on the other hand were white. This was supposed to symbolize that their grief was only the start, but they would never stop looking towards the light, towards the potential the future still held.

Before Ashaki knew it, it was just her and Hinata in the lobby of the home. Hinata was holding herself, tears matting the fur on her cheeks. Hinata was mumbling something to herself, her shoulders beginning to shake.

"...en you."

"Did you say something, Hinata?" Ashaki regretted asking the moment the words left her mouth.

"IT SHOULD'VE BEEN YOU!!!" Hinata screeched, leaping at Ashaki, the two of the careened into the wall and crashed through, sprawling out into the street.

"This is all your fault!" Hinata leaped at Ashaki again, pinning her to the ground, Hinata began unleashing a series of punches on her sister.

Ashaki threw up her arms to block, but every third punch seemed to break through her guard. Green light illuminated her hands, Ashaki then blasted Hinata off of her, sending her what must've been seventy feet into the air.

While midair, her white scarf glistened in the light of the sun, before turning into her gold scarf of flight. Hinata did a quick loop before she dived.

Ashaki quickly scrambled to get on her feet, she barely avoided Hinata's first swoop over her head. "Hinata! Please! I tried-"

"You tried?!" Hinata scoffed. "You stood there and did nothing!" Hinata barrel rolled into a strike from the side, knocking Ashaki into an alleyway, crashing into a pile of trash. "All your bluster meant nothing in the end."

Minori ducked out of the way, a crate sailing over her head. Violet caught the flying box and set it on the ground. Ashaki's eyes glowed an emerald hue, reaching over to another crate, the same hue illuminating the container. With a swing of Ashaki's arm, the new crate flew towards her sisters.

Minori kicked this one away, the box crashed into the wall, bursting into splinters, it's contents spilling across the floor. "I can't get close!"

"Just keep trying," Violet barked. "We need to pin her down, and wake her up."

Minori knew that, Ashaki was too dangerous to be left as she is. But the real question was, how do they wake her up? Before, their mother performed some technique to calm Ashaki's mind, and stop the nightmare. But there was no way of them doing that now.

"Hey, Vi?"

Violet looked back at Minori, her brow raised in curiosity. "What?"

"Could we... work together?" Minori asked begrudgingly. Violet's first thought was that they were already doing that, but that wasn't true. They were fighting for the same goal, but as individuals. Minori was asking them to cooperate.

"Yeah," Violet answered. "I think we can do that." Violet pulled one of her dulled blades, as well as a throwing knife in the other.

"Sweet," Minori whispered to herself. The air in the room changed. Minori rushed in, staying low to the ground so as not to obstruct Violet's line of sight.

Ashaki raised her hand, readying to launch a sphere of pure chi energy at Minori. But before she could release it, something knocked her hand aside, dispersing the sphere of energy. The item in question hit the floor with a thud, the throwing knife that Violet held a moment ago.

Minori jumped into Ashaki's personal bubble, launching a series of strikes on her sister, targeting key points. After the first few strikes, Minori felt that something was off, her strikes were ineffective. Was Ashaki reinforcing her body with mystic arts? If that was the case, then hand to hand combat wasn't an option anymore.

Minori continued her assault, her attacks weren't effective as long as Ashaki had her body enhanced, but she could still act as a blind spot. Minori made sure that she was what was in Ashaki's line of sight. Meanwhile Violet closed the distance between her and her sisters, making certain that Minori was between her and Ashaki.

Once she was within range, Violet sidestepped around Minori, striking at Ashaki's side with her dulled blade. Ashaki dropped to the floor clutching her side.

[Dream]

Hinata struck at Ashaki's side, causing her to fall to the ground. Nothing was working! None of Ashaki's techniques were even phasing Hinata.

"H-Hinata! P-Please!" Ashaki begged. "I-I'm sorry, I wish I could've done something! B-But-"

"But nothing!" Hinata shouted at her. "You. Did. Nothing!"

Ashaki threw out her arm!

Air began to swirl around Minori's head, she brought her hand to her throat, finding it suddenly hard to breathe.

"Minori?" Violet said concerned.

"V-Violet" Minori collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"Ashaki, stop!" Violet rushed towards her green clad sister, aiming to stop the technique. Ashaki waved her free arm, a wave a green energy knocked Violet back, sending her crashing into the boxes in the corner.

Violet tried to get back on her feet, only to find it too difficult to do so. One of the boxes landed on her leg, and now Violet was pinned. Cursing under her breath, Violet began rummaging through her hat. A lever and something to use as wedge, then she could make a fulcrum and lift this box off herself. Minori could only go so long without air, she had to move quickly.

Ashaki stood over Minori, a tired and pained looked as she panted. The glassy look over her eyes, she didn't even know what she was doing.

Screw the fulcrum! Violet pulled out another throwing knife, and threw. However, in her haste, Violet threw the knife correctly out of habit. She usually took the care to throw the knife in a way so that the butt of the handle was what hit her adversary, but instead the knife dug into Ashaki's forearm.

It broke the spell, but Ashaki screamed as she woke from her dream, clutching her arm to her chest. "WHAT THE-, YOU SONS OF-GRGH!"

Minori sputtered as the airbrushed back into her lungs, with every gasp she could feel her lungs expand, absorbing the oxygen.

"M-Minori?" Ashaki's mind was taken off of her stab wound when she saw her sister spread out on the floor. "What happened?" Ashaki dropped to her knees, her hands glowed a green hue as she got to work healing Minori.

Violet relaxed her head against a wall, relieved that it was over.

After everything calmed down, Ashaki treated her stab wound, while Minori pulled all the boxes off of Violet. Minori was amazed that no one woke up with all the chaos.

Ashaki then explained that was because she had carved a mystic rune into the walls of the attic. The technique worked similarly to the muting technique she used on Minori not too long ago. Whenever any vibrations hit the wall, the walls would give off a vibration of similar strength back, thus canceling out the sound.

"How long have you been having this nightmare?" Violet asked, they had all taken a seat in the middle of the attic.

"Almost a year now," Ashaki admitted. "It's never gotten that bad before."

"What's the dream about?" Minori asked in turn.

"It's about that day. The day we made the pact." Ashaki answered. "When we were running through the village looking for him. Then we found him... hurt."

Hurt was an understatement. None of them could forget the sight even if they tried.

"Only, events play out differently in my dream, we end up at his funeral, and once it's down to me and Hinata, things get really bad from there."

"Ashaki, why didn't you say anything?" Violet placed her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"I did," Ashaki looked over to Minori.

"Hey, I've kept my eye on the door to attic every night before I go to bed, I can't help what happens after I fall asleep," Minori returned. "And your muting rune didn't help, how could I have known when you were having the nightmare?"

"You're right," Ashaki agreed. "It wasn't fair to push all the burden solely on you. We're a team, and more importantly, family."

"Would you like us to stay with you for the night?" Violet asked.

"I'd like that a lot."

Writer's Note:

Thank you everyone for letting me know what you thought about the issue regarding the names of the sisters.

I saw people for both changing their names now, and waiting for the rest of their names to drop then releasing a True Name Version.

Most of you voted the later. So I'll continue with the names as I've been doing this far. I would also like to thank each of you for reading this fanfic of mine. Seeing all the positive reinforcement and comments gives me the energy to write the next chapter.

We're almost to two-thirds of the way through the story I've written, and I hope you'll all stick around until then!! 3