That was my house. It was where I lived. A little snow was still piled up on the sides of the driveway. There weren't any cars in the driveway. There was nothing wrong with it. I didn't want to go into my house.

I could see the light on in the living room. Vicky had to be in there. I'd have to talk to her. I didn't want to talk to her. Wendy's words stuck with me. That didn't mean I wanted to follow through on them. It didn't mean that I wasn't still mad at her.

The console bag was hurting my shoulder. It was heavier than it looked. The goofy ties and socks I spent the rest of the two hundred on didn't. A slight breeze blew past, and I shivered slightly in the cold. This was stupid. I was being stupid. I just needed to head inside.

My hand went to my pocket. It took a moment to realize I hadn't brought the ball with me. It was still inside, hidden in one of my desk drawers. The urge to grab it got me moving, heading for the door properly. I just needed something to distract me for a bit.

It took a second of fumbling with the bags to get my key out and unlock the door. Warm air rushed out as I stepped through. Sighing slightly in relief, I slowly walked forward. The living room was to my right. The sound of pop music and crinkling was coming from inside. Glancing in, I could see the mess.

Her phone was sitting on the table playing music. Spread out before her were the wrapping supplies. As well as all of the presents she bought. Nothing I could identify as being meant for me. I realized Vicky was staring back at me. Nope, not doing this now!

Giving her a small wave, I hurried past. The presents were left on a small table at the bottom of the stairs. Heading up them, I quickly reached my room. A sense of relief surged through me as I shut the door behind me. The conversation was stalled a bit longer. More time to prepare.

Everything was still. Then I began to move again, heading towards my drawers. A slight nervousness ran through me. If there was any time for Carol to be snooping, it'd have been while I was gone. What if the was gone? What if she had found it and was just waiting to demand to know what it was? Opening my underwear drawer, I reached to the back.

My fingers brushed across the surface and I smiled. It was still there. Pulling it out properly, I held it tight. Examining it as I moved over to sit on my bed. Slowly immersing myself in the data inside of it. It was a good distraction from the conversation I was going to have to have.

It was functioning just as well as it had been the last time I had handled it. Still just as dense and hard as it should be. In my mind's eye, I tugged on it, shifting it. The shape changed in my hand. Instead of an orb, there was now a long baton in my hand.

The memory of that first fight filtered into my head. On a whim I had the thorns erupt across its length. Then sucked them back in, the entire thing changing shape again. Instead of a baton, it was a short sword. I could see that it was razor-sharp with my power and didn't accept anything less.

The material shifted again. The horizontal edge vanished and the wood split. Something halfway between a leaf and a feather popped out of the opposite end. It was a bundle of arrows, the kind that I broke constantly while practicing. I had gotten better but it was only small improvements.

They merged back together as I flexed my power. It flattened out, forming a flat plate in my hand. Rather than letting my power handle this one entirely by itself, I sculpted. My hands weren't doing anything, it was my power, but it felt better. It felt right sculpting it. Helped me focus on the details. On getting every little thing right.

The curve of the cheekbones, the depth of the eye sockets, the contour of the lips, and the shape of the horns. Before too long I had Sequoia's mask completed, staring back up at me with a frown. I just frowned right back down at it. I didn't mean to give it a frown, right?

The mask almost seemed like it was about to talk to me. Like it was gonna tell me how stupid I was being for hiding up here. Fuck you Mask, you're not the boss of me.

It was the truth though. I couldn't hide up here from her forever. The presents needed to be wrapped. The conversation needed to be had. It was just the fact I didn't want to have it. The mask still just kept on frowning at me. Are you a hero or not?

I was planning on going out at night and risking my life to help people. One conversation shouldn't be the end of the world. If I couldn't handle talking to Vicky about what happened last night. Then I shouldn't be heading out at night. Even though it was mostly a stress-release valve. Which in itself was a bad thing since it meant I was do-

Knock knock knock. The sound caused me to jump. The mask was shoved under my pillow as I half expected Vicky to walk right in. She didn't, instead calling through the door. "Hey, Amy? Are you gonna wrap the stuff you got? I can do it for you if you want."

"No, I'll wrap them!" I called back, the panic dying down. A slight shift in my power was enough to turn the wood back into its ball form.

"Okay! Well if you want, you got another hour or two before Mom and Dad get back." There was no sound of her walking away. She was probably using her powers to fly back down.

Letting out a sigh, one hand came up to rub my forehead. I was out of time. Or maybe she just wasn't going to bring it up? Maybe I'd go down there, wrap my presents, and we wouldn't have that conversation. I snorted. Fat chance.

Pulling my hoodie off, I tossed it over into my clothes hamper. Then I picked the ball back up. Walking back over to my underwear drawer, part of me didn't want to put it back. It gave me just a little more comfort. Something that I could distract myself with. I couldn't be distracted by this though. I put it back.

Each step felt a little more difficult to take as I left my room. The presents felt extra heavy as I picked them up at the bottom of the stairs. Forcing myself each step, I finally went around the corner into the living room.

Vicky glanced up at me for a single moment before looking back down. She was in the middle of wrapping up a shoe box. Another moment passed before she spoke up. "Hey. Trip to the Mall went okay?"

"... Yeah." Thankful she didn't jump to the issue right away, I just sat the bags down. "Yeah, it went fine."

I didn't bother to say anything else after that. It seemed like Vicky had gone for buying more things rather than fewer. Or maybe she was just wrapping multiple people's presents at once. It was hard to say. Looking through the rolls, I reached for the simplest pattern. Red and white stripes.

Neither of us said anything for a bit as we both worked. Me starting off with the small boxes containing the tie and socks. Her continuing to wrap whatever it was she was wrapping. The lack of conversation wasn't making me feel better. It was making me feel even more anxious.

"So." She finally broke the silence as she finished off with her present. "You went to the mall with Wendy?"

I glanced up at her. "Yeah."

She waited for me to continue. I didn't. Just continuing to focus on wrapping my presents as I gave her the silent treatment. Of course, she couldn't stand the silence.

"You were gone for a while." That just made me roll my eyes. It sounded like what Carol would say. Though less accusatory.

"She had her own Christmas shopping to do." After lunch, I started listening to her more. She still had several shops she wanted to look through. Figuring out the perfect gifts for her family on her budget. Got me to buy the tie and socks.

"Really? Last time I went shopping with her it went pretty quickly. She kind of just bought whatever." That made me stop and look up at Vicky. We stared at each other for a few seconds before I shrugged.

"Guess she's more thoughtful when buying for someone else." Then I looked right back down to what I was wrapping. Finishing up wrapping the socks box, writing my name and Mark's on the tag, and shifting it out of the way.

"I guess…" She just trailed off after that, watching me as I went to the last present. It was gonna be the biggest present with my name on it. The box made a heavy 'thump' on the table as I dropped it. It got a curious look from Vicky.

"You spent most of the money Mom gave you on that? Why?" That made me glare at her. It was just curiosity though, and I stopped. She didn't really remember, did she? It probably didn't rank super high in terms of important memories to her.

"Do you remember your ninth birthday party?" There was a look of confusion in her eyes, then they widened. Her hair bounced with how quickly she nodded.

"Yeah! That was the one at Aloha Lagoon, right? With the arcade games and the Hawaiian pizza and the waitresses dressed as hula girls… I kind of see why we never went back." My expression went completely deadpan.

"The only reason we went in the first place is because you begged Carol and Mark. It had just opened and you thought it was super cool, remember?" She nodded along, another look of confusion coming over her face.

"Okay, so why did you buy that for Mark then? If it's because of a birthday party I had, wouldn't that make more sense as a present for me?" I shook my head, letting my memories drift back to that day. My lips quirked up into a smile.

"I think you were too excited and with your friends to really notice. Everyone was playing the games and winning tickets. It was the kind of anarchy only a bunch of overly excited nine-year-olds could cause." It was fairly murky in my memory. The important details were still there though.

"There was that ticket booth with the prizes. The little things like finger traps and stickers were cheap, but the good stuff was ridiculously expensive. Little me saw this stuffed seal plush available. I wanted that little seal plush so bad." Even though it had been her birthday party, I had set my heart on it.

"Mr. Pacific?" She ventured a guess, and I couldn't stop the blush that formed. I had just learned what the Pacific Ocean was called in school. He might or might not still be sitting on a shelf in my closet. "I never knew where you got him…"

"Yeah, it was there. I was trying my hardest to win enough tickets. There was no way a nine-year-old could ever get enough unless they're like, a savant or something. Mark found me nearly in tears by a whack-a-mole machine. One token left, and half the tickets I needed." She nodded along as my smile grew.

"He asked what was wrong and I told him. He just laughed, took my hand, and said he'd get me the rest. So he took me over to skeeball machines. Plugged in one of his own tokens and started to play. I'm pretty sure he got a high score and enough tickets. Walked me over to the booth and helped me buy him. That meant I could spend my last token playing at that basketball machine with you." She grinned wide back at me as I mentioned that machine.

"You sucked at that… I don't really remember all that much of that day, but I remember that much. Didn't see a lot of Dad while I was there, I think. I think in the back of my head I just assumed he'd been having an off day." I frowned a bit at that and shook my head.

"I followed him around a bit after that. He spent the whole day helping other kids out with the games. Turns out, he was pretty good at arcade games. Never asked him why he was so good. He made sure every person who came to the party went home with something nice from that booth though." My eyes went down to the console box. Running a hand lightly across it. The only thing I could hope was that he would remember.

"Huh… I guess he was just trying to avoid the crowd…" Her face became a lot more thoughtful at that, staring at the console as well.

"Yeah. I guess." It was the last thing I had to say about it. For some reason, the way she worded that last sentence struck a nerve. Or at least it washed away the good feeling the memory had. Mark did something really nice that day and she was just jumping to him being anti-social? It was probably true, but still!

She opened her mouth to say something else but shut it as I reached for the wrapping paper. This needed something a bit extra. The one with ornaments on it would do. We went back to silence as I worked on getting the thing wrapped. Cut the right amount of paper, wrap it up properly, use a bit of tape to keep it on shut, wrap the ribbon around, and tie a bow off.

Stacking the two smaller presents on top of the largest, I moved them over to the tree. Just left them in a little stack. I straightened out and stared at the tree. It was barren "We could get the decorations out, start putting them up?"

I turned to stare at her with half-lidded eyes. It was an offer. To just ignore the issue. To act like it never happened. I couldn't bring myself to just let it go. So I just shook my head. "No thanks, not really in the mood."

She let out a quiet groan as I started back towards the exit. "Come on Ames, you can't still be mad at me!"

"It's only been a day Vicky. I'm pretty sure I can still be mad at you." Stopping and leaning against the wall, I just waited for what was to come.

"It was an accident! I said I was sorry!" That made me just shake my head. The anger from last night was starting to really resurface.

"If you were sorry, it'd stop happening. This is the fifth time Vicky! You could have killed him!" She crossed her arms, looking towards the living room window. Not even going to look me in the eye.

"He jumped me and I panicked. What else was I supposed to do?" I brought my hand up to press against my forehead.

"You fly away? You grab his arms and pry him off? You've got super strength, Vicky, panicking isn't an excuse! And it definitely doesn't explain the other four times." She squirmed where she was standing. No, floating, just a little above the ground.

"It was a mistake, I admit that. That guy was an idiot who didn't deserve what happened to him. Why can't you let this go?" I brought my hand down from my face, balling it into a fist. Why can't I let this go?

"Because Vicky, you said all this same shit last time. You give the same story every time this happens. You didn't mean to hurt them, it was an accident." I pushed off the wall, taking a step over towards her.

"Please fix it, Amy. Think of New Wave, think of the family. I spend hours in the hospital healing people. I think a lot about New Wave. I think you're the one who's not thinking about New Wave!" She opened her mouth but I cut her off. "If you were thinking of how it'd affect the family, you wouldn't do it! You'd be more careful!"

"Of course, I care! How could you say that?" She looked genuinely hurt at that. Part of me regretted it. "I'm out there as often as I can be! I do my part to help New Wave. I make mistakes, but we all make mistakes right? Am I not allowed to make mistakes?"

"Most people own up to those mistakes. Most people don't drag their sisters into their mistakes!" We stared at each other for a few moments, before she just turned away.

It made me want to tear my hair out. How in the world are you this stubborn? What did I even want in this argument? What was even my goal here? I would have just given her the silent treatment if it wasn't for Wendy's prodding.

Wendy. Her advice popped into my head. Might as well give it a try. It took a moment to get my thoughts into order before I started talking again. "I feel like you… I feel I'm having to jump into a hole"

She looked back at me, and I kept going. "Last night I was worried. I was panicking. I thought you could be injured, maybe even dying. I showed up and it turned out that worry was for nothing."

I should just leave. Go back to my room and pretend this never happened. I took a breath to calm myself and then continued. "I was exhausted, mentally and physically. I feel like my future is in jeopardy. It's like a rubber band getting pulled tighter and tighter."

There was a weird look in her eyes. I felt pretty weird talking like this as well. "I don't want to get hit with the rubber band. I don't want to suffer for a mistake I didn't make. I don't want to have to abandon you. I don't want New Wave to get hurt. I can't control this. I can't control a lot…"

I can barely control myself. It was a bitter thought. I couldn't bring myself to care about the people in the hospital. I couldn't stop myself from loving Vicky. I couldn't stop myself from acting like a bitch a lot of the time. It was taking everything I had to not just run. "Last night, it felt like I had no control at all. Like I was getting yanked around and there just… wasn't anything I could do."

We stared at each other again. No words were said as her expression shifted. Several emotions flashed across her face, too quickly for me to really recognize. Eventually, it settled into a mixture of guilt and frustration. "I can't control anything either Ames."

That made me blink. She kept going, her hands coming up to start gesturing. "I go on patrols constantly. I help fight the worst of criminals. I've taken down Villains. I try my best to help clean the city up. Yet it never seems to do anything."

Her hands got faster, as she got more worked up. "There's always more criminals. The Villains always seem to get out. It's constantly getting worse. The city's falling apart, and I can't do anything about it."

She sagged, her hands finally stopping at her sides. "I don't want to kill anyone. That isn't what a hero is supposed to do. Especially not some idiot whose only mistake was taking some bad drugs. I really was panicking a lot when I texted you."

My stomach dropped. Floating over towards me, she stopped at the entrance to the living room. "I'm really sorry Ames… I'll try to make sure this never happens again. I'm gonna got out for a bit."

I reached a hand out towards her, but she had already reached the front door. Then she was gone, out the front door and flying off into the sky. I was just left standing there. A boulder of guilt lodged in my stomach.

A/N: I knew what I wanted to write, I forced myself to actually write it, and it got done within a week. I debated swapping this one around with what the next chapter is going to be. I think it works best here though.