"What's taking you both so long?!" Nia screamed, "Aren't you both supposed to be really smart or something?!"
"Girl, I'm fucking trying, I'm smart but I'm not a damn genius! These lock systems were created by scientists way older than me!" Leon yelled back, and his eyes fell on the vehicles approaching them, "Any day now, Risá!"
Risále didn't hesitate, "I swear to God, this some of the most tedious fucking wiring I've ever seen—Got it! I've got it, get inside now!" She yelled as the large doors into the wall of the sector opened.
The moment they stepped inside, Leon grabbed her and tugged her into a stairwell, possibly leading to the top of the wall. He signaled for her to stay quiet and stay there before reaching out and grabbing Nia just as she was about to run past them.
The others seemed to have seen what was happening and followed their lead, ducking into the stairwell as the vehicles behind them drove straight on by.
"Well," Xander panted, "That was fun," As soon as they heard the vehicles heading off into the distance, they got back out of the stairwell and headed inside the sector. It was still pretty early at night so the markets were bustling, "So, we're heading to yours? I have a feeling my parents won't be so receptive to us being here."
"Technically, it's your place. I was just living there when your parents kicked me out," Lumina muttered, "But yeah, let's go there. I really don't want to deal with those assholes right now."
"Oh Lord, it's been so long since I've been more than twenty feet into Sector 2…" Mina sighed, looking around.
"Minnie, remember, keep a low profile. Someone might try to assassinate you. Again. For the twentieth time…" Lumina gritted out.
There was the sound of a struggle behind them, "Mph!" Leon turned to see a man grabbing Nia and covering her mouth. Before he could do anything, Nia stomped on the man's foot and elbowed him in the gut.
"Ugh, you again? Dude I told you, I didn't kill your wife. And I don't know where your damn princess is, the army says she's dead," Nia sighed. But the man's attention wasn't on her anymore.
His gaze was locked on the light blue-haired woman behind her, "That's…You're—Princess Ahalya! It's the traitor princess! I've found her, that means the bounty belongs to me!"
"Aw, fucking hell," Mina groaned, "It's been two minutes, are you kidding me?! I literally just got back here—Shut the fuck up, you bastard!" She practically jumped on the man and covered his mouth to stop him from yelling, but the damage was done. People in the market had already seen her, and the murmuring was getting louder.
Kaedan looked at her, "—Go, you need to go, now!" He yelled, pulling off his coat and tossing it at Mina, "Cover yourself up and get out of here!"
Lumina didn't hesitate to grab her hand, "I'm going with her, we'll meet you guys back at the house!" She yelled over her shoulder as she dragged Mina along and they took off down the streets.
"What—Lumina!" The two women were already gone, and Leon sighed in exasperation, "We've been in here for less than five minutes and somehow, we're already split up. This is going absolutely lovely."
Fenix muttered under his breath, "How exactly are we supposed to get to Lumina's apartment without Lumina."
"Hello, did you miss the part where she said I bought that apartment?" Xander rolled his eyes, "I may not have lived there but I still kind of know where it is. We'll manage."
"Right. Navigate us through this market then, Mr. Genius," Leon smirked, "I'm sure you won't get us lost at all."
"Gladly—" Xander was ready to respond to Leon's challenge but was stopped by his own boyfriend.
"Nope. Xander, I said I'd never trust you with directions and I'm sticking by that. Follow me," Kaedan sighed.
"But how—" Nia began to ask, but Kaedan explained it quickly.
"I've also been there. Complicated situations in the past, I used Lumina's place for a while after she left Sector 2," Kaedan explained.
"Right. Fine, but babe, you gotta trust me with directions someday!" Xander called out to the other man who was already ahead of them.
Kaedan turned back and raised an eyebrow, "Maybe the day I die."
"Fuck you."
"Love you, too. Now let's get a move on before Nia gets murdered by that baker over there," Kaedan said, rolling his eyes.
Owen leaned over to Leon, "Should we really be trusting him with directions either?" He whispered.
Leon whispered back, "Honestly, it's the lesser of two evils. He's horrible at navigation but at least he's not Xander."
"I heard that, motherfuckers."
After splitting up from the others, the two women had no time to rest, "Follow me," Mina called, running ahead and faster. They could hear the guards' boots getting closer and closer. They both rounded the corner and Mina immediately began climbing the windowsills of the houses, jumping like a spider.
"How the hell—" Lumina watched Mina climb, terrified for her turn.
"Just trust me," Mina called down, standing at the top of the building, "Once you start, you can keep going."
Lumina didn't hesitate. She did exactly what Mina told her.
And Mina was right. It felt like flying, swinging. She made it near the top and Mina reached out her hand. Lumina grabbed it and pushed herself up to meet Mina. She pulled Lumina so hard that the woman got over the top of the house and fell on top of Mina.
They both looked at each other, their faces only inches apart, and burst out in laughter, Mina wrapped her arms around Lumina, "Oh my god, you were amazing. It still blows my mind that no one other than you has ever been able to do that."
"Really?" Lumina was surprised. She was the only person who was able to keep up with Mina. And that made her inexplicably happy.
"I definitely chose the right person to 'kidnap' me back then, didn't I?" Mina laughed as Lumina got off of her.
"Of course you did, Princess," The older woman teased, reaching out to pull Mina up.
Suddenly, they heard the loudspeaker, "Princess Ahalya Rowlock has been spotted at the market. All citizens of Sector 2 are required to hand her over to the authorities should they happen upon her."
"Oh, you actual cunt, I knew there was a reason I always thought your voice was annoying," Mina cursed, ready to fight the man who was speaking.
"Mina," Lumina looked at her patronizingly.
"Sorry, sorry. Time for disguises. It'll be like old times, come on!" Mina exclaimed, and Lumina sighed, letting herself get dragged along by the Princess.
"Old times, huh? You mean when we were about to be killed by your family?"
"Yup!"
"...You are a strange woman, Mina, you know that?"
It was only a few moments later that they had ducked into the nearest store and hidden in between some of the clothing racks, hoping to blend in with other customers, "Are you going to re-dye your hair? I mean, I like it either way. As in it—Uh...It looks good on you. I just meant that your natural hair is also—Uh, that's to say that you look really…" Mina blushed, trailing off as she came back to reality and realized she was blabbering.
"Hm? I look really what?" Lumina smirked, loving how flustered Mina was getting.
"Uh. I just meant to say that you look really cute with your natural hair, that's all," Mina said quietly.
Lumina laughed and ruffled Mina's hair, "The cute one here is you, Minnie," She replied, carefully putting a beanie over Mina's head.
"T—Thanks…" Mina blushed, looking down, not being able to meet Lumina's eyes.
"Come on, let's see if we can get out of here without being...Caught—Hey, uh ...Mina?"
"Hm?"
"This may just be me, but I think there's a guy staring at us from the men's section. Specifically at you."
"Uh…" Mina turned around to see what Lumina was talking about. Her eyes widened and she let out a stream of curses.
"Shit, shit, shit, that's my younger brother. He's the one that killed Emilio, tried to murder me so many times I lost count, and has a weird fixation on Kaedan. We have to go. Now," Mina cursed and ran to the cashier, throwing a bunch of money at him, "If that guy starts chasing me, hold him off for a while. Keep the change as a thanks," Mina called back.
The man immediately called security and Mina's brother looked annoyed but not surprised. The two women looked at each other before running off.
The man noticed both of them escaping and grinned.
Oh, joy. His older sister was back.
It was time to have some fun.
Outside the store, Mina and Lumina were sprinting again. "That actual motherfucking cunt, I can't believe he was just there. I'm going to kill him, I swear I'm going to bury him in a grave twenty feet underground, the little shit—" The younger of the two let out several other curses under her breath.
"Mina. Control your language, woman," Lumina sighed.
"Sorry," Mina said simply, but it was very obvious that she was not in the least bit apologetic.
"Oh, and the Princess's companion is an escaped convict. She is wanted dead or alive—" There was a pause, "Apologies, I'd like to amend my previous statement. She is to be captured alive, specifically, she should be brought to Arsemia Prison. Whoever can do so will be rewarded generously," The voice on the intercom said boredly.
"That motherfucker really wants me to rip out his organs and run them through a meat grinder, huh? You know what, why stop there? I should throw the remains to whatever ravagers are outside the Sectors—"
"Lumina Liu," Mina looked taken aback by how dark what her friend had just said was.
"Sorry, Minnie, can't help it. It's that fucking jail. You know what it means if they want to put me back there," Lumina muttered.
Mina seemed to realize what she was saying, "...Fuck. Fucking hell, I really hate that bitch. You think she's the one behind that?"
Lumina shook her head, "I don't just think so. I know so. It's just the kind of freakish, creepy plan she'd come up with. Continue what she started back then or something like that."
"God, that's so gross."
"Let's just hope she doesn't decide to take things into her own hands."
The two women rounded a corner and came face to face with a small team of guards with a familiar man standing in front of them as if waiting for them.
"...Julian," Mina spat. The man smiled, and opened up his arms as if waiting to be hugged, "Oh, you absolute fuckface. You know I'd rather impale you with a dildo through the fucking heart except you know, you don't have one," She rolled her eyes.
"My, my, dear big sister. So quick to judge? I only murdered your future husband. It's not like I hurt you. Is it? After all, it was just an arranged engagement. I distinctly remember you saying you never wanted that. Shouldn't you be thanking me?" He grinned.
"Oh, it's on, motherfucker. If your goal is to get me to kill you, I have no problem with obliging—" Mina said, growling.
"Mina," Lumina said, a warning tone in her voice, "There's nine of them and two of us."
"I don't fucking care, Lumi. I'm going to kill him."
"By all means, Ahalya-Bei, you can try," Julian said, still smiling, "But I do have a question for you."
"...What is it?" Mina asked.
"Do you still consider yourself a Rowlock, somewhere deep down?" Mina's eyes widened, "Just a small observation, I suppose. You've obviously kept your hair long. Was that just a preference? Or was it that because you still feel some sort of attachment to the family?"
"What was I supposed to do?" She asked roughly, not understanding the point. It was just her hair, it didn't mean anything. It shouldn't mean anything.
But deep down, she knew what he meant.
"If you really hated us, you would have done anything to get rid of it," He reached forward to touch a piece of her hair, and Mina flinched back, "Although, I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to assume that it's because of me or Father. But perhaps…" He hummed, "Well, you were always more of a Mama's Girl than a Daddy's Girl, weren't you?"
Lumina looked over at the other woman. Minaa's face was cold, not showing emotion. It was a perfect mask, really, one that she probably had years to develop when she was a child. But it was obvious that Julian's words had rattled her.
Mina's relationship with her mother was one of the few things she didn't like to talk about, but Lumina couldn't tell she was sensitive about it. Making a quick decision, she grabbed Mina's hand, "Alright, we're leaving. Come on, Mina," As they left, though, Mina hesitated and turned back.
"Why haven't you killed us?" Mina asked.
Julian grinned before simply saying, "You know how much I hate easy wins, Ahalya-Bei."
Thankfully, it seemed that Julian had no intention to chase them. It took them a while to find Lumina's old apartment, but as soon as they did, Mina quickly made herself scarce. Lumina let her, she could tell that the younger needed time to process everything. As the moon started getting higher in the sky, though, she found the woman on the roof of the house,
"You okay?" Lumina asked, sitting down next to the light blue-haired girl.
"Not really. He was right. I…I don't consider them my family, not really. But I…A really childish part of me just wanted to keep some connection to my mother," Mina sighed, "Even though Kaedan thinks she doesn't deserve even that much from me."
"...You don't talk about your mother much," Lumina said softly.
"...Yeah. I don't. Probably because I'm not sure if I hate her for not standing up to my bastard of a father or if I feel pity for her because she probably got manipulated into all of this. Either way," Mina stood up, "I can't keep hanging onto this. I can't…I can't let them think this is a weakness of mine."
"Mina…"
She offered her hand to Lumina, "I need to do something. Come with me?" Lumina knew this was a sign of Mina showing her complete trust in Lumina.
She took it.
"Let's go."
Mina and Lumina slipped in through the roof of the castle—Mina's old home. Everyone would have been in the dining room at that time, even if none of them got along, it was always tradition to eat dinner together. As Mina started to approach the doors, Lumina grabbed her and pulled her against her own body.
Mina looked at her questioningly before Lumina pointed. There was a guard standing right by the door, keeping a lookout.
The younger woman grinned and cracked her knuckles quietly. Creeping up on the man, she immediately wrapped her arm around his neck before covering his mouth with her other hand to muffle his noises. Eventually, the guard's eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.
Lumina gulped. Yeah, that was…That was pretty hot, she couldn't deny that. Realizing that the younger woman was waiting for her, though, she stepped over to her, taking her hand and squeezing it in support. Mina took a deep breath.
Then, she pushed the door open.
"Ahalya?"
There was a moment of silence as the flabbergasted parents looked at their daughter, who was announced dead over half a decade ago when her body hadn't been found.
"Father," Mina nodded, acknowledging the man's, though she really did not want to, "...Amba," Her tone was slightly softer on her mother's title, but there was still a tenseness to it. As her eyes shifted to Julian, "Dickhead," The younger man didn't seem offended, simply waving back at her lazily.
"Why are you here, you traitorous child—" Her father growled, but his daughter didn't hesitate to cut him off.
"Oh, shut up, you son of a bitch. God, I forgot just how annoying you are. Listen to me, that kid over there," Mina pointed to Julian, who was swinging a small blade around his finger, "Has probably already planned out every step of his plan to murder you," She growled back even more ferociously, "I only came to show you something."
Mina grabbed her hair and pulled out her sword. She held her hair and held the sword up to her shoulder.
Swish.
Long strands of sky hair fell to the ground as Mina continued, her tone firm and calm but holding a controlled rage, "I came to let you know that I'm a different person, a different Rowlock from you. If that means I have to create my own branch of the Rowlock family, then so be it. And I promise you, one day, I will be the reason that this throne falls. I will burn down whatever legacy you have attempted to build and I will take pleasure in doing so. If you try to come after me or anyone I love, know that I will take pleasure in utterly destroying you."
Lumina gripped her hand tighter, signaling they needed to get going before any of the guards got called in.
Mina's gaze sharpened at her ex-family, only softening slightly at her mother, "So, stay out of my way."
Just as they were about to leave, though, a soft voice echoed out through the room, "Your name is Minakshi."
Mina turned to face her mother, "...What?"
The King looked shocked at this, and he turned to look at his wife, anger on his face, "Silence, Saundralya—"
"I named you Minakshi, after my sister. That's why he hates your name," Mina's mother continued, "And he couldn't change that. Even after she died, he still couldn't control her. It was already legally on the certificate so he couldn't change it. That's why he forced everyone to believe your middle name was your first name."
"You—!" The King sounded enraged, his face was beet red as he stood up, towering over his wife.
Mina's mother didn't pay attention to him, "Go," She said, "Go, now."
"Amba…" Mina looked conflicted. It was clear she had more to say, but they had run out of time.
As the door was flung open, Lumina whispered, "I'm sorry, Minnie, we have to go. Exit to the left. Run."
Hearing Lumina's voice seemed to shake her out of the trance she was in. Mina simply nodded and they ran towards the door. Looking back at her mother one last time, she saw a look of…Satisfaction on her face as she heard her father screaming and saw him raising his hand.
She didn't know how to feel about that.
Hours later, the ten people that were left behind walked down a street, absolutely exhausted, "We're here," Kaedan sighed in relief, as they finally reached a two-floor house.
"Hey, Kaedan, my love. What was that about never trusting me with directions?" Xander asked, leaning on his boyfriend's shoulder.
Kaedan glared at him, "Shut up or I'll throw you into the sewers. We got here, didn't we?"
"Thanks to Owen and Risá having better-functioning computer brains than you. Seriously, Kaedan. At least Xander doesn't have a computer chip inserted into his brain. How do you still get this hopelessly lost?" Leon grinned.
"Hey, mine's defective!"
Owen muttered, "So is mine, and yet here we are."
Risále smiled.
Do I not get any thanks for leading you? (A)
Shut up. We're going to have a one-on-one talk soon. (R)
Sure. I'll think about it, Shortie. (A)
What does that have to do with anything— (R)
They knocked on the door and were greeted by someone.
"Hi, we're looking for—A'Li?!" Xander half yelled.
"If this is your reaction to me, I can't wait to see how you react to Minnie," Lumina mumbled.