Valerie was on autopilot as she followed Eris from rooftop to rooftop. On some level, maybe Valerie owed that to Eris’s teaching. Or all the practice she’d gotten in recently. The fact that she could just do this all automatically, effortlessly channeling her Mana into Augmentations and platforms of solid air, following Eris to wherever she somehow sensed the Ley Line was.

But mostly, she was preoccupied. She just had so much on her mind. Well. One thing, really. One person: Eris.

Last night, Eris had asked if she could sleep with Valerie every night. And. Wow. There was a lot to unpack there.

Valerie had said yes, of course. Of course she had. Of course she wanted to take care of Eris. If them sleeping in the same bed stopped Eris’s nightmares, then naturally it was a good idea.

But… Valerie’s intentions weren’t entirely pure, were they? She thought back shamefully to what she’d done a few mornings ago. Masturbating to the thought of her little sister.

Not that her interest was only sexual, though. Did that make it any better? Valerie tried to organize the jumbled thoughts in her brain, all the ways that she cared about Eris. The fact that she cared about her as a friend that she loved to spend time with, as a sister that she wanted to protect and help through her struggles, as a crush that she’d grown attachments to, and as a woman whom she found… quite hot.

Eris knew the first two, of course. But the second two, she couldn’t know: the fact that Valerie viewed her romantically and sexually (though it felt weird for Valerie to even use those words in her head). Unless she’d figured it out from things Valerie had let slip. The fact that she might get “too used to them sleeping together,” or whatever Valerie had said in that moment. The way Valerie stuttered and blushed around her sometimes. Valerie groaned inwardly. It had to be so obvious, right?

Ahead of her, Eris signaled to the right with her hand before changing course and leaping over the nearby street. Valerie followed suit.

This shit was so complicated. Was she honor-bound in some way to tell Eris how she felt? Surely Eris wouldn’t choose to sleep in the same bed as her if she knew Valerie’s true feelings, right? So she should know the truth, shouldn’t she? Fuck.

Then again, the things Danni had said had made some sense. It wasn’t wrong to have a crush on someone. Though Danni hadn’t known about the two sisters sleeping together. And… Well, what she’d said about consenting adults being allowed to love and date each other had made sense too. Could she really be right about that?

As a queer person, Valerie felt like Danni had to be right, philosophically. Consenting people should be able to date who they want. Love is love. All these things she’d accepted in the wake of coming out to herself. Why should siblings be any different? Valerie couldn’t really find a rationale to convince herself otherwise, though it still felt odd and shameful. Then again, she’d felt that shame when she came out to herself too. And she’d gotten over it, with the help of people who loved and accepted her. Danni and Raine, among others. Maybe that could happen again.

She sighed. What would that acceptance even look like? Did she want people to accept the idea of her and Eris being in a relationship together? Well that was absurd, that obviously wasn’t going to happen. And she shouldn’t want that anyway, should she? But… if she really thought Danni was right, shouldn’t she accept that about herself? Accept that she, despite her shame and misgivings, wanted a relationship with her sister—a romantic one—even though it was impossible?

She was pulled back to reality momentarily by the Mana she felt in her body. It was getting stronger. They must be approaching the Ley Line.

Two hops later, they were in the right place. Valerie stopped beside Eris, who pointed. “It’s right there,” she said.

Valerie nodded, still distracted by her thoughts, and started walking towards the Ley Line before Eris put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “Woah there,” Eris said. “I’m doing the attunements from now on, remember? Because. Y’know. Father said to.”

“Oh,” Valerie shook her head. It was their first run since that rule had been put in place. “Right. Yeah. I’ll keep lookout.” Of course, she wasn’t too worried. They’d done multiple unblockings since they were attacked that one night, and all had been silent since.

Valerie stood back as Eris approached the Ley Line, her hand held up to it. Gods, she was lovely. Did Valerie really want a relationship with her? She’d admitted as much to Danni. But it really didn’t matter when Eris didn’t feel the same way. Valerie thought back to some of the times the two had been getting close to each other, and Eris had shown a tinge of discomfort. Eris must have been uncomfortable that they were getting too close. Of course she had been. Most people would be uncomfortable being so close to their sibling that there was weird romantic tension.

Even Valerie had felt uncomfortable with it. Though, of course, in her case, it wasn’t because she disliked the closeness, but because she liked it too much. Or, at least, more than was typical.

Valerie’s thoughts paused. She tilted her head. Could it be possible that Eris—.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a streak of black darting past her.

Right towards Eris. Fuck. She hadn’t been paying attention.

Valerie armored herself, forming two bars of solid air to her left and right, gripping them with her hands. She jumped her legs back, bending into a 90-degree-rotated crouch against a platform she formed behind her feet. Using Augmented legs and arms, she launched herself at the assailant head-first.

Valerie managed to put her forearms up in front of her to shield herself from the impact. The attacker let out a muffled “oof” at the impact. Momentum carried them both meters past Eris as they tumbled to the ground together.

Fuck. That maneuver had drained a lot of Valerie’s Mana. Thankfully, it had also won her the initiative. Her opponent was scrambling on the ground, recovering from her wild gambit, as she grappled on to them. She punched down into their face as she tried to grab them by the shoulder, but the assailant’s armor made her attacks ineffective.

That was okay. She didn’t need to beat them. Just buy time for Eris.

In the frenzy, she was barely able to note that they seemed to be the first person who had attacked a couple of weeks ago. Same outfit, at least. Their features were still too obscured to be able to tell anything about them.

Somehow, they managed to get their feet under Valerie, kicking up hard. Valerie found herself careening as she was flung upward.

It couldn’t have been called graceful, but she managed to right herself using solid air handholds. She swung back down to the ground. The attacker had curiously not gone straight after Eris this time. Valerie thought she could see why: they were scrambling towards something on the ground, something that glowed faintly with the magenta-blue hue of Mana. It was almost certainly the device that Valerie had noticed last time. What was so important about that thing?

Valerie launched herself again, this time aimed at the mysterious device. She wasn’t able to grab it, but she managed to knock it away as she landed in a tumble. The assailant cursed, running towards the device as Valie lunged for their legs, trying to tackle them to the ground.

The two went down in a heap once more, standing up at about the same time. Valerie stood between the mysterious person and their device, squaring up her fists. Her Mana was running low. She wasn’t sure she could do this.

Punches started raining on Valerie as she tried to block and maneuver to keep her opponent from their device. Eris stood behind them, completely unprotected, yet they made no effort to go after her. Weird. Why was the device more important than going after Eris?

She had little time to think about that, however. Her opponent was much more dangerous when bringing both arms to bear. She could barely get in a single counterattack, overwhelmed as she was by trying to dodge and block the flurry of blows. It became more and more obvious how outmatched she was. Her Mana was stretched dangerously thin, a light Augment applied and only her front side armored. She started to dodge backwards instead of meeting the attacks head-on. Fuck, this was bad.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of salvation. Eris had finished, and was sprinting towards them. The attacker caught a sucker punch to the side of the face and staggered sideways. They glared at the two sisters, then glanced past Valerie at the mysterious device. Seeming to decide it wasn’t worth fighting both of them for, the assailant turned and fled.

Eris made as if to follow, but Valerie put a hand on her shoulder. “Wait,” Valerie said. “We’ve got something this time.” She pointed at the device which was lying on the ground.

“Oh, shit,” said Eris. “Nice.” Eris picked it up, and looked at it for a second before shrugging and handing it to Valerie. Close up, it really did look like a single handcuff. Valerie dangled it in front of her, observing how the two crystal-adorned semi-circles hinged loosely where they were joined, before sighing.

The adrenaline coursing through her system waned, and she stuffed the device into her pocket before sitting down on the side of the roof. “Fuck,” she breathed out.

Eris sat down beside her, putting an arm around her waist. “Hey, Valie. You okay?” she asked, sounding concerned. The touch surprised Valerie, causing her body to stiffen briefly. Eris jerked her hand away, mumbling, “Sorry…”

“I… No. It’s not your fault.” It was Valerie’s fault. She had fucked up.

“What’s wrong?” Eris whispered.

“It’s…” Valerie gulped. No, she couldn’t tell her sister the truth. But… She should. Shouldn’t she?

She decided to start small. “I almost got you hurt. I was distracted. They almost attacked you without me even noticing and it’s all my fault. I was supposed to be looking out, and instead… Fuck.” Valerie gritted her teeth. She wanted to cry. To run away.

“Hey, it’s alright. You’re being harsh on yourself.”

“You don’t understand,” Valerie whispered, frustration creeping into her voice. She didn’t understand that the reason Valerie had been distracted was because of an insane crush.

“Can you help me understand? Or is there some other way I can support you?” Eris asked. “I care about you, you know.”

“I know. I care about you too. But this is… It’s hard,” Valerie sighed.

Eris nodded. “You wanna hug?”

Did Valerie even deserve physical touch from the sister she was falling in love with? She shook her head.

“Oh,” said Eris, sounding disappointed. “Okay. That’s fair.”

“I…” Finding the words was so hard. Her lips moved but nothing came out. “I think. We need to talk about something. When we get back home.”

Eris frowned, looking almost… guilty? But she nodded. “Okay. Fair.”

“Yeah,” Valerie said. “I guess we should get moving.”

Eris let out a large breath. “Yeah. Alright. Let’s go.”

Normally, the two would take their time on the way back home, bantering and playing. But this time, they moved in tense silence.