Sooyoung and Joohyun flew through the sky, rays of brilliance against a dark backdrop. Trails of white followed their curving, bounding paths as they rode the complex waves of Vis beneath them. The way they moved, dropping down in smooth slopes before rising up in brisk arcs, reminded Sooyoung of breaching dolphins. She had never flown anywhere besides the Astral Plane before, but flight in the real world was conceptually the same. The way momentum worked here was different - maybe it had something to do with gravity - but like many things with Vis, she picked up on it easily. So easily, in fact, that she seemed to be having an easier time than Joohyun, who trailed several hundred feet behind her. Traveling this way wasted Vis a lot faster than on foot, but after Sooyoung’s last exchange with Yeri, they couldn’t afford to walk.

    They’d decided to keep their chosen path, a straight shot through the city. It was the quickest route, but as Joohyun had mentioned, it was also the most dangerous. Scarlet lightning flashed overhead, streaking between the clouds in spiderwebs of deadly static, preventing the pair from flying above the rooftops. The buildings themselves made the sky into an obstacle course, a delicate balance between remaining low enough not to be electrocuted to death and avoiding the skull-bashing impact of a head on collision with a skyscraper.

    Below, lumbering, misshapen monsters turned their disjointed necks upward to watch the two shooting stars as they passed.

    As they broke from the city, Sooyoung could feel that she’d expended a full fourth of her Vis so far. That wasn’t good.

    “Sooyoung!” Joohyun called over the roar of the wind.

Questioning, Soyoung pulled back so that she and Joohyun were level in the sky.

    “We are being intercepted,” Joohyun said, gesturing, “There! To your left!”

    Sooyoung turned her head, motes of bright yellow drifting from her hair as she moved. A blob of shadow, somehow darker than the clouds behind it, rose from the top of Eodum’s prison. It was almost purple, and left a comet trail to its rear, indicating the intense speed it was moving at.

    “Is that one of your daughters?” Sooyoung asked.

    A pause from Joohyun, long enough to make Sooyoung glance over at her.

    “Yes. Unfortunately, that is Jisoo.”

    Unfortunately? Was the only thought Jisoo was able to process as she caught a blast of purple in her periphery.

    Sooyoung swerved, allowing herself to fall toward the ground to avoid the attack. She shot her head upward, saw that the blob of shadow was only a few feet from her, and dropped further.

    She landed on an outcropping of rock atop a foothill. Above, a blur of white met with a blur of black, hovering face to face. Joohyun wielded both of her blades, holding them ready at her sides. From what Sooyoung could see from here, Jisoo’s appearance was far different from Jennie’s. She was taller, with a defined jaw and larger, more expressive eyes. Where Jennie was skinny, Jisoo had a bit of bulk to her, the kind that Sooyoung often saw in female athletes at school. Sooyoung sensed a lost tenderness buried under Jisoo’s venomous demeanor. Almost like, if this was another timeline, Jisoo might have been kind. As it stood, she held her two purple-black blades, holding a stance that suggested she was prepared to cut down her own mother.

    “It has been quite awhile, daughter,” Joohyun said stiffly.

    Jisoo nodded, a jerky, abrupt motion that contained barely withheld rage. When she spoke, her voice was deep and roughened, reminding Sooyoung of boots crunching over gravel.
    “You came for your sister,” Jisoo said.

    “Yes. I assume you intend to prevent me from reaching her?”

    Jisoo grinned. It was a manic, broken expression. Sooyoung suspected that this girl wasn’t totally sane. Though, with the essence of darkness as a father, who could blame her?

    “You finally decided to show your true colors,” Jisoo spat, “You and your sisters have always been against Father. He’s known it for years, but none of us thought you were stupid enough to actually try rebelling against Him.”

    Joohyun sighed and shook her head sadly. Her reaction wasn’t one of horror or fear, but of exasperation. In literal terms, a mother dealing with an unruly kid.

    “We don’t have to fight, Jisoo. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can-”

    Joohyun was cut off as Jisoo struck. Sooyoung crouched, prepared to spring to into the battle, but Joohyun blocked the strike and pulled back just long enough to turn and yell:

    “Go!”

    Understanding immediately, Sooyoung kicked off in the opposite direction, feeling her Vis slipping away at an alarming rate. She didn’t dare to check if she was being followed; hopefully Joohyun would be able to keep Jisoo busy. If not, Sooyoung would just have to be faster. The stakes were too high for her to fail now.

    Had Sooyoung been paying attention, she would have noticed the change in her Vis. Presently, it was solely a visual alteration, but the trail of energy behind her began to morph from pearl white to a reflective yellow. Not quite gold, but approaching it.

    Sooyoung touched down on the flat-topped roof of the prison. The entire building was made of a metal that resembled onyx. Sooyoung could see no discernible entrance to the prison from here. She took the chance at glancing back to where Joohyun and Jisoo had been. She wasn’t able to make out either of them as they dueled in the air, represented as alternating blooms of black and white that flared each time they met. Even from this distance, it was obvious that Jisoo was trying to push toward the prison, while Joohyun was taking every opportunity she was given to cut her daughter off, preventing the girl from advancing.

    There wasn’t much time. Though Joohyun was skilled and powerful, Jisoo was far from being a pushover. Sooyoung turned away from the fight, tried to focus. She had a feeling that trying to brute force her way in would only waste her Vis. So, she knelt, shut her eyes, and took a slow breath.

    Sooyoung reached out with her Vis, sifting through the murk of the abyssal barrier that surrounded Eodum’s prison. There were many sources of Vis inside. Most were weak, thrumming with a tortured, sad glow. One shone much brighter than the rest, however, a familiar teardrop of opal that flickered like a lone candle in a large, unlit room.

    Yeri! Sooyoung called out. 

The other, smaller sources of Vis turned their waning attentions toward her.

Sooyoung? Yeri asked. She sounded anxious, but not in active distress. That was good.

I need to know if there’s a way inside. Sooyoung said, trying to keep her mental “voice” as steady as possible. Jisoo’s advance was happening quickly; Sooyoung could practically feel the cosmic vibrations of her anger as she attempted to break from combat with Joohyun.

I don’t know, Yeri said, sounding distressed. I haven’t been out of this cell. It sounds like there’s a lot going on outside though… I just saw Jisoo and Jennie running by.

Sooyoung shot up and looked around. Both of them?

Sure enough, a second, blurred orb of violet was rising from the opposite side of the long building.

Yes. Please be careful, Sooyoung.

You be careful too, Yeri, Sooyoung said, gathering Vis around her fists and feet, I… have to go for a second. Let me know if anything goes wrong.

Unlike her sister, Jennie wielded dual blades, both made of Vis, the left of the brightest white and the right of the deepest black. A thin aura surrounded her, a mixture of the colors that melded into one, perfectly balanced.

“I’m here for Yeri,” Sooyoung called, walking forward to meet Jennie halfway across the building, “Let her go, and we won’t have any problems.”

“I wish I could,” Jennie said, sounding genuinely regretful. “But if I did that, I’d be essentially committing suicide.”

Sooyoung squared up to Jennie, standing a few steps from one another. Blond glowed at Sooyoung’s hands, ivory at her feet.

“You’re willing to let this happen?” Sooyoung asked, clenching her fists. “To let Eodum kill everyone I love and destroy my planet?”

Jennie swallowed visibly. She glanced past Sooyoung, probably looking over at where Jisoo and Joohyun where fighting. Sooyoung was tempted to use the momentary lapse in Jennie’s attention to strike, but she didn’t. The younger girl’s hesitance was a sharp contrast to Jisoo’s seething rage.

Maybe I can talk her out of it… Sooyoung thought.

    “Do you really support what he’s doing? I understand that he’s your dad, but… . One of his minions, Cade, tried to me,” Sooyoung said.

    Jennie’s eyes widened. The aura around her decreased slightly, but her blades remained in her hands.

“Did he really?” the auburn-haired girl asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. Then, a bit louder, and with some accusation, “How can I believe you?”

“Honestly, you really can’t. And if I was in your position, I probably wouldn’t,” Sooyoung said, “But I’m just here to rescue Yeri, and nothing else. I don’t have any other motives. Trust me, I didn’t come here because I thought it would be a fun vacation spot.”

“We’re assigned to guard prisoners here, people that have defied my father,” Jennie said, casting a wistful glance toward where Joohyun and Jisoo were fighting. Hesitantly, Sooyoung followed her gaze.

The fray was close enough to see now. It was about what Sooyoung had expected: Joohyun on the defense, Jisoo hammering away with powerful, relentless strikes. Each left her open to attack, but Joohyun never struck back, only guarding against the onslaught in order to avoid harm to herself. If this were happening anywhere other than Blackstar, Sooyoung wouldn’t have been worried. Jisoo would wear out before her mother, who could likely keep up her defense for as long as was needed for Sooyoung to rescue Yeri. But here, where Vis was limited, Joohyun would eventually reach a point where her Vis was completely drained, and her blade would disappear.

“There’s never been an attack before,” Jennie continued, looking back at Sooyoung, “Most of the prisoners are just mortals and Representations from planets that my father has conquered and destroyed, those who tried to fight back. His Sirdar torture them endlessly. He says that they’re an example to other planets in the universe, to discourage them from rebelling.”

Sooyoung tapped her foot impatiently, thinking of Yeri. “And you’re telling me you guys support that actively? Like, you’re cool with that?”

    Jennie shrugged in an attempt at nonchalance, but she looked away. “Besides each other, our dad is all we have.”

    “You have Joohyun, though.”

    Jennie gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. “Is that what my mom told you? That I went to my dad by choice?”

    Sooyoung’s heart dropped. Though she wasn’t sure of the specifics, she had a good idea of where this was going. “Well, no, but…”

    Just then, a scream tore across the landscape of her mind, causing her to flinch and stand at attention.

    Sooyoung! Help!

    Sensing the direction that the words came from, Sooyoung spun.

    A writhing, liquid snarl of tentacles twisted across the sky. Cade’s pale, gaunt face - partially liquified, reduced to shreds of flesh but all too recognizable to Sooyoung - swam within the contorting mass. A single elongated tentacle extended from its rear, wrapped around a comparatively tiny form. The opposite of Cade’s horror, an angel of blonde and white that shrieked as she was dragged away.

    “I’m going to save her,” Sooyoung said, gathering all that remained of her Vis. She prayed to gods that she didn’t believe in, pleading for it to be enough. “If you try to stop me, I’ll kill you.”

    Jennie looked Sooyoung over, eyes widening in surprise. It wasn’t a reaction to Sooyoung’s murderous declaration, however.

    “You… your Vis…” she stammered, blades finally dissipating from her hands as she stepped back.

    Sooyoung looked down at herself. The plasmous, intangible mist of her Vis had changed, becoming a lustrous gold. For the first time since Yeri had been taken from her, Sooyoung could feel energy coming not from within her body, but from the Charm at her ear. Two separate wells of power existed within her: the dying smolder of white and the solid frame of gold.

    “Wh-what’s happening to me?” Sooyoung whispered, shocked into a numb state not only by what she saw, but what she felt. This new Vis was unlike anything she’d held before. With it, she felt a potency, a sensation of prescient duality. As if she was the connecting point between two vast, open planes. This golden Vis was a direct result of that conjunction. Like the energy from the collision of the Astral Plane and reality was being channeled directly into her.

    Yerim cried out again, tearing Sooyoung from her reverie.

Cursing at herself for becoming distracted, Sooyoung sprung into action, leaving Jennie behind to continue gaping in awe.

***

    Joohyun was nearing her limit. Every second that she continued to use her Vis - even acts as miniscule as keeping her blades formed - brought her closer to the end. A deep sense of emptiness formed a pit within her, the sensation of her life force being sapped away. Joohyun was a Representation, composed entirely of Astral power. She had no mortal body to fall back on. If she ran out of Vis without a source, she would die. Joohyun had spent years using Vis, giving her an understanding on how exactly to modulate and ration her essence for situations exactly like this. Had she been up against a different opponent, she never would have been in this position, with her back metaphorically pressed to the wall like a trapped animal.

    But Joohyun simply couldn’t bring herself to strike back against her own child.

    Jisoo’s source of Vis had no limits. Rather than using energy from the Astral Plane, she used the dark energy of her father. Here on Blackstar, that power was functionally endless. Inaccessible to those without a connection to Eodum, it was the perfect way to ensure that any intruders on the planet would be at a severe disadvantage.

Jisoo understood the situation well; she attacked recklessly, not bothering to guard herself, knowing that Joohyun wouldn’t fight back. Her barrage of blows was so dogged, in fact, that Joohyun didn’t even have the opportunity to attempt to talk sense into her daughter. Not that it would have worked, in any case. Jisoo’s hatred for Joohyun was much more deep-rooted than Jennifer’s.

Joohyun could only hope that Sooyoung would be able to retrieve Yerim and escape without her help, if it came to that.

Joohyun and Jisoo broke from another clash of their blades, suddenly blinded by a marked resplendence coming from the roof of the prison. Yerim in tow, Cade fled madly, pursued by a ball of burning, bounding brilliance that shot toward him in the sky.

    Seeing her sister in such peril brought pain to Joohyun’s failing heart, but that wonderful golden light vanquished that potential anguish, made it less than an ache, stamped it out like embers in wet dirt. Though her chest was heaving from exhaustion, her Vis barely enough to keep herself floating in the air, Joohyun felt herself smiling.

    “What is that?” Jisoo whispered, enthralled.

    Joohyun watched closely, observing the slender figure that danced within the miniature sun. In that golden light was an inverse reflection of Sooyoung, flickering in and out of existence as the seconds passed.

Not a Representation, no, but something else. In that projection, Joohyun saw pain, hurt, and loss condensed into pure Vis, just as she could see the inadequacy, anxiety, and feelings of powerlessness that manifested Stardust. There was a crucial difference here, however, something that Joohyun had never seen before. Unlike Seulgi, Sooyoung’s pseudo-Representation was not the idealized version of its creator. Instead it was the product of an emotional impasse, displaying a prolonged, transformative process that represented a transition from longing into acceptance.

Sooyoung had no idealized version of herself, because as she was now, she truly believed that she’d become what she needed to be.

And, by the Stars above, the mysterious mother of the multiverse seemed to agree.

What had Sooyoung endured to bring her to this point? And what had elicited this complete of a transformation, right at this moment, when she needed it most? Was it, perhaps, her proximity to Yerim?

Joohyun supposed it didn’t matter. She could feel Sooyoung’s power in the wind, resonating on a frequency that no mortal had ever felt, much less commanded. It was as if, theoretically, all of the power of a separate Representation had been condensed and channeled into pure Vis, existing as a tool to be wielded by its would-be creator.

“That, my dear daughter,” Joohyun gasped, blades dissipating and light fading as the last of her Vis began to trickle away. “Is the Chosen One.”

    The ball of gold crashed into Cade as Joohyun fell from the sky.

***

    Jennie snapped out of her trance as the mortal woman began to chase after Cade. She knew that if she didn’t at least try to stop the girl, there would be dire consequences. Her dad would find out, and he was already furious enough nowadays. The punishment would be hell.

    But then, hadn’t the mortal girl spoken of Cade trying to violate her? That was a fate that Jennie couldn’t subject anyone - especially naive Yerim - to. Everything was so crazy and messed up. Jennie wasn’t really sure what was right anymore. However, one thing was clear: Yerim didn’t deserve that fate.

Plagued by indecision, Jennie glanced over at her mom and Jisoo to check up on their fight. It had seemed intense before, but the mortal girl’s light show had distracted her for a while. Last she remembered, it looked like mom was starting to get tired…

Jennie’s stomach lurched as she watched her mother’s Vis spurt out, becoming a weak, barely visible trickle of light. She twirled in the air, a swath of hair fluttering around her, trying to right herself, to slow her inevitable fall.

But that was alright, because Jisoo was there. She would just have to reach out and catch mom. They were high enough up that there was time, and-

Jennie watched in disbelief as Jisoo turned away, a burst of violet streaming behind her as she went to follow the golden sheen of the mortal girl.

What are you doing? Jennie demanded mentally, latching herself to the storm of contradictory emotions that made up her sister’s mind.

My duty. Jisoo replied, then severed the connection.

Jennie swallowed.

I still have some of mom’s Vis from when I traveled to the Astral Plane before… she thought, gaze fixed on the semi-limp body of her mother as it sailed downward. I could heal her.

Jisoo - and more terrifyingly, Father - wouldn’t be happy about this, but what choice did Jennie have? Mom had abandoned them, but she didn’t deserve to die.

Decision made, Jennie gathered her Vis and leapt from the roof, the pressure of her liftoff making the inside of her ears feel full and tight.

Careening through the air, defying the antagonistic atmosphere of Blackstar, defying her very nature and purpose.

Rosie was right, I guess. Jennie thought, a bittersweet smile finding its way to her lips.

***

    Unexpectedly, Sooyoung tore right through Cade, as easily as if she were flying through a spiderweb. The inky, disgusting slime of his body vanished from existence as it came into contact with Sooyoung’s aura, and he screamed in his insane way, tentacles struggling to reform. Sooyoung ignored him, pointed herself to the ground, went after Yeri.

    The blonde’s high-pitched cry ceased as she fell into Sooyoung’s waiting arms.

    Time seemed to slow as Sooyoung looked at Yeri’s face for the first time in weeks. Individual blonde hairs, messy and drifting in the updraft, coasted around her head. Her eyes emptied of fear as they met Sooyoung’s, filling instead with tearful adoration. Lush lips parted in awe as the sunshine-yellow illumination played tricks with the shadows cast by her nose and eyelashes.

    “Sooyoung! Watch out!” the blonde cried out suddenly, expression morphing to one of pressing, immediate terror.

    Burning agony cut its way across Sooyoung’s side. The warm, sticky flow of blood ran over her skin. Holding Yeri close, she sent a blast of Vis out from her feet and attempted to flee, but she wasn’t fasn’t enough. Something heavy struck her back - the pain was terrible, worse than the cut, and punctuated by the sharp crack of her shoulder blade shattering. Yerim fell out of her arms, screaming once again.

    Sooyoung’s thoughts became muddled as the world rushed by around her, flashes of crimson lightning and black clouds moving in a dizzying vortex. Her Vis was still strong, and she tried to direct it into her wounds, heal them somehow. Concentration slipped from her in intermittent bursts. Being cognizant wasn’t enough; she had to purposefully direct her Vis to stitch the wounds. Not only broken bone, but muscle, fat, and organs.

    She caught sight of Cade and Jisoo above. Yeri was entangled within his tentacles again, flailing and kicking to no avail. That monster - the true beast that was Cade - wore a wide, hungry smile as he watched Sooyoung fall.

    Just as Sooyoung felt her consciousness fully fading, she jerked to a stop. The sudden movement caused her injuries to spike furiously, and she let out a sharp, guttural cry. In the next instant, the pain was gone, and she felt the disturbing sensation of her body being healed. The added awareness that she received from her golden Vis allowed her to feel every bit of tissue, each individual cell, as they reformed inside her.

    Sooyoung squirmed with discomfort.

    “Stop,” Joohyun’s voice commanded, grip tightening, “Relax yourself. We cannot afford to waste time.”

    Sooyoung gritted her teeth, waited for it to be over, then tore herself from Joohyun’s grasp. A slight “pins and needles” sensation remained at the side of her stomach and back, but she was able to think clearly now. And her mind was focused on one thing: Yeri.

    Sooyoung looked up, saw that Jennie hovered at Joohyun’s side, and nearly sprang at her.

    “Chill out,” Jennie said awkwardly, holding her arms out in front of her, “I’m not here to attack you. Right now. I guess.”

    Sooyoung looked to Joohyun for confirmation. The older Representation nodded dismissively, then pointed upward.

    Cade and Yeri were mere specks in the distance, nearly lost in the abyssal cloud cover. Jisoo hovered, guarding their rear, holding her long violet blade at the ready.

    “Cade plans to leave through the Astral Plane with her,” Jennie said.

    “Can you stop her?” Joohyun asked, “Your father’s Vis allows you to transport yourself quickly.”

    Jennie took a long, protracted pause, pursing her lips and staring up at the looming form of her sister. “No. Jisoo would stop me.”

    Sooyoung glanced at the foreboding figure of Jisoo, floating high above them, partially obscuring Cade and Yeri as they grew closer to the lightning-filled clouds.

    “Neither of us are fast enough to catch up to them at this rate.” Joohyun hissed.

    “No… There has to be a way,” Sooyoung said, despair descending on her. From the things Joohyun had told her, the Astral Plane was vast and confusing, even for Representations that traveled it often. How were they going to find Yeri now? Did Eodum have other prison planets that they could search? Did Joohyun even know where they were? How-

    “You know what? it,” Joohyun snarled viciously, then grabbed Sooyoung by the shoulder. The woman’s eyes blazed with alarm, her voice a rumbling growl. “Sooyoung, gather all the Vis you can, and throw me at her!”

    Without a second thought, Sooyoung did as she was told. This new, golden Vis had a different “texture” to it, making it harder to tame. It was prone to slipping out of her grasp and doing what it wanted to, like trying to grab a squirrel covered in soap. Still, it was far stronger than the Vis she normally held, more than compensating for her lack of control.

    Joohyun floated up beside her. Despite the gravity of their situation, Sooyoung hesitated, trying to find an efficient - and minimally ridiculous - way to go about this. With a half-shrug, she took hold of Joohyun’s ankles, and with a burst of Vis, began to spin them both around. They gained speed immediately, the world becoming a blur of color. Had Sooyoung been without her enhancements, she probably would have thrown up. She was able to use the odd, time-morphing effects of her new powers to pinpoint the exact moment that she should let go.

    Sooyoung released Joohyun, adding an extra glut of Vis that created an ovular shockwave in its wake. Joohyun seemed to do the same with her own Vis, producing a boom of white that sent both Sooyoung and Jennie flying backwards. An immense, ear-splitting crack sounded as she took off.

    “I think she just broke the sound barrier,” Sooyoung said, drawing her knees to her chest and gathering her Vis again.

    “Where are you going?” Jennie asked suspiciously, eyeing Sooyoung.

    “To stop your sister from stopping Joohyun.” 

    Jisoo was forced to duck out of the way as Joohyun barreled toward her. Sooyoung, trailing behind Joohyun but still moving at a sufficiently brisk pace, crashed into Jisoo’s midsection, tackling her and knocking her off course.

    The two women struggled in the air. The conflicting forces of their Vis jerked them around in a disorienting whirl of purple and gold. Sooyoung clamped her hands around Jisoo’s wrists, an attempt to keep the deadly blades away from her. Jisoo thrashed savagely without care for her own safety, contorting her body in any way she could, attempting to break free of the grapple. Sooyoung hammered the girl with knees to the abdomen and side. Jisoo grunted, whipped her own legs out and did the same. They became a cluster of limbs searching for soft targets to land blows on.

    Jisoo tried for a spinning kick as both an attempt at escape and as an attack; here, Sooyoung saw her opening. She took the blow to the thigh, dulling it with an extra layer of Vis, then seized Jisoo’s wrist, turned the blade on its master, and cut into her shoulder. Jisoo yelped, releasing her hold on the sword a second too late. Black and white smoke - unnervingly similar to the slime of Eodum, but in gas form - flowed from the wound and into the air, dissipating as quickly as it appeared.

Something hard struck Sooyoung in the abdomen, and she was pushed backward as the wind was knocked from her lungs. Jennie stood in front of her sister. She looked fierce and conflicted at the same time.

Sooyoung felt her breath returning, the ache in her abdomen retreating. It seemed that she could heal non-Vis related injuries on her own. She looked up to check on Joohyun and Yeri, but was interrupted by a tearing, primal scream.

Jisoo shot toward her, trailing smoke from her upper arm, oversized sword held high above her head.

An idea came to Sooyoung then, and she acted without thinking. She held her palm out, gathered a rush of Vis from her aura, and molded it into a ball. Driven by momentum, blinded by rage, Jisoo continued to charge forward without regard. Sooyoung shoved the energy from her palm just as Jisoo reached her, striking her directly in the torso as the blade came down.

“No!” Jennie screamed.

Jisoo crumbled, chest smoldering with a black and gold fog. Her arms fell to her sides, blade dissipating, eyelids fluttering. She let out a weak cough as her Vis dissipated, and she fell forward, directly into Sooyoung’s arms.

Jennie rushed over at a speed that almost made Sooyoung believe she was about to be attacked. However, Jennie’s weapons were gone, and her posture didn’t suggest aggression, only desperation. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t let anyone stop me from saving Yeri,” Sooyoung said. 

“I could hate you for that,” Jennie said, tearing the flaccid body of her sister from Sooyoung. “But… unfortunately, I understand. Just go do what you have to.”

Sooyoung hesitated, staring at Jisoo briefly. The girl’s chest rose and fell with irregular breaths, and her fingers twitched as though they still wished to claw, tear, and destroy. Even in unconsciousness, Jisoo was violent. What had made her so vehemently against Joohyun, while Jennie seemed to express at least some measure of reasonability?

Before her conscience could continue to torture her, Sooyoung spun around and barrelled straight for the cluster of battling lights above, leaving the Joohyun’s daughters behind.

A break in the fighting came just as Sooyoung began to approach. Joohyun,with Yeri clutched to her chest, was fleeing. Their shared Vis turned them into a burning comet, soaring toward the ground.

Sooyoung honed in on the tentacled creature pursuing them. Her new Vis didn’t seem to deplete like Yeri’s and Joohyun’s had. Instead, it became “tired”, a kind of spiritual exhaustion that was similar to muscle soreness. Sooyoung strained against it, rushing to catch up with Cade. 

They had a score to settle; on some far-off, stony surface of her brain, Sooyoung had etched the feelings of helplessness and fear that Cade had triggered inside of her when he’d assaulted her all those nights ago. Specifically, those initial, helpless moments when she hadn’t been able to resist him. Had Yeri felt the same thing while imprisoned here on Blackstar? Unsure of her fate, under constant threat of the creeping apparition that had stolen her and brought here?

Sooyoung gathered another sphere of Vis between her hands as she flew. It was a battle in and of itself to conjure the thing, and it was hard to maintain a consistent shape, but she managed it. This one was larger and more solid than the attack she’d hit Jisoo with. There was an intent locked beneath its swirling surface, an intent to destroy, an intent to kill.

As if alerted by the intensity of Sooyoung’s thoughts, Cade froze, spun around to face her. Their eyes met, Sooyoung’s of the brightest rose golden, his of the deepest night. Hers filled with passion and drive, his filled with fear.

Cade’s tentacles pulled up around him, then snapped downard, sending him hurtling into the crimson-lit clouds. He was gone in an instant, vanishing into the eternal night, leaving nothing behind him but empty air.

***

    Sooyoung touched down atop the prison, stumbling as she did so. The muscles in her legs felt as though they had been replaced with gelatin, as if she was physically drunk but mentally sober. She fell to her hands and knees, breathing heavily, allowing the golden Vis to leave her. Instead of misting away, it seemed to back into her skin, through her pores and into some weird, previously undiscovered pocket, like an internal reservoir for the stuff. It was a weird (but not really unpleasant) sensation.

    Two sets of footfalls approached, one pair more hurried than the other. When those familiar, gentle arms wrapped around her, she couldn’t help but smile.

    “Hey there,” Sooyoung said, snuggling into the of her lost fairy, inhaling the sharp, sweet aroma of sweat and vanilla, “It’s been a while, huh?”

    “Too long, Sooyoung,” Yeri whispered before unleashing a storm of fierce kisses, gracing every inch of Sooyoung’s face.

    Sooyoung giggled, falling back, pulling Yeri into an embrace so that she could kiss her properly. There, on the hard surface of a prison rooftop, beneath a cover of corpse clouds and bloody lightning, Sooyoung felt herself becoming whole again. The void in her heart was filled as lips met lips, as tears of jubilation mingled together, smearing as flesh was pressed to flesh.

    Joohyun cleared . Sooyoung bolted upright, the blonde still in her arms, feeling her own face and neck growing hot.

    “I am going to attend to my daughters,” Joohyun said solemnly. There was a distant bitterness in her tone.

    Sooyoung stood, coaxing Yeri up with her, keeping her close, touching her at various points as if to make sure she was real. Now that they were together again, Sooyoung felt as though she could never let go.

    “Where are they now?” Sooyoung asked.

    Wordlessly, Joohyun cocked her chin toward a nearby foothill. In the endless grey of Blackstar, the subtle sparks of violet there were easy to spot.

    “Is she okay?” Yeri asked, watching her sister leave.

    “I hope so,” Sooyoung said, brushing a few strands of hair from her fairy’s forehead. After a week-long imprisonment, how could someone look so goddamn ethereal? “She did just have to fight her own daughters.”

    Slowly, the pair of lovers began to walk toward the opposite edge of the rooftop.

    “How did they treat you in the prison?” Sooyoung asked, trepidation finding its way into her as she inspected Yeri’s body for any signs of abuse. “Did they feed you? Give you enough water?”

    Yeri nodded. “Jennie made sure I had everything I needed. I don’t think she wanted to keep me there, and she told me she would try to keep Cade from coming for me.”

    An upwelling of appreciation for the pouty, black-haired girl rose within Sooyoung.

    “I guess I owe her then. Makes me feel kinda bad for blasting her older sister in the chest,” Sooyoung said, trying to keep the humor in her voice.

    Yeri took Sooyoung’s hand, locked eyes with her. The utter passion in the blonde’s expression nearly made her swoon. “You’ve been through so much because of me, Sooyoung. I… I don’t know what to say…”

    “You don’t have to say anything, love,” Sooyoung whispered, leaning in close so that she could take in every detail on Yeri’s face, from the moles on her nose and cheek to the tiny indented scar on her forehead. “Because I would do it all again, if it meant sharing just one more minute with you.”

Sooyoung gave Yeri another kiss, meaning to be brief, knowing that they shouldn’t be hanging back for so long. Yeri held her there, however, pushed her lips open, allowed their tongues to come together and work against one another with a gradual, steady rhythm. The blonde released a soft sigh, and Sooyoung captured that angel breath within her, breathed it in as if it were her living air.

    At Yeri’s command, they kissed again. The blonde was bolder now, and there was a greed to the kiss that hadn’t been there before. Sooyoung knew that greed well. It was a fervent heat, the kind that came late at night in dimly lit rooms, with the shudder of intoxication - emotional or physical - at its forefront.

“We can’t do this here, Yeri,” Sooyoung whispered, her lips still against Yeri’s, noses overlapping, lashes brushing, “Not on this dead planet. Not now.”

“When, Sooyoung?” Yeri asked, edging into a plea. “How do we know if we can afford to wait? I… I want you. I need you.”

Sooyoung shivered at both the weight of Yeri’s words and the pull of her own hunger.

“There’ll be time. I promise,” Sooyoung said, and she meant it, despite all the unknowns that lay ahead. The Earth could already be destroyed, for all she knew. “We’ll make time.”

Yeri paused, looking over Sooyoung, their bodies still held tightly together. Sooyoung was enthralled. For all the effort she made to hurry them, to prevent them from absolutely ravaging each other right there in the open, she knew that if Yeri hesitated for even another second, she wouldn’t be able to resist.

Fortunately, the blonde relented, relaxing, breaking the stiff tension that had caught them both. Sooyoung kept her close, drew out some golden Vis so that she could fly them over. That alone was tiring, but Yeri seemed to notice this and supplied Sooyoung with more of the energy. It was odd to hold both types of Vis at once, but it wasn’t too difficult, as Sooyoung had a pretty good grasp on normal Vis.

After a short flight, they landed on the foothill. Joohyun sat with Jisoo’s head in her lap, her daughter’s hair, looking almost like a normal mother with her sleeping kid. Jennie  knelt beside them. Sooyoung hurried over, guiding Yeri by the hand, praying that Joohyun’s eldest daughter was still alive.

“How is she doing?” Sooyoung asked, noting the way Jennie’s fists clenched as she approached. On the ground, Jisoo continued to twitch and tense as if she was caught in a nightmare. Sooyoung breathed a quiet sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t dead.

Joohyun turned her head. “She will be fine. Perhaps a little angry when she awakens, but fine. It seems like your attack disrupted her Vis, but did no permanent damage. A clever move.”

Sooyoung nodded, deciding it was probably better not to mention that she barely remembered how she’d used that attack to begin with.

    “We should leave soon. We have a daunting trip ahead of us.” Joohyun said, though she made no move to stand, continuing to stare down at Jisoo.

    Sooyoung ran a hand through her hair, thinking of the week and a half journey back to Earth. Maybe the trip would be even longer, as they now had Yeri with them, who she wasn’t sure could move as quickly as they could.

    “You think Cade’s headed the same way?” Sooyoung asked, glancing up at the clouds, half-expecting to see him shooting down toward them. She almost wished for that to be true. It would be a chance to end the bastard once and for all.

    “Without a doubt,” Joohyun said, scooping Jisoo into her arms and rising, “We have little chance of catching him. My husband’s powers allow his Sirdar to traverse the Astral Plane’s shadowed corners, spaces where only his Vis dominates. He can use these as bypasses, much like we use the Astral Plane as a shortcut between spaces in your reality.”

    Jennie, who had been silent for much of the conversation, stood to face her mother.

    “I can take you there.”

    Joohyun nodded as if she’d expected that exact response. “Can you bring all three of us?”

    “It’ll take longer than usual. Cade will still beat us there, but it should take less than a day.”

    Less than a day? Sooyoung thought in awe, filling with excitement. There was hope, then.

    “What about Jisoo?” Sooyoung asked, gesturing to Jennie’s sister. “We can’t just leave her here.”

    “I gave her some of my Vis, and Jennifer did the same,” Joohyun said. “And as I said before, she is fine. We can bring her back to her quarters and put her to bed.”

    “Won’t she be angry if you help us?” Yeri asked Jennie.

    Jennie shrugged half-heartedly. “Yeah, but she’s already mad at me. I’ve sided with the enemy, in her eyes.”

    “And, more pressingly, in the eyes of your father,” Joohyun said. The words were soft, almost apologetic, but the content chilled Sooyoung greatly. “Will you join us in our battle with him on Earth?”

    Jennie shook her head. “He’s still my dad, just like you’re still my mom. I can’t fight either of you.”

    “Where will you go, then?” Joohyun asked in a whisper.

    A protracted silence followed, and Sooyoung felt Yeri shift uncomfortably against her. Sooyoung figured they could walk away - they were clearly intruding on a private exchange - but it she couldn’t think of a way to leave that wasn’t entirely awkward.

    Besides, what could she do? Just randomly float into mountains with Yeri in tow?

    “I know someone who will take me in,” Jennie said shortly, then held her arms out to take Jisoo from her mother. “I’ll take Jisoo to her bed. If she wakes up with me carrying her, she’ll be pissed, but she won’t try to hurt me.”

    Joohyun winced slightly, seemed as though she might argue, but ultimately handed her daughter over without protest.

    Jennie floated off then, and Sooyoung watched her go, rubbing her love’s shoulder and trying to make sense of the seven billion thoughts that were bouncing around inside her head. Joohyun stood in front of them, hands clasped in front of her , wind playing at her clothes and hair, looking like a lonely maiden from a war movie.

    Sooyoung thought she heard Joohyun sniffling. That couldn’t be right, though. It must have just been a trick of the wind, a monster cawing weirdly somewhere in the distance.

She pulled Yeri aside and held her close in the oppressive stillness of that cursed, dead planet.

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Probably one of my most challenging chapters to write so far, but very fun to finally get to such a pivotal point in the story. I'm sad I can't really get into Jensoo's story more, but this isn't really their story - it's Red Velvet's - so after "Starlit" is over, I might do a short story about them. Still, it was nice to explore Joohyun's interactions with them, and make them into more tangible characters than these distant , one-dimensional characters (though Jennie is obviously more fleshed out than Jisoo). Sooyoung's unique abilities are (partially) explained here, to the extent that Joohyun seems to be convinced that she's the Chosen One now, rather than Seulgi.

Next chapter will be an interlude from an unexpected character, then the following will be another Seungwan interlude. These are there to give an idea of what's going on on Earth during the time that Sooyoung and Joohyun are gone.

Thanks for reading, and remember to upvote and comment if you enjoy the story (: