Chapter 21: I don’t need friends

“Ar… cane?” Fate asks, her normally unbreakable composure shattering in an instant. Recovering her skin burns, but leaving the ashes on her dress untouched, Arcane straightens up and looks at her sister, quickly looking up and down to make sure she’s untouched. Once she confirms that, she turns to look at the group of boys in front of her.

“Who are you?” The lead boy who conjured the flaming dragon demands, his hand still outstretched in the position he cast the spell from. “What are you doing?”

Arcane doesn’t answer, marching forward to stand right in front of the boy. Then she suddenly draws back her arm and punches him hard in the face, stepping quickly to the side to dodge the spurt of blood that comes from his broken nose as he collapses backwards, slamming into the concrete ground and passing out instantly. Glaring at all the other boys, who stare at her with wide eyes, she lets her own magic pressure fall on all of them at once and forces them to stumble backwards before regaining their posture.

“Get out of my sight.” She growls, kicking the unconscious boy into three others and waving for them all to leave. They do, fleeing in every conceivable direction except towards the pair of girls with pale and cyan hair, one of whom is still staring, dumbfounded, at the other. Arcane waits until they all vanish, along with everyone else in the courtyard, before turning back to Fate and staring at her for a long time.

“Those were good questions…” Fate starts before trailing off, trying to regain her usual arrogant attitude but completely unable to. Arcane, trembling, suddenly jumps forward and embraces her sister in a tight hug, crying softly into her shoulder. Fate simply stands there, unmoving, her face frozen with her mouth half open as she tries to process what is going on.

“I was so worried!” Arcane sobs, shuddering as she holds her youngest sister tightly. “Why did you do something so dangerous!”

“Wha…. Huh… I… What?!” Fate shouts, trying to push Arcane off of her but unable to compete with the other girl’s enhanced strength. Completely unable to understand what is going on, Fate slurs her words and nearly bites her own tongue in the process. Trying to bring a hand to her mouth, she struggles against the too tight grip of Arcane before collapsing onto the ground.

Arcane lets her go, sitting in front of her and leaning back, still with tears in her eyes. After several deep breaths and long blinks, Fate manages to convince herself she is not dreaming or something and that what just happened just happened.

“Okay… Why are you here, Arcane?” Fate asks finally, not really sure how to deal with her crying sister. With the events from yesterday still running through her mind, she finds herself unable to maintain her regular mask and so reverts to acting naturally in the hopes that something will come of it.

“Sniff… I was worried about you yesterday… huck… so I talked to Rain… sniff… And she said you were being bullied… sniff… so I came to see… sniff… because I didn’t want to believe it… sniff... but you were… huck... and it was even worse than she said… sniff… and then I was about to leave… sniff… then they surrounded you… huck… and I was so scared…” Arcane says through her sobs, liquid flowing from her eyes and her nose as she tries to talk.

Fate sat through that barely intelligible explanation, her face twitching as she thought about the events yesterday and of today that Arcane might have watched. Finally having enough of the tear filled spiel, Fate holds up her hand and shakes her head. “Alright, alright, I get it. Heavens, Arcane, there’s no need to be so dramatic. That sort of thing happens all the time…” oh damn, she thinks as she accidentally says that, well aware it will have the opposite effect.

And sure enough, Arcane half rises, her eyes flashing with fury and her tears vanishing beneath pure rage. “All the time? All the time?! Someone dares…. To my sister… All the time?!?!”

“It’s nothing you need be concerned about.” Fate says quickly, trying to cool down her for some reason furious sister. “Calm down, Arcane. It’s normal. They can’t hurt me anyway.”

“Fate.” Arcane says, her voice ominously calm and controlled. Looking up at her sister’s face, Fate finds herself unable to look away from the blazing eyes that seem to contain a terrible fury locked within. Nodding uncertainly, she unconsciously leans back to get away from those eyes. “I told you, didn’t I? Nobody hurts my sisters, not even me. That means emotionally, that means attempted, that means everything. Do you understand me?”

Fate is almost overwhelmed by the pressure she has never seen from her older sister, but at the last moment she catches herself. Tearing her eyes away, she recollects herself and puts her arrogant mask back on, filling herself with an anger no less than that of her sister in quantity, though it was considerably lacking in quality. With that as her weapon, she returns to facing her sister.

“You think you have the power to promise such a thing? Dream on, Arcane! Stop pretending you can fix everything and realize that the world isn’t perfect!” Fate shouts, pushing herself up to her knees so she is looking down on Arcane.

Arcane rises even higher, her eyes still blazing with fury. “And why shouldn’t it be? We are supposed to be the strongest, you and I! If we can’t do it, who else will?”

“Nobody can!” Fate screams, jumping to her feet and glaring at the similarly standing Arcane with fury. “It’s impossible!”

“Nothing is impossible!” Arcane replies, spreading her arms and indicating the massive city around them.

“This is!” Fate screams back, not backing down. “You’re living in a fairy tale!”

“So what?” Arcane retaliates, the world reshaping itself around her as she lets her massive power loose. “If I can make it reality, if I can remake the world into what I want it to be, why shouldn’t I?”

“Because you can’t!” Fate yells back.

“I can!” Arcane sends back.

“No, you can’t!”

“Yes, I can!”

“No, you can’t!”

“Yes, I can! And if I can’t we can!”

Fate pauses at that, glaring at her sister. Following up on the successful blow, Arcane adds, “Stop pretending you like the way things are! Stop pretending you don’t want to change things! Be yourself, Fate! Be whoever you want to be, then make the world accept you if you’re scared they won’t!”

“I can’t!” Fate shouts, wetness now on her face as well. “I’m not like you!”

“Yes you are!” Arcane screams, gesturing to the powerful magic storms around both of them as their emotions rise higher and higher. “We’re sisters, aren’t we?”

“I hate you!” Fate screams, her arrogance vanishing and real emotions coming out, in a way. “We’re sisters, so I always have to be compared to you! But you always have to be the best! You always have to win! Why do you always have to be so perfect? You’re not my mother! Why can’t you just stop trying to stick your nose into every little thing, making it all your way! I hate it, and I hate you!”

“Stop lying to yourself!” Arcane shouts, the pressure of her storm of bright blue energy pushing down on Fate’s darker version. “You don’t hate anyone, Fate! I can tell. You don’t want to be enemies with anyone, you don’t want to fight, you don’t want to constantly be called names and made fun of and left alone in a corner. I know you’re scared…”

“What could you possibly know about me!?!” Fate screams, her own storm surging out in a counterattack. “Like you’d ever know what it’s like to be hated, to be rejected and feared! Don’t you dare pretend to understand me, because you damn well don’t!”

“Yes I do!” Arcane yells back, brilliant blue light bursting out of the encirclement of darkness. Swirling like a hurricane of lightning, it drives towards Fate and the shell of darkness surrounding her, pounding against it. “Do you really think anyone treats me like a friend? Do you really think I have ever been able to go anywhere and be treated like a regular girl, to be ignored if I want to be ignored or scolded if I want to be scolded? Do you think anyone ever dares do anything other than pretend to be my friend, with fear in their eyes that I’ll just crush them by accident someday, because they’re terrified that I’ll do it on purpose otherwise? Do you think I’m so naive as to be oblivious to that, Fate?! Do you really dare to say I don’t understand?! I understand all too well, because we are exactly the same!!!”

Fate glares back at her, silent, as the shell of dark energy around her trembles under the ceaseless assaults of the hurricane of blue lightning. Breathing deeply and hard, she relaxes slightly and shrinks the shell of darkness.

“I didn’t realize.” Fate says in a subdued voice, barely audible over the raging noise of the hurricane around them. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” Arcane says, finally seeming to notice the rampant magic and drawing it back into herself. Closing her eyes and exhaling firmly, she stretched out her hand to Fate. “Forgiven?”

“Forgiven.” Fate replies, taking her sister’s hand and shaking it once.

“Excellent. Now…” Arcane continues hesitantly, looking around at the ruined schoolyard. “Um… where exactly do you live? I don’t really have a place to spend the night.”

“Seriously?” Fate mutters back, rolling her eyes. “Fine. Follow me.”

The two girls make their way through the wrecked schoolyard and out into the streets of Magia, Fate repeatedly shaking her head as she thinks about the events of today. After a few minutes spent in silence she decides to break it, calling out to Arcane who is walking next to her, curiously examining the surrounding city.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“Were you the reason Rain kept peeking at me today?” Fate asks, remembering something Arcane had mentioned during her initial crying spree.

“I don’t know, probably. She seemed concerned when I told her about you crying by yourself.” Arcane shrugs, still focusing on the nearby diners.

Fate grinds her teeth next to her, trying to get mad and failing. Sighing, she shakes her head and continues walking. “Did you ever think that maybe I didn’t want her to know?”

“Mm.” Arcane assents, obviously not paying attention. Fate bumps into her, glaring at her sister until she gives in and elaborates. “Oh, fine, I maybe shouldn’t have done that. But, Fate…”

“What?” The pale haired girl snaps.

“Rain cares about you, you know.” Arcane says with a smile, looking into the distance. “She was even prepared to defy me to protect you. Until I told her she didn’t trust me and did everything she could to prevent me getting closer to you.”

“Now I really wish you hadn’t.” Fate mutters, closing her eyes. When she opens them Arcane is glaring back, standing directly in front of her. “What?” She whines, walking around to avoid running into Arcane.

“Stop it. Now.” Arcane orders, moving to block Fate’s passage forward again.

Fate pauses for a second and then nods. Taking a deep breath, she corrects what she said a second ago. “Ok, you’re right, I’m really not mad. I’m really grateful that my sisters care so much… Hellfire, is it always this hard being honest? It’s so embarrassing.” She blushes, ducking her face.

In front of her Arcane laughs and falls into step beside her, shaking her head. “Nope. It actually becomes pretty easy once you practice it. You just have to get started.”

“I certainly hope so, because I’ll die if I have to keep doing this otherwise.” Fate complains, though most of her aggression and tension is gone from her voice.

Both girls giggle at that, though both know it isn't really a joke. They chat a bit more as they walk through the streets, mostly about the city around them. Fate quickly grows frustrated with Arcane’s curiosity, which the other girl notices and changes the topic to avoid. Though her social ignorance is displayed by her choice of subject.

“So, what exactly was going on yesterday?” Arcane asks without any buildup, causing Fate to miss a step before immediately catching herself.

Caught off guard by the suddenness of the question, Fate remains silent for a while before replying. “What, exactly, do you mean?” She returns at last, looking straight forward and pretending ignorance.

“Oh, sorry. I didn't mean about you… I mean, I would like to know, but only if you want to talk about it, so…” Arcane says hastily, her eyes wandering.

“I wouldn't.” Fate rejects instantly.

“Yeah, I figured, so, um… I was kind of wondering what was going on with that test and such. It just seemed kind of pointless, after all. We broke it once and they let us have the rest of the day to ourselves… Don't you think that's strange?” Arcane explains, gesturing wildly to illustrate her point and looking at Fate pleadingly, hoping she understands.

Fate slowly nods, relaxing her tension as she comprehends what Arcane meant by that unfortunately vague initial phrasing. It doesn't get her any closer to a good answer, though. “You're right, it was odd, but breaking the test in the first place was odd so there's that.”

“But even with that, the way they reacted was strange!” Arcane insists, raising her voice a bit before looking around and dropping her tone. “I mean, don't they usually have something else for us to do the entire time? It was like they weren't interested in us anymore after that.”

“Arcane.” Fate says, demanding that her sister stop and listen for a bit. “You broke the test by activating magic which, theoretically, could be an anti-universe class destructive weapon, and you are surprised they were more interested in analyzing that rather than giving us busy work to do? Or am I reading this wrong?”

“... I guess you have a point.” Arcane admits. “But it's not like anyone else could ever activate that… Or even that we could, honestly. In the real world we’d have to perfectly harmonize our powers without our minds being linked by the program, and that's impossible. Unless we could control each other's powers, it simply cannot be done.”

“I know that.” Fate says simply, pointing to herself. “You know that, and our sisters all know that.” She moves her finger to point at Arcane, and then in the direction they are walking. “But the researchers and instructors very likely do not know that, or they wouldn't have been so concerned right after we did it.”

“... When did you become so good at reading people?” Arcane wonders.

“I'm not. This was just obvious.” Fate replies, shrugging.

“Okay.” Arcane says. “So, about the other thing yesterday…”

“I told you I don't want to talk about it.” Fate growls, glaring at her sister as they walk past a loud and crowded street. Once they're past Arcane waves her hands again to ward of her sister’s hostility.

“No, no, I'm not asking you to. I'm just saying it might help if you opened up to Rain about it sometime… Or just somebody. It's not good to keep your emotions bottled up like that all the time, you know.” Arcane explains, forcing her voice to sound cheerful.

Fate glares at her a while longer, then sighs and nods. “I guess. I'll think about it, okay? But that's all I'll promise, you hear me?!”

“Good enough for me!” Arcane cheers with real joy, spinning around suddenly and raising her hands in a victory pose.

“Heavens you’re annoying.” Fate mutters, though both know she doesn’t mean it.

The two girls reach an elaborate apartment building as she says that, Fate leading the way to the door and walking straight through it. Arcane runs into an invisible forcefield, staggering back and growling in annoyance before Fate smiles and reaches back to pull her through.

“I could have dealt with it.” Arcane complains, pulling free once she’s through.

Fate merely laughs. “Of course you could,” she agrees, “But I’d prefer not to have the security system hacked every time you visit.”

“Fair enough.” Arcane shrugs, giving in easily to her sister’s request.

The two walk through the lobby to a wide vertical shaft open to the sky. Looking up, Arcane turns to Fate and raises her eyebrow. Understanding the question, Fate mutters “ninth floor” and jumps straight up. Arcane nods and does the same, both girls floating upwards under the nonexistent gravity until they reach the ninth floor, where they are pulled to the side and land gently in one of the hallways.

Fate leads the way, walking easily through the corridor towards a door which opens to let her in. Within, Stone looks up as the pair enter and nods in greeting.

“Hey. I was going to ask why you were late, but now I see the answer… What’cha doin’ ’ere, Arcane?” Stone says, slipping in an absolutely abysmal accent for the latter question.

“Experiencing unprecedented misuse of language, apparently.” Arcane replies, wincing.

“That bad?” Stone asks, returning to her normal speaking tone. “Anyway, was that you two fighting a few minutes ago? Rain’s been calling you since it started, Fate.”

“Oh, so that’s what that was…” Fate mutters, swiping her hand through the air and nodding.

“I wouldn’t call it fighting, exactly… we were just talking.” Arcane adds, glancing over at Fate.

“Talking with enough power to level half a city… You two really do get along, don’t you?” Stone mutters, shrugging and returning to the examination of a black box oven. Arcane, seeing that, walks over to help.

“No, no, no, you can’t just put the ingredients in and let the stove take care of it. You have to properly mix them, like so…” Arcane instructs, opening the box and withdrawing several packages and utensils which she sets on top of the box. Smiling pleasantly, she adds several together and starts mixing them up as the other two watch.

“It’s always worked before…” Stone mutters, shrugging and stepping back.

“Of course it works, it’s just not very good…” Arcane explains, tapping the stove and pulling several spices from the produced drawer.

Fate feels a tapping on her shoulder, and turns around to find Rain looking at her, and past towards Arcane. Her mostly expressionless face has a clear hint of reproach that Fate grimaces at.

“I was worried.” Rain declares, glaring at Fate.

“Ugh… I was kind of busy, sorry.” Fate apologizes, bowing her head briefly.

Rain continues to look at her for a while, then nods and moves to stand next to her. She looks into the kitchen and sees Arcane and Stone arguing about the proper method of cooking with automatic technology. “She came today…” Rain mutters. “Surprising.”

“That reminds me, She said something about talking to you yesterday…” Fate says, eyeing Rain suspiciously.

“Lips are sealed.” Rain replies, drawing her finger across her lips.

“I see…” Fate breathes, looking back towards Arcane and Stone and talking as if to herself. “Then I believe I don’t need to mention how if any word of certain events yesterday get out I would be forced to retaliate quite harshly towards the perpetrator…”

“Threats ineffective.” Rain deadpans, not even twitching.

“Oh, damn it, fine. Please don’t say anything, okay?” Fate pleads, lowering her voice and clasping her hands towards Rain.

The blue haired girl gives her an odd look and then nods, causing Fate to breath a sigh of relief. “Was wrong, she did help.” Rain adds as both look towards Arcane, who has effectively managed to find something wrong with every part of Stone’s cooking process. The other girl still stands stubbornly next to her, folding her arms and glaring at the meal being prepared Arcane’s way.

“I’d like to disagree, but fine, if it makes you happy.” Fate complains, rolling her eyes.

The food is ready a few minutes later, and all four girls take a seat at the table while Arcane serves personally, not allowing the stove to display its full functionality. Stone mutters complaints about unnecessary work, which Arcane splendidly ignores as she does things her way.

“Well?” Arcane asks after the other three have eaten a bit, asking for evaluations.

“About the same.” Stone insists, working her way through the food with a stoic face.

Rain looks up and nods. “Good.”

Fate is the last to speak, making Arcane stare at her for half a minute before she finally says “Edible, I guess.”

Arcane rolls her eyes and throws up her hands at all her sisters. “Really, is it that hard to admit that a little extra effort can make everything taste better? Do you all hate cooking that much?”

“Yes.” Stone says instantly.

“Of course.” Fate adds.

“...” Rain just nods without saying anything.

“I am so done with you people.” Arcane says, mock turning away and getting up to leave. She then sits down and eats like the rest of them, quickly devouring the food she herself made with a satisfied expression on her face.

“Flame and Dawn?” Rain asks during the meal, indicating it to make it clear what she is talking about.

Arcane smiles and shakes her head. “They’ll be fine. Dawn’s good at doing most anything, if a bit overzealous, and Flame loves cooking… or trying to. Fortunately Dawn’s there to fix whatever disastrous mess she makes in the process.”

“Try hards.” Stone decides, pushing her plate back. “If it works, don’t fix it.”

“But what if you can make it work better? Would you stop practicing magic just because it’s good enough, Stone?” Arcane rebuts, raising an eyebrow.

“There’s a difference.” Stone insists. “Food is easy. Magic is complicated.”

“I’d say it’s the other way around.” Fate returns. “Magic is easy, which is why it’s worthwhile to perfect. Cooking is hard, so it’s useless.”

“And you always only take the easy route?” Arcane asks, narrowing her eyes.

“Why wouldn’t you? If both get you to the destination.” Fate asks, finishing her plate and returning Arcane’s gaze.

“Um, I don’t like where this is going.” Stone mutters, leaning back to avoid the imminent confrontation.

“Because perhaps the easy way is not the best way, and doesn’t always get you all the benefits along the way. Or maybe because the so called easy way only seems that way but is actually harder.” Arcane replies, giving herself a second serving. Taking a bite of food, she chews without breaking eye contact with Fate.

“Oh, and I suppose you’re the only one who can be the judge of that, right?” Fate demands, squeezing hard on her silverware.

“I never said I was the one to be the judge at all.” Arcane denies.

“But you certainly thought it.” Fate challenges, pointing accusingly at Arcane. “Because you alone have the ability to decide what’s right and what’s wrong for everyone.”

“Should we leave?” Stone asks, looking around at everyone. Once she is ignored she drops her shoulders and tries to avoid entering anyone’s line of sight.

“I am not saying anything of the sort.” Arcane replies, cutting her food with easy, calm motions in contrast to her too harsh eyes and set lips.

“That’s a load of garbage!” Fate shouts, slamming her fist onto the table. Rain pulls the cushioning layer of water back once she lifts her hand, forming it into an orb next to her half eaten plate. Fate whirls around and glares at her. “Stay out of this.”

“Protecting furniture.” Rain explains, protesting her innocence.

“Fate, she didn’t do anything wrong. Stop lashing out at others just because you’re uncomfortable.” Arcane says, taking a drink from her glass.

Fate turns her venomous glare on Arcane, eyes flashing with anger. “Stop sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong!”

“I would think that protecting my sister is where I belong, if anywhere.” Arcane replies, putting her utensils down with steady hands.

“Oh, and you’ve been so good at that, haven’t you?” Fate growls, raising her hands. “Only showing up where you’re not wanted, pretending to be a goody two shoes all the bloody time. Go away and leave us alone, why don’t you? It’d be better than what you are doing!”

“Could we please not right now?” Stone pleads, covering her ears and looking away. Rain, on the other hand, looks back and forth between her sisters with a variety of emotions flowing through her deep blue eyes.

“I can’t do that, Fate. You know I can’t.” Arcane apologizes, shaking her head and folding her hands into her lap.

“Why not? Are you saying our opinions don’t matter?” Fate growls back. “Just what I’d expect-”

“Fate!” Arcane shouts, silencing the other girl with the sheer force of her words. “I’m just trying to help you.”

“... you can’t.” Fate says softly, letting her eyes and head fall.

“Who says?” Arcane asks, looking around at the three sisters all staring at her. “Aren’t we the strongest ever? Aren’t we the future leaders of this nation? If we can’t help one of our own, what good are we? We can do anything, dammit, no matter who stands in our way.”

“No, you can’t.” Fate says, shaking her head. “Even if all that is true, we can’t.”

“And why not?” Arcane asks, looking back to Fate with a triumphant smile on her face. “Who’s going to stop us…”

“You can’t control people, Arcane!” Fate shouts, standing up abruptly and slamming her palms onto the table. “I know you have this naive little dream about how this utopia of yours will work but it’s not bloody possible, do you understand me? People are not the good, obedient little pawns you seem to have imagined. They are spiteful, malicious, envious, greedy, proud, cruel, and evil monsters masking themselves in the guise of virtue! They’re chaotic, uncontrollable, and malevolent! You can’t make them be nice, you can’t make them stop hating each other! No matter how powerful we are, it simply cannot be done!”

“...” Arcane remains silent, the triumph gone from her face and an expression of deep thought replacing it as she stares at Fate.

“Do you understand that?” Fate pants, breathing heavily after her rant.

“I know.” Arcane says quietly. “I’ve always known.”

“That’s…” Fate starts, raising her voice before frowning and stopping. “You know?”

“Yes, I do.” Arcane says, looking off into the distance. “I know that most of the universe hates us, and would rather see us all dead now than ever allow us to grow up. I know that every little kid at our schools hates the fact that we are stronger than them, and wants to bring us down by whatever method they can imagine. I know it probably far better than you do, because I actually read the reports on the assassination attempts and why we are always surrounded by guards, no matter where we go. You think of me as naive, don’t you? I guess, in a way, I am.” Arcane smiles, sardonically, mocking herself. “On my way here I left five assassins unconscious behind me, all alive and unarrested. Yesterday, while you were all playing online, I blocked two attempts to hack into our brains. There used to be more… I also listen, constantly. You hear them every once in awhile, the sounds of fighting coming from the bodyguards we are constantly under the protection of. Zealots, envious malcontents, political dissidents, foreign agents, reckless daredevils… All sorts of people who want us dead, or at least to make us aware that they do. I suppose, the fact that I still believe in anything at this point is kind of naive. Even so, I will not change my mind.”

Rain, Stone, and Fate all stare at her in shock, even Rain’s usual implacable nature overwhelmed by the sheer shock she had experienced. Arcane simply picks up her silverware and continues to eat, not minding the appalled looks her sisters give her. After a few minutes of shocked silence, Stone finally recovers enough to move.

“Two… I’ve never heard… How did you?” Stone stammers, placing her ear against the wall and shaking her head.

“Your guards are quite skilled; I should know, of course. I help hire them.” Arcane replies, still eating calmly.

“... Lying.” Rain says simply, but everyone can hear that she herself doesn’t believe it. “Hacked… would have noticed… maybe…”

“How do…” Fate starts, taking a deep breath. “How can you be that stupid? If you know all that, then why?”

“Because I trust in humans, Fate.” Arcane cuts her off, holding her glass up and swirling it in her hand. “Not all of them, not even most of them, but some. That’s all I’m asking of you.”

“You want me to trust… humans?” Fate asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Not humans in general. A few… friends, I guess.” Arcane elaborates, shrugging while taking a drink.

“I don’t need any friends.” Fate declines, harshly. “I’m fine on my own.”

Arcane raises an eyebrow and doesn’t reply immediately. Finally, she looks around the table at Rain, Stone, and Fate. Focusing for a while on that last one, she sighs and sets her glass back on the table.

“I do.” Arcane says softly, yet all three hear it quite clearly.

“What?” Fate asks, unsure what is going on.

“I need friends. So, my beloved sisters, how about it? Will you be my friends?” Arcane asks, meeting each of their eyes one by one.

Stone is the first to shrug and nod. “I thought we already were.”

Rain slowly inclines her head and raises it. “Not opposed.”

Arcane finally turns to Fate, who shakes her head again. “I told you, I don’t need any friends.”

“I’m not asking for you.” Arcane says. “I’m asking for me. Won’t you help me, sister? No, won’t you help this weak me, Fate?”

Fate looks from Arcane to Rain and Stone and back. Finally she drops her shoulders and sighs. “You’re not leaving me a whole lot of choices here. Fine, I’ll be your friend, Arcane.” Fate stretches out her hand, which Arcane takes happily and clasps tightly.

“Friends.” Arcane says, shaking it once.

“Friends.” Fate repeats, nodding as Rain and Stone add their hands to the pile and repeat. “Friends.”