Knock knock knock

Outside the little cottage, the knight measured the area, his mind wandering and wondering what the goings-on were between when he left and now. It was two years since he left his sister to the custody of his aunt, his parents some mix of understanding and thankful. Were he more capable, he would raise her himself, especially since he feared she saw this as abandonment rather than help.

The furious pondering came to a halt with the creek of the door. Through the crack, Matthew could see his sister inspecting him before slamming the door shut. Before he could utter an “uh” the door swung open, the girl delivering a deathly flying hug that pushed the titan back. When the evil doer relinquished her victim, he could see some unexpected changes took place.

The brother knew his family were abnormal in the height category, but his sister’s eye line was at his neck, and he was a freakish six foot two. “Well I guess we know you inherited the family growth. How’s it going Lucy?”

“I could ask you the same.” The girl smiled, a surreal look to her brother given he couldn’t picture her smiling, no matter how hard he tried. Now, he tried to emblaze the image in his heart. “I’m doing fine Matt, aunt Shelly is super nice. I guess I should have trusted you.”

Lucy had walked over to the couch, letting gravity decide her fate as she landed on the soft cushions. Matt had walked over to the nearby stool, turning the back around so he could sit and face his sister across the living room.

“Hey, no harm no foul. I’m just glad to see you’re happy. You are happy, aren’t you?” He raised his eyebrows at her, a glare that pierced her nerves.

“You can tell when people are lying. Why do you even need to ask?”

“Well, Eric told me to stop using that ability on my friends because its creepy. Well, Eric told Adriana who told me, but all the same, it made me realize how disturbing it could be.”

“So if I lied to your face, you wouldn’t know?”

“Depends on how good of a liar you are. I don’t need magical truth powers to discern a terrible lie.”

“Ah well. I’m happy, I have friends, and I, uh…” she stumbled, her voice trembling, “got a crush.”

“Yeah that sounds about right. You’re a teenager, that stuff is normal.” The knight reminisced about the two-year long trip, the awkward split ups where each member of his team would have their personal time. “Least you aren’t out in the woods with some strange adults. If it’s not too personal, who are your friends?”

“Oh, the sins.”

“Woah woah woah, back up. The sins? I thought you were going to be a better person.”

“Ugh, Matt!” The girl whined, “They’re not bad people. We might cause some trouble, but no one gets hurt.”

“Sure.” The brother could see the regret on his sibling’s face, her heart sinking as she wanted to take back her confession. “As long as its harmless pranks, I guess its fine. I’m not rushing out here to take on a petty theft or someone getting drenched with bucket water. Long as you don’t kidnap another princess.”

“Oh for goddess sake Matt, I’m never doing that again. It wasn’t even my idea!”

“I know, I’m just teasing.” Having thoroughly embarrassed his sister, the knight considered what she had said. “Well, at least you have friends, trouble makers or not. What are they like anyways?”

“Well, most of them live nearby. We like to get together to cause trouble some nights, and other nights we just hang out. Actually, we hang out either way, but I guess the latter times we’re chill.”

“And what about that ‘crush’? Has my little sister found a guy?” The young man watched as little sister squirmed, sweat bullets, and her face flare up as if she were about to breathe fire.

“Look, Matt, I can’t tell you who it is.” The girl buried her head in cupped hands.

“Why not? There’s no chance I’d know the guy, so I can already tell it’s because of something controversial.”

“You’re going to keep asking until I tell you, aren’t you?” The girl didn’t remove her head, instead trying in vain to hide her embarrassment and the oncoming truth.

“Yep. Besides, if you can’t tell your brother something, who can you trust with such vital information?”

“My aunt, my friends, the person themself.”

“Touche. Still, I should still be on that list somewhere. You can make room for your brother and tell him, right?”

At this point, a house could ram Lucy and she wouldn’t be able to feel it over the burning discomfort of the situation. “Fine! It’s not who you think.”

“That’s descriptive. The most conservative guess is that they’re not from Lumina, but that’s so stupid I don’t know why I asked.” The knight knew why he brought it up: to make his sister laugh, or at least less pained with the situation, but it was for naught. “Is it one of the sins?”

The girl refused to answer, via words or by shaking her head to confirm or deny.

“Going to go with no then. Is he a human?”

“No.” Matthew was shook, not necessarily by the answer, but that his sister had braved the ocean of awkwardness and swam to the shore of being able to answer.

“Is he a devil?”

“Maaaatt!” The girl chimed in with another whine.

“Alright I’ll take that as a yes.” The knight was forming an image of the man in his head, based on what he recalled a guardian looking like. “So, you have a crush on a devil bo- wait! Is it a boy?”

The girl groaned harshly, covering her face with a nearby pillow that still couldn’t completely hide her entirely scarlet face.

“Ah, devil girl then. Interesting choice, can’t say I blame you. I can’t wait to tell my friends about this.”

In an instant, the girl removed the pillow from her still red head and rushed up to brother’s face, her nose pressing against his. “I swear if you tell anyone about this, I will choke you with this pillow!”

“I promise, but can I ask what that bracelet around your wrist is?”

Pulling her head away, Lucy threw the pillow back on to its home, taking in a breath while raising her wrist to eye level. The band around her arm was metallic, a tight fit with a clear line on where it released and clamped together. “It’s an inhibitor, it’s for suppressing mana. I have one on my other wrist too.”

“Why would-you don’t use mana though. Why would you wear that and who gave it to you?”

“Aunt Shelly gave it to me. She said that since I can’t seem to gather much mana on my own, the best hope I could have would be to use these inhibitors to build enough to do at least feel what it’s like.”

“I’m sorry Lucy.” Her brother kept his sight on the bracelet, looking at solemnly.

“For what?” She tilted her head to try and see his face as he angled it down.

“That you have to do something like that.” Matthew sighed. “The rest of the world has it is easy, never having to wonder what’s it like not being able to use mana in any capacity. In that way, you’re stronger than anyone I know, because you live with something the rest of us fear and can’t comprehend.”

“I suppose. I just don’t think about it anymore, no one bothers me about it and I can still transform into Envy anyways.”

“Envy? That devil form? That uses mana, doesn’t it?”

“No, because Wish Granter consumes mana, but it never bothers me.”

“That’s strange. I never thought about it, but I guess whatever is affecting you has no control over that form. Maybe I can use that to find an answer.”

“Why don’t we get ice cream?”

Lucy’s suggestion had knocked her brother back, unsure where it came from. He wanted to talk more about the strange ability, question how it worked, but he figured she must have gotten tired of all this.

“Sure, but what about Shelly?”

“She’ll probably think I left with my friends. I stay out late all the time. Besides, Umbro isn’t that far, we’ll be back before sunset.”

“By the way Matt,” Lucy turned to face her brother as the two began their journey to Umbro’s main city, Davark, “Did Sarah tell you what happened when she came by?”

“Sarah visited you? She never told me that.”

“Heh, well, it was interesting to say the least.”