savetheearth | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Jasmine and Lily
What: Aftermath of the Blood Keys encounter
Where: Jasmine and Lily's home
When: January 10th

Jasmine had done something monumentally stupid. She had put herself at risk, as well as everyone who'd come looking for her. She'd done something monumentally selfish and self-centered.

And now, she thought, it seemed like par for the course.

Since returning home with Lily, Jasmine had moved about the house in a drone-like state. She only ate, slept, and occasionally checked her phone. She didn't go to school, and spent most of her time in her room. Her ever present sketchbook was left unattended.

But her mind... Jasmine's mind was a storm. She constantly mulled over the memory she'd encountered, and had to constantly remind herself that... oh hey, she was an inhuman freak now and what she thought was natural before ended up bending her fork, or breaking a pencil, or cracking the screen of her iPhone slightly without even trying.

Everything she suspected was true. She was unnatural. And what's more, she was one of the bad guys... an enemy of that Cerise girl, one of those Desert Apostles, and...

... and her sister's enemy.

She didn't even have a name. Just a title. "Dark Precure".

It was too much. Jasmine couldn't bear to look her sister in the eye, much less be around her. She sat alone, in her room, hugging her legs and hoping beyond hope that everyone else would just leave her alone.

She couldn't face Lily, or anyone. She couldn't even face herself.

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Lily took a deep breath, and let out another, much more frustrated-sounding sigh.

"Dammit, Jasmine!"

She stood up and spun around, looking down at her, a vague trace of tears stinging her eyes. That she cursed at all was telling to just how far this had pushed her.

"Talk to me! I don't care about whatever you saw, I only care about you in this. I can forgive you getting some stupid idea in your head to go wandering into the Dead District, but you can't just shut down on me like this! We have too many other problems without us sticking together. I will do anything I can to help you, but whatever you saw, whatever you might be remembering... That's not who you ARE now. You are Jasmine Tsukuyomi. You are my little sister."

She let out another breath and calmed herself, reaching up and rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses.

"Please."

"..."

Jasmine looked down, shaking. Lily... she wanted to know. It was hurting her not to know... but if she told her, Jasmine was certain Lily would hate her. She said she wouldn't, but she knew... she knew if she actually said it...

...

No. She couldn't live like this. She had to let it out... she owed it to Lily... if Lily hated her, it was what she deserved. Whatever she was... she didn't deserve the illusion, no matter what Lily said. And Jasmine didn't deserve a sister like Lily.

It was time to rip off the bandage.

"I saw... I saw... I saw a girl who looked just like Cerise, and another one who... who I also fought.

"I saw an army of black soldiers... they looked like puppets stuffed with sand. There was a woman there... we were on the same side... we fought them, but not together..."

Jasmine took a deep breath, and clung to her pillow so hard it began to tear the fabric.

"... I saw you. I didn't know why, but... for some reason, I-I knew I hated you... and... and I remembered what my name was... I remembered that I was called..."

Jasmine squeaked, and forced herself to continue.

"I was called Dark Precure."

Edited 2014-01-11 05:28 (UTC)

And then it hit her. An echo a great degree worse than anything else she had experienced so far short of her very first one.

Her sister, standing over the defeated forms of what looked like Cerise and... that other girl, from another memory...

She was menacing. She looked deadly. She had one giant black demonic wing.

...and those creatures...

...

That was the least of things, now, in spite of what they looked to be.

Lily started to stumble back, dazed. She held her head and shook it.

"N- no... that's not... That's not right. That can't be right. You wouldn't do that, you wouldn't hurt Cerise or anyone like her, that..."

She drew in a sharp breath, looking at her sister. She had to collect her thoughts. Lily had to be calm not for herself, but for Jasmine. There would be time to figure this out later, but...

"Jasmine, I... I'm sorry..."

"No..." Jasmine sobbed. "I'm sorry...! I'm sorry!"

She buried her face in her hands. "I've loved you more than anyone else, Lily! More than papa! More than any so-called friends! You were always there for me! You were there every time I ditched school! Every time I got in trouble! Every time I doubted myself, or when I didn't know what to do!"

She choked a bit, then continued. "And yet... When I got that echo... When I saw you... I didn't feel love... I didn't feel any of that! The only thing I felt when I saw you then... was hate. Nothing but... Nothing but hate...!"

Jasmine looked down, tears now falling freely. "Don't you dare be sorry... Don't you dare... I'm the monster, not you!"

Lily just stared at her sister through all of that. She looked down, still trying to take calming breaths. Couldn't hide or stop the tears welling up, though. She clenched a fist and after several moments, made herself look back up, staring Jasmine straight in the eye.

"What you saw... It doesn't matter. You're still my sister. You were still born to the same beautiful, loving woman that I was. You still make fun of me for almost burning down our house when I was eight, because I was trying to bake you a birthday cake and didn't know what on Earth I was doing. You're still the same little girl I would take care of when she was sick. All of that... it's still the same, isn't it?"

She knelt down beside the bed, reaching out a hand for her. She tried to smile.

"I saw the same thing, just now. But... I know it isn't you. I know it won't be you, because I won't let it. Your heart is your own, and I'll protect that for all I'm worth. Because I'm your sister, because I watched you grow up with me, because I love you. I will fight to keep you safe, Sis. Why else do you think I came out there? You had so many people willing to drop everything they were doing to help you. To protect you. Winter has told me herself she cares about what happens to the both of us. So... we'll get through this. We'll find a way."

As Lily spoke, Jasmine sat there on the bed, trembling. Lily's words came one after the other, slowly sinking in... and once her sister took her hand, she visibly shuddered.

Her sister... she saw it in her eyes. She remembered too. Her story... it must have awakened the memory in Lily as well. And yet... now she was saying... despite knowing the same thing she did...

She still cared about her.

Jasmine let Lily take her hand, and looked down, continuing to cry. Objectively, she knew Lily was right. People had come to help her. Winter... Winter especially cared about her a great deal. So why... why couldn't she realize the same things Lily was saying?

...

The truth of it came to Jasmine like a bolt from the blue, and it wasn't the result of an echo.

"I'm sorry," she softly squeaked. "I... I guess it's hard to realize... realize all of that because... I never felt good about myself, Lily. I clung to you, I followed you, you were my only friend... because I couldn't see myself as a good person... And now these echoes, I... It showed me all of that, and..."

Jasmine sobbed, choking on her tears again as she brought her forehead against Lily's hand.

"Even before the echoes, I thought I didn't belong anywhere, like I had no future, like I was worse than you! And now... now it's just gotten so much worse! I've always looked to you for strength, and the idea of hating you... it felt like I was losing the one thing I..."

Jasmine couldn't finish what she was going to say. She just continued to cry, holding onto Jasmine's hand desperately, as if it were her only lifeline, and if she were without it, she'd slip away...

Edited 2014-01-14 02:50 (UTC)

Lily by then couldn't hold back her own tears. She cried silently, but freely, and just let her sister talk. In truth, she had realized these things about Jasmine before this whole mess. She would be a terrible sister if she hadn't, she thought.

She had thought that just being there for her, helping her, would be enough. Evidently, that hadn't been the case, and that fact alone tore into her heart like a knife.

So, she reached out, pulling Jasmine down into a hug with her other arm.

"You won't lose me. You can't. I will not let that happen. Ever. And I won't be the only one to help you, either. Remember that it's not just you who isn't alone, we aren't. We'll face whatever comes, and then we'll move on together. You are talented, and smart, and we all have our whole futures ahead of us. These other lives aren't that. They're the past, and you aren't that. We won't let this pull us down, not after this long. Understand?"

Jasmine quietly nodded, unable to do anything but whimper. She clung to Lily as hard as she could, burying her face in Lily's chest as she continued to cry.

"I'll.... I'll do my best," she finally forced out. "For you... for everyone who tried to save me... and... I'll do it for myself too."

She looked up at Lily, finally forcing a smile. "If you can believe in me... I will at least a little bit..."

Lily pulled back a little ways, smiling warmly at her. She sniffled a bit, and reached up to dry her own eyes.

"Good. I know you can, and... I wouldn't want anything to happen that'd hurt us. Or hurt you. We'll work through this," she said.

Mentally, though, she noted something to herself... She'd gotten a few echoes in that incident, as well. The memory of transforming, that medallion, the name "Cure Moonlight." It hurt her to do so, but... she kept it to herself, for now.

If Cure Moonlight and Dark Precure were really such enemies, then... Lily owed it to Jasmine to find out more, before doing or saying something that would trigger more pain for her.

It was her responsibility.

"Now," she said, and reached out again, this time trying to wipe Jasmine's tears. "We need to put this behind us. And you probably need to eat."

Jasmine nodded, pulling away and wiping her nose a bit. Even now, she was a bit of a slob.

"Alright," she said. "I'll let you make it... even if... if it risks killing us all..."

Oh Jasmine. Only you could say that and mean it in a heartfelt way.

Lily's warm expression fell to be completely deadpan. It wasn't done that seriously, but very few beyond maybe Jasmine would be able to tell as such.

"I was eight. EIGHT."

"And you still haven't learned your lesson not to use the stove," Jasmine replied, her grin growing wider. "And you wonder why I keep harping on you..."

Lily pulled back and crossed her arms, sticking her nose in the air.

"In that case, you could just fend for yourself, if you'd like!"

Jasmine just stood up and laughed haughtily, though her voice was a bit strained due all the crying.

"Good then. I'll go make the greasiest, most artery clogging thing possible..!"

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Then I'll just make a salad, then, thanks. Really, I don't know where that stuff goes on you."

"You're just jealous I can eat like this and still look so good."

She laughed, finally, and reached over to hug Lily tightly.

"I love you sis..."

Hearing her laugh made Lily feel considerably better, and she smiled again, hugging her back.

"And you know I love you too."

Dinner would still happen, but for the moment she wasn't going to rush it. For right then, just sitting there with her sister was enough.

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