A Big Sister's Promise

Starting Anew

Tourmaline ran away from her father's main base, holding a small, sleeping child in her arms.

It was dangerous what she was doing, and she very much knew that. But if it meant the child could be safe, it would be worth it.

Her father's personality definitely suited his name: Nightmare. Since she was young, she always knew he had plans of taking over the universe. Seeing as she never knew anything about the universe, she didn't care at the time. Especially if it meant staying out of her father's way- lest he felt like disregarding her even more than he already did.

That changed when she got her brother- the sweet little child she was currently holding.

From what she understood, Nightmare intended to create a powerful monster- one that would be more aware in what it was he was doing. A swordsman would be what he'd grow into- much like her, she supposed. However, even as a child, the boy was... quite independent. He didn't want to take over the galaxy.

This of course, infuriated Nightmare.

And when things infuriated him, he wanted to destroy them.

Tourmaline figured that out quickly, booking it for her little brother's room -whom of which she hadn't properly met- and grabbed him, fleeing the tower. The only thing she knew about him was that his name was 'Meta'. As far as she was concerned, that's all she needed to know right now. She could figure out the rest later.

"Come on, come on, come on...!" She said to herself, booking it for the emergency escape pods. Monsters were on her tail, clearly not intending to let her nor her brother leave alive. Fortunately, Tourmaline had just enough of a head-start to get in the escape pod, slamming the button as fast as she could.

She let out a relieved sigh as the pod shot away from the base. She leaned back in the admittedly modest seat, feeling her heart pound in her chest. She felt a small stirring on her shoulder. Looking down, she saw the boy slowly start to wake up. He looked up at her with confused, bleary silver eyes.

Tourmaline felt something she never experienced before. It was difficult to explain, but she suddenly felt even more willing to protect her brother. She didn't know the term for it then, but the second he looked at her, her heart melted.

She smiled softly, gently moving his blue hair. "Sorry little brother... I didn't mean to wake you up." She stated.

Meta tilted his head at her, not fully understanding who she was or what she meant.

"Ah, confused? I'm sorry- my name is Tourmaline. I'm your older sister..." She leaned her head against his. "And I swear, from this day forward, I'll protect you. I believe I owe you that much..."

The young monster wasn't fully sure what she meant, but he liked how it sounded. He had vague memories of... something. A dark figure with horns, saying something. It was a blur though, and right now, he didn't really care. He leaned into her some more, closing his eyes.

They'd be safe together. He knew that.

---

"Tourmaline!"

Tourmaline looked up from the book she had, smiling softly at her little brother as he ran up to her with another book. A cookbook, by the looks of it.

It had been a year or so since they first escaped. Ages were a little bit of strange thing for them, but Tourmaline had figured out they were both a teenager and still a child, or at least they'd be considered such in "human" years. Whatever a human was. Apparently they looked like they did, but came from somewhere else. And apparently, had no special features- like how she had her multi-colored freckles, or Meta had his bat-like wings.

How strange, truly.

"Yes, Meta? What is it?" She asked, setting her book down and looking at him.

Meta held up the recipe book to her, showing the contents of the page it was on. It was of a very pretty cake with pink frosting and a berry jam in the center. All and all, it looked like a very appetizing dessert.

"I want to make it. Can we? Please?" He asked, a soft, Spanish accent being audible.

Tourmaline wasn't sure where he got it from- certainly not her. Definitely not Nightmare either.

She sighed, chuckling a bit. One thing that didn't take her very long to figure out was the fact that Meta had quite the sweet tooth. From candy to cake to cookies, he seemed to favor all of them.

"Fine, but you have to wait to eat it until after dinner, okay?" She said, standing up. "You promise to wait?"

Meta eagerly nodded up at her. "Yes!" He chirped, giggling as his older sister ruffled his hair.

"Alright. C'mon, Meta. I'll help you." The pink-haired girl said, walking to the kitchen in their small cabin.

They considered themselves lucky for finding this place. Their housing was located in a nice, homey village. The citizens in it gladly welcomed them with open arms, not at all minding who or what they were. As much as Tourmaline would love it if Meta played with the children in the village, he kept himself attached to her.

She didn't mind it too much, though. She was attached to him as well. Somehow in the past year that she had him in her care, she got even more protective of him. All they really had was each other.

And frankly? She liked it that way.