The Originals or the Copies?

Part 1

"Are you sure you've checked everywhere?" The only man in the room leant over the map, resting his fists on the table as he looked at the three women around him

"Everywhere" The oldest, a woman with an ombré of blues in her hair replied, pointing at locations on the map "The mountains, the spring, the geysers, the town, we've been through the forest twice. Goldy even did a sweep through the air" The pair glanced over at the youngest woman, who nodded, leaning against the wall, both her arms and golden dragon wings folded out of the way

"I couldn't even smell them. Wherever they've gone, they've covered their tracks well"

"And I didn't find anything in the caves either. That was their favourite place too" The man crossed the locations out in red with a huff

"Shifted's been talking about leaving for a long time, but I never thought she'd do it" the final woman spoke up, looking away as grey wolf ears lay flat against her head, grasping at her arms "I should have listened to her" The man walked over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder

"We all should have Sky. But what matters now is that our family is missing"

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The four of them had been looking for their younger siblings for almost a week now, after each one had fallen out with the older. They had been missing for even longer. The two groups of siblings usually didn't fight, the olders forming a group named the 'Originals', the younger dubbed 'The Copies', due to the resemblance between half of each group. Strikr to his twin Cam, and Goldy to her sister Silver. The two groups were often called upon to solve problems in the local towns and cities, the Originals more so than the Copies

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"Did you search for any clues, anywhere in your houses? Skylar, Lyanna never leaves anything unplanned, she must have left something" Skylar pushed her locks of blue away from her face

"Nothing, not one scrap of paper. There hasn't been any food going missing either. They've been planning this for a while now" The two at the table nodded, turning back to the map again.

Silence radiated for a long while, until Goldy spoke up

"Silver left a note" the three spun towards her "It didn't say anything about where they were going so I didn't bring it up"

"What did it say" Sky stepped forward, resting her hands on the youngest shoulders "There might be a hidden message in there. You've always been close to Silver, closer than the rest of us were with our siblings, she wouldn't have left without at least subconsciously telling you where they went" Goldy shrugged off the hands, walking over to the map and pointing to a point high in the mountains

"She told me that they were going to salvage some stuff from our old cave. We left some stuff there in case we ever needed to go back" She pulled away and hugged her arms again "And she told me why they left" The others glanced at each other, Strikr drawing a circle on the point in the mountains

"Go on..."

"She said..." Goldy looked up at her friends "She said they left, because they were sick of being ignored. The cities around here always come to us first, never to them. That they were sick of being being overshadowed and not being given respect. Hell, she even said that she didn't think we deserved what we get. They left to find a way to gain the respect they want by force" She pulled the note out of her pocket, handing it to Strikr "Apparently Cam knows a way for them to get stronger. They left so they could do it"

Strikr smirked

"Sky was right. Silver told us exactly what we needed to know" With that he grabbed a dagger from his belt, stabbing it down in an unmarked area of the map, far past the mountains "That's where they're headed. We'll need to be quick to catch up to them before they arrive" the women nodded "Go home, grab what you think you need. We're gonna be travelling for at least 4 days" he turned to walk out the door, placing his hand on his hip that usually held the knife currently sitting in the table "uhhh" The three others sighed, Skylar pulling the knife out

"Do you always feel the need to be so dramatic?" The man just smirked again, grabbing the knife from her hand

"Yes"