Conceal || ItsFunneh AU

16 | snapped

Rainbow sits down at the dining table, and we all follow her lead.

Gold takes a few ancient-looking books from her bag and lays them out on the table. "The story is very old, and a lot of the information was smudged. We salvaged what we could."

Funneh goes to the kitchen cabinets and pours out a bowl of chips.

This will be intense.

Rainbow takes a deep breath. "Centuries ago, there were 9 sisters. They each had their own magic—or, ability. The sisters protected and defended the people of Earth from violent creatures for centuries until no beasts dared to set foot on the surface of Earth. The siblings lived together in peace, but the youngest sister began to grow jealous of her sisters' powers. She used her magic to slowly weaken her sisters one by one, until they were all too weak to defend themselves from her. She took each of her sisters' power—all except for one: the eighth sister. She was able to run away. Scarred by what she'd witnessed, she decided to settle down, blend within humanity, and live a normal life."

"The youngest sister's name was Abigale." Funneh finishes.

Silence follows Funneh's words, disrupted only by the sound of Draco crunching on the chips.

"Wait, so you're saying Abigale is centuries-old?" My brain, still sluggish from sleep, is having a hard time absorbing this new information.

Rainbow nods. "I know it doesn't make sense, since you can clearly age. Our best guess is that your immortality comes in after a set age, and after you reach that age, you stop aging."

"But I've seen the old lady up close—she really does look old!" Funneh protests.

"It could've been a disguise, my naive sister." Gold says, ruffling Funneh's hair, which she ducks.

"Does that mean the eighth sister was our... ancestor?" Draco throws a look at me, "Unless Lunar isn't related to us."

Um, ouch? I shouldn't feel offended, since it's a valid question, but still...

"She definitely is," Rainbow, Gold, and Funneh all confirm at the same time. I smile at them gratefully.

"Lunar's just special," Gold says with a smile at me.

"I guess she stole the magic DNA," Funneh grins.

Rainbow frowns at Funneh. "That's not how—"

Gold takes out a piece of paper and starts scribbling on it, cutting Rainbow off from an inevitable lecture. "We should try to figure out each of the sisters' ability."

"Poison, for sure," I say. "Illusion. Psychic—mind-reading."

Funneh frowns, in deep concentration mode. "That witch protected herself in a shield of ice at first," I can't help but wince at the bitterness she said "witch" with.

"And then the shield exploded! Fire!" Draco accidentally smacked the table in his excitement.

"Plant," I shudder, thinking about the wooden handcuffs restraining me as Gold whirled away. "Wind."

"So mind-reading, ice, wind, plant, illusion, and poison." Draco ticks them off his fingers. "Now we're just missing two," he holds up 2 fingers.

We sit in silence for a while, but can't seem to figure out what the last two are.

"Judging from the pattern so far, I think it's safe to assume Water is also one of the abilities," Rainbow muses. "I guess we'll have to leave the last ability as a question mark for now."

"How did Abigale take the others' powers?" Gold asks after she finishes writing down the abilities.

"A Cleansing? It's a ritual that flushes your ability out," I explain. "It's what she was doing to me."

"She must be a master at it, after having performed it seven times," Draco lets out a dry chuckle.

"Eight," Gold corrects. "You missed Lunar."

"Any ideas on how to defeat the witch?" Funneh asks half-heartedly, knowing no one knows the answer.

I run a hand through my teal hair. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who can defeat her."

Funneh sighs. "No, not this I-need-to-do-everything-by-myself-to-protect-my-loved-ones shenanigans again."

I frown. "I'm being serious! You saw how the last time you guys attacked her turned out—you almost got obliterated!"

"Yeah, but she fled in the end. What's your point?" Draco crosses his arms.

Why aren't my siblings understanding me?

"My point is," my teeth are gritted, "you can't defend yourself against her. You're just... mortals."

"Hey, hey, you're still technically a mortal too," Rainbow cuts in. "I agree with Funneh; you're not fighting Abigale by yourself."

I let out a frustrated growl. "You weren't even in the battle, so don't talk." I snap, turning on her.

That sentence hurts me more than it has the right to.

Gold gasps. The chip Draco was holding drops on the table. Funneh stares at me with wide eyes.

"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep my eyes on you the whole time." Rainbow's eyes are full of rage; her normal pacifist self gone. "I offered, insisted, to walk home with you. You were the one who lied to me, and now you're blaming me for what happened?"

"It wasn't a lie," I mutter, "just a concealed truth."

Rainbow ignores my mutter. "I even went out of my way to ask Calix to walk you home! Yet again, you refused him. Thank God he was a nice person and decided to follow you anyway, or else who knows what Abigale would've done?"

Oh, that was the wrong thing to say.

"You're right. Thanks to you, Calix is now lying on a hospital bed, unconscious, suffering from a poisonous wound on his neck. I hope you're satisfied, Rainbow."

"Alright, Lunar, that's enough. I think we're all just a bit stressed out," Gold stands up, glaring at me.

What is she glaring at me for?

"Let's just relax and have a family night. We can watch a movie—" Gold continues, but I stand up, cutting her off.

"No, I'm good, since I'm clearly not part of this family anyway," I rise and stomp over to the front door, grabbing an oversized coat to cover my hair and ears and sunglasses to cover my eyes.

"Wait, where are you going?" Funneh calls out, also rising.

"None of your business." To be honest, I don't even know.

"I should come with—" Funneh starts, but I hold up a hand to stop her.

"I think you've done enough."

I slam the door behind me before any of my siblings can protest.

Flipping the hood over my head, I ignore the elevator and take the stairs, stomping my way down.

I bet they're talking about me right now. They're probably talking about how sensitive I am and laughing at how dumb I sound. I bet my sisters all agree with Draco that I'm not from the same family as them.

The hurt on Rainbow's face flashes in my head and, to my dismay, tears prick my eyes, threatening to spill out.

Rainbow was right. The whole situation is my fault.

A car honks and I leap back from the highway, just nearly escaping death. The car, to my surprise, stops and a middle-aged man pokes his head out.

"Hey there! Need a ride?"

Alarm goes off in my head about trusting strangers, but I nod anyway and climb into the back. "Yeah, that would be great, thanks."

"Where to?"

"The nearest hospital, please."