ɬɧɛ ɱąɖ ƙıŋɠ//℘ʝɱʄʄ

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"It's been awhile, baby sister"

Her voice changed from her previous stone cold one to now an amused yet grittily as if she was trying to hold back a curse. Upon hearing the familiar voice, Xena whipped her head around and instantly locked gaze with a slim blue hair girl who was smirking at her but her eyes was darkening. It took the General a few more seconds to fit the pieces into the puzzle before finally recognizing a family member of hers. Couldn't really say they're family though after being separated since young.

Xena didn't have a bright childhood either with her late discovery of her power and how her family always give her the easiest task which meant she could never be rewarded with nice food after work. This blue haired sister of hers was known to have the same old power that the rest of the family possessed but clearly from what Xena had witnessed, this sister surely did some tricks and fooled everyone. Along with her other siblings, Aspen always bullied the powerless youngest daughter until the day she discovered her almighty strength and was recognized by the palace.

Aspen remembered vividly how the royals took Xena away without sparing her family a second glance as if they just won a prize and took it with pride. She remembered how the royals didn't keep their promises on funding their family in exchange for their daughter. She grew sick and tired of their laborious life in the farm and botanical gardens so she decided to reveal her true power of hydrolysis to the royals only to have them transferred her into the assassin army where she lived her life in the dark and unknown to the world. Either did her family search for her because all assassins were to be announced dead to erase their identities from the world, especially the royal assassins.

For years, Aspen was hidden from the world and named with numbers and alphabets instead. She had no place in the palace, no rights to reveal her face and no freedom in daylight. Her hands were stained with blood of people from peasants to politicians, stealthily flying through the night under the moonlight as she slit throats after throats, stabbing guts after guts yet her job still bore no pride or praise-worthiness. After completing her dirty missions, Aspen would always stop by at a particular place where she could catch a glimpse of the family member that got taken away.

Xena. The youngest and most useless child of their family leaped from the peasant's life into a gold dripping royalty's life. It was beyond unfair to Aspen who craved for the same thing and could even fit into her shoes yet she was tossed into the underground where the nastiest and dirtiest jobs were demanded by the rulers. Watching her little sister struggling to carry a sword yet still got recognized by the royals made she scoffed every time she spectate Xena's training.

Years later, Aspen witnessed the ceremony where Xena was pledged to be Fern's new General of Army and the amount of smiles and praises she received was flooding her yet Aspen still couldn't bring herself to even clap for her because the fact that her litter sister became an invincible soldier while she was still an invisible killer didn't sit well with her. Which was why she presented herself to the royals and took the mission of bringing Xena into her hands though she had altered the plan a little. In her plan, the ending will not include the General at all. And now, she will officially carry out that plan of hers but it seemed like she might need some help to get rid of the young king.

"Aspen? You're....hydrolysis? But how?", Xena only managed to voice out one question out of the thousands that were swirling around her mind like a whirlpool. The blue haired girl only shrugged with a blank face though her eyes were glistering in darkness, "it just runs in the family, I guess but the fact that you are somehow more valuable makes no sense at all". Now, Aspen's expression darkened and looked deadlier as if she's getting ready to strike anytime. Upon noticing Aspen's guarded stance, Xena brushed off all curiosity and took her position as well with knees slightly bent and a hand reaching back for her sword.