Alia had always been an enigma. Everyone seemed to meet her twice. The distinction between her different selves, however, seemed a mystery even to herself.
Her opening salvo against Ivy was underhanded and tricky. She was hoping to end the fight before her traits of origin kicked into gear. But that chance was lost, and the heiress was winning.
"Switch," she whispered to herself. "You can handle it."
Rena's mindscape was a far simpler place to test her powers. But the waking world came with risks untold. Not even Yrix understood the full extent of it all.
"Come on!" Alia growled.
She could practically feel the radiant blade scrape against her stomach, called forth by Ivy in another miracle of mimicry.
Now.
The dancer hadn't a second to spare before suddenly transforming into a burst of purple butterflies. Alia was safe, hoping her trick could dishearten the heiress. But she had no idea just what was going on in Ivy's head.
Strength came at a cost for all Psions. But punishment and penance came in different forms. There were always those at risk of losing themselves. But for Ivy, who barely knew herself to begin with, there was nothing left to do but expand.
She had that in common with Lunae.
Just another strange coincidence in the family.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Lila, you're not going to find her," Rena pleaded.
The Earthling had returned to the Aerie, searching for any clue she could find. Rena was there to comfort her as much as she could, promising with all she had that she had no part in it. Alia was the culprit.
"She...she can hide people away," Rena continued. "Just trust in Ivy. She's only gotten stronger. I'd know."
Sonera stood between the two, channeling every inch of patience she had left to avoid killing the other girls right then and there. Lunae was practically dragging her back with a subtle Psionic tug.
"It's just-." Lila stammered. "Aah!"
Lila fell to her knees, clutching her skull as a sudden miasma of pain fell upon her. Something was wrong with Ivy. The girl she knew was changing.
"Lila!" Lunae caught the girl before the others could swoop in and help. "Oh no."
"What's happening to her?" Sonera gasped before pointing a metallic finger at Rena. "You. Back away. Now."
Rena held back tears. A wave of guilt had already washed over her. She could have done so much more to prevent the conflict, yet any semblance of understanding she thought she had for Alia was but chaff in the wind.
"It's Ivy," Lunae grunted, massaging Lila's temple as she began to search through her mind. "Her mindscape is shifting. Their bond means Lila's caught in the crossfire."
"Is it...like me?" Sonera hesitated to whisper those words. It was the first time she had publicly hinted at Neirophen's presence. "Can we help her?"
Lunae swallowed a bit of spit before speaking, "She's expanding, not retracting. But I can't say how safe Lila will be."
- - - - - - - - - -
"Ivy!" Lila called out. "Can you hear me?!"
Her panic let her adapt quickly enough. Lila knew she was trapped in her own head, and that the rest of her family was probably cradling her body in a panicked frenzy. But that wouldn't stop her from searching.
The Earthling knelt pensively in what appeared to be her old room back on Earth. The hazy pink light was gone, however, replaced by a dark overcast. She could feel a tremor in the room as her body began to shake.
"Ivy!"
A little mitten brushed against her ankle, forcing Lila to snap her head and nearly scream.
"Y-you," she quieted herself as not to alert the little critter.
It was her Ginjou Boy, tapping its owner with fear in its eyes as a childish voice came from its motionless little mouth. "Mommy! Something is wrong with Uncle Ivy!"
All of her Ginjous were present, crowding around the Earthling like scared children. Lila hardly got to interact with them in the way Ivy did. Yet she understood completely what their presence meant.
"It's okay, little Ginjous," Lila patted her boy on the head before reaching for the others. "Mommy's here. I'll find Ivy."
She made sure to give Ginjou Girl a special pat on her red bow before scooping them all up with open arms. Her room had already begun to shrink by then, crumbling at the seams. Something was taking its place.
A clean white tile emerged from the northern end, protruding past Lila's carpet like a swarm of ravenous worms. Having no choice but to stand her ground, Lila stepped onto the cold tile as if it were a treadmill of sorts. A tall, foreboding wall appeared on the horizon of the mindscape, towering over her and threatening to crush the Earthling.
"There!" Bobo pointed with his mitten towards a small hatch in the wall.
"Got it," Lila frowned with a determined look. "Hold on."
The Earthling sprinted forward, using her Psionic speed to crash through the hatch like a wrecking ball. She had already noticed by then how alien the mindscape appeared compared to the heiress's mansion. Even the hatch itself was some complex mechanism dotted with lights and gizmos beyond her comprehension.
Something out of a sci-fi.
"Oofie," Lila groaned, sliding against a spotless white tile. "You guys okay?"
The Ginjous smiled up at her like a bouquet. They were fine.
"Now where the fuck are we?"
She could hear a faint humming from above as the mindscape took its final shape. Lila was lost and alone in a vast hallway, its surfaces lacking all commodities for a human form. There was no ballroom, no dining table, and certainly no beautiful pale girls.
Just a white crypt.
A hospital from a nightmare.
"Auntie Ivy is here," Ginjou Girl huffed as she planted her mittens on her furry little hips. "I want to go shopping with her."
"Oh?" Lila cocked her head.
She trusted Ivy's link to the Ginjous.
"Let's find her then."