It was the morning of another day. Xexion was bustling; guards and automatons on patrol, ready for another mana-eater attack. At the Cyria Hallows orphanage stood a young man with messy short black hair, looking over some documents. He had forgotten to study the night before, taking care of his sister, the city-famous Lilina Laxuz, unlucky holder of a persistent cough. She'd had it for about a week already, coughing incessantly, but it was so bad just last night that she almost couldn't breathe; she ended up puking and losing her voice, but Heron somehow managed to set the girl to sleep, fondly rubbing her head. And because of that, he was falling a little behind in his studies, not that he regretted a thing.
"Where's your sister?" One of the children at the orphanage asked, looking up at the man, who noticed the boy and give him a gentle smile. "Should still be resting, I'm afraid."
Over the years, since the siblings were sent here, the orphanage has improved a little. Heron always took what little cash he could spare, and donated it to Farena, the then-young lady who owned it. Now, because of that, and of course, the cash people would give Lilina for fighting, would be used to make sure the children had clothing and food, and even a few luxuries. Just a few months ago, Lilina gave Farena a whistle to blow, in case mana-eaters ever made their way to the orphanage- it was tuned to Lilina's frequency, so she could use her mana to send herself sling-shotting across Xexion if need be, in order to come to the rescue. Farena was grateful and inwardly proud of the siblings, and how they adapted from what used to be a shell shocked brother and an murderer sister... she in all honesty felt a maternal sort of pride. She loved all her children, but the Laxus siblings were the cream of the crop- intelligent young man and energetic fighter girl.
Sure enough, with a little pop sound, a girl seemed to have suddenly appeared in the air in front of Heron; tiny smirk in place; and leapt onto her brother, tangling her arms around his neck in a tight glomp. Heron jumped at first; startled, but when he saw that it was his adorable little sister, he smiled warmly at her and rubbed her back. "How you feeling, sis?"
"Meh." Lily mimed rubbing her throat, and made a disgusted face, before sitting herself down on the ground where some children were playing with blocks. Her voice itself was a little hoarse and croaky, and before she continued, her body buckled down as she let out a few feeble coughs. She smiled reassuringly at the worried-looking Farena, and gave her the peace sign and a toothy grin. "Throat's a bit sore. Don't matter, though."
She then gave her brother a look, letting him know that she wanted to speak to him in private. So, with a little wave to Farena, who waved back and began tending one child who couldn't her bladder any longer, the two siblings sauntered just outside the door. Lilina then showed the letter shed received to Heron, with a bit of a shrug.
"We're both Guardians." She said quietly. "I'm the only one who can fight though, y'know?"
Heron looked at the short girl with a bit of a frown. "What about Xexion? The city needs you here. And the kids, they need you. Hell, sis, I need you."
She shook her head at him grimly. "This looks... I don't know how to put it... but, um. It's probably really important, and maybe it's how we'll fix everything once and for all."
"But we've never been apart before, sis."
Lily showed a slight hint of a smirk, lifting up the corner of her mouth inquisitively, nervously. "You gotta hurry up with developing better weapons for the people here, then, don'cha?"
The little sister then leaned in close to her brother's ear. "You know I love you too, right? I'd love to just stick around, but I feel like I need to go with the other Guardians. They might need me there if things end up bad."
How the hell was she going to get herself back to Xexion alive? The whole excursion was a disaster; no one was strong enough to really handle the damn monster. They had tried, of course, and Lilina had even shot her spear at it at bullet-speed, but to no avail. Hell, she wasn't even sure if it had made a dent or not in the thing. Seeing the spider chase after other Guardians, Lily clicked her tongue angrily and boosted herself down to shoot one of the injured into the air. In seamless motion, she shot herself up, and then, touching his brow gently, sent him to safety atop a building, just out of the fray.
"Don't worry 'bout the others." She muttered to herself, zipping around the spider to send a large chunk of cement at the spider. "Idiot Lily... just focus on getting back to Heron alive..." She just barely dodged a blast of webbing from her opponent, before shooting herself, spear pointed menacingly forwards, directly at it, before shooting herself back to a safe distance after her strike. It was injured, sure, but was it really helping?
Lily reached and grabbed at two bombs from under her skirt- many of them gifts from her brother before the trip, and with a strained snarl, sent them at the spider, finally distracting it and having it's attention turned towards her. Just as well, since with her speed, it'd be hard-pressed to even catch up with her at all. She still wasn't sure why she didn't just escape to Xexion once things were going badly, but there was nothing to be done about that.
She heard the loud explosions of the bombs crash against the spider, and as the smoke cleared, the speedy girl wondered if she had done enough damage yet.