Kite Rowe

She’s my sister… she’s my sister… my sister…

Those words bounced around in my brain, making any other thought impossible. No emotion at first either. I couldn’t even think of a suitable response until the echo had gone away. “Sister,” I said simply.

“Uh, yeah,” Nova said back sheepishly.

“When… when were you planning on telling me this?”

“Well…”

“Never. You were never going to tell me this.” Now that blessed emotion called “anger” had finally reared its head.

“I had a good reason—“ he started.

“We were about to die? Was that your reason? Because so far, half of the things you were keeping from me weren’t even revealed until this night.” I ran up to him and roughly grabbed his collar. “It took a total disaster for you to tell me you had a sister! That you used to be in the military!”

“Let go of him,” his sister told me. Alex tugged at my clothes to get my attention but I ignored her. Nova stayed calm.

I ignored Eden’s command. “Let’s hear your reason.”

He pried my hands from his clothes. “I know you hate those military types. If you had known of my past, then you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.“

“This could’ve been important to know earlier!”

“See, I know you’d react like that.”

“Because you decided that I couldn’t handle this!”

“And you were right,” Eden grumbled.

“Shut up,” I snapped at her. “I… I just…” I looked around the room at everyone, then at the fal’Cie. My stomach was in pain along with the rest of my body. But in spite of everything I wanted to say, he had a point. I didn’t like what I had learned.

It didn’t change the fact that he had hidden it from me.

“Fine,” I said calmly. “You are absolutely right, Nova. That was a very good reason.” I glanced over at my sledgehammer. “We all hide things from people that might hurt our relationships from them.” I slowly walked over to Smashy and hoisted it over my shoulder.

“So since we’re all about to die,” I continued. “We should all tell things that we’ve hidden from others. Mortal peril is the perfect time for confessions it seems. First…”

BOOM! I slammed Smashy in the ground. “I’ve been hiding the fact that for the past year or so, I’ve been infatuated with the dumbest person on the planet. Anywhere on the planet.” BOOM! “A person who refused to trust their friend with anything, like their past, their activities or even their fucking birthday.” BOOM! “But for some reason, I didn’t think it was a problem. I mean, everyone has their secrets that are best left buried. Letting someone know their birthday is so dangerous.” BOOM! “And if that isn’t just the most delightful thing, I found out that person is more open to a random dancing girl they just bumped into less than a day ago—“

I shot a quick glare at Alex.

BOOM! “Than they are to the friend that they met a year ago. And while they were talking to this girl, they were avoiding me like the plague. But you know what? It’s okay now. Because I have come to my senses. Why should I fool with someone that I can never have?”

“Now is not the time for angsting!” Eden shouted.

I paused in mid-swing and sighed heavily. “You’re right. We’re about to die, after all.” I faced the fal’Cie. “We need to get out of here.”

“Kite—“ I heard Nova start.

“Don’t say anything to me. Not a word. I’m through with you.” I closed my eyes to force back the tears that threaten to come.