Zodiac Girls

Recollection

With the newfound information of her powers, her dreams- all summing up to there being another soul resting in her this whole time- Rain stormed out the principal's office and made her way back to the dorms. Thankfully, she had been to the principal's office before, as she did have to go there in order to be transferred to Luminoir Academy, so she knew her way to the dormitory from there.

She walked out into the silent night, her mind still occupied in rage from the revelation back at the office. While Rain had said what needed to be said, it still did not change how furious she was with the whole truth. All her time since she 'awakened', she thought she was the only one who was different from everyone else. The only 'monster' living amongst people in secret. Day after day, she was always cautious and wary of her surroundings, always on a lookout for people of that organization, who saw her as a monster to be controlled rather than a child to care for.

Not long into her walk, she started sensing someone nearby. Someone following her from behind. From what Rain could tell with her beastie senses, they weren't in hiding, but they still kept their distance from her. It did not take long for the teen to know who it was following her.

"I thought I made it clear. I don't want anything to do with any of you," she said, not even bothering to look behind her to see the person.

"I know but... I'm just... making sure you get home safe, that's all," Sherry stuttered.

Rain scoffed at that, not believing a word. "Sure. You just want to make sure I get home," she repeated, in a tone that especially stated her distrust.

Sherry winced at the tone, and approached her. "Rain, I know you're mad that I lied this whole time, and I'm really sorry about it, but-"

"But what?" the orangette questioned. "But it was for my own good? Leaving me in the dark about the truth? That there are others like me, and I wasn't allowed to know or flat out be told that there was a reason for me not being normal!"

"W-We thought you would catch on from those memories!" Sherry reasoned. "You know... The beasties all died fighting that powerful-"

"- Enemy? Okay, sure. Let's say that they did. What part of that makes it okay to just stay silent about this whole mess if you knew I was like you?! Because it was too risky for innocent people to know about the beasties? How ironic; you people living normal lives in peace amongst humans, and yet have no trust in them with the truth!"

At that, even Sherry couldn't just keep silent. "And what about you? You who has been on the run this whole time and kept it all hidden in you... Why don't you tell anyone about your situation?!"

"I did!" At those words, the blonde went silent once more. "I, a little girl, so frightened by even myself, told people I thought I could trust, people important to me about how I was a monster. And you know what happened? They started off sympathetic, thinking I was just a kid with a big imagination or got raised by horrible parents before I became an orphan... Come the day they saw this, and everything changed." Rain explained, unleashing her claws at the last part. "The sympathy they once had all changed into fear... They started calling me a monster, told me to stay away... They even tried to call the cops on me! And I..." Rain stopped herself there, as she recalled the things she had done years ago, when she first started off with these powers. How frightened she had been, how much she had sought comfort from others, even what happened when people found out the secret she had been hiding... From the actions they took, to her response to those actions...

No further words were necessary, though, for the very expression she had was more than enough for Sherry to realize what happened after. That very realization made the blonde regret questioning her, as well as made her see why she was desperate to be reached out to rather than waited upon. "Oh... I-I'm sorry, Rain. I... I didn't know," she tried to say.

"Yeah. I bet you didn't..." Rain muttered, turning back around and resumed walking to the dorm. "I bet you girls awakened to those powers much later than I did. Must be nice, having those accursed things at the age where you can catch on to these sort of things so easily."

Sherry could not say anything in response to that, not when Rain wasn't wrong in making such assumption.

"Just... don't," the orangette then said, ending the conversation, as she continued making her way to the dorm.

Sherry didn't reach out to her this time. Instead, she just followed the girl to their home.

******

As soon as they returned to their dorm, the pair went to their rooms. Thankfully, the other students residing there as well as the landlady were all fast asleep at this time, so the pair did not need to explain anything to any of them. No further words were exchanged after that, as they just returned to their assigned bedrooms.

Upon entering her room, Rain plopped onto her bed, quite mentally exhausted with everything that happened today. Despite the fatigue hitting her, she just couldn't find it in her to sleep it all off. Instead, she had spent the night, thinking back to how her life was since she awakened to these powers.

******

Like any child, before her powers came to be, Rain had loving parents, and she lived a normal life. However, the day her powers came, she lost her parents when a thief barged into their home, an event that triggered the other soul to awaken afterwards, and got the organization's eyes on her. Back then, as a child, it was natural for one to be frightened of the unknown. This is especially if the unknown was something that could be defined as a 'monster'. Even more so... if the monster was the very child herself...

When the organization reached out to Rain, told her they were friends of her parents and had promised to take care of her should something happen to them, the girl thought they were trustworthy and believed them. Upon overhearing two people from the group talking about using her, however, it did not take long for her to realize that the claim was nothing more than a lie, and thus prompted her to run, as well as abruptly started this endless chase for her. 

From there, Rain rarely had time to relax. Most of the time she spent, rather than playing with children or studying for education, she spent those times running and hiding from them. Often times, if she couldn't find anything on the streets, she had resorted to stealing just to survive. Nothing much or extravagant, just something small that would be unnoticeable to shoppers and merchants. Rain was never happy committing them, but she desperately wanted to live. 

Sometimes, there were people who noticed the girl committing this crime and, rather than report her to the staff or the authorities, opted to take her in as one of their own. Even when the child tried to warn them against adopting her, fearing what would happen if they did take her in, the adults refused to budge, and instead managed to convince her to be a part of their family. Rain was extremely grateful towards these kind people, elated to have a family once more, and had done whatever she could to repay them for their generosity. Unfortunately... because of the organization, her stay with them was never long, and her farewells... They were more than just sad.

Just days into the adoption, the organization would send a letter to her guardians' households regarding Rain's secret. And each time they did, the adults would confront her about the contents of the letter, which led to her being frightened of the mere thought of being sent to the people who would use her as a tool. As she was but a child at the time, with no control over her powers, just the thought alone was more than enough to set the abilities going haywire, and made Rain subconsciously and brutally maul them. By the time she came back to her senses, the child would then see the guardians on the floor, covered in bloodied injuries, and looking at her so fearfully. Just that alone was enough for any child to piece together what had occurred then, and thus, Rain left with a tearful goodbye, and an emergency call to the ambulance.

At most, the longest time she stayed in one area before Luminoir Academy was a month, in which she used the time to attend school, mostly under the pretense that she was an orphan and that the system she grew up in somehow lost her information or delayed in sending it due to maintenance issues, if not with the help of her adopted guardians. Thankfully, some schools care more about grades than they do for backgrounds, at least from the few she had attended. As for the other schools, as an orphan, she managed to sneak into the principal's office later at night, and upload a fake profile of herself growing up in various foster care system. During her time in those schools, Rain truly felt like she was just any other kid again. But of course, like with her adopted family, she never stayed for long, as the organization still found her in the end, causing her to abruptly end her education at those schools and continue being on the run.

When she found Luminoir Academy, an all-girls school that was said to be a home away from home, welcoming girls of all race and age, no matter what the circumstance, Rain thought it was too good to be true. That is... until she signed up to transfer here.