~ Birth By Sleep ~

The clouds were dark, gloomy... and all was eerily and strangely quiet on this autumn day in Fiore. A figure stood amongst the inhabitants of the town of Magnolia that hurriedly rushed by to beat the storm that would be looming over them very soon. Little droplets of water littered the windows of the towering establishment before them, evidence that rain had been present in the day earlier on. This was the only place that they avoided out of everything in Magnolia Town... and the reason was one of fear.

Fear of any information they might have found out about the one they were searching for...

A fear of dire news...

With a soft sigh, the figure stepped inside the establishment and smelt nothing but fresh scent of lemon upon entry. It was with this that blue orbs shifted from right to left, observing the employees walking by before a pale hand lifted down the brown hoodie cloaking their figure from the world.

A wave of blonde hair fell down slowly, wet and covered in droplets of water from the rain earlier. This was one of those days where Euphemia would venture out from the safety of Black Sails and into the world again, having to revert back to the old habits she adorned while always on the run. It was quite a dramatic shift in behavior, one that she was struggling to get back into after having let her guard down for a while. With a short sniff to help prepare herself, the maiden walked over to the counter where the receptionist resided.

It was with a friendly smile that the musician softly spoke up, gaining the woman's attention with a look of concern. "Oh, goodness, ma'm. Are you alright?", she pressed gently. Euphemia nodded her head with a feigned smile, not wishing to cause the woman any unnecessary worry. "Y-Yes, miss. I am fine. I-In fact... I was wondering if you could help me find someone that might possibly be here. They're... Th-They're my sibling.", the maiden added on rather sincerely, trying to hide the fact that she was shivering from the very tension her body was experiencing.

This was it... This was the beginning.

"Y-You're sibling? Oh, wait... You wouldn't happen to be perhaps...?"

Euphemia felt her eyes widen upon listening to the woman's words, feeling her heart jump. Was this receptionist seriously saying what she thought she was? Without another word, the lady stood up from behind the desk and ushered for Euphemia to follow behind her quietly. The walk seemed to take ages and the blonde could feel her heart bounding drums against her chest. It was within these painfully long moments that she took off her ragged cloak, wrapping it up nervously to reveal a soft blue dress that reached all the way down to her toes.

She was even wearing the hairpin that the person gave her long ago, a single musical note that was white...

A memento of their childhood.

The receptionist then suddenly stopped at a door right at the end of a hallway, looking at Euphemia for a single moment before speaking softly as her tan hand grasped the silver doorknob. "You look like the spitting image of her. I even thought you were her for a moment.", and before Euphemia could even respond the woman knocked on the door. "Miss! I've brought something for you!", and with the open of the silver door, Euphemia felt her eyes shimmer with tears.

Tears that surfaced to the borders of her eyes quicker than she could play any note on any instrument.

"Is this your sister, Aliannah?"

Euphemia couldn't even think straight. All form of bodily function just all seemed to crash down within seconds upon seeing such a dearly beloved and familiar face. The clear pools of tears that were in her eyes just came flowing down more, and more... And it was then that her twin leapt from the hospital bed with such an amazing, newfound strength and came rushing into her arms. With her eyes closing, the woman wrapped her arms around her sibling tightly as if she was scared on what could possibly happen if she let her go. The tears streaming down her red tinted cheeks were dripping down, knowing that the moment she heard Aliannah's voice it was all real.

This wasn't a dream...

This wasn't a nightmare...

It was all real.

She did it... She finally found her.

As Aliannah pressed her cheek against hers, Euphemia would press back with a soft hiccup. Her voice was wracked with shivers and quivers, her eyes closed as she recalled the memories that set the two apart in the first place. "I-I was looking for you...! I-I... I-I thought I'd lost you! I-I was beginning to think... that after what happened, I-I'd never be able to find you again...!", she breathed out in-between sobs. Her stomach began to hurt from not only the scar that was across it, but from all the tears and deep breaths that she was making.

But this was a moment in her life she would never forget.

A moment where she never wanted to let go.

Euphemia tried to open her vibrant blue orbs filled with a colorful glow, but instead just pulled Aliannah in close with a gentle squeeze. The maiden wanted to protect the one she considered an angel in this world from all harm right then and there, the only family she had left. Even if she didn't bear magic... Even if she couldn't fight... Even if she was stripped powerless of every single thing this world had to offer her, Euphemia would never let anything happen to Aliannah again. That was the solemn promise she was making to herself in this very moment while holding her twin close.

"I-I'm so sorry... I-I'm so, so sorry I-I couldn't find you sooner... T-To prevent whatever happened to you...", the woman suddenly breathed out, taking a look at the monitor that lost the pulse of her dear sister; the receptionist was trying to shut it off, holding back tears unbeknownst to either of them. Although, it was within that moment that blonde strands of hair fell over the maiden's shoulders, her vibrant blue optics gazing upon her sister with her hands gently cupping her face to fully gaze upon her; another way to test and see if this was all real and not some cruel dream the world delivered to her in her sleep.

"A-Aliannah... What happened t-to you, my dear sister?"

Euphemia's pale fingers would gently run through the golden strands of her sister's delicate hair, stroking her head slowly in a sign of comfort. Despite her wracked emotional state, the maiden needed to recover while Aliannah was letting out her tears. Having her trembling, warm body in her arms was a dream - one the musician had many times before in her nights alone in the world of Fiore. But this was no dream, no fantasy, no hallucination, or cruel nightmare... This was something that was real.

And nothing in this world could perfectly conjure up something that was real.

As the young woman listened very closely to her dear sister's answer to the question she asked quite a bit before, it was both a relief to know and yet heartbreaking all at once. Her sister was scared and alone back then, and it ached at her heart to even think of the possibility that she might have thought she left her. "I'm so sorry, dear sister..." With the receptionist finally having turned off the monitor, Euphemia gazed upon Aliannah's gentle orbs of radiant blue with a faint sigh. They claimed that she was a miracle and Euphemia could agree, but in a different sense then what the doctors and nurses proclaimed.

Right when the twin returned the question, three nurses had burst into the room to only freeze in utter shock. Euphemia glanced upon the three women of varying age and appearances to only provide them with a subtle smile before turning her attention back to the person she found most important in the room. Looking right into Aliannah's eyes, a moment of silence passed before the maiden pressed a hand upon her sister's back, pulling her close to let her rest in her while her memory let her relive a moment.

A moment only she knew...


Glass exploding from home to home, screams of pain and agony echoing through the once peaceful town, a little figure ran across the home after the chaos began outside. It was hot and reeked of danger, causing the short figure to stand in the doorway in shock. What was she to do? Her parents had told them to stay inside but people were coming this way. Dangerous people that hold weapons that seemed to glimmer with their dire reflections, carrying an intent to harm anything in their way.

It was then that the blonde turned to look back upon her sister lying in bed, seemingly scared. The child knew that things were not what they seemed, much to their parents efforts to comfort them in the moments of chaos before they ran off. They had disappeared into the crowd of people frantically running, and hadn't returned since then. It was then Euphemia's blue orbs shone with an idea reflecting in the deep blue, causing the small girl to do something she'd never thought of before. She had to get these bad men away from her sister, their home, their dolls and toys, instruments, and mommy and daddy...

She'd have them chase her.

Her sister would be safe then, wouldn't she?

Euphemia then ran off, unaware that her twin had seen her disappear into the flaming chaos of the village. What happened next was something that caused the child great pain, yet her plan worked. She threw rocks at the bad men which caught their attention, and it was from then the girl ran. She ran and ran in hopes of guiding them away from their home, their village, and disappeared into the forest. Although she didn't consider what she'd do next after that, Euphemia succeeded in getting them away.

But she paid a price...

She got separated from everything she knew and loved in the forest, and was dealt a swift injury across her stomach... and the reminder was there permanently.


"... I got them to chase after me to protect you.", the maiden whispered softly, her gaze fixated on the pale wall in front of her yet behind Aliannah. "I ran outside because I-I knew I had to do something to protect you, and our parents... They still hadn't come back and I had to do something, so I thought that... If they chased me, they wouldn't find you. If I got them far away enough from the village, they wouldn't be able to hurt anybody else, too. But then I got... I got lost. And... I was hurt because of them." Euphemia knew why she struggled to say those last few words. After all, she was bestowing her twin with the knowledge that she was out there, hurt and alone. That the men that attacked their village had sliced her with a weapon with the intent to kill.

"A-And... it looks like it worked, ehe. F-For... the most part."

Euphemia just held Aliannah in her arms, awaiting the young woman's reaction while subtly paying attention to the other nurses and receptionist in the room, talking quietly among themselves in hopes to not disturb their reunion.