"Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Claire!" Everyone sang, half of them off-key and all of them loud.
The room was too small for the crowd and warm because of it. Kremidal stood stiffly near the back with a wrapped box held in both hands like a bomb he was afraid to drop. Zephyr winced at every high note. June hovered beside the little ones, one hand on a kid's shoulder, watching the candles like she'd forgotten cake could exist. Misty was clapping out of rhythm and shouting "Davai!" over the top of everyone.
"Happy 14th birthday, Claire!" Abby shouted. "Now make a wish and blow out your candles!"
Claire closed her eyes. The smell of wax and frosting filled her nose. She thought of one thing, only one, and blew.
Fwooooo.
"YAAAAAAAAY!"
"HOORAAAAAAAAY!"
The smoke curled up. Poppy squeezed her shoulders from behind. "So, Claire, what did you wish for?"
"I just w-wish..." Claire's voice caught. "I wish my sister was here. Celebrating our birthday with us."
A voice cut in from the doorway, soft and warm.
"So you miss me that much?"
The singing stopped, like someone had pulled a plug on the room.
Claire turned.
Something stood in the doorway, tall and narrow, its limbs too long. It was covered head to toe in feathers, with wings folded at the hips, the back, the shoulders, and two tiny ones crossed over its face like hands hiding a secret. They parted slowly.
It was Clarice. Tufts of down clung to the edges of her face. Her sclera was black, her irises the same blue Claire had known her whole life. She smiled ear to ear, and a thin line of blood ran down her chin.
Claire's breath left her. Her heart hammered against her ribs, and her legs wouldn't move.
"Oh, little pixie," Clarice said, "destined to die alone in the dark. Pathetic as ever. And this time, there's no one to shield you."
Something warm crept over Claire's shoes. She looked down. The floor was wet, and the wetness was spreading. She looked around her.
Poppy's hands were still on her shoulders, but her chest was slumped against Claire's back. Behind her, Kremidal's box lay on its side. Zephyr, June, Misty, Abby, the kids, everyone, sat or lay where they had been standing, their throats torn open, the blood running into one slow tide toward her feet.
Clarice laughed, high and wild, and lunged.
GASP.
Claire jerked upright on Poppy's bed, the sheets soaked through with cold sweat. She sat there, chest heaving, until her breathing slowed and she let out a long, shaky sigh.
Then she was up. She stuck her head into one room, then the next, checking each corner, until she reached the kitchen.
Poppy was there, cooking breakfast.
Claire crossed the floor in three steps and hugged her from behind. Poppy jolted, and the spatula froze mid-flip over the pan. "Woah!" She twisted to look over her shoulder and saw it was Claire. "Oh, hey! Happy birthday, Claire! Excited today are 'ya?"
Claire hugs tighter "Nah I just had a bad dream"
She loosens her grip as Poppy turns to face her "Forget about it, we're having your birthday breakfast. Go sit on the table, I'll have it ready"
As soon as Claire climbed onto one of the chairs, she finally sat still. Poppy slides down a plate of fried rice, a scoop of chili and a sunny side up.
As soon as Poppy sat down with her plate of the same meal, she asked "So uhh… What was your 'bad dream' about?"
Claire swallows her food down, "We were celebrating my birthday; cake, and all - the whole package"
"Oh?"
Then she cheekily smirked "Then we all died OOOOHH!" she reaches out her hands at Poppy, wiggling her fingers.
Poppy giggled "Yeah, yeah, finish your food, we've got a long day~" as soon as Poppy took a bite, her face shot up, quickly chewing her food and swallowing it "I forgot!" she takes another bite, this time talking with her mouth full "I ermersh furgoh, ishe shuposhe thoo thick you chew ja jurge fer yer porsche"
"What?" Claire asked
Poppy swallows her food after chewing "gulp. I said I almost forgot to take you Krem's church for your powers"
"Oooohhh~" Claire leaned in. "So what element do you think I can control?"
Poppy dangled her spoon at her. "Don't know yet. Your element's what we're testing for. But my hunch is your energy type is thermal. And don't get me wrong, that's not bad. It'll get a lot of jobs done. Try cooling that orange juice next to you." She points it beside Claire
Claire wraps her hand on the glass of orange juice, grips it tight, grits her teeth, flares her nose and…
Nothing's happening.
Poppy fanned her hand backwards at Claire "Nah, forget it. We'll have better chances at the lab, trust me."
Fast forward further into the day.
They were looking at the church.
"Wooooooooooooow"
"Wooooooooooooow"
They gaze above the church as they see scaffoldings wrapped around the main gate, dozens of construction workers banding together rebuilding the massive door. Even more scaffoldings can be seen on the very top of the church. This time the workers were placing shingles
"Huh, it's only been a month and they're working fast huh?" Poppy scoffed.
Claire glances at her "Who're the workers?"
"They're locals here in the church, though I can't recognize some of these people" Poppy crossed her arms
Claire squints her eyes "wait a second, I think I've seen some of these peeps form my orphanage"
Poppy's eyes shot up "Wait, do you think they're vamps?!"
Claire shrugged "They're soaking under the sun aren't they?"
Poppy pouted as she nodded "Oh yeah~ hmm, I'm being oddly forgetful today"
Inside, the air smelled of wet plaster, sawdust, and fresh varnish. A thin drip of paint landed a few steps ahead of them, a bright blue splat on the stone. Claire tilted her head back. Dozens of artists lay flat on the scaffolding, brushing inches from the vaulted ceiling, bringing the murals back to life one patch of color at a time. Below, masons polished the columns while carpenters varnished the kneelers, one row of them marked with a hand-lettered sign: DON'T SIT, I MEAN IT. Hammers, saws, and drills rang off the stone.
At the elevator, Poppy pressed the button and it lit up. "Oh my gosh, they actually fixed it fast."
Inside, Claire couldn't stop grinning. "Poppy, what does the lab look like?"
Poppy clicked her tongue. "I don't think words can do justice to how vast my lab is."
"W-wait, your lab?"
"Yep. Can't wait to see the look on your face."
The door opened, and Poppy flipped on the lights.
A cold breath rolled out, smelling of old metal and stale chemicals. The room beyond was vast and packed with sheet-metal machines: vial decanters, plasma infusion rigs, curing ovens, injection molds, a pedal press, belt sanders. Everything wore translucent fabric that hung like a ghost and rippled in the elevator's draft. Dust lay thick on the floor, broken only by Poppy's boot prints. Far in the back, a faint blue glow flickered.
"Whoa," Claire whispered, and the walls whispered it back.
"Phew, this place really dusted up in a month, huh?" Poppy said, hands on her hips. "Good thing I covered everything before I left. Come on, the wall of elements is this way."
They wove between the shrouded machines, the sheets brushing their shoulders, until they reached a door. Inside, walls of elements rose from floor to ceiling, each sample sealed in its own air-tight box beneath a neat label.
"Woah," Claire said. "That's a lot of boxes."
Poppy scoffed. "Hey, I don't have a PhD in chemistry for nothing, you know."
"You have a PhD?!"
"Yup. Once Kremidal found out I had a knack for it, he made me skip high school and funded my college."
Claire tilted her head. "Then what are the machines for?"
"They're for producing weapons." Poppy cleared her throat. "Ahem. Anyway! Welcome to the wall of elements! Each box is labeled with the element and the energy it reacts to." She steered Claire away by the shoulder. "Now come with me."
The next room was bare, with nothing but air vents and sprinklers. "This is the Blooming Room," Poppy said. "Arcanas in the tactical departments come here to test what their powers really are." She nudged Claire to the middle, pulled out a remote, and pressed it. The room beeped. "Aight, I need you to relax and tense up at the same time."
Claire shook out her legs and hands and cracked her neck. "Wait, what?"
"Think about what stresses you out, but like you're ready to face it." Poppy pressed the remote again, and the humidity climbed.
A faint silhouette of Clarice flashed in Claire's mind, staring straight at her. The room began to crystallize. Frost crept over the floor, Poppy's shoes froze to the mat, and her sleeves went stiff. She jabbed the remote twice, but the humidity wouldn't drop. Icicles sprouted from the floor like veins, and snowflake patterns bloomed across Claire's fingertips. On Poppy's smartwatch, the temperature plunged into the negatives.
"Err... Claire, don't stress out too much or you'll fatigue."
Mist curled from their breath, and Claire's breathing grew heavier.
"Claire!"
Claire gasped and whipped her head around. She tried to turn, but ice had crawled over her laces. "Oh, um... s-sorry."
"It's okay." Poppy tugged at her own frozen boots, gave up, and stepped out of them in her socks. "Nobody gets it the first time. Not me, though."
"How do you control yours?"
"Watch." Poppy rose onto her toes, arms sweeping wide. "This is mine. I think better when I move like this." She marched across the frost, stiff as a toy soldier, then flailed like a wet noodle. "Right now your flow's somewhere between those two. Too stiff to move, too wild to steer."
Claire tried to copy the march and ended up in a half-kick stance. Poppy burst out laughing. "Hey, that's good! That's you. Do that."
She spun in a quiet pirouette, stumbled on the ice, and caught herself with a wobbly cartwheel. "...Don't tell anyone that happened."
Claire snickered.
Poppy stood up and held out a knife. It rose from her palm and hovered between her hands, turning slowly in the cold air. "Magnetism was my first one. The kaboom part took a lot of stress to awaken, which is how it usually goes. Mine looks like dancing because I've done it since I was little. Yours is gonna look different. Kremidal says you've got an impressive Muay Thai background."
She stepped in front of Claire and set a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be like me, though. Relying on stress wears out your brain. Hold out your hand."
Poppy touched her fingertips. "Feel that quiet buzzing? That's your energy traveling through your nerves. And where do nerves connect?"
"To our brains."
"Correct! A healthy brain keeps your flow smooth like butter." She pulled out a butter knife, smirking. "Pun entirely intended."
Claire blinked. "So it's basically locking in?"
Poppy let go of her hand and shrugged. "Yep, that too. You know when you're so deep in a game you forget to blink? Same thing, except your whole body's the controller."
Claire's face lit up. "That's so tuff! But what about elements? How do Gods control them?"
Poppy looked to the side and hissed through her teeth. "Sorry, there aren't many Gods around. They're a rare breed. But you get the gist: they control all types of energy, and energy can create elements, so that's that."
She raised her hands with elbows bent, and the ice melted away. She pressed the remote to steady the room. "Catch!" A pair of padded gloves sailed toward Claire. "Let's go to the church dojo."
Claire's eyes went wide. "Church?! Dojo?! Is this place really a church?!"
Poppy sighed. "I- it's a long story. We'll tell you the juicy details when you're older."
The dojo was a converted chapel, and nobody had bothered to hide it. Stained glass still filled the tall windows, throwing patches of red and blue across the floor, and heavy bags hung from the old chandelier chains, so saints and punching bags shared the same ceiling. The pews were pushed against the walls and stacked with towels, and a worn square of blue mats sat in the middle of the marble. Training weapons lined the walls, and everything was dusty from a month of nobody using it.
Poppy grabbed a mop from the corner and started, well... mopping.
"Why did you bring me here again?" Claire asked.
Poppy thumbed a remote by the door, and the air conditioner beeped on. "Kremidal says you've got an impressive amateur record. None of them are tomato cans, right?"
Claire laughed. "Hehe, no. I had to fight for money, even against opponents bigger than me. I've had a few matches here in Cydonia. This place looks like a chapel turned into a gym."
"That's because it is," Poppy said. "Okay, short version. This place was born when things got desperate for the church. Me, Kremidal, Zephyr, and a few others went into contract killing. We called ourselves the Hands of the Church. After we gathered enough wealth, we stopped. But now we're buried in bills since the last riot, and desperate times came back to beat our asses again."
"What happened to the others?"
Poppy stopped mopping and looked at her. Swaying her hand while she spoke "Let's just say some targets got their revenge." Then she went back to mopping.
A few minutes later
"Square up pixie, show me watchu got!" Poppy is wearing lightly padded pink gloves, padded helmet and a flowery mouthguard.
Claire smacks her fists together, she's wearing blue gloves, blue helmet and a mouthguard - also blue. "I've chopped down trees taller than you 'pinky'! "
Poppy starts throwing straight-jab crosses, some are even a double. Despite the barrage of punches, Claire just kept bobbing around it, slipping past her guard and shoulders, Poppy's gloves were only grazing against Claire's skin. Poppy's shots are fast but strong enough for sparring.
Once Claire got close, she reached a shovel punch aimed at Poppy's stomach.
Poppy deadass bent her knees with her ass on the ground, rolling her body to launch a roundhouse kick at Claire's sides. She blocks it with her elbow down. She follows it with a grab, attempting to put Poppy to a leg lock. Luckily Poppy quickly pulls her leg back- breaking the grab.
"Don't try to pull that crap on me, Zephyr does that to me all the time!" she gets into capoeira stance; does a low kick, so Claire tucked her leg back to dodge - it was a feint. It was followed with a high roundhouse kick straight to Claire's face, due to being off-balance, in a nick of time she raises her arms to block it. It didn't have enough force to rattle her though, so she answered with a hard and fast low kick, hitting Poppy's stomach - knocking the air out of her.
Poppy drops on the mat to her side
"Hey! We're just light sparring, don't hit me too hard!"
"Sorry"
Poppy stands up, huffing her chest, then readjusting her helmet "Alright, this time try to use your powers" she squares back up.
As Claire did the same, this time her stance wasn't as jumpy. Poppy said "Alright, how about you start by shelling your fists with ice?"
As she looked concentrated, crystal lattices start to crawl onto Claire's forearms. While Poppy slowly grew a smile
"You're pickin' up quick huh? Try block - this one!" Raised her voice as soon as she threw a hard punch.
In seconds, Claire raised her guard up and the ice on her forearms thickened up like ice in a freezer with the fluffy layer over it. Tink was the sound the punch made once it came into contact with the ice.
Poppy peeked over Claire's guard "So did you feel anything?"
Claire answered with a reverse roundhouse kick. Poppy responded with a lean back, dodging the kick entirely. Claire followed with a jab, straight, both were parried. Low kick - dodged tucking her leg in; high kick to the head - blocked with both arms. "Damn! You're fast Claire!"
The fight briefly halts to a reset, Claire reaches for a low kick - Poppy flips over it, then follows with a straight kick right onto Claire's face mid-air. In a split second she tries to block it by icing up her face.
But it was too late - Poppy kicked her in the face in time, knocking her down flat to the ground as shards of ice flew to the sides. But also in seconds, she forms an ice pillar to prop herself back up back to stance
"Ooooooh~ you pickin' up quick huh?"
Claire rolls her shoulders while saying "Hey that shook me! I thought we're just sparring?"
"We are - you see, using your powers for offense is easy, but for defense is a lot harder"