Justice/Loneliness: Aspects, #2

CHAPTER ONE

Y ou ready? Hate asked as the dropship neared the monster nest.

Love gave her a playful smile. I don’t know, I don’t think I’m really in the zone yet.

Hate raised an eyebrow, failing to suppress a smile of her own. Oh? Well, can I do anything to help you get in the zone?

Love’s hands went to the bottom of Hate’s jacket, tugging it towards her so that the space between them closed. I can think of a few things.

Hate’s smile turned to a grin for just a moment before she closed the rest of the space between them, kissing her girlfriend.

Unfortunately, it was only a few moments before Hate pulled away, surreptitiously looking around the ship to remind Love that they weren’t alone.

The twins, Vengeance and Justice, and Jealousy, the newest Aspect, were all standing at the other end of the ship, doing their best to look as if they weren’t listening in on the young couple.

For Justice, that meant stoically staring at the wall, though there was a hard edge to her jaw that made Love want to apologise for her public display. Justice’s own girlfriend was also an Aspect, but she lived in a different Tower. Since the Aspects of each Tower were tasked with guarding the city surrounding the Tower in question, they were only allowed to visit other Towers when their particular talents were needed elsewhere.

They tried to come up with as many reasons as possible to call Loneliness to their Tower, but Love couldn’t fault Justice for thinking it wasn’t often enough.

In truth, Love had hoped that some of the restrictions surrounding the Aspects would have loosened once they had stopped the man who was responsible for sending the creatures they were supposed to fight into the cities. Ever since, the creatures had been more than happy to keep to the wastes, with nothing more than occasional sightings near city walls.

Love’s family had been torn apart by the isolation requested of the Aspects twice. Once when her father had been chosen as the Aspect of Perception, and again when her sister had been chosen as the Aspect of Empathy. Her father died before she'd been chosen as the Aspect of Love, but her sister lived in the same Tower. Love was more than aware of the fact that if she hadn’t been chosen as an Aspect, she never would have seen her sister again.

Not to mention how her relationship with Hate was only tolerated because they were one of the rare opposite Aspect duos who managed to make their powers stronger by working together, just as Vengeance and Justice did.

But no, even though there was no evidence that the cities were in any real danger anymore, the Aspects were still expected to shed everything about their former lives, including their names.

And while Love didn’t think it was fair, everyone else still seemed to consider it a necessity of the job.

Even if it did mean that Justice struggled with being separated from her love.

Vengeance carried none of his sister’s stoicism.

In fact, despite their identical dark skin, long white-blonde hair, distinctive garb from Tower Seven, and the fact that they were literally identical twins, with different genders only due to Justice being trans, you would almost struggle to call them siblings.

He lounged against the back wall, his shirt mostly open to reveal his impressive figure, as his hair seemed ready to escape from his loose ponytail at any moment. It was a stark contrast to his sister’s impeccable appearance, her own shirt buttoned tightly, and her ponytail without a single strand loose.

Vengeance appeared to be pretending to examine his crossbow. Or maybe he was actually examining it. Love couldn’t quite tell.

Jealousy was doing the worst job of pretending that they weren’t watching the couple. They nervously ran their fingers through their jet black, shoulder-length curls, pulling them from their freckled olive face, before letting them bounce back over their silver eyes.

It only drew attention to how those eyes occasionally darted over to the couple.

Love couldn’t say that she was entirely happy with that, but then she was the one engaging in public displays of affection. Even if it was necessary for her to keep up her power level.

Jealousy was probably only watching for the same reason. Their powers meant that they were better at absolutely everything, apart from whatever it was they were jealous of. Being jealous of Love and Hate’s relationship was probably one of the safer things before battle.

It would most likely make them terrible at flirting, but then it wasn’t as if they were going to seduce the monsters into moving their nest away from the city walls.

No, that was Love’s job.

Are you sure you’re ready? Hate asked again, and this time Love didn’t respond playfully.

Hate was worried for her.

Of course, she was. She worried every time Love went into battle.

Most of the Aspects either had offensive powers, or powers that could be used at a distance.

Love had neither.

Her powers allowed her to calm the creatures, and in an ideal scenario, control them.

As long as she had Hate with her, there shouldn’t be a problem. She should have more than enough ability to convince the creatures to move their nest away from the city.

But if there was a problem?

Love would be right in the middle of it. The creatures had to see her to do as she asked, which meant that she couldn’t keep her distance and stay out of the fight, like most Aspects without offensive powers, but she would also be defenceless if they attacked.

It truly was the worst of both worlds if she failed.

The trick was simply not to fail, and it had worked for her so far.

But that didn’t stop Hate from worrying about her, and Love couldn’t blame her.

I’m sure, Love told her softly. I love you.

Hate nodded mutely, and Love knew that she was using her hatred for the situation to fuel her own powers.

It was how they worked so well together.

The ship slowed and began to lower, and Love could see a mass of creatures through the open door, watching intently.

The ship was armoured to make sure that the creatures couldn’t ground them – a precaution added after some Aspects had died from a creature-caused crash – so they weren’t in any danger until they stepped out, but as soon as they hit the ground, the creatures would be upon them.

They weren’t exactly fond of people strolling up to their nests.

Even if they had become less actively hostile towards people over the centuries – no longer seeing the need to enter cities without command – they would still attack anyone who approached them on sight.

Love’s powers would stop them, but she had to act quickly.

Love was the first to drop from the ship, and Hate watched her like a hawk, ready to strike as soon as a creature got even slightly close.

Or at least, got close without being under Love’s control.

As soon as she calmed them, the creatures were quite fond of cuddles.

Vengeance and Justice similarly watched with weapons drawn. Unlike Hate, neither of them could use their powers until after the creatures attacked, so they were really just there in case the worst happened.

And to watch over Jealousy.

Jealousy had only really joined after Love had put an end to the alien that had been sending the creatures into the cities, and had killed their predecessor.

The alien who, if both his own claims and Empathy’s theory on why he'd come to Earth centuries after any of his species had last been were to be believed, was distantly related to both Love and Empathy, through their Rena ancestor.

The ancestor whose alien blood gave them the ability to become Aspects.

The ancestor who had apparently been a princess before she'd come to Earth to defend humanity against the creatures her own people had sent.

Which made Love, followed by her younger sister, her direct descendants, and technically the next in line for the Rena throne, before anyone who actually lived in Rena space.

While the words in that sentence technically made sense to Love, she couldn’t quite conceptualise the idea of a throne on a world that had only ever been a story to her. The place where the aliens who had saved them had come from.

That was always what the Rena had been. Even if Love shared their blood, she'd always thought of herself as Human.

Maybe with something a little extra thrown in there, but certainly not enough for her to ever identify more with a different species.

Jealousy moved cautiously towards the edge of the ship, and Justice and Vengeance kept a close eye on them.

Ever since the creatures had stopped coming into the city, all the Aspects had really been doing was investigating any sightings near the walls of cities.

At the other Towers, they just let the creatures be, not wanting to aggravate them.

At Tower Five, whenever a creature was spotted getting too close to the city, Empathy would figure out where the nest was located, and Love would go and convince the creatures to relocate.

Technically, Love could probably do her part of the task accompanied by Hate and Sleepy, the large Dreamer monster Love had effectively domesticated at this point. But Jealousy needed to be trained, just in case the current calm ended up being short-lived, which meant that they had to accompany Love on these missions. And since Love had only arrived at the Tower a few months before Jealousy, she wasn’t exactly in an ideal position to act as their teacher.

Justice and Vengeance, as the oldest Aspects at the Tower, took on that responsibility, which meant that what could really be a two-man mission took five people.

Truly, it was overkill, especially when Justice and Vengeance would be effectively useless until Love was already hurt.

And while Jealousy’s abilities made them a better fighter, and immensely useful if any other skills were needed, they were also kind of useless compared to Hate if anything went wrong.

Regardless, Love understood why it took a troop of them to deal with such a simple task, and she honestly couldn’t blame them for wanting to come along. In fact, she actually pitied other Aspects like Serenity and Pain who now never left the Tower on official business.

While there were many downsides to being an Aspect, the ability to go beyond the walls of the cities was not one of them.

Love made sure not to take her eyes from the monsters as she dropped to the ground, making sure that they were watching her, instead of the dropship above them.

Even with her power, it took a little convincing before the creatures believed that she wasn’t a threat.

Sometimes she spoke to them, using a voice much like she might use for a pet, but her powers worked just as well when she remained silent.

According to the others, the Love before her had always relied on verbal cues for her powers to work, but Love suspected that had more to do with the Aspect in question than the powers themselves. After all, the creatures weren’t verbal by nature, and neither was love.

All of the creatures tracked her with their gaze, any apparent hostility soon fading in place of curiosity.

The creature closest to her cocked its head and took a cautious step forward.

Love reached her hand out as it approached, keeping her palm open.

The creature sniffed at her hand as it took another step forward.

After a moment of sniffing, it seemed happy enough with her and pushed its head into her hand, like a cat seeking attention.

Love stroked down its scales, and it made a noise almost like a purr.

Love could almost feel the tension drain from her friends behind her as she heard the familiar sound of them sheathing weapons.

As much as the creatures now trusted Love, they would still defend themselves if threatened.

Love heard one last weapon sheath, a few moments after the others, and she didn’t have to look up to know that it was Hate.

Do you think I could convince you to move a couple of miles east? Love asked the monster nuzzling into her palm, and she received no argumentative response.

CHAPTER TWO

Y ou did well today , Justice told Jealousy as they arrived back at the Tower. You are adjusting well to life here.

Jealousy shrugged. Well, I guess. I mean, I wouldn’t say that I have as good a grasp of my powers as Love has, and she only arrived a few months before me.

Love always tended to forget that fact, given how hectic those first few months were. All the months after were almost a blur of calm, though she supposed that it had probably been just over a year since she'd first come into her powers.

Be grateful for that, Vengeance said, placing a reassuring hand on Jealousy’s shoulder. Those who come into their powers in times of great need do tend to master them quickly, but it is a hard way to learn, and not one that I would wish on anyone. Your progress has been slower than Love’s, sure, but it has still been progress. And you must also remember that you are still three years younger than her. Empathy has been here a lot longer than either of you, and she also hasn’t achieved her full potential. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure that any of us reach the full potential of the Aspects anymore. I know that they’re just stories, but the tales of what the original Aspects were able to do... Well, I don’t think any of us are quite there yet.

Has Empathy been giving you history lessons again? Justice asked her brother with a smile.

He shrugged. It’s not as if there are many missions to occupy our time anymore.

As if summoned by them talking about her, Empathy entered the hangar.

At first glance, it would have been easy enough to think that the figure walking through the door was Pain. It looked like him, in every detail from the milky white skin to the sandy blond hair.

Everything except his silver eyes – typical of those with Rena blood – were tinged with lilac, just like Love’s own.

As she approached, Empathy quickly morphed to look more like her sister. Even when surrounded by others, whenever Love was close, she was the one Empathy mimicked. Presumably, because Love looked most like Empathy had before she'd become an Aspect, and because she thought most like her too, given that they were both autistic as well as sisters.

It wasn’t just someone’s physique Empathy mimicked, after all, it was also their mind.

Did you have a successful trip? she asked as she entered.

Love nodded. Just like all the other trips we’ve taken since dealing with Geral. I mean, after this much practice, it would probably take something pretty drastic to cause trouble.

Don’t tempt fate, Vengeance warned her with a shake of his head.

Love rolled her eyes at his superstitious nonsense.

As long as you keep coming back alive, I’m happy, Hate chimed in.

Love gave her a reassuring smile. As long as you’re there with me, coming back alive is a guarantee.

Hate smiled back before Empathy spoke up again.

Speaking of people sickeningly in love, she turned to Justice, "Loneliness is here. She said she would wait for you in your room, and then winked, and then remembered that I’m still only fourteen, despite the fact that I looked like her. I think she also