“Ivan, are you ready yet? We are about to leave for the charity gala.” The banshee woman who gave birth to me shouts.

“It’s not Ivan. I would like to be called Evelyn now!” I shout back in frustration.

Some stomping of feed and the woman tears open the door. “Now listen here, young man. Last week it was Jullie the week before it was Rose. When are you going to get out of this stupid phase already?”

“I am just trying to figure out what fits,” I defend myself.

“What fits is that suit, so continue putting it on. We can't be late,” she says as she starts to fuss over my clothes.

“Why can’t I just wear a dress like Sophia?” I ask while I am getting dressed.

“Because you are not a woman, unlike your sister. And we don’t want to embarrass ourselves now, do we?” she says as she finishes her work and takes my hand. Dragging me out of the room all the way to the car.

In the car, the rest of my family is already waiting. The two big benches that face each other were almost completely filled already. I go and sit down next to my big brother. While my bio mom sits next to my bio dad. The car starts almost immediately after that, and we are off to another boring event.

“Ivan, you should really fix your hair at some point; it is getting way too long.” The devil pretending to be my dad says.

“I don’t know; I kind of like it.” My big brother says. Playing with my locks. “There are lots of guys nowadays with long hair.”

“Yeah, but those are all hippies and other filth.” The devil grumbles, “Samuel, make sure to take him to the barber, will you?”

“Okay, I will make sure to put it on my agenda,” he says, giving me a wink that tells me that the time he is suppose to take me will be miraculously double booked with an important meeting.

Luckily, that is the only comment the asshole has for me as he moves on to my sister and how she should sit better and stuff to make sure to attract a good husband. Luckily, that conversation does not last long on account of our reaching our destination.

We make it out of the car and into the fancy venue. There, I am forced to meet several people that I vaguely remember from previous events. Then, when that is finally over, I am free to mingle with the other kids. Which, somehow, is even worse.

“Why don’t we play with him?” One of the boys asks the other boys while pointing at me.

“He is weird. He pretends to be a girl all the time, like a real loser.” One of the other boys' answers.

I try my best to apply the techniques that were drilled into me to not show any emotion and just walk away. I wonder the hall of the venue trying my best to ignore the bubbling emotions. I always thought it was kind of showoffy to have a bunch of priceless artwork littered around the place, but now it kind of helps me distract from the monotony of this place. I keep wondering the hales until I stop at a peculiar piece of art.

The canvas depicts space or some other weird place just a void that seems to explode in colour. The colourful void gives place to a singular rose that shine with a pink somewhat purple light.

“That is a nice piece.” My brother says as he walks up behind me.

I nod. “I like the colour.”

My brother nods, inspecting the piece again. “I think it's magenta” he pause then turns to me. "That is a good name, isn’t it? Magenta.”

I think about it for a bit, observing the rose with a smile. “Yes, I like it.”

“Hey there, siblings in strive, how are we doing?” my little sister happily asks as she walking towards us with a big piece of cake on her plate.

“Hey Sophia, what happened to your little friends?” my brother asks.

“Left them behind, they were talking about boys and how much they need to earn before they would consider marrying them. I mean, who cares? My husband should be a cool Samurai with like four arms and a fluffy tail.” My sister explains.

My brother chuckles. “Well, don’t aim too high now.”

Sophia smacks her lips. “They have to be that good to impress me.” Then she looks between the painting and us. “What have you two been up to trying to figure out how to steal the painting?”

“No, we have just been admiring, thinking of a new name for.” He ruffles my hair. “We think Magenta sounds nice.”

Sophia nods. “It’s pretty, but you know if I were to change my name, I would make it something fancy like Sparkle.”

Samuel starts to laugh. “Right, and I be Explosion! "

“Yes, exactly like that,” Sophia says with big eyes.” Then when we become Samurai we can be, uhh… Sparkling Magenta Explosion. What do you think, Magenta?” my sister asks, turning her big dew eyes on me.

I smile brightly, sure my parents absolutely sucked, but at least my siblings cared in their own way. “I love it just one problem. How are we going to become samurai?”

“Oh, that is simple,” my sister says with a dismissive gesture. “Once I marry my Samurai husband, I will make sure he turns us into Samurai too.”

“I am not sure if it works like that,” I point out.

Sophie just shrugs. “If he can’t do that, he is not worth marring.”

“Well, at least she got standards.” Samuel says with a weird smile. “Let’s go back. Mom and Dad will be looking for us if we are gone for too long.”

We all nod and start to head back, but not before I throw one last glance at the painting. Someday when I have enough money, I would but that painting and hang it in my room.

We make it back to the main hall, where people are still having the same old meaningless conversations about this and that. Just as I am mentally preparing myself for another hour of meaningless torture, I am surprised by a sudden alarm as red flashing lights turn on. While my AUGS display a single message in big letters.

INCURSION DETECTED

I blink in incomprehension at the message before I feel someone start pulling on my arm, dragging me away. Once I do come to my senses, however, I notice that my brother is currently pulling both me and my sister into one of the hallways.

I quickly start moving forward on my own, checking the digital map on my AUGS for directions towards the closes shelter. Walking forward slightly to check if the road ahead is clear. Luckily, it mostly is, as the only things that are currently filling them are the panicked guests. It is at this moment Sophia snaps out of it as well, and we start moving to the shelter at greater speed.

“How bad is this?” Sophia asks.

“It will be fine,” Samuel answers. “There are no aliens here, so that probably means they have been spotted somewhere else in the city.”

That makes sense. The rules, as far as I can remember, are that as soon as if one Antithesis is spotted in the city, the alarms go off. Meaning that currently the only danger are the other people.

We keep going, making sure to dodge the large groups of people so that we don't get trampled. Eventually, we make it to the stairs and down the two floors to head to the shelter. Though as we run through the last corridors, we can hear a lot of screaming ahead.

I quickly look back at my siblings. “Should we go around?”

Samuel pauses while making a face. “There is not much going around. That is where the shelter is; our other option is descending five more floors to the next shelter.”

“Then we should head there right” Sophia asks, tugging on Samuel's arm.

He nods slowly, coming to a decision. “Magenta, let’s go quickly. There are stairs on our right.”

I nod, opening the door and almost jumping down the stairs in my haste, occasionally pausing to make sure that the others can keep up. Sophia seems on the verge of tears but still powers on, while Samuel's look of quiet determination frightens me as much as it makes me feel safe.

We reach the floor and head down the long hallway. This floor is decidedly more creepy than the other ones, lacking a lot of the decorations and the pompousness of the previous floors. Not that it matters much as we keep running through the hallways. We make it halfway when I hear a noise, not someone screaming, just something falling over with a metallic cling. I take a quick look to the side to spot a green mass of tentacles.

The creature spots me as well, launching its rapid barrage of sharp tentacles at me. In next moment I am violently pushed away, landing hard a few meters away. I look back at the spot I was just standing only to see my big brother there, hunched over, impaled by several tentacles.

“Why?” I ask stupefied.

Samuel lets out a raspy chuckle. “It’s a big brother’s job to protect their little sisters.”

“I, why, pleas.” I stutter out tears freely flowing down my face.

“Magenta, I need you to take care of Sophia, okay?” he says as he falls over even further

I nod, looking at my sister, who is sobbing on the floor. I quickly make a decision running past my brother and to my sister, grabbing her and dragging her along, away from this, away, away from… no, stop thinking that.

I can swear that I still hear a whispered “I love you” as we turn the corner.

The problem with running back almost immediately becomes clear as we get further away from the shelter. Further away from safety. Running around does not seem to be an option, and even if we did manage to get there, the shelter would most likely be closed by now.

So a new plan protect Sophia to do that I need to get her into a place where the aliens can’t reach her. I start to try opening random doors until one actually opens. Revealing some kind of laboratory inside. I quickly move us inside and towards one of the large closets.

The industrial things seem to be made out of some kind of metal, perfect for defence. I quickly open the doors and throw the mass of papers, microscopes and other stuff that is probably important to create a small space big enough space for someone to fit into.

“Quickly, get in,” I tell Sophia.

“What about you?” She asks through tears.

I point at another cabinet. “I get into that one.”

She nods and slowly gets in. I close the door and then sigh. “Sophia, pleas brace yourself.”

With some amount of effort I start to hang on the cabinet putting my feet on the wall until the entire thing starts to wobble and fall over, making a loud noise. I repeat this process two more times, making it that much harder for the aliens to get to her. After I done that, I quickly move to the last metal closet and make it fall over in front of the door.

When the noise clears, I look around, seeing if there is anything I missed, but as far as I can tell there really is only one entrance. I let out a sigh of relief only to be immediately interrupted by a loud bang at the door. The door is still there, just a little bit bent now, meaning that it won’t be long before the monsters can get inside.

I need a weapon or something, I quickly look around the lab desperate looking for a knife or something. The only thing I find, however, is this pink crystal. I grab it tightly in both hands and slowly manoeuvred myself next to the door. Then I wait.

One hit, moving the cabinet slightly; the next hit creates a small hole; the next hit makes the hole even bigger; and with the next hit, a mass of tentacles rams through. I jump at it, bringing the crystal down with all the force I can muster.

I hit something and green liquid poor’s out, but the creature is very much still alive. So, I bring the crystal up again to smash it down. I keep repeating this, trying my best to kill it so that it can’t reach my sister, so it can’t take away something precious again.

The creature does not take this laying down as its tentacles whirl around wildly, stabbing me and cutting me. At some point, one of the tenticals fly past my face, cutting a long line that cuts out both of my eyes. The pain is insane and I almost feel like giving up, but every time the thought hits me, my brain flashes back to my brother and how he asked me to protect our sister.

At some point, the flailing stops. I don’t, I keep hitting it a good ten more times. Before I stop and take a breath. The thing was death; I think. It was at least no longer moving. My sister was safe. I drop the crystal to wipe my face wincing at the amount of pain.

I am going to die.

System Initialized!

Congratulations. Through your actions, you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard and a defender of humanity. I am Cyan. I will assist you to uplift humanity so that you may defend your homeworld from the Antithesis threat!

Rise, Sparkling Magenta Explosion, and become a protector of the weak!

“I ahwha” I start to crying sobbing hard, which makes my eyes hurt even more, making me cry even harder.

This is not good.

I try to call for help, try to verbalises anything, but only choked sobs come out as I try my best to plea for my life.

I will call the aid of another Vanguard immediately.

I barely register the next few things that happen. All I know is that someone walks into the room talking in a soft voice. Something sharp pokes me in the side, but it does not hurt that much just makes me feel warm and fuzzy. There is some more noise and the screeching of metal.

The next thing I know, two small hands are around me. “Everything is fine now we are safe,” Sophia says through her own little sobs.

I hug my sister tightly. “How?”

“There is a Samurai here.” She says I feel her head move, looking at something I can’t see.

“Hey I am Foxfire, but you can call me Luna.” A voice says I try to figure out where the voice came from but on account of my still missing eyes, that is slightly complicated.

“I am Magenta,” I eventually say

“Hey uhm I got you something,” she says, pushing something soft against me

“What is it?” I ask a bit confused.

“It’s a plush fox. Lyona told me you were not doing great, so I wanted to cheer you up.” She says, sounding a bit off but not sure why.

“She is a fox girl, but she really looks like our old cat Sol,” Sophia whispers conspiratorially in my ear.

“Are you feeling okay now? I was going to give you new eyes but if you want me to wait?”

“I want new eyes” I say immediately, jumping at Luna's offer. I really did not like not being able to see.

“Okay, any special requests for the eyes?” Luna asks.

“Rainbow, you should get rainbow eyes,” Sophie says, bouncing excitedly.

I smile and then nod. “Rainbow eyes if you could.”

“Sure, can you sit still for me?” Luna says.

I feel her softly grab my face and put something into my empty half destroyed eye sockets. It hurts, but I do my best to sit still and bite the pain away. After about a minute of waiting, vision slowly returns to me. In my arms is Sophia, still a bit shakily, but the massive plush fox seems to help her somewhat.

Luna looks different from what I imagined. She is tall with long pink hair, but the fluffy tail and ears make her look kind of unreliable.

“How are you feeling?” she asks me.

“Still bit… you know,” I try to explain.

Luna leans down, smiling softly as she pats my head. “Yeah, I know; being a samurai is no job for a kid. I make sure to send a proper complaint up.”

I nod in agreement. If I never had to see an alien again, all the better. “So what now?”

“You should go to a safe place for now,” Luna says. “You know any place like that.”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t.”

“Then do you want to live at my place for a while until you figure it out?” she asks.

I nod again without a moment of hesitation. “Yes.”

“Okay, let's go then. “She says as she stands back up. “Do we still need to grab something?”

I want to say no, but then reamer something. “There is a painting upstairs of a magenta rose; can we grab that?”

Luna looks at me with a bit of confusion and then nods. “Sure lets go.”

--

I open my eyes to the word gullible on the ceiling in big letters. With a little dash and capital M in the lower right corner.

“Fucking bitch,” I murmur to myself.

“What?” the little bundle curled up next to me asks.

I lean over, planting a kiss on top of Claire’s forehead. “The ceiling.”

Claire moves slightly then chuckles. “I wonder when she found the time to do that.”

“No clue,” I say as I lean in closer to her warmed.

“Are you okay? You were tossing and turning a lot in your sleep.” She asks while patting my hair.

I groan slightly. “Just some old memories. Reminding me that I should call my sister and that I should hang my painting here.”

“Right, you told me you had a sister. How is she doing?” Claire asks between laying kisses on me.

“She is somehow worse that Maniac. She currently finishing up her business major so that she can be hired by PsyCo.” I say, burring myself deeper.

“And that is a problem?” Claire asks, not sounding convinced.

“Her working here isn’t the problem; the problem is her motivation.” I say as I sit up slightly to look Claire in the eyes. “Sophia wants to marry rich; for her, that means marrying a Samurai.”

“Don’t think there are a lot of single samurai in PsyCo though. Does she have a specific target?” Claire asks, getting more excited by the topic.

“Unfortunately, she does. Her first target is Maniac; her second target is Silver Scorpion.”

Claire frowns. "What is wrong with Silver Scorpion?”

“Nothing is wrong with him; the problem is Maniac,” I say in exasperation. “Because I know the two of us are not dating, but we end up naked in the same bed from time to time, and I really don’t want to be in that kind of situation with my sister.”

Claire pulls a face at that. “Ah yeah, I would not want that with my siblings either,”

“So you know I should get on that before it becomes a problem.” I say as I hope out of bed in search of some clothes.

“She sounds like a real handful.” Claire muses.

“Not really. She used to be this real cute kid that looked at me with sparkles in her eyes. I mean, it was her that suggested my theme should be pink crystals and stuff.” I explain, thinking back at the happy memories.

“That is fair, well what is the plan for today?” Claire asks as she also gets out of bed.

“Hmm, deliver the parenting book to Maniac, then stream in the evening.”

“It's going to take you an entire day to deliver a book?” Claire asks with an amused smirk.

“I did say Maniac right? Knowing her, we are going on at least two side quests,” I point out, making Claire giggle.

Just when I finish putting on my clothes, I receive a call, frowning slightly. “Speak of the devil.” I look around the room. “You don’t think she bugged the place?”

Claire crosses her arms and frowns at me. “She is not that petty.”

I shrug and picking up the call. “Please tell me nothing is on fire.”

“Uhm, no, at least I don’t think so.” Evelins response comes a moment later.

“Good, so what is the problem?” I ask.

“Not necessarily a problem, it's just we got a job application from your sister.”

“Do not go out with her,” I snap out.

“What? It's not that kind of job, I well why would you even think that?” Evelin asks sounding genuinely confused.

“Sorry, I just, she wants to marry a Samurai” I admit.

“Okay and why the hell would you think she wants to marry me?” Evelin asks, sounding a bit outraged.

“Because she thinks that you are a chaotic mess who needs someone in her life to make sure the important things are taken care of.” I point out.

“Right, fair I guess, so should I deny her application or what do you want me to do?” she asks.

“Just send it to me, please, I handle it.” I say, pinching my nose.

“Okay, sent, uhm, good luck. I am off then,” Evelin says, still sounding a bit bewildered.

“Yeah, thanks, bye,” I say as I disconnect the call and look at Claire, who is grinning.

“Good start.” She says, giving me a thumbs up.