Strawberry was surprisingly nice enough to help Sunshine out with the giant rose problem without expecting something else in return. It looked like apologies went a long way.

  “So y’all just want me to shoot up there?” Strawberry said, aiming the pistol she chose out of all the guns at the rose.

  “Yeah,” Sunshine said, eager to see her dad again.

  Strawberry scratched her neck. “But how you gonna get up there?”

  “I’m gonna throw her,” Kofi answered, who looked way too excited to perform that task.

  “Don’t throw her too hard, Kingston,” Garlic urged. “Her bleeding could start up again.”

  “Don't underestimate her resolve, man,” Kofi insisted. “She can take the pain.”

  “Don’t worry, Garlic. I’m all good,” Sunshine assured the scarface.

  Garlic sighed. “Alright. And I know you were adamant on going in there yourself, but don’t get hurt up there.”

  It was weird how he was so concerned with her safety all of a sudden, but she didn’t complain. “Right.”

  Kofi grabbed Sunshine’s head as Strawberry pulled the trigger. An orb of pink shot out of the gun’s muzzle and straight toward the rose. It stopped abruptly, and then expanded until it matched the size of a flat screen TV. The dreadhead threw her at the orb like she was a baseball.

  It was only when Sunshine phased through the pink energy that she realized it was a portal.

  The landing was soft. Easily the softest landing she’s had in her entire life.

  Inside, on the soft yellow floor, Jerome’s body was there — motionless and helpless. It smelled like a garden. Well, how she imagined a garden would smell like if most people put in the effort to make one. Flowers sprouted in Sunshine’s mind, but a storm rained down on those flowers the moment she saw who was laying next to him.

  After stealing her dad away and making her go on this tedious journey for the simple act of just getting in here, Sunflower had the audacity to lay next to him. Jerome’s arm rested on the teen’s hip, like a blanket to keep her arm — warm from the cold energy that always surrounded her.

  It made Sunshine’s hip burn worse than before. That was supposed to be her spot. It was always her spot — ever since she was little.

  “Get up.” She thought a calm voice would be sufficient, but Sunflower was stubborn. “I said… get up!”

  Sunshine’s “sister” shot up like a startled mouse. Her breathing was harsh and her eyes were wide. “You…” She squinted. “You! How did you get in here!? What are you doing-”

  “I'm here for my dad.” It offended Sunshine how angry Sunflower looked. Where was that even coming from? She didn't deserve to feel like that.

  “Hell. Fucking. No,” Sunflower said bluntly, blocking Sunshine’s view of her dad. “Just get the hell out of here. You don't deserve to see him again – not after what you did.”

  Her jaw tightened. “I-I know what I did. But that's why I'm trying to fix it. I'm trying to be a better daughter now. I know a place that could potentially fix him and make all of this stuff go away. So if you're not gonna let me take Jerome, then that means you don't want to save him.”

  Sunflower gasped. “You little bitch.” Her voice felt like poison in Sunshine’s ears. “You're putting me in a position where I'm the bad guy? Who's the one who put Jerome in this situation ‘cause it sure as hell wasn't me.”

  “And you're keeping me from taking him out of this situ-”

  “Sunshine!” The girl froze. “He was crying…”

  She couldn't remember that. And that fucking sucked.

  “I’ve seen your life through his memories, you know,” Sunflower continued. “You had everything. He gave you everything, everything that I always wanted. A comfy home, a relaxing life, love. My mother died years before I met you and Jerome, and I would've killed to experience a fraction of what he gave you. And you abandoned that for a dude you knew for less than a fucking month!?”

  “Shut up!” Sunshine shouted, grabbing her own head. It felt like it was gonna pop any second now. “You might've seen our lives through his memories, but you didn’t feel what I felt. I was trying to help-”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “The only person you were trying to help was yourself!” Sunflower spat back. “You could fill a goddamn city with how deep your selfishness is. Does your low self-esteem cripple you that much? You didn’t hear Jerome cry out. You abandoned him — your only family. You threw him away like trash!”

  The control Sunshine thought she had over the situation was disappearing with each sentence. She’d claw her ears out if she had the strength.

  A hypocrite like Sunflower had the nerve to take the high ground here, and Sunshine wanted to yank her back down.

  “You’re an idiot. How could Jerome name you ‘Sunshine’ when you’re the darkest person I’ve ever met!?”

  A guttural scream tore out of Sunshine’s mouth. Aura exploded from her body, shaking the rose’s interior. Her brows slashed downward, shadowing her eyes into two razor-thin slits. Her jaw clenched so hard the muscles jumped beneath the skin

  No more talking. All the girl wanted to do was beat some ass.

  Sunshine charged toward the one she would never refer to as “sister”, blood erupting from her wound. Anger smothered the pain, and that rage directed to her fist.

  She swung. Sunflower had a strike of her own.

  Her punch cracked against Sunflower’s jaw. A kick slammed into her wound right after.

  Sunshine’s brain ignored it, throwing lefts and rights at her opponent’s face. But Sunflower wasn't held back by an injury, and the prick abused that, biting down on her hip.

  “Fuck!” Sunshine yelled, falling on her back. “You fucking-”

  The teen jumped on her, and then rained down a flurry of fists. “People like you piss me off the most! Pretending to be good and doing good things when deep down, you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself!”

  “You're a pebble! I'll fucking crush you!”

  There probably wasn't any meaning to this fight, or any meaning in winning or losing it. Even so, Sunshine needed to go through with it. It was the only way she could express these complex emotions plaguing her head.

  She couldn't do anything… but fight.

  Sunshine stabbed Sunflower’s eyes with her nails. Her “sister” shrieked, scrambling away.

  But her determination to be a complete annoyance surpassed Sunshine’s expectations, and Sunflower regained her bearings, eyes widened with fury.

  “You were afraid I'd take Jerome away from you, so you took him away from yourself before that happened!” Sunflower said, body shaking. Then, she smirked. “I’ll make sure you never see him again!”

  “No!”

  They closed the distance in seconds and gave each other a punch to the cheek. But neither fell or gave in to each other’s strength. They pushed, pushed, and pushed – all to see who'd be blasted away first.

  “Is that all you got!?” Sunshine only knew Sunflower for a short time, and yet she's never wanted to beat someone so badly before.

  Unfortunately, her body had enough. The blood pooling beneath her feet was proof of that. Sunshine's knees wobbled once, but that was enough for the teen to smash her face into the soft floor.

  Both exhaled as a tooth left Sunshine’s mouth.

  Sunflower had her pinned down, and she didn't seem to have any intention of getting off. “I… win.” She leaned in closer, her hair caressing Sunshine’s face. “You… You're Jerome’s daughter. Don't fucking lose.”

  “Huh? Did you-Did you want me to win?”

  “Jerome… always found a way to win even if he lost. I thought you'd be the same. I was scared you would be.” Her voice didn't piss off Sunshine as much as before. In fact, it sounded sad. “Why? Why did you help that man do that to him?”

  “I'd rather die than tell y-”

  Sunshine thought the fight was over, but Sunflower changed that without another mash to the face. “Don't you dare say you'd rather die! That's the last thing he'd want you to say. Even if you're a fucked up kid, he still loves you.”

  That didn't make any sense. Who the hell would still love someone who betrayed them? Especially for the selfish reasons she tried to keep hidden. “Even if you say that, it's the punishment I deserve. You know it and I know it too.”

  Sunflower sighed, getting off of the girl. “I'll be honest. I wasn't planning on staying with Jerome. I was using him to get close to my father, Michael Corleone. I wasn’t gonna attack your dad, but if he ended up kicking the bucket, I wouldn’t have helped him. If my mom was freed after he ‘died’, then that was a win for me.”

  Sunshine raised an eyebrow. “So then why are you still here?”

  Sunflower looked at Jerome’s body. “It became impossible to deny that your dad wanted to love me, take me in, and take care of me. Just like he did with you. He’s a good man — someone my mom would have loved back before she turned into…” She then looked at her. “I won’t deny I was acting like a hypocrite. And at the same time, I won’t lie about the selfish reasons I had for the bad shit I’ve done. You shouldn’t either.”

  Maybe telling the truth to someone she didn’t like wouldn’t have been so bad. And even if Sunflower reprimanded her for it, just add it to the massive pile of insults she already spat on her.

  “I was scared, ok? I saw what Jason was really capable of, and I was scared Dad would die. I was scared he’d die ‘cause of me, so I wanted to take him out of the fight.” Sunshine lay on her side, not wanting to face the teen. “All my life, people have died ‘cause of me. My mom. People I don’t even know. I didn’t want Dad to be a part of that list… but I messed up that too. I wanted to leave — get away from everything.”

  “You can’t just lea-”

  “I had to!” she interrupted, gripping the floor that felt like cotton. “If my mind was gonna be calm again, then I had to. Everyday, I’m constantly reminded that I’m a stupid murderer. By groups that threaten the people I care about. My Dad says so in my dreams. Jesus said it to ‘motivate’ me. I just needed a break, and I know that’s selfish, but that’s the truth.”

  “That’s not selfish,” Sunflower replied, which surprised Sunshine quite a bit. “You’re a kid. We’re both kids. We should be able to slack off all day and talk about boys we like, or watch TV, or play dumb games, or just chill out. But the way you went about getting there was…”

  “Bad. I know.” Something was still clenching Sunshine’s heart. “I’m still… not telling you everything. I wasn’t just scared of Jason. I was scared of you. You were right. I’m jealous.”

  “Yeah, no shit. My cheek can still feel the jealousy.” Sunshine stifled a laugh. Finding humor in the situation didn’t feel right. “But I don’t really understand why though.”

  “I already knew I was a burden to him. So when you joined the, uh, team… family, I knew it was a matter of time before Dad only saw the faults in keeping me around. You were older, stronger, and didn’t have a disease. And then I thought, if he was gonna betray me anyway, then I’d do it first… And then after it actually happened, I felt sick to my stomach.”

  Sunflower groaned. “I hate to say this, but I know how you feel.”

  “There’s no way you went through the exact same events as me to accurately feel my feelings.”

  “Dude, you’re talking to the queen of burdens here. Well, not anymore after looking through your life, but you know what I mean.” She paused for a long while. “I thought I was a burden to my mom too. The only reason she stayed enslaved for so long was ‘cause of me. But after meeting Jerome, I realized something. Me living didn’t keep her enslaved. Me living kept her living. I’m not sure if that makes sense. What I’m trying to say is that if I had died a long time ago, I’m a hundred percent certain my mom wouldn’t have gone on living.”

  Sunshine’s eyes bulged as her grip on the floor loosened. “If you were missing, then a large piece of your mom would have too.”

  “And if you were missing, Jerome wouldn’t have survived this long or won all the fights he’s won. You are that large piece.”

  “No.” The girl turned to Sunflower and sat up. “You’re a part of that large piece too. I hate saying this, but without either one of us, Dad wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did. And right now, he still needs us. Both of us.”

  Sunflower looked at Sunshine like feet were growing out of her head. Did she say something wrong? Well, it didn’t matter. Her “sister” was the one who said she had to be truthful.

  “How come you didn’t use your plant powers today?” Sunshine asked, hoping her opponent didn’t hold back on her.

  She sat up and looked at her hand. “Can’t use them right now. It happened yesterday, and I’ve been trying to get them to work again, but no luck.”

  “Oh, so were the same.” She pointed a finger gun at Sunflower. “My power hasn’t worked for days too. You know what that means?”

  “We’re both weak as shit now?” the teen guessed dryly.

  “Yeah,” Sunshine said, putting her hand down. “If we’re gonna get stronger, we’ll need each other. And…” She gave Jerome a sad look. “And if we’re gonna save Dad, then we’ll have to help each other do it.”

  A long silence fell between them until Sunflower broke it. “You still don’t like me, do you?”

  “I’m working on it.”