Chapter Text
Lynn sat on her bed and looked out of the barred window of her room. It's been a year since she and her friend Luna received their sentence: 6 years in the West End Girls' Reformatory School for committing numerous acts of vagrancy, countless acts of thievery and... aggravated assault with a blunt weapon. They were just fresh twelve year olds when they were caught and sentenced, and they were to remain in this institution basically until adulthood. And boy, the regime there was tough. But not that bad compared to the streets...
Lunica Mills and Lynn Doven both grew up in the poorest part of The City, known unofficially between locals as The Downs. Lunica's parents had a gambling problem and got into massive debts with the wrong people, and one day they simply disappeared and their apartment was repossessed, leaving 5 year old Lunica alone on the sidewalk. And that was when she met Lynn. Lynn was the daughter of a notorious thief and never knew her mother. Her father Darkell started to introduced her to the trade since early youth, and when she brought Lunica home with her, he did not object - he actually rejoiced. "More students for the trade" he said joyfully said back then and let Lunica live together with Lynn in her room. At first, Darkell treated both girls well, but as their training advanced and they became better at picking pockets and nicking food from market stands, his demeanor changed.
What begun as a fun game of petty thievery turned into their daily grind about the time they were 9 years old. He forced them to run errands for him all over the town, stealing items, delivering packages and so on. Outside of that he would pay them absolutely no attention. There would be no food at home and if they wanted to eat, they had to steal it (for Darkell would not give them the money for it. Sometimes Darkell would disappear for days, and since he did not let them have keys to the home they were forced to stay outside on the street. Which was, considering what happens in this city after 11 PM a matter of life and death - either find a viable shelter that the inner barrier does cover, or stay out among the monsters. Which happened to them a few times, and they would survive only with a huge dose of luck. "Shut your pie-holes, I had to endure exactly the same treatment when I was your age." was his response when they complained, and then, to drive the point home, he would even beat them with a hickory cane until they couldn't stand. Their life became just a hellish carousel of theft, running from police, searching for shelter and random beatings. And over time it was all getting even more difficult as their wanted posters were hung all over The City. Then one day after a week without food, barely escaping the police several times and finding nothing but a rusted overturned dumpster for shelter before the inner barrier activated, Lynn finally broke down and started crying. “I'm so sorry I got you dragged into this Luni. If I knew what my father was going to do to us I would never have have invited you in back then. Maybe, just maybe... someone else would have taken you in instead. Someone nicer, someone, who would not abuse you like this...” Lunica immediately hugged her tight and shushed her. “Oh hush Lynn, honey. At least I was able to stand by your side all this time. Also...” she was interrupted by a loud bang
A short but incredibly stocky humanoid monster with what resembled boxing gloves for hands had found their hiding spot and started beating on the barrier that coated it. The barrier started cracking and both girls started crying now and hugging even tighter, when suddenly there was a loud “SSSSHING!!!” sound and the beating stopped. “I wonder why did it pay so much attention to this old dumpster here. Do you think there is somebody trapped inside?” Oh no. Magical girls. They saved them, sure, but if they found them hiding there and recognized them from the wanted posters, they would most likely march them off straight to the police station. “Eh it probably just smelled some trash in there and wanted to eat it.” A different voice responded. ”Who knows what those creeps actually eat. Besides who would be hiding in a rusty old dumpster anyways?” A whooshing noise was heard and the magic girls were gone.
“That's it, I have just had enough! As soon as we are out of here I'm going to make dad pay for what he put us through! I am getting a cane, or bat, or knife and... and...” Lunica placed her hand on Lynn's shoulder and stared deep into her eyes. “We will. He is a bad man and needs to be stopped. Whatever happens afterwards, I want to endure it with you.” Upon hearing this, Lynn nodded and smiled through her tears.
Next morning, they managed to pickpocket some random schmuck's wallet and used the money they found in there to buy lockpicks from one of the fences they delivered to before. Afterwards they had some change left so they bought bread from the single bakery that did not have their poster near the door, then headed home. Darkell taught them to pick locks and he most likely knew they would try breaking in, and though he designed the lock himself specifically to be virtually impervious to picking attempts he always confiscated their lockpicks when they were done running errands for him. And as it turned out he was right, Lynn effortlessly managed to pick the special lock anyways – he must've taught her just too well. Both girls entered the apartment and managed to use the lockpicks to even lock the door behind them. Immediately they went to kitchen to see if any food was there and sure enough, there was some cheese and sausage in the fridge. This, together with the bread they had, was the most nutritious meal they ate in quite a while. Then they went to look for his weapon stash and found a baseball bat and a night stick in a trunk under his bed. And then, they waited in front of the door for his arrival. It did not take long. As soon as they heard jingling of keys, they assumed the position behind the door. The thief stumbled into his apartment, reeking of alcohol. But before he could do anything, the two kids descended upon him like wild cats.
Everything was a blur afterwards. The police arrived. The trial. Their sentences. And now it was more than a year ago. Lynn soon fell asleep. The mattress on the bed was hard and squeaky, but sure beat sleeping in a cardboard box. And then she dreamt the strangest dream ever.
She found herself locked inside a spiked metal coffin – the terrifying iron maiden, the inner spikes just inches from her face and body. She dared not to move at first, but she felt a sense of urgency and knew she needed to get out of there. Then as if on a command, the Iron Maiden started melting. She looked up and saw a giant drop of molten metal about to drip down on her head. Closing her eyes, she braced for the burning impact, but it never came. Instead, the drop felt just lukewarm on her forehead. When she opened her eyes, the maiden was gone and her pajamas had turned into a puffy white bomber jacket with black furry collar, and a black shirt and white pencil skirt underneath. White leather knee-high platform boots adorned her feet, with what little skin showing between them and the skirt covered in black fishnet stockings. And there were spikes, lots of spikes. Black spiked pads on her shoulders, spiked white leather gloves on her hands, and spiked metal toecaps on her boots. “Well well, look at you.” a voice echoed in her head. Before her stood a shimmering woman in white dress, her hair and skin as if made of white gold. “It appears that your costume represents your life on the street, and the suffering you had to endure. Now then, I will understand if you resent the city for ignoring your pleas, but I still hope you will use your powers for good...” The dream faded then and Lynn awoke in cold sweat. She sat back up and saw her reflection in a mirror. Her hair, previously long curly and dark brown, was now snow white and short in the back - practically a Chelsea cut, Her formerly brown eyes were completely white too, with just thin black circles separated her irises from her eyewhites.
Suddenly she heard a soft tapping on metal. It was Lunica, communicating with her through the heater pipe with Morse code. Both girls were kept on separate floors, but Lunica was directly above Lynn, and since Darkell taught them both Morse code, they used tapping on the pipe to communicate And right now, Lunica was asking her if she was awake. Lynn jumped up and scrambled towards the pipe to tap out her answer. “Yes I am Luni, I just... I just had the dream!” The pipe went silent for a few seconds and then Lunica tapped back. “Yeah, me too Lynnie. You know what that means right?” Lynn knew full well what it meant. “Yeah, we're outta here!”