Chapter Text
In the endless crowds of partygoers, security should be tighter, not to let a single firefly come in. Alas, this firefly blended right in with the bright lights. Spinning gracefully in dance, when she returned to her dance partner's arms, Lumine him swapped for a tall ginger man, who scanned the area.
The man, of course, was detective Tartaglia. He was looking for anything suspicious to indicate the phantom thief Firefly was coming. Little did he know that Lumine was that Firefly, the one he had been looking for the entire time. To which Lumine only looked at him with a smile. Behind her mask, she knew more about him than he knew about her.
Lumine is not only the cute college student working part-time in the bookstore/cafe he frequented, but she is also the adorable phantom thief firefly the detective could never foil.
She thought about how cute it was that the detective was so dense. She perverted every inch of his life, yet he still had not figured it out.
The song ended, and Lumine bowed to the detective, thanking him for the dance. After passing each other, Lumine unpinned her hair, ruffling short curls out of the pinned bun. She observed her area to find somewhere quiet to transform.
Behind a closed door of the Tsaritsa’s many mansion doors, Lumine’s little star necklace begins to glow, starting her transformation.
From soft and silky blue, her outfit glowed into a bright white. Her medium hair grew long and weaved into twin braids, laced with white flowers like gypsophila and lilies. Her long dress shortened into a white and gold puffy dress with a long layer that impossibly rounded down to her feet. Twirling around her bare feet now had white heels with white going up to her thighs; it was impossible to tell where her stockings ended and where her shoes began. Lilies bloomed to the side of her thighs at the top of her stocking. Her hands had black gloves, while the sleeves of her dress were down to her wrist and flowy. Finally, she was ready to retrieve the cursed crown. Throughout her outfit, there are gems reflecting an off-white color.
She recalled Shenhe telling her that the evil demon would target the crown. If Lumine could capture the fiend before the crown was placed on the Tsaritsa’s head, it would prevent her from turning into a monster that Lumine would have to fight against. Her mission was to steal the possessed object and bring it to the exorcist. They were to handle the rest.
Now, Lumine, with her mission in mind, pulled a small gold baton from her clutch. A small cross between saber and wand, encased in all gold. In the middle of the sword was a gem, reflecting the same off-white of the jewels on her outfit. She twirled until purple twinkled in the middle of her sword; the off-white gems on her ensemble matched that color. She pointed her sword at a simple light fixture on the ceiling. An arch of purple jumped to the light, and Lumine could hear the pop of bulbs exploding as she slipped through the door. Arching in different directions, all the lights in the mansion began blowing out one by one. The dance floor soon became cries of frantic partygoers.
Lumine sprinted up the stairs. The Tsaritsa and the crown were not supposed to leave the sight of the guards for even a second. From prior research, the most likely place for the crown to be stored would be in the Tsaritsa’s private quarters, near the queen herself.
Lumine sprinted past the guards leading to where the master bedroom would be. Cool winds surrounded Lumine as the color on her sword switched, aiding her speed, and leaving those guards in a dizzying spin.
Finally, at the door, she opened it smoothly, “Excuse me, Tsaritsa, I’ll be taking that crown.”
Rather than a frightened woman, Lumine met with a tall and pissed woman. Her arms wrapped around a clear display box—the crown inside it.
“Over my dead body!” she shouted.
Lumine sighed. She really hoped it would not have to come to that. If she put the crown on her head, it may very well be her death.
She stepped over to the woman, “I really don’t want anything bad to happen to you, so just hand over the crown nice and easy.”
“As if!” She turned away from Lumine, shielding the crown away from Lumine.
The guards step in front of Lumine, trying to make her work. Lumine sighed again, switching her colors to red. Fire danced from her sword as she moved closer, the guards moving out of the way from the flames, moving the Tsaritsa away from the room.
“Shoot,” Lumine whispered as she turned to face the direction they left.
“This way, Tsaritsa!” A familiar voice yelled. “I’ll block Firefly!”
Of course, detective Tartaglia finally made his arrival to interfere. A gun in his hand, pointing right at Lumine. “Drop your sword, Firefly.” his voice commanded.
Lumine frowned as she held one hand up and placed her sword on the ground, slowly rising with both hands in the air.
“Kick your sword to me.”
She did as instructed, letting her precious sword scrape against the ground.
Without removing his eyes from her, he kicked it away. “You’re under arrest for multiple crimes of theft. Put your arms behind your back.” A shit-eating smirk crowded his face.
In the six months Lumine began her work collecting cursed and possessed objects, this was the first time Tartaglia had gotten her to give up so easily. Lumine put her arms behind her back.
“Turn your back to me.”
Lumine followed his instruction.
“Honestly, a little disappointed you didn’t put up much of a fight, Firefly.” he moved cautiously over with handcuffs.
Lumine glanced over her shoulder. “Really? It almost sounds like you enjoy our little game of cat and mouse.”
He snickered, “Yeah, almost.”
Once the handcuffs clicked, Lumine smiled over her shoulder, “Ah, but I enjoy it.”
In front of him, a watery illusion of Firefly disappeared, like a bubble bursting. At the doorway now stood his obsession, smirking—Sword in hand.
Just when did she switch the elements?
Her sword flickered from blue to the same pastel green from earlier. She turned away to follow the Tsaritsa now. Running down the hall, Lumine calmly recalled a spell in her head, “O Archon of the winds, grant me wings.” Tartaglia shot at her while a pair fluttering of transparent wings grew from her back.
She jumped from the railing, flying down to the first floor, trying to find where the Tsaritsa and her guards went in the darkness.
Shutting her eyes, Lumine recited another spell, and her wings disappeared. “Archon of the earth, grant me the sight of vibrations in the ground.”
Even in complete darkness, with this gift from the archon of geo, Lumine can find her way anywhere; this includes finding people. With the ability to feel even the slightest tremble, Lumine can quickly locate the few footsteps of people running deeper into the mansion. Not only that but also those evacuated, and the steps of a stubborn detective running towards her.
With the sense of her surroundings, Lumine ran out of the mansion after The Tsaritsa. As she stepped into an empty field, the light blinded her. Shielding her eyes, Lumine pieced together an army surrounding her.
“Surrender now, Firefly,” Tartaglia, panting his words from behind her. “Sword down, and hands in the air.”
Lumine already knew of this ambush, sensing many feet on the ground. She slowly crept to the grass to put her sword down. As her hand brushed the grass, she stayed down.
“Hands up!” Tartaglia repeated.
Lumine glanced towards him, had it not been for the backlight, he could have seen a smile.
Earth suddenly launched Lumine towards the crowd of people. Reciting her wing spell again, Lumine twirled in the air as her wings opened, sending a gale of wind blowing back those unfortunate to be closer to her.
Catching up to the Tsaritsa, she sped up, coming at the side, sliding in front of her.
The wind stirred ominously between them, dragging leaves in the air. The air was tense as Lumine brought herself up. There was no way for the Tsaritsa to outrun her, but she was a stubborn queen. She still would not give the crown over.
Magical girls always have a final trick up their sleeve. Whether it be a gimmick or their weapon, they would always win at the end of the day. With her sword, she had a more magical trick.
Multiple Firefly copies appeared, sparkling in. These twin starlights could not physically touch anything, and when they disappeared, they left a blinding light. In the chaos, Lumine could steal the box and crown away.
Of course, by the time detective Tartaglia reached the Tsaritsa, twin starlights still blinked in and out of existence, and the real Firefly or crown was nowhere to be seen.
Late into the night or perhaps early in the morning, Lumine arrived at an inconspicuous store. She pulled her bag from her shoulder, rustling inside for the keys. She was an ordinary civilian going to her job. Warm air escaped her lips, leaving a reminder to her that the night was frigid. It was probably going to snow soon.
There were three floors to this building. The first floor was the store, a cute little bookstore cafe. Upstairs is where Shenhe and her nephew lived. They were the exorcists who would take care of cursed objects. Finally was the basement, where the exorcism took place.
Her keys jingled as she found them and inserted them into the lock. Entering the store, Lumine locked up behind her.
Usually locked during the day and most nights, waiting for her were her brother, her mascot, Shenhe, and Chongyun.
Down each step, Lumine stretched and yawned. “You wouldn’t believe it; he wanted to shoot me!” she whined. She removed the crown from her backpack, now secured in a grocery store bag.
Aether folded his arms and frowned. “I hate this entire thing, Lumine.” Aether not just hated this , but as well as the news of his sister almost being shot.
She tossed it to Chongyun, whose heart almost sank as the crown sailed in the air. “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. It lives things up.”
Paimon chipped in, “Plus, we’re doing a great thing and helping Chongyun master the art of being an exorcist.”
“I’m not talking about that--” Aether began, but he was cut off by Shenhe’s cough.
“I’ll let you two argue about it after.” her voice was smooth like silk. “For now, Chongyun...” She nodded to Chongyun, and he nodded back.
Putting the cursed object in a protective barrier of salt, taking extra care not to touch the crown, Chongyun nodded. Standing up and taking a deep breath, Chongyun closed his eyes and tried focusing on his mantra.
The room dropped in temperature.
From the crown, it began to rattle. A blue light mist crept out from the crown, never crossing the line of salt on the floor.
Chongyun began to sweat; his mantra became mumbled and strained.
He was still in training--Shenhe, his mentor and aunt, watched over him. She had many experiences, so her duty was to train her nephew.
Meanwhile, the magic wand Lumine had was a different type of magic. Her magic was not associated with the exorcists; however, she could hold a cursed object without the urge to use it and become possessed in her magical girl form. As a human, that was a different story.
Chongyun fell to the floor; all his energy zapped. Shenhe sighed softly before putting a seal on the cursed object, trapping the demon inside until she could exorcize it herself. Anyone could pick up the thing as long as the seal tag remained.
Shenhe then picked up Chongyun like he was a small sack of flour. “Lumine, you’ve had a long night. Why don’t you rest up?”
Lumine yawned and followed them. As they went up the stairs, her bag began to ruffle as Paimon came out of the pocket-sized wand. Her little head stuck out like a small dog in a bag. “Mmmm... Paimon’s hungry.” After using her wand each time, Paimon needed to recharge with a snack.
“I’ll be on the second floor in a minute. Gotta feed the pesky mascot.” Lumine announced. As she fed her mascot, Lumine wondered if the detective would come into the shop again today.
Detective Tartaglia slumped into his work chair. He could not believe he had failed again. He felt so sure this would be the time that he would capture the elusive Firefly.
Now he had to submit the incident report. Probably the worst part of his job was the paperwork. However, that paperwork was not going to the police. No, he just said that to the average person when asked about his job.
His actual title is Chief Recoverer. Just what was he recovering? Anomalous items with powers to turn people into monsters.
His real job was at a research institute dedicated to containing these objects to prevent world powers from trying to claim and misuse them. He did not know anything about Firefly other than she appeared six months ago and that everything about her consumed his mind. She was just so... frustrating.
She saw right through the fake crown guarded in a display case. He kept his focus on finding her last night, trying to catch anyone watching the fake crown or even him.
He pulled a face looking at his desk with his laptop opened to a blank page. He did NOT want to do this. It would mean, once again, admitting defeat.
Before Firefly came along, his job involved recovering individuals afflicted by the effects of these monsters. With her around, the exciting part of the job was gone, and possibly worse, she gave him a handicap ! A handicap! Him!
She would leave behind calling cards of where she would strike next. She somehow knew where the next anomaly was and let him know to give him time to prepare, and he still lost!
He felt his young twenty-something self aging rapidly because of her.
Instead of typing the report, he opened up his search engine and looked up civilian mentions of her. Blurry photos of her were all that someone could get of her. As if Firefly’s image could not be captured.
“Your rivalry is bordering on creepy,” A cold voice said behind him.
Arlecchino. He nearly shot up, turning in his chair slowly. He inhaled deeply. The last time Firefly had interfered with his investigation, Arlecchino butted in. What would have been an otherwise excellent capture turned into a fight between him and Arlecchino. Firefly took the silver hand mirror without the two even noticing.
“What do you want, Arlecchino?” his tone was not of the usual chipper man.
“We could have already had her, not for your incompetence.” she frowned, her arms folded.
He rolled his eyes. “I could have handled it alone had it not been for some bossy someone.”
No matter what, he could just not get along with her. Instead, he smiled fakely, “Let’s kill each other after I catch Firefly, okay?”
“What do you think her next target would be?” She read over his shoulder, looking at a blurry girl's pictures.
He could not fully settle his feathers, but his shoulders dropped slightly, turning back to the computer. “Who knows with these anomalous, Firefly probably working with whatever force that’s connected to it.” he shrugged casually.
He felt a yawn brewing.
“I need coffee.” The yawn escaped. His hand barely covered it. He stood up to stretch before hunching over to turn off his laptop.
“Did you even finish your report?” Arlecchino asked, eyebrows knitting into a displeased look.
“Can’t, too tired from the late night~” Another yawn escaped.
Lumine held in a yawn of her own. No matter how many sips of coffee she took, she could never shake off her long night.
She checked her phone when the breakfast rush slowed. No sign of the detective all morning. Maybe she would not see him. That did not bother her. Not one bit. Why would it? Seeing him was surveillance to find out how much he knew about her.
She could feel her brother’s eyes on her as she gave a customer a tired smile.
To say the least, she was doing much better than Chongyun. He ended up pushing himself.
Work melted into the slower early afternoon crowd with the early blur of customers gone.
No sign of the detective yet.
Even if he came while it was busy, she would still make time to check what he was up to. She smiled, thinking about how she slipped her calling card into his pocket without him noticing.
“I’m going to go on break,” Lumine announced to her brother.
He nodded and started doing some cleaning. Lumine took off her apron and walked into the backroom. She tried her hardest not to think just what the detective was doing.
She sat down with ice water at a table.
When the door chimed, she tried her best not to look even when she saw the familiar redhead from the corner of her eye.
Aether frowned. He could see how his sister’s lips curled into a smile when he greeted her. He held in a gag as they spoke.
“Morning Tartaglia.”
“Mornin’ Lumi.”
“Will it be the usual?”
“Not today, I need--” Aether tuned out his voice. He knew that Tartaglia was too close to Lumine for his liking.