Chapter Text
It was 1999. The summer of 1999, to be more precise. Almost every summer during their school breaks, Stelle and her siblings went to a camp located on the line between Planacardia and Astropolis.
To be honest, she didn’t really care much about those trips to camp; the one who complained the most was her sister Bronie—or, as she likes to be called, Silver Wolf. Wolfie simply hated how bad the internet connection was there and how tedious those “childish” activities ended up being.
Her twin brother, Caelus, loved the place and, unlike Wolfie, found the activities that didn’t involve agility a bit challenging… Logical reasoning was never that walking raccoon’s thing.
Last but not least, her younger sister, Yunli, was a mix of her older siblings. She thought the activities were “too childish,” but she still looked forward to going so she could compete with Yanqing, Jing Yuan’s adopted son, who is one of their PE teachers. Honestly, Stelle doesn’t understand the rivalry between them, but she finds it pretty funny.
Stelle’s favorite part of camp is her little secret “treasure hunt”… which basically involves picking up everything she sees on the campground floor; she keeps whatever she thinks is useful for herself, and if something seems useless, she finds the owner and returns it. Well, she doesn’t consider herself a kleptomaniac—far from it! She just picks up things that have been “discarded.” It’s like the saying goes: one person’s trash is another’s treasure. And since many people have forgotten or discarded things around the camp, Stelle is just doing them a favor by picking them up!
This time, Stelle didn’t wait long to start her activity. On the second day of camp, there she was, in the middle of the night, wandering around the forest—not too far from the cabins, since there was never much going on there, but also not too close, so she wouldn’t get caught. Something shiny on the ground almost went unnoticed. She crouched down to see what it was: a simple silver bracelet that didn’t have many details, but it sparkled in the moonlight—it was really pretty. It could be worth quite a bit of money. As she admired the bracelet, Stelle didn’t notice the footsteps of someone sneaking up behind her.
"Boo."
This made Stelle nearly jump out of her skin, and she turned to see who the idiot was—and it was Silver Wolf.
“You idiot… What are you doing up at this hour?”
“I’ll ask you the same thing—what are you doing up at this hour, and far away from the tents, anyway?
“I asked first.”
Silver Wolf rolled her eyes. “I was bored, so I realized you were missing and came looking for you.” Silver Wolf crossed her arms. “Now answer my question. What are you doing here?”
“Hmm. I’m... just looking for something I lost during yesterday’s games…” She returned her gaze to the spot on the ground where she had found the bracelet.
"I see..." In fact, Silver Wolf knew that was a lie; she was well aware of her sister’s actions.
Silver Wolf was about to say she was going back to the huts when Stelle muttered something under her breath that sounded like “My Aeons,” but she wasn’t sure, and just as she was about to ask, her sister turned her face away. "Hey Wolfie, check this out!" she said, then showed her what she’d found. It was the skeleton of a human hand.
Silver Wolf knew her sister was a little weird—like, she never thought normal people (who were financially well-off) would have the nerve to rummage through street trash or steal random packages—but to the point where she wasn’t even scared or bothered by the fact that she was holding the skeleton of a human hand… that’s a bit much. She might wonder about the rest of the body, but for now she has no reaction other than shock. Complete shock. “Man. Put that down.”
Stelle laughs. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little hand…” She stands up and reaches out the hand toward Silver Wolf, who takes a step back.
“I’m not scared. I’m just in disbelief at how weird you are! You know what? I’m going back, okay?” Silver Wolf turns around and starts walking.
“Wait! I’m coming with you.” Stelle shouts, stuffing the things she found into her bag. Including the hand. I mean, it would be really cool to have what looks like an archaeological artifact in their house.
"You better throw that thing away!" Silver Wolf shouted as she quickened her pace. "Imagine that in Caelus’s hands..." She said a little more slowly, clearly picturing her older brother running through the school with that skeleton, scaring people—just like he once did with a fake corpse tied to a rope. She still wonders to this day where he got that corpse from, even if it was fake.
“Stop being such a pain. He won’t find it, and you won’t blab about it either,” she says, laughing and hugging the shorter girl from behind.
“Of course not. AND DON’T PUT THAT DIRTY HAND OF YOURS ON ME,” Wolfie said as she tried to break free from her older sister’s embrace.
Stelle knew she didn’t even need to ask; Wolfie would always cover for her, and she’d do the same for her little sister. And just like so many other things, this would be their secret. Just theirs.