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Story Notes:

This is just going to be a little four chapter thing. Shouldn't take too long to finish up. The R rating is there mostly to be safe, I don't really think this is going to earn it.

 "We need to have a talk."

 

Those words blindsided Ashley King the moment she passed through her front door, barely leaving her any time at all to savor the welcoming blast of cool air that marked a wonderful contrast to the hot, humid summer air just outside. Her neck instinctively craned upwards and to the right, the immense tanned pillars of her big sister's bare legs immediately greeting her gaze. A grunt cleared Ashley's throat at that. Melody vastly preferred much more modest clothing, so the slightest hint of bare skin anywhere below her waist meant that the larger sibling had yet to change out of her uniform after returning home from the Institute. She didn't even need to continue looking upward to know that those powerful, toned legs would eventually lead into a short plaid skirt. That the plaid material would eventually lead into a white button-up, short-sleeve blouse that clung tightly to Melody's ample chest. Even higher would be Melody's pretty face, those amber eyes cast tenderly and lovingly down upon her comparatively tiny and very literal little sister.

 

God, but she hated that stupid uniform. It was bad enough that Melody had to tower over her, but even discounting that, Ashley always felt a sense of inadequacy when faced with a less than modest view of her sister. Not that Melody purposefully drove those feelings in or anything, God no. Her big sister had never tried to make her feel inferior, and Ashley had every intention of keeping her feelings to herself. Melody was 162 feet of pure, loving support, and it would wrack her with undeserved guilt if she knew how she made her little sister feel. Better, ultimately, to just deal with it. It wasn't as if she had any reason to feel down on herself, anyway. The two were strikingly similar, for the most part, Melody was simply a little...better, when it came to physical attributes. If Ashley was a 9, Melody was a 10. Nothing to fret over.

 

Still, Ashley had to resign herself to allow her eyes to continue upward. Mentally, she couldn't help but check off each assumed feature as her gaze wafted over it. For a moment, she felt that she really needed to stop doing that, until she at last locked eyes with her big sister and the pen in her head came to a halt. The look she was faced with was not the adoring look she was accustomed to, what should have been the biggest of "gimmes" on that checklist. That look was...God, she could barely attribute a description to it, it was so....foreign. "Sad" was her closest approximation, as Melody had never really looked at her like this before.

 

"Is something wrong?" Ashley asked, concerned. "Did something happen?"

 

"You could say that," her statuesque sibling replied, a trace of sadness in her voice as well.

 

Melody took a step forward from her position leaning against the near wall then, a light tremor emanating from the step as her foot, encased in calf-high black socks thudded heavily against the white tiled floor. In no time she was kneeling down, one hand moving toward her while the other hung between her shapely thighs in an attempt to preserve some modesty. Initially prepared for the hand to land flatly on the floor before her so that she could board, Ashley was taken aback when, instead, the enormous had reached directly for her. Initially frozen, she offered little resistance as Melody's thick, strong fingers curled around her body and smothered it in a tender embrace, sparing only her head which popped out of the fleshy confines. Any relief offered from the oppressive heat outside was lost as Melody's own body heat began to surround her.

 

"Mellie?" Ashley asked timidly as her sister began to stand, the familiar vertigo taking effect, but there was something else accompanying it in her stomach this time. Something was wrong. Melody didn't pick her up like this, not with any sort of regularity and not without reason. She always offered an open palm to her, not this...grabbing thing.

 

"We're going to the den," Melody declared flatly, holding Ashley close to her side as she moved down the hallway before swinging to the right at the first corner and walking into the den. Turning her head to view the room, the first thing to catch Ashley's attention was that the coffee table had been moved from its usual location and now rested tens of feet farther from the couch.

 

The second thing was that she and Melody were not alone.

 

On the far end of the couch sat Claire Lindon, one of Melody's two best friends, captain of the regional Omega soccer team, and all-around Alpha Girl (or, Ashley sometimes mused, would that be Omega Girl?). Ashley knew that Claire stood at the center of both her Institute class and her soccer team, and was generally capable of exerting some level of control over most any of her peers. It was certainly a position she enjoyed. Arrogant, but not without reason, and closer to absolute confidence than arrogance. It was Ashley's experience that she could easily back up any show of perceived arrogance. She had a high opinion of herself, and paired it with high expectations. Like Melody, Claire was also clad in her uniform, though she opted for white socks instead of black. Her defined legs were crossed, her arms resting beneath her more modest chest as she turned to face the two siblings. Her face was unreadable, her long, black hair falling over her shoulders and resting on her chest.

 

Sitting in the recliner that sat perpendicular to the couch was Jenna Reynolds, the second of Melody's best friends. The closest thing to a "nerd" Ashley had ever seen amongst the Omegas with the exception of maybe Kyle, the girl was studious, but held a consistent intensity that was higher than that of her two friends. Jenna was famously open about her opinions and inclinations, in one way or another. What little she didn't say, one could infer from her mannerisms. She could frankly get scary at times, from what Ashley had observed of her here and there, but it was tempered by a fiery sense of compassion for those she cared about. She was also easily the "girliest" of the three friends, being the smallest in stature and with none of the sportiness inherent to Melody or Claire, along with general interests that fell more in line with Ashley's. Adorned in her uniform as well, she also sat with her slim, fair-skinned legs crossed and clad with white socks that matched Claire's. She had been looking at the siblings the moment Melody turned the corner, her wavy, strawberry-blonde hair framing her face down to her shoulders. Her eyes were narrowed, her expression cold.

 

Normally, Ashley would be elated to see the two girls. They had always treated her well and looked out for her, always offering her any help they could. Just a few weeks ago, even, some guy had gotten a little too fresh with her at a party held by Alexis Banner at the mixed center. The guy had been cute enough, but he had gotten far too hands-on with her to the point of uncomfortableness and hadn't taken the hint to slow things down. Fortunately, Claire has been hovering close by and picked up on things, and her creep of an admirer soon found himself being plucked up off the dance floor and unceremoniously dropped into the nearby pool. Jenna, for her part, had always taken an interest in how school was going and had tutored her numerous times throughout the years. The two were also frequent shopping buddies, as much as an Omega could shop, anyway. They mostly relied on holograms to try various outfits before putting in a special order for them. Still, the mixed center was a wonderful place that featured rooms for the Omegas to try outfits on, along with specially constructed clothing shops lacking in ceilings that allowed Jenna to look in and retrieve her as needed to look at an outfit. Ashley idly wondered how many pirouettes she had done in the woman's palm in anticipation of an appraisal of her chosen garments.

 

When it came down to it, Ashley felt that she really had three big sisters instead of just one. It was why she usually felt so bubbly upon seeing them all gather up with her. That feeling was the norm for her, which was why things felt so...wrong this time. There was no sense of elation or bubbly-ness as Melody made her way to the couch, Ashley still locked in her grip. Despite the warm flesh surrounding her, the room itself felt cold and unwelcoming. What was going on? Why were they looking at her like that? Something was off.

 

Soon enough, Melody was taking her seat on the couch right next to Claire. The fist that held Ashley now suspended her above her sister's chest, with enough distance to allow her to take in the entirety of Melody's billboard-sized face. The fingers that entrapped her loosened, allowing her some freedom of movement as she leaned into her sister's palm.

 

"Mellie, what's wrong?" she asked, studying her sister's face she continued to look at her with those same downcast eyes. Her gaze shifted to the right, meeting Claire's brown eyes as they continued to focus on her, her face still unreadable, her lips tight. A further look to the right showed that Jenna as well continued that same glare, those glacial blue eyes affixed squarely on her. Why were they...why were they staring at her like this?

 

"Mellie, please," she began, "talk to me, what's-"

 

"A report came in this morning," her sister interjected softly, though still with enough volume to easily drown out Ashley's words. "One that none of us could, or wanted to, believe." Her expression was grave, now, though Ashley barely noticed as her mouth went somewhat agape. A report?

 

"Did something....did something happen?" she asked worriedly. Had something happened to one of the girls' Beta friends? Was that why they looked so serious?

 

"Oh, something definitely happened," Claire remarked, her voice harsh and a sneer on her face as her neutral expression finally broke. "I'm surprised you even felt the need to ask."

 

Despite Ashley's position on Melody's warm palm, that cold feeling from earlier was continuing to intensify. It felt as if that coldness was beginning to pervade her very body, even, as if icy tendrils were steadily making their way through her skin, to her very core. Ashley gulped. She didn't like this.

 

"I mean, it had your name attached, and all," Jenna spat scornfully, and suddenly those icy tendrils tightened around her heart. Her body trembling, she turned her head to briefly meet Jenna's glowering gaze. Slowly turning her head back to left, she once more made eye contact with Claire. That sneer remained, her eyes dark. And then she looked at Melody once more, at that doleful gaze.

 

"We know what you did to that boy, Ashley," Melody declared, her voice one that Ashley had never heard from her before, but one that was easy to place. This was the first time she had heard it, but Ashley knew immediately that she would never forget it.

 

That horrifying anger which dripped from her adoring, titanic sister's words.

 

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