Broken hero

Chapter 36

   "Zala when I gave you those passes, I didn't mean for you to use them to annoy me." Eclipse groans as she walks through the yard towards the library.

"Oh, come on! We need a chaperone, and we want to get to know you! Just a teeny tiny shopping trip?! You used to love trying on clothes." Zala whines with a pout.

"Wait she used to like trying stuff on?" Anna seemed to materialize out of nowhere with a big grin.

Eclipse groaned even louder. "Key words, 'used to'. I think I'll stay here if you don't mind." She continues walking as the others fall back.

She hears a small giggle and then running footsteps before Anna gets in front of her.

"Come on baby. Please?" She looks up at her with puppy dog eyes. "It won't be for long."

Eclipse stops walking, trying to figure a way out. "Anna... I..."

Anna takes a couple steps forward and wraps her arms around her neck. "Come on."

Eclipse finally sighs, "Fine, you win."

Anna squeals happily as she kisses her. "You're the best."

"Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute to tell Warfalcon and change." Eclipse grumbles to herself as Anna skips back to her sisters.

"OK, seriously, do you wear anything that isn't gloomy?" Zala raises an eyebrow as she looks at Eclipse's outfit as they meet up at the gate once more.

Eclipse looks down at her dark blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans with black boots. "Nope. Get used to it."

"I guess I know what one priority will be today." Zala mumbles to Midnight and Spire.

"Not happening." Eclipse frowns at her.

"Yeah, even I can't change that one." Anna pipes up with a giggle. "You should see her wardrobe. Literally the closest you'll find to a bright color is grey."

"You're kidding right?" Spires mouth drops as Anna shakes her head.

"Kinda surprising considering all the tie dye you used to wear." Zala smirks.

"We don't talk about that." Eclipse grumbles back as her neck starts turning red from embarrassment.

Anna takes Eclipse's hand as they walk, happily chirping away with her sisters and giving her the break she so desperately needed. Stopping at the first store, her sisters take to the racks like pros while Anna takes her time to look things over. Eclipse sits in the chairs near the dressing room, keeping an eye on them all. She'd already told Anna to get what she wanted, and even threatened to buy the stuff behind her back if she didn't. It took a bit of convincing, but she finally agreed and it looked like she was taking it to heart as she started picking clothes off the racks.

Eventually Spire and Zala joined her, and they seemed to enjoy themselves as they pointed out different things to each other. Midnight, however, ended up sitting by Eclipse after looking for a bit.

"Not much of a shopper?" Eclipse smiles softly at the girl.

"Not really. Zala and Spire enjoy it, but I just haven't found my style yet." The young woman smiled back at her.

Eclipse had found out that the kid was only 18 years old, much younger than any of them.

"Give it time. You'll figure it out eventually." Eclipse winks at her as the other girls come over with their haul to start trying stuff on.

"So, what's up with the blue eye, get tired of your normal ones?" Zala ask teasingly as she stepped out in a blue floor length dress. "And can you zip this up for me?"

Eclipse gets up and gently helps her as she thinks of a response. "An accident changed its color, and I can't do much other than change it from different shades of blue anymore."

"An accident?" Zala raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh. Maybe I'll tell you the story someday." Eclipse falls back in the chair and crosses her legs.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Zala sighs and goes back into the fitting room.

"You know she's not going to let that slide for long." Midnight giggles.

"Yeah, but it'll have to do for a while. A lot has happened, especially in the last 9 years." Eclipse answers as she rests her head on her hand.

"Come on Anna!" Spire yells at the girl as she comes out. "She's going to love it."

Eclipse perks up a bit as Anna comes out in an emerald, green, backless dress.

"How do I look?" Anna clasps her hands behind her and rocks a bit as she waits.

"You look stunning babe." Eclipse smiles as she gets up and kisses her forehead.

Anna's face brightens as she and Spire run back into the dressing room.

"I'm pretty sure they're going to break your wallet." Midnight laughs as she sits back down.

"They can try." Eclipse smirks. "As long as she's happy that's all that matters though."

After a few more hours and a couple more stores, Eclipse starts to wear out. She didn't even know half of these stores existed. Lucky for her sisters and Anna, she could use a pocket dimension to hold their bags, otherwise they'd all be weighed down with the stuff they bought. The smile on Anna's face was worth it though.

They were walking through the mall towards the next shop when Eclipse stopped walking and grabbed Anna's hand. Anna took one look at her before yelling out to her sisters that had stopped a few feet ahead.

"We'll catch up with you in a minute!" She waves and turns, pulling Eclipse away before they can reply.

They slip into the family room and lock the door as Eclipse slides to the floor, panic slowly overwhelming her. Anna stayed beside her, rubbing her back as they waited for it to subside. Eclipse slowly took a deep breath as she put her head back against the wall.

"Better?" Anna asks gently.

Eclipse nods her head as Anna hands her a bottle of water.

"What happened baby?" She rubs her arm as she takes a drink.

"I didn't notice how over stimulated I was becoming and a door slammed nearby." Eclipse mumbles before getting up. "I'm ok now. We should probably go find the others."

She offers a hand to Anna to help her up.

"Are you sure?" Anna takes her hand.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be ok, I just needed to get out of there for a moment."

Anna nods as they leave the room and head back.

"Took you long enough!" Zala scolds playfully before looking concerned. "You, ok? You look a little pale."

"Yeah, I'm ok." Eclipse does her best to ease the worry with a smile, but Zala doesn't seem fully convinced.

"Ok.... well, we were thinking it's getting late anyway so do you want to drop us off at the hotel and then head home?"

Eclipse nods. "That I can do."

They walk the few blocks to the hotel, waving their goodbyes as their parents and guards help bring in the bags, her dad seemed to stare at her for a moment as they turned to leave.