Chapter 31 - Sisterly conversation (1)

[A/N: I did a little rewrite of chapter 28 - Alita's reward. Check it out if you like.]

Alita looked around a little awkwardly, "I, uh, didn't actually realise how bad this place was. I think it's been a few years since anyone's been up here."

Ivar had no problem believing that as the dust piled into multiple layers.

Ivar shook his head, "It's fine; I've never been one to shy away from a little hard work. Is there any way you can get some cleaning supplies up here?"

Alita looked thoughtful, "I can get a few things from Nova's apartment, but it won't be enough to deal with all of this. I would have to go down to the ground floor for that, which would certainly raise questions."

Ivar shrugged, "Oh well, get what you can from your sister so we can at least make some of the furniture usable."

After acknowledging the order, Alita left and quickly returned with some supplies.

A few hours of working later, the master bedroom had been cleaned up and refurbished. There were still some holes in the wall, but that would have to wait until Nova became a little more cooperative.

Ivar petted a tired but content-looking Alita and said, "Good job, kitten. You should go back downstairs now; it won't be long until your sister awakens."

Alita smiled, "Yes, Daddy! I'll do a good job!"

After she left, Ivar went to sit down on a recently cleaned couch and said to Selene, "Selene, is there any way you can share your senses with me so I can see what is happening?"

After his question, a pouting Selene appeared, "What, don't you trust me?"

Ivar rolled his eyes; if he didn't at least trust Selene in his world, then who would he trust? "Don't be stupid, Selene. Although I think you are still keeping some things from me, I do trust you to at least report the truth about Alita's actions.

But what else will I do right now if I don't watch them directly?"

Selene's face cleared up, "Fine! I suppose I can do at least that much for my partner."

She promptly sat on his lap and snuggled against his chest, causing her soft, voluptuous body to press itself against Ivar's.

Ivar chuckled, "Not done teasing me yet, huh?"

Despite knowing her body was not real, it still felt as if it was, causing some less-than-virtuous thoughts to emerge in his mind about what he would do to this goddess, given half a chance.

Selene giggled, "Nope! Got a problem with that, wolf-boy?"

Ivar sighed, "None at all, Selene. Just know that I'll remember this when you get a real body again."

He couldn't see it, but Selene smiled when he said that.

She quickly caught herself, however. "A- Anyway, let me share my senses."

Suddenly, Ivar felt a little dizzy, and his vision blurred before he found himself looking at Alita walking towards her sister's apartment from a bird's-eye view.

Alita wondered how her sister would react to all this. Probably not too well at first, she thought while snickering.

When she arrived at Nova's apartment, she went inside and went straight to her sister's sleeping body in order to fulfil Ivar's order to dress her up a little.

She didn't change anything about her sister's top, however, as that would get ripped by her sister's wings soon anyway.

She then took a somewhat curious action as she moved a large mirror from its original position to the foot of the bed, causing Ivar to chuckle and think, 'Smart girl'.

After she was done, she went into the kitchen to make a little food for when her sister wakes up and then went to sit at the dining table to wait.

*******

Finally, Nova's body started changing in much the same way as Alita's did. A wolf's ears and tail grew in the same colour as her dark red hair; her nails became thicker, more powerful and claw-like, and her blood-red eyes changed to those of a wolf.

Wings burst forth from her back, but since the bed was in the middle of the room, she didn't fall off as Alita did. That said, the wings still ripped apart her shirt, revealing her firm breasts, which were a little bigger than Alita's.

Ivar looked at this with a smile, enjoying the scene, which changed to surprise when he noticed the newborn Valkyrie had white wings instead of black.

He asked Selene straight away, "Selene? Any idea what this is about?"

The response was immediate but negative, "No clue. Assuming they are indeed descendants of such a species, angels generally come in two forms according to mythology. Pure and fallen. Pure angels would have white wings, while fallen angels would have black wings.

But unless Alita and Nova don't actually have the same parents, there seems to be more going on."

Ivar looked in thought but quickly refocused on the scene before him when Nova opened her eyes.

It was immediately apparent that she was more disciplined and calm than her sister, as she didn't jump up straight away but instead slowly looked around to scan her surroundings.

Noticing she was alone, not restrained and in her own room seemed to confuse her for a moment; had she been wrong to suspect Alita of drugging her when she slipped into unconsciousness?

It was then that she sat up and looked into the mirror at the foot of the bed, quickly noticing her particular new features. 

She looked astonished and a little confused, but strangely, not too surprised; perhaps she really had learned something about her ancestor from her parents, something Ivar made a mental note of so that he could ask her about it later, assuming it didn't come up in her conversation with Alita.

She raised her hand and felt the power within it as a somewhat creepy smile appeared on her face. 

However, before she could enjoy it, she suddenly felt a powerful pressure in her head, causing her to quickly grab it with both hands as she groaned, before her new features suddenly started disappearing, seemingly being absorbed back into her body, as her blood-red eyes returned to those of a human.

The pressure quickly reduced to a dull, barely noticeable throbbing in the back of her skull as she looked at her now human hands in despair while mumbling, "Nonono, come back; where did you go?" Then, a little louder, she cursed, "Damnit!"

Once again, looking around, she figured Alita would probably be nearby, and she needed answers, so she yelled, "Alita?!"

She heard the cheery voice of her sister from just outside, "In the kitchen! Come join me; I made food."

Nova got up, still a little shaky, but quickly stabilised herself as she stormed to the kitchen, where she saw Alita sitting at the dinner table, smiling at her with a cup of coffee in her hand. Or at least, what passed for coffee to the non-rich of this world.

She rushed at Alita and slammed the table, looking furious as she pointed at her sister with her other hand, "What the hell did you do, Alita?!"

But Alita did not look intimidated in the least as she grinned at Nova, clearly enjoying the fact she finally had some superiority over her sister, "What do you mean, big sis? Why don't you have a seat so we can talk about it."

Her reaction only seemed to infuriate Nova, "Listen here, you brat, I-"

But suddenly, the air in the apartment changed as Alita changed to her Valkyrie transformation, allowing her to make full use of her boosted physical stats.

She looked at Nova with a fierce expression; she needed to establish a little dominance to keep Nova from acting out, "I said sit, big sis, I love you, but don't make me restrain you."

Ivar smiled at Alita's assertive attitude towards her sister.

Through years of living on the edge and barely surviving in the slums, Nova had honed her instincts for danger to a nearly inhuman level, and these instincts had now truly passed into inhuman territory through her conversion into a therian.

Because of that, she clearly recognised how powerful Alita was in this transformation and how much of a danger she posed, even though she had always been able to wipe the floor with Alita before.

But she quickly got herself together, convinced that her superior fighting ability would allow her to keep the upper hand, so she snorted before she tried to grab Alita by the arm with the intention of putting her in a submission hold where a difference in strength would barely make a difference.

Unfortunately, she had still underestimated the difference in physical attributes between them as all she grabbed was empty air while Alita appeared behind her, locked Nova's arms and took her in a chokehold without actually choking her.

As Nova struggled uselessly against Alita's superior strength, she heard Alita whisper into her ear, "Calm down, big sis. As I said, let's just have a conversation; afterwards, you can then still decide if you want to pointlessly try to overpower me."