The sheets kept a plush warmth locked around the young woman's body as she awoke. Her eyelids were swimming in sleep, and her limbs moulded into a relaxed silhouette. She made little effort to pull herself from her world of half consciousness, too contented to be in her bed. Her blue hair splayed on her pillow like a halo. Yellowing sunlight grappled from the gap in her curtains, falling smoothly on the features of her face. The sunlight rays refracted in her hair so the cream walls around her seemed to be painted by the sky.

It had been a long time since Levy had woken up of her own accord, and she was happy to just lay in that warm bed for whatever time she had, before she had to wake up properly. Time was invaluable to her nowadays.

She stretched like a cat, thinking with increasing clarity. This was great! Levy couldn't remember the last time she had woken up early. She usually milked every second of sleep she could get. When she turned her head to her dresser she realised she felt so well rested for a change, because she was. But, she hadn't woken up early- she was late.

The display, on her useless alarm clock (which had failed to go off again) read "07:46" tauntingly. She was almost a whole hour late!

Comfort of her bed forgotten, Levy flung out of her bedroom. She knew she was so dead, because if she'd overslept that meant- Shit! Levy all but sprinted into the corridor.

Levy knocked on the bedroom door next to hers in the hallway, as if attempting to break a record. Her incessant knocking was interrupted when her taller, bustier, and skimpier dressed sister answered the door bleary-eyed.

"Why such the rush to wake Juvia, Levy?" Juvia asked, speaking as she often did in the third person- a nervous habit she'd picked up from, well, the usual things that don't play out well, leading to a contraction of bad habits.

Catching her breath Levy quickly replied "Juv, my alarm failed again, so we've all overslept."

"But, Juvia relies on Levy to wake her!" She objected.

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just the way it is- it's broken or something. Besides, we're all late now, not solely you." Levy defended.

"Juvia knows that. It's just, she has very important business for today."

"And what business is that?" Levy challenged, curiously. Juvia kept very quiet about what she got up to during the day. The sisters worked as exotic dancers on night shifts for a few hours at a nightclub. While Levy was accounted for the rest of the day with her other two jobs, she had no idea what her sister got up to during the day. She had her suspicions, but these had been neither confirmed nor denied. She just hoped Juvia hadn't fallen into any old escaped troubles.

Juvia never answered Levy's question, instead deflecting. "Take your alarm to the bar tonight, someone must be good enough with their hands, and affected enough by a pretty face, to help Levy-chan with fixing it."

It was increasingly often that Juvia would encourage Levy to use her looks to get what she wanted. Levy supposed she was good looking enough to get away with it, but it often didn't sit right with her. In her mind, she was nowhere near as stunning as her sister: Juvia had shinning slick curls of darker blue hair, a pigmented shade like water in the deep sea. Her eyes shone like crystals and she utilized them to pick out perfect outfits to highlight her voluptuous figure. Levy thought she was kind of a plainer Jane in all honesty.

"I sometimes worry that your use of feminine wiles to get what you want will backfire one of these days." Levy said.

The taller, older girl seemed to briefly turn serious at this, bracing a comforting hand on Levy's shoulder, as she assured "Juvia is not doing anything to make herself unsafe, Juvia is done putting herself in harm's way." Juvia's expression of honesty rang true, but something in Levy found it hard to believe her.

"I need to go wake up the others." Levy sighed, deflated but with an element of urgency, remembering how late the family was running this morning.

"Get the alarm fixed." Juvia called after her, with an air of authority Levy had missed from her sibling.

Levy allowed herself a small smile. "See you at work tonight."

Levy went down the corridor of their cramped first floor. The house had been called many things: A slum, a death trap, no place to raise children- and that was just on the child protective services' records, let alone what it had been called to her face! The whole house appeared slanted like it was set in marsh land. Grime and liquor were on every surface. There were a few bullet holes in the ceiling, where Juvia had testified there was a rat infestation in the attic- and she'd taken immediate action. Kids' clothes were strewn about in the corridor. Levy picked them up as she went and threw them down a shoot which led to the ground floor by the washing machine.

Levy looked as she walked past the walls where she'd hidden their emergency funds of money in tins- she had to check every morning that the plaster was still intact, and nobody had taken a crowbar to the wall during the night to get to the cash. All seemed in order: no holes in the walls, but everything just as messy as usual.

She went to the bedroom door which was hanging off its hinges. Magazine pages were haphazardly stuck on the door along with a sign reading 'If you're going to make me share a room with a toddler, some privacy would be nice!' Levy opened it harshly, knocking rhythmically on the door, out of habit rather than courtesy. Inside was a dark room with the curtains drawn closed, and in the bed a tuft of blue hair breathing out from under a mottled ball of bedsheets. A similar sight came from the nearby crib. No-one would doubt that everyone living in this house was somehow related, they all shared a similar distinctive blue hair.

Keeping in mind how late the family was running this morning, Levy demanded "Wendy, Wendy get up." - the duvet groaned in protest.

"Wendy you're going to be late if you don't get up right now" Levy warned, throwing a nearby pillow at the uncaring lump. "Get Happy ready for preschool too, Breakfast is in five." Still no response. "Come on Wendy, Now!" She slammed the door on her way out.

Levy walked back down the corridor, putting her hair up in the world's quickest, messiest messy bun. She walked so quickly her hips gyrated practically painfully. In her room, she glared at her alarm like it was the spawn of all her problems and picked up a blouse from the floor. Throwing it on, she reached for a leather pencil skirt, careful not to damage its tag- which was still attached even after four consecutive days. She had to use the receipt to return it today, claiming it was 'too big' when really it was 'too expensive', before she couldn't get her money back. Another job she couldn't forget to do today.

Venturing down the stairs she was met by a cloud of smoke- she didn't panic knowing it was just puff, she could see her brother flopped out on the couch holding a joint to prove it.

"I told you not to do that until the kids were gone for the day." Levy half-heartedly scolded her lay-about brother.

Her brother was classically lazy and yet somehow maintained a business stealing and selling cars in a fake mechanics workshop. Levy had to admit, Jellal was very good at what he did -commandeering and reselling expensive cars from the North side in what would be, if he were ever caught, a major grand theft auto operation. But he'd never been caught, meaning he'd amassed quite the fortune, but it also meant he was always away working and he hadn't been around. He'd left his younger sister to be the breadwinner for the family, without ever hearing from him. He was too busy going to parties and lengthening his list of contacts in the criminal underworld who needed fresh wheels. Only now, having fallen on hard times Jellal was back, and rather than helping out to make up for lost time. he was on the couch getting high. Levy hated him for it.

"Hey, did you hear me? I said you can get high when Wendy's at school and Happy's at Preschool and neither of them have to look at you." Levy reinforced.

Jellal's disinterested reply was, "Sorry, they'd usually be gone by now. running a little late today?"

"I'm handling it." Levy spat, glaring daggers at her absent, coy, brother.

"Wendy's gonna miss the bus." Jellal warned "I can drive her to school in the corvette outside if you'd like."

"Since when is there a corvette outside?" Levy asked, going to the window and seeing the car parked out on the curb. In this neighbourhood it wouldn't be there for long. It would either be stolen or, if any police drove past, the flashy vehicle would be all the reasonable cause they'd need to come in and raid the place.

"I'm not letting you drive them to school when you're off your head on weed." Levy stated.

Jellal seemed undeterred by this, simply saying. "You better hurry her up then."

In a foul mood, at being told how to raise her own siblings by the guy who'd turned the job down, with tightly clenched fists, Levy shouted out up the stairs again. "Wendy, Hurry Up!"

An exasperated "Ok! Fine!" Rolled down the stairs to meet her.

The kitchen looked like a time capsule to a 1940s nuclear testing site. All the appliances were probably still lined with lead and asbestos. They were held together at this point with duct tape and sheer concentrated power of will. In the sink there was a huge pile of dishes that Levy would have to look forward to tonight. For now though, she turned on the gas cooker, made some rushed fried eggs and stuck them in between slices of bread, making a sort of sandwich- though such a name would be generous. She slapped PB and Jelly sandwiches together and crisps into two brown bags for Wendy and Happy's lunches. Finishing this task, she realised she hadn't seen Wendy since she'd been in bed. If she wasn't up and ready, it would take all of Levy's self-resolve not to explode. Just as she was about to call again, she came down the stairs.

Wendy was a short and thin teen of 13. She had hair a darker shade of blue than Levy that made her look more like Jellal. Perhaps, that was where Wendy's fondness for Jellal stemmed from, seemingly incapable of identifying the man's obvious flaws.

Wendy wore tight fitting jeans and sneakers, but also an overly sparkly top and bows in her long hair- alluding to the rather innocent, girly nature that she hadn't quite grown out of yet. Levy wasn't naïve enough to doubt that was coming however. Despite Levy's best efforts, Wendy had far more responsibilities than a girl her age should.

In Wendy's cradling hands was Happy, aptly named as he was the best mistake the family's long estranged parents had ever made. A constantly smiling, giggling and wriggling pink faced toddler of four years old- Happy kept Levy grounded. Her life's mission had become making certain that if any of them could be spared the hard life they'd inherited from their parents' apathy- it would be him. Levy took her baby brother from Wendy, giving her a thankful smile and a quick kiss to her temple. Wendy took the lunch-bag and egg mess in a rush to get out the door, to her school bus. But as she was exiting the back door, she hesitated.

"Hey Levy?" She chanced to say.

"Yeah Wend?" Levy asked.

"Can I go to a friend's house after school?"

Levy didn't see why not, asking your kid sister to stay home with you while you did chores because you knew you're going to be lonely wasn't an upstanding excuse after all. "I suppose so." Levy responded.

Wendy seemed instantly elevated. "Sweet, can I have some money for 'the L' then?"

'The L' was a bridge suspended train line that went all the way from their neighbourhood, one of the poorest districts of South side Chicago, to the affluent city and suburbs of the North side. It had questionable patrons using it every day, untrustworthy and desperate people, so Levy was never comfortable with Wendy using it on her own. And Wendy knew how tight money was, so if she just had to go a couple blocks, she would walk the distance rather than waste money out of laziness. Levy could only deduce from all this that Wendy was going somewhere a lot further out of her way.

"Where's this friend of yours live? The North side?" A selfish flutter of anticipation went through Levy's chest when Wendy confirmed this with a nod. Maybe if she became good friends with a North side girl some benefits for Wendy would follow. After all friends give each other gifts all the time if they can afford it. Levy wanted that for her sister, but the question remained, "That's great Wendy! But where'd you meet a North side girl?"

Wendy seemed to get nervous at this question, fidgeting. "She goes to my school, got kicked out of her old one."

Levy got suspicious. "What for?"

"I don't know." Wendy obviously lied.

"I think you might." Levy pressed.

Wendy caved. "Ok she got caught dealing at her old school and then none of the reputable schools would let her in, so she had to move to ours."

Levy's demeanour changed like a switch, now set in the off position. "Nope. absolutely not, you're not going near this girl."

"Come on Levy!" Wendy begged.

"No!" Levy reaffirmed "You're not getting wrapped up with anything, anything at all, to do with drug dealing. I don't care if she was just giving coke out in the bathrooms to her rich friends who just wanted to stick it to their parents either. Dealing is a fresh kind of hell you aren't getting into. You want drugs when you're older- fine. I'll get them for you, you can try it. But you aren't to know any suppliers, if they find out who you are they'll use you." to get to me. Levy almost added.

"You're such a hypocrite! I don't want to be her friend for drugs! I wanted to hang out with her because she gets loads of attention and knows loads of stuff about Paris and Milan fashion. She promised to teach me- she's really smart about it." Wendy defended.

"She was dumb enough to get herself demoted from the North side." Levy countered.

"Yeah! Well, so were you!" Wendy shouted back. A deadly silence seemed to follow, stagnant in the air. It was interrupted by Happy's crying. Levy started bouncing him on her hip, never removing her shocked eyes from Wendy's uncharacteristically savage glare. After a pause Wendy turned to leave through the kitchen door. Levy called calmly out after her in a monotone. "You're not going to that girl's house."

"FINE!" Wendy spat back, slamming the door.

It seemed like an eternity before Happy calmed down and Levy stayed shell shocked in place. Her relationship with her sister seemed to have been getting worse and worse recently, but something of this magnitude had never happened. It made Levy scared for Wendy, scared that she was becoming too like her in her behaviour. And Levy's past attitude had caused her to screw up not only her own life but all the lives of the people surrounding her. Some mistakes are bigger than others, and some paths to destruction are a one-way trip, intentions be damned.

Coming out of her haze, Levy hushed the whimpering Happy and reassessed her surroundings. Jellal now stood in the doorframe between the front room and kitchen.

"What?" Levy hissed at him. Jellal said nothing, turning back towards the couch to have yet another unproductive day before a wild night. But the look he'd given her spoke in volumes that he'd heard her and Wendy's exchange. And she knew he was judging her for it.

Somehow, Levy still found it within herself to care what Jellal thought of the job she was doing raising the kids. Because, she knew he could probably do a better job if he had ever tried. Even though he hadn't, she still felt inadequate. Maybe that's why she hadn't kicked him to the curb just yet. That and you can't choose your family.