“-idn’t know, I didn’t. Wh-who do you even call f-for this, there’s no n-n-number? What, do I dial nine-one-one and tell them my daughter's on fire but she's fine, she's n-not f—” The mother knelt at the lip of the tub, hands hovering over her daughter as if she could find somewhere safe to grab. "I stood here. I… I stood here and I watched and I couldn't do a single…”She swallowed as she remained in place on the floor, robe dark at the knees where water had already pooled across tile. “I didn't do anything, I just…"
Sky didn’t rush to fill the quiet, gaze still on the girl in the tub. Fully clothed in damp pajamas that steamed in the half-filled tub, her hair burned brighter than any low-rank Hellion could hope to manifest. A crown of fire surged around — as well as atop and within — her braids, flaming light spilling out of eyes that still held the terror of a little girl behind that orange glow.Fire.A fire strong enough to eat at everything in the room.
Everything except for the person holding it.
Alright. His neck itched, skin tight around scar tissue the longer he stood just inside the doorframe. Let’s do my job.
“Ma’am…”
"I didn't call you, I don't know who called you!" Just a word and a step forward had the woman start up again, her attention suddenly on him as if she remembered she wasn’t alone in the bathroom with her daughter. “Clinton’s in London, h-he’s on a flight right now and he lands in six hours so I-I-I can’t even call him and I don’t even know what to do, I opened the window and the smoke j-—”
Sky dragged a slow breath through his nose, steamed air filling his lungs as the girl in the tub breathed in time with her mother’s hyperventilating rant. Knees pulled tight to her chest, those flames flared higher with every ragged exhale as if the panic was contagious.
As if.
"Ma'am."“She needs her dad. H-her dad…” The woman breathed in and out like she’d just run a marathon, chest shaking under her robe. “He knows wh-what to do, I-I-I..”“Ma’am!”The mother’s eyes snapped wide open, suddenly stilling at the bass in his voice. “I—”
He bit back the sigh trying to force its way up, suddenly aware of who he was going to have to take care of first if he wanted to handle this. "What's your name?" He kept his voice low and even as before, his question and attention aimed right at the mother first.The woman blinked in confusion, a finger pointed at her equally wide-eyed daughter. “Y-you mean h-h-her name?”"No, not her.” His eyes didn’t move, attention firmly on the older woman. “You first. What’s your name, ma’am?""I-I—my name?” She blinked at first, clearly thrown by the question as she swallowed an empty mouthful. "Achara. Achara Cole."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cole." Sky nodded once. "I'm gonna need you to breathe for me, okay? That is important right n-”
“Breathe?” All that anxiety turned into anger, all of it aimed his way in a split-second. “My d-daughter’s on f-f-fire and you want me to breathe? She’s been like this all morning, I heard her s-creaming, and I ran in and her b—” The anger was almost an improvement but it only lasted bare seconds before the fear surged right back over it. “Her bedspread caught and I put it out in the sink, but she wouldn’t, she can’t —”
The woman shook her head again, breath picking up pace. “My husband's in London, he's got th-this work thing, a quarterly review over there every… Look, I called him alright, it went to voicemail, and I just…” She pulled in a breath, a ragged one that shook on the way in as she seemed to struggle to remember what she’d already said. "I didn't have anybody to call. We don't — I never signed up for you people. Clinton—Flint— my husband, he says I’m being ridiculous but I j-just don't — I didn't trust it. I don’t trust y-you people, honestly, the whole hero, subscription thing, it always felt like—"
Second person. Huh. Sky’s eyebrow ticked up on its own as the woman in front of him repeated something similar to what the clerk last night had thrown at him. Not even a full twenty-four hours between them and someone else was saying the loud part out loud about the same company that held his leash. Not the time.
"Girl, it's fine, okay, nobody cares about the sub." Prism pushed into the doorway right behind him, her shoulder bumping him forward. The woman raised her visor with one hand, eyes on the frantic mother as she threw out another question. "But the manager already got us out here, so we're the — we're what you got."
Before Achara could answer, everyone else went quiet as the teenager in the tub let out another sudden shriek.
"I didn't mean, I wasn't trying to—Mom, I swear!" Both her hands lit up at once at the end of her words, fire tracing down her arms to shine the same bonfire orange glow as her hair as her palms burned bright. "I'm not doing it! Make it stop! “ The whole bathroom went brighter and hotter with it as mother screamed right along with daughter."Aura!" Achara lunged forward, the woman slamming her hand against the chrome shower dial, to twist it all the way to the left. "I got it, I got it, hold on!"Ice cold water crashed down over the little girl, over her clothes, and over all the fire — "Mom!"
The girl shrieked, entirely obscured by a white cloud as the whole room flashed to steam, water hissing where it hit the fire and boiling straight off to fill the entire bathroom with blinding fog.
"Girl, don't do that!" Prism choked from the hallway."Mom, stop, it's n—" Aura pressed harder into the corner of the tub. "It's not workin', it's not gonna work…"
Sky moved.
Two steps had him by the tub, the worst of the steam washing over his scars. Achara yelped as he grabbed the mother by the shoulders, grip firm as he hauled her off the wet marble tile and placed her behind him before she could word a complaint. A quick hand turned off the pouring shower, thick steam fading before he turned to face the panicked mother — his body firmly between her and the tub.The entire room dripped and steamed, finally quiet except for the low roar of the rushing fire behind him. “Ma’am.”“I-!”"Mrs. Cole, look at me." He got right in her eyeline and held her under his stare. "You're not helping her by screamin’. Aight? Water's not it. You're just scarin’ her worse. Anymore than this, you’ll work her up enough to take this whole place down."
"B-but she-” Tear-filled eyes stared back at him, bloodshot from the steam. “My baby's—"“Mrs. Cole, you see these?” He tilted his head, two fingers tapping the thickest of scars across his neck. “I can’t survive a supernova. And if I can’t, you can’t either. So, you need to breathe easy a lil bit? Okay?”“I…” Her eyes slid down to his scars, as if seeing him for the first time since he showed up at her door. “I don’t…”
"Understand me?" Sky didn't blink, one hand still steady on her shoulder.
“I…” The silk bonnet shifted on her head from the force of the woman’s quick nods, Achara Cole swallowing a sob. "I... I understand."
"Aight."
Sky let her go and came down onto one knee at the edge of the tub, porcelain radiating heat like a cast-iron as he got himself right at the girl's eyeline instead of over it. The steam was starting to clear, leaving just a girl in half-soaked and still-steaming pajamas, hair and hands still engulfed in roaring flames.
She was fourteen, maybe fifteen at most—
"Don't!" Aura scrambled backward again, sloshing in the tub and pressing back against the wet porcelain behind her. "Don't touch me! I'll burn you!"—and terrified out of her mind.
"Aura." He kept it gentle as he could, hands at his sides. "That's your name, right? Aura?"
The girl’s chest heaved as those glowing orange eyes flicked to him, a small nod all she gave him.
"I'm Sky."
"...I—" Her voice came out cracked and tiny as Aura blinked, an orange tear boiling off her cheek before it even reached her chin. "I... I like your name."
Sky’s mouth pulled into a smile, the first one in a while that barely hurt. “Thanks. Yours is nice too.” He put a hand on the edge of the tub, porcelain still hot enough to steam under a simple touch.
"Don't! Don't come closer." Her palms flared brighter, a flinch of fire. "I'm n-not doing it, I swear, it just — when I get scared it…"
“I know.” He didn’t move an inch closer, voice as low and loose as he could manage it. "When'd it start? This morning?"
"She woke u-" Her mother started from behind him.A blue eye aimed over his shoulder was all it took to quiet her down, Sky turning back to the little girl with a repeat of the question. “This morning, right?”
"Y-yeah." Aura nodded quick, the words tumbling out. "I went to sleep normal and I woke up and my sheets were…” The words trailed off to nowhere as those nods turned into half-panicked shakes. “A-and my hands were hot, and I couldn't — every time I think about it, it just gets worse, and I can't make it stop."
"Yeah." Sky nodded slow. "Yeah, I know how that goes."
Aura stopped pressing backward, eyes rising back to him again. "Really?"
"Yeah. Overnight, same as you." He held her stare with a smile still on his face. “Went to sleep one kid, woke up another and had to figure it all out myself.” A breath eased its way out. “Took me a minute too.”
Sky turned his hand over, palm up on the lip of the tup, as he went after the same feeling from this morning. C’mon… Smile still on his face, it took all he had not to turn it into a scowl. Just this once. Gimme this one.
Blue caught across his knuckles, a spark enough to show.
Thin and pale, more struggle than shine, it held there even as it cost him — sweat rolling down his hairline that had nothing to do with the steam and heat rolling of the little girl. There… His jaw went tight with the effort of keeping the flicker from guttering out again. There we go.
But he held it anyway.
“Oh…” Long enough for Aura’s eyes to go wide on the glow. “See?” He waved his hand through the air like it was nothing at all, shaking the light off his fingers like he was making it go out instead of it dying on its own. “Same boat…”
The last of it finally vanished and Sky bit down another sigh, burying the wince with it before it could touch his face. “Just a different color.”
"Yeah, girl, me too. I got mine real young." Prism came down to a crouch beside him, the hot pink and turquoise bob immaculate even in the humidity. "Like — younger than you, girl. And it was confusing, and everybody looked at me like I was a firework about to go off. Almost blinded my damn self lookin’ in the mirror. I get it. For real, I get it."
Aura looked between the two of them, flames on her hands flickering just a little less as the sound from it dropped bit by bit.
Sky brought the blue back up, despite how much he didn’t want to. C’mon. It was harder the second time, and it hurt worse too.
Even still, he kept his face smooth and smiley, tank scraping empty as the color pooled across one open palm, steady as he could manage it until it covered his entire hand with the same brightness that used to flood his whole body. “Feel mine.”He held his palm up and out between them, directly over the top and inches from her blazing body. "Go 'head. It won't hurt you.”
“But…” Aura stared at the blue light. "I'll hurt you."
"I could lift your mom’s car over my head, kid." That was as true as anything else. "Nothin’ you got could hurt me." Now that… well, he wasn’t sure about all that. “C’mon…”
Aura hesitated, breath hitching before the girl slowly reached out, trembling hand moving closer and closer. It took all of three long seconds before her fingers touched his palm, skin flush against his.
Heat met warmth, orange on blue; two lights sitting there together as Sky grit his back teeth behind a face as calm as he could manage and held it. No matter what, he wasn’t going to let the flicker die as long as she needed it not to. “There you go…”He breathed in, low and slow, pushing past the strain. “Now, listen, okay… if you wanna control it, you gotta trust yourself, aight? No other way than that.”
"I…I don't know how."
"Here’s a lil’ secret, Aura. First thing, though, you gotta control your breathing." Sky exaggerated an inhale, pulling another deep breath in through his nose before letting it out through his mouth. "That’s gonna help you calm down. Second, you gotta promise you’ll understand something for me.” He kept his eyes locked on hers. "This ain't happening to you. Aight? It's not some — some thing that jumped on you in the night. It's you. It is you."
"B-but I don't —" Aura’s lip trembled. “I don't want i—”
"It is you." He didn't let her slide off it. "Say it with me. Come on. It is me."
Aura swallowed hard, orange flames flickering on her scalp. "It... it is me."
"Again. Breathe first."
She pulled a breath in and let it out. "It is me."
The fire in her palm dropped a little, Sky feeling the heat dip against his own skin more than he saw it. "There you go. One more time for me."
"It — it's me." She breathed in, deeper this time. “It is me.”
The flames emanating from her hair sank down, guttering low, as her palms went dark with no more roar to be heard. Orange bled out of her eyes, the fire dimming and dimming until it finally fully went out — leaving just a pair of dark brown eyes blinking back at him.
"It's…” Aura stared down at her bare hands, turning them over and over. “It’s gone."
"Nah." Sky shook his head, easing his own hand back as he let the blue finally die where she couldn't see the relief of it. “None of that’s gone. Always gonna be right inside you because it is you. He gave her the smallest smile. "You just got it under control. That's different. That's you running it 'stead of it running y-."
"Aura!"
Achara broke forward, the woman suddenly across the bathroom and hopping into the tub before Sky even finished talking. Arms around her soaked daughter in a desperate hug, both of them were crying full tears now — mother saying her daughter’s name over and over into her hair.
"I'm sorry," Aura sobbed, burying her face into her mother's shoulder, the teenager entirely returning to the surface now that the fire was gone. "I didn't mean to, Mom, I'm sorry."
"Y-you didn’t do anything, baby."
Aura looked up over her mother's shaking shoulder, finding Sky’s eyes. “...thank you."
"No problem, Aura." Sky pushed up off his knee, his own legs a little less steady than he'd have liked with that scraped-empty feeling sitting behind his ribs.
He turned around.
Prism stood by the sink, visor pushed up into her hair as she looked right at him, brown eyes too serious for the way she normally was.
“...what? Sky wiped the back of a hand across his forehead and stared back, one eyebrow aimed high. "Something on my face?"