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being-held · 3 years

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There’s Something Strange About How It All Began by Alexis Pera

A draft piece for a book not yet written. Enjoy.

I. eight when I first caught fire. It was a cold day in my village, as it usually was, near the shores of the lake where my family’s home was built. It was a small dwelling in my home region of Plivium. It rained a lot in Plivium, unlike the rest of Alienis, and no one knew why, or no one really cared. It was home, no one questions that. But, when it wasn’t pouring, most Plivumians preferred to be outside. We kind of had to be, or else the work would never be done, the harvest never brought up, and the damages never fixed. So as my parents worked, I was free to roam and explore.

Yet, out of all the land my parents had, all the forests and rivers and ponds, I loved my father’s garden, beautiful in every sense of the word. He had grown flowers of every color and nurtured trees so full of fruit we could never harvest them all. It was my favorite place in the entire world. I would run through the paths, looking up the entire time as I watched the trees rush by and the leaves brush my legs as I went. Who knows how many times I fell, or tripped, or just ran full on into things. My father would always scold me about being more careful, but he would have a smile on his face because he was more than amused by how happy I was despite having just run into a tree or tripped over some vines. My mother would be more upset, she didn’t like seeing me hurt, even if I wasn’t upset about it, and I always had bruises and scratches but a smile on my face. Of course, that all stopped the day I Specialized.

Most children didn’t Specialize until they were older, when they were turning into grown men and women, but I didn’t. I was still a child, still scared of the stories my parents told me about Specializing, still carefree and unable to prepare for what would happen.

Because gaining your Specialty and becoming one with nature was something that usually didn’t come in a nice package with a pretty bow. It was painful and unpredictable, and with my family’s bloodline, my Specialty was to be even more so.

The wind was strong that day, or so I thought at least, and it kept growing more and more until the chill in my spine wouldn’t go away. Then my small kid brain finally realized that none of the trees or plants were swaying from its force, and that my clothes and hair were still in place. I was then wondering why I was so cold and why it felt like someone was waving cold air on my neck. I didn't have much time to think about it.

A searing pain had bloomed in my temples, my vision and balance immediately going awry. It was paralyzing, and as I hit the dirt, a terribly cold tingling took over my hands and arms.

My mother found me first, and she was the one who first saw the visible effects of what was happening. My fingers, hands, and lower arms had turned completely black, right up to my elbows. And though it seemed as if I stuck my hands into a smoldering fire pit, my skin was entirely numb to feeling. The headache had faded and vision only slightly better at that point, so I was left sitting on the ground staring at my arms as if they didn’t belong to me. In that moment, it didn’t feel like they did.

Then the second wave hit.

While my vision cleared enough for me to see and the overall pain had deadened to a dull throbbing, my arms sparked and white flames enveloped them. I couldn’t feel it, I couldn’t stop it, I could barely see it, but I screamed and yelled and cried. My mother didn’t know what to do, neither did my father when he finally found us. They couldn’t come near, and my mother learned that the hard way. She hated seeing me in pain, so her motherly instinct to hold me, to comfort me, backfired when she tried. She now has a large burn scar down her right arm, a daily reminder of how dangerous I was.

Because to the horror of myself, my mother, and my father, I had managed to inherit one of the rarest and most dangerous Specialties known to our world, called Aerdior. The unfortunate ability to conjure heat from one’s skin. My version of it, of course, came with the bonus of flames.

I don’t remember the rest of that day. I just know that my parents had to reach out to one of our neighbors, who could manipulate water, to put me out. And that that day was when everything became different.

II.

I can’t count how many times in a day I used to catch fire. At first, it was really often, every hour or so, and that’s how I was forced to learn how to will it away. And eventually I could. And after a month, it would go down to every two hours. And after another month, three to four hours.

By the time I was nine, I could go at least two days without catching, on a good week.

I also can’t count how many times I’ve hurt someone or something around me. It would come so suddenly, I never had enough time to get away from whatever I was touching. My father had a couple burns on his shoulders and arms, my mother on her fingers and hands. I banned myself from my father’s garden after I destroyed almost half of my father’s rare Cossia flowers, and later from even going outside when I injured a creature that had come too close. I spent most of my time in my room, where anything that wasn’t or couldn’t be fireproofed had been removed. I cried when my mother wanted to take my books, but my father, who taught me to love and cherish reading, spent almost two weeks trying to figure out a way for me to keep them. He finally found the perfect mixture of plants and special roots to create paper that couldn’t burn. And he then spent the next several months copying all of my favorite books onto the special paper so I could read them. I only have one of those copies now.

I was terrified and paranoid of my Specialty, and of what I could do. No matter where I was or who I was with, I had to watch what I touched and how I handled things. Before long, I was labeling everything as burnable or unburnable, what I can’t touch and what I can, who I couldn’t take the chance on and who I could. It was an unbearable existence for a nine year old child.

And then we moved.

I say moved like it was optional, like we made the choice, but truly, we weren’t just changing scenery, we were running.

I don’t remember much of it. One day we were happy; my mother, my father, me, and the little baby in my mother’s belly that we were all so excited for. Then the next, I was being dragged through the forest by my parents who kept insisting everything was alright. Right up until it wasn’t.

My father died that day, protecting us. My mother will only tell me that without him saving us, we wouldn’t have escaped, we wouldn’t have made it to earth, the Connected World.

It’s been nine years, and she still refuses to tell me more.

But now, I only catch randomly, with no pattern. A rushing feeling will run down my spine, and then my fingers will start turning black. If I don’t separate myself from my surroundings and put all my willpower into making it go away, I will eventually catch, though it’s much slower on earth.

My mother would always tell me that it was all a blessing in disguise, that coming to earth was good because I was less likely to hurt others. I used to believe that, and maybe a small part of me still does, but now I know that it doesn’t make a difference. Who am I to have a better life when my father never got to live the rest of his?

III.

My little sister was born the day we came to earth. Because of the way we came, in the chaos and madness, my mother went into labor not even an hour after arriving. We had come through the Pathway into an old church, which had seemed to be abandoned with no one left to take care of it. I was the only one there to help my mother as she gave birth.

It was a horribly long, terribly painful, and rather traumatizing experience that I would never like to experience again. But once it was over, we had another problem to handle. Because my little sister didn’t come out crying.

My mother had pretty much passed out once the baby was out, so I was left to try to understand what was happening. It was, fortunately, not long before I realized that my sister wasn’t dead. She was still moving and her heart still beating, with her face scrunched up as if she wanted to cry but just couldn’t get it out. She was mute, a birth defect common to Plivumians.

I had shifted my mother into a lying position and covered her with an old curtain I found, then proceeded to wrap my new born sister in the torn up cloth from my shirt. I held her as she slept, and didn’t sleep myself, and that night I named her. I never asked my mother after if she liked the name I picked, or of she was upset that I did, but I was fully convinced that my father would have loved it.

I named her after my father’s two favorite flowers, the ones which he had spent years growing to be perfect for their blooming season, and the ones I adored more than any of the others. Her name was Pella Cossia, my little sister. And the only thing I thoroughly remember from that day, was the promise I made to her, that I would never let her get hurt, that I would protect her no matter the costs.

I still keep that promise, and I don’t ever plan on breaking it.

IV.

We found the dwelling, or town, as the earthans called it, that the church belonged to, and met many people who were confused about who we were and what had happened to us. One person called himself an officer, and he helped us find clothes and food. We also met a lady who gave my mother a job at a restaurant, which at the time was a very strange concept, as we didn’t have restaurants or food suppliers back in Plivium. But we adapted quickly, and it was only a year of taking help and staying in hotels before my mother could finally afford a home.

It was a small, unkept, dirty place, but we were decent enough at cleaning and home-keeping to get it livable again.

By the time we found out about school, I was twelve and completely unqualified. But due to the laws of the land, and the strict suggestions of anyone we knew, my mother thought it wise to send me to school. The idea of school seemed promising, an organization built to help children learn and grow in the world, but the actual reality of it was a lot more disappointing. The education part was pretty much an afterthought, as the talking, sports, and teasing took the forefront. I came to be a wallflower, even more so because of the... heat problem. People liked to point out that I wore sweaters and gloves all the time, even when it was warm; little did they know that I couldn’t feel warmth at all, or cold for that matter. The sweaters and gloves were more for a safety precaution(made of a special heat resistant material that took years to find and use), and a comforting mechanism.

I caught up quickly; in my studies, that is. I was pretty much enthralled with anything I didn’t already know, as we didn’t have education anything close to Earthan education back home, where we learned to read, write, count, and that was it. In Plivium, reading more than what basic training required was like being a genius, which both my father and myself easily overstepped. But on earth, being an avid reader was somewhat normal, and even the small amount of people who actually enjoyed learning maths and science and literature were many more than at home. I also had more than enough time on my hands, as I still stayed cooped up in my bedroom with things least fire-prone. I had more books than clothes, and more library passes than shoes, which I was more than okay with. I enjoyed it, even if school itself was much less than fun and little more than torture.

Though as high school came, with my Specialty growing stronger and more worrisome, my mother thought it time to pull me out. At that time, I wasn’t attached to school, as long as I got to keep the books and the library trips. My mother obliged, but, unfortunately, she was still listening to coworkers and neighbors. Because apparently, by the time your fifteen, your supposed to have a job. Which, of course, my mother and I thought strange and ridiculous, because the whole employment thing was an entirely different situation at home. But we adapted anyway, and I managed to get a job at a small bookstore in town, but only because it was run by an older lady who majorly needed help.

I still work there today, and Mrs. Gorgio is like the grandma I never had, feeding me when I forget myself and praying when she knows my mother has a job interview. She instantly fell in love with Pella, and asks about her every day I come in. Pella doesn’t like books as much, preferring music and other loud ways of expressing herself, but she likes Mrs. Gorgio and the fact that the older lady wasn’t shocked to find she can’t speak. Pella comes in once a week, and is continually teaching Mrs. Goegio sign language so that it’s easier for them to communicate. I sometimes watch them interact, sitting in the big cushion chairs in the back of the shop, laughing and smiling and gesturing. It’s rather funny to see Mrs. Gorgio get the movements wrong, in which Pella will simply smile and correct her with gentle fingers.

When we walk home together, Pella will sign to me the whole way, explaining what they were working on and how Mrs. Gorgio has the best taste in music and why the old lady always wears that rusty necklace around her neck. Though I trip on the bumpy sidewalks and my own feet watching her hands fly, I don’t ever shove it off. I know how much it means to her, and that she looks forward to that one day of the week when I take her.

It also distracted me, helped me pretend that our lives were normal. And that we weren’t foreigners in disguise, tricking everyone into believing we belonged, when we really truly didn’t.

#random writing #writing #story writing #fantasy #otherworldly #fantasy writing #powers #super abilities #heat #fire power #creative writing #draft #first draft #alienis draft

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being-held · 3 years

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Backseat - Character + Sam Winchester

Part 2 of the super random character fic for Supernatural from who knows when. Enjoy.

The backseat was uncomfortable as hell, and trying to fall asleep there was about just as fun, between the seat belts and the lumpy cushions and the freezing cold. But the worst part wasn’t the physical conditions, or even that I had a nasty bruise on my back that I couldn’t quite stay off of. No, it was Sam.

“Sam.”

He doesn’t answer.

“Sam,” I say louder, though I try to keep it low enough that I don’t wake Dean in the driver's seat.

But again, Sam doesn’t reply.

“Saaam,” I say obnoxiously, sitting up on my elbows.

“Whaaat?” He finally says, craning his neck to look back at me.

“Would you please stop moving?”

Sam was restless beyond restless, shifting every minute or so in his loud, squeaky, leather seat and it was driving me bat crazy. I’d already kicked his seat and shushed him, but nothing seemed to change.

“Sleeping in the car is not fun, Ez,” he says, raising his eyebrows at me.

“Don’t you sleep in this thing all the time?” The impala was basically the two brothers mobile home, he should be more than used to it.

“Sure, in the back seat.”

“That’s not my fault,” I counter offensively. “You absolutely insisted that I sleep back here.”

He nods with a sarcastic expression. “Starting to regret that.”

I roll my eyes and let my head fall back, feeling the car shift with my weight. I hear him shift again as I cover my eyes with my arm, trying once again to sleep.

About a minute or two later, the seat squeaks.

“Okay,” I say frustratingly, sitting up and scooting towards the door. “Screw this.”

“What?”

I open the right side door, shivering as the night air rolls over my exposed skin. “Get out of the car.”

“What? Why?”

I step out of the car and walk around the door to his, opening it quickly. “Just get up.”

“You’re not sleeping in the front, Ez, the back is more comfortable-“

“I realize that, get out, please.”

He raises his eyebrows at me, questioning my intentions.

I groan, “Get out the damn car, Sam.”

He sighs sharply before stepping out, and I shut the door behind him. I pull his arm until he’s standing in front of the back door and then shove him slightly. “Get in.”

“What?”

I sigh heavily, “Get. in. the. car.”

“Why? Where will you-“

I clench my jaw and close my eyes, “I swear to god, Sam-“

“Okay, okay, I’ll get in.”

He climbs in clumsily, sitting down with his legs basically hitting his chest. He looks over at me and sends me another confused look. I gesture forward and his brows furrow before he lays down on his back. I nod happily, then tap his legs, which still stick out of the door. “Move your long-ass legs.”

“What? I’m so confused, Ez. What are you doing?”

I frown at him and move his legs myself.

“Ez, what-“

“I swear, Sam Winchester, if you question me one more time, I will knock you unconscious.”

He sends me yet another confused look, but doesn’t say anything after that. I then proceed with a triumphant smile as I sit on his legs and close the door. Before he can ask another frustrating question, I lie down on his chest.

He stiffens under me and gasps slightly at my sudden though predictable action. He keeps his hands up, and his chest moves slowly like he’s afraid to disturb me. I almost laugh as I lay my head under his chin, but instead say, “You can relax.”

“Are you sure?”

I laugh this time. “Sam, trust me, this is much more comfortable then either of our previous positions.”

He takes in a long breath before his hand finally rests on my back and he relaxes under me.

“It’s also warmer,” I add, shifting slightly to better fit next to him. “And I can’t talk to the seat.”

He chuckles, a beautiful sound that rumbles through his chest. “You do like to talk.”

“It’s one of my better traits,” I smile.

He starts rubbing my back with his thumb, and it sends a shiver down my spine. “You say that as if you lack them.”

A pause. “I kind of do.”

“Not to me.”

“Not to you?”

I feel him shake his head and hesitate a second before he says quietly, “You’re different.” His arm tightens around me.

It takes me a moment to respond, “Different?”

“It’s a good different.”

#supernatural #sam winchester #winchester #fanfic #random fic #this is actually really cute?#why didn't i ever write more?#i dont know #not like im the author or anything #we dont actually know anything

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being-held · 3 years

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Character + Sam Winchester

Super old writing piece I did forever ago that I figured I’d just post so maybe someone might read it. So here is a random Supernatural fanfic about Sam Winchester.

She sat in the back seat, a folder of research sitting in her lap as she flipped through it for the third time. The research was thorough, as much as it could be, and it explained how each killing seemed to go down, and how the police thought it happened, whether it actually did or not. Ten victims, five murders scenes, and several traumatized children who claimed to have seen a vanishing clown.

She raises her eyes to the window as two rather large men come up to the car(if that’s what it was even considered, more of a really beat up, really trashy old van) and enter the driver’s and passenger’s seat. One, the shorter one, goes to turn on the car, so she smiles and speaks up. “Hey, boys.”

Many things happen at once. The boys both turn quickly, the driver cocking his gun as he points it at her head, and the other wielding a knife, ready to use it if necessary. She simply laughs.

“Hey, I’m impressed,” She says, closing the folder and leaning back casually. “Quite the reflexes, you two.”

“Who are you?” The driver asks.

“They did say you were intense, didn’t they?”

“Answer the question.”

She breathes a laugh, “Ellen sent me, said you needed help.”

“We didn’t ask for help.”

She smiles, looking back down and opening the folder. “Well, I guess those weren’t her exact words. She said one of you is a complete idiot while the other is afraid of clowns, don’t think it matters which is which.”

“Kinda does.”

She glances up at the passenger, as this was the first time he had spoken. His knife was lowered and he was putting it away, obviously not too worried about her being a threat. The other still had his gun up, but he looked a little less likely to use it.

“She said I was an idiot? That bi-”

“Dean.”

She laughs, glancing at the passenger, “I guess that answers both those questions.”

He avoids her eyes.

“Sam, who I guess is afraid of clowns,” she nods towards him, “And Dean, the idiot,” she watches him finally put his gun down with a frown, “Wonderful to finally meet you guys.”

Dean smirks, though still on edge. “You know of us.”

Shaking her head, she says, “Oh no, I only heard of you guys about- two?- hours ago, I just like meeting new people.”

He grunts, turning forward while Sam smiles at the whole predicament. “I like her.”

“How’d you even get in the car?” Dean asks, annoyance clear in his tone as he turns on the ignition with a sputtering start.

She raises her brows in question, glancing at Sam, who was still turned to face her. “You didn’t lock it.”

Sam chuckles, fully amused by how much she seemed to irritate Dean. “What was your name?”

“Oh.” She sits up and gives her hand out to him to shake, smiling. “I'm Ezlyn, Ezlyn Hightower.”

He takes it firmly, nodding. “Pretty.”

“Real smooth,” Dean mumbles. Sam purses his lips before turning forward.

Dean finally pulls the van out of the parking spot, and away from the trashy gas station that pretty much matched the van in looks. She unfortunately knew the place well, using the station as a way of cover for not only herself but for her poor car that was parked and covered in the back. When Ellen called her and said the two boys were headed this direction, she waited them out until they stopped after a long drive here. Like she said, it wasn’t hard to get in the car once they showed up.

“So, what are you guys thinking?” She asks while leaning forward to get somewhat between the two of them, closing the folder and setting it aside. “Spirit?”

Dean glances at her and Sam, scoffing before focusing on the road.

Sam simply nods, “Yeah, we’re thinking cursed object being carried to different carnivals, taking the spirit with it.” His brows furrow suddenly as he glances back at her. “Wait, how did you find us?”

She smirks, “A girl can’t tell all her secrets, now can she?”

He smiles. “I guess not.”

~~~

Ezlyn realized pretty quickly just how short she really was. Or rather, just how tall Sam was. It shouldn’t have surprised her, considering his head nearly hit the ceiling of the van, and the fact she was only 5’3. She tried not to show how surprised she was when they stood next to each other, but she’s certain it didn’t work. If Sam noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“So how do you know Ellen?” He asked, glancing at her as they walked towards the carnival. She wanted to believe he actually cared but she had a feeling he was only distracting himself from the fact they were walking into clown infested waters.

She shrugs, “Worked at the roadhouse for a little while.”

“Little while?”

“Yeah, wasn’t my atmosphere. Drinking and killing… and- Ash. Not my kinda thing.”

“And Ash?” He says with a laugh, “the haircut too much for you?”

She shakes her head in amusement, “That and the fact he hit on me every chance he got.”

“Not surprised, he seems like the type.”

Her brows arch, “You have no idea.”

Dean was several paces in front of them, still seeming annoyed that she was tagging along, and eventually told her and Sam to stay put as he walked into one of the buildings.

Sam was uneasy, though he was perched casually against one of the carnival rides as if he wasn’t. She could only tell because he seemed to watch anyone who walked by with a glare, and he tried to pull into himself whenever someone who even resembled a clown walked by.

“Hey, Sam?”

He flinches before looking over at her, raised eyebrows and a questioning look to hide the anxiety he was obviously feeling. “Yeah?”

“Why are you afraid of…” I gesture around vaguely, “Well, you know.”

“Oh, uh,” he glances away, “Childhood trauma.”

She hums in response, folding her hands in front of her as his eyes find her again. “You sound like you’re familiar with the idea.”

She tilts her head, smiling. “I guess I kind of am.”

#supernatural #sam winchester #winchester #fanfic #random fic #i dont know why i even wrote about this episode #it was super random

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