Ghost
Friends. Family. A good joke, really. She’d been fairly new to town at the time of the blast—Everyone familiar to her was miles away, safe from the crap that she was going through—They were safe and able to move about freely as they chose to do. Levi? Not so much. She was playing games of cat and mouse with people who wanted to take her out. Funny the way a new start became a way for a new run—Running was something she’d been trying to avoid doing. Then the blast happened and surprise! Back to running again. Old habits truly did die hard.
❝Sure. Back where I moved here from. I came out here to get a new start. Guess the tragedy in going after dreams, is getting them and having them blow up in your face.❞ An ill-placed laugh escaped her lips at that point—She rolled her eyes at herself. Really, now she was just being morbid because she didn’t know how else to handle the situation. ❝Y’know, I came out here to stop running, and since that damn blast, all I’ve been able to do is run. Staying still just gets me dead. I really don’t wanna die, not just yet.❞ There really had to be a reason she was burning up his time. Maybe she should have just listened to what he said, and took off. Went home, locked the doors. Became invisible.
Oh, if only it were that easy. Things never were that easy. Even things that were labeled easy, had a habit of surprising people with the difficulty. Then again, sometimes people were so damned simple minded, too. Maybe that was half of her problem. She was looking at an easy problem for an easier solution, and still using a simple mind to get to it. ❝Bucky, huh? Well, I’m Levi. Since we’re in the business of sharing names, anyway.❞ There was no business at all—It was just common decency to share names with someone who shared theirs with you. Jesus Christ, her mind was being hell again.
Then came the question of abilities, and Levi had to do everything she could to keep from laughing. Her abilities seemed so stupid when she set them up alongside his. He at least had his under control. With a gentle sigh, she held up a hand and let that same golden glow of flame wrap around it—As close to controlling what she could do as she could get. ❝Fire. Lots and lots of fire. And I don’t know anything more than to light a spark and let it burn.❞ She gave him a gentle shrug and watched the flame dance around her fingertips before curling her hand and containing what little spark remained. When she opened it, the flame settled within her palm. ❝The best I can do is this. Light it, hold it, let it settle. I don’t know how to control it, like I said. I get angry, it flares up and ripples off in waves. I get scared, it does the same thing. Flares up, ripples off in waves.❞
He’d voluntarily worshipped like a dog at a shrine of lies, but now every day was growing more bleak with a fresh poison each week. He had no absolutes to offer. He was everybody’s disapprover, fury’s last true mouth piece. Though then again the woman before him seemed to be the giggle at a funeral. How tainting could helping her sharpen her knife be? He couldn’t help but allow his mind to be influenced by the idea of how his life would have went had he had any help at all. Though they were different in every way as far as he could see. Her words revealed what he guessed was issue number one with the incapability to use her powers. ❝You’re too focused on yourself.❞ he commented offhandedly. ❝I don’t give a crap about your mentality or whatever, I’m not an oracle, your physicality. You need to understand that these powers come from the outside, not from your body, think from the outside. Or you might end up a crisp yourself.❞ He could deny it all he wanted but he indeed had warmed up to her. His voice less controlled and as playful as a tone as a man like him could have to it his offer of a smile was for once true. ❝You don’t have to be scared. Nothing’s gonna happen to you.❞ In his experience, their abilities almost had a mind of their own, avoiding the vessel itself, as if they were immune to their bite. ❝I, on the other hand, should be the one to be careful.❞ He never liked fire all too much. Although that alone had hardly anything to do with his caution around a rookie, he preferred the cold.
He had served as a cautionary tale for too many years, the proof that survival of the fittest was a theory proven to be bullshit in the ranks of humanity. It made him curious to challenge her strength, let her show him why she was strong. ❝Doest anybody know?❞ he questioned, his eyes squinting slightly, his head tilting. ❝You can come with me, I have another place in the safer part of town, though it’s not as safe for us.❞ His offer was out of order in generosity and lack of caution, but she had made an impression on him.
