Legends: Chapter 1

An ongoing fictitious novel series.

Written by Ash, a guest writer.

Trigger/Content Warnings: drug addict mentions, child abuse/abuse, suicide mentions

It was at this moment, she knew, she fucked up.

“Do you always have to wear a mask?”

“No. I don't need to, but I want to, so deal with it.” Pierce was always bugging me about wearing a mask, but can he change my mind? No. No, he can’t. I also really liked the mask because it had a little bear mouth on it (very much cute).

“Pierce, just let Astrid wear the damn mask,” said Haven, “You do this every single time we go out.”

I looked at Pierce, then at Haven, then back to Pierce.

“Fine, fine, fine,” Pierce scoffed.

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you choose my mask next time if you want,” I said reluctantly to Pierce.

He looked back at me and chuckled a bit. Ever since Tyler died, she's been wearing the stupid mask more often. Goddammit, why did you have to leave bro?

Not gonna lie, it kinda bummed me out to see him like that. Yes, I did change a little after my brother died, but not drastically. On the other hand, I’m an introvert, so can’t argue with that. Oh, sorry. I forgot to mention; when thoughts are about me, I don’t have to focus as much to hear them. It’s one of my powers; telepathy. Sometimes it's useful, and other times it’s a pain in the ass.

A voice called from behind me, “Are we there yet, I'm hungryyy.”

I looked back and saw that it was Leo who had asked. “We’re only a few blocks away. See, there's our turn up there.” I pointed ahead towards an intersection. It was maybe 75-100 yards away. To the normal human eye, everything may have seemed a little blurry, but in my eyes, it was clear as day. My powers enhanced some of my senses like sight, hearing, and smell, meaning I was able to see every single little detail up ahead. On our side of the street, there was a lady with her kid and a corgi, 40, maybe 50 yards from the crosswalk. There were maybe a dozen cars and a bus or two driving through the crowded street.

“It's so far thoughhhh, why can’t we just take a cab or let Astrid teleport us?” Leo said.

“Because some of us need the fresh air and need to get out of the house. On the other hand, we are in broad daylight, so keep your voice down,” Kija said quickly before I was able to reply to Leo’s comment.

Kija did have a point. Vitamin D is good for us, and Leo can’t hide in the garage forever. Then again, we can’t have anyone knowing about my powers. If anyone found out beyond our tight-knit circle, it wouldn’t be a disaster. My grandparents warned me about staying hidden. They said, “It’s the best way to make sure you’re safe from people who want power.” I ended up limiting how many people I interacted with, not being able to go out as much, etc. At some points in life, it sucked, and sometimes it still does, but I’ve learned to live with it and embrace it in the best way I could. I’m also older now and know good from bad. (Or so I thought.)

Leo replied, “Fiiiiiine, and to say the least, I do get fresh air.”

“Yeah right. You may get fresh air, but you never get out of that workshop,” I said.

“Yes, I do. Look, I’m out of the workshop now, right?”

“And what about tomorrow? Hm?”

“I-,” and before he was able to finish his sentence, he yelped and stumbled on the sidewalk.

“And there’s your daily dose of Leo,” I said a second later, trying to keep my composure long enough to speak.

Everyone burst out laughing. He normally does something like this at least once a day. I looked up and saw that we were maybe 30 yards away from the street now. The kids’ stroller was across the street with the dog leash tied onto it, but the woman was nowhere to be seen.

“Guys, that kid's parent isn’t there,” I said to everyone, trying to catch my breath.

They all calmed down enough to speak, and looked up ahead. “Are you sure?” Kija asked, squinting, trying to see if there was anyone there.

“One-hundred percent. There was a lady with that stroller earlier, and now she’s not there.”

I could feel everyone’s panic starting to set in. New York City isn’t a good place where you want to be out alone, much less leave a child unattended. There are a lot of no bueno people out there.

Leo came to my side and put his hand on my shoulder. He pointed and said, “There, walking back into the street.”

I followed his finger to where he was pointing to and there she was, walking back into the middle of the street. I quickly scanned the street to see what was so important that she had to walk back into the street. A small stuffed bear was sitting in the street. At that same moment, I saw that cars were coming from the opposite side of the street. They were going maybe 40-50 mph and didn’t look like they planned on slowing down anytime soon.

(Honestly, I don’t even know if they saw the lady.)

I had a choice to make; save the lady, or watch someone die right in front of my eyes.

My body made my decision.

Before I knew it, I was sprinting to the street. Another thing about my powers; they not only enhance some of my senses, but also enhance my speed, strength, and endurance. With that being said, when I sprinted, I sprinted. Fast enough that once my friends realized what I was planning to do, I was already 20 feet away, and gaining distance every millisecond.

I was still 50 feet away from the lady, minimum. Behind me, I could hear my friends yelling. I don’t know if it was at me or the lady, but that didn’t matter right now. My goal was to get to the lady before the cars got to her. I glanced over to where the cars were coming from and saw a bus was in the lane that the woman was in front of (and somehow still didn’t see the woman).

T hen the realization hit. I wasn’t going to make it. The cars were going too fast. They were going to get there before I could. Then, the stupidest thought popped into my head.

I have powers, why not use them.

I blinked and teleported right in front of the lady. I might have overestimated how fast I was sprinting, so my shoes slid just a little, but for the most part, it worked out as I planned. I looked up to see how far away the cars were, and to my surprise, they weren’t as far as I had hoped for them to be. They were maybe 50 feet in front of me and moving fast. The lady was somewhere behind me; hopefully. 40 feet. The cars were coming in fast and I started panicking. 30 feet. Could I turn around, grab the woman and teleport us out of here? Would I have enough time? 20 feet. I had already used one power, why not just use another? 10 feet. The bus was closing in, and I had to make a choice.

I had to act. I closed my eyes and whipped my hands up in the air so that I was holding my palms out in front of me. Seconds later, I felt a small, cold breeze blow on me. Everything was silent. I slowly opened my eyes to see a huge, white wall of ice in front of me. I exhaled and my mask had turned cold from my breath. My hands dropped to my sides loosely, and I examined what I had done.

I slowly looked around, and every pedestrian on the block stopped and stared at me. Dread started to seep into my veins. I just exposed what I truly am to the world. This is exactly what my grandparents said they were worried about. People had their phones out and were recording the scene. This was not good. I quickly diverted my eyes to the ground so no one would recognize me. My long curly hair covered my face, and I was still wearing my mask, so that was a bonus. Another thought popped into my head.

My friends, they're still on the other side of the street.

Through my hair, I glanced over to where my friends were standing, and all of them looked worried. Leo made a little hand gesture; trying to tell me to go over to where they are.

Telepathically, I said to them, Meet me back at my place. I can’t have your lives on the line too.

Pierce looked like he wanted to argue and say something. What about you? How are you going to get back? There are going to be people after you now.

I’ll teleport to my house. They won’t be able to track me that way.

Pierce looked worrisome but nodded. Be safe, ok?

I looked at him. Always.

A feminine voice from behind me stuttered, “I-...wha-...who-...?”

I turned 90 degrees and glanced up just a little. The lady that I had just saved was in shock. I could feel confusion and fear coming off of her. I raised my hands and slowly started to back away. I wasn’t going to say anything, although I wanted to give her space. She was probably still trying to process what had just happened.

Next to me, the bus was still frozen, so I reached over and touched the ice. Thoughts of ice melting flooded my mind, and the next thing I knew, the ice that covered the bus along with the surrounding cars close by had turned into a plume of steam. I looked inside the bus and saw the passengers staring at me like I was a monster or something. (I would expect they thought I was.) I redirected my eyes so I was looking at the ground, once again, and took a few steps away from the bus.

Once I was away from the bus, I started to hear faint police sirens in the distance. This was not good. I needed to get out of here. The longer I stayed here, the more dangerous it got, and if the police got here, it would be even worse. I looked up, and the lady’s gaze was still fixed on me with shock in her eyes. I don’t know if it was from her almost being hit by a bus or me using my powers, (probably me using my powers) or both. I lifted my hand and put a peace sign in front of me, then blinked and disappeared.

~~~~~~

My initial thought when teleporting was I should head back to my place, so that's where I ended up. I lived in a penthouse that overlooked the northeast corner of Central Park. The views were priceless (especially on misty days), but that wasn’t on my mind. My current thought was how I’m now in a deep hole because of my actions.

Shit.

I threw my now-torn mask on the counter and tangled my fingers in my hair. Out of habit, I started to pace back and forth in front of the living room. Waves of regret were rolling over me with each step I took.

How could I have been so stupid? I used my powers to save someone I didn’t even know, in public! I can’t wipe the whole city’s memory of me. It’s probably on social media too, which means that the whole world could know by now. What the hell am I gonna do?

I fucked up, and there was no going back now.

Well, all I need to do now is to wait for another lecture from my friends on how bad I messed up, and knowing them, it’s going to be one hell of a time. Yay.

I sighed and walked over to the living room to turn on the news. It had barely been a minute after the incident, meaning that it wouldn’t be on the news yet, but there was a high chance that it would be on in the next half hour.

After I turned on the TV, I took off my shoes and used some feathers from my wings to set them on the rack near the front door. I went back to the couch and flopped down; marinating in my feelings.

My friends were at least another 10 mins away, minimum, so I had time to try and mentally prepare myself for their lecture. And by try, I meant to just take it ‘cause there was no getting out of it.

I felt like I was going to cry. They’re probably disappointed in me; I know my grandparents would be. I don’t like the feeling of letting someone down or disappointing someone, it’s just not a good feeling, but right now I need to be strong. If anything happened to my family, I would have to protect them, because I was the one who messed up. I need to put their safety first and make sure they don’t get hurt.

A second later, I felt a few other presences outside in the hallway leading to my place. There was one that was fuming with rage trailed by one swimming in awe. Following behind, there was also someone proud and angry at the same time, and the other was worried sick.

Welp, there’s my friends. Time for an ass-whooping.

I got up from my spot on the couch as the door swung open, and Pierce burst through with Leo on his tail, followed by Kija and Haven.

Pierce scanned the room for me, and once his gaze landed on me, I immediately started at the ground (again). I walked forward so I was standing in front of all of them. I was too nervous to look at their faces, so my eyes stayed on the ground, and my hands were in the pockets of the hoodie I was wearing. No one said a word for a good minute. The silence was killing me.

“What the hell was that?!?!” Pierce snarled, “Do you know how much danger you're in now?!?!”

“I-I acted without thinking, ok? I thought I would be able to just sprint over there and push her out of the way,” I blurted out.

“And it didn’t work out, so you thought it was a good idea to use your powers to save her, right? Exposing yourself to the whole world. Yeah, great idea Astrid,” he barked back.

“Would you rather see someone die?” I said, as my voice rose. “I know I wouldn’t have wanted to see that. I was acting on instinct,” I practically yelled. I closed my eyes and kept my head down. A singular tear started to roll down my face. I needed to stay calm. When my emotions were going haywire, my powers followed.

“So, your instinct told you to go put a target on your back?” Pierce replied.

I looked at him, dead in the eyes, and snapped, “I saved her! My instinct told me to do what was RIGHT! Yes, there is now a target on my back, but at least I didn’t have to watch someone die when I know I could’ve done something.”

He got close to my face and said, “Your brother would be ashamed of your actions today.”

“NO, NO HE WOULDN’T. HE WOULD BE PROUD OF ME FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING, UNLIKE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW! DON’T BRING HIM UP. YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO LOST HIM.” I said, yelling at him. Tears were streaming down my face one after the other. During this, my hands somehow found their way out of my pockets and the cuffs of my sleeves started to burn. Fire was one of my powers that were more unpredictable, even though it's one that I have more control over.

“Astrid! Your sleeves!!” Leo yelped, surprised and also terrified at the same time as he pointed down to where my hands were.

I looked down and saw the sleeves of my hoodie were burning. The fire was just past my wrists. I started to shake my arms frantically, trying and failing, to put out the flames. Then I thought, water. I quickly teleported to the kitchen in front of the sink and turned the cold water on with a feather. I shoved my arms under the water, and the fire smoldered and steamed ‘till it went out.

My elbows sat on the edge of the sink as the cool water ran over my hands. I hung my head low as everyone ran over and stared at me, not saying a word. Haven silently appeared by my side with a towel and a soft face. I smiled at her, then my eyes made their way to my arms to see what damage I did.

It was worse than I thought.

My arms were burned, and little blisters were starting to form where the fire had been. My skin was a blistering red instead of its normal tan. I tried reaching out to turn off the water but stopped because it hurt to move my arms.

Haven put a hand on my shoulder and turned off the water. She moved my body so I was facing her and started to pat my forearms gently with the cloth. The silence still hung in the air, so I decided to break it.

“Can we just leave it as I saved someone? I’m sorry. I know I fucked up and y’all are disappointed. I didn’t think before acting, but I didn’t wanna witness someone dying.” I said, my eyes staring down at my feet.

For a second, I heard some shuffling and whispers. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I overreacted and just started to go off. I shouldn't have said that about your brother, ‘cause you’re right, he would be proud. I was just worried and ashamed because I had promised him that I would keep you safe, an-and I failed,” Pierce stuttered out.

I looked up at him. He was stiff, clenching his fists by his sides. Haven put a hand on my shoulder, said she’ll be right back, and walked out of sight. I looked back up to where Pierce was standing and slowly walked over letting my arms hang loosely by my sides. I stood in front of him and put my head on his chest, wanting to hug him, but not being able to because of the burns. He silently wrapped his arms around me and laid his face on my head. A few seconds later we felt 2 more people (most likely Kija and Leo) wrap their arms around us. We stood like that for a few minutes with Haven joining us after a while, just enjoying the comfort of one another.

After a while, Pierce shuffled around and everyone started to let go and backed up a few feet. Pierce and I were the last ones to let go, and for the first time, I got a clear look at his face. His eyes were red and his cheeks were tear-stained. I hated seeing my family like this, especially Pierce. He was like a brother to me, and all he has been trying to do was protect me.

“Sorry,” we both said at the same time.

Everyone snickered a bit, then it was back to the awkward silence that hung in the room, but this time it wasn’t me who broke it. It was Leo.

When Leo’s stomach grumbled like a bear that was angry at something, it was enough to break the silence and set all of us back to our normal mood. We all burst out laughing, not being able to contain our voices.

I tried asking if he was hungry, but I wasn’t able to catch my breath. “Gr-great way to break the silence Leo,” Kija said panting, “Is that the signal for you wanting food?”

“Yes,” he said, pouting, trying to stay serious

“Well,” Kija said looking at all of us, “what do you guys want?”

“Pizza!” I said as it was the first thing that came to mind.

“Pizza sounds good, we can get Athena or Pepper to pick it up when they come over,” Pierce said as he was stretching his back.

~~~~~~

The rest of the night went smoothly for the most part. Haven helped me wrap my arms with some gauze and aloe so the burns would heal. My external wounds heal a lot faster than normal people, so I would be good in a day or two. The argument also blew over mostly, which was good. When the 2 girls came over, there was a small, not major, lecture, and lots of hugs were given and received. Surprisingly, Nico also came over saying he and Will were really worried about me. Sadly, Will wasn’t able to come with him today because he had to help with the night shift, but he would be here tomorrow.

When the news brought up what had happened that day, it was fascinating how off their theories were about my identity. The anchors were both astonished and shaken about the recent incident that took place, arguing on whether I could be male or female (female at birth, I go by all pronouns,) if I held any more powers (yes, ‘cause I only used two of the eight), was I going to be a threat to society (uh, hopefully not), and lots more stupid and logical questions. Even though all of us knew the correct answers to their questions, it was still fun to watch them be puzzled about me.

A few hours later, it was almost dusk, and we were all fooling around. The girls and I were experimenting with different flavors for some cookies in the kitchen while the boys were playing with a miniature foam football in the living room, hopefully not breaking anything.

Suddenly, Leo skidded into the kitchen with the three other boys on his tail. “Astrid, you gotta come and see this.” Nico quavered from behind Leo, gesturing for me to follow them into the living room. I looked at the girls, quickly put down the chocolate chip bag (that I was currently eating out of), and practically ran out of the kitchen to the living room.

When I got to the living room, the TV was still on the NYC news channel from earlier today.

“Now we have a special message from the New York Police Department’s Chief in Command,” said the lady on the screen.

The screen changed to a middle-aged man in an office, who I’m guessing is the Chief in Command for the New York City Police. My grandmother said she met him a few times for a business dinner I think.

“Thank you.” he started, “Citizens of New York, you might have heard about what had happened earlier this afternoon. If not, here is a recap.” A short video of me melting the wall of ice then teleporting away played from a pedestrian’s point of view. It rewinded back to a frame of me putting up the peace sign, zoomed in, and froze. The blurry photo shrank, and the man went back into the frame with my picture in the top left corner of the screen. “This hero saved a woman from being hit by a bus today with some sort of magical powers. We don’t know if they are going to be a threat to society, and this is why we want to meet them under a truce flag. We will meet on February 8th (next week Thursday), at noon, at 1238 East Ave. If you aren’t this person and show up, you will be put under arrest, and be given a fine for impersonation. We only want to talk to this mysterious person. If you know them, please tell them about this message. And if you, mystery person, are watching this very message here, we do not want to harm you. All we want is to talk. We come in peace.”

The message ended, and the 2 reporters appeared back on screen.

“Well, that was something, right Ron?” said the woman.

“Yes, that was Linda. The police are now on the hunt for the person with powers. If I were them, I wouldn’t know what to do.” Ron replied.

The TV got turned down by someone, and all of us were in shock, not being able to move or talk about what just happened. The main problem now was that the police wanted to see me. This could play out to be good or bad. Everyone was silent, probably thinking about what our next move was gonna be.

I sighed, already knowing what I was going to do.

“Welp, that’s great. Just great,” I said.

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