Dark Wings Falling

[Storm Scream]

"Would you like fries or onion rings with that?"

"Umm...can I just get a salad with it?"

"Ranch or Thousand Is-"

"Ranch."

"That'll be $8.23." Eyes shifted for the fifth time. I sighed, frustrated, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket and taking out my card. He ran it and gave it back, eyes shifting for the sixth time.

"Thanks...and by the way, my eyes are up here." I pointed to my head, scowling. The boy behind the counter turned a bright red and turned around quickly, filling up my coke. He didn't even turn to hand it to me; he put it on the counter behind him and walked the back quickly. "Probably gonna go cry...nerd..." I grinned a little, grabbing my drink and going to find a table to wait at.

It was a brillaintly sunny saturday afternoon. Not a cloud was in the sky (although after the episode at the counter, I was sure there was at least one hanging right over the roof of the burger joint I was in) and a wonderful, light breeze was blowing in off the Atlantic, so that it was a very comfortable temperature. I looked out the window I was sitting next to and smiled. Today was definitely a good day to grab a lunch and go eat out in a park, under the sun.

The boy behind the counter was back and called my number. I grabbed the bag of food and walked out of the store, not paying any attention to the eyes bulging out of his head as he followed me. "You'd think he's never seen someone with boobs before...jeez..." Once I was outside, I took to the sky for the short trip back to campus. I started to check items off on my mental list of things to do. "Ok...no homework this weekend, so check...no practice...no missions...no dates." I frowned a bit. It had been forever since I'd been on a date with Noah. After a few months we had slowly started spending less and less time with each other. I guess it didn't bother me too much. We held hands, we hugged...I don't think we ever really kissed. It had been cute, but it slowly died.

I shook my head, trying to change the topic of thought. Nothing else came to mind, and I smiled. "Yep...definitely a perfect day to do nothing." I looked down at the ground flying beneath me. I was starting to fly over Atlas Park. The statue of Atlas gleamed a bright white in the sun. Heroes were flying around, bringing justice to the streets. I sighed. It was never easy just flying past, not doing anything about the gangs I knew were beneath me that I knew I could do something about. But with a quick glance around me, today was day I could afford to just fly past; there were plenty of real heroes to go around, no need for a sidekick to jump in and mess around with things.

My comm started crackling with static. I didn't think anything of it until it screeched in my ear; I lost my concentration for a moment and dropped towards the ground a little before catching myself again and coming to a stop, just hovering in the air. I fumbled around, trying not to drop my food or my soda while trying to turn the volume on the damned headset down.

The earpiece was silent now, but the screech was still there. Slowly it got louder and louder. I looked around me, and saw every other hero looking around in confusion as well. The sound was coming from nowhere but it was everywhere. A few dove to the ground and started shouting; the stronger ones actually grabbing people and flying off.

There was a crackle of energy, and then a snap. Instantly, the war walls that surrounded Atlas Park were gone. The screech reached an incredible level of noise and then abruptly ended with a scream as the sky turned a sick green. I covered my throbbing ears with my hands, dropping my food and drink, tears welling up in my eyes, every ounce of concentration poured into keeping me aloft. I looked up just in time to see a dropship rip through the sky like a knife. Bolts of green plasma fired out, hitting heroes that were still airborne and close to the ship: they fell from the sky, one crashing through the roof of a warehouse. Reason gave way to panic: I released the wind that held me above the ground and fell, catching the wind right at the last possible moment before I crashed to the pavement.

People were screaming and running everywhere, trying to find shelter from the bombs that would soon be falling. "This way! The emergency shelter is at the Vanguard building: get there now! Let's go!" People turned and looked at me, saw the Vanguard emblem on my jacket. A few turned and started running towards the building; I had managed to drop about a block away from it. I started flying along the street, shouting at people to get inside buildings, to safety.

I heard a cry behind me in an alley, and I stopped and landed on the ground. I ran back and saw a small group of kids huddled near a dumpster. A woman was laying on the ground near them, unconscious. I went over to her, checked to see if she was alive still. "Ok, I've got a pulse...she probably just fainted..." I breathed deeply, then turned to the group of kids.

"Are y'all ok?" A few little heads nodded. One girl started crying louder. I put my hands up to try calming them. "It's ok it's ok! Don't worry...I'm gonna help y'all, but you have to follow me, ok?" I shook the woman to try and wake her up, but she was out cold. I sighed. Slowly, the air in the alley began to get heavy. I pointed a finger at the woman on the ground and let the static electricity building up around me channel out. An explosion nearby drowned out the already near-inaudible SNAP! from the discharge, and the woman jumped a bit, wide-eyed.

"Ah!! What happened!" She looked up at me. "Did you just-?"

I brought up my hand to stop her. "There's no time! Can you carry any of these kids?" She nodded, picking herself up. "Ok...you grab those girls, I'll get these two." I looked at the last three kids, all boys. "Can y'all run and keep up with me?" Two of them grinned wide and nodded, the other just stared, wide-eyed back into the street. "Ok...try to beat me then!" I pointed to the Vanguard building that was just visible on the other street. "That's the finish line! On your mark..." I picked up the first girl. She threw her arms around my neck, burrying her head into my arm. I winced; she had rubbed right over where I had cut yesterday, and it was still sore. I gulped and continued. "Get set..." The second girl was in my other arm now, her tiny arms around my chest, hands clutching my shirt. There was another explosion and a flash of light in the street in front of us. The girls all screamed, and the boys jumped onto the ground. I waited a few seconds, let them get back to their feet. I looked back and nodded to the teacher with the two girls behind me.

"Go!!"

The little boys took off out of the alley, bound and determined to get to safety first. They couldn't have been more than five or six. "What was this woman doing with all these kids alone in THIS part of the city?" I didn't have time to think about it. I formed a whirlwind around me. My feet lifted off the ground, and then I was flying forward, out of the alley. I trailed the boys, making sure they all made it. I looked up and down the street. Another dropship was in formation, bombs dropping. I judged the speed, then looked to the Vanguard building. I cursed to myself; there wasn't enough time. I flew up and over the three boys, willed the wind to go as fast as I could make it. I didn't even land and put the girls on the ground; I flew past the door, letting go of the girls. I was close enough to the ground that they landed safely. I flew in a wide arc and doubled back toward the boys. Two had made it across the street and were running up the stairs as fast as they could to safety. The third was still in the middle of the road. "I can catch him and get him safely over, just a little bit faster...just a bit further..."

I screamed; the boy had tripped, and was lying on the ground. I looked up at the ship; the bombs were getting closer and closer. My hands were behind me at my sides as I hurtled toward the little body. I grabbed at air with them, and then threw the air forward; the wind caught the boy's body and picked him up off the ground, throwing him into the air and backward out of the road and out of range of the bombs. I stopped myself before I flew closer into the path. A bomb dropped where the boy had been laying, and I thanked God the kid had been light enough to throw into the air, and that he had been light enough to keep there too.

I looked across the street, catching glimpses between blasts of light. The teacher was huddled inside a doorway, clutching onto the two girls in her arms. The boy was floating inches from the ground, upside down and under the relative cover of an awning. His eyes were wide in fear, and his mouth was open, his screams drowned out by the bombs exploding around us. When the dropship had passed, the bombs falling farther down the street, I threw myself forward on the wind, grabbing the poor suspended boy by the waist and spinning around in the air, then flying as fast I could back to Vanguard. The teacher was huffing up the steps as fast as she could behind me. I landed and flipped the boy rightside up before let him go. His legs gave out and he fell, landing on his butt, still crying. "Shh! Shh! It's ok, you're safe now, don't worry!"

I heard panting behind me. "Th-thank...you...very much...you saved us..."

I turned and nodded to the woman. "Get inside to the bunker. Go!" She nodded back, letting one girl down to the ground to pick up the panic-stricken boy and going inside to gather her students.

Bombs continued to explode behind me. I turned, taking to the sky once again, shouting for people to get to safety.

"Just another f*cking perfect day..."

[Kierin]

The sky was raining death again. No matter how many raids I experienced, I could never get used to the horrible feeling of the invasion. The Rikti dropships crawled across the sky, staining it with their presence. From a distance it looked as if they dropped a shower of green sparks… though I knew that they would do far more damage than a spray of embers ever could.

I frowned deeply, feeling the power of the Sky coursing through my blood in anger. The troops would be here soon. Looking around, I could see the streets were almost clear; everyone was finding shelter or was already hidden away. I hovered up a few yards into the air and pointed in the direction of the bunker shouting for the remaining citizens to get to the cover.

As always, it was the sound that came first. Like liquid energy boiling in the air, rising quickly in volume. I whirled around, seeing a dropship creeping closer from where it had been obscured behind a building. The sound reached a peak and a green line cut through the air, slicing towards me. I put out a burst of speed and felt the heat of the energy following me for a few seconds before the beam tapered out.

The rain of death had reached me.

The world shook for a moment as bombs detonated around the area. I lowered my altitude, dropping almost to the ground as I tried to escape the area being attacked. A loud thud next to me caused me to stop, and I swore. So many of these bombs didn't detonate before hitting the street, and those caused the most havoc when they finally went off. This one had landed next to a large building and didn't seem to have taken much damage.

I jetted towards it, and connected with my negative energy, pulling it around myself and feeling it spread through my body. The shadows intensified and exploded out from me in a wave of blackness that pushed the bomb several feet down the sidewalk. I felt the tingling sensation on my back that came with the wings materializing from my shoulder blades; my shoulders stung as the spikes sprouted with a crackle of electricity.

I took a deep breath and grabbed a protrusion on the explosive with my left hand. Closing my eyes, I let the power of the Storm out into a thundercloud several yards above me, which rumbled slightly before blasting a burst of lightning into the bomb. I looked at the flashing red light and cursed again. I didn't have much time.

I raised my other hand and threw my focus into building as much negative energy as possible into it. I felt my arm start to shake with the effort and the wind whistled wider as I concentrated on the dark energy.

The metal was hot under my other hand. I felt the bomb shaking; it was now or never. I punched viciously at the metal, denting it and sending the charge of draining shadow energy through and into it. Another bolt of lighting crashed down onto it, and I flew backwards knowing I'd stopped it in time. The darkness destroyed it from the inside leaving it nothing but a smoking piece of scrap metal. The lightning struck it again for good measure, and I was intrigued by the black sparks that scattered from this final strike. The thundercloud seemed darker than usual too, but I dismissed the thought; I could worry about that after the raid. I turned my attention in the direction of the bunker, deciding to see if they needed help.

My wings extended and pumped me into the air with a single flap. I tore through the sky, staying low to the ground and dodging between alleys to avoid being blasted with anymore dropship lasers. Beginning to near the bunker, I flew across a street and paused, noticing a familiar blue-skinned figure running in my direction. I adjusted my course slightly to meet up with her. "Jessiy, good to see you."

"What the-?" I noticed the startled look I was used to seeing in people when I was transformed, but it disappeared quickly. "Shit, you scared me, Kierin! Where are you headed?"

"I was going to see if they needed my help at the bunker..."

Before I could continue, a flash of green in the corner of my vision caught my attention. The sound of a Rikti portal opening rent the air and I felt my fury rise again. From the portal materialized a large Rikti soldier in blue armor. I recognized it as that of a hated mesmerist. The Rikti pointed to us immediately upon arrival.

"Targets: confirmed! Heroes' fate: obliteration!"

[Storm Scream]

Not two seconds after that Rikti shouted those words than the air around us suddenly turned a sick green color, and the familiar scream of the air being torn open resounded in my ears as portals opened around us, surrounding us. Infantry foot soldiers, gunners, drones, communications soldiers...at least fifteen more aliens appeared around us.

"Shit." I turned and looked at Kierin. She hadn't taken her eyes off the Rikti clad in blue armor in front of us, the leader of this particular drop squad. Her eyes seemed distant, her fists clenched. I could feel her powers starting to rise, and I started to breathe heavy from the pressure in the air.

"Ok Jess...no different than practice, right?" I got ready to fight, lowering my body a bit and spreading my legs apart. Routine had my fists clenched to charge the gloves on my hands, but the electricity just played around over my bare hands with nowhere to go. I looked back at Kierin, and she too had taken an attack posture, ready to strike. She glanced over for a second, and our eyes locked. I took a deep breath, then nodded.

The mesmerist raised a hand, pointing at the two of us. "Directive: Surrender!"

"Over my dead body, you alien bastards."

Kierin and I jumped, and like we had practiced not more than three hours prior, we each grabbed a hold of the wind to keep us aloft and off the ground, well over the heads of the invaders. Kierin propelled herself away from me, aiming right at the mesmerist. I turned my back to her and faced a drone. My hands flew forward, throwing the wind from behind me into it, causing it to drop to the ground. I cooled the air in front of me, and a shower of ice started to pour on the drone, the ground freezing and causing three aliens in the area to slip as they tried to run away. A lightning flash later and the cannon blast of thunder in the middle of them, and all of them were stunned long enough for me to form a small storm cloud right above them.

A sharp pain stabbed me in the back suddenly, and I dropped from the sky, thrown forward by the blast of plasma. I caught myself, turning and blasting the gunner backward into a wall with all the force of a category-three hurricane force wind. The alien slumped to the ground, dropping his weapon and hanging his head, unconscious. More well placed patches of ice and blasts of wind, and two more drones exploded.

"Get back here, you damn alien" I heard Kierin shout in my ear. I turned, not aware that she had been right next me, and then I realized that she was on the opposite side of the street, still fighting the mesmerist, dark energy flying everywhere, her darker storm clouds overhead firing at aliens all over the street. A lightning bolt struck an alien square in the chest, sending him flying backwards right at me. I blasted him out of the air and away from me with my own lightning cloud.

"Good thing she's on the other side of the street...I can last maybe another ten minutes before it gets too hard to control" I thought to myself. Suddenly, the air was screaming again, as another round of portals tore the air around us.

"Round two. Ding ding!!" I grinned warily, and formed a tornado right in the middle of the forming portals, sending the new invaders flying as they materialized.

[Kierin]

I held out my sharp-fingered hands as if gripping something invisible in front of me, and pushed the storm to a higher intensity. The wind howled and thunder crashed through the air. Lightning flashed and blasted a nearby Rikti footsoldier on his back. I could feel another storm raging somewhere across the street, but for all I cared it may have been in another world.

The mesmerist had steeled himself for the battle. He slammed both feet down, cracking the cement of the sidewalk slightly, and the air around him undulated with telekinetic energy. "Your attacks: pathetic!" It laughed loudly. I shouted in rage and called lightning down. It arched down towards the Rikti, then tore off in a random direction at the last second, blowing out a nearby lamppost.

He swung out a hand toward me, and pain erupted in my head. I hit the ground hard, the storm roaring in protest as I lost some of my control. I stood back up with a growl, gripping the tempest again mentally, bending it to my will. The wind began to refocus on the mesmerist, tearing hungrily at his armor, seeking to pull him into the dark thunderclouds which gathered above it.

Something nudged the edge of my consciousness: a Rikti soldier had pressed through the wind behind me and brandished a sword in my direction. The dark aura around my body permeated his mind almost instantly, and his weapon dropped to the ground as he stumbled, stunned. One of my wings extended with a snap, the pointed tip of it piercing his armor and sending a static shock through his body. He fell to the ground, twitching.

Another wave of pain made me wince. The mesmerist was holding an arm out in my direction, adding to my throbbing headache with every passing moment. For a second, the world spun around me and the wind screamed in my ears; when I regained focus I felt the storm had increased in size and intensity. Several bolts of lighting lashed out towards the Rikti again, leaving a trails of shadow and tracing black scars into the sidewalk as it bent away from the mesmerist's shield. The air darkened as negative energy flowed with the wind.

I held my arms out, trying to compress the storm around him. Two whirlwinds raged on either side of him, pulling him in opposite directions, and a constant gust pushed head-on against him and upwards. He had latched himself telekinetically to the ground, resisting the pull of the storm, but I could almost feel his fear as the waves of pain in my mind layered further. The more energy he focused into my mind, the larger and more wild the storm became. I welcomed the unfamiliar fierceness, using it to wage my own war against this source of agony.

Off in that other world I suddenly noticed the storms were intensifying as more Rikti appeared in another series of green flashes. Jessiy was focused on her battle, fighting hard against their increasing numbers. Her storms were raging in a small area around her and soldiers were periodically blasted away from force of wind and the explosions of their drones. Almost without thinking, I reached out one arm towards them and felt myself connect with one of the rumbling thunderclouds. The mesmerist saw my focus had been divided and instantly pressed a heavy mental assault, almost knocking me out again. As I took hold of the piece of Jessiy's storm, black lightning burst from it and electrified several nearby Rikti.

I winced in pain from the drain of holding onto all this power and withstanding the attack from the mesmerist at the same time, but I forced myself to keep going. As I held out one hand in the direction of the piece of Jessiy's storm I had taken, I brought the other one down, calling my lightning on the mesmerist once more. As it had done before, the bolts blazed off the Rikti's almost-invisible shield. I could almost see the look of triumph in his eyes as the attack was deflected.

Then I swung my other arm around, and the cloud across the street discharged a single bolt of black lightning directly into the Rikti's side with a crack. He doubled over jerkily as the electricity and negative energy destroyed his concentration. I felt the psychic assault vanish as he transfered all his focus into maintaining his shield and keeping himself grounded.

"Don't mess with the Storm!" I shouted in triumph. I pulled my feet away from the ground and created an explosion of wind behind me, catching it with my wings and rocketing towards the mesmerist. He held up his hands in a last ditch effort to defend himself, but it did nothing to stop my fist, covered with negative energy, from slamming into his chest.

His feet shifted an inch against the cement, and the storm around him roared in furious revenge, picking him from the ground like a doll and throwing him into the air. Black lighting shredded the sky above me and the Rikti crashed into a wall before being thrown fiercely back down onto the street. He didn't get up.

I panted with exhaustion, turning my attention back towards Jessiy. She had a couple of Rikti pinned against a wall with a strong wind, as another thundercloud formed ominously over them. A few more portals began to open, and I cursed under my breath; there were still more on their way. I reached out to my storm to shift it over to the new arrivals, and then stopped short, looking back up into the air. It was still writhing with dark wind and shadow-filled storm clouds.

I held up a hand. The storm didn't subside. In fact, with a crash of thunder it began to grow wilder. I felt the pain of the sustained storm draining my strength. As the wind blew in my face, and the lightning struck down without my command, and my body was shot through with sharp pain, my eyes widened; I felt the beginnings of pure panic rising in my mind.

[Storm Scream]

I glanced over my shoulder for a moment, just to make sure Kierin was doing ok. I could feel a tug earlier on my powers, like something else had taken over and hijacked me for a split second, but I didn't know what had happened. The glance told me the cause of the hijacking: one of the storms I had formed had moved to the center of the street, so that Kierin now had three thunderclouds focused on the mesmerist. It continued firing at the aliens I had pinned against a wall, but every so often it fired a black bolt of electricity at Kierin's opponent. I felt a twinge of jealousy; there was no way I'd ever be able to do that with her storms, pulling them over and controlling them as if they had been mine. Her magic...it was so powerful, overpowering, exhausting to fight against. I turned my attention to Kierin.

The girl's new form still startled me, despite the many times I had seen it. Black leather wrapped around her like a mummy; her thin, bony wings; the dark aura around her. I shuddered a little, but watched intently as the mesmerist flew through the air and into a wall, then fell onto the street in a pile. When he didn't move, I smiled and turned back to Kierin.

I gasped in shock. Kierin was standing perfectly still, one hand outstretched to the rolling clouds overhead, her head turned skyward, eyes wide open in fear. Lightning struck all over the street, causing Rikti to run for cover; the few unfortunate enough to be struck flew hundreds of feet through the air before crashing back into the street or into walls. Her other fist was clenched as if in pain, and I could faintly see tears streaming down her face.

"Kierin!" I shouted over the howl of the wind and thunder. "What's wrong!?" When she didn't answer, I fired off another patch of freezing rain on the aliens I had pinned on the wall, and then started to run to Kierin.

There was a flash of...well, it was a flash of dark blue right in front of me, and an incredible blast of thunder that knocked me off my feet. My ears popped from the building pressure in the air, and I rolled to my right just as another bolt of lightning connected with the street where I had been. I got to my feet as fast as I could, keeping my distance from my friend, not sure of what was happening.

Kierin screamed, hitting her knees. She was back in her trenchcoat again, her wings and aura gone. She fell backward onto the street, limp, her eyes wide open, still staring at the uncontrolled storm raging above her, her mouth moving quickly as if she was saying something, but her voice was silent.

"Kierin!!" I ran forward, jumping to avoid stray bolts of lightning, hurling aliens into the air and out of my way as they materialized into the chaos. A drone was blasted with electricity, and it flew backwards in a fireball right at me. I dropped to the ground, sliding towards Kierin like I used to slide to homeplate in little league. My pants tore, and my left leg was suddenly on fire with pain from sliding exposed on the asphault. I pushed through the pain, grinning at the irony that it hurt like hell and made me want to throw up, and rolled out of the way of another stray lightning bolt. When I finally got to her, Kierin's mouth had stopped moving; it was still open, as were her eyes. I had to put my cheek near her mouth like they had taught us in CPR training to find out that she was still breathing. "Kierin, c'mon hon. Don't do this, what's wrong?!" I shook her a little, but she didn't move, she didn't blink, nothing.

There was a blast behind me, and pain shot through my back again. The plasma blast lit my jacket on fire, and the heat and smell of burning fabric and leather invaded my senses. I screamed, ripping off my jacket and throwing it off to the side in a burning pile before turning around and blasting more invaders backwards and away from me. I threw a hand in the air, willing one more storm to form, one more little bit of protection for me and my friend.

There was a deafening boom, and the entire street was suddenly illuminated as every Rikti hit the ground. I looked up and gasped, seeing what Kierin had seen.

There were now four storm clouds, all packed together. Two looked like normal thunderclouds; large, dark, looming. The other two were eerily darker, meaner looking.

But all four had collided. Slowly and surely they had begun merging. Light blue, almost white lightning bolts were suddenly mixed with darker blue and red bolts. Thunder quietly rumbled and violently exploded. Wind howled calmly and ear-piercingly screamed at the same time.

There was another boom, the street illuminated once more as hundreds of lightning bolts exploded out from the clouds. I felt my hair start to lift up in the air, and I looked back down at Kierin.

Her eyes began to refocus, as if she was actually looking at something. Her auras returned, darker and larger than before, and her eyes seemed to be flooding with shadow. Her expression contorted with pain as black energy, tinged with violet, burst from her eyes.

I threw myself off her and away, struggling to find my feet, landing on my back as I failed; a dark blue bolt of lightning had shot out and up from Kierin into the clouds. I lifted myself up onto my elbow, trying to see what was happening.

Kieirn's body slowly righted itself, as if something had took her by the shoulders and set her on her feet. With one hand she held her head, and the other hang limply at her side. I heard her laugh; it was a soft, evil laugh. And yet... it wasn't her.

"Kierin!! What's going on?!" I screamed over the howling of the winds as they spun around her. Shadows wrapped around her, covering her form completely; red eyes glared at me through the darkness.

"Stop... feeding... the light..."

"Definitely not Kierin" I thought to myself. "What is going on?" I had enough time to ask myself that question before I rolled out of the way again, one of MY lightning bolts striking where I lay on the street. Kierin had lost control, and what was worse, she had some control over MY powers as well.

"I picked a helluva day to forget my gloves at home."

[Kierin]

Why can't I stop this!?

The question was not answered, no matter how many times I screamed it in my head. I couldn't even tell when my hold on the storm had slipped; it must have been sometime during the fight with the mesmerist. But that didn't matter now. I had lost control, and I couldn't get it back.

I fought desperately to regain connection with the storm, but I could barely feel it anymore. I'd never felt so panicked; everything I tried to do only made the wind blow harder and the thunder crash louder. Tears were streaming down my face; something was causing a deep sorrow inside me, though I didn't dare focus on it enough to figure out what it was.

Suddenly I felt my body lift off the ground. I tried to fly, but that power felt as distant as the rest of the storm. My panic rose; being unable to fly was like finding myself unable to breathe; it simply couldn't happen. Soon I realized I couldn't move at all, and the storm roared as I took some of my attention from it to try and make my body obey me.

Darkness veiled my vision, and my eyes burned with sudden pain. Everything around me was suddenly black and dark red. I tried to scream, but instead my voice began speaking haltingly in words I couldn't hear and didn't want to say. Everything was wrong; my dark powers had taken over, and the storm was raging, uncontrolled.

My sight cleared slightly just in time to see my own arm, covered with shadows, lash out in a punch to Jessiy's face. She stumbled back in shock and pain, and I felt my body stepping forward, preparing to deliver another blow. I felt nothing but shock for a moment. The negative energy was physically taking over my muscles, making me attack Jessiy. I may not have had control over the storm, but this shadow power was still mine, and I wasn't going to let it use me.

"Stop it!" I screamed. This time I heard my voice form the correct words, and regained some control over my limbs. My legs jerked and I fell backwards. I tried to hold myself still, fighting the shadows' efforts to control me. After only a few seconds I felt the resistance cease suddenly and my dark aura vanished all at once. My sight cleared, and one of the many levels of pain faded.

Raising myself up on my elbows, I looked at Jessiy, panting. She looked back at me with wide eyes. "...Kierin? Are you-"

The giant storm cloud that had gathered in the sky flashed with blackness, the thunder drowning out all other sound. Black lightning, inky rain and dark wind swirled together, forming a human-shaped void of darkness in the air; immediately it thrust both arms out and fired a barrage of dark blasts straight at Jessiy. The other girl gasped and launched herself into the air, but not before taking several hits from the volley of shadows. The rest of the blasts scattered, some hitting a few very confused Rikti, others randomly crashing against the ground or flying into the air.

I stared, grimacing in pain. My entire body was screaming at me in agony; the storm wasn't under my control, but it was still my power, and I could feel the continuous pull straining me to my limits. And now the shadow was there... it was my own power still, even if it was going against my will, and it's presence was draining my further. I had to make something change or I would pass out.

A Rikti rushed at me, sword held high. Three bolts of black lightning struck it simultaneously before a tangle of black energy lashed out and sent the body spinning down the street.

Jessiy held out a hand towards the shadow creature, rain falling around it and freezing the ground beneath it. The thing looked up and its eyes flashed red. It took a single, slow step towards her and then vanished. Her shocked expression turned to sudden terror as it reappeared in the air behind her, grabbing her wrist and throwing her downward with one powerful arm.

She caught herself in the air only a second before hitting the ground, but another volley of black and violet energy blasts was already raging towards her. "Damn!" She tried to fly to the side, but the shadow teleported again, appearing underneath her and grabbing her leg. She kicked at its head violently, making it vanish once more, just before the full force of the blast rained down around her. She covered her head with her arms, dropping to the ground and taking the attack. When the darkness cleared, she was on her knees, her body flickering with electricity. She slowly got to her feet, grimacing with pain. I could see blood.

The shadow stood facing her, still as a statue. Its outline flickered with tendrils of negative energy. The red glow of its eyes flickered; I could almost hear it thinking, planning. Jessiy couldn't last long against this thing.

I closed my eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. I didn't have a choice anymore: my control over all my storm powers was completely gone, and the darkness was running wild. All I wanted was to dissipate the storm directly, but it wasn't working, and now it was getting too fierce. I didn't know how powerful it could get, but it was already unsafe - and trying to grow worse - and I had to stop it with whatever I had. And all I had left was the negative energy. At least some of it.

Abandoning my efforts in reconnecting with the power of the Sky, I called up more shadow energy than I had ever dared and began the slow, arduous task of killing my storm.

[Storm Scream]

I coughed, dropping to one knee, tasted blood in my mouth. I grimaced...it was the worst taste in the world. "Do I seriously have the time to worry about that?" I asked myself. I forced myself back up to my feet, faced my opponent.

The thing just stood still, it's red eyes searching me, gauging me. I knew I felt like shit, and a quick glance at my feet told me I probably looked the part too. My pants were all torn up. My shirt was tattered here and there. Blood was running down my arm. My back was still burned; any movement caused a dull throbbing down my spine. My hands were bloodied and bruised. I'm not sure my face looked much better.

And I was tired. I could feel that. Every cell in my body seemed drained of energy. Keeping myself aloft when the thing first attacked me. Even something so simple that I do it in my sleep, like making a frozen patch of rain, drained me.

"Is that the best you've got?"

The thing cocked its head to one side like a dog. The red seemed to get smaller; it was glaring at me. I grinned a bit, charging my gloves for an assault.

The wind howled around us, and thunder cracked above. "What's a little bit more noise," I whispered to myself.

The thing disappeared again. There was no flash; it seemed like all light was sucked into a black hole when the thing vanished. I'd seen that trick before, when I was in the air.

Instinct took over, and my fingers moved to change the output on the gloves. "Middle, fore, thumb, pinky," then my arms flew straight down, ready to overload the speakers in the gloves with a shrill blast that would hit anything standing around me and stun them. It was risky; I'd be drained completely for a short time, but it was a risk I had to take. I fired, forcing the electricity that was playing around my hands into the gloves, and I braced for the noise.

What happened next stunned even me. There was no intense scream around me. No popping as the speakers overloaded and blew out in a last ditch effort to take anyone down with me. There WAS a flash; a bolt of lightning tore down from the sky and struck me, flew out around me and from me. Thunder exploded. I closed my eyes; it didn't hurt at all, and it had been a white bolt, pure electricity from on high. "And completely mine." The air around me darkened again, and I looked down, remembering then that I DIDN'T have my gloves on, that they were safe and sound in the cubby under my bed.

I turned around. The thing was still standing, but it seemed surprised too, shocked that it hadn't forseen something like this happening. It was enough time for me to recover. I threw my hands in front of me, and unleashed another bolt of lightning, one that would normally power a blast of sound that could reverberate in a person, inflicting more pain than a normal blast. The electricity that fired out looked sporadic, like it was pulsing. The bolts struck the shadow, throwing it backwards. It disappeared again, and suddenly I felt a cold hand wrap around my neck, lifting me up off the ground. I gasped, I couldn't breathe; the air chilled around me, darkness was creeping all around me, covering me. I kicked wildly, tried to scream.

I fell. I landed on the hard road, what little air was left in my lungs exploding out. I took paniced breaths, the edge of my vision black. I turned to look over my shoulder at the thing just as it moved forward with incredible speed to grab me again. It reached out with its hands...

And suddenly it ran right through me. Cold gripped me as the darkness passed through me, its unnatural chill freezing me inside and out. But, it had passed through me. Sure, it was a shadow; the fact that it had strangled and beat me should have been the unbelievable thing, not the fact that it was now behaving like a real shadow should. It turned around again, trying to capture me again. Again, its hands went through me. The sensation was nauseating, but I couldn't help but give a quick prayer in thanks to God; Kierin, although shrouded in darkness, had her arms outstreched, dark energy pouring from her eyes and hands. The shadow turned again, facing Kierin; it had come to the same conclusion I had, that she was very slowly regaining control, disrupting the shadow somehow. It moved forward, a black blur.

And then the shadow staggered, as if it were in pain. Its hands went up and grabbed its head. Darkness was covering Kierin completely; the only reason I knew where she was was her eyes, glowing purplish-red in the cloud of black surrounding her.

Rikti soldiers were still teleporting in on top of us, but the combination of raging storms, wild winds, and uncontrollable shadow energy caused them to take up positions around us, seemingly in awe of the battle erupting during THEIR invasion until a few were blasted away, and even then they merely backed up a few more paces, trying to stay out of range.

I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach, the familiar pull when I begin to wreak havoc with nature and bend the weather to my will. Electricity played over my hands. I felt stronger, like an immense weight had suddenly been taken off of my shoulders to be replaced by feather pillows.

It was time to wreak havoc with nature.

[Kierin]

I clenched my fists, feeling dark power vibrating all around me. Willing the shadow creature to disperse, to return to me, to be locked once again in my consciousness, where it belonged.

It pulled back its head and screamed a cry of frustration into the sky. Piercing winds were drowned out by a crash of thunder and the creature vanished in a black explosion. The shadows washed over me and I raised my hands high, turning my attention to the storm. Everything looked dark to me, filtered through the aura of inky shadows surrounding my body. I could see the figures of the Rikti and of Jessiy, glowing slightly against the darker background like heat sources in infrared. Above me I could see the storm as a sea of various shifting shades of white.

The storm was growing. I could still feel the pain of it's power pulling on me, but it was beginning to dim as the shadows engulfed me with soft, cold whispering. I reached up, clasping my hands as if I could somehow grab it and pull it out of the sky. As I focused, negative energy floated up from around me and began to swirl into the clouds. I shivered, feeling the darkness binding itself with the shadow energy already inside the storm.

As I began to pull, trying to bring the tempest under control, a blast of thunder rocked the area, and I was knocked off my feet by a bolt of violet lightning striking the ground near me. The storm was resisting.

"Jessiy!" I looked over at where I'd seen her last. I could see a silhouette of light, raising a hand into the air. "Help me bring it down!"

Her words were almost lost in the wind and rumbling thunder. "I'm trying!"

"Try harder!" I didn't have any time to ask nicely.

I reached up again, focusing my entire will on the thunderclouds. They flashed; lightning arced towards me again, then flew off to the side, striking the base of a lamppost. The wind shifted, starting to flow in a circle around us. Jessiy moved closer to me so that we both stood in the eye of the whirlwind we'd created. Blots of shadow flew around us with the wind like angry spirits, and lightning continued to fall around us. But finally the clouds had stopped spreading; slowly they began to compact together. Thunder roared as if in fury of our efforts.

Dimly I felt something burning on my back. For a moment I couldn't tell what it was, before I realized that I had felt it before.

The wind, no longer blowing wildly, had released the Rikti from its grip. The aliens seemed to have recovered from their shock, and were now firing their energy weapons into the storm. Their blasts were largely deterred by the draining shadows and winds, but I could see they were starting to get more accurate. If they continued to fire into the storm together, it wouldn't be long before they became a major problem. Unfortunately for them, I had a lot more firepower.

"Bad move." My voice sounded piercing even to my ears, a howl of wind and energy. I lowered one arm, pointing at the group of aliens. A loud crackle echoed dangerously from the clouds before dark lightning bolts blasted down towards the invaders, clinging greedily to their armor and leaving black marks on their skin as they fell, twitching wildly, to the ground. Hail poured mercilessly into them, effective as a volley of arrows. A gust of wind broke off from the storm, surrounding them, lifting some straight into the air, throwing others away like dolls. A rain of small negative energy blasts raged towards them, dropping several more.

The sudden, unexpectedly fierce burst of power left my body stinging and tired, and there were still a few standing. I didn't want to spend any more energy on them, but I didn't seem to have a choice. I took a breath, ready to send out another blast of power, when an surge of electricity crashed through the remaining aliens. They were all dispatched immediately, falling erratically with sparks crackling around their bodies. I looked over to see Jessiy holding out a hand towards them. I felt the torrent of the storm start to become less stable as our focus shifted.

"Focus on the storm, Jess!"

"Stop playing with the Rikti, you're messing up my concentration!"

We both turned our attention back to the weather. It had already shrunk more from Jessiy's efforts, though we had to take a moment to reign it back in. I raised my hands and closed my eyes, thanking whatever gods may be listening for her help. The air around us darkened as shadows flowed through the wind and clouds. Black, ice cold drops of rain felt like needles against my face. I took hold of the darkness which had spread throughout the storm and began to pull it in, reassimilating the terror I'd somehow set loose.

[Storm Scream]

The wind whipped around us faster and faster, freezing the air and biting my skin wherever my clothes had been ripped apart. I could barely breathe: whether it was from the beating I had taken earlier or the heavy air being this close to Kierin and the darkness swirling around her, I had no time to decide. Both of us had our arms stretched out to the sky, and I could feel the overwhelming pull from Kierin's powers nearly overlapping mine, drowning them. I glanced over at her.

Her entire body was cloaked in inky blackness. Here and there it would ebb like water, and I could see her pale skin, a flash of white hair, her eyes, now a dark purple as dark energy flowed out from them. But, the look on her face, when I could see it, was pained, more so that normal. She was exerting so much force, trying to get control of both her dark energy and the storm that had somehow grown out of control above us. After reminding the aliens materializing around us that we were still in charge, she looked even more tired.

She stumbled a little, her knees giving way from the strain on her powers. I grabbed her under the arm, keeping her from hitting the ground and keeping my other hand trained on the storm. She was mumbling, and I could almost feel how tired she was through the connection I had with the winds and rain that were raging over us.

"I can't get any control on this storm, and she's having a hard enough time controlling the energy and the weather..." I gasped; it seemed so simple to me now. "That's it!"

"Kierin!" I shouted. "Kierin, listen to me!" She groaned in response; I guess she heard me. "Kierin, focus ONLY on the dark energy! I'LL handle the storm, you get the darkness! Got it?"

"Jess...I can..."

"Kierin, trust me! I can do this as long as you're not using your powers! Turn 'em off or whatever!" I jumped, startled, as a bolt of lightning flashed in front of me, striking the ground in front of us. I wrapped my arm around Kierin's, holding her up. I felt her muscles tense as she put her weight back on her legs. Slowly, her free arm rose up above her head to the sky. I followed suit, focusing every ounce of strength I had left on concentrating on my powers.

Slowly, I felt release as Kierin started losing her grip on the storm. It was slow, and maybe because she wasn't entirely sure the idea would work. In truth, I wasn't so sure either. It seemed like it had been a good idea. I was thankful for the gradual turnover to me though; if it had been all at once, things would have gotten very messy very quickly. I winced, feeling her tighten her grip on my arm as she began reeling in the darkness that was braided into the clouds.

A stream of inky black energy started to separate and flow downward to us. It wrapped itself around Kierin's outstretched hand and began to disappear, flowing into Kierin's body. Her breathing quickened. I glanced up, watching as the clouds began to grow lighter. The rain, at one point pitch black and colder than normal, was beginning to clear up and feel more natural. Still, it was freezing cold and a major annoyance, but it was nothing I wasn't use to already. I kept concentrating, not sure what I should do other than to try and will the storm away.

"How do you get rid of storm clouds..." I began to charge my hand, and the air crackled with the build-up of static. A bolt flew up into the cloud, piercing it with an ear-piercing bang that nearly threw both of us to the ground. I glanced up to see the cloud still there, but it seemed slightly calmer near where the discharge had blasted through. But still...I was going to tire before I managed to blast everything calm.

The wind kept flying around us, the cyclone drawing the dark energy faster and faster towards Kierin. The storm clouds above us begin moving toward us, and a light fog began to settle on the road. The wind picked it up and drew it towards us, and towards my outstretched hand.

"THAT'S IT!" I concentrated as hard as I could, picturing the last thing I would have expected to think about at that moment. With all the chaos trying to be controlled, it seemed crazy, but it was just crazy enough to work.

The image flashed in my mind, a dark cloud, tearing through an open field, spinning faster and faster, tearing up grass and earth. The wind around us picked up. The swirling intensified. I felt my hair whirl around and smack in the face. I opened my eyes.

A small tornado had formed around me and Kierin, drawing in the clouds and dark energy even quicker towards us. The darkness flew into Kierin's hand, and the rolling storm clouds and stray lightning began dispersing, flowing towards me and disappearing. I suddenly found my strength returning. I focused more, glancing over to make sure Kierin was still awake. Her eyes were wide open, the dark energy flying in as the tornado brought it to her faster. The clouds began to get caught in the wind, whipping around and around. Lightning flashed around in defiance as the static built in the circling clouds, striking a few stray Rikti stupid enough to be watching the events unfolding before them.

The darkened sky began to relent to the sick green of the Rikti portals still open high above the ground. I didn't have enough time to be mad; my eyes glanced at the color, and instantly went back to the chaotic swirl of clouds around me. Chaos to control chaos...I can't believe it actually was working. I continued to draw the clouds into me, continued gaining control. The rain subsided. Clouds disappeared, and with a final blast of electricity, died.

I squeezed Kierin’s arm, then felt her go limp. I looked over to see her head hanging forward. Her legs were slack, her arm that had once reached for the sky swung at her side. Dark purple, almost black energy seemed to be pouring out of her closed eyes and from the centers of her hands, and then dissipating in the air.

The dead-weight of her body pulled me down. My arm slipped, and she fell in a heap on the road, energy pouring out of her, as if she had been filled beyond capacity and was leaking what couldn’t be held in her.

I was suddenly thrown backward, a bolt of plasma hitting me square in the chest. I screamed in pain, releasing the static electricity that had been building up around me in a blast around me. I hit the street hard, and again the breath was knocked out of me. I heard metallic boots rushing forward towards us, swords being drawn. My vision was blurring, my chest throbbed from the burn. There was shouting, but I couldn’t make out what was being said. My head hit the pavement, and the world went black.
_________________________________________

“…I’ll be ok, you go get some food. I’ll give you a call if she starts to wake up.”

“Thanks, Derek. I’ll be right…Jessiy!”

I had opened my eyes a little, but the light above me was blinding. I heard beeping, felt soft under me. I moved, felt the tight squeeze of bandages around my torso. I coughed a little, felt a large, strong hand take mine.

“Jessiy, take it easy, don’t move too fast.”

“D-Daddy…whe-where am I?” My voice barely came out a whisper.

“Shh shh shh…it’s ok…you’re safe now…”

I winced. My whole body screamed at me to lay back down, to sleep. “How long…was I out…”

“Two days, hon. It’s Monday now…you’ve been in and out the past few days, took quite a beating.”

I coughed again, my lungs exploding in my chest. “K-K…Kierin?”

“She’s next to you. She hasn’t woke up yet…but she’s ok nevertheless. What did y’all do, baby girl?”

I turned my head and opened my eyes a little more. I could make out the shape of Kierin’s body. A dark aura hung over her, and she had tubes and wires attached all over her. I turned back to stare at the ceiling, closing my eyes at the fluorescent bulb.

“Will…will she be ok?”

“Yes…she’ll be ok…”

I nodded, felt my body get heavy again. I muttered something, hopefully to the effect of “I’m so tired,” and fell asleep again.

The hand holding mine felt so far away when it squeezed mine, and then I was gone again, lost in slumber. Kierin would be ok, and we were both safe. I sighed, and I’m sure my dad saw me smile in my sleep.