Friendship And Hardship

[Chapter 13] - Running On Fury

"Never in my life have I seen her so ready to jump into action like that. Is that normal?"

Barnacles didn't even know who had asked that, he was too transfixed on what had just happened.

What happened, anyways?

... 

Parker would show him dangerous, maybe that would give him an idea of what she can really do. 

Or maybe it would give him an idea on how to keep her away from any type of mission that had danger. 

Either way, she thought she would be proving something. It wasn't like he was parenting her, maybe he was just a bit too... overprotective? Controlling? Were those the right words? She didn't even know, she didn't need to know. All Parker, or anyone, needed to know was how fast would someone have to be to stop her from punching that stupid face of his. 

You'd have to be fast, that's for sure.

Fists clenched, eyes glued to the ground, she rethought this. 

Even if it meant getting hurt? Was that really worth proving a point?

Yes. Yes, it was.

"Cap'n? Did ya hear me?" Kwazii nudged him in the side.
"Hm?"
"Is that normal? For Parker to jump so quickly into action?"

He paused, making an attempt with no effort to think of all the times she had done that.

None of them were like that.

"Actually, there would be a problem with that," Barnacles stated. "Has she ever mentioned the rocket incident to you?"
"Not that I can remember."

That explained a lot.

Now, back when Parker's parents were actually alive-

...

Anyways, when her and her father used to do fun experiments behind her mother's back, they usually failed and they'd get a laugh or two out of it and go and do it again. It was a simple process.

Usually it was simple. The experiments wouldn't hurt anyone.

Until one day.

"I remember her telling me this," he started up again after that explanation. "Something failed on the rocket, maybe the stand or something, but it hit her directly in the back."
"Was it actually a rocket or a makeshift one?"
"Parker mentioned how her father was very crafty, he knew how to work with old technology and stuff, so it was an actual rocket."

It had affected her in more ways than one.

...

"Shit, my back!"

Parker stopped dead in her spot, placing her hands against her back. "Am I really going to need to see a chiropractor over this?" she shouted. "Am I getting old?!"

Almost directly after that, her thought process swapped directions almost as fast as her parents died.

Take that back, that death wasn't fast.

She rethought the original plan that had made its way into her mind. Go to a cave? No, back to the island. There's got to be something dangerous on the island.

The only dangerous thing is the cliffs? And the graves? And I've conquered all of those, what's next?

When Parker had stood up, risen from the waters, a thought just came to her.

Was she turning into what she had feared most?

Leaving everyone without warning or reason?

Every fun thought now gone, only the idea of her being molded into the worst thing she could be now inserted into her mind.