When Lightning Strikes: World's Collide Edition

26. Fire and Lightning

"What are you talking about...He-he's alive? Carter's alive?" Melissa's trembling voice carried through the air.

"I saw him. I thought I was dreaming, but it's really him. I..." Alicia stared up at the sky. She replayed the scene in her head. The boy in blue flames turned around, revealing himself to be her friend. The boy she'd never thought she'd see ever again.

"I thought... we both saw him get struck by that Tony guy, or Bloodfire or whatever. Carter, he.. he died in front of us."

They were sitting in lounge chairs, overlooking the horizon through Melissa's balcony. The air was warm and comforting, but it didn't ease the girl. Her mind was overwhelmed with thoughts.

She looked over at her friend, who seemed to be holding back tears. She'd been fidgeting with a tennis ball, the chair faced the wall several metres away.

"Mel, I got hit by them too. It makes sense. I just can't believe that he would..."

"And top of that, he has powers. Like you. Both my best friends have super powers..." Melissa proceeded to play a game of ball with the wall, it ricocheting back into her hands.

"There's also something else..." Alicia paused for a moment, before spilling out the visions and voices she had the past several months.

Silence filled the air. Until Melissa threw the ball at the wall yet again, it soared through the air. Alicia crossed her arms, she wondered what her friend thought of her now.

"Voices... and visions." Melissa stopped, turning around to stare at her. "Are you sure you're not just... I dunno, going crazy or something?" Alicia gave her a death stare.

"Oo-kay, okay, alright I'm sorry." The girl gazed up at the sky as well, motionless. Meanwhile, Alicia's jitters increased. The ball of her foot tapped against the balcony floor, shaking her chair slightly.

"I guess it makes sense, you seemed kinda different after Darkland, and when you saw Carter, it looked like you already knew something."

She nodded, reimagining the vision she'd seen before she went to Carol's. In Darkland. The boy in blue flames was in fact, Carter. She sighed.

Melissa groaned. "When did our lives get so... weird? I just want things the way they were before."

Alicia thought back to when life had been somewhat normal. Before they went to Darkland, before they lost Carter. Before she heard the voices in her head.

She hadn't been necessarily perfect; her insecurities and anxiety threatened to rip her apart daily. Her past, the memories she'd seen that scarred her and left her imprisoned in her mind, hadn't been a pleasant sensation. She'd been stumbling through life, numb and just floating by.

When she'd stepped into Darkland, however, it seemed as though all that faded. As though every step she'd taken, removed a sliver of her self-doubt, remaking her into a new person. The lightning that coursed through her body now, it seemed to give her newfound hope, allowing her to break free of her mind. She'd been able to do things she never thought possible now. Getting into a bus with no anxious thoughts, or if Dark X would come barging into her life again. Because for the first time, she felt strong enough to fight her battles.

She stared at her palms. She could feel the electricity pulsating within her. After her encounter with Carter, she'd begun to feel more in tune with them – as though the more she used her powers, she'd become that much more intertwined with them.

Her phone beeped, jolting her out of her thoughts. She slipped it out. Carol sent a message, a thumbs up. She checked the time, it was 5:23pm.

Melissa looked over. "She give the ok?" Alicia nodded, rising up. Melissa did the same, stretching her arms.