He Who Controls the Flame (001 fanfic)

Chapter Fourteen- World's Best Trio

"Seven, Eleven," I said, sweeping my arm out behind me. "Welcome to 7-Eleven." Both of their mouths dropped open at the same time as if they were of the same mind. Seven pressed a hand to his forehead and El broke out into a smile.

"They fucking named a store after us," Seven said, staring wide-eyed at the store front. He looked as if he had seen the holy grail. Well, maybe to him it was the holy grail.

"Well not exact-" I started, but Seven glared at me and I snapped my mouth shut. I'd let him believe what he wanted to believe.

"Can we go in?" El asked, blinking up at me. She had recovered from her exhaustion spell and color was back in her cheeks, her eyes bright once again.

"I don't see why not," I said, "though I don't know if it's even still in business." I didn't remember really passing by a 7- Eleven on the way to the lab, but then again I had had my nose in one of the erotic novels I had brought the entire way up, wanting to at least indulge myself in some pleasure before I had to go see my father and the hellhole he called work.

The point was, I hadn't seen it, therefore I didn't know how far we were from home. We had been walking for most of the day, but I knew the drive had been at least an hour, meaning that it had to be over thirty miles. But we had yet to see any civilization save for the 7-Eleven, which I saw as a wonderful opportunity to let Seven and Eleven know exactly what I had been thinking ever since I befriended them.

"Is it...is it open?" Eleven asked, blinking up at the doors which were locked by a thick chain that looked as if it could only be opened with the strongest of bolt cutters.

"Well it looks like it's been shut down, but lucky for us, we do have fancier ways to break and enter than throwing a rock through a window." I raised a brow at her, wiggling my fingers.

"Alright, well, there goes the 7-Eleven adventure," Seven said, shrugging. "Too bad it got burned down."

"Hey, I can control it!" I said, hitting his arm. "I burned through Peter's key wire with ease."

"Well I wouldn't say 'with ease'," he murmured, I glared at him and he laughed.
"But maybe it'll be easier now that Peter isn't here to distract you."

"Keep talking and I will burn off your eyebrows," I said, smiling sweetly up at him. "It's in my dna to take hair from helpless children, Seven. Don't test me." I pointed a finger at him before kneeling down before the chains.

Thankfully, there wasn't any graffiti on the windows, and they didn't look too dirty, alluding to the fact that the gas station probably was only temporarily closed. Too bad for the employees whenever they got back, they were in for some awkward conversations with their manager.

I wrapped my fingers around the chains, closing my eyes. My fire flared underneath my veins as I reached for it, almost as if it was some kind of pet desperate to be off leash. Well, unfortunately for it, I didn't want to burn down the place like Seven expected me to, so I was just loosening the leash.

I grabbed onto it, willing it to flow to my fingertips, it took several minutes, and sweat beaded onto my forehead and pooled at my back, but eventually the metal was melting around me, dripping down my fingers and onto the ground.

"Doesn't it burn?" Seven whispered. El shushed him harshly but I merely shook my head, trying to remain focused.

I opened my eyes to see that my hand was glowing a bright orange and the metal was now completely gone, dissolved to a pile at my feet. Whatever liquid that had gotten onto my hand had since been dissolved or probably evaporated...fun.

I unclenched my hand, looking down at it, flaring my fingers and twisting them, watching as the orange glow slowly faded. "I think that as long as my powers are activated, I can't be burned." Which would explain why I had gotten burned by my powers before. I hadn't realized it then, but I had released my hold on them and the fire had been able to burn me since I had been at a normal, human level of body heat. I didn't know if it was true, but it sounded pretty accurate to me.