Blackout (A Keith Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

Time almost seems irrelevant now. She doesn't have anywhere else she could be at any other time. So why bother even trying to keep track of time. She's just kept track of events.

She was captured by the 'Not-Galra', who made it very clear that they don't associate with Zarkon's Empire, they just floated around space capturing others floating around space and trying to force them into submission. Their methods weren't very effective. She kept everything she arrived with (the white paladin suit) and they didn't do much to restrain her, so she escaped rather easily. Although, thank God for their advanced technology. That's where she got a pair of black insulating garden-or-work-looking gloves, that seem to be the only thing concealing her electric abilities, and a handful or so of things she pickpocketed off a sleeping guard.

From there, she landed on this planet, near a quaint village and marketplace on the outskirts of a desert. That's where she quickly sold what she had gotten off the Not-Galra guard for a pretty good amount of GAC, which she then used to buy some necessities, secured around her waist with a rope and a fabric she had fashioned into a sort of bag, and a cloak made of a black linen-like material from a elder who seemed to be having a hard time selling.

"What's out that way?" she asked the elder.

"Not very much, I'm afraid. Some caves and cliffs I suppose. Nobody really leaves the village 'cause of the bandits," she had informed.

The village seemed almost helplessly destitute and maybe even a bit crazy. That would explain the woman who stopped Valerie on my way out by gripping onto her hand and almost tugging the glove off, if she hadn't reacted and pulled her hand and the glove away so quickly. "With fear you lose control, but without, you control what is to be feared. Don't cover the line. Walk it. Let the spark ignite. Don't cross the line. Control it," the woman uttered in low, raspy growl.

Valerie initially dismissed the woman's ominous words and departed from the village, heading into the desert; where the innocent village could be far, far away from the monster hidden in the shadow of a girl.

When you spend so long in a desert by yourself, you really appreciate what it means that you haven't started talking to yourself. That seemed to be the main grip she held on her sanity. Especially with the woman's peculiar little monologue bouncing back and floating around in her head.

The bandits she was told of attacked right when some cliffs had become visible along the horizon. They wielded various sharp weapons that gleamed in the intense desert sunlight. The thing was, they were all pointed at her face.

"Drop everything you have and we don't have to hurt you..." one of them growled.

She kept her hood over her head, casting a shadow over her eyes, "I have a feeling you're gonna try to hurt me regardless of what I drop."

"Quite a mouth for a defenseless little girl," one commented, inching closer in an attempt to be more threatening. "Now drop your bag."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Valerie stood her ground. "You see, I'm not defenseless, and that's why you should back off before you get yourselves hurt real bad."

As they laughed at her, she pulled the glove off her right hand, concealed under the cloak. She started sparking within moments after removing the glove, drawing the attention of a bandit, "Hey, what the hell is that?"

She brought out her now exposed, sparking hand, "I really don't know how to control this, so I won't say it again: Get lost before someone gets hurt." The sparks flying from her hands grew more intense and a glaze of energy crossing over her eyes pigmented her irises from their typical storm cloud gray to a striking electric blue, as if they starting generating energy themselves.

For some stupid, unknown reason, they didn't run off like she'd hoped. She felt something tug in her gut, and, in the (literal) blink of an eye, both eyes flooded with glowing white electricity and a big bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, hitting the ground between her and the bandits.

By the time she looked back at them, they were sprinting in the other direction, scattered. As soon as she lost sight of them, the glow faded from her eyes and the new color began to dilute back to gray.

She gazed back down at her hand, the sparks subsiding till there was no trace of them. Control it.

Valerie's POV

The desert heat is excruciating, and the sun seems to be especially blinding right now. Based on the sun's position, this is probably prime time for bandits, but honestly that's the least of my worries.

I'm going to have to find a more efficient way of living soon. I'm starting to run a bit low on money and I have no way of making it or finding more.

I've been able to rely on my abilities to scare threats away so far, but if it came down to fighting, all I have is lethal electricity or poor hand-to-hand combat from the little that Keith taught me back on the castle.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it... them... him...

But I'd also be lying if I said I would go back if given the chance. The point is, I can't. And, assuming Keith didn't keep what he saw a secret, they all should know it.

"What are we supposed to do with him?" a voice suddenly comes into ear shot from around the corner of a cliff I was about to turn. I snap my back to the rock wall.

"What do you mean?!" another voice snaps back at the first. "We take his stuff and see what his deal is!"

Bandits. I roll my eyes. But then I think for a moment, wait who was stupid enough to come out here...? I internally debate what my next move is: help the idiot or not risk hurting everyone.

I nearly actually let out a frustrated, impatient groan. I obscure my eyes with the shadow from the hood of my cloak and turn the corner on the gang of bandits. There's enough of them that I can't more than the shadow whoever they've captured.

"Here's what's gonna happen," I start in a low threatening voice. "You're gonna leave whatever poor guy was stupid enough to come out here alone and you're gonna beat it."

"Ok..." the first guy I heard starts to oblige.

The other guy I heard elbows him, "Don't listen to the kid!"

I unglove my hands and put the gloves in my pocket. Cue the sparks, "Don't make me do this the hard way."

The other guy snorts, "Go back home and mind your own business, Kid."

Why isn't he running?

What now? Deadly lightning or weak punches...? I guess it's worth a shot...

The charged punch I throw catches all of the bandits off guard, giving me an advantage for maybe 2 seconds. It's been awhile since I've done any of this in and out of training with Keith, and I'm a bit rusty on the basics, which is why without the small jolts of electricity going through them with every contact, I'd be dead meat.

When they finally gave in, tired and (literally) shocked, I waited for them to leave before putting my gloves back on.

"You really shouldn't be-" I slowly turn my attention towards their victim, stopping mid-sentence. In my sudden surprise, my hood is jerked back off my head.

Word Count: 1288

Ooh! So THAT happened!

This was an especially Valerie-centric chapter (I mean, I guess they all kinda are since this is her story) and I hope you didn't get bored with it, but...

Next chapter will hopefully be out soon

Thanks for reading!