Toni didn't know what was happening, but she knew that she was scared and terrified about what was happening to Cheryl. She was burning up, her skin hot to the touch; it was so hot that it had given Fangs second degree burns just from holding her for a few seconds. On top of that right before Cheryl's eyes closed, Toni saw them glow orange, the color of fire.
"What's going on?!" Jughead yelled out, looking to Kevin and Toni for answers, answers that Toni didn't have. Kevin looked up, having finished healing Fang's hands, "Clearly something burned Fangs, but what?" Toni looked up, fear in her brown eyes, "It was Cheryl," she said, her voice as calm as she could make it. Which wasn't that calm, she was terrified with what was happening to Cheryl. Kevin looked at her confused, as did everyone else, "What do you mean it was Cheryl?" Betty asked as Kevin moved over to Cheryl's unconscious form and reached out to heal her.
Toni tried to warn him about the extreme heat was was coming from Cheryl, but didn't have enough time. Kevin's hand made contact with one of the cuts and immediately he withdrew his hand and shook it as if trying to shake off the pain. "She's right." He said, "her skin is crazy hot."
"How is that possible?" Fangs asked, "I was holding her only for a few seconds and I was burned. How can she do that?"
A realization hit Toni. "Because Cheryl Blossom isn't as powerless as we all thought," Toni said. "From what I remember, Jason was freezing her, maybe more than he ever had before. Maybe having her core temperature brought down that low caused something inside of her to be activated or kick-started."
"So her skin is now burning people, anything else we should know?" Sweetpea asked sarcastically.
"Well, right before her eyes closed, I saw them flash orange, like fiery orange." Toni said, hoping that they might be able to add any information based on what she had just told them. Kevin looked up, "Really?" he asked, in slight disbelief and when Toni nodded he gave everyone a small and knowing smile, "Jason's eyes glow white whenever he uses his powers at a higher level," he said before Toni caught on.
Toni looked down at Cheryl, "And since their twins, their powers might work the same,"
"Exactly," Kevin said, pointing at Toni and he pulls Fangs into his feet.
Everyone seemed to have come to an understanding and a silence fell upon them. They stayed quiet for a few minutes before Fangs spoke up, "So what do we do?" He asked and everyone's eyes fell onto him, "I mean we can't just leave her out here. Do we just wait for her to cool down or wake up?"
"I say we get some ice and try to cool her down, maybe move her to a more comfortable until she is cooled down or wakes up, but how do we move her?" Sweetpea said.
Fangs speed and returned a few seconds later with a bunch of of ice bags. He disappeared again this time a couch had somehow been moved over to where they were.
Toni had an idea, "I can try something that I've been working on," She said and when she got approving looking from the other members of the group, she closed her eyes and focused. For the past few weeks she had been working on being able to create shield in different shapes and that could fit closely around something. She focused on the shield covering her hands and arms, almost as if it was a glove and it happened. A bluish tint appeared on her hand and spread up her arms, right to the elbow. Toni grabbed onto Cheryl's arm and found that Toni herself was not being burned. The shields were working and Toni touch Cheryl without facing any medical consequences.
Toni picked up Cheryl a little, she wasn't strong enough to fully pick her up so she just picked her up a bit. She brought Cheryl over to the couch that Fangs had just brought over to them. She layed Cheryl down on the material and hoped that her skin wouldn't burn the couch. Sweetpea went into the trailer and got a box of plastic bags and brought them outside, he started to fill them up a few ice cubes each.
"Toni how did you do that?" Betty asked as she took a two bags of ice from Sweetpea. She handed one to Toni and kept the other. Betty started to ice Cheryl's arm while Toni knelt down and started to ice her forehead. Toni wiped some blood off Cheryl's face, her being the only one that could touch her.
"I've been trying to figure out how to do this for a while, but I haven't yet," Toni said as she looked up from Cheryl, "I made a shield around my hands and arms, almost like a glove so that I would be fully protected from whatever heat she was giving off,"
Betty nodded as Fangs, Sweetpea, and Jughead started to ice Cheryl's arms and legs, trying anything they could to cool her down. Kevin got his phone and started to make a call, though Toni didn't know what it was about or who it was too.
Soon after, it started to grow dark. Sweetpea started a fire in the firepit right next to their trailer while Bette left. She had to be home by a certain time or she would get in trouble so no one blamed her for it. Kevin soon left as well, promising to stop by before school started to check on how it went, he gave Fangs a quick kiss as they left. The remaining members of the group all agreed to help keep watch over Cheryl until she woke up.
. . .
The sun had just started to shine when the pink haired girl started to feel Cheryl moving, even if it was just a little. Toni immediately took the ice off of Cheryl's head, realizing that the girl was just starting to wake up. She had taken watch over Cheryl just a few hours ago, relieving Fangs who was thankful to finally got get some sleep. In truth, Toni hadn't done a lot of sleeping that night; she was too worried about Cheryl. Sure she had tried when it wasn't her turn to watch the sleeping brown haired girl, but she really had just tossed and turned for hours on end.
The pink haired girl had wanted to be there when Cheryl woke up, wanted to be there for her and help her in any way that she could. So she was thankful that she got the chance instead of another member of their little group. Toni had hoped that Cheryl would wake up peacefully, slowly coming to and calmly opening her eyes to see Toni looking her with kindness and a look that said she was willing to help. It didn't happen like it, though it was kind of epic at the same time.
Cheryl awoke with a start, sitting up aprobutlby and the sudden movement scaring Toni just a little bit. Toni backed up instructive and dropped the ice pack onto the dirt ground, "Jason stop!" Cheryl screamed. A scar that so clearly full of fear and terror.
Cheryl launched herself off of the couch, not seeming to realise where she was just quite yet and put her hands up in defence. It was was this was happening that something extraordinary happened. When Cheryl launched herself off of the couch, pushing off with her arms into a small squatting position and leaping into her feet, fire came forth from her hands and arms. The flames did not stay, they feel from Cheryl's hands and partly arms and did not last, but they came nonetheless.
As Cheryl looked at Toni, just starting to realize that it was Toni and not horrid brother, her brown eyes were set ablaze with the same orange color from the night before. It was the exact same color as the flame that had just come forth from her hands. The colors were one in the same. Then something even more unexpected happened. Toni thought that fire coming from Cheryl's hands was the craziest thing that was going to happen, she was so wrong. Starting at the roots of Cheryl's dark brown hair, a brilliant crimson appeared. It spread down her hair until her normally deep brown locks were the same color as her mother's, her father, and her brothers.
Cheryl finally seemed to realize who was standing right in front of her, "Toni?" She asked, not seeming to take notice of the changes that just occured. Which to be fair, made sense. People can't see their eyes and Cheryl just hadn't noticed the change in her hair color yet. Maybe she had and didn't know what to think, Toni couldn't be sure.
The pink haired girl took a few steps closer to Cheryl and slowly reached out and brought Cheryl's hands down from right in front of her face. The now red haired girl had put her hands up in defence, but she didn't need to right now. Toni was quick to notice how Cheryl's hands were still hot, not so hot that they burned Toni's skin like they had the night before, but still pretty hot. It was logical because her hands were just quite literally on fire, "Its ok Cheryl, your safe," Toni said in a calming voice as she tried to her best of comfort the girl, "Just um, sit down and rest real quick,".
Toni slowly led her back over to the couch that she was just laying on and sat her down on it, taking a seat right next to her. Cheryl was shaking, not from cold, but from fear and Toni could visibly see that fear written clear as day on her features, "Toni?" Cheryl asked again.
The serpent looked at Cheryl and tried to keep her focus on her glowing eyes. The color was starting to fade back to its normal brown, but haven't done so completely just yet. It was difficult to focus solely on her eyes when new bright red locks just called for attention. The bright orange/red color stood out against the dull grey and blacks that surrounded them. Toni managed to do so or Cheryl didn't notice her not fcoasing as much, "Yeah," Toni said, holding Cheryl's hand and rubbing it with her thumb in a soothing manner.
"Did what I think just happened, actually happen?" Cheryl asked, looking Toni directly in her eyes with the fading orange orbs.
"Well that all depends," Toni said, "on what you think happened," Toni didn't want to freak Cheryl out and knew that the best way to avoid that was to find out what she knew before she told the taller girl anything at all.
Cheryl nodded in understanding, "Did I really just make fire from my hands?" She asked, a mix of both fear and excitement inscribed onto her features.
Toni nodded, a proud nod as she confirmed to the red haired girl that she wasn't as powerless as she always thought she was, "Yes you did," Toni said with a smile, "notice anything else different?" Toni asked as she played with Cheryl's red hair a little bit.
Cheryl seemed to catch on pretty quick and turned her head just slightly as she caught side of the red strand of hair that Toni was playing with. Her jaw dropped in a mixture of joy and shock, "Is this for real?!" She yelled, smiling boldly.
Toni nodded as she tried to surprising a toothy grin, but failed miserably, "Turns out miss Cheryl Blossom isn't so powerless after all," She said, a feeling a complete and utter happiness washing over her as she looked at the girl she was so clearly falling for, "How do you feel Bombshell?"
Cheryl smiled boldly as the last of the orange color from her eyes faded, "I feel epic," She grabbed Toni's hand and led her into the trailer. Sweetpea had left just thirty minutes ago, saying that he needed to go on a grocery run so he wasn't there to see the changes that Cheryl had just gone through, "Come on," She said and she pulled Toni, "I want to see this hair for myself,"
Toni chuckled and allowed the redhead to pull her into the trailer and to the bathroom where the nearest mirror was. Cheryl stopped when she saw her, in a mix of shook at the red hair and at her physical injuries. There were tons of small cuts all over Cheryl, the blood was completely dried and the only reason that they didn't bandage the wounds was because they weren't quite sure if she was going to burn through them, so they just choose to wait until she woke up to do so. Toni noticed this, "Don't worry," She said in a soothing voice as she moved some of Cheryl's new red hair out of her face, "Kevin can come by if you want and heal you right up,"
The pair were standing close to each other, only a foot apart from each other. A silence overtook them as a powerful urge washed over both of them. Cheryl and Toni both simultaneously leaned in. Cheryl bringing herself down and Toni reaching up ever so slightly. They came closer and closer together until their two lips touched for the first time. They kissed slowly, taking in each other test for the first time even though both had dreamed about it before.
Toni pushed Cheryl up against the wall, not too aggressively as they deepen their kiss, "I have waited so long to do this," Toni said in between kisses.
The pink haired girl felt the red haired girl smile against her lips as she ran her hands through her long red hair, "As have I," Cheryl said, "The only thing I want right now, is you,"
