Infamous: Second Son Drabbles

Always Been You (Delsin Rowe X F! Reader)

It tears me a part knowing how, I'm only just now finding out/It's always been you/It's always been you/Every word is true/It's always been you

AN: The Second request in my iPod Shuffle One-Shot Challenge and it was a request for a Delsin Rowe X Reader story. Seven skips were requested which ended up landing on Always Been You by The Sweeplings. Give the song a listen if you get a chance and I hope you enjoy the story! (This one ended up being super long, sorry! I just got a little too enthusiastic when crafting the reader's backstory and establishing her powers, I guess.)

You stared down at the thick metal contraption ensnaring your hands and keeping you from using your powers. The armored van that you were being transported in was currently taking you somewhere in upstate Washington; you couldn't say where you were because there were no windows in that van. You slumped forward in defeat, by now you were used to being confined this had been your life for the past year; it started back when you were hauled into Curdan Cay. You had a fairly normal existence up until the point that your powers had surfaced and you realized that you were a conduit.

A year ago everything had been normal; you were a normal young adult trying to make it in the world with no sure fire direction to head in. You were living in Salmon Bay with your parents until your father had passed away; after that your mother needed to get away from the reservation. You naturally followed your mother to Seattle because she was your mother and you worried about her; moving to Seattle with her gave you peace of mind. If you were being honest, you had a hard time looking at your home in Salmon Bay and not finding memories of your father at every possible turn. Your mother wasn't Akomish and she hadn't spent her entire life on the reservation like you and the idea of leaving the reservation behind wasn't as difficult for her as it was for you. You had grown up on the reservation, your whole life was there and all of your friends; that wasn't easy to leave behind.

You hadn't made it two months in Seattle when things had taken a turn for the worse; you were unpacking in your new apartment when you happened upon an old photo album. You knew that it was probably a bad idea to take a trip down memory lane when the grief was still so real and fresh but you had done it anyway. You made it to the third page of pictures before you broke down into a series of sobs that shook your body. Your body wasn't the only thing that was shaking; the force of your emotions had triggered your powers right there in the middle of your apartment. You had created an earthquake in your apartment building, you later surmised that your abilities took on an aspect of elemental control; for some reason you could move the ground beneath your feet. You assumed that perhaps it was the dirt in the ground that you were causing to shift but the thought was frightening. You also had a degree of control over fire and water but any intense emotion that you felt ended up setting your powers off. After a particularly bad fit of anger, you had somehow set your living room curtains on fire; and on another occasion you had raised the water pressure in your pipes enough to cause them to burst.

You had worried about how your mother might react to powers and a small irrational voice in the back of your mind worried that she might turn you over to the D.U.P. but that never happened. Your mother had been far more accepting of your powers than you would have thought; she helped calm your fears to a degree. However, one day you had decided to pick something up from the market, despite your newfound hesitance to be in the public eye, you had gone anyway. When you were crossing the street a car had run a red light and nearly hit you but in your state of fear you threw your arms out to protect yourself. You closed your eyes and waited for the collision that never came; when you opened your eyes you realized that your powers had surfaced. You looked on in horror and noticed the jagged spikes of solidified dirt shooting up from the ground; the car that would have hit you swerved just in time narrowly avoiding a collision. After that, you were picked up and taken away by the D.U.P. where, much to your surprise, your powers weren't reviled but rather revered. Brooke Augustine had taken a shine to you and she forced you to train and practice your skills for combat.