Starlight › Marvel [1] ✓

001. the accord

› CHAPTER ONE ‹

Gold seeped through the air, crawling between cereal boxes and cans of fruit, shimmering off of the objects and lightly tapping them aside. Behind the box of Cap'n Crunch and beside a can of peaches, a white jar with a rounded lid stood proudly. It mocked Raleigh, and from his spot at the kitchen table, he stretched his hand closer to the fridge, his ribs burying themselves into the wooden table. His veins glowed, and the jar became encased in a similar shade.

He glanced towards the kitchen opening, listening for the sound of anyone coming, but those short-lived as he focused on obtaining the cookie jar. If he lost focus for even a second, he'd likely drop the ceramic and could potentially deal with something worst. Besides, he didn't want to lose his shot of snatching a cookie.

The jar shook in midair, imitating the same shudder in Raleigh's hands. And as the container closed in, Raleigh quickly seized it and relaxed his arms against the table. The gold trailed from the air and crawled back inside Raleigh's hands, and the shimmering glow in his arms and hands faded into his typical pale skin tone. He smiled and opened the jar, and took out one of the store-bought chocolate chip cookies. His mouth watered, and just when he was about to take a bite out of the cookie, his caretaker appeared behind him.

"Haven't I told you not to use your powers in the house?"

Raleigh's smile dropped, and when he didn't answer right away, the cookie was ripped from his hand.

"Hey!" Raleigh watched as Trystan returned the cookie to the jar and taking it away from Raleigh's direct reach. "I haven't had an accident in a couple of years, lay off, old man."

As those words left his mouth, he cringed and watched helplessly as Trystan turned around from the fridge to stare at him. It was anything but a friendly look, and Raleigh tried to ease the comment with a faux smile. "Sorry, I heard it on a movie once and wanted to say it. Sounds worst coming from my mouth, I think... Sorry."

Trystan let the comment slide.

"We live in an apartment now, Raleigh," Trystan explained while pulling out a bag of carrots and tossing them towards Raleigh, "it's not just you and me anymore. If something happened and your powers act up... well, you know what happens."

Raleigh did know what happens. It was the same things that happened to not only the people who he thought were his biological parents, but also the people who adopted him when he was just a newborn. Guilt and grief filled him as he thought about how he had unintentionally killed those two couples without even understanding what had happened. He didn't know if he liked knowing what happened, but he knew it was for the best.

It had been about two years since Kate had left Raleigh Ridley with someone she trusted. Despite promising that she would come back to take him back home, she never did that. In fact, she only had visited Raleigh once and that was a few months after dropping him off and it was only to explain the many questions Raleigh had.