Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter SixtyFive

"Alright, that's it, now focus on what you're creating. You're doing great, Asia! Really great!" Lincoln's words of encouragement barely hit her ears as she concentrated on the open palm of her hand in front of her. She was focusing on creating water now, instead of ice. If this had been her now seemingly old talent of creating an ice crystal, they would have been done long ago. But not now, not when she was trying to force the of water from the palm of her own bare hands. And she was frustrated. More frustrated than she had been in a long time.

Struggle was not a word she liked to have define her. And yet, here she was, struggling beyond her own belief, to do something Lincoln claimed her body could innately do. She certainly didn't feel like there was anything innate about what she was trying to do now. It felt forced, if anything. But she could feel something in her, nonetheless, something stirring. Something like her blood was bubbling and swirling and changing.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She thought of Natasha, the closest thing she had to a mother. The woman who taught her that she was her own person before anyone else's. The woman who showed her body was her own, and that her body was a weapon. What would she do? She wouldn't be putting up with any bullshit, that much was for sure. She would take a deep breath, square her shoulders, and make the damn water.

So Asia took a deep breath. She adjusted her stance, squared her shoulders. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and shut her eyes, closing out the rest of the world as she focused. She imagined a small swirl of water, an orb ever rotating in her palm. She imagined how it felt, so near to her hand. Cool and flowing. A part of her but above her palm, not touching. She thought about the energy between her palm and the orb, a white light in her mind brushing and holding the two different pieces of her together. She could see it so vividly, she was almost worried to open her eyes in fear that the same orb wouldn't be waiting for her in the real world.

But it was, oh it was. She opened her eyes and the orb of water was there, just as she had pictured it. Swirling and clear with a blue tint. Beautiful as her imagination. She fell to her knees, shaking. And suddenly, the clouds above them opened up and water fell from the sky, too. It fell all over them, all around, covering their bodies in cool liquid. She looked up at the sky above her, realizing for the first time what her real potential was. What she could really do.

And then Lincoln was lifting her from the ground in a hug, swinging her around in a circle as the storm rippled above them and people gathered on the edge of the cliff they were standing on, looking down curiously as the rain poured on. "See?" Lincoln half laughed half shouted. "I knew you could do it." And he was right, she could and she did. She had done it, and more. She was unleashing the person she had always meant to be. And it was cracking something open inside of her.

So she hugged Lincoln back, letting the tears of relief and change slip down her cheeks, mingling with the rain that fell around them. She truly, finally, felt whole. The only thing missing was her people. Not the Inhumans. Her family. Leo. Skye. Nat and Clint. The people she cared about as much as any blood relative. If they were here, that would be the only thing which could make this moment absolutely perfect.

How do you explain to someone what it feels like to be completely undone and then rebuilt? How do you explain what it feels like for that build to finally feel like home?

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Asia was sitting in a bedroom that Lincoln had set up for her when there was a knock at the door. Looking up, Skye stood in the doorway, smiling awkwardly. "Hey," she greeted. "I heard you caused that rain storm today. That's really cool. How is everything? Are you liking it?"

"It's great here, Skye, it really is. I see why you like it so much," Asia replied in honesty. "I don't think it's a place I could call home." She finished, after she felt the weight of Skye's questioning gaze. When Skye blinked rapidly at the words, looking away and shaking her head, Asia knew she was hoping for a different answer.

Asia shook her head, sighing. "I get why you could see it as home. Your birth mother is here. Lincoln is here. But, as much as I appreciate everything he helped me learn today, this can't be my home. My home is where the others are." She looked over at Skye, seeing guilt in the woman's eyes. That used to be the answer Skye would give, too. Recently, no one could be so sure.

"So you would never stay here?" Skye asked quietly, stepping one step into the room awkwardly, resting against the wall as if she needed the support to even stay upright.

"No, you know I couldn't," Asia shook her head. "I have people waiting for me back home."

"But what if I'm waiting for you right here?" Skye asked in a whisper, her facade cracking ever so slightly, releasing the sorrow hidden behind it.

Asia opened her mouth, then shut it, looking down at her hands in her lap. Was there a right answer for any of this? No, it surely didn't feel like there was. "How did the talk with your mother go?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Not great," Skye replied. "Not really surprised, it went about as well as I thought it might. They're scared of Shield, of what it might mean if people from the outside come here. But she's agreed to a meeting."

"With Coulson?" Asia asked, sitting up a little bit straighter. That was a step in the right direction. If anyone could convince Shield only wanted peace, it was Coulson.

"Yea, that's the plan. He'll come here in a few days with a small team, and then hopefully all this will be done with," Skye sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked down at her feet and then back over at Asia. "This is all going to turn out okay, right?" She asked, her voice wavering ever so slightly. "All of it?"

"Of course," Asia replied with a smile and a quick nod, though she wasn't 100% sure she believed the words coming out of her own mouth. She felt like she had to say them, for Skye's own sake. To keep her from completely losing it. That was the last thing they needed. The last thing that would help them succeed in this mission. "Coulson is good at this sort of thing. Diplomacy. He'll make sure we all get out of here safely. And then you can figure out where you want to go after that."

"I hope you're right. I really want to get this over with, to have everything go back to normal," Skye sighed, pouting slightly. "Remember when things used to be so easy? When the biggest issue was whether or not the dudes we liked actually liked us back?" She shook her head slightly, chuckling to herself. "Those were the days."

"No offense, but I don't think things will ever really go back to normal," Asia teased. "We have...literal superpowers. We just have to make this into our new normal and work from there. But it will be fine. It'll go back to that being our worst problem. Hell, half the time that still feels like a problem and I'm literally dating the boy I like." She laughed, smiling genuinely over at Skye. "But it will be okay. At the end of the day, you and I will always be okay." And as she spoke, she felt it again. That psychic tug at the front of her scalp that pulled her towards Skye. Maybe Gordon wasn't the only one with quantum entanglement. Maybe what had happened down in those tunnels had changed the both of them permanently. But she didn't bring it up. She didn't want to sound crazy. Skye had never mentioned it. So maybe it was just her. And if it was, she planned on keeping that a secret.

"Well it means a lot to hear you say that," Skye sighed with relief. "I know that I really shouldn't be worried, but I am. Just like...if this goes wrong, I could lose everything I've ever had. You know?"

Asia smiled up at her and shook her head once. "Well, not everything. You'll never lose me."