Title: Rooftop Worries
Author: Riley Masters
Rated: K+
Category: Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall (Retro)
Genre: Character Study
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own the rights to the above mentioned series.
Author Note: With the launch of the Future of FusionFall Retro, I've been looking back at some of my old stories, both posted and not. This was written back in 2014 for a Fiction Writing class, where we had to to a character study of a character with only one spoken line. If I remember correctly, I was one of the few people to include a train of thought with a throwaway line instead of a "life changing quote."
Enjoy. There is more to come.
- Riley Masters (8/12/2018)
Leaning over the edge of the rooftop, Tracey Myers let her sheer cloth-covered eyes scan the horizon. Broken windows and cracked concrete buildings surrounded her, blocking her already horrible vision from nearly all directions. She let a groan escape from her lips and backed away from the edge.
They were late. All three of them. They should have been back hours ago. She could feel the beginning of a knot of worry in her stomach.
She stepped back up to the edge again, letting her thoughts wander. Normally, it would only have taken just a few minutes for the rest of her team to return to their makeshift base. The fact that they were an hour late sent her mind into a tailspin. It was safe when she warped out, wasn't it? They were supposed to be right behind her. Her sister Audrey just wanted to stay behind to see if she could find one last item from the old cemetery they had been exploring. The others stayed only to make sure she didn't die, again.
A distant explosive sound snapped her out of her thoughts. She jerked her head around quickly, trying to find the origin. Not north, not south. East!
She moved to grab her hoverboard to fly over, but paused, just for a second. East. The direction of the cemetery. Where her sister, best friend, and boyfriend were.
"Today is not my day." She let herself have one comment. Then, checking that her favorite weapon was strapped to her back, she leapt from the building, putting the board under her feet at the last moment. She cruised through the destroyed streets that made up the city that used to exist, before launching herself into the battle below.
Her blade met the flesh of the first digital enemy in her path, exploding into a cloud of pixels. Numbers two and three met the same fate on her next swing.
She lost herself in the monotony of the fight, waves and waves of dark wolves heading for the city, heading towards the place where she and her team had made their temporary home. With the hope that her friends were on their way, she defended everything with all she had.
Everyday, she picked up her controller and made a choice. There were days that she never wanted to fight, never wanted to lead her friends into battle. Then there were days like today, where she had responsibilities and lived up to them. She would rise up and be the leader and warrior that her friends swore she was destined to be.
She became a hero.