Title: Deja Vu
Rating: T for mentioned character death
Genre: Action, adventure, tragedy
Characters: S-1/Taylor, a little bit of Leo, a couple OCs (only in memories), and a tiny bit of Krane
Pairing(s): None
Summary: 'Why did it feel so familiar?' In other words, the one where she remembers.
Warnings: Um… there's mentioned character death, nothing too graphic. The rating is kinda a precaution.
Notes: So this is my first story, guys! It's a one-shot—I figured I'd start small. It's kinda short, but I worked pretty hard on it. I got the idea for this after watching On The Edge. I really liked Taylor, and this kinda popped into my head. So I suppose this is AU, because I'm totally guessing what Taylor's origins are. There are OCs, but they kind of come and go quickly. So, I hope this is good, and enjoy!
"I like the name 'Charlotte'," Leo told her.
She frowned, looking at the paper covered in names—most of them crossed out already. "I don't know." She skimmed the page again. "I kinda like 'Taylor'."
"That's pretty good," Leo admitted, "but I still like Charlotte better."
She looked at the paper again, not taking her eyes off it. Taylor. Why did she feel so strongly towards it? Why did it feel so familiar? The names began to swim off the page as she stared, and she sank back into her chair. Taylor.
Suddenly, she was lost in a memory.
XXX
"Isabella, wait up!" She's twelve years old, chasing a blond girl down the street in New York City. She's aware of the grimy clothes hanging off her thin frame, but she feels fine. She has just eaten—there's no hunger.
The other girl—Isabella—continues to run, calling, "Can't! Sam needs this food now!"
Somehow, she knows that Sam is Isabella's brother. She doesn't know how, but she does. They turn a corner and into an alley.
"Sam, it's us," Isabella calls, and a blond boy no older than six appears. He looks pale and skinny—almost too much so. Isabella offers him the food and he snatches it and begins to eat.
She feels herself laugh. "Slow down, Sam," she says.
The little boy sticks his tongue out at her, and she grins wider.
"Izzie," she says jokingly, "your brother is being annoying."
Izzie turns and smirks. "Well, you're with us now. Get used to it."
She's older now, maybe fourteen. And she's crying. And her arm is around Sam's shoulders, and he's crying too.
Why? She racks her brain. And it all comes flooding back. Because Izze is gone. Killed, by that man with the bat. There never was much hope for children alone on the streets.
And then it hits her, both her fourteen-year-old self in the past and her seventeen-year-old self in the present, watching it all unfold in horror. Izzie was her best friend. And now she's gone.
"I'm so, so sorry, Sam," she whispers before depositing the sleeping eight year old who has become her brother on the steps of the children's home.
She is barely fifteen now, her birthday had past yesterday—her first birthday celebrated without Izzie since she was a young child.
She presses a kiss to Sam's forehead before turning and sprinting into the dark New York night, leaving the last link to her childhood behind.
"Hello."
She's instantly on her feet, hands raised, ready to strike—rather unusual for a sixteen-year-old, but then again, she's not a normal teenager.
A man is standing there; a tall bald man with strange wires all over his face.
"Who are you?" She demands.
He spreads his hands in a peaceful gesture, showing he has no weapons. "My name is Victor Krane. It has come to my attention that you have… potential."
Creepy. "Potential for what?"
He chuckles. "Potential to take powers—literal powers—and to conquer the world, of course."
"You're crazy," she says, because she knows that what he says can't be true.
He laughs full out this time. "I'm not, trust me. I can give you powers. I can teach you how to do this." He somehow transforms into a blur and reappears across the street before reappearing next to her.
She freezes, because she sees how that could have saved Izzie, she knows how she could've pushed her out of the way before the man with the bat hit her multiple times in the head. She could have saved her best friend! And she didn't.
"I can give you power," he repeats.
She opens her mouth, ready to say that she doesn't want power, she doesn't want to conquer the world, because she doesn't—then she stops. If she had power before, she could've stopped Izzie from dying, she could've kept Sam with her.
"Do you want the power I can give you?" Krane questions, obviously seeing her defenses weakening.
She hesitates, then nods. She can stop things from happening to people she cares about. "Yes. I do."
"I'll give you a soldier designation," he says, and she feels a flash of apprehension, but she quickly squashes it. She's doing this for Izzie. "But for now, what is your name?" He asks her.
She hesitates a moment before deciding to tell the truth. "Taylor."
XXX
She sucked in a breath, looking back down at the list of names.
"S-1?" Leo said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She turned to face him. "Taylor. My name is Taylor."