Title: we wed the forest
Fandom: Sky High/Friday the Thirteenth 2009 remake crossover
Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun.
Warnings: spoilers for both movies; AU for Friday the Thirteenth
Pairings: none stated
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 520
Point of view: third
She hasn't used her power in three years, not since she ran away and only looked back in dreams. She's never used her powers defensively(except that one time) and doesn't have the reflexes that might save her, now. It's easier to just flee, with Clay, to let him make the decisions and fight.
Mom would be so disappointed. She wishes Warren were here, or Will. Either of them would find it no hardship at all to stop whoever the killer is, the monster that killed all her friends.
Clay's sister is terrified. So's Clay. And Jenna just follows them, hearing the voices she's ignored for three years(I used to be Layla, Mother Earth reborn-)
She's never wanted to fight, to hurt. But this monster killed so many people she cares about, and if she dies, she'll never see her mother, or Will, or Warren, Ethan and Zach, Majenta. Why did she run? All the reasons seem pointless now.
He's so close behind her; the voices are screaming for her to call on them, to act, but it's not reflexive and she's never been a fighter.
Clay finds a way out and pulls Whitney after him; Jenna(not Layla, not since she ran and never called home) is about to slip in when white-hot pain shoots through her, the spike in her shoulder halting her. She meets Clay's eyes and the voices shriek-
And Jenna closes her eyes, but Layla opens them, singing Take him now.
She has never been a fighter, but Layla isn't ready to die and the monster screams as roots tear through the earthen walls. Clay's eyes are wide and Whitney is sobbing behind him, and Layla's shoulder burns in the worst pain she's ever felt. The voices roar and howl, and she'll survive this, she'll go back, she'll call Mom and Will and Warren...
"Jenna?" Clay asks, reaching to her, pulling her into the little tunnel. She lets him cradle her, gently remove the spike. His hands tremble.
She turns and watches the monster writhe, trying to escape.
"Let's get out of here." Clay's voice is shaking. "Jenna, Whitney-come on."
Layla has never killed. She tells the voices, Bury him. Tear him apart and bury him deep.
Clay shepherds Layla and Whitney in front of him, and Layla never cries for her first kill. She listens to the voices all the way to the road, to town, to the hospital and back home. She clings to Clay, who hasn't let go of Whitney's hand, until Mom comes, sobbing and so very beautiful.
"Mom," she says calmly, "can you ask if the monster died?"
Mom doesn't understand, but she asks and says, "They say he hasn't come out of his burrow. The rats feasted."
Layla closes her eyes and falls into Mom's arms, finally crying in relief. She tells Clay, who has Whitney curled in his lap, "He's dead and gone."
Whitney hasn't said a word since they left the forest, but Clay is clear-eyed and he says, "Thank you, Jenna."
Safe in Mom's arms, the voices crooning assurances and lullabies, she replies, "Layla."