a/n : revised as of (1/16/19)
chapter 4! we're getting closerrrrr!
Still currently looking for a beta-reader/editor person! So please message me if you can! Thank you!
disclaimer: i do not own anything aside from the plot and my characters. Everything else is owned by someone else or whateva
Cast (as introduced in this chapter):
Jasmine Alvarez: Rita Moreno
Shoutout to : lizlil
Thank you so much for reviewing!
I truly appreciate it and I promise
I won't disappoint with the up coming chapters!
"A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul." - Erich Fromm
June 2013
The 3 hour ride hadn't been the worst, but in retrospect, Alyssa had been texting for half of it and sleeping for the other.
When they arrived at their father's home, it was nearing night time and both Alyssa and her brother were ready to just sleep the rest of the evening away. Maryam had left quickly for some type of important business, but not before informing their father to call her if they needed anything.
Alyssa and Leo grabbed their things and all but dragged them into their new temporary home. The house itself was actually quite impressive. It was a modern looking one story house which had tight security placed into its system, four bedrooms and two of them were specifically set for Leo and Alyssa. Each bedroom had a bathroom, which not only had a toilet but also a shower. The fourth room was set up as a game room/family room. The rooms felt awkwardly new and Alyssa couldn't wait to make it look...lived in.
Andrew assured the two that they could relax until dinner was ready and the siblings wasted no time isolating themselves into their usual respective rooms. Upon entering, Alyssa opted to throw open her suitcase, leaving it on the floor instead of unpacking it. She quickly changed into an oversized t-shirt and some sleeping shorts and jumped onto the bed in order to be comfortable while she messaged her friends.
A few minutes into their texts, Peter suggested a video chat and Alyssa took that moment to set up her stuff onto the empty looking desk that was placed in the corner. She pulled out her laptop from her backpack and a few books and comic books so that it began to decorate the desk with her belongings.
She opened up her laptop and prepared it so that she could answer the chat as soon as either Peter or Ned called. In the meantime she decided she would unpack her belongings so that she didn't make a mess once she needed to start pulling out clothes. Alyssa organized her clothes in the dresser and closet and took out her toiletries so that she could set up the bathroom.
She placed a picture of her and her family on the small table beside the bed and then a picture of her, Peter, and Ned on the desk. Alyssa decided to print copies of some of the photos in her room so that the room she had in her father's home could have the same familiarity. Once her entire suitcase was unpacked she slid it under the bed so that it was out of the way. Then as she was unpacking her duffle bag she heard the distinct sound of her laptop alerting her that someone was trying to chat with her. Alyssa tossed her fuzzy blue blanket on top of the made bed and moved over to the desk.
Answering the call she saw both Peter and Ned were already settled in and were waving to her through their cameras. Alyssa waved back and adjusted her glasses as they began to slip off her nose.
"Petes, are you in your living room?" she questioned as she made herself comfortable on the rolling chair that was part of the room. From the way the camera was angled upward, it was obvious he was likely using May's phone.
Peter looked up from whatever he was writing and nodded, "Yeah, I have some summer homework so I thought I might as well get started," he informed as he went back to whatever he was doing. Alyssa furrowed her eyebrows and watched as Ned made a face.
"Summer homework? Nobody gave summer homework?" The boy said. Ned looked like he was building something out what appeared to be legos, but Alyssa wasn't too sure.
"Y-yeah, no, um, Ms. Frost recommended this online course for me so that I could get ahead for next year," Peter let out sheepishly while Alyssa snorted. Then the boy let out a cough as beeping was picked up by the microphone of the phone. Ned looked up from whatever he was building and laughed as Peter seemed to panic.
"Is May cooking again?" the boy joked and Alyssa let out another snort as not a moment later, May Parker appeared behind Peter in the background, waving away at something and coughing as the smoke from the kitchen seemed to increase.
"That lasagna really didn't want to agree with me," May laughed before coughing again. She then noticed Peter chatting with his two best friends and waved to them happily, as though disregarding that their apartment was beginning to fill with smoke.
"Oh hi Ned, hi Lisa!"
"May! The kitchen!" Peter cried and Ned and Alyssa both let out a laugh as the Parkers rushed to make sure their apartment didn't burn down. As the two friends watched them moved around their apartment, someone knocked on Alyssa's door. Alyssa looked over her shoulder to see her father standing in the doorway. He raised a brow at the commotion coming from her computer and Alyssa let out a small laugh.
"Uh...just talking to Ned and Peter,"
"Hi Mr. Dawson!" Ned called out and Alyssa turned to give the boy a look.
"Hello Ned," Andrew greeted shortly before he turned back to his daughter, "Alyssa, dinner's ready," he informed before leaving quickly.
Alyssa nodded slowly, watching him retreat before turning back to her laptop. Peter seemed to be settling back into his seat and Ned was waiting patiently for their conversation to continue.
"Uh guys I gotta go, dinner's ready."
"Aw what, but we barely got on," Ned complained.
"Yeah I know, maybe I'll call later," Alyssa assured and her two friends nodded in agreement.
"Bye Lisa," both the boys bid and Alyssa grinned widely, flashing off her braces before waving at her camera and greeting them goodbye also. She ended the call and closed her laptop before moving out of her room and out to the hallway, where she could smell the heavenly scent of a home cooked meal just waiting for her. She didn't know her father could cook.
Two weeks had passed since Alyssa and her brother arrived at their father's home. Their father spent as much time with them as he could, taking them around DC, or even just bonding with them at home. But when he couldn't he was either in his office working or at some meeting away from home. Leo and Alyssa had settled in nicely, and though they didn't go out much without their father with them, they enjoyed their time there so far.
They also recently met Jasmine, their father's housekeeper, who arrived Monday after going home to her family that weekend. She was an older lady and she lived in the house throughout the weekdays and went home to her family on the weekends. She had a warm and motherly aura about her and Alyssa could only think of her as a sort of grandmother. Their own mother called as frequently as she could and Alyssa chatted with Peter and Ned as frequently as she could.
Maryam was becoming a familiar face around the house as well, but Alyssa had yet to really know much about the woman's personal life outside of the military.
A lot had happened in just two weeks. A lot included the event that changed Alyssa's life.
The green fog.
If Alyssa could vaguely remember, it was a Wednesday night. Of course it was.
They had gone to dinner at a small homely restaurant earlier in the evening and she and her brother couldn't help but laugh at their mother's antics when the woman decided to facetime them and, despite being a renowned scientist within the military and now Stark Industries, she still seemed to have a hard time using technology to communicate. She remembered seeing the look of content on her father's mostly stoic face, and the sound of her brother's laughter echoing in the small booth.
Then she spoke to Peter and Ned later on that night through video chat. The three of them tried to endure the night but in the end she had stayed up the longest, taking pictures of her two sleeping friends and giggling to herself tiredly.
Alyssa remembered leaving the window open and while she slowly slipped into unconsciousness she vaguely remembered seeing the fog.
She thought she was already dreaming when she watched green mist slowly fill into her temporary room. Her vision was already blurry but soon it blurred even more, and all she could remember, was green.
She had an odd dream that night.
She dreamt of spiders, and iron, and red, white and blue. She dreamt of her father, her brother, and her mother. She dreamt of Peter and Ned and that one girl Michelle Jones. She dreamt of Flash Thompson and kids she's known since elementary school. She dreamt of a woman with long red hair and a man in black and white. She dreamt of being able to see the world and to see people in a way that was different from normal.
Soon she was dreaming of nothing and all she felt was heavy.
Alyssa woke up that next morning to a giant headache. When she opened her eyes, everything in the room was blurry. At some point during her sleep she slipped off her glasses and set them on the dresser beside her bed. She felt groggy and weak as she reached up to pick up her glasses and put them on her face. Alyssa sat up slowly and looked around the room. Nothing appeared out place, yet everything looked different. She couldn't place her finger on it but the room seemed...bigger?
Alyssa stood slowly, wary that she might fall over if she stood up too suddenly. Perhaps she had gotten sick that night when she left her window open.
She moved to the bathroom slowly and rubbed at her eye to try and rid herself of the dryness. When she reached the sink, she slipped off her glasses and looked at herself in the mirror with tired eyes.
A moment passed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Leo jolted awake and it only took a second of processing before he began to move with a sense of urgency and panic to find the source of the scream. In the study, Andrew jumped out of his seat as quickly as he could and ran to his daughters aid while calling out her name. He made sure to grab the gun that was secured in his desk.
"Alyssa!"
"Lisa?!"
Leo and his father met up with one another in the hallway, both of them on high alert as the made their way to Alyssa's room. Andrew motioned for Jasmine to stay back, the woman wary and concerned as she appeared around the corner of the hall. Alyssa's bedroom itself was empty, and both males stared at the large broken shell looking thing that was on Alyssa's bed, there were several pieces spread out and cracked but this was the least of Andrew's concerns. Andrew made a quick sweep of the room, his gun pointed at the floor, while Leo made to shut the bedroom window. Leo checked the closet which was ajar and shook his head at his father who was making his way to the bathroom.
Now that they were quiet, Andrew could hear the panicked breaths coming from within and he took one hand off the grip of his gun to slowly push the door open. The door moved to reveal his youngest child on the bathroom floor with her back against the wall. She was curled into herself and had her arms wrapped around her knees. He could hear her panicked breaths and quiet sobs. The shaking of her shoulders made him stop Leo from moving forward any further.
Andrew turned the safety of his gun back on and tucked it into the back of his pants. He motioned for Leo to stay where he was before slowly moving closer to his daughter.
"Alyssa…?"
She let out a soft sob in response.
"Alyssa, sweetheart? What happened?"
Andrew kneeled down to his daughters level. He reached out to her slowly and yet before he could touch her, the girl flinched. He froze for a moment and looked up at his son from the corner of his eye. Leo had followed his instruction and remained where he was. The boy was tense and nervous, unsure of what he needed to do to make sure his sister was ok.
"Alyssa, sweetheart you need to tell me what happened," their father said gently, while he settled down. He kneeled on the floor a few feet away from her, realizing now that it may be best if he didn't move any closer.
Alyssa mumbled into her arms before slowly beginning to look up at them.
"I don't know what's going on…." she said in a pitiful voice and Leo took a sharp intake of breath when she finally looked up. Andrew's eyes widened before narrowing in confusion. Alyssa let out a small sob, yet her tears flowed out from not just the corners of her two eyes but also a third eye that was placed just above her eyebrows in the center of her forehead.
"Come here sweetheart," Andrew opened his arms up for his daughter and she all but threw herself into the comfort of her father's embrace. Alyssa sobbed into her father's neatly buttoned dress shirt and the man rubbed her back as he looked back to make eye contact with his son.
Leo ran his hand through his hair and slowly slid down so he was sitting on the floor, his back against the doorway. He rested his arms on his bent knees and watched his father comfort his sister. When he had heard her scream, panic had set in deep in his chest, but he pushed it aside when he processed that his sister was possibly in danger. He didn't expect anything like this to have occurred. A third eye? They were taught about mutants and enhanced peoples in school but he hadn't met one before, let alone think his sister was one herself.
"Angelo, I need you to call your mother for me," Andrew stated quietly, making sure that he didn't startle the distressed teenage girl. Leo nodded hastily and moved away from the bathroom as quick as he could. Andrew glanced past Leo and stared at the rocky mess on Alyssa's bed. He needed to call someone about cleaning that up. He allowed the girl to settle on the floor, figuring that seeing the mess on her bed would just distress her even more.
"Dad,"
Andrew turned the doorway to see Leo standing with his phone clutched in his hand. The boy handed his dad the phone and moved to comfort his sister as the man walked out of the room entirely, closing the door behind him. He took a breath to prepare himself for the conversation he was about to have, before pressing the phone to his ear.
"Bianca?"
a/n : check out Alyssa's aesthetic board on my Pinterest: cassadillam
the board is girls ; aesthetic
the section is: alyssa
