p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"A/N: A lovely shoutout to a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; background-position: 0px 1.15em;" href=" /m7hsbqTxAZs59g0P9mTav-A" quintessentiallygifted/aa style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; background-position: 0px 1.15em;" href=" /mR57JljElddoPZWlJC2CZSw" eclipsepolarisxauroraborealis/a and a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; background-position: 0px 1.15em;" href=" /mAPxlQYcAeTmFjLcB-v2cKg" themutantunderground/a for betaing my shots for me. I've somewhat lost my touch with the Gifted world with the stress of real life piling up, and my university starting. As well as the fact that I don't watch The Gifted every Mondays any longer D: (I miss Lorna. I miss Marcos. I want them to be together T_T) This was originally in response to a ask that sat in my message box FOR AGES. To the anon that sent it x.x I'm sorry it took so long! But here it is. Angstier than I thought it would be, but I think it fits./em/span/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"Premise: For those who have read my past one shots that included Aurora, her powers are emotional manipulation based on the electromagnetic aura she senses, as inherited from Lorna, but in a highly fine tuned sense. She views emotions in colour, and they kinda manifest in certain colours when she's feeling strongly about something [it used to be uncontrolled when she was younger] but.] Her emotional manipulation is extremely strong, and empathy has always been a very fragile power to tackle with. A slight abuse of her emphatic powers could very well send someone into sadness and depression, or she could very well influence people how they should feel based on her own strong emotions. /span/em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"So hopefully that clears some doubts about her powers. /span/em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"From ANON: Do you think you could write a fic where Lorna, Marcos, and Aurora live together in a cute little house. And one day S.S. comes for Lorna and Marcos and Aurora destroys them all with her powers. Then Marcos and Lorna are standing off to the side watching their little girl with wide eyes. And in the Lorna and Marcos comfort a crying Aurora who is still stressing over a lot over her mom and dad. /span/em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;" /p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"For most of her largely abnormal life, all Aurora wanted, was to just be normal./p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"But with two mutants as parents and a undeniable X gene in her lineage, there was no way in hell that she was ever gonna be style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /At the very least, she was glad they had managed to live in a peaceful neighbourhood, with a white picket fence and a nice little kitten, which her father practically avoids,but that's beside the point. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /They carry out their mundane lifestyle with vigour and odd happiness rarely seen in normal families, because Aurora knows deep down in her five year old heart how much of a relief it is to lead such a mundane, normal life. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /All they needed to do was to stay together, play together, em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"be/em together, with her daddy and mommy buying her some nice presents occasionally, and dye hers and Mama's hair promptly every time the dye itself washes out. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /At least, that was much better than crying on her Daddy while they ran, with her clinging like a mini koala to his front, and screaming when bullets hit flesh and bright glowing blood spilled forth. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Aurora blinked her bright hazel eyes, looking beneath her lashes at the canvas before her, paint brush in hand. /p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Hey." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Her hand freezes as the door swings open, and she feels her mom even before she sees her. It's a odd camaraderie they both have, sensing each other just beyond their sensory periphery. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I dunno what to paint." Lorna stoops slightly as her five year old daughter dangles her legs from the stool, muttering in a flat voice. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well baby, it can be anything you want. Your dreams, your hopes. What you want to happen in the future. You could even paint Mr Tibbles." Their kitten meows in prideful acceptance at the corner, and Aurora contemplates her mother's suggestion with a tilt of her head, before putting her brush down slowly and deliberately. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Momma, do we have to run again?" br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The question hits Lorna right in the chest where it hurts the most, especially when staring into her daughter's serious eyes. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"No baby. We don't." She ruffles the fading black hair, tinges of light mint green filtering through the dark strands. "We need to start dying your hair again." Her heart drops as Aurora's head falls to her chest, and her tiny head nods. Just slightly. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Then why are you and Daddy packing stuff in the basement?" Lorna freezes. "I saw you and Daddy yesterday night when I woke up to drink water." Her daughter's feet curl on each other and rubs together tentatively. "You were packing stuff like last time." The rest of the statement is unanswered, a knowledge both of them clearly knew—the last time Lorna and Marcos had taken such measures was when they were sure the Sentinel Services would come for them. Aurora had been so young then, but the experience and the near escape had been traumatic enough to imprint on her young mind, enough for her to refuse to speak for an entire year. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Never again. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"It's gonna be different this time, baby." Lorna has never been more determined to protect this place her daughter now calls home, and her heart shatters in two when Aurora sniffles. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I don't wanna you to die!" She lapsed in her proper usage of vocabulary, her distress apparent as she clutched Lorna's shirt with two small fists. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"We won't. I promise." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /….br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Those words echo in Aurora's tiny mind when she sees her mommy and daddy on the floor, bleeding out with men triumphant over their bleeding bodies. She's still dressed in her pink elephant pyjamas that her daddy bought for her birthday a few weeks before, and the green teddy bear her Momma had took her to Build Your Bear to make with her. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /There's something stuck in her chest that heaves, drops and ricochets wildly all at the same time, and she stares at the Sentinel Service men that all blank out before her, surprise evident in their eyes, especially in those of that of the one she heard her parents mention before, the one called Jace Turner. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"They didn't mention there's a kid." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /There's something hot and wet that flies down her face, too fast to catch, and she sees her mommy moving, slowly—there's a plastic bullet in her leg and another three in her stomach, and she's bleeding out, but her Mommy still moves—railing with her nails and hands onto the nearest officer with everything she has. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The shot that goes off is reflexive. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /And Aurora sees something splatter out from her Mommy's chest, tearing a chunk in her stomach. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /She coughs, then pulls her protectively into a hug, curling herself so solidly around Aurora's tiny body that there's no space left for the other men to see the little girl's body, like a solid shell of fleshy armour that wraps, protects and never let's go. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Aurora only trembles in her mother's arms. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /She's not going to cry. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;
box-sizing: border-box;" /em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"Not. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Going. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /To. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /embr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /But the traitorous tears already well in her sockets, threatening to fall from her long lashes. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"A curvy road. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The sound of swings that go creak creak creak. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Mommy laughing, Daddy laughing. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /When Mommy hugs me before I style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Bags with four wheels on them. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Nice books with pictures./em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"The smell of paper against her nose./em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"The smell of clean laundry from hiding under her Mama's style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Mr Tibbles./em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; color: #444444;"She chants to herself, pulling her mind as her voice rose higher and higher, shriller and shriller as she recites mentally the things she likes—because Daddy once told her that tears do stop when you talk to yourself about the things you really like. She'd done that when they needed to escape the first time, and Daddy had hidden her in abag with four wheels so they couldn't find her. (em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"She recited. They'd successfully escaped./em) br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"White fence. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Picket fence. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" . .CHAIRSbr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" .PANS./embr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /spanbr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"T/emears obscure her vision, and the heavy metallic smell of death fills her nostrils. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Something warm and wet drips onto her forehead as the officers awkwardly stand at one side, watching her as those traitorous tears fall from her eyes. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I want Mommy." Jace Turner's eyes are full of regret as she hiccups. "I want Daddy." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I'm sorry kid." He offers her the second best present for condolences. "I wouldn't have if I had known." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Eyes that remind him of his long dead daughter bore into his with hatred far surpassing what a child her age should have. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /He pries Lorna Dane's body from her daughter, determined to at least compensate the little girl with a hug that can't bring back either of her parents. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I hate you." The tearful lilt of her voice is too musical for someone full of so much hate, the tilt of her head innocent and childlike, and that's the last thing Jace Turner remembers before his mind snaps. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /….br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The glow that lights the little five year old's eyes dies out as the last of the officers scamper on the ground, barking their heads off and chasing their imaginary tails, the vines of light that curls from Aurora's body releasing their grasping hold on them, emotionally. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Aurora curled into herself as she sat by the stairs, her small hand tightly clasped in her Momma's hands. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I made someone mad again, Mama. You've got ta wake up and scold me." She tugs on the listless hand with a slight demand. "See?" She points to Jace Turner, clucking around like a chicken as she stared ahead blankly. "You said I can't play with people's emotions and make people crazy anyhow I like. But I did. So wake up and scold me." She nudges Lorna's hand with her foot. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Momma, wake up." Her voice falls to a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The hand doesn't shift from her nudges any longer, and there's nothing surrounding her that's minutely familiar to the life they led moments before. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Tears well, spill down her eyes, and Aurora's world caves into nothingness. /p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"Premise: For those who have read my past one shots that included Aurora, her powers are emotional manipulation based on the electromagnetic aura she senses, as inherited from Lorna, but in a highly fine tuned sense. She views emotions in colour, and they kinda manifest in certain colours when she's feeling strongly about something [it used to be uncontrolled when she was younger] but.] Her emotional manipulation is extremely strong, and empathy has always been a very fragile power to tackle with. A slight abuse of her emphatic powers could very well send someone into sadness and depression, or she could very well influence people how they should feel based on her own strong emotions. /span/em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"So hopefully that clears some doubts about her powers. /span/em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"From ANON: Do you think you could write a fic where Lorna, Marcos, and Aurora live together in a cute little house. And one day S.S. comes for Lorna and Marcos and Aurora destroys them all with her powers. Then Marcos and Lorna are standing off to the side watching their little girl with wide eyes. And in the Lorna and Marcos comfort a crying Aurora who is still stressing over a lot over her mom and dad. /span/em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;" /p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"For most of her largely abnormal life, all Aurora wanted, was to just be normal./p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"But with two mutants as parents and a undeniable X gene in her lineage, there was no way in hell that she was ever gonna be style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /At the very least, she was glad they had managed to live in a peaceful neighbourhood, with a white picket fence and a nice little kitten, which her father practically avoids,but that's beside the point. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /They carry out their mundane lifestyle with vigour and odd happiness rarely seen in normal families, because Aurora knows deep down in her five year old heart how much of a relief it is to lead such a mundane, normal life. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /All they needed to do was to stay together, play together, em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"be/em together, with her daddy and mommy buying her some nice presents occasionally, and dye hers and Mama's hair promptly every time the dye itself washes out. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /At least, that was much better than crying on her Daddy while they ran, with her clinging like a mini koala to his front, and screaming when bullets hit flesh and bright glowing blood spilled forth. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Aurora blinked her bright hazel eyes, looking beneath her lashes at the canvas before her, paint brush in hand. /p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Hey." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Her hand freezes as the door swings open, and she feels her mom even before she sees her. It's a odd camaraderie they both have, sensing each other just beyond their sensory periphery. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I dunno what to paint." Lorna stoops slightly as her five year old daughter dangles her legs from the stool, muttering in a flat voice. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well baby, it can be anything you want. Your dreams, your hopes. What you want to happen in the future. You could even paint Mr Tibbles." Their kitten meows in prideful acceptance at the corner, and Aurora contemplates her mother's suggestion with a tilt of her head, before putting her brush down slowly and deliberately. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Momma, do we have to run again?" br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The question hits Lorna right in the chest where it hurts the most, especially when staring into her daughter's serious eyes. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"No baby. We don't." She ruffles the fading black hair, tinges of light mint green filtering through the dark strands. "We need to start dying your hair again." Her heart drops as Aurora's head falls to her chest, and her tiny head nods. Just slightly. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Then why are you and Daddy packing stuff in the basement?" Lorna freezes. "I saw you and Daddy yesterday night when I woke up to drink water." Her daughter's feet curl on each other and rubs together tentatively. "You were packing stuff like last time." The rest of the statement is unanswered, a knowledge both of them clearly knew—the last time Lorna and Marcos had taken such measures was when they were sure the Sentinel Services would come for them. Aurora had been so young then, but the experience and the near escape had been traumatic enough to imprint on her young mind, enough for her to refuse to speak for an entire year. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Never again. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"It's gonna be different this time, baby." Lorna has never been more determined to protect this place her daughter now calls home, and her heart shatters in two when Aurora sniffles. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I don't wanna you to die!" She lapsed in her proper usage of vocabulary, her distress apparent as she clutched Lorna's shirt with two small fists. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"We won't. I promise." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /….br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Those words echo in Aurora's tiny mind when she sees her mommy and daddy on the floor, bleeding out with men triumphant over their bleeding bodies. She's still dressed in her pink elephant pyjamas that her daddy bought for her birthday a few weeks before, and the green teddy bear her Momma had took her to Build Your Bear to make with her. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /There's something stuck in her chest that heaves, drops and ricochets wildly all at the same time, and she stares at the Sentinel Service men that all blank out before her, surprise evident in their eyes, especially in those of that of the one she heard her parents mention before, the one called Jace Turner. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"They didn't mention there's a kid." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /There's something hot and wet that flies down her face, too fast to catch, and she sees her mommy moving, slowly—there's a plastic bullet in her leg and another three in her stomach, and she's bleeding out, but her Mommy still moves—railing with her nails and hands onto the nearest officer with everything she has. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The shot that goes off is reflexive. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /And Aurora sees something splatter out from her Mommy's chest, tearing a chunk in her stomach. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /She coughs, then pulls her protectively into a hug, curling herself so solidly around Aurora's tiny body that there's no space left for the other men to see the little girl's body, like a solid shell of fleshy armour that wraps, protects and never let's go. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Aurora only trembles in her mother's arms. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /She's not going to cry. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;
box-sizing: border-box;" /em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"Not. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Going. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /To. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /embr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /But the traitorous tears already well in her sockets, threatening to fall from her long lashes. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"A curvy road. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The sound of swings that go creak creak creak. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Mommy laughing, Daddy laughing. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /When Mommy hugs me before I style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Bags with four wheels on them. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Nice books with pictures./em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"The smell of paper against her nose./em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"The smell of clean laundry from hiding under her Mama's style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Mr Tibbles./em/p
p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; color: #444444;"She chants to herself, pulling her mind as her voice rose higher and higher, shriller and shriller as she recites mentally the things she likes—because Daddy once told her that tears do stop when you talk to yourself about the things you really like. She'd done that when they needed to escape the first time, and Daddy had hidden her in abag with four wheels so they couldn't find her. (em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"She recited. They'd successfully escaped./em) br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"White fence. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Picket fence. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" . .CHAIRSbr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" .PANS./embr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /spanbr style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"T/emears obscure her vision, and the heavy metallic smell of death fills her nostrils. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Something warm and wet drips onto her forehead as the officers awkwardly stand at one side, watching her as those traitorous tears fall from her eyes. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I want Mommy." Jace Turner's eyes are full of regret as she hiccups. "I want Daddy." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I'm sorry kid." He offers her the second best present for condolences. "I wouldn't have if I had known." br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Eyes that remind him of his long dead daughter bore into his with hatred far surpassing what a child her age should have. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /He pries Lorna Dane's body from her daughter, determined to at least compensate the little girl with a hug that can't bring back either of her parents. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I hate you." The tearful lilt of her voice is too musical for someone full of so much hate, the tilt of her head innocent and childlike, and that's the last thing Jace Turner remembers before his mind snaps. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /….br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The glow that lights the little five year old's eyes dies out as the last of the officers scamper on the ground, barking their heads off and chasing their imaginary tails, the vines of light that curls from Aurora's body releasing their grasping hold on them, emotionally. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Aurora curled into herself as she sat by the stairs, her small hand tightly clasped in her Momma's hands. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"I made someone mad again, Mama. You've got ta wake up and scold me." She tugs on the listless hand with a slight demand. "See?" She points to Jace Turner, clucking around like a chicken as she stared ahead blankly. "You said I can't play with people's emotions and make people crazy anyhow I like. But I did. So wake up and scold me." She nudges Lorna's hand with her foot. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /"Momma, wake up." Her voice falls to a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /The hand doesn't shift from her nudges any longer, and there's nothing surrounding her that's minutely familiar to the life they led moments before. br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; outline: none 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" /Tears well, spill down her eyes, and Aurora's world caves into nothingness. /p