Ashlen stands on the roof of one of Detroit's tallest buildings, looking at the view in front of her. Wind wipes at her face and through her hair as city sounds reach her ears. Each as loud as if she weren't several dozen feet in the air. From somewhere in the distance music starts to play and Ashlen exhales shakily before taking hold of the parapet. It's now or never. If she didn't do this now than she may never get the nerve.
The music behind her picks up as she lifts herself into the parapet itself, ignoring the coolness it gives against her bare feet. Words to a song begin to form as she only briefly looks down before returning her gaze in front of her. Her heart pounds against her chest and she only hesitates for a few seconds before bending her knees and kicking herself off.
Further lyrics to 'This is Me' begin to play out as Ashlen falls. Wind wildly wiping against her harder than ever before and her heard pounding so hard it hurt. Closing her eyes she spreads out her arms and, exhaling one last time just as the song picks up tempo, she transforms into a hawk. In an instant she jets herself high in the sky; flying at full force and passion throughout the city.
She flies high and nail dives low before jetting up once again several times. She darts above and between different buildings, flying upwards, downwards and any other angle she could manage. Each time ignoring and managing to cut through the gusts of wind as it blows against her but allowing it to assist her in going faster when she flies with it.
Though a few people down below periodically look up as she passes by, she does not care. With the speed she was flying at Ashlen knew that she'd be far gone before they could so much as blink. And if they did happen to manage following her for longer than that, so what? Who cares? It's not like they could do anything about it. Nothing can stop her now.
The whole time she flies, the song continues to play out. A song that, in actuality, can be heard by no one but Ashlen herself from inside her soul. And as the song comes to it's end she cries out, arms spreading out wide as if about to strike. Instead she simply aims for another roof top, transforming back to human as the song concludes with the final "This is Me!" with a heavy huff. Panting to herself, the young woman stays where she is standing for a good few seconds, feeling her heart race. Yet, once those seconds are finished, she turns her gaze around to the city with new found passion flashing through her eyes. After all this time, she has finally embraced who she now was
Based on the potential future of the previous one shot, set months to a year in the future. She has always hated what was done to herself and what she had became. She has desperately wished multiple times to be normal again but there is no fixing what had been done. This is her, at least to some extent, finally coming to terms after living with this for over 10 years. I also can't sign but I like connecting songs I feel fit to my characters on a emotional level. "This is Me" is the one from The Greatest Showmen