Title: We all go down to ashes
Summary: Warren's life from six on. AU in that Royal Pain never happened.
Major Characters: Warren and Deke Peace, Ethan, Rowena Royale, Will Stronghold, Layla, and Zach, Kassidy Sands.
Minor Characters: Layla's mom, Maj, Steve and Josie Stronghold, Mr. Medulla, Kassidy's mom.
Rating: PG-13/light R; violence, hell of a lot of cursing (because I swear way too much), sexual content, abuse.
Disclaimer: Alas, alack, I do not own Sky High. Nor do I own Steven Strait. Thus I say damn.
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The first time I found my power was when I was six. I had just come home from kindergarten, and dad was upstairs, working on something to do with radiation. Mom was out on call, but then, mom was always out on call. It was something I had just come to accept. Deke, my twin, was out with his friends, which left me all alone.
I made myself a peanut butter sandwich, got a glass of milk, and went outside. We lived on a large, almost estate-like piece of property. It had a big backyard, a little frog pond with its own miniature waterfall, and even a little garden I could hide away in when mom and dad were fighting.
I wandered over to the frog pond, and sat down on a flat rock. I looked at the water there for a little over an hour, watching the frogs do aerobatics and eating my snack.
Then it happened. I had only the crusts of the bread left, and I was about to throw them in the water when they caught fire. And I don't mean, when I say 'caught fire', that they smoldered gently. No, I mean that I was lucky that there was vegetation left in the little alcove once I was done.
I ran home as fast as my little legs could carry me and went to find dad. My arms were burning now, though I was in no pain, and the fire seemed to be spreading.
Dad must have seen me coming because he was waiting for me at the front door. Only, this wasn't my dad. My dad couldn't light his arms on fire like that, and I had never once seen his hair burn. This man who wasn't my father stepped toward me, and enveloped me in the bear hug that was my father's trademark. His arms were sheathed in flames and his hair capped with fire, though like me, he didn't seem to feel them.
After a few minutes, my flames died down and I was just sobbing against his chest. Dad picked me up and carried me up to the attic. He set me down, and grabbed a hard-backed book from one of the shelves that lined the walls. Grinning broadly, he came over and sat down next to me. The book he had grabbed was blue with some words I couldn't read yet written in red. I would later learn that they said "Sky High Yearbook, 1978".
"This, son, is my old yearbook from my senior year of high school, Sky High. It looks like you'll be going there, too. There's something I need to tell you". He grinned, happiness etched into every line of his face.
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That was a little less than a year ago. Dad was happy then, teaching me about my new powers, and finding ways to include Deke into our games. Deke and I were polar opposites. While I was quiet, and sometimes cautious, Deke was wild, reckless, and always willing to try something new.
Deke was an elemental, like mom, and always found ways to beat me at whatever game we were playing. I could summon fire and read peoples thoughts and emotions, but my control over the fire was nil, and the fact that I could not choose when not to know what people thought was…annoying to say the least. Deke could control water and air, and had no problem with dousing the fires I created when I was angry, and throwing me around to boot. One of his favorite games was to fly me up to the roof and leave me there. It didn't help that I was terrified of heights.
On the playground, I was given the reputation of a bully because whenever a friend turned their back on me, Deke would push them over with his powers. Mom never said anything when she saw him do it, and dad didn't know. If I hadn't met Rowena, two years later, I don't know what I would have done.
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It was a bright and sunny day, and dad had dropped Deke and I off at the playground, threatening death if we were to leave. Deke and his friends were playing heroes and villains, and to my delighted surprise, they were ignoring me completely. When they did pay me attention, it was usually to pretend that I was the villain, or some other role where they got to beat me up.
I was in the shadows of a massive oak tree, watching the squirrels fight among themselves, when I noticed something unusual. About ten feet from where the squirrels were, was the palest girl I had ever seen. She had messy white-blonde hair that came down to her shoulders, alabaster skin, and she was wearing a white dress with a blue sash on it to complete the ghost-like image. She was sitting there with her knees drawn up to her chin; shoulder's shaking slightly as if she were crying, though no sound was made.
I got up quietly and went over to her, not sure of what I should do. Most people who came here were scared of me, but I had never seen her before. If she were new, maybe she wouldn't be terrified, and maybe even let me help her.
I could tell what was wrong- her mother had forgotten her, and no one would invite her to play. Oddly, I was unable to get out her name or where she came from. I was usually unable to stop myself from learning everything there was to know about a person.
The girl looked up, and saw me looking at her. She had the palest blue eyes I had ever seen- they were almost silver. She looked at me for a few minutes, and then at the group of kids Deke was playing in.
"Hi," she said, quietly, in a hoarse voice. "What are you doing? Why aren't you playing with them?" She nodded over to Deke's group sadly, but her eyes never left mine.
"They don't like me much. How about you? You look like you want to play with them."
"Well, I do, but every time I go over there they can't see me. They just look over my head at someone else. It happens all the time," she was getting hysterical now, "even my nanny can't see me half the time!" she started to cry again.
"I can see you. Do you want to play with me?" I looked down at the girl uncertainly. It had been a long time since a kid my age would look at me as anything other than a punching bag. Maybe…
"Ok," she said, smiling slightly. "What's your name?"
"Warren Peace. What's yours?"
"Rowena. Rowena Royale."
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Rowena and I quickly became fast friends, which was good, since we had no one else. Rowena was so shy that no one else knew she existed, while everyone our age either hated or was afraid of me. Rowena was shy, and couldn't seem to bring herself to assert herself, even when she wanted to. She loved to draw, like me, but hated running around.
I found that only dad and I could see her, and whenever I tried to introduce her to others, they just looked at me like I was crazy. Deke even started teasing me about my 'new imaginary friend'.
Dad wasn't home much anymore, and when he was it was like he was always simmering with rage and bitterness. Mom and Deke didn't seem to notice, but then, he wasn't acting very different, he just felt different. When I asked, all he did was grunt, and say that it wasn't anything I should worry about.
It was the first time that my dad had lied to me. It wouldn't be the last.
Three months later, the doorbell rang. I answered the door to find a tall, imposing man scowling down at me. He was dressed in a tight-fitting plastic suit and cape, with no color other than red, white, and blue to be seen. He looked at me for a few moments, cleared his throat, and asked in what he must have thought was a reassuring voice, "Hello, is your mummy or daddy home?" He sounded like he thought I couldn't understand him if he used proper English.
"No. They went to the grocery." I replied, trying to figure out what was wrong with the guy. He felt really angry, and it had something to do with dad…and a fire. That was it! This guy thought that dad set a fire on a building called the pentagon or something like that. I was startled out of my thoughts when a woman, wearing the same colors as the man, knelt down in front of me and took my hand. The skin-to-skin contact gave me even more insight into why they were here.
They were the Commander and Jetstream, really good super heroes who wanted to take my father with him and throw him in jail. They were married, and had a son about my age, and were both really, really angry. They thought that dad had set a lot of fires to really important buildings and experimented with genetic enhancements in order to turn ordinary people into 'super heroes'.
"Do you know when they'll be coming home?" Jetstream looked into my eyes, trying to coax me. While this was happening, Rowena came downstairs, and stepped outside with us. I guess that neither of the heroes saw her, and when I started talking to her, my guess was confirmed.
"Hey, who are these," Rowena asked.
"No one, they wanted to talk to mom or dad, but since they're not home…"
"Oh," she chewed on her lip, as if thinking. "You want something to eat? I'm going to make a peanut butter and fluff sandwich."
"Sure, I'll have-" I started to say, but the Commander butted in.
"Kid, who are you talking to? There's no one here, but us! And we don't like being ignored!" The guy looked seriously angry with me, and his wife tried to calm him as I spoke.
"I'm speaking to Rowena, and she doesn't like being ignored either. And she at least is nice. For your information, my mom and dad are not home, so you can just go away and not come back!" I was nearly yelling by this time, so I turned and went into the house with Rowena, thinking that that was the last of it.
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A/N: No! This will not be a Warren/OC fic! Trust me! I swear! I could not stand to see Warren with another girl. Ok, actually I could, I read them all the time, but I have other plans (insert maniacal laughter here). I do not have a beta reader, but if you would like to take pity on, I'd love to have a volunteer.