Hey! I've been going through my old files and cleaning them out, so this is part of a slew of updates. I can't imagine people still are reading this, and this writing is several years old, but posting makes me feel accomplished so …
This is a fic in the universe of the TV series Misfits. Not my most original piece, and I know it, I wrote this for my own enjoyment and I wasn't actually going to post it. The center will hold was just too good of a joke to pass up.
Eye of the Storm:
Sydney didn't belong here. She didn't belong in community service, and she definitely didn't belong with these people. The girl on her left was tiny, like a doll, but underneath her short blonde curls and orange uniform was the very, very lacy set of lingerie Sydney had seen in the locker room.
The boy to her left was tall, and although cute, he was blowing cigarette smoke straight into her face.
Sydney coughed at the smell of cloves, fanning the fumes away as best she could with her hand.
"Sorry." He said, taking another drag. "You should get upwind."
Sydney turned her head and went back to staring at the door.
Just get through it. Don't draw attention to yourself. It will all be done and over with soon, and then it will just be a distant memory.
"What did you do to get here?" The speaker was another girl—the exotic looking one with long, dark hair and curves that garnered appreciation. There was laughter in her voice. "I mean; you don't exactly look the type."
Sydney tore her eyes away from the door and blushed. "What did you do?"
"Don't want to talk about it?" The guy with the cigarette teased. "Was it that bad?"
"What did you do?" Sydney aimed the question at him.
"Are those the only words you know?" The short blonde girl said.
Sydney realized then that she shouldn't have expected the cold indifference she was so used to. This was a completely different setting; she couldn't expect these people to play by the same rules. She adjusted as quickly and as best she could.
"I know other words," Sydney's defenses went up. "I'm just not inclined to talk to any of you."
Sydney winced immediately at how arrogant she sounded. Great. She couldn't have found a quicker way to make enemies.
"Well, look who's all high and mighty." The girl took on a posh accent.
"I know how you feel," the redhead at the end put in, with the same tone. "I still can't believe I'm being forced to wallow around with these peasants."
"Mason," the girl with the dark hair laughed. "Give her a break. She really isn't the type."
Cigarette boy pulled a flask out of his uniform. "That's easily remedied."
Sydney flinched away when he made as if to hand it to her.
"Scared of a little whisky?" He smirked and shook the flask.
"Little Prissy isn't going to take it." The blonde chick sneered.
"I'm not a prissy, and who are you calling little?" Sydney narrowed her eyes, "And you can keep your alcohol to yourself."
"You sound like a prissy to me." Mason said. "Does she sound like a prissy to you, Rose?"
"A bit, yes." Rose tossed her hair as she agreed.
"Rose?" Cigarette boy shot her a smile. "A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."
"Save your breath," Mason advised as Rose snorted.
"It's my breath to waste."
"You know, I think you're the real prissy," Rose leaned against the railing.
"Could a prissy do this?" He blew a smoke ring.
"Why don't we find out?" The blonde spoke again, nodding at Sydney.
Sydney wrinkled her nose and shot the boy a look.
"What? Don't smoke?" He offered up the cigarette.
"No." Sydney said and suppressed a cough.
Mason and Rose chuckled.
"You're doing it to hurt my feelings, aren't you?" He lifted the cigarette to his lips. "Honestly, Prissy, I'm wounded."
"It's not the smoke, its your breath." Rose put in. "If I can smell the tar from here, Prissy must be dying over there."
"You're just jealous." He blew out smoke. "You make fun of me because you envy me."
"Jealous?" Rose asked.
"Of my incredible smoke rings." He sounded sure in this.
In a split second, Sydney made a decision. Forget ignoring them, forget making herself a smaller target. Playing by their rules might be the only way to get out of this unscathed. "Of your lung cancer, more like." Sydney put on a mask of distaste. It was a good one, she knew, very practiced.
Rose burst out laughing.
"Prissy's got a tongue," Mason said with delight.
Just then, the door opened. Another guy in an orange outfit walked out, followed by a man Sydney guessed to be the probation worker.
She was proven right a minute later when, upon seeing cigarette boy's flask, he walked up and said with a thick Russian accent, "Adrian, right?"
"That's me," Adrian said around his cigarette.
"May I see your flask?"
Adrian sighed. He knew what was coming. He didn't even try. "Here. It's whisky. Try to leave some for me."
"You'll get it back at the end of the day," the man promised, taking it.
"Hello." He turned to face the rest of the group. "I am your probation worker, Dimitri Belikov." Dimitri tucked the silver bottle into his back pocket. "Welcome to the beginning of your community service."
"Skip the formal 'you can do good' speech, please." Mason got a word in. "I've heard it before."
"I second the motion." Rose said.
"I cast my vote as well," Adrian said. "Three to one, the motion passes."
"Very well," Dimitri looked on disapprovingly, "we'll skip right to the bench painting, as you wish. Everyone grab a paintbrush and a tin."
The group made their way down to the waterfront. In the lead was Dimitri, then Blondie, followed by Mason, Rose, and Adrian. The other, nameless boy lagged behind. Finally, lastly, the farthest behind, was Sydney.
Sydney handled her supplies with care, while her fellow criminals tossed their paint buckets into the air. No doubt, one of them would eventually—oh. There.
"Gah!" Mason shook his head, sending white flecks of paint every which way.
Rose and Adrian laughed, having avoided the worst of the splash.
"I'm soaked!" He sounded extremely upset.
Dimitri turned around at the commotion, and sighed when he saw the mess. "Go back up to the center. Clean yourself up."
"Um, Belikov, sir, I think I need to clean up as well." Rose said, trying to hitch a ride off of Mason's misfortune.
Trying, and failing. "I think you're fine."
They stopped when they reached the edge of the river, and Dimitri motioned at a series of benches. "Today's good deed." He introduced the task. "Get started."
Adrian took a bench, Rose took another, and Blondie and the nameless boy tag teamed a third.
Sydney hesitated before joining Rose.
She pried open the lid of her tin, and started to work, painting over a carved heart with the initials SK+MT engraved inside.
"So, the probation worker is a looker, isn't he?" Rose started up a conversation.
Sydney shrugged. "I guess so."
"You guess so?" Rose asked. "He's delicious. Kind of a tightwad, but smokin' all the same. I mean, that accent, wow. And those eyes." She fanned herself with her paintbrush—which still didn't have paint on it.
"Um, yes." Sydney nodded. "Definitely."
"You're not one for girl talk, are you?" Rose observed.
Sydney shrugged. "I've just never really cared much about boys."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "Girls, then?"
"What?" Sydney blushed. "No, that's not what I meant."
"What's your deal, then? Not guys, not girls. What else is there?" Rose, caught on the receiving end of a meaningful look from the probation worker, began to paint.
"I like boys," Sydney clarified, "I just don't talk about them."
But, she reminded herself, she should try.
"I think he's too old for us," Sydney said, "but the accent is hot."
"Now we're talking. That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Sydney shrugged. "The boy over there is cuter, anyways," She nodded to the boy whose name she did not know, the only one who hadn't picked on her.
Rose squinted. "If you like them tall dark and…pale."
"Sometimes," Sydney allowed.
"Anyways. What did you do?" Rose asked, thankfully changing the subject. Too bad she'd changed to something even more uncomfortable.
"Ummm…" What had she done? She'd broken into her father's work building, looking for evidence that he was cheating on her mom. She'd broken into and entered a high profile office and gotten caught. She was lucky she'd escaped a prison sentence. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Come on," Rose prodded, "we're in this together for the long haul. Might as well swap stories."
Sydney blushed. "It's really not something I want to talk about."
Rose eyed Sydney across the bench for a minute, then said. "We've got 200 hours of bench painting. I'll crack you eventually."
Sydney shifted uneasily at the promise.
"Me, I broke into a prison." Rose said dramatically.
"You broke into a prison?" Sydney asked. "That's seriously counterintuitive."
"Yeah, it is."
Another thought occurred to Sydney. "You broke into a prison, presumably to get someone out, and you only have 200 hours of community service?"
Rose shrugged. "Well, when I say 'prison' I just mean the police station." She admitted reluctantly. "And it's not like I was trying to spring somebody. I just wanted to ask him a few questions, is all."
"Right." Sydney said. There was obviously so much more to that story, but before Sydney could ask, Dimitri's shadow loomed close.
"Adrian, we're painting the benches. Not doodling on them."
Adrian had painted a series of snowmen on the seat of the bench, and looking at them almost made Sydney smile in spite of her current situation.
"I was getting to that." Adrian said, finishing the final touches on one last snowman before swiping through them. "And hey," Adrian said just as Dimirti was about to walk the other way, "what are we going to do when it starts raining? Because I don't want my hair to get wet."
Sydney looked up and found that, indeed, it was going to rain. Big gray clouds crowded the sky.
Something splashed in the river, and Rose gasped. "What the hell was that?"
Another splash, and Sydney turned just in time to see what looked to be a giant stone shattering against the sidewalk.
"Is that… is that hail?" Sydney said incredulously, standing. She made as if to walk over to the remnants of whatever fell.
"Sydney, look out!" Rose called in alarm, and a pair of strong arms yanked her sideways.
Shards of ice stung her ankles. She looked up and realized Dimitri had just saved her from a massive head injury.
"Thanks." She breathed, staring at the hail with wide eyes.
"We have to get inside!" The small blond doll shouted, and then they were running, dodging the supernatural hail as it fell. The sidewalk flew by beneath her feet, a flash of grey, and then she was sliding up the grassy hill.
She was winded by the time she reached the steps to the community center, but no more winded than the others. Well, except for Dimitri. He wasn't even breathing hard. That's not to say he wasn't flustered. He fumbled with the keys and they clinked to the ground.
"Hurry up, Belikov!" Rose shouted as she dodged hail.
He was already on it, turning the key in the lock.
But before they could make it inside, disaster struck. Sydney had seen flashes of lightning in the distance, but they'd just been that—in the distance. What happened next was as much a surprise to her as it was to everyone else.
There was light, complete light, and she was flying. It was like she could hear her heart beat—slower and slower each time—in unison with some unknown, unknowable thing. She could feel every hair and every pore on her body.
It was, for lack of a better word, electric.
The moment was over as fast as it had begun, and she landed hard on the concrete at the bottom of the stairs.
"Umph," she barely heard the others land around her over her own groaning.
"What the hell?" Rose groaned, struggling sluggishly to regain any sense of balance. A giant hailstone crash landed by her head and she bolted up, remembering the urgency of the situation. She said, "Right. We were getting inside."
Sydney grabbed Adrian's hand when it looked like he wouldn't be getting up and yanked. "Come on."
He grunted. "Just… give me a sec. Everything looks wrong and it's making me dizzy."
Sydney frowned. "You probably have a concussion. Actually, there's a good chance we all do."
"Why is everything so colorful?"
"Colorful?"
He finally turned his head to look at her. His eyes widened and he struggled to sit up. "Prissy… why are you so…."
"Get moving," Sydney said, discomforted. Concussion indeed.
"You're like a watercolor." He babbled, leaning on her once she'd gotten him to stand up. The others were already back up the stairs and trying to wake Dimitri, who was out cold.
"A watercolor?" Sydney asked, deciding it would be best to keep him talking. He looked woozy enough to black out again, and neither of them wanted that.
"Yeah. Yellow and… huh. I see purple." Adrian was blinking rapidly, like he was trying to clear his vision. Adrian looked around, "Everyone is so bright. Everyone's a watercolor! No one is like you. You are… so bright."
"Well," Good God, the man needed a doctor and he needed one now.
He looked at his own hand. "Not me. Same as ever." He sounded slightly disappointed.
"So, you say I'm yellow and purple. Is that all?" Maybe it would be best to let him talk it off. Sydney began helping him up the steps.
"Mostly. There are other colors here and there, but mostly yellow." Adrian was leaning on her less and speaking clearer. That was good, at least.
"And what about everyone else? What colors do they have?" Sydney wondered just how severe this head injury was.
He studied them for a few moments, frowning. "What's wrong with Belikov?"
"He's not waking up." Rose said, answering the question.
He looked so pale, so still. Sydney gulped. "Has anyone taken his pulse?"
When it was clear that no one had, Rose said shakily, "I nominate Christian."
The boy whose name Sydney hadn't known scowled and said, "Thanks, Rose."
"Anything for you, Ozera."
He reached out his hand, awkwardly aiming for Dimitri's neck when the probation worker groaned.
"Oh, thank God." Sydney breathed. Dimitri was still dreadfully pale, but at least he was conscious.
Christian pulled away and stepped back.
Adrian shook his head, looking even more worried. "Guys… there's something..." He pushed at the small crowd, forcing everyone save Dimitri inside.
"Hey," Rose protested, "look at him. He needs a doctor."
Adrian wouldn't take a no. He closed the door behind them, locking it and shoving the keys in his pocket. "There's something wrong with him."
It was quiet for a moment, and only Adrian's uneven breathing could be heard.
"There's something wrong with you," the blond doll rolled her eyes and went to open the door.
"No, wait." Christian grabbed her wrist. He was looking hard at Dimitri, frowning and looking nearly as worried as Adrian did. "Look at his eyes."
"They're closed." Sydney pointed out.
"Just wait for it." Christian said, not taking his eyes off the awakening body.
There—his eyes flickered open, just for a second, but it was enough.
Sydney jumped back. "That's not possible."
"Are his eyes…"
They opened again, and this time, they stayed open. They were, impossibly, ringed in red. Bright, violent red.
"Holy shit." Adrian breathed.
Dimitri hauled himself to his feet, clinging to the railing for support. His eyes—those eyes—flickered to the glass doors, taking all five of them in. Though the scene was silent, Sydney's mind supplied a helpful track of horror movie music.
"He's just wearing contacts, or something." Rose said, but her voice was weak.
Dimitri's jaw flexed, and his tongue darted out to slide along one, sharp fang.
"Is it just me, or does our probation worker strike you as suddenly…vampire-y?" Christian voiced the thought.
"He's in the sun."
"Mia," Christian pulled blond doll away from the doors with the rest of them.
"He's in the shade," Adrian corrected. The overhang of the roof created a shadowed patch along the building.
Sydney, who had been regarding him carefully, realized, "He can hear us."
"Belikov?" Rose walked up to the glass.
"Stay back." Adrian warned.
"Are you alright?" Rose at least refrained from tapping the glass.
He squinted at them, blinking rapidly. Then, Dimitri turned and stumbled down the stairs, steaming and yelling out when he hit a patch of sunlight.
They remained quiet until he turned the corner.
"What do we do now?" Mia voiced what they were all thinking.
Sydney took a deep, steadying breath. Never mind that she'd just been struck by a lightning bolt. Never mind that she'd just witnessed the impossible. "We grab our things, we go out in the sunlight, and we get as far from here as fast as we can and never come back."
"Good thinking, Prissy." Adrian said. "Maybe we should station a guard? Just so he doesn't catch us in the nude."
"Who's going to wait for Belikov while the rest of us get on with escaping?" Rose pointed out.
Sydney looked around the lobby. "We could barricade the doors."
Mia rolled her eyes. "He's just a little out of it, we don't need to lock down. Let's just get our stuff and go. It's not like he can hurt us, and I just got struck by lightning. I want a doctor and a nap."
"Did you not see him?" Adrian asked. "He's not human anymore."
"That's not possible."
"You saw it."
"No, I-"
"A table and a filing cabinet." Christian interrupted, taking stock of what was movable. "We'll be impenetrable."
"Don't forget the folding chairs," Rose reminded him. "Now, get to work."
Mia stormed off, shutting herself in the locker room, so Sydney orchestrated the effort, deciding what should go where to be most effective. The only glitch came when Adrian wouldn't help move the filing cabinet, but that was quickly remedied. Rose Hathaway was much stronger than she appeared.
"Where do you think he went?" Sydney asked as they snaked through the girl's locker room.
"He's probably still hugging the building, if he can't walk in the sunlight." Rose pointed out.
"We should have set a guard."
Rose dressed, and Mia checked her makeup, while Sydney forewent that action and packed up her stuff. She'd rather escape quickly in a hideous orange uniform than die stylishly.
Unzip, slide, step, step, pull, zip.
"Does this feel like a dream to you?" Mia finally asked.
"I keep telling myself it is," Rose said.
Sydney nodded as well. "We'll all go into shock sooner or later. It's a miracle we can still function."
A loud crashing noise sounded from the lobby.
"What was that?" Rose whispered.
They found the boys already in the hallway looking intently at the doors. The items shifted, but held, at another assault.
"This building has probably survived loads and loads of pissed off probation workers and bizarre storms." Adrian said, striving to convince himself it would all be okay. At least he'd stopped babbling about random colors.
"Yeah," Sydney said, trying to get a grip on her heart rate. "The center will hold."
"The center will hold," Adrian repeated.
Another thunderous clap erupted their self-talk, and the folding chairs scattered about the room.
Time's up, Sydney thought.
There he was, brown duster flying, head topped with an honest to god cowboy hat, and sporting a bad sunburn. He paused for a moment, taking them all in, and his eyes settled on Rose. "You."
"Me," She squeaked and backed up.
"What are you," Sydney asked without meaning to. She winced when she realized that-though the question was breathy and her voice cracked halfway through-it was still the loudest thing in this room.
"What am I?" Dimitri smiled, revealing his fangs. "I do believe I am God, and I am hungry."
He reached for Rose, but lightning fast, she slapped him away. The crack echoed in the silent lobby. "I just bitch slapped God." Rose looked at her hand.
"Well, do it again," Adrian urged. "But harder. The slap only... made him... angry..."
Dimitri was getting up, staring disbelievingly at Rose. Then, he hissed, and it was a free for all.
Fists were flying, legs everywhere, and those two were all over the room. However, it wasn't as if the whole thing was a fair fight. Rose was holding her own, she was startlingly fast and strong, but one wrong move and that would be it.
Adrian dragged Sydney out of harm's way, losing the others as they all scattered, and they huddled against each other.
Sydney battled with herself over whether to go help, but reasoned she'd only be a distraction. It wasn't like she could just walk out the front and go for help, either. She had the feeling she wouldn't be able to fend off Belikov as well as Rose. Really, she should've been running for the back-seriously, the back door! How had she not thought of it? Sure, it was locked, but Adrian had the keys.
The shock had gotten to her more than she'd thought.
She leaned over to Adrian's ear, saying, "I'm not leaving, but if you want to, you can get out through the back door."
Adrian looked like he really considered it for a moment, but he shook his head. "If we get out, we're getting out together."
A particularly vicious series of thwacks found their way to Rose and Sydney flinched. "She won't hold out forever."
"I know." Adrian said. "Do you have a plan?"
"Besides run? No." Sydney searched the room. "Where is Christian?"
Adrian shrugged, but before he could say anything, a small scream sounded from the middle of the room. Dimitri had his opponent pinned, his teeth buried deep in her shoulder.
"Why isn't she fighting him?" Sydney's hand went to her mouth, unsure if she was going to vomit or cry. Maybe both. Because, Rose wasn't fighting. She was just laying there.
Sydney inched out of the corner, making her way to one of the haphazard folding chairs. She grabbed the leg of it, careful not to make a sound. Trying to catch Adrian's eye, she stood, taking the chair with her.
He did look at her-he looked at her like she was crazy. She motioned at a bright blue pot that had once been home to a plant.
He rolled his eyes.
She glared.
He glared.
She glared.
He rolled his eyes.
He picked up the pot.
What now? His eyes seemed to say. Dimitri was still focused on Rose, who was getting paler and paler by the second.
Sydney started to mimic bashing someone over the head, but before she could finish, Christian darted out of his hiding place and slammed into Dimitri, shoving him off Rose and putting them both on the ground. His hands caught fire the second they found Dimitri's neck. There was a roar, there was a flash, then there was nothing but ash.
"We killed our probation worker." Someone finally said. Sydney didn't know who. She was consumed by the charred pile of dust that had been their friendly supervisor just an hour earlier.
"He tried to kill us." That voice was Mia's.
"But we killed our probation worker." Christian was backing away, shaking.
"You killed our probation worker." Mia said.
"We helped." Adrian reminded them.
Something nagged at Sydney, but she pushed it down, focusing on the others.
"How did you do that?" Mia was asking Christian.
"I don't know." He confessed, looking at his hands. "One minute I thought I was a goner, and the next..." His eyes were drawn to the pile. "I don't know."
Adrian stepped forward, kneeling by Rose. "She's…something's wrong."
"Not again," Sydney said and reached for her chair, "Please don't say that again."
"I think she's dead too."
Adrian had just gotten the panicked words out when Rose bolted up, gasping, coughing, scrabbling against the floor. "Oh my god," she said, "oh my god oh my god oh my—"
"Whoa," Adrian breathed, his hand hovering next to Rose's shoulder. "Are you…"
"You lit him on fire." Mia said.
"I know." Christian looked at Sydney.
"Yeah," She said, for lack of anything better to say. Then, that little thing that had been simmering at the back of Sydney's mind since Dimitri had stalked off came to a boil—a full thought that made her heart stop. "Where's Mason?"