Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
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Chapter Forty Nine
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Super Heroes Day!
The obnoxious banner was strung above of the stage, both decorated with the usual colours of Jetstream and the Commander: red, white, and blue. The park was decorated in the same way, from the balloons to cakes and pies, to the tablecloths and the wrapping on individual chairs facing the stage. The Mayor was standing in front of the lectern, the microphone amplifying his words about Courage and Heroism and Superheroes and Saving The Day.
Super Heroes Day was, of course, a national holiday. Not even villains dared to destroy the sanctity of the day; it was the one day of the year where both citizens and superheroes could relax and know that they wouldn't be attacked.
Layla switched the TV off at the Mayor's introduction of the Commander and Jetstream (and, belatedly, Airborne). She had no interest in seeing the Strongholds on her day off.
"Think we should have a Super Villains Day?" Warren asked, smirking at Layla.
"We'll have our own day of celebration, but it won't be as tacky as today," she replied certainly.
Warren's smirk broadened and he kissed Layla, lips firm and warm against hers.
There was a sound of fake gagging and they pulled away to see Nina standing in the doorway. She stopped making noises and grinned at them. "If you two have finished sucking face, we have a lunch to get to, remember?"
"We'll be right out," Layla promised, leaning down to tug her shoes on and do up her laces.
"Two minutes," Nina called over her shoulder as she headed to the front door.
Beside her, Warren tied his boots in record time and then splayed his hand across the small of Layla's back, smirking when he saw her shiver and goosebumps cover her arms. "We could skip lunch," he offered, stroking up and down her spine lightly.
"Frieda's worked very hard on this lunch for everyone," Layla breathed out, sounding as though she was trying to convince herself as much as him. "I need more self-control than this," she said, her eyes flashing green. In the same instant, her goosebumps disappeared.
Warren groaned and sat back, his head hanging over the couch. "You go ahead, I'll be out in a second."
Layla squeezed his knee gently and left, her bag slung over her shoulder.
When he was alone, Warren held out his palms and let two balls of fire form. He looked at them for a moment, then pushed all of his desire and attraction, his lust and hunger, into those flames. They immediately burst up into a bright white flame, dying down to a strong and steady blue flame a moment later. Warren exhaled and watched the fierce flame, trying to expel as much excess emotion as possible. When he felt calmer and more in control, Warren snuffed out the two fireballs, then followed after his mother and Layla.
...
"If you get caught in the chandelier, I'm leaving you there!" Cara called after her brother.
Craig just laughed in response and flew a little higher, keeping a firm hold on his nephews. He had shifted to Jetstream's form and was trying to use increase his stamina with Jetstream's power while there were no citizens around. "Your mother's just being mean, isn't she?" he cooed at his nephews, grinning.
"Craig, get down from the ceiling or you really will get caught in the chandelier," Honey called.
Craig sighed and pouted but flew down to the ground carefully. "I wonder if Jetstream has the same problem with chandeliers?" he snickered as he shifted back to his normal self.
Cara glared. "Don't talk like that, you sound like a villain."
"Aw, c'mon, sis. It's just a question. She really could have a problem with chandeliers; y'know, like birds not being able to see glass windows?"
"I don't care, Craig; it's not funny," Cara snapped, taking the twins from him and heading out to the backyard.
Craig silently mocked his sister, pulling a face as he headed after her.
Adam rolled his eyes when Craig joined him. "Dude, try to be a bit more subtle, would you?"
Craig snorted. "Dude, there's a lot of things people can call me, but subtle ain't one of 'em."
"No shit."
Seeing the plate of food that Adam held, Craig looked around quickly. "Dude, where'd you get the pigs in a blanket?"
"They're over by the cheese cubes," Adam said, nodding to the table of food and drinks that had been set up.
A large cake covered a quarter of the table, the rest covered in an assortment of foods and drinks that would be enough to feed them all twice over.
"Awesome! You want a drink?" Craig called, already heading towards the food table.
"I'm good, thanks."
"Do they taste okay?" Zach asked Adam, nodding to his plate.
"Does what taste okay?" Adam asked; he had more than one type of food sitting on his plate.
"Oh, the pigs in a blanket. I used vegan sausages; no one's said anything yet, but..." he trailed off, shrugging.
"Yeah, they taste fine. I thought they were hot dogs," Adam admitted. "Wait, you made them?"
"Uh, yeah. They're really easy to make, but I did go a little overboard," Zach admitted, looking over to the three plates he'd filled; there were more sitting in the kitchen.
"Did you make anything else?"
"Everything except the cake; that's Honey's, of course. Oh, and the drinks. Frieda let me use her kitchen all morning. I cook when I'm stressed," Zach added in explanation, though Adam probably could've worked it out for himself with the way Zach was wringing his hands.
"Dude, don't worry about it. I stress eat, so let me know when you're stressed next time, okay? Why're you stressed anyway?" he asked, popping the last of the pastry in his mouth and chewing.
"I thought everyone knew... I, uh, Mrs. Damsale's organising to become guardians for me and Heids. I'm just... I'm worried it'll go wrong, or something will happen and we'll have to go back to Mum and Dad, and... just, y'know, stressed in general."
Swallowing, Adam nodded. "I'd heard Mrs. Damsale talking about it; I didn't know it was happening already. It'll be fine, dude. Frieda's got her lawyer doing all the work; I don't think she's the kind of person who gets things wrong," he said with a grin.
Zach sighed. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean it still won't go wrong."
"If anything does go wrong, you've got like five people who'll put you and Heidi up until it can go right again, okay? Nothing'll go wrong," Adam said, nudging Zach with his elbow.
"What're you two looking so intense about? Dude, have you had these yet? They're freaking amazing," Craig said, brandishing one of the pigs in a blanket in Zach's face.
Adam laughed. "Dude, you seriously got a whole plate?"
"Well, yeah. I'm not missing out, and there's two more plates for other people," Craig said, grinning as he ate another one.
Zach brightened up when he saw that Craig really did have a full plate of his food; in fact, he seemed to have taken the serving plate itself. Ethan called Zach over, Heidi waving beside him. Zach grinned when he saw his sister playing with Toby, Snowball, and Ari. "I'd better go save the dogs from being snuck out under my sister's jacket. Thanks," he added as he left.
"Dude, that was nice of you. I'm concerned," Adam said, raising an eyebrow.
Craig paused mid-bit and frowned. "What was nice?"
"You mean you didn't listen to our conversation?"
"Uh, no. Why, what happened? Any juicy gossip?" Craig asked, waggling his eyebrows.
Adam rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Oh, and you're gonna get sick if you eat that whole plate."
Craig shrugged and ate another one. "Worth it."
"Excuse me everyone, if I can have your attention?" Frieda called out, conversations stopping as everyone looked to her, curious as to what was going on.
Before Frieda could continue, Honey flicked Craig on the ear. "Ow, what was that for?!" he cried out, holding his ear.
"You know what it was for," she said. "Sorry, Mum. Go on," Honey added quickly.
Craig muttered under his breath; he'd only been wondering how many pigs in a blanket he could fit in his mouth at once, it wasn't like he was really going to do it!
Frieda seemed amused at the interruption, but returned her attention to the small crowd. "I wanted to say thank you for joining me today; it's so lovely to have such wonderful friends."
(Somewhere in the crowd, Warren was trying to avoid Frieda's friends Hyacinth and Edith; they had already called him cutie twice. Layla was trying not to laugh out loud at her boyfriend's expression.)
"Today is, of course, Super Heroes Day, but it's also another cause for celebration," Frieda said, smiling as she waved Layla to stand beside her. "The courts have officially signed the adoption documents, and Layla is now legally my daughter."
"Thank you, Frieda. I couldn't ask for a better adoptive parent," Layla said, smiling as a few people cheered and clapped, Craig and Zach whistling loudly.
In the garden around them, the flowers opened up with sweet scents, and the leaves on the trees became shiny and greener than ever before.
Despite her threats and intentions, Greta hadn't made the process difficult at all. In fact, she seemed rather scared during the adoption process, and had all but run out of the courthouse once it was over. Layla hoped that Honey would tell her exactly how she'd threatened Greta sooner rather than later.
...
The party ended after a few hours, everyone going home with containers of leftover food and cake. Frieda promised Zach the use of her kitchen any time he needed it, and Zach thanked her with a quick hug. Heidi stuffed two cheese cubes in her cheeks and signed to her brother, Ethan chuckling when he realised she'd said she was a squirrel. Zach kissed Ethan's cheek and then ruffled his sister's hair, running out of the house when she glared at him.
"See you on Monday, Layla, Warren!" Ethan called out, hurrying after Zach and Heidi.
"Thank you for the lovely lunch, Frieda. Are you sure we can't help clean up?" Anita offered.
"Not to worry. I have a dishwasher for that very reason," Frieda said, waving off her offer. "Have a safe drive home."
"Thanks, Frieda," Richard said, grabbing a few more containers and adding them to their bags while Anita wasn't paying attention.
Frieda tried not to laugh and waved him off as well. Honey came into the kitchen after Richard had left, sorting through the containers to find one for herself.
"Ari's already in the car, so I'll have to go sooner rather than later. Sorry I can't stay longer, Mum," Honey said, kissing Frieda's cheek.
"Not a problem, dear. I'll see you next week for dinner?"
"See you then," Honey said, smiling. She called out goodbye to Warren and Layla as she left.
Realising that neither Warren nor Layla had answered any of their friends' farewells, Frieda went looking for them to see if they were all right. Finding Nina in the doorway of the lounge room, Frieda looked inside to see Warren and Layla dozing side by side on the lounge.
"Warren can stay here if you'd like? He has the night off, doesn't he?" Frieda asked.
Nina nodded. "Mrs. Woo put Kim and Ronnie on tonight's shift; Warren's working a double shift tomorrow instead."
"I can take him to work, dear. You go and have a night off," Frieda said, leading Nina to the front door. "You've got all of your goodie bags, yes? Enjoy them."
Nina was at the front door by the time she conceded defeat. "Thank you, Frieda. Call me if anything goes wrong; I can be here in fifteen minutes."
"Everything will be fine, dear. Have a good night," Frieda said, waving Nina off. When she was gone, Frieda headed back to the lounge room. "When you're both awake, you can load the dishwasher for me as a thank you."
Layla's laughter turned into a snort of amusement. "Thank you, Frieda."
"Not a problem, dear. Next time, just ask."
Warren grumbled something under his breath and pulled Layla close, tucking her against his chest. The dishes could wait.
...
"Zach, if you don't calm down, you're going to blind everyone in here. Breathe, okay? You'll be fine," Ethan said, taking Zach's hand and squeezing gently.
Zach clung onto his hand tightly. "You don't know that! You can't know that, not for sure! Even Honey doesn't know, or she won't tell me, at least," Zach said, his leg jittering.
Ethan sighed and waved to Heidi to get her attention. "Tell Zach he's an idiot."
Heidi frowned at the request, reading his lips since Ethan found it difficult to sign with one hand, but shrugged and signed as much at Zach.
"Betrayed by my own sister," Zach said, still a little too nervous to be overly dramatic.
Heidi shrugged again and signed at him, telling Zach he was making her eyes hurt and to stop glowing already.
Two loud chimes sounded and Zach almost fell over in his rush to stand up to grab his phone.
Ethan was almost pulled off the seat as well, then sat down and pulled Zach back with him. "Stay here; I'll get our phones, okay?"
"Okay... Look and tell me what it says. No, wait. I don't want to know."
Heidi rolled her eyes and flicked Zach's ear, then signed that he was an idiot again.
Ethan returned with their phones and handed Zach's to him. "Here; we'll read them at the same time, okay?"
Zach hung his head and sighed. "All right."
Ethan and Zach opened their phones at the same time, reading the text message they'd received. Beside Ethan, Zach blew out a long and exaggerated sigh of relief. Heidi hit his hand so she could read the screen too, smiling brightly at the text.
"What'd you get, Eth?" Zach asked, frowning when he saw that Ethan was in a state of shock.
Ethan handed him the phone wordlessly.
"You passed everything with top marks?! Holy shit, Eth. I mean, I knew you were smart, but this is... this is like, Mad Professor smart! Whoa," Zach said, grinning broadly. "So proud of you," he added, leaning over to kiss his cheek.
Heidi pulled a face - that was her brother, ewww - but she waved to get Ethan's attention. "Congratulations, Ethan."
He smiled briefly and signed 'thank you' in response, Heidi grinning. "It's only midterms; it's not even the end of the year," Ethan said, biting his lip anxiously. "It'll be posted on the school board on Monday; whoever's in second place is going to want to beat me, so I'll have to work harder to stay on top."
Zach snorted. "You can be on top if you want."
Ethan nudged Zach sharply. "Your sister's right there."
"I'm leaving," Heidi said, pulling another face and flicking her brother's ear before leaving the lounge room.
"What did you get?" Ethan asked.
"One C, and the rest are B's. All of our studying's been helping. I seriously thought I was gonna fail Mad Science," Zach said, glowing brighter on reading his grade.
They both received messages in their group chat from Layla and Warren asking how they went. Zach proudly told them of Ethan's top marks, asked how they did, and then added his own grades as an afterthought.
Layla: Congratulations, guys; that's awesome! A few A's, but mostly B's and a C for English after I failed that assignment earlier in the year; I'll have to catch up for finals.
Warren: I got all A's. Nice work, both of you.
Zach gaped. How the hell did Warren get all A's while working? He sent as much in a text, followed by a string of surprised and stunned emojis.
Warren: Just because I wear a leather jacket, it doesn't mean I'm an idiot, glow stick.
Layla: Warren reads a lot. I'm pretty sure the only reason he comes to Frieda's is so he can read every book in her library.
Ethan: Ms. Bettendorf has a library?!
Layla: Uh, yeah. I thought you'd seen it already?
Warren: He'd still be in there if he'd seen it.
Ethan: Next study group is at Layla's!
Wendy: I thought my place was next? Also, congrats on the marks. B-grade average for me. Donny's still waiting.
Ethan: But... the library?!
Layla: You can just come over and visit, you know.
Craig: You never invited me over to visit!
Adam: There's a reason for that, dude.
Craig: Which is?!
Adam: You eat everyone's food.
Craig: I have a very healthy metabolism.
Adam: With the crap you eat, 'healthy' isn't the word I'd use.
Craig: Whatever. Pass me the Doritos?
Adam: Seriously? They're right next to you.
Layla: How'd you go with midterms?
Adam: Craig got a C-grade average. Mine's B's.
Warren: You've got to do better than that, Craig.
Craig sent a string of emojis, mostly involving a hand flipping the bird.
Honey: Warren's right. Concentrate a bit more on the theory as well as practical, okay?
Craig sent so many sad faces that they filled up the screen.
Craig: Fiiiiiiine. You all suck.
As if they'd all agreed on it, everyone sent back the emoji flipping the bird.
...
"All right, settle down everyone!" Mr. Boy called, his voice and request easily ignored by his class.
"Settle down!" Coach Boomer yelled, just a few decibels below sonic.
The classroom was silent in a second.
"Thank you, Boomer," Mr Boy said in a low mutter. Then he coughed and addressed the class once more. "The results for the midterms have been released. Coach Boomer will escort you to the board listing. Please file out in an orderly... fashion," Mr. Boy finished with a sigh as all of the students ran out of the classroom, almost trampling Coach along the way.
The hallway was a cacophony of noise, and Ethan hung back with Zach, holding his hand and waiting patiently. Thanks to Adam, they already knew their grades. Ethan was more worried about who had the second spot and watched his classmates.
Someone burst into tears and Coach looked decidedly uncomfortable, patting the sidekick on the back as they sobbed into their hands.
"Congratulations, Ethan," Magenta said beside him. "You too, Zach."
Surprised that Magenta had addressed either of them, Ethan nodded. "Thanks; what did you get?"
"Tenth place; not too bad out of fifteen sidekicks," she said, with a shrug and hesitant smile.
"Congrats, Maj," Zach said with a brief smile, and then he tugged Ethan forward. "There's a free spot, come on. Where are you?" he asked, a little too loudly.
Ethan rolled his eyes, but looked along the list of names from the bottom up. "First place," he said, smiling broadly, though his gaze focused on the second name: Eric Takahashi.
Eric was a sidekick who had exceptionally good eyesight with 21/21 vision. It was rumoured that Eric could see an extra colour than most people, though he had no way of explaining what the colour looked like.
Ethan noticed the third name, blinking as he read it again. "Zach? You scored third place."
"Yeah, I - wait, what?!" Zach exclaimed, frowning and peering at the sheet. "But I got a C? What the fuck?" he muttered, looking across at his grades in confusion.
"Apparently the rest of the class got more C's than you did," Ethan said, trying not to grin too broadly. "Eric only beat you by a B minus. Mad Science."
"Oh-oh-ho. Wait until finals; I'm going to beat him by a solid B," Zach said, pointing at Eric, who frowned back at Zach in confusion.
"You're not even going to try for a B plus?" Ethan asked, grinning.
"Hmm. I could be convinced," Zach said, kissing Ethan briefly.
"Hey, no kissing. That goes for all of you. It's bad enough I have to see you every day; I don't want to see you swapping your germs. Now get back to class, and please stop crying!" Coach said, looking very tempted to push the crying teenager away from him.
"It's all right, Gail. Come on, we'll take you back to class," Ethan said kindly, Zach putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her down the hallway back to their classroom. "I'm sure Magenta wouldn't mind taking you to the bathroom to get cleaned up," he added.
Magenta looked about as pleased as Coach, but she sighed. "Yeah, sure," she said. "Come on, Gail," she added, wincing when Gail sniffled, loud and wet.
"That was very evil of you, Eth," Zach snickered, wrapping an arm around his shoulders now.
"I was just being a kind classmate," Ethan said innocently, pushing his glasses up his nose and hiding his grin.
...
Layla covered her mouth, trying so very hard not to laugh. She'd placed sixth out of fifteen in the Heroes sophomore class after being there for only a few months. Will had placed twelfth; his one A was in Coach's Physical Education class, which no one could really argue.
"Are you all right, Layla?" Adam asked, seeing her expression.
"I'm fine," she said, her words muffled behind her hand. She composed herself before lowering her hand. "Where'd you place?"
"Fourth. Craig got thirteenth. He's taken it as a personal insult that Will placed higher than him, so he should be fine for finals," Adam said with a smirk.
"Where did Larry place?"
"First; his parents would probably be horrified if he got anything less," Adam replied.
Layla smiled. "How do you and Craig feel about a little bet?"
"Depends on what we're betting."
"We knock Larry off first place for the top three spots?"
"That's not really a bet," Adam pointed out.
"Fine, I bet you and Craig five dollars that you can't beat me to first place," Layla said.
Adam considered it for a moment as they headed back to class. "You really think Craig'll fall for that?"
"Let's see, shall we?" Layla asked, waving their friend over and proposing the bet.
There was a long moment of silence as Craig considered the bet. Then he grinned, broad and bright. "You're both going down!" he crowed.
Layla grinned at Adam. "May the best student win."
"Oh, I plan on it."
...
Sitting at Layla's study desk, Warren heard an unfamiliar sound, frowning at the noise. Looking around the room, Warren finally thought to look down, and saw vines circling around the chair and, more importantly, his bare feet. Glancing over to Layla, Warren saw that she was sleeping on her armchair and probably wasn't even aware of what she was doing. Sighing, Warren poked at one of the vines with his toe, hoping to nudge it back over to Layla. Instead of leaving, the vine curved up against his ankle, arching like a cat.
Warren suddenly remembered the day Mrs. Williams had died, when Layla's vines encircled her and burrowed into her body, the look of pure bliss and completion on her face. He licked his lips, nervous despite himself, and looked down at the vines properly. "Let me finish my essay first; and wake Layla up, I want her to be conscious for this."
The vines all curved around his ankles eagerly, then raced back over to Layla's armchair, settling and disappearing against her skin. With that done, Warren returned his attention to his essay. He'd made first place in the junior Heroes, and he planned on keeping it that way. (Layla had made a similar bet with Wendy and Donny, hoping to encourage their own scores, and Warren wasn't giving up first place without a goddamn fight. Academically speaking, of course.)
Doing a skim-read of the words he'd written, Warren checked that what he'd written actually made sense, and then double-checked that he'd added all of his in-text citations and corresponding references. The last thing he needed was to be accused of plagiarism and get kicked out of Sky High. Maybe literally, if Principal Powers was having a bad day.
"All right, I'm done," Warren said to the room in general, saving his essay on his USB, Dropbox, and then emailing a copy to himself.
A few minutes after Warren had turned the computer off, Layla woke up, yawning and rubbing at her eyes sleepily. "How long did I sleep?"
"About an hour. Your vines came out to play."
Layla frowned at Warren's words and expression, reaching inside herself to feel for her vines. What did you do?
The answer came in flashes of images across her mind, and Layla sat up, smiling as she looked over to Warren. "You really mean it?"
He nodded. "I figure there's got to be a reason they're still hanging around; I'm curious enough to find out."
Layla straightened up, biting at her bottom lip. "What if it changes you?" she asked, her eyes flashing green.
Warren sighed, stood, and crossed the room in three long strides. He tugged Layla up to her feet and kissed her, hot and firm, melting down to warm and soft. "It won't change what's important," he murmured against her mouth.
Layla opened her eyes, completely green now, and stepped back as her vines started to circle around Warren's feet again. "No, definitely not that."
Warren let out a grunt of pain as the first vine started to burrow its way into his skin. The others followed, one after another, faster and faster until the pain became nothing but a dull ache. He looked at his limbs, green replacing blue, and he could feel the vines changing everything inside of him. He could feel the vines exploring their way through his body, through his skin and bones and muscles down to the very last atom of his being. Then they went into his power.
Warren had always considered himself to be fully in control of his power, that he had reached his full power's potential before he'd even hit his double-digits, but now? Now with the vine coursing through him, opening every last part of him until it found the core of his power, he knew that he'd been wrong. He could feel the vine reaching for his power's core: a hot red flame that burned brightly, and then the vine stretched until it was inside of his power. The flame flared out brilliantly, burning him from the inside out.
Warren wasn't even aware that he was screaming or that he had powered up and was setting Layla's bedroom on fire. Layla simply stood there and watched, her eyes bright green and reflecting eerily in the fire.
Warren's power consumed him, completely and utterly, the vine bursting into bloom inside of his body, flowers and thorns curling around until he was no longer flesh and blood. His power continued to burn, melting the vines and flowers and thorns down to ash, combining his and Layla's powers together. Then it ravaged through him once more, destroying anything left that resembled a human, until he became a flame. The flame that was all that was left and in that moment, Warren felt connected to everything that his fire had ever stemmed from: from the fires raging on Earth long before humans had ever come along, from the lava that erupted from volcanoes deep within the earth, from the Sun and stars burning, from the smallest tea candle with a flickering flame to the dying embers in a fireplace. In that single moment, Warren was every single fire and he burned.
The flames surrounding Warren's body changed from a bright red-orange flame, fading down to yellow, then a bright white, before turning into a blue flame that was barely visible. His eyes turned blue as he looked at Layla, but before either one could say or do anything, Warren collapsed.
Layla rushed forward, dimly aware that her bedroom was no longer on fire, crouching beside Warren and slapping his cheek firmly, hoping he was all right. Just as Layla was about to get hysterical, a strange calm sensation flowed over her body. She sat back, her eyes wide as she realised that her vines were in Warren and not only could she feel her power inside of him, but she could feel him as well. It was another level above their wrist tattoos, and she instinctively knew that Warren was all right. He'd simply experienced a shock that he hadn't been ready for. Layla had, of course, experienced the same shock, but her mind, body, and vines had protected her against the shock. Warren's fire had reduced her vines down to sharp razor-thin wires, and they hadn't been thick enough to absorb his shock.
Layla stroked Warren's cheek gently, coaxing her vines to help him wake up. They might have been reduced to thin wires, but the vines were still hers, and they responded as easily as a daisy on a windowsill.
Warren opened his eyes with a soft gasp for air, blinking at the sudden transition between dark and light. Layla smiled down at him, her eyes bright green, and he grinned back at her with burning blue eyes. "Your turn, hippie."
Layla laughed, delighted and amazed at his response. "Can I lie down or will my bed be destroyed along with the rest of my room?"
Warren stood up, fluid and easy as a flame climbing a hill, and took her hand. "Stay standing; I won't drop you," he added with a warm smile.
Layla smiled back at him, licking her lips as she stood a little taller, leaning close. "This first," she murmured, kissing him firmly.
Warren kissed Layla back, licking into her mouth, his hands hot against the small of her back. He slowed the kiss, running his hot fingertips up along her spine. A brief thought had honeysuckle growing through Layla's hair and with one more kiss, Warren pulled away, curving the flowering vine around to present to her.
Layla's eyes widened in delight. "I didn't even feel it."
"That's because it's mine."
Layla looked between the honeysuckle flower and Warren, comprehension dawning on her face. "You mean... I'll be able to control fire?"
"Let's find out," Warren said with a grin.
Layla tugged Warren down to kiss him one more time. "Okay, I'm ready."
Warren's eyes burned blue as he coerced flames to twine around Layla's body, winding it around her like a piece of string, covering her from top to toe. The flames burned through her clothes, her skin, muscles, bone, down to her very core. They spread through her body, her vines splitting and flowering under her skin, protecting her from the heat itself. The flames raced through Layla, spreading throughout every part of her before it reached her power.
Layla had thought her mother's death had triggered her full power's ability, but she found that she was wrong: there was still a single seed of power left within her, waiting to bloom. The flames curled around the seed, the heat forcing the seed to crack and burst, the power to bloom throughout her body and mind. She realised that this was what her power meant: not just to control plants, but to control the life and death of all life on Earth. She could destroy continents with this power, the power that had existed from the beginning of time, the very first plant that sprouted from the earth to give life a chance. Nature had survived earthquakes and storms and mudslides and famine and fires. No matter what happened, nature would survive.
While her vines took her shock, Layla came back to herself and realised that she was trembling. She felt like she was burning, her body seemingly on fire, but her arms were cold to the touch. Warren smiled and kissed her, and it was like he was fanning a dying ember, the flames inside of her roaring to life under his mouth and hands.
Their kiss ended when Layla pulled away with laughter on her lips and flames burning brightly on her hands.
...
End of the forty-ninth chapter.
