AN: I have a love/hate relationship with this chapter, but in the end it'll do. I just think there was too much dialogue, but at the same time, there's plenty of character development, so it kinda balances in the end. Though not my best piece of work, I can't say I hate it. I apologize in advance for those of you who get tired of dialogue easily.
But this, at least in my mind, is a chapter for Claire fans! Which I am! I love both Bella and Claire to bits, and Peter is just so wonderful! Although I figure he's more apprehensive about Bella knowing—considering he's kinda stressed right now, what with the whole "I just blew up my brother" fiasco.
Also, you now kinda know why Claire is here and all that, though not the whole background. You'll find out though, promise!
Um…I hope you like the Bella/Claire friendship. Because the first half of this story will detail that (probably the next few chapters) before I begin to put in Peter/Bella romance. Though it's not like they'll remain strangers or anything, so don't worry about that, lol.
Also, I have a few WARNINGS! One being that I have decided there will be a lime in this story—also known as a not quite so graphic lemon. I will alert you which chapter it's in and warn you somehow, but I want you to be aware. ALSO! This whole piece won't be in BPOV. While mostly, there will be parts that I NEED you to see, which she won't be involved in. So it'll switch to THIRD PERSON POV!
Just wanted to make sure you know! ;)
Now, on with the show. I hope I did well!
Immolation Chapter 4: Friends
"Friends can also come from unexpected places…"
"What?" Peter asked, dumbfounded. Claire sighed and rolled her eyes, walking into the living room. Wordlessly, Peter and I followed after her—he allowed me to go first, but we didn't even look at each other. I couldn't help but feel extremely awkward around him, knowing what he could do and what he was.
"It was a joke, birdbrain," Claire teased him as he sat on the chair across from Claire and I. "But I was telling Bella here about some things...and I showed her your book. You don't care if she borrows it, do you?"
His eyes widened again. "You told her?"
She narrowed her own. "Like I had a choice. You're the one that showed her your powers in the middle of the friggin' forest!" He sighed and looked over at me.
"I didn't even think telling you I had a niece would backfire." I smiled sheepishly, but he just ran a hand through his hair. "So you know what Claire and I can do." I nodded slowly.
"I'll never tell, though. I promise." I looked both at he and Claire to confirm that they believed me. She nodded happily, accepting this, but he looked at me warily.
"I hope not. Noah said we have to lie low for a while. That explosion caused a stir I guess." I cocked my head to the side.
"Explosion?" He looked at Claire questioningly.
"You conveniently left out that part, didn't you?" She shrugged.
"I might've forgotten to mention it." He groaned and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling for a moment, before turning back to me.
"Well…basically, I absorbed a power I couldn't control and ended up exploding. I had asked Claire to shoot me in the back of the head so I couldn't heal, but Nathan flew in and took me to the sky before she could." He looked away with tears in his eyes. "Almost no one was hurt," he whispered.
Understanding dawned. "That's what happened to Nathan." He nodded. I licked my lips and looked to Claire, thinking about how Lucky Peter was to have absorbed her ability, or surely he would have been dead by now. While thinking of that, I recalled how she had me stab her, and the way the blood nearest to the injury seemed to be sucked back in as if by magic…
It was like a puzzle coming together in my head. Claire's power had to rest somewhere, and surely that was in her blood, a substance that could travel around her body quickly enough to heal whatever needed it. I gasped and smiled…but frowned again. Would my semi-idea work?
"Claire…" I began, and she looked over at me. "Nathan…he's your biological father." She nodded. Well, that led me to believe that worrying about different blood-types wouldn't be much of a problem. I continued to mull it over for a moment before she interrupted me.
"Why do you ask?" She didn't seem to be catching on and looked genuinely curious—same with Peter.
"Well…" I started, but paused. I wasn't sure how to voice my thoughts. "What's the one substance that, even in normal people, reacts to help injuries? White blood cells fight infections, platelets scab cuts over, et cetera…" She rolled her eyes at me, but Peter seemed to be on the edge of understanding where I was going with this.
"Can we skip the science, please?" I licked my lips and nodded, deciding to just pretend I didn't hear the sarcasm in her words.
"Well, yours seems like that—it helps your body with injuries, only super fast. So, I figure the thing that actually heals you is your blood itself—that's where your power lies, if you will." I waited for her to process this. She took one of her lips between her teeth and nodded, still looking slightly confused. Before I could continue, Peter gasped.
Understanding was scrawled all over his face. "Are you saying…if we inject her blood into Nathan…it might do the same thing for him as it does for her?" I nodded.
"Being that he's her father, I doubt we have to worry about different blood types…and it would be worth a try, to see if we could heal the rest of his burns." Claire looked worriedly over to Peter.
"Do you think it could work?" He shrugged at her, looking between the two of us.
"I don't know…Bella, do you think we'd need a lot of blood?" I bit down on my lip. Would we need to take an excessive amount from her, or would just a little do the trick?
"I'm not sure…I suppose we could start with a little, and if he needs more just take some more…but we don't wanna take too much." I looked over at Claire, trying to see if she was willing. She sensed my question.
"I'd be fine with doing it. The only problem is…where would we get a needle?" Peter laughed.
"Noah got me a job as a paramedic down at the local hospital. I'm sure I could snag a syringe." Claire stuck her tongue out at Peter for the correction, but looked over to me, her eyes full of awe.
"You're like, a genius, Bella," she whispered. I laughed and waved it off, a blush flooding my cheeks.
"It was nothing, really. I just…"
She interrupted. "Yeah right! I never would have thought of that! It's like you just figured out how my…power…worked…" she trailed off, not looking at me, and bit her lip. I sensed that this was probably a touchy subject for whatever reason, and opted to change it.
"Thanks. But I'm really no super-genius or anything," I laughed nervously, and she did too, her mood lightening. Peter just watched us, a slight smile on his face. I turned around, looking for a clock, and saw that it wasn't even dark yet, so I didn't have to worry about going home. But then again, I didn't know what time it actually was—as the clouds could skew the time of day—or even what day it was! I had been too wrapped up in my misery to even notice.
"Um…what day is it?" I asked hesitantly.
"Friday," Claire chirped. "Why?"
"Just wondering…I've kinda been out of it for a while, so I didn't really keep track." She nodded sympathetically as I wrapped my arms around my torso again, feeling the true pain his leaving had presented me with—my numbness had disappeared, and I was unable to call it back. Claire, surprisingly, wrapped an arm around my back.
Peter didn't seem to understand what had me down, though. "Is something wrong?"
Claire shot him a look, and I bit my lip. "Girl stuff." She seemed to know that I just needed a distraction, and began to ask me questions.
"So, Bella, tell me about yourself."
I smiled thankfully, scooting backward into the soft couch and looking up at the both of them. Claire grinned, as did Peter, encouraging me to speak.
I laughed nervously. "Nothing flashy like blowing up or anything. Really, I'd rather hear about you guys." I knew there was one thing I could tell them that would be of interest, but I didn't want to. I was using this conversation as a distraction, and consequently was not about to drudge up painful memories.
She shook her head. "Today's been all about me so far—after those kids at school, I'd rather hear about someone else for a while." I bit my lip again, knowing she wasn't about to budge. I glanced at Peter, and he seemed to be waiting for me to speak, so I sighed dejectedly, used to being bullied into things.
"When I was small, my mother divorced my father because they were young when they got married. She took me to Phoenix and we lived there the whole time, until she got a husband who's a minor league baseball player. I knew she wanted to travel with him, but couldn't because of me, so a few months ago I came…here," I said the last word as if it was a curse.
"Is here a bad thing?" Claire asked.
I laughed. "Imagine today's weather every day. Yeah. I love the sun…and the sky…and the heat and desert…and I could only take my little cactus." She laughed with me.
"Wait," she began, grabbing my wrist and bringing my arm up for inspection. "How the heck did you get so pale in Arizona? Didn't you ever leave your house?" She looked at me disbelievingly, and Peter chuckled.
"Um, yeah. But I remained ghostly somehow," I sighed. I looked at her skin with a hint of jealousy. "I wish I could be like you, tanned and beautiful and all that. But it didn't happen." I smiled, joking more than serious, but she furrowed her brows.
"You're like, really pretty though," she said it like it was totally obvious, and I was a moron for not noticing. I laughed.
"I wish."
She sighed, seeming to give up, and grumbled something I didn't catch. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, tell me more."
I looked at the floor, trying to think of something to say. "I love to read and just hang out with any family and close friends. I'd rather sit in my comfy clothes at home eating ice-cream than be out all day at the mall. I'm walking a fine line between clumsy and handicapped, I'm at the top of all my classes…except for gym, obviously…I love to draw, even though I can't…yeah. That's about it." I also dated a vampire that thirsted for my blood. Nothing extraordinary.
Claire sighed. "I wish I was like you. I hate it when people think I'm an airhead just because I'm a blonde cheerleader."
I gasped with fake surprise. "You're not? I never would have guessed." She punched me and I yelped, rubbing the tender area.
She laughed, "I'm sorry. I didn't actually hurt you, did I?"
"No," I sighed. "I get hurt really easy, so it's not like I'm not used to it. I'm the wimpiest person I know." I huffed at that knowledge.
She laughed again. "Are not! You didn't freak out when you learned that there are people who have superpowers, which is pretty amazing!" I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head.
"Well," I began, looking at Peter. He chuckled and finished for me.
"She fainted when she saw me regenerate." Claire looked at me for a moment, her lips twitching, before bursting out with laughter.
"Wow," was all she seemed able to say. I rolled my eyes, muttering, "It's not that funny…"
"In my defense," I said hastily, "I was beat up and depressed and cold and tired and all that." I looked over at Peter again, deeming that Claire had a little while before she got over her giggle fit. "Speaking of which, how did you get me out of the forest?"
He shrugged as if it were nothing. "I took Nathan to the hospital, but then saw a poster with your face on it and knew I had to go get you. So I flew down and got you out of the forest." He shrugged again.
My mouth dropped open. "But I was dead weight! I must have been so hard to carry!" He rolled his eyes at me.
"You? You couldn't weigh fifty pounds soaking wet. Besides, I kind of have super strength too…" he trailed off, and, if possible, my mouth dropped open further.
"Just how many powers do you have, exactly?" I stuttered. He sighed.
"Mimicry, regeneration, flight, strength, telekinesis, telepathy, invisibility, radioactivity, precognition, the ability to bend time and space…" he trailed off, before nodding.
My jaw had hit the floor. "That many?" I whispered.
He nodded. "That many."
I shook my head, barely noticing that Claire had stopped laughing. "Wow," was all I could get out. Peter had just listed ten different powers off to me, all of which he possessed. He had to be the most powerful person I had ever come across, vampires included. He had the strength—though I didn't know if he was quite as strong as them—the telepathy—which made me wince and curl in on myself again as I tried to forget just who else possessed that power—the precognition—and in the book, his ability was listed under empathy. So I guess that counted.
He beats my vampires a million times over, I thought wryly.
"How do you…how do you control them all?" I asked finally. He sighed.
"Not easily. As you know, I nearly blasted away .07 percent of the world's population." I nodded.
"Yeah, but…that just seems…so amazing. Way more amazing than—" I stopped myself, and Claire and Peter didn't seem to notice the pause in my words. "…anything I've ever heard of."
"Ain't it?" Claire said, and I could detect a hint of pride in her voice. "He's probably one of the best heroes out there. So far he's saved how many lives? Mine, yours, the world…"
"I did not save the world," he defended, and I think, if I wasn't mistaken, there was a slight blush on his cheeks. "Nathan was the one who flew us into the sky."
She rolled her eyes. "Before that, dummy." She turned to me, a conspiratorial smile on her face. "Peter got this message from this man—Hiro, that was his name, right?" Peter nodded. "Anyway, Hiro told Peter that he had to save the cheerleader to save the world. Which was me. And, look, I'm still here." She giggled. "So he totally saved the world like a real superhero!"
I looked over at him, and again the only thing I could say was, "Wow."
He rolled his eyes playfully. "Right now, you make me regret saving you." She picked up a pillow and threw it at him, but it bounced back off of thin air and hit her softly. She stuck her tongue out in defense, but then it got sucked right back into her mouth. Peter grinned.
"No fair," she huffed at him. "Didn't we just discuss how amazingly super-powerful you are? D'ya really have to rub it in?"
He seemed to contemplate it, before smiling smugly, "Yeah, I think I do." She pouted playfully, and I inched over to the pillow on my side of the couch, flicking it at him. He didn't seem to notice in time, and for once, something I threw actually hit its target.
He looked over at me, stunned. I grinned, and Claire laughed, before sticking her hand out for me to high-five. We giggled happily, before something softly whacked me upside the head. I looked over at Claire to see her looking behind me. I turned and saw a pillow, floating in midair, making its way back around to Claire to deliver a blow. I laughed as it took a swipe, purposely missed, and then fell with a small plop on the top of her head. Peter grinned at us.
And then, just as she was about to launch it back at him, their phone rang, startling everyone. Peter jumped up and disappeared down the hall, where we both heard his end of the conversation. "Hello? She is…hold on…" He paused for a moment, shouting. "Bella, your dad is calling."
I hopped onto my feet, wobbled for a moment, and then padded down the hall to see him standing there, before he handed it to me. All of his playful attitude seemed to be gone, replaced with that same apprehension, and I didn't look at him as I took the phone and muttered a thank you. "Dad?"
"Bella, it's getting kinda late. Are you coming home or staying there?" I bit my lip.
"Can you hold on a second? I'll be right back." I set the phone down on a nearby table, flittering down the hall to the living room, where they both looked up at me. "Claire, will you still drive me home?"
She nodded. "Sure. Unless you wanna stay the night?" She seemed hopeful.
I felt my eyes widen. "Do you want me to? Would it be alright?" I looked at Peter.
"I don't mind. I'll have to set you up on the couch, but…"
"No, she'll sleep in my room! What else will I do with that big bed?" Claire said. I licked my lips, unsure of that idea.
"Are you sure Claire? I kinda talk in my sleep…and I don't have anything to wear…" She waved me off.
"You'll probably fit in something of mine…and I have plenty of stuff that I never wear you'll probably like." She appraised my simple dark jeans and black t-shirt with slight disdain. "Not to mention I'm a heavy sleeper. It'll be fine." She grinned.
"Okay…I'll go tell him then…thanks so much, the both of you," I added before I left the room.
"Dad?" I asked again. "You still there?"
"Yeah. So are you coming home?"
I twirled the cord of the phone around my pinkie. "Actually, can I stay the night and come home tomorrow?"
He seemed surprised, again, but agreed. We exchanged quick goodbyes and I wandered my way into the living room. Only Peter sat there, and I hesitantly took my place across from him. He smiled, and I simpered nervously.
"So Bella. You don't have any special abilities I should be aware of, do you?" I shook my head.
"No. I'm pretty ordinary."
"Good. I don't wanna spontaneously combust or something." We both laughed slightly, but it was awkward without Claire. Speaking of which…
"Um, where did Claire disappear to?"
He threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing down the hall. "She went to get you some pajamas and extra sheets. Also to clean up the blood in the kitchen and the clothes on the floor."
I jumped up, "I can't let her do that all alone! I'm the one who stabbed her!" I felt terrible for making her shoulder the responsibility, and ignored Peter's weird stare, ambling into the kitchen. The clothes were gone, but the blood had dried on the floor. I looked around for a rag or something, finding a sponge, wet it, and began to clean the blood away.
Claire traipsed into the kitchen just as I was done. "Wow, thanks. You didn't have to do that, you know."
I shook my head. "I stabbed you, after all."
She laughed. "I made you." I waved my hand, dismissing the subject.
"You're letting me stay over, so I should help out while I'm here." She rolled her eyes, but handed me some sweats and a t-shirt instead of replying.
"Thanks again, really," I said quietly. She shook her head.
"You're the first person here who just wants a friend. Everyone else either wanted to get some juicy gossip or get in my pants." She giggled, and I cursed my pallid complexion as I blushed.
"Trust me, I want neither. Well, I mean, a friend is nice, but I don't want gossip or…you know…" She laughed again, but then pouted.
"You mean you're not into that stuff? I was so excited!" I felt my heart speed up as my jaw dropped in dismay, but then she began to laugh, and I realized I was an idiot for believing her.
"You scared me for a second," I said, laughing with her. She winked.
"I try. But c'mon, let's go do something." With that, she instructed me to follow her into her room, where she pulled out many different board games. Hours passed with us just hanging out together—I wasn't sure where Peter was or what he was doing, but I could have sworn I heard him talking or something. I brushed it off.
It was late as Claire and I laid down, and we were laughing. I found that not a trace of my pain remained with me—and I really did feel like Claire and I were two normal human teenagers, hanging out together. She had kicked my butt at Sorry while I had stomped her at Clue—it was like any other sleep-over.
I sighed. "Thanks for letting me stay over, Claire. I've had an awesome time, and I…kinda needed it." She shifted to lying on her side, propping her head up on her elbow. Strange shadows were cast upon her face from the dim glow of her small lamp.
"Speaking of which…" she began. "I saw the way you acted earlier when you talked about being out of it. Is something wrong?"
I licked my lips and looked toward the ceiling. "It's nothing, really. I don't wanna talk about it right now." She shifted back and looked at the ceiling with me.
"That's cool with me. I just thought I'd ask." I nodded.
"Thanks. That really does mean a lot to me. You're probably, like, my best friend right now." I laughed without humor.
She started at that, silent for a moment. "But we just met."
"Isn't that sad?" I said bitterly. "But pathetically, it's true."
She shrugged, not looking over at me. "So you're a loner. Who cares?"
"Everybody," I sighed, and my eyelids began to droop as the revelations of today started to wear on me. She glanced over, before yawning, and I copied her.
"It's late," she pointed out. "We oughtta get to sleep. D'ya think tomorrow you could show me around town or something?" Her tone was hopeful.
"Sure, sure. Although there's really not much to see—unless you wanna browse the grocery store." We both shared a laugh. "But how about Port Angeles? It's full of stores you'll probably like, and I need to stock up on books anyway."
"Sounds good," she replied sleepily. "'Night Bella."
"Goodnight," I answered back, before we both rolled the opposite way, she shut off her light, and we fell asleep.