Power Cut

Wake up! Bid a voice in my head. A woman's voice, sweet and melodious. It sounded familiar. Like mother, but younger.

I don't quite remember what happened. It began with a fight. Not a fight between good and evil, not a fight to protect the innocent or stop the unjust, but a fight between two brothers. An argument. Nothing physical by this point, just an argument to do with the lunch they had had before. Perhaps it was a silly thing to argue over, but now one felt sick and the other one had been complaining about the first's complaining.

My brother had been sick at least five times, I should have given him a break, but no. "Honestly, Thunder, I didn't expect you to complain this much. At least this way you are losing a few pounds, brother."
He glared at me then. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
I felt arms around my waist, but then we both noticed the man. He was staring straight at us, so my temper flared and I snapped at him, asking what he was staring at. He walked over, so I struggled free from my brother's grip.
"Who are you?" I asked angrily, already in a bad enough mood thanks to the argument. He didn't respond, but Thunder could see what the man had been doing. It looked like a laser, and he swore before asking quietly what it was.
"Not something you should have seen. This is my domain." The man said in an even tone.
"It looks monstrous."
"You should not have seen this. Either of you. By the looks of you, you won't be missed much."

That was when he tried to kill us. Obviously, since we have this story to tell, it was not successful.
Wake up! The voice repeated, as I began to come to. Tavis, you have to wake up.
And I did. Above me are the skies, beating down a sweltering heat that had been cold and moonlit when I had fought. My brother was not there, and my head hurt so bad. The man, the strange purple man, had messed with my head, with my memories, he had beaten me with my own brain. Brilliant. I felt hands on me, strong hands helping me up. My brother stood before me then, and still I felt off-colour. It was a strange feeling, like I was in danger, and dizzy from whatever that madman had done to my head, and sometimes I can feel my power, singing through my veins, compelling me to use it, but that urge I can always overcome. Nonetheless, it is an unpleasant experience, and not one to be mixed with heightened senses of danger and fear. There is a pulse in my head, growing louder and faster, and I know what it is, but it sounds like the beating of hooves across hard mud and my paranoia shoots up until there is a bright light and I have to shut my eyes, because I have a migraine now.
"Brother, stop it. Power down!"
I inch open my eyes and realise I am the one making the light. It normally takes a lot of strength to shut off that stream, for both myself and my brother. It seems harder today, but I manage it. Perhaps it was not the food that made Thunder unwell, and I am sick too. I shrug it off and we walk for a while, talking.


Every now and then, I give sideways glances to my brother to check he is okay, and every now and then I notice unusual behaviours. He is biting his nails, wringing his hands, looking about himself nervously, and every now and then sparks fly from him. It appears something is worrying him, and so he is not bothering to keep his powers in check. We have always struggled with our powers. They have always been too powerful for us and so difficult to keep in check and concealed when the time is right. The life we lead does not keep us healthy either, which leads to most of our energy being focussed on either survival or power control. He looks scared, but I say nothing. He would not be very civil if I pointed it out, and with my head pounding from whatever fever had washed over my being, I certainly did not feel up to another argument. I just worried in silence.

He didn't say anything about my distress, which I believed was obvious. I try to stop sparks escaping me, but I fail. He either does not notice, or he does not care. Oddly, ever since our fight with the psychic psychopath, I have had this niggling feeling Thunder has never liked me.

It is when it gets around lunch time. I am not hungry, I still feel very ill, but I assume Lightning is hungry. He has not eaten since lunch the day before, he has just been stressy and anxious. This whole time he has offered only single syllable responses and minor grunts, and my worry about him has increased. Though I was involved in the earlier fight, I was dealt with swiftly, as pretty soon, much to my embarrassment, I was throwing up again. I do not know what the assailant did to my brother, but I am not happy. He will taste my wrath when I next see him.

Thunder's fists are clenched by his sides. He looks angry.

I ask him what he wants for lunch, and he just shrugs. The simple movement sends energy out and I get a static shock. "Lightning." I hiss in a stern tone, wishing for him to play it safer. He looks hurt. "Just keep a lid on the electricity. You could hurt someone. You could hurt yourself."
"I'm fine." I object in the same tone.
"I'm just concerned. You have been behaving strange all day."
I take offence to this. "You think I am strange?" I raise my voice by accident and he gives me a stern look.
"That is not what I said." My temper was flaring, but I kept my voice low. People stared enough as it was without him making a scene.
"What do you mean, then?" I asked through gritted teeth.
I winced at the volume and anger in his tone. "Keep your voice down. All I am saying is I want you to stop throwing your powers about."
"I am not throwing my powers about!" I said in a civil tone.
He shouted it loud enough to wake the dead. The street fell silent and electricity spiralled up his arms, and I knew I would have to tread carefully. Our powers were in sync, I could feel mine building up, pushing against my will, but I held on. "You are causing a scene." I told him sternly. Then he just sort of doubled over, like he was in pain and...

It was like a bomb going off. A bright light, the sound of electrical sparking and buzzing and fizzing, the smash of hundreds of broken windows and the patter of raining shards of death, the harsh whistle of air in my ears. I slammed against a wall or post, and an intense pain arose in my arm. Broken? My gut hurt too, and my head and chest. Well, my whole body ached now, but the force of my own powers in my blood was dying.
I had been struggling to control my powers all day, and suddenly I got so worked up, what I had held back just exploded outwards.
When the light died down, all I could see and smell was smoke and dust. I was on the pavement, and there was a ringing in my ears, but still I could hear the screech of car brakes and terrified civilians. There was a chattering of people who were unharmed and confused, the crumple sound of falling masonry and tinkle of falling glass. I was coughing. My lungs were full of the smoke and dust and I was coughing, and then I heard Lightning call to me.
I ran over to check he was okay.
I saw his feet. He stayed standing.
I crouched down, but I knew from the position he was in he could only see my feet.
It looked like he was standing on his toes. It seemed strange and I, in a confused state, laughed.
I touched his arm because it looked damaged.
He squeezed my arm and I cried out. It was definitely broken. I heard him gasp and stutter out an apology, and then a flash of light blinded me. I opened my eyes and he was gone. He had flown away.
I had flown away.

I had to.

I had hurt him.

I kept on flying until I got to where I am now, sat on the edge of a sheer rock edge, my feet dangling down into the abyss below. It is late afternoon, the sky full of orange and brown hues. He is my brother and I had hurt him that bad just because I was a paranoid little...why am I suddenly so paranoid though? I did not feel this way before...before...

That psychic man, the one who was in my head. He has done something to me! He is the reason all this has happened!

I get taken to a hospital. The bright lights confuse me and all I can think about is how scared and upset my brother had sounded. I want to go to him and find him. They won't let me go as they bandage up my arm and force this strange rubbery thing over my mouth. They insist it is to help me breathe, but I just want to go. I don't care.

The area is devoid of life but for a few lizards and myself. It is pretty much a sandy, dusty wasteland. I do not remember how long I was flying for. I kept going until I could no longer. It is dark and I feel sick. Now I realise what has been going on, I feel more in control, more confident. This deserted place becomes my playground. Although my energy is low, and I wish to sleep, I push myself, force myself to send charges dancing across the sand, watching electric waves kick up sand. I make a light show, try and prove to myself I am in control, but every now and then something goes wrong. Even so, it is almost like a dance. I spin and throw my arms out. Bring them up gracefully, like a ballerina, charged and ready, then shoot in front like I am brushing something unpleasant off of a flat surface. I spin-

And fall? I spin too close to the edge, my foot going over the edge, and then I am falling through space, cold air whistling past, sand stinging my skin. I am too shocked to scream and too tired to fly, so I just fall until something snags the back of my shirt, bringing the neckline in against my throat so fast and hard I black out.

They do not let me leave the hospital, so I get away when they are not focussed on me. I have to find my little brother. I have no clue where he might have gone, and I cannot trace him with our communicators. The reckless child he is, he broke his communicator not too soon after he had first received it. All I can do is go off in one direction and hope for the best. I do not feel unwell any longer. It is late afternoon, leading towards night time. I haven't much chance of finding him before nightfall, but I have to try. I have to know he is alright.

It takes hours before I see the light, literally. It is early morning, possibly about two or three. Either way, it is still dark. I do not know where we are now, but I see light in the distance, bolts of lightning spinning off at seemingly random intervals and directions, but there is a pattern. There is always a pattern with my Lightning.

I swoop in, narrowly avoiding being struck. He has not noticed. He is preoccupied with his show, not quite enjoying it, not quite disliking it, but concentrating hard. He concentrates on the light and its patterns, but not on the space he occupies. I see him spin, awfully close to the edge, and I try to shout a warning, but it is caught in my throat along with a tonne of dust and phlegm. He falls and it is suddenly too dark to see, so I dive off my cloud and reach out into the darkness. I feel something, and I grab. It is not rock or sand, it is cloth. His belt, perhaps. No, not the belt. I know because I hear him gag. I summon the cloud back and here we are, safe and very much alive. I descend slowly to the ground and lay him down gently. It is light again when he comes to. I watch over him for the hour, and then he groans, turning his head as though searching for something. "Brother?" I ask timidly, fearing he may be hurt, especially after the grab I made for him. His eyes shoot open.
Thunder is knelt beside me when I wake up this time, something I feel is rare. When we sleep, he is always up before me and he always goes away for a little bit in the mornings, while I sleep. I always wake before he returns. This time I am lying upon something soft, but more substantial and solid than our clouds. The memories return and I groan again.
"You are okay, yes?" I ask in concern, touching his shoulder gently with my good hand.
I sit up, taking him by surprise. "I am fine. What about you, are you okay? Why did you follow me? Oh...what did I do to your arm?"
He is distressed, so I shush him, drawing him in close for a hug as one normally does when the other is unhappy. "I came to find you because you are my brother, I did not wish for you to be upset."
"But I hurt you. You are in a hospital gown, I really badly hurt you and for no reason!"
I smile. "I do not believe you were in control. Besides, you are my brother and I love you. I would always forgive you, no matter what." I promise, and he relaxes in my embrace.