Trying to find home

23

I arrived to the school before everyone else. Huh. That was new. I was always late to shit. I stood around, listening to music and rubbing my hands over Salem's soft fur. She had fallen asleep while I walked and I decided not to wake her. 

I had only been waiting for a minute when Ned and MJ walked around a corner and Peter rushed out from around another. I ran my hand through my hair before taking my earbuds out. We haven't even done anything yet, and I already just wanted to leave.

"Hey!" Called Ned, waving enthusiastically. I gave a tight smile and a much smaller wave in response. 

We all stood there awkwardly until Peter broke the silence. "Ok, if no one else is going to say anything I will!" I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. He set his back pack down and began to dig through it. "So I was thinking about your abilities today and I wrote down some ideas of what could be happening and things you may or may not be able to do. Where is- oh!" He yanked it out and shoved it into my hands. "Just look through the first few pages and see what you think." I sighed before opening it.

My eyes skimmed over as I chewed on the inside of me cheek. Most of his ideas made a lot of sense. 

"So you think that, somehow, I am manipulating the universe on the atomic level, making it possible for me to change the things around me?" He nodded enthusiastically. He had used soooo many big words in his report and reading still was not my strong suit, so I used a lot of guess work to figure out what the fuck he was trying to say.

"The next couple of pages just are questions about what you know you can do, how you do them, and things to try out." I frowned at the notebook before tossing it back to him and plopping down on the ground.

"I don't feel like reading it," I grumbled, running my fingers through my hair again. "You read and I'll answer." He looked nervous before sitting down as well. Ned and MJ quickly followed suit, Ned sitting on my right and MJ on my left with Peter directly across from me.

"Do you know how to do any healing?" 

"A little. It's really tricky because it takes a shit ton of energy as well as even more precision. I need to know exactly what I'm doing or the whole thing goes off the rails. I healed Salem leg the other day, but that was easier because it was mostly just the bone and she's a cat so." Peter nodded and wrote something down.

"Wait," Ned interjected. "I thought you could heal yourself? Isn't that most of your superpowers?" 

"Self healing isn't conscious on my part. It's kind of like breathing, I don't have to think about."

"Does it hurt?" MJ asked, looking confused. "I've seen you fight and you just keep moving like you can't even feel it."

"I have a really high pain tolerance. I can feel it and it hurts, but I can deal with it." I dug my fingernail into my wrist and pulled down, leaving bloody marks in their wake. I heard the three of them make noises of surprise. I just held up my arm to show them the scratches fading away.

When they healed, I dropped my arm back down. "I could feel that, but it's not the worst thing." Peter went back to writing in his book, face pale. 

"How do you do the teleporting? Is it like the self healing or is it trickier?" I clicked my tongue in thought as I stared at Peter.

"That's instinctual as well, but I don't automatically do it. It's a lot easier than healing people, but harder than healing my self. It's not that bad though. The real trick is teleporting with other people."

"What do you mean?" Ned leaned forward, looking interested.

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle, except there like millions of tiny piece and if you mess up slightly, the persons lungs are where their brain is supposed to be." MJ nodded thoughtfully, but Peter and Ned looked horrified.

"Have you ever been able to change something?" She asked, making me frown.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Like, have you ever been able to change, say, an apple into like an orange?" Huh. I had never thought about that.

"I've never tried."

"Why not?" 

"It wasn't ever a priority."

"What was a priority?"

"Surviving." It got really quiet after that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why are we doing this?" I asked, sitting on the edge of the roof of a near by apartment building.

"Because I want to see how your wings work in flight!" Ned squeaked as he stared at the long drop. He didn't want to get any closer than three steps which was weird. Peter and MJ were both sitting next to me, swinging their legs in the breeze.

"You do realize you are with a girl who can fly and a guy that can swing from buildings right? Like, there's no fucking way you are going to fall off this roof and hit the ground."

"I-I-I know, but that doesn't make this any less scary!" I rolled my eyes before letting my wings fall open and let my feathers spread out to catch the wind.

"Woah," the three of them breathed, eyes wide. I rolled mine, before standing up and letting my suit climb up my limbs. 

"So," I growled, my voice sounding gravely behind the changer. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just fly over head doing the basics." I nodded at Peter before stepping off the ledge. I could hear Ned let out a sharp scream, making me laugh. I snapped out my wings and shot almost straight back up into the sky. I held my limbs close to my body in order to fly faster.

I could hear Peter and Ned talkin excitedly on the roof as I did a few spins and quick turns. MJ was standing there, smiling and watching me fly. It was one of the few time someone had looked at me without thinking one of two things; that I'm a monster or that they wanted to figure out how I worked. For the first time in a long time, I felt human.

After a few minutes, I swooped back down and landed next to them. My suit melted away, but I left my extra limbs out. 

"That was amazing!" Ned exclaimed, smiling broadly while Peter nodded so hard I thought his head was going to fly off.

"It was cool," MJ said with a smile as I pulled my wings close to my body.

I chuckled, stretched my arms and hearing the joints give small cracks from me not using them as much as I should be.

"Yeah, I guess it was." 

So, the art above isn't mine, but it reminds me a lot of what her wings look like. So, if you were wondering what they looked like, that's it. I'm hoping to begin explaining her backstory soon as well, but this one is basically here to give a basic idea of what she can do. Also, thank you to all of those people who comment, add it to reading lists, vote, or read this story. I didn't think so many people would end up reading this story, but it makes me so happy to see people reading it and liking it. Also, I've seen other writers touch on this so I thought I would give you my opinion on it. I know a lot of writers don't like it when people comment things like "please post more" or like "update", but honestly it makes me more motivated to write. It makes me feel like people want these updates and give me inspiration to keep writing. This defiantly isn't true for everyone, but that's just how I feel. Thanks again for everyone still reading and I will try, emphasis on try, to get another update out soon focusing more on her backstory, so if you are sensitive to things like child abuse, self harm, drug abuse, and gore, I would stay away from it. I will leave another warning at the beginning of the chapter and a quick summary at the end of it. It will probably told through a long nightmare.

Also I recently changed my pronouns, so now I go by she/they, I'm pan, and my name is Ace. Thanks ya'll!!!