Clouds come floating into my life...to add colour to my sunsets.

Other kids used to play, Briar remembered. Scream as they tagged each other, sprinting around playgrounds.

Despite the allure of friends and their hand-clapping games and songs, Bria had always just stared at the sky. Her favourite thing was swinging higher and higher until the clouds looked as close as her cool breath.

Bria adored the procession of clouds across the sky, their open moods, their fanfare and war drums. Over time, the other kids feared her chill less, and Bria's eyes found a place on the ground.

That was, until her powers properly manifested. Once again, Bria had to find comfort in the sky again, in those steadfast, ever drifting clouds. Her abilities had transcended a mere chill in her skin.

She accidentally made it snow in class, froze doorknobs with ice. And Bria was deeply disappointed. She'd always thought her powers would match her more...

"Honey, do you understand? You're special." The kind man from the special school told her, mistaking her sadness for fear. "You could be a superhero." He strapped blood samples into his case, smiling at her.

"I thought all superheroes could fly," Bria mumbled tearfully, feeling betrayed by her mutated DNA.

She got used to being special too, living off the rush of using and growing her powers. Once the training was over, Bria started grudgingly accepting her abilities. Her life was starting to feel like a series of managed expectations. She had parents that disapproved of her choices, a girlfriend irritated with her unavailability, powers that could only hurt people, and a job that needed her eyes fixed on the ground rather than the sky.

But at least the job was addictive. Bria adored it, the pageant of costumes, interviews, the adrenaline, and of course saving lives. There wasn't a night that Bria wasn't clamouring to be out there. No bruises, broken bones, nothing could stop her. Not going led to panic attacks, a terrifying lack of action that made her unable to focus.

When it all finally got to her, Bria found herself on top of the Bayley building, the best view in the city. She easily sweet-talked the night manager into giving her a key, and she loved it. Loved watching her clouds, her fickle mayfly friends drift across the sky. There was so little chaos up there. No pain, no suffering.

After one particularly horrible night, Bria was blinking away tears, consoling herself by tracing patterns in the candy floss cumulus clouds. And with a bang, a police helicopter started careening downwards.

Bria shot to her feet, gasping. A blur of dark blue shot past her suddenly, slamming into the spiralling helicopter.

The superhero cried out, as the helicopter engine continued burning. Bria took a running leap before she knew what she was doing, rolling into the helicopter and freezing the overheating engine.

The helicopter slowly lowered to the ground and Bria leapt out, startled when she met the eyes of the girl the city would soon dub Nightquake.

"Here!" Bria passed unconscious passengers to her, since the new superhero seemed completely confused about what to do.

Then both of them stepped aside as real paramedics and cops showed up.

Bria watched the mysterious, masked superhero struggle with melted gloves and then sighed, taking her hand and helping her remove them.

"Thanks." The superhero said, picking at the spandex-leather mix that had fused to her light brown skin.

"Who are you?" Bria asked, frowning a little. Masks were not allowed in Sentinel City, superheroes operated within the law, or not at all.

And despite the hype, useful flying superheroes were rare. She'd know this powerful superhero by now.

The girl's wry smile gave way to laughter. "I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you." Brown eyes were warm with the adrenaline rush and Bria rolled her eyes, okay cutie.

"Uh." Dark brown eyes crinkled under a silly mask, and brown curls kept finding their way into her smoke-darkened face. "I hope I'll see you around." And with that, the new superhero flew off.

"Oh, I should not do this," Bria murmured, squinting into the starry night the stranger had disappeared into. Her legal superhero comrades would be annoyed Bria didn't arrest the vigilante, no matter how adorable her eyes were.

Bria might have succeeded in strangling the feelings if they didn't keep meeting. Nightquake was obnoxiously positive, sarcastic, and delighted with everything about being a hero.

Bria was in love. She'd finally met someone with her energy, her sense of adventure. And while neither of them ever called them dates, they had pre-dawn picnics on high towers, Bria built ice palaces in the middle of nowhere for movie nights. And Nightquake flew Bria into the night sky, getting them dizzyingly close to a massive full moon.

Bria could have kissed her.

The city and legal superheroes were warming up to Nightquake too, and Bria started getting ready to bite the bullet and ask her out.

Right when it all looked perfect when Nightquake revealed her true identity. Mel died.

Mel was a whistleblower, a low-level superhero and Nightquake's best friend since middle school. In the era of the internet, Mel easily shared the brutality of some of the shitty, superheroes.

It needed to be done, but the backlash was faster than the retweets.

Nightquake and Bria were arguing in Mel's defense when Hero Plaza went under strict lockdown. Mel was trapped by a supervillain, and none of the legal superheroes were allowed to go help.

Powers or not, even Nightquake couldn't bust her way out of the building. So Mel died, horribly.

Bria would never forget the moment So-Nightquake got the news. Remembered the absence of clouds at the funeral, Nightquake's shaking hands as they lowered what was left of Mel into the ground.

And everything changed.

Bria spent night after night on the Bayley building, even after it blew up. The sky waited for her, but for once, Bria wasn't interested.

She spent hours watching the coverage of an angry hero go through the motions. Ignore Bria's calls and pleas, while channelling rage and grief into violence.

Eventually, Bria couldn't keep her own life on hold. She got pulled away on missions, and Nightquake committed acts so careless that even staunch superhero supporters got freaked out.

The supervillain with Mel's blood on his hands got caught. Nightquake didn't get over it, and after a world-threatening mission where Bria almost died...she decided the bullshit had to end.

Bria waited under the banner of sombre, grey clouds, yelling out Nigthquake's other name. The name barely represented who she was anymore.

Right when Bria started giving up, her heart seized, spotting the familiar blue. She refused to show her full happiness, calmly sipping on grape soda. The suit looked beat up, the midnight blue of it lighter, and her ridiculously theatrical friend appeared, looking cautious.

Bria studied those detached eyes. "Miss me?" She asked, determined. She wasn't leaving today without her friend.

"Always." Nightquake smiled a little, and Bria couldn't stop her heart from squeezing. This girl was going to literally break her heart, and Bria hoped she could fix hers.

The clouds drifted, and life moved on, again.