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

Written in response to: Write about a character who loves cloud gazing. ... view prompt

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LGBTQ+ Sad Romance

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

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.

April 26, 2022 22:48

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11 comments

Sharon Hancock
01:22 Apr 27, 2022

Fantastic love and superheroes story! "Always." Nightquake smiled a little, and Bria couldn't stop her heart from squeezing. “—I really like this line. That’s exactly how it feels! Like your heart is squeezing! Great job! I enjoyed it a lot!😻

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Moon Lion
04:39 Apr 27, 2022

Thank you so much for reading again, I love your comments :)

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Pencil L
04:59 Apr 27, 2022

You vary subject matter, characters, et cetera, a lot, but I think it's hilarious how consistent you are with your romances. Be careful just a little bit here, because you meant to show Bria's perspective and story but we've gotten more insight into Nightquake rather than Bria, especially near the middle.

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Moon Lion
16:35 Apr 27, 2022

Oh right right. Okay, I'll add some more about Bria in the middle there ASAP. Thanks for letting me know!

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JK Bowling
04:51 Apr 27, 2022

We finally learn the truth about Mel (and it's so sad). This was a nice way to clear up loose ends, but I'm wondering how you're planning to proceed? Will this series be more political or more action?

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Moon Lion
16:33 Apr 27, 2022

Oh that's a good question. Thanks for reading, and I have absolutely no idea haha.

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I loved this! So sad but dark and very well-written. Amazing job!

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Moon Lion
23:12 Apr 26, 2022

Thanks so much for reading! It's a bit of backstory into a character I'm working on.

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Graham Kinross
22:15 Jun 20, 2022

Been watching The Boys, the grim reality of this makes me think of that or Jessica Jones more than conventional superhero stories. I like how grounded it is, despite the flying and the powers. It’s hard to imagine anyone with powers not getting arrogant and dangerous. The pull of friendship could easily bring Bria down if Nightquake gets in trouble as well, that gives it tension. I look forward to more.

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Moon Lion
04:35 Jun 21, 2022

That tension is exactly what I was trying to convey, thank you for reading so insightfully and commenting again :)

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Craig Westmore
00:47 May 03, 2022

So this is how they first met. Nice backstory. I got the impression from the previous entry that Bria had it all together and Nightquake was the mixed up one.

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