A Touch

by Kaylee

Her eyes were closed, shielded from the late afternoon sun. Emerald hair drifted lazily around her face, lifted and tossed by the slight buffeting of a gentle wind. Those who knew what to look for might have seen the slight shimmer of the air around her slim body... the line of concentration crossing her smooth brow.

Lorna was talking with the Earth's magnetic field.

And it was answering her back.

She wasn't sure just how it had started. Her power had reached out as naturally as breathing, caressing that so familiar magnetic force. She'd forgotten what she'd been planning to do, even. It was lost in the memory of that first alien-and-familiar touch.

A faint smile curved her lips. A week of this now. It was hard to find an uninterrupted moment to steal away and do this, but it wasn't something she was prepared to share with anyone just yet. Now she stood on the roof, surrounded by people in this too-busy city... yet she barely noticed the disturbance they made in the force she communed with.

A hand brushed her face -- yet there was no hand. Lips caressed her forehead where there were no lips to caress with. It was warmth and affection and something very, very tender.

And so lonely. So incredibly lonely.

"I know the feeling," she whispered. Alex. Oh god, Alex... Why hadn't she found a way to settle things with him before... before...

Then a feeling -- not even a word, though her mind gave it voice to aid her comprehension. Easy... Those not-hands touching her face again, that soothing not-caress tracing her skin and warming her. Not alone.

"But you are." Her eyes opened, and... there was nothing there. Nothing for her eyes to see. But she could feel his presence -- a powerful presence that dwarfed her own gift. "More alone than I am."

Almost a chuckle. Her power was stroked with gentle hands asking permission, and she, wondering, allowed it.

A not-quite-whisper-- Close your eyes.

She closed her eyes.

And the world opened up to her.

She would have screamed, if not for that calming presence that carefully moderated how much she took in. The human mind wasn't meant to handle the experience of stretching across the entire face of the planet in an instant.

But he cushioned her adjustment, guiding her. Power given thought. Energy given sentience. Something bigger... more and less human... than anything she'd ever encountered in her hectic life.

How can I be alone? he asked her in that not-thought. I touch... everyone.

Oh god... he did. Everyone. Everything. Touched by him, held by him, influenced by him. Technology held in the palm of his hand. He could destroy it with nothing more than a wave.

And laughter. I'm quite new at this, actually. I only recovered my mind a short time ago.

She fought to keep from letting her thoughts gibber like a mad thing. Focus. Small thoughts. Focus. Recovered...?

Amusement-fear-confusion-acceptance. That's all right. Neither do I.

She saw the whole planet, little pieces at a time. Saw it as he saw it -- energy and lines and larger reflections of the less complete world her power showed her. And it was...

Overwhelming.

Frightening.

All that and more, he 'whispered' to her. Then, in a harder tone-- And necessary. Very necessary.

Why?

Because... Just like that, they were faced with something -- someone -- too familiar for comfort. Someone has to keep an eye on him.

Him. She knew him. She'd recognize this power-signature anywhere.

Though it was... changed... somehow. Restrained, almost. Or maybe... constrained?

Smile-blush-pride-embarrassment. I have a small part in this, yes.

But how...?

I'll show you, if you want. Piece by piece, that expanded awareness was narrowing, fading, receding. With time. Not now. It's too much.

But wait! I want... show me... there's so much...

Later. Gentle easing of that presence. Later.

She opened her eyes. She stood on a rooftop alone, still surrounded by all the noise and bustle of too many lives. "Wait."

A heavy coiling of power, tangible enough to touch.

Lorna took a single step forward. "Who are you?"

A moment of pause. Of consideration.

And then confusion-frustration-sadness-gladness-hope. Me.

There was a last caress -- his power to hers -- and then he was gone again.

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