Fic: Static Nothingness
Title: Static Nothingness
Summary: “What’s it feel like?” Adam glances up at the intruder, startled by the sudden, unexpected sound of her voice. Adam/Elle.
Author’s Note: I heart Elle. Set in my "Just Another Day on the Job" universe, which includes two stories, though you don't necessarily need to read them to understand this short story. This is a little preview of my upcoming piece A Leopard Cannot Change Her Spots, a challenge I‘m working on. Also, I was inspired by the prompt: “What’s it feel like?” from the Sylar/Elle Live Journal Community prompt table. This story is un-betaed. Reviews are love!
Rating: PG-13
“What’s it feel like?”
Adam glances up at the intruder, startled by the sudden, unexpected sound of her voice.
The small figure glides across the room, movements liquid smooth like a large, dangerous predator. Adam fights to keep his face blank, mustn’t let the tiger smell your growing fear.
The petite special moves confidently through the small, gray cell like she owns the place. Perches herself on the metal chair, her blond pigtails bounce around her soft face. Eyes the color of cold spring skies hold such intensity. Adam picks up that something is frustrating her. He watches the dangerous special cautiously, attempting not to have her irritation projected onto him.
So he sits in silence, waiting for the sociopath to clarify herself. Seconds, minutes tick by. She’s staring at the floor, stuck in her head. Adam doesn’t want to know what goes on in that dark mind.
“Emotions,” She glances up, face sparkling with interest, “What’s it feel like?”
Adam stares at the young evolved human, trying to decipher what she‘s really getting at. Was this a trick? Another one of her games?
He speaks slow and neutral, like talking to a person about to jump off a bridge. “Depends on which emotion, love. They are all a little different from one another.”
She cocks her head to the side, golden bangs sweeping over her icy blue eyes. “Sadness?”
Adam bites his lower lip. How do you describe something so fundamental to the human experience?
Elle let's her careful mask slip, her normally playful and childish act is gone, to be replaced by something...unnatural.
Over 400 years old, Adam has never met a sociopath at such a tender age. He knew that she was born broken, but to see it, to see that emptiness stretching inside this lovely little girl, to feel that void... is the most frightening thing he has ever come across.
She looks up at him expectantly. He thinks about his answer for awhile, and she waits for him patiently. It‘s the first time he‘s ever seen her exhibit patience.
Adam sits up and attempts to explain something that is unexplainable, “Well, everyone experiences and understands emotions uniquely. For me, sadness is a pained experience. A lowering of mood related to melancholy, sorrow... helplessness. It is like a thick cloud covering your eyes and all you can see is gray. The polar opposite of happiness.”
“And what is happiness then?” Her small lips press tightly together in confusion.
He sighs to himself. “Happiness is a positive emotional state of satisfaction, bliss, and pleasure. The feeling warms you up, tingling sensations that spread from your toes to your head, that brings about smiles and laughter. Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
She whispers, eyes wide and open. For one shining second, the dark demon looks vulnerable. “And love?”
Adam frowns, knowing that the small sociopath will not understand fully his explanation. How can you love if you can't feel anything? He clears his throat, and the words flow out like memorized poetry, “Love is when another person’s happiness is more important than your own.”
Delicate fingers mindlessly straighten out her black dress. She hasn't done anything extraordinary, but Adam can sense the change in her demeanor. The petite blond is gathering up her thunder and lightening around her body like a shield, or armour. A natural defense mechanism perhaps.
“I don’t feel anything. An empty void of static nothingness.” Her voice is bored. It was like she was talking about something entirely different.
Adam doesn’t know what to say. So he remains silent. Maybe if he stays quite and invisible, she’ll go away.
The sharp snap of electricity makes Adam involuntarily jump. His stomach tightens painfully in fear, his heart is in his throat at the sight of the brilliant blue energy surging between her fingertips.
The child flashes him a wide, empty smile, the mask firmly back in place. Her blue eyes are sparkling like it was Christmas. Her voice is unnaturally high and bouncy, “But it doesn’t really matter. Because I found out how to make it feel…less bottomless. Let's play a new game....”
Author's Note: Reviews are like candy. yum yum yum! ;)