WHO: Pamela and Harry D WHAT: Harry goes to help Pamela during the Power Swap mess, and things get complicated WHEN: 10/28/16, During the powers plot WARNINGS: PG-13 STATUS: Closed and Complete
Harry felt like he hadn’t stopped moving recently at all. He skidded to a halt as he came to Pamela’s street, then beat feet to where she was staying. He didn’t want her hurting. That was not okay. Sure, they were just friends with benefits, but he had few enough friends period. He wouldn’t give one up without a fight.
At her door, he knocked, bouncing on his toes, staff in one hand, his battle rod in his coat still.
She would be okay, he had to believe.
***
When Pamela had woken up to discover she could see again she thought it was a dream at first, then a gift. Then the spirits has descended in waves. They whispered, screamed, promised, threatened. The blew through her. Appeared and disappeared without warning. That was the worst. The psychic had gotten so used to hearing or feeling them that she’d forgotten how startling it could be to walk into the bathroom and have someone waiting there wanting something from you.
Normally, spells and wards would do the trick. This close to Samhain and in this weirdo place the spirits burned through all of her efforts within hours. That was when she gave a shout out to the people she knew who might be able to help. Possession was a bitch.
Harry was on his way this time. Pamela knew he had his own issues, but he struck her as the type that dealt with shit better when he was helping with other people’s shit. She was pacing by the front door waiting for him so when his knock came she was right there to whip open the door.
Her smile was tight, nervous and she immediately had to look up higher than she’d expected to look into Harry’s face. “Wow. What is it with me and tall guys?”
***
Harry blinked as he looked down at her. “Wait, you can actually see? With your eyes? That means… “ He had gotten used to looking at her face, not doing his usual dance. So his eyes had moved toward hers as she looked up at him and he was smiling until he realized… oh no...
Far too late, he started to jerk his eyes away from hers, and felt his lock on hers. “Stars and stones…”
And then his mind and soul locked to hers, and the soulgaze began.
--images would flicker across her mind’s eye, forever indelibly etched there, a sight her mind would never forget. Images like---
--a young man crying over the body of his father as he was taken away by foster services.--
--A young boy, adopted, hopeful, and meeting a girl who made his breath, even then, rush away in sheer love--
--discovering he was a wizard to be, and joyously starting tp learn magic.--
--that young boy fleeing from the man who had adopted him, and from the girl, who laughed with malice as spells were sent after him by both.--
--that young boy making a deal with a faerie lady, and coming back with the knowledge to beat and kill his tormentor, and then realizing with horror that the girl was inside as well, even as the house collapsed in flames, sending guilt and sorrow forever into his being.--
--A man, now, surrounded by shadows, yet holding his own light, light that came from within, out for others to escape their own shadows--
--fire and flame, air and ice, all flowing from his hands as he defended a young girl with some of his features, as things, like and yet unlike humans, came rushing in--
--staring down at a woman on an altar, who begged him to end it, a woman he loved, and looking around as friend after friend seemed to fall, before crying as he plunged the dagger down--
--Now, the man before her, walking with shadows, guilt, and pain surrounding him, weighing him down, even as a mantle of ice and rage clawed at his mind, ripping at it, pulling at it, and his hand yet raised up, spreading his light where others could see and escape their darknesses…--
***
When Harry looked it was true. Pamela no longer sported plastic orbs for eyes. They were normal, deep brown eyes that held a lot of inner knowledge and amusement in them. But they went wide as she gasped when she got sucked into the soulgaze.
--There was so much to Pamela inside it was a wonder she was sane. Then again, a lot of what she held inside wasn’t hers. They were visions she’d seen, experiences that happened on the psychic plane, but one above all others held sway. She didn’t fear much, but this was a whirlpool of soul deep terror that everything else orbited.
One shining light that could blind the sun. Sound so pure it would deafen you. You could taste it. See it. Feel it. Smell it. It was ecstasy and pain, defying definition and could only come from one source. This was the true visage of a celestial being, an angel. Castiel. And it was this that took Pamela’s eyes from her, burned them from her skull without even being on the same plane of existence.
Pamela hated angels more than anything else in the known universe, and that emotion fought against the whirlpool of fear in the center of her.--
It seemed to take forever to see a lifetime when the reality was it all happened between heart beats. It still took its toll and Pamela dropped limp to the floor.
***
Harry was stunned by the sheer amount of information and intent he got into his mind and soul, and he reeled as he realized she had seen an angel in true form. His mind cried out at that, and he rallied back only because he had witnessed pure soulfire, and he could wrap his mind and soul with it.
As it ended, and she went limp, he reached for her, and caught her just short of the floor, then carried her to the room that just had to be her bedroom, or that of someone like her, setting her on the bed. He checked her vitals and then pulled out a large piece of chalk. Iron and salt-enriched chalk, he used it to chalk a line over her bedroom threshhold, then to inscribe sigils along her floor and walls, before blowing on each one to bring it to life, lending soulfire to send it glowing.
“There.” And the room would be shielded, until he could do better.”
And he collapsed, almost face first, to the floor.
***
It wasn’t long after that Pamela came back to herself, her eyes fluttering open. Everything she’d received from the soulgaze warred for precedence with the memory of Castiel’s true form. And she thought she had seen some shit.
Her room felt quiet. Looked quiet. Except for the wizard passed out on her floor. Pamela sighed as she slipped from the bed to crouch down next to him. “Harry? You still in the land of the living?”
***
Harry groaned as he pushed up, squinting at her, then sighed. “Yeah. Soulgaze and magicwork hangover. I slammed a temporary circle up along your threshold to push out outside influences.”
Harry shifted to a cross-legged stance and took a chocolate bar out, handing it to her as he pulled one out for himself. “Here, take a few bites. Chocolate helps.”
***
“Chocolate cures all ailments,” Pamela declared with a smirk then nodded in thanks as she took the candy.
It was really awesome to have her sight back, and her eyes kept picking out details of Harry she wouldn’t have gotten from touch alone. However, there was something else that was more important. “You want to tell me what that was? Because that was nothing like any vision I’ve ever had before.”
***
Harry laughed. “Not quite. But it can help.”
He settled back as he ate and watched her. “Soulgaze. A hazard of wizards in my world. Most of the time, we do our best to not meet any one else’s eyes. A habit I fell out of when around you since… obviously, that wasn’t a problem.” He sighed.
“The term ‘The eyes are the doorways to the soul’ is a true thing. When a wizard meets the eyes of anyone, even another wizard, the souls connect and each one gets a view of the soul of the other, and worse… they can never, ever forget it. For the rest of their lives, it will be as fresh as what they see every day.” He sighed.
“I’m sorry, Pamela. If I had realized…” he felt like an idiot.”
***
“Lovely,” Pamela replied with a sigh. Her hand pushed back through her hair then she chuckled with a smirk pulling her lips to one side. “Figures. I get my eyesight back and I get walloped with another uber vision that will add another chapter to the nightmares.”
Before Harry could apologize again she held up a hand and shook her head. “No. Don’t apologize. Hazards of what I am.” One of the best damn psychics ever, but that didn’t mean she didn’t See things that didn’t leave a mark. She wasn’t aware that Harry got to see how she lost her eyes.
***
“So I saw.” Harry sighed. “You’ve had an interesting life.” He rubbed his face as he extended a hand to her and gently touched her skin, intoning words. Warmth flowed from his hand and to her body, bringing hopefully, some comfort.
“Once we’ve rested, we can walk the halls of the house, and your room in particular. We can seal it in a circle, protecting you from any effects of the lack of control you currently have.”
***
“It’s like I’m a kid again just learning this shit.” Pamela sighed as she felt things quiet around her. “I thought Mom was nuts until I started hearing things talking to me. Nothing kills a tweener’s social life more than answering people who aren’t really there.”
She grimaced but, as usual, amusement seemed to hover on her lips. “It’ll be better once we get past Halloween and the veil between the worlds isn’t so thin.”
***
“Fun times? And ow, Not fun.” he nodded. “I started having magic and the Sight around then too. Made for interesting visits to the principal’s office.” He chuckled.
“And if what people say, these… strange happenings usually don’t last too long.”
***
Pamela froze as she stared at Harry while her mind connected the subtext dots. The picture it made didn’t make her happy.
“You’re saying I’ll go back to being physically blind again.”
***
Harry winced and slowly nodded. “Maybe. If what people say here is true… that is how it usually works. All effects end after a certain amount of time.”
He licked his lips, and frowned, eyes on hers. “I’m sorry, Pamela. Wish I had better news.” Man, being the honest guy sucked sometimes.
***
Pamela looked off to the side as she took a breath in through her nose then seemed to hold it. All good things must come to an end, apparently. It didn’t surprise her. Disappoint her, sure. But she’d damn well take advantage of it while she had her sight back.
Which meant she looked back to Harry with a smirk. “Wanna see a trick?”
***
Harry cocked his head at her smirk, then answered it with one of his own. “Yeah. I’d like that.” He found himself trusting her, at least a little, after all, he’d seen into her soul.
***
Pamela tucked her chin down as an absolutely nefarious grin formed on her face. In the next moment there was a rush of wind and she was gone. A second later she was back with a bottle of wine and a corkscrew.
“Cures what ails you,” she said as she lifted the bottle in a ta da gesture. “Better than chocolate.” Pamela chuckled. “Oh yeah and I apparently can move really fast when I want to.”
***
Harry laughed, after getting over goggling like a ten year old. She was like the Flash! He had not yet realized said speedster was in the city. “Super-speed? That is awesome!”
And because it was him and her, he couldn’t resist a smirk. “As long as you don’t do everything fast.” She made him relaxed, and able to make silly, corny, and slightly dirty jokes like he could with few people. And that was fun, or so he thought.
***
Pamela laughed as she worked to get the cork out of the bottle. “That’s usually my line,” she said then winked at Harry. “Kinda weird having it turned back on me. Now I know how the guys feel.”
Once the cork was out she took a long drink right from the bottle then handed it to Harry.
***
Harry grinned. “Can’t let you have all the fun.” He was enjoying himself, and that was nice, too.
Harry took the bottle in turn, raised it in salute to her, and drained off a measure. “To taking advantage of chances while we have them.” He paused. “HMmm. There are lots of things you could do, in case this doesn’t last, things to enjoy seeing.”
***
“And I plan on doing just that,” Pamela assured him. “It’s been years since I had my vision and I have this whole album in my head of what people here look like. I want to see how far off I was.” That amused the hell out of her but she was serious about it.
***
“Sounds like a fun plan. If I can help you with anything, let me know, okay?” He took out a bracelet and handed it to her. “This is a shield bracelet. It will keep the spirits off of you, along with any other energy, for short periods of time, an hour or two at the most, each time. My best advice would be to time yourself to come back here before that time is done, until we find a way to get the spirits off your back or… this ends.”
Harry smiled.
“And, Pamela? You have beautiful eyes.”
***
“Any little bit helps,” Pamela said in obvious gratitude as she took the bracelet then put it on. That was SO much easier now that she could see again!
She looked back to Harry for the compliment and returned the smile. “And you have a great smile.” She emphasized that with a poke to his chest. “You should do it more often. Now tell me what I should see first in this shithole town.”
***
Harry grinned at her. “Thanks. I prefer my smirk.” And he gave her his dirtiest, naughtiest thinking smirk, waggling his eyebrows.
“Well…”
And he launched into some ideas he had, some of which included company, some of which did not. Hmmm. Maybe he would convince her to go skinny dipping before her few days were up. Either way, he would find time during this event to be around her.