Who: Carol Danvers What: Pushing herself to her limits Where: Between the Earth and the Sky. There’s a bright comet this morning When: January 19th, early morning Status: complete Rating: PG-13 Triggers: mentions of medical stuff
Carol couldn't stand not being able to fly. For a week at Christmas she'd spent a lot of time in the air alone, or ferrying Jess around, simply because she knew she could fly safely. No airplane, no stress, just her and the air flowing around her body. Now, the headaches and nose bleeds had returned, and she was starting to feel resigned to her fate.
Except she'd dreamed. Dreamed of pushing herself to her limit. For a good cause. Because she knew what this growth was, even if she had no clue how to explain it to others. How it had come to be and how it related to her origin. The one thing she did know was that she couldn't risk the side-effects to the people around her. Her memories coming true, in a literal sense. She didn't need her villain's roster coming to life and making her life even more miserable. People could get hurt. She should have done this a month ago.
So Carol stood atop a hill and held her hands up to the sky. Just to reach a star. Just to touch a star, grab it and make it her own.
Light surrounded the woman, engulfing her, and in the place of her clothing was her costume, yellows and blues and reds. A moment later she shot into the air, a boom rumbling in her wake. She became a reverse shooting star, bright against the darkness. Another boom as she went faster and faster, and windows rattled in the city sleeping below.
At sixty seconds she felt the pain in her skull. The growth pulsed, sending agonizing signals throughout her body. She pushed herself faster. Burn it out, make it burst and let her healing factor bring her back. There was no city to save tonight, but even a hero sometimes had to save themselves.
Carol’s fingers stretched towards the stars. Then the only thing she knew was pain. She blacked out as she fell back to Earth, an inferno raging around her body as the comet in the sky blazed towards the ground.