A Killer, and a Queen (Open to a Hero)

The catchy tune of "Under Pressure" rang out through the Dominion Theatre as a silent audience watched the actors carry on in the Queen-inspired musical. While everyone stared at the actors on stage, they were staring right through Aurora.  Aurora being the name of the girl standing on the stage, currently waving her arms and yelling out at the crowd. The small brightly dressed girl had long rainbow-colored hair, but nothing about her appearance remained true for long. In the next moment she looked the same, but stood tall enough to touch the ceiling. She yelled in a booming voice but still no one noticed her. In less than a moment she was a gigantic elephant parading across stage, lifting its trunk with a mighty trumpet...yet still everyone acted as if she was invisible.

It was completely understandable of course, since she was invisible. Well, technically speaking she didn't exist but usually she could create the illusion that she did exist, and then create a separate illusion that should was visible since existing and being visible are hardly the same thing. It's a difficult concept to fully explain in English, or any language in this world for that matter. Unfortunately since she was an idea that meant if no one thought about her she didn't exist, and Rory was easy to forget. Most people forgot about her as soon as she left their sight.  Usually there was enough of her left in the backs of peoples minds to have a hold in this world, but she had been away for some time taking care of her imaginary kingdom in the dream world. Imaginary kingdoms are quite real if you yourself are imaginary, Aurora took her duties very seriously. Even if it meant risking fading from the real world forever, though she dreaded the thought. There was so much to do here: So many songs to listen to, films to watch, art to see.  

She was still able to cross over to this world though, which meant there was still hope. She just had to find someone who could see her. Someone in touch with otherworldly forces, with a developed third eye...or maybe even just someone who was very in touch with their imagination. Either way Aurora figured she'd be able to find someone if she went to a theatre. There's tons of people watching, and all of them are already using their imaginations. It shouldn't be that much of a stretch for them to see Aurora. Unfortunately this was the third one she'd been in with no luck. Dejected and forlorn, Aurora returned to the form of a colorful young woman and levitated across the stage to a side exit. She couldn't actually open any doors of course, since she couldn't manifest herself physically. She just had to pretend she was something that could slip through the cracks. Aurora seemed to melt into rainbows and slip under the door, reforming on the other side.

Rory was so caught up in her moping that for a moment she didn't see the unfortunate scene in front of her. A rather unsavory looking fellow, tall and ghastly skinny in a dirty suit, had a knife in one hand and a young girl in the other with the intention of setting the former upon the latter. Apparently the man was dissatisfied that the girl had refused to perform a certain job for him.Rory yelled but of course no one could hear her. She tried to pull the man's arm away from the young girl, a short girl with short unkempt black hair and a dirty hoody. She couldn't be more than thirteen. Of course, her efforts were futile. Aurora's hands passed through the man like she was a cartoon ghost. Aurora seems to be on the verge of tears for a moment before flying out of the alleyway towards the street. The amount of innocence being thrown away here, it was worse than simple murder.  

Aurora flew threw the crowds of people milling about London's West End Theatre section this particular night. She was not only colorful, but bright and flashing. Her body pulsed with every color of the rainbow shining bright like disco lights. She flew from one person to the next, pleading with each one to see her. If only someone could see her, then she could get help for the girl. It was her only chance. "Come on! Somebody see me! I'm bright and loud!" She screamed as she flew about, tears welling in her eyes. "Help! Help! Damsel in distress! Emergency!"

Seathe was reclining in his small apartment when he felt it. The same feeling he got each time he used his illusions, the only problem was that he wasn't using any illusions at the moment. He got up and threw in his cloak and a pair of boots, and as he finished he heard the scream down on the ground level.

He busted through his apartment window(for the 32nd time this month) and levitated down to the ground as fast as possible and began looking around for some kind of crazy scene, like a murder, a poor woman who's purse had been stolen, a child running out into the streets in front of a speeding vehicle. What he found was none of those things. What he found was clearly an illusion, but it was a bright flashing thing, hovering in the air, tapping on people's shoulders who were obviously unaware of her presence.

"Excuse me, what exactly are you and what is the matter?" Seathe asked calmly.

As Rory continued her fruitless efforts to convince someone she existed, she heard a crash from nearby and saw a body falling out. "First the girl under attack, now some maniac is kicking people out windows?" Of course Aurora hadn't actually seen anything of the sort, she just invented the fact that someone kicked the person out the window. Aurora was great at inventing things. Upon closer inspection, she realized the man landed relatively gracefully, and must have jumped out of the window which was even crazier than someone kicking him out. "I guess you'd have to be kind of loony to live in a theatre district." Rory commented dryly to herself, since no one else could hear her.

As the man floated to the ground, he ran straight towards Aurora. She momentarily considered being frightened, but then she realized if she was coming towards her then he must be able to see her. Sure enough he came straight to her and addressed her. His first questions was the odd one. "What exactly are you?" Shouldn't people in this world be used to people with fantastic powers? Of course that wasn't important right now. "I'm nothing, but that's not important!" She said, very loudly. She had been yelling a lot the past few moments and it was hard to turn her volume down now. "There's a girl in the alley beside the Dominion, she needs help! Hurry follow me!" The floating girl turned and began to fly through the crowd again, though the bright lights that surround her made her easy to follow. She rounded the corner when she got to the alleyway, and was relieved that the girl was still thus far unharmed. Time was short however, as the man had the knife now held to her face in a most threatening manner. Though the strange stranger had been able to see her, it seemed she still was too unattached to this realm for either of the alleyway's occupants to notice her. Biting her bottom lip, or at least what she pretended was her bottom lip since she was an illusion, she looked over her shoulder to see if the window crasher had followed her.

Smoke was on his nightly patrol around London as he did, helping whoever needed his help and even some people who didn't want it. Smoke received mixed reactions throughout the day as he had expected now, some people thank him, other people are scared of him, sometimes he could not win with these people, but he did his job anyway, no matter what anyone thought of him.

Smoke was taking a break, leaning against a tower connected to a building, he watched the civilians go about their day in their bland grey clothing, there was not much colour to this City, even the taxi's are black.

When Smoke thought that his day was going to be boring, it just got interesting. A girl's scream and a smashed window all in a matter of seconds from each other, no co-incidence. Smoke was immediately running along the rooftops, heading towards the cause of the noise. He stopped and looked down to see shards of glass covering the floor but no reason for it in sight, he then saw a rainbow hair coloured girl running around aimlessly asking people to help her, but to no avail, everyone had busy lives in this City, and there are not many people who will stop to help a stranger, Smoke was different however. Smoke was about to drop down to her when another quieter scream was heard a short distance away, he teleported into the alley to find a man with a knife threatening a girl, it seemed that Smoke was always prepared to stop these petty crimes, sometimes he just wished that something more exciting would happen.

"Hey!" he shouted, stopping their struggle, the man with the knife was large in stature, the girl looked quite frail, it appeared Smoke got there just in time to stop whatever was about to happen before it got any worse. The man pushed the girl to the floor, injuring her ankle in the process and stopping her from making an escape, he then turned his attention to Smoke.

With knife in hand, the large man moved towards Smoke, his first step was to rid him of his weapon. Smoke continued to walk backwards until the man started to run at him, using momentum to speed him up, Smoke turned and ran, noticing a dead end ahead of him, he did not stop however, he felt the footsteps of the man behind him as he ran up the wall and back flipped over the criminal, landing on his feet and causing the criminal to slam into the wall, no doubt expecting something to be infront if him.

The criminal became dazed as Smoke ran at him again, using his speed to his advantage as he tried to get the knife away from him. Smoke grabbed his hand and bashed it against the wall several times, loosening his grip with each smash and eventually causing him to drop the weapon... but at a price. The free hand was now holding something else, Smoke's neck. The criminal squeezed until Smoke was grasping for air, the criminal then span to his right and launched Smoke back down the alleway, smashing through some boxes and sliding to a stop next to the distraught girl, this fight was going to be tough.

To her dismay, the cad that jumped out the window hadn't followed her. He could have gotten lost she supposed, but it was less than a block and she was putting on a light show so he was probably just a terrible person.

Luckily another stranger suddenly appearing in a puff of black smoke and began to wrestle with the criminal.Aurora watched as the struggle took place, unable to help. The girl was injured, but at least the man with the weapon's attention was forced elsewhere. Unfortunately the criminal seemed to turn the tables on the would-be hero and had him by the throat, literally.  Aurora involuntarily called out as he threw the man to the ground, and he turned quickly towards her.

At first Aurora felt a shiver of fright as the man's horrible gaze shot her way, but then she realized that he was looking at her! Perhaps the knave from earlier hadn't followed her, but he had thought about her. That gave Aurora what she needed to anchor herself to the real world. Her look of fright turned to a smug smile. The man made to move, but she raised both hands and shot brilliant rays of prismatic light straight into his face. The man clasped his hands over his now blinded eyes and stumbled around a bit.

Aurora shone with a brilliant light as a suit of majestic paladin armor materialized onto the small girl.  She flew towards a crate that was sitting by the Majestic's side entrance. She gripped it tightly and flew high into the air above the goon before dropping it. The man rubbed his eyes as his sight slowly went from black to grey, but he would have no chance to regain his vision in time to see what was coming. The crate struck his head with incredible force, the large man suddenly became a ragdoll and crumpled to the ground unconscious. "Direct Hit!" Aurora exclaimed from midair with a fist pump.

She gently floated down to the ground, her armor disappearing as easily as it appeared. Then she was the injured girl and remembered why she was dropping a crate on a man's head. She was so ecstatic from being able to interact with the real world again she nearly forgot the girl, which made her feel a bit guilty. Still though, she had saved the day. "This ne'er-do-well won't be bothering anyone anytime soon. Are you two okay?" She said in a pleasant and dignified voice as she came down tot he ground.

Smoke stood up rubbing the back of his neck "Yeah I'm fine, just bruised my neck a little bit" he said as he watched the rainbow coloured girl float down to the ground, this was the second girl Smoke had seen that had the ability to fly and it made him rather jealous of the powers that he had currently. He turned back down the alleyway and looked to the brute of a man, laid out flat on the ground, with no one else around, he assumed that it was this floating girl who had stopped him. "Thanks for stopping him, I loosened him up for ya though" he spoke jokingly, but in his head he knew he had it covered. He looked back to the girl sitting on the ground by the wall, she seemed around the age of 16 and was confused about the whole situation, she was staring at a man who can teleport and a woman who could fly and create armour around herself, not to mention that she was an array of colours.

Sam checked her leg to see that she only had a twisted ankle from the fall she took, a huge victory compared to what could have been done to her if either of them had intervened. Sam stood back up off of the ground once again, he thought it would be rude for him not to introduce himself to the woman that helped him out, he extended a hand to her and said "The name's Smoke" he then leaned further forward and whispered "But you can just call me Sam if you like" he did that to keep his identity safe, telling other people with powers his real name was not a big deal, most of them probably already know it, but his name is one thing that he must keep from the public, and he made sure to keep it a secret from the girl beside them.

The small girl disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced by an older woman in a gaudy princess dress that included every color of the rainbow. Her blonde hair fell straight back and crystal ear rings dangled from her ears. she spoke in an official tone. "Well met sir Smoke, I am Queen Aurora of Nothing." She said with a melodic voice. "For your aid you shall have whatever reward you desire, but first the matter at hand...." She motioned towards the young girl who was still in a bit of shock. "This poor girl must receive aid."

She knelt down and spoke to the frightened girl. Her words were spoken too quietly to be heard but they calmed the girl down. she scooped her up in her arms and stood back up. "Sir Smoke, we need a man of medicine. This is your city, so please lead the way." She said, graciously taking a step back to allow Smoke the lead.

Smoke watched as the woman picked up the smaller girl off of the floor. "Hmm... There is a hospital behind some of these buildings, we can make our way through the alleyways and we will be there soon, this way the public will not see me wearing my suit either." Smoke turned and walked to the end of the alleyway, passing the brutish man on the ground in the process. He made his way through the maze of alleys with Aurora, who had a very elegant vocabulary, carrying the girl behind him, throughout the little trip, he could not help but wonder what she meant by "any reward you desire", but he was sure he would be getting that soon.

"I'm afraid this is as far as I can go, I need to stay out of the public eye for now, who knows what kind of reputation I could earn by showing myself around here, I hope she stays safe and I am glad I could help, is there anything else you need me to do?" he asked, waiting for the one thing he wanted to here.

Aurora raised an eyebrow at the mans unwillingness to be seen. "Very well...if blending in is your aim I should be able to accommodate you. Without a word her appearance suddenly changed to a young man in an EMT uniform. "You may wait here sir Smoke." She quickly ran across the street, or at least created the illusion she was running, and disappeared into the hospital. A short while later she emerged in her normal form, a young colorful girl, and returned to the darkness of the alleyway that smoke was in when she left.

"Very well Sir smoke. Though you insist on staying in the darkness the fact remains you have aided me greatly and helped one of your own kind." Her wording was formal, but her tone was not. "Royalty must keep their promises, and I spoke of a reward. If you have want of one, ask for it now."

Smoke watched as the young girl transformed herself into man wearing a hospital outfit, it amazed him how she could blend herself into any surroundings. She took the young girl into the hospital and returned to him a few minutes later, she looked like her normal self again as she asked him if he would like any reward, Smoke had been giving it some thought while she had been gone for the short time and one thing came to mind in particular, he hopped off of the bin he had been sitting on and turned to the girl. "Well... I like the way I look and the age that I am... How about I become an ageless man, a man who does not become older or look any older than what I do now? That would help me out a lot" in his mind, he had hoped that Aurora had the ability to grant him this wish, but sh had the ability to fly, create armour around herself and change her looks to better suit her surroundings, what can't she do?

Aurora was a bit taken aback by the request. She had expected him to ask for wealth, maybe a powerful magical relic. What he asked for was a common desire from those affected by mortality she supposed, but it hadn't occurred to her. Aurora wasn't effected by the illusion of time like less aware creatures, so she rarely paused to consider its effects.

"Ohhh, I see. Immortality. Eternal Youth? That's it then?" Aurora leaned over and put her face right in front of Smoke's. Of course the man was taller than Aurora's current appearance so her legs lifted up behind her and hung in the air to compensate. She reached a small hand forward towards smoke. Suddenly she grabbed his cheek between her thumb and forefinger and shook it back and forth before quickly letting go. "I said I was a queen, not a goddess! I can not simply go around granting immortality on a whim!" Suddenly she was rapidly changing colors, as if cycling through a full rainbow. "and as for your looks I can't do anything for you." She held a hand out and the skin of Smoke's cheek suddenly became blue, then green, then violet. "My dominion is over illusions, and you are real. I'm not real so I can make myself appear however I want." Suddenly she melted into a ring of rainbow circling around smoke, then shot up in front of him and became a dog-sized dragon. The dragon spewed a torrent of fire that grew on the ground until the dragon became part of the flame which reshaped into Aurora's normal form. "But you? You're real, you take up space. The most I can do is change your color for a bit." She snapped her fingers dramatically and the purple section of Smoke's cheek returned to normal.

Aurora leaned back in the air as if on an invisible chair and cradled her chin in her hand as if deep in thought. "Though I suppose with some research and preparation immortality may not be beyond my abilities. Some sort of impossible relic? An improbable potion? Those always make theme explode in an hour though...." She mumbled to herself trailing off into incoherence before snapping back up and speaking to smoke with an excited tone. "Tell you what? I'll look into it for you. For now, I'll give us a way to keep in touch." She clasped her hands together, then outstretched her left hand flat palm facing upward, a small colorful crystal floating slightly above it. "This is a prism shard. It's made with a piece of me, so you have to promise to take care of it. It'll let you remember me, as well as talk to me no matter where I am. Just focus on the shard and think what you want to say. Go ahead, try it out."

Aurora looked quite confused when Smoke asked to become ageless, perhaps she was expecting him to ask for something else, something a little more simple. She then awkwardly put her face close to his, he was not quite sure what she was planning on doing, she had to hover off the ground slightly due to his height which amused him slightly. What didn't amuse him was Aurora grabbing his cheek like he was a 2 year old boy again, his dreams of becoming ageless were crushed shortly after that however as Aurora explained to him that she cannot grant such a wish. She then put her hand on his cheek and he noticed that his bod was cycling through the colours of the rainbow, Smoke started to feel slightly worried, he hoped that Aurora was not going to leave Smoke as a makeshift Smurf for the rest of his life. She continued to amaze him as she circled around his body as an array of different colours, she then returned to his view as a small dragon, firing a fireball onto the ground and scorching the earth, the dragon then joined the fire until it burned back into her original form, Smoke began thinking he was in a dream, so many different things happened in the past few seconds that he did not nearly understand, his mind had been blown.

Thankfully Aurora changed Smoke's colour back to normal, there was then a small glimmer of hope as she explained that with research and preparation, making him ageless could actually be possible, her statement about explosions made him become uneasy again however.

She said she had something for him, she closed her hands together and opened them up, revealing a multicoloured crystal floating in the air in front of him, it was a "Prism Shard" according to Aurora, it allowed him to always remember her and talk to her whenever he wished, so long as he took care of it as if it was a part of his family. He grasped it out of the air and looked at it in his hand, he then began moving his fingers around it to get a feel of its sides and edges, it was both sharp and slightly rough at the same time, he moved his eye close as if he was inspecting it, expecting something strange to be in the middle of it, Smoke pulled it away from his face and shook it slightly, it just looked like a regular shard, but Aurora claimed it had some kind of power. "Well... this certainly looks easier to take care of if you compare it to my cat... and if you claim it has these special powers, i suppose I will have to believe you." he placed the shard in his back pocket, when he gets home, he will have to find a permanent and safe place for it to remain, the last thing he would want is his cat eating it, thinking it is some kind of special treat. Smoke looked back up to Aurora who had retreated slightly after Smoke took the shard "And thank you, I know you don't have to research it all if you do not want to, but I appreciate it... Just make sure it is done in the next year or so, I don't want to become ageless at the age of 50" he said jokingly.

"The next year or so?" Aurora asked indignantly "My dear boy that is simply not how science works, imaginary or otherwise. These things take time, and I do have an entire kingdom to run...plus with you real organisms it's a lot harder to put you back together after a dissection." She raised a scalpel that had suddenly appeared in her left hand and sliced down the middle of a two inch nude bald man that was suddenly hovering in the air in front of her. He sliced clean and without complaint, his guts slowly spilling out until Aurora waved her hand through it and he disappeared in a puff of multicolored smoke and evaporated.

"But, I suppose if your request is to be young forever it wouldn't do well at all to make you an immortal old man." As soon as she finished the sentence she became an old bald man leaning over a wooden cane, an impressive white beard stretching nearly to the ground. "It might be easier to make a new body to put you in...I have much research to do." The gnarled voice of an old man seemed more fitting when speaking of research. It spoke to how much stock one puts in appearance. "I'll work something out for you. As long as you keep that prism shard safe I shall be able to find you when your reward is ready. Feel free to call on me if you ever require the Queen of Nothing's favor." the last statement sounded odd coming from an old man...actually it just sounded odd. With that final statement, Aurora the old man turned and began to walk away without any additional farewells; melting into the crowd of London's nightlife.