Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Twenty

[amberfocus]

Chapter Twenty:  With Great Power

Jamie’s smile was empty and cold as she raised her hands and tongues of flame leapt forward, encircling Mickey Smith and John Cassidien in an uneven ring of fire. Slowly she brought her hands together and inch by inch the light moved towards the two men.

“Jamie, no!” Mairi screamed, her cool reserve broken, gone in a flash of insight that told her that her sister would not come back from the murder of these two men, no matter how justified the child might consider it to be. Jamie’s eyes turned on her older sister and she tilted her head, regarding her as if she were an unknown quantity and not the person she had grown up with. Mairi rushed forward, her hands going to Jamie’s arms to try to pull her sister into a hug, but she was repelled as Jamie bounced her off.

“It is my right,” Jamie said slowly, “To seek vengeance.”

“Enough of this, Jamie,” Landon said firmly, reaching for her. He, too, was repulsed. “Let it go.”

“They deserve to die.”

“That’s not your judgment to make!” cried Mairi. “I know you. You won’t be able to live with it, Jamie.”

“Jamie won’t have to live with it,” said the Storm Wolf. “I won’t let this hurt her.”

“You can’t,” said Rose trying to look past the power her daughter was channeling and still find the child inside it. “To take a life, sweetheart, it will change you forever.”

“I already have done,” Jamie said and the smile she turned on her mother was wolfish and frightening. She laughed without humor. “We’ve killed a man. And we will again.” She turned her gaze back to the men, bringing the flames closer and raising the walls higher, from their knees to their waists, holding them in place with paralytic force.

“I am the Storm Wolf. It is my right.” She tightened the circle.

“No.” The new voice was quiet and calm and spoke with such authority that for a moment she faltered. She searched her memory, trying to decide what this voice meant to her, why she should listen. For a moment her mind burned and then she placed him, her eyes focused. Father of the Storm Wolf, steeped in time itself. From him came half her power.

“Jamie, stop.”

“Jamie is subsumed,” the child said, the vibration taking her voice back into unworldly tones.

“But she doesn’t have to be,” the Doctor said eyes narrowing.

“This child cannot cope with this power,” the Storm Wolf said.

“Then why are you coming through her?” challenged the Doctor.

“She is the conduit. Daughter of the Storm, daughter of the Wolf. She gives birth to me. I decide who lives and dies,” Jamie said.

“You’re not a god, Jamie.”

“Why not?” Her question was so simple, so childlike, but there was no youth in her voice now. The eyes that stared back at him were so very old. Ancient and forever.

“Because we are not meant to have this type of power. It will consume you.”

“I was born for this power,” the Storm Wolf said.

“Just because you can access it, doesn’t mean you should. You’ve had no training and you will destroy the thing that holds you. You will burn her out until she doesn’t exist,” the Doctor said.

“There are others to hold me,” the girl said turning her eyes to Mairi and Landon. Her siblings gasped in horror.

“Doctor, make her stop!” Rose pleaded.

“He cannot stop me. He does not have that kind of power.”

“Jamie, listen to me. Listen. You’re still in there and you have to fight this thing consuming you. Don’t let it take you without a fight. Don’t let it take your brother or your sister or your mother. Because it can, but only if you let it have control. Fight it.”

“I can’t,” said Jamie her voice rising to the surface in a monumental struggle.

“Yes, you can,” the Doctor said stepping towards her. “You can be stronger than the rage.”

“I am the darkness,” she said her voice stumbling into confusion.

“Look for the light,” he said taking another stop towards her.

“No.”  Her voice slipped and she glanced at the men, raising the flames to shoulder level, smiling at the fear that shone in their eyes.

“Jamie. Jamie, look at me.” Her eyes clouded, sparked, and lost the glowing golden glow.

“Daddy?” There was so much fear in her voice that the Doctor swallowed convulsively. The struggle to keep her eyes on him left her body shaking.

“You have to stand down, Jamie. Let it go. You have to learn the most important lesson, and you have to learn it now. With great power comes great responsibility,” he told her seriously.

“That’s Spiderman,” she said coughing. Blood flecked at the corner of her mouth.

“Well, the point is still valid,” the Doctor insisted. “You have all of the power, but none of the training. And without the training it will take you over, rage through you and destroy you. You have to let it go.”

Jamie’s eyes started to glow again. “How can I let go of this?” The flames around Mickey Smith and John Cassidien rose until they could only see the eyes of the two men staring out at them.

A horrible rending scream broke from Mickey and something black and dark, a shadow of such opacity emerged on his skin. “Jamie, stop it!” screamed Rose, her eyes focused on Mickey.

Jamie’s body shook violently and she began to scream as well, the burning in her mind overwhelming her. A third scream was added to the mix and the shadow on Mickey deepened to a thick, viscous consistency and the starting stage of whatever was happening to him moved on to John.

“Jamie, Jamie, stop!” Mairi yelled, rushing forward again, trying to get through the barrier that surrounded her sister.

But Jamie was shaking her head. “It isn’t her,” said the voice of Luke oddly muffled from inside his blue protective bubble. He pointed at the men again. “I’ve seen that before. Those men are infested. Those are spritwings.”

The black sludge pulled itself away from the two men at last and rose to the ceiling, lingering there as Mickey and John collapsed to the ground. The flames surrounding them spread outwards, keeping them enclosed but allowing for them not to burn as Jamie struggled to control the Storm Wolf within her.

“Daddy,” she called out. “Daddy, take it out of me.”

Her father shook his head. “I can’t, Jamie. It’s up to you. You have to be strong enough to release it yourself. I know you can be. Release it, sweetheart.”

“How?” She trembled, her voice starting to be overcome yet again.

“Think of what matters in your life. Think of what’s important. Think about what you want, Jamie. What makes you happy? What’s worth coming back for?” The Doctor asked her.

Jamie’s eyes focused sharply on her father, the glow leaving them slowly, though her body remained suffused in it. “To know you,” she said. Her eyes turned away. “My mum, my brother and sister.” Her eyes danced across the room to focus on the boy in the protective sphere. “Luke.” And her voice held something in it her mother had never heard before.

Luke edged forward until he was within arms length of Jamie. “Luke?”

“I’m here,” he said. “I’ll be right here,” he told her. “Let it go, Jamie. You don’t need it. You’re strong and powerful and beautiful and amazing without it. Just by being you. You’re enough, Jamie. Just you.”

Jamie reached out to him and pierced the bubble of his protection, her hand seeking his and he offered her a gentle squeeze. Then she nodded.

“Daddy?”

“Just breathe it out and let it go,” he said.

Jamie’s eyes closed and she took in a deep breath. She released it slowly and the gold within her rose towards the ceiling, encompassing the spritwings and burning them to ashes. The ashes rained down on Mickey and John, putting out the golden fire that had surrounded them. A second exhalation and suddenly the blue sphere containing Owen Harper materialized at Gwen’s side. The third exhalation sent the remainder of the golden light out of her body and she collapsed into her father’s arms.

They had little time to feel relief as the rending of metal could be heard. “We need to get off the station,” shouted Rose. “Jamie’s power was the only thing holding it together. You men,” Rose said, pointing to the Torchwood men who were still in the room, who had not fled. “Get the wounded into our shuttle. We have to get out of here before this entire structure rips itself apart.”

Everything after that was a blur as the survivors of the Storm Wolf’s rampage were hustled into the shuttle. Minutes ticked down as the vessel was prepared and at last they pulled away from the station. As the shuttle reached a safe distance a faint gold residue emerged from the unconscious Jamie and evaporated into the roof.

The rear cameras picked up the spectacular explosion of Torchwood Station, the oxygen in it burned quickly in a fireball that was then snuffed out by the vacuum. The debris that remained was so small that it would be hard to ever identify what it had once been if it wasn’t already known.

“Is she going to be all right?” Luke asked the Doctor who sat by his daughter’s side holding her hand.

“She killed a man,” said the Doctor. “I don’t know if you can ever be all right after that.”

“Doctor,” said Gwen softly coming to his side. “Rose. There’s something you need to know. About the man Jamie killed. He raped her.” The Doctor blanched and Rose gasped in shock. “And he was going to kill us to cover up his crime. It wasn’t just vengeance. She was protecting us, too.”

“It’s what tipped her over,” Luke said. “The Storm Wolf emerged when he came and shot at us.”

“Maybe she won’t remember,” Rose said softly. “I didn’t remember what the Bad Wolf had done the first time. Not for a long time afterwards.” Rose stroked her daughter’s forehead moving the dark curls away from her face.

“Whether she remembers or not, Rose, Jamie needs to study with me,” the Doctor said firmly. “She has access to power she does not know how to control. She needs to be trained to use it.”

“You can’t be serious. I don’t want her anywhere near that kind of power again!” Rose protested.

“It doesn’t work that way, Rose, and I think you know it. A door once opened can be walked through in either direction. Even if Jamie doesn’t summon the Storm Wolf again, that doesn’t mean that it won’t try to emerge again on its own. She has to be trained. She has to learn the responsibility of control,” he told her, his voice unyielding. “Whether you choose to come with me or not, Rose Tyler, Jamie comes back with me.”

Ch. 21: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/131730.html