Snippet #866493

Ebony frowned, as Keeley took hold of her wrists, healing her of the past injuries that she had received on the trip from Earth. "But how did you...?" Her unfinished question was answered when she pulled up her sleeve to reveal that she had transferred the cuts onto her own arms. Shock flashed across Ebony's face as she stepped forwards, taking the arms of the Healer and peering at the cautiously. "No way..." She muttered, examining the cuts and determining that they were identical to the ones that she had earlier held on her own wrists. "Why would you want to inflict that upon yourself?!" She asked, surprise and disgust filling her voice suddenly. "Surely healing people isn't worth the pain that you will now have to bear for a few days until you heal?" She watched curiously as Keeley wrapped her arms in bandages and then the injuries were lost from sight, but still she couldn't help but stare at her arms, where the cuts had made themselves clear. Even if Ebony had possessed such an ability, she doubted that she would have made it known, for fear of healing too many and losing her life herself. It may have been a selfish view, but she could not help but think that way.

Her attention was attracted towards Tildy, who was taking a blood bag and simply leaving. “I guess not,” She whispered, chewing her bottom lip and watching as the girl disappeared out of the hatch. “But this is going to be hard on so many of them.” Her thoughts wandered to all those that had shared the trip to Mars, all of whom had gotten themselves off the ship as soon as possible. “We should probably get off of the ship.” She noted, heading towards the hatch, where they had all disappeared to. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for her first sighting of Mars, although she had seen pictures when she had been in the Lab.

Stepping off the ship took a great deal of courage for Ebony to do. Although she wanted a new life, this one step would change her world for the rest of time and something halted her from doing so. Muttering to herself about being stupid, she jumped down on the floor. Casting a glance around, there wasn’t much to see. She was prepared from what was to come and the red landscape offered no surprises for her, except the fact that it seemed completely deserted, with no signs of life, other than the people who had been delivered along with her and the crew that had come to pick them up. Shuddering, she glanced at Keeley, unsure what to do on this vast new planet, where everything was new and unknown to her.

“You are the most perfect human Ebony. Don’t ever forget that.” He ruffled her hair playfully, looking down at his adopted daughter, who was merely six years old at the time. “Nothing is going to go wrong with you.” Ebony looked up at him with wide eyes, a smile on her pale lips.
“Father, tell me about Mars.”
He hesitated, before nodding his head once. Pulling her onto his lap, he took a deep breath and launched into his story.
“Well, as you know, we’re trying to create perfect humans in these Labs. Well sometimes those humans go wrong, they’re bad. They possess certain powers which could allow them to ruin all that we’ve worked for and we cannot allow that. It’s for the safety of all the humans on earth. So they’re shipped off to Mars, which is many thousands of miles away from here. There they are given a safe place to live, where they can interact with others of their kind. None of these people are ever mistreated in any way Ebony. But you have nothing to fear. There are no problems with you.”
Ebony nodded with wider eyes than before. She understood most of what had been said, but not all. Back on Mars,

Ebony laughed bitterly to herself under her breath. Her father had been wrong. There was something wrong with her after all. She was one of the “freaks” that he had told her about. And even though he sent these “freaks” to Mars, he had spoken fondly of them.

“Ebony.” The girl looked up from where she was writing, blue eyes focusing on the woman before her. She was thirteen years old at the time. “I’m sorry, but there was a problem down in one of the Labs. Dr Martin...He’s gone Ebony. He didn’t make it out in time.” Staring in disbelief, Ebony half rose, before falling back into her seat, limp with the agony that was tearing at her soul. She let out a scream, throwing everything from the desk. She fell to the floor, weeping, clutching at her stomach. The woman showed no fear, walking across to her and kneeling at her side. “I’m so sorry sweetie.” She whispered, putting both her arms around Ebony, who willingly accepted the hug, sobbing into her shoulder.

And that had been the event that had turned her into a “freak”. Once she had lost her father, she lost all hope. It turned her bitter and angry, which resulted in her ability to wield fire, but also water to a lesser extent, which had never made any sense to her. She had been able to pinpoint that from the moment that she set the speaker in her cell alight just by thinking angrily and imagining it bursting into flames. In a way, it frightened her, for her power was not something she had wanted and one that would be considered evil by most. If she could, she would keep it to herself for as long as possible.

Opening her eyes, she glanced at Keeley, wondering what she should do. “Help me,” She half smiled, trying to put a brave face on, so that the Healer wouldn’t think she was insane as she must of appeared, just standing there staring into space. “I have absolutely no idea what to do next.” Chewing her bottom lip, for the first time, she looked worried about living on the strange planet.