Sparkle Fic

        The pain in her arm woke her up as usual.  She hissed as white fire shot up from the stump that ended much too short, the nerves calling out to their lost brothers.  It took a while for the worst to pass, but she rode it out, focusing on rolling out of bed and stretching a bit.  The fire faded into its usual dull throb as she loosened her muscles, each familiar position doing its part to keep the scar tissue from aching as badly.  She sighed as she came to the end of her routine, pushing her bad arm behind her head to keep the shoulder muscles from seizing and making the pain worse.  Normally this little wake-up call pissed her off to no end, but today…well, today it felt right.

        She didn’t bother putting the prosthesis on as she slipped out of her (irritatingly) frilly pajamas and in to some real clothes, it was her day off and she really didn’t feel like dealing with the contraption.  As she began to wake up further, her body unsubtly reminded her that she hadn’t had dinner last night.  Well, if you didn’t count a bottle of grappa as a meal.  “At least my powers are good for something,” she mumbled as she picked her way through the unholy mess that was her floor, “It makes things adorably cluttered instead of disgusting.”

         Her body, almost of its own volition, went immediately for the coffeepot and loaded a double load of grounds before starting the drip.  With this most important task completed, she wandered over to the cabinets and stared them for a few minutes, trying to figure out something that wouldn’t make her want to vomit.  She finally chose some basic bran cereal, especially since it was about the easiest thing to make with only one arm.  With a bit of creative maneuvering and balance, she got some milk into the cereal and began to eat it at the counter.  The first few bites turned out fine, bland as cardboard really, but that’s what she was aiming for with a stomach as testy as hers.  As she tore deeper into the bowl though, her damned aura started to kick in and she was left with a sickeningly sweet pile of mush.

        “Every fuckin’ time,” she muttered before shuffling to the brewing coffee and pouring herself a mug of the beautiful liquid.

        No need to sweeten it though, her aura would take care of that.  She had a while before it became a caramel-machi-something, so she leaned against the counter and took a few appreciative sips while looking out the window.  Heavy grey clouds had blotted out any blue in the sky, and frost had already claimed most of the panes, which could only mean one thing.  Snow was coming.  She mulled over going outside as the caffeine finally made her brain start functioning again.  Today was special after all, and she hadn’t seen Rose in a long while.  It took a few more sips of coffee before she finally nodded and looked around the room for her coat.  It wasn’t that far of a walk to go see her, and she needed someone to talk to anyway.

        She finally spotted her sparkly overcoat wedged under a six pack of some strong German beer and quickly shrugged into it.  Buttoning it one handed was an utter bitch, but it was a delicate art that she had mastered over the years, and she quickly added a scarf and hat to the ensemble so that she didn’t freeze to death.  Almost as an afterthought, she grabbed the six pack as well before she went through the door.  It would be nothing but juiceboxes by the time that she got to Rose’s, but at least they’d have something to celebrate today properly with.

        “Booze right after breakfast, that’s impressive,” she mused as she locked the door and felt the full shock of the cold hit her like a sledgehammer, “I’m drinking with someone else though, so I don’t think that makes me a lush.  Maybe."

        She burrowed deeper into her scarf and quickly made her way down the stairs of her apartment, though she glanced up in surprise as a white blob landed on her nose.  Oh, the snow had started, she thought with a smile as large flakes began to drift down from the sky.  Rose always did like the snow, it’d probably make her happy to see it coming down like this.

        Pulling her hat down lower over her ears, she set off at slow pace, taking the time to enjoy the quiet that always came with the snow.  It was rare to get peace like this in the middle of a city, but anybody with a lick of sense was either keeping warm inside or rushing to get there, so she was practically alone in the streets.  Hell, she thought with a wry grin, even the villains were probably calling it a day.  Her pace started to slow as the snow accumulated, but she didn’t mind too terribly.  Walking through a few inches of snow wasn’t going to kill her, and she loved the way that it covered up the flaws and scars of the city.

        After a good hour of walking she finally caught sight of her destination, which put a bit of a spring into her step.  It had been much too long since she had seen Rose, and she couldn’t wait to get off her feet.  She supposed she deserved the ache from the walk though, served her right for slacking with her exercising.  The iron gate was imposing as ever, but she leaned against it for a few seconds and looked over Rose’s home wonderingly, the snow giving it an almost otherworldly feel.

        She pulled the gate open just far enough for her to slip through, then made her way through the small monuments that were already starting to be covered up by snow.  It was a bit difficult to tell where the rows started and ended because of the drifts, but she knew this route all too well.  A few turns and walking for two rows towards the old oak, and she came to a stop at last.  “Hey Rose,” she said, looking at the simple gravestone with warm affection, “Sorry I’ve been gone for so long.”

        She gently brushed away the snow that was covering up portions of the engraved name before clearing a place to sit for herself.  The juiceboxes were dropped into a drift that sat in front of the grave, though she grabbed one before slowly lowering herself to the ground.  She leaned up against the stone with a sigh, realizing the walk had taken more out of her than she had thought.  “Sorry Rose, let me catch my breath.”

        A good gulp of the hooch soon set her to rights, and the comforting burn of the alcohol was already making the aches and pains of the morning start to fade away, which brought a wry smile to her lips.  “So much for not being a lush then,” she said to the stone amiably, “Anyway, I know I haven’t been coming as much as I should, but it’s just so damned hard to get time off with saving the city all the time, trying to keep the hero organization from imploding, you know how it is.”

        She took another sip of the sweet rotgut, sighing happily as warmth in her throat and stomach began to spread to her freezing limbs. “You’d have been impressed, by the way.  I managed to stop the city from being destroyed by signing some fanboy’s scrapbook and going on a date with him.  God, I haven’t seen some of those names in a while.  Magical Girl Lily, Magical Girl Glimmer,” she patted the headstone, “Magical Girl Rose.”

        A few more sips emptied the juicebox, so leaned forward and snagged another one before continuing, “And I’ve been trying to keep one of the new heroes alive.  A girl called Rena.  You’d have liked her, she’s nice, likes to bake.  Not the smartest girl, but she’s done all right for falling into this hero business with no idea of what she was doing.”

        The memory of the deal that gave her the powers she wielded suddenly shot through her mind, and she quickly drained the box she was holding.  “Just like us, huh?” she said harshly, “No idea what the hell we were getting into.  Still, I’m keeping an eye on her, making sure she doesn’t make any deals that she can’t pay.  The idiot went and allowed The Doctor to experiment on her, but nothing bad’s turned up yet.”

        “Anyway, I think her girlfriend should make sure she doesn’t do anything too stupid, so hopefully she won’t try to pull that shit off again,” she said with a chuckle.

        She lapsed into silence for a bit, breaking open another one of the boxes before watching the snow come down for a while.  Graveyards were always nice like that, quiet.  You could think for a while, or just watch the scenery without someone bothering you.  The dancing flakes and alcohol lulled her into a kind of trance, and she could swear that she could feel Rose sitting next to her, holding her missing hand.  “Three years that bastard’s been dead, Rose.  Killed the fucking thing so that it couldn’t drag any more of us in.  Still won’t bring you back, I know, but it was all I had once the rest of you girls went,” she rambled.

        Her mind hazily realized that the juicebox she was holding was empty, and she lurched forward to grab another one.  “The movies never tell you that vengeance doesn’t feel all that great, you know?  Sure it’s great when you’re tracking the monster down, when you’re fighting, when you finally make them pay for their sins.   Afterwards though?  You just feel hollow.  You don’t have anything left to do.”

        Finally saying that to someone, even it was just to the cold headstone of her best friend, felt wonderful.  She hated bottling up all the guilt inside of her, but who the hell could she talk to that would know what she had gone through?  “Don’t worry about me Rose,” she said, voice weighed down with weariness, but with at least a bit of humor, “I’ve got things to do now.  I met Madame Hourglass for the first time in a while, I might have to catch up with her.  Rena’s always causing me trouble, but I don’t mind it too terribly.  Hell, she reminds me of you sometimes.  Too damned nice for her own good.  It’s just this anniversary always gets me moping, and I miss you, ya know?”

        She didn’t care too much that her faulty nerves were telling her that Rose was holding her hand.  Phantom limb, the doctors had told her, or something like that.  Any port in a storm, and the fake sensation brought back memories of happier times.  She held onto the feeling as long as she could, letting her mind wander for a bit, but the buzz of alcohol eventually faded and she was alone and cold again.

        With a tired groan, she managed to haul herself upright and begin to collect the small pile of empty juiceboxes into the plastic bag she had brought.  “Well, got to get going.  I’m sure some disaster’s happened while I was gone, and I’ll need to fix it,” she said reluctantly.

She put straws into the two remaining boxes before resting one on top of the headstone.  Her hand trailed along the cold stone for a brief second, but she forced herself to grab the other box and lift it in a toast.  “For absent companions, Rose.”