prologue

      "THAT'S IT?"

Sersi and Sprite blinked in surprise at the unflinching girl in front of them. Elizabeth kicks her boots up onto the table they were sitting at and folded her arms. --"That's it? Sersi just told you something that should have freaked you out not made you relax more, "

Elizabeth simply shrugged and pursed her lips. --"Oh what moisturiser do you use?", both Sersi and Sprite furrow their eyebrows at the relaxed girl. --"Really? I just told you that I'm over a thousand years old and your first question is what moisturiser I use?"

Elizabeth hums and nods her head, --"I'm just curious about how your skin still looks flawless!", she rolls her neck and stands to her feet. --"Come on guys, we live in a world where half the population was blitzed by a purple man from space, you guys being over a thousand years old isn't exactly mind-blowing, "

Sprite hums and stands to her feet, --"So this isn't a surprise to you at all? You believe us?", Elizabeth shakes her head yes and takes a sip from her glass of water. --"And you're not freaked out?"Sersi questions, Elizabeth shakes her head no.

Sprite squints at the brunette and then in the blink of an eye she had cast an illusion to look like Elizabeth, Elizabeth blinks at her apparent doppelganger staring straight back at her and smiles. --"Cool trick, turn into my dream guy or woman and then I'll be impressed, "She jokingly remarks, taking another sip of her water.

Sprite frowns and shapeshifts back into her normal skin, shaking her head at Elizabeth. --"I'm one hundred per cent positive you smoke weed or something, "She says accusingly and Elizabeth snickers against the rim of her glass.

"Don't be silly Sprite, if I smoked weed I'd be much more relaxed, "

Sprite rolls her eyes whilst Sersi shrugs on her coat. --"Alright are you two coming or not?", Elizabeth groans and throws her head back. --"Why do I need to come?", Sersi chuckles and folds her arms. --"Because it's Dane's birthday and I want my best friend and boyfriend to actually get along, "

Elizabeth sighs dramatically, --"Ah yes, because there's nothing I would rather do with my life than third wheel you and Dean, "She speaks sarcastically and Sersi rolls her eyes, --"Dane. And you won't be- Sprite will be with us, "

Elizabeth raises her eyebrow and turns her head to look at an unimpressed Sprite, she snorts in amusement. --"Lucky me."

---

Elizabeth leaned against a wall, a glass of water in her hand, she stared at the foggy liquid in suspicion. She had asked Sprite to watch over her drink whilst she visited the bathroom, apparently, the girl had completely ignored her request.

Sighing, she poured the contaminated liquid over her shoulder, looking around the room to find Sprite. The brunette was starting to wish she had just told Sersi a firm 'no', parties aren't exactly her scene.

Her scene would include sitting in a comfy chair with many blankets and a Harry Potter book. Funnily enough, Sprite blames her 'scene' for her still being single.

Sitting her cup on the ground, Elizabeth decides that it's better to just look for Sprite rather than hoping that the short immortal will just show up. --"Get a room, you two."

Elizabeth perks up at the sound of Sprite's annoyed voice and walks in the direction of it, finding Sprite peering up at Sersi and Dane who were standing in the corner of a stairwell together.

Decided to let herself be known, Elizabeth smacks Sprite upside the head and the shorter girl lets out a hiss of pain, turning to look at Elizabeth with an annoyed look on her face. Elizabeth simply raised her eyebrows and smiled playfully.

"Can we go now? It's past my bedtime."

Seconds later and the group were walking home, Elizabeth kept her hands in her pockets. The cold air hitting her face made her sigh in relief, her heart not jumping as much as it was when she was at the party.

Elizabeth had been diagnosed when she was young with a generalised anxiety disorder which basically means she sees herself as a walking, talking disaster. She clenched and unclenched her fists in her pockets as a coping mechanism for wanting to be alone.

"Are you really in love?"

Elizabeth turns her head to the two girls beside her, Sersi glances at Sprite. --"What if I am?"She questioned and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, glancing at Dane who was a few feet away from them.

The concept of love is very foreign to Elizabeth, she was given up for adoption when she was a baby and was in and out of orphanages growing up. Every time she was put into a different orphanage, she'd refuse to leave her room because the kids made her feel uncomfortable, because of this she was punished for being 'bad' and not going to classes.

Elizabeth didn't think she was being bad, she just never felt comfortable around people and therefore she didn't want to go to classes and mingle. She was hoping that after she had been diagnosed with a generalised anxiety disorder that the orphanage would take some steps to help her but they never did and so as soon as she turned 16 she couldn't have gotten away from the system fast enough.

She was homeless for a while, not having anyone to turn to and having no idea who her real parents were. She had sat on the same corner for months and in those months she met Sersi, the woman would sit and talk to her, give her food and some money and after a few weeks she just walked over to Elizabeth one morning and said a very simple sentence.

"You're moving in with me."

There was no debate about it and Sersi didn't give her an option. That was the first-ever act of love Elizabeth had felt, and soon she met Sprite whom she also felt affection for, maybe not as much as Sersi but it was something.

"You better tell him the truth, then."Sprite tells Sersi who sighs, --"I'm working on it."Sersi tells her, Elizabeth shrugs her shoulders. --"Let's hope he's as chill as I am, "She jokes.

Sersi scoffs, --"You are the furthest thing from 'chill' Mrs.paranoia, "She jokes and Elizabeth chuckles and nods her head.

Elizabeth earned the nickname Mrs Paranoia because of her disorder, she was even worse during the blitz, she couldn't stop worrying about how things were gonna end and what Thanos's endgame was. In the end, Sersi had to calm her down and teach her some breathing techniques so she didn't end up passing out.

Dane turns around to face the girls whilst he walks, --"You guys wanna get pizza?", the girls don't even glance at each other and Elizabeth frowns at the empty feeling in her stomach.

"No, thank you."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and readjusted her hat so it shaded her eyes a little. Dane frowns and turns back forward, Elizabeth almost felt sorry for him. --"He won't live forever, you know."Sprite reminds Sersi who stared at the ground as she walked.

"Move in with him."

Elizabeth frowns and Sersi glances between Sprite and Elizabeth, --"I live with you and Liz." she reminds the physically younger girl. Elizabeth suddenly stops walking causing Sersi to turn her head, her eyes widen at what the brunette was staring at.

"Dane."

Dane stares in confusion before turning around to look at what the girls were looking at. It was some sort of creature, Elizabeth was frozen as she stared at the beast. --"Shit. Is that a Deviant?"Sprite spits out in disbelief.

The Deviant lets out a growl, --"Dane, run!"Sersi yells, running toward the Deviant. Elizabeth stayed frozen as the Deviant launched itself in Sersi's direction.

Sersi didn't even flinch as she dropped to one knee and pressed her hand to the ground, in a split second the ground had shapeshifted into what looked like quicksand. Dane and Sersi share a look as she pressed another hand to the ground, turning the quicksand into solid concrete.

"Let's go!"Sersi shouts to a bewildered Dane. She grabbed Elizabeth by her shoulders and ducked her head to look Elizabeth in the eyes. --"Elizabeth, honey! We need to go right now!"

She doesn't give the brunette a chance to respond and grabbed her hand, dragging her away with Dane and Sprite. --"What is that thing?!" Dane shouts in disbelief. --"A Deviant!"

Dane glanced between Sersi and Sprite, --"You said you killed them all!!"He shouts at Sprite and Sersi furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. --"You told him that?!"

Elizabeth was sure that if they weren't in the predicament they were in, she would be rolling her eyes and groaning. --"You believed me?"Sprite asked in shock and Dane widened his eyes. --"I do now!"He snaps at her and Elizabeth represses a snicker.

A loud growl is heard and that's when Sersi suddenly stops running, she turns to face the Deviant who had escaped from its concrete prison. --"What are you doing?!"Elizabeth snaps at her best friend who turns to look at Sprite directly.

"Keep Dane and Liz safe!"

Elizabeth stared flabbergasted as Sersi jumped over a fence below the bridge they were under, disappearing over the bridge. --"Sersi wait!"Dane shouts for his girlfriend, she didn't listen.

Sprite turns to face the pair, mainly Dane, she sighed. --"You're fine dude." and then she was also jumping the fence and disappearing over the bridge. --"Sprite I swear if you die I'm going to dance on your grave"Elizabeth snaps at the girl who doesn't even glance back.

Dane makes a face and turns his head to the girl, --"Really?", she rolls her eyes and nods to the stairs. --"Come on jackass, "

The pair ran around and up the stairs, when they arrived at the top of the bridge, Elizabeth made a face when seeing multiple Sersi's and Sprite's wandering around the streets. --"I'm not drunk enough for this, "She mumbled to herself, Dane simply glanced at the girl, --"You haven't had any alcohol, "He reminds her and she raised her eyebrows.

Cars screeching snapped Dane's attention to the pedestrians. --"Run! Go! Go!"He snaps at people whilst Elizabeth stared at the Deviant. She tilted her head to the side as the creature stared back.

She couldn't make out what type of look the creature was wearing but it looked like...recognition? The Deviant suddenly turned around and Elizabeth snapped her head to the side as Sprite's panicked shouts reached her ears.

"It knows where we are!"She snaps to Sersi who stared jogging a little, --"How?!"She snaps back. --"I don't know"

The creature then tripped Sprite up and the girl fell to her back. Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure what happened but she found herself running at the Deviant, she placed her hand on one of its legs and got ready to pull in hopes of moving it away from Sprite a little when it suddenly let out a screech of pain. Her eyes widened and she takes a step back in surprise, she hadn't even started pulling on its leg yet, what on earth caused it to screech that ferociously?

The Deviant spun around to face her, ignoring Sprite for a moment. The brunette takes a terrified step back but just as the creature was about to pounce on her something zooms through it and it goes crashing into a building.

Elizabeth lets out a breath of air she didn't even know she was holding and Dane runs past her to help Sprite to her feet. Sprite stares at the girl with furrowed eyebrows, --"What did you do to it?"She questioned but Elizabeth didn't give her an answer and instead turned her attention to where the Deviant had been blasted to.

A beat passes before the Deviant is suddenly blasted out of the building by a bright light, the Deviant bounces off a lampost and collapses to the ground. Everyone looks to the now wrecked building, Elizabeth squints her eyes as a man emerges from the destruction.

"Ikaris!"

Elizabeth makes a face and instantly glances over at Sersi who looked as though she had seen a ghost, she remembered when Sersi had told her about Ikaris. --"Evening, ladies."Ikaris simply said cooly.

Sersi doesn't reply to him and then her eyebrows raised, --"Watch out!"She responded. Ikaris turned his head just in time to be tackled by the angry Deviant.

The Deviant tackled Ikaris in front of a moving bus, the head of the bus crashes into the Deviant and Ikaris and flips forward on impact. Sersi immediately ran in front of the bus and held her hand up, in an instant the bus had disappeared and was replaced by a lot of rose petals.

Elizabeth slumps her shoulders in amazement and Sersi smiles awkwardly at the bus driver who emerges from a pile of rose petals. --"Sorry."She apologises for the bus.

The driver didn't respond, as soon as his eyes found the Deviant he began running. Elizabeth, Sprite and Dane ran to Sersi who watched as Ikaris used his laser vision to inflict pain on the creature.

The creature stopped moving for a moment and Elizabeth watched in amazement as it lifted its claw over its injuries, it's now healing injuries. --"did it just heal itself?!"Sprite questions in confusion.

Elizabeth was also confused. The Deviant growled once its eyes found Sersi's- but before it could pounce, Ikaris used his laser vision to scare it off.

Elizabeth had seen a lot in the past 4 hours and somehow seeing a man flying and using laser vision was the least strange one. Ikaris flew down to the ground as Sprite ran towards him with glee. --"Ikaris."She greeted, --"It's good to see you, "

The pair embrace for a moment and Ikaris pulls back, --"It's good to see you too, Sprite."He smiles at the shorter girl and glances over to Sersi.

Sersi, Dane and Elizabeth advance toward him. --"I'm Dane.", he holds his out for Ikaris to shake but it goes unshaken. --"Hello, Dane."Ikaris simply responded.

"Well I guess you must be the pilot, "Dane spoke.

Ikaris glances at Sersi and Elizabeth rested a hand on Dane's shoulder, feeling bad for the man. Police sirens are what snapped Ikaris's attention away from Sersi, he turned around as did Sprite. Sprite wasted no time camouflaging the group.

---

this will start getting exciting soon I promise.