"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

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CHAPTER ONE

>>> Aspen's P.O.V. <<<
>>> Eighteen Months Later <<<

"Ms. Penrose!" my assistant, Kepler, whispers as he walks beside me through the halls of the building. "Ms. Penrose, you've forgotten to sign over the building on Central Boulevard, again."

I take the paper from his hands as we continue moving, multitasking reading it and walking towards my office on the far end of the building. "Who said I was going to give up the Boulevard Building, Kepler?"

Kepler's sister, Halley, walks up to us, adding, "The bank is pushing for you to sell it back. It's not making any profit."

I take the file, tucking it under my arm, and flashing the twins a confident smile. "I'm not selling anything back. I have plans. Don't worry about a thing. Now, get back to the real work that doesn't have anything to do with those pricks at the bank, all right?"

The twins nod in sync, arguing amongst themselves as they leave for their adjoint office around the corner. I shake my head, opening the door to my little office. 

It's a humble space, but then again, everything about our facility is. Running a non-profit orginazation might be a thoughtful prospect, but even we have bills to pay and employees to sustain a living. But we do it for a righteous cause: helping innocent animals and people all around the state.

I take a seat in front of my small yet clean desk, quickly bringing up my schedule for the day. A knock on the door causes me to break my focus. "Come in."

Kepler opens the door slowly, peaking inside to whisper, "I'm sorry, Ms. Penrose. She insisted on waiting in my office until you got here."

"Who?"

"Aeri Sado."

I sigh, leaning back in my chair and waving her in. "Send her in."

Kepler smirks. "Should I call security, too?"

I shake my head with a grin. "Thank you, Kepler. That will be all."

A woman with short and tasteful ebony hair and a stern look comes through the door. She wears her usual white pantsuit, a simple string of diamonds around her neck and on her ears. Her eyes are cold and dark. Her smiles never reach her eyes; I always thought that was because she feared wrinkles. She would've been a beautiful middle-aged Korean woman if I hadn't know what a horrible person she truly was.

"Lovely office," she comments, her accent slipping through, holding her white briefcase in one hand to her side while using the other to motion around the room. "Why are you late today? You're usually very punctual, Aspen, and it's an hour past your clock-in."

"Well, since I own the business in which I work, I figured I could take an extra hour to offer a hot meal and a coffee to a homeless woman and her loyal dog which I passed today on the way to work. But you wouldn't know anything of that because that would mean money out of your pocket. That would mean you'd have to be kind to someone other than yourself."

My harsh words do nothing to Aerie Sado. She doesn't even look away from the photos along my office walls. I have several of my daughter, Persephone; my sister, Trillium; one or two of my dad, Cian Penrose; and many of my former loves, Vlad Spencer and Glory Northern. There isn't a single one of Aerie Sado, and for good reason. "You know how I feel about the panhandlers. Vagrancy and panhandling will not be tolerated in Central City."

"You are heartless and cruel," I gasp, shaking my head to myself.

She shrugs. "It got me where I am, didn't it? It got you the mother who taught you everything you know about running a business."

"What do you want?" I reply, getting straight to the point in a dull and tired voice. "I don't see you on my schedule today. What brings you down to my little humble Hobbit Hole?"

She turns her emotionless eyes towards me. "I've come on behalf of the bank--"

I cut her off with a groan, closing my eyes. "And to think I'm related to you. You're unbelievable."

"It's time to sell the Boulevard Building back, Aspen Elaine," she replies sharply, placing her hands on my desk to peer down at me like a hawk at her prey. She often did this when I was young to intimidate me into doing as she said. Luckily, it doesn't work anymore. "The bank has given you long enough. It's time they get their investment back."

I stand to my feet to match her in strength and determination. "That building is housing hundreds of homeless people and animals who are now off the street, safe, fed and housed. They're no longer starving or hurting, and I will be damned if I let them back out there alone just because your stupid, greedy bank wants their building back. I’ll catch up on the rent, it’s just been a slow month for donations. We are a new non-profit, you know. Tell that to your bank."

Aerie Sado, the woman who doctors say brought me into this world, stands back and offers a half-smile, one which doesn't reach her eyes. "We'll see. You won't do what needs to be done, and your business and employees are going to suffer for it."

"You don't care about their suffering, nor mine," I practically spit with venom in my voice. I point to the door. "Get out, or I'm calling security."

She places a contract on the table, and doesn't have to explain what it is because I already know. "Think about it, Aspen. Think and be smart."

"Kindness is better than being cold and calculating. I said get out."

The ebony haired woman picks up her briefcase, turning once again towards the wall of photographs. "She really was something special," she adds, nodding towards the picture of Persephone, Glory, and me. It was taken the day we graduated from high school, the day we found out her cancer went into remission. "It's been, what, four years, hasn't it? You moved to Central City four years ago, and that was just after her death." I don't reply, but she's right about the timing. "Some are taken from us too soon." And without another word, she leaves the office, closing the door behind her.

I sit back down into the office chair, turning my eyes towards the picture of my two year old daughter sitting in the lap of my best friend and lover. Gloria Northern, but we called her Glory. Her head had been shaved before her chemotherapy started when she was sixteen, but there was just enough red hair on her head to give it color; she wore it proudly on Graduation Day. Her smile was just as bright, and her eyes as green as they ever were. We were happy. We were happy together. She was one of the two great loves of my life; the other was Persephone's father.

They were both taken from me far too soon.

I feel my hands start to shake on my lap, and I pull them up to see green mist flowing around them. "Oh no," I whisper. "Not today. Please, not today." I close my eyes, tucking my hands inside my coat to hide the green mist. I keep repeating to myself over and over, "Cumhacht sios. Cumhacht sios." Power down.

After the Particle Accelerator exploded over a year and a half ago, things in Central City had gotten strange. After the energy wave came over the entire city, causing a power outage that lasted for almost a week and freak accidents all over town, lots of people started seeing strange things. People they knew were gaining abilities that were so unnatural that some refused to believe they were real. Others thought it might've been a conspiracy theory between Dr. Harrison Wells, the creator of the Particle Accelerator at S.T.A.R. Labs, and the United States government. People with powers were terrorizing the city; we were becoming no better than Starling City.

But around a year ago, a hero emerged from the madness. He, at least we assumed it was a he, came in a bolt of lightning and left the same way. At first, we called him the Streak, but a anonymous blog about the Streak coined his name we use today: The Flash.

After the wave hit my house and knocked me unconscious, strange things started happening to me as well. A language I've never known was implanted into my head, green mist comes from my hands at random times of emotional stress, and I've destroyed more things in my wake than I care to admit. By accident, of course, but still destroyed. One of these days, I'm worried I'll snap and hurt someone. I'll become just like one of those crazy people I see on the news.

"If it weren't against my vows," I tell Glory's picture, "I'd have killed than woman years ago."

I get my abilities under control just in time for another knock on the door. When I reply with my usual, "Come in," the Jiayang twins peak both of their heads hesitantly inside. "Is it safe?" the sister asks.

I wave them in with a light smile. "Don't let her scare you. She did that far too much to me as a child."

Halley crosses her arms and stares at the paper left on my desk. "Is that..."

I nod. "She came for the bank. They want their building on the Boulevard back."

"What did you tell her?"

I smirk slightly at the twins, and they do the same at my words. "Over my dead body."

END CHAPTER ONE