Music is "The Flash Theme" by Blake Neely from CW's The Flash OST.

Picture is the Particle Accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs.

>>>·<<<

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

"The beginning is perhaps more difficult than anything else, but keep heart, it will turn out all right."

- Vincent van Gogh

>>>·<<<

PROLOGUE

>>> Aspen's P.O.V. <<<

I'd like to say that life is one, big fairytale. Princesses and princes, kings and queens, fairy godmothers and magic wishes upon the second star to the right. Faith, trust, and pixie dust sort of thing. I've instilled into my daughter that magic is all around us, that miracles happen, and that wishing upon shooting stars and birthday candles will bring about a change in the world that can rival deity.

But nothing could have prepared me for the science that ravaged Central City.

I remember that night as clear as day. It was a calm, October evening. Persephone, my daughter, and I were outside in the garden of our home that resided just outside the boarders of Central City. We preferred it outside the business of the city, where the light pollution wasn't so bad that we couldn't see the stars at night and where the noise was muted. Spending an evening by ourselves, watering the flowers and pretending to be fairies. Persephone was nearing seven years old; I knew that my time playing magic with her would come to an end soon enough.

"Look, Mommy!" Persephone shouted, holding up a dandelion with lots of fluff, a huge grin on her face. She looked adorable after her bottom two teeth had fallen out earlier that month. "A dandelion!"

With a wide smile, I waved her over to me. I sat under the large sunflowers that swooped over my head, turning their faces towards the last of the sunlight. "Beautiful, my Darling!" I told her in an excited voice as she sat on my lab, showing me the flower. "You remember what I told you about dandelion fluff, yes?"

Persephone nodded, her dark blonde bob waving as she did. Her dark brown eyes gazed into mine. "I do! Dandelions grant wishes."

A proud look covered my face as I wrapped my hand around hers. "That's right."

Persephone pulled the dandelion closer to her, eyes growing wide. "Wait! There's a ladybug on there!" I let my hand go, and Persephone gently allowed the ladybug to crawl onto her finger. She looked at it with such intense curiosity before putting it on the nearest hydrangea bush. "There you go, Mister Ladybug."

I chuckled as she sat back down near me, holding the dandelion in hand. "Now, close your eyes." She did as I told her. "Take a moment and think of a wish." A pause. "Got it?"

Persephone nodded. "Yep."

"All right. Now, take a deep breath in and blow the fluff away."

Persephone took a huge, dramatic breath in and blew forcefully outwards, blasting all the fluff away into the breeze. When she opened her eyes, she smiled at me with a toothy grin. "Now there will be even more dandelions!"

I hugged her tightly to me as she squealed in delight. "There will be! And Mother Gaia heard your wish. I wouldn't be surprised, if you're a good girl, that wish comes true."

"Do you believe in magic, Mommy?" Persephone asked after a few moments.

I turned towards her, looking at her with a serious expression. "My Darling, I have never stopped believing in magic, and neither should you, if you want to. Magic is real, and it's all around us all the time. It gives life to the world."

Persephone grinned, placing her hands on my shoulders. "Then I believe in magic, too."

I shook my head. "You must decide that for yourself, Seph. Never believe something just because I do, or because anyone does. Do you feel in your heart that magic is real?" Persephone contemplated this question for a moment, then nodded vigorously. My smile grows, and I chuckle, "I figured as much."

Persephone's smile fades as the sky starts to grow dark overhead. "A storm's coming, Mommy. I just saw some lighting and I can feel the rain."

I patted her leg as I gazed up towards the sky, and a large downpour of water started to fall from the sky. "Why don't you go ahead and go inside, Darling. I'll be right in."

"Be careful, Mommy," Persephone said as she walked inside the house. "Lightning is dangerous."

I blew her a kiss as she closed the door. I turned back to the garden, gently making sure that all the light pots would be safe under the more secure ones if the storm hits outside the city. I then picked up the few sparkly crystals that Persephone had forgotten to take in with her and placed them in my maxi skirt's large pockets.

After finishing those chores, I looked up again to the sky, seeing the clouds start to move farther away, closer to the city. Booming thunder rang out loud against the horizon. At first I thought it might've been the weather that created that sound, because now the skies are dark and pouring rain, but the huge explosion of orange light and the large wave of energy that headed towards me told another story. Something had exploded downtown, and the energy that was headed this way would be here in a matter of moments.

"Mommy?" Persephone asked through the peaked door. From her face, I saw that she had heard the noise too and had come to investigate.

I waved her away. "Go back inside, my Darling! Don't come back out."

"But Mommy--!"

"--Please, Seph!"

I hurried up the stairs and into the house as a tearful Persephone closed the door. "What should we do?"

I turned and locked the door behind me, not sure it would do any good, then turned to my daughter. I bent down, placing hands on her shoulders. "Go to my meditation room. There aren't any windows in there. You'll be safe."

"What are you going to do?"

I offered her a reassuring smile, the best I could do at the moment, and replied, "I'm going to call your aunt. I need to warn her. She's further into the other side of the city than we are. She won't see it until it's right on top of her." I pushed her towards the hallway. "Put the pillows over your head. I'll be right there, Darling. Don't be scared."

I darted for the kitchen, scooping up my phone and pressed my sister's name on the screen in haste. The TV played in the opposite room, stating some sort of emergency warning about the Particle Accelerator going wrong. The phone continued to ring, and I tapped my fingers anxiously against the counter top.

Eventually, three long seconds later, she picked up. "Hold on, I have a paint brush in my mouth," she said.

"Tril, this isn't a friendly call. You're in danger."

She sighed. "Penz, I'm right in the middle of painting a new piece. Can't this sister-worry thing wait? My leg isn't getting in the way today. I swear on my rock n roll record collection."

"Drop what you're doing, get to a bathroom or some place with no windows."

"I live in a loft in the city. My entire place has windows."

"Then craw into your closet! Something went wrong with Harrison Well's Particle thing-y. There's a wave heading for us. It'll hit you right after. Please, sis."

She sighed. "Penz, you worry too mu--"

A sharp pulse caused the phone to cut off and all the lights to go out. "Tril? Trillium!"

"Mommy!"

Seeing as there was nothing I could do, the phones were down, I made a mad dash for the room in the back. Persephone sat curled in the corner, blankets and pillows around her. I felt the ground underneath my feet start to shiver with the oncoming particle wave.

"Mommy's got you," I whispered, tucking myself around my daughter in the corner of the windowless room. Persephone lit a candle so we could see, and it flickered in the darkness. "Don't worry. Just close your eyes."

She did as I asked, and I kept doing the only thing I knew to do: chant silent prayers to myself. 

When the wave came over and through the house, there was no mistaking the feeling. Every cell in my body shook and trembled, as if being pulled apart and put back together again. I felt electricity; I felt fire. I felt like everything alive in the world was connected to me at that single second. It blasted me back from where I sat. Persephone fell from my embrace. The fall caused me to hit my head on one of the shelves, and my vision began to turn fuzzy.

After the wave of energy passed, I heard Persephone call out my name multiple times. "Mommy! Mommy, are you okay? Wake up! Wake up!"

Then that feeling of oneness and liveliness was gone, stripped away just as quickly as it had arrived. My daughter's pleas were the last thing I heard before fading into the darkness.

>>>·<<<

>>> Trillium's P.O.V. <<<

Art is a pretty time-consuming career. I would know; I've been panting ever since I was able to hold a brush. You paint a piece, what, every week at the most? Maybe even longer? And you sell that piece for whatever you deem worthy. For most, the long hours with little reward might not be worth it. But to those of us who have our souls painted like Van Gogh's Starry Night, you know you can't resist that urge.

It's similar to the urge of being a hero. Long hours, little reward, but oh so tempting to those who know it's in their blood. I remember the day I became what I am today: it all started with a piece I was working on for a friend...

"Your sister is calling." My ringtone for Aspen, my three year older sister, stated. It grew more impatient as I refused pick up. "Your sister is calling! ... Your sister is calling!"

I sighed, putting the pain brush in between my teeth as I wiped my hands free of the dark blue oil-based paints. I paused my classic rock Pandora radio station and hit the little green button. I nestled the phone between my ear and shoulder. "Hold on, I have a paint brush in my mouth." I placed my brush back into my hand, returning my focus to the three-foot-by-three-foot canvas in front of me. My large loft window faced the west side of Central City, towards the Bay. It's why I chose the loft I did: for the view.

Aspen started to speak frantically into my ear as I added detail to the blue lotus flower leaves. "Tril, this isn't a friendly call. You're in danger."

I sighed, not pausing my work as I knew that Aspen worries too much about me, especially after my accident in Vancouver. She couldn't protect me then, so she makes up for it all the time. "Penz, I'm right in the middle of painting a new piece. Can't this sister-worry thing wait? My leg isn't getting in the way today, I swear on my rock n roll record collection."

Aspen ignored my attempt at a joke. "Drop what you're doing, get to a bathroom or some place with no windows."

I rolled my eyes, painting a few white strokes along the inside of the lotus vase. "I live in a loft in the city. My entire place has windows."

"Then craw into your closet! Something went wrong with Harrison Well's Particle thing-y. There's a wave heading for us. It'll hit you right after. Please, sis."

I sighed deeper and used my finger to smear the white paints just the way I wanted it. "Penz, you worry too much."

The phone cut off before I could finish; I heard the long, dreaded buzz in my ear. "Penz? Aspen?" I placed the phone down on the work station beside my stool, knowing she'd call back when the connection was stronger. "Older sisters, I swear." Then all the lights went out, and from my seat next to the large window that ran along my entire fourth-story loft, all the others in the west side of the city did as well.

Little did I know that I should've listened to her, for the next thing I feel is the bench I sat on shaking like a leaf. "What the...?"

I heard a high-pitched noise coming from behind me, and I turned just in time to see a wave of some sort of energy coming straight for me. It was just as Aspen warned, only I never listened. I gripped my painting tightly and closed my eyes. It washed over me and knocked me off my bench. Both the painting and I came crashing to the ground. I landed on my hip, causing me to wince and cry out in pain. Most of my paints tipped over and covered me as the wave hit and I fell, making me look like a walking Picasso.

After the buzzing stopped and the wave disappeared, I pulled myself up and leaned back against my heavy-duty work station that was lucky enough not to tip over. My previous leg injury was screaming, I was pretty sure I'd broken something in my hip, and I couldn't shake the tingly feeling in my hands.

As I lifted one of them to see if they were broken, something even stranger happened. The air around me started to turn different colors, almost as if I was painting it. My dark brown eyes grew wide, and suddenly, my pain was forgotten.

At the time, I summed this up to the accident, maybe the fall hit my head, maybe whatever came out of the Particle Accelerator was causing me to hallucinate  But now I know that this wasn't the case at all: whatever happened that night in Central City changed me forever.

Me and so many others.

END PROLOGUE.