High above the world was the realm called the Aether. It was a place connected to the plains beyond the skies, but tethered to the Overworld by the higher atmosphere. In the Aether, a spirit was forever connected to the constellation of cygnus, the swan. The pulsar hybrid named Clara stared down at the Overworld children, smiling at their antics. She floated from one area of the Aether to the next, avoiding her fellow hybrids and the Pulsar creatures in order to watch the different Overworld people and Mobs.

        To be exact, Clara didn't care about them in a personal way. They were entertainment that jostled her emotions. She resented them and their freedom. She resented the love they had, she resented the familial bonds most of them had with each other, she resented the fact that they could go anywhere they wanted. She earned to be with them, to be an Overworld creature instead of an Aether spirit.

        She didn't care until she found him. One of those human children. A Hybrid. A boy, practically still a baby. He had fiery wings and brilliant eyes. He was taken away to a prison. This baby- like Clara- was longing for freedom and to see a world he never knew. Clara no longer saw about other people, she watched him alone. His name was Tommy and he was part Phoenix, she learned. Another rare species like herself, someone that shouldn't have existed but did. This boy reminded Clara of herself. She began to care about him, to love him. And to that end, she swore to protect him.

        The people that imprisoned him were harsh and rude. They didn't care about Tommy. They saw him as a thing to be monitored. They did tests and experiments to see what he was capable of. They didn't care if they killed him. Clara couldn't allow it. After every beating, Clara would find herself using her talisman to heal as much as she could. No one noticed, and if they did, they wouldn't believe that a 'nonexistent' Pulsar hybrid from the controversial Aether was showing concern for a rare Nether hybrid imprisoned by Overworld brutes. Clara would have laughed in most other circumstances.

Clara could feel her humanity rising up, making the difference between her hybridization more even. For as long as Clara could remember, she rejected the human part of herself. Not because she hated it, exactly, but because it not only made her uncomfortable (conflicted with her Aether parts) but also because true Pulsars, the flying blobs of reddish light that could be mistaken for angelic blazes, hated humans. Hybrids, no matter the plane of existence, would always be criticized. Clara did everything she could to be more Aether than Overworld.

Now, Clara was relishing in the emotions that humans had that Pulsars didn't. She believed that humans only felt anger, sadness, fear, and happiness. She was wrong. Humans had levels and tones and mixtures to their emotions. They changed how they felt second by second, which made everything worth more. Clara clung to the fleeting joy, the wisps of admiration, the small doses of pride in her work. Clara struggled with the heavy weights of guilt, the sorrowful sympathy, the all encompassing need to save a life. Clara had to control herself when bursts of flaming rage at her soul, making her skin glow a brilliant gold and her eyes blaze with the power of thousands of stars. Clara could feel the withdrawals caused by disappointment and the scarring memories of trauma. Clara never had felt alive, not like this.

Clara loved the new emotions. It made it much easier to connect with Tommy on a personal level, strengthening the one sided bond enough that Clara could momentarily be in the prison cell with Tommy, visible enough to comfort Tommy without being caught. Clara couldn't save him or purposefully thwart any of the experiments, but she could be a welcoming breeze that would lighten up Tommy's chilling bones. She had undertaken an oath. She would not let Tommy die. In a way, letting Tommy die was like dying herself. Tommy was the force that tethered Clara to the Overworld, the strange place that Clara instinctively hated but ineffably loved.

As Tommy grew older, his life began to wane, through no fault of his. Clara did everything she could do, but it became increasingly difficult to pull him through the night. If she could only be there with him. The distance was the worst part. Even if she could become a phantom feeling to him, she couldn't ease his worries of the next day or desperation for freedom. Clara had to watch him suffer while she did everything she could to pull him free. Eventually, Clara found one way. If she sacrificed her life, there was a chance she would become a Will O' the Wisp. The species had been long forgotten, but they were the undead protectors of life, all four of the realms. Clara could become one. She could wander the Overworld as a Will O' the Wisp, and find some way or person that was willing to help. It wouldn't come easy though. Will O' the Wisps gained power through sacrifice. First, their life. Second, their sanity. Third, their physical forms. If they could manage to hold onto life, to tether themselves to the living plain, they were able to earn the title of Will O' the Wisp.

Clara whispered her promise to Tommy one night, able to hold herself the world long enough for his half asleep, bleeding out corpse to hear her solemn vow. He stared at her with glassy eyes. She shed a few tears in his honor, pressing a kiss to his forehead. This was no longer about her. Clara was doing this for Tommy, her little brother, her light in the dark world, the spark that would set her ablaze. Clara knew that no matter what Death could do, her commitment would be enough to fuel her perseverance.

Clara clutched her talisman tight to her chest, the blue orb shining against her body as she took deep breaths. Deneb, her life line, shone one last time on the Aether before Clara let her body fall. The air was freezing cold, yet it still burned her as she fell. Her skin became red and blotchy, and her hair whipped her cheeks harshly. Her violet eyes were tightly shut, her lips pressing into a thin line so she didn't eat a bug by accident. Once Clara was past the Aether, into the atmosphere of the Overworld, her mind was hit with a pounding headache that wouldn't stop. It became worse the farther she fell, until Clara was ready to slam her skull open to extract the hammer.

Clara hit the water hard. Her mouth opened to scream, but chilling water filled her lungs. She fought against the currents even though she wanted to die. Clara struggled against the water, the mass dragging her down. Clara was panicking, tears pouring into the dark waters around her. Clara's eyes closed tightly, and before she could find air, Clara's soul slipped from her body.

She didn't wake up. She slowly came into thoughts that lacked reasoning. She wasn't here or there, she wasn't alive or dead, she wasn't feeling or apathetic. She knew there was something there, but it was a vague concept she could never quite grasp, no matter how hard she tried. Not even her name would come to her. Everything was agony but she didn't really feel it. The ache, the longing, a saudade that never left nor defined itself. She felt her first namable feeling after that: frustration. She had something to do, someone to talk to. She didn't know what or who or why or how, but it was a nagging feeling that threatened to make her wish she wasn't aware of anything. The ache didn't let her. The longing morphed slowly into determination.

Clara, that was her name. Tommy, that was the someone she needed to see again. Clara didn't know why or who he was, but it was important. It was her reason for existence. If she didn't see this Tommy, she would never be able to forgive herself. The feelings would swallow her whole. So, Clara fought the oblivion that was clinging to her consciousness, pulling away from the chaos that everything came from and returned to. Clara found herself somewhere else. She found herself with Tommy.

He was tiny. A shell of a human, like Clara was. He had fiery wings that seemed seconds away from becoming ashes. He was dirty, bloodied, bruised, and pale, the realistic version of a zombie. Clara couldn't hold him. She didn't have a corporal form. But she clung to him like an aura. Something in her heart- if she had one- compelled Clara to stay by his side. She was giving him a hug in the only way she knew how. Luckily, he seemed to understand that she was there. Clara's touches were featherlight and soft as wool, but Tommy found comfort in the embrace, no matter how nonexistent it was.

Later, someone tried to take Tommy away. Clara followed, hesitant but unwilling to let Tommy face the unknown alone. He was scared, so was she, but with Clara reassuring him, Tommy found the confidence to escape. Clara felt extremely proud of him.

It was a long time later, after Clara remembered her life and what she did, after she met the other Will O' the Wisps, when she heard Tommy's wish to the stars she used to govern. "Umm, Cygnus, or whatever, if you can hear me, can you protect me? I don't want to die yet, and I'm scared." He stopped, voice trailing off while his sad eyes hardened in self contempt. "This is stupid."

Clara giggled. She had already been protecting him! But, when he made that wish, sending it to the star that held her life, Clara felt power course through her skin, illuminating the long since dull glow. Clara was lifted into the air by her swanlike wings, fluttering at the edge of life and death. "I'll protect you, Tommy."

BlackCat2907
I wanted to wrote Clara meeting Kristen, but I didn't because I lost motivation. Sorry! (I decided to put this in my oneshot book lol)