Hailey took a deep breath as she focused in on herself.
She wasn’t sure she exactly knew where that feeling had come from that had allowed her to shoot out those crystals, but she knew that she should be able to do that again if she focused herself.
She tried imagining pulling it out of herself, straining, as if she was trying to go to the bathroom but couldn’t, and even tired imagining herself in the fight with Dragonfly again, but nothing seemed to work.
Making her feel as if those attempts were useless.
When she looked up at the sky, she felt a little surprised at how full of stars the sky had become.
It almost made her feel like she did when her father was angry and coming to take it out on her, regardless of what had set him off.
Small and insignificant.
She wasn’t sure why, but that thought made her angry.
As if the sky was mocking her as Crystal Flower and she wasn’t going to stand for it.
Then before she knew it, she was holding a sword.
She didn’t know where it had come from, just that she had it in her right hand and felt as if it was a part of her.
It had a hilt and cross-guard that gave hints of a flower’s thorns, had a secondary guard that would help protect her fingers from direct attack while she was holding it that extended from the cross-guard to the end of the hilt, while leaving enough space for her to hold it with both hands comfortably.
It appeared to be made out of a crystal that had shades of lilac, pink, and white and she could somehow tell that it was about how tall she was as a magical girl, even without measuring it against herself.
However at that moment, suddenly a spotlight shone on her, illuminating her and the surrounding area.
She wasn’t sure, but she had a suspicion that the police had noticed her and were getting ready to try and take her in.
After all, she was essentially trespassing on property that was likely private and she looked like a twelve-year-old girl.
Adding to how late it was, she couldn’t really expect them to do anything different.
Hailey heard doors slam shut and could see the silhouettes of two people, both of whom she assumed were police officers.
Though, she stayed like she had been when the light first shone on her, as if she hadn’t even noticed it yet.
“Uh, shouldn’t we be trying to leave?” Dave asked in a harsh whisper.
Hailey ignored Dave, mostly because she hadn’t yet decided what she was going to do.
Naturally, she didn’t plan on letting them capture her, but she wasn’t sure if she should try to run or find some other means of escape.
Not to mention she was seeing if she could get that feeling to bubble up inside her again when the officers got closer.
After all, she couldn’t get it to appear with what she’d tried so far, so she thought that maybe if it would appear with the police, then maybe she could try and figure out how to get it to appear on its own without using anything external.
As the silhouettes started to get larger, Hailey stood up, vaguely aware the sword had disappeared.
Where it went, she wasn’t sure, just that it wasn’t in her hand anymore.
Which she supposed was probably a good thing.
She certainly didn’t need the officers to pull their firearms on her.
Then as they started to get close enough that she started to be able to make out some details of them against the spotlight, she turned and ran.
“Hey, wait!” she heard Dave call out, making her grin.
If Dave wasn’t going to keep on his toes, then she wasn’t going to worry about leaving him in the dust.
Besides, she was confident that he’d be able to find her home again if he wasn’t able to keep up with her.
Hailey ran inside the factory, not sure if she’d be able to outrun the police if she didn’t have any obstacles between them.
“Hold it!” she heard one of the police officers, a man, call after her as she moved.
As she ran, she realized she didn’t care if she got caught.
She was more interested in the chase right then rather than what would happen afterwards.
Though, part of her wondered if she’d give these officers a sight by de-transforming in front of them and letting them try to figure out what happened, since she doubted that they’d be able to explain that to anyone, even themselves.
She was vaguely aware of the police running after her as she ran around, not having an actual idea of where she was going.
She heard them call out to her but she didn’t pay any attention to what they said so she couldn’t tell what it was that they actually said.
Though, before she knew it, the feeling was bubbling up inside her, though this time was completely different from the other two times she’d felt it.
Somehow it made her feel lighter.
Like she could float just by thinking about it.
Then she suddenly found herself cornered by the police.
She was in a room with a single window that had been broken, likely by the rocks that were on the floor that otherwise looked out of place with a single door that was blocked by one of the police officers.
Looking outside the window Hailey could tell that they were at least on the second floor.
“You don’t have anywhere to go.
So, come with us quietly and we can figure out whatever is bothering you,” the officer said.
Hailey couldn’t help but smirk to herself as she realized that the officer thought that she was there because of some problems she had.
She wouldn’t be surprised if the officer thought that she had had a disagreement with her parents and ran off to calm down or something stupid like that.
Yet, the feeling that had bubbled up inside of her felt so intoxicating that she wasn’t going to let getting cornered like this end her night.
So, she ran for the window and jumped, vaguely aware of the officer rushing to try and stop her.
Then as she jumped out of the window, she suddenly felt something catch her.
Something that seemed more like it was holding her and allowing her to move through the air as she wished.