Work Text:
Jade was lying near the edge of the pond, playing with her illusions, making her favorite butterflies dance and skitter above the surface of the water, when hands seized her roughly and shoved her into the water.
She came up sputtering. "What the fuck?" That was a word she really wasn't supposed to know, but Papa Logan used it all the time.
Jackson -- Jackass -- one of the boys from town, stood on the bank, bent near-double with laughter.
"That wasn't funny." She pushed to her feet, ready for a fight, ignoring the water that streamed from her hair and skirt, projecting an image of herself fierce and angry and dry.
"Knock it off with your witchcraft," the boy snapped.
"What's going on?" her brother Jimmy demanded. "What did you do to my sister?" He hurried toward them but stayed far enough away that his mutation wouldn't cancel hers out. Scott was at his side, hand on his elbow.
"He's not your sister," Jackson sneered. "He's got a dick -- I saw it."
Jade's cheeks reddened, and her hands balled into fists.
"She says she's a girl, that's enough for me," Jimmy said, calm tone belying the rage she felt rolling off him in waves. "Doesn't matter what an asshole like you thinks."
Scott brandished his white cane. "Get the hell out of here."
"Or what?"
"Or my sister's gonna kick your ass."
"I'd like to see her try."
"Okay." Jade dropped the illusion that had her still standing in the water. She stood right next to Jackson, and she grabbed a double-handful of his jacket and shoved him into the water. He landed on his ass with a large splash. Then, just because she could, she had a fat butterfly land on his nose. Then she followed it with a swarm of bees.
Jackson flew out of the water and ran back toward town. The bees might be illusory, but she could make them feel damned real.
She looked at her brothers. "Thanks."
And then she made the butterflies dance again.