Chapter Text
The sunsets' fading glow bounced off Lando’s bike, threading into his dark, messy curls as he sped down the dirt road. The hills of Glastonbury turned golden and then dark beside him as he rode.
Lando was running slightly behind schedule. He was supposed to be home for dinner more than half an hour ago, but he had completely lost track of time with his best friend, Max. He hoped his parents wouldn’t be too mad at him, after all, he was fine and nothing—
A loud boom went off nearby, rattling Lando’s ears and making him fumble his rhythm on his bike. He took a tumble onto the grass, scraping one of his knees in the process. He pushed his bike off himself and sat up in the direction of the boom. Despite the sunlight dimming behind the hills, he could see a group of trees in the distance, now bent and broken where they used to stand strong.
The alarm bells in Lando’s head were screaming at him to turn around, pick up his bike, and go home, but he couldn’t hide his curiosity. He abandoned his bike by the road and strode toward the trees.
The closer he got, the stronger the stench of burning wood invaded his senses. Leaves were scattered everywhere, branches broken, and trunks split open from the heavy impact of whatever struck it. Thin ribbons of smoke trailed from the fallen trees.
He kept creeping closer until something caused him to freeze, eyes wide in both awe and shock. Standing a few feet in front of him was a large black rock with glowing golden cracks that seemed to pulse beneath its surface. Surprisingly, Lando didn’t feel scared; the light beneath the rock called to him, almost like it was putting him under its spell.
Slowly, Lando stepped closer, hand extending hesitantly to the rock. His breath was as shaky as his hand as he touched the dark surface. It was warm to the touch, comforting even. He skimmed the surface, feeling the rough, sharp grooves and shallow pores under his fingertips and palm.
Lando had never seen something like this in his 14 years on Earth. A large glowing rock coming from where, the sky? It didn’t make any sense to him, but Lando was too much in wonder to ponder it anymore.
The rock suddenly glowed brighter, causing Lando to turn his head away, eyes squeezing shut. He felt his heartbeat rise to match the pulses, his breath following as the light grew brighter and brighter.
Lando opened his eyes with a squint; the light reminded him of the sun, and it was as if everything suddenly synced. The pulse, his heartbeat, the light, his breath, it was like everything became one.
And then it burst.
Light enveloped Lando and his surroundings, and a force so powerful knocked him back like a rag doll, leaving him in a gasping heap on the grass. The light from the rock dissipated, leaving Lando in darkness. He quickly picked himself up and ran as fast as he could toward his discarded bike and raced home.
“LANDO NORRIS!!!” his mom’s voice echoed through the house as Lando slipped through the door. “Where have you been? I told you to be home for dinner over an hour ago!” His mum, Cisca Norris, pulled him into a crushing hug.
“I am so, so sorry, Mum. I lost track of time at Max’s. It won’t happen again, I promise.” Lando knew his puppy dog eyes worked on a lot of people in many situations, but this wasn’t one of those.
“I may ground you for this. I am glad you are safe, honey, but your father and I still expect you to be home for dinner. I need you to understa— what happened to your knee?” his mom asked, eyes fixed on his knee.
Lando had completely forgotten about scraping his knee. He looked down to see multiple cuts on and around his knee, not badly bleeding, but a dull throb had become noticeable. He didn’t know how he could explain the last hour of his life, but he couldn’t exactly tell his mom about the glowing rock that might be from the sky, and how his heartbeat matched the pulse of the golden light.
“I- I fell off my bike. I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I hit a-a bump in the road.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but Lando’s mum knew when he wasn’t being 100% honest. Still, she didn’t push him, just narrowed her eyes before sighing, both hands gently holding his cheeks.
“Let’s get your knee cleaned. There’s some leftovers from dinner you can warm up.”
“Thanks, Mum,” Lando said. “And promise, I won’t be late again. Ever. I will be home an hour before dinner every day from now on. Maybe I can help you even.”
His mom chuckled at that. Everyone knew Lando was a mess in the kitchen, no matter how good his intentions were. Cisca turned toward the bathroom and called over her shoulder, “Come on, sweetie, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Everything was perfectly normal for Lando until about a week after his encounter with the glowing space rock. He had woken up with a massive headache, his ears ringing. Sounds of birds chirping, cars honking outside, and his mum humming in the kitchen filled his head in short bursts and became more prolonged throughout the day. He thought it might be because he was tired, but the noises carried on for days, weeks, even.
That wasn’t the only weird thing going on with him. One afternoon, he had knocked over one of his mum’s favorite vases, and before it split into a thousand pieces, he had swiftly grabbed it, inches from the floor.
Lando was the sort of clumsy where he could be walking on two feet and still find a way to trip himself up. So far, though, he had managed to save himself from quite a lot of trouble around the house, so he wasn’t entirely calling whatever was going on with him a bad thing. His clumsiness, however, hadn’t improved.
One of the weirdest instances, though, was halting mid-air before tumbling down to the ground. It was hard to explain, but if Lando ran and jumped, he would shoot up into the air a few feet, be held there by some random force, and then gracelessly fall to the ground, where he’d end up with seemingly no cuts or bruises. He couldn’t exactly call it flying yet, but it was a start.
The sun, he had discovered, was like a replenishing boost of energy that made him feel stronger and healthier. All he had to do was lie in the sun for a few minutes, and he could move faster, fly longer, and better. It wasn’t helpful that living in the UK brought about plenty of cloudy weather, but whenever he got the chance, Lando would lie in the sun for hours, soaking in every last drop of energy.
His family eventually found out about everything when his dad caught him one day after school, recklessly jumping off the roof. He had let out a yell, bolting to the back of the house, only to find his son levitating off the ground. After nearly giving his dad a heart attack, Lando finally came clean about his little adventure, about the glowing rock, and his symptoms from the past month.
His parents were hesitant at first, unsure what to make of the situation and their son’s newfound powers, but they gradually warmed up to the idea. They made him promise to keep things on the down-low when out in public, and though it was difficult at first, Lando managed to find some measure of control.
His brother and sisters were ecstatic upon discovering their brother had superpowers, but they too, were also sworn to secrecy for Lando’s safety. The only other person Lando told was Max Fewtrell, his best friend since grade school. Max was rather chill about it, still finding ways of teasing him whenever he could, but Lando felt that it made him feel more normal, like these newfound powers hadn’t disrupted his life entirely.
Lando did go back to the spot where he had found the space rock, but to his surprise, it was gone. The broken trees still lay discarded and rotting, but there was no trace of how the rock had been removed. The only piece remaining was a small slab hidden under a bush. Lando took it as a piece of remembrance, placing it on his nightstand so that if it ever glowed again, he’d be ready.