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Liberty
Running and Finding
by LilyBeth
Dan wanted me to update, instead of just updating, this whole story turned into an AU. Enjoy it :)
Liberty Bell Campbell, Libby for short, sat beside a pond in a dark park, shivering despite the multiple layers of clothing she'd thrown on before leaving the bus depot. She'd gotten a little over two states over with the bus ticket she bought in Connecticut when she panicked. She'd slept fitfully on the twenty hour bus ride, and was relieved to get away when the bus had finally stopped. She'd rented one of the one-day lockers at the depot and had locked up everything but the clothes on her back. She couldn't waste money on a hotel room, so she sat at the edge of the pond wondering what she was going to do, where she was going to go, and whether or not she could effect her transformation.
Libby tried to think about her plans, but her thoughts kept drifting back to her transformation. Despite the fact that her life was now up in a heaval, she wanted to change again. Her memores of being a turtle weren't clear, but she remembered feeling safe, protected.
XxXxXxX“Ma'am? This is Serisa, Libby's RD.”
Hilary gasped, into the phone, “Did something happen? Is she in the hospital? Is she okay?”
Serisa took a deep breath, “Well, something has happened, but she's not in any hospitals in the area. She ran away last night. She took some of her belongings, but didn't tell anyone where she was going or why. We haven't been able to figure out where she was headed. We're hoping that she'll contact you and we can find out what happened.”
XxXxXxXA small turtle woke slowly as the rsng sun warmed her cold blood. She was nearly buried in a mound of cloth, and she quickly scrambled over it to get at the water that was calling to her.
She stopped in her tracks as she saw a bird larger than herself, her mixed reactions confusing her. A part of herself was screaming that this bird was a predator that she needed to retreat into her shell to be safe from. Another part of her tried to tell her that this bird was no threat, that it was smaller than her, and would spook easily.Confused, she stayed as still as she could. But the bird was downwind and noticed her.
/What do you want reptile?/ The birds whole attitude made the word ‘reptile’ into an nsult.
She responded with a mixture of hissing sounds and posturing that was completely natural and yet brand new. /I just wanted to get to the water./
The bird shifted like it was going to attack, but paused for a moment. /Why do you smell of a warm blood? Of human?/
I'm not sure.
The bird started to back away. /You're one of them. The human animals. I must warn the others./
/Human?/ She asked as the bird flew away. But just saying the word unleashed memories in the brain that didn't belong to a turtle. Human thoughts and emotions. After a few moments Libby was sitting there, shivering in her underwear. Without a word she went back to her clothing and started to put the layers back on.
XxXxXxX
”You've reached Hilary and Brian Campbell, but we aren't here right now. Please leave a message after the tone. Libby baby, if it's you, we love you, please come home.”
”Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, your daughter just withdrew all money in her checking and saving accounts in Chicago. Since she'll be spending cash we'll no longer be able to attempt tracking her through credit card use. We don't know which direction she's gone in now. Please, remember to let us know if she contacts you.”
XxXxXxX
Libby sat in a compartment of a cargo train filled with straw as it went through Iowa. It had been easy to hide as a turtle until the train yard was empty and then sneak herself and her suitcase into the cart and bunker down for the night. By the time she woke up the train was moving west, and after an hour, she was bored.
After a few more minutes Libby got the bright idea to explore other cars. It was the work of a few moments to scramble out of her car and nto the next. Arriving there made it clear why there was a car full of straw: the next car over was full of cattle. The next car was full of flats of the newest iPods, and the next one was a refridgerated car full of food for McDonalds. Lbby was about to turn back to her own car when she entered a car that was nearly empty, and she heard what sounded like someone crying. In the far end of the car, a young girl wrapped only in a blanket was locked in a cage, crying.
“Hello?” Libby said uncertainly.
“Don't come near me!” the girl shrieked, scrambling backwards with wide eyes into the farthest corner of her cage. It was a large cage, but the bars were so thinly placed that the small girl couldn't slip through them. “I don't want to hurt anyone else!”
The tears streamed down the girls face again, and as she got visibly upset the girls from was replaced by that of a small Rhino with two horns. She thrashed around, ripping the already torn blanket further, and Libby realized why they'd put her in such a large cage for such a small girl.
“Shhhh, I know you won't hurt me. Look, I'm like you.”
And Libby concentrated like she had been practicing, and watched the world grow around her as she shrank, leaving a pile of clothes around her. Her smaller body easily slipped through the bars of the cage, and she came up next to the larger than life animal. But the size didn't matter, it was a hatchling, and it was scared and hurt.
/Calm down hatchling, you won't hurt me. Close your eyes, be calm, rest./
The turtle hissed softly at the rhino until it's eyes drifted shut and the form shifted back into the little girls. Libby shifted back into her own form to cover the girl with the pieces of the ripped blanket as best she could, then observed her.
The girl was scrawny, she seemed tall for her age, but was dangerously thin. She was pale, and her hair was probably red underneath all the dirt and grime, a darker shade of red than Libby's, but still red. Libby watched her sleep, ready to transform at the slightest sound or if the train stopped to keep from being found. Luckily no one came by while she waited, and at last the girl opened her eyes again, and Libby saw that they were bright blue.
“What's your name?”
“Cassie,” the girl whispered. “You're like me?”
Libby nodded, “I'm like you. What happened?” She had a feeling that the little girl needed to let it out.
Cassie shuddered, “There was a fire, and it drove the mountain cats out of the mountains. We were at recess, and two of the cats got onto the playground. They cornered my friend and I got so scared and angry, and I was running at the cats, and I got one of them, but I was running at the other one, and it could turn faster than me, and I ran into teacher instead. I think I hurt her /bad./”
Libby looked at the young girl and realized something that she'd always said, but until now hadn't really completely believed, even after her own transformation. ‘Theris are people too.’ The little girl in front of her was scared, and hurt, and they were sending her off to a place no one in their right mind would normally send a child, just because they saw her as less than human.
“What's your name?” Cassie asked. Libby hesitated for a moment before answering, using the name that all her life she'd rejected, “Liberty.”
And if she could manage it, that's what she was going to give this little girl.