A/N: To everyone unfamiliar with my fics, I advise you to first read the first two stories prior to this one: Blue and Vacation That Changed Everything, if you haven't already. Otherwise this will probably not make any sense.

I put this prologue first so things mentioned later would make more sense.

Also, I would like to thank ZeoViolet. Without her, this fic would probably never have come to exist. So thanks for the push and some of the ideas!

I was going to publish this thing once it was finished but... here it is. Please review and tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: Captain Planet and the Planeteers are not mine. But Kim and Buddy are.

Rated T for adult suggestive adult themes.

Prologue

Past, part 1: Captain Planet

It had been little over a month since Cap had asked Kim to stay with him. The newest resident of Hope Island was busy working on the Eco-Sub. She had had to think of something to do with her time now that she had quit her job. Kim had gone back to work once her sick leave had ended but in only a week she had realized it was too tiresome. The trips to and from the island alone took too long since Hope Island wasn't that close to the mainland. She had watched Wheeler work on the engine of one of the vehicles and had wanted to try it herself. With guidance from the redhead, she had discovered she was quite mechanically inclined, much to her surprise.

From secretary to fledgling mechanic. Quite a switch. But she still had much to learn about the insides of the vehicles and left the more serious damage to the five to fix until she was more experienced.

She hoped the Planeteers would bring the Eco-Copter back at least in one piece this time. More often than not it was the villain they were facing or some other outside force doing the damage. And of course there was the normal wear and tear.

And this way, she and her boyfriend got to spend more time together. When he wasn't off saving the world, that is. A memory surfaced of something she had found out about him during her sick leave. Something she would have never expected to hear.

-Flashback Kim's POV-

We were spending time at the clearing we had claimed as ours. Blue's head was in my lap and I was giving his scalp a massage. His eyes were closed in contentment, enjoying the attention. In fact, it looked like he had fallen asleep.

That wouldn't surprise me, not after we had discovered he could sleep when he wanted to. It wasn't as effective as recharging but for me, it was better to have him there beside me than sleeping alone. I felt so safe with his arms around me, although I knew there was nothing on the island that would hurt me.

"Could I ask you something?" I enquired.

"Fire away," he told me without opening his eyes. Not asleep at all, then.

"Well, I thought I heard Gaia call you 'son' the other day," I told him. "What was that about?"

Now he did look at me. "Yeah, that. I've been meaning to tell you."

"So she's… You're…" I stammered, trying to wrap my head around it as he sat up. Well, it was kind of logical, now that I thought about it.

Blue gave a laugh, amused by my reaction. "Nah, we're not related. But she did raise me."

Gaia had raised him? That I hadn't expected to hear. "I'm all ears," I told him, settling down to listen.

He cleared his throat. "Gaia's told me she found me on the beach."

"No clues as to who had left you there?" I wanted to know.

"Nope," Blue said. "Not until I grew up."

He thought about something for a moment and suggested that maybe Gaia would tell me about his early days and he'll pick up from where he remembered things more clearly. I was OK with that so he and I got up and made our way to the Crystal Chamber.

His words of growing up came back to me. "How old were you when she found you?"

"Just a baby." There was a pause while he let me digest this piece of news. Had this guy really been a baby? It was so hard to imagine. I tried to picture a miniature version of him. Blue chuckled, probably aware of what was going on in my mind. "And what's more, I was human. Or at least I appeared to be."

I could only stare at him, not sure whether to believe him or not. "How did you become who you are today, then?"

He grinned. "Patience, love. You'll find out soon enough." Patience had never been one of my strong points. Especially if I was curious about something. Fortunately, we were almost at the Chamber.

The spirit was waiting for us. So was Buddy, who we had left to play with the Planeteers. The dog wagged his tail when he saw us, having learned by now not to use his tongue as a greeting. Or maybe it was the presence of a certain superhero that made him behave himself. All I had been able to teach him was sit and stay.

After the dog had settled down and sat obediently to the side, we explained the reason for our visit to the spirit. She agreed and waved her hand at the screen that was the Planetvision. An image of a human baby appeared on it. He had thick black hair and brown eyes. Especially the eyes were similar to Blue's and not just because of the color. I had looked into them often enough to notice the resemblance. It was almost like he had already experienced a lot despite being so young. Then again, he might have been older than he seemed.

"You were a cute baby," I told him with a smile.

He clearly hadn't expected that, judging from the look on his face. "Gee, thanks."

The spirit showed me the sky-blue blanket, in which he had been wrapped in. It was exactly the same color as his skin and felt so soft it was almost like brand new. I was also shown the basket he had been in.

"Like he already told you, I found him on the beach," Gaia began. "Soon he felt like my own son. But since I was alone with him, I really had my hands full. Especially after he learned to walk. But he was a fairly easy boy to keep up with, nonetheless."

Once he had been old enough, she had schooled him. According to her, the boy had been a quick learner, absorbing knowledge like a sponge absorbs water and seemed to remember everything he heard exceptionally well. The time we had played that game back at the cabin came back to me. Now I knew why he had won: thanks to Gaia and his memory.

"But how did he get his powers?" I asked, wanting them to get to the point already.

"I was just getting to that," Blue told me. "When I reached my teens, my skin started to change. In about a year it was the way it is now. Not long after that, my powers showed up. Fire was first."

"Or rather, second," Gaia put in. "He already had his Heart power. I wasn't sure but my guess was that he had been born like that."

I wasn't even surprised that his Heart power had already been there. But if his emerging Fire power had been anything like his 'experiments' back at the cabin when he was still suffering from amnesia, I had a hunch Gaia hadn't liked what had happened. "Let me guess," I said. "You burned something."

"You could say that," he said. "If it hadn't been for Gaia, the whole island would've gone up in flames."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," the spirit put in. "But it was a close call."

Next had been wind. Instead of diving successfully into the ocean from a cliff, he had ended up floating in the air. He had to figure out how to either get himself back on land or dive like he had intended. Once he had managed to flounder back to land, Gaia figured he could control the wind once he got the hang of it and maybe even fly too. With the awakening of the power of water, there had been another near-disaster. Being bored, he had had the notion of wanting to surf but there had been no waves. A stray thought and soon the sea around the island had been raging like mad. Gaia was needed again to calm it.

"Don't tell me something like that happened with earth too," I guessed. "Like an earthquake."

"Not quite," Blue said.

The spirit had charged him to take care of the patch of land that had been turned into a vegetable garden. Back then he still needed to eat full meals but wasn't that fond of hard work. He needed to turn the soil and plant the seeds. Discovering a faster way to do it, he had taken advantage of this, but had only succeeded in making a mess of the garden. So he had been forced to start over the old-fashioned way. At about this time his hair had turned from black to the grassy-green it was now.

He knew he was different from other people because Gaia had let him explore the world. When his curiosity had reared its head, she had had to let him out into the world. The spirit had told him how he had come to be in her care. "But to all intents and purposes, he was my son."

"I saw how beautiful this planet was," Blue commented. "It still could be, if people would just change their ways." He said it with such feeling that it was quite obvious why he was doing what he did, being the champion of the planet.

"I began teaching him how to control his powers better," Gaia said. "Basic restraint, if only to prevent any further disasters. He was a quick learner, if a little reckless at times."

"But I learned from my mistakes," Blue put in.

His elemental powers were a clear indication of one of his parent's heritage. Gaia had somehow determined it was his mother who he had inherited his powers from. Something about signatures or something. And since he had been born human, it was clear the other had been just that.

"Wouldn't that make you… half human?" I mused.

Blue nodded. "That's about sums it up, love. But since my body changed so thoroughly, on a molecular level, I consider myself to be more a being of nature than human."

"There was never any word from them?" I wanted to know. "Whoever had brought you here, I mean."

"None," Gaia replied. "Our guess was they either didn't want to or something had happened that prevented them to." If it had been the latter I had a hunch what that meant. There would never be any word from them.

"Gaia's the only parent I've known so it's not that big of a deal," Blue dismissed it. "I can't miss people I've never met."

"But honey, don't you care that the person who gave you life might be… dead?" I persisted, too stubborn sometimes to let something go.

He smiled. "Of course I do, love. But it's no use dwelling on it, is there?" I had to admit he was right so I let the matter drop. "But the tale's not over yet. If you wanna hear the rest too, that is."

I did so they told me how he had found the rings. When he had learned what they were for, it seemed he hadn't hesitated in offering his help with giving the rings their power. Gaia tried to tell him he didn't have to do it, that she'd find another way. But he had made his decision and the spirit couldn't change his mind. Gaia had asked him one more time if he was sure about what he wanted to do. Blue had told her that if felt right, that if he went through with it, his life and the powers he possessed would have meaning. He also wanted to do his part in protecting the world if it needed it.

He had asked why there were five rings. "Don't forget your Heart power, son," Gaia had told him. "It's the most important power of them all, because without heart, you had nothing." She had also told him that he would not be alone since the wearers of the rings would be there to help him, too.

After some very extensive training (either alone or with Gaia) it was time for him to give power to the rings. Gaia was going to take a nap and it was as good a time as any to do it.

"A nap that lasted for a century," Blue told me.

A century... I realized that's what he had meant about the hundred years when we had talked about ages back at the cabin. Doing a little math in my head, I concluded he had been only 22 years old when he had made the decision that would define him for the rest of his life.

But before that, he had one more surprise for his mother. He had decided what he was going to look like when he would be summoned for the first time. In place of his old clothes, he now had a sort of a red uniform, cloves and boots included. And he had a globe on his chest, as well, symbolizing the earth. Mother and son embraced one final time before he divided into the five powers and they zoomed into the rings.

"This is not really part of you, after all, is it?" I asked, a hand on his chest.

"It sort of is." Blue said and told me it was a molecular layer of some sort. "You've seen I'm always like this when I'm summoned."

From what he had told me I figured he could also remove it if he wanted to. Keeping that thought to myself for now, I decided to ask him at some point.

-End of flashback-

Past, part 2: Kim

Cap had made the decision to ask Kim to stay upon seeing how well things had gone during her recovery from the operation she had had to go through because of Bleak's bullet. During her sick leave, the superhero's love for the woman had grown into a very deep one and he didn't want to lose her again. He had realized that even he had a right to be selfish sometimes and have something to call his. Before, he hadn't even given any thoughts to finding love, devoting his life solely to his job. He did enjoy what he did but had realized it wasn't enough anymore. Not after meeting Kim.

About the only concern for him had been the woman's jealous streak once it had surfaced. Kim had shed some light into that.

-Flashback Cap's POV-

When I brought it up, I could see how reluctant she was to talk about it. Her very being radiated a deep sadness. What had it been that had hurt her so much? I was sorry I had asked. But how else was I going to get to know her?

Kim bit her lip. Even when she would insist nothing was bothering her, that little biting of the lower lip always gave it away. "I'm sorry. I do want to tell you but it's so hard even after so long."

"No pressure, love," I assured her gently, running my fingertips along her back lightly. I had discovered that always seemed to calm her down whenever she was upset. "Take your time." She smiled a little, grateful.

Finally, after a deep sigh she looked at me. "I used to be engaged to be married once."

"Was this before or after Buddy?" I wanted to know, although I realized I already knew the answer.

Kim gave me a look. "What do you think?"

The dog had a tendency to be aggressive toward everyone. Well, everyone except me and my friends. I must've used my Heart power on the dog back then without even realizing it. A power I hadn't even remembered I had because of the amnesia.

"Asked a stupid question," I commented.

"I loved him and was very excited about the prospect of settling down with him," Kim continued. "As it turned out, he wasn't."

Again the air of deep sadness descended on her like a heavy blanket. I waited for her to continue on her own time, not wanting to rush her.

After a pause, she continued. "With only a few weeks to go to the wedding…" The woman faltered for a moment. "I got home early from work and found him in bed with another woman."

I hugged her, not able to understand why people could do something like that to someone they cared about. "I'm so sorry."

"Not wanting to hear his explanations I kicked them both out of the apartment and threw their clothes after them."

I chuckled a little at that image. "Did you see him again after that… incident?"

I saw the girls coming our way. They had noticed something was up and were curious. I sent them a quick thought to not interfere; this was between me and Kim. It was her choice whether or not she would want to tell the others what she had just told me. I wasn't going to spill the beans.

"Once, but not by choice," the woman said, oblivious to the silent exchange. "He tried to get me to forgive him and he promised he wouldn't do it again but I told him to go to hell." She sighed. "It's haunted me ever since and it still hurts to even think about it. Every relationship I had after that ended up a failure. Because of my insecurity and jealousy."

So her insecurity had its roots in what had happened in the past. The insecurity had made her jealous of any woman who had even looked at her current boyfriend a certain way. The men had tolerated her for a time but had left her almost without exception. Sometimes it had been her who had left but more often than not, it had been the guy she had been with.

I held her in my arms, running my fingertips along her back again. I could guess without asking her this had been the reason, or at least one of the reasons she had moved in to the cabin, practically in the middle of nowhere.

But there was the fact that if none of that hadn't happened she and I wouldn't have met. I mentioned this to her, not belittling what she had been through at all, it had just been a statement of fact. I managed to get a smile and a little kiss from her for that.

-End flashback-

Kim had promised him she would try to keep her jealousy in check and so far, she had. Her minor jealousy towards Gaia had cleared when she had found out about his past and how the spirit was connected to it. He had told her about his empathy so she should know how that would affect him.

But how hard would it be for him to convince her she had to change her attitude if the jealousy surfaced again? The woman had a tendency to be very stubborn. Well, so did he for that matter. He was no soothsayer, but something told him things would only get worse before they got better. There had to be a way for her to let go of the phantoms of the past if their relationship was to work in the long run.

Then again, was the possible emotional abuse worth it? When he had asked her to stay he had taken a personal risk. He realized he was ready to fight for his happiness even if there would be bumps on the road. He had endured so much already from the villains, so he would endure whatever the future brought with Kim, too. Cap was sure things would work out for the better eventually.

But as he would find out, the coming days would make him question his resolve.

A/N: The rest of the story will follow once I get the other chapters done to my satisfaction.