Disclaimer: I do not own Legion or Rima the Jungle Girl.
This is a gift I've done for someone who was kind enough to do a commission for me for free, and when he wasn't taking any. I gave him the choice between Rima the Jungle Girl and Lightning Lad, and now all that's left is for me to be surprised. I'v done two because I think that would be fair. I hope it is. Things have been really horrible at my house this last month, with my parents marriage falling apart and my brother with his attitude, these last two days I've managed to snap out of it. Merry Christmas.
Brave and the Bold: Ask Me No Secrets I Will Tell You No Lies
South America, 21st Century Earth
The evening air crackles with the scent of ozone. The animals, going about their daily routine, sense something is about to happen in the dense, tropic setting. Something that's already happened once before.
By the side of the river, out of nowhere, a giant glass orb appears. It is translucent. The birds and animals and denizens of the forest can't see inside. A bird with bright, colorful plumage lands on top of it, then flies off and squawks into the air as a hissing sound comes from the mysterious thing. It is a traveling device, and it's rider is about to exit.
The animals scamper away from the surrounding area in fear, some voicing their terror and others silent, as always. A fly gets caught in a web as it flees, the spider dangling from it's thread. As the animals flee, they don't see the red-haired, scruffy, muscular, peach-skinned figure dressed in blue and white exit.
Caption Box: Born a thousand years from now on the distant planet Winath. Garth Ranzz would gain the ability to generate electricity during his adolescence after a chance encounter with the weird lightning beasts of Korbal. Traveling to Earth and using his powers alongside two others, he helped save the life of R.J. Brande, the galaxy's richest man. Since then, he has helped found the universe's greatest team of super powered beings, the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brash and head strong, a childhood friend of the man of steel, he is LIGHTNING LAD.
Lightning Lad stepped out of the timespehere and looked around at the landscape. Dense, misty green. Evening twilight creeping in the air and the sky. Venus the evening star has already appeared alongside the crescent moon. The animals watch him cautiously. The spider is gorging on its dinner.
"Just my luck." He complains to only himself, as he lifts off the ground, flying off to survey the jungle from the top of its canopy in hope of finding the person he's been ordered to find.
A bird cries out a soft, whistling sound, and he pays it no mind. If he did, he would've seen the pair of two eyes watching him, before they dart after him underneath.
Just my luck I get stuck searching a whole freaking jungle myself for one guy. Grife. Lightning Lad thinks not-too-positive thoughts, scowling as he does. I'm really gonna have to think of a way to thank Brainy when I get back. His scowl turns to a somewhat mischievous grin as he tries thinking of something to do.
Let's turn back the clock, in a way, to how this time traveler came to be in this tropical place unknown to him.
Metropolis, 31st Century Earth
"This better be good, Brainy. I'm kind of in the middle of something." Lightning Lad said, his arms crossed and somewhat irate.
"Yes, please forgive me if I had to interrupt you from indulging in your homicidal sibling's delusions." The green skinned Coluan known as Querl Dox, BRAINIAC 5, sarcastically quipped. The two were inside Brainiac's lab in Legion of Super-Heroes headquarters.
"Did you have something you want to talk to me about or did you just want an audience for sarcastic put downs?" Lightning Lad asked.
BLIP.
"About five hours ago, this fire occurred at the home of one Jerrol and Quinlan Hueghes at Ruffino and Leister Avenue in Uptown Metropolis." Brainiac 5 explained as the picture of a burned down building flashed onto one of the monitorless screens so common in the future. "Hueghes is a low-level scientist who works at the Time Institute, while his wife is a kindergarten teacher. They have two children, daughters, age 6 and 4."
"And you're telling me this because…"
"Quinlann and her two daughters, Karri and Alyce, died in that fire."
BLIP
Now, a picture of the medics pulling the bodies Quinlann and her children out of the wreckage.
"That's horrible." Lightning Lad said, speaking out of his own feelings as a father of one son. There was actually remorse on his face. "Those poor girls."
"Yes, well, their father didn't take the news too kindly, either. When the Science Police informed him of what happened, he had a breakdown."
BLIP
Security footage showed Jerrol's reaction to the news.
"He locked himself inside his office, before taking an illegally-acquired hand gun hidden in his desk and attacking two security guards. He then hijacked a working Time Bubble and fled into the time stream." Brainiac 5 finished the debriefing.
"So, what? You want me to follow after him and bring him back?" Lightning Lad asked. "Brainy, I've got more important things to worry about. Get Cos or Colossal Boy to handle it."
"No, Cosmic Boy specifically asked for you." Brainiac 5 mentioned.
"What? Why?"
"He felt that since we're dealing with a man who has lost both his wife and his children in the same day, you would be the one best qualified. You and Saturn Girl are the only Legionnaires who are both married and have children."
"Where's Cos?" Lightning Lad demanded. "And where's Imra. I want to talk to them about this."
"The two of them are currently off world at peace treaty negotiations with the planet Tarturus. Prince Evillo's death left a political gap that has yet to be filled and those two were called in by the head politicians to lend a hand." Brainiac 5 explained. "To put it frankly, you're not getting out of this one."
Lightning Lad sighed.
"Thanks, you guys."
21st Century Earth.
Really, guys. Thanks. It's nice to know you at least had an excuse for not telling me in person.
As Lightning Lad flies above the tree tops, his thoughts are turned to his best friend and the love of his life. Rokk Krinn and Imra Ardeen, well, Imra Ardeen-Ranzz now. Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl. The other two-thirds of the founders of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
It seems all you two do nowadays is talk about me behind my back. No, I know that's not true. And if it was, I guess I can't judge them, with the way I act. Still, I wish Imra would side with ME for once, even when I'm wrong.
His thoughts turn to memories of the last couple of years that the Legion has had to deal with.
Xenophobic trash twisting Superman's name and the warping the Justice League's name. Concentration camps and aliens being forced to go into hiding. An alien supremacist president in office. The Time Trapper using that psychopathic Superboy and the Legion of Super-Villains to try and destroy Earth. Rond, Myg, and Legionnaires from parallel worlds, dead. Mekt claiming he's got a twin no one ever told him about. And now this. Oh yeah, at least it's not boring.
Lightning Lad had spent about an hour of searching through this area of the jungle, and so far no sign of any time bubble. He landed near a jungle stream, electricity crackling from his fingertips to light the darkness. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable being in a nature, he grew up on a farm back on Winath, alongside his twin sister and older brother. But that was a farm. And this is the untamed wild of a chaotic past. There were no other people around for miles. At least, none that he knew of. The shadow followed him all the way from the end of that stream where his time bubble landed, and it isn't going to stop any time soon.
Now what? I have absolutely no idea where to look, and even if I do, what then. I have to figure out how I'm gonna convince this guy to come back with me.
The jungle was quiet. Too quiet. The only sound Lightning Lad could hear was the stream. He looked up, and was silently amazed at the sight above. The stars were shining brightly up in space. Now, being from a time when space travel is normal, one takes for granted the sight of other planets and shining heavenly bodies floating in space. Science has already proven that most of those stars are either barren, empty rocks, and others are just hot balls of gas. But from down here, they radiate beauty and unspoken magnificence. A sight to behold by all.
Oh well, could be worse.
A sharp whistling sound came from behind him.
KRAKOOM!
"Come out!" Lightning Lad shouts. The shadow darts out of the way. There's the smell of burnt wood and the clatter of branches. Birds fly out in all direction from amidst the tree tops.
"You think I didn't know someone was following me?!" Lightning Lad calls out, demanding his stalker come out. "Let me make something clear. I am NOT in the mood to play games!"
He received no answer.
"Okay, fine, have it your way."
The growling sound might been considered an answer to that.
"GRRRAWWWLL!"
Quick as, well, lightning, a jaguar leaped out of the bush with sharp fangs ready to rip his chest open. Another well fired lightning bolt takes care of that and sends the beast flying back. It crashes against a tree trunk.
"Yeah, I didn't see that happeni-"
A SECOND one jumps out and successfully pounces
31st Century
"So, all I have to do is go back and get this guy." Lightning Lad said. Brainiac 5 and himself were in the Legion's arsenal room, as the two were preparing the time bubble.
"It's not that simple." Brainiac 5 begins to explain. "Hueghes may have attacked two guards but the third one managed to fire a shot which damaged some of the controls of the time sphere. According to the tracking devices that I designed for the Institute, he didn't land in any part of the main stream."
"So, I'm going to a parallel Earth. Alone?"
"No, not the Multiverse, not exactly. The device says that he landed in an alternate timeline, in a version of South America in the 21st Century, but it's not entirely sure of it is indeed an alternate Earth or if it's just a part of Hypertime."
"Are there any other superheroes in this place? A version of Kal?"
"Hmmm…"
"I really hate it when you say 'hmmm', like that." Lightning Lad flatly said. "It's the same 'hmmm' you use when you're about to use one of his for human experimentation."
"I only did that once and Violet has just about gotten rid of that nervous twitch." Brainiac 5 quickly said. "Anyway, your question brings me to another topic. There really aren't that many heroes in this timeline, but there is something of a legend with the locals of this area."
"Oh boy." Lightning Lad rolled his eyes. "Is it that thing that eats goats, or whatever? The 'Chihuahua'?"
"That's 'Chupacabra', and that's Mexico."
The jaguar is mad at Lightning Lad for injuring it's mate. He can barely the stand the stench of its hot breath on his face. It's fangs glisten with drool. It's sinking its claws in his shoulders, drawing blood. The sight of it is greatly enhancing the jaguar's hunger. Despite the pain, all Lightning Lad does is grit his teeth and try to ignore it, as yellow electricity begins to fill his eyes and crackle from his hands, wrapped around the animal's two legs.
"Get-"
Another sharp whistling sound cuts through the canopy, and the jaguar is suddenly tackled off of the superhero.
"Off?" Lightning Lad is puzzled as to what just happened in the last three seconds, but his ears pick up the sound of struggle between the jaguar, and, what he thinks is, a human.
"She's a legend among some of the tribes in that area. They believe her to be the daughter of a malevolent entity."
The jaguar is being beaten by, what appears to be, a young girl with snow white hair, with piercing and tattoos in a loin cloth. Despite the jaguar's best efforts, the girl is beating him. The spear's she got is helping that greatly, and quickly, it pierce's the jaguar's skin. She doesn't kill it, but the wound is enough to send the jaguar running off into the night.
"Her name is Rima. No one is actually sure if she exists or not."
She exists, all right.
Lightning Lad is standing face to face with a teenage girl, possibly in her early twenties. Her skin is light brown, the color of coffee. Her eyes, it's impossible to tell what color they are. Maybe green, or blue, or even grey. They're like two mirrors. Her muscle tone is good, but she appears demure, although she's almost as tall as Lightning Lad. She has a hoop piercing in her nose, and two circle tattoos under each eye. She's wearing necklaces, and earrings, and her hair is done in a small bun at the top, with a bone sticking through it, although the rest of it is flowing down her shoulders and all the way down to her waist. She is wearing a makeshift top out of bands, necklaces, and threads, although the outline of her full breasts and her nipples are visible to the, ahem, naked eye. She has bare feet, and various tattoos on her legs. She is Rima the bird girl. RIMA THE JUNGLE GIRL.
She's staring at him, getting a sense of him. He stares back and, although a bit scared of what he saw, a bit scared of her, he deals with that and continues to stare back. Rima picks this up.
"Hi." Lightning Lad says. He doesn't really know what to say, and the sharp pain in his chest is starting to annoy him. He hopes the cuts don't get infected by the time he gets back home. "I guess I should thank you, but I could have handled it."
Rima doesn't speak a word. Rather, she whistles as she gets closer to Lightning Lad. She's examining him, his appearance. The two contrast so much. She has never really seen anyone dressed like him, in blue and white and lightning bolts. She reaches out her hand to touch his arm.
"Hey." Lightning Lad jerks back, a bit uncomfortable with a strange jungle girl touching him. She places her left hand on his wounds, wiping away some of the blood.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it."
She looks up at him as he speaks. Then, her vision turns elsewhere on his person, eying something, and it's not his wounds.
Rima whistles again, motioning her head to his left arm.
He realizes that she was going to try and touch the tattoo on his left arm. The Legion "L" in a circle, with two lightning bolts.
"What, you mean my tat'?" He asks. She looks a bit confused. "My tattoo. This." She whistles again, the sound of confusion. Now he's confused as well. She's got tattoos as well, on her legs. "This is a tattoo. Tat-too." He sounds it out. "What, can't you talk?"
She whistles again. It's clear that she understand s him.
"Oh, you don't talk?"
She whistles again.
"Well, you can't or you don't, which is it?" He asks, getting annoyed.
The whistle she gives neither confirms or denies it. He sighes.
"This is like with Tarzan and Jane." Lightning Lad notes as he scratches his head. Rima doesn't get the reference, she looks a bit confused.
"Tarzan, the ape guy. Come on, even I know that one." Lightning Lad sarcastically remarks. "Well it's not your fault, you were raised in a jungle after all." He smirks to himself.
Rima doesn't laugh. She fails to notice it's a joke. But she does notice the ring on his hand.
"This is my flight ring." Lightning Lad says, holding up his right hand so Rima can get a better look.
She whistles as she traces the small, metal circle with her finger.
"Here, watch." Lightning Lad decides to demonstrate and lifts off the ground a few feet. But this doesn't amaze Rima, or scare her. She watches with contemplation. "See." Lightning Lad says.
She whistles, and then darts off.
"Hey!"
Lightning Lad flies past her and stops in front of her.
"Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I'm not in the mood right now." He says, grabbing her by the shoulders. "I'm looking for a man who might have come by here."
Rima blankly stares at him.
"Well, have-"
Rather than respond, Rima flips over him and dashes into the jungle with amazing agility and dexterity.
"Whoa. Nice form."
He hears her whistle to him, a loud and shrill one, as if challenging him. The smile he sees clarifies that. And, for some reason, he smiles back. He doesn't know why, but he follows after her.
"Wait up!" He cries.
Somehow, even through the thick forest, Rima is faster on foot than he is flying. He doesn't know it yet, but he assumes it's because she was probably raised here. Spent all her life here. Who is she really? Where did she come from? Who were her parents? But, why does he actually care when he has more important things to worry about? Like a man whose family has just died and is guilty of assault.
That is the way when dealing with Rima. You get a glimpse of her and she sucks you in, whether she wants to or not.
"Rima! Rima, wait! Rima!"
She turns around but does not stop. There is shock and surprise in her gaze and her face. Almost no one ever calls her that, save for the natives. The villagers who are so deathly afraid of her, the girl with the snow white hair. Where could he have possibly learned her name?
"Oh, come on already girl, wait!" Lightning Lad yells again, but it is no good.
She jumps from tree branch to tree branch. Swings from vines. Dashes through bushes and leaves, leaving Lightning Lad barely able to catch up. It's like a race but with no known finish line. Rima jumps and prances, runs and skips through the forest.
It's as if her feet don't even touch the ground, like she's flying as well.
Rima breathes in the night air of the tropic, embraces the humidity and the air. She is one with the atmosphere. With the jungle itself. All around her, Lightning Lad notices, the animals turn to see her as she goes by them. But they show no fear. They recognize her, as if she is one of their own. They do, however, run away when they see Lightning Lad fly by. He is a stranger here, and they don't react well to strangers. Some hiss, some snarl, and some hide.
Lightning Lad doesn't bother calling out to her, she won't respond. He doesn't think she'll stop running ever. She jumps and does some of the most amazing gymnastics across branches and streams. She skips on stones. There is a sound coming up, the sound of running water plummeting on rocks. A waterfall. Rima grabs a vine hanging from a large tree and swings across the water. The pounding water has the ability to drone out Lightning Lad's thoughts. And the sound up ahead. Rima is not doing this to toy with the stranger with the red hair. She is a member of the jungle. And those who live in the jungle, survive through the hunt. She's hunting someone.
He looks behind him and always she is there. She's always been there. With those terrible eyes.
She's one of them. One of the monsters. Always after me. Why, why couldn't they just leave me alone?
Lightning Lad is just about ready to stop, as he realizes he's wasting time following her that he could have spent looking for Jerrol. But he keeps after her, until, finally, he sees her stop.
"Finally." Lightning Lad mutters as he slows down and drops to the ground. He slowly walks up behind Rima, who has stopped at the edge of a clearing. He hears a sound, but it's not hers. It's a man. Sobbing.
Lightning Lad stops next to Rima, and he sees a man on his knees in front of a time sphere.
"What the-? How'd you-?" Lightning Lad asks Rima.
She whistles, low and soft.
Jerrol Hueghes was silently sobbing to himself as he held in his hands disconnected wires. He has a machine capable of taking him to anywhere and any when he wants. And it doesn't work. He looks up, and sees the two at the edge, staring at him. He recognizes the man. One of the Legionnaires. Probably come to take him back. And the other is-
"You-!" Jerrol screams.
He suddenly whips out his gun and begins firing at Rima and Lightning Lad, who pushes Rima out of the way. Hueghes is backed up against the sphere, hands shaking with gun aimed at them, he continues firing at Rima, and he keeps missing, then he starts firing at Lightning Lad, who has to fly out of the way.
"You're with her, aren't you?!" Jerrol screams. "Why? Why, why couldn't you just leave me alone?!" Hueghes screamed, turning around with a gun aimed at the two of them. Rima doesn't know what kind of gun it is, but she knows the type of weapon and she angrily whistles at the thought of remembering past experiences with it. She's been dealing with Hueghes all night from the looks of things. Lightning Lad now has to play the role of the rational one.
"So, I take it you've run into this guy before?" He asks. Jerrol has stopped firing, now back to sobbing, as Lightning Lad lands near Rima.
"Jerrol, enough!" Lightning Lad calls. "You have to come back with me now. Neither of us belong here!"
"I don't wanna!" Jerrol cries.
"That isn't up to you!" Lightning Lad yells back.
"Yes it is! You can't make me go back there! It's not fair! I didn't want this!"
"Yeah, well think about your family! How is it fair to the-"
"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT THEM!!!" Jerrol's words echo into the jungle with such ferocity
Rima keeps silent, until she turns her head to Lightning Lad. She motions to Jerrol, whistling high and quick.
"What?" Lightning Lad sharply asks the jungle girl. She gives off a gesture as if to say, "nothing", but with a haughty air alike the keen detective skills of Sherlock Holmes. He notices that Rima is staring directly at Jerrol, or rather, the blood stains on his shirt. You'd think it natural that a man would have cut himself, or gotten harmed in any way when placed in an environment unknown to him, yet there are no other cuts or bruises on him deep enough to have bled out that much. The tears and the wild insane look.
He's not a detective, but Garth is able to piece it together, much to his horror.
He did it. The bastard actually did it.
Jerrol Hueghes was a quite man with a wife, two children, and a job that paid well. Somehow, at some point, Jerrol's fragile mind finally snapped. Snapped from what? We don't know. It could be that he suffered from some undiagnosed mental deficiency that could have been easily cured had he said anything. It could be that the pressures of his job finally got to him and broke his mind. Or, it could be that he simply murdered his wife and children in cold blood. Then, he set fire to the building in order to destroy the evidence. And when that was over and there was still blood on his hands, he realized the gravity of what he had done and fled, murdering two security guards and stealing a time sphere.
"You son of a bitch!" Lightning Lad screams as he fires off electricity with the intent to fire whatever addled brains Hueghes has in his head. Rima moves out of the way, and looks on.
Lightning Lad fires off my voltage and hits Jerrol square in the chest, he lands in the time sphere on his back. As he tries to reach for his gun, Lightning Lad keeps it trapped under his heel, crushing it but not fully breaking it. Jerrol looks up to him from the ground. He's gritting his teeth and his eyes are sparking wildly.
WHACK!
Lightning Lad sends his fist to his jaw. He then picks him up by his collar.
"Why?!"
"Y-you don't know what it was like, day in and day out!" Jerrol cries, tears and mucus and blood drenching his face as he sobs like a frightened child. "I, I didn't mean to hurt them, I just, I just couldn't-"
"Couldn't what you piece of sh!#?!" Lightning Lad screams.
"I COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Those same looks in their face! The same contempt that they always had, that everyone has always had whenever they look at me!" Jerrol sobs. "The contempt you have and that, that thing out there has! But, I loved them! I LOVED THEM!"
"Shut up!"
His hands are crackling with energy.
"I'm gonna kill you, you hear me?! I'm gonna-"
Rima whistles behind him. He turns around. She's staring directly at him. He angrily stares back. But it's that look in her eyes… that look…
"I'm gonna…"
That look…
She's just standing there, the moonlight and starlight enveloping her in a pale cover. She, she looks more like a phantom than an actual person. But it's her eyes, the way the cut through you like ice, down to your very core. What is it about those eyes that can make a person contemplate so much?
Lightning Lad begins to calm down as that look pierces him. It's a warning. He turns to Jerrol, whimpering, and just lets go of him. He understands the look that Rima is giving him. And, somehow, he lets that anger melt into sadness.
Jerrol whips the barrel of the gun across Lightning Lad's face.
"I'm gonna blow your godda-"
WHACK!
Rima kicks him across the head, confusing him. She pulls Lightning Lad out of the time sphere, dazed from the punch to the jaw. Jerrol aims the gun at them. Rima looks on, but shows no feat.
"Die!"
He pulls the trigger, but the gun begins to sizzle and burn in his hand. He tosses it away. Tosses it at the controls. And it goes off at the controls.
"Oh sh!-"
BOOM!
Lightning Lad and Rima are thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion. A burst of energy lights up the sky. Debris begins to fall from the sky.
Lightning Lad groans for a minute before regaining his composure. He offers Rima a hand and helps her up.
"You okay?" He asks.
She nods.
The two stand in front of a smoke ring burnt into the ground. Lightning Lad wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth and sighs. There's barely anything left off the explosion. Just that smoking ring in the ground. Rima bows her head in solemn remorse.
Then, the revelation hits him like a ton of inertron falling on his head as he turns to Rima.
"You, you knew, didn't you?" Lightning Lad asks. "You knew what he did."
Rima doesn't answer him, but he already knows what she would say.
Rima looks towards the smoking wreckage. She doesn't make a sound, even a whistle. Lightning Lad turns to look at the same sight. He's not sure what exactly Rima is feeling what now, but he hopes to guess. Sadness, maybe? Remorse? A sense of the futile fight against destiny? As Lightning Lad looks at it, all he sees is just an example of what his attitude might some day lead to, and that scares him, the idea that he could ever do something like that to his own family. Imra and Graym.
It takes a while, but Lightning Lad is able to find the spot where he left the time sphere. None of the animals have gone near it. Rima is seeing him off.
"Listen," he tells Rima as he steps inside the time bubble, "I'm sorry if I was rude to you before. I don't know if you noticed, but I've got a bit of an anger problem."
"Heh."
Lightning Lad's eyes go wide when he realizes that sound came from Rima.
"Did, did you just-" He stammers. Her smile is mute testimony to that. He smiles back.
Oh my God she actually laughed.
The humor of that moment softens the seriousness of the situation, yet it isn't soon after that it returns with full force. Lightning Lad gives his "thank you" to Rima for the help she provided, and disappears in the time stream as quickly as he arrived.
Rima makes no sound. She simply goes off into the night once more.
…
Saturn Girl runs down the corridor of Legion headquarters to the medical wing.
"Garth!"
"Hey." He quietly answers, sitting on the foot of one of the beds with his shirt off, having just gotten stitches in his chest from the jaguar wounds.
"What happened? I just got back, and Brainy told me -"
"I'm fine. Just a few cuts and bruises. It's not like I lost an arm. Again." He joked.
"Garth, listen, I'm sorry Cosmic Boy and I weren't here to tell you about the mission." Saturn Girl apologized. "You have every right to be-"
"It's alright." He answers.
"What?" She asks.
He looks at her with mellow happiness.
"I said it's okay, Imra. You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm just happy to see you." He finishes. Imra Ranzz doesn't exactly know what her husband has gone through, but she can sense that there is something sad and hopeful weighing down his thoughts. She doesn't have to read his mind to know that he's showing more control over his anger now than he has in months.
"Garth, what happened?" Imra gently asks.
"Nothing really. Jerrol Hueghes got killed when he blew up the controls for his time sphere. So naturally Brainy gets chewed out by the Time Institute and I get chewed out by Brainy." He trails off. "Jerrol Hueghes killed his wife and kids and then burned the house down to make it look like an accident."
"Yes, we found out." Imra says. "The coroner reported that his wife and kids had already been dead when the fire started. If it wasn't for the fact that their bodies hadn't completely burned. But why?"
"Who knows?" Garth shrugs. "The man was psychotic. He was probably always like that. People like that, they can snap for no reason at all one day."
There's a brief pause.
"Well, you probably have a bunch of paper work to deal with. I'll just lay here and wait for the painkillers to set in." Garth said as he
"Cosmic Boy can do the paper work." Imra said, sitting down next to him. "I'm staying here with you."
"Suit yourself. ...Imra? Thank you."
The two kiss as husband and wife.
…
Night is nearly over and dawn approaches, as that old cliché goes, and Rima contemplates what might have been achieved this night.
Contemplation. It is a word she does not know yet its meaning is something she understands all too well. She knows very well that she is different from the animals whom she lives amongst, and no matter how hard she will try to be like that, she knows she is not. She is a human being. And yet, there are those that say human beings are the deadliest animals on the planet. Rima has seen glimpses of this self-made cruelty that mankind has become famous for, whenever it has made its way to its home. She has seen it this day, in the form of a scared, stupid man who tried to run away from his problems and brought a red-haired stranger in a glass ball running after him. She will not try to understand what it is that would drive a man to take the lives of his own family, she has seen mothers do the same to their cubs and babies they know would not live longer than a few moments. And yet, that cruelty is one of the things that create so much complexity in a human.
Complexity, another word she does not "know". You take a look at an animal. A bird, a tiger, an insect. They are driven by basic thoughts and basic emotions. Love, rage, fear. Yes, they are capable of thinking, far more so than any of them are given credit. They know what their place in the world is, and they don't question it. Kill to eat, eat to kill. Hunt and dominate. Give birth and die. Die and let your body rot away, nourishing the Earth for those yet to come. It's a sometimes happy and sometimes sad life. But with humans, with humans they give so much more thought to what their role is. Unlike animals, they aren't born knowing what it is they are supposed to do. As they grow older they begin to dream and wonder just what it is they should be doing with their sometimes long, sometimes short lives. What mark will they leave behind and in what form? They express themselves through so many different emotions and states of being, some base and some complex. Anger. Compassion. Guilt. Apathy. Hope. Nostalgia. Empathy. Humans think about where they are going, and sometimes that leads to over thinking, which never leads to anywhere good. There are those who have learned how to live from the mistakes of others, and others have mistakes as they learn to live. There are those who have become tried in what they perceive as the "way of the world" and are frightened by change, while some embrace change because they fear the status quo. And, there are those who exhibit the base emotions of animals, and those who have a hard time controlling their emotions, base and complex.
Today, Rima meet two strangers from two very far away lands. One looked her in the eyes, and despite the fear that she saw when he did the same, he did not flinch away. There was an anger, like lightning, inside of him, and she wonders if it's always been there. And yet she also saw compassion beside that anger when it was over, and the ability to try to hold that anger in until he could properly express it, for the sake of whatever loved ones he has waiting for him.
Rima knows she is different and that people are afraid of her. She does not know what her purpose is. But she knows that while she tries to figure it out, she helps strangers. Some for the better, and some for the worst, and there is a content happiness in Rima, knowing that she has the ability to choose what she can do with her life.