"Why am I here?" was a question Kaldur asked himself on a daily basis. His latest mission had turned into a lengthy, deadly part of his life that he no longer wished to be in. " Tula, what would she think?" Kaldur dared to ask. The Atlantean had lost himself in his need to finish off the Light for his friend, his one true love. Every time he saw Artemis in her Tigress costume, Aqualad felt glad to have the company of a friend, but depressed by the fact that Aquagirl would never return from her fatal fall. She had sacrificed herself for the good of the team, for him… for the world. Already, he felt that he must do anything, even sacrifice himself for her ultimate vengeance, and that he was already on the path to his destruction. His true purpose was never the idea of helping Nightwing gather information on the Light that he agreed to, but the sharing of ideas on how to bring the villainous group down from the inside. Over the past year, he had made haunting decisions that were considered vile by even the worst of the world and he felt that each choice was bringing him further from his natural being. His father showed him nothing but kindness and love, yet Kaldur felt detached and cold towards everything in these days. He kept telling himself that he was putting up a necessary façade, but the truth rang out like church bells. Kaldur was slowly dying from all of these events and realized why both the League and the Light wanted him to do their dirty work, after all "dead men tell no tales."[1] In the cabin of a Manta supplied ship, Kaldur'ahm contemplated his life and wondered if he would ever again see the brightness of surface life and heroism. He no longer felt a drowning sensation on land, but felt like an anchor lost at sea- holding down the stronghold of a ship that had sunk many years ago. The manliest of tears was shed at the thought that all of his work had been for naught, and disappeared at the sudden knocking of Kaldur's door.
"Son, it is almost time for our business meeting. You know that I do not accept tardiness on my ship." A dark baritone travels through the cracks of his portal to the other world, the horrid world that he had made for himself over the past year.
"Yes father, I am coming." Kaldur replied. His feet moved automatically, but where was he going? Down another shortcut to an untimely demise, or possibly, this could be the first of many steps that would lead him back to his true home with the team. Blood may be thicker than seawater, but friendship will trump seawater at any given time.
[1]- Surprisingly, there are many disputed sources of the original quote... I do not take any personal credit for it, but it did inspire this fanfic.
This is another short one-shot that kept pestering my every thought. Does anyone out there actually think AL is evil? * Sees no virtual hands raised *-KF13
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