My first Jinx/KF fic. Just a quick little oneshot that I have been working on slowly for a few months in between my bigger projects. Hope you like it
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or anything/anyone affiliated therein.
The idea for Fantasia was inspired by an Italian countess who's name I have forgotten, but was famous for walking her pet leopards through the streets of Venice at night wearing nothing but a fur coat.
Jinx had taken herself away to Paris after the fall of the Brotherhood.
There was no cause for her to stay in America: no team to be a part of, no crimes to commit, no good deeds to do…and no one to call a friend.
She was completely lost in life, and so young too! Jinx was barely eighteen when she first met the Kid Flash and when he had come to her in the middle of the night for the last battle beside the Titans, Jinx had harbored some small hope that when it was all over he would pursue her, but as soon as the dust had cleared, he was gone.
So instead of returning to her life of nothing in America, Jinx had chosen to stay in the City of Lights in the hopes of finding a new life there. She had been working as an illusionist in parks and small theaters by using her own abilities as a elemental sorceress as the entertainment, the beauty of it being that normal humans refused to believe in anything that their tiny minds couldn't easily be wrapped around. The idea that a being existed who could actually manipulate reality as she did was one of these things. For the three months since she had first come to the city, she had dazzled the populace as the illusive lady known only to the public as Charis.
At that moment Jinx was making her way slowly back to her dressing room behind the decaying Théâtre de le Siene, her progress impeded by the throngs of audience members who filled the narrow back corridors of the decrepit theater. The spectators, as was not uncommon of the last few weeks, had packed thirty people into a place meant for ten, at most, all vying for the entertainer's attention. There were young children begging to know how Charis's tricks worked, university students (half drunk) grinning tipsily at the pink-haired beauty in her billowing dark purple silk gown. Whole families crammed themselves into the poorly lit hallway, children clinging to their parents hands half in fear, half in excitement as the lady passed by with her partner, a black panther dubbed Fantasia, slinking at her side, growling at whoever drew too close to her beloved mistress.
She called out to the crowd, "M'excuser. M'excuser! Peux-je passer s'il vous plaît? S'il vous plaît, les dames et les messieurs, peux-j'obtenir par ici?"
But no one seemed to hear her pleas to get through the hall. They simply stayed right where they were, grinning and shouting to be heard by her.
Finally, exasperated, Jinx shouted in English "Move!" Immediately her order was obeyed, though not from the Frenchies' understanding of English, more so by the slight glow of power that had erupted around her hands. In a few swift strides she and Fantasia had traveled down the hall and slipped inside her dressing room.
She slammed the door behind her and leaded hard against the scarred wood, breathing deeply.
Finally Jinx was alone.
It was a strange thing, but whenever Jinx was alone, she was lonely, but when she was among crowds of people, she felt even more alone. One of the perils of trying to conceal one's secret identity, she supposed.
Still, Jinx wasn't particularly looking forward to going home to her small, empty apartment down the river just yet.
Maybe she would stop at the jazz café on her way home to listen to one of her neighbors sing. After all, it was just past midnight at the moment and most nightclubs were still going strong.
Sitting herself down at the vanity table in the corner of the tiny dressing room, she began to touch up her makeup. Fantasia curled up in the corner.
When Jinx was done she stood, brushed her hands over the silk of her backless purple dress and looked around for Fantasia's collar and leash. She found the leather and garnet affair on the small couch in the corner, next to her long mink coat.
Besides food and the rent on her small apartment, the only thing she had ever spent any of her heard earned money on was this coat, a long, sleek number discovered in a small boutique in an obscure corner of Paris that Jinx had been unable to stop herself from entering. She had justified the rather pricey purchase by telling herself that she would wear it everywhere, which she did, and that it would be invaluable in the coming winter months, which her neighbor Veronique had promised it would.
Jinx held the leash and collar behind her back and turned sneakily back to Fantasia, who immediately ducked her dark head down beneath one mighty paw. Jinx sighed.
"Oh please baby," she crooned to the huge cat. "Mama knows you hate it, but if I don't put you on a leash, I could get arrested."
Fantasia dug her nose lower beneath her paw. Jinx couldn't really blame her. Jinx had found Fantasia a little less than two months before when the French Circus had come through Paris. Jinx and her neighbor Veronique, one of the few people in France Jinx completely trusted, had decided to take in the evening show. They had loved the contortionists, the fire-eaters and the clowns. But Jinx's favorite part had been when a tall, thin Frenchman had stepped into the center ring trailing Fantasia on a thin leash. The man, a native of Normandy judging by his accent, had put the panther through a series of tricks including leaping through a large flaming ring and taking a lit cigarette out of her master's mouth, a feat that had earned many ohhhs and ahhhhs from the crowd.
Afterwards Jinx had left Veronique to negotiate the price of a stuffed toy elephant with one of the circus workers while Jinx snuck herself into the rows of trucks that hauled the animal performers, intent on finding the Norman and his panther partner. What she had found had sent Jinx into a terrible rage.
The Norman was screaming and swearing in French, pacing back and forth before Fantasia's cage. There was a whip in his hand and blood dripped down from a shallow gash along his cheek that had most certainly been made by a panther's claw.
The poor cat huddled in the back of her cage. With each crack of her master's whip she would cower farther and farther back into the cage, or at least as much as the shackle around her neck would allow, attached as it was by a short stretch of heavy chain to one of the bars.
Just as the man had pulled his arm back for one more strike, Jinx had emerged from the shadows, hands aglow, and had sent the man flying across the alley of trucks and cages to hit the opposite truck square against his back. He had slid down the wall and lay in the dust beside the truck, the only sign that she hadn't killed him a low moaning coming from his pale lips.
Jinx, still riding the wave of rage that so often clouded her better judgment, had unchained Fantasia with one flick of her hand and then used her telekinesis to get both herself and the panther back to her apartment, all in just under twenty seconds.
She had locked Fantasia in her bedroom and, now quite beginning to panic about what she had just done (there was a panther locked in her bedroom!), had called up Veronique on her cell phone to tell her friend that she had stopped paying attention to what she had been doing and had gotten on the Metro without Veronique and to come home immediately, that there was a small crisis.
Veronique had rushed home and the pair her spent the rest of the night and most of the next day in high dudgeon over what to do with the panther still locked in Jinx's bedroom.
Finally they decided that it would be best to just send the cat to the city's animal control team, but when Jinx had cracked her bedroom door open and peeked in at the panther, she had found the black mass of fur curled up on her bed. And something had drawn her into the room. She had knelt before the giant cat, stroked her fur, and as she did, Jinx realized that the rich obsidian fur was pitted with scars. Whip scars.
It was then that Jinx decided that she could not let Fantasia go. That poor, broken creature was no threat to anyone.
Now they made a wonderful pair. Charis and Fantasia scared the hell out of the city, while at the same time keeping them wholly captivated. Fantasia was a delightfully willful creature, aiding her mistress in her tricks when the mood struck and the rest of the time pacing back and forth along the edge of the stage, reclaiming her former glory as Tonda-lay-o, Queen of the jungle.
Finally, Jinx managed to coax Fantasia to let her put on the hated collar and the pair swept out the back door attached to Jinx's dressing room into the courtyard behind the theater.
She closed the door behind her and, giving Fantasia's leash a gentle tug, moved slowly across the courtyard in the direction of the only exit. "What to you think baby," she purred to the huge cat, "Should we go see Miss Veronique sing tonight? Hmm, would you like that baby?"
The panther rumbled gladly at the sound of her favorite her woman beside her mistress, and Jinx took that for assent.
"Well look at that: the circus is in town." A familiar voice sounded from the shadows.
Instantly Fantasia's hackles rose and a low growl emanated from deep in her throat, but Jinx gave a sharp tug on her leash and the panther stopped instantly.
Jinx tipped her head back so that her chin stuck out obstinately and turned her pink eyes onto the figure emerging from the alley Jinx had just planned on entering to rejoin the main street.
He was just as she remembered him, all long limbs and strong muscles and underneath his shock of windswept brown hair that perpetually easy smile.
Even out of his eye-catching uniform, he was still quite dashing in black pants, a forest green dress shirt and a black jacket, and Jinx felt her heart flutter just the littlest bit, exactly as it had the first time she had seen him almost a year ago.
The Kid Flash's smile widened. "Hey you." His voice was just as she remembered, smooth and carrying a hint of laughter while still being so sincere.
"What are you doing here?"
His smile faltered somewhat at the hostility in her voice but he strolled towards her all the same. "What, can't a person look up an old friend if they're town?"
"So you're just passing through Paris?" She tried to make her voice as noncommittal as possible.
"Ah…I'm not sure, I'm sort of exploring my options at the moment."
"Well, how very nice for you. Now if you will excuse me." And Jinx swept past him and out of the dark courtyard, Fantasia right on her mistress's heels.
"Hey! Wait minute!" Jinx kept on walking purposefully down the street, ignoring the sound of his footsteps as he hurried to catch up with her, focusing instead on avoiding large crowds of people as they made Fantasia edgy. Thankfully, most people were either curled up at home with their loved ones or still in one of the city's many cafés at this hour. He spoke again from just behind her, "Hey, what's the matter? Aren't you glad to see me?"
"I guess." She said curtly.
"You guess?" he was walking beside her now and to Jinx's disquiet she found that she had slowed down somewhat to accommodate his slower pace. How dare he still have that sort of affect on her!
"What do you expect me to say? I don't see you for three months and now you just show up and expect me to…to…" This was stupid! Why was she getting so flustered over something that probably had never been anyway? She should just walk away now and save herself the embarrassment.
She sped up so that she was walking slightly ahead of him again.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked, sounding bewildered.
Her answer was a short, "No."
"Sweetheart, I have two sisters. I know when a woman is mad at me. What did I do?"
Her traitorous heart gave a tiny flutter at the word 'sweetheart', but she turned on him with rage in her eyes. "What happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"Three months ago, what…what happened to you? I turned around and you were gone!" She blushed. "I mean…not that I ever wanted you to…I mean…oh man!" She groaned and turned away.
Realization dawned on Kid Flash's face. He spoke softly and slowly. "Ohhhhhhh. You mean after the battle." He sighed. "Honey, I know I should have stayed. But I had a plan. I guess in hindsight it was a really stupid plan, but at the time it seemed like a good idea."
"What are you talking about?"
He plowed on as though she hadn't spoken. "But then when I got back to the States I found out that my sister Janie had been in a car crash and I had to stay with her until our other sister came back to Jump City from Guam. Our parent's are dead; there was no one else to take care of her until Lucy came back. That took nearly a month, and then I had to track down the right guy to help me with my plan, and nothing was even complete until last week, then I spent the last five days tracking you down. Baby, please slow down; let me talk to you!"
Jinx stopped halfway across a heavy stone bridge that would take her from the left bank of the Seine to the right bank where her apartment lay. She turned around to face him, her fur coat slithering softly against her silk dress.
"You are rambling. Please just explain what you are yammering on about and let me get back to my night."
A moment of pain flickered across Kid Flash's face, but he suppressed it quickly. "I went back to America to get this." He pulled a black velvet box from the inside of his jacket. He opened the lid and held it out to Jinx.
She gasped.
There, lying on a soft bed of velvet, was the glittering Egyptian necklace that had first brought them together. The fabled lucky necklace, the one that had turned Jinx away from the Hive.
"Oh my god!" She gasped. "What…what the hell did you do? Go back to Jump City and steal it again! Are you crazy?"
"Shhhhhh!" He laughed. "Of course not; I'm one of the good guys remember? I went to the owner and talked him into allowing me and a jeweler I had hired to recreate the necklace. This is just a fake…but it means the same thing to me."
She looked upon him with critical, questioning eyes. "And…uh…just what is that?"
"Jinx." He paused, and the light that she so always found so curiously alluring returned to his eyes again. Tenderness filled his gaze as he reached out tentatively and brushed a stray piece of hair away from her face. She shivered under his gentle touch. "I know I should have stayed here when the battle ended; that is all very clear to me now. But at the time the only way that I could think of to express how I feel about you was with this necklace." He paused again, then, "Every lucky moment in my life, every great triumph, pales when I think of the night that I first saw this necklace…and you. You are all I can think about every hour of the day. These last three months have been hell. I should have come back when my sister was taken care of but by then I was so unsure of…everything…that I didn't know what I should do anymore. Until I had this necklace in my hands. Then I remembered everything about you that I adore. You are beautiful and wild and I am absolutely crazy about you Jinx…I love you."
Joy, pure and breathtaking, filled every particle of Jinx's being. She couldn't speak…but then, she didn't really need to; he could read the love in her gaze as easily as any love letter.
Kid Flash's lips came down on hers in a sweet, gentle rush of light and feeling. The sensations of his lips against hers, his hands cupping her face, their bodies pressed flush against each other when she pulled him close to her were almost too much to bear. They were born away on a cloud of pleasure and bliss.
The next morning Jinx stood in the open doorway to her balcony, completely naked and with her back the bed where he still slept. She wasn't thinking about anything in particular, simply standing there basking in the afterglow and letting the sounds and smells of a Paris morning wash over her.
Suddenly she felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist. Moaning contentedly, Jinx let her lover bend her backwards so that he could rain kisses across her neck, cheek and breasts.
Just as he had picked her up and carried her back to the bed, Jinx caught sight of the necklace lying on her bureau where they had left it the night before and she laughed once.
Lucky indeed.
Please let me know what you thought, as reviews are the food that keep me alive. Thanks all!