"That is the Family's curse; we live too brightly, we die too soon." Her red eyes shone from underneath her hood as she looked at me. "This is what has been branded into your body. What you must always remember however, is that Death is not serene. Not for people like us."

My tattoos burned under my skin everytime I remembered my mentor's last words. I always figured it was just another trick of the Family; another way to keep our true nature from prying eyes. It was funny, how my second Pilgrimage included at least two telepaths, who could unlock these secrets.

Funnier still, was the fact that my first Pilgrimage wasn't quite done yet; I hadn't severed the ties, not entirely. I looked out the window, seeing the scenery fly by. Happy Harbor was, in fact, beautiful. The sea and the forest co-existed in harmony, somewhat reminding me of home I spend my first four years in.

When the train stopped, I stepped out reluctantly. Unlike my future teammates, I didn't even have a picture to know what they looked like; hell, I barely even knew most of the Justice League. Hal Jordan had volunteered to 'adopt' me, which only meant that if I died, he'd be the one paying for the coffin.

Putting that cheerful thought aside, I searched the platform. There were a few families hugging each other and laughing, and then there was a couple of teenagers. The girl was petite, with red hair and a retro outfit, standing next to-

Evan?!

No. Upon closer inspection, he wasn't like Evan. His eyes were silver and his body had a completely different shape. They were glancing between the passengers and a piece of paper she washolding. Then they noticed me. The girl smiled at me, and I realized they were the ones I was looking for.

"Hello, you must be Lena." The girl said. She kinda sounded like Kitty, only without the unnecesary 'like' every now and then.

"That's me." I answered, adjusting my backpack's strap on my shoulder.

"I'm Megan and this is Kaldur." The boy extended his arm toward me.

"Pleased to meet you."

After the formalities were over, we walked towards one of the Zeta platform that were strewn across the city. Megan explained in a an enthusiastic tone about the Cave, the training regime and even told me what time was the best to take a shower.

"I prefer cold water." I admitted.

"Really? I thought fire wielders avoided water." Kaldur commented.

"They do. My case is slightly different." I answered. I didn't want them knowing that the control I had over my fire was limited; it would be a bad first impression. Fortunately, neither Megan or Kaldur pushed the subject further.

We took a turn into a dead-end alley. The Zeta platform was disguised as a broken police box, making me think of Doctor Who. Seriously though, I never understood how people didn't find a broken police box suspicious; there weren't any in America, or anywhere else, for that matter.

"You...knew where it was?" Megan asked, looking at me with large eyes.

"Well, I didn't come unprepared." I smirked at her. Lie number one; I was completely unprepared. The only reason I knew there was a Zeta platfrom was because I had once accidentaly stepped into one in Bayville and ended up here. Yeah, I was pretty clumsy.

It had been a good two weeks when it come to me. Batman and the others thought it was best for me not to go on any missions, since I didn't know how these guys fought. Instead, they wanted me to train with them first and get used to working with sitting idle was something I was physically incapable of doing. The pain started slowly, making me feel like someone was stabbing me slowly. I needed to burn something.

Black Canary, who had taken over training, insisted I go up against Superboy. We stepped in the ring, faced each other and Canary said 'Go!'

Superboy lunged at me. He went for a punch, and I dodged with ease; he was holding back as much as I was. I did a sweep kick, but he didn't fall. He staggered a little and then came at me again. I had an obvious advantage over him; I was small and fast where he was strong and slow and I could easily dodge all of his attacks. His superhuman reflaxes, however, made it near impossible to land a hit on him. The arena wasn't helping me either, it was completely flat and void of objects; all I had was my strength- which wasn't much against the Boy of Steel- and my fire, which would get out of control I used it too much.

Megan, Kaldur and the others were watching us, although I couldn't tell who they were rooting for. Finally, I saw an opening. Superboy's fist was by his head, about to hit mine. I did a high kick, catching his chin. He staggered again, but this time I took the chace. I punch in the stomach, which didn't really do much; it was a good distraction though. I twirled to the side before he could catch me, interwining my legs with his, then kicking. He fell, almost taking me down with me. Next to his head, the screen on the ground declared him a failure.

"Good job Lena." Canary praised with a slight smile. before I could return it, she frowned.

"I was hoping you'd use your fire. He's immune to it, you know." I smiled at her sheepishly as I helped Superboy up. As far as I noticed, he seemed impressed.

"Maybenext time?"

I didn't know how long I'd been standing in the shower. The water was cold, to the point where it felt like icicles were hitting my skin. As soon as they did, though, the evaporated.

I had rushed to the showers as soon as training was over; I couldn't risk anyone touching me, or they would know something was up. Regardless, I must've been in the shower a long time, because Megan came to check up on me. My back was turned to her when she entered the room.

"Lena?" She asked. The water that fell on me changed temperature rapidly, thus feeling the showers with steam and patially hiding me from Megan.

"I'm here." I called out and slightly turned. I wasn't that uncomfortable with her seeing me naked and the steam was making it impossible for her to make anything out other than shapes.

"Dinner's ready. Do wou want us to wait, or...?"

"Start without me.I still feel sweaty." I answered quickly. If left now, it wouldn't do much good. Just a few more minutes until the fire was quelled, and then I could step out.

I heard Megan's footsteps get softer and softer until I couldn't hear them anymore. I sighed in relief and turned the water off.

"I pray that the water will drown out the fear..." I recited, as my mentor had taught me. The water acted as the brakes for when my fire was eating away at me. I repeated the mantra until the pain that came with the need to burn subsided.

I needed to see Dad.