Five and Alive
The city that he had called home for so long was as busy as ever. The citizens went about their daily lives; walking, flying and floating along without giving so much as a second look at him.
He hadn't been back in New Metropolis for a little over a year now. It had also been a year since he had contacted anyone from the Legion. He knew that they had all probably tried to look for him; he hadn't told any one of them, besides Superman, that he was leaving. He sometimes wondered when they noticed he was gone. Would it have been before or after Superman had returned to his own time? Perhaps Superman hadn't gone back to the past at all.
Brainy shook his head. That was just wishful thinking. Of course Superman had gone back.
As for the others…He was sure Lightning Lad must have blown up. Probably would have spent a few weeks searching for him. Saturn Girl would have made him stop eventually. She was the most empathetic of their group and would have tried to make the others understand his point of view. Sometimes he suspected that there was a chance she had sensed him leave and decided not to inform the others. His was an emotional wreck when he first turned human and his mind must have been screaming. He hoped he had not caused her too much mental discomfort.
Thinking back to that time made his uncertainty creep back in again. He couldn't go back to the base just yet.
He spent a few hours wandering around the city aimlessly. He had arrived on Earth in the early morning, but now it was reaching noon and the sun was almost directly above him. He looked straight at the sun and almost immediately winced, shielding his eyes.
He forgot…
Again.
He headed into the nearest public building as the temporary black spots he was seeing started to fade.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
It wasn't like turning human meant that he lost his 12th-level intellect. Humans couldn't look directly at the Sun. He knew that.
Still cursing himself, he started taking in his surroundings. He was in a huge hall; there were many people but not enough to call a large crowd. He didn't recognise this place and if he still had access to COMPUTO he could have surely looked it up, but right now he was lost. There was three queues to what looked like ticket booths. He joined the shortest one and soon got to the front. "Where exactly am I?"
The woman's eyes narrowed, probably thinking the boy was pranking her. There was nothing but a serious expression on Brainy's face, however which most likely convinced her otherwise. "You're at New Metropolis' Botanical Gardens, home to many rare and almost extinct plant species. Tourists need to pay for a ticket."
It was a good thing he kept his old ID then. He presented it to the ticket saleswoman, whose face showed obvious suspicion again. "Hmm, there is a resemblance between this picture and yourself, however the picture is less…how should I put this."
"Human," he finished for her, bluntly. "It's very complicated, but that's me."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I'm still green," he added.
"…I see." The woman, thankfully, left it at that. She resumed a professionally friendly voice and handed him his ticket. "Please enjoy your visit to the Botanical Gardens, Mister Brainiac 5."
He almost chuckled upon hearing that.
Becoming human automatically renounced him of the title, didn't it? But then, if I'm not Brainiac 5, who am I? He did have a name, a human one. No one had ever called him by it, though. And what was the point of a name that no one knew?
A pair of young children ran past him, and it occurred to him that he should probably use the free ticket he had. It was a wonder that this place still used paper for tickets, though he supposed most museums kept it that way too (the Superman museum came to mind).
The gardens, as the lady had said, had many exotic species of plants, ranging from tropical, to marshland, to desert plants and woodland. Plants from all over the galaxy and beyond. Each area's temperature changed according to the climate the plants needed, and after a while he started feeling a little nauseous to all the sudden changes. When he was an android he wouldn't have felt this at all. He would have simply noted it and that would be that.
He needed to sit down and settled for a bench in what looked like a 21st century styled house garden in spring. Superman had showed him pictures from his time, and the surroundings matched Brainy's memories of them.
There were several house plants that Brainy could learn the names of if he stood up, but he was too tired to try. The one species he could name were the Violets, though it wasn't hard to remember as their name reflected their colour. That, and Shrinking Violet had specifically pointed them out when Superman was showing the pictures to him. Evidently, they were her favourite plant species, which Brainy supposed was a good thing if she was going to include it in her name.
He looked up at the ceiling, and stared at the projection of the sky and the clouds floating by. This area even had an artificial Sun in the room.
The incident that brought him here in the first place came back to mind. "You guys don't get to look at the real thing anymore either, huh?"
If someone had asked the Coluan a year or two ago if he liked looking up at the sky, he would have answered with a yes. Not because of the moon or the clouds or the birds, but he liked watching the Sun. As an android the Sun couldn't harm his eyes, so he would spend some time every now and then Sun-watching. Despite what others may have thought, even he thought it was a good idea to turn away from a screen every now and then.
The Sun – Earth's sun – had always fascinated him.
It was the Sun that his hero, Superman, had grown under. It was the source of his powers and therefore the source of everything that made him who he was. If Superman had landed on any other planet and that planet had a Red Sun, then he might have never discovered his powers. He might have never become a hero. The worse to think about of all – he and Brainy would have never met, because Brainy would never have gone looking for him.
Yes, he was grateful to Earth's Sun, and whenever he had gazed at it, he had thanked it.
He couldn't Sun-watch anymore.
Another thing on his ever growing list of things he couldn't do anymore.
In contrast, the list of reasons he had for going back to the Legion was diminishing.
Was there any point of going back again? Could he even be of any use?
He closed his eyes, thinking about his friends.
Brainy missed them, and that was a strong reason if anything. Perhaps he wouldn't stay permanently, but it couldn't hurt to just visit them?
He left the building at stepped back out, the Sun's rays shining on him. He allowed himself a smile; perhaps he couldn't look at the Sun anymore, but in exchange he could now feel it.
xxxxx
The feeling of apprehension returned to him as he entered the base, though he was comforted by the fact that COMPUTO still had him on record and was able to identify him in his human form.
He could hear his friends' voice from down the corridor and it made his stomach turn.
"I'm really glad to see you after so long!"
Saturn Girl.
"I'm with Saturn Girl. Good to see you again, buddy! Any reason you decided to turn up now, though? Hope it's nothing nasty."
Lightning Lad.
"Nothing like that. Actually, I just had the feeling that maybe he came back."
No way…
"Sorry Supes. I turned New Metropolis upside down but couldn't find him anywhere. Couldn't find him on any other planet we've been to either. I don't want to admit it, but I don't think he's going to be walking in here for a long while, if any."
"You said the same thing last time about Superman and you weren't exactly right that time," Brainy spoke up, entering the room.
Saturn Girl covered her mouth as she saw him.
"Oh can it Brainy, you're the one who kept going on about Kel not really being Superman – wait." Ligtning Lad's jaw dropped. "Brainy?"
"In the flesh," said Brainy. "First time I can actually say that line, I think-"
He was interrupted by Saturn Girl who hugged him on one side, and Ligtning Lad who had put him in a headlock and started giving him a noogie. "I can't believe you kept us waiting!"
"We were so worried about you!" She was squeezing him very tightly.
"Saturn Girl, I do need to breathe now, you know," he reminded her.
"Right, sorry Brainy." She pulled back and her eyes widened. "Brainy?"
"…Oh." He wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. He had started crying without even noticing. He spent a year trying to understand human emotions yet it looked like he still couldn't control them. He didn't know if he would ever be able to, but perhaps he didn't need to.
"Welcome back."
He stepped towards the Kryptonian. "It's good to be back, Superman." He looked up at his friend, hopefully. "Will you be here for a while?"
"Yeah. I mean I just got here, didn't I?" Superman smile, the same way he always did.
Brainy decided that there was no need to Sun-watch anyway, not with the real thing right here.
"Okay, wait right here, I'm going to tell everyone else you're back," Lightning Lad almost ran out of the room but stopped just before leaving. "Don't you dare disappear again while I'm gone. Keep an eye on him Supes!"
"Garth, wait we could just – " He was already out of earshot, "- use the comms." Saturn Girl sighed. "He's right though Brainy," her voice turned stern. "Don't you even think of leaving us again."
"I won't," he said, without thinking.
Suddenly all his worries seemed to have vanished. Really, he was human now, why was he still overcomplicating things? His friends didn't care whether he was more human or less. They didn't care what he could or couldn't do. They just wanted him here with them. He couldn't believe it took him so long to realise that. Even with his 12th level intelligence, he still had a lot to learn.
"Good, 'cause what am I supposed to do if I need you and you're not here?" Superman nudged Brainy's shoulder lightly. "So you promise you're not going to leave the Legion again."
He gave Superman the widest smile he had made in over a year.
"I promise."
And he meant it.
A/N: Tadaa! My fifth entry for Twelve Shots of Summer. Two DCs in a row woot. The prompt here was 'Stargazer'. As you all know, the Sun's a star so Brainy's a stargazer, if we're going to be technical here. -shot- Can I just say I love Brainiac Five so much okay like Brainy. He buries me with feels all the time ;-;
See Tash, my first LoSH fic wasn't shippy. Or it wasn't meant to be. I mean if there's anything shippy in there it's not intentional. Probably. …Maybe a little. I-it's not like I rewatched the first part of Season 2 Episode 1 again after writing this. D-don't get the wrong idea! …'Simulation Complete'. –coughs- TimburWolf's line –cough-
OKAY I'M OUT I'M DONE I'M SORRY THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING.
- Dina