Divide and Conquer Pt. 1: Prologue
January 1, 3027 B.A., or 1995 A.D., if I was born on Earth. But I wasn't. I was born on Thanagar, during the decline of the Bronze Age, relatively normally, with two arms, two legs, etcetra. But instead of two wings, I had six. Seraph wings.
The fact that I had seraph wings instead of normal ones wasn't the issue. In fact, seraph wings were considered of higher class. No, the discrimination against me began when I was twelve: When flying lessons began.
On Thanagar, people have wings, but they use a gravity negating element called Nth to actually fly. The wings are simply to navigate. Unfortunately, I was born with the ability to fly without Nth, but no one, not even I, knew until that fateful day.
My stomach churned with excitement as our flying instructor led us up to one of the taller skyscrapers of the city. Fellow kids whispered with anticipation around me. We quickly arrived at the top floor. The instructor started strapping Nth belts to our waists. I anxiously bounced on the balls of my feet as I waited in line.
One of the boys, Donar, with bleach white wings, wandered from the back of the line and onto the edge of the roof. He tittered obliviously as he stared downward at the city floor in amazement.
The instructor suddenly looked up, and yelled at him to get down, panic leaking into her voice. The shout startled Donar, and he stumbled, toppling over the edge of the roof.
Without thinking, without waiting for the instructor to save him, without even knowing that I could fly without Nth, I dived after him. I tucked in my steel blue wings and quickly caught up to the flailing boy, slipping my arms underneath him and catching him bridal style. Unfurling my six wings all the way, with a single flap I soared up back to the rooftop.
As I landed I looked around my class, not even realizing what I had just done. The instructor's face was like granite, and Donar's dripped with surprise. I set him down on the concrete roof.
I don't know what I had been expecting, but it was certainly not what happened. Donar's face shifted from shocked astonishment to disgust. He shoved me away, yelling, "Denythian!" and several other discriminating slurs. That's when everything clicked in my head.
Denythian. Someone who could fly without Nth. Someone who needed to be terminated.
This sent the class into an uproar, until the instructor silenced them. She pretended nothing was wrong, and had me sit out as the rest of the kids leapt from the building, whooping and hollering with glee as they soared in the cloudy sky.
Afterwards she politely explained to me that I was no longer welcome at school, before walking me home. My parents sent me to my room as they were informed of what had happened that day. Angered yells and screams echoed through the walls, until a door slammed, ending the conflict. My mother opened the door, plastering on a smile.
"Peregrine, dear, could you be a doll and go get some groceries?" She asked, eye twitching, slightly. I nodded slowly, as she handed me the list. As I exited the house, I heard the door lock click. Frowning in response, I began walking down the sidewalk. Dusk stained the sky, and as I passed an alleyway, I was yanked into the passage.
As my grey-blue eyes adjusting to the shadowy light, I looked up to see three guys leering down at me. There was one with a gold tooth, one with an eyepatch, and another with a ponytail. Eyepatch spoke first:
"What do we got 'ere? Another Denythian?" He said slyly with a maniacal sneer.
I froze and stuttered. "What- How-?"
"News travels fast, girly. Your...loving parents personally asked us to dispose of you." Gold tooth smirked. I swallowed thickly, blinking back tears.
"But," Ponytail interrupted, twirling a gun between his fingers, "Since we're nice, we decided that killing ya' would just make our job harder. So, we've gotta special planet, just for you."
His eyes flashed crazily as he slammed the gun down onto my head. Stars flashed before my eyes, before everything went dark.
I would say that that was the worst day of my entire existence, but it wasn't. Instead, it had led me to the best life I could've ever wished for.
Being a member of the Teen Titans.
