As I read a book with others floating around me, I fell in to deep thought. I wondered why I was different from all of the other kids in my class, why they always looked at me funny. Two weeks ago I had had no memory at all, just a name. I had had to make memories for myself and the friends that I had were just like me, I know it's not a bad thing but I wanted friends that didn't have powers and didn't have to save people all the time. I wanted to have friends that were normal, if normal even existed.
I had woken up in a large, warm bed and had had a headache. I didn't know why I had a headache, but it was painful, like I had gotten hit by an iron club. Then a strange man came in, he was red and sounded like a robot when he talked. The yellow marks on his chest made a T and he had a yellow arrow pointing down on his head, he moved like a human but talked like a robot. Is that what he was, a robot? I asked myself. A name kept repeating itself in my head, Kix'ahl. Who is Kix'ahl...? Is that my name? I thought. As if the robot man could read my mind, he said "You only remember your name, Kix'ahl. That is all you need to know for now, you will figure everything else out as you progress in your studies. I cannot tell you anymore than that." he walked away and I tried to speak. All that came out was a squeak. Can I not talk? How will I communicate with others...? Are there others out there? Are they all robots or are there ones like me? I couldn't help but think about what he meant studies... What are studies? Are they important?
After thinking about some things, I got out of bed and noticed that the only thing covering my body were bandages. I screamed and a girl about my age came running down the hall. "Is everything alright? Oh, the bandages. You were pretty beat up when we found you. I'm not supposed to tell you anything but don't worry, here we are all like you!" she said. Her hair was raven black and her eyes were green, she was pretty short compared to me. "So, what's your name newbie?" she asked, walking over to me. I just looked at her like a deer in the headlights. I tried to speak "Kix'ahl... My name is Kix'ahl." I managed to say. My voice was raspy from lack of speaking. "Oh, so you're an Atlantean. Where are your gills?" she asked, looking at my neck. I was confused, Atlantean? Gills? I have gills? Does that mean I can breathe under water? I was asking myself so many questions that I forgot the one I had just been asked. "Hello? Atlantean girl?" the girl said. I looked at her; I felt my neck and noticed that my hands had been clenched into fists the entire time. I spread my fingers apart and was shocked to see that they were webbed. "Well, you have the typical Atlantean webbing." the girl said. I stared at my hands; I was shocked and amazed... These are my hands? I then remembered that I was supposed to have gills, I reached for the side of my neck and felt them. They were there and they felt strange. "Maybe you should move your pretty, auburn hair out of the way so I can see." the girl said reaching to move my hair out of the way. My instincts kicked in and I grabbed the girl's arm and stopped her from touching me. "Okay, okay, no touchy. I get it." she said. I let go of her arm and asked "What is your name?" The girl laughed and put her hand on her hip, "They call me Raven. I'm Black Canary's niece." she said. "Who is this Black Canary?" I asked, then I remembered the red robot, "And who is the red robot that came in here earlier?" Raven laughed again, "Black Canary is my aunt, and she has super vocal chords. She destroys things with her voice, canary calls. As for the android, that would be Red Tornado. He's in charge around here." she answered and sat back down on the bed across from me. She yelped and instantly got up again. Something moved underneath the covers. "What the...?" Raven pulled the covers off and saw another young girl.
This girl's hair was golden and to her shoulders. Her curly hair was a mess, her face looked young but showed wisdom. She looked about as tall as me. The girl moaned in irritation. Her eyes shot open, "Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here?" she shot out so many questions that Raven had to think for a little while. "I'm Raven, this here is Kix'ahl. You are in the Young Justice headquarters in Happy Harbor, as for how you got here; well, you'll have to ask Batman about that one." Raven replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. The girl looked at Kix'ahl and her eyes widened. "I know you!" she said, then she questioned herself, Do I? She wasn't sure but she thought she had seen Kix'ahl somewhere before. "You do?" is all I said. I looked at the girl's neck and gasped, I then looked at the girl's hands, and she had webbed hands too. "Y-You're Atlantean too! Are we friends? Are we sisters?" pieces of memories were starting to come back. I was becoming overwhelmed. "We are sisters! Your name is Scy'larx! I remember that!" I was so excited that I hugged my sister. Finally, I thought, something that makes sense, something that tells me I belong! Scy'larx jumped but was happy to know she belonged with someone and hugged me back. "Well, two Atlantean girls. Kaldur should be happy to see fellow Atlanteans!" Raven said. I looked at Raven, "Who is this Kaldur you speak of?" Raven laughed when I asked. "His name is Kaldur'ahm but everyone calls him Kaldur. He's more widely known as Aqualad." Raven said. "Get dressed and we'll go see him."
I found clothes in a bag at the foot of my bed, a tight fitting blue T and ripped jeans. I definitely liked the jeans but wasn't sure about the shirt until I put it on. When I took the bandages off I found that my arms had markings that looked like eels. I stared at them in the mirror for about five minutes, then I went back to my bag and saw that there was also a metal backpack of some sort. When I touched it my arm eels glowed. "Is that supposed to happen?" I asked when Raven laughed at her for dropping it. "Yes, it's a normal Atlantean thing. Kaldur's arms do it too… usually Atlanteans have different marks on their arms but you have the same ones as Kaldur." Raven said, she sounded surprised and excited. Scy'larx was dressed in camo pants and a black shirt that was also tight. The marks on her arms were spirals that wound around her torso, they started at the small of her back and split at her shoulder blades, and they wound around her arms and ended at her knuckles. I brushed my hair and then went to brushing my sister's hair. Her hair was a tangled mess but did not take long to untangle. "Is it okay if I call you Scy?" I asked my sister after I put the brush down. "Sure, if I can call you Kix." she said laughing. "I'm okay with that. We better get going, I want to meet everybody." I said, standing up and grabbing my pack. Raven had explained that the pack was a weapon that conducted water and could form weapons, whether it is a mace, sword, or whip. Raven called them "water bearers". She had said that Kaldur often used water swords and I would probably prefer them as well.
"Here we have the main room of the headquarters!" Raven said, gesturing to the oversized living room. There was a flat screen TV, video games, a big red couch, a large coffee table and under that was a beautiful rug with red, blue, yellow, green and so many other colors. Red Tornado was talking to Black Canary. Apparently I had super hearing because, I could hear every word they said. "She is very powerful and it is best that nobody tells her who she is, she must find it out on her own." Red Tornado was saying, "But what if she's in a battle and doesn't know everything she can do? She and her sister are the two strongest super kids in the universe; they have all of the powers that we have! I think we should explain to them who they are and why they can't remember anything." Black Canary argued, making sure that others around her couldn't hear. I was going to walk cautiously over there but in a split second I was right in front of them both and I was confused. We really have all of their powers? I thought. Black Canary looked at Red Tornado and crossed her arms. She was beautiful, her hair was a pale gold color and she wore what looked like a black corset. She also wore heels and a denim jacket, her outfit suited her perfectly. She sighed and looked at me, "So you heard us. I take it?" she said with a small smirk. "Yes... I have questions." I said hesitantly. "Of course you do, and we'll answer those questions as soon as you meet the group." the Black Canary replied. She walked over and yelled "Alright, everyone front and center! Time for introductions!" as soon as she said it a boy with ginger hair that was wearing jeans, a black T-shirt and an open green plaid over-shirt came speeding into the room. Then there was a boy that was wearing black glasses, a white T-shirt and jeans. After he came in, three others followed. A tall boy with a black T-shirt that had an S on it, a girl that had red hair and green skin, and a girl with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. I wasn't really paying attention to them, because as they walked in, a tall and handsome guy around 16 walked in. He had bleached blonde hair and dark skin; he wore a turtle neck jacket and black pants. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Scy noticed that I was staring and elbowed me. "Okay, now introduce yourselves!" the Black Canary said to them. "I'm Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally." the ginger haired boy said, running up to my side and winking. I backed away and look at the others, they rolled their eyes and the blonde girl came over and pulled him back. When they were back in a line she hit his shoulder. "I'm Artemis. Wally here is an egotistical boy." the blonde girl said, glaring at Wally as she spoke of him. "I'm Superboy, but here I go by Connor." the tall boy with the S shirt said. "I'm Robin! I usually go by Rob, Wally calls me Dick though." the short boy with black glasses said. Then I heard a voice in my head say "Hi, I'm M'gann but I go by Megan because that's an Earth name." I grabbed by head in pain and Scy did the same. "M'gann!" Connor said, "You can't do that, remember? She isn't used to it yet!" Megan looked at me and Scy'larx. "I am so sorry! I totally forgot! Hello, Megan!" Megan said running over to us and trying to help us up. "I-It's fine." I said to her when I stood up. Then I noticed that the guy in the turtle neck was walking towards us, my heart started racing and I swear I was blushing. "I am Kaldur'ahm, here I go by Kaldur. I am also known as Aqualad." he said and reached out his hand. I almost fainted but gained enough composure to shake his hand. Scy shook his hand without a problem, and then Raven spoke "Kaldur, these two are Atlanteans as well." Kaldur's face lit up and he laughed, "Really? I would not have guessed that these two were Atlanteans!" he was smiling and he walked even closer, he gave Scy'larx a hug and then came to me. I was about to faint and it was nerve racking enough just standing there, but then my marks lit up. Kaldur was surprised and looked at me, he looked like he was blushing and Robin was on the floor laughing in the back. Raven smiled and pushed me closer. We were face to face and his chest was warm, that's when I fainted.
I woke up on the couch with Kaldur sitting on the edge. "W-what happened?" I asked when I saw everybody looking at me. Wally smiled and said "You talk when you're unconscious." Robin snickered when he said that. I was confused and my head hurt again. "You fainted when my niece pushed you towards Kaldur." the Black Canary said glancing at her niece. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you would faint." she apologized. "I caught you, but you hit your head on Sphere." Kaldur said, I looked at him with a quizzical look "Who's Sphere?" I asked. Connor laughed and whistled, "This is Sphere." he said patting a large metal sphere that had rolled over to Connor. "It's a metal ball..." I said. "Um, she doesn't like being called that..." Robin said, I thought he was looking at the sphere but it was hard to tell because of his dark glasses. "It's a she? So, is it a really high tech thing?" I asked. "You could say that. She can morph into a lot of things, like a bike." Wally said, and then Sphere morphed into a motorbike. I stared at the motorbike that had been a oversized, metal sphere moments ago. I was amazed, "I am getting overwhelmed by all of this." I said. Then Robin crossed his arms and said, "It's always overwhelmed or underwhelmed. Why isn't anybody just whelmed?" he asked. I laughed and looked around the room for my water bearers. "Where are my water bearers?" I asked, Kaldur got up and went to a shelf. "Here, Wolf tried to chew on them." he said. When he said "wolf" a large white wolf walked in wagging his tail. He jumped up on my lap and barked. "Whoa..." I said, looking up at the oversized dog. Scy'larx laughed and patted him on the head. "I guess he likes you!" Megan said.
After getting to know everyone, and everything, Scy'larx and I headed to the showers. When we walked in we were amazed by the large room, it was a large room with six shower heads and drains. Three shower heads on each side. I figured out how to control the water so I could make a curtain in case anybody walked in. Scy did the same. After we had dried off and gotten dressed we went out to the kitchen to find something to eat. "I just made cookies!" Megan said, as she set the cookie tray down. They were black and burnt but I was starving and so was Scy. I guess Wally was too since he ate most of them. "Sorry, they're burnt. I haven't got the hang of making cookies yet." Megan said shyly. "It's okay; I'll eat just about anything." I told her. Wally was staring at me the entire time and I tried to eat very carefully. "You make burnt cookies look amazing." Wally sighed. I choked on the cookie I had just finished and gasped. Wally looked at me with a concerned look on his face, "Are you alright? Was it something I said?" he asked Connor. Connor laughed, "You tend to have that affect on girls." I grabbed two more cookies and went to sit on the couch. Why does that always happen? I heard Wally say. Nobody else seemed to hear it so I thought I had imagined it, but then I heard him speak again. Oh well, Artemis will probably get jealous anyway... I looked over at Wally and thought to myself, I feel bad about that, Wally. I just wasn't expecting it... Wally put his hands on his head. "I thought only Megan could do use telepathy!" he moaned. I dropped the cookies in shock and tried to grab them before they fell, they floated to my hands. I yelped, "But, she's not a Martian. How can she do that?" Megan said aloud. I was confused too. "Where's Black Canary?" I asked, Robin pointed to the gym. I ran inside and shut the door. She was just finishing running on a treadmill. I yelled in frustration, "Why didn't you tell me? Secrets are never good! I do not want to put people in pain whenever I think about them!" I slammed my fist on the treadmill in front of me. The Black Canary looked at me and sighed, "I'm sorry, I should have told you. Sit down and we'll talk" she replied
When we were done talking I was frustrated. "Why?" I asked. During the talk she had told me that my sister and I had all of the powers that every Superhero had. Super strength, heat vision, we could fly, we had super speed, make canary calls, read minds, shift matter so we could go through things, we could be invisible, levitate, use telepathy, anything you could think of. I tried one of them out and ended up falling from the ceiling, I tried to shape shift into a bat and hang from the ceiling. I landed on the treadmill I had hit earlier, like it got payback or something. Black Canary put her hand on my shoulder, "We don't know. You could have been made from the DNA of all of us. I'm not sure how anybody could manage to get DNA from all of us considering that Red Tornado doesn't have DNA. You two could have been born lucky." she said, I looked up at her with a tear streaming down my face. "Or unlucky, hurting people because you don't know how strong you are or what you can do. I know what we're able to do now but that doesn't seem to help." as I said this Kaldur walked in, "There is a mission for us. Red Tornado wants everyone on the mission, especially Scy'larx and Kix'ahl." he said. Black Canary stood up and watched me leave. I tried to wipe the tear from my face before Kaldur saw but I wasn't fast enough. "Why were you crying?" he asked, I looked up at him and he put his hand on my shoulder. I hugged him and tried my best to become calm. He put his arms around me and whispered "It is okay."
Scy had taken a liking to Robin and they were constantly hanging out. Kaldur and I became very close; he taught me everything he knew. For the mission we had to train and choose names for ourselves. We chose code names that matched our partner's. Scy became known as Scylark, to match Robin with a bird name and I was called Aquamarine. I did not choose the name; Kaldur had started calling me that because it was my birthstone and his favorite gem. He had said that my beauty far exceeded that of any gem. Robin had made similar comments to Scy as well. Our first mission was to find the headquarters of the Shadows. It was a dangerous mission, which was why Scy and I were required even with our lack of training. It had not taken long to get to our destination in Megan's ship. We jumped out and approached the warehouse that was said to be their hideout. We hid in the bushes so we would not be detected. Scy and I went into camo mode, Wally had laughed because he though it made us sound like machines. When we saw Robin make the signal, we cautiously walked towards the warehouse that was supposed to be the Shadows' hideout. Scy'larx had weapons similar to Robin's, although hers were shaped like skulls instead of bats like Robin's. Her outfit was also similar, but with a different color scheme. Her outfit was red, grey, yellow and blue. My outfit was similar to Kaldur's, my shirt was blue and I wore black tights. Our outfits changed color for nighttime, when touched they would turn black and when it was day we could touch them to turn them back into the original colors. We had come to the front of the warehouse, I was on the right side of the door and Scy was on the left. When we opened the door Wally charged in as planned and made a quick job of scouting out the place. Nobody was there, that we could see. Where are they? Scy asked in irritation. Megan had linked our minds so that we could speak in silence. Obviously not here! Artemis said. When they met, they did not really like each other and never got along at the base. When we were on missions only small arguments took place. Scy glared at Artemis and debated whether or not it was worth it to use her telekinesis on her. She decided against it and went back to looking around. We were all inside the warehouse when someone shut the door; everyone jerked their heads towards the door. It was Cheshire, Artemis' sister. Not everyone knew about the relation, and even though Scy and I were new, we had found out. Robin, Scy'larx and I were the only ones that knew about it and Batman had told us to keep it a secret. Scy'larx and I only found out through mind reading. Artemis constantly thinks about her sister so it wasn't hard for us to over hear her thoughts. I really wish we had known, I don't want them to fight... I thought, hoping it would not come down to a fight. "Well, if it isn't the sidekick crew." Cheshire said, walking towards the group. Kaldur took a protective step towards me Kix'ahl, stay behind me. Robin stepped closer to Scy'larx. Artemis tensed and Wally stepped back. Megan was still hidden. "Where's the Martian girl? Oh well, it doesn't matter. I can just take the seven of you out." she said, I went into a fighting crouch and was ready to charge. Kaldur put his arm in front of me before I attacked. Scy had stepped forward and took out one of her gadgets. I didn't know what all of them did but this one looked particularly dangerous. Although she was ready to throw it at any moment, it seemed she knew that she would not get the chance to use it here. Cheshire charged at Wally, he ran out of the way before she got to him. Then she threw a shuriken at me, it stuck itself in my forearm and I laughed at her. "Atlantean." I said and Cheshire looked irritated. Her jelly fish toxin would not work on three of us. Atlanteans are immune to jelly fish toxin and their skin is thick. Cheshire charged with her sai in her hand, she swung at Kaldur and I was furious. I tackled her and took out my water bearers bound her, and made sure she couldn't free herself. "So you caught me, you're good at this. What's your name?" Cheshire asked, she laughed. "My name does not matter, but if you must know then know me as Aquamarine." I replied. I had an edge in my voice that made Cheshire serious and tense. Kaldur stepped forward, "Where is the Shadows' hideout?" he asked. Silence from Cheshire. I tightened the bindings so that it was very uncomfortable. She winced, "I won't tell you!" she yelled. I gave her a little shock with one of my water bearers. She yelped, "That's not fair!" she said. "Is it? Well, I do not like to be fair with those that are against me." I told her. Scy'larx stepped forward and knelt in front of Cheshire, "Speak, or be tortured." she said. She stood back up and crossed her arms. Cheshire was reluctant but she spoke.
After we got her to speak, she told us that the real hideout was in Russia but that they were only covering for a higher evil, called "The Light". None of us could believe that anyone evil would call themselves the Light. "So every mission we've been on so far has been a diversion? This is totally not cool!" Wally whined, Artemis had been quiet the entire time, she was wondering why Cheshire targeted only three of them. It's like she knew that Kix'ahl would be able to take her down... Why would she do that? Artemis thought. We got the information out of Cheshire that we wanted so we gave her to the warden of the Star City Prison. We all knew she would be out either the next day or the day after that, it happened every time. The group had had a long day and we all wanted to go to bed. I plopped myself down on the couch and kicked my feet up; Connor did the same, as he always did after a mission. Everyone else hit the showers. "Rough first day, huh?" Connor asked, looking over at me. "Yes, not as hard as I thought it would be. I thought that it would be much worse, the Shadows sound much more intimidating if you haven't met them." I sighed. Connor laughed and sat up, "Well, we don't all have your abilities." he said. He looked up at the clock above the TV and sighed; "I better hit the showers and go to bed." he went off to his room to grab his clothes for a shower, leaving me by myself. I began thinking about what had happened. Somehow we had not detected Cheshire with our heat sensors and I had not heard or smelled anyone unfamiliar. They had to have known about me and Scy'larx or else Cheshire would have been detected instantly... I thought, suddenly I was aware of someone's breathing in the room. I looked around and saw Kaldur leaning against the door way to the gym. His shirt was sweaty from an after mission workout and he had a towel draped over his left shoulder. "Are you thinking about the mission?" he asked, walking towards me. He sat down a put his hand on mine, I looked into his ice blue eyes "Yes, I just do not understand how we did not detect Cheshire. Whoever ordered her there must have known about me and my sister." I said to him. "I do not know who, but I know that we were set up. The Shadows knew we were going to be there so they sent there assassin to delay us for some reason. She was fairly easy to take down." Kaldur said, his voice trailed off at the end and he looked into my eyes. We forgot everything we were talking about, he pulled my face closer to his and kissed me. I caught my breath and lay limp in his arms. "I am whelmed." I said lying in his embrace; Robin's words came in handy from time to time.
I had no idea how long I had lied there, but I had drifted off into sleep. I began to dream, it was not a good dream yet it was not a nightmare. I was in a forest and it was dark, I could only see due to my night vision. A few feet away I could see Scy, a familiar face that I was glad to see. She was standing there, just staring at me with a blank expression. I walked towards her but with every step I took I went deeper into the earth. The earth became like quicksand. I could not get out, no matter how I struggled. I tried everything I could do to get free but I couldn't. When I looked up I expected to see my sister but she was gone. Where she had been was a glowing figure. I could not see a face; I could only make out the shape of the being. "No matter how hard you struggle, you will always belong to the Light. We will find you and your sister, and we will kill your friends. You belong to the Light!" the being said in a cruel tone. I tried to speak and tell the mysterious being "no" but my mouth would not open. Then I realized I was completely submerged in the earth and I couldn't breath. I woke up gasping for air. The only comfort was Kaldur's arms around me.