ION

Whenever someone's asked what power they wished they had, flying is always at the top of the list. But I have to admit. I've learned to love falling to.

Dick wondered if he was maybe overplaying his part. But all worries washed away as he shot up, up, up and into the abyss of the endless sky.

Up here, the air was always cold. But the stars, way up here above the clouds, above the smog and the digress of the world, they were so bright. He let a soft smile dance across his face before letting the weightlessness hold him for a second.

And then he fell.

Falling used to be scary. Even after at age eleven as his powers began to manifest. But as they say, what goes up must come down, and in that sense, even those who could fly would have to come down. And if falling was part of flying- then he loved it too. In fact… falling might be better than flying.

Plummeting through the sky, the world was panoramic, widening in view and never seeming to get closer even as you fell at breakneck speed. He let a shout of joy, kicking his feet and rocketing forward toward the helicopter.

He slammed into the metal, pain only a dull throb as he dented steel. He popped his head in to see Cheetah glaring at him… and he laughed. Pushing away, the helicopter flew one way while he fell the other.

Cheetah grabbed a briefcase, jumping out of the copter with a parachute. Dick smiled, tilting ever so slightly, and with no special abilities at all swung in directly beside her. He smiled. "The sky belongs to me." He said. Cheetah glared, frightened but unfazed by her freefall.

"Get away from me, brat." She spat.

Dick just cackled, arching his back and doing a flip before taking a nose-dive. "Learn to fall, Cheetah! If you can't enjoy the here and now- how will you ever enjoy what you're working towards?"

"Look- kid- if you don't get out of my way, I swear-"

"Cursing's bad, don'tya know." Dick tipped his head, pulling out of his dive, driving straight up as the furry woman fell past him. As she did, he snatched out his hand, grabbing the parachute she was still buckling. She began flailing and screaming, demanding to have her lifeline back.

"If you're going to fall, Barbara," the woman stiffened upon her name, "then instead of screaming, dance!"

"You're insane! I'll die!"

"Well then enjoy life while you have it!" Dick laughed, continuing his aerial descent, floating powerlessly through the air in a flawless dance.

Cheetah continued screaming, and after a moment, the ground quickly approaching, Dick grabbed her shoulders, and the cat's horrified eyes turned on his, no longer thinking about the fact that he was a "good" guy and she was "bad".

"Barbara Minerva. As I said, if you can't enjoy life now, what about tomorrow when you finally succeed? What will it do? Will it really change anything?"

And with that, he shot up, leaving the woman in the dust, in a state of shock as she floated harmlessly into the Virginian woods on the loft of her parachute.

Dick bolted back to his friends (which he had never realized how rude and exclusive they were) with the briefcase in hand, skidding skillfully to a halt and tossing the case in the surprised Atlantean's hands.

"DUDE!"

Dick turned to Wally, internally flinching as his friend yelled.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Going after a villain alone- argh!"

Dick, or Ari, let a smile grace his face, animating his voice and losing his usual sarcasm. "Sorry, Kid Bolt! I was just trying to stop her! And I did! It's not that hard when she chooses an aerial escape and I can fly."

Kid Flash seethed as M'gann spoke up. "But… I've never seen flying like that." Her frown was evident.

"Yeah," Artemis accused. "I've watched the best the League has to offer and no one flies as well as you do."

Everyone was waiting for an answer, which Ari freely gave with a turbed shrug. "I didn't fly." He said simply.

"No," Wally barked. "No. If you weren't flying, then what were you doing?" he folded his arms incredulously.

A sincere smile graced his face, one of the first he'd had to offer his friends since he met them in a new persona.

"I was falling."

Hello!

I think this chapter brought up two very important points, that I think if we understood, our lives would be so much different.

I used to play a game I like to call "What If." In this game, I would fantasize about my life if I could wish for anything and have it come to pass. I used to play this for hours on end. You may say, "Oh, I'd never do that." But you do. I know it. What if. What if I were skinny? What if I could fight like Robin? What if I were beautiful? What if I were smart? Another way to put it is, "I Wish." I wish I were skinny. I wish I could be cool, like Robin. I wish I were beautiful. I wish I were smart.

I wish.

I think one more what if, one more I wish, is alright.

What if we never played it again?

Now wondering at the could have beens and could bes are inevitable, but I'm just asking. Maybe we should stop focusing on what we want, and focus on what's going on in the here and now. Right now, you're reading this. You're not being ridiculed. You're not looking in the mirror thinking "Oh, I'm so pitiful." I think if we don't learn to live right now, then even if we reach what we're desperately reaching for, then... will we know how to even enjoy it? I don't think so. We will still be broken. And in that case, we will look for more things to make us happy when we've had it all along. We just need to be right now, not cast our pains to one thing's fault, and believing that one thing could fix it all. Because it won't. It won't.

The other part?

Learn to love the fall!

In our lives, none of us have it easy. And as we fall, we're thinking about smacking into the ground. As we crash to burn we're thinking about the inevitable pain. But... it's just that. Inevitable. You. Can't. Change. It. So instead of stressing about the pain, enjoy the fall. You have two choices: stress before pain and death, or learn to love to fall.

Love the fall.

In short? If we can't live in the moment, then the moment will never be THE moment when we are finally happy. We all go through falls and crashes. But instead of focusing on the crash... enjoy the fall. And smile.

Reviews appreciated but not demanded! Thank you, guys! :D

~WhenUniversesCollide