Part Three

"I hate you all." Fire said for the millionth time as all the four Elementalists stood before the Council. "I really do." She looked as young as 15, yet Air was the only one who looked as young. Water was 17 while Earth was 18. Well, they certainly looked that way.

That was the reward for being a successful Elementalist. When you retired, you were granted eternal youth by the council. Fire had chosen to be 15, as that had been the age she knew humans showed their ultimate potential. Plus, if she had been human, then she would've been bursting with raw power at that age.

Air had chosen to be 15 as well and secretly, Fire was grateful to have a comrade to share the youth with…even though he HAD just requested to be 16 instead of 15.

Water had wanted to be more mature while Earth had wanted to be as well. Fire suspected it was because the Earth Elementalist still had the life-long crush on his comrade as he had a few millennia ago.

"I don't really care. Saying you hate us all is the only most likely thing to killing us. We could then get gutted like fish by the Council due to your rudeness, tossed into the fishing tank where we become FISH for half a century, and then we get gutted LIKE fish because at that moment, we ARE fish!" Earth said in his usual pessimistic way.

"…that just didn't make sense."

"Hey! I'M OLDER THAN YOU!!"

"You only look it. I'm several hundred older."

"Damn you."

"I know." Air smirked smugly.

Water just smiled good-naturedly, but Fire was still watching her carefully. Her Elemental-sister was behaving rather weirdly. Fire had seen Air and Earth duke it out in the Stadiums for old time's sake, but she had not seen her sister for years. Years was little to an Elementalist but still…

It was as if Water had disappeared for a long time.

It was strange. Fire could sense something from Water that she hadn't experienced before. But what was it?

"Guardians." At this, Fire spoke up.

"We're not Guardians anymore, Elder Frieda. Our children are."

"Yes, that was known, Aka." Fire bristled at having her real name spoken out, but it didn't really matter. Since she wasn't an Elementalist anymore, none could use it against her. "But this has something to do with when you were Guardians. All of you. It is a very serious matter indeed. A-su, please stop ignoring me or I really will have to gut you like a fish."

Fire laughed and Air snickered as Earth scowled, but heeded Elder Frieda's words.

"You too, Ea." Air scowled as Earth snickered in turn.

"All three of you! This is no joking matter!" Elder Maui slammed his fists on the Council table. "The repuation of the Elementalists is at stake here. True, we don't really care what happens to you four and your descendants, but we will be blamed if this happens!"

"Stupid old goat, always thinking about himself." Fire muttered. Maui shot a warning glance at her and she only sneered back at him. Water scolded her softly, but Fire only brushed it off.

"You are all dismissed. We only need to speak with Aka."

"Very well." Fire said. Earth, Air and Water bowed their respect to the elders before leaving, Earth hissing to her as he left. Fire's mood darkened as she summoned her infamous Fire Dragon and ordered him to burn Earth up.

"Aka. Pay attention." Fire did so.

"Yeah?"

"We are going to recruit you back to Fire Elementalist for a short period of time while you are fulfilling this mission."

"Why me? Can't Ea, Aoi or A-su do it?" Fire yawned boredly.

"Unfortunately, no." Elder Maui sighed. "The others would be great trouble. You're the only one who really sticks to the rules."

"Whoa! You couldn't be talking about me, cuz I don't follow the rules! I break them all! Remember during the whole 'Retrieval Agent' mission? I broke all the damn stupid rules! You should go to Water, she follows the rules, you know."

"Yes, but this will have to occur to her. She is to be killed."

"What?"

"She has broken one of our most sacred laws. No Elementalist should mate with any creature outside their species. You know of this, right?"

"DUH! HELL YEAH! Why the hell would I go breaking THAT stupid dumb rule?! I'm not going to mate!"

"Exactly why we chose you. We knew you'd understand."

"But she's my SISTER!"

"Not by blood, she isn't. Take this sword and cut her neck with it. You have unlimited time, but you'd better finish it up quick. Plus, you'll get a go at her daughter."

"Her blood daughter?" Fire caught the sword with ease and jolts of electricity flowed through it through her arm. "HeyheyHEEEEEEY!!!!" She struggled to drop the damn sword, but it stuck to her hand. "WHAT THE HE—" Within seconds, the sword had forced her to accept the mission. "I'm going, I'm going. I'll be back within a few hours."

And she left. Maui sighed in relief. "I thought it wouldn't work for a second."

"Of course." Elder Frieda agreed. "Aka is strong in her will and if she is too focused, she would've broken free and have killed us both."

"Thank goodness you distracted her with the blood daughter talk. Too bad she's not going to do it." Maui said.

"What makes you so sure she WON'T do it? Fire enjoys killing missions and you know it. Water and her daughter won't survive this if Fire concentrates and doesn't goof off and slaughter humans."

"Time will tell, my fellow Elder. Time will tell if Fire will indeed finish off the two."

Fire angled her sword so that the blade was reflecting Jayna's neck. "I'll kill you quickly, don't worry, girl." Fireballs hurled their way at her, but she quickly caught them in her hand and disabled Brook, Silverbeak and Griff. Hawkeye managed to dodge, but just barely, landing on her feet, the hem of her shorts smoking.

"Why are you targeting Jayna?" Hawkeye addressed the fire elf angrily. The First Fire Elementalist was calm.

"Because she is the result of my sister and a human... A human...my sister...the First Water Elementalist...fell in love with a human and had the child... And since I cannot find Water, I can simply attack her daughter..."

"But I'm your daughter as well..."

"Not through blood-relation. The First Elementalists must have their children born from OTHERS. We take them when they need our powers to aid them and help them fulfill their written destiny. Of course, Water broke the law, so I'm here on a mission from the Council, to kill her."

"Wha--Who--" Hawkeye was having a terrible time registering all this info. She finally decided on a few questions. "Who's Water? And what does she have to do with Jayna? And the Council? The ones that teach and organize EVERYTHING Elementalists do, whether they are Senior, Junior, Proper or even Academy? Why would they make such a law?"

"Water is whom you know as Aoi. Aoi is her real name, but we are given the names of our Elements once we accept the responsibility as an Elementalist. You will too, and become my successor if you are strong enough and I deem you worthy. My real name is Aka, but of course, EVERYONE except the Coundil at some points call me Fire. And that law is----" Fire was interrupted.

"--'If an Elementalist mates with someone outside their race...it is considered a felony and they must be killed.' " Jayna quoted sadly from the rulebook.

Hawkeye's green eyes met those blue ones of hers. "You knew?"

"I always have. That's why I'm better at learning new Elemental techniques than you guys are. Because with the added addition of my mother's blood in my veins, I know the techniques straight from birth and it only takes a few minutes to harness that knowledge."

"Jayna..."

"She must die." Fire scowled, taking a step towards the girl. Hawkeye was frozen to her spot. Now WHAT was her Elemental mother going to do NOW! She had already seen Fire put all her other teammates into a fiery cell, quite similar to the experiences one would have in Hell. Fire drew her sword blade and struck, but it was blocked by a flood of water.

"Stop, sister." Aoi's pure voice came. Fire slowly turned, her scowl deepening.

"The traitor returns. Now is the time to kill you." Aoi widened as her sister summoned a killing spell onto the sword. If the sword even BRUSHED against her, she would be killed in an instant, First Water Elementalist or not.

"You wouldn't..."

"I would." Fire sadistically licked her blade and singed her own tongue, much to her delight. "And, it seems that even though I'm the creator of the spell, I ALSO get harmed by it. Lovely isn't it."

"You monster..."

"..." Fire moved with the quickness and silence of an experienced assassin as she struck her so-called sister without mercy.

"AOI!"

Hawkeye and Jayna yelled at the same time. Suddenly, in a whirl of wind and leaves, two other elves appeared. One, looking the same age as Fire blocking her blade with a blade of Wind and Air while the other was kneeling down beside Aoi.

"Are you alright, Water?"

"I'm fine, A-su." She struggled to get up, but he stopped her.

"Call me A-su and I'll just kill myself and get gutted by the fishes." Earth said in his pessimistic way. Aoi laughed weakly.

"Feh." Fire applied more power to her blade and broke Air's. His eyes widened, Air quickly dodged the blade as Fire, with a bloodthirsty grin, swung her blade expertly at him, eager to kill.

"Mother…" Hawkeye's hands curled into fists as she stood up and disabled Fire's simple cage using nearly all her power. "…why?" She fell to the ground, only to be caught by Silverbeak in his human form.

Brook immediately ran to Jayna, his crush on her getting the better of him as he fretted about her. Griff, on the other hand, assisted his Ancestor. Silverbeak kept Hawkeye to the ground.

"Rest. You'll need it." He said in an almost caring and affectionate way as he put a sleeping spell on her. Hawkeye fought it for a few seconds before her eyelids fell and she fell into deep slumber. "Now…" He placed her carefully on the ground and stood up, snapping his fingers and muttering a spell.

Winds emerged from his fingertips as he willed them to circle around Fire. At high speed, the oxygen level was depleting from Fire's wind prison. Air wasn't a problem for the First Elementalists, but Fire needed oxygen to make her killing curse work.

With a yell of fury, she disappeared in a small burst of flames before her oxygen ran out.

"So now…what do we do?" Aoi asked in a shaky voice as she hugged Jayna to her. Jayna hugged her mother back.

"What else?" Everyone was surprised to see Hawkeye up and about. But then, Silverbeak saw the glint in Hawkeye's eyes, similar to the one of Fire's. "I kill her. Don't you dare try to stop me, or I'll kill Lynne." She placed a fire sword at her throat, smirking.

"Lynne?"

"Lynne is Hawkeye's real name. She didn't want to be known as Lynne Melody Stewart, because she despises her father and mother; Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, or, John Stewart and Shayera Hol." Jayna said softly. "I know this…because I used to live near Thanagar."

"So NOW what we do, huh?!" Griff yelped as Fire/Hawkeye summoned a huge ball of fire. "We'll be burnt into a crisp in about 25 seconds, peoples!"

"Not if the Justice League can help it!" The Flash appeared in a flash of red.

"Hey, dad, how's it going?" Brook greeted, before clapping his hands over his mouth.

"Great…what'll happen next, huh?" Griff scowled. "J'onn will find out that me and Silverbeak are his adopted sons?" He clapped his hands over his mouth too.

Silverbeak sighed. "Idiot."

J'onn was floating right above them, his eyes wide with surprise. Shayera and Green Lantern were surprised to as Fire/Hawkeye twitched. "As much as I'd like to kill you all and get away with it, I'll have to pass." Fire disappeared from Hawkeye's body.

And Lynne/Hawkeye collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Silence…but not for long.

"We're FATHERS?!"