Disclaimer: I don't feel like arguing with those goddamn lawyers any more. So, I admit I have not, do not, and probably never will own Teen Titans.
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Sorry it took me so long to update (Finals are EVIL!! And so are carrots!!)!!
Please read and review!!
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"There is a memory
that is very dark…
Someone help me…
It's getting harder to find
the brighter bits…"
-Author chan
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Chapter 9: In Memories
Wally looked blankly out the window for a few minutes.
"Snow…" he whispered, "This will be a lingering one."
"My family and I are from the area around Jump City. I don't have any memories of my mother; she died a year or two after my birth. My father was a good, honest man. He wasn't a genius, or famous or anything, but he was kind and I always loved him for that.
"Unfortunately, somehow I was born with these," she said, indicating her pink eyes. "Because of them, everyone kept their distance from me. Like I had a highly contagious disease and if they came too close they would catch it. The other children on the street use to call me names. Sticks and stones, right? Well it didn't take them to long to work out the solution. Soon, they started throwing rocks at me. I'd find my books dirty and with pages missing. Often, I'd find some of my stuff missing, and a gang of giggling girls nearby. I'd try not to tell my father, and try to hide the bruises so he wouldn't see, but it never worked. He'd always notice, and always would scoop me up into his lap and tell me that everything would be okay, it would all be fine. And I'd always feel the teardrops on top of my head. One day, I figured out what I should do to stop my daddy crying for me. I'd leave. If I wasn't there, he wouldn't have to be sad. He could be happy. I was bad luck, so if I left, good luck might come in, right? I wrote a little note telling him that I was going (full of spelling and grammatical errors I'm sure,) and I ran away.
"I ran and ran until I was too tired to continue, but by that time I was far enough away that it didn't matter. He was free of me and could be happy, that was all that mattered. I never looked back, and I never shed a tear.
"I lived on the streets for a few weeks. I had somehow managed to run all the way into the heart of Jump City itself, which (given I had lived out in the suburbs and was only six years old at the time) is quite impressive. Early on, I discovered trash cans made good, safe places to sleep. No one would notice you, and there was enough food to subsist on. But, I hid only during the day. At night, I would just walk around the roof tops, following the moon. I remember it clearly; on the night of the first full moon I had seen while in the city there was a light rain. I was walking forward on one of the roofs when a person came up behind me. They said something about free food and shelter; I declined. Then they said it was a school full of people like me. I told them if it was full of people like me, it must be a curse to the world. The person gave me the scariest smile I had ever seen, and replied that it was. Then I realized that even if I refused, they'd take me anyway. So rather than being dragged, I decided to walk forward on my own two feet. After all, what was really holding me back? The only thing I could do was walk forward, not get held back, but always walk forward. But as I left with the strange person, I got the strangest feeling that the moon was crying for me.
"I went to their school, and I was the top of my class. Nobody could even compare, but I didn't really like it. It bored me, annoyed me. I had nothing to really drive me to do anything; I just did it because I did it, no rhyme or reason to it. There was nothing I really wanted, nothing really cared for. I had left that all behind me, and I continued to walk forward. I sooner than I knew it, I was a freshman in the Academy's high school. I continued to be the best, but I still felt empty inside. Then some new kid sat down at the lunch table with me one day. He was big, and kind of stupid, well…never mind. He was really stupid. And hopeless, so I sort of adopted him. He was the first real friend I gained. I began to see what the person who found me meant. All the kids in the school had some sort of abnormality that made society reject them, made them outcasts. Like me. For my first friend, who I eventually just grew to call Mammoth (because he was so damn big), it was his size. He was really big, and really strong. To his parents, he seemed more like a monster than their child. He was kicked out of his own home, by his own family. Another boy I met was an orphan. He was a lot younger than the rest of us, but he was a child prodigy, a mechanical genius. He had no family to start with. He took quickly to the academy, but I still treated him like a little brother. When I first saw him, I couldn't help myself, I let out a shriek and yelled to the whole school, "So cute!!!," scooped him up, and hugged the living daylights out of that poor child. They were basically my only friends for the next few years. The academy taught us the only way outcasts like ourselves could survive, and I assure you they were not legal means. I was just starting my junior year this year, when the school was closed down. We dispersed. We went like leaves to wherever the wind took us. But, as luck would have it, a small group of leaves including myself all drifted back to Jump City. For a while we stayed together, got ourselves food through some petty thieveries. I didn't really care what the others did, if I had food and a room, I was happy. But for some reason, in my dreams I'd always find myself wandering the rooftops after the moon. I guess I missed the freedom that I had in those few weeks. The freedom of not having any attachments, the freedom of just walking forward, not knowing what lay before you, not caring what you left behind. In the daytime I was always restless. I had stopped moving forward. The few people I had weren't interested in continuing. They liked where they were, and they didn't mind staying. I hated it. I grew aggressive, and snapped at everyone. I set up a secondary residence in the old, unused lead pipes under the city as a place to escape to when I felt too bound to the world. But, as much as I hated to admit it, I was happy being with them. To be honest, I think that's why they annoyed me so much. I didn't mind staying still so much as long as I was with them, and that scared me.
"One day, however, I woke up and everything was gone. I had spent the night in the pipes again, more for the peace and quiet than anything else. Waking up was painful, it didn't feel right. I hadn't been walking on rooftops following the white moon in my dreams; I had been wading through blood, following a black sun. And then, the world around me caved in, leaving me with nothing. I received a report that all of my friends had been murdered that night. I just couldn't bear to stay still after I heard the news; I wouldn't stay still. So I came to Central City," she paused for a few moments.
'And devoted myself to plotting your death.'
"I don't know how they died, but I do know my happiness died with them. I couldn't help think to myself that if I had been there, it would be different. They'd still be alive, and stupid, annoying, and all those other things, but they'd be alive! I could help but think that it was my fault that they died. Well, when I thought of that, I had to find someone to hate, to keep my sanity…"
Suddenly, she felt something warm surround her. It took a few slow seconds for her to realize that it was a pair of arms.
"Linda…I understand," he said simply, his soft eyes belying their inner strength.
All the emotions that she had long kept under control final broke through the flood gates and she wept. She cried out all her uncertainties, fears, and sorrows. Her streaming eyes flicked to the calendar. She need to make a decision, and soon.
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Wally guided her over to the couch where that sat side by side under the blanket he'd been using for the past few weeks.
"Linda, a little over a year ago, I stopped living with my aunt and uncle and started 'fighting crime' here in Central City. I figured my speed would be more than enough to do this. But over time, I became numb. All the fights started affecting the way I saw the world. I was lost, like a small boat in a thick fog. I couldn't really feel anything. Like I was going to fast for life… But then I met you. Your questions dispelled the haze in my mind, letting the sun through.
"For a long time, I've wanted to protect people's happiness with the power I gained during a freak accident. But, over time, I could slowly only begin to see was people in pain and anguish, and all I could hear were shouts of anger and tears of suffering and regret. I sunk deeper and deeper into a back hole. Like a frog slowly boiled to death, I didn't really notice what was happening, until you came. Not until these last few weeks with you have I understood the full extent of happiness, and I want to protect it, for everyone. But now that I know it, I can now see no one person can bear the happiness of mankind on his shoulders. Guess I'm an idiot then because I'll still try. But all one person can do is protect the happiness of the people he sees in front of him…."
That sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the snow float down past the window.
"Linda?"
"Yes?"
Wally wasn't looking at her, but still firmly at the window, but she could see he was glowing red from the furious blush that had crept across his face.
"The happiness you lost once……I will protect this time around."
She had to resist the urge to laugh. A smile spread across her face, her normally white cheeks flushing the color of roses.
"Yes."
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Author's Notes: Okay, weird chapter. Bit of fluff, bit of drama/ angstyness (yes I know that is not a word), wonderful past/ flash-back type thingies….All in all, it amused me. We are almost to the end!! Only about five or six more chapters to go, that is. Thickening plot thickening plot How I love thickening plots
By the way, I haven't spent that much time on writing it slowly, this chapter was written in pretty much two sittings, so yeah…. I spent well over a week brainstorming though. Hopefully it came out well enough.
So yeah… PLEASE REVIEW!!! PLEASE!!! If not… who knows what could happen to the favorite couple…Not that I'd really stray from the story line… but just so you know… I have a strange penchant for torturing characters… and they might be submitted to less evil if you give the review-aholic what she wants…. Or maybe not…. I'm confusing myself now. JUST REVIEW AND ALL WILL BE WELL IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!
See you next chapter!!