W00t! It's Halloween! Here in New York, anyway. I don't have much to say, but whatever. Chapter dedicated to Story Weaver1.

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"I guess I owe you an apology, Kory. I didn't realize what a touchy subject you accident was." AquaLad said as he sat down next to Blackfire on "her" bed. "But I want to know how you got there. I mean, I don't know anything about you."

"I don't know anything about YOU." She responded, propping herself up against the wall with a pillow.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"What's you real name?"

He gave a short laugh. "It's Garth. But please don't call me that. AquaLad will do fine."

"Where are you from?"

"Atlantis. It's an underwater city."

"Fine."

He blinked. "That's it?"

Blackfire smirked. "For now."

"Okay. What about you?"

"I already told you my name. I'm from-" She stopped where was she from? Certainly not here. "-A country in the south west. It's not all that well known. And there isn't much water."

"Oh." They didn't speak after that. Blackfire was too busy thinking about getting healed and getting back into the skies again. She appreciated AquaLad's help, but her place wasn't here. Her only problem was, she didn't know how long it would take for her to get better.

She didn't notice that she was slowly falling asleep. AquaLad did, and as he stood up, he reached over and tucked some of her hair behind her now calmed ear. "Good night."

She woke up early the next morning. Blackfire wasn't sure how she knew it was early, but it was probably some sort of instinct. She sat up in bed and wriggled out of her sheets, stretching and yawning as she did so. Wow, it was chilly this morning. Perhaps a warm bath in the spring would do her some good.

She walked out of the room, still wearing the oversized T-shirt and jeans from yesterday. Her stance was as usual; Tall, proud, Queen of The universe. Then she winced as a sharp pain shot through her ribs. She'd have to stop doing that.

She quickly took her clothes off and sank into the hot water, relief instantly washing over her. She found out from last time that her bandages were waterproof, so she didn't have to worry about them coming undone. She lowered herself in the water even deeper, her raven black hair floating on the surface. Aaah, what bliss.

Suddenly, there was a quick shadow-like movement in one of the corners of the cave. Blackfire whirled her head around, accidentally splashing herself with her hair. Wait, there it was again, over there. Now it's over there!

Seeing no other option, Blackfire looked around quickly. Seeing no one, she raised a hand above her head, willed herself to form a blackbolt, then hurled it at the wall, scaring the creature out of the shadows.

Blackfire blinked. It appeared to be some sort of fish. With a huge head. And arms and legs. And bug eyes and teeth. Wearing clothes. Oh well. Take no chances.

"HA!" She shot another blackbolt at it, then another. It felt good to relieve all this tension. The creature ran over to the exit. Blackfire was just about to shot it with her eyes when--

"Kory, are you in there? I hear some moving around. Are you okay?"

"Gah!" She accidentally let go of the energy she was holding in her eyes. It missed the fish-like creature and hit AquaLad in the stomach, who doubled over forwards. "Kory--Aaah!" He uncovered his eyes with his hand and Blackfire immediately went red, crossing her arms over her chest and sinking down into the water. AquaLad went red as well, and momentarily forgot about the pain in his stomach as he crawled back into the hall. "Sorry! I'll try to get you a towel. Just wait there."

Of course I'll wait here. Blackfire thought sullenly. Where else am I to go?

He returned a few seconds later. Blackfire knew he was coming because of the constant sound of him bumping into walls. But finally he re-appeared, and tossed a towel blindly into the air, his eyes still covered. Blackfire quickly scrambled out of the water and wrapped it around her body. "Alright, I'm covered."

He removed his hand and opened his eyes. A slight blush returned to his face, but he didn't seem to feel it. "Hey, Kory, do you know what hit me just now? It HURT."

She coughed. "Um......well......."

Then the bug thing appeared. Kory saw this as her excuse. Making her eyes go wide, she spoke in a false fearful voice. "AquaLad, what's that behind you?"

He spun around, looked down, then began laughing. "Oh, is this what scared you? This is only Tram."

"What?"

"Yeah. I've known him for a long time. He's a good mechanic." AquaLad scratched his head. "For lack of better words."

"So.." Blackfire began slowly, walking towards 'Tram'. "This is your...pet?"

"Try 'Friend'."

Blackfire put her hands up in defense. "Sorry."

"So, Tram," AquaLad said, turning to the fish thing. "What were you doing here anyway?"

It opened it's mouth to speak, But Blackfire quickly gathered him up in her arms and clamp a hand over his mouth. AquaLad looked at her in confusion.

"If you'll excuse us, AquaLad," She said, giving him her sweetest smile," Tram and I have something to discuss. Privately. We'll only be a minute!" And with that she disappeared into her room and closed the door.

"Okay, Tram." Blackfire said menacingly, once she was sure no one could hear her. "AquaLad out there does not know about my powers. And I wish to keep it that way. "

She kneeled down and leaned in closer to his face. "And I'm speaking to you as a friend," She smiled sweetly at him, "And as a enemy." Her hand glowed pink and went dangerously close his face. He gave a squeak and ran out of the room. She stood up and dusted her hands off.

"Well, that was easy."

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Blackfire came out of the room two minutes later, wearing a jean skirt and a black long sleeved shirt. AquaLad was still leaning on the wall in confusion, and he looked up when she came through the door. "What was that all about?"

"It's nothing." She smiled. "Tram was just a little excited, that's all."

"Oh. Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the museum today. They have this new exhibit, that I wanted to check out. Underwater Sea Monsters. It's all probably fake, but..."

"What's a museum?"

"You know. It's a gallery, a collection of things for display."

Oh. A Zorgut, in Tameran. "Sure."

He grinned. "Great! You might want to wear a hat or sunglasses or something, though, because I think the press is on to us."

She blinked, then nodded, a smirk appearing on her lips. Wouldn't Starfire be jealous if she found out....

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Yawn. Five minutes into the exhibit, and she was already bored. AquaLad seemed interested in it, though, for reason she didn't know. Whatever they were, he sure was taking his sweet time about it.

She examined a blurry photo of the silhouette of a creature in some lake or something in Scotland. Pff. Anyone could tell it was fake. The sign underneath read, "The Loch Ness Monster."

Yawn.

She stole another glance at AquaLad, who was reading a rather lengthy piece on "The Bermuda Triangle". Blackfire walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "AquaLad," She began, watching him turn around to face her. " I'm going to go look at another display, alright?"

"Alright. Don't get lost."

Blackfire nodded and walked away, stopping to look at a map on the wall. Let's see... Ancient Egyptian artifacts...Feudal Japan... "Rare Gems And Stones?" She said aloud. Hmm...looks interesting.

The room was only a few halls away, so she got to the entrance quickly. The room was practically empty, with one solitary guard at the door and a young art student in the corner. Thousands of jewels were in display cases all around the room, with hundreds of different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. She walked around the room slowly, afraid she would miss something. And then, one single Jewel caught her eye.

It was in the shape of a rhombus, with silver-tipped edges and a ruby center. It looked to be a deep green, but the colors would keep swirling until it transformed into purple. Blackfire stared at it, her fingers pressed to the glass. She had seen this jewel before.

It was from the first time she had visited the Centarri moons. After picking up a "Gift" for her sister. She had been arrested, but when she was brought to the high Centarri Ruler, she had seen it. The Centarri ruler himself had it, embedded into his Scepter. So how did it get here?

"Ah. I see you're interested in the Wayne Diamond." A voice behind her spoke. She turned and became face to face with the guard, who was smiling down kindly at her.

Pah. Stupid humans. Had to give it a stupid name, when the Centarri Jewel was much better. "Wayne Diamond?"

"Aye. It was named after Bruce Wayne, who found it when his company went into space. Said they saw it floating around, or somethin'."

"I see." So Centarri was finally destroyed, eh? Serves them right.

"Beautiful, ain't it? A pretty girl like you could have a lot of use for that jewel..." He winked and walked away, just as AquaLad entered the room. "Kory! There you are!" He hurried over to her. "Ready to go? I think the guards are starting suspicious of me. Wow, nice jewel."

She grinned. "Yes. It's called the Wayne Diamond."

Geodesic: Yup! I though so too.

tha fonix freeke:

You're welcome!

Dungeonfire4: Awww! Thanks. Dunno where I got the ear piercing thing from, but I like it too!

tree: Thank you.

Story Weaver1Thanks! I personally wanted to thank you for reading and reviewing all of my other stories also. Thank you so much for your support.

cha-11: Sorry! Thanks for telling me it's short. I hope this one was longer, or at least more interesting!

DarkShadowGryphon: Yeah, me too. I'm the only one in my class who doesn't have my ears pierced. Most boys included.

cindycindy549 Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

Poochie14 Hope you liked the update! thanks!

Velvet Death: Oy...two people telling me the last chapter was short...not good. Oh well. I hope this one was better!

w00t! That's it. Oh, and ever since seeing WaveLength, I've decided to put BumbleBee in, as a sort female companion for Blackfire. So you should be seeing her in the next chapter.