Doppelganger

I don't own the Titans

Author's Note:

Pun-3X, I would have left out the bio about her, but there were so many people that I've met that didn't know what a doppelganger was, I felt it was imperative to explain a little about the character's nature and a few of her abilities. If I'd left it out, I can guarantee you I would have gotten at least 5 emails asking: "Why does she get all his memories when she touches him?" and "Why doesn't she have a reflection? Is she a vampire?" You know, stuff like that and I wanted to make sure that everyone had some sort of understanding b/c if you don't get why a character is the way they are, the story is a little confusing. Don't worry; I haven't given everything away about her character. You'll definitely be in for a few surprises along the way. Hope I cleared stuff up for you, now on to the Chapter 2.

Chapter 2 – Not so Fond Memories

Doppelganger woke up hours before anyone else. It was hot in the little crawl space and it was hard to get more than a few hours of sleep. It was okay though, she didn't like sleeping anyway. She hated how vulnerable she was when she slept. She hated how susceptible she was to her dreams. If she slept more than a few hours at a time she was sure to have her reoccurring nightmare.

Technically, it wasn't a nightmare at all. It was a memory. The dream always started out the same way, she was in some place dark and she could hear voices. She seemed to be in some sort of hallway. As she walked down the hallway she could identify the voices as her mother and her father.

"You should have told me what you were!" her father screamed

"It's not in my nature!" her mother screamed back. "You would have never loved me if you would have found out that I wasn't the woman you married!"

"How could you do this to me? How could you do this to Dorinda? She's your daughter for God's sake!"

"Michael, you don't understand! I loved you. I gave you everything. I knew you would never understand…how could you? I'm a doppelganger, it's in my nature! I took Anna's place because I loved you. I only wanted you to be happy! She could have never given you what you need-"

"And what is it I need? You think I need a freak for a wife? You think I need my one and only child to be considered a freak because her mother isn't human? Did you really think that we'd get to live a normal life together? Look at Dorinda! She has slit eyes like a cat! And if the eyes didn't tip you off how about the fact she has gray skin?!? She'll be considered a freak of nature because of you! If you'd just told me that you were a doppelganger instead of killing Anna, this would have never happened. Things would have been different. You're a psychopath; I'm taking Dorinda to somewhere safe, someplace where she won't be considered a freak. Someplace away from you!" Her father finished as he walked out of the room and into the hall. He almost tripped over her because of how well she blended into the dark. He put his strong arms around her and picked her up. "Come Dorinda, Mommy did a bad thing. We have to leave."

Dorinda tried to protest, "But what about my toys…won't Mommy be sad?"

"Mommy won't be sad. Mommy won't care." Her father replied as he stroked the back of her hair. He kept walking with her toward the front door, it was apparent he was going to leave right then. Dorinda suddenly realized that she could hear a second set of foot falls. She knew her mother was nearby despite that fact that she couldn't see her in the dark hallway. Dorinda thought for a moment to warn her father, but before she could, something made her father stumble. He dropped Dorinda and she hit the floor hard. It was at that moment that she usually woke up.

She was glad that it usually stopped there. It made her sad to think about what happened when she woke up that night her father died. She distinctly remembered waking up by herself. She couldn't see anything in the dark, but when she stood up and tried to walk around she immediately tripped over something heavy. Terrified, she bent down and felt the thing she'd tripped over. It was cold, and it had her father's face. It was obvious he was dead; she didn't need to turn the light on to see that. Silently, she curled up next to his cold, stiff body and fell asleep once more.

She never saw her mother after that. She waited at the house for a week hoping that her mother would come back but she never did. No one ever came, not the police, not the neighbors…no one. After about a week, the food supply ran out and Dorinda had realized that she couldn't spend anymore time there. Sadly, she packed up what little she had and she left. Just as she put her hand on the cold door knob the last time she took one last look around the room. Her eyes rested on her father. He'd only been a few feet from the door when he'd died. He was so close to getting away from her mother…but he never made it. Eventually Dorinda had determined that her mother had stabbed him…that always had been her mother's favorite way to murder.

As she looked at her father she couldn't help but be plagued by images of him. She thought about all the times he'd said prayers with her, and all the times he'd played tea party with her. He'd been a great dad. She remembered one time especially when she was standing in front of a mirror. She had asked him why he had a reflection but she didn't. He told her only extra special little girls couldn't be seen in the mirror. He said that she was so beautiful that if the mirror tried to do justice to her image it would fail miserably. She asked her father what she looked like and he told her that she looked like a beautiful angel.

The girl shook the images out of her mind as she turned and left the small house. It was in the middle of the night so she was sure no one could see her. She didn't like it when people saw her. They tended to make fun of her skin, or scream and run away. Silently she continued to walk down the street. She lived in many places after she lost her parents. Sometimes they were pretty places like the underside of the Jump City Park Bridge, and other times they weren't so great like the time she'd spent the entire winter in a cardboard box on Washington Street Alley. Through it all she knew that you could only count on yourself, and that's just what she did. Her father died when she was six. Now ten years later she'd become an independent young woman.

Unlike her mother she hadn't yet found someone whose life she was going to take. Dorinda's mother was a full fledged doppelganger and she had decided to take the place of a woman named Anna Milton. It wasn't hard to figure out that the only reason her mother had chosen Anna's life was because Anna was about to marry a handsome man named Michael Anders. Dorinda frowned upon her mother's reasoning. Taking someone's life because you just wanted the person they were in love with was risky business, at least Dorinda had always thought so…that is until last night, when she saw Beast Boy.

He was everything she'd ever wanted. He was perfect. They were two of a kind, and it was everything that Dorinda had ever wanted. For once in her life she felt like there was someone that would understand her, finally there was someone that would know what she was going through. As much as she hated to take someone's life based solely on getting Beast Boy she would do it. She would do anything for him. She knew that some how, some way, they were meant for each other, and nothing would keep her from him.