Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. I only own my characters. TITANSTITANSTITANSTITANSTITANSTITANSTITANSTITANSTITANS

"Of all the miserable luck…" Kali's eye twitched.

"Raj, if you're going to be negative about this, just shut up!" the irate teen snapped, glaring at the older girl sitting next to her. Chocolate brown eyes swiveled from looking out the window to glower down at Kali. Kali, not at all intimidated, stared back up at the mostly-hidden face of Rajani, also known a Sekhmet. The seventeen-year-old was a ninja with rather heightened senses. She was infamous for her foul moods and reclusive ways. She also kept her face from the nose down covered at all times.

"Kal. Raj. Knock it off," the tattooed man known as Ink said without looking up from his book. Rajani turned to glare at him, then returned to looking out the window. Kali made a face at Ink, but never the less quit her feuding with Rajani.

"How does she do that without getting dizzy?" Dylanne whispered to Kali, nudging her. Kali glanced over at her friend in the seat on her other side.

"Who does what?" she asked, confused. Dylanne rolled her eyes.

"Sekhmet look out the window without getting dizzy!" she replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Every time I look out at that blur, I get so lightheaded!"

"Oh." Kali shrugged. "Dunno. Ask her." Dylanne sat back with a sigh, and Kali surveyed the cabin again for the eight hundredth time.

They were currently on a super-fast bullet train destined for New York. They'd caught on in the U.S. about a decade before. As luck would have it, Kali's group and Sekhment's had been chosen by Vanth. Sekhment's team included Ink a.k.a. Ira, and Phalanx, normally known as Gabriel. Ink could make his tattoos come alive, and Phalanx could create up to four replicas of himself. Once they had entered their cabin, the sexes had automatically separated to sit on opposite sides of the compartment. Kali was currently squished between an annoyed-with-the-world-and-life-in-general Rajani and a bored-out-of-her-skull Dylanne. Finn, across the cabin, was playing with a piece of string, doing some cat's cradle trick. Gabriel was napping. Kali reached for her pocket.

She fumbled around until she found what she was looking for: an emerald green marble. It was a info recorder. The designers had created them to be able to store vast amounts of data. Kali's stored pictures. She tossed the marble lightly into the air. It froze in midair about an inch from the surface of her palm. A holographic menu sprang up, visible only from Kali's viewpoint. She selected the file entitled Family. The menu changed, now displaying three folders: Mom & Dad, Grandparents, and Misc. Kali paused, then selected Mom & Dad.

Almost immediately a picture sprang up. A faintly smiling man with hair the color of grass and eyes the same color of the marble Kali held had his arm around a brown-haired woman. Her jade-colored eyes seemed to sparkle and there was an expression of complete happiness on her face. In her arms, there was a small child with black hair and large violet eyes wearing purple overalls and a white t-shirt.

Kali's throat tightened. They looked so content in that picture. Oh, God, she missed them They'd died in an explosion set off by the SFPD when she'd been six. She'd been there, too. Even though it'd been a little over eight years ago, Kali remembered it perfectly.

Flashback

There was a panicked look on Rosethorn's face as she glanced wildly around the nearly deserted street. Sage, her husband, was fighting off Euthanasia with a group of other super powered adults. Euthanasia'd attacked them while they were out walking. That was the only reason Kali was with them.

Rosethorn cringed as green voices around her cried out in agony as they were ripped to pieces by some explosive force. The sounds of detonations could be heard very close by, and they were getting closer.

"Kali!" Rosethorn took her small daughter's shoulders. "Kali, run! Run now!"

"B-b-but Mommy, I-"

"Kali, go! Run as fast as you can, away from here!" The note of terror in her mother's voice made the six-year-old obey, and she took off running as fast as her small legs could carry her. She hadn't gotten far when there was a kaboom from behind her. Kali screamed as the shockwave knocked her to the ground and tiny hard things scored the back of her neck, arms, and legs. A moment later, it was over. Kali, frightened and wanting her mother, got up and ran back the way she had come, ignoring the pain of the lacerations on her small limbs.

She stopped short at the sight of the battered and still bodies that littered the ground.

"Mommy?" she called shakily. "Mommy, where are you?" Upon receiving no answer, Kali stumbled forward, searching faces. Up ahead she caught glimpse of the familiar reddish brown hair and green outfit.

"Mommy?" Kali raced forward and knelt beside her mother's body. Blood trickled down the woman's face in several places, and there were dark patches on her clothing. Her eyes were closed. "Mommy, wake up," she begged. Kali shook the unmoving form of her mother. "Mommy, wake up! Please!" the little girl howled, tears running down her face. "Please!"

"Hey!" A loud voice shook Kali from her unsuccessful attempts to revive her mother. A tall man in black and white body armor stood at the edge of the destruction. He held a gun. "Hey, one of them survived!"

"What!" A few more figures jogged up. "No way! Those bombs shoulda killed every one of those super-freaks!"

"Obviously not," the first man growled. "Get her!" They started toward her. Kali yelped in fear. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted away from her mother's body. An energy burst narrowly missed her. She looked back. They were aiming their weapons at her! Suddenly, Kali pitched forward and landed on her face. Looking down, Kali felt her eyes widen as she saw what she had tripped over.

Emerald green eyes gazed unblinking up at her from a very familiar face. Her father's bloody corpse. She little girl shrieked and scrabbled away. Another energy blast grazed her, and she screamed again, terror's icy finger wrapping around her heart. And then there was a flash.

When she opened her eyes a second later, Kali found herself not outside in a body laden square, but in the living room of a house that she knew.

"Grandma!" she shouted, struggling to her feet. "Grandpa!" All of a sudden, Kali felt strong, steady hands on her shoulders. She spun around, only to come face-to-face with her father's parents.

"Kali? What's wrong? How did you get here?" her grandfather asked. Ignoring him, Kali noticed her grandmother standing behind her grandfather with a stricken look on her face.

"Grandma- it's - they - Mommy and Daddy are hurt and, and I c-couldn't wake them up! Scary guys with guns were chasing me! I'm scared!" Kali broke free of her grandfather's hold and ran to her grandmother. She grabbed her grandmother around the waist and hung on, sobbing. She felt a hand slowly stroke the top of her head, and something seemed to tug on her heart. Her fear and sadness fled, and darkness rushed up to meet her.

End Flashback (A/N: I know it's long. Sorry.)

Kali inhaled shakily and closed her hand around the cold marble, shutting off the hologram. She replaced it in her pocket, and with trembling hands rubbed the back of her neck. They were still there, the scars. The cuts'd been deep, and even after her grandmother had healed them, marks had still remained. And that flash…it'd been the first time she'd ever used magic, albeit it had been intentional.

Kali slowly shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She joined Rajani in staring blankly out the window, and without realizing it, slipped into meditation.

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And we get a glimpse into Kali's past in this chapter. Meh. I bet you know where she fits into the original comic series now, don't you? Oh, well. Constructive criticism welcomed.

Peace and Oreos, Onyx