Ch. 5: Truth

"...she's startin' to come around…" whispered a soft voice, shushing all to others to keep silent. Ember groaned, her blue eyes fluttering open. She tried to sit up, but the painful throbbing in her head kept her down.

Holding her head, she tried to recognize the people standing around her. But, her vision was blurry and uncoordinated, so she was unsuccessful. Ember shut her eyes tightly, and opened them again, her visualization refocusing slowly.

"Hey, Ember!" said Aqualad, waving at her, smiling cheesily, "How ya' feelin'?"

"Senorita Ember! Senorita Ember! Les sentimento bueno?" Ember! Ember! Are you feeling okay? shouted the twins, one brother of op of the other, zooming around the bed several times before stopping right in front of her, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Ella acreditar chiflado a me…" She looks crazy to me… whispered Menos to his brother. Mas 'sweat-dropped' and quickly put his hand over Menos' mouth and pushed him off the bed with him.

"Guy, guys! Give the girl some room!" shouted BumbleBee, making Aqualad and Mas y Menos back away, giving smiles to Ember, before racing out of the room.

Ember's head was swimming, and she grimaced every time her brain had to process something. "W-what happened?" she asked softly, holding her head.

BumbleBee just shook her head. "We dunno… We figured Slade was manipulating you to become his apprentice or something like that."

"I could try to remember what happened…"

"Nah. Don't worry about it. We can just extract your memories with a-"

Ember gave her a look of disgust and terror. "You serious?" she asked, a little too persistent.

BumbleBee chuckled at her expression, and the shook her head. "I'm just messin' with 'ya."

Sighing in relief, Ember suddenly got the courage to ask, "Where's Speedy?"

The leader got the drift and smugly smiled at her question. "He's sleepin'… and snorin' too. He carried you all the way back here, even with his injuries. Why don't you go see him… he'll enjoy your company-literally."

"Will he get mad if-"

"Probably not, now get goin'! Your little rendezvous with Speedy is waiting."

Ember narrowed her eyes at this comment, and was about to protest, but BumbleBee has already shoved her out of the room and locked the door behind her.

Ember slowly made her way across the tower, to Speedy's quarters, frequently getting lost in all of the dark corridors.

"All these hallways look the same! They seriously need directions in-"

Suddenly, a loud snore could be heard echoing throughout the hall.

"Huh?" she whispered, jumping at the sound, and then something hit her:

"He's sleepin'… and snorin' too…"

"Oh… Then that must be Speedy!" she thought out loud, quickly following the snores to a larger metal door. The girl had to back away because the snores were so loud. Hesitantly, Ember knocked softly on the door, beginning to think that bothering him as a bad idea.

While she was waiting, she heard a large 'thump' and an assortment of groans before the door slid open. "Hi, Spe-" she began before Speedy cut her off.

"Ember, are you okay, I mean you passed out for a long time, I mean a long time, and, well yeah…" he said, more softly then he expected.

Before Ember replied, she studied him, gasping when she saw his side bandaged as well as his right arm and left arm.

"Oh my god, Speedy, I'm so sorry for what happened to, you know, you." she whispered, looking away, and holding her arm in sincerity, tears welling up in her eyes.

Speedy sighed, before cupping her chin with his good arm, and whispering, "It's okay…" He looked around cautiously, not wanting any of his teammates to be spying on him and Ember; the young super hero took her hand quickly, and led her into his surprisingly clean room.

Ember was about to compliment his cleanliness when he pulled her to his unmade bed and made her sit down beside him. Letting go of her hand, he balanced himself on the edge, facing her.

"Ember…" he began, his tone soft, 'What happened back there. What exactly was Slade doing to you?"

Ember shifted her position, obviously uncomfortable about the question. Speedy noticed her hesitation.

"If you don't want to talk about it, I-"

"No…" she argued, putting up her hand to stop him, "You need to know." She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest, before she started to tell of her past.

"Long ago, I believe in San Diego, California, is where I was born. My parents were obviously very grateful, but after I turned one or so, strange random things began to happen-when I was around a lit candle or something, the fire would, I don't know, dance, to the way I moved my hands. My parents thought it was a coincidence that all that stuff was happening.

"Several times that happened, but when I got older, even stranger things began to happen, with, you know, fire." she paused before continuing, " To make a long story short, they eventually found out I could create and manipulate fire, after all those occurrences. Unfortunately, I had no control and several times have things gotten out of hand at school and a home, causing them to home school me."

"After a while, though, people got suspicious, and began asking my parents' questions, some so bizarre I can't even repeat them clearly enough to even understand. Then, that caused us all to 'disappear', to live under a false name, construct a false birth certificate; pretty much, false everything! I didn't personally care for it, but it was probably for my own safety… and theirs if no one found out."

"Everything was normal; well, close to normal, that is until my 13th birthday…" Ember took a breather before continuing, Speedy listening intensively, "… when I was trying to help my mom in the kitchen, baking the cake, my powers started to go out of control, setting the houses ablaze. M-my parents, risked their own lives to save mine…"

Tears now fell from her pale blue eyes, cascading down her tan face. Speedy offered a comforting hug, before she carried on, "A-anyway, firefighters tried to rescue them, but no avail. Still I was so angry that I stayed, to try to save them, but, my efforts were in vain. A large piece of lumber fell on me and knocked me out. I woke up in a hospital to find out that I was the only one that survived-my p-parents were the ones who suffered… Not me."

"I-I was sent to a foster home, but my foster parents' beat me, so I ran away. I changed my name so that no one would ever find me…"

Ember wiped away the tears, and looked at Speedy, whose face was serious and forgiving. "You've been through that much?" he asked, surprised by her story. The girl only nodded solemnly.

Speedy then came forward and pulled her into a hug, which Ember graciously accepted, who buried her head into his shoulder. He held her close, comforting her. He leaned in and whispered into her ear, "I won't ever let Slade hurt you, Ember, ever."

She nodded, wiping away the tears from her face. They pulled away, and smiled at each other. Unfortunately for them, the rest of the team was outside their door, trying each smugly smiling.

They whispered something to each other, and then grinned evilly; the perfect matchmaking plan was now in progress.

A/N Sorry I haven't been updating lately. Busy, busy. Please R&R!