Chapter 1

A girl sat on the hard cement staring at the wall in front of her. The wall held a beautiful mosaic. A river passed through a green valley full of pine trees. In the valley was golden wheat. On the grassy part, a bobcat and a bush plentiful with berries. In the river, an otter jumped from the water. A heron stood at the shore of the river. In the background was a snow peaked mountain. Above the mountain was a cloud about to storm. A bird, an eagle was swooping from the mountain. A faded face of a howling wolf seemed to be howling at a blue moon. The sky was a copper white.

The girl had creamy tan hair that reached down to the end of her shoulder blades. She had crystal blue eyes. She wore tattered clothes. She was barefoot and she was covered in dirt from head to foot.

She smiled to herself. She painted the mosaic and she sat there admiring it. She painted it, but with no ordinary paint and brush.

At that moment a boy walked by the alley. He stopped to look at her.

He had ebony spiked hair. His eyes were covered by a mask, but if they were pulled off, his eyes would have held curiosity. He was always curious. He wore a yellow cape around his neck, and a spandex-like suit.

He walked over to the girl and sat next to her. She new someone sat next to her, but didn't turn to face the stranger. "That painting, did you paint it?" He asked.

"You could say that." Her voice was like something out of a dream. It was soft, yet you could understand what she was saying.

"It's beautiful," the boy commented. The girl faced him, her face playing a small smile.

"Thanks." They sat there in silence for a while. The boy noted that he smelled a vanilla scent in the air.

"I'm Vanilla," Vanilla spoke.

"Robin." There was silence again. It felt like an eternity.

"You forgot the wind," Robin said.

"Excuse me?"

"The wind. This painting portrays that song "Colors of the Wind" right?"

Vanilla smiled more. "Right. I didn't think you'd get that."

"My mother used to sing it to me. See you've got the creatures, and everything else, but I don't see the colored winds." Vanilla faced the painting again.

"That's my little secret." More silence. There was no need for talking about the painting. It spoke for itself.

"I paint to pass the time," Vanilla spoke. Robin looked at her. "To pass the very little time anybody has on this earth. The time between birth and death." She didn't look back at Robin, but he could see tears welling up in her eyes. Tears of all the colors of the world. "I've been living on the streets. I ran away. Away from my hell called home."

Robin's eyes softened. He didn't want her to relive whatever disaster she had faced, but his curiosity got to him. "What happened?"

The tears started to stream down her face. "He abused me. But not just me, my mother also. She left about a month ago. Ever since, he abused me every night. Didn't matter if I was good or bad, he did it."

"You must trust a lot of people with that."

"Not a lot of people have talked to me. You're the first person I've told about this." She looked at him and put on a small smile. "'Cause I know I can trust you."

He smiled back. "If you need a place to stay, you can stay with me for however long you need."

"Your parents won't mind?"

"I don't live with my parents."

"Grandparents? Aunt and Uncle?"

Robin shook his head. "I live with my friends. A group of superheroes called the Teen Titans."

"Never heard of them."

"Really?"

"As really, really can get." Robin smiled more.

"Come on." He stood up and held out his hand to help her up. Once she stood up he could see that her clothes, mainly shorts were impossibly small. We'll need to go shopping, he thought.

As they walked out of the alley way Vanilla said, "So you sure they won't mind me staying for a while?"

"As sure, as sure can get," Robin playfully mimicked. His punishment was a playful punch in the arm.

And as the two teens walked towards the Titans island, the beautiful mosaic blew away into the wind. Mixing the beautiful colors of the wind.