Aster hugged herself tighter as Black Canary led her into the large cave. The group of teenagers looked at her, almost expecting her to do or say something. Two expectations that she had no intention of fulfilling.
"Everybody this is Aster, and she's going to be staying with you for a while." Black Canary said.
The teen in the yellow suit broke out into a smile and zipped towards her. He was fast, inhumanly fast.
"Hi, I'm Kid Flash. It's nice to meet you. This is Robin, and Superboy, and Miss Martian, and Zatana, and Aqualad, and Artemis." He said running to each of the teens and telling her their names.
Aster raised her hand slowly and waved.
"Not much of a talker I see." Aqualad said.
"She hasn't said much since we found her," Batman said. "Not much aside from her name anyway."
Aster shrunk back behind Black Canary and Canary looked at the others.
"I'm going to go get Aster settled into her room. Artemis, can you come help me. Maybe you guys should change into your day clothes, get more comfortable. No training today." Canary said taking Aster gently by the shoulders and guiding her deeper into the mountain.
Aster looked to where Artemis followed, a kind and gentle smile on her face. But one of the boys behind Artemis seemed to be more interesting. He was dressed in a combination of red and yellow with a black cape draped down his back. Batman was talking to him and he suddenly paled and turned and watched Aster leave. Canary led Aster down a couple of hallways and into a bedroom with a large window covering the back wall. Immediately Aster's jaw dropped at the view. The expansive ocean and calm skies drew her in. Though her heart burned in flame, water was her counterpart, her equal, her dream.
Canary cleared her throat, catching Aster's attention.
"So, I don't think there's much here in the way of clothes but I'm sure we can find something for you until we can get you some of your own. Artemis can show you where everything is but everybody will be more than willing to help you out with anything you might need." She said.
Aster nodded but still shrunk within herself. Artemis smiled softly.
"We get it if you need some time, it's a big change to get used to." She said softly.
Aster nodded but still said nothing.
"Do you maybe want to be alone for a little bit and then you can join us for some lunch when you feel ready?" Artemis asked.
Aster nodded and smiled.
"Okay, come out when you're ready." She said walking towards the door but when Canary didn't follow Artemis gave her a questioning look.
"I'll join you in a moment," Canary said and Artemis nodded, exiting the room. Canary looked at Aster who slowly moved to a chair in the corner, pulling her legs up onto the seat and hugging her knees close to her chest. Canary sat in the adjacent chair and smiled. "Hey."
"Hi." Aster whispered.
"You can trust them, just like me, they want to help you. You'll fit in here, and you'll make friends," Canary said, but Aster's eyes still avoided a connection. She was so sad, since they'd found her in the facility in Gotham, Aster had fallen into a moderate depression. One that she could only come out of on her own, and as a psychologist, Canary hated to do nothing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone and held it out to Aster. "This is for you, if you ever need anything you can call me, okay? I put my number in there and everybody from the team and don't tell Batman but his is in there too."
Aster finally turned and looked at Canary and then slowly took the phone. Canary smiled softly.
"You know you're safe here, right?" She asked.
Aster nodded but said nothing. The conversation wasn't going anywhere and Aster was most likely overwhelmed so Canary smiled and stood.
"I will check in on you later." She said taking her leave.
Aster watched her leave and as soon as the door slid closed she let herself break.
The team watched as Canary led Aster out of the training room, Artemis following closely behind.
"Robin." Batman said, gesturing for his mentee to follow.
They stepped away from the group and Robin waited for Batman to gather his thoughts.
"What's up?" He asked.
"I think you should try and get Aster out of her shell some. You guys have more in common than you realize." Batman said.
"What do you mean?" Robin asked.
Batman looked over to the teens before turning so his back was to them and lowered his voice.
"Dick," He said, shocking the teen. Why would he use his real name in such an open area? "She lost her whole family."
Dick paled and looked over to the teen girl being led away by his mentor's teammate.
"But I thought it was a fire." He whispered.
"She's a meta, she had a night terror and without meaning to she burnt down her whole house with her family inside," Batman continued. "She's got nothing left and with the guilt of something that she had no control over weighing down on her, I fear that she could end up suffering. She needs a friend, somebody who can relate to her situation. Your situation is the closest to hers."
Dick nodded, his eyes peering at the hallway that led towards the bedrooms.
"I'll stick around here for a couple weeks, see if I can get her to open up a little bit." He said.
Batman nodded.
"Do what you can. But don't push her." He said.
"I know." Dick said, thinking back to the first weeks after his parents' accident.
To have the only life you've ever known burned away in an instant and to be the only one standing alive in the ruin can only be described as…suffocating.
A couple hours after Aster had disappeared into her new room the other teens seemed to slowly go about their day. But Dick sat at the breakfast bar with his head rested on his forearms in thought. Wally walked up to his best friend and sat down next to him.
"Hey, you good?" He asked.
"Mm." Dick hummed, not paying attention.
"Really? Cause you've been quiet ever since Aster got here." Wally continued.
"Mm." Dick hummed again.
Wally cocked a brow.
"You know I've been thinking about dying my suit pink. What do you think?" He said.
"Mm," Dick hummed but then snapped up. "Wait what?"
Wally smirked.
"He lives," He laughed. "Seriously man, you good?"
Dick took a deep breath and shrugged.
"I guess. I'm just thinking about Aster, is all," He said, looking back toward the hallway. "To lose everything the way she did."
"Reminds me a bit of your story." Wally said.
Dick laughed.
"You know, you are not the first person to say that to me today," He said. "Batman asked me to stick around here for a bit and see if I can get her to open up a bit. How, I don't know but I'll get there."
Wally nodded.
"Why don't you take some lunch in to her. She didn't come out when we ate so I bet she's hungry. I think Artemis was going to take some food in there but offer to help out." He said.
Dick nodded.
"That is not a bad idea KF, I will do that," He said, standing and approaching Artemis who was building a plate of food to take to their newest member. "Hey Artemis, you know I was kind of hoping that I could take that back to Aster."
Artemis looked up at Robin. They'd all changed into their day clothes not long after Batman and Canary had left, meaning that though Dick's eyes were obscured by his sunglasses, Artemis' clearly skeptical face was on full display.
"Why would you want to do that?" She asked, grabbing a handful of tater tots and put them alongside the burger.
Dick froze; he hadn't thought that far ahead. He glanced at Wally who was frantically gesturing something.
"Umm, I just wanted to introduce myself cause when she's ready, Batman said that she'll be going to Gotham Academy, and I figured she'd want a…friend." Dick said, a nervous smile on his face.
It wasn't a complete lie but it wasn't a complete truth either. She'll be going back to school in Gotham when she's ready, true. He wanted to be her friend, true. She would be going to Gotham Academy, eh, the line blurred there just a bit.
"Uh huh, and if you remember correctly I also go to Gotham Academy Rob. Besides, I think she should start with one person at a time, don't you. She's been through a lot." Artemis said, leaning against the kitchen island.
Dick groaned internally. Why was it this hard?
"Oh come on Arty," Wally spoke up, coming to the aid of his friend. "Just let the man take the new kid her lunch. We don't have to make such a big production about it."
Artemis was still skeptical but nodded anyway.
"Okay, go ahead. Do you know what room she's in?" She asked as Dick picked up the food.
"Yeah. I got it." He said walking out of the kitchen.
Artemis watched him leave.
"How does he know what room she's in?" She asked nobody in particular.
"He's a bat," Wally spoke up. "They know everything."
Dick walked down the hallway until he got to the door that he was looking for. It was cracked open so he quietly pushed it open.
"Hello?" He called, taking a step inside. "Aster, you in here?"
He heard quick shuffling and when he got far enough into the room he saw that she was sitting on her bed surrounded by a large collection of books. She was practically frozen in place, her body radiating nervousness.
"Hey, it's okay. I only brought you some food, you've been in here a while we thought you might be hungry." He said holding up the food in his hand.
Aster nodded, staying silent. Dick approached the bed and handed her the food.
"I also brought you a soda," He said, pulling a Sprite out of his sweatshirt pocket. "And, don't tell M'gann but I snuck a couple of her caramel chocolate cookies as a welcome to the mountain gift. I swear she has a gift, no matter how many times I try, they never turn out right."
Aster cracked a smile as she set the cookies down on her plate.
"You don't talk much do you." Dick said.
Aster shrugged, watching the teen standing in front of her. He looked uncomfortable, rocking back and forth on his feet. She pointed to him and then to the bed.
"Sit down?" He asked. Aster nodded. Dick sat down on the bed, slipping his converse off before tucking his legs underneath himself. "You are a lot better at gesturing than Wally. I was trying to come up with a reason to bring your lunch to you but Artemis was going to bring it and I had nothing and I look over to Wally and he's gesturing around trying to tell me something. It looked like he was being electrocuted."
Aster giggled, taking a bite of a tater tot. Dick tapped his legs and tried to come up with something else to talk about. He looked around at the books around her and one title caught his eye and he smiled.
"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something…You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after." He recited.
Aster looked up as he recited the quote. She smiled.
"The Hobbit, chapter 4 Over Hill and Under Hill, page 66." She said.
Her voice caught Robin by surprise.
"So you do speak." He said.
Aster nodded.
"When I feel the need to." She said, slipping a tater tot in her mouth.
Dick smiled.
"So Aster, how old are you?" He asked, starting with a simple question.
"So we're going from interesting conversation to dull and mundane. You're not impressing me so far Grayson." She said
Dick froze, looking at the girl in front of him.
"What makes you think my name is Grayson?" He asked, hoping the nerves in his voice weren't noticeable.
"Your sweatshirt has Grayson written on the tag." Aster laughed, pointing to the tag sticking out of the back of his sweatshirt.
Dick pulled at the back of his sweatshirt until he could see the tag in the back.
"How on Earth did you even see that?" He asked.
Aster shrugged taking a bite of her burger.
"My question is how have the others not." She said.
Dick opened his mouth but then stopped. How had the others not seen it?
"Well, I guess there's no reason for these anymore," He laughed taking off his sunglasses and slipping them into his pocket. "Hi, I'm Dick Greyson."
Aster laughed as Dick extended a hand.
"Aster Cunnings, pleasure to meet you." She said, taking his hand.
Both teens laughed.
"You know it's actually kind of a relief that you figured it out." Dick said.
"Yeah? Why?" Aster said, popping open her soda can.
Dick shrugged.
"Now I can talk about my actual life with somebody who isn't Wally." He said.
Aster nodded.
"He seems to be a bit eccentric at times." She said.
"I mean I love the guy. We've been best friends since we were nine but mellow is nice every now and again." Dick said.
Aster's smile faltered and her laugh was quieter at that.
"Hey, you okay?" Dick asked.
"Yeah, mellow isn't exactly what I would call me is all." She said.
"Really? You seem pretty relaxed to me." He said.
"Now, yeah. But when it's when I can't control my emotions that you should be worried. I tend to leave disaster in my wake." Aster said.
"Last time I checked, your name is Aster, not DisAster, all you need is some guidance and some training." He said, swiping a tater tot from Aster's plate.
"You want to train me?" She asked. "I thought Batman stashed me here to keep me away from people. I'm responsible for thousands probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage," Aster's voice was steadily growing louder and Dick could see the spark in her eyes. "It's my fault that a dozen families have nothing left. I'm responsible for the de-"
She suddenly cut off, not being able to say it. She'd killed her parents; it was her fault they were dead. A tear fell down her cheek. Dick watched as she took deep breaths, clutching the last bits of her control in a white-hot grip.
"You don't have to Aster, not right now at least," Dick assured her. "We'll take this at your pace. But, I want you to know that I know what you're going through. It's hard losing everything that you know, but it doesn't mean that your whole life has to end. For as long as I could remember my whole life was the circus, traveling from city to city and performing for sold out crowds with my family. But when I lost that I had to find a new outlet, not a replacement for my past but a path for my future. That's what we want to give you, Aster. You don't have to join the team if you don't want to but we want to give you a chance at a normal life. It'll take work but we can get you to the point where you have control over your abilities and, by extension, your life."
Aster looked at Dick.
"You think that I could get my life back?" She asked.
Dick exhaled and gave her a soft smile.
"I think that we can help you live. I can't give you what you had." He said.
"I can't just forget." She said, her voice breaking.
"Don't forget, just move forward." Dick said, repeating the words that Bruce once told him.