October 23
Addie P.O.V
We all sit silently in the cave's living room.
M'gann tries to busy herself with baking, Kaldur leans against the countertop with his arms crossed over his chest, I sit next to Robin on the couch, Nash and Wally rest their heads in their arms on the counter from the living room side, and Artemis leans against the loveseat behind him.
The League has set up individual therapy sessions for us all with Black Canary.
Conner is first.
I can only imagine how that's going.
I see him storm through the cave, seeking out his bike, planning to go for a ride, Wolf following just behind him.
'Looks like I won't have to imagine…' I conclude.
Black Canary comes out moments later.
"Artemis," She calls softly. "Come."
Artemis sighs, then walks past us to Canary's newly dubbed 'therapy room'.
I lean back on Robin's shoulder, still attempting to cope with the fact that I saw my family die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I zone out most of the time waiting, but I know that Kaldur is next. Then Wally, who takes in a bowl of pop-corn. Next it's Robin, then M'gann, then me.
I sit down on the green couch just across from Black Canary, my eyes cast downward, finding a sudden interest in my folded hands.
"Adeline," She begins softly. "We have as much time as you need."
I open my mouth to say something, but close it when no thought comes to mind.
"Let's start with when you saw Batman die," She says, leaning forward.
My eyes widen in shock as I snap my head up.
"I think we both know that you've been trying to deal with your emotions alone when it comes to talking, or even thinking about him," She says.
"I want nothing to do with him," I state, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Then why did you run away when Zatara brought him up?"
"Excuse me if he was out of line, and I was unprepared for his bull-headed-ness..." I mumble.
"He was," She agrees. "But it doesn't change the fact that if Batman were to suddenly come in here and say that he wanted to take part in your life, you would be overjoyed. Am I wrong?"
"I don't want to talk about him," I say.
"That's fine," Canary says. "Then how about Wonder Woman?"
"I saw her die," I say, my eyes beginning to water as I re-play the image in my head.
"That must've been terrible," She says.
"I felt like I had died. Despite where I came from, who actually made me, she took me in as her daughter. She, and the Amazons are my everything. My home. But when I went to Paradise Island to find the scout ship, they were gone too," I say, tears running freely down my cheeks at this point. "My grandmother died in my arms. I held her hand as she drew her last breath. I saw Nash turn- face the scout ship so I wouldn't die, but he only succeeded in killing himself in the process."
"So you layed there and accepted your fate," Canary says.
"There was nothing worth living for anymore," I say. "But of course, now that I think about it, I had Robin. And Jason. But I just… I wouldn't have been much use in the state I was in."
"Earlier, you said that Nash saved you," Canary recalls after a long silence.
"That idion…" I shake my head.
"Adeline, what did he do to save you?" Canary asks.
"He tried to destroy the scout-"
"Adeline," She reprimands. "How did he try?"
'She knows that there's something up with him…' I think.
"I-... He… I can't say…" I state, sinking back into the chair.
"Why not?" She asks.
"Because he did a bad thing… and he knows he shouldn't have, but he gave into it anyways…" I say.
"Addie, if you're holding something back that could save lives, I need to know," Canary says, reaching over to touch my arm.
"He'd hate me if I told you," I say.
"And you love him, don't you?" She asks.
"I'm… I'm not sure I do," I admit. "But no matter how much care for him, if he does something so horribly wrong, I won't hesitate to take him down. I can cry about it later."
"I think we both know that's the Batman programming talking. Not you," Canary reads.
"Possibly," I nod. "But until I come up with a better solution, or the time occurs when I have no other choice to turn on him, this will be my opinion."
"But you still care about him?" She asks.
"Yes… but I'm not sure to what extent… I've told him twice that I love him, but… the words don't feel… right… Not that they're untrue! I'm just not sure I love him in the way I want to… If this makes any sense," I say. "Merciful Minerva, I'm confused…"
As our session ends, I find myself ignoring Nash's calls for me as I walk out of the cave.
'I just need some air…' I think as I walk down to the beach. 'This is all too much…'
I sit down on the cool sand, and watch the waves roll up, then recede back to the blue depths they came from.
'Am I in love with him?' I ask myself. 'Or is it that I'm in love with the idea of him?'
A strange blue light streaking down from the sky interrupts my train of thought.
I squint my eyes to get a better view of the object, but my efforts prove to be futile.
The bright light fills the sky, making me shield my eyes, until it suddenly disappears.
I look up in confusion.
I see a large wave coming towards the shore.
That's when I realize that whatever it was, landed in the ocean.
'Maybe it was a Martian ship?!' I exclaim in my head. 'I'll go help them!'
I jump off the sand and fly out to the approximate landing site of the supposed ship.
When I approach it, I see a large marble-like object floating on the surface of the ocean.
'Now, I'm no expert, but I'm like 99.999999999871% sure that Bioships don't look like that…' I affirm to myself.
I float down to investigate it.
Hovering just above it, I see that it is a bit larger than my head, and translucent. Something is inside of it.
I reach down to touch it. I know what you must be thinking:
"IT JUST FELL FROM THE SKY, WITH FIRE SURROUNDING IT, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE, AND YOU'RE JUST GONNA TOUCH IT?"
Yes. Yes I am.
It is smooth, and cool to the touch despite falling from the sky surrounded in flames.
I retract my hand immediately after feeling it move.
I see...whatever it is… begin to poke at it's enclosure, cracking it as if it were glass.
My eyes widen.
I reach down, and take the marble into my arms, and speed-fly back to the shore, where I crash land onto the sand.
'That's right, I can't do that thing where you transition from flying to walking… Merciful Minerva, I'm still an amature!' I whine in my head.
I pick myself up, and the surprisingly heavy marble.
I see it start shattering it's confines piece by piece. I soon realize that it has very big golden eyes.
The creature is a black-ish brown color, (from what I can see in the moon's glow) and it has a long face, almost like that of a horse, but scalier, and with horns lining in a straight line up it's nose. It has a hood of some sort, relating to a triceratops, and it has four legs with small claws, and a tail.
"Uhhhh… have a nice flight?" I ask it as it's molten gaze meets my dark eyes.
It gives me a gurgling chirp sound, and it… smiles?
As soon as it takes in my appearance, it closes it's eyes, and changes it's color scheme.
The dark creature turns itself into a dark blue color, matching my skirt, while on it's horns and claws, fade from red to gold, matching my corset.
It's eyes open, and I see that they have changed as well, but only slightly. In the center, it remains gold, but where the whites of it's eyes should be is a bright, crimson red.
"So, uhh… you don't plan on killing me right?" I ask, not expecting it to respond.
It chirps at me again, then moves itself around so that it faces me.
It attempts to crawl on me, but soon realizes that it was not strong enough to hold it's own weight yet.
"Careful little guy!" I say, brushing away the last shards of the shell it was in. "Don't want to hurt yourself, now, do you?"
It mumbles and hums against me as it decides that curling up into my chest sounded like a good idea.
"Now, how am I gonna explain this one to Robin?" I wonder out loud walking back into the cave.
As I enter the cave, I see a small blanket on the couch, and move to wrap the small alien creature in it.
"Adeline?" I hear Kaldur call from behind me.
"H-hey Kaldur!" I exclaim in surprise, hiding the creature behind my back. "W-What brings you here?"
"Adeline, we are all here," He says. "What is that?"
He reaches to the bundle right behind me.
"Something I found…" I say without saying what it is.
"Are you planning on telling me what it is you found?" He asks, an eyebrow arched, and arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Okay, so you see… what had happened was-" I begin.
The little creature chirps from behind me, shaking the blanket off of its head, but it only succeeds in getting the blanket off of the corner of it's face, making it rest on it's hood.
"Adeline, what is that?" He asks.
"I'm not sure," I admit. "It came crashing through the sky, and into the bay. I thought it was a Bioship at first, but then I saw it start cracking, so I took it to the shore, and it hatched."
Kaldur keeps his distance from it, while the creature tries to smell him.
"But it's really cute, and it acts like a puppy, and I really want to keep it!" I continue.
"Adeline, you don't know what it is," Kaldur notes.
"But even if it is bad, why don't we all raise, and train it to be good!" I say, picking it up, and cradling it in my arms. It starts to swat at loose strands of my hair. "And look how cute it is! It's like a little dragon! PLEASE CAN I KEEP IT?!"
"I think we should run this by Red Tornado…" Kaldur states. "But, I suppose if he has no issue with the small creature…"
I smile brightly, and smush him in a hug.
"THANK YOU!" I squeel.
"I'm gonna name you… hm...Skotádi!" I say.
"Darkness?" Kaldur asks.
"Well, it was dark when I found him, so why not?" I ask as it chirps again.
"I suppose it doesn't matter…" Kaldur says.
Long story short… Red T doesn't care. As long as I'm responsible for it.
"Addie," Robin begins. "Is that a dragon?"
"Possibly…" I say slowly, as it perches on my shoulder.
"And you have it...because…?"
"Why not?" I ask. "Who else on this planet would take care of a dragon?"
"Any and every nerd ever?" Artemis quipps.
"Well, good thing I found it first!" I say, feeding iit mashed potatoes.
Yes. Skotádi likes potatoes.
"And, again, you have it, why?" Wally asks.
"I want to raise it to be a part of the team! If Conner can have Wolf and Sphere be a part of the team, then why can't I have Skotádi be in too?" I ask.
"No, not arguing, just curious," He defends.
"Can I...touch it?" M'gann asks timidly.
"Sure! He doesn't have any teeth yet, so it doesn't hurt if he bites," I say.
She takes a spoon full of the potatoes, and slowly feeds it to him.
He sticks out his forked tongue, and licks the spoon, while M'gann pets his neck.
"See? Isn't he just the cutest?" I exclaim, as M'gann becomes more comfortable around Skotádi.
"Okay… you and I have very different definitions of 'cute'," Artemis states.
"I'm gonna see if I can take it home!" I say.
"I don't think WW will let you keep a Dragon in the house," Robin states, beginning to feed Skotádi.
"Well, if not, then I'll keep him here. He can stay in my emergency room, here! I don't have anything important in there, and he can go outside whenever he wants to," I strategize.
Skotádi seems like he's in heaven right now. He's getting rubbed, and fed his favorite thing, I hope he'll like it here!
Gateway City
"Diana?" I ask as I enter our apartment. "I have a surprise! I really hope you'll like it!"
"Sorry, Princess," I hear the voice of Haneul answer from the couch. "Your Guardian isn't here."
"Well, then maybe you'll like it!" I exclaim, hopping on the other side of the couch.
"Is that a Dragon?" He asks, his electric blue eyes widening.
"I think so, but I'm not sure… I've named him Skotádi!" I say, placing him on the couch.
Haneul backs away from Skotádi as he growls (adorably) at the Magician.
"What's wrong, Sko?" I ask, picking him back up into my arms.
"For obvious reasons," Haneul begins. "Magicians, and Dragons don't get along."
"Obvious reasons?" I ask.
"You've never watched any Disney movie, have you?" He asks.
"Can't say that I've watched many," I state, calming Skotádi by rubbing his forehead.
"Magicians are almost completely different than Wizards, but in the perspective of a Dragon, we might as well be the same," He begins. "Back in the days of Castles, and Queens, Wizards used to put Dragons in mountains, and have the King's Knights slay them as a form of initiation. But the slayings made them very rare. The Dragons passed this knowledge of magic-users down through their fading generations, so much that it became their instinct, even at birth."
"So, Skotádi doesn't like you because of something that happened over 200 years ago?" I ask.
"If we had met when he was hatched, he would've liked me, but since he's been awake long enough to distinguish humans from Magicians, he won't like me very much," He says.
"Maybe he should get to know you," I say. "Or maybe he just knows how annoying you are, already."
"Ha. Ha. Very funny," He deadpans. "Just wait until he grows into the size of a lion."
"Wait, what now?"
Heyyo!
This is either late, or one time...
Anime Hotty Lover.18: Glad you liked it!
Kaine: WTF dude.
.L: I wanted this one to be a bit more light hearted than it is in the show, just because I need a bit of fluff right now. Lol.
.Batfam' .: Inner conflict is going to be a major theme for Nash's character. Will he deny the darkness, or will he give in to Sinestro's power? O_o
Xavier: Okay seriously, WTF. Some one needs to explain this thing to me. And I'm pretty sure you and Kaine are the same person. I'm like 99.99999999999981% sure.
That's all 'till next week!
Gargoyle77 out-ie 5,000!
