Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Teen Titans Me No Ownie.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I hate myself for it. Anyway, here's the next chapter.

Story Starts Now:

Summer Lily Logan stared out the window and let out a long sigh. Glancing at her sleeping parents from the corner of her eye, she quickly looked back as her father stirred and let out what sounded like a low growl.

Over the last fifteen years, Summer had grown into a beautiful young woman, or so her parents told her.

Her dark red hair that seemed to have green tints at the roots and bottoms of each strand was untangled and straight. She feverously asked her parents to let her dye it but they refused, saying that she would go grey early and it would cover her already beautiful color. Here she normally pointed out that it was the point to dye to do that. Her green eyes would flash between a beautiful emerald green and a murky forest green.

Right now, she saw a mixture of both colors staring back at her in distaste from the thick fog. Her parents may have thought she was beautiful, but she thought otherwise. She had never thought that she was beautiful, unlike some girls who only started doubting their self-image when they reached their teens and came into the world of fashion; but not her, she'd always thought of herself as a misfit…. a weirdo.

Her skin was too tan and in places it looked almost green. She hated her hair and her body was disproportioned and clumsy looking. At night she would cry into her pillow and wish that she had inherited at least some of her mother's beauty.

But her desperate wishes were never granted and everyday, the creature that stared back at her in the mirror grew uglier and more deformed…. demented even.

I'll never be pretty she told herself and found herself reaching in her back pocket for the lighter.

It took her a moment after the panic of not feeling the smooth and cool yet strangely comforting plastic in her pocket to realize where it was.

They'd taken it when she'd gone through customs and wouldn't give it back to her. They said that she may 'try to hijack the plane'. She snorted, as if she would try something like that. And she had told them too, but they still wouldn't give it back unless they told her parents and they supervised her, and she didn't want to have to explain to her parents what she was doing with I tin the first place. So she just left it with them.

Well congratulations to them she thought bitterly. They had just stolen her only solace—her only escape from the pain and hatred.

Yes she knew that she could easily use a knife. Hell, they even supplied them with the flight dinners (so much for security) but she was too much of a coward to do that. Yet another fault that she hated about herself: she was a coward.

But burning wasn't the same as cutting. You couldn't go too far with burning, or accidentally cut hit a vein. And even if you did happen to burn too much and hit a vein (if that was possible) then it would cauterizare anyway so there was not blood, only the stink of burnt flesh. But that was easily rid of with a bit of Febreeze. Not to mention that there was no mess to clean up.

"Summer!" she heard her father exclaim and she jumped then turned to look at him.

"Yes Daddy?" she said quietly.

"Pass the tofu dogs sweetheart," he mumbled and his sleep-glazed eyes slid shut again as he let out a loud snore.

She let out a relieved sigh as she heard him grumble and turn over then she turned back to the window and went over her options of what she could do for the remainder of the flight.

She couldn't burn; she didn't have a lighter—or even matches for that matter—so that was out of the question. Not that she would risk doing it so close to her parents when they could wake up at any time.

She could keep string out he window at the fog and get depressed or wallow in self-pity, which she was doing now. And she was getting more depressed by the moment.

Or she could follow her parent's example and sleep the flight away.

The latter suggestion sounded better as she curled up and—against her better judgment—stared out the window until she fell into an uneasy sleep that was filled with dreams of fire and burning beings.

XXXXXXXX

"Summer, wake up my little ka'norf'ka," a high-pitched voice invaded said person's dream.

"Five more minutes Mom," she murmured and rolled over, only to hit her head on the window.

She blearily opened her eyes and found herself looking out of the airplane terminal.

"We have reached our place of destination," her mother—Kori—squealed and clapped her hands. "We are in the City of Jump, is it not wonderful my season of Summer?"

Summer sighed in annoyance, whenever her mother got excited, she started talking like this, and it really got on her nerves.

"You're right, it's not wonderful," Summer growled. They'd made her leave her home, the people she'd grown up with, so she could come to this dump!

Kori was taken aback for a moment and her smile faltered before coming back fully-fledged.

"Oh Summer, don't be so negative, we're going to Gotham after we've looked around here," her father—Garfield—said as he walked up the isle towards them. "Now we have to get off the plane ladies."

"Ok Dad," she sighed and stuffed her book and walkman in her carry-on bag.

She glanced up and saw that they were already ahead of her. This gave her an excuse to swear. They always left her behind, she was used to it by now.

Even so, she jogged after them, fumbling with the catch on her bag as she went. Once it latched, she slung it over her shoulder and took long strides to catch up with her parents.

XXXXXXXXXX

"You're what?" Summer asked in disbelief. "I have to do what?"

"Your mother and I have some business to attend to. We want you to stay in the hotel room until we get back," Garfield said slowly.

"Why do I have to stay in the hotel?" Summer asked, her voice low with fury. How dare they drag her to this dump then tell her she has to stay in a crappy hotel room.

"It's for your own safety," was his only answer as he closed the door.

Summer glared at the closed door as she lid back on the bed with an angry sigh and winced as springs stabbed her back.

As of right now, she officially hated her parents. They'd uprooted her from the only place she'd ever known and brought her to this foreign land.

And now they had the nerve to tell her to stay put when there was a whole new world—or town—to explore.

"There is a new town to explore," she said to herself quietly and sat up. "And there's no one around to stop me from doing just that."

She smiled and slipped from the room window as she turned into a pigeon.

Flying into a nearby alley, she morphed back into a human and walked out casually.

She adjusted the purse strap on her shoulder and pulled out her wallet. Quickly counting through her bills as she walked. There were enough bills to keep her going in food and everything for a while. But first things first.

She walked to the nearest convenience store after scanning the street, pulling out a five-dollar bill as she went.

Walking for the counter, she grabbed a bag of chips and a bar off the rack and put them on the counter. Her eyes quickly scanned the many lighters that were displayed. She finally chose one with a white angel in a black background. In a way, the two colors cancelled each other out, light against darkness.

"Will that be all Miss?" the young clerk asked as he handed her the bag. She nodded and pushed the bill across the counter.

"Keep the change," she said when he'd finished ringing in her purchase and she left, taking the chips and bar out of the bag.

Once outside, she dropped the two items on the lap of the first homeless person that she saw. The bag soon found itself in the garbage as she tore the wrapper off the lighter.

With a flick of her thumb, she produced a small flame and held it directly under her palm. She relished the burning pain that it brought, her escape—

She was cut off from her thoughts when she heard a scream. Turning, she saw a monster rush at a woman, only to be stopped by blasts of green disks and a green dinosaur.

A floating figure descended from the sky and her eyes stopped glowing as the dinosaur slowing changed into a human.

Summer put her hand over her mouth and stifled a scream as she realized that the hero figures were her parents.

A/N: not very good I know, but it's all I could think of. Anyway, next chapter you'll find out what happens to Nikki and her savior. Please R&R.