She knew that she was real. She could feel it. She knew that her hair was real. She knew that her eyes were real. She knew that she was real. She knew that everything else wasn't.
She would remember every night, through a passage of dreams and nightmares, recollecting memories of her life.
One that wasn't here.
They didn't believe her. They never did. They told her that she had a mental disorder. They told her to be polite to the other kids here because they were fragile, just like she was.
It angered her.
So much that she tried to find a way out of this fake existence. Her first attempt had been when she was young, still living with other normal children. Her second: a week after that. Her third: a week after the second. She kept trying, but more subtly. Last year she had gotten close to getting out. But a schizophrenic kid found her and called, like she had been taught.
Nothing had gone right for her since then; her dreams were slowly becoming nothing more than dreams, her nightmares becoming nothing more than a hole of fear and uncertainty. There were talks around the ward, had been for weeks, one family from the Haly's Circus would be volunteering over Christmas.
That meant the whole world for the other children, but for her it meant nothing more than watching another family that wasn't real act real. She didn't like it one bit. She would have thought there would be more people like her, real, but she had been left to fall out of the sky and fend for herself.
"Zatanna."
She rolled her eyes and turned back to watching the snow fall outside. Leaning her head against the window and curling her legs up to her chest, she breathed out, blowing her loose raven locks out of her way.
The nurses didn't really care about you here. It was Gotham. How did she end up in Gotham? Her home was New York. They didn't have space for her, and no other city wanted a scarred for life child in their care, so they shipped her off to the only place that had to.
"Zatanna we have guests."
She ignored it further. It wasn't real. None of it was. The sooner she believed it was, the sooner she would start to accept her life here, and that wasn't an option. She was going to make it back out and to her real world, to her real family, to her real life.
"I'm so sorry," the nurse spoke, "Zatanna's been here for a while now and she's never talked to anyone properly. If you leave her alone she'll leave you alone, but I think she'll like hearing about your adventures."
The Graysons. The Flying Graysons, to be exact. The hospital had been talking about it for weeks now; a famous world class act was coming to volunteer at the hospital. No one would have thought. Yet here they were, in their ward. They call it the children's psych ward, but she was fourteen. Soon when she turned sixteen they would hand her over to the nearest psych ward that took adults in: Arkham Asylum.
She had heard terrible things about the place; some of the nurses who had to take the leavers to the institution had called it a living hell. Not only was it home to psychotics, but it was home to the worst criminals that Gotham has ever hosted. She never wanted to leave this place if it meant the Asylum, she would dig through the ground to China with her bare hands before she even thought it a good idea for her to go.
"That's nice to know," a new voice said, "I think Dick would love to talk to her, she seems about his age and he doesn't really get to socialize that much with our schedule."
A female's voice. Must be the parent of the three that were coming to help. Mary Grayson. They had been schooled about the history of Haly's Circus, everything from troupes to accidents to deaths. She knew that only three of them would be coming to see, not the full six. Mary, John, and Dick Grayson. Who happened to be the youngest acrobat in the world that had performed their legendary finishing act.
"Of course, so if you would like to start by talking with the children, just with quiet voices, then at twelve a nurse will come up with lunch." The nurse left, leaving the Graysons to decide who to talk to and what to do first. They stood around discussing times and sections; well the parents did anyway- Dick just turned his attention to the girl sitting by the window looking out.
Zatanna, the nurse said her name was, looked… at a lack of a better word, small. She looked haunted, her hair was not a piece out of place, her legs weren't bent at weird angles and he had never met her before in his life.
So why did he feel like he knew her.
Maybe they visited a show, or she was on TV when she was put in here, or they had been out and he had seen her in passing. Then as if something was pushing in his mind, he fell. Collapsed in a heap on the floor clutching his head.
Te… daugh… Zatanna… Robi… joini… experie…
A memory flashed through his mind, broken like the old radio they kept in their trailer. There was a man, dressed nicely and others around him dressed in costumes, and Zatanna. He could recognise her; the only difference was that she looked healthier.
With the happenings in his head he could barely notice the nurses and his parents rushing to his aid. The loud ringing in his ears leaving little attention for anything else. He was still trying to understand what had happened, was it a memory, or a figment of his imagination?
"Dick!"
"Dick, can you hear me?"
"Is he okay?"
"Do we need to call up a doctor?"
He was still on his side, clutching his ears while this was going on. The younger, more innocent patients going to see if he was all right. Zatanna turned her head slightly, wanting to see what was part of the commotion. She saw a crowd and a small boy, around her height, maybe taller than her by a smidge, on the ground clutching his ears, his eyes screwed tightly shut, and his mouth in a pained grimace.
She cocked her head slightly and blinked. It had to be painful if he was on the ground like that. She reached out to him, her hand stretching out without her consent as if to touch him. Of course she was too far away to actually lay a finger on him, but she could feel it. He was different. He was real.
Then it dawned on her, he was real.
She wasn't alone anymore.
She had found someone that knew.
He knew.
Or did he?
This person had a family, he had a life, an adventure of one, he had people that loved him.
What if he didn't know?
They walked back to the field where the trailers were stopped at. Trudging through the thick snow in their boots, hands stuffed into pockets and beanies atop their heads. They aura surrounding them couldn't be better, they were buzzing. The children at the ward were all cheerful and positive, with the odd one being a bit under the weather and raining on the parade for everyone else.
Mary had entertained some of the tamer kids with basic contortionism, John had been dealing with the more high-level security ones, and Dick had stuck to the patients that were around his age. Which were only a few of them (three) plus the one that wouldn't talk.
Zatanna was a complete enigma to him, she watched, and watched and watched. Not once did she make a move to talk to him, or to get included into their activities. But he knew her. He could feel it. Even when he looked someplace else her presence was still stronger.
Why was that?
The vision came back to him; it had been broken, like a mirror. The pieces were there but all cracked to make an unrecognizable plane. He had confirmed quietly to himself that the one proper word he had made out of it was Zatanna, so he must have known her. He must have.
"How did you find the kids, Dick?" John asked, pulling his son into his side, so he had his wife on his right and his son on his left. The boy laughed when he was suddenly glued to the man's side and rolled his eyes mockingly.
"Really cool, although there was that one girl that wouldn't talk or join in, that Zatanna girl. Have we seen her before?" He said, looking to his parents, who only looked at each other in confusion and shook their heads. "I feel like I know her, or have seen her before. It's weird."
"Are you sure it's not just a crush?" Mary smiled after a lengthy pause. Only to be followed by Dick's look of absolute horror and shock. John laughed whole-heartedly and kissed both of them on their heads. "It's only natural, she is very beautiful."
"Mum!" He whined in embarrassment, glad that his cheeks were already pink form the cool air, "really?"
"Hey now," John smiled, "you did look quite comfortable around her. It wouldn't hurt just admitting you like her, just a little bit."
"I can't believe you two, I swear you are so not wh-"
He never finished the sentence, because at that moment a taller figure came around the corner and crashed into him, sending them into the snow. Dick tried to get up, but another wave of pain flowed through his brain and sent him back down to the cushion of snow.
Niec… traught… spellin… or not…
He breathed in and out loudly, trying to get the pain to subside. But he wasn't the only one suffering this time. The taller and more curvaceous figure that had slammed into him earlier was on the ground a few meters away from them, screaming in pain. Clutching her head and grinding her teeth together the onslaught of sounds and pictures drowned her conscience out.
Artemi… get dead… D… R… A… G…
A buzzing noise was still present, like a swarm of angry bees were surrounding her in a inescapable circle of annoyance and pissed off-ness. She let go of her ears, deciding to roll with it and just go.
"Are you okay, madam?" A voice came in. The brain attacks had stopped, but her training was starting to kick in. She couldn't trust anybody, not her dad, her sister and not these randoms. Scurrying away from them she ran the direction she was heading towards first.
Gasping for breath and leaning on the building slightly, she stopped. What the hell did she just see? And why the hell did it involve her in a green costume?
It had happened when she bumped into that scrawny kid, maybe he was really sick or something and had passed an instant bug onto her. Okay… maybe not. But she swore that he looked familiar. It was the hair, or the structure of the face. It was a mystery to her, and unlike Jade, she hated mystery. It was so unnecessary in life. She would just rather people get to the point, not babbling around like a buffoon.
She let out a heavy sigh and stood up on her two feet again. Continuing down the alley she had turned into she found her footing on the rusted steel ladder that gave her a short cut up into her room. A swift climb later she entered her room, only to be greeted by her angry mother, who was wheelchair bound after a steal gone wrong.
"Where have you been?" Paula Crock said, her slight Vietnamese accents still very present. "I was worried sick, you could have gotten hurt out there, don't run off like that."
"Geez, mum." Artemis smiled, taking her coat off and placing it on her bed, "I just went out for a walk, nothing happened." She really needed to work on her lying skills. Paula knew, she knew, the wall probably knew, that was a total lie.
"If you got into another fight with those street kids in Crime Alley again," the mother said warningly, remembering Artemis coming home with bruises and blood that wasn't hers on her clothes.
"Mum I didn't, I just had to think. It's been a year since…"
Paula cut her off with a soft voice, "I know. You don't need to say it. If you want a snack just come out into the kitchen, there's chicken soup on the bench." She wheeled herself out, leaving Artemis to feel guilty about what she had done. Sometimes she really beat herself up for being such a stubborn daughter.
Ever since her mum had been released from prison and her father had left she had found herself becoming more and more restless. It was like she needed to do something bad to get attention, like she needed to go out and worry her mother to death, just to return at two in the morning with no explanation. She had tried to be the best daughter that she could be when her mum came back, but Artemis really had no idea how hard it was to switch from training vigorously with her dad to shutting that sort of life out with her mum (who wanted nothing to do with it).
She didn't deserve that chicken soup. She was a horrible person and a horrible daughter. But her stomach was literally growling at her to put something in it. She hadn't eaten something since twenty-four hours ago, when she first left, and had a small loaf of bread. Giving up the battle she was holding for herself she trudged out quietly, not to wake her mum from her sleep, to the kitchen. Making a beeline for the chicken soup that was still, thankfully, warm on the bench she nearly tripped on the newspaper that was thrown on the floor.
Leaving it alone and mumbling a string of curses under her breath she continued to the soup, downing it quickly and washing the plate in the sink with haste and lack of concern. She walked to pick up the newspaper she had dropped and read the title of the page it was on.
SWIMMING RECORDS SHATTERED AGAIN
Atlantis… Aqual… Cadmu… leader…
Kaldur awoke with a sudden jerk. Sweat beading down his forehead and his chest rising and falling rapidly from the disconcerting dream he had just envisioned. It was nothing short of confusing. He had been getting the same dream over and over again for the past few nights. His adoptive parents had noticed it as well, he wasn't sleeping that well, his appetite had gone down, and he was going to the pool for trainings only now. Things had changed so much, and he didn't know why. But he knew that it worried his family, so he tried to hide things from them.
He travelled to the pool out of trainings time, just sitting and watching the water rippled with every stroke the swimmers made. But to his eyes the water formed into a portal view of a city he had been acquainted with during his dreams. Atlantis. Like the legends he had been fascinated about since he began treading the water.
It had been something of a hobby for him, reading about historic accounts of the apparent existence of the lost city of Atlantis. Then it had spanned onto the legends of mermaids, humans that could swim for days without surfacing for air, and maybe he wished he could live in their world. Be one with the water, never leave his home; never have to face the uncomfortableness of walking around in the street with people openly staring at him.
A knock brought him out of his daydream. "Kaldur," Mera's voice was muffled through the door, "breakfast is ready. I think Arthur has something planned for you today." He gave back a quickly reply before getting out of his bed and getting changed.
"Morning." He smiled, grabbing a piece of toast from the plate and taking a bite out of the crisp bread. "I trust you slept well last night." Arthur and Mera sat at the table and shared worried glances. They turned back to Kaldur who was now seated at the bench on a stall.
"You shouldn't have to ask us that, we should be asking you. Kaldur we know you've had trouble sleeping these past few days. If you need to talk to us please do." Arthur said, softly while still holding an authoritive tone in the plead. Kaldur looked away for a second, his brows knitted together and his mouth in a tight line.
"They are just dreams. I do not have any idea why they are keeping me awake." Kaldur said truthfully, "But they feel more real than any other dreams or nightmares I have had. They feel like memories." He looked down and slowly finished his toast. The small family sat in silence for a while, just basking in the presence of one another. Before Mera got up and went to wrap her arms around Kaldur, a gesture of a true mother.
"You should have told us." She whispered, "We were so worried it was something darker, that someone was hurting you." Kaldur hugged her back, sending Arthur look assuredness and gratitude, his father smiled back.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, relaxing his muscles and sighing. The past few days have been tension filled between the three of them. Kaldur had tried to disguise the weariness and convince them that he was fine. But like any caring parents they could see the warning signs blearing on top of his head with big bold lights and flashing letters.
They suddenly remembered when he first fell into their care. A four-year-old Kaldur, with eyes as bright as the moon and hair that was far fairer than Sleeping Beauty's ever could have been. He had been to many foster homes and had guessed that this wouldn't be any different. Little did he know that they were looking to adopt, unlike the other homes he had been to, and keep him until he was old enough to fend for himself in the world that they lived in.
He had no idea for the first month living with them, but as time flew by he began to suspect that this family were different from the rest. When he finally had the curiosity to ask them they smiled and he knew instantly that he was here to stay. He decided that yes, he really loved Mera and Arthur. Although he wouldn't call them mum or dad, for personal reasons, but he would think of them like that. They were what he called a perfect family.
Without a word being spoken between them they returned back to normal positions and started eating breakfast again. Watching the television, and Kat Grant report live from Central City as another cat was saved out of a tree by the firefighters. Nothing really happened in the news, unless something big happened (most likely in Gotham).
"Are you ready for next weeks nationals?" Arthur said, smiling at Kaldur over his cup of coffee. "Isn't it being held in Gotham this year?" Kaldur nodded, knowing that they would be worried for him. After all, it was supposed to be quite long this year due to security measures and event times.
"It is, for a month." Kaldur said, "The team is heading over at the end of the week."
"Are you ready?" Mera asked, noticing the small glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Yes."
A/N: HEY! So I did mean to update this a lot earlier but it's our school holidays right now and my relatives decided it would be great just to pop in a nd hang out for a few days, so I've been crammed with playing tour guide.
I just want to say thanks to all the people that read, favourited, followed and reviewed the prologues and sorry I kind of did it in 2 bits, it kind of makes it really weird from now on, with the formatting of the site and all...
Anyway... thanks again and if you couldn't tell I actually had a lot of trouble writing this chapter, and I'm not that happy with it. But I don't want to put it off for a month just so I can get one chapter right.
Please review and tell me what you think and things I can improve on!
-The Missing X