"How do you go on when nothing makes you happy?" – Stan Marsh

Disclaimer: I don't own Jackson Hyde's past, but I do own this scene that I made up.

Chapter 3: Kaldur

"Honey, just where do you think you're going?" his mom asked, stopping him dead in his tracks.

Crap he thought lightly, turning to face her, his hand still on the golden knob of the front door.

"The guys invited me to go to the pool with them," he said slowly.

He adjusted the towel over his bare shoulders, surprised that she even had to ask when she could clearly see his red swimming trunks and the sunglasses on top of his head like a headband. Anger flashed through his mom's eyes before it faded and a commanding look came over her features.

"You'll just have to tell them you can't go then," she folded her arms over her chest.

Kaldur threw up his hands in exasperation, his jaw dropping in disbelief.

"B-but mom!" he whined.

Her judgment didn't sway in the slightest. In fact, his whining only seemed to worsen the situation at hand.

"We've discussed this. You're to never go anywhere near water," she said forcefully.

Kaldur tightened his hands into tight fists. He swallowed hard, taking a deep breath.

"Please mom! They," he gestured to the strange tattoos lining the outsides of his arms, "haven't acted up in a week!"

His mom rolled her eyes, staring hard at him.

"That's because you haven't been in water, besides the shower, in a week. The second you touch the pool, it's going to happen again. I won't let you take the risk," her voice was cold as ice, probably colder, in a voice that would make Batman proud.

Kaldur bit his lip and ducked his head, struggling to keep from overreacting. At moments like this, he wanted nothing more than to bury his fist deep within the wall beside him, but he couldn't do that. If he broke the wall, he'd have to go up against his dad, and his father was three times as scary as his mom. His father would use Kaldur's brains to paint the wall after he replastered it. And then his mom would use Kaldur's arms and legs to beat down his dad for using red on the yellow walls.

"I'm 14 mom! You can't keep doing this!" he cried, his knuckles as pale as they could get.

"Until you're an adult, I'm going to keep doing it. My house, my rules," she said firmly.

Part of Kaldur was tempted to open the door, flip her off and run off, screaming, "I hate you" at the top of his lungs, but he resisted. He eyed the door for a long while though, greatly considering it. When his mom cleared her throat though, he took the hint. With a sharp sigh, he turned away from his only escape and stormed off towards his room, his heart heavy and angry tears burning unnoticed in his eyes.

XxXxX

All eyes flew to Kaldur. Everyone expected he'd have memories of pretty mermaid ladies and how he got his powers, not something as simple as that. As usual though, the team was wrong. Kaldur obviously had some issues back home, but the others all knew that they had it worse. Kaldur unconsciously looked at the tattoos on the sides of his arms, a dark look crossing his face.

"Mom and I… weren't on agreeing terms," he explained lightly.

Everyone still stared at him though. They were mostly staring at his tattoos, wondering what the Hell "it" was that his mom had spoke about. No one really wanted to ask about that, so no one did. They all stayed silent for a long while.

"I say you should've told her you hated her and went to the pool anyway. Vive la Resistance!" Wally broke the silence, using an accent similar to Carl's from Llamas with Hats.

He glanced Robin's way. The ebony nodded in agreement, holding out his fist. Wally met his fist with his own, pulling back with a faint explosion noise. Kaldur shrugged halfheartedly.

"You never met my parents. They're… difficult… Why else do you think I studied with mermaids?"

Artemis and Wally's faces hardened with secret at the mention of bad parenting, but they kept the secrets to themselves.

"Alright, one memory's down… who's next?" Megan looked over them, the hands securing their heads again.

I used Jackson because Kaldur's life is so freakin' boring. Sorry. I don't care if it's OOC, I predicted that people wouldn't like this chapter… so, who's next: Artemis, Wally, Robin…? I could even have Batman change his mind and come back… It's up to you guys, I guess. If I don't get a suggestion, I'm just rolling with it. Review if you want?

-FrankandJoe3