2012

Zemirah had been quiet all day. She hadn't complained about school, nor had she professed her excitement about the upcoming summer break. Now, she was a shadow of her usual self and Kaldur didn't like it one bit. They didn't have any missions scheduled for the moment, so he took her aside after combat training.

"Zemirah, are you alright?"

She said nothing and quietly folded in on herself. She stared at the ground, avoiding looking at him. He frowned and strengthened his resolve. Carefully, he put a finger under her chin and lifted her face to look at him.

"Has the floor become more interesting than I am?"

She froze, eyes wide as her face flushed a pretty coral-pink on her brown skin. She made an embarrassed whine and took his hand from under her chin.

"You're not allowed to be so smooth. It's dangerous."

"I was not trying to be, nonetheless I am flattered by your praise. Now, why have you been so quiet all day? This isn't like you at all."

She sighed.

"Can… Can I have a hug?"

"Of course."

He wrapped her in his arms and he felt her do the same. Her arms were firmly around his waist and dug her fingers into the fabric of his favorite jacket. She snuggled closer to his chest and seemed to melt into his embrace.

"I have to change schools."

"Is that bad?"

"…sort of. When I first did the tests for the schools, I only got into one other school. If I leave, I can only go there, or the really expensive preparatory school."

"Is there something wrong with the school you tested into?"

"My mother doesn't want me going there. I think she's worried about me being bullied worse there than I am already."

"I see. So, the only option left is the preparatory school then?"

"Yeah. But I'm scared. I have to do an entrance exam, and I could still fail to get in. Then it's either the school Mama doesn't want me in, or I end up in the vocational school. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with a vocational school, but I've seen some of the people there, I know some people who went there. None of them were ever kind to me. I can already tell you I wouldn't survive there."

"And there are no other options?"

"Not unless I go live with a relative somewhere else and go to school there. Its not the best option but I don't doubt that Mama would resort to it."

She paused, pressing her face into his jacket as if to hide.

"I know, objectively, that this isn't something final, but it just feels like my life is over and it's all my fault."

He hummed a soft sound of understanding. He himself did not have these problems. He finished all his mandatory schooling by age twelve, had entered the Atlantean military and finished his service by fourteen, and became King Orin's apprentice by the time he was fifteen. He was aware that this was because of the differing cultures between Atlantis and the surface. Still, he felt his heart break to hear her so frightened and worried.

"Hey, can we… Can we stay like this for a while longer, please?"

"Of course."

"It sounds silly, but when you hold me, I feel safe. Right now, I feel like nothing in the world can hurt me."

Kaldur felt his face turn red and he held her even tighter.

"I think, perhaps the one who is more dangerous between us, is you."

She snuffled a wet laugh into his chest, and he felt his blushing worsen.

[Marks]

She had been hiding. From Aunt Carter and the rest of the world. She went to train and she went on missions, but she wasn't really there anymore. Zemirah had tried again and again, but she turned her away again and again.

Nothing could reach her. She felt so cold. So far away.

Like a ghost.

[Marks]

She climbed over the rooftops, the familiar skyline in the twilight filling her with a fond sort of melancholy.

"Did you call me here just to stargaze?"

She smiled at the gruff voice, so different from that old memory, yet so familiar.

"I would if I thought you'd come, but somehow, I doubt that you would."

"Cut to the chase Catwoman, I've got a couple of miscreants taking out mafiosos."

"I would've thought you'd be thanking them Batman; they're lightening your workload. Maybe you could even take a holiday!"

The only response she got to her cajoling was a stern glare. To which she merely pouted.

"Ah, how could I forget! The Caped Crusader doesn't take holidays."

"Catwoman."

"I'm looking for a missing girl. Disappeared runaway, should be almost fourteen now."

She continued, giving the testimony Alex Kay had given Selina Kyle. She couldn't be sure, but something about everything she had uncovered in this case felt off. It was too clean, and there were still parts that made no sense. The blanks that not even Alex could fill in. If it had been random thugs that had attacked them, how had he survived and wound up living in Japan of all places?

Alexis hadn't been trafficked, that had been the first route she checked. She wasn't dead, or missing, just gone. And the dead woman that had matched his description of his other relative in Gotham was too convenient. She smelled a cover-up.

"So, any ideas who it is?"

Silence.

Catwoman was afraid of this. There was no one she knew who loved Gotham city and its people as much as Batman. Only a reckless sort of love would drive anyone to roam the night with a mask on and save kids playing on trains of stop random muggings at night. All that gallivanting about with the Justice League was practically a token of participation. His first priority would always be Gotham and her people.

"Bats, come on. If you have anything at all, I need it. There's a teenage boy worried sick about his sister and he's got nowhere else to turn. Are you really going to let some kid fight the world on his own to find his family?"

That was a touchy spot, they both knew it, but she knew it would kick him into action. He glared, knowing she knew his weakness.

"I have an idea of who she might be, but my girl has been through a lot. I don't want to put either child at risk if we're wrong."

"Then let's do a DNA test! It would be hard to argue with the facts, won't it?"

He went quiet, but he didn't turn away. He was thinking about it.

"Fine."

With that he was gone, but she knew what she had to do now. She glanced down at the sign below her. She had been planning on robbing the jewelry store and leaving a trail of diamonds for Batman to find, but since he was already being so generous, she changed her mind.

Besides, if they were wrong, there was always next month.