Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

I

The corner of Jade Avenue and Umbra Street was exceptionally quiet as Blaze sat on the purple comforter, looking at the broken window as she pulled on the brown turnshoes that she'd had commissioned from a friend. The twenty-one-year-old with extremely curly hair the color of a candle's flame wasn't looking forward to telling her boyfriend that the boys in the apartment below had been playing ball in the abandoned lot next door yet again. She also wasn't looking forward to finally telling him that she worked for the most notorious cheapskate in Gothic Cross. Especially since he'

Alright, Blaze. He did say that I would be foolish if I worked for a guy like Josiah Kingston. She took one last glance in the mirror and adjusted the kerchief she wore before grabbing the messenger bag that she always left underneath the coat hooks by the apartment's front door every single day. He even said that I would have a panic attack because of how many people I would do readings for. Then, he also didn't question why I went by Blaze or Madame Victoria.

The cloak that the young woman wore out and always hung on a hook by the bedroom door had completely vanished, causing Blaze to glance around the room quickly before gathering her messenger bag. She reached out for the antique, iron door handle, but as her left hand clasped around the handle the world began to spin around her until she could see nothing but the face of someone dressed all in black with wavy, black hair that was pulled into a ponytail that hit her pelvis. Blaze couldn't be certain, but she thought she could see the same dark brown eyes her boyfriend had and had a niggling thought that the girl could possibly be her boyfriend's twin sister, and her best friend, Carmen Morales-Delgado.

"And i...i...if it was Carmen, then what was the vision about?" Her hands were trembling as she leaned against the counter. "C...could she have done something?"

Tears started trickling down her cheeks as a wave of nausea hit her. After what had happened when she was thirteen, she'd always felt a sense of dread whenever her powers had decided they wanted to be used. Blaze could even smell the sickening scent of the hospital room that she didn't want to remember and the sound of the beeps that had been constant background noise as she sat on the edge of the bed. And no amount of her begging had stopped the inevitable from occurring or the night terrors that still plagued her from ever leaving.

She took a deep breath as she told herself that it would be okay; that nothing was going to happen to her. She would be safe in her element doing the drab readings that didn't take much energy from her. And besides, her boyfriend had promised that he'd come by to see her on the first day of her new job. First though, she had to catch the right train to the city center without causing a scene if she missed the train she'd planned on taking.

"Alright," she whispered as she walked into the kitchen. She knew that she couldn't forget the gluten free spring rolls and fried rice that she'd made to bring for dinner, as she knew from experience that there wasn't a place on the boardwalk that had any decent gluten free menu without any seafood or peanuts. With the exception of a new ice cream shoppe that said it didn't didn't even offer peanuts as a topping or in any of its ice cream that she was willing to try...if it was still open when she was on a break. "That should be ever-Wait! My subway card!"

Blaze ran back into the bedroom. She always hated herself when she put the subway card on top of the dresser after using it and then somehow forgetting it when she needed it the next time at the very last minute before she left. Then again, she knew it was like her to do something like that; it was just how her mind worked. As she grabbed the wallet with the card, she made a mental note to research ways people like her could remember things like keeping the apartment clutter-free without feeling like her boyfriend was putting pressure on her to put her candle making stuff away when she was through making them or keeping her subway card by the door instead of in the bedroom where it could get lost.

And what about the dream last night? Blaze's hands shook as she grabbed the subway card that she'd left on the dresser while remembering the dream she'd had. She'd been on the street with her parents, whom she hadn't seen in two years, laughing with them as if the three of them were old friends. Then, a mysterious shadow appeared behind her parents. The next moment in the dream, she was in the hospital being told that not only were her parents dead, but that she was named in the will to care for a newborn sister that she didn't know she had, since she hadn't seen her mother or father in four years. No, not a dream. It has to be a premonition, just like what happened with Grandma Rose. It just has to be.

She took a deep breath and glanced at the dolls that she had on her shelf. She wished she could take one of them with her like she did when she was a kid, but Blaze knew that she was too old for such things and sadly walked to the door with her keys in her hands. After all the talks she'd had when she was young with her grandmother, she knew that there was no changing what was going to happen no matter how much she wished she could do so.

/\

Walking down the boardwalk toward the tent where she was going to spend the next eight hours, Blaze felt like the fresh air was what she needed despite the fact that the smells around her were beginning to make her noxious. She didn't want to get sick on the first day of work, but she just couldn't stomach the scents of onions and the perfume that half the people around her were wearing. Not to mention the scent of pine, ash and roses that just seemed to follow her from behind.

Blaze turned around to find out who...or what...belonged to the scent, but all she could see was someone in a red, Victorian style coat, black slacks and black, knee high boots. Even though she had no idea who the person was, she could sense a familiar vibe, as if she'd known him or her at one point in her life and might even have been friends with them in school.

She reached out her left hand as if she were going to give them a reading. Instead of the world spinning into another vision as it would have done if she were having a vision, the world began spinning around her like she'd gotten dizzy. Eventually, her vision began to fade into blackness as her legs began to turn to mush and she collapsed onto the wood.

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