After waiting a little while so TJ could calm down, Becky crept quietly to TJ's bedroom door and hesitated a moment before knocking on it.
"Go away," TJ said miserably. Becky sighed.
"TJ, can we talk?" Becky asked through the door.
"I don't want to talk to you. Go away." TJ answered.
"Come on, we need to talk." She said. After a moment of silence, his bedroom door swung open to reveal and angry TJ, who proceeded to go lay back on his bed.
"What do you want?" He asked angrily.
"I want to talk to you about this whole Wordgirl thing. There's one other thing you should know." She said.
"Great, more heartless lies." He grunted.
"Look, I want you to know that I'm going to go back to Lexicon to find my real parents. I understand that you're mad at me for lying to you, but I want to know that you're going to be okay." Becky said.
"Why wouldn't I be okay? Good, great, you're abandoning us, go ahead and leave then. See if I care." TJ responded.
"Come on, TJ, don't be like that. I'm not abandoning you. I'd never do that to anyone. You don't know what it's like to be me, you can't judge me based on that. I didn't want to lie to you guys, but I had no choice. I didn't want to risk putting you guys in danger."
"Oh, no, poor Becky, you're a super powered superhero! Your life is awesome! Poor you!" TJ spat. "You seemed to be just fine with abandoning your precious home planet."
Becky was stunned by his response. She was silent for a moment before she thought up a response.
"TJ, that's not true! I only came here by accident. I never meant to leave. But as soon as I got a taste of Earth, I realized I never want to leave. The only reason I am now is because it's not what you think. My life isn't perfect. I never get to spend any time with you guys because I'm always busy stopping crimes. I'm forced to lie to the people I care about in order to protect them from harm. At least your life is a lot more carefree. At least you don't have a reason to be sad like I do. At least you know who you real parents are, and you know they love you and care about you no matter what or who you are. You don't know what it's like to be missing a big part of yourself. You should consider yourself lucky." Becky explained.
TJ had been listening intently to what his sister had to say. He'd never thought of it that way; but that was no excuse for lying to him for several years, with the knowledge that she was his lifelong idol, Wordgirl.
"So now that you're ready to know you're just going to risk putting us in danger just to tell us about your secret identity. You're such a great sister." TJ grunted.
"TJ, it's not like that. I trust you guys with my secret and I know that nothing bad will ever happen to you as long as I'm there to protect you. Come on, TJ, please, just tell me you're going to be okay." Becky pleaded. TJ was silent.
"I'll be fine. Just go." He grunted, turning his back to her with folded arms. Becky sighed, patted his back gently, and left. She knew he'd come around eventually. She realized that it wasn't easy to discover that your idol was actually your sister, who you wouldn't consider admiring if your life depended on it.
So she decided to forget about it for a while.
~…~
The next morning, Becky was about to leave for school when she heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find Tobey, right on time, as he was every day. Becky quickly shouted a 'goodbye' to her parents and then headed out the door.
"So, last night I finally told my parents about everything…" Becky began as they began walking.
"Oh, really? How'd it go?" Tobey asked.
"Well, on one level, it went really well. My parents were as accepting and understanding as everyone told me they'd be." Becky explained.
"That's great! See, I told you there'd be nothing to worry about." Tobey said with a smile, patting her back.
"Yeah, well now my brother hates me. He thinks I'm abandoning him. He's so mad at me." Becky said sadly, looking down to the ground as she spoke. Tobey wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked.
"Oh, you know he doesn't actually hate you. He's just adjusting to the fact that his lifelong role model and hero was actually his sister. I mean, how would you react if someone you had admired for your whole life was actually someone who you didn't find all that great?" Tobey comforted. "I'm sure he'll come around soon enough. Just give him a little time."
Becky let a small smile escape.
"Maybe you're right…" She said.
"Maybe? When have I ever been wrong?" Tobey said with a sly smirk.
"Gee, I dunno, maybe when you thought that destroying the city with robots was a good way to get my attention?" Becky answered teasingly. Tobey smiled, blushing out of embarrassment.
"Hey, it did get your attention." He defended.
"Yes, but not in a good way." She responded.
Tobey stopped walking, which caused Becky to stop in her tracks.
"But, being completely honest, although you despised me for being a villain, you never completely hated me, right? I mean, the possibility of us was always in the back of your mind, right?" Tobey asked shyly. Becky was slightly surprised by the question. She thought he'd put that part of himself behind him, but she could see now how that was never completely possible.
"When I was younger I never really let myself think about you that way. I was always afraid that if I did let myself think of stuff like that, something bad would happen, like I'd start to like you and it would lead to us dating, and that would lead to the whole town shunning me for turning to the villains side, and the whole idea just…scared me." Becky explained. They were silent for a brief moment.
"But things have changed since then, and I don't feel that way anymore." She finished.
"Wait, you mean you actually wanted to think of me that way?" Tobey asked hopefully.
"Looking back now, yeah, I realize I did." Becky said, her shyness suddenly vanishing. Tobey smiled widely. The only reason he cared about the information was because of that tiny little piece of him would always yearn to know. No matter how he matured, a little piece of him would always go to that unanswered question that had plagued him so. But now that it had been answered, that piece was forgotten.
Soon enough, the two reached the school, proceeding to go their separate ways for class.
~…~
A family of three is seen enjoying each other's company while sitting in a living room, watching television together. The family is Lexicon-born: a teenage girl is seen sitting in the middle, smiling widely as her arms were wrapped around the shoulders of two adults sitting on either side of her; two adults who looked remarkably similar to the girl. The girl seems to be happier than ever.
But at the same time, the girl has dug a photo out of her back pocket. The photo is a picture of her with two different adults, and a young boy. She looked longingly at the picture, feeling a strong wave of sadness wash over her. She missed the three she called her family, but at the same time she was happy with her real family. She seemed torn between the two families.
The girl excused herself to go the bathroom. Once secluded from everyone else in the bathroom, she took out a Lexiconian device which was she had recently learned to use that could show the user anything they wanted on the video screen. The girl punched in the town on Earth she had grown up in.
In seconds, the image that appeared on the screen was footage of her childhood town. She saw the three people from the photo in her pocket; except instead of looking happy, as they were in the photo, they looked very distressed and unhappy. They were sitting around the living room of their own home, moping. Their faces had a look of hurt and betrayal in them, as if someone had recently hurt them emotionally; as if they had experienced a great loss recently. As if they missed someone dearly.
The girl watching the Earth family grew sad as she watched their despair. But her despair soon turned to panic as suddenly, another man came barging through the front door, screaming in peril about a villain who was attacking something downtown. The family was unresponsive.
"Who cares," The boy said. "It's not like there's anyone to do anything about it." He said, a strong sense of hurt showing in his voice.
"What about the boy genius who uses his robots to defeat villains?" The periled man asked.
"He hasn't done anything in weeks, why would he start now?" The boy responded. Instead of provoking an argument, the man just left.
At the mention of the boy genius, the girl watching Earth switched her view to the boy. She watched sadly as the screen showed a young man, about her age, sitting on his back porch, watching the stars with a forlorn, longing look on his face. There didn't seem to be any hope residing anywhere in him, which made the girl watching him deeply upset. She suddenly looked upon her leisurely, happy life as not as wonderful as she had imagined it would be.
Becky woke up with a jolt, startled awake by her dream.
"Hu-what?" She mumbled as she looked around to see that she had fallen asleep in study hall.
"Becky, are you okay?" Violet asked, noticing Becky's nervous awareness.
"What? Oh, yeah, i-it's fine. I'm great…just, had a bad dream is all…" Becky explained.
"A dream? You never fall asleep in school. Are you sure you're okay?" Violet asked, knowing the answer was yes.
"Being honest with you, no. But I can't tell you right now. I think I…I'm going to go get some air." Becky said, suddenly storming out of the classroom without informing anyone. Violet watched her leave, concerned, but knowing that if she just backed off for a while Becky would be willing to share her problems.
On her way to the bathroom to splash her face with water, Becky- who was walking with her head down, nervously- suddenly bumped into someone. She took a step back and looked up to see Tobey standing there.
"Oh, sorry, excuse me-" she began. "Oh, hey Tobey."
"Hello, where are you going in such a hurry?" Tobey asked. He could tell something was wrong.
"Oh, uh, nowhere. I just needed to get some air quickly.
"Why, what's wrong?" He asked. Becky leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, proceeding to sit and hug her knees close to her. Tobey slid to the floor next to her.
"It's this whole 'leaving earth' thing. It's starting to freak me out. I mean, at first I was excited to finally see Lexicon after all these years," Becky said quietly, so no one else would hear. "but now it's just starting to freak me out. I mean, I've been in space before, even once or twice when I was ten, but it's so vast, and so far away. Plus, last time I took a trip like this it wasn't on purpose and it went very wrong. What if that happens again, what if something goes wrong and I get trapped on some other life-sustaining planet forever? Plus even if I do get there, what's to keep me from staying? I mean, sure, there's you, and my family, and my friends to return to, but what if I just love it there so much that I end up staying there anyways? Plus how do you guys actually feel about me leaving? UGH, I just feel like I'm stabbing you all in the back, and it's just not fair to you guys, and-" Becky rambled, only to be cut off by Tobey slapping a hand over Becky's mouth.
"Becky, you're worrying too much. You need to take a deep breath and know that everyone who knows you're leaving is completely understanding of your journey. We don't feel betrayed; we're glad you're following your heart, no matter where it takes you." Tobey said. Becky took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling an immediate soothing of her nerves.
"I…I guess you're right. I shouldn't be worrying about anything. But I just keep picturing it in my head, and-and dreaming about it; I keep seeing me happy with my real family, and at the same time I see you guys all down here on Earth, feeling sad and betrayed and feeling like there's a piece of you missing. It's-It's unsettling." Becky said.
"God, I was so sure of this. For once in my life, I was confident in a decision I made about my life. But now look where it's gotten me…my brother hates me and I'm abandoning an entire planet that has grown to depend on me for the past fifteen years I've been here. Am I stupid, or am I stupid?" Becky said sadly.
"You're definitely not stupid. You're smarter than me sometimes. You're just taking on a common characteristic of every human: insecurity. And you don't deserve to be doing that to yourself. Everyone is insecure about big decisions, because we always think that there's no way to be really sure that the decision you made was the right one. But what we don't realize- and what most of the time you do- is that we make are always for the best, because whether it's a good one or a bad one, whether it's the right one or the wrong one, it will always lead to your destiny." Tobey explained.
"After all, you had to make a hard decision when you befriended me. And when you began dating me, for that matter. I'm sure you had a hard time with that decision, but you did something you were unsure of anyways, and it turned out well. So take a chance with it, even if you're not completely sure." He finished. Becky let a small smile escape her lips.
"It turned out great, because you're great." She said. The two were silent for a moment as Becky's smile grew.
"How do you do that?" She asked.
"Do what?" Tobey asked in response, with a smile.
"Make me feel better. Every time I feel sad or nervous or insecure, you say something really smart and make me feel better. How can you manage to do that every time?" Becky asked.
"Because I'm a genius?" He said teasingly. Becky shoved him playfully, giggling as she did so.
"You're such a dork." She said happily.
"See? That, right there, how do you do that?" Becky asked.
"Because I know you, and I know what makes you laugh, and what makes you cry. And I know what to say to make you happy, because you being happy is important to me." Tobey explained. Becky smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I don't know why I ever hated you…you're amazing." She said quietly as they sat there in a peaceful silence.
Yeah, so that's enough filler for this chapter. But don't worry, there's probably going to be more in the next chapter, because I need a bit more filler before I get to the next important part of the story. Yeh, I hass plannsss for this one…might be a long story XD review?