Chapter 11

Loona stepped outside to go for a walk and go check out some of her favorite stores, enjoying a day off from work that her dad had graciously given her. Though she would rarely call him 'dad' to his face, she couldn't deny that he was a good dad. Maybe tried a bit too hard sometimes, but he treated her right and never hurt her.

She had just made it into the main part of the city when she looked up to see some familiar faces and stopped short, a look of surprise on her face.

It was her birth parents and three older siblings. There was even a couple young ones with them, making her wonder if they were her siblings too. She went to go into a store, but her birth mother spotted her and apparently recognized her.

"Well, there you are," she said in a tone that Loona wouldn't describe as warm. "Wondering where you were, dirtbag."

"The shelter get tired of you?" One of her brothers sneered.

Loona took a deep breath and lifted her head up, setting her jaw. "No, I was adopted," she said, proud of herself for keeping her voice steady.

"Adopted?!" Her birth father scoffed. "Someone took pity on a fleabag?"

"Must have been someone who just wanted to look good for the cameras," said Loona's older sister.

She growled. "No, he's better than that," she said. "Better than you all were."

Her birth father looked angry and glared at her. "Watch your mouth, mutt!" He said angrily.

"We were right to give you up!" Her birth mother said.

"Useless," the other brother said.

"Bet she doesn't even have a boyfriend," the sister scoffed.

"Who'd want her?" The first brother said with a sneer.

Loona felt tears start to sting her eyes, but she narrowed them, refusing to let her birth family see that their words were hurting her. "If you've got nothing else to do, then get lost," she said to them, her voice still holding steady.

"Come on, family," said the birth father. "Let's leave the mutt where she belongs."

"Yes. She is below us," said the birth mother as the family walked away without a backwards glance.

Loona glared at them until they disappeared from sight. She then turned and walked into an alleyway. Finding it to be empty, she sat down by the dumpster and hugged her knees to herself as her tears finally began to fall. Her shoulders began shaking as she cried, doing her best to keep it down so that no one heard her.

But someone did hear her.

Ozzy was walking around the city, looking at the shops while deciding on what to get Fizz and Oliver when he heard someone crying. Now, most might have ignored it or not heard it, but Ozzy had good hearing and he could feel the sadness and pain coming from whoever was crying.

He followed the sound to the alleyway nearby and stepped into it. "Hello?" He called out gently. "Anyone here?"

Loona gasped softly and tried to quiet her crying, rubbing at her eyes to hide her tears. Footsteps came closer and she looked up to see a familiar rooster come into view. "Loona?" Ozzy asked in surprise as he took in the girl's state. She didn't look physically hurt, which he was glad for, but he could clearly see that she had been crying. "Oh, pumpkin, what's wrong?" He asked, kneeling down so that he wasn't towering over her.

"U-Uncle O-Ozzy," she managed to say, but her voice was unsteady and full of pain.

"I'm here, pumpkin," he said, holding his arms out to her, silently asking if she wanted a hug. Loona felt like she didn't have the strength to really move, but she lifted her arms out to him, which he took as a sign that she wanted him to pick her up.

Gloved hands scooped up the girl and Ozzy cradled her as he stood up, rocking her gently as if she was an infant. "Who did this to you, pumpkin? Who hurt you so much?" He asked, holding her protectively.

She clung to him and fresh tears fell from her eyes. He carried her out of the alleyway and to the ice cream parlor nearby. It was empty as the lunch rush had ended, but the worker was more than happy to serve both the rooster and the girl.

Loona didn't pay much attention until she heard something being set down and she looked up to see it was a bowl of ice cream. A banana split to be exact. She looked up at Ozzy, who sat across from her and smiled. "Ice cream is a good comfort food and I've heard wonderful things about this parlor," he said.

A small smile came to her face before she began eating, the dessert helping her mood to lift little by little with each bite. Ozzy sipped on his chocolate shake, not talking, but keeping an eye on Loona. He didn't want to push her into talking to him about what happened.

He deduced that someone had said something that hurt the girl and he was angry at whoever hurt his niece. Loona was soon done with her dessert and she was feeling a lot better. Ozzy smiled. "Do you want another one?" He asked kindly.

"No, I'm good," she said before looking up at him. "Thanks, Uncle Ozzy. This really helped."

"I'm glad," he said, smiling again. "Far be it from me to leave my niece feeling sad and miserable."

She smiled before looking away. "I...I ran into my birth family," she said. "The ones that gave me up to the shelter when I was little."

Ozzy's eyes widened in shock. "They...gave you up?" He asked in horror. "Why?"

"I don't really know," she admitted. "They never...liked me. They...always called me names and treated me like I was below them."

She sighed. "No one wanted to adopt me and...I had to learn how to fend for myself...which made no one like me at all or want to adopt me."

"You were in there for most of your life?" The rooster asked, feeling sympathy for his niece.

She nodded. "Yeah, until I was seventeen," she said. "Blitz came in and adopted me. I normally wouldn't have even gone with him, but...I wanted to get out of that place. I was going to be kicked out anyway when I turned eighteen, so...it was either go with Blitz or be homeless."

"Blitz treats you well though, correct?" Ozzy asked. "I've seen how protective he gets and he thinks highly of you as his daughter."

Loona smiled. "Yeah, he does," she said. "It's...not easy to...accept that with my past, but...Blitz is a better dad than my birth father. He's done way more for me than they ever did."

"He gave you a chance to have a real dad," he said, smiling.

She smiled again. "Yeah," she said. "I...I don't always call him 'dad', but...I think he already knows that I think of him as my real dad."

"I'm sure he does," Ozzy said, smiling.

Just then, a familiar van drove up and Blitz jumped out of the driver's seat, looking frantic. "Loony, there you are!" He said, looking relieved. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, Blitz, I'm okay," she said before looking at Ozzy in confusion, but he shrugged, which told her that he hadn't called her father.

Blitz saw the silent exchange and calmed down. "Sorry," he said. "Millie called me and said she had seen a group of people talking to you and saying hurting things to you. She said it looked like they knew you and she did a quick search, revealing they were your...uh...," he paused, not sure what to say.

"Former family," she supplied. "And yeah, they are."

She looked at him. "Blitz...did you know they were in the city?" She asked him.

"No, sweetie. I had no idea," he admitted. "I...I honestly thought you had lost your parents in an accident or something. Not even the lady at the shelter had info on your birth parents."

She sighed, hugging herself and Blitz hugged her. "Sweetie, whatever they said about you, it's not true," he said. "You are the best daughter in the world and even if I could go back in time, I'd still pick you to adopt and be my daughter."

Loona looked at him in surprise and he smiled. "I know I can mess up sometimes, but you're the one thing I don't regret. I'll never regret adopting you, sweetie. I promise."

Tears began filling up her eyes and she hugged him, surprising him, but he was quick to hug her back. "Daddy's here, sweetie," he said to her. "I'm never going to give up on you, no matter how much we butt heads."

A snort left Loona before she began laughing and Ozzy smiled warmly as he watched the father and daughter both laugh and Loona looked like the weight on her shoulders had gotten lighter. "I think this calls for some more ice cream," the rooster said. "My treat."

"Really?" Blitz asked in surprise.

Ozzy nodded. "Order what you want," he said.

Both laughed as Blitz flew to the counter to order and Ozzy texted Fizz, who arrived not long after with Oliver. "Room for two more?" The jester asked.

"Sure," Loona said as Blitz came over and he was balancing a tray of treats quite well. Ozzy was surprised to see he was given another chocolate shake and Loona was stunned to see another banana split. "How...?" She began to ask.

"Your dad's got good observation skills, sweetie," Blitz boasted with a smile.

"I can attest to that," Fizz said with a nod.

Oliver's eyes widened at seeing the banana split in front of him and Fizz accepted the strawberry shake. "You didn't forget," he said to his friend.

Blitz smiled and joined them with his own vanilla shake and the family dug into the tasty treats, Loona feeling a lot better as she gazed around at her family.

Even though they weren't her birth family, she wouldn't trade any of them for anything, because they proved to be the best family she could ever have wanted.

I know I have Loona a bit OOC here, but I honestly think she's got a softer side to her, especially after what we saw in Season 1, episode 8. :)

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418