A/N: Okay, friends, another chapter of "Firelight" is here! Also, I'm glad that you guys liked Mrs. Tucker so much in the last chapter! Mrs. Tucker is a lively old woman, isn't she? And don't worry. Even if she won't be back for a few chapters, we will be seeing her again. Out of all the side characters I've added in, she's my favorite. Who doesn't love a matchmaking old prankster? XD
Also, I should probably mention that this chapter isn't as long as the previous few. As of recently I have learned that some of you actually like the longer chapters, so I regret informing you of this. Nonetheless, the chapter after this one is most likely going to be SUPER long, so this one serves as more of a transition than anything. Usually I try to add in a mix of longer chapters and then shorter chapter, so I will try to keep up this trend.
I hope that everybody enjoys chapter thirteen! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
Part II: Shadows: Chapter Thirteen
Damiana lays sprawled out across her bed staring blankly at the ceiling. According to the red, blocky, numbers of her alarm clock, the time is five thirty-one pm. For once when she is at her motel room the TV isn't on, the girl isn't eating partially spoiled leftovers, and she isn't thinking about meeting this month's rent. Instead the television is turned off, for once her stomach is full, and paying rent is the farthest thing from her mind. Not only that, but her curtains are closed, the lights are off, and her contact lenses are out.
Without her true eyes being hidden by a false coating of green, a horrendous shade of bruise-colored purple is seen. Usually the girl would never dream of removing her contacts this early in the day, but at this point she's desperate. Maybe if she allows just a tiny hint of her Dabnodian self to peek through, then maybe the random deity that she often prays to will listen to her. Who knows? Maybe he hasn't answered her prayers all this time because he wants to hear from Damiana instead of Leila.
Whispering in Dabnodian, the girl speaks aloud into the motel room's darkness. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need help. My life is being turned upside down, but this isn't the part that's scary. What's scary is that, even if my life is changing, I don't want to stop it."
Breathing in deep, Damiana listens as familiar words echo inside of her head. "I am a Titan, and I would sacrifice anything to keep this world safe. So before you join the Titans, ask yourself if you're willing to push away the past and sacrifice anything."
"Am I willing to push away the past and sacrifice anything?" Damiana says to the deity curiously. "As strange as it is, I'm starting think that I would. The Titans have sacrificed so much to keep Earth safe, so why shouldn't I? It might have only been a dream, but even my father wants me to let go of the past and join the Titans. Dabnod might be gone, but ever since that dream, I'm starting to think that my life still matters anyway. As Daddy put it, Dabnod is gone, but I am not. With Black Shadow going to war with the heroes, what if the Titans need me?"
Taking another deep breath, familiar words echo once more. "A year from now he's going to be like Slade, Brother Blood, and the Brotherhood of Evil; another story. But right now he isn't. He declared war on the hero world, he's a threat, and it's up to the Titans to stop him."
Running both hands through her hair, Damiana continues. "I never thought that I would say this, but Roy was right about everything he told me. About Black Shadow, about what it means to be a Titan, he was right. He knows what he's talking about. After getting so deeply involved with them, and after learning about what a huge threat Black Shadow really is, I don't think that I would ever be able to turn my back on them."
Holding her breath for a moment in exasperation, she releases it as she resumes speaking. "It's because of this that I'm scared. Hiding being a Dabnodian, keeping my distance from that Tamaranean, Starfire. After all the secrets I've worked so hard to protect, am I really willing to throw caution to the wind so easily? If I join the Titans East, it's only a matter of time before they find out."
Sitting up from her bed, Damiana works her way to her feet and begins pacing around the motel room. Her eyes are now stormy gray, and she speaks rapidly in panic-filled Dabnodian.
"Please! If you're listening to me, this is my single problem, and I need a way out! No matter how much I let go of the past, I'm still a survivor from Dabnod. Starfire is still the princess of Tamaran. If Starfire finds out what I am, then there will be conflict! What am I supposed to do?! Act like nothing is wrong, and do my best to forget that she is the princess of the race that destroyed my home?!"
Running a hand through her hair as she paces, Damiana feels as her stormy eyes begin welling up with tears. It is only under these circumstances that the girl is able to feel so much pain and so much anger all at once.
"I'm sorry, God, but I hate Starfire! I hate every Tamaranean that breathes! Even if we're on separate teams, we have to meet at some point. The instant I see her in person, I…I'm afraid that I'm going to kill her. No matter how much control I think I have, there's no telling how I'm going to react once I see her." Pausing, she adds with a sob, "If I ever meet Starfire, even if my secret of being a Dabnodian gets out, please don't let me kill her. I will continue to hate her with every bone in my body and will even hope that something else kills her, but I don't want to be the thing that does it."
Somehow, in spite of her tears, Damiana manages to laugh bitterly at herself. "Geesh. It's no wonder the fates have cursed me, and that you haven't answered my prayers. What a pathetic sight I must seem to an all-powerful God. A girl who ruthlessly killed one Tamaranean on the night of her planet's destruction who is now asking for strength not to kill another. How savage and blood-thirsty can one girl be?"
Giving another laugh, this one filled with more bitterness than before, the girl adds her final thoughts. "I sure hope that you're willing to help me, because my stubborn hearts already know what they want to do. They want to run foolishly after Roy to join the Titans East. They won't listen to my brain who keeps telling them that I should keep hidden because I'm a Dabnodian. They want to run after Roy anyway, no matter how badly it will turn out once my secret gets revealed." Shaking her head, the girl concludes her conversation with God. "What a foolish girl I'm turning out to be."
Speedy dropped Leila off, but not at her motel room. Much like what happened with Mrs. Tucker, Leila insisted on being dropped off a little ways away from her motel room so that she could walk the rest of the way. The only difference is that, rather than her motel room being up the street like Mrs. Tucker's house, the fire user's dwelling place was several blocks away. The archer didn't argue with her, though. As reluctant as he was, he let her out of his truck and allowed her to walk home. Speedy has no problem with the fact that Leila wants to keep where she lives a secret. Everybody likes their privacy.
In the meantime, after being gone for four straight hours during what was supposed to be a one-hour trip, Speedy pulls his vehicle back into the Tower's garage. Bumblebee and Aqualad are most likely going to kill him for being gone so long, but once he explains what happened, there's no doubt that they'll understand.
Removing his shopping bags from the backseat, three in each arm and holding the handle of an additional bag in his mouth, Speedy slams the door of his truck shut using his knee. He would make a second trip instead of carrying everything at once, but with his lateness and with the fact that Cyborg is going to be here soon, the archer doesn't have time. Before saying a word to his teammates, the first thing he wants to do is change back into his uniform. The last thing he needs is for any of the Titans West to catch him without his mask. Similar to his teammates, he'll let them see his eyes eventually, but not yet; not until he's ready. There has already been one person who saw his eyes before he was ready.
Speedy frowns at the thought as he makes his way up the stairs leading to the Tower's common room, but then quickly pushes it away. There's nothing he can do about it now. Leila has seen his eyes, she knows Roy, and there's no changing that. If anything, it probably worked out for the better. Seeing this other side of him might have been exactly the push she needed to join the Titans East.
It is here that his frown morphs into a smile. As a whole, his day has turned out okay. Even better than okay, honestly. It has turned out great! As long as there aren't any more surprises waiting for him, the archer has no complaints.
Meanwhile, as he nears the top of the stairs, surprised shouts are heard. They echo so loudly, that Aquaman can probably hear them from Atlantis.
"You're telling me that he was hiding in your car for four days, eating your food, and charging motel rooms to your bank account, and you never suspected that he was with you? Not once?!"
Hesitating in his steps, Speedy raises a brow at Aqualad's words. Based on what he's saying, it sounds like he could be talking to Cyborg. He isn't here already, is he?! He didn't even see the T-car when he pulled into the garage!
Turning around and ducking down so that he can see into the garage once more, Speedy gazes at the enclosure's far end. Certainly enough the T-car is there, and it is parked on the garage's opposite side next to Bee's and Aqualad's leisure vehicles. Of course. With the parking arrangement, it's no wonder that he didn't notice it before.
As he turns back toward the top of the stairwell the metal man's voice can be heard, confirming the fact that Cyborg has arrived.
"Hey, how was I supposed to know that the green bean would stow away?! I didn't know that eating all that tofu made him that crazy! I just thought that I had hobos stealing all my food, and getting ahold of my account numbers!"
This time Bumblebee can be heard responding. Her voice isn't surprised like Aqualad's, but rather, she sounds teasing. "Right. Because a large six-foot-four man made out of metal who uses an arm cannon is the first guy that hobos would want to take advantage of."
Brow raising even farther at these comments, Speedy hikes the rest of the way up the stairs and passes through the sliding metal door that leads into the common room. When first stepping through the door, his initial goal isn't much different from before. Quietly setting all of the bags down against the wall beside the doorway, his first impulse is to rush to his bedroom and change into his costume before returning. Yet, despite this impulse, Speedy finds himself stopping in the common room's entryway to stare. What he sees is truly an odd sight. Odd…and disturbing.
Gathered together in front of the sofa are, of course, Bumblebee, Aqualad, and Cyborg. They face the part of the wall that doubles as a screen, as if getting ready to make contact with someone. Of course, this isn't the part that strikes Speedy as odd. What truly catches him off guard is the sight of Beast Boy in the middle of the sofa with Mas y Menos sitting on either side of him in a serious fashion.
The green Titan isn't supposed to be anywhere near Steel City, so for this reason alone the sight of Beast Boy is surprising. However, when taking into account that he is laying on his stomach with his arms tied behind his back and with his legs bound together tightly, this makes the sight of him even more shocking. The whole time he grunts loudly and incohesively while squirming against his bindings, making it known that he must be gagged as well.
At one point the green boy morphs into a snake in attempt to slither free. Much to his astonishment, however, his escape attempt is halted with a bold slap to the face by Menos.
"¡No se escapa!"
Emerald eyes wide at the sight, Speedy finds himself walking farther into the common room practically against his will. During this time, he actually forgets that he isn't wearing his mask. Instead he looks at Beast Boy who still struggles against his bindings, at Mas y Menos who tighten his bindings, and then at the room's three other occupants who finally notice him. Bumblebee and Aqualad glare at him harshly, a mixture of irritation and disdain in their gazes. Meanwhile, Cyborg's expression doesn't match theirs in the slightest. Rather, he gapes at Speedy wearing a surprised expression.
Ignoring their irked expressions as well as Cyborg's astonished one, he shifts his gaze back to Beast Boy who, despite all odds, is still trying to get loose. The whole time the archer sounds highly disturbed.
"Uh…do I even want to know what's going on here, or am I better left in the dark?"
"You'd know what's going on here if you would've gotten back here three hours ago like you were supposed to," Bumblebee replies irritably.
"You were supposed to finish dissecting the robots' power cores before Cyborg showed up," adds Aqualad crossly. "Wherever you were goofing off at, I hope it was worth it."
Turning back in their direction, Speedy opens his mouth to begin explaining. After running into Leila again, and after seeing how close she is to joining the Titans, he doesn't have a moment to lose. Before he can get a word out edgewise, however, Cyborg shouts out in surprise.
"Hold on a second. You're really Speedy? You can't be Speedy!" Moving closer to the archer, Cyborg points a large metal finger at his face. "I've known Speedy for over a year, and I've never seen him without his mask once!"
The reality finally occurring to him that he doesn't have his mask on, Speedy's emerald orbs widen and he raises a hand so that he's feeling around his eyes.
"Oh, crap. I guess I don't have my mask on." Throwing another glance back at the couch, he adds, "I guess seeing Beast Boy bound and gagged on our sofa with Mas and Menos playing 'good cop, bad cop' kind of made me forget about it."
How it happens nobody knows, but by some miracle, Beast Boy manages to get the gag off of his mouth. Even without looking at him, this is made painfully obvious.
"Speedy isn't wearing his mask? Dude, I've never even seen Robin without his mask! Tagging along with Cyborg to Steel City is worth it already! I knew that all of the cool stuff happens to Cy!" To Speedy, he says, "Is it okay if you turn around so I can see your eyes? This is a once in a lifetime chance!"
Knowing that there's no backing out now, Speedy shrugs and turns in his direction. The green boy's arms and legs are still bound, yet he somehow manages to angle his head in a way so that he can get a good look at Speedy. After several long and intense moments of staring, which he is very used to due to his first maskless encounter with his teammates, Beast Boy voices his thoughts.
"Dude, Cyborg's right. There's no way you're Speedy. I thought for sure that your eyes were brown."
Cyborg immediately concurs with his tied-up friend. "Come to think of it, I thought that his eyes would be brown too! Personally, I always thought that Robin's eyes would be the green ones."
Their comments don't surprise him in the slightest. For some reason, nearly everybody assumes that his eyes are brown under the mask. All besides the scant few who believe that his eyes are gray. He doesn't know why, but the green always seems to catch people off guard.
Meanwhile, Bumblebee puts this debate on eye color to a stop.
"Well, now we all know Speedy's darkest secret. Under the mask, his eyes are green. Soon, maybe we'll be able to uncover the dark secret of Robin's eye color, too." Making a bold gesture toward the screen, she continues. "Speaking of Robin, we should really contact him about Sparky's stowaway. Beast Boy told Cyborg that he would fess up to Robin about what he did. Right Beast Boy?"
Deafening silence fills the common room to capacity as all eyes turn in Beast Boy's direction. All of the sudden, it is very clear to Speedy why they had to tie him up. When Beast Boy begins trying to break free from his bindings double-time, and when he pleads loudly for mercy, things become even more apparent to the archer.
"Aw, come on! Please don't make me talk to Robin! Anything but that! I would rather play seven minutes in heaven with an angry Raven!" Turning into a monkey, and then into a bear, he does his best to break the ropes that tie him up. Yet, the ropes manage to stay perfectly intact. As he does this, he shouts angrily. "Mas, Menos, what the heck? Were you two in Boy Scouts or something?!"
As the green boy tries to escape, Bumblebee makes her way over to the main console and types in the code to connect with the Titans West Tower's frequency. A moment later the screen part of the wall turns black, the words "connecting" coming across it in solid, white, letters. The sight of this earns another panicked scream from Beast Boy. As this happens, Speedy shakes his head and moves to exit the common room. Without turning back around the face them, he explains where he's going.
"I'll be back in a minute. I just need to put my mask on and change back into my uniform. Don't wait up." After a moment of hesitation, he adds, "Oh, and once Beast Boy's argument with Robin is over, I really should tell you why I was gone so long. It might turn out to be important."
"Stop kidding around, Speedy. There's no way that you ran into Leila, and no way that she would have been able to recognize you without the mask and costume. That's impossible!"
The group of teens sit congregated in the common room, some on the sofa and the rest on the floor leaning against the sofa. Speedy sits at the sofa's far end, his red uniform, yellow boots, and fingerless gloves back in place along with his mask. When he reentered the common room Robin was on the screen scolding Beast Boy, but he honestly didn't hear a word he said. All of his thoughts were on how to explain to his team that he spent most of the afternoon with Leila, and that because of the time they spent together, the girl is now one step closer to joining up with them.
Of course, now that he finished telling them the basics of how he ran into her in the aisle with the screwdrivers and the hammers, his teammates are skeptical along with Cyborg and Beast Boy. Aqualad's words of skepticism are only a few of many.
Meanwhile, Cyborg chimes in concurrence with the aquatic Titan. "Yeah, man. When you first walked in here, I didn't even recognize you for a minute! There's no way that a girl who's only seen you a handful of times would be able to recognize you!"
Crossing his arms over his chest, Speedy stares them down sternly. "Okay, fine. If I'm making this up, then where have I been all afternoon? I wasn't out partying if that's what you guys are thinking! When I say that I ran into Leila and that she recognized me, I'm being serious. She was there with this old lady she cleans for, and they were buying stuff to fix birdhouses. We needed stuff from the same aisle, and we crossed paths. She did something funny, I laughed, she looked at me, and she placed me. That's basically what happened in a nutshell."
Giving a strained sigh, Bumblebee winces from the sofa's opposite end and slaps herself in the forehead. "If that's really what happened, then she didn't just recognize you, Speedy. From my end it sounds like you were busy watching her, and that you gave yourself away. I'm not trying to act like your mother and scold you, but that was a reckless and stupid move! She has your whole identity now!"
"How could you let this happen?!" Aqualad exclaims from his spot on the floor. "I know that you have your heart set on Leila joining the Titans, but letting her know your real identity is going way too far! Does she know that your name is Roy now, too?!"
Speedy falls silent, finding himself unable to respond to his teammates' very valid points. He knew that he should have seen this coming. Yet, in spite of their anger, Speedy isn't upset with them. Admittedly, standing in the same aisle as Leila and happily assuming that she wouldn't recognize him was a stupid move. Then again, this doesn't mean that stupid moves don't have benefits.
Taking a deep breath, Speedy replies to them at last. "Alright, fine. I'll admit that what I did was stupid. I was overconfident, and I thought that Leila would never recognize me in a million years. If I had run into anyone other than Leila and made that mistake, I would be absolutely screwed." After a short pause, he adds, "The thing is, I don't think that letting her meet 'Roy' is a bad thing. She got to see me as a different person from Speedy, and she's probably a step closer to joining us because of it. Leila does want to join the Titans. She just needed an extra push."
After this the room falls silent yet again, the rest of the Titans digesting his words. It takes several long moments, but eventually someone speaks. This someone would be Beast Boy.
"I don't know if I'm jumping to conclusions here, but by the way you're talking, it sounds like you did more than just run into her at the store. Did you ditch the old lady and go on a date or something? Bee and Aqualad did say that you were three hours late getting back."
Rubbing his neck awkwardly at the question, Speedy replies honestly. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a date. Mrs. Tucker's car broke down, the tow truck driver wouldn't give them a ride, and her son was out of town, so I drove them back to Mrs. Tucker's house. Leila knew who I was anyway, so it wasn't any use hiding anything." Pausing momentarily, he adds, "Mrs. Tucker actually wanted Leila to stay with me, so we got some tacos and went out to my dock to talk, but I still wouldn't call it a date. It was a couple of friends having a serious discussion about the Titans more than anything."
By this point it's apparent that they believe him about running into Leila, because flickers of understanding can be seen crossing their gazes. The first to respond to his explanation is Bee.
"Well, that would explain why you're so late getting back. Driving all over town, and then taking Leila all the way out to your dock must've been time consuming." Hesitating for a long period of time, she adds sheepishly, "Sorry we thought you were out goofing off."
Smiling, Speedy gives a nod of forgiveness. "Hey, don't worry about it. There's no way you could've known what I was doing."
In the meantime, Aqualad asks a question with a raised brow. "Did you really bring her to your dock? You never let anybody go there with you. Didn't you specifically say never to follow you there because it's your thinking place or something?"
All of the sudden, Speedy wishes that he hadn't mentioned bringing Leila to his dock. Sure his teammates have been to his dock once or twice, but most often he goes by himself when he needs to think. His dock serves as a type of sanctuary for the archer, so he doesn't often let people go there with him. Admittedly, he did take a girl there on a date about five months ago, but she thought it was boring, she called him boring, she complained the entire time they were there, and then she demanded that he take her home. He hasn't gone on another date since then, either.
It takes a moment, but at last Speedy answers his aquatic teammate's question. "Yeah I took her to my dock, but I didn't have much of a choice, either. What was I supposed to do? Talk to her about being a Titan and about Black Shadow in a parking lot filled with people?"
Aqualad nods in understanding at his explanation. "Okay. Fair point."
Meanwhile, Cyborg adds his input as well. "Alright, so you ran into her at the hardware store, drove a stranded elderly lady home, and had a taco date on a dock. Now what? Is this girl really any closer to showing up around here begging to join?"
Putting a finger to his chin, Speedy considers the metal man's question before responding. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. Knowing Leila, she isn't going to be on her knees at our doorstep begging to join the Titans anytime soon, but this doesn't matter too much. The point is that I made some progress."
The Next Day
If there's one thing Damiana hates, it's finishing her dog walking jobs early. All of her dog walking jobs are located in a part of town faraway from her motel room, so she doesn't have time to return there before her next job starts. Yet, if she finishes early, she can't go to her next job either due to the earliness of the hour. Because of this, the girl is normally forced to spend anywhere from ten to thirty minutes wandering aimlessly until it is late enough for her to go to her next job.
Today her first dog walking job took half the time that it usually does, mostly because she had only one dog to walk instead three. Sadly for the poor beasts, two of them were at the vet getting neutered. So, due to the short amount of time it took, Damiana finished her job forty-five minutes early. Under most circumstances she would walk back to her motel room and watch the morning news until she has to leave for her next job, but reaching her motel room from this part of town takes almost a half hour. If she took time to walk back and forth to her motel room, she would be very late for her next job.
Because of this, rather than heading back to her motel room, Damiana wanders this section of town without a goal and without a destination. Today she wears her dark blue sweatshirt, her pair of jeans that contains the most holes, her same black converse sneakers that are falling apart, and she carries a black bag that is slung over her shoulder. Most often the girl doesn't carry the black bag with her, but due to the inconvenience that her dog walking jobs normally provide, the girl always carries it with her in the mornings.
Normally the contents of her black bag are kept at the bottom of a dresser drawer buried by bottles of brown hair dye, her extra pairs of contact lenses, and the jeans and sweatshirt that she isn't wearing that day. Of course, considering how the time is only six forty-five in the morning and how hardly anybody is outside, Damiana always makes an exception for this time of day. Nobody is ever around to see the contents of the bag when she removes them, and if somebody is around they tend to ignore her and go about their business. It is because of this that, even if Damiana knows that she shouldn't let the items leave the privacy of her motel room, she brings them with her anyway.
After several minutes of wandering, the girl finds herself sitting against a tree in one of Steel City's scant few parks. It is a large oak tree that is located halfway between a small pond inhabited by ducks and a sidewalk where there isn't a soul in sight. A few minutes ago a spry man in his early sixties was seen jogging by, but besides him, Damiana hasn't seen one other person. Not to mention that the single person she did see didn't even glance at her. Therefore, revealing the contents of her black bag doesn't make Damiana even a little bit nervous.
Leaning against the tree leisurely, Damiana shoves a brown ringlet behind her ear and unzips her bag. Taking one last glimpse at her surroundings just to make sure that nobody's around, the girl reaches in and pulls out a single object. It isn't much. To the rare people who are crazy enough to be walking through the park this early, it would look like nothing more than a book. To Damiana, however, it is much more than a book. For the young alien, it is one of her last pieces of Dabnod.
Gazing at the book with a mixture of sadness and nostalgia, she traces the pattern on the cover. The material making up the front of the book feels like velvet under her forefinger. In reality, it isn't velvet, though. As soft as the cover's fabric is, it is actually closer to the equivalent of leather due to the material's hardiness. The main color of the cover is black, but it isn't dull like ash or coal. Rather, the fabric is shiny like obsidian.
Overlaying the front of the book's shiny blackness are intricate designs of gold. When observed plainly, the designs look like intricate swirls and zigzags that don't form any particular pattern. Upon tilting it at a certain angle, however, the meaningless lines come together to form a fire phoenix with outstretched wings flying out from a torrent of flames. Outlining the lines making up the fire phoenix is a sequence of small, yellow, gems, which also appear randomly placed until they're observed from that special angle.
Out of all the books that Damiana owned back on Dabnod, both in the Dabnodian language and in other languages, this book was always her most treasured possession. She received this book much later than most of her others. In fact, Damiana never received it until a few months before Dabnod's destruction on her eleventh birthday. Of course, in spite of the years that have passed, Damiana can remember the day she got this book so clearly that it feels like yesterday.
*Flashback*
Like usual, their little cabin at the top of the purple hill was empty that day. Mama was at the Palace working hard as one of Queen Guayusa's servants. Saeran wasn't just at knight training, but was actually gone on a week-long training mission with Master Urrvink, Adriel, and the rest of his unit of squires. Whenever the house was empty Damiana was generally able to deal with it. Throughout her entire childhood, she had actually been alone quite a lot. Being a child prodigy from the Fire Phoenix clan who knew enough Master's Level techniques to burn down entire villages, the other children tended to avoid her.
Of course, on this particular day, being alone bothered her greatly. Queen Guayusa was holding a large banquet at the end of the week, and because of this, all of the palace servants had to work overtime. Three days had passed, and Damiana hardly saw her mother for fifteen minutes that entire time. Not only that, but four days had passed since Saeran had gone on his training mission with Adriel.
Without Mama and Saeran around, as well as missing her older brother's friend who often spent time at their cabin, Damiana was growing terribly lonely. Adriel's younger sister with whom she got along well, Jaegana, had stopped by earlier in the day to say hello, but the girl had chores waiting for her at home. Because of this, Jaegana didn't have much time to visit and ended up leaving quickly.
Nonetheless, as always, Damiana did her best to push away the feeling of loneliness. Sometimes she pushed it away by reading one of her many books, sometimes she coped by learning new languages or new fire-wielding techniques, and other times the girl would do chores. That was how she coped that day was doing chores. Sadly, her usual coping mechanism still wasn't enough to get her through. Why? Because on this day, she wasn't just alone. She was alone on her birthday.
The girl remembers wearing her plain, dark green, house-dress that evening. It wasn't pretty like her royal blue gown, but was instead knee-length, short-sleeved, made out of rough material, and was fit for working in. Her hair, which was dark gray mixed with bruise-colored purple at the time, was tied into a bun and out of her face. The whole time the girl was on her hands and knees scrubbing at the floor, a rag in her hands and a bucket of soapy water sitting next to her.
She'd actually just mopped the floor yesterday, and without Saeran and Adriel tracking in dirt, it really didn't need to be mopped again. Of course, the girl didn't care. All she cared about was having a way to distract herself. With reading, practicing other languages, and using new fire techniques growing old, she decided to mop the already clean stone floor. As she did this, the girl silently wept in misery.
"Of course," she'd whispered to herself. "Mama's at the Palace and Saeran is with his Knight friends, while I'm stuck here all alone. What use is being the Fire Phoenix clan's greatest prodigy if I'm always stuck on this stupid hill by myself?"
Standing up, grabbing the bucket, and moving to mop another part of the floor, she continued speaking to the walls around her. "Why can't it be my twelfth birthday instead of my eleventh? If I was turning twelve, I would be getting my arm cuff with the fire phoenix, and I would join Mama and Saeran as members of the clan. I would be able to start my Scribe training at the Palace, and I wouldn't be by myself! Why can't I be twelve instead of eleven?!"
Before Damiana could kneel down on the floor and continue her mopping, she ran an angered hand through her hair and kicked over the bucket in a fit of rage. Following this she breathed a long stream of fire out of her mouth, evaporating the water off of the floor, but burning nothing. In truth, nothing in her childhood home burned easily. It was built by the Fire Phoenix clan, after all…
Meanwhile, a voice sounded off from behind her. It wasn't startled or upset at the young girl's display, but rather, the voice was kind and compassionate.
"Don't rush time by, Damiana. You'll turn twelve and get your arm cuff soon enough. For now, enjoy being eleven. Childhood is a precious thing."
Surprised at the voice, the eleven-year-old whipped around. Standing in the doorway gazing at her daughter with a kind smile was none other than Damiana's mother. Her hair was a bit disheveled and her clothes wrinkled from a long day of working, but nonetheless, the woman still smiled. That is what Damiana loved about her mother the most was that, no matter what, she always smiled.
In the meantime, gaping at the woman, Damiana bent over and rushed to pick up the bucket she'd kicked during her time of anger. "Mama! You're home! I'm sorry for shouting! I—"
Her smile never fading, the woman immediately cut Damiana off. "Don't worry about it, Dami. You're not in trouble. Nobody should have to be alone on their birthday. To be honest, if I was stuck here all by myself for days on end, I would be reacting the same way."
Pushing a strand of hair out of her face, which was now back to its normal shade of strawberry red, Damiana returned her mother's smile and approached her. Closing the door behind her, the woman stepped the rest of the way into the house and met her daughter halfway. The mother and daughter embraced each other in a joyful hug a moment later, Mama's hair turning a happy shade of rose red.
As soon as the embrace broke, Damiana spoke. "But, Mama, what are you doing home? You're not supposed to be back from your job at the Palace for another four hours."
Smile brightening, Damiana's mother reached a hand toward her shoulder to remove a simple, brown, bag. It was a bag that she took with her to the Palace every day to carry food and reading material for her lunch period. While removing the bag, she replied to her daughter's inquiry.
"True, but I found a moment to talk to Queen Guayusa, and she let me come home early today. Not only that, but I've spent the past few days pulling strings with Royal Counsel and the clan elders so I could get you your birthday present." Digging through her bag, she continued. "This is a very special present I got for you, so make sure that you treasure it. Happy birthday, Damiana."
Less than a second after she spoke she pulled the book out of her bag; the book with the obsidian-colored cover, the yellow gems, and the beautiful golden swirls. The instant the girl laid eyes on it, Damiana gasped in shock and her hair shifted to bright green.
"M-Mama! T-that's the P-Phoenix Index! It contains the entire history of our clan! Without permission from the Royal Counsel and the clan elders, we aren't even allowed to touch it!" After an awed pause, she added. "I thought the elders locked it away in the Palace Archives after the Phoenix Index's previous owner died! How did you get it?!"
"How do you think?" asked her mother. "I've spent three days straight talking to the Royal Counsel and the clan elders. It was an exhausting process, but I finally got permission for the Phoenix Index to be passed to you. As the Fire Phoenix clan's greatest prodigy, they've entrusted you with the book's safety."
Her eyes wide, Damiana stammered in shock yet again. "But Mama, you have to be j-joking! That book is the Phoenix Index! It contains three thousand years of the Fire Phoenix clan's history, and I haven't even been initiated into the clan yet! Why would they trust me with that?!"
Placing a loving hand on her daughter's shoulder, the woman smiled once more. "The real question, Damiana, is why wouldn't they trust you with it? You're the greatest prodigy that our clan has seen in generations. Even if you're not part of the clan yet, you're going to be soon. And when you are, there's no doubt that you'll be the clan member that makes our elders the proudest." Hesitating, she added with hopeful eyes, "Who knows? One day, you could be Dabnod's next Great Queen."
With that being said, Damiana's mother took the book and shoved it into her arms. Even as she held it, the eleven-year-old still couldn't process that the Phoenix Index belonged to her! Looking at the book and then at her mother, Damiana tried to shove it back in her arms.
"Mama, it was very nice of you to get me the Phoenix Index for a birthday present, but you didn't have to. Maybe you should ask the Counsel to put it back in the archives, and to get it back to me after I turn twelve. If I'm going to have the responsibility of being the owner of this kind of book, then I really think that I should be a member of the clan first."
Her mother didn't take the book when Damiana tried shoving it back into her grasp. Instead she merely shoved it back at Damiana, giving soft and airy chuckles the whole time.
"Oh, Dami. Don't you get it? The Phoenix Index is more than just a book! You need to open your mind! Look at the Phoenix Index from a different angle, and you'll see things that you never saw before!" Pausing, she added with a mysterious glint in her eyes, "If you look at it from a different angle, you might see next year's birthday present there, too."
*End Flashback*
The memory of the day vanishing from her mind, Damiana looks at the book once more. Even now, after five years, Damiana still can't believe that her mother gave her the Phoenix Index for her eleventh birthday. The very thought of it still astounds her beyond belief! Who gives an ancient book with every ounce of history all the way back to the founding of their clan to an eleven-year-old girl?! Sure if her mother had taken it back to the Palace Archives like she asked the book would have been destroyed with Dabnod never to be seen again, but still…
Scratching her head and arching her brow, Damiana tilts her head to the side and stares at it. Not only is she still in disbelief that she has the Phoenix Index, but the girl is still confused about what her mother told her about "opening her mind" and looking at the book differently. In the end, Damiana still doesn't see anything other than a book. She has no idea what she meant about "next year's birthday present" either. Maybe Mama was teasing her? She did have a habit of doing that.
Meanwhile, as Damiana is sitting under the tree observing the ancient Dabnodian artifact, there is a woman in her middle fifties walking by on the sidewalk. She wears a pink tracksuit, she hums a happy tune, and she is walking a large golden retriever. The whole time Damiana doesn't notice the woman, neither does the woman notice Damiana. However, even if the duo of two-legged beings doesn't notice each other, the same can't be said for the golden retriever. As they walk by, the dog actually stops to stare at the Dabnodian girl with interest.
When the dog stops out of nowhere, the woman looks at the animal in disgust and begins tugging on its leash. "Daisy, what's wrong with you? You just went potty back at the duck pond!" Giving the leash another tug, she commands, "Come on, now. You be a good dog, and come with Mama."
The golden retriever doesn't listen in the slightest. Instead, it starts pulling the leash in the opposite direction. This only causes the woman to tug on the leash harder.
"Daisy, you be a good dog and come with Mama right now! You're being naughty!"
Again, Daisy doesn't listen. The dog continues trying to pull away from its owner. The whole time its owner tugs on its leash harshly, grumbling at the dog the whole time. Eventually one of them wins the battle, but unfortunately it isn't the woman in the pink track suit. All it takes are a few seconds for the golden retriever to break off of its leash and to start sprinting straight for Damiana.
Damiana doesn't hear the squabble between the woman and her dog, neither does she hear the paws that clatter across the grass once the animal breaks free. The whole time she simply stares at her book deeply in thought. However, once the dog leaps on top of her with a paw on each shoulder, knocks her down so that she's on her back, and begins licking her face, the dog comes to the Dabnodian girl's attention immediately.
In the space of three seconds Damiana ends up lying on the grass trying to push the large animal off of her. During the ordeal, the Phoenix Index was flung approximately five feet away from her. The Dabnodian girl doesn't notice this, though. Neither does she notice as the startled middle aged woman rushes across the grass in her direction. The only thing she notices is the dirt-covered paws on her sweatshirt and the slobbery tongue licking her face.
Squirming in discomfort she grumbles to the dog. "Okay, I get it! You like me! I look appealing in my hole-covered jeans and old sweatshirt! Now please get off of me!"
Sadly, the dog doesn't listen to her. The only time it moves at all is when its owner draws near and calls for it. Even then the dog leaves Damiana reluctantly.
"Daisy, come here, girl! Come on! You get off of her, and leave her alone!"
Several seconds pass, but eventually the golden retriever gets off of Damiana and runs back to the woman wearing the pink tracksuit. Once the animal is off of her, Damiana sighs in relief before wiping the slobber off of her face and the dirt off of her shirt. As the girl works her way to her feet, the woman apologizes to her in the sincerest of fashions.
"I am so sorry! Usually Daisy doesn't do this. I don't know what's gotten into her this morning!"
Damiana wipes the remaining drool off of her face as she replies to the woman. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. I guess Daisy's just energetic in the mornings, huh?"
Giving a pleasant laugh, the woman nods. "Oh, yes! Daisy's very energetic in the mornings! It's her favorite time of day! She never runs up and jumps on people, though. I'm sorry about that again."
Opening her mouth partway, Damiana is prepared to tell the woman again not to worry about it. However, when the girl spots the Phoenix Index right in front of the dog owner's feet, she freezes. All it takes is an instant for the lady to notice it. Gazing down at the object with a nervous gaze, she steps a few inches away and pulls Daisy to the side.
"Oh, and I hope that Daisy didn't do anything to hurt your pretty box! You probably have a lot of nice little trinkets in there!"
Upon hearing the woman's words, Damiana unfreezes and looks at her in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Initially her greatest fear was having the lady spot the Phoenix Index, and place it as a foreign object that isn't of Earth. However, upon hearing her "box" remark, all of her fears immediately vanish. Moving a few steps closer, Damiana inquires about her comment.
"Box? What do you mean it's a box?"
This time it is the woman who stares at Damiana in confusion. "Well it is a box, isn't it? Those little yellow gemstones almost look like they're attached to a handle."Giving another laugh, she adds, "Oh, who knows? I'm probably just some crazy old woman! Before I thought the gemstones were part of a handle, I was thinking that those pretty gold lines looked like tracks. If you try shoving the gemstones down them, it almost looks like they can be rearranged!"
Curiosity growing, Damiana walks over beside the woman and stares at the book from where she's standing. From the angle she was previously standing at, the Phoenix Index looked as it always had; like an ancient book containing the entire history of the Fire Phoenix clan. From this woman's angle, however, it becomes apparent that she isn't crazy in the slightest. From her angle, the Phoenix Index truly doesn't have the appearance of a book. Now that Damiana is seeing it from her angle, it looks like a black-painted jewelry box with a golden handle covered by gems. With the additional swirls and zigzags surrounding it, it really does look like the gems can be moved, too.
Damiana stares at it for several minutes before the reality of what the woman said hits her like a bolt. All of the sudden Damiana feels like the biggest Dabnodian fool to ever breathe. She has had the Phoenix Index constantly by her side for the past five years, and she never once saw what the lady in the pink tracksuit is able to see. When her mother told her to view the book from "a different angle" and to "open her mind", she'd always assumed that she was speaking metaphorically. Now it's becoming apparent that this wasn't at all the case.
Turning to face her, Damiana is fully prepared to thank the woman for the large amount of insight that she just gave her. Before she has the chance, however, a squirrel rushes past them on the nearby sidewalk. When this happens, Daisy takes off again in a full sprint while barking viciously. Placing a palm to her forehead, the lady sighs.
"I'm sorry, young lady, but it looks like I have to go. You have a nice day."
With that being said the lady rushes off after her golden retriever and quickly disappears down the sidewalk. It is only once Damiana is alone again that she takes the Phoenix Index back under the tree with her and takes a seat. The whole time she holds it at the same angle that the woman saw it from so that it appears like a jewelry box instead of a book. Kneeling and placing it on the grass in front of her, Damiana gazes at it with a furrowed brow.
"A box, huh? Well, then, let's see what's inside." In a whisper, she adds, "Forgive me, Mama. It seems that I'm opening my twelfth birthday present over four years late."
Once that is said, Damiana reaches out a forefinger and cautiously pushes at one of the yellow gemstones. Certainly enough, exactly like the woman had stated, it moves along the golden line like it's a track. After it gets halfway up the line, however, the gem stops moving completely. Damiana isn't alarmed by this, but rather, she assumes that her ancestors designed it this way. With this thought in mind, she shoves the other gemstones down the golden lines that are nearest to them. Like the first gemstone, they stop and are no longer able to move past a fixed point.
Damiana spends several minutes doing this. There are many gemstones, and the tracks are narrow rather than wide, so she has to use careful precision to avoid breaking anything. It takes a while, but by the time she's finished rearranging the gemstones, she learns that the results are worth it. The instant the last gemstone is put in place the shape of a flawless diamond has been formed. Much to her surprise, the diamond pops up so it has the appearance of a button or a knob of some sort. The very sight of this causes her to raise a brow.
"This is strange," she whispers aloud in English. "Do I push it or turn it?"
After a long time of consideration, the girl eventually decides to turn it. She does so with careful and adept fingers, taking caution not to break it in case it isn't supposed to turn. However, the diamond-shaped knob turns easily almost as if it was waiting to be turned. Originally the diamond was at a horizontal angle, but by the time Damiana is finished, it has been placed vertically. She would have turned it farther, but much like the gemstones on the track, it stopped moving after a certain point.
Once the diamond has been placed vertically and once she can turn it no more, an echoing click is heard. Less than a second after the click, an entire other section of the book pops up and the cover flies open. Only, it is no longer a book cover, but the lid of a jewelry box. Inside the jewelry box, to Damiana's greatest shock, is an object that she never thought she would be able to see. Much like Mama, Saeran, the Dabnodian Palace, and their little house on the hill, she thought that it was gone forever on the night that Dabnod was destroyed. Apparently she was wrong, though, because here it is right in front of her.
Inside the jewelry box, sitting amongst what appears to be ancient scrolls from the Dabnodian Palace's archives, is a golden cuff. Ignoring the scrolls, Damiana reaches in slowly and removes the metal cuff in a hesitant fashion. Even as she removes it, she can hardly believe that the object is real. However, one she holds it in her hand only a few inches away from her face, there's no denying it. The object she's holding is a golden cuff that is meant to go around a woman's upper arm. Welded into the cuff in copper-colored metal, much to her tear-filled joy, is a majestic fire phoenix with outstretched wings.
For the first time in years, Damiana allows herself to cry. For once the fates have actually been kind to her. Even after the destruction of Dabnod, they're still allowing her to receive her mother's last birthday present to her. Not only that, but attached to her arm cuff is a piece of paper with writing on it. The writing, of course, is written in the Dabnodian language. The sight of Dabnodian script alone makes her happy, but what makes her happier is that there are two separate lines. Based on the handwriting, one line of script was written by her mother, and the other was written by Saeran.
The one by Saeran is a simple, happy, message exactly as Saeran would have written it: "Happy birthday, little sister. You're a member of the clan now. Wear our symbol proudly."
The one by her mother is also happy, but for some reason, her's is the one that brings additional tears to Damiana's eyes: "Happy birthday, Dami. There has never been a mother more proud of her child than me. I hope that you wear the fire phoenix every single day for the rest of your life. You're going to grow up to be an incredible woman someday, and when you do, I want you to look at our clan symbol and remember where you came from."
Damiana reads her late family members' messages through tear-filled eyes. Never did she think that the fates would be so kind to her. After placing the note back inside of the box, Damiana finds herself taking off her sweatshirt and revealing the plain black tank-top that she wears underneath. After wiping away her tears, she takes the cold metal arm cuff and slides it onto her right upper arm. It fits her perfectly.
A/N: Well, that was chapter thirteen. Does that ending warm your hearts? I hope that it does! Damiana is going to be joining the Titans East in the next chapter (most likely), and once she designs her costume, I just can't see her without her clan's arm cuff. After losing everything, I feel like being able to wear her arm cuff would mean the world to Damiana! Also, I thought I would reveal a bit more about her childhood while I was at it. Being a prodigy isn't all it's cracked up to be, so I'll admit that Damiana was pretty lonely at times. When it comes down to it, the Titans East are probably going to be her first friends ever!
Not only that, but you're all probably curious about Speedy's split with Green Arrow as well. I know that I have hinted at it before, so I'm going to be revealing some details about Speedy's past. The explanation of what happened between Speedy and Green Arrow is coming in chapter fourteen, as is the big scene when Damiana joins the Titans.
I start my second internship tomorrow, so I don't when I'm going to get the next chapter posted, but I will try not to keep you waiting for too long. Thanks to those of you who are following, favoriting, reading, and reviewing! I'm so glad that you're enjoying this story! Until my next update! :)
Forever and Always
OCQ