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Parallels	By : sirensoundwave Category: DC Verse Cartoons > Young Justice Views: 3184 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Plot and anything you don't recognize, mine. Everything else (Young Justice or any characters licensed by DC) belongs to their respective creators/writers/artists. Just know I make no profit off of this and shut up about it...m'kay?

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Thanks to everyone reading this. The hit counter is moving faster than I thought it would. I wuv yous guys!
Okay, this is Aqualad's chapter. We learn about his mom and the promise she forced Queen Mera to make. And how dying words are sometimes open to interperetation.
Avenged Sevenfold starts thing off with Welcome to the Family.
Chapter 10
Welcome to the Family
And in a way it seems, there's no one to call
When our thoughts are so numb, and our feelings are unsure
We all have emptiness inside, we all have answers to find
But you can't win this fight
Hey
I have to question,
What's with the violent aggression?
Details blurry, lost him too early
Welcome to the family
Hey
Why won't you listen?
Can't help the people you're missing
It's been done, a casualty re-run
Welcome to the family
Kaldur'um never knew his parents. He accepted that they were dead but like all children, he still longed for what could have been.
The method of dealing with orphans in Atlantis was nothing like the horror stories he heard about ones on the surface. No underfunded orphanages. There was no rampant physical, sexual or mental abuse within a dilapidated foster care system children simply aged out of with only a wing and a prayer the minute they were adults. He grew up as part of a composite family consisting of himself, a very nice man named Adri'ahn who was a tailor and a stern but fair man named Gesparj, enlisted in the royal guard.
The way the system worked, children were matched to composite families whom it was thought they'd adjust best to. The caregivers in these families were often former orphans themselves. Or families that wanted a child and either couldn't conceive or wanted to spare one the pain of feeling alone and unloved. They lacked the frivolous barriers found in the surface world that determined if you were composite material based on sexual orientation or religion.
When he told Raquel that he had been raised by two men, she looked at him oddly for a moment. She wasn’t disgusted, just the idea wasn’t common where she was from. The two were sitting on the stoop outside her aunt’s apartment. They had a long talk about the philosophical, ethical, religious and practical implications of having the same system in the rest of the world. Certainly there would be less children suffering for no reason.
* “Meh, you turned out okay. You’re a hero for Christ sakes. Imagine what it would be like if they couldn’t take you in just because they were in love. Those religious hypocrites we got up here need to visit your world.”* She finally said before flagging down an ice cream truck and asking him if he wanted an Oreo ice cream sandwich.
Adri-ahn, whose mother died in labor and father could not bear to be reminded of his dead love, and Gesparj, who lost both his parents to illness, both grew up in the same composite and wanted others to have the same chance at happiness.
He once asked why he had no siblings if that was the case. Adri'ahn smiled sadly at him. He set the pants he was stitching down and took his small body into his arms.
"Oh Kalur'um, sometimes the things we wish and the things we are actually able to accomplish are not one and the same. If we welcomed another child, we would suffer in our ability to care for you both. Just know that Gesparj and I love you too much for that to come to pass." He kissed his forehead and began to sing him a lullaby. One about the calming deep blue sea in the moon’s pale light.
He always knew he was different than his peers but he was unsure exactly how or why. His skin was one thing.
There were many complexions in Atlantis but he was quite a bit darker than his peers. It wasn't the same when comparing him to those who more resembled other sea creatures--their coloring was on par with their distant relatives.
Then there were his tattoos. He figured out on his own that they weren't really tattoos so much as birthmarks. His queen (and several others) only possessed them when using her abilities to the fullest. Yet they were not nearly as dark as his own. His had darkened quite a bit since he first noticed them as a child. They glowed when he concentrated and allowed him to play with water density and temperature when he was bored. They also gave him the unusual ability to conduct electricity. While not a rare feat in Atlantis, it was rare to do so without any formal training. It just came to him naturally as breathing. Speaking of breathing...
He had gills too.
Not one of his peers who share some ancestry with those of the surface world did. But he could find no record of anyone else like him. Adri’ahn and Gesparj always told him he was special. That there was no shame in being different. Variety was everywhere in the kingdom.
When it was revealed that he could used such advanced hard water and electrical abilities at only a few cycles old, he was enrolled at the Conservatory of Sorcery. There he befriended Garth and fell in love with Tula. It was saddening that his family was killed in an attack by the disgraced Prince Orm soon after. It merely strengthened his resolve to be a great protector of his kingdom someday. Queen Mera took a particular interest in him then. She tutored him personally and eventually her husband noticed him as well. He began to live in the palace, training to become part of the royal guard. These events put him on the path to eventually being chosen as Aqualad over his best friend. He always believed the position at his king’s side was earned by his talents and character.
Recent events proved him wrong. And he felt the tempest within begin to stir more violently than it ever had. Meditation had always quelled these unexplainable surges of power but he feared nothing would be able to hold back the coming storm now.
*I am bum...bum...bum...a line break!*
Arthur Curry stood beside the cave computer deep in thought.
He had a feeling that when the inhibitors were placed on the children, the order in which it was done would matter a great deal. Especially with how he knew psychic abilities tended to work particularly when the user was desperate. Mera always told him he needed to listen to those feelings.
He stared hard at Artemis. She now possessed many of his protege’s physical attributes, down to her stance, gills and deep black areas of skin wrapped around her arms. Her eyes had even shifted from the crystal blue they were to the bright, almost electrified aquamarine of the young atlantean. All of these things set him on edge. He knew when his wife learned of what happened next, she would merely shake her head, tell him past mistakes have come back to haunt him and walk away from him intent on a long meditation.
After some brief experimentation, Fate was able to give Kaldur’um his correct physical form. He made the spell durable enough to survive the collar’s negating ability. The instant it was placed on him, for lack of a better term, the shit hit the fan.
The simplest explanation was that Kaldur’um was still subconsciously reigning in his powers even though they were not in his physical possession. The martian girl’s abilities solved that problem for him. And as soon as that psychic barrier was removed, the tsunami was unleashed.
“ARRRGGGHHH!” Artemis’s eyes and markings glowed a bright aqua and Aquaman found himself flying across the room. He managed to get up just in time for the water from M’gann’s flood to knock him over again.
The room was instantly on alert. Artemis was levitating while surrounded by the same colored aura as her eyes and now glowing new tats. If the sheer anger in a glare were heat vision, Aquaman would be a four foot deep crater right then and there.
“Liar! What else have you hidden from me?!” The King of Atlantis narrowly dodged a blast of pure energy fired from her hands. “What truly happened to Adri’ahn and Gesparj?! Did they learn of my heritage and abandon me or was it by your hand that they were made to disappear?! Answer me!”
Another blast rocked the cave and rocks began to fall from the ceiling.
“Artemis you have to calm down! You’ll kill everyone if you don’t!” Kaldur’um pleaded with the angry girl. He knew exactly what the depths of her rage were and also know she was being consumed by it just as he feared he would be.“Please, these feelings aren’t yours! Remember who you are.”
The older heroes attacked, intent on subduing the girl before she brought the place down around their ears. GL constructed a green hand to bind her arms to her side. At the same time, Dr. Fate and Martian Manhunter worked to calm her mind.
“Release me!” She roared.
“GAAHHH!” The second Green Lantern of Earth was electrified like a moth in a bug zapper. The energy had been conducted by his own construct back to his ring. Smoke rose from his body where he fell. His last thought before lights out? Okay, that was new.
Superman tried the hands on approach with the same result. Luckily for him, he was able to hold on long enough for Flash to created a vortex around them. Being able to breathe in space, Superman was not affected by the sudden loss of oxygen. Artemis struggled but eventually blacked out in his arms. Batman quickly placed the inhibitor around her neck then glared at Aquaman.
“Start talking Curry. Until we know just what the hell that was, this is just a fancy new necklace.”
Sighing, he looked over at Aqualad. The young man would not meet his gaze.
“It is called an Inner Torrent. It is a magical gift coveted and feared by those of our world. It is also part of the reason your birth mother and relative of mine, Lyun’ua was killed.” He walked towards the boy he could no longer deny was his younger cousin. “The same codes for magical powers should work. Kaldur’um, we need to talk. Privately.”
Ennnt!
Robin made the sound of a buzzer with his wrist computer, and frowned at Aquaman. Collar or not he was still not speaking. Several adults gave him a reproving look.
“Rob’s right. This whatever it was almost buried us. Literally. This game of secrets needs to end before something kills us all.” Rocket huffed. “It’s really clear that both sides have been lying to each other about a lot...I sound like a counselor.”
“You sound like me.” Black Canary chuckled. “But it might be a better idea to do this in private sessions.”
“No.” Kaldur’um shook his head. “I refuse to follow you anywhere until you tell me what Sagittarius meant.”
The king looked at his subject’s defiant gaze in shock briefly before casting his eyes down.
He explained that Kal’s mother had been a member of the royal court. She was not in line to rise to the throne but had the same status as a duchess. She was one of the few born with an Inner Torrent, a power said to come from Poseidon himself. With it she could use magic far superior than the top staff at the conservatory. Despite that, she was very gentle soul who abhorred violence. Her powers were rarely used causing many to doubt she even had them. She sought a way to end the feud between Atlantis and the man known as Black Manta. Whom she came to know as David.
He was unclear on the exact details, whether he truly loved or was only using her, but she bore him a son. They had been meeting secretly on land and aboard one of his underwater vessels. It was known that she was not married thus Kladur’um was considered illegitimate in the eyes of the court. When she tried to plead her case to her own family, she was arrested and sentenced to death for treason.
At the time, Aquaman was with the League on a mission. He learned of his cousin’s death and the promise she asked Mera to keep only after his wife began speaking to him again.
*Flashback*
“Mera...my son is not a monster. But I fear he may become one if David were to take him. You must promise me, he will live. He will grow up with people who love him and be able to chose as we all do what path to take.” Lyun’ua lay dying in her bed. She had been granted the chance at suicide by poison for her crime; the ‘dignified’ option given to those in higher society.
“Lyun’ua, that is something I cannot promise--”
“You are the Queen. If you desired a bridge to the surface, it would be made of subjects who would feel honored that your feet touched their unworthy backs.” She smiled. “My soul sister, you will do this for me because you know it is right. David must never get his hands on Kaldur’um. The results will be dire. But he must live to decide for himself what he will be. Monsters are made, not born.” She began to cough up blood.
“Oh!” Mera clufched her hand knowing there was nothing to me done for her.
“I haven’t much time. Please. I understand that you could not save me and I am not angry with you Mera. But you must promise me he will not be condemned.”
“I promise.” Mera sobbed. Her soul sister smiled one last time before a rattling in her chest was heard. Blood spewed from her mouth, spraying the Queen’s face and clothing. As suddenly as it began, the rattle ceased and she was dead.
*End Flashback*
“When I arrived home, Mera would not speak to me for a week. I pieced together what happened and banished the entire Court; it is how we became the sole monarchs without a consulting council. I placed you in the care of the two who raised you for I knew them to be kind hearted men. They knew of your origins and did not care. When your gifts manifested, I made sure that you were schooled.” He breathed deeply. “Adri’ahn and Gesparj truly were killed by my half brother. He was angry over his banishment and blamed you personally. Oceanmaster took away the only parents you ever knew out of revenge. I know now I took Lyun’ua’s warning too harshly. She wanted you to know why you were the way you were. She just did not want your father in your life. Instead I let my own fears distort her last words. I can only hope that in time you can forgive me Kaldur’um.”
The silence long after the explanation was broken by a loud, grief stricken wail. Kaldur’um dropped to his knees and did something he had not done in years. He cried.
Rocket ran to him and wrapped her arms around his shaking frame. Not knowing what to do, she sang the song her aunt sang to her as a child. A lilting tune about the calming deep blue sea in the moon’s pale light.
*I am bum...bum...bum...a line break!*
Did anybody notice the reference to who Aqualad becomes in the future? I’m blending all three versions of this character together (If you count Teen Titans there are technically five). This chapter is my explanation of the source of the abilities his older self has and why he never showed when he was younger. All that meditating he’d began to do was keeping it contained.
Don’t worry, GL is fine.... relatively speaking. He's had much worse before.
Tell me what you think guys. Artemis/Roy, Zatanna, or Rocket will be next. Sirensoundwave out.
P.S. I have a song for Miss. M’s chapter now.
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Parallels