A Dragon's Love (Young Justice)

Bereft

I wake up to the feeling of something wet sniffing at my face. Not wanting to open my eyes, I simply push whatever it is away with my hand, and settle back down. Within seconds, it's back, but this time, I feel it lick me. My eyes snap open and I jump up into a fighting stance, claws out and ready.

I look around confused. There's no one around for miles in what looks to be a desert. "Huh? Why am I in a desert? Did the tower pull another trick on me while I was asleep?" I wonder to myself, my claws turning into hands again. I look up to the sky. "Tower, please open a door for me, or send me back to my room." I call out into the open air. I wait a few seconds.

I look around me, confused once more. "Okay, so I'm not in the tower after all, but when did I leave it in the first place? I haven't left since-" I cut myself off, feeling something pawing at my leg. I look down, and what I see actually startles me. A creature sits there, sitting five inches in front of me. It's the color of sand, if not lighter, with long ears and black eyes popping out of it's head. It paws at my legs again, looking straight into my eyes as it does so. From what I can tell, it looks like a baby.

Slowly, so as not to scare it off, I kneel down in front of the tiny creature. I lend my hand out for it to sniff, and watch as it cautiously does so, ending with a small lick upon my palm. I smile calmly at it. I look back at my surroundings. "Definitely not in the tower." I mutter. Carefully, I begin to pet this small critter. Soon enough, it's laying in my lap, eyes closed and breathing slow with each stroke of my hand. It's fur is soft under my hand, like silk. Like the fabrics that were made for my bed back in my palace. I close my eyes, reminiscing the feel from it's softness.

Suddenly, it jumps up and runs over the hill. I stare at it, bewildered. Slowly, I stand up, and turn to go the other way. 'Now, how do I get away from here?' I wonder. I feel pawing at my legs once more and look to see the same small animal, biting onto my cloak, tugging. Once it knows it has my attention, it starts running back over the hill, stopping at the middle to look back at me. I quickly understand that this tiny being wanted me to follow him.

We walk for what seems like hours, until the sun goes down, and it's dark out. It's cold out here in the dark, but not enough to really affect me. The young entity that I follow simply keeps walking, looking back every once in a while to make sure that I am still behind him. After a little while longer of nothing but silence, we come across a boy with dark skin, lying unconscious in the sand.

I look over to my new, little friend, as we seem to have bonded. He's sitting down, staring at the teenage boy in front of us. He looks up at me, whimpers slightly, then looks back down to the boy. I sit down close to his head, taking in more detail on the boy's features. His hair is blond, almost the color white. His clothes are black, and he has strange markings placed on his arms that strangely resemble that of a certain type of fish, whose name I can't remember. Oddly enough, there are slits on each side of the boys throat, almost as if he had gills...

I jump back in distaste. This boy is Atlantian. I know this, as I remember Fate telling me once about the city under the water's waves. He told me how there were fish, people with tails, and even people who could walk on land, with gills on their sides or necks, and lungs in their chests. This boy, just so happens to be one of those Atlantians.

Seeing as how he is Atlantian, I keep my distance from him, not sitting too close to him, but not far enough away to where my little companion whines and tugs my cloak to come closer. I've only met one other Atlantian, Aquaman, and that meeting didn't end well, with me almost dying.

(3rd POV:)

"So we're a team?" Robin asks, after all of the Bialyan soldiers had been tied together. M'gann answers with, "The 4 of us and Superboy." "Then this must be his." Robin states, holding out a torn piece of black fabric with Superman's symbol on it. "Yes! Did you see him?" M'gann asks. "I think we did." Artemis states, turning to look at Kid Flash. "Feral boy? Some teammate. He attacked us." He remarks.

"He didn't know who we are. I don't know who we are." She defends. "I remember Batman ordering radio silence." Robin comments. "Our team must work for him." "How do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Kid asks, smirking and pointing at his chest. Without warning, his suit fades from stealth-mode black, to his usual red and yellow. He looks at his suit, surprised.

"Woah. This is so cool!" He exclaims, pressing it again. Artemis and Robin both tap their chests to see if their suits changed as well, but they stayed the same. "We look ridiculous." Artemis states, turning to M'gann. She glances at Kid. "Quite touching yourself!" She orders. "We need our memories back."

Suddenly, Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis find themselves in a strange, new dimension. Looking around, there are broken shards showing images of the team, each different from the last. "I brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far. But I need your help. Together, our broken memories can form a whole, if you open your minds to mine." M'gann states, appearing in front of them. "You want to paw through our private thoughts?" Artemis asks, taking a step back. M'gann raises her hands in defense. "I have no wish to intrude, but-" She's cut off.

"We need to hack our minds to grok what happened to us. Got it. Go." Robin says, being the one to cut M'gann off. "My brain's all yours. Try not to let it's brilliance overwhelm you." Kid flirts. "Or underwhelm you." Robin interjects. "Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"

Artemis looks back at M'gann. Kid moves closer and takes her hand, giving it a squeeze. "Last 6 months only, and only what you need." M'gann nods, before closing her eyes, raising her arms as she reaches out into all three of the other's minds.

"The watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee, and not a member of the League's U.N. Charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Kourak on Bialya's border, 2 clicks from the hot zone." The memory of Batman telling them their mission changes to them landing, with Superboy unloading the machinery needed to help figure out the data.

"Set up here." A voice says, and Superboy sets down the machinery. "We'll be up and running in no time." Robin states. "Jackpot!" Kid exclaims, "The site's lousy with Zeta Beam radiation." "Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent." Robin adds in. "I'll check it out in camouflage mode." M'gann tells them, walking closer. "Good idea. Go" The voice says once more.

"Careful." Superboy tells her. "And maintain telepathic contact." The voice says again, as Aqualad walks up to them. "I will, Aqualad." "And make sure not to move around too much, there are people that can see martian camouflage when in motion. Sportsmaster proved that in Santa Prisca." A girl's voice is heard, as Dracona goes to stand by Aqualad. M'gann nods. "Alright, Dracona."

M'gann gasps as they all open their eyes. "Aqualad and Dracona!" "Where are they? What happened next?" Robin asks. "I don't know! That's the last thing I-we remember." M'gann tells them. Kid and Artemis look down to see that they're still holding hands. They quickly pull apart.

"We landed 24 hours ago. If Kaldur'ahm's been wandering the desert that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills." Kid states. "But seeing as how Dracona is a dragon, she's said once before that she's used to hotter conditions, she should be okay, despite the fact that she probably can't remember anything either." M'gann adds in.

"Now that I know to look for them..." Robin starts, pulling up a holographic map from his glove. "They're close! But, they're not moving." "Well then, let's go get them." Artemis states.