—Nova
For a moment, I think I'm dead, and it brings a certain peace to my soul. No more fighting, no more cowering in terror, no more running. But I feel the bed underneath me, and hushes voices speaking.
I open my eyes slowly. The dim light barely illuminates the two figures that sit beside my bed. The room appears gray.
Oh no. He's found me.
I sit up quickly, my heartbeat racing in fear. The bed sheets start smoldering as my skin turns into a warm yellow.
The figures both stand up and come to my side. Their mouth make sounds but the sounds aren't my language.
"Where am I? Who I you?" I ask. They stop speaking for a moment, and give each other looks. The one figure, a human with red hair, turns back to me. I focus on his language, translating the words to meaning.
"Sorry, we don't speak your language." He says, but then reassuringly adds, "But you're safe here. No one's going to hurt you."
English. He's speaking English. He's a human, and I'm on Earth. I escape before it was too late. He hasn't found me yet. I'm okay. For now.
I clear my throat, and concentrate on my breathing. I listen to my heartbeat, imagine it slowing down. Imagine the rocky landscapes of my home. Imagine the black liquid that flows between the cracks of rocks on the ground. Imagine two suns in the green skies above me.
Slowly, my skin turns back to my regular color. My breathing is colored, and my heartbeat is slow.
"I'm sorry." I speak softly in their language. Their words are so confusing, so many different sounds, but I manage to string them all together.
"There's nothing to be sorry about." The red hair human smiles. He has pretty white teeth. Dark dots cover his cheeks. What are those called? Freckles? Yes, freckles.
"Can you tell us your name?" The second human asks. Female, with long dark choppy hair. She looks intimating with her arms cross, but she is short, very short.
"My name is Nova Chitsa Jolon Ominotago." I speak softly. After seeing their blank faces, I add, "But you may call me Nova."
"Nova." Bart says. Yes, I remember him telling me his name. Bart. Then he smiles. "I'm Bart Allen, but I often go by Impulse."
"The name's Remy Emerson, I'm also Red Beetle." The female adds, her dark eyes trained on me. I've never seen such dark eyes before, and I found it beautiful.
Humans have such short names. Odd.
"Humans go by their first name, correct?" I ask cautious, afraid of angering one of them. Bart nods, grinning.
"Remy. Bart." I roll their names on my tongue.
"Nova," Remy says almost impatiently, "What are you?"
I blink at her bluntness. "I'm a Torras. My home is far away from your galaxy, millions of lightyears. I live on the planet Torran."
"Torras? I've never heard of aliens like you." She says, then her attention shifts away from me. Like she's listening to someone I can't hear.
Alien. That's the first time that term has ever applied to me. It is true through, odd. I am an alien here on this foreign planet.
"Then how did you end up here?" Bart asks.
My breathing hitches and I feel my torso heat up, but I focus, calming myself down.
"I was travelling on my ship, heading for Earth. Everyone has heard of Earth and her mighty warriors that are bred upon her ground. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Women just to name a few. I wanted to come here, to experience Human life." I lie, it comes out a little shaky. My heartbeat starts to rise as I fear punishment for my lie, but the humans don't move. I relax at this.
"Earth is pretty great," Bart says smiling. I find myself smiling back at him, and that shocks me. I don't remember the last time I smiled. My smile disappears, and a cease appears in his brow.
"Nova, you're safe here. No one's going to hurt you. You know that, right?" He asks, concerned.
"Yeah, I know." I say softly, surprised that my voice doesn't crack. "Before entering Earth's atmosphere, bandits attack my ship and began raiding it. I fought back, but there were many of them. They finally took off, but damaged my ship before they left. It crashed landed." The lie sounds believable, even to me.
Remy turns back to me, her expression hard. "They did that to you, didn't they?" She gestures to my face. I realize the intense expression was for the 'bandits' and not for me.
"Oh no." I breathe out, my hand reaching up and touching my face. It hurts, to even brush my fingers across the left side from all the bruises. As my fingers travel to my right side of my forehead, I brush against thread keeping my wound closed. Stitches.
My heartbeat speeds up. Did they see my body? All the scars, and the bruises?
"We'll find those bandits." Bart says, I notice his hands are tensed up into fists. "We'll get them, don't worry about it Nova. They won't hurt you again." His tense muscles scare me.
The promise sounds sincere, but how many times have promises been made to me only to be broken? Far too many.
"Thank you, Bart." I say anyways. I watch his fists smooth out, and I calm down. They must not have seen my body.
Bart looks at me for a moment, a curious expression in his eyes. As I focus on him, I see his eyes are an emerald green. I wasn't hallucinating then when I first saw him then, he actually has green eyes. I've never seen green in someone's irises. Paired with his bright hair color, he's the most exotically colored creature I've ever seen.
"So, why were you glowing before? And giving off large amounts of heat?" He asks, not taking his green eyes off me. I'm glad he doesn't.
"Oh," I say softly. "I keep forgetting you don't know about Torras. I can create extreme thermal heat with my body. Not actual flame, but heat. My powers are controlled by my emotions, my feelings, my will. My people are very calm and controlled species, but I was absolutely terrified when I was crash landing." That wasn't a lie, at least.
"Whoa," Bart breathes while Remy starts at me in exclamation.
"Is it hard to control, your power?" Remy asks, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Not usually. I've learned to control myself." I shyly say, embarrassed by the sudden attention.
"That's amazing! You could join the Team!" Bart sudden exclaims. He starts jumping up and down in excitement.
"The Team?" I ask, looking at Remy for help.
"The Team is a bunch of younger superheroes. Not the Justice League, but something like it. I bet Nightwing would totally let you on." She says, smiling for the first time. I like her smile, it's real and sincere.
A team. A superhero team. Am I superhero? I don't know. Could I be one? Possible. I could belong somewhere though. Have a place. Have a purpose. The simple idea of doing good is what really pulls me in.
"I would love to, if you would have me." I say, giving up a smile. Bart grins bigger.
"That's totally crash! I can't wait to show you everyone else. We're actually in a base in Mt. Justice, crash right?"
Crash. That must be a slang term human's use.
I watch Bart's face as he continues telling about the Team. He's animated, and passionate. Happy, and sincere. Nothing like him.
Remy seems to listen to something for a moment, her head tilted slightly to the side. Then she puts a hand on Bart's arm, stopping him mid sentence.
"We'll let you sleep, Nova." Remy says softly, focusing back on me. "But don't worry, we'll take care of you here. You'll be healed up in no time."
I'm relieved Remy says that, because from the pain in my head down to my torso, it makes me want to curl up and sleep forever. Maybe I can just disappear for a little bit. Away from the nightmare that comes to haunt me while I'm awake.
"Thank you, Remy. Thank you, Bart." I say, leaning back against the pillows.
"No problem. We'll be here if you need anything." Bart says, giving me another smile. Remy begins leaving, but Bart stays, staring at me. I take the time to look at his green eyes again. So bright and beautiful. How could that color possibly be in a person's eyes?
Remy tugs on his arm, looking between the two of us. Her eyes suddenly sparkle with mischief and smile forms on her lips.
"Goodnight Nova." He finally says, waving goodbye and Remy and him leave.
I close my eyes, trying to imagine the bruises on my face aren't there and the green eyed human is still here beside me.