For love of my brother, I joined the Legion.
...No, wait. I should start at the beginning.
My name is Ayla Ranzz, though you’d probably recognize
me as Lightning Lass, or Light Lass--depends on when
you followed the news. I was a Legionnaire. I’ll
always be a Legionnaire; that never leaves you.
But you probably already know all about me. I was born
on Winath, twin sister of Garth Ranzz (himself a
Legionnaire as Lightning Lad), younger sibling of the
notorious criminal Mekt Ranzz, aka Lightning Lord.
You probably also know how we got our powers, how the
three of us crash-landed on Korbal and tried to
provoke a couple of lightning beasts into recharging
our ship’s engines, and how we got caught in the blast
instead and the lightning became a part of us.
You probably didn’t know that despite everything
that happened to the three of us afterward, I wouldn’t
change it for anything.
Three isn’t the usual number for Winathian siblings,
you know. It ought to be two, or four. It’s a quality
of our planet that encourages twin births, just like
all Braalians have magnetic powers or all Imskians can
shrink. But Mekt...was born an "only."
I hate that term. You can imagine how much more he
hated it. Mekt was set apart from the rest of our
world by lacking a twin, and soon as Garth and I were
old enough to understand that we tried to include him
in whatever we did. But Mekt had years of resentment
built up before that, and I can’t say I blame him.
Winath is an idyllic planet, and I really do love my
home--but our society failed Mekt in some pretty basic
ways. That wasn’t the only reason for Mekt’s problems,
of course. But it didn’t help.
As for Garth and I, well, what else is there to say?
Landing on Korbal really was our defining moment up to
that point. I’m sure you could look up our school
records if you were really interested, but why bother?
Sometimes it feels like we were reborn in those
lightning strikes, and I suppose in a way that’s true
enough. It certainly changed the course of our lives.
Soon as we got back to Winath, Mekt disappeared
without a word. He’d always talked about leaving,
making his own way somewhere else in the United
Planets. Our new powers must have seemed the perfect
impetus for him to do just that. Unfortunately...well,
you probably know about that, too. Mekt’s resentments
and insecurities boiled over into psychosis, and the
company he found didn’t help much. Both Garth and I
ended up battling him several times over the years.
He’d go back to Takron-Galtos or Labyrinth or wherever
they were holding super-powered criminals at the
moment, there would be a prison break, and we’d start
the whole stupid cycle all over again.
But back then all we knew was that our older
brother--who Garth and I both worshiped, because he
was so charismatic and uniquely himself--had
vanished. So Garth took it on himself to find him, and
on his way to Earth....
Oh, if you don’t know that legend by now, what
galaxy are you living in?!
Can you imagine? There I was on Winath, not doing
anything particularly of note, and suddenly it was all
over the news: how Rokk Krinn of Braal, Imra Ardeen of
Titan, and Garth Ranzz of Winath saved the life of
R.J. Brande--the richest man in the whole of the UP.
Who also just happened to have a real interest in
the tales of 20th Century heroes. And so the Legion of
Super-Heroes was born.
I was so proud!
My brother. My twin. The young Legion was the
only news for awhile, and I reveled in it. Every move
they made, from gaining members--including the
legendary Superboy!--to fighting super-villains; I was
there for all of it, in the newsholos and in the
transmissions Garth sent home.
Then Zaryan showed up, threatening to conquer the UP,
and in the process of almost single-handedly stopping
the invasion fleet Lightning Lad was killed.
He wasn’t blasted into a coma. He wasn’t frozen in
suspended animation. Garth died. My parents were
devastated. They had one son missing, deeply
disturbed; and now the other, dead. Me, I’d lost...
My twin. The other half of myself.
I won’t try to claim that losing Garth was somehow a
greater loss than that of anyone else who’s ever lost
a sibling; I’m not that arrogant. Maybe there was just
more emphasis on the Winathian twin-bond, something
ingrained into me from birth. Garth had left for Earth
but part of him was always with me, a deep knowing
that he was well and safe. And when he died...it felt,
quite literally, like a part of me had been torn away.
But he’d died doing what he wanted to do: being a
hero, being a Legionnaire. I’d followed news of the
Legion from the very instant of its founding, partly
for Garth’s sake but also because I loved it, the
whole idea. Costumes and codenames, the glamour and
the glory.
Death was never supposed to enter into it.
And I thought the Legion needed its Lightning Lad, its
founding elemental, and so....
Mother-God, it sounds so stupid now. But he was my
twin, and I had the same powers, and I was still young
and didn’t look so much different from a teenaged boy,
after all. So I made up a story and became my brother,
returning the lightning to the Legion.
The deception didn’t last long, of course. Go figure
it was Dirk who ferreted out the truth; even then he
had an eye for the differences between the boys and
the girls.... My lack of an Adam’s apple, what did
you think I meant?
(The problem with writing this all down instead of
telling it to a holocorder is that you can’t hear me
giggling. I wish he could hear me. I miss Dirk. He’s
still on Earth, but things there are bad and I’m
worried for him. I miss his laugh.)
But anyway, after I was found out Lightning "Lad"
became Lightning Lass and I stayed for Garth’s
memory. It wasn’t enough to simply mourn him; every
mission, every action I took was in his name. Being
there ensured no one would ever forget him.
And then, and then he came back.
A ritual and a sacrifice--one that both Imra and I
were willing to make, but the decision was taken out
of our hands by the Antarean shapeshifter Proty--and
Garth Ranzz returned to both life and Legion. That was
the first time a Legionnaire cheated death, though it
wouldn’t be the last. But what we did had too high a
price and would never be repeated.
I say a prayer for Proty’s spirit every year, and
thank him for my brother’s life.
And me? Oh, shortly after that Dream Girl came along
and changed my powers. Just like that, I went from
being Lightning Lass to Light Lass because--oh, don’t
laugh--I could make things "light." Spirits, we were
young then!
Nura said it was because Garth had returned to the
Legion that she altered my powers, but I think she was
hedging her bets; maybe she foresaw herself in the
Legion years later and me without the lightning, and
engineered things to make that happen. I mean, really;
everyone ignored the whole "no duplicate powers"
rule. Like we would turn down the power of Mon-El
because we already had Superboy. Even then we weren’t
that naïve.
But hey, I was still in the Legion as "Light Lass" and
that was fine with me. I got pretty good with those
powers after awhile. But it wasn’t the lightning, and
let’s face it, my antigrav powers never made that
much difference in a fight.
That was the first time I thought about leaving.
For love of Brin Londo, I stayed.
Poor, confused Brin. When we first met him, he’d been
brainwashed into believing that he was an android
and not his father’s robot Karth Arn. Imagine a boy so
lacking in self-identity that he’d believe he wasn’t
even human.
He needed me, so badly. His whole sense of self
depended on me telling him, over and over, that he was
real, human, worthy of life. His father--what kind
of man could do such horrible things to his own
son?!--had made Brin into an experiment, an attempt to
create the perfect Zuunite. Changing him against
nature, body and mind and even, I think, in his soul.
Faster, stronger, more sensitive to the input of his
senses; and more primal, angrier, raw.
That called to me in a way I can’t explain, even now.
I think I shocked some of my fellow Legionnaires when
we became a couple. I know they whispered about it:
"Sweet little Ayla. Nice little Ayla. Whatever does
she see in him?" Which I understood, because maybe
in comparison to everyone but Vi--back then, I mean,
shy little Shrinking Violet--I was the nice girl.
The sweetest thing among the Legionnaire women. Imra
had her no-nonsense attitude, Tinya her cattiness, Lu
her varying personalities, Kara her legendary status,
Nura her flirtations, Jeckie her regal poses, Shady
her heritage as a planetary champion. Me? I was just
nice. Garth’s little sister with those cute little
antigrav powers.
...I’m grinning as I write this, because I want you to
understand I don’t mean that to sound resentful at
all. It’s who I was. Still am, for the most part.
What can I say, I like people. Winathian philosophy
embraces contentment and serenity, and those attitudes
I grew up with helped me to accept whatever happened
as part of the natural order of things. Mekt had
problems that made it impossible for him to do the
same, and Garth…I don’t know, maybe joining the Legion
so young and being exposed to such pain--dying,
even--made him forget.
But--where was I?--oh, right. They whispered. I
ignored them. So what if my teammates didn’t
understand; we knew we had each other. A few learned,
eventually, to accept Brin for all he was. Val,
especially; Val’s death later on was a greater blow to
Brin than anyone knew, I think. Most simply saw the
animal rages and refused to look deeper to the man
inside; and if you guess I’m thinking specifically
about Phantom Girl here, you’re right.
...Tinya’s gone now; she died in a shuttle accident
three years ago. She was my friend, and Mother-God,
I’d give anything to have her back with us. With Jo,
spirits help him. But I’m telling truths here, and
Tinya was also one of those who made life most
uncomfortable for Brin in the Legion, because she
never gave him the benefit of a second look or a
second chance. But that was Tinya Wazzo; once her mind
was made up, there was no changing it. And her
attitude toward Brin really didn’t have anything to do
with everything else she did as a Legionnaire. She was
one of the best.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to digress. It’s
just...writing about my life means writing about the
Legion, all of my former teammates, and there’s so
much to say about them. I love them all, I really do.
The years went by so fast. Brin needed me and I loved
him, fiercely. Because I loved him, the passion and
intensity and honor of his spirit, I gave him all that
I had and more. The lingering remnants of the Zuunium
in Brin’s system--well, Brainy could give you the
clinical rundown, but it’s easiest just to say that
that the physical and emotional effects never went
away, not even when Brin underwent surgery to make
himself look more human again.
I guess that sounds like I was more of a nurse to him
than a lover. That isn’t true at all. We--well, I can
only say "we loved each other" so many times before it
starts to sound trite. But if there was one thing Brin
could never do, it was hide his emotions. He wore his
heart on the outside for all the galaxy to see.
Somewhere in all that time Garth and Imra found the
time to get married. I know a lot of people don't
understand them. Imra...can be hard, sometimes. She's
very guarded, because her telepathy is so strong that
she might read people’s minds by accident if she’s not
careful. Garth is really good for her because she can
relax around him, and she gives him the kind of
stability that he needs. They’ve got two kids now and
two more on the way; being "Aunt Ayla" is fun 'cause I
get to spoil them rotten.
Families within families. Garth and Imra, Brin and I,
and the rest of the Legion stood around us as the best
teammates and friends I ever could have wished for.
Of course, even in the closest families, sometimes
things go wrong.
For love of Brin--and in anger at what I thought was a
betrayal of that love--I left.
One last time, for the record:
No. Nothing happened between Brin and my brother’s
wife on that asteroid when they were lost and alone
and afraid. I know this. It’s nothing less than the
truth.
But at the time I wasn't sure, and that on top of
everything else....
Cham had taken Vi and Brin to Khundia and the mission
had gone terribly wrong, leaving them stranded on a
barren asteroid. People who think Imra is cold or
distant should have seen her then--she went after them
solely because I was desperately worried about Brin.
She risked her life so that her husband’s sister could
have her lover home safe.
It was awful timing all around, because at the same
time Garth was having problems that made his term as
Legion leader more stressful than it should have been.
Maybe he felt driven to live up to the example of the
two other founders, who’d also served at leader and
done so brilliantly. Garth’s being married to one of
them probably only made it worse; bad enough to think
about Imra’s strengths as a leader during the day, but
to have to face her at night--and feel he wasn’t
measuring up?
Me, I don’t think it’s a crime or a failing to admit
that not everyone has the same strengths, the same
skills. Unfortunately, a growing "electrical
disturbance" in his brain chemistry intensified
Garth’s problems as leader--how’s that for irony!
All of this came to a head with our missing
Legionnaires and loves. Garth quit as leader, leaving
the others to scramble to arrange rescues--not just
for Brin and Imra and the others, but for all the
other crises that needed the Legion’s attention at the
same time. Dawnstar and I went after the missing
Legionnaires...and found them thanks to her tracking
powers.
We found Imra and Brin in an embrace.
Years later and ages wiser I can remember that and
say, "so what?" As if a single moment of comfort
between them could negate years of devotion. And it
wasn’t as if we found them naked and impassioned,
either. A hug. Between friends. Wow, did I overreact.
But right then, at that moment, with Garth's
breakdown and the problems in their marriage and my
concerns about Brin and our own relationship colliding
all at once--I wasn’t sure about what I was seeing.
We probably would have worked it out fast, too, if the
greatest battle in the Legion's entire existence
hadn't started immediately afterward.
Darkseid came and blotted out the stars with his great
darkness, and fighting him became like a cancer at the
heart of the Legion. In my heart. I needed the sun of
Winath after that, the warmth of its land and the
peacefulness of its waters to drive away the dark.
It came down like an ultimatum, and I feel badly about
that. I really felt that I didn't have any choice
about leaving. There were too many losses for all of
our victories and it just hurt too much to stay any
longer. I asked Brin to go with me.
What I wanted was the kind of snap decision he'd
always made. The kind of unquestioning passion that
had brought us together and kept us together through
the years. But instead, he said... "I have to think
about it."
So while I packed, he thought about it. And as it
turned out...Brin needed the Legion more. He stayed
when I left, and that hurt me too. That after all I'd
given him, he couldn't give me his time.
I understood why, even then. It was all the same
story; the Legion was his identity, and without it he
feared he would lose himself. But that decision,
implying that I could never be enough despite
everything, that was the final blow.
I was happy on Winath, for a time. Without the
responsibilities of the Legion it was easy to relax.
I'm ashamed to admit that after the hurt faded,
without Brin I felt...free. It was easier than I'd
expected to let him go.
I wasn't bored. Honestly. People think I was, that I
was just looking for an excuse to return to the
Legion. But that wasn't true at all. Unlike both my
brothers, I could have stayed happily at home all my
life, serene and joyous on a joyful world. As I've
said many times, there's something special about a
culture that honestly believes there’s nothing wrong
with being happy. Back among friends and lovers, old
and new, I truly was at peace.
But the lightning wasn't done with me yet.
For love of myself--for the hero I became--I returned.
Issues revolving around one brother were part of the
reason I left the Legion. My other brother was the
reason I returned. Nice symmetry, huh?
It’d always been inevitable. Given a Legion of
Super-Heroes, there had to be a Legion of
Super-Villains. Until that point, every group with
that name had been more pitiful than threatening.
It was Hart Druiter, the old Legion traitor Nemesis
Kid, who’d gambled on strength in numbers. He’d
gathered together as many of our old foes as he could
find, and between his alchemy and their sciences he’d
conquered Orando and its queen, the ex-Legionnaire
Projectra. Remember what I said about being a
Legionnaire? Ex- or not, the Legion was there to help.
Unfortunately, Druiter was ready for the Legion. Each
of the villains had sworn to kill a Legionnaire, they
were organized, they had a plan. They had my brother.
Mekt stood at Druiter’s right hand, at the
height--depth?--of his madness. He’d sworn to kill
Garth, his own brother. But unlike the others, it
wasn’t out of hatred or simple love of mayhem; it was
because Mekt wanted me for his own.
I was Garth’s twin, you see. And without Garth...I
could become his.
Insanity.
I was kidnapped from Winath and brought to Orando, and
there Mekt told me about this plan of his. When I
refused to accept it, he hit me. With the lightning.
Over, and over, and over again.
I should have died.
Except that somehow Mekt’s attack gave me back my own
lightning powers ever stronger than they’d been
before, and when we fought that final time I had the
upper hand. Things became very clear suddenly. I told
him so, too. “When I left the Legion, it was because I
thought life had gotten too complex, the battles too
abstract. But you’ve done a great job reminding me,
brother. You’re insane, and you don’t care who you
hurt. That’s evil, as pure and obvious as it gets--and
that means I have to stop you.”
In the light of that, Winath seemed too small
suddenly.
Along with my returned powers I discovered a need for
action again. I never believed those who said that the
lightning was the cause of my brothers’
troubles--Mekt’s insanity, Garth’s
instability--because I never had any such symptoms.
But it was like a tingle in my blood, the power, and
it seemed wasteful to keep it hidden when I could put
it to good use.
Ironically, it was at about the same time that Vi--
I should say a little more, here. Salu Digby,
Shrinking Violet, was a Legionnaire before I came
along. She and I were friends, more or less, same as
we all were. But I was wrapped up in Brin and
she--well, she was too busy hiding from herself to
reach out to anyone else.
But she was kidnapped shortly before the Darkseid
affair and came back to the Legion only a little
before I did, and suddenly we had an awful lot in
common. She was remaking her persona in a big way,
becoming a real warrior, and I wasn’t satisfied with
being anyone’s little sister anymore. I had the
lightning back and I was going to use it.
First time we were teamed together was transferring
super-villains from the ruins of Takron-Galtos to the
prison on Labyrinth. We worked really well together,
and I’ll never forget the conversation that turned out
to be the start of so much more.
I’d really just wanted to tell her what I’d noticed:
“We both seem to have grown a lot lately. And I think
we’re better for it, don’t you? Stronger, more
assertive--more sure of ourselves.”
Her reply was a lot more personal than I’d expected.
“I’ve rethought a lot since I was trapped in that
sens-tank, Lightning Lass.” And then she looked at me,
really looked at me with an intense expression I
didn’t know how to read, and said, “I changed my whole
life, Ayla. What about you?”
I was so surprised I couldn’t answer her right away,
and she said, “...Never mind. Maybe that’s not fair.
Maybe we don’t know each other that well.”
I wanted to talk it out, but we were interrupted by a
would-be stowaway on our cruiser, and that was the end
of that. But I wanted to get to know her after that
conversation, to understand if she’d said what I’d
thought she was saying, and we started spending time
together off-duty.
It was so easy to fall in love with her.
Vi was strong, passionate, and--okay, she had a lot of
the same qualities I’d seen in Brin, though with a
different kind of intensity. But Vi was discovering
her own strengths in a way Brin never did, or could.
We got close and would have gotten closer if she
hadn’t withdrawn a little, and it took a talk with
Dirk to tell me why. I shouldn’t have gone to him,
except I knew he and Vi had had a fling shortly after
she returned to the Legion, and I was hoping he could
give me some insight. Of course, being Dirk, his first
comment was along the lines of, “Does this mean I
don’t have a chance with you myself?”--which was cute
of him. But he told me a bit about how it’d been with
them, and about Imsk’s cultural attitudes.
I’ll never understand why people shouldn’t love as
they choose. There just isn’t enough time in all the
worlds, in our lives, to deny love wherever it’s
found. I can’t imagine--
But not every planet is Winath, and I should remember
that too.
So Vi wasn’t sure if she wanted to make that kind of
change in her life, and she was still figuring out who
she wanted to be. I wasn’t in any hurry, though there
were times...well, it’s not easy to stand next to
someone you’re falling in love with and not touch
her.
It’s sort of ironic that it took a super-villain to
change that, but when you’re a Legionnaire.... I guess
it makes sense. A villain killed my brother and
brought me to the Legion; a villain cast his darkness
over the galaxy and helped drive me from the Legion; a
villain, all unknowing, allowed what was growing
between Violet and I to finally express itself.
Universo--well, you know what he did. Hypnotized
everyone on Earth, disbanded the Legion, made us all
civilians under his absolute rule. All of us
“ex-”Legionnaires were placed in ordinary jobs,
ordinary lives, and I can’t complain about where I
ended up: living with Vi. His mind-control only
extended far enough to make us glad for the
dissolution of the Legion, not anything else, so it
wasn’t hypnosis that had us together and happy.
Do you know, I almost resented Imra for figuring out
the truth and taking him down?
But that’s silly, of course. That’s what we do. And
afterward, I figured that there wasn’t any reason what
had happened during those few weeks couldn’t go on now
that we were in our right minds again.
Except...
I got scared.
That’s hard to admit. The thing is, we remembered
everything that happened during those “lost” weeks,
and it’d been...intense. It hadn’t been that long
since I’d left Brin, and maybe it was just too soon.
We sort of mutually agreed to slow down, let things
develop in time rather than rush into the serious
commitment we both sensed it could be.
I cast around for something uncomplicated, and found
Pol.
Pol Krinn, Rokk’s little brother, had joined the
Legion when his brother retired. Something about him
drew me--maybe his resemblance to his elder brother
who I’d always admired, maybe he just seemed safe
somehow--and I started flirting with him.
I think I scared him. He was so young, nearly
innocent, and maybe...oh, I don’t know. Maybe I
thought it could be a relationship I could control,
rather than the more difficult give-and-take I had
with Vi. But he wasn’t interested and when I turned
around Vi was right there, and neither of us could
find any more excuse to deny what we had. From then on
we were together.
I still feel pretty unsettled about Pol, because not
long after that he died, sacrificing himself to
prevent a galactic catastrophe.
His death was the beginning of the end.
For love of a dream, I left again.
That one’s harder to explain. The Legion was falling
apart, everyone could see it. But it didn’t happen all
at once.
In June of 2989 the Legion fought the Arch-Mage and
won, thanks to Pol. In October the UP economy failed
and Earthgov seemingly lost all sense. After that
point, the Legion somehow became the enemy and our
every move was watched and measured, as if no one
wanted us around anymore. In 2990--
Well, the litany of disasters went on. The Validus
plague on Winath; the resignation of Imra and Cham,
two of our most essential members; the closing of the
Legion Academy, which Lu and Chuck had worked so hard
to build; and in July, Terra’s secession from the
United Planets. Can you imagine what that felt like,
from our side? Most of the Legionnaires weren’t native
to Earth, but we’d all lived there long enough to feel
like her adopted sons and daughters. Earth had been
the heart of the UP. Suddenly the Legion was on
strange ground. After all that time--17 years since
the founding--everything we counted on to support us
had utterly changed.
Meanwhile Vi and I were together, stronger than ever,
and maybe in relation to that everything around us
seemed less dire than it was. Despite all the horror
of that time, it was still one of the best years of my
life because she was there every moment.
But things got worse. Jeckie resigned and Tinya was
killed and Jo left in grief, and on June 12 of 2991 Vi
left too, to fight for Imsk in the Braal-Imsk war.
That...wasn’t easy. Anyone who’s ever seen a lover go
off to war knows how I felt. But Vi was so determined,
so full of righteous anger, that I couldn’t stand in
her way.
Before she went she urged me to leave too, go back to
Winath and leave the Legion, which was dying by inches
under Earthgov’s new strictures. I wanted to stay and
fight. But there comes a time when you just can’t
fight anymore. And to remember the dream as it was and
not the tarnished thing it was becoming, I had to
leave. Of course, it took another disaster to really
make me do it.
Black Dawn tore our hearts out. Wildfire’s sacrifice,
and Brin was hurt so terribly...and for all our pain,
all Earthgov could do was tell us how badly we had
failed, as if saving the sun from being destroyed was
something we ought to have done with no effort at all.
Right after that a number of Legionnaires resigned,
and I looked around to see a Legion I no longer knew.
I think it took Jan--Element Lad--leaving to make me
realize nothing could be salvaged. Jan had no other
family, no home to return to, and he still left rather
than see what was left of the Legion fall apart.
There were other reasons, too. The Validus
plague--Darkseid’s legacy and taint--had ravaged my
home planet. Garth and Imra needed help running the
farm, and I wanted to see my nephews grow up. Terra
didn’t want us as heroes, the U.P. was having more
problems, and maybe it was just time to be for a
while.
Masquerading as my brother, I joined the Legion of
Super-Heroes on March 12, 2975. I left for what I
thought was the final time on September 12, 2991.
The last three years have gone by in a blur. Vi and I
traded letters back and forth the whole time--me from
the farm, her from the military prison on Imsk. See,
during the war Imskian High Command made some
decisions, and when Vi disagreed with those decisions
and went public with her protests, they threw her in
the stockade.
I’ve missed her so terribly. She says that my letters
kept her spirits up, which I guess means that making
sure everything I wrote her was as positive as
possible did help. Truthfully, it wasn’t hard; I
haven’t had much to complain about except for not
having Vi with me. But the plantation is doing well,
and I’ve got my family around me.
My whole family--almost. Garth and Imra and
Graym--Garridan, of course, is still on Quarantine,
but Brainy says he’s coming closer to a cure for the
Validus virus every minute he studies it--and Mekt
too. Finally.
After the last time Mekt attacked and was locked away,
he started psychotherapy--not for the first time, but
maybe he was finally ready to hear what the therapists
and Garth and I and his own heart had to tell him. It
took a long time and a lot of tears but he’s back now,
really back and part of our family the way he always
should have been. He’s not the older brother I
remember as a child but in a lot of ways that’s a good
thing, since he doesn’t have all that anger eating at
him any more. It’s been a true blessing to see Mekt
well and happy at last.
Mother-God, I’m happy. Especially right now.
For love of Violet...I’m here, waiting at the
spaceport, writing this all down.
My chrono says her shuttle should arrive any second
now. She wrote me yesterday, saying that High Command
had finally cut her loose and she was on her way home.
“Home.” I sat over the Omnicom and wept at that, in
relief and just sheer joy. My heart feels so full--
As if that weren’t enough, we got a call from Cham,
who’s on his way here as well. He didn’t say as much,
but I know--I just know this is a beginning. And I
want it. I want it all again. Maybe it won’t be the
same, and maybe it won’t work, but I want to try!
A long time ago I told Brin the Legion was more than a
team, it an idea, an ideal, devoted to a principle. I
believe that. I believe in the dream. I believe in
us.
I’m tearing up again. It sounds more like a prayer
than a battle-cry, now: Long Live the Legion!
And I pray.
They’ve just made the announcement. She’s here. Oh,
Salu, Vi, my love--
Like lightning, she lives in my heart.
{end}
NOTES
Thanks, as always, to Carmen--beta reader
extraordinaire, who always finds the insight I’ve
missed. And to Dannell, without whom not a word would
ever have been written.
Sources include, well, 40+ years of Legion comics
(sing it, everyone: research is fun!), and the
Mayfair Legion of Super-Heroes Sourcebook.
Everything here is in canon save for the idea that Vi
and Ayla first got close during the Universo Project,
and hey, that’s what artistic license is for. :-)
