Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Beautiful Day

Eve POV:

I spent the rest of the day hanging out with the boys in the living room of the mountain. Wally discovered that we got along great as long as he didn’t try to flirt with me or claim magic wasn’t real. We both liked video games and D&D, we liked the same music, and our favorite food was pizza. By the time he, Robin and Speedy headed home I would actually say we had become pretty good friends.

M’gann returned not long after they left, and we instantly felt each other when she walked through the zeta-tube. I was happy to feel her again, and since she felt the same we ended up sending each other happiness in a feedback loop. By the time she made it to the living room, we had hyped each other’s happiness to such a degree that we ended up embracing each other and giggling up a storm.

Donna showed up a little while later. Apparently she wasn’t as ‘open’ as me, so M’gann kept her head in my lap where she laid as we watched old sitcoms. She had a thing for them.

The next morning, the rest of the boys showed up and M’gann finally got introduced to the full team. When Wally decided to refer to M’gann as ‘Megalicious’, I used ‘Shape Water’ to send the water in Conner’s glass at his face. He did have the decency of keeping his reaction to a sheepish smile and a mumbled “Sorry.” I did hear him mumble theories about how my ‘tech’ worked afterwards though.

It seems my revelations the day before had lit a fire under the boys’ team spirit, and they wanted us all to get a read on each others’ abilities. It was, for the most part, a simple affair since most of us knew what the others could do. When Conner revealed that he might have telekinetic abilities, M’gann enthusiastically promised she would help him unlock and train them, and even his stoic heart couldn’t find it in him to refuse her. I could feel her growing infatuation through our link, and she blushed when I raised an eyebrow at her. Conner was a lucky guy.

Then it was finally my turn.

“Alright,” I started. “Despite what Wally may believe, my ability is magic.” He rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything so I summoned the Maginomicon and continued, “I can cast spells from this book. Most of them are beyond me for now, but I’ll be able to cast more and more of them as I get stronger. I permit Kaldur, Speedy, Robin, Wally and Conner.” I had already permitted the girls.

Kaldur, as the now-official team leader, opened the book and browsed through it.

“This is an impressive repertoire,” He said after having read a few of them. “What are your limits?”

“For now, I can only cast the ones from the first page until… about here,” I explained and flipped the book to the end of the 3rd-level spells and the beginning of the 4th-level ones. “I’m on the cusp of being able to cast the next section, but that’s it for now. I also need to look in the book to cast most of them, but if I practice a spell enough, I’m able to cast it freehand.” I demonstrated by casting a ‘Disguise Self’ and a ‘Minor Illusion’ image of Zatanna.

“Wait,” Wally interrupted before Kaldur could ask anything else. “These are just spells from D&D!”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “You may have noticed I also look like a tiefling. It’s weird, but my best guess is that some random omnipotent being is having a laugh.”

“Uhu…” He said. His voice dripping with doubt. “Cast a ‘Fireball’ then.”

“I’m not gonna cast a fucking ‘Fireball’ indoors, you madman!”

He narrowed his eyes and demanded, “‘Misty Step’, then.”

I had practiced that one so I didn’t need the book, and just appeared behind him.

“Happy?” I asked a little impatiently. I knew I’d have to go through this, and that Wally couldn’t hide his doubt when we were actively discussing it. It was a little grating though.

“Fuck!” He yelped, and leapt around to look at me. The others had similar reactions.

“You can teleport?” Robin asked incredulously.

“Only short distances, and only myself,” I replied as I ‘Misty Stepped’ back and took my seat. “For now. Soon, I’ll be able to bring one person with me and go a couple of hundred feet, and eventually I’ll be able to teleport all of us to any pre-set destination.”

“That is incredibly powerful magic,” Kaldur noted with a frown. “Even in Atlantis, teleportation magic is rare. And it requires an expensive and time-consuming ritual to perform. To do it instantly and without any materials is… unheard of.”

“Powerful, but limited,” I agreed. “The spells in the book are the only ones I can cast, and they have predetermined effects. I can’t cast any conventional spells, we checked.”

“Indeed…” Kaldur mused with a thoughtful expression on his face before asking, “Would you object to me informing My King of your abilities? I believe Queen Mera would be very interested in speaking with you as well.”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve been wanting a reason to try out ‘Water Breathing’.”

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My demonstration seemed to have made Wally forget about our agreement to not discuss my magic. He had been following me around the mountain since the meeting two days earlier, incessantly making me demonstrate spell after spell. It was nice to hear him asking about my magic without being sarcastic or doubtful, but he was getting annoying. I could just ask him to back off. But instead…

[M’gann? Can you hear me?]

[Eve? I could actually hear you! You’re getting better!] M’gann sent back as she established a telepathic communication link.

The link we had was what Martians called an ‘empathy level telepathic connection’. It let Martians sense each other's mind, and for those who were close — like family and friends — it let them sense emotions. It also served as a connection point to establish actual telepathic communication. Since I wasn’t a telepath I couldn’t establish the connection myself, but we had started practicing sending single messages so M’gann could do it for me. This was the first time she had heard my actual words though.

[Really? Awesome! Listen, Wally is still bugging me. Now, I could tell him to piss off, but I decided to use it as an excuse to run away. Specifically for a camping trip with you and Donna.]

I could feel her excitement rising as she took in what I said. She was always up for doing things a typical teenage girl would do. I’m not sure how popular camping really is for teenage girls these days, but if M’gann was happy, it didn’t matter.

[Oh! Yes! I’d love to! One sec, let me bring in Donna.]

A few moments later I could feel Donna’s familiar presence in the link. The boys were still nervous about telepathic communication, but the three of us enjoyed the company so we had connected quite often over the past few days.

[M’gann? Eve? Is something the matter?]

[We’re running away!] I said with a mental grin.

[To go camping,] M’gann clarified and Donna’s confusion was replaced by excitement.

[Oh, that sounds fun,] She said before suggesting, [We can make a training exercise out of it and survive with only what we have on us! Shall we invite Zatanna as well?]

[‘Yes’ to Zatanna, ‘as long as we can bring hotdogs’ on the survival exercise. The food I can conjure sucks, and we don’t have a hunting licence,] I answered. [As long as M’gann is fine with it, of course.]

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Fortunately, Metropolis had both a forested mountain range in its outskirts and great public transportation. After informing Giovanni that we were kidnapping his daughter, we took the bus out of the city and started looking for a nice spot. There were some hiking trails we could have followed, but we decided we wanted to try and find somewhere untouched by humans. Since all of us except Zatanna could fly, Donna just picked her up and we started flying into the mountains. A simple cast of ‘Pass without Trace’ made people less likely to see us.

It didn’t take us long to find a place to set up ‘camp’.

“There! That place looks good,” Zatanna called from Donna’s arms and pointed down towards a spot in the forest below us.

She was pointing to a picturesque meadow surrounded by trees, seemingly untouched by humans. On one side, a peaceful stream was filling a small pond before continuing down the slightly sloping hillside.

“That's perfect!” I agreed and headed down to drop off our supplies and start performing my magic.

I used ‘Mold Earth’ to turn an area by the stream into a suitable campsite, flattening it and making a firepit. As I worked, it didn’t take long for the others to join me on the ground.

“Where will we sleep?” M’gann asked. I could feel nervousness mixing with her excitement. She didn’t know much about camping. The barren Martian landscape meant that it was not a leisure activity on Mars.

“On the ground,” I said. “Here—” I focused and turned an area of the clearing into soft sand. “I brought a blanket, and that should be soft enough to stay comfortable. I also have a spell to keep us dry and warm through the night!”

Like M’gann, I had never gone camping before so I was just as excited as she was. This was also an excellent chance to use my spells for mundane utility. I had several that I hadn’t had an excuse to use much while living comfortably in civilization, so I was quickly growing more excited. Both M’gann and I could feel another emotional feedback loop starting and grinned at each other.

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“You two sound like actual kids,” Zatanna commented with an amused smile, a teasing tone in her voice. “How old are you, anyway?”

“25,” M’gann answered with a big smile, unable to keep a serious face. “But for a Martian that is roughly the same as a 16-year-old human, so just think of me as being 16.”

“Really?” This revelation seemed to surprise Zatanna, and Donna’s expression showed a similar reaction. “I thought Eve was the oldest of us.”

“25 Martian years,” I clarified with a smirk. “That's, what? 50 Earth years? Besides, I think Donna has a few months on me as well. I’m the youngest after you, Zee.”

“You’re 50 years old?!” Zatanna exclaimed in shocked disbelief.

“No! Well, yes. I would be if I was human, but I’m not! I’m not old!” M’gann desperately tried to explain. Her shapeshifted human physiology with green skin resulted in her blushes being purple. At this point, she was almost as purple as me. “Why are you laughing?!”

The rest of us were giggling up a storm now as M’gann panicked.

“Because it’s so fun to tease you!” I declared as I used ‘Misty Step’ to quickly get behind her and grabbed her in a hug.

She yelped in surprise, but it didn’t take long for her to join the laughter. I noted how much more carefree she was now than on that first day. The telepathic link she now had with all of us really must have done wonders for her mental health.

“Now!” I declared as I separated from M’gann and sat down to cast ‘Leomund’s Tiny Hut’ from the Maginomicon. “Stay close while I cast this spell. If you’re too far away, you’ll be locked out and I’ll have to cast it again. It takes a while to cast.”

They exchanged a couple of looks before suddenly I was the target of three hugs.

“Close enough?” M’gann asked as we were now all lying in a dogpile giggling.

“Perfect!” I replied with a grin. “Now just stay like that for 30 minutes or so.”

‘Leomund’s Tiny Hut’ was one of those spells that had a set time it would last without me either concentrating on it or actively keeping it active. I could cancel it whenever I wanted, but it would keep going even if I fell asleep. It was also a ritual spell, which made it easier to cast, but it took far longer. The ritual spell I was most familiar with — ‘Tenser’s Floating Disk’ — only took me a minute to cast now, but an unfamiliar ritual like this would take at least half an hour.

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“Alright! I’m done,” I said as a slight shimmer appeared in the air around us for a moment before fading. I could still sense where the dome was, but the spell was basically an invisible dome of protection. The four of us could see and pass through without even noticing it, but anyone not included in the spell would be unable to pass the barrier.

The others finally got off me after having kept me pinned while casting the spell. It had been nice, but all of us lying on top of each other in the hot summer sun did get a little taxing after a while. We were all covered in sweat now.

“I would like to take a bath now, I think,” Donna said as she fanned herself with her hand. “The pond over there should be quite comfortable in this heat. Would you join me?”

We all nodded enthusiastically and started racing towards the water, throwing off our clothes as we went. This far from civilization we weren’t worried about anyone seeing us. M’gann simply shifted her clothing into a two-piece swimsuit, while the rest of us made do with our underwear.

The water was perfect. I used ‘Mold Earth’ to shape some rocks at the edge of the pond into comfortable headrests, and we were now all laying in the comfortable water enjoying the improvised spa. The connection with M’gann caused another feedback loop, this time of relaxation and contentment.

“M’gann?” Zatanna suddenly asked. “Are you actually naked?”

“What?” M’gann was clearly surprised at the random question. “No? You can see my clothes, right?”

“Yeah, but you’re a shapeshifter, right?” Zatanna pressed. “And you just shifted your clothes earlier. So you’re not actually wearing any, are you?”

“I am!” M’gann insisted. My eyes were closed and I was too relaxed to open them so I couldn’t see her blush, but I could feel her embarrassment. “I’m wearing a bio-suit. It’s an organic piece of clothing that I can change using telepathy. Look.”

I managed to open an eye to see M’gann changing her clothes from her two-piece swimsuit into her white, blue and red ‘Miss Martian’ ensemble, then back again. It was clear that it was the clothes changing, not her.

“But you can, right?” I asked, curious about her shapeshifting.

“Can what?”

“Shapeshift clothes while you’re naked,” I clarified. “I know your shapeshifting is insanely versatile. That would be nice, not having to wear clothes.”

“Can you not achieve this with your illusions?” Donna pointed out.

“Huh… maybe?” I mused as I cast ‘Disguise Self to give myself a one-piece swimsuit. The illusion covered me perfectly.

“Hah! It works!” I exclaimed, thrilled about this new discovery. I quickly sat up and removed my underwear. The illusion still covered my modesty. “I am never wearing clothes again!”

“Yes you are!” M’gann insisted as she was chasing after me, underwear in hand, as I ran around the pond.

“Naoooo! Eve is free!”

Zatanna was laughing hysterically, and Donna was jovially chuckling along. Even M’gann wasn’t actually being serious. She was just just playing along.

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After drying them in the sun, I did put my underwear back on. As well as the rest of my clothes after washing the sweat off them in the stream. A ‘Prestidigitation’ could remove stains and such, but a quick wash gave far better results. Especially since I could use ‘Shape Water’ to make a magical washing machine. I gave the same service to the other girls.

We spent the rest of the day mostly relaxing in the sun. With two super-strong people and two magicians, the gathering of firewood was a simple affair. I cast a Tenser’s Disk and Donna and M’gann loaded it with wood from fallen trees as we all took a walk through the woods. Later, Zatanna just said, “Yrd eht doowerif!” and we were left with a stack of perfectly dried firewood.

Despite the name, ‘Create Bonfire’ actually made for a terrible bonfire. Beyond the fact that it lacked the crackling and smell of a proper bonfire, it burned far too hot. We wanted hot dogs, not charcoal, after all. It did make for a great firestarter, though. Pile of wood to roaring fire in a second.

As we were roasting out food and eating, we talked about life in the mountain. Zatanna was curious about the team, so we told her all we could without revealing too much. When she learned about Wally’s skepticism to magic, she was disbelieving.

“Wait, you’re telling me the boy who can run at the speed of light doesn’t believe magic is real?” She asked incredulously. “There is no way his ability isn’t magical in nature.”

“Kid Flash’s abilities are borne of science,” Donna explained. “He, the Flash and Jay Garrick — the previous Flash — all gained their super speed from a chemical formula, or so I am told.”

Zatanna raised an eyebrow at that.

“I’m not gonna pretend I’m an expert in chemistry,” She said, her words dripping with doubt. “But I’m pretty sure it can’t achieve that. It sounds like alchemy to me. Eve, have you checked if he has any magic in him?”

“I haven’t,” I said. “Honestly, I’ve been avoiding the topic of magic with him as much as possible. He’s a cool guy. A little immature, but we get along pretty well. Thing is, when the topic of magic comes up he turns into a complete ass. I just don’t wanna deal with it.”

“You have shown him your magic, right?” She asked to clarify and I nodded. “How can he still nor believe in it?”

“He’s convinced it’s future tech,” I sighed. “After I showed him some stuff that even he couldn’t explain away with that excuse, he kinda broke down. Following me around and asking me to demonstrate spell after spell. I’d like to help him get over his delusion, but he can get really annoying. This trip was actually to get away from him for a while. Hopefully, he’ll have cooled down a bit when we get back.”

“You really care about him, don’t you?” M’gann asked. “I thought you didn’t like him to begin with, but you really want to get along with him.”

“Well, yeah, of course,” I replied. “I care about everyone on the team. It might be because of meta-knowledge, but I know they’re all good people. I want all of us to get along.”

“But Kid Flash is special,” M’gann stated with a nod and a mysterious smile “I understand.”

“Um… not really,” I said, getting a little confused. “I mean, we share a lot of interests, but if anyone is more special than the others it would be you guys.”

“But you want to be closer to him, right?” She pressed with an intensity I wasn’t used to seeing in her.

“Um… I’m not sure what you— Ah!” Then it finally clicked. “You think I have a crush on him?!”

M’gann looked a little taken aback. “Well, yeah?” She said curiously, “Don’t you? I can feel that you care about him.”

I barked out a laugh before stating simply, “I’m gay, M’gann.” Since they all stared at me with shocked expressions I continued, “Wait, I never mentioned that?”

“Not that I can recall,” Donna said with an amused tone. “If you had, I would have suggested you visit Themyscira so I could introduce you to some of my sisters.”

“Now that you mention it, it’s kinda obvious,” Zatanna said with a smile. At M’gann’s confused look she added, “She was flirting with a cashier. I thought she was just being silly.”

“She was really cute!” I defended myself and Zatanna giggled.

“So you really just want to be friends with Kid Flash?” M’gann asked to clarify, still a little shocked for some reason.

“Yup!” I responded. Then I decided to tease her a little. “And you don’t have to worry about me taking Superboy either. Good luck!”

“I-I-I-I d-don’t—!” M’gann stuttered and I could feel a wave of embarrassment across the bond.

Making M’gann blush was becoming one of my favorite activities.

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After ribbing M’gann for a while, the conversation went to other things. We kept talking until the sun went down, at which point M’gann almost tipped over. ‘Leomund's Tiny Hut’ made sure our camp stayed warm and dry, so we just went to sleep on our improvised bed.

I wasn’t sure how long I had slept when I was woken up by Donna’s hand landing on my face. I was about to go back to sleep when I noticed Zatanna sitting on a rock outside the protective dome watching the moon. Quietly and carefully getting out of ‘bed’, I went to join her.

“It’s beautiful,” I commented in a hushed voice as I came up behind her.

“Yeah,” She said, not looking back at me. “We don’t really get skies like this in the city.”

“Are you okay?” I asked as I sat down beside her.

She tilted her head to rest it on my shoulder, but didn’t answer. I didn’t push, just sitting there with her for a while in comfortable silence.

“This has been really nice,” She said eventually. “Thank you for bringing me along.”

“Of course,” I said with a smile. “We’re sisters, after all.”

I saw her peaceful smile grow slightly wider in the dim moonlight and she scooched a little closer.

“I’ve missed you,” She admitted. “It’s been a little lonely without you around.”

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pressed her a little closer to me. It was a little chilly outside the protective dome, despite it being the middle of summer.

“You can call me anytime you want, you know?” I reassured her. “Just say the word and I’ll come visit.”

“I know,” She said simply.

We watched the moon move slowly across the sky before we eventually fell asleep. When we awoke, the first thing we saw was M’gann’s beaming smile behind the phone she was using to take pictures of us.