Phantom Girl nervously knocked on Lightning Lad’s door

Phantom Girl nervously knocked on Lightning Lad’s door. When no response came, she turned to walk away.

“Phantom Girl, I know it’s you. You can come in.”

Phantom Girl’s heart skipped a beat. How had he known? She opened the door and quickly walked into Lightning Lad’s room. He was sitting up on his bed, a sad look across his—er, her—face.

“Lightning Lad, I’m sorry, I—”

“—call me Garth, Tinya.”

“Ok…Garth,” Tinya blushed, “I just wanted to say…I’m sorry for what I said earlier. It was very inconsiderate of me to—”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

Tinya looked at Garth, startled. “Huh?” she said, stupefied.

“What you said earlier…I was overreacting. I tend to do that. A lot.” Garth smiled weakly.

“Oh…then…do you want to do it?” Tinya asked.

“Tell each other about our pasts? I’m willing to give it a shot.”

“Ok then. I’ll go first.” Tinya smiled to herself. She was excited to tell Garth about her past. She didn’t know why, she just was.

“Ok. Go ahead,” Garth said as he patted the space next to him on his bed, indicating for Tinya to sit next to him.

Her heart in her stomack, Tinya complied and began to tell her story.

“I was born on a planet called Bgztl to Senator Winema Wazzo. About the time I was born she—”

“—wait,” Garth interrupted, “what about your father? Aren’t you going to tell me who he is?”

Tinya gave him a bittersweet smile.

“I don’t know who my father is. My mother won’t tell me. Every time I bring the subject up she…well…she says I’m better off not knowing.”

“I’m sorry Tinya…I…I had no idea.”

“You figured I was just a perfect spoiled princess with a perfect life, didn’t you?”

Garth looked away, ashamed, “Errr…yes, actually…”

“Hm. Most people think that. Now, to continue with the story of my lfe…I was born at the time my mother was preparing to launch her campaign for president. Because of this, she never had much time for me and instead dumped me into daycare service from the time I was three months old to the time I turned three. She then proceeded to enroll me in the best, and therefore snobbish, schools she could find. I pleaded with her to send me to a normal school, but she refused. ‘What will people think if they see the President-to-be’s daughter in a third rate school?’ she use to say.

“I never had any real friends while I was in those schools. Anyone who wanted to be my friend did so because their parents wanted to get in my mother’s good graces. Otherwise, people avoided me because of my unusual power to go between dimensions. You see, only a few people on my planet have that ability, and my mother wanted me to hide it. Unfortunately, when I was younger I could not always control when I phased and when I didn’t.

“When I was about ten I was kidnapped by a group of terrorists intent on overthrowing the government. I knew it would take my mother a long time to get me out of the situation, so I used my powers and got out. Of course the science police wanted to know how I got out, and when I told them word got out that I had the unusual power to phase between dimensions. My mother was mortified and insisted I never leave her side from then on.

“I lived like that for two years until the day the conference where the Legion was to be officially unveiled. I was running late, so instead of walking around the decorative United Planets globe, I phased through it. Inside I discovered a bomb. I immediately went and got Saturn Girl who scanned the room and found the culprits while you and Cosmic Boy disposed of the bomb.”

“I remember that,” Garth said excitedly, “You, Saturn Girl, and Triplicate Girl went after the culprits. They almost killed Saturn Girl and you saved her!”

Tinya blushed, happy that he remembered her heroic deed, “Yup. You then personally invited me to become the fifth member of the Legion. Triplet was the fourth, but only because Cosmic Boy got to talk to her before you talked to me.”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“Then you probably also remember my mother’s dismay at me joining the team.”

Garth laughed, “Yeah. She looked pretty upset. I’m glad she let you join though.”

“Me too,” Tinya smiled, “She just worries too much. She thinks I’m going to get myself killed!”

“I will never let that happen!” Garth said so forcefully that Tinya was actually startled, “I will protect you with my life!”

Tinya stared at Garth for a few moments, and he at her.

“Garth…” she breathed.

“Erm…I’ll go now,” Garth said, looking away.

“Huh? Oh, right…go ahead…”