Long Past Dawn

"Because I love materfamilias the most!" Jikan says proudly while puffing up her c.h.e.s.t. Oh dear god help me before this cute little child it the death of us all.

Jikan then hugs me tight and yet again I wonder if she's trying to kill me.

The room is dead quiet, you could probably hear a pin drop. After what feels like an eternity, Batman finally sighs and rubs his brow. "Ok.Ok. Anything else? Is there going to be a unicorn in the bathroom now?"

Batman turns around and walks out of the room, everyone else follows him but Wonderwoman stays back a moment, "There... There's an extra room next to Stephen's if you want to get her settled in there..."

Jakin holds onto me tighter and I'm thrown back to the days of neglect when that mom would never bat an eye when I was starving. "I... She can sleep with me."

Wonderwoman only nods before she follows Batman and the others out of the room, leaving Stephen, Jakin and me alone in the room.

Jikan calms down now that there aren't so many people in the room. "Come on, I'll show you my room, you'll be sleeping there with me too."

Jikan seems to brighten up and follows me as I lead the way past a gaping Stephen who looks like he has no idea what's happening, and to be honest I have no clue either...

"Open." The door opens and Jikan looks at it like it's magic, and I can't help but smile at her reaction. "Come on, let's go in now."

Jikan follows me in and stares in wonder around the room, her mouth a perfect o shape. But suddenly a loud sound of a stomach rumbling fills the room and I turn to where Jikan is standing clutching her stomach and blushing profusely. I can't help but break into laughter at poor little Jikan's expense before going to the shopping bag and rifling through it until I find what I'm looking for, a candy bar.

Yes I know it's junk food and she hasn't eaten and is still a kid but she's hungry and this is all I have so there.

I unwrap the candy bar and hand it to her, she takes a careful bite before her face lights up and I let out a chuckle. This must be the first time she's tried one, I can't help but frown a little, what place could she have been at if she had never tried a candy bar before?

I look back to see she's finished the candy bar in three mouthfuls, wow she must have liked it... Now onto getting her clean, her hair, which probably looks beautiful when clean, is a rats nest, and I can see mud stains on her skin too.

"Do you want to go take a bath?" I'm glad I was smart enough to buy extra shampoo and body wash ahead of time.

Jikan looks up at me and nods her head, god she's so cute. I take her into the bathroom and start to fill up the tub, I then grab a towel and the body wash and shampoo. Now for a change of clothes... Her so-called dress is so dirty I can't tell if it's supposed to be tan or what, well with her height and size if I give her one of my hoodies it will be like a dress on her so that should work until we can get her some proper clothes.

I go out and grab one that hardly fits me anymore and set that down by the towel, the tubs full at this point so I turn off the tap. "Careful it'll be hot."

I close the door behind me so she can take her bath. Now that I have nothing to do maybe I should go see where the others went.

I walk out into the hall and almost immediately hear them. I turn and see them in the main part of the warehouse arguing, I already have a pretty good idea what about.

"Should we even be letting her in here? I mean we don't even know where she's from and you saw her, she has the same wings as Dawn." This comes from Black Canary, I'm surprised she even knows my name.

"No, they're no the same. Her's are different, I want to look into it a bit more but she seems a bit more... unstable..." Batman again. What is with him and testing?

"Yes, I agree." Oh? That one sounds like Question.

"I think this will be good for Dawn too. Maybe it will be able to distract her..." Wonderwoman says.

"Or it will hurt her more. How do we know we can trust this... Jikan?" What the hell do you care Batman? I'm happy again and now you want to take that away again? I don't think so, I won't let you touch a hair on Jikan's head!

"I think we should let Jikan stay. After all, she makes Dawn happy." Wait, is that Stephen? Why is he part of this when I'm not?

"Maybe you're right..." Batman says with a sigh.

"I say we let the kid stay." Oh, Superman has moved on to calling someone else a kid now? Interesting.

"I agree."

"So do I!"

"Let's keep her here then."

Various voices of the others can be heard from the room but I don't listen anymore. I've heard enough, I walk back into my room to see if Jikan is done with her bath.

As soon as I step through the door a little bundle in my hoodie clings to my legs, and Jikan's face looks up at me, tears already forming in her eyes. "I-I thought materfamilias had left me behind,"

"Hey don't worry, I'm not going to leave you ok?" And I'm not going to let them kick you out either. Wait, I haven't known her for more than an hour why am I so attached to her?

A look of relief sets onto her face and I pick her up, strangely she feels as light as a feather. Then again she's so skinny I'd be surprised if she weighed half of the normal weight for a kid her age.

I pop her down on the bed and go back over to the shopping bag, and man was I lucky I bought things ahead of time. I rummage through until I grab out one of the two combs I got, I got two because I couldn't decide which one to get and I would need another eventually.

I go back over to Jikan and start combing out her hair. It takes over half an hour but it was worth it, her hair falls in a silky sheet down her back, the raven black hair seems to shine in the light.

Not too bad if I do say so.

she grabs my hand once I put the comb back down, "Food?"

She must be hungry again. I nod and lead her out into the warehouse, I just hope it's not pizza again today.

We walk out into the main part of the warehouse but suddenly Jikan stops. I turn, confused as to why she stopped, Jikan's white as a sheet and shaking uncontrollably. I have no idea what's wrong with her.

"J-Jikan are you ok?" I ask, my voice trembling a little. Jikan doesn't answer, she just falls, I catch her in my arms but she's as limp as a doll. I'm scared now, I don't know what's wrong with her.

Someone must have seen what happened because I feel someone take Jikan out of my arms; I snap, I remember when Batman said mom was dead, that feeling is back. Like I'm never going to see them again.

I can feel silent tears stream down my cheeks, "No, not again. Not again. Not again. Not again."

I mutter over and over, but the numbness has already started to set in. What if I never see Jikan again? I don't want that. Please let Jikan be ok.

It feels like there's a knot in my throat, I can't breathe, I can't swallow. I can't think anymore.

"She's going to be ok." Stephen? Someone helps me off the ground and leads me to a chair, a moment later I feel a soft blanket cover my shoulders. "Hey, it's ok now."

Stephen's calm voice seems to calm me down, I didn't even realize it but I'm shaking. I breathe in and out and I start to calm down a little.

Jikan will be ok... right?