Change ☆DC Stargirl • Yolanda Montez (II)

One

TEN YEARS AGO
(months before the incident)

"Mom! Dad! Look!" The five-year-old called to her parents as they both laid in the grass of their local park, watching as their daughter tried to hold her balance on her bicycle.

With her brows furrowed in concentration, she pushes herself to go straight but instantly collapses to the side on the floor with a grunt.

"Sweetie, you okay?" Her father worriedly sits up from the blanket. "I can run inside to grab an icepack to--"

"Wait, wait." Her mom whispered, grabbing his arm to prevent him from getting up.

Freya shakily pushes herself up from the ground with a pained expression before she shook her head. "I-I'm okay! I'm okay!" She chirped with a smile before she leaned her bike against the tree. "I'm just going to grab some water before I try again." She answered before she quickly ran inside the house.

"She's just like you." Kent sighed as his wife leaned her head against his shoulder. "Stubborn until you get it right."

"She's not exactly like me, she has parts of you too. Compassionate, always wanting to do good for the world." Kaitlyn whispered, interlacing her hand with his. "Protective."

"That's what I'm afraid of." He murmured, his mind wandering to his heroic life as Doctor Fate and the consistent worry of it catching up to his family. "She should be learning how to protect herself. Not...Not this. Maybe I should ask Starman if he has some ideas of what we could do. Maybe--"

Kaitlyn's eyes soften at his words before she shook her head. "She's just a kid, Kent. She deserves to have a childhood."

"She won't have a childhood if she isn't alive, Kaitlyn." Kent countered but his eyes widen at the abrupt sentence that left his lips. It didn't help with the unreadable expression on his wife's face. "I-I'm sorry. I--"

"I understand your worries, Kent, but look at Freya." The two parents watch as Freya walked over to her bike again and hopped on. "You and I, we made her. She's ours. When she feels joy, we feel joy. See that look on her face?" Freya's brows furrow in concentration before she tries to bike forward again but instantly collapses to the side. "How can you see that and not feel the same way? As we get older it's harder to feel that. The weight of the world, it bogs us."

Kent looks down at his interlocked hands in shame but Kaitlyn lifts his chin with her finger, making sure he met her eyes. "But our children remind us of the joys in life. It brings us back, shows us what life is all about. This is humanity."

Kent's eyes soften at her words as they settled in his thoughts before he looks back to Freya, watching as she sat on the floor with a look of annoyance.

Kent pushes himself up from the blanket before he slowly walks over to Freya and crouched down to her level. "You doing okay, kiddo?"

She sadly shakes her head. "I can't do it."

"Hey, what did your mom and I teach you about quitting?" Kent questioned, placing his hand on her shoulder. "It's going to take time before you perfect something."

"I know..." Freya muttered under her breath, the doubts still clouding her thoughts.

Kent stands up properly before holding out his hands for her to grab. "Come on." Freya grabs onto his hands and he carefully pulls her to her feet to stand. She sits on top of the bike again but quickly grabs onto his arm with a nervous look.