Sorry for the wait, been busy with real life.

The World Is Still Beautiful

Chapter Nine: Koriand'r Part II

"The prisoner has escaped!"

Koriand'r cursed as the alarms started to sound as she blasted her warden into eternal silence. With his last words, the escape she had planned for weeks was now compromised.

She had thought that nothing could have been worse than being her sister's slave and been utterly grateful to finally have an opportunity to escape her sister's wrath. But the harsh experimentation at the hands of the Psions, who captured her, had made Komand'r's cruel hand seem like a gentle touch.

Shocking her, cutting her, torturing her in the sterile white lab they called a ship were just some of the innumerable acts that they inflicted upon her. They had found her an interesting curiosity, as they tried to learn in fact how much energy a Tamaranean could take.

They didn't know their tests accidentally gave her the weapon she needed to finally break free. Their experiments had granted her the ability to release energy from her hands.

She had spent weeks memorizing the ship's layout for her planned escape.

And she knew in just moments the reptilian like aliens would swarm her and lock her up tighter and she would never-

No!

Giving herself a slap for courage, she reassured herself. She was Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, daughter of Luand'r and Myand'r.

She would not be anyone's slave ever again!

As the door opened, she let out a volley of energy towards those unfortunate to be on the other side. The sharp violet1 blasts that now came to her as easily as breathing mowed down much of her competition cut through the air with a screeching sound. The accidental weapon that her enemy gave her through their sick tests would be their undoing.

Her hair now a lit with flame characteristic of her people, Koriand'r flew faster than she had ever flown before, as she sped past their fallen bodies, through the maze of hallways that made the Psion ship. She had to get to the escape hatches.

Koriand'r blasted every single thing throughout the ship as their defences fired upon her, spreading multiple fires through the area, damaging as much of the ship as she could. She was hit multiple times but the surge of adrenaline protected her from feeling their effects.

There were a mob of Psions standing between her and final destination. But another blast of screeching violet mowed them down just as easily as the first. Releasing one last blast behind her, Koriand'r made her way into the ship and blasted away, while the flaming ship quickly became a distant blip.

After a few minutes, the adrenaline finally left her body and the Tamaranean was overcome with pain. Looking down she noticed a sharp gash on her side that must have occurred through the skirmish. A wave of weakness suddenly overcame her and she collapsed into her seat.

With her last bit of strength Koriand'r turned on the emergency signal and autopilot and slumped into her as she drifted aimlessly through space. As she slipped into a soothing darkness, she thought to herself, at least she wouldn't die a slave.

She awoke to a sharp pain in her side, her head splitting and the past few hours a blank. She was in a vividly red room that she did not recognize. The Psions were a race who abhorred color so she could at least exclude them.

Before she could get her bearings a glass of water was shoved in her face from a pale skinned alien she had never seen before spoke. Years as a slave taught her better than to take offerings of food and drink so while she took the glass, she did not take a sip.

Instinctively with her free hand, she brushed his skin, thanking X'Hal for her species ability to learn languages through contact. And felt her head nearly split open as hundreds of languages suddenly appeared in her head. Normally when she copied a language the member would have one or two languages but she could feel thousands enter her head.

The headache she was nursing intensified tenfold.

""W-Where am I?" She said in the language her mind recognized as English

The pale faced alien leaned in concern obvious on his face. The princess briefly wondered how long has it been since she saw that emotion directed towards her. "You're on our ship. We got your SOS."

All her prayers were answered.

"I-I'm free," she said joyfully as tears started to stream down her face. Her hair burst into flame, surprising the pale alien into slipping out of his chair. ""By X'Hal, I'm free!"

She soon learned there were only two men on the ship along with their pet, a large beast known as Wolf that she met quickly and another known as Sphere that took a while to encounter. The pale faced aliens identifying themselves as Earthlings dressed her wounds and gave her food and drink. The younger of the two seemingly noticing her apprehension tested her drink and food in front of her until she felt comfortable to try it on her own. Only when she did, did she realize how thirsty she was, finishing the pitcher in front of within minutes.

After she had settled in, the elder of the two who had shown up, a green lantern of all things finally asked, "What's your name?"

"Koriand'r,"

"Well, nice to meet you," the green lantern said brightly taking a seat beside the other one. "I'm Guy Gardner and this one is Superboy." The younger one waved slightly. "Want to tell us what were you doing out there?"

It would be an easy thing to lie.

But Tamaraneans were an honest race to their bone-the perversion known as her sister notwithstanding It was why so many races of the Vega system wanted to invade them. To revel in the tears that was so clear in the face of her people. And so when Koriand'r opened her mouth, everything spilled out beginning with her parents that sold her freedom to the Citadel to end the war that ravaged her people.

The years long torture at the hands of her sister Komand'r.

The experiments of the Psions that gave new powers and her final escape.

By the time she was done, the already pale aliens had lost whatever color they still had. The Green Lantern was shaking in his chair with rage. "I'm starting to get why the Guardians left this place to the dogs. Screw this system."

The younger one—Superboy placed a hand on hers. "What's important is you're free now. You have the right to follow your own path. You can do whatever you need to do. The choice is yours. So what do you want to do?"

It'd had been a long time since anyone had ever cared asked her that. "Can I get back to you on that?" she asked honestly.

He gave a small smile. "Take all the time you want."

Superboy had given her a change of clothes to change into. Pieces of fabric that he called a T-Shirt and jeans.

It had been a long time since Koriand'r had been allowed to rest and relax in a comfortable bed. Her sister would often keep her on her feet for hours simply to see how long it would take for her legs to give out while she was bored. So she had spent most of her time on this ship sleeping over the next few days while she healed—luckily her healing would prevent scars. But Guy and Superboy would often be around during meal times to keep her busy until they reached their destination.

New Genesis.

Koriand'r was unfortunately unaware of the planets outside her own system. So she could not give them any information on the planet when they asked.

It was her third day when they finally arrived to their destination. Guy used his ring to make her a wheelchair and guide her to the bridge. "Just thought you might want to stretch your legs a bit." He told her.

In front of them were a set of twin planets. One was a bright, sky blue and a harsh crimson one. Koriand'r sent a quizzical expression to the two.

"Man, I wonder which one is which," Guy said sarcastically.

"The other one is Apokalips." Superboy told her helpfully as he noticed her curiosity. "I met someone from there once….We did not get along." The creatures known as Sphere and Wolf that often surrounded Superboy beeped and growled respectively in response to the name. Whatever this incident was, it was not a pleasant one.

"Yeah, so let's just do our best to avoid that pile of nightmares," Guy said with a grimace.

Despite the shadow of the dark planet looming over them, a large smile appeared on Superboy's face. It was the first time Koriand'r had had ever seen it. Getting only peaks of it really there.

She had to admit it was really nice to see.

"We're finally here," he whispered. "We're finally reached New Genesis."

End

Note: To keep Koriand'r and M'gann separate. Changed Koriand'r star bolts to the comic canon purple. Rather than the teen titans animated green.