09/17/12

You know that thing where I said I would never write this?

...

Yeah, I didn't take fanart bribery into consideration.

You can blame/thank Ashbound from deviant art for this.

ENJOY!

Queraline

Chapter 1

The Orphanage

Querl Dox had been at the Intergalactic Orphanage, Earth Branch, for nearly as far back as he could remember. He had a very vague memory of his mother, a beautiful blond Coluan, whom had stuck around only long enough to name him before she left him behind; abandoned him, either term was hurtful.

At first the Coluan government was going to raise him but then they thought it would be interesting to use him in an experiment. They wondered if a Coluan child, even a Brainiac child, would still be brilliant if they were raised outside Colu among lesser minds. What other chance would they ever have to find out?

So, in the name of science, the Coluan government sent him to Earth, forever keeping an eye on him from Colu but never interacting with him. They paid for whatever basics Querl needed, along with whatever education he required that the orphanage wouldn't normally supply, and whatever damages Querl would cause for even as a small child Querl had a desire to tinker. He would try to take apart whatever he could get his hands on and would have improved these things if the caretakers of the orphanage would ever leave these things in his hands long enough for him to do his work.

Even though the Coluan government paid for these things the caretakers did not care for Querl's tinkering. They, quite frankly, did not care for Querl. Every adoption day they would try to make him "someone else's problem" but no one was interested in a green child, especially not one who was smarter then they were and had no problems demonstrating that intelligence.

The orphanage may have been on Earth, with a wild variety of alien species living there, but most of the children at the orphanage were human or could at least pass for human. For most of his stay there, Querl was the only one who was obviously not human, and was always the only one who had technology mixed in with his flesh.

These differences seemed to be a silent signal for the other children to torment him whenever they weren't ostracizing him from any social interaction. They called him "Brainiac Five" like it was an insult, along with other names that made it seem like being intelligent was a bad thing. They also liked to tease him about his appearance, that being green meant that he was slimy and disgusting and the purple clothes he wore from his home world indicated that he was a girl, when he was clearly a boy even with his longer hair, calling him Queraline.

For a long time the only one who ever showed him any kindness was an older girl named Imra Ardeen from Titan. Originally she came to Earth to be trained in Earth's military branch the science police from a very young age. However the program fell through and she ended up at the orphanage when the Earth government was unable to contact Imra's parents on Titan. The girl held onto the belief that one day her parents would come for her, no matter how much time passed.

Though Imra's slightly pointed ears showed her to be an alien she looked human enough where the other kids left her alone. And they left Querl alone whenever she was around, though it was unfortunate that it wasn't very often due to their different ages and genders. When she was around Imra tried to expand Querl's interests; she showed him literature, movies and things as simple as enjoying a sunny day.

When Querl was old enough to go to school he tested out of the normal Terran school system and Colu paid for him to go to a special school for geniuses. This was where he met Lyle Norg.

The other boy was only a little bit older then Querl and was completely human but he saw no reason to treat Querl any differently from anyone else. After an initial, admittedly, overreaction on Querl's part to Lyle asking about why he was "Brainiac Five, didn't he know who Brainiac was" they became partners in their classes and eventually friends. That was nearly short lived when Lyle started to call Querl, "Brainy" but, in the end, Querl decided an annoying friend was an improvement from no friends.

Lyle was not allowed to visit Querl at the orphanage but he knew what went on there from Querl; that is when Lyle annoyed it out of him. He often bad mouthed the Coluan government for leaving Querl at the orphanage and not seeming to care at how he was treated.

"Can't complain too much though," Lyle theorized, "If they weren't idiots for leaving you here I wouldn't have been lucky enough to meet you."

That comment made Brainy's face heat up and Lyle wasn't annoying enough to torment him about it.

Once Lyle asked, "Hey Brainy, am I really your only friend?"

"Do you want a printed T-shirt stating such?" Querl rolled his eyes.

"That would be cool," Lyle grinned but showed a rare instance of seriousness, "But isn't Imra your friend?"

"No," Querl stated simply. At Lyle's look, he rolled his eyes again. Really, wasn't the answer obvious? "She's my family."

After that Lyle tried to sneak in to the orphanage to meet Querl's "Mommy", not caring that Querl yelled at him for called Imra that, but was always caught. He swore he would create an invisibility serum and become a master spy with his own theme music. He ignored Querl's logic that theme music would only get him caught.

It wasn't too long later that Garth Ranzz, a boy a little older then Imra, came to the orphanage. This boy had once been part of a farmer family on Winath but the accident that gave him and his older brother lightning powers also killed his twin sister and their parents. At first his older brother Mekt tried to take care of Garth but the two didn't get along and the stress of being barely an adult taking care of a sibling as a parent became too much and Mekt ran from his responsibility. Garth tried to follow his brother but was found by the Science Police and turned over to the orphanage.

Though Garth could pass for human, his lightning powers scared the other children and they avoided him. Imra befriended him and Querl silently glowered. It had always just been him and Imra, why did this boy have to show up and ruin things?

Whenever Garth was around Querl's would hold onto Imra's arm or hand, keeping her close to him. In return Imra would smile and hug him, occasionally kissing the top of his head not knowing Querl's true intentions. He wasn't about to let Garth steal her away and if that meant being clingy he had no problems doing so.

One day when Imra wasn't around the other children were trying to get in their back log of tormenting Querl. These altercations had never been physical before but it looked like it would have become that if Garth hadn't shown up, hands glowing with lightning as he warned the children to "back off" with the threat of fried rear ends if he ever saw them go near Querl again.

Querl still wasn't going to let Garth steal Imra away but he figured it would be okay if they shared her.

When Garth was old enough he managed to convince the orphanage to let him get a job after school under the provision that he stopped threatening the other kids and kept good grades. He got a decent job doing construction where his lightning powers came in use and often came back to study with Querl late into the night to keep up his grades.

In the rare instances where the three of them were together they dreamed of having a place of their own outside the orphanage. They made plans for their rooms, Garth talked about setting up a mad scientist lab for Querl and Imra wanted a garden.

Realistically Querl knew it was only talk. He knew once Garth turned eighteen that they would never see him again and the dream would end but it was nice to pretend with them. He often continued the dream in his own sleep.

It wasn't until Garth turned eighteen that Querl realized how serious Garth had been about their dream. On his birthday he returned from his job and knelt before Imra, proposing to her with a plastic ring from a coin machine until he could afford something better. She wasn't old enough to leave on her own but if they got their orphanage's permission Garth would be her guardian until she could be his wife.

Tears filled Imra's pink eyes and she held Garth's hands as she declined.

"I can't leave Querl," Imra nearly sobbed.

"But Querl's coming too," Garth squeezed Imra's hands.

When they both stared at him Garth explained that since the orphanage didn't want Querl, Garth got the permission from Colu to take him as long as Querl still went to the genius school. They would all be together like they talked about over the years.

"It won't be our own house, we'll be renting a place in this three apartment place called the Pink Palace, and there isn't a place for a lab but there's a garden that needs someone to take care of it and we'll be together," Garth swallowed, "If you want."

Both Imra and Querl nearly tackled Garth to the ground with their embraces though Querl didn't kiss him; he left that up to Imra as she accepted his proposal.