ONE YEAR LATER.

At seventeen years old, Aurelia Hall had expected life to get a little bit easier, but no. Things are even more crazy. There's always so much homework to do and she's already stressing about college applications (even though she lives three miles from a college). Plus there are always new spells to memorise and training to be done with her swords. There's also the fact that Clara is being too overprotective on patrol. Aurelia usually wouldn't mind it, but it's really starting to get on her nerves.

Fortunately, patrolling for the night is over and for once, Aurelia is glad that she doesn't have to spend a second longer with Clara. She's angry tonight; angry at her aunt for not letting her fight against the thieves at the bank, even if they had guns. She is Aurelia Hall; she's the Phoenix. She can easily defeat a group of common criminals, can't she? Even if they hilariously outnumber her at seven to one, she can beat them. (okay, so maybe she is starting to sound a lot like Clara when she is being very reckless but still...Aurelia isn't reckless. She isn't.)

Aurelia lets out a heavy sigh as she takes off her mask and removes her hood. Her red hair scatters above her shoulders as she removes the cloak, not even making it magically disappear. It falls to the floor, the symbol of the phoenix clearly visible on the back. The mattress shifts slightly under her weight as she sits down, deep in thought. Things are too much and Aurelia almost feels like crying; maybe she should cry.

It would be a healthy release for all those emotions she's let build up inside her.

If she wants a good cry, she'll probably grab the dvd of Lion King and play it on her laptop. She always gets teary eyed during that movie or maybe she could talk to someone. Although, Aurelia isn't really that much of a talker. It is probably better to keep things to herself till the weekend came and she can finally just call either Donna or Dick to rant to either of them

Speaking of Dick, Aurelia feels her cheeks grow slightly warm. It is stupid how she blushes everytime he calls her or how she somehow stutters whenever they see each other, which is pretty frequent. She has gone and done the most cliched thing in the world. She got a crush on her best friend. Thank god he hasn't figured it out yet and she hopes he never figures it out; it would be too embarrassing. (is it really a crush if it lasts for more than a year? Something to think about...)

Aurelia pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs again. Maybe Dick can offer some advice to her on dealing with all of this. Her hunch tells her he's the one to talk to...but Dick Grayson and feelings? Not such a good mix. So her hunch is wrong. She'll just go to sleep for now and deal with all of this later. Then, her phone buzzes with the arrival of a text message. She takes it out of her pocket, only to find out that it's Dick who's texting her.

'Hey. You up right now?'

'Yes, I am.' Aurelia types her reply and quickly presses send. Within thirty seconds, Dick's name appears on the phone as he calls her. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. Weird that she was thinking of him and he calls her, not minutes after.

"Hey Boy Wonder," Aurelia greets, half smiling and half just...just tired. "Why are you calling me so late? Everything okay? Scarecrow didn't attack you again, did he? Because I am still alive."

"It's not that," Dick answers quickly. She hears some shuffling sound at the end as though he's climbing into his bed. "I just wanted someone to talk to. I think you're the only person that'll understand me."

"Okay, what's up? Is it something to do with Bruce?" Aurelia asks, rather seriously.

"It's everything to do with Bruce," Dick sounds angered all of a sudden. "Every fucking thing. He's limiting my patrol time, he's not letting me fight. He's not letting me do anything. I'm seventeen, Lia! Seventeen!"

"I know you are Dick; I was there for your birthday," Aurelia comments. But she almost snorts. So he's been having the same problems too? Is this some sort of shared thing between superhero/vigilante mentors? Overprotectiveness? "But you and me...we seem to be having the same problem. Clara's doing the exact same thing. She's acting way too overprotective and just tonight, she didn't let me fight against a couple of guys that were robbing a bank. I could definitely have stopped them, but no. She didn't let me."

"Why do they keep on doing this to us? We are trained well enough to stand our own in a fight," Dick rants, sounding exactly how she was feeling.

"Heck if I know, Dickie," Aurelia replies. "But that's not the only thing that's ruining my mood. I have three assignments due next week. I still need to write a personal statement for college applications, even though I have zero idea what I should do. I'm just really fucking stressed right now....Don't you wish we could just take a vacation to get away from all of this? Because I sure do."

Dick snorts. "Where would we even go?"

"I don't know," Aurelia mumbles. "Doesn't Bruce have a beach house somewhere? A week at the beach...that seems like fun."

"You really think Bruce or Clara would let us go?"

"Probably not. Then again, you and I could always just sneak away."

"You know they could easily find us, right?"

"I know, but at least that way we could get to enjoy the year that's left of us being kids. Trust me, I don't really want to turn eighteen."

"But look at it this way. We are way cooler than other people our age. We do things they'd never even imagine themselves doing."

"But it's not like I can add all of that stuff to my college application and be like Hey I am a sidekick and I fight crime alongside Batman." She finishes her sentence in what is probably a terrible impression of Dick's voice, but nevertheless, she does it.

"I don't sound like that!" Dick exclaims, a little too loud. "You are so funny, you know that. So very funny."

"That was sarcasm wasn't it?"

"Of course it was! You aren't funny at all."

"Hey, you're being mean!" Aurelia says, pretending to sound offended. "I will tell you that I am pretty funny. But on that note, about that vacation, think about it. You and me on a beach, sipping on pina coladas...wouldn't that be fun?"

"Tempting as that is, Bruce and Clara probably couldn't survive a day without us," Dick remarks with amusement. "And as fun as going to the beach sounds, I would like to stay in my bed."

"Aww, you're no fun," She pouts, although he obviously can't see it. "You are so lazy."

"Excuse me? If I am lazy, how come I kicked your butt the last time we fought?" Dick's voice sounds teasing. "Not my fault that you tripped over your own feet because you didn't feel like tying your laces."

"Meanie!' is all Aurelia says, before she smiles softly. "Anyways, when are meeting next?"

"What? You miss me?"

Again, she can quite literally hear him smirk on the other end. But it's not like she doesn't. Of course, she misses him. Why else would she be thinking about him all day long? It's not like she has a crush. Nope. That's not true at all.

"Uh yeah, I do. Is that such a bad thing?" Aurelia says. She runs her hand through her hair. "I mean, you are a great guy."

"Flattered, Lumen. Really flattered," Dick replies smoothly. Then he stifles a yawn and almost like it's a chain reaction, Aurelia yawns too. "Anyways, both you and I should go to sleep now. It's gotten pretty late."

"You think?" Aurelia states, before she stifles another yawn. "See you soon, Dick. Good night."

"Good night, Lia."

She hears Dick mumble something else, but doesn't catch it. After cutting the call, she tosses the phone on her bed and simply just collapses into sleep. And it is quite literal. As soon as her head hits the mattress, she just falls asleep, blissfully unaware of the outside world.

Carpe Diem. Carpe Noctem. Seize the Day. Seize the Night.

Two simple phrases taken from Latin, which people liked to use. Especially Carpe Diem. But they are also spells, powerful spells. One causes an increase in light, blinding and incapacitating the opponent for months and the other causes an increase in the darkness, drastically increasing a person's sensitivity to light which means one glance at a tubelight or a lamp post can destroy their vision. Both of them are lethal spells but can be used non-lethally as well.. And those are the spells Clara is teaching her niece today. As dark and vile as these spells are, Aurelia is the one person who she knows won't even think about misusing it. She has too much of a good heart and the appearance of the Phoenix (a creature representing generally the good things about magic) just adds to that.

But Aurelia is also a teenager. And teenagers rebel. Even if Clara might have been the same during her own teens, seeing Aurelia do this is getting on her nerves (maybe that's why her mother used to get so annoyed with her and her sister). Thankfully for Clara, her niece is a lot more well mannered than she used to be. All credits to her sister Alice and her brother-in-law, Victor. Even if they didn't get to raise her and see her as a teenager (seeing as they died when Aurelia was just five years), she did inherit a lot of their good traits.

Clara wipes the stray tear that falls on her face. Where did the time go? And just how was Aurelia seventeen? Time really just passes by, doesn't it?

"Woah, Clara, are you crying?" Aurelia's voice jolts her out of her thoughts. "Never thought I'd see that happen." She looks up to see her niece walking towards the living room. Aurelia keeps her phone in her pocket as she sits on the couch opposing Clara.

"I wasn't crying," Clara replies immediately, shaking her head. "I was just lost in thought."

"Okay." Aurelia looked like she didn't believe her. "How soon are we getting this over with?"

"If you successfully do them, we're done. Till then, you are not moving from that couch."

"Seriously? You know I have other things to do, then learning to Carpe Diem or Carpe Noctem. Like homework."

"Or teleporting to Gotham after school to see Dick?"

Aurelia sputters and lets out a cough. "Wh-what..I don't...no...."

Clara gives her a pointed look, to which she relents. Of course. she knows where her niece goes; just like Bruce knows where Dick goes. Trackers, implanted in both their arms, with memories of that removed from their minds. And mind you, outside of their nightly identities, the two weren't exactly sneaky.

"How do you know that?" Aurelia asks, as an embarrassed blush covers her face. At least she is decent enough not to lie. "I thought I was being careful..."

"Trust me, sweetheart, your mother and I used to do the same thing when we were your age," Clara replies. "So, of course, I knew what you were doing."

"Somehow I find that hard to believe," Aurelia mumbles. "But if I see him, that's something I do. That should be none of your concern."

"Why is that? What exactly do you two do that you can't share?"

"We talk and that's that."

"Talk? If that is some new teenage way of saying that we're dating, then.."

"God no! We aren't dating! We'll never date. He'll never like me like that anyway...."

Clara has to smile at the way Aurelia's face turns an even darker shade of red. She definitely has a crush on Dick Grayson; just the way those two act around each other shows it. And Clara has a hunch that Dick likes her back; why else would he have asked her to help surprise Lia last year? Both of them would be good together and good for each other. She sighs softly before saying, "Anyways, we are going off the track here so let's get back to what we have to do today."

"Seize the Day and Seize the Night," Aurelia says in a mocking tone, the blush slightly reduced although it's still present. "Yup, let's do it. Literally and figuratively."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not the one who is going to perform it. You have to do all the spellwork tonight."

"So you're just here to tell me what I do wrong? And correct my mistakes?"

"That's exactly what I am going to!" Clara claps her hands, probably a little too enthusiastically. Aurelia shoots her a playful glare. "I deserve to relax and anyways, the city's pretty dead tonight, crime-wise. So we can be here all night long. All night long."

"I have these moments where you scare the crap out of me, and one of those moments is now." Aurelia says as she stretches her fingers, clenching and unclenching her fists. "Seriously, Auntie C, why are you like this?"

"Because I am awesome." Clara grins, before crossing her arms. After a short pause, she says, "Now, either you start the spell or should I make you do it?"

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

A relatively shorter chapter compared to the previous two, but we are finally at the point in the story where things are going to lead into the creation of the titans and then you-know-what (it's all in the summary 😉😉)

Plus Aurelia finally admitted that she has a crush on Dick so that's gonna be fun to incorporate, especially in the upcoming chapters. 

Till then I hope you enjoyed! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below 💖💖