Prompt Post - Part Nine [CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS]
THIS PART IS NOW CLOSED. YOU CAN CONTINUE POSTING FILLS, BUT PLEASE PROMPT ALL NEW THINGS HERE.
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Part three here!
Part four here!
Part five here!
Part six here!
Part seven here!
Part eight here!
Feel free to reprompt posts from previous parts once. If you do so, I'd recommend leaving a link to your fill on the original prompt, ( Read more... )
J'onn J'onzz did not remember much of her trial. His parents had tried to keep him from learning about it, keep him sheltered. But he was older now, and no keeping anyone from learning about M'gann M'orzz's return. So he'd done his homework, and watched recordings of the trial. He'd never really paid attention to the White Martians before, no one did. After her trial that all changed, and now he could appreciate just how much.
M'gann M'orzz was tried and convicted of being a White Martian posing as a Green Martian. There had been no actual law on the books against it, as no one had ever tried it before, but prejudice alone was enough to overcome the lack of law. No one would defend her, and M'gann M'orzz was left alone to argue her cause, that White Martians had just as much right to live in peace as the Green Martians and Red Martians. She was banished from Mars for her convictions, told never to return. Several laws were passed in quick succession, outlawing posing as a different kind of Martian and instituting stricter control on the movement and actions of White Martians.
All in all, M'gann M'orzz's actions made things worse for White Martians, not better, and many of her own kind detested her for it. And now she was back, to speak before the Red Martians on the subject of Earth, where she had sought refuge. No one knew how she had managed to gain an audience with the Red Martians, but once she had gained an audience with them, she gained an audience with all of Mars.
J'onn was in school during the debate, but it was enough of a historic event that they watched it in class. M'gann M'orzz stood before the Council of Red Martians, the only White Martian to ever do so, and started speaking. When they ignored her, she briefly shifted into a Red Martian to gain their attention. There was outrage at that, and she was nearly arrested on the spot, but then she shifted back to her natural shape and they started listening. She had smiled at that. “You would not even look at me as a White Martian. It is not until I take your shape that you notice me.”
She spoke long about Earth, about the many different people there. About how people there were accepting, how many of them embraced those who were different. How Mars' current policies on the matter were a waste of resources, just how much was spent on controlling the White Martians. How there were even more different kinds of humans than there were Martians, and they got along. She was not even from Earth, and her second home had been far more welcoming to her than her first. She shared pictures, videos, and stories she had brought with her.
When she was finished, it was almost like coming out of a trance. J'onn had never thought much of Earth before, but after learning more about it than he thought there was to know, he had to admit, he had fallen a little bit in love with the idea of it.
After the broadcast, the teacher directed them into a class discussion. The only discussion that happened was on the tales of Earth M'gann M'orzz had shared. Everyone agreed on the subject of the White Martians: nothing should change. J'onn had a bad feeling in his stomach at that that he couldn't quite identify until some time later. It was disappointment.
Disappointment in his classmates, disappointment in the rest of Mars. Earth sounded like a wonderful place. Why wouldn't Mars want to be more like Earth?
J'onn came to the conclusion that reason no one was considering changing things was because M'gann M'orzz was a White Martian. If it were a Green Martian or a Red Martian who had suggested changing things, there would be a proper debate. So J'onn packed a bag, snuck out, and stowed away aboard M'gann M'orzz's spaceship before she took off for the return journey to Earth.
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J'onn climbed out of the cabinet, grateful to stretch his legs. “I'll tell them you didn't. They'll believe me.”
“On Earth they call that Stockholm Syndrome.”
“What?”
M'gann shook her head. “Never mind. What are you doing here?”
“I want to go to Earth,” J'onn replied eagerly. “You made it sound so wonderful. I want to know if it's really all that you said it was.”
M'gann nodded. “It is. And so much more. What's your name?”
“J'onn J'onzz. Are you going to make me go back to Mars?”
“Not if you're really serious about this,” M'gann said, then put up a finger to stop J'onn when he made to chatter on. “But I mean really serious. I... work with some people who wouldn't approve of you running away. They'd insist on telling your family, who would in turn insist on you coming home. You'd have to lie, say that you're my nephew, that you have their permission to be on Earth with me. Do you think you can do everything that that would entail?”
J'onn paused, mulled it over. But there was only a tiny bit of hesitation before he shifted into a White Martian. “You mean like this?”
M'gann nodded, smiling, a little bit sadly. “Yes. Do you think you could do it?”
J'onn nodded. “Yes.”
M'gann's eyes lit up. “Welcome to the Earth Express then! Come on to the cockpit, the view as we get closer is marvelous.” She walked away, gesturing at him. “By the way, the people I work with call me Martian Manhunter. Perhaps you should come up with a good alias.”
J'onn grabbed something from the cabinet before he shut the door and followed after her. “Okay. Hey, do you think you could explain this book to me? I found it in the cabinet and read it, and it doesn't make any sense.”
They reached the cockpit and M'gann sat down in the pilot's seat. J'onn happily slid down into the copilot's seat and held up the book for M'gann to see. M'gann laughed. “Oh, that book. Have you ever read any science fiction?”
J'onn made a face. “A little. It's all rather silly, especially the old stuff. I mean, we know that Earth isn't like that now.”
M'gann gestured at the book. “That's Earth science fiction. What they imagined Mars to be, once upon a time. I translated it myself, I liked it so much.”
“Why? It's wrong.”
“It's not the facts that matter,” M'gann explained. “It's the story. The ending, in particular, spoke to me.”
J'onn opened the book to the last page and stared at it. “...Still don't get it.”
“You will.” M'gann smiled at him. “So tell me about what's happened on Mars since I was banished. I didn't get a chance to look around a whole lot.”
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Several days after their arrival on Earth, after M'gann dealt with some business she needed to take care of, she and J'onn were wearing human guises and M'gann was showing him around all her favorite places. She told him to wait by a fountain while she went to go buy lunch from one of the vendors nearby.
J'onn sat down on the edge of the fountain and flicked at the water within. It was a large fountain, and the ripples from the spouts in the middle barely reached the edges. As the ripples caused by J'onn's fingers faded, he caught sight of his reflection. The human face he had adopted looked back at him.
He smiled, and his reflection smiled back. “I get it now.”
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