How to Save a Life

"And I would have stayed up with you all night,

Had I known how to save a life."

Chapter 1

'I'm suffocating…' The windowless room was definitely shrinking. It had to be. There was no way that such a big space could feel so claustrophobic. She longed for the freeing odor of the city's contaminated ozone.

"Hey that's an unusual shade of hair color you got there miss; you're not from around here are you?"

Shoulder length fuchsia strands lurched away from an ashen face as rose colored eyes looked at the clerk in alarm.

"Now that I think about it I might have seen your picture before somewhere… like one of those superhero girls…or was it one of the villains-?

The exotic girl tried to regulate her heart rate by breathing through her nose. 'Breathe. Don't panic; remember what he said: you are what you want to be…not what others perceive you as…'

"Oh well it doesn't matter anyway. That would be crazy. I mean come on, if you had special powers why would you need to walk down to the post office to pick up your mail right?"

'Breath in…breathe out'

The postal worker laughed obnoxiously at his not so comical joke while the paranoid girl tried to calculate all the escape routes she could find. 'I should use my dark magic…he'll be hexed long enough that I could slip out the back door in the confusion …'

"Anyway, don't mind me young lady. My own ordinary life bores me so sometimes I let my imagination get the best of me."

'Yeah sounds terrible. Want to trade lives old man?'

"So who did you say you were picking up mail for again?"

'I didn't.'

Satisfied that he wasn't a secret informant for the Justice League or its team of protégés, the Teen Titans, the pink haired teen calmed down slightly and answered him properly.

"Wally. Wally West."

"Ah yes, here is a letter from Gotham. Wow an official Wayne Enterprise seal! Your friend must be pretty important to merit mail that special. Can you please give me your name so I can sign this off?"

Suddenly overcome with a bout of abnormal terror again, she froze up.

'Remember to breathe. Don't hyperventilate now.'

"..Uh…Jinx- I mean Jade. Its Jade..um..Hsalfdik."

"Oh are you European?"

Anxious to get out of the confining room the girl named Jinx started to edge towards the door.

"Yeah sure whatever, bye now!"

Nearly fleeing from the post office, Jinx walked quickly to the safety of the crowded sidewalks of Metropolis. Blending into the masses, she stuffed the letter into her messenger bag. Out here she could pass as a civilian with her jeans and one of Wally's oversized shirts and sunglasses. Even a justice wielding vigilante like Super Man or Robin would have trouble locating her in this busy city, at least for a short time anyway.

Thoughts turning to her escapade at the post office, Jinx laughed out loud at her cleverness in picking a last name. 'Hsalfdik – Kid Flash backwards. And to think that Wally said it would take weeks for me to gather enough courage to leave the apartment, let alone manage by myself.' Then she remembered how scared she had been when her identity as a super villain had almost been discovered. Well, ex-villain at any rate, but her boyfriend was still trying to convince the other heroes in the League that she was really a changed girl. A conviction that even she was having trouble standing by with confidence. As long as they remained skeptical, she remained on the wanted list. 'Oh how the mighty have fallen…'

Pulling out the to-do-list that she had secretly made before Wally had gotten up this morning, Jinx scanned it for the next task. She wanted to finish all of the necessary stops before six o' clock when her own super hero would be home for dinner. He had said he might be late because he had to go to the Watchtower and Tokyo among other things, but with his super sonic speed she knew Wally would be home right on time. Then again saving lives, or destroying them for that matter, could not be written into a schedule. Her enemy, now boyfriend, had taught her that everyone deserved a chance at life, even her, someone who could only bring bad luck to people. He was one of the reasons she had quit the Hive Five and moved to Metropolis in a desperate experiment to start anew. An ever present struggle, the change had brought many new trials into their young lives forcing them to forget their respective sides of so called good and evil, and just focus on who was a friend or an enemy.

'Let's see, I guess I'll go to grocery store now and buy something to make for dinner tonight. Heaven knows we can never have enough food in the apartment with a boy that has extra fast metabolism. Kid Flash, the fastest human garbage disposal alive!'

Mouth breaking out into a very rare smile, Jinx crossed the street briskly as the walk sign flashed green. The tall skyscrapers reflected her image when she rounded the corner to the other side. A little ways down, the Daily Planet stood as a magnificent tribute to man kind's ongoing battle in seeking out the truth. It put the rest of the extraordinary buildings to shame with its large rotating steel Earth and flashing news's headlines. Across from it was the multi level super market that she was headed for. Jinx had barely passed the flashy corporation when she thought she saw two familiar faces in front of the double glass doors. Inconspicuously glancing in her peripheral vision the ex-villainess nearly went into a nervous breakdown. It was Raven and Beast boy of the Teen Titans, she was sure of it. 'What are they doing so far away from Jump City?! Argh! Who am I kidding? I'm here and I used to live in Jump City. Ok, you can do this, just walk like you belong here.' For the second time that day Jinx wanted out. Five steps towards her destination and she knew there was no way she would make it. Raven an Empath, had already sensed her unusually high strung emotions in the normal hustle and bustle and Beast boy's nose had caught her specific scent in the afternoon breeze. Their heads turned almost at the same time, locking on to her presence. 'Screw playing it cool. They are not taking me away from the only good thing I have ever known.' Jinx broke into a run, Wally's sunglasses falling to the ground as she zigzagged through cars to get to the super market. Automatic doors blasted her with recycled air as she skidded to a clumsy stop inside the safe haven.

Outside, beyond the traffic filled intersection, a green boy picked up a pair of sunglasses and stared at them thoughtfully before carefully dropping them into his female partner's hand.

"What do you think Rae?"

"I think it's time to call Robin."

The changeling appraised her cloak concealed face for a minute before towing her by the hand into a secluded side street. Once comfortably hidden in the shadows, Beast boy gently pushed back the girl's hood so that he could see her purple eyes clearly.

"What?"

Knowing better than to take her monotone attitude personally, he tried to convince the dark witch otherwise.

"Rae, do we really have to notify Robin of this? It might not have even been her. Besides she hasn't done anything bad lately. What if she has turned over a new leaf?"

Raven's eyes narrowed, having never quite gotten along with the girl they were hunting.

"Tell me, how many girls do you know with neon pink hair? I don't care if she's planted a whole new tree. She still needs to pay for all of the leaves it took for her to figure it out. She could be working for Slade for all we know."

Beast boy discreetly rolled his eyes as she searched for her communicator to contact their leader with. Leave it to the logical and unemotional one to jump to conclusions when it came to the people she really despised.

A pale hand opened the communication device only to be halted by a green one.

"Every one deserves a second chance Rae. You of all people should know that."

Images of Apocalyptic fire and human screams filled the titan girl's head and she clenched her eyes shut against the onslaught of emotion. Her father's voice seemed to ricochet off walls inside her head. "You will be my portal that ushers in the end of the world!" She opened them cautiously to check the grey skin on her arms and legs. 'No hellish markings - thank Azar.' The relieved telepath looked up only to see the triumphant look on Beast boy's face. He knew exactly what she was thinking about.

"Fine, you win. We'll just tell Robin she may be here, give him the glasses, and then let him handle it."

"That's all I'm asking."

Raven stepped forward to hug the boy lightly and teleport them both out of the darkness.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Jinx tried to regain her composure as shoppers stared at her curiously.

"Ha…ha…nothing to see here. Carry on…"

Acting like she hadn't just blew in there like a hurricane, the enchantress grabbed a shopping cart and proceed to walk maturely down aisle nine.

"Maybe I should make pasta for Wally tonight. That should keep him loaded with carbohydrates for those halfway around the world trips."

With a snort Jinx dropped a couple boxes of bow tie noodles into the cart. If someone had told her a month ago that she was going to be buying food with Kid Flash's health in mind she would have laughed in their face right before hexing them all the way to kingdom come. After gathering a few more necessities and checking out, the peculiar girl started the trek out the door. She had almost made it when she saw an outfit that closely resembled her old Hive Five uniform. Without warning, she was hit with such a powerful yearning for something, anything that would give here some notion of who she was or where she belonged that she walked over to look at the price tag. After checking her wallet, it was obvious that it was much too expensive for her pitiful running away savings. But it felt so right, so familiar that Jinx needed to have it. Pink sparks had actually started to form at her fingertips when a voice echoed loudly in her head. "You are what you want to be not what others perceive you as Jinx. If, in your heart, you truly want to be good then you can be good. It won't be easy. But like all good things you have to work for it. I'll help you. Who knows? Maybe someday you'll even fight along side me as a hero."

'Wally…'

Jinx recoiled from the display as if it had bit her. Eyes widening in horror she clenched her fists together to stop her past life from overtaking her.

'Wally would be so disappointed in me if I stole that…'

Jinx literally felt physical pain as she forced herself to turn around and march out of the store, groceries in hand. Tears filled her magenta eyes as she realized that she had a serious problem.

'I can't do this. It's too hard to not be who I was before. I don't belong here. I'm a dark enchantress whose very name means bad luck. The world doesn't benefit from my existence at all. Maybe it would be better if I just stop trying while I'm ahead; turn myself in and be subjected to solitary confinement for the rest of my life. It's not like anyone would miss me much. I can't stand feeling this lost.'

The depressed teen was so preoccupied that she did not even notice how late it had gotten, or that she was walking down a seedy looking alleyway that did not appear to be all that safe.

"Hey girlie! I'm talking to you! Look at me when I speak woman!"

Jinx was jolted out of her musings by a man's grating voice. A girl about the same age as her was being pushed around by an unscrupulous looking character.

"L…Leave..me…a…alone. I don't even know you!"

"Not yet anyway."

Jinx started to back away from the increasingly dangerous scene only to stop again, plagued by her conflicting emotions. 'Just walk way. It's not like I'm the one hurting her. Besides who am I to criticize his methods? I was just like him a couple weeks ago and I don't even know if he is really the bad guy here.'

She turned her attention back to the victimized girl now cornered into the brick wall of the alleyway. With one look into her frightened eyes Jinx knew who the bad guy really was. Taking a deep breath and looking inwards into herself, Jinx tried to picture what her speedster would say at a time like this. His image swam in her mind. 'Jinx not doing anything at all is worse than actually causing the problem. Practicing apathy is the worst thing you could do to this city. You have heard it many times, with great power comes great responsibility. You're responsible for lives Jinx. Fragile things, lives. They are easily broken. And once destroyed they can never be saved. Who will you choose to be? The destroyer or the savior?'

"The destroyer or the savior…good…or evil."

Jinx groaned and strengthened her resolve before approaching the two lives in question. She may not know where she belonged right now, or what side she was on, but Jinx did know one thing. There were two lives in desperate need of saving right in front of her and she had the power to change the outcome.

"I will prove to you Wally, that I can be GOOD!"

Heliotrope waves of electric energy sent the hoodlum flying away from the innocent girl trapped against the wall. Black magic surrounded the man and dragged his body towards the witch.

"Hello! How was your day today? Fine? BECAUSE MINE REALLY SUCKED!"

All the pent up emotion and frustration that had been slowly mounting all day was finally unleashed as Jinx released most of her magical power in a catharsis. Round after round of pink energy hit the weak low life relentlessly. The man, now unable to move, stared up at the near hysterical Jinx through glazed eyes as a booted foot was placed on top of his windpipe.

"P..please..I..can't breathe…"

"Deal with it. You're lucky I'm even letting you have air right now. You just lay there and enjoy that precious commodity while you can."

Her reply was met with wheezing and muscle spasms. He wasn't going to last long like this. 'Oh well, one less one for Wally to worry about.' As soon as that thought actually connected with the rest of her brain Jinx leapt off of the prone man at once. He rolled over on all fours gasping and sputtering and then stumbled out of her line of vision. 'What have I done? I almost killed a man. That would have undone all of the progress I've made recently. Everything that Wally has taught me. Being a hero really is an impossible career choice for me after all. Someone just doesn't change from one end of the spectrum to the other, what was I thinking?'

"Um…e…excuse me? Miss?"

Jinx whirled around, rudely jerked out of her self reflection by the girl she had rescued.

'How did I manage to forget about her?'

"Thank you so much for saving me! Are you a hero? You made it look so easy, the way you took care of that guy! I just can't thank you enou-"

'It was far from easy. How can you even think I'm a hero after what I almost did to that guy?'

"Just Forget it. It was no big deal."

The grateful girl scooped up Jinx's now smashed grocery bag and handed it to her.

"Oh but it was a big deal! There has to be something-"

"I said don't worry about it. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get going now."

"The least I can do is walk you to wherever your going-"

"Just leave me the hell alone! Don't you understand! I'm not a superhero! I'm just Jinx!"

The taken aback girl stared at the witch, judgment replacing thanks.

"What is wrong with you?"

Jinx watched as the girl turned on her heel and ran out to the street that was now humming with night life.

"Everything…"

She was cold, tired and wanted to go home. Any home. It didn't matter at this point. Both her mind and body were exhausted from all the strain. The worn girl walked slowly back to Wally's apartment, her footsteps echoing behind her.

Phew! And there is chapter 1. I hope you guys liked it. Don't worry Wally will be in the next chapter. Aren't they just the cutest couple? If I get enough reviews I'll make this into a really long story okay! Thanks for your time!