Author's Note: Hi guys! First fanfic ever, super exciting! Please bear with me, I'm still trying to navigate the website, and so updates may be slow. I don't have a beta, so please keep that in mind when you come upon my inevitable grammar mistakes. :)

Also I appreciate reviews and I don't mind some criticism (I need to improve somehow) but no flames please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Disappointment

"Are you alright?" The man standing across from Tegan looked worried as she sat up slowly from the floor. "Did I hurt you? I really am sorry."

Fighting down disappointment and sitting back on her train seat, Tegan shook her head. "I'm fine, sir. I was my fault; I'm always clumsy."

Glancing back at the girl to make sure she was okay, the man continued on his way towards the bathroom at the back of the train. He didn't notice the slight glare Tegan sent at his back.

Tegan knew it was uncalled for, but she couldn't help but feel angry. It wasn't the poor man's fault. She had walked into him. No, what she was angry about was the way he apologized. "Are you alright?" he had said to her, and as always when someone said that to her, her heart leaped into her throat, and for a few seconds she felt hopeful. But only a moment later she was disappointed as he continued by asking if he hurt her.

To anyone else, the stranger's apology would have seemed fine. Tegan could tell the man was truly genuine. To be honest with herself, she actually more angry at herself. To be specific, angry at the two lines of writing that encircled her thin wrist: her soulmark.

It had appeared when she was only four, something that Tegan remembered being delighted about at the time. Most kids' soulmarks, if they were going to get on, didn't appear until at least six or seven.

Tegan had assumed that the early marking would mean she would meet her soulmate soon. Yet here she was, 17 years old, with no family left, no close friends, and no soulmate.

When she first received her mark, she had made her mother read it to her out loud every night. She had loved hearing the words and couldn't wait until someone said them out loud to her. As she grew older though, she began to realize how annoying her marks were.

The soulmarks that always appeared on a child's body were always the first two sentences that their soulmate would ever say to them. If you didn't have a soulmark, then you either had no perfect match, or there were to many people that would fit perfectly with you. Thus, having a mark or not having a mark, depending on which way you looked at it, never caused any discrimination or grievance towards others. It was just a fact of life. Carmen has green eyes. Braiden can roll his tongue. Tegan has a soulmark. It was just normal.

Tegan liked the idea of having a soulmate. She wanted to meet her perfect match. It was just so hard to wait, especially when she had had so many false calls.

Her first sentence was "Are you alright?" And since she was so clumsy, many people's first words to her were that exact sentence. And every single time, her heart started to pound, she became light-headed with excitement and hope that this person would be her soulmate. And then they would crush her dreams. They would apologize. They would make excuses. Or they would ignore her.

But never had someone actually ever said the second sentence. Or phrase really. It was only three words: "Sorry, stupid question."

And now as she was on the train towards crime-ridden Gotham City for her new internship, she was plagued with disappointment as yet another person had raised her hopes only to smash them on the floor afterwards.