Because of You, a young justice fanfic

Disclaimers: I own nothing. The song used is 'Because of you' by Kelly Clarkson

"I will not make the same mistakes that you did, I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery, I will not break, the way you did, you fell so hard, I learned the harder way to never let it get that far."

Artemis vowed to never make the mistakes her family did, not to break the way they did. She wasn't going to let her memories cause her so much misery, she was going to move on, though she learned the hard way that, that's what she should have done in the first place.

"Because of you, I'll never stray too far from the sidewalk, because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt, because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me, because of you, I am afraid."

Artemis was afraid of it all, loosing her new family, becoming a villian, needing to face her father again. Her father...It's because of him that she isn't a villian, she never wants to be like him. Because of him, she plays on the safe side, not trusting a lot of people, knowing they could let her down. It's becasue of him...she doesn't trust herself either.

"I loose my way, and it's not to long before you point it out, I can not cry, because I know that's weakness in your eyes, I'm forced to fake a smile, a laugh, everday of my life, my heart can't possibly break when it wasn't even whole to start with."

She had to force smiles everyday for her mother, she had to fake laughs for her friends. She couldn't cry, she knew it was only a sign of weakness. It hurt her to bicker with Wally, but she didn't want to become friendly with him, she didn't want to loose him too. Her heart couldn't break anymore, it was never whole to begin with.

"I watched you die, I heard you cry everynight in you sleep, I was so young you should have known better than to lean on me, you never thought of anyone else, you just saw your pain, and now I cry in the middle of the night for the same damn thing!"

Artiems had watched her sister leave, heard her mother cry every night. Artemis was so young and yet her mother found it was all right to lean on her, to depend on her, but it wasn't. Artemis was suffering herself but her mother only saw her own pain. And after years of carrying this burdon, Artemis cracked. She was supossedly alone in Mt. Justice, and her thoughts became too much. Hearing about the encounter Aqualad and Red Arrow had with her sister and dad pushed her over the edge. She dropped to her knees and began bawling. She was alone in the world, no one loved her, nobody.

"Because of you, I'll never stray too far from the sidewalk, because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt, because of you I find it hard just to forget everything, because of you, I don't know how to let anyone else in, because of you I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty, Becasue of you, I am...afraid. Because of you..."

"Arty?" Robin asked, kneeling at her level.

"Is she okay?" Megan questioned, leaning over Robin to get a better look.

"Artemis?" Wally asked, rubbing her back.

She didn't responde to anyone. She just continued her cry. She didn't know how to let them in, she was just trying to forget and let go. She was trying to be less ashamed of her life, which seemed so empty to her. It was because of her, herself, she was afraid, she was left battered and hurt because of all the suffering she let herself indure.

"Because of you..."