Stolen, a young justice fanfic

Well I couldn't stay away from writing forever. xD

Just an idea that popped into my head today. First time writing for this fandom, so hopefully this isn't too terrible. Let me know if you guys want me to continue; feedback is love :)

- Trish

Please keep in mind that:

- This will be mystery/suspense/action/romance fic. If only the site let me pick more than two genres ...

- The majority of this fanfic will be written in first person; chapters will alternate between Artemis' and Wally's point of views

- Not all events that take place here follow what happens on the show. Some plotlines will stay the same, while some will change. Just letting you guys know upfront.

Disclaimer: Young Justice (c) Warner Bros. Animation; DC entertainment.

Drip.

Drip.

Her eyes fly open.

And still she sees nothing. That's the first thing she notices; that all she sees is blackness, as if she were nowhere at all.

Drip.

The second thing she notices is her hands; clasped tightly behind her. The rope around her wrists is impossibly tight. Curious, her fingers trace its path. She feels one knot. Two knots. Three knots. Four ...

Drip.

Her cheeks are wet. She suspects leakage from somewhere above her. No way in hell are they tears; nonetheless, hers. She hasn't cried in ages.

Drip.

The noise doesn't stop, wherever it is coming from. Her head is spinning.

Then she hears it. A voice, raspy; so full of anger and hate to the point where she feels the complete opposite of what it tells her to.

"Welcome ..."

Instantly her mind takes her elsewhere, and she sees pieces; broken memories floating all around her. Gradually, they come together. And then she remembers. And then she knows.

She knows that voice.

She knows this place.

"... home."

"Wake up look me in the eyes again
I need to feel your hand upon my face
Words can be like knives
They can cut you open
And the silence surrounds you and haunts you

- Stateless, Bloodstream

I'm alive.

It was the first thought of the day, the same thought of my every day. My next thought, however, definitely wasn't so usual:

And this isn't my bed.

Out of nowhere, I felt someone else's breath, warm on my neck. The breath had a voice. "Did you have fun last night?"

My heart pounded through my chest, and very slowly, I turned to see if that voice also had a body (Okay Einsteins, I know what you're thinking. I mean obviously that voice belonged to a living, breathing person. But let me be poetic here, will ya?). One glimpse of red hair, and I knew.

Without a second thought, my knee collided with his chin, and I leaped out of the bed, my arms folded tightly over my chest. "WALLY?"

Naturally, he responded with that trademark smirk of his. "Good morning, sunshine."

I raised an eyebrow.

He rubbed his chin.

"Sweet kick, by the way. Might need to get this checked later. You probably broke it."

"You sicken me."

There it was. That smirk again. "That's not what you said last night ..."

I felt my cheeks flush in the worst shade of red possible. "GET OUT! If I ever see your face again ..."

"Relax! I'll be out of your hair in a sec. Just let me get my pants ..."

Oh my God ... did we?

Thankfully, it didn't take long before the idiot gathered his things and strutted out of the room. My head throbbed like crazy. I fell backwards onto the bed, grabbed the first pillow I could find and didn't hold back from screaming extremely loud into it.

"You okay?"

My eyes tore away from the pillow, and bore into those of M'gann's. I relaxed a little, and slowly began to sit up. "Where am I?"

She looked at me, a little puzzled, then simply laughed. "You're at the cave, silly. You passed out and we had no choice but to bring you here. Since, you know, you still haven't told us where you live and all."

"But-"

"You were probably exhausted from last night's mission; in which, you kicked serious alien butt, by the way."

My memory was still pretty hazy but thankfully, pieces from last night were gradually coming together. I remembered hearing Batman's careful instructions, boarding the Bio-ship, heading to some sketchy unknown district, and of course, kicking serious alien butt, like M'gann had said ... Still, there were a couple things that just didn't add up.

"Hey ..." I said, about to ask the most awkward question I've ever asked in my life. "Did me and Wally ..?"

She burst into hysterics. "Oh, no! That's what you were so worried about?"

"But he ... but I-"

"I assure you, he was sleeping like a big baby on the couch all night. Maybe he woke up a little early and decided to mess with you. Don't stress on it, okay?"

"And you're so sure of all this ... how?"

"Well for starters, your clothes are still on."

I felt a great weight lifted off my chest, and threw in a laugh myself. "Thank the Lord."

The next thing I knew, it was 2pm, six hours after I'd been awake last. I never realized how tired I truly was, but I must've fallen back asleep after my talk with MM.

My stomach grumbled, and my feet dragged me towards the smell of sweet, sweet bacon.

There in the kitchen, I found M'gann ... and Wally. Because wherever there is a gorgeous martian girl chopping up onions, there is a red-headed moron following her around like a lovesick puppy.

"Wally, do you mind passing the salt?"

"I'd be happy to, Princess." The look on his face as he merely passe her the salt was absolutely revolting. As difficult as it was to not throw up, I settled for rolling my eyes instead.

Then I saw it. The saddest thing I had ever witnessed.

The damn bacon wasn't ready yet.

Throwing in a sigh, I snatched an apple from the fruit bowl instead, all the while avoiding eye contact with the both of them. It was a skill that I'd perfected to an art.

Afterwards, I made my way over to the couch, finding a good spot between Connor and Kal. Robin was nowhere to be found, as usual. The corners of my lips curved into a little smirk as I tried to guess what crazy solo mission he'd gotten himself into this time around.

I took a bite of the apple. It was crisp and juicy, just the way I liked it.

Unfortunately, I must have been chewing a little too loudly for everyone's taste, because before I knew it, I caught the weirdest stares from the two boys sitting next to me.

I put the apple down in shame. "Sorry."

Kaldur offered that subtle smile of his. "It is fine."

"You sure?"

"Of course, why would-"

"No." Suddenly, Connor slammed his fist into the coffee table in front of us, nearly shattering the glass. "Nothing is fine! We have all this crap going on and you think everything is fine?"

The room went dead silent. I swear on Inza Nelson's grave, you could've heard a pin drop at that very moment.

He stormed out of the living room, and in a blink, M'gann was after him.

"Is he ... alright?"

Kal's smile had quickly faded, and had been replaced with a solemn gaze. "I'm afraid not. I believe he feels ... responsible, for some reason."

"Responsible? For-"

"Look ahead, Artie." It was Wally's voice, urging me towards the TV screen.

Then I saw. Footage of dead bodies; wounded, drained of blood, cut up ... dead. Iris West-Allen appeared on the screen, looking completely distraught. "In addition to last week's incidents, ten more bodies have been found in an old dumpsite just west of Project Cadmus. Police are looking into ..."

Adrenaline rushed through my blood, and I stood up, still shaking. "I can't watch this."

I felt absolutely sick to my stomach.

I turned the knob at the sink, allowing the water to run between my fingers. Hastily, I ran the cold water over my face, feeling a rush against my skin. All of a sudden, my blue orbs met the mirror in front of me. I took in my fair complexion, my long, blonde hair that practically reached my knees ... it wasn't long before I looked away. I never liked looking at myself for more than a couple seconds, for reasons that went beyond the fact that I really, really needed a haircut.

After wiping my face and with a twist of the knob, I strolled out of the Cave's guest bathroom and headed down the hall. I couldn't held but peer into Connor's room as I neared it; I saw him and M'gann sitting at the edge of his bed, and quickly hid behind the wall, afraid to disturb them.

"Shhh, it's going to be okay ..."

I heard sobs. And instantly, I knew that Superboy had nothing to say, and that Miss Martian was running out of comforting words herself.

I continued down the hall.

The corridor seemed to grow darker and darker as I continued walking. It took me awhile before I realized I was lost, unsure of where I was, whether or not I was still in the Cave. My surroundings were almost pitch dark, and I could barely see where I was headed. Yet I kept going, walking faster and faster and faster and faster and-

"Found you."

I lost balance, crashing hard onto the floor beneath me, head first. I felt an unbelievable shock of pain jolt through my body. When I swallowed, I tasted by blood. During those couple seconds I was still conscious, I tried searching for it - the source of the whisper; proof I wasn't crazy enough to hear voices in my head - and came up blank.

I am completely alone.

It was the last thing on my mind before I was knocked out, cold.