Disclaimer: All characters belong to DC comics and are used without
permission. But don't worry, no profit is being made from this story. This
was written in response to one of the Drabbles challenges on Young Justice:
A Fanfic Site. This takes place just before issue 41. Send feedback to
Curly_jo_the_1st@yahoo.com. All feedback will be loved and adored forever
and ever and ever. * Grin *
Special thanks to Jess for betareading.
*****
The girl called Secret floated silently through the halls of the hotel that Young Justice used as their headquarters. It was unusually quiet. Kon, Cassie, and Anita were all at home doing normal teen stuff. Slobo was out on the Supercycle, and Snapper was somewhere in the HQ putting in some new computer stuff. So, Suzie was all alone. And bored.
She floated toward the rooms that the boys used when they needed to stay at the headquarters. 'Ew', she thought as she passed Superboy's room and saw clothes and various other things strewn all over, 'Kon is such a slob!' Suzie peeked in the next room. Slobo's room was strangely tidy. 'That's weird...' Suzie thought, 'Oh, that's why.' The room was tidy because most of the stuff was shoved into a huge pile in one corner. She smiled. The next room, which had been Bart's, was empty. The smile left Suzie's face. 'That's right, Bart took all his stuff with him.' Suzie sighed. She floated a little farther down the hall. This was the room that had been drawing her nearer. Robin's room.
Suzie raised her hand as if to touch the door, but stopped. She wondered what was in Robin's room. He had said when he left that he didn't have anything to pack, but he couldn't have just had an empty room, could he? She took one more look at the door, and took a deep breath. She slipped her cloud-like form under the edge of the door into the room.
Suzie looked around the dimly lit room. Through the late afternoon sunlight coming through the window she could see that there really wasn't a whole lot in the room. There was a pair of sunglasses on the table beside the bed, and a Gotham Knights t-shirt lying on the bed. Suzie picked up the sunglasses and smiled wistfully. This was one of the pairs of sunglasses that Robin used when they all went out in "normal" clothes. That was a part of the reason that he had left. The others didn't trust him because he was so secretive. 'We all know that Alvin Draper isn't his real name. But why does it really matter so much?' she wondered. 'Hmph. I wonder if Spoiler knows his real name.' Suzie made a face.
As Suzie put the sunglasses back on the bedside table, she suddenly noticed something sticking out from underneath the table. 'Hmm, what's this?' she thought. Suzie solidified her fingers enough to pick it up. 'Oh I remember this!' It was a picture that Red Tornado took of the team when they went to the beach a couple of months ago. The picture was like a bit of the team's normal chaos frozen in time. Kon-El was posing and showing off his muscles. Cassie was trying to hide that she was watching Kon adoringly. Cissie was smirking at Cassie, and at Bart, who was making the two-fingered "bunny ears" behind Kon's head. Suzie was floating behind everybody else, giving Bart "bunny ears" and smiling. Lobo had one arm draped around Anita's shoulders, and Anita looked like she was barely tolerating it. Robin had a crooked half-smile, as if he knew that the relative calm of the picture couldn't last. Suzie giggled at the happy memory. Her face fell. The good times never seemed to last.
Sighing, Suzie let the picture drop onto the bed. 'Why did everything have to change? We were all happy. But then Robin left when Bart did, and now everything's all messed up.' Suzie traced around the picture of Robin with one ethereal finger. 'It's like there's a hole in the team. Why can't the others see it?' A tear slowly fell from Suzie's face and turned to a puff of smoke before it hit the floor. 'Why did he have to leave the team?' Suzie remembered when Klarion the Witch Boy had switched everyone's ages and Young Justice were all adults.
*^*^*^*^*
"...Be there for you, as we will be."
"And you promise you'll be there, Robin...always?"
"Absolutely."
*^*^*^*^*
Suzie thought of when the team was stuck on Apokolips recently. 'Mr. Side told me I was evil. But…he's evil, so he's got to be lying, right? I couldn't tell the others where I'd been that day, they would think I was like Darkseid…'
Suzie sank to her knees. She watched the picture flutter slowly to the floor. 'If I'm evil, maybe it's better that Robin left…' She sighed. 'I wouldn't want him to be hurt trying to stop me.' Suzie carefully laid the picture on the bedside table and turned to leave. She took one last look back at the picture lying on the table. 'But…I miss him so much.'
Special thanks to Jess for betareading.
*****
The girl called Secret floated silently through the halls of the hotel that Young Justice used as their headquarters. It was unusually quiet. Kon, Cassie, and Anita were all at home doing normal teen stuff. Slobo was out on the Supercycle, and Snapper was somewhere in the HQ putting in some new computer stuff. So, Suzie was all alone. And bored.
She floated toward the rooms that the boys used when they needed to stay at the headquarters. 'Ew', she thought as she passed Superboy's room and saw clothes and various other things strewn all over, 'Kon is such a slob!' Suzie peeked in the next room. Slobo's room was strangely tidy. 'That's weird...' Suzie thought, 'Oh, that's why.' The room was tidy because most of the stuff was shoved into a huge pile in one corner. She smiled. The next room, which had been Bart's, was empty. The smile left Suzie's face. 'That's right, Bart took all his stuff with him.' Suzie sighed. She floated a little farther down the hall. This was the room that had been drawing her nearer. Robin's room.
Suzie raised her hand as if to touch the door, but stopped. She wondered what was in Robin's room. He had said when he left that he didn't have anything to pack, but he couldn't have just had an empty room, could he? She took one more look at the door, and took a deep breath. She slipped her cloud-like form under the edge of the door into the room.
Suzie looked around the dimly lit room. Through the late afternoon sunlight coming through the window she could see that there really wasn't a whole lot in the room. There was a pair of sunglasses on the table beside the bed, and a Gotham Knights t-shirt lying on the bed. Suzie picked up the sunglasses and smiled wistfully. This was one of the pairs of sunglasses that Robin used when they all went out in "normal" clothes. That was a part of the reason that he had left. The others didn't trust him because he was so secretive. 'We all know that Alvin Draper isn't his real name. But why does it really matter so much?' she wondered. 'Hmph. I wonder if Spoiler knows his real name.' Suzie made a face.
As Suzie put the sunglasses back on the bedside table, she suddenly noticed something sticking out from underneath the table. 'Hmm, what's this?' she thought. Suzie solidified her fingers enough to pick it up. 'Oh I remember this!' It was a picture that Red Tornado took of the team when they went to the beach a couple of months ago. The picture was like a bit of the team's normal chaos frozen in time. Kon-El was posing and showing off his muscles. Cassie was trying to hide that she was watching Kon adoringly. Cissie was smirking at Cassie, and at Bart, who was making the two-fingered "bunny ears" behind Kon's head. Suzie was floating behind everybody else, giving Bart "bunny ears" and smiling. Lobo had one arm draped around Anita's shoulders, and Anita looked like she was barely tolerating it. Robin had a crooked half-smile, as if he knew that the relative calm of the picture couldn't last. Suzie giggled at the happy memory. Her face fell. The good times never seemed to last.
Sighing, Suzie let the picture drop onto the bed. 'Why did everything have to change? We were all happy. But then Robin left when Bart did, and now everything's all messed up.' Suzie traced around the picture of Robin with one ethereal finger. 'It's like there's a hole in the team. Why can't the others see it?' A tear slowly fell from Suzie's face and turned to a puff of smoke before it hit the floor. 'Why did he have to leave the team?' Suzie remembered when Klarion the Witch Boy had switched everyone's ages and Young Justice were all adults.
*^*^*^*^*
"...Be there for you, as we will be."
"And you promise you'll be there, Robin...always?"
"Absolutely."
*^*^*^*^*
Suzie thought of when the team was stuck on Apokolips recently. 'Mr. Side told me I was evil. But…he's evil, so he's got to be lying, right? I couldn't tell the others where I'd been that day, they would think I was like Darkseid…'
Suzie sank to her knees. She watched the picture flutter slowly to the floor. 'If I'm evil, maybe it's better that Robin left…' She sighed. 'I wouldn't want him to be hurt trying to stop me.' Suzie carefully laid the picture on the bedside table and turned to leave. She took one last look back at the picture lying on the table. 'But…I miss him so much.'