A/N: Hey Everyone! Another oneshot... because I'm unable to write anything with a continued plot. It's based on Smash's song Secondhand White Baby Grand. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Smash.
Something secondhand and broken
still can make a pretty sound
Artemis walked past the empty rooms in the Cave, no destination in her mind except for away. Away from Megan's perky attitude, away from Robin's cryptic remarks, and most definitely away from Wally.
The red head constantly threw little barbed comments and jabs at her, trying to undermine the tenuous friendships she was crafting with the team. She was convinced he was the head bitch of some high school in New York in a past life and had retained the conniving habits in this one.
Trying to ignore her growing anger, Artemis opened the next door she saw, hoping it would have something she could hit in it. Instead, standing in the middle of the room was a solitary baby grand piano.
Artemis's heart skipped a beat, then another, before settling into a slightly faster than average rhythm. It had been months since she had seen a piano and years since she'd played one. Making up her mind, she took small tentative steps towards the instrument, willing her hands to steady. She sat down at the small bench and flipped back the cover, running her hands over the keys in the way only a music lover can. One note at a time, a twinkling melody started to take shape, transporting Artemis back to the year she learned to play.
Her mother bought the baby grand piano secondhand at an auction using a majority of her savings when Artemis was eight. Apparently it had belonged to her favorite silent movie star, but Artemis had failed to see how that impacted the value.
They'd gotten some of the neighborhood boys to help maneuver the piano into their small apartment, where it proceeded to take up their entire living room. Still, her mother hadn't been deterred.
"Every girl should learn to play the piano." was the only explanation she'd give if asked why she went through all the trouble. Arranging to have a piano brought to the slums of Gotham was a feat in and of itself, but winning the argument with her husband was by far the most impressive accomplishment for Artemis's mother.
Sure, Lawrence had roared and raged against letting their daughters learn such a 'weak' skill, but Paula would not be swayed. In the end, his only choice was to allow the piano to remain.
Twelve year old Jade had immediately dismissed the baby grand as a waste of time, but Artemis had fallen in love. She'd sit at the piano bench for hours at a time, ignoring schoolwork and friends in order to practice. Her fingers were too short to stretch even one octave and the keys were horribly out of tune, but Artemis continued to play. First she'd played every song her mother had known, and then she just started playing tunes by ear. Mozart, Beethoven and the Beatles frequently made an appearance in her hours of practice, but she'd also started to compose her own music. Her compositions, though childlike and clumsy, never failed to make her mother's face light up; and suddenly nothing else around them mattered.
They'd forget that they lived in what was possibly the worst neighborhood in the state, if not the entire country.
They'd forget that the man of the household was a crime lord, and that one day they'd both be expected to become more involved in his various schemes.
All their worries would simply fly away.
Even at eight, Artemis understood why she loved that white baby grand so much. Though the piano was secondhand and broken, it could still produce such a beautiful sound.
As she continued playing, the keys got progressively more out of tune, and a few strings had snapped, but the music created a special bond between Artemis and her mother that neither was willing to give up.
When Artemis turned nine, her mother and father's latest bust went badly, locking Paula in jail and giving Lawrence free reign over Artemis.
The secondhand white baby grand was the first thing to go, leaving behind the child that had given her heart to it. Every night after that, she'd pray for someone to realize how similar she was to that piano. She may have been slightly used and broken, but she still had something to give the world.
Six years of Lawrence had beaten the prayers and hope out of the small blonde, and yet the fifteen year old Artemis was finding it surprisingly easy to give herself back to the music.
Like riding a bike, the love of piano never really left anyone. Artemis plucked out a simple tune, one note at a time before adding the chords. Bridges followed, making the original melody merge into a full orchestral piece. The blonde wasn't sure if the piece was from a famous opera or something she'd made up way back when, but she'd found it didn't really matter. The music flowed from her hands into the room around her. The piece eventually ended, leaving only the ghosts of the last notes hanging in the air.
"Wow" came a voice near the door. Artemis whipped around, completely caught off guard by the man silhouetted in the doorway.
"Wally?" Artemis asked, not completely with it.
"That was… wow." Wally said again.
"What are you doing down here?" she asked, getting over her shock.
"What? Oh yeah! HEY GUYS!" he suddenly shouted into the hallway. "I FOUND HER!"
"Found me?"
"Well yeah. Arty, you've been missing for almost four hours."
"Four hours?" she repeated astonished. It had seemed like nothing while she was playing.
"Artemis?" came another voice from the hallway. Megan swooped into the room stopping right in front of Artemis and grabbing her into a hug. "We were so worried! First we couldn't find you and no one knew where you'd gone and I couldn't find you mentally for some reason and so we all split up and I guess Wally found you which is a giant relief be-" she rambled, continuing to hug Artemis before the archer cut her off.
"I'm fine Megan, really. I guess I just got caught up in playing the piano." Artemis said laughing. She'd completely forgiven Megan for her slightly too innocent persona, and Robin for his wisecracks and even Wally for being the tremendous jerk he was.
"I didn't know you played!" Megan said, wide eyed.
"I do not think any of us did." Kaldur said from the door, gesturing to the rest of the team that was filing in behind Megan.
"Oh! Will you play us something?" Megan asked pleadingly.
"I don't really play…anymore." Artemis said somewhat lamely.
Megan's eyes immediately dimmed. "Well, that's fine." she assured the blonde.
"But you're so good!" Wally blurted out.
To say who was more surprised would be unanswerable.
"I guess one song wouldn't kill anyone's ears." Artemis said slowly, more to cover up the amazed silence left after Wally's announcement than anything.
Artemis walked over to the bench, took a seat and started playing. She played for what seemed like hours, but was mostly likely only a few minutes. The team stood back and simply listened to the music until the last sounds died out.
No one said anything, just looked at Artemis, awed by her obvious talent.
The walk back to the Cave's living room was silent, but it was a comfortable silence. And at the end of it, Artemis was happier than she'd ever been.
But that secondhand white baby grand
still had something beautiful to give
A/N: I hope you liked it! Any thoughts?
~The Dark Princess