DISCLAIMER- I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE! IF I DID THE SHOW WOULD BE COMING OUT WITH A THIRD SEASON!

I ONLY OWN THIS STORY. NEITHER DO I OWN BRANCH OF SIN FROM DEADMAN WONDERLAND! ITS JUST ONE OF THE BEST ANIME'S EVER!

~My Light of Life

Chapter 2-Battle At Kent's Place

"You killed his parent's?" Super Boy was confused. The way Nightwing acted early looked like he was almost family. "What happened?"

Shadow looked down at her feet; her eyes had begun to water. No one had ever seen her cry but her men, her team.

"It was just any normal show, but something went horribly wrong. The ropes broke causing all of them to fall. They did not have a net." Shadow had never said any of this aloud to anyone before. "I was too young, too weak. I could not save them all. Nightwing's parents...all they were thinking about was him, they wanted him to live, and they loved him so much." Shadow was on her knees, she covered her face." I let both of them die, I let them all die. It is my entire fault. My team, his parents", she held back a cry. "And all those people, I cannot do this anymore!

"Hey, hey calm down. It's going to be alright." Super boy regretted asking her to tell him this.

"Oh there you guys are...what's going on? Shadow are you okay?" Nightwing walked over and knelt down. "What happened?"

" I'm so sorry! You can hate me all you want, just please don't leave again!" Shadow clutched to Nightwing, trying her best not to cry.

"She told you?" Nightwing helped Shadow up from the floor.

"Nightwing I had no idea, I'm fine with Shadow staying here everyone seems to like her."

" That's what I came here to talk about; Batman said you could stay but..." Nightwing stopped talking as Shadow shook her head knowing what he was about to say. "Um... he said I could ask if you wanted to stay." Although the team needed to be briefed on Shadows current situation, he let her have his one moment of bliss.

Shadows eye's had grown wide, and she actually smiled, really smiled her first in a long time. "I accept."

" That's good to hear. I'll go let Batman and the rest of the team know." Nightwing walked back down the hallway then turned and shouted. "We have training first thing in the morning, don't forget."

" I better go, I should get some sleep" Shadow walked to her room without a glance back.

" I killed them!" Shadow screamed. She pushed the knife the rest of the way through his heart. Blood splattered on her face. She threw her head back and laughed one full of insanity. Her eyes dilated and glazed over. She stood up and looked at the scene in front of her, bodies were everywhere." I killed them." She said again. "I killed them all." She raised the knife above her head...

KNOCK KNOCK

"Shadow come on wake up its time for training." Miss Martian said. Shadow sat up in bed and gasped for air.

"I'll be there in moment." Shadow gathered her covers up around her. It had been a week since...the incident. Her team slaughtered in front of her. "All those people." Shadow needed to stop thinking about it. She got out of bed, threw on an old pair of blue shorts and a black tank top with ' Elvis Has Left the Building' printed in big white letters on the front. She put on her favorite pair of combat boots and walked out the door down the hall. "Good Morning." Shadow said and gave them her best fake smile.

"Come on everyone is excited to see what your powers are like." Kid Flash said as he led Shadow outside.

The cornfield was their training grounds. Shadow had heard about the mountain blowing up and the destruction of the Hall of Justice. Shadow walked out into the morning sun, it was warm, peaceful. She knew she would eventually have to tell everyone the whole story, the real story about her past, but for one minute, she just wanted to enjoy herself, for once.

"Okay first up" Nightwing said. The team would pair up and fight until one of them stepped out of the circle. "Miss Martian and Kid Flash."

The two of them walked up and stepped into the circle, which was built with half a foot of fencing around the outside with six wooden beams, which towered over the field. The circle was a little bigger than a football field; they had to squint to see the fight.

Kid Flash took off as he ran circles around Miss Martian, which created a dust cloud. She took off flying above him.

It was a short fight. Miss Martian ended up winning, when she came up behind him. He had stopped a few feet from the fence; Miss Martian swooped down and knocked him off his feet.

"Hahaha! Okay, okay I give." Kid Flash said as he tapped the ground.

Miss Martian smiled, and then helped him off the ground. "You need to pay more attention to your surroundings."

Nightwing's whole team was there. Shadow had seen all of them before but at a distance or on a screen. She could name them all including their real names, birthday and how they came to be superhero's. She didn't know what mattered most of all. What they like do on days off or their favorite food or relationship status'. Shadow was left in the dark when it came to simple human reaction and small talk. She watched the fight with Nightwing in her side view. She knew what he was thinking and she was not happy about it. "Okay, up next Super Boy and Shadow."

Shadow looked at Nightwing and gave him a look that could kill. "If you're going to stay then you have to train."

" Fine."

" Okay let's see what the newbie's got." Super Boy was interested in seeing Shadow's powers in action.

"There are rules for this match. Shadow you're limited to two powers only." Nightwing said.

"What the hell? That's so cheap, she's holding back then." Super Boy stated.

"It's a test, to see if I can survive a fight with only two powers, and not rely on all of them."

The rest of the team had grown restless, they were anxious to see Shadow and Super Boy fight, since everyone had heard that Shadow flipped him the night before. The two of them walked up and stepped into the circle.

"Two powers, huh. That has to be two out of what, hundreds of powers you have." Super Boy said, rubbing his hands together. He was ready for the fight. Super Boy had wanted a rematch since last night.

Shadow smirked "Thousands". She dug her feet into the ground. She could not decide what powers to use. She thought they would just come to her.

Super Boy charged toward her, jumped in the air, fist raised high, and slammed down into Shadow. She deflected his blow with an energy shield.

Damn it. Shadow thought. Focus you only have two powers in this fight.

She looked at Super Boy who was ready for a fight a real fight and she was going to give it to him. She turned to look at the rest of Nightwing's team, bad choice. She turned back just in time to see Super Boy throw another punch at her, which sent her flying into one of the wooded beams. It splintered all the way up.

Shadow stood up and looked back at a piece of wood sticking out from the beam, she frowned, there was no blood on it, which meant that she wasn't cut. She had an idea, not a very good one but it would have to work.

"What's the matter? Come on stop playing defense." Super Boy taunted.

Shadow placed her left palm over the jagged edge, then her right and pushed. She felt it go through her hands, pain was something that had always bothered her, but she had learned over centuries that it's all in the mind. Learn to control it and the pain will go away. However, she had not quite mastered that tactic and felt a portion of it.

She pulled her hands out in one swift move. There was a hole the size of quarter in both of her hands. Shadow grunted trying to regain her composer. Blood dripped down from her hands but stopped a few inches from the ground.

It seemed like everyone had stopped breathing. Shadow looked straight at Super Boy. She began to curl her fingers slowly. The blood rose up towards Shadow and circled her body. She had a vortex of blood surrounding her. She raised her right hand to her face and looked Super Boy in the eyes through the hole.

The blood became ropes and shot towards Super Boy. He could not believe what she had just done. He jumped to his left hoping to dodge her hit. The blood ropes grabbed him by the ankles and brought him up fifteen feet. He struggled to get free. He used his heat vision directing it towards the blood around his ankles. The blood bubbled and become hot but did not loosen.

This was a power that Shadow felt proud of. She had gained it when the circus went to Japan one summer after Nightwing had left, she learned all about the Branch of Sin from a very nice boy. Shadow smiled then laughed at the memory.

"God damn it." Super Boy grunted. "What the hell is this?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She grinned.

Super Boy had managed to get a hold of the blood ropes and pulled himself towards Shadow. She threw him back down to the Earth. He landed with a hard thump. He laid there a moment weighing his option for an attack. She only seemed to have a motion range of fifteen feet.

Super Boy shot up in the sky hovering over her trying to avoid the blood ropes.
What kind of power is that, manipulating blood? That's disturbing. Super Boy thought to himself.

He looked down again at Shadow and she looked up and gave him a wicked smile. Her hands began to twist; her fingers looked as if she were conducting an orchestra. She straightened her arms toward Super Boy, which sent blood spikes right at him, he dodge them easily, they were too big not to. He flew right at Shadow ready to end this with one final blow.

Shadow saw him coming, she shot another spike, and brought the other two back. He dodged the one coming at him. The other two had become smaller, like stakes. They struck him in his left shoulder and near his knee. He was taken off guard by the stakes coming behind them. Super Boy landed on the fencing around the circle.

"Conner!" Miss Martian ran over to him. "Are you alright?"

Super Boy sat up. "He's fine, I didn't hit him." Shadow said taking deep breaths and looking a little pale. Her hands were still bleeding. She wobbled over to them and smiled.

"She's right, my shirt and pants are ripped, and she pinned me down with those." Super Boy noticed the stakes and spikes where now liquid instead of solid." What was that anyway, I've never seen anything like it before?"

By this time, the whole team had gathered around waiting to hear what they had just seen.

"It's called Branch of Sin. I picked it up about ten years ago in Japan." Shadow said. She smiled one last time before she collapsed with anemia.

"Nightwing." The team turned to face Batman and Superman. "Get Shadow into the house and wrap her hands, the rest of you meet in the barn and wait for further instructions." Batman walked off.

"Well this looks like it was one hell of a fight. I haven't seen Shadow for a while now. My how she's grown." Superman said, helping up Super Boy.

"You know her?" Super Boy said.

"Yes very well actually. I was the one who brought her up. Well, when she wasn't putting shows on for the circus or traveling the world with her team."

Nightwing had never seen Shadow fight like that before. He could see the fire in her eyes, when she stabbed her hands. Nightwing tore off a piece of Super Boy's already ripped pants and wrapped Shadow's hands. He picked her seemingly lifeless body off the ground and carried her upstairs to her room.

By the time he got there, her hands had stopped bleeding. He took the cloth off and was shocked. Her healing powers had already taken over. The holes were gone, the only thing left was a light pink coloring. He took off her shoes. Noticing for the first time that she was covered on small scars all over her arms and legs. He laid her down on her bed. Nightwing began to pull the covers up when he noticed something on her hip, he lifted her shirt a bit. It was a tattoo he couldn't tell what language it was.

მხოლოდ სიღრმეებში ჯოჯოხეთი

Nightwing studied for a few more moments then pulled her covers up the rest of the way.

Shadow woke up to find a sleeping Nightwing in a chair at the end of her bed. She smiled. It brought back good memories of when they were little, sneaking up to the top of the train at night to count the stars until they fell asleep. She knew that those days were long in the past and would be better off staying there.

Nightwing was snoring. It made Shadow laugh. "Come on, Sleepy it's time to wake up". She stood up slowly, feeling dizzy. She wrapped her arms around Nightwing's neck, kissed him softly on the cheek, and whispered. "I missed you."

Shadow walked down the stairs to find Batman and Superman sitting at the bar. "So what are you two boys talking about? I heard you and a few others are going to trail soon." She said. It was nearly noon; she had been sleeping for over three hours. Shadow grabbed an apple and took a bite.

"Well, hello there little lady, feeling better?" Superman asked.

Shadow laughed, just like old times. She thought. "Yes, much better.

Batman had been waiting since last night to talk to her. "We are leaving in a few hours. You know what you have to do now, right?"

" The whole League is about to learn about Shadow, aren't they?" Shadow said leaning against the counter. "I'm putting myself into the open."

" Ah, an invitation I see, so who are we expecting?" Superman said.

Shadow looked out the window." More like 'what' are we expecting."

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS BUT NO ANSWERS!

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~My Light of Life