This is fun. If you noticed my sneaky writing, yes, I'm trying to make you like Amber. No, you won't find out exactly what her powers are. Yet. Yes, Wally and Artemis will have a few more moments in this chapter.

I do not own Young Justice. I do, however, own my character.

This is going to sound creepy, but her powers are based off of dreams I've had (and still have) since I was four.

...

On with the story!

Still after Insecurities.

Empathy

"What were you thinking?" Amber swore every person in the corridor had stopped what he or she was doing to stare at her. "Less than two weeks ago you nearly died from a gunshot wound that punctured a major artery! It was a stretch to release you then! And on the first night home, you blatantly disregard your instructions of proper bed rest and limiting your physical activity; and go out for a run at twelve-thirty at night?"

Amber just stared sullenly. She would've laughed if it was not for the murderous looks her parents and the doctor were giving her.

"Amber?" her mother prompted.

"Yes."

"Care to explain why?"

"I was bored of being on bed rest. I had a lot of energy."

"Energy that you should have been using to heal! Now, not only did you slow your recovery, you reversed it! You lost half a pint of blood!"

"So?" Amber didn't see why he was making such a big deal about it. "I was fine. I was always in stable condition. All that happened was I lost some blood. And it hurt, but there's no harm done."

The doctor rubbed his temples. "Amber, you need to take better care of yourself. You won't always be this lucky." He was referring to the fact that she had somehow survived being shot in a potentially fatal area.

They were scared of her, the way she just kept trying to move, as if she was willing to die for the sake of strangers. They had tried to stop her, make her fear for her life. It had made her fall, and suffer, but she didn't care.

Amber wasn't afraid of dying.

She was also pretty sure that the only reason she wasn't dead yet was the fact that she took care of herself for her family's sake.

There was something else keeping her alive.

She was waiting for the right time to die. She couldn't just commit suicide, or succumb to a simple illness or injury. All that she would fight. Maybe she would die old, leaving behind children she hoped were willing to fight for a good cause. But if she could choose, she would die a warrior's death. One of self-sacrifice. It was morbid, she knew. But she figured that the really important people were not the heroes, but the ones who did the small, profound things. They were the ones worth protecting, the ones the Justice League and armed forces fought for. They were the only reason that anyone found it worth living.

Amber sighed. She blamed the bed rest. It gave her too much time to think.

...

Artemis could feel herself struggling with the glass of water. She hated feeling weak. Wally wanted desperately to help; she was pale and shaking from the sheer exertion of sitting up and putting the glass to her lips. She managed a few sips before she had to crash back down to the pillows, exhausted. Unfortunately, her arms failed her as well and the glass tipped and fell, rolling off her lap to the side as she gasped from the shock and tried to sit up, reaching to put the glass back.

True to his namesake, Wally grabbed the glass, forced her back down (gently), and grabbed another blanket and a towel. He handed her the towel first. She gave him her best death glare, but it is incredibly difficult to strike fear in another when you are lying down and shivering.

Behaving incredibly calmly, he rummaged through the medical supplies and pulled out a thermometer. He stuck it in her mouth as she opened it to object. "Keep it there."

"Nothing is wrong with me. You don't need to stick a thermometer in my mouth."

"Are you really that stubborn?"

She didn't reply until the thermometer beeped loudly and she pulled it out. "There. Happy?"

He glanced at it and paled. "Nothing? One-o-four point six is not okay!" He ran out of the room, leaving Artemis to curl up under the extra blanket. He soon returned, practically dragging Black Canary behind him. "...and she won't let me help her."

"I didn't say that!" She called out from under the blankets.

"You just did! You don't have to be so independent! You're part of a team! We're supposed to help you! Let me help you!" he implored. Artemis was shocked to see that Wally was almost-almost-crying. His eyes were rimmed by tears; tears that his pride and hormones forbade from falling. He realized what he had said and instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry," he said, somehow wishing that Batman would turn up with another mission so he could have a good excuse to escape. "I'm just... really tired and I haven't really eaten anything and-"

"Wally." He paused and stared at Black Canary.

"When's the last time you slept?"

He looked sheepish. "Last night."

"How long?"

"We had a mission, so about four hours."

"Go to sleep. I have it covered." He left, knowing that Black Canary was in den mother mode. Not really feeling like going home, he crashed on the couch, oblivious to Superboy, M'gann, and Robin; who happened to be watching Saturday morning cartoons.

...

"Do you want to play video games?"

"No" Wally responded brokenly. "I don't feel like it, Rob."

He raised his eyebrows over his sunglasses. "Really? What's gotten into you?" He already knew, he was just seeing if Wally would give him a straight answer.

"I'm kind of worried about Artemis. I mean, no one's ever gotten sick like this before."

"We've all had our fair share of illness, KF. Just not so much as of late." He shrugged. "This is part of life, superhero or not."

"I'm going to go check up on her again..." He walked at a normal pace down the hallway, for once.

...

The Dark Night had come to, um... interview Amber.

"Can I ask what's going on?" She knew immediately that this was about her actions two nights previous. Her parents did not act surprised at all, she supposed that Batman had contacted them earlier.

"It's the duty of the Justice League to monitor any vigilante with super powers or exceptional abilities, especially minors. You have no mentor, which puts you at an even greater risk. We want to know what you are capable of and help you learn to control and use it."

"So... do I have a choice?"

"No, Amber, it's entirely your choice whether or not you continue with the Justice League after today," her dad assured her. "As long as this doesn't further affect your schoolwork."

"I'd like to give this a try." She responded immediately. There was a strong desire to help others, one that had only grown stronger in light of recent events. Also? She felt useless if she just ignored the power she had command of.

Batman nodded. "We will contact you later this week, after you're discharged."

Amber sighed heavily and returned to her book. Her parents had banned her from using her powers until next week.

...

"Really? Awesome!"

Dick was excited for a new team member. Of course, in his free time he had done some research on Amber via the Internet; and hacked the computer systems of the Batcave and the Justice League for good measure.

Bruce gave him a knowing smile. "Not anything with missions too soon."

"But she's a martial arts prodigy. And she'd have us."

"Just because you were ready to fight crime at a young age doesn't mean she is. She's never experienced trauma and cruelty of this magnitude before. Training is never the same as fighting. We have to make sure she's ready."

"She's fought for real three times before."

"And two of those times landed her in the hospital. With a track record like that, she would be forced to retire within a year," Bruce countered, careful not to say dead, even now.

"Okay, fair point, but both times she was technically taking a bullet for someone else."

"She needs to learn to subdue before that ever happens. While I'm sure that's something she is fully capable of, she hasn't learned it yet."

"The first time she was doing bare hand-to-hand combat, against two guys with guns, trying to protect a bunch of teenagers who were cowering in a corner. The second time she just reopened that wound, it hadn't fully healed, considering it was two weeks later."

"That's one thing that doesn't add up. It was a nearly fatal injury, with a lot of blood loss. She shouldn't be able to go out and fight."

"I think its part of her abilities. She was trying to heal Artemis, and it seemed like she knew what she was doing. She also should have passed out from blood loss with the injury she had, that didn't happen."

"And you also noticed that she began to bleed more heavily when she attempted to heal Artemis, assuming that her intentions were good, and I believe they were; that using her powers puts physical strain on her body and may even reverse healing on herself."

"Master Bruce and Master Richard."

"Yeah Alfred?" Dick looked up from the wristwatch computer where had pulled up Amber's file.

"No computers at the dinner table."

Both Bruce and Dick guiltily switched them off before returning their full attention to their dinner.

...

"Recognized, Robin, B01."

"Guys?" he called out. "Anyone home?" He watched a panicked Wally run into the main room, his face pale.

"Where's Black Canary?" He asked, glancing around nervously, vibrating in place.

"I didn't see her..." Robin replied, checking the mountain's computer. "Where's everyone else?"

"Not here. Mall." he blurted. "Is Red Tornado here?"

Robin shook his head. "Red and BC are both on away league missions."

"Great, just great." He hissed. "Dude, you gotta help me. It's Artemis. I don't know what to do. Come on." Wally raced into the medical ward, with Robin sprinting behind him.

Even though he had guessed what might have been going on, what he saw was still terrible. Artemis was thrashing around, fighting an unseen enemy, her breathing shallow and irregular. A low moan suddenly escaped her.

"Whoa. Take her temperature."

"Do you know what's wrong?" Wally was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

"It's probably hyperpyrexia. The only way to be sure is to-" he was cut off by another painful moan, as if someone was literally ripping Artemis apart.

"Stop! Stop!" Her speech was slurred, but the meaning was clear enough.

"There's no time to make sure! What do we do?"

"We need to bring her fever down! She's hallucinating!" Robin motioned for the washcloth and bowl of water on the table. Wally understood immediately, and grabbing the washcloth, dipped it in water and placed it across Artemis's forehead before moving it down to her neck.

...

Artemis cringed at the cold water; it felt like icy needles were piercing her, and it made everything hurt more. Was she drowning? It didn't feel like it, but what else could it be? She couldn't breathe. I want to breathe! I want to breathe! Her own panicked thoughts collided; in her crashing sea of emotions, the only thing that she could pick out was fear. "And fear makes you weak."

"NO!" Artemis began fighting against Wally, her arms flailing out to push him away, fight against… who? Who was she fighting? Could she beat them?

I'm scared. I'm so scared. But she had ever felt so alone. No one liked her; they weren't there, and she wished so much they were. "I'm scared. No, no, no. Leave me alone." Her voice was cracked, she choked back sobs. Tears that no one had seen for years escaped her now, her control lost to the fever that was threatening to shut down her vital organs.

"I'll call the others. You get her calmed down and try to lower her temperature."

Wally nodded a different kind of panic settling in after Dick left the room. He was an only child; he had never taken care of anyone when they were sick.

Instinctively he thought: What would my family do? Even though he would like to ignore it, he was the baby of the family; everyone would take care of him when he was hurt or under the weather. (As much as it shamed him afterward)

Then, tentatively, he reached out, slowly pulling her into a hug. His heart was pounding a million miles per hour, but his movements remained calm and steady. "Artemis... It's going to be okay. No one's going to hurt you now. Got it?"

The revelation dawned on her slowly. Wally's here. She was scared, and relieved that someone familiar to her had come.

There was something about the hug that made her last defenses go down. Silent sobs racked her entire body, and her tears leaked onto his shirt. He held her, afraid to let go, as if she would shatter and fall into a million pieces.

On a whim, Wally began to stroke her hair. It was instinct, a gesture of absolute caring. He wanted nothing more than to comfort her shaking frame. Just like Bialya, he allowed himself to forget what had come before.

He gently rested his head on hers and felt her hair, limp from sweat but still silky soft. His heart was doing double time. He heard the zeta tubes announce the team's arrival; and thinking that she was asleep, Wally made to move off of the bed and into the chair next to it, remembering that her fever had to be brought down.

"Stay?" Wally flinched at her voice, wracked with fatigue.

"Uh..." He replied, a little frozen. Suddenly noticing that she was still much too warm, he shifted her weight onto his chest, careful of the IV, and passed the washcloth over her forehead, then down to the back of her neck, not caring that the front of his shirt was now completely damp. "Okay, but just for a little longer. I can't go to sleep here again, my parents will kill me."

"Okay." Artemis rested against him, gratefully accepting the care he was giving her. No one had been this gentle with her for such a long time. She savored it, because she knew that even though he was being nice to her, it was just because he felt sorry for her, not for anything else, and as soon as the whole thing was over, he'd go right back to being mad and disappointed with her.

But she was too tired to think anymore, and let herself be lulled to sleep by his calm presence and her team making small talk with each other.

...

"You think she's asleep?" Zatanna glanced at Artemis, who hadn't moved since they had arrived.

"Yeah." Wally shifted Artemis's weight onto his left leg.

"Well?" Conner said expectantly. Wally's head jerked up as if he was suddenly aware of what he was doing. A blush slowly spread across his cheeks.

"Well what?" He asked, receiving a incredulous stare in return.

"Are you going to put her down and go home like you said you would?"

Wally sighed, stretching out his little-less-numb-than-before right leg. "I guess..."

"No, wait! You two look adorable! I have to find my camera!" M'gann gushed, flying out of the infirmary towards her bedroom.

Wally's face flushed again. Kaldur, sensing his discomfort, gave an encouraging kind of hang-in-there smile and motioned for him to leave. Wally nodded, getting off the bed and gathering his things. He was about to make his escape when M'gann returned with her camera in tow, looking slightly crestfallen.

"Sorry Megs I have to go my parents want me home for dinner bye!" With that, Wally raced toward the zeta tubes, almost slamming into the back of it before the tunnel of light opened and transported him home.

...

Thump. Amber vented her frustration on her pillow, narrowly missing the top of her bookshelf. Still frustrated, she tossed the pillow until it almost touched the ceiling, waiting a split second before sweeping her leg, her foot making perfect contact with her target, slamming it into the ground. "Amber! Stop that banging!" Amber growled and muttered something under her breath. Satisfaction from her target practice quickly waning, Amber slipped out of the window onto the old pine. Her tree.

Scaling the tree always managed to calm her down. Climbing on something organic, something alive, gave her a sense of harmony. She didn't need ropes or any other safety measures. The bark felt just right under her bare feet. This was the cause of her parent's nickname for her, Nature Girl.

But as of late, it had been different. She could feel everything that was alive, felt more connected than ever to everything around her.

For some reason, she had... abilities. She was born with them, she knew, but for some reason she was becoming stronger. It was strange, yet it belonged just as much as any other part of her. It felt like slow-moving electricity, if that was possible. A warm, glowing, powerful tingle. She could focus it wherever she wanted, or she could spread it out as far as she could imagine.

And despite her parents' request that she not do anything before her training with the league started, she had been experimenting with the force fields as soon as she had gotten out of the 24/7 camera monitoring that was the hospital. Just small ones.

They looked exactly like they felt. Warm, glowing, powerful. She wasn't sure, but she thought they were unbreakable.

They were like soap bubbles. When she focused, they were there, but as soon as she relinquished her command over them, they quickly weakened and fizzled out. They also had the annoying habit of wanting to stay round. She could turn them into any shape she wanted, but it took more energy and concentration. Round, sphere-like, bubbles of protection came naturally.

But force fields didn't come as naturally as sensing people's pain and discomfort and wanting to help.

And she could help. She could heal.