A/N: Hi guys, I would like to talk about Leney, since we kinda just threw her in there these past couple chapters. She's insomniacClarinetist's character, and when Weisman and Veitti created Young Justice, Earth-16 already existed, but they didn't know about Leney, so she never made it into the show.

And Guest 2.0, I don't mean to be offensive, but you were when you said that you hoped that Leney wouldn't become a main character. I just want to say that's hurtful to insomniacClarinetist. I'm sorry if you didn't mean it like that, but she's our friend and we don't like her character being criticized to that extent. But sorry again if you didn't mean it like the way we're taking it.

OK, on with the story.

Rachel's POV

BLUDHAVEN

MAY 19TH 13:00 EST

It seemed that Nat was avoiding me… well, everyone for that matter. After that crazy tidbit of news she gave what, 5 days ago (?), she's been, um, unapproachable. Especially to Bart, and that scared me a little. So what did I do?

Yeah, if you guessed knitting a large gray scarf for Nat, you win. So, I thought I was alone in the Headquarters when the Zeta-Tube voice called out Bart's name. I leaned over the railing, finding him already pacing back and forth. "Hey, buddy."

He looked up, then appeared next to me. His eyes were wide, and it kinda looked like he wasn't sleeping. Poor kid. Insomnia was never a good thing. "Um, hi Rachel, I've been looking for Nat because I think she's read a thing I gave her and I just - and I um…"

"You think she took it the wrong way?"

He nodded. "It said something that I was only going to tell her in the worst case, moding scenario…"

"Well, you obviously have faith in humanity's current condition. What did it say?"

He didn't say anything.

I groaned and patted the seat next to me. "Ok, kiddo, come sit down next to Rachey, so she can explain a few things to 'ya."

"Fine."

I put down my knitting, and placed my hands in my lap. "Ok, sweetie, I get it. You think that maybe you, um, explained a thing too early? But I don't think I'm the one you should be talking to. I have some huge relationship issues, but none of them relate to what you're going through."

"Thanks for the help." Sarcasm. I expected better from him.

"Shit, okay, listen. Talk to Nat, and explain some things to her. How's that sound?"

"And if she doesn't feel the same way?"

"Well, then, we'll go from there."

He smiled a little, and didn't look quite so stressed. That was good. I ruffled his hair and smiled back. "Okay what are you still doing here? Shoo. I don't know, get a speech prepared or something, make a prayer. But, good luck, Bart."

"Thanks." He was gone, and my smile faded. He had the lucky break. At least he could talk to Nat. Meanwhile for me… I had issues. Big ones. Oh where's the black when I need it?

I cut the grey strand, tied on the black, and began knitting different section. Although it also took my mind off the Nat and Blue and Bart issues, it also reminded me of everything I'd left behind. Although Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa were all long dead and gone, Mom was now left alone with a small house in Rodeo and, presumably, a missing daughter. Hopefully she remembered I was missing, anyway.

Had it been five months already? I was beginning to forget things about my old life, and that scared me more than any Reach weapon ever could. I didn't remember the names of my old teachers, my locker combination, or my schedule. I was even beginning to forget the voices and sometimes names of my closest friends.

But with that being said, I didn't want to leave this dimension. Back in my old life, I never felt like I fit in, like I was always the odd one out. I never felt connected, sometimes even with Nat (although those times were rare). And of course, there was always that looming doubt that I was completely and utterly different than everyone, and they were polite enough and accepting enough to work around it. Or, the belief that everything I knew was a lie and that I was imagining everything in some sort of alien testing site that was simply trying to keep my happy with images of friends and fire while I was experimented on 24/7.

Here, though, I gained a sense of power. M'Gann had snuffed out the solipsistic idea, and Blue had given me a sort of confidence that I was at least good enough for one person. And the fire…whenever I was around a candle, a fireplace, or even a gun, I entered a realm that I couldn't describe...I could exchange my own energy with that of fire, warp it, make it mine. And even though I didn't have a mentor, I was glad for the responsibility. It was my own domain, my own power, my own throne to hold.

I realized I was smiling while I was thinking this. I wiped my hand over my mouth and glanced at my phone, which was buzzing like crazy.

It was Jaime. How about no.

He was really bugging me lately.

Even I groaned at that one.

Nat's POV

Sitting in the grass, I unfolded the note once again. I'd been looking at it constantly for the past few days, and I still didn't know how to feel. A little piece of my heart fell away as I read his rushed, curled handwriting.

Kenny-

I know you probably won't get this note, but maybe future me will give it to you. I guess I can't know. So, I made it to the past in one piece, despite your constant worrying, thank you very much. And then, I also met past you too. She still goes by Nat at this point, and she's nothing like you at all. Forty years changes a person a lot.

I get that you two are the same person, Natalia Hartly aka Kinetica, but Nat… she's so different. And nice, and her hair is really curly. I never thought about that, I assumed you would have always had dreadlocks. Anyways, I just, I don't know how to phrase this. Can you tell I'm thinking about this a long time as I write this? No, probably not.

So, you're probably wondering how I'm doing. I'm not totally crash, but I'm also not moded. I'm guessing it's because of Nat. She vents to me, but I don't tell her a lot back. Is that a bad thing?

Okay, Kenny, I know you'll probably hate to read this, but now it's my turn to vent. Nat, she's so different from you it's hard to see that you two are the same person. And that is what scares me. I've been thinking about this for a while, ever since I saw her without the costume and the "emotional mask". When she wasn't faking being happy, I saw her at a bad point. And I figured out - I'm in love with her.

I'm sorry, but you're the only one I have enough courage to tell, probably because of the fact you won't read it. But Kenny, I'm in love with Nat, and I don't know how to tell her. Tell you. Wait, this is weird. Oh mode, this is terrible. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be telling you this at all. Kenny, if you do read this, I'm sorry, but I have to vent it out. I love Nat Hartly, and that isn't you. Not totally. But I still miss you and I wish you told me more about your past so this wouldn't have happened the way it did. Though if it still did, that wouldn't be too bad.

- BART

I stuffed it back into my coat pocket, then pulled my scarf around my face to hide my expression. I was in shock every time I read it, and I felt… pained, by it. When I was in my Earth, everything was simple. He was a character I had a crush on, but now that he's saying this - and to a future me that was a mom-figure to him - it was too crazy. Too… weird.

So I've been avoiding him. There haven't been any missions, thank God, and I went different ways to get to class so I wouldn't see him accidentally. But I had to say something sometime. I couldn't evade him forever. Oh what the hell?

I ran to the Zeta-Tube, and went back to the base. Nightwing installed a training area in the basement of the building, as well as a place to dock the Bio-ship. Taking a deep breath, I changed into a grey hoodie that was kind of high-low like, and black running pants with a white stripe going down the side. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and walked down into the training room.

"On," I said to the computer. I placed my phone on the shelf and pressed play on it. Loud, pulsing music boomed from the speakers with a chopped, edgy rhythm. The floor lit up and holographic images showed. "Cool."

The computer voice said quietly, "Begin," and I pulled out my staff, as it transformed into a short version of its normal self, with a sharp edge like a katana. The holograms came at me, and my dad's voice rang in my head be fast, be fluid, don't let them know your weakness. Yeah, thanks Dad.

I kicked up at the first hologram's face, catching my foot on the back of its head. I hurled it to the ground, then lept up, twisting my body so I sliced the second one in two. Landing in a crouch I went at the others.

()()()()()()()

"Complete." The hologram bodies disappeared, and I was alone. I took a deep breath, sitting down on the cold concrete floor. My staff was back to its little resting form, but I was… I had forgotten I could do that much destruction. I had forgotten a lot of things since coming here. The smell of my mom's cookies, my school schedule, what car I wanted when I turned 16. Me and a friend were going to share it. What was her name?

Shit, I couldn't forget. But I still remembered Danny, I still knew everything about comic books I loved. I could try and think of everything else and come up with something.

"So, someone decided to try out the training room. How was it?" Arsenal was standing there, much to my undelight. I stood, glaring at him.

"What do you want?"

He smirked. "Nothing really."

I picked up my phone, sticking in my hoodie pocket. "Of course. But should you be, you know, not bothering me?"

"Who said I was -" I whipped myself about, looking him straight in the eye.

"I did." Then I walked out and up the stairs, seeing Rachel knitting on her new bed.

Rachel's POV

"Hey Nat, you missed Bart. 'Course that was a few hours ago and… sorry I'm babbling aren't I?" I smiled, putting down my knitting stuff for a moment. "Hi."

She smiled a little, peeling off a sweaty hoodie. "Hi." She put on a large sweater and fixed her hair. "So, Bart was here?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Bet you two talked about me behind my back, right?"

"Yup!" I smiled.

Nat grimaced at me, before falling back on her bed. Oh, how I envied her soft, original sheets. But some things could never be. I was lucky to get through two months without burning and/or melting something accidentally. So far I had not been lucky.

She groaned. "What am I gonna do with that guy?"

I stared at her, but luckily she had her hands pressed over her eyes, so she didn't yell at me for being all parental. That girl was way too fretful. Sometimes I had caught her staring at a picture of some - some kid - and whenever I went to ask her what it was, she shoved it back in her pocket. And then she was worrying about Bart - I certainly didn't care about guys when I was in her grade.

"I don't know," I said. "Just have fun with it. Who cares if you're in a romantic relationship? You're fourteen! Relax!"

"You did."

"I do not recall. Please explain."

"I challenge you with Jared Parker," she replied.

I blushed. "You know he hated me. I had no class back then, I kept staring at him. So little class."

"And how has your technique varied, now that you're on to Jaime?"

Although I hated it, my shoulders slumped, and I slowed my knitting. Why, why, why did she have to bring him up now?!

"Sorry," sighed Nat, looking at me sympathetically.

"It's fine."

"Do you want to talk -"

"It's fine. Please."

We sat in an extremely awkward silence, my knitting needles clacking louder than anything I've ever heard. Nat flickered a green ball of energy between her hands, trying to amuse herself, but it wasn't working.

I stood up, packing up my now rather-long scarf (at least four, maybe five feet - woo!) in my knitting bag. I didn't know where I was going, but I didn't care. Maybe I would go to my old house. Maybe I would chill in the desert. Maybe I would go back to Tel Aviv and go back up on that hotel.

"Where are you going?" asked Nat, standing up with me.

"I don't know. Lots of places, maybe. Or maybe I'll just practice. I want to get up and walk around. Maybe you should talk to Bart."

"I don't think-"

"Nat, that boy seriously cares about you, okay? He's worried about you - shit, he's literally losing sleep over you - and he trusted me enough to talk about it. The boy is desperate, and worried about what you think of him. Promise me you'll go talk to him?"

Nat stared at me for a few moments, before she grinned.

"Promise?"

"I promise," she said.

"And with that, my kinetic princess, I bid you goodbye," I said, and walked out of the room and to the Zeta-tube.

I didn't feel like typing, so instead I pulled up a map of North America and smeared my finger over the southwest corner. I didn't look at the name that popped up. I just walked through.

Nat's POV

He cared. He really did. So, how did I feel? Damn, what was this, a stupid soap opera? I stood on the bench I had been sitting on, and I began to hum. If this was gonna be corny, I was gonna go all out. I hopped down, singing, "Love is an open door! With you!"

Central City was quiet, and I enjoyed it. Gotta love the awkward silence. Hell, I was the freakin' queen of awkward silence. "All my life has been a series of doors in my face." Stupid catchy Disney songs. Well, I guess that was the point… Shit what was I talking about?

"So she's a bit of a fixer-upper…." Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have watched that movie. It came out after we had been transported here, but Timmy had a Netflix account. I was the fixer-upper… the big one. How could anyone have feelings for me? I wasn't pretty, I had depression issues, I was a "special case" in my mom's words. Everything flooded into my mind at once. Bad memories I had forgotten, worse memories I couldn't, and in the center was every memory of Bart.

"You were there" I whispered quietly, knowing that no one, especially him, could hear. He was there. I looked to him to make me laugh, to show be that bad genes and a bad history didn't change you. I - I just connected with him as a character.

I loved him too. "LOVE IS AN OPEN DOOR!" I screamed into the silence. "AND I'M IN LOVE WITH BARTHOLOMEW HENRY ALLEN THE SECOND!" I giggled like a little girl, falling back into the iced grass. I'm such an idiot, but whatever. If we're pulled back into our dimension well-

It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. I knew that from personal experience. Ok, how was I gonna explain this to him. Come out and say it? No - War World. Be a nice birthday present now that I think about it. Okay, I could do this.

I dialed Rachel, and she picked up immediately. "Nat? Are you going through another crisis?"

I laughed. "No, silly. I'm -" I stood, shooting up into the sky, "I feel great!" A boom of green energy sprouted from me like a firework.

Rachel was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "Are you sure? You sound… you don't sound like your normal self."

"I know! I haven't felt this way since…" The name caught in my throat and I began falling. I yelped and caught myself in the air. Carefully, I sat down in mid-air amongst the trees before answering a little more sanely. "I'm grand."

"And why exactly?"

"I- I- um. I love…"

"Bart?"

"Yes!"

"Nat!"

"I know!"

"You realize this is the fluffiest moment in history, right?"

I laughed, spinning around a little. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to care? I'm gonna tell him soon. And I just - Rachel, I'm happy. For the first time in a long time I'm happy."

"And you two haven't even started dating yet." She could probably sense my unamused face because she laughed. "Well when you get back tomorrow we can discuss it over hot cocoa, ok?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Great I expect everything. Gah! Love. Ok, byeeee."

"Bye." I smiled. Happy, for once. I really was and I don't know why. The last time I was happy? I was nine and even that involved Bart. Damn, he made me happy. Damn, damn, damn.

Rachel's POV

I put the phone on the bench, the only piece of furniture left in this old house, back in my pocket after talking with Nat. She was happy, good.

For her.

I squeezed my eyes shut, so tightly that they hurt. "Argh!" The scarf I had been knitting exploded in white-hot flames, hitting the opposite wall. The knitting needles now melted onto my hands until they were no longer recognizable, dripping onto the floor.

Lucky Nat. She had no problems besides her moodiness. I don't see the boy she loves being controlled by a race of aliens trying to rule the world. I don't see her spending more time knitting her feelings out that interacting with everyone else. I don't see her being depressed!

I stood swiftly, fire flowing from me like a dress, my hair igniting like a match. It was pure white and gold, the heat enough to begin to scar the floor. I took a breath, and the flames slowly died.

Except...they weren't. I panicked. I didn't know if anyone used this house for storage, or, worse, for living. There was melted polyester yarn burning on the wall, and liquid knitting needles oozing across the floor. Add that to the flames licking the ceiling. I sprinted out of the house, coughing as ash burned my throat and lungs.

In desperation, I channeled the fire away from the house, pulling it from the building and setting the dry landscape ablaze with a light brighter than I've ever seen. The flames grew, and the desert stood no chance. I remembered the times I spent here in the desert with my grandfather, with my mom, with Nat. Everything I cherished in my dimension I could see in the flames. The desert is my past. The flames were my emotions. My pain, my hatred, my passion.

"Jaime…Ah!" The flames rose up in a burst, sand exploding with it. Flames shaped into him, into Nat, into my mom. "AHHH! You were supposed to be there! I was the calm one, the kind one! But who got the fire? Huh?"

I cut through the flames, watching as my mother disappeared. "You're gone! Useless!" Jaime next. "You're not you!" Finally Nat. She was smiling, mocking me. "And you don't care!" It was a flash of white heat, and I was alone again. The fire was gone, leaving me woozy. Falling to my knees I saw what I had done for the first time. Sand turned to black crystalline ash in fans all around me. The soot covered me, my hair turned black with it. "No, no, no, no, no!" I felt the tears come, but they were bits of fire, like everything else.

"No, I'm sorry, no, please. I- Nat. Jaime. Mom, I'm sorry." Sobs racked my body, and curled into a ball on the ground, feeling the heat that couldn't affect me sear my cheek, or searing my mind.

"Someone, help me, please… I don't know what I'm doing… help me…" I whispered, pressing my hands into the soft ash.

I felt like there was a battle raging in my cerebellum, wiping out innocent memories and dragging in neutral, harmless people. How long would this war go on? I wanted so, so badly to decide, to have a definitive answer. But something told me that what Queen Bee said was right. Sanity versus the fire. The fire was winning.

In the end… fire always wins in one way or another, but… what if I wanted it to?

A/N: Intense, right? Ok, so we've made a tumblr page for this story, and you can find it at .com , so we hope you can follow it and find out tidbits about the story. Also, the question of the week: We don't really have one, so just um... What do you think of Leney so far? How was Rachel's breakdown, and were you expecting it? And what do you think will happen with Nat and Bart, and how will Arsenal react?

Ok, byeeeeeee