A/N: Hi people new chapter and this only took two days to write! I think I am finally getting the hang of this writing malarkey! Brownie points to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice :'( *sniffle*

Enjoy

METROPOLIS
24 DECEMBER 2014
12:34 EDT
LONELY SURVIVOR

"Hey mum. I know you probably don't want to hear this on Christmas but I need a favor"

A small hand grasped the cold one in its warm touch. Tears raced down the young girl's face as she looked at her mother through wet and haunted eyes. The stiff figure did not move nor did it speak.

In a hoarse voice the girl continued with her favor."When you see the angels will you ask them something from me? Will you ask them about what happened? Why daddy blames me?"

A single tear fell from her cheek and landed on her mother's closed eyelids. Sniffling the girl let her bandaged hand fall from her mother's. Visiting hours were over now. It was time to go home through the thick snow that clogged the streets.

Her father would be wondering where his punch bag was anyway. No presents for her... and no family either.

'It didn't matter anymore' she thought as she climbed the stairs to the porch, dragging her feet. 'Ever since my birthday he stopped caring'.

A few weeks after her birthday, her mother got into a car accident and slipped into a coma. Without her mom her dad lost it. He drank, he beat her, he drank, he beat her, and he drank. A seemingly endless cycle of pain and hurt.

The hallway was dark and silent. No noise from the living room. Just an endless sea of silence, that is until her father turned on the kitchen light.

"Get in here Ellie" he growled from the table. Ellie Driftwait sighed. She knew that it was useless to argue.

You wouldn't peg her father as an abusive one. Slim, with receding mousy brown hair. He looked like a typical dad. Only now he had an ugly frown on his haggard face and an empty wine bottle was standing on the table.

"Where have you been?" he hissed at her, a sneer in his voice that was not on his face.

She did not immediately answer, too caught up on bitter thoughts. She noticed him getting up, yet she still did not answer him; even when he ripped her head up by grabbing a fistful of her long blonde hair.

"I said… where were you?" he growled into her face. The stale scent of alcohol was on his breath, showing that he was in fact drunk. Taking a deep breath, ignoring the stinging in her eyes and on her scalp, she answered him in a hushed whisper.

"Hospital"

That was all the confession her father needed. With a roar like a bull elephant his fists rained down, striking every inch of her.

"And Who Is in There That You Wanted to See!?" he bellowed as he placed two punches in her gut. She tried to stop the tears but a few leaked out against her will.

"MY WIFE! The woman you put into that damned place! Because of you she will never come home"

He was panting, his eyes crazed and glowing with disgust in the darkness as he watched his only child curl into herself to try and stop the pain he had inflicted on her.

Long after he stomped out to some unknown place, Ellie forced herself to sit up. She could feel her cheek swelling under her tentative fingers, brushing stray tears away. Hugging herself for comfort and support she slowly got to her feet and started up the stairs to her room.

Her room was nothing special, just what you'd expect an average twelve year olds room to look like. A single bed underneath her window, which looked on to the park where people where skating on the pond. Her mother had taken her skating once. Her closets door was open with clothes piling out and onto the floor. On the inside of the door where photos, leaflets and drawings. Her winning a karate competition when she was eight; her and her mother making snowmen in the park; her friends after a prank war… all of it was on her door.

Tears, that had nothing to do with the beating, filled her already bloodshot eyes as she stared at her mother's face. In the photo Lindsey Driftwait was laughing as she and her daughter Ellie told jokes in the snow. The same Lindsey Driftwait was now cold and unresponsive in a blank hospital room while her daughter Ellie cried after her father had beaten her.

Quickly and careful not to look at the pictures Ellie reached into the closet to get her Batman sweatshirt. Pulling the familiar cloth over her head she looked into the mirror.

Tear tracks were still visible on very pale cheeks, a dull flush of colour eliminating her freckles. Pale hair falling into striking blue eyes. Blue eyes with pure white flecks in the iris, fittingly like the snow that fell against her window.

'Eyes like a raging blizzard' her mother had always said. Eyes like a blizzard freezing anyone who looks into them; whether that was good or bad Ellie was still trying to figure out.

Scrubbing the salt from her cheeks she climbed out her window and down the road below. She would be going to the park today, alone on Christmas eve.

XXXXLINE BREAK AND VIEW CHANGEXXXXXXXXXX

METROPOLIS

24 DECEMBER 2014

16:35 EDT

A SPY IN THE MAKING.

It had been a troubling day for a young girl, walking in the park on her way home. She had had a conference to go to (never mind the fact she was twelve and bored stiff), her father had tried to make tiramisu (she was now never going near that stuff again!), and she was caught in a blizzard. Joy! But that wasn't the troubling part. She had just been to see her uncle at Lex Corp. in the city. That was a task in itself as she was not practically fond of her uncle. But it was Christmas and Christmas is a time for family. But what she had seen… that was enough to send frosty the snowman running for his igloo.

Thinking of igloos made her think of home as she trudged through the icy snow and slush, her long dark curly hair tangling and flying out behind her. But there up ahead of her was a lone figure on a swing. Dressed only in sopping jeans and a Batman hoodie, swinging like she couldn't care less about the cold was Ellie Driftwait. She had known Ellie since she was five, as they had gone to the same karate club as each other.

"Ellie!" she called out to the lone girl. Ellie's head jerked up to find who had called to her in a blizzard. Her eyes finally found the snuggly wrapped girl standing a little ways down the path.

She watched as Ellie got up, letting the snow dance around her in ethereal rings in the gathering darkness.

"Lydia! Lydia Luthor?! What are you doing out here?!" her tone made it clear that she thought Lydia was crazy for being outside.

"Uhm last I checked you were out here too!"

They were now standing opposite to each other. From across the distance Lydia could see Ellie's bust lip and swollen cheek. From where Ellie was she could see Lydia's frightened and troubled eyes, and the dark circles under them.

"What happened to you?" they exclaimed simultaneously.

They gaped at each other, all manners forgotten. When Lydia narrowed her eyes at her, Ellie sighed and started rubbing her arm self-consciously, wondering how much she should tell her. Sighing again, she decided on a partial truth.

"I had just come home from the hospital. I took a few wrong turns and ran into a gang. But with my karate I only got a few injuries, no big" she shrugged it off, acting as casually as she could. She was now starting to shiver slightly. Lydia however was freezing her butt off.

"D-Do y-you w-want to c-c-come to my p-place? I-it's w-w-warmer than s-s-some random p-park!" she stuttered, rubbing her arms over each other trying to generate some heat.

Laughing slightly, Ellie gladly accepted. Any time away from her house was sweet time to Ellie.

Soon they were out the park and walking down the empty lane, strung with fairy lights. For a minute Ellie lost herself in the colours being played off the dancing snowflakes. Laughing out loud she twirled around in the twinkling colours of blue, red and green. Completely ignoring Lydia who was laughing as she stuttered. Throwing her head back she let the snow settle on her face as the blizzard died down.

As they finally climbed onto the porch of Lydia's house they were both breathless from laughing and soaked through from snowballs. It almost seemed to both girls a normal Christmas. Almost.

Both girls where immediately enveloped in a hug from Dianne Luthor then immediately let go of just as fast.

"Honestly what were you two doing, you're soaking?!" and with that she led the two girls into the living room where a fire was roaring and the smell of a Christmas dinner was wafting through from the kitchen. The TV was on and showing a Christmas charity ball that was happening in Gotham. Lydia's uncle, Lex Luthor, was already sitting on the couch watching it.

Forcing a smile at him, Lydia sat next to the fire and invited her friend to do the same as they turned their attention to the TV. The reporter was dressed in a red silk gown and was trying to get a statement from Bruce Wayne's ward: Richard Grayson.

Over the conversation Lex turned to his niece.

"It's important to know what potential investors are doing at this time of the year Lydia. It's always a good idea to know where you stand in the public opinion"

"Yes Uncle Lex. I'll keep that in mind"

And they turned back to the TV to watch a girl with black hair dancing with a young boy. For some reason (that the two girls would later claim was fate himself knocking on their heads) this girl caught their eyes. There was something different about her. Something important; like she was going to be a piece in a very important puzzle. But what that puzzle was yet none of them had any clue.

Then Paul McCartney came on singing an old classic 'A wonderful Christmas time' and all strange feeling disappeared as Ellie sang along. She even did a little dance that Lydia joined in on. Lex excused himself saying that he was needed at his office and saying a quick good bye to his brother, he departed the house.

"Well bah humbug to you too Alexander Luthor" sniffed Robert Luthor in a fake-miffed voice. And with that he shepherded the girls into the cozy dining room. After she had explained that her father was 'away' for Christmas and that her mother was in the hospital, Ellie was welcomed into the Luthor household for Christmas Eve and day if she had wanted; an offer that Ellie had eagerly accepted.

Now they were chowing down on Mrs. Luthor's excellent cooking. Roast chicken, honey roast parsnips, lemon glazed carrots, thick gravy that was swamping all the food, followed by a scrumptious strawberry Pavlova. Where Lydia's mum got strawberries at Christmas, Ellie didn't know nor did she care as she had her third helping of the tasty dessert.

'Over all' Ellie thought as she snuggled into the spare bed in Lydia's room 'not a bad Christmas. I just wish mummy could share it with me'. Suddenly she remembered the haunted look in her friends eyes as she had met her in the park.

Bolting up out of bed, she slid over towards Lydia. She was still awake.

"Lydia?"

"Yeah?"

"What was wrong with you earlier?"

Lydia seemed to freeze in the winter moonlight spilling in from her window. Slowly she turned her dark eyes towards Ellie, who was now sitting with her legs crossed on the floor by her bed. Hesitantly, Lydia got out of bed and joined her on the floor.

"Will you promise not to freak?" she asked and the seriousness that was in her voice took Ellie slightly aback. Her gaze was steely as the ice that now coated the roads and windows.

Ellie nodded.

"Earlier today I went to see my Uncle Lex..."

"The bald dude from earlier?"

"Yeah him. Well he wasn't in his office so I decided to wait a bit. Then I heard voices..." her eyes took on a dreamy quality as if she was recalling something from a long way away.

"They were talking about levels of kryptonite and creating a way for Superman to be detained. The voices belonged to my Uncle and to his assistant, I forget her name. But they were talking about bringing down Superman" she looked at Ellie with a kind of desperation in her eyes.

"Why? Why is my Uncle trying to hurt Superman?"

But Ellie mearly looked her confusion.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Lydia's eyes hardened and blazed with determination.

"You know what Ellie? I'm going to pretend to be interested in my Uncle's company, become an apprentice. Then I'll dig around a bit and leak information to the Justice League! That'll stop Uncle Lex"

She clenched her fists to her side as she got back up and headed over to her bed. Then she turned to look at her friend again.

"I have to do this Ellie. Superman saves people's lives. I've got to help him"

"Not with out me you're not"

The two girls looked at each other, long and hard. Then they both smiled and got back into bed. They were going against Lydia's Uncle; they were going to help Superman.

They were going to help each other.

A/N: Jesus that was hard! I didn't think writing in a different point of view would be that tricky! I am sooo glad this chapter is over. Review Please!