Hey, everyone! Welcome to the third chapter of Changing Seasons! I hope it turns out well.
By the by, sorry to readers who are waiting on Winters' Ballad. I had a week off for spring break, but I had to work on two essays over the break and wanted to visit grandparents. All of that together did not give me much time to write like I wanted. Sorry.
However, I'm working on it with what time I find now. And missing out on Persona 5 and Mass Effect Andromeda in the process. TAT
Anyways, here's the next chappy. If you can think of an AU! You ay want to see, put it in a review and it may show up. ;3
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. I don't know if I could handle that responsibility.
*Vampire AU!* (Yep, that obvious AU! Most likely will get a second installment.)
(Conner, a young boy goes out into the woods late at night sneaking to have a little fun. Unbeknownst to him, this event leads to an encounter with a new friend. A friend that would change his closed off world forever.)
"Gotta be quiet." A young voice spoke through the thicket of the forest.
So dark even shadows were unseen under the full moon's light, the form of a tiny boy scurried through branches and the dirt. His hands a bit cut up from climbing over rocks and tree trunks, the dark-haired boy huffed, landing on his feet from yet another "adventure".
"I gotta be stealthy like dad." The tiny boy spoke again, muttering to himself in case some unknown person heard him.
His name was Conner. He was a little kid, no older than six, yet despite his age, he was smart. Smart enough to sneak out of the house of a trained vampire hunter in the dead of night to go and play.
Stupid enough to sneak out during the dead of night to go and play.
It wasn't his fault though. His father had trained him to be a hunter since the day he was born. Installing the facts of vampires biology into him, the best weapons to combat them, and even further the best way to kill them, Conner just wanted to have some fun. To not make every minute of his life something about vampires.
'If dad likes to talk about them so much, why doesn't he go marry one?' Conner joked, giggling to himself.
But he already knew the reason to that. His father never lets him forget it. The day the monsters took his mom away. He'd only been born a few months and suddenly, as fast as those creatures could move, did his mother get attacked by one.
And killed.
It was sad obviously and Conner knew how important it was to his dad whenever he spoke about it...But Conner couldn't figure out why.
Did he not remember his mom enough to get how sad it was? To be mad at all vampires like his dad always looked?
He didn't know why. Vampires seemed sort of cool to him. Being able to fly around and turn into bats, run super fast, see in the dark, and all those other cool things.
Couldn't they be friends?
'Dad always gets mad when I ask questions like that.' Conner thought, his hand unconsciously raising up to touch a small bruise on his face. 'He swings his hand a lot when he gets-'
*rustle*
"Huh?" Stopping in his tracks and looking around the dark forest, Conner felt his feet shake a little at the unknown rustling sound coming from somewhere nearby. "I-Is anybody there?"
No answer came, but more rustling sounds from the bushes began to get closer and closer to the young boy.
He tried to move, to get away, but Conner squeaked a tiny gasp when he realized his feet were glued to the ground, heavy like lead.
There was only one thing to do in a situation like this.
"I-I'm not scared!" Conner yelled as bravely as he could. Reaching down for something to become his weapon like his father taught him, Conner felt his finger grasp a rock. Tightening his grip on it, the boy in his haze of fear reached his arm out and threw the tiny stone, watching it fly in the air and collide into the rustling bush.
He'd hear the sound of an animal squealing soon enough, his enemy running away in defeat! Like a true monster hunter!
"Owie!" A voice gasped out, a body tumbling out of the bush and falling hard to the ground in front of Conner.
At least...that's what Conner thought until he saw the real culprit.
It wasn't any bear, a squirrel, or some sort of bat. Not even one of those scary monsters like a werewolf or snake monster he read about in his father's books. That would have been way cooler to hit with a rock.
Instead, it was a girl?
She was human, at least he thought so from the way she looked. Two arms, two legs, hair and other stuff. She wasn't in any way a monster.
"Why'd you hit me with a rock, you meanie?" The tiny girl asked, anger in her voice as she pushed her face off the ground to look up at Conner.
And then he froze. Like, even more than before. His blue eyes staring back into light blue eyes glaring towards him, Conner shifted his gaze away. Away from anything to get away from the glare he was receiving.
The girl had light skin. Pale, kind of like the moon. She had light blue eyes, lighter than his own. And her hair. Her hair was crazy! It was white! He'd only seen old people have white hair!
"Hey!"
Jumping on the balls of his feet at the voice trying to get his attention, Conner moved his eyes back over to the glaring ones in his direction.
The way the angry looking girl stared at him...
Why was his chest feeling all funny?
"W-What?" Conner sputtered out, trying to find his voice.
"You didn't answer me! Why'd you hit me with a rock meanie!?" The girl demanded again, getting up from the ground and dusting her once clean white nightgown.
"I-I didn't mean to! I thought you were a werewolf." Conner answered back, his face deflating into a pout and looking off to the side. "It was just some gross girl though."
"Hey, I'm not gross! I'm a pretty lady." The mystery girl responded, glaring again at Conner.
"Oh yeah? Then why do you have white hair like an old person? Only old people have white hair weirdo!" Conner mocked, turning back to point at the girl's hair.
Hands rising up to grasp at her short locks, the girl only glared harder, as if trying to keep Conner busy to find an answer. "B-Because! That's why! W-Why are you so short, shorty?" The tiny girl mocked, a nervous smile on her face. "I'm taller than you! See?"
Walking over to the boy, the white-haired girl smiled devilishly and stood face to face with him. Or rather almost face to face. The girl, as small as Conner had thought she had been on the ground, was actually an inch taller than him.
But how?! He was taller than all the other kids back in the village!
Noticing the very obvious height difference, Conner gritted his teeth and readied himself for the best comeback line a kid his age could come up with against a girl.
"Nuh uh!"
"Ah huh!"
"Nu uh, liar!"
"Is so not...not truth teller! I'm taller than you!"
"You don't even know a good comeback!"
"So? I'm still taller!"
"Well, you're stupid!"
"No, you're stupid and mean!"
"You were stupider first!"
"Not before you!"
On and on the two went on, poor insult after poor insult between children. Conner and the girl continued their little glaring contest for what felt like years to the boy. Never once did the girl back down, even when he thought something would put him up on top and win the argument.
'It'd never been this hard to win a fight against a girl. Usually, by now, they'd start crying.' Conner thought, his eyes still glaring against the girl's own blue.
Who...was this gross girl?
"W-Who are you anyways?" Conner asked suddenly, his glare losing its energy and simply staring back.
The girl herself was surprised by the question, her own glare disappearing into a look of confusion. "W-Why?"
"I've never seen you before in my village," Conner answered, crossing his arms over his chest in a matter of fact tone.
"I don't live in a village." The girl answered hesitantly, moving her gaze away to look off into some darkened woods. Soon enough, her eyes came back to look at Conner. "My name's...Samantha."
"Samantha?" Conner repeated, trying to get used to the name.
"Y-Yeah, it is. Now you introduce yourself." The girl, now known as Samantha spoke, her finger pointed accusingly at Conner.
Frowning at the sudden attention put on him, Conner kept his mouth shut for a time but unfortunately fell to the impulse of wanting to speak like any six-year-old. "M-My name's Conner."
"Conner?" Samantha herself repeated the same way Conner had done her own name.
"Yep. But now a new question. What are you doing out here all by yourself?" The boy asked, pointing his own accusing finger at the girl.
Her form faltering for a split second, Samantha nearly lost her upper hand in the situation but kept her finger pointed at the boy. "I...I wanted to go out and play!"
"At night?"
"Yeah! So?"
"You're gonna get killed by monsters out here all by yourself!"
"Then why are you out here all by yourself smarty?" Samantha finished, a smirk spotted in her face at her well-timed counter attack.
Realizing his own situation, Conner pouted at the girl, hoping his glare or whatever face he was making would make the girl go away, or stop her from talking.
Nothing worked though.
"I," Conner started, unsure if he should answer, knowing the result he'd hear from the girl. "I...wanted to go play too."
"Hah! I knew it! Liar!" Samantha declared with a gleeful smile.
"Shut up! I wasn't lying. I just didn't say why I was out here that's all." Conner retorted, huffing at the girl and looking away from her pointing.
Nothing was said between the two after that. Simple pointing, looks, smiles, glares, and pouts were exchanged for a time. The two didn't care how much time passed between them. It was like the world around them had just disappeared, melted into the darkness of the night.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Samantha finally put her hand down to her side, no longer pointing at Conner. Her mouth closed and forming an uncertain frown, the white-haired girl let her eyes wander off to a tree, some bushes, and even dirt.
"Do," Samantha started, but stopped talking for a little bit. Not sure if what she said would be accepted or not, the young girl was hesitant to continue. Yet the silence that followed was even worse than the last. Something had to happen or the night would be wasted for the two. "Do you want to play with me?"
It kind of felt like magic after that, as girly as that sounded to Conner.
He thought that the entire experience of having to play with some gross girl was going to be boring, like torture, and make him annoyed out of his mind.
But it wasn't to his surprise.
Samantha, as weird and mysterious as she was, was kind cool. She wasn't like any of the other girls he lived within the village. She wasn't afraid to get dirty so much and liked to climb into trees and go after bugs and animals that weren't looking.
It was like she was a boy he could be friends with, but a girl.
That was still weird. And so was that weird twisty feeling in his chest whenever he was caught looking at her.
He never did figure that out the entire time they played.
Kicking his feet around in a small lake the two found, Conner laughed and let his voice die out, tired from their yelling during their "adventure". Dirt muddied his shirt and pants, his hair tussled up into something akin to bedhead. He'd gone a little overboard adventuring. Hopefully, he'd get home fast enough before his father noticed.
Samantha was sort of in the same state. Splashing her feet in the water alongside Conner, Samantha's nightgown too was dirtied from their activities. A little less muddy than he was, he could see a few small tears here and there from when she'd fallen out of a tree they climbed into. Her hair was a bit messy too, but not so much that she couldn't fix it later, and her face had a bit of dirt on it from running around the forest.
"Heh, for a girl you aren't so boring." Conner joked, chuckling a little and kicking some water into the air.
Doing the same, Samantha kicked some water around her feet and stuck her tongue out at Conner. "You aren't so bad for a meanie either. Not to mention short."
"Hey, I'm still growing. Just you wait. When like...a bazillion years pass I'll be way taller than you. And then who'll be laughing?" Conner asked, trying to puff his chest out to look bigger.
"A bazillion years?"
"Huh?" That wasn't the reaction he expected from the energetic girl. She sounded more quiet, kind of sad.
Why? Cause he'd be taller than her?
"W-What? Is me being tall that bad?" Conner asked, frowning as he looked to the disheartened girl.
"N-No. It's not at all." Samantha said, raising her head to Conner and shaking it to signal that was not the case. "It's just...a bazillion years is a long time."
"Well, yeah? So what?" Conner asked.
"Well, will you still...still be here? After a bazillion years?" Samantha asked, her voice a bit shaky in tone, almost like she was scared.
Not sure how to answer the question, Conner huffed and looked out at the sky, the stars slowly dimming away as time passed. "Uhh, I think so. I'll probably be super old, but I'll be alive. And adventuring all over the place."
"But, aren't you human? Humans can't live that long I think." Samantha asked, confused by Conner's line of thinking.
"Uh, duh. We both are, but that doesn't mean we don't have to die the same age as everybody else. Just watch. We'll live up to bajillion and go on super cool adventures to places we've never seen and beat up the scariest of monsters and save the world." Conner proclaimed, a wide grin on his face. "It can be a promise. And promises always get fulfilled right?"
"We both are?" Samantha repeated, not sure if what Conner was saying was making any sense. Her frown stayed for a few more moments as if Conner's comment had come out in a foreign language.
Yet soon enough it was gone, replaced by a semblance of hope arising inside the young girl's chest. "Y-You promise? You'll live up to bazillion?" She asked, hopeful eyes looking to her new friend.
"Yeah, sure. And we'll be friends and go on super cool adventures too. I'd usually do that stuff with other guys, but I think you're the only girl who'd do that stuff with me, so it's okay." Conner reasoned, nodding his head in affirmation.
Unable to do nothing but smile at Conner's way with words, Samantha felt her mouth grin and laughed. "Good. And you don't seem like such a mean boy to go adventuring with."
Looking up at the sky, Samantha gave a content sigh, their discussion over and left in a moment of silence. The sounds of animals getting up, birds chirping, the stars disappearing to make way for the-
"Oh no!" Realizing the time, the young white-haired maiden moved, taking her feet out of the water to stand off the ground. "T-The sun's almost up!"
"W-What?! My dad's gonna kill me if I'm not home!" Conner screeched, fear evident on his face as he, too got out of the water and ran with Samantha into the forest.
His breath coming out rough and ragged, Conner could feel his chest burning at the amount of energy he was using to make his legs run as fast as he could. It didn't help that Samantha was running ahead of him by like five feet.
Man, she was kind of cool. She'd be a great adventuring partner.
At last, Conner could slow down as he stopped behind Samantha, resting his hands on his legs to take in as many breaths as he could to make his burning chest go away. Finally back where the two had met, Conner wiped sweat off his head and rose back up, turning his head to Samantha.
"You run really fast." Conner gasped out.
"Kind of. My mommy and daddy are faster though." Samantha spoke, her own voice sounding a little tired from the run. "You should probably go back before your dad wakes up."
"Yeah, good idea." Laughing a little at the instruction and smiling to Samantha, Conner waved goodbye to the girl and headed back the way he came from his village rushing past a couple of bushes and over some tree trunks.
Yet as quickly as he started, Conner stopped.
Turning his body around to look back to the form of Samantha watching him leave, the boy raised his hands up to his mouth, cupping them around his mouth to get his message across.
"Bye! Let's play again tomorrow night!"
He couldn't see the look on his friend's new face from far away, but he saw the way she just looked at him. Raising her own hands up to her mouth, Samantha didn't yell anything back at first. And then suddenly...
"I-I'll try! I'll come back! And we'll go on adventures! Promise!"
Nodding back to her and waving his hand yet again to say goodbye, Conner turned and ran off back home.
That morning he'd been caught by his dad, receiving a hard slap to the face.
But he didn't care. He'd been used to it sure, but his happiness outweighed the pain, made it numb and feel like a feather dusting his cheek. He'd met a girl he never thought he'd meet before. She was rough like he was, didn't back down when he got angry or scared like other girls, she liked to explore and see new things. He couldn't wait to disobey his father again to sneak out and see her.
Conner did so the very next night without hesitation. Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
It wasn't until his twelfth time sneaking out and the twelfth beating he realized. The night that he'd met her was the last night and only night he'd ever see her. The white-haired girl named Samantha.
The girl who'd broken her promise.