Chapter 4: 7 months later

From now on, for the sake of the story, Mount Justice hasn't exploded, Wally and Artemis haven't resumed their hero careers, and Wally is therefore not dead.

THAT'S BECAUSE I'M IN DENIAL, OKAY?

Otherwise Bart Allen is still called Impulse ;)

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE, OR WALLY WOULD NEVER HAVE DIED!

...sorry.

Good reading!

El Paso

June 21, 4:38 AM

6 MONTHS AND 20 DAYS LATER

The first thing Jaime sees as he slowly opens his eyes is the ceiling of his room. Then he feels the hard floor beneath his back and realizes that he has fallen out of bed. He sighs.

Heart rate stabilized. Host waking up. Hello Jaime.

Jaime stifles a groan.

"Mierda...What happened?" the boy says as he tries to extricate himself from his tangled cover. "Don't tell me I had a seizure again?"

Yes. But the heart rate has been stabilized.

Jaime sighs and collapses on his bed.

Since his release from the Reach's control 7 days ago, his body seems to rebel against him by causing epileptic seizures. Jaime doesn't know if it's the stress, the regaining of control over his muscles, or if his body is simply mocking him by reminding him that he will never have complete control.

Jaime struggles to remembers the boy he was, 7 months ago, when he had just been recruited by Young Justice. A lot had changed since then.

3 and a half months ago, a young hyperactive speedster from the future named Bart had landed at Mount Justice with his energy and his kindness. Bart and Jaime quickly become best friends, spending all their time together.

But Jaime had discovered the truth about why Bart had gone back in time, barely a month later: he, Jaime Reyes, was going to become the greatest villain the Earth has ever known. Bart had gone back in time to prevent him for being put on-mode and destroying half the planet. Jaime would do anything to avoid being controlled by the Reach, including accepting the help of the Green Beetle, B'arzz O'oomm, to repair his Scarab.

This mistake sent him into a downward spiral.

Because the Green Beetle was already on-mode.

For sixty-six days, sixty-six days of total horror, he had been trapped, stuck in his own body, controlled by another.

For sixty-six days, his friends had not realized that he was being controlled.

For sixty-six days, he had lived in terror of seeing his own hands kill them.

For sixty-six days, he had endured the tortures of Black Beetle and the Ambassador.

And when he finally been freed by Zatanna, a week ago, the epileptic seizures had multiplied and become more and more violent. He found it harder and harder to find excuses every time a member of the team found him lying on the ground. He still hadn't told them about his epilepsy, only Nightwing, M'gann, Batman and a few members of the Justice League knew. Even Bart didn't know anything.

Jaime sighed again. He looked at the time on his alarm clock.

5:19 AM

"Mierda..." said Jaime, going back to bed.

He had a therapy session tomorrow with Black Canary, and he didn't want to be exhausted. He yawned and closed his eyes.

Like every night for the past week, bloody images were superimposed on the black under his eyelids. He kept seeing the corpses of his friends, killed by his own hands. He squeezed his eyelids tighter.

Do you want me to pump some melatonin into your system?

Jaime nodded and finally fell asleep a few minutes later.

Mount Justice

June 21, 2016, 7:32 AM

"Hey Jaime!" Bart called out.

"Oh! Hey Bart." Jaime replied with a yawn.

"How are you, Jaime? You look tired..."

"Don't worry, I just didn't sleep well."

Jaime fell silent. As he had in every conversations since he had been freed from the Reach, he was in loss of words. The hardest part was the guilt. He constantly blamed himself for what he had done. Or almost done.

"Jaime?"

"Mmm?" Jaime said, coming out of his thoughts. "What's wrong, hermano?"

Bart looked at him intently. Jaime had a hard time looking the young speedster in the eye. They were like glowing green arrows.

Jaime, you're rambling...he scolded himself.

He forced himself to refocus on Bart.

"Well, I gotta go, I gotta see Black Canary in 5 minutes. Hasta pronto, Bart."

He walked away.

Black Canary's office

June 21, 7:41 AM

Knock Knock Knock

"Come in!" came Black Canary's voice from inside the office.

Jaime opened the door.

"Um...Hello...I'm here for the session..."

"Ah, Jaime! Come sit down." Black Canary said, a smile on her lips.

Jaime cautiously walked over and sat down in the large green chair. Black Canary did the same in front of him, and tossed her blond hair behind her shoulder.

"So, Jaime. First of all, I wanted to know how you were feeling."

Jaime replied nervously,

"I'm fine. I'm...getting used to it again."

Black Canary raised an eyebrow.

"To what?"

"To...control my muscles, my body. Being able to say what I want, go where I want...Normal, really."

Black Canary sank deeper into her chair.

"How's your sleep?"

"I have trouble falling asleep, and I wake up a lot at night..."

Black Canary frowned. She could tell there was more to it than that. Jaime was clearly not in his normal state.

"Jaime. Tell me honestly. What's wrong?"

Jaime took a sharp breath. Then he shook his head and said in a shaky voice,

"It's okay, I don't know what you're talking about..."

Jaime. You have to tell her.

"No!" Jaime replied.

"Is that your Scarab talking to you?" Black Canary asked, interested.

Jaime, tell her NOW.

"No, I'm telling you!" Jaime said, raising his voice.

Jaime Reyes. TALK TO HER NOW!

"STOP!" the boy yelled, slapping his hands over his ears.

Black Canary got up from her chair and crouched down in front of Jaime. She put a her hand on his shoulder.

"Jaime." She said in a clear voice. "It's okay. Nothing will leave this room. You can tell me anything, and I think it would help you to talk to me."

Jaime took a deep breath, hesitated, then finally let it all out, his eyes closed tightly.

"Every time I close my eyes, I see the corpses of Bart, Batgirl and the team. I'm afraid to fall asleep because I never know if the next day I'll be free to control my movements. Joder, I'm always afraid, well, no I'm terrified that the Reach will take control again. Sometimes during the day, flashbacks come and estoy totalmente indefenso, I relive everything that happened. My epileptic seizures are more and more frequent, and more and more violent by the day, the medication has no effect on me. I'm sure the whole team hates me, después de todo lo que les hice pasar. I can't read, eat, concentrate, even a 5 minutes conversation I lose track, I'm constantly exhausted and...I-I don't want to be...kicked off the team!" Jaime finished, taking his face in his hands.

Black Canary leaned towards the teenager.

"First of all, Jaime, know that you will never be kicked off the team because of your pain. Never. Second, what you are describing to me sounds like post-traumatic stress disorder."

Jaime looked up.

"Jaime...I can help you. You are not alone, okay? The team does not hate you at all, they know that you couldn't do anything about it."

Jaime looked away.

"Can I go?" he whispered.

Black Canary stood up and said,

"You can go, Jaime, but I'd like to see you again soon. Is next Tuesday convenient?"

"Sí." Jaime mumbled. He stood up, picked up his bag, and headed for the door.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Jaime. Take care."

Jaime turned and walked out of the office. The door slammed slightly.

In the center of the room, Black Canary sighed.

Done! This one was pretty long. In the next one, a video and a panic attack hehe...

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