JADE (young justice/robin)

27. withdrawal (year two)

Star City
May 25, 02:38 EST
ONE YEAR LATER

Team Year Two

jade.

Arrow slammed the door shut behind us, muttering angrily to himself.

What's fucking new?

"I thought you said this depot would have him."

I fell down exhaustedly onto the couch, ripping the goggles from my head. "I've said the same thing about every depot before that."

"Exactly," he snapped. "Are you even trying to find Speedy?"

"Yes."

I let him have his temper tantrum while I pulled the duffel out from beneath the table. I grabbed one of the little plastics inside already feeling my heart race at just the thought of a pick-me-up. I could feel the tingling that numbed my fingers, the ringing in my ears. Practically trembling, I poured out a small pile, not even bothering to fix it into a line.

"Then, why haven't we found him!?" he raged, a heavy clatter following.

I looked up at him from the table, my nose powdered in white. My eyes merely rolled at him. He had punched through another one of the cabinet doors. If I had a dollar for every hole he's punched in our wall or furniture, I'd be Bruce Wayne.

"It's only been a year—"

"Only?"

"Searches like this take time," I told him, beginning to sound like a broken record.

I pulled out something else from the duffel. Something I had went on a personal mission to get for the both of us. I told Arrow we'd save it for a special occasion, and considering that we just failed to find Speedy for the hundredth time, the occasion felt pretty special.

You know... Just a pick-me-up.

"We don't have time."

I eyed the little syringes filled with purple liquid, tapping them with my finger. "We literally have all the time in the world."

He started pacing.

"Has it occurred to you—" I stopped, turning my focus to the needle running into my arm that slowly emptied, "That speedy might actually be gone?"

"Don't give up on me like all of them did too!"

"I'm not."

"Everyone else thinks he's gone, but he's not! He's not!"

"I know," I sighed, letting my head fall back against the couch.

"We have to find him, Jade."

My breathing began to slow and it felt like the dials on my senses had been turned to zero and a hundred all at the same time. The tingle stopped, the world quieted, and my misery melted away.

"We will."

Arrow fell to my side at the couch, beginning to calm down like he always did. His anger was always fiery, but short-lived. "Sorry."

"Don't be."

"Are you high already?"

I turned to him, a hazy smile curling on my lips. "Just a pick-me-up."

"You've been having a lot of pick-me-ups."

"So have you."

If he didn't think it was a good idea, his body clearly told him different. That familiar craving came over him and his eyes darkened. He became completely silent, pulling plastics out of duffel and cutting neat lines for himself.