Ignite [Book Three In The "Fire And Lightning" Series]

Chapter Twenty-Four- The Best of Friends

May 21, 2016. 01:30
Watchtower
~~Willow~~

It had been so long- So. Long. -since I had been in space. It was overwhelming to look out the window and see all those stars twinkling so close by outside the clear dome at the top of the Watchtower.

It was truly beautiful.

The beauty was ruined when I watched Emma march out of the room alone. Everyone simply watched her go, confused. When she disappeared down the hall they looked at me.

"She ought to be upset," I muttered cooly, crossing my arms.

"Um, yeah..." Emma's twin rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle. "I, erm, heard about your..."encounter," last November." Everyone looked at him in surprise. All Rick did was hold his hands up. "What!?"

"I figured." I glared at the ground. "But you should know that I have no regrets. She shouldn't have come."

Artemis looked after Emma. "Well, we did agree to give you space, but..."

"Did she neglect to tell you that she outed me as a super?" I said, examining my nails.

Nightwing coughed awkwardly, and half the people gathered around me gave him a sort of half-glare. 

"She may have mentioned it briefly...in passing, maybe." He said in a high-pitched squeak.

I placed my fists on my hips. "She's lucky that they were okay with it."

"Lucky!?" M'gann asked, astonished at my callous way of addressing Nightingale. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Alright, I admit that she had no business ousting you as a secret superhero and she should have left you alone, but she was going crazy. just like all of us!" M'gann gestured to Superboy, Artemis, Rick, Mal, Karen, Kaldur, and herself. 

"She knew where you were, and she couldn't do anything about it but dwell on the fact you were gone. You never wrote, you never cared to let us know that you were okay." She said, voice going quiet.

Artemis gripped my shoulder, and I placed my hand over hers. "And when your best friend leaves you, Willow...It does something to you." She said in a strained voice, certainly thinking of Wally West.

"She just wanted to see you." Rick spread his arms. "She told me about all this craziness. She never meant to get intercepted by the Graces."

"I know." I told him, voice shaking. "But I was afraid that if I wrote, called, or anything, that Luthor would catch on."

Grabbing my hand, Connor gave it a gentle squeeze. "You know we'd never let that happen."

"But it did." I insisted. "Emma lead him right to me. Connor nearly died. And I was forced to burn down a building in defense."

Everyone was in appalled silence at my announcement, until Mal had a lightbulb moment.

"So that's what happened with the Xeno-gas..." He muttered where he thought I wouldn't hear. I'd have to ask him about it later.

As calmly as I could, I rubbed my nails on my shirt, pretending to be casual. "Got a new scar. Wanna see?"

"Really, Will?" Artemis deadpanned.

"Ja." I smirked. Rick laughed, and I rolled up the side of my shirt  few inches so that they could see the scar from where the creep Luthor had sent after me had kicked me. 

"Oh my gosh..." Instantly forgiving me, M'gann hugged me again.

"Did you hurt him back?" Connor asked, perhaps a bit eagerly, from the look that Kaldur was giving him.