The Hunt ⋆ Young Justice (o.h.)

thirteen : blood is thicker than water

( CHAPTER THIRTEEN : BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER )

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ATHENA AND BRUCE HAD BROKEN UP. It was startling, even for Hearne, because the two had been dating for years. Off and on, at times, yet still, it was a long period of time. Despite Athena never once meeting Dick, they were in a serious relationship. They went on dates at least once a week if Bruce had the time, and Hearne would sometimes walk into the kitchen and Athena would be washing the dishes with the phone perched on her shoulder, or she would be outside, taking care of the horses with it sitting on the fence on speaker.

The worst part was that they fit together. The two of them made sense as a couple. They had known each other since high school, both of their families one of the wealthiest in Gotham City, and once he'd come back from abroad, they had become friends again, and then Athena accidentally found out he was Batman later on, and it morphed from there.

 Because while Bruce could be cold and paranoid, even obsessive at times, Athena was the opposite. She was relaxed, always trying to think rationally without jumping to conclusions, yet she consistently stood her ground. She was unmovable, just as Bruce was, and that was what he needed. Someone who wouldn't be pushed around, who would call him on his destructive habits that tore all of his other platonic and romantic relationships apart, yet would let him be when he needed it.

Now, all those years were cracked. Four whole days, which vastly set them aside from things like the several months after he made Dick Robin, or the weeks after Hearne appeared--solely because this meant more. It wasn't a fight like the others, where there was bubbling anger yet one clear point of the argument. This was too many points that had finally boiled over when he hadn't told her about the simulation. "Too many secrets," she had said, "he can have his secrets, I sure as hell have a lot, but he knows there's a line neither of us cross."

That line had always been the safety of Dick and Hearne, something that had caused many arguments. Finally, Bruce had done what he always managed to do--cross that line, and fail to fully understand why it was so wrong. It made Hearne feel bad, because this was her fault. She should have said no, and it wouldn't have happened, and neither would have screamed in the barn for nearly two hours, and they wouldn't have broken up. But, in the corner or her mind, she knew the truth. That no matter what, this argument would have came, and the "Failsafe" would have been it, regardless of whether or not Hearne was in it.

When Bruce had called, Athena had shouted at him, saying some choice words Hearne hadn't heard her say in the entire time she'd known her. Athena had said that, no, Olympia wouldn't be coming to a "therapy appointment" with Dinah, not over her dead body. Despite that, and Athena telling Hearne that she had no obligation to go, Hearne still was. She didn't exactly know why. It wasn't like she would talk to Black Canary, about Failsafe or anything else, but something in her felt like she had to.

Things were confusing now. Part of her wanted to shut everything and everyone out, to never feel that weak and vulnerable again, to snuff any emotions out, but the other part wanted nothing of that. Part of her wanted to be free. To shed herself of the layers her family had built upon her, the things that made her inhuman. But if she didn't have those parts of her, who would she be? Not Hearne Fowler, even she knew that. No Fowler was that weak.

Still, she was there, sitting in the surprisingly comfortable leather arm chair, feeling analyzed. Even if her face was blank--in a comfortable way, not one that Hearne or Batman typically held--Hearne could tell that Black Canary hadn't found much. Hearne wasn't easy to analyze, not like the others were. She wasn't raised human, or taught like Superboy was--she wasn't born with a need to feel human, she developed it once she met Athena and realized she could feel something more.