Fire and Lightning (Book One) [Young Justice fanfic]

Chapter Forty-Nine- Friendship

July 4, 2011. 10:02.

Mount Justice.

~~Emma~~

"Remind me why were doing this?" Connor asked as he helped M'gann climb up on his back.

"Cuz it'll be fun!" I told him from my perch on Kaldur's back. I felt his arms tighten protectively around my legs, like he'd never let me go. I kissed his cheek, and then the two guys on the team with super-strength took off down the beach with their girlfriends. I let out a whoop of happiness and caught Kaldur's smile as he splashed through the crashing waves.

Then something sped by, blowing sand into all four of our faces as we stopped to protect our eyes and mouths.

Wally and Artemis stood at the spot we marked as the finish line, grinning triumphantly.

I pouted for a moment about how unfair this all was, but then Kaldur dumped me in the surf. I come up gasping for breath, and by the look on his face that was clearly not an accident.

"You-!" I sputtered out words incoherently, kicking water at him. He only laughed, and I stopped, realizing that I had never heard him laugh before.

Like the perfect gentleman he was, he held out a hand with an apology. I pulled him into the waves in revenge. Connor and Wally came to Kal's defense, with Artemis and M'gann running after them, and once all of us were sopping wet, we finally headed back to  the camp. Zatanna, Rick, Barbra, Willow, and Raquel, were all sitting around the grill that would be replaced by a bonfire later that night.

Raquel shook her head at us, and held up a hand in the direction of both Willow and Barbra. 

"Single ladies!" She declared proudly. Willow laughed and returned the high-five along with Barbra.

I grabbed a hotdog, snug in its bun, and held it up in a toast, "Happy Anniversary, guys!"

M'gann and Richard copied me, "Happy Anniversary!"

All of us raised our hotdogs in a toast, except for Wally, who had already devoured his hot dog plus three more.

Yup. A year ago today we formed the team.

And a year and a day ago I fought and nearly killed my best friend.

I watched Willow wipe mustard off her chin and laugh at something Wally said. I saw the look in her eyes as she watched Superboy.

Her scarred eyes.

I did that.

Feeling a tightness in my chest, all ecstasy faded away in an instant. I mumbled something about needing to go to the bathroom and headed for the mountain.

I splashed water on my face from the bathroom sink, looking at myself in the mirror. I wasn't model-worthy, but I was most girl's definition of "beauty". I didn't really care about it so much until I met M'gann and her issues with her appearance, and Willow with her scars.

I nearly killed someone. And that someone turned out to be Willow. My best friend. 

She still woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares about the darkness of the forest. She still thought that she would never be beautiful because of her scars.

I did that to her.

I gripped the edge of the sink, my stomach churning. I wanted to throw up. The team had allowed me to put Pyro's supposed death behind me, but then it turned out that the girl I had trained with and loved was the very girl I thought I killed.