𝘿𝙍𝘼𝙂𝙊𝙉, young justice

──── 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞.

     Standing beside its best friend at the bus stop, arms crossed, waiting for the moment when everything would finally change, Jaye found it hard to draw in breath.

     The sun was going down now, but the towering apartments of Gotham City seemed to glow even as the light faded away. The young creature leaned against the bus sign that beheld what they were waiting for — Gotham Transit. It would be any moment now.

     "Should be any second," its best friend, the blonde teenager by the name of Artemis said, casting a sideways glance over at the elder.

     This was their life . . . their life of waiting. Waiting for something to happen, to change.

     Their life was a bus stop in a figurative sense.

     Neither of them belonged, in this world or in the family they had no choice but to call their own. Artemis was too good for the life they led, and Jaye had learned long ago that it was not a creature of this world. It wasn't human. Perhaps now, it took the appearance of one, but it couldn't be further from flesh and bone that looked mortal. The League of Shadows had sent it to live here, among its best friend and that jerk of a father she had. He knew. The girl itself knew. No human could do the things it did. No human could also be a dragon, or, if specifics were involved, a wyvern.

     The bus pulled around the corner, slowly rolling toward them until at last it came to a halt before them. The friends remained in silence as the doors opened up wide, and a ramp meant for the disabled passengers folded down. After a long, agonizing moment, a woman in a wheelchair rolled into view and exited the bus, halting a few paces away from the two.

     As the bus rolled away with a lurch, the three exchanged long looks.

     Then, the woman spoke.

     "Artemis . . . is that you?"

     The blonde put on a smile, one that wasn't completely forced, but still wasn't fully genuine. "Hi, mom."

     The woman looked between them, eyebrows knitted together. "Your father?"

     Artemis cast a glance at Jaye. "I reminded him it was today, but . . ."

     "I understand," the disabled woman looked away as the blonde moved around to take the chair by the handles.

     Jaye turned and began to lead the way back to the apartment that was currently its home, taking a deep breath of the smoky, dusty air it was so used to. The sun had almost fully set by the time they made the short stroll to their living quarters, both helping to get Artemis' mother inside before shutting the door behind them.

     "I'll make dinner tonight," Artemis offered. "Dad said he was going to be late again."

     Jaye nodded. "I'm going to change into something more comfortable." Without another word, it turned and headed down the hall to where it and its best friend shared a room, opening the door, then shutting it behind it.

     Shedding its jean jacket and black tank top, the redhead pulled on a gray hoodie instead, then pulled off its khaki pants in favor of black sweatpants. It glanced over at the bedside table where a small case rested upon the furnished wood, then quietly took hold of it and pulled out the glasses within.

     In its dragon form, Jaye was almost invincible. Perfect eyesight, predatory hearing, animalistic sense of smell. Everything about it in that sense was bred to be powerful, resilient. But as a human . . . as a human, it was less than such. It was so blind that everything faded after three feet, its hearing was off, and it might as well have been so clumsy it was a disability.