Young Justice: The Future Heroes

Chapter 13: The truth

Amber looks at Barbara who puts a comforting hand on her shoulder "Let's start with the reason why I'm taking less and less missions" she says taking off her sweater and when Barbara lifts the black shirt after she turned around Sapphire and Jake are speechless, almost Amber's entire lower back is scarred "Haly was giving me and my brother a grand opening" she says sitting back down "Which gave Zucco the perfect chance to kill us anyway, however Batman had warned Haly and we were up first, when Zucco found out he was furious and burned down the tent. Every performer was trapped there, I protected Sapphire from a burning pillar coming down, the force knocked her out cold, but with my years of hero work behind me I could handle a few things. Zucco walked through the unconscious performers, clearly looking for Haly, who had been talking to Bruce outside when the fire started", she takes a deep breath, it's clear she's not comfortable talking about it, but someone has to do it. "It's okay miss Amber, take is slow and easy" Alfred says handing her a cup of a hot chocolate "My brother was packing everything so we could leave quickly. Nightwing was the only hero close by, so he arrived first, rushed in and he began evacuating everyone, when Batman joined him and helped him out they were obviously done a lot quicker, but Zucco had found me and had pulled a gun to both my head and Sapphire's head so I couldn't move or shout for help, I was still trapped by the pillar, but the gem healed my back fast enough to prevent too much damage, obviously Zucco gave himself away and the second he wanted to pull both triggers he fell down, dead", Jake walks over to Amber and hugs her after getting on her lap "I was brought to a hospital and he refused to talk about what happened, but I saw the look in his eyes when he walked over to check if the bastard survived, cold, unnerving and distant. I didn't recognize him in that moment, he crossed the line he swore he would never cross, he killed someone" "I can understand why he won't talk about it" Tim says "Shouldn't his first concerns have been you and Sapphire though?" "I gave him a lecture about that later, we weren't on good terms with my decision to return to the circus, so he said and I quote 'You chose to go back, you should've seen this coming, clearly you don't care about Sapphire'. I punched him for that, he didn't visit me for the entire time I was stuck in the hospital". The door opens and they see Bruce walking in "She's finally talking then" he says sitting on the couch next to Jason "Yes" Alfred says "But you shouldn't count on her being able to sleep" "Won't matter, until Dick gets his head out of his ass I'll be staying with Haly" Amber says "What happened after you recovered?" Damian asks earning a sigh "He resigned as a hero and became the anti-hero Renegade, some bullshit reason about finally realizing we should've done it like that a long time ago, he could never bring himself to kill anyone else, so Renegade disappeared and with help from Artemis and Wally, Nightwing came back, trying to do the right thing, but things would never be the same, our arguing started to leak into missions and one day I simply told him that if he had bothered to find me before checking to see if he actually killed the guy I wouldn't be 'in his way', he responded by telling me I should just quit. I did, not because he told me, but because despite all my efforts my back would get in the way. Just like how Sapphire's leg rendered her unable to stay Raven" "She seems to be fine using it, I mean, she was bouncing all over the place, literally" Bruce says "Yes, but with the missions they do she'll strain it too much" Jason says "As was first demonstrated when Dick send them on a suicide mission, thank god you two kept your arguing and fighting outside your hero lives". Sapphire and Jake look at each other, they had no memories of fighting at all "You two seem the exact opposite of how you were yesterday though" Damian says "Mom... how did you get together with dad?" Jake asks "My parents were invited to one of the parties, I had to come along, we got along so Bruce offered that I could stay here while trying to get over the shock that someone nearly killed me and my parents".

They sit in silence and no one looks up when the door to the living room is opened "Master Richard" Alfred says, but he ignores the butler and walks to Amber "Richard" she says making him close his mouth again "Can you honestly tell me that you would've regretted everything you did five years ago when the circus burned down and I died along with Sapphire?" she asks looking at him "You told them" he says earning a nod "Which is only fair from my point of view" she says. The bell rings and Alfred goes to open the door "Dude why did you-" Wally doesn't finish his sentence seeing Amber and Sapphire and Amber looks down "We should go" she says and Sapphire nods slowly as she gets up "Are you coming?" she asks looking at Jake "You should've asked me if we could tell it together" Dick says "Why? You were never going to be honest about it" Amber says putting on her coat and she takes Tim's pen, then takes the papers from Wally, skimming through them before signing "I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore" she says "And if this is the only way to fix this, to make you see everything you did wrong, I guess it's goodbye" she adds. The batfamily sits in silence and Jake takes the papers before Dick can grab them "Jake give them here" he says, but the agile kid moves to hide behind Alfred "You're gonna sign them aren't you?" he asks "You don't understand" Dick says, but Damian decides now's the perfect time to step in "No you don't understand, Amber did whatever she could to fix it, all you did was ignore her efforts, I know you read those letters" he says "So whatever the kid's planning, it's better then you signing them" "Master Richard, maybe you should see what miss Amber gave you", Alfred takes a present from the shelf and hands it over "Jake what are you doing?" Artemis asks, but before anyone has any time to react the divorce papers are already in the burning fireplace and the boy is nowhere in sight.

"Thought you were gonna stay at the manor" Amber asks when Jake walks in "Yeah well. I don't think he's too happy with me" he says "I tossed the papers in the fireplace" he adds "You did what now?" Sapphire asks "Well..." "It's fine" Amber says "Roy made dinner, for three, guess he was expecting it" "Mom we have a problem" Sapphire says "I can't perform tonight" she adds "Dammit" Amber says "We'll have to eat after the show" she says pulling Jake along, so Sapphire runs after them "Jack" she says seeing Haly "How long until the visitors show up?" she asks "A few hours, why?" he asks "I'm a quick study" Jake says "Good, come on, we have to replace Sapphire last minute" Amber says "Jake's performing" she says seeing Haly's confused look "You can change your routine" he says "Not this late Jack, you know that, we've been planning this since last month". Bruce somehow managed to drag Dick along to the circus to watch the show "Why me?" Dick asks earning a chuckle from Alfred "Because master Richard, it's been years since you've been here and you would've been sulking in your room otherwise" "Can't exactly bring Jake when we have no idea where he is" Bruce says "I have a good idea where he might be" Dick says looking at the tent "Probably gonna watch the show from a front row seat"