The Hunt ⋆ Young Justice (o.h.)

six : locked away

( CHAPTER SIX : LOCKED AWAY )

*    *    *

HEARNE HADN'T FELT RIGHT EVER SINCE THEIR MINDS WERE TEMPORARILY WIPED OF THE LAST SIX MONTHS. There were millions of reasons why, but two continued to stick with her. That for what must have been at least two hours, the idea of Athena being dead was heartbreakingly real, and that the Team had see what she really was. It meant that she would have to work towards gaining trust back, and she would rather skewer her own eyes.

Angrily enough, Kaldur's attitude towards her hadn't changed at all. While it made her anger boil, she was thankful, in her own way. Because he made her feel . . . less unlike them. She didn't want to be like them, but at least he made her feel like less of an outsider. Hearne hadn't known what the feeling was until Robin had made it abundantly clear that she wasn't one with them.

And it was true. Hearne wasn't like them. It wasn't because of her DNA, or possibly even her lack of morality or empathy. Since birth, she'd been raised--not even raised, trained--to be something to opose them. She didn't know how to be anything that resembled them in a truthful way, the pieces simply didn't fit together in her brain.

That left her, here, playing Uno with them in an attempt to 'bond' with them. Before, they trusted her like they trusted Artemis (though, Robin still didn't trust her at all). Now they had mixed feelings about her. After all, she had nearly killed them.

Hearne was still angry about that. Why did she stall? It was foolish. Hesitating is what got you killed, and she hesitated for too long.

"Have you even played Uno before?" Wally groaned, taking four more cards from the deck.

"No," she answered, "but it's easy to learn."

She and Athena always played war with a deck of cards, and while Uno was easy to learn, it wasn't the type of game she'd play willingly. It wasn't sophisticated, a child who didn't even know how to read could play it.

While she only had two cards left, Robin had three, Artemis had five, Kaldur had seven, Connor had eight, M'gann had ten, and Wally had fifteen. It was a bit funny, because M'gann had ten because she was still learning the game--Wally had fifteen because everyone kept saving their plus four cards for him. Or rather Artemis and Hearne were, but Robin pitched in sometimes.

Connor placed a skip card, and M'gann frowned as Wally placed down a yellow two. Hearne sat a plus four on the top of the deck and Robin's face pinched into a scowl as his three turned into a seven. Hearne announced "Uno," because apparently that was one of the rules, and the game continued on.

Her participation ended with her putting down a red skip card, followed by Robin's groan and M'gann's friendly cheer. 

Hearne stood, her back cracking in the process, as she walked away towards the kitchen.

"See, Wally," Artemis whispered not-so-subtly, "that's what a gracious winner looks like."

"She cheated," he argued. "This was her first time playing, no way she's that good!"

"It's called strategy, you should try it next time."

Hearne blocked their bickering out as she grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, an involuntary shiver going through her body as the ice-cold water passed through her lips.

She was aware of someone walking up behind her and her muscles tensed as they stepped up to look inside the fridge. She guessed it was him, based on the sound of the footsteps (one: because they were barefoot, two: because Kaldur was the second largest person in the Cave).