I don't own anything but original characters I may add. I don't own the plot of this chapter, it comes from Supernatural.

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Chapter 9 - Ghosts

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A/n - Early update because it's my birthday! I'm 13 now!

~*~

"GUILT ISN'T ALWAYS A RATIONAL THING...GUILT IS A WEIGHT THAT WILL CRUSH YOU WHETHER YOU DESERVE IT OR NOT." {maureen johnson}

"Guys, we got a mission!" Nightwing announced to the lounging team.

He turned to me, who was sitting away from the team on one of the kitchen counter chairs. I had been taking baby steps towards a nice relationship with them since I had arrived, but that didn't mean I was welcome in their group during their free time. Sighing angrily, he clearly wanted to disobey whatever orders he had been giving.

"(Y/n), you can come but you'll be under strict supervision. This is a Klarion sighting and Bats, for whatever reason thinks you'd be a good asset to fight against him with what you've learned. That and you might know any codes and retinal scans we might need to get around. Your inhibitor bracelet, however, isn't going to be taken off."

I smiled in victory, holding back to urge to jump with joy. This would be my first real chance to prove my resolve to be with the heroes.

~*~

The team arrived at the abandoned building, resting in the countryside of Gotham. As they walked through the doors they slammed shut behind us. We all jumped. I wiggled my fingers in anticipation, praying the bracelet would pick up on the situation correctly so I could use my powers if I needed to. My Black Rose uniform suddenly felt wrong. I was trying to be a hero while wearing my villain uniform.

"(Y/n)," someone spoke up. I spun around, expecting it to be one of the team members. Instead, I was faced with a young girl. An all too familiar, young girl. She was 15, blonde, beautiful, and too young for what happened to her- for what I did to her, "(Y/n)'s your real name. You never told me. Never gave me the chance to ask."

"I'm sorry Ally," I whispered, taking a cautious step back.

Wally stepped closer to me. The rest of the team was frozen with shock. None of them, new or old, knew who this girl was or how she knew me. I was glad they didn't, even if I would have to explain.

"I know who you are."

"If I would have-"

"Come to your senses sooner you wouldn't have done what you did? You did this to me. It's your fault! You made a bad choice and me and my family paid the price!"

She lunged forward, grabbing the front of my uniform. The team leapt into action, trying to pull her off of me. Ally waved her hand and all the heroes flew back into the wall. My eyes landed on her hand. There was a blood red circle with a black crescent moon going through it.

"Lux salvet, lux salvet, lux salvet," I repeated in latin, closing my eyes tightly. The pressure from around my throat lessened, before leaving completely. My feet touched the ground once again. I opened my eyes and sighed in relief upon seeing no one in front of me.

The team fell from the wall, everyone rushing towards me. I smiled nervously, twisting the inhibitor collar around my wrist as a distraction. They programmed it to take away my shadow powers; the league wasn't aware I was learning magic.

"What was that?" Beast Boy asked in a panic.

"Can I explain it when we get back?" I asked quietly, sighing in relief when the team nodded, albeit hesitantly. I wanted to postpone the inevitable.

The team split off into their different transportation methods. The old team was silent as we travelled back in the bio-ship, just a bit of hushed whispering from one member to another here or there.

When we landed in the cave, I was off the ship and running as soon as the ramp touched down. The joint team's footsteps sounded like thunder behind me, but I wasn't focused on them. It was just the originals after all. I still confused the new members as to what they should do with me.

Once I reached my room, I went straight to my bookshelf, easily finding one of the newest additions I brought with me from the villain compound. It wasn't hard to miss, seeing as how it was white and gold. Pulling it off the shelf, I flipped through the pages, eyes searching for a familiar symbol.

"Who was that little girl?" M'gann asked, flying into the room with the rest of the group behind her, landing when she knew I wasn't trying to escape.

"I killed her," I continued my flipping, not wanting to see their shocked faces, "She was dead. I know she was dead. How could she be back?"

"You killed her?" Artemis questioned.

They all knew I killed people, but actually facing one of them, and a child no less, must have been a shock. On top of that, she was dead. She shouldn't have been back like nothing happened.

"You don't get to judge me. Your father has way more blood on his hands, and I'm sure your hands aren't clean either," I snapped, diverting the team's attention to Artemis. She wrung her hands nervously.

"Just ten," she whispered.

"What are you looking for?" Nightwing was the first to look away from Artemis. I held back the urge to snap again. He was so forgiving of Artemis and her past, but unforgiving of mine. To be fair, we were under completely different circumstances...

"When I was a villain, Klarion started teaching me black and light magic. He's the one behind this, to get back at me for leaving. I just don't know how," the lights in the room flickered above us, "Damnit! We're out of time."

Wally noticed my panic., "(Y/n), what's happening?"

"She's here," I whispered, "She's here at the cave. We need to go. We need salt, and a lot of it."

I threw the book onto the bed, distracted. Salt, we all needed salt if we were going to survive. That meant going to the kitchen for it. Ignoring the team's protests, I sprinted down the hall.

Halfway to the kitchen, the lights flickered again, an emergency door slamming down behind me, cutting me off from the team. We were being picked off. One by one.

"Shit."

~*~*~*~

The rest of the team slammed their fists onto the metal door between them, panic overtaking them as well. It wasn't a real villain; they had tried to take care of the girl earlier and she dealt with them with a flick of her wrist. Now, (Y/n) was left alone to deal with her.

"What do we do?" Artemis looked to their leader for guidance.

"We need to find a way to the kitchen so we can meet up with (Y/n)," Nightwing ordered. Wally sighed, everything was going to turn into a horror movie. He knew it, "M'gann I need you to contact the rest of the team, tell them to get out of here, no questions. Keep them safe. The last thing we need is them in danger as well. We'll handle this ourselves."

"But wouldn't we want backup for this?" Kaldur argued.

"She flicked her wrist, and we were defenseless," Nightwing shook his head, "Backup wouldn't do anything to stop her. Keep the young ones safe, get the salt, find (Y/n), and get rid of this weird ghost thing."

~*~

(Y/n) looked around frantically. Every flicker of the lights, every slammed door, Ally would be right there to taunt her. The shadows that were usually comforting seemed against her now that she couldn't control them. All she had was her magic, and she didn't know as much as she wished she did.

"I woke up to their screams," Ally stepped out of the shadows, eyes dark with rage, "Then you came into my room, and you killed me too!"

She punched (Y/n) in the stomach with inhuman strength, then kicked her to the floor. The darkness in the room shot towards her as the bracelet finally classified the situation as life-threatening, but they went straight through the girl.

"Vocat lux, vocat lux, vocat lux, vocat lux," (Y/n) repeated again. Ally paused, form flickering, but she remained.

"That won't work this time. Your father is out to get you (Y/n), out to get your old friends. They're the reason you left him."

"I left because I was done with the torture, and with killing people."

"Tell that to him once he sees you again. Once I'm done with you of course." Ally grabbed (Y/n) by the throat and slammed her against the wall. (Y/n) gasped, making tense eye contact with the dead girl walking.

"Are you scared? I was scared. When you grabbed my mom's and dad's shadows. I was so scared I couldn't even scream. You were once a hero, you could have stopped before you started."

"I- I'm sorry," (Y/n) choked out. The girl threw her to the ground, kicking her side.

"You didn't stop. You didn't spare me. You bet your ass I won't spare you," she hissed, kicking (Y/n) once again, "You will never be a hero! Ever!"

~*~

"M'gann, go search the training area, make sure the team is gone and take the hallway to the kitchen. Wally, search for (Y/n). Kaldur take the east hallway. Conner the south, Artemis the north. I'll take the west."

"Why are we splitting up?" Wally hissed, "This is how people die in horror movies. We're supposed to be smarter than that."

"There's one of her. Splitting up gives us the best chance for at least one of us to make it to the kitchen. Now, go!"

The team dispersed, each one turning at the nearest hallway that led to their designated location. As soon as the team was out of his sight, Dick pulled out his escrima sticks and charged them- not that they would do much against the ghost.

The lights continued to flicker above him, casting long shadows along the walls. He could never understand what (Y/n) loved about them so much. They were eerie. But being raised with villains probably made her used to eerie things.

He took another turn, entering the den. A few more and he'd be in the kitchen. (Y/n) said she needed salt. He'd grab that and wait for her and the rest of the team to arrive. M'gann had set up a link between them. Somehow, (Y/n) was offline.

"Hello, my robin."

Dick spun around, coming face to face with someone he thought he'd never see again.

"Mom?" He took a tentative step forward. He watched her die. He watched her fall. Yet she was in front of him, chest moving with breasts.

"You watched me fall. You watched both of us fall. You knew the gang member wouldn't just leave like that, yet you just watched. You watched as the bolt loosened. You could have saved us, Richard, why didn't you?"

"I-I couldn't move. I was scared. Even if I tried I couldn't have done it fast enough."

"Scared? You were the one falling without a net! Who knew that there'd be nothing. No one to save you from inescapable death. You were too late Richard. You failed and look where we are now."

~*~

Wally sped through the halls of the cave, having to take a detour every few hallways due to an emergency door down. He had searched nearly half of the cave and hadn't found (Y/n) yet. He skidded to a halt when he reached the tenth hall, eyes wide with shock.

"Arsenal?"

"Where were you, Wally?"

Wally's mouth opened to reply, but no words came out. He couldn't think of anything to say. Arsenal looked just like he did when he died. Bloody, beaten, costume ripped and metal arm sparking.

"Well?" Arsenal crossed his arms impatiently. Nothing had changed there. He was always hot-headed.

"I ran, Roy," Wally finally grit out, "I ran through the entire complex. I tried to find you, I really did. But when I did-"

"You were too slow!" Arsenal interrupted, bored with the excuses. Wally took a large step back, hands shaking, "You took your time and I paid the price. I was on the brink of death Wally. And when fake-Roy and Oliver went in and saw me like that; how did they react?"

"They were broken," Wally's voice crackled with emotion, "We all were. You shouldn't have died."

"You're right. I shouldn't have. So why did I?"

"Because I wasn't fast enough," Wally cried out as his back slammed into the wall. Roy slowly walked towards him, taking his time as Wally once did.

"I'll kill you slowly, as slowly as you ran."

~*~

(Y/n) coughed harshly, wiping her chin with the back of her hand to rid of the blood that spewed from her mouth. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision, looking at the bracelet on her hand.

"Intermissum," she whispered. The bracelet shook and snapped in half, falling to the ground in pieces.

"He wants me to take you back to him, so he can teach you as well." Ally took a step back from (Y/n), looking down calmly.

"I'm not going back there." (Y/n) jumped up, swinging her hand around her head. Shadows jumped off the wall and moved around Ally.

"What, I can't move!" Ally yelled, struggling against the shadows that once went right through her.

"People can't normally touch shadows, and people can't normally touch you. They went through you cause I didn't realize that. If the slipper fits."

(Y/n) squeezed her fist tightly, making the shadows tighter around Ally. Ally screamed before disappearing in a poof. (Y/n) wiped her nose, the red blood matching the red of her glove.

"Bring me the book," she ordered the surrounding shadows weakly, they slithered away from her towards her room.

(Y/n) slowly walked towards the kitchen, swaying from side to side a few times on the way there. Ally put up a good fight, a truly vengeful and powered spirit. The lights continued flickering, but nothing tried to stop her. It was almost worse than something confronting her.

She felt the smooth countertop and sighed in relief. Moving to several cupboards she grabbed unrelated herbs, liquids, cooking materials, anything she thought she would need. She felt a tap on her back and turned around, hand up and ready. A shadow was holding her book up to her.

"Thanks," she smiled, taking the book and flipping to the page she had marked earlier.

"(Y/n)!" M'gann yelled in relief, flying into the kitchen with Artemis, Kaldur, and Conner. "You're okay. I couldn't connect you to the mind-link and we lost Dick and Wally on the way here."

"I barely made it out," (Y/n) scoffed, handing the salt container to Kaldur, "Make a circle around the kitchen, make sure the circle is complete, no open space. Dick and Wally should be okay if they make it here soon."

"What are you doing?" Conner asked, picking up one of the containers.

"Sending Ally back to where she came from."

"It's not just Ally!" Wally yelled, speeding into the kitchen sporting a bloody lip, "Roy- real Roy."

"How did he die?" (Y/n) asked, sprinkling something into the bowl in front of her, not taking her eyes off of the book. She was desensitized to death and didn't find the fact alarming.

"Joker got to him," Wally sighed, wiping his chin as his bloody lip dripped, "I was too slow to save him. It felt like all those stories Dick has told me about Jason."

"Interesting," she mumbled, grabbing a box of tissues and handing them to Wally for his mouth.

"Did he punch you?" Artemis asked.

"No," Wally's cheeks turned scarlet, "He pushed me against the wall and I tried to phase through him."

"I saw my mom!" Richard jumped over the circle of salt surrounding the kitchen gracefully, not even questioning it.

"The spell that Klarion cast is based on guilt." (Y/n) mixed together the ingredients in the bowl, "People who have died around us that we feel guilty about. I just have to light this and we'll be good."

The lights flickered above them, before completely going out. A few seconds later everyone's costumes began to glow, well, except (Y/n), she had night vision.

"Is there a lighter in here?"

Kaldur moved to one of the cupboards, tossing a plain lighter to (Y/n). She quickly ignited it, moving it towards the bowl. A cold wind blew through the kitchen, scattering the salt and putting out the lighter. The team looked at each other in worry. They were here. Their ghosts, demons, forever tormentors.

"You didn't save us." Arsenal, Mary - Grayson - and Ally appeared, speaking in unison, "This is your fault!"

All of them sprang forwards, passing through the broken line of salt. The team moved around (Y/n) in a circle; she had to finish the spell if it would be over. That meant protecting her no matter what.

"Ad sepulcris vestris, nobis propitious nostrorum reat." (Y/n) chanted, lighting the contents of the bowl on fire, "Suus' quo praeteritum, et sic es tu!"

The ghosts screamed, their forms flickering before finally disappearing. The lights came back on almost immediately after the ghosts left. The team and (Y/n) were panting, not so much from physical exertion, but from the circumstances of the situation.

"We just saw ghosts," M'gann laughed, "We fought ghosts. Earth is so crazy!"

~*~*~*~

I was flicking through my white spell book, getting ready to place it back on my shelf. I was hoping I wouldn't have to use it again, but I knew Father wouldn't stop now. He was mad, furious, that I had left, and he was going to make me pay for it. He did everything he could to wear me down and make sure I'd never want to leave. Little did he know.

"Who was that girl?"

Glancing up from my books, I met bright green eyes. Eyes that hadn't met mine in a week. The eyes I fell in love with and saw lightning within. Eyes I missed more than anything when I left.

Wally wasn't the scrawny sixteen-year-old he was five years ago. He was old going to be old enough to drink within the next two weeks, so was I. He was taller, more muscular. His hair and eyes were the most familiar things about him, that and his freckles.

"Who was she?" Wally repeated the question, moving closer to me.

"Her name was Ally Hardy, she was fifteen... I was supposed to go in and kill her family. Her Father was a reporter working against the villains. That was when I started to doubt if I wanted to be a villain, it was like it turned my humanity back on."

Pulling my sleeves over my hands, I ran them under my eyes to get rid of my tears. Crying wasn't right. Not when I deserved my guilt and pain.

"But I killed her, that's the end. It's in the past, and I can't change what happened. You can't change what happened to Arsenal either... Ally, she was right, I don't think I can be a hero, not really at least. But I don't want to be a villain either."

"So what are you going to be?"

I paused in thought. That was the question I had been pondering for years. Being a hero wasn't in my blood, and despite me being with the team again it didn't seem like it was something in the future either. Maybe when I had enough trust from the league and team I could go off on my own, be a vigilante like most of the league once was, play by my own rules.

"I'm going to be... me."Translations

Vocat lux - Light calls