A/N: This is the "finale" of this fic, I know I've said that before, but Artemis is my favorite character and writing this dynamic is still my favorite so I'll end up writing more. This is the last of the extension and I will mark this as "Complete", but it will still be updated as I see fit. Thanks for reading through it thus far and I appreciate all the feedback you give me.

Disclaimer: I do not make any profit off of this piece and do not own Young Justice or any of its affiliations.
Note: This chapter is set after the episode "Insecurity". Also, this chapter title is a reference to the song I listen to whenever I write this fic - "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)" by Lindsay Lohan.

Confessions of a Broken Heart

He tilted her chin up, staring into her eyes, those filled with that broken innocence yet as she had yet to recover from the harsh reality of the world that would keep crashing down on her for days to come, for years. The world would keep moving, evolving, leaving her behind so she'd have to run on slender, shaking legs and pray to catch up from every time she'd fallen down or been left behind.

And Sportsmaster stared down into her eyes, watching as she fought those quivering lips and kept a stolid appearance. He felt his own smirk grow stronger, knowing that today had shattered her all over again and proved that she had plenty of reason to live this lie.

Before today, her reasons had been shaken as she felt accepted, embraced even. One family didn't matter as the other one rose to full power, showing force, love, and friendship. They made that little girl feel empowered and shook her resolve. She'd lifted up, even started studying for school. She'd made friends, become something better. Hell, soon enough she'd be normal.

And he'd watched her fall into it, delve into normalcy, crawling out of his rabbit hole.

Today. Today had pulled her back in, gripped with the claws of the Cheshire Cat, dragged by the sound of the White Rabbit's ticking clock as she realized the time of this peace would be over soon enough. Everything would be in the light of day and she would be exposed, her dark secrets spilling out to die, black shadows from her soul. Oh it would all just collapse around her...

He pulled his finger away from her chin and let her peel that mask away, taking away her truth, the sins of her day. That momentary purity was gone now. Back into the real world, back to Gotham, back home. Behind the closed door of her bedroom where he would sit and wait, knowing Paula was unafraid and unaware. He was her silent shadow, waiting in the darkness for his baby girl to come home, waiting to steal away her wonderful memories and replace them with his own poison.

He preyed on her insecurity, this need to feel stronger, to prove herself, to be something bigger than just a Gotham girl. He manipulated it, twisted it, and waited to crush her with it until she crumbled. Now it was his turn to piece her back together into his own mold.

Today was the day.

"How was your day, baby girl?" He watched as she dropped her bow and quiver, her limbs shivering as her body dreaded every second of the moment. He could see it in her movements: her arms shaking, her distressed eyes, the way she dropped her mask on the floor instead of the usual perfect folding it took to keep out the wrinkles. He watched this regularly, keeping an eye on his baby girl, and tonight was the truth of her breaking.

"You know how it was." Her words were harsh, but not malicious. "You were there, remember?" The sarcasm was dripping in.

"I know." He leaned back onto Jade's bed, spine pressed into the sad excuse for a headboard. "Common courtesy. I'm working on my manners."

She snorted in disgust, but less towards him, more about the absurdity of his words. Sometimes she swore he was just unreal. No one could be so cruel, so awful, and so twisted all at once. Half the time, she was trying to convince herself that it was all just some sick joke, that he'd go away some day and never rear his ugly head again; or maybe she was just hoping this evil side of him would go away, that he'd turn into a normal dad.

Down to business. He pulled a knife from his belt, flicking the blade out and watching it catch the glare of the street lamp that only cast shadows across his face. "How'd your so called 'team' handle the betrayal?"

She froze up, heart stopping. Artemis could only hear Kid Flash's words reverberating in her head; it was all she'd been listening to since the moment happened. There was no victory, only his biting tone, his blatant rage at her disloyalty. Oh, if he only knew...

Her father grinned. "Did you tell them?"

"No." And she wouldn't. She couldn't. Swallowing, she could feel her throat swelling up, and she knew tears would follow if she wasn't careful. She monitored her emotions.

"Good." He tossed the blade in the air, loving the weight as it fell back into his palm perfectly. Power at the tips of his fingers, the power to bleed, the power to kill. "Because we wouldn't want them to know about our little secret, would we?" The blade caught the light, and he tilted it to make that sliver of shine splatter the wall, but she already knew his weapon was out.

"They don't know." She faced her own bed, putting away her equipment; the mask still laid on the floor, a messy fabric of her identity. "They trust me."

"As they should. They don't know anything- only Artemis." His eyes searched his daughter's posture. He would only accept the truth. "Correct?"

"Yes."

His smirk could only widen. Confidence was his weapon here, and he flaunted it, along with his knife.

"But I want to tell them." Her words were small, her voice even less. "I don't want to do this anymore."

And the blade left his hand, the silver flashing across the wall, across her back, and it embedded itself in the wall above her bed, caught in a ray of light. It'd missed her head by mere inches, and Sportsmaster never missed. His grey, steely eyes had watched her form flinch at the sound and watched her shoulders fall forward a little more; he'd broken off another little chunk of her. "You don't have a say in it, baby girl."

She was about ready to cry. She had a family now, friends too. Her mother was home, she felt safe coming home to her mother. She loved her friends, the way they made her laugh and treated her right. The only names they ever called her were light teasing, and they thought she was a wonderful person. They knew a persona, not the girl behind it. And tonight, the girl behind it was cracking because today, she'd seen the holes in these friendships and the unimportance of her role within the entire dynamic. The looking glass had cracked. Artemis saw the beginnings of her world falling apart. And to think, a few hours earlier, she thought maybe she even had a crush on a boy...

In this hour, right here, right now, she felt small and weak. This huge force had absolute power over her, and no bow and arrow could make him go away so easily because he'd kill her before she even had a shred of a chance.

And when he called her baby girl, he just reaffirmed that she was pinned under his little finger with no hopes of escape. The team didn't want her, wouldn't want her. They'd find out. She'd collapse and fall. It was better to give in to the greater power today then have her heart broken all over again when the looking glass shattered, all the shards cutting her open.

"Tell me." She'd denied him before, but he would get the information tonight. Sportsmaster was on a job. Business. "Tell me everything I need to know."

She paused. Her eyes looked at that knife in the wall. She wasn't in this for her own life, she already knew she was worthless. She was in this because she was hurt, and she didn't want to keep feeling that way. For once, Artemis wanted to hurt someone back.

"Wally West. His real name's Wally West."

A/N: Thank you for reading and, as always, please leave comments, thoughts, and feedback (:

~Sky