Author's Note: So here we go! I got this idea out of the blue and decided to run with it! Hope you like it! Favorites and reviews are always appreciated! :D
I do NOT own young justice.
Chapter 1
The call came out of nowhere.
It was a week after their third anniversary together, and Artemis was sitting in their house alone, aimlessly flipping through the channels on the TV while waiting for Wally to come home.
They had plans to get dinner with The Team- something they hadn't done since they retired a few months ago.
She had just changed the channel on a commercial trying to sell therapeutic underwear when her phone rang. One glance at the screen told her that it was Wally.
"Hello?"
"Hi. It's Wally. I don't want to see you anymore."
At first, she thought it was a joke.
"Ha-ha. Very funny Wall-Man. When will you be home? Don't forget we have dinner with The Team."
"I'm not kidding. And I can't make it to the dinner. I have other plans."
Artemis rolled her eyes, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see.
"Whatever, Wally, just be home soon, okay?"
"I'm not coming home. I told you, I don't want to see you anymore."
There was something in his voice that told Artemis something was wrong.
"Wait… Wally are you serious?"
"Yes."
He emphasized the word and Artemis felt her stomach turn to ice.
"You're breaking up with me… over the phone?!"
Her voice cracked and she hated herself for it.
"Yes. You can keep my stuff. I have to go now."
The line went dead and Artemis felt the ice in her stomach through her veins to every inch of her body.
Her phone fell from her fingers and hit the ground with a dull thud.
That didn't just happen.
It had to be Wally's idea of a dumb joke- it had to be!... But something told her it wasn't.
Ignoring the pain in her heart and the ice in her veins, Artemis stood up and numbly started to get ready for dinner.
If there was anyone who could make her feel better, it was the team.
*~*11*11*~*
An hour later, Artemis was trudging through the snow piled in front of Zatanna's house.
They had plans to carpool together and Artemis had arrived early to tell her the news.
Zatanna opened the doorway wearing a bathrobe and towel on her head.
"Oh. You're early. I was just-"
"Wally broke up with me."
The words were out of her mouth before she had given her lips permission to move.
Zatanna raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
Artemis blushed and looked at her feet, absently kicking at a chunk of ice.
"Wally… he called and-"
"Wait. He dumped you over the phone?!"
Artemis nodded, her blush deepening.
Before she realized what was happening, Zatanna had wrapped her into her arms, and Artemis' face was pressed against her shoulder.
Moisture collected at the corner of her eyes and she wiped at them impatiently.
A few moments later, they broke apart and Zatanna ushered her inside.
Artemis sat on a plush armchair while Zatanna surveyed her from the adjacent sofa.
"So what happened? Did you two have an argument?"
Artemis shook her head, pressing her fingertips to her temples.
"No! Everything was fine. Last night, fine. This morning, fine… he went to the grocery store to pick up a few things and I guess he called me from there."
Her voice was small and that scared her.
Artemis Crock didn't get sad.
Her father had taught her that tears represented weakness and only weak people cried.
Speaking with a new false bravado, Artemis cleared her throat.
"But whatever… Where are we going for dinner?"
Zatanna only blinked.
"Artemis… I…"
Artemis forced a smile that she was sure looked more like a grimace.
"I'm fine. Really."
Zatanna bit her lip, clearly unconvinced.
"Well… we were going to go to this new restaurant in Gotham- Dick told me about it…. But we can stay in, instead?"
She smiled but Artemis shook her head.
"No I want to go out."
Zatanna bit her lip again but stayed silent.
After a few moments she cleared her throat.
"I'm going to get dressed. The rest of the team should be here soon."
Artemis nodded and watched her pad down the hallway.
When the door swung shut she wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face in her knees, biting her lip.
"Don't cry," she whispered to herself, over and over.
For some reason, telling Zatanna about the breakup had made it feel more real than the breakup itself.
Artemis felt something warm sliding down her chin, and thought for a moment she had unknowingly succumbed to tears, until she realized she had bit so hard on her lip that it was bleeding.
Wiping her chin with the back of her palm, she heard Zatanna's door re-open and the magician emerged wearing a deep purple dress.
Artemis glanced down at her jeans and sweatshirt attire.
"I think I'm underdressed."
Zatanna examined her briefly before snapping her fingers.
"Ekam reh elbatneserp!"
Instantly, Artemis felt a tingling all over her body, and glanced down to see her clothes transforming into a green sequined dress.
Zatanna grinned proudly.
"There!"
Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed together and her grin was replaced with a frown.
"What's that on your chin…"
Artemis turned her head self-consciously but Zatanna cupped her face with her hands.
Seeing the cut in her lip, she sighed.
"Oh, Artemis… laeh reh pil."
For a second her lip was on fire, then it cooled and Artemis touched it gently with her fingertips.
Completely healed.
"Thanks," Artemis said dryly.
"Don't mention it."
Zatanna looked like she wanted to say more, but was cut off by the doorbell.
She snapped her fingers again and the door swung open.
Dick stood in the threshold, his finger hovering the doorbell, about to ring it again, while Kaldur hung behind him wearing a mittens and hick scarf to cover his neck. Lifting her chin, Artemis could just make out the top of Megan and Conner's head behind them.
"Hey!" Dick said, lowering his hand and putting it in his coat pocket.
They all stepped inside and the door shut behind them.
Kaldur peeled off his mittens and scarf, Conner brushed some snow from Megan's hair, and Dick bent down to untie his shoes but paused and looked up, frowning.
"Wait, where's Wally?"
It seemed that all the air in the room seemed to solidify at his question.
Suddenly, Artemis became aware of everyone's eyes on her and she took a step backwards.
"I'll be right back… bathroom."
After she had barricaded herself in Zatanna's lilac-colored bathroom, she sat on the toilet and buried her face in her palms.
What was happening to her?
She never lost control of her emotions like this!
On the other side of the door, she heard the sound of people talking softly, and she suspected Zatanna was telling them what had happened.
Good.
She wasn't sure if she could bear to tell it again.
A while later, after the whispering had subsided, Artemis reemerged wearing a forced smile.
The Team returned it, all too knowingly.
"Artemis!"
Megan sprang forward, throwing her arms around Artemis and pulling her close.
Artemis patted her back awkwardly.
"Hi, M'Gann."
She leaned back and bit her lip.
"How are you?"
Artemis disentangled herself.
"I'm fine."
Her voice was cold and she saw Megan winced before Zatanna stepped between them.
"Are we ready to go?"
Everyone murmured their responses and followed Zatanna out the door.
*~*11*11*~*
The restaurant was crowded.
Almost every table was taken- if it hadn't been for their reservations they would have been waiting in a two hour line.
After they had been seated, Artemis buried herself behind her menu.
She wasn't in the mood for small talk.
Kaldur was talking about his most recent trip to Atlantis.
He had spent some time with Garth, who was still deeply grieving.
Artemis bit her lip.
Would it take her that long to get over Wally?
With sudden force, she slammed her menu back down on the table and everyone stopped talking but she didn't notice.
She was already over Wally.
She didn't care about him.
She was a Crock.
It was then that she noticed everyone staring at her and she flushed.
"I… I know what I'm ordering."
Megan smiled timidly and tried to direct everyone's attention elsewhere.
"So what were you saying Kaldur?"
"What? Oh… yes…"
Everyone turned their heads to look at him again- everyone except Dick, Artemis noticed.
"Well Garth said he was considering re-joining the team. I'm very pleased, it will be nice to have him back."
The rest of the team nodded their heads, but Artemis was suddenly five months away, five months in the past, back in September…
The mental link was suddenly filled with earsplitting noises that Artemis couldn't make out.
She grabbed the sides of her head and dropped to her knees.
Tula- blood- images flashed on the link and Artemis suddenly understood.
Aquagirl was hurt.
Abandoning the bow and the squad of guards she had just been fighting, Artemis sprinted to the coordinates Aqualad was yelling on the link.
When she got there she stopped dead in her tracks.
Tula was lying spread-eagle on the floor, her bluish-green blood surrounding her in an opaque puddle.
Aqualad was kneeling on the floor, her head in his lap, but she wasn't moving.
Someone rushed past her and suddenly M'Gann was there- her eyes glowing green, her palm on Tula's forehead.
"Kaldur… I don't… Her mind isn't… She's gone."
Garth burst into the room, his eyes immediately landing on Tula and he let out a dry sob.
A second later he was laying over her body, sobbing.
Artemis watched, paralyzed, until there was a burst of wind, and someone engulfed her in their arms.
Wally.
He was shaking.
Artemis wrapped her arms around him, trying to find comforting words, but her mind was filled with images of Tula's body, the blood surrounding her, Garth sobbing…
"Artemis, babe, it's okay… you're okay."
It was then that she realized she was the one shaking, not Wally.
She leaned back and he cradled her head between his hands.
"I thought… the green…"
Artemis understood.
He had mistaken Tula's green blood for her uniform.
He had thought it was her, dead on the floor.
She wrapped herself in his arms again, and they stayed like that until after the bioship arrived, and after they carried Tula's body inside…
"Artemis!"
She jerked her head up and reality came rushing back to her.
She wasn't on a mission, Tula didn't just die, and she wasn't safe in Wally's arms.
She was at a restaurant, Tula had been dead for months, and Wally was…
She abruptly stood up.
"I have to go."
Megan frowned.
"But we haven't even-"
"I know, and I'm sorry… but I really need to leave. Thanks for everything, I hope I'll see you all again soon."
With a fleeting smile she dashed from the restaurant, wishing that she was still five months in the past, watching a friend cry over his dead girlfriend, while she was safe and warm in Wally's arms.