This story is my take on what might have happened to Wally based on what I know about the way Earth 16 science works (because obviously its a bit skewered to allow superhero traits) and what I know about science and physics in our Earth.

Please enjoy my fix-it fic. Cheers to mending our wounded hearts.

It started with the lights.

She figured that it was because of the group of gamers that lived below them, they were always having parties that took up all the energy. She didn't really care, she had other problems.

Artemis didn't know how long she could live in their apartment before she cracked. Everything was Wally. There was too much food in the fridge for her to eat, his shampoo was still sitting on the shower shelf. His nail clippers were still discarded on the coffee table. Everything smelled like him.

It was too much.

She was lying on the couch when the lights had started flickering. Nelson, who was curled in the curve of her knees, started whimpering and looking to the flashing bulbs. Artemis sighed and put a hand placatingly on his head, burrowing her cheek farther into the cushion. She vaguely remembered that she was supposed to be catching up with her schoolwork, but the textbooks on the coffee table were mocking her.

They had notes all over them; it was one of Wally's favorite things to do. He would write corny love notes when she wasn't looking and carefully pressed them into various pages of her textbooks, letting her find them as she worked.

The lights flickered some more and Artemis pressed her face entirely into the couch. It didn't matter what she did, what she saw. Wally was engraved into her mind, he always was. She could still imagine what he might have said at this moment.

"The creepy mood lighting is set, my dear," He would joke, "Shall we have a séance?"

Her phone buzzed on the floor next to her and her heart jumped, she wondered if she'd been called in for a mission. Or if her friends were attempting damage control once more.

Artemis ran a hand through her hair as she turned, frowning at the static buildup that it seemed to have collected. She suspected it was from helping to train Virgil. Nelson grunted as she moved to retrieve her phone from the floor, her eyes latching immediately to the dent on the left side that had been created when Wally had decided he wanted to try learning karate in the living room.

There was only one way to escape her mind.

She texted Dick.

There was still a bruise on her neck from the last time she'd done this. Her injuries were the reason no one would let her go on patrol.

Right hook. Parry. Bow to jaw. Knockout.

Dick understood though. He understood that her rage festering at the world needed an outlet. Artemis felt it most at night, when she was alone in her and Wally's bed. Trying to sleep. So he gave her free range of Bludhaven when she needed to vent. Other heroes attempting to keep her chained down wouldn't look for her here.

Another thug attempted to hit her and she shifted her balance back, swinging her foot around to catch him in the shoulder and throw him into the alley wall.

Her chest felt like it was on fire, her eyes dry and trying to water even though she was sure she'd run out of tears. It just wasn't fucking fair. The world had taken him away from her without a warning, without enough time.

Artemis's eyes clouded and she missed a second man coming to her side, a knife in his fist. She knock her current target back with the edge of her bow, turning in time to catch the flash of his knife in the corner of her eye.

She hesitated. Her mind whirling. It would be so simple, an accident. Bart would take Nelson, she knew that. The boy loved that dog more than he loved stealing food of out Wally's fridge.

Wally's fridge.

Artemis closed her eyes, waiting for the hit.

Suddenly the man screamed, a flash of light hit Artemis's closed eyelids and she opened her eyes out of instinct. The thug had fallen back, his eyes wide as he held his hand, the skin red and raw. An electrical burn. The knife had fallen safely to the ground, landing in a puddle that splashed over her boots. The man was still in shock so Artemis merely swung her leg out and clipped him across the jaw, sending him unconscious.

She stood there for a moment, her eyes trained on the knife as she contemplated what she'd just done. Suddenly the puddle flashed yellow, a charge of electricity spreading from the knife that the thug had been holding.

A yellow flash.

Artemis let out a strained laugh, stumbling back until she hit the grimy wall of the alleyway, her laugh quickly morphing into a sob.

"Now I'm seeing things," She choked out, holding her free hand to her face. It took only moments for her mask to get wet from tears and she slumped her shoulders, embarrassed, "What was I thinking?" Artemis mumbled, her mind turning back to the way she had wanted the man to stab her. She huffed audibly, thinking once again of Wally, "He would have been so pissed," She spoke to herself, closing her eyes and imagining his reaction. Angry, happy, sad. He was angry this time she thought of him. Artemis loved the way his face nearly matched his hair when he was angry.

She pulled her knees closer, finally allowing herself to freely think of him. Maybe she was a masochist. It just hurt so much to remember him. Wasn't that why she had switched to Tigress? These thoughts were going to break her. To remember that he wasn't going to be waiting at their apartment for her, ready to lecture her about what retired means.

Artemis wished she would have listened to him. She wasn't as keen on retiring as he was, but that was because dying didn't frighten her. He was terrified of losing her. And she never seriously thought that he would be the one leaving. He was just so alive. There was no way he would die on the job. The thought never crossed her mind more than once.

There was an audible thud a few feet away and Artemis sighed.

"Tigress," Nightwing spoke softly, walking over and kneeling next to her.

Artemis didn't answer him, choosing to stay silent, although she turned her head to acknowledge his presence.

"I saw what you did," He told her, his voice stronger, angrier. Artemis briefly met his eyes, only half ashamed.

"Then how come you didn't stop me?" She whispered, shifting her position to hold her bow a little closer, as if protecting herself from the oncoming lecture.

"Something beat me to it," Nightwing dismissed the question, pausing shortly before continuing on in a grave tone, "But if you're actually coming out here to give yourself an excuse to die, you are going to lose my permission to patrol. I'm not going to help you kill yourself," He told her gruffly.

"It wasn't planned," Artemis spat back, frowning, "It just...seemed like a good idea at the time," She admitted, her eyes beginning to water once more, "I just," She started, taking a deep breath, "I just miss him so much,"

Dick sat down next to the blonde as she began sobbing, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to his chest as he sighed, knowing there wasn't much else he could do.

"Everything reminds me of him," Artemis choked out, "And thinking of him hurts so much because I can't see him again," Her hands were fisted in the fabric of his suit, the symbol on his chest growing damp as she continued to cry.

"I miss him too Artemis," Dick said quietly, rubbing her back as her sobs wound down, "But I can't let you hurt yourself. Not only because you shouldn't, but because it's what Wally would want. He would want you to be happy,"

"Well," Artemis answered, her voice shaking slightly as she pulled back from her friend's embrace, her muscles tensing, "Maybe I can't be happy without him,"

Her face was still damp as she left, standing up abruptly and stomping off with a sniffling nose, her bow clutched between her hands.

"Artemis!" Dick called out as she reached the mouth of the alleyway. The blonde paused, turning her head to the side to indicate that she was listening, "Promise me you won't hurt yourself,"

Artemis paused before answering, her tone sincere, "I promise,"

Once she had disappeared, Nightwing's focus shifted, his analytical mind calculating.

He took the knife when he left.

Artemis didn't have any more urges to be stupidly reckless after that.

Reckless? Yes. But not stupidly reckless.

However Dick still insisted on patrolling together after that. She didn't entirely blame him either, she knew she was broken.

She certainly felt broken.

Nelson continued whining about the apartment weeks after Wally's demise; sometimes he was excited, sometimes he seemed depressed. Artemis couldn't really figure out what was going on with him, she wished she could ask Wally if this had been what he was like during her absence.

Artemis herself had been slowly falling into a routine, which seemed to please everyone who was worried about her. She would get up and check the newspaper for job placements, decide what school work needed done that day, walk Nelson, and at the end of the day she would patrol with Dick.

Apparently this was considered progress, she just felt numb.

All Artemis knew was that she needed to live each day before the next. Thinking about the past or the future was what would wreck her. Her past included Wally. Her future plans had included Wally.

Sometimes it hurt to be around Nelson. The dog was, after all, her and Wally's surrogate child. And it hurt to realize that Nelson was going to be the only child she ever had with him. Artemis never entirely wanted kids. She still didn't want kids.

But she wanted to someday have Wally's kids. Those kids, him and hers. She had wanted those.

Abruptly the lights began flickering again, something that had continued to be a problem, and only seemed to be getting worse over time, not to mention the static charges that seemed to be present on every surface of the place. Artemis had even called an electrician when the power completely went out the last weekend. The gruff man had taken one look at her fusebox and accused her of having some sort of synthetic lighting lab in her apartment based on the huge amount of electricity that she was using in energy spikes so large it fried her surge protectors.

Artemis had paid him to replace the necessary parts and forced him away. She knew that this wasn't her fault; her electricity bill had barely shown any difference than usual.

And yet the electricity wasn't the only continued problem.

Things were moving.

It had started much like the lights, inconsequential things that she put down to a draft, happenstance. Papers tossed to the floor and books opening, lightweight objects that she could blame movement on a breeze from the window.

But Artemis was soon finding silverware moved from one side of the table to the other, the TV remote in a different room, and the blankets on the bed mused. She was beginning to get suspicious that there was something else occurring. Not only was it nearly impossible to blame the wind for moving things so heavy, the very actions themselves were hauntingly familiar.

"Nelson, Baby," Artemis called out to her pup as she stood in the middle of the living room, watching her surroundings carefully. The dog trotted over happily and sat at her feet, expectantly waiting for a pet. But that's not what she needed him for.

Artemis needed proof for herself, and like (her throat constricted as she thought about it), like Wally would have decided; Nelson was a variable of noise that would mess up the experiment. So she kept him at her feet, watching and listening for anything.

She felt like maybe she had lost her mind. That maybe she had succumbed to her sorrow.

But she also knew that Wally had a habit of setting the kitchen table, and that he brought the TV remote with him to the bedroom to hear the sports games while he showered, and that he never made the bed.

And Artemis also knew that ghosts were real. After all, she'd met one before.

So maybe she had lost it, maybe she was letting herself hope for nothing.

However...

"My name is Artemis Crock," The blonde stated loudly, "And I am done putting up with this paranormal shit. So, Wallace West if you are there you fucking get out of the walls right now,"

Nelson whined a little at her tone, recognizing the demanding voice easily, but Artemis leaned down slowly to scratch him behind his ears as she continued watching the apartment, letting him know she wasn't talking to him. The dog rested his head on her feet, successfully consoled, and Artemis stood back up her heart falling as she realized that still nothing had occurred.

Then the light flickered, only a bit and then wildly. The whole apartment lighting up like a club as various electronics sparked into life for moments at a time. The TV turned on, the channels flipping, the alarm clock radio started up, playing country (which Wally knew that she hated), and the lights danced around her. And through all of the lights and various noises, she heard a familiar sound that didn't belong.

Artemis heard it coming from the bedroom, a wooden sound that she heard every day.

A drawer was opening.

She stood, completely frozen until everything stopped. The lights went back to normal, the tv and radio went silent, and the drawer was quiet. Nelson shifted slightly at her feet and she was started back into movement, well aware that her heartbeat was thrumming under her skin.

Had the electronics been the only clue, Artemis still would have believed Wally had returned to her from beyond the grave, but there was still an open drawer that needed investigating. So she padded into the bedroom and flipped the light on, her grey eyes draw immediately to the dresser with the one open drawer.

It was Wally's sock drawer.

Artemis raised an eyebrow, her spirits already a bit higher knowing that Wally wasn't completely gone, so she couldn't resist talking to him.

"Wally if you came back just to get me to do your laundry you've got another thing coming," She huffed, a bit of a smile hinting at her lips.

The first in weeks.

When she started looking in the drawer there wasn't anything special. She had guessed that maybe he had hidden an "If I'm dead" letter that was going to break her heart further. Something ridiculously cheesy that he'd pulled from one of her favorite classical literature books.

However, when she reached farther back, her fingers discovered something velvet, and she knew what it was the moment she had her hand around it.

"Oh God," Artemis gasped, pulling her sleeve to her face in preparation for oncoming tears as she pulled out the box, "Oh God Wally," She whispered, using her thumb to pop open the flip lid.

It was beautiful, of course it was. A simple silver ring with an imbedded emerald sided by two shimmering diamonds.

She closed the box with a snap, tears still falling as she turned with a grim face to an empty apartment. Losing him had been impossible before, everything they had, everything they were going to be, it had been gnawing away at her. And here was this box, lead to her by her dead boyfriend who may or may not be a ghost. So while the culprit was intangible, the ring she had been given was not. She could hold it, and weigh it in the palm of her hand.

No, this was no hallucination. Something was definitely up.

When things usually got tough, Artemis would talk to Wally about it. She supposed now was no better time than any.

"Wally," Artemis spoke softly, her tone firm, "I am not going to do your job for you. You are supposed to be putting this ring on my finger and if you aren't, it's not going on,"

There was a spark of electricity and she had to close her eyes as the lights got unnecessarily bright for a moment, and Artemis smiled because she could easily picture what his frustrated face might have looked like. She decided that she didn't care what this strange occurrence was, because it had brought Wally back to her, if only a part of him.

"Just because you went and got yourself killed doesn't mean you have less responsibilities in this relationship," Artemis scolded, folding her arms and allowing herself a smirk as the lights flickered and waned a bit, "Get your shit together West, I'm going to see Zatanna," The blonde triumphantly declared.

Artemis started feeling a bit more wary when she got near the magic shop. Once she was away from the apartment and all the strange happenings, it all seemed like a dream.

She still wasn't sure what kind of a dream it might have been though. On the one hand, she got to communicate with Wally again. On the other hand, she was essentially picking at wounds that hadn't even remotely healed yet.

Maybe that's how she was justifying it.

The wound that had been cut into her heart when Wally died hadn't even begun to heal. Surely that meant that she could poke at some more.

"I've lost it," Artemis muttered to herself, wrapping her coat a bit tighter. Suddenly the street lamps near her all began glowing brighter. She smiled into her collar and walked a little faster, "Thank you," She whispered, thankful that she wasn't making the trip alone. Or maybe she was, Artemis was still pretty unsure what to call whatever was following her. Ghost? Poltergeist? Hallucination?

She felt the ring in her pocket for assurance as she got to the door of the magic shop. It was closed for the day but she knew that Zatanna was living upstairs so she knocked anyway. The bell hanging on the other side of the glass clanged and she pulled her hand back.

"Zatanna!" She called out, hoping the girl could hear her through the glass, "It's Artemis," The blonde briefly thought that perhaps it would have been a smart idea to call ahead, but luckily it was only moments before she heard the clack of Zatanna's heels bounding down the carpeted stairs inside.

"Artemis!" Zatanna called out, dashing to the door. Artemis was surrounded by her arms not even a second later, reacting slowly to the embrace, "Come in! What are you doing here?" The magician started up, guiding the blonde toward the stairs where the heat from a roaring, and enchanted, fire was creeping downstairs into the shop.

"I need your help with something," Artemis started, "But let's sit down first,"

Zatanna nodded and Artemis noticed the way she grew a bit tense as they went into the study. Zatanna mumbled a spell that had cups of tea floating over to them and Artemis thanked her quietly as they sunk into the couch that was facing the fire.

"Artemis, before you start," Zatanna spoke carefully, "I just want to remind you that I can't-"

"I'm not asking you to bring him back," Artemis cut in, holding the warm mug close as she eyed the fire, "I know you can't do that,"

Zatanna gave a barely audible sigh and leaned into Artemis's side, relaxing. Artemis gave a small smile at her actions, she was well aware of Zatanna's limits. They had been best friends for years and the magician was often consoling lovers and family members who didn't understand that raising the dead was not a smart thing to do. She remembered Zatanna telling her that it was the worst part of the job.

"I'm all ears, Sweetie," Zatanna reminded her, catching her out of her revere. The flames of the fire had drawn her gaze as she thought, their brightness so likening to Wally's hair.

"I'm not asking you to bring him back, because Wally has already been working on it himself," Artemis started, being vague since she wasn't entirely sure where to start. Zatanna knew that ghosts were real, they had seen one together for the first time after all.

Zatanna's face grew serious in an instant, "What do you mean?"

"Things have been happening to me, around me," Artemis continued, her eyes darting away from Zatanna's and then slowly making their way back as she warily told her story, "The lights flicker everywhere I go, there's static buildup on everything I touch, objects in my apartment are moving. They're doing things that...that Wally used to do with them,"

The blonde stopped, wanting to hear what the magician thought before she told her any more. She tucked a hair behind her ear nervously and looked around the room as Zatanna bit her lip in thought, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It sounds, possible. I suppose," Zatanna began, "Those who..." She paused, remembering who they were talking about, "Those who die young are more likely to leave spirits behind. But Wally didn't believe in the afterlife, and that affects whether or not this can happen,"

"I understand," Artemis sighed, unconvinced, "But I have more proof," She reached into her pocket, "Tonight the apartment went haywire, the lights wouldn't stop flashing, anything electric turned on, and during that a drawer opened," She held her palm up, smiling slightly at the glinting ring as it caught the firelight, "And I found this in the drawer,"

"Oh," Zatanna whispered, picking the ring up delicately between her fingers as her eyes grew a bit damp, "Oh Artemis,"

"What do you think?" The blonde asked, carefully tucking the ring away after Zatanna handed it back. The magician nodded in response.

"This is definitely something," Zatanna agreed.

"What can we do now?" Artemis asked, her heart jumping to her throat. If she could just talk to him.

"We could perform a séance," Zatanna suggested, looking hopeful.

Artemis was about to agree when a loud noise erupted from downstairs. A crash of glass and mechanical laugher made them freeze.

"Was that the electronic fortune teller?" Artemis questioned skeptically, remembering suddenly of Wally's utter hatred for the laughing sultan.

"Was that your dead boyfriend?" Zatanna growled back.

The two women quickly raced back downstairs, Zatanna throwing the light switch on as they ran to the source of the noise.

"I'll kill him!" Zatanna shrieked, running to the large fortune teller, the glass from the window shattered and the entire machine on its side, the lights languidly flashing.

"He's already dead," Artemis mumbled, a bit amused at Wally's plan to grab their attention.

Suddenly the stereo system in the store kicked up, playing cheesy Halloween music at an obnoxious volume.

"Wally turn that off this instant!" Zatanna ordered, her temper rising.

The music only got louder.

"If you don't stop that I'll tell Artemis about that time I gave you sex advice!" The magician hissed back.

Both girls turned when something on the shelf nearby lit up, Zatanna immediately huffed while Artemis took a closer look, discovering that the object was a magic toy called "Bag 'O Lies".

That was enough to get a laugh out of Artemis, her cheeks turning up as she watched Zatanna yell at the card fountain that was suddenly spitting up cards all over the shop floor.

And just like that everything stopped, the noise, the cards. Everything except for a red glow coming from the back of the shop. Zatanna saw the glow and smiled, turning back to her friend who was quelling the laughter still bubbling in the back of her throat.

"What's that?" Artemis asked curiously. Zatanna gestured for the blonde to follow her to the back of the shop. When she reached the back wall her jaw dropped open. It was evidently the romance section. There were hearts, roses, and all sorts of other flowers as well.

And they were all glowing, each and every flower and toy that could light up was shining as bright as a star.

"He did all of that, just to make you laugh," Zatanna explained, her voice filled with exasperation despite the way her features made her look impressed.

Artemis smiled, her heart melting as she got closer to one of the bouquets, picking it up carefully. The roses immediately grew brighter than all the others, "Thanks Babe," She whispered, cradling her only link to Wally closely.

The blonde didn't notice Zatanna walking up behind her until the movement of her hands caught her eye, turning to see her friend concentrating on the wall of light up flowers. Zatanna hovered her hands over a few of them, her digits surrounded by a transparent blue glow. Artemis waited patiently as the magician worked, instead focusing on the bouquet that was still glimmering in her grasp. Her only connection.

It had been almost a month since Wally had passed. A month without her wonderful redhead. And if it couldn't have been worse, she had only had a day with him after being undercover.

She had made it out of her undercover mission relatively unscathed. Coming home to Wally had been akin to taking a breath of fresh air. That's what being around Wally always felt like. He was fresh air, keeping her head clear and her view unobscured. Living without him was choking her. Hot, musky air that blocked her airways and made it hard to breathe.

How was she supposed to live like this?

"Artemis," Zatanna whispered, drawing her eyes away from the flowers. Her heart fell at the tone she was using, it was nervous and uncertain. The magician's hand landed on her shoulder and turned her away from the wall of flowers. Artemis hesitated, as though if she looked away Wally might slip through her grasp once again, "Artemis," Zatanna began again.

"Hm?" She answered, her thin fingers gripping the stems of the fake roses tighter than necessary.

"This is no ghost," Zatanna told her, her brows furrowed in confusion, "I scanned the energy around you, it's not supernatural,"

"No," Artemis whispered tightly, her throat constricting, "No, it's Wally! I know it is Zee!"

"I never said it wasn't!" Zatanna responded quickly, the hand on the blonde's shoulder holding tighter, "But whatever's happening, it's no apparition. The energy is some sort of supercharged electrical field, and it's connected to you,"

"And it's Wally," Artemis added, her voice turning a bit breathy, "Does that mean that he..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words. The moment she let that niggling of hope into her heart was the moment she set herself up for endless heartbreak. What was the actual likelihood that he had survived the energy from an alien tech bomb?

And then her own words came back to her.

"It's Wally," Artemis spoke up louder, ignoring the confusion spreading across Zatanna's face, "If anyone could find a way to survive, it would be him," A smile started in the corners of her mouth, "That man is so stubborn, won't even let death keep us apart,"

"Artemis I don't think he ever died," Zatanna said, her words morphing with doubt even as they left her mouth, "I think something else happened,"

And then the roses lit up again, having faded while the women talked, the lights spreading from the bouquet in Artemis's hand in a wave, turning on all the electronics in the store, flashing colors, whirling machines and tricks all coming to life. Artemis let out laugh, her smile broad as she felt her eyes grow wet.

"I think Wally agrees," She said, pressing a delicate kiss to one of the flowers in her hold, the petal's light jumping excitedly beneath her lips.

"I think we need to talk to Dick," Zatanna stated, her eyes narrowing.

Part two (the last part) will be up within a few days.

I love you all.

Veg