Heartstrings: Pull

by Cerulean Leader

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Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)

Rating: T.

Genres: Romance, Friendship, Family, Drama and Angst.

Cover: None at the moment.

Warnings: A bit of language, perhaps untrue scientific facts.

Type: Multi-chapter.

Inspiration: I used to read a lot of Harry Potter soul-bond fics, and they came to mind the other day when I was doing a HP movie marathon. I thought it would be a good idea to write a fix-it fic with this in it.

Dedication: For Beautiful-Dark, who is absolutely awesome and who deserves this one. Here you go, chica. :D Enjoy, Zatanna. :P

Summary: "I believe you and Kid Flash may have something known as a 'soul-bond'. This seemed to have developed from his reaction to your death in that exercise, and seeing as this amplified my niece's emotions, she may have projected her telepathy accidentally, causing something to tear off as a side-effect."

Pairings: [mainly] Spitfire, Supermartian, Chalant, others may be included later.

The memorial service had to be the hardest thing, what, with seeing all of the people who were apart of Wally's life mourning the goofy speedster. Rudy and Mary had insisted that she sit up the front with them, because they considered her family. As the love of Wally's life, also, people expected her to a reading. She had never been good at oral presentations, and having to speak about the person who she loved more than anything that was dead just made it all the more harder.

Her words had been brief, before silent sobs, heaving sighs and the heaving of her shoulders took over. She had run off the podium, straight towards her friends. Kaldur placed a hand on her shoulder before shuffling towards the podium and finishing off the speech for her. Conner had pulled her into a hug, and she had cried into his shoulder for the rest of the ceremony, with Megan stroking her blonde hair. Dick had shown up, but had refused to talk to anyone, only his best friend's parents before the emotion in his eyes were hidden once again by aviators. Then he mysteriously disappeared.

After that experience, Artemis had finally taken her father's advice, the teachings he had practically drilled into her and Jade's head at such young ages, that emotions were a sign of weakness. Sure, she acted like everything was okay, but she would not dare delve into anything personal. She dove into the work college provided for her, and always had her head in the game when it came to missions. Though, she had messed up a few times, like the one only a couple of days before when Kaldur had paired her up with Bart, Tim, La'gaan and Conner, reminding her of their younger days.

The mission was supposed to be simple; grab a few samples of the drink LexCorp was producing that seemed to hold similar traces of the chemicals inside the Reach drink, and the guards on duty had begun shooting at them with laser guns when La'gaan had set off an intruder alert alarm. While Bart had his back turned while he sent a series of punches and jokes towards a guard near him, one shot at him, but Artemis, on impulse, pushed him out of the way because, for a brief moment, she thought it was Wally.

People said that she was still in denial; she blamed it on her instincts. Sure, she thought it was Wally, but she really could not lose another important person in her life. She would not be able to cope with that.

Life went about as though nothing happened; she went to college, though preferred to hang out and sit alone because of the sympathetic glances and the condolences she was receiving from her professors and fellow students, missions with the team continued, though she had increasingly regular visits from Zatanna, Oliver and Dinah. She loved their company, but sometimes having her best friend and the people she looked as parents was hard. She would rather curl up on the couch with Brucely beside her while she snuggled into the dog's soft fur with a sweatshirt of Wally's curling over her form.

She could never stop thinking about him. His yells of pain that she could only imagine, the expression he wore before he just faded into nothingness, the disbelief that Bart and Barry were wearing like it was their heart on the sleeve…

"He loved you."

Artemis sobbed as she imagined Wally whispering sweet nothings before she fell asleep, bringing a hand to cover her face in shame. Gone was the warrior, only to be replaced with someone she didn't know, even more so than when she had stared at the reflection of herself while infiltrating Black Manta's organisation with Kaldur.

'Baywatch…' she thought miserably, her heart aching in her chest.

Then she heard it.

A gasp, one that sounded terribly familiar, plucked at her already fragile heartstrings. It was a sharp intake of breath, but the rolling sound behind it could be heard as well, within the hollow confines of a space she now imagined herself in. Her eyes were closed, and behind her lids, she saw herself just standing there, looking around warily at the complete black nothingness.

A blur began to speed before her, taking the form of a man with a stream of gold following him as he moved around her. 'A-Artemis!' Now that she looked carefully, she could see the facial features that were glowing white. On his chest, was the Flash insignia, but instead of its usual yellow and white, it was showing up in red. 'I can't stop… Something is making me run like this!'

'Wally!' she imagined herself yelling. Was this real? No, it couldn't be. Wally had vanished into thin air, he was dead, surely!

'Babe, I'm lost but I'm trying to find you, please stay where you are! I'll never leave you both again, just wait for me!'

Suddenly, she felt a jolt in her chest and her eyes snapped open. With a deep gulp of air, she sat up with a start, cold sweat on her body. "No!"

Brucely whimpered in the corner of the room, looking up at his owner. "I'm alright, baby, I promise." She cooed. She was so confused. "I must be going insane, though." She threw back the covers and shivered, her body still covered in cold moisture, and the fact that she hadn't turned the heater on before bed made goose bumps appear on her olive skin. Grabbing a glass and the jug of water in the fridge, she allowed the door to slam shut while she poured the drink and brought it to her lips.

"I guess I'm just missing him…"

"I think I'm pregnant."

Zatanna almost spat out her coffee but managed to swallow it down in time. The magician had been called by the archer, who had sounded extremely distressed on the phone. She coughed awkwardly, and her bright blue eyes were widened in shock. She blinked a few times before talking. "What?"

"There might be a baby inside of me." Artemis repeated, looking so forlorn that it did not suit a person that young. "I…" she paused, closing her eyes and licking her lips that had dried up. "I'm not sure, but I think Wally is alive as well. I hope so, because that asshole should be helping me; I can't handle Lian on my own and now I might have to handle our child alone?" she questioned, laughing slightly, though her voice broke a couple of times during that sentence.

"Have you taken a pregnancy test?"

"Yeah, I took one last night after…"

"What happened last night?"

The blonde swallowed. "I… I saw him in my head, and he was glowing, I guess? He didn't look like himself and when he was talking, his voice was echoing. He kept saying how he was trying to find me, and to wait for him or something…"

Zatanna rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It sounds like a hallucination. Your unconscious mind could still be in denial over Wally's death, and so is coming up with a solution to help make you feel better." She told her friend bluntly. "Maybe we should talk to M'gann or the Flash about this."

"And what exactly are they going to do, Zatanna? Both of them will start freaking out. Barry will think I'm going nuts and you know exactly how Wally's family will react when they find out. M'gann will take it as something else, which is why I came to you."

"You need to tell someone." The magician responded, slinking slightly back. "I'm not the best choice…"

Artemis grabbed her friend's hand. "You are my best friend, and you've been really supportive of me, which is why I've told you first." She said with a smile.

After the first ultrasound to confirm that she was indeed pregnant with Wally's baby, the first people she told was Rudy and Mary. The two parents of Wally were extremely shocked to hear that they were going to be grandparents at such a young age, but were completely understanding and had full intentions of being involved in their grandchild's life. She didn't dare mention her dream from a few weeks back, but had informed Batman of it.

He had not seem surprised by this, and if possible, it seemed that his frown had only deepened upon hearing the news. He nodded at her, then motioned for Artemis to follow. "Nightwing and I have noticed that there is possibility of Kid Flash being alive." he explained as they walked towards the screening room. "The Flash said that his body just faded away, but that is impossible. We believe that he may have been transported to another dimension, according to the string theory, or his molecules could have dispersed, and are just perhaps floating around. We have done a lot of research, even setting up a private team to help us expand on it."

Artemis' jaw dropped in surprise, pressing a hand to her stomach in surprise. Batman's eyes, behind his cowl, followed her motion, before a slight smile replaced the grim line. "In the mean time, I suggest you explain to Martian Manhunter and the Flash what has been going on. Also, congratulations."

"Ah, Tigress, I could sense you approaching." Martian Manhunter said with a kind smile. He was sitting in the cafeteria, holding a gardening magazine. "How may I be of service to you this evening?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, J'onn, but I need to ask for a favour." she answered, slipping into the opposing bench across from the Martian powerhouse. She placed her elbows on the table and looked up at him almost nervously, biting her lip. "Batman told me to inform you of what's been going on and I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell M'gann until I'm ready."

He looked at her curiously. "Please, begin with the tale."

And so, she spilt everything. He was a lot more shocked than Batman was, obviously, due to the fact that he and a lot of the other members of the League and the Team were convinced that the former sidekick of the Flash was dead. His gaze was left directed at the table as he mulled over the information he had just received, trying to come up with something to say to the archer before him or even come up with an explanation for the Wally had appeared to her.

"The only thing that I am able to think of is that it could be a side-effect from that telepathic training exercise from those years ago." he stated carefully, now looking up at her. Artemis looked extremely confused, understandably.

"A mental connection? But..."

Martian Manhunter looked at her solemnly. "Tigress, it is uncommon to here, but-"

"I need you to have a look at the dream yourself." Artemis stated, closing her eyes as her shoulders seemed to tighten in remorse. He nodded, and motioned for her to grab his hands. She did so, and watched as his eyes began to glow while his mind penetrated hers. Soon, she was watching the scene all over again.

'A-Artemis! I can't stop... Something is making me run like this!'

She gazed on with Martian Manhunter standing beside her as the defined muscles of Wally's body were sheered over in a bright, electrifying light. Her stare didn't falter, lingering only on her supposedly dead boyfriend, before she noticed that the other version of herself had placed a hand on her stomach, igniting the instinct to hold the bump on her own torso. Martian Manhunter glanced at her, his expression never changing.

'You are with child?'

She hesitated before nodding.

Artemis saw him look away from her and back to the scene before them, where she was standing alone by herself in the thick of the darkness.

The Watchtower cafeteria eventually faded back into existence and she opened her eyes to J'onn waiting patiently for her to speak. "Tigress?" he said gently. She was staring down at her hands, unsure of what to say. "I believe you and Kid Flash may have something known as a 'soul-bond'. This seemed to have developed from his reaction to your death in that exercise, and seeing as this amplified my niece's emotions, she may have projected her telepathy accidentally, causing something to tear off as a side-effect."

Her stormy eyes were widened, and her hands had moved to clutch her head while she stared at the alien in shock. "But that's impossible, and how can Wally be contacting me? He's supposed to be dead!"

"I cannot explain the results of this, Artemis."

She was shocked at the use of her real name.

"Perhaps you should confide in Batman?"

"I already have." she replied. "I don't know what to do now."

"What do I do?" a voice asked tiredly. He could not even recognise himself at this point in time. He glanced down at his hands, his chest tightening up as he struggled to breathe. "I can't continue to run... But, I need to find Artemis...!"As he said her name, his pace quickened with bolts of lightening and currents of blue, white and gold whizzing past him. Not being able to recognise where he was at all or even pick up figments of what was around him was really infuriating him.

"A... A-ARTEMIS!" he screamed.

He could hear her gasp, reminding him of when he managed to contact the beautiful blonde a few nights ago. Wisps of smoke seemed to float in, and they seemed to blue because of the hues around him. They slowly took the form of Artemis, with her widened eyes staring up into his own in shock. "Wally!" she shrieked in surprise, leaving one arm around his neck and placing the other on her lower abdomen. His own expression was a surprised one, with his mouth agape as he gazed at her in shock.

He was still running, not slowing down at all but he did not speed up at all either.

Tears were welling up in her eyes, as they began to fall. "Tell me I'm hallucinating... You're not supposed to be real..."

"Babe, what are you doing?! Of course I am real, but why are you here?! How are you here?!"

With how loud his voice was at that very moment, his words were repeating multiple times in the distance. Artemis' hair was flying everywhere, even though it was in a secure ponytail, as Wally ran them to who-knows-where. He seemed to have no final destination. She pressed her face into his neck while his breath hitched. A strangled cry left his mouth as his vision was interrupted by a blinding light.

Artemis' hard sobs as she cried into Conner's shoulder at his own funeral, Barry and Bart's eyes that were wide as saucers as he began to fade away, Dick's choice to take a leave of absence, and everything mournful that had happened since his "death" that seemed to draw back to him flashed into his mind.

"What have I done...?"

"No!"Artemis screamed as Wally eventually skidded to a halt, and her body began to leave the realm. "No, Wally!" she shouted as she tried to cling onto him as much as she could, but to no avail.

A/N: More was going to be included in the first chapter, but I'm not in the mood to continue it right now, so, hopefully the next chapter will be longer. It's not planned out to be too long, please remember that. Leave a review, also, if possible, as they are greatly appreciated. I love reading the comments because they encourage me to continue, hold great advice, or just make me feel really giddy. :D

Word Count: 2,630

~CL