A Sane Insanity: Artemis Crock (Discontinued)

Chapter 1

"No!" Artemis screamed, and she couldn't believe that was her voice. It was raw and broken, and she couldn't help but think that it fit this moment, because her whole world seemed to break in a matter of seconds.

Something was holding her back as she ran forward. They were holding her arms, and she tried to run forward. His body... God, his body. Why?

"Artemis, wait." That was Kaldur. She said something to him, but she didn't really care what because Kaldur was just getting in the way of her andWally .

The same Wally, who was annoying and funny and flirtatious and so, so idiotic.

The exact same Wally that ran so fast and never thought before he spoke and wore that ridiculous suit that clashed with his uncle's.

The same Wally she fell in love with, yes, that Wally, was now laying in a pool of his own blood, not moving, and undoubtedly dead.

After the team checked the forest around him, sure that there were no traps, they finally let her go, and she ran as fast as her human legs could carry her, right to him. She could feel her stomach churning as she saw the weapon in his stomach because she knew that weapon. After years of practicing with it, she knew who it was from and who made it and what they were trying to tell her.

She could practically hear her father telling her now, Love is a weakness, Baby Girl. I'm just trying to make you stronger.

She could feel a scream in her throat. How could he? She loved him. He was everything to her. He's the reason she kept trying. He was everything to her.

She held the red-stained body close to her chest, and her hands were warm and sticky and she realized that he had just died because his blood waswarm. Maybe if she had gotten to him faster, he would have had a chance.

M'gann was crying somewhere, and she realized that M'gann must have felt the worst of the pain when they felt Wally leave them through the link.

Artemis just realized that she was crying over his body, and that she was crying over his life . and the rest of the team was silently standing around, no doubt crying too.

Everything was wrong with this picture because Artemis Crock does not cry... but she let it slip this one time because right now, she wasn't Artemis Crock. She was Wally's girlfriend, and she was a teenager who's seen too much in the short amount of time she's lived.

She felt a cool breeze, and it took her a second to realize that there wasn't supposed to be any wind tonight, and when she looked up she could have sworn that she saw a flash of red and yellow in the still forest. She shook it off, though, because Wally was right there in her arms and there was no way that he was over there.

"Come, Artemis," Kaldur said and rested a hand on her shoulder. "We need to complete the mission. I know it's hard," he said, and Artemis flinched. She knew what would come next because it had been her who had told M'gann to say the exact same thing to Wally when Robin died, and only now did she realize how wrong it sounded. "But the world still needs saving. We must continue."

She was surprised when she just nodded numbly, following the team back to the ship, a limp Wally in her arms. Despite the iron smell from his wounds, he still smelled like Wally, and she pressed him closer to her.

That breeze passed again, and she was sure this time that there was a red and yellow blur that followed, but no one else seemed to notice, so she just sat in her chair and cried to herself until the steady motion of the Bio Ship rocked her to sleep, the dead body on her lap looking just as peaceful as she.