March 22, 2016. 10:56.
Mount Justice.
~~Emma~~
I held her hand as tight as I could.
She was gone.
At least she was with her family right now. Royston, her mother, her father, and shed be at peace. No more worrying about whether Pyro would take over or not.
She'd be happy.
But Willow was gone. Just like Artemis, and...and Mama and Tata, and Aunt Kayla and John.
Would I ever stop loosing people?
I sobbed again, squeezing Willow's hand.
"Goodbye, Willow." I whispered to her prone form. "You were the best friend I ever had."
I looked away, to go back to everyone in the mission room, but I couldn't go very far.
Something was holding my hand.
And not gently, like a little child, but tightly, in a death grip.
Slowly, slowly, the heart monitor began to beep again. Slowly picking up the pace until it reached it's norm.
"Willow?" I asked in a tentative whisper, afraid of the answer.
Dinah and Oliver looked up, saw the visual on the monitor, and rush over.
Dinah took Willow's other hand and brushed a bit of hair out of her daughter's eyes.
"Willow?" She repeated my question.
Her eyes shot open. I gasped, and Dinah began to cry again, pulling Willow to her in a tight hug.
Still holding my hand, Willow looked at me, with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you, Emma Mary Grayson." She whispered. "Thank you."
-------
"Emma?"
"Before you ask, no, you may not get up and go train. Alfred's orders."
"And my mother's, and Connor's, and yours..." Willow laid back on her pillows and sighed. "Why can't I do something?"
I slammed my paperwork on the desk I'd moved to the medical wing. "You died, okay!?"
The silence reverberated through the halls of the mountain, both of us thinking the same thing.
"Sorry..." I whispered, sitting back down, "I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry."
"Look, before we go on the "Who's-more-sorry-hike," let's just say we're both sorry and be done." I suggested.
Willow nodded, and sighed a deep sigh.
"I feel useless." She muttered.
I groaned. "Willow, how many times do we have to go over this? You've got freaking firepowers! And you're the best science protege at S.T.A.R. Labs, and you've been personally trained by Black Canary, who's one of the best of the best!" I gave her shoulder a gentle shove.
Willow blushed, and I saw the need to keep going.
"You're an amazing person, Willow. You need to remember that. You're smart, and loyal, and brave, and a lot of the new recruits look up to you."
Willow looked up at me. "So are you. You're kind and pretty and talented."
"You play the piano. You're better at it than I am. I can sing, but I can't write my own songs, like Taylor Swift." I rebounded.
"Yes, but you can write!" Willow said up. "With a little training and some practice..." She looked around the room, "...You're going places, Emma."
I smiled. "You are too, Will. We're going to find Connor, and the two of you are going to build that company that's better than my father's!"
We both laughed, relaxing back into our own chairs.
I went back to my paperwork for WayneTech, squinting in the light of the yellow nightlight in the corner. I'd volunteered for the night shift of watching Willow. I'd been trained for long hours. Dinah and Oliver took the first shift, and then Red Arrow sat with her for a while, which was really sweet. Tomorrow, Connor would take the next shift. And I would take a break.
"So." Willow said after a minute. "What's this thing you wanted to show me?"
I stopped. "What are you talking about?"
Willow grinned, "When I was "dead" I saw you in Gotham. You were really excited about something."
I slapped myself in the face. The music school! With all the excitement after I got to the cave, I'd completely forgotten about my latest project. Well, there goes my surprise.
I pulled out my notebook and the deed to the old frozen yogurt place.
"What do you think of starting a music school?" I asked.
Willow looked over the ideas I'd jotted down in my notebook. Bridget had wanted to sign up for guitar at her new school, but the class was too full. Mara wanted to learn how to play piano, but Bruce hadn't been around to find someone to teach her (and so far, I'd been too busy). I'd heard Sarah and Bridget singing along with their iPods when they thought that no one was listening, and they were pretty good! Not to mention that Rachel had a habit of tapping out the rhythm every time a good song came on.
"You've been teaching Connor for what, a year? Look how far he's come!"
I tapped the notebook. "I can buy the place, I can find people to come, but I can't do this without you, Will."
She seemed to be thinking it over, staring at the papers with such intensity I thought that they'd spontaneously combust (a very likely situation) at any moment.
After what seemed like hours in the near-darkness, Willow looked back up at me with a wicked grin.
"Let's do it!"
I moved the desk, squealing and squeaking, up to the bedside. Now we had a lot to do.
-------
"You're a disgrace."
The words stung like venom in my mind. How was I a disgrace? Who was calling me a disgrace?
"You think you're so special." Now this voice was distinctly female. And, like the other voice, sounded awfully familiar.
"And you have the gall to call yourself a Grayson."
-------
I jolted awake with a gasp. The clock read 5:25. I must have fallen asleep in the middle of the night. Willow sat up beside me, immediately noticing my wild face and disheveled manner.
"Whats wrong?"
I looked at her strangely, relaxing back in my seat. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
Ohhhhhh! What's this? More complications!! What'll happen next? Is Emma truly okay? (Of course not) Who were those people in her dream? I'M ATTEMTING TO HOST AN UPDATING MARATHON THIS WEEK, PLEASE BE PATIENT.