A/N: This is a repost of the first chapter, I realized that I had accidentally made the entire thing bold, and I noticed a few grammatical errors. Sorry this has taken so long to fix. I hope that you enjoy. To all newcomers to this story, welcome. Please let me know if there is a POV that you want to see, and I will add it to a list that I already have. Thanks for reading this, it always shocked me that I couldn't find another story like this. If there is, I would love to read it. I will NOT be bringing Wally back to life in this, despite how happy that would make me. I will be making a few vague allusions to my other story Fighting Blind, I hope that you check it out. Reviews and criticism are welcome, I would love to know if there is anything I could do to add to this or improve my writing. Enjoy!

Artemis

Artemis was in shock. He was gone, Wally was dead and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She didn't even get to say goodbye. She hadn't believed it until the Flash told her Wally's final words, "He loved you." Now they wouldn't ever get to go to Paris. She never told him how much she loved him, or how much it killed her to have to play a villain with Kaldur to keep him safe.

She could barely feel Megan's arms around her, holding her up. The only thing she could feel was the cold Arctic air, and the emptiness and the hole in her heart that could never be filled. They had just been reunited and had been hoping to go on a relaxing, romantic vacation when the Reach crisis was averted. Now they never would.

It was so hard to look at the Flash or Bart who were suffering just as much as she was. Barry, the Flash, had practically raised Wally after he had gotten his powers because Iris knew how to cook for a speedster and couldn't put that on Mary and Rudolph. Artemis knew that Barry saw Wally as a son, and Wally saw him as a second father, in fact the Allen house was practically Wally's second house, they even had a permanent room for Wally that he always had clothing and other necessities in.

When Artemis was finally able to stand on her own two feet, the looked over at Flash, and he scooped her up in her arms in response to her unanswered question, he carried her back to Central City with Bart following closely behind. He dropped her off at the West family house so that she could tell Mary and Rudolph the news they had been dreading since Wally gained his powers, that he had died saving the world. Barry went home to tell Iris that she would never see her nephew again, and Bart went to the Garrick house where he had been staying since he came to this time from the future, bearing the bad news.

When Artemis finally worked up the courage to knock on the door, Mary quickly answered. Artemis stood there crying, the tears hadn't stopped since Wally vanished, and could barely get the words out. "..." She couldn't do it, she couldn't say anything. As if seeing her distress, Mary hugged Artemis and Rudolph did the same. They could tell what she was going to say. Mary looked hesitant before quietly asking, "Is it Wally? Is he…," but she couldn't finish. "Yes," Artemis said softly, " He was trying to stop a Reach bomb that would have reversed the Earth's energy poles and would have torn the Earth apart. Barry and Bart weren't going to be able to do it on their own, so Wally stepped in. He was too slow, the energy that they were siphoning off used him as an exit valve and started to attack him, and Wally just vanished. he was torn apart into nothing but energy."

Artemis couldn't stop sobbing. Mary and Rudolph looked like they were in shock. They guided Artemis in and they all sat down. There was an air of tension and shock surrounding everyone. When Mary softly suggested that they try to get some sleep, they said nothing but went to bed. Artemis decided that she would stay on the couch because she couldn't stand to sleep in Wally's bedroom, and the guestroom was being renovated.

Artemis couldn't sleep for more than a handful of minutes at any given time, and she could hear the West's tossing and turning as they tried to sleep. When they came down in the morning, they all had bags under their eyes. they ate in silence, the silence broke when Artemis began to leave. "Artemis, he did love you. Don't hesitate to come back here whenever. Be it day or night. We'll get through this somehow," That was Rudolph who hardly ever spoke. Artemis just nodded and headed to the nearest Zeta tube so she could go back to Palo Alto.

When she got to the apartment she had shared with Wally, she didn't go past the living room. She couldn't bear to go any farther. She just sat down with their, her, dog Brucely and just cried and cried. She hardly moved from that spot for days. Eventually she worked up the courage to go to the bedroom that she had shared with Wally, and slowly began to move his things into the closet, under the bed, in the dresser, anywhere out of sight.

After a few days, Dick Grayson and a few of her college friends show up to help her go through Wally's things. Her friends reveal that Dick told them about Wally, and they have a few others spreading the word to other people so that Artemis doesn't have to relive the pain by telling people over and over again that Wally died protecting her from the Reach drones. While going through Wally's things, Dick suddenly pulls Artemis aside and hands her a small box " I found it buried in his chemistry notes," he said softly and handed the velvet box to Artemis. Artemis hesitantly opens the box and begins to sob uncontrollably. Startled, Dick looks into the box and seeing the elegant silver ring with an emerald set into it, softly gasped with realization. He pulled the others aside and quietly tells "Artemis found a ring," when they gasp in realization, he continued "I know that they had been talking about going to Paris, I think he was going to propose then."

Artemis wash over her as she thought about what might have been. Wally had talked about them going to Paris and was probably planning to propose to her there. She thought about how she had wanted to return to the hero gig after graduation, and do smaller missions so that she and Wally could have the careers they dreamed of. She was still going to become a social worker because she didn't want anyone else to be mistreated by their parents like she had been. And Wally, well Wally wanted to become a forensic scientist and work with the police to help save people while both in and out of costume.

They never planned on staying out of the hero gig forever, and Artemis wasn't. She just wouldn't return as the archer Artemis, she would give Tigress a chance to be a hero. After her friends left, Artemis told Dick her plan, "Hey, Dick. I think I want to get back into the hero gig. Wally and I never planned on our retirement being permanent, we just wanted to get through college so that we could do good, civilian work by day, and be heroes at night. I want to go back to being a full time hero, but not as Artemis. Do you think Tigress is capable of becoming a hero?" Dick looked shocked but quickly recovered, "If that's what you want. I think you have a good idea. Just give it some time before you dive back in. start off slow. See you later." Dick turned and left, going back to Bludhaven to deal with the aftermath.

Artemis thought long and hard about her decision and decided that, yes, Tigress would make a good hero. She had to do that to honor Wally's memory. She could hardly remember either of his funerals, one for Wally West, and the other for the First Kid Flash that was held in Central City in which the city honored his sacrifice by adding on a wing to the Flash museum that was devoted to the first Kid Flash who died to save everyone.

When she saw Bart in the Kid Flash costume, it hurt, but she knew it was what Wally had wanted. He had told her in private that he had wanted to re enter the hero world as a new hero as he had outgrown the mantle of Kid Flash.

Years had passed by now, and a lot had changed, but a lot remained the same. Tigress became a hero in her own right and had gained the approval of many people and was often seen protecting Queen Perdita of Vlatava, because Artemis knew what Wally had gone through to give the queen the heart she so desperately needed all those years ago. Artemis was now a social worker in Gotham who part timed as a secretary at a law firm in a nearby city. She never married, or moved on. Wally was her first and only love. She kept the picture that someone had taken of her and Wally kissing on that fateful New Year's Eve all those years ago. She never forgot the bright smile or the laugh that could brighten any day. She never let go of her memories of Wally West.