A/N didn't update Switched last night. This is my peace offering. Spitfire. One-shot. Set after season one finale. WARNING: RATED T FOR MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH!
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It was a soft, quiet sound. Unlike him. But it was that soft, quiet, and solemnly repetitive sound that told her he was still alive.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
He was so still. So silent. So unmoving. Pale. Thin. Weak. Artemis could have sworn he was dead.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
But the sound said otherwise. It told her that his heart was still beating. It told her his brain was still working. That his soul, his spirit, was still there. That he was still there, somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, between darkness and light, hanging to life with all the fervor in him.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She held his hand for the millionth time, sending him mental messages, hoping, willing, praying for him to wake up. So that, if for only a moment, she could see his neon green eyes stare at her, filled with hate, passion, anger, and peace, all in a single moment.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
So that she could tell him, one more time, how much she cared.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She didn't care if she never saw him again after that moment, as long as she knew he was alive.
Alive. Awake. Alive.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Artemis."
It wasn't his voice that spoke. But she still listened.
"Artemis." Robin stepped into the room slowly. His costume was disheveled. His cape was askew. His mask and sunglasses were long gone. His dark blue eyes stared at her, reddened and shining with tears.
"Artemis, it's time."
"Please," she gasped. Her head dropped so that her forehead pressed against Wally's chest. "Just wait. Please. One more day. One more. He'll come back. He will. I know he will. He has to."
"It's been months. He-" Robin choked back his sobs. "He's gone."
"No."
"Artemis, listen to me."
"No. He's still there. He's just waiting."
"He's gone, Artemis!"
The archer froze, shocked into silence by Robin's outburst. Robin swallowed hard, gulping tears as he spoke.
"Wally is gone. The results for the third test came in. His brain isn't sending out any electrical impulses. He's not really alive."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Robin motioned weakly to the heart monitor. The inanimate object that allowed Artemis to have hope through the hardest thing she's ever done. Facing death. Not just any death, but the death of the only man she could ever love.
"It's all machines, Artemis," Robin croaked. "Machines are keeping his body alive. But Wally? The real Wally isn't here. This-" he placed one hand in Wally's hair and stroked it softly. Artemis saw the sadness in his eyes as he smoothed the flaming mop backwards, showing his real affection for his older brother.
"This is an empty shell. He wouldn't want us to hold on to it. He'd want us to remember the real him. The laughing, joking speedster who got nosebleeds when he tried to walk through walls. Who used every lame pickup line he could, just for the attention. Who thought so highly of his hero that he risked his own life to become like him. Who- who loved you, Artemis. Wally loved you with everything in his hyperactive being."
The only sound that followed was the sound of false hope.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"I'll get the others," Robin said softly. Artemis could hear his footsteps as he walked, something she had never heard since it happened.
A simple reconnaissance mission. Since when was anything ever simple?
Kid Flash gave Artemis a wide grin as he zipped past, taking out a number of henchmen as he did, all of whom had been closing in on the archer.
"Watch yourself," he called teasingly. His voice wasn't as obnoxious as she had once thought it was. Now, she could detect all the different emotions speeding through his tone as though she was reading a book. This time she sensed excitement, passion, and a hint of affection as he raced away.
"Watch out, yourself!" she retorted, firing an arrow toward a goon with his rifle trained on the speedster.
"You're a babe," he replied, racing up and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "You take care of me so well."
"Don't get too comfortable," she replied, smiling, and pushing him out of the way in order to get in another shot.
Kid Flash probably laughed, but Artemis never heard the ringing sound. It was drowned out by the sound of an explosion.
The building began to crumble at once. The two young heroes ducked and dodged flying debris. They were almost at the exit when Artemis's costume caught on a rusted pipe. She tugged at it, pulled, and yanked, trying to get free. A rumbling sound echoed in her ears, and she looked up to see an enormous boulder hurtling toward her. Even if she could get free, it was too big to avoid. She closed her eyes and waited for the sickened crushing sound that would follow her death.
Something hard slammed into her side and knocked her away. She gasped for breath and sat up from her position on the concrete floor even as the rumbling of the collapsing building faded from her hearing.
Partially under the boulder lay the crushed, broken body of Wally West.
He saved her. But it was at a cost.
She crawled to him, cursing herself that she couldn't move any faster. As she approached, Wally lifted his head. "Arty?"
"Don't call me that," Artemis replied, trying and failing to hide the tremor that filled her throat.
"You okay?" Wally asked, as worry and agony mingled over his freckled face. "Are you hurt?"
"Me? What about you? You, you-" Artemis couldn't finish and fumbled desperately with the comm. link. The mental link was down, which meant that something happened to M'gann.
"Artemis to team, we're at ground floor, KF is down!"
"Artemis?"
"Not now, Wally!" Artemis tried not to panic. "Team, come in! Answer me! Now!"
"Artemis, I have to tell you something."
"Wally, not now!"
"Artemis!"
The archer choked back her terror and turned back to the redhead. Wally reached out and clutched her hand weakly, smiling through the pain.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
Kaldur, Robin, and the rest of the team materialized next to her. Kaldur and Superboy lifted the boulder off the broken speedster, and Robin managed to drag him from beneath it. Artemis could only stare into Wally's glazed green eyes as he kept smiling. And life around her blurred into nothingness.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Robin appeared again. He laid one hand over Artemis's, whose fingers were still entangled in Wally's. "We're ready," he whispered.
Artemis nodded as tears began to obscure Wally's deathly face from her vision.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"He was a great teammate, and he was also a good friend." Kaldur looked solemn and sad.
"He was sweet, kind, and funny," M'gann added, a sorrowful smile gracing her green cheeks. "He cared about everyone, and never hated a living soul."
"I'll miss him," Conner said simply. But those three words, from his lips, meant more than anything to Artemis.
'He was my best friend," Robin whispered. "He was always there when I needed him. He never let me down, and he was a brother to me. He always showed me the way when I needed direction, and he was always willing to comfort anyone when they were sick or sad. He was a hero." Robin rubbed the space between Wally's thumb and forefinger as a tear splashed down his face and onto the white bedsheets.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Artemis couldn't say anything. When she tried to speak, all that came out were tears. Ever since she met Wally, she knew she liked him. And ever since she realized she loved him, her greatest fear was that she would lose him. And now it was happening.
Silence reigned in the med bay. The only sounds were the soft taps when salt water fell unrestrained to the floor, and the untruthful sounds of the treacherous heart monitor.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Slowly, almost as if he was moving underwater, Kaldur rose and made his way to the electrical outlet in the wall. He hesitated, and then knelt and laid one hand on the plug. He didn't pull it out. He just fingered it and stared at his fallen brother. He had been taught that the heart monitor told that the person was still alive. But this time, he knew, it was all a lie.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
And he had to let go.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
He wriggled the plug out of the socket impossibly slowly, almost as if giving Wally one last chance to open his eyes. But there was no reply except for the low sound of the monitor.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...
The glowing blue pulse flat lined. Wally was gone. And Artemis's heart went with him.
The next day, she died from serious injuries inflicted by her so-called father, Sportsmaster. After hearing that his daughter's lover was gone, the heartless maniac murdered her in cold blood for allowing herself to have feelings, as she had once sworn to never do. The team had found her body five minutes too late, and the peaceful smile on her face showed them that she was no longer alone.
Three days later, the team laid the two teenaged heroes to rest in the ground.
But they knew that they were together in the sky.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A/N Voilà. First try. Apologies for OOC-ness. No offense, but I hope I made you cry. I did. And I don't cry. Review, please.