Like the description said, this story takes place after the events of "Failsafe." It's been a while since I've seen that episode so I apologize if anything is canonically incorrect. I'm also operating under the assumption that Wally knows Dick's real name.

This is going to be a two-shot, so another chapter will be coming up soon, hopefully. It's more than halfway written, but seeing as this month is nanowrimo and I have another fic I'm currently working on, it will likely be a couple of days before I have the time to get it finished and uploaded.

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters.


Wally could still see it. It was vivid, stamped in his memory. Maybe forever.

He could see it.

He could hear it.

Hell, he could even feel it still.

The cold wind biting at his face, uncomfortable to anyone, but especially to a speedster.

The alien ship in the ice. The ray gun.

Artemis.

There one second.

Gone the next.

M'gann's scream, ringing in their ears, even as his own, silent, screams rang in his. As his mind cried out that this couldn't be happening and Artemis can't be dead.

She can't be gone.

His own fury, his rage, his overwhelming grief and a sense of loss, even though he wasn't clear on what it was he'd thought he'd lost.

He and Artemis weren't close.

They weren't friends.

Frenemies was a more accurate term, though Wally wondered if maybe even that was being a little too generous.

But she didn't deserve to die.

Simulation or not, Artemis should never have died.

And he would never forget that.

Wally tried to tell himself he didn't care, shouldn't care, to the extent that he did.

But he did.

He was surprised, confused. He wasn't supposed to care this strongly.

And he wasn't ready to face the why behind that either.

His foot drummed against the floor, a million times a minute, and, given that he was a speedster, that wasn't much of an exaggeration.

"KF?" He was startled out of his thoughts as Dick, dressed in civvies, sunglasses masking his identity as always, materialized beside him. "You okay?"

"What?" Wally startled, before glaring at the wall. "Yeah, sure," he said. "I'm fine."

Underneath the sunglasses, Dick raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You sure? Because you don't exactly seem whelmed."

Wally stiffened, ready to snap.

Dick lay a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we all saw what you did out there on the ice," he said softly. "But you reacted… differently."

Somehow, Wally ended up on the defensive. "What are you getting at?" he asked, more harshly than he'd intended.

Why the hell was he so defensive?

Dick didn't even twitch. Nothing less was to be expected from the protégé of Batman. "Nothing." He leaned next to Wally, arms crossed, but there was nothing defensive about his posture. He was casual, nonchalant. "So… you want to talk about it?" he tried.

Wally gave him a sideways glare. "I found you said this was 'nothing,'" he accused.

"It's clearly not nothing," Dick said, spreading his hands out. "Otherwise you wouldn't be sitting acting so… not you."

Wally glanced around at the rest of their teammates. M'gann was currently enveloped in a crushing hug from Captain Marvel. The way her shoulders shook, he knew she was crying. Connor was sulking and Kaldur looked… distant. Artemis… Artemis was still sitting on the berth, her knees drawn up her chin, her arms wrapped around them fiercely, head ducked down.

Wally swallowed. "Doesn't look like anyone else is exactly acting like themselves either."

"And you're my best friend," Dick pointed out. "Of course I'm going to be checking to see how you're doing."

"And what about you and how you're doing?" Wally shot back. "Why's it all about me?"

Dick raised an eyebrow. "It's not. I just… saw the way you reacted there. Just wanted to check and see that you were okay."

"And I'm fine," Wally repeated. He refused to even glance in Artemis' direction again. He refused. Still, though, there was that ache, there was that loss, and he didn't understand it, couldn't even begin to guess why it was there (or maybe he could and it was something he didn't want to face). "So you can just drop it, okay? I'm fine."

The second eyebrow joined the first in a perfectly arched curve. "Wally, we just saw our team, our friends die. It doesn't matter if it was real or not real. It was real to us then. It's okay to not be fine."

Wally wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. Okay, you got me, I'm not fine. It didn't really seem to work.

So instead what he said was, "I just need time." Maybe it didn't sum up exactly what was going on with him, but it was the truth. Or at least the part of the truth he was willing to give out at this point.

But Dick accepted it. They all needed time to get over this. To adjust. And Wally would tell him eventually. They always did. It was the reason Wally West was the only person in the room who knew the identity of Batman and Robin, because Dick trusted him.

And it made Wally feel like even more of a crummy friend, because he wasn't sure he could tell him. Especially when he wasn't even sure what was going on with himself.

"It's cool," Dick said softly. "We all need time."

And that was when Wally realized his friend was acting more distant than he'd originally thought.

And he-Wally-might feel terrible, but Dick… Dick had sent several of them to their deaths.

Sure, they might be alive now (okay was another matter entirely), but that was the kind of knowledge that could weigh heavy on one's soul.

"Are you okay?" Wally asked, pretty sure it was a question he'd already asked and one which he had not received an answer to.

Dick shrugged. "It's rough. But I'll get over it." His face was tight and Wally wondered if he was telling the truth.

That would make two of them though, he realized, feeling slightly guilty.

This whole scenario hadn't exactly worked wonders in the honesty department.

Wally didn't push the question anymore.

He wondered if that made him a bad friend. It wasn't like Dick had given up on him this quickly.

But then again, he'd probably have better luck asking M'gann on a date (because Wally was a flirt, yes, but he wasn't stupid) then getting an answer out of the Boy Wonder that he didn't want to give.

They stood there for a moment, side by side, neither one of them talking, and then the Batman's voice broke their silence, calling Robin to him.

To debrief likely. Discuss what happened. What went wrong… Who knew how they handled things? Maybe Dick would open up to his mentor more than he had to him.

Dick straightened reluctantly, made to say something, changed his mind and obediently followed his mentor.

Which left Wally alone.

His gaze found Artemis again. She was no longer huddled on the berth. Instead, she was sitting with her legs dangling over the side, looking very much like she wanted to kill someone.

The Green Arrow, it seemed, was wisely giving her some space, (so why was Wally considering otherwise?), though he did cast a look or two in her direction.

Wally was sure he'd never seen him look so helpless before… not that he'd ever had many direct encounters with the man.

He realized he was still staring and, surprisingly, Artemis hadn't noticed him, hadn't snapped at him, hadn't marched over to demand to know what he was looking at.

It was disturbingly not Artemis-like at all, and Wally found himself again questioning why he cared.

And once again, he found himself short an answer.


So what do you think? Is Wally going to be man enough to talk to the girl? :D