~Trigger Warning for Cutting and Depression~
"Hey, Wally I was wondering… Oh my God what are you doing!" Artemis ran over to where Wally held a dagger held to his wrist.
"What are you doing in here?" Wally stood up from his place on the floor, as Artemis yanked the dagger out of his hand.
Artemis had come to his room in the cave to ask about some homework. But the reality of what he was doing was very clear, his eyes were puffy from tears, he had a look in her eye a look that said so many things at once, but the most obvious signs were the three streaks of red blood on his wrist.
"Come on." She muttered, pulling him to the bathroom that each bedroom had. He protested of course but one glance at her told him he should just shut up, so he did. He sat quietly on the bathroom floor letting her sit next to him while she cleaned and wrap the three red lines in gauze.
When she sighed he finally looked up, "Why?" she asked simply.
"Why what?"
"Don't give me that bull shit, tell just tell me why. You don't have any scars from cutting before, so this has to be your first time. Why on Earth would you start cutting now or ever for that matter?"
His face darkened, "This isn't my first time," Artemis' eyebrows knit together in thought, he continued "that's the sad part about being fast, everything speeds up metabolism, heart rate, time, even healing." He, in one motion, took off the gauze she had wrapped on the cuts, they were closed, not healed but closed and scabbed over. He read the expression on her face and sighed, "They weren't deep; they'll be gone by morning."
Artemis' face softened, "That still doesn't explain why. And don't try to weasel your way out telling me. Believe me, if you try, in any way to run and or do something stupid I will go running down that hallway and wake up the whole team. So you can either tell just me or you can tell the team plus your mentor."
He gave a little groan, pulled his knees up to his chest. "Me and the Flash were out on patrol tonight, everything was fine, a few bank robbers, a couple of kids spray painting, the regular happy go lucky Central City. But then he sent me off to patrol part of it alone, he said I could handle it. I was running through the streets, I heard a woman cry, she was being cornered by these three men, they wanted her purse or something. We don't get a whole lot of muggings in Central but I knew how to take care of it. I don't know what went wrong though somehow one of the crooks shot his gun at the woman, I tried to catch the bullet, instead, it hit my shoulder. I didn't panic though it was through, I took out the last guy when I turn around and the woman was dead. A bullet wound through her heart."
Wally curled up, even more, Artemis put a hand to her mouth in shock. "The bullet went right through me and into her. And while I'm not even left with a scar she is dead." His eyes began to water but before they could fall he wiped them away. "I found her drivers license and her address I called the police told them where I left the men and body. She had two kids Artemis, two and their dad died last year when Heatwave burnt down an office building. How many other families have I destroyed? How many people have died because I wasn't fast enough!"
Artemis looked at the dagger he had been using, it wasn't a dagger at all she realized, but one of her arrows with the end broken off.
"I couldn't even save you in a training exercise, what hope do I have for saving anyone on the team in real life? At least when I cut I can have scars," He paused. "for a little while. Their reminders, that's what all scars are reminders of what we've done, who we've lost, what we're fighting for." His eyes stared at the wall, lost in a distant memory.
"You can't keep doing this Wally. It's not.." She struggled to find the right word "..healthy."
"It's not hurting anything, in the long run, they heal by morning and …" Wally's words failed him as he tried to justify the self-harm. He couldn't keep it together anymore, he openly wept into his hands. He cried for every person he couldn't save, for those families who would never be whole, but most of all he sobbed for those he feared he would lose, the team, Uncle Barry, even Artemis.
"I..I..don't know why the people die, I don't know how I can live with myself sometimes either but Wally this isn't healthy and I don't mean physically. Carrying around this much guilt it's not ok, and I think you know that too." He just cried harder.
After he'd stopped and was just staring at the wall again. Artemis stood on the bathroom floor, "Get up."
"What.. no." Wally sputtered confused. Before he could protest anymore, Artemis took his arm and pulled him up dragging him out of the bedroom and into the hallway, "Where are we going?" He whisper yelled, not wanting to wake the rest of the team since it was nearly one a.m.
"Out." Was the only explanation Artemis gave, as she walked over to the zeta teleporter and typed in a destination.
She motioned for him to follow her into the beam, "Ok... I guess I'm going out them." He muttered to himself, his normal deposition returning a bit.
Wally followed the archer through the light and when they came out the other side he saw Gotham, lay before them.
Artemis started walking out of the ally way, "Are you coming?"
"Not like I have much of a choice, where are we going?" She didn't say anything, just kept walking up the sidewalk.
They continued on that way until she turned into another ally and threw a door open.
The door led them to a kitchen, well not really a kitchen it seemed more like an industrial kitchen the kind cafeterias and restaurants had, either way, a dozen or so people filled it doing various tasks.
"Hey, Artemis," a perky blonde woman carrying a sack of potatoes.
"Hi, Melissa. Here let me help you with that." Artemis helped the woman lug the heavy bag onto the counter.
"Thank god you're here, Nathan and Tracy didn't show. So you can do the potatoes. Also who's the guy, he's cute?" She whispered the last part
"He's a friend, and shut up." Artemis retorted, rolling her eye's.
"Whatever you say." Melisa chided, as she walked to help the others with something.
Artemis opened the bag and started to wash the many potatoes, Wally just stood by the door dumbfounded, "Well are you going to help me or not?" Still very confused he helped her wash and peel all the potatoes, then she showed him how to mash them.
After they had finished Artemis put the mashed potatoes into a large bin then put the bin with the food the others had made. She said good night to Melisa then made her way out the door with Wally trailing her like a lost puppy.
"I'm still really confused." Wally said as they made their way back to the zeta teleporter.
"Of course you are," Artemis signed. "That was a food shelter; a team of people make food, another package the food into little boxes and then it gets delivered in trucks all around Gotham. The really happy blond lady she's a widower who lost her husband a year or two ago, the husband was super rich and when he died he left her everything. They didn't have any kids so she bought the building, a couple of trucks to deliver the food and all the ingredients. Get it now?"
"She seemed to know you pretty well." Wally stated, but it was a question.
"I volunteer a few times a week."
"Why did you take me to a food shelter?"
"Because as heros, we can sometimes think we screw up more lives then we save, but tonight, Wally you helped save over a hundred and fifty people from going hungry. You didn't ruin any lives tonight."
"Ohh." The two walked in silence together till they zetaed back to the cave, "Artemis."
"Yeah."
"Thank you."
The two went their separate ways and when Wally went back to his room he took the arrowhead and put it back on the souvenir shelf.
After that night, the two would go and serve at a different shelter each week. And when Wally died, it left a scar that wouldn't heal.
Hi, so that was a sad one shot. I just want to tell everyone that if you or a friend are cutting you can and should tell someone. I promise you there are people who care about you. Also if you have issues about how any of the characters are portrayed in this please tell me.
~RedWillow03