In honor of one of my favorite cartoons EVER recently being renewed for a third season, here is a one-shot of one of my favorite couples in the world!
This is my first YJ fanfic, and I did my best to write my favs in character, but obviously they're not perfect.
Enjoy, fellow Spitfire shippers!
Artemis peered at the abundance of objects resting before her, dozens of memories flooding through her mind. The arduous aching in her chest increased immensely while looking at each of his souvenirs, reminding her of every mission, every battle, and every victory that they had accomplished. She closed her eyes. Inhaling slowly, she attempted to swallow the pain.
In front of the Team, she always held her head up high, never allowing them to see the extent of her grief. But here, in his designated souvenir room, she could mourn alone.
She sighed, slowly removing her Tigress mask. By now she was used to the new identity, but a small part of her still missed the green. After all, Artemis was Wally's partner. And now, the rush that came with the job, would never feel quite as fulfilling.
She chewed the inside of her lip as she pulled away from those thoughts. Somewhat absentmindedly, she traced her finger along the edge of Cheshire's mask. Jade hadn't shown up to Wally's funeral, as Artemis figured she wouldn't. She did pay her younger sister a visit later that night, though, but it had resulted in angry tears and screaming from the blonde. They hadn't seen each other since.
Artemis moved her hand away. Glimpses of several more memories flashed across her vision as she glanced at the other objects her boyfriend had retrieved from the various missions.
Her heart throbbed, as it always did when the thought of him crossed her mind. She missed him. More than any feeling in her entire life, her chest contained emptiness where his jubilant smile should've been. His enthused laugh, his witty banter, his terrible trash talk, all of him should've been there. Not a ghost of his past. Of their past.
Clenching her jaw, she repressed the tears threatening to cascade from her eyes. But even with the slight sobs bubbling in her chest, her fixed gaze upon the souvenirs did not falter.
"I miss him too," Nightwing suddenly spoke up, his voice interrupting her thoughts. If she hadn't been so well trained, she would've jumped.
Blinking, she glanced back at his muscled figure leaning against the doorway. He gave her a small grin before folding his arms to obscure the blue symbol on his uniform.
"You know," she told him, stepping away from the pained memories both literally and figuratively, "just because Batman taught you how to sneak up on people, doesn't mean you have to do it."
A smug smirk appeared on his face whilst he shrugged. He removed his body from its previous position, spreading his legs apart and standing several feet away from her. "I find that it gives a more appealing entrance."
"You found wrong," she informed him playfully.
The pair shared a slight laugh, but it ceased almost as quickly as it came. They averted each other's gazes momentarily, a somewhat awkward silence falling upon the room. Dick was the one who broke it. He was clearly just attempting to keep up a conversation. "Did you also happen to notice that Bart sort of resembles a young Wally? Buzzing with energy, eager to help, and always in your face?"
Artemis half scoffed and half chuckled, but it seemed unusually tepid for her. "Yeah," she mumbled in response.
A small sigh escaped her throat. She tried to keep it as inaudible as she could manage, but the detective picked up on it anyway.
"Thanks for the assistance on the mission today," he told her, "Guess we underestimated those goons."
"Yeah," Artemis replied, "no problem."
A second silence interrupted their slowly moving conversation. The two heroes waited for the other to speak, but until Dick eventually asked the question that'd been on the tip of his tongue throughout the encounter, neither did.
"Artemis?" he inquired, "What's bothering you?"
She knew exactly what was bothering her. It was the only desire that ever tugged at her heart, the only daydream that never departed from her brain, and the only thing that motivated her to get out of bed in the mornings whilst keeping her mournful and full of sorrow. It was the thought of Wally. It couldn't be helped, even when she tried her best to neglect her pain. His obnoxiously gorgeous face lingered in every wave of thought and emotion coursing through her body.
Some days her grief affected her more than others. And today, was one of those days.
It felt like an eternity that he'd been gone, when in truth only a few short months had passed. By now the shattered pieces of her heart had begun resurfacing within her, but they had only gradually been mending themselves back into a whole.
She raised her eyesight to align with Nightwing's once more. "I'm fine."
Scoffing, he replied, "We both know you're lying."
Of course he knew she was lying. She wasn't doing a very good job of it, after all. Shoulders slumping and exhales exiting her nose, she almost decided to give into his question. "I'm great," she informed him, "Really." she added after he cocked his eyebrow at her.
"Yeah, right," Dick rejoindered. He was well aware of why she was acting this way, why she was staring at the souvenirs catching dust on those shelves, and they both knew it. He paused to allow his tone to become more serious. "Artemis...it's not weakness to admit that you miss him."
As a response, she intertwined her arms over her chest, flicking her eyes in the opposite direction of his face.
Nightwing stepped towards her. He gripped her shoulders, forcing her gaze to return to him. "I know. I miss him, too. But Wally...he's…"
She sighed. "Gone," Artemis finished, the word unintentionally emerging from her mouth as a whisper, "He's gone. And I shouldn't be upset because he's been gone for months."
He granted her a small and sympathetic smile, but it didn't achieve the consoling effect he'd intended. As her woebegone pupils stared into his empathetic ones, he removed his hands to instead embrace her, his muscled biceps wrapping around her shoulders and back.
Her breath hitched, repressing the sorrow knotting in her throat. She hugged him back, not realizing how much she had needed the comfort until then. She never showed the extent of her emotions to the Team, barely ever to the heroes closest to her, but here, with Wally's best friend, surrounded by his handpicked souvenirs from victories they'd attained together, she felt her composure collapsing.
Dick held her close, everything about their actions purely platonic, but also conveying the support and sympathy that each required. A heavy sigh erupted from her chest and brushed against his, seeming like an attempt to rid her body of the negative emotions coursing through it.
She closed her eyes just as his arms abruptly retreated from her skin. "Artemis…" he mumbled.
Numerous remarks awaited release upon her lips, but she subdued them. Eyebrows furrowed, she shifted herself to look at where his eyes were aimed.
"What is that?" she asked.
"I have no idea," Dick responded.
Naturally, they both assumed a battle ready position. Legs spread, arms up, senses alert. Even though they weren't quite sure what had just interrupted their hug, they were prepared to fight it. A blue vortex floated before them, colors and swirls infused into the oval shape. They shifted each time something unrecognizable to the heroes moved on the inside. And although neither of them could identify the mysterious vortex, whatever it really was, it had some sort of familiarity to it. Artemis mentally cursed herself for her inability to recall whatever had just appeared.
"Nothing's happening," remarked Dick, his posture straightening a bit.
Artemis opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a third voice croaking out from the vortex. She jumped back, startled to hear a weak echo of her own name.
Dick flicked his eyes back and forth between her and the blue momentarily. "Did you hear that, too?"
She nodded.
For a short second neither of them spoke or moved, but Dick was again the one to break the silence. "Go see what it wants."
"Why don't you go see what it wants?" she retorted.
"Because it didn't just call out my name."
The archer groaned and shot him a glare, but obliged. She held her head up high as she steadily approached. "Uh, hello? Blue glowy thing?"
There was no response. Slightly irked, she rotated her head backwards to glimpse at her teammate. He nudged her to repeat herself and try again with a shake of his head. She huffed at him, but again, did as he requested. Her body angled in the proper direction, she pursed her lips. What was she supposed to say?
Luckily, she didn't even have to come up with a second conversation starter, the vortex did for her. "Artemis…" the voice said again, much stronger and noticeable than it was the previous time.
Her eyes went wide and her heart stopped dead in her chest. A small gasp departed from her throat as she spun on her heel back towards Nightwing. She couldn't feel herself breath, finding it difficult to allow the statement she needed to say to escape her mouth. The first words were barely above a whisper. "I'm not crazy," she began, "That sounded like…"
"Wally," he concluded, frowning.
Artemis overlooked the blueness once more, gulping as quietly as she could manage. "Is it…"
He clenched his jaw. "It's not."
Her name suddenly rung throughout the room for a third time. A knot lumped together in her stomach, fusing everything she had been feeling with the most diminutive amount of hope. She'd pleaded and dreamed and longed for her Wally to return for weeks following his death. But she'd given up any hope that he would ever come back to her, the gut wrenching feeling of learning that he was truly gone.
She had trained herself so excellently from the time she was young to never permit such enormous desires to enter her mind, but now, she felt something tugging at her heart. And it seemed genuine and real, and she wanted to give in so desperately that she felt her common sense slipping away by the seconds.
As if in a trance, she stepped forward. Reaching her hand reaching out, she breathed, "Wally…"
Dick ripped her shoulder back towards him. "This isn't real, Artemis," he said harshly, "This is some sort of trick. Don't fall for it."
She chided herself. She knew she should know better. For all of her childhood all she ever felt was constant disappointment, and if she let herself sink into an idea that could very well let her down again, she would just feel hurt and stupid for falling for it in the end.
But then again, she'd also been lonely in her childhood. And hearing Wally's voice, his actual voice, not just some dream or figment of her imagination torturing her, all she wanted to do was join him, wherever he was. Wally himself may not have truly been there, but the mere sound of his voice pulled her heart in so many different directions she felt as though it were going to dissipate altogether.
"Artemis!" Nightwing yelped as her hand neared the vortex.
The logical side of her brain almost kept her legs from moving, almost stopped her from getting dangerously close to the blue, almost averted her from the hand contact, and almost obstructed her from the impossible. The logical side almost prevented her from bringing him back.
Winds began swirling around the room, whipping both Artemis' and Dick's hair back and forth. It partially drown out her name being called by both Nightwing and Wally's voice.
"Get away from there!" Dick warned. He attempted to physically tear her away, but as he neared, the gusts simultaneously increased, hurling him backwards.
Artemis would have immediately raced to check on him, had a cold hand not grasped her own. A startled gasp departing from her mouth was lost in the thick wind. She felt her heart jump in her chest, skipping several beats. Her body went numb with anticipation and fear as the hand crawled further up her arm, attaining a more sturdy grip. She knew that hand. She'd held it a million times.
She struggled to walk against the headwind, proceeding to move nowhere. "Dick!" she screamed, trying her best to be audible over the whooshing wind, "I need help!"
Bewildered, he managed to rush up to her. "Artemis! What are you doing?!"
"It's...it's Wally!" Artemis replied. Her face scrunched whilst she physically strained herself, her strength quickly sapping.
Dick remained incredulous, but assisted nonetheless. He wrapped his arms around her torso and tugged, alleviating the process for Artemis. But it still felt as though this hand they were attempting to remove was permanently stuck in whatever place it came from, completely still as they continued to struggle.
The winds increased immensely, becoming so violent that the heroes were beginning to lose their balance. Their screams were deadened by the whipping of the harsh breezes. The archer felt a dribble of sweat cascade near her left temple. She refused to give up, though, and with as much force as she could muster, heaved the arm out of the vortex. Screams tore her throat raw as her body flew in the opposite direction.
In the blink of an eye, the winds and the strange vortex, were gone.
Artemis pressed her hand to the side of her head, groaning. Her pulse was making itself more of a known presence than normal, her body obviously sprinkled with fatigue. She pushed herself upwards with a moan, blinking.
She had to blink again to make sure she was seeing clearly.
Resting before her, was the thought her mind was constantly teeming with, come to life. Every breath leaving her body halted, every nerve, limb, and pulse going numb. She felt every bit of her broken heart emerging from deep within her, piecing itself back together. He was here. She was whole.
She couldn't believe it. Her mind and body seemed to reboot again as her legs took small steps in his direction. This was really too good to be true. "Wally…"
He smiled at her, the very smirk that had been stamped into her brain from the moment they had met all those years ago. She felt enlightened and rejuvenated as his teeth gleamed back at her. Her lip quivered. This wasn't any sort of trick. It was real. Real.
"Artemis…" Wally replied, the words exiting his mouth as if he were more so saying it to himself than her.
They raced towards each other, meeting halfway in the room. The archer couldn't feel her feet as they sprang off the floor. The redhead gripped her hips and lifted her up into the air, granting himself a moment of just looking at her face. She began planting kisses across his lips and skin before he could even set her down again.
Artemis held him close, breathing in his scent whilst she roamed her fingers through the soft red hair she'd so very much missed. All of the grief, all of the anxiety, all of the misery she hadn't been able to escape for months was finally lifted, and the happiness buried deep within her was finally free of the oppression it'd been under. She exhaled every negative emotion out, unbridle joy taking over the reins of her heart. Her permanent frown was quickly chipped away and replaced by the biggest smile that had ever rested upon her face. He was home. She was home.
"Wally...h-how…?" Dick wondered in a whisper tone, not believing the sight before his eyes.
The speedster turned his head to notice the other man, letting go of Artemis. Her heart sank as he suddenly became out of her reach, even though she knew he wasn't really going anywhere.
Nightwing was at a loss for words whilst his best friend clasped his hand and delivered to him a bone-crushing hug. Dick seemed to be gasping for air. His best friend in the entire world had returned home to him. After months and months of missing Wally, he was back.
"How?" Dick questioned, breaths taken in between each letter.
Wally shrugged, pulling out of their embrace. "I was trapped in the speedforce."
"How did you escape?" he asked.
"I had to anchor myself," the speedster replied, "to someone I loved." He glanced at the blonde.
Dick grinned. "Artemis."
He nodded. "Artemis."
She, on the other hand, neglected the fact that her name had just been mentioned. "You were trapped in the speedforce for months?" Artemis inquired, an overwhelming amount of sorrow at the very idea of her boyfriend in pain for months on end.
Without directly answering her question, he stalked up to her. He crushed their lips together with a lack of warning, delivering a kiss that both had been dreaming about for what felt like forever.
After letting go, he planted a hand on each of her cheeks, staring down into her dazzling eyes. "I missed you."
She opened her mouth to respond, but Dick cut her off by clearing his throat. "Uh, KF? Glad to have you back and all, but could you, you know? Wait until I'm not in the room maybe?"
Wally chuckled before going in for another kiss. "Not a chance, pal."