I found a doc with a version of the last two paragraphs in the 2nd person. I kind of loved how it read, so I tweaked it to fit Artemis. I can't help it; I love Wally, Artemis, and Spitfire. I will probably attend OWYOTP meetings eventually... (Obsessed with your one true pairing)
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters; I totally wish I did...
It is simplicity at its most fundamental point. All her job entails is that she stands on a neighboring rooftop to provide cover fire if anything awry should occur. However, Artemis knows, that out of the three potential hotspots that the teams will infiltrate this night, this unassuming warehouse is a dead end.
Aqualad purposely assigned her a less stressful mission because he believes Black Canary. And her diagnosis? She cannot handle a tougher placement. Black Canary believes that she has not allowed herself time to properly grieve for Wally. As a result, she has become unhinged.
Unhinged
Untethered
Unbalanced
All synonymous with: insane. She can hear Wally's playful voice, complete with a goofy grin. "You are crazy, Arty."
"Crazy? Is that right?"
"Mmm hmm, absolutely bonkers!" He replies cheerfully. "But don't worry; out of everyone in this team, each one is at least part way mad."
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Artemis remarks.
"Oh, you can't help that," says Wally: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?"
"You must be," says Wally, "or you wouldn't have come here."
He has a point; Artemis nods to herself as she stands at the edge of the roof. This job is insane, so it would make sense that she is equally insane. Not to mention of course the irony of literally standing on the edge of a rooftop… possibly on the brink of insanity if she really is talking to her supposedly dead boyfriend.
Regardless of what people think, sometimes, she thinks that Wally is there right next to her, just invisible to her gaze. If she were to take a step to the left and become a part of the air itself, she would be able to see him again.
He's not really dead. There wasn't a body left behind.
He just changed. She cannot see him as a result of the energy and more scientific jargon that Wally would be able to understand and explain in a heartbeat.
He is not truly dead after all, just intangible.
As the night draws on and the sky darkens, Artemis is startled by the wind. Like anyone who ventures outdoors this night, she thinks that the wind's gusts possess an aura of sorrow because the wind does not merely blow this night; it howls. Howl, she decides, adequately describes the sound because for some reason, the wind seems so sad that it reminds her of a lone wolf that points its nose to the night sky and laments its solitary state; it howls. Each and every one of the wolf's cries flies through the night and becomes the wind.
The sound frightens the hearts of any passersby, like her, since the sound cuts down to her core. And for a moment, when she hears the wind, inexplicably Artemis fears oblivion.
Oblivion - the time when sorrow grows so insurmountable that whoever feels it ceases to exist, and there is nothing that remains but sorrow, howling in the wind. It is a state so raw and stripped that others cannot comfort or even hope to understand the depth of despair. Human reason deteriorates until only raw hurt exists.
After minutes pass and Artemis stands immersed in the howling, she has an epiphany. Throughout the months that followed Wally's ceasing, she has been crying out silently, beseeching. It is only now that Artemis realizes that the howls are coming from her own mouth, and that tears have left roaring rapids down her cheeks. It is her sorrow that the wind carries. And that she has reached the moment of oblivion.
She had reached that moment long ago.
AN: Part of the dialogue between Wally and Artie is taken from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - the conversation with the Cat. I thought it was fitting. ^_^
Leave some thoughts, please. I'd love to know how this reads. Reviews are my favorite. :)