Chapter 1: Parallels

"Garth?"

...

"You're finally awake"

...

"Amelia?"

Garth paused for a moment and furrowed his brow, "Where... Where am I?" he stuttered.

Artemis sat beside his bed, her expression not changing.

Garth squinted his eyes and waved a hand in front of her view but a sudden searomg pain forced him to tense his arm up and release a shriek of anger, making him fall towards the side of the bed Artemis was on. Artemis swiftly stood up from her chair and raced towards him, stopping him from falling from his bed, her expression now filled with worry.

"Fuck... Why does my body hurt so much?" The boy asked as he looked towards his bandaged arms.

Artemis tried to speak but the words escaped her, nothing but a croak came from her throat. Her lips tightened and her eyes glistened. Before Garth could ask her another question the blonde beauty bolted out of the room, as if she was running for her life.

Garth led in his bed unable to really move. His arms shaking every time he lifted them higher than a few inches and a burning pain would appear in his chest each time he drew a breath. The last thing he remembered was daydreaming in Mrs Orchard's class. So why was he here? Why was his classmate here and why in the hell did she look like a twenty year old?

"She asked about you Babs... About you and the baby." Nightwing comforted.

The redhead, just like Garth, was led in her hospital bed. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, she was worried about Artemis, about Garth and for her baby. The Doctors and Nurses keep telling her that the baby inside her is fine but... but what if it isn't? How could they know for certain? She couldn't stop worrying.

"That doesn't mean she forgives me Nightwing. She made it perfectly clear how she feels about me and what I did." Barbara mumbled.

"Well to be fair, what you and Garth did probably wasn't the best thing for you two to do." Nightwing advised.

Barbara gave Dick a dirty look, "Geez Dick, It doesn't take a fucking detective to figure that out. What part of blackout drunk don't you understand?" She asked in anger.

"Right, Sorry Babs..." Dick replied. He didn't know whose side he should be on, all he ever wants to do is to help people but it's pretty difficult to help two of his best friends when they are currently at war. The best thing he can do is to sit on the fence and help where he can.

Dick noticed Barbara's gaze turn to the doorway of her room and a sad but surprised expression appeared over her face. Dick turned to the doorway and noticed Artemis stood there all battered and bruised, with her right arm bandaged up and placed in a sling.

Barbara opened her mouth and stuttered "Artemis... I..." but she was quickly cut off by the Archer, "I didn't come to see you. Garth has woken up... I just thought I should let you know." She sniffled. Barbara nodded her head in thank you and Artemis nodded back, again holding back the tears as she left the doorway. Dick stood up from his chair and placed his hand onto barbara's pale and soft right hand, "I'll go speak to her and then go see if Garth is alright. I'll let you know how he is." he comforted.

"Thank you." Barbara replied with a curve in her lips.

Dick exited the room and jogged up to Artemis who had created some distance down the hallway, "Artemis! Wait!" he called out.

Artemis stopped and slowly turned towards him. Dick's heart broke as he saw the look on her face. Her lips pressed against eachother and her eyes were welling, her skin was pink and her lower lip was quivering. Her whole body was shaking. He ran up to Artemis and pulled her into his arms. The Archer began to sob into Dick's blue emblem, her legs went weak and Nightwing fell to his knees with her.

"What's wrong?" he hushed, pulling her in tightly.

"He doesn't remember..." She choked.

Dick placed a hand round the back of her head and began to stroke her hair, then placed his cheek onto her head. "How much?" he softly questioned.

"All of it. The passed two and a half years... They never happened to him!" she cried out.

A tear swelled up in one of Nightwing's eyes and fell from its fountain, running down his cheek removing some of the black face paint around his eyes.

Dick began to rock his friend in his arms, "I'm so sorry..." he consoled.

The two sat there for what felt like an eternity to Artemis as her eyes used up what tears she had left to weep when in reality it was only five to ten minutes. Each time a Doctor or Nurse passed by him Dick begged to whatever god there was for them to tell him that Garth remembers. But none of them did.

Soon after his classmate had left his room some doctors entered the room and began asking him questions and examining his body, shining a light into his eyes, checking his pulse, looking under the bandages. In the corner of the room stood a blonde woman dressed in fishnets and a black leather jacket, If Garth's knowledge on the Justice League was correct then that had to be the 'Black Canary'. His mind began to wander, was he caught in some kind of attack... Was he the attack? Did his powers go wild during school? That would explain why that girl who sits behind him in a few of his classes was here, What was her name Andreana? It was something odd beginning with 'A' but he couldn't figure it out for the life of him.

The Doctors and Nurses soon left and Black Canary approached Garth with a caring demeanour. She sat in the comfortable chair next to him and leaned towards him, clasping her to hands together.

"How are you feeling?" she asked

"Sore. In pain. Can barely move. I feel absolutely fine and dandy." Garth quipped. The Black Canaray released her breath through her nose and let out a small chuckle, "Good to see you haven't lost that sense of humour of yours.". Garth was growing more and more irritated the longer he was awake, he was waiting for someone to tell him what was wrong with him, not that they enjoy his bad humour.

"Sorry Miss Black Canary but am I supposed to know you? And is anyone here going to tell me what has happened to me? Thirty minutes ago I woke up in this room and before that I was in class. And why the hell was my classmate here? She bolted out of my room as if she was terrified of me." Garth snapped, his throat hurt the more he talked but he felt so angry.

"Relax Garth. I can tell you a few things but I haven't been authorized to tell you everything about what has happened to you. That's up to the top psychiatrist's working with the Justice League." Black Canary informed.

"The Justice League? What the hell did I do?! Would you just please fucking tell me what is going on!" he roared. The Canary closed her eyes and took a deep breath, seeing Garth like this breaks her heart. She knows what kind of an effect this will have on some of the younger heroes, for him to see them as nothing but strangers will crush them.

"Garth... You were struck by Lightning and you miraculously survived. But you als-" She was cut off before she was finished.

"But how? I assume you know what I can do if I'm in what I'm sure is a Justice League medical facility and I'm sure they keep tabs on people like me. I should have at least been able to redirect it." Garth answered

"That's something we'll figure out soon... But there is one more thing Garth. It is a lot to take in so prepare yourself." she cautioned.

The dark haired man paused for a moment and took a deep breath, "I'm ready." He said with determination in his voice. Black Canary stood and sat on the bed beside him, covering his bandaged right hand with hers, "You have Amnesia Garth. We don't know the exact extent of it but what Artemis has told us and what you have said... You appear to have forgotten the past two years..." she lamented.

Garth didn't know how to take that information, a lot can happen in two years. His mind began to wander, what has he forgotten, who has he forgotten? That girl. Did she mean something to him? Was she a friend or something more?

"That girl who was in here earlier. I kind of know who she is but I don't think I've ever really spoken to her. What is she to me now?" He earnestedly asked. The women beside him simply gave him a pained smile, "That question is for her to answer. I'm sure you'll have plenty of questions like that for every stranger that says they know you but whatever you do... Don't push them away."

Garth absorbed her advice and looked over at the cards placed around the room and the woman noticed this. She stood up and walked around the room, collecting them from where they sat and then placed the stack of "Get well soon!" cards to the left of him. Garth gave the super heroine a small smile, "Thank you."

The blonde woman reached over to the end of the bed and grabbed the clipboard and paper that the Doctors had been writing on. She took the pen and began to scribble on to a corner of the paper and then tearing it from the clipboard, "This is my personal phone number. If you need anything at all then just call. Even if it is to ask a simple question don't hesitate to call me." she said understandingly. Garth gave her a thankful smile and chuckled.

"What are you laughing at Garth?" she questioned with confusion.

"I must have been doing something right the last two years if 'The Black Canary' just gave me her phone number." He joked.

The super heroine smiled at Garth and sighed, "Still as 'Charming' as ever aren't you". Black Canary sat up from the bed and made her way to the door to exit the room, "My name is Dinah. Dinah Lance, try not to call me Black Canary on the phone." she chuckled and then exited the room.

Garth slowly placed his head back into the soft pillow he had been provided and looked at the ceiling, "I hope Dad knows that I'm alright, He must be worried sick." he thought to himself. After a few moments he painfully sat back up and moved his left hand towards the stack of cards and uncomfortably placed them onto his lap. It was quite the large pile so he must have gained quite a lot of friends in the last two years, something he was having trouble with when he was at school. Garth laughed to himself, "At least I don't remember two years worth of dry classes."

Garth grabbed the first card from his lap, It was white and pink with a cute teddy bear on the front. It looked like something a grandmother would get their granddaughter. Inside the there was a long message written in pretty hand writing,

"To my lovely and dear friend Garth!

I hope you get through what you might be going through. We have all heard what could happen to you when you wake up but we are all hoping that it is nothing major! You are a true hero and the world doesn't deserve you! When you get discharged from the hospital I'll cook you all sorts of food, I know how you like my cooking because you never turn it down (Especially my trademarked cookies).

Get well soon Garth,

Lots of love MEGAN! xoxox ...and Conner."

Garth smiled at the message, he could tell that this 'Megan' girl was a bundle of joy but the funniest part of the card to him was the inclusion of the '...and Conner.' at the end. He could tell that they were in a relationship and she forced him to write his name in the card. Garth closed the card and put it back to his left side and picked up the next one.

This one was a childish Batman one, clearly aimed at toddlers. Garth opened this card to see another fairly long message.

"To Garth,

You'll have to forgive the card, I had to send Wally to get it which was clearly a bad decision.

Thank you for saving me. Thank you for everything you have done for me and I'm sorry for the problems I have caused for you. The Doctors have told me the possibilities of how you'll be when you wake up but no matter what I'll be here for you.

With Love,

Barbara Gordon xxx"

"Barbara Gordon? As in Commissioner Gordon's daughter? Jesus Christ Garth how lucky were you to get involved with that bird?" he thought to himself.

Garth reached for the third card. This card had a whale on the front of it with a speech bubble saying "Get 'Whale' soon" which gave Garth a bit of a chuckle. Inside of it was a short message,

"To Garth,

I know we might bicker some times but all real friendships aren't smooth sailing. Get well soon Garth.

From Dick Grayson, Wally West and Conn-"

"Dick Grayson? Bruce Wayne's ward? How the bloody hell do I know these people?" He uttered to himself.

"It's a very long story." a soft voice spoke from the doorway.

Garth turned his attention to the black haired young man stood by the exit to his room, he wore a tight black shirt, blue jeans and blue sneakers.

"You're Dick Grayson right? You look... Older than I remember." Garth coaxed.

"Well with that beard of yours you look older than you are." Dick sassed. Garth chuckled and so did Dick.

"How are you feeling?" Dick asked.

"You can probably guess. I don't want to sound like a bit of an asshole but how do I know you?" Garth questioned. Dick sniffed his nose and asked for permission to sit in the chair beside him as he walked over and sat down.

"I know you through Barbara, she said you need someone to go to the gym with so I went with you. We're gym buddies." Dick smirked.

"Well that sounds... Normal. What's our relationship like? We apparently bicker according to your card but is that banter or do we tend not to see eye-to-eye?" The dark haired man inquisitively asked.

"It's both. We have both done things that the other doesn't agree with but we always have had each others back." The ex-boy wonder answered. Garth was pleased with his answer, it sounded liked he had a solid and real relationship with Dick Grayson and if this was a consistant thing between all of his relationships that the Garth he didn't know had created then he was somewhat happy.

"I'm fine with that." Garth smiled. "I don't suppose you know when I'll get out of here do you? I'm kind of looking forward to meeting everyone that I knew and find out what my life was like in the years I've forgotten."

Dick was caught off guard by Garth's hopefulness, It was like he never left for two years. He has reverted back to the 'Happy-go-lucky' Garth that first joined the team. Maybe it might actually cheer Artemis up to see how happy and hopeful he is about his situation.

"It should be within the week depending on how fast you heal but you will have to do some therapy." Dick informed. Garth nodded at the information, thankful that someone other than Dinah was willing to talk to him about his situation.

"Thank you Dick... Oh and one more thing, There was this girl from my class who was sat here when I woke up. She had blonde hair and she was georgeous... What was her name?" Garth mumbled.

A rather large smile appeared on Richards face and his eyebrows raised in surprise and then he finally answered his friend, "Artemis. Her name is Artemis." he beamed.

"Artemis..." Garth repeated.

Dick stood up from the chair and nodded to the man laying in the hospital bed, "I'll speak to you soon Garth I need to let the others know how you're doing." he nodded and made his way to the doorway.

"Oh, Dick! Could you thank Barbara Gordon for my card for me please? She says that I saved her but I don't know about that." he nervously effused.

The black haired teen turned to Garth and smirked, "I will Garth and don't worry, you did."