Title: Eventually
Rated: T
Characters: Artemis, Wally, OC
Words: 1,374
Summary: She couldn't believe it. They had their whole lives ahead of them. They would've gotten married, lived in a cute house with a fence and have two point five children. But the idiot had to go and play hero.
Artemis stared at the grave of her dead boyfriend. She couldn't believe it. They had their whole lives ahead of them. They would've gotten married, lived in a cute house with a fence and have two point five children. But the idiot had to go and play hero.
Beside her, stood Elena, her and Wally's closest friend, alongside Dick. She was saying something but Artemis couldn't hear her. To her friends, she was still breathing, but she was dead. She wouldn't come out of their apartment, and she wouldn't eat at all.
The only ones who still stood by her side were M'gann, Zatanna, Barbara, Dinah and Elena. M'gann, Dinah and Zee had been on a mission, and Babs was patrolling in Bludhaven, so Elena had volunteered to take a break from her hunt, and take Artemis to the graveyard.
And right now, even though she desperately tried to, she couldn't say anything. She just stood there, staring at his grave.
She heard Elena sigh, and she turned around to find the brunette leaving. She knew it, Elena would've left one time or another.
She put her hands inside the pockets of her, or really Wally's, sweatshirt and started walking away. Maybe, some other time, she could finally talk to her boyfriend without feeling numb.
Once, she arrived at their, or now her, apartment, she took of her sweatshirt and threw it on the floor, not even bothering to see where it landed.
She headed to their bedroom, and sat down on their bed. She took the picture that sat on the bedside table, and stared at it. It had been their first date, at the circus. And of course, Dick and Elena just had to be there. They had taken the picture and threatened to tell the team and Ollie about their date, if Artemis and Wally didn't comply to their wishes. So, to keep away an excited team and an angry-slash-overprotective mentor, they agreed.
Looking back, that time in her life had been so peaceful. No alien invasions, no faking deaths, no dead teammates, no exes on the same team, and no dead Wally.
She was interrupted from her train of thought by her cellphone ringing. She checked the caller ID, to see it was Elena. Why was she calling? Didn't she want nothing to do with her?
She pressed accept and held the phone next to her ear.
"Artemis," she breathed out, sounding relieved, "You're still alive!"
Artemis felt quite insulted. Was she that weak that people thought she'd kill herself over her boyfriend's death? Though the thought had crossed her mind a few times.
As if sensing what her friend was feeling, Elena quickly corrected herself, "I meant, you weren't there when I came back. I thought something happened to you."
She came back? Why? Artemis was sure she had left her.
She heard Elena sigh, "You thought I left, didn't you?"
Artemis nodded, even though the blue-eyed beauty couldn't see her.
"What am I going to do with you, Artemis?" She asked, "You have to let go."
Artemis inhaled sharply, here it goes. The same lecture over and over again.
"I know you need sometime, to leave all of this behind. 'Cause you're still hanging on," She continued.
Wait, what? She wasn't going to tell her to stop mourning? No, of course, she wasn't. This was Elena she was talking to. The girl who used song lyrics to express her feelings.
Artemis bit back an amused smile. She might as well have started singing.
"I know you're lonely. But you wouldn't be if you let us in! We just want to help," she ranted, "Wally wouldn't want you to be like this. Nobody wants to you to be like this."
Artemis didn't say anything. She knew this, but bringing Wally into this was crossing a line.
"I'm coming over and we're going to watch the reruns of our childhood cartoons," she said, "'Kay?"
Artemis removed the phone from her ear, and pressed 'end call'. She got up from their bed, and threw her cell phone on the bed.
She headed to the kitchen, and got out the ingredients for spaghetti. Out of the two of them, Wally had been the better cook, but that didn't mean Artemis didn't know some recipes here and there.
She took the knife that was hidden in one of the cabinets. None of her friends trusted her around sharp things and she suspected that Ollie and her mother had something to do with it.
She started cutting the chicken, when the door opened, revealing a tired-looking Elena.
"What's up, people? Elena The Amazing is here!" She tried acting cheerful, but Artemis could see that Wally's death affected her a lot. Probably even more than it affected Artemis. Elena had lost not one, but three people. One was dead, one was missing, one acted like a zombie.
Artemis nodded, before returning to cut the chicken.
"Hey, are you making spaghetti?" She asked, to which Artemis nodded, "Awesome, I love your spaghetti!" She looked happier than she had in a while.
If there was one thing you needed to know about Elena, it was that she practically lived for food (and music).
Until she noticed Artemis using a knife. "Artemis! You aren't supposed to be doing anything, except relaxing," she scolded. Another thing was that she acted more like a mother than a teenager.
She waved her hand, in a "so what?" manner.
Elena rolled her eyes, and grabbed her hand, taking the knife from Artemis and putting it on the counter. "Whatever. Just come on. I'm bored and I want something to do."
Translation: Bruce kicked me out of the BatCave and M'gann kicked me out of the watchtower, said I needed to relax.
Artemis rolled her eyes at Elena, why hadn't she given up yet? Everyone else had.
But then again, that's what made Elena, Elena. She never gave up.
Artemis let herself be dragged to the living room, and made herself comfortable on the couch.
"Okay! So what do you wanna watch?" She clapped her hands together, in an excited manner.
"Why?" Artemis croaked, it felt weird to hear her voice again. Elena, on the other hand, looked like somebody gave her a free coupon to an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
"What do you mean 'Why'?" Elena questioned, trying to keep her excitement at bay.
"Why are you doing this?" Artemis asked, gesturing to the living room.
It didn't look like it normally did anymore. The lights were on, a pile of DVDs were stacked messily on the floor, there were food crumbs on the floor, and it looked cleaner, livelier even.
Elena thought about it for a while. Why was she doing this again? Right, to help her friend.
"Because I wanna help you. You're my best friend, Missy," she said honestly.
And Artemis believed her. She always did. Elena always said what was on her mind, the girl couldn't keep a secret to save her life.
"Thank you," she whispered, barely loud enough for Elena to hear.
"Anytime," she whispered back.
"Thanks, anyway," Artemis whispered, grabbing a pack of chips.
"Hey, those are mine," Elena whispered.
"They're mine now." Artemis stuffed some chips into her mouth.
"Why are we whispering?" She asked, still whispering.
The girls took one look at each other, and started cracking up.
"God, I haven't laughed this hard in along time," Elena stated, gasping for breath.
"Me either," Artemis replied, still laughing.
Artemis knew she still needed sometime. She was still hanging onto the past. But, she'd move on.
"Hey, Elena?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"How's the search?"
"I haven't found a single trace of him. That guy's a dick," she complained.
"Maybe that's why his parents named him Dick," Artemis commented, "And if you ever got married, you'd be Mrs. Dick Grayson."
"Shut up," Elena mumbled.
Yeah, she'd move on. Eventually.
So, yeah. That was my try at what happened after Wally's 'death'. Sorry, if Artemis was a bit out of character. But she's mourning and people tend to act differently when mourning. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. And don't forget to comment!