Disclaimer: I own nothing. DC owns it all.

Palo Alto

June 20

09:00 PT

2 hours after chrysalis

There were literally no words to describe what Artemis was feeling. Not only had she lost her partner, she had lost the lover of her life, her soul mate, her friend. When she was a child, she dreamed of finding the perfect man, somebody she could spend the rest of her life with. She thought it was a foolish dream, however. With one parent in prison and crippled, the other a criminal and assassin, and her sister in the wind, she never thought her life would ever be normal. Not until she met the team.

When she was first approached about joining a group of teenage superheroes, she was ecstatic. Her mother had recently gotten out of prison, and now she had a chance to do some good to try to make up for the sins of her family.

However, the last thing she expected was to fall in love with one of them, especially him. She expected that at least some of them were around her age and fairly-good looking. She was just looking for someone to have a little fun with, and not get too attached with them. And when Wally West first came through that zeta tube, clad in only swim trunks and stumbling over his own feet, her first thoughts were, "Not him".

She didn't even notice his good looks because the perfectly chiseled rock known as Superboy made everyone seem sub-par. His goofy personality and annoyance with her also prevented her from seeing his amazing qualities. As time went on, however, when she got a good look at what he was like in the heat of battle, when he was all business, she slowly grew to tolerate him.

This tolerance grew into something more as she got to know him better, and saw the true him he kept hidden under that lackadaisical persona. He was a sweet, kind, caring boy, that, when you really got to know him, provided the best company.

After finally getting together, Artemis and Wally built a beautiful thing. They created a loving relationship that lasted all high school. When college came around, they were elated to learn that they could both go to the same college that was a fit for them. After a year in the dorms, they took the next step, and moved in together, so they could wake up every morning beside each other. She didn't think it could get any more domestic, but then they had to adopt the cutest dog they ever saw. Of course, nothing perfect ever lasts.

Despite the "perfect" life she had with Wally, when Dick told her about the undercover mission, she couldn't resist. She chose to be separated from Wally for several months, which were some of the hardest of her life. Ultimately though, the mission paid off, or so she thought.

They had gathered enough evidence to exonerate the Justice League, and destroyed the already fragile alliance between the Light and the Reach. That, and the capture of several key Light members made it a great victory. However, the Reach had one final trick up their sleeves.

The MFD's were a, regrettably, brilliant plan, that, if it wasn't being used on Earth, she would applaud it. She and Kid Flash took out their MFD easily enough, and had an amazing victory kiss under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Unfortunately, the 21st MFD, the hidden one, reached chrysalis stage before anyone could get to it. Impulse and Flash tried to negate it by running around it in the opposite direction, but couldn't get enough kinetic energy. When Artemis turned to ask Wally what he thought their chances were, he had already gone on his way.

That was the last she ever saw of him.

Now, in their house, that they shared together, all ahe could do was hold Brucely as close as possible, sit on the couch, and cry.

Team Warehouse, Bludhaven

June 20

18:00 UTC

4 hours after chrysalis

The entire team, aside from the founders, sat in mourning after Kid Flash's death. Even though most of them didn't even know his real name, they had heard many stories about him. About how he joined with 2 other sidekicks on an unauthorized mission, that gave birth to a team that molded young heroes, who, when of age, would eventually join the Justice League. All they could do was think about how his actions allowed them to have a tomorrow.

Eventually, to try to relieve the tension, Garfield suggested the all go see a movie. Most of the others quickly agreed. Only two remained in the now eerily quiet warehouse.

Robin worked on modifying his birdarangs, while Wondergirl watched tv. However, her mind wasn't paying attention to what was on the screen.

Ever since Kid Flash's death, Cassie couldn't stop thinking about the day when she would die. Since her mother was mortal, she was only a demigoddess, not a full-fledged immortal amazon. She could die tomorrow or the next day. Life was short. She had to make the most of it, how she wanted, and who she wanted to with.

Ever since she joined the team, Tim had caught her eye. He was strong, fast, agile, and smart. Even without powers, he brought more to this team than she or anyone else with powers did. He was a mysterious one, however. His dark and moody personality was a lot different from her bubbly, enthusiastic personality. However, her repeated attempts at getting him to open up eventually yielded results. He started with small details, but eventually became comfortable telling her about his parents, their deaths, even telling her his real name. She now considered him to be one of her best friends on the team, but wanted it to be something more.

When she looked back over her shoulder, Tim was gone. Cassie walked to his room, and cautiously knocked on the door.

"Tim, are you there?" Cassie softly asked.

After several seconds, the door opened, with Tim giving an expressionless stare.

"Whats up?" He spoke in a monotonous voice.

"I... just wanted to see how you were doing." 'Perfect,' she thought, already digressing.

"About as good as can be. Right?" He said with a weak smile.

"Right. Well, no matter what happens, we will always be friends."

"Of course. Oh, I left something downstairs. Excuse me."

"Right, sorry." She watched as he walked away.

After that she mentally smacked herself. What was she doing? She needed to show him how she felt, no matter what. It was time to be bold.

Tim was searching for one of his small tools he used to modify his birdarangs. Eventually he found it on the kitchen table. Just as he was about to head back, however, a hand grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around. Tim barely had enough time for his eyes to widen before Cassie ripped off his mask and forced her lips on his.

Tim let out a little gasp of surprise, which quickly turned into a moan as Cassie forced her tongue through his lips. After a moment to regain his senses, Tim thrust out his own tongue, and engaged in a battle for dominance. As Cassie tightened her grip on his neck, he pulled her in by her waist. Cassie began to pull at his black hair, eliciting more moans from Tim. Soon they had to break apart for air.

"I have wanted to do that for a while." Cassie breathed out.

Tim grinned, "Likewise."

"Good for you two," a voice spoke from the other end.

Tim and Cassie whipped their heads around to the source of the voice. They saw Miss Martian standing there, with a guilty look on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Just had to grab something from here. Carry on."

As soon as the door shut, Tim and Cassie burst out laughing.

"So are we a thing now?" Tim inquired.

"Hell yeah." Cassie recaptured his lips.

Bludhaven

June 20

21:00 UTC

7 hours after chrysalis

Nightwing sat in his apartment thinking about what to do. After Wally's death, he felt like he needed to do something. However, what could he do? The Reach had been beaten, and soon they would leave Earth. After that, it was back to business as usual. Unfortunately, Dick didn't think he could go back to business as usual.

Wally's death hit him almost the hardest of anyone. Wally was his best friend, and Dick didn't know how to keep leading a team that he and Wally helped begin all those years ago. He just needed to take a break, some time to sort things out. He then decided that, as soon as the Reach was gone, he would take a leave of absence from the team. Some of them, namely Kaldur and Artemis, might want him to stay on, but Dick knows that he would just slow them down in his current state.

They could easily run the team without him. Batgirl was perfectly capable of filling his shoes, and Aqualad would already take over as leader. Now all Dick had to do, was find the right time to tell them.

The Watchtower

July 4

18:00 UTC

14 days after chrysalis

The team and the league had gathered in the Watchtower to celebrate the departure of the Reach from Earth. However, Batman had other big news to share with them. The announcement that the team would now work side by side with the league in the Watchtower brought a smile from everyone's faces, including Artemis'. However, the feeling didn't last. The man she loved was still dead. She needed to try to stop thinking about that however she could.

To that end, she decided to rejoin the team as Tigress full time. This would give her the change she needed to hopefully try to get past Wally's death.

"I need to do this Kaldur. Wally helped us start all this, and I just need some time to think about how I can do this without him." Dick said.

Kaldur sighed, "I understand. Take care my friend."

Dick smiled, "You too."

Unbeknownst to them, a figure was silently listening in on their conversation. Nightwing may have thought that he needed to be alone right now, but this figure knew better than anyone that he shouldn't be alone right now.

As Dick took one last look at the team as Batman gave out assignments, he smiled, and said, "business as usual." He then stepped onto the zeta platform, typed in the coordinates for Bludhaven, and disappeared in a flash of light.

Unknown Place

Unknown Time

In an unknown location, there was almost no highly intelligent life. There was vegetation and organisms of different sizes and shapes. However, none of them were much smarter than a dog, and relied solely on instinct to get by. Except for one.

In the middle of a dense jungle, a figure was laying on his back, unconscious. Slowly, the figure stirred. His hands began bending, and his eyes started to flutter. He groaned, as his body felt like it had just been torn apart and sloppily put back together. As his consciousness fully returned, he slowly sat up. When he tried to open his eyes, the light blinded him at first. When he finally got used to the light, he first noticed his surroundings.

He was lying on the floor on what appeared to be the floor in the middle of a very humid jungle. The trees prevented a large fraction of the sunlight from getting through. Vines were everywhere, and it was green everywhere. However, something wasn't right.

The fruit hanging off the trees looked like nothing he had seen anywhere or in any books. At first, he thought he was seeing things, until a mosquito looking creature the size of a Cadillac flew over him. At this he started to freak out.

'What the fuck is going on?' the figure thought.

He then slowly brought himself to a standing position. He looked in every direction, and saw what appeared to be a place where the jungle ended. He cautiously walked toward the clearing, unable to see very much after the jungle ended. When he finally came out, what he saw shocked him.

There were 3 suns in the sky, all equally bright. In the distance there was a river whose water was floating up a waterfall, into another river above.

As Wally West stared in amazement, he wondered, "Where the hell am I?"