KEYSTONE

DECEMBER 31ST, 2011

11:30 CT

Wally West's first emotion of the day was annoyance. His eyes slowly flickered open as he used what energy he had at the moment to sit himself up, balancing on nothing but the support of his arms. He sat in this position for a few minutes, trying to gather up his energy as he growled internally at the obnoxious beeping of his probably twelve-years-old-by-now alarm clock. He clumsily swung his arm on the "OFF" button, which lead to his second emotion; relief. Relief that the alarm clock was finally shut up. He stood up and let out a large yawn and changed his clothes in roughly two seconds before his phone went off. Speeding over to his computer desk, he picked it up to see who the notification was from.

Artemis.

Wally smiled. Every time Artemis texted him and the notification popped up on his phone, on the top left corner of the screen, he also saw a picture of her. Long blonde hair which she somehow always managed to keep clean and combed, beautiful smoke-gray eyes that were so calming, but also had tints of "bad ass" in them, her soft tan skin which always somehow glowed. Perhaps it was the lotion brand she was using, or maybe she was just perfect like that. Wally went with the second option. He then realized that he was so hypnotized by his girlfriend's picture that he hadn't even bothered to check the text she sent him.

Hey babe! There's gonna be a New Year's Eve party at the Watchtower tonight starting at eight. Can't wait to see you.

Memories of last New Year's Eve came soaring back to Wally. In the Watchtower, how the Light had the League under control, and how the Team had fought with all of their effort to stop them. Wally was sure that he'd die that day, given the fact that their own mentors were trying to kill them, but ended up with something much better than death.

He ended up with Artemis.

Feelings of warmth tingled inside of him. The memory of their first kiss would always make him happy, occasionally, when he thought about it, made him giggle for some reason.

Artemis... she was just perfect to him. Even her flaws were beautiful to him. He would do anything for her, anything to make her happy.

Wally loved her more than anything in the world.

PALO ALTO

JUNE 21ST, 2016

3:13 PCT

Artemis sighed as she opened the door, the squeak of it seeming rather loud before the quiet night. She walked in and turned on the light. Brucely jumped off of the couch right away, and ran over to Artemis, jumping up into the air and placing his paws on her shoulders.

"Hi Brucely." she said affectionately to the pit bull, and gently set his paws down to the floor. She closed the door behind her, and Brucely began to to circle her, sniffing and whimpering. He stopped circling, faced her and sat down, his ears pulled back, whimpering once again.

Artemis' eyes began to water. She got down on one knee, and gently stroked Brucely's head.

"I'm sorry," she croaked, trying but failing to hold back tears that were now streaming down her face, "he's not coming back."

Her voice was too shaky for her to speak anymore. She stood back up and sniffled before wiping her tears with her sleeve and making her way towards her room. She sat down on her bed. The room seemed so empty, so cold, and she had only just entered. She lay back on her bed, resting her head on the fluffy pillow behind her, staring at the TV as if it were actually on. She sighed, and let her body go from stiff to all over the place, flopping out her arms and legs. She suddenly went still once again, feeling the back of her palm hit something. Sitting up, curiously and concerned, she looked in the direction of the object that her hand hit.

A folded piece of paper.

Raising an eyebrow, she grabbed the paper, eagerly unfolding it, and began to read.

Dear Artemis,

I'm not a poet or play-writer like William Shakesphere. I can't write something about how you shine brighter than the moon and stars, or you're more beautiful than a dozen roses. (And to which, babe, you are.) But I am writing this for a reason. Today, as of the day I'm writing this, it's New Year's Eve of 2011, and we've been together for a year. You already know we've had our arguments, disputes, and such. But we're still together, we're still happy, we know how to resolve those and move forward to better things. Artemis, I love you so much. I would never leave you, I would never cheat on you, you are the only woman I'll ever need in my life, you are my queen, I will do anything for you, babe, I'd sacrifice my own life for your's. You've shown me affection and love that no other girl has shown me in my life, and I know you actually love me for me, not for sex, not for money, just me. You are the sexiest, most bad ass person I know, and you're my girlfriend, which makes it all the more better.

I know this sounds crazy because I'm only seventeen, but after what we've been through, I just know that you're the one I want to marry, have kids, and grow old with. We aren't just some teenagers who met at school, we've worked together through thick and thin, to serve justice, risked our lives together countless numbers of times, and we fell in love that way. It was absolutely perfect.

Which is why I'm writing this. Artemis, you know well by now that the life of a hero is dangerous and risky. You don't know what's gonna happen. If I feel that a mission I'm about to attend is dangerous and I don't know if I'll come back alive that day, I am going to set this out for you to find this, to let you know that I will always love you, even after death, and I hope you will remember me and continue to love me. If I don't die that day, I will simply put it back. But if I do, please visit me at my grave, send me roses because since they're your favorite, they're my favorite, too.

You were the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Artemis was spilling out tears by now, in sadness but somehow felt a streak of happiness run through her. She set down the paper, to which since it was unfolded now, the ceiling fan blew it off of the bed with ease. Artemis quickly reacted and grabbed the paper which was now rolling on the floor. She raised an eyebrow. There was writing on the back.

6/20/16

Artemis, I know. I have felt uncertain in the past, but I just know it's my day to go today...

I'm leaving this on my side of the bed for you to find. I don't know how I will die, I just know that I will, that feeling in my gut won't go away, and it's only getting stronger. I love you so much, I want you to live happily even when I'm long gone. These past 5 1/2 years have been absolutely amazing, the best years of my life I could ever ask for, because I was blessed to be able to spend them with you. I'm so sorry I never had the chance to ask you to marry me. I was planning on doing it on New Year's Eve at the Watchtower, but I now know that I won't get the chance. I'm so, so, sorry. I'm sorry I never got the chance to have children or to grow old with you like I said I wanted to with you. Please, take care of Brucely. Try to make him understand that I won't be coming back home. Tell Bart, that even though I died, I still want him to become Kid Flash. He'll be better at it than I ever was. Tell Dick I said thank you for always being there for me and being such an amazing friend. Tell Jaime I said congratulations for defeating the Reach, because I just know that will happen today. I can feel it. Try not to be sad, Artemis. My death will be the only bad thing that will come out of today, but I have a feeling, it will be worth it.

Today is the day.