Artemis' footsteps echoed as she walked through the empty room. The Cave seemed abandoned. She could only hope that the team was on a mission. She didn't exactly want company at the point. The TV remote is left on the couch, along with a few personal belongings of other members of the team. A sudden pang enters her heart, and she wonders vaguely why she ever stopped being a hero.
Artemis suddenly starts missing being on the team very much. She almost wants to wait around until someone shows up. The Cave has a different feel to it when there's no sound. It seems almost creepy the way that she's the only one there. The Cave should be filled with sound. With happy chatter and cheerful voices.
She enters the grotto. The dim glow of the holograms light up the room, even though it is still much darker. Artemis heads past the hologram of Blue Beetle. His eyes seem to watch her as the shadows swallow her surroundings. Finally, she reaches the hologram she wants to see. Jason's eyes are staring strait ahead, Artemis can tell that even though he's wearing a mask. It doesn't seem right how serious he looks. She'd known Jason even before he had become Robin. Jason wasn't one to be so serious. Even though he got angry easily, Jason was someone who made others laugh.
"You miss him sometimes?"
Dick's voice snaps her out of her thoughts. She subconsciously reminds herself that he's Nightwing right now. One of the last people she wants to see right now. Even though it's been nearly five months since Jason's death, there's a part of her that still resents Dick for what he did. For not being the brother that Jason was supposed to have.
"Do you miss him?" Artemis shoots it back, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"All the time." Dick runs a hand through his hair. She can imagine what his eyes would look like now. Tired. Guilty. What's worse is that she can hear the sorrow in his voice.
"You could have done better. Been a better family member."
"I know. And I guess it's too late right?" There was a pause. And suddenly Artemis is mad, because he's acting so calm. Because he's acting all innocent, like he didn't even know what he did.
"You could have helped him. Jason, he called you the Golden Boy. Because you were perfect."
"Except I'm not perfect." Dick pauses. "That's what he didn't understand. That even I didn't make a perfect Robin."
Artemis doesn't say anything. She just can't come up with anything to say. She knows Dick wasn't perfect. She knows Jason wasn't perfect. And she knows that Jason was always compared to Dick.
Dick is sitting on the ground now. "Now that I think of it, I have a lot to say to Jason. A lot to apologize for."
"Talking to his hologram isn't going to help. Neither is blaming yourself."
"I know."
They sit there in silence for a few minutes. The air seems thick and the darkness seems like it's trying to choke her. Artemis doesn't want to talk to him anymore. She just wants to go home, and forget that she ever came here. There's a sudden sadness in her heart and she doesn't even know why it's there. Artemis stares at Jason hologram for a few more minutes, studying the detail that seems real. All of the holograms look real. But it doesn't look alive. This Jason looks dead. He looks like he's frozen in this serious state forever, never to feel happiness and freedom again.
She only just realizes that Nightwing has slipped away. She's by herself again. There's so much free space in this room, that Artemis wonders just how many others will die in the future. How long it would take to fill up this room. Fill this room with statues that glow in the dark. It's only a constant reminder that someone's dead.
Robins were meant to fly. Dick had gone higher than ever before. As she leaves the dark room, with the feeling of relief the moment she steps into the zeta beam, Artemis wonders how high Jason went before being shot down.
