A/N: And... school's back! Yay. How is everyone? :)

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PS: Angus and Julia Stone were a big part of this chapter.


Chapter 9: Embrace


The trip back to the apartment had taken twenty minutes and forty seconds, with each tick of her watch counting down like a doomsday button before she'd finally arrived. Artemis wasn't sure what she expected.

She knew her mother wouldn't be there, not when the Justice League had disappeared in front of her eyes, and billions of adults vanished all across the world, but she still hoped for the smell of jasmine and lily and the telltale rattle of Paula's wheelchair against the wooden flooring.

The calming presence her mom usually exuded was gone, and the young archer never realised how much she needed it, until now. She ran a shaky hand through her hair as she lowered herself to the ground, curling her knees to her chest and breathing deeply through her nose.

What now? What was there to do? The world was going to change, and with a bunch of teenagers in charge, it wasn't going to change for the better. Chaos would reign, and though they'd come to a resolution one day, she'd be gone by that time. Gone the moment she turned eighteen, just like all the adults were, like her mother was.

In her moment of panic, Artemis scrambled for the com-link in her pocket and called the first person that came to mind, whose name was also last on her list.

"No one's here," she said in lieu of a greeting, her voice sounding distant to her ears over the loud thumping of her heartbeat.

"I know. I'm sorry, Artemis," came the answer, his tone uncharacteristically solemn, and Artemis squeezed her eyes shut tightly. That was what she needed to hear- the confirmation that her mom really was gone- and her breath rattled through her lungs.

"How about you?"

"I-I'm heading home now," the speedster answered.

"Okay," was all Artemis could say. She understood his need to stay hopeful, to believe that his parents would be there and she almost wished they were. The Wests, open and exuberant, weren't afraid to share the warmth that they never ran out of, and perhaps that was why she called him.

Artemis could hear the rustle of wind against his mic as he probably ran all the way home, and the archer would never admit it, but she was grateful for his presence. The stillness of her home, of her childhood haven without her mom was suffocating, and Artemis rested her arms on her knees, burying her face into the crook of her elbows.

There was a moment of silence and Artemis would've thought he'd hung up if it weren't for the background noise, but there was a faint rustling before Wally's consoling words reached her ears, "We'll be okay, Artemis. I promise."

Her heart sounded loud in her ears, and she tried not to let the tears flooding her eyes to overflow.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," She replied, her words inflicting the sharpness that her lifeless tone couldn't.

"I never break my promises," he said resolutely. "We'll get through this. We're all still together, aren't we? Still a team."

Artemis scrunched her eyes up as they burned behind her closed lids, and the hysteria rising in her throat stilled before a wobbly smile stretched across her lips.

"Whatever, Wall-man."

A chuckle sounded on the other line but before Wally could retort with one of his lines, both their com-links began to ring in their ears and both accepted the incoming call with a tap of their fingers on the device.

"KF, Artemis," the Boy Wonder called, sounding relieved. "Good, you're connected. The younger kids are freaking out and we've established a rendezvous point at Happy Harbor High School where we're rounding up every baby and toddler in the area until we find out what's going on.

"Conner and M'gann are already out there gathering younger kids to the gym, so hurry. We need all the help we can get," Robin ordered before ending the connection and Artemis thought about the thousands of other children who felt just as she did, lost and afraid now that their anchors in the world were gone. She stood up from her spot immediately, a sense of purpose causing adrenaline to rush through her veins.

"Guess we better get moving," Wally said as Artemis made a noise of assent to reply, and she left her apartment for the zeta-tubes back to Happy Harbor.

As soon as Artemis disconnected the call, Wally felt his feet slow down as he neared the sign that read 'Central City 8200 km'. There were a couple cars that had crashed onto the sides of the highway, but none had any children in them.

It didn't take long for him to run back to Happy Harbor, after deciding that the mission came in highest priority, and that the trip home would've taken some time but there had been a part of him that wasn't sure he wanted to see what was left of his home- or what wasn't left in it.

He had stopped by at houses, telling older kids to round up everyone to Happy Harbor High School, and he saw things he was afraid to see at his own house: the abandoned, cold coffee in the middle of the table, or the car keys on the floor, or broken dishes littering the kitchen tiles.

Wally wondered what his reaction would have been if he'd seen his house without his family, and instantly thought of Artemis and the way her voice had shook when she had called, or her irregular breathing that hadn't gone as unnoticed as she'd thought.

It pleased him to think that she'd called him out of everyone she could've contacted, but at the same time, it had killed him to know that the ever indifferent, confident Artemis could be vulnerable- and to him, no less- when he'd been halfway across the country with no means of comforting her.

On his way to the gym, he had picked up another kid from another empty house, and when he arrived at the Happy Harbor High School gymnasium, he surveyed the room with a frown on his face. There had to be about forty children in here, all of whose parents had disappeared mysteriously.

Slowly, he moved to the center of the room where he saw Artemis surrounded by the youngest kids.

"I'll find your mommy, she's out there somewhere playing hide and seek," he could hear her say to a crying little girl with blonde pigtails as he got closer.

The little girl wailed louder. "But I don't want to play this game anymore."

Wally walked up to the circle, and tapped her on the shoulder with the kid he still held in his arms. Artemis whirled around from the crying girl, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw the speedster. There was a shine to her eyes that Wally noticed, but he said nothing as he tried to hand her the little boy.

"I picked him up in a house near the coastline, there should be another dozen or so coming this way with a group of teenagers."

She nodded, placing her hands under the little boy's arms and pulling, but he was holding tightly onto Wally's neck.

"Artemis will take care of you," he tried saying fondly, but the boy shook his head and hugged him tighter.

The archer stared at the little boy as her hands dropped to her sides, and her mouth tightened as she glanced over all the little kids around her. She wasn't even sure why she was here since she didn't even know what she was doing, and she was never good with these things. Artemis Crock didn't know how to cheer up forty kids whose parents had vanished just like hers had, and the little kid was right. Nobody needed her here.

She balled her fists and glanced away from Wally as her eyes burned, and she slap-wiped her cheeks when a lone tear leaked past her defences.

The speedster's eyes widened and his hands itched to reach out to her as he watched her usually wide shoulders shake infinitesimally.

"Hey," he said, taking a step closer with his free hand facing her.

"I'm fine, Wally. Just go," she muttered, and looked up at the ceiling to stop the flow of annoying liquid in her eyes.

He didn't know how it happened, but it did, and it had been the first time he'd felt so sure of something. Without warning, his free arm had wrapped around her shoulders and nestled her head into the other side of his neck.

Artemis' breath halted against his shoulder, and her hands were awkwardly held between their bodies, but Wally ignored it and smoothed her hair behind her shoulder.

"You're okay, Artemis. You're okay," he murmured into her hair, and Artemis stilled under his arm.

Usually, she would never have condoned this- whatever it was. It was Wally, Wall-man, the Kid Idiot, Wallaby West, and even though her mind whirred with a thousand insults for the redhead, she didn't mind it. It was kinda, sorta, maybe even nice.

The speedster had always been an emotional distraction for her, an outlet where she could spend all her frustrations on and forget about all the other crap in her life, but she suddenly felt guilty for ever insulting him, for calling him Kid Malingerer when Wally was just Wally. He was a West.

Just as she relaxed in his half-hug, which would've looked awkward from a third perspective, she felt a small tug on her hair. The little boy had Artemis' hair in his grasp, and above her, she could hear Wally's tender, "Pretty, right?"

The archer suddenly froze and slowly, she looked up into an expanse of green and a hint of gold, and the moment had gotten too fragile, too weird, that Artemis stepped away immediately. She smiled at the little boy with her hands reached out, and he was transferred into her arms.

Wally had expected her to insult him or threaten his life if he ever did that again, but instead, she stood there, playing with the kid in her arms.

"Thanks," she finally said, before glancing up at him through her long, wet eyelashes. "Thanks, Wally."

Then she had turned around and left him in the middle of the gym with crying kids and hushed voices, but his cheeks were hot and all he could think about was how Artemis Crock was unpredictable, emotionally inept and dangerous; but mostly, how she smelled of daisies.