I promise
Wally had disappeared for three weeks. THREE WEEKS. The team were all in state of panic. M'gann fell back on her habit of baking ALL THE TIME and burning whatever she does bake. Conner takes Spere and Wolf out on walks so constantly that the teammates actually felt bad for them. Dick hadn't been sleeping at all trying to find his best friend with Artemis by his side although Artemis trains vigorously now in any free time she has got. Kaudar was at Atlantis for the first week but had taken up the habit of pacing in and out of rooms and glancing at the Beta Tubes every chance he got.
It was a lazy Saturday but the air was stiff in the Cave. Dick's latest lead just turned out to be a dead end so decided to take his anger out on his homework. Everyone heard various languages shouted angrily from his room. Every now and again it was a language that someone recognised and their smiled at the bird's choice of swear words. Artemis was practicing on her moving targets with her bow. If her hit was not a bullseye a string of curse words spewed from her mouth, most of the time English. M'gann had finally stopped Conner from taking Wolf out from a walk and instead occupied herself and him with cleaning him. Kaduar was working on paperwork, sending in reports of the Teams latest mission. It was around about lunch time when the announcement came through. " Kid Flash B03"
"Wally!" Was M'gann as she forgot all about Wolf and sped to the Speedster. He was slightly limping, had a bandage around his chest and head and one peaking out of his pants. As soon as he saw M'gann he stopped walking and threw his arms out to greet the Matian. Only to have a bird swing from the rafters, straight in his arms and knocked them both over. "Well that was overkill." Wally muttered as he tightened his grip Dick. "I had to get the first hug." The raven haired boy whispered back. They then laughed together and got up off the floor just for Wally to be knocked back down from a green skinned missile. "We were so scared." She whispered fitfully in his ear.
"Hey, hey you think I would leave without saying goodbye." Wally smile. Then he got back up just to be knocked back over by a enthusiastic Conner who forgot his strength just for a second. "Does no one understand I am hurt and should not be thrown around like this." Wally mutter to himself. "Yeah but we missed you." Conner replied. Then up Wally came again, expecting another attack. "I think Kaduar went shopping for lunch a couple of minutes ago which only leaves-" M'gann started but was cut off by Wally.
"Artemis."
"Yeah, she's in the training room. I'm glad to see you are okay Wally." M'gann said. Wally nodded then started hobbling off to the training room.
When he got there, he expected another hug- not an arrow flying quickly towards his face. Survival instincts kicked in and he rolled- painfully- out of the way. Then another arrow came and he ran a couple steps, the dodged another and another and another.
"Artemis?" He spoke out, quite puffed. Artemis was in the middle of the room, firing shot after shot at him. He was just impressed that she was so accurate in between the tears and shudders racking her body. "I thought you were dead!" She screamed at him, continuing to fire. "I thought you were dead." She whispered, then crumpled to the floor but not before Wally caught her. "I thought you were dead." She repeated, staring into his eyes. "And I- I realise one thing. One thing while I thought you were dead." Wally waited a couple of seconds then prompted her. "What?" She wiped her eyes and then glared into his. "That I cannot fucking live without you."
"Then I'm never going to leave you again."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
With that memory in mind Artemis stare hazily through the tears at where Wally just disappeared. On her knees in the snow, shivers racked her body but not from the cold.
"You promised." She whispered.