Clara's POV

My eyes shot open. Where am I? What's happening? Why am I dressed in a hospital gown? My breathing sped up as I sat up and assessed my surroundings. Dick, dressed in some ridiculous outfit (though I could still recognize him) was slumped in a chair to my left. Sleeping.

How long had he been by my side? I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already evening. Why had I been out for so long? Had he been beside me for five hours? There was no way. Nobody cared that much. Especially with the way I had treated him earlier today. The thing was, I had never forgotten him. And I still didn't know how I felt about him.

He startled awake as if sensing my gaze, knocking me out of my thoughts. His eyes searched mine for... something. I couldn't tell what it was. "You're… awake," he said. "Yeah," I said awkwardly. He shook his head with a quiet smile. "What happened back there?"

"Back where?"

"At school!"

Memories came crashing back to me. Deflecting the bullets. Punching the shooter. Accidentally throwing Dick and his friends to the ground. And the darkness, thick and enveloping.

Instead of answering his question, I asked one of my own. "Where are we?"

He took a shaky breath and averted his gaze. For a moment, he went completely still. Then he looked at me again. "You've heard of Batman?"

"Yeah."

He told me everything. Batman taking him under his wing. Becoming Robin. Creating the Team, turning into Night Wing, and the work they've been doing. Everything that happened since I saw him last. "Wait," I asked, holding my hands up. "I thought you were adopted by Bruce Wayne?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah... But that has nothing to do with Batman. Anyway, now it's your turn."

I looked away. He couldn't know what happened to me. The person I'd become. "I can see spirits," I said, avoiding the truth. "Sometimes, I can even bring them back to life."

He stared at me blankly. "You're not even going to tell me what you've been up to?"

"That's all you need to know," I snapped. We sat in silence for a while. "So I'm in Mount Justice, am I?"

"Yes. And I think it's time you meet the rest of the Team."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not in these clothes. Who changed me, anyway?" His ears and cheeks turned bright red. At least I still knew how to make him blush. "It wasn't me, don't worry," he said. I grinned. "Okay then."

He tossed me the clothes I had been wearing earlier. He turned around. I almost laughed. "You want me to change here, right now? What if someone walks in on me?"

"Don't worry. I made it very clear that we should be left undisturbed." I changed quickly and told him he could turn around. We walked out of the hospital room.

The number of people who were waiting was suffocating. When Dick said 'Team,' I thought he meant a group of three or four sidekicks. Not more than ten people. I sighed. I didn't do well with large groups.

There was a green girl with a short haircut, a girl in an orange tiger mask with fluffy blonde hair, a girl with dark wavy hair in a suit, a boy with green skin and a monkey tail, a guy in a black shirt with angry eyes, and a guy with dark skin and black tattoos.

I crossed my arms. I wasn't going to be the first one to speak. That would give them the upper hand, and I still didn't know if I could trust these people. Dick came to my aid. "Clara, this is Miss Martian, Tigress, Zatanna, Beast Boy, Superboy, and Aqualad," he said, motioning to each one. A few gave me a slight nod, but most just stared, expressionless.

It was Aqualad who broke the tension. "Greetings, Clara. Welcome to Mount Justice," he said in a soft and respectful voice. It was clear that he was the leader of this team. And a good one at that.

Aqualad continued to address me. "I have heard that you possess the ability to see the spirits of the deceased, and in some cases, resurrect them. Is this true?"

I narrowed my eyes at Dick. How was he able to tell this guy about the conversation we had only ten minutes ago? "That is correct," I said slowly. Aqualad and Dick glanced at Tigress. Her eyes were wide and hopeful. She ripped her mask off. It was Artemis. "So does that mean... does that mean you can bring Wally back?" she whispered breathlessly. My eyes softened.

"Artemis..." I took a step closer. "I don't think I can," I said reluctantly. "I'm not prepared, I'm not... powerful enough. I'm sorry."

Tears shone in her gorgeous eyes. "Can you at least try?" Grief and pure sadness emanated off of her in waves.

If only I had known what I was able to do when my mom died. If only I had been able to help my best friend. I learned not to play the 'if' game. But this, this I could do.

I sighed. "Okay. But I'm going to need some time to concentrate."

Artemis let go of the breath she was holding and smiled, attacking me with a hug. "You don't know how much this means to me," she whispered. She pulled away. I gave her a small smile and moved to the center of the room. Everyone backed away as I sat cross-legged on the floor.

I tried to focus, to block out all other stimuli, and find the thing, the swirling black void, that resided inside me. Something like this would take time. I could've been sitting on the floor for ten minutes, or I could've been sitting there for ten hours. I completely lost all my senses.

I finally found it. I liked to call it my 'core energy.' It was the source of my powers. Some could call it a gift. To me, it was more like a curse. I could feel my eyes snap open, but it was as if I was in a dream.

I saw him. I saw him in the moments before his death, and in the moments after it. "Wally," I whispered, mouth dry. "Artemis?" His voice shook with fear. He had been trapped in this realm for too long. Artemis had never truly gotten over him, and so his soul was bound to this barren land, cursed to walk it for eternity.

"I'm not Artemis," I said, shaking my head. "But you will see her very soon."

"No," he whispered, panicked. "Artemis can't come here. It's- she doesn't-"

"Shhh," I said, trying to calm him down. "Artemis isn't coming here. You're coming back to life."

"What?"

"I need you to trust me."

"If it means that I can see Artemis again, I'll do anything."

The extraction was difficult. I'd never brought back a human, or even an animal that had been gone for so long. The pain was extreme. Splitting through every nerve, ripping open my flesh, tearing my skin, cracking my bones. At one point, I thought I screamed, but it was inaudible. It never ended. It wouldn't stop. Everything went dark.

Night Wing's POV

She took a long time, and everyone was starting to think that she was lying. All of those thoughts disappeared when her eyes opened, glowing bright yellow. She slowly rose into the air, her hair dancing around her like snakes. She was so beautiful.

All the feelings I didn't know I had for her were awakened when we ran into each other earlier today. For a second, I wondered if she felt the same way, but I quickly dismissed the thought. I didn't think she felt anything anymore. I didn't know she hated me so much.

I should've said goodbye.

A tearing sound filled the room and shook me out of my thoughts. A shimmering form appeared across from Clara. It stretched and shifted, to reveal Wally, dressed as Kid Flash. "Wally!" Artemis shrieked. She sprinted over to him, dropped to her knees, and hugged him with all her might. "Crush… ribs…" Wally choked out. I smiled. The pain hit me. I missed him. I wanted to be by him too, high-fiving him and telling him about everything that happened since he left. I missed my best friend.

"I love you I love you I love you," Artemis said, ignoring Wally. I heard Clara gasp behind me, and turned to see her limp body fall from mid-air. I wouldn't make it in time to catch her. I started running. She fell to the ground half a second before I made it to her.

Everything froze. She wasn't breathing. Her perfect face was frozen, drained of the little colour it had. I started performing CPR. Was someone talking to me? I could finally hear again when Conner said, "I... I don't hear a heartbeat."

"No," I whispered. No, she couldn't be gone. I didn't get a chance to apologize. To tell her how I felt about her.

Suddenly, she sat bolt upright and screamed before leaping to her feet and pulling a dagger out of her boot. She backed against a wall, breathing heavily as I slowly approached her. "Clara," I said gently. "Hey. It's okay." Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed against me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck.

She was shaking, almost sobbing, but without the tears. I brought my lips close to her ear. I was going to tell her everything... But I changed my mind at the last moment. "You're... alive," I said instead. She grinned up at me, but she still seemed terrified of something. "I'm not going to die that easily. Is everybody okay?" she asked as she pulled away from me.

The rest of the Team was staring at her with wide, fearful eyes. Artemis was still clutching Wally. Zatanna was glaring at Clara. I looked away from them. "Are you okay?" I murmured in her ear. She nodded with a small smile. She seemed to have calmed down.

Wally shot a look at Kaldur and me. "I think that there's something we need to discuss," I said. Was he coming back to the Team? Was I coming back to the Team? "Agreed," said Kaldur, and we filed out of the room, leaving the rest of the Team behind.


We moved to the grotto, where the statues of the fallen heroes were kept. Kaldur walked over to the statue of Wally and turned it off. "We shall not require this for any longer," he said. There was a long moment of silence. "Let's cut to the chase," I said. "I know that I am rejoining the Team. With Wally back and... Clara, I think I should stay. Wally... what about you?"

He looked at his feet. I instantly felt bad that I pushed this onto him. "I don't know," he said carefully. "The whole 'non-super' thing I had going with Artemis was... good."

"Artemis knows who I am," I blurted. I guess it was better to have that out in the open.

"Don't worry. She knows not to tell anyone. But how did that happen?" Wally asked, grinning at me.

I looked away. "It's a long story." I paused."Anyway, I want you to know that whatever you wanna do, I will always be behind you," I continued.

"Likewise," said Kaldur. Wally nodded, and we all trudged back into Mount Justice.

I walked to the training and mission briefing area, but Wally and Kaldur sped off to the kitchen. They probably didn't want to be there when Clara started yelling at me again. She was also in the training area, reading about the Team off of the many holographic panels that were pulled up in front of her. Her eyes were glued to the panel, not once breaking focus as I walked toward her. I prepared myself for being yelled at. Or for telling her how I felt.

"Hey," I said weakly. She turned her head to look at me. "You really abandoned me for this?" she asked with an emotion I couldn't decipher.

"I-" Were we fighting already? "I'm... sorry?" I said, more of a question than an apology. "Are you sure about that?" she asked, piercing my eyes with her glare.

"Clara. I'm sorry," I said more confidently. Her eyes softened. I moved closer to her, but she turned away.

"I don't know how we can get those years back, and I know you're angry, but I have to tell you something," I said uneasily. She ignored me.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you leave me?" she said, raising her voice and turning to face me. She moved closer and pressed a finger against my chest. "You were my only real family, with mom and dad fighting all the time. Did you... did you really care that little about me?" Her eyes shone with unshed tears, but she blinked and they were gone. I had never seen Clara cry before. Ever.

"You know how much I cared about you. How much I... still care about you. I was... my parents, they..." I cut myself off. I had overcome those memories a long time ago, but Clara brought the pain back, like a fresh wound. I missed them.

At the sadness in my eyes, her face instantly softened. "Dick, I'm so sorry. I- I didn't-"

"Shh, it's okay," I said, putting a hand on the side of her face.

That's when she seemed to notice that our noses were almost touching. I tried to drag my eyes away from hers, but somehow I couldn't. I gently placed my other hand against her waist and pulled her even closer.

She braced her hands on my chest. "Dick," she breathed. "I don't think we should-"

I couldn't take it any longer. I dipped my head forward, and closed the gap between us.