Artemis got her ending with Wally, and I thought Dick deserved one too. And yes, considering I'm way too emotionally attached to these characters as you likely are as well, I sobbed writing this.

disclaimer: unrealistic and way too fluffy and uncharacteristic and just too emotional because IM EMOTIONAL ABOUT THIS OKAY?, language.

Chimera: a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve

Artemis fell on the ground, her hand clamped over her mouth as she knelt suddenly.

"No no please… please please please please… PLEASE! Zatanna, please send me back. I want more time, I want… I want…" Artemis' words left her and she sobbed into the ground. Zatanna took a deep breath and straightened her back.

"Artemis, I'm sorry. I can't." Zatanna helped her up and gave her a hug, letting Artemis cry into her shoulder. "He wanted you to move on, and you deserve to."

Artemis couldn't find the words to argue, not only because every time she breathed a sob came along with it, but also because she knew Zatanna was right, at least about the first part. He wanted me to move on. But I don't deserve to. And if I deserve to, I don't fucking want to. If I don't want to, is that not valuing what Wally wanted for me? Artemis wiped her eyes and nose and took a shaky breath in. God, this is too much.

That night, Artemis walked home looking down, with a hunched back and arms crossed over her stomach, discouraged. She thought she had moved on, for the most part, but she was stricken with avarice. The more time she got with Wally, the more time she wanted to Wally, which was such a surprising conundrum considering she never thought she'd get another millisecond with him, let alone a whole other night.

She got to her house, and instead of walking up the stairs onto her front porch, she walked around to the back and immediately mounted her bike and went in the direction of the only person she could talk to: towards Bludhaven.

Dick heard a knock on his door around 10 pm. Groaning internally, he got up to open the door to find Artemis, very out of character. She was fidgeting her foot, looking down, biting her lip, and- were those tears in her eyes?

"Hey Dick, can I come in?" she asked softly, but in such a desperate way that it sounded like "please let me in". This was the last thing Dick, needed, but he still said-

"Of course."

He let Artemis in and closed the door behind her, watching her as she walked rushedly towards his couch and sat on it, and then immediately hunching over and shaking her leg. What happened? Dick wondered. He followed closely behind.

"Do you want anything?" Dick asked.

Artemis just shook her head, sniffling. She was so out of her element, not noticing that Dick had sat down in his desk chair, his head supported by his hand, until she looked up, startled. He sighed and winced his face. He looked tired.

"I'm sorry, did I come at a bad time?" Artemis asked, selfishly, she thought, hoping he'd say no.

"No, not really." Dick sighed again. "You know what's going on, there's never not a bad time for me." They were both silent for a moment, until Dick cleared his throat and: "Where are my manners, why did you come here?"

For the first time, Artemis met his eyes with her own, lips pursed and… desperation? devastation? in her eyes.

"I- Artemis, are you okay?" Dick asked, joining her on his couch. This must be bad.

"Is it okay if I'm not?" Artemis asked, wiping away a tear with one hand and twirling hair around a finger with the other. She took a deep breath but it felt shallow, and Dick watched carefully. "Dick… I didn't know anyone else to talk to about this and I think you're the only one who'd understand but I don't want to be a burden to you because if I tell you this you can't tell anyone, especially Barry."

"Hey hey hey, breathe. I'm here for you, don't worry about being a burden." He wasn't worried about what she was going her tell him. It wouldn't shake him. It wouldn't shake him.

"Okay. Okay okay okay okay okay okay okay." Artemis bit her lip, pausing.

It wouldn't shake him it wouldn't shake him it wouldn't shake him it wouldn't-

"I saw Wally today."

Dick felt his world stop. She… she what?

"Um, okay. How?" he asked, trying to keep his composure.

"Zatanna, she was able to let me see him in… the afterlife I guess. It was a child's vision of heaven, clouds and light and that type of shit."

"So he's really… he's really gone?"

Artemis' response was just to break down, and Dick embraced her. To be honest, this was the icing on the cake for the last… how long has he been this unhappy? When he became Nightwing, he didn't smile as much, and he sure as hell didn't laugh. Not the way he did as Robin, not at all. Recently things between him and Batman had been tense, Red Robin was so similar to Batman that of course he'd prefer Tim, the Team was falling apart as was Bludhaven, and it felt like every time he'd hit rock bottom, there was always more. More and more and more and more. And then he'd just been given some hope, that Artemis saw Wally because he was alive, and then to know for sure that he's dead. Gone. Gone forever. Forever.

As much as he didn't like to admit it, Wally was the one death that Dick never accepted. He was able to accept his own parents' death, Jason's death, every death that he could've prevented, but not Wally's. He seemed indestructible in the weirdest way. The first person to infiltrate themselves into Dick's life and be trustworthy and strong enough to know about his past. He always acted like he could never die, maybe that's why nobody believed he was truly gone. But people have died and come back to life. It happens all the time. So why couldn't that happen to Wally? The least deserving person of death. Why him? Why? He found love. He found love! He was happy. And it was Dick's fault that he was dead, he thought. Dick's relationship with Wally was tethered when he died. He thought he'd have time to fix it. Time. Speedsters have all the time in the world. Why did he have to die? Why? Why him?

God knows how much time passed before Artemis tearfully asked "Was it dumb to have hope, Dick? Was I stupid and unrealistic to believe that just maybe he was still…?"

Maybe not for you, Artemis. But for me… I don't get to hope. It was incredibly dumb for me to believe that something good would actually happen to me.

"I think we all did."

After a long talk, Artemis fell asleep and Dick moved her to his bed. He sat on his couch, sitting in the same hunched over, shaky-legged position Artemis had acquired before. And he finally let the tears pour out. He tries his hardest to be silent, to not wake Artemis, or maybe if no one heard it it never happened and this wasn't real and he wasn't showing weakness and none of this was real and none of it happened and it was all fake. He choked on the sobs of insecurity that turned secure in the most horrific way. He let the tears roll down his neck and dampen his hair as he laid down, not having enough energy to wipe them away. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat that was pure anger and sadness and disappointment in himself. He cried for his best friend. Wasn't the first time, wasn't the last.

Things became hazy. Literal clouds formed and rolled in the sides of his peripheral vision. Skies were light for the first time during the night; for the first time in Bludhaven. Dick just closed his eyes, pushing more tears out of them. He was delusional, emotional, this was just a vision.

Dick felt lighter. His hard couch felt like a soft bed, the air felt cleaner, and the atmosphere felt-

"Hi Dick."

Dick bolted up. His couch was gone, the whole was white and cerulean. But that didn't even phase him because standing maybe 10 feet from him was Wally West.

He slowly stood up and licked his lips. His eyes were wide with disbelief. Dick's vision blurred as he walked over to his old friend.

"Wally?"

"It's me, Dick."

"This isn't real," Dick murmured.

"Dick, it's me. This is real."

"If this was, you wouldn't be talking to me like this. You wouldn't be talking to me at all."

"And why would that be?"

Dick approached Wally, with his right arm extended. He slowly let his fingers touch Wally's shoulder. It felt so real. He let the rest of his hand cup his ex-friend's shoulder, and he felt a tear slip out of his eye, and he looked down. He stood there for awhile.

"I'm so sorry, Wally," Dick whispered.

"Why? What is there to be sorry for?"

Another long, long silence.

"It's-" Dick sharply inhaled. "It's my fault that you're dead."

"Oh Dick… I know you've thought that for the past few years, but I really want you to know that that's not true." Dick let out a shaky breath and two tears escaped his eyes, and Wally gently touched the arm that was touching his own shoulder. He's real. This is real. "I knew Artemis would get tired of our boring, normal lives, and to be honest, I couldn't even blame her. I was getting tired of the same old too. She was itching to go on another mission, and your call was exactly what she was looking for. And yeah, I was really pissed at you. But… how could I stay mad at you, especially for making my girl happy?"

"W-Wally. Can I have a hug?"

"You never have to ask for that, Dick." Wally's warm arms gently wrapped around Dick's shaking body, and Dick warily returned the hug, still in slight disbelief. Dick didn't know how he'd react if he ever saw Wally again, considering all of the issues they had. He expected probably to cry, because of all of that he'd done over this topic. But he just smiled. He felt home in his arms. Things felt normal, even though nothing was normal about this conversation, this interaction, in his arms. Dick was happy in Wally's arms.

"There's that smile. I haven't seen that in years," Wally said. Dick chuckled slightly, knowing how true that was.

"So… we're good?" Dick asked.

"Are you seriously asking me that after that incredibly eloquent speech I just gave you? I'm hurt." Wally was grinning ear to ear, which he diminished to his normal smile. "What do you want to do? We have all the time that we want."

"Can we please just talk? I don't know if you've been watching-"

"I have."

"...Okay, so then you'd know how I haven't let anyone in since you died, and you're still the only person I trust fully."

"Wow, I'm flattered. Yeah, we can talk, but just know I'll know if you're lying because I've been keeping tabs on you," Wally said.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Dick pressed.

"Well let's see, when you told that you-"

"Rhetorical question, but here's one I actually want you to answer: why did you come to me? Or find me or whatever, and why now?"

"When Zatanna opened a… I guess portal into the living world, I was able to come to you when you were asleep. I don't think there could've been a better time, because… you're struggling Dick," Wally said worriedly. "When was the last time you slept?"

"I'm sleeping right now-"

"A good night's sleep, Dick. When was the last time you gave yourself some credit, or a break? When was the last time you let yourself feel, and when was the last time you were happy? When did you stop… being Robin?"

"You know, even for you that is a really fucking dumb question."

"After you stopped being Robin, you changed. You stopped laughing. You stopped playing pranks and you became… I don't know, kind of like Batman." Wally rubbed the back of his neck. Dick hated being compared to Bruce's alias.

"This is why I need you, Wally. You made me, you told me it was okay to feel, you always helped me when Batman was being a dick or when I was overworking myself. I… what can I do to stay here with you? Please, Wally, I'd rather be here with you for only another 30 minutes than out there for the rest of my life."

"Helping people is your passion, Dick, you can't give that up."

"It doesn't feel like it."

"It's your calling. And I would never let you stay here with me, just like I didn't let Artemis. I wouldn't allow it," Wally sternly said. He paused, and then exhaled. "You have such a good future ahead of you, Dick. I promise you that. Do you want to see it?"

"Actually, can we do something else?

"Anything you want."

Dick closed his eyes and breathed in, and opened his eyes and breathed out as Robin; Wally became Kid Flash. He felt himself smile. It was a natural instinct, and God he missed that.

"I'd rather relive the past, KF," Robin said, followed by his signature cackle.

I wanted to write a longer ending, but to me this felt right. Maybe one day though.

Y'all I don't know why but when I started the first word tears filled my eyes and they didn't leave until the last period and then after that, and I actually had to stop writing like 3 times because I was just sobbing. I think I've believed that Wally was somewhere in the speed force ever since Young Justice season 2 came out that seeing the scene where he says goodbye to Artemis just made me break. I've only watched season 3 on youtube in small clips, but the scene where they meet in the afterlife in like 5 minutes and I sobbed about it for like 20 minutes. It broke me. He's really gone. God. I can't believe it. I remember when I fell in love with this show like 6 years ago or something and how it developed m crush on Dick. I remember when Dick and Wally fought in season 2, and how upset I was that Dick became different when he became Nightwing, because Nightwing is my favorite hero and he totally lived up to that in Young Justice, but I guess all the fanfiction I was reading really made me want to see more fluff. I remember Wally disappearing, and my immediate idea for a fanfic was like Wally coming back to life. But season 3 kind of assured that he's really dead, which hurts. It hurts so much.

I AM THANKFUL FOR SEASON 3 THOUGH. SO GODDAMN MUCH. Oh my Godddddd it came out like early 2019 and I watched like half of it yesterday (February 27, 2020), or as much as I could just watching it on Youtube. But I can't believe it came out over a year ago and I didn't know about it. That's frustrating. I'm so happy they've already announced season 4, phantoms. I just ahhhh I'm so in love with the DCU. To be fair, I got Disney+ and also fell in love with the MCU, but that's a different story.

SPOILER: not the character lol but did you guys see Jason and baby Damian in Talia's arms in episode… 6 I think? I DIED. MY ENTIRE BODY GOT CHILLS AND I LITERALLY SQUEALED LIKE… I don't know. I'm out of creative right now. But oh my God I just watched that and I think I regained a part of my soul if that's even possible because I'm so in love with the Batfamily. I've been obsessing over comics again, as I do in phases because I'm fucking stupid, and I'm realizing how much I've beEN SLEEPING ON JASON. He's been kind of rocking my world right now, because I just feel so much for him right now. Love, pity, understanding… he'll never surpass Dick in my heart though.

Also, hi guys! If you remember me lol. I've been writing and taking down stories since 4th grade (yes, I'm such a rebel and wrote illegal as a little 9 or 10 year old or something) and I'm finally legal! 14 turning 15 soon yay!