"Follow me!" the girl extended her hand towards me but I only stare at it "I still don't know who you are." She looks at me as if I'm joking "I'm Artemis " she says, as if that was all I needed to take the hand of a stranger, and I guess it is, because I do.
Short Story. A.U. No heroes. Wally lives with Barry, Iris, and Bart.
I do not own Young Justice, DC Comics or any of their characters. I only own the story.
...
Every day we have to make different decisions, decisions that can change our lives completely.
Sometimes they're life threatening, "This mushrooms are potentially poisonous, but my husband insists they are edible." Johann Schobert's wife probably should've thought that one better.
Sometimes they mark your future, "Art is fun, but debate team will probably look better in a collage application." Dick doesn't plan on working at that old coffee house for the rest of his life.
But sometimes they're simple, mundane even, "I could keep walking straight to get what Aunt Iris asked for and cross the street to the library on my way back, or I could do it now." Sometimes it doesn't take a deadly mushroom, or the right extracurricular to change your life. Sometimes, all it takes is one step….
...
"Wake up." A voice echoes around me. I see a car and blinding lights, but my eyes are still closed. "Wake up." The voice sounds clearer now, it's playful, it's a girl and she's shaking my arm. "Come on Wally, wake up!" I finally do what she says only to find a pair of gray eyes and long blonde hair. "Hey!" She says enthusiastically.
"Uh hi, what are you doing?"
"Waiting for you to wake up." The normality with which she says this makes me feel like I've known her my whole life, but I can't place her in my mind. "Come on!" She stands up and motions for me to follow her, but I stay sited on the sand ... sand?
"Umm where am I?" I look around and I realize that everything is sand; I'm sitting in the middle of a beach with nothing in sight but a small mountain behind me.
She looks at me strangely, "at home, where else would you be?" I look around once again and see that she's right. My house is right behind me, and I'm not sitting on grass anymore but on the asphalt that leads to the entrance, there's my neighbor's house across the street with his demon dog's house and Mrs. Gomez's house next door with her perfect roses. "Follow me!" The girl extends her hand but I only stare at it.
"I still don't know who you are."
"I'm Artemis." She says it like it's the most obvious thing, as if that is all I need to take the hand of a stranger, and I guess it is, because I do.
...
Ever since the day I met Artemis she has done nothing more than make each day more amazing than the last, we've gone to all sorts of places. Although there are days we just sit back at the beach to watch the clouds, because according to her if you'd try to make every day amazing then none of them would be. But what she doesn't know, is that as we watch clouds transform from dragons to rabbits to simple cotton balls, the simple fact that she is the one that is lying next to me makes a normal afternoon become an adventure.
Today is definitely not one of those days.
"Are you sure about this, Artemis?" I say as I put on a scuba diving suit.
"Of course I am, Wally! You'll see, this will be awesome, and you'll regret ever doubting me!" She responds as she makes her way towards the edge of the boat, already dressed. I don't even know where she got all this stuff, the boat, the suits, the gas tanks… but I learned some time ago to never ask her questions of this kind, she gets weird when I do. "Ready to swim with the fishes?" She winks and smiles at me. Her eyes were wild and she gave me this grin like every time we went on another adventure, that grin that would surely get us in trouble, get me in trouble, but like all those other times the thought of not doing something, anything, that had to do with Artemis was preposterous. So I dive in with her.
I won't open my eyes. I can't, not knowing if when I do there won't be something mortal in front of me. Ambar tugs on my arm to confirm there aren't any squids; yes, she knows of my irrational fear to giant eight tentacle underwater species. Hey! You'd be scared too if by the age of six your older, stupid, neighbor would make you watch 'The Return of the Killer Squid' and then chase you around the house with a real one, his father's a fisherman so every time my aunt would get rid of one he would go to the freezer and get more, but enough of those slimy creatures. I open my eyes and see hundreds of millions of fish swimming in circles, as if dancing, and Artemis is in the middle of it all… she looks like a mermaid, which I mention later on the day and earn a painful punch to the arm, she makes a gesture with her hand for me to join her. As I start to swim to her something on the side catches my eye, it's a boy playing in the dangerous part of the reef. I try to swim nearer but then Artemis swims through a group of orange fish making them swim in front of me hysterically, I look again once the fish pass but the boy is gone. After that we must have stayed for hours, dancing with the colorful fish and swimming by the coral reef, because when we got back to the boat our tanks were almost empty.
Once out of the suits and back at the mountain, Artemis laid on the sand with her head on my legs resting from the three-layer cheesecake we had just eaten while I sat resting my back on a rock drawing on my notebook the arcade by the pier where we were going tomorrow. You see, when we first started hanging out she would always ask me where I wanted to go, but with time I ran out of ideas, she never chose the place except for when she wanted to come to the mountain, she said she liked it because I always drew when we were here, but again after a while I ran out of things to draw. So she came up with this, I had to draw her the place where I wanted to go next, any place, my imagination was my only limit, and then she would take me there or to the most similar place our own little town had, she knew this place way better than me, I mean I've been living here my whole life and I didn't even know we had a small coral reef!
So far the arrangement has worked great but as we lay here all I really want to do is talk. Artemis may be fierce and stubborn, but when we come to the mountain she becomes this incredible wise human being. I don't think I've ever met another sixteen-year-old, or any years old for that matter, who thinks the way she does, it's as if she could read my mind. And I love it.
"Talk to me" I say.
"About what?"
"I don't know, anything"
"Ok, why Wally?" she asks.
I put down my notebook to look at her, "what do you mean 'why Wally'?"
She sits up indian style in front of me and asks again, "yeah, why Wally? Why is your name Wally?"
"If you think that's weird then you should hear my middle name, I was named after my dad."
She looked at me with a look I new so well, I was in big trouble. "Now you have to tell me your middle name."
"No way!"
"Oh come on Wally! How bad can it be?!"
"It's... Rudolph..." I couldn't make her stop laughing after that.
"Your name is Rudy?!"
"Ok, I get it, it's hilarious! Now it's your turn."
She calmed down a bit but was only able to ask: "My turn of what?" While she struggled with her breathing.
"Your turn to say an embarrassing story about your name." She laid back into her previous position, her head on my lap.
"There's nothing embarrassing about my name."
"Really? But your name's Artemis, you're named after a goddess."
"Oh! That's easy, it's because Artemis has two meanings. In Rome Diana is known for love and compassion. But in Greece it's known for truth and justice."
"…I'm all for justice" I am. I wasn't making it up to appeal her, I really do believe in justice, for me it's freedom. And I suppose that's what Artemis is… freedom, in all the sense of the word.
"I know" she says.
...
I've been feeling weird lately. As if I'm forgetting something, Artemis says it's probably an idea of a drawing coming, but I'm not so sure.
As we walked into the arcade Artemis went to buy the tokens while I made a bee line to the skee ball. I'm a big fan of that game, I've played it since I was 4 years old. Maybe I wasn't that good at the time, but today I am a master.
"So, skee ball." Says Artemis.
"Yup, I'm a pro."
"You like playing it a lot?"
I stop from grabbing the next ball and look at her straight in the eye, "I no longer play the game, I AM the game." I regretted it as soon as it left my lips, but it was too late, although instead of laughing her pants off she looked at me as if it were a challenge and grabbed a ball from the machine next to mine.
"Well Mr. Skee Ball, let's see if you can beat a real professional."
"It's on, Arty."
It was a tie. I'm embarrassed by that fact because a) when I thought I had kept some dignity after ending in a tie, she gloated at the fact that Mr. Skee Ball had lost. B) I lost. C) She lost too, but apparently she has always sucked in this game…and yet it was a tie.
Artemis gets really bored really quickly and I like to stay in one machine for as long as I can, so I told her it was fine if she wanted to wander off to other games without me, at first she said it was fine and that she'd wait but after about five minutes she divided the tokens and left. That was two hours ago. As I'm getting 3rd place on the race cars I hear my name being called, I turn around to look for Artemis but instead spot a young boy about fourteen years old. As I get out of the race car machine I can see his face almost completely, it's the boy from the reef! He's playing the fortune wheel, that game only eats your coins, I go to tell him that and when I'm almost at arm's length Artemis comes in between.
"Hey! Finished your tokens yet?" I'm startled for a moment so I don't answer, "You ok? Come on let's get some fresh air." She grabs my hand and turns me to the exit, I look back but the boy is no longer there, I try to locate him but he seems to have left because he's nowhere in sight.
We walked all the way back to the mountain. And we're back to me sitting by the rock and her lying with her head on my lap, she has her eyes closed while I run my fingers through her long golden hair. All this time I couldn't stop thinking about the boy, he looked so familiar…familiar? ...family? ... Where's my family?
"Probably at work and school." Says Artemis, I didn't say that out loud, did I?
"What?"
She opened her apple green eyes "You asked where your family was? At work and school." So I had spoken out loud, I should be careful. After that she just closed her eyes once more but not before telling me to draw our next destination because she couldn't wait to see it. I couldn't really think about the boy while thinking of my drawing so in a way I'm glad Artemis is so impatient.
...
"Are you ready?"
"I don't know Artemis; this seems too much, even for you."
"Don't be a coward and jump already."
"You're crazy I won't jump!"
" Yes, you will." She starts walking towards me menacingly as fast as the trampoline we're both standing on lets her without making the both of us fall.
"Artemis, what are you doing?" She doesn't answer, just gives me a smirk but her eyes say it all, she will make me jump even if she has to throw me off herself.
"Artemis, think in what you're doing, think about what could go wrong, Arte- ahh!" And I fall 2, 5, 8 meters to the local pool in my neighborhood. At the bottom, after the initial shock passed, I open my eyes and see that she has also jumped.
"Wally." I hear my name, it's as light as a whisper but I hear it, it's the voice of a boy. And then I see him, the boy in the white shirt, the boy from the reef and the arcade. He's swimming on the other side, I blink a few times to see clearly but again, he's gone, but wait… the pool is close that's why Artemis and I jumped the fence so it's impossible for anyone else to be here... I run out of the pool to where Artemis is getting dry to leave.
"Oh come on, did that jump really scare you that much." She grins.
"That's not it"
"Then why do you look like you saw a ghost in there"
I stay quiet for a few seconds but she's waiting for my answer, and I can't tell her I've been seeing this boy, she'll think I'm nuts! "I just got this perfect idea for a drawing, not a place but a real drawing. You'll love it! Come on let's go!" I grab her hand and without even bothering to get dry, or grab a towel, I run towards the mountain. What is happening to me?!
Artemis went to walk around the mountain while I draw the activity we will be doing after later: Tokyo's tower. Ha! Good luck with that one Artemis!
"Wally."
I heard a whisper, someone different, a woman maybe. I paralyzed completely. "Yes?"
"Wally!"
"Hello?"
"Wally! Who are you talking to?" Artemis was standing right in front of me, and the voice was gone.
"No one! I was just remembering a song." She seemed uneasy but I gave her the best smile I could mustered and she calmed down.
"Ok, I'll go walk for a bit longer." She's leaving?! Every time she leaves something strange happens!
"Can I go with you?!"
"I'm only going for a walk, there won't be any running."
"I know; I just feel like walking for a bit."
"You want to walk around the mountain?" I nodded enthusiastically "Ok, sure."
...
We're on my favorite ice cream parlor, which is weird because it's a block away from my old house and that's two cities away, but when I ask Artemis how this is possible she said harshly there were a million of ice cream parlors that looked alike. I know that, but I didn't know that 'Hall of Justice' was a franchise, I don't tell her this though because she's starting to get weird again, like with my other questions… well it's still my favorite place so I might as well sit back and enjoy it.
"Wally" No! There it is again, and now it's a man. Where's Artemis? I look around and I can't find her. "Wally, can you hear me?" No!
"Please. Stop." I put my head on the table and cover my ears with both hands.
"Stop what?" I look up and Artemis is back, again no more noise.
"Nothing, where were you?!"
"Wow relax, I went to the restroom. Everything ok?"
I can't tell her. "Yup"
...
We're walking back to the mountain but when we reach the library, which is halfway, she stops and the inevitable question comes "So…what happened at the ice cream parlor?"
Maybe if I play dumb… "What do you mean?"
She sits down on one of the steps towards the entrance of the library and looks at me straight in the eye. "Wally, when I came back you were hunched over the table covering your ears."
"I wasn't; I was just resting my head" Lie.
"Lie." What? How did she…? "…Know?" I'm not talking out loud am I? "Wally, what happened today?"
"It's nothing Artemis. I just heard some annoying noise"
"... Are you hearing voices?"
"What? How do you know?"
"It's not the first time, is it? Why didn't you say anything to me?"
"Well it's not exactly a simple topic 'Hey Artemis how's your day been? By the way I have become schizophrenic and now hear voices in my head'! "My breathing was agitated but Artemis remained quiet, never in my time knowing Artemis have I seen her stay so still and calculating, to be honest... it scares me. Since the first time I heard the voices, the boy, then the woman, now a man, it takes less time from hearing one when the other one stars, it's almost always about what they've done, it's like when a stranger begins to tell you their whole life while you're on the bus and you just nod because they are so engrossed in their conversation that you can't even reply to them.
"I have something to tell you" She says.
"What?"
She takes a deep breath, stands up, and grabs my hand. "You're not crazy Wally, just ... asleep"
"Artemis, what are you talking about?"
"...About the accident,"
I see incandescent lights and a car. "Accident?" It's like the first time I saw Artemis but this time I'm on the other side of the street and I see a guy crossing it.
"Try to remember." The guy is distracted and hasn't seen the car. "You're not really here."
I let go of her hand. " Why are you saying these things?" My head is spinning.
"Don't you ever wonder where everyone is, your aunt, your uncle, your cousin?"
"You said at school or work." We're not in front of the library anymore.
"All day?" She asks. Suddenly we're at the mountain.
"They have night shift?" The car is getting closer and closer to the guy until...
"What night Wally? It never gets dark here! Have not you noticed that we are always alone!?" The guy is left in the middle of the street, the car fled, he's bleeding but I don't go to him, I don't need to, because I already know who he is. "None of this is real Wally ... I'm not real." It's me.
...
I hear the sound of a heart monitor, I'm in the hospital. I turn my head and see a middle aged woman… my aunt. "Aunt Iris." She jumps up from her seat, holds me tight and starts yelling at my uncle to come into the room. With him comes a fourteen-year-old boy in a white t-shirt, his favorite shirt, Bart, my cousin.
...
It's been three months since I woke up from the coma, apparently I was out for a week... felt longer in my head. My aunt finally let me leave the house without supervision and the first thing I do is go for a hot chocolate to endure the cold of winter as I walk around the city. I enter the establishment, place my order and joke a bit with the barista, Dick, my best friend. I stand aside to wait for my delicious drink when I hear the laughter of a girl, probably laughing at one of Dick's jokes, but the fact that she laughed isn't what captures my attention but the laughter itself. It was warm and... familiar, too familiar. Quickly I turn to see her better and there she is. Artemis.
"I don't know what the customs are in this city, but where I come from its rude to stare at people."
"Oh! Sorry, I just... Are you real?"
"Excuse me?"
Are you real? Seriously Wally? "Never mind! Uh… Hi, I'm Wally."
"Cute name, so Wally do you know of any place where I can buy good music?" She has the same face, the same badass attitude, she has to be Artemis, but she doesn't know me.
"Sure, there's a shop a few blocks from here, I'll take if you want."
"Great!"
But what was I doing? Probably this girl just looked like her, Artemis had just been a figment of my subconscious, and she said it herself. And yet...
"Here are your orders." Said Dick.
After we both took our respective orders she extends her hand, but I just look at her. "I still don't know who you are."
She looks at me carefully and gives me a grin, her grin. "I'm Artemis."
Taking the hand of a stranger was the best decision I've ever made.