AN: I give you the third chapter of Waiting for the End. I do hope you like it! Also...to clear up some confusion. Paula (Arty's mom) has been taken by the Shadows. Lawrence (Sportsmaster) went to see Paula and found her already taken. He went to find Arty and found her blowing off some steam. And the rest I can't give to you without giving away spoilers! Thanks to all who reviewed! I am putting the Anonymous mailbag at the bottom. Imma stop talking now...READ!

When the morning came I was up before first light,

And your bed was made must of cut out sometime last night,

And my heart it started pounding loud,

A rhythm in my brain,

A voice from deep inside of me said "You gotta be insane."

Everyone knows how this old story goes,
So I got in that taxi and drank my conscious away.

~Howie Day: Be There

Wally couldn't sleep. He was distressed and hungry. He felt betrayed, but the feeling of sadness overcame the anger. As he laid in his bed at Mount Justice, sad and hungry, he debated on getting up to eat something or staying in bed and wallowing in self pity. Finally succumbing to his hunger, he left his position on the bed. Exiting his door, he traversed the hall and wound up in the kitchen. Flicking on the lights, he rubbed his eyes to block out the sudden unwelcomed invasion of the florescent rays. Eyes still closed, he moved to the refrigerator and opened the door, the cool air kissing his shirtless skin. From memory, he grabbed a pudding cup and closed the door. Finally he opened his eyes and opened the pudding cup. Grabbing a spoon he went back to the island and leapt up onto the counter.

Crumple.

The spoon stopped its accent to his open mouth. He looked around and saw no one. Robin. He thought. He jumped off the counter, left his pudding on the island, and zipped around the room in search of his ninja friend. Coming up empty, he thought maybe the day's exhausting events had left his brain fried and he had imagined it. Running back to the island and picking up his cup of chocolaty goodness, he noticed a small stack of folded papers where he had been sitting. So that's what made the noise. He thought as he examined them.

Upon his examination he noticed that each paper was folded and addressed to each member of the team, except for Artemis. Taking his designated paper, he sat down on one of the stools, shoving a large spoonful of pudding into his mouth. Setting aside the pudding he unfolded the letter and read its contents, which consisted of four words. Four words that caused him to panic. Four single syllable words were all it took for him to run from the kitchen to Artemis's room and barge in without knocking.

When he flicked on the light, his heart which had previously been beating as fast as a speedster's heart allowed, stopped beating altogether and shattered. He walked slowly into her room, examining every picture on the floor. Every memorable moment caught on camera was on her floor. Every smile, laugh, frown, glare, smirk ever caught on camera. It was all there.

His eyes were then snagged on a blank spot in the sea of pictures. Quickly he examined the pictures surrounding the blank spot, hoping to figure out which picture was missing. He could tell immediately, and his breathing stopped. He quickly looked to her bed to see if she was there, but she wasn't, her bed was made, as if she hadn't even slept in it. And at the corner of her bed lay her uniform. The boots, the pants, the belt, the shirt, her quiver, even her bow and arrows and her mask. Ice coated his stomach.

"You gotta be insane." He whispered to himself.

What he found there caused him to run to Robin's room in full panic mode. He started vibrating before he even saw Robin's door, so when he did see it, all he had to do was run straight through it.

"Robin!" Wally yelled when he was inside the boy's room.

Robin flew out of bed and started falling face first into the ground. The boy caught himself with his hands before his face kissed the hard floor. He hit the floor with a grunt and angry muttering. He blindly grabbed for his signature shades off the side table and slowly sat up. "What?" he demanded, not looking at him yet.

"Artemis is gone." Wally told him.

The boy stood and spun around, "What do you mean gone?" he asked him, walking to the door. He grabbed it to find it still locked. "You vibrated through it? Are you bleeding?"

"Yes and no. And I mean she's gone. Not here. Not in the mountain. Probably miles away from here. Gone." He said, practically in hysterics.

Robin unlocked the door and started to walk out, Wally following close behind. "Alright, explain what happened."

", , ," he waved the letter in his friends face, "onthecounter. Ireaditthenpaniced. Iwenttoherroom. NoArtemis. She's gone." He finished as they walked into the kitchen.

Robin went to the island and grabbed his designated paper. Wally glanced at the writing. A paragraph. "Man, all I got where four simple words."

"It doesn't take many one syllable words to put you into panic mode." Robin said as he ran toward her room.

Wally caught up with his friend in no time. The boy was standing in her doorway, mouth slightly hung open, staring at the floor.

His friend sighed and walked into the room, examining each photograph on the floor. "She must have had a lot of time on her hands." Robin mumbled, kneeling on the small path of floor space.

Wally followed him in and looked at the pictures panoramically. "They're in chronological order." He stated.

"I hardly think that matters now." Robin answered.

"Your right," Wally said. "It doesn't. What does matter is that her uniform is laying on the edge of her bed." He told him.

Robin's gaze snapped up sharply. He slowly walked over and brushed his fingers over the soft fabric. "Why would she do this? Why did she leave?" he asked aloud.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." Wally said with determination.

Robin spun around in time to catch Wally disappear out of the room. "Wally!" He yelled, and ran after him. He found the red head in his room already changed into actual clothes. Wally started walking toward the zeta tubes, throwing on his jacket. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To look for her." He said pushing past him.

"At four in the morning? Are you insane?" Robin asked, following him.

Wally suddenly spun around. "First of all, it's only 3:56. Secondly, she probably left around midnight, which is equally insane. And thirdly, this is Artemis we're talking about, when has she ever been sane?" he said and turned again, leaving the boy standing there.

The boy couldn't quite process the logic in that and shook his head in confusion. Then he started to run after his fool of a friend. "Where will you be looking?"

Wally stood typing something into the holographic computer, "She went to Gotham. So I'll start there." He said as he went to the zeta beam transporter.

"Just promise me something." Robin said.

"What?" He asked, irritated.

"Come back for lunch, no matter what." Robin asked.

Wally considered it and frowned.

"Please?" his younger friend pleaded.

Wally looked at the zeta beam and then back at Robin. "Alright." He said nodding as the zeta beam claimed his particles. Wally was gone before he could see his younger friend sigh in relief.

Wally materialized in an old phone booth, and upon stepping out of it he found himself in a dark alleyway. Flipping up the hood of his jacket, he walked out of the alley and onto the street. Hastily he began his early morning trek, walking down the silent streets of Gotham city. Despite his walk, his mind was racing at top speed. Thoughts of Artemis dominated. He thought back to all the pictures in her room. Could it be some sort of message? Or was it just her way of saying "Thanks for the memories, but good-bye."

He didn't want it to be good-bye. He didn't want her to leave him... them. She had become a good friend. He didn't want this to be the end. And he was sure that she did not want this to be their last memory of her. He didn't care if her father was Sportsmaster. Heck, Kaldur's father was Black Manta. Did she expect that her predicament was any different? I guess it's kinda different, Kaldur wasn't trained by his father, but Artemis was.

Maybe she was. But she was everything to him. Didn't she see that? Didn't she know how hurt he would be, knowing she wouldn't be there fighting beside him? Knowing that she no longer had his back? No. Of course she didn't. She was always blind to things that were staring her straight in the face.

The dark morning sky of Gotham City started to rain, as if trying to tell him his search was hopeless. But he had to push on. Pulling his jacket tighter around him, he crossed the street to Artemis's apartment complex. Stepping inside the cold foyer he began his trek up the steps to the apartment that she shared with her paralyzed mother, who was now in the hands of the Shadows. Wally shuddered, he didn't know what he would do if his parents were in the hands of any enemy of his. He didn't know how she didn't just fully break down at the idea of her disabled mother in the hands of villains and villainess's associated with the Shadows. She didn't break down because she thinks it's a weakness. He thought.

Arriving at her floor, his heart started pounding. She had to be here. If she wasn't…if she wasn't…what? What would happen? What would he do?

He paused at her door. Not sure if he really wanted to know if she was inside or not. Even if she was, what could he do? Convince her to come back to the cave? He tried convincing her of several things in the past, it never worked. Once her mind was set, it was set for life. And what if she wasn't there? He still couldn't do anything. She knew how to cover her tracks, she would be impossible to track down.

Taking a deep breath he knocked on her door. "Artemis?" he asked knocking again.

Nothing.

He tried the door handle. It was locked.

He exhaled and made sure that no body was around. He took a step back, getting ready to vibrate through the door when a voice from behind stopped him. "Arty left already." A child's voice said.

He turned to face a little girl with brown hair and big sleepy brown eyes. She was wearing a large white shirt and pink pants. "She did?" he asked her, bending down to her level.

She nodded bashfully, "Are you her boyfriend?" she asked.

He gave her a small coy smile. "I'd like to think so."

"She asked for me to give you this." She said, taking out a key from the pocket of her pajama pants.

He took the item from her and examined it, then looked back at her. "Did she say anything else to you?" he asked her, hopeful.

The little girl looked down for a moment, thinking, almost at war with herself. "She said not to tell you anything else." She mumbled.

"Please, anything would help." He told her, placing a hand on her small shoulder.

She looked at him, then down at the floor, then back at him. "She said that she was going away for a while. She said not to try and follow her." She said softly.

His breath caught, and he looked down at the floor. This was what he was most afraid of. Not the fact that she was gone. The fact that she wasn't coming back.

The little girl placed her small hands on his cheeks, and forced him to look back at her. He saw her brown eyes look into his with all the seriousness of the world. "But she said that she'll come back." She said.

He exhaled, relieved, "Did she say when?"

"As soon as possible." She answered.

He patted her hands, which were still holding his face, reassuring her. She dropped her hands, and he moved back to Artemis's door, unlocking it with the key the girl had given her.

"Will you bring her back?" she asked quickly.

He turned back to her. "I'll try, I'm not sure if anyone can change her mind." He said smiling at her.

The girl smiled back, "Your right."

"Good night and thank you." Wally told the girl.

She nodded and continued to smile. Then she yawned and went back into her apartment.

He smiled as she shut her door, and sighed. Then he turned back to Artemis's apartment door, inhaled deeply, and pushed it open. Exhaling, he walked into Artemis's empty apartment.

AN: PLEASE REVIEW!

And now the MAILBAG for the ANONYMOUS!

Umidk: I like your screen name! Thanks for reviewing! I might just do a PJO fic with Reason. We'll have to collab on that later though...And I am hoping on getting the last chapter of Tonight, Tonight done and up tonight, but I might not be able to put it up until tomorrow...we'll see...

NOW ALL OF YOU...REVIEW! Please? ^^