My bff (remember her from last chapter? lol) and I discovered a comic book shop today. I bought Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn, my very first Batman graphic novel. I haven't read it yet (we came home and watched X-Men United and Last Stand, then I worked aaaalllll day), but I'm very excited about it.
I looked for Young Justice but they didn't have it. =( They did have Young Avengers, which I was tempted to buy simply because of Billy and Teddy, but in the end I decided against it. Parting with my money for Batman was hard enough. I'm poor, lol.
Disclaimer: Not mine. (Crazy rapture guy says he got the date wrong. Apparently the rapture is in October or something now. Apocalypse is part 1 of the plan. Me marrying Tom Welling and my bff marrying Michael Rosenbaum is part 2 of the plan. If the apocalypse doesn't happen, we have a plan B to fall back on, which involves Michael falling off a boat. And a bellybutton examination. That's right DC. I've thought about this!)

Wally was hot.

And not in the "oh my, he's so sexy" way either (well, he was, but that wasn't the point).

"It's. so. HOT!" He groaned loudly, wiping the sweat from his brow, "Come on missy, let's take a break. . ."

"We took a break like, fifteen minutes ago! At this rate, your princess will die of old age before we get there!"

"Hardiharhar, you're hilarious. I'll have you know as the Prince of Flash, I'm one of the quickest-Oh my god, a lake! Race you!" And he was off.

"Wally!" She followed slowly after him with a huff, settling down on a stump under a shady tree while he began stripping.

"You coming in Arty? A cool swim will do us good!" Finally stripped to just his boxers (golden boxers), he took a running leap into the lake.

"No, I'm not," she snipped heatedly.

Not long after they started traveling together, Wally learned that Artemis carried a medium sized dagger in one of her boots. She explained that the dagger served as protection (young girl living alone in the woods and all that) as well as a hair trimmer, which was why she was pulling it out now. Artemis' hair grew a lot. Back in the tower, she said she used to cut it everyday and use it as fodder for her fireplace. Wally thought that was kind of nasty and weird (didn't burnt hair smell?) but didn't say anything. She still cut it everyday, not for kindle (thank goodness. . .) but to keep it from getting in the way. She didn't cut it the day they escaped and it got so long that it trailed a good 7 yards behind her. Wally pointed out that if it got any longer, Roy would be able to just follow it to them. He also pointed out that it was on the ground, so it was probably full of twigs and dirt and bugs and small children and all sorts of stuff like that. She snapped at him for complaining but whipped the dagger out of her boot nonetheless and hacked her hair off so it was level with her ears. Wally was only a tad surprised to wake up the next morning after a short rest and find it almost to her feet. Stupid, freaky, super hair. . .

That was several weeks ago and she was now back in the habit of cutting it everyday. Wally imagined that, if they were being tailed, the person could easily find them by following the hair piles. They were like a freaking breadcrumb trail.

Wally emerged from the water with a gasp and doggy paddled to the water's edge. "Come on missy, jump in! You do know how to swim, right?" It was an honest question. She had spent eight years of her life in a swimming-pool free tower.

"Yes I know how to swim. I'm just a little aggravated that I seem to be the one most worried about saving your princess." She threw the last lock of her hair to the ground and fixed him with a harsh look. Wally emerged from the lake with a scowl.

"What's that supposed to mean? I've been on this quest for weeks! Finding the princess is the most important thing in the world to me!" He stomped past her and began redressing, keeping his back to her. Stupid Artemis. She always ruined his mood.

"We've been traveling for weeks Prince Helpless! You'd still be stuck back at the Kingdom of Marvel if it wasn't for me!" They had trouble with some crazy Captain guy in the Kingdom of Marvel. Wally didn't like talking about it.

She stood up and walked over to him, gripping his shoulder and forcing him to face her. She ignored his sneer as she continued, "And if finding the princess is so important to you," she emphasized "you" with a poke to his chest, "then why are you wasting precious time doggy paddling around a stupid lake!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I think it's important to rinse off every now and then. That way I won't smell like a dead animal, like you do!"

"Oh, that was mature. Think of that all on your own?" She took a step closer, glaring up into his face.

"What is your problem!"

Traveling with Artemis was great and all (she had the map, which could kind of be considered cool, he supposed), but it was also fairly stressful. The first few days went along more or less okay, with only occasional teasing. Then the teasing turned into bickering. Then the bickering turned into fighting, which they were now doing usually at least once a day.

"My problem is your problem, so get your butt in gear and solve it!"

Wally yelled in frustration, resisting the urge to pull his hair. "You're so. . . you're so. . . ugh! I can't take this! Come here!"

Artemis let out a shriek (that she would later deny) when Wally grabbed her waist and hauled her over his shoulder. "What are you doing! Wally, put me down!"

Wally grinned and jogged to the lakeside. "Not until you have a little cool down, missy! Hope you can swim!"

"Wally. Wally, don't you dare," she started struggling more violently, "Wally, I'm warning you!"

"Watch out fish, bombs away!" And then he threw her.

Artemis was rather proud that she didn't yell when he threw her, but her fearless attitude didn't stop her from hitting the water with a large splash. Wally jumped away, trying to minimize the water that hit him, then burst into laughter as he fell to the ground next to his boots and sword.

Artemis emerged from the lake with a gasp, her whole face flushed in anger. "You. . . I can't believe you. . ." If Wally looked closely, he would have noticed her shoulders shaking in rage, "My clothes. . ." But Wally wasn't looking closely, as he found something else to be preoccupied with.

He bit back a laugh as he pointed to her. "Art, you're head. . ." He snorted.

Her rage dimmed a little with confusion. "My head. . ." She reached up and felt something sort of. . . slimy. Cupping it in her hands she lifted it off her head and brought it in front of her. It was a frog.

"Hello, pleasure to meet you. My name is-

She screamed and threw it at Wally who nearly missed catching it. "Hey now, don't hurt the little guy!"

"It spoke! It's a frog and it-it spoke!" She waded out of the water but didn't seem keen on getting too close.

Wally held the dazed frog up to his face. "Hey there, little guy. You okay? Sorry Arty over there threw you; she's afraid of talking frogs."

"I am NOT afraid of talking frogs!"

"My bad. She's afraid of frogs in general." Wally stroked the top of the frog's head with his finger. It was probably a nice frog. . .

"I am not!" Still, she didn't come any closer. Wally hoped the frog wouldn't be offended.

The frog shook it's head lightly (Wally almost cooed; Frogs were so cute), coming to.

"Hey there Mr. Frog. You okay?"

Mr. Frog cleared his throat. "Yes, I am fine, thank you." He hopped around in Wally's hand (so cute!) so he was facing Artemis and bowed his little head. "My apologies Miss. I did not mean to frighten you."

Artemis, maintaining her distance, didn't say anything, choosing instead to just nod her head. Mr. Frog hopped back around to regard Wally. While his back was turned, Artemis took the opportunity to grab her dagger off the stump and held it tightly in front of her.

"My name is Kaldur'ahm, though you may call me Kaldur. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He held up a little webbed frog foot and Wally gently took it between his thumb and forefinger and shook it.

"Nice to meet cha, Kaldur. I'm Prince Wally, of the Kingdom of Flash, and that's Princess Artemis of the Arrow Kingdom. We're on a quest to save the Princess of Bats."

Kaldur hopped to regard Artemis again. "A princess! Your highness, may I beg a favor of you?"

Artemis looked uneasy. "Uhhh. . ."

"If it's not too much trouble, could you please," he hopped off Wally's hand toward her and she screamed, cutting off whatever he was about to say. She ran a large half circle around him until she was safely crouched behind Wally.

She had his tunic clutched in her hands and Wally futilely tried to pull away. "Artemis, what gives? You're being rude to Mr. . . I mean Kaldur." The dagger was also still in her hand, which was clutching his shirt, which was one his body, which was a little unnerving. To say the least.

She gripped his tunic tighter. "I don't like frogs, all right!" Her gaze met Kaldur's. "I'm sorry, I just. . . it's nothing personal. . ."

"You're afraid of frogs? Come on missy, they're like, the best animals ever!" Frogs were awesome!

Kaldur hopped closer and she ducked down further behind Wally. "It's quite all right my princess. You see, I'm not really a frog! There is no reason for you to be afraid!"

Wally and Artemis shared a look. "Well, you sure do look like a frog, dude. . ." Wally said, tilting his head to see him at a different angle. Maybe he was like. . . a salamander or something. Those were slimy, right?

Kaldur bowed his head. "I know. I am under an enchantment. I was once a human, you see."

Wally cupped his hands on the ground and Kaldur jumped inside, letting him lift him up once again. Behind him, Artemis made a noise but stayed where she was.

"Sounds like a tough break. Wanna tell us what happened?"

Kaldur nodded his head. "Very well. I used to live near the ocean, on the outskirts of the Martian Kingdom, making my living as a fisherman. One day I caught something unusual in my net. It was a young lady: half human, half fish. . ."

Wally's face broke into an excited grin. "You caught a mermaid!"

"I didn't think they were real. . ." Artemis murmured into his shoulder.

Kaldur continued solemnly. "Yes, she was a mermaid, and the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. Her name was Tula and I fell instantly in love with her. However, I knew she could never survive on land, so I released her back into the sea."

Artemis peeked over Wally's shoulder. "That's so sad. . . I'm sorry."

"I was miserable for weeks," he continued, "Tula occupied my every thought, though I knew we could never be together. On the outside of the kingdom lies an enchanted forest, where a great sorcerer was rumored to live. Desperate, I entered the forest and sought out the sorcerer. His name was Aquaman and he promised to help me. He said he knew a spell that would turn me into a merman. He said if Tula returned my love, the spell would last forever and I would spend the rest of my days as a merman. . . with her. But if she did not return my love after three days time, then I would turn into a frog. . ." He lifted his head to gaze at a point past Wally and Artemis, looking at something they could never see. "There was a merman named Garth. Tula had known him much longer than I. . . I never stood a chance, to be honest. . ."

A silence fell over the group as Wally and Artemis processed the information. Wally pet Kaldur's back idly, thinking of what it would be like to reach his own love, only to find someone else had beaten him there. "I'm so sorry, Kaldur. . ."

"Is there anyway to break the spell?" Artemis asked quietly, her grip on Wally's shirt loosening ever so lightly.

Kaldur glanced up at her, hopeful. "There's only one way: the kiss of a pure maiden."

Artemis shook her head. "No. There's no way. . ."

"My Princess, please! I beg of you!"

Finally letting go of Wally's shirt, she stood and took a few steps back, her dagger pressed firmly to her chest. "I can't. There's just no way. . ."

Wally glanced over his shoulder at her with a heavy scowl. "Forget it Kaldur. I'm not sure how 'pure' of a maiden she is anyway."

Kaldur looked offended (or at least as offended as a frog could look)."She is a princess, of course she is pure! You should never speak ill of a lady, my Prince."

Wally rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah I know." Artemis wasn't a lady. She was. . . well, she was Artemis. "You know you can just call me Wally, if you want," he said distractedly, staring up in thought. "Say Kaldur, do you think the kiss of a prince would help? I'm pretty pure, as far as men go I guess (he pretended not to hear Artemis snort from behind him), and I don't mind frogs."

Kaldur didn't seem convinced. "I suppose you can try. . ."

"Look Arty! At the very least, I'll prove you won't die if you kiss him!" He laughed then leaned over and gave Kaldur a quick peck on the lips. He waited for a few seconds before sighing and wiping his lips off. "Well, guess I'm too manly for this spell. . ."

Artemis had watched from a good three yards away. "Look, I'd like to help you, I really would, but I just can't. . ."

"It's all right, my princess. It was wrong of me to ask you to overcome a phobia. I'll find a maiden someday. . ."

Wally frowned at the absolute depression rolling off his little frog friend. He placed him on his shoulder then started pulling his boots on. "Don't worry Kaldur! You can travel with us! Riding on my shoulder will be tons quicker than hopping along by yourself. We'll find a nice maiden to kiss you in no time!"

Kaldur's little froggy eyes welled up with tears (again, Wally had to refrain from cooing). "Thank you, Prince Wally! I can never repay you this good deed!"

"Just Wally. And don't mention it man! If I was a frog, I'd want someone to help me along!" He grabbed his sword and strapped it to his back, careful not to knock Kaldur off his shoulder. "You going to be okay with this arrangement missy?" He gave her a look that clearly said that she better be okay with it.

She frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Thank you, my princess," Kaldur said quietly. Wally frowned, thinking he shouldn't be thanking Artemis at all, but didn't say anything.

He thought Artemis may have been thinking the same as he as she quietly answered, "Just call me Artemis. I'm not really much of a princess anyway. . ."

Wally's anger at Artemis had slowly faded.

She had tried, multiple times, to kiss Kaldur. He didn't think she knew he was watching, but almost every night for a week straight she had gotten up and crawled over to Kaldur's sleeping form, leaning over him with her lips puckered. Inevitably though, her whole body would start shaking and she would end up jumping away with a small cry and crawling back to the pile of hair she had cut to sleep on (weeeiiiiird).

For whatever reason, Artemis seemed honestly afraid of frogs. She was willing to try though, despite her fear, so Wally couldn't very well stay mad at her.

They hadn't come across any maidens yet, but that wasn't horribly surprising; they were still out in the wilderness. Kaldur was directing them to the Martian Kingdom, which the map showed to be on the way to the Kingdom of Bats. They could only hope the girls there were nice and not too stingy with their kisses (or maybe they wanted them kiss-stingy, because they were supposed to be pure, but they had to be up for kissing strange frogs and aaaahhhh, it was so confusing!).

Since Kaldur had started traveling with them, Artemis always made sure to keep several feet away from him. It seemed a little awkward at first, but Wally thought the distance quelled their fighting a tad. They seemed to argue best when they were screaming into each other's faces.

They passed a strange pointy rock with another rock jutting off it, almost like a large diving board. There was a smaller rock underneath, holding the diving board shaped one up.

"I recognize that," Kaldur said. He was sitting on Wally's head today, within the center of his crown. "If we keep up the pace we've been going, we should be at the Martian Kingdom by tomorrow afternoon."

Wally stopped observing the formation (it looked oddly familiar) and smiled. "That's great! That means we're almost halfway to the Kingdom of Bats! You know Kaldur, I'm sure we'll find someone in the Martian Kingdom to kiss you, but if we don't, I'll totally ask my princess to kiss you after I wake her up. I'm sure she won't mind, especially once she finds out you helped me get to her. I bet she's really generous and nice like that."

"Thank you Wally. That's very kind of you."

Artemis was glancing behind her. "Hey. . . do you guys feel. . . kind of uneasy?"

Wally raised an eyebrow. "No. You probably just ate something bad. I told you not to eat the spotted fruit."

She glared at him. "I think I know what is and isn't safe to eat a little better than you, Prince Glutton." She glanced over her shoulder again. "I think we're being followed."

Wally glanced behind him as well. "Not surprising. If I was a random traveler, I'd be tempted to follow the freaky piles of hair too, just to see where I ended up."

"Oh, so you're going to blame me?"

"If we're really being followed? Yeah, I blame you. Why would someone want to follow me and Kaldur? I mean, I know I'm sexy, but I've never been stalked before. And Kaldur's just a frog. No offense man."

"That's. . . okay. I'm not offended."

"So, the only logical reason someone would follow us would be because of your hair." Case closed. Artemis didn't look happy, but whatever. He just won an argument without even really trying, so all was well.

"Get down!"

Wally would later thank his quick reflexes as he hit the ground and the arrow aimed at him whizzed overhead. He glanced behind him as he scrambled to his feet, unsheathing his sword.

Before him, the potential-serial killer took another arrow from the holster on his back and took aim. Wally jumped out of the way as he shot.

"Roy, what are you doing!"

"Shut up Artemis, I'm saving you!" He shot again and Wally knocked it out of the air with his sword. It was an accident, but he tried to mask his shocked expression to make it look intentional.

"I don't need saving Roy, go away!"

Roy paused, arrow in hand. "You were kidnaped!"

"I was not!"

"Then who's he!"

It struck Wally that the potential-pillager and Artemis kind of acted like siblings. Insane siblings, but sibling nonetheless.

"He's a friend!"

Roy scrutinized Wally then took aim. "You're afraid of frogs. He's threatening you with it, isn't he?" He shot the arrow and Wally dropped to the ground again. His tunic was going to get dirty at this rate. . .

"Roy, stop it! No one is threatening me!"

Roy turned from Wally and Kaldur and aimed his bow at her instead, gritting his teeth, "Then why did you leave?"

"The princess is free to do as she pleases! It is not right of you to harass her like this!" Kaldur spoke up, jumping off of Wally's head (Wally remained sprawled on the ground, half-afraid to move) and hopping toward Roy.

Roy spared him a quick glance. Then he kicked him.

"Kaldur!" Wally and Artemis both shouted as their amphibian friend went hurling across the field. They both ran over to where he landed and began searching through the grass for his small form. Wally found him and gently scooped him up. He wasn't moving.

Artemis spun around to face Roy, anger radiating from her entire being. "Did you really expect me to live in a tower by myself my entire life! Uncle Ollie may have given me to you, but he had no right! I'm a person, not your property!"

"You were safe in that tower!"

"Safe from what! People? Here's a news flash Roy, all the people I've met so far have turned out to be really good friends!"

Wally thought she was using the phrase "really good friends" a little loosely, but didn't question her.

Roy lowered his bow. "You wanted to live alone. . ."

"What!"

"We were fighting. . . and you said you would have rather lived alone than with me."

"So you locked me in a TOWER!"

The tension between them was too much for Wally. Trying his best to ignore them, he gently poked Kaldur's stomach. "Hey buddy," he whispered, "Rise and shine. . ."

"Well, what was I supposed to do! If I let you go, you would have went back to Oliver, and he would have just gave you away again! Probably to someone dangerous!"

"Ooooh, so you were 'protecting' me, were you? As if Roy, why would you even care!"

"Because I'm your big brother!"

His proclamation was met with dead silence. Wally glanced up nervously.

". . . figuratively," Roy murmured, his cheeks flushing red, "Maybe I was wrong, but I've never had family before! I didn't know what else to do!" His bow was fully lowered now, his hands hanging limp at his side. "No one was there to protect me when I was your age. . . there's a lot of bad in the world, Artemis. All I ever wanted was for you to be safe. . ."

Artemis stood uncertainly, wavering. "I thought you locked me up because I wasn't a good enough partner."

Roy dropped his bow to the ground and walked toward her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You were the best I could have ever asked for."

She scrubbed furiously at her eyes as they started to water, then gripped the wrist of the hand Roy had on her shoulder. "If you expect me to hug you," she sniffed, her breath catching, "then you can just go screw yourself. Cause it's not happening."

Roy smiled gently. "Like I'd want a hug from a loser brat like you."

"You guys are such freaks."

The two reconciled archers glanced down at Wally who was looking at them like they'd just escaped from the royal looney bin. Artemis dropped to her knees next to him, peering over his hands.

"Kaldur? Are you all right?"

Kaldur was beginning to stir. "Mmm, I think so. I'm a little shaken, but alive." He rolled over onto his stomach, making a pitiful sight.

"Aww, frogs are so cute," Wally whispered, unable to contain himself.

"Thank you for standing up for me Kaldur. That was so brave of you." With a small smile she closed her eyes and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Artemis, but your fear!" Kaldur exclaimed as his body began to glow. Wally set him on the grass and stepped away to give him space.

Leaning against Roy, she smiled. "I know but, I figure you're not really all that much like a frog anyway."

And there before their eyes, he transformed.

Wally thought the rock formation seemed familiar. Did you? ;)
To tell the truth, Roy originally wasn't set to make a reappearance. He just kind of wormed his way in there while I wasn't looking (which works for me cause I love the boy to bits).
So for this chapter we have a mixture of the Princess and the Frog and the Little Mermaid (my personal fav).
As always, please point out any and all mistakes of any nature and I'll go about correcting them.
And reveeeeiiiiiw! Reviews make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed, sing like a bird, dizzy in my head, spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night. They make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe, shine like gold, buzz like a bee, just the thought of reviews can drive me wild. Ooh, reviews make me smile. (Kudos to anyone who knows this song. Every time I hear it, which is a lot because it plays at my job, I think of Wally singing it to Dick. Someone should make a WallyxDick AMV for me, using this song. I'd love you forever!)