Sorry for the short chapter and putting off on Klarion saving the day, but I decided to focus on Robin and Wally for this chapter (it gives the story more direction).

Megan didn't know where she was or what she even was anymore. All she could sense was the feeling of being trapped and it defined her current existence. She couldn't see, hear, or use any of her other senses. She didn't feel hunger, but she also wasn't aware of the passage of time.

She began to feel the hold around her loosen – the pressure of her imaginary constraints seemed to crack in places. If she could just focus on those cracks, maybe she would finally become released from this existence. It was all that was left to concentrate on.

Although she couldn't see or move, she was able to focus on feelings the cracks in whatever surrounded her. One crack in particular, more broken than the rest, called out to her. It reverberated with a dark, twisted energy that threatened to ensnare her and pull her out from wherever she was, but she still focused on it. Freedom from this life was worth more than any pain she might endure.

As she finally trained her more on the crack and felt the dark energy slither beyond her mental prison and envelope her, she heard a boyish cackling. Her hearing had returned, but her other senses still remained unable for use. It should have been comforting for her, but the feeling of fear had returned along with her hearing.

If Megan's mouth could be used, she would have heard the piercing cry of her screaming.

Robin rested in his bed, finally without adoring his trademark mask or sunglasses. He was Dick Grayson now, despite that civilian life had increasingly felt foreign to him. Robin was his talents and accomplishments, but the past confined Richard Grayson. Batman had let him avoid patrol tonight and get some much needed sleep.

Robin lazily rubbed his eyelids, thinking back to the past week with his team. Artemis was the most like Robin in terms of not being a meta-human and relying on advanced martial arts. Despite all of their shared traits that could have drawn them closer, perhaps made them into better friends than even him and Wally, Robin felt a mix of jealousy and territorial annoyance to her. Robin did not want the archer usurping his role on the team, but other that that, he had found no reason to extremely hate her.

But he still felt suspicious of her actions – every movement of hers was studied and made Robin wonder if she was stealing Wally from him, perhaps also pushing Robin away from the team. Artemis was a woman, thus able to use her body and lure Wally away from him. Robin had noticed the sexual tension between the two, and had always tried joking about it, but when Robin took off his mask and became a more vulnerable Dick Grayson, his thoughts returned to Wally and paranoid fears.

Artemis becoming blind was a godsend to Robin, until she had been mysteriously cured. Robin kept up a kind façade for Artemis, but he hadn't needed to use it since she never seemed to hang around the male members of the team anymore.

Artemis, despite her opposite personality, had become a close friend to Megan. When Artemis did spend time with her team, Robin wasn't mad at Artemis anymore – he hated that Wally started to miss his banter with Artemis and try flirting with her. Artemis ignored Wally – the only times she talked more than one-word answers was with Megan.

Megan was able to elicit laughter and actual smiles from the team's archer lately, but their conversations were always in hushed whispers that Robin couldn't make out. Megan and Artemis acted more like lovers than friends. Robin had wanted to corner Conner and ask if he could hear them and confirm his suspicions of the two girls' relationship, but the clone had also been distant lately, preferring to spend time with Kaldur.

Artemis was no longer a threat to Wally and Robin's friendship, but Robin was too glad to be able to spend more uninterrupted time with his friend to care where the archer was always going off to instead of spending time with her team.

Wally was his again, perhaps everything could return back to the way it was before Artemis had joined the team. Robin finally drifted off to sleep, blissfully ignorant of two of his teammates.

Artemis held her mother, chanting archaic healing spells and pushing her magic into her mother. Her mother's wounds slightly healed, but her mother had started shaking during the past few minutes. Artemis closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of her mother's aura, which was slowly disappearing.

Nothing was working – her magic was shoddy at best. The only option left was to end her mother's pain. Artemis knew that a mercy killing was just as impulsive and ignorant of consequences as turning to Klarion had been, but maybe things would also work out this time.

Before she could cast a fire blast to spare her mother from the pain she was experiencing, the room's lights abruptly turned off, signaling the arrival of a familiar aura to Artemis.

Klarion felt a sudden tug on his magical core along with a tinge of fear. It was sudden, unexpected, and gripped his senses so intensely that he stopped staring at an unconscious Madame Xanadu and collapsed to the ground. Klarion felt like crying for the first time in years.

Artemis, despite being bound to him as an apprentice, should not have caused such a reaction, but there was no mistaking that the emotional surge had came from her.

Being able to feel another's emotions to such an extreme suggested a far deeper bond than what Klarion had thought he had created with Artemis by magical pact…but Klarion choose to ignore those thoughts, quickly paralyzing Madame Xanadu's body and carrying it with him as he teleported away towards his archer.

"Uncle Barry," Wally started somewhat hesitantly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, champ."

The older speedster slowed down to a brisk walk beside Wally as they went on an uneventful patrol that night.

"Well…there's someone I like…"

Before Barry responded, he burst out laughing at Wally's embarrassment, "Is this certain someone a female archer on your team?"

Wally didn't realize that the tension between him and Artemis was a running joke among their mentors, much to the ire of an overprotective Green Arrow. Barry thought he should encourage it, thus causing even more opportunities to poke fun at Ollie's reactions.

"What?" Wally's eyes widened and locked with Barry's.

"You should go for it. Flirt with her…"

"But she's been ignoring me!"

Barry once again laughed, but tried to remain somewhat serious to Wally, "She's probably just playing hard to get. She must like you."

Wally stopped talking about Artemis to Barry for the rest of their patrol, but his thoughts lingered on her and began to believe that she returned his feelings. The next time Megan tried hanging out with Artemis, Wally would stop them and ask the blonde out on a date.

AN: Don't worry about Artemis/Wally. It will be one-sided. Should I focus on Conner and Kaldur's opinions next chapter? Also, should Robin secretly have a crush for Wally? I've written that the two only share a friendship that Robin is very possessive of, but if it entertains you, it'd be interesting enough to write even if it would only be unrequited love.