A/N: All right, prepare yourself for some major Failsafe feels. This is my longest chapter yet I think! Thanks to TheRantDragon or yougottadealwiththespitfire on Tumblr for keeping me company on my Google Doc when I was writing this. We gave each other all kinds of feels. And thanks for everyone else that was there! I had lots of fun bouncing ideas off of you all! Anyway, without further ado, I give you Chapter 11! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, none of these characters belong to me. If Wally West belonged to me, I would be the only one allowed to play with him ;-) Any dialogue or plot that looks familiar belongs to DC and Greg Weisman and other people who are not me.
Summary: This is the story of Artemis and Wally and their evolution from teammates, to friends, to boyfriend and girlfriend, to husband and wife, to soul mates and everything and anything in between. Please review! XD
Genre: Friendship, Romance, Action/Adventure, Humor
Rating: T (just to be safe, it might go up later if I'm feeling particularly ambitious)
Characters: Artemis Crock, Wally West
The EVOLUTION of SOUL MATES
Evolution: the gradual development of something, esp. from a simple to a more complex form.
Chapter 11: Crush
It appears out of nowhere; one minute it isn't there and then the next it couldn't be more obvious. But, he tries to reason with himself, it's unimaginable, an abomination, it goes against everything he's done in the last few months. He honestly has no idea how it happened. When exactly had he developed a crush on Artemis? Artemis, of all people!
When had Miss Martian's sweet, green visage been replaced with the archer's fierce, olive countenance? When had silky red hair dissolved to a wild, blonde mane? When had he begun preferring sharp elbow jabs over a tray of freshly baked cookies? When?
It is clearly a case of head vs. heart. His head tells him that Megan is the perfect girl for him: beautiful, sweet, caring, and she can cook. A guy would be proud to bring a girl like Megan home to his mom. Artemis on the other hand, well she is gorgeous to be sure, but she's also abrasive, bossy, and egotistical. He is 100% sure that she is not what he wants.
But if that's true, why do his palms get all sweaty every time she's near? And why does he want to see her hair down again like it had been in the kitchen that night a few weeks ago? And what about that one time when they were sparring together and he got…excited, for lack of a better word? That wasn't supposed to happen to you with your friends, and he likes to think that they are friends even after their rocky start. He's pretty sure you aren't supposed to want to kiss friends. You aren't supposed to want to tease them just to see their grey eyes light up with that fire you love so much. No, you weren't supposed to want anyof those things!
Wally sighs, staring at the half eaten bologna sandwich in front of him. That she-devil! It isn't fair! He's sure that she harbors no such feelings towards him that cause her to have a lack of appetite. In fact, he's pretty sure that she has a thing for Supes. After all, Megan hadn't been the only one that'd heard her thoughts as she'd watched him walk away. Conner is...good looking he supposes, but he lacks Wally's smooth moves and charm. So, what does the guy have that Wally doesn't?
He looks over into the living room where Conner sits in front of the TV, the No Signal message on as usual. Maybe girls really are into that strong, silent, broody type, he thinks. He watches as Megan floats over and sits down on the couch next to him. The two had become pretty close since their undercover mission at Belle Reve. Wally is glad for it. After all, everyone needs a best friend; even teenage superhero clones with anger management issues.
But back to the object of his...affections? Obsessions? He doesn't quite know the right word to describe her, as he looks at her out of the corner of his eye. She's nearby, sharing the same counter space as him, repairing a few of her arrows. Her face is full of concentration as she scrutinizes one arrow, before laying it to the side with the fixed ones.
He realizes that he doesn't know much about her other than the fact that she's Green Arrow's niece and she has an affinity for archery. Oh, and there had been that little bit about her dad wanting to her to kill him, but he tries not to dwell on that too much. He watches as she stiffens suddenly and whirls around to face him. Caught red-handed by her questioning glare, there's not much he can do besides smile weakly and wave.
"What?" she hisses at him.
"What?" he repeats, not sure of what she's asking him.
"What did I do now?" she snaps defensively. "Why were you staring at me?"
"I wasn't staring," he objects. "And you haven't done anything. I-I was just thinking that, well, you've been on the team for about 2 months now, and none of us really know much about you," he stutters, going for the first thing he thinks of off the top of his head.
At first, she looks defensive still, closed off even, and he just knows she's going to shut him down faster than you can say "Fail Kid Flash", but then amazingly she softens and a soft flush graces her cheeks. "What do you want to know?" she asks, almost shyly, which is a word he'd never in a million years associate with Artemis. Wally has to stop himself from falling out of his chair in excitement. Be cool, he urges himself, trying to play off how interested he really is.
"Well, your birthday, for starters," he says. Then, making his voice louder so that their other teammates can hear him. "As we all know, my 16th birthday is next month-"
"November 11th, we know, Wally," the rest of the team, even Artemis, choruses. He grins and shoots them all two thumbs up, before turning back to Artemis who is rolling her eyes.
"So?" he prompts, gesturing to her.
"July 18th," she tells him. "That's when I turn 16."
"Favorite color?" he asks, keeping it simple.
"Purple."
"Ethnicity?" he asks quickly, concerned that it's too personal, but really, he's always wondered.
"Half white, half Vietnamese," she answers, pulling her long mane of blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Ooo, exotic," he teases, hoping to offset any awkwardness, and he notes her rolled eyes and half smile with triumph. "Favorite subject in school?"
She takes a moment to consider it. "Spanish."
"How many languages do you speak?" he asks curiously.
"Four. English, a little bit of Vietnamese, French, and Spanish."
"Not bad," he tells her, thinking that this piece of information would have been helpful to know last week for his Spanish test. "Have any brothers and sisters?"
She freezes and looks almost nervous, and he wants to call back the question before she pulls out of their little game.
"An older sister," she blurts out suddenly, and he looks at her encouragingly. "But I don't see much of her anymore," she says, looking down at the countertop. "She turned her back on me a long time ago."
He has no idea how to respond, so he remains silent. This is the first time he's ever seen her tough shell crack, and he wishes he could say something reassuring or comforting but nothing springs to his mind. Cat's got his tongue for once. After a moment though, Artemis raises her head and gestures to him, "What about you?"
"Only child," he preens. "My parents obviously knew perfection when they saw it."
"Or they saw what a handful you were and stopped trying," she quips, and Wally maturely sticks his tongue out at her in retaliation.
He's rewarded with the sound of her laughter and has to stop himself from grinning like a fool.
"Favorite League member that's not your mentor?" he asks, continuing on.
"Black Canary."
"Favorite place in the world?"
She thinks long and hard about that one before saying, "Mount Justice, Happy Harbour, Rhode Island."
He can tell she's being completely sincere, but he can't help teasing her about it. "Aww, who knew you had a sentimental side?"
She throws him a dirty look. "Are we done playing 20 questions yet, because I have things to do." She turns back to her broken arrows, but Wally grabs her wrist in protest, turning her back to him.
"I'm just kidding around, yeesh," he says, and she reluctantly turns back towards him. Both of their eyes are magnetically pulled to the spot where he is touching her, and Wally quickly retracts his hand with a sheepish grin.
"Okay, okay, last question," he assures her. "If you could choose anywhere in the world to go, where would it be?"
She purses her lips in thought, which makes Wally's eyes zone in on them. He thinks again that you shouldn't be so enthralled with your friend's lips. Shouldn't wonder what they might taste or feel like against yours. He tries to tear his eyes away, but it's easier said than done, and he's only successful when she starts to answer his question.
"Maybe Paris?" she contemplates aloud. "I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower."
"You wanna go right now?" he blurts out, eyes widening in shock at his own nerve after the fact.
"Where, to Paris?" she asks disbelievingly, that same flush from before coming over her cheeks.
"Yeah, I could get us there real quick," he tells her. "In a flash, one might say." He really can't believe the words that are coming out of his mouth. For goodness sake, he sounds as cheesy as his Uncle Barry, but he can't stop for some reason. They're not lines for once though. They're not said in any particularly appealing way. He just wants to take her to see the Eiffel Tower. What good are super powers if you can't use them to impress a girl?
"What about the training mission?" she asks him, but all he hears is that she's not saying no.
"What training mission?" he echoes, frowning at the throught of anything getting in the way of his plans.
"Uh, hello Wally! The training simulation we're doing today. The reason everybody's here," she reminds him, gesturing to their teammates who are all occupied with other things around the room.
"Oh yeah, thattraining mission," he says, remembering that they were all gathered in the kitchen, awaiting Batman and Martian Manhunter's arrival.
"Paris will have to wait 'til another day," she tells him, and it doesn't escape him that instead of being a no, that's a definite yes.
"All right, I'm going to hold you to this now," he says, only half kidding. "I'm taking you to see the sights. Don't think you're getting out of it."
"Wouldn't dream of it," she replies and she's smiling and this has got to be the best feeling in the world. Suddenly, her eyes are locked onto his and his onto hers and he's transported back to Bialya when he wanted to kiss her so badly, except this time he has his memories and he knows exactly who she is. And then the moment is broken.
"Team, report to the training room," Batman's grave voice sounds over the loudspeaker. "The training exercise will commence in 10 minutes."
Around them their teammates start off down the hallway, but Wally is stuck in his chair, a wave of foreboding crashing over him.
"What's wrong?" Artemis asks, suddenly at his side.
"I don't know," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just have a bad feeling about this."
"Come on," she says. "It's not like it's real. What could go wrong?"
Wally nods, unable to shake off his uneasiness, but follows her nonetheless to the training room where they take the only two seats left, side by side. Both Batman and J'onn explain to them that the simulation is to test their abilities in different scenarios. None of it will be real, both of them stress.
Batman asks if they're ready and they all reply affirmatively and lay back on the stone slabs in the room. Wally looks over to where Artemis is next to him and finds her breathing deeply in and out, getting herself psyched up for the mission ahead. He directs his eyes to the ceiling just in case she catches him staring again, and right before J'onn puts them all out, her words echo through his mind.
What could go wrong?
One minute she's there and then the next second she's gone, cruelly ripped away from the world and from him in one single horrible moment, disintegrated in front of his very eyes. For the first time since this awful day started, he feels something. It's like a thousand little knives are digging into his heart, but unbelievably it keeps beating. He's still alive, but all he feels is agony. Her name rips from his chapped lips, echoing across the frozen tundra, as if he yells it loud enough she'll come back.
But nothing happens beyond Aqualad unleashing his fury on the alien ship that did this, and Wally wishes he could help; he wants to hit something, anything. He can feel the energy in his body yearning him to do something, anything,and yet he's rooted to the spot, stuck staring at the place where she stood last, her bow strung back and ready to fire even as she pivoted around.
And what had he done? Him, Kid Flash, the fastest boy alive, capable of breaking the sound barrier, what had he done? He'd stood there and let the girl he loved - the word flitted through his mind before he could stop it, but really, what did it matter now - be killed without even moving a muscle. He'd done nothing. What kind of teammate, what kind of hero, did that make him? That knowledge was a hard pill to swallow. He was useless. He would make sure that Artemis' sacrifice wasn't in vain though. He would avenge her.
"They're dead," Wally vows aloud, his voice sounding harsh and cold even to his own ears. "Every single alien. If it's the last thing I do."
No one argues with him. They all appear stunned by this turn of events. Miss Martian is crying, but he's so full of anger that he can't bring himself to comfort her, so he turns and stalks up the ramp of the bioship and into the main cabin. There he is confronted by the sight of Artemis's empty chair in back of his and tears start to form in his eyes. Almost involuntarily, his body drops into her seat. Maybe he's too tired to walk the extra distance to his, but really he just wants to be close to her. Sitting here where she sat last, he can pretend that she'll saunter inside and kick him out of her seat.
But she doesn't, and he can't keep pretending she will. He brushes angrily at the traitorous tears rolling down his cheeks. He has no right to cry. Not after he stood by and didn't move an inch to save her. He hears the others shuffle in and take their seats, readying for take off. Robin drops a hand on his shoulder briefly, but Wally is so deep in self loathing that he doesn't acknowledge it.
They take off and everyone is silent except for Miss Martian who can't contain her quiet sobs. Anger wells up in Wally so intensely that the only way to release it is to hit something, so he ends up bringing his first down on the console in front of him a few times. The noises that escape him are animalistic and full of pain and he imagines that he's pummeling the ugly mug of the alien invaders that have dared to take her away from him before he could tell her how he really feels. Felt. Right now, there's no room for love or anything in his heart. All he feels is cold fury.
He knows what he has to do. He has to stick it to these damn aliens. And he'll do it in her name because he's sure that's what she would have wanted. He's not sure if he's more hell bent on justice or revenge but the two don't seem so different to him at the moment.
She's alive! is the constant mantra in Wally's head as they prepare to infiltrate the alien mothership. Artemis is alive! We're going to find her and rescue her! Along with Uncle Barry, Aqualad, and everyone. She's alive!
It's like a fire has been ignited inside of Wally and he can't wait to get inside and turn the place upside down in order to find her. He doesn't care what she says to him when he finds her, although it'll probably be something snarky like, "Took you long enough, Baywatch," because as soon as he sees her he's going to scoop her up and give her the best kiss of her life and if she doesn't kill him he's going to tell her how amazing he thinks she is.
Only, he doesn't get the chance because she's not alive. Turns out, he's been kidding himself the whole time and his best friend has been lying to him like it's no big deal. But he can't bring himself to hate Robin who would never let his emotions get in the way of doing his duty, not like Wally has. And really, there's no one else Wally would rather be with in this fiery hell hole than his best pal.
And just before the bombs go off he thinks, I'll see you soon, Artemis, because even though he's never believed in God or Heaven or that sort of thing, if Kent Nelson had been right about Artemis being his spitfire, maybe, just maybe, he's right about this, too, and -
Suddenly, he's awake. He gasps for air and finds it comes easily, no smoke or ash in his mouth now. He's sweating heavily, but there's no heat or fire around him. He opens his eyes to find himself staring up at the ceiling of the Cave. He doesn't understand. What had happened? Had they destroyed the mothership? How did they, he,get back to the Cave?
Then, he hears a low moan, and there's no mistaking who it is. Artemis! He struggles to sit up, but he's dizzy for some reason, so he ends up almost face planting. A strong hand reaches out to steady him, and he looks up to see that the hand belongs to Captain Marvel.
"Easy there, Wally," he says softly, helping Wally sit up.
"You're all alive!" he vaguely hears M'gann exclaim, but he can't focus on what's going on because he's finally able to set eyes on Artemis. Artemis, alive and breathing and not disintegrated and he doesn't think he's ever been happier or more relieved in his entire life.
Until Batman and J'onn start explaining about the mission and how it was designed to get worse and worse, but how they had known going in that none of it was real. And suddenly, Wally feels mortified beyond belief. He had acted like a lunatic for no good reason. He'd completely overreacted. A part of him wants to run outside and bury his head in the sand while another part of him wants to grab Artemis and never let go. Across the room, M'gann dissolves into tears and Wally feels like crying himself. It had all felt so real.
Batman, Red Tornado, and J'onn have retreated to one side of the room, while Captain Marvel and Conner try to calm down M'gann. Him, Artemis and Robin haven't moved, but suddenly he can't stand to be still anymore. He can't stand to be here anymore, in the same room as her. Without a word to anyone, he's up and running and out of the Cave. He needs to think and he does his best thinking when he's running, the world like a blur around him.
His thoughts are a jumble of panic left over from the mission and relief. But one thing is clear: this little crush needs to be crushed. It needs to be forgotten, swallowed up by safe platonic feelings. He can do that, he thinks. He has to. By burying his feelings for Artemis, he's protecting himself. And really, it shouldn't be all that hard to just direct his feelings for Artemis back to Miss M where they belong.
What could go wrong?
A few days later, he has his first test. He's sitting at the counter in the kitchen again, doing some of his Spanish homework, minding his own business. And that's when Artemis walks in. Wally does his best to ignore her, but he can't very well do that when she's setting her stuff down next to him. Still, he doesn't glance up, focusing instead on his por vs. para.
"Hey," Artemis says, and well, he can't exactly ignore her now, not when she's talking directly to him.
"Hello," he replies, scribbling an answer down.
"I was thinking," she starts saying, and he resists the urge to look at her because he knows that she probably has that cute flush to her cheeks again. "We still on for Paris?"
He feigns ignorance. "What? Paris?"
"Remember," she presses. "You said you were going to take me to see the Eiffel Tower."
He taps his chin as if deep in thought. "Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I?" he muses. "I dunno, it seems kind of like a stupid idea now. I mean, been there, done that. Besides, I've got tons of homework to do."
He's facing her by this point and sees her face fall with each sentence he wills out of his mouth. "Oh," she says quietly. But then her expression hardens. "Oh. Yeah, you're right. Stupid idea."
"But hey, I'm sure Megan would take you in the bioship, if you wanted," he offers, seeing Megan walk into the kitchen. "Hey, Megalicious! Artemis here wants to see the Eiffel Tower. Wouldn't that be a fun trip for you guys?"
Megan perks up right away, practically floating over to Artemis. "What a great idea!"
The words feel prickly in his throat, but they come out anyway. "Not as great as you, babe!"
Artemis pushes back from her seat at the counter. "You know what, I just remembered that I have patrol with Green Arrow," she tells them, slinging her book bag over her shoulder. She turns away, but not before Wally can see the look on her face. Hurt. "I'll see you guys later."
She quickly exits the kitchen and Wally wishes with everything that he is that he could just run after her and tell her what's going on in his head, but even he doesn't know what that is. This won't be easy, but it's what's for the best. He'll just have to keep telling himself that. He pushes the sight of her disappointed face to the back of his mind and tries to focus on more important things. He turns to Megan.
"How about some of your famous chocolate chip cookies, beautiful?"
A/N: Well?