Wow, these past three weeks passed by in a flash. She can't believe that tomorrow's already her first day in college and she's so nervous.
"Okay Artemis, everything's going to go just fine, don'tworry" she says, trying to calm herself down. But that doesn't work at all, she just keeps paranoid about everything that might happen. She hears her phone beep and picks it up from the table.
Hey Artemis, since tomorrow starts college, I was wondering if you'd like to go shopping with us? – Zatanna
Artemis smiles and types a quick 'Okay, I'll be in there in twenty minutes'. She puts her phone down and runs into her bedroom, searching quickly for something to dress. Since today is really hot, she decides to go for a pair of shorts and a turquoise tank top. She puts on a pair of black Vans. She undoes her braid and picks up a hairbrush, starting to brush her hair in front of her bedroom mirror.
Once she finishes, she looks at herself in the mirror. Her eyes widen. The outfit looks good on her and with her long blonde hair falling in waves on her shoulders, she looks quite… beautiful. And she's not used to looking beautiful. Of course people have already told her she's beautiful, but she just takes it as them being nice and polite and most of those times she just replies with a forced 'Thanks', burying the subject.
She sighs, frustrated and goes to her closet. She starts looking for another thing to dress when her phone beeps. She walks into the living room and picks it up, reading Zatanna's new text.
We're already here. Meet us at 'Fire&Ice'. See ya :)
Artemis looks up at the clock on the wall and realizes that since Zatanna sent the text, it has already passed fifteen minutes. She said she would meet them in twenty so she just has five minutes. And the trip from her house to the mall takes 5 minutes, sooo…
"Oh, forget it! I'll just go with these clothes!" she picks up everything she needs after replying to Zatanna and gets out of the house.
-xxx-
Once she arrives at the mall, she parks her car and walks in. She looks around and sighs. Great, she thinks. With the rush I completely forgot that I don't know where 'Fire&Ice' is.
She walks through the first floor, looking for the café… or maybe it's a store… or a mini-market.
"This is pointless!" Artemis says out loud "I don't even know what 'Fire&Ice' is!" she rummages through her bag until she finds her phone. She texts Zatanna asking where it was and, two minutes later the raven-haired girl responds.
It's on the third floor, next to McDonalds.
Artemis walks up to the stairs and climbs to the second floor. When she's about to climb the second rail of stairs to the third floor she stops in her tracks when she feels a hand land heavily on her shoulder. She turns around quickly and is faced by a guy about 3 inches taller than her. He has ice blue eyes and his blonde hair is such a light shade that it almost looks white. He smiles smugly down at her and she cringes.
"Hey babe. Are you lost? Because, if you are, I wouldn't mind giving you a tour around the mall. And then, maybe you could ad my number on the list?" he says, winking at her. She wrinkles her nose. Not because he is ugly, not at all, on the contrary; he is quite handsome. But something in him just wasn't right. And she doesn't mean his smug attitude, even if that might have something to do with it.
"No, thank you, I'm alright. I know where I have to go. Sooo… yeah, I'll just get going" she says, turning around and continuing to walk towards the stairs. She feels his cold hand grabbing her arm again and she clenches her jaw.
"I think I was clear when I said that I didn't want help" she says through gritted teeth, turning around and facing the blond once again.
"Yes, you did babe. But, I'm not those kind of guys who give up after the first try. I'm very-" He stops, as if thinking the right word to describe himself "-persistent" he finishes, seeming pleased with the word he chose.
"Yes, I can see you are. But, I'll give you some advice: when a girl says no, and by girl I mean myself, she really means it and she doesn't like that much when a guy is that much 'persistent', as you put it. So, if I say to let go, you should listen to what I say" she says, grabbing his hand and trying to get him to let go of her arm. She gives up with a sigh "I really didn't want to beat your sorry ass in front of all these people and make a scene, but you leave me no choice, so-"
"Haven't you heard her? Let go" a deep voice says from behind the blond. He turns around, still grabbing Artemis' arm and is face-to-face with a familiar red-haired boy.
"And who do you think you are to give me orders?" replied the blond.
"Let go Cameron, don't make me hurt you" Wally said. He grabbed Cameron's arm as well and tightened his grip. Cameron let go of Artemis' arm and confronted the red-haired boy.
"I don't think you should be giving me orders. I don't like when someone inferior gives me orders. Especially a stupid sp-"
"Shut up!" Wally barked "I said for you to not make me hurt you, but I've got to say that you make it hard. Get out of here" Wally says, pointing to his right.
"I said that I don't take orders from you-" the blond started but Wally interrupted.
"And I said to get out of here" Wally repeated, more calmly. Cameron cursed under his breath and stalked away. Wally turned to Artemis and smiled at her "Are you okay-" he started to ask but Artemis interrupted him.
"I'm fine" she said harshly "I didn't need your help. I could've had handled myself pretty well, thank you"
Wally raised his eyebrows at her and eyed her up and down "You don't say" he said back "Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?" he asks.
"Excuse me? You were the one who wanted to play the hero part and help the defenseless lady. But, guess what? I don't need help and much less am I the defenseless girl, got it?" she said in a hiss. He looked at her with confused eyes that quickly changed to angry ones.
"Fine! Whatever you want, but I was not trying to be a hero and I know that you're not defenseless, but hey! If you want to think that, I don't even care. You don't know me that much to take that kind of conclusions-"
"You don't know me either!"
"Yeah, and believe me when I say that after this, I don't know if I want to!"
"Great, than we share the same opinion!"
"Great!"
"Great!" they keep there, staring at each other fiercely and panting hard from all the arguing.
"I'll just get going then" Wally says, being the first one to break eye contact with the blonde. She stares down at the floor and rearranges her tank top.
"Yeah, I'm already late anyways…" she says, looking at the stairs. He follows her gaze too and looks at her again.
"So… bye then" he says, walking away from her.
"Bye…" she whispers back, but she's certain he didn't hear her. Stupid! She thinks to herself Maybe he really just wanted to be nice… Not everyone is like your other 'friends', if you even could call them that. They only helped if they wanted something back from me… I guess that's why I don't accept help that easily…
She sighs and shakes her head to clear it from these thoughts. She came to this town to get a fresh new start and she wouldn't get that if she kept thinking about her past. She climbs the stairs and once she arrives the top one, she eyes the third floor, looking for McDonalds or 'Fire&Ice'. She spots the first one at the far end and she starts walking quickly. Just as Zatanna said, 'Fire&Ice' is right next to McDonalds.
She enters the ice cream shop (after all, it isn't a café nor a store nor a mini-market) and sees the girls sitting on a table at the end of the room. She walks to them and smiles.
"Hey girls, how's it going?" she asks, sitting on the empty chair next to Megan.
"Hi Artemis" they all greet back.
"We were starting to get worried, Zatanna responded to your text ten minutes ago. Where were you?" Raquel asks, sticking her spoon into the ice cream bowl in front of her and taking a spoonful of it and stuffing it into her mouth.
"Let's just say that I had an… unexpected" Artemis says back, picking up the menu from the table and looking at the various ice creams and their various prices.
"Hum… that unexpected sounds like 'boy'. What happened?" Zatanna asked.
Artemis buries her head deeper in the menu "Have you seen these crepes? They look delicious!" she says, trying to change the subject.
"Okay, it definitely has to do with a boy… or maybe boys?" Zatanna says, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively "Spit it out"
Artemis sighs and starts telling the three girls what happened not too long ago. Once she finishes, she looks expectantly at the three girls "Well?" she asks "What do you think?"
"Maybe you were a little too harsh with Wally… I think he was just trying to help" Megan says.
"Or maybe he was really just trying to seduce her. That boy has 'womanizer' stamped on his forehead. He looks like a total flirt" Raquel said, playing with her ice cream spoon.
"What do you think Zatanna?" Artemis asks.
"I probably shouldn't tell you guys this but… Wally has a story, ya know? Dick told me about it-" Zatanna started but was interrupted by Artemis and Megan saying in unison "Ooooh, Dick?"
Zatanna rolls her eyes "Yes, Dick. I don't see what the problem is-"
"Are you kidding girl?" Raquel says. She then turns to the other two girls "They have been going on dates for the past two weeks! I think this is starting to get serious between the two of them"
"Omg! When were you planning to tell us?" Megan says, looking at Zatanna. The raven-haired female blushes furiously "It's not like that. We're just friends-"
"With benefits" Raquel adds, making Megan squeal again "What do you mean?" she asked.
"I've caught the two of them making out on our apartment sofa. When I arrived and they broke apart, they were both blushing like mad and panting. It was so awkward" Raquel answers.
"Sooo… just friends , uh?" Artemis asks, stirring the milkshake that the waitress just brought to her with the straw and smirking at her friend.
"How is this about me now? We were talking about Wally and Artemis!" Zatanna says, changing the subject.
Artemis shakes her head "Nah ah, there is no 'Wally and Artemis' on the same sentence" she declares.
"Anyways, as I was saying before everyone started attacking me" Zatanna says, looking at each one of them "Wally has a story. Dick told me that three years ago he had fallen in love with some girl… I think Linda was her name? Well, it looks like they dated for five months and he was more than willing to do anything for her, he even kept away from Dick and the others for quite a while for he just wanted to stay with her all the time. Dick said that she was popular and a lot of boys wanted her, and because she was done of Wally being always next to her and almost not letting her breath, she cheated on him with some guy. Wally caught the two of them in bed and his heart was broken. He asked her why did she do it and if she didn't love him back and she said she did, but with the time they spent together, she just stopped loving him because she thought he was kind of annoying and didn't let her breath. After that, Dick said that Wally never was the same again, that his heart is still broken but he tries to cover it with girls and more girls, but never nothing serious. He is so afraid of getting his heart even more broken that he doesn't date girls too long and doesn't even give them a chance to try and make things work out between them" Zatanna finishes. All the girls were silent, digesting the story Zatanna just told them.
Megan was the first one to break the silence "Poor Wally… I had no idea that was why he was like that…"
"See? That's the thing I hate so much about boys! Once they get their hearts broken or something bad happens they try to fix it with girls and getting drunk! That's extremely annoying!" Raquel says, huffing.
"I guess that's just how they are… maybe they can't help it. The thing is, you have to give him a little credit. I was shocked when you told me he defended you" Zatanna said, turning to Artemis "I don't think he ever did that. Which does bring the question: Why did he defend you? You two only met three weeks ago and you never talked again since then… am I right?"
"Yes, you are. We never talked to each other since then. And at the club, when we talked it wasn't exactly... friendly. And it was only during 5 minutes at max" Artemis explains, recalling their conversation at the bar.
"See? There has to be something about this…" Zatanna says, wondering out loud. She then shakes her head "But anyways, let's forget this for a moment. After all, we came here to shop!" she says excitedly. All the girls finish eating their ice creams and drinking their milkshakes and walk out of the ice cream shop.
-xxx-
Artemis throws all her shopping bags to the couch and her house and car keys on the kitchen table. She's exhausted. Zatanna, Megan and Raquel almost threatened her to death if she didn't try on some outfits they saw and thought would look good on her. And, by some, I mean a lot. She chuckles, remembering their squeals when they saw an outfit for her or when she gave up and put on everything they wanted her to. She walks to the fridge and takes off a water bottle, taking a huge gulp from it. She looks over at the kitchen clock: 9PM. She closes the bottle and puts it back on the fridge.
She walks into the bathroom and prepares herself to take a relaxing bubble bath. She turns the water on until it fills the tub and, after undressing, she enters it carefully. She lets out a relaxed moan when the water covers her body entirely. Closing her eyes, she recalls all that happened that day. She even thinks about Wally's story a little while. Once she finishes, she dries herself, puts on a pair of shorts and a large tank top and walks into the kitchen. She prepares a sandwich and fills a glass with orange juice for her dinner. She puts the plate and the glass of juice on a tray and walks into the living room again.
"Aw, I've got to clean up this mess" she says to herself, looking at the shopping bags "I'll just put them in my room and then I'll tidy them" she puts the tray down at the coffee table and picks up the bags. After putting them in her room, she sits on the couch and turns on the TV.
-xxx-
She wakes up in a dark room. The ground feels cold against her tanned skin while she sits up straightly, adapting her eyes to the lack of light. She looks around the room, and, at the end of it, she can identify three chairs, all of them occupied by three figures that are clearly women. Artemis starts walking carefully towards the chairs and when she's almost there, a bright light turns on. She cringes and closes her eyes, putting an arm over them to protect them. Once her eyes adapt, she removes the arm carefully and looks over at the three female's bodies. She can see clearly the ropes tying the girls to their chairs. The one in the middle has long black hair falling in waves in her face. She's passed out and her head is hanging in front of her, so Artemis can't see her face clearly. The other one to her right has brown hair… but it's not a common brown, it's a brown that almost looks like orange and, such as the other one, her head is hanging in front of her and her hair is falling over her face. The last one, to her left, has short, black hair that only covers her eyes. Her head is also hanging in front of her. Artemis narrows her eyes. These three girls look vaguely familiar, even though she hasn't seen their faces.
The girl with brown hair starts moving a little. Her head shots straight up and she lets out a painful moan. Artemis gasps and stumbles backward.
"M- Megan?" she asks.
Megan looks up upon hearing her name and her eyes widen, such as Artemis'. Megan is hurt. A lot. She has cuts all over her face and her right eye is completely swollen and purple.
"A-Ar-Artemis? What are you doing here?" she asks, her eyes filling with tears.
"M'gann! What happened?" Artemis asks again, starting to get closer again.
"You have to get out of here Artemis! Go get help! If he sees you, he's going after you too!" Megan whispers.
"He? Who's he Megan? And I'm not leaving you!" Artemis says.
"Get out of here Artemis! Now!" Artemis was about to respond when Megan's eyes widen once again "Artemis! Behind you!" she screams.
Artemis starts to turn around but it's already too late, someone knocks her in her head with a bat, making her fall to the ground unconscious, but not before hearing Megan's desperate cry.
"ARTEMIS!"
She wakes up once again, but she's not in that dark room anymore… she's in the middle of a forest. She's a little dizzy, but she can hear voices on the background, saying something. She looks around and spots the image of a muscular guy running towards her. She starts walking backwards and when she's about to run away, he grabs her arm. She closes her eyes and struggles to get free from his grasp, but it only tightens.
"Artemis? Is that you?" a voice asks. She stops struggling and opens her eyes to see none other than Conner. She sighs, relieved and he slowly let's go of her.
"Conner… what are you doing here?" she ask, raising her eyebrows. She then starts to remember Megan, Raquel and Zatanna "Oh my god, we've got to help Raquel! And Zatanna! And Megan! They're being held captive by some man and he's beating them up! We have to help them!" she says desperately. She notices how Conner's face shows worry and concern when she mentions Megan.
"What? Where are them?" he asks.
"I don't know…. It was too dark and I only know that because Megan awoke and told me to run away…"
"How is she? Is she okay?" he asks, shaking her slightly.
"I-I don't know" she stutters out "She was really hurt and beaten up" Artemis' eyes fill up with tears and Conner hugs her tightly.
"We're going to find them, I promise" Conner whispers in her ear. She simply nods and wipes the tears away.
"How long have you been here?" he asks, letting go of her.
"Not too long. Why?"
"Then, I suppose you haven't seen Dick or Kaldur, have you?"
"No, I haven't… why? Were they with you?"
"Yeah, they were… we had to run away from someone, so we thought it would be better if we split up…"
"Wait, wait, wait! You were running away from someone?" she asks worriedly.
"Yes… he was chasing us… I mean, they were chasing us, it was two of them" he says.
"Why were they chasing you?"
Conner looks around and then at Artemis again "Because of… that"
Her eyes widen instantly and she stumbles backwards, her hand on her chest "Him? It can't be him…"
"But it was… " Conner says, rubbing his face with both his hands. He sighs frustrated "We don't have time for this, we need to find Kaldur and Dick. Let's go" he says, starting to walk. She grabs his arm to stop him.
"It's better if we split up. Do you have a watch?" he nods "Then we'll meet here in half an hour, okay?"
He nods once again and they both run in opposite directions.
Artemis has already been looking for twenty minutes when she hears a harsh whisper. She stops in her tracks and listen attentively. That it is again, someone whispering her name. She looks around and spots Kaldur behind a tree.
"Kaldur!" She whispers back, running to him and hugging him "I was looking for you or Dick. Are you okay?"
"I am fine, do not worry. Why were you looking for me or Dick?"
"I found Conner, he told me what happened and we split up to look after you" she explains quickly "But now, we need to go, come on" she starts walking in the opposite direction she came from and Kaldur follows her.
"Hum… were you with Raquel?" he asks shyly. Artemis stops in her tracks and sighs deeply. She turns around to face the man and sees his worried face.
"She's… she's with Megan and Zatanna" she explains and his face looks relieved for a second, before she finishes "But they're not fine… they are really beaten up and they need help quickly. We'll help them once we get out of here"
"You were with them?" Kaldur asks, his face showing concern again.
"I saw them for a little while. But then, someone hit me with a bat and I passed out"
"I see. You did not see your attacker's face?"
Artemis looks down embarrassed "I-I… no… it was too dark" she finally says.
"It is fine. Do not be concerned with that, I-"
"How can I not be concerned? I'm so afraid that he might hurt them even more!" she says, walking away from Kaldur and sitting down next to a tree "Kaldur… I'm scared" she whispers. She almost can hear him open his mouth to reply, but it isn't what she was expecting to hear.
"ARTEMIS!"
She groans when her eyes open once again, this time to watch the moon light. She sits up and looks at her surroundings. She's in the middle of a road. She gets up with her hand on her head, which is hurting pretty badly right now.
She's startled by the sound of someone moving in some bushes near the road. She puts herself in a defensive pose when a bunch of red hair gets out of the bushes. She lets her arms fall down and eyes the person in front of her. Her heart tightens in her chest and tears stream down her face.
"Wally" she whispers, right before running into the boy's awaiting arms. He strokes her hair, calming her down.
"Artemis, are you okay?" he asks, holding her face between his hands. She nods and, when he's certain she's fine he crashes his lips onto hers. She responds eagerly to his kiss, closing her eyes and forgetting everything around her for a moment. When they break apart, they're both panting. Tears still stream down her face. Wally leans his forehead against hers and whispers "Everything's okay beautiful, I'm here with you, I won't let go"
And it's at his words that she finally loses it. She starts sobbing and he pulls her into his chest, whispering soothing words to her and rubbing small circles on her back. When she finally calms down, she starts explaining everything to him. About Megan, Zatanna, Raquel, Conner, Kaldur and Dick.
"I was looking for them too" he says when she finishes "Me, Dick, Conner and Kaldur were supposed to meet at Jo's, but they didn't appear, so I found it strange and went look for them"
"I don't know how I woke up in different places everytime and-" she stops abruptly when she spots something on the other side of the road "No… no, no, no! It can't be" she whispers, more tears filling her eyes.
"What can't it be beautiful?" Wally asks, looking at the other side of the road and seeing nothing.
"Don't you see them Wally? They're right there… they're… they're there!" she says, pointing at the other side of the road. Wally raises an eyebrow at her "'They' who?" he asks.
"Kaldur! And Dick and Conner and Megan! Zatanna and Raquel too! They're laying there and they're not moving!"
Wally puts his hands on her shoulders "Beautiful, you're seeing things. There's no one on the other side of the road" he says and she shakes her head.
"There is, Wally! Why can't you see them? I'm not seeing things, they're there!" she says.
Wally shakes his head "Artemis, they're not there!" she shakes her head and he shakes her slightly by her shoulders "Listen to me! There's just you and me on this road, babe. No one else, okay?" he says.
She shakes her head once again and frees herself from his grasp. She starts running to the other side of the road when bright lights hit her, right before a car.
"ARTEMIS!"
-xxx-
Artemis wakes up abruptly, breathing rapidly and her heart beating frantically in her chest. She looks around and is relieved to see her living room, 'SpongeBob' starting on the TV. She gets up from the couch and walks into the bathroom, opening the tap and splashing cold water onto her face. She picks up the towel and dries it.
"What a dream…" she wonders out loud "Or better, nightmare"
She walks out of the bathroom and goes into the kitchen, taking out a glass from one of the cabinets and filling it with water. She drinks it and walks to the dishwasher to put there the cup, but something makes her stop. A shiver runs down her spine and she turns around abruptly, letting go of the glass, breaking it into million pieces when it contacts with the ground.
"Calm down Artemis… probably just a shadow from the television" she says, her now empty hand on her chest, trying to calm her frantic heart. She looks at the kitchen's clock: 1AM. She looks down at the mess she just made and sighs "Let's clean this up" she tells herself.
After she cleans everything, including her meal's dishes that were on the coffee table, she turns off the television and goes to her bedroom, lying down on her bed.
But until she falls asleep, the feeling of being watched never leaves her side.
A/N: Hi guys :) Here's another chapter of 'This is Destiny Calling'. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas filled with a lot of presents and pastries :D
And last but not least, I hope you have an amazing new year and that 2014 will be even better than 2013 :)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I really enjoyed writing it. We had a little bit of each couple in Artemis' dream ;) It's kind of a preview of what might happen ;) The key word is 'might' :p
Anyways, I really hope you liked it. Love you :)