"Artemis!" She can hear him screaming, but she can't see him, she can see anything. It's too dark, there black everywhere, like she's drowning in darkness. She's drowning in think black nothingness, it feels like she trying to swim through tar. She can't breathe.
She pulling with everything she has, using all her strength to move herself, but her limbs won't listen to her, she just stays there, suspended in the dark. Drowning. Floating. Falling. She can't even tell anymore.
"Artemis!"
She hears his voice again and it soothes her frantic nerves. She can feel his presence, somewhere in the darkness, and she wants to reach out for him, she just want to find him so he can drive the darkness away, but she can't see him. His voice bounces around in an echo, sounding muffled and faraway but then so clear and so close, it's like he was just inches from her face.
She can hear him running, his feet pounding away at the speed of sound, footsteps echoing off the ground that Artemis could feel under her. She would swear that he was right there, so close but at the same time just a little but too far away.
And then she can feel him.
All her breath leaves her and suddenly she's not drowning any more, not falling or floating or sinking or anything. She's just there in his arms, and he's just so real and alive and even though she can't see him, she knows. She can feel that it's him. It couldn't be anyone else.
She's in his arms, and she feels safe, life the darkness can't hurt her anymore. She not lost anymore, even if everything around her was still drowning in the nothingness, it didn't matter anymore. She was never lost as long as she was with him, and right now, she could feel his warmth around her, and she had never left les lost in her life. She felt like she could breathe again.
And suddenly, there was light. It was blinding, and everything was white. It was to bright, and she couldn't see, and it hurt her eyes but at the same time felt oddly comforting, like she could see again. Like she could feel again.
The bright dots in her vision cleared, and then she was staring right up at him. She was gazing into his big green eyes, and he's saying something, but she can't hear him. It doesn't matter though, because he's there, and she can see him and feel him and touch him and he's just so real and alive. She feels tears coming but she bites them back for fear of ruining this, this beautiful, wonderful moment with the man she loves so much. His arms are around her an she feels his warmth and she's so, so happy. She's safe again, he's saved her from drowning in the darkness, and now everything is fine.
She feels his hand under her chin and lifts her face so that she's looking at him again, and he looks so happy and bright and alive, she just wants to stay here, lost in his eyes, for the rest of her life. He's talking again, and she can see his lips moving but she can't hear what he's saying, and she watches him so closely, like if she stopped looking he would disappear, and he's whispering now, but he's getting louder, and she can hear him now but he just keeps getting louder, and now he's yelling and she's shaking and she can just hear him screaming...
"Artemis!"
She wakes with a jolt, sweat pouring down her face. She sits up, still breathing heavily, and pushes a few stray hairs, now slick with sweat, back off her face. She closes her eyes and attempts to steady her breathing, and once she has it mostly under control, she opens her eyes.
She's in her room at the Watchtower. Of course, that was were she went to sleep. That was where she always goes to sleep these days. Her eyes darted around, desperatly trying to confirm that she was actually there, and not trapped in another dream. Everything looked fine, so she allowed herself to calm down.
"Artemis?"
She looked up to see a very worried looking Bart sat at the edge of her bed, one hand on her shoulder and the other keeping him from falling off what little bed space he had to sit on. He looked panicked, and she was so grateful to have him to check on her. It made a lot that she didn't have to wake up to an empty room.
"Are you okay?" Bart asked, dragging me hand through his ragged mop of hair. He was in his civvies, and he looked like he had run all the way over from... well, wherever he had been. She appreciated that.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just a dream." Artemis replied.
It was just a dream. Wally was gone, and he wasn't coming back. She didn't have him anymore. She didn't have Wally to save her from the darkness anymore. A girl has to save herself from drowning in the darkness sometimes.
But as she sat there, staring at the worried look on Bart's face, it got her thinking. Maybe she didn't have to be alone. Maybe she could let her friends help her.
She had lost Wally, and that devastated her. But Wally wouldn't want to see her waste herself away and isolate herself from everyone else.
Wally would want her to be happy, and if Wally would have wanted something, she'll try her damn hardest to make it happen.