see you on the other side

“Basically I told him I’m not dealing with his lies anymore - he needs to tell me the truth and the whole truth. This isn’t about me wanting us to be together anymore Di, it’s me not being able to take the lies. He needs to come clean so that we can both just move on.” Artemis sighed, that’s all she wanted, to move on. She couldn’t do that, however, with so many unknowns still haunting her. “Wally knows I still love him, I don’t need to say it - that’s why it hurt so much. I never played games, I never hid things. I’ve been transparent all along. I guess honesty is overrated nowadays.” 

Artemis laughed, “don’t worry, wild is overrated anyway.” Back in her days of running wild through the city streets, she had been known to cause a little trouble (well a lot) but since Oliver had taken her under his wing she had mellowed out and if Artemis was honest she preferred it. Getting into trouble never used to work out for her. The brunette nodded at, “tech mogul, mega-rich guy right?” she asked. Artemis thinks she had seen his face on the cover of Forbes magazine once. “That's cool, so is that what you want to do for a job?” she asked, “I’m trying to make it as a photojournalist, trying being the operative word.”

“I haven’t spoken to him face to face, I sent him a voice message - I was afraid if I saw him I’d do something I’d regret - like jump him. He hasn’t replied,” she said shaking her head. Dinah was right though, it wasn’t just Zatanna who had betrayed, but the truth was while she loved Wally, a part of her knew she loved Zatanna more. The girl was family, she was Artemis’s sister through and through, that’s why it hurt more. She, however, knew even if she never forgave the redhead, she would forgive her best friend, she just needed time. “I doubt it, I think there’s someone else and I’m not just talking about Zee, I just wish he’d be honest with me instead of telling me he loved him and all that bullshit.” Why else would he have said Diana’s name?

“She does, or at least I thought she did,” she said confused. “Or maybe she just loves them both, I didn’t really stick around to ask.” Artemis couldn’t help but be jealous of her ex-best friend, having to guys both fighting for ones attention - that must be nice. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I get why she was scared to tell me, it’s not like I don’t... but I sat there and told her I still had feelings for him, that I thought we might have a second chance after all this time and she just said nothing, she let me get my hopes up all the while knowing I didn’t stand a chance. I don’t know if I can forgive her for that.”

Artemis smiled small nodding her head. She went over and sat down at the kitchen table, her chin resting on the back of her hand, her elbow propping her up. She sighed. “Zatanna told me she and Wally had a summer fling, only I think it was more than that because it’s clear she has feelings for him real feelings for him,” she said, holding back tears. “I think the worst thing is that neither of them told me. I made a fool of myself Di, here I was telling Zatanna that I still had feelings for him and I wanted to try and again and they-” she stopped herself because it hurt just too damn much. “She was my best friend... yet she didn’t say anything, she let me get my hopes up,” she whispered. 

“Sure,” she smiled. “I’d be happy to give you the official Artemis Crock tour of Gotham City,” she joked. “And don’t worry I won't take you anywhere too wild,” she reassured. “So,” she started, “what brought up to our fair city?” she asked curiously. Especially right now, Artemis wouldn’t imagine Gotham was on any top ten destinations to move to if anything people were moving away to escape the chaos. “Do you have family here?” The brunette began to walk towards the roller rink. 

“I’m sorry, I should have called but I didn’t know where else to go,” she said when she’d reached Dinah’s apartment, hesitantly. Artemis couldn’t exactly go to the tower - not with everything going. The brunette ran her fingers frustratingly through her hair, trying to focus her thoughts. “Everything’s screwed up Di,” she said, taking a deep breath. She reached out and wrapped her arms around the older woman, knowing it would be out of the blue, since Dinah didn’t know the full back story. “I’m sorry,” she said pulling away, “I know I’m acting super weird.”

Artemis drove for what felt like forever after the events that had transpired between Zatanna and her. The brunttee was attempted to cool herself off, but even after an hour her blood was still boiling. She thinks it was a combititon of pride and heartache, all rolled together to great one special type of hurt. Her aimless journey ended at the door of Dinah, the one person Artemis always knew she could turn to, espically now that her best friend ex best friend was no longer an option. She signed in fustration, learning over the steeringwheel, she hated feeling weak and out of control. Artemis looked at herself in the review mirror, wipping away any tears. Compessing herself to the best of her abilties she got out of the car and made her to Dinah’s complex’s front door. She rang the buzzer: she proably should have texted first. “It’s me,” she tells the woman, when she hears her voice over the intercom, “surprise.”

Artemis wished she could be the bigger person, wished she could rise above it, but just doesn’t think she has it in her. Artemis had lost a lot over the years, her parents, her sister. Yes, they were villains, but it didn’t mean she didn’t love them, no matter how they treated her and walking away from them had hurt but she’d known it was for the best. “You didn’t say no,” she whispered, pressing her lips together. “Which means you do, even if you don’t want to admit. Which means he probably loves you too.” She shrugged. “You promising to stay away from him won’t change that, it won't change anything.” Artemis sighed, “I don’t know Zatanna, I just... I don’t know. I know you want me to say that I think our friendship is worth saving. But frankly, I don’t. Not right now, and maybe not ever.” She opened her car door, and got inside, rolling down the driver's seat window. “I think we should just... not see each other for a while.”

“We’re not best friends, because my best friend wouldn’t have let me go on about how heartbroken I was over Wally and not have told me,” she snapped. “My best friend would have had enough respect for me, to tell me, instead of letting me make a fool of myself.” Artemis thinks that’s what hurts the most, the secrets and lies. “We’re not best friends Zatanna, we’re not even friends because with a friend like you who needs friends.” Artemis her lip hard when Zatanna said she didn’t know, so hard she could taste blood in her mouth. “Here was I worried about you, thinking Dick was gonna break your heart and all along I should have been worried for him.” She stared at the girl for another moment. The thought that she could love Wally, that Wally might love her back, it made her blood boil. “You should have told me, and then maybe we could have salvaged our friendships. But that’s over now.” 

For a second the words don’t register, but then they do and there’s ringing in her ears. There’s a part of her that had known something had been off since Wally arrived, but if she’s being honest with herself, something had felt off with between them since before that - she had felt the other holding back, but Artemis had stupidly thought it was because of her relationship with Dick, but now it was perfectly clear. Artemis swallowed hard for a moment, the atmosphere in the room shifting. She started at Zatanna with her head titled, eyes stone-cold. 

“Well I hope it was worth it,” she said unflinchingly, “fucking your best friend over. But I mean that’s what you do best right? Fuck people over.” Artemis laughed a tad hysterical. “They warned me you know, they told me not to be friends you, that you’d screw me over like everyone else but I didn’t listen - you must have been laughing, stupid little Artemis, she doesn’t even realise when she’s taking it from behind.” The brunette could feel her heart shatter: somehow despite loving Wally, Zatanna’s betrayal was worse, it hurt more. She licked her lips. “Are you love him?”

Artemis stared at her friend confused. “If you think I’m gonna be mad, that you didn’t tell me about you helping Wally with his trauma I’m not,” she reassured. “He told me you helped him with the nightmares, and to be honest I’m grateful ˆZee, you were there for him when I wasn’t, couldn’t be there.” She smiled. Artemis couldn’t understand why Zatanna would think she’d be mad, obviously, the brunette would have prefered to help the redhead herself, but she didn’t possess the magic that Zatanna did. 

The playfulness in the air ran cold as Artemis heard the fear in her friend's voice, “Zee, you're my best friend, you can tell me anything and you know I’ll be there for you, no questions asked,” she said her voice determined, calm and protective. Was Zatanna in trouble? Did she need protection from someone? She took her friend's hand like she always did when she wanted to comfort the other. “Take a deep breath, it’s okay,” she comforted. “Remember what we promised each other when we were kids, no matter how scary, we face our shit together.”

Artemis smiled softly, “you could do both, you know that right Connor?” she asked. “Even Superman has a life outside all of this. You don’t just have to be Superboy - you can be Connor Kent, go to school, get a job afterwards, fall in love. Don’t let anyone make you think you have to pick one over the other.” Sometimes, they allowed themselves to get stuck in the never-ending circle of fighting crime. But it was good to take a step back every once in a while and remember there was more to life than just this and that they all deserved to have a life, to have something that was just their’s. “It’s important to have a life outside all of this or you’ll go crazy.”

Artemis looked the blonde up and down, doubtful but then again weirder things had happened. The brunette shrugged, “well then if that’s the case you don’t need me, go ask them yourself.” Artemis was calling her bluff. “Their a friendly crowd, I’m sure they’d welcome an ex-team meet with open arms.” She ran her fingers through her thick locks.