So I plan on extending this, but I want to know if this interests you guys. Artemis is around 20, Wally is 22. It's an AU, obviously, so no powers. Let's pretend Jade isn't evil.

Read on~

Wally West didn't want to die.

But as he shifted in his white hospital gown in his white hospital bed in his white hospital room, he knew it was going to happen. He was only 22! He wanted to grow up, have kids, go out and get drunk, and so much more.

He blinked back a few tears and looked to the side. His best friend Dick was curled up on the couch. Wally had just found out about his death sentence yesterday and hadn't told the ebony yet. He wasn't looking forward to it either.

"Wallman?" the 18-year old yawned and stretched like a cat, round blue eyes meeting watery green.

"Hey. Can you lift me up?" Wally twirled his fingers at his friend, who immediately complied, hitting the switch to raise the bed up to a sitting position.

"Thanks," the ginger sighed in relief, stretching his legs out and grinning at Dick.

"Need anything?" he asked after refilling Wally's water jug. The cancer-ridden boy shook his head, leaning back on the pillow. He coughed loudly, the tube that ran up his nose quivering. A concerned expression slid over Dick's face as he waited for the fit to stop.

It didn't.

Dick grabbed the water jug to give his friend some water, but Wally started to cough louder, hacking gasps. Suddenly, red liquid splattered onto the white sheets, staring them bright crimson. Dick slammed the button for the nurse over and over, blue eyes wide in horror.

He was told to leave as a few nurses and the doctor crowded around Wally's bed. Tearfully, he sat outside in the waiting room for families, taping his feet against the floor in a fast rhythm. It was a habit he learned from Wally. The ginger was his only friend, and he didn't want to lose him. Sniffling, he looked up as a girl with startling jade eyes sat across from him, sighing deeply. She looked older than him, but the stress lines around her eyes made her seem weary in age.

Dick stared at her for a second. He might as well make conversation.

"Hi." He said to her. She raised an eyebrow at him and then dropped her gaze, not bothering to answer. He frowned a little.

"Who are you here for?" he tried again with a question.

"My little sister." The jade-eyed girl sighed, looking up at him despairingly.

"I'm here for my best friend. He's like my brother." Dick could relate to her sadness. Wally had been in the hospital for months now but never coughed blood up.

"She's dying, and I can't do anything about it." She whispered, her voice cracking. She sat up, trying to regain her composure.

"I know." Dick said softly, trying to ease her pain.

"I'm Dick." He added warmly.

"Jade." She nodded at him, and then a nurse poked her head out of a door about 10 feet away, expression grave.

"Uh, Miss Jade, we need to talk."

She got up, waving at Dick before following the nurse back into the room. The door closed soon after. He sighed and slumped back in his chair. He wondered how old Jade's sister was. Right now, he wanted to see Wally again.

"Are you Dick Grayson?" a young woman with long black hair and clear blue eyes stood in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts. He smiled at her and nodded. She sure was pretty.

"I'm Zatanna, and I'm afraid I have some news for you." She said sadly, sitting in the chair across from him. She glanced down at her clipboard and cleared her throat.

"Wally, as you know, had lung cancer. This certain type is very new but also destructive. It's destroying his air sacs, one by one. But now it's worse. In about 82 days, his lungs will collapse. I—he's dying, Dick."

No. He wouldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it. Wally wasn't dying. Wally wasn't going to leave him. Wally would have told him, right?
But even as he thought those words, the image of Wally coughing of blood popped up in his mind.

"No." he croaked out, tears swimming in his eyes. Zatanna bit her lip and hugged him, saying over and over again, "I'm so sorry, so sorry."

Wally was dying.

"Artemis, just take the damn pills!" Jade yelled at her younger sister. The 20-year old glared and shook her head. Her arm was throbbing with pain and she could see the poisoned blood start to overtake one of her veins.

"Fine!" Artemis snatched the large blue pill from her sister and swallowed it, along with a great gulp of water. Jade rubbed her temple wearily, sighing. The blonde relaxed back, the blood poisoning slowing down almost immediately.

"Why must you be so difficult about everything?" she snapped.

"Me? Says the one who's trying to shove pills down my throat every minute!" the blonde hissed back, wincing when her arm throbbed again. The morphine pills weren't working so great, but she didn't want a stronger dose. That meant her mind would be clouded, and she hated that hazy feeling.

Jade exhaled slowly before saying softly, "Mom got you something."

Artemis blinked and turned her head to face the raven-haired girl.

"What?" she asked. Jade tossed a black velvet case onto the bed. Artemis smoothed down the top and flipped open the lid to reveal a pendant lying on the soft red satin. It was a silver arrow studded with emeralds. Ever since she was little, Artemis loved hunting. She would construct a bow out of clay and use sticks for arrows. When she had turned 16, her dad had given her a silver bow with real arrows. Ever since then, she had won every hunting competition in the area.

She wiped away a tear and said, "Thank her for me." Jade nodded.

"I really will miss you." The older girl breathed, and the blonde shook her head.

"Don't say things like that, Jade. I'm going to cry then." Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes.

The two sisters looked at each other, both trying to contain her sadness. Artemis really didn't want to die. She didn't want to leave with so many things she could have done. Go to Paris, get married, use her bow and arrow to shoot birds with her father…

But now it was all over.

Jade remembered the boy she had been talking to, Dick. She wondered how old his friend was. Maybe him and Artemis could talk, keep company for each other.

After all, if both were sick, YOLO, right?

The drowsiness effect of the pill kicked in, and Artemis sighed and closed her eyes, chest rising and falling with each troubled breath. As soon as she fell asleep, Jade smoothed her hair down, kissed her forehead, and left quietly to find Dick.

She just wanted her sister to be happy.

Whadya guys think? Review!

~samx