Disclaimer: Don't own...wish I did...

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone to reviewed Who is She? You gusy are amazing and I only hope book two can keep it up!

Robin was training. Training hard, his earbuds jammed into his ears, blocking out anything and everything that could distract him. He had one objective and one objective only: get through the obstacle course and destroy everything in his path. The first couple of minutes were solid, no problems, and though the difficulty was on the highest setting, Robin managed to make it through, amidst the explosions and gunfire...gunfire. Gunfire!

The course vanished and Robin whirled around, seeing Sportsmaster's shot, aimed straight at his heart. He didn't have enough time to get out of the way, Robin knew that. He closed his eyes.

And was roughly thrown out of the way by what felt like the force of a small train. Eyes thrown open wide, Robin saw Artemis jump in front of him. He saw her take the bullet.

She didn't even scream as she went down.

In the confusion from the fight, no one noticed her, the blood blossoming like some kind of grotesque flower on her chest, staining the dark green material red.

"Artemis!" Robin cried out. His friend's eyes were glassy – he didn't think she could see or hear him. "No, Artemis, don't do this!"

"Grayson..." Artemis whispered, her stormy gray eyes focusing on him. Robin felt sick at her use of his real name. Their fight seemed so trivial now. Now that she was dying. "Don't beat yourself up over this." Somehow, she managed a small, cocky smile. "You've got to be a pretty special kid for two Crock sisters to die for you."

"No, Artemis, you're not going to die!" Robin insisted, bull-headed to the end. His vision blurred...he hadn't even realized that he was crying.

Artemis looked at him sadly. "That was a 9x19mm Walther P99 German semi-automatic pistol," she said, sounding resigned. That was what scared him the most. Artemis didn't resign herself to anything! She fought tooth and nail until she got what she wanted and now she didn't even seem to want to live! "I'm dying." Artemis said, confirming his thoughts. She inhaled shakily. "Sorry that I was such a bitch...I don't care if you're Robin or Grayson...you're still...my friend." She struggled with every word.

"Artemis!" Red Arrow's voice turned Robin's head and he crouched protectively over his fallen teammate, ready to fend him off until he saw the desperate look in Red Arrow's eyes. Red Arrow threw himself to the ground next the the fallen archer, taking her hand in his. Robin had the sense to be surprised. Those two hated each-other! "Oh my God." Red Arrow whispered, horror-struck.

"Red..." Artemis voice was tiny, raspy and she was gasping for air. "Sorry we never...got that date...I wish we... had more time." Artemis lifted her head up and they kissed. Robin was dumbfounded. They were together. That would explain her happiness...just that morning. Robin marveled. Had everything happened in only twenty-four hours? It didn't seem possible that only a few hours ago that Artemis was bubbly, happy and full of life. Now she was bleeding with a bullet in her heart. The thought made the tears cascading down his cheeks fall even harder.

"Take care of Oliver for me." Artemis wheezed when the two broke away. There was something in their shared gaze, something so intimate that Robin felt like he was intruding. She coughed, spitting blood out of her mouth, coloring her lips a garish red. "I...I love...you guys." Artemis's hand fell out of Red Arrow's, limp and unmoving. Robin screamed her name, his voice joining with the archer's, but Artemis didn't stir, her eyes were unfocused and unreachable.

"Athena..." she breathed, a small smile forming itself on her lips, visualizing the sister she'd lost with unseeing thundercloud-colored eyes. Then they closed.

The storm had ended.

"Robin." The young hero heard his mentor's voice but disregarded it, unable to take his eyes off of the body of his teammate. His friend. "Robin!" Robin spun at the hand on his shoulder, and the vision dissipated.

He was back in Mt. Justice. In the middle of the night.

"Yeah." Robin said, eying his adopted father coolly and feigning nonchalance. "What's up?"

"Flashbacks again?" Bruce asked, taking off his cowl. Robin scowled, hating his own transparency. It had been over a month since Artemis...died... and he hadn't gotten more than ten hours of sleep since. His was plagued by nightmares, always seeing her die...her eyes turning on his, betrayed and hurt. "Why didn't you save me?" she asked. "After all the times I've saved you? Why did you let me die?"

Every time the questions were the same. And so Robin didn't sleep any more, relying on caffeine pills and copious amounts of coffee to keep him awake. His waking hours, however, were no less unpleasant. Robin suffered from flashbacks almost every day and when the occurred he completely disconnected from the world around him, not seeing, hearing nor experiencing what was really going on around him, only knowing the horrors that lied in his memory.

"Yeah." Robin said, resigned. There was no point in lying. Bruce could read him too well. "Damn flashbacks again."

Wally was running in circles. Given the super-speed and borderline ADHD, that wasn't a real shocker for him, but it wasn't his legs that were pumping, it was his mind. That would be the shocker.

Wally grinned briefly, imagining Artemis's response when he told her. She'd say something snarky, of course.

"Careful not to hurt yourself," she'd say. "You're not supposed to overwork a muscle you've never used before." Wally downright laughed out loud, but then his smile slid off of his face as he remember that he wouldn't ever get to hear her sarcastic quip.

Since Artemis had gotten shot, Wally had transformed. Gone was the easy laughter, the smile that lit up his emerald eyes at every opportunity. It had been replaced by a serious persona that was shockingly different from the Wally everyone knew. Now, when he fought crime with his uncle, Wally didn't banter with the baddies, preferring to kick their asses quickly and without mercy, then get out of there as soon as possible. He didn't even like to watch television or play video-games anymore. They just reminded him of his and Artemis's infamous popcorn battles and debates over who was better, Star Wars or Star Trek, Terminator I or II, Spock or Han Solo?

Hell, Wally even missed the incidents when Artemis had used him as a seat cushion or jumped on his back and demanded high-speed piggy-rides. After the first time that she'd been thrown over his shoulder and run around the gymnasium at super-speed she'd become hooked. Then again, they all knew that Artemis was an adrenaline junkie.

Was an adrenaline junkie.

Wally's thoughts started running at tip-top speed again, his heightened through process not really helping much. Why hadn't he been there? He was the fastest kid alive, why didn't he have the presence of mind to race over there and get her out of the way? What the hell had been so important that he didn't notice Artemis bleeding out on the dirty warehouse floor? Oh. Right: He had been showboating, showing off his speed, running circles around the Shadows, that's what had been so important. Wally stopped pacing – he hadn't even noticed that he'd started – and pressed his forehead against the wall.

"Sorry," he mouthed, wishing he could've told her that.

Superboy missed his sparring partner. He'd been fighting with Kaldur lately, but it wasn't the same. Not only because the Atlantean was almost as strong as he was – but because he fought fair. Artemis used to do whatever it took to win, using anything she could to level the playing field, though she would insist that she was "fighting street" because that's what she was used to, not because she needed an advantage or anything.

But that wasn't what drove him to demolish the gymnasium in the wee hours of the morning.

He hadn't been there for Artemis when she died and that, if nothing else, weighed him down with guilt. Stupid as he knew it was, Superboy had always tried to protect her – and Robin – in missions. They were the only two without powers...he had more than he knew what to do with.

I should've been there, Superboy thought angrily, ripping a training dummy in two. I'm fast enough. I should've taken the bullet for her.

"Superboy?" Superboy heard the voice but didn't respond, too focused on whatever he was breaking. He wasn't even sure what it was at this point. "Superboy?" M'gann's voice came timidly from the door of the gym. The clone turned, fire burning brightly in his blue eyes. Eyes that were clouded by grief.

"What?" he snapped, his voice harsh, unwelcoming.

"I – I miss my Earth sister." M'gann said quietly, sniffing, her brick-red eyes filling with tears. Earth sister. Superboy suddenly understood. Artemis wasn't just some girl on his team – when she'd been captured by the Shadows, he had worried about her. Actually, sincerely worried. And the only person who elicited that kind of response from him was Megan. She wasn't just the Martian's Earth sister. Artemis was his too.

Slowly, Superboy opened his arms, and M'gann flew into them, searching for some kind of comfort. She, like Robin, hadn't been sleeping well lately, always waking up crying, looking for Artemis, yearning for her quick, snappy comments and hard-knock, realistic view on everything.

But she could never find her. Because Artemis was...gone. M'gann couldn't bear to think of her teammate as dead. She shuddered, even thinking the word caused her pain.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Superboy soothed, stroking her hair.

"I miss her." M'gann sobbed into his chest. "I miss her so much."

"I know," Superboy said softly. "So do I."

Kaldur paced around mission control, wishing for a mission to distract him and his team. No one knew what to do with themselves any more. They needed Artemis back. Though tough and hard to get to know, she had truly integrated herself into the team and with her gone...no one was acting the same any more.

Who was he kidding? The Atlantean knew that he wasn't the same either. When he gave the team drills to practice, the lack of snarky comments, eye-rolling or suggestions that they "just go out and kick ass" sent him reeling, as they were so common. He had become accustomed to dealing with sidelong looks and digs, and without Artemis to lighten the mood with her snappy comments, no one was. Artemis had taught him to speak sarcasm...how to make his speech less formal, to help when under cover. She was unruly, angry and had a serious problem with authority, but Artemis had been a central part of the team and she'd saved his life more times than he'd like to admit.

What were they going to do now that she was gone?

Otay...first chapter. Kind of angsty...but it needed to be done.

Review! Nice long reviews that tell me whether or not this story is GOD AWFUL! Please and thank you!

~Fae