Wally and Artemis :: Storytime

"Wally, just shut up and give me back my bow and arrows! You're such a pain!"

"I'm a pain?! You're the one who takes all my souvenirs and tries to throw them out. I'm glad I check the garbage every once in a while to make sure you haven't thrown out anything important!"

They continued to bicker, pointing fingers and calling names. Even being a couple, it wasn't like they never argued anymore. Living together wasn't the easiest thing, but they had worked most of the kinks out. Most of them. This conversation happened at least once a month though and it was nothing unusual. Not really, anyway.

Robin glanced at Zatanna and they both shrugged, the magician finishing her cup of coffee. It was the first time in a year or so that she had seen Wally and Artemis, and although it was a little refreshing to see their little squabbles, it was also pretty annoying to listen to. Was this the reason she'd chosen to join the Justice League instead of sticking around with the Young Justice? Then again, those two had quit before she had made the switch. But then, she might've avoided some potential arguments from the members of the new team. Sighing, the black-haired girl dragged a hand down her face and turned to Robin, who was sitting next to her, rolling his eyes and groaning with irritation.

"Do they ever stop going at it like this?" Zatanna asked him, trying her best to block out the sound of the dispute going on at the doorway of the kitchen. Robin simply gave a laugh and smiled. "You didn't expect that they'd give up fighting after getting together, did you? Even after years. But they're usually not like this. Must just be ticked so they're taking it out on each other."

"Aren't you worried?" the magician asked, concern showing in her deep blue eyes. He shrugged again, replying with a "Not really. Why?"

"What if they break up or something? They're your best friends! Do something!"

"Oh come on, don't you think that's going a little far? You know what they say about assuming. Besides, I told you, this happens all the time. Just ignore them and relax. I'm sure it'll be over in a sec."

"Well if you won't do anything, I will."

With that, she got up and walked over to where her friends were having their spat. For a minute, she simply stood there, waiting for them to notice her. She even tried to interrupt their conversation a few times, but they couldn't even hear her. "Guys? Artemis? Wally?" As they continued to fight without even noticing her, her anger began to build and within moments, it had reached the highest level that it possibly could.

"ENOUGH!"

The redhead and blonde in front of her stopped immediately, silent as they turned to look at her, eyes wide. "What?" They both asked at once, blinking and causing her to grow more irritated. "What do you mean, 'what'? I can hear you from where Rob- Err, Nightwing and I are sitting. This is pointless! Just make up and have fun. Geez!"

"What would the fun in that be?" Wally asked. Zatanna shook her head in disbelief and glanced at the bookshelf on the far side of the wall, an idea hitting her the moment she caught sight of her favorite storybook. Using her magic, she made it float over to where she was standing and once it was close enough, she grabbed it, holding it out to the couple in front of her.

"Why don't you guys read this to each other? This-" she said, gesturing towards the book. "-is what romance is supposed to be like!" Artemis raised an eyebrow, taking the book from her friend's hands and staring down at it, Wally doing the same. "Uh... So you're telling me, that you want us to read Rapunzel? Zatanna, have you gone crazy? This is a kid's book! Pfft, we can't learn anything from it."

Zatanna narrowed her eyes, holding up two fingers and closing her eyes. "We'll see about that." And with that, she began chanting some sort of spell, earning an odd look from her friends. Wally glanced at the girl beside him, eyes wide. "I don't know what she's doing, but it doesn't sound good." he said. Artemis just shrugged. "I'm sure it can't be that- WHAT THE HELL?!"

The book fell to the ground and opened, beginning to suck the two of them in like a vacuum on its highest setting. Artemis was the first to fall into the book, but before she was completely inside, she took hold of her favorite speedster's hand and they both plunged into the book. As soon as the two of them were inside, the storybook shut itself and Zatanna picked it up, walking back to where Robin was and sitting down next to him, setting the fairytale on the table. Robin gave it a glance and then returned his attention to the girl beside him before peaking over her shoulder to see if he could spot his two other friends. However, there was no sign of them. No sounds of bickering, no footsteps, not even a glimpse of them. For a moment, he thought about it and then glanced down at the book that the magician had put down, his eyes widening as he picked it up.

"Zee, what did you do? I think you've gone way too far this time."

"I didn't do anything!" she said, crossing her arms.

"Oh really? I suppose there was already a fairytale called 'Artemis' then?" he said as he held the book out towards her. Her expression turned to one of surprise as she looked at the book, blinking to make sure she wasn't imagining things. The cover of the picture book no longer said "Rapunzel" and had a picture of what the main character was portrayed to appear as, but instead, it said "Artemis" and showed a picture of her very own friend. Well actually, it was more like an illustration than a picture.

"Oh crap. What have I done?" she said, placing a hand over her eyes. Robin opened the book and watched as the illustrations began to change to look like those of his friends. Except... a bit different.

"Well, might as well make the most of this! Let's see what happens." he said with a smile and focused his vision on the book, Zatanna doing the same.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Her eyes flickered open and she woke up with a groan, placing a hand on her forehead as she sat upright. Her head ached as if someone had just hit her with a bat and then thrown her on a bed. After a moment, Artemis took in her surroundings and her eyes flew wide when she didn't recognize them in the slightest. The young woman's mouth gaped and she stared up at the top of the canopy bed that she was sitting in, the drapes of it spread so that she could see the rest of the room. The blonde's head felt heavy and she knocked on it a little with her knuckles just to see if she was just dreaming. She couldn't even remember what she had been doing before everything went blank. Something about an argument with Wally? One of many, she thought with a smile. Then there was a faint memory of Robin and Zatanna being over and then... nothing.

Wally! Where is he? she thought, swiveling her head back and forth in an attempt to find him. He didn't seem to be in the room. But heck, she had to figure out where she was before she worried about him. With a sigh, the former archer rose to her feet and walked away from the bed, over to the mirror on the other side of the room. Something seemed to drag after her and when she looked in the mirror, an icy dread seeped into her mind. She had a silk, forest green night gown on that had lots of frills, pleats, and a ribbon on the chest area. It was much fancier than anything she'd ever worn before, that was for sure. And it was most likely very expensive too. She pulled at the full sleeves, rolling them up just past her elbows and moving her face closer to the mirror. Almost everything looked normal... but her hair. Something seemed off about it. Not to mention, her head still felt heavier than usual.

Curiously, she used the thumb and index finger on her right hand to pick at a bunch of her golden hair that had fallen over her shoulder and then examined it, trying to find some detail that seemed abnormal. Nothing came to mind until she looked down at the ground and saw how long her hair had become. It trailed all the way around the room (which was a circle) over and over again. The sight made her gasp and she began picking it up and touching it to see if it was really real or if she had just gotten really, really long extensions. And it was definitely real. She even yanked on it to check. "Ow!" Was the only thing that came out after that test. Then a voice came from outside the only window that was in the room. It sounded very familiar and comforted her just a little.

Wally was standing far below, wearing a knight's armor, but with his helmet off. He stared up at the window of the tower in front of him from his place on the white stallion he sat upon, confusion sweeping through his bright green eyes as he kept taking in the area around him. Then something came over him and he dismounted from his horse, standing in fresh green grass as he stared up at the window of the tower and spoke.

"Artemis, oh Artemis, let down your hair."

The sentence sounded so dignified somehow and almost as soon as he had spoken it, a funny look appeared on his face and he blinked, shaking his head. "Wait, what did I just say?" The speedster thought, scratching the back of his neck. Only seconds later, Artemis appeared at the edge of the window and she looked down at him from her room at the top of the tower, a smile appearing on her face as she did so. It was nice to see he was there too. Now, at least they could suffer together.

"Wally! Oh, thank God you're here! Where are we?!"

"Not sure. My memory's kind of fuzzy."

"Well, at least your head isn't!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at this!" she said, grabbing a load of her hair and throwing it down the side of the tower to show him just how long it was now. He watched as it trailed down the side and then flowed into the grass next to where he was standing, eyes widening further with every inch more that he saw.

"Whoa. And you told me that you weren't going to grow it out."

"This isn't a joke! It wasn't my idea either, okay?"

"Whatever you say, Babe. But what are we supposed to do now?"

"Climb up here and we'll talk about it."

He stared at her silky, honey-colored hair that was still in front of him and then backed up a step, waving his hands to emphasize what he was saying as he looked up the length of the tower. "Uh, I'm not too sure that's a good idea..." Artemis rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly, pushing back some of the hair that had gotten in her face. "Come on! Be a man, Wally! I'm not coming down there so you'll have to get your butt up here."

"But..." he said, clenching his teeth and trying to come up with an excuse other than the face that he was terrified of that idea. Artemis rested her elbow on the rocky pane of the window and settled her cheek on her hand, trying to think of a way to convince him to stop being such a baby. "What if..." she said, trailing off as idea after idea passed through her head. Suddenly, she had the perfect notion. "What if I give you a kiss? Will you come up here for that?"

He blinked and looked up at her, a grin suddenly spreading across his face. "Well... When you say it like that..." The blonde girl smiled at her success. Triumphant. Being in charge is great. she thought, watching as Wally began to climb up with incredible speed, using her hair like a rope. With how long it was, it didn't really hurt until he reached the top, but even so, the pain didn't last long. Once he had climbed in through the window, he sat down on her bed and gazed around the room.

"You were awfully lucky! I landed in a forest of pines! Do you have any idea how many thorns got stuck in my clothes? The armor only appeared after that." he said, frowning a little. His long-haired blonde gave him a small smile and sat down next to him, running her fingers through his hair. "Oh, you poor guy." she said, giving him a kiss. When they parted, he gave her one of his signature grins and then tried to remember how they had gotten into this odd place. It somehow didn't seem very real.

"So, what are we gonna do?" he asked, laying down on his back. Artemis did the same and she took hold of his hand, the two of them intwining their fingers.

"Don't know. What can we do?" she said, closing her storm grey eyes and trying to think.

"What if we just... You know, stayed here?" he said, turning to rest on his right shoulder so that he could see her better. She shrugged, a bit uncertain.

"I don't really know. I suppose it wouldn't be too bad, but we don't know anything about this place. But if there was a way in, there must be a way out." she replied, opening her eyes and turning to look at him. Wally sat upright and then got to his feet, holding his hand out for her to help her up. "Then let's find it." he said. She nodded and got up, following him to the window from which they would begin searching for an exit from. Artemis looked down the side of the tower and then turned to Wally, suddenly unsure.

"Wally, how are we supposed to get down?" she asked, getting dizzy at the thought of jumping down all that way or climbing down the side of the tower. He seemed to think about her question for a little bit, but came up with an answer only minutes later. He picked her up bridal style and on instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck to make sure she couldn't fall.

"Easy. I'll just race down the side by running on it and we'll be at the bottom in no time."

"I don't think that's a very good idea. What if you fall?"

"Relax, I won't."

He raced down the side of the tower and Artemis closed her eyes as tight as she could, only opening them when she didn't feel them moving any more. "Well, that wasn't so bad." she said, feeling a bit silly as she climbed out of his arms. "Told you." he replied and took hold of her hand, leading her over to where the white stallion he had come on was sitting. It was chewing some of the grass beneath it and paused as soon as it caught sight of its new master. For a minute, Artemis shied away from it, unsure if it were safe but when her hand accidentally brushed its nose, it snorted happily and neighed as if wanting to be petted again.

"Oh look, he likes you." Wally said, helping her onto the horse before getting on by himself. Once they were both safely on the animal, it stood up and rode away through the grass and into the forest straight ahead of it without the need for a gesture to show it to get moving.

"So, where did you find this big guy?" the former archer asked, holding onto Wally's shoulders so that she wouldn't fall off. Truthfully, she had never ridden a horse before, much less in a dress-like nightgown and with a boy. It was slightly unnerving. The redhead sitting in front of her just thought about it for a couple seconds, not quite sure how he had found it exactly. "I just woke up with his snout in my face. I think he just sort of appeared." he said. "By the way, you don't have to hold on to my shoulders. That's probably worse than just holding onto nothing at all." She blushed a little, but tried to hide it. "Oh, shut it Baywatch. I've never done this before. What else am I supposed to do?" Wally thought about it for a moment and a slight tint of pink reached his own cheeks as he came upon an idea. "Well, pretend we're on a motorcycle or something. That sort of position." The long-haired girl smiled a little and wrapped her arms around him as if giving him a hug from behind, causing the speedster to blush a fiercer red. But he didn't mind; No, not at all.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The sky had darkened considerably since they first left the tower and now the moon has risen, bathing everything in silver light along with twinkles from the stars. The sky was an inky color, but completely clear with no clouds to cover the Heavens from view. They had stopped at a small clearing in the forest with just enough space for the two of them and the horse to sleep while still having a fire. In fact, Artemis had made the fire pit and ignited the flames herself while Wally had gone off to get something to eat. Anything.

As they sat around the fire, the horse asleep off to the side, Artemis moved closer to Wally and leaned her head against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her closer. The air was too cold for her liking, especially while she was still wearing a dress-like nightgown and no shoes. This probably wasn't the best thought out plan, but it had worked well enough so far. Though they didn't even know what they were searching for exactly. Some sort of portal to lead them back to where they wanted to go? Right, like they were going to find something like that. As they held hands and sat close to the flames, she leaned against him more and he did the same, as if longing to know that she was still there with him.

"Hey Wally, I think I know where we are now." she said, almost hesitantly as if not wanting to believe it. He opened his eyes and turned to look at her, continuing to lean back against the tree trunk that they were both resting against aside from each other. He blinked, their gazes locking as soon as he caught her eyes with his own. Storm grey and bright green, almost like the sky of a rainy day and the grass of the earth meeting at the skyline. An interesting mix. "So, where are we? Are you starting to remember how we got here? It's still pretty fuzzy for me." he replied, taking hold of both of her hands and covering them with his own. They were freezing cold, but he'd fix that.

"It's still a little blurred for me. But I know how we got here too. Zatanna trapped us in the Rapunzel book. Now we're stuck in here until we find a way out. I bet she's probably sitting in our house and laughing right now with Robin. Just wait till I get my hands on her... Now we're trapped in some fairy-tale world."

"It's fine. She meant to teach us what she thinks is 'love'. Besides, we'll get out. I promise." he said, tightening his hold on her hands, but still keeping the contact gentle. "I know we will." she responded. They gave each other small smiles and then slowly fell into sleep, the sides of their heads pressed together.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hey, could you do me a favor?" Artemis asked abruptly as he continued to pull the horse along by its reigns while she sat atop it. She'd told him that she'd walk with him, but he insisted she ride on the horse and he'd pull it along, leaving her no choice but to obey after about an hour of conversing about it early in the morning. The sun was high up in the sky now though, casting its golden glow on the forest canopy above their heads. Some of the shining rays made their way through the leaves of the trees and dappled the grassy forest floor with honey-colored light. It was rather lovely.

At Artemis's question, Wally simply raised an eyebrow and paused in his walking, turning and tilting his head to look up at her. "Sure, I guess. What is it?"

The blonde glanced at her long hair trailing behind them throughout the entire forest and then returned her attention to him. "Well... I was thinking you could help me braid all this hair. It's really pretty annoying to have it loose all over the place." She gave him a look that demanded he help her and he sighed, dragging a hand down his face in frustration.

"Come on, Artemis! You can't really expect me to help with this, can you? I'm a dude! I can't braid hair!"

"Relax. There's no one around to see you. Besides, I know that you know how to braid hair. M'gann taught you before."

"But, your hair is soooooo long!" he whined.

"Be a man." she said in a sing-song voice, looking around. The speedster sagged his shoulders in defeat and mumbled a "Fine..." and began to walk away to gather all of her hair in one spot so that it would be easier. But before he had walked off too far, she stopped him with her hand and pulled him upwards a little by his shirt, giving him a kiss on the cheek and then letting him go off. He smiled at her, and suddenly this job seemed more rewarding. Too bad it was almost sunset by the time he finished. When he was done, his fingers were sore and he placed them in the stream of clear water that they had stopped near.

"Wow Wally, you did a great job with my hair. All the braids are so tight. Thanks!" Artemis said, sitting down next to in front of the stream. She touched its glassy-looking surface with her finger and the water rippled for a moment before growing calm again. He turned to look at her, exhaustion clear in his eyes.

"I'd hope I did a good job. That took forever! Another day, gone." he said, frowning a little. She let him lay out on the grass and rest his head in her lap as they continued to sit there, staring at the sun as it began to sink lower and lower in the sky, hiding behind the hills in front of them. Its orange haze soon disappeared from the sky as well, leaving them to wait for it to come back tomorrow.

"Hey Artemis? I've been thinking and I think I've found a way for us to get out of here." the redhead said, yawning as drowsiness began to make its way inside his head. Her stone colored eyes glowed a little at his words and she gazed down at him, continuing to use her fingers to play with his hair. "Really?" she said hopefully.

"Yeah. See, Flash once told me this story of how he beat a villain when he was a part of the Justice League. He'd run so fast and literally shocked the enemy when he ran into him. Actually, he had to gain momentum by racing around the Earth as fast as he possibly could. The physics behind it are actually pretty interesti-"

"Wally, please. The point?"

"Oh, sorry. Yeah. So anyway, he couldn't stop as quickly as he wanted to and he ended up creating this portal sort of thing that began to suck him inside of it. It led to a different dimension, I think. He described it like Heaven sort of. It was what he'd been thinking about after all the adrenaline rushed to his head from all that running. He was actually almost all the way in before Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman started pulling him out. He might not be here now if it weren't for them. But that's not the point. I'm thinking... What if I did that while carrying you? Or at least tried. I could think about getting out of here and getting back into the real world. Maybe it would help if you thought about it too. Then the portal could maybe lead us to where we wanted to go."

"That's... a really dramatic story. But I think it could work. We should at least give it a shot. You're a genius, Wally." she said, planting a kiss on his lips. "I know. We'll try it tomorrow when the sun's out. I'm kinda tired right now..." He said, his voice growing softer with every word spoken and soon he just trailed off, falling asleep. Artemis smiled at his sleeping face and soon fell asleep as well.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Alright, are you ready?" he asked, picking her up bridal style and holding her as close to him as he possibly could, just for safety reasons. She nodded and he began running, gaining speed quicker than he had expected. The wind hit them as he pushed forward, running through the entire forest they'd been traveling in for two to three days now. In fact, he ran to places they didn't even know existed in the storybook. They passed the tower three times within a minute and the number increased with every second that passed. His legs burned with the pain of pushing this far. After all, he wasn't Flash. But he could still do this. He had to.

"Ow! Wally, this really hurts!" Artemis said, holding onto him tighter as the wind hit them and actually ended up cutting her arm a little. But it wasn't anything serious, so she paid it no heed. Another few minutes and they were zooming through the entire world of the fairytale, a blue portal beginning to open as the speedster started sliding on his heels to stop himself before things went much too far than necessary. It took crashing into the sides of a few trees for him to come to a full stop, but once he had, there was the portal they had been wanting to get. It was closing as rapidly as it had opened and without a thought, Wally jumped straight through it. It closed completely just as it swallowed the last of Artemis's hair.

For a minute, everything was just black, but he knew that he was still holding Artemis. He could feel her gripping him as tightly as she possibly could, and he did the same, not wanting to lose her through this process. What if one of them went elsewhere instead of where they really wanted to go? He wouldn't be able to handle them being in two different dimensions, or worse.

Then they both felt carpet and the two opened their eyes, their vision blurry for a moment but even with blurred vision, they could still tell where they were. Eyes widened and both of them got up from the floor, hugging each other in delight. They stared at each other for a minute just to check if one another were okay and when all seemed fine, Wally put one hand on each side of Artemis's face and kissed her until he realized that he needed to breathe and regain the oxygen that had escaped from his lungs while he was running.

"We made it!" he said, grinning like there was no tomorrow. Artemis smiled back at him and then they turned to the sound of other voices.

"You sure did! Man, you look exhausted Wally. Was Artemis too much weight?" Robin asked, helping them rise to their feet. Artemis punched him in the shoulder at that last comment and then stood close to Wally, glaring at Robin.

"I'm sorry, you guys. I thought I knew the spell to get you out of there too. I guess I didn't." Zatanna said, laughing nervously.

"Hey, it's cool. We had a pretty good time." Wally said with a large smile. Robin eyed his friends up and down and raised his eyebrows as he responded. "Yeah, it looks like you did. Artemis, what happened to your hair?"

The blonde glanced at her hair and groaned, seeing it was still as long as before. She thought the effects would wear off after getting out of the book. If only. "I can only imagine how much it's gonna cost to get all of this cut." she said and her and Wally laughed a little.

"So, are you guys up for hanging out at the bookstore after you get cleaned up?" Zatanna asked. Artemis and Wally glanced at each other and a silent agreement passed between them as they did so.

"Uh... I think we'll pass. We've had enough of books for now."