[Artemis almost doesn't answer. She doesn't want to talk to Robin right now. Not Robin or Wally or Conner or any of them. She wants... she doesn't know what she wants. She wants to go back to yesterday. She wants to go back to New Years when everything seemed possible.
She wants to live to be older than twenty.
But eventually she picks up the comm. She snorts when she reads the text. So Robin knows now too.
[ The really awful thing is that Robin can't help but feel like this is at least partly his fault. Like the simulation really was a test, and he'd somehow failed. Kaldur out of the picture (he refuses to think he's gone bad, he refuses, he won't), Artemis gone, Robin in charge and rapidly losing control of a situation too big for any of them. Where was the League in all this? What were they doing?
[Artemis almost leaves it at that, even winds up to toss her comm to the other side of the bed so she won't be bothered by any more well-meaning messages.
He says it was Kaldur. And I'm not giving you time to brood or ask "WHAT" because I'm not a complete jerk. The thing is, Kaldur wouldn't have. Even five years from now. Even if things got really, really bad. No matter what happens, he wouldn't. There's just no way.
So maybe Bart's wrong about the rest of it, too.
[ And in repeating it, it sounds truer. He can believe this. He can convince himself of this. ]
[For Artemis, the final piece of the puzzle slides into place, but it only leaves her bewildered and hurt, like a knife in her stomach.
Kaldur? She loves Kaldur--they all do--and trusts him completely. She would have believed anyone before she would have believed Kaldur--even her own flesh and blood.
Maybe that's the problem. She should have learned her lesson with Jade: when you love someone, they're going to hurt you. It's every girl for herself and letting people in just means you're giving them a clearer shot.
She hears what Robin is saying--it doesn't make sense at all--but the people she trusts have always been the ones to hurt her the most.]
why would he
[She can't finish the question. She just curls up with the comm clutched in her fist and her face pressed to her knees, hugging herself tightly.]
[She feels the comm buzz in her closed fist. She tightens her grip.
Hours later dim sunlight creeps in her window and she begins to uncoil, finally looking at the words.
He wouldn't.
Robin's faith should be comforting. She trusts Robin more than she's trusted anyone else in the world. If he says there's another possibility, then how can he be wrong?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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You doing okay?
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She wants to live to be older than twenty.
But eventually she picks up the comm. She snorts when she reads the text. So Robin knows now too.
Is she okay? Is she, hell.]
no offense robin, but how do you think I'm doing?text
He doesn't know what to do. He just wants—
He wants Artemis to be okay. ]
I'll leave you alone if you want.
text
Something stops her.]
how did you find out?text
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great. so now everyone knows. maybe I should start a countdown clock.text
Don't joke about that.
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if anyone gets to joke about it it's ME, robin.text
How much do you know?
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I'm dead 2016.[She looks at the words and has to look away for a moment.]
no one will tell me the rest.[She's not sure if that makes it better or worse.]
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But the more I think about it, the more the "how" doesn't make sense.
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robin... are you seriously detective-ing right now?[So not a word. She so doesn't care.]
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... Yes.
But not the way you think.
He says it was Kaldur. And I'm not giving you time to brood or ask "WHAT" because I'm not a complete jerk. The thing is, Kaldur wouldn't have. Even five years from now. Even if things got really, really bad. No matter what happens, he wouldn't. There's just no way.
So maybe Bart's wrong about the rest of it, too.
[ And in repeating it, it sounds truer. He can believe this. He can convince himself of this. ]
text
Kaldur? She loves Kaldur--they all do--and trusts him completely. She would have believed anyone before she would have believed Kaldur--even her own flesh and blood.
Maybe that's the problem. She should have learned her lesson with Jade: when you love someone, they're going to hurt you. It's every girl for herself and letting people in just means you're giving them a clearer shot.
She hears what Robin is saying--it doesn't make sense at all--but the people she trusts have always been the ones to hurt her the most.]
why would he[She can't finish the question. She just curls up with the comm clutched in her fist and her face pressed to her knees, hugging herself tightly.]
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Hours later dim sunlight creeps in her window and she begins to uncoil, finally looking at the words.
He wouldn't.
Robin's faith should be comforting. She trusts Robin more than she's trusted anyone else in the world. If he says there's another possibility, then how can he be wrong?
... But she trusts Kaldur too.
Get traught or get dead...
She just doesn't know what to think any more.]