Second Chances

Prologue

M'gann stood in the kitchen, focusing on the cookies that she was baking. It had been a month since Wally had perished in the Invasion Crisis, and the entire Team was still in mourning for him. Artemis visited his gravesite every Sunday, like clockwork, Bart was on antidepressants, and no one had heard a word from Nightwing since he left the Team.

This had been hard on Conner as well. Even though he didn't say anything, M'gann could tell that Wally's passing had effected him greatly. He had been very close to Wally. After all, it had been Kid Flash that was one of the three young heroes that had busted Superboy out of Cadmus six years ago.

Conner had already been through so much in the past six months—his breakup with M'gann, the Reach Invasion, Kaldur and Artemis's deception over their deep-cover mission.  All M'gann wanted was to see him smile again, even if it was only for a minute.  She finished the cookies, piled them neatly onto a nice china plate, and carried them towards Conner's bedroom.

When she finally came to stand in front of his door, she noticed something off. All the bedroom door were labeled, so that people could distinguish who lived there. But the label with Conner's name on it was no longer there. M'gann knocked on the bare door and said, "Superboy? Are you in there? I know its all been hard on you. Its been hard on me, too. But...you still have Kaldur, and Artemis, and Mal and Karen...and me."

She didn't get an answer. "Conner?" She knocked again. Still no response. She put an ear to the door, but she couldn't hear a thing. She punched in his passcode, letting the door slide open, and gasped.

Conner wasn't in his room. What's more, his bed was stripped bare of his sheets and pillow, and his closet and drawers had been emptied of all their contents. M'gann stepped inside, scanning the room for any trace that he may have left behind. "Conner? Where did you go?" "He is gone."

M'gann turned around to see Kaldur standing in the doorway, his dark, well-rounded face looking a little sad. "Wh-What do you mean he's gone?", she asked. He shook his head sadly. "He is gone. He left the Team." The china plate that M'gann had been carrying fell to the floor, breaking and scattering her cookies all of the carpet. "He...He left? Why?"

Kaldur stepped inside, hanging his head and rubbing the side of his neck. "He said he could no longer stay here...that he had lost everything that made this place wonderful for him...Wally, Nightwing..." He looked his Martian teammate in the eye. "And you." M'gann stood there, frozen to her spot, all her senses going numb. "Did...Did he say where he was going?"

Kaldur shook his head no. "Only that it was far, far away from here.", he said. "Its just you, me and Artemis now, M'gann." As soon as those words left his mouth, she fell to her knees, buried her face in her hands, and cried.