Behind the Curtain - Heathers

Dead Girl Walking (Reprise)

Artemis skipped the teams next mission, deciding to go on her own instead. She was going to give Cheshire a proper piece of her mind. She knew where she'd be, the set team were required to come to all the rehearsals on a Sunday, so that was where she spent her afternoon. Waiting outside the theatre for her sister to make her appearance. It wasn't until 6 when she finally exited the building, no one with her. Was Artemis surprised? No, she couldn't imagine anyone being friends with Jade. She jumped down from the small shed roof and silently onto the floor as she came up behind her sister, knife in hand. She had just raised it to stab her in the back, a visual representation of the bitch she is when Jade turned around and caught her wrist, stopping her entierly.

"Well, that wasn't very nice was it?" Jade purred, "Stabbing your own sister in the back, I thought that your team had taught you better than that."

"I was just giving you a taste of your own medicine," Artemis said, "Don't like the sound of it?"

"Can't say I do," Jade replied, "But I guess I'll never have to know, because what would Wally think?"

"I don't think he cares anymore," Artemis growled, "Want to hazard a guess as to why?"

"I can only imagine it's because you lied to him for so long," She said as she released Artemis' wrist.

"Why did you do it?" Artemis asked as she put the knife back in the sheaf in her belt.

"Maybe I just wanted to make sure he knew the truth, and that you wouldn't just hurt him later," Jade said, "Or maybe, I just wanted to have some fun."

"How about we make a deal," Artemis bargained, "You leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. Stop coming to bother me and mum, you left of your own free-will, no need to come back."

"That's a bit harsh," Jade mused, "But I'll accept it. Only to make you feel better. See you around then." And she vanished.

Artemis still didn't know how she did that, a little bit like Robin. But Robin was definitely scarier when he did it, costume colour considering and all.
Artemis turned around to head home, fishing out her phone. She smiled at her lock screen, a picture of Wally asleep on the sofa, a pile of food next to him. One of the most embarrassing moments of his life as he called it. She just thought it was cute. She went through her contacts list, she didn't really want to go home but most of her friends were on the mission, that left only one person, Babs. She dialled in her number and the ginger picked up.

"Hey Artemis, you okay?" She asked.

"I'm all good, great actually." Artemis replied, "I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a coffee, maybe go shopping."

"That actually sounds pretty good, I'll meet you at Starbucks in ten?"

"See you soon," Artemis said and hung up, heading towards town.

She quickly took the zeta's, making a stop off at home to drop off her belt and weapon, after all, Babs was a strong believer of the law and arrived at Starbucks to see the ginger waiting just outside.

"Hey," They greeted as they moved into the cue, "So, how's life going?"

"About as well as yours," Babs replied, "Dick still won't even talk to me, it's as if I don't even exist to him anymore. But I don't care, not anymore. He could go throw himself off a building and die, not my problem anymore."

Artemis knew she didn't mean a single word of that, knew that Babs cared so deeply about Dick, they had almost grown-up together, and Artemis kind of shipped it, so whatever had taken a hold of Dick needed to pass, and quickly.

"As long as you feel that way," Artemis said instead.

"Anyway, how about you and Wally?" Babs asked, "I think I may have noticed the first fight."

"Break up more like," Artemis replied, "He found out who I was related to, apparently he doesn't like it."

"I'm sorry," Babs said.

"Don't be," Artemis said, "We can start a club, broken hearts club for the women who can pull through. The strong ones."

They arrived at the front of the cue and put in their orders, making sure to use their reusable cups, saving the turtles one Starbucks at a time. They started to move to sit down when Babs phone began to ring again,

"Sorry, it's Wally, I should probably ignore it," She started.

"No, it's fine. Probably just about rehearsals," Artemis said and the redhead answered.

"Hello," "What? Wally slow down. I don't understand." "What?!" Artemis jumped at the sudden change of tone, wishing she could hear the other side of the conversation as horror clouded Babs' face, "You've gotta stop him. Are the police there?" "Tell them to tell him I'm coming, I'm gonna come get him, okay? Okay?" She hung up the phone and instantly started getting up, Artemis following, "We need to get to Wayne enterprises."

"Why?"

"Dick's trying to kill himself."

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Dick said he was going to his room, that he just needed to sleep. That wasn't what he did. He left the manor, he walked to Wayne enterprises, and he climbed to the roof. The tallest building in Gotham, chance of survival, none, even with his training. And it felt right to fall, to go the way his family did. The winter wind was sharp on the top of the building, whistling so loud that he could barely hear the people singing carols below him. He was at peace now that he knew he was going to die. Everything suddenly felt right for him, maybe people would miss him for a few days, but they'd soon reap the benefits of him not being there. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, seeing a text from Wally that had come through this morning. He was wondering why he hadn't turned up for the mission. It didn't matter, he couldn't have done anything anyway, not with the state he was in. He opened the message and stared at the screen. At the one friend he had had that knew both of his lives, but only what he had wanted him to know. He deserved the truth, he deserved to know why.
Wally, I need to write you something, because this is what people do, isn't it? They leave notes. So this is my note. I'm not who you think I am, I'm not a happy person, I haven't been for a while now. I can't really remember a time I was genuinely happy. And that's because everywhere I go, everything and everyone I touch faces a tragedy.  Haly's dead, the team's almost died countless times, Zee lost her dad, and you, I've hurt you so much just by lying to you, every single day. And you don't deserve that, no one does. So I'm making sure no one ever has to suffer because of me again. So, this is goodbye, you've been more than I could ever deserve.
He hit send and moved closer to the edge, he looked at the drop, because had gathered to see him fall, to watch the end of his tragedy. He noticed police and ambulance services pile into the crowd, shouting up to him, their words lost in the wind. He dropped his phone down first, counting the fall.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
The distant sound of his smashing told him it had landed. And he was next. He took another step to the edge, his toes now in the open air. One more step and it could all be over, he wouldn't have to be empty ever again. He looked down again, he could see the ginger he had sent the message to, and another ginger, running for the stairs, running towards him. He felt a tug in his gut, Babs. She had come for him. But she shouldn't save him. He took the final step.