chapter twenty-nine.
( the things we lost. )

     When Yue wasn't in class, or on a mission, most of her time was spent in Star City.

Four hundred hours of supervised fieldwork to complete her bachelor's degree was almost impossible to find with her hectic schedule as a hero, so Dinah had kindly stepped up to help her– if anyone was able to work around the schedule of a hero, it was another hero who understood how hard it was to find time for a normal life.

But with a quarter of the Justice League on their way to Rimbor, and the team taking a small break to prepare for the launch of the Zeta-Shields, Yue had spent the last few weeks at Dinah's side to finish her clinical hours in time to be on trek for graduation in May.

So, at the end of every week, she finds herself – and Wally, after his final class of the day – in Artemis' small downtown apartment for dinner.

"Kaldur was there?" Artemis questions, sitting across from Yue at the dining table with wide eyes. Her notebooks are sprawled across the table and her blonde hair is messily tied back out of her face, but Yue's recount of Malina Island seemed more interesting than her Vietnamese Literature studies. The former archer's face twists into a scowl, "He seriously had the nerve to show his face after all this time?"

"I doubt he was expecting us to be there." Yue sighs, one hand gently patting the white fur of Artemis' pit bull, Brucely, and her eyes drifting up to meet her friend. "But you should've heard him, Arty... He blames us for what happened to Tula."

Her mouth parts in surprise and her grip tightens around the pen in her hand. "You're kidding, right?" She frowns. "Tula... We did everything we could to help her." They had all been on the mission – Aquagirl had been kidnapped and Klarion was trying to end the world – and her death had hit hard for them all.

While Kaldur disappeared without a word, Artemis quit the team without a second thought.

A heavy silence looms over the tiny apartment, until a few minutes later Artemis finally gathers the energy to change the topic. "So, any plans for your birthday tomorrow?" She questions, a small smile tugging at her lips as she taps the end of her pen against the table. "Or has Wally finally remembered Valentine's Day this year and is stealing you away from the rest of us?"

Yue rolls her eyes playfully. "We both know he only remembers Valentine's Day the night before," she points out. "Honestly, though? With Bruce still off-planet and... and everything going on with Kaldur, I haven't really thought of any plans."

"Don't tell Megs that. If she knows you're free tomorrow, she'll throw together the biggest party you've seen in under an hour." Artemis' joke brings a smile to Yue's face.

A knock taps against the wooden door of Artemis' apartment, followed by the sound of the spare key twisting in the lock. The door opens and shuts behind Wally as he enters the apartment with a plastic bag of takeout dangling from his hand, "Speedy delivery boy at your service."

Artemis glances over her shoulder to meet her friend's gaze with a teasing smirk. "Speedy? It took you over an hour," she points out with a laugh.

Wally ignores her comment and walks past her, halting in his trek to lean down and kiss Yue softly as she rises slightly off her seat to meet his lips with her own. Parting from him with a lovesick grin, she shifts in her seat to watch as he strolls into the open kitchen with Brucely happily trailing behind him.

Sitting across the table, Artemis watches the exchange with a snicker. "You two are disgusting," she jokes light-heartedly. "Never heard of keeping your hands off each other for more than five seconds?"

"Don't be jealous, Artemis," Wally grins at her as he carefully sets the bag on the countertop and begins unpacking the containers from inside. "I'm sure you could still call up Zatanna and–"

Yue's head snaps in his direction and, as she silently shakes her head, he presses his lips together and falls quiet. Artemis and Zatanna began their relationship a few years ago, one that came to an amicable split in December when the latter's schedule as the newest member of the Justice League conflicted with Artemis' heavy workload at Stanford.

"It's fine. I'm fine." Noticing their silent exchange, a faint smile crosses Artemis' face. "Now hurry up, Wally. The sooner you write this paper, the sooner I can get back to watching–"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he rolls his eyes. A beep sounds through the room a second later and he fishes his phone out of his jacket pocket while Yue turns back to Artemis and snickers.

"You have no idea how many times he tried copying my paper from last year," she comments. "I told him not to take Vietnamese Lit, but-"

"He's as stubborn as a child?" Artemis smirks, "I could tell."

"I heard that!" Wally chimes in from the kitchen, his green eyes scanning over his phone screen before his face suddenly falls. "Yue..." The concerned tone of his voice has her heart dropping to her stomach as she glances over her shoulder to meet his worried gaze.

She had seen that look before. "Who- What is it?" She questions. There are a million possibilities behind that worried look; Joan could've had another heart attack, last year's scare was worrisome enough for Wally and Barry to become the first two on Jay's call list for it. Or, god forbid, a mission could've gone wrong and Dick was waiting on the other end of the phone to deliver the bad news that someone on their team was gone.

Yue couldn't count on one hand how many times she's been on the receiving end of such a phone call.

"It's... It's Roy. Ollie found him," he answers. Then, with a reassuring look plastered across his pale freckled face, he tucks his phone back into his pocket and says, "He's okay but they want us to meet with him."

Relief. It's all that runs through her veins. Pure and utter relief at the news that Ollie had found his former sidekick, Roy, safe and sound after a month with no contact. "Now?" She asks as she rises to her feet without a thought and tugs her coat off the back of her chair. An intervention had been the plan for months, but Roy had fallen off the radar for the nth time and with no way to find him, they just had to hope he'd turn up safe and alive.

With a nod of his head, Wally takes a step toward the door before stopping to turn and face the former archer with a raised brow. "You coming, Artemis?"

Artemis remains at the table, a hesitant look in her eyes as she watches her friends stand in the doorway. "After what happened between him and Jade? I think you'd have better luck if I stay here." She glances at Wally, "I'll come by before class to help you finish that paper, alright?"

He grins, "You're a lifesaver, Artemis."

A cold wind blows over the dark rooftop where Yue and Wally met with Dick, Oliver, Dinah, and the second clone of Roy Harper, Jim. With her arms crossed over her sweater, Yue lets her gaze flicker to Dick as she asks, "If Jade couldn't help him, what makes you think we can?"

Yue was no friend of the eldest Crock sister but, for Roy and Artemis' sake, she had come to tolerate the woman in the last five years since she saved her life in the tundra. There wasn't much she knew about her but one thing she could tell for certain, Jade loved Roy, enough to aid in the search for his maker when nobody else could.

If she couldn't help him, then their small group surely stood no chance.

Dick, having arrived straight from the Cave and still wearing his Nightwing costume, lets out a sigh. "We have to try," he says. "We owe it to him."

"You can't help someone who doesn't want help," she points out sadly. "I love Roy, you guys know that. But he's the one who pushed us away."

With a frown on his face, Wally glances at his girlfriend. "But if we were in his shoes, he wouldn't want any of us driving ourselves crazy on a lost cause," he explains. "Dick's right. We have to try again."

Ollie was waiting a few feet away, leaning against the wall out in the open where Roy would easily see him whenever he made the jump Dick assured them all he would have to take if he followed his usual path back to his safehouse across the street. When the quiet thud of a grappling arrow hitting brick echoes across the otherwise silent rooftop, Ollie pushes himself off the wall.

Roy lets go of the zip-line and falls onto the rooftop, the momentum rolling him across the floor until he lands at Ollie's feet. The archer stares down at his former protege with a softened gaze. "Hey, Roy," Ollie greets. "Need a hand?"

Roy's face twists into a scowl as he slaps Ollie's hand away and stands up on his own. "No," he growls at the man.

With a quick glance to the group still hiding in the shadows, Dick steps into the light and clears his throat. "We think you do," he says. Wally and Yue follow closely behind him, while Dinah and Jim – the former Guardian created by Cadmus from whatever was left of the original Roy Harper – walk around the corner to join them.

"I have nothing to say to any of you. Nothing to explain, nothing to justify," Roy states defensively. He leans down to pluck his bow off the ground but, as he reaches forward, Ollie steps closer and snatches the wad of cash sticking out of his utility belt.

"Nothing?" He holds up the money with raised brows.

Roy's eyes widened behind his mask. "It's not what it looks like. I mean, that store owner won't miss it, he offered me a reward anyway," he answers. "Besides, I deserve it. That guy wouldn't have any of his money back if I hadn't stepped in."

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Yue scoffs, unable to hide her discontent as she clenches her hand tightly into a fist. "Since when do heroes steal from the people we protect, Roy?"

"That's rich coming from you." Roy scowls and spins around on his heel to face the heroes he once called friends. "What has your dad been up to these days again, Yue? Last I heard, he was back working with the Shadows. I wonder just how many people he's stolen from."

Wally gently rests his hand against her shoulder, coaxing the woman to take a step back as he speaks up, "Dude, are you even listening to yourself?"

"Look, I need it." He snatches the money from Ollie's hand with a growl. "I need it to find Speedy, the real Roy Harper. A search like that is expensive, especially when the rest of you have all given up."

His accusation brings a frown to Yue's face. It was far from the truth, simply born from his anger toward them, but it didn't hurt any less. Truth was, they only stepped away from the search upon hitting dead-end after dead-end. It wasn't healthy to keep searching. Artemis had told them Jade left for the exact same reason.

"Roy, I know you feel lost." Dinah steps forward, gently resting her hand on his shoulder, "But that doesn't mean you're alone."

"I'm not the one that's lost," he comments. A second later, he shrugs her hand off his shoulder with narrowed eyes focused in her direction.

Watching him begin to walk away from Dinah and Ollie, Yue raises her voice to catch his attention. "When was the last time you trained? The last time you ate?" She fired question after question, her arms crossing around her torso as her brows furrowed in concern for her close friend. "You look like you haven't slept in weeks, Roy."

"Don't even start," Roy snaps, his back still facing their group. "I'm in the best shape of my life."

"Oh, really?" Without another word, Dinah swings her leg out toward Roy. He barely manages to dodge her attack, and almost fails to miss the punch she sends his way as she walks him back to the edge of the rooftop. His foot hits the concrete railing but, before he can fall into the streets below, she grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him toward her. "Best shape of your life? That was me holding back– way back."

Releasing his shirt, Dinah's hands fall to her hips. "Roy, you used to treat your body as a temple. But now..." She watches with a frown as he stumbles forward and falls to his knees.

Roy raises his head. "My body's no temple," he huffs out. "It's a cheap knock-off. A clone."

"Roy, come back to Star City." With a sigh, Ollie walks back toward his former protege and holds his hand out. "It'll be like old times. You and me, training, fighting crime, just hanging out, shooting the–"

Roy's hands ball into fists as he rises to his feet and glares at his mentor. "You're confused, probably thinking of the other guy- the original, the one you stopped looking for," he says. "Me? I'm just..."

"We get it. You're a clone." Jim snaps from where he stands beside Dick. "But you're not the only clone on this rooftop, and I know from personal experience how tough it was to come to grips with being a copy of someone else. That's why I gave up my identity as Guardian, so that I could figure out exactly who Jim Harper is supposed to be."

"That's not the only thing you gave up," he sneers.

"Roy, you know we both spent years looking for the original Speedy, and everyone else here did the same." Jim continues, "We never found him because The Light didn't keep him alive. It was Cadmus policy to delete the source material. He's dead, brother, which is all the more reason you have to live... To honour the Roy that was."

Roy's face falls as he takes a step back, going silent in thought as he takes a seat by the vent sticking out of the apartment building's rooftop. "I'm whelmed by all this attention." He stares past Jim and his mentors, his gaze falling onto Wally. "What are you even doing here, West? I thought you ditched the hero game."

"Ditching the game doesn't mean ditching my friends," Wally states firmly. "And before you round back to the original Roy again, let's face the facts: he was never our friend."

Dick nods in agreement. "We've all done the math," he explains. "Speedy was abducted before any of us met."

"You're the boy we trained with, fought with. The boy we grew up with," Yue reminds him. The longer she stares at the man sitting in front of them, the more her heart aches; his hair had grown out a lot in the last few months, so had his beard. But it was eyes that stood out most. They were almost empty now, like the light had been drained out of him so long ago. "You're our family, Roy."

"You're the only you we know," Wally grins.

"Just because you're a clone with anger management issues doesn't change that," Dick adds.

"Seriously. Have you met Superboy?" Wally laughs and, when Yue glances to her right with a raised brow, he can't help but raise his hands in surrender. "What? You know I'm right."

Roy's head hangs low for a moment. "All done?" He asks, the dry tone of his voice sending a shiver down Yue's spine and wiping the grin off Wally's face as they both watch him push past them. "You want to salvage someone's soul, go get Kaldur to see the light. From what I hear, he needs course correcting, but leave me out." He stops at the edge of the rooftop, then glances over his shoulder one last time, "Write me off, or don't. Either way, blow."

The group watches in silence as Roy departs from the rooftop without another word. Then, after a moment, Yue huffs out a sigh and turns back to face Wally. "We aren't giving up, right?" She questions.

With his lips curled downward, Wally wraps an arm around Yue's shoulders. "Of course not," he shakes his head. "We'll find a way to help him."

"I hope so..." She leans her head against his shoulder, her gaze focused on the direction Roy had left in. Briefly, she wonders if somebody should call Jade. She was likely still hiding from the shadows, staying low off the radar so neither they nor Roy could find her until she wanted to be found.

"Hey." Dick's voice snaps Yue out of her thoughts, and she lifts her head from Wally's shoulder to meet her brother's gaze. He stands in front of them, his arms crossed and a distant look painted across his visage that she recognised all too well as the face he made when he was hiding something. "The three of us need to talk."

"When Dick said he was running late, I didn't think he meant this late." Wally complains. He's sitting in the booth beside her, in a dimly lit corner of the all-night diner near their apartment that they visit every second week at the end of date-night. It was the only place they could think of that would still be open this late at night and, when Dick confronted them after the intervention, it was obvious they needed to have a conversation away from the prying ears of their team's mentors.

"It's only been twenty minutes," Yue states, tiredly leaning back in her seat as she stares up at the white ceiling. She yawns against the back of her hand, then tilts her head to the side to glance at her boyfriend. He has a plate with a burger and fries in front of him, yet he's staring out the window next to him instead. "He's probably still walking here from the zeta-tube," she whispers, "Not everyone has superspeed, babe."

His eyes flicker from the dark street and down to his phone as the screen turns on to emit the current time. Suddenly, his lips curl into a grin and he's leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. "Hey, it's past midnight... Happy Birthday."

Surprised, she glances down at his phone to see 12:15am, February 14, illuminated above the bleary candid photo of her laying half asleep in bed that he made his wallpaper last week. Her cheek was still pressed into her pillow and she had one hand stretched out in a half-hearted attempt to cover the camera, and she had been asking Wally almost every day to change it to a prettier photo but he always shut her down with a kiss and a smile that she simply couldn't argue with.

She cups his jaw in the palm of her hand and kisses him softly. "And Happy Valentine's Day," she adds, then kisses him again before shuffling back to a more appropriate distance for the diner they're sitting in. "Maybe I'll consider giving you a Valentine's Day present if you finish that paper before the deadline tomorrow."

"Seriously?" He groans half-heartedly, then takes another bite of his burger. "You know how low the chances of me not asking for an extension are?"

"Call it an incentive," she teases, playfully knocking his shoulder with her hand. "Maybe you'll finish it faster if you know you're getting a reward."

Gulping down the bite of food, he raises a brow as he glances back at her. "Can I know what it is?"

She laughs, "Not a chance, babe."

The diner entrance opens with the chime of a bell and the quiet sound of the waiter behind the counter calling out to the new customer. Cautiously, Yue sits up, her shoulders relaxing ever-so-slightly as she watches Dick say something to the waiter before walking over to where she and Wally sit at the back of the room. "Sorry I'm late." He slides into the seat across from them. "I had to make a stop in Bludhaven to change first."

"Sorry, dude. We would've met up with you back at the Cave but the intervention kinda ended dinner early." Wally shrugs as he finishes the rest of his burger, then glares at Yue's hand as she snatches a french fry off his plate with a grin.

Dick waves it off, "It's fine."

"So... What did you want to talk about?" Yue asks curiously, her smile faltering as she meets her brother's gaze. "And, before you start, I don't think we should be planning another intervention so soon. We should give Roy some time to cool off after tonight."

"It's not about Roy," he shakes his head and falls silent. His eyes flicker across the mostly empty diner, his lips pressed into a thin line as he searches for whatever he's looking for. Surveillance, Yue recognises a second later. "It's Kaldur."

"Kaldur?" Wally's eyes widen slightly as he looks between Dick and Yue. "I thought you haven't been able to find him since Malina Island."

"We haven't," Yue answers. Her heart suddenly feels heavy in her chest; she's known Dick since they were nine and thirteen, respectively, and she liked to believe she knew when things were off. Though, truthfully, she had let herself be willingly blind toward the way Dick has been hiding something from their entire team ever since Kaldur left last year.

Kaldur's betrayal had left the rest of the team to grapple with the question of who they really trusted, and though Yue didn't believe for even a second that Dick's standoffish behaviour was connected to it, she couldn't help but let that seed of doubt bubble and fester.

He's sitting across from them, his hands folded over one another on the table and his gaze unable to meet theirs. Telltale signs that something was definitely wrong.

She frowns, "Dick, what aren't you telling us?"

He's silent for just a moment more. Then, finally, he lets out a breath. "For the last year, Kaldur has been working deep undercover," he states quietly, still avoiding the eyes of his two closest friends. "He's been collecting intel from his father and feeding it directly to the team... To me. He needed his cover story to be believed–"

"So he lied to all of us?" Yue questions sadly. Her hand balls into a fist, only relaxing slightly when Wally rests his palm against her thigh. An anchor. She lets her own hand slide under the table to rest over his as she continues to stare across at her brother.

When Dick doesn't answer the question, Wally's the next to speak up. "What changed?" He demands. "I mean, you're breaking your silence to finally tell somebody the truth. So, what changed?"

"I need someone to join him."

"No."

Despite Wally's immediate refusal, Dick continues. "He's close to uncovering something big, and I need someone else in there... for insurance." The words go unspoken but hang there in the silence between them. In case I'm wrong about him. "You can say no," he adds. "I can ask Artemis, or–"

"I'll do it." The words fall from Yue's lips before she can even stop herself.

"What?!" Wally's hand tightens around her thigh and, though she won't look in his direction, she can already imagine the heartbroken look in those emerald eyes she adores.

But then Artemis' face flashes before her, how happy the girl has looked since quitting the game and settling into the normal life she never had growing up. She knows Artemis would leave it all behind to jump back into the game if somebody asked her, but it wasn't fair. Artemis left for a reason, what right did Dick have to even consider asking her to come back?

"I'll do it," Yue repeats herself determinedly. "But don't you dare drag Artemis back into this."

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

✶ oh i am plotting such evil things you guys have no idea. i'm sure most re-readers already know what's coming, but good luck to everyone who is new to this fic! and a big, big thank you to everyone who has been commenting, reading everyone's comments has been inspiring me to write more lately.

✶ i just finished writing chapter 35 and am halfway through chapter 36, yes i am that far ahead, so i'm nearing the end of act two and will hopefully be able to update more soon— so far, it's looking like this act will only have about 13 or so chapters. i've also been working on my ideas for act three and figuring out a big plot-line for it, which i'm excited to share with everyone!