Kaldur finished packing the last of his things when he observed the now empty barren room. He released a sad sigh as he remembers the memories he had in this house. He even began to remember when Roy first helped him move into his apartment to inviting The Team over for dinner. He even recalled the memory of when Tula broke his heart, Roy came to his house and watched movies until they fell asleep. With another long sigh, he turned off the bedroom lights and headed to the living room. All the shelves were now cleared of his books, the walls barren, just like the day he moved in. He walked to the small patio area and took one last view from that wooded patio. He enjoyed the view, as he did several times before, and reflected on his time on the surface. As of any world, it has its charms and its complications, but it became his home. A home he was not ready to leave, but he no longer had an opinion in that debate. He headed back inside and picked up his bags, leaving his home one last time. He opened the door and used his key to lock it behind himself. He went to see his neighbor, Elizabeth and told her that he was moving away. She, tearfully, said goodbye to someone she considered to be a grandson. He dropped his key off at the front desk and made his way to the zeta beam. He was shocked to see Ms. Waller waiting there. The last time he saw or even spoke to her was several weeks ago when Eiling was caught and incarcerated.

"You look better, Aqualad."

"As do you, Ms. Waller," he kept walking down to her.

"Relieved is a better term for what I am feeling," he put his bags down on the ground, " and what of our General?"

"Handled. Just like you asked," a small smile graced his lips gently.

"Thank you, Ms. Waller."

"Aquaman will take you away you know. Aqualad died in that van, isn't that what you told me."

"I know. That is my king's wishes. I found the man who took Aqualad's life, that will be enough," there was a pregnant pause before she reached into her pocket.

"Normally, I'm not supposed to do this. I had this made for you," she handed him a small black box, "Although you were never officially a part of my team, you worked just as hard, if not harder than my own men," Kaldur opened it to see a communicator, similar to the one he has for his team, "use it whenever you need me. I know you will."

"Thank you, ma'am," Kaldur reached to shake her hand.

She shook his hand briefly before hugging him loosely. In a way, the hug felt somewhat maternal, in a protective manner.

"Thank you for all your service," for the first time in all of the months he knew her, he saw her show compassion.

"Thank you for allowing me to serve," they pulled away, allowing him to pick up his bags and headed to the controls.

"Aquaman got lucky with you. Hope he knows that," she watched as he typed in the coordinates.

"Goodluck Ms. Waller," Kaldur smiled softly when he turned around to see her walking to her car.

"You'll be back. Men like you always come back."

"What do you mean men like me?"

"Men who don't know when to quit," she got into her car as he walked through the zeta.

When he arrived at The Cave, the lights were turned off and a small flickering was all the light that was visible. The lights came on and The Team, family, and League shouted, "Surprise!"

"Oh my goodness, you all did not have to go through all of this."

"We had to Kal. What's a better way for you to send off then a party? Plus we finally get a chance to celebrate your birthday," Robin asked as Shalina held the cake in front of him.

"Make a wish my son. That's what your Team has told me what you do with these kinds of celebrations," she kissed his temple softly.

He closed his eyes and thought of everything that happened over the past two years. All he wanted was for his friends and family to have good health and to not leave the surface. He blew out the candles and opened his eyes to clapping and cheering. They spent the good majority of three hours talking about good memories. From successful missions, slumber parties, and even Wally's birthday. It brought smiles and laughter rain in The Cave for the first time in the past two years. Aquaman placed a hand on Kaldur's shoulder, gaining his attention.

"It is time to go, my son," a small comforting smile graced his lips.

Kaldur sighed softly as he put his tea on the coffee table and he started to get out of his seat.

"Wait, you need to hear the speeches we made for you," M'gann protested.

"Kaldur please we must,"

"My love, Atlantis will still be there when the speeches are over. Let him have this moment," Mera ordered in a joyful tone, her eyes telling a completely different emotion.

"I wanna go first," Robin stood up and got in the middle of the area they were all sitting, "Kal, when you first came here and we met, I was ten at the time. I heard stories about you and how cool you were, you didn't disappoint in that aspect. You didn't just become one of my best friends, you became my family. I'm gonna miss you and thank you for giving me the tools I needed to lead this team. Thank you for watching o-over all of us and for making sure we were okay. You were there when we needed a study partner for tests, teaching Artemis how to swim, even taking a stand against Aquaman for when our team was formed. Because of you, we not only helped the lives of hundreds and thousands, you've helped all of us become better people. So thank you for being the best big brother I could have asked for," tears rolled down his cheeks, under his shades, while his lip began to quiver.

Kaldur stood up and hugged him as Robin clung to him, "Thank you, Robin. I consider you all my family as well," Kaldur reached to wipe the tear away before grabbing a napkin off the coffee table and handed it to him.

"Me next!" Wally shouted while zooming to Robin's side.

Kaldur nodded to him while Wally pulled out a folded piece of paper and cleared his throat.

"I-um-I didn't really know how to say what I wanted to say so I just wrote it down. Kaldur, thank you for being an amazing teammate, friend, and brother. Thank you for supporting us, even when we aren't feeling so hot. Your leadership has helped me see that I am a real hero. Not ju-just as a Kid Flash but as Wally West. I am more confident at school, I stand up for myself and others against bullies. I fight for what I want now . So thank you Kaldur for helping me find myself and I-i-i'm gonna miss you," Wally broke down in tears while running to hug him tightly.

Kaldur hugged Wally tightly while rubbing his back. He took shaky breaths to calm himself down. Flash ran to grab tissue and gave them to his nephew. Wally pulled away, wiping his tears with Kleenex, trying to calm himself. Kaldur never realized how much he impacted his teammate's lives, leaving him speechless.

"Thank you, Wally," was all he could whisper in his ear.

If there was something The League ever saw or even realized was how much Kaldur and Aqualad changed their proteges' lives. Aquaman never knew the depth of his protege's impacted and he didn't know how much the team changed him. Wally and Kaldur pulled away as Artemis moved to where Wally was standing. Her eyes started to become misty as she forced herself to swallow back her tears. She smiled softly while Wally came to her side.

"Y'all know I'm terrible with speeches, but I'm gonna try. Kaldur thank you for taking me on your team when I first came here. You were the first person to accept me without a second thought and n-no one has ever done that for me, minus Ollie anyway. I changed that cold harsh girl into the woman that was not as cold and learned to give and show compassion to others. You became my brother and I would like to think I am a sister to you. Thank you so much for- for everything you have done, Y-you didn't deserve this, you don't deserve this," she bit her lips to stop herself from crying.

Kaldur hugged her tightly while she cried softly into his chest. He stroked her long blond hair gently while he waited for the tears to settle.

"You do not have to thank me Artemis. Thank you for allowing us to become your family," he whispered while she melted into his embrace.

After the tears and soft sobs stopped, she pulled away from the embrace and took the tissues her boyfriend handed her. M'gann went up to Kaldur and placed a hand on his shoulder. Kaldur's mind was pulled into a memory of hers. It was after the first week at her school and Kaldur was passing by her room. He stopped at her door when he heard her soft whimpers and sniffles coming from her room. Kaldur turned to her in the mind link, remembering this day. And continued to watch. He observed as she let him into her room and saw her crying on her bed, clothes and magazines scattered and thrown around the room like a hurricane swept in. He sat down next to her and tried to comfort her. She climbed into his lip and sobbed softly into his chest as she talked about what she was feeling and going through.

"You sat with me for hours, listening to me rant and rave about my small problems. You didn't tell me that it was meaningless. You told me that what I was feeling was real and that it was okay to feel like this. Thank you for your compassions, your care, and your understanding. I never had friends, a brother, like you," she pulled them back to reality as small tears fell from her eyes.

Kaldur hugged her tightly and kissed her head.

"You are most certainly welcome," they soon ended the embrace as Connor hugged his girl.

Connor held his girlfriend by her hips protectively while trying to figure out what to say to him. Kaldur stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder, nodding slightly, noticing the look of worry on his face.

"I know. I understand, okay," he said while nodding to him reassuringly.

Connor hugged him tightly while letting out a shaky sigh of relief. "You can't leave us. We need you here," he whispered while tears landed on his shoulder.

"I do not want to leave. Connor, please know that this is not my choice. This is no longer my decision," he nodded in his neck, trying to stop from crying.

Superman went to his son and rubbed his back gently. He smiled at Kaldur, sending him a silent 'thank you' along with a small 'I'm sorry.' Connor pulled away and dried his tear dampened face. Finally coming out from his hiding spot behind Canary and Green Arrow, Roy stepped towards Kaldur as he looked everywhere around the room. They have been friends for so many years, that saying goodbye to each other was hard for both of them to do. Knowing this was the last time they would see each other, they both found the courage to look each other in the eye. Breaking down at the same time, they both let out a loud shaking sob before grabbing each other into a bone-shattering hug. They both cried into their shoulders as if their tears were doing all of the talking for them. Kaldur finally found his voice to whisper: "I love you too,". This brought Dihan, Shalian, and Mera to tears, seizing how close they were to each other. After several minutes of sobbing and weeping, they let each other go and wipe their dampened cheeks.

"I said I wasn't gonna do this chick flick shit man," Roy grumbled while taking the tissue to wipe his face, earning a softly chuckled from Kaldur, "I want you to have my coin," he reached into his pocket to pull out his sobriety coin.

"Roy no I can not accept," Kaldur shook his head while he held his hand to his lips in shock.

"Yes, you can and yes the hell you will. You're in my will anyway and this is all your ass is getting out of my dead ass," he rambled the coin into his hand while trying to lighten the mood.

"Then you will take this in turn," he pulled out a small Atlantean Crest pendant, "I will come back for this, understand?" Kaldur placed the pendant in his hand while closing his hand tightly around it.

They hugged each other again, tighter than before. When they pulled away from this embrace, Roy decided to try to make a speech.

"I'm gonna be quick about this since I'm already a crying ass mess. I met this guy when I was thirteen. I was stupid as hell and experimenting with drugs and shit, Oliver was a bigger pain in my ass. I thought no one was going to see me as a real hero so why even bother trying to be it. Then Kaldur popped up in my life and I told myself, " I was gonna help him figure it out, no matter how fucked up I was." I made sure that he understood our way of doing things and our culture, learn about our world. In that time, he became my brother," he started to break down crying again but he swallowed back as many tears as he could. "Fuck, to make a hella long story short, Kaldur became my brother and he helped my ass get sober three years ago. Kal saved my life and I will never be able to repay him. I have a job, I'm clean and sober, and I'm a hero that people look up to. That's because of you Kaldur, not me. If you didn't come into my life when you did I would be dead by now. You saved my life and I can never be more grateful for you. I can never say thank you enough. You changed my world; you made me a better hero and person. I'm gonna miss you so much and I'm not gonna know what to do without you in my life," Kaldur has tears rolling down his face as he hugged Roy again tightly.

"Thank you so much for being my best friend Roy. Whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, or even a place share my joys and sorrows with, you were always there. Thank you so much," he squeezed him while tears made puddles of sorrow on his shoulder.

The Team knew how much Roy and Kaldur meant to each other. If The Team was ever going out as civilians, Roy would always be invited. Kaldur allowed himself to be human when he was around him.

"Team, I-words can not even begin to explain how much I am going to miss all of you. You all have changed me for the better. I-I have never been in a leadership position, not even when I was in the military. You all have helped me become the leader I am today. I know that you are in good hands with Robin in command. Robin, I told you that you were always meant to lead this team and that I would accept the burden until you were ready. In the wake of everything that has occurred, you have proved yourself ready to accept that burden. I am so proud of all of you. I am so thankful for all the lessons you have taught me. All of the found memories I will hold close to my heart, The one lesson that I did not learn, was how to say goodbye," Kaldur emotionally collapsed and began sobbing softly, soon being swallowed into a group hug.

They stayed in the long loving embrace for what felt like hours, bringing tears to The League's eyes, instantly regretting their decision. This moment even brought Batman to tears. They soon let each other go and Kaldur pulled his buckle out of his pocket. He slowly made his way to the small section of The Cave, dedicated to remembering the fallen heroes. In the middle of the area stood a holographic image of Aqualad. The plaque read "Aqualad. Hero, son, friends, brother. 2010-2016. RIP." Kaldur smiled softly and placed his buckle on top of the stone. He turned and walked back to his team after bowing in respect. His mother came to his side and gave him his bags, carrying her small bag. With a soft sigh, he walked to the zeta beam where his King and Queen stood waiting for him.

"Ready to go?" Aquaman asked using his voice to try and change the mood.

"Do I have a choice?" Kaldur asked sarcastically.

Aquaman sighed softly, understanding how he was feeling and activated the zeta beam. He looked back at his team one last time, trying to remember the small details on their faces before he was nudged to step through by his mother. With his head held high, he steps through the zeta, returning to Atlantis.

"Days will pass and turn into years but I will always remember you with silent tears," unknown.

THE END