Archive of Our Own ^beta

The only thing he can really comprehend is that he’s running. It’s like some kind of force is pushing his legs, making him run faster and faster and faster until there’s nothing else in his mind but running. He tries to think, to remember, toknow, but he completely lost the ability to do anything that doesn’t evolve running.

And so he runs.

He doesn’t know where. Where from, where to, where he is. And he can’t even try to recognize anything, because everything around him is just a white blur and he’d have to slow down to see better but he can’t because he has to run, even though he has no idea why.

He just wishes it gets him somewhere. He’s been running for so long he’s not even sure who he is anymore. All he knows is running.

And running he does, even though what he wants the most in the world is to just stop.

*

Wally is not sure what he expects. He walks slowly – and it feels so weird to be slow after so much running – but he can’t seem to force himself to speed up, because he wants this, he wants to go, but he is so scared.

Things had been a little bit hectic since he came back. It had been about an hour ago, so it was understandable. But he wishes it wasn’t. From the moment his foot touched the very ground of the justice hall, he knew something was wrong. He felt numbness overwhelming him when the first people to approach gasped and took steps back, all dressed as heroes and not a single familiar face.

He knew. Even though the really didn’t, somehow he actually did.

He ran to them and took one of their phones without asking for it – and simply the design of the thing should’ve tipped him off – and his eyes fell on the date.

Seventy years. He’d been running and running and running for seventy years.

*

He’s at his house; his parent’s house. Where he grew up and where they kept living when he moved out. As he approaches their doorstep, he doesn’t even need to hear the voices that came from the window to know that they’re not his family. How could they be? He’s seventy years later.

They’re dead.

He can’t even cry because he’s numb. It can’t be true, but it is. He can see it in the street and the way that everything just feels so different.

He walks to where the teleportation beams used to be and is relieved when he sees it’s still there. He taps the first location that comes to mind and is very surprised it recognizes him as Kid Flash – B03, because Dick would obviously have updated the database years ago. But he obviously didn’t and that worries him.

When he opens his eyes he is in Gotham, next to Artemis’ old apartment. He goes there, just to be absolutely sure, but the building isn’t even there anymore.

*

He’s staring at the Wayne Mansion.

It’s a memorial.

With shaking hands he walks towards the gates and his fingers run over the names written on a plaque, under the description “The Bat Family” – guess the secret got out.

He sucks his breath when he sees Dick’s at the top.

Apparently he died sixty years ago. The first of the bat clan to leave.

And Wally can’t breathe, but he can’t cry either.

He runs his eyes over the names and it stings too much to realize that everyone is there. No survivors. No one to carry the legacy.

He runs away before he crumbles.

*

When he comes out of the teleportation beam, he’s not sure what he’s doing there. Artemis wouldn’t have been able to pay for the apartment alone after he… left, and she probably wouldn’t have wanted to, either. But he needs to check. Because everything else is gone, everyone else is gone, and something needs to be there.

And so he approaches slowly, afraid that he’ll be met with a happy family where he had planned to build his or that he’ll be met with nothing, with spoils and wreckages of what used to be a house. He doesn’t know what scares him more.

His breath hitches when he sees his house, their house. It seems abandoned, so no one is living there. But the house isand he can’t help but speed up a bit, even if just enough for him to reach the door half a second earlier.

He takes the key he keeps in the hidden compartments of his costume and opens the door.

It whelms him.

He walks in slowly, the floor cracking beneath his feet, and when he turns on the lights – well, the light, because only the living room one is working – it feels like he’s been slapped in the face. Everything is just how it used to be. Every photograph he and Artemis had spread around the house, every furniture they had bought, everything. It feels so theirshe kind of feels like the floor is gone for a second and that he is hanging, wordlessly.

When the floor seems to come back, he falls to his knees, and his eyes finally give in to the tears.

And that’s how Conner finds him.

“This is a private house and whoever you are-“ Conner’s voice starts saying behind him, but when he takes on the image of Wally he chokes on his words and freezes. “Wally?” He whispers, unsure of what to do and what to say.

And Wally looks at him. Really looks. Seventy years later and he still looks like the teenager Wally helped rescue from Cadmus. Except his eyes are sadder. So much sadder than Wally could ever remember them being.

And because Conner is the first real thing to connect him to his life he launches on an embrace that he hadn’t realized he needed.

What surprises him is how Conner embraces him back.

*

He doesn’t know why, but he and Conner seem to agree that the best place to sit and talk is the rooftop of a building. So after Wally searches quickly around the house for any detail he might have forgotten, they both end up with their legs hanging off the side of a fifteen floor build.

“I’m trying to measure which one of us must be more confused.” Conner finally speaks after minutes of silence.

“Don’t mean to brag, but probably me.” Wally offers with a small smile. Conner smiles back and they both notice how it looks like it has been a long time since the other had done something of the sorts.

“Yeah. Probably. Care to explain… everything?” Conner’s eyebrows rise and Wally turns away, looking at the city below him.

“I wish I could. I’m literally just as lost as you are. I remember… I remember running in the artic and realizing what was going to happen and the next I know I’m somewhere else, a white place with nothing, and I’m just running and I couldn’t stop. It seemed like forever, but I never thought…” He chokes down a little and stops to take a breath. “Seventy years. How did this happen?”

Conner sighs heavily and Wally realizes just then how much of a burden everything must be for him. He must have watched everybody die. He has no words to that, but luckily Conner continues. “I don’t know. I was here and I still didn’t see all of this time passing. It’s like… I opened my eyes one day and everyone was gone.”

Wally takes in the implications of what he just heard. Everyone was gone.

“How…” Wally doesn’t even know what he wants to ask first. “How is the house still there, untouched?” There’s no need to explain which house, they both know it.

Conner averts his gaze, but Wally can still see the pity in them. “After you… died, Artemis said she was going to move out because she couldn’t afford the place alone. Dick offered to pay for it. She never accepted it and she moved out anyway because… you know, but Dick still bought the place. She always denied but we knew she’d come back here from time to time to just feel it. And so would Dick. They were never able to let you go, Wally. Neither of us actually was.”

Wally is not crying, but he feels that the hidden tears are actually choking him. He did what he had to do, he saved the world and if he had to make that decision again, he’d follow the same path. But he cannot help the way hurt and guilt eat their ways out of him for what he put everyone through. His best friend, his girlfriend, his family. Everyone. He reaches out for another compartment in his suit – he refused to change into some of his old clothes, everything was already too close – and looked at the only item he got from the house.

“You ok there, pal?” Conner pats his shoulder, his voice supportive.

“Yes. Yes, I just…” He retrieves the box and opens it, looking at the ring. “I had a date.”

They both look at the ring and the things it could have meant.

No more words are exchanged that night.

*

It doesn’t take long for Wally to fall back to a routine. Conner invites him to live with him and he accepts, needing a friend just as much as he knows Conner needs one.

Conner leads the league now – still a thing and still going on strong – being the oldest member. So when Wally feels ready – two days after he got back – he takes him up to the team, tells his story and he’s in. He maintains the Kid Flash title and that seems to ground him a little bit more.

And so his life becomes that. He wakes up early along with Conner and they run patrols and save the world.

He’s been back for two weeks when he finally gets the guts.

They’re having dinner after the most tiring day fighting a villain that appeared a couple of years back and is already seen as the worst one they have ever dealt with and Wally tries to get the words out of his mouth.

“Conner.” His friend looks at him, waiting. “Can you… tell me about them?”

He is vague, but Conner understands it immediately. Now it’s his turn to try to get the words out.

“Yeah, sure. Okay.” He doesn’t know where to start. “Kaldur didn’t get back to the league after everything happened. He decided to go home and help Aquaman protect his kingdom. He’d come see us from time to time, but his visits kept getting farther and farther apart. A couple of years later… there was a huge war in Atlantis. The king’s brother was a traitor and Kaldur… He swore to protect the prince with his life and he did.” Wally gasped. “He was the first.” The first of us that died, Wally caught on.

“That’s… terrible.” Wally says, not sure if there re words he can use.

“Yeah.” Conner agrees, not sure of what to say either. He’d mourned him so long ago. And for such a long time. He had forgotten the pain. “The next one…” Conner is uncertain and looks weary at Wally. His lungs constrict and he knows.

“Artemis.” He breathes out, no actual voice leaving his lips.

Conner nods. “She got back to the hero gig after you ceased. Not as Artemis, as Tigress. She used to say that Artemis was your partner.” Wally could’ve have smiled, but he’s trying really hard to hold back the tears. “We were afraid, in the beginning, that she would be reckless. But she never was. Her main priority became saving innocent people and she was great at it. One day…” Wally closes his eyes, not sure if he’s ready. “One day there was an attack in Central City and when Artemis heard the address…” Wally’s heart is beating really fast because no, no, no, Central City? “Someone found out Flash’s identity and was looking for revenge. Artemis got there in time and saved the twins. But…”

“Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.” Wally’s voice is hoarse.

Conner is quiet for a few minutes. “I think that’s enough for today.”

“No. No. I need to know. At least… at least the six of us. And my family, if you know. Please tell me.”

“Ok. Why don’t you get some ice cream or something and then I continue? I understand now the concept of comfort food.”

That gets a tiny smile out of Wally so it’s worth it.

*

They’re seated comfortably on the couch, each on one side, lost in their own minds. They decided to take a few minutes to calm down before continuing. Wally hadn’t realized how this would also hurt Conner so he feels a little bad.

“Well, ok. Do you want me to go on?” Conner finally breaks the ice, and it looks like he set up a plan of how to tell the things that he has to.

“Yeah. Please, continue.”

“I’ll just cut it to the chase, ok?”

“Yeah, rip the band aid off.”

“The next one was Dick.” And Wally really tries to remain calm, but he can’t help to suck in his breath. “And it’s still the most infuriating one, because we have no idea what happened. One day he’s out on a mission with part of the bat clan and the next they’re back saying he fell off a cliff. There were no more explanations and they seemed really out of themselves. M’gann…” And Conner’s voice waivers at her name. “M’gann was sure they had been brainwashed, but you know those Bats, their minds were too protected. She could never prove it.”

“And after all this time…”

“Still nothing. Things turned so hasty I actually believed everything. I just now remember how weird it was.”

“That’s so unfair.” Wally managed to get out.

“It is.” Conner agreed. A couple more minutes of silence and Conner cleared his throat. “So, then…”

“It’s alright.” Wally gave him a sad smile. “You don’t need to tell me about her.”

“It’s fine-“

“It isn’t. I know. It’s ok. Tell me… tell me about Uncle Barry. And aunt Iris.” His voice was swelled with emotion.

“These are the good news, I guess.” Conner kind of smiles at him and Wally’s chest lightens up a bit. “After the incident with the twins… well, Barry quit. It was already too much a danger, but with the bad guys knowing his identity… so he quit. And they moved. No one knows where and aside from a few people in the league no one had any news. And even these news stopped many years ago. I believe they just led their lives in peace.”

“No one knows about their twins? Where they are? Their families?” Wally thought immediately of Bart and of how much he wanted to see the kid again, even if this version didn’t know him. He wouldn’t be able to.

“No. Batman or Oracle could have tracked them, I guess. But none of us ever wanted it. They have normal lives, for all we know. We never wanted to ruin that.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I hope they’re ok.”

“Me too, buddy.”

*

Wally cannot believe he has to fight with this guy again. He is still very sore and tired from the fighting the day before – and also the emotional draining talk he and Conner had – so he really didn’t need this. But the guy didn’t seem to mind.

He – the Dark Soldier is what they called him - fought like a robot. Not his movements – he was actually kind of gracefulin his fight style, but everything seemed programmed. He seemed programmed. Like he didn’t feel. It’d been Wally and Conner against him, only, because he ambushed them not far from the apartment. And they were losing badly. The guy had stamina, there was no denying.

Wally’s favorite fighting style has always been mouthing. He doesn’t know how to fight without trying to get underneath the enemy’s skin with his words. But this enemy is not bothered at all by what Wally’s saying. Wally even considers that he may be deaf before realizing that he hears their movements very well. Maybe he doesn’t speak English. Or maybe he’s not entirely human. It wouldn’t be a first.

They fight for what seems like hours until backup finally appears. There are five of them now – although by this point Wally and Conner don’t exactly count – and they manage to hold him down.

That is until he realizes he is losing, gets free and runs away.

“What is with this guy?” Wally asks tiredly, lying on the middle of the street.

“I don’t know. But two attacks in two days? Something is wrong. He always appears with months apart.” One of the heroes says.

“Yeah. We better check this. It doesn’t smell good.” Conner agrees.

“Come on then. We have some researching to do.”

*

After the fifth time the guy attacks – Wally always in the attacked group – they settle for it. It’s personally looking for Wally and they have absolutely no clue as to why.

They make their plans for research and in the meantime Wally is completely forbidden of leaving the Watch Tower. He helps them with their research because he has nothing else to do, and quite frankly he drives them all nuts with his quick walking and thinking.

“Ok, so how did he know I was back? And why is he haunting me? Is he even human? Is it even a he?” Wally’s mumbling fast while walking around checking everyone’s computer making lots of papers fly and no one can actually concentrate in anything anymore.

“Wally-“ One of them starts saying, but Wally’s still lost in his mind.

“I mean, with that muzzle we can’t even see his face. Maybe it is a robot and all of the human-like parts are fake. He already has a metal arm anyway. Maybe-“

“WALLY!” One of them shouts and the speedster stops in his tracks, looking puzzled. “We get it. But you’re really not helping here.”

He seems to realize what they mean. “Oh, right. Uh, I’ll just sit down right there and write down my ideas and all. We can discuss it later.”

“That’d be good. Thanks.” One of them smiles and Wally settles for a faraway couch.

After what seems like hours, one of the girls gasps. “Holy shit.”

“What is it?” Everyone gathers around her to see what she found out.

“Wait, I think we shouldn’t let Wally…” She’s whispering so that he doesn’t hear.

“Don’t worry, he’s sleepin-“ One of them looks at the couch and then stirs. “Where is he?”

They all share a glance. “Damn.”

*

Wally got out of the room a few minutes after sitting down. Everyone was so engrossed on their jobs they didn’t even notice.

The thing is, life has been getting really boring. He loves being a hero, he loves his speed, but he can’t live with just that. And, for now, it is all he has. He doesn’t have a family anymore, nor friends, nor a girlfriend. He doesn’t even have his science anymore – he’s sure that if he studies hard he can catch up, but science has changed a lot in seventy years.

He tries to find something to do, but nothing actually works. That is, of course, until an alarm indicating problems goes off.

And he’s the only one in the room.

He debates briefly within himself how mad everyone would get if he went out for it, but it’s really very brief because he needs some action, so he pulls his mask down and goes.

He should’ve learned by now not to make rushed decisions.

*

Everything is fine until he realizes it’s a trap. Okay, it probably isn’t, but the Dark Soldier is using it as one.

He’s just fighting off a group of thieves when he sees him. His metal arm shines under the glowing sun and blinds him for a split second. And it’s all it takes.

Wally knows that the only reason he can actually fight this guy is that no matter how good the Dark Soldier seems to be, he has super speed. So he actually runs a lot instead of actually fighting, but it keeps him alive, so he thinks it’s good.

He miscalculates a twist though, and ends up right in the guy’s metal arm. The Soldier constricts his neck and he can feel the air leaving his lungs.

The only thing he thinks before passing out is how his eyes look familiar.

*

He wakes up some time later with his head throbbing. He tries to move but realizes he is trapped.

What shocks him is that the Soldier is trapped as well.

He’s awake – at least his eyes are wide open – but he just stays there, looking at the ceiling, not minding at all that leather ropes tie him to the metal bed or that IVs and magnets are connected to almost all of his extension. He seems…numb. Like he doesn’t care. Wally is really starting to believe he’s not human.

But then the Soldier turns his head and the intensity of his blue eyes makes Wally shiver.

“Where are we?” Wally asks even though he knows that he won’t answer.

The Dark Soldier merely blinks.

“Ok, what’s is wrong with you? Can’t you speak? Did someone cut your tongue off? Are you a robot? Who are you?” Wally’s getting impatient with all of this and the way the guy looked at him like he was really seeing him and how unbelievably familiar those orbs seemed.

The guy just looks at him. No expression on his face, no change in any muscle, nothing. But his eyes are scrutinizing him.

Before he has any chance to say anything else, though, someone walks in. And Wally can hardly believe it.

“Psimon?” His eyes grow wide.

“Speedster, you’re really back. See you’ve met my new friend.” He says while looking at the monitor attached to the Dark Soldier body.

“Who is he? And why do you want me?”

“You don’t know yet? It doesn’t matter anyway, I got what I wanted already. Now, go to sleep speedster. See you in the morning.”

Not knowing why, he obeys.

*

When he wakes up, he’s in a desert. He has no idea what he is doing there and he doesn’t have the time to try and figure it out either because his jaw is hurting and he is pretty sure that’s what woke him up.

He’s glad he’s a speedster, or else he wouldn’t have been able to dislodge from the metal fist coming towards his jaw again.

He runs fast and far enough that it will take the guy some time to find him. It gives him time to look around. Sand. Nothing but sand in any direction he looks. No one but him and the soldier.

And speaking of soldier, there he is again.

Wally could run away easily – there are no civilians that would be hurt if he left the villain behind – but he can’t because Psimon probably has put them there and he would definitely be coming back for the soldier, so that’d be a way out. And because you can’t let go of him without finding out who he is, says a voice inside his head, but he ignores it.

They fight for what seems like hours and Wally is just so tired and he just really needs to stop and good god who is this guy. Not for few times one of them stranded the other down on the floor and his eyes just hypnotized him. Wally was so absolutely sure he knew those iris that he could hear his mind trying to decipher from where. Who.

He is about to just give up and run away when everything changes and he feels like he is being teleported.

He is just waking up though, he realizes. For real this time. But the same way as before, with pain in his jaw.

He looks up and isn’t surprised to see the same blue eyes staring at him. What freaks him out, though, is the fact that he cannot feel floor beneath his head and a sound very similar to a helicopter is very, very close.

He looks to the side to confirm they are actually flying and the damn metal arm guy is about to throw him into space.

“Who… are… you?” He manages to ask again, even though the soldier’s arm is blocking his airways.

The Dark Soldier catches him by the neck and lifts him. Beneath his feet now there is nothing but the empty space and he is already feeling his head dizzy from the lack of air.

With the last bit of strength he has he raises his arms and pulls the guy’s muzzle from his face. It falls from his hands in the same instant.

“Dick?”

Something happens when Wally says his name. The guys eyes unfocus for a few seconds and widen almost comically. He takes a step back, even though nothing but his eyes change in his face. No recognition or anything, but the sound of his name – is it even truly him? How? – make something snap inside of his head and Wally can see it.

“Dick? It’s me, Wally. Let me go. What are you doing. What happened to you?”

The guy stand there, same position, his hands still on the redheads neck.

Wally is quick to see Psimon behind them, but not quick enough to do anything.

Last thing he knows they are both falling through space.

*

When he wakes up later it isn’t because of a fist in his jaw. It’s his com, which he thought he had lost, buzzing.

He answers hazily and can hear Conner’s voice on the other side saying he got his location and is going to rescue him.

He can’t answer though, because by the other shore of the lake he has fallen in, he sees the Soldier.

Dick.

And even though they are very far apart, he looks in his eyes.

The blue eyed man gives an almost imperceptive nod before turning his back and running away.

Wally could have run behind him. But from what had happened on the plane and the way the guy simply left now, he knows it won’t be the last they’ll see of each other.

And Wally will be waiting.