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thejusticelounge2012-11-11 06:54 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2012-11-11 06:54 am
wide asleep
Now that the enemy had been identified, they could try and treat the speedster. Somehow, though, it was working through his system in the strangest way. Even with his accelerated metabolism, it wasn’t working through the way it should. So all there was to do now was wait and let him sleep it off.
Wally’s dreams were steadily becoming ‘normal’ again. Running…not fleeing, just running. Running with Barry, with Jay, with Bai. Fighting sometimes, sure, butwinningthose fights instead of seeing his city get destroyed over and over. Seeing his loved ones killed in every twisted way possible. And always, ALWAYS running from the Black Flash.
Even now, his dreams drifted back to those things. When they did, he flinched and jerked and groaned in his sleep, and his fever would spike up again. He just had to sweat it out, get everything out of his system.
And dream.
Wally came first. He’d known Wally the longest, after all. Well, after Roy; but Kyle wasn’t interested in seeing Roy right now.
It wasn’t like there was much Kyle could do at the moment. He was feeling awful and slightly sick and vaguely weak, not that he really wanted to think about any of that. Instead, he constructed a stool and perched next to one of his best friends, eyeing the bouquet of flowers and madly scribbled card that no doubt Bai had left for her cousin. Not much she could do either, it seemed, other than check up on him. Kyle stroked his thick red hair.
“Hey man,” Kyle started to say softly, but drew his hand back sharply as Wally twitched violently, yelping out loud. But it wasn’t Kyle’s touch that generated that response - it was whatever was going on behind those pale eyelids. Wally’s eyes were freakily REM, and Kyle remained silently fascinated and horrified for a while, staring at his friend’s face.
“I wish I knew how to help…wait.” Kyle lightly punched his own head a couple times. “Of course I know how I can help. Not Bai. She can’t get into your mind, not like…” Kyle looked at his ring. He could tell it was running low, but it still had enough juice to do simple tasks.
Kyle used it to open commlinks, as well as his own mind. “J’onn? J’onn are you around? I - Wally - might need your help…”
“I am nearby” J’onn answered into his commlink. ”I can help.”
The Martian had been wearing his metaphoric detective hat, combing through files gathered by League sources of chatter in a particular underground community. They all hinted towards a future attack, one that would be designed to grab headlines and attention. And the worst of it all was the name that kept popping up. J’onn was sure they were gone, but the facts on the ground stated otherwise. What he had learned was vague though. Nothing concrete to go on.
No matter. Those reports would have to wait. A teammate and dear friend was in need.
Too many members of the League were reluctant to admit it out loud. But J’onn knew the truth: Wally was the embodiment of the League’s spirit. He was a key to keeping them in their right places. Without him, the members of the Justice League could slip into a very dark place. And J’onn would not let that happen. He could sense Kyle’s troubled mind calling out. If the Flash needed assistance, then he would get it - quickly.
J’onn took one last look at the file he was reading and then turned off his monitor. The black screen reflected his image as he rose from his chair and flew upwards through his ceiling. ”I am on my way.”
“Gracias,” Kyle said, appreciative to hear the immediacy and complete understanding in J’onn’s voice. It was what he loved about the Martian - right from the start, he’d always believed in Kyle, without the blatant ‘you can’t ever replace Hal’ attitude. Sometimes J’onn was irritated by him, sure. But Kyle had come to expect that from most people who knew him. What mattered most was that J’onn was the first people in the JLA to not see him as rookie bait.
And Wally was one of the last. Kyle smiled a little at that, looking down at his friend. His hands and feet jerked and twitched every now and then, his pale brow dotted with perspiration as Wally fought - or outran - whatever was going on in his mind. Kyle just hoped he could keep outrunning, until J’onn arrived.
Frankly, Kyle wasn’t too sure what J’onn could do - would it be considered an invasion of privacy, to go into the mind of Wally’s semi-comatose mind? But this was clearly an extenuating circumstance. If there was some way J’onn could help and guide Wally towards consciousness and healing, Kyle knew J’onn would be more than ready to delve.
He waited for the Martian Manhunter to arrive, squeezing Wally’s hand briefly.
“Keep running, sport. Help’s coming.”
J’onn arrived quickly, phasing through the floor and approaching Wally’s bedside. The look on Kyle’s face was enough to assess the situation, though the Lantern’s emotions were substantial enough to stagger the Martian.
“Kyle, I…” J’onn stopped himself. He had seen these situations before. The Flash was in worse condition than Kyle knew. Battles on the mental plane were especially draining on humans that were unprepared. J’onn knew what must be done to pull Wally back to where he belonged. And even though the Martian loved and cared for his speedy teammate, it was clear that he was not the best one equipped to rescue the Flash. Wally’s savior had been by his side all along.
“Kyle, listen” J’onn said. ”I am going to do something that may seem disconcerting at first, but you must push through and find Wally. Your experience in controlling and making tangible your wishes is the key to success in the realm of dreams. You can save him; I can help you. Do you trust me?”
Without waiting for an answer, J’onn reached out with one hand, placing it on Kyle’s forehead and reached out his other, placing it on Wally’s. His eyes flashed red as he entered both men’s minds at once. But the Martian would only serve as the conduit. He would insert the Lantern’s consciousness into the Flash’s nightmares and hold it there. Inside the kingdom of imagination, Kyle’s powers would be limitless. He would only be restrained by his own ability to dream - and Kyle was the League’s most powerful dreamer. J’onn hoped he realized that soon, for Wally’s sake.
Wally West was no longer alone with what he feared. Help was on the way in the form of the most imaginative mind in all of the Oan Space protectorates. J’onn hoped it would be enough. He did not tell Kyle what failure meant. But J’onn J’onzz knew. He knew all too well…
This had once been a beautiful place. The sky was lit by a ball of golden lightning, and the prairie stretched on and on for miles on a pristine road. Each sign post held a nugget of wisdom, and every factory along the way held an emotion or some deeper understanding of just who he was.
Who Wally West was.
It was a beautiful and happy place. Mostly.
But now..now it was a mix of ruined cities, waste lands, scorched earth, all beneath a black and angry sky. Red lightning crackled and struck the ground, ripping new holes in the landscape and setting everything around ablaze.
Amid this, Wally was running. He was panting, exhausted, sweat pouring off of him. He was chasing a yellow blur, reaching after it, trying to catch it..though it continually eluded him. And each time he did, a heart rending “NO!” left him, and the thunder overhead roared. Finally he fell to his knees, gripping the ground as exhaustion took over.
“J’onn, no I-” was pretty much all Kyle had time to say before it felt like a stargate sucking him through J’onn’s Martian mindscape, a world Kyle was never sure he liked or disliked, and he almost fell, Mario-style from the sky, into Wally’s dreamworld. Kyle stood up, dusting himself off.
“Ooohkay. This is just like the Cell,” Kyle said to himself. “Oh no - maybe it’s like Inception? Yeah….” He surveyed the landscape around him, a grotesque jumble of ruined buildings and rotting wasteland. The sky was a blanket of nightmarish clouds and, most terrifying was the blood-red lighting bolts that shattered the ground below, with every crack of thunder. Kyle nodded. “…shyeah. Stephen King’s version of Inception. Thank you, J’onn!” he called out. “I don’t think I —”
He was suddenly spun around as if something twirled him, and Kyle only barely managed to catch his balance before he spotted something…yellow? Maybe? It was gone by the time Kyle blinked. Looking back, he saw something else - a figure clad in red about a football field away; and unlike the yellow blur, this figure was definitely not moving. In WallyWorld, this was definitely NOT a good sign.
“I can fly,” Kyle told himself sternly, knowing he needed to say it to believe it. Dreams worked that way. “I do believe in fairies, I’m thinking happy thoughts…now FLY.” He rose in the air in satisfaction, and headed straight for the person he desperately hoped was his friend. The situation in WallyWorld was a LOT more dire than he expected.
“Wal…Wally?”
Wally’s head snapped up when he heard Kyle’s voice. Kyle…That was odd, what was HE doing here?! he hadn’t seen anyone in days. Nevertheless…he jumped up and grabbed him by the arms.
“You can’t stay here, it’s not safe!” he said. “You need to get back to the watchtower. Just…Stay away from here…Stay away from me!!!”
He took off running, but it was nothing close to his normal speed. He looked….normal. For him, it was like running through molasses. And all the while, tears streamed down his face.
“Hunter…I have to catch him…I have to stop him…before…”
Kyle didn’t expect Wally to leap up so fast and he wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise before Wally took off again, only it was weird. Wally was running like…like a sprinter. Slightly faster than a sprinter maybe, which meant VERY slow for Wally. It was almost horribly slow for the Flash; and Kyle couldn’t help but grimace.
Dodging a blast of fire (Kyle was now REALLY grateful that J’onn didn’t come into Wally’s mind, there was fire everywhere) he flew again, envisioning himself like a jet. Like one of those fighter planes that Hal flew - it was definitely a strong enough image to propel him forward so he could match Wally’s sprint.
“Dude, I”m not going anywhere, I can help you, man. We have to get you conscious, me and J’onn. Who’s Hunter? What’s he gonna do? Was he that yellow blur thing that just pirouetted me?” Kyle dodged another bolt of creepy red lightening, hoping that Wally was also now fast enough to do the same.
“Conscious?! What are you talking about, I AM conscious!” he shouted, trying to run faster. The effort was taking a visible tole on him, every step strained and exhausting. “Hunter Zoloman…Zoom.”
Even the name sent a chill through him.
“He’s gonna hurt Linda. He’s…” The tears started again. He didn’t know why he was crying, but he couldn’t stop it. “I’ve gotta get to him before-“
A sound behind him caught him off guard. ((little creepy))
“Oh no…Kyle! You’ve gotta go! Whatever you do, don’t let that thing touch you!”
The ‘thing’ in question? A wraithlike shadow behind them. It moved in slowmotion, wavering and smokey like a vision…or a really weird movie effect.
Kyle was about to protest about their state of consciousness, when he almost stopped short. “Oh dios, Zoom…” he looked ahead in shock, but J’onn was in his mind, reminding him of where he was and making sure he didn’t forget what was doing here.
It didn’t help when those noises started up. Slavering and grunting, gibbering so awful, it made Kyle’s hackles rise. The sky seemed to get darker and Kyle felt like he was in the middle of the worst horror movie he’d ever watched…and he hated horror movies.
He almost fled. It was tempting, when it felt like his heart was beating too fast to bear and the slobbering moans seemed to get louder behind him (he didn’t dare turn around) and -
- but Wally had stumbled slightly, and the panicked, exhausted tears streaking on his face as he yelled at Kyle, and the Lantern suddenly remembered J’onn’s words. I can control the environment.
“Wally, this’s gotta stop,” Kyle looked up, and splayed his fingers to the sky. Almost immediately, the world froze and stilled around them, but they kept moving. Lightening hovered halfway in the air and the rumbling thunder stopped…but the black, evil noises behind Kyle didn’t.
Ooookay then. One thing at a time. If Wally faced the blackness, he could definitely face Zoom. Unafraid now, and hoping Wally would notice what he was doing, Kyle came to a stop and turned back, facing the nightmarish creature was perusing them. He knew what it was, now, and it took every fibre of his willpower to keep looking at its monstrous form.
“We’re in your mind, Wally. You’re in control, I can help. Please…” The thing was rushing up faster then Kyle was expecting, but he would not be afraid. He spoke quickly. “Y…you defeated it for real, right? Right?! You told me about that, remember?”
The world around them stopping was jarring. Wally looked around in confusion, trying to assess what was happening…and what Kyle was telling him. He looked around, realizing he knew this place…he knew all of it. But…this didn’t make any sense, how could KYLE be here?!
He felt a strange calm coming off of the other, and realized what it was. J’onn…Something had to REALLY be wrong if J’onn was doing something like this. Rubbing his head, he winced a little.
“I…yeah,” he said. “I told you about Black Flash..” He looked at the wraith, its form coming into sharper view. “It’s gone…” And with a puff of black smoke, it vanished. Looking over his shoulder, he stared into the distance.
“And……And Zoom..” He felt sick, pressing a hand to his mouth. “Zoom…He…”
Kyle was relieved when Wally started talking to him, not just telling him to run and run and run. He was even more relieved to see the Black Flash thing puff away, as if it had never been. Problem one solved, Kyle sighed out his breath, which he didn’t realize he was holding until right then.
“A fear toxin, Wally,” Kyle said first, figuring his friend needed an explanation first before they figured out how to deal with the Zoom in Wally’s head, and/or find a way out into consciousness. ”I don’t know what happened in Keystone, but…the whole city got infected, I heard. And you were brought up to Watchtower by Connor.” Kyle smiled a little. “You’re in the Medbay right now, unconscious or…just…unable to awake I think. Stuck in your dreams. The fear toxin works different on you, I guess.” He saw an expression flit across Wally’s face and Kyle held up his hand. “Don’t worry, I think I saw on the League newsfeeds that Keystone’s being taken care of. Anti-fear toxin…stuff. So…” He came over and held Wally by the shoulders, hoping he wouldn’t shrug him off.
“What about Zoom? And…Linda?” It was the first time Wally had mentioned Linda in a long time, and Kyle had no clue why he was bringing her up now.
Wally’s gut wrenched as the other man told him what had happened to his city. Who would DO something like that!? Well…there wasn’t much of a question, if there was fear toxin involved. But….WHY? Why Keystone?
Kyle’s words brought him back into focus, and he winced a moment, shaking his head. Linda…what was Zoom going to-…No. No what HAD he done. Wally knew. He knew and he didn’t want to tell himself that he’d been reliving that part of his life over and over and over again for…how long? He didn’t even know. Looking up at Kyle, he opened his mouth to speak, then instead almost collapsed against him.
“He….h-he killed them,” he gasped out, shaking his head. “He killed them, and….she left me.”
Kyle shook his head in confusion; but whatever Wally was mourning, Kyle knew now he had to drag Wally out of here first, get out of his head. They couldn’t remain here any longer. They needed to get out. It was the only way for Wally to…face whatever it was that happened to him and Linda. Kyle couldn’t blame him. Whatever happened, whoever got killed on Wally’s watch, it was understandable that the speedster would now just try to keep running it through his mind, over and over.
But that wasn’t helpful. If there was one thing Kyle knew, it was moving forward, not remaining in a loop. So Kyle grasped his friend a bit tighter, and concentrated on his ring, focusing his mind on J’onn. On green (how convenient, J’onn). Wally’s mind, his entire dreamscape started filling out into green, Kyle being the origin point, until eventually Wally was the only thing red in the entire frozen landscape. The fires were all gone, and Zoom, well. Zoom was the past. Whatever Zoom had done to Wally and Linda was done. And Kyle had no time or patience for yellow.
“Can you see us J’onn?” Kyle asked out loud, then made Wally look at him, chucking him briefly under his chin. Even if it pissed Wally off…well, Kyle was willing to take that risk. He needed to bring Wally out of this grief.
“We’re gonna talk about this, but not here. Zoom’s not here, Wally,” Kyle even pitched his tone to one that was slightly patronizing. Anything to agitate Wally, really. “Whatever he did, whoever he…he killed, it’s done. They…they’re gone and it’s over and you gotta, we gotta move on. It’s just the fear toxin talking right now, y’see?”
“Right..” Wally swallowed hard, slowly looking around the green glowing world. “What a mess…” He chuckled bitterly and shook his head. Drawing a slow breath, he shivered a little.
Don’t think about all that right now,he told himself.Focus…get out of here.
“Black Flash is dead, Zoom’s in Iron Heights, and…Linda is..gone.” Beneath the green sheet, everything dulled and mellowed, then melted away to almost nothing. His head felt fuzzy, and he leaned heavily against Kyle, but…
“….I think I can wake up now.”
A blinding white light filled the world and was suddenly replaced by reality. The med bay, Wally’s bed, the room all came back into focus. J’onn released all three minds before collapsing to the floor from the mental strain.
He looked up at Kyle and waved off his attempt to help. J’onn stood back up weakly on his own accord and looked down at the bed. Flash’s eyes began to slowly open. The Martian turned to Kyle. “You did a good job in there today. You pulled Wally out and made him whole again. This is a good thing Kyle. A good thing…”
As the Lantern turned his attention towards his human colleague, J’onn used the opportunity to phase through the floor and drop out of the room. He had helped his two teammates and the road to recovery was beginning now. The Flash was in capable hands.
And J’onn still had a mystery of his own to solve…
“I couldn’t’ve done it without you, J’onn, you know that. In fact I wasn’t even planning to do anything other than…well you get the point,” Kyle talked on to hide his worry about J’onn, who was looking about as tired as…well, kind of everyone, lately. “Call me in for a favor whenever you need it, okay hombre?”
And just like that, J’onn left, silent and almost distracted. Kyle turned to Wally, but his mind was still on J’onn for a bit. He hoped everything was okay with the Martian.
“Wakey wakey,” Kyle smiled at Wally, wondering if the speedster remembered any of what he had just been dreaming, how mournful he was about Linda and…whoever had been killed. “You feeling —”
“Mister Rayner, please,” Dr Smith spoke up behind Kyle, making him almost jump. “Must you be everywhere at once? If you can’t stand to lay down and get yourself checked out, at least let us check on the patients who can?” The doctor motioned to Wally, pushing Kyle aside to check his vitals…and other doctory things that annoyed Kyle, but he stepped aside anyway. He kinda hoped Wally would recover fast and tell Smith to take a hike.
Wally’s eyes fluttered, squeezed tight, then opened slowly. He groaned a bit, shifting on the bed and trying his bed sore muscles. Well…Everything still worked, still attached…and those awful nightmares and hallucinations were gone.
Replaced by a really annoying doctor. Gritting his teeth, he shifted a bit and half heartedly swatted at the doctor’s hand.
“Hey, he’s done me more good than you have,” he half growled. “Finish what you’re doin and get out.” He was in no mood to deal with these clowns right now. He wanted to just…lay here and rest. Or something.
Kyle had the basic enough grace to hide his smug smile behind his hand as the doctor was shooed away. Wally was looking like he was staying put, but he still looked restless and dissatisfied. Whatever it was - whatever he’d faced in his dream, it was still haunting him. But it wasn’t something he was just dealing with in his mind anymore.
He held up a finger. “I’ll be back in a sec, sorry,” He said, and flew as fast as he could to the cafeteria gathering up whatever he could quickly grab. Chocolate milk, bread and cheese. it would have to do. Besides, Kyle didn’t realize just how starving he was as well, until he got into the cafeteria. When was the last time he’d eaten? His birthday?
Thinking of that, Kyle suddenly missed Hal, a lot. He knew they both had different priorities right now, which was fine. But as he headed back and saw his wan-looking friend, just…laying in bed (so weird, for a speedster) Kyle couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. At least he had someone to miss and eventually see. Wally on the other hand…geez.
“Here, impromptu picnic. Please eat something,” Kyle said hopefully, handing Wally a thing of milk.
“Geez I hate doctors,” he muttered, settling into his bed again. He was about to say something else when Kyle suddenly got up and left. Sighing quietly, he turned onto his side, burrowing under the blanket a little. It was hard to do…since the damned needle in his arm shifted uncomfortably and all the other monitors hooked to his skin tugged every which way.
Screw it.
Closing his eyes, he tried to clear his mind a little and reorganize his thoughts. What had happened…He’d been trapped in his mind, reliving his worst days and worst fears. Good, well that was sorted…Too bad it wasn’t that simple. Tears slowly snaked down his cheeks, and his stomach twisted a bit.
He wiped his face quickly when Kyle came back. Sitting up, he tried to hide his relief at seeing the other again, smiling and accepting the drink. It was gone a moment later, and his stomach made a very displeased noise.
“Man…can’t believe I’m not actually that hungry…”
“I hate doctors too. Hate ‘em.” Kyle washed down his gulp of bread and cheese with his chocolate milk. Feeling a little fussy, he then rearranged Wally’s blanket on him a bit, tucking it around his IV so it didn’t pull his skin.
“Yeah…yeah I figured after all that you probably need to brain-food; but actually having an appetite for it? Probably not, huh.” Kyle kept eating, feeling a little awkward. Although him and Wally were friends, they always kept a slight personal distance. Instant allies in issues to do with the Justice League - that much was established. And it was always great to hang out, especially when Wally and Linda were…were.
Well. There was no point in small talk with Wally, Kyle knew. It was insulting to a speedster to beat around the bush, so he took a deep breath and just asked.
“In your dream, you were upset about Zoom killing…’them’. Wally, who did…? Who are you talking about? Max? Jesse?” Kyle hazarded guesses based on any speedster he could think of that he knew about, but had never met.
“I figured you’d ask about that,” he said, settling back and closing his eyes. Sighing heavily, he rubbed his face a bit before he spoke again.
“It was a while ago now,” he started. “Linda and I were..ok, but you know, the usual problems still hung around. My way of life’s too dangerous, public identity is worse, so on. She’d started going to school again, all that….Anyway we…found out she was pregnant, and we were so excited….
“Then Zoom happened.”
His voice hitched a bit, and he cleared his throat before managing to speak again.
“Hunter was mad at me because I wouldn’t go back in time and save him from Grodd. I told him the time stream’s not that simple, that it’s a huge thing we have to be careful with, but he wouldn’t listen…anyway, so he decided to make me suffer. Cuz you know, fastest man alive doesn’t have enough tragedy in his life. He wanted to kill Linda…but instead, the sonic boom that happened when he clapped his hands just caused a lot of internal trauma…and she lost the babies.”
He hung his head, hand covering his eyes as it all rushed back to him. He’d fought so hard with it, fought to keep it back, keep it down…but it wasn’t working anymore.
It was worse than Kyle had imagined.
Sometimes, it truly did freak Kyle out how much power some metahumans had. It would be hypocritical for him to think this, if sometimes he didn’t also freak himself out. It was never more obvious than when he was back on Earth just how much they - good and bad alike - were capable of. Zoom just…clapped his hands and it created a sonic boom?! And that shock…
“Dios, Wally, madre de dios….” Kyle came over beside him pulling him into a hug as best as he could. Kyle could understand that brief, joyful moment of pregnancy before reality set in, but this was completely different from him and Jenny. Linda had actually been pregnant, and it seemed like she was pregnant with twins. This was too terrible to contemplate.
Now it all kind of made sense, why he and Linda separated. And especially why Wally was on such a hellbent path to find someone - anyone close to him, like Dick and like Roy - who could’ve provided him that companionship and togetherness he craved.
“How…you’ve been keeping this in all this time…” Kyle said softly, not really expecting an answer. He guessed that Wally had told any of his Titans friends.
Wally didn’t resist when the other hugged him, hiding his face in his chest and letting the warmth of another person just draw him in. He could hear Kyle’s heart beat, his breathing, and he was even vaguely aware of every micro pulse and twinge in his muscles and skin. Sometimes being a speedster made life slow…and sometimes it made you feel more alive.
“I had to,” he said simply. “My city needed me…You guys needed me. I couldn’t….I couldn’t just stop.” He sniffed a little, half smiling. “My rogues…i swear I could be friends with those guys if they would just….” He coughed, half nuzzling into Kyle as he shifted. “Anyway..They laid off for a while. Seemed like everyone knew what happened…Linda left me after that. Just…vanished while I was out one day. Left a note ‘Don’t find me’. I tried, finally gave up…Gah.”
He sniffed, coughed, and shook his head a little. Barry had gone on after Iris died..and that memory was one of the things that kept Wally going. Even if it was so hard, he had to put one foot forward, keep moving, keep running…until he crashed.
If Linda abandoning Wally had been something recent, Kyle would almost have been suspicious of her ‘disappearance’. He always thought of Wally and Linda as the perfect couple. Ever since Kyle had met Wally, they’d been together - sometimes on-again, off-again kind of together, but always…together. Then again moron, it’s what you thought about the whole Wally-Dick-Roy trifecta too. Look how awesomely that turned out.
But the fact that Wally searched everywhere…well either the horrible truth was that Linda was dead, or she was really really good at hiding from a speedster. And that was, in its own way, kind of scary. No wonder Wally tried to grab at Dick, the next closest person to the speedster.
He held Wally a little tighter, because it seemed like his friend needed it. On impulse (ha ha), Kyle pushed his nose into Wally’s red hair. It was the first time he’d ever been this close to Wally, for this long. The guy was clearly at the end of his rope, and who could blame him. Kyle almost felt like crying himself. Losing babies…it was just so tragic, and Wally had been holding it all in himself this entire time.
“I’m so sorry this had to happen to you, man. And you weren’t wrong to just try and keep going, I get that. I’m glad even your Rogues got that too. To move on and be there when people needed you. Because yeah, you were needed, a lot.” He laughed a bit. “I know I needed you.
”..s’cuz you’re hopeless,” he teased weakly.
Normally the nuzzling in his hair would have been met with some kind of joke or sudden pull backward..but right now damn, he just didn’t care. Being reminded of all of this, it was hard to care about anything at all.
“So…yeah,” he said quietly. “We’ve talked maybe twice since then, and we’re officially separated. I keep hoping she’ll call me and we can gt back together and everything will be great again, but…” He sighed heavily. “Who am I kidding, you know? That kinda thing only happens in movies. Us hero types? We just screw it up too much. I drive one girl insane, one girl doesn’t want to speak to me unless she absolutely has to…”
Shaking his head, he slowly pried himself away from Kyle, laying out on the bed.
“So…now you know the story,” he said.
And there is was. It was nice to hear Wally rib him, even as gentle and short-lived as it was. He shifted away as Wally lay back on the bed, leaning against its frame and tipping his head at him.
“I know, right,” Kyle could afford to shake his head, close his eyes and smile. Jenny was far in the past now. “For heroes we can be pretty careless about our love lives. Ahhhhh…dude. All that happily ever after bullshit just happens in movies, it’s true.”
But no, wait. Kyle opened his eyes and looked up at Wally, a pattern filling out in his mind. “But it doesn’t have to be that way for you, dude. I’m serious, look at Jay and Barry. I know this isn’t exactly the most ideal time to be all ‘you’ll find someone’, but…you will.” From what Kyle knew of speedsters, he figured Wally kind of had to. “Whether it’s Linda or not, I’m sure you will.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks, I mean. I’m glad you told someone, I really am. I’m sorry it had to come out this way, that kinda sucks, but. Maybe now that it’s out, it’ll become easier when you let others know…” Geez this was a tricky situation. Dating and then breaking up with BFFs could not be easy, for any of them. Who did they have to turn to, when stuff like this happened? “I hope you let others know, I mean. I guess…I dunno.”
“We talked a little,” he said. “I mean…they probably know what happened. It was in the papers…Fucking tabloids. Aside from Linda, I kinda really hate the news. They’re into everything, and they don’t know when to leave well enough alone. Almost got in trouble not long after….Couple reporters showed up and instead of asking about what had happened in the bank robbery, they wanted to know if I was single and where Linda Park-West was….I always hated that she insisted on hyphenated her name. Never told her, but….I did.”
Thinking about it, he’d tried to make a lot of sacrifices just to make Linda happy. Anytime he could, he dropped what he was doing to entertain her or appease her in some way. And he’s made a lot of concessions, including NOT getting (too) angry at her when she said something on the news he had EXPRESSLY said not to…Damn that woman.
“I know there’ll be someone else,” he finally said. “S’just…I thought she was it, you know? I thought it’d be me and her forever…” Shrugging, he sighed quietly, pressing his head back into his pillow.
Kyle nodded. “I’m sorry to say this now, but I thought she was it too. But I guess there’s no point thinking like that. I don’t think there is anyone’s ‘it’. Maybe. Not for everyone, anyway.” No forever, either. “Geez, when did this conversation get so glum. Actually I guess it was always a little glum.” He rolled his eyes at himself.
“Look, neither of us have ever been good with the touchy-feely stuff, but. I’m glad you’re awake, I’m glad you told me and…I’m always here for you, okay? And I know vice versa too. At least I hope, heh. Sometimes I miss, like. Sometimes I miss having guy friends my own age, I guess.” Kyle squinted at Wally, smiling slightly and rubbing his neck.
” So. Yeah. It’s been hell.”
Despite himself, Wally smiled at the other man a little, chuckling softly and nodding. Kyle meant well, that was for sure..and he was a good guy. Honestly, Wally almost wished they’d had a Green Nightlight or something in the titans, as long as it had been Kyle. It was a little unfair, really. Poor guy didn’t have much of a place in the smaller cliques of the league.
“Well you’ve got at least one,” he said. “And I’m glad for it…” His mouth tensed a little as the thought of asking where Dick and Roy were flitted through his mind, but he shoved it aside.
“I owe you man,” he said. “Big…I mean it. Now that I’m out of my own head, I can get better…maybe move on a little, too.”
Kyle grinned widely, he couldn’t help it. He liked honest feedback, and especially when it was positive and especially when it came from friends.
“Glad to hear it, amigo,” he nodded, chewing on his lip. It was too bad Donna and…that Aqua-guy weren’t around right now (Kyle always forgot his name) because they would probably be a big help to Wally right now, getting him through this mourning stage. Titan loyalty…both Kyle and Wally had straddled the Titans-Justice League crossover at different points in their lives, but it seemed like Wally’s heart always belonged with the Titans, and Kyle always leaned more towards the JL. Their friendship sort of just met in the middle. “You will move on. Of course you will.”
He squeezed Wally’s shoulder affectionately. “And y’owe me huh. Well y’know…I DID finish those Mrs Garrick mini pot pies…”
“I’ll get more,” he said, chuckling. “Especially if she finds out I’ve been laid up in Medbay. I tell you…that little lady’s powering 3 generations of Flashes. She knows how to quell our hunger pangs…least for a minute.”
Laying back, he closed his eyes, making a soft noise as he did. He felt tired, as if he had actually been running the no doubt millions of miles he’d gone in his head. Squeezing his eyes shut, he groaned before looking at Kyle.
“You know…I swear, you’d think I wouldn’t be tired after bein out so long..” Not that he wanted to lose his company, but…well, he didn’t want to be rude and fall asleep on him either.
“Well I’m sure she’s used to having a Lantern or two mooching off the side,” Kyle grinned because he couldn’t help but be excited. In a fit of greediness he’d eaten all the pot pies by himself over the course of a week. Now he felt a little bad that he didn’t share any with Hal, even after he’d boasted about them. “Thanks dude.”
He laughed softly. “Y’know I was just about to suggest sleep, but I didn’t wanna sound redundant. But man you’ve theoretically been running for what; almost two days now? I’m just glad you’re not afraid of sleeping like…well. Anyway. How about I go get some more food for you, and by the time I get back, you’ll be asleep? I’ll just leave the food here for when you wake up. And -“
Kyle leaned in again and gave Wally another hug, before pulling away. “Hokay. We’ll talk later.”
As Wally settled back into his bed, he still looked sad and tired, but a little less jittery. Kyle hit the light switch for the room on his way out, and hoped his friend’s slumber would remain peaceful, and blessedly dreamless.
Wally’s dreams were steadily becoming ‘normal’ again. Running…not fleeing, just running. Running with Barry, with Jay, with Bai. Fighting sometimes, sure, butwinningthose fights instead of seeing his city get destroyed over and over. Seeing his loved ones killed in every twisted way possible. And always, ALWAYS running from the Black Flash.
Even now, his dreams drifted back to those things. When they did, he flinched and jerked and groaned in his sleep, and his fever would spike up again. He just had to sweat it out, get everything out of his system.
And dream.
Wally came first. He’d known Wally the longest, after all. Well, after Roy; but Kyle wasn’t interested in seeing Roy right now.
It wasn’t like there was much Kyle could do at the moment. He was feeling awful and slightly sick and vaguely weak, not that he really wanted to think about any of that. Instead, he constructed a stool and perched next to one of his best friends, eyeing the bouquet of flowers and madly scribbled card that no doubt Bai had left for her cousin. Not much she could do either, it seemed, other than check up on him. Kyle stroked his thick red hair.
“Hey man,” Kyle started to say softly, but drew his hand back sharply as Wally twitched violently, yelping out loud. But it wasn’t Kyle’s touch that generated that response - it was whatever was going on behind those pale eyelids. Wally’s eyes were freakily REM, and Kyle remained silently fascinated and horrified for a while, staring at his friend’s face.
“I wish I knew how to help…wait.” Kyle lightly punched his own head a couple times. “Of course I know how I can help. Not Bai. She can’t get into your mind, not like…” Kyle looked at his ring. He could tell it was running low, but it still had enough juice to do simple tasks.
Kyle used it to open commlinks, as well as his own mind. “J’onn? J’onn are you around? I - Wally - might need your help…”
“I am nearby” J’onn answered into his commlink. ”I can help.”
The Martian had been wearing his metaphoric detective hat, combing through files gathered by League sources of chatter in a particular underground community. They all hinted towards a future attack, one that would be designed to grab headlines and attention. And the worst of it all was the name that kept popping up. J’onn was sure they were gone, but the facts on the ground stated otherwise. What he had learned was vague though. Nothing concrete to go on.
No matter. Those reports would have to wait. A teammate and dear friend was in need.
Too many members of the League were reluctant to admit it out loud. But J’onn knew the truth: Wally was the embodiment of the League’s spirit. He was a key to keeping them in their right places. Without him, the members of the Justice League could slip into a very dark place. And J’onn would not let that happen. He could sense Kyle’s troubled mind calling out. If the Flash needed assistance, then he would get it - quickly.
J’onn took one last look at the file he was reading and then turned off his monitor. The black screen reflected his image as he rose from his chair and flew upwards through his ceiling. ”I am on my way.”
“Gracias,” Kyle said, appreciative to hear the immediacy and complete understanding in J’onn’s voice. It was what he loved about the Martian - right from the start, he’d always believed in Kyle, without the blatant ‘you can’t ever replace Hal’ attitude. Sometimes J’onn was irritated by him, sure. But Kyle had come to expect that from most people who knew him. What mattered most was that J’onn was the first people in the JLA to not see him as rookie bait.
And Wally was one of the last. Kyle smiled a little at that, looking down at his friend. His hands and feet jerked and twitched every now and then, his pale brow dotted with perspiration as Wally fought - or outran - whatever was going on in his mind. Kyle just hoped he could keep outrunning, until J’onn arrived.
Frankly, Kyle wasn’t too sure what J’onn could do - would it be considered an invasion of privacy, to go into the mind of Wally’s semi-comatose mind? But this was clearly an extenuating circumstance. If there was some way J’onn could help and guide Wally towards consciousness and healing, Kyle knew J’onn would be more than ready to delve.
He waited for the Martian Manhunter to arrive, squeezing Wally’s hand briefly.
“Keep running, sport. Help’s coming.”
J’onn arrived quickly, phasing through the floor and approaching Wally’s bedside. The look on Kyle’s face was enough to assess the situation, though the Lantern’s emotions were substantial enough to stagger the Martian.
“Kyle, I…” J’onn stopped himself. He had seen these situations before. The Flash was in worse condition than Kyle knew. Battles on the mental plane were especially draining on humans that were unprepared. J’onn knew what must be done to pull Wally back to where he belonged. And even though the Martian loved and cared for his speedy teammate, it was clear that he was not the best one equipped to rescue the Flash. Wally’s savior had been by his side all along.
“Kyle, listen” J’onn said. ”I am going to do something that may seem disconcerting at first, but you must push through and find Wally. Your experience in controlling and making tangible your wishes is the key to success in the realm of dreams. You can save him; I can help you. Do you trust me?”
Without waiting for an answer, J’onn reached out with one hand, placing it on Kyle’s forehead and reached out his other, placing it on Wally’s. His eyes flashed red as he entered both men’s minds at once. But the Martian would only serve as the conduit. He would insert the Lantern’s consciousness into the Flash’s nightmares and hold it there. Inside the kingdom of imagination, Kyle’s powers would be limitless. He would only be restrained by his own ability to dream - and Kyle was the League’s most powerful dreamer. J’onn hoped he realized that soon, for Wally’s sake.
Wally West was no longer alone with what he feared. Help was on the way in the form of the most imaginative mind in all of the Oan Space protectorates. J’onn hoped it would be enough. He did not tell Kyle what failure meant. But J’onn J’onzz knew. He knew all too well…
This had once been a beautiful place. The sky was lit by a ball of golden lightning, and the prairie stretched on and on for miles on a pristine road. Each sign post held a nugget of wisdom, and every factory along the way held an emotion or some deeper understanding of just who he was.
Who Wally West was.
It was a beautiful and happy place. Mostly.
But now..now it was a mix of ruined cities, waste lands, scorched earth, all beneath a black and angry sky. Red lightning crackled and struck the ground, ripping new holes in the landscape and setting everything around ablaze.
Amid this, Wally was running. He was panting, exhausted, sweat pouring off of him. He was chasing a yellow blur, reaching after it, trying to catch it..though it continually eluded him. And each time he did, a heart rending “NO!” left him, and the thunder overhead roared. Finally he fell to his knees, gripping the ground as exhaustion took over.
“J’onn, no I-” was pretty much all Kyle had time to say before it felt like a stargate sucking him through J’onn’s Martian mindscape, a world Kyle was never sure he liked or disliked, and he almost fell, Mario-style from the sky, into Wally’s dreamworld. Kyle stood up, dusting himself off.
“Ooohkay. This is just like the Cell,” Kyle said to himself. “Oh no - maybe it’s like Inception? Yeah….” He surveyed the landscape around him, a grotesque jumble of ruined buildings and rotting wasteland. The sky was a blanket of nightmarish clouds and, most terrifying was the blood-red lighting bolts that shattered the ground below, with every crack of thunder. Kyle nodded. “…shyeah. Stephen King’s version of Inception. Thank you, J’onn!” he called out. “I don’t think I —”
He was suddenly spun around as if something twirled him, and Kyle only barely managed to catch his balance before he spotted something…yellow? Maybe? It was gone by the time Kyle blinked. Looking back, he saw something else - a figure clad in red about a football field away; and unlike the yellow blur, this figure was definitely not moving. In WallyWorld, this was definitely NOT a good sign.
“I can fly,” Kyle told himself sternly, knowing he needed to say it to believe it. Dreams worked that way. “I do believe in fairies, I’m thinking happy thoughts…now FLY.” He rose in the air in satisfaction, and headed straight for the person he desperately hoped was his friend. The situation in WallyWorld was a LOT more dire than he expected.
“Wal…Wally?”
Wally’s head snapped up when he heard Kyle’s voice. Kyle…That was odd, what was HE doing here?! he hadn’t seen anyone in days. Nevertheless…he jumped up and grabbed him by the arms.
“You can’t stay here, it’s not safe!” he said. “You need to get back to the watchtower. Just…Stay away from here…Stay away from me!!!”
He took off running, but it was nothing close to his normal speed. He looked….normal. For him, it was like running through molasses. And all the while, tears streamed down his face.
“Hunter…I have to catch him…I have to stop him…before…”
Kyle didn’t expect Wally to leap up so fast and he wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise before Wally took off again, only it was weird. Wally was running like…like a sprinter. Slightly faster than a sprinter maybe, which meant VERY slow for Wally. It was almost horribly slow for the Flash; and Kyle couldn’t help but grimace.
Dodging a blast of fire (Kyle was now REALLY grateful that J’onn didn’t come into Wally’s mind, there was fire everywhere) he flew again, envisioning himself like a jet. Like one of those fighter planes that Hal flew - it was definitely a strong enough image to propel him forward so he could match Wally’s sprint.
“Dude, I”m not going anywhere, I can help you, man. We have to get you conscious, me and J’onn. Who’s Hunter? What’s he gonna do? Was he that yellow blur thing that just pirouetted me?” Kyle dodged another bolt of creepy red lightening, hoping that Wally was also now fast enough to do the same.
“Conscious?! What are you talking about, I AM conscious!” he shouted, trying to run faster. The effort was taking a visible tole on him, every step strained and exhausting. “Hunter Zoloman…Zoom.”
Even the name sent a chill through him.
“He’s gonna hurt Linda. He’s…” The tears started again. He didn’t know why he was crying, but he couldn’t stop it. “I’ve gotta get to him before-“
A sound behind him caught him off guard. ((little creepy))
“Oh no…Kyle! You’ve gotta go! Whatever you do, don’t let that thing touch you!”
The ‘thing’ in question? A wraithlike shadow behind them. It moved in slowmotion, wavering and smokey like a vision…or a really weird movie effect.
Kyle was about to protest about their state of consciousness, when he almost stopped short. “Oh dios, Zoom…” he looked ahead in shock, but J’onn was in his mind, reminding him of where he was and making sure he didn’t forget what was doing here.
It didn’t help when those noises started up. Slavering and grunting, gibbering so awful, it made Kyle’s hackles rise. The sky seemed to get darker and Kyle felt like he was in the middle of the worst horror movie he’d ever watched…and he hated horror movies.
He almost fled. It was tempting, when it felt like his heart was beating too fast to bear and the slobbering moans seemed to get louder behind him (he didn’t dare turn around) and -
- but Wally had stumbled slightly, and the panicked, exhausted tears streaking on his face as he yelled at Kyle, and the Lantern suddenly remembered J’onn’s words. I can control the environment.
“Wally, this’s gotta stop,” Kyle looked up, and splayed his fingers to the sky. Almost immediately, the world froze and stilled around them, but they kept moving. Lightening hovered halfway in the air and the rumbling thunder stopped…but the black, evil noises behind Kyle didn’t.
Ooookay then. One thing at a time. If Wally faced the blackness, he could definitely face Zoom. Unafraid now, and hoping Wally would notice what he was doing, Kyle came to a stop and turned back, facing the nightmarish creature was perusing them. He knew what it was, now, and it took every fibre of his willpower to keep looking at its monstrous form.
“We’re in your mind, Wally. You’re in control, I can help. Please…” The thing was rushing up faster then Kyle was expecting, but he would not be afraid. He spoke quickly. “Y…you defeated it for real, right? Right?! You told me about that, remember?”
The world around them stopping was jarring. Wally looked around in confusion, trying to assess what was happening…and what Kyle was telling him. He looked around, realizing he knew this place…he knew all of it. But…this didn’t make any sense, how could KYLE be here?!
He felt a strange calm coming off of the other, and realized what it was. J’onn…Something had to REALLY be wrong if J’onn was doing something like this. Rubbing his head, he winced a little.
“I…yeah,” he said. “I told you about Black Flash..” He looked at the wraith, its form coming into sharper view. “It’s gone…” And with a puff of black smoke, it vanished. Looking over his shoulder, he stared into the distance.
“And……And Zoom..” He felt sick, pressing a hand to his mouth. “Zoom…He…”
Kyle was relieved when Wally started talking to him, not just telling him to run and run and run. He was even more relieved to see the Black Flash thing puff away, as if it had never been. Problem one solved, Kyle sighed out his breath, which he didn’t realize he was holding until right then.
“A fear toxin, Wally,” Kyle said first, figuring his friend needed an explanation first before they figured out how to deal with the Zoom in Wally’s head, and/or find a way out into consciousness. ”I don’t know what happened in Keystone, but…the whole city got infected, I heard. And you were brought up to Watchtower by Connor.” Kyle smiled a little. “You’re in the Medbay right now, unconscious or…just…unable to awake I think. Stuck in your dreams. The fear toxin works different on you, I guess.” He saw an expression flit across Wally’s face and Kyle held up his hand. “Don’t worry, I think I saw on the League newsfeeds that Keystone’s being taken care of. Anti-fear toxin…stuff. So…” He came over and held Wally by the shoulders, hoping he wouldn’t shrug him off.
“What about Zoom? And…Linda?” It was the first time Wally had mentioned Linda in a long time, and Kyle had no clue why he was bringing her up now.
Wally’s gut wrenched as the other man told him what had happened to his city. Who would DO something like that!? Well…there wasn’t much of a question, if there was fear toxin involved. But….WHY? Why Keystone?
Kyle’s words brought him back into focus, and he winced a moment, shaking his head. Linda…what was Zoom going to-…No. No what HAD he done. Wally knew. He knew and he didn’t want to tell himself that he’d been reliving that part of his life over and over and over again for…how long? He didn’t even know. Looking up at Kyle, he opened his mouth to speak, then instead almost collapsed against him.
“He….h-he killed them,” he gasped out, shaking his head. “He killed them, and….she left me.”
Kyle shook his head in confusion; but whatever Wally was mourning, Kyle knew now he had to drag Wally out of here first, get out of his head. They couldn’t remain here any longer. They needed to get out. It was the only way for Wally to…face whatever it was that happened to him and Linda. Kyle couldn’t blame him. Whatever happened, whoever got killed on Wally’s watch, it was understandable that the speedster would now just try to keep running it through his mind, over and over.
But that wasn’t helpful. If there was one thing Kyle knew, it was moving forward, not remaining in a loop. So Kyle grasped his friend a bit tighter, and concentrated on his ring, focusing his mind on J’onn. On green (how convenient, J’onn). Wally’s mind, his entire dreamscape started filling out into green, Kyle being the origin point, until eventually Wally was the only thing red in the entire frozen landscape. The fires were all gone, and Zoom, well. Zoom was the past. Whatever Zoom had done to Wally and Linda was done. And Kyle had no time or patience for yellow.
“Can you see us J’onn?” Kyle asked out loud, then made Wally look at him, chucking him briefly under his chin. Even if it pissed Wally off…well, Kyle was willing to take that risk. He needed to bring Wally out of this grief.
“We’re gonna talk about this, but not here. Zoom’s not here, Wally,” Kyle even pitched his tone to one that was slightly patronizing. Anything to agitate Wally, really. “Whatever he did, whoever he…he killed, it’s done. They…they’re gone and it’s over and you gotta, we gotta move on. It’s just the fear toxin talking right now, y’see?”
“Right..” Wally swallowed hard, slowly looking around the green glowing world. “What a mess…” He chuckled bitterly and shook his head. Drawing a slow breath, he shivered a little.
Don’t think about all that right now,he told himself.Focus…get out of here.
“Black Flash is dead, Zoom’s in Iron Heights, and…Linda is..gone.” Beneath the green sheet, everything dulled and mellowed, then melted away to almost nothing. His head felt fuzzy, and he leaned heavily against Kyle, but…
“….I think I can wake up now.”
A blinding white light filled the world and was suddenly replaced by reality. The med bay, Wally’s bed, the room all came back into focus. J’onn released all three minds before collapsing to the floor from the mental strain.
He looked up at Kyle and waved off his attempt to help. J’onn stood back up weakly on his own accord and looked down at the bed. Flash’s eyes began to slowly open. The Martian turned to Kyle. “You did a good job in there today. You pulled Wally out and made him whole again. This is a good thing Kyle. A good thing…”
As the Lantern turned his attention towards his human colleague, J’onn used the opportunity to phase through the floor and drop out of the room. He had helped his two teammates and the road to recovery was beginning now. The Flash was in capable hands.
And J’onn still had a mystery of his own to solve…
“I couldn’t’ve done it without you, J’onn, you know that. In fact I wasn’t even planning to do anything other than…well you get the point,” Kyle talked on to hide his worry about J’onn, who was looking about as tired as…well, kind of everyone, lately. “Call me in for a favor whenever you need it, okay hombre?”
And just like that, J’onn left, silent and almost distracted. Kyle turned to Wally, but his mind was still on J’onn for a bit. He hoped everything was okay with the Martian.
“Wakey wakey,” Kyle smiled at Wally, wondering if the speedster remembered any of what he had just been dreaming, how mournful he was about Linda and…whoever had been killed. “You feeling —”
“Mister Rayner, please,” Dr Smith spoke up behind Kyle, making him almost jump. “Must you be everywhere at once? If you can’t stand to lay down and get yourself checked out, at least let us check on the patients who can?” The doctor motioned to Wally, pushing Kyle aside to check his vitals…and other doctory things that annoyed Kyle, but he stepped aside anyway. He kinda hoped Wally would recover fast and tell Smith to take a hike.
Wally’s eyes fluttered, squeezed tight, then opened slowly. He groaned a bit, shifting on the bed and trying his bed sore muscles. Well…Everything still worked, still attached…and those awful nightmares and hallucinations were gone.
Replaced by a really annoying doctor. Gritting his teeth, he shifted a bit and half heartedly swatted at the doctor’s hand.
“Hey, he’s done me more good than you have,” he half growled. “Finish what you’re doin and get out.” He was in no mood to deal with these clowns right now. He wanted to just…lay here and rest. Or something.
Kyle had the basic enough grace to hide his smug smile behind his hand as the doctor was shooed away. Wally was looking like he was staying put, but he still looked restless and dissatisfied. Whatever it was - whatever he’d faced in his dream, it was still haunting him. But it wasn’t something he was just dealing with in his mind anymore.
He held up a finger. “I’ll be back in a sec, sorry,” He said, and flew as fast as he could to the cafeteria gathering up whatever he could quickly grab. Chocolate milk, bread and cheese. it would have to do. Besides, Kyle didn’t realize just how starving he was as well, until he got into the cafeteria. When was the last time he’d eaten? His birthday?
Thinking of that, Kyle suddenly missed Hal, a lot. He knew they both had different priorities right now, which was fine. But as he headed back and saw his wan-looking friend, just…laying in bed (so weird, for a speedster) Kyle couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. At least he had someone to miss and eventually see. Wally on the other hand…geez.
“Here, impromptu picnic. Please eat something,” Kyle said hopefully, handing Wally a thing of milk.
“Geez I hate doctors,” he muttered, settling into his bed again. He was about to say something else when Kyle suddenly got up and left. Sighing quietly, he turned onto his side, burrowing under the blanket a little. It was hard to do…since the damned needle in his arm shifted uncomfortably and all the other monitors hooked to his skin tugged every which way.
Screw it.
Closing his eyes, he tried to clear his mind a little and reorganize his thoughts. What had happened…He’d been trapped in his mind, reliving his worst days and worst fears. Good, well that was sorted…Too bad it wasn’t that simple. Tears slowly snaked down his cheeks, and his stomach twisted a bit.
He wiped his face quickly when Kyle came back. Sitting up, he tried to hide his relief at seeing the other again, smiling and accepting the drink. It was gone a moment later, and his stomach made a very displeased noise.
“Man…can’t believe I’m not actually that hungry…”
“I hate doctors too. Hate ‘em.” Kyle washed down his gulp of bread and cheese with his chocolate milk. Feeling a little fussy, he then rearranged Wally’s blanket on him a bit, tucking it around his IV so it didn’t pull his skin.
“Yeah…yeah I figured after all that you probably need to brain-food; but actually having an appetite for it? Probably not, huh.” Kyle kept eating, feeling a little awkward. Although him and Wally were friends, they always kept a slight personal distance. Instant allies in issues to do with the Justice League - that much was established. And it was always great to hang out, especially when Wally and Linda were…were.
Well. There was no point in small talk with Wally, Kyle knew. It was insulting to a speedster to beat around the bush, so he took a deep breath and just asked.
“In your dream, you were upset about Zoom killing…’them’. Wally, who did…? Who are you talking about? Max? Jesse?” Kyle hazarded guesses based on any speedster he could think of that he knew about, but had never met.
“I figured you’d ask about that,” he said, settling back and closing his eyes. Sighing heavily, he rubbed his face a bit before he spoke again.
“It was a while ago now,” he started. “Linda and I were..ok, but you know, the usual problems still hung around. My way of life’s too dangerous, public identity is worse, so on. She’d started going to school again, all that….Anyway we…found out she was pregnant, and we were so excited….
“Then Zoom happened.”
His voice hitched a bit, and he cleared his throat before managing to speak again.
“Hunter was mad at me because I wouldn’t go back in time and save him from Grodd. I told him the time stream’s not that simple, that it’s a huge thing we have to be careful with, but he wouldn’t listen…anyway, so he decided to make me suffer. Cuz you know, fastest man alive doesn’t have enough tragedy in his life. He wanted to kill Linda…but instead, the sonic boom that happened when he clapped his hands just caused a lot of internal trauma…and she lost the babies.”
He hung his head, hand covering his eyes as it all rushed back to him. He’d fought so hard with it, fought to keep it back, keep it down…but it wasn’t working anymore.
It was worse than Kyle had imagined.
Sometimes, it truly did freak Kyle out how much power some metahumans had. It would be hypocritical for him to think this, if sometimes he didn’t also freak himself out. It was never more obvious than when he was back on Earth just how much they - good and bad alike - were capable of. Zoom just…clapped his hands and it created a sonic boom?! And that shock…
“Dios, Wally, madre de dios….” Kyle came over beside him pulling him into a hug as best as he could. Kyle could understand that brief, joyful moment of pregnancy before reality set in, but this was completely different from him and Jenny. Linda had actually been pregnant, and it seemed like she was pregnant with twins. This was too terrible to contemplate.
Now it all kind of made sense, why he and Linda separated. And especially why Wally was on such a hellbent path to find someone - anyone close to him, like Dick and like Roy - who could’ve provided him that companionship and togetherness he craved.
“How…you’ve been keeping this in all this time…” Kyle said softly, not really expecting an answer. He guessed that Wally had told any of his Titans friends.
Wally didn’t resist when the other hugged him, hiding his face in his chest and letting the warmth of another person just draw him in. He could hear Kyle’s heart beat, his breathing, and he was even vaguely aware of every micro pulse and twinge in his muscles and skin. Sometimes being a speedster made life slow…and sometimes it made you feel more alive.
“I had to,” he said simply. “My city needed me…You guys needed me. I couldn’t….I couldn’t just stop.” He sniffed a little, half smiling. “My rogues…i swear I could be friends with those guys if they would just….” He coughed, half nuzzling into Kyle as he shifted. “Anyway..They laid off for a while. Seemed like everyone knew what happened…Linda left me after that. Just…vanished while I was out one day. Left a note ‘Don’t find me’. I tried, finally gave up…Gah.”
He sniffed, coughed, and shook his head a little. Barry had gone on after Iris died..and that memory was one of the things that kept Wally going. Even if it was so hard, he had to put one foot forward, keep moving, keep running…until he crashed.
If Linda abandoning Wally had been something recent, Kyle would almost have been suspicious of her ‘disappearance’. He always thought of Wally and Linda as the perfect couple. Ever since Kyle had met Wally, they’d been together - sometimes on-again, off-again kind of together, but always…together. Then again moron, it’s what you thought about the whole Wally-Dick-Roy trifecta too. Look how awesomely that turned out.
But the fact that Wally searched everywhere…well either the horrible truth was that Linda was dead, or she was really really good at hiding from a speedster. And that was, in its own way, kind of scary. No wonder Wally tried to grab at Dick, the next closest person to the speedster.
He held Wally a little tighter, because it seemed like his friend needed it. On impulse (ha ha), Kyle pushed his nose into Wally’s red hair. It was the first time he’d ever been this close to Wally, for this long. The guy was clearly at the end of his rope, and who could blame him. Kyle almost felt like crying himself. Losing babies…it was just so tragic, and Wally had been holding it all in himself this entire time.
“I’m so sorry this had to happen to you, man. And you weren’t wrong to just try and keep going, I get that. I’m glad even your Rogues got that too. To move on and be there when people needed you. Because yeah, you were needed, a lot.” He laughed a bit. “I know I needed you.
”..s’cuz you’re hopeless,” he teased weakly.
Normally the nuzzling in his hair would have been met with some kind of joke or sudden pull backward..but right now damn, he just didn’t care. Being reminded of all of this, it was hard to care about anything at all.
“So…yeah,” he said quietly. “We’ve talked maybe twice since then, and we’re officially separated. I keep hoping she’ll call me and we can gt back together and everything will be great again, but…” He sighed heavily. “Who am I kidding, you know? That kinda thing only happens in movies. Us hero types? We just screw it up too much. I drive one girl insane, one girl doesn’t want to speak to me unless she absolutely has to…”
Shaking his head, he slowly pried himself away from Kyle, laying out on the bed.
“So…now you know the story,” he said.
And there is was. It was nice to hear Wally rib him, even as gentle and short-lived as it was. He shifted away as Wally lay back on the bed, leaning against its frame and tipping his head at him.
“I know, right,” Kyle could afford to shake his head, close his eyes and smile. Jenny was far in the past now. “For heroes we can be pretty careless about our love lives. Ahhhhh…dude. All that happily ever after bullshit just happens in movies, it’s true.”
But no, wait. Kyle opened his eyes and looked up at Wally, a pattern filling out in his mind. “But it doesn’t have to be that way for you, dude. I’m serious, look at Jay and Barry. I know this isn’t exactly the most ideal time to be all ‘you’ll find someone’, but…you will.” From what Kyle knew of speedsters, he figured Wally kind of had to. “Whether it’s Linda or not, I’m sure you will.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks, I mean. I’m glad you told someone, I really am. I’m sorry it had to come out this way, that kinda sucks, but. Maybe now that it’s out, it’ll become easier when you let others know…” Geez this was a tricky situation. Dating and then breaking up with BFFs could not be easy, for any of them. Who did they have to turn to, when stuff like this happened? “I hope you let others know, I mean. I guess…I dunno.”
“We talked a little,” he said. “I mean…they probably know what happened. It was in the papers…Fucking tabloids. Aside from Linda, I kinda really hate the news. They’re into everything, and they don’t know when to leave well enough alone. Almost got in trouble not long after….Couple reporters showed up and instead of asking about what had happened in the bank robbery, they wanted to know if I was single and where Linda Park-West was….I always hated that she insisted on hyphenated her name. Never told her, but….I did.”
Thinking about it, he’d tried to make a lot of sacrifices just to make Linda happy. Anytime he could, he dropped what he was doing to entertain her or appease her in some way. And he’s made a lot of concessions, including NOT getting (too) angry at her when she said something on the news he had EXPRESSLY said not to…Damn that woman.
“I know there’ll be someone else,” he finally said. “S’just…I thought she was it, you know? I thought it’d be me and her forever…” Shrugging, he sighed quietly, pressing his head back into his pillow.
Kyle nodded. “I’m sorry to say this now, but I thought she was it too. But I guess there’s no point thinking like that. I don’t think there is anyone’s ‘it’. Maybe. Not for everyone, anyway.” No forever, either. “Geez, when did this conversation get so glum. Actually I guess it was always a little glum.” He rolled his eyes at himself.
“Look, neither of us have ever been good with the touchy-feely stuff, but. I’m glad you’re awake, I’m glad you told me and…I’m always here for you, okay? And I know vice versa too. At least I hope, heh. Sometimes I miss, like. Sometimes I miss having guy friends my own age, I guess.” Kyle squinted at Wally, smiling slightly and rubbing his neck.
” So. Yeah. It’s been hell.”
Despite himself, Wally smiled at the other man a little, chuckling softly and nodding. Kyle meant well, that was for sure..and he was a good guy. Honestly, Wally almost wished they’d had a Green Nightlight or something in the titans, as long as it had been Kyle. It was a little unfair, really. Poor guy didn’t have much of a place in the smaller cliques of the league.
“Well you’ve got at least one,” he said. “And I’m glad for it…” His mouth tensed a little as the thought of asking where Dick and Roy were flitted through his mind, but he shoved it aside.
“I owe you man,” he said. “Big…I mean it. Now that I’m out of my own head, I can get better…maybe move on a little, too.”
Kyle grinned widely, he couldn’t help it. He liked honest feedback, and especially when it was positive and especially when it came from friends.
“Glad to hear it, amigo,” he nodded, chewing on his lip. It was too bad Donna and…that Aqua-guy weren’t around right now (Kyle always forgot his name) because they would probably be a big help to Wally right now, getting him through this mourning stage. Titan loyalty…both Kyle and Wally had straddled the Titans-Justice League crossover at different points in their lives, but it seemed like Wally’s heart always belonged with the Titans, and Kyle always leaned more towards the JL. Their friendship sort of just met in the middle. “You will move on. Of course you will.”
He squeezed Wally’s shoulder affectionately. “And y’owe me huh. Well y’know…I DID finish those Mrs Garrick mini pot pies…”
“I’ll get more,” he said, chuckling. “Especially if she finds out I’ve been laid up in Medbay. I tell you…that little lady’s powering 3 generations of Flashes. She knows how to quell our hunger pangs…least for a minute.”
Laying back, he closed his eyes, making a soft noise as he did. He felt tired, as if he had actually been running the no doubt millions of miles he’d gone in his head. Squeezing his eyes shut, he groaned before looking at Kyle.
“You know…I swear, you’d think I wouldn’t be tired after bein out so long..” Not that he wanted to lose his company, but…well, he didn’t want to be rude and fall asleep on him either.
“Well I’m sure she’s used to having a Lantern or two mooching off the side,” Kyle grinned because he couldn’t help but be excited. In a fit of greediness he’d eaten all the pot pies by himself over the course of a week. Now he felt a little bad that he didn’t share any with Hal, even after he’d boasted about them. “Thanks dude.”
He laughed softly. “Y’know I was just about to suggest sleep, but I didn’t wanna sound redundant. But man you’ve theoretically been running for what; almost two days now? I’m just glad you’re not afraid of sleeping like…well. Anyway. How about I go get some more food for you, and by the time I get back, you’ll be asleep? I’ll just leave the food here for when you wake up. And -“
Kyle leaned in again and gave Wally another hug, before pulling away. “Hokay. We’ll talk later.”
As Wally settled back into his bed, he still looked sad and tired, but a little less jittery. Kyle hit the light switch for the room on his way out, and hoped his friend’s slumber would remain peaceful, and blessedly dreamless.