Eyes Open To See The Sparks
By Cerulean Leader
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Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)
Warning: Like, major angst. I cried while writing this – it took me a few days to finish because of the feels. I might do a second update later on that focuses more on the ladies' reactions to Wally's… disappearance, but I only did the men because I want to try and gain more depth for when I write in a male's POV. So, this is practice for me.
Barry
_
"Oh, man, Artemis is so gonna kill me for this…! And don't even get me started on mom and dad!"
"Kid?"
"Just tell them… okay?"
"Kid!"
His last words haunted Barry Allen. It was his fault; his entire fault. He should have done something in order to stop him, or maybe not have run so fast that Wally could have kept up with both him and Bart. He re-played the scene in his mind, seeing all the regret in his nephew's eyes as he faded away into nothingness. The strange thing was that there was only regret, no fear; like he wasn't afraid of dying.
Barry watched again as Artemis stared at him in horror before crumbling to the floor, M'gann at her side while her shoulders heaved from the hard cries she made loud and clear.
He had always seen Wally as his own son, and now he would never get to see the redhead get married, have kids, achieve his life goals to become a scientist.
The blonde man wasn't ready to see a plague in the ground with Wally's name on it.
He just couldn't bare it.
_
Conner
_
"if this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you…"
"The four of us, and it's not."
"Batman, we're ready to do what you taught us, or why teach us at all?"
"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple. Get on board, or get out of the way."
Nothing was the same anymore.
Sure, both Wally and Artemis had been off the Team for about a year so it could have been easy to pretend that their friend was still at college, but they just couldn't.
They would never go out for drinks or talk like bros do again.
The original nine members had been a complete mess ever since Wally's… disappearance. Conner may not have been the most affected, but he definitely was damaged a lot somehow. Wally had been an extremely good friend of the Kryptonian's, and because the redhead had been there right from the start, it was like a piece of Superboy's self had perished along with him.
Batman had actually suspended the young hero from the Watchtower because of the amount of dents had been made in the memorial room and the damage that had been done to Kid Flash's hologram.
Even though the embedded fist marks could be altered and fixed, the pain that everyone was going through would not. Ever.
_
Bart
_
"Hey, KF, what'cha doin'?"
"Same old, same old. Driving the bad guys' nuts. Nice look by the way."
"Ya think?"
"Yeah, though, honestly, I'd always figured you'd wind up in something with a little more yellow and red."
"Seriously?"
One of the main reasons the fourteen-year old had travelled back in time had not only been to prevent the Reach taking over the world, but to stop his grandfather from getting killed by Neutron, or Nathaniel.
He hadn't realised that someone would have to take his place.
Least of all Wally.
Why did the older speedster have to be a sacrifice in order to save another?
Bart blamed himself, no matter how much people told him he was not at fault.
Artemis had trouble looking at him while they were working together on missions because he reminded her to much of him while in uniform. He felt like a fraud for wearing the mantle of someone so great.
The Rogues had taken it upon themselves to bully the young teenager, telling him to bring their "Baby Flash" back, because Bart was just a fake, a poser.
So, every time Bart zipped up the back of the uniform, or pulled on the cowl, he lost a bit more of the sparkle in his eyes to Wally.
Why did it have to be this way?
_
Rudy
_
"You know, if you ever come up for air, I can take you to the DMV to get your driver's license after school. This weather will be a good proving ground."
"Not really in a big rush to drive, dad, 'cause, y'know, I'm me."
"You certainly are."
His son; his only son was dead.
His pride and joy was gone forever.
The man refused to watch the news anymore. He spent majority of his time in Wally's old room unless he had to go to work, eat or curl up on the couch just to hold his wife together while she fell apart at the seams.
He was trying to stay strong for her, but it was hard.
No one had ever seen Rudy West cry. He had the occasional solemn or empathetic expression or when he looked sad, but when the woman his son loved had silently confessed to him and Mary the fate of Wally through her tears, but had closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and grasped both of the women into his embrace but let the water that represented his sadness appear at the corners of his eyes.
He didn't blame anyone.
Nobody except the villains who destroyed his son.
_
Dick
_
"I know what that circus means to you. It's where you grew up. It's where you… lost your—"
"I left you behind because you know my backstory. I didn't want my best pal questioning my objectivity."
"Dude, that's what a best pal's for."
The former protégé of Batman had gone into a complete state of denial, refusing to accept the fact that Wally was gone, and that there was no possibility to bring him back.
Dark circles seemed to be permanently under his eyes nowadays, concentrating on nothing more than his theories of how to bring Wally home. Why was it that nothing was working? His best friend had had this firm belief that science could solve any problem, but it really wasn't doing Dick any good.
He felt like his head could explode at any moment.
He missed teasing Wally. He missed his eating habits. He missed the guy he thought of as a brother above anyone else.
He felt complete remorse. He stayed locked up inside his apartment in Blüdhaven, staring at his computer, the stack of notes and endless supply of coffee and pens right near him.
But he couldn't help it.
He had caused Wally and his family enough grief. The least he could do was bring back his best friend.
He deserved to live his life to the fullest and Dick would give him that opportunity.
_
Kaldur
_
"Kaldur, this has been a good night. Maybe the best we've had since the three of us first took off for Cadmus five plus years ago."
"C'mon, enjoy the moment, my friend. You've earned it."
Kaldur felt like he had some sort of responsibility, one that had never been voiced at all by anybody other than himself, over his friends because he was the oldest when it came to the senior members of the Team. As the 'older brother', he was supposed to protect them all, act like a general and not as a soldier.
In his eyes, he had made this mistake again.
With all the people they had lost in the telepathic training exercise all those years, it hadn't mattered because it wasn't real. This, on the other hand, had been real life and one of their own, one of his closest friends had died trying to save the world.
He had behaved like a soldier, and not like a general.
The Atlantean had let everyone down.
Or so he believed.
_
The Team
_
"Kill them all. Superboy may present a problem, but we'll deal with him when the other children lie bleeding on the ground."
"Still you refer to us children. No wonder our successes mount. You consistently underestimate us."
To the younger members of the Team who knew him well, like Tim and Gar, felt like they had lost an older brother that day and to the ones who didn't know him that well; a role-model and a hero. The world lost a true man of honesty and justice. His path of destiny had ended way too early.
The older members were all distraught. They had all known him for what felt like forever, and suddenly losing the resident class clown of their gang? It was horrifying to even think about because everyone would eventually wind up in tears or unnaturally even pants of breath from laughing or crying when they reminisced memories they shared of Wally when he was still… around.
They were all a family, and to lose a huge part of their family had really torn them apart, but it had also made them stronger with the realisations of how much they were sacrificing by even putting themselves out there every day and how lucky they all were.
"Live life to the fullest as though every day is your last" is a saying that constantly floated around in their minds now.
It was something Artemis had said to all of them after she had yelled at all of them for treating her like she was some sort of china doll. She had put off her mourning by throwing herself into her school work and missions, and had finally broken down when she couldn't take any more of the delicate and gentle tones all members of the Team and the League had taken to speaking her with.
They had not only lost a fellow hero that day.
They had lost a friend, a brother, but they would not allow his sacrifice to be in vain or allow his memory to be forgotten.
Wally West was a hero to be remembered forever.
_
Wally
_
"Dude, I just heard! You saved an entire country! Major kudos."
"What can I say? I'm the man!"
"The man who finally figured out that the sweetest birthday present a lucky stiff like me could ever get… was seeing that little girl smile."
He actually didn't know where he was at this point.
All he knew was that he couldn't stop running through this endless space. He wasn't getting tired, he wasn't out of breath, but he was overly confused.
He could tell he was going faster than his top speed. Electricity was practically blasting in streams behind him from his uniform in both gold and crimson red and his arms and legs were moving about in blurs faster than he could tell himself.
Were his eyes still green if he couldn't tell what was happening to him?
Would he able to get back?
Where was he?
His mind was completely unsettled and he was unable to concentrate on anything. He just ran, ran as though his life depended on it while his mind was clouded over by thoughts of how everybody was holding up without him. How his family, his friends, how Artemis was doing.
Hopefully, they were okay.
He also wished that no one would blame themselves for his departure. It had been his choice to participate in trying make his fair share of kinetic energy to help stop the destruction of their world. He had made the sacrifice. He knew the possible consequences that could occur from this.
_
A/N: Done, no more, no more, please don't make me write anymore. Too many feels. :'(
Blah. I don't even know what that is. Feelings are hard to describe, okay?
Word Count: 1,876
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~CL