From Fiddler's Green and Back

Part One

Chapter I

"Some heroes I interact with get frustrated with me because I don't like to debate. I don't for two reasons. One, I've already thought whatever it is through thousands of times. I've looked at it from every angle. My mind is made up. And I don't change it often. And two, I think it's important that we all have different opinions. It's what's great about America." – The Secret of Barry Allen.

It was calm. The seas rocked the boat, each wave pushing gently against the side before folding in its self, turning into a placid white froth as it returned to the ocean.

The wind whipped silently around the sturdy wooden frame, whistling as it hit metal structures that blocked its path; forcing it to separate.

The smell, of fish and salt with a slight southern tang to it, lingered in the nostrils of those who breathed it in – filling their lungs, surfing their blood like oxygen.

Hands – milk chocolate in colour, scabbing, calloused tips and grimed nails – gripped the railing, tight in a way that brought strain to his muscles and popped his veins to the surface.

Chiselled features, squinted closed eyes, blond shaven hair and a nose that would bring spears to shame, the trail left behind was observed.

Eyes that flickered from left to right, top to bottom, from the sun to the sea to the clouds to the gulls to the waves, to the water that was slowly swishing back into one as the object that insisted on slicing it up disappeared.

Kaldur bowed his head, like he did at all times like these, and let out a heavy breath. "Forgive me, sir." He muttered, like he always did.

No one quite knew what he was asking to be forgiven, but everyone had a vague idea, Kaldur included.

Boots stepped across each wooden plank, the sound of leather heels vibrating through the air and resonating off the wood.

Chains chinked and rattled against each other as they bounced off a freckled chest.

Flaming ginger hair, streaked brown in the right light and cropped to a length that fell over the forehead but wasn't long enough to sit on the shoulders protected the scalp from a too vicious burn.

The head and face attached to said hair was smiling, all teeth and goof, eyes surveying the deck. He blinked, pale lids closing over the green irises for a fraction of a second – long enough for the scene before him to change, too fast for the darkness to linger.

He ignored the monkey perched precariously on the railing. Ignored the chattering of teeth that was supposed to be laughter. Ignored Gar and his companion altogether, really. He'd entertain them later.

He stood next to Kaldur, too close for comfort but not close enough.

As usual it was him who breached the subject of conversation first.

"Morning, Kal. How are things today? Seas are looking calm, right. Reckon there'll be a storm anytime soon? I don't, if I'm honest - I think we're too far North for that kind of extremity. Hey, did you know-"

"Wally." Kaldur cut across, effectively silencing him. "You wished to speak with me?"

"Ah, yeah, right."

"Perhaps we should go somewhere… more private?"

"Oh, no, no. Here is fine. I like it out here, sunny. It'd be dark inside."

Kaldur chuckled. "Very Well."

There was an elongated pause, in which Wally weighed out his options. He slumped, arms dangling over the side, chin resting on the wooden bar.

If he was a cat, his ears would be twitching and his tail swaying. He would be pouting, with his claws gripping the thin air uselessly.

He'd be trying to catch a fish from the moving boat, that's what he'd be doing.

Straightening his posture, Wally removed himself from the side and turned to face Kaldur. He wouldn't be dependent on anything during this conversation; he wouldn't.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke the words that had haunted him for so long.

"I-I think I need a break, Kal. It's been, what? Six, seven years? That's a long time. A real long time and- and I just can't continue, not right now."

"I understand." Kaldur was as solemn as ever, his face impassive as he stared at the waves before him. "Take as long as you need, my friend. Just remember that we, all of us, will be eagerly awaiting your return."

Wally flashed him a wry smile. "Thanks…"

Kaldur seemed to latch on to his hesitation. "You will be coming back, won't you?"

"I- yes. Eventually, I will be coming back. I can sort of guarantee that. But as for when- I just don't know. It could be a few weeks, months, or…" Wally trailed off, so Kaldur finished for him.

"Years." Wally gave a nod, making a small affirmative sound.

They both stood in silence a while longer.

"Phew… Well, that was… surprisingly easy to tell you, actually. But, er- I kind of expected a bigger reaction?" He turned to Kaldur, eyebrow raised.

Despite the seriousness of this conversation, Kaldur couldn't help but chuckle. "You are very easy to read, my friend," He said after his laughter subsided, "I presumed something like this would come eventually, so I have been expecting it. As for the rest of the crew- your cousin, in particular…"

Wally sighed, slumping once more. "Bart, right. Crap. Think he'd want to come with me? No, no wait. I can't take him with me; it wouldn't be fair to separate him from Blue." Like he'd allow himself to be separated, Wally added mentally. It seemed Kaldur was thinking along the same lines, however, as he received a knowing look from the elder male.

"Do you wish for me to alert the rest of the crew to your departure?" Kaldur asked, now trying to wrap up the conversation.

"Oh, no, thanks. I'll tell them all myself. I mean it's only fair, right?"

Kaldur nodded in agreement, "Right."

"Heh. Okay, then," Wally chuckled, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "Right." I should- should probably go and tell everyone to meet below tonight."

Kaldur looked somewhat surprised. "You're going to tell them today?" Wally shrugged,

"Sure. Might as well, I mean there's no point prolonging the inevitable."

Kaldur hummed, but whether in consent or annoyance, Wally couldn't tell.

Taking it as a dismissal, though, Wally turned heel and left, stopping short before the boy hanging upside down from the wooden girders. "Garfield." Wally chided, "You know you're not supposed to be up there without a spotter. M'gann will do her fruits if she catches you."

"It's okay!" Garfield called, "Monkey's spotting for me!" He pointed one arm to the monkey still perched on the rail.

"I don't think that counts, little man."

The teeth chatterer grinned and swung from his position of hanging by his ankles, landing with a thud in a balanced crouch on the railings.

"What were you talkin' to Kal about?"

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Nope!" Gar smacked his gums at the 'P', breaking out into a huge grin.

"Liar." Wally grabbed him by the neck, turning him and rubbing his knuckle across the boy's scalp.

"Ah! Wally, gerrof!" They were both laughing though, and Wally let him go, giving him one final hair tussle.

"Are- are you really leaving us, then?" Gar latched on to him at this point, knocking Wally backwards a few steps with the sudden force. His green eyes were staring up, hopeful, praying that what he heard wasn't true.

"'Fraid so, sport." And then Gar watered up – he was as emotional as his sister – burying his head in Wally's chest.

"But- no! You can't just leave! We're family, right? And family stick together. I heard somewhere around the seas that we're called Ohana or s'mething. You're not gonna break up the Ohana, are you?!" His voice was muffled heavily by Wally's clothing, but the cracks could still be heard.

Wally let out a sad smile as he gazed down and forwent the question, instead asking one of his own. "Find Conner for me, 'kay? He'll listen to you."

Gar peeled himself away slowly. "But-"

"Go on," Wally cocked his head to the side in an encouraging gesture, trying to make his smile meet his eyes.

Gar bowed his head before scampering off, taking to the ropes so he could swing across the deck of the ship. Wally didn't have the heart to tell him off a second time.

"You'll take care of your owner, won't you, Monks?" Wally turned his attention to the Spider Monkey, who had not moved at all. It looked like he was scowling.

Wally would have petted him, but actually liked having the full function of his five fingered limps. Instead, he chuckled lightly to himself for even talking to the damn thing, and carried on his way. A small paw reached out and batted his arm as he passed, and Wally turned to be thumped in the face by a tail as Monkey ran off, knowing he wasn't welcome where his owner was going.

Heading down to the cabins below deck, Wally figured this would be the best place to find his little cousin. He and the boy he shacked up with spent the majority of their time down there; only seeming to come up for food, chores or when they docked. Sometimes they'd come up for parties, too.

Stopping outside their door, he knocked lightly. No way was he going to enter without permission, not after last time… Wally shuddered lightly at the memory.

"Hey, Bart, Blue!" He called, "Meet below the deck in the conference room at 8 tonight, alright? Don't be late."

"Late? We're never la-mmph!" Wally didn't bother hiding his grimace as he walked away from the door.

If Wally was going to alert everyone else to the impromptu meeting, searching the rest of the space below deck would be his greatest course of action.

He passed the empty hammocks that hung low to the ground, swaying slightly in the light breeze that filtered through the open portholes.

Nobody else was 'sleeping', so he carried on through to the stock rooms. He could hear the tapping of boots following him, an all too familiar sound.

Wiping his hands across the surface of a cloth that was covering a carton of barrels, somewhat satisfied that they weren't too dusty, he sat down.

"Rumour has it you're saying goodbye tonight." The human shaped shadow that cast through the room was Roy, clad in red tunic and yellow hat, a single red plume sticking out of the corner of the hat behind his head.

"I-uh, yeah. How'd you… Gar, it was Gar wasn't it." Wally frowned, despite having expected nothing less from the younger kid.

Roy chuckled and took a seat next to him, "Conner, actually. Gar was too upset to speak, so Conner had to fill me in." Wally grimaced; he did not want to be on the receiving end of a punch from Conner, especially when the boy was angry – and making Gar cry would definitely anger the black haired youth.

"Any idea where you're going to go? What you're going to do?"

"Figured I'd just get off at our next stop, gain passage to some foreign land. I was thinking Boston, actually…"

"And what are you going to do once you get to Boston?"

"Not sure… Maybe, settle down… Find a nice woman, have a few kids, you know?" He laughed, a low tinkling sound that carried through the cabin. Roy shook his head, grinning.

"Yeah, right. You, a woman? Don't make me laugh, Kid."

"Hey!" Wally falsely protested, shoving Roy. "I could get a woman if I wanted."

"Mmhmm. You probably could, if you wanted." Roy conceded, and for a short, sweet, bliss filled moment Wally thought he had won. Until Roy not so quietly added: "But you don't want, do you?" Wally rolled his eyes,

"No, I guess I don't want that."

"And that's because they're not your type, right?" Roy's voice dropped to a murmur as he inconspicuously nudged closer to Wally.

"Uh… right."

"And they're not your type because…" The voice had turned sultry. An arm went around his shoulders, while the other arm was placed gingerly on his knee.

"Because… They're, ah… Roy!"

The hand on his knee had crept slowly up, the fingers grazing the material in an antagonising way.

"Go on…" Roy was purring, quite literally, as his hand continued upwards.

"They're… Roy, stop, they're haa the-"

"Wrong gender?" Roy supplemented. And then he took the dive.

"Ye-ah! Roy!" Wally hissed his name, flushing slightly. "What are you doing?" He tried to wriggle away, but the hand around his shoulder kept him clamped down.

Not to mention the unusually sharp nails positioned so close to those delicate gems.

"Giving you a goodbye present, of course." His grin was feral as he whispered, planting a wet kiss to the corner of Wally's jaw.

"Roy… Ngh, I don't think-"

"Why not? You're already hard for me, Kid, I can feel it."

Wally wished he could dispute that claim, he really did.

"Well of course you can feel it; you've got a hand wrapped around his cock."

Smile adorning her pale pink, almost purple, lips Artemis stood in the open doorway, leaning leisurely against the frame. Her arms were crossed over her chest, below her bust, fingers loosely inside the bows that tied her over corset.

"Artemis." Roy's hand had stopped its advance, and was instead withdrawing slowly.

"Roy." Her voice was pleasant enough. Pushing off from the wall, she made her way toward them, heels clicking on the floor.

"Anyway, out. I need to speak with Kid Flash." Roy glared, but complied nonetheless. When he passed the still smirking Artemis, it was only natural that he shoved her with his shoulder.

Artemis retaliated by knocking the hat off of his head, watching in amusement as his hands scrambled to catch it and then place it back on his head.

"Honestly, you could at least do up your trousers." She turned to Wally, arms once again crossing.

Wally flushed deeper, scrambling his fingers to tie up the flimsy draw string.

"Whaddya want?" He asked, feigning interest in smoothing his hair.

"Cut the bull, you know why I'm here. You're leaving, and I wanna know why."

"Artemis-"

"Don't 'Artemis' me." She snapped. "I said cut the bull, so all I wanna know is the truth. Why. Are. You. Leaving?" She ground out the last few words, and in doing so had managed to get Wally on his feet and backed up against the wall.

She was a good few inches smaller than him, but it didn't matter.

She could be more than a right bitch at times, and a scary on at that.

"I just- just need a break, okay? Is that really too difficult for people to understand?" Wally threw his hands behind his head, exasperated.

"So, what? You're just going to abandon your cousin? Your family?" Wally snorted, turning to face Artemis with sharp eyes.

"Like you're one to talk. Do you even have a family?" And there it was. The switch. The switch that turned her from little snarky princess to full out evil queen bitch mode.

"You know what, West? Fuck you!" Artemis snarled, spitting at Wally with her teeth bared, she stomped out of the room, slamming the cabin door behind her.

Wally groaned outwardly, slumping down and covering his face in his hands.

He didn't want to leave on bad terms with her, or with anyone; that really really wasn't his intention.

"Nice work there, Kid."

"Don't patronize me- what the hell?! How long have you been there?!" Wally physically jumped at the very late realisation that he wasn't alone – when he should have been alone, thought he was alone.

"Long enough," Tim shrugged, stepping out of the shadows that had formerly enclosed him. He took Artemis's newly vacant barrel.

"You mean- you saw- that, didn't you?"

"What? You mean I saw you and Roy? Yeah, ha, I saw that." Tim smirked, and Wally groaned once more, flopping back down with a smack.

"Go away." He moaned, lifting a lazy hand to the door, the other still covering his beet red face.

When eight rolled around, everyone had filtered in below deck, into the room that had effectively been renamed the conference room.

Even Tim was visible there, in the corner, half hidden by the drooping cloths, staring intently.

Beside him was Conner, standing as far away from Garfield and Monkey as possible.

M'gann, Artemis, Zatanna and Rocket sat along the lone bench, Cassie and Babs on the floor at their feet, Billy between them.

It seemed none of them could take their eyes of Wally, each mind thinking of all the possible announcements that he had to make.

Had he thought of a new schedule for the crew, a new, more efficient way of doing things? Contracted them with a new supplier? Found them a new man who needed escape? Located, dare they hope, their families?

It was inevitable that his announcement would include them, after all.

Stepping up onto the barrels that had long ago formed the 'stage' of the conference room, Wally took a deep breath, taking the time to survey each and every one of the faces in the room.

Kaldur, at the back, staring sternly up at him beside a scowling Roy. Gar crouching on the empty barrels, Monkey perched on his shoulder. Bart and Blue, the former on the latter's lap, were occupying the top of a lone desk that was nestled against the wall, Karen and Mal leaning against either side.

"Can I have your attention, please? I, uh, have an announcement to make." They all already knew this, so it was obvious Wally was stalling for a little time.

"I'm…" Wally swallowed, "Taking a vacation."

His statement was met by silence.

"O…kay?" Cassie hedged, being the first to speak. She looked quite perplexed by his announcement, as did several others. Wally saw that he needed to clarify.

"It's a… extended vacation." There were a couple of small voices now, and Wally believed his message was beginning to sink in.

Artemis however, didn't, causing her to roll her eyes and yell out: "He means he's leaving the ship and quite possibly never coming back!"

"Artemis!" Wally yelped, having hoped to break the news in a gentler fashion.

'What?' She mouthed, shrugging as the uproar started.

Voices over lapped one another, incredulity and annoyance being the common tones. By this point, everybody was on their feet, going back and forth between staring at Kaldur and Wally.

Responding to the pleading look his friend threw his way, Kaldur made his way through the congregation of crew members and up onto the make shift stage beside Wally, intent on silencing the crowd.

"Enough." He looked down at his crew, eye's narrowing slightly. "You will listen to what Wally has to say."

Wally relaxed slightly, glad to have someone by him who was effectively on his side.

"I know it's probably not what any of you were expecting to hear, or wanting to hear either. But I've made up my mind," He gave a small smile, "And you should all know what I'm like once I've done that." There were a couple of forced sounding chuckles from below.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to go, but-"

"If you don't want to go, then why are you?" Conner growled out, blue eyes glinting with fury.

"I'm going because I think it would help me. Look, I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind. This is what I'm going to do."

Irritated voices muttered under people's breaths, until Zatanna was brave enough to call out;

"When? When are you leaving?" Wally's eyes floated down to her soft face,

"Uh, well, our next port is about 4 or 5 days away… so then, I guess."

"We'll throw you a party, then! The night before you leave. We still have most of the stock from our last stop in France, so we can use that. We aren't too far from our island, either, so we can restock afterward." She was leaning against Rocket's chest, her blue eyes sparkling and a pack of cards tucked away between the cloth and her breast.

There were several murmurs of agreement amongst the crew.

"That settles it, then." Kaldur's voice was loud above the rest, effectively silencing them. Kaldur smiled at Wally, one he couldn't help but return. "Before you leave, we shall celebrate. To Wally!" Kaldur lifted a fist in the air in celebration.

Although the wine had yet to be opened, battle cries and a chorused 'To Wally!' echoed throughout the room, completed with cheering and stomping and enthusiasm.

Words could not do justice to the amount that he would miss them.

Ahhh so we've finally set sail! (C'mon, admit it; that was funny.) Anyway, I hope you've all enjoyed it and will stick around for the rest.

But I have a lot of people to thank for this; there's immerwennesdunkelwird over on Tumblr, who has literally been there since day one and has helped me structure this so much asdgfdl. Yeah. Massive kudos to her.