Chapter One | Cease
He was nothing and yet through that he had become everything. In a simple state of being, Wally West had faded away and simply become the pure energy of speed. Time didn't matter, not in the Speed Force, but still Wally felt the fabric of reality slipping further and further away from him as he simply ceased.
At first he had been scared. The thought of Artemis alone and upset was enough for him to try and find some way back to her, but all efforts had soon turned out to be futile. In the Speed Force you just were. There was the strangest sensation as if he was running as fast as he had been in the moment he disappeared, yet he couldn't feel his feet or really any other part of his body. At this point, Wally wasn't even sure he had a body anymore. Still, he was not about to go down in history as a quitter.
During the beginning of his time in the Speed Force Wally remembered everything. He remembered the fierce look in Artemis' slanted eyes every time they fought and the sweet scent of her skin as lay beside him. After a while the memories became less clear. He suddenly couldn't remember if Artemis had gray eyes or blue or if she smelled of leather or pineapple. When he began to forget himself was when he truly felt fear. One day he was running along through nothing as Wally West, and the next he couldn't remember his uncle's name or who the hell Bart Allen was. It was the little things like losing his favorite color or favorite food that really weighed down on his spirit.
The only thing he clung to was her. During the bad stretches of time he couldn't remember her name or why he knew her, but he knew that he loved her more than he had ever loved anything. Feeling itself was alien, but the bright intensity he felt whenever he thought of her was enough to remind him that he had been something once and not this pure state of being. Wally West wasn't sure why he was eternally running or where he was going, but he sure as hell knew he had left something-someone- behind.