This is my new headconon. Endgame has been deleted from my memory.
Listened to "Losing Your Memory" by Ryan Star while writing this.
"Nightwing!" Jaime shouted. "Scarab says Wally only has 16 seconds left."
"No!" Dick and Artemis screamed, both desperate. They ran forward and Jaime flew after them.
"Kid?" Barry asked fearfully. Wally was starting to disappear.
"Just tell her, okay?" Wally said bravely.
Barry grabbed hold of Wally and picked him up. "You're not going out yet, Kid, not like this."
Barry flinched as a shock from the vortex hit him. Thankfully, Wally was no longer disappearing, but Bart was now lapping them.
The Kid Flash's condition is now stable, but The Flash's speed has slowed.
"Is it still going to work?" Jaime asked.
"What did the scarab say?" Artemis asked desperately. She and Dick had stopped in front of the vortex, getting as close as they could.
"Wally's fine, but Flash is slowing down," Jaime informed them. "Scarab doesn't think it will work anymore. We have a 63% chance."
"Barry," Wally said as another shock hit his uncle. "You have to put me down, or you're going to be the one dying."
"Better me than you, Kid," Barry answered through clenched teeth.
"Gramps, Wally, we need more kinetic energy," Bart said as he lapped them again.
"Alright," Barry said. "Wally, I'm going to set you down, I'll run slower and take the shocks, you and Bart get the job done."
"Barry-" Wally tried to protest.
"Just go!" Barry shouted as he let Wally back onto the ground.
Wally took off, somehow easily keeping up with Bart.
"Bart, go faster," Wally said to his cousin.
"This is my top speed, Walls," Bart told him.
They kept running, both conscious of how Barry was starting to fade away like Wally had been.
"Barry!"
"Gramps!"
"Finish this!" Barry yelled at them. "Don't slow down!" He was almost gone. His voice grew soft as he looked at Wally and Bart. "Tell Iris I love her, and I'm sorry I couldn't see our kids grow up."
Wally pushed to run faster, he wasn't going to let his uncle die.
But it was too late.
"Gramps!" Bart cried as Barry disappeared.
"You've done it. The Earth's magnetic balance has been restored."
Both Bart and Wally stopped as Lex Luthor's voice came thought everyone's com-links; everyone but Barry's.
"Wally!" Artemis screamed, and tackled Wally in a hug.
Jaime flew over to Bart.
"Where is Flash?" Kaldur asked.
"He's gone," Wally whispered, shaking his head slowly. "He gone and it's all my fault."
Bart was sobbing into Jamie's shoulder and Wally had tears streaming down his face. Artemis just hugged Wally tighter. Dick came up and hugged them both.
"We, we have to leave. The rest of the League has to know what happened," Conner says gently.
Wally nods and he walks back to the Bio Ship with Artemis and Dick. Jaime picks Bart up and flies him back. M'gann, Kaldur and Conner follow.
"I was supposed to stop it Jaime," Bart said as the older boy held him. "I stopped him from dying when I got here. I was supposed to fix it."
"I'm sorry, cariño," Jaime said as the armor folds back. "Sometimes you just can't fix everything."
"I should have. I was supposed to fix it. I was supposed to fix it."
Jaime gently kissed Bart's temple and rocked him back and forth as he continued to mumble to himself.
"It was going to be me," Wally said to Dick and Artemis.
Dick placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder. How could he say he was glad it wasn't him? But he was. He should have felt devastated that they lost Barry, but all he could feel was relief. Artemis was having the same thoughts running through her head. She had just gotten back to Wally. She didn't know what she would do if she had lost him.
"Wally! Artemis! Bart! I'm so glad you're safe," Iris said when she opened the door. She pulled them each into a quick hug. Smiling, she looked behind them. She frowned when she didn't see Barry. "Where's Barry?"
No one answered.
Iris trembled when she realized what their silence meant. She choked back a sob as she fell to her knees. She had always known this would happen one day. Barry was just the type of person.
"What happened?" she asked. She had to know, even if it hurt.
Wally and Bart helped her over to the couch.
"What happened?" she asked again.
"We missed one of the Reach's robots," Wally explained. "It had already gone critical."
"Gramps and I were running around it, our kinetic energy was supposed to offset its effects," Bart added.
"It wasn't working fast enough, so Wally went to help," Artemis said.
"I was too slow, the energy kept hitting me," Wally said bitterly. "It was supposed to be me."
"Don't ever say that, Wally," Iris said sternly, still crying. "Barry made his choice to save you. You're safe, that's what he wanted."
"He says he loves you," Wally said. His voice was breaking.
Iris pulled Bart and Wally into another hug. Artemis joined and the four of them sat on the couch, taking comfort in the others' presence.
"You sure about this?" Dick asked as Wally pulled the mask over his head.
"Bart needs a mentor. The world needs a Flash. Artemis is getting back in the game as Tigress. Somehow I'm faster, so I don't see a reason not to go," Wally said, looking at his best friend. "Are you sure about not being Team leader?"
"Damian needs someone right now. And Bruce is too busy looking into Red Hood to be there for him," Dick answered. "Kaldur and Barbara will do fine."
Wally nodded. Bart then came speeding into the room.
"You ready, Walls?" he asked.
"Totally," Wally said, smiling at his cousin. "Though I have to say, I'm a bit jealous that you get to keep your hair out."
"Perks of being a sidekick," Bart said with a grin.
"Partners," Dick mumbled, more to himself than the two speedsters.
Grayson, what is the pass-code to the gym?
"Dami, Alfred said you aren't allowed into the gym until your ankle heals," Dick said into his com-link.
Pennyworth is mistaken, my ankle is fine.
"See you guys," Dick said to the speedsters.
"Bye, Dick," they both answered as Dick made his way over to the zeta tube.
There. I fixed everything. And put in Dami and Jason. And Bluepulse... Regrettably I couldn't find a way to tie in Selina.