DEF:Okay before or after you read this, you need to watch this video .com/watch?v=O7d_dZynHOQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL It inspired me and basically tells you what happened to the Lords' Batman in a Better World.
Vita: I don't watch Justice League at all, just know what Robi tells me and when she showed me the video I thought it was canon. I was all like, 'How could they kill him? Is that how it all ends?'. Now we don't own the vid or DC Comics but if we did, that vid would so be canon!
He was dead, Flash-Wally was dead and he hadn't gone to the funeral, he'd hid in the shadows like a coward. So what was he doing now, standing before the City's memorial to him, the Flash museum, standing before their statue of him.
He shouldn't be here, he didn't deserve to be here, he'd let him slip away from right between his fingers, let Luthor kill him. He should just dismember the Justice Lords, without Flash what was the point of it all? Justice didn't exist in this world, not anymore and yet he felt the need to say something, anything.
"I've got some things to say, should've said them a long time now. Despite our differences, you showed me that justice doesn't always have to come from the darkness. I hope you knew-know that," he murmured. Even now he couldn't accept that Flash was dead, that Wally was dead, it just wasn't logical, possible.
Justice was a farce, there was only one way to protect these people from themselves, from the villains, the villains deserved death and none more than Luthor. Luthor had to die, if not today, then soon but he wouldn't be the one to kill President Luthor, no he would wait, that's what he was best at, he would wait.
He would bide his time, let the others come around to his way of seeing things, come to the decision themselves without any outside forces tipping their hand. He knew he was right and soon they would too, they couldn't just stand by and face the death of one of their own, not of Flash.
He was the one bright spark in the abyss and Luthor had gone and snuffed it out, all that was left was eternal darkness, eternal damnation. He gazed up at the statue once more, how had he died, the fastest man alive, so full of life, so human.
"You were the youngest of us all Flash, you had too many years left ahead of you. You should have run, should have left it to us, you shouldn't have had die," he hissed swallowing the hard lump that had risen in his throat.
"You were the best of us all, you didn't deserve death. I know you probably can't hear me or maybe you can, but I swear, I will avenge you. All who ever did you wrong will suffer for it, starting with myself, I'm sorry I couldn't save you," he whispered. He had to leave this place, he shouldn't be here but he couldn't find it in himself to leave.
This was worse than when his parents had died, he had felt pain yes but he had come to terms with the fact that he couldn't have done anything to help them. It had been a hard lesson to learn but he had learnt it eventually, what solace could he find this time?
He was right there when Luthor put that lead in Wally's brain, not two god forsaken feet from where it happened. He had been so close that Wally's blood had splashed his hands; he had Wally's blood on his fucking hands. And why hadn't he done something? Because he was the fastest man alive, he would break away from Luthor's goons any second now, he still had time to run, all the time in the world.
And then…nothing, forever nothing.
He could have done something, he could have saved him but instead he stood by while Luthor put four more bullets in his chest. He was the lowest of the low, the blood had stained on his gloves, he still had those gloves locked away in a glass case.
The blood had stained the gloves but the death had stained his soul.
"Batman watch out!" Diana yelled but it's too late, the snake man already has a tight grip on the Dark Knight and sinks his teeth deep into his shoulder. He throws off the snake but already he starts to feel woozy, the toxins are rushing through his system, overriding motor controls and shutting down his brain.
He collapses not minutes later, the lights above him black out and the voices are too far away, maybe now he won't have to live with the guilt because the guilt is still there and stronger than before. He can't see anything, it's as though he's gone blind and then he's standing in Central City.
This can't be Hell because God knows that's where he belongs, no this isn't Hell or maybe this is just a front, in a minute or so he'll be engulfed by flames. There, over on the horizon, he can see a dust cloud and he stands firm ready to meet his torturers for the rest of eternity.
The dust cloud is thick, the dirt and rocks are kicked up with the force of miniature bullets and he throws up his cape reflexively. He waits until the dust clears to lower the protective black material and he nearly has a heart attack because standing there is a familiar figure in red.
He knows his jaw just dropped open but he can't seem to remember how to close it because Wally can't be here, he can't be in Hell or maybe this is Heaven after all. If that's real, there where are his parents?
He staggers forward a few feet, blinking his eyes rapidly because this can't be real, there's no way this can be real yet there he is. Wally with his smug smirk and cocky swagger and he's really here, he's alive or Bruce is dead he really can't find it in himself to care much.
'Wal-'
"Batman, be careful, we nearly lost you. The venom was almost too much for your system, the antidote helped but it was still a frightening situation," J'Onn explained. He furrowed his eyebrows, what was the Martian talking about now? Couldn't he see that Wally was alive?
"Take it easy, you also broke two ribs," J'Onn added helping him sit up, he glared up at the Martian, what the hell was he talking abo-. He finally took a few crucial seconds to look around and find out where the hell he was, in the Watch Tower med bay. He wasn't in Central City, he wasn't dead and Flash wasn't alive. Too many wasn't's couldn't there ever be a was!
"I need to get back to the BatCave," he muttered pushing himself off of the hard cot, J'Onn made a move to stop him but backed off at the pure hatred he exuded.
"Of course, there is more anti-venom in the javelin storage bay if you need it," The Martian called after his retreating figure, he resisted the urge to turn around, go back and beat the Martian into a bloody pulp. How dare they bring him back before he could even begin to apologise, before he could say anything, how dare they?
He ghosted through the halls, he needed to get back home, he needed to see the footage again, see the blood those gloves again, punish himself for not saving him again. He was in the javelin before he knew what was happening, all ready taken off before he could regain control, thank god for autopilot.
He sat in his seat, fingers biting into the armrests of the chair as the plane took him to Gotham, he couldn't die now, he needed to see the footage, damage himself even more, why? Because he deserved it, all his fault, it was all his fault.
"My own fault, my own most grievous fault," he spat through tightly clenched teeth, his breath was coming in raged breaths. He didn't know who he was more pissed with, J'Onn, Luthor or himself, who deserved the wrath of the Bat?
He didn't have time to ponder that thought as the javelin landed in the Cave, he jumped out as soon as the wheels touched the ground. He ran flat out for his chair, not bothering to tell Alfred he'd gotten back, not bothering to turn on any of the lights, he knew his ways around.
"Computer, run footage X-1601*," he ordered crashing into the hard metal of his chair, the computer blinked to life in front of him and not even a rogue Superman destroying the Earth would've made him turn around.
Three different screens, three different days, three different situations and the only linking factor? Flash, he was there for all of it, the only one smiling, the only one cracking sorry excuses for jokes, the scarlet speedster. He pulled on the blood stained gloves and rubbed the crimson scrap of cloth between his fingers, his only souvenir of the greatest man who ever lived.
"You didn't need to die," he breathed biting back the accusations, the hurt, the pain, he held them back and endured through the torture. The torture of knowing that he alone was to blame for the loss of the man before him, this one light soul in a bitter world of night. Not Luthor's, no Luthor was merely the messenger and you don't kill the messenger, not yet at least.
For now he was the sole reason for Wally's death and for now he would endure his torture, keep the pain and hurt and accusations at bay until the day it wasn't his burden alone to bear. Until that day, the scrap of cloth slipped from blood stained fingers.
He awoke with a start, there was someone in the cave, someone with their hand on his shoulder, only one person ever dared to wake him up.
'Wally?' he whispers and there he is, their speed demon in red, he's really here this time, Bruce can feel the hand on his shoulder, it's not a dream.
'The one and only,' comes the reply and God he's missed that voice, he smiles, for once he actually smiles at something Flash says and he gets that million watt grin in return. His heart aches with how good it is to see Wally again, the dead part of him is finally alive again, after months of death, he is alive again.
'Where have you been all this time?' he questions standing, only he's not in the BatCave anymore, he's in Central City in the day time and no one's on the roads. That's strange but maybe Wally just wanted to talk in a familiar place, he can understand that, he'd understand if he wanted to talk at the bottom of the ocean.
'I've been here, but you shouldn't be here Bruce, it's not time yet,' Wally sighs grabbing him by the shoulders and that one contact tells him more than he ever understood before.
'Wally, I can't stay there, it's not the place for me and you're right I shouldn't be here, you hate me. It's my fault you're dead!' he yells at the younger man. His emotions are all confused, Wally had never liked him, much less loved, no he was delusional, the touch meant nothing, Wally was a touchy feely person nothing more.
'You can't blame yourself for what's happened,' he argues, 'I loved you Bruce, I'm just sorry I waited until I was dead to tell you.'
'You don't mean that,' he whispers because if he admits it to himself, it will make it all that much more painful when he's alone again.
'But I do, I always did, I just thought you'd never like a kid like me so why try. I'm sorry,' Wally stated bringing a hand up to caress his cheek and it's so real how can it all be fake?
'No, it's okay and I guess I always did like you underneath, it just took you dying for me to get it,' he jokes but it's a shaky, one second from crying joke.
'I'll wait for you,' Wally promises and he can't help but smile, a wistful smile for wasted love that's returned by that signature smirk of his.
"Master Bruce? I didn't know you'd gotten in," Alfred called descending the spiral staircase giving him just enough time to wipe the tears that had spilled over onto his cheeks.
"Sorry, I was just reviewing some old footage," he explained gesturing to the screen but he can't bring himself to look at it anymore, not anymore because it hurts too much.
"Master Bruce, you cannot continue tormenting yourself like this," Alfred murmured turning off the screen, he's grateful for that but he can't face the old butler not yet.
"You've had a dream about him, haven't you?" Alfred prompted quietly, he honestly doesn't know how anyone could know about it but Alfred does, he always does. He nodded his head listlessly, pulling the cowl back over his head, his face was overheated and he could still feel the lingering caress on his cheek.
"Visions Alfred," he corrected running his hands through raven black locks, tugging at them harshly, he needed to say it to finish it.
"I don't know when these visions are going to hit me," he breathed but he knew Alfred had heard, buried his face in his hands, he couldn't take this much longer.
"It's alright Master Bruce, you'll get through this somehow and he's still waiting for you, he'll always be waiting for you," Alfred assured him putting a hand on his shoulder. And in that one moment, the burden he'd been carrying since Wally's death was infinitely less.
Luthor was dead, the Justice Lords had taken over and crime was non-existent now, this Justice League, they didn't know what it was to loose something precious. He had no choice, they had to be kept safe, Flash had to be kept safe which was why they were caged while the Lords saved their dimension.
'Bruce, this isn't right, you know it isn't.' Wally murmured sitting on the floor behind him, ever since the League had stepped through the gate to their dimension, his Flash had become little more than a phantom that he could see and almost touch.
'You can't keep them hostage the rest of their lives. You can't do that to me, I know that I might die in that other dimension but that doesn't give you the right to lock me up.' Wally argued. He pretended not to hear and instead continued to monitor the League, when that wasn't enough, he went down there to see for himself.
Their Wally was just like his, the same attitude, the same personality, everything but he wasn't his Wally, his Wally was standing behind him, urging him to do the right thing.
'Let them go Bruce,' he called from the sidelines and that decided it, he couldn't keep them any longer, he couldn't deny the dead anything.
He let them get out, he helped them at Arkam and he let them go back to their own world, he couldn't deny his Wally anything. As he left, his doppelganger turned back, he nodded to him, he knew the League Batman hadn't realised how much the League Flash meant to him. He only hope he realised before it was too late, before they ended up like him.
'You did the right thing Bruce, they didn't belong here and they won't end up like us,' Wally answered in direct reply to his thoughts, he smiled ruefully.
'It's calling me home, I have to go now," his speedster explained and his eyes grew wide, he knew it was going to happen sooner or later but he just didn't expect. Those lips against his, he could really feel him, the warmth, he was alive, with him, God he didn't deserve this.
'Wally how are you?' he started then stopped as the speedster shook his head, a playful half smile on his face, he wasn't, so that meant that he was.
'You were wasting away Bruce, I couldn't leave you like that, it's finally time for us to go home,' Wally sighed pressing their lips together once more. He didn't even feel it as his body collapsed onto the cold floor all he was too preoccupied by the person he didn't know he loved until he was gone.
DEF: Wow, so this was written at half three in the morning, I was yawning my head off and everything but I just had to finish it. It was angsty and romantic. My very first BatFlash, hope it didn't suck too much.
Vita: I think it was so sad but with one of those really sad but it worked out for all involved endings, it made me cry. So review and tell us how you like her BatFlash.