Disclaimer: The cover to this story was used with permission, and belongs to riyancy777 on deviantart.
Yes, another one shot. I was actually planning on posting this around Easter, but obviously, you can tell, I procrastinate like crazy and can never get around to doing shit. And for the record, this is a rewrite. So without further adieu, on with the angst.
You might want to grab a few tissues.
Don't tell me if I'm dying, 'cause I don't wanna know,
If I can't see the Sun, maybe I should go
Don't wake me 'cause I'm dreamin' of angels on the Moon,
Where everyone you know never leaves too soon
~Thriving Ivory, "Angels On The Moon"
Brightness.
That was the first thing that came to mind. In the instant he opened his eyes, he was overwhelmed with paralyzing, white light. He shut his eyes for a moment, giving them a moment to moisturize before slowly, olive green pools opened to find blankness, pupils dilating. For a few seconds, Wally's mind stood absolutely blank. Where was he? How did he get here?
Then, it all came flooding back to him.
He sat up, wide awake now as the last thing he could remember played through in his mind. He was running with Bart and Uncle Barry to try and draw off the device's energy, he was hit by that stray energy (which, now that he remembered, hurt like an absolute bitch), he felt himself drifting away, telling Uncle Barry to tell his parents and Artemis that-
-And that's where it all went blank. Wally looked down at himself. He still wore the red and yellow costume (he swears, this thing is like a curse now) that miraculously still fit him even after five years, still wore the thermal vision goggles on his head, still had the thick messy scruff of red hair. He checked his entire body. Still had two hands, two feet, a nose, two ears, ten fingers and toes, he could still see clearly. Nothing was damaged and nothing was lost.
So where the heck was he?
He pressed his hand to the symbol on his chest, feeling his heart race. He put his hand out and touched the ground beneath him. It felt solid, and he hadn't sunk through anything…but it wasn't really there either. More like, it was both. A schrodinger's cat of scenery.
He looked to his left, seeing that he was now in a vast white space. Not a shred of other color to be seen from miles. An endless void, purgatory. He put his hand out and touched nothing. He leaned forward, and still, he did not seem to touch the surface of the white void. Or maybe he did, and he just passed right through it. Whatever he did, it was clear: he wasn't getting out of here anytime soon.
Starting to panic, Wally looked. He felt like he was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. He didn't care if he found Heaven, Hell, or just another color. At least something in this white endlessness. He turned his head right, and his eyes brightened like lights on a Christmas tree.
Standing a few feet away was an object. Or rather, a person. From his distance, Wally could see they were wearing an outfit consisting of metallic white and bright green. Said person was curled into a ball, their back turned to him. Instantly, the joy of finding something in this mess turned to worry. What if this person was a threat? What if they weren't real? Were they alive? Or just a trick of whatever….this place was.
Pushing all thoughts aside, Wally stood up, taking a few steps forward. He was about three feet behind them when he gathered up the courage to call out. "Um, hello?"
They turned. It was a female, with a pretty face of spring green and beautiful, breathtaking electric blue eyes, which were surrounded by a ring of white. She looked equally surprised to see him, and Wally hesitated. Would she attack him?
But no. The woman, who looked like somewhat of an android, gazed at him with equal surprise and shock. It seems she was in the same predicament as he was. Eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree, Wally took a step forward, kneeling down next to her and offering his hand.
"Uh, hi. Listen, do you, um, know where we are…?"
She just stared at him. Her eyebrows slightly lurched down, blue meeting green. For a moment, neither said anything. There was a heavy dose of awkward hanging in the air. But then Wally caught it.
Her eyes were glassy, brimming with tears. His eyes reflected back worry, and he reached out to her. "Hey, are you okay-"
He wasn't even finished with his sentence before she leaped at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. She buried her head in his shoulders, and his heart caught in his throat.
"I'm sorry," were the first words she spoke. Her voice was delicate, with a hint of computerization in it. For a second, Wally lay still as a statue. He was suddenly shocked to feel a wetness seeping through the fabric of his uniform where her head was, and his hands just stood out from under her arms.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered to him, "I…I was not able to save everyone."
Her words got him. He couldn't swallow. His heart felt like it was breaking. He could see his own vision go blurry, feel tears running down his cheeks. Suddenly, he was embracing her back, the both of them openly sobbing; he was crying out for his family, for Artemis, for his friends and the sudden longing to see them again. He could hear her crying out apologies, constantly saying how she only wished to fix what she did, how she didn't want this for him and how she wished she knew how to take everything back.
After a few moments, both of them finally calmed down enough to pull away from each other. Wally sniffed as he watched her wipe the corners of her eyes, looking up at him. "I am sorry. I have never quite felt this overwhelmed with emotion."
"It's okay," Wally replied, "We all need somebody to cry on."
He leaned back on his knees, She sat with her hands in her lap. Neither said anything for a moment, a thick blanket of sorrow settling on the atmosphere. Wally's face suddenly looked up, "I lost somebody. She meant the world to me," he confessed, "I-I had to do this thing to save the world, but now….I'll never see her again."
She looked up at him, nodding, "I too understand what it is like to let go of someone you cherish. I…my true love I was forced to leave behind. For the second time."
He could see from her looking away from him that she was about to start crying again. It was then that Wally finally let loose a small smile, raising his hand and offering it to her. She raised her head and looked at him in curiosity.
"Wally West."
She returned his smile, taking her small one and placing it in his palm, wrapping her fingers around the back of his hand.
"I am Aya."
For a while, they just talked. They related their life stories to each other. She laughed and smiled at his tales of how he first became Kid Flash and all the mischief he'd cause and how he and his friends eventually formed their own miniature Justice League. He reassured and comforted her when she told him of her birth in the Green Lantern Corps, of her adventures with Hal Jordan and Kilowog and the discovery of other lanterns.
Right now, Wally was currently in the process of telling her of one of the time where he had stopped a bank robbery with his Uncle Barry.
"So then the guy has the detinator in his hand and he's waving it at me like 'If anything where to happen, Kid Brat, it would be unfortunate there'd be no way to prevent these people's faces from becoming shredded cheese.' And then he slips on the paper- a piece of paper!- and totally flips over, and the controller lands right in my hand! I swear, I thought he was gonna die of fright!" he narrated, chuckling at the memory of the horrified look that came across the ring leader's face.
Aya giggled, a sweet sing-song sound in her laugh that made him feel a bit more appreciated ( at least somebody found it funny). He looked at her as she raised a hand to her mouth, her shoulders rising up itdown.
It was then he noticed her laughter had faded and she had tears running down her green cheeks, heart wrenching sobs coming from her as she pressed her fist to her mouth, curling up into a ball. All sense of humor drained out of him as a thing of guilt settled on him. Wally put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing comforting circles on it as he asked, "Did…I say something wrong?"
Aya stopped crying. Her frown now lifted into a small, humorless smile as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her deep blue eyes met his green ones, and she sighed.
"I am fine. It is just that….your voice reminds me of Him."
Him, as in the guy she'd fallen for. What was the name she gave Wally? Rayman? Rayford? Radcliffe?
No. Razor. Yes, that was the name she had given him. She told him everything, from her curiosity in the cold aura he gave off, to his confession as she was destroyed, to him breaking down in tears as she faded away. She had fallen in love with him, and it she felt like ending her life when she almost killed him all because, in her words, she was throwing a tantrum.
Just like Artemis.
Wally's mind shortly drifted to the time that Roy had worked with him, and she put a false tracking arrow on the train to fight Cheshire herself. (Thinking back on it, he still felt like the ass of the century for what he said to her, taking Roy's side when he really should've heard her out first.)
Snapping out of it, he looked back at Aya, pulling her hands from her lap and wrapping them in his own. She looked at him again.
"Hey, it'll be okay. There's always tomorrow to make it better."
She smiled at him, "Yes, I guess there is."
Smiling, he stood up and pulled her with her. "Aya?"
"Yes, Wally?"
"Let's get out of here."
She smiled wider and brighter than the first few times, taking his hand and clasping it tightly.
"Let's."
So, what do you guys think?
I know I'm pretty late posting on the whole Young Justice and Green Lantern issue- considering both ended in March- but I've been so busy in school and working on Deceitful Things (as well as Dogs of War, my fictionpress story) that I've kinda let this one drift.
But regarding both shows, like you all, I am very disappointed that these two were cancelled. They were great in animation and unique in their own ways. I am sad to know these two will just be another two in the series of cartoons CN has cancelled them. Tiny Titans I can, in no way, take seriously or find myself getting into (now if it was a new season of Teen Titans, THAT I would get into) and Beware The Batman I cannot find myself getting into, frankly because I'm sick of all the Batman cartoons.
Well, anyway, please review and tell me what you think. It makes me happy when you are all happy
