AN: This is a more serious one-shot, but I think that the relationship between Bart and Wally deserves some more in-depth explanation. In this fic, Wally didn't die. He did get sucked into the speed force, but Artemis and Dick pulled him back. He started to believe in himself and overcame his metal barrier that was blocking himself from his full potential. Also, the trip in the speed force increased his speed some more. Anyway, enjoy!
Those Green Eyes
Bart always liked the color green. It was the color of life. In 2054, green meant hope. It meant that the Reach had not trashed every single good thing on the planet. It was the color of secret rebellion. It meant there was still something to live for. That's why he always liked Wally more than he would have if he had blue or brown eyes. His green eyes always sparkled and shined with happiness and hope. Wally was also so cheerful, it infected everybody.
Bart always needed cheerful. Sure, he was cheerful, or at least that's what everyone saw. They only saw Impulse, a mask Bart created to hide the true him from everyone else. Even when he was in his civvies, he never showed anyone the real Bart Allen. The only people who knew the real Bart Allen were Wally and Jaime. Jaime only knew because he caught Bart during a really bad nightmare, and Bart just wanted to tell someone, anyone. Jaime was the nearest. Bart wanted to tell Wally, so he caught Wally alone, and spilled everything. Wally was understanding and listened to every word without interruption or complaint. And when Bart was done, Wally let Bart cry his eyes dry on his shoulder and crash at his and Artemis's apartment.
Wally helped Bart when he tried to tell the Team and the League his secret. About how the future wasn't what Bart chalked it up to be. Wally had advised Bart to tell them because if he didn't they would find out themselves. Wally had said, "Better for them to find out on your terms before they blow it out of proportion and lose their trust in you." But Bart was scared. He chickened out before he could tell everyone and sped out. But Wally ran after him and convinced him to return. Thanks to Wally the team still trusted Bart and they were still his friends. That was when Bart really bonded with Wally. And thanks to Bart's impulsive speedster nature, Wally had to help him out of many tight spots. Bart admired Wally's heroism. In a matter of weeks, they had grown as close as brothers.
But, that was before the attack. That was before Bart lost his love of the color green.
It was a normal day at the Watchtower. The Justice League was in the conference room conferencing about stuff that nobody but themselves cared about. The Team was just hanging around in the main room. Batgirl, Wonder Girl, Zatanna, Artemis, Bumblebee, and Miss Martian were chatting in the kitchen while M'gann baked cookies. The rest of he team were watching a movie. Right as the timer for the cookies rang, all hell broke loose.
A team of baddies had broke into the Watchtower. It seemed that some villain was bored, or something, and decided to attack the Watchtower for kicks. It should have been simple. They were only armed with guns. It would have been easy for Kid Flash and Impulse to knock the guns out of their hands. But it wasn't that simple. They had been caught unawares. Kid Flash got up and sped towards them, being the first to react, but before he got to the first one, a soldier fired. The shot rang out into the room, and before they knew it, Kid Flash was lying on the floor of the living room.
"WALLY!" Bart screamed.
The team jumped into action. When they heard the gunshot, the League ran out and joined the team in the main room. The soldiers were taken out in seconds, each of the heroes jumped on a soldier and quickly took them down. After they were done with the soldiers, Bart and Barry supersped over to Wally, and after everyone else was done, they also ran over. Bart felt his memories of Wally flash before his eyes.
0o0
"Um, Wally" Bart asked nervously, "I need your help,"
"What is it, Bart?" Wally asked, distracted by his work. Bart had noticed that Wally was more distracted lately, not spending time with Nightwing, or Artemis, or even Grandpa Barry. And especially not Bart. So, Bart had to take drastic measures. He reasoned that if Wally had a good reason to do something with him, like explain something that Bart didn't understand about the past, or something, he might put a little of his work aside to spend time with Bart.
"Uh, I found this in the kitchen drawer, and I have no idea what it is," Wally looked at the item in question in Bart's hands.
"Bart, didn't M'gann show you what this was last week?" Wally said gesturing to the potato peeler Bart held.
Bart blushed, caught red-handed. Wally laughed.
"Bart, did you do this to try to get me to spend time with you? I know I've been concentrating a lot on school, but you can just ask me to spend time with you," Wally said. Bart beamed at him, and wrapped his arms around Wally in a tight hug. Wally laughed, and hugged Bart back.
0o0
"I'll beat you! You'll never get me!" Bart yelled, laughing.
"Oh, no you don't! You'll never beat me!" Wally argued, also laughing. They were in the Watchtower's family room/game room, as the Flash had dubbed it when the Watchtower was first built, and Wally was currently kicking Bart's butt in Zombie Crushers 3. But, Bart was quickly gaining the upper hand. Wally and Bart had been playing the game all morning, while the League and the rest of the Team were all out on missions. Bart made a move, and he quickly crushed about 10 more zombies before the time ended, beating Wally's number.
"YES!" Bart yelled, "I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU I WOULD BEAT YOU, AND I DID! HA! SO CRASH!"
"Fine, and you have to rub it in," Wally accused. Bart laughed at him.
"Well, you always crush me, so I have to flaunt my measly victory," Bart argued.
"Well, you're showing promise, Bart. But of course, you'll never be better than the master," Wally bragged pointing to himself. Bart snorted and punched him lightly on his arm.
"Hey," Wally said, looking offended. Then he smiled, "Wanna go another round?"
0o0
"WALLY! I KINDA NEED YOUR HELP OVER HERE!" Wally punched the droid's head off and looked over to Bart. Bart was standing in the middle of a circle of droids and was badly outnumbered, even for a speedster. Wally quickly sped over to Bart and proceeded to destroy the droids with him.
"How do you always manage to get outnumbered?" Wally asked as he took out two baddies at once.
"I can't help my Allen charm, it's in my genes. Everybody loves me, even the baddies," Bart said, and jumped over Wally onto another droid and ripped out its circuits.
"Hey, I have charm too. Everybody knows Wests are better than Allens. It's part of our charm," Wally shot at Bart, and raced around in a snake-like shape taking out six droids with punches to the head in a quick succession.
"Nice one, West," Bart commented, "But I can do better," and with that, he jumped on a droid's head, crushing it to the ground, and continued jumping on more droids, until the he thinned the crowd until half of them were gone.
"Not bad, Allen," Wally said, "But I can also do better,". He started speeding around in a small circle, which created a vortex. Inside the vortex he grabbed the drones and flung them high into the air, letting them break when they hit the ground.
"We'll call it a tie," Bart negotiated, smiling.
0o0
"WALLY! Don't die, don't die, please! Stay with me! Don'diedon'tdiedon'tdie,don'tleavemeIcan'tloseanyoneelse!" Bart pleaded. He really couldn't lose anyone else. His parents and sister had been lost to the Reach, and he had loved them more than life itself. He could still remember the expression on his mother's face as she died. He could remember her last words, "Run, Bart! RUN!". And he did. He ran. Ran away from all his problems. And he still did. He still ran from his problems. But Grandpa Barry and Wally and Jay and Joan and Jaime had helped him face his problems and stop running away from them. And now, Wally was dying, and Bart would never play video games with him, or fight bad guys with him, or spend time with him, or comfort him or anything. Because if he was dead, he couldn't do those things with Bart, or anyone else, because he was GONE. Gone forever.
It's not fair, Bart thought. It wasn't fair that everything Bart had was taken from him. It wasn't fair that all of Bart's important people or things in his life were attached to people in some way. And people were so easy to break. For example, the love of green. The love of green wasn't necessarily the important part, but it was attached to Wally. And now Wally was dying, and his love of green was dying and everything that went with his love of green was dying, because again, WALLY was DYING!
All of that went through Bart's head in a split second, and Bart's mind was racing too fast to notice that Wally was trying to say something.
"Bart...," Wally rasped. Bart looked at him intently, tears building in his eyes.
"Bart... don't beat yourself... up... over me," Wally said, his voice cracking at the end. And Bart felt himself cracking. He could feel his sanity fraying at the edges, as he lost one of the last loved ones in his life. He could feel the last of cheerfulness he had in his small body washing away, leaving him full of grief as he remembered the deaths of every single person he ever knew in his time, as he watched the life ebb out of those green eyes.
AN: So, what do you think? I liked writing it, I just didn't think Wally's death in the show was not as emotionally satisfying as it should have been. Really it was only Artemis and Wally's parents who were as affected as they should have been if some one close to them died. Also, I liked the fight scene in Bart's memories, leave it to the speedsters to turn a fight into a competition. So, review and tell me what you think? Thank you!