~When I'm Gone~

,

,

He'd shot her in the neck, the bastard.

Wally fell forward, clutching her throat as the room exploded into chaos. Her teammates went berserk against Lex and all his hired minions. The noise crashed together in her ears as a loud buzz as her hands grew slick with her own blood.

She couldn't even speak.

Large, strong arms hoist her up and she jerked. Wally was injured – dying but she tried not to think about that – vulnerable and the last thing she wanted was some hired fist manhandling her while her friends were otherwise distracted.

"G….n-o…" She choked on her blood. Still clutching her neck, as if it would somehow ease the blood flow, Wally rested her head against the person's chest. Holding her head up just … hurt too much.

She wheezed.

"Easy, now."

At first, she didn't recognize it. It did ring familiar, though, and for a moment, her heart stuttered as she wondered if it was Lex. But … no, it was too deep.

She tilted her head up, ignoring the pain.

Ah, so it was Batman. Good old Bats. Ever the reliable one, he was probably the only team member who could get away with sneaking out of the fight.

She relaxed. If he was going to take her anywhere, it would be somewhere safe. Somewhere quiet, while the rest of them fought. Good thinking, Bats.

Finally, a few rooms away, he carefully set Wally down and began looking at her wound. Weakly, she tried to wave him away with her good hand but he simply snapped disapproving words and she let him be. Not like anything she could have said would have made a difference.

But God, she wished she could speak. Even if his cowl covered a little more than half his face, he looked … grim. And angry. Very, very angry. Wally wanted to tell him that she'd be fine even if it was such a complete lie that a ten-year-old could have called her out on it. But she'd tell him that, if she could, tell him that it was fine to rejoin the others, she would just take a break back here. She could wait.

Batman cursed. He cradled Wally's head in his lap as he inspected her throat, at the hold the bullet tore open. Ever so slightly, his fingers shook.

"Flash, I need to take your mask down."

She couldn't answer, couldn't even nod or shake her head properly. It was completely pathetic. But she looked into where his eyes were hidden, pleading, begging, please save me and he practically ripped the hood of her suit off.

Whatever wisps of her hair that hadn't stuck to her damp forehead were let loose and it felt so beautiful not to have it sticking to her scalp. Now, if only she wasn't hurting so bad…

Wally tried to hold herself still as Batman stayed with her but her mind wandered. She hurt and the edges of her vision were getting curiously dark. She couldn't see past the dark, couldn't make it go away. Her lungs, burning for more air than she could give, screamed its exhaustion.

"Flash…"

It almost sounded like a sob. But that was wrong because Batman didn't cry. Batman was stoic, strong, independent and he was … he was…

She startled as his fingers wiped away the tears overflowing from her eyes.

She was going to die, wasn't she? Here, in one of Lex's buildings, with her friends fighting a few rooms away. But that seemed so removed from the now, from the silence of the room. Batman had picked a really good spot. Did dying always take this long? Or was it just her perception of time messing with her? She didn't have the energy to quite tell anymore.

Bravely, she opened her eyes a little wider and saw Batman, albeit sideways. His lips were moving and suddenly, she realized that he was talking. That he'd been talking the entire time. It wasn't the informative sort of talking, but his voice was gentler than she ever remembered hearing it. Sort of rough instead of gruff – and urgent.

"…We'll take you to the medical bay as soon as we're done here, you'll have the best medical personnel looking after you so don't worry, just hold on, Flash, just hold on…"

He was … begging her, almost, and she wanted to weep. The world really was ending – or, well, she was, anyway. She was dying, could feel herself slipping away, no matter how hard she tried to hold on, no matter what Batman said.

Wally was leaving. Whether either of them liked it or not.

And she cried. I'm scared.

If she could speak, she'd beg. She'd whimper. She didn't want to die – especially not like this. Not slowly, not in front of her friend and one of the people she'd grown to admire and respect so much.

God, she loved her team. How could she leave them? Just a little more time, she begged the growing darkness. Just wait.

But it didn't wait. It crept into her vision, darkened her sight.

And then warmth in her hand. Warmth that wasn't wet, wasn't her blood. A little effort allowed her to see that it was Batman's hands holding hers. She – ah, she had been grasping empty air. She hadn't even realized.

"Damn it, Flash, fight! We can still get you to the medical bay." Batman's voice was authoritative, full of everything that made people obey.

But death wasn't like most people.

"No!" He sounded angry, so angry and desperate. However weakly, Wally squeezed his hand. Trying to say it was alright. Everything's okay. "No, Flash!"

Trying to say thank you because she didn't want to even imagine dying alone.

And, painful though it was, she gave him the best, most genuine smile she could muster up. Because he was here and that was enough, even if she was still afraid. She could face anything as long as she was with her team. They were family, and as long as they had each other, they would pull through.

No, she didn't need to worry about them.

And she smiled.

,

In a nondescript room of an underground facility, Wally West died. She didn't know that Batman stayed with her long until the fight was over and their teammates started searching for them. She didn't see Green Lantern and Superman's faces when they saw her, nor hear Hawkgirl's anguished cry. Her corpse did not protest as Wonder Woman disbelievingly took her pulse and checked her breathing over and over. She didn't feel Batman gently wiping blood off her face and tucking stray strands of her hair behind her ears all the while.

She wasn't there when her team fell apart and she wasn't there when they gathered together again. Wally never saw their anger grow as their hearts hardened. They remade the world into one where she might have survived – or they tried to – but it was one she would never live in and every victory seemed tinged by bitterness of those that came too late.

And every night after she was gone, Batman searched for her. Across the multiple universes and dimensions, he looked for her smile again.

,

,

Author's Note: Yes, I know, I should be continuing Residue not starting a new fic. Unfortunately, during the depression brought about by my final exams, inspiration came and, well, now we have this.

This is my first time writing for the Justice League fandom so I hope you liked it! Thank you so much for reading my fic.