3. El último

"Just tell them, okay?" was all he could manage before he prepared for it-the truth of never seeing his parents again, his friends, his family, his teammates...For some reason, in the space of a millisecond, he thought of Kaldur.

Kaldur, who had never gone out with Tula but loved her so fiercely and was devastated after her demise...He was broken enough to forge a change in his loyalties and stand by his father in the 'shades of black and white.'

While Wally had once doubted Kaldur's loyalty and confidence in Dick, he instantly regretted his scruple that Kaldur, who commanded his team with a dedicated and steady hand, would ever endanger those he viewed as siblings and those he knew would make a major difference in the world for the future.

Then there was Artemis...not a moment went by, even in pain or examinations, did he ever forget the first time her lips had touched his. Every New Year's they met outside and reenacted every moment of their first kiss, and while they were never as magical as the first, each oral contact would always spark him with eagerness for the newborn year.

As it finally struck Wally that this past January would be the last New Year's they've ever spent together, Wally severely hoped that Artemis would be able to move on, briefly mourn the loss of her loved one, and find someone who cared about her just as much as he had, one who comforted her nights of the lonely childhood and broken family she suffered through, showed her the world and reminded her that the past was past and that life held more promises...I love you, Artemis, Mom, Dad, he thought as he felt the bolt prepare to strike him.

"KID!" Barry's voice yelled out before Wally felt himself fade to dust...

"Oof!" Something hard had struck his face. He squinted and realized that he had landed face-down in snow. Snow? What snow? Wasn't he dead after helping Barry and Bart in the Artic? Was this the afterlife? Heaven? What other religions believed in after death?

Slowly, Wally lifted his head...

And saw that he was in the very same place that he had lost his life in.

What happened? he asked himself.

He shakily got to his feet and blinked. So the Reach did not pulverize the Earth, it seemed...they succeeded! Taking a deep breath, Wally prepared to run when he realized that he was naked. Apparently the deflected energy had also robbed him of his costume.

Wally recalled how to reach his house from the Artic and zoomed.

Fast.

The Artic and other continents and cities and peoples flew past him as he made his way to the house in mid-US, ready to show Bart and Barry and Jay and Dick and Artemis and M'gann and Superboy and Kaldur that he was still alive and running and ready to eat and fight crime and finish college and earn a place in heroic records and normal life...

At last, he came to his house.

He hid behind the back, shielding himself, and peeked around, stopping only when his eyes hit the FOR SALE sign beside the mailbox.

It was like he swallowed a lemon.

His parents were trying to escape their grief by removing themselves from the very place they had raised him.

Got to convince Mom and Dad that I'm alive, Wally determined as he hastily climbed up a tree to his bedroom window. Peeking through the glass, he saw his mother on the bed, her face buried in some of his baby clothes-blue, yellow, and green. Her back moving up and down, her audible sobs...Wally had never seen his mother cry. Only when watching sad movies would she shed tears.

There was no way that he was going to burst in and scream that he was alive.

Wally closed his eyes and quickly thought of a plan. Anything to prove that the first Kid Flash was alive.

He climbed down the tree, searched for a small rock, and found one beside Mary's dying daisies. He hid behind the tree and threw the rock at the glass window from below.

Crash!

He climbed up the tree again, heard his parents' worried voices, slid open the window, grabbed a T-shirt and jacket, jeans, boxers, shoes, and socks, and ran back out.

Wally hastily changed and ran to the nearest hospital, faking a possible concussion and dizziness, collapsing in the arms of a cute nurse.


Two hours later, he opened his eyes and looked at the faces of his horrified, shocked, tear-faced parents. "Wally?" whispered Rudy.

"D-dad," his son moaned.

Mary covered her mouth and sobbed. "I...my...w-what's your-your m-middle name?"

"Rudolph," whispered Wally. He never liked his father's name-classmates in elementary school would always make comments about 'Wally the Redhead Reindeer' even in the spring and fall-but now he did not think bitterly of his middle name.

Mary sniffed and gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Oh, my beautiful boy!"

Ignoring the IV in his arm, he lifted his upper limbs and embraced his sobbing yet elated parents. Rudy pulled back twelve minutes later and called someone on his cell. Wally did not know who until the door opened and Barry and Iris, each embracing a small bundle of blankets, Jay, Bart, Dick, and Bruce walked in.

"Wally!" yelled Dick, with tears in his eyes since Jason's passing, and he ran forward and nearly suffocated his friend. Wally shed his own tears and gripped the back material of Dick's jacket. His best friend, his buddy...the one person who trusted him with his secret identity and back story, the one who swore to never become his mentor, the one who wanted to publish his own 'Dick-tionary...'

Mary and Rudy took a baby each from Rudy's sister and brother-in-law as Iris leaned forward and kissed Wally's head, Bart squeezing Wally's hand hard enough to crush his bones.

Bruce took a small blood sample and confirmed him to be the Wallace Rudolph West they knew.

While Iris introduced Wally to her twin newborns-Wally felt truly honored when he learned the boy was named 'Donald Wallace' in his honor and commented how gorgeous baby Dawn was-Barry rushed to the Watchtower and confirmed to every hero that Wally was alive...until he tried to reach Kaldur and Artemis, whose cell phones had been turned off, as they were on a fifteenth date.

When Dick realized that his leader and friend were unreachable, he wondered how this was going to destroy Wally.


There was to be a 'welcome home' party at the Watchtower the next day, but the split second that the Team, freshmen and senior, ran in he felt like this was a party already...until he realized that neither Kaldur nor Artemis were in attendance.

He tried to ask Dick what happened to them, but his best friend did reassure him that both were alive and well.

Even Sphere and Wolf attended, were elated, and partied, with all of Wally's favorite songs playing, his favorite food (everything) served, and all the heroes, even grumpy old Bats, in attendance. Wally caught up with the seniors and freshmen, listened to Bart's adventures on his role as KF (the word 'crash' was already old to Wally in fifteen minutes), and participated in an eating contest with both Allen speedsters, which Barry won.

Wally washed down his meal with chicken and cake, feeling that he would never die again.

"Recognized, Aqualad: B02. Recognized, Artemis: B07."

Wally did not notice it when he heard the two names that he last thought of, but behind him the party froze.

There she was...the face he was most eager to see. She entered with Kaldur, her in a red and pink short dress and gold flats, him in casual wear and a jacket. His hair had grown back to the pre-buzz cut look, her hair windswept with a small strand of seaweed tied into her hair.

Wally was so excited to see her that he did not notice she was holding Kaldur's hand.

The music and laughter and talking died down when the light died behind the new guests, Barry almost vibrating through the floor and Bart frozen like ice.

When her gray eyes hit him-it was in a split second-her mouth opened, her eyelids pulled back, and subconsciously lifted a hand to her parted mouth.

"Wally..."

"I'm here, Artemis," he said softly. Artemis slowly took two steps toward him before bursting into a sprint.

Her arms were around his neck and his arms embraced her waist tightly, his feet swinging her around gently, her hands and upper limbs tightening around his shoulders. She did not sob or cry, but he could feel her emotions physically slam against him. Behind him, some of the other heroes were clapping, but others remained silent and stared at Kaldur, who was staring at his long lost friend and wondering how he came back.

After a minute, hour, day, week, or longer, it seemed to him, he set her down, her eyes watering but not yet spilling tears. "I've missed you with all my heart," she whispered. "I mourned you every day."

Wally, suddenly not feeling strong enough to kiss her in front of everyone, kissed her cheek and looked over her head at Kaldur. "Wally, how did you..."

"I don't know," the speedster said honestly. "I just did."

Kaldur's face smiled and he hastily walked forward and immediately ran. They grasped hands and pulled the other into a one-armed hug. "I have missed you, Wally," Kaldur said softly. "I still have difficulty leading the Team like I used to."

Wally chuckled and wrapped his arm around Artemis' waist. "Artemis, there's something I've..."

Automatically Kaldur knew where this was going and felt sick.

"Wally," she said softly, like a breeze, "may we...talk? In private?"

It was like the Watchtower had held its breath-the mentors knew to stay away, but some of the Team, former and new, had crept towards the open entrance where the blonde and speedster had just walked through.

Kaldur's heart was beating so hard that he literally could not hear anything, but he peeked at the two and watched Wally's hand slide from Artemis' waist, his face growing pale, and his eyes falling apart.

Wally turned his head, but Kaldur had already departed-it was one thing to have Wally doubt his loyalties, now it's a complete 180 degree angle from this when he realized that he had lost his girl in his absence.

Kaldur now felt like a creep for reenacting the very same way Tula and Garth had destroyed him.

He could feel his king's whisper of his name vibrate on his skin, but he walked out of the party to visit the holograms of the late heroes-now it was just Tula, Jason, and Ted glowing in the moonlight.

Suddenly he felt a small rush behind him and a hand touch his shoulder.

Kaldur's ears seemed to unclog.

"Take care of her, Kaldur," Wally whispered. "She's a great person, and you are a lucky man, to have her involved in your life like that."

Kaldur turned to Wally's sincere smile and Artemis approaching them.

She and Wally embraced before he departed back to the party, and the current couple sat among the memorial to the deceased in silence.


Three months later...

Three months after learning of Artemis dating Kaldur, Wally was watching TV when his aunt texted him, asking if he would like to join her for lunch. She was bringing her new protege with her but not trying to force anything on him-she was just hoping to get the girl out of her shell more. Iris' previous protege, Tana Moon, had proven so impressive that she took a job as a news reporter in Hawaii. Before she left, she thanked Iris and encouraged her to look for a new protege who could "sweep the world away."

Wally agreed to his aunt's request, changed clothes, and zoomed to the studio. He waited outside for twenty minutes until he heard Aunt Iris call out his name. He hugged her and looked at the girl to Aunt Iris' left. She had black hair, Korean features, and pink lips. Aunt Iris' voice seemed to die.

Little did he know how this would turn out-simple dates, she would get on his nerves sometimes, he would annoy her sometimes, they would move in together, she would accept the ring, they would marry and welcome a set of twins, one a girl who would take on Bart's former identity and the other a boy who accelerated his muscle growth…

Wally smiled and outstretched his hand. "I'm Wally West, Iris' nephew."

The girl smiled and grasped his hand, her fingers cool and comforting.

"Linda. Linda Park."