He's running. Running and he can only look down and see his feet taking step after step along the railing, only half a foot thick and perfectly curved in a circle.

Step after step after step.

The world is drenched in red.

There's a burning weakness in his chest, barely there but nagging and persistent as he runs and runs and RUNSRUNSRUNS-

"Honey?"

Barry snaps his head to Iris, sweat running over his face where he wipes it away with an arm, pulling himself to a sitting position. The weakness in his bones doesn't burn like it did in the dream, and it recedes as Iris walks over to him, a concerned smile on her lips.

He smiles back, trying to look as unshaken as he can and desperate to still the minute trembling in his fingers.

"Barry, are you alright?"

He nods. Of course he is. It was just a dream. A dream and some lingering weakness - nothing substantial. Nothing you could base a hypothesis on.

"Well, you do remember that you promised to show Wally around your lab today? School will be out soon, and you promised to pick him up."

Barry nodded, smiling. "Of course, honey. Thanks for waking me."

A quick kiss that leaves him warmer than before, and Barry is rifling through the keys to find the one that starts the car (Wally doesn't know his secret identity, so there's really no other option).

He feels a little dizzy in the car, but he rolls the window down and it helps a bit.

Barry reaches the school about 20 minutes after school lets out, and finds Wally tapping his foot in annoyance, but not looking at all surprised.

It doesn't help Barry's chronic tardiness that he seems to feel the need to make way for every car on the road and refuses to drive a mile above the speed limit.

Wally knows this, and also knows that when they need to drive anywhere in a hurry, Aunt Iris is the person to ask, because she has no qualms about going 10 over the limit, easy.

Despite Barry's lateness, however, Wally still seems enthusiastic enough, which is more than most 10 year olds would be able to say.

Wally peppers Barry with questions all the way to the police department, mostly concerning what he can touch, what he can move, and what experiments he can run himself.

Barry finally allows Wally to 'separate the elements' in some hard water (there was no way he could possibly get in trouble doing that) and Wally's cheers reassure him that he has made the right decision.

By the time they pull into the police station it's nearing 6:00, thanks to congestion, and Wally is near-ready to bust. Barry allows himself to be dragged out of the car by his nephew as he double checks that he's turned off all the lights in the vehicle and manages to lock the doors before Wally successfully strongarms him inside.

Wally allows Barry to lead him through the hallways, waving at the scattered employees still at work. Barry finally gestures through his doorway, and Wally dashes in, staring up in wonder at the rows of chemicals as if in the presence of precious jewels or ancient treasures.

"Woooooow!" Wally gasps, running to look at Barry's chemical rack. "There's every chemical known to science here! Enough for any science experiment!"

Barry laughs, unable to help himself at Wally's eagerness. "Well, I don't have every chemical, but I've got quite a few. You ready to get started?"

Wally grins, and they begin to gather the 'necessary ingredients' for hard water.

As Wally watches the centrifuge in fascination, thunder rumbles across the sky, and Barry finds his mind wandering to another night, so long ago but still so vivid when he had been working late, standing by the very same chemical rack Wally was running towards…

Later Barry would never be able to say why he hadn't used his speed to move Wally out of the path of the lightning bolt.

Certainly, everything had frozen, each branch of the lightning sharp and distinct in the room. But Barry had frozen too, horror filling every nerve as his heart stopped. Somehow, he never even thought of moving, of pulling Wally away before the lightning made contact and the world exploded in a rainbow deluge of chemicals, Wally hurtled backwards by the force of the impact.

Only when Wally's small form hit the ground did Barry finally burst into motion, making his way to Wally's side in a micro-second, washcloth in hand to wipe away the chemicals with near-frantic haste.

"Are you alright, Wally?!"

The boy's skin wasn't melting off his bones, so that was a good sign. In fact, there didn't seem to be any burns at all. Just a humming electricity under his skin, vibrating at a frequency no normal human would notice.

And Barry knew.

"Halwakeupwakeuprightnow!"

"Huhwuzzat?!" Hal jolted upright in bed, right automatically flaring as his costume spread itself over his body, head pounding as he tried to adjust to the light.

"Tone down your ring, someone's going to see the glow!" Barry grasped a hand over Hal's traitorous fingers, as the Emerald Gladiator shook his head violently while dimming the light away.

He looked at Barry.

"You aren't in costume. Why have you woken me up at… 2 in the morning and you aren't even in costume?" Hal glared blearily at Barry, sleep dripping away and headache making a pounding resurgence. He allowed the uniform of the Green Lantern to fade away, frown settling on his face.

"Wally's a speedster."

Hal's heart did an entertaining thing where it simultaneously stopped and did a cartwheel, and all the oxygen exited his body in a stuttering rush of air.

"Whaaaaat?"

"He's a speedster. We were in my lab doing a science experiment and a bolt of lightning came through the window… just like all those years ago for me, Hal! And it covered him in chemicals and now…" Barry's hands spread in a helpless gesture. "He's like a… kid Flash."

"A kid Flash. Wally West."

Barry nodded, eyes blown wide.

Hal stared back. "This isn't a dream, is it? I'm not going to wake up and realize that I got hit with too much space dust and hallucinated a weird Twilight Zone where Wally becomes mini you. Because that's the dumbest origin I've ever heard. What are the chances…"

Barry's hand flew up and smacked Hal upside the head.

"Owww!"

"You aren't dreaming. Say something helpful!"

"Make sure he gets a friction proof suit!"

"What?!"

"Make sur-"

"What would he need that for? He isn't going to… is he going to fight crime? Is he going to fight crime with me? I'm already illegal… will the government try to take him away if they find out about his powers? Rudolph and Mary will sell him in a heartbeat if they're offered any amount of money…"

Hal sat up and grabbed Barry's arms, holding the older man's gaze steadily in his own.

"Barry, calm down."

Hal guided Barry to sit on the bed beside him, brain finally firing on all cylinders and deadly serious.

"The government does not find out about this kid. And under no circumstances can his parents know." Hal kept a firm grip on Barry's shoulders, feeling electric shocks run up his fingers from Barry's trembling body.

"You're right, Barry: if either of them find out, the kid's life won't be worth a plug nickel. And that means he's gotta learn to use his powers."

Barry's eyes widened in protest, but Hal silenced him with a glare.

"I mean it. If he can't control his powers, he's gonna expose himself. Besides, he needs to learn how to control his abilities to defend himself. If someone comes up with, say, a 'speedster-sensing' weapon, which, face it, is very likely, they might run into the kid. If nothing else, he needs to know how to run away or land a punch."

Barry's lips tightened and he settled back. Hal let him go, sure that the man had settled down.

"He doesn't need to fight your most dangerous enemies but… Barr, we've gotta get some training into that kid."

Barry nodded, gaze dropped to the bed, biting his lip as he breathed. "Right. I mean, we'll be there, right? To make sure nothing happens to him."

Hal provides his most reassuring grin, and holds up two fingers. "Scout's honor."

Barry nods, and runs his fingers through his hair, which is more tussled than Hal has ever seen it. "You know, I wish I had your fearlessness, sometimes. I'm probably going to freak out every time he skins his knee."

Hal chuckles, before suddenly straightening as he thinks of something. "Wait, where's the kid now?"

"He's at home with Iris. She's… um… keeping an eye on things."

Hal nodded, slowly. "You know… kid's gonna need a name, and you can't come up with anything creative."

Barry snorted. "That's ridiculous, I've already got a great name lined up."