As Bart stands on the grass, for a second he ponders if he's doing the right thing, giving himself up to Grandpa Barry. By doing this, he's never going to see his friends, his comrades in YJ, Max, Helena, Carol or Secret ever again...
But then he puts it out of his mind. It's not like any of them even know he's alive... the only reason YJ even noticed was because of Secret.
But even as he tries to delude himself into thinking that this is what he wants to do, he realizes that it isn't what he really wants. Bart closes his eyes and tears form. He falls to his knees and tears slip to the ground.
Bart wants to stay. There's so many things Bart took for granted... the smell of dew on the trees, the feeling of grass against his skin... so many things he curses himself for not noticing while he was alive.
Bart doesn't want to leave Earth... it's just that he's tired... tired of running... tired of running away from reality, running away from responsibility, running away from his death. He just wants the running to stop. And this seems to be the only way to do so.
And as Barry races onto the scene, he sees his Grandson on his knees, with his head to the ground, crying.
"Bart... are you all right?"
"No."
"It's... it's time to go." Barry says as Bart looks up to him with teary eyes.
"But... but I don't wanna!" Bart yells.
"I know. *Walks up to Bart and puts his right hand on Bart's shoulder* I didn't wanna leave either. I had so much to live for... so much I missed... and Iris..." Barry says as he begins to get choked up, "but in the end, I did what I felt I had to do to save lives. Just as you did to save your comrades. I'm proud of you for that." and as Barry said that, Bart hugged him. Barry smiled at bit for finally being able to hug his Grandson. He begins to rub the back of Bart's head.
"It's not so bad in the Speed Force... while only people connected to the Speed Force can truly access it, everyone whose in there feels a connection... a kinship. It truly is like a paradise for us."
And as Bart reflects on Barry's words, Secret meanwhile is teleporting herself down to Metropolis.
As the teleporter finishes re-integrating her molecules, Secret looks around the warehouse to see Bart's spiritual essence.
"Hang on Bart, I don't know what possessed you to come back to Earth, but I'll protect you..." Suzie says as she silently teleports… following Bart's essence to the source.
Back on the grassy plain, Barry and Bart are standing, facing each other.
"Well, it's time for us to do what we do best." Barry said with a smile on his face. As Barry took Bart's hand into his own and prepared to run, a smoke cloud appeared above them and a voice boomed...
"Stay away from Bart!" and Suzie took material form.
"Secr... Suzie, stop! This is what I want!" Bart said as Barry put his left hand on Bart's right shoulder.
"Let me handle this, Bart. Suzie... is it? I don't want to fight. Could you please come with me over here?"
"Huh?" Suzie said in confusion.
"Look, I just want to talk with you. Please?" Barry said as his eyes twinkled in a way that reminded her of Bart.
Suzie wasn't quite sure what to make of all of this, or if this was another trick, but as she looked at Bart who had the same expression in his eyes that Barry was making, she decided to go with him.
Suzie floated down towards Barry and they walked off to a plain, which was out of Bart's earshot.
"Okay, so what do you want to talk about?"
"I want to know just one thing. Do you care for my Grandson?" and Secret was taken aback by this question.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
"I mean, do you love him? You've been protecting Bart since I first laid my eyes upon my Grandson. Fiercely, intensely... more than just any friend would."
"I... I..." Suzie began to say as she was getting choked up...
"It's okay, I swear I won't tell anyone." Barry said with a warm smile. Suzie didn't budge, and Barry put his hands on her shoulders.
"Cross my heart and hope to die. Again." Barry said as Suzie let out a little laugh. She just looked up at him and then said softly...
"I do love him."
"I thought so. Suzie, I honestly do think you are in love with my Grandson. But I must know, why do you want to keep him here? Bart isn't supposed to be here, he's supposed to be in Speed Force... Valhalla... if you love him, why are you forcing him to stay here?"
At this point Suzie was breaking down. She looked up at Barry with her eyes filled with tears and said...
"Why are you so certain he has to go? I mean... why can't he stay here? I'm... I'm dead and I don't have to go, so why does he have too?!?" Suzie screamed. Barry's face saddened so he kneels down and hugs her.
"I'm so sorry, Suzie. I didn't know you were dead. I guess that's why you fell for him, since you now had somebody to relate too. I thought you were alive... but... the reason he can't stay is because he has no purpose here. Just... just like I don't. We don't fit into the scheme of things and reality goes askew because of us. You do have a purpose Suzie. I don't know what it could be, but you have a reason for existing on the Earth." Barry says as tears as still running down her face. Barry brings up his right hand and brushes them away.
"I... I guess I understand... but I still don't want to loose Bart..."
"I know. But, I see you can teleport and have some sort of... banishing ability?"
"Yes... I can do both..."
"Well, while only people connected to the Speed Force obtain powers from it and eventually join up with it, that doesn't mean people not connected can't visit. Maybe... you could learn how to teleport to it... to visit Bart. I don't think that it's too far-fetched, do you?"
"Do you really think I could do something like that?"
"Now that I think of it, if you truly love Bart, I know you can." Barry said as he stood up. Suzie looked up at Barry and saw the genuine expression on his face that gave her the confidence that she could do such a thing.
As Barry and Suzie walk hand in hand back towards Bart, the skies darken and clouds form.
An evil laughter is heard that sends chills down Barry Allen's spine.
"It couldn't be..." Barry thinks to himself as a flash of lightning hits the ground and then a yellow and red blur runs past Barry.
"No, No, NO!" Barry screams as he shifts his position and runs after the red and yellow blur.
Bart zips right besides Suzie and asks...
"Where'd Grandpa Barry go?"
"I don't know, but I think we should try to follow." Suzie said as Bart picked her up, and they ran off in the general direction of where Barry started running.
As Barry followed the trail of the yellow and red blur, he realized where it was heading.
Iris West Allen's cabin in the Mountains.
And at that precise instant, Iris was sitting at her kitchen table sipping on some coffee when it seemed a whirlwind hit the house. She was knocked out of her chair and when she regained her senses, she noticed that her cabin was ripped apart.
"Oh, not again!" Iris said as she heard a voice ring out from behind her saying,
"What, does this happen to you often?" and before Iris even fully turned around, she already knew who it was from his voice.
A voice she could never truly ever forget...
The voice of her killer...
"Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash?!? But you're dead!"
"Dead? Quite. Had my neck snapped by your husband. Although, it seems I've escaped Hell. And just in time too, I can't wait to see his reaction when he finds you dead again..." Zoom said as he extended his hand to the frightened Iris...
"GET AWAY FROM HER!!!" A voice boomed as suddenly an arm slammed into Zoom's chest, closelining him. And before Iris could clearly see who had saved her, Zoom was picked up and was slammed into the ground 5 miles away from where Iris was.
"Why Zoom? Why are trying to kill her again?" Barry yelled at him.
"Because I hate you, Barry. My hatred for you knows no bounds. You killed me and then the single worst thing I ever did to you was taken away. I have to see you suffer, like you did when I took your beloved Iris away the first time. And this time, no 30th Century Science is going to bring her back!!!" Zoom screamed as he headbutted Barry and then taking hold of his feet, circled around spinning Barry Allen faster than Mach 3 and then threw him into the skyline.
Zoom then triumphantly ran back to see Iris scrambling for a weapon. He laughed at this and before she could blink, her neck was in his left hand.
"Time to die, hopefully for eternity!" Zoom yelled as he raised up his right hand and began to vibrate it to give the kill shot.
And as Barry ran his top speed, when he came upon the scene he saw Zoom beginning to lower his hand to kill Iris.
The first thought to go through his mind was that he had failed Iris again... that is until Zoom stopped about an inch from her face.
He then started screaming and his hands were gripping the sides of his face.
Iris didn't know what the hell was happening, but Barry and Suzie did.
Bart, with tears in his eyes, had shoved his hand into Professor Zoom's head.
Feeling like someone had shoved an ice sickle through his brain, he just continued screaming until Bart removed his hand. Then Secret opened the folds of her cloak...
"Be banished to the Abyss!" and Zoom was sucked in, having no idea what just happened.
Barry stood there silent, content with the fact that Iris was saved, by Bart no less. That is until he saw that she had been eyeing him for the last few moments.
"Oh no..." Barry said underneath his breath. He had wanted to see her so badly... but the fact remains that he was only on the Earth to collect Bart and leave. Seeing her would make Barry want to stay forever... which wasn't possible. And even if he were to spend what little time he had left with her, it wouldn't be enough. It would just sadden him that he had Iris once again only to loose her.
"Oh my God... you've come back. You've come back!" Iris said as she ran up to him and kissed him full on the lips. It was here that she noticed there was no passion in the kiss.
She looked up to his face to see him struggling to hold the tears back.
"Barry... what's wrong?"
"God Iris, I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to see me. It... it is me, but I can't stay."
"Please don't say that... I've just lost Bart and now I finally get you back after all these years only to loose you again..."
"I know... that's why I didn't want to see you. The only reason I'm back... is because of Bart." and Barry points towards Secret whose smoke has now billowed over Bart and revealing his image once again.
"Is that him?"
"Yep. You see, I'm just here to pick him up and take him into the Speed Force. I wanted to see you... but I'm not supposed to be here. Bart and I being in this plane is how Zoom was able to come back... so we have to leave." Barry says as he gently cups Iris's face and kisses her.
"Take care of yourself, Iris. Don't do anything hasty, just live your life to the fullest. I'll be waiting." Barry says as he turns away and begins to walk to Bart only to have Iris grab his arm.
"Please, don't go. Take me with you!"
"What?"
"Barry, ever since you died, I've felt empty. Our twins helped alleviate that feeling for a while since part of you was within them, but the Dominator's killed them. I have no place in the future as I'm a fugitive from Earthgov and I have no place in the past with the knowledge of the future. I know you can take me into the Speed Force with you."
"But are you sure it's..."
"Barry... *Iris strokes the left side of his face* when we got married, I vowed to stay with you till death due us part. And even though you 'died' your still living in the Speed Force. So that means we're still married and I want to be by your side, no matter where you are." Barry just smirked at his wife and he answered her with a simple kiss.
At this point, Bart zipped over when he saw this.
"So, what's gonna happen now?"
"Now Bart? You, your Grandma and I are going to go into the Speed Force." and Barry's eyes focused in on Secret who was holding the folds of her cloak.
"But first, I think you should say goodbye to your friend."
"Grandpa... I'm gonna miss all of them."
"I know, Bart. But when they finally cross over, you will be able to see them. Merging with the Speed Force is a reward, but that doesn't mean people who have no connection can't visit us. And I think your friend over there will be able to come and visit you anytime she likes."
"Really?"
"Yes." Barry said as Bart's eyes filled up with awe and wonder. Bart turned around and walked up to Suzie.
He wasn't quite sure what to say. Bart cared for Suzie... a great deal, actually... but he's never really talked to a girl in the way he wants to talk to Suzie... mostly because it never crossed his mind before.
So as Bart walked up to Suzie, he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"Well Suzie... it's time for me to go. Um, I really appreciated your help and I enjoyed the time we spent together... *grinds his foot in the ground* and Grandpa said that you have the power to come and visit and I would like that alot, y'know if you would..."
"Bart, do me a favor. Just shut up and kiss me." Suzie said as she grabbed Bart and they kissed.
Barry let out a little laugh at that only to have Iris elbow him in the chest to stop.
As Bart and Suzie stopped kissing, only one word came out of his mouth.
"Wow." and that's all he could say as he stumbled back to his Grandpa and Grandma.
"Wow... I... uh, wow."
"Ready to go, Bart?"
"Hmm? Oh...oh yeah... I'm ready." Bart said as he shook off the influence of the kiss.
"Ready Iris?"
"As I'll ever be!" and Barry picks her up. Then Bart looks to Secret and says,
"Bye Suzie."
"Bye Bart." and before she can even blink, Barry Allen, Iris Allen and Bart Allen have started their journey to Valhalla.
Bart didn't bother to even count how many times he had circled the world when he started running. He just closed his eyes and embraced the feeling of the energy... of merging with the Speed Force.
When Bart opened his eyes again, he was there.
"Welcome home, Bart." Barry said.
It was the most beautiful thing Bart had ever seen. A white background that brought serenity to the soul and thousands of Speedsters conversing amongst each other and beings of pure light.
One such light flew up to Barry Allen.
"Congratulations to you for bringing the boy back, Barry. And who is this female?"
"She's my wife, Iris Allen."
"Ah, the one you're always talking about..."
And as Barry and the being of light converse, a man with golden blonde hair and blue eyes spots Bart and begins to work his way thru the crowd.
Barry catches a glimpse of the man and informs the being of light that he'll catch up him later.
Barry grabs Iris and they both watch as the man walks up to Bart.
"Hello Bartholomew."
Bart looks up at the man and recognizes him slightly.
"Do I... know you from somewhere?"
"You should. You see... I'm Don Allen. I'm your father." Don said as he looked his son in the eyes for the first time in a long time.
"Dad?" Bart says softly as he then yells, "DAD!!!" and Bart races into his arms. Barry looks at Iris and she at him, and Barry squeezes her hand.
Don hugs his son and tears escape his eyes. He rubs the back of Bart's head and says...
"I know what you did Bart... and I'm proud of you."
Then Dawn came out to meet her nephew, then Barry and Iris move in and people surround Bart.
Suzie does learn to visit Bart and visited him quite often until her mission on Earth was completed. At that time when she visited, it was for good.
Hours turn into days, days into months, months in years, and years into centuries.
Soon, old friends from his life on Earth began to visit, teammates, mentor's and surrogate fathers.
Merged with the Speed Force, with old friends all around him, loving family and the woman he loves at his side, Bart Allen is content for the rest of Eternity.
What better reward could there be for someone who sacrificed his life for a noble cause?
The End