A/N: 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' is a song by Oasis…no lyrics were used in the making of this chapter.

I'm not sure if I ever made note of this, but this fic is not intended to be slash. But hey, if you want it to be slash, go ahead and think however you want…but it was not my intention to make this slash when I first started on it.

And you'll be glad to know that my writer's block is starting to go away…too bad school's starting for me in a few days. / Also, thank you to backupsystem, balletangel19, rogueandkurt, doc-trigger, Dee, Miyosha, wickedomen1, girl-intrruptd, anne, and someone for reviewing! This chapter is for you guys, who have waited so patiently for it. :) And I hope this chapter is a sufficiate length…I try to make them long, but I'm afraid if I add too much detail, I'll bore you lot to death. :P Well, I hope you all enjoy this!

Clouded Dawn

Chapter 5:

Stop Crying Your Heart Out

The winding stone path seemed to go on forever in Wally West's opinion. Every once in a while the flashlight in his hand flickered dangerously, signaling the life of its batteries were nearing an end. He could only hope that Bruce had some extra batteries in his utility belt, otherwise the two of them would end up lost forever in the dark.

The only thing that penetrated the endless darkness other than the flashlight was the deafening sound of Flash's rumbling stomach.

At first, he tried to ignore it; if Wally complained about being hungry at a time like this, there was no way he'd win Batman's respect. Because of the Scarlet Speedster's unbelievably high metabolism, however, he was always famished- and with each passing moment, Wally's thoughts shifted more and more to buffet tables. With these thoughts, his stomach's cries increased a decibel or three, to the point that Bats could hear it as if Wally were right beside him, when in fact he was a few feet away.

This in turn made Bruce's annoyance rise, as well as his own hunger. While he didn't have as nearly of a speedy metabolism as Flash, he still hadn't eaten anything in over seven hours. The dark knight had tried to block it out of his head so he could focus on walking without falling on his head, but Wally was making this especially hard for him to do.

GRRrrrWWwwllRRrrmmmbl(Feed me before I start eating myself inside out, damn it!) cried out Flash's stomach, to which he tried to calm his mistreated organ's aches by hugging his waist.

But Batman had noted this, and this time it was so loud he was sure Joker had heard and was cackling with cruel delight wherever he was.

Bruce stopped struggling to travel and leaned and the wall, turned his head to his teammate and with a stoic face, a raised eyebrow the only gate to his inner emotions, "Hungry, Wally?"

Flash stopped in his tracks, and glanced at the terror of the night nervously. "Eheh…no?"

At this, Batman raised his other eyebrow skeptically. "Is that so?" he inquired, not believing Wally's fib for a second.

"Well…ya, I guess I am," The Fastest Man Alive conceded, "But I didn't want to complain!" he added hastily, his hands held up defensively.

GGRRRWLL.

"Apparently your stomach wants to, though."

Wally crossed his arms and averted his eyes his eyes from Batman's, who seemed to be scanning his soul with his dangerous glare. "Well, what's the difference anyway? It's not like there's a burger joint anywhere we can stop at."

The Caped Crusader furrowed his brow, unimpressed. He went, "Hmm," in acknowledgment and simply turned around, limping on.

Flash winced before continuing on. He had tried to act mature by not complaining, but ended up seeming like a liar in the process. He wasn't sure which label was worse.

A few minutes later of walking, their only source of light gave one last sputter and died, deserving the eternal peace it received for its hard work.

However, that did not comfort the two superheroes.

"Aw, shit." Came Wally's voice from the obscurity of their now completely black surroundings.

"Don't move, Wally, I'll come over and change the batteries."

"Wait, maybe I should come to you; you're hurt, and you shouldn't move much-"

"I'm fine, walking a few steps won't matter."

"You don't know that- one more trip and you can kiss your walking days good-bye, old man- erp, I mean-!"

"Don't call me that," Batman replied icily, "Or so help me, I'll-!"

"AAAAHHH-!"

"Flash!"

Bruce could hear the sudden crumbling of rocks in the general direction of Flash's left; the idiot had moved, even when Batman had told him not to.

"Wally, are you alright? What happened!"

"I- I don't know," The Fastest Man Alive called out weakly, "I think I feel down a hole…"

"Where are you?" Batman took a couple steps forward, his hands swimming through the dark like a blind man. "Keep talking."

"Umm…I don't know how deep this is…'cause I'm hangin' over the edge right now…plus it's dark, obviously…erm, I'm sorry for calling you an old man, really, I- OW!" Wally suddenly felt a sharp pain in his sensitive fingers, threatening to make him loose his grip.

Batman jerkily limped off Wally's hand. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"You did that on purpose…"

"How could I if I can't even see you? Never mind, throw the flashlight up and I'll help you out of there."

"It's right by my hand, Bats…do you think I could hold it without falling in all the way?"

Bruce ignored Flash's question, and brushed aside the flashlight with the back of his hand. Ignoring the pain that blew up in his knee, he knelt on his other leg, and if there had been light in the dark cave, it would have looked as if the Dark Knight was proposing.

"Grab my hand,"

They both reached out and their clasped hands became Wally's lifeline. At a crawling pace, Batman provided to be Flash's lever to solid ground. The Dark Knight's knee quivered dangerously and his back arched as he torpidly stood up; his teeth were glued together, and a grimace was frozen with it. The Fastest Man Alive tried propelling his feet against the base of the hole to help relieve some of the weight on Batman, but it didn't lessen the pain any, despite his good intentions.

Finally, the cable broke and the pair found themselves flat on the ground, panting wildly. Both of their ears pounded with adrenaline.

Bruce Wayne weakly sat up, his arms feeling as lifeless as a crushed ant on the sidewalk. He clumsily fumbled in his utility belt for his batteries, then for the flashlight, which proved to be a mere few inches away, not that he was complaining. He feebly used his useless gloved fingers to feel around and eventually, life sparked in the previously deceased mechanism. He shined it on Wally, who was eagle-spread on his back, breathing deeply and staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, dumbstruck.

Seeing that his companion was no worse for the wear, he directed the beam of light to the hole he had just dragged Flash out of, which was less than a foot away.

He let the lamp shine down the abyss, and found that the darkness inside it gulped up the beam greedily. The cylinder of rocks went on forever, as well as the blackness contained in it.

"Oh…my god…If you hadn't have helped me, I'd have…"

The Caped Crusader glanced to his left, to see Wally, now back to his senses, gazing down the same chasm, bug-eyed and mouth wide enough to catch said creature.

"…That is why you don't underestimate the 'old man'," The billionaire stated calmly, though the ice in his voice made Wally's heart freeze up with guilt, as well as his constantly running mouth.

Flash bit his lower lip and looked away. He stood up quickly and offered a hand to help Batman up, but the Dark Knight ignored it readily. This time the young superhero willed himself not to feel dejected; he could empathize with the Caped Crusader, and after the way he had been acting, wouldn't accept his help either.

Even though Batman didn't want his help, and seemed to be able to hold his own as he skirmishly stood up, Wally could tell that Bruce was worn out. Come to think of it, the Scarlet Speedster also felt very drained. If not for the debacle that just occurred, Wally could tell his internal clock was warning him to shut down for the night.

Wally's stomach growled again rather painfully; maybe if they got some rest, his craving for something to eat would be quelled.

"Hey, Bats, I'm beat, maybe we should crash for the night," Flash suggested casually.

The young hero could see the slightly exasperated expression on Bruce's usually stoic face in the shadow of the flashlight currently in said older man's possession. "I'd rather keep moving, thanks," Batman replied irritably.

"Hey, we need to at least conserve our energy- I mean, I'm starvin'…if I don't at least catch some shut-eye, you'll have to start draggin' me around, since my metabolism is, like, off the charts as you should know." Wally's words seemed to be self-centered, considering he was disregarding Bruce's wants, but it was in fact the opposite. What Wally West had said had been true- he would likely be falling on his face anytime, but he also didn't want to see Batman do the same in his condition.

Batman's eyes became snake-like slits. "Fine," he ground out.

They walked (or in Bruce's case, stumbled) over to the left side of the cave, and traveled a few feet away from the hole. Both in turn slid down the wall and made themselves comfortable. Then, Batman turned off the flashlight, leaving the area black as the night sky.

"You better go to sleep right away, Wally, we're only stopping because of you,"

"Alright, alright, sheesh," Wally rolled his eyes, but then began to shiver- he hadn't noticed the cold before, especially since it was warmer in the cave than the outside due to lack of wind. But as the Fastest Man Alive sat right on the ground, with only a thin layer of red spandex on his sensitive skin, the chill that stole the warmth from him was impossible to ignore.

Flash tried to suppress the shudders that ached to come out of his starving body, but it only proved to hurt him, and the shakes started to squirm out of his mouth in small, short gasps. He hugged in an attempt to warm himself, but his arms were as ice cold as the rest of his body.

To make matters worse, his hunger made itself known again with a deep, thundering growl.

"…Wally," Batman's voice came in a warning.

"S-sorry," Flash's teeth chattered together like a hyper chirping chipmunk, and he let out another short, abrupt gasp.

"Are you cold?" Bruce questioned emotionlessly.

"…Erm-"

The Scarlet Speedster suddenly felt a thick fabric drape over his body, and it gave off the feeling of relaxing in a nice, warm hot tub, sans liquid. Wally West used his gloved fingertips to inspect the fabric.

"Wha…is this your cape, Bruce?"

"Yes. Now be a good boy and go to sleep," The Dark Knight drawled dryly.

Wally was quiet for an uncomfortable moment, but then whispered daringly, more to himself than anything, "I'm not a boy…I'm a fully grown adult, and I wish you would treat me like one."

"As soon as you start acting like one, I will," Batman shot back, hearing Wally's soft mumble.

Wally's normally weak temper suddenly grew in strength, but he suppressed it from entering his voice as he replied placidly, "You don't think I try to be mature? But hey, what the hell- if I didn't crack a few jokes every once in a while, I think the whole 'League would just…die in its pool of gory angst. Instead, why can't you lighten up a bit?"

"There has to be at least some balance in the League- while on one side there's you, an immature kid, the other side has me, where at least I know when to keep my mouth shut."

The Scarlet Speedster had to clench his teeth to insure that he didn't yell out a string of swear words at Bruce. "I'm not a kid," he growled.

"Do I detect a hint of anger in your voice, Wally?" Batman asked coolly.

Flash backhanded the Dark Knight's cape off himself, which fluttered onto his teammate's lap. "Take your damn cape," he spat, "I may be an 'immature kid', but I know when I'm being insulted."

"Hm-mnh."

"What do ya mean, 'hm-mnh'?"

"Nothing."

"Is this one of these times when you know to 'keep your mouth shut'?"

"Guess."

Wally howled in a burst of frustration. "You know what- just because you have a tragic, dark past and have the personality level of a dead seal doesn't give you the right to treat people the way you do!"

"And just because you're a kid doesn't give you the right to act like an airhead all of the time."

"You don't think I've had a crappy life! I've gone through hell, and I'm sure it sucks having your parents murdered, but if I can go on with life, you can too!"

Bruce's dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "How do you know my parents were murdered?"

"Puh-lease, you're freakin' Bruce Wayne, everyone and their grandma knows the tale."

The Caped Crusader was silent for a moment. "What do you mean, 'you've had a crappy life'?" he questioned quietly. Of course, the superhero already knew; he had everyone's biographies on file, however, he wanted to hear it from Wally…he might have left a few things out of his database.

Batman heard Flash take in a sharp breath; the billionaire had obviously hit a nerve. "Nothing," Wally whispered, "I meant nothing."

"Wally…" even in the dark Flash could practically see Bruce's classic bat-glare™.

The Scarlet Speedster sighed, a sudden weariness overtaking his normally cheerful demeanor. "My parents hated me." He mumbled.

"What?"

"They hated me almost as much as they hated each other. As long as I can remember, they always either fought with each other, or were yelling at me. Either way there was screaming all day long and we'd even had to cops over at our house a few times 'cause our neighbours complained. Then, one day, they took me to the park, told me to wait on the swing 'til they got back…I knew there was something wrong, since for once they weren't fighting, but I listened anyway…but…" Wally's voice cracked. "The next thing I know, I'm in an orphanage, waitin' to be adopted. They abandoned me- me, an eight-year-old kid!"

A moment of silence occurred, but then, Wally slowly continued, "At least your parents loved you…mine didn't want anything to do with me." He inhaled shakily.

To Bruce, it sounded like the younger man was on the verge of tears, but was so far barely succeeding to keep them at bay. Batman did not speak. He had found in Wally's file that he was adopted, but he had never known the circumstances…

The Dark Knight still found having your parents murdered in front of your eyes took the cake, but Bruce couldn't help but feel Wally's pain a bit…after all, he had been eight when he lost his parents, too. Plus, it was obvious that even though his teammate hid it well most of the time, the whole situation still hurt Wally emotionally.

"Is that why you spend so much time at the orphanage?"

"Someone's gotta be there for the kids," the young superhero muttered in a reply. He took another shuddering breath. "Maybe…that's why I have a hard time being mature. Sure, I can get down to business when I have to, but there's still that eight-year-old kid inside me…wondering what the hell happened." He shook his head, and tried hiding behind his carefree mask again with a short laugh. "Hey, sorry, I shouldn't be laying all my problems on you! After all, you're freakin' Batman; you've got enough issues to share with all of the citizens of Keystone!"

When Flash thought he would receive a spiteful remark from the terror of the night, he was shocked to hear Bruce say, almost in an understanding tone, "You don't have to be sorry." For the second time that night, the young man felt Batman's cape envelop him warmly, almost as a reminded that he was no longer alone. "Go to sleep, Wally,"

This time, Flash did not throw the fabric back at Bruce, but instead used it to cover up the two of them. To this, Batman's eyes widened, but he didn't object to his teammate's generousity. Flash shifted to face away from the Caped Crusader, and with a small smile, he closed his tired eyes and announced, "'Night, Bruce,"

Then, peace settled over them, dissipating the hostility between them for the first time.

But, the peace would not last forever…for a few hours later, when the two were fast asleep, a darkness shadowed over them unlike any possible night, and a crazed cackle echoed through out the cave, disturbing the silence, but not the slumbering pair.

Then, unknown to Bruce, The Flash was gone.

To Be Continued…

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