Disclaimer I DON'T OWN YOUNG JUSTICE, if I did, Wally wouldn't have died.
Barry:
Barry had known Wally since before he became Kid Flash. Barry had never been around kids much before he started dating Iris and had been introduced to her 5-year old nephew. Even then, Wally had admired the Flash. Iris already knew Barry's secret, and while they both wanted to tell Wally, they knew they couldn't. For the next five years, Barry grew to love Wally as a son, and when he married Iris, Wally was the ring bearer.
Barry knew that Wally was extremely smart, especially in science, and he fed that thirst for knowledge by bringing the boy in with him to the CCPD crime lab once a month so that Wally could see his uncle helping save lives. Wally soon grew to know every member of the forensics team, and they grew to like him as well. Wally's parents wouldn't let him skip a grade because he was already having troubles making friends, and they knew that skipping would only make it harder. With his classwork being so easy, Wally had been able to study higher level sciences with Barry, which only made the two grow closer.
Everything had been great, 11-year old Wally was a familiar face in the CCPD labs, and some of the regular police officers recognized him from when they had to delve into the labs for information. One fateful Friday night saw Wally and Barry restocking chemicals in the labs after a long day. It was storming out, and Barry wanted to finishing restocking the chemicals quickly because he didn't want to tempt the fates. The same chemicals were there that gave him his powers, and he just wanted to get Wally home so that he would be well rested for his birthday tomorrow. Barry was finally going to tell Wally his big secret, both he and Iris had agreed that he could be trusted not to tell anyone, and that he was responsible enough to not want to try to recreate the experiment that had given Barry his powers.
Unfortunately, lightning decided to strike for a second time, in the same place. Barry had been preparing himself to tell Wally the truth, and turned around for a few seconds to pull out the ring that held his costume to show Wally when he heard a strangled gasp of pain. In his panic, Barry sped over to Wally, completely disregarding the fact that he revealed his identity. It was too late, Wally was unconscious in a pool of chemicals. Barry called an ambulance because there was no way he would be able to make an excuse for the Flash to run Wally to the hospitable without revealing his identity.
Wally was in a coma for three months, during that time Flash sightings were at an all time low, but no one was suspicious. Through those long months, Wally was never alone, every police officer in Central City visited at least once every other week, and Rudy and Mary rarely left the hospitable room. Iris and Barry took as much paid vacation time as they could to visit Wally, but they had to go back to work eventually.
When Wally finally woke up, everyone was shocked. They were beginning to doubt if he was ever going to wake up. The shock of Wally waking up was quickly replaced with the even greater amount of disbelief that Wally had become a speedster. When Barry thought about it, it wasn't really all that much of a shock seeing as he had been in the exact situation years before.
Wally spent the next few weeks learning how to control his speed enough that he would be able to hide the fact that he was a speedster. Wally kept begging Barry to allow him to become the Flash's sidekick, but Barry refused. He saw a light innocence in Wally and wanted to preserve that light as much as possible, and even though Central City was safer than Gotham, it was still dangerous and Barry wanted to keep Wally as safe as possible.
It was inevitable that Wally would eventually become a hero. The transformation to a hero was realised when Wally saw the Flash fighting Captain Cold and saw that Cold was getting to put the Flash temporarily out of comission by freezing his legs, which would give the rogue a precious few seconds to escape with his newly stolen goods. Barry wasn't paying enough attention to Cold, and didn't see the icy blast headed his way, but Wally did. Wally had put on a modified version of the Flash suit, which was given to him in case of an emergency that led to him needing to use his powers, and got in between the blast and the Flash. Barry had knocked out Captain Cold, and had turned him into the police, before grabbing Wally and speeding him away. That night, Barry and Wally had come to an agreement that Wally could be Barry's sidekick, Kid Flash, so long as he was able to balance both of his lives as a civilian and as a hero. From that night on, Kid Flash could be seen fighting alongside the Flash, and Central City grew to love their resident teen hero.
As time went by, Barry watched as Wally grew into a talented and positive hero. Even though Wally remained slower than Barry, he made up for it by having a greater stamina, even though that meant that Wally's metabolism made him need to eat slightly more often than Barry did, Wally also became more creative and innovative when it came to different uses for his powers. It was a joy to spend time Wally both when in and out of costume. On the fateful Independence Day that resulted in the formation of a covert ops team, Barry found it difficult to remain mad at Wally for scaring him so much. After that, Barry spent as much time as he could with Wally, and learned what the team did in their free time. It was great that Wally finally had people other than Dick to talk to about his life as Kid Flash.
When Wally and Artemis decided to retire temporarily from the hero business, Barry was upset, but not surprised, he knew how much it meant to both of them to go to college and focus on learning what they could to be everyday heroes in civilian life so that they could spend as much time as possible helping people. He also recognised that they needed space from the team after Tula's tragic death. When Barry told his coworkers at the CCPD that Wally had moved out to Palo Alto to study Forensic Science, they said that they couldn't wait to have him work with them at the CCPD, and told him to pass along their congratulations to both Wally and Artemis.
A few months before Artemis's faked death, Barry had agreed to help Wally look for a ring. It meant a lot to Barry that Wally asked him to help instead of Dick, who had been friends with Wally for years. When Bart came to their time from the future, he knew that it hurt Wally to see a kid who was faster than him and had a seemingly better relationship with Barry than Wally did. TO Barry, Bart's arrival meant that he finally had an excuse to talk to Wally about an idea he had kept secret since Wally graduated from High School. Barry had decided that he would retire from being the Flash and would pass the mantle on to Wally, who had begun to outgrow the name of Kid Flash. Bart's arrival meant that Wally could have the assistance of a younger speedster if he needed it, he also knew that Wally wouldn't take on the mantle of thee Flash without there being a Kid Flash.
Weeks later, everything changed. Barry couldn't keep the desperation out of his voice as he told Bart to slow down so that they could save Wally from being attacked by the Chrysalis energy. His heart broke as he delivered Wally's last words to Artemis and took her to the West home. When he told Iris, he could barely keep himself together until he delivered the tragic message. When his wife heard the news, she broke down sobbing, she had held Wally when he was first born, and had always been his confidant when he was struggling with anything. The couple spent the next few weeks helping put the other back together. When the twins were born, they couldn't help but cry when they thought of how they had planned on asking Wally and Artemis to be godparents. They decided to ask Dick to be godfather in Wally's stead, because he had been Wally's best friend, and they knew that they could trust him to help Artemis take care of the twins in case anything happened to them. When they had asked Artemis to be godmother, none of them could stop the inevitable tears that would always come when Wally was mentioned. Neither Barry nor Iris missed the fact that Artemis wore what would have been her engagement ring on a silver chain that had an arrow charm, and a locket that had a picture of Wally and Artemis's New Years Kiss from all those years ago. It had been Wally's anniversary gift on the last anniversary they had before he died. Artemis had agreed to be godmother, and she always told the twins stories of their cousin Wally who they grew to know and love despite never getting to meet him.
When Barry told thee CCPD that Wally had died during the Breach invasion, the whole precinct mourned the loss of the cheerful redhead who had become like family to all of them. They kept the lab that he had been struck by lightning in as a memorial to the scientist who never got the opportunity to work where he had always dreamed of working.
In the days after the Reach Invasion, as Lex Luthor planned on taking credit for stopping the Reach invasion and G. Gordon Godfrey returned to bashing the Justice League on television, Barry decided that enough was enough. The Flash and the new, younger Kid Flash agreed to be interviewed by Lois Lane, who had taken to interviewing League members who had helped to stop the invasion to find out just what had happened that night. "This is Lois Lane of the Daily Planet, here in Central City with the Flash, and a new Kid Flash. Flash, before I ask about the recent invasion, please tell us why you have a new sidekick." "Ms. Lane, both of your questions have the same answer. The first Kid Flash and his partner Artemis decided to come out of retirement to help us put an end to thee Reach Invasion, during that time, Kid told the new speedster Impulse that he would be giving the younger man the mantle of Kid Flash as he wasn't planning on coming out of retirement any time soon. Kid Flash and Artemis dismantled the MFD in Paris, and Kid Flash joined myself and Impulse in the Arctic to help stop the MFD that had gone Chrysalis. Kid Flash joined us in running opposite to the direction of the energy to siphon it off before it could destroy all of us. Kid's slower speed made him an exit valve for escaping energy, and the energy attacking him killed him. He vanished right in front of me. It was his sacrifice that saved all of us. He didn't have to come out of retirement, and he didn't have to join Impulse and I in the Arctic. He was a true hero. Thanks Ms. Lane, but the second Kid Flash and I need to go." "Of course Flash, thank you for agreeing to this interview. I can't speak for everyone, but I for one certainly won't forget his sacrifice." Lois had tears running down her cheek. "That was the Flash recounting the brave sacrifice that Kid Flash made to save all of us. The emotion on his face convinced me that what he told me was true. No one would make up something like that up. This has been Lois Lane of the Daily Planet reporting live from Central City." With that, Barry and Bart sped off back to the Allen home to continue mourning.
The funeral for Wally was packed, the entire CCPD showed up along with Wally's friends and family, both civilians and heroes in their civilian identities. The funeral was full of sad laughter as everyone shared memories of Wally, from when he met Barry or visited the CCPD, to his crazy exploits in school, to times that he was a listening ear and managed to always find a way to cheer people up no matter the circumstances. There was no dry eye when the service ended.
The funeral for Kid Flash was held outside of the Flash museum. Central City shut down for the day, and every resident of the city attended, the rogues even declared that all crime in the city would halt for a week, they wouldn't even allow crimes to be planned. The entirety of the Justice League showed up for at least part of the service before they were forced to leave due to some crisis or another either across the world or in their respective cities. Even Queen Perdita of Vlatava showed up to honor the man who saved her life, she declared Kid Flash a knight of Vlatava posthumously, and declared the day of his death a national Vlatavan holiday to remember the cheerful hero. Central City honored Kid Flash by opening up a new wing of the Flash museum dedicated entirely to the teen speedster who had managed to find a place in all of their hearts. G Gordon Godfrey never spoke negatively about the first Kid Flash after his heroism was revealed, although he never ceased to verbally attack the rest of the superhero world.
Barry never forgot his nephew, and when he finally retired and passed the mantle of the Flash on to Bart, he felt bittersweet. He had always hoped that it would be Wally he passed the mantle to, and that it would be Wally to pass the mantle on to Bart. Unfortunately, people die before their time, nothing would ever stop that. The only way that they live on is to keep them in your memories, and that is what Barry did. Wally never left his memories, and he never would.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to add another new chapter. The thing is, I publish a chapter as soon as it is finished, and then move on to writing the next chapter resulting in sporadic updates. Thanks so much for reading this, it means a lot. Up next is Bart. To those who asked for me to write about Dick, don't worry, his chapter is coming up soon. I hope this made you cry, I had a hard time not crying as I wrote it. To those of you who want to yell at me and tell me that in the Young Justice universe, Wally didn't get his powers the same way Barry did, and that he recreated the experiment in his garage. I know, I love how that version of events highlighted Wally's intelligence, I just preferred this origin for Wally as it added to him being close to the people Barry worked with. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and that you leave me a review letting me know what you thought. To those of you who also read Fighting Blind, I am in the middle of writing the next chapter, and I hope to get it up before the end of the month. Thanks again for reading.