Artemis felt like crying. She didn't, but really, really felt like it.
As Willow and Wally explained to the shell-shocked heroes, if they were to go home right then, eventually the Consumer would return to the Speed Force and start devouring it all over again. The redheads weren't about to let that happen - neither was the Force itself, which had pulled both them into it so that they could act as the energy source's guardians. And until they caught and completely destroyed the Consumer, all the excess Speed energy flowing through their forms wouldn't allow them to return to normal lives.
Dixie wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or punch something. "You know we could help you guys-"
"No, you really couldn't." Willow said apologetically.
"But we could!" Bart exclaimed. "C'mon, four or six speedsters ought to be able to take that thing down again no problem!"
"And leave behind your job back home? Little coz, we have no idea how long it'll take us to defeat that thing. And while Will and I won't be in too much danger as we go dimension hopping to track it down, you and the others would be inviting all kinds of dangers to come down on you."
"Such as?"
"Oh, little things like mass exhaustion, which would slow us down," Willow started to tick the points off on her fingers. "Potentially getting lost, or killed in another world, or accidentally destroy a timeline, do I need to keep going?"
Betty took hold of her niece's shoulder. "And you two wouldn't be facing those exact same dangers?"
"Yeah, but with way less risk thanks to the Speed Force backing us up." Wally explained. "It's a living thing, and while not exactly sentient like us, the Force isn't about to let its chosen guardians get themselves killed, or hurt, or do anything really stupid."
"...You will come home again, won't you?" Apollo finally asked after a long silence. Willow immediately slipped an arm around his waist, holding the young man close.
"You can bet your favorite bow, Babe. If nothing else, we've gotta come back and finish college!"
"Yeah, that reminds me - do you guys think you could get started on restoring our status as Living back on all those school records and things?" Wally grinned at his friends, trying to lighten the situation a bit.
When he and Willow had realized their new status as guardians of the Speed Force, the redhead had to admit he'd really been ticked off. Eventually he'd accepted it, as the both of them had grown in power and started engaging the Consumer, lessening how much destruction it wrought. Right at this moment, though, there was nothing more he'd like to do than shirk this new responsibility, even if it were just for a little while, scoop Artemis up in his arms and hightail it to Paris or somewhere else romantic they'd always planned to visit.
But that wasn't in the job description of being a hero.
Nearly an hour later, after he'd spoken to, shaken hands with and/or been hugged by just about every hero there, Wally finally turned to look at the gathered group of his old Team.
"Regardless of the fact that we don't have superspeed," Dick said firmly, looking him right in the eye. "You will let us know if you ever need help."
"I promise." The redhead then began working through his more meaningful round of goodbyes, ending with a passionate kiss between him and Artemis.
"Come back to me, Wally." She whispered as they still held each other close. He merely nodded, finding it rather hard to speak at that point. Ever so slowly, he and his girlfriend released each other, the pair of Wests stepping away from the gathered heroes.
"We'll see you guys soon." The both of them said in sync, before pulling together and channeling dual waves of Speed Force energy, each washing over a respective League and Team.
The last thing Wally saw before his family disappeared was Artemis raising a hand to reach out to him.
He and Willow just stood there for a while, as the orange flickers of energy began revitalizing the grey mists. "This really sucks, y'know." She said after a bit. The other agreed silently.
Then the pair of speedsters readied themselves, and took off running, heading after the path between worlds that the Consumer had left behind in its frantic fleeing. With double the power, double the speed, each hoped that they truly would be done with this fight and could go home soon.
They'd each made a promise, after all.
A/N: And that's that! Much thanks to any and everyone who stuck around to the ending, and I hope you guys aren't readying yourselves to tar and feather me. I had a lot of fun writing this, even with the horrible six month gap that happened.
For anyone who's interested, I've just about finished writing and will soon be posting another YJ story unrelated to this one that does, in fact, see the return of Wally. The wonderful bracteantha has read it and assured me the tale is a good one, which makes me hope others will enjoy it as well. If nothing else, they'll enjoy the interactions between the Team members and a pair of time travelling speedster kids who bring back some interesting tidbits about the new future timeline...
So long for now,
-Triscribe