"Etativel mih!" The blonde writhed in the air as the women in front of him cast a spell.
"Hey!" He complained
"Eit mih pu."
"What the—" His eyes went up and down her body. "Zatanna? Conner?" he said the boy next to her. "You aged well." He said in his tradition Barry sarcasm.
"Who are you?" She snarled. "How do you know out names? Nethgit." The ropes wrapped around the speedster tightened.
"Wait, I'm The Flash, Barry Allen. You know me, come on." Their eyes widened in shock. The pair looked ragged. Conner wore his superman shirt under an old jacket, with cargo pants, combat boots and his fingerless gloves. His hair was matted from lack of bathing and his face was covered with dirt. Zatanna looked even worse. She had shed her magician's grab for what Barry guessed counted for civies in this hellish place. Zatanna wore a T-shirt that might have once been purple but now it was gray with ash, a pair of patched jeans, and a muddy leather jacket. This might have been his imagination, but was she hiding a baby bump?
"You-you're dead, long dead." Zatanna's voice cracked.
"Yeah, well that's what you get for pushing your limits of speed." At their confused faces he said. "Let me down and I'll explain." He said. They exchanged a glance, but Conner nodded grimly eventually.
"Pord mih." He fell to the ground with a thud. "Eitnu mih."
"Ow, couldn't you have done that more gracefully? I think I already have a broken rib!" He gestured to the black and blue bruise on his side.
The magician scoffed. "I'm sorry, do you want to try that again?" she lifted her hand and smiled bitterly. This didn't sound like the Zatannna Barry knew.
"Nay, I'm good." He stood, rubbing his head.
Superboy clenched his fists. "Explanation, now."
Barry tried to explain the best he could the speedforce and everything that happened. "…so Bart and Wally and I all tried at once and it worked. Well, maybe it did." He scratched the back of his head.
"I'm not completely sure that we landed in the right time period. How long have I been…" he couldn't say the word.
"About five years. Since then a lot has happened. We'll fill you in on the way back to camp." Barry smiled, now that sounded like Zatara's daughter.
"Wait, you believe that?" Conner asked incredulously.
She nodded. "It wouldn't hurt to bring him back. I mean we kind of have a lot of people to back us up." She whispered in Conner's ear. "Iris and the twins will be able to tell if it's. And if this guy ends up being The Flash and we don't take him but let him starve, guess who would hear about it."
Conner looked at the older man. "Wally's alive?" he croaked.
"Yes."
Not only did the half kryptonian miss his old friend, but no one had been the same since it happened. Artemis eventually found a little bit of redemption with having Irey, the female version of the love of her life, and Nighwing had Zatanna to look after him with John, Cara, and the soon to be Katarina. But Wally had left a hole in all of their lives that had festered for nearly ten years.
With the three of them gone after Barry and his grandson (who's absense, Conner had to admit guiltily, had let him get some peace and quiet), "died" the league sort of lost its heart. They needed Barry back, not only for his twins to have a father again, but for the league to get off their asses and start winning back their world.
Kon-El thought for a moment. "Zatanna," he finally said. "You teleport into the base and tell them the situation, while I stay here with him. That's a compromise, right?"
"But—" Barry started to say but the magician was already gone.
:::
Zatanna appeared in the camp moments later. Everyone swarmed at her.
"What happened?"
"Where's Conner?"
"Where have you been?"
"Zee, I told you not to be teleporting!"
"Dawn, you stepped on my toe!"
"Sorry."
Zatanna whistled over the noise. Everyone shut up. "Something's happened. Something that might change it forever."
"Did the light surrender?" Her daughter Cara asked from Dick's arms.
She chuckled. "Not that big, baby." She took the girl from her father.
"Will you stop being so cryptic and tell us what's going on?" Iris laughed.
"Apparently Barry's alive."
You could hear a pin drop.
…
…
…
"What do you mean Daddy's alive?" Donnie asked quietly after at least a minute of silence.
"Was this a rumor you heard? It probably just some hopefuls trying to be optimistic." Even M'Gann had changed from the bubbly, innocent, new-to-earth person Zatanna remembered meeting all those years ago.
She titled her head from side to side. "More like Conner and I found him crying in the middle the dark side." What everyone called the torn up part of town. "He sounded pretty genuine, but it was hard to tell."
Iris's face was stark white, like she had seen a ghost, or like she was about to see one. "He said they had been trapped in the speedforce, the center of their power for all this time. Does that familiar to you?" she asked no one in particular.
The twins looked at each other. "That's how Daddy taught us control. We had to bend the energy to our will, that it all came from one place. And if you went to fast you could disappear into it" Dawn recalled.
"But we thought it was metaphor, like some way to get us to work harder." Donnie had tears in his eyes. He wasn't a kid you cried that much. He always claimed he was the man of the "house" (place to sleep), the leader, and leaders didn't cry. "But maybe it wasn't."
"Was Bart with him?" Someone in the crowd asked.
She shook her head sadly. "No, but he was in the speedforce with him, we only have it assume he had it out as well, and…" she trailed off. What was the best way to tell Dick that his best friend was still alive. The best friend that Zatanna had finally convinced him was dead after he nearly went crazy looking for. Dick had come to her after the funeral. They spent one night together before she found out Dick had gone off the deep end and they were expecting baby Johnny.
"What?" Iris asked. "What is it?"
"They weren't the only ones in there. The other one had been there five years longer." She couldn't speak his name without crying, none of the originals could, but the people surrounding her got the message. She set Cara down and placed a hand on her protruding belly. They were going to name it Wallace if it was boy, Artemis had been too. But she had had Irey and Zatanna was going to have a Katarina, after her mother. { I don't know, my story.} Now he might be back, he might be back.
Dick, whose arm had been swung around her the moment she returned backed off in shock. There were silent tears dripping down the Martian's face. Iris was still stock still.
"Daddy!" There was shriek. Dawn and Don were speeding toward their father who was been supported by Conner. They slowed down as the approached him and looked at Barry in wonder. "Daddy?" this time it a little more like a question as they hesitated slightly.
Barry slipped from Superboy's gripped and wrapped them in hugs. "My munchins, I've missed you so much!" All three parties were sobbing with joy. "I'm never leaving you again!"
"Is it really you?" Dawn said uncertainly.
"Yes, little angel, yes, my little speedsters." He reassured through sobs.
"Is it—" Dick started to ask Iris but she too was surging forward, nodding profusely.
"Barry?" she croaked.
"Iris!" the twins let their father out of a tight embrace so he could come back to their mother. When each child was expecting a tearful hug, they were surprised when they parents locked lips heartily.
Johnny muttered in Dick's ear. " Hope I'll understand when I'm older." He laughed.
The couple came out of their passionate kiss and clutched each other by the arms like if they let go the other would disappear. "I thought I'd never seen you again." Iris panted.
"You can't get rid of me that easily." He joked. Iris didn't laugh but touched his cheek lovingly and pulled her husband in for another kiss. All the kids around, even the twins, who were overjoyed by their parents' reunion, "ewwed"
They finally pulled apart after what the children thought was like ten minutes long. "Well, hi guys!" Everyone laughed as hugs were passed around.
Dick was rejoicing with everyone else over the return of an old friend and partner, but he had other matters on his mind: Wally.
Barry and his family! Chalant! Also supermartian is a thing inn the future, get ready. WALLY IS NEXT! See you next time.
-Lizzy