I really hope you like it, I hope I made it sad enough. Please review for this one!
When Mallory and Isaiah got to the volcano, they descended into it cautiously, not finding anything until they were almost touching the lava at the bottom. That was when the first drone attacked, and Mallory shoved Isaiah out of the way instinctively, diving behind the rocks after him.
"Thanks, I guess," her ex muttered, rubbing his shoulder. She rolled her eyes, peeking around their shelter to assess the situation. The MFD was over a pool of lava, the drones were over the rocks surrounding it. She tilted her head, a thought occurring to her.
"Do you think they can't take the heat of the lava?" she asked.
Isaiah shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Did Blue Beetle mention if the drones shut down when the MFD does, or are we going to have to fight our way out, too?"
She shook her head. "We'll find out. You want to be the hero or the bait?"
He smiled. "Well, since you're the one on the Justice League, I'll give you the hard job. You can be the distraction."
"How generous of you," she muttered, smiling.
"What? I thought you liked fighting," he replied, taking the MFD from Inferno and getting ready to move. Mallory smiled, getting ready herself.
She sprung up from behind the rocks in a blaze, and the drones immediately started attacking her. She dove to the side, shooting fire at them. It didn't do anything, but she watched Hotspot start to come out from behind the rocks, making a beeline for the MFD. One of the drones noticed, and it veered off to protect the device. Mallory abandoned her own fire and summoned the lava, sending a wave of it at the drone attacking Isaiah. It was coated in the burning liquid, and after a moment of it struggling through the steam, it dropped into the pool, dissolving in the heat. Mallory smiled with satisfaction, pulling another bit to her to use against the second drone. She flew over the pool, but the drone wouldn't follow past the rocks. The next second, there was a dull clang of metal on metal, and the drone and the MFD dropped out of the air. Mallory landed next to Isaiah, laughing with relief. She gave him a quick hug before touching her comm.
"Inferno to watchtower, our MFD is shut down."
"Good work Delta. Come on home."
Mallory looked over to Isaiah to make sure he heard, and he grinned at her and kicked the second drone, now disabled, into the pool of lava. "I always did want to see the Watchtower," he said.
She chuckled and they flew out of the volcano, going to the nearest zeta tube, and they zetaed to the Watchtower. Toni and Green Arrow were already back from their mission, and they ran over and hugged each other. Mallory smiled at the sight and went to stand by Wally and Artemis.
"Are they back together?" Artemis asked.
Mallory nodded. "Yeah, they got back together when Toni moved back to Metropolis."
Wally grinned, one arm around Artemis, and finally Mallory rolled her eyes and said, "fine, just say it."
His grin widened. "Told you."
Artemis titled her head. "Told her what?" she asked.
Mallory shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore."
Artemis snorted. "All right, I'm going to assume I don't want to know." Megan and Conner were announced, and Artemis walked over to greet them, leaving Wally and Mallory alone. She looked at him and smiled.
"Thanks. I guess you were right, the future's not set in stone."
"Yeah, I'm glad I was right. I'd miss you around here, causing all the explosions."
Mallory laughed, shaking her head. "Whatever, Kid. I don't know that I would miss you where I was going."
He just grinned. "Love you too, Mal."
Her smile stayed on her face, but her eyes grew serious as the others started to come over and she said, "I don't know what I'd do without you." Megan reached them first, and Mallory turned to her friends expectantly. "So, what happened on Rimbor?" she asked, looking between them anxiously for news about the Leaguers.
"The Light's confession was the deciding factor. They're going to be released and cleared of all charges. They're coming home," Conner said. Mallory smiled, relief and excitement bubbling inside her as she thought about seeing Clark and the others for the first time in months.
The last squad announced that they shut down the last MFD, and the heroes in the room looked at each other, seeming to heave a collective sigh of relief. Until Blue Beetle came in and announced that they had missed one.
"I'm on it," Flash said, and Impulse was right behind him. The group in the watchtower waited anxiously for them to say something. "Uh, it's already gone chrysalis," Flash said hesitantly. "I'm not sure-"
"the software is useless now," Luthor told him.
"So, what do we do now?" he asked.
"Now, you run," Lex told him. Mallory's heart dropped. They had failed.
"Hey, I'm no quitter. There has to be something we can do," Barry said.
Luthor's voice sounded annoyed as he said, "I didn't say 'run away', I just said run. Together you and Impulse should be able to negate the chrysalis by running counter to its energy flow."
"Is it really that simple?" Flash asked.
Lex scoffed. "Well, I wouldn't call it simple. You'll be attempting to siphon its power with your own speed trails. It'll take a massive amount of kinetic energy."
"Do you think it'll be enough?" Artemis asked at Mallory's side.
The next thing they heard was the zeta tube powering up and announcing that Kid Flash was recognized. They exchanged a tense look, but Mallory took a breath and looked back at the screen. He would be fine. She was the one who was supposed to die, and she was still there.
"Come on," Megan said to the others. "We can get there in a few minutes on the bioship."
The original team started for the tube, Kaldur at their side for the first time in years. Blue Beetle flew over at the last second, and the light sucked them back to the warehouse before any of them could react. When they appeared, Dick tilted his head as they jogged to the bioship. "Why are you coming?"
"Hey, I got us into this, I think I should be there in case I can help stop it," he said.
They boarded the ship and zetaed to the closest location before starting to fly to the Arctic circle where the chrysalis was. The ride only took a few minutes, ten tops, but it seemed to take an eternity as they sat in tense silence, nothing they could say seeming important with the fate of the world at stake. Raquel was twisting her engagement ring with one finger, Megan was looking at Conner, her gaze filled with regret, Artemis had her hands clenched as she thought about Wally, and Mallory felt her hand go to the glass figure around her neck out of habit. It may have started as a token of affection for Isaiah, but the meaning of the necklace had shifted along with her feelings for her ex. She would always care about him, but she no longer saw him as a romantic interest. She thought of him as a friend, someone who shared a past with her, like Conner or Kaldur, and like them, she would do whatever she could to help him or protect him, but she would never love him the same way again. Now, she wore the figure as a symbol of her regrets, reminding her what she had lost, and what she still wanted to do.
Megan landed the ship, and they all seemed to startle out of their thoughts. They jumped out of their seats and ran out the back. The wind felt like a hurricane as the two opposing forces fought against each other, but it was working. The chrysalis was going down, they could tell just by looking at it. They looked at each other, and Dick smiled hopefully and said, "Look, it's working! They're shutting it down!"
They went as close as they could without being torn apart by the wind and energy coming off as lightning, and they watched, standing so close their shoulders bumped each other with every breath. Blue looked more nervous than the others, but Mallory hardly noticed, keeping her eyes glued to the tornado created by the three flashes. There was something eating at the back of her mind, but she fought it off, forcing herself to keep her mind blank as she waited and watched, her nails digging into her skin through her gloves.
She counted the seconds that passed, her stomach churning as she passed ten, eleven, twelve…why was she so nervous? It was slowing down. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…a stab went through her chest and she nearly doubled over. Probably the stress. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty…the chrysalis stopped, and the speedsters slowed down, the area thick with fog from their efforts.
"They did it! Ha!" Megan exclaimed.
Mallory forced herself to take a breath and she went alongside Megan and Zatanna to Impulse, the closest to them. He was panting heavily, his eyes shut tight. Mallory smiled and opened her mouth to congratulate the youngest speedster, but Artemis' voice cut through the air, her voice full of dread.
"Wait."
Mallory looked up, and she realized that Wally wasn't with them. Her eyes widened, and for the first time in her life, she understood what it meant for your blood to run cold. She could feel the blood pumping from an aching heart as Artemis voiced the question, "where's Wally?"
Barry winced, his face pained as he walked towards the archer, her eyes fearful. "Artemis…" he said, and he paused for a moment, trying to find the words. Every millisecond felt like an eternity as the original team waited for him to confirm what they already knew. "He wanted me to tell you–"
"No, No!" Artemis cut him off, not wanting to hear it.
Barry put a hand on her shoulder. "He loved you," he said.
Artemis shut her eyes tight, tears streaming out. Her legs gave out from under her, and in a second Megan and Zatanna were by her side, Raquel kneeling in front of her. Mallory knew she should go to her friend, but she felt like she was frozen in her spot. She clenched her fist, shaking her head to herself, not wanting to believe this. No, it was all wrong. She was the one who was supposed to die, Wally was supposed to be safe at home with Artemis, far away from any of this.
"I guess you were right, the future isn't written in stone."
Her own words popped into her head, and dread filled her body, her eyes widening as the agonizing realization hit her: this was her fault. She told Wally, he tried to protect her, and now he was dead instead of her. She stifled a groan, her heart dropping as regret like she'd never known creeped in. Every inch of her wanted to give up right there, to just fall down in the snow and sob until she died, but something in her wouldn't let her, so she just stood there, too devastated to cry, too angry to allow herself to find comfort in her friends, too guilty to offer comfort to them, and too empty to care about the fact that they were still there, the world had been saved.
She felt a hand on her shoulder guide her a few steps over, and before she knew what had happened, Conner had brought her to where the girls were kneeling together, crying along with Artemis. Dick was standing off to the side, a stricken look on his face, and Kaldur was standing with Barry, looking like he wanted to join them but didn't know if he should. Megan noticed him and held out a hand, tears streaming down her face. He nodded, accepting the offering, and knelt with the others. No matter what he had done, they needed to grieve together.
They didn't get long, though. Barely ten minutes went by before their comms went off, and Captain Atom's said with a heavy voice, "I know this is a hard time, but the Justice League is returning to Earth. They have entered Earth space, they will be landing at Mount Justice soon."
Barry put a hand to his ear. "I don't think–" he started, but Dick cut him off.
"We'll be there." He looked at the others for confirmation, and they nodded. "We'll meet the others at the watchtower and go from there." He looked at Artemis. "You should get home…"
The archer shook her head, forcing herself to her feet as if it was painful. "I have to tell his parents," she said.
Mallory felt another pang of guilt, and she looked away. "I'm going to bring Peter home. I think he's done enough tonight."
The others nodded, no one saying anything, and when they got to the Watchtower, Peter was the first one to run to the zeta tube, Gar right behind him, their young eyes big and tearful as they waited for the older heroes to say that it wasn't true. They didn't, and Gar went to Megan, crying quietly while he let her hold him. Peter didn't move at first, though tears were rolling down his cheeks, then he wrapped his arms around Mallory and pulled her back to the zeta tube, putting in their coordinates without a word.
Mallory looked back, and the last thing she focused on before the Light blurred her vision was the sight of Dick trying to stay strong in front of everyone, and Jess putting a knowing hand on his arm.
Mallory and Peter appeared in Central, and they made their way wordlessly down the street to their parents' house. When they let themselves in, their parents had them in hugs in seconds, but they could tell that something wasn't right just as fast. Elaine pulled away, looking at their faces.
"What–what happened?" she asked, her voice saying that she didn't want to know.
Mallory shut her eyes, taking a breath. "Wally's dead," she said flatly, not allowing herself to let the words sink in.
Their parents looked stunned at first, then they broke down in tears. Elaine was hit especially hard with the news, and Peter finally took off his mask and cried along with them. Still, Mallory couldn't cry. It felt like there was a glass wall between her and reality. She felt guilty, mostly, but the reality of it hadn't sunk it, and she didn't want it to. She looked at the TV still playing the news and saw people coming into the streets cheering. People were celebrating. They had no idea what this victory cost. She shook her head, backing away from the tv and her family.
"Mallory, where are you going?" Elaine asked, concern straining her voice.
Mallory shook her head, unable to answer, and she rushed out the door, running to the zeta tube out of habit. Clark landed in front of her before she got there, and she froze, staring up at him. He smiled sadly. "Hey, Torch," he said gently, and that was all it took.
The glass wall shattered, and the tears were falling as she ran over, hugging him tight and sobbing into his shoulder. He gathered her in his arms and flew straight up, bringing them away from the rest of the world, until it was just the two of them. She felt like her heart had been shredded, wrung out, the spirit squeezed from of it. All of the physical injuries, all of the losses, all of the pain of the last few months, nothing had been as bad as this. She'd lost her best friend, her brother, the one person in the world who understood her completely, and she didn't know if she could live without him, or live with the guilt of knowing the part she played in his death.
Late that night, Mallory was back in her parents' house, laying in bed, just staring at the ceiling. Her parents were still up, Peter and Gar were in his room, she could hear them talking quietly through the wall. Emotions were swirling around inside her, her guilt was threatening to smother her. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She had to do something, or she would suffocate.
She threw on some clothes and crept down the stairs, slipping out the front door without bothering anyone. She walked down the street with deliberate steps, punched in her coordinates without a second thought. She had to tell Artemis everything. Her friend deserved to know that she was to blame, deserved someone to hate for this, and Mallory felt that she deserved her friend's wrath, even wanted it in a strange way. Her resolve never wavered, even as she stood at the white door, bringing her knuckled down on the chipped paint. She had the words laid out in her head, and then Artemis opened the door.
"Mallory?" she said hoarsely.
The words caught in Mallory's throat, and instead of saying what she came to say, tears sprang to her eyes involuntarily. Artemis blinked and pulled her into a hug, then led her into the apartment. Through her blurry vision, Mallory made out a funnel cake on the kitchen table, and Wally's voice popped into her head.
"You'll be at the apartment when this all blows over."
The tears came harder as she thought about that. He was right. She was, he was the one that wasn't. She and Artemis went to the couch, and they spent the rest of the night together, not saying a word, but alternating from crying, to thinking, to dozing. The last thing that played in Mallory's head before passing out from exhaustion was her last conversation with him, the last one they would ever have.