The Return of Wally West (Dick)

[Wally "Young Flash" West]

Wally didn't know how much longer he could take the Speed Force. How much longer he could resist it's beauty. But he had to get out of it. He just had to. He couldn't give up hope. He owed it to all those who had died in the other dimension to live his life to the fullest. To breath every breathe of air as if it was for them. He had to get out for them. He could see different images flying him by as he ran. Every bone in his body was twisting as if being pushed through a small glass tube. Then something happened. The grip released. He rocketed across an apartment floor knocking over various things and smashing into a bookcase.

Wally's body trembled as he laid on the floor books and other objects on him and around him. Every ligament of his body felt sore. Not jsut the sore after a long hard work out at a gym though. It was worse. And his head, oh his head, had anyone ever had a migrain as terrible as the one he had right then. His stomach churned and he felt light headed. Even his eye lids were in pain. He wanted to get up. To see where he was. What had happened. If he had made it back to his own dimension and time. But he couldn't. He felt like just passing out right there on the ground. Go into some hibernation for a few months.

Wally wasn't wearing his old Kid Flash uniform though. No, in fact he was wearing a Flash costume. It was ripped and torn in different locations. Seiged even in certain areas. But it was a Flash uniform and he wasn't the Flash in this universe. In this time. Wally coughed for a moment not bothering to even cover his mouth as he did so. He felt as if he was going to puke any moment. Despite only being gone two months, Wally had aged five years. Of course this was because of in reality he had spent five years in the other dimension. Time travel and traversing the dimensions could certainly be time consuming and confusing. Unbeknowst to Wally at the moment, but he was in his best friend Dick Grayson's apartment in Bludhaven.

[grayson]

Dick shot up from his bed, hand flying over to the bedside table and gripping the charged eskrima stick he kept there, just in case. Getting jumped or attacked wasn't new for him, though he'd never had the experience of that happening in his apartment. He had to admit he wasn't used to getting attacked in his apartment yet. In fact, it hadn't happened at all, since he had rented this place under a false identity.

But the sounds from the living room were unmistakable. Crashing and breaking. Quite loud for a break-in though. It would certainly be the dumbest crook he had ever met. Quickly pulling on the spare sleep pants hanging off the end of his bed, he exited his bedroom, creeping through his own apartment.

Rounding the corner of the short hallway, he peered into the living room. And lowered his arm in relief. The person who was lying there in the middle of the wreckage from his bookcase was not who he would have expected, but he was familiar nonetheless. Who could mistake the Flash costume, after all?

"What the hell, Barry? What are you doing here in the middle of the night? Scratch that. What are you doing here, in Bludhaven, period?" He approached the man lying on the ground, but as he got closer, his brow furrowed. This didn't look much like Barry. He might not be very familiar with his missing friend's Uncle, but he could at least notice that this person had some slight differences.

Gripping the eskrima stick tightly again, Dick crouched down next to the injured and pained-looking man. "....Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

[Wally "Young Flash" West]

Wally thought for a moment he might've drifted off into sleep/ Or perhaps was in an illusion of some sort. Hell, perhaps he was hearing things. But he could've sworn he heard Dick's voice. It'd been such a long time since he had heard his voice. The other dimension's Dick had been killed while he was there. Then again, so was everyone else. Then the pain surging through his body brought him back to reality.

He couldn't be dreaming, he was in too much pain to be asleep. Then he realized something. Dick's voice had called him Barry. That's when Wally remembered he was still in his Flash costume from the other universe. Wally lifted his head the slightest bit off the ground as he tried to push himself off his stomach, but failed.

"Dick . . . is that . . . is that . . . you," Wally couched slightly before finally pushing himself off his stomach and onto his back. He mustered his strength as he pulled the tattered Flash hood off of his head and let it fall behind his neck as he pulled his back up against the bookcase. He slumped down in pain though. His face had aged five years despite being gone two months in their time. His hair was ruffled and a fiery red as usual.

"I'm more confused than a circular pizza, inside a rectangular box, cut into eight triangular slices," Wally said rubbing his eyes as his eyesight was blurred and he could swear there were about four Dick Grayson's in the room. Of course the facial features were a bit obscured due to his blurry vision. Perhaps he stumbled into a universe in which everyone had quadrooplets. Then he quickly realized something and threw his left hand into his pocket as he began to take off his wedding ring. He couldn't talk about what had happened it was too painful.

[grayson]

The eskrima stick in his hand dropped to the floor, clattering but making no impact on Dick's mind. He stared at the Flash sitting on the ground in his small apartment, hardly believing his eyes.

But the person was unmistakable. He'd only been friends with him since his Robin years, after all. It was hard not to recognize him, even with how different he looked. "Wally...?" He looked like he'd aged five years, and not just physically. There was a pained look on his face, that didn't seem like it could be contributed to just some injuries and fatigue on his body.

And any doubt he had left disappeared after the speedster spoke. He resisted the urge to slap a palm over his face. Yep, this was him. There was no denying that joking flair, that persisted in practically any situation the guy was in. "Oh God, it really is you. Dude... what happened to you?"

He paused, really taking in his friend's appearance. His sharp eyes caught the movement of Wally's hand, but he knew better than to ask about it. Not yet anyway. "You've been gone two months. Vanished. We all assumed.... well, that you were dead."

[Wally "Young Flash" West]

Wally took a moment to think about the question he had been asked. Talking about what happened was painful. Then again, Dick had never held anything back from him. Not his identity, not what happened to his parents. He felt like he was betraying him not telling. And the guilt was already coming voer him, but he couldn't tell him yet. One day, yes, but when the sting of what happened started to stop being so painful.

"A lot," he replied vaguely as he looked at the dropped ekrima stick on the floor before returning his gaze to Dick. It was so good to see him again. And ya know alive and not dead like the other Dick was. Wally raised an eyebrow of the thought of everyone thinking he was dead. "You," Wally said pulling himself up with the help of the bookcase before stumbling to the closest sink, "Can't get rid of Wally West that easily," he continued before throwing up in the sink. "Sorry about the throw up," he apologized before talking, "I hope you don't like smooth because this one chunky," Wally let out a strained laugh at how he referred to the throw-up as if it were peanut butter.

Then it hit Wally and when it hit him it hit him hard. "Oh my god," Wally said his eyes wide, "Aunt Iris is going to kill me, Dick, I'm not talking about killing as in oh sh'es going to kill me, no I mean she's going to crush my spine as she hugs me. And Central City and Keystone City, Barry hasn't been slacking without me has he?"