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Chapter Text

Mount. Justice 18:35CDT - 

“Gather around,” Batman called as he waited for every member of The Team to convene in their headquarters’ central hub. The man already had the floating holo-panel booted up once everyone was accounted for. 

“Sweet! Mis-sion time,” the redheaded speedster, Wally cheered as he stretched his arms up and rested them at the back of his head, “Was wondering when the next assignment was gonna be, I was starting to get rusty.” 

The shorter male, Robin, released a chuckle, playfully jabbing Wally at his exposed ribcage, snickering, even more, when the redhead jumped, “Maybe you wouldn’t be so rusty if you stopped skipping Black Canary’s self-defense lessons.” 

“Enough, you two.” Aqualad interjected before the two sidekicks got too distracted, when they turned to look at him, Aqualad turned his attention towards an expectant Batman, “Apologies.” 

“No need,” The hero responded, if one were to listen closely and was also an expert on how the man carried himself, one would be able to detect the slightest hint of approval over how Kaldur, as the leader, had control over the rest of his team. 

Batman stepped to the side as the holo-panel enlarged, switching screens to pull up a live feed of a town, “This is the town known as Ordinary, located in Maine. Just a couple of days ago, it was filled with people. Shortly after, The Watchtower picked up on a massive surge of energy when the league traced the source back to the town it was completely deserted. Something or someone caused every citizen to disappear.”

“What, like Roanoke or something?” Artemis chimed in arching an eyebrow as she studied the holo-panel.  

“Precisely,” He answered matter-of-factly, surprising the archer. The panel of the live feed transitioned until a special filter was over it, much like an infrared filter only this one was purple and displayed the town’s buildings and streets surrounded by a dim, blue aura. 

To Wally’s left, Zatanna let out a soft gasp as her eyes widened in recognition, “Those are traces of magical residue,” she said, and if the magician had been looking, would have seen the redhead rolling his eyes over the mention of the mystic arts. “Is this like when Klarion created two earths? Is that who’s behind this?” She questioned.

“Unclear, but what we do know is that this appears to be an isolated incident solely to Ordinary.” He raised his head from looking at Zatanna to address the entire squad, “Your job is to find the cause of this and restore the town’s citizens if possible. However, should the situation escalate, should you come to find out The Light is involved, you are ordered to call the League immediately. Dismissed.” Batman spoke as he turned and made his way towards the nearby Zeta-Tubes. 

Recognized: Batman Zero-Two

Spoke the overhead computer shortly before the Zeta-Tube turbine began to spin, roaring to life as the venerated hero dissolved into golden particles before being transported away.

“Alright everyone, you heard him.” Aqualad turned, immediately taking charge.  “M’gann, upload coordinates to the bioship, the rest of you, suit-up and meet in the hangar, we can discuss strategy on route.” 

The rest of the team nodded upon receiving their orders, Miss Martian levitating and flying down the corridor to prep the bioship for the mission, her clothes reshaping themselves into her combat outfit as she took her leave. 

Wally, already being in uniform, dashed to the hangar after M’gann, grinning from ear-to-ear when he finally caught up. “Wait up, beautiful, I rushed over to see if you needed a hand prepping the ship.” He said, adding a quick wink for good measure, who could possibly resist? 

M’gann quirked a confused eyebrow up at Wally before taking her hand off the bioship’s hull upon receiving telepathic confirmation from the ship with coordinates locked and ready. “Uhm, that’s very appreciated but there’s no need. Ship and I are psychically linked, so preparations are never really time-consuming.”

Okay, so M’gann. M’gann could resist. Wally visibly wilted when his efforts had gone either completely unnoticed or ignored. Of course, he knew all that about the bioship, he was just hoping the martian would have been able to pick up on his subtext. “Ah, okay…” He replied in defeat. 

Shortly after such a harrowing loss, the rest of the now uniform-clad team entered the hangar. Wally instantly found Batman’s protege at his side, nudging him and snickering when he noticed the speedster’s temporary crestfallen state. “You feelin' the aster, KF? It’s mission time!” Robin cheered as the two followed behind everyone else as they boarded the sentient spacecraft. 

The flight to Ordinary was quiet, Wally leaned back in his chair as he looked around, he smiled at M’gann, admiring how she looked while piloting the ship before sinking further into his chair when she didn’t notice his gaze. The male looked around at the rest of his team, how weren’t they going crazy with all this silence? He wished he had brought snacks of some sort at the very least to provide even a semblance of distraction – on top of that, he was already feeling the beginning pangs of hunger. He did have a calorie bar in his suit’s utility compartment but he’d save that for later in case the mission ran long.

After what felt like forever (to Wally), Aqualad finally spoke up, “Alright team, we will be arriving shortly. Once we are on-site we will split up to cover more ground. Zatanna, you will be with Robin, Ms. Martian, go with Artemis, Superboy, you are with me, and Kid Flash – given your powers, I want you to search near the outskirts of town.” the Atlantian supplied, making sure to provide amply reason to deter Wally from arguing.

The redhead in question gawked at Kaldur, he heard Artemis snicker at him too.  Great, so not only would he get to explore the creepy ghost-town, now he’d have to explore it on his own . 

Ordinary, Maine 20:47EST

The team landed in the center of town, a park that provided enough room for their vessel to land. The floor of the bioship rippled before opening up, a staircase-ramp extending and touching the ground below allowing the group of heroes to exit. 

All right everyone, I’ve established the psychic link, Miss Martian telepathically said to all of them. If anyone sees anything, be sure to alert the rest of the team.

Roger. Everyone commented in unison before breaking off into their assigned teams, and Wally sped off towards the buildings at the edge of town.

“Tch, man, this bites,” the redhead scoffs aloud, seeing as his thoughts would just be broadcasted to the rest of his teammates. “Why am I the one to get shafted without a partner? So uncool.” 

Wally zoomed down the street, rounding the corner before pulling up a holo-map from the navigator on his wrist. He stopped when the red dot on the map indicating his position showed him at an appropriate distance from the center of town. Now to begin his investigation. 

Wally had been tasked with searching the edge of town, to see if perhaps anyone had survived… Whatever it is that happened here or whoever it was that was responsible. He kept whipping his head back, making sure no one was following him as he walked down the empty street. The whole thing was eerie, like something out of a horror movie. He wouldn’t be surprised if any second now he’d hear the sounds of groaning only to turn around and be met with an entire hoard of zombies or some other scary movie cliche.  

“Alright, alright, alright, you’ve got this Wall-man, you’ve got this, besides – there’s no such thing as ghosts, it's just you,” Wally told himself before coming up to a diner and stepping inside only to immediately reel as the odors of rotting food assaulted his nose. The speedster covered his nose in an instant, his appetite disappearing like the people of Ordinary. 

He quickly looked around, checking the bathrooms and kitchen before bolting out of the establishment after no longer being able to stomach the stench of abandoned food. Wally looked around before seeing a nearby bookstore. With a shrug of his shoulders, he’d make that his next stop. 

The bookstore proved to be much creepier than the diner had been but at least this time Wally didn’t have to deal with the overwhelming odor of rotting food. He looked around before stepping further into the store and the miniature maze of bookshelves. Wally summarized that the place probably wouldn’t have made for too bad a hangout spot back when the townspeople were still around but for now, the eeriness of the situation was starting to get to him. It wouldn’t have been so nerve-wracking if he had a partner like Robin to trade banter with, or hell , he’d settle for Artemis and her relentless need to call him out on everything right about now too. 

“Ah, come on Walls, stop being such a wuss,” He scolded himself aloud as he turned and walked down another aisle of shelves. Wally was almost at the back end of the book store when a loud thud resounded directly behind him. 

The speedster’s eyes widened like saucers as he whipped his body around towards the source of the noise as adrenaline began pumping through his veins, his feet practically bouncing at the ready in case the need to defend himself arose. This was bad, if it was a foe, or even the culprit behind the mass disappearances, a cramped bookstore like this was no place for someone with Wally’s powers to fight. Everything felt like bullet-time as if the speedster couldn’t turn around fast enough to see what had caused the noise. 

Nothing. 

There was nothing there. At least, no hulking, ravenous monsters or hordes of undead. His eyes moved downwards to see what had fallen. On the floor before him was a rather thick-looking book, it looked like a bible or encyclopedia but it was too dark to make out. Wally squinted before following the unseen path of where the book had fallen from, all the way to the top of the bookshelf. Only then did the redhead truly see the perpetrator. 

“Merow?” 

Normally, most people would breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that it was merely a cat who had been the source of mischief, but this… This cat made Wally’s blood run cold. 

He recognized the feline. The ginger fur, the black pattern stripes adorning it that made it look like a miniature tiger, the crimson-red scleras and abyss-black eyes staring back at the hero. 

It was Klarion’s cat, and where this cat was, the Witch Boy was certainly not far off. 

“Just. My. Luck.” Wally said, already kicking himself for deciding to step foot in this accursed bookstore. 

The cat, Teekl, as Wally finally recalled its name from League files tilted its head as if it too was as confused at the speedster’s presence here before bolting to the top of the adjacent bookshelf and then onto the hanging ceiling lamps. Wally watched the whole thing, slackjawed as the feline made its way out of the store through a broken display window. He shook his head, snapping himself out of stupefying disbelief before chasing after the cat. 

Guys! He mentally called on the psychic link, alerting the rest of the team, It’s Klarion’s fleabag cat! I just saw it, I’m following after it!

What!? Asked a startled Miss Martian. 

I knew he was behind this! Zatanna added.

Kid, Klarion is a high-level threat, do not engage! Aqualad warned, Team, converge on Kid Flash’s location ASAP. 

I’m still following it, we can’t just let it get away! Wally countered as he exited the store and looked to his left then to his right in time to see Teekl darting into a nearby alleyway. 

Kid Flash zoomed to the alley’s entrance before the cat was allowed to be out of his sight for too long, his eyes instantly honing in on the furball just in time to see it run up to an all-too-familiar pair of spindly legs draped in black dress-pants and jumping up into its owner’s arms. 

“There you are Teekl, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” The black-haired boy, Klarion, said as Teekl nestled in his arms. As he looked up in the direction Teekl had come from, Klarion's eyes widened as they made contact with the greens of Wally’s. “You!? What are you doing here!?”

Wally was on his guard in seconds as he hunched down, keeping low to the ground and ready to dash or make a run for it depending on what the witch boy chose to do. He needed to at least stall long enough for the rest of the team to arrive before the fight started. “Me? I could ask you the same thing! What did you do to all the people? Where are they!?” He demanded, trying his best to put as much intimidation in his voice as possible. 

Instead, Klarion raised an unimpressed eyebrow, “You think I did this, Flash-brat ?” he asked with a scoff.

“Yes.” Wally quickly replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “This is exactly the kind of weirdo, smoke-and-mirrors parlor trick crap you’d pull, are you kidding?” 

Klarion’s eyes narrowed as Teekl’s ears perked up, almost sensing her master’s next actions before moving up to perch on the witch boy’s shoulders. The moment Klarion’s hands were free, bright red, fiery balls of chaos magic materialized in his open palms. A warning to Wally that what little patience Klarion did have was running dangerously thin. 

Where the hell are you guys? Kid Flash mentally pleaded, despite his outward bravado his heart was practically thundering in his ears. He waited and waited only to be met with silence. Guys?

“You’re stupid friends can’t hear you, dumb kid!” Klarion barked, answering for the team as if somehow having overheard the speedster’s pleas, which was only mildly embarrassing if Wally thought about it. “I took the liberty of getting rid of that pesky telepathy, so noisy if you ask me.” 

Wally snapped his gaze back at Klarion, and if the growing Cheshire grin spreading on the ebon-haired boy’s face was anything to go by then it was clear panic was written all over Wally’s face. 

“What’s wrong?” Klarion asked, his rage quickly shifting back to his usual impish glee, “Can’t fight without that old geezer and his magic paperweight? Lucky me!” 

At once, the dark alleyway the two were in was lit up in red as Klarion fired a massive flaming ball of energy at him, as it hurled towards him, Wally could tell it was growing in diameter as well. There’d be no time to run around it, with his only option of evasion clear, the speedster darted out of the alley and immediately took refuge to the side. He watched as the fireball, now almost as big as the bookstore he had just been in, roared past him and collided with the building across the street. The redhead gulped as he watched said building crumble like children’s play blocks.

But this was perfect. 

Wally blinked as if a lightbulb had gone off over his head before putting on his goggles and zooming into the cloud of debris Klarion’s destructive spell had stirred up. He tapped at the side of the goggles and watched as his view changed to infra-red.

He just needed to stall, to wait long enough for the rest of his team to arrive. Wally knew he was at a disadvantage against Klarion’s attacks, what’s more, he’d have to improvise if he wanted to defend himself since bringing fists to a “magical” fireball fight probably wasn’t a safe bet.

“Come out, come out whoever you are.” The Witch Boy sing-songed as he stepped out of the alleyway himself and encroached upon the smokescreen. 

Wally heard Teekl’s meow before Klarion snapped at the cat, “He knew I meant ‘wherever’!” 

He squinted, dumbfounded over the other two’s inane back-and-forth then quickly shook his head before Wally got too distracted by the bizarre exchange. He watched as Klarion’s infrared figure walked closer and closer to the smoke cloud. Pun unintended but the speedster needed to act fast if he was going to even stay alive before the others arrived. 

Turning around, he surveyed what remained of the building Klarion had destroyed, his eyes noted how some of the rubble ended up forming a makeshift ramp of sorts. Yeah, that could work, He thought to himself. 

He dashed towards the ramp, weaving around the scattered building remains to zoom up the ramp and vault out of the smokescreen and into the air above Klarion, using his momentum to catapult himself into the Witch Boy. 

Klarion, on the other hand, already looked bored out of his mind as he watched Kid Flash’s leap into the air like it was re-run to a show the chaos lord had seen a million times. Before Wally could even land Klarion shot his arm up into the sky as red-colored energy surged around it and formed into a massive claw. It grabbed at the speedster, slamming him down onto the pavement and knocking the air out of him in the process. 

Wally gasped for air on the asphalt looking at Klarion as he threw his head back, howling with laughter and pointing, “Look Teekl! The brat thought whatever stupid plan he had was going to work!”

The witch's laughter died down after a bit, letting out a lazy yawn. "Well, thank you Kid Crash. Your detective skills stink but you at least helped kill the time. Now to kill you ." Klarion hummed happily as he snapped his fingers. 

Wally's eyes widened with horror as a crimson, ethereal greatsword materialized meters above his head, threatening to come down onto his flesh like a guillotine. "Say hello to Lady Death for me." 

The redhead slammed his eyes shut the moment he watched the blade begin its descent. At least it wouldn't be too painful. A quick death for the speedster, how fitting. 

Instead of hearing whatever noise Klarion’s sword would've made rending the flesh on Wally's neck, he was met with the sound of rushing water, and the zipping of birdarangs slicing through the air. The speedster opened his eyes in time to see both zoom above him and towards Klarion. His eyes followed the trail of attacks as they hurled at the witch boy. The conjured greatsword had disappeared as Klarion summoned a barrier around himself, blocking the string of attacks like they were nothing. 

His teammates had arrived.

"Kid! You good?!" Robin shouted as he rushed to Wally's side, helping him up. 

The speedster groaned as he rubbed the back of his head, holding onto Robin as the younger male helped him to his feet, "Yeah, just got the wind knocked outta me is all." He said. 

Wally turned his head up to see another string of attacks get sent at Klarion, this time it was a thrown car from Superboy, two explosive arrows loosed from Artemis' bow, and debris levitated and hurled by Miss Martian. While Klarion was distracted keeping his barrier up, Kaldur and Robin helped Wally over to Zatanna crouched behind a nearby tree. 

The magician raised her hands over Wally as white, diaphanous tendrils materialized around him, "Leah Yllaw fo yna seirujni!" She chanted, and in seconds, Wally found himself feeling back to how he was when he’d first encountered Klarion. 

The speedster opened his mouth to thank his enchanting nurse for having come to his aid, though, before even a syllable would leave his mouth the four of them jumped in surprise by Superboy's body crashing into the pavement in front of them. 

"Oh shi— !" Robin stopped himself short of cursing. 

"What the!?"

"Superboy?! Are you alright?!" Aqualad said, rushing to his side.

The half-Kryptonian groaned in response, giving Wally a sense of deja-vu and sympathy-pain for his teammate. 

"Kaldur! We need to call the League!" Zatanna said, rising to her feet as she turned her head towards the action. Her eyes widened as she saw Klarion call forth dozens of tiny red lights in the sky, they each distorted forward and elongated, transforming into laser beams and taking aim at Artemis and Miss Martian in a chaotic rhythm. She squinted as she watched his familiar, Teekl hop off his shoulders and circle around on the ground next to the Witch Boy's feet. 

"That's it!" Zatanna exclaimed. 

Wally hopped up, watching the fight and tilting his head at the magician, trying to decipher her expression, "What's it?" 

"I have a plan! Wally, you need to grab that cat and bring it to me," She said, before turning back to Aqualad, Robin, and Superboy, "Robin, you call the League, while Superboy and Kaldur join the others and tell them to keep the pressure on Klarion, keep him distracted so Wally can bring the cat to me while I concentrate on readying the spell." 

"Right!" The males said in unison before breaking off to carry out the plan.

“Let’s see how you dance!” Klarion said as he let out a thunderous cackle, summoning crimson lightning bolts overhead and sending them zig-zagging violently towards Artemis. The archer did her best to bob and weave before jumping through a nearby store window for cover. Meanwhile, Miss Martian flew behind Klarion, her expression angry and her eyes now emitting a green light that engulfed her eye sockets completely, her telepathic powers kicking into overdrive as she attempts to brain-blast the lord of chaos, anything to throw his concentration off.

Superboy saw the way the viridian light was extinguished in the Martian’s eyes, he heard as she screamed out, gripping her own head in agony, and watched as she plummeted from the sky to the ground below, “No!” He cried, jumping with all his might and just barely managing to catch her before the heroine met an untimely end. 

He glared up at Klarion, the moment he heard the brat’s laughter, “That’s what she gets for thinking she can just go poking around in the head of a Lord of Chaos!” He spat gleefully.  

Kaldur instantly took note of the way Klarion’s back was turned, an opportunity the Atlantian was not about to squander. He drew his water-bearers and pointed them at a nearby fire hydrant. The object began to groan and shake repeatedly as the water within stirred to life before rising up in a tall geyser. The water bent and twisted into a funnel as Aqualad channeled it into his hilts, commanding the deluge to adopt the form of a massive serpent and sending it roaring towards Klarion. 

Teekl meowed loudly, warning her master before darting for cover near a tree in order to avoid getting wet. 

“Huh?” the Witch Boy turned his head towards the source of the noise, his once joyful expression now having reverted to its boredom from before, almost as if he was offended that the Atlantian would have the audacity to try something so banal. With a flick of his wrist, the air in the space above Klarion swirled before tearing open in a vortex of swirling red and black, and through it – a massive, flaming rock fell, crushing the watery serpent, vaporizing it on contact before dispelling the ignited boulder with a mere snap. What was shocking most of all to Klarion was by far the complete lack of fear in his opponent’s face over such a display of unbridled power, no, instead Aqualad was smirking. 

“What do you have to be smiling about, fish-breath!?” Klarion snarled as his face elongated and his once-onyx eyes now glowed red as darkness overtook the white of his scleras. Before the Witch Boy could even demand an answer, a flash of yellow blew past him, past Aqualad, to where the female magician stood. Klarion’s eyes widened the moment he saw the ball of soft, beige fur in Kid Flash’s arms. 

Teekl. 

“LET GO OF HER!” Klarion all but screamed as the ground shook. All around the town erupted pillars of fire, a byproduct of the Lord of Chaos’ rage.

As if responding to her master’s bellowing, Teekl began meowing loudly and angrily, hissing at Zatanna as she slowly approached and wriggling wildly in Kid Flash’s arms, the feline doing her best to sink her claws into the yellow kevlar of the hero’s suit. 

“Would you hurry it up!?” Wally demanded as he held the flea-bitten cat as far away from him as possible. 

The ground shook with another tremor as Klarion summoned another orb of fire, this one, however, seemed to take shape fitting of its conjurer’s rage. The whisps atop concentrated at two separate points, forming horns, while the whites of the fire inverted into the shape of a beast’s open mouth, ready to devour them all whole as it burned towards them. 

Zatanna held out her arms just inches away from Teekl’s claws as her eyes began to glow white with mystic energy, “Part siht s’rohcna ecnesse ni a tnereffid enalp dna laes sti s’retsam cigam!”

Suddenly, Teekl stilled, simply staring blankly at nothing as the cat’s black eyes remained unfocusing, Wally let go as he felt the animal being lifted out of his hands by an unseen force, and watched as an orb soon surrounded the feline. Magic circles danced and spun all over the surface of the sphere as it floated down into Zatanna’s open hands. 

Before Wally could ask or even make a comment chalking the feat up to hyper-advanced science, a roar ripped his attention back to the monster-like fireball. He watched as it erupted like a popped balloon, leaving behind nothing of its existence save for a few crimson embers dying away in the wind. In the distance, the speedster could see the shock clear as day on Klarion’s face. Something tiny and indescribable churned inside the red-head at the sight of it furthering how perplexed Kid Flash was.

Wally soon mirrored Klarion’s expression as he watched the witch's eyes widen, as his hands clutched at his sides before crumbling to the ground, the ebon-haired boy’s form visibly distorting in and out, like a TV with bad reception. 

"What did you idiots do?!" Klarion demanded in a pained cry as he glared up, his eyes clear with worry over the state of his familiar. "I'm coming, Teekl, I'm on my way..!" 

Wally watched with bubbling concern as Klarion slowly crawled across the ground, his eyes trained only on Teekl in her prison, ignoring the way his body hissed as it phased in and out of existence. Never had he seen the villain like this before, in such a state of disarray, scared almost — but what struck the speedster the most was the worry, the way Klarion was more distraught over his cat while ignoring the state he was in. The redhead looked around at his teammates and soon noticed that his stunned silence wasn't exclusive to him. 

Klarion was only able to make it a few more inches across the pavement before his body became engulfed in a familiar golden light, a light which quickly morphed into the shape of an ankh, trapping the chaos lord's head in the ankh's loop, and his arms at either end like a pillory.

The League had arrived.  

Wally looked up as he watched the group of veteran superheroes descend from The Javelin hovering just above the town. Dr. Fate was the first to land, a few feet away from Klarion whose eyes never left Zatanna’s magic orb containing Teekl, his body visibly shook with agitated trepidation, completely ignoring what Wally knew to be his arch-nemesis standing right next to him. 

Black Canary and Batman were the next to land, jumping off of the floating green platform the Green Lanterns had provided before going over to the team, "Is everyone alright?" The heroine called, giving everyone a quick once-over, making sure no one's insides were outside. 

“All good here,”

“Yes, I too am alright.”

“Feelin’ the aster,” Robin chirped coming to Wally’s side and patting him on the shoulder, “Right KF?”

“Huh?” Wally asked tearing his gaze from Klarion in his bindings over to the boy wonder at his side. If someone were to ask him how long Robin had been there Wally would be hard-pressed to answer. “I, uh, yeah – all good.” He responded, barely having recalled his question before looking back towards Dr. Fate and Klarion. 

The gold-clad sorcerer extended his hands as the ankh binding Klarion began glowing brighter before lifting the boy up from the ground, he walked past the lord of chaos and over to Zatanna who regarded him silently as she handed over the orb to him. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!? Release Teekl, NOW, Nabu!” Klarion demanded, stirring against his confines before wincing after a snap of Dr. Fate’s fingers causing the male’s bindings to tighten. 

“Silence, Witch Boy, or it is your anchor that will pay for your offenses.” Dr. Fate spoke, holding the ball containing Teekl in suspended animation. It was then that the sorcerer’s hand began to glow bright gold, the light flowed up around the ball until it formed a ring, thin rays extended off the ring’s interior, permeating the orb’s surface and wrapping around Teekl’s still form. Though the cat made no sounds, its body visibly pulsated from inside the sphere, in turn, causing Klarion to writhe wildly, much more distressed than before. 

“Stopstopstop, STOP!” Klarion screamed, his voice cracking and breaking, “You’re hurting her! Please!”

Begging. He was actually begging. Wally could hardly believe his ears. The mighty Lord of Chaos, Klarion who had such an air of superiority, was begging, not for his sake – but for Teekl’s. 

“J-Just wait a sec, Doc,” Wally spoke as he raised his hands placatingly, “I thought you said chaos can’t be contained, we stopped him, isn’t that enough?” He asked, looking over his shoulder and up at Klarion, still floating in the confines of his pillory.

Nabu stared down at Wally in silence as if it was the young hero about to face judgment instead. After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke. “... The circumstances have changed. The witch needs to be interrogated.” Nabu simply said as he gazed down at the orb. 

Wally’s eyes widened before, yet again, feeling someone else touching him. 

This time it was Uncle Barry – The Flash, his mentor. “According to our intel, Klarion’s one of the top members of The Light. If we get info outta him, it could go a long way in saving a ton of lives – Kid, you did some seriously good work today – you should be happy, this is a huge win!” He stated, smiling encouragingly as he gave his protege's shoulder a friendly squeeze. 

“Yeah… Thanks.” Wally offered, giving a small smile. His mentor was right. He should be jumping for joy. He should be snatching something off of Klarion’s person and cheering “Souvenir!”, he should be elated, after all, he was the reason this all worked out the way it did. So why wasn’t he? 

He watched as Dr. Fate, as well as the Green Lanterns, escort Klarion onto the Javelin with the rest of The League following behind. Before the Witch Boy was boarded onto the ship, he turned his head and onyx eyes locked with the greens of Wally’s all over again. It felt as if eons passed even though their impromptu staring contest only lasted seconds.

“Wally, are you coming?” Miss Martian asked.

Wally watched as the bay door to the Javelin closed, its ramp retracting as he turned around and followed everyone else to board the bioship. “... Coming.” He replied.

Chapter Text

Mount.Justice 21:49 CDT

The bioship landed, morphing to extend a ramp and let the team file out. Wally got up from his seat as it melted into the floor and made his way out of the ship. He looked up in time to see M’gann placing her hand on the bioship’s hull, smiling as she pets the sentient spacecraft and thanking her for having flown the team. He silently passed her, finding himself too exhausted to even strike a conversation, or rather, get shot down for who knows how many times now. 

“Dude, wait up!” 

He heard Robin call out, prompting Kid Flash to stop, slowly turning around to see the hero approach. “Oh, hey,” Wally replied, rubbing the back of his neck, not having realized how tired the mission had made him. He could feel a headache coming on, and right now, he wanted nothing more than to be alone and maybe get some shut-eye. 

Robin tilted his head as he looked up at the redhead, “‘Oh hey’?” He asked incredulously, “I was gonna ask if you wanted to hang out or something, you’ve been quiet the whole trip back, y’know – not that I’m complaining.” Robin said, snickering to lighten the mood.  

“Nah,” Wally declined as he turned his head in the direction of the Hangar’s Zeta Tubes, “I’m pretty worn out, Klarion did a good job of roughing me up before you guys showed up so I think I’m gonna head home.” He said, hoping the excuse was believable for the boy wonder. 

The shorter male studied him for a moment before shrugging, swinging his arms behind his head, “It’s cool, raincheck then!” 

Wally smiled with a quick nod before turning around and heading to the Zeta-Tubes and stepping into the metal tunnel. 

Central City 22:00 CDT

Recognized: Kid Flash - B Zero-Three

In seconds, his body was rematerialized in the Zeta Tube located in Central City, disguised as an empty, out-of-order vending machine. Wally breathed a sigh of relief, a strange part of him was actually happy to be out of the cave and away from the team. He tried not to look into the feeling too hard as he sped off in the direction of his neighborhood.

“I’m home.” He called out tiredly as he stepped inside his house, his cowl now off and resting at his shoulders like a hoodie. 

“Welcome home, sweetie!” His mother cheerfully called, stepping out of the kitchen, “Are you hungry? There’s plenty of leftovers I can heat up for you.” 

“No thanks, mom, I’m pretty beat from today’s mission, think I’m just gonna get ready for bed…” Wally replied as he made his way upstairs and into his room, before his mother could interrogate him over something even he knew would be seen as irregular behavior, but it wasn’t as though he was lying. He was tired, and for one of the rare instances of his life, he didn’t have much of an appetite despite not having eaten very much earlier in the day. Right now, what Wally truly wanted was to bury his head in his pillow and be dead to the world for as long as he can before he has to get up for school tomorrow morning. 

He shut the door behind him, leaning against it as he dragged his hand down his face. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. About Klarion. It frustrated Wally if he was being honest. He’d never felt this way after a mission, especially when he was the one who earned the team the win. He loved being a superhero; he loved helping people and stopping the bad guys. But this? Everything about the mission had left a foul taste in his mouth. Every time Wally closed his eyes, all he could see was the Witch Boy’s face, the fear, and panic in his expression. His voice still rang in his ears, too. Wally could remember the way it trembled and quivered as he begged for Teekl’s sake.

The redhead let out a groan, trying his best to will away the urge to replay the scene for an umpteenth time. This was stupid, insane even! Klarion was a villain – he got what he deserved! Why should this be anything he lost sleep over? For all he knew, the Lord of Chaos had more than likely escaped by now and was off terrorizing defenseless animals or something. The speedster was worrying over nothing! What he should be fretting over was tomorrow’s math quiz, the math quiz he had neglected to study for. 

 Slowly, he peeled himself off the door and got to work at removing the rest of his suit. Boots, gloves, top, pants. Wally hopped into the shower, sighing contently as his sore muscles relaxed under the warm water. He turned it off after he was finished and changed into his pajamas. Crawling under the covers after having sped-dried his hair, Wally was out like a light the second his eyelids closed. 

The moment he opened them, he was no longer in his bed, instead, Wally sat at the kitchen’s island table in the cave. That was weird – he didn’t remember waking up, but Kid Flash shrugged when Miss Martian levitated freshly made cupcakes in front of everyone. The team laughed at something Wally didn’t hear, so he laughed along with them to not be left out. He felt happy. 

The scene changed abruptly, it all happened so fast, even for him, and it left his head hurting worse than ever. Wally laid flat on the ground, the pavement stabbing into his cheek, making the speedster struggle to his knees. Wally’s face morphed with confusion when he saw himself staring back at him. The expression the other Kid Flash wore was one of pure and utter abhorrence. Wally didn’t even know his face could even make that expression. Around his disgusted doppelganger gathered the rest of his teammates, each even more seemingly offended than the next. All of them, clone included, looked down at Wally as if he had been filth at the bottom of their shoes they’d stepped in by accident. 

“G… Guys, it… It’s me..!” Wally struggled to speak as he crawled across the ground. Looking down at his arms, he immediately noticed their thinness, the black suit jacket with long, red-trimmed cuffs and his fingertips ending in black, elongated, pointed nails.

No, it was not, in fact, him. 

He looked down at his open palms before shielding his eyes the instant he was surrounded by a blinding, golden radiance. He knew this was Dr. Fate’s magic, but it wasn’t anything like when Nabu had used him as a host – it hurt, it burned . Wally’s eyes screwed tightly shut, his mouth hung open in a silent scream as his body pulsated abruptly. His heart practically leaped into his throat when he opened them, finding himself face to face with Nabu’s disembodied helm.

His eyes slammed open as he felt his body plummet through darkness into consciousness. In seconds the speedster sat up straight, panting hard as he wiped the sweat that had collected on his brow, looking around he quickly tried to survey his surroundings, his shoulders relaxing the moment he saw his posters, his superhero memorabilia. He rushed out of bed and into the bathroom, flicking on the light, he looked in the mirror, blinking and rubbing his eyes, patting his cheeks over and over. 

Oh, thank god. He thought to himself.

He was awake, and back in his body, The speedster smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as he returned to his room and crawled back into bed. 

Glancing over at the clock the boy’s heart quickly sank, it was ten minutes before he had to get up for school. Wally groaned loudly as he let his head fall back on his pillow. Sure, it took him all of two-and-a-half minutes to get ready, given his speed, but it was still annoying. Especially since it was Klarion’s fault he had gotten the nightmare in the first place. Or rather, night terror. Wally rubbed at his wrists as he remembered the pain dream-Nabu’s light had caused him – or rather, Klarion, he supposed… 

Wally stayed quiet for a minute before shaking his head as he stared up at his ceiling, No, c’mon dude, snap out of it! You are worried over a villain for crying out loud. He’s fine, it’s freaking Klarion! Klarion the Witch Boy, Klarion The Lord of Chaos! He’s escaped by now! He’s off plotting with the rest of those Light bozos! He’s – Wally practically jumped out of his skin the moment loud rock music began blaring from his side, his clock heralding that it was time to get up. 

Now angry over having been interrupted, and also for almost having the literal bejesus scared out of him, Wally glared at his alarm clock as his fist came down on the button, silencing the blasted thing.

Again! Klarion’s fault! He told himself. Already he could hear the witch-kid’s shrill laughter at his expense. The annoyance it brought along helped ease the knot in his stomach that only seemed to tighten whenever his thoughts drifted back to the ebon-haired boy. 

It was fine , he kept repeating to himself like a mantra as he got dressed and fixed his hair before heading downstairs. Just gotta make it through school then I can dash to the cave and confirm what I already know. Wally thought to himself as he scarfed down the four bagels he had made and downed the entire gallon of orange juice in the fridge, heading out the door and off to the only place in the world more harrowing than any super-villain’s lair, school. 

Suffice to say, school had been, in Wally’s words; a total bust. He couldn’t stop daydreaming during his first period, the result ending up in the teacher sighing with exasperation and the class laughing at him and his BS-answer when he was called upon, the food during lunch had been the usual atrocious, mystery slop that never failed to leave him with stomach pains, and to top it all off – Wally was certain he had never bombed a test harder than today’s. Great, now he’d have some serious sucking-up to do in his future just to either get a chance to retake it or find a way to earn extra credit. 

He tapped his foot, trying – and failing – to keep it at a normal, non-metahuman speed as his eyes stayed fixed on the clock just above the door. Wally swore the secondhand was ticking slower than normal on purpose. After the eternity that the clock seemed to create going from six to twelve, the bell finally rung. The sound alone was all the redhead needed to bolt out of the room and down the hall. After having thrown everything in his locker and zooming out of the school, Wally was off downtown and taking the Zeta tube back to the cave. 

Mount. Justice 15:16 CDT

Once inside, Wally looked around, the mission room was empty at the moment, making his next stop the kitchen. Lo and behold, there on the counter sat Boy Wonder, clad in his civilian wear he turned his head upon hearing Wally whooshing into the room.

“‘Sup, dude!” Robin greeted.

“Sup yourself,” Wally responded, bumping his fist with Robin’s, “Where is everyone?” He followed up as he turned, already grabbing supplies for a sandwich and setting them on the counter. 

Robin chuckled, “So get this, the whole League is off dealing with another chaos-magic issue, I mean this is what? The second magic-based villain?” He asked.

“Geez, What is this? Harry Potter Weekend ?” Kid Flash asked, prompting the brunet to throw his head back with laughter over the joke. 

Chaos Magic? Swee~t! Wally mentally cheered. He was right! He’d been worried over nothing after all. “Oh man, you’re telling me Klarion escaped already? Hope he didn’t trash the Watchtower.” Wally said, trying his best to keep his elation under control over the news as he finished spreading mayo on the bread and began layering ham and turkey before slathering more mayonnaise on the other side of the bread.

“What? No, man – Felix Faust’s behind this one.” 

The loud clang of the butterknife dropping to the floor resounded through the kitchen as Wally snapped his head to Dic – to Robin, making sure he had heard him correctly. “F… Felix Faust? S… So Klarion’s still..?” Ah, crap, this was really, really bad . Klarion hadn’t escaped, he was still up there, his fleabag-cat was still up there! Worst of all, Robin has the world’s greatest detective for a mentor, he was bound to know something was up, which would lead to him asking questions, and how the heck was Wally supposed to even answer said questions when he himself didn’t know what was up, to begin with!

“... Still in custody up in the Watchtower?” Robin finished, already sizing up the redhead in an attempt to get a read on him. Wally could practically hear the furrowing of the young investigator’s eyebrows from behind his sunglasses, “Dude, you sure you’re okay? It’s weird seeing you all… Anxious.”

Wally poked his head up from behind the island counter after he’d finished retrieving his knife, “I’m fine.” He wasn’t, but he also wasn’t about to drag his best friend into this mess. Wally knew he’d have to lie to get out of this. It baffled him at times, how whenever he and Flash would question a rogue, the lies the villains would craft on the spot – while obvious, it was still crazy that they could just weave entire stories like that. Maybe if he just tip-toed around the truth it wouldn’t technically be lying, would it? Of course, it would but he was just going to ignore that part of his brain.   “I just, Klarion, he…" Wally rubbed the back of his neck as he stood up, his mind frantically searching for an excuse and already cringing at the results. "He said some weird stuff, so… I hope they're able to get at least something useful out of him." 

A wave of relief washed over him as he watched Robin's features soften from concern to understanding and soon after, a small part of Wally died as he realized this was his best and longest friend he’s just lied to, the worst part being was that Robin had believed him because Robin, now falsely – believed Wally was incapable of being dishonest with him. Slowly, the younger teen relaxed as he swung his arms behind his head, “Don’t fret, dude, I think Batman is helping Dr. Fate with interrogations since he skipped out on patrolling Gotham last night. I’m sure they’ll get plenty out of his sorry can!” 

“Perfect,” Wally said, turning around to dispose of his now-dirty butter knife in the sink grimacing at the thought of the two most unfeeling people in the world doing the questioning. He remembered his time in Nabu’s world within the Helmet of Fate, how adamant the entity was. And the workaholic, Dark Knight? Wally shuddered, the more he thought about Kla – about the situation, the more of his appetite he lost. “Thanks…”

“Don’t even mention it!” Robin said cheerily, sounding as though he’d just solved a case. Turning around, Wally saw the boy hop off the counter and grin at him.

Kid Flash smiled back a lopsided, forced smile then tilted his head, “Where are you off to?” He asked.

“Back to Gotham, I promised Alfred I’d help him encrypt some of the Batcave’s files. You should just relax, you’ve earned it.” 

Wally nodded as he watched the boy wonder exit the kitchen, and once again, he was alone with his thoughts. His thoughts and a sandwich he no longer wanted. 

Wally groaned in frustration as he brought his fist down on the counter. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, about him, and the more he thought about it, the more Wally was beginning to realize the only thing that would make this incessant feeling go away. 

He had to go see Klarion. 

He needed to. Just to see how he was holding up, how they were treating him. Perhaps they had just put him in a comfortable cell with his cat. Wally could envision it perfectly, he’d go up to the Watchtower and probably walk in on Klarion playing with his familiar and get several insults thrown at him or some maniacal grin followed by how getting into the Watchtower was just all a part of his grand, evil, master plan. 

With newfound, steadfast determination now coursing through the speedster, Wally disposed of his uneaten sandwich before making his way to the Zeta Tubes back in the mission room, changing into uniform along the way. With the League busy with the Felix Faust fiasco and the Team off doing their own thing, he should be able to get in and out of the Watchtower effortlessly. Anything to quell this creeping anxiety Wally had churning inside him. 

He could feel his hand clam up as he walked up to the control panel. Normally, a non-leaguer would need a member of the Justice League to allow them access but luckily for Wally, his uncle had shared his password, to be used only in case of emergencies. Not being able to think, concentrate, or eat qualified as an emergency – even if that was a bit of an oversimplification. The computer chimed in acceptance of the entered credentials and whirred to life, ready for transport, Wally stepped forward and dissolved into light. 

The Watchtower 16:37 EST

The young hero gulped as he stared at the massive, empty central hub of The Watchtower. Cautiously, he took a step forward, crossing the tube’s threshold half-expecting to set off a million and one alarms by unknowingly tripping invisible lasers or something of the sort. He sighed with relief when nothing happened as he walked towards the middle of the room trying to quell his overactive mind. There was no turning back now and he was wasting time. Pulling down his goggles and turning on infra-red Wally sped off down the hall in search for the cure to his inquietude. 

He whipped his head from side to side as zipped down hallways, zig-zagging into adjoining corridors and traversing down several flights of stairs. Wally groaned at how massive the orbiting satellite was. Honestly, he wished he had some sort of handy ‘you are here’ mall map. Or that he’d had the foresight to download the Watchtower’s schematics, but hacking was a bit too Robin for Wally. He stopped at the crossroads of hallways as he surveyed his options, as he did, Kid Flash couldn’t help but recall the Team’s mission from the other day. He had the same sense of dread, and right now, the Watchtower had the same feeling as Ordinary had. The eerie emptiness, the scarcity of life, all this coupled with his anxiety of being here was beginning to get to him. A mortal on Mount. Olympus, if he was caught now, there was no telling how badly his reprimand would be. 

Was it too late to turn back? Kid Flash couldn’t help but ask himself as he moved his head back in the direction of where he’d come. Back to safety. 

No.

He knew in his mind that this, what he was doing here and now, was the right thing. He had to see Klarion, to make sure the boy was alright. Despite his status as a villain, despite all the grief the Witch kid had caused him, his team, Mr. Nelson – how he had seen his handling didn’t sit right with him, but perhaps, up here with people like Superman, Wonder Woman, uncle Barry – er, The Flash, and Black Canary, who was a trained therapist, perhaps, they’d take pity on him, give him a lighter sentence or more comfortable treatment in exchange for whatever information he was willing to part with, and with that in mind, Kid Flash gave himself a firm nod as he continued down the center hallway, approaching another stairwell. 

Coming down to the final floor, the Watchtower’s basements, Wally was almost blinded. The male whipped his head away with a sharp intake of air as he ripped the goggles off his face. He rubbed his eyes before taking a peek again, just to see which room the glow had come from. 

“Third on the right,” Wally spoke to himself as he deactivated his goggles, blinking away the stars and blurred orbs in his vision he made his way to the door, tapping the password into the panel and watching the door slide open.

Nothing could have prepared him for what awaited the speedster on the other side. 

No bars were forming a cell, there wasn’t anything in the room furniture-wise, not even chairs. Instead, the entire room was covered sporadically in gold, magic circles, and crosses caked in runic symbols of varying sizes. Some circles began on the wall and expanded to the ceiling but none touched the lone, massive circle on the ground, with a very tired, very defeated-looking witch boy at its center, the golden pillory-ankh still entrapping him, only now, Kid Flash took note of the way the ankh glowed and hummed like transmission towers, he could see scaring forming along Klarion’s skin where the light construct hung, moreover, the addition of a necklace around the boy’s pale neck. A black rope ending in an open claw holding a dark red amulet that flickered on occasion as if it were a lightbulb about to burn out. 

Slowly, Wally could see the mage begin to stir, had he been sleeping? He watched as Klarion looked up at him glaring through sunken, irritated, puffy eyes. Had he been crying? Looking down, the stains on his cheeks confirmed it. Wally’s eyes were wide with growing concern as if someone had planted a knife through his chest. Just what exactly had they put Klarion through? 

“W… Where’s Teekl?” Klarion spoke, his voice hoarse and broken, had they even fed him or given him anything to drink? 

Wally shook his head softly. All of this felt wrong to him. He respected the League, looked up to them, wanted to be one of them, but this? It needed to stop. “I don’t know. We’ll find her,” Wally said keeping his voice soft as he stepped closer.

Klarion’s eyes went wide at first with disbelief but then they shot to the circle’s border the second he noticed Wally about to cross its ethereal line, “No, don’t..!” He gasped.

Wally watched the entire room seemingly pulsate as the circles spun, faster and faster until they flowed down from the ceiling and walls, sucked into the main pentagram on the floor. The ankh imprisoning Klarion glowed similarly, responding to Kid Flash’s incursion, and then that too evaporated. Wally heard the sigh Klarion breathed out, his entire body sagging as if he’d been supporting the weight of the world on his shoulders. Wally zoomed down, skidding on his knees, making sure to catch the sorcerer’s body before his head could hit the ground. 

“Ugh! Don’t touch me!” Klarion spat as he tried to push his way out of Wally’s hold to no avail, wincing immediately the second he put weight on his wrists to try and fail at escaping the speedster's hold.

Wally was too busy looking around in confusion over just how easy freeing the Lord of Chaos had been to be annoyed at the lack of gratitude. “I don’t get it, how did…” He trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing as his mind went into overtime on making sense of what happened.

“Are you an idiot?” Klarion asked, glaring at the ground as Wally helped him to his feet, the speedster could practically hear the witch’s eyes roll. “You used to be one of Nabu’s hosts, his magic can’t touch you, it’s a creepy failsafe he has in case he needs an emergency host, and someone that’s worn that dumb, tacky paperweight is still alive.” 

Well, Klarion was right about one thing, that was creepy but so was the rest of anything even remotely related to mystic mumbo-jumbo crap. The redhead shot a scowl down to Klarion, “Hey, how ‘bout a ‘thank you’ for getting your sorry can out of this, you have no idea how many rules I’m breaking for you,”  Furrowing his eyebrows, Wally could hear the other panting, trying to catch his breath. 

“H-hey, take it easy,” He amended.

Klarion scoffed as he, no doubt much to his own chagrin, clung to Kid Flash for support, struggling to stay on his own two feet. He kept scowling at the floor, doing anything and everything to avoid eye contact before voicing his next words. “You want a ‘thank you’? Help me find my Teekl.” he said.

Wally could hear it, he didn’t have to strain his ears too hard to hear the crack in Klarion’s voice whenever he spoke his familiar’s name. 

If you had told Kid Flash a couple of months ago that he’d be breaking into the Watchtower and was now speeding down its halls with Klarion the Witch Boy literally piggy-backing as they searched for his cat, he would’ve scrunched his eyebrows and would’ve chalked the whole thing up to mind-control. Yet, here he was, of sound mind whipping his head from side to side as he searched for Teekl in a similar manner he had for Klarion. 

“Go left.” Wally heard him say from his back before receiving a light bonk on his head, indicating to him when to turn. The speedster found the action weird, to be sure. It wasn’t a hard hit either so Wally didn’t say anything, finding that he didn’t mind being led like this. “Go right, we’re getting closer to her, I can feel it..!”Klarion called out again, his voice raspy before breaking into a tiny fit of coughs. 

“What did I say about taking it easy?” Wally scolded as he ran the both of them down hallway forty-who-even-knew-what.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Kid Crash! It’s there! She’s in there!” Klarion shouted as he pointed to the massive double doors the two were coming up to at the end of the hall. 

Wally looked up at the entrance, taking a deep breath as he readjusted his hold on Klarion. Stepping up to the panel on the wall and punching in Barry’s code all over again. The doors slid to the side, allowing the two males passage. Inside, the room was dimly lit, each light reserved only to illuminate the display case it was over, it was a weapon and trophy room, much more impressive than anything in the Hall of Justice, and definitely more than Kid Flash’s souvenir room back in the cave. Up here, were artifacts taken from villains that were deemed too dangerous to store in the Hall. There were weapons he didn’t even recognize; a mysterious, glowing caduceus, a floating book here and there, even a red ring, similar to the ones the Green Lanterns’ use, except – well, red, and at the end of the room, surrounded in a half-circle of display cases, was the familiar, ginger furball. Still as a statue, its eyes unblinking as it stared off into nothingness from behind her ringed-sphere prison.  

He heard Klarion growl with disgust as he looked around, “The nerve of those barbarians – keeping poor Teekl here like she's the latest museum display! Repulsive!” he said, as Wally set him down the moment he felt the Lord of Chaos stir. He watched as Klarion rushed to his cat and reached to grab at the orb, “I’m here, Teekl! I’m here, just like I promised, are you okay? I –” Klarion didn’t get a chance to finish, cut off by his own cry as the orb pulsated, the ring around it shining brightly as arcs of gold lightning attacked Klarion, he screamed as the electricity lifted him until his feet were off the ground, then in an instant, sending the male flying at the wall in rejection for the attempted breach. 

“Whoa!” Kid Flash shouted in a panic as he sprinted to the wall at top speed, wincing when his back collided with it, but using his body to cushion Klarion’s impact. Both males collapsed to the ground, each groaning as Wally moved to help him up. “Here, let me try,” he said as nudged the mage off of him as gently as possible before stepping up to the orb. He gulped but remembered the way Dr. Fate’s power had reacted in Klarion’s room, hopefully, the addition of Zatanna’s magic wouldn’t get in the way of that and leave him in a similar state it had left the aforementioned Witch Boy.

With apprehension coursing through his veins, Wally slowly and with bated breath, reached up for the orb, the ring glowed before evaporating as anticipated and just like that, Wally held the sphere containing the familiar in his hands. “There, that wasn’t so –” He paused mid-sentence as his eyes widened at the growing crack on the prison’s surface. He watched as the crack grew, sprouting out all across the orb until it overtook it completely. It shattered in his hands, leaving Wally standing there with his mouth agape, watching as Zatanna’s orb fractiles dissolved into the air and disappeared, all with a now collapsed, tired Teekl now in his arms. 

Klarion rubbed his head as he looked up, his eyes widened as he hurriedly moved close to take Teekl from his arms. Wally couldn’t help but notice the gentleness the other male had when it came to his pet. The way he delicately moved to place his hand under Teekl’s bottom, bringing her chest to his shoulder so that her front paws rested on it, while his hand petted slow circles into the feline’s back. He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard Teekl’s slow and steady breathing. “She’s okay…” He said as a tired smile broke on his face. 

Even Wally could feel his anxieties begin to alleviate the moment he too saw the rise and fall and gentle swooshing of the cat’s tail as he inched closer, “I didn’t think it was going to be so easy to free her, Dr. Fate’s… Magic, whatever, I get – but Zatanna’s too, how come it worked that time too?” 

Klarion looked up with a raised eyebrow before sighing as if he’d solved a problem that should’ve been easy. “Of course, it was, for you . You don’t have a single magic bone in your body, I’m such an idiot for not thinking of it before that stupid ball zapped me,” Klarion paused as he continued to stroke Teekl’s fur, “You not having magic or even being sensitive to it must’ve disrupted the circumstances in the orb, causing dumb, old, baby-mage’s two-bit spell to malfunction and collapse on itself.” He added, attempting in vain to suppress his laughter over Kid Flash unwittingly dismantling Dr. Fate’s and Zatanna’s collaboration prison. “Serves her right for not adding in the extra clause,” Klarion added with a spiteful grin. 

Wally, on the other hand, felt like he was watching indecipherable equations float past him as Klarion spoke, “Circumstances? Dude, I don’t speak Dumbledore,” He replied bitterly as the witch attempted to calm his fit of giggles then looked up at Wally and breathed out with exasperation and a roll of his eyes.  

“Okay, Magic 101 for dummies, all spells are a series of repeating patterns and circumstances. You touching the dumb orb while not having any magical affinity of your own was like a brick through a door – window – whatever! Look, can we get out of here already? You breaking that stupid ball no doubt warned that stage magician that Teekl’s free so unless you wanna explain this – I suggest we get out of here.” He explained.

It was like someone had punched Wally in the gut and knocked all the air out of him the moment he heard Klarion. Glaring at him as he cradled his cat a hundred things he wanted to yell swelled on his tongue before being able to sputter out a single, outraged, “Dude!” 

“What?” The sorcerer asked nonchalantly. 

“Argh! Shut up!” Wally barked as he went and swung his arm under Klarion’s legs, in order to pick him up. He wasn’t fond of carrying the witch-kid this way, not by a long shot, but it was the only feasible way Wally could carry him while Klarion carried Teekl. 

There was a pause as Klarion looked at Teekl in his arms, Wally raised an eyebrow as he watched him sink his face into his sleeping cat’s fur before quietly muttering a single “Thanks…”

This wasn’t fair, not when Wally wanted to stay angry at Klarion, now he had to go and show him that he was capable of gratitude? Kid Flash huffed, “Yeah, yeah,” he replied, speeding out of the room to make his way back to the central hub on the top floor. Only now was he beginning to realize how hungry he was. 

It had to be said, Wally had carried his teammates on missions before, whether to conduct coordinated attacks, get them out of danger, or transport them if they were otherwise incapable, yet Klarion by far, even with the combined weight of his cat was easily the lightest passenger he’d ever had, even while running on empty he could still continue running while carrying the pair up the Watchtower’s very annoying flights of stairs. 

By the time the three of them reached the open room, Wally’s heart was pounding furiously in his chest, practically on the verge of bursting. The more he came down from the high that came with rescuing Klarion and his cat, the more he realized he had effortlessly incurred the wrath of the entire League, and the Team by extension. Rushing over to the Zeta Tubes, Wally set Klarion down and began accessing the panel, authorizing Klarion and Teekl guest access before they could be transported. 

Before he could finish, Wally heard the sound of the Zeta Tubes next to theirs begin to stir and roar to life. His eyes shot up as he felt his Adam’s Apple swell in his throat as the young hero struggled to breathe properly. 

Recognized: Dr. Fate – One-Seven, Batman – Zero-Two, Flash – Zero-Four, Zatanna – B Zero-Eight

“Would you hurry it up!?” Klarion called out behind him as he darted his head from Wally to the entrance of the Zeta Tube. 

“KID!” Uncle Barry called, causing Kid Flash to jump, he’d never heard him quite so angry in his life.

Instead of looking up, he turned his head to look pleadingly at Klarion before going back to work on the panel. 

“You dare think you can escape Fate?!” Dr. Fate was the next to call out as he clapped his hands in front of him, the head and arms of an ankh quickly took shape before its tail extended rapidly in a beam of light, with the intention of destroying the Zeta Tube they were in and prevent their escape. 

Klarion was quick to act, quicker than the Lord of Order, extending his hand, Wally looked up in time to see symmetrical patterns and runes form at the turbine’s threshold, taking shape into a circle that blocked the oncoming attack and prevented the rest of the heros’ entry.

“Wally, what are you doing!?” Zatanna cried as she ran up to the wall, careful not to touch it.

Turning from the magic wall to Klarion, “I-It’s ready, go, go! ” Wally frantically called out.

Klarion gave him one final look before turning, “You better not keep me waiting, that wall won’t last forever.” he spat annoyed. Not knowing just how much that statement had served to help quell some of Wally’s anxieties of being left to figure this mess out by himself on the other side. 

Recognized: Klarion – A Zero-Five, Teekl – C Zero-Three

With one final look, Kid Flash lifted his head from the panel, locking eyes with Barry’s. 

“Don’t do this, Wally – please, we can talk about this, you won’t be in trouble, you’re not thinking straight. C’mon, Kid, please…” His mentor called out and Wally could feel his lower lip tremble with every word out of the Flash’s mouth. 

“I… I’m sorry.” That was all Wally could say before he turned. 

Recognized: Kid Flash – B Zero-Three

Chapter Text

New York 19:22 EST

Wally wished he could've stayed dissolved as he was transported in between Zeta hubs, to just fade away into non-existence and just never have to deal with this or any problem ever again.

It was truly amazing what a speedster could think about in the span of seconds as they were teleported. 

Said speedster’s eyes widened with shock the minute his body was reconstructed at his destination. Before him stood Klarion, his taloned hands outstretched as crimson energy gathered into a single point in front of him and adopted the shape of a massive medieval-styled lance. Wally's breath hitched in his throat as he used his powers to propel his body to the side as the Witch Boy fired the conjured weapon. The projectile narrowly missed him, its heat trail could practically be felt against Wally’s back as it darted past him. Turning his head he watched the lance impale itself in the center of the Zeta port – an open, garage sliding door with the turbine still whirring away. 

Wally snapped his head back in Klarion’s direction, anger clear on Kid Flash’s features as he watched the other male throw his head back in laughter, "Oh man," Klarion breathed through his fit of giggling, "You should've seen the look on your face! If I had a camera I'd have that picture framed!" 

"What the hell was that for!" Wally demanded getting up to get into Klarion’s face. Had Barry been there, he would've made sure to reprimand the protégé for his use of the H-E-double-hockey-stick word. Ugh, that's right – Barry. He didn't even want to think about the way the Watchtower Fiasco , as Wally was now going to refer to it, went down. 

Klarion, wholly unimpressed by Wally’s best attempt at being imposing, sighed in disappointment like a comedian whose joke hadn't landed. "Oh lighten up, would you? It's not like I was trying to kill you — I knew you'd get out of the way in time, Kid Flash," He said, enunciating the "Flash" of Wally’s title as if that alone should've made the mage's intentions obvious, "That was my real target." Klarion finished as he brought his wrist up and gave an upside-down point of his finger to the Zeta-Tube behind Wally, the very tube now sporting a massive hole in its center as electricity sparked violently in-between severed, exposed wire.

Oh. 

“You could’ve still–” 

“I’m not finished,” Klarion interrupted, as he brought his hands together and closed his eyes.

Wally tilted his head to the side as he scrunched his eyebrows, trying to make sense of what Klarion was doing. He watched as the sorcerer moved his hands in opposite directions while still touching so the tips of his fingers were facing his wrists. He watched the way Klarion weaved his fingers and tutted each individual digit with fluidity Wally didn’t even know the Witch Boy was capable of. With each motion, more and more lines took shape on the ground in glowing carmine, at first; a lone circle formed before points took shape from its interior, coming together symmetrically until the inner shape formed the lattice of a dodecagram. 

Klarion lifted his palms off – his right going down and his left going up. As if in response to the Lord of Chaos’ motions, the circle on the ground began to lift into the air, ascending as Klarion’s left hand rose higher and higher until the surface of the magic passed over Wally’s much taller frame. The redhead followed the shape’s movements before it began dissolving just as intricately as it had formed. 

“Uhhh, you wanna explain the light-show just now?” Wally asked, breaking the silence.

Almost immediately Wally watched as Klarion pinched the bridge of his nose, “Oh my stars…” he muttered under his breath clearly irritated, before bending down to pick up Teekl off the ground, he sighed in exasperation as he dusted his still-sleeping familiar’s fur off. “Do the words ‘cloaking’ and ‘spell’ mean anything to you? This way, Me, Teekl, and you can’t be sensed or seen by anyone in your Team, the dumb League or the stupid Light! Ugh, come on, I know a place where we can silence that infernal stomach of yours. I don’t know which is more annoying!” He spat before turning around and beginning to walk out of the alleyway.

Wally was left with his jaw hanging open in outrage as his chances of replying with a witty comeback or other smart-aleck retorts were quickly dashed with every step the Lord of Chaos took. 

‘Yeah – definitely regretting this.’ He thought to himself. 

“Are you coming or not, Kid Crash!?” Klarion demanded, now at the entrance of the alleyway. 

“I’m here, I’m here,” He replied as he sped up,  skidding to a stop next to him, “And the name’s Wally, get that through your horned head instead of calling me something any supervillain could come up with.” 

“Are you calling me unoriginal!?” The Witch Boy suddenly barked, his features distorting the way they tended to when his temper truly began to bubble. A clear warning to Wally as the speedster watched ebony eyes transform into deep sanguine. 

“Would you relax!? Spell or not we’d absolutely get found out if you decided to blow a gasket here.” Wally placated before breathing a sigh of relief he hadn’t realized he was holding in the moment Klarion’s features reverted to normal.

With a huff Klarion whipped his head away and began walking in front of Wally, “Just shut up and follow, you can do that much, right?” 

“Follow you where exactly?” Kid Flash asked, looking around as they passed the people that were walking the streets. Sure, there hadn’t been many missions that had taken KId Flash to New York but at the very least the citizens should be able to recognize The Flash’s protégé, right? Come to think of it, one would think the sight of a well-dressed, horned… Teenager? Was Klarion even his age? It didn’t matter, but surely, the sight of someone like him, carrying an unconscious cat would be enough to turn one or two heads. Yet no one seemed to notice either him or Wally.

“They can’t see us.” Klarion answers in a deadpan tone, “For now anyway.”

Wally looked up to see the Witch Boy shooting him a pointed look over his shoulder before turning his head as he continued to lead the way. 

After a while of walking through city blocks, the duo – or trio, finally came up to a tall corporate building. Wally followed as Klarion stepped into the alleyway, coming up to the double doors on the side. The speedster watched as Klarion pressed his hand against the panel adjacent to the doors, a white light scanned before turning green prompting the wall next to the panel to reveal a number pad.

“Argh, that stupid chrome-dome and his incessant need for security!” Klarion complained at the keypad, “How did it go again… Criss-cross the tree, trying to catch me…” Klarion began reciting to himself quietly as he began punching numbers.

Wally quickly covered his mouth to keep himself from snorting, “Dude, what are you doing?” 

“ Shut. Up! I’m trying to concentrate!” He shouted, snapping his head back, his impish, distorted features making a return, quickly prompting the speedster to do exactly that. With an irritated sigh, the Witch Boy went back to work on the console, “Ugh, this would be so much easier if Teekl were awake…”

Klarion trailed off, beginning to hum the little rhyme from before, punching in more numbers as he did, “... Bunny ears, jumped into the hole, popped out the other side, beautiful and bold.. !” With the final word, the keypad emitted a ping and the doors slid open in response. “There! You see?” He said, turning back to Wally.

Wally walked up, looking skeptically into the passageway Klarion had opened, inside was a long, hallway of pure white, at the end, a stairwell could be seen leading downstairs. Turning his head back towards his… Accomplice, the speedster shot him a questioning look, “I’m not being led into a trap like some freaky ritual where you steal my body or something, right?” 

"Are you stupid for a living!? This is a safe-house, the Light has loads of these places across the world, Vandal's idea. Besides — what use would I have with the body of some can't-spell that doesn't know the meaning of 'too much body spray'?" Klarion retorted as he began making his way down the hall, "Hurry up or get stuck out there." 

Wally breathed out a very offended huff as he balled his fists and angrily stormed in behind him, "Fine, since you asked so nicely, not to mention I’m a wanted criminal because of you!" 

“Honestly, do you always complain so much, Wally?” 

Oh, the redhead did not know how to feel about Klarion having used his name so casually. He could feel the way his spine pebbled with goosebumps, and for a rare instance, Wally was at a loss for words as they proceeded down the hall and to the stairs. Soon the two came up to an elevator, with the press of a button, the doors slid open and the two of them filed in.

Wally glowered as they descended to this so-called safe-house, frankly – he’d believe it when he saw it. Thankfully, the awkward silence was cut short by the sound of Klarion’s gasp. 

“What is it!?” Wally asked on high alert, turning his head in time to see Teekl begin to stir before opening her red eyes and offering a soft meow as she nuzzled her head tiredly against her master’s chest.

“Oh, Teekl – you’re finally awake,” Klarion began, his voice soft as if to keep from startling his anchor. “Welcome back, my dear,” he said while gently scratching behind the feline’s ears. 

Wally swallowed as he watched the scene, however, Teekl meowed again before he could get a word in regarding his… Relief? Sure – he’d go with that. His relief over the feline’s safety. It was strange, he wasn’t linked to the animal like Klarion was but Wally could’ve sworn there was a question mark at the end of that meow. 

“It’s quite alright, Teekl. He’s on our side, a truce, if you will,” Klarion answered as she began to purr when the Witch Boy began scratching at just the right spot behind the feline’s neck. 

Is that what we're calling this team-up? Wally thought to himself.

“Merow,” Teekl said again before turning her head to Wally and actually having the nerve to hiss at him. 

Klarion threw his head back, filling the small space with the grating sound of his cackling, “Yes, yes, I do agree that his larynx would look better splattered against the walls but –” 

That did it. 

“Are you serious!? You ungrateful fleabag, I’m the only reason you and your master are free, I don’t hear any thankful meowing!” Wally spat, anger clear in his voice. His eyes widened as he felt the elevator begin to tremble and shake.

Klarion glared at him, this time, however, his face remained human as he stared daggers into Wally before taking a deep breath, “ Teekl . Her name is Teekl,” He said, venom practically dripping from his voice, and if it were real – it’d probably burn a hole into the elevator floor, “You’re also the reason Teekl and I got captured in the first place!” 

The redhead’s breath caught in his throat and in an instant, all the anger in his expression evaporated into guilt. Looking down to Teekl and then to the ground, the former hero hung his head in shame, “I… I know, it was all a very bad call… Look, I’m sorry, okay? And I’m sorry to you as well, Teekl.” He spoke, trying to push away the voice in his brain telling him how ridiculous it was to be apologizing to a cat of all things, but still, he knew deep in his core that Klarion was right, this was all technically his fault. In all of the Team’s encounters with the Lord of Chaos, Wally had gotten so used to Klarion beating them somehow and just being able to escape. Truth be told, had he known that night how this would all turn out for the three of them, Wally would’ve never gone with Zatanna’s plan. 

Wally looked up, judging by the surprised look on the sorcerer’s face, clearly, Klarion had been expecting some sort of argument, and soon they softened into a smirk before going back to petting his anchor. “Oh, how touching…”

“Meow?”

Klarion sighed, “Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, he is the one that freed you and me, and facilitated our escape.”  

“Merow…” Teekl said, nudging her head against her owner. 

“Ugh,” Klarion says, dramatically letting his head loll back, “ Fine, Teekl says ‘thank-you’.” 

The speedster in question blinked, before mirroring the same smirk, Klarion had given him, causing said Chaos Lord to squint, but before Klarion could ready an insult, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to a wide front room with a tall ceiling and marble floors. To the right, a fountain had been installed on the wall while others had art pieces hanging from them. The whole thing made Wally feel like he was in the penthouse of the Luthor Grand Hotel or something. 

“Wow, I gotta say I was expecting something more…” He trailed off as he stepped out of the elevator, looking around at everything before taking a seat at one of the sofas nearby, “Dungeon-y?” 

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” He said dismissively as he walked up to Wally and placed Teekl on the space next to him. Kneeling down, Klarion began scratching the top of her head before standing back up again.

The sorcerer looked down, grimacing at the state of his clothes, before running a hand through his hair, visibly cringing he turned and regarded Wally, “I’m in desperate need of a shower, and on top of that I have to look into this tacky piece of costume jewelry that old fart sacked me with so I can get the damn thing off – Teekl, make sure he doesn’t leave while I’m away.”

Teekl meowed in response before turning her red eyes to Wally. 

“Uhhh, dude? What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

Klarion raised an eyebrow and pointed a taloned finger to his left, “There’s a kitchen that way, go see if it has anything you can shove in that miserable trap of yours,” he said before beginning to walk off.

“Wait,” Wally called out, apprehension seeping into his voice.

“What now?!” Klarion snapped, turning back around.

God, he was about to ask this, wasn’t he? He sighed as he turned his gaze to the polished floor, “Why haven’t you just ditched me..?” He questioned, “I’m sure there are plenty of magic’d up villains you could go to for help – Wotan, for example…”

The Chaos Lord rolled his eyes at that, “Please, I’d have to be a fool to turn to that power-hungry oaf for help, no, no, none can know about this – not evil, immoral sorcerers and –”

“Merow.”

“He knows I meant ‘immortal’!” 

“And, before I was rudely interrupted, definitely not The Light. I don’t need any of those flunkies getting half-baked ideas! Besides, you proved yourself an adequate getaway car on that floating rock prison.” 

With that, Klarion walked down the hall lined with doors, while the relief that washed over Wally left him unable to do anything but snicker from behind. And with that, he stood up and proceeded in the direction of the kitchen. Hopefully, The Light kept their pantries well-stocked. It was, however, peculiar to see Klarion walking off alone while Teekl trotted ahead of Wally, swishing her tail in an almost condescending manner but he was not about to have beef with the very same cat that had been surprisingly more polite than her owner. 

Once the two reached the kitchen, Wally learned that “well-stocked” had been an understatement. The kitchen was far more impressive than that of the cave’s. Going over to the center island, Wally reached over and grabbed a banana as a warm-up. This kitchen hadn’t been touched by a speedster yet and lucky for it, the redhead was more than happy to provide a proper christening. 

After some sandwiches and bowls of mac and cheese, Wally made his way into what appeared to be a living room, setting down the once-frozen pizza he had baked onto the coffee table, Wally took his seat on the couch, Teekl following after him and giving him a meow. 

Wally turned to look down at the feline and following its line of sight towards the still-steaming pizza, He nodded and reached over, grabbing a pepperoni off the pizza and blowing on it until it was cool then offering it to Teekl.

 “Truce?” Wally asked as he watched her sniff at it, ultimately deeming the processed meat worthy and eating it. 

Teekl looked up at Wally before going over to curl up against his leg and going to sleep. He smiled softly as he grabbed a slice for himself, petting the sleeping cat with his clean hand. Wally ate quietly as he let his head rest against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He breathed out a sigh and closed his eyes and just like that, all he could see was the look on uncle Barry’s face all over again. He had never seen him so afraid, yet so… Angry? Wally wasn’t sure. He could only imagine what the League was doing now, even worse, the Team. Zatanna had been there, surely she would tell everyone else what had transpired on the Watchtower. 

What would they say? 

What would Robin say? 

He just wished they could have been there, that Barry could've been there. Could've seen how Klarion looked when they were taking him away, how he looked when Wally saw him in that room Nabu had him locked in. If this was wrong – if helping Klarion was wrong, why did the idea of turning a blind eye feel worse? 

Doing this may have officially been the nail in the coffin for him in having any further standing with the team or the possibility of joining the league alongside The Flash, but as much as that broke him inside, turning a blind eye would've also been easy. Sneaking into the Watchtower, breaking Klarion out, helping him now, to Wally, that was what felt correct. That this, what he was doing here and now, was the right thing to do and to Wally, that's what being a superhero was all about.

Too deep into his introspection, Wally was unaware of the sound of approaching footsteps, It was only until Klarion had let the thick, ancient-looking, encyclopedia-sized tome fall onto the coffee table with a thud loud enough to startle both Wally and Teekl. 

Teekl hissed at Klarion and Wally sputtered as he came crashing down to reality, “Dude, was that necessary!?”

“We have a problem.” Klarion replied with new attire and an even newer hint of urgency in his voice, “That stupid, geezer really outdid himself this time. I swear, when I get my hands on him I’ll,” He trailed off, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath. Afterward, Klarion opened up the book, flipping through its pages until finally stopping at a section with a centerfold, opening it up revealed an illustration of the very necklace around Klarion’s neck.

“Look here,” the Witch Boy instructed as he pointed to a column of text before glancing up at Wally. He paused for a second, noting the proximity between him and Teekl before shaking his head. 

Wally sat up and rubbed his eyes before squinting at the text, it certainly wasn’t a language he was familiar with, hell, some of the symbols weren’t even letters. “Uhhh, I can’t read this…” 

“It is basic Enochian! Don’t they teach you mortals anything in those institutions you’re all forced to go to? Ugh,” Klarion groaned in frustration as he pointed at the illustration again, “It’s known as the Amulet of Belial. It’s an annoying, ugly little thing created to punish magic users who stick their necks up too high above the crowd. Commissioned by Belial and made by a bunch of cowardly demons, whoever dons the necklace slowly has their magic drained. With that gone, the necklace can move on to the wearer’s soul. Those that have their souls consumed this way simply stop existing. No afterlife, no anything. That sounds far too boring for my taste.” 

“This Amulet of… Beetlejuice –”

“ Belial.” Klarion corrected.

“Right, whatever, that – how do we get it off of you?” Wally asked, looking at it as it dangled on Klarion’s neck. The orb was brighter, clearer than when he had last laid eyes on it. 

The Witch Boy squints but resigns to looking back down at the book and studying its contents, “According to this, the only beings capable of removing the amulet and restoring the wearer’s power are Hellions with the blood of Belial coursing through their veins…” Klarion said as he finished reading.

Hellion!? Hell? Yeah, no. “Whoa, whoa, I know I saved you and all but I am not about to go waltzing into the underworld for you! I’m Kid Flash, not Orpheus!” 

“At this rate, Kid Headache is a more accurate statement right, Teekl?” 

“Meow.”

“ Who asked you!?” Klarion blinked, snapping at his cat, surprising even Wally when the feline had apparently sided with him. 

The redhead pursed his lips trying not to laugh to avoid redirecting Klarion’s ire back onto him. 

Teekl stretched before curling back up, “Merow,” she added, laying her head down to attempt to go back to sleep.

“Ugh, yes, yes, I know we’ll have to go to him if I want this off.” He answered his familiar as he turned, holding his chin in contemplation.

Wally sighed, letting his body sink back into the couch as he looked back up at the ceiling, “So we gonna fill in the getaway car, or are we continuing our game of 20 Questions?” 

The other male exhaled, going over and taking a seat at the armchair next to the couch, bringing his legs up to cross them before patting his lap. In response, Teekl opened her eyes and got up walking onto the coffee table and hopping into her master’s lap. Resting his chin in his open palm and gently stroking Teekl's coat, Klarion remained quiet for a moment as if mulling over what to do. After a while, he finally spoke. 

“There’s a demon by the name of Etrigan, he is the only one who can remove this,” Klarion spoke. “Good news is he’s bound to a human, Jason Blood – bad news though, he’ll be next to impossible to find.” 

“What? Can’t you just do a locator spell or something? Zatara used to do them all the time, and even Zatanna was able to do one when we were tracking you.” 

“It isn’t that simple,” he replied, “There are countless sorcerers that would love nothing more than to see Blood dead, he has wards set up specifically to deter the use of magic to localize him. Normally , I could circumvent those asinine enchantments but this ,” He spat, clutching the necklace, anger clear in his expression, “Will make my death all the quicker if I even attempt magic, you no doubt noticed its increased luster, yes?”

Wally furrowed his eyebrows in concern, looking at the necklace. “Yeah, thought maybe it was just the light or something.” He responded.

Klarion laughed dryly, “No, the more magic I use, the faster the damned thing drains me. I had to use a good amount just to open a portal to procure this tome, but it was necessary.”

Wally could feel his blood beginning to run cold, even Teekl seemed to sense her master’s distress, lifting herself to place a paw on his chest. 

“H… How long do we have before… Cggh?” He asked, swiping his thumb over his neck as he made the noise. Even now, he couldn’t help but try to keep things lighthearted, it was just the type of person he was. 

Klarion simply arched his eyebrow at the gesture before shaking his head, “I am a Lord of Chaos, my magic is nigh limitless, I should have more than enough time if I simply refrain from using spells here and there.”

“So, then,” Wally began, “What’s our next move then? How’re we gonna find this… Jason dude?”

“For starters, we’ll need to keep moving, otherwise we’re liable to get caught here. As for Blood, he used to have an apartment in Gotham before he moved, we can begin our search there.” 

Wally swallowed as he leaned forward, clasping his hands together he let out a breath. “Could we – or I, I guess. Could I make a stop back home? Back in Central, I mean. I gotta… I gotta at least say goodbye to my folks.” 

He didn’t look at Klarion, instead, he kept his gaze on the cold, marble floor. His mind was racing all over again, and a part of him deep down, though small and hidden, secretly wished the Lord of Chaos would deny his wish. To berate him for wanting to add a detour while they’re pressed for time. After all, it would be easier that way. 

So when Klarion finally broke the silence that had felt as though carried on for  eternity with a “Very well, but you better make it fast.” Wally wasn’t sure if the male was being merciful, or was simply able to see into the former hero and know in an instant that this would be a great opportunity to watch him torture himself.

“Cool, off to Central we go,” Wally replied, anxiety already seeping into his voice.

Chapter Text

??? ??????????: ??:?? 

Darkness, vast and all-encompassing. 

He blinked his eyes, trying his best to see amidst the endless black. With a groan of equal parts irritation and soreness, he struggled to his knees. Only…

Something was wrong.

He couldn’t move. Every time he tried he’d only be met with the sensation of his muscles screaming at him as though every cell in his body was alight in flame. The male breathed deep, ragged breaths as he waited for the pain to subside. 

Where was he? What was this? He closed his eyes, straining to recall the last thing he remembered, which was never an easy feat for someone like him. Being as primordial as he was, having walked the earth, and countless copies of it too, as well as seen the vast reaches of the cosmos, his mind had a way of blurring everything together. It wasn’t to say that he had a bad memory, it just took extra steps for Klarion to recall things. As a primeval being, he understood the functions and hierarchies the multi-verse had in place, he could comprehend magic and all its rules. It all came naturally to him. However, once he adopted his corporeal form, did he realize what hassle memories were. Having to wade through the pandemonium that was commonplace in his mind for the sake of accessing past events. If only Teekl were here, she was extraordinary when it came to remembering, always providing him assistance in bridging mnemonic gaps.   

Wait, Teekl! Where was she!?

The boy whipped his head back and forth in the space he was in, praying, hoping desperately he’d catch sight of her luminous ruby eyes. The pumping organ in his chest began to speed up as his worry began to spike, he couldn’t feel her, what he could feel was the block around their tether and the direction in which it was strongest, only then did he remember, that wretched, loathsome, fourth-rate stage magician. Before she was nothing more than a fly to him, annoying and ugly to look at, a pest whose only worth was being quashed, but that was then – Now, oh he vowed then and there in the dark, that he’d rain down pain unimagined onto that wannabe sorceress for ever harming his precious Teekl. Before his mind’s gears could turn and produce a plan to enact revenge, he’d have to devise a way out of… Wherever it is that he was.

He moved to attempt to stand only for the burning sensation to return once again in full force, this was nothing, he chanted to himself as he pushed through the pain. With Teekl still imprisoned somewhere Klarion did his best to concentrate his power, perhaps he could gather the vestiges of whatever magic wasn’t sealed away with her. 

The darkness was finally being chased away as embers of red began to form at the tips of his fingers. Finally, he could somewhat see the ground but in an instant, Klarion was blinded as his world was engulfed in golden light.

“So, you’ve reawakened at last, Klarion,” Nabu spat as if his name alone left a foul taste in his mouth. 

“You! Where’s Teekl!? What have you –” He was cut off, hissing in pain as Nabu held his open palm in front of him, and in response, the Lord of Order’s magic came to life all over again. His Ankh reformed around Klarion’s neck and arms, its base extending down to the ground as it grew, lifting the Witch Boy up to hold him aloft and at eye-level to that miserable helm. Here, Klarion mentally questioned if all the Lords of Order were this tacky, and only when he realized there was no Teekl to laugh at his quip did the strange emptiness in his chest grow.

“You are in no position to be making demands, brat,” Nabu said as he clapped his hands, the sound that emanated was akin to a massive bell ringing out. It made Klarion’s head hurt. The soundwave it created manifested in visible form as it expanded and grew. As it passed over the floors, the walls, the ceilings, it left behind golden lines, weaving together into patterns Klarion knew all too well. The latticework that would serve to keep him imprisoned in this room. He could see the commands woven into the glyphs and sigils, trapping him here, monitoring him. There wasn’t a chance he could perform magic now,  and even if he could this horrid, stifling cage would notify its warden beforehand. What’s more – if the Light somehow did know of his predicament, Any means to magically dispel the cage from the outside would prove fruitless.

Klarion scoffed at such a train of thought. No, he wouldn’t stoop so low as to hope for Vandal and his cohorts to devise a means of liberating him. No, he would do this on his own. His breathing picked up as he looked around the room. Klarion’s anger was bubbling now, he wanted out, he wanted out, he wanted out, he wanted out, he wanted out.  

As his face distorted and reverted – remnants of his chaotic magic trying its damndest to bleed through the myriad of seals – he kicked his legs as hard as he could against the pillory’s base, over and over until the insides of his boots felt wet, bellowing out frustrated screams that led to no avail, he may as well had been kicking a wall of cinderblock. 

With the seal and counterspells completed and set in place, Nabu glared in irritation before snapping his fingers, commanding the restraints to tighten on Klarion. “Do cease your infernal squirming, you’ve only yourself and the misery you have caused to blame for your predicament.” 

Klarion bared his teeth, shooting daggers at the Lord of Order, the pain flowing through him via the ethereal pillory only serving to drive his already bubbling anger to a boiling point, but before the sorcerer could spit any sort of curse or literal saliva at Nabu, the automatic door opened and in came none other than the Dark Knight himself.

“Enough.” He said, his tone full of anger, and if the lines on his cowl were anything to go by, they probably matched his expression too. "You need to calm yourself, we need to see how willing he is to cooperate before going down this path." 

Oh, so that's what this was. Klarion wanted to vomit, particularly right in Nabu’s helmet. He laughed, he laughed loudly and without care – both at the image of his bile oozing out of the eye-holes and at the gall it must have taken to even think he was about to give them any information whatsoever. 

"Something funny?" Questioned Batman.

“Oh yes,” Klarion responded with a snicker, “The two of you idiots thinking you’re going to get anything out of me!” 

Batman made an unimpressed sound, “The only one you’ll be making it difficult on is yourself. Just tell us what we need to know and we can discuss shortening your sentence.”

“We shall discuss no such thing,” Interjected a very outraged Dr. Fate, “The brat would just go back into the world to further sow chaos, he cannot be freed!”

The man in black turned, giving the Lord of Order a look that went unseen by Klarion, “This is us being reasonable, Nabu. Should he… Fail to cooperate, only then can you employ stricter methods,” And with that, the Dark Knight turned back to Klarion and spoke the first of what would no doubt be many questions. 

“What did you do with the citizens of Ordinary?” 

“The citizens of who?” Klarion asked in a half-mocking tone, half-confusion at the question.

“The empty town you were found in by Kid Flash, what did you do with its people?” Batman clarified.

Oh, so that’s what the place had been called. Klarion had originally mistaken it for a glorified junkyard, the only reason he had been there was to kill whoever had the nerve to call him to such a drab, unimpressive location. The whole place had stunk of poorly-performed-ritual, not quite strong enough to be a summoning, no – it had been more along the lines of a beckoning. Someone or something had called him there but was any of that their business? 

A smile grew on Klarion’s face as he shrugged his shoulders to the best of his ability given his current confines. “Dunno, maybe I sent them all to live deep underground like pilgrim mole people or something.” He replied with a giggle at such a thought. His laughter was interrupted by the snapping of gloved fingers and the instant pain coursed through the base of the ankh and into the Klarion’s neck. He whipped his head up glaring hatefully at Nabu when the pain finally ceased. 

“Do that again and I’ll liquify that miserable host of yours and drink them from your ugly helmet!” Klarion roared with rage. 

Batman, remained composed and proceeded to ask his next question, both of them ignoring The Lord of Chaos’ empty threat, “Was this all another distraction by The Light similar to when you created two Earths?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He sneered, glaring back at Batman, oh how he wished there had been a third bullet fired that fateful night.

“Yes, we would,” Batman said, and all over again the pain began before leaving just as quickly as it came.

Klarion’s breathing was labored as he hung from the pillory, his throat hurt from screaming and his pride stung worse than he could’ve ever possibly imagined. This was far too chastening an experience.

“Next question then,” Batman started when Klarion’s breathing finally slowed down, “What is The Light’s goal?”

Never in his life did the Lord of Chaos want something destroyed more than this glorified rock with everyone inside. He stared coldly up at Batman before finally speaking again, “The Light has… Several goals.”

“Care to name a few?”

“I never said I kept track of them.”  

And that's how it continued, a seemingly endless pattern of being posed with questions Klarion couldn't possibly know the answer to, only to be reprimanded with Nabu’s torturous magic. This was all Marduk – Vandal's fault! The Savage never documented any of his plans for this very reason. Not that Klarion was about to divulge that information, his pride just a tad too great to admit he didn't know anything regarding The Light's myriad of goals until they were already in their beginning stages. That's how it was with him, that's how it was with anyone in The Light. His only issue was getting that through his inquisitors' thick heads. Would they truly believe such a statement? 

Klarion wondered how much time had passed. Minutes had long since bled into hours, he was tired, he was famished. 

"I need… A break…" Klarion spoke, it was a struggle even now to keep his eyes open.

Batman, instead, ignored Klarion and proceeded with the same question he had asked for what felt like the thousandth time. "What is The Light's endgame?"

Instead of answering, Klarion did his best to allow saliva to collect in his mouth before swallowing, his throat hurt from so much talking, laughing spitefully, and screaming. 

After a moment of silence, Batman sighed, “I didn’t want it to come to this but I suppose you leave us with no choice. Nabu, if you would?” He spoke calmly yet also, gravely? He wasn’t sure.

“With pleasure.” Dr. Fate spoke as he turned and produced a box from what appeared to be a drawer in the wall. Turning around, the Lord of Order opened the box and from his hand dangled out a necklace with a stone darker than black. Walking closer and closer to the Lord of Chaos, Dr. Fate extended his hands and passed the necklace over Klarion’s head. The instant he did was the second Klarion felt an even heavier weight fall onto him and with it, came the complete loss of whatever energy remained. 

“Wh… What is this?” Klarion asked as he looked down at the stone, surprised to see it was no longer completely black. In its center now began to glow a tiny almost unrecognizable red ember. His magic.

“You don’t recognize it? Consider it fighting fire with fire,” Nabu answered as he reached to inspect the necklace before letting it fall back against Klarion. “The means to purging ourselves of the stain called you.”

His breathing started to spike again, Klarion knew if he wanted out of this hole, he’d have to cooperate, “If I tell the truth will I be set free?” He asked, wanting to be absolutely sure.

“It’ll be a step towards having that conversation,” Batman corrected before his commlink went off, turning to the side he listened as the voice on the other end spoke. “Fate, we’re needed back on Earth, Felix Faust has been spotted and is engaging the Green Arrow and The Flash. Wrap up here before heading over,” He said before making his way out the door.

“Rest assured,” He replied then turned to the imprisoned Lord of Chaos, “Now, talk. We can take it from the top; What did you do with the missing townspeople?” 

Klarion gritted his teeth, not this again, “I wasn’t the one who made those people disappear, and I don’t know who did!” He finally admitted aloud. He wanted to leave this wretched place, why couldn’t they just let him out already, what was the point?  

“Enough of your lies!” Nabu roared, raising his voice to a degree that made even Klarion take pause. “I know for a fact the truth rests somewhere deep inside that chaos-addled mind of yours, produce it! Now, Witch Boy!” 

Klarion gritted his teeth in frustration. This was maddening. Produce? Produce what? He had told him the truth and even then hadn’t listened, what could he possibly say that wouldn’t just get dismissed as more lies. “I already said, I don’t know.”

“Very well, I can continue playing part in this game of yours, but allow me to enlighten you that this is not my first time. Now, speak the truth,” The Lord of Order paused mid-sentence to extend his index finger in front of Klarion, floating slightly above the tip now formed the loop of his ankh before extending into the rest of its shape in miniature form, the end elongating into a needle the tip of which was now being aimed directly at Klarion’s center. He could feel the cross slash needle’s heat even through his shirt and suit jacket, and then without warning – watched as the thing was being driven into him, phasing through his clothing and seeping into his skin. Klarion’s eyes slammed open as his head arched back, looking up at the ceiling as his body struggled desperately to retreat from the order magic invading his body like a corrosive acid. He could feel the way tears collected in his eyes as he screamed in agony with every centimeter that was further pushed into him. It was as though someone had drilled a hole into him and was now busy filling him with liquified metal, determined to turn his insides into finery. At least it distracted him from the constant pain the pillory brought, Klarion would choose to focus on that instead and take what solace it would provide. 

After a short eternity, Nabu ripped out the ankh needle from Klarion’s chest. Rough and without care. Fitting for the barbarian in gold. Klarion glared at him through tired, indignant eyes now burning with hate. “Or else your beloved anchor will feel that magnified to its fullest degree.” Dr. Fate finally spoke.

And just like that, the fire had gone out and the warmth his hate had provided was quickly eclipsed by fear’s icy grip. “Wait, what?!” He asked, his words flying out of his mouth as if he couldn’t speak them fast enough. 

The Lord of Order said nothing as he turned, beginning to make his way out of the room. 

“Nononononono, wait! Wait! I don’t know anything! PLEASE! I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! GET BACK HERE! TEEKL!!!” Klarion howled as his heart slammed into his throat and thundered wildly, threatening to explode. He could still feel the needle’s phantom pains it had left him with, the thought that Nabu had been holding back when he’d done such a thing. The idea that the crazed Lord of Order would now direct it at his dear Teekl tenfold? Klarion’s mind cruelly played images of such a nightmarish scenario. He stared at the door in disbelief as it shut closed, leaving him alone in the room illuminated only by his magical confines. 

In his eons of walking the mortal plane, he had experienced a myriad of emotions, from anger to happiness, disappointment to glee, so when he first felt anxiety, when he finally understood fear – especially to this caliber, Klarion knew he hated it and never wanted to feel as he did. 

His cheeks were wet now. Why were they wet? He was shaking too. What was happening? Was he dying?

Oh. He was crying. 

Those parting words had proven too much, and Klarion was scared. Scared that now his only friend was in danger because of him. He wanted so desperately to get out of here, what he wouldn't give to see Teekl again, to take her and rid himself of this necklace, and when he did, Klarion swore to himself he'd bring this miserable rock crashing down right onto the Tower of Fate, with Nabu inside.

He could sense when the Lord of Order had left the Watchtower the moment the pillory ceased harming him and was now simply keeping him trapped. What was easily the worst moment of his existence had also proven to be a moment full of firsts as exhaustion finally began settling in the absence of pain. Klarion stopped fighting and let his eyes finally drift close. Who knew when he'd be allowed a reprieve in this hell again, and with that, the Witch Boy allowed himself to fall asleep. 

When next he awoke Klarion’s heart plummeted to see it hadn't been just an awful nightmare, what's more, none of the sleep he'd gotten, however much he had received, hadn't restored even a fraction of his energy. At least Nabu was still away…

Suddenly, the door chimed, signaling its opening. Klarion’s heart began pounding, his palms began sweating. Not again, not again, please, not again. He prayed to nothing in particular. At a loss with what to do, the defeated Lord of Chaos looked back down and closed his eyes all over again. Perhaps if they thought he was still slumbering, they'd leave him be. 

The footfalls sounded light and uneasy, nothing compared to the stomping that Nabu no doubt would’ve created. No, something was off. Opening his tired eyes, Klarion dared a peek at who his visitor was, but what caught him more by surprise wasn’t the sight of a yellow cowl in place of an ugly, golden helm, but the wave of relief that came with seeing the speedster wearing said cowl. Yes, he would surely answer his questions. 

“Where’s Teekl?” Was the first thing he asked, and upon hearing the other’s response, Klarion did his best to ignore the way his heartbeat steadied with newfound hope, would this hero truly reunite him with his beloved Teekl?

And reunite the two of them he did. Oh, how he had missed the soft bed of ginger fur, her gentle weight resting in his arms, the warmth her tiny body always radiated. Teekl was back, the Flash-brat had actually kept his word! Perhaps this was who he needed, at least until he could get back on his feet and exact his revenge. Yes, perhaps Kid Flash was the answer. 

When the Zeta tube had deposited him in an unfamiliar alleyway, Klarion looked up, his heart practically soaring at the sight of the cloudy sky. He breathed in deeply sighing in relief at the fresh air filling his lungs. He was out! He was free! Klarion quickly shook his head, it wasn’t time to celebrate just yet, he had to be ready. Setting Teekl down as gently as possible he took his stance, readying a magical lance poised at the Zeta-Tube. He’d strike down anything or anyone that wasn’t Kid Flash.

Please be him, please be him, please let it be him! He mentally prayed to the ether as the Zeta-Tube whirred to life all over again. 

As golden particles of light began flooding the turbine, Klarion inhaled deeply doing everything he could to steady the ceaseless shaking in his hands, he loathed how clammy they felt, how nervous he felt. His eyes narrowed as the particles began to take shape, and his crimson lance began spinning in place, faster and faster as he prepared to launch it. If it was anyone but Kid Flash he’d sent it at them to both kill and destroy the Zeta-Tube in one fell swoop. 

Klarion’s breath caught in his throat the moment he recognized the silhouette, the broad shoulders, the mop of hair rising through the opening in the superhero’s cowl, and only when Kid Flash finally materialized and black eyes met the viridians that were Wally’s did Klarion realize he had been grinning from ear-to-ear at the sight of that yellow-clad speedster. He adjusted his aim by a hair, knowing it would be more than enough for the redhead to get out of the way before releasing his attack, sealing their pursuers up in that rock. 

And he laughed, Klarion laughed hard. He was free. 

––

“Dude?” 

Came a distant voice. Wait, he knew this voice. 

“Dude!” The voice said again, this time reaching out to gently shake him by the shoulders.

“Augh!” Klarion sputtered as he was ripped from his daydream before turning to the owner of the voice, Wally. “What!?” He demanded.

“Uh, you were spacing out.” Wally began tilting his head to the side, “I was asking if you were gonna finish your pudding cup.” He said, pointing down at the table between them where two trays laid, Wally’s of course, had been stripped bare of its contents and was now more than likely on a one way trip to being hyper-digested, while Klarion’s on the other hand still had a few bits of pieces scattered about. Mainly the vegetables he had deemed unworthy of gracing his stomach, honestly, like he’d ever trust anything served to him on a train. 

Looking over to his side, his eyes found Teekl who was busy staring out the window, pawing every so often at the glass whenever she’d see something that caught her eye. Turning back with a sigh, Klarion grabbed the pudding cup and placed it in the middle of his accomplice’s barren tray. “Here, try not to die of happiness,” He commented with a roll of his eyes.

“Swoo-eet!” Wally cheered before tearing open the lid and melting as he placed a spoonful of vanilla goodness into his mouth. 

“Mm,” Wally chimed suddenly, grabbing Klarion’s attention once more, “So what were you thinking about?” He asked.

“What?”

“Y’know,” He said, pointing the spoon at him before doing swirling motions to the side of his own head, “When you were spacin’ out earlier, you looked like you had something on your mind.” 

The Chaos Lord blinked as he leaned back in his seat and averted his gaze from Wally to out the window, he could feel an annoying heat rise to his cheeks and it only made him scowl even more. “That’s none of your business!” He replied, causing Teekl to turn to look at the both of them. First at her master, then to Wally, then back at Klarion. 

“Merow.” She said to him.

Oh, you little–! Klarion thought in frustration before snapping at his familiar as well, “That goes double for you, you stupid cat!” He barked.

Teekl, in turn, hissed before meowing again. She then proceeded to hop on the table and move to sit in the seat next to the speedster who then actually had the nerve to reach over and scratch the top of her head. 

"Ah, don't listen to captain grouch over there," Wally commented, grinning completely unbothered by Klarion. 

Klarion squinted at the display in front of him before turning his gaze to his anchor, "... Tch, traitor."

Chapter Text

Central City: 16:49 CDT

Wally was sure of a lot of things, he was sure the Team was beyond mad at him, and he was sure Uncle Barry and the rest of the league were unfathomably disappointed with him (Honestly, he never would've thought he'd be the one to one-up Speedy – Red Arrow.) And he was definitely sure Klarion was at his wit's end with Wally for practically talking the Lord of Chaos’ ear off, it wasn’t like he could help it though – his mouth always went on autopilot whenever he was nervous but it was necessary, the more he talked about nonsense, the more irritated Klarion got with him making the other male talk back, albeit with several insults, but ultimately serving to help keep Wally from thinking a single thought about his friends or family slash mentors. 

Making another thing Wally was sure of was Klarion’s notice of the speedster growing quieter and quieter as they got closer to their stop, all but shutting up completely as the train pulled into Central City Station. He always became talkative whenever he was nervous, but whenever it got really bad, Wally would instantly find himself at a loss for words, unable to even utter a single syllable. 

“If you don’t get out of your seat, I’m getting back in mine and we can skip this insufferable detour altogether,” Klarion commented, causing Wally to jump, turning his startled gaze from the window to him. Teekl looked down at him as well from her perch on her master’s shoulders before curling her head into Klarion’s neck and going back to sleep. 

“Huh!?” Wally began, scrambling to his feet, “No, no, I’m coming, I’m coming!” 

Klarion rolled his eyes before turning his back and beginning to make his way out of the train. “Now who’s spacing out?” He said, annoyance clear in his tone as the two of them filed out and stepped onto the platform. 

The Lord of Chaos looked around, giving Teekl some head scratches before turning back to Wally expectantly, "Well? Lead the way Kid Crash, your creators better not be too far away, these shoes weren't cobbled for a quest," He spat, an indignant expression gracing the male's pale face. 

Wally grimaced before scanning the area, his eyes stopped and lit up the moment they landed on a billboard on the wall. "Oh, but dude," He exclaimed and pointed to the sign in question, “I bet you’ve probably been to Central dozens of times, but you haven’t been to Central until you’ve gotten the chance to see the Flash Museum! C’mon, we’ve got time, right?” Wally asked, turning his head to look at Klarion, excitement clear and alight in his emerald eyes.

Here, Klarion flashed Wally a big, happy grin, wide as if the speedster had just suggested the most perfect idea in the world, “Sure! I’m not dying or anything!” He said, now glaring at Wally for even considering such a brainless detour. 

The redhead all but deflated at the sarcastic retort, a mixture of equal parts anxiety for being unable to delay seeing his parents, and guilt – for having foolishly forgotten the end result of the necklace. Sure, refraining from the use of magic stalls the jewel’s drain, but it doesn’t halt it. So even if it was slow, Klarion’s life was still in danger, and Wally’s promise to help him outweighed the dread of seeing his family. 

Wally rubbed the side of his arm before nodding solemnly, “You’re right, you’re right, sorry,” He offered before swallowing and getting closer.

In response, Klarion took a step back, confusion morphing his features, “What on earth do you think you’re doing?” 

 “Uhm – so, yeah, my folks are a bit of a ways away, and normally I don’t notice it whenever I’m needed downtown since I can run to and from Central and Keystone, y’know? And, I’m actually really good at running, I mean I sorta have to be, being Kid Flash and all, but my point is that I can run under all kinds of situations, like, man – this one time Clayface was attacking Central, I think he was trying to rob something? Heck if I know, but do you know how hard it is to get that gunk out of your hair? I thought it’d be like gum or something where you can just use peanut butter but doing that just caused a chemical reaction and I ended up making a paste of some sort, I had to use scissors, oh man it was…”

The Lord of Chaos stared at him the entire time Wally went on with his ramblings, his expression was one of pure and utter disbelief as to just how completely off-topic the speedster had gone, what was even more baffling was the fact that Klarion was still just standing there listening to him babble. Was this what the humans called “a stroke”? 

With a deep breath, the Witch Boy finally snapped, “Oh for the love of..! What are you trying to say!?” He demanded, rubbing at his temple with his index and middle fingers while closing his eyes as if he were nursing a headache. 

The redhead jolted in place as his face flushed crimson with embarrassment, “You see! In terms of walking, it’ll take too long so it’d be better if I just ran us there! If I carried you like before!” Wally finally spat out in mirrored frustration, screwing his eyes shut as the words gracelessly tumbled out. 

“Merow,” Teekl commented.  

“Yes, my dear, he would look quite hilarious without hair, wouldn’t he?” Klarion replied with a giggle and a rewarding head pat to the feline. 

Wally looked at Teekl, shooting her a look of betrayal before groaning, “Yeah, yeah, okay Lord of Snide Remarks, just shut up and let me pick you up!” he exclaimed, exasperated with the two of them as he tugged his goggles on. 

“If you must,” Klarion replied dramatically as he was scooped up, Teekl moving down to rest on her master’s chest in order to be held more securely as the speedster took off. 

The run from the train station to Wally’s neighborhood took a total of five minutes, the redhead slowing down to a stop when he felt Klarion pat his shoulder after Wally had commented that his house was coming up.

“Wait,” he said. “Set me down here.”

Wally tilted his head to the side and watched as Teekl hopped off Klarion’s chest and onto the pavement as he set down the Lord of Chaos before taking that time to stretch and rotate his shoulders. “What’s up, witchy?” 

“A; don’t ever call me that again unless you want to be turned inside-out, and B; I assume you’d want to actually talk with your mother and father instead of at ?” Klarion replied with a raised eyebrow and a question of his own. 

“Oh. Right,” Wally said, looking away somewhat bashfully as he recalled the veil Klarion had placed around them, the one meant to keep the League, the Team, and The Light from finding them.

 “Is… Is that safe though?” He asked, looking back up at Klarion while he rubbed the back of his neck. Sure, he’d like to have an actual conversation with his parents before he saw them again, or if, god forbid – didn’t, but he would also like to avoid extra conversations, especially if they involved kevlar-clad individuals. Wally shuddered momentarily at the prospect of it all because he knew they wouldn’t just be talking, they’d easily break out into full-on fights. Was he truly ready for such a thing? Wally had never even dreamed he’d ever willingly fight against his teammates, well – former teammates, but now, that possibility seemed more and more real each day. 

“Sure,” The onyx-eyed sorcerer responded in his usual nonchalant tone, “You’re the only one I’m gonna be lifting the veil on, I’m being courteous enough to save you the trouble of having to explain Teekl and me being there, so instead, you can just consider us your personal ghosts.” 

“More like personal demons,” Wally scoffed, rolling his eyes and head at the same time. 

“Aw, Teekl, he likes us.” Klarion cooed, scratching under his cat’s chin with his finger. 

“I didn’t say that!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Klarion replied, coving his mouth to yawn before holding out his hand and extending his fingers. Slowly, his ring finger and thumb curled up until they were touching. Wally watched as Klarion brought his hand up so that his eye could look through the loop his fingers had created before the rest of his digits joined until it looked like he was holding a pantomimed telescope gazing at the speedster who watched as the Lord of Chaos lifted his index finger from the loop, the tip of which now glowed a bright crimson, turning it to point it at Wally before – seemingly – inserting into reality itself. In a swift motion, Klarion brought his finger down, lowering until he was just inches about the ground before gracefully rising again, now, in between the two of them floated a distorted tear outlined in red. “Step through that and anyone who’s anyone will be able to see you, though, I made it so we can still see and hear each other.” 

“Right…” Wally said, trailing off as he looked at the tear. With a deep breath, the speedster took a step through the threshold. To him, it felt as if he had been passing through an actual curtain, and as he did things sounded a little more clear and the world around him seemed a little more vivid. Looking black at Klarion and Teekl, their colors looked slightly more muted on the other hand, but still, Wally was relieved they were still there. Turning to point, “It’s the one over there on the corner with the lamppost.” He said, beginning to make his way over.

Just stay whelmed, Wally. He told himself as they drew closer to his home, and before he knew it, he was standing at the front door. The speedster gulped audibly as he lifted his fist to knock on the door, stopping when his knuckles were just inches from the wood and then wincing, bringing his hand back down as his other hand gripped at his head in frustration, “Augh, c’mon, I’ve got this, I’ve got this,” Wally told himself out loud, lifting his hand all over again and stopping all over again just as he was about to  knock. 

“Here, allow me,” Klarion chirped from behind, and before Wally knew it the Witch Boy’s index finger pressed down on the doorbell. 

“ Dude! Are you kidding me?! ” Wally whisper-yelled, turning around to glare at a grinning Klarion. He jumped, his eyes staying on Klarion as he felt his stomach sink at the sound of the door opening. God, maybe he should have taken Klarion’s advice on simply talking at his parents rather than to. 

“Wally..?” A female voice called from behind – his mother’s voice, “Is that really you?”

Turning around, Wally grabbed at his cowl, pulling it off to properly look at her, “H… Hi mom.” He replied, his voice growing soft, grimacing at the sensation of his stomach churning. 

“Oh Wally,” His mother cried, grabbing him to pull her son into a crushing hug, “You had us so worried!” The woman said, pulling back to look at Wally up and down as if confirming this wasn’t just a cruel joke, that it was her son. 

“Mary? Who’s at the door?” Questioned a gruff-sounding voice from inside. 

“Rudy!” His mom called out, turning around to yell into the house, “Rudy, come quick! It’s Wally, it’s your son!” 

Guilt. 

Guilt was all Wally felt as he was filed into his home – former home? Would he really still be welcome here after what he did? After what he was about to do? It all sat in the pit of his stomach as if someone had filled it with rocks. He found himself constantly looking back at Klarion – who of which was busy looking at his nails. Teekl however, did offer him a meow which oddly helped make him feel better as the three of them sat in silence in the West House’s dining room, while Wally’s mom and dad were busy talking in the kitchen. Teekl’s ears twitched and with that, the feline hopped off of her master’s lap and sauntered into the kitchen herself.  

Soon after, his mom walked in with Teekl following invisibly from behind to join them and hopping back to her perch on Klarion’s lap letting out a meow that made the Witch boy nod, “Good girl.” He replied, giving her scratches that immediately sent her into a purring storm. The redhead quirked an eyebrow up at that, wondering what she had said.

His mom was holding a can of soda in one hand, and a sandwich in the other as she approached the dining room table, “You must be hungry, let me know if you’d like anything else, we have plenty of leftovers in the fridge,” Mary said as she set the food down in front of him. 

“Thanks, mom,” Wally replied with a small smile, taking a bite out of the sandwich as he watched his father walk in. 

Silence set in all over again, Wally trying to keep from talking by eating his sandwich as slowly as possible, for him at least, while his parents watched him not knowing what to say. Wally was seated at the end of the table, with his parents sitting next to each other on one side, and Klarion and Teekl sitting unseen at the other. His eyes kept looking at the latter pair, he noticed the way Teekl licked her lips, eyeing the sandwich, Wally wanted to offer her a piece of the ham. 

“What are you looking at?” His dad interrupted.

“Oh, honestly, Rudy, he’s just nervous. Let him eat,” His mom interjected before turning to her son, “Though, Wally, sweetie – Barry stopped by a couple of days ago, he told us about what happened, we’ve been so worried about you.”

Wally swallowed his last bite a bit too quickly, wincing as it went down his throat, “I… I’m fine, wh… What did uncle Barry say?”

“That you helped a villain escape Justice League custody!” His father erupted as he brought his hands down on the table and stood up, startling almost everyone at the table – save for the two phantoms, one of which even let out a chuckle, Wally, however, only seemed to shrink under his father’s scrutinizing glare.

The redhead moved his hands under the table, ringing his fingers in a vain attempt to calm himself down as he did his best to gather his words, “That’s… That’s actually why I’m here to talk about… With you two…” Wally replied, stumbling on his words and looking at anything but his father. 

“What do you mean?” His mom asked, her face twisting with concern.

Wally swallowed already feeling a lump in his throat he’d do his best to will away. “I… I mean,” His breath shuddered as he readied himself. Here we go. He thought before speaking again.

“I promised to help him… I’m – he needed my help and I was there to give it but, I dunno, it could be dangerous and…” He rubbed the back of his neck and stole a glance at Klarion, immediately looking away when Wally saw he had captured his attention and was now also looking at him expectantly. With another deep breath, he swallowed the lump in his throat all over again, he hated that he was getting this choked up. “And I don’t know if I’m going to be coming back so…. I wanted to see you guys one last time to say goodbye, in case, uhm… In case that is the case.” Wally finished, looking up at his parents to assess the damage his words had just done.

Both his mom and dad sat and stood there as if they couldn’t believe what their ears had just heard, soon after, his mom let out a nervous laugh, her voice breaking just slightly, “You aren’t serious, right honey? What do you mean you’re not coming back? Are you being coerced?! Is that villain making you do this!? Controlling you somehow?!” She asked, growing more and more frantic with each question, the last of which made the villain in question scoff.  

“Whoa, whoa, mom – it’s, it’s not like that,” Wally said, raising his hands in a placating motion. “You… You should’ve seen what the League was doing to him, it – mom, it wasn’t right. They were torturing him!” He explained, trying – and failing, to keep his voice calm.

“Well, he is a villain, Wallace , he probably deserved it.” His father sneered.

At this, Wally rose from his chair causing everyone at the table to look at him. It was as if something inside him had snapped, he felt his anxiety burn away as sparks of anger ignited into a conflagration, “ No one deserves torture, it didn’t even look like they were even trying to get information out of him, they were killing him, and frankly – you weren’t there! You didn’t see what I saw, he didn’t deserve that!” Wally all but shouted to his dad whose face reflected every bit of outrage like a mirror. He didn’t care, his hands tightened into fists as he locked eyes with the man, appalled his own dad would say something like that, how he was related to aunt Iris was beyond Wally. 

“ Young man, don’t ever take that tone of voice with me again. Not while you’re under my roof. Not while we’re just trying to understand why you’re so bullheaded on making all these damn impulsive decisions!” 

From rage to angry confusion, Wally squinted at his dad’s words, “Impulsive?! It’s called doing the right thing, not the easy thing, that’s what being a hero is about!” 

“But that’s just it – you’re not even supposed to be a hero, you could’ve gotten yourself killed all over again!” His father yelled, raising his voice louder than Wally’s as he brought his fist down on the table again as if that would somehow further his point. 

“Rudy, please…” His mom began, turning around to try and grab at her husband’s arm in an attempt to calm the man.

With an irritated noise, he shook his arm free of her grasp, not wanting to be touched glaring down at her before redirecting his gaze back to his son. “What? You weren’t satisfied with your first near-death experience? When you tried to recreate the Flash’s experiment, when you messed it up and landed yourself in the hospital! Your mother and I just worried sick, not knowing if you were going to wake up or not, and for what?! All that hassle to just receive half the Flash’s speed?! Quit trying to be something you’re not, all you do is mess it up.” His dad finished.

Wally swallowed again, he could feel the way tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he stood there, taking everything his father had to say, each a razor-sharp dagger in his chest and if he had been paying attention, Wally would’ve seen the way Klarion had turned his head from him to his father, an irritated look that only grew with each passing word and finally, just as Rudy was about to sit down, the Witch Boy flicked his finger, making the chair move away just enough for… BAM , was the sound that resounded from Rudy falling ass first, flat on the floor, followed by the cackling of which only Wally could hear and God, did it take everything in the speedster not to break out in a fit of laughter himself, he even had to bite down on his inner cheek to keep from grinning.

“Serves you right for running your mouth, powerless worm!” Klarion said in between cackles. 

“Rudy!” His mother said, startled as she stood up and went to help him up, “Are you okay?” 

Instead of answering her, Rudy glared up at Wally, “Did you do that!?” 

And just as quickly as it came, his good mood evaporated. He returned his father’s ugly expression with a scowl of his own, “You just finished saying how I was only half as fast as The Flash.” 

“You know, I have had it with your smartass remarks, get the hell out, criminal!” His dad shouted and just like that, the room was silent all over again.

Wally could feel the way his lower lip trembled, the way it took everything he had just to keep himself from falling apart, but he wouldn’t. Not here, not in front of his dad or his mom. Not when he had explained why he did what he did but was still made out to be the one in the wrong when he had only done what he had been taught was the correct thing to do. He wouldn’t give that jerk that was his dad the satisfaction that his words had cut him far deeper than anything on any mission had ever wounded him. After everything he’d done, after how hard he’d worked to become Kid Flash, to be called such a thing… That was without a doubt, the lowest blow. With a deep breath, a sniffle, and considerable effort, Wally turned around, pushing in his chair. “Thanks, for having made all this so much easier,” He said, before turning to look at his mom through watery eyes. “I love you, mom.” With that, he began making his way out of the dining room, smiling softly at the startled sounds of his parents when they heard the chair Klarion had been occupying move as well before the click-clack of his dress boots followed after him. 

Turning the corner, the two made their way up the stairs with Wally leading the way towards his room, and only once both males were inside did the speedster slam the door shut. Teekl hopped off her master’s arms and went over to Wally’s ankles, nudging her body against them.

“She wants you to pick her up,” Klarion stated flatly as he walked over to sit cross-legged on the edge of the bed, resting his chin in his open palm. 

Wally blinked, casting his head downwards he bent down to do exactly as Teekl wished, holding her in his arms much in the same way he’d seen Klarion do so. Petting the animal’s back, the sounds of her purring already serving to calm Wally down and stabilize his emotions, now he kind of understood why Superboy was so attached to Wolf. Looking over at Klarion, he bit his lip as his anger and sadness were replaced with embarrassment over having been witness to… Well, that.  

“Uhm,” He began, swallowing awkwardly as he turned around and adjusted his grip on Teekl so he could grab his duffle bag, setting it down on his bed next to Klarion, “Sorry you ah, had to see all that.” 

Klarion rolled his eyes as he looked around the room, at Wally’s pro-wrestling posters, at the various action figures, and the numerous science trophies that all read Wallace Rudolph West, 1st Place . “Honestly, I don’t know how you put up with that, they annoyed me so much I was half-tempted to turn them into rats and set Teekl loose on them.” 

Normally, Wally would’ve been quick to reprimand anyone who threatened his parents but after how close-minded his father had been, how passive his mother was whenever his dad got like that, he wasn’t so sure he even wanted to defend people like that, as horrible a thought that was. He stayed quiet before releasing an exhale through his nose, smiling as he remembered the way his dad had fallen, “Thanks for having my back, that was really satisfying to watch.” 

“Well, someone had to shut him up, he was getting much too uppity over a hero doing their job, ” Klarion sneered with the slightest hint of triumph in the Witch Boy’s voice.

Wally laughed a bit more setting Teekl down in his duffle and went to his drawer, grabbing just enough clothes while still traveling light. Walking over to his desk, he reached into the very back of the drawer before grabbing what he was looking for; a large wad of cash, his emergency stash, then deposited it in the duffle bag’s side pocket. 

A gentle knocking came from his door, pulling all three inhabitants’ attention towards the noise, “Ugh, what now?” Wally asked himself out loud as he made his way to the door.

“I’m almost done and then I’m gone,” He said once he opened the door and looked at his mom. A panicked look flashed across her features causing Wally to wince, feeling bad over how curt he was. He was still trying to calm down from the argument with his dad and his mom’s lack of… Participation. Though, at this point, it was more surprising that he wasn’t used to it by now. 

“No, no… It’s not that, Wally, I’m not here to shoo you away, honest,” She said, doing her best to placate as Wally moved aside, allowing her to come into his room and closing the door behind her, “Your father had to run to the store to buy a new cable for our landline since the wire was all chewed up, oh my Lord – I hope we don’t have a mouse…” 

Wally’s mouth hung open as his mind put two-and-two together, and when he heard Klarion’s snickering from behind did that confirm his theory. “Y… Yeah, maybe.” Wally responded awkwardly.

“But that’s beside the point,” his mom said, taking a deep breath much like Wally did whenever he was about to say something hard, now he knew where he got that from, “Wally, look – you're my son and you know I will always support you in anything, even if your father and I disagree…” She paused looking down before looking back at Wally. “That being said, when Barry came over and told us what had happened, he also told us to call him should you come back home which is why your father went to the store, and with how fast he can get here… Sweetie, I just wanted to warn you. I love you.” 

His eyes widened and his heart plummeted. No, no, no, he was not ready to see uncle Barry again, not after how the two of them had parted ways up in the Watchtower. Looking around Wally began speeding through his room, grabbing the remainder of his essentials, and zipping up his duffle because a reunion with his uncle slash mentor was exactly what was going to happen if he didn’t pick up the pace. With one last look at his mom he dashed to her, wrapping her in a tight hug, “I love you too, mom. Thank you,” He said, at least he had a proper goodbye with one parent. 

Klarion got ready, standing up and dusting himself off as Wally walked to his door once he and his mother had finished their long embrace. Opening the door, all Wally saw was red.

Red with a yellow lightning bolt in the center. Looking up, Wally found himself face-to-face with the fastest man alive. 

“B… Barry?” Wally distantly heard his mom from behind, “How did..?”

“Rudy called me from a payphone and so I came as fast as I could,” He said, his eyes unmoving from his protege, “Kid, I need you to come with me, the League and I just want to talk, your friends are worried about you, don’t you want to see them?” 

Wally could swear his heart was beating faster than he could ever run, everything felt too hot as if someone had cranked up the thermostat in their home. What does someone say in a situation like this, how did words work again? A better question was how did breathing work again? In and out, right? Hydrogen, Helium, His mind began reciting on instinct, Lithium, Beryllium… Barryllium… Barry, It felt like TV static after that point causing the younger speedster to try and refocus his mind.

The Flash, having apparently grown impatient with his sidekick’s delay grabbed at Wally’s wrist, shaking him enough to snap him out of whatever stupor he appeared to be in, “Wally, come on, let's go.” He said, his tone adopting a more serious tone as the man attempted to try and drag the redhead out of the room. 

Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen! Wally’s brain shouted, his heart felt like it was about to burst the moment he was touched. He tried pulling his wrist free, his panic increasing when such an attempt had proven fruitless, “N – no! I don’t want to..! I made a promise! I don’t know, I don’t want to go! I have to help! Let go!” Wally sputtered out as he finally relearned how to use his mouth and was now saying anything like attempting different passwords in a computer only to have all of them get rejected.  

The first thing everyone heard was a cat meowing, not a soft gentle peep that beckoned, no – a loud, long, intimidating noise that bled with anger and the promise of pain if whatever was upsetting the unseen beast continued. Barry stopped in his tracks and Wally watched the way The Flash’s head whipped all around trying to discern the source of the bellowing, but it was as though it was coming from everywhere all at once and not a moment after the cacophony of rage subsided did the shaking start. 

“An earthquake in Central!?” Barry asked in alarm, as he watched the furniture rattle and shake, the sounds of action figures and trophies, as well as books and movies falling and hitting the floor seemed to startle everyone, but before his hero instincts could kick in, The Flash watched as the air in the middle of the room violently tore open in red, the force of it repelling anything that happened to be nearby, sending Wally’s bed on its side as it flew against the wall, and from that tear, the hero watched as the ebon-haired male stepped out and stood on the air itself. Scleras black and pupils red, those very eyes practically carving holes into Barry. 

Enter Klarion, Lord of Chaos.

Chapter Text

“Wally,” Barry began, squeezing the protege’s arm tighter, “Get. Behind me…” The Flash said as his eyes stayed locked in a staring contest with a very visibly enraged Klarion. Still, before either speedster could do anything, a loud snap from the witch boy was heard, and in an instant – what appeared to be translucent, crimson, barbed wire formed just inches above and around the wrist connected to the hand that had Wally in a vice grip.

“I have a better idea; unhand him or I’ll ‘unhand’ you!” Klarion interjected, a wild and crazed grin gracing his chaotic features almost as if daring to have his will ignored if only for the opportunity to distill punishment. 

Wally’s head darted from Barry to Klarion as his agitation only grew. This was bad, no seriously – this was like, really, really bad. There was no way these two could have a fight here in the middle of his room, not with his mom present, and who knew how long they all had before the rest of the League or the Team showed up. There was no way Klarion could take them all on while he still wore the necklace. His eyes moved to the magical barbed wire around the Flash’s arm and the redhead only felt his worry increase. The floating, the way the air seemed to vibrate and drag everything down as if the gravity in the room had increased – no doubt another of Klarion’s tricks to deter Barry from using his speed. All of it put together, who knows how much magic was needed to keep this up and one glance at the now pulsating, lustrous, red gem confirmed it. They needed to find an escape, Wally had to get Klarion out of here.

Before Wally could devise a means of escape, his eyes widened with shock as he felt his entire body get pulled by his wrist before he, along with his mom, practically got swung out of the room by Barry and his superspeed, apparently, undeterred by the enhanced gravity in the room. Well, he supposed they didn’t call him “the fastest man alive” for no reason. But this was good, Wally could work with this now that The Flash had let go of him and his mom pulled out of the crossfire.

Turning to her, he gently helped her to her feet, making sure she was alright, “Mom, you gotta get outta the house – it's not safe here,” Wally instructed, shaking her shoulders to pull her out of her shocked state, (one he had been in just the same not moments earlier)

“B-but dear, you –” 

“No arguments, just go!” And with a hesitant but frantic nod from Mary, she turned around and headed down the stairs as Kid Flash looked back into No-Man’s Land, formerly known as his room.

“The League’s already on their way, Klarion,” Barry began, glaring daggers at the floating Chaos Lord, “We captured you once, you can bet we’ll do it again!” He declared as he outstretched his arms, in the span of microseconds, Barry’s hands spun in circles, faster and faster until they pulled the air around them, transforming into dual cyclones spiraling wildly at Klarion. 

The grin that had been present on Klarion’s face before had vanished without a trace, the mere mentions of the League, of locking the Lord of Chaos back up, the way The Flash had used it as a failed means of intimidation only further fanned the infernal flames of rage that burned so harshly even the red glow Klarion and Teekl were outlined in had begun to grow into a vermillion blaze. The look of sheer anger in Klarion’s red and black eyes made the daggers of Barry comparable only to pushpins. The witch boy closed his eyes as he spoke “How rude, don’t you agree Teekl? Because of me, his very own hero – that retired Flash, will have the honor of attending his memorial service and not even a single ‘thank you’?” he finished, slamming his eyes open once again, moments before the twin vortexes could meet their targets. 

Barry’s confidence transformed into shock as he watched the tunnels of wind ignite in scarlet flames that twisted in opposing directions to his attack, corkscrewing down along his wind currents in an attempt to make contact with him. The Flash didn’t know how but he knew there’d be zero chance of extinguishing this fire if it touched him, not until he was nothing but ash.  

Wally looked on in horror as his speed-enhanced eyes took in every detail. Every fiber of his body, every instinct was commanding him to help, but the only question was; help who?! 

He was torn. Torn between wanting to help the person he’d promised to, the very same who had stuck up for him, or helping his mentor who had taken Wally under his wing, albeit with much cajolement. Then, in a complete lightbulb moment, Wally realized he could do both! Ever since he had been shoved out of the room, Kid Flash had noted how the gravity around them had reverted to normal, meaning he could use his super-speed again! 

Wally lowered himself to the ground, like a sprinter about to take off, he focused himself, evening his breathing as he did his best to channel his power into the center of his feet, then – as if a gun had gone off he sent his body catapulting straight at Barry like a bullet. With the combined efforts of both the force of Wally’s strike and having caught The Flash by surprise, both had been enough to send the hero in red straight through the window, plummeting onto the ground below.

Klarion gawked at the scene before him, having just narrowly managed to dispel his attack in time for Kid Flash to have made his, with a shake of his head the Witch Boy’s features morphed back to human, “What are you doing!? There’s no way he’d die from a fall of that height.”

“DIE!?” Wally repeated much less calmly than Klarion had, “Are you insane?! Didn’t you hear what he said, the League could be here any minute, which means you and I gotta leave, like yesterday!”

At that, Teekl turned to her master and raised a paw to his cheek, letting out a soft meow that Wally could’ve sworn sounded like she was agreeing. 

The onyx-haired male squinted at Wally, raising a finger and opening his mouth before closing it again, then finally saying, “You’re lucky that was really funny to watch.”

Klarion looked at the broken window, a scowl of deep disappointment growing on his face, “I hope he at least shattered both his legs.” He said as he raised an ebony-taloned hand, calling forth two identical, swirling vortexes of red and black – one for him and the other for Wally, that swooped down diagonally, transporting the trio away.

 Star City: 17:21 PDT

Being magically portal’d away had been nothing like teleporting with Zeta beams. For example, while the two forms of transportation were near instantaneous, with Zeta, Wally could just close his eyes, manage to think a thought or two, and then zap , he was where he needed to be. Being in Klarion’s portals, on the other hand, Wally could open his eyes. When he did, darkness could be seen, like a starless night sky and from that endless black bled a vast array of interwoven streams of red, like a massive hub – more significant than anything Wally had ever seen in his life. Before the speedster knew it, the sight in front of him was gone, replaced by the sights of yet another alleyway. 

But before the young speedster could properly reorient himself to his new surroundings, he found himself being tackled to the ground after hearing Klarion shout, “Get down, you idiot!”  

Wally groaned in pain, opening and closing his eyes rapidly as he tried to blink away the stars dancing in his vision. When that finally cleared, the first thing he saw was the ruby red orb, pulsating and dangling in front of the tip of his nose like a pendulum. His line of dazed sight trailed upwards until Wally’s eyes went wide, gulping quietly his brain was now very much aware of their positions. Klarion was still on top of him, straddling him and almost caging him to the ground with one of his hands planted next to his head, the redhead gulped quietly but did his best to shoo away any thoughts. Focus, focus! Wally mentally willed. It was here that he braved another look, this time following Klarion’s turned head. The sorcerer’s other hand was outstretched, busy maintaining the barrier he’d conjured up, and on the other side, a blur of black kept striking the wall over and over with intensifying force, desperate to get in. 

Wally squinted his eyes at the figure, it looked… It looked almost like Barry. Had he somehow followed them through the portal!?

Without warning, the blur stopped and let out a roar at the force field. It was then that he really got a good look at it, the – whatever-it-was definitely had taken the form of his uncle only it was, wrong. It looked like a dark, grotesque, shadowy version of The Flash – its jaw hung open, unhinged with exposed, rotten-grey sinew, its eyes were bottomless, empty pits that seemed to go on forever, and in place of Barry’s bright, shiny super-suit, was a tattered, worn-out rust-colored costume.

“What the hell…” Wally trailed off, completely and utterly at a loss for words. All his blood had frozen over as fear began to grip his heart, but why? Why was he so afraid? It’s looking right at me. He thought to himself, thankful to the universe, the gods, whatever, that it was on the opposite side of the barrier. Was that thing making him afraid?

“Oh, carp.” Wally heard Klarion say through gritted teeth from above him. 

“Carp!?” Wally echoed in high alert and now confusion too, “What!?” 

Looking back at the magical shield answered almost all his inquiries. To Wally’s horror, the entity had now taken to pounding away at the barrier with its head until it pressed it against the wall, soon after, a sizzling noise was heard accompanied by another roar. The duo watched as the grotesquerie forced itself through the ethereal wall of chaos magic, its body being burned away down to the bone only to reform the moment it was fully past the border. 

“Teekl, kill!” Klarion shouted as he turned his head back to his familiar, and from his shoulders leaped away Teekl’s tiny, house-cat form, and down came a massive saber-toothed tiger that Wally was all too glad to be behind of, having been a little too well-acquainted with Teekl’s prehistoric form and how powerful her blows could be. Hell, anything that could swat a half Kryptonian away like a fly was a force to be reckoned with. 

Teekl let out a roar that easily put the creature’s to shame, and in an instant, lunged at the shadowy Barry like a field mouse, capturing it in her jaws and claws. Wally and Klarion watched as bestial cat and shadow grotesquerie rolled towards the alleyway wall as the barrier came down. They looked on as the monster thrashed about wildly, trying anything and everything to escape Teekl’s hold. They hear it let out distorted, human-sounding shrieks and howls as it was torn apart like paper, and then a sickening crunch filled the alleyway silencing the monster permanently. 

Klarion smiles wide as he stands up, dusting himself off before assessing Teekl’s work, “That’ll show them,” he says, prideful of the monster being no match for his anchor, “Good work, Teekl! Come on –” 

Before he’s allowed to finish, Klarion’s silver eyes grow wide in alarm as his voice is drowned out completely by a deafening cry, the likes of which produces a soundwave powerful enough for Teekl to get blasted into the nearby dumpster. 

“TEEKL!” He cries in rage before whipping his head around to the source of such a heinous act. 

From the rooftop descended yet another entity, dripping in darkness. Its landing was akin to a black, viscous liquid being spilled onto the ground, before rising and taking form. Yet another watered-down facsimile of a member of the League. Black Canary. She stood at the end of the alleyway, her head spasming and twitching as if her spine was busy locking into place, abruptly a loud pop soon emanated from her neck as her face twisted in a violent motion, her dead, caved-in eyes locking with Wally’s and then her jaw opened again, except, unlike the real Black Canary – it kept opening, visibly unhinging from its jaw sockets as she unleashed another cry.

Glaring, Klarion outstretched his arm as he erected another wall, this time big enough to reach either end of the alley and separate them, letting the sound attack die on that side of the wall. 

Wally rubbed his head as he stood up, his ears still ringing from the earlier cry. His breath caught in his throat the moment he looked down the other end of the alleyway. Whipping his head back at Klarion he dashed, pushing him out of the way of the two, inky-black arrows whistling through the air and impacting against the wall, making both shatter. 

Both teens turned towards the source of the arrows and saw that the Black Canary copy hadn’t come alone. Wally quickly helped Klarion up as the two stood back-to-back, each staring down their opponent, “You handle that one,” Klarion said, referring to the shadow-Green Arrow, keeping his eyes locked on Black Canary’s nonexistent ones. 

“Right,” Wally said, bringing down his goggles. 

Kid Flash charged full speed at the monster, faster than it could reach for the quiver of arrows seemingly fused with its back. Closing his hands to fists, he rapidly delivered a series of right and left hooks, using his speed to increase the impact of his attacks. With one final blow, Wally used the momentum of his punch to twist his entire body around, his right foot planted firmly on the ground as his left lifted up and cut through the air until the heel of his speed-enforced boot clocked the monster square in its temple, sending it hurdling against the concrete wall. 

Turning around he watched as the other monster was pelted over and over by crimson, palm-sized fireballs. Klarion marched closer and closer, throwing orb upon orb of magic at the creature with every step. Two were enough to blast away its legs, the force of which was enough to knock the creature off balance and lose concentration, “No one,”  another two obliterated its arms making the grotesquerie fall flat on its back, its stumps flailing wildly as they still burned with Klarion’s magic, “Hurts,” The Chaos Lord soon reached the maimed monster before straddling it. Wally watched in stunned silence as Klarion clamped his hand over its mouth. At first, he thought it was to prevent it from crying out again, but that line of thinking perished faster than Wally could ever run as he watched Klarion’s palm glow, he was conjuring a fireball inside the fiend’s mouth, and soon after, the nearby walls splattered in black flecks, as if an oversized pen had exploded in ink. None of which, landed on Klarion himself, “My cat again.” He finished as he stood back up and turned around. 

“Holy…” Wally said, beyond impressed but also incredibly intimidated. The whole thing looked like something out of Mortal Kombat or the like. “Dude, that was sick!” He cheered, as he made his way over to Teekl, he smiled upon seeing the overgrown feline shake herself, having been only slightly dazed. Trepidatiously, he raised his hand to gently scratch behind her ears.

Wally’s agitation vanished the moment the massive beast’s purr practically sent vibrations up his hand. He was actually petting Teekl in this form, he couldn’t help but smile wide at the fact, How freaking cool is this? He thought to himself, “Thank you for defending us,” He commented, the praise only further increasing the volume of the saber-toothed Teekl’s purring. His petting soon was interrupted the moment Teekl’s shape began distorting before abruptly reverting to her house-cat form. Wally’s eyes widened as his head darted to Klarion. 

The Witch Boy was hunched over on the ground, clutching at his chest as the necklace pulsated brighter than ever before. Wally rushed over, skidding on his knees to Klarion, “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” He said nervously as he placed his hands slowly on the other male’s shoulders, which had been far more daunting a feat than petting beast-Teekl, “H-hey, you… You good?!” He asked in alarm, Shit, he thought, he wasn’t magic, he didn’t know what to do! 

“I’m fine!” Klarion hissed, though notably, not shaking Kid Flash off of him, “Just… Just need to catch my breath. Stupid necklace, it's acting up, punishment for having used too much magic just now, dammit!” He shouted in frustration as he grabbed at the orb, trying desperately to get it off before letting go with another shout the moment Wally literally heard his palm sizzle. 

“Dude! ” Wally said in alarm, “Don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself more!” 

“Oh please ,” Klarion snapped, “I’ve still plenty of time, why don’t you mind your own beeswax!?” He said, glaring up at Wally whilst still panting. 

Sensing one of the many ways this could go, in a rare instance, Wally thought before he spoke and opted to change the topic altogether. “Right, anyway, what were those things and why did they look like the League? Did Dr. Fate send them?” He inquired, letting go of the Witch Boy and standing up, offering him his hand and to Wally’s surprise, having his offer accepted. 

“Unlikely,” Klarion said, standing up once he’d finally regained his breath and composure. “Abyss Hunters are much too ‘dirty’ for him to sully his holier-than-thou hands with.”

“Abyss Hunters?” 

“They’re like…” Klarion trailed off, bringing a hand to his chin in contemplation, “Magical bounty hunters. They’ll show up in the form of whatever you fear most and try to kill you. If they’re showing up, that means someone’s put a hit on me, or you, or us. Ugh, yet another complication, another detour! This is insufferable.” 

“Merow?” Teekl asked as she trotted up to nudge against Klarion’s feet. 

With a sigh, he bent down and picked up the feline, “Yes, dear, I’m fine and I’ve more than enough for the trip and back, you needn’t worry,” He said to his cat before looking up to study the alleyway, stopping once he saw what he was looking for, a door. “Besides, it’ll be good to rest and recover somewhere away from this infernal place, c’mon,” Klarion said, motioning to Wally as he made his way to the door. 

“What are you two talking about?” He couldn’t help but ask as he followed.

“Hold this,” Klarion said, ignoring Wally’s question and passing him Teekl. Walking to the door, he touched its surface with the tip of his nail, magic flowed as he drew a circle on the door. Klarion took to scrawling out a series of symbols inside the shape, each getting trapped in a circle of their own. He pressed his palm against it and chanted quietly under his breath before speaking aloud, "Normally, you can't access this place unless you use the door in New York but being chaos personified, bending the rules comes with the territory."

"Uhhh…" Wally watched as the outline of the door glowed in red before the knob twisted by itself and opened. He gawked as the inside of the building was replaced with a swirling vortex, not red and black like one of Klarion’s portals, but white with traces of green, blue, yellow, and all sorts of other colors.  

“It’s through here,” Klarion said with all the casualness of saying something completely mundane. 

“What is?”

The Witch Boy turned his head back at Wally, smiling at him deviously, “I hope you’re a fan of monkeys.” He said before turning back around and disappearing beyond the swirling, starry passageway.

“Monkeys?” Wally blinked in alarm and hurriedly sped after him, “Hey, don’t just – wait for me!” He called out, not wanting to be left behind.

Oblivion Bar: ◈◎:◃▱ ⏃⎶⏈

‘A speedster and a Chaos Lord walk into an extradimensional bar’ definitely sounds like the start of a bizarre joke that probably wouldn’t land to begin with. To think how adamant Wally West had been in his denial of the existence of magic, how he hopelessly tried to place a scientific explanation to every spell he saw cast, every display of magic. Magnetism, quantum mechanics, nanites, zeta technology, String Theory, each time he tried to describe something magical with science in the past there were always similarities to each description but none of them ever truly felt like it fit. Now, here he was having a magical adventure with said Chaos Lord and his cat familiar, who yes, gun-to-his-head, Wally did admit was actually quite adorable and could understand why Klarion was so protective over the kitty beyond the fact of her being his anchor because now, he too would defend Teekl if anyone even tried to leave a strand of fur out of place in that soft ginger coat for a third time. 

Anyway. 

The redhead shook his head as he looked around his even newer surroundings and without a doubt in his mind, Wally found that being in this bar was preferable to being in the MC Escher hell that was The Tower of Fate. For starters, it didn’t have the eerie, abstract sense of loneliness the tower possessed, it was filled with patrons strewn about the establishment, some human, some not so much, and some not at all. Looking out a nearby window, the non-magic speedster saw only an endless expanse of the cosmos, swirling galaxies as far as the eye could see. All the new sights Wally had gotten to take in kept stirring at his heart, invigorating his sense of adventure, and easily put to shame anything he’d seen with the Team. Once all this was said and done, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of souvenir he’d walk away with. 

“Hey, handsome,” Wally heard a voice call out, making him turn on a dime almost on instinct as his ears perked up. At a nearby table sat a slender, fair-skinned woman, with ash blonde hair covering her right eye, while her left sported a silver iris with reptilian pupils which were really the only thing that truly looked out of place but otherwise, not a deal-breaker. She wore a black cocktail dress as she beckoned Wally over with her index finger. The woman smiled coyly up at him through long eyelashes as Wally approached, “Care to let a lady buy you a drink? You look so terribly parched.” She said.

For Wally, this was definitely a first, usually, he was the one putting on the moves on lovely ladies, now they were coming to him? Oh, this was too good to pass up. “Well, can’t say I’m old enough to drink but I’d never pass on the chance to talk to someone like you, beautiful,” Wally replied as he propped his elbow on the table, flashing the stranger a quick wink. 

“Oh, my,” The female responded, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, “You certainly have a way with words, but I bet you say that to all the ladies.” 

Wally smirked, chuckling softly in an attempt to come off suave, “Only the pretty ones, how’s about you uhh, gimmie your deets and I can show you all my moves.” 

“Sounds like a plan. Say, tiger, any chance you’d be willing to give me your name?” 

Wally practically melted at the nickname, a strange, fuzzy feeling of weariness taking over, “Sure, it’s –”

“No, no you won’t, because if you do that you will die,” A very annoyed Klarion interjected as he sped-walked over, grabbing Wally by the scruff of his suit and dragging him away with strength Wally wasn’t even aware the scrawny Witch Boy had. 

“Dude!” Wally complained, struggling in vain to escape Klarion’s hold, “What the heck, we were totally hitting it off!” 

Klarion looked back at Wally giving him an exasperated look as he let go and rubbed his head once they reached the bar counter, “Look, I get that you’re not magic and all, but certainly the words ‘Skin-Snatcher’ mean something to you, right Kid Crash?”

Wally gulped upon hearing that, “Y… You mean, she wasn’t into the Wall-Man?” 

“I’mgoingtodiearen’tI?” Klarion said to himself as he dragged his hand down his face. “Look, in the magic world, if it looks pretty, maybe don’t go near it!” 

“Oh please,” Wally countered with a roll of his eyes, “I’m hanging around you and so far I’m still in one piece, aren’t I?” 

“What?”

Wally’s eyes widened as his brain registered his words, truly he was sick with a case of foot-in-mouth disease, probably terminal. “I, uhh, I mean, uhm,”

He wouldn’t have the chance to explain as a booming, shrill voice interrupted the two, “Klarion!? In my bar!?” 

The both of them turned, seeing none other than an actual, literal chimpanzee getting up on the counter and walking over to them. Wally didn’t know which was more ridiculous, the fact that it could talk, or the fact it was dressed up like a tiny detective. He did, however, notice the way Klarion hurriedly tucked the amulet under his suit jacket. 

“Hello, Banana-breath,” Klarion began with his usual impish grin.

Wally almost choked as he did his best to keep from laughing at the unexpected but fitting insult, Oh, now I’ve seen it all. He thought to himself.

“That’s Detective Chimp to you, now what the hell do you want?!” The chimp said, clearly none too pleased by Klarion’s presence. “We still haven’t finished cleaning the mess you left the last time you came through here,” he said, pointing upwards to a dark splotch on the ceiling visibly steaming. 

The onyx-haired Chaos Lord threw his head back in laughter prompting Teekl to hop off his shoulders and sit on the counter. Klarion clutched his sides and wiped a stray tear from his eye once he finally calmed down, “Honestly, I forgot I did that, but c’mon – you aren’t going to hold a grudge are you?” 

“Why are you here, Witch Brat!?” The primate demanded. 

A moment of silence befell the group, Wally looked from Detective Chimp to Klarion, to Teekl – who had already decided it was nap time, and back to Klarion before nudging his arm lightly, and when that didn’t work Wally looked up and answered for his suddenly tight-lipped… Friend? 

“We got attacked by these shadowy things, he called them Abyss Hunters or somethin’,” Wally said, pointing at Klarion as if saying, ‘If I got any phrases wrong, take it up with him.’ 

“Abyss Hunters?” The chimp echoed as he moved and sat down on the counter, his legs light kicking the air, “Now there’s a lot I don’t exactly get with that statement; first of all, why’s a Chaos Lord hangin’ around some squirt like you? Second, who’d be dumb enough to call a hit on said Lord, and numero three,” He said, holding up three fingers, “Why do you bozos need my help to find out who it was? Unless…” He trailed off as his eyes squinted, soon after he’d begun to sniff the air, his head turned and he sniffed Klarion more and more.

“Get any closer and I’ll swap out your snot for acid,” Klarion said, taking a step back. 

“Hey, I’m taller than him!” Wally argued though it went ignored. 

It didn’t matter however, Curious George’s ugly cousin had gotten a read on what he was smelling, confirming his suspicions. Now it was the primate’s turn to burst out laughing, “Man, oh man!” He shouted as he fell back on the counter, kicking his legs from how hard he was laughing, “I thought I recognized that smell, your stench does a good job of covering it up but I knew it the moment it hit my nose! You got stuck wearing the Amulet of freaking Belial! HAH! If that ain’t karma, I don’t know what is!”

With a snap of pale fingers a ring of red daggers formed around the neck of Detective Chimp, Klarion’s face had morphed into its chaotic form, and when he spoke his voice shook and boomed with enough force to shake the shelves, threatening to topple over the expensive-looking bottles that rested on the very top, “I STILL have more than enough magic to kill you and find someone else, I only came to you because I know you’re in possession of the Mirror of Myrra and that infernal thing will only listen to you. Besides,” Klarion added, calming down as he rested a hand on his chest and speaking with his eyes closed, as if the chimpanzee wasn’t even worth looking at, “I thought you’d like the idea of a Lord of Chaos owing you one.” Though whether or not he’d ever pay back that favor the way it’d be asked of him was a tidbit of information Klarion was happy to omit. 

“Ah, lighten up, wouldya? I’ll help ya, I’ll help ya” the chimp responded unbothered as he nudged the red blades away by their handles with the back of his hand. He leaned up and turned his head, placing a finger on his chin as he inspected Wally, “What’s Kid Flash doing here anyways?”

“Ah, yes, him,” Klarion answered, picking up a sleeping Teekl in his arms and stroking her fur, “I’ve decided to enlist his services, we’re allies – isn’t that right, Wally?” 

Wally shrugged nodding in agreement, “That does seem to be what we’re going with. Besides, it’s what I do.”

“Well, love is blind,” the chimp deadpanned, ignoring Klarion’s coughing as he choked on his own saliva and Wally’s sputtering as he quickly tried to recant the witch boy’s statement, “Name’s Bobo, let’s take this in the back before one of you nutcases decides to make another scene,” He said, moving to lift up the wood at the end of the counter and filing the two teens behind as he leads the way through a door. 

The trio, well, quartet – walked down a hallway that lead to an open, dimly lit room. In its center was a coffee table surrounded by a couch, a recliner, and a sofa. Wally moved to sit on the couch while Klarion took to the recliner, setting Teekl on his lap. 

“You hungry or something, Kid?” Bobo asked as he closed the door behind them. 

“Always.”

With a ring from a bell that rested on a shelf against the wall, a panel opened up and from it, floated a steaming plate of the most decadent-looking Nachos Wally had ever laid eyes on along with a glass of soda with ice, landing gently onto the table in front of the speedster. “Holy cow,” Wally said as he reached up to wipe his mouth before any drool could theatrically dribble out, his stomach rumbled at the sight before him as he pulled off his gloves in order to properly shove a handful into his mouth, his eyes glazing over as his cheeks puffed full of food. 

“Eugh,” Klarion commented, tearing his eyes away from the sight, “Were you a squirrel in your previous life?” 

“Can it, Wish Boy,” Wally slurred through a mouthful of nachos, shutting his eyes as he swallowed the entire bite, and washed it down with cola. 

“Both of you can it so’s I can concentrate!” Bobo said from behind the desk that sat near the only window in the room. When he was finished rummaging, he walked back over to the table now carrying a medium-sized, ornate-looking mirror. Except, instead of having a reflective surface, it was all black. Blacker than black even, it was like it sucked in any light that tried to bounce off of it. It made Wally’s eyes hurt if he stared into it for too long. “So this is the Mirror?” He asked.

“... Of Myrra, yes,” Klarion finished, as he leaned up in his chair, prompting Teekl to wake up with a scowl, annoyed that her master would so carelessly wake her up. 

Wally couldn’t help but giggle as he patted the space next to him like before when the two of them were in the safe-house, and just like before, Teekl hopped up on the arm of the recliner and leaped to the couch, going to Wally. She sniffed at his finger and then proceeded to lick at it. Wally blinked as he looked down in nothing short of surprise, it was then he noticed he still had a bit of cheese on his knuckle from the nachos. Whipping his head up at Klarion and Bobo, he breathed a sigh of relief finding that they were too engrossed in the mirror to notice. With the cheese cleaned, Teekl curled up and resumed her nap. 

Bobo had his eyes closed as he held his open hand above the mirror. Quietly he chanted and with every syllable out of the chimp’s mouth, a runic symbol began to glow around the mirror. Only after the symbols around the mirror had finished igniting did Wally see the way the surface of the mirror seemed to open up, the darkness inside falling down as if it were a deep tube one could step into, inside could be seen that the darkness was speckled with tiny, white twinkling stars. 

“Mirror of Myrra, as your sole master, I command thee,” Bobo spoke, “Answer the questions of Klarion!” 

Now it was Klarion’s turn to speak, leaning up, the male peered into the mirror, “Who were the Abyss Hunters in search of, show them to me.” 

In response, the night sky in the mirror swirled until the reflections of both Klarion and Wally were seen. Wally blinked as he looked around, trying to find where the scene in the mirror was coming from, he felt like he was at game and his face was on the teleprompter. 

Klarion stayed silent in contemplation before speaking again, “And who called forth the hunters from their abyss?” 

Again, the mirror swirled. Klarion’s eyes widened as he stood up in outrage. 

“Him?!” He shouted voice laced with anger and face morphing all over again, “That worthless, half-baked, wizard would dare have the audacity to make a move against me!?” 

In the mirror’s reflection was the image of none other than Wotan, the immortal Viking sorcerer. Even Wally was surprised by the scene, he had seen the man be used by The Light to carry out their plans under the guise of The Injustice League, heck, he’d even seen the two of them, among others, work together when the League and the Team had restored Earth back into one world, so to have seen him now didn’t make sense to Wally. Why would Wotan be the one to have sent the monsters after them? Especially when Klarion was a member of the Light, and on a scale far bigger than Wotan. To try and make a move against Klarion would be akin to courting death itself. 

Wally looked at the image of the man, well, more like a live feed. In it, he was hunched over, sitting at a massive desk and visibly shivering. His shoulders rose and fell as he panted, his hair was disheveled and his eyes looked worse than those of shadow-Barry’s, to say Wotan looked terrible would have been an act of purest generosity. Looking up at Klarion, who was currently occupied pacing back and forth, chewing on his thumb as he muttered endlessly, Wally spoke, “Hey, uhm,” 

“What!?” Klarion snapped, looking up at him.

“I don’t think he did it.” 

“What do you mean, ‘don’t think he did it.’, of course he did it! Look at him, the mirror said so!” Klarion exclaimed motioning to the mirror.

“I am looking at him, and I’m telling you, I don’t think he did it, I mean,” He backtracked as he thought about how to phrase it. “He looks like, well, shit – so what if someone, I dunno, like, made him do it, y’know?” Wally suggested. This magic business was nothing but a headache, none of it made sense to him but he at least knew the basics of detective work having worked alongside Robin for as long as he had, and Wally knew the truth was never as it appeared. “It just, I dunno, it feels too easy for it to be him, you feel?”

Bobo nodded in agreement, “Kid’s smarter than he looks.”

Klarion narrowed his eyes as he went back to the chair, staring down at the mirror he spoke, “Show me who instructed Wotan to do this.” 

At first, nothing but Wotan’s image dissolving into darkness. Then the mirror began to rattle and shake, the table started trembling and the symbols flicked and flashed brightly, strobing on and off as the object visibly struggled. 

“What the hell!?” Bobo said, standing up in alarm.

The pool of black swirled and swirled, reverting rapidly to flat before beginning to turn again, soon after, the mirror began spinning, faster and faster as if refusing to show what was asked of it.

Klarion extended his hand over the mirror like the chimp had, as he did, his palm was alit in red, and soon after the symbols on the mirror and the stars inside flashed from white to crimson, “Show me who instructed Wotan to do this!” Klarion commanded as his eyes glowed red fully and completely. 

In a tug-o-war of magic, the mirror finally gave out, and before everyone knew it – shattered entirely with such force that it broke the table apart, and on the mirror, in the webbings of the shattering formed the shape of an exquisite mask.

Wally had moved in between the table and Teekl to protect the now-startled awake anchor before looking back, he looked at the shape the mirror had made before moving his gaze to Bobo, who was too stunned to speak, and then to Klarion who glared at the mess before him, looking at it the same way he’d look at Dr. Fate, with all the contempt in the world. 

“Wh… What just happened?” Wally questioned, breaking the silence.

“She’s back.” Klarion replied through gritted teeth and balled-up fists. 

“Who is?”

Detective Chimp looked at Wally, “Who else kid?! Morgaine Le Fey.”

Chapter Text

The room was quiet for the longest time, it was Bobo that broke the silence first as he looked from the shattered remnants of his table, his mirror, and then to Klarion, “You owe me a new mirror and coffee table,” He said, all earlier worry a distant memory as his voice reverted to its usual annoyed tone.

Klarion rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “Yes, yes, I’ll be sure to put ‘accosting a furniture store’ at the top of my to-do list,” he said, beginning to pace as his eyes looked down, deep in thought.

He heard Wally swallow nervously before clearing his throat in an awkward yet successful attempt to draw Klarion’s attention, “So, uhm, what’s our next move?”

“Your next move should be ‘rest’, the both a you’s,” Bobo interjected as he lit a cigar in the corner. “You can stay here for the day, the bar’s got a guest room then you twos can amscray.”

The Witch Boy stopped his pacing to scoff at Detective Chimp, “Oh please, a little fear is all it takes to pull out your hospitable side? You were nothing more than a  -”

“That sounds like a great idea!” Wally interrupted, “I know I could really use a change of clothes and some shut-eye, thanks,” He said, raising his arms high in the air to stretch, smiling back encouragingly at the threatening glare being sent his way.

Klarion gritted his teeth as he began his march to Wally, “This is a waste of time. Do you really think we have the luxury of taking a break right now!?”

Wally sighed as his smile vanished, “Look dude, I may not know who this Morgaine lady is but -”

“Precisely,” Klarion said, taking the liberty of being the one to interrupt this time, “You don’t know, meaning you don’t know that she is an annoying, relentless, nut-job with a terminal case of baby fever! I need this damnable piece of costume jewelry off, which I wouldn’t even have if someone hadn’t played a part in my capturing!”

Wally glowered more and more the longer Klarion went on, “Yeah, keep going and you’ll get to the part where I chose you over literally everyone, saved you, and now I’m hell-bent on helping you, whether you like it or not. I’m tired, I think you’re pretty tired yourself, and I don’t think it’s gonna do anyone any good to be running on fumes!”

The sorcerer scowled right back at Wally, opening his mouth to say something but finding it increasingly difficult to come up with anything to say, and how could he? That entire tangent the speedster had gone on, the only thing Klarion had heard was that he was chosen above all of his closest friends and family, and why wouldn’t anyone with taste pick Klarion over anything else? It was no contest and something that filled the Chaos Lord with something akin to pride. 

“Besides,” Wally turned around, and gently picked up Teekl to hold her in front of Klarion, what’s more, Teekl actually let such a thing happen, “You’re really gonna make this sweet, little girl work overtime? I’m sure you’re tired too,” Wally said as the cat’s mouth opened wide in a yawn as if she and the speedster were in cahoots. 

He narrowed his eyes at the duo before him, only now there was a strange heat playing on his face, his cheeks felt hot, and all over again Klarion’s body experienced another new sensation, one he wasn’t sure if he hated or not. He dragged his now clammy palms on the sides of his trousers as he turned away, thankful for the room’s dim lighting. “One. Day. Nothing more,” Klarion finally said in a rare case of submission before turning to the chimp, “Well, show us to these ‘guest rooms’,” 

“Oh, is the lover’s quarrel finally finished? I was half-expecting someone’s long-lost sibling to come bursting through the door sayin’ their amnesia is gone,” Bobo said taking a long drag of his cigar, no doubt already regretting his offer to put the two up, “And I said ‘ guest room ’ singular, not plural. This is the Oblivion Bar, not the freaking Wayne Manor,” he added, blowing a cloud of smoke in the Chaos Lord’s general direction as he made his way to the door, motioning for the two to follow him, “There’s a bed and a couch, you twos can decide who gets what.” 

“Tch, barbarian,” Klarion spat under his breath as he walked with Wally and Teekl following from behind.

The trio was led down a winding corridor and into the aforementioned room, it had been much more spacious than Klarion had imagined, there was a queen-sized bed next to the tall window with a vaulted ceiling, a dresser, and a desk, with an ornate-looking couch facing a lit fireplace, providing for a cozy atmosphere. Next to the desk was a door that led into a bathroom complete with a shower, all this was no doubt the work of architectural enchantments. No, not the Wayne Manor at all , Klarion thought to himself as he walked into the room. 

“Just clean up before you leave, and if you need anything, find someone else to bother,” Bobo said as he made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Of course, the bed would be Klarion and Teekl’s to sleep in, his cohort could sleep on the couch for all he cared. Honestly, what was the alternative? Have a Lord of Chaos subjected to slumbering on a couch? Really? Turning his head to the bed, particularly the two pillows on it, Klarion entertained the idea of sharing a bed for the briefest of seconds. How would that even go? He was not about to have a pair of feet in his face that he’d wager would probably make sulfur smell like a field of roses in comparison, leaving the only other scenario to be the two of them sleeping side-by-side, eugh! What if the lummox decided to roll over on top of him in his sleep? What then? He couldn’t exactly kill the one person in the world that was actually helping him free of ulterior motive. 

Klarion looked over at Wally who was busy setting his duffle on the couch, picking out his clothes for the night before moving to play with Teekl, laying on her back and pawing and batting at Kid Flash’s gloved hand as it descended onto his anchor’s belly and when the hero lifted his hand, Teekl would, in turn, lift up her paws, demanding more, and just like that, the sensation from before had made a return. It had been even more disgusting than before, his stomach felt full – as though he’d eaten his weight in food, and yet also empty at the same time. What if they did share a bed? What!? No! Preposterous, completely and utterly ludicrous! He angrily thought to himself as he silently fumed, how dare his treacherous brain even suggest such a thing?!

“Stomach ache?” Wally commented, chuckling softly when Klarion jumped.

“What!?”

“I just figured by how you were clutching your stomach and all,” Wally said, tilting his head, “Unless you’re hungry? You haven’t eaten since, what, the train?” 

“I’m not hungry, and my stomach doesn’t hurt either!” Klarion hissed, glaring at the speedster. 

“Okaaaay,” Wally said, reaching over and patting at the space on the couch, “Well, if you're not hungry then c'mere, let’s talk about, well – everything, I guess. I’ve got some stuff on my mind.”

Honestly, it was beyond even Klarion himself why he obliged the redhead as he walked over and sat in the desired space. With a deep, perhaps a tad overdramatic sigh, Klarion sank into the couch, letting his head lay against the headrest, “What is it you’d like to discuss?” He asked, crossing his arms and choosing to stare at the crackling fire. 

“Well, for starters, who’s this Morgaine lady, and why’s she such a big deal?” Wally asked, moving up and onto the couch to sit next to Klarion, and once the Witch Boy looked over, he saw Teekl resting comfortably in – not his own lap, but Kid Crash’s!

Sensing her master’s gaze, she looked up at him, “Merow,” She said, nuzzling into the redhead’s gentle hand. 

“I am not!” Klarion snapped at his cat.

Wally snorted, “What’d she say?”

“Nothing I care to repeat,” Klarion said, closing his eyes and whipping his head away. Jealous – as if! What do I care whose lap you decide to lounge in, traitor? 

“Merow,” Teekl said. 

Klarion’s eyes widened as an angry red spread across his face before being lost in the blue of his skin as his face transformed, “You stupid cat, I don’t care who you were referring to, keep this up and you can expect to see a drop in treats!” 

“Aw, c’mon,” Wally started, picking up Teekl and placing her in Klarion’s lap, “There, no more fighting you two.”

The sorcerer looked down at his anchor as she nestled in his lap, and with great reluctance, dragged his nails through the ginger fur the way he knew she tended to like. Teekl meowed once more before resting her head on her master’s leg, closing her eyes as she began napping. “I’m not stalling.” Klarion bitterly replied before growing quiet. Normally, he’d make a bigger fuss of being accused of something he wasn’t (was) doing, but his worry sang louder than his wounded ego – Teekl was sleeping more and more, it was an effort to conserve the magic coursing in her, his magic. Gritting his teeth, he turned his attention to the window. Fine, he’d tell his tale. Of the Chaos Lord and the Witch, and how she and her own had nearly taken everything from him. 

“Morgaine le Fey was, or rather, is a powerful sorceress. Like most who have magic, she was delusional, power-hungry, seeking to rise above the rest, even if it was by proxy of her son,” Klarion paused to chuckle as he recalled the events, “You know, I really thought I had taken care of the problem, I had sealed her away, you see, in an Earth devoid of magic, I never imagined she’d break the seal and manage to claw her way back to this world, but if she’s back then that can only mean she’s out for blood.”

“But why? What did you do to her exactly?” Wally asked, leaning forward a little.

Well, you asked for it. Klarion thought to himself, “Well, that one’s probably on account of me killing her son.” 

The room grew quiet and stayed that way for a tiny eternity that only Klarion allowed, perhaps the speedster needed a chance to absorb such a minuscule bombshell. Turning over to look at the not-so-chatty redhead, Klarion saw the look of abject horror painting his freckled features. Oh, the poor thing – the world wasn't as black and white as he was no doubt raised to think.

"Y… You did what?" Wally managed to ask through his stunned silence, "That's, I mean…"

"Oh please," Klarion replied, moving his arm over Teekl's sleeping form, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand, "Before you continue to gaze at me with those judgemental hero eyes, let me at least tell you why I had to do what I did." 

Wally pursed his lips and nodded, eyeing him warily, watching him almost the way he used to when they were enemies. Klarion hated it. It infuriated him.

"If by the end of this tale you decide you no longer want to be a part of this, then so be it." Klarion added, rolling his eyes and going back to gazing out the distant window. “It all began with a summoning.” 

Camelot: 03:00 GMT 417 AD 

The woman levitated just inches above the ground, arms outstretched as she chanted under her breath. Before her was a massive, crimson hendecagram carved into the stone ground, each point decorated in a different runic symbol. Around the shape was an even bigger circle encompassing it completely. Diamonds are formed at five points around the ring, the tips of which created a platform for the five bodies at the tips of said diamonds. With a flourish of the woman’s fingers, the bodies began glowing a similar red before shriveling up into what can only be described as human raisins, and not long after that did each body evaporate, being absorbed completely into the shape as a whole, “Domine Chaos, te voco!” the woman shouted. 

The masked sorceress watched as the design lifted off the ground and up into the air, watched as the innermost circle in the center began to fill with an endless, deep void, and the woman watched as the circle expanded further and further until she quickly found herself staring straight into the blackest abyss she’d ever laid eyes on. The room seemed to vibrate and all around the floating shape cracks in the stone floor were starting to form. When she looked back up at the abyss, it stared back at her in the form of a pair of glowing, sanguine eyes. 

“What feeble insect dares call upon Klarion, Lord of Chaos?!”

In seconds, the woman’s feet touched the floor and without a moment’s waste, she descended to her knees, bowing before the primordial being, “Morgaine Le Fey, your eminence.” 

“Eminence?” The pair of eyes repeated, “Talking as if it wants something, but flattery with get it nowhere, isn’t that right, my darling?” A cat’s meow was heard from the black, and moments after did Morgaine look up in time to see a ginger blur dart out from the black pool, a feline indeed. She watched as it sauntered in front of her before the creature turned its red eyes back towards the portal. 

As the Lord of Chaos stepped out, no sooner did the room grow colder and darker. The sorceress looked around, at first thinking the torches had gone out but pausing in surprise upon seeing they remained lit, and yet, it was as though the mere presence of the Chaos Lord was draining all the light in the room, like an enormous, inescapable force pulling everything in. Everything about him felt wrong and yet strange as well. It wasn’t his physical appearance, it was more his clothing. Dressed from head to toe in black garments, save for the white-cloth top garment he wore underneath. Not at all what she had been expecting, but she supposed that perhaps all Lords of Order, Chaos, and the Balance between happened to dress in similar styles. 

“ Well?” The Chaos Lord spoke as he descended onto the ground, crossing his arms as he looked down at Morgaine as if she was a stain on the bottom of his shoe, “Why have you called on me? Depending on your answer, I’ll either decorate you in your own entrails or simply burn you alive – I hear that’s gonna be all the rage in a millennia or so,” He said, barely able to hold back his snicker. 

“Mighty Lord of Chaos, I beseech you,” Morgaine said, bowing her head once more, “I would not have summoned you if the situation was not so dire but I assure you, I call upon your assistance in the kingdom’s most desperate hour!”

Her pleas were met only by the male’s cackling filling the room as he clutched at his sides, “Wow, Teekl! Talk about phoning it in, right?” He asked his cat as he picked up the creature, spinning around with it in a waltz, laughing madly as if the sorceress wasn’t even there. The cat meowed and the Chaos Lord put the creature down before turning his attention back to Morgaine. Klarion pressed his black-taloned index finger to the side of his chin, sneering at the would-be witch, “Why should I help you? What is it that you want, and what could one such as you possibly offer me?” 

She gritted her teeth from behind her mask and balled her hands in tight, white-knuckled fists. She wanted to blast him with magic, to make him feel the bite of her power, to wipe that smug grin off his accursed, skeletal face and paint it with fear, to silence him and the riddles he spoke. To think that a revered sorceress like herself would have to resort to groveling before the Lords of Chaos. At the very least they had granted her an audience with one of their own. Morgaine of course wasn’t stupid. She didn’t just arbitrarily decide to petition the Lords for assistance, this wasn’t something she’d be doing unless she had no other option, but at the very least she was hoping that it would have been the Chaos Lord, Mordru, her summoning had called, one more understanding – less mercurial than Klarion, but such was the nature of chaos, Morgaine supposed, “It’s my son, Mordred. He wanted to become more powerful, wants to be king, you see. So in order to grant him powers beyond his own he and I performed a spell, but… It didn’t work, it – it changed him.”  

“Made a monster, did you?” Klarion asked, a smirk playing ever eternally on his lips.

“I can grant you anything you desire, you need only name it,” Morgaine swallowed, she could not remember the last time she felt this helpless. “But before you exact your price, or before you end my meager existence, allow me to say this; prior to seeking the assistance of the Lords of Chaos, I pleaded to the Lords of Order, only for them to cruelly deny my request for aid, explained to me that the onus was on my account, that any interference from them would upset the balance and bring about discord. That is why I came to you, not only for the sake of help but for the opportunity to spawn pandemonium, and would it not be humorous to anger the Lords of Order? We both know they wouldn’t bother descending from their lofty plane, no?”

The primordial entity held his chin in contemplation as he moved his gaze to the side, “Hmm, tempting, I suppose,” He said, his index finger tapping at his bottom lip as he looked upwards, “What do you think, Teekl?”

“Mreow,” The cat replied before jumping on the chaos lord’s shoulders, its tale swaying to and fro as its red eyes studied Le Fey, gazing at her the way it would a mouse.

“Yes, yes, there’ll be plenty of tricks and treats in store,” Klarion replied to it as he scratched behind the creature’s ear, smiling at it and then turning his ebon eyes back at her, as he narrowed them, “Very well, I shall lend you my assistance. You should consider yourself lucky that I’m bored,”

“Yes..! Yes, of course, thank you, your eminence,” Morgaine said, bowing her head before moving to the side and gesturing with her arms, “Please, allow me to take you to my son.”

Klarion rolled his eyes as he floated to the ground, “Ugh, anything that gets you to stop calling me by that dull, suck-uppy title. Now, let’s see the product of your failed casting, you laughable little can’t-spell,” He finished with a snicker as he walked in front of her, towards the doors leading out of the room.

Behind her golden mask, Morgaine gritted her teeth, such insolence! Never in her life had she ever allowed anyone to talk to her in such a manner, and now here she was, having to swallow every remark, meet every threat with a polite response. She had to keep reminding herself, This is for Mordred’s sake, everything must go according to plan. Swallow your pride, Morgaine, just endure this for Mordred and it will all be worth it, the little would-be lord will get what’s coming to him yet.  

“Yes, of course, nothing would make me happier, m’lord,” She replied, making sure to curtsy before going to open the door for Klarion, a job only a servant should be performing if only the majority of them hadn’t been eaten or killed for the sake of rituals…

The two, or rather three soon began their walk down a massive hallway decorated in paintings of kings and their families from ages past, not long after did the trio reach the end of the corridor and stood before another door, this one opening to much larger space, the edges lined with stairs spiraling downwards into a seemingly endless abyss neither Morgaine nor Klarion could see the bottom of.

“After my beloved son’s transformation, I had to make sure and seal him away in the lowest level of the castle,” She said with a sniffle, “Oh my poor Mordred, locked way in shadow, he always did hate the dark, but what was I to do? He was eating and killing anything and anyone that drew near, I had to use even my most powerful binding spells! I was so worried he would hurt himself.” 

Klarion only answered her tale of misfortune with a loud yawn as he turned to pet Teekl, “Dear, what do you think we should have for dinner? I was thinking steak, perhaps paired with wine, maybe some ice cream for dessert?”

“Merow,” The feline responded.

“Ugh, you’re right,” He responded, still ignoring her, “Those stupid humans haven’t invented ice cream yet!” 

“Ahem,” Morgaine cleared her throat, glaring at the Lord of Chaos from behind her mask as they came to a stop, now at the bottom of the chamber, standing before imposing door number three. 

“Oh, don’t get pouty,” Klarion said, waving his hand up and down, “The only one that looks good on is me, besides, your story was so boring and all it really says is ‘I’m a horrible mother who can’t properly use magic,’ don’t you agree, Teekl?”

“Meow!” The cat replied, nuzzling its head against its master’s cheek, clearly agreeing with the statement. 

Never was the sorceress more thankful for the mask she wore than she was now. Her face felt molten, she was certain if she gritted her teeth any harder they’d threaten to crack, her hands twitched as anger flowed like magma through her veins. She wanted to kill Klarion, she wanted to string up his rotten, flea-bitten cat by its innards, she wanted to claw his impish face to ribbons. How dare he accuse her of being a terrible mother, how dare he even think she can’t shape the either to her whims!? Le Fey could spell circles around this brat if they were on an even playing field. With a deep breath, Morgaine regained control over her emotions as she reminded herself of the end result of her plan, forget an even playing field, soon, she’d be the one looking down on the would-be-Lord-of-Chaos.

“Y… Yes, my… Apologies,” She simply replied, albeit through great strain. Turning around to face the door, the woman flourished her hands, weaving them together, and intertwining her fingers in a series of motions. With each movement, magical diagrams and geometric patterns became visible just above the door’s surface, the shapes and runic symbols lining the edges of the ethereal lattice-work turning and clicking like cogs on a great clock, then all together, separating as each spell keeping the door closed was unlocked, still, it was only the quarter top of the door that had been cleared of enchantments, “This will only take but a moment, I had to take extra precautions and fortify the room in case my dear Mordred broke the bindings on himself, I thank you for your patience, mighty Lord of –”

“Oh please,” Klarion groaned with a roll of his eyes, and in a swift motion, whipped his arm into the air with fingers outstretched. 

The entire chamber shook, the force of which nearly knocked Morgaine off balance, “What on earth!?” She cried as her head darted from Klarion and back to the door, eyes widening as she saw the Chaos Lord’s handiwork; across the myriad of protective sigils on the gargantuan door was now an equally massive, black claw mark, the edges of which were outlined in bright crimson, and before her very eyes, Morgaine watched as the shapes fell in shattered fractiles all around the claw-mark and floated down like placid snow-fall. Wards and shields that had taken her hours to construct had been undone in seconds ! She swallowed as she watched the door then be sent flying open, nearly breaking off the great hinges holding the panels in place. 

“Who knows how long we would’ve been standing here if I had chosen to wait for you? Come on, come on, Can’t-Spell, the sooner I fix your brat, the sooner I get to tick off those old farts on high,” Klarion said with a snicker, thinking only to his side of the bargain as he strode past Morgaine and took the lead, following the trail of where the magic flowed strongest and not long after did the Lord of Chaos come upon the source. 

It was a menagerie of seals and bindings locking away a hideous, stomach-turning vision of flesh. An aberration composed of limbs in varying sizes thrashing about, crashing against the walls of its cage the spell combinations created. Klarion’s eyes widened in glee and surprise as the Lord of Chaos pointed and laughed, “ Wow, just look at you! You’re absolutely disgusting, aren’t you?” Klarion asked as he stalked closer to the beast and pressed his forehead and hands against the barrier, visibly enjoying the spectacle before him. He only laughed harder when his question was met with a roar from the former child.

Morgaine gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, “Are you capable of changing my darling boy back or not!?” The witch demanded as she found it more and more challenging to keep her anger in check. “And please do not make light of this situation, my poor boy, he has suffered so much – he’s suffering still, and all for my sins. 

“Oh, but that’s the thing,” Klarion said, turning around and smiling that same Cheshire grin, “Why would you want that? Think of all the fun that you could have with this, I can’t believe those pompous Lords of Order would refuse to take away such a weapon!” 

Behind that ornate mask, Morgaine smiled wildly, “Oh there will be plenty of fun, you – however, won’t be a participant!”

Klarion turned, an arched eyebrow and an unimpressed expression gracing his features, but before he can inquire about the insane woman’s ramblings a snap of her fingers caused a swirl of magical energy to explode from behind – She broke the seals!?

Whipping his body around, the Lord of Chaos witnessed the atrocity of animated skin, limbs, and mouths bellowing and thrashing against his bindings as each ethereal chain and seal broke apart and vanished without a trace. “MOT Hher RR R, H UrT S , H U RT S, HU RTS, HuNGRY!!!” It shouted as it rose, in its full stature, the creature’s head scraped against the chamber’s high ceilings, the action causing a miniature downpour of dust and debris. Once it was finished orienting itself, lines appeared on its skin, each splitting open revealing a disgusting array of eyes, some even lumped together into a single socket, each twitched, darting in different directions before all of them, in unison, turned their attention down to Klarion.

From the Chaos Lord’s shoulder, Teekl’s fur stood on end as if lightning was traveling all throughout her body as she hissed up at the monster in warning. “Honestly dear,” Klarion said as he reached up to scratch at his anchor’s fur in slow, gentle motions, “I’m annoyed too, but it's okay, we can still make some fun of our own.” 

The creature bellowed once more as the Chaos Lord watched what he assumed was its main face twist and cave in on itself as a new set of facial features bubbled and rose to the surface of skin on its face, the new face was different, visibly more human, perhaps what the creature looked like prior to its botched transformation, a boy’s face, almost infantile, “MOTH ER, MO the R -MO THER -m Ot HER ,” It yelled in a sound akin to a child dry heaving, as if every word out of its multitude of mouths was a struggle of its own causing the creature to choke on every syllable, “ YO U SAI d i’ D BE pO WE r FUL , a lL I Am IS H uN GR y , A lL I a M Is r OT,”

“All you are is irritating,” Klarion corrected as he whipped his arm towards the creature, the action conjuring an array of swirling red spears to stab forth from the ground like stalagmites in varying sizes, each finding its mark and skewering the monstrosity, “Hah! That’ll teach your brat to mess with a Lord of Chaos!” 

“Now, now, sweetie,” Klarion heard Morgainne call out from behind, “Do it just like we practiced and I promise the hurt will go away.” 

“YeS YEss yy ESS!!!” The creature bellowed as its myriad arms convulsed and writhed, some clawing at its own flesh hard enough to tear through it like paper while others groped around the objects impaling it. “M aK e hur T g O ‘ wAY” It added as Klarion watched the creature begin to take literal bites out of his spears, with each portion eaten away the Lord of Chaos could see the way his magic would start to corrode before his conjured weapons began to vaporize, their essence quick to stream away like a river splitting into creaks, each ending down one of the many maws of the creature. It was absorbing his magic!

Klarion’s form visibly shook as rage spread throughout his body in tremors that traveled downward, his face distorted as darkness spread and swallowed the whites of his eyes, horns straightening ever slightly, and pale skin transitioning into sickly white as he turned back to look at Morgaine. Though a grin was plastered on his lips, his now once-again red eyes burned with a wave of ancient anger, “ Witch,” When he addressed her, it was as though a great force holding something deep and terrible had finally given way. Morgaine’s eyes widened as she watched the floor beneath Klarion suddenly implode in on itself from the sheer magical force the Chaos Lord had begun emitting the ground below him now looked as though something had fallen down onto it from the heavens. 

“ You didn’t make a monster,” Klarion continued, still floating there in the middle of his crater, his aura pulsating into a deep vermillion. Soon the darkness in his eyes began to give way to the very cosmos, and in the center of where his irises once were, now floated a single red diamond in each eye, burning in a fire the likes of which was unbeknownst to even the sorceress. When he spoke again, his voice was not one, but many. “You failed at an attempt to make one of us.”