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*
When Wally woke up he was still tired-- which was some bullshit. No one should wake up tired. That's terrible, really. When he tries to rub his eyes in an attempt to wake up more he finds that he can't move his arms. There's panic in the back of his mind at this but he can't seem to wake up any faster. Which is strange. Usually he wakes up much faster than this. He's known for not being his heavy of a sleeper. He's actually a light sleeper.
He pries his eyes open and tries orientate himself in his room. Except that this doesn't look like his room. Instead of a bed beneath him there's hay and a stone floor. That's actually pretty cold now that he thinks about it. He frowns to himself trying to wake up more, sensing something wrong. But sleep is calling him again despite the cold floor and the ache in his arms and ribs.
He lets out a slow breath and sinks deeper into sleep; content for the moment.
*
"What. Do. You. Mean. You. Lost. Him?" The Flash said slowly-- painfully slowly-- to the teens in front of them. Who flinched and shuffled their feet, acting more like children than sidekicks.
Robin stepped forward, looking downcast and melancholy. "We were fighting Klarion the Witchboy. Who got the drop on us and teleported Kid Flash away before we could stop him."
Barry took a deep breath. Before turning on his heel and stepping into the Zeta, beaming up onto the Watchtower intent on finding the fucker that took his son.
*
When Wally woke up next it was easier. He was groggy but he could focus. He swallowed his nausea and looked around the room he was in.
It was more of a pin, like for animals, than anything. There were wooden walls around him without doors or windows that sheltered him from the elements. But there were cracks where he could see the outside world around him. And wherever he was it was cold out, as he felt the wind come in through one larger crack. Not winter cold, more like autumn. But it was cold nonetheless. There was a stone floor under him that was colder than outside. And the hay. It might have been for warmth but Wally wondered how much it really helped a non furry animal.
His wrists had manacles on them that connected to chains, which than connected to a ring in the stone. They weren't powered or anything, but they were heavy and *thick* and he already knew that he wouldn't be able to vibrate through them.
He tried to remember what happened but when he did there was a pain in his head. He hissed, before trying again. Beginning with the start of his day, to the mission, - the mission!
He shivered when another wind blew through the shabby hut-thing. He wasn't wearing his Kid Flash uniform anymore-- which had fear spiking through him. He's wearing thin tan pants and a tank top of the same fabric. No shoes and no socks either. Whoever took him took his costume- they knew his secret identity. And they knew how to keep him. Which was even more embarrassing- that the person knew they could knock him out, put him in thick chains so he can't vibrate, and on top of that he was in a doorless/windowless room. Which was even worse.
Not to mention he was hella hungry.
Also. The elements. Can't forget those.
He shivered again and tried to curl tighter into the hay, ignoring the stab of hunger that went through him.
He wished he knew who was keeping him and why. He needs to know what the probability for escape is.
Sleep was calling him again, and even though he tried to stay awake-- afraid his captor would come while he was sleeping and vulnerable-- eventually he had to succumb to the darkness.
*
What he thinks is the next day later people do come into the pen- or rather *teleports* into the pen. It's a man and a woman. The man has curly black hair and brown eyes while the woman has long dirty blond with hazel eyes; both of them wearing similar tan clothing. Except theirs are long sleeved and they both have moccasin like shoes. The woman has a petite build while the man has the build of a wrestler. They're both sort of healthy looking. Like they eat enough to survive and get plenty of exercise, but aren't exactly *healthy healthy*.
He doesn't recognize either of them. He glares at them both anyways while they ignore him. The man stands behind him like he's going to grab him if he tries to escape, while the woman sets to work sifting through her many keys in order to find the ones to the chains on his wrists.
"Who are you?" He says, ignoring the scratchiness of his unused voice. And he's probably catching a cold from sleeping in the cold all night. Great.
They both ignore him again in favor of glancing at each other.
Another woman teleports into the pen, carrying a bucket in one hand with two ladles and a small pot in the other. The pots steaming and smells like soup which makes his stomach clench with hunger again.
The woman-- this one with choppy short black hair with blue eyes-- gets some water out of the bucket and brings the ladle to his lips, he glares at her a bit but drinks anyway. It helps with the scratchiness.
The other woman finally finds the right key and undoes one manacle, and then the other. But its not like he can escape anyway. So he stays where he is...for now.
Now that his hands are free and are getting life back into them, he can hold the ladle himself. Its odd drinking/eating in front of strangers but hes not about to stop. The woman with the keys leaves, along with the woman with the food after he finishes.
The man hauls him up and doesn't give him a chance to gain his footing before teleporting away.
Its a dizzying feeling, because its nothing like the zeta tubes so he gasps and shakes when they appear somewhere new. Its another barn type place but with more people. Mostly women, but there were a few men. The man carrying him drags him forward despite the fact that he still can't stand yet and the world hasn't stopped spinning because of the teleportation.
There's a tub in the middle of the room that has warm water in it- another one of the men comes over and yanks his shirt off despite his protests. He growls don't deter him from taking off his pants either. Which is hella embarrassing. He blushes when he realizes hes naked in a whole room full of people.
The two men take advantage of his embarrassment and lift him up while he can't fight and set him into the tub of water.
Its warm- not hot- but much warmer than the pen had been, making goosebumps break out over his skin and him to shiver. He's momentarily distracted by the temperature that he doesn't notice one of the women come closer until there's a bucket of warm water dumped over his head. He gasps, his normally wild hair now plastered to his forehead and over his eyes slightly. He can't help the 'eeep' that escapes him as several hands begin *washing* him. From dumping/rubbing soap like things into his hair, to CLEANING every *inch* of his body (much to his mortification), so rubbing weird smelling lotions/body wash stuff into his body. It all smells very green. Like herbs. He struggles through the whole thing, much to the chagrin of the women trying to bathe him. Whatever. They're the ones being invasive, they deserve to get drenched.
When they're done he's pulled out again and dried off. Still very much naked he's teleported back into the pen from earlier.
When the world stops spinning he notices that there are a few changes. The hays gone, and there's a tarp over most of the floor now. But still no clothes. Or answers.
The men drop him into the middle of the tarp and push him down onto his back making his face heat up again at how uncovered he is. One man holds his arm down onto the ground and the other does the same thing before he can hit him. One woman comes in carrying multiple bowls of a paint-like liquid and a brush in her hands and sets them down on the tarp. Some men come in after her, who must also be in charge of holding him down- as they go to each of his legs. She dips the brush into dark green paint and begins painting swirls onto one foot before having it creep up his leg- front and back- and stopping at his hip bones. She does the same thing to the other side. He's so caught up studying the paint that he forgets that it probably does't mean anything good. They look like tribal tattoos to be honest, and the shade of green is pretty neat. But it doesn't matter, he tries to kick his leg free and aim a kick for the bowl but the man holds on firm, nearly bruising.
The woman glares at the man before sighing.
She gets up and leaves quickly before coming back with more soup. He doesn't like the smell of this one though. Smells like melatonin. She forced him to eat it though and holds a hand over his mouth and pinches his nose until he swallows.
He was right, it was a drug. Just not one that puts him to sleep. Just makes him sleepy. They keep holding him down, but not forcefully like before.
The woman continues to paint the tribal swirls onto him framing his hips and crawling up his chest and around his arms. They're also all over his back. They stop on his neck, not going up onto his face but close. They wait until it dries before letting him go. (not that he can do anything)
They leave him in the middle of the tarp.
A little later the sleepy stuff leaves his system and he sits up and studies the marks while hugging his knees to his chest because he *still* doesn't have clothes. But does't move just yet. Doesn't think he can get out. (or if he wants to naked).
There's another sound of teleportation and he looks up, eyes narrowing at the smirking face looking down at him.
"Klarion." He growls, wishing he had his uniform so he stood stand up and face the witchboy.
Said witchboy was undisturbed in petting his mangy orange cat, continuing to smirk down at him.
"Good evening Meta." He said smoothly.
"Fuck off Witch."
The witchboy's smirk only grew wider. "I heard you gave my servants quite the trouble earlier today. Whatever was the problem?"
"How about you cut the crap and just tell me why I'm here?"
The witchboy was undisturbed once again. But feigned a sigh. "If you *must* know brat child I need you for a spell."
Wally blinked, mulling this thought in his head. This didn't sound very good if he was honest.
"...What spell?"
The magic user smiled wider. "I'm glad you asked! You see, there's this spell, filed under 'tenebris magicae' or 'Dark Magic' as you mortals might say, that I've recently found and decided to try out on you. You see, if you wear those and no harm comes to you over the next three days your soul becomes mine! Then its a simple process of burning out alive and taking the infinite power of the speedforce that's in your soul for myself."
Wally feels dread pool in his gut. Klarion burning him alive and then taking his *soul*? No thanks.
He glares at the witchboys laughing face and tries to ignore the fear curling low in his gut. The prissily dressed man in front of him wipes an imaginary tear away form his eye and turns on his heel, about to walk out when Wally bites his lip and says...
"...hey Klarion? Can I have some clothes?"
The man turns around with this gleam in his eye that has Wally regretting this decision. Thinking maybe he should have just taken his chances with one of the servants.
"That depends ~Wally." he says enjoying the look of horror that flickers across the boys face when he said his real name. "Whats the *proper* way to ask someone."
The ginger child's face becomes angry and Klarion expects him to spit crude things at him again, but instead he's surprised when Wallys head drops so he doesn't have to look at the Witchboys smug face and says, lowly, "Can I *please* have some clothes?"
Klarion wonders- not for the first time- mortals obsession with clothing. Really not even he got it, he only wore clothes because every one else around here did. He shrugs making up some pants for the child.
He considers teasing more but decides that he's bored.
Besides, why not be nice to the kid? Its not like he has much time left anyway.
*
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOT ON EARTH?" Barry Allen shouts at Dr. Fate.
Dinah puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, squeezing tightly before asking.
"If he's not on earth, than where is he Nabu?"
"I...do not know."
Barry has to restrain himself, reminding himself that there were *children* in the room.
Nabu continued, "There are several planes that the Lord of Chaos could be residing in. However, we must be absolutely sure about whichever one it is because they are extremely hard to break into and if we guess wrong, there's no way to be sure we can go into another."
Barry sighs, scrubbing his face with his hands.
"What does the Chaos Lord want with our friend Dr. Fate?" Kaldur asks, stepping forward.
The immortal takes pause. "I have some ideas. But none are good and if I'm right about one...then we don't have much time."
The team steps forward.
"Then tell us what we have to do." Says Superboy.
*
It's pretty fucking boring just staring at a wall- Wally decides.
He looks down at the paint again, going over what Klarion said.
'Three days. Three days to get out of here...or else.' He finished shuddering. He thinks about the bath the servants gave him and a grin slowly comes onto his face.
He goes to a spot where there wasn't tarp and kicks it up, revealing the dirty floor. Smiling deviously he rolled around on the floor getting super dirty and smiling down at his appearance.
--
Early that next morning, a servant woman come and drops the soup she's carrying in surprise. Her eyes widen and she teleports away quickly.
Wally flinches when he realizes that this stunt will probably earn him some missed meals but sets himself up confidently, determined to not show fear for when Klarion shows up. He doesn't regret earning himself more time.
There a ROAR of anger and a flash later there's and angry witchboy standing before him.
Wally bites back the fear and grins cheekily at the fuming magic user who's taking in his dirty self with a darkening expression.
The witchboy raises a ball of energy above his head and Wally braces himself for the blow that never comes. Instead the witchboy calms himself down and strides from the room. Leaving Wally to himself and his thoughts once again.
After a while it becomes clear what the witchboys plan is. He's trying to starve Wally and its *working*. Its working well.
He tucks himself in tighter, somehow hoping that this will be enough to stop the stabbing feeling in his stomach. He groans as another wave hits. His body begins shutting some things down sometime in the night. Leaving him colder and more hurting than before.
He somehow manages to get some sleep (or maybe he passes out?) and when he begins to wake up the next day someones putting something amazingly warm in his belly.
*
"It's been four days Bruce." Barry said passing the floor restlessly.
Bruce tampered down the urge to snap at the other man, trying to be patient.
"I'm aware."
"What if something terrible is happening to him?"
"Then we'd better focus."
"What if he's hungry? What if he's hurt? Whatifhesbeingbrainwashed? Whatifhislegsarebroken? Whatif-"
"Flash. Calm down. You're going to create a trench."
The blond man calms down slowly before choosing to bounce his leg restlessly up and down.
"Good. Now think. Have any magical villains expressed an interest in you? This could help us find out what Klarion wants with your nephew."
Barry thinks, reviewing all the magic users he's faced and come up blank. He sighs placing his face in his hands, feeling useless.
Please be okay Wally, we're trying to find you.
*
Please get here guys, its going to be harder to stall this time.
Wally sighed. He shifted slightly, feeling his speed protest greatly to being locked up for so long. His hands were tied behind his back this time around and his feet were tied together at the ankles. He shifts again feeling like he was going to vibrate straight through the freaking earth. He's been like this *all day*.
He was bathed again, which was just as terrible as it was the first time. And then he was left without clothes (probably lost his pants privileges now) and tied to a post that appeared in the room.
He vibrates lowly to relieve some energy and still feels like the room is becoming suffocating. In a few more hours he'll probably be crazy enough to think the walls are closing in on him.
Klarion appears in his field of vision, right in front of his face, before he even realizes he showed up making his head jerk back into the pole behind him.
The magic users eyes narrow, looking the speedster up and down, making the speedster blush and try and close his legs.
The witch straightens and nods to the servant man behind him, making the man teleport away with his head hung.
Wally tries to glare at the witch but his breath is quick like he can't breathe and his vision has spots in it and he can't do anything when the witch grabs his face- his nails digging into his cheek so hard blood was almost drawn.
His vision swims and his head hangs limp to the side when he passes out.
--
Klarion wasn't happy with the little speedster, mostly because Vandal warned him about sidekicks and he didn't want to listen. So when a servant came in with a concern about the speedster he felt a headache coming on that could mean bad news for the child if he didn't watch out.
The servant had a different complaint this time though. Instead of him being a nuisance it seemed like this time it wasn't actually his fault.
The witchboy hummed as he strode forward frown forming when he thought about what the servant was complaining about.
Was he sick? Was his body resisting this dimension? Was his speed resisting this dimension?
...His speed.
That was probably it. While the Flash ad the other older speedsters didn't need to be moving ALL the time, the child was a young one with the potential to become fastest. The speedforce was probably rejected this magic filled dimension and the confinement the runners in.
He teleports into the cell, the servant following him faithfully.
The teen speedsters head was bobbing slightly like he was resisting sleep and his body was giving off a low hum of energy. Klarion frowned again and knelt down to eye level with the ginger.
The teens green eyes were hazy and his head snapped back into the pole he was tied to- confirming his suspicions that the hero hadn't even noticed them enter. There was slight panic in his eyes along with his disorientation clear as day. Klarion stands and nods to his servant telling him that he can leave and to send in the head servant. He needs to talk to her and the healer. He needs to fix this before his ingredient dies.
The child seems to be running out of breath, he was panting slightly and when Klarion bent down again he not only didn't even move, his eyes didn't couldn't even focus.
The head servant and the healer teleport in and Klarion turns to the healer.
"Find a way to fix him."
He nods quickly and kneels down to the now unconscious teenager. He turns to the head servant.
"Prepare a space in my room. The nuisance is staying with me until his deathday."
"Yes sir." she says bowing before teleporting away.
He turns back around to where the man has untied the hero and is wrapping a charm around his neck in an attempt to stabilize him.
"What is the problem?"
"It's his speed sir. He's not made for this dimension."
"Is there a way to keep him here?"
"I...believe so. Connect him to someone? Through your magic? It would connect him to this world for the time needed to complete the spell. It wouldn't be perfect but-"
"Alright. I'll connect him to me. I'm going to have to spend time with him because of the soul spell anyway. Might as well temporary anchor him to this world as well."
He lifts the frail little thing into his arms bridle style, teleporting into his room, placing him onto the cot that the servants put on the floor on the wall that was to the right of his bed.
He could feel the teens body shake involuntarily and Klarion couldn't help the vicious grin that spread onto his face.
'All that power. In the body of a child hero, who doesn't even know how to use it'
He smirks, 'And soon little runner. It will be mine'
--
When Wally wakes up next the walls aren't closing in on him (thankfully) and he feels like he can breath again. He blinks, not recognizing the white, black, and red room.
He's on the floor, in some kind of nest of blankets and pillows and he's no longer bound. But there's a burning feeling in his arms and a weight on his neck.
He blinks away the fuzzy feeling in his head and tries to look down at his arms but the foreign feeling on his neck commands his attention. He tries to grab at his and see what it is but its not long enough. It goes around his whole throat and he frowns trying to find a seam or a clip. He feels around the whole thing and can't find anything that identifies it or to take it off. He tugs experimentally, trying to find a way out of it. When that proves useless he opts to ignore it for now.
He looks down at his arms and sees something that makes his heart stop.
Down his left arm there were letters making a vertical word down his arm. It read -KLARION. While the word down his right arm read -WALLACE. Both of them were raised like a scar making nervousness flutter in his stomach like malicious butterfly's.
He looks around the room that he's in and see a bed off in the corner. He frowns... is he in... is this Klarions room?!
He tried to stand up to see if the witch boys in here but bumps against some kind of force field, knocking him back down onto the nest-thing.
He rubbed his head, wondering what he hit. He feels around, feeling himself hit something solid all around like a dome that traps him in his nest-thingy. He tries to see around the room from the position that he's in. The bed that's in front of him hasn't been made yet making him think that either A) Klarions a slob, which seems unlikely considering how the freak dresses or B) he's just gotten up.
'Eww I don't want to see the witchboy get dressed.' he scrunches up his nose, trying to see whats around his neck again when there's a 'thump' and a curse in another language from the other side of the wall.
The wall on the other side of the bed - basically opposite the speedster- opened up to reveal a hidden door was there the whole time. The witchboy-- who is not a morning person apparently-- is on the other side cursing and attempting to brush his hair, teeth, and get dressed at the same time. And opened the door to yell something in another language at the cat (Teekal?) before the orange thing got up, hissed, and left the room with its tail in the air.
The witchboy disappeared into the bathroom again, without shutting the door this time so Wally and tilt his head slightly and spy on the other male. Curious at how normal he looked.
The man seemed to be having issues with his hair, angrily swiping a brush through it multiple times, but each time he did, his signature horns would pop back up.
"Stupid earth and earth like dimensions. My hair lays flat JUST FINE in the home world yet every single fuckin time I come here-" he growled giving up and letting his hair do what it wanted. "Damn spells. Damn cat. TEEKAL!! I SWEAR IF YOU HAVEN"T-- oh you." His tone switched when he caught sight of the awake teenager.
"Awake are you? How are you feeling? Did the anchor spell work?"
"The...what?"
"Your speed you dolt. Your speed was rejecting this dimension so I had to anchor you so someone." He spit the toothpaste out of his mouth and rolled up his sleeves. His arms were the same as Wally's with the only difference being that WALLACE was on the left while his own name was on the right.
"Do. You. Think. Your. Going. To. Pass. Out. Again?" Klarion said slowly like he thought Wally was stupid.
Wally glared. "*Thanks* for you 'concern' Witch but no I don't"
The chaos lord sneered. "Good. Can't have my spell dying before it finishes right?" He said 'sweetly' reminding the speedster that he was still on death roe at the moment, and that the tribal paint hadn't been cleaned off so he was still in the midst of the spell.
He glared at him, before the witchboy snorted, moving back away from view to continue his morning routine. Just before he left he smirked, straightening his tie. "That thing around your neck?" he conjures a mirror. "It's a collar." he finishes and leaves, ignoring the way Wallys face screws up with rage.
He looks at his reflection, confirming that YES the thing that's been bothering him is in fact a collar.
It was black and red, a simple design, and Wally hated it with every fiber of his being. It was demeaning and he was going to punch the witchboy in the face as soon as he could.
The rest of that day went by painfully slow. 'But at least I'm not tied up' he thought to himself.
When Klarion came back he swallowed down what he was going to say first before asking, "How long has it been?"
The witchboy stared at the teen for a moment, as if contemplating whether of not to tell him before answering.
"You're now on the fifth day of your kidnapping. You woke up right after I kidnapped you, the day your first set of spell tattoos were painted on, the day you fucked that up and got starved, then yesterday you got your tattoos again and your speed was hurting you, and now today."
Wally hums. It hasn't been that long, he decides. It just feels like forever.
"Can I have some clothes?"
"Maybe. If you're good."
He huffs and glares at the witch before remembering his other question.
"Sooooo...I'm on day two of that spell?"
The witches eyes narrow. "You had better not try anything speedster. Or I can make your life a living ~hell." He mulls over his next thoughts. "But I *suppose* it's rude to deny someones last wishes right?" He smiles sharply at that.
"If you must know, yes your on 'day two'. I said before it's a three day spell? Well that's the truth but I can understand why you're confused. Day one is technically the bathing day. The spell requires a *clean* ingredient. Then the three days of being ~kind~ to your hostage. THEN I can kill you."
"Why would a black 'magic' spell require being nice?"
"You would rather have torture? Because I'm *sure* I can find a spell if your into that."
Wally sends him a deadpanned look. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm just curious, is that a crime Witchie?" Klarions lip curls at the nickname.
"If you MUST know meta, it was created by a kind ol' coot. He was kidnapped and forced to make a powerful spell, so he did it but he made the qualifications for the spell kind in hope that the castors would see the 'error of their ways' or something like that." The witchboy rolls his eyes, making him look like a stereotypical villain. "Now go to sleep. I'm tired."
He flicks his wrist and the lights go off, making the room pitch black.
He hears the witchboy climb into bed and considers annoying him now that he knows he has to be treated *kindly* through this whole process...but then again he doesn't feel like being gagged or something like that so he grumbles to himself but goes to sleep anyway.
*
The next day he wakes up after Klarions already left the room and huffs. Rude.
He looks down at the paint again and wonders how badly he was gonna suffer if he fucked up the spell again.
'Whelp it can't hurt more than burning alive can it?' he thinks looking around the pristine room for something to dirty to fuck shit up with. He frowned before beginning to try and scratch off the paint.
It wasn't just like paint, because it was obviously meant to stay on skin but if he rubbed hard enough (with a touch of superspeed) then he could get it to flake off.
He started to rub his arm aggressively until it hurt like hell and he drew some blood. And then rubbed the blood across his other arm.
He had just decided that that was enough when there was a crash and a curse outside of the room.
The magic user stormed in and he looked *pissed*. Wally just glared at him without flinching, despite the fact that he knew he was in a world of pain. The magician grabbed his arm and yanked upward, actually getting him through the force field.
He hissed as long nails dug into his cut, the magic user growled lifting his other hand, a pulsing purple spell hit him square in the face.
He expected pain, but what he didn't expect was to just pass out, the world falling away around him.
*
"I think I know how to find him." Said Fate to the group of superheros before him. He held up a hand before they could rush forward. "It won't be a portal, so rescue won't be today. But what I'm proposing is a window to see where he is, and then find him through the setting he's in."
Barry nods, "Whatever you can do."
Fate nods before turning to the wall behind him and conjuring the spell.
It showed the speedster sitting in a clean room on the floor. Naked besides a pillow placed over his lap.
He was also covered in green swirls and had a collar around his neck.
He was surprisingly healthy looking, given the circumstances, except for the thinness and the dark circles under his eyes. He was looking down at his arm that had KLARION written on it vertically thoughtfully. Before he began rubbing his arm with vigor. He didn't stop when he started bleeding- if anything he looked glad that he was. He spread the blood all around his arms before stopping when there was a familiar roar of anger.
He glared as the witchboy neared, but didn't back a move to move away. The man grabbed his bleeding arm and yanked him up, just before he slammed a spell into Wally's face that made him fall unconscious.
Their breathes caught at the sight of the witchboy still seething, wondering what he was going to do.
The immortal calmed down a bit before dropping the limb teen back onto the floor, for extra measure he kicked his chest so hard there was a *CRACK* before he turned and walked away.
There was a worrying soft purple light coming from the teen before the teen started to thrash and shout in his sleep, confirming that Klarion put him in a nightmare.
The window spell ended leaving them out of breath and worried.
"What. The. Hell. Was. That?" Artemis asked, hella confused.
"...That spell. It couldn't...?" Fate muttered to himself before pouring himself over his books. "Oh no." he whispered to himself.
" 'Oh no'?! 'OH NO'?! What the hell does 'oh no' mean?!" Robin shouted, ignoring his mentor.
"It means that I now know the reason Klarion kidnapped your friend. And that it's definitely a good thing that he rubbed off the spell. He's buying us some time."
"But WHAT does the spell mean Nabu?" Asked Flash, eye twitching.
"Klarion is inflicting dark magic onto your sidekick. The spell takes three- really four- days for the 'ingredient'. On the fifth day- after the sacrifice has been prepped- the magician burns said sacrifice alive and gets their soul."
The others eyes widened.
"Sacrifice?"
"Burned ALIVE?!"
"*Four* days?"
"Gets their soul, what the hell?"
"Quiet." Batman chastised. "Its been more than four days Fate. Why isn't Kid Flash dead. And why does Klarion want his soul?"
"My guess is, that Klarion explained the spell to Kid Flash and he messed up the markings the first time. Did you see the room he was in? It looked like Klarions room. Why would he allow his prisoner to stay in his room unless to keep an eyes on him?" The Order Lord continued to flip through an old book. "And I imagine he wants the speedforce's infinite power. He could obtain that if he had his soul.
He hummed again, "I've narrowed down the list of dimensions he could be in, based on Klarions looks. But I need to be focusing on an antidote right now."
"We should be focusing on rescuing our friend!" Shouted M'gann before she could stop herself.
Dr. Fate shook his head. "No. Because rescuing him will mean nothing if his soul gets trapped in limbo. If his soul gets trapped in limbo he not only will never be able to return to his body but his spirit won't be able to move on. You'll all go into the afterlife while he's cursed to never move on for all eternity. How does that sound?"
M'gann sniffs and Conner glares at Fate for making M'gann feel bad.
Fate turns away. "We have time. Kid Flash bought us time. Lets use it to help him. Don't make his pain worthless."
*
(the eighth day, Wally thinks that its the seventh and that he has three days to stop the spell but in reality he only has two. I'm not gonna write the nightmare tho sorry)
After he woke up on his side and realized that he wasn't in a world where his friends were dead because of him he shook, letting some tears run down his face before trying to stop immediately.
It wasn't time to cry.
He looked down and realized that the servants bathed him and marked him again and he wondered when they were all gonna get the hint that he wasn't giving up in a million years.
He tried to sit up and realized that he couldn't. He growled and tried to move. But his limbs felt heavy so he was just stuck laying down. He was content glaring at the floor until a chuckle pulled him from his angry thoughts.
The weight on his body was lessened, letting him sit up.
The witchboy had moved a desk into his room and had been busy typing on his computer when the meta had woken up. He stopped typing long enough to smirk at the teen.
"Enjoy the nightmare?" He asked conversationally.
"Oh it was fantastic. You're very original."
The witchboy snorted but didn't fire back with anything. He seemed to be in a good mood and went back to typing. Ignoring his prisoner.
"Don't even think about trying anything. I can promise you I won't be as merciful this time around."
The hero scoffed.
The magic users eyes narrowed in warning. "If you're good. I'll numb you when we do the ritual. Think about it before answering child. Your friends can't find us, you can't escape, and your inevitable end will be very painful. I'm offering you a generosity most don't get- and you've already been a problem."
Wally scrunched his nose up. Thinking over his options.
He doesn't want to believe that this is really his end but he knows that he should accept and get on the witches good graces, for when he messes up the tattoos.
"I suppose I accept. On the off chance that you win." He rolls his eyes at the end to show how little he really believes that. But it doesn't matter because the witchboys grinning like he just won and Wally can't help but think that he was tricked into something not good for him.
"Well ~Wallace. I'm glad you just consented."
"Um what? Hell no." Shitshitshitshit not good.
"Don't worry. I'll still numb you. It would be cruel to trick you and then make you go through all that pain." he snickers to himself and continues to type. He's about to start complaining-- loudly-- when a tiredness sweeps over him, making his tongue heavy in his mouth.
"Wh-whaaat did you-" He stops talking because it becomes to hard to move his jaw and he sinks onto his side before he can help it.
The magic user smirks. "Now hush, I don't need you distracting me anymore."
The weight is back, pushing him into the ground and he tries to flip Klarion off but he's asleep before he can muster the energy to raise his hand.
*
(Remember, Day nine- Wally thinks its the eighth. He has one day (this day) to stop it but Wally doesn't know that.)
The next day he spent wondering how he was gonna mess up the tattoos when he couldn't even move.
Klarion had left when he woke up, looking grouchy. And Wally didn't know how long he had until the witch came back. He wondered if he should mess them up today or wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow would be cutting it close but it would also give him more time for his friends to figure out where he was. Cause he doubted he would be able to escape with Klarion watching him like an annoying hawk.
The witch boy came in later, muttering to himself like a loon. Before riffling through his desk until he found an ancient book.
He makes something- a potion that looks like something out of a fantasy novel- its blue and glowing and to be honest Wally doesn't like the look of it one bit.
Klarion leaves it on the table and moves over to the speedster. He waves a hand and the collar loosens suddenly, but it doesn't come off. The weight dissipates and he's hauled upwards. The witchboy pushes him onto his bed and says "Stay" before leaving quickly.
'Hell no up yours'
He makes a move towards the potted plant that's next to the bed, trying to get messy with the dirt inside.
Just as he reaches the pot he's frozen in midair by a red force.
The witchboy looks pissed but tampers it down. The collar tightens uncomfortably and he has a feeling that he's not allowed to leave the bed anymore. Klarion frowns as he sets a tray filled with food onto the bed.
Wally gives him a deadpan look. "Like I trust you Witchie."
Klarions eye twitches.
"Why would I poison you? I need you alive to take your soul."
"...Why am I on your bed?"
Klarion huffed like Wally was an idiot. "*Because* I have to be kind to you. Remember? And I don't want to prepare a new bed for you."
It wasn't the truth, but then again it wasn't a lie either. He tricked the teen into thinking he had time left, but the reality was that the spell was nearly complete. This day, the *last* day, had to be his 'best'.
'Damn blasted *wizard* making a spell forcing me to be nice to the annoying brat' he thought to himself.
The hero just looked at him skeptically.
He huffed and took the food anyway. Klarion nods and walks away out of the room, wanting to see if the servants got what he wanted yet.
Wally eat faster after the weirdo left. Seriously, who watches someone eat? Rude.
He looks down and his naked form again and wonders if Klarion will give him clothes. He wondered if his friends knew where he was and how much time would pass before he could leave.
The thought of him failing and not getting rescued made him shiver. Burned *alive* so some witch could steal his soul and use it for evil? Not how he wanted to die thank you very much.
'At least Klarion promised to 'numb' me before it happened' he thought to himself sarcastically, remembering how the other male tricked him into consenting to this whole thing.
He finished the *feast* that Witchie brought and was suck just staring at the wall again. He groaned loudly hoping to get some attention. Seriously he was a social person, he wanted to talk to someone. Even if it was just to annoy Klarion. Nothing happened and he pouted, trying to find something interesting to do on the bed.
He groaned dramatically again, just in time for Klarion to walk through the door. Already looking annoyed. Wally grinned. Yes, time to annoy him further. Maybe he can even get Klarion so mad that he hits him and starts the spell all over again.
"Yo. 'Sup Witchie."
He could see Klarions jaw clench and he counts a small victory. When he gets out of here he's going to bring this nickname up for every battle.
Klarion waved in some servants into the room and Wally tilts his head as four servants come, each carrying a bouquet of flowers.
"What the hell?"
Klarion looks at him with angry onyx eyes and just says, "If. I. Have. To. Explain. It. One. More-"
"Yeah yeah yeah spells and crap. But what does flowers have to do with being nice to me? I mean if you like me that much you could have just said somethin-"
"Quiet imbecile!" Klarion rubbed his temples. The servants left the large bouquets in different corners of the room (all out of his reach unfortunately) before leaving quickly.
Klarion took a deep breath before looking at him, aggravated. "...I'll explain tonight." He decided. Wally frowned. Why wait so long?
"Can I have some clothes?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"But whhhhhhhhhhhhy?!"
"Because you're annoying and you're harder to control if you're wearing clothes."
"How does that even make sense."
"Yes it does."
"No it doesn't."
Klarion almost answered back before frowning, growling at the annoying redhead before an idea came to mind.
"Why do you feel the need to cover up, hmm?" he slinks closer, where the redhead was pulling his legs up to his chest, curling up tight. The speedsters smirk fell off his face when the witchboy didn't stop inching forward. "Maybe I ~want to see what you're covering up, hmmm?" The redheads eyes were wide and he sputtered indignantly.
"EXCUSE ME?! What the hell man?"
The witch threw his head back and laughed uproariously at the child's face. The speedster seemed to realize that the witchboy was screwing with him because his face changed from confused to pissed off in a matter of seconds.
"Fuck off."
Klarion just wiped the tears off his face before standing up, ignoring the pests 'angry' face.
"Has anyone ever told you that you look like an adorable kitten when your angry. No seriously, you're cute when your affronted."
The child's frown just deepened, hating not being able to do anything except sit there.
"And by the way," Klarion started again. "THAT'S what I meant about how you're easier to control without useless clothing on. You just went from annoying pest to quiet and contained within five seconds.
Wally huffed. "Cooooooome on." He thought about it before saying, "You have to be nice to me."
Klarions smile dropped off before he groaned.
He waved his hand and some seriously *tight* black leather pants appeared on his body, making him screech slightly in surprise.
He looked down and wrinkled his nose, "Klaaaaaaarion."
"Do not ever say my name like that again. Ever."
"But Klaaaaaarion I don't liiiiiiiike these ones."
"Tough shit whiny brat."
"But Klaaa-"
"Don't."
"-aaaaa-"
"NO."
"-aaaa-"
"WHY don't you like them?! You wanted clothes. I gave you clothes. My jobs done."
"They're to tight. I don't like them."
"You fight crime in SPANDEX."
"Its not the same!!"
"Whatever. My jobs done."
"Ugggg-"
"Stop that."
"UGGGGGGGGG."
"STOP!"
"UuUuUuUuGgGgGgGgG"
"What the hell is wrong with-"
"UuuuuuUUGggggGGgG!!"
Klarion raised his hand like he was going to smack him before he stopped himself. He took a deep breath. "You're *not* going to trick me into restarting the spell you little shit."
He waved his hand and changed the leather pants into some loose sweatpants. He glared at the teen before deciding to just leave the room and start preparing for tomorrow. It was late after all. He smirked just before he hit him with another spell. "To bad you didn't like them. You have the legs for them."
The child sputtered just before he nodded off. Perfect. *Silence*.
He tucked the child in, not wanting the spell to think that he wasn't taking care of the ingredient well enough.
Klarion looked over at the potion that he made earlier, the numbing potion. Perhaps it was to good for the whelp, but then again; it was hard to concentrate on spell casting over screams of pain.
*
"tseW ecallaW em wohs :lleps wodniW"
(Window spell: show me Wallace West)
They watched with baited breath as Wally appeared on the wall. Sitting on Klarions bed with the witchboy looking at him from the end of his bed. He looked pissed while Wally looked annoyed with this underlying smugness.
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Yes it does."
"No it doesn't."
Klarion was fuming, looking like he was about to shout again before a cool wave of pompousness washed over his face.
He leans forward, going around the end and coming closer to the ginger. "Why do you feel the need to cover up, hmm?" he slinks closer, where the redhead was pulling his legs up to his chest, curling up tight. The speedsters smirk fell off his face when the witchboy didn't stop inching forward.
Their eyes widened, feeling their stomachs drop. Barry watched, feeling like he couldn't breath.
"Maybe I ~want to see what you're covering up, hmmm?" Wallys eyes were wide and he sputtered indignantly.
"EXCUSE ME?! What the hell man?"
Klarion threw his head back and laughed uproariously at the Wallys face. They realized that the villain was only messing with the speedster for his amusement, allowing them all to breath a sigh of relief. The air seemed to return but the weight in their gut was still there. The speedster seemed to realize that the witchboy was screwing with him also because his face changed from confused to pissed off in a matter of seconds.
"Fuck off."
Klarion just wiped the tears off his face before standing up, ignoring the speedsters face.
"Has anyone ever told you that you look like an adorable kitten when your angry. No seriously, you're cute when your affronted."
"True." Robin said giving a half shrug.
The others just stared. Dick shrugged again. "What? Smile a little; Wally would be crackin a joke too. At least thats TRUE. Don't even try and tell me you haven't thought the same thing."
Barry let a small smile slip through. "Except for when he's ACTUALLY angry. That actually is one of the scariest things I've ever seen."
Artemis snorts.
They pay attention again when Klarion speaks again: "And by the way, THAT'S what I meant about how you're easier to control without useless clothing on. You just went from annoying pest to quiet and contained within five seconds."
Wally huffed. "Cooooooome on." He thought about it before saying, "You have to be nice to me."
Klarions smile dropped off before he groaned.
He waved his hand and some seriously *tight* black leather pants appeared on Wallys body, making him screech slightly in surprise.
He looked down and wrinkled his nose, "Klaaaaaaarion."
"Do not ever say my name like that again. Ever."
"But Klaaaaaarion I don't liiiiiiiike these ones."
"Tough shit whiny brat."
"But Klaaa-"
"Don't."
"-aaaaa-"
"NO."
"-aaaa-"
"WHY don't you like them?! You wanted clothes. I gave you clothes. My jobs done."
"They're to tight. I don't like them."
"You fight crime in SPANDEX."
"Its not the same!!"
"Whatever. My jobs done."
"Ugggg-"
"Stop that."
"UGGGGGGGGG."
"STOP!"
"UuUuUuUuGgGgGgGgG"
"What the hell is wrong with-"
"UuuuuuUUGggggGGgG!!"
Klarion raised his hand like he was going to smack him before he stopped himself. He took a deep breath. "You're *not* going to trick me into restarting the spell you little shit."
Kaldur blinked. "So there WAS a point to all that?"
"Apparently." Said Conner shaking his head. "I'm surprised it didn't work. *I* wanted to hit him."
"You want to hit everything." Said Robin blithely.
Klarion waved his hand and changed the leather pants into some loose sweatpants. He smirked just before he hit him with another spell. "To bad you didn't like them. You have the legs for them."
Wally sputtered just before he nodded off unnaturally.
The window spell ended leaving just them and their emotions.
"We must move quickly. I don't think Wallace can buy us any more time. And it looks like Klarions ready to take your friends soul."
*
'Klarions bed was really soft' was probably something Wally never would have thought before this whole ordeal. But alas it true.
He woke up, a little confused at where he was before he remembered.
He looked down at his arm, about to start rubbing the tattoos off when he had to freeze because the witchboy walked in. Carrying a flower crown of all things. He frowned like he knew what Wally was about to do but shrugged it off, letting a servant (who was carrying food) in.
She set the food down on Wallys lap before scurrying away.
Wally frowned at Klarion the whole time he ate, not liking his hovering presence at all.
"Whats that for? Because you better not be thinking what I think your thinking."
Klarion snorted. "I have this for the same reason I put flowers in here yesterday. On your *last* day you have to be surrounded by ~good things. As part of the spell. The crown is for the ceremony taking place this morning."
Wally felt his heart stop. "Wh-at? Today? But I thought..."
The witchboy smirked, eyes taking on a wicked tint. "Your internal calender's a bit... off... I'm afraid."
Wallys eyes widened as an invisible force pulled him off of the bed, stripping him of the pants again.
'Damn it. I just got those' he thought before feeling silly for caring about something like that when he was about to be burned alive in some scary soul stealing dark magic ritual.
His hands were placed behind his back and he was floating a bit off the ground so its not like he can run away.
Klarion placed the stupid looking flower crown on his head, ignoring Wallys growl. They both knew his anger was just a false confidence front. The witch was just kind enough to not mention it. Or didn't care. Whichever.
He was walked outside, where goosebumps immediately broke surface. It was COLD out here dammit, and it wasn't like he had clothes or anything.
"Don't worry ~Wallace. It's not like it will be cold for long." Klarion snickered to himself before leading the way. Ignoring the flash of fear that flickered across his hostages face. Wally didn't want to show it, but he was actually terrified. This was not how he thought or wanted to go. Not as a spell for a witchboy, for his soul to be used as a weapon against his friends.
He was floated over to a platform, which has a stake in the center. Its not very big, the size of a small bedroom or something. His breath catches at the sight and he struggles against the spell a bit, hoping it would somehow budge. Klarion walked up the wooden platforms stairs forced the speedster onto the ground, his back to the stake. He crosses his legs out of habit (its not comfortable any other way in this position) and tries to yank his hands free but the man is having none of it- he ties his wrists together before going the extra mile by wrapping rope around his chest and tying him to the stake.
The witchboy comes in front of him and Wally tries to put on a confident face, to show the witchboy he wasn't afraid of him. The witches head tilts like he's admiring the sight of Wally tied to the stake and Wallys glare deepens. Man he really hates this guy.
Klarion grabbed some oil and the cold feeling in his gut returns when he realizes that its *burning* oil. The witch swipes some onto his finger and swipes it onto Wallys face, just on his cheeks, despite Wally trying to bite him. He also put some onto his chest- over the tribal tattoos.
The witch smirks at him again and says, "As much as I'd *love* to you beg me for mercy in your last moments ~hero...I don't go back on my promises. Numbing potion."
He pulls out the blue liquid from the other day and forces Wallys mouth open before tipping the liquid into the redheads mouth. And Wally... he wants to refuse and say something cheeky like 'my friends will stop you' but as its looking right now? It doesn't look that good for him.
The potion is immediate and Wallys finds the feeling leaving his body quickly and even his mind goes numb. Thoughts puttering off until he feels like he's just suspended in a between asleep and awake state. He knows whats going on- he hasn't forgotten. He knows to be afraid, that he was going to die a horrible death and he cares...just not enough to move. His breathing and heart rate slows and his eyes become very hard to hold open so he just has them open halfway. He can kind of see Klarion laughing at him but he can't find it in him to feel anything. Everything is just...numb.
The witchboy walks away and Wally wonders what his friends are going to find.
Maybe just a burned body. Or maybe magic fire burns you to ash.
He hopes this stuff lasts the whole time. Burning sounds painful.
He picks up the sound of casting- of Witchie speaking in another language but he doesn't have the energy to lift his head up. He'll just continue staring at the wood beneath him.
There's a bright orange light in front of him and he suspects that the torch is being lowered onto the kindling that's under the platform. It catches quickly and soon there's a roaring fire around him, slowly but surly closing in on him in the center. It hasn't touched him yet and Wally wonders how long this is going to take. Will he just be sitting here dumbly while burning for hours?
He suspects that if he could feel, his skin would be uncomfortably warm. He's getting pinker and he's getting a first degree burn from being surround by the stuff. In a few minutes the fire will be on him and he'll go from a second to third degree in a matter of seconds before simply roasting.
There's a commotion going on now and he wonders if its more spell stuff. A break in the fire happens in front of him before someones running towards him and hurriedly cutting through the ropes.
He tries to look up but his body's so disconnected from his mind that hes honestly surprised he managed to keep his eyes open this long.
The person is lifting him and running him off the platform and onto the grass. He only knows its grass because he's on his side and he can see the individual blades from here. He's rolled onto his back and his vision fades out a bit because of the bright sun behind the person. When his eyes come back into focus he realizes its Artemis over him. Man she looks pretty. Her hairs getting illuminated by the sun making it look golden. She also looks apathetic about something. Shes talking he thinks. Her mouth is moving and shes smacking his face, but he just can't feel it. Man shes pretty.
She looks concerned too. Maybe about him? That makes sense. He was almost burned alive after all. Speaking of that. Wheres all the fire gone?
Artemis looks like shes yelling at someone and Kaldur comes into view.
He also looks concerned. Maybe they think hes hurt. That's silly. He can't feel a damn thing.
Man Kaldur's pretty too. Handsome. Wally thinks he'd prefer handsome. His gills are cute. And he said something to Artemis that seemed to calm her down. That was sweet. Kaldur always know what to say.
Kaldur pulled a small vial of potion out and handed it to Artemis before running away. That's a shame. Kaldur's pretty. Handsome. Kaldur's handsome. Kaldur's *pretty handsome*, heh.
The potions yellow, which is gross, but Artemis tipping into his limp mouth is grosser. Cause it tastes pretty fuckin nasty. It also takes away the numbness quick as a wildfire (heh) making him gasp and spasm. It's not that he was at the stake for long- its that going from feeling nothing to feeling everything in a few seconds was overwhelming. Even the feeling of the dew covered grass felt like too much. His skin is hot-- he was right, first degree burns-- and his throat and lungs burned. (fuck. smoke inhalation.) He's shaking before he realizes it... the grass, the air, the sweat across his body, everything feels *to real*. Along with feeling, his other senses are coming back stronger than they were before. His hearing comes back after some terribly loud ringing and he hears the tell-tale sounds of a battle, along with a witchboy screaming in rage.
His eyelids flutter and his breathing picking up and a headache blooming because of the overload. He looks down and sees some- huh- pants. He looks up, he has a million questions for Arty but before he can say a single word the archer is shoving some food into his open mouth. He doesn't know why he fights it as hard as he does; after all he trusts Artemis. But for some reason the taste in his mouth sets his body into fight mode and hes thrashing around trying to get Artemis's hand away. She holds firm, using their positions to her advantage and straddling his hips. Not moving her hand away from his mouth. He's thrashing his head around trying to dislodge her hand. She brings her other hand around to plug his nose. He hold out long enough that his vision gets spotty and Artemis looks majorly concerned that he's going to actually make himself pass out- until his survival instincts kick in and force him to swallow whatever it is in his mouth.
Artemis backs off the moment she feels him swallow allowing him to pant for breath. He feels woozy and wonders what it was he ate before the ground is rushing up to meet him and everything goes black.
*
Artemis held her breath as fate opened up the portal. They jump through, the fear for their friend so strong it feels physical.
They appear in his dimension and she immediately looks around, trying to take in everything all at once. The first thing she notices was the *fire*. Her breath catches and she thinks *we're too late*. There's a wet heat behind her eyes and she curses herself even as she rushes forward. Kaldur is trying to douse the fire while Robin gives the witchbrat a good punch to the face. Conner and M'gann follow suit, while Artemis finds a break in the flames and rushes forward.
She nearly cries when she sees him NOT a burned corpse. But hes red all over and his breathing is terrifyingly slow.
She cuts through the rope as fast as she can with an arrow before tossing the redheads arm over her shoulder so she can rush them of the platform. There's a roar of anger from behind her but she doesn't stop until shes far from the raging bonfire.
She throws the speedster to the ground, immediately checking his vitals. He looks fine. It just looked like Fate was right when he guessed that Klarion would use a numbing potion on Wally. His eyes were glassy and half lidded. She rolled him onto his back and slips some sweatpants onto his limp form.
(she *should* be more embarrassed to have seen his naked form like this but really, in their lives? They saw each other naked a ridicules amount of times."
His eyes didn't focus very well, and when they did he didn't outwardly react.
How was his mind? Was he alright in there? Was he aware of what was happening the whole time? Was he inwardly terrified while he was up there? Or was he completely out of it?
She rubbed off the oil that was on his face, studying the paint on his body. They had been glowing while he was at the stake but now they were just dark green. She hit his face a few times-
"Hey. Wally. Can you hear me? Are you in there? If you are don't worry. Aqualad has the potion to help you. Then, I'm sorry, but I have something else to give you. You're going to hate it but it'll help your soul I promise. Do you hear me? I grabbed you in the middle of Klarions spell. WALLY?" She huffed, wishing he could talk to her. Argue with her. *Do * something. "I have to give it to you before you can even speak. Does that make sense?" She sighs.
Kaldur runs over and also bends over Wally. Who just stares blankly up at them. Kaldur frowns slightly before touching her arm lightly. "It's going to be okay. Here's the antidote." He hands the vial to her before running off to join the battle again.
Artemis pours it down his throat before he gasps, startling her. She *did not* expect it to work that fast. Wally gasped, chest heaving. He blinked rapidly, shaking slightly with over exposure.
He finds his bearings and turns to her, opening his mouth to say something. She shoves the cake-thing into his mouth. His eyes widen in shock the moment it touches his tongue making him struggle immediately. She shifts, pinning him to the ground.
He's freaking out and she feels like a jerk. She wished the antidote to this spell was *good* and didn't send someone into a panic- but alas. That just wasn't their lives was it?
She plugs his nose and he still refuses to swallow. Her eyebrows knit together in panic when his face starts to go blue. She breathes a sigh of relief when he finally gets it down and she takes her hands away, shifting off of him when he coughs and gasps for breath. His head bobs and his arms shake before his eyes roll and he falls unconscious.
She props him up again and walks them over to the teleportation site. The others notice her there with Wally and run over, knowing their time as distractions was coming to an end.
They teleport away, listening to Klarion and the fires roar.
*
Fate forgot to mention the fact that the antidote made him sleep for *four* days. That was four days of constantly checking up on their speedster and worriedly changing his IVs- hoping the they were doing it often enough for the speedster.
Of course it wasn't until the fifth day (when he actually woke up) that they knew it would last for four days. At the time they had no idea how long the speedster was going to sleep.
Probably the only good him sleeping for this long was (besides him being alright of course) was that he was so cute in his sleep!
They had put him on the mountains pull out couch (which was just as comfy as a bed) and constantly checked on him. Waiting anxiously for him to wake up and confirm that he was okay.
They changed his bandages that had aloe frequently- and his speed healing fixed that and his lungs within the first two days leaving them with nothing else to do except wait.
M'gann had been the first one to mention the speedsters cuteness. He was limp on the first two days before on the third day he started to shift and move about in his sleep until he put himself into a comfy position.
He slept on his stomach and moved the pillow he had until it was vertical, so he could wrap his arms around the pillow and hug it close.
M'gann had giggled and taken a picture immediately before kissing the speedsters forehead. "He's so cute." She justified before flying off to make copies of the pictures she'd taken.
"No he's not." Artemis sniffed before smiling slightly and the teens peaceful face.
Robin tilted his head, not seeing it yet. The speedsters nose crinkled in his sleep, bring attention to his freckles.
"Yeah. I can see it." he giggled, deciding to make fun of the speedsters cuteness until the end of time.
Kaldur and Conner frown before smiling a bit.
Yeah. Wally was a cute sleeper.
Barry ended up coming in when they were talking about it at dinner.
"What do you mean?" he asked eyebrows furrowing even while he smiled.
M'gann giggled and dragged him into the living room. "Look." she said, giggling again.
Barry tilted his head, but just laughed slightly.
M'gann dropped another kiss on his forehead, where the teens face changed subtly into almost an unconscious smile. Artemis giggled. "Why'd you kiss him again?"
"Maybe he'll wake up. Like sleeping beauty."
Barry tips his head back and laughs. His worries about him not being taken care of after this whole...ordeal... leaving him quickly. They had it covered.
--
Later, Artemis contemplates M'gann's words.
Later she bends down, thinking, 'this is so stupid', but she tentatively placed her lips on the speedsters temple. She looks down, sighing when nothing happened besides a small scrunch of his nose.
'If only my father could see me now,' she thought to herself shrewdly. 'believing in fairytails.'
--
Kaldur is changing his friends IV bag when he thinks about it. He tilts his head to the side as he studies the sleeping speedster. He's still hugging the life out of that pillow with only half his face showing. And his leg twitches in his sleep, like he was running in his dreams.
Kaldur smiled. Leaning down and pressing his lips to the speedsters cheek lightly, he pulls back up before going about his business as usual. It was silly. But that was okay. It was okay to be silly every now and then.
--
On the fourth night Robin gave him a little peck on the nose before he remembered that Superboy was the only one to not kiss him. And he probably wouldn't unless cornered. He smirked. That gave him an idea.
"Conner, can you sit by Wally real quick? I think he's fighting a battle in his sleep or something." It wasn't a lie. He must be close to waking up because he was acting more and more like his normal self. And him sleeping peacefully was NOT normal. Trust him. He knew from sleepover experience that Wally was only peaceful in his sleep if he was in a deep sleep. USUALLY though he was moving everywhere; fighting, running, tossing and turning, reenacting movie scenes. Whatever.
For now he was semi-peaceful.
Superboy nods and clamors onto the pullout couch. He sits next to the speedster with his patented stern expression on his face. He looked at Dick with a question.
"Just wait. I'll be back in a minute."
He runs into the kitchen, biting his lips as he leans out stealthily with his phone camera on.
The rest of the team is in the room, looking at him curiously.
"You guys may not know this," Dick whispered. "But Wally is a cuddle OCTOPUS in his sleep. As soon as he senses your body heat he attacks."
He others move closer, looking over his shoulder at Superboy watching Wallys with a serious expression on his face.
Wally shifted before pulling Conner down with him, tangling their legs together and wrapping his arms around his middle like he did with pillows. He buried his face into the crook of Conner's neck, who looked very *frightened* at this change of events. He looked awkward, not knowing what do do with his hands except for to tentativly trying to push the speedster away, who just cuddled closer and gave a content sigh.
M'gann cooed from behind Dick.
Conner let a small smile slip onto his face before unsurely placing his hands onto the speedsters lower back.
His smile grew a little bit more when he looked down at the smaller teen.
"Wally looks like Superboys teddy bear." Artemis giggled.
They smiled at the thought, watching Conner place an unsure kiss atop the cute carrot-top's head.
--
The next morning Wally woke up.
He looked around blearily confused at where he was. He was on someones chest, listening to their steady heartbeat, to his left was someone with long hair. He looked up a bit, rubbing at his eyes and actually looked around.
He was cuddling with Conner, with Artemis to the left of him. Next to Conner was M'gann while Kaldur and Dick were on the other side of Art. He blinked. More confused than before. Wasn't he just with... Klarion?
He looked down. The tattoos were gone, as was the flower crown. He tried to find a way out of Conner's arms (but this guy had a strong grip seriously! damn!) in order to eat, pee, and find out how long he's been out. Because there were no burns and his throat/lungs didn't hurt so it must have been awhile. But apparently he shifted to much because Superboy was roused from his sleep. He blinked before looking at the speedster in his arms. He gasped and sat up quickly, jostling the still weak speedster in his arms so much that he squeaked slightly in surprise. This woke the others up who immediatly crowded around him.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you hungry?"
"Do you need anything?"
"Did our kisses work?"
"Are you in any pain?"
"Do you need us to call doctor fate?"
"Are you sure your soul is connected to your body?"
"Are you aware you're super cute when your asleep?"
"What do you remember?"
"Is your soul stuck in limbo!!?"
Wallys eyes widened at the questions and felt claustrophobic as they got closer.
But his best bro pulled them away from him giving him room to breath.
"Uhhh no I'm not in pain, what do you mean I'm cute in my sleep and what the hell is limbo?"
They all breathed a sigh of relief before they all took turns hugging him.
Questions were answered on both sides and the league was called and he got crushed into another hug.
--
Later. When they were all together again, Wally asked. "What the hell did you guys mean when you asked if the kisses work?"
M'gann giggled. "Well you looked so cute that we each took a turn kissing you when you were asleep. To see if you would wake up like sleeping beauty."
Wally blushed crimson, much to the amusement of everyone else. "You guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuyss. Not cool."
Robing cackled. "Don't be too upset just yet. I got pictures of the whole thing!"
Artemis and Conner blushed this time as well.
--
Dick bumped heads with Wally and whispered. "Don't get kidnapped KF. You gave us all a good scare with the whole 'getting a supervillian to want your soul' stunt."
Wally hugged his friend. "I was pretty scared too." He whispered back.
Dick hugged him tighter. Content with never letting go.
--
Kaldur pulled him into a stiff hug.
"We missed you Kid Flash."
Wally hugged back, refusing to back out despite the introverted atlanteans attempts to pull back.
"I missed you too Kaldur."
Kaldur hugged him tighter, awkwardness leaving.
Just before he left Kaldur turned back. "Try not to grab the attention of supervillains huh?"
Wally mock saluted, "Yessir."
--
M'gann attacked him next, rubbing her nose with his in an Eskimo kiss.
"Stay safe Wally. Can't have you stuck in limbo. We need you."
Wally smiled and gave an Eskimo kiss back.
--
Conner crushed him so hard into his chest that Wally felt he almost had to send a nerve to the clones neck in order to get him to let him have room.
Conner pulled back, giving him a scrutinizing look. "Stop being wanted." he paused. "Wait that not what I meant-"
Wally laughed and pulled the clone into another hug. "Missed you bug guy."
--
Artemis hit Wally in the shoulder.
"I know you're a bit irresistible in a flower crown but try to stay out of trouble alright?"
"Soooo what you're saying is... that I'm irresistible?" He waggles his eyebrows. The blond rolls her eyes and scoff about to walk out when the speedster pulls her into a tight hug.
"Missed you Artey."
"...You too Kid Klutz." She mutters after a moment.
--
Later they're all in the living room, introducing Conner to Sleeping Beauty. They're all wearing flower crowns, because the girls tried to wrestle Wally into one but he only agreed to wear one if EVERYONE did. The lights are down low and there's a feeling of warmth and safety from their den of blankets and pillows, popcorn and junk food, martian food and various soda cans.
Wally looks around and decides that this was one of the best reasons in the world to never stop fighting. To never waste his life. His soul.