What The Future Holds

Chapter One

"Blue!" Bart yelled. He watched as his best friend was thrown from his high altitude to the ground hundreds of feet below him in a single blow by their new enemy. In less than a second he appeared at his friend's side to make sure he was okay.

"I'm fine, hermano," The familiar voice said with a smile. "You don't need to worry about me."

"Now those are some of the craziest words to come out of your mouth. You're my best friend. Of course I need to worry about you," Bart replied.

"Hey KF!" A voice yelled. Bart quickly turned around to find the owner of the voice, but instead, he found himself along a gray rocky pathway, with gray snow falling around him, back in his raggedy old clothes. He suddenly felt an extremely heavy weight in his arms, and the unexpectedness of it made him drop to his knees.

"Slave! On your feet! Now!" Blue Beetle's voice echoed down on him from above. He knew it wasn't him. He knew it wasn't Jaime inside that suit, yet somehow, he felt betrayed, like his best friend had used him this whole time.

"Don't make me say it again!' The voice yelled.

"You're not him. H-He wouldn't. He would never," Bart replied in horror.

"But I did," Jaime's voice came from behind Bart, and there he was. Bart caught a quick glimpse of his scythe blades that were covered in blood, before they were retracted back into his suit. The Blue Beetle that was above Bart, was now in a Black Beetle suit, and Bart knew Jaime was wearing the Blue suit now.

"He won't budge," Black Beetle said. "Kill him."

"It would be my honor," Jaime replied.

"Jaime, please. Don't do this." Bart pleaded.

"It's been a long time since anyone ever called me that, and I don't want it to make comeback anytime soon," Jaime said, as he pulled out his scythe blades from his armor.

Bart knew what was coming.

He knew he could run about 1,000 miles before either Beetle could blink.

But he didn't.

And within seconds, he felt the blade go right through his chest.

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Bart screamed himself awake, causing Jaime to jerk awake too. Jaime wasn't the speedster, but within seconds, he was at his roommates side.

Ever since the cave was rebuilt, a lot of the people on the team without families had been living there. Conner, M'gann, Zatanna, and now Bart and Jaime. Ever since Jaime told his mother and sister he was the Blue Beetle, they had all agreed that it would be best for him to stay at the cave, around people who knew his secret, shared the same one, and faced the same everyday challenges he did. It had been hard, but Barry and Iris decided it was good for Bart to stay at the cave as well, for the same reasons. They were put together as roommates, and their friendship had been growing and growing, along with other things.

It had been almost 4 months since the two began living in the cave, and the two had become inseparable. They spent almost every day together just talking. It was recently, in the span of the past 4 weeks, that Bart started having night terrors. Every night, he would scream himself awake, tears rolling down his face, Jaime would rush to his bed and try to comfort him as best as he could, but Bart would never tell him what was wrong, and it hurt Jaime, more than any battle wound had hurt him, because every time Bart shut him out, it felt like a pierce to the heart.

"Bart, are you okay?" Jaime asked, shortly after he sat on the speedsters bed, and pulled him into his chest to comfort him.

"No," He heard Bart say. His voice was small and trembling. He knew the younger boy was scared to death of something, he just wanted to know what.

"What's wrong?" Jaime asked, although he knew Bart wouldn't tell him.

"I don't want to talk about it," Bart said, voice quivering.

There it was. That pierce to the heart.

"Bart, please, talk to me. I'm your best friend, and it hurts when you don't tell me what hurts you. It makes me feel like I'm letting this happen to you, and I don't want that. For either of us," He replied.

"But what if I tell you, and it hurts you even more?" Bart asked. Jaime didn't really know what Bart meant by that, but that wasn't what he cared about.

What he cared about- more like who he cared about, was Bart, and making sure Bart was okay. He could worry about himself later.

"Bart, tell me," Jaime said. It was more of a command, than actually asking him to.

Silence.

"O-okay," Bart finally said. "These past few weeks, I've been having these nightmares, all the same dream, over and over." He said.

Bart continued to explain the nightmares to Jaime, and when he finished, Jaime was shocked.

"Bart, you know I would never do that to you; not if I had the choice," He said, referring to the times he injured his teammates while he was in the control of the Reach.

"I-I know, I-I just don't know how to make them stop. I don't even really know what made them start, I-I'm just so scared. Not of you, of being put through that again. Once was enough, but every single night--"

"I understand," Jaime cut him off. Then out of nowhere, came words he hadn't even thought of saying. "Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight? I-I know its kind of weird, but back when Milagro used to get scared at night, she would come and sleep with me. If you don't want to that's fine too. Just, you know, putting it out there."

"Yes. I-I mean, can I?" Bart replied.

"Sure." Jaime said.

The rooms were huge, big enough to hold two queen sized beds, two dressers, and an on-sweep bathroom with double vanities. The room also had a small living area, where you could watch TV, play board games, and even a small kitchen nook with snack dispenser in case of missions in the middle of the night. Overall, it wasn't uncomfortable to have another person sleeping in your bed with you, in fact it was actually quite calming.

Well, at least from the boys' perspective.

Bart's heart had been beating incredibly fast when he had first been getting into his roommate's bed. But the moment Jaime laid down next to him, it seemed to calm itself. Jaime had positioned himself to where his arms were wrapped around Bart's stomach, still holding him, to let him know he would be always be there with Bart. Bart had his arms folded around Jaime's, and within moments, they both drifted off to sleep.

Bart woke up in the morning, fully refreshed.

His previous state of sleep was nightmare free.