Things Change (Young Justice)

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any other characters owned by DC comics.

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1.

"You can love someone so much...But you can never love people as much as you can miss them."

― John Green

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"Just tell them, okay?"

"Kid!"

As soon as Barry's shout left his mouth, another burst of energy hit Wally's back and his gaze was filled with white, allowing his mentor's words to echo around his ears as the sound of running feet and the whirring of the Magnetic Field Disruptor gave way to nothing less than hushed silence. Wally stumbled on his feet and fell, skidding a few feet before coming to a stop. Grumbling, he opened his eyes to see the white from the snow covered hills of the Arctic Circle was replaced—by a white plain that covered every visible corner of his vision like a fresh piece of paper. Wally's green eyes took in the new scenery, inspecting the field of white as if it would suddenly morph back into the tundra, where he would still be pushing himself to his limit beside Bart and Barry. But the blankness stayed, no matter how much Wally willed it to change.

A flash of blue streaked across his field of vision like a blue brush painting its first line on a canvas. A moment later a figure swam into his vision. It was human, with a costume that seemed vaguely familiar to the speedster.

He had a blue cowl with a red visor covering his hair and most of his face, only displaying the smile on his face and his neck, as well as the flesh showcased by the exaggerated white V-neck he had on. Wally surveyed the newcomer, his mouth opening in question.

"Welcome, I'm—"

"Max Mercury" Wally finished for him, his eyes trained on his face as he vaguely remembered the story Flash had once recounted to him.

"So it seems you've heard of me," he says, his smile growing bigger as his ego followed.

"Yeah but I thought you were dead" Wally says, his emerald gaze never leaving the man.

"Simply a rumor. I'm alive, and so are you. But we both exist here now" he explains.

"And where is here?" Wally asks, crossing his arms.

"They call it the Speed-Force. It's where speedsters like you and I siphon our energy from. It's a different plane of existence than that of Earth, so it seems like we've both been stranded here" he says.

"Stranded?" He chokes out, eyes widening.

"Seeing as inter-dimensional travel has not been invented in our dimension yet, we are unable to travel back home. All we can do is watch," He says. With a flourish of a hand, the white in front of him parted to show a new scene, like a TV or a hologram.

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The Watchtower was silent, all the members deep in mourning. The return of the Justice League's elite members had only partially filled the empty hearts of the Team. The rest was void of feeling; because as soon as they recounted that moment in the Tundra, it would bring a hurt so foreign and strong that it could bring any regular man to their knees. But in the wake of the devastation, a new room had been built in the Watchtower, full of trees and grass that gave off the false feeling of tranquility and peace. Because woven between the trees and situated above the grass, flickered the images of fallen friends, forever immortalized in nothing more than an intangible picture, a statue that only made their hearts ache more as it was the closest thing these heroes had to the real thing. A number of the teammates were scattered across the newly reconstructed Grove, but one figure stuck out with his costume that resembled ketchup and mustard, most likely symbolizing the boy's never-ending hunger.