A Speedster's Past and A World's Future (A Young Justice Fan Fiction)

Chapter 9

It had been a few days after Christmas. Barry had decided to wait until after New Years to finally sit down with Bart. Bart was fascinated by the New Year's Eve festival that Barry took him and Iris to. It was held in downtown Central City. There were fireworks, music, games, and the mayor made a speech right before the new year began. Bart had a blast. However, Barry knew that it couldn't last. They had to talk to Bart.

Barry, Iris, and Wally had been planning on sitting down with Bart and bringing up the conversation themselves. However, it turned out that that was not necessary. Bart accidentally brought it up himself.

It was just another normal Tuesday at the Allen household. Wally had come over to hang out with Bart, so they were playing board games in the kitchen, Barry and Iris were watching tv in the living room, and Dox the puppy was chewing on the new bone Wally had brought him. Life couldn't have been better.

"No fair! You cheated!" Iris and Barry laughed as Bart yelled from the other room.

They heard Wally laughing, "It's not my fault you don't know how to play Uno!"

"That's cuz you never taught me." Bart pouted.

"I did." Wally corrected "You just weren't paying attention because you were too busy playing with Dox."

Bart huffed "That's beside the point..."

Iris and Barry tuned them out as they continued with their little spat. "When are we going to talk to him?" Iris asked.

Barry sighed "I don't know... With been so busy lately, with the twins... and Christmas... I had wanted to give him a little time to get back in a routine. But I also don't want to wait too long. Gosh, Iris... I just don't know..."

"Ha! Too slow! Oops!" They could hear something clattering to the ground.

"You boys okay in there?" Iris asked.

"We're fine!" Wally called back. "Bart just made a mess, that's all!"

"Don't blame me! You were trying to hit me!" he defended.

"And you were the one that knocked the juice over," Wally added.

Iris and Barry walked into the kitchen to asses the damages. When they walked in, they saw a pool of grape juice on the floor. "I'll go get a mop," Iris called as she walked towards the closet. She then noticed that Bart had also gotten juice all over his shirt. "Here Bart, I'm about to start a load of laundry, let me take your shirt. Then you can go upstairs to change."

"Huh?" he started to look panicked. "No, I... Let me go change really quick..."

"If you try to go upstairs, you're going to get juice everywhere, just let me have your shirt while I'm right by the laundry room." She reasoned.

"No... I'll just go..." he didn't have a chance to finish.

Wally ran over to him and quickly pulled the shirt off over his head. "There. Now, aunt Iris can clean it and you can..." He froze and looked at Bart in horror. Iris and Barry couldn't help but do the same.

They had seen the scars on Bart's arm, but they had never expected the rest of his body to be this bad... First of all, he looked like he was just skin and bones. He was way too thin to be considered healthy. He was covered in more brand marks. He had several bullet wounds on his sides. The place between his shoulders had been covered by scars that looked like lashings, and his left shoulder was completely engulfed in burns. But the worst part were the scars that traced from his shoulders down his stomach...

Bart sighed and gently wrapped his arms around his middle. "Can you at least stop staring..." His tone made them all avert their gaze. He no longer sounded like the ever-happy hyperactive kid, he sounded much more serious. Much more defeated...

"Bart I..." Barry started. "What happened?"

"I can't tell you." He looked so sad.

"Bart, sweetheart... please tell us what happened." Iris begged.

He sighed, "With which one?" Bart asked. "The bullets I got for trying to escape. The burns were a part of testing my metagene. The brands were to identify me."

"What about the..." the words got caught in Iris 'throat.

"These?" Bart trailed the scar running down his stomach with his finger. "I got that from the vivisection. I had... I had a couple of those..."

"A vivisection..." Wally and the others were horrified.

Bart sighed. "I'm sorry I... I tried to hide it from you... but I guess there's no use now... The future I come from is no paradise. The Reach took over and enslaved the human race. They performed tests on metahumans to try and use their powers. We were put into concentration camps. With my friend Nathanial, I was able to escape. I came to the past to try and stop all of that from happening. I'm sorry I lied..."

"I was supposed to die, wasn't I?" Barry asked.

Bart looked up surprised. "How did you know that?"

"I overheard you talking to Don." He confessed.

"I see..." Bart nodded. "Yes, you were supposed to die. Then Wally was supposed to take your place as the Flash. I came back to stop the Reach, and to save you. When I was young, my parents and aunt were killed, I also wanted to save them."

"How were you able to keep all of this to yourself for so long?" Iris asked.

He laughed, "I'm really not as impulsive as you think, that was all an act to get you to trust me. I actually prefer being quiet, sorry I lied..."

"It's okay. I understand." She wrapped him in a hug "If you had said anything too early, you could have messed up the timeline."

Bart nodded "It feels so good to be able to talk about it." Barry and Wally quickly joined the hug.

After that, Bart didn't keep any more secrets. He always told his friends and the team everything. Bart had helped save the world. And he had helped save the future.

~flash back~

"Well kid, good luck!"

Nathanial had just watched as Bart had gotten into the time machine and had headed to the past.

"I'll miss you..."

Suddenly, the world changed around him. Grass sprouted from the ground. The sky turned blue. Even birds started flying overhead.

Nathanial smiled. "he did it... He really did it... Well, enjoy the past kid..."

~end flash back~

The End.

(A/N - Well guys, that's it. Thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate it. :) I hope you liked it. Remember, stay crash and don't feel the mode. Bye!)