Alex's body transformed into pure energy and traveled through space.
Earth appeared before him.
For an instant, his perception encompassed the entire planet. The massive disturbances in the magnetic field, the energy currents caused by the Reach devices, and the countless signals of heroes fighting in different parts of the world all blended together in his mind.
But among all of them, there were three he recognized immediately.
Barry.
Bart.
Wally.
Alex descended at full speed toward the last Reach device.
As he broke through the clouds, he saw the enormous energy field spreading across the area. The device was practically out of control, and the three speedsters were running around it, trying to keep the energy stable.
"Alex!" Superman's voice came through the communicator. "We need all the help we can get. The device is overloading."
"I can see that."
Alex extended both hands.
Energy began to detach itself from the device and flow toward him. A white current crossed the air and entered his body directly. For a few seconds, it seemed to work; the intensity of the field decreased and the readings began to stabilize.
But Alex frowned.
"No... It's generating more energy than I can absorb."
He increased the concentration of energy around himself, and his wings expanded, attempting to contain the flow.
Then his perception pierced through the field surrounding the three speedsters.
Barry was holding on.
Bart was too.
Wally wasn't.
Alex could see how the energy was interacting with his body and how his connection to the Speed Force was beginning to be affected.
"Wally."
Wally turned his head slightly without stopping.
"Alex?"
"You have to get out of there!"
"I can't!"
Alex accelerated and created a barrier around Wally. For a few seconds, he managed to partially separate him from the current, but the energy eventually pierced through it.
He tried again.
And again.
Nothing worked.
Alex could manipulate matter, energy, and space, but the Speed Force was beyond anything he understood. He could perceive it, but he couldn't force it to obey him.
"Alex!" Barry shouted. "You can't stop it without stopping the device!"
"There has to be another way!"
There wasn't.
Wally kept running.
Barry moved closer to him while Bart did the same from the other side.
"Wally, we have to maintain formation!"
"I know."
Bart looked at him.
"We can do this! We just have to hold on a little longer!"
Wally smiled.
Then he looked at Bart.
"Hey, Impulse..."
"What?"
"I guess it's time you stopped calling yourself that."
It took Bart a moment to understand.
"Wally..."
Wally then turned toward Barry.
"No," Barry said immediately.
"Barry..."
"No."
"We have to finish this."
"We're getting you out of here."
Wally slowly shook his head.
"I don't think we can."
Barry refused to accept it.
"Yes, we can."
Wally looked at Alex.
The young man remained suspended near them, absorbing as much energy as he could while his body began to lose stability.
"Alex..."
Alex shook his head.
"No."
"Thank you."
"Not yet."
Wally smiled.
Then he looked back at Barry.
"Take care of Bart."
Barry swallowed hard.
"I will."
Wally lowered his gaze slightly.
"And tell Artemis..."
A smile appeared on his face.
"Tell her I love her."
Barry nodded.
"I will."
The energy suddenly surged.
Alex understood that the moment had come.
"NOW!"
Barry and Bart accelerated.
Wally did too.
The three of them began running faster and faster as Alex unleashed all his power against the device. His wings stretched to their limit, and the energy began leaving the machine, flowing directly into him.
The device began shutting down.
The lines of energy running across the planet began to fade.
Earth was stabilizing.
But Wally could no longer maintain the pace.
Barry reached out a hand.
"Wally!"
Bart did the same.
"Hang on!"
Wally looked at them.
He smiled.
And disappeared.
Alex remained motionless.
For several seconds, even his perception seemed to fall silent.
The energy began dissipating around the device until it finally became inert. Earth's magnetic field stabilized, and the last remnants of energy disappeared into the atmosphere.
The mission was over.
Earth was safe.
But Wally was gone.
Alex slowly descended to the ground. Barry stood motionless, staring at the place where his nephew had disappeared, while Bart lowered his head without saying a word.
Alex wanted to speak, but he couldn't find anything that could ease that moment.
He had returned after almost two years.
He had come back believing that he could do more.
And he had failed.
---
The return to Mount Justice was silent.
No one spoke much during the journey. Even the heroes who had participated in other areas of the battle seemed to understand that this victory had come at far too high a cost.
When the doors opened, Alex walked behind the others.
The place felt strange.
Too quiet.
For years, he had imagined returning to Mount Justice and finding the same jokes, the arguments between team members, and Wally's voice filling every room.
But Wally wasn't there.
And then Artemis appeared.
She had been away during the battle and still didn't know what had happened.
She looked at Dick first.
Then Kaldur.
Finally, she found Barry.
"Where's Wally?"
No one answered.
Artemis frowned.
"Barry?"
He lowered his gaze.
"Artemis..."
She understood before he could finish the sentence.
"No."
Barry stepped closer.
"I'm sorry."
"No."
"We tried to get him out."
"No."
Alex remained several feet behind them.
Artemis finally noticed him.
"You were there?"
Alex nodded.
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Alex took a few seconds to answer.
"The device was out of control. I tried to absorb the energy and protect him. I tried to separate him from the field, but I couldn't."
Artemis closed her eyes.
"Was he alone?"
"No."
Alex slowly shook his head.
"We were with him until the end."
Artemis began to cry.
Barry pulled her into an embrace while Alex remained motionless, feeling that no words could make up for what had just happened.
---
The funeral was held a few days later.
It wasn't a public ceremony. To the world, Kid Flash had disappeared during the battle against the Reach. To those who were there, however, it wasn't a hero who had disappeared: it was a friend who had died.
Alex stood with the rest of the team, although he wasn't sure exactly where he belonged. After almost two years away from Mount Justice, he felt as though he had returned to a place that was still his and, at the same time, no longer belonged to him in quite the same way.
Dick approached him just before the ceremony began.
"You don't have to stay in the back."
Alex looked at him.
"I don't know if I should be here."
"Wally would've expected you to be."
Alex lowered his gaze.
"I couldn't save him."
Dick answered immediately.
"But you were there with him."
Alex remained silent.
"That matters," Dick added.
The ceremony began.
Barry spoke first. He remembered Wally as the boy who had always wanted to be a hero and the young man who could never stay quiet. Some of the stories brought small smiles through the tears.
Then Artemis spoke.
Her voice trembled.
"Wally always made noise. Even when he had nothing to say."
A small smile appeared through her tears.
"And I think that's what I'm going to miss the most."
Artemis took a deep breath.
"Silence never lasted long with him."
Then it was Bart's turn.
The young speedster stood in front of everyone for a few seconds before speaking.
"Wally told me that one day I'd stop calling myself Impulse."
He smiled faintly.
"I guess he won."
A few people laughed softly.
"I'm going to try to live up to that."
When the ceremony ended, Alex remained for a few minutes in front of Wally's belongings.
He remembered his voice.
His jokes.
The races during training.
All those times when Wally had managed to turn a dangerous situation into something absurd.
"I couldn't save you," Alex murmured. "But I won't forget you."
"Thank you."
Alex turned around.
Artemis was standing behind him.
For a few seconds, they remained silent.
"I'm sorry," Alex said.
Artemis took a deep breath.
"I know."
"I tried everything I could."
"I know that too."
Alex lowered his gaze.
"It wasn't enough."
Artemis slowly shook her head.
"Maybe not to save him."
She stepped a little closer.
"But it was enough to make sure he wasn't alone."
Alex raised his eyes.
Those words stayed with him.
He had spent almost two years traveling through the universe searching for answers about who he was and why he had come to this world. He had learned to control powers he once couldn't even imagine, and he had begun to believe that, given enough time, perhaps he could find a way to prevent any tragedy.
Wally's death had shown him that it didn't work that way.
No matter how much he grew.
There would always be things he couldn't control.
And accepting that didn't mean abandoning his search.
It meant understanding that power wasn't the same as having control over everything.
Alex stepped outside after the ceremony and looked up at the stars.
For almost two years, he had seen space as the place where he would find the answers he needed.
Now he saw it differently.
There was still a frequency waiting for him.
There were still questions about the Reach, about that energy, and about his own origin.
But this time, he wasn't going to leave to escape Earth.
He was going to return.
Because now he knew that no matter how far he traveled among the stars, Mount Justice was still a place he could come back to.
And although Wally would no longer be there to greet him with a joke, Alex knew that his memory would always be a part of that place.
---
From this point onward, a new part of the story begins, with a greater focus on developing the protagonist's powers and his way of thinking and acting. Some events or situations will be original ideas that I come up with, while others will be inspired by the comics, TV shows, and other existing material.