⌖━━━⌖

"ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS, WALLY?" Was the first thing Juniper Evans said when she walked into her best friend's—also neighbour's—garage on a Sunday evening in late September 2006.

Wally West, nephew to Iris West and Barry Allen, was obsessed with becoming his uncle. Ever since Barry was forced to reveal his powers to his nephew to save him, everything Wally West ever wanted became so clear. Like someone was taking the rose-tinted glasses from his face.

Today, on this fateful evening, Wally West invited his best friend over to help him conduct the same freakish accident that caused Barry Allen to become the flash. . . except in a more contained way.

When being referred as a whole, the two of them were called 'The Twins'. It was odd, but it's been happening since they first met each other in first grade during after school science club—when they realized that they also lived right nextdoor to each other.

The nickname for them started originally due to the amount of time they spent together, well when they weren't in English and geography class. Also, there's also the factor that they look awfully similar. Both sharing orange hair—Juniper's just a tad more auburn than his.

So whenever a police officer showed up to their door steps, or a teacher called home, it was always "What did The Twins do now," and "Alright, we get it, The Twins will be dealt with."

Regularly, Juniper would go along with anything Wally did—hell, sometimes she'd be the one to recommend some of their most reckless stunts. . . But not this time. No, they didn't know enough about what they were doing and that was a big first for them.

Being top of all of their science and math classes, the two of them had advanced into grade twelve level academic maths and science. It was very rare that the two of them conducted experiments that quite literally blew up in their faces. Hence the police and irritated teachers.

Wally West was trying to create lighting in a bottle. Well, more like in an oversized glass demijohn.

The lightning was to strike him in a non-lethal way that'll mix with the chemicals in the room and give Wally the powers of speed. And the boy was sure he could keep everything under control long enough to make sure it doesn't explode and affect his best friend in the process.

It was unclear which of the chemicals in the room at the time of Barry's accident had mended with the lightning to cause his abilities, so Wally replicated each of the ones present and left them scattered around his and Juniper's makeshift lab in his garage.

He also added a few extras for good measure. "Hey, what's the sample's of our blood doing out?" Juniper was familiar with the plan, she was confused why he felt the need to add other factors into the mix.

"Better safe than sorry." He chimed, not really paying attention to Juniper, but to the glass he was about to grow lighting in.

"I don't think you're using that term correctly." She mumbled in reply.

Wally had put the sphere of the Van de Graaff generator already inside the glass bottle. The process included delicately breaking off the narrow neck of the demijohn and sticking the sphere in the bottom half of the glass before heating each end of the broken pieces to 1112 degrees Fahrenheit in order to weld them back together and secure the sphere inside.

The demijohn was upside down on the Van de Graaff generator, sphere inside but not touching the glass directly, and the generator was on, conducting a dangerous charge on the inside of the glass.

All that was left was for Wally to flick the switch that caused a fire to ignite on the inside and start up the lightning effect. He would have to grab the base of the rod and let his body be shocked with the few colts before he was pleased enough.

"We shouldn't do this, it could get too unstable!" Juniper tried to reason, her ice cold preserved blood sample still clutched in her hands. The Petri dish held a disc of her pure frozen eleven year old self's blood.

"It's too late, J, the only thing that'll stop this from exploding is if I absorb the charge." He sighed. "It's now of never, another accomplishment to go into the history books of Jully's best projects."

Wally offered her a smile over his shoulder—a smile that told her everything that she needed to know, it told her more than his words did.

The second he turned around he would do it. He'd ignite the flame and grab ahold of the generator.

"Just—just talk to me," the desperation in her voice was palpable, but she needed to keep his eyes on hers. She didn't want him to do this. Something was about to happen and this little attempt at getting superpowers in his glorified garage lab was going to result in something for the worst.

Except Wally knew what she was doing. He'd seen and heard  it a hundred times before from teachers and doctors, parents and ignorant classmates. But never her. Never his Juniper.

"Listen. I really don't feel like blowing up the garage today, so I need to do this before I get grounded for a mass explosion. Again." He deadpanned with a hint of a smile.

It was uncountable the amount of times the inside of that garage has seen a fire or explosion of some sort.

But Wally's head had turned away from her and back to focus on the task at hand.

This is it. Juniper thought. This is the day my best friend kills himself and I'm too stubborn to walk away and not die along with him.

"I'll have thirty seconds, give or take, after I flick the lighter before I need to touch base of the generator." A light chuckle left his throat. "Who am I kidding, you already know this."

Without a second thought, his thumb flicked the spark wheel of the lighter positioned at the nozzle of the demijohn, flame bursting from the hood of the lighter.

"'Kay, J, count me down." Wally crossed his fingers together, turning his palms outwards and stretching and cracking his joints.

With heavy worry, Juniper clenched the sample in her hands even tighter, feeling the bite of the chill in her fingertips. "I—I don't want to do this, Wally!" She knew there was no turning back. The fire was on and now it was risk Wally's life with a steady dose of electricity going into his body, or risk both of their lives by letting it combust.

Juniper's breath hitched in her throat when Wally impatiently shouted at her to start counting. Tensions were rising, heartbeats were speeding up, and time was on the low.

Starting from fifteen, Juniper began to count. "Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen. . ."

Wally shook out his limbs, jumping a few times before finally reaching towards the base of the Van de Graaff generator.

"Twelve, elev—" Wally's two hands latched onto the bottom of the metal rod.

It happened all within a second—the glass shattered around them, liquids began to fly, and the largest wave of electrify ever seen by the human eye was unleashed upon the two, instantly blowing out all four stone walls of the garage.

The roof collapsed and the two were buried in the rubble of their once upon a time lab.

Just like planned, the lightning had travelled straight into Wally's body. . . Except when it entered into Wally's, the charge wasn't calculated correctly and the dosage of electricity was one thousand times the amount they had originally calculated.

The mass absorbed had shot out of the West boy's anatomy and hit everything in its path, creating a deadly zone of electrified turf.

However, for Juniper, the sample of her blood melted by the heat of electricity and sprayed all over her from the force of the incident blast wave. Her body was flung into the table holding the dozens of chemicals which were oddly floating in the air—out of their respective glasses right before the blast.

It seemed to be the choices of an explosion or lightning absorption were not up to the two kids.

⌖

Juniper couldn't tell what concoctions of chemicals she was laying in—hell, she couldn't even tell where she was. All she could remember was an explosion and the sticky wet burning sensation of chemicals and liquids sloshed all over her bare arms and torso from where her shirt had raised and ripped.

She bet her skin looked like a fourth graders art project, random colours of substances painting her pale porcelain skin—including the samples of her and Wally's blood.

Her eyes lazily rolled around in her head before focusing on the layers of what once was the stone walls of the garage now encasing her being. Juniper was trapped and she had no idea where Wally was and the state he was in.

Yet something deep inside her was telling her that he was fine, but the thing the two of them just endured was about to be the start of something. . . otherworldly.

Over the ringing in her ears, Juniper could faintly hear the sound of voices. And somehow through her daze she managed to just about make out what they were saying.

"Rudy damn near died from trying to get in there! The whole place is electrified!" Mary West, Wally's mother, shouted. Mrs. West's voice slightly muffled by the layers of rock and distance between them.

The next thing Juniper could make out was the sound of her own mother sobbing and her father attempting to console her.

She tried to say something—anything, but the only thing that escaped her throat was the squeaking of a faint cry.

Thankfully, the unfortunately recognizable sound of Wally's anguished scream cut through the cries and ringing attacking her ears.

"Wally? Wally!" Juniper recognized that voice. It was Wally's uncle, Barry. "I'm coming to get you and Juniper—hold on, buddy,"

Siren sounds started to get closer, and while Juniper knew Barry could withstand their electrified environment, she wasn't too keen on him being able to lift the hundreds of pounds of pure stone covering them.

Grunting came from somewhere to her left and Juniper tried to turn her head to see if she could discern the image of Wally or Barry. Except all she was met with was a block of stone grazing against the tip of her broken nose.

"Shit, I can't lift this," a pained exhale left Barry's lips. "Iris—Iris, baby, call Clark," Barry called over to his wife, not letting up on trying to remove the rubble from what was most likely Wally's body.

"Where is my daughter!" A watery scream tore from what sounding like Juniper's mother's mouth. "Why aren't you looking for her!"

A tear slid down Juniper's blood caked cheek. "Mom," she strangled out. It wasn't heard though. Her throat felt like it had been deprived of water for days.

"Beth, please, I'm trying and help is on the way." Barry tried to reason, but even he was terrified for Juniper—the girl he considered as his niece.

Everything was all so blurry and confusing to Juniper. All she really knew was that she was in an insurmountable amount of pain, that Wally was hurt, Barry was there, and everyone seemed to be crying.

"Help? What the fuck are the police going to do! Christ, Barry, even you can't lift it!" Her mother cried out.

"Just. . . Give him a second," Juniper could make out the resigned sound of Barry's voice answering her distraught mother.

"We don't have time to wait," Beth bit out. "My daughter is somewhere in there and we have no idea where—"

The ground shook. Juniper thought it felt a whole lot like something coming crashing down from the sky, but it could very well likely be the rubble shifting and preparing to collapse onto her.

"I came as quick as I could, what's wrong?" An unfamiliar voice entered the atmosphere of chaos that seemed to surround them.

"They're stuck—Wally and Juniper—and I can't lift the debris." Barry heaved a distressed sigh.

The injured girl buried deep in the rubble doubted that the man had any clue of who she was, but Juniper couldn't care less. As long as he was the help that Barry was confident could save Wally and herself.

Juniper was aching all over and she'd just about given up on calling for help. Wally's screaming had died out and Juniper could only hope that he was still alive and only passed out from the pain.

Juniper Evans wasn't one who enjoyed the feeling of being useless or weak. Red dripped into her vision, how she wished it was a metaphor for her anger but it wasn't. There was some sort of gash on her forehead that was causing a steady stream of blood to drip into her vision.

She could feel the blood drip down her cheeks and mix with her tears, only thinking about how she must look like that one character from the horror movie Wally forced her to watch a few months ago.

Would this be it? Would she never watch another horror movie with her best friend again? Would she never get to win a Nobel prize, never fall in love, have the children she desperately wanted, make friends other than Wally?

Her fists clenched at her sides, rage overpowering her overwhelming grief.

"I see them." The unknown man announced. Juniper wondered if this was the Clark that Barry had asked Iris to call.

"Wally's not moving, but the girl's awake." How did he know? How could he see? The questions plagued Juniper's frazzled mind.

But then she fully took in what the man said. Wally's not moving.

She was panicking. Thrashing and in severe pain, but that didn't matter. Her other half wasn't moving and she didn't know how she could go on if her best friend were to die before he could even properly live.

With emotions overpowering her senses and adrenaline leaking into her bloodstream, Juniper clenched her teeth and locked her muscles. The tension in her body causing the blood from her forehead wound to pour more heavily into her eyes and down her face as her head was propped up on an odd angle.

The young girl didn't know what was happening. It was almost like she was just a passenger in her own body while something else took ahold of her.

Power surged through her body and overwhelmed her senses. Tendrils of pressure circled her fingers and she tried to look down at them, only being able to make out a faint glow of red.

The air around seemed to pulsate with an unknown
energy that Juniper could only wish to study, and the glowing that originated from her fingers seemed to over power the tight space she was trapped in—her eyes blinded with blood and the bright glow.

Without her permission, her eyes flew open as wide as saucers and fists unclenched. Juniper's arms flew out and she fully well expected them to smack against the stones encasing her and damage her limbs even further.

But her arms never made contact.

Delicately, her body began to lift off the ground, along with the stones that were on her top, left, and right.

Juniper's hair fanned out in the air as she all the sudden was transcended into the sky, red wisps of unknown origin surrounded her small frame along with the hundreds of pounds of stones.

Looking around, she saw her parents frozen in shock. Wally's side of the family and. . . Superman? They were all watching with horrific and confused looks.

But then her gaze shifted to Superman who had a large brick of stone grapes in his arms, an unconscious Wally laying in a crater beneath him.

"Holy shit," Barry breathed out.

And with the startling sound of someone's voice, Juniper lost control of herself and dropped to the rubble below. Too dazed to care about breaking her fall, she let her head smack against the concrete and her body roll down the hill of rubble that was once the West garage.

Now what the fuck just happened.

⌖

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Juniper spotted the low hanging lights of a hospital dangling above her.

She was being moved, most likely on a gurney due to the feel of a soft cushion beneath her. Who knew, she could be floating again for all she knew.

Juniper's head lolled to the side, hair sticking to her face looking like spiderwebs across her pale skin.

She desperately tried to get her vision to focus, but all she could see was a blob of orange hair being moved on a gurney directly next to hers.

Wally, she thought. Wally, what did you do to us?

⌖

Juniper's eyes shot open once again, not remembering passing out before.

Her head moved frantically left and right as she attempted to make out her surroundings.

Hospital. She realized. Lightning, explosion, blood, red, red, red, redredredred—

The sound of a chair sliding across the floor caught her attention, causing her head to snap to the left to see Barry in his flash suit, Superman, and Raven all towering over her.

"Wha. . ." Her voice trailed off, confused at the attention of three members of the Justice League.

None of them said anything as they stared at her. And they didn't say anything when she tugged on her wrists and realized that they were tied to the bed.

"Barry—Wally, is he. . . Is he okay?" Juniper managed to strangled out when all she wanted was to cry for her mom and dad.

Barry sighed, proving that he wasn't just a statue placed there to intimidate her. "Juniper. . ."

But Barry didn't get to finish because her small frame started to violently shake.

"Shit, it's happening again," Raven said. The Raven. Juniper couldn't believe it. She didn't get much time dwell on it though, because soon enough her eyes rolled into the back of her head and the image of the three Justice Leaguers faded into three completely different people.

Looking back at the three people, Barry's face had shifted into one of a beautiful girl with green skin and auburn hair like her own. Beside the girl was a tall boy in a black shirt and the red Superman emblem stitched into the fabric.

And finally, a boy slightly shorter in red with an R on his right pec stood in the place Superman once was.

"What's happening, J? Please, I'm scared," the green skin girl breathed out.

Panic grasped her lungs in a fist, wondering how she got there and who these people were. "What—who are you?" she pitched out in a nervous tone.

A flashing movement occurred to her right and she snapped her head to see a slightly older version of Wally appear. "Hey, Juniper, it's okay." He pushed the hair back from her forehead.

"Where were you when you last closed your eyes?" He asked in a gentle tone, hand still stroking her hair.

"H-hospital," Juniper didn't know what kind of twisted dream this was, but as long as Wally was there, she knew she'd be fine.

Wally hummed in understanding. "Don't worry then, okay? I'll be there when you wake up and everything will start to make more sense."

Juniper nodded softly, eyes already getting heavy from Wally's soothing touch. Suddenly the eyes of the strangers felt like hot pokers in her side and she turned away from Wally's touch to look at them once more.

"Hey," Wally grasped her chin, turning her back to face him. "Don't look at them, they're not important."

"Wow," she heard the one in black sigh sarcastically.

Ignoring him, Juniper's eyes start to droop and a dazed smile spread upon her lips. "Why are you so old, Walls?"

Eleven year old Juniper awoke once more—this time in her right year of 2006. "Hey, J," Wally's crooked and goofy smile peered down at her from above.

"You're here like you promised," she smiled lazily, eyes squinted against the light. "And you're twelve years old."

"And a half." He added with a head tilt.

"Juniper." A female dominate voice penetrated Wally and Juniper's little bubble.

The young girl noticed Raven—the freaking Justice Leaguer—sitting in a chair from the corner of her eye.

She let out a small gasp. "Oh wow, hi," a pink hue tinted her cheeks.

Raven stood from her chair and approached the eleven year old. "Can you tell me what you saw when you closed your eyes?"

She wanted to know her. . . Dream? It was such a straight forward thing to ask that it shocked Juniper in the slightest way.

"Where. . . Where's my mom and dad?" Juniper ignored Raven's question, feeling very intimidated by the superhero standing next to her in the flesh.

"They're asleep in the room over." The human-demon woman answered in an oddly calm voice.

"Yeah, we've been here for, like, ever." Wally's shoulders slumped.

"When can I see my mom and dad?" Juniper asked all wide eyed and frowny—a stark contrast to how she was feeling when she awoke to Wally's face.

"I'll wake them up as soon as you answer my question. . . What did you see when you were asleep."

Juniper looked around for help. She didn't know what to say. What her mind was screaming at her to tell Raven didn't make any sense to her. When she tried to explain the weird dream about a post-puberty Wally and three strangers, her body just wouldn't let to form the words—it was like her body was shutting down.

So she said the only thing her mind was screaming at her to get out. "Green, black, red," she blurted out. The girl was green, the boy wore black, and the one wore red with an r on his chest! Her mind screamed to say.

"Green, black, red." Juniper repeated once more with a sigh of relief. It was like a weight lifted from her chest when spoken.

Raven's eyebrows shot up, clearly understanding something no one else seemed to grasp. "I see,"

"Yeah?" Juniper asked with a hopeful smile.

The older woman before her offered the young girl a nod. "I'll go bring your mom and dad in hear. You did good, Juniper."

Then Raven left the room. Black hair in a bob cut flowing behind her and a purple clock draped over her shoulders.

"Did you see that Wally!" She beamed at her best friend, turning to face him once more. "Raven the superhero just came to see me in the hospital!"

Focusing a little harder on the boy leaning over her hospital bed, she noticed he barely had a scratch on him. "Hey. You blew us up, yet I'm the only one with cuts and bruises and you got nothing? That's not fair," she fussed.

"Yeah, that's because uncle Barry says I have a faster metabolism so I heal super duper quickly." A mischievous glint reflected off his irises.

Junipers face froze in shock. "It—it worked? It actually worked?"

"You bet it did! Did you even doubt me for a second?" Yes. Yes for multiple seconds. Especially when I felt like I was dying in a crater in the ground covered in concrete stones.

She rolled her eyes. "Show me. Run, Wally, run," she clapped, immediately regretting it when the sound of her claps cause a shooting headache to occur.

"Oh, yeah, you got a concussion." Wally pointed out the obvious. "But hey, that injury wasn't my fault, it was yours. Apparently you floated into the sky like Martian Manhunter and looked like Carrie from the horror movie we watched. You know, with blood all over her?"

Juniper shivered from the memory. Now that she knows she's alive and not going anywhere anytime soon, she'll wait to watch horror movies until she's a little older.

"Wait. So you," she pointed at Wally. "Can run like the flash. And me? What happened to me?" Juniper never wanted to have The Flash powers or anything for that matter, it was all Wally. Juniper was just there for the support and calculations.

"They think you're like Raven. Pretty cool, huh?" Wally's sentence made Juniper genuinely gasp.

"My dad's a demon? What! No, that's not true you're lying!" Her heart dropped to her stomach and her fists went to tug at the edges of her hospital gown—wrists still restrained.

Wally was quick to detangle is best friend's hands from her hair. "No, no, I mean you can do similar stuff or something like that. I don't know I wasn't really listening." His hand reached behind him to scratch the nape of his neck.

Juniper blew out a relieved breath. "So this freakish accident that is probably going to cause us severe ptsd in the future turned out to give us super powers. . . I don't know whether to say all the swear words at you, or to be astonished because we just created super powers from scratch,"

"Heh, yeah. Sorry about that."  Wally's lips tucked between his teeth. Swiftly, Wally's eyes flashed over to the table beside the hospital bed. "You gonna eat that?" He pointed to the jello on a tray.

Juniper had no idea it was there. But to be fair, her appetite wasn't all so there at the moment. "No, have at it—"

"Great because I'm starving." He groaned out.

Juniper blinked and Wally was already on the opposite side of the bed, eating away at the jello with a satisfied smile.

The hospital gown the boy was adorned in had swayed with his speed his back now open to Juniper. "Geez, Wally! I can see your entire butt!"

"Hey, don't look! That's for Wonder Woman's eyes only, J," he swatted behind himself to close the gown.

Juniper really hoped this whole super power project of theirs wasn't just so Wally thought he had an upper hand on getting onto the princess of Themyscira's radar.

"You make me want to vomi—"

The door swung open. "Oh my baby," her mother gushed.

Beth and Carter Evans were immediately by their daughter's side, her father pressing a searing kiss to her hairline.

It didn't matter how much love and affection they were providing her with at that moment, she knew what was coming next.

Her mother, ever the madwoman, took one look at her fully conscious child and seeming to think she was healthy enough to begin her shouting. "What you did, young miss, was not only going to cause us thousands of dollars to help rebuild the Wests's garage and the pieces of their house that got blown off." She took in a heavy sigh. "I don't care if it was Wally who did it," Beth gave a pointed look to Wally who smiled sheepishly from beside Mr. Evans. "And you were simply an onlooker."

Beth leaned over her daughter and grasped ahold of her restrained hand. "How much money, how many times, and how many injuries is it going to take for you to see that the things that you and your twin are doing is insanely dangerous," she sighed in a more gentle tone now.

Juniper wanted to console her by saying that it wouldn't happen again—that she'd finally open her eyes and stop before she was actually killed by her experiments. . . But she just couldn't. Science and experimentation was her passion.

And all the times mixing and making compounds with Wally, her other half, were some of the best moments of her life. She could recall when he burned off his eyebrows, the time she died her hair green with homemade hair dye when she was trying to make it as orange as Wally's, and the time they ran half a marathon with their shoelaces tied to one another's thinking it made them faster.

"Mom—" she attempted to reason.

"You're lucky the Justice League is willing to pay for it. If not, you were about to spend all summer cutting people's grass. Again." Carter Evans smoothed a hand down his daughter scraped and bruised cheek.

"The—The Justice League. . . Is paying for the damage?" Wally chirped up from her bedside. "Look at us, J, we're practically celebrities! Won't be long until I have Wonder Woman knocking at my door," he raised his eyes in a suggestive manner.

"Did miss Raven not explain to you?" Her mother spared a confused glance to her husband.

It was then that Juniper noticed Raven and Barry in the doorway, still clad in their uniforms.

"I was waiting for Barry to join us before telling both Wally and Juniper." The Demi-demon spoke in a calm tone the sincerely rattled the younger girl to her core.

Juniper could help but shift uncomfortably in the hospital bed she was still strapped to. "Tell us what. . ?" She gulped.

Barry looked between The Twins and already feeling regret to what was about to be said. "Wally will stay here in Central City to study under me as my apprentice, seeing as he has powers that come from the speed force."

Raven stepped forward, locking eyes with the eleven year old girl. "But you, Juniper, will join me in San Francisco where hopefully I can help you learn your powers."

Instantly, outrage began to brew between the two youngest in the room. The mere thought of being separated caused absolute turmoil to curl in the pits of their stomachs. Juniper and Wally get uneasy when they have to leave each other for the classes in school that they don't share together. How would they possibly survive this?

"No, that's. . . You can't do that!" Wally sputtered. "You can help her here in Central City, can't you?"

"No, Wally, I can't. I'm sorry, but all of my things are in San Francisco—things that are primal to helping your best friend."

Juniper could only sit in silence at this. Were her parents okay with this? They almost just lost her, now they were just going to send her away?

"Well I don't trust you." Wally folded his arms across his chest.

Raven's face stayed the same throughout the entire conversation—blank and entirely disassociated. "I save hundreds of people every month." She deadpanned.

"So?" The West boy's eyebrows were furrowed.

Barry's head tilted in confusion. "So? What do you mean 'so?'" The room was filled with tension thick enough to be sliced through.

"I don't know her—I don't trust her." Wally raised his chin and puffed his chest out, attempting to be slightly intimidating.

The result of Wally's actions got a slight once over from Barry and a scoff from Raven, the most emotion she's shown.

"I'm afraid the decision isn't up to you, Wallace. If this is what's best for our daughter, then we say she goes. We trust Barry and he seems to trust her." Carter loved Wally like a son, but no one came before his little girl. Carter Evans would do anything for his daughter—if that meant sending her away, then so be it.

Wally looked taken aback. His arms fell to his sides and his expression grew a frown. "When will we get to see each other?"

"We'll take you to see the other sidekicks once you're both checked out of the hospital. . . But after that we'll have to be focused on mastering your abilities before we can even think about free time to visit." Barry walked over to Wally, coming up behind him to tie his hospital gown into a knot at the back.

"There. Now your ass isn't hanging out anymore, kid." He offered a pat to his new protégé's shoulder.

It was baffling to Juniper how easily Barry could switch topics. She guessed that he probably had some degree of ADHD just like Wally.

Wally swatted at his uncle's hands, clearly feeling the same as Juniper in that moment.

"So what you're saying is that I won't be able to see Wally for, like, what. . . a month?" Juniper finally spoke up, releasing herself from her worrying trance.

Both Justice Leaguers grimaced. Yeah, it wasn't going to be that simple.

"What are those faces—I don't like those faces, you guys," no one likes being left out of the known. Especially Wally.

"We don't know for sure—everyone is different when it comes to overcoming their own obstacles," Barry placed a large hand atop Juniper and Wally's heads. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it could take anytime from five months to a year. Maybe more."

"Mom? Dad? You guys are kidding, right!" Juniper panicked. The thing is, Wally was like Juniper's own little support animal. Without him she didn't know what would happen. She barely remembers what life was like before him.

Beth's mouth and eyes were wide open, brows raised and pupils searching for help from the famous heroes. "Uh, I—I don't see why you two can't spend birthdays together?"

"Sure. Fine. Whatever. I have to get home and feed my cat." Finally fed up with the situation, Raven turned and left the room.

Once the woman who radiated nothing but darkness had exited the premises, Juniper's stomach began to curl with nausea. "Why can't I stay with Barry? Why do I get the mean one!" Her breathing picked up. "Oh god I'm never going to be allowed to eat candy again! Better yet, her cat's probably going to eat me!"

Barry attempted to console her—tell her all about how Raven is pretty cool and easy going once you get to know her, but the doctor entered the room before he could fulfill any of those notions.

"Ah, full house I see." The doctor approached Juniper with a smile on her face. "Oh, Barry, Iris told me to tell you that dinner is ready for when you come home." She gave a kind smile to the vigilante over her shoulder.

Wally's entire body took a pause. "Woah, wait what's happening here? How does she know who you are—wear the hell are we?"

The doctor took out her stethoscope and placed it onto Juniper's chest, ignoring the West boy's question.

"Relax, Wally. This is Caitlin Snow, one of my best friends. You can trust her." He hooked an arm over his nephew's shoulder.

Carter Evans cleared his throat from the opposite side of the bed to Caitlin. "So where are the discharge papers. . ?"

⌖

Juniper, now in a new change of clothes, stood next Raven. The older woman waiting for Juniper to say her goodbyes so she could open a portal to San Francisco instead of driving 38 hours in pure awkward silence.

It was better this way.

At least that's what Juniper kept telling herself.

Juniper sniffled, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Her cat is going to eat me thanks to you!" She hissed in a whisper to her best friend.

Wally didn't have much care for what she said. Instead, the cry he was desperately trying to hold is came bursting from his lips in a loud dramatic sob. "If you make a new best friend, I'll let the cat eat you and then make the cat my new best friend!" He threw his arms around her shoulders and buried his nose in her hair.

"Ew! You're getting snot in my hair!" Juniper sobbed equally as hard.

Wally pulled back, holding the girl at arms length. "You'll call me everyday? And—and you'll still help me with my English homework?" His lips trembled, but at least his crying had toned down in volume.

"Oh god, I'm going to have to go to a new school where no one knows me," she pouted, head hanging heavily.

"What about me, I'm the one who's going to have to stay at a school where I have no friends and everybody already hates me!"

Raven groaned. "Alright that's enough. You two can talk on the phone when we get there, mk? Great."

Having already said goodbye to her parents and Barry, Juniepr reluctantly let Raven steer her towards a brick wall in a secluded alleyway in downtown Central City.

"Azarath metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted, a swirling purple portal made of clouds and stardust opened with a deafening boom.

Just as the auburn haired girl was about to step through with her new mentor, Wally called out to her, forcing her feet to stop involuntarily. "I didn't mean it when I said I'd let the cat eat you!" He shouted over the roaring of the intergalactic portal.

"And I'll never find a new best friend, you idiot!" She called back equally as loud. Tossing an incredulous look over her shoulder to the boy she called her other half.

"We love you, baby!" Her mother calling out to her was the last thing she heard before she stepped through the portal and was met with the eerie sound of silence in Raven's dark San Francisco apartment building.

⌖

chip speaks !!

Ugh I love Young Justice. The humour in the show definitely helped in the process of me discovering an actual personality at the ripe age of twelve when I first watched it.

Rewatching the show ignited a trillion emotions in me and I'm not even gonna lie when I tell you that one strong emotion was the insane attraction I have to Dick Grayson. Lord almighty help me.

I did rewrite this a gazillion times, so if there's things that don't make sense together plz let me know so I can fix them.

Annneeewayyzzzzssshsjzjdjaismjxoaoak....... Let's end this with a meme bcuz that's one of my fav things to do

(NOT EDITED)