(open) memory share

[otherflash]

who: Wally West + you
what: Memory sharing and whatnot
when: Oct 9-23
where: Wherever needed
warnings: angst? Spoilers for DC Rebirth.



(one) Back when we thought we knew everything - First person

[ This memory begins with this guy looking back at you with a bemused expression. The fact he is soaked to the bone might have something to do with it. A quick glance to your right reveals a a third occupant in the room; a dark-haired teenage girl holding a bucket of water balloons.

The girl's free hand is covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her giggles. Your own red-gloved hands come up as you try to placate the soaked young man while your body shakes from your own laughter.

"C'mon, Speedy. I was just showing Wonder Girl here how to have some fun. Can't you handle a little prank?"

Apparently, the answer to that question is no as Speedy mutters a quick "You're dead, West" and lunges towards you. All Speedy ends up grasping is air as you blur across the room in an instant. Speedy is undeterred by this, but before he can try something again, the girl steps in to play peacemaker.

"Okay, boys, that's enough. You're getting water all over the place, Harper."

The soaked teenager opens his mouth, to protest no doubt, but thinks better of it. He says something about having to change his clothes as he begins to grumpily walk back through the door; sending a final look in your direction to let you know there will be some prank payback.

Your eyes linger on the door after Speedy closes it behind him; which is why you fail to notice the water balloon headed in your direction until it hits you squarely in the chest, water splashing all over you. You sputter for a moment, before looking back at the girl who is wearing a big grin on her face.

"You were right, West. This was fun."

All you can do is offer her a thumbs up for a job well done. ]

(two) Lost outside of time and reality - First person; vision

[ The first part of memory starts with you in a void outside of time and reality. This void is known as the Speed Force -- an extra-dimensional energy source that speedsters draw their power from. It's also where a speedster goes when they tap into the source too much or push themselves beyond the limits. Not that you know any of this.

There's a sense of hope as visions from across time and realities flicker about with no real clarity. Something has happened, and the opportunity for this person to push against the barrier to make contact with someone back in the real world has finally arrived.

Their (first) attempt at contact takes you to what appears to be a cave that is anything but ordinary where a man wearing a strange costume is waiting. There is lightning crackling all around as the man asks who you are.

"I'm younger than you would remember. We all are. My name is Wally..."

The pain you feel is almost unbearable as the connection isn't strong enough. But this person named Wally continues on despite the pain.

"Remember how you got the letter! The letter you got from your father! It's how all this started!"

The man doesn't fully understand, not yet anyway. He tells you not to go as he reaches out for you. But, the Speed Force will not be denied its prize and it claims you once again. ]

(three) A love forgotten - Third person

[ Rain is falling as a young man, who can only be Wally himself in his Kid Flash uniform, stands before a young woman sprawled out on the ground with lightning swirling and crackling around him. The expression on his face is one of pure elation while the woman's was mixed with confusion and fear.

He should have noticed how scared she was. But, he had been looking for her for so long and was so certain of their love that he believed she was going to anchor him back to reality like she had done so many times before.

He sticks out a gloved hand, asking her to take it so he can come home. She doesn't. All she can do is stutter out a "You are..." while she scrambles to her feet. Further explanation from him is going to be needed.

"Someone who loves you very much. We helped each other. We will again. We'll help everyone. But it starts with us, Linda. You and me."

The words don't help to clear up her confusion, they lead to her uttering four words -- "I don't know you" -- that has his world come crashing down. He doubles over as he is hit with an excruciating amount of pain while the lightning begins to engulf him; the Speed Force is trying to pull him back.

All he has time for is one last desperate plea to get her to remember.

"Linda, it's me! It's Wally! Wally West! God, please let her remember me."

But it is too late. Lightning clouds his vision as the connection is severed for good. ]

Comments

3

[franciscoramon]

[ As soon as Cisco wakes up from the dream, he knows he isn't getting back to sleep. It's been a week and a half of this garbage, so he knows Wally will probably at least have heard some rumors about memories coming up in other people's dreams, will have seen the odd snippets that have been showing up on the network.

The details of the vision stay vivid in Cisco's mind, and once it's at least a somewhat decent hour for people to be awake, he picks up his phone and sends a quick text: ]

hey wally
you know the whole memories situation that's been going on
kinda just had a dream and saw some shit from your life
sorry about that.

[otherflash]

[ Wally does indeed know the drill by now having caught a few flashes of what could only be other people's memories himself. He even got the whole enchilada a time or two. Which begs the question of just how much of his did Cisco see? ]

Don't worry about it, pal.
What all did you see?

[franciscoramon]

[ No matter how many times he'd had to do this, it's awkward every time. Cisco chooses his words carefully, trying to be specific, but not interpretative. ]

there was this woman named linda and you were holding out your hand to her
you told her you two loved each other, but it seemed like she didn't recognize you at all?
you seemed pretty freaked out by that and you were all wrapped up in lightning
like idk. something was going wrong with the speedforce.
at least that's how it looked to me.

[ They still know so little about the speedforce and how it works, but Cisco at least knows what it looks like, could tell that something unusual was going on. ]

[otherflash]

[ It takes some time for Wally to get his emotions under control and his thoughts in order before he replies. He had told the Titans what happened with Linda, but there is a difference between telling someone and having someone actually see it go down. ]

You got all that huh.
Long story short is
I got stuck in the speed force and was trying to make contact with someone.
My memory was kind of a mess at that point.

[franciscoramon]

[ That long silence is pretty worrying for Cisco, but he doesn't push or send a dozen questions in the interval, the way he might if this were any other kind of conversation. He gives Wally all the time he needs. ]

i didn't know that was a thing that could happen
so you were trying to get out?

[ Wally had seemed so hopeful, at first, holding out his hand to Linda. Like all his problems were solved. ]

how come she didn't remember you?

[otherflash]

It can happen when we push ourselves too far.
We're not suppose to be able to get out but I got lucky.

[ The Speed Force was on the verge of stealing Wally's very essence before he was able to find a connection strong enough to anchor him back to reality at the last possible second. ]

Because she didn't know me.
Someone made the entire world forget I existed.

[ While that is true, it wasn't why Linda specifically didn't know him. There's a far bigger and more complicated explanation for that; one he hasn't even truly shared with Dick after he arrived here. ]

[franciscoramon]

[ Well that's... potentially terrifying, and if Cisco ever finds a way to send messages back home he's definitely going to give Barry a heads-up on that one. ]

but you did get out eventually?
how?

[ The news that someone had erased his memory from everyone in the world would, at some point, had sent Cisco into spirals of disbelief. But after some of the stuff that's happened here - amnesia spores and what have you - he can buy it. And that's not even getting into everything with the voidfish. If they existed in a world Lucretia and them had visited, they might exist on Wally's version of Earth. And then... him being erased from the memories of even his closest family and friends is not only possible, but easy. ]

how did they do that?
WHO did that?

[otherflash]

Barry remembered me.
It's possible to escape if
we have someone to ground us back in reality.
Like a lightning rod.

[ Which might help Cisco piece together why Wally was so happy to see Linda in the memory. He had expected her to be his connection home. ]

Some whack job named Abra Kadabra.
He's a techno wizard from the future.
He said something about a spell.

[franciscoramon]

well thank god for that at least

[ It explains what Wally had been trying to do, and also the possible motive for erasing him from everyone's minds. If a speedster's connections are his lifeline out of the speedforce, cutting them off would be a neat way to get rid of him. ]

he sounds like a motherfucker and a half
seriously is EVERYONE from the future just an evil psycho?
like level with me on this cuz right now it's 2 outta 2 that i know of.

did you get it undone? the spell or whatever?

[otherflash]

You should have seen what he
tried to do for an encore.
But those are the only two
future people you have to worry about.
At least that I know of.

[ But between him being out of the game for some years and his memory being fuzzy about certain things, Wally can't make any promises. ]

Not really. I've only gotten a few friends
and some other people to remember me.

[franciscoramon]

well now you got me curious even tho i'm sure it's awful
what did he try to do for an encore?

[ Two evil guys from the future is still two too many as far as Cisco's concerned. But he's more worried now about what Wally's saying. ]

seriously?
that sucks.

[ A small part of Cisco wonders if maybe that had contributed to Wally coming here. After all... most of the people pulled in here were feeling disconnected from their own world in one way or another. Being erased from everyone's memories, taken out of his own story like that... if anything was going to be isolating, it would be that. ]

[otherflash]

[ Wally has had similar thoughts about why he was brought here. He certainly can't deny the displacement explanation given when they arrive here. ]

He went after my friends
and Linda to get to me after I got back.
It almost ended badly.

[ What was Kadabra's motivation for everything? A belief that Wally was the one person standing in the way of him becoming famous. ]

Tell me about it. I spend most of my time
stuck in the tower while my friends have actual lives.

[franciscoramon]

wow he sounds like a real piece of work.
i'm glad it didn't end badly.
it sucks that it came close.

[ As far as Cisco was concerned, it was only the really bad ones that went after friends and family. Guys like the Reverse Flash or Captain Cold. ]

wow that's relatable
i spent most of my time stuck at star labs not having an actual life
and i DIDN'T get erased from people's memories so actually that's pretty pathetic if you think about it

hey so this is gonna sound weird but what's linda's last name?

[ It... can't be the same Linda, can it? ]

1-@giveyouhell - Text

[hititwithacrowbar]

[ Jason had sat awake awhile after seeing the memory play out. He knew it was a bad idea to reach out, to ask. It took a few drafts before he finally sent the message. ]

Never expected the Titan's to be the water balloon fight types.

[ That was all, he couldn't bring himself to ask how his former team mate was. He burned that bridge along with many others. ]

[otherflash]

[ As far as shared memories go, those related to water balloons aren't so bad. ]

It was more of a Teen Titans thing. Some of us needed to learn to have some fun in between fighting bad guys back then.

[ Naturally, Wally took it upon himself to become the teacher in that scenario. ]

[hititwithacrowbar]

[ It could always be worse. ]

Wouldn't know.

[ He can't help but be salty. Even if Wally doesn't deserve it so he kept it simple. ]

[otherflash]

[ Wally just attributes whatever saltiness there is to being a Bat-thing. He really doesn't know much about Jason beyond what Dick has told him and that he apparently worked with Roy at one point before the Titans reformed. ]

Didn't you run with Roy for a bit? He couldn't have been that bad.

[hititwithacrowbar]

[ It was partly a bat-thing partly Jason being a bit cranky at being what he considered right. ]

Yeah, for a hot minute. He wasn't anything like that though,
Most test crazy inventions on me without asking... how's he been?

[ It's a little to rude to ask flat out if Roy was still on theach wagon, but that was his concern.]

[otherflash]

[ Wally wasn't really around when Roy was in the middle of battling his demons. Being stuck in the Speed Force can make it hard for a guy to keep in contact with his friends. ]

He's good, I think. Dealing with things.
It can't be easy but he's getting his life in order with the rest of us.

[hititwithacrowbar]

That's good,
Not that I was worried or anything. Harper's better than most about that. Anyway, I'll stop bothering you.

[ Time to go be a true bat and brood.]

[otherflash]

You're not bothering me.
And I'm sure Roy would appreciate you not being worried about him.

[ Because Jason so clearly is. ]

[hititwithacrowbar]

it was me trying to at least act polite and hang up since I don't know what else to say.

I'm sure he would to.

[ hes glad it's text and not speech, he knows his tone would give him away in a second. He regrets pushing Roy away. But it was for the best.]

[otherflash]

But you have to tell me something about
these crazy inventions he tested on you first.

[hititwithacrowbar]

First, I have to ask, does he do it to you guys to?

[otherflash]

I don't think so?
I mean, I don't know how you define crazy
and I haven't been around for a few years.

[ Roy hadn't exactly been chatty about what he had been up to when Wally asked him what he missed. ]