Thunderbird (Birdflash soulmate AU; hanahaki)

Alt. Ending 1 - Wilted

Wally was a constant sight in the Wayne manor for the next few weeks. Dick had been moved from the medbay to his own room in the manor, which now housed a multitude of Wally's own possessions with how much Wally frequented him.

Wally had even taken the liberty to buy a Nightwing doll and kept it with himself and returned the Kid Flash doll to Dick. Dick had laughed when Wally showed him the derpy looking plush that supposedly depicted Bludhaven nightly protector, his sickly looking frame washed away in that moment of mirth. Dick had asked to look at it and Wally handed it over happily.

Dick had a soft smile as he traced over the stitches of the doll, a bittersweet look in his eyes. Wally's heart skipped a beat and he pressed the feeling down. Not now. A feeling in his stomach told him to cherish this sight, the sight of this Dick, with love and happiness in his eyes, and Wally decided to follow his gut. He took in every detail, the way the light caught on Dick's hair, the way his blue eyes shined, the small grin playing on his lips.

Wally watched as Dick became weaker day after day. Something twisted in his stomach every time he saw Dick buried in his giant white bed. It looked wrong wrong wrong, Dick was like a creature of freedom, not meant to be caged and confined to a bed, the giant sheets swallowing his pale and sickly frame. And yet, Dick still beamed at Wally when he visited. Still looked at Wally as if he painted the skies. Still held the same love and liveliness in his eyes.

Dick's eyes were always very expressive. You could tell his emotion from just his eyes sometimes. They sometimes turned the color of storms when he was upset or angry, or the bright blue when he was excited. Wally saw the deep blue one the most lately. It looked like Dick had the ocean in his eyes, full of mysteries and life, a promise of adventure and yet of danger. Then Wally would see the soft blue ones, the one Dick had from those he cared for, for his friends, family, and for Wally.

Wally didn't know what he was to Dick at this point. He felt more than a friend. But maybe not exactly family. Something more. Something...closer. Wally never could name it.

<hr>

They ran out of time. It'd already been a little over two weeks.

Dick could either get the surgery now or wait for death to claim him. The chrysanthemums were everywhere, and they'd turned more yellow, less red.

Sorrow, Wally's mind supplied Yellow chrysanthemums mean sorrow.

With so many people pleading him, practically forcing him to go through with the surgery, Dick had cried and hugged everyone, telling them how much he loved them.

Telling them that they should never forget that, even if Dick couldn't remember.

Dick never broke eye contact with them as he was wheeled into the operating room.

Wally sat outside in the hallway, Dick's Kid Flash doll in his hand. Wally stared long and hard at the doll, a kind of quiet fury building up in him. What did he do wrong? Why did fate feel the need to always take anything important from Wally? Despite knowing that Dick wasn't dying, something in Wally physically hurt at the thought that Dick wouldn't be able to love anyone again. Wouldn't love him again.

And fuck. These past few days, Wally had fallen for his best friend. There was no denying it. He's fallen for Dick's cheery disposition. For their shared dorky sense of humor. For Dick's large intelligent blue eyes. For Dick's smile. For his kindness, and selflessness, and his ability to care. His ability to know just what to say to others in any situation. Of course, he wouldn't randomly proclaim his love after breaking up with Artemis so soon and while Dick was dying of unrequited love from someone else. That would just be insensitive.

Who was Dick's soulmate? Who was the fucker that is forcing Dick to lose such a vital part of himself?

Wally looked over at Dick's brothers, seat to the opposite end of the hallway. Maybe they'll tell him.

"Who was it?" Wally asked with a whisper, but it still seemed like he was screaming in the deathly quiet hallway.

They all regarded him with varying looks of pity, anger, pain, and sadness. Jason seemed to gesture at the doll in Wally's hand with a scowl. Damian just growled and looked away.

Tim licked his lips, eyes darting everywhere except Wally's gaze. Slowly, ever so slowly, Tim choked out, "You."

You.

You.

You.

Tim was quiet, so very quiet. But he might as well have screamed the word at Wally. The doll fell soundlessly to the floor as it slipped from Wally's grip along with Wally's heart. Wally couldn't hear anything other than the roar in his ears, the strange pain curling in his stomach and the coldness of his soulmark.

You.

It was his fault. Five years. It was his fault. He had lost Dick and he had no one to blame except himself. Wally didn't even realize he was crying until Damian was holding out tissues for him, his body facing away from the redhead. Wally took it slowly but only watched blankly as his tears fell into the papers in his lap.

That feeling that Wally couldn't name before? He knew the answer now, clear as day. It should've been obvious. Wally should've known. They were more than friends, or family, or a simple something. They were soulmates.

Wally felt something curl in his chest, dark and terrifying.

Was this how Dick felt? Was this what it was like to his soulmate for the last five years?

When they first saw Dick after the surgery, Wally had an impossible hope that maybe Dick didn't change so much. While Dick tried to greet this with his usual disposition of smiles, Dick's eyes didn't hold the same look. They were empty and cold and distant. Dick had started crying then, screaming about how he couldn't do it, how he felt nothing looking at his family. How he knew how he should feel but he didn't.

Wally couldn't do it, either. He couldn't stay there with Dick staring at him with empty and dispassionate eyes. Not after the days in which Dick had looked at Wally like he was the sun. When Dick's eyes held so much love and warmth that Wally never noticed and will never see again. Wally couldn't do it.

He ran out of the room and into the bathroom. There, he promptly threw up a cluster of white, pink, and red daisy-like flowers into the sink. And watched through blurred vision as they swirled away in a mixture of blood, tears, and petals.

A/N I'm sorry. :)

Btw, Wally's flowers are asters and aster's meanings include patience, love of variety, elegance, daintiness and finally, afterthought (or the wish things happened differently). Also they, like chrysanthemums, are related to daisies. It was too good of a chance to pass up.

Don't fret, this is only of the two endings I have written!