A/N- Once again, apologies for the long delay...

Also, I'd say there is only one chapter and an Epilogue left. And then if you guys want, the possibility of a sequel? Leave a review for what you would want as the premise for a sequel!

PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 49- Light

He grabbed the motherbox as Bruce and Diana went through the portal, pushing himself upwards with enormous effort. Gasping for air, he activated the machine and opened up a different portal. Limping through it, he hoped he would make it back to Earth in time.

His eyes watered as he felt the air vanish around him. It took a while to adjust, but his energy slowly grew. As he focused his vision, the fiery surface beneath him roared and erupted in flames. I am walking...on the surface of the Sun...

He felt a massive spike in his power levels as pure energy coursed through him. The nanite suit repaired itself, glowing with the excessive power, moulding into his expanding muscles. He felt his chest contract as the suit tightened around him. Heating up, the nanites glowed golden, trying to absorb as much energy as possible. He closed his eyes and let it flow.

The Speedforce

Barry was alive? He didnt think he would have survived the blast from Darkseid, yet here he was. Where exactly is here? He felt like he was walking through a dream. Everything was blurry and random, the patterns in the storm were like lights dancing around him. He saw images, visions of the past and the future. He saw Thomas and Martha Wayne being shot and murdered, a young Bruce standing over them and crying, his hands covered in their blood. A chill ran down his spine as he looked at the traumatised child. I didnt know his parents were murdered...

He saw Karen holding someones hand, smiling up at them, but the vision shifted before Barry could tell who it was.

An image of Batman holding a limp Diana, her detached from an alien apparatus, flashed behind him. A later sight of the two holding hands, walking through a portal.

He saw Jonathan Kent, trying to get help for his son, and talking to a psychologist about Clarks issues, as the young boy looked up with tears in his eyes at his father. Martha Kent gripped her husbands shoulder and shook her head sadly. Dejected and hurt, the farmboy ran up the stairs, locking his bedroom door and cradling himself, crying as he struggled to fall asleep.

Barry's heart welled up with empathy, but he could do nothing, as the Kents barged into Clarks room, yelling at him to stop being so mopey and depressed all the time. Jonathan meant no harm, but Clark winced at every emotionally damaging remark the man shouted at him.

Clark Kent suffers from Social and Emotional Isolation and Major Depressive Disorder, as well as Insomnia. The doctor told the Kents. I recommend seeking out help.

Jonathan scoffed. He's a farm boy, he's got a roof over his head and a happy life, whats he got to be depressed about?

Clark walked into the room, smiled pensively at the doctor, and looked at the floor. Why do you do this, Doctor? Do you do it because you want to? Or do you do it because you are compelled? What do you get from helping me? Nothing. You can't help me, Doctor, and neither can they.

Martha sighed. Clark, go upstairs, now. Stop acting oversmart.

The child smiled sadly again, and walked back up the stairs.

Barry was torn out of the vision with a sudden ferociousness. The Speedforce welled up around him as the next vision showed the perspective of a bolt of lightning. His eyes widened as he realised when this was. The day the Flash was born.

He entered the vision, but this time it wasnt just an image. He WAS the lightning.

As the bolt struck, he relived all of his memories as the Flash.

And then, he was awake.

Earth

Barry's eyes opened to a wasteland. Buildings were torn and scattered everywhere, the team was frantically trying to hold its own against a swarm of parademons, clearly overwhelmed.

Batman and Wonder Woman were nowhere to be seen, and he quickly remembered his vision. He went to save her.

Racing through the demons, he carved a path through their ranks, allowing Hal to explode out a wave of energy that sliced the rest of them in half. The Green Lantern proceeded to smile at Barry, who clicked tongue and ran up to the three of them.

Cyborg looked beat up, but still standing. Hal and Karen were out of breath, but still going strong. "All right, guys, can we take out the big guy first?"

Hal smirked. "All right. Here's the deal. I distract him with some fireworks, and then, as his attention is elsewhere, Karen here can swoop in and take out that son of a bitch's eyes. Thats where his beams come from right?"

Victor growled. "I can reopen the portals and reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. Those terraforming devices are powered by something called motherboxes. They bend space. These portals use the same technology and if we can make them cancel out each other, these forces should be pulled back in."

A portal cut him off before he could say the next sentence, exploding open right in front of them. The four of them tensed, before smiling with relief. It was Batman and Wonder Woman. The amazon was clasping his hand tightly as they strode through the portal. Barry glanced at Hal, expecting him to be jealous of them, but he was smiling. Hal walked over and clasped Batman's shoulder. "Good to see you're alright, you crazy bastard."

Barry was shocked. What happened here?

Diana too looked on oddly at the budding friendship, as Batman tightly smiled as well, surprising everyone. "Good to see you didnt screw things up too badly while I was gone. Is anyone hurt?"

There was a chorus of "We're Fine!"

Diana drew her sword as Karen brought her up to speed. "It's settled then! We blind him!"

The team moved into attack formation, and approached Darkseid with rapid speed. Hal punched him in the back, and shot a volley of energy into the air as Karen flew in and grabbed the behemoth's throat.

Together, the two of them lifted him up and tossed him above the harbour, where Diana and Victor together punched him into the water. Barry skimmed over the water with Batman in the Batwing above him.

The water churned and turned red as beams of energy flew out of it, and sliced apart the plane, as well as hitting Diana's gauntlets with a pounding force. Karen and Hal grappled underwater, holding down Darkseid as Diana landed on the giant's head. "C'mon, giant, I'm getting bored!"

She stabbed downwards, aiming for his eyes, but a flash of red light and an explosion later, her sword lay broken. Wincing, she punched instead.

Blood splattered over her as the eye ruptured and tore, and she flew backwards just in time to avoid the other eye's beam. She saw Batman swimming in the water, and hoisted him up to the bay. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and he clasped her hand softly, as if to say "Be careful".

She nodded, and gave a loud battle cry as she rejoined her teammates trying to finish their mission. Victor blasted open the motherbox, and initiated the portals closure. The demons were sucked in by the hordes, and Darkseid was enraged.

Grabbing Supergirl, Lantern and Diana, he rammed them into the harbour, smashing a massive crater into the soil. Victor blasted him, but the giant caught his leg and smashed him into the ground, crushing his legs.

Barry broke the sound barrier, trying to reach a high enough speed to damage the enemy, but Darkseid was faster. With a swift motion too fast for even the Flash, he punched Barry in the gut, the massive fist sending him flying through several buildings and tumbling to a halt. Batman flipped off of Darkseid's back, attaching a miniature ramjet propulsion engine from his belt.

Darkseid was pushed into a nearby portal, but grabbed the sides just in time, and then fired an Omega beam back at his assailant. "Oh shi-"

The beam was dispersed with a whoosh, and Diana smiled at him, holding her bracelets crossed in front of her.

Darkseid pulled himself out of the portal, kicking a limp Cyborg and brutally stepping on Green Lanterns arm, cracking it in the process. Diana winced at the noise, and leapt forwards to punch, but was thrown aside by another body hitting hers. Karens.

Darkseid had thrown the half kryptonian across the bay, her limp body hitting Diana with enough force to shatter her. Only two of them were still standing...

Diana picked up Karen and Hal, urging them to stay strong. Hal summoned a construct on his broken arm, holding it place. Karen moaned, rubbing her head, but got up. Victor, regenerating, had gotten up and was attempting to distract Darkseid. Only two of them were in any condition to plan out their next move.

Her, and Batman. She flew over to him, grabbing him swiftly and flying away from Darkseid, onto a rooftop out of sight of the god. "What now? He's going to kill us." Sighing with frustration, she turned to look at him. He pursed his lips and looked at her. "StalI him. Hold him down until Victor can open another portal that we can push him back through. If he can open another portal..." He hesitated for a moment, and Diana wondered if she should say something to console him, but he spoke first. "Diana...If we dont die tonight, I want you to know that I'm sorry for all the complications this might create..."

"What do you mean?" She asked, but she knew what was coming. She wasn't an idiot. She had suspected it for a long time. The man beneath the mask.

"I mean, as cliche as it sounds, I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

He peeled off the cowl, and Diana's heart leapt into her throat. Emotions overpowered her as she saw the face of Bruce Wayne.

"My parents were murdered in an alleyway when I was 8 years old. I saw the true face of the city for the first time that night...They died for no reason at all...that was the lesson they taught me. That the world only makes sense if you force it to. When I met you, I couldnt believe that you could be real. You were so kind, I didnt think such purity could have existed. I didnt know how to tell you how much you challenged everything I thought was true. Thank you, Diana, for letting me see the light."

Diana was biting her lip, nervous. She thought she was attracted to Bruce because of his kindness and rare moments of sincerity, and Batman because of his strength and will, but to find out they were the same person...She hated herself for not figuring it out sooner, but her mind darted from place to place trying to think of something to say...

We should try and stop Darkseid before he kills our friends...

Can we talk about this later?

Why are you telling me this NOW?

But the one, overwhelming thought was that she sincerely was falling for him, and that wasn't a good thing to be doing in the middle of a war. She tried to open her mouth, but nothing came out. Darkseid rampaged about behind them, destroying buildings across the harbour. She frowned, and looked towards the damage. "We...should go."

His face shifted, into one of that of melancholy and disappointment. He put his cowl back on.

"I just thought you should know..."

He turned, cape flowing behind him like a dark cloud of despair.

She grabbed his arm as he walked by her, pulling him towards her, tearing his cowl off in one smooth motion. "Look at me, Bruce."

He did, eyes burning with smouldering dark passion. She clasped his wrists tighter, trying her best not to damage him. "Our friends need us. We can't let our emotions get in the way. Right now, it doesnt matter what Bruce Wayne feels about Diana Prince or what Diana Prince feels about Bruce Wayne. It's about Wonder Woman and Batman. All those time's you lectured us, never compromising, not even in the face of Armageddon, and you think I'm just going to let you compromise here, because you care about me? No. We both compromise. Lets take that son of a bitch down, Wayne, together."

He smiled at her, so tempted to just brush his lips against hers, just for a second, but he didnt. God damn did he love this girl.

She smirked at him, and they swung out onto the battle field, amazon yelling out with a war cry and dark knight grappling from rooftop to rooftop like a silent nightmare.

The Sun

Clark was looking at the stars. They were so far away. Their light took so long to reach Earth. Yet, still they shined bright as ever.

Why did they look towards them? What did they see? Lights from dying civilisations, worlds who's lives never came to be, realms of infinite possibilities and the idea that they could have something more. That they werent alone in the universe. Human beings believed themselves to be the centre of the universe for thousands of years. They believed themselves to be alone in the universe for even longer. Yet when the gods came down among them, they were not happy to see them. Because these were gods that only took.

There is good, and there is evil. Both are two sides of the same coin, but evil must be punished. Why was he Superman? Because it was fun? Because of the powers? Because helping people sated his lust for self approval? No.

His mind strayed back to the doctor whom he had questioned as a child. Do you do it because you want to? Or do you do it because you are compelled? What do you get from helping me? Nothing. You can't help me, Doctor, and neither can they.

He was right, even then. No one could help him. But he could help others. Not as a god or as a messiahnic figure, but as an ideal. Why? Because he was compelled.

Superman was more than just a persona he had created, it was something he believed in even before he had his powers. Superman was an ideal, forged in the fires of a dying world, melded by suffering and pain, never faltering in his faith. Hope.

You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards...They will race behind you...they will stumble...they will fall...but in time...they will join you in the sun.

A/N- A quiet little hopeful ending. Hopefully the tone doesnt bother you...from teenage drama to the precocious mental rants of Clark Kent...

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