Once upon a time, there was a scientist and a witch. And they did not believe in each other.

"I had a dream," Klarion told him once, rather seriously. "that I loved you."

Wally had laughed at him from his place upside down in the air, crossing his legs and arms.

"This is a dream," he said. "You can't defy the laws of physics in real life."

Klarion had scowled and told him that the laws of physics were for those who weren't magical gods of unmeasured power. Wally just laughed again and said that magic wasn't real.

Then he talked about how his day was and what Robin did with him and how Superboy didn't know how toasters worked and Klarion would snap and say I don't want to hear about your day, I want to hear your scrams of agony, but he'd sit and listen anyway.

And Wally would start to wonder why he was dreaming of the Witch Boy of all people, causing Klarion to tell him it was his dream, not the scientist's. Which meant they would have to be sharing the dream with each other and that's absolutely not true.

Eventually Wally would get hungry and, where he used to wake up to get snacks at night, now Klarion makes some cakes and tea ("Because I don't want any of that filth water you call soda.") and they eat and talk some more. Wally says the fact he's eating in his sleep tricks his body into thinking it's full, to which Klarion responds no, idiot, you're really eating right now.

Wally raises and eyebrow and says, "No, I'm not. I'm asleep, this isn't reality."

"I can make it reality," the witch boy told him.

Which is just absurd.

Magic isn't real, after all.

"I had a nightmare," Wally told him once, rather seriously. "that I loved you."

Klarion just frowns at him.

"You shouldn't be having nightmares," he says. "I'm in all your dreams."

"That's exactly my point."

They both get quiet for a long while after that.

"You could," the witch boy said after a long moment of silence.

"Huh?"

"You could love me," Klarion said. "I could make you love me. I could make you forget about all your so-called 'friends' on Earth. I could give you magic too. I could have a world created, just for you, with everything you ever wanted. I could make you the happiest person alive."

Wally stared at him for a moment, long and hard.

"I could make you love me," Klarion repeated.

They both just stared at each other.

"You could," Wally whispered, quietly, almost sadly. The words echoes around the room, melancholy smile the focus of his enemy's (friend's?) attention . "But you won't."

Fire licked at the edges of his vision, smoke rising from the deadly heat. Something dark settled over the room, oppressive and twisted. Klarion's horns seemed to become sharper, more real. He smiled wickedly, a smile the devil himself would've been proud of.

"And what makes you think that?"

Something deeper and more powerful mixed in with those words, something Wally couldn't explain. And for a moment he forgot about chemicals and theories, he forgot about science and rules and technology and he believed, no-

He knew.

"Because," His eyes shined with so much trust and Klarion wanted to wring his neck on the spot, just to watch the light leave his eyes. "I know you won't."

Sparks danced in front of him, the hatred rolling off the witch in waves. Maybe he had been wrong, maybe he was going to die right here and now-

Suddenly it all went away. The fire, the darkness, the color,- All gone.

They stood together in a white room and Wally's heart once again cemented itself in the world of science.

Klarion stared at him for a while, face a mixture of emotions he was sure neither of them understood. They just looked at each other, scientist to witch, magic to nonbeliever.

Slowly, as if nothing was happening at all, Klarion disappeared, leaving Wally in an empty, colorless, lonely room.

Wally did not dream of witches and magic for a long, long time.

"You came back."

It had been a long time, much longer than Wally had ever thought would pass, since he'd last seen Klarion. His voice was deeper, he filled out his body more and he was taller too, but he was still the same Wally West from those few years ago. He still had too many freckles and too red air and an attitude that would get him killed one day.

Klarion hadn't aged a day.

"You thought I wouldn't." It wasn't a question. Where the old witch boy he had dreamt of would've scoffed and scolded him, this one just stared with an air of uninterested grace.

They both had done a lot of growing up. For one, it was physical. For the other, it was understanding that you couldn't force everything.

"Dreams are fleeting, after all."

Wally paused, as if expecting Klarion to go into a rant about how this wasn't a dream at all and magic was the cause behind everything in the universe.

But he did not.

Instead, he stared at the redhead in expectance and something else. Wally recognized it as the look he had seen the last time Klarion had been around. Only now he was old enough (and wise enough) to finally understand.

Wally crossed his legs and sat on the cool, green grass of his wonderland. He patted the space next to him. Klarion hesitated for a moment, but sat next to him, staring at the grass. Wally pretended not to notice.

"Today Robin did the stupidest thing! He tried to tie me to my bed for an hour as punishment for this awesome prank I pulled on him the other day, which he totally deserved…"

It wasn't quite like it used to be, but it was close enough for the both of them.

"I had a dream," One of them said once.

"Was it a dream or a nightmare?" The other asked.

"I think it was a little of both."

"So it was bad?"

"No…actually, it was the best dream I ever had."

"It sounds nice."

"Yeah…It is."

Once upon a time, there was a scientist and a witch. And they did not believe in each other.

They tried anyway.