Since there is a lot of hype about the possibility of a season 3, I received a burst of inspiration. I kind of wanted to post a BirdFlash fic first, but... oh well.

It happened years ago, before Bart had even been born.

The Reach had taken over, the Justice League had long since been dead, and every surviving meta was collared.

But Bart's parents had told of a day, just a couple years before he was born, that a magic wielding race of aliens landed on Earth. They weren't there for long, as the Reach quickly executed the group, but they had landed long enough to feel pity and help make the humans lives at least bearable.

Two years before Bart entered the world, the people of Earth received words. Despite most people being skeptical, they still acted as a beacon of light on the ashen planet.

Two years later, by the time Bart was born, the words commonly became known as Soul Words.

Two years later, the words "Geez, hermano, slowdown!" was written on Bart's forearm.

In the past, everything is bright.

The sky is a bright blue, with puffy white clouds. The grass is vibrant green, and so are the trees and bushes. The sun (the sun!) is so bright, it hurts to look at, but he does anyway. The air is filled with mindless chatter, laughter, and the smells of flowers and barbeque.

It's wonderful.

But still, there's something missing. He notices the bare arms of the people around him, and it's... wrong. Sure, back home in the future, no one was really happy, but there was still an air of hope hanging above them. The difference is subtle, but Bart still finds himself rubbing his arm and wondering.

He kind of feels bad for leaving his soul mate behind in such a terrible future, but he takes comfort in the thought that what he is doing in the past will make their life better. Whenever he or she is born, at least they have a shot at a happy life.

"What is that?"

Bart startles, quickly hiding his arm behind his back. "What's what?"

Wally, his first cousin once removed, just raises an eyebrow. "Dude, if it's a tattoo, I'm not gonna say anything to Aunt Iris. She probably wouldn't care anyway."

"Right, of course," Bart says, but still keeps his arm out of sight.

Luckily, the other speedster drops it, and the two continue walking.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Wally asks, "So, what do you think of the past? It's probably boring, since we don't have any flying cars or anything, huh?"

Bart resists the urge to laugh at the flying cars thing, because, really, a regular car was pretty hard to come by. Instead, he plasters a smile on his face and adds another hip to his step.

"It's totally crash!" he exclaims. "Everything is so retro and - what's the word? - chill."

Wally chuckles. "I think you mean 'cool,'" he corrects, and Bart blushes.

"Right," he mutters, then, testing it for himself, he says, "cool."

Wally stares at him, long enough that Bart feels unnerved. He rubs his arm, and looks away.

"What aren't you telling us?" Wally asks, and Bart actually halts in his steps. "It has something to do with your tattoo, doesn't it?"

The younger speedster relaxes, marginally. "Uh, well, yeah," he partially confesses, because he's learned from experience that the best lies come from half truths. "Something happens in a few years, and I kind of what it to be kept a surprise, you know?"

Wally smiles, and bumps his shoulder. "Hey, as long as it's a good surprise. The last thing we need is some world ending secret, am I right?"

Bart forces a laugh and sighs in relief when Wally's phone rings.

The red head answers, slightly turning away as he speaks to whoever is on the other line. Bart uses this time to calm his racing heart and collect his thoughts.

By the time Wally hangs up, Bart is back in character, a wide, crooked grin painted on his face.

"Apparently you're pretty popular," his cousin says. "Nightwing wants you back at the mountain so you can meet the rest of the team."

"Crash," Bart grins.

The team seems pretty "cool" as Wally would say.

Dick, Tim (or Nightwing and Robin, as they insist), and Garfield greet him with smiles and they introduce him to Batgirl, Cassie, M'gann, La'gann, Superboy, and anyone else who happens to walk through the Zeta Tube. Everyone smiles and shakes his hand, and Bart is still on edge, but he finds himself slowly winding down, slowly becoming, well, not comfortable, but something close to it.

And then a voice announces:

RECOGNIZED: BLUE BEETLE 16

Bart makes an excuse ("Sorry, food break!") and bolts.

He rounds a corner and promptly slams into someone, sending both him and the other person a good ten feet back, stopped only by the wall.

There's a groan beneath him, and then he hears it.

"Geez, hermano, slow down."

Bart scrambles back like a crab, and his back slams into the opposite wall. In front of him, he sees the terror of the future, the star of his nightmares. The stinging on his forearm brings him back to present, and he struggles for breath. He's tempted to not say anything, maybe play mute, but still, he finds himself muttering.

"Not crash, so not crash, I am definitely feeling the mode, oh man," he says, and the Blue Beetle is just staring at him, probably figuring out the best way to kill him-

"We're not incinerating him," the Blue Beetle says, rolling his eyes, and oh god, he was going to be incinerated?

The panic must show on his face because Blue Beetle quickly waves his hands and shakes his head. "Hey, hey, hermano, cálmense," he whispers.

Bart wants to respond, maybe run away, but Blue Beetle is right there, and he can't risk it. Bart just breathes for a second and forces himself to calm down. When he can put the smile back on his face, he jumps up, startling the Beetle.

"Bart, there you are," Cassie calls, rounding the corner. "Oh, hey, you met Blue. Bart, this is Jaime, Jaime, this is Bart. He's from the future!"

Blue Beetles eyes widen, and he looks at Bart with excitement. "Is that why you guys called me over? Dude, that's awesome!"

Bart rubs his arm and smiles back. "Heh, yeah, the future."

Blue Beetle - Jaime - smiles widely, and Bart, still rubbing his arm, smiles back at his soul mate.

If it feels a little forced, well... it is.

Bart ends up moving in with the Garrick's, but finds himself spending most of his time at the mountain.

He tells himself that he's gathering intel for his mission, and that's why he spends so much time with Jaime, so much time talking with him, and learning about him.

They've hung out a total of four times when Bart decides he needs to make serious adjustments to his plan. He should have known it wouldn't be as easy as "kill the Beetle, save the world," but still, he had hoped. Now he had to revamp the plan to not only save the future, but his soul mate as well.

His soul mate who didn't even know soul mates exist.

Bart decides that once he figures out the Facebook thing, he's going to mark his status as "complicated."

Jaime and the team know about the dark future with the Reach in control, with Blue Beetle being the most terrifying being, and Bart is amazed at how driven they are to stop it.

A hundred plans are thought up, a thousand back up plans are put into place. Bart helps out every way he can, whether it's going out on the field or making coffee runs.

He tries to ignore the fact that Jaime is avoiding him, but after two weeks, the speedster caves, and hunts the Hispanic teen down.

He finds him in the deserts of El Paso, laying in the sand and staring into the night sky.

"Hey, hermano," Bart grins, plopping down next to his friend.

Jaime grunts in response, and they sit in a comfortable silence for several minutes. Bart finds he doesn't mind sitting still for a few minutes if it's in his soul mate's calming presence.

"Hey, Bart?" Jaime asks softly, still staring at the stars.

"Yeah, Jaime?"

"When we first met, and you crashed into me and started freaking out... were you scared of me? Have you...," Jaime takes a deep breath. "Have you been afraid of me this whole time?"

Bart shifts uncomfortably before laying down next to his friend. He scoots over so their arms are touching, and takes note of how Jaime flinches back.

"We don't have stars in the future," he tells Jaime. "Too much... corruption. But just because we couldn't see the stars, that didn't mean they weren't there. One time, before I was born, some aliens from a neighboring solar system came to Earth. The Reach... well, technically, Blue Beetle, uh, took care of them, but-"

"Why are you telling me this, hermano?" Jaime whispers, closing his eyes.

"Shh, it's story time," Bart hushes before continuing. "Anyway, before they were captured, the aliens saw how the human race was treated, and how hopeless everyone was, so they gave us a gift. They could use magic, like Zatana or Dr. Fate, but they were more powerful in their own way.

"So before they were captured, they gave us humans a gift. It was kind of like a match in the middle of a dark maze. It was a promise of hope, but it wasn't a way for us to free ourselves." Bart rubs his arm and sighs. "People got... words, or sentences on their skin.

"Babies started being born with them, and no one really knew what it meant, but eventually, people started putting things together. The first thing some one said to you. A specific person, I mean. Things kind of clicked in our minds, you know? Like: yes, this is it. This is the person who will make my life bearable, I want to live even if it's just too see them smile."

Jaime inches away, and Bart frowns.

"Do you mean like... love at first sight? Or... sound, I guess?" Jaime asks.

"Yeah, just about," Bart shrugs. "We use the term 'soul mate.'"

"Bart... why are you telling me this?"

The speedster holds his breath for a few seconds before rolling up his sleeve.

The words there are a dark stain on his pale skin.

Jaime doesn't say anything for a few moments, and at first, Bart thinks that maybe he isn't looking, that maybe Jaime doesn't want to see it.

But then fingers wrap around his wrist, and Bart is shocked by the force used to yank his arm closer to Jaime.

"That's... I said that," he realizes. "You ran into me, and I said-"

"The first words you ever said to me," Bart says softly. "When I ran into you, I was trying to run away. I wasn't ready to face the Blue Beetle. And then, you... you said the Soul Words, and I panicked. I had thought that maybe I left my soulmate behind, alone in the future, only to find out that it was the one person I was here to stop."

"You must have been terrified," Jaime whispers.

"At first," the speedster agrees. "And it didn't help that the Scarab wanted to incinerate me." Bart laughs as Jaime blushes. "But not anymore. Now... you're my best friend, Jaime. I could never be afraid of you."

Bart moves their hands so he can link their fingers together, and smiles when Jaime squeezes his hand.

"Soul mates, huh?"

Bart doesn't take his eyes off of the sky. "Yep."

"How does it work?" he asks, and Bart chokes.

"Um, well, I don't- I mean, I don't know. I've never had a soul mate before," he stutters.

Jaime coughs, and there's a faint blush dusting his cheeks. "Well, um, the scarab says that technically, you've had a soul mate the whole time." The Hispanic teen rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, and Bart smiles.

He hums. "I guess I have." He sits quietly, staring at the sky but sneaking glances at Jaime. "So, now that I've told you about the the mate thing... we're still crash, right?"

Their fingers are linked, and Jaime gently squeezes Bart's hand.

"Yeah," he nods. "We're pretty crash."