I will heal you, I will heal you of your evil, your illness, your fate.
— Alice Notley, BLINDING, THE WHITE HORSE IN FRONT OF ME

          Lark Lennox does not remember a time when she didn't love Wally West. His best friend since childhood, she has always admired him from afar, playing the part of his closest confidant while secretly longing for more. When Wally recreates the accident that gave Barry Allen his super-speed and receives his own powers, Lark fears that for the first time in their lives her best friend will leave her behind.

          But then she is given her own gift: the power to mend hearts. And the power to break them.

          Joining the Team with Lark has made Wally see his best friend in a new light. But just as his feelings toward her start to change, to grow, he meets Artemis Crock—the girl with a sharpshooter's aim and a swift tongue to match. Choosing a future with Artemis over his past with Lark, he only realises he reciprocates Lovebird's feelings—only realises there are even feelings to reciprocate—just before he disappears into the Speedforce.

          And then he's gone. Lost, until two years later when Barry pulls him back into existence and Wally, choosing not the past nor the future and instead, the present, seeks out Lark to make up for all the time that was stolen from them.

          But the Speedforce is greedy—almost as greedy as Lark and her heart, her desire. And she will not lose her best friend again. So when the Speedforce tries to claim Wally once more, Lark does what she's always been good at.

          Mending things.

          Breaking them.

          Except this time, a heart is not what Lark holds in her hands. It's reality.

          And if reality will not give her and Wally the happy ending they deserve, she will take it by force.

          Lark Lennox does not remember a time when she didn't love Wally West—and in this new, perfect world that Lark has created for him, Wally doesn't remember either.

Lark Lennox  /  LOVEBIRD

what are we staying here for? how long do you want to sit in this house, eating your heart out?

✶

Wally West  /  KID FLASH

destiny is a worrying concept. i don't
want to be fated, i want to choose.

✶

with

Dick Grayson / ROBIN / NIGHTWING
Artemis Crock / ARTEMIS / TIGRESS
Zatanna Zatara / ZATANNA
M'Gann M'Orzz / MISS MARTIAN
Conner Kent / SUPERBOY
Kaldur'ahm / AQUALAD
Barry Allen / THE FLASH II
Jay Garrick / THE FLASH I
Frances Kane / MAGENTA
Kyle Rayner / GREEN LANTERN
Bart Allen /  IMPULSE

PART I / HERO: YOUNG JUSTICE S1
PART II / HEART: YOUNG JUSTICE: INVASION
PART III / HOME: ???

✶  welcome to WITCH BURNING. this is a mostly-wally west fic based on the tv show, young justice—following my original character, lark lennox, from season 1 through to season 2. after season 2 WB will diverge from canon as i will be bringing wally back from the speedforce. this is partially inspired by the comics but... wally west comics confuse me so know that you do not have to read any comics to follow this plot when it diverges from canon. i will not do to you what has been done to me.

✶  wally and lark (aka heartflash) are both a comfort ship and a discomfort ship for me. lark is highly relatable in the sense that i too am in love with wally west and would also rip a hole in reality just to give him a happy ending, but she does do a number of problematic things in WB. i, as the author, am aware that these things are problematic and even though i joke about loving lark regardless of her actions, she will not be let off easy for the choices she makes. she does not violate boundaries/forgo consent in the traditional sense, but it's still serious and i will treat it as such.

✶  that's not for a while, though, so don't worry. at their core, heartflash is a childhood-best-friends-to-lovers romance, filled to the brim with the Pining™ and Yearning™ we all know and love. i love spitfire, so that ship will still run its course—with tons of heartflash angst to go with it—and i will treat artemis and her significance to wally with respect. i'm not about that internalised misogyny, though you will see a little bit with lark when artemis and wally first get together. she's a teenage girl who doesn't know how to process her feelings; i think we can cut her a little slack.

✶  i have aged wally and dick up a year, so wally is 16 in season 1 and dick is 14. there's no real reason for this, other than it makes things a little easier for me heartflash-wise. characters who are wally's age (i.e. artemis) are aged up as well.

✶  season 1 also takes place over just over a year instead of six months. this is for plot reasons, also because... i don't know. i have a love-hate relationship with young justice and its treatment of time.

✶  wally is lark's primary love interest, but because i don't want lark to be waiting around her entire life for him, she has other love interests throughout this book, with wally being the "ultimate" (endgame?) one.

✶  in season 1 lark's secondary love interest is ashton hart, her skating partner. in season 2 we will be seeing a little lark x dick action, a ship i have so cleverly (/lh) named birdie². lark is messy and it's very in character for her to pull something like this, this being dating your best friend's best friend. post-season 2 the secondary love interest will be kyle rayner. he is one of lark's relationships in her primary verse (dc main continuity) but i'm never going to write that and there's nothing in yj canon that suggests kyle doesn't exist, so. whatever.

✶  WB shares continuity with my other yj fic, DIVINE STATE / DEATHLESS, though i haven't plotted that out as comprehensively as i have this story—so yasmin will probably not make any significant appearances. FACE TO FACE and CRUSH however exist in a separate continuity—as does BERENSTEIN, which is a time-travelling au of WB in which lark and wally never grew up together, but still find their way to each other. eventually. BERENSTEIN is my baby, so please go check that out if you're interested.

✶  this fic is inspired by various episodes of doctor who, as well as wandavision and the x-men comics storyline "house of m". WB will also eventually incorporate dc comic-inspired storylines, namely heroes in crisis and dc rebirth in general.

✶ this fic is dedicated to all my friends, particularly the gotham knights groupchat—but i have to single out ace; the roy to my jason, and one of my best (and oldest) friends on this site—WITCH BURNING is for you. you have been an amazing and supportive friend since day one and i am so grateful to have you. from your attempts to convert me into a tim drake stan (NEEEEVER!!!) to our shared infatuation with the one and only jorge jimenez, i genuinely enjoy every conversation we have with each other. i always know that you'll be there to brighten my day, whether it's through a questionable british portrayal of jason todd (i have never before laughed for ten minutes straight and i might never laugh that much again) or just a fun fact about a character you love.

✶ so thank you for supporting me as well as heartflash, in all their incarnations. i'm not quite sure where i would be as a writer if i didn't have your support and encouragement, but i know i would definitely be a lot more lonely. i'm just now remembering your relentless bullying regarding my love for midwestern conservative wally west, but if lark lennox can love a redhead then i guess i can love you. whatever. (/lh. obviously i love you.)

✶ this is also for gardenskies. we've been through a lot together and i will never not be thankful for the time you've spent talking me down and checking in. you are so kind and resilient and i love you so, so much.

✶  a dedication also goes to artemistics, who has so kindly let me use her layout—can, thank you so much, both for your support and for what has probably been hours of our conversations. i appreciate each and every one. thank you for being an amazing beta reader, as well. everyone who reads this is legally obligated to go check out can's dick grayson fic, HEART-SHAPED BOX.

✶  TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS: canon-typical violence, death, swearing, sexual references, negative stigmas towards mental health/grief, non-consensual situations (i.e. lark forcing wally into an alternate reality, not SA), emotional manipulation/gaslighting, physical & verbal abuse.

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN.

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