#the flash x oc

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 9: Killer Frost

Pairing: Barry Allen x OFC  // Fandom: The Flash

Story Masterlist • Previous Stories: Rise Up • It Had To Be You

Belén’s Masterlist • Fanfic • Ao3

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​ @arrthurpendragon​ @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​ @stareyedplanet​ @foxesandmagic​ @frostandflamesfanfic​

Belén and Joe desperately tried to see the force that held Barry against the wall but try as they might, they just couldn't. Anais, on the other hand, was terrified and awed. Her eyes glowed her golden hue and she directed heat beams at the metallic armor of the unknown enemy but it was like a minor cut. If anything, it just agitated the enemy even more. In a flash of a second, it was in front of Anais, grabbing her by the neck. She was thrown across the room, landing on a table which then turned and crashed on the ground.

The armored enemy returned for Barry in less than half a second. Barry could say he didn't even feel when he was briefly let go for Anais. "What the hell are you?" Despite his struggles, Barry couldn't free himself from the grasp around his neck.

"You may serve the speed force, Flash, but I rule it," the metallic armor responded. "You are only a man, but I am a god. Your god. I am Savitar."

Kill us! Get it! Or get out! Belén struggled to breathe in regularly. The voices - sentient as ever - were squirming with the fear of death and wanted to make it known.

"Alchemy!" Joe, at this point, didn't know where to aim his gun but Alchemy made it easier since he was making an escape with the stone that crystalized Wally.

"STOP!" Belén screamed, however for the others it was on behalf of Barry, but she really needed the voices to be quiet or she would lose her sanity there and then.

"Let's go for a run, and give her some space," Savitar said to Barry then zoomed out of the place with him.

Belén dropped to her knees and looked around at the mess they'd created. She screwed her eyes shut when the voices echoed for them to leave.

~ 0 ~

From the cortex, the others tried to get ahold of Barry but were stumped to find him virtually all over the city.

"The suit's tracker must be malfunctioning," Cisco tried to get in touch with Barry himself. "It says he's appearing and reappearing all over the city at once, and that's impossible. He can't be moving that fast."

"Well if he can't, maybe something else can…?" Iris nervously watched the blinking dot meant to be Barry go in and out of appearance in every corner of the street map.

"What about the others?" Caitlin murmured as she switched to the comms. They might not have visuals on the subway but their communications were still intact. "Belén? What's happened over there?"

"I-I messed up, Caitlin!" Belén was quick to respond and let her frantic state be felt from across the city. "S-something took Barry! And it hurt Anais! Wally too - I don't know! I just don't know!"

"I got it!" Cisco cheered with his arms in the air. "Whatever it is, it stopped at the waterfront!"

"We have to get to him," Iris looked between the two considerably.

"Anais is down and I...I don't think I can reach them," Belén sounded on the verge of tears. They had yet to know what happened to Wally because she messed up.

"Cisco, you can open a breach and get you both to the waterfront," Iris thought of instead since this was a clear emergency.

"Guys, I can't," Caitlin gulped just by looking at her hands. "It's too dangerous."

"I'm begging you. Please!"

~ 0 ~

"Still alive down there?" Savitar's taunt came through the raspy, drawling voice of his his armor. Even as Barry tried getting up, Savitar forced him to stay put with a foot on him. "You are only a shadow beneath my throne. You are the past, whereas I... I am the future, Flash."

A breach opened up across them and out jumped Cisco and Caitlin. Cisco lost his balance with the source of energy he just pulled for the breach.

Caitlin wiggled her fingers and looked up ahead but all she saw was Barry in midair. "I can't see it!"

"Just do it!" cried Killer Frost in Caitlin's mind. Even as she shivered from it, she fired a large quantity of ice, probably more than she ever created since she got the powers. It encapsulated Savitar's form and made it visible for her and was able to feel the deep cold through Savitar's grasp.

Barry heard the cracking of the ice and the next he knew, he dropped to the ground. Savitar had disappeared. Cracks of ice sprawled underneath Barry's form, but otherwise he felt he would manage to pull himself up with Caitlin's support.

"Oh, boy. I'm gonna feel that tomorrow. Ah," Cisco groaned as Caitlin helped him stand. "That was a new and painful use of my powers." Caitlin rubbed his arm and looked back to Barry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just cold," Barry nodded them. "Thanks for coming."

~ 0 ~

"Barry, you're already healing. You should be fine soon," Caitlin moved over to the x-rays she'd taken from Cisco, the man lying on a bed with a hand on his forehead. "Um, Cisco, the MRI I did of your brain shows changes in the capillary morphology similar to that of a mini-stroke. I wouldn't try an intra-dimensional breach like that anytime soon."

Cisco nearly went pale as he sat upright. "Okay, okay. Mini-stroke? You can't just gloss over that like that, okay? What does that... what does that mean? Am I gonna have this migraine for the rest of my life?"

"It means you should take a few aspirin and you'll be fine," Caitlin reassured him his health.

"Oh. Well, just lead with that next time!"

"Cait, I know what a risk you took using your powers," Barry stopped her just as she was leaving the side room. "Thank you."

"I didn't do anything..." Caitlin said sheepishly.

"Well, you saved my life."

"You've saved mine plenty of times. I'm gonna go check on Wally," Caitlin turned to finally leave. As she walked on, her eyes flickered silver to dark. Let me out, Caity…

~ 0 ~

Shortly later, Belén and Anais had joined the group in the cortex, each one looking worse for wear in their own way.

"Anais, you're okay?" Cisco asked, much kinder than before now that he knew where his dampeners had actually gotten to.

Anais knew this and scowled at him in return. "You care?"

Cisco figured he had that well earned. "I said I was sorry—"

"Keep saying it, then," she walked past him to her folded suit left on a chair.

"What are you doing?" Barry asked, curiously watching her get the suit.

"I'm leaving," she announced sharply.

"What - now? You're choosing to leave now?" Cisco blinked. Just when he was beginning to like her a bit more.

"Caitlin said I finished with my tests and Barry said I could leave whenever I wanted to after that. Well, I want to leave now," Anais informed them and walked up to them. She didn't quite care for the group's reaction. "No offence, but I didn't come here to sign up for another war."

"Uh, no, you just stole the passageway of another man," Cisco reminded him but it did no good for the case.

"Here," Anais handed Barry a card with a number on it. "I'm not disappearing, but I...I just don't want to be here anymore. I just got out of a war, I can't get into another one. You understand, right?"

Barry gave a nod without the intention of pleading her to stay. Unfortunately, he could understand what Anais was trying to say. In the end, this was their problem with Savitar and Alchemy, not hers.

"Iris got me the cellphone, I will answer if you call, I swear," Anais stepped around Barry and stopped by Belén. "Please take care of yourself, okay?" Belén meekly nodded and rubbed her arm. Anais was sure there was something Belén wasn't saying but who was she to start asking questions? All Anais wanted to do was get the hell out of there before something targeted her next.

"Well, there's your daughter!" Cisco gestured after Anais once she was gone, eyes set on Barry and Belén. "You're not going to stop her!?"

Belén shrugged at Cisco. "What do you want us to do? Call her to come back and fight a battle that's not hers?"

Barry tucked the card with the number inside his pocket. "Maybe she's making the right call, alright? Let's just give her some space."

Cisco wasn't even going to waste more breath on the matter. "Fine, whatever. So what was that thing in the waterfront, anyways? All frozen and whatnot."

"I don't know. But now we know Alchemy is just the lackey," Barry said. "Whatever that thing was, it's what we're really up against."

"So why couldn't any of us see it?" Belén asked. "Joe and I, we-we tried but...there was nothing." Of course maybe she would have seen more things if she wasn't dealing with the insanity going on in her head.

"Maybe it was a speedster thing?" Cisco offered, even though there was no clear explanation for it. "I mean, Anais saw it, right?"

"Maybe, but I think he's more than a speedster," Barry admitted. "I mean, when he had me, it wasn't like we were even moving; it was just like, 'bam!' we were instantly somewhere different, even from my perspective."

"Did he say anything else?"

"He said his name was Savitar."

"Nice name," Belén said distractedly. She felt the echo of pain on the side of her head.

"Bells…" Barry stepped towards her but she sniffed and nodded to the threshold.

Belén blinked at Barry, her face flushing when she realized she wasn't paying attention again. "Uh, Wally's still...I'm so sorry." She shook her head and rushed out of the cortex.

Barry was exhausted and yet this single moment felt even worse than him getting punched by Savitar. Whatever was going on with Belén was distancing them again and the last time that happened, Belén almost didn't come back from it.

~ 0 ~

A few hours had passed by since they brought Wally back and since then, Caitlin had performed a series of tests to see his condition. Her news wasn't relatively the best except that Wally wasn't entirely dead.

Belén heard the whole news and couldn't take the guilt. She cooped herself up in the greenhouse room and tried her damn best to meditate. It wasn't working. In fact, it was perhaps one of the worst meditation attempts of her life. Belén felt like sobbing at one point. That was when Barry found her.

"Bells, c'mon..." Barry had no sophisticated strategy to get her to open up. He was too tired for that stuff today. He sat down on the floor directly in front of her, crossing one leg over the other as if he was going to meditate with her. For the first couple of minutes, he didn't say anything to her. He just looked at her.

Belén did the same. Somehow, the silence between them was even more difficult to manage than when Barry actively tried to find out what was going on with her. In the end, she gave up. "It's my fault," her confession was a quiet whisper.

"Your fault?" Barry repeated. He hoped that it was glaringly obvious how eager he was that she had finally said something to him. Hopefully it would pave the way to her revealing what was really the problem.

Belén swallowed hard. "Yeah," she nodded. "I messed up. I messed up so badly. I let Wally walk right past me to that stupid stone! He was right in front of me and do didn't do anything!"

Barry was still, honestly, stumped about that moment. Even though there was still some fuzziness about what happened there, he knew something prevented Belén from stopping Wally. She was right. He had walked right past her and she didn't do anything. That wasn't like her. Lately, she wasn't acting like herself. "Bells, you have to help me out here, what's happening? I-I am being patient, but...look at yourself. It's like when Datura was getting to you and...and you shut yourself off from everyone, including me."

Belén bit on her bottom lip nervously. As hard as things were getting, she was scared to tell Barry what was happening. "It's scaring the living crap out of me right now," she admitted.

"What is?" Barry gently pushed for the answer. He reached for one of her hands on her lap, enveloping it between his hands. "You can tell me anything."

"I'm afraid how you'll take it," Belén said, watching him carefully. Already, she saw a spark of guilt in Barry's eyes. She couldn't imagine how he would take the news that his changing the timelines truly affected her and Caitlin in the worst ways. She couldn't do that to him. "But it's okay. It's okay. I have it under control."

"But, Bells—"

Belén leaned forwards and pressed a kiss on Barry's lips. She smiled softly at him, eyes looking at him fondly. "I really love you, do you know that?"

Barry recognized a tactic when he saw one and he was ashamed that it worked. Belén was purposely keeping something away from him and he couldn't force it out of her. The only thing left to do was wait and tell her that he loved her too.

~ 0 ~

"Alright then," Veronica settled a folder of evidence on the interrogation table and watched the lone acolyte of Alchemy's shift nervously in his chair. "Now that you lost the monk disguise, we can talk. Let's start with Alchemy."

The man gave her almost a sneer.

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't test these waters," she warned in a deadly tone. "Why don't—" the door of the room burst open with Joe.

He let the door slam behind him as he walked over to the table. "Tell me about Alchemy," he commanded. "What he does, how he does it. Say it now."

There, the man repeated his sneer. However, he spoke this time. "His powers are beyond human understanding."

"Try us," Veronica leaned back on her chair and motioned him to get a move on.

The man merely smirked. "Oh, you will be tried. All of you. When my master rises, the human race will be judged. From where I'm sitting, you will not fare very well."

Veronica was about to tell him how delirious he was when Joe reached out and grabbed the man by the nose, almost threatening to break it. Veronica, startled, straightened up on her chair.

"You think I'm playing with you? My son is in one of those cocoons, and you're gonna tell me how to get him out. Now talk!" Joe ignored Veronica's attempt to get him to stop. He was beyond words at this point. The only salvation was the relentless knock on the door.

"Please just stop," Veronica warned him when she went to go answer. "Caitlin?" she blinked then looked past her to see if she was alone.

"It's Wally," the brunette said, immediately catching Joe's attention. The man hurried over. "He's out of that thing. He's fine."

"And he's okay?"

"Yeah. He's fine. I promise."

"Oh, thank God. Thank you, Caitlin," Joe glanced back at the suspect.

"You should probably go see him, then," Veronica smiled at him. "I can take care of this joke in ten minutes."

Joe laughed and merrily went on his way.

"Actually, Belén is waiting for you in the reception," Caitlin informed Veronica. "She said it's something important."

"Oh, wonder what it is now," Veronica smiled again and walked out of the room, leaving the door to close on its own.

Caitlin struck a boot just before it did close. She waited until Veronica was out of the way then walked in, backwards, and shut the door. Her eyes flickered to the security camera up on the ceiling and shot a hand up at it, freezing it completely.

"Where is Alchemy?" she revealed her silver eyes. The white streaks of hair were already making its presence on her head. "Tell me where Alchemy is."

The man eyed her with curiosity. He was not afraid, merely interested like he expected this to happen. "I sense great fear in you. You fear your power, your own greatness."

"I don't fear anything anymore," Caitlin's voice overlapped with Killer Frost. "Where is Alchemy?"

"The only one I fear is that whom Alchemy serves, the dark lord Savitar."

Caitlin regarded that with some amusement. Her eyes became a stronger silver as she rose her hand with threatening ice. "Maybe it's time you started fearing me."

GetHimGetHimGetHim, Killer Frost commanded and this time had the perfect control over Caitlin. Ice spread to the suspect's hands, causing terrible screams to erupt.

In less than a minute there was pounding on the doors. Caitlin's eyes briefly reverted to their normal chocolate brown. Caitlin herself whimpered as she felt the force that was Killer Frost trying to push her way out again. Her eyes flashed silver again and she filled the air with a cold fog then allowed the door to open. As the two officers hurried inside, she slipped out and shut the door, icing the doorknob as a measure of caution.

She was on her way out when someone called her back.

Julian Albert stood behind with an air of confusion as he heard his co-workers calling for help from the inside of the interrogation room. When he turned to Caitlin, he gasped at her very near proximity.

"I need you to come with me," she informed with her frost smoking up from her hands.

~ 0 ~

Joe came in a hurry into Wally's room and was stunned when he found his son was in the same condition as when he left. He met the others' confused looks and explained to them that Caitlin had assured him that Wally had woken up.

"What? I didn't even see her leave," Cisco realized that Caitlin had been out of sight for a while now.

"She said that?" Belén asked, focusing on the more important details of the story.

"Yes," Joe said, quite irritated to see that it was all lies.

"That's not like Caitlin..." Iris shook her head, thinking the same as the others.

Belén was the first to realize what was going on. Iris was right. Caitlin wasn't like that. Caitlin didn't lie to get officers out of interrogation rooms.

But she knew a certain metahuman who would do all those things.

~ 0 ~

The precinct was on red alert when Barry got there. Before he reached the offices, Veronica caught him on the side, startling him.

"You have got some explaining to do!" Her snap put him even worse for wear.

"What!? I—"

"Come here," Veronica grabbed Barry by the collar and dragged him into the bullpen, ignoring his 'what' again. She stopped by her desk and pulled up the security feed of the interrogation room where they'd kept Alchemy's acolyte. "Caitlin just attacked two officers, one suspect and kidnapped Julian."

"What?" Barry leaned closer to the screen just to make sure they hadn't made a mistake. He could only see Caitlin's side profile as she iced down the camera.

"No one's recognized her from the video but if Julian gets out first, he'll turn her in," Veronica warned him. "What the hell is going on?"

"I...I don't know," Barry rubbed his forehead. Killer Frost was making her appearance, that's what. Just like her earth 2 doppelganger, the ice made her bad.

"When did she get powers? And why would she take Julian?" Veronica's questions went unanswered.

Barry couldn't focus when the bigger issues were at hand. It would be a race to find Caitlin before the cops did.

~ 0 ~

As soon as she could, Belén fled to her greenhouse room to call a certain doppelganger to answers. She faced Datura on a video call while she paced back and forth. "What the hell is happening? Killer Frost is already taking Caitlin over! You said there was more time!"

Datura snickered on the other end. "I said there was only a question of who would end up taken first. Looks like I got the answer. Killer Frost was always a rowdy, annoying meta."

"Well now she's inside my friend and she's making Caitlin do things she would never do!"

"That's the point, stupid," Datura rolled her eyes. "Killer Frost wants access, and since Caitlin is probably getting more desperate, it's been easy for Killer Frost to take over."

"But she kidnapped a friend — Killer Frost kidnaps?"

"No," Datura said with some thought put into it. She looked to the side as she recollected patterns of the Earth 2 meta. "She kills. It's in her name. I think this little outburst might be Caitlin and Killer Frost together as a...mixture. One is just fighting the other."

"So, Caitlin is actively fighting back but losing?"

"Don't know. Look at her intentions and then let me know," Datura winked then shut off the call before Belén could say more.

Belén stuffed her phone in her back pocket then rubbed her face. "Caitlin, what are you doing?" She hated to think what Caitlin might be feeling - if Caitlin was feeling anything as herself at all. If what Datura said was true, then perhaps Caitlin was on her way to merging with Killer Frost to create a whole new person.

Who would that person end up, though?

~ 0 ~

"So, they don't know why she took Julian?" Cisco asked just to be sure. He was currently trying to locate Caitlin's location and a little stress might be making it more difficult.

"No, they don't. But more importantly, they don't even know that it's Caitlin yet, so we need to find her before they do," Barry couldn't hide the urgency in his words.

"Okay, let's say we do find her, then what are we going to do?" Iris made them stop for a moment. "It's obvious she's not thinking straight but have we thought about the reasons? Maybe something that could help us?"

"Killer Frost from Earth 2 is inhabiting Caitlin's mind," Belén walked in, her face expressing nothing but guilt. "Caitlin is literally having a battle with another person inside her own body."

"She's becoming Killer Frost. It's just like in the Vibe," Cisco shook his head.

"We don't know that yet," Barry reminded, but the doubt was still hanging over everyone's head.

"Her mother said the more that she uses her powers, the faster she's gonna go," Belén relayed what Caitlin once told her. "These powers aren't just powers, they're actual people that Datura siphoned. They're sentient and some of them are more forcible than others."

"How do you know that?" Iris now laid suspicious eyes on Belén.

"Because that's what Datura told me," Belén replied, hiding behind the technicality that she was not lying. "We just need to find Caitlin and make her see what's happening."

"I tried pinging her cell and Julian's, but she must have ditched them both," Cisco said with a groan of frustration.

"Stop thinking Caitlin is a regular person and start searching for another meta with cold powers," Belén moved over to him. "The answer here is not to ignore. Caitlin's powers, they're cold, so...could we use something we used for Captain Cold?"

"We tracked him using the satellite to scan for ultraviolet cold signatures," Cisco thought about it then snapped his fingers. "You're good!" he told Belén, making her smile, and got back to work. "Frozen food warehouse! That's where she is! Okay, I'm gonna isolate the feed so that no one else can see it!"

"Please do," Belén hurried after her suit.

"Figure out what she's making Julian do," Barry instructed as he went with Belén. The two would certainly need to know to help.

~ 0 ~

Julian worked incredibly fast despite the fear over his shoulders. Caitlin had him searching for acolytes of Alchemy and with a good motivation too. Find someone or be killed. She had already proven that she was willing to follow through by giving a deadly frostbite on his wrist, so...

"I found two individuals that have searched for the name Savitar. Here are both their addresses, both of them in Central City," he stopped working and looked at the woman. He still couldn't believe this was Caitlin Snow, a friend of Belén's who'd gone mad all in a week since the last time he saw her. "What exactly are you gonna do to them?"

"I don't know," Caitlin admitted as she walked a bit to the side. Killer Frost was screaming in her head to do something more fun, to use her powers. But all Caitlin wanted to do was silence her forever. "What am I doing?" She asked as herself. The noise of typing brought the more suspicious Killer Frost out. Julian had attempted - successfully - to send a message to the police. Angrily, she iced his laptop and destroyed it. "What part of "I'll freeze you to death" did you not understand?"

"Stop!" Barry sped in with Belén. Both were stunned to see Caitlin's appearance. It was half her, half Killer Frost.

Exactly what Datura said, Belén remembered.

"Get out of here," Caitlin warned them with one hand raised.

"You know we can't do that," Barry shook his head.

Belén swallowed hard and moved towards the woman but Caitlin brandished a frosty hand. "What are you doing?" Belén whispered in disbelief. "I know the powers are doing this but you have to fight it."

"Take her out. Take her out!" Julian frantically urged behind Barry.

"That's what I'm doing," Caitlin responded as herself, taking Belén by surprise. "I'm not trying to hurt someone—"

"You are wiring to hurt someone!" Julian was the first one to argue. "Knock her out!" he ordered the two known metas.

Barry didn't hesitate to knock him out instead. Belén threw Barry a look for that, eyes sharp with disapproval.

"Priorities," Barry reminded, though his lips did try to form a smile when Belén returned her attention to Caitlin.

"Cait, these powers, we can work with them—"

"I'm doing something about it!" Caitlin snapped at Belén. "I'm finding Alchemy!"

"We will find him. All right? Together," Barry misunderstood her intentions, as did Belén, and hoped to be reassuring.

"No. You don't understand. I don't want to lock him up. I need him to help me," Caitlin frantically argued.

"Help you what?"

"I need him to get rid of my powers!"

Both Belén and Barry paused in their tracks. Belén sighed at the brunette. "Caitlin... I'm not sure Alchemy can deal with...this sort of power," Belén felt sorry to say. She wished it would be that easy.

"You don't know that it doesn't," Caitlin very logically made her point. "I need her to stop talking to me! To stop controlling me!"

"Then let us help," Barry slowly reached out for her. "We all love you, and we will do everything that we can to help you. We've been through too much together to let each other down now."

Caitlin's eyes glimmered blue and silver. "Like you helped your mother?" Her voice vibrated with Killer Frost's. "Or Wally? Or me? You keep messing with everyone's lives, wrecking everything, and we're left behind to pick up the pieces from your mistakes. Some things you break can't be put back together!"

Barry, ashamed, took that with a hang of his head. "I can fix this."

Killer Frost had no mercy. "Oh, like you fixed Cisco's family? You didn't tell Cisco that you screwed him worst of all, did you?" she purposely spoke louder for the audience watching from STAR Labs. "You hear that, Cisco? Dante was alive, healthy and happy, until Barry created Flashpoint. When he reset things, that's what killed him. Barry is the reason your brother is dead."

"Caitlin, stop!" Belén ordered but Killer Frost was not done.

The best thing about accessing Caitlin's mind was getting a full view of her memories. "You're both—" she nodded to Belén and Barry, "—meant for each other, you know. Keeping secrets, it's what you do best. At least Datura was never a hypocrite about it."

Belén's anger was quick to form. "Be quiet!" she hissed, not entirely as herself, and nearly attacked if the police force hadn't arrived.

Before the bullets could reach them, Barry got them across the room towards another exit. "Bells?" he worriedly saw her holding her head again, reminding him of the last time they'd been like this.

Caitlin, on the other hand, saw a golden opportunity. She created an icicle and stabbed Barry on the lower part of his ankle, and smirked at Barry's cry of pain. "That severed your triceps surae. Even with your healing abilities, it'll take four hours to regenerate! Don't follow me!"

"Caitlin—" Belén didn't even move an inch before Caitlin threw another threat.

"Follow me and I'll say everything," Caitlin rushed out of there.

Belén pursed her lips together, guilt settling over her like layers of mountain.

~ 0 ~

Both Veronica and Joe walked into the cortex, Axel in tow behind his grandmother. The two detectives moved directly for the side room where they could see Barry. Axel, in the meantime, stayed behind with Cisco, chatting him up with questions over what was happening but Cisco barely regarded the boy.

"I'm not a good doctor so just...tell me if that hurt?" Belén slowly pulled her hands off the bandage she'd wrapped around Barry's ankle.

"It hurts as much as I deserve probably," Barry mumbled, feeling pain alright but it didn't exactly come from his injuries.

"They took Julian to County General," Veronica informed them both. "Mrs. Andrews is with him which is why I had to bring Axel around." Axel had given up on talking to Cisco and now directed all his questions to Iris.

"He's still out cold. How hard did you hit him?" Joe had to wonder.

"I don't know. I didn't mean to knock him out," Barry swallowed the pain he felt and he moved his legs to one side of the bed.

"Mhm," Belén's sharp eyes made him reevaluate his statement.

"Or maybe I did," he relented and got himself up. Belén rolled her eyes and let him move towards the cortex.

Barry saw Cisco crossing the cortex for the desks, and took his chance at a little explanation. "Cisco. Hey, man, um, what Caitlin said…"

Cisco stopped and sent him an scrutinizing glance. "Was she lying?"

"No. Um…"

Cisco almost rolled his eyes despite tears threatening to break free. "You're sorry? That you killed my brother? 'Cause he was here. He was alive—" he enunciated slowly, one hand jabbing at Barry's shoulder, "—until you created Flashpoint, until you did this!" he shoved the speedster backwards.

Axel scurried from Iris towards his aunt. "Why are they…" he stopped when Belén warned him to stay quiet with a finger over her lips.

"I don't even know how to feel right now. All I know is Caitlin is out there, and we need to find her. Can we do that?" Cisco backed to the desk, not giving much of an alternative. "I hacked Julian's computer. Caitlin had him look up two addresses: 16 Hawthorne Avenue and 1104 Truman Place. She's trying to find the acolytes, I was trying to say."

"What exactly would she want with Alchemy's followers?" Iris wondered out loud.

"Caitlin doesn't want her powers so... she thinks these acolytes can take her to Alchemy who would then take away her powers," Belén explained. It was exactly what Caitlin, in such a state, would attempt to do.

"We heard," Cisco muttered from the computers.

"Well, two acolytes, two addresses. Which one's she gonna hit first?" Veronica inquired, but knew there was no certain answer.

"We got to watch both," Barry decided. He was shot down before he even took a step towards his suit.

"You're gonna stay here. You can barely walk," Joe pointed him to the chair.

"We can take care of Hawthorne," Belén moved over to Cisco.

"I'll take Truman," Veronica volunteered.

"I care about Caitlin, but I don't want to leave Wally," Joe admitted.

"Dad, Barry and I will stay with Wally," Iris offered instead. "You go with Detective Greene."

"Alright," Joe sighed and moved with Veronica.

Belén started for her suit in the meantime.

"Cisco, if you find her…" Barry trailed off when Cisco directed a cold glare on him.

"I won't call you. You've done enough," Cisco mumbled and went on his way.

Belén came back but before she even called for Cisco, Barry motioned her to stop. "Just be careful," he told her and limped his way to Wally's room.

"Look after him, please?" Belén asked Iris quietly. Iris assured she would, allowing Belén to go on in a relative peace.

~0~

"The acolyte's on the second floor," Veronica settled her eyes on the apartment across them. She picked up her coffee cup then offered the second one to Joe. He shook his head and simply stated ahead. "I understand how you feel about Wally but he's going to be okay."

Joe's face said something else. "How would you know?"

"I think logically," Veronica shrugged. "If they wanted him dead, then that would've happened yesterday."

The manner in which she said it was so...carefree. There really was no trace of concern in her. "How do you do that?" Joe asked incredulously.

Veronica gave a small smile. "You're forgetting my own children have been affected. My eldest is in prison for murder and theft, my son is dead and my youngest...just won't stop fighting. After a while, you catch on that no matter how many times you attempt to stop them... they won't."

"So, what? I'm just supposed to let them do what they want even when my gut tells me something's off?"

"No. You use that intuition to help them. At the end of the day they're young and don't have the same experience that we do. That's why they need us," Veronica said with the utmost certainty. She exchanged a smile with Joe after. "So next time, just follow your intuition."

~0~

The first acolyte had been signaled out as the one chosen by Caitlin. She was sneaky like Killer Frost, but cautious like Caitlin as she waited for the acolyte, named Craig apparently, to come out of his bedroom. Just as the he went for the temperature controller, she let the hiss of her ice scare him into turning around.

"Both of my parents are doctors. It's all I ever wanted to be. Growing up, I used to practice the Hippocratic Oath. I was obsessed with it," she started moving towards the nab who only plastered himself against the wall. "If anyone was even gonna step on a bug, I would say, 'Do no harm'. It's built into my DNA." She raised a finger at him, letting ice encapsulate around it to create a perfect icicle. "Unfortunately, my DNA isn't what it used to be. So, believe me when I say answer every one of my questions, or I will harm you and your family." This left the acolyte with no choice. "Who is Alchemy?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him without the mask!"

"I know he can give people powers. Can he take them away?"

"Yes. But you can't make Alchemy do anything. He's just an acolyte, like me," the man admitted, his eyes constantly flickering to the icicle threatening to claw his eyes out. "We both serve the speed god, Savitar. He's shown us the future. I saw you there." Caitlin's eyes turned back to their regular color, even the icicle disappearing from her finger. "You were glorious and powerful. My lord has special plans for you. He will come to you and speak to you. The honor of that is..." his laughter only brought out Caitlin's fear even more. "He will call you...the Bringer. After all, only you, Caitlin Snow, can bring Her."

Caitlin backtracked, her eyes going back and forth between blue and brown. She was terrified. She needed to leave - now! She hurried out of the house, but by the time she managed to get out, Killer Frost was surfacing again. The light rain made for an eventful night, at least that's what Killer Frost kept saying in the head.

"Caitlin!" Cisco's voice stopped her across the road.

She smirked at him. "Really? You brought your toys?" she nodded to his goggled which he had yet to put on.

Cisco's hand gripped around hid goggles. "I'm hoping it won't come to that."

Caitlin raised her icy hands. "It won't."

"Look, I'm not leaving you out here. I want to help you."

"There's only one person who can help me."

"Really? You really think seeking medical advice from someone named Dr. Alchemy is the way to go?"

"Why not? My name is Killer Frost," Caitlin threatened to shoot frost from her hands.

Cisco moved a step forwards. "Your name... is Caitlin Snow.

"Can Caitlin Snow do this?" Caitlin's eyes glowed stronger. Killer Frost commanded her to start firing, and so she did. Icicles stormed towards Cisco and since he couldn't bring himself to attack yet, he ran for cover behind a tree.

Caitlin pulled back a hand to fire stronger but a vine latched onto her wrist, preventing her from moving it. Belén stood behind her, very much in the same cautious state as Cisco. "Caitlin, please!"

"My name is Killer Frost!" Ice zoomed up Belén's wrapped vine, forcing her to let it go before it reached her. Caitlin then whirled around and blasted a powerful mass of frost at the other woman. "Why fight me? We could be a killer team, you know."

Belén motioned Caitlin to calm down. "Caitlin, I know it's hard. The voice is strong but you are stronger. Don't let her control you."

"I'm doing fine, thanks! Can't say the same for you!" Caitlin swung icicles like boomerangs at Belén, forcing the meta to fight back. She moved forwards as her poison swished forwards along with pieces of vines trying to trap Caitlin but it wasn't enough to keep her down. The frosty meta engaged Belén in hand combat.

"Belén! Move!" Cisco put on his goggles, figuring that the best thing would be to bring Caitlin back to STAR Labs...and for that she needed everyone to help.

"I can't!" Belén was in the middle of dodging Caitlin who was probably drawing on Killer Frost's combat skills.

"Unleash those powers," Killer Frost taunted in-between punches. "You know they're itching to play!"

She's right. Let us out! Belén heard the voices begin to scream. With that distraction, Killer Frost backhanded her to the ground.

"Come on out!" she practically demanded, going as far as putting a boot over Belén's back.

Belén screwed her eyes shut but this time the voices weren't going away. They were doing the same thing Killer Frost said to. They wanted to come out.

Caitlin was drawn back by the noises of a zip. She caught Barry's light as he charged towards them. She froze the roadside and watched as the speedster slipped over and rolled on the ground. She walked over to him, glaring down. "How's the leg?"

Barry hated her sense of humor at the moment. He saw her boots from the corner of his eyes and retaliated in the simplest way. He swiped his arm across her legs and knocked her down beside him.

"I'm sorry, Caitlin," he heard her groans beside him and truly felt bad for her. Everything she said was right. It was his fault.

"That was cold, Flash," she gave him his due. "But this is colder." She jumped to her next move and straddled him, planting her lips over his for a frosty kiss.

Cisco knew it was time to act no matter his feelings. He could practically see Barry's blue face thanks to Caitlin. Belén was still on the ground once again raging at herself to 'stop' ... again. Cisco put on his goggles and struck Caitlin with a vibe energy that knocked her over a car. Cisco then came running forwards.

"Start vibrating. It'll warm you up," he left that advice for Barry on the ground.

Caitlin was just attempting to get up when she felt a hand curl around her ankle. "Oh let go you pathetic plant girl," she hissed with a raging icy hand.

"You wanted me out? Now I'm out," Belén had an unusual glare on her face, her eyes glimmering colors.

"Bells, just hold her!" Cisco ran up to them with the intention of knocking Caitlin out.

"I've got a better idea," Belén smirked. Heat erupted from her free hand and sent Cisco back against the same car that Caitlin had rolled over.

Start killing! Get them all out! Let us be free! The voices chanted in unison. Belén felt herself slowly lose against them. She didn't want to be like Caitlin, she wanted to control them...but she was so tired. The stronger they got, the less pain Belén felt, the less stress and ache.

"Well, you came out to play," Caitlin as Killer Frost looked down at Belén with a smug face.

Belén held her head in pain. "Leave me alone, Frost!"

Caitlin circled the woman, taunting her to come out and match her powers. "We could have some fun, can't you see? I hadn't thought about it before but, after all you were the one who wanted me to come out with Caitlin."

"I SAID STOP!" Belén screamed and whirled around to deliver a punch across Caitlin's face. She raised her hands above her head and let white energy blink into existence around them.

"Belén?"

Belén lowered her arms but kept the moon energy stirring between her hands as she turned to face Barry. He was stunned to find Cisco outcold over a car, Caitlin pretty much under the same state on the ground and... Belén being the cause of it. Her white eyes made him fear that perhaps Killer Frost wasn't the only one who was affected by the siphoning device. Had he done that to her as well?

"Shoot," Belén commanded, but as herself trying to regain control. The power around her hands struggled to keep itself going. "I don't want…" her white eyes flickered to Caitlin, "...I don't want to be...like her...knock me out!"

Barry couldn't believe his ears. Belén stumbled towards him, begging him to do what she asked. "But Belén—"

"KNOCK ME OUT!" she screamed at Barry, eyes flickering to gold. The sight terrified him. "DO IT!"

Barry shut his eyes and absolutely hated himself. He streaked forwards and knocked Belén down as cautious as possible. A smack would be enough, he hoped.

~0~

The next time Caitlin awoke, she found herself inside the pipeline with the group, save Belén, staring at her from the other side with sympathy. "Phew, guess I just needed a little sleep. Thanks, guys. I'm feeling much better now. It's okay. You can let me out. I promise I'm not gonna hurt anybody." Her eyes blue eyes scanned the group to see if anyone faltered, but they knew better. "Hmm. Guess you're all smarter than I thought. You know, that was some blast there, Vibe boy. It kind of hurt."

Cisco's eyes were still glossy with tears. He couldn't believe this is what they were reduced to in the end. "I didn't want to hurt you."

Caitlin's face contorted to disgust. "You're pathetic."

"Alchemy can't help you. But we can. I promise," Barry couldn't stop staring at her, hoping that she would come out of her trance.

Caitlin scoffed. "Oh, like you promised Eddie? And like you promised Ronnie? You know, for a hero, Flash, you sure let a lot of people around you die."

"This isn't you talking. It's the powers. They're messing with your mind. You're sick—"

"Killer Frost might be in my head but Caitlin is broken, Barry. And that's all your fault," Caitlin tapped her finger against the wall. A smug smile spread across her face, almost threatening to laugh. "But this time around, justice came through. You're not getting away with a happy ending this time. You hurt the person you supposedly love most. Belén? She's going to become just like me and then we'll take this city together."

Barry swallowed hard, the guilt he felt once now too hard to push with words of comfort. "We're not letting this happen…" He reached for the controller's to close the pipeline up.

"You did this to me!" Caitlin raged from the inside just before she was lost behind the pipeline.

"Do you have any idea how we can reverse this?" Barry turned to Cisco, hoping for anything at this point. "How we can get her back?"

Cisco refused to look at him. "It's like Caitlin said: sometimes when things get broken, they can't be fixed."

~0~

Belén sat at the edge of the medical bed with her head held low in shame. She couldn't stop staring at the meta dampener cuffs adorning her wrists. Cisco must have put them on her after being taken back to STAR Labs. The voices were dead silent in her head. It was as if everything was normal again.

Except she wasn't. She was far from it.

The sound of footsteps rose her head. She was mortified to see her friends and mother staring at her with...pity. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head over her knees.

"I'm sorry," she said, not that it mattered. She had punched her friend and thrown the other over a car. One apology made no difference.

Barry asked with a pleading look to let him talk to her first.

"Do not let her become like Caitlin," Veronica warned with the same hostility she once showed him when they first met. She was angry. Hell angry.

Barry cleared his throat and walked into the side room once the others had gone. "This was it, wasn't it? The thing that you were hiding? It was about this and Caitlin."

"I could never say anything about Caitlin. It wasn't my secret to tell," she rose her head once more. "And I just didn't want you to think it was your fault."

"But it is," Barry said grimly, "This is all my fault. In the other timeline, this didn't happen to you. It didn't happen to Caitlin either."

"It does no good to think about that anymore," Belén said, letting out a heavy sigh, "You can't change it anymore. If I could, I would have tried to fix this on my own."

"But you shouldn't have to," Barry said, coming over to sit down on the bed with her, "This is my fault so please let me help to fix this. We're a team, right? You and I, we're partners above everything and everyone else. Please, trust in me that I will fix this."

"There's not much to work with," Belén said, "The voices are just getting stronger now."

"These voices... there's more than one?"

Belén nodded. "There's three. One who controls earth, the other controls the moon elements and the other has heat abilities. They're some of the victims Datura siphoned and killed. They're mad and they want to be free. Datura said that it's only a matter of time until I lose it. She was right about Caitlin, so…"

"Datura?" Barry raised an eyebrow at her. "You've been speaking to that woman?"

"Yeah, she called me one day because apparently she can now see the future sometimes. I visited her too," Belén said, deciding it was best to put it all out there now that the truth was out. "We, uh, we made a deal. She said she'll help and in return, she'll get Frost's power back. But being honest...I don't think she'll be able to reverse it. And I certainly don't want to wear these," she raised her cuffed hands. "If I have to live with these powers, then I want to control them. I don't want to hide them."

Barry ultimately knew she wanted the cuffs off. He could already hear Veronica shouting that it wasn't the safest thing but...he had already messed up by creating this situation. The least he could do was give Belén her choice. It was all he had. He reached over and unlocked the cuffs. Cisco had placed a password on it just in case Belén switched personalities again. Belén was a bit awed that he was listening so easily. Anyone else would've told her absolutely not.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you, but I swear I will do anything and everything I can to help you," Barry promised her. "Just please don't feel like you need to be sorry. This isn't on you."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't exactly help to hear you continually blame yourself. There's nothing you can do by that," she leaned her head against his arm.

"I should have just followed you inside the house," Barry deeply regretted that night he changed the timelines. He had everything and he didn't see it. It would probably be his biggest regret.

"But you didn't, and that's the fact. I'm sorry you feel this way but...there is nothing you can do to change it. There is no fixing. We are not projects," she shifted her head to look up at him. "We are your friends and we need you."

Barry wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "I've been the villain of this story, Bells."

"Change the course," Belén said, resting her head on his shoulder.

Their moment was cut short when the lights mysteriously malfunctioned in the building. The only possible source of power had to be from Wally. The two metas hurriedly rushed towards Wally's room and found Joe in the middle of breaking Wally out of his cocoon.

"Joe! Hey! What are you doing?" Barry frantically urged him to stop but Joe had already made the decision long before. "You can't cut him!"

"I have to!" Joe argued back. He didn't want Joe to follow in Caitlin's footsteps, nor Belén's. With the help of a power saw, the cocoon was opened in half but along with it came an odd noise.

Barry figured what it was and sped the others away from the cocoon just as an energy exploded from it. Smoke filled the room over the tipped over furniture. There was only s familiar vibrating noise heard and it wasn't from Barry.

Wally stood in the middle of the room, his entire body vibrating. His gaze slowly went around the room but he never made a noise. Then, just like that, he zipped out of the room.

The group quickly intended on finding him, as well as seeing what exactly the cocoon made him.

"No sign of Wally. I've got the satellite scanning the entire city for rapid movement," Cisco called from the desk.

"If he's a speedster, he could be halfway across the country by now," Iris remarked, still unable to believe what they'd seen mere minutes ago.

"Barry, we have to find him," Joe felt the urgency of a parent but also knew it was his fault. He had only wanted to help his son before something bad happened.

"I'm more worried about what happens when we do find him," Barry admitted. "He didn't seem like he was all there."

"I shouldn't have cut him out of that thing," Joe put his hands over his head.

"If we have no way of knowing what effects Wally did under...should we really try to find him first?" Belén asked. "We need to be smart about this and the only one who could possibly know is…"

"Caitlin," Barry exhaled. "We need a biochemist."

"And how do we break her out of...whatever is in her?" Veronica inquired, accusing eyes landing on her daughter. She had spotted the clean wrists.

Belén sucked in a breath and walked to the desk. "Killer Frost from Earth 2 expects us to fix Caitlin by erasing the powers, her mind. If we want Caitlin back, then we need to remind her who she is."

"Remind her who she is? I think I can do that," Barry decided to play one last card and headed for the pipeline.

Veronica quickly took her daughter by the wrist to the side. "What the hell are you doing? Where are the cuffs?"

"I'm not wearing them," Belén pushed her mother's hands off and returned to the desk.

"I knew we shouldn't have given Barry the password," the woman came after her.

"Mom, you can't just lock them up! I mean, that's exactly what Caitlin tried to do and look where she is right now?" Belén turned to Cisco with the most sincere face possible. "Cisco, I swear I am so sorry that I threw you over a car! I'm sorry that I lied to everyone but you cannot force me to shut my powers away!" she shouted. "Like I said to Barry I am not a project to fix!"

Get them. Make them fear you, Belén closed her eyes and leaned on the desk. The others exchanged cautious glances.

~0~

Caitlin was smug when Barry reopened her prison. It was going to be difficult convincing her but Barry was not planning on stopping.

"We need your help, Caitlin. Wally... he's... he's out of the cocoon, but his biochemistry is all out of whack. He went AWOL."

Caitlin casually leaned against the back wall of the pod. Her lips formed a mock pout. "So?"

"So, when we find him, he's gonna need your help. He's gonna need your medical expertise, your experience with metas. What he needs is Caitlin Snow, MD."

Caitlin gave a mocking laugh. "So, you came to try and talk some sense into me."

"No. I came to let you go," Barry moved to the controls again and opened up the pod.

Caitlin waited a second fir any trick he might be holding back on. Barry just stood there waiting for her. She mocked him and walked out. "For a smart guy, that was an awfully dumb move."

"Like I said, you're free to go."

"What's the catch?"

"You have to kill me," Barry answered in a matter of fact tone.

From the cortex, Iris was deadlocked on the plan, thinking it stupid. "What is he doing!?"

"He's bringing Caitlin back," Belén shushed her, she and Cisco being the only ones not as worried. She had faith that their friend was still there, and if Barry really wanted to help them then he needed to be the one to take the leap. He was faster; he could move if he needed to.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at Barry and moved up to him. He didn't move an inch. "You want to fight, Flash?"

"No. I'm not gonna fight you," Barry continued with his nonchalantness. "But if you want to leave this room, you're gonna have to kill me."

"Don't think I won't," Caitlin warned, Killer Frost lacing every word spoken.

"Then do it."

Caitlin turned her palm over and created one lone icicle.

Barry braced himself and didn't move an inch. Caitlin, for some reason, only raised the icicle to his chest. "What are you waiting for? What's the big deal? Come on! Live up to your name, Killer Frost. I want to see some killing!" he grabbed onto her wrist holding the icicle and yanked her forwards. "You want to be the villain? This is what they do. They kill their friends, because nothing matters to them anymore, right?"

Caitlin seemed to struggle to push the icicle. Killer Frost raged to do it already so they could go. I can't, Caitlin was the one to think. She's not in control.

"Kill me, Caitlin!" Barry practically ordered to the still woman. "You can't do it. You can't, because underneath all that cold, you're still you."

Caitlin released a shaky breath, Killer Frost's rage was being sealed away at least for the time being. She was not a killer. Killer Frost could not make her become that. Absolutely not.

The blue in her eyes faded away and were replaced by tears. She dropped the icicle in her hand and broke into sobs. "Barry!"

Barry hugged her with no hard feelings. "It's okay. I got you. It's okay." He held her tight and sighed of relief to have her back with them.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin felt a huge relief having the meta-dampeners back on her wrists. Her mind was clear again, there was just her and only her. It left her entirely focused on Wally's current state, the latter still unfound. She'd taken a couple of bits left over by the cocoon to see where exactly Wally's structure was at the moment. And because of it, she was able to form an injection that might help him.

"I think extracting Wally early from that cocoon left him in a fugue state. His synapses aren't used to functioning at super-speed, so his mind and muscles are misfiring," she stopped by Barry with the serum ready to go.

"I mean, will this stuff help?" Joe eyed the serum with weariness.

"I've synthesized a neural compound that I think will get his mind and body running at the same speed. We just have to find him first."

"Well, computers aren't doing a damn thing," Cisco muttered from his spot at the desk. He rubbed his face then dropped his hands and turned to the group. "I don't know what else to do."

"But maybe Joe does," Veronica gave the man a glance, knowingly smiling. "Father's know best. "What's your intuition saying?"

Joe had to smile, but didn't disregard her attempt that fast. He got to wondering if perhaps Wally wasn't lost. What if he had just...gotten nostalgic in that state he was in? When nothing made sense, what kept him together?

"The house that he grew up in," he said before he could even solidify the thought. "He used to go there when he missed his mother. In Keystone."

"Let's go," Barry got ahold of him and left together.

As soon as they were gone, Caitlin moved towards Cisco and Belén with that face that spelled utter guilt. "I, uh... I just wanted to…"

"It's okay," Cisco got up from his desk and hugged her tight. "You scared me for a second, getting all Mother of Dragons on me with that hair."

Caitlin managed to chuckle but she was still feeling pretty bad in regards to Belén. "I shouldn't have said anything, b-but I...I wasn't…"

"You don't need to explain anything to me, Cait, I know exactly what that feels like," Belén raised her hands. "I guess they had to know sometime…"

"Still freaked us out…" Iris was heard mumbling from her spot. "I nearly went reporter on you two earlier."

"I know," Belén mocked a putout face. "But it's a scary thing, and that's why we kept quiet. But rest assure—" she placed a hand on Caitlin's arm, "—that we will find a way to help you. Datura said she wanted her power back, so...she's on board."

"Woah, woah, we're letting psycho-Belén help us now?" Cisco went wide-eyed at the news, something that both Iris and Veronica shared.

"You can't be serious," Veronica shook her head. "Tell me you're not serious."

"Who's psycho-Belén?" Axel looked up from the tablet he'd gotten from home.

"No one, go back to your games," Veronica shushed him with a pointed finger.

"It's okay, we're on the same boat - believe it or not - so she's helping," Belén made it clear this was something that had already been decided.

"But did she ask for something in return besides her power?" Caitlin had to wonder. Datura, while Belén, was still dangerously ambitious.

Belén cleared her throat and shook her head. "Nope, just Frosty back." There was no point in telling Caitlin that she would also have to give up her powers to Datura as well. Caitlin felt terrible enough.

That would just remain her little secret till the end.

~ 0 ~

"Oh, so she got back to normal?" Belén rolled her eyes at her doppelganger's disappointment of Caitlin triumphing over Killer Frost.

"Please, don't try to hide your goodness…" Belén sat down on the edge of her bed and glared at Datura on her phone screen.

"Can't hide what I never had," Datura snorted and put a finger to her chin. "Though I do have to express my disappointment of getting this prediction wrong."

"What prediction?"

"I saw Killer Frost in all her frosty glory," Datura shared the vision she'd gotten that day, earlier, but nonetheless about Killer Frost.

"So your psychic abilities aren't always correct, then?"

"Well of course not, the future is never written in stone."

"So...right now, what do you see about...me?"

"Ooh, scared are we?" Datura was quick taunt before laughing. Belén hated her, she really did, because it was fear that was constantly coursing through her. Datura leaned closer to the screen. "I see nothing."

"I know you see something you—"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Dream about that," the doppelganger spat and ended the video chat.

Belén growled and tossed her phone over her shoulder. She buried her face in her hands and thought about the possibilities if she did not learn to control these powers. She already made it clear to her friends that suppressing them was not an option for her - it never would be.

When she heard the front door unlocking, she quickly jumped up from the bed and ran up to the mirror. She didn't want to look so distressed when they had oh-so many problems as it was.

"Yikes," she whispered at her reflection. She combed through her hair with her fingers and walked out of the room to see how Barry did with...getting Julian not to say a word about Caitlin. She offered to go herself but Barry decided that he needed to, because it was part of him owning up to his mistakes. Barry had a somber face until he saw Belén coming out of the hallway. "So, how did it go?" she leaned against the hallway threshold. "Is he going to tell? Do you need me to try?"

How could Barry tell her that one of her closest friends had forced him to quit his job so that Caitlin could avoid jail? He couldn't. At least not tonight when Belén was already looking far too tired to deal with something else. "He's not going to say anything," he informed her with a the tiniest of smiles.

A big relief washed over Belén, even making her laugh towards the end. "Oh my God that is so good to hear!" she walked over and hugged him tight, swaying them a bit.

"Yeah," Barry rubbed her back and rested his chin over her head. Keeping his sudden departure from his job wasn't going to last a day, probably not even a week, but for tonight he would like to give Belén a moment of peace.

After everything, she deserved that much.

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #the flash fics #barry allen fics #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #barry allen x oc #arrowverse fics #arrowverse imagines #the flash x oc #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #oc: the azalea #fic: make you stay

[astarionposting]

“You and I are made of fire. We were always meant to burn together." 

extraaaa

also im gonna try to recreate the wedding scene with this kiss lol... but im gonna need bloody mouths and i have find the right scenery

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #astarion posting #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #bg3 gif #bg3 gifs #astarion gif #astarion x tav #astarion romance #cw nsft #kinda #flashing lights #tw flickering #flickering gif #just in case #oc: freyja baratheon / se timpa velkrys #bg3 spoilers #Spotify

[periswirl]

If I were hypothetically writing a fic where Bruce was Danny's (long lost) son and I hypothetically wanted to make another character Jazz's kid (I'm thinking one of his rogues he's at least friendly with or a JL member) who is a good fit. Hypothetically.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dcxdp #my post #I was thinking Harley but that may be too on the nose #a green lantern or a flash might be fun for the sheer irritation but im not super familiar with their lore #not enough to play in it at least #It just feels weird if Bruce doesnt have any cousins and Dani doesnt strike me as the type to settle enough for kids and i dont want an OC😅 #any cousins from Danny's side at least. i adore Kate

[weaselmcdiesel]

for context my friend is going to a doja cat concert without me

we think a lot about our god tier sonas ok

#sorry our text colors are kinda hard to read against the gray X( #my art #homestuck #ocs #homestuck ocs #homestuck oc #fankid #fankids #theyre our sonas but yknow whatever #my color should technically be orange but whateverrrrrrrr #flashing #just in case

[earthtoharlow]

Flashing Lights

20. Hate The Club

Jack Harlow x Singer!OC

series masterlist

“Ok I found her.” Maryse and Doja turned their attention away from the movie and looked at Saweetie who was scrolling on her phone.

“Found who?” Doja questioned.

“The bitch who Jack kissed!” Saweetie exclaimed.

All Maryse could do was sigh, and turn back to the movie they were watching. Jack had been blowing up her phone for days now, and they were left unanswered. She didn’t want to hear the excuses.

Right now, she could hardly muster up the energy to care. Her heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces, and the thought of confronting the other girl seemed insignificant in comparison to the pain she was experiencing.

“I don’t care,” Maryse murmured, her voice barely above a whisper as she shook her head wearily. “It doesn’t matter.”

Doja & Saweetie looked at each other in concern. They were worried about their friend. They’ve been with Maryse everyday for the past couple days and haven't seen her cry once. It was concerning.

As Maryse sat in the quiet solitude of her thoughts, she found herself replaying the moment she saw Jack kiss another girl over and over again. Each iteration brings with it a fresh wave of anguish and despair.

She couldn’t shake the feeling of disbelief, the nagging sense that somehow, she had been blindsided by the very person she had trusted with her heart.

Fueled by a mix of frustration and anger, Maryse turned to her friends with a determined glint in her eyes. “Hey, do you guys want to hit up the club tonight?” she asked, her voice tinged with defiance. “I need to blow off some steam.”

Doja & Saweetie exchanged surprised glances, taken aback by Maryse’s sudden change in demeanor. After all, Christmas was just around the corner, and most people were gearing up for festive celebrations with family and loved ones. But Maryse couldn’t bring herself to care about holiday cheer—not when her heart felt like it had been shattered into a million irreparable pieces.

Without waiting for their response, Maryse pushed herself to her feet, restless energy coursing through her. She needed to escape the suffocating weight of her memories, to lose herself in the music and drinks, if only for a few fleeting hours.

“I don’t think that’s a great idea…” Saweetie said with worry. Doja nodded in agreement and added “yeah, why don’t we just stay here and finish watching some movies?”

Maryse knew they were right deep down. Drowning in her sorrows at some club was hardly the solution to her problems but in the moment she couldn’t bare to face the truth, couldn’t bring herself to confront the raw pain that was consuming her.

“I just need to get out of my own head for a little while,” Maryse eventually replied, her voice tinged with defiance. “I can’t stay cooped up in here, wallowing in self-pity. I need to feel alive again, I need to forget.”

Doja and Saweetie nodded sympathetically, understanding where their friend was coming from. While Saweetie helps Maryse pick out an outfit, Doja pulls out her phone and hurries to text Urban.

“Hey, we’re going to the club with Maryse and she’s really hurting right now,” the message read, the words flashing across the screen in rapid pace. “We need to get her and Jack back together. Can you talk to him and convince him to come?”

***

Urban looks down at his phone, Doja’s message burning a hole through his phone. He knew that convincing Jack to leave the house would be hard but he knew he had to at least try.

Taking a deep breath, Urban pressed his ear against the door trying to see if he could hear him in the room. He then raised his hand and rapped gently on the wood, the sound echoing through the hallway.

“Hey, man,” Urban began, voice muffled by the barrier between them. “I know you’re going through a tough time right now, but I think it might do you some good to get out of the house for a bit.”

There was a moment of silence, during which Urban held his breath, waiting for a response. Then, to his relief, he heard the click of the door unlocking, followed by the creak of hinges as it swung open.

Jack stood on the other side, his expression guarded as he regarded his friend with wary eyes.

“Maryse will be there.” Urban told him gently, he could see Jack’s eyes light up slightly at the mention of Maryse.

“Okay,” Jack said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll come.”

Urban sighed in relief, and offered Jack a small smile, silently hoping that tonight would go well.

***

Maryse plastered a fake smile on her face as she navigated through the crowded club. Everyone at the club looked like they were having a good time but she still felt a hollow emptiness gnawing at her insides.

She had convinced herself that a night out with her friends was just what she needed to forget about the breakup, to drown out the echoes of heartache that haunted her every waking moment. But as the minutes stretched into hours, Maryse found herself growing increasingly weary of the charade.

All she wanted to do was go home, to escape the suffocating weight of her emotions, but she knew that she had to fight through the pain, and pretend that everything was fine.

As Maryse approached the bar to order another drink, her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Jack walking through the door with Urban. Anger flared within her, hot and fierce, as she realized that her friends must have been the ones to tell him where she was.

Maryse stormed over to where Doja and Saweetie were gathered, her steps heavy with anger and frustration. As she reached them, her words tumbled out in a rush, fueled by a potent mix of hurt and betrayal.

“How could you do this to me?” she spat, her voice laced with venom. “I trusted you, and you went behind my back and told him where I was. I thought you were supposed to be my friends.”

They recoiled at her accusations, their faces a mask of shock and guilt. But Maryse was too consumed by her anger to notice, too blinded by her pain to see the hurt she was causing.

Jack, seeing all the commotion, approached the group with a look of concern in his eyes. He reached out to touch Maryse arm, his voice soft and soothing as he tried to calm her down.

“M, please.”

Maryse, desperate to push him away, pulled away from Jack’s touch and turned her attention to the nearest guy on the dance floor. She threw herself into the strangers arms, and flirted with him shamelessly.

Jack watched in distress as she danced with the stranger. He knew that she was only doing it to hurt him, to make him jealous, but it still stung to see her with someone else.

Despite feeling discouraged, he ignored the looks from his friends and went to the dark corner of the club, where he still had a good view of Maryse. She didn’t want to be around him but he still cared and worried about her. He was going to stay and make sure she didn’t go home with anyone.

It seemed like hours before it looked like Maryse was ready to go home. He noticed she was stumbling and looking around frantically, looking for someone. She finally caught his eye, and started walking towards him.

Maryse’s vision was clouded by tears and confusion. She reached out for him, her fingers grasping desperately at his shirt.

“Jackman please,” she slurred, her words thick with emotion. “I can’t do this anymore. Take me home, please.”

Jack’s heart ached in his chest at the sight of Maryse’s tear-stained face, his own eyes brimming with unshed tears. Without hesitation, he gathered Maryse into his arms, holding her close.

“I’ve got you. Let’s get you home.” And with that, he carried her out of the club.

As they settled into the car, Maryse was still crying in the passenger seat. She turned to Jack, her face flushed with emotion.

“Why did you kiss that girl?” she choked out, her voice trembling with hurt.

Jack felt a pang of guilt tug at his heart knowing that this wasn’t the right time or place for such conversation. But he also knew that he couldn’t lie to Maryse, not when her heart was breaking before his eyes.

“I didn’t kiss her,” he said softly, his voice filled with regret. “I’m so sorry, Maryse. I never meant to hurt you. I love you more than anything in this world.”

Maryse stayed silent and leaned her head out the window. Jack just sighed and continued driving.

When they finally made it to her apartment, Jack helped Maryse as she stumbled up the steps. When they finally get inside, Jack goes to the bathroom to grab her makeup’s wipes.

He helps Maryse change into her pajamas. Jack gently wipes the makeup off her face, knowing that she would be upset in the morning if she slept in it. Jack’s heart ached at the sight of her tear-stained face, the pain etched in every line and curve. “Can you stay with me tonight? And leave in the morning before I wake up? I don’t want to be alone.” Maryse softly.

“I’ve got you,” Jack murmured softly, his voice calming her. “I’ll take care of you, Maryse. I’ll always be here for you.”

Tears still streaming down her cheeks, Maryse nodded slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you, Jack.” she murmured, her words choked with emotion. “I just… I don’t know how to make this go away. I want to trust you again, but I can’t stop thinking about… about her.”

Maryse squeezed his hand tightly, seeking comfort. “But I miss you.” she admitted, her voice trembling. “I miss having you next to me at night, feeling your arms around me. And if you asked me to move in with you again, I would say yes this time, without hesitation.”

Her words hung heavy in the air. Jack knew that he had hurt her deeply even though it was a whole misunderstanding and that there were no words he could say to erase the pain.

“I’ll stay with you tonight, M. But in the morning, if that’s what you want, I’ll leave. I’ll give you all the space you need.”

Jack then tucked her into bed, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, his lips lingering against her skin. Maryse was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Jack remained awake, his thoughts consumed by the weight of the impending dawn. He knew that when morning came, he would have to honor Maryse's wishes and leave her, despite the ache in his heart.

As he watched her sleep, Jack couldn’t bear the thought of saying goodbye, or walking away from the woman he loved more than life itself.

The light shined through the window Maryse stirred from her sleep, her heart heavy with the weight of the night’s events. With a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes, the memories of the previous evening flooding back with painful clarity.

Turning over, she reached out for Jack, her hand grasping at the empty space where he should have been. Reality crashed down upon her like a wave, and with a choked sob, tears spilled from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks.

Maryse longed for Jack’s warm embrace, but she knew that he was gone, just as she had asked.

***

an: this hurt so much ngl 😢 consider this chapter a season finale!! The next part of this series will be called Don’t Like the Lights and it’ll have a tiny time jump to the Grammys to when CHTKMY and Maryse’s debut album is nominated 🫢!! We finally made it to 2023 y’all 🫶🫶🫶🫶 as always let me know your thoughts or yell at me either is fine 😭

Tag List

(message me if you'd like to be added or removed)

@heavyhitterheaux @hoodharlow @neon-lights-and-glitter @babiefries @jackmans-poison @dstark-0706 @harlowsbby @itsyagirljaz z @leftapricotprofessorlover @toocriticalharlow @minkookie95 @harlowcomehome @jackharloww @jaydaaasworld @kkrenae @hufflewhore128 @w1ldthoughts @jackiehollanderr @katiaw2 @halfmoondaze @babybardi2 @daphnescorner @angelluv444

#jack harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x y/n #jack harlow reader #jack harlow x oc #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow angst #jack harlow fanfic #flashing lights

[leopardmuffinxo]

you give me peace in a lifetime of war

#mass effect legendary edition #mass effect 3 #garrus vakarian #my oc: devynn shepard #my oc: devynn x garrus #garrus x shepard #garrus x femshep #shakarian #my ME:LE edits #userarklay #usermorvaris #userwolfkissed #userophe #userrivensbane #miyku #cw: flashing

[scatteredoverflorida]

SO the idea is y/n is a vigilante in gotham working along side batman and family. after a bad falling out with her boyfriend Jason/red hood she leaves for central city to crash with her friend cisco. after months of laying low and trying to live a civilian life, she breaks and goes out to patrol central city, just for old times sake. While sulking around an old warehouse she is attacked by a bat, like the animal... in the panic she gets bitten. absolutely enraged by the irony and stupidity of it all she heads home but once there she starts to feel sick, figuring its an easy enough injury to explain she goes to the hospital to check for infection. on her way there a terrible tragedy strikes, a huge blast is set off and she is hit by the wave on her way to her car. the bat dna mutates with hers and she wakes up with the overwhemling power of echolocation and advanced reflexes. because of this cisco decides to run tests on her alongside the unconscious barry allen. in the middle of having to navigate this new power y/n is faced with mutated villains, alternate universes, and worst of all still being in love with her ex...

would anyone read this??? if i wrote it would you read it??

#jason todd #batfam #batman #jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x oc #dc comics #the flash #barry allen #my writing #fanfic #i need to rewatch the cw flash guys :/

[collectivelyacoward]

Doodles from today!!

I'M REALLY PROUD OF THE ONE I MADE OF HAL LIKE- HOLY SMOKES..

Anywho.. hope you are having a good day :3

#oc #original character #doodles #shitpost #hal jordan #dc green lantern #green lantern dc #green lantern #flash #the flash #flash dc #dc flash #green lantern x flash #flash x green lantern #batman #dc #batman x superman #superbats #clark kent #superman #superman dc #dc batman #dc universe #dc superman #batman dc #halbarry

[samstersv]

SUPER-BOYFRIEND; wally west

•wally brings his girlfriend to meet his superhero friends

“are you sure they’re gonna like me wally?” i undid my hair for the hundredth time.

wally smiled from behind me. he took the hair tie from my fingers and with his soft fingers he tied it up himself. “they’ll love you baby.” he leant his head down and kissed the nape of my neck “you look beautiful. now let’s get going okay?”

i nodded and let wally put his arm tightly around my waist. i prepared for him to speed away, knowing i usually get nauseous on the long trips.

-

i felt my heels click on the ground as wally placed me down. we automatically intertwined our fingers as we stared at the group of heroes in front of us. wally brought up our connected hands and kissed my knuckles “you ready babe?” he asked.

i tried to show some confidence as i nodded. “oh there’s wally!” i heard a voice cherp. the girl speaking had freckles and reddish-brown hair. from wally’s stories and photos i’ve seen, i was aware that was megan aka miss martian.

“i want to go home now” i whispered to wally. now, the four friends sitting at the table looked towards our direction, all smiling.

wally, who let out a chuckle shook his head at me “i’ll sit through each and every episode of gilmore girls with you if you do this y/n.”

this bastard i thought as a smiled formed on my face “fine.” i gave wally a peck on the cheek before he began to walk towards his friends with the widest smile.

“hello everybody” he dragged out the ‘hello’ “this is my lovely girlfriend, y/n, n/n this is artemis, megan, connor, and dick.” he pointed to each of his friends.

“hey.” they all smiled and waved. i said hello back and wally slid out a chair for me to sit down. you sat between wally and artemis, dick sat on the other side of wally, then was connor and back to megan who sat on the other side of artemis.

“well y/n, so tell about how wally has been treating you? i swear if he messed up i’m gonna beat his ass.” artemis smiled at me but glared daggers at wally.

i laughed at this and shook my head “wally’s been treating me better than amazing. he leaves time for his hero work then plenty of time for me. he’s honestly amazing.

megan awe’d and artemis and connor leaned back in their chairs with satisfied smiles. dick gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder as a way of saying “she’s perfect for you, don’t fuck it up.”

“awh babe, you’re too good for me.” wally pouted all which made me blush from the tiny bit of embarrassment and the look on wally’s face.

“don’t make me regret saying it wally.” i pointed a finger at him. wally placed his hands up in defense but his smile never faded.

“really though, i might take y/n here from you.” artemis winked at me. i laughed and turned back to wally who now had a (false) scared look. he grabbed ahold of my chair and pulled me closer to him

“artemis back off from my girlfriend.”

“never.”

“okay let’s stop this before someone ends up getting thrown into the table and we are forced to pay for it. again.” dick chuckled nervously, putting his hand slightly out so nobody gets ideas.

“again?” i asked with wide eyes “this has happened before?”

“well yeah, the throwing each other into tables part happened a few times. once was me throwing wally into a table, the next was dick somehow throwing me into a metal table.”

i had an amazed look on my face as i sharply turned my head towards wally “why did you never tell me about this?”

“it was embarrassing.”

“—oh it was hilarious—“

“shut up connor.”

“you guys have to tell me more stories about wally, clearly he doesn’t tell me enough of the juicy stuff.” i folded my hands and kicked my feet under the table like a giddy child.

“baby no, don’t let them do this.” wally buried his head into my shoulder embarrassed. i patted his adorable red hair in fake sympathy.

“you can keep your head here but nothing is stopping me from hearing some embarrassing stories about you.”

“i have so many for you.” dick chuckled ominously.

“oh me too!” followed up megan.

#fanfic #wally west #young justice #dick grayson fluff #wally west fluff #wally west imagine #wally west x reader #wally west x oc #wally west x you #kid flash #the flash #miss martian #artemis #artemis crock #connor kent #superboy #wally west x fem!reader #nightwing #dc robin #dc fluff #dc kid flash #batman #superman #green arrow #fluff #smut #imagine #dc imagine #dc oneshot #young justice fluff

[amethystandemma]

Wally West: so are you two dating?

Dick Grayson: oh. No, we’re just friends

Wally: huh. On a completely unrelated note, what did your dad call your mom?

Dick: Murhi dragostia?

Aqua Charming: yes, my love?

Dick:

Wally: don’t ever try to lie to me again

#dc comics #dc #dc fanfiction #dick grayson #wally west #aqua charming #aquafina charming #robin #nightwing #kid flash #flash #blue comet #robin x blue comet #blue comet x robin #nightwing x blue comet #blue comet x nightwing #nightwing x oc #robin x oc #robin dick grayson #teen titans #titans #dc ocs #dc oc #ocs #oc #my ocs #aqua grayson #oc x canon #aquafina grayson #dick grayson x aqua grayson

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 3: Mistakes Never Forgotten

Pairing: Barry Allen x OFC  // Fandom: The Flash

Story Masterlist ● Previous Stories: Rise Up • It Had To Be You ●Belén’s Masterlist

• Can also be found on Fanfic and Ao3 •

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​ @arrthurpendragon​​ @anotherunreadblog​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​ @stareyedplanet​ @foxesandmagic​​

Dr. Nina Clarke hardly received any friendly visits while she was on the job, much less from Barry who was supposed to be at his own job right now. Yet, here he was, sitting across her in the hospital's cafeteria...detailing the story of how he royally messed up.

Nina was, shamefully, awed by the fact that changing a timeline was very possible. "You actually...did that…? You went back in time?" All this time they had only so far gone through worlds but then again, she had to remember the one moment where Barry traveled back in time to save his mother 2 years ago. Apparently, this time around he went through with it.

"Well, I've done it a couple of times but...just a day, the most had been a year...until…" Barry trailed off, letting her fit in the pieces.

"Until you went way back in time." She eagerly ate her grapes.

"But I reset everything! I put everything back to the way that it was before!" Barry exclaimed, obviously frustrated with his unsuccessful efforts. "Except some things weren't the same anymore. Not even a little bit."

"Oh, I bet they weren't," Nina shook her head. "What changed?"

Barry didn't know where to start. For one, Cisco wasn't speaking to him. Iris and Joe weren't speaking to each other. Not everything was bad but it was changed. He found that out when he learned that Axel, Belén's nephew, was already back from Italy. The only thing that remained completely the same was Shivhan Jade—Black Orchid—leaving the team for a while to go back to school. Barry was utterly relieved to find that her life hadn't been screwed up. And last, but not least, there was Belén. Belén.

"Well… I'll start with the most obvious one, being the reason I've had to stay at Joe's for the last couple of days..." Nina unashamedly chuckled, making Barry roll his eyes.

"Belén's pissed at you," she popped in another grape into her mouth.

Barry's deep frown was enough to confirm it. He came back to a world where he and Belén had a royally big argument that ended up with him leaving the apartment. He couldn't possibly remember any of that but it happened and Belén wasn't speaking to him now. The worst part is that he couldn't figure out what they argued about. "She won't talk to me because I won't apologize for what I did. But I can't do that because I don't know what I did!"

Nina rested a cheek against her closed fist. She could tell Barry had no clue—it was all in his face. He was utterly lost and confused. "This is sure coming back to bite you, isn't it?"

Barry's face fell flat at the question. It was a fair thing to ask but he didn't want to answer. "Point one, Nina."

Nina sighed heavily, finally taking pit on him. "You want to know why she's mad at you?"

"Very much, yeah."

"Datura." Nina smiled when Barry's face fell flat again. The mere mention of Belén's Earth 2 doppelganger put him in a sour mood. He thought that woman, and everything related to her, was completely gone after her defeat. "In your reality, before you changed it into, uh, that perfect world, did Belén fight Datura in the community theater?"

"Yeah..."

"Did Datura manage to escape?"

"What!?" Barry's eyes had widened.

"I will take that as a 'no'."

"What do you mean Datura escaped!?" Barry asked a smidge too loud that Nina had to shush him before someone overheard them. "Datura's gone? How can that be? Belén had her with the dampeners and the...there was Caitlin and Shivhan too! They captured her!"

"In this reality, Datura escaped when Belén stuck her with the cure. Belén passed out and Shivhan was too weak to get up. Caitlin making it out alive was a miracle. Datura let her live."

"No, no, no, no," Barry buried his face in his hands. Datura was gone? She escaped!? All of the work Belén had put into capturing her doppelganger had gone down the drain!?

"This didn't happen in the last timeline?" Nina felt terrible for him right now. Being responsible for the doppelganger of his girlfriend—the same doppelganger who tried murdering Belén countless times—was on the loose again...because of him.

"No," Barry shook his head. "Belén captured her and brought her back to STAR Labs. She was in the pipeline."

Belén came to a stop in front of the door and looked over her shoulder. She could feel Barry looking at her and for some reason she couldn't bring herself to face him. "Datura knew something about you," she whispered. "Something that you were going to do."

Barry's heart ached. "Yeah?"

Belén nodded. "She said it didn't matter what I did because you were going to do something that would screw it up. What are you going to do, Barry?"

Barry remembered that lost moment with Belén before he changed the timeline. Had Datura meant this? She had low level psychic abilities—those of which were siphoned from some poor soul—which, in theory, could have allowed her to see him changing the timeline.

"She said it didn't matter what I did because you were going to do something that would screw it up."

Barry brought a hand to his face. Was he going to screw Belén over? Like this? He couldn't believe he was in a world where Datura was right, and possibly the better person between them. "Nina, what exactly did I say to Belén?"

"Barry, it's not like I have a transcript or something..."

"Nina please," Barry begged. "I have to know so I can fix it."

Nina sighed and thought for a moment. Belén had been a hot mess after that fight so a lot of her words were meshed together even more than usual. "Um, something about thinking Belén let Datura go because of her psychic abilities. I think Datura said something about you doing something..."

Barry closed his eyes. "The timelines. Datura must have known that I was going to change the timelines."

"You thought Belén let Datura go so that she could try to change the timelines herself, stop the steps that would lead you to not change anything."

"What!?"

Nina raised her hands in defense. "I'm just the informer. You gonna eat that?" She pointed to the yogurt he'd barely touched sitting idly in front of him.

He shook his head and passed over the snack. He wasn't very hungry for anything that day. "Okay, well, I'll fix that. I don't know how but I will fix it. Tell me what happened between Iris and Joe. How come they're not talking?"

"Oh, let me guess, in the other timeline she actually forgave Joe for not telling her about her mother still being alive?"

"That's why they're mad?"

"Yup. To be fair, I would be upset too."

"You don't need to tell me about Cisco," Barry said before Nina even opened her mouth.

She swallowed some of the yogurt and blinked. "You know?"

"That his brother, Dante, is dead? Yeah," Barry had the stupid idea of following Cisco to 'the gym' which turned out to be a support group. At first Barry thought that Cisco developed a bad habit in this new timeline but no...Cisco felt guilty over not patching things up with his brother before he died. "I just don't know why he's mad at me."

"Yeah that's a very complicated one that I would rather stay away from," Nina apologized with a smile. "So you're all up to speed now, which means we're done," Nina put her spoon down and have a knowing smile at him. "And now that we are, I can finally say it."

"Say what…?" Barry dreaded yet another change he wasn't informed of.

"There were plenty of people you could've talked to about this, and yet...you chose me," Nina's intense stare made him squirm. "I mean, I guess Shivhan was another option but she's at school so here's me. Meaning, I have to either have the same life as in the other timeline, or…my life turned out to be better here. Which is it?" As she stood up, Barry's gaze slowly fell to the floor but then briefly flickered to her very pregnant stomach.

In this world, Nina Clarke was pregnant and about to give birth.

"So, which is it," the woman put her hands on her stomach. "Was I not pregnant? Or not married?" She waved her left hand with her wedding band. "Or both?" Barry met her playful gaze and hesitated to speak. "You can tell me," she chuckled. "I am asking. Full consent here to know what my other life entailed."

Barry sighed and just gave in. "Fine. You weren't married nor pregnant."

"Did I have my husband as my boyfriend or—"

"No."

"Ah. Did I have my powers?"

"The Tempest?" Barry was actually a little afraid he'd cost Nina her metahuman powers too. He'd only seen her once and got the gist the timeline was a bit kinder to her than the rest of their friends.

"The Tempest," Nina nodded and gestured her stomach. "And, according to Caitlin," she started in a whisper, "Mini-Tempest."

"Your baby...is a meta…?" Barry's eyes comically widened.

"She is following in her mother's footsteps," Nina proudly.

"And does your...husband know…?"

"He knows everything. Elliot knows about all of us," Nina decided to let him in on that secret. "You and Belén both said it was okay…"

Barry smiled. "Don't worry. You trust him, that means we do too."

"And, just a little advice between us, maybe explaining this whole timeline thing to the others isn't such a bad idea," she patted him on the shoulder. "I should get back to work."

"You shouldn't be working," Barry said off handedly.

"And you shouldn't be changing timelines," Nina quipped.

Barry took that second blow with a nod. Yeah, he deserved it. "Point 2 to Nina."

He considered the idea of telling the others about the new alterations of the timeline with some serious degree...but perhaps he was too much of a coward. By the time he got to the precinct, the idea had been thrown out the window. He was at least relieved to see that Singh was back as Captain once again.

Because then even Barry was met with his own unique alteration.

"Um, hello?" He geniously greeted the blonde man working in the second desk of the room.

"Yes. Hello, Mr. Allen," the blonde greeted with an English accent without looking up from his work. Barry already wasn't liking the stiffness in the tone of the man, but right now all he wanted to know was who the he was. "I can still see you're there and no, I don't want your help, thank you."

Barry moved up to the desk and eyed the name plaque sitting at the edge. "What are you doing here, Julian Albert, meta-human CSI Specialist?"

Julian met Barry's curious gaze with a deeply annoyed one. "I did tell you the meta-human conference was only for two days."

"Okay, but this is…"

"Still our lab... unfortunately," and the regret truly showed on Julian's face. "Yes, County forgot to mention that significant detail before assigning me, but here we are. Looks like you and I get to be roomies for a little longer than we'd hoped. Roomies."

At this point, Barry didn't know what to expect anymore. How many more things were changed? And in what ways would he find out? Someone cleared their throat at the doorway and garnered the attention of both men. Belén stood with a duffel bag slung around her shoulder.

"Bells-" Barry wasn't sure how he was going to apologize for something he really couldn't remember, but he would try as much as needed to.

Belén stopped him with a finger. "I'm in a rush. Save whatever sorry excuse you have." She them directed her gaze to Julian who was, rather amused, watching Barry's reaction. "My Mom said you were heading out anyways. You think you can give me a ride to the theater?"

"Your car still not fixed?" Julian asked, yet Barry was a bit indignant all that sourness in his earlier words were gone.

"Are you kidding me? Meta-apocalypse totaled it. I have to buy a new one but that's not the point here!" She exclaimed. "Point is, practice time is now and I have to be there! Let's go!"

"Yeah, alright," Julian agreed so easily it stunned Barry.

"Thank you," Belén said and turned to leave, but not before giving Barry a look. The poor speedster had no idea what the hell was going on.

Julian had gathered his things and started after her. "I don't know what you did, Allen, but it is fairly fun to see it unfold," he smirked and went on his way.

~0~

Nina laughed after hearing Barry's unfortunate run in with Julian. She was on her way to her car when the meta stopped her. "Oh right, Julian hates you."

"What—why!?"

Nina shrugged. "Don't know. But you hate him too. You always claim that he liked Belén."

"That makes sense," Barry muttered, thinking back to drastic change of attitude in Julian after Belén walked in. "He was all sunshine when Belén came into the lab—I hate him."

Nina smirked. "Green eyed speedster is not a good idea. And Belén doesn't like him. They were childhood friends, that's it."

"Childhood friends?" Barry repeated, trying to think of any story Belén might have told him including such a 'friend'.

Nina understood it was hard to feel relaxed when he really did not know what this new timeline entailed. She explained to him the situation since he was meant to already know this. "Barry, he's Mrs. Andrew's grandson, Belén's neighbor? He's been here for a year now."

"He wasn't here in the other world," Barry said the obvious.

"But he is now," Nina softly said. "And you're going to have to get around it somehow. I suggest not to argue with him a lot. That's always a source of arguments between you and Belén." Barry rolled his eyes and Nina added, "She's been his friend since they were kids, so they're close."

"Okay, but—"

"And she loves you," Nina purposely said louder to shut him up. "You guys put her in the middle of your fights like high schoolers. Since you've changed a lot of things, it wouldn't be a bad idea to change this too," she gave him a soft smile and a pat on the arm. "I have to go. My feet are killing me."

"You shouldn't be driving! You're pregnant!" Barry exclaimed as Nina got into her car.

She laughed in her seat and reached to close the door. "And you shouldn't be changing timelines yet here we are." She closed the door and left Barry to mumble a "Point three, Nina."

~0~

Caitlin wanted to be polite, it's how she found the way to survive throughout these rough times with the team. Being polite and mostly not talking worked like a charm whenever everyone was around but now that it was just her and Barry in the cortex, she could speak freely and tell him his sample just wasn't working.

"You know, there's really not that much here…" she looked up from the microscope examining the sample of a human body husk he'd brought in earlier.

Barry stood behind her with arms crossed. "Yeah, no, I know. It's basically touch DNA. I had to steal the sample because our meta-human expert wouldn't let me take one." It was mighty annoying having to work with someone who clearly disliked him and made things much more complicated.

A little smile worked its way across Caitlin's lips. "Oh, you mean Julian Albert?"

Barry sighed. "Yeah, you know him?" But of course they would know about that guy. It was just another thing he forgot about the new timeline.

Caitlin gave him an odd look for his question. "Yeah, Belén introduced us, remember?"

"Sure," Barry replied through gritted teeth.

Caitlin noticed the tension straight off and glanced at the threshold to see if Cisco was anywhere near. He'd gone off almost immediately after Barry arrived. "You know, Cisco told me you showed up to his bereavement group last night."

Barry dropped his arms to his side and sighed again. "Yeah, I did. He also tell you it didn't go so well?"

Caitlin apologetically nodded. "It's only been a few months since Dante was killed by that drunk driver. I'm sure he just needs a little bit more time."

"Yeah, but why is he mad at me?" Because as much as Barry looked at the situation from every possible angle, he just didn't understand why Cisco was upset with him.

Caitlin raised her hands almost instantly and turned away in her seat. "Oh no, I am staying out of that one!"

"Cait, he'll... he'll barely look at me unless other people are in the room!"

"Maybe it's just easier when the rest of us are around?"

Barry rubbed his face and surprisingly did good at keeping his frustration at bay. "Everyone's just... everything's wrong." Caitlin tilted her head in question over his choice of words. Barry leaned his hands on the desk and thought for a second. "Cait, do you think maybe you could convince Cisco to come with you to Joe's for dinner tonight?"

'Why?"

"So I can try to fix things between us, maybe between Joe and Iris, too. Just all of us together again in one room and try to work this out once and for all."

Caitlin thought that was definitely some god complex he was creating. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We haven't had a get together in...in a very long time…"

"It's better than just letting things keep going like this," Barry got himself a new round of determination and took a deep breath in. He started heading out.

"Where are you going?" Caitlin called from her seat.

"To get things arranged and then I'm gonna find Belén," he marched out with a good source of determination.

~0~

It was late in the afternoon when Belén finished her aerial dance practice. Today especially she needed the distractions so she might have stayed a little longer than planned. It explained her more weary attitude as she made her way up to the floor of her apartment. She unlocked her door with her free hand as she was carrying a cup of coffee she stopped by Jitters for, and automatically went to find the light switch. She stopped halfway when candlelights illuminated the entire apartment.

"What the…?" Her brain immediately wondered if a fire metahuman had popped up but soon deemed it ridiculous. No metahuman would take the time to delicately arrange candle lights everywhere before striking.

"I'm sorry," Barry's voice startled her. He emerged from the hallway. "Of course I know that you wouldn't purposely let Datura go, not even for my sake. You were obviously hurt and I should have focused more on that instead of stupidly believing that you let her go."

Belén seemed hesitant to believe it straight away. They'd spent a whole hour arguing over her last battle with Datura. She closed the door and dropped her duffel bag on the floor. "You said I was being irresponsible. That I shouldn't have let her go. Barry, I didn't." Her eyes glimmered with tears rather quick, making Barry wonder how much they argued about this and what terrible things were said. "In fact, I made a huge mistake when she escaped. I wasn't strong enough to keep her—"

"You were," Barry said, but she shook her head. "Belén, you passed out. Caitlin said that the device she made to cure Datura went haywire when it was connected to you and Datura. Plus, you had a chest injury. Passing out wasn't something you did voluntarily." Barry was frustrated, and the worst part was that he was frustrated with another version of himself so he couldn't technically do anything about it. He put his hands together, in front of his face, and took a deep breath. "Belén, you have no idea how sorry I am. I...ruin things—it's my trademark." He let his hands drop to his sides and shook his head. "I ruin things and the worst part is that I ruin them for everyone I love. I...screw them over." Datura's words were coming back to haunt him again. "I screwed up your fight and for some stupid reason I blamed you."

"You don't ruin things…" Belén said quietly. He was far too worked up this time around. "I just...I don't understand how you would think that I purposely let her go. What she said about you changing things, breaking the ultimate rule...even if she was saying something coherent, I wouldn't let her go for that. I'm trying to find her — every day, every night, I try to look for her."

"I know, of course you would. I believe you, trust me." Barry took a few steps towards her. "I know you would do that because it's who you are. You make good choices...I don't."

Belén shook her head. "No, don't say that, Barry. You try and that's what matters. I just need to know that you trust me."

"Of course. Bells, you have no idea how proud I was of you. You used to be so afraid of Datura and you ended up fighting her and putting her friend away, bringing her down. I got to see that."

Belén smiled sadly. "Yeah," she swallowed hard. Despite how the fight ended, she would always be proud of herself for rising up to that woman. She stood up and fought. She'd technically won too...she just passed out before she could imprison Datura.

"I'm sorry," Barry said again and reached for her free hand. "Can I make that up to you, little by little?"

"One condition: you're going to get rid of the candles all on your own." Belén gazed at the dozens and dozens of candles surrounding them. Barry laughed but promised he would. "Without speed," she warned. "Fire, wind...bad."

"I solemnly swear," Barry raised a hand to show he was serious.

Belén didn't bother with it as she leaned forwards, far too excitedly to kiss him. In her excitement, she bumped her coffee cup into him and spilled said coffee on him. She gasped and covered her mouth. "I am so sorry!"

Flashes of her previous (yet nonexistant anymore) drink-spilling accident made Barry laugh even harder. No matter what timeline they were in, this would always happen and he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Why are you laughing?" Belén asked, dead serious. "We're good now, you don't have to keep trying here!" She wanted to help him but didn't know how. Her hands kept going forwards and backwards trying to get him to keep still enough for her to help him get cleaned up.

Barry had other ideas instead. He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her up to him for a sound kiss. Belén didn't mind the warm coffee staining her too; she missed her boyfriend a lot.

"Is it okay if I sleep here again?" Barry still asked cautiously afterwards.

Belén chuckled with her arms still around him. "Yes, I've missed you. But you'll have to share the bathroom with Iris again. She'll hate that."

"What?" Barry blinked and looked around for Iris as if she would pop up any moment.

"She's staying here, remember? She and her Dad…?" Belén wasn't sure how to take his realization. This wasn't news. It was like he was barely hearing about it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, uh…I was just focused on you that I...forgot about everything else…" Barry was slowly putting the pieces together of this new timeline and with every new piece he found everything was worse than he thought.

"That is cliche and I love that...and you... and this place…" Belén looked around with a big smile. "I'd feel more romantic if I hadn't spilled coffee on you and if I had showered…" She then poked him on the chest with an innocent twinkle in her eyes, "Two of which we can fix...together…?"

"How…?" The fact Barry looked genuinely confused made Belén want to kiss him again, but she held herself for another moment.

"Don't make me explain. My singing scientist you are much smarter than that…" She pointed them to the hallway and let her smirk clarify it all for him. She laughed when it finally donned on him.

"Oooh...!"

~0~

Dinner was difficult to get everyone together, but what Barry found the hardest was getting people to talk. Belén could have told him this idea wasn't going to work out but she thought he would probably realize before…

Apparently not.

"This hits the spot, huh?" Barry said after dead silence for a good ten minutes. He hoped it would spark some conversation at the table, but only Joe followed.

"You can thank Grandma Esther…"

"Well thank her indeed," Nina was the only one eagerly eating. She hated her big appetite but no one seemed surprised.

Barry couldn't help smile at her. "Actually, I just meant, um... all of us, actually, just here, together. I was actually thinking, um, that maybe it'd be fun if we all went away together for a few days. Just like a little Team Flash vacay…?"

Iris lowered her fork, trying to understand what he was getting at. "And do what?"

"Bond? Reconnect?" Barry was getting nowhere with them.

"You mean like a retreat?" Caitlin asked just to be sure.

"That's the ones with trust exercises and the weird songs…" even Belén was having trouble picturing the idea.

"Epic fail, party of eight," Cisco muttered as he angrily stuffed his forkbite into his mouth. Caitlin gave him a disapproving look but he merely shrugged and ate.

Barry did his best to keep things going despite the odds of winning becoming more and more slim. "I just... I just feel like we're not the team that we were or can be."

"I'd be down for it," Wally felt awkward as he raised a hand. Thankfully, Nina did the same.

"I would be too, but, uh…" she gestured to her current state, "I'm afraid I think I'll pop at any second. Plus, I'm not sure Elliot would be okay with it. Sorry."

"I...I get what you're trying to do, but...you don't think we can afford to take a vacation," Belén bit her lip, sending Barry an apologetic smile.

"You were the one that said we should take a break to Italy," Barry said without thinking.

"I did?" Judging by her face, Barry figured the changed timelines erased that part of her too.

"I'm going to have to agree with Belén, sorry," Caitlin spoke up, very much sorry. "Especially with all these husks showing up all over town—"

"Speaking of husks, I'm glad you're finally ready to open up about them," Iris gave her a father an expectant glance.

"Iris, I already told you, I can't tell you anything about this case."

Iris was confused only for a second before she realized what actually happened. "Oh, really? Because that's not what I was told."

Joe was quick to figure it out as well. "Strange. I was under the impression you had some things to say to me, too. Isn't that right, Bar?"

"Told you. Epic fail," Cisco murmured to Caitlin who, by this point, didn't know how to keep his comments at bay.

Barry sighed and gave up. "Okay, look, yeah. I arranged this. I put all this together. I'm sorry, guys. Look, I just... we're not acting like a team, and I just wanted things back to how they were. Just fixed."

Cisco shook his head and let his fork fall on his plate with a loud clang. "If you wanted things fixed, maybe you should have gone back in time and stopped my brother from dying!"

Everyone went dead silent, including Barry who had finally understood the real problem Cisco had with him.

"You want me to change the timeline to save Dante?" The mere question added on an extra layer of guilt on Barry.

"Why would you do that?" Cisco sarcastically responded. "It's not like he's your brother." Everyone's cellphones went off with the same alert.

Cisco picked up his phone first. "Meta-human app. We gotta go!"

"I would love to help—" Nina barely got the words out when Belén shushed her.

"Elliot would kill us," the ombre-blonde pointed Nina to Wally. "Look after her please," she asked and hurried off with the others.

Barry was the first one to reach the spot where the metahuman app had directed them. Saying he was stunned to find the Rival was a clear understatement. He was beyond confused and wondered if, somehow, the timeline was yet again being changed as a consequence of his decisions.

The Rival seemed to understand perfectly the situation Barry was in. he ripped off the hood of his mask with smug rage. "Remember me, Flash?"

"Clariss?"

"Oh, you do remember, Flash? Good, I remember everything, too."

"How are you here?"

"It doesn't matter. You see, what does matter is that I know your little secret. You changed the timeline. Because if I recall correctly, the only Speedsters in my other life were me and that smartass Kid Flash, until you showed up and stole everything from me!"

"I didn't steal anything from you, Clariss. I... I was just trying to put things back to the way they're supposed to be!" Barry hoped to God no one was listening in on them.

"This is how my life is supposed to be!" Clariss shouted. "For years, I felt like something was missing. And now I know why."

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do this to you-"

"Yeah, well, you did. And here I am. Your Rival, back again," Clariss gestured to himself with utter pride. "Believe me, Flash, this time, you're not gonna steal my life so easily!"

He took off with his usual speed, leaving Barry to go after him. The two chased each other all over the city with no upper hand. When it looked like the Rival was about to speed ahead Barry surprised him from the side and threw him with all his force. The Rival toppled over many streets until his body flung over the water bridge. Barry was there mere seconds later but as much as he looked the Rival was gone.

~0~

"Barry, hey!" Belén found him first after coming back to STAR Labs. "I'm sorry I didn't catch up - something...came up…"

And perhaps if Barry had been paying better attention to her instead of the fact Edward Clariss was back, he would've sensed her strange excuse. He merely told her it was alright and went on to tell her, and the rest of the group, what happened.

Belén's mother, Veronica, was the first to get frustrated. "You mean to tell us that after finally getting rid of Zoom there's another evil Speedster?" The detective flung a hand towards Belén who blinked with surprise. "At least tell me there's no doppelgangers this time?"

"Why do you imply it's going to be another me?" Belén frowned. Veronica waved her off, deepening her frown. "I'm praying that Datura was the only evil one of my doppelgangers."

"Okay, well, who is this guy?" Iris asked Cisco and Caitlin at the desk.

"Well," Caitlin got up from her chair as she worked to bring up the profile of their new meta, "I finally got the results back from the test I ran on the husk that Barry gave me this morning. And it's weird, because there's no traces of dark matter, but there are traces of the Speed Force. His name is…"

"Edward Clariss," Barry dejectedly said just mere seconds before the screen behind him came to life with Clariss' profile. Everyone's eyes flickered from Barry to the screen and so forth.

"And somehow Barry is exactly right," Caitlin sat back down trying to figure out how that was possible.

"You're holding out on us," Belén knew right off the top. She didn't mean it to be demanding, but that's the lead Iris took.

"What is it?"

Barry couldn't take their accusing looks, especially when he knew it was all his fault. Clariss had come back, and on top of it he created terrible rifts between his own family. It was all him. He did it…

"Barry?" Belén cautiously called his name. There was something not right with him but she couldn't decide if it was still grief or... something new.

"I'm sorry...I have to...I have to fix things," Barry decided and sped out of there. He would attempt to fix things the only way he knew of…

"What just happened?" Iris was left asking in the room. No one had an answer.

"It's just Barry," Cisco muttered and walked out.

"We need to figure out a way to put that speedster in the pipeline," Joe told the remaining women. "Before he does something really bad."

"We'll figure something out," Caitlin promised him and Veronica as the two began to leave as well.

"Belén, can I show you something?" Iris asked ad soon as it was just them and Caitlin. She motioned Caitlin to near them too as she pulled out her phone.

"What are we looking at exactly?" Belén asked after Iris pulled up a security video of the waterfront where Barry and Clariss were.

"This is the feed Cisco pulled up while you and Caitlin went M.I.A after dinner," Iris explained, although she missed the nervous glances of her two friends. "He didn't pay too much attention to it - does that a lot now often - but I did. Okay look, it's pretty obvious that this guy knows Barry." Because indeed the two speedsters were conversing quite emotionally before they chased each other.

"I don't... understand…" Caitlin gave a tilt of her head. It did look like Clariss was...accusing Barry of something? That pointed finger at Barry couldn't say anything else.

"Barry is keeping things from us, I know it," Iris put her phone away and settled a sharp stare on Belén. "And you need to find out what it is."

The woman in question blinked with alarm. "Me?" she pointed at herself. "Demand to know about a secret? I don't...I don't think I can, Iris." She avoided Iris' scrutinizing eyes by backtracking several steps from her and Caitlin in the process.

"What? Why not?" Iris crossed her arms, expecting some sort of explanation that would possibly make sense.

Belén's eyes kept flickering to Caitlin, something Iris picked up on fast, while she really did try to answer the question. "I just...I don't...it would be very...I can't." And Belén hated how that made her sound, but she just couldn't go demanding Barry to reveal something, not when she was…

Iris turned to Caitlin to see what the brunette had to say, but Caitlin followed Belén's league and avoided making eye contact with Iris at all costs. "You want to fill me in or something…?" Iris asked both of them.

"I just can't, I'm sorry," Belén shook her head and hurried out.

"I think it's better to just drop it, Iris," Caitlin gave Iris a soft warning and went after Belén.

Iris truly had no words, and much less a clue as to what had just happened.

~ 0 ~

The last thing Barry ever thought would happen now was facing his father's doppelganger and actually being forced to have breakfast with him on Earth 3. Really, what else could happen now? Oh, right, this earth ran a little slow so it was also 1998.

Barry really hoped that was it. "This isn't the reason you pulled me out of the Speed Force right?" he gestured to the menu on the table.

Henry gave a shake of his head. "Because you were about to reset the timeline again after screwing it all up." Barry opened his mouth but only noises of his shock came out. "Oh, yeah, I know about that."

"How did you—"

"After your not-so-subtle reaction when you first met me... Harry told me all that happened with Zoom and your mom and your dad, so I decided I'd keep my eye on you for a bit."

Barry figured that was exactly what Harry would have done the moment they were gone. "He tell you anything else?"

"He did. I'm your father's doppelganger. Sorry about that…" Because even now it was hard for Barry to keep an eye-level conversation with him.

"It's just...really weird."

"And really sad, too... I'm sure. Having a loss like that in your life, I see why you'd wanna erase it. Who wouldn't try to save their parents? I understand that, Barry, completely. But the thing is, there are consequences to time travel."

"I have heard all of this before—" Barry tried to say, even about to count the times he'd heard the same lecture. It didn't matter anymore as he'd done already.

"Not from me you haven't. I'm not some Doctor with a theory, Barry. I'm a Speedster, like you, who's traveled in time, and made these same mistakes you are making right now. Here, let me show you something," Henry reached for an empty cup of tea beside the menu on the table.

Barry rolled his eyes, and surely was about to leave. "Okay, you know what—"

"Humor me, kid," Henry motioned him to keep in his seat. "This coffee cup right here. Think of it as the space-time continuum. Whenever you go back in time it breaks." He vibrated the cup until a chip of it cracked.

Barry wanted to know how the man was giving speedster lectures when he just vibrating his hand in open daylight. "For real?"

"Now... you can reset the timeline, you can try to fix it, but no matter how hard you try…" Jay had pulled the chip of the cup off and tried placing back as if it was never broken in the first place, "...it's never gonna be exactly how it was."

"Look, I've learned all this stuff that I didn't know before, okay? I'm not gonna make the same—"

"Mistakes," Jay finished for him. "Yeah, what you just said right there? That is the paradox of time travel, and also the paradox of life. I mean, if I only knew then what I know now."

"Why have these powers if I can't go back and fix what I broke?" Barry couldn't help demand with frustration. Here he was with powers not a lot of people had and yet he couldn't do something grand like saving people from death without causing even more trouble? What kind of logic was that?

"We're not gods, we're men, who, for whatever reason, have been given extraordinary abilities," Jay hoped Barry would catch on. "The question you need to ask yourself is, what kind of hero are you gonna be? Are you just gonna take a do-over every time you make a mistake? Or will you live with them and move forward?"

Ah, the ringing honest question that made Barry pause for the first time and think about the long run. It wasn't the present, nor the next day he should be thinking about...it was the future. What kind of person was he going to be for the rest of his life?

~ 0 ~

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caitlin's question carried into the cortex as she and Belén walked in. Cisco, Iris, Joe and Veronica were already there, recruited once again.

"Yeah, yeah," Belén waved Caitlin to stop just as they faced everyone. "Where's Barry?" she asked the group.

Just a mere second later, Barry sped into the room with a face worse for wear. "I need to tell you all something," he said almost instantly. He needed to be fast or else his courage might slip away from him. "The truth."

"The truth about what?" Iris asked.

"Okay, um... after Zoom killed my dad, after we defeated him, um... I wasn't in a great space, and I felt like the only way I could fix that was to run back in time and save my mom."

There was a silence over the group as Barry's words settled down.

"You stopped the Reverse-Flash from killing your mom?" Belén spoke slowly, as if that would make better sense for her.

"Yes…" Barry let his head hang in shame.

"Wait, so, is she alive?" Wally wondered out loud.

"She was. For a few months. I lived with her and my dad. I had a completely different life," Barry still smiled at the bittersweet memories. "I wasn't even the Flash for most of it."

"You mean to tell us you created this whole...other world, then?" Even Veronica was lost like Wally. She didn't understand the full extent of a speedster's powers, and she never cared enough to ask.

"Okay, um…" Barry spotted a nearby clear board and picked up a marker to explain in the usual way. "This is the timeline," he drew a horizontal line and made a dot at the end. "This is the point that we exist on it right now. This—" he scribbled in a dot at the other end of the line, "—past point is where my mom was murdered. So when I saved her, I created a new reality. A new timeline. I was living in…"

"A mirror universe," Cisco mumbled but Barry heard him.

"It's called a Flashpoint, apparently."

"But you decided to leave it," Joe gestured to the obvious. "Why?"

Barry sighed. "That life started to spin out of control. This guy, Clariss, he was a Speedster there, too. He was known as the Rival. He caused a lot of problems. So, um... I decided to run back in time again and let things happen as they were supposed to, in hopes of... resetting the timeline, but…"

"Things weren't the same," Belén understood first.

"She said it didn't matter what I did because you were going to do something that would screw it up."

She shuddered. This is what Datura had seen this coming. It had to be. "You screwed it up," the words tumbled out of her mouth.

Barry knew what she was thinking of. They both remembered. "When I came back, things weren't the same. People weren't the same. Um, I created another timeline."

"Another world to live in," Caitlin nodded. "This—" she gestured with a finger at the room, "—isn't the original world we used to live in?"

"It's not as different as the last one. Not in large ways, but in some ways, in smaller ways, and, uh—" Barry swallowed hard, "—meaningful ways for all of you or anybody that's close to me. And I can't ever really put it back together." He forced himself to face everyone in the eyes, like they deserved, because at this point it was all he could for them.

"Barry, that's a lot to take in…" Joe murmured from his spot.

"We got along in that other life, my dad and I, didn't we?" Iris finally realized that part and didn't know whether or not to be furious or plain sad. "That's why you've been working so hard to get us talking again."

"Okay, here's the thing. Um, I will tell you what's different, all of you, if you wanna know," Barry made it clear, even though it might not even do them well. He would still give them that choice. "But you have to live with those differences because I can't change it again. But at least you'll know. And you all deserve that choice."

Belén put her two index fingers together in front of her nose, her mind thinking rapidly. "That's why you asked about Italy. I never said anything about a trip. And the fight we had...that's why you were so confused. You didn't argue with me, this timeline's version of you did."

"So you decided it was okay to change things when someone in your family dies, but when it's someone in my family…" Cisco pointed after the two and waved at the others, indicating he was taking a leaf out of their book.

Iris rubbed her forehead, unsure of what she even thought at the moment. "We're...going to need some time, Barry."

"I know," Barry whispered. He understood the consequences, and that was what he was going to face...with all his courage.

~ 0 ~

Belén was heading into the Green room of the building for some space when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw an unknown number on the screen. She brought the phone to her ear to answer it. "Hello?"

"I did warn you, didn't I?"

Belén froze.

"Tsk, tsk, the speedster breaking the ultimate rule: changing the timelines. He has no idea what he's done to everyone."

Belén swallowed hard. "Datura."

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #the flash fics #barry allen fics #barry allen imagines #barry allen x oc #the flash imagines #the flash x oc #arrowverse ocs #arrowverse fics #arrowverse imagines #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: make you stay #i'm also catching this fic up across platforms #i have like 4 more chapters left to catch up to so bear with me!!

[astronomicalwanderlust]

AW: “I could fix him”

AW: Whatever

AW: I could beat his ass

AW: I could snap that fucker in half

#astroart #homestuck #self insert #ocs #homestuck fanart #homestuck oc #homestuck self insert #fanart #fan art #caliborn #hs caliborn #oc x canon #my art #seer of heart #lord of time #self ship #self shipping #tw flashing #? maybe #just to be safe #panel edit #screenshot edit #homestuck panel edit #homestuck2 panel edit #homestuck 2 panel edit #♥️♠️Usually Both At Once♠️♥️

[oathofoaksart]

taking my brother in law through YJ, the guy blasted through the entire first season and nine eps of the second in like a day. not that i ever need an excuse to draw these two, but rewatching the series always helps

#young justice oc #yj oc #kid flash x oc #canon/oc #yj kitsune #yj kid flash #leiko ara #gar's oc #oathofoaks #gar's art #dc oc #wallei #jokes on my bil im taking him through yj just so i can explain my oc lore

[gummygoatgalaxy]

Dancing Partners💕💕

@folprrune

@phoofoz

#my art #oc #my oc #dc oc #dc original character #dc fanart #dc entertainment #dc universe #dc comics #red hood #jason todd #nightwing #dick grayson #kid flash #wally west #beast boy #garfield logan #oc x canon #gummygoatgalaxy

[incaseofart]

OC IS NONBINARY

Animation time!!!

This is a scene I had in my head for a while. There's a time between starting to date and being physically intimate for these two. Stolas walks around his house in a robe that is falling off his torso and very open at the front without a care in the world, and naturally, this makes Aura a bit flustered. Sometimes Stolas is doing this with intention, and sometimes he kind of forgets and is just oblivious (this art is the latter lol). This particular scene (of them watching tv together) is significant because it's the one right before Aura finally grabs him by his robe and kisses him (which he's been rather impatiently waiting for).

#betwixt the stars #suggestive #<- I guess? #helluva boss oc #stolas #stolas x oc #helluva boss #my art #my animation #I do enjoy doing some light animation now and again and I always love the outcomes #it is just so time consuming I'm sad to say #flashing #tw flashing

[earthtoharlow]

Maryse on vocal rest and Jack taking care of her as she writes to him on a whiteboard

Main Masterlist

As they lounged in Jack’s living room, Maryse grumbled in frustration, her voice reduced to a raspy whisper from days of being on vocal rest.

“Looks like we’re going old school with the communication.” Jack teased, waving a whiteboard and marker in front of her.

Maryse shot him a playful glare, snatching the whiteboard from his hands and writing “very funnyyyy” on the board and turning it around to show him, and then proceeded to stick up her middle finger.

Jack laughed as he read her message. “You have the most beautiful handwriting!” he quipped, dodging her playful swat.

With a roll of her eyes, Maryse scribbled down her response, her exaggerated expressions adding to the comedic effect. “Watch it, mister. I may be on vocal rest, but I can still kick your ass.”

He laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright, I’ll behave,” he replied, trying to stifle his laughter.

Jack hated seeing Maryse like this as he missed hearing her voice. So he got up to fetch her some soothing tea for her throat. As he returned with a steaming mug, he noticed Maryse scribbling furiously on the whiteboard.

Curious, he leaned over to read her message, expecting another witty retort. Instead, his heart skipped a beat as he read the words: “I love you.”

A warmth spread through him, melting away any lingering traces of teasing or laughter. He set the mug of tea down gently and reached for the marker, his own message simple yet heartfelt: “I love you too.”

Maryse leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I miss hearing your voice,” he murmured softly.

Her face warmed, her heart fluttering at his sweet gesture. All Maryse could do was kiss Jack again in response and pull him closer.

#anon #jack harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x y/n #jack harlow reader #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow x oc #flashing lights #flashing lights concepts #Jack harlow concepts