In the Pipeline, Barry Allen, clad in his Flash suit with the hood down, stood in front of his most powerful foe. Harrison-no, Eobard,-stood behind the glass of one of the Pipeline's makeshift containment cells, hands folded behind his back.
"Well hello Barry," greeted Eobard smirking through the sentence.
"You can drop the act now Thawne. I won't be fooled again."
"Didn't stop you a few days ago, why stop now?"
Barry didn't respond to the insult aimed at him; he had to be strong now, no more letting his guard down. "Let's just cut to the chase shall we? Why?"
"Why? Why? That's such a vague statement Bartholomew, please be more specific."
Barry had to resist correcting him on using his full name. "You know what you did. Why did you kill Nora Allen?"
Eobard paced side to side in the small confinement of his cell. He was still reeling from his defeat at the hands of the Flash once more, just like all the other times. "That is a smart question Barry. Since I will inevitably get out of here quite soon, I see no more harm in it." Eobard halted his pacing and stared right into his eyes. "It's quite simple actually. Because I hate you Barry."
Barry's eyebrows scrunched at the concise answer he was given; an answer, to him, that wasn't acceptable enough. "There's gotta be a deeper reason than that. Why do you hate-"
"Because you ruined my future, Allen!" Eobard roared, his eyes still piercing. "Everything-I was destined for greatness, destined for power, to be the savior Central City truly deserves!" The impostor lowered his voice and continued. "We were going to be as thick as thieves, Barry! It was supposed to be just us, no one else!"
"What are you talking about?!" Barry stressed, gesturing his hands for emphasis. "Just get down to it, what did I ever do to you?! I mean, you kill my mother and then wait for 15 years to kill me just because you hate me?! Tell me what I did!"
"It's not what you did, it's who you are that matters." Eobard smashed his fists against the glass. "You have everything I wished I had: a perfect family, perfect friends, perfect social life, perfect powers!" He removed his hands from the glass, took a deep breath and continued. "It's funny," he began, chuckling snidely. "Eddie said that I have an ego. Bullshit! I never had parades, I never had an entire museum dedicated in my honor."
"I get a museum?" Barry had to admit, even at this serious time, that tidbit of information was kind of cool.
"Patience Barry. Now here's my question: what's my M.O.?"
"Your M.O.?"
"Come on, you Allen scum are supposed to be brainy, think think think!" Eobard taunted.
Barry's eyes widened at his internal revelation. "I finally get it now! You-my God, you want to be me, don't you?"
"Wanted. Past tense. Now I've realized how foolish that dream was. So in short, yes Barry, I murdered your mother! But that's not all, we're getting to the good stuff."
Barry had his arms crossed as he listened to the speech; 'I'm handling this better than I thought I would,' he internalized. "Well come on now Thawne, talk."
Eobard nodded and smirked. "Do you remember the day you broke you arm in the sixth grade?"
Barry squinted his eyes at the question, but then, a thought entered his mind...
15 years ago
Central City Middle School
'Aw rats, I'm gonna be late again,' 11 year old Barry Allen said as he rushed away from his locker. It seemed that he was developing a habit of tardiness in school, a trait that had gotten him in detention multiple times.
As Barry was preparing to go down the flight of stairs, an unknown force had pushed him down the stairs; his body tumbled down every marble step until he landed at the end, where he heard an audible crack. "AAAAAHHHHH!" young Barry screamed. He turned his had to see who did it, but to his surprise...
No one was there.
"You remember it, don't you?" Eobard's tone was taunting as he stared at Barry. "Well remember the electrical fire that took your first home in Fallville? What about the time you first moved to Central City, and your dog got out? It was run over by a truck, wasn't it?"
"No, no it can't be!"
"I'm not finished yet, Allen. What if every bad thing that has happened in your short, miserable little life was caused by an enemy you hadn't even made yet?"
Barry put his hands up to his forehead as he processed what his enemy was saying; he began to wonder whether or not it was true, or Eobard was playing him as always. "My God, you can't be serious."
"Oh but I am. The truth is in the pudding. IT WAS ME BARRY! IT WAS ME THE WHOLE TIME!" Eobard roared; he had a full on slasher smile as he glared down to the Flash. "And I had quite the pleasure of doing it!"
"No! No no no!"
"Search your feelings Flash, you know it to be true!"
"Barry!" A new voice called out. Barry turned around to see his friend Eddie running up to him. "What's going on? I heard yelling."
"Eddie." The blonde Thawne looked to see his descendant standing in the cell. "And why I am not surprised, you piece of shit!" Eobard growled. Eddie ignored him and had all his attention on the Flash.
"Eddie," Barry began, his voice shaky from what he heard. He was about to continue before Eddie interrupted him.
"Come on, let's just get out of here," Eddie suggested.
"I can show you so many things Barry! I can show you how to save your mother! How to set everything that went wrong right!"
Barry' head snapped up at the mention of the possibility of saving his mother, and the feelings went through him; he couldn't do anything at that moment, how helpless he felt. But now that he was a superhero, and time-traveled, maybe he could do himself some good by saving her.
"Don't listen to him Barry! He's full of shit!" Eddie warned. "He's full of shit and you know it!"
"Now gentleman," Eobard spoke back up. "I imagine you have a lot of soul-searching, or whatever you wish to call it, to do, but I want to leave you with these final words Barry." Eobard inhaled before he continued. "Fuck you, Flash. Plain and simple. Fuck. You. I AM THE FUTURE! YOU ARE A RELIC!"
"Let's go, Eddie," Barry said before he and Eddie walked the opposite direction.
Barry put his hand on the sensor and the door of The Pipeline closed, separating he, Eddie, and the Reverse-Flash.
"What the hell did he tell you, Barry?" Eddie asked as they began their trek to the main cortex.
"He-he told me things Eddie," Barry started. "Why he murdered my mother, why he hates me, all sorts of things."
"That son of a bitch!"
"Yeah. Imagine my reaction when he told me that every bad thing in my life was because of him."
"He's ruining all of our lives, Barry."
"I know! I know! But this is different," Barry announced as he halted mid-step. "He told me he was the reason my first house burned down before I moved to Central City, he killed my dog, he pushed me down the stairs and broke my arm as a kid! Everything, no matter how petty was all because of him!"
"You said that he hates you," Eddie pried. "Why is that?"
Barry pinched the bridge of his nose before answering "I think-I think he wants to be me."
The blonde detective put his hand on Barry's right shoulder. "Well, that's one thing he can never have. He can't be you. He can't be the Flash, no matter how hard he's tried." Eddie looked around before peering back at Barry. "Now go get some rest Barry. Lord knows you need it the most right now."
"Thanks Eddie." Barry sped past Eddie and out of STAR Labs, trying to find something to get his mind off what Eobard told him. However, there were still those four words that kept ringing in his head as he ran.
"It WAS ME, BARRY!"
There you go, something I wish would happen on 'Fast Enough' but I know won't. Some of the dialogue is borrowed from Flash: Rebirth. Check it out, great story!
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