The Ultimatum

Now having to get used to calling him by his real name, Barry looked up at Eobard Thawne as he stood firmly inside the Meta-human prison with his hands behind his back. Eobard gazed at his young nemesis, both of them not wanting to work together but to get what both of them wanted, they did not have a choice. Barry wanting to save his mother, and Eobard wanting to return back to his time.

"Well," Eobard started, "you hold both of our futures in your hands now Mr. Allen, and I know you can do it."

Barry looked at him, not wanting to believe a single word that came out of his mouth, but his words did comfort him and gave him a certain amount of confidence, even knowing what the consequences could be.

"Now, run...Barry. Run." Eobard spoke, the same words he uttered when Barry first became The Flash.

Barry took a couple of steps back before speeding off. Running fiercely around the Particle Accelerator as Eobard watched carefully from his prison, keeping up with his movements he passes by his cell.

In the lab, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Joe, Ronnie, and Professor Stein monitored this moment.

"The Accelerator's structural integrity is holding." Ronnie observed before a tremor broke through the facility.

"What was that?" Joe asked alarmingly, "Is Barry ok?"

"Yea," Cisco answered, "he just passed Mach 2."

Back in the accelerator, Barry kept running. Getting faster with each lap when he notice there was a blue energy all around him, then he heard a voice.

"I was waiting for you to bring Barry home."

Barry looked up as he saw an image of him as a child when Joe first took him in after his mother's murder.

"Looks like Barry is going to be staying with us for a while." Joe said in that flashback.

Barry then looked over to see a person who looked a lot like Caitlin, except her appearance was different, she looked...cold, and he watched as ice came from her hand. Barry looked over again to see what looked like a museum with what looked like a statue of The Flash in front.

"Barry what you are seeing is the Speed Force. Your past, your present, your future, ALL at once." Barry heard Eobard say before looking at another image of himself in prison.

"So you need to focus on where you want to go. So think about...that night. Think about your mother." Eobard continued.

Barry closed his eyes as thought about moments from the night of his mother's murder, then images started manifesting in the Speed Force.

"It's working..." Eobard said with relief, "It's working."

Barry kept running until he heard someone call out to him.

"Barry! You have to stop!" Barry looked over and saw himself running beside him.

"What the hell?" Barry thought.

In the lab, Professor Stein's coffee floated from its cup.

"Inject the hydrogen particle now." Professor Stein commanded.

Cisco hesitated for a moment, then injected the particle. In the Particle Accelerator, the second flash grabbed Barry and pulled him to the side as they both disappeared.

"What's that, what happened!?" Iris said frantically.

"Barry, he's gone." Caitlin answered.

"The worm hole, it is stable. Start the clock!" Professor Stein said.

On an unknown rooftop, a white ball of light, mist, and electricity started forming when Barry came rolling uncontrollably on the ground of the rooftop as the 2nd Flash simply slid to stop. Barry gathered himself from the sudden blindside as he looked at the other Flash in shock.

"You're...me? Future me?" Barry said.

The other Flash pulled his mask back and revealed his face to Barry.

"That's right." Future Barry responded.

Barry then pulled his mask back and observed his older self's physical features. He was more matured in the face but still retained the youthfulness that Barry always had. Future Barry's hair showed more blond than he ever had. His suit was the same as the one that he already had on with minor alterations.

Future Barry's suit was a lighter red, almost scarlet. The yellow lining on the suit was more prominent and the emblem on his chest was white instead of red. Future Barry walked up to his younger self and pulled him up from the ground.

"Where is this? Why did you stop me!?" Barry asked his future self.

"Calm down Barry. We're in Central City of my time, 2024." Future Barry responded.

Barry looked around, it was daylight and he saw that all the buildings looked more modern, almost as if they were rebuilt over the years.

Barry looked at his future self, "You still haven't answered why you stopped me."

"I stopped you because I didn't want you to make a time changing disaster." Future Barry responded.

"A disaster? What are you talking about? I'm trying to save my mom, OUR mom. In what future do I not want my family reunited!? What could possibly happen from saving my mother!?"

"Because I tried saving her already Barry!" Future Barry yelled to his younger self before taking a couple of deep breaths, "I went back in time a while back to save my mother. I succeeded. And in doing that, when I ran back to my time everything had changed. I came back to a Meta-human nuclear warfare."

Younger Barry was shocked from what he had heard, he didn't want to believe it but he saw the pain on his older self's face. This is him, and he knew he wouldn't lie about something this serious.

"So you're telling me, you came back to an alternate time of war...all from saving mom?"

"Yes. After living in that alternate time, I knew I had to go back and fix things. So I went back and stopped myself from saving mom, just as I'm stopping you." Future Barry answered.

"And you're also telling me that there is now way to save her..."

"...yes." Future Barry answered as he saw his younger self try to hold his tears back.

"But how did you know that I was going back in time?" Barry asked his future self as he gathered himself.

"I've been monitoring the situation in your time for a while, that's how I knew. I knew Eobard was using you. I've known Eobard for a while, Barry. We've been in battle for longer than I can remember. He knew what would happen if you went back and saved her, but it didn't matter to him as long as he got the time sphere. His plan wasn't to go home, his plan was to go to another time and kill a Flash so that he can regain the Speed Force. In doing that, he can travel time as he pleases. That's why I got to you as fast as I could and that's why you must stop him."

"So he was still one step ahead, but why me? Why can't you go back and stop him? You'll have a WAY better chance than I ever would."

"Just by going back to save you from the Reverse Flash as a kid and even talking to you right now, we've altered many time lines. I already have Rip Hunter on my tail as it is."

"Rip who?"

Future Barry smiled, "You'll meet him soon enough. Now go back, beat The Man in Yellow. I know you can Barry, you're me. You just have to believe."

Barry looked at his Future self and nodded as he placed his mask back on. His future self stepped to the side as he watched his younger self speed through the time hole.

Back in 2015, Eobard looked at the time hole as he whispered to himself, "Home." Then the time hole started fluctuating and The Flash flew out of the time hole, making a deadline straight for the time sphere.