Central City, June 2018
Nora Allen paced outside of the West family home, her heart beating rapidly at what had just happened. She had failed to prevent her sister, Dawn, from changing the timeline, and she was at a loss at what to do. We never should have came here, she told herself frantically, trying to calm herself down, and failing miserably.
Indeed, the twins were in deep trouble, and it seemed that Nora was the only one who realized that meddling with time could have catastrophic butterfly effects. Frankly, she was afraid of what changes would happen to her life if she were to return to the future—or her present. Not that she could. She just wasn't fast enough, not without her sister, and she knew Dawn wasn't going to stop changing the timeline now that she has gotten a taste for "righting" the wrongs that had been done to her in the future—or their present. Ugh this is confusing! Nora said to herself.
Having nowhere and no one to go to, Nora deduced that, while she was fairly good at solving her own problems, she wasn't going to figure out how to fix this colossal mess on her own. After failing to stop Dawn, Nora knew that what she was doing was sheerly hypocritical, but surely asking for Team Flash's help certainly couldn't be as bad as what other things Dawn could do, right?
Finally summing up the courage and self-assurance that asking for help was the best course of action, Nora knocked on the door and nearly jumped as she came face to face with her father for the first time in her life. He seemed perplexed, his facial expression showing that he recognized her to some extent, somehow. Her nerves kicked in, and she walked past him, her heart palpitating even faster now.
"Hi," she said a bit too giddily, barely acknowledged by her father's rather confused response, "We need to talk."
Coast City, June 2044
It all began on a warm June morning as the two sisters, Nora and Dawn, walked down the street to visit their mother, Iris. The twin sisters may have shared the same face, but that was where the similarities ended.
Nora was the more mature of the two, clad in a plaid flannel jacket, plain white shirt, and simple blue jeans, her brown hair cut short. Out of the two, Nora was the one who always kept to herself, focused intently upon her academics and often very much opposed to stepping out of line. She was typically one to think things over insightfully, and as a child did everything in her power to make her constantly sad mother proud of her. She kept her head down, opting to avoid drama and trouble. Dawn, however, was the complete opposite of her sister.
Dressed in a retro arcade tank top and form fitting ripped black jeans and sporting a fishtail braid of slightly dyed auburn hair, Dawn looked much different than the woman walking next to her. Dawn was a quirky science geek and the more outgoing of the two, easily making friends and attracting guys, which was not all that hard as she was very bubbly and knowledgeable in all sorts of pop culture—just the right amount of nerdy to make anyone like her. Dawn, however, had a streak of being impulsive, a very bad thing to be, given the powers that they possessed and what happened to those whose powers showed.
Yes, the two twins were nothing alike, so it only made sense that, as twenty-five year-olds, they almost never did anything together. This day, however, was an exception. Nora and Dawn always agreed to dedicate this day to spending their time with their mother, as this was the day that their father died.
"Do you think she'll finally tell us who he was?" Dawn asked her sister. It was always the same question each year, without fail. Nora always gave the same answer.
"No," she answered her sister bluntly. Iris didn't tell them anything about who their dad was, not even a name. Nora couldn't see why their mother would suddenly decide to tell them more if she hadn't done so already. All the twins knew about their father was that he died in a horrible accident—no specifics, no other details. They didn't even know his name, or what he looked like.
"She can't keep this from us much longer," Dawn huffed irritatedly. "What if he could have helped us?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if he was… you know… one one of us?" Dawn clarified, swinging her arms as if she were running in slow motion.
"You know we aren't supposed to talk about it Dawn," her sister chided, anxiously peering around to ensure nobody had overheard them.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it sis, no one can know we have super spee—" Dawn started, cut off by her twin covering her mouth in a desperate, somewhat annoyed way.
"There are patrols all across the city, do you really want those A.R.G.U.S. freaks to send us to a meta-camp?" Nora loud whispered. "Let's just not talk about it."
"'Not talking about it' is something we do often, isn't it?" Dawn said, agitated. "Being forced to hide our abilities and knowing nothing about who our dad was—does that seem like a good life to you?"
"Of course not Dawn; it sucks. But it's the only way to survive. This country hates metahumans, which we were born as. Mom helped us to control our super speed, to not use it, for a reason. If you're not going to lie low for yourself, at least do it for her."
"I hate it when you do that," Dawn told her sister.
"Do what?"
"Make sense," Dawn said with a wry smile as the duo approached their mother's house. Despite knowing that her sister was still not completely over the topic of discussion, Nora shrugged off the urge to further chastise her sister on the potential consequences of delving into curiosity.
After knocking on the door and waiting for a few seconds, the sisters were still not met with an open door. Exchanging a worried look with Dawn, Nora fished into her pocket, pulling out the spare key. Twisting the key gingerly, she then softly pushed open the door to her family home.
As the two sisters walked down the hallway, there was nothing but eerie silence. Nora couldn't help but feel worry in the pit of her stomach. Today was usually a tough time for her mother; could she have finally snapped and done something drastic? The very thought made her shudder. She could even tell that Dawn sensed something was off, as her usually talkative and boisterous sister was now quiet, her mouth not curled up in a grin, nor formed in a pout, but in a nervous, straight line.
After gently pushing open the door, the two exhaled in relief upon seeing their mother asleep, arms clutched to her chest. Fresh tear trails were still evident on Iris West's face, showing the twins the vulnerable side of their mother that so few others got to see; unfortunately, crying was an all too common scene for the twins this time of year. However, upon closer inspection, the two noticed something wrapped in their mother's arms. Dawn reached for it and found herself looking at a picture frame. Her face suddenly warped into an expression of shock as she shakily handed it over to Nora.
Nora dropped the photo with a gasp, barely managing to catch it with an impulsive burst of her speed. In the photograph, her mother stood in a sunny, lush green park, her face so much happier and youthful than Nora had ever seen, clothed in the elegant white wedding dress every woman dreamed of. However, the sight of their mother as a young, beaming bride was not the cause for the twins' shock, but rather the lanky man standing beside her. The man had his arm around their mother's shoulders, an expression of pure bliss plastered across his achingly wide smile, his tuxedo pristine perfection. What really got the twins' attention, however, were the man's eyes—a magnificent hazel, like theirs.
Suddenly everything clicked. They had learned about this man in school, of how science had warped him into a "self-righteous hero" and also from protesters who used him as a symbol for the pro meta movement. They had also heard their mother speak highly of how their father had been a selfless, compassionate man. Never would they have thought the Flash and their father were the same man.
"Our father is Barry Allen," Dawn said in awe. The words barely registered with Nora, as the very thought of being the daughter of such an icon overwhelmed her. All of a sudden, their speed made sense. Metahuman power was in their genes; they hadn't just manifested powers by accident as their mother had convinced them.
The twins were pulled out of their stupor as their mother stirred. The guilty look on her face said a thousand words to Nora. "I didn't mean for you two to find out this way."
A/N: I came up with this idea over the summer, and the thought process behind it is pretty convoluted, so I'll explain. All throughout her season 4 appearances, Nora wore a braid, then in the finale she had short hair. In the finale, she also seemed a bit more reserved and mature. From this I came up with the idea of Dawn Allen being a twin of Nora. I then mixed it with the idea from Legends of Tomorrow about metahumans being persecuted in the future, which I believe we saw when Zari was introduced (though I may be wrong).
Before more chapters go up, I just want to say that from what I've seem of Season 5, some of my ideas have already been used in some way or fashion, but I do plan to change things up. Nothing after Flash 4x23 is canon for this story, and there will be one surprise thing from Arrow season 7 that I will change in the distant future of Twins Out of Time.
Please review for more! I have chapter 2 written down and just need to type it! Also expect my next Speak Now story chapter Tuesday at the latest if you discovered me from there.