Finally Barry understood. He understood why Iris never seemed to feel the same, why she was with Eddie and not him. She wasn't his soul mate.

This criminal was.

As soon as he saw his face, Barry knew. He thought that feeling in his gut that he got whenever he saw Iris was bad, but this was something else. A pinprick to a stab wound. He'd almost tripped over his own feet when he first saw his face, and it was only his own momentum that had kept him going. What was he supposed to do here? Send the guy to prison and be there in 25 years when he was finally released? Join him in a life of crime? Let him go and live the rest of his life having clandestine meetings with a criminal and a murderer?

Or just ignore it? He was the Flash, he couldn't… he couldn't love a criminal. It had to be a mistake. Could people have more than one soulmate? Was that even what this was? He tried to convince himself otherwise, but the feeling was unmistakable. All the love songs and rom-coms had gotten it right. He was drawn to him like a magnet. Even now, he just wanted to run back there.

Barry crouched down in an alley a block away, panicking. Caitlin and Cisco were in his ear asking what was wrong but he couldn't bring himself to answer, shutting off the comm link. This was… It couldn't be right. No matter how much the universe wanted to shit on him, he could not accept that he would fall for a girl destined to be with someone else only to become soulmates with someone he could never be with.

Hm, maybe he should call Felicity. They were both fated to be alone, it seemed. But could they live like that, staying together when they both knew the other had a soulmate out there somewhere? Surely, surely some people must live happily with people who aren't their soul mates. The ones that never meet, the ones that die. Before he'd experienced this feeling Barry would've happily spent his life with Iris, soulmate or not.

Barry walked home, no doubt attracting strange looks as he walked past countless people still in costume. They probably figured a convention was in town. He could have run, but he just wanted to think. The comm kept bussing in his ear as Caitlin and Cisco tried to restart the connection, but he kept shutting it down. Let them think whatever they wanted to, he couldn't talk to them right now. Not when he'd failed as a hero so early in his career. What would Oliver think if he could see him now?

When he was only a few miles from his house he sped the rest of the way. He was about to break down, and a crying guy in a red skin-tight leather costume would attract far more attention than he wanted right now. He was in his house and halfway up to his room when he spotted Felicity perched on the couch. He stopped in front of the stairs, why on earth was she here?

"Felicity?"

"Barry? Thank god!" She jumped up, running round the couch to hug him. "I went to check on you at the precinct but you weren't there, this guy Joe told me to come here. I was going to call but you left your phone…" She hit him on the arm, a playful swat on the arm that was probably harder than she intended. "Don't do that to me, Barry Allen!"

"Ow! Felicity, I'm sorry! I-" He stopped, because right in front of him was the one person he knew who might possibly understand. It was clear to everyone that she and Oliver were soulmates, and it was just as obvious that whilst he was the Arrow they could never be together. He pulled back his mask and held his head in his hands. "It happened."

Her face immediately softened. There was only one thing 'it happened' could mean. "Who? How?" She asked, trying to look into his eyes even as he bowed his head.

He opened his mouth to speak, but instead a sob tore its way out of his chest.

She pulled him into an embrace, holding him in her arms as he fought back the tears in his eyes. "It was someone you can't be with, wasn't it?"

He mumbled a sound of affirmation against her shoulder. "It'll works itself out," she said, "these things always do."

Barry pulled away from her slightly. "You really believe that?"

She nodded. "I have to."

It was at that moment his phone rang. Felicity must have brought his stuff back from the lab. She turned to look at it. "It's Joe. He keeps calling, and he asked me to tell you that there was a crime scene to attend."

He sighed, speeding over to his phone and into his normal clothes. "No point avoiding it I guess." He picked up the phone and answered Joe's call.

"Barry! Where've you been? I been calling you."

"Yeah, sorry, Joe. Had some business to attend to."

He heard Joe snort on the other end of the line. "Bet you did. Anyway, come on down to the precinct. We need to catch this guy." He paused for a moment. "Unless that's what you were doing. Is that what you were doing?"

Barry sighed. "No, but…"

"But what?"

"I saw his face, Joe." He looked at Felicity sadly. "I can ID him."

Felicity seemed to deflate at his words, and Barry felt exactly the same. But there was no choice here. He had to do what was right. Make Oliver proud, make Harrison Wells and the team proud, his dad. His mom. He had to be a hero. Had to do what was right.