The worst part, unfair because of how hopeful it left them for fleeting moments, was that Barry could have a normal conversation for a sentence or two, but then it would dissolve and Eddie would have to remind himself that Iris's best friend and brother wasn't as present as he seemed.

He'd barely even known about Barry before the young man's accident put him in a coma for months. During that time, Eddie grew closer to Iris, and was happy for it, but he hated that the whole reason they got that chance was because someone else had been hurt. Somehow, it might have all been worth it if Barry had woken up okay, even still with his powers, like Wally, as long as his mind was clear. Like this, Eddie wondered if he'd ever get to know the man who meant so much to Iris.

How could Eddie propose and ask her to be his forever when her best friend couldn't stand up with them? She'd confessed that she used to imagine her wedding as a little girl, different ideas over the years about who the groom might be, but always was Barry her Man of Honor.

She'd talk to him for hours, trying to latch on to specific moments, a phrase here or there that reminded her of an old conversation, and she'd follow the thread for as long as Barry let her.

"I dragged you to see Silent Hill that night, remember? Because I love horror movies, and you hate them, but it's no fun seeing them alone."

"Sean Bean lives in that one."

"He does! And you had a nightmare afterward and slept on my floor, and I tried to cheer you up by listing all the movies he either dies, turns evil—"

"Or both!" Barry finished with a giggle. He had an infectious laugh that always spread to Iris quickly, prompting Eddie to chuckle with them as he looked on and saw how connected they were.

But like all times before it, Barry's eyes began to drift. "I don't like stories about moms that get lost," he said, sounding so sad, like maybe he'd said those words when he was much younger.

"I know, Barr," Iris cringed and reached to take his hand.

"Actually, I prefer three sugars, thanks," Barry pulled away to reach for his marker, always nearby, always what he sought before long, "thanks, blanks, banks—he used to rob banks, you know, but rarely even knocks off a convenience store these days," he said like that was an in-joke none of them understood because he wasn't talking to them anymore.

Eddie couldn't call on old memories like Iris, so he used his time with Barry, sometimes with her still there but needing a break, to tell Barry about him. His favorite bands and food and subjects in school once upon a time, and especially his favorite TV shows and movies, since he enjoyed horror movies just as much as Iris did.

"That means you don't have to bite the bullet anymore, buddy. We'll invite you along for the cheesy action flicks, huh? And sci-fi? You love that sort of thing, right?"

Cisco was in the room that day, scanning Barry's symbols for new iterations to aid in his decryption, and Barry turned to him, as if continuing a separate conversation.

"Yeah, and every time at the end, you turn to me and say, 'I have been and always shall be your friend'."

"What?" Cisco spun about to face him. "Did you just quote Wrath of Khan at me? Is this a bonding moment, coz dude, I will whip out Star Trek right now in the break room, don't even tempt me."

They'd done it too—just Barry, Cisco, and Eddie, since Iris wouldn't get off work for hours, and it had been agreed that someone always had to be with Barry. They marathoned Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock until Wells came looking for Cisco, then Eddie stopped for the day since he didn't want to watch Star Trek IV without Iris when he knew how much she loved 'the whale one'.

Barry hadn't really watched the movies with them, more like glanced on occasion, laughed, or echoed a line here or there throughout, the rest of his time spent drawing on the walls, like he had almost everywhere else on the main floor of STAR Labs.

At night they put him in the Pipeline, which Joe and Iris hated, but they couldn't risk anything else. Barry only slept four hours a night, then he was back to his drawing, and every so often, a certain touch or phrase or even nothing at all would send him zipping around the Labs like that first day he revealed his powers.

At least now, Wally could catch up to slow him down.

It had started as just tests to see how fast Wally was and figure out what else his powers could do, which in turn they knew might lead to discoveries about Barry, but when the case against Mardon got more heated, Wally demanded to offer aid because he could, because his abilities gave him an advantage when Mardon had his own unbelievable powers at his disposal.

The weather, he controlled the weather like some sort of wizard, Cisco had said—like Barry said, days earlier as if he knew, but how could he know the future when much of the time his mind was in the past? They chalked it up to coincidence that first time and focused on supporting Wally even when Joe flat out said no.

Cisco was so excited at the thought of training a superhero, he'd already had a costume made to keep Wally's identity secret, much to Joe's dismay, but in the end, they'd taken Mardon down together without anyone getting hurt.

Eddie hadn't planned to be there with them. He was at the Labs, but when Wally suited up to head out to his father's aid, Barry had grabbed Eddie's wrist, looked at him and said, "Eddie," for the first time, his name, "Joe doesn't need to. He doesn't. You can help, but be careful, okay?"

"Barry? Do you know something we don't?"

Barry nodded, but what he said was, "I have a feeling she's gonna want to hyphenate."

The flush that filled Eddie's face burned his cheeks, but he didn't have time to wonder if Barry knew about the ring in his pocket.

He told Wally to take him along, and the kid obeyed with a dizzying whirlwind Eddie wasn't sure he ever wanted to experience again, but then they were there to work as a team to take Mardon down. Wally used a true whirlwind to subdue Mardon, moving so fast around him that the air sucked away and he passed out from lack of oxygen. Then the boy zipped Mardon back to STAR Labs to hold him in the Pipeline the same way they kept Barry, ensuring he couldn't hurt anyone until they learned more about what the Accelerator Explosion had done to people, and how many other 'meta humans' might appear.

The only thing Eddie couldn't be sure about was what Barry had meant by 'Joe doesn't need to' but he was glad none of them had been pushed to do anything they might have regretted later.

"We need a name for you," Cisco said, all of them huddled around Wally after Mardon's capture.

"The Streak?" Iris suggested.

"The Blur?" Eddie tried.

"You move so fast, man, it's like you get places in a…" Cisco trailed, eyes lighting up as he met Wally's gaze and they said at the same time, "flash."

"Guys, I am totally The Flash," Wally declared.

"More like Kid Flash," Barry said from his whiteboard. After Cisco realized the pattern of symbols repeated, they'd felt better about erasing Barry's drawings as he went, so the whiteboard was fresh and new for him again.

"That's it," Iris said with a small smile at Barry's turned back, "that's the name."

"What?" Wally lamented. "Kid Flash? Uh, come on…"

They all laughed, and somehow the disaster of everything that had happened seemed lighter again, even with the potential for dozens maybe more powerful metas out there like Mardon.

Frankly, Eddie was glad that if things had to be this way, at least they were in it together, to watch out for Barry, and to watch over Wally as he played hero in this strange new world with criminals he wasn't sure the CCPD could handle without help.

XXXXX

Sometimes Wally couldn't believe he had a brand new family—a father, sister, and brother, as well as the new friends he'd made in Cisco, Eddie, and Caitlin, and a mentor in Wells. It was surreal enough to have that brand new support system when he needed it most, concerned for his mother and struggling through school, but now he was a superhero to boot, something he hadn't realized he couldn't live without until he had it.

He didn't want his mother to know about his abilities or his night job, she was going through enough, but they'd all met and managed to work through an awkward meal or two. Iris had a tougher time accepting Francine than Wally did Joe, which made sense. Joe never knew he exited, but Francine had always known she had a daughter out there she wasn't willing to see simply because she was ashamed. There wasn't anything to say other than apologies and a wiliness to move forward with the time they had.

One thing Wally didn't expect and never would have asked for was Wells offering to pay for Francine's treatments, even though Caitlin and many other doctors had confirmed that there was no cure for MacGregor's Syndrome.

"Consider it your internship pay," Wells said.

"Ain't that a little much?"

"You're in your current situation because I brought you here…Kid Flash."

"Yeah, but that I kinda love," Wally said. "It also brought me to my family, even if it was an accident. I owe you everything, Dr. Wells."

"Just keep getting faster. I'll worry about the rest."

They were lucky to have such a kind supporter when most people in the world only cared about using others. Mardon proved that. Got superpowers and the first thing he did was hurt people with it.

Whenever Wally wasn't at classes, which he'd kept at Keystone instead of transferring to CCU since he could get to the neighboring city in less time than his old commute, he spent more time at STAR Labs training and hanging around Barry than anyone else.

The idea that Barry wasn't his real brother never even dawned on him. Barry had grown up with Iris for more years than he'd been an only child. He'd been raised by Joe for more years than his own father. Barry was a West even if not by name, whereas Wally was the one learning what being a West meant, even if he already had the name and blood in his veins.

Joe and Iris told him about Barry's situation—about his mother and father and so many years spent hoping to prove his father's innocence. Joe was adamant that Barry was wrong, but Iris had an open mind, if only because Barry had always been so certain. Wally didn't know what to think, but he felt for his brother who already knew what it was like to lose a parent.

They ate lunch together every day, sometimes dinner too, because both Wally and Barry needed to eat a ridiculous amount. Wally had found that out the hard way, but as long as Barry didn't use his abilities, he didn't need to consume the full 10,000 calories Wally had each day.

Since Wally didn't know how to veer Barry down a memory thread like his family, he simply responded to everything Barry said as if it was perfectly normal.

"Joe tries too hard sometimes, ya know? When I need him to back off for a while, I start telling him specifics about classwork or how Caitlin and Cisco are working on my speed."

"In other words, make up some sciency stuff to throw him off?"

"Exactly!" Wally laughed, always thrilled when Barry's responses matched enough that he could forget they were having separate conversations. "We should race sometime, man, it would be so much fun. Just inside the Accelerator. I bet we could get Wells to agree to let you run a mile at least."

"I can do it in three," Barry said with a touch of pride, taking a bite of his sandwich, while one hand doodled in a notebook they'd given him.

"Wanna bet?" Wally said.

"I have mad skills. Key Club, Astronomy Club, and Yearbook."

"And anime club," Iris called, peeking at them as if she'd been watching from the doorway for a while now.

This side room was Barry's whenever he wasn't in his cell or with the others in the Cortex, because it had the most empty surface areas—a table, mini fridge, bathroom just outside, almost everything he needed to pass the time on autopilot for the few minutes he might be alone each day.

"Anime club, really?" Wally asked.

"Oh yeah," Iris said as she entered, "he loved Dragon Ball Z."

"I definitely had quite the nerd thing going on, huh?" Barry said, right in line with their discussion again.

"Dude, have you seen Abridged?" Wally said. "I have to show it to you."

"Abridged?" Iris repeated.

"It's like they take DBZ and cut out all the filler, so it's more fast-paced."

She snickered as she sat down with them. "A speedster preferring something fast-paced, you don't say."

"Come on, man," Wally looked to Barry again, "I'll show you the first episodes after lunch before Wells pulls me away for training."

One of those brief, beautiful moments passed where Barry seemed entirely grounded. "You keep the stars dim," he said.

"Yeah?" Wally brightened, because they'd come to realize that it was his repetition and ranting that was the part of him most trying to communicate and not just memories or strange predictions of the future they weren't sure they believed.

"An old trick, and an old friend," Barry said. "Funny thing about holograms. They're just pale reflections of the real deal."

Then the moment passed, and Barry didn't make sense again, at least not that they could figure out.

"That's cool, man, yeah," Wally said, patting Barry's arm, which encouraged him to take another bite of his sandwich but made the ever-present crinkle in Iris's brow deepen.

Wally wished he could have known his brother the way he truly was. Maybe someday. For now, this had to be enough.

XXXXX

There were times when Barry was so adamant about telling them something, as if he knew important information but didn't know how to express it, yet it always dissolved before he could explain, if his words meant anything at all.

Caitlin would follow him down to the Pipeline where he'd watch the cells—from the monitor, not pulling any forward to look the occupants in the eyes, which Caitlin would have stopped if he'd tried. He just stared at Mardon, at Nimbus in the Pipeline now too, with a serious frown.

"They shouldn't be here."

"I know, Barry, we'll figure out something else eventually. Maybe we could reform them?"

"Some, yes, but not them."

She startled at the moment of lucidity. "You could be right, they seem more on the sociopathic side, unfortunately."

"But the next one is a good man," he said, subtle smile tugging at his lips, "deep down."

"You know the next meta human?" she asked, holding still so as not to break the spell.

"Not a meta, just a man."

"Who, Barry? Who are you talking about?"

"He's a Legend," Barry's smile stretched wider when he looked at her. "I miss him. My nemesis."

"Nemesis? What do you—"

"I can't change what happened between us in the past," Barry's gaze drifting again, "but I can offer you a chance to change what happens in our future."

"Barry—"

"Fear makes us do a lot of things we sh-shoulda, coulda, woulda. Would you make the stars be quiet, please, I can't think," he grabbed either side of his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

Caitlin sighed. "Come on, Barry, let's take you back to your room."

The one thing that always calmed him was drawing, though they still had no idea what the symbols meant. If only they could get those lucid moments to last longer, but Barry had stalled, like his mind was waiting for some trigger to push him the next mile forward.

XXXXX

Nemesis. The Reverse Flash was Barry's nemesis, but Eobard knew he meant someone else. A Legend. Nonsense. Snart was only a two-bit thief, but Barry had always gravitated toward the man like he was worth more than reality.

Snart had been a thorn in Eobard's side before, but his appearance now would slow everything down if Barry's predictions panned out. The only potential saving grace was that Barry's mind might be too far ahead of them. After all, Snart shouldn't be a problem for some time yet. He didn't create the cold gun for years.

As long as nothing happened to change that trajectory, the future was still on course.

XXXXX

Cisco would have chalked Barry up to being plain cray-cray if not for those moments when he responded to exactly what they were saying, or recommended solutions that were real answers to their problems. Even more remarkable was when he'd draw something other than his symbols.

One day, Cisco came in after a quick bathroom break to find the whiteboard strewn with real equations and a blueprint for what looked like handcuffs.

Another time he returned to a full schematic for redesigned jail cells well beyond what the Pipeline was capable of to negate meta human abilities. Every time, Cisco looked into what Barry had left for them, and the work was flawless, something he believed he would have come up with if given more time, even with some of his own signature to it, as if Barry could read his mind—or the future.

Then there were moments like today when Barry fell into step with Wally as if they were both Central City's finest.

The idea was to test Wally's ability to multitask, having him play chess with Dr. Wells, Operation with Caitlin, and ping-pong with Cisco at the same time, but while he was killing at all three, time and again Barry would zip in to take his place and make a move in his stead.

It was a whirlwind of red and yellow that was actually pretty fun. Cisco didn't understand how the pair never ran into each other, but he supposed to them, they were each moving at a speed they could react to, even though Wally never told Barry to knock it off or watch out, he merely laughed and groaned or good-naturedly pushed Barry in the shoulder when he beat him. Barry was clearly having fun too, and anything that got him away from his scrawling symbols was a bonus.

"Checkmate," Barry finally said, giving a winning move at the chessboard while Wally finished an expert shot at ping-pong and completed Operation moments later without a single buzz at the sides.

"You suck, dude," Cisco moaned.

Wally was still laughing as he flashed to Barry's side in front of Wells to pat him on the back, a little out of breath but having enjoyed the race that pushed his limits.

Wells looked more impressed at being beaten in a game of strategy than at either of their speeds. "Now, now, Mr. Allen. Wally still has much to learn. We can't make everything easy on him."

Barry just smiled, but before he could say anything, an alert sounded through the Cortex that brought Cisco running to the computer terminal.

"Heads up, guys! I think we got something. Armed robbery at 4th and Collins."

In seconds, Wally had zipped into his suit, eager to hit the streets. Barry rarely had a reaction to the commotion of Kid Flash, but today, he moved across the Cortex to peer over Cisco's shoulder.

"Gonna help us keep an eye on things today, pal?" Cisco said.

For some reason, Barry had never looked so happy. "No strings on me."

XXXXX

They had 182 seconds. Len needed less than half that.

What he didn't expect was the blur of yellow that zipped past him when he dove from the truck, knocking him to the ground inhumanly fast. It also wasn't at all kosher that one of his men had taken it upon himself to shoot a guard. Sloppy. Not to mention against the rules.

The blur though, that was something. Must be this Kid Flash everyone was talking about. Len should have been upset, and he was—with his negligent crewmate—but having the challenge upped when it came to carrying out a good heist, especially one he'd spent six months fine-tuning, had him intrigued.

Even with the job ruined, maybe Central was worth sticking around for a while. And after all, he still needed to get his hands on that diamond.

XXXXX

Barry had been right—again. Troubling.

Snart had made his grand entrance after all, and what was worse was that Cisco had veered the timeline even further by creating the cold gun. Snart would have made his own in time, but now he would have his weapon of choice sooner because Cisco was too clever for his own good, and some janitor had stolen things right from under their noses, no doubt about to sell the gun to a specific bidder any time now.

Eobard couldn't allow for anymore sidetracking. He might have gotten too intense with Cisco when he called him out on making the weapon, but subtly wasn't something he could afford for much longer.

His life and future depended on everything going to plan. No one and nothing else mattered.

XXXXX

"Leonard Snart? That's almost as bad as Bartholomew, right, Barry?" Wally joked, so at ease with him, which was part of what had endeared Iris to her brother in only weeks' time. He was a good kid, amazing, really, with or without the powers.

"We should start a club," Barry said, and Wally snickered.

There was something about this heist that had Barry abandoning his scribbles more than usual, alert to what everyone was doing, even if the words that left him were still fragmented.

Wells kept passing Barry concerned, cryptic looks. He must have noticed the change too.

What startled Iris the next day, however, was Barry's cell phone going off in her purse. She kept it with her, charged and handy in case anyone who didn't know about Barry's condition tried to reach him. The name that blinked at her now was 'Felicity Smoak'.

"Hello? Felicity?"

"Um, yes? I'd ask if I have a wrong number but that would make you knowing my name far more unsettling."

"This is Iris. Iris West."

"Barry's Iris? Not that you're his or anything, or that he'd ever want you to be, why would that ever even come up? Sorry, I'm rambling. Is Barry there? Is he okay? I heard he woke up from the coma."

"He did. And he's right next to me actually," Iris glanced at Barry working on calculations that had nothing to do with his circular symbols today but were something she understood even less. "He can't really talk though. Are you in town?"

"Yeah, I am. I was hoping to see him."

"You should come to STAR Labs then, but I should warn you, he isn't the same Barry you met."

Felicity was everything Iris expected after the way Barry had described her. Beautiful, fiercely intelligent, and a master at talking herself in circles, all of which reminded Iris so much of Barry, it was no wonder he'd glowed when he talked about her. She'd be perfect for him.

The sympathy in her eyes when she saw Barry spoke of real affection too. Iris didn't second guess for a second inviting Felicity to the Labs.

For now, they were in Barry's room, where he was strangely calm and immobile like he was waiting for something, his blueprints on the whiteboard finished now, depicting what looked like some sort of gun.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, Barry," Felicity said, sitting with him at the table, with Iris on his other side, "things have just been really busy at, um, work."

"Yeah," Barry nodded, turning to Iris, "Felicity works with The Arrow."

"What?" Iris gawked at him.

"Okay," Felicity turned two shades paler. "That confirms those fears. Crap. Um…"

"You know who The Arrow is?" Iris said, unable to contain her eagerness. Barry had clearly had far more happen to him in Starling than solving an unexplainable case. "Wait, Barry," she focused back on him, "you know who The Arrow is?"

Barry's lips parted, but Felicity pounced, hands shooting out to cover his mouth, which she then flinched back with a cringe. "Sorry, it's just…Barry, you're supposed to keep that a secret, remember?"

"You just outed my secret identity to a super villain," he said with equal accusation.

"Um, what? Your secret identity?" Felicity frowned, looking about the room as if some obvious puzzle piece had to be nearby, which was true to some extent, but then the clever gears in her head began to spin. "Wait, you're not…oh my god, Barry, are you Kid Flash? No wait, that can't be right, I've seen pictures…" she turned scrutinizing eyebrows onto Iris next.

Wally, of course, chose that moment to flash into the room, sans suit or any mask, with a kick of lightning at his heels.

"Hey, Barr, what's—oh, uh…" his eyes went perfect deer-in-headlights wide, "I don't know you, and I just…I can explain…" he held out his hands.

"Kid Flash?" Felicity said with a grin.

Iris still refused to regret her decision. "Felicity, this is my brother Wally. And we have a lot to fill you in on."

"Hi," Felicity said, rising from her seat as Wally came over, "Felicity Smoak."

"Wally West," he took her hand with a bashful shrug.

"Barry Allen," Barry said. "But you both already knew that."

A laugh left Iris before she could help it. She wanted more time for all of them to talk and digest these revelations, but unfortunately, Leonard Snart had other ideas.

"Guys," Cisco's voice came over the speakers. "Joe has a visual on Snart at the museum. Time to suit up, KF."

The three of them rushed for the Cortex, Wally flashing ahead to get into costume. Cisco was accompanied by Caitlin and Wells by the time Iris and Felicity joined them, with Barry appearing as if he'd been in step with them all along.

A moment later, Wally was gone, but the others paused to gape at the newcomer.

"Hi," Felicity waved feebly.

"Miss West, what is the meaning of—"

"I have to go," Barry said before Wells could finish.

Everyone stared. If he had been more rambling and off-kilter, Iris might have ignored the words, but Barry's posture, his focus, all of it was more determined than she'd seen him all these weeks.

"Go where, Barry?" she asked, and he turned to look right at her with that rare glimpse of clarity.

"He doesn't mean to kill anyone. He thought I was fast enough, but I wasn't yet. I am now. I can get there before Wally does so no one has to die."

"Barry—" Iris tried, terrified of what he might mean.

But a shock of lightning later, Barry was gone.

XXXXX

Len could admit it—he was having fun. And that hadn't happened in a good long while.

Sure, he'd had to thin the herd of his crew, there was no room for fools who couldn't take orders to keep the heat off, but this, just Len and a new challenge, reminded him of the thrill he used to get from his best heists.

Back then it was about not getting caught, but the most fun was when he did, when there was a chase, when there was some danger involved and an added dose of adrenaline. The chase was that much sweeter against someone as fast as Kid Flash.

"Time for a test run," he said once the kid was in his sights at the theater. "Let's see how fast you are."

He knew Kid Flash was impossibly quick, but he needed to know what sort of hero he was dealing with. So he aimed for civilians, certain that his enemy was fast enough to save them, he just needed to be sure that he would.

One by one, the boy dove in to save each person or pair from the cold gun's blast in the nick of time, but when Len whirled about to point down the aisle into the dregs of the theater itself, in the split second that he saw worry on Kid Flash's face, he feared he'd guessed wrong and that an innocent man was about to pay the price.

Len watched, breath held when he should have been on guard, but in his mind, he repeated the mantra—come on, kid, come on.

It all happened in seconds, and what Len saw was Kid Flash being too slow to reach the usher in time, yet in the same moment the picture changed.

The hero stumbled at the front of the theater, running into the coating of ice that had preceded him, slipping and falling to the floor, but the usher was no longer there. He stood to the left, safe, where a second fresh flicker of yellow lightning so similar to the speedster's had heralded the arrival of someone new.

Len didn't know this man—young, brunette, boyish and smiling, wearing sweats and a STAR Labs T-shirt of all things like he'd just come from a workout, though he hardly looked out of breath—yet there he was, having saved the usher in the hero's place, as fast as Len had hoped for.

"It's just a matter of time," the stranger said to him, beautiful and unexpected, and then, in the next moment, he, the usher, Kid Flash, and everyone else, all vanished in a blink.

XXXXX

Eobard held back during the initial chaos of Barry's return. The broken boy's only answer to what had become of the usher was, "He's safe, home," before his words tumbled into fragments.

Somehow he'd flashed both Wally and West to the Labs after taking the usher to safety, faster than should be possible, far faster than Wally was—fast enough to bring Eobard home if his power could be harnessed. But this was the first time Barry had left the labs in all these weeks. They'd never worried about locking doors and had long since stopped keeping him in the Pipeline except at night.

West tried to devolve into ranting and raving that Barry had to be careful, had to stay here, couldn't risk interfering like that again, but Wally was so grateful Barry had come to his aid.

"I wasn't fast enough. If you hadn't been there, Barry…"

Iris broke up West's pleas of frantic fatherly concern, shushing them all to calm down, no one had been hurt, it all turned out okay save Snart's retreat. And now they knew something else, something Eobard had already predicted—that Snart had the cold gun.

Cisco admitted to the others that he was the one who'd made it as a failsafe against Barry months ago before he woke up and they knew if he was a good man. Of course, now, from their perspective, it made sense to have something around that could stop Barry, but the cold gun meant any speedster could be slowed, and Eobard needed one or both of them to go faster than they'd ever dreamed, as fast as Barry had gone tonight.

Eobard played his part as necessary, rising to Cisco's defense, wishing Wally well, offering his condolences and his relief that no one had been killed, but as soon as the others were preoccupied with discussion on how to stop Snart next or ways to keep Barry at STAR Labs without making him a prisoner, he inched ever closer to Barry's side where the young man had descended on a wall to draw.

"You know, don't you?" Eobard whispered, staring daggers at Barry's profile like a threat because he wondered now if that's what was needed.

Barry paused, lowered his marker, centered his bright eyes right through Eobard's soul, and said, "I forgive you."

Loathing and terror bristled in the pit of Eobard's stomach. "Tell me," he hissed, low to be sure no one heard them but still adamant. "Do you know who I am?"

"A very sad man," Barry said, as if everything else had fallen away. Then, like any time before, his calm seriousness cracked. "Man with the plan. Even with my powers, I'm still powerless against him. It's beautiful, you know, like galaxies dying and being born all at once, but the way they sing and scream and call to me, I c-can't…" he dug the heel of his palm into his temple as if to stay a piecing pain, "I…I-I…I'm going full nerd again, aren't I?" he laughed, and the next moment, Iris was there to lead him away.

Eobard allowed it. He couldn't risk lashing out, even if he worried what might come next. Perhaps, someday soon, he'd have to do something drastic, but given recent events, maybe the person he most needed to worry about was Leonard Snart.


TBC...