Barry was screaming.

Barry was screaming because he felt like a goddamn fool falling for this charade all over again. He wanted to curl his fingers under Zoom's mask and pull. So he could prove to himself that it really was Jay under that mask. Or maybe it was so he could prove that it wasn't.

But he couldn't do that. So he was screaming himself raw. He was going to carve out his lungs and yell until his throat throbbed and he started coughing up blood. Maybe then the pain in his chest would be justified.

The Speed Force had other ideas. It went over the damage he'd done with a touch softer than he deserved. Every physical wound Barry could hope to inflict was sealed before it had even begun to sting. All it meant was that by the time The Flash was doubled over, heaving for breath, bracing himself on his knees, his throat wasn't even sore.

He settled for the way his lungs burned as they gasped and gaped for much-needed oxygen.

"I guess we're both having shit days, huh?"

The Flash whipped his head around to face the speaker. It took him by surprise, if mainly because he'd at least expected some kind of warning from Cisco's meta alert. Next to him was Eobard Thawne, impossibly young, and standing a bit too close to the edge of the ravine for comfort. After a moment of processing, he came to the conclusion that this was not the time traveller he knew, but a result of their connection. A reflection of His Other, brought to him by the Speed Force. Perhaps it was trying to comfort him. Regardless, the fact Thawne was ridiculously tangible rather than the Speed Force's usual blurry mess was concerning.

His other's cowl has been pulled back, blond hair a ruffled mess haloing a haggard face. Slowly, the younger man turned to look at the red-clad man, and Eobard's gaze was full of a sorrow that confused him.

"Are you going to keep pretending I'm not here Flash or am I going to have to come over there and make myself apparent through other means?" Venom laced words, but they lacked a bite. Briefly, the speedster wondered what he did - or what he will do - to upset this twenty-something version of his nemesis.

"What do you want me to say?" His voice must've been absolutely breathless, but The Reverse seemed to hear him.

But judging by the rather sheepish look that suddenly flashed over his face, Thawne didn't actually expect to get a response. Which meant he was picking fights. Barry filed that away for analysis; something was bothering his other - something he was probably responsible for - and secondhand guilt compelled him to resolve the issue.

Nonetheless, a silence fell, distorted only by the rushing of the waterfall below and The Flash's ragged breathing.

Eobard opened his mouth, as if to speak, but hesitated, closing it again. Barry watched all this the way you would a predator.

"I asked you a question, kid." Turnabout's fair play. And he was itching to regain control of the situation. Though admittedly his other only looked a few years younger than he was, so perhaps calling him a kid was a bit much. Really, it just made Barry

Thawne snarled and shot, "Do you hate me?" before breaking eye contact almost immediately after spitting it out, opting instead to stare pointedly at the rushing water below them. The brunette copied the motion, letting the roaring canyon wash over his next thoughts.

I love you, He wanted to say. And I hate that I do. I would kill for you. And that terrifies me more than anything you've ever done. Because I just fell for the same damn thing twice because I was too busy praying it wouldn't be the same this time because

"You killed my mother," he said. But I forgave you too long ago. He didn't. A quiet fell once again. This one was stifling, and awkward, and too full of unspoken words to be comfortable for either of them.

The scarlet speedster cracked first, "Why are you so…" real wasn't quite the right word here, but it was still fitting. Normally these connections were fickle things prone to impressions of feelings and shadows of shapes. But Thawne was standing there clear as day. "... solid ?" he finished

It was like pulling a trigger. A Do-Not-Mention topic Barry hadn't realized they were avoiding.

Beside him, The Reverse Flash choked out a half-swallowed sob, which immediately got Barry's attention. No version of Eobard Thawne cried and certainly not where his arch-nemesis could see him. Apparently not, because there was the blond, tears streaming down his face, and a fist shoved in his mouth, desperately trying to keep down the noise he was making.

The yellow-clad speedster swallowed thickly, "I think I'm dead. I think you killed me. And that all this is some kind of twisted purgatory," His voice hitched on those words, "I think the only reason I'm even here right now is because the Speed Force refused to let me die and fucking swallowed me whole instead. "

The speedster didn't know when he moved towards his other, but he was pulling Eobard into his chest regardless, coaxing the blond to press his face into the crook of the brunette's neck. He was almost surprised when his hands didn't just go straight through Thawne. A shuddering sob followed the action, and Barry buried his nose into the mess of hair beside him. Arms wrapped around his waist. And the scarlet speedster began to gently try and comfort the other man for a crime he'd yet to commit. No part of him could believe that he'd try and kill the Reverse Flash - that he could kill anyone. Especially not his Eobard. However, it appeared he had.

"I didn't ask for this. I-" The blond cut himself off with a sob, "I don't even remember how it happened… One moment you were there and the next it's all just - red." With a warbling voice Thawne looked up at him and continued; "I think I'm dying, Flash."

Something like pity settled in his heart, before he made what was supposed to be a comforting noise. Gently, so as to not spook the fragile man, he reached up to cup wet cheeks, one at a time, before caressing his thumbs across the tear stains in some kind of attempt to be soothing. It seemed to work because, after the first startled jolt, there was no other protest. Eobard even seemed to lean into the touch as Barry wiped away the new tears spilling over wet lashes and reddened cheeks. They were like that for a few minutes, just easing themselves into the calming silence that Eobard's sobs were slowly dissolved into.

Without warning, Eobard surged forward with a wild intensity, gloved fingers greedily sinking into brown hair.

And suddenly Barry was a very different kind of breathless.