Saboteur or Soulmate? was inspired by a prompt I saw on Tumblr.
SABOTEUR OR SOULMATE?
(Bart Allen x Jaime Reyes)
Love and hate were supposed to be balanced.
That wasn't the case for Bart Allen.
No, his world was full of hate. It'd been full of hate ever since he could remember, full of hate since the Reach's takeover, nearly three decades before his birth.
He'd felt love before. Not the romantic kind, but the family kind. From his mother. From his father. From his aunt. From his cousin Wally. From Irey and Jai. From Artemis. He should've felt it from grandpa Barry and grandma Iris. They were both dead far before he was born, however.
But, besides that, the world was full of hate. A heavy collar was clasped around his neck and he was forced to work every day and night, or else he'd feel the wrath of one of the Beetles.
Love was very hard to find.
But he was destined for it.
Bart didn't want to love.
He wanted to survive.
Hate was destiny as well. It wasn't that hard to find. And it made sense to Bart.
Left wrist, right wrist.
Left was love. Right was hate.
It was a simple concept, one that the Earth created, and not the Reach. It was quite possibly the only thing left from the world before the Reach apocalypse.
Wally had explained it to him one day. When you locked eyes with your soulmate for the first time, their name appeared on your left wrist. When you locked eyes with your worst enemy for the first time, their name appeared on your right wrist. A person's life goal was to breed with their soulmate and kill their enemy. To keep the balance between love and hate.
"I'll show you." Wally offered. Bart eagerly nodded. The Flash smiled and pulled back his sleeves. 'Artemis Crock' was imprinted on his left wrist and 'Thaddeus Thawne' was imprinted on his right.
Bart had looked at his own blank wrists, wondering who he was destined to love and who he was destined to kill.
Bart had found himself meeting the gaze of Blue Beetle's oranges, his own green eyes widening in fear.
He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die.
Bart managed to escape with only a broken arm and a cracked rib. On his way back home, he noticed something on his right wrist.
Jaime Reyes
His blood ran cold as he realized it was his job to fight and kill Blue Beetle.
But how?!
Time travel.
Time travel was the answer.
Kill Blue Beetle, and prevent the Reach apocalypse.
Wally didn't agree with this idea at first, telling Bart he was far too young to do this. He had volunteered to go himself, but it wasn't his duty, Bart would remind him. Still, Wally would pout. Bart didn't need to listen to him then, and he didn't need to listen to him now. After all, Wally was dead. To spare the details, Thaddeus Thawne had won their war, nearly killing Bart in the process as well.
It took a few years to gather all of the appropriate supplies for a time machine, and Bart required a lot of help from Nathaniel Tyron.
"How's it coming?" Nathaniel asked as he approached Bart.
"Almost finished." Bart replied, not bothering to look at him.
"Wish I could go along."
"Sorry. Only seats one." Bart finally turned his head to look at the man.
"You understand this trip to the past will fry the machine's circuitry. This is a one-way ticket."
"Does this look like a future worth returning to?" Bart later let out a sigh. "Well, I better get in character, Neutron."
"Please, don't use that name!" Neutron begged, though Bart had already sped off. "I was Neutron for too many years… through too much destruction." Bart returned in costume, and Nathaniel handed him the small blue marble in which would save him. "Curing me and saving Flash's life. Y'know, it's only the beginning."
"I know, Nathaniel." Bart acknowledged. "Big mission, lots to do. Better get to it." he slid on his goggles before stepping into the time machine.
Bart arrived into the past, immediately confronted by Beast Boy, Robin, and Nightwing. After all of that chaos, he finally got to meet the man who he was supposed to kill. The one whose life he had to end before he and the Reach claimed Earth as their own. Blue Beetle. Jaime Reyes.
After meeting him and figuring out all of his potential vulnerabilities, Bart went home. Well, to his new home of Jay and Joan's. He stripped out of his costume, tossing it wherever. In the dim light of his bedroom, he noticed something on his other wrist. Squinting his eyes to focus on it, he soon realized what it was.
Jaime Reyes
