AN: Thank you for all your reviews. They really mean a lot.

FemaleMusketeer: Thanks for the info on that one comic where Barry accidentally kills Thawne. I wasn't sure what happened there, since I haven't actually managed to get my hands on a copy and read it. I only know it happened from reading the Flash's bio and I'm very grateful that you took the time to tell me what actually happened in the comic and what circumstances lead Barry to kill the Reverse Flash :).

Guest: I honestly have no idea how many chapters I am planning for this story. It's going to be quite a few more, and I have several of them planned out already, but I don't have an exact number.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The team hurried down to the particle accelerator explosion where they were keeping the time machine. Joe had Barry slung up over his shoulder, the blue-clad speedster unconscious in his grasp.

"Everyone get in," Joe said, gesturing to the time machine.

He set Barry down on the ground and started tapping his cheek hard, not enough to hurt, but enough to hopefully rouse him.

"Come on, Bar, wake up," he said, shivering from the cold. Joe could see his breath coming out in white puffs, like smoke.

Barry's eyes fluttered and he was met with pain-filled green eyes wrapped in blue lightning.

"That's it, Bar," Joe said. "Can you sit up?"

Barry coughed, a harsh, wet sound, and blood trickled out of his mouth. Yet he still struggled to a sitting position. Joe helped him get there.

"Barry, we need to go back in time," Joe said.

Barry tried to focus his eyes on Joe. "Can't."

"Yes, you can, Bar," Joe said, gently massaging his shoulder. "You can do it. No one is going to blame you for changing the timeline."

"I don't think I can, though," he said, and then fell into another fit of coughing.

"You have to try, son," Joe said. "The speed force broke. We have to go back."

Still looking like he was in a great deal of pain, Barry nodded. He forced himself to his feet, shaking the whole time. "Get in the time machine."

Joe nodded and hurried into the time machine.

"Are you sure I shouldn't do this?" Wally asked. "I mean, Barry looks like he's dying."

"That's because he is dying," Cisco said. "We all are. And yes, Wally, we are sure you shouldn't do this. You've never time traveled before. Barry has. He'll be able to get us there faster."

"If he can even do it," Wally said. "Look at him. He looks like-"

They all lurched forward suddenly, pulled through Barry's slipstream as he ran forward at top speed. He dragged them into the time stream, a blur of blue light surrounding them all along with images of the past and potential futures surrounding them.

Barry ran until he saw a time in Central City twenty years ago, and then he stopped, finally allowing himself to collapse to the ground and rest.

As his eyes fluttered shut, he realized something.

The pain was gone.

Barry was dreaming of the ocean. Soft gentle waves lapping against a beach. And it was warm, the sun beating down on him to contrast with the icy water.

"Barry." A voice called his name. "Barry wake up."

Barry didn't want to, but he felt something shaking him, rousing him, and eventually, his eyes fluttered open.

"J-Joe?"

"Hey, hey, easy," Joe said as Barry started sitting up. "Are you okay?"

Barry nodded. "I feel great."

"You… you're not in pain anymore?" Iris asked.

He shook his head. "No," he smiled. "No, it's gone."

They started smiling back.

He clambered to his feet. "I went back twenty years. Gideon, how long has it been since the time-traveling, teleporting metahuman told me he sent my friends and family to the bottom of the ocean?"

"It has been exactly one week since that event occurred," she replied.

"Oh, my God," Iris said. "Barry- or past, present? Barry must be freaking out. We have to assure him we're alright."

"You'll be changing the timeline," Barry said. "I didn't know you guys were alive until you showed up in the future."

"We'll be changing it for the better," Cisco said.

"I thought I was doing that too when I created Flashpoint."

"What are we supposed to do? Never see him-or you-again?" Iris asked. "We can never go back to the future, not with how it is. We have to stay here and we're going to go tell him we're alright."

Barry sighed. "You have a point. But I need to make sure that all of us have a future. We've already gone back in time; I'm going to go fix the speed force. No matter what it takes."

Joe nodded. "You do that, Bar. We'll see you at STAR Labs latter?"

Barry nodded and sped off, a streak of blue lightning in his wake.

The others made their way to STAR Labs.

Present Barry was alone in STAR Labs when suddenly, the elevator doors opened and he thought his eyes were deceiving him. It was impossible; they were dead. Yet here they were, alive and safe, walking into the cortex.

"Barry," Iris smiled at him. She ran to him and he engulfed her in his arms, kissing her.

"You're alive," he said when they broke apart. He looked around at all of them. "You're all alive."

"Yeah, Barry, we're alive," Cisco said.

Barry's eyes welled with tears of happiness. "Come here," he said and grabbed onto as many of them as he could, engulfing them in a giant hug.

"I love you guys," Barry murmured.

They released each other after a few moments.

"How are you alive?" Barry asked. "He told me he killed you."

"That's a long story," Joe said before preceding to explain about the events that had transpired since they last saw him.

Future Barry stood inside his old home, the one he used to live in with his parents. This is where Eobard Thawne killed his mother, where Hunter Zoloman killed his father. This is where the first aberration occurred when the Reverse Flash ran back in time to murder him and killed his mom instead.

This is where the tear was located.

Barry reached out a hand slowly and touched the tear. It appeared, much like how a portal to another Earth would appear. His eyes widened in shocked horror as he saw how large it was. He thought it would be smaller, but he was wrong. Traveling back in time must have made it even bigger.

There was no way for him to fix it. It was impossible. He didn't have the energy.

There was only one thing he could do. Only one way to close it: he had to sacrifice his younger self.

AN: Please review and let me know what you all think.

-DragonsintheMoonlight