CHAPTER FOURTEEN
There was something about the simplicity of being Sophia Lang that brought the superhero a sense of peace. It was refreshing to just be human. There was a feeling of calmness that came with not having the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. If there was one thing she missed before she became the Sapphire Knight, it was this, and now that she had found some semblance of peace, she was going to keep a tight grip on it.
But the thing was, Sophia Lang wasn't just some ordinary person, and in no way did she have the luxury of pretending otherwise, though she desperately ached to.
It had been another strenuous day at work and all she could think about was coming home to her loving boyfriend. She was ready to crash and relax, and by that she meant, she was ready to plop on her bed and sleep for eternity, but perhaps after indulging on some big belly burger that she was craving.
Sophia had gone to work with the expectation that it would be an uneventful shift. She would go through the same routine that she usually did, interacting with patients, helping them with what they needed, giving them their medications and going through the mountain of paperwork she usually did every shift. What she hadn't expected was to have one of her patients go into cardiac arrest.
She knew that as a nurse it was her job to be diligent and on guard for emergency situations such as this, but the sound of the MET call running through the ward had honestly shocked her more than she had realised.
The patient was known to have had previous medical history of cardiac problems since he was a child, but they hadn't expected this to happen. It had been a rush, nurses and doctors alike running around trying to get what was necessary to treat the man before them, but in the end no matter how organised or structured they had been, no matter how fast or precise they were with their treatment, life had other plans for the twenty-nine year old laying in that bed.
Sophia had lost patients before, but somehow this one had struck home. She hadn't known the man named Hal, she had only met him a few days prior when he was admitted with a fractured radius in his left arm. But somehow, after losing him, she felt an emptiness inside, like she had somehow known him in another life. There was a familiarity to his face that she couldn't place, and she knew that if she looked into it further she would only make it harder for herself. She knew that this was something she would have to leave at work, she couldn't bring it home, because otherwise it would just hurt her even more.
Once she had finished her shift, clocking out with a solemn expression, she had flown up into the sky, now dressed in her super-suit, eyes glowing and ready for patrol. She had a set section of the city that she would take care of, and Barry the other. She had passed him on the way to a robbery down town, throwing a smile and a wink his way despite her low mood. He replied with a grin of his own before taking down the opposite side of the city where a window-washer was about to fall to his doom.
Sapphire had made quick work of the two thugs who had chosen to rob a convenience store run but a sweet old lady. She used the smallest flick of energy to throw the guns out of their grasps and then took to her fists to do the rest. It wasn't even a few minutes later that both were down, cuffed and ready to be picked up by the CCPD patrols.
Sophia threw a salute at the owner and other customers who had been witness to the attempted robbery before shooting out of the store and up into the sky. The sun had now set, the moon hanging in replacement as the sun slept. Sophia let out a heavy sigh, twirling in the clouds as she tried to clear her mind. It had been an exhausting day mentally and she was already planning to soak in a bubble bath and then fall asleep in Barry's arms.
She couldn't bear to deal with anything else at this moment in time. She just needed to put things on pause. As she looked down at the city before her, the street lights illuminating the ground below, she thought her eye caught a flash of red lightning. She blinked and looked down once again to see that there was nothing there. She shook her head, biting her lip as she reminded herself that was impossible. It was probably a figment of her imagination.
Sophia's smartwatch beeped and she saw that it was nearing midnight. A feeling of ease had settled in her bones as she realised that patrol was over. She flew back to her apartment in a daze, eager to get home.
"What you got for me, Cisco?" Barry asked as he ran around Central City. It was an early morning and Barry had decided that a run would be good for him. He had detached himself from Sophia who had been clinging onto him that morning in bed, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips before suiting up and heading out onto the road.
"You've been playing Good Samaritan all morning. Take a break. Go see your girlfriend," Cisco joked.
"I saw her last night, and this morning," Barry laughed through the comm. "It's her day off, I'm letting her sleep in. I'll catch up with her later."
"Whatever you say Romeo," Cisco said, taking a large gulp of his coffee. It didn't matter that it was steaming hot, he just needed to get some caffeine into his system.
"Good, cause we cannot afford to waste any more time," Harry said.
"What, cause we've just been sipping Mai Tais since you got here?" Cisco scoffed.
"I don't know what you've been sipping since I got here, but Barry needs to get better, stronger, faster. Even Sophia's more prepared than he is. We need to train to prepare for Zoom," Harry remarked sternly. But it was true, he had noted that Sophia had become more agile and stronger in the last month or so, moving faster in flight than she had before. It was a pity that she still wasn't fast enough for the speedster Zoom, but he knew that if she had been gifted with speed instead of her flight, she would have been a strong contender against the villain.
"Oh, I see," Cisco commented, swivelling around in his chair to face Harry. "You haven't had your coffee this morning." Cisco took another slurp of his drink causing Harry to grimace.
"I had my coffee this morning. Don't slurp."
Cisco picked up his cup of coffee once more, a smirk on his face as he brought the mug up to his lips, taking slurp of the drink again.
"Don't. Don't," Harry warned. "Don't."
But Cisco had other plans, and decided to extend his slurp, taking a large sip of the drink, the sound annoying Harry to no end. Just as he had placed his cup back down, the computer had chimed, alerting them to another emergency.
"Runaway chemical transport truck heading south on Kester," Cisco informed Barry as he took a look at the map on screen.
"On it," Barry said, making quick work of it all. It was a bit difficult but with the guidance of both Cisco and Harry he had done it and saved both the drivers in the truck, as well as the civilians on standby that had nearly been run over by the truck.
"How's that for training?" Barry spoke breathlessly through the comm. a grin planted on his face.
"Great," Cisco commended, letting go of the mic button. "Look we're gonna catch Zoom. We got Turtle locked up in the pipeline. All we got to do is use him to figure out how to steal Zoom's speed and then we'll get your daughter back," Cisco said, now turning to Wells to speak.
"That might take longer than we thought," Caitlin said, walking into the room, a grim expression on her face.
"Why's that?"
"Because Turtle's dead."
A feeling of dread ran through Cisco at Caitlin's words.
"Barry, we need you back here, stat," Cisco informed, pressing down on the mic. Cisco shared a worried look with Caitlin and Harry as they moved to head down to the pipeline.
"I'm on my way," Barry said.
"Gideon," Eobard activated the AI on his watch casually as he sat on a park bench across from a coffee joint in Central City.
The sun was out, and Eobard had managed to find himself a pair of clothes to blend into daily life in Central City to do a bit of recon. He knew that before making a decision about what his next move would be he would need to gather as much information as he could about the time period he was currently stuck in, otherwise he would have no hope of returning to his time.
"Was the trip a success, Professor Thawne?" Gideon asked.
"I believe it was. I've finally figured out what time period The Flash is from. Now let's figure out a way to get home," Eobard said as he watched a familiar face sip her coffee inside a shop named Jitters.
Every day he spent here, he was getting closer to discovering the truth that had been hidden from him for so long.
Eobard had a feeling that things were about to get interesting.
Sophia had been alerted to their current problem through a phone call from Barry that morning. She had been enjoying a morning coffee at Jitters with Iris and they both decided to head straight to Star Labs upon hearing the news.
Sophia had mixed feelings about the situation. She hadn't exactly cared about The Turtle's wellbeing, especially after what he had done to her, but she felt weird knowing that he had died in their care. Had it been something they had done, had they become as bad as their enemies, taking lives unnecessarily?
"He better not be pulling a Juliet," Sophia was brought out of her thoughts by Cisco's comment. "Yeah, that's right, I see plays," Cisco said in response to the weird looks he was getting from the team.
"He's dead, Cisco," Caitlin told him with a glare.
They had all been down in the pipeline, looking at the Turtles cold pale body resting inside his cell, wondering how the hell this happened and what they were going to do next. Sophia was now sitting down in the Cortex next to Iris as they listened to everyone chatter and discuss the situation at hand.
"How'd this happen?"
"Preliminary brain scan shows an acute brain aneurysm," Caitlin informed, and somehow this news had sent a flicker of relief through Sophia. She didn't want The Turtle's blood on her hands.
"The night we captured him. How's that for timing?" Jay pointed out, arms crossed, his eyes darting accusingly towards Harry.
"What does that mean?" Harry jumped to defend. "You think I did this, Garrick? This man is the key to us stopping Zoom, the key to me saving my daughter. Why would I want that?"
"Never understood why you do anything, Harrison," Jay spat back, taking a step toward Harry.
"That's fine with me, Garrick."
"Guys, look," Barry tried to diffuse the tension. "We need to figure out how to stop Zoom. Everything we've tried so far has failed. We need to start thinking outside the box. I mean, we haven't even figured out how to close the breaches yet. Maybe that's where we should start."
"That's a good idea."
"I'll get on that," Caitlin said.
"I'll help," Jay joined in as they left the room.
"I'll be at the CCPD. If you need me, call me," Barry told them. Sophia responded with a smile, her cheeks tinting pink when he gave her a speed kiss on the way out.
"I guess I should get back to work then. Keep me posted," Iris said to Sophia, waving at Cisco and Harry on her way out.
"Well, looks like it'll be us then," Sophia said to the boys who both groaned for some reason. She frowned and figured that everyone needed to lighten up a bit, and she had just the thing in mind.
It turns out flying half way across Central City just to pick up some of the greatest crafted gelato was a great idea. Sophia had picked up a whole range of flavours, sticking to some exotic stuff for herself, regular chocolate for Harry and coffee flavoured for Cisco.
Turns out both of them had a sweet tooth, and once she had shoved the gelato in front of them, they had both eagerly started to consume the dessert.
"It's not gonna work," Cisco groaned. "Closing the breaches, that's like solving Einstein's riddle."
"I solved Einstein's riddle when I was ten," Harry countered and Sophia turned to him with wide eyes, certainly impressed.
"Yell, well, maybe Earth-2 Einstein wasn't as clever as ours."
"You realise this Earth is my Earth-2, right?"
"We can do this, we have to do this," Sophia told them both.
"What if we can figure out how to control my powers?" Cisco asked. "We could find Zoom, get the jump on him."
"That's a good idea. You should get on that," Harry said sarcastically before turning away to continue to work at his station.
"I need your help, Harry."
"What you need, Ramon, is to figure out what triggers your vibes."
"Exactly and I don't know what triggers them. It's completely inconsistent. Sometimes it's when I touch something that belongs to a breacher, sometimes it just happens."
"There's always a cause. Cause, effect."
"Okay, so what is the cause?"
"You saw when I tried to vibe Dr. Light, when I tried to vibe you, took a while to work."
"Yes. Yes, it did."
"Meet me in the Time Vault," Harry told Cisco, walking out of the room with nothing more to say.
"For what?" Cisco asked, as Harry walked away. "For what?"
"Who knows? Want some company?" Sophia asked, causing Cisco to nod in response. They both moved, walking out of the cortex and down the hallway where the Time Vault was hidden in. Cisco raised his hand towards the wall, unlocking the room and opening it up.
"Hello?" Cisco asked as he walked into the room. The lights were on, but the room was empty. Sophia was standing beside him as they waited for Harry.
"Hello? Harry?" Sophia called out.
"Of course, now he's gonna make me wait in this freaky-ass braille room," Cisco groaned.
Sophia let out a little laugh at this, but the air was quickly stolen from her lungs when she turned around to see Harry standing there in the Reverse-Flash's yellow suit.
Both Cisco and Sophia let out a scream and she threw her hand out in front of her on pure instinct, a bolt of blue energy shooting out of her hands and towards Harry, hitting him in the abdomen.
"Stop! Don't do that!" Cisco yelled, as he recovered from the shock.
Harry grunted as he got back up after being hit by Sophia, clutching his stomach area. He knew that it was going to bruise in the morning.
"I figured out your trigger."
"You figured out all our triggers, genius," Sophia mumbled under her breath.
"A rush of adrenaline. Dopamine floods the brain, and the quickest way to achieve that result… fear," Harry said, pulling the mask over his face.
A moment later and Cisco's world shifted, he saw the Reverse-Flash before his eyes, glowing red eyes and the lightning that almost always came with super speed flashing before his eyes.
"Do not move! You can't be," Cisco breathed out.
"What did you see?" Sophia asked taking a step towards Cisco with concerned eyes.
"The Reverse-Flash," Cisco said, and not a moment later, the alarms started blaring. Sophia whipped around to face the front door at the sound and then back to Cisco. "He's here."
Sophia's heart fell in her chest at Cisco's words and it took every bit of strength inside her to keep her cool.
"Christina McGee," Eobard said, his sudden and abrupt appearance frightening the scientist. He had broken into Mercury Lab once he determined who would be his best bet to send him back to his time, and this just happened to be Dr. McGee.
"Who are you?" The woman in question asked, turning around to see a man dressed in a yellow suit.
"You're coming with me." Eobard pulled Dr. McGee behind him when a blur of red came barrelling into the room.
Barry had been alerted to the situation immediately, and his heart pounded violently in his chest as his eyes met The Reverse-Flash, a face he thought was gone forever.
"Flash." Eobard smirked, eyes glowing red. He had expected that his actions would bring about the appearance of his nemesis, and he was especially pleased with the shock that was situated on The Flash's face.
"Eobard Thawne."
"You know who I am?" Eobard's eyes grew wide at this revelation.
"You died!" The Flash yelled, his stance rigid.
"Good to know. And guess what, Flash. I know what time period you're from. So that means very soon… you will die."
And in a blur, the Reverse-Flash was gone, and so was Dr. McGee.
"Barry?" Sophia called through the comm. By the time that she, Harry and Cisco had rushed into the cortex to see what was happening, it was too late. Eobard had already come and gone from Star Labs, and their alert was ringing for a situation down at Mercury Labs.
Barry ran back into Star Labs, ripping off the hood of his suit in anger and frustration.
"He's back. He's actually back," Barry said, trudging into the room and collapsing into a chair.
"You okay, Bar?" Joe asked, putting a hand on Barry's shoulder.
Cisco had send out an SOS to the entire team, calling everyone in.
Sophia was leaning against the railing by the computers, staring into an empty space before her eyes as she tried to gather her thoughts. She couldn't believe what was happening. Her worst nightmare was coming true. Eobard Thawne was back. The man who had caused so much pain and trouble in all of their lives was alive, and he was back to haunt them.
"I'm good, yeah. It's just a lot," Barry said, looking up at Sophia with worried eyes, noticing that she had been quiet since he arrived back.
"Eddie Thawne died, so Eobard Thawne should have been erased out of existence, right?"
"Not necessarily. It's possible Eobard was in the Speed Force, protecting him like a bomb shelter, keeping him alive and his time line intact. It's what's known as a timeline remnant."
"A what, now?"
"Here, let me show you." As soon as Sophia saw him pick up the whiteboard marker, she knew that it was going to be another little lesson on their clear whiteboard.
"This?" Harry drew a line. "This, is now. Here today." He then drew another line ahead of that. "This is the line Thawne comes from." He then cut the line down the middle with a mark towards the past of their timeline. "This is the moment you all erased him from existence, but since Thawne is from the future, this is where his timeline begins. That's why he's still alive. This Thawne has not yet travelled back in time to kill Barry's mother. He's here now in this time period for the first time."
"Timeline remnant," Sophia murmured. "At least that explains why nothing here has changed." She mused, pinching the skin on the back of her hand.
"Yeah, it also explains why he didn't know my name or that we have met before," Barry mused.
"To him, you hadn't. Not until the future."
"If Thawne dies before he can time travel again, will that save Barry's mother?"
"No. That's not how it works," Harry said. "In our timeline, Barry's mother is already dead, and her death is a fixed point. Nothing can change that."
"All right, well, I'm gonna end this, him, in this time once and for all."
"Look, why don't we focus on getting Dr. McGee back, then worry about what to do with Thawne," Sophia said. "We need to get her back before we can attack him, otherwise she'll get stuck in the crossfire."
"I got to go check on Iris," Joe mentioned. He knew that with the news of the return of The Reverse-Flash wouldn't sit well with her after what happened to Eddie.
"Ramon," Harry called Cisco over.
Barry then noticed Caitlin pacing the room nervously.
"Caitlin, I know you're worried about Dr. McGee, but we're gonna get her back," He tried to reassure her.
"It's not that. It's Jay."
"What about Jay?" Sophia asked, taking a step forward. She didn't like the worried expression that was settled on Caitlin's face.
"He's sick, and it's getting worse. When Zoom stole his speed, it affected him on a cellular level. We need to do something about it, we need to help him," Caitlin pleaded to her friends.
"All right, like what?" Barry asked. His mind was too busy focusing on their new case with the Reverse-Flash, but with Jay now becoming a part of their team, he would try and do whatever he could to help.
"I think we should replace his dying cells with healthy ones indistinguishable from his," Caitlin said.
"How the hell are we going to do that? You'd have to have a twin, or a…"
"Doppelganger," Barry and Caitlin finished for Sophia.
"Okay, so we find his Earth-1 doppelganger and hope for the best."
"Let's get to it."
"Tachyons?" Dr. McGee questioned. There had been another incident with Tachyons that had been quite clearly burned into her memory. The panic and disaster that had followed was something one would not easily forget.
When her kidnapper turned to look at her with curious eyes, she sighed before licking her lips, explaining what she had meant with her question.
"The man in a yellow suit tried to steal another tachyon prototype last year."
"I must have gotten stuck here once before and not been able to access enough of the Speed Force. Tachyons should do it," Eobard mused to himself. "I want you to isolate and accelerate their energetic properties for me."
"I don't know if I can do that." In all honesty, she knew that if she put her mind to it, she was sure she could figure it out. But she was buying herself time. As long as he needed her for something, he wouldn't kill her.
"If you want to stay alive… learn."
"I can't believe he's back," Sophia said, flicking her indicator on and turning right into the hospital staff car parking. She swiftly parked her car, and then turned her head to her right to look at Barry.
"I know," Barry sighed, but as she turned off the ignition and they sat there in their seats with heavy hearts. Barry took her hand in his own, squeezing it firmly to let her know that he was here. "I know it's completely insane, but we'll get through it. We'll catch him. Together."
"Together." Sophia gave Barry a soft smile before leaning over and placing a soft kiss on his lips, savouring this intimate moment between the two of them. She felt like time was rushing past, and she wasn't able to enjoy anything anymore like she used to. He responded with ease, his lips parting against her own, a heady sigh escaping from his mouth as they continued to kiss, only to be interrupted by Barry's phone beeping in his pocket.
Barry gave Sophia one last kiss before breaking apart, sending her an apologetic look as he checked his phone. Caitlin had sent him a message to come down to Star Labs, saying that she may have found a lead for Jay's Earth-1 doppelganger and that she needed his help.
"I've got to go."
"Likewise. I'll only be here for an hour or two, just a bit of paperwork I need to finish signing off," Sophia said. "As soon as I'm done, I'll head back your way."
In the blink of an eye, and with a rush of wind, Barry was gone, leaving Sophia sitting in her car on her lonesome. She reached over and grabbed her handbag from the back seat, grabbing her phone and checking for any messages from Iris. She had spoken to her the previous night and was told that she and Joe would be coming down to the hospital this morning to visit Francine.
Sophia walked into the hospital, throwing smiles and quick waves at familiar faces until she reached the oncology ward where Francine was. She passed Iris and Joe on the way in and stopped by quickly, giving them both hugs and letting them know she would be in soon.
Iris had her hands shoved into the pockets of her suede navy jacket as she walked the halls of the hospital with her father headed in the direction of Francine's room. They had just passed Sophia on the way in and they were glad she had said she would come and visit her mother.
Iris had come to visit her mother a few times after work this week, but because of the recent late hours at CCPN she hadn't had a chance to spend more time with Francine. She didn't know when she started thinking of Francine as her mother, but she knew that it would hurt more when she lost her. All she wanted to do was make sure that her mother was at ease and in no pain when she passed. She also wanted her mother to be surrounded by people who loved her and cared for her. She didn't want her to die alone.
"Franny," Joe greeted as they walked into the room, leaning over towards Francine and placing a soft kiss on her forehead, and depositing the bouquet of sunflowers he had bought in a vase by her beside, brightening up the room in an instant.
"Hey." Francine smiled at Joe and Iris, glad they had come to visit. It was getting a bit lonely.
"How are you feeling today?"
"Better now."
"I'm gonna let you two talk, okay?" Joe said before leaving the room in search of some coffee. He had so many years, so many memories with Francine, good and bad, and he wanted to give Iris a chance to get to know her mother better by herself. He owed it to her, so he made himself scarce.
"Can I get you anything?" Iris asked.
"Oh, just that brother of yours so all of us can be together for the first time," Francine laughed, but the sorrowful meaning of her words seeped through in her tone.
"Yeah, he should be here."
"His mother is leaving him. Can't blame him for being angry about that," Francine sighed. She felt worse for her son. He had known her all his life, they were all each other had and now she was going. "I wish he'd get all that anger out while I'm here to help. Same goes for you Iris. One thing you learn when you're dying is not to hold anything back."
"You want to say something to me? You need to say it while you can."
"I have so many great memories from when I grew up," Iris said. "Now when I think about those memories, I can only wonder what it would have been like if you and Wally would have been there." Her voice cracked and she bit her lip, taking a breath before continuing. "I'm not angry at you anymore for what happened. I just wish you would have come back to us a lot sooner." Tears were beginning to form in her eyes but she did her best to keep them at bay. "Because I would have forgiven you then, just like I'm forgiving you now."
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you. Thank you." Iris leaned over the bed and hugged her mother, committing this moment to memory, committing the feeling of her mother's arms and comfort around her because she didn't know how much longer she would have.
Joe and Sophia had come back with coffee and snacks to find Iris and Francine still in their embrace. It was a beautiful sight to see and as Sophia looked over at Joe she could see the emotion in his eyes. After a moment of standing there they walked in and enjoyed the light conversation with Francine. They spent about an hour there before heading off, each going their separate ways. Joe was headed down to the CCPD, Iris was back to work at CCPN and Sophia was going to head back to Star Labs.
"I don't know why this is so hard. I barely even know her," Iris had told them as they walked out of the hospital, the sun shining so bright it caused them to squint in response.
"Whether you know her or not, she's still your mother and losing your mother is one of the hardest things you'll have to go through in your life," Sophia said, her mind flashing back to when she was just a teenager and how she had felt torn apart inside at the loss of her own mother. "But family makes it easier. You learn to celebrate and laugh at the life they lived rather than cry at the loss. But it does take time. You know that better than anyone."
"Yeah. I do. Thanks, Sophia. It means a lot that you're here," Iris said, moving forward to hug her.
"You're practically family. I'm always going to be here for you both." She gave them both warm smiles before they parted ways and she prayed that things would get better… for all of them.
Barry had been researching away with Caitlin for most of the morning, but he wasn't yielding any results. He was sure this was because it was half-hearted work. His thoughts were slowly being consumed by a cloud of darkness that came with the familiar stench of the Reverse-Flash. They had been down at Star Labs running tests that morning and had then escaped to the CCPD in an attempt to run more tests on their databases which would give them a wider range.
"The facial recognition software at Star Labs didn't find anything either."
"No, but there's still more databases to check. We'll find his doppelganger," Barry reassured Caitlin. He felt guilty considering he wasn't giving it his all this morning. There were just too many things happening at once and he honestly wasn't sure how he was coping at this very moment in time.
"Thanks, Barry." Caitlin gave him a grateful smile.
"Yeah. Look, I'll keep the program running in my lab, but there's not much more we can do other than wait. We should probably get back to Star Labs and see if we can figure out what's going on with the Reverse-Flash."
"Yeah, we should get back."
Barry nodded, looking around the room quickly to check that no one was watching them before picking up Caitlin and running them over to Star Labs. But what he hadn't noticed was that Patty had been walking into the room in that moment, only to see Barry for a moment, and him gone the next.
The blonde detective stopped in her step, blinking and taking another look around, unsure if what she had just seen was real or just a trick of the light. She shook her head, realising that she was reaching too far with that thought and figured she had just had a long night.
It was pouring rain outside, the heavy thrum of rain pelting down on the rooftops leaving behind the smell of petrichor lingering in the air. Sophia was lounging on the couch in the tea room of Star Labs, sipping on a cup of coffee so large that hot liquid was brimmed to the top, seconds away from toppling over until she had taken a large gulp.
On the way back to Star Labs, Sophia had been driving down Ridgway Boulevard, cruising down at 70 miles per hour when someone ran out in front of her car. She stepped on the breaks the moment she saw the figure of a man standing in front of her vehicle, her heart pounding inside her chest, only to have her blood run cold when she saw exactly who it was. Standing before her very eyes was Eobard Thawne, the man who had once left her riddled with nightmares and pain. He tilted his head as he looked down at her curiously but before she could get her car door open to confront the man, he had sped away in a flash, leaving her standing in the middle of an empty road with anxiety sitting in the pit of her stomach and her heart racing.
By the time she had built up the courage to get back into her car she couldn't choose what emotion to feel. She wanted to scream and cry, she wanted to shoot up into the sky and fly over every inch of Central City until she found that demon, but the only thing she could do was sit on the couch and focus on the warmth emanating from the cup of coffee in her hands.
But still as she sat there, she could feel hands shaking, the lightest tremor travelling through her fingertips, delicate but strong enough to jerk the liquid inside her cup. She placed the cup down on the table in front of her. She brought her knees up to her chest and buried her head into a pillow, screaming into it until her throat felt raw. She threw the pillow across the room, blowing a few stray hairs out of her field of vision haphazardly and tried to calm herself down.
"Soph, I've been looking for you everywhere," Barry said as he walked into the room, unaware of the current situation. His mood was chipper at the thought of seeing his girlfriend even though their morning was off to a very rough start, but at the sight of her he paused in his movements.
Her hair was a bit of a mess, it looked like it usually did after she would run her fingers through it when she was stressed or frustrated. Her shoes were kicked off to the side leaving her barefoot and the rapid rise and fall of her chest indicated that something was wrong. He couldn't see her face clearly just yet since her hands were covering it but he knew that something here was not right.
"Sophia? What's wrong?" He moved to sit beside her on the couch, placing his arm around her and she leaned into his touch. Her hands moved from her face to wrap around his middle and she buried her face into the crook of his neck, breathing deeply.
"Soph?"
"The Reverse-Flash… uh, Eobard. He ran in front of my car today coming back from the hospital. I-It was like I couldn't move, I was frozen in my seat and by the time I had moved an inch to open the door, he was gone." Sophia's words were rushed and she was sure the only way Barry was keeping up with her was because he could function faster than she could. "He just stood there on the road in front of me, watching me, taunting me, like he could hurt me in a second flat and I'd be too slow."
"When did this happen?"
"About a half-hour ago." She pulled back from the embrace, looking up at him with worried eyes.
"Why didn't you call me? I could've- I-."
"I didn't know what to do Barry. I freaked out and just came back here. I don't feel safe when he's around. It's different to Zoom. Somehow it's worse, because Eobard's already hurt us, we know what he's capable of. I didn't know what to do, so I came here."
"Why would he do that? He doesn't know who I am in the future, meaning he doesn't know we're together, and in that future, you weren't Sapphire, so why would he do that? It doesn't make sense?"
"I don't know, I honestly don't know," She whispered, her voice small and vulnerable.
"It's gonna be ok. I'm going to stop him."
Barry brought his hand up to her face, brushing away a piece of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. He placed his hand under her chin and brought his lips to hers. Sophia's eyes fluttered shut and she let herself forget the world around her for a while, forget the worries of the day and loose herself in the moment. The kiss was bruising, their lips melding together with a passion that Sophia had missed. Her hands moved to their own accord, running themselves up Barry's chest until they reached his neck, and then trickling themselves up into his hair. Barry pulled away from her breathless and full of love, pressing a kiss to her cheek, and then on her neck just under her ear, his arms now weaving themselves around her firmly.
"We're going to find him, I promise. As long as I live, I will protect you, Sophia. Don't ever forget that."
She nodded into his chest, squeezing her eyes shut as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
"Listen, why don't we head down to the Cortex? Harry claims he's got a breakthrough with Cisco's powers. At the very least, it'll be a distraction for us both."
"Sure."
Barry held Sophia in his arms for a moment longer before the walked up to the Cortex, pressing his lips against her head. Just the thought of Eobard Thawne going to see her today, to taunt her like that was enough to send him into a frenzy. He had lost her once because of him, and he wasn't going to make that same mistake again.
"So what did you do to my goggles?" Cisco asked as he inspected said goggles in his hands.
"I added a wavelength trigger to stimulate the fear receptors in your brain. Then I took what you already had to induce slow-wave sleep, upgraded it to get you to stage-four sleep."
Cisco groaned audibly at this statement.
"No, this is good," Harry insisted. "This will give us more control."
"Okay."
"Now I'll be able to dictate how long you vibe for."
"Put 'em on."
"What am I gonna see?" Cisco asked.
"I don't know. Never done this before."
"You'll have to tell me so I can steer where you need to be. Ramon, you want to find Reverse-Flash, put on the goggles."
"Okay."
"Attaboy."
"Go ahead."
Cisco placed the goggles on his face, liking the new style and feel as soon as he put them on. He pressed a button on the side and it powered up, and he could feel both the device and his powers work in tandem. It was nothing like he felt before, it felt clearer, like he had crappy vision, and it was the first time he had worn a pair of glasses, correcting his vision.
"Oh-ho-ho, yeah, man. I'm in full-on vibe mode right now," Cisco cheered.
"What do you see?"
"It's hard to explain," Cisco said. "It's different events." He watched as the world around him changed, colours of cobalt, red and yellow mixing together, it was incredible. He felt like he was in the middle of some 3D experience. It was insane. "Different events in time."
"Concentrate on the Reverse-Flash," Harry said.
"Okay." Cisco focused, thinking about their past with the Reverse-Flash, imagining the yellow suit and the red devil eyes that came with it.
"I see him." Cisco spotted him in the distance.
"Move toward him."
"Okay, now what?" He was standing next to him now, and it felt weird.
"Try to picture him with Christina McGee."
A moment later, Christina appeared, standing next to Eobard.
"Where the hell am I?"
"It's charged. You can go now," Christina said. "You said you'd release me."
"Yes, I did. Didn't I?" The Reverse-Flash grinned manically, plunging his phasing hand through her chest.
"No!" Cisco yelled into the void, but it was fruitless. He jerked out of the vibe mode and threw his glasses off.
"She can't be…." He gasped.
"Well, what is it?" Harry asked impatiently.
"She's dead."
"Dr. McGee is dead?" Sophia felt sick at the thought that The Reverse-Flash had taken another innocent life.
"Harry and I were trying to hone my powers to find Zoom, and then we ended up using them, finding The Reverse-Flash, and that's when I saw him kill her."
"And then he left."
"He left? What do you mean, he left?" Barry asked.
"McGee built him some kind of speed machine and he ran into it and got flung back into the future."
"You'd need superluminal energy to send someone through time."
"You mean like tachyons?" Sophia asked.
"Tachyons." Harry nodded.
"We can track their location once they've been activated," Barry said and Cisco nodded, moving to his computer.
"Anything?" Barry asked.
"Nothing."
"Cisco, you're sure that's what you saw?" Barry asked.
"I'm positive," Cisco replied.
"All right. What else did you see?"
"There was all sorts of weird tech everywhere. There was a clock."
"What time did the clock say?" Harry asked.
"9:25, I think. How… how is that relevant?" Cisco asked.
"It's only 6:00 now," Sophia said, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Are you telling me I can see the future?" Cisco asked, looking as though he was having an aneurysm at this news.
"That's exactly what I'm telling you."
"Those goggles are getting named immediately."
"If Cisco can see into the future that means Dr. McGee is still alive. We can save her."
"We have 3 hours and 52 minutes to find her and stop the Reverse-Flash."
"We've done crazier things. Let's do it," Sophia said with a new found determination.
"Nice nitrous kit," Iris commented as she walked into the mechanics shed, her hands tucked into her red and black coat. She leaned up against Wally's car, glancing over at him as he worked on the engine, tinkering around with bits and pieces of metal. "You're gonna get caught one of these days. You know that right? Get thrown in jail?"
Wally sighed at the sight of Iris. It was getting late, and he had been rushing to fix his engine before an important race tonight, he didn't need her distracting him. He had over two grand resting on tonight's win, which would get him a step ahead of his mom's hospital bills, leaving him with enough cash to pay for the cheap room he was renting while he was staying in central city. There were days where he ended up sleeping in his car in order to save some extra cash, and if he didn't have to, it would be preferable. He stopped twisting the bolt he was working on, dropping the wrench on the side as he turned to look at her. "I'll stop racing when these hospital bills stop coming in," Wally threw at her, not feeling bad when he saw the guilty look upon her face, not when she was trying to do the exact same to get him to stop. He was doing everything he could to get by and take care of his mom.
"I saw Mom today. She says you haven't been by in a while," Iris said softly.
"Yeah, she knows why." He didn't know why he didn't argue with her further on this. He had gone to see her every day this week. He had just been sneaking in after visiting hours had been closed, sitting by her bedside as she slept. He couldn't bear to see her in pain while she was awake, that and he was busy trying to scrounge up money where he could to pay for her hospital bills.
"She thinks it's because you're angry with her." And then there was that too. The betrayal, the lies, the secrecy. For over twenty years, his entire existence on this Earth, he thought it was just him and his mother. He hadn't known he had family and now it was just… too late. He had missed out on so much and he did have some resentment towards her because of it.
"I have every right to be angry," Wally said. "Nothing for 20 years, then out of nowhere, she tells me I have a sister, I have… I have a father."
"Yeah, the same thing happened to me too, remember? But that shouldn't keep you from seeing her before you can't anymore."
"No. Look, that's not what it is." Wally pursed his lips.
"Then what is it, Wally?" Iris asked.
"I got to go."
Wally closed the hood of his car, the bonnet clicking in place. He dried his hands on an old rag that was riddled with grease and oil before heading in the direction of the exit. Iris called out to him just as he was walking away causing him to freeze in his step.
"Last year, my fiancé died, unexpectedly. One moment he was here, the next… gone. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him, to tell him everything he meant to me, that he was my world, that he was loved. But today, I got to say goodbye to your mom. My mom. And it helped us both find peace with what happened to our family." Iris placed her hand on Wally's shoulder. "Wally, don't make a mistake you're gonna regret for the rest of your life. Go see your mom while you still can."
He stayed still for a moment longer before shrugging her touch off him, moving to go his separate way. Iris sighed, leaning against his car with a heavy heart, hoping that he would make the right decision.
"No sign of tachyon activity," Harry said as he watched the screens closely.
"We're running out of time. We've got to find them," Barry said, pacing the room nervously. If they didn't find them soon then not only would Dr. McGee die, but Eobard would be on the loose once again, travelling throughout time, and causing trouble.
"It'll take a few minutes for the device to reach full power once it's activated, but when we find it, you're gonna have to get there fast," Cisco informed him.
"We just have to be patient," Sophia advised from her spot. She was hovering in the air, her legs crossed and her arms resting in her lap as she meditated. It was good practice for her flying to just practice holding herself in mid-air. There wasn't much more they could do but wait for the program to register the tachyon activity.
"Hey, Barry." Caitlin walked over to Barry, pulling him aside from the others.
"Yeah?"
"Have you found out anything else about Jay's doppelganger?" Caitlin asked hopefully.
"There's no Jay Garrick on this Earth," Barry told her. He had gone through every database he could and there was no Jay Garrick.
"That's so weird. Everyone has a doppelganger." Caitlin pursed her lips in contemplation. It didn't make sense. So far everyone that had come from E2 had an E1 counterpart.
"Maybe just ask Jay. He's a good guy. Just ask him. I'm sure he'll tell you," Barry said.
"Okay."
Just as their conversation finished, an alarm blared from the computer.
"Tachyons! 87th and Avenue J," Cisco announced.
Sophia was dressed in her suit and out the door before Barry which was a surprise to them all. Her blood was pumping with adrenaline and she only had one thought on her mind. Save Dr. McGee.
She knew that the Reverse-Flash would be too fast for her, she wouldn't be able to get in a hit unless he slowed down, and so she would leave him to Barry. Her top priority was getting Dr. McGee out of there alive and safe.
She could hear Cisco chatting on the comm. about how it was one of Mercury Labs off-site facilities. It was large and dusty, but there was plenty of technology and equipment around. She flew into the facility seamlessly, not making a sound as she landed just behind Eobard and Dr. McGee.
A second later, Barry was by her side, the both of them watching carefully.
"It's charged. You can go now," Dr. McGee said as Eobard took a step towards the controls, looking at the device that was essentially a time traveling machine… well at least to a speedster. "You said you'd release me."
"Yes, I did. Didn't I?"
"He's going to kill her," Sophia whispered to Barry. "I'll get her, you catch him."
Eobard took a step towards Dr. McGee, pulling the hood of his mask over his face, his eyes gleaming scarlet, and his right hand phasing back and forth, darting towards her chest.
Before The Reverse-Flash could kill Dr. McGee, Sophia threw both hands out in front of her, cobalt energy sprouting from her hands in a single blast, the bolts of energy smashing into Eobard with so much force that he ended up flying through the air, crashing into the other side of the facility. With lightning quick reflexes, she summoned more energy from around her, damaging the device that Dr. McGee had built for Eobard. The machine sparked, the bright lights dying out a moment later.
"All yours, honey," Sophia told Barry who nodded at her. She darted over to Dr. McGee, grabbing her around her waist, flying the both of them out of the facility, leaving Barry to deal with The Reverse-Flash.
"That was my way home!" The Reverse-Flash roared in anger, turning to see the woman in blue fly his hostage out of the facility, and The Flash stand before him.
"You're not going anywhere," Barry said, running after the man in yellow, something he had hoped he would never have to do again in his lifetime.
"You haven't won here, Flash," Eobard rasped. "I'll find another way back."
"You're gonna have to get through me first."
"You really think you're fast enough to stop me." Eobard cackled.
"Let's find out." Barry smirked, feeling more than confident.
"Catch me if you can."
The battle had begun, and though Barry had once been inferior to the Reverse-Flash it seemed as though time and practice had paid off well. Barry was easily able to catch him, grabbing him by the back of his hood, his leather clad fingers grasping the yellow material of the speedster in front of him and pulling back as far as he could, the momentum alone sending him crashing into the ground once more that night.
"Not fast enough, Thawne." Barry threw his body up against some metal fencing, punching at him, left, right and centre. His fists were moving so fast, it was too much for even Eobard to try and block. Eobard grunted as Barry speed punched him in the abdomen and chest, leaving it hard for him to breathe, let alone retaliate. "I will never lose to you again."
"This war between us, it ends now!"
Barry had been so focused on the fight between him and Eobard that he didn't realise that Sophia had flown back to the facility by his side, trying to pull him back from killing Eobard. The Reverse-Flash was unconscious already and had been while Barry had thrown multiple hits at him, his body sliding to the floor when Sophia had ripped Barry from him.
"Bar!" Sophia watched as he stood there, his form towering over The Reverse-Flash, his chest heaving as he looked down at his clenched fists.
"Get the cell ready."
"Hey, he can't…?" Cisco asked, leaving the question unfinished and open to interpretation.
"Phase his way out? No, he can't do that. It's the same cell we used to hold Dr. Wells last year," Barry said as he carefully watched the video footage on screen before turning to walk out of the cortex. Sophia noticed this movement and was quick in grabbing his wrist.
"Barry, where are you going?" She asked gently. She knew that he was on edge, she was as well, hell the entire team was.
"I'm going down there," Barry said.
"No, you're not. You can't go down there like this." Sophia released her grip on his hand. She could object, but she wasn't going to physically stop him. It was his choice to make. He had to be responsible about it.
"She's right. The more he learns about you, the more you will alter the time line," Harry said.
"He killed my mom!"
Silence filled the room, the tension building up higher and higher until Harry spoke once more.
"He's from the future. He hasn't done that yet. He doesn't even know you're The Flash, and you need to keep it that way."
"You already said that his mother's gonna die no matter what we do," Cisco pointed out.
"There's ramifications any time anybody messes with the timeline, and it's impossible to predict what those ramifications are going to be," Harry said, pacing the room.
"Barry, you caught him and you stopped him from killing Dr. McGee. In my book, that's a win."
"This doesn't feel like a win." Barry ran out of the room, leaving a gust of wind in his wake.
"I'll go speak to him. Just please, don't screw up here. Watch him carefully. Eobard Thawne might be a psychopath, but he's an intelligent one," Sophia said, hoping that Harry would be able to keep a handle on things.
Sophia flew up to the roof of Star Labs to find Barry sitting on the edge, legs dangling off. She took a moment to take admire the midnight sky. It had been a long and tiring day and she could understand how Barry was feeling. She felt the same way, he was just more expressive. She walked over and sat beside him, grasping his hand in her own, intertwining their fingers.
She could feel the steady thrum of his blood pumping through his veins as she held his hand. She rubbed her thumb gently, caressing the back of his hand, hoping the action would calm him down and let him know that she was here.
"It's okay to feel like this you know. Frustrated… helpless. Sometimes being superheroes, behind held up on this pedestal, it makes us feel like we have to be strong all the time. But we're human too. We are allowed to have moments of weakness, moments of uncertainty," Sophia spoke, her words resonating with him. He turned to gaze at her as she continued.
"I know how desperately you want to confront him, and you have the right to, especially after what he did to your mother, to your family… to you. But it's not going to change the past and it may in fact change our future. You're in control right now. If you go in there, he gets to control what happens next to us. There's a possibility that the future where I die, the one that you erased could happen again. I don't want that to happen, I'm terrified of it happening. I want to live, Barry. I want to live by your side, to grow old with you, to have children. I don't want to let Eobard Thawne take control over our lives for one more second."
Sophia hadn't realised she had been feeling this way until the words tumbled off her lips, like a tsunami, uncontainable and destructive. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment to gain control over her emotions, opening her eyes and turning to her right to see her lover staring back at her.
"How come you never told me you felt this way? I mean, earlier, I know you were scared of Eobard, but this other stuff about the future, I didn't know… I'm… I'm sorry for not paying more attention. I'm just- I'm sorry."
"I didn't even realise I was feeling this way til now. You just- If you talk to him, you need to be careful."
"I will be," Barry promised, leaning down and pressing a sweet kiss to her lips, her lips brushing against his, the two of them leaving the world behind, and focusing on each other, even if was just for a little while.
"How'd you get your suit in your ring?" Cisco asked, curiosity filling his voice.
"Who are you?" Eobard asked from his spot on the floor. He had been pacing his cell earlier, trying to find a way out of there, but his efforts were fruitless. Whatever material they had created this cell out of, he wasn't able to phase out. He was stuck here until his captors decided to release him.
"My name is Cisco Ramon."
"And we know each other well, don't we?" Eobard asked, leaning forward from his spot.
"We have history together. You could say that," Cisco said ominously, taking a step out of the shadows that had been casted over him.
"And that's all you want to know? How I got my suit in my ring?" Eobard raised a brow. It was certainly an interesting request.
"I want you to know that I'm the one who figured out you were back. I helped stop you. Me."
"And how'd you do that?" Eobard asked, watching the man before him with curious eyes. This trip to the past was become more and more intriguing.
"I have powers. And I helped track you down and I put you in here." Cisco felt proud about this fact, and he wasn't going to be shy about it.
"That's quite the ability you've been given."
"And here's what so ironic about it. You gave me these powers. Have fun thinking about that while you rot away in this cell that you helped me build. Bye Felicia." Cisco walked away feeling triumphant for the first time in a long time.
Eobard had been sitting in the cramped cell of hours waiting for The Flash to come and speak to him, and he was not disappointed when he saw a figure walk into the room after his visit from Cisco Ramon. The Flash was silent, and Eobard knew that he would be the first to speak.
"I was obsessed with you," Eobard began softly. "For so long, I wanted to be The Flash. I spent years figuring out how you came to be. Duplicated the reaction… and it worked," Eobard chuckled darkly. "I became like you."
"Right, so what happened?"
"This ability to travel through time revealed a truth. My fate was to become your greatest enemy. I was never going to be The Flash, so I became the reverse of everything that you were. The more people you saved, the more you were loved, the more I had to take from you."
"That is why you killed my mother? That's why you ruined my life? Because you couldn't be me?" Barry yelled. His fists were clenched by his sides and he wanted nothing more than to open that cell and kill the man before him.
"I became better than you! I am the one thing you cannot stop, Flash!"
"No, no, no. Not anymore. Our race is over. And you lost."
"I learned what time period you're from, Flash. And one day soon, I'll learn your name."
Before Barry could comment further, Caitlin had called him on the comm.
"We need you in the cortex now!"
He rushed down there in a second flat to see Caitlin and Sophia struggling to keep Cisco still on the bed in the med bay. Harry was running to the other side of the room to grab a needle for Sophia while the two girls held Cisco down who was convulsing on the bed.
"What's happening?" Barry asked in a panic.
"He's experiencing an uncontrollable amount of electrical energy in his brain, putting him in a prolonged state of chronic seizing."
"What?"
"He's having a seizure," Sophia said as she shoved a piece of foam between Cisco's teeth to ensure that if he did bite down, it would be on the foam and not his tongue.
"Can you stop it?"
"I don't know," Caitlin said, unsure of what to do next.
"We need to let him ride through most of the seizure, but if his convulsions don't stop in the next thirty seconds then we can try to sedate him," Sophia said.
"Hold him down!" Sophia ordered and Barry came by the other side of the bed to help Caitlin hold down Cisco's legs that were thrashing everywhere.
"Sedate him, now!" Harry said, taking over for Sophia. She plucked the needle out of his hand, making quick work of ripping off the plastic packaging before drawing up some benzodiazepine. She moved, pulling up Cisco's sleeve on his arm before injecting the needle into the muscle of his upper arm.
"What did you give him?"
"Benzodiazepine, it should work in keeping him sedated."
A few seconds later, Cisco's body began to relax, the drug taking effect swiftly. His body went limp, and they released their hold on him, taking a moment to gather themselves.
"Finally."
Sophia had only given him enough of the drug to relax his muscles and keep him sedate, but not unconscious. A few minutes later Cisco's eyes flew open and he tried to sit up in the bed, gasping for air.
"Oh! What? What was that? What the hell is going on? Where the hell am I?" Cisco's mouth was running, questions pouring out faster than they could be answered.
"Cisco!"
"It's the timeline," Harry said.
"What? What are you talking about?" Barry asked.
"When you… when you captured Reverse-Flash, we ruptured the timeline. That's what this is… All the blood and the seizures and that and all… Cisco is being affected to... by the changes in the timeline. The changes to the past or the changes to the present. This is what this is."
"We need to do something. We need to do it fast."
"Like what?"
"We need to restore the timeline," Harry conceded. "Barry, you need to get Reverse-Flash and send him back to the future as quickly as possible."
"What are you out of your mind?" Barry exclaimed.
"Barry," Sophia said.
"I just caught him! You want me to let him go?"
"Barry, keeping him here is killing Cisco, if it's the only way we can save our friend, then we have to do it," Sophia told him.
"I can't."
"Shit," Sophia cursed, shaking her head. "I destroyed the tachyon drive in the speed machine when I saved Dr. McGee. It's not going to work, it won't be able to reach the speed necessary to send him back." She looked down at Cisco who was lying in the bed and felt guilty. She had ruined his chances of survival with her rash behaviour.
"It doesn't matter," Harry said. "You can send him back," He said, turning to Barry.
"What?"
"Your speed coupled with Thawne's, that'll be enough to catapult him through the time continuum. You can do it. You're the only one who can do it, Barry."
"All right, let's do it. For Cisco," Barry agreed. He didn't want it to come to this, but if he had to do this to save his best friends life, then he would sacrifice it.
"For Cisco."
"Time to send you home," The Flash announced as he walked into the room, ready to release the cell door that kept The Reverse-Flash contained.
"The time paradox," Eobard assumed. He wasn't sure if it would come to that, but he was glad, because this was his only way out.
"Yeah."
"You've all messed with something you don't understand," The Reverse-Flash said.
"Can you do me a favour and just shut up?" This caused Eobard to laugh which made Barry want to just punch him til he passed out, but he took a deep breath and kept his anger under control.
"And how exactly are you going to send me home?"
"Don't worry about it."
"You fixed Dr. McGee's tachyon device?" Eobard inquired. "That other friend of yours did quite the job on destroying it to pieces. I must say that I was impressed. It's funny I haven't seen her around in my time. Guess she must have died," Eobard said, enjoying the rise he got out of The Flash when he spoke these words.
"No, I came up with a different method."
"Is that so?"
"Uh-huh."
"Who are you?"
"No one of consequence."
"No. I doubt that."
Barry rolled his eyes at that comment, moving to press the button on the side of the computer, releasing Eobard from his cell. Cautiously, Eobard took a step out of his cell, careful not to make any wrong moves. He knew that without Dr. McGee's device, the only way he would be getting back was to trust The Flash.
"I win again, Flash." Eobard grinned manically. It was truly a feeling like no other to watch The Flash squirm in his red boots at the very thought of helping his enemy.
"All you have to do is provide him with enough momentum to get him past the space-time barrier," Harry spoke into the comm.
"All right."
Eobard followed The Flash to the opening of the accelerator where they would both be running around in order to send him back to the future. Both of them had their hoods up, and they were about to run when Barry hesitated and for a moment there, he couldn't go through with it. He couldn't do it. Not until Harry spoke to him once again.
"Hey, listen to me. Thawne knows about you. Right here, right now. This is where he learns about you, all of you. Its how he knows about Star Labs, how he knows about me, and the Harrison wells from this Earth. And there's nothing I can do about it." Harry let out a heavy sigh. "There's nothing you can do about it. This is his origin story, and it's going to happen no matter what you do. But right here, right now, you can send him back to his time. You can save your friend. You can save Cisco and then move on with your life. This could be a good thing. You can finally let go of him."
"I could throw him three centuries from now. He'll always be a part of me," Barry said to Harry through his mic. He let out a huff of air before walking towards Eobard.
"Time to send you back where you belong," The Flash said.
"We'll meet again soon, Flash." Those were his final words before he darted into the particle accelerator, zooming around, the red lightning trailing behind him.
"I know. And every time, I'll be ready for you." Barry then took a leap, and before he knew it, Eobard was gone, leaving them once and for all.
Barry closed his eyes for a moment before going back upstairs, taking comfort in the arms of Sophia as he tried to forget about the pain that Eobard had caused him, and how his own actions were the cause of it.
Wally was standing in front of the West household with his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans, as he tapped his foot nervously, waiting for Iris to answer the door. He had thought about what she had said, and he knew that she was right. He was being stubborn, and though in his own way, he thought he was doing the right thing, he realised that he wasn't. He really wasn't and he owed her for helping him.
"Wally, Hi," Iris greeted.
"Hey."
"Um, do you want to come in?" Iris asked, opening the door a bit more.
"No, I can't stay, I just… I wanted to tell you that I'm gonna take your advice and go see my mom."
"Okay."
"Iris, I was… I was wondering if you would come with me."
"Yeah, I would love that." Iris smiled.
"Yeah?"
"Okay. Just let me grab my jacket."
And that night, the residents of Central City had all gone to bed with their hearts lighter, and their heads clear, ready to keep playing the game of life that they had been thrown. Because whatever happened, they had each other, their families, their friends, their loved ones, and if they had those, then it was enough.
A/N –
This chapter was a monster to write. There was just so much involved yet so little time. Sorry for the late posting, I was on holiday and the Wi-Fi was terrible. But now, you guys get to enjoy an extra long chapter. I hope the next chapter will be out in 2 weeks. I'm still writing it atm, so let's hope I can get it finished soon!
Reviews:
Reyna Ramirez: Here's that update you've been waiting for.
ImsebastianstanButter: Thank you so much for your review, and awesome username btw.
Riala: Thank you for being my 150th reviewer! I'm so glad you love Sophia's character. I wanted to make her a strong female character that people could look up to, and I wanted it to be diverse as well that's why she's half Chinese/ half American. Oh yeah we'll have to wait and see when I can get up to s3. I'm just trying to finish this one first. There's just so much going on right now, but yeah, let's get this one done. It's funny that you mentioned Hal because he was mentioned in this chapter, albeit it was quite sad, but also remember this is just in this Earth, so he's definitely kicking on E-2.
Lara-Cat: Thank you for the review, hope you enjoy this one.
Guest: Thank you, it means the world to me, honestly. Hope you enjoyed their reaction to Eobard being back!
Kylolover16: Thank you heaps, hope you continue to enjoy it.
LMarie99: LOVE LOVE LOVED your review. It made me laugh and smile, so thank you.
RHatch89: Thanks dude.
Til next time.
Heroherondale. X