Maritza's eyes followed her sister's constant pacing in front of her. She was sitting in side her prison pod of the pipeline. Belén was tired of crying, was tired of it all, and she just didn't know what more Maritza could throw at her by this point. Her head hurt, but she didn't know if that was because of the problems or if it was because of fact her brother had literally messed with the insides of her body only a couple hours ago.
"Belén, you're making me dizzy, just shout at me or something," Maritza wearily said.
Belén stopped and looked at her. "You think I have things to say? Maritza I have no idea how to even talk to you anymore!"
"I'm your sister-"
"No," Belén shouted so loud that Maritza flinched, "You are not my sister. My sister-" she pointed at herself, "-would have never hurt so many people and do what she did. She would have never left her own son!" Maritza actually flinched at how loud Belén was shouting. "YOU LEFT HIM, MARITZA! He has no idea what his mother has been up to!"
"I know what I did, I am not denying it-"
"Oh goodie, your redemption is on track-"
"It's not redemption!" Maritza exclaimed. She sighed, giving a light shake of her head. "I didn't turn things around because I felt like it. I'll admit Barry's words did kind of help me make the turn but...I've been lost for a while now. I've been...confused."
"But that didn't stop you from threatening me? Hurting me and my friends? Maritza, what the hell!?"
Belén stared hard at her sister with an incredulous expression. "It's funny. You don't even realize that there should have never been a moment for you to 'turn it around' because there shouldn't have been a moment where you decided to turn into...this," she made a gesture to Maritza's current predicament.
"I was not born this way," Maritza gritted her teeth together, her eyes falling to the side. "Wells made me like this. He made us all this way. He killed Chris, Belén-" her eyes began to tear, "-my husband. I lost him that night. And then he went and infected us all with these powers. He killed our dad, Belén. He took our family away."
Belén acknowledged the losses they had to suffer, but she would not allow her sister to dump all the responsibility on someone else. "Wells took a lot from many people, but the one thing he is not responsible for is how you decided to use your powers. Look at me, Mar, look at me with my uncontrollable powers. I don't blame anyone else for them. It's on me that I haven't learned to control them, not anyone else."
"You are far stronger than me and Rayan," Maritza said with a hint of pride. "You turned yourself into a hero. You pushed through and look where you are…"
Belén scoffed. "Oh yeah, I'm Queen of the world. My dad's dead, my sister and brother are rogues, and my mom is clueless about it. Oh yeah, I'm the luckiest person in the world." She waited a moment before she could speak again without shouting. They'd effortlessly put Maritza into the pipeline, a safe distance away from Thawne, and given Belén a while to cool down before she could go and talk to Maritza. "Why did you leave us, Maritza?" she finally asked the question that'd been burning in Belén's head. "I mean...were you just that big of a coward, or...?"
Maritza took the sting of her sister's words in silence. She balled her fist and brought it up against the pod's glass wall. "I needed to know where I was in regards to you and Rayan." Belén scoffed, clearly discarding that answer as garbage. "Barry gave me an ultimatum and I realized I didn't know what side I was on anymore. I love you and Rayan-"
"-no," Belén wagged a finger, almost laughing at the absurdity she heard. "If you really love me, then you wouldn't have done everything you did. And if you really loved Rayan, then you wouldn't have let him get away with all that he's done."
"Rayan is just as troubled as I am, Belén! He was kidnapped for his powers and was forced to do dirty work for a group of thieves!"
"Yeah, and as painful as I know that was for him, it still gave him no excuse to turn evil," Belén clapped her hands together. "I get he had to...kill...to survive, as hard as that sounds to me, but the moment he was free he could have come back."
"And do what?" Maritza challenged. "Go to the cops and tell them everything? He would've gone to jail-"
"-HE'S GOING TO JAIL NOW!" Belén once again screamed. "At least back then he could have argued self defence! But now? Now what's he going to say? 'Sorry guys, I decided to steal and hurt people because of my troubled past'?"
"He is dying!" Maritza snapped, startling Belén into silence for a moment. "Those powers that gave you the gift of being a hero is the same thing that's going to kill our brother."
"You're lying," Belén frowned. "You'd say anything to be let out-"
"-I'm not interested in being set free. I wouldn't have given myself up - I wouldn't have returned if I cared of being free. But that's one of the reasons why I came back, because I knew Rayan was going to get worse and do something stupid like he did earlier."
"What's wrong with him?" Belén crossed her arms, not entirely keen on believing Maritza but she would like to believe that Maritza wasn't that cynical to lie about something so big.
"I don't know, but if I had to guess it's the telekinesis that's messing with his head. For some time now he's been having more headaches, he's been getting tired more easily. His powers, on the other hand, are developing fast now. But when he uses them for long periods of time, or gets stressed or..." Maritza sighed, "...or when things get too tough, blood comes out of his nose."
Belén remembered what Caitlin had mentioned after being brought back into the building. Rayan had blood oozing from his nose and eyes. Oh my God, he's dying. Belén shuddered a breath. "Well, if it's the truth then he needs to be here so that we can help him."
"He's not coming here, Belén," Maritza said, hoping Belén knew this already.
Belén did, but she just didn't care. "I'm sorry but since he's evil, he doesn't exactly get a pick in medical help, does he?"
"You're being unfair, Belén," Maritza said quietly though Belén heard just fine.
"I'm being unfair? Are you serious?" Belén didn't know whether to laugh because of how ridiculous this was, or cry out of pure frustration. "I thought I could do this-" she gestured to their conversation, "-but maybe I'm not quite ready cos I still want to fight you." She headed for the control panel, deciding to continue this later when she had cooled down (again).
"Belén I know I messed up-" Maritza winced when Belén bitterly laughed but she kept going before Belén could close the pipeline, "-but I do love you and our brother, and I love my son, so please just take care of Axel for me."
"Believe me, Axel won't know any of this until he's 30," Belén spat and pushed the button to seal the pipeline. "If he's lucky."
She turned on her heels and stormed out of the pipeline. She wasn't fazed seeing Barry in the hallway near the pipeline entrance. "Your turn!" she spat, jerking a thumb over her shoulder to indicate he could talk to Thawne now.
Barry winced but decided - for safety reasons - not to say anything. He honestly could not remember her ever getting that angry, but he couldn't argue it. He felt the same rage towards Thawne.
~ 0 ~
In the cortex room, the group, with Ronnie and professor Stein, were discussing the great dilemma Wells had presented to Barry.
"The rare opportunity to go back in time and right a wrong and save your mother's life... quite the paradox Harrison has presented you with, Mr. Allen." Professor Stein truly had no words to even advise Barry what to decide on.
Caitlin, on the other hand, seemed pretty clear on what she would decide if it had been her decision to make. "The chance to be with someone you love? Seems pretty cut and dry to me."
"At first blush, Dr. Snow, it would appear so, but this gift has unparalleled risk," Stein said to her. "Barry, the night your mother died, the night you saved yourself from being killed, that event altered the timeline you were already on and changed the course of history."
"So what you're saying is we're living in a parallel universe?" Cisco tried wrapping his mind around that idea considering they were living in a third parallel universe due to the fact Barry had already altered the original parallel universe.
"Just like when I time traveled before," Barry seemed to be thinking of the same thing.
"But he... he only changed one day that time," Joe said incredulously.
"Exactly. Now imagine 15 years of compounded experiences," Stein tried making his point. "One different decision, no matter how big or small, impacts everything that follows. Moments upon moments, choices upon choices. No relationships, nothing would be as it is today, and you'd never know the difference because you'd never remember any of it."
"So if I go back and save my mom, my dad doesn't go to prison. I never live with Joe and Iris…" Barry began to make the connections.
"You might never meet me. Or Caitlin or Ronnie," Cisco added and debated whether or not he should add the third and probably the most valuable person.
Bells. Barry had to wonder if this time change would alter the day he met Belén through Iris. Because if he never lived with Iris and Joe, then it meant that there was a chance that he wouldn't end up being that close to Iris enough to meet some of her friends. He would have liked to have Belén around so that she would at least be in the know right now, but she'd gone straight home to see Axel. No one blamed her, of course.
Still, the next person Barry needed to see was his father.
~0~
Barry decided to have a talk with his dad in hopes of getting some needed advice seeing as everyone else seemed to vary in their stances. Joe said yes, Caitlin said yes, but Cisco was an adamant no. Stein was unsure and Ronnie couldn't pick a side either. Barry was so incredibly lost.
"Dad, look. I know this sounds crazy…" Barry spoke up since Henry couldn't seem to respond after being told the opportunity that Barry was getting.
"I think we're way past crazy, slugger. Look, you're fast, I get it. But turning back time…?" Henry thought perhaps this was just another trick that could hurt Barry.
"No, I wouldn't be turning time back. I would be... going back to that night to save her."
"And what does Joe think about all this?"
"He thinks I should do it."
Henry thought for a moment, his face becoming serious when he decided, "No. You can't."
Barry gave him an incredulous stare. "Dad...I can make it so that night will never have happened," he repeated in simpler terms in case his father hadn't grasped the concept yet. "We'll be a family again."
But Henry understood perfectly what it would entail. "We are a family."
"Not like this," Barry shook his head. "Not without Mom."
"Barry, there's a natural order to things, okay? Things happen the way they do. We may not know why at the time, but there must always be a reason. Now, I believe that. I've had to believe it."
Barry couldn't understand what his father was thinking in telling him all this. He was making the decision a lot harder than it should be. "I... I can save Mom."
"At what cost?" Henry challenged, hoping Barry would see what this significant change would do to his life. "You said time would change. What if it changes you?"
"I don't care!"
"I do," Henry frowned. "I am in awe of the remarkable man that you are becoming... all the things you've achieved, and not just as the Flash, but you, Barry. Your honesty. Your heart. You were always a hero. And your mom would be just as proud. And if she had a say in this, if she thought for one second that you going back to save her would mean you losing what makes you so special, she would never want that. Barry, what I hope for you, maybe the greatest thing that a father can hope for his son is that one day, you will become a father yourself. And then you will know...how much I truly love you."
Barry was in tears by the time his father finished talking. He'd come in searching for support but he was going to be leaving with far more confusion.
~0~
It was getting darker as the sun began to set in the sky's horizon. Belén sat silently on a park bench, facing the usual fountain she'd become fond of in the last year. She could see Axel playing at a distance, the little boy was happier than ever just like he usually was when he got the chance to go to the park and play. Meanwhile, Belén had spent the day thinking and thinking of her siblings. Her brother was dying. Her sister was going away forever. She was going to have to become a pseudo-mother to a four year old who didn't know he was about to lose his mother to prison.
What had her life become?
Belén shook her head at her silent question and made to get up when she saw Barry walking towards her. She felt a newsense of awful knowing that she'd basically deserted him when he probably needed her.
"Gotta thank Cisco for hacking your cellphone GPS," he admitted as he took a seat beside her.
"Sounds creepy, Mr. Allen," Belén side-glanced him with a small smile. "But I'll let it go on account of you being cute."
Barry smiled briefly then looked ahead, spying Axel trying to dip a hand into the fountain.
"Axel, don't you dare!" Belén's sudden call startled the boy away from the fountain. He grinned at them then ran away. "I haven't told him anything," Belén said quietly as if Axel would overhear. "I told Maritza I wouldn't tell him anything until he was 30...but now I wonder if I'm being just as bad as Maritza."
"Believe me, you could never be as...bad as Maritza," Barry felt bad for saying it out loud but Belén didn't seem so upset by it. Still, Belén didn't say anything. There was a mutual silence between them filled with pain and rage.
"You okay?" they both ended up asking each other at the same time.
"Of course," Belén lightly chuckled, but she sniffed a little louder than intended. "What did he say? Thawne? When you went to talk to Thawne, what crappy excuse did he have for everything he's done?" She thought listening to him could maybe give her the courage to talk about what Maritza had told her of Rayan.
"Oh, you know, the same old same old: he hated me so he thought by wiping me from existence we would be even," Barry tried to be nonchalant about it but of course it was an impossible thing to do. "Except I beat him so he decided to get back by killing my mother."
"Barry, I'm so sorry," Belén rubbed her hand against his arm. She didn't think she could talk about her siblings now, it felt so...irrelevant now. "He deserves to rot in prison."
"That's the thing, um..." Barry straightened on the bench, "He's...giving me the opportunity to go back in time to save my Mom. If I do that, then none of this ever happens. You don't get powers, you don't lose your dad, you don't send your sister to jail and you never have to go in search of your twin because he will never go missing."
"But we…"
Barry nodded at the question he assumed she was asking. "We run the risk of never meeting each other." Belén's eyes drifted to the side in thought. Barry sighed and scooted closer to her. "I need to know what you think."
Belén looked down at her lap, hiding her terrible fear. Of course she didn't want to lose him completely. But what was she supposed to say? 'No, Barry, I don't want you to go save your Mom because I am a selfish woman.'
"Belén, please say something," Barry begged, reaching for her hand. He gently tugged on it, making her look up. "I am so lost. It's the biggest decision of my life, and if I'm wrong, I can't undo it. So please, talk to me, tell me something."
"I don't know," Belén whispered. "I mean...I have my mom, and I had my dad. I don't know what it's like growing up without either. I can't imagine what you had to go through. All I know is that every single decision you have ever made is to get the culprit of your mother's murder. I don't know," she lightly smiled and looked away, "Maybe if you save your Mom you'd have your freedom. You'd get to see your mom again, your dad, have a great career in whatever you want, even get married."
"We don't know that that's going to happen…" Barry reminded. "We may not meet…"
"Or maybe we would," Belén offered a different view. "Maybe we meet somewhere else, somewhere new and we...still end up together."
"Do you believe that?" Barry asked, looking at her with a curious look.
"You once said that you believed that you would've fallen for me whether or not I had stayed with Cisco," Belén reminded, her smile infecting Barry to give his own. "So the question now is, do you believe that we would meet each other in another world?"
Barry considered the question truthfully. He stared at her waiting face, genuinely taking her entire self in. He liked her so much, he loved everything about her. From the very first time he met her, there was something...adorable about her. Her long rambling and shyness was something he would always love about her; the way she would suddenly lose all that shyness when she talked about something she truly loved. Barry thought he could never truly forget her embarrassed laughter when she felt like she didn't understand his or everyone else's scientific explanations.
"Yes," he finally said after what seemed like hours for Belén who had to endure his long stare. "I do think we would meet regardless. I can't imagine it any other way."
"Okay," Belén nodded. "So then set that aside, and do what you think you need to do. Because this isn't really about us, it's about you being happy. You always think of everyone else...so maybe this time, do what's in your heart. Do what you need to do for yourself."
Barry nodded his head, thankful for her words. Belén wrapped her arm around his and snuggled to his side.
"Do you plan on talking to Maritza again?" Barry asked after a couple minutes of silence.
"I don't know," Belén admitted. "If you do go back in time, I don't want to give her the luxury of knowing her mistakes will be forgotten." She stayed quiet again while she thought of the way she was talking about Maritza. "I've been so sad since Maritza left and now that I have her here...I'm just so angry. I don't know if I can talk to her tonight."
"Talk to her tomorrow, then," Barry suggested. Perhaps with some sleep and some more time to think she would figure out a way to stay calm while she...'discussed' with her sister.
But, Belén thought about it and she honestly believed it would have to be months before she could have a conversation with Maritza without shouts. A whole year of fighting, lies and secrets could not be forgiven in one day.
There was just one thing they could do together at this point. And that was only because Maritza knew more about it.
~0~
It was incredibly early the next day when Belén returned to STAR Labs. In her suit, she strode into the pipeline with purpose and opened the pipeline up.
"I thought it'd be longer until you decided to talk to me," Maritza admitted, and she honestly wasn't that wrong.
"I'm doing it for Rayan. Because I don't want him to die," Belén walked over to the control panel again and further surprised Maritza by opening her pod.
Maritza's eyes widened but she didn't dare step out. Belén, on the other hand, merely turned for the hallway. "Hurry up!" she spat.
"Where are we going!?" Maritza called, only taking the necessary step to get out of the pod.
"We're bringing in Rayan, what else?" Belén stopped under the threshold and glanced back at her sister. "He needs to be brought in so Caitlin can look at him."
"What - we're going to force him to come?" Maritza rushed after her younger sister.
"It's either that or he dies," Belén led the way down the hallway. One could say it was pointless going on a mission to bring Rayan back when Barry was going to reset the timeline, but Belén didn't care. She couldn't leave her brother to die on his own, not when there was still something they could do to help him. "You know where he is, don't you?" Maritza didn't say anything as they stepped into the elevator. Belén side-glanced her with narrowed eyes. "I'm not asking again."
"You're not going to like what you'll find," Maritza warned. "Rayan...Rayan isn't himself anymore-"
Belén scoffed. "Yes, I think I got that from our last fight. Luckily, I'm over it. I'm bringing him in no matter what."
"Without telling the others?"
"This is my thing to deal with," Belén looked at her sister again, "It's our family issue. But if you try to escape, I won't hesitate to fight you this time."
Maritza gave a nod. She wasn't thinking of going anywhere anyways.
~0~
After deciding to go through with changing the time line, Barry had to give each of his friends some task to do in order for things to go the right way. The most particularly difficult task was to create a time machine using the plans Wells had given them. Barry led both Cisco and Ronnie into the working room full of different parts that would hopefully put together a time machine.
"So, if Wells is as fast as you, what's he need a time machine for?" Ronnie made a face that expressed how ridiculous he thought the idea was.
"Apparently he lost his speed when he killed my mom," Barry explained. "He gets it back sometimes but only in spurts. He can't fully control it."
"So I was right about the wheelchair," Cisco beamed. "He was using it to charge himself."
"So after I open the wormhole, he's gonna need the ship to travel back to the future. He's been squirreling away the parts. Now we just need to put it together." Barry gestured to one of the tables holding several of the plans and leftover pieces for them to work on.
Ronnie moved over to study it for a moment. He picked up one of the metal clamps lying there.
"Ronnie, I love you, but this is a time machine, not a bookcase from IKEA," Cisco said as Ronnie turned over the clamps.
Ronnie ignored him and shook his head. "We got a problem. These tiles... they're made of tungsten."
"Well, tungsten does have the highest melting point of any other element…"
"Yeah, but the dust it generates is flammable. The pressure exerted from the wormhole…"
Cisco finally understood the problem. "Yeah. Yeah. It could cause a hole to be melted into the exterior. It could explode."
Barry looked from one man to the next. "Any ideas?"
Cisco shook his head but purposely started out of the room. "Let me ask Dr. Evil. Which used to be a name that made me smile."
As he went out, Caitlin came running in. "Guys!" she exclaimed, looking pretty worried. "We have a problem - Maritza's gone!"
"What?" Barry frowned and moved over to meet her halfway.
"I was coming in to give her the usual breakfast like Wells but she wasn't there," Caitlin explained. "I already checked the security feed and, well…"
"What?" Barry lowered his head at the woman, partially knowing what could have happened.
Caitlin sighed. "Belén let her go. And not just that, but she took her suit too. I don't understand where they were going."
Barry only had to think a little to realize what Belén was intending. "They're going to find Rayan."
"Woah, woah, you mean psycho brother with the power to turn someone's insides out?" Cisco crazily looked between the group. "Why the hell would she want to do that?" But of course the moment he asked, he knew. "Yeah, sorry. But she can't go after Rayan on her own."
"That's probably why she took Maritza," Caitlin bit her lower lip. "But who's to say Maritza won't double-cross Bells?"
"We need to find her, now," Barry specifically looked at Cisco for that one. "Her suit's tracker is still on, right?"
"Should be," Cisco led the way into the hallway with a speedy haste.
~ 0 ~
"Why did you decide to come back?" Belén got the courage to ask midway through their trip to find Rayan. Maritza was leading the way across rooftops since neither sister wanted attention from civilian.
"I told you, I knew Rayan was going to get worse," Maritza stopped at the edge of a rooftop and put her hands together, shooting her purple mass to the next rooftop to create a makeshift bridge.
"Is that the only reason why you came back?"
"My son, of course," Maritza stepped down the edge. "I missed him. But I knew the moment that I decided to go I'd lost him."
"Where'd you go, anyways? We searched for you everywhere and you didn't show up!"
"I knew you guys had the technology to find me so I stayed in a shady part of the city. Believe me, no one messes with Plasticine there," Maritza gestued for Belén to walk across the bridge she'd made.
"What exactly are your powers made from?" Belén asked the burning question Cisco had always wondered about since they learned about Plasticine's existence.
"At my guess, play-doh," Maritza said, sounding unimpressed with her abilities. "I was working on a craft for my students when the Particle Accelerator went off, so..."
"Makes sense," Belén let her vines start crawling over her body. "But I don't need you." She disbanded into vines and disappeared through the walls.
Maritza watched - rather awed - her sister re-appear in the next rooftop like nothing. "Alright," she muttered and hopped along her makeshift bridge. Belén was already getting a head start for the next rooftop. "Belén, wait!"
"What?" Belén stopped and turned sideways.
"I get your mad, but I need to know things are going to be okay afterwards...with Axel."
Belén wanted to stay angry but if it concerned her nephew...then she couldn't, could she? With a sigh, she fully turned around. "Axel will be fine, Maritza. It's not like I'm going to turn him over to a foster care."
"You're the only one who knows him besides me and Chris. You will look after him, right? Tuck him in...take him to school..."
"And give him his chocolate milk before and after he wakes up," Belén smiled only a little. Maritza nodded silently. "I love that little boy, Maritza. I'm not leaving him alone."
"And he loves you. You're his favorite auntie," Maritza swallowed hard then. "I don't want him to visit me in...wherever I go. I don't want him to visit me. You were right, he'll be really lucky if he never knows what happened to me."
Belén opened her mouth several times without words coming. "No...well..." she sighed. "I don't really know what would be better, honestly." She turned her back on Maritza and continued on. "Let's go."
~0~
Maritza unlocked the 20th marked warehouse and allowed her sister to go in first. Belén cautiously stepped inside and immediately saw sophisticated contraptions inside, along with countable priceless objects. She raised an eyebrow and looked at Maritza for an explanation.
"Pixel had her obsessions with jewelry," Maritza spoke quietly as she followed Belén in. "She was deranged."
"Kinda got that before you, um..." Belén trailed off when she realized they hadn't exactly talked about the fact Maritza killed Pixel. She knew her sister had already killed before, but that was before they knew who Plasticine was.
"I shot her, Belén," Maritza said for Belén. "I don't regret it."
"Not even a little bit?" Belén poked despite her own thoughts against Pixel. "I mean...we did have plans to lock her away too."
"Believe me, she would have escaped eventually. Only way to stop her was to kill her," Maritza's tone left no room for arguments. In that moment, Belén wondered how far Maritza had to have gone to be alright with murder.
"You're back," the two sisters heard from a distance. Rayan had appeared across them. His eyes narrowed on his sisters, no hint of warmth in either of them. "Traitors."
"Oh God, Rayan, you look bad," Maritza tried walking towards him but Rayan flung a hand to chuck a piece of metal. Maritza barely had time to duck and avoid being hit.
"Don't act like you care. Neither of you do."
"That's not true," Belén made her own attempt but was smarter and only took a couple steps forwards. "I know that you're sick but my friends can help you."
Rayan scoffed loudly. "Really? The same friends who want to lock me away? The same ones who told you it was better for me to be locked away? Or did you come up with that all by yourself?"
"You don't get to play victim, Rayan," Belén said cautiously. Up close she could see the hazy look in her brother's eyes. He wasn't quite there anymore. "You really don't."
"And you don't get to play hero," Rayan balled his fists and flung them to the side. Belén felt the intangible force slam her body against a crate, which then shattered around her.
Belén could feel some splinters on her arms - as well as some bruises that would be forming later on - but she pushed herself up. "You're sick, and you need help. I don't want you to die."
"No, you just don't want to see me be me," Rayan smirked. The same wooden pieces from the crate now raised in the air to stab. They slammed down but Belén rolled out of the way in time. This time she cast a glare at Rayan and whipped a vine-lasso his way, hitting him across the chest.
Rayan groaned but chuckled on the floor. "You're not so against fighting anymore."
"You never were," Belén spat. She briefly looked at Maritza who, to her credit, did look guilty. "You were my brother, my big sister, and you two didn't think twice in hurting me. Why should I have the same consideration now?"
Rayan sat up with a hand on his chest. "You're mad. That's the way to become like us."
Belén knew that game all too well. He was taunting her, and despite her restraints she was falling for it. Yes, she angry. She was so angry with her family - with her life - and that was taking its final toll on her. Her skin started turning into an emerald green, light scales forming right after.
"Belén!" Maritza called just before she saw her two siblings charge against each other.
Belén swung first at Rayan, getting him across the face. As Rayan stumbled back, he managed to pull up a loose pipe from above and shoot it down on her. Belén put her hands together above her head, creating a net of vines to catch said pipe which then crushed it. Frustrated, Rayan decided to punch but Belén was a little more skilled in hand-to-hand thanks to her training. She ducked and went with a side kick to knock her brother down.
Rayan took the blow hard but he came back stronger. Hurt and frustrated, he balled his fists just as Belén was coming again. She gasped upon feeling the same painful blow inside her body. Her eyes widened as she fell to her knees.
With a smirk, Rayan got back on his feet and towered over Belén. "For all the training you do with your Flash, it's useless against my power. I could kill you right here and now. Beat you to it."
"I...wasn't...going to - I wasn't going to kill you," Belén felt her throat tighter and wondered how the hell he'd managed to figure that trick out. "I'm angry Rayan, don't you get it? I'm sad. You and Maritza - you just left me."
"We asked you to join-"
"-YOU WANTED TO HURT ME!" Belén managed to scream. She cast a glance at Maritza who, up until now, could only watch the horror of their family's downfall. "You and Maritza just wanted me because I had powers. You wouldn't have looked twice if I'd stayed normal. That's why you wanted me to think you were dead in the beginning, right? Because I was useless."
"That's not true," Maritza slowly said, but there was a noticeable weakness in her tone.
"I wasn't useful to you guys," Belén wished she could clear the tears falling on her cheeks, but her hands were locked on her sides. "You didn't care until you found out I had powers. That's when you started coming for me. And when I didn't like your plan, you didn't hesitate to start attacking me, my friends. That's not family."
"You're not my family anymore," Rayan glowered.
"I'm not," Belén agreed. The green patches on her face got darker and her eyes glowed that magenta color of its mother flower. Rayan barely had time to think before he saw the twisting vines growing from Belén's back, forming one thick lasso which then banished him to the other end of the room.
Rayan's body crashed into several more crates, breaking whatever Pixel had stored around there. Belén got up, coughing while her insides re-organized to their proper places. Rayan started fighting against the debris over his body, flinging them to the sides as quick as possible. Belén's vines started swiping everything off the tables, crates before knocking them to the sides as well.
Rayan forced himself to stand and face his advancing sister who was intending on destroying everything inside. Once more he attempted the same body crushing trick, and though Belén fell with a scream her vines kept coming for him. He squeezed his hands to the point of turning them white, letting his twin sister's screams echo throughout the room. "You chose this, Belén!" he said in the midst of her screams.
"Rayan, stop!" Maritza begged. "You're not actually going to kill her, are you!?"
"To save myself? Yeah, I am!" Rayan only flung one hand down to keep Maritza's body down against the floor. "See this powers - while proving to be deadly - are very useful to me."
Belén couldn't stop screaming, not even to breath, which started turning her face purple little by little. Her creeping vines got slower because of her inability to stay focused. Still, things wouldn't end this way. If there was one thing she could still do was release the one thing she couldn't quite completely control. Through her screams, she started letting pink smoke from her mouth. The deadly Azalea poison filled the air fast and once Rayan began to feel it his power dwindled. The moment Belén felt a decent air hit her lungs, she jumped on her feet. Putting her hands together, she swung shards of vines like boomerangs and watched it take Rayan by the neck.
The twin brother's back hit the wall and while he intended on using his powers, Belén acted quicker again. Her vines shot forwards and cocooned him, leaving only necessary holes to breath. Rayan screamed and screamed but nothing could get him out.
Hearing Maritza coughing behind her, Belén realized her poison was still in the air. She prepared to take it all back in - if she could, since she hadn't really practiced that bit - but instead a gust of wind blew it away.
Barry had arrived in time and used his whirlwind trick to clear the air. What he found in sight was not an appealing sight, but it appeared Belén had finally put an end to her siblings' reign of terror.
~ 0 ~
Caitlin emerged from one of the siderooms where the newest residence was being kept in - still unconscious. Though, due to the pipeline being used, Maritza was left in the side room with Rayan. Caitlin walked up to Belén and Barry who were keenly waiting to hear what she had to say.
"What's wrong with him?" Belén quietly asked, her eyes briefly skipping to her sedated brother in the room.
"His powers are extraordinary," Caitlin began with the good part. "When he uses them, he literally uses the intangible energy around us, but...that's a big load."
"What do you mean?" Belén could so far understand the good part, but she wondered how she would do with the bad part.
"He has to use his brain to command this energy, and the more power he uses the more he requires from his brain."
"So controlling another person's body...?"
"Is deadly work," Caitlin finished for Belén. "He has to be in charge of two bodies: his and his victim's. Now if he's controlling more than one person..."
"It's worse, got it," Belén nodded. "So what's the damage?"
"In lamens terms, his body is reacting to all the heavy force he's been doing, primarily his brain. It's shutting down."
"Wha..." Belén seemed startled, and with good reason, even looking at Barry to see if she'd heard right. "Well, is there any way to reverse it?"
"I don't think there is," Caitlin sadly reported, shaking her head. "The process is just too far along to stop it. I mean...the best we could do is induce a coma to halt his brain from completely shutting down. It could heal him in a sense, but...that would be very unlikely."
"But if we do that then it's basically leaving him a vegetable," Barry thought ahead and missed Caitlin's guilty nod.
"Either way, he's not coming back," Caitlin said. "The Rayan that you knew is gone forever. Parts of his brain are already several damaged, like his frontal lobe that controls emotions. There's also his cerebral cortex that's responsible for thinking, reasoning..."
"Everything that would once make Rayan...Rayan," Belén knew enough to know where there was no hope.
"My suggestion is you get him to a hospital and...maybe call your mother," Caitlin felt horrible for leaving the tough decision to Belén, but it wasn't like anyone else could make it but their family.
"Thank you Caitlin," Belén nonetheless said, knowing Caitlin of course tried her best to help. But sometimes, things are too far gone.
"Bells," Barry barely said her name when the ombre-blonde turned on him with a bitter smile.
"I shouldn't have gone after him on my own, I know that," she said what she believed he'd been wanting to say since he got to them earlier. "But he was my family and honestly...I needed to do it."
Barry wasn't even going to argue. He of all people understood those moments where you felt there was only one person who should go out: yourself. So instead, he gave her the biggest hug possible. "I'm sorry," he said with a deep sigh.
"I don't even know how to tell Maritza," Belén admitted, knowing her sister was waiting in the side room to hear what Caitlin said.
"Well, if all goes well, you won't have to," Barry pressed a kiss to her temple.
He thought those would have been words of comfort, but upon further work into their task they discovered a...risk.
A black hole.
"Well, sure, there's a bit of a risk," Wells spoke through the video chat set up through his prison pod. He was looking at the rest of the team in the cortex, all seeming rather put off by his silence on this potential risk.
Stein scoffed incredulously. "I would hardly refer to possibly causing an extinction-level event as "a bit of a risk.""
"Yeah, and your accelerator's been about as reliable as the beater I drove in high school," Joe muttered.
"Let me ask you a question," Wells grew serious. "How many meta-humans... how many dangers... have we faced this year together? Or did you forget that was me fighting alongside each and every one of you? I have been planning this for almost two decades. It will work."
Cisco couldn't believe the man stayed so sure of his work. "And how do we make sure we don't open a black hole in the middle of Central City?"
"So, once the wormhole stabilizes, Barry will have 1 minute and 52 seconds to alter the past and return to this time. If and when he does that, you can close the wormhole, and we can all live happily ever after. Almost two minutes. More than enough time to save Nora."
But Barry had figured out who the real winner would be. "But not enough time to stop you from going home?"
Wells just smirked. "Everything's a choice."
"And what if I'm late?"
"You won't be. I believe in you, Barry. Always have. So I guess the question is, do your friends and family believe in you as much as I do?"
~ 0 ~
"Is that...really our only option?" Maritza was in disbelief after hearing Belén relay what Caitlin told her earlier. She sat beside Rayan's bed and glanced at her brother, despondent over his pending future.
"The process is just too developed," Belén said with her arms crossed, her teary eyes glued to her brother's unconscious form.
"It's my fault," Maritza said after a minute of silence. "Oh my God it's my fault. I-if I had taken him to a doctor or something-"
"-oh please don't do that," Belén leaned against a metal table of equipment. "It's not your fault, and it really does no good for anyone. Rayan chose his path like you chose yours."
"But he's - he's going to die!" Maritza could say she was almost outrage since her younger sister was taking things so quietly.
"We can put him in a coma but we'd have to bring him to a hospital-"
"-he'll be thrown in jail if he wakes up!"
"Maritza, he's going to jail anyways. He hurt a lot of people, orchestrated robberies and murders."
Maritza remained silent for another minute before another thought popped into her head. "What about Mom? Oh my God, she's going to find out-"
"-that you and Rayan are criminals?" Belén finished in a rather sour tone. "Yeah. You can take that one."
"Belén!"
"What!?"
Maritza got up from her stool, and since Caitlin was approaching from the cortex she thought there was about to be another fight - at least Maritza was in meta dampeners.
Belén leaned off the table, levelling her sister's look with a straight one. "What?" she spat, challenging Maritza to have the audacity to be angry with her.
Maritza knew better than that. She deserved every bit of resentment, anger and hatred that Belén had. She dropped back into her chair and watched over Rayan again. "When do I go to prison?"
Belén shifted in her spot. She wasn't going to tell Maritza anything. Was it rude? Evil even? Belén. Didn't. Care.
Caitlin cleared her throat under the threshold. She offered an awkward smile at the sisters before calling Belén to have a word.
"I just told her everything," Belén muttered as the two women walked back into the cortex. "She's taking it as expected."
"So you're not telling her about Barry changing the time line, then?" Caitlin asked.
"Nope. Feel free to judge."
Caitlin only smiled again. "Listen, Belén, I know this is probably the worst time to ask you, but...um...Ronnie asked me to marry him." Belén froze and gave Caitlin a strange look, making the scientist chuckle with embarrassment. "I know, it's a weird timing and technically there's no point but we just thought it would be a nice way to go when the time line changes. We were married."
"No, I get it," Belén said, much to Caitlin's relief. "I think it's sweet."
"Thanks," Caitlin tucked some hair behind her ear. "So, um, it's going to be short - right outside with Stein as our minister - but I would very much like it if you would be like...my maid of honor?" Caitlin scrunched her face after asking, as if expecting a huge negative reaction from Belén.
Instead, the ombre-blonde started smiling so wide one could never guess what she was going through. "Me? Seriously?"
Caitlin nodded her head. "Yeah. I don't have a lot of friends, and I think we're really good friends-"
"-oh definitely," Belén said to make Caitlin feel less nervous. It was rather funny, actually, but Belén would never say. "I would love to, Caitlin."
~0~
The team gathered outside the STAR Labs building where they had an actual green field prettying up the sight. Caitlin approached the group wearing a sleeveless wedding dress...with Belén trying to hold up the dress' tail so that it wouldn't get dirty. Belén had tried to do what she could - with Iris' help - with the short time they were given. Caitlin's hair was curled and pulled to the side with a silver hair clip, and the make up was done by Iris. The bouquet of yellow flowers were gathered up just a block away, and they looked quite pretty if Belén had to say.
Caitlin met Ronnie with the biggest smile possible. Stein took the head of the procession, and after promising that he was indeed legally able to marry them, the ceremony began.
While Stein went on, Belén wrapped her arm around Barry's, smiling genuinely. It was impossible not to think about that stupid article - hence the red cheeks they both sported for a couple minutes.
"I owe you a real ring," Ronnie held up the makeshift silver rings Cisco whipped out for them.
Caitlin couldn't stop herself from smiling. Her face may have hurt later on from it. "I don't need one. I have everything and everyone that I could ever need right here. And...if all the events of the past year have led us to this moment, it was worth it. I love you, Ronnie."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Stein happily proclaimed.
"Stop telling me what to do," Ronnie jokingly said before kissing his wife.
~ 0 ~
"They're all waiting," Belén stood in the hallway with Barry, just the two of them for a minute before they had to go their ways. "You ready?"
"No," Barry admitted, making them both chuckle together. He sobered first and had a last chance to gaze at his girlfriend before she was wiped from his memories. "I know you're angry, you're upset, about everything that happened to you but I want you to know that out of everything that happened to us...you were the best part of my life. I don't care about my powers. You were, and will always be the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so grateful for meeting you, and I know Iris has a lot of journalist friends that I could've met but...I honestly believe it had to be you."
Belén's eyes filled with tears, bittersweet tears. "It definitely had to be you," she agreed. She reached to cup his face, smiling so sweetly Barry felt like he could have kissed her there for hours.
Barry touched her face with a gloved hand of his. "I'm going to make things better for us. You won't have to say goodbye to your family. You're going to have all of your family, you're going to write and write your articles and dance on the side-" both smiled teary smiles, "-and you're going to be happy. And even if it's not with me...I want you to know that I would be happy nonetheless...even if I can't remember it, okay?"
"Barry," Belen's lip quivered. She swallowed her tears in an attempt to talk again. "I want you to be happy with your parents. I want you to make some really good memories...until we meet again."
"Until we meet again," Barey nodded.
They pressed their lips against each other's for a final, goodbye kiss.
~ 0 ~
Barry bid goodbye to his family and friends down in the pipeline and entered the actual Particle Accelerator on his own. As the others returned to the cortex, he heard professor Stein from the speakers reminding him of the specific time slot Barry had in order to save his mother. He came face to face with Wells who was still in his prison pod.
"Well... you hold both our futures in your hands now, Mr. Allen," Wells smirked. "And I know you can do it. Now... Run... Barry. Run."
Barry sucked in a breath as he turned away from Wells. Once he felt the charge he needed he literally blasted into a run.
From the cortex, the others watched through the security cameras how things were going.
"The accelerator's structural integrity is holding," Ronnie read from one of the computers monitoring the Particle Accelerator. But just as he said those words, there was a violent rumble that swayed them all.
"What was that?" Belén fearfully looked around and saw some of the computers on the wall flicker on and off.
"Is Barry okay?" asked Joe.
"Yeah. He just passed Mach Two," Caitlin said with a mighty surprise.
In the Particle Accelerator, Barry had finally delved into the speed force which turned out to be a like blue vortex. As he ran faster and faster, Barry began to hear voices - voices belonging to his younger self, and Joe? And Iris. She was definitely there.
Along with that, he heard - through his ear pod - Wells speaking to him, explaining what he was seeing. "Barry, what you're seeing is the Speed Force: your past, your present, your future all at once. So you need to focus on where you want to go."
Barry tried to follow the last instructions but was having trouble as different images, all going at light speed, crossed his path. There was a blue-eyed, white haired woman reaching out on one side. A red smoke barely allowed for a second woman's figure to appear, with only a truly scarlet flower on the side of her head to be visible. Next was prison visit to his father. Then he saw a blonde-haired woman in an orange and gold suit followed by...Snart? Yeah, that was Snart.
Before Barry knew it, he had appeared in a darkish room of his old childhood home. He stumbled forwards but caught himself and began to look around hoping to find something to tell him where exactly he was. He heard familiar screams from the other side and hurried for the door blocking his way. Opening it a bit, he saw his mother screaming as she was stuck between his older version's self and Wells' ongoing fight. Barry quickly scanned the room for his younger self and of course found him and Henry on the other side of the living room. Just like that, his younger self was removed from the place and the force knocked out his father. Just as Barry moved to get Nora out, the other version of himself returned and gave a firm shake of his head.
He couldn't save his mother.
Although overwhelmed with the twist, Barry obeyed and forced himself to close the door. He pressed his back to it, for if he remained standing straight he would not be able to hold himself back. He shut his eyes and wished he would stop hearing the screams of his mother, but when silence fell, he wished he hadn't. Hearing nothing then, he pulled himself off the door and opened it. He saw his father was still unconscious and his mother - who had been stabbed once again through the heart - was lying on her side, still mildly conscious.
Barry rushed over and gently laid her on her back. He couldn't believe he was touching her again, he just wished it would've been a different moment. "Hey, it's okay," he said through a shaky voice, "It's okay. You're okay."
Nora spoke through gasps and a terrible pain. "Please. My husband, my son, are they…"
"They're okay. They're both safe. I promise."
Nora shifted a bit and stared at the young man under the red mask in confusion. "Who are you?"
"I'm...I'm the Flash," Barry tried to answer in one go but his own tears were getting the best of him. He knew she only had a couple of minutes, two at the max.
"I don't understand," Nora croaked. Barry saw no point in hiding anymore. If these were going to be the last moments he truly had with his mother he wanted it to be as himself. He pulled back his mask and allowed Nora to see his face. "You look just like my father."
Barry smiled and leaned closer to his mother. "This won't make any sense, but it's me, Mom. It's Barry."
Nora of course didn't understand how it was possible, but as she stared more at him she saw the traces of her eight year old son. "Barry?"
"Your Barry," Barry nodded.
There was a true delight in Nora's face as she accepted he was her son. With shaking hands she reached to cup his face. "Oh, my beautiful boy."
Barry cried at the touch of his mother. "I got a second chance to come back here and...tell you that I'm okay. Dad and I are both okay. And we love you, Mom. I love you."
Nora smiled through her own tears that pooled in her eyes. "Oh, my sweet boy. Bye…" her voice started to fade and her head began to lull. "Good-bye, Barry."
"Mom!? Mom!?" Barry called but she was no longer there. She was gone.
~ 0 ~
While Cisco, Joe and Eddie went down to the pipeline to get Wells out of there, the others remained back in the cortex watching like hawks through the security cameras. So, when they all saw Barry returning through the speedforce and shattering to pieces Wells' time machine, everyone's jaws dropped.
"He's not supposed to do that!" Belén's stomach churned wondering what could cause Barry to have enough time to stop Wells from leaving.
"We have to shut down the wormhole quickly!" Stein had looked at the timer set beside them which now only had around twenty five seconds. Caitlin and Ronnie broke into a dash for the pipeline to get it done.
"What happens now!?" Iris frantically moved closer to the computers to see what was going on down in the particle accelerator.
There they saw the two speedsters going back and forth in a heated fight.
"He's going to get killed!" Belén cried and turned to the corridors. Knowing her sister's plan, Maritza blocked the way immediately. "Get out of my way!"
"He'll kill you too!"
"I don't care!"
"Well I do!"
"That wasn't a problem last month!" Belén frantically screamed, pushing her sister away.
"Ten seconds, hurry!" Stein spoke into the comms. for Caitlin and Ronnie.
"MARITZA!" Belén tried pushing through but Maritza was stronger and kept her back. With green patches forming across her face, Belén swung a vine to knock her sister to the side.
"Three, two, one…" Stein released a heavy breath when he saw the generator had been turned off. "They did it. They cut the generator."
"I'm not letting her go!" Maritza shouted as her sister made a start for the exit.
"But what about Barry?" Iris pushed some of her hair back to see the ongoing fight on the computers.
Wells had slammed Barry into a wall and delivered several punches that left Barry in a disoriented state.
Up in the cortex, the group didn't know of they should start taking cover. Belén was ready to punch her sister. Maritza fired her purple mass to keep Belén literally frozen in place, but just as Belén ducked they all heard a gunshot.
Before Belen could assume, Iris let out a shrill scream.
"EDDIE!" Iris ran out of the room.
The remaining sisters hurried to the computers to see what had happened. They saw Eddie had shot himself and was on the floor while Wells had frozen in his mid-attempt to kill Barry.
"What's happening?" Barry raised his head to see Wells almost frozen in his spot.
Cisco was looking between Wells and Eddie, making the connections fairly fast. "Eddie's his ancestor. If Eddie dies, he'll never be born, and...he's being erased from existence."
Wells' appearance had shifted back to his original self - Eobard Thawne.
"Eddie!" Iris came running into the place, dropping beside Eddie on the floor. "Eddie, no, no. Stay with me, okay?"
"He was wrong, it turns out. I'm a hero after all," Eddie strained to speak to her.
"You are, Eddie," Iris nodded, cupping his face. "You are my hero."
"That's all I ever wanted to be. Your hero," Eddie gave her one last smile before dying.
Iris shouted frantically as she saw him die in her arms. "NO! No! Eddie!"
Wells' body was cracking as if it were land but with a bright shining light emerging between the cracks. He glanced at Barry as he began to disintegrate. "I've controlled your life for so long, Barry. How will you get along without me?" he screamed as he disappeared completely.
There were no more Thawnes.
Suddenly, the ground shook again and the wormhole reopened. It rose from the floor, getting bigger and sucking things up.
"Guys, that's not good," Cisco began to back away as parts of the time machine were pulled forwards.
Barry quickly got to his feet and rushed for the others. "We got to go!"
Joe tried pulling Iris from Eddie's side but the woman wouldn't budge. "Iris, we have to go!"
"I'm not leaving him!"
"We have to go now, honey. I'm sorry!" Joe forced Iris to get up and they ran out.
As they passed the cortex the room, Stein, Maritza and Belen were coming out as well.
"Barry! My brother!" Belén ran into him and pointed to the cortex.
"We gotta go!" Barry didn't hesitate to grab her hand and lead her out. He was not risking her staying behind for anything.
As they ran into the street they saw the massive wormhole - now blackhole - settling up in the sky, sucking anything it could tear apart.
"So that's what we didn't want to happen!" Cisco had to almost shout to be heard through the strong wind.
"What's it doing!?" Caitlin exclaimed as well.
"Feeding," answered Stein. "A singularity won't stop, not even after the earth is gone. I'm afraid the accretion disc has already assembled!"
"What?" Barry looked at him.
"The diffuse material that's in orbital motion around the singularity-"
"What does that mean!?" Belén practically screamed at the professor to get the message out already in terms everyone could understand.
"We have to disrupt the motion. Basically it's just like the tornado, only upside down," Barry finally explained better. "And bigger. And scarier."
"Barry, that event has an energy level of at least 6.7 Tera Electron Volts. It cannot be stopped," Stein warned the metahuman once he assumed Barry would venture to close it.
"I have to try," Barry put his mask back on.
"Don't go," he heard the desperate plea from Belén beside him.
He could see the fear in her eyes but it just made him want to go even more. She had suffered because of him, and mow because the time line didn't change, he only had this to make up for it. He would make it better for her. No more would she suffer because of him.
"You're going to be okay," he promised her. "I won't make you hurt ever again."
With that promise, he sped off to go save the world, leaving Belén to ponder what those words would truly mean. Because if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that that promise had not been for the wormhole.
Author's Note:
To be continuuuuued in Rise Up already published on my profile!
I want to thank everyone who's read, commented, favorited and liked this story! I really hope you all move onto the second story and continue to like what you read!
P.S I'm also trying to think of a name for the collection of Belén's stories so if anyone has an idea let me know and if I do like it I'll credit you for it! :)
Sooo, just for fun, I decided to add a couple fun facts about the story while it was in its drafting stage, as well some other things I thought of! If they're boring then I'll never do it again I promise! :)
Fun facts:
1. Originally, Belén's name was going to be Maria-Belén, but was instead changed to Annah-Belén.
2. I got Belén's name off of a soap opera I was watching at the time of drafting this story, which turned out to be one of my favorite soap operas ever. The character I got the name from was an evil woman - nothing like my Bells!
3. Belén's last name "Palayta" is a play off from a favorite actress of mine, Dominika Paleta ;)
4. As of right now, I have written 3 stories - including this one - with Belén and Barry and I am brainstorming for the 4th story (4th season) at the moment.
5. Out of all of my OCs (which are about 33), Belén is one of the two main OCs who have siblings that are alive (not Rayan anymore of course).
6. I originally was thinking about adding in the Barry dating Linda plot but ultimately decided against it because I didn't want to drag out even more Barry and Belén getting together...plus, I really love Linda and I wanted to keep both girls as friends rather than frenemies.
7. Belén's powers were inspired by Poison Ivy, a character that Belén will actually get to meet in the future.
8. Originally, I intended on killing off Maritza but I felt bad leaving Belén an only child, and Axel with absolutely no mother, for no good reason.
9. I decided a while ago to introduce two new OCs in the next story that will become new OCs from two more Arrowverse shows and Belén & Barry will be connected to one of them.
10. This doesn't pertain to the story, but Belén's name is taken from a Christmas song that's usually heard in the Latin community: "Camino en Belén."
11. I recently discovered there's an actual song called "It Had To Be You"; I heard the song as a cover by Samantha Dorrance & Barry Hammond! Go check it out!
