Author's Note: I gotta say, I never thought I'd be seeing this day.
As you all know, I reached a pretty big inspirational low a couple months ago and just... stopped writing Snowbarry. Now, I'm trying to get back into it again (though only for this story), but I still never thought that we'd actually make it to the last episode.
The last episode.
I started this story almost two years ago. Is that insane? That's insane. And here we are, on the last chapter.
Ok ok I gotta chill I still have to write it lol
If any of Team Flash had thought the Enlightenment wouldn't be noticeable, they would have been wrong.
Mere moments after DeVoe used the STAR Labs satellite to replace the one Barry had shot out of the sky, the world was bathed in purple. Every piece of technology, from phones to coffee machines to traffic lights, glitched out. Every light in the city went dark. Every car broke down. Feathery indigo beams, like the northern lights, flowed across the sky.
If it hadn't been so horrifying, it would have almost been beautiful.
"Cisco, we need power!" Barry yelled as he strode into the Cortex.
"Working on it," Cisco called back from who knew where.
"Nothing's working," Caitlin reported. "Not even cell phones."
Barry reached out and rubbed his hands through his hair. "This is what I was worried about," he muttered.
"It's happening, isn't it?" Joe said as he strode into the room, his arm around an incredibly pregnant Cecile.
"I don't- I mean, our plan didn't work!" Barry replied, on edge. "DeVoe replaced the satellite to set up the Enlightenment."
"Everything is going nuts out there," Joe said, jabbing a thumb towards the hallway and the outside world. "There's no power anywhere; our car stopped working."
"Thank God we were close by; I mean, the hospitals another three miles away," Cecile added.
It was about then that Caitlin and Barry both realized that Joe had his hospital bag draped over his shoulder. As if on cue, Cecile let out a cry of pain and doubled over. "Joe..."
"The sky turned purple, and she started having contractions," Joe said, wincing as he rubbed Cecile's back.
"Cisco, hurry!" Barry shouted.
"If we're not able to get her to the hospital, can you-"
"No," Caitlin said, cutting Joe off. "Barry can't run her. It's not safe for Cecile or the baby."
"Then what are we gonna do?" Joe asked, eyes a little wild.
Caitlin shrugged. "I have everything here you need to deliver a baby," she said.
Even in the intense crisis, that gave Barry pause. "Hang on," he said, giving Caitlin a look. "You weren't planning to deliver your own baby, were you?"
Caitlin shrugged again. "Who knows when I could Frost out? It's not safe for me to go to a hospital to give birth. It would have had to be here."
The power flickered on. "Great!" she cried, as Cecile and Joe looked between them incredulously. "Uh... let's go see how dilated you are."
"Okay..." Cecile mumbled, looking a little alarmed as Caitlin took her arm and led her out of the room.
Flash!
While Caitlin helped Cecile, it appeared she missed a lot. Their newest plan, suggested by Marlize DeVoe (who Iris had somehow found and brought in to help them fight her husband), was to send Barry into Clifford's brain. If that wasn't enough, the only person able to get Barry into DeVoe's brain was Cecile. They'd amplify her telepathic ability and link Barry and DeVoe's consciousnesses, and that would be that.
This whole plan rode on finding the good left inside DeVoe's mind and bringing it out to overpower the bad.
It was far-fetched. It was crazy.
It was their only chance.
"Everything ready?" Iris asked as she, Barry, Joe and Cecile joined Caitlin, Cisco, Marlize and Harry in the Speed Lab. DeVoe's chair was set up in the center, and Barry was directed to take a seat in it while Cecile laid down on the gurney.
"You ready?" Caitlin murmured as she stood beside the chair, her hand resting lightly on Barry's forearm.
He nodded, his face drawn. "I'll come back to you soon, okay?"
"Of course you will," she said, her lips quirking a little. "You're the Flash."
Marlize pressed the cerebral inhibitor, modified for their use, onto Cecile's forehead, and Caitlin walked over to the computer layout.
"Mr. Allen, put the cap on your head," Marlize instructed briskly, and Barry raised DeVoe's silver plating and put it on his head. Immediately, thick, arm-like cables reached up and connected to it.
"Once Cecile has locked onto DeVoe's brainwaves, we'll transfer your consciousness to his amygdala- that's the part of the brain that connects emotional significance to memories," Caitlin said.
"Where the good memories are," Marlize added. "We will find the good part of Clifford. Here we go, Miss Horton."
She pressed a button on her tablet, and Cecile and Barry's eyelids slipped shut in unison. After giving it a moment, Caitlin leaned toward the com. "Barry. Barry? Is everything okay?"
"Guys," Barry replied after a stiff second. "I'm in."
"Paint a picture," Cisco instructed. "What do you see? What's around you?"
"For starters, the Thinker," Barry said, his voice tight. "I'm in the 405 bus in the middle of the street. I just came out of that same portal from before."
"This is where it all began," Marlize said. "It is the Nexus of Clifford's brain. Once you find him, get him through it, and he can regain control of his mind."
"What does he need to look for?" Iris asked.
Marlize considered. "Our house," she said, glancing over at the rest of the group.
"Alright..." Barry breathed, and flashed out of the cover of the bus.
Barry reached the house with relative ease, only to find it completely empty. When he began to ask where to go next, the com connection glitched. At the same moment, Cecile let out a pained gasp and jolted forward on the bed. "Cecile's powers are connected to her pregnancy," Caitlin realized with dawning horror. How had they not thought of this until now? "Her contractions must be putting a strain on her transcranial link!"
If Cecile had her baby, as they all realized, Barry would be stranded in DeVoe's mind. So Caitlin used the terbutaline in the special inhaler she'd given Cecile to help her with her mind-jumping to slow down her contractions. It wasn't a permanent fix, but it would give Barry a little more time.
Hopefully, it would be enough.
Flash!
Ralph was alive.
Unfortunately, the Team didn't have much time to celebrate that particular plot twist. Cecile suddenly broke out of her mind-link with DeVoe. "He's coming," she gasped. "I- I read his thoughts; he's coming here."
"We need to leave," Marlize said, striding down the steps towards the bottom landing of the Speed Lab.
Joe looked at her incredulously. "And go where?"
Marlize bit her lip and grabbed for her tablet, and Cisco leaped through a breach to retrieve Harry. The moment he got back, there was a flash of light up the ramp on the first floor, and DeVoe slowly walked down. "Good!" he cried. "We are gathered here today to worship in song. I suggest Kumbaya."
He took another step and his hand hit a latticework red force field. "Ah," DeVoe sighed, effectively stopped by his own creation.
"Force field," Cisco said. "Force fields suck, huh?"
"I should have never let you built this chair without my oversight," DeVoe said to Marlize. "It was my first miscalculation."
"You've made many miscalculations," Iris replied, her voice hard.
"Reeeeally," DeVoe sighed idly. "And have you ever wondered why I never pursued the Flash? Never needed his speed or his... mind? His connection to the Speed Force? Access to all of time- past, present, future?"
Caitlin felt a sort of cold dread settling in her stomach. She hadn't wondered. Why hadn't she wondered all of this?
"True knowledge!" DeVoe yelled. "And now that you have placed him inside my mind, I'll have it all."
Marlize stepped forward, her jaw tight. "You'll have to find us first."
With that, she pressed a button on her tablet and all of them were sucked into a breach.
They ended up in a blue-tinted room with bands of futuristic, electric lights. Cisco took one look around and wheeled on Marlize. "DeVoe's lair? Are you crazy?"
"Could he find us in this pocket dimension?" Joe asked. He was gripping on to Cecile's hand but it honestly looked more like it was for his benefit than hers.
"I've bought us some time," Marlize sighed.
Harry wandered off, muttering gibberish, but Caitlin was more focused on Cecile's status. "Cecile," Iris said, stepping up the the gurney. "We need you to try and link up with Barry again."
Cecile swallowed nervously. "I'll try," she said.
A few moments later, they were regaining connection. "Barry?" Caitlin asked anxiously. "Barry, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," Barry replied, sounding subdued.
"What's wrong?"
"The good DeVoe- we found him," Barry said. "He's dead."
So. The gig was up. They're plan was ruined.
What were they going to do now?
Flash!
While the Team was desperately trying to come up with new ideas and getting more and more on edge, Barry had figured out his plan. Their only chance was to get Ralph through the Nexus of DeVoe's mind. Without Ralph, DeVoe didn't have a body. Without a body...
Well, Barry wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen, but it had to be better for them than the Thinker.
Barry and Ralph found out pretty quickly that the multitude of DeVoe Clones could read their minds. "We'll have to do this Dibny style," Ralph said.
Barry, who's back was currently against a pillar as they took cover, looked over at him in bewilderment. "What?"
"We don't think," Ralph said with a faint smirk. Barry raised an eyebrow. "Just... fill your mind with something else. Something you love."
To demonstrate, he got to his feet and strode towards the nearest DeVoe guard. "Shrimp buffet!" he cried, and threw a punch. Instead of DeVoe ducking, like the last time they had tried to attack, his fist connected and DeVoe stumbled backwards. Ralph turned around and grinned at Barry.
Barry took a deep breath, filling his mind with the only thing that could possible distract him at a time like this. "It's you and me, Caitlin," he whispered, and threw himself to his feet.
The new method took some time to get used to, but after Barry had landed half a dozen quick strikes on one of the DeVoes, he was feeling more confident. That was when a positive flood of DeVoe-clones came marching out from behind the Nexus portal, headed towards them.
Ralph and Barry exchanged glances and prepared themselves. They were going to have to fight their way out.
Meanwhile, Cecile had gone back into labor, DeVoe had managed to find them, and now everyone was frozen on the ground besides Joe, who was being forced to hold his own gun to his head. "You should mind where you point your weapon, Detective West," DeVoe said softly, walking towards them with his hand behind his back.
Joe's face tensed, his gaze turning into a glower. Then, slowly, impossibly, he began to fight against the mind-control and turn his gun back towards DeVoe. "Stay away from my girls!" he growled.
DeVoe lifted a hand and threw him back against the wall. "Joe-!" Cecile cried, but DeVoe let his hand fall and Joe crashed to the ground again.
Caitlin couldn't squeeze her eyes shut, but as DeVoe walked towards Cecile she wished she could. Come on Barry, she pleaded wordlessly. Come on.
Barry and Ralph had a new plan. "Hey, attack of the clones," Ralph called to one of the many DeVoes patrolling the street. "Come and get me!"
As the DeVoes began to walk slowly towards Ralph, he stretched his arm around the pillar he was half-hidden behind. Barry, on the other side of the pillar, grabbed onto his wrist.
At just the right moment, with both of them filling their minds with things completely opposite to their plans, Barry tightened his grip on Ralph's wrist and used his arm to fling him into the DeVoes. They tumbled down like dominos and Barry kept spinning. Every DeVoe that tried to attack got knocked backward by Ralph, until they were all sprawled across the pavement.
Finally, Barry let go of Ralph's wrist and he rearranged his body. "That was awesome," he muttered, staring around at the spread of bodies.
Footsteps made them look up, and Barry saw a new wave of DeVoe clones headed towards them. Without waiting for another moment, Barry grabbed Ralph and shot forward, making for the Nexus. Even with his super speed, by the time they made it close the streets were thronged with clones. Barry broke through them, his eyes locked on their way out.
Back in the pocket dimension, DeVoe was slowly crushing Cecile's windpipe as the rest of the Team were completely unable to move. Just as Cecile was losing consciousness, a frown line appeared between Barry's eyebrows, and he opened his eyes. If Caitlin hadn't been frozen, she would have gone limp with relief.
Barry took the helmet off of his head and slowly stepped towards DeVoe, who began to shake very oddly. He let out a scream of rage (and maybe pain) in the same moment that Caitlin felt the hold release her. She stumbled to her feet, Cecile regained consciousness and gasped for air, and DeVoe collapsed and tried desperately to crawl to his chair.
Barry slowly strode towards him, his face expressionless. "HOW- DID- YOU- BEAT- ME?!" DeVoe yelled, his voice coming out garbled as his legs thrashed and seized.
"I didn't," Barry replied calmly. "We did."
A moment later, Clifford was giving a last cry and Ralph was sitting in his place.
Marlize stopped the satellites, the Enlightenment stopped, and they were all returned to the Speed Lab. "There's no more dark energy anywhere in the city," Iris said, looking up from the computer monitor with a large smile on her face. "We did it."
Flash!
While Caitlin was helping Cecile give birth, the rest of the Team was repairing and rebooting everything. "The power's back on everywhere," Cisco reported, striding purposefully across the room.
"The world can finally get back to normal," Iris said with a smile.
In the next second, the Thinker's chair was appearing in the Cortex, DeVoe sitting sedately in it. Barry ran forward but the image of DeVoe flickered. It was a hologram?
"Another use of Mr. Deacon's powers," DeVoe explained calmly. "Technological reincarnation."
"Cisco?" Barry asked.
Cisco's face was drawn and grave. "He's taking over."
Marlize was able to destroy the hologram by ripping out a piece of technology from the back of the chair, but they still weren't safe yet.
"The satellite's in a decaying orbit," Cisco said, reading from his tablet after it gave off a warning blip.
"Wait, so Marlize deactivating DeVoe just triggered a literal Dead Man's switch?" Ralph asked incredulously.
"It's falling fast," Barry realized, eyes on the screen.
Marlize looked frantic. "Clifford must have increased its mass by a thousandfold! The impact of something that heavy and that fast-"
"I know," Barry said, gritting his teeth.
Iris glanced over her shoulder. "How much time do we have?"
"Three minutes if we're lucky."
"Okay," Ralph brainstormed. "How do we stop something that's gonna send us back to the Stone Age?"
They threw together a quick plan. Iris would clear downtown, Ralph and Cisco would clear the impact zone, and Barry... well, Barry had to destroy the satellite using a sonic punch.
The situation in downtown was really bad. Pieces of the satellite were already peeling off and coming down in the form of burning meteors. People were screaming and running for their lives, with Cisco and Ralph doing their best to get everyone out of the way. But there'd be no saving any of them if the body of the satellite made landfall.
Barry landed his eyes on the largest piece of satellite, gauged the distance, and then took off. While Cecile was lying in a gurney, Caitlin in front of her, giving her last giant push, Barry was using a building as a turn-around point and shooting towards the satellite. Using the surrounding buildings, he launched himself through the air and extended a fist.
Right before he made contact, a flash of purple caught in his peripheral. Everything was happening too quickly to concentrate, but Barry was almost positive there was another speedster beside him as his fist connected with the machine.
Then the satellite exploded, and Barry was sent hurting back down to Earth.
Flash!
When Barry got back to STAR Labs, it was to the sound of a crying baby. His eyes widened and he exchanged glances with Iris before the two of them raced to the med bay.
Cecile was sitting up, holding a tiny bundled baby in her arms, Joe in back of her. Caitlin saw Barry and let out a relieved smile, and he put his arms around her in a hug. Not only had they managed to save the world yet again, but they had a new adoptive-sister-in-law.
After that, everything took a bit to get settled. Marlize left the city, but gave them a piece of tech to help Harry's enlightened mind. After they had "fixed" him, so to speak, Harry decided to head back to Earth 2 and explore his more unintelligent, but emotionally in-tune, brain. Joe and Cecile hosted a newborn baby/we saved the city party at their house and the gang reassembled (Wally included, as a surprise for Joe and Cecile) in a normal, happy setting for the first time in what seemed like awhile.
Caitlin found Barry in a chair in the corner. "Hi handsome," Caitlin said, sitting down on the arm. "How're you doing?"
"Pretty good," Barry said, smiling at her.
"We're next, you know," she went on, reaching over to rub his back.
Barry, startled, looked up at her. "Wait, you-?"
"No," Caitlin said quickly, before he could get too hopeful. "But, no matter how long it takes, we're going to get Frost back. And when we do, then we'll have a baby of our own. A family of our own."
Barry smiled. "I like that thought."
There was a knock at the door. Frowning a little, Barry got up and opened it.
There, standing on the porch, was a girl in her late teens with long brown hair with a streak of white. "Hi," she said, pushing into the room. "We need to talk."
"What?" Barry asked, bewildered at her sudden entrance.
"Wow," the girl said, looking around her. "This house is bitchin."
Cisco almost spit out his drink.
"I've seen you before," Caitlin realized. "Didn't you spill coffee all over Harry and me?"
"Weren't you the server at Barry and Caitlin's wedding?" Wally added confusedly.
"Wait, yeah," Barry realized. "You were. And... where did you get this jacket?"
"Ummm..." the girl bit her lip and looked at Iris, who had just come in with a drink. "From her."
"Uh." Iris blinked. "No...? Mine was one of a kind."
"So was this, when you let me borrow it," the girl said, smiling slightly. "Auntie Iris."
Barry blanched. "I'm sorry. Who're you?"
The girl turned back to him, her face grave. "If your daughter, Nora," she said, letting out a deep breath as she looked between Barry and Caitlin. "From the future. And I think I made a big, big mistake."
Author's Note: HOLY CRAP GIVE ME A MOMENT WHILE I SCREAM OVER MY KEYBOARD AKEWJR A;LWKEJRAL;WKEJR;LAKWEJT;LKAWJET;LKAJWET;LKJ
BECAUSE WE FINISHED IT WE FINISHED IT I FINISHED IT WHAT?!
Guys I have been writing this story for like two YEARSSSS and through all of it, the chapters and the early excitement and the long lonnnng breaks and even the hiatus you guys stayed with me and told me how much this story means to you and how much you love it and because of that we MADE IT TO THE END.
So THANK YOU SO MUCH.
My next steps will be posted in a upcoming announcement post so stay tuned :))
(and for anyone who's curious, this is at 226 pages and 110,187 words)