For those we Love
Author's Note
A story like this has been in my head for a while now and maybe the new decade is the time I finally get this done. I've been wanting to write a Flash time travel fic that doesn't follow the canon episodes and what exactly happens in each episode but rather one where things go differently and I take several chapters to explore different story arcs.
I've taken influence from the stories "The Shape of Things to Come" by Argyle.S and "Call me Kara" by SpeedForce 1229. The former is about Kara coming back in time to fix things and the author works hard to portray accurate Kryptonese as well as Kryptonian culture while the latter is a fic where the author gets Kara to Earth-1 to stay with Barry. They're both good fics and I recommend them.
This Barry is a tired Barry, one that is still brimming with Hope but who has also been tempered by war and strife. What happens when a Barry Allen who has been forged in the fires of conflict is sent back to the moment he is taken out of the SpeedForce by Team Flash?
Regarding Pairing, don't expect a conventional one. This won't be WestAllen but rather Karivarry, which is a Kara/Oliver/Barry polygamous relationship that I don't see too many serious fics include. Support Character pairings will probably be figured out as we go.
Chapter 1: Returning
"You my friend… are the very best of us" -Oliver Queen
Barry Allen
Barry Allen really wanted a drink right now. Some of that stuff Cisco had that could affect him despite his Speedster metabolism would be great. The war against Darkseid hadn't been going too well and when the Anti-Monitor showed up to destroy the Universe he was pretty sure that it was just his bad luck. With two unrelenting evils to fight at the same time the League had gotten overwhelmed and he had watched as Kara Zor-El and Darkseid killed each other in a duel for the ages. Then Oliver Queen had to go and get himself killed fighting the Anti-Monitor before the Anti-Matter wave destroyed the Universe.
So sitting in a floating house made of wood was pretty surreal to him right now.
"What's on your mind Red?" John Constantine asked as he sat to the opposite of the Scarlet Speedster, cigarette and lighter in hand.
"How are we alive?"
"It's the House of Mystery mate. It's survived the end of the Multiverse before and it's done it again. She always comes through." The man remarked as he took a drag from his cigarette.
"Uhh what?" Barry saked dumbfounded. How was a wooden house able to survive the end of the Multiverse?
"Yeah when Pralaya destroyed the multiverse Zatanna and I were in the house when it happened. Good thing too as there was no other way to link the spiritual and metaphysical… Look mate just know the house is magic alright? Besides you always said that as long as we worked together on the big stuff you'd let the Justice League Dark do its own thing. We rebooted the bloody Universe and life carried on with barely a feather ruffled." The man huffed.
Barry just nodded dumbly, Kara had always hated Horror movies and been the one to support Constantine's decision to separate the Justice League Dark from the main League in an effort to get away from all the demons and ghosts. If she had a choice she let others help the JLD first and she would only help if absolutely needed. He himself had helped defeat a few of the JLD's enemies and Oliver even got possessed by Deadman that one time but Kara had never gone near one their cases.
"Oh by the by Boston's here right now", Constantine gestured to the air between them as if he could see the Deadman floating, which Barry just realized, he probably could. "He'll accompany you one your trip."
"You sure about this Boston? It's a one way trip and the only way back is the long way around." Barry supplied to the ghost, looking at where he hoped he was. "I'd be glad for the company though." He admitted after some pause. The acrobat turned ghost, turned Justice League Dark member would be someone useful to have in the past, especially to help in doing what was needed to prevent the great perils they would face.
"He says he's with you all the way Flash." Constantine replied for the dead man with a smirk, signifying to Barry that Boston Brand was not, in fact, with him all the way. Still he'd take the help he can get.
"So how do I do this? You say some words and I run back in time?" Barry asked incredulously, yearning for the days before parallel earths, aliens, and magic were so prominent in his life. Although two of those things were responsible for him getting his wife so maybe he shouldn't be so nostalgic.
"No I cast an incredibly complex spell that binds together elements of multiple ancient societies and religions that will, hopefully, allow the conscious entities of both you and Boston to fuse with your past selves and then you go ahead and run fast enough that you access the SpeedForce in order to travel back in time to a day of your choice and go save the whole of creation." The Laughing Magician replied snarkily. "Now go get some sleep because this will take some time to prepare."
Barry nodded and watched Constantine walk off, presumably to gather what artefacts and magical things he needed in order to activate the spell. He didn't need sleep. He needed Oliver and Kara back. He needed Cisco and Caitlyn back. Hell even Bruce or Diana would be good to see at this moment in time. He couldn't let his second chance go to waste.
But it didn't take long for him to doze off.
"Barry I need you to distract those parademons! Get me an opening to Darkseid!"
"Vic, Firestorm, with me! Ray go with her!" Barry snapped off orders to the League members still standing. "Be careful Kara!" he shouted before running off to fight Darkseid's troops with Cyborg and Firestorm while the Atom rushed to keep up with Kara, shooting anything attempting to stop her from reaching Darkseid's control room where the alien was no doubt waiting for them.
"Bravo Team to Alpha Team. Booster Gold to Flash! We're getting overwhelmed near the cargo bay! Request immediate assistance from one of the Heavy Hitters! Vixen is down and so are Ice and Fire!" Barry could hear the desperation in the time traveler's voice.
"This is Support Team Alpha requesting immediate assistance. We're running low on men and ammo and are cut off from evac. Where's Hoss? We need someone to bail us out of here!"
Barry heard Rene's message and hesitated ever so slightly before knocking out the parademon he was fighting. This mission was under his command and he couldn't afford to hesitate. Rene's team had 20 of the best League Support troops with them, along with an ARGUS strike team. The bombs on the supports they were guarding were necessary to blow the ship to kingdom come.
"Wild Dog I need you to hold as long as possible. You're in this fight and you need to keep it together. Booster get yourselves out of there and try exfiltrating the ship. Kara's engaged with Darkseid and we have our evac route ready." Barry ducked under the swing of a parademon before sending it flying with a vibrating punch. "Wild Dog we'll send reinforcements to get your team out as soon as we're done here." Barry bit out feeling extremely guilty for lying to him. The room they were in was surrounded on all sides and filled with Darkseid's troops. There was a reason none of the more important of the League members had been on the Support Team.
Barry gritted his teeth and continued to clear the ship of Darkseid's troops hoping beyond hope that Kara could take the alien down.
"Barry! Take Zatanna and Vibe and head right! Take the control room and set up a command station there. Everyone else we fight our way to the Anti-Monitor! Citizen Steel and Superman up front with ranged fighters behind. Legends sweep for stragglers and secure the rear."
Barry nodded to Oliver and picked up both Cisco and Zatanna to the control room, knocking down the anti-matter troops that stood against them and clearing the control room. It took moments for Cisco to hack into the security systems of the base and download the schematics while Zatanna helped secure the room.
Analyzing the map and cameras he realized the courtyard team were becoming overwhelmed by the garrison the Anti-Monitor kept in the asteroid facility.
"Flash to Green Arrow, Hal's team isn't looking too good. I'm heading out to help."
"Negative Barry. Get to my location. Clark's down and Nate isn't looking too good. The courtyard team knows what's at stake. We're pinned heavily and need to get to the device."
Barry growled in frustration. Too many had died during the War against Darkside and he doubted many would survive the desperate assault on the Anti-Matter Wave Facility.
Barry ran to where Oliver was and quickly sped around the room snapping the necks of the Anti-Matter troops who had gotten Oliver's team pinned. He stopped in front of his best friend and husband and watched the troops fall to the ground, their laser fire having stopped.
"Get me to wherever the Anti-Monitor is while you guide the rest to the Anti-Matter Wave generator. That thing needs to be destroyed." Oliver growled out before he softly whispered to his brother in all but blood, "For Kara."
The Flash was woken by the shaking of the House of Mystery. 'What was happening?' he wondered before he saw John Constantine sitting cross-legged in the middle of some markings on the ground that he noticed were made with a mix of a chalk-like substance and some liquid that looked remarkably like fresh blood.
"The House is straining under the weight of the magical seals I had to put down around us." The blonde man said.
Looking down he saw that he too surrounded by similar markings as John, and there was another circle to his right, completing the triangle of markings.
"I'll be sacrificing my life energy to get you two to be able to fuse with your younger selves meaning that my body will fade away into nothing. After I say the words you'll have seconds to enter the Speedforce and come out at the correct time, taking with you the magical energy that would take my place here on this seal. That energy will allow you to take over your younger self. Same for Boston. As Deadman is on the third seal you'll take him with you and he'll take over his younger self, which is a younger ghost so not much change on that front." John paused for a bit to light his cigarette, which Barry had learned on a previous mission actually held magical properties and helped Constantine with his magic.
"By the way my younger self might get an inkling to meet you, thanks to the magical energy you'll be taking with you. Just tell him the truth about the future and about his future self being the one to do this spell and he'll probably get around to helping you. Depends on how I'm feeling at the time. Might take some convincing but you could give him this." Constantine took a small wooden box from his iconic jacket and threw it to Barry to catch.
"What's inside?" Barry questioned before opening it slowly. Inside was a metal nail, with some rust and blood on it. Surprisingly enough the parts with blood on it still looked fresh and did not seem to rust.
"One of the nails used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Been looking for one and I end up finding it a few years after meeting you. There should be a paper in the box with details on how to get it in the past. Having two of the bloody things would probably convince the past me to join the League earlier." Constantine explained. "Now then, are you ready?"
Barry was sure of many things. He was sure that he missed Ollie and Kara. He was sure that he missed Central City and the times where it was just him and Team Flash against a bad guy of the week. He wasn't sure he was ready to go back to those times.
"A good friend once told me that I must go forward, always forward. Perhaps this time they were wrong." Barry mused aloud. "Let's do it Hellblazer."
And with that inhuman light erupted forth from the ground beneath him. He felt his skin burn and regenerate at insane speeds, his eyes closed in pain. Opening them he saw his old friend and fellow League member disintegrate before his very eyes. John's iconic jacket burning away as if the light itself were some scalding fire.
He tilted his head and saw a white, very pale man in a red jumpsuit writhing in pain as the light seemed to bend around him yet still make contact, burning him and yet not burning him at the same time. 'That must be Deadman'
He could feel the Speed Force in his body try to help him stay alive, but amidst the pain he knew that he had only seconds before burning up.
'Focus Barry' he shouted to himself mentally, as he prepared to run and access the Speed Force in order to make the run back in time.
Barry held up Kara's limp body, her arm broken and bent at an unnatural angle, and missing one of her legs, she nonetheless smiled at Barry.
"He'd dead Barry. I did it." she choked out. "Barry I… I'm so sorry"
He shook his head and cried; his mouth hoarse from screaming her name. The ship around them shook violently, showing itself to be more and more unstable now that it's captain was dead.
"The ship… It'll blow," his wife told him with a shaky voice. "Run Barry, Run."
He held her body close and watched the light drain from her eyes, feeling the silence emanating from her body penetrate his heart and stilling the world around him.
"Oliver we've disabled the device! The Anti-Matter Wave is gone!" He shouted in his commlink, as he brought team members out to the courtyard where the extraction ships waited.
There was no reply and suddenly Barry's stomach felt ice cold. He quickly ran toward the place where he had dropped Oliver off before seeing the bow on the floor. And just a few yards away from the weapon was the man he loved.
"Oliver!" he shouted holding the man's head to his chest, as he saw the Anti-Matter energy eat through his torso.
"Barry" he coughed out. "The Anti-Monitor is gonna attack Earth-1 personally. He'll try to finish what he started. You have to protect the planet Barry." Oliver pleaded with his best friend.
"First it was Kara, and then you Ollie. I can't lose you Ollie. Please come back to me Ollie. Please!" Barry replied shouting.
"Run back to Earth Barry." Oliver smiled at him. "Run Barry, Run."
Barry ran, accessing the Speed Force in his cells as he went. He could feel two objects attached to him, dragging him down with some weight and he realized that they must be Constantine's energy and Deadman.
Pushing his body to the limit he ran faster than he'd ever run before. The Reverse Flash, Zoom, and Savitar were in his mind even as he surpassed their speeds. He saw The Anti-Monitor activate the smaller anti-matter device over Earth-1, his Earth. He saw Caitlin and Cisco turn to dust in front of his.
He saw Oliver Queen battle Malcolm Merlyn atop a roof and Kara Zor-El lift Fort Ross into space. He saw Rip Hunter and Sara Lance leading the Legends and Leonard Snart sacrifice himself in an explosion. He witnessed the defeat of the Reverse Flash, the death of Zoom, the end of Savitar.
He saw the dawn of time and the end of the Universe. He watched as The Multiverse was created and he saw formation of the Justice League. He bore witness to the death of Oliver Queen and Kara Zor-El. He saw infinity and time unending.
Then he was in unbearable pain. He felt all his extremities start to burn up and disintegrate. His fingers were already shorter and his feet were on fire.
'I have to keep running'
He felt his cells scream out in pain, that the Speed Force in them wasn't enough. He felt his very life energy start to drain from his body, threatening to leave him a failure. Barry's mind went to his friends, his family. Kara, Ollie, Ray, Sara, Rip, Dig, Constantine. The list went on in his head as the faces of those he loved flash before his eyes 'I won't let their deaths be in vain.'
And then he saw his mother. There she was, smiling at him, dying in his arms that night he went back to see her. His head was heavy and he could run no longer.
And then he was in a cell in the Pipeline holding a marker.
He could feel his body was younger, much younger. 'It worked?' he questioned in his head. 'This is after they got me out of the Speed Force. Before Devoe and the Nazi invasion!' Barry remarked. He had hoped to go a little farther back, but this would work out. Plans and Strategies played out in Barry's mind. The Justice League, the Reformed League of Assassins, the United Earth Government. Everything needed to form earlier than it had.
"Please Barry. Iris is in danger." Joe West pleaded to his foster son, breaking Barry out of his reverie.
He smiled and rolled his eyes. Iris was always getting into the danger.
He felt the meta-human dampeners around him fail to affect him, his connection to the Speed Force having far outgrown being simple superpowers but had evolved to be an integral part of him. Spending a few million years in the Speed Force would do that to you.
Phasing through the cell door past the aging detective he ran to the cortex and put on the new suit Cisco made. He allowed himself a small smile seeing it again. One of his favorite suits. He still preferred the . He didn't need an actual suit of course, considering that he could create one around him using the Speed Force, but he might as well wear one for old times' sake.
He started running, phasing through the walls of Star Labs and into the streets of Central City. He laughed as he ran past the familiar streets and buildings, seeing old haunts like Jitters and his old workplace CCPD HQ. Zooming past cars and traffic he made his way to where he knew the Samuroid was confronting Iris. Jumping up he vibrated his fist and tore the robot apart while catching Iris with his other arm. Dropping to the ground he ran straight back to STAR and dropped his current fiancé down in the middle of the cortex.
He took the mask off his face and looked for the first time in a long time at his sister, brother, two of his best friends, and his foster father.
"Hey guys. What's up." He said jokingly, smiling warmly at those he considered family.
He was quickly swamped by everyone hugging him. Cisco let go first after about 10 seconds, before Caitlyn and Wally decided to let Iris and Joe have their moment. He stood in their embrace for a few moments before finally pushing back.
"Kept you waiting huh?" Barry asked.
"Barry I thought you were gone forever! Everyone was missing you and we were so worried and-" Iris started to speak before Joe cut her off.
"We missed you Bar(pronounced Bear)!" Joe exclaimed.
"How long has it been for you guys?" He asked, knowing full well the answer.
"9 months" Wally answered. "I've been trying to cover for you as Kid Flash but I was never as good as you were Barry."
Barry patted Wally on the shoulder. "You'll get there Wally. Don't worry."
"How long has it been for you?" Caitlyn asked, curious as to why Barry's body language and demeanor seemed to have changed.
"Two million six-hundred and 52 thousand years, 3 months, 24 days, 3 hours, and 2 minutes." He said. Even far into the future, he had never truly gotten over the amount of time he had spent in the Speed Force, the experience having been ingrained into his mind and soul for as long as he lived.
There was a pregnant silence after that as his friends and family took in the amount of time he had just spent inside a prison.
"Barry… are you ok?" Iris approached him. He had gotten over her long ago in the future but he had to admit that his younger self did have taste. His sister was very hot.
"I'm fine Iris. Actually, I'd like to speak to you about something." He replied.
The rest of his friends and family nodded and stepped outside as Barry prepared to dump one of his best friends in the world and someone he viewed as a sister. Honestly how did Joe not decide that this was too weird of a relationship to have he never knew. He thought social services might get involved or something because he and Iris went through puberty together and were raised as brother and sister by Joe and yet he allowed the two of them to have a romantic relationship.
"Iris we have to talk about our engagement." Barry said in a serious voice.
"You excited? I finally get to plan a wedding! I… I had doubts that you would come back sometimes. But now you are back and I'm happier than I've ever been before." Iris confessed to Barry.
"Iris I don't love you, not in that way."
Iris took a few steps back, tears starting to form in her eyes as her mind tried to comprehend the words Barry spoke.
"Wh..what?" she finally managed to get a word out.
"A few million years gives a person a lot of perspective on things Iris. One of them was our relationship. The fact is Iris, we don't love each other. I proposed to try and save you from Savitar. I proposed because I thought it would be best for you. You're my sister Iris. We grew up together. We talked about our crushes. We talked about our classes in school and we had late nights talking to each other about everything and anything. We're not meant to be together as lovers." Barry paused for a second. "I'm sorry."
Iris looked at Barry for a long moment.
Then she took off the engagement ring and threw it at Barry before storming off.
Barry looked at her retreating back before sighing. 'Now's not the time to try and fix everything at once.'
He took off his suit and placed it on the model in the cortex before running at full speed to his next destination.
Phasing through the door of the Devoe residence he saw the couple talkingin the living room, at a standstill due to Barry moving so fast that everyone else in the world was practically motionless compared to him. He quickly phased his hand through their hearts, shifting some molecules around before running out the house.
The bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Devoe dropped seconds afterward, lifeless and unmoving.
Boston Brand
Boston phased out of the cop he had taken control of, having just arrested the contract killer who shot him, before flying away westward.
New Vegas called to him, with bright lights and a buxom magician to recruit.
The Justice League Dark had to assemble.
Sara Lance
"Temporal Alert Captain Lance" Gideon's clear voice alerted the entire crew of the Waverider, waking some up.
"What is it Gideon?" Sara asked, already on the bridge drinking her coffee.
"A change to the timeline has occurred. Central City 2017." The AI responded.
"Huh familiar ground then. What exactly happened Gideon? What's the change?" Ray asked walking into the bridge.
"Error." Gideon replied simply.
The Legends looked at each other, their faces showing their confusion.
"Gideon tell us what happened." Sara ordered.
"I cannot. My programming will not allow me to reveal the timeline change that occurred." Gideon replied. "It is quite a strange feeling."
"Override whatever program that is." Sara ordered. "I am the captain of this ship."
"I require higher clearance."
"Who put in this programming in the first place Gideon?" Ray asked, hoping to find a clue as to what happened.
"My creator, Barry Allen."
There was a pregnant pause after that, before Sara broke the silence.
"Looks like we got to beat up a speedster. Set course for Central City, 2017."
"Well at least I'll get to see Clarissa and Lily." Martin chimed in.
John Constantine
The demon he had just stabbed gasped for breath, as his essence started to disintegrate into the magic sword that was now stuck between its ribs, it's dark soul would be stored in a safe place in the House of Mystery.
Placing the sword in his trench coat, he turned and walked away from the house the demon had been haunting for quite some time. He had almost been taken by surprise when he had felt a sudden magical energy spike. Normally he'd attribute it to some mage or wizard setting up shop or a magic battle but instead he was surprised as he had felt the magical signature was his own.
After he secured the Sword of Sealing within the deep recesses of the House of Mystery, he set out to discover what exactly was happening in Central City that had set off his magical senses.
To travel back in time is to throw a stone. As soon that stone is thrown, ripples pour forth and disrupt the water. Barry Allen was that stone, and soon the ripples shall echo and affect all he holds dear.
Author's End Note:
Whew that took a while. I've been thinking about doing this for a while now. Chapters will hopefully be as long as or longer than this first one.
Not super caught up with Legends or Supergirl but I'll try my best. Deadman's origin here is not too complicated. Constantine's is though. I want him to be as "overpowered" as he is in the comics but give him the motivation the NBC show gave him (I loved the show and it's a crime that they cancelled it after only a few episodes. Glad Matt Ryan got to play him in the Arrowverse though.). If you didn't know Constantine is one of the most OP magic characters in comics and his character shines when he's backed up and pulls some bullshit magical spell or item out of his ass to save himself. It's great.
One last thing, I'm still pondering as to how I'm gonna deal with the Earth-1/Earth-38 divide that only exists thanks to the stupid CBS/CW thing early on and has been now dealt with in canon thanks to Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you have any suggestions I'd be glas to hear them.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Give criticism or praise that will either inspire me to continue writing or compel me to improve.