Hal's lungs burned as he rocketed through space, heaving great gasps of air as he tuned in to Barry's distress signal. Out of a sense of caution or just paranoia, he had taken the time to personally boost his signal receptor's range to make sure no one needed him. And Barry had a distress signal three days old.
Hal was left praying he made it in time.
Earth came into view, and Hal patched into their shared comlink system.
"Where's Flash? How can I help him?"
A gruff voice on the other end responded, and Hal made a beeline for Star City. Exercise gym. Right.
The world blurred as he didn't even bother going invisible, dashing into the boarded up building and throwing himself through the closet door his ring guided him towards.
Instantly he was teleported to a strange place, where the very air was red and burning. There was a crackle of energy in the walls, and his hands immediately started trembling as something sapped the strength from his body.
His heart was pounding in his throat, and all Hal could think of was that, somewhere, Barry was here.
His ring flashed again, and Hal saw it had locked on to that familiar speed force signature. Hal rocketed off so fast it felt like he was being dragged by his ring, eyes tearing up at the abrasiveness of the air and breathing coming in choking gasps.
He entered the room, and there was Barry, a scarlet blur racing around the whirling energy in the middle of the room, faster and faster and Hal reached out with his ring to protect him no matter what protect him
The explosion burned the skin off his face before his automatic force field responded.
The force of it slammed his body against a wall, leaving bruises despite his shimmering green shield; dust filled his vision and there, clinking rolling bouncing towards him was the ring, golden and glinting and ownerless and accusing-
Hal jolted upwards, and threw up over the side of the bed. Why couldn't he save him just once, even in a dream?