HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!

The Hood

Starling City, 10.30 pm

The Quiver

The Flash hurried to the aching city and soon found his way through to the cave, at which point he came to a standstill. For there lied, the lifeless body of his friend, whom he should have saved. The city knew him as the Hood. But he knew him as his friend when he needed him, his partner when things got messy, and an occasional drink buddy when he just wanted someone to talk to and he was none other than the billionaire playboy, Oliver Queen.

"Wally?", asked a teary-eyed Felicity Smoak, who came in as he had triggered a silent alarm.

"Why are you here? Especially now? Where were you when he..when we needed you."

"I am so sorry, Felicity. I didn't know. I was.. I was careless. This is my mistake."

"Yeah, well it is. Live with that..Flash. And, admitting it won't bring him back. In fact, you know what; just go back to your brightly lit city where coffees are named after you, where you are handed away the keys to your city, where Flash action figures sell like your life depends on it. Go away from here..this city, where my Oliver just kept fighting. Selflessly. Day in, day out. No superpowers. Nothing in return. He didn't hesitate walking into dangers he knew he couldn't handle or whenever you got him into your weird metas-"

"Stop it, Felicity. I've heard enough. Listen, I am here to correct this, or at least I'm gonna try. I am going to bring him back..or I'll die trying and that's a promise."

"What?...How? Did you..oh my god, you figured it out, didn't you?"

"I have been trying for sometime now but.. for now, can't we just use the pit. Just tell me, where it is. Oliver refused to tell me, when..Iris died. But now, we can do something. There is no one here to stop me."

"After what the pit did to Tommy, do you really expect he would tell anyone?"

"He didn't even tell you? Why does he have to.. never mind. Then, it's time travel, I guess."

"Legends would never allow this."

"I meant me. I could time travel. Barry could do it. So can I."

"You just said you haven't figured it out. Then how will you?"

"Look, I did re-live 4 hours of a day by mistake a few weeks back. But I haven't been able to do it willingly, despite reaching my maximum speed levels."

"Then, why are you here, Wally? To make unfulfilled promises to a grieving widow?"

"No. Now trust me when I say this: I will bring back your husband and the father of your children. He will be with you all in no time, just trust me. I didn't come here without a plan."

Seeing a shimmer of hope, she finally gave in, "what do you need from me then? You must be here for a reason."

"Now you're talking. So listen, I found another speedster running around in Keystone and Central City, at least as far as I know. I didn't wanna ask Cisco. He..you know how he is, ever since Barry died. But you.. you can find him and he could teach me."

"You think he would? Hardly any speedsters I've heard about are friendly."

"What other choice do I have? It has to work. It has to."

Central City,

10:42 pm

Linda and Barry were walking back to her place, holding hands; with both of them smiling like a couple of high school kids on their first date.

"Tonight was perfect, Bar."

"I know. After all, it's me." At this point, he reached the inside of his jacket and took out sunglasses to firmly place them on his eyes, making her laugh.

"See..I don't even have to say anything to make you smile."

"Keep saying things like that and you sir might even get lucky tonight", she replied as if there was a chance he wasn't.

Barry, swirled her around to the other side, "oh, you wish."

"Oh really...?", she said while slowly walking towards him with her arms finding their way around his neck. "Then I guess, I shouldn't do this", she replied while leaning towards him but…before anything could happen, Linda's phone started to ring.

"We really need to do something about your phone when we are together. Bad luck never seems to escape me."

Linda laughed and before picking it up, she leaned back in and completed what she started.

"We make our own luck, Barry Allen." Saying that, she finally attended her call and after a minute or two, she shrieked in a high-pitch voice almost startling Barry, "Holy shit! I am coming in..like right now."

"What happened? I thought I was getting lucky tonight..", he smirked.

"It's the Hood in Starling. He's...he's gone."

"What? What do you me..? I mean, how? When?"

"Just about an hour ago. Sorry, babe, but I really need to go. I'll make it up to you tomorrow. Alright?", she replied while calling out for a cab with her phone.

"Yeah..yeah. No problem", he answered without thinking as his conscious self had long left the scene. He couldn't believe it. "Not Oliver. I could have saved him. I did save him. But not here; not this time." This pushed him into contemplating all of his decisions over the last few years, because of which every morning he woke up and in an attempt to not bring up the pain, he just told himself that it was better this way.

But it wasn't. It really wasn't and he knew it. But he remembers his reasons for not meddling. Because otherwise, he would just be messing with people's destinies once again. Not doing anything was hard but he knew it was the right thing to do. Still, he couldn't get over the recent setback but by now, he could just swallow almost anything up and remind himself that it is okay. It's okay.. and just live on. This was hard but ultimately no different. He waved back as Linda took her taxi and he closed his eyes in anguish as he called one for himself.

TO BE CONTINUED..

Just 2 questions and a request.

1. Should I go back to 1st person writing?

2. These shorter chapters work or the longer ones like with The Dark Archer are better?

3. Subscribe and review! xD