Here we are. Only two days away, and it'll have been a year since I published this story and how far it's come since then. Thank you all. I couldn't have done it without my co-authors Brightburn1985 and ThomasMarieAmell2.0.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

"Alright, let's get started. I'm pumped." Wally said, excitedly. Ready to start working on his powers.

"Well first things first, you are going to run in the accelerator until you pass out." Barry instructed him.

Wally looked at Barry in confusion. "You mean that figuratively speaking, right?" Wally laughed nervously.

"Nope." Barry shook his head. "You are going into the accelerator, and you are going to run as fast as you can, for as long as you can until you drop from exhaustion."

"Is there a purpose to that?" Wally asked.

"We need to see what your limits are. What we're working with in terms of your powers. You've been fed and rested, so you're at peak condition for this. Basically we're seeing how much fuel you've got in the tank, and how much that gives us." Barry explained.

"So I keep running until I start feeling tired?" Wally asked to clarify.

"You keep running until you pass out. I'm going to be the one to carry you out of there." Barry said.

Wally had a concerned look on his face at the prospect of forcing himself to expend all his energy into this one activity.

Barry noticed the look of worry. "I know this seems daunting right now, but trust me. It's better to have your limits tested in a controlled setting than out there in the field. Once we get an assessment of where you are compared to how I was, then we can start training for real."

Wally shrugged helplessly. "Alright, I'll do it." he agreed before running to the Pipeline. He began sprinting within the accelerator, putting forth all his strength into the task.

The Cortex was keeping track of Wally's movement. Cisco had yet to fashion a suit with sensors to keep track of his vitals, but for now this would give them a broad sense of Wally's potential.

"How am I doing?" Wally called out on the speakers.

"If you can still talk, you're not pushing yourself hard enough!" Barry shouted.

Wally seemed to increase his speed a little bit at the prompt from Barry before slowly dwindling back to his previous speed, keeping a steady pace.

"You guys keep an eye on him. I'm going to do some research." Barry said to Caitlin and Cisco.

"On what?" Cisco asked.

"Savitar. I figure, even if he isn't the mythical god as he claims, he's disillusioned himself into believing he is, so if I can understand 'Savitar' better, I can understand how this guy thinks." Barry explains. "I've already got Julian looking into the Philosopher's Stone since he's done the most research into that thing."

"So what are you looking into?" Caitlin asked.

Barry ran away and came back in intervals with mountains of books in his arms each time he returned.

"I've been to every library, book store, or online database for every mention of mythologies." Barry said.

"I thought Savitar was a Hindu god?" Caitlin said, noticing a few books on Chinese culture.

"He's supposed to be, but the closest I could find online is Savitr. A Vedic deity of the sun. I figured I would need to do this the old-fashioned way. By looking in a book. I've got myths from the Greeks, to the Mongolians. I think I picked up a few from the Arthurian Legends as well."

"I think those were more on druids than celestial gods." Caitlin interjected.

Barry just shrugged his shoulders. "Never hurts to check."

Barry took a look at all the books he had collected, trying to estimate how long it would take for him to look through them all.

"This is going to take awhile, even at my speed. Just call for me when Wally's finished so I can pick him up and we can look over his results." Barry said, grabbing a chair and the first book he could get his hands on.

Wally managed to continue for much longer than any of them suspected. He managed to surpass Barry's speed in every way when Barry was first starting out. He was only slightly slower than Barry was currently.

So that meant there wasn't a problem with Wally's speed, but that might mean there was a complete lack of control of Wally's speed that he would have to develop. Otherwise there may be more problems ahead of them.

It may just be that Barry had instructed Wally to go all out this time, but they would have to instruct Wally to keep his speed to a minimum, otherwise he would sap his strength faster than he could replenish it.

Even though Wally was now built to consume massive amounts of calories, at the rate they were looking at, he may have to be constantly eating if he were to continue to maintain his impressive speed. Especially considering how young he is compared to how Barry was.

But that could wait until after Wally woke up and finished the 40 IV bags he had attached to him.

Barry was just finishing the last of the books he collected on mythology in an attempt to find some mention of Savitar.

Jay walked in seeing Barry throwing the book away in frustration.

"I've gone through every book of mythology I could find. Even the barest mention. I've read about gods, spirits, the creation of the universe several times, demigods, magical creatures. Nothing even mentions the name of Savitar. If Savitar is a god from mythology, he's not one we have." Barry groans.

"Well sometimes, the answers come to us when we're not looking." Jay said. "You're too stressed. You should try to relax. Christmas is almost here, you have a beautiful new girlfriend. This is a time to celebrate."

Barry shook his head. "I can't relax. This isn't a game. And now that Wally is a speedster, I don't know what to think. Savitar gave Wally his powers. Does that mean there's a connection between them? Can Savitar control Wally whenever he wants? Is Wally going to suffer the same fate as all the others that were created from the Philosopher's Stone? I don't know, and that's the problem. I can't do anything!"

Jay just sighed after Barry was finished with his little rant. "Feel better now?"

"A little bit," Barry admitted.

"Good. So now you need to realize that for the meantime, there is nothing for you to do. Savitar is still trapped, your friends are safe." Jay implored him. "There's no use worrying about a future that may or may not come. It's taken Savitar all these years in The Speed Force to accomplish as much as he has. It may take another few centuries for him to get out completely. Focus on what is now. You have a new speedster to train, and a girlfriend you are neglecting. I suggest you get to them,"

"I doubt we'd be that lucky. Savitar's coming for me. I can feel it," Barry said.

Jay raised an eyebrow at him, and Barry finally relented. "I suppose I can head back home, finish decorating the house in time for Iris and Eddie to come visit,"

"That's the spirit. Enjoy yourself. Flash business can wait. Family, that's what's important. That's what the holidays are all about." Jay said, patting Barry on the back.

"So we've got about 14 boxes of Christmas decorations and only about an hour left before Iris and Eddie get here…" Joe said, pointedly staring at his two sons.

"Seriously? I thought having powers would be super cool. Kicking ass, taking names. All that stuff." Wally groaned.

"Well, this is our reality. When we're not out 'kicking ass and taking names', we're helping others cheat through their menial everyday tasks that they'd rather not do," Barry said with a sigh.

The two of them ran through the house, putting up all the decorations in the time it took for Joe to get a beer from the fridge.

When they returned, all three of them plopped down on the couch. "Here you two go," Joe handed them their own bottles.

"You're actually going to let me drink this?" Wally asked, eagerly plucking to bottle from his father.

"Don't be too excited. There's a terrible reason why he's letting you," Barry said, taking his own bottle.

Wally took a sip from the bottle, and continued to down it until it was empty.

"Why don't I feel anything?" Wally asked, after having consumed the entire bottle as if it were water or juice.

"One of the downsides of having super speed. Your metabolism is too fast for the alcohol to have any effect. Welcome to sobriety for life." Barry said, taking a sip from his own bottle.

"What?!" Wally shouted in shock. He wasn't even at the legal drinking age yet, and he would never be able to experience being drunk in his life now.

"Don't worry, we've got a speedster solution that Caitlin managed to whip up for Barry, but until then, I don't ever have to worry about you being in a drunken haze." Joe said, with a pleased smile.

"Well that sucks. So when will I be able to join you Barry?" Wally asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, when will I be able to go out into the streets to fight crime with you?" Wally asked. "I mean, that's what you're training me for, right?"

"No, that's not what I'm training you for right now Wally." Barry said. "I'm training you so that you can control your powers right now. So you understand them and can use them. Not so that you can go out thinking you're a hero. If you want to be a hero, we can talk after you get a handle on your powers. Not to mention you've got a couple months of school to catch up on."

"Well, I'm not going to be having any problems with that anymore. I'll be able to finish all of my work in seconds thanks to my powers." Wally said.

"So I'd better not hear any calls from the school about late submissions or missing work, young man." Joe said. "Do you realize the amount of work we had to do, in order to convince all your professors to keep you in your program? We can't exactly tell people that you're working with The Flash, and if it weren't for the fact that Caitlin is a legal doctor who was able to sign off on your doctor slips, you would not still have your place in the university."

"Yeah. About that…" Wally drew out.

"No. You are not dropping out. This is your future Wally. You are not going to just drop out now that you have powers." Joe held up his hand.

"Can we at least talk about this?" Wally asked.

"Sure we can, after you finish school or when we can have a good laugh about this. Now is not that time,"

On Christmas Eve, everyone was at the West household. Iris and Eddie were even here, visiting from Coast City for the holidays.

It was a little awkward between Joe and Eddie for a little since Joe still considered Eddie as the man who stole his baby girl, but they were soon comfortable enough with each other to share a drink.

Barry just watched from the side, taking in the peace of his family. This seemed to be the most calm Christmas they had experienced in quite some time. The previous two having been preoccupied with Flash duties, but it seems this year, the criminals had all decided to remain dormant for the time being.

And Barry was honestly quite pleased with himself on the gift he had decided to give Caitlin. This would be the first Christmas they would celebrate together as a couple.

Caitlin came over to him and Barry couldn't help the smile that spread on his face when he saw her. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

Caitlin sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around Barry's neck and pulled the two of them together for a kiss.

"Mhmm, that's never going to get old," Caitlin said as she pulled away, smiling down at him. She never believed she could be this happy.

"When I'm with you, everything is perfect." Barry responds sweetly, taking her in his arms.

"We've definitely come a long way, from daily verbal arguments to these sweet nothings. But I'd have it no other way Fleet Feet,"

"If every little fight we ever had led me down the path to you, I'd gladly do it all over again Ms. Frosty."

"Stop! You're going to make me puke!" Cisco shouted from across the room where he was talking with HR.

"You've wanted us together ever since we've met, and now you have a problem with us being together?" Barry asked.

"I didn't realize how sickening the two of you are when you're not at each other's throats." Cisco retorted.

The two of them just shrugged before turning back to each other.

"So, why did you come here? Not that I'm complaining," Barry asked.

"Well I really wanted to spend some time with my boyfriend, but if I'm going to just be criticized for being kind, I'll just leave,"

"Come on, you know that's not what I meant." Barry rolled his eyes.

Caitlin sighed and snuggled closer into Barry. "Well now that you mention it, I did notice that there wasn't a present from you under the tree. Were we not doing presents this year since we've only been together for a few weeks?"

"I have a present for you, I'd just rather give it to you in privacy." Barry assured her.

"Okay. You know I don't particularly like surprises, but since it's from you, you're the exception."

"And I will be forever grateful for that." Barry smiled and leaned in to give her another kiss.

"Okay, as much as I am enjoying this, we should get up. Iris and Eddie head back to Coast City in the morning, and you two have barely said anything to each other. I'm sure you can already guess what she wants to talk about." Caitlin said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Oh no," Barry groaned. "Here I was hoping I could avoid that conversation. Iris has that glint in her eye that just says she is waiting to say 'I told you so'. Aside from Cisco, I think she was the one most invested in our relationship."

"Why do you think I mentioned it? You think I haven't just been subjected to endless rants about how she was right about us? Now, it's your turn to suffer. Let's go,"

"Why do you hate me?" Barry said.

"This time? It's because you have a crazy sister that you left me alone to deal with. You know how she gets." Caitlin said.

"It's Iris. That's just the way she is. Maybe Eddie can still save me," Barry said that last part mostly to himself.

"Doubtful. He's mostly concerned with two things. Keep Iris happy, and don't get killed by Joe."

"God help me," Barry said as he strides forward and mentally prepares himself for his 'conversation' with Iris.

Waking up on Christmas was always a wonderful feeling. Even more so when waking up next to the love of your life.

And that was exactly how Barry was feeling when Barry awoke on the couch with Caitlin wrapped in his arms.

Caitlin was still asleep, so Barry decided not to disturb her and just watched her peaceful visage. Barry tried to carefully pull himself away, but his arm was trapped underneath Caitlin. So Barry relented and just stayed where he was, waiting for Caitlin to awaken from her slumber.

Soon though, Caitlin began to stir and mumble as she opened her eyes to see Barry staring directly at him.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Morning," Barry greeted her.

"How long have you been awake?" Caitlin asked.

"Not long, but it doesn't matter. I like watching you sleep. It's nice to see you so relaxed." Barry replied.

"What? Are you saying I'm not relaxed when you usually see me?" Caitlin frowned at him.

"I'm saying more than usual. The life of a hero is always stressful. There's no getting around that." Barry carefully worded his response as to not draw the ire of Caitlin again.

"Well I hope that stress hasn't caused you two to be mentally disabled," Cisco said as he was coming out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

"What?" The couple asked at the same time as they stared at Cisco in confusion. They had no idea what he was talking about. Why would they be mentally disabled?

"When the two of you found out you were going to be married in the future, both of you said-"

"We would have to be mentally deranged to want to be romantically involved with each other," They both paraphrased what they said after realizing what Cisco was implying.

"So how are the two of you feeling? You're not going to go mental are you?" Cisco said in a condescending tone.

"You know I think we've got some feelings for what we want to do with you right now," Barry smirked a sinister grin at Cisco.

"The ones where you end up 6 feet under," Caitlin copied Barry's grin and directed it at Cisco as well.

Cisco quickly got out of there before Caitlin and Barry delivered on their silent threat to leave them alone.

Caitlin turned her head back to Barry. "So, it's Christmas morning. We're all alone. Do you want to give me my Christmas present right now, or do you want to wait until after everyone's left?"

"Well, I can't exactly give my present to you right now." Barry said.

"So later?"

"Not necessarily, I said I can't give it to you, but I can show it to you." he said mysteriously with a smile. "Come on. Let's go before everyone else wakes up,"

Barry lifted the both of them up, and sped them away in the blink of an eye.

Barry ran them out to the area that was once Wells' house, but had been completely remodeled since Caitlin had last seen it.

"What happened here?" Caitlin asked.

"Well, you know that Wells, Thawne, left me all of his property, and that included STAR Labs. That also included all of his assets, like his house." Barry explained. "Whenever I felt really angry or depressed about something, I would always relate it back to him, so I would come here and just level the house. And then I'd rebuild it, so I would be able to do the same next time. At this point, there is nothing relating that house back to The Reverse Flash other than the fact that he gave the land to me,"

"So what are you saying? You're not giving me this house are you? Because that is absurd. I mean, the house alone, not to mention the property surrounding it." Caitlin asked.

"No, I'm going to be moving in come the new year. It's finally time that I get out of Joe's place. I'm taking a page out of Eddie's book, and I'm asking for you to accept a key to my place." Barry said, producing a small key from his pocket. "You don't have to move in or anything, and I'm not expecting the same thing with your apartment, but I'm just…"

Barry was cut off from speaking as Caitlin launched herself at him and pulled him in for a kiss. "I'd love to," Caitlin smiled.

Barry released a sigh of relief he didn't even know he was holding. "That's good, because I was thinking this was too soon, but nothing about us is normal so I just thought-"

"Hey," Caitlin put up one finger in the air to silence him. "Stop talking. This is perfect. But I hate you so much right now Fleet Feet. My gift sucks in comparison."

"I'm sure I'll love it no matter what Ms. Frosty," Barry smiled, shrugged, and pulled her in for another kiss.

Christmas had come and gone, and everybody was feeling more cheerful for it. And Cisco had designed another suit for Wally so he could train without having to worry about his clothes burning off.

Barry had a few problems with the yellow suit, it brought up some very… uncomfortable memories, but Barry was able to put aside those feelings. Wally wasn't Thawne. There wasn't anything to worry about.

But now that their vacation was over, it was time to get back to their real problems.

"With the stone no longer able to contain Savitar, or at least it's only able to partially, we need to figure out a way to stop Savitar." Barry said to the team.

"Well, this is just my suggestion, but if the stone isn't working to contain Savitar, why don't we use it for ourselves?" Cisco asked. "Why do we need to keep it in its box?"

"No, that is a terrible idea. We have no idea what unleashing the stone could do. It could just bring Savitar right to us." Julian declared.

"So it may be our one advantage against Savitar. If it can't contain him, then we could use it for some other purpose. A way to help us," Cisco countered.

"We can't just chuck it back into the Earth?" Joe asked.

"Then we're back to where we started, only even worse. What happens if some unlucky person finds it and opens the box? At least we know it's safe in our possession," Barry said.

"But as long as we have it in our possession, why not use it?" Cisco pointed out.

"Because you're not the ones who have to live with the consequences of what that stone has done." Julian said. "I've hurt so many people with that stone. Destroyed people's lives. What's to say that the moment you open that box, it won't make me Alchemy again?"

"That was Savitar talking for you, through the stone. If he doesn't need it anymore, nothing should happen," Caitlin tried to assure.

"Nothing should happen? That's not very reassuring,"

"Look buddy, in this line of business, you kind of have to get used to the idea of taking chances." Cisco said. "So are you in or not? Because if you start acting crazy, we promise, we will close that box as fast as we can. Well, as fast as Barry can,"

Julian heaved a large sigh. "Fine, but whatever happens, it won't be on my conscience,"

"Alright," Barry nodded his head and approached the box. Everybody was watching with rapt attention to see what would happen when Barry would release the stone from its container.

Just to get rid of the tension, Barry quickly opened the box. There wasn't a big flash of light, but there was a low level of light emitting from the stone.

Everybody paused to see if anything would happen. Savitar hadn't come bursting through the walls. Julian was still acting rationally so it seemed he wasn't being mind controlled.

Everything seemed fine, so Barry continued, reaching his hand into the box and pulled out the stone in his hand.

"So what do we do with it?" Cisco said, breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Barry said, his gaze transfixed on the glowing object in his hand. "But I can feel the power coming from this. It's like, it's calling to me,"

"You can? I don't feel anything," Caitlin said as she was on Barry's right side. She couldn't feel anything coming from the stone and she was just as close as Barry is.

Barry focused on the stone harder. There was something about it. Perhaps it reacted to touch. Maybe he could activate it with a spark of his powers.

With that thought, Barry let off a small spark of electricity into the stone. And Barry could feel the reaction within his hands as he was transported to somewhere else.

On a lonely street in the dead of night. This place is of significance somehow. Barry just doesn't know how or why.

"Please!" a shout sounded off. Its owner sounded very much like himself, and when Barry moved to see who it was, it proved to be him.

Barry was watching himself. A vision of the future perhaps?

Whatever this was, this Barry was on his knees, surrounded by the dead corpses of everyone he cared about. Cisco, Joe, Iris, Wally. Barry could even make out the bodies of his friends Oliver and Kara. He had no idea how that was possible.

But Barry's breath got caught in his throat when he noticed Caitlin's body hanging limply in Savitar's grasp. And Savitar just tossed it aside, like she was a toy he was finished playing with.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about what happened." Barry heard himself say. Why on Earth was he apologizing to this monster? He'd just witnessed Savitar murder everyone he cared about and Barry was the one apologizing?

"Your apologies don't matter. You are the reason everything has happened. It's your fault everything has come to this point. You've brought this upon yourself. A nightmare of your own making," Savitar said.

Savitar stalked towards a still Barry who was on his knees. He raised one leg and brought his foot down on top of Barry's head, causing Barry's head to smash into the ground in a bowing position. "I made you a promise, that I would make you suffer when I finally ended you. The time has come for me to take my revenge."

"I didn't mean to ruin your life. I couldn't stop it. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm so sorry," Barry continued to express his sorrow, tears falling from his eyes.

What was he talking about? How was Savitar Barry's fault? How did any of this make sense? Is Savitar really his fault?

"Any last words?" Savitar asked as he prepared to squish Barry's head under his foot. Barry watched the scene with disgust. He could almost hear the satisfaction in Savitar's voice at Barry's sadness and guilt-ridden confession.

The Barry who was on the ground twisted his head so he could look at Savitar. "I forgive you," he whispered. Which was the last thing he said before Savitar brought his foot down and cracked Barry's head open like an egg.

Barry didn't know how to feel. He just watched the death of his team. His friends, the love of his life, himself. And through it all, it seemed as if Barry was blaming himself for all of Savitar's failings. How did Savitar relate to him? Whatever the reason, this was personal. Savitar hated him with a passion. But why?

Barry was brought back to his present where he was still staring into the Philosopher's Stone.

Barry snapped out of his trance and quickly placed the stone back into the box and closed the lid.

"What was that about?" Joe asked in confusion.

"How long was that? Did any of you see that?" Barry asked in rapid succession.

"See what? You were just silent for all of a second staring into the stone after electrocuting it a little and then rushed to put it back into the box. What happened?" Caitlin asked in concern.

"When I exposed it to my powers, it showed me something I think was the future." Barry said.

"What did you see? Maybe I could see it too, just spark it again with my powers and then I'll know," Wally said as he was reaching for the box.

"No!" Barry shouted and swatted Wally's hand away. "I saw us. We were all dead. We were killed. By Savitar."

So we've got some training with Wally done, Caitlin and Barry are moving in together into Wells' house. I figured, why does Barry need to buy a place when Wells technically gave him a mansion? And there are no bad feelings because I specifically have made it so Barry has recreated the house from scratch.

Now the important part. I changed how the Philosopher's Stone works, but it's literally the Speed Force, and the Speed Force exists outside of space and time. Is it that out of the possibility that it'd be able to show possible timelines? Plus I wanted the Philosopher's Stone to have a bigger role since Caitlin isn't frantically trying to get rid of her powers with it. And Savitar doesn't need the stone to get out of the Speed Force. I'll explain that later.

A bit more knowledge of Savitar. Now keep in mind, the timeline is always changing. The fact that Barry saw this future has caused the timeline to change, meaning this may or may not be how I decide to end the season. Obviously not, I can't have Barry dying, but something very similar to this will be how I end I the season. Anymore guesses as to Savitar's true identity?

I'll see you all next week.