Hey everyone. I'm so glad to see that many of you liked what I did with Elseworlds last week. Which is why I'm so nervous about posting this one. It's not as exciting as last week's but just as meaningful I think. It might come as a disappointment to some but I have my reasons.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Arrowverse.
Barry awoke to the feeling of sunshine on his face and a warm body laying on his naked chest. He opened his eyes to see his wife covered in their bedsheets on top of him. Barry remained still, taking in the moment, feeling such content.
Barry let his hands creep over Caitlin's form, exploring every inch of her body. It felt like so long ago since they'd gotten a night together like this. Even more so ever since they'd both decided to start trying for a child.
Caitlin lightly moaned and shifted slightly on him, rubbing her body against him as she began to wake up. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked down at her husband. "Good morning,"
"Good morning. Good sleep?"
"After an even better night in bed with you. We really needed this," Caitlin captured his lips with hers, placing both her hands on his chest. Barry pulled her closer, as though trying to mesh the two together.
"I'll say. Everything has been so stressful lately. But you make everything better,"
Caitlin smiled at him. "Flatterer. Let's get up. A new day has started,"
Barry smirked, seeing his wife's naked form as she pulled the sheets off of them. "So you're going to kick me out of bed like the first night we spent together?" he teased.
"Don't ruin such a beautiful morning," Caitlin said. "Besides, that drunken night hardly counts as our first time together. We hated each other and didn't even remember what happened."
"Well I do remember that dress you wore, the tease. Not to mention your hairstyle; the white streaks. You should do that more often," Barry laughed.
"Maybe I will. And I might have that dress somewhere in our closet. You want to help me dig that up?" Caitlin looked at him lustfully.
"Oh baby, if you put that on I guarantee, you and I are not leaving this room until we figure out what we did that night."
"You really need the dress for that to happen?" Caitlin trailed her fingers down Barry's chest, inching closer and closer to his hips. She bit her bottom lip and peered at him with such a fire in her eyes. This woman did things to him. And he was letting her.
Barry gripped the back of her head and pulled her in for another sloppy wet kiss. "Get back in bed," he demanded silently into her ear.
Caitlin giggled in response and joined him back under the covers.
Like all the other times they did this, Barry wondered how he'd gotten so lucky in life, and what an idiot he was back then when the two had first met. They spent almost three years arguing with each other when they could have been doing this the whole time. But then again, Barry was pretty sure his younger self would have a heart attack if he knew what he and Caitlin were doing again and again and again. And he thought Caitlin would have felt similar as well.
Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when the door opened abruptly and their adult son walked in on them. "Hey Dad and Mom. You guys up yet- Oh My Force!" Ace shouted in despair and disgust.
The couple immediately jumped away from each other at the sudden interruption and at the horrified realization of having been discovered right in the middle of their copulation.
"Ace!" Caitlin shouted, bringing the blankets closer to her body in order to hide herself. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see if you guys were up, but it seemed you were getting something else up!" Ace retorted.
The two flushed in embarrassment at the implications. "Ace, we're-"
"Save it!" Ace shouted. "Stay right there. I'm going to get some bleach for my eyes and brain, but I don't think I'll be able to scrub this memory out of my mind. Just don't move until I leave,"
Ace covered his eyes and walked backwards, slamming the door shut when he was out.
"Oh my god," Caitlin dropped her head into her hands in shame. "I never thought we were going to be one of those parents,"
"It's going to be okay. Besides, I think we can be excused since we're trying to make Ace right now."
"I'm freaking out here Barry!" Caitlin shouted. "Our son probably saw us naked. This is not the time for jokes,"
"I know. This is troubling. But we'll have a talk with him. Get him to understand this is natural. It'll all be okay. It's just going to be really awkward."
Barry and Caitlin arrived in the kitchen where they both sat down with Ace and had the awkward conversation of the two of them having sex in the morning and that they were both sorry he had to walk in on them doing that.
Throughout the entire time, Barry couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. So when the family arrived at STAR Labs, Barry walked up to Cisco and asked if he had received any vibes of anything happening recently.
"Well I haven't really been looking. Those spontaneous vibes really only happened in the beginning when I didn't have a good control of my powers and whenever something really big happens to the timeline or the multiverse." Cisco shrugged. "I didn't even sense that Flashpoint happened, and I probably wouldn't have even known it happened if you hadn't told us,"
"Can you check? I'm getting a weird feeling that something is or has happened," Barry asked.
"I don't really feel like doing that right now," Cisco shrugged him off. "Besides. Nothing of importance is happening right now,"
"Please, just check for me will you? Something has happened and we need to figure out what,"
"Why? Because you got a feeling?" Cisco laughed. The laughter tapered off when he saw Barry's completely serious face. "Fine. I'll do it and tell you everything is just fine," Cisco relented.
Cisco went to grab his goggles, activating them so he would be better in tune with the multiverse. It was barely a second later that Cisco turned them back off and tossed them on his work bench.
"Well?" Barry said impatiently.
"Bro, do you have any idea how many things are happening in an infinite multiverse? I'll tell you. An infinity. Something is always happening, both bad and good. Nothing serious though and nothing to concern ourselves with." Cisco waved him off. "Kara and Jesse seemed to be scrambling for something, but like I said, nothing to concern ourselves with. Are you happy?" Cisco lightly snapped at him.
Barry didn't know why Cisco was acting as though he didn't want to be using his powers. Cisco may have been wary of his powers in the beginning, but he seemed to have worked past that and enjoyed experimenting with them and using them to the best of his ability, if just to get warning signals of something happening. So this behavior was strange.
"Should we talk to them?" Barry asked.
"They're busy, and they can handle their own problems. Stop asking me," Cisco stormed off.
Barry furrowed his brow. It wasn't like Cisco to act so snippy. Not without a reason anyway. It just further enforced the feeling in Barry that something was seriously wrong.
Barry decided to go on a whim and make a call to Wally. Maybe he felt something was wrong as well. "Barry? I was just about to call you,"
"You were? You woke up, a sense of deja vu, and an impending sensation that something was wrong?" Barry questioned.
"That sums it all up rather nicely. Yeah." Wally confirmed. "I talked to Iris and Eddie and they didn't think much of it. But if you feel the same way…"
"We should meet up." Barry states. "There's a hangar STAR owns. I'll send the address and meet you there,"
"So what do you think happened?" Wally asked once they both arrived.
"I don't know." Barry shook his head in dismay. "Everything seems fine. Everything is as it should be. Nothing is out of place, but there's this persistent feeling that something is just off and I don't know what it is. If it were just me, I'd shake it off, but since you feel the same I'm almost convinced there's something wrong."
"Well, the first rule of being a hero is to always trust your gut. What's your gut telling you?" Wally asked.
"That there's nothing wrong." Barry states. "But it's not right either,"
"That doesn't make sense,"
"You're telling me. I don't even know what I'm talking about," Barry laments. "What does your gut say?"
"That we should get some help,"
"Who's going to help us? Nobody even believes that anything is wrong. We don't even know what's wrong,"
"So we find somebody who does,"
"And who would that be?"
"Not a who. What," Wally declares.
It took a moment for that to sink into Barry and realize what his brother was talking about. "The Speed Force? You think the Speed Force is actually going to help us?"
"Why not? The Speed Force connects us. If there's something wrong, they'll know." Wally said.
"It's not a matter of whether they know what's wrong. It's a matter of whether or not they're willing to do anything about it. The Speed Force is a force of nature, pardon the pun. It doesn't exactly have emotions for us to relate to," Barry points out.
"Well what other option do you have? Because everybody else seems to think everything is all right. But a cosmic being on the other hand…"
Barry sighs. "Guess we have no choice. Alright, we'll run into the Speed Force. Get some confirmation or advice or whatever the Speed Force is willing to offer."
While Wally was eager to jump into the void of the Speed Force, Barry wasn't. He'd met the cosmic being that had given him his powers and restored them in his time of need. And he knew what they were like. Cold, apathetic, uncaring. It made sense considering they were an eternal being, with no way to interfere in events, only observe. They didn't care for the one. They didn't even care about the many. But it wasn't something Barry could change. He just had to accept that reality and take what he could get from them.
The two speedsters ran together, soon entering the void that existed through the entire multiverse. The two of them kept running, not sure when to stop, not sure why they were still running. Waiting for something to stop them, they suppose. Here, they were one spark in a lightning storm.
Finally the world changed around them to suit their perspectives better. A familiar place. "Okay, we're here," Barry announced once his surroundings began to resemble his old childhood home.
"My mom's old car?" Wally asked.
"Exactly. Wait what?" Barry turned when he heard what Wally said. "No, my parents' house,"
"I'm in the backseat of my mom's car that she drove us around in all the time," Wally commented.
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm in my old house. Unless your mother's car is extremely spacious and in the design of my old house,"
"You are both correct," a voice sounded around them. Something appeared in front of them.
"Mom?!" Wally and Barry shouted together. "Your mom? That's my mom," they said once again.
"Correct again. I am your mother, but not the one you know. The one who has taken you in and guided you along your path."
"The Speed Force," Barry realized. "You're the Speed Force. And let me guess, each of us is seeing a different representation of you?"
"You are different entities. And as such require different calming methods," They confirmed.
"Great, now that we've got that out of the way, we need your help," Wally cut right to the chase.
"Oh? What do you-Oh. Him. Hmm, it's a dangerous game he's playing. But I will not interfere,"
"Him? Who's this 'him'? What do you know?" Barry asked.
"You know this as well. At least, you did. Wait, it's, you would've. And you will. Be patient. What's happening isn't wrong. But it's not natural."
"Yeah, that's not vague at all," Wally mumbled.
"Tell us what you know," Barry demanded.
"We will guide you. But there are rules. We cannot interfere," they said.
"Isn't that already interfering?" Wally pointed out.
There was a moment of silence aside from the small hiss of crackling lightning in the background before the two speedsters realized it was the Speed Force laughing. "Touché."
Barry and Wally waited to see if the Speed Force would be willing to reveal anything else in order to 'guide' them forward. "We will tell you this. What you are seeking is the ultimate power hidden in the texts. Find it, and you will prevail."
"What does that mean?" Wally questioned.
"It is time for you to return. The world you go back to will not be one you will recognize. And Barry, some parting advice before you go that is not relating to the current issue.
"The intentions are unknown. There is love. But that love has been corrupted and all will be destroyed because of it." The Speed Force warned him with a serious expression that foretold of immense danger. "Toodles," The Speed Force waved them goodbye with a smile on their face as though they hadn't just told them of danger and then a flash of white light appeared and they were back home. At least, they thought they were.
The world they returned to was different and the two speedsters thought the Speed Force had actually deposited them on the wrong Earth. In fact, Barry and Wally would be forever unsure of whether or not that had actually happened and that they were just too helpless to do anything about it. What they saw before them was chaos. The sky was dulled by the smoke and ashes. Buildings crumbled, debris and rubble everywhere. But what was absent was the sound of life.
Barry and Wally ran through the streets of Central City, looking for even the barest sign of life. "What happened? We couldn't have been gone for a couple minutes," Wally asked.
Barry snatched a floating newspaper in front of him and read the date. "We've been gone for months. It's March now. At least, that's the latest date," Barry reported.
"We were barely in the Speed Force for 10 minutes. How could three months pass by just like that?" Wally shouted in despair.
"Time works differently in the Speed Force. We could've been in there for what felt like centuries and come out minutes after we left and vice versa."
"So what happened while we were gone? What could have caused all of this?" Wally gestured all around him to the destruction of the city.
"Remember what the Speed Force said? Ultimate power," Barry recalled.
"Right. If we can find it, we could change everything back to the way it was. Everything will be fine." Wally nodded. "Hey, what did they mean when they said you don't know his intentions? Who were they talking about?"
"I have no idea." Barry shook his head. "Let's not focus on that. The Speed Force said it wasn't relevant to what's happening right now. What matters is finding this ultimate power."
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that? It's not exactly like we know what this 'ultimate power' looks like." Wally retorted.
"Hopefully we'll know it when we see it." Barry sighed. "Come on, let's get out of here. Maybe we'll find somebody outside of Central,"
They could have been searching for days, but all the duo found was destruction. There was not a single sign of life. Human or otherwise. There was nothing. They were left with nothing. It felt like they were paying for everyone else's mistakes. Still, they didn't give up.
They combed through the world, looking into every habitable area known to man. They searched every room in a skyscraper, every tunnel in the sewers. Not a hint of where everyone had gone. No sign of something wrong. Everyone was just gone.
They made it back to Central, still no closer to figuring out what happened. Their spirits actually dampened upon returning after seeing what had become of the world in their absence. Could they have somehow stopped this if they were here?
"How could such a thing have happened?" Wally shouted in despair.
"Wally," Barry sighed.
"What? Who's going to hear? Believe me, I'd love for someone else to come here and shush me." Wally huffed with a hint of sadness. "Hey! Somebody, anybody! Tell me if you're out there!"
"Wally-"
"I can't believe my eyes," a mysterious man said.
"I can't believe that worked," Wally said, astonished.
"Neither can I,"
"It said you were gone. Disappeared without a trace. Nobody knew if you two would ever return. The Flash and Mad Dash," the man said. He was wearing a brown cloak that hid his form. But the state of which definitely showed it had been through troubling times.
"Mad Dash?" Barry questioned.
"I've been calling myself that for months. You're telling me you never heard it before?" Wally asked, feeling hurt that his old mentor hadn't been paying attention to him.
"Not important," Barry seethed. Barry turned back to the man. "Tell us what happened. How did this happen?"
"We happened. It was us. Our downfall was brought by our own failings," the man murmured mostly to himself but was loud enough to be heard.
"What are you talking about?"
"We thought it was a gift," he whispered loudly. "It was, and a curse all in one,"
"What?" Wally shouted, having been fed up waiting to know what the man was talking about.
"The Book of Destiny." the man revealed. "Whoever wielded it gained unlimited power. Their desires, their wishes. They all came true with nary a thought."
"The ultimate power. Hidden in the texts," Barry recalled. The Speed Force was being particularly literal whilst making it seem vague. The two speedsters were thinking too much into its meaning. If they could find that book…
"Yes. It gave and gave. There was no end. There was no stopping. The people, we never thought of the consequences. We never saw them. But everytime someone opened that book, things happened. The heroes, they tried to stop us. And we wiped them out. Erased from existence forevermore. Our greed, our lust for power. It became our downfall. We used the power, but we weren't willing to pay the price,"
"Let me guess, the book changed a lot of hands, each person manipulating the world for their own ends before losing the book to someone else." Wally said. "It kept going on and on until there was nothing left. The world had changed, it was unrecognizable. There was no going back and the future was destroyed."
The man scoffed and his lips upturned slightly. That was all the confirmation the two needed.
"Do you know where the book is now?" Barry asked.
"Did you not hear what I said? The book is a curse! It is a burden that must never see the light again. Your reasons may be noble, but I cannot condone its use for anything. It has brought nothing but pain and suffering."
"But with the book, we can do anything. We can bring everybody back. Change things to the way things used to be," Wally pointed out.
"The way things are? Or the way you want them to be?" the man questioned. "What would that accomplish? To restart the whole thing? We brought this upon ourselves and we must reap the consequences."
"It's not too late. We don't have to suffer," Barry said.
"You poor boy. Don't you see? It's over! We signed our fate. It was already too late. We had damned ourselves long before the book. Humanity's sins. It doesn't go away when we put our head in the sand. It just gets bigger and we play ourselves for bigger fools." the man shouted. "People thought like you. Thought they knew better. That we would no longer have to live like this. Things could go back. Their vision was flawed and only drove us deeper into the ground. There is no law. No order, no justice. There is only us and what we make of ourselves."
"Where is it? We're not going to ask you again," Wally declared.
"You know where it is. You wouldn't be here if you didn't," Barry states. "You have it. You caused this,"
"I did not start this, but I ended it. Nobody could be trusted. So now there is nobody. Nobody but us," the man whispered as though he were telling them a deep secret.
"Tell us where it is!" Barry shouted.
The man was silent when he instinctively put a hand against his coat like he was shielding something. He must be hiding something in there. If not the Book of Destiny, then perhaps something that could lead them to it. The man must have noticed where their attention had been drawn and how his action had given him away. "Don't do this," the man pleaded.
Barry quickly grabbed something, a book with an intrinsic design, out of his pocket before the man could react.
"No!" the man lunged forward, trying to retrieve it. Wally rushed over and held the man back. Holding the man's arms back to allow Barry the freedom of using the book as he pleased.
"You don't know what you're doing," the man yelled, struggling in Wally's grip. "You're going to burn! You don't understand. We're all going to die!"
Wally stared into Barry's eyes with a look of determination. Barry nodded in affirmation and opened the book, letting the glow of it wash over his features. With it, a well of knowledge forced its way into Barry's mind. There was everything. The months he'd missed when he and Wally were in the Speed Force. The utter destruction and chaos as people took advantage of the infinite power of this book. His wife and all his friends disappeared in an instant because they disagreed with how people were using the book. It made Barry angry. How could people think to use this in that fashion? He wanted to change it. He needed to change it all.
But he saw what had happened to all those others. They used the book to play God, and in the end they were all destroyed one way or another. Snuffed out by their own hubris or taken out by the next. He couldn't let himself fall the same way.
But he knew better. Why shouldn't he make the world a better place? A world without war, without despair? He had the power to do so. Right in the palm of his hand. He could do it. He should do it.
A hand placed itself on Barry's shoulder, pulling him out of his ruminations. Barry looked upon who had the gall to think they could place their hands on him. Barry's eyes ran over every detail of the person. His new knowledge was providing even more information about the person. Every cell of the man and its entire history. It shamed Barry to admit even with all of that, it took Barry a moment to place the label of his brother on the man despite knowing who it was.
"Wally," Barry breathed.
"We'll do it together," Wally said, placing a hand on top of the pages, sharing in the power of the item.
The two minds melded together, but their differences kept them apart. Their different views of what is and what should be kept them grounded, kept them from dwelling on what could be.
Barry physically looked up to see the body of the mysterious man, dead as a doornail. A hole in his chest with blood coming out of it. That was something different. Wally must have killed the man in order to come to him. Barry disagreed with that. That didn't need to happen. He understood where Wally was coming from, but it was unnecessary. They both could undo it, but it was a loss that shouldn't have happened. But in this mindset, there was no one higher. They were both equals with their own voice that would be heard.
They looked at each other and with a simultaneous nod, they let the power flow through them. Agreement in what they needed to do, and so they did.
When their vision cleared, everything was back to how it was. At least, they thought. They couldn't be sure of everything. They could only trust their thoughts and memories as much as possible, even between the two of them.
Barry noticed the distinct lack of weight in his hands. "Where did the Book of Destiny go?"
Wally looked at his hand as well to see it missing. The two speedsters took in their surroundings to see if they could spot it in case they dropped it somewhere.
"Well done." a deep voice spoke to them. Barry and Wally turned around to see a tall man with sideburns and the most ridiculous outfit behind them. And considering that they were superheroes and their whole theme was wearing outlandish costumes to disguise themselves said something. "It took a little longer than I was hoping for, but in the end you did it."
The man was flipping through the book as though he were a teacher checking over their work and making notes on any mistakes. He was even mumbling things like 'That isn't right.' 'That's an overly simplified view.' 'That's happening in the wrong order.'
"I'm sorry, do we know you?" Barry asked.
"Yes, though I suppose not anymore. You've been told of me in the Speed Force I believe," the man answered, not taking his eyes off of the book. "My name is Mar Novu. You may refer to me as The Monitor. You will? You have? I suppose it doesn't matter anymore anyway,"
"You're the person the Speed Force was talking about when we spoke to them?" Wally questioned.
"I believe so. I'm not privy to any discussions held in the Speed Force. One of the few places barred to me. If not, then yes, the Book of Destiny is mine. I am the one who unleashed its power on the world. And not to worry as I will be restoring and correcting any alterations to this universe." The Monitor informed them, still not looking up from the book. There was a tiny glow every now and then that they could only assume was him correcting something they'd done wrong when fixing the universe.
"Why would you do this? Cause all of this if you were only going to undo everything?" Barry asked.
"It was a test. I needed to see whether you were worthy. I've done this to millions of dimensions but you are the first to succeed. Twice actually, but the first time didn't count. You cheated, but I didn't really lay the rules down very well so I don't blame you for that."
"I'm sorry, what?" Barry exclaimed in shock. "We've already been through this? How? When?"
"Well it really all depends on your point of view. For me it was four months ago, although I've brought us all back to early December of 2018 before anyone got ahold of my book. Chronologically it happened tomorrow. Although it never will happen anymore. I erased it. It's best to not think about it. This is the only one that matters."
"Okay," Barry decided to drop the subject. For now at least. It seemed it would bring nothing but a headache debating the laws of time travel and whatnot. He was already dealing with a son trapped in a time loop. He didn't need to add this to his thoughts. And it seemed this would be the third time he'd be living this day, so he wasn't eager to debate that at the moment. "Let's talk about why you're here then,"
"Ah yes. You are no doubt already aware of a Crisis that is coming. This test was meant to weed out those that would not survive and which would stand the best chance of prevailing." The Monitor said matter of factly.
Barry and Wally looked at each other. This seemed to be a recurring theme every year. The Crisis that would decide the fate of the multiverse. They could both feel the daunting ticking clock of the Crisis getting closer every year. And every year that it didn't, it seemed there was another issue that kept leading up to it, reminding them of the importance it would have. Extraterrestrials looking to stop it from coming, multidimensional travelers trying to turn things in their own favor. And now a strangely dressed man who was searching for those that would take part in the Crisis.
"So I'm guessing we both passed your test." Wally stated.
"Yes, you two are the first to be conducted into my army that will stand against the Crisis. When the time comes for battle, I will send for you." The Monitor snapped his fingers and a warm feeling erupted in their palms. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was a strange sensation. Both speedsters opened their palms to see what caused the disturbance and saw some kind of mark appearing as though it were burned into their hands before disappearing. "When I need you, that mark will appear once again. Know I will be coming. Be prepared for I know not when this Crisis will happen, but time is a luxury we have not much left of. At best, five years. At worst, I'll be seeing you in a month."
"You just marked us like we're your property or something. You expect us to wait on you for this. How are we even supposed to trust you?" Wally shouted.
"I don't expect you to trust me. But I expect your desire to preserve all this," The Monitor gestured to the world around them, "far outweighs any negativity you have towards me. Know that I have your best interest at heart even if you disagree with me. Now I must be off. I need to find more to join us if we are to survive."
The Monitor took out his infinity sided die and rolled a number. "Earth-666. Hopefully I won't have to deal with that Devil."
The Monitor disappeared, like one moment he was in front of them and they blinked and he was nowhere in sight. Like he'd been instantaneously transformed into air. There wasn't even a light or sound to signify his departure.
Barry and Wally turned back to each other and looked at one another, trying to make sense of what just happened. Or didn't happen. Or maybe it will happen. They were recruited. That's what they were going to settle on.
"Do you want to stay at my place for the night? We can talk about this more extensively and figure out what to do from here," Barry suggested.
"Let me call Iris so she knows I'm not going to be in Coast City for the day. I'm not entirely sure what happened or what this means for us." Wally responded.
"Neither am I," Barry sighed.
Like I said, not as exciting. But you have to keep in mind that The Monitor is not interfering in this. He didn't choose the craziest man he could find and give the Book of Destiny to him. He threw the book from space and let fate decide who would find it. After that, all bets are off. Whoever finds it, finds it and gets to use it however they choose until the next like a hot potato until the entire world is dead.
It might be disappointing that you don't get to see Oliver and Barry as criminals, but that just wouldn't work. Last time, they only kept their memories because it was a joke. I honestly don't see that happening again realistically with another person.
And the conversation with the Speed Force. I felt that was the only way they could fight this. You can't fight what's wrong if you don't know what's wrong. The only one aside from Mar Novu who would know is another higher being. And the only one around here is the Speed Force. Jumping ahead 3 months was just a way for them to see an immediate consequence of the book without waiting the full 3 months.
In case you couldn't tell, I was in a rush to get this done because I was just so tired of this. Hope it was enjoyable all the same. Til next week.