National City,

10.55 pm

Eobard had learned his lesson by now- never go in blindly and so, while Gideon tracked Barry, he decided to catch up on this earth's history and find out more about it's so-called heroes...or the lack of them really. "Nothing substantial", he mumbled to himself at the public library's computer, wearing clothes he stole from a nearby shop. "Just the Hood, a few Amazonians, and a...Bat costumed guy? What is this? A Halloween themed Earth? I don't even know what to say", he laughed.

His eyes though soon caught a glimpse of a weird looking article as he was scrolling down the page which read, "Central City mourns the death of the Scarlet Speedster known as the Flash, as his partner Kid Flash confirmed his demise to the media earlier today, finally putting an end to rumors-"

''Is anybody alive on this Earth? The Flash is dead, Mr. Mayor of our precious little Star City just died and even future Miss Allen has kicked the bucket. Eobard's face turned grim. "Now, was this my Barry or someone else. I didn't come all this way to return empty handed."

And so, by this point, an infuriated Eobard had enough. The patience that once defined the man who had spent 15 long years hidden as Harrison Wells was nowhere to be found. He remembered Barry's smug little face with a smile, a smile of victory no less, despite everything he did to him to..win. To be better than his hero...his rival. He was tired and all he wanted to do now was to find him and punch that smirk right off his stupid face.

It was then, when rage took over sanity and it took him to the edge of it all, he decided to look into alternatives. "Enough hiding", he remarked and walked out of there and ran around the city to find a place with enough media attention. He finally settled for a charity event, hosted by a certain personality who was a renowned scientist and was known as the modern father of particle science. "Hmm..interesting."

As soon as he entered and began running around the structure, closing all doors and windows in his wake and throwing all guns he could see off the security in a corner, to everyone's horror before they could even try to shout for help, everything was done and dusted and the man in the yellow was sitting in the guest of honor chair with a crown on his head. Having finally realized what had happened, everybody did what everybody could- shout for help or began dialing 911.

"Quiet!", he exclaimed but it was as if spoken to a rock solid wall. For everyone was busy well..panicking and running for their lives, of course.

Eobard then saw a man making a run for the door and soon after, stood before him remarking mockingly, "going somewhere, are we?" and upon ensuring that he was scared to wits, the speedster returned to the podium soon after. "I said, quiet!"

Quite convincing too this time for everyone now was aware of the presence of the speedster who was the reverse of everything their hero stood for.

"That's better now, isn't it? Now, someone get me that cameraman", he said while pointing to the person standing beside the podium. ''Ladies and gentlemen, you have all just become breaking news. Smile for once. You're all famous. Isn't that the whole purpose of your meaningless, pathetic lives?'', he joked and gave a huge smirk for Thawne truly missed this.


"What's taking so long, Felicity?"

"I haven't done this before, you know. Speedsters are trickier to locate than what I'm used to. So, just give me a break."

Wally pouted in the distance where she could not see and continued, "You know, there's this funny thing he mentioned. He said, "you have developed feelings on this Earth, Barry'', to me, while I was in the cemetery.

"What did he mean by 'this earth' and Barry? How does he factor into all this? It's been what...3 years since he died?"

"I don't know, Felicity. I guess only he can tell us about all that."

"Yeah, I guess..and it's about time as well. Look-", she said while pointing to a live news feed on Channel 52.

"A charity gala hosted by the well-renowned scientist Harrison Wells, came to a halt 15 minutes ago. The sources tell us that it was a speedster, not unlike our very own Flash and he has taken an unknown number of hostages inside. We still have no clue as to what he wan- wait, I'm being told that there's a live feed being re-directed to us from inside, and we are being asked to telecast it or else and in the absence of any specific instructions, we are, for the time being, following through until further instructions from the authorities but we'll take this time to issue a warning about the unknown content of the video, so please, beware for graphic content."

The clip finally began. "Remember me, Flash? I've been looking for you...oh..for so long, I can't even remember", he said with his face right up there with the camera, just smiling. "And now that I am here, you are what? hiding? Eh, but in your defense maybe you don't even know I'm here. So, I'm gonna give you a chance and no, the fastest man alive, you cannot run away from this. No no no. You can't. So, now, you will come here. To me and we will settle some unfinished business. Just like the old times. Not that they were any fun. But hey, nostalgia makes everything seems better. So, anyway, coming back to the situation at hand, if you don't come here within, oh say, the next 10 minutes or so, I'll just-", he ran to get ahold of Mr. Harrison Wells, whom he held in mid-air with one hand with his other hand in a state of phasing, threatening to go through. ''I'll be waiting, Flash... And ooh, one last thing, I don't want the fake one. So, please send the real one, or else, well, do I really need to spell it out by now." The message ended abruptly followed by nothing but static.

The whole of the city had it's eyes glued to the television by now. Barry, too, in the comfort of his home was watching this. But, that was his only comfort- being in his house, with his mother. He looked in horror at the face on the screen. It was like a nightmare he had, since a time which seemed forever, which was now standing before him and threatening to destroy everything he built here. But he knew he wasn't the same Reverse Flash. He was a Reverse Flash and just a natural progression of events of this Earth. So, he had to just swallow it up again and move on. Focus on his family, Linda, his work and his life. But..then, a funny thing happened. "I don't want the fake one. So, please send the real one-"

Real funny, it was.

"No..no.. It's..it's him", he realized and in a fit of horror, he heard his laugh echo in his ears, laughing and laughing on a loop and never stopping and he wasn't able to fight it off. Fearing Nora would see him like that, he made an excuse to go to the washroom to leave her unattended.

"No, no, no..no! Why now?", he closed his eyes and remembered all the times he hoped something would happen, even something like this, but now...when he has made peace with it, why? why on earth was this happening and what...what is Eobard doing here? He didn't know how to deal with it and certainly didn't know what he was gonna do with this new...opportunity, if you wanna call it that. But one thing he definitely knew, he wasn't gonna just sit around and do nothing. He didn't wanna meddle with other people's destinies, at least, not any more than he already did. But, this? This was the excuse he was looking for. This was his mess and he was responsible for it. Plus, Thawne really owed him an explanation; a very detailed one at that too.

Barry had fantasized about this every now and then but now it was real, maybe a bit too real. However, he had long learned how to combat anxiety. ''Just do it and remember the faces of the people you are doing it for", he remembered.

And with that, he went back to his room and took out a key from the drawer to open a safe hidden behind a big family picture of him, Nora and Henry. Inside, was safely tucked away, nothing but a gold littered ring with a lightning bolt insignia on it. He took it in his hand and just stared at it, "I am sorry. I am so sorry. But I have to", but before he could do his thing, he took out his phone and left a a voice message for Linda and as soon as that was done, you could see it..there was something in his eye, something he lost a very long time ago and realizing that, he finally freed himself from his self-inflicted chains and with lightning surging through his body, he ran…without any limits, without restricting himself, without any fear and for the first time in years, he truly felt the connection to the Speed Force as they became one and he sped his way across the city to end this and for one final time, The Flash of Earth-1 was reborn. The fastest man alive, indeed.

This Earth's Flash, however, had his own agenda in stopping or...more like teaming-up with Thawne and soon, with hope and optimism, he entered the gala.

"Enough. You've got my attention. Now, what do you want with me?"

"Again, with this idiot. I did just say that I wanted the real Flash, didn't I?"

"I am the real Flash."

"Too bad. I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill anybody today."

"No wait-", shouted the scientist in question.

And before Eobard could run away and strike his hand at Harrison's heart, Wally ran even faster, got him out of the way, and threw Eobard in the direction of the idle tables.

"Well, credit where's due. You are fast. Way faster than me. But speed isn't gonna help you win this one", he said while standing up.

"Oh yeah, watch this." Wally ran round and round the palace and in the time frame you would need to blink, every single one of the guests was out.

Eobard laughed, "This was your big trick? You think I care about them? Now, here's mine-"

"Enough man. Why are you being like this? I don't wanna fight you. I need your help and you need mine. Maybe, we could just help each other out."

"Really? Could we just now?"

"Yeah, I guess. You want to know what happened to the original Flash? I'll tell you. He.. he was my friend, more like my brother and he sort of just..disintegrated in front of my eyes while we were turning off the Anti-Monitor, some 3 years ago."

"That was your Flash, you fool. I am looking for mine."

"Woah, man. You are not talking much sense here. Are you like..on something?", he whispered.

"Uh. I hate starting from scratch. Let me introduce myself." He removed his mask and without distorting his voice, he continued, "My name is Eobard Thawne. I am from the 25th century and well..not from this earth."

"Is there another Earth that I don't know of?"

"Yes, infinitely many."

"You mean, the multi-verse theory...?"

He sighed and reluctantly replied, "Yes, dumbass, the multi-verse theory."

"Wow, that is actually possible. But wait. You mean, there's another Flash on this Earth?"

"Yes. And I am here to find him and..possibly kill him."

"Do you know his name?"

"He's a mister Barry Allen. Ever heard of him? I can't seem to be able to locate him."

"Barry? How do you even...?" Wally paused and still focused on his objectives, thought that if he got into a fist fight now then, he would never get what he wanted. That is, to go back and save them: his sister, his friend and possibly save Barry…his Barry. So, he decided to adopt a different strategy than the usual.

"Look. He's not from my Earth so you can have him. Except maybe killing, that is. Just do one thing for me."

"What would that be, Mr. West?"

"You..you know me?"

"Of course, I do Wally. I am from the future and an alternate Earth. You are Miss Iris West's stupid little brother. You both are the same actually. Except, maybe that you're a redhead here."

"Well, in any case. You have to teach me how to time travel, and then just get off my planet. Go back to wherever the hell you came from. That's it."

He chucked, "that's it? And you wanna learn how to time travel. But whatever happened to the Speed of God, who taught you the unheard dark secrets of the Speed Force that my mind wouldn't be able to comprehend? Huh?"

"Man. You've got to chill. I was just messing around with you. Now, come on, it's a good deal."

"Deal? What the hell am I receiving in return? How in world is this a deal?"

"Well, I'll help you find him and in process, you'll be able to avoid a fight with me. And not many have been able to survive me. So..."

"You speak too much."

"Yeah.. but only when I'm overwhelmed."

"Why can't you be just whelmed?"

''That's what I keep asking everyone but anyway just teach me, man. I am already at least 2 times faster than you. I just need you to tell me the process and I'll leave you alone."

"Speed isn't everything, Kid", he turned away and in the process of creating after-images, one of which activated the camera back on, each of his after-images threw something from the room - chairs, tables, lamps, you name it - in the direction of the Flash."

Perplexed by the speed mirage and the element of surprise, Wally was thrown aback mentally and before he could attack back, Eobard's hand was on his throat, lifting him from the ground as he remarked, "It's what you do with it that matters.'' And with that, half the country's eyes turned away from the screen and the channel had to cut off the connection stating, "due to the graphic content of the footage, we have to cut off the signal but with deep sorrow and pain, it seems like, April 24, 2024 will be known as one of the darkest days of this country as a few hours after the Starling City vigilante was killed in action, it seems like Keystone City's very own Flash has also joined him in the afterlife as we just saw in front of our eyes-" the reporter stopped as suddenly a strong wind blew in her face and the cameraman and other equipment went flying in the other direction as a streak of yellow lightning ran through the door.

"It seems like yet another unknown speedster has entered the gala." The lights were out, so, it wasn't hard to pinpoint him. "Please stay tuned for more updat-"

Barry entered the room and looked around, looking for the oldest and the most baddest of all his foes. "I'm here, Thawne. I'm here. You owe me an explanation. You know that, right? I'm here..", he shouted repeatedly.

He walked and walked and soon his feet hit something..a lifeless body and as soon as he felt blood and a lightning insignia on his chest, he checked for his pulse. "No, no, no. I'm...I'm too late."

Barry did what he could. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe; not let panic and despair take over. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay."

But before he could open his eyes, Eobard was running through to him and...just before he was about to hit him in the face, a piano came with great inertia out from nowhere and took out the Reverse Flash to deliver it's one final performance. An eventful one at that too. Barry opened his eyes but couldn't catch a glimpse of the person who just saved him, who was no longer there.

But, he refocused and saw this opportunity to get one over his rival.

"I've got you, Eobard", he said, while lifting him from his collar and hitting him with his fist repeatedly leaving behind an imprint of his ring on his face.

"Why? Why are you here now?", he shouted while punching him again and again, rendering him to a state of unconsciousness and every punch of his, left more and more of his nemesis' blood spilling the floor.

"After all this time. I suffered and suffered and you got what you wanted. Is this not enough?", followed by another punch.

"Tell me. If you hate me this much, then why not just kill me?"

"Because it's too much fun", he finally got a reply. Even when he's not aware of his surroundings, Eobard just had to say it. The next blow, too in retaliation, landed just right.

"Why are you here?", he asked while dropping him on the floor.

"You wouldn't believe him even if I told you."

"No more games, Thawne."

"Alright, then. I am here…because you sent me here. Your future self", he chuckled. "Didn't I say, you wouldn't believe me?", he smiled some more, fully enjoying the distraught look on Barry's face.

But by now, his barn of patience was long gone. He turned back and punched him unconscious. This time, for good. He removed his own mask and he tried to stop the tears streaming down his face, asking himself or the universe, who knows at this point, "why me?"

TO BE CONTINUED..


Author's notes:

The last completed work from before. Hopefully, this was fun. I'll be going back, editing these 5 chapters, which were originally written as 3 by the way, and try to write more.

Also, this was a slightly longer chapter; hopefully wasn't a slog.

I'd love some reviews to see if I should continue this or not. Do check out my Dark Archer novella. And also, follow me on Instagram. 414karan is my username! : )