61

Our Future

Flash Missing: Vanishes in Crisis

Harrison nodded to himself as he looked over the newspaper article in front of him. Everything they'd already known and things that they hadn't known. He looked over the article, silently reading it as he went. The same story as always, within a battle with the Reverse-Flash, the Flash disappeared…

"It changed," Tess remarked. She motioned to the byline that showcased the article. By Iris West. "We changed the future, we saved her."

"Yes, but at what cost?" Harrison replied. Tess looked at her husband, her eyebrows coming together. Harrison sighed heavily, folding his arms tightly across his chest. "The future is set to the way we know it as, but…there's still been changes that we hadn't seen coming. Other things we couldn't anticipate."

Tess shook her head. "We've already changed the future before. Remember? When it was said that Cadence was to turn into Burnout?" She gestured towards the newspaper. "It's not happening now."

"Are you sure about that?"

"What does that mean?" Harrison turned and gave a Tess a knowing look, making his wife roll her eyes and say, "Don't give me riddles, Harrison. I'm asking you a serious question. What do you mean?" She stepped closer to him, her green eyes searching his blue ones.

Harrison sighed heavily. He leaned forward and rested his arms against the podium in front of him. He laced his fingers together, staring hard at the newspaper before him. Tess waited quietly at his side. Finally, Harrison said, "Would you say I'm more like myself than I've ever been or that I'm sort of like him?"

"Like him?" Tess repeated. "She thought for a moment. "Like Eobard?"

"Yes, that's exactly who I'm referring to."

"You think you're like Eobard?"

"I think there's a part of him within me that will never be gone. Just as I think it's the same the other way around. That…there's always a part of the Reverse-Flash that's going to be a part of me, no matter how hard I try to get away from it. There was a time where I was within the Reverse-Flash, where I couldn't tell where he started and where I ended. There's more than enough reason to believe that we're not as separate as we used to be. Or think we can be. A mind-meld is a very mysterious…and serious thing."

Tess briefly closed her eyes. Worked to figure out what it was her husband was saying. She'd thought it'd been weird—not completely out of character, but weird—that he'd waited so long after Breathtaker's defeat and HR's funeral to go into the Time Vault. Barry had superspeeded his way inside almost directly after Breathtaker's ultimate defeat. It took him a little while to see that Breathtaker certainly was gone before he moved to check for himself.

Once Barry saw the newspaper, he brought Iris, Joe, and Wally to see it, the whole family taking on the exhilaration to know they truly had changed the future and that Iris was still live. Savitar was gone, Breathtaker was gone, there was nothing that would threaten her life again.

Nothing that would threaten Cadence.

Nothing that would threaten Caitlin.

They could live life again.

Or, they could, if Harrison could leave things alone. Tess continued to study her husband, worked to put her mind in his headspace. Something that typically had the two work well together. They could understand each other in ways even the smartest beings on the planet couldn't relate to.

Relate.

Tess's eyes blinked open. She got it.

"That article before," she said slowly. "Where it said that Cadence would turn into Burnout…it wasn't speaking about her Earth-2 counterpart was it?"

"No, I don't believe it was," Harrison remarked. His eyes shifted back and forth, unable to hold still for too long. "She mind-melded with Burnout before Burnout died…as Burnout died. That caused her a bout of significant pain…a bloody nose." Harrison gestured toward his face. "What does that mean, in essence to Burnout's existence?"

"And to Cadence's boost in power," Tess agreed. She hummed to herself. "There's a lot to unpack here, Harrison." She started to pace. "More than enough that'd make for many all-nighters. I know…" she paused. "I know Eobard had a hold on you for a long time. It made it so much that you wouldn't find me—"

"—He mind-melded with me for so long that we essentially became the same person." Harrison finally stepped away from the podium. He pursed his lips, lines drawing in the skin by the sides of his mouth as the seconds passed. Finally, he called, "Gideon?"

"Yes, Dr. Wells?" The newspaper article switched to the projected image of Gideon's head. She looked back and forth between the duo, waiting for her orders.

Tess grasped Harrison's arm, increasing the pressure as the seconds passed. "That's not what happened with Cadence. She's strong on her own merit. Burnout is dead, there's nothing left for we can do for her. No mystery. No scientific breakthrough. Case closed." Harrison continued to look at her, not reacting to the pressure his wife was putting on him. "I know you…you can't leave anything short of finding out everything about it. I can see it in your eyes…this isn't a scientific breakthrough that needs to be researched."

The side of Harrison's mouth turned up. "You can't fool me, Tess Morgan, you're as curious as I am." He brought up his fingers, starting to rub his fingertips along with his thumb. Silence stretched between the two. "Curious to know the truth of the mind-meld." He reached up and slowly tapped his temple. "To know how much it truly affects the other."

Tess's eyebrows twitched. She looked to the side, glancing at Gideon, then back to her husband. Dropped her hand. Silence continued to stretch between the two of them. Two scientists with similar life paths, similar enjoyment of exploring the impossible answers to impossible questions. Two, who were habitually on the same side, now seemed to standing on different sides of the chasm that stretched between them.

Finally, Harrison said to Gideon, "Thank you for your work. We'll call on you if we need anything else."

"Of course, Dr. Wells."

Gideon disappeared in a flash of light.

"I suppose," Harrison said, noticing the almost smirk that came to Tess's lips. "That it is not the opportune time to look into the future…don't want to be influenced by the things we're not supposed to know." He tapped at his temple. "Have to keep the brain moving in other ways."

Tess chuckled to herself. "Careful Harrison, I think you're starting to sound a little like DeVoe."

Harrison smiled in response.

"So, what are you going to do once you get back to your Earth?"

Cisco looked over the top of the mini figurines he worked to complete at Earth-2 Barry who stood nearby. Earth-2 Barry turned back to Cisco with raised eyebrows. Then he smiled a lowered his chin, taking a cursory sweep around Cisco's workshop before planting his hands on his hips.

It was eerie, Cisco thought. How easily Earth-2 Barry could've passed for Barry. Yet the two were so different. Just as he was different from Reverb and Caitlin was different from Killer Frost…or had been. Who knew what she would decide to do now that she had the option of taking the cure.

If it were him, if he had gone through that much anguish, he would've done it immediately. But Caitlin…Caitlin had always been different. While Cisco was more a of a firecracker with his emotions, unable to keep everything inside unless he was in a particularly foul mood and it worked to come out in other ways. It sometimes got him in trouble, but it usually worked out in the end.

Caitlin, on the other hand, she'd always lived up to her frosty name—Snow—long before she received the perceived frosty persona that went along with it. No matter what happened, She worked to keep her emotions hidden. Through her father's passing away, through her deteriorating relationship with her family, through her courses in college, through her studies with STAR Labs that may or may not have worked out, through Ronnie's death…and everything afterward. She managed to hold her emotions in, kept a small demure smile on her face, and waited, waited, waited until she had to say something, often helping everyone else out when she had problems of her own.

How was he supposed to deal with things now when he didn't have his best friend to talk to? How am I supposed to deal with my best friend not being my best friend anymore? He thought.

Earth-2 Barry shrugged, the movement caught Cisco's attention and he tuned back in to the question he asked. "I don't think there's much else that I can do," he said honestly. "Let alone go back to my Earth." He pushed his glasses up his nose, saying, "There's only so much you can do when helping a criminal escape from prison." Cisco looked at him suspiciously. Earth-2 Barry blushed and looked away. "There wasn't much left for us on that Earth anyway."

"Enough to break someone out of prison?" Cisco asked.

Earth-2 Barry tilted his head aside. "Well, if we hadn't had done that, then half of you probably wouldn't have been here," pointed out. "And Savitar and Breathtaker would've taken over the city, if not the whole world. Not that, at this point, there's much of a difference. The news coverage is already doing its best to vilify everyone who may even think that metas aren't so bad."

"That's nothing new." Cisco waved his hand. "This city…some of the higher ups, have been against metahumans from the beginning. Not to mention STAR Labs not being so popular and, you know, the fact that most of us do this in secret. What would ever give you the idea that you were in a city so progressive that they'd all take in people who had powers?"

Earth-2 Barry chuckled. Then he sobered and added. "Plus, the fact that we hopped to so many different Earths to get away from those that were trying to get her back to prison—"

"—Brought you to me," Gypsy announced her arrival to Cisco's workshop. "And to that crazy space battle that you brought me into with a speedster and whomever was that floating guy."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "There's more than enough that was wrong with that sentence that I'm not even going to touch," he pointed out. "Especially considering within that battle. You and I worked so epically together that I can overlook it." He lifted his finger. "Just this time."

Gypsy turned back to him, her hair blowing over her shoulder as she did so. Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "You think what we did was epic?" She asked. "That's chump change compared to what I can do on my Earth and,"—she turned to Earth-2 Barry—"What I do with my prisoners." She pulled a contraption out from behind her back, what looked to be futuristic handcuffs. "Now that you don't have anything keeping you here, I expect you to come quietly. Though it won't be as much fun for me."

Earth-2 Barry made a slight snorting sound, though a small smile was on his face. "I've already had enough excitement," he remarked. "If you want, I can pretend to make it hard for you to take me."

"Well, at least you know how to handle things like this." Gypsy tossed her hair over her shoulder once more. She narrowed her eyes towards Cisco. "Rather than letting your target go."

Cisco sat up straight, dropping his screwdriver. He set his jaw, staring back at Gypsy. "I wasn't going to kill Caitlin."

"From where I was standing, she wasn't Caitlin anymore."

With a sarcastic laugh, Cisco got to his feet and walked around his desk. He folded his arms and stood in front of Gypsy. "I have everything under control." Gypsy snorted. "I was getting through to her!"

"You were almost killed," Gypsy sneered back.

"Maybe that's how it looks to the untrained eye."

Gypsy pursed her lips. Her eyes flashed with more than enough vitriol that it even made Earth-2 Barry take a step back and looked between the two with curiosity rolling through his eyes. "These eyes are highly trained!" She spat. "And I can't believe this is the thanks I get for saving you."

"This isn't thanks, this is the opposite of thanks," Cisco shot back. "Because you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know Caitlin. She's not someone who needs to be saved every time she steps out the door. She's going to fight back against Killer Frost and she's going to come back."

"If this Killer Frost is the same as on my Earth, then she doesn't stand a chance."

"Yeah, well…" Cisco sputtered. He searched for words that wouldn't come. And as the seconds passed, Gypsy raised her eyebrows and continued to swivel her head back and forth, waiting for him to come u with something. "What do you know?" He mentally cringed, knowing how badly it landed. "How did you know I was in trouble, anyway?"

Gypsy rolled her eyes. "Because we're connected, jackass," she hurtled. Cisco blinked in surprise, taking in the word. Connected. A small smile came to his face. He really liked that. Gypsy seemed to notice her word and she quickly backtracked, blinking rapidly. "All breachers are." Then she re-adopted her tough exterior and added, "Not that you'd even know. You couldn't even handle some of the more basic things that a breacher can do once they're born!"

"Like galivant all over worlds looking for whom you may or may not see as a threat to national security," Cisco pointed out, gesturing towards Earth-2 Barry.

Earth-2 Barry seemed to come back to life when the conversation moved to him. "Oh, so I'm finally back in this conversation?" He reached out and placed a hand on Cisco's shoulder. "There's a lot you can do with your powers, I've seen it first hand on my Earth. But the difference between you here and you on my Earth is that you know how to use your powers to help people, not hurt people."

Cisco hummed quietly.

"And, if you were able to see Caitlin, the same way you've always known her, then I think she's in pretty good hands," Earth-2 Barry agreed. He dropped his hand from Cisco's shoulder and them out to Gypsy, pressing them together. "I'll go quietly," he joked.

Gypsy's upper lip curled. She looked back and forth from Cisco to Earth-2 Barry and back again before sighing. She clasped the cuffs to her belt and folded her arms. "There's more than enough evidence that proves Burnout was the one who committed all those heinous crimes on your Earth and as there's now no living body for me to collect, I suppose there's not much more for me to do as a collector."

Earth-2 Barry dropped his arms. "Thanks."

"So, what are you going to do?" Cisco asked. He looked at Gypsy out the corner of his eye. "Now that Yoko here isn't trying to split the band apart." Gypsy rolled her eyes, making Cisco smile a little.

Earth-2 Barry smiled. A sad smile, Cisco noted. "I don't know," he admitted. "There's not much for me on my Earth and I don't think anyone here is ready for two Barrys."

"I can hardly handle the one," Cisco said. "Do you know how much trouble he keeps getting us in?"

Earth-2 Barry laughed and tapped at his temple. "Yeah, I have an idea. The mind-meld can be pretty inconvenient at times," he said. "It especially becomes confusing when there are certain pieces of information I can't tell if it came from me or from this Barry." Earth-2 Barry paused. "Like this weird thing about defeating DeVoe—"

"—DeVoe?" Cisco repeated, his nose wrinkling.

Earth-2 Barry shrugged. "Probably something from my Earth." He turned to Gypsy. "I do have one place I can go, if you don't mind dropping me off on your way back out here. As far as I can tell, there's no Barry Allen on Jay Garrick's Earth, and it wouldn't be the first place people would look for me."

Gypsy frowned. "I'm not a taxi cab."

"No, but you did come back to help with the gorillas and now with this," Cisco pointed out. He shrugged casually. "So, there must be something bringing you back here."

Gypsy folded her arms. "Yeah, my bounty. Now, if there's nothing left for me to do in this city, I'm going to head back to my Earth."

"Oh, really?" Cisco motioned towards the ground. "You did all this for the city?"

"That's right." Gypsy lifted her hand, extending her fist, ready to open a breach. But Cisco's words, "Right, yeah. Don't front," stopped her. Gypsy lowered her fist, though Cisco noticed she clenched it tighter into her palm. "Excuse me?"

Cisco knew he hit the nail on the head the second her bravado failed. The second she started to blink rapidly, probably not used to being challenged so openly. Especially when Cisco knew he hit the nail on the head. "You're into me."

"I hardly know you."

"That doesn't matter." Not especially when she was the one who said they were connected. No one said things like that if there wasn't some sort of a hidden meaning behind it. Okay, Cisco thought. She could just mean with our powers, but this isn't the first time she's decided to help me.

"Well, even if I was…" Gypsy moved to Cisco's side and grabbed the sides of his face, pushing his lips out. She gave him a quick kiss, first the top lip then the bottom and said, "You couldn't handle me," before pushing him away.

Cisco stumbled, working to catch himself while Gypsy punched open a breach.

Earth-2 Barry smiled, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth. Then he stepped forward and shook Cisco's hand. "Hope to see you soon," he said.

"Yeah, under better circumstances," Cisco agreed. He spoke and moved as if in a daze. Finally, he blinked hard and looked clearly at Earth-2 Barry. "You don't want to say goodbye to Barry or…"

Earth-2 Barry ran a hand through his hair. "I think, at this point, we've already seen a lot of each other. And, I've already made my peace with him, when we first decided to come up with this plan to…" he gestured vaguely with his hand, letting out a long, pained breath. Cisco nodded, understanding completely the amount of pain he was in. "I'll see you, Cisco."

"See ya."

Earth-2 Barry stepped through the breach seconds before Gypsy leapt through it. The breach winked out of sight, leaving Cisco alone in his workshop.

He went back to his desk and dropped into it. For a moment he smiled, bringing a hand to his lips, still feeling Gypsy's pressed against his. "I knew it," he murmured to himself. Then his smile faded and he sighed heavily, grabbing a tablet from his work desk. He picked it up a tablet and swiped his fingers over the screen, bringing up a map of Central City.

"Come on," he murmured. "Where are you?"

Brady tucked his soccer ball under his arm and hurried from his room, beelining straight for the front door. He had his hand on the doorknob when he heard Barry's voice ask, "Where are you going?"

Twisting around, Brady kept his hand on the doorknob. He looked back to Barry, who sat on the couch, twisting back toward her, lowering a book to his lap. "To the soccer field," Brady replied. He gestured with his ball. "I just wanted to get some practice in…you know, if the field isn't destroyed." He watched Barry wince at the mention of the destruction among the city.

There was more than enough he, Barry, and his mom had cleaned up since Savitar and Breathtaker were defeated, but still was enough that the city wondered if there was any way to come back from the presence of metahumans. But Brady couldn't stay in the apartment much longer, couldn't stay at home and do homework that was sent to him after the last few weeks of the school year had been cancelled. Couldn't stand having to look at the two people he trusted most who had…well, he wasn't quite sure.

They hadn't betrayed him.

Not really.

He understood why they didn't tell him their plan, but to see his mother dead like that…?

"I'll be back soon," Brady continued. He grabbed the doorknob and started to turn it once more, easing the door open. He leaned toward the kitchen, where his mom was busy banging pots and pans around as she washed them and called, "Bye, mom!"

"Be back before dark," Cadence called back. "Don't forget—"

"—I know," Brady interrupted. "Citywide curfew. I'll be back." He slipped through the door—phasing through the door rather than opening it—before either Barry or Cadence could say anything else. Looking around, Brady made sure no one was watching him before he phased through the floors of the building and to the lobby where he went outside to wait for the bus.

Have to keep up appearances, he thought, gently bouncing the ball next to him. Just like everyone else in this city is. He watched everyone that passed by him, studied the faces of those that moved on. Those that clutched their bags tighter to their bodies when they passed people they didn't care for or recognized. Watched as others continued to hold their heads high as they went along, not worrying about those that came too close.

The bus arrived, and Brady climbed on, glancing at the driver as he did so. A small smile came to Brady's face as he recognized him as the one who had allowed him to get on and drove to STAR Labs, back when he was trying to get away from Bronze Tiger and faced Breathtaker the first time.

It seemed like such a long time ago.

Brady dropped into a seat, resting his soccer ball on his lap. He turned and stared out the window, watching as the city passed by. A lot of it was undamaged, but there were significant parts that had been taken by Breathtaker for his metallic arsenal. A lot of it he'd managed to help fix, but he wasn't stupid. Wasn't a kid anymore. Knew that it wasn't just the city being rebuilt that was going to change how the city was, knew it was going to take a lot.

There were still a lot of people who were angry at Flash and Fare for what happened with the missiles and the gorilla attack. Even though they were the ones who saved the city, Brady thought. He twisted his mouth to the side, continuing to watch as the dilapidated buildings morphed into ones that were untouched. It wasn't as if his parents could shield him from any of it, he was right there with them in the battlefield, and had internet access on his phone and computer to look up whatever he wanted.

But there were still things that, no matter how old he got, he wouldn't get used to seeing while being a superhero and protecting the city. He signaled for the bus to stop when it got to the school and went to the field, dropping the ball at his feet as he went.

For a while, Brady ran back and forth across the field, practicing his dribbling and techniques to keep the ball away from any defender that came toward him. Just as he had done, years before, to fend off Bronze Tiger as he attacked him in his own apartment. What was supposed to be a safe space for him easily and quickly became hostile territory. Must've been the same thing his mother thought, they'd moved from the apartment so quickly afterwards. Mostly, as his mother said, to get away from the Assassination Bureau. (If that were the case, he thought, maybe it was a good thing they didn't give Mindboggler a funeral, either).

He moved to take shots on goal, allowing his body to swing around as he did so, frowning with effort, kicking harder and harder each time he saw the image of his mom on the ground come to mind. The way her eyes stared up at the sky, and the way she looked at him when he fell by her side, and the way Barry—who he thought was his Barry at the time—didn't even try to help her.

Poomf.

Swish.

"If you kick it any harder, I think you might take your whole foot off." Brady twisted around to see Leah standing behind him, hands shoved into the pockets of a light windbreaker, head tilted aside as she watched him. "Or maybe the ball will explode. I don't know what Cisco does with your stuff anymore."

Brady would've smiled if he were in a better mood. He already had multiple kids' toys turned into weapons, what would stop Cisco from doing the same with a soccer ball? Instead, he asked a deflection question, "What are you doing here?"

"I followed you."

She said it so simply that Brady blinked in surprise. "Why—"

"I was going to your apartment and saw you coming here." She then pointed towards the cloudless blue sky. "I don't think many people look up when they go around during the day, let alone to find someone who's flying." She paused. "How's your flying going?"

"It's not flying," Brady quickly corrected her. "It's phasing." He ran a hand through his hair. "Why were you coming to see me?"

"Because I haven't heard from Conner in a long time and I was wondering if you had."

"No, you didn't."

Leah smiled a little. Brady folded his arms. Waited for her to tell the truth. Her smile faded into a serious expression, brown eyes darkening. "I followed you back to your house," Leah said. Brady lifted an eyebrow. "Right before Savitar kidnapped us."

"I know," Brady agreed. He remembered her saying 'hi' right before he was taken in a blast of light. Brady studied her. "Why did you?"

"Because I saw something," Leah replied. He lifted an eyebrow. "You were talking about…well…talking about what was probably going to happen to your mom, that night—", Brady took in a deep, painful breath-"I know you didn't actually say anything, but I remembered. And when you were talking about it…I saw something."

Brady's eyes shifted back and forth. "Ok?" He silently prompted her to continue. "Saw what."

Leah took in a deep breath through her nose. "I saw your eyes change to this weird…black color. And I saw it again with Savitar, before your eyes turned yellow and you freaked out…" Brady looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's happened before, hasn't it?"

"What?"

"Your eyes changing…your attitude."

Brady's upper lip cured. "Don't be stupi!"

"It's happened before. You can try and deny it, but I can see it in your face."

"—How—"

"—I'm one of your best friends, aren't I?"

Brady couldn't help but smile at the sincerity in her voice. And, she was part of the team, they were supposed to help each other. If he couldn't trust her, who could he trust? His best-best friend, like Leah had mentioned, hadn't been in contact with him for a long time. Suddenly dropped off the face of the Earth, there hadn't been any interaction on their fake social media account in a long while.

Finally, Brady lowered his chin, let out a long breath. He brought up a hand, scratched the back of his neck, and looked around the soccer field. He wasn't in any danger of anyone looking for him or attacking, the city had been quiet since the big battle. Nevertheless, he spoke quietly as he said, "I broke his leg."

"What?" Leah tilted her head the other way.

"I broke his leg," Brady repeated. He swiped a hand across his forehead, moving his hair from his face noticing, as he did so, that he needed to re-dye his hair considering how much was smeared across his fingertips. "My dad," he clarified. Leah nodded. "I turned into that…thing before. Back over the summer. Dad calls it 'Demon' when we refer to it. I attacked him…broke his leg when he fended me off.

"I…I don't know how it happens or why, but it does." Brady licked his lips, taking a step toward her. "That's only the second time it's happened! I swear! I don't know how or why. I don't…" he trailed off, shrugging, slapping his palms against his thighs.

"Oh." Leah lowered her chin. Thought for a moment, eyes shifting back and forth as she worked through what he admitted. "Why didn't you say anything?" Brady shrugged again. "Your mom doesn't know?" He shook his head. "Not even Barry?" Again, he shook his head. "But why?"

"The same reason the rest of them keep a secret, I guess," Brady said. He worked his lower jaw, suddenly feeling very defensive. "To protect everyone? I don't know."

Leah snorted. "That's a pretty lame reason."

"Yeah…well…" Brady huffed through his nose. "You're the only one who knows. You can't tell anyone else. Not until I figure it out...figure things out."

"Okay," Leah said slowly.

"I'm being serious," Brady insisted. He stepped toward her again. "No one else can know. No one else saw it. You can help me, we'll figure it out. But no one else can know. My mom, Barry…they've already got a lot to deal with, and with what's going on with Aunt Caitlin…they don't need to worry about it right now. We can do this on our own."

"Okay."

"Promise!"

"I promise."

"On your life?"

Leah made a face. "Don't you think you're being a little dramatic? I promised, didn't I? What do you want me to do? Prick my finger and do a blood oath?"

"It'd be better than a strap mask," Brady replied.

"A what?"

"Strap mask." Brady gestured around his face. "You know…a jock strap to the—"

"—Ugh!" Leah slapped her hands over her ears. "I get it! That's so gross!" She shoved Brady hard on the arm as he laughed.

"What? All us guys on the team do it," Brady replied.

"You're such a boy."

"And you're such a girl."

Leah's eyebrows twitched upwards. She held up her hand and the soccer ball came flying toward her when she pulled her hand back. She caught it in her hands and held it out to Brady. "I have time for a game if you want," she offered.

"I thought you didn't play."

"You look like you could use the company."

Brady smiled.

Barry frowned as he watched Brady phase through the door. He turned back toward Cadence, who dried off her hands with one flick of her wrist, having finished putting away the dishes. "is it just me or are you having a hard time getting him to sit still lately?" He asked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he moves faster than me."

"Believe me, if he were a speedster, I'd know," Cadence replied. She moved around the counter and beelined for the couch, flopping next to him. Barry raised his arms so that she could drape her legs across his lap. "I think my pregnancy would've been much shorter."

Barry smiled. Then his smile turned to a frown when he noticed Cadence reach up her hand and started to pull off her wedding ring. He watched her for a moment, working to figure out what she was about to say to him. Wondered if it was something he truly should worry about.

"We need to talk," Cadence said, finally lifting her gaze to meet his. She curled her fist around the ring, holding it tightly in her hand.

Barry tried not to wince. He knew the truth as everyone else did, any conversation that started with the words 'we need to talk' was never a good one. He didn't think there were any words that would make him feel so much pain so quickly, though her saying 'no' to his initial proposal was certainly up there.

Taking in a deep breath, Barry asked, "Are you having second thoughts?" He eyed the engagement ring that she flipped through her fingers, opening her fist as she did so.

"No," Cadence said softly. She lifted her eyes to his. "But you might once I tell you what I have to tell you."

Barry felt his heart sink even further. That definitely wasn't a good thing. It was bad enough she needed to have the conversation, but for it to be something that he may break up with her for? He couldn't quite figure out what it would be. "What happened? Wh-what's going on?"

Cadence was silent. For a few long moments, it stretched between them. Barry hardly dared to breathe, propped himself up with a fist against the side of his head, turning so he was more comfortable. If he was going to get some bad news, he may as well prepare himself for it.

"I forced the cure on Caitlin," Cadence finally admitted. She lifted her gaze, looking Barry in the eye.

"You…" Barry mulled the words around in his head. The cure. She gave Caitlin the cure. "You what?"

"I gave the cure to Caitlin."

"How…?" Barry briefly closed his eyes. He ran his hands over his face, pulling at his lids as they slid down. "How did you even know about the cure? You weren't even…"

"I followed you," Cadence explained. She ran a hand through her hair, sighing. Dropped her gaze like that of a child knowing she was about to get in trouble. "I know how you get with funerals and everything, especially after what happened with your dad. And I know how you tend to feel that everything is your fault when things like this happen—"

"—I don't," Barry started, then stopped. It wasn't the point of the conversation they were having. And the truth was in the facts, Flashpoint and everything else that happened wouldn't have happened if…he closed his eyes, shaking his head. He really did have to stop blaming himself for everything.

"—So I wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I overheard you and Julian and Cisco…heard about the cure…"

"…and you followed us to see if Caitlin would take the cure and when she didn't, you forced it on her," Barry realized. Cadence nodded. "Why would you do that?"

Cadence gave him a 'duh' look, though her tone continued to hold even when she said, "Because she asked me to." Barry tilted his head, parted his lips to respond. Cadence quickly cut him off. "She said if Killer Frost showed back up for me to kill her. I did what she asked me to."

"She may have asked you to do that before, but—"

"—But?"

Barry sighed, hearing the defensive edge to her tone. "But now she had a choice. And you took that from her." Cadence lifted her eyebrows. "She managed to fight off the part of Killer Frost that kept her from coming back to Caitlin. She said she wanted to figure things out on her own and you took that form her."

"She asked me," Cadence snapped back. "And I promised her."

"If someone asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do that, too?"

Cadence shook her head. "That's so immature, Barry. This isn't a peer pressure in high school thing, I did what my best friend aske me to do!" She sat up straight. "I couldn't stand the thought of her turning into such a monster like that and staying that way! Having a voice in her head telling her everything she was doing, taking her over, forcing her to be something she's not!" She jabbed a finger towards Barry's chest. "And I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I would've done the same thing for you or Cisco if you'd asked me."

Barry grabbed her hand, lowered it to her lap. "She wasn't brainwashed," he said firmly. "She wasn't being mind-controlled by anyone else. She wasn't forced to do everything she was doing. It was another part of her, a part she was trying to work out for herself." He grasped her face in his hands, making her lower her gaze. Ashamed. "The same thing that happened to you isn't going to happen to her! You shouldn't have taken her choice away from her like that…but I guess I can understand why you did." He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "The same way I took your guys' lives away from you…because of creating Flashpoint."

"That's not the same thing, Barry, and you know it." Cadence brushed her hands off her cheeks, letting out a sigh. "I don't want the same thing to happen to her, where it's things she can't come back from."

"You came back from it."

"Only because I didn't have my face plastered all over the news."

She has a point, Barry thought. That was something he worried about as well. Caitlin's face, as Killer Frost, had been shown across the air waves almost as soon as Julian opened his mouth and started to spew out his hatred towards metahumans. If she came back as Killer Frost, it would be harder for her. If she didn't come back at all…

Barry shook his head, refusing to think about it.

"And you really have to stop beating yourself up about the whole Flashpoint thing," Cadence continued. "The rest of us got over it already."

Barry nodded and smiled. A sad smile. He could say, as much as he wanted, that he would get over it. That he could move on. But the truth was, he probably never would. It was engrained in his head, and his life, that his father was murdered by a rival speedster, he went back in time to change things, to live life with his parents, and things changed afterwards. He couldn't go back after that. Just like Cadence couldn't go back and changed having had given Caitlin the cure.

It was a fixed point in time and things couldn't be changed. Places couldn't be swapped, not this time around. There weren't any more doppelgangers that could or would do the same thing. They couldn't take any of it back.

Barry smiled and laughed quietly. Cadence looked at him as if he were crazy. "What?" She asked. But Barry continued to laugh, wiping at his eyes. "Stop laughing." She seemed to read his mind, understanding what he was finding so funny. "It's not funny."

"I know," Barry replied. He wiped at his eyes. "I know it's not funny. It's just…sometimes I wonder if we're supposed to work together, if we ever could. I think of how we met, and how you were supposed to kill me and now…" he slowly stopped laughing. "Well, now I know everything happens for a reason, so why question it." Cadence smiled a little. "Are you okay?" She looked at him again. "With what you did?"

Cadence waved her hand. "I'm sure it'll hit me at some point in the future," she said. She gently tapped him with her foot. "Which I now have back, thanks to you."

"You mean, thanks to Burnout," Barry corrected her. "And my doppelganger."

"Yeah."

"We have our future," Barry agreed. "Every day of it."

Cadence grinned and sang quietly, a little off-key, "Every hour, every minute."

That time Barry laughed loudly and hysterically. He wiped the tears off his cheeks. "Wow, you're a terrible singer," he said then curled up when Cadence tried to hit him, defending herself with, "I'm not that bad." It took a little while longer for Barry to stop laughing. "Okay, not that bad." He placed a hand on his chest, giving a cheeky smile. "But you really can't hold a candle to me."

"Should've known that would go back to being about you in some way," Cadence said with a roll of her eyes.

Barry shrugged. "Well, I think we'll know the song we'll dance to at our wedding reception."

"Mm, that reminds me." Cadence leaned back and reached into the couch side table, producing a stack of cards. "I can officially mail these." She turned them around to show off the brightly festooned cards that sat neatly in a box. "Save the date cards for our wedding. I forgot I hadn't mailed them. I guess it's now safe to—"

Barry leapt off the couch, grabbed the save the date cards and whooshed off to the nearest mailbox, pausing there for a second, before hand delivering them to every house and arriving back in the couch. All in the span of a few seconds. "—Delivered," he declared, sitting back down.

Cadence looked at him with mild annoyance. "Do you know how much money I wasted on stamps?"

He waved it off, then asked, unable to keep the giddy smile form his face. "Are you ready to be Mrs. Allen?" The giddiness faded when she—mimicking him—waved her hand and said, "Eh." His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Eh?" He repeated. She had more enthusiasm about paying their bills than the idea of, finally, getting married.

"I don't know if I'm going to take your last name or not," Cadence explained. "Let alone changing Brady's last name."

"Oh come on! 'Allen' is a great last name. You can hyphenate it with almost anything!" He looked over as Cadence's phone rang. She barely looked over at it. "Aren't you going to pick that up?"

"No," Cadence said simply. "I know it's my mom." Barry lifted an eyebrow. "She has this sixth sense to know when people are talking about weddings. I don't know how she does it, but she does." Cadence thought for a moment. "Something tells me she's going to ask about what cake flavor I want."

Barry thought for a moment. "Celebrating your achievements?"

"No, for the reception. Knowing her, she'll want to cater it herself."

"Can…she…cook?" Barry couldn't quite imagine her bustling around the kitchen whipping up a four course meal.

"No, but she's got the money to pretend like she can." Cadence thought for a second. She grabbed her phone and brought it to her ear, quickly answering it with a swipe of her thumb. "Hey mom." She paused, waiting for Maya's response. "You haven't gone back to Metropolis yet, have you? Good!" She looked to Barry, who smiled. "How would you like to set up an engagement party?

A/N: Not many chapters left, this has also answered some questions and tied up some loose ends before Burn started.

Cheers,

-Riley

Review Replies

Ethan: No, their combined attack did do it, Cadence just did her fire sword for dramatic effect, to be the one to finally, officially, kill him. We'll really see what happens with Killer Frost in the next story! ;)

DarkHelm142: I'm glad it worked out that way. I wanted to do something more with it focusing on Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, and Cadence, but it worked out better the way things turned out!