Prologue

Oliver Queen stood inside the little lab van where only the day before Professor Stein and Jax had shared the message from future Barry warning them about the coming war, forcing the young speedster to share the secret of Flashpoint. Now he was once again in the tiny space, only this time he was trying to convince his friend, someone he considered a brother, not to do something rash and stupid. The Green Arrow had quite a few friends that, in truth, he considered brothers. First there had been his best friend Tommy Merlin (who was in a strange way really his brother, considering Tommy had been Thea's biological half-brother) who had died as a result of Malcom's need to destroy the Glades. Then there was John Diggle, a brother who stood by him through all of his mistakes and was his voice of reason, offering advice even when Oliver didn't want it. But neither one of these men could frustrate him more than Barry Allen. Where Dig was more like a slightly older brother, Barry was the younger, more naïve at times brother who constantly needed to be knocked upside the head and put back on the right path. This was one of those times.

Taking a deep breath, hoping that he wouldn't come off as too annoyed, Oliver tried once again to get through to the younger man. "Barry, I realize that you feel this is all your fault, that the Dominators are here because of what you did, but Agent Smith is wrong. This is not your fault. So you made a mistake, and I'm sure you've spent the better part of the last few months beating yourself up about it. We all make bad choices. I once kidnapped Lyla in front of her infant son, leaving him unattended, just to prove to Ra's al Ghul that I was someone I wasn't. It took a very long time for Dig to forgive me for that, but he did… eventually. Think about the people you're leaving behind. Your family, Joe and Iris. Especially Iris, after all this time you two are finally together. I know things are bad with Cisco right now, but he'll forgive you, he just needs time, but only if you give him that chance. Sacrificing yourself just because some underhanded Government official claims to have made a deal with these aliens is not the answer."

Barry ran a hand through his already messy hair, hair that, when he was in the suit with the cowl off never seemed to stay in place. "Oliver, I know you mean well, but there is no other choice. It's either me or thousands," he shook his head slightly. "No, make that hundreds of thousands of innocent people, both human and metahuman." He sat with his elbows on his knees, and placed his head in his hands, turning slightly to glance at the Arrow. "I've tried very hard to move past the whole Flashpoint mess, but it somehow keeps coming back and slapping me in the face. I had a great life even after what Zoom did to my dad, but I was too blinded by my own grief to realize it. I messed everything up, and this is my chance to make things right again."

"Even if this deal is real what's to guarantee that, after you give yourself up, the Dominators won't attack anyway?" Oliver crossed his arms and stared at the young man.

"I know there's no guarantee." Barry stood up and faced the blond hero. "But this is my decision. I know I could learn to live with the results of Flashpoint. But, if the Dominators go through with the destruction they're promising and I had a chance to stop it and didn't take it…Ollie, there's no way I could live with that."

They both turned at the brief knock on the inside wall and Sara poked her head in. "Sorry for the interruption, but the Waverider just returned."

Just as quickly as she'd appeared the White Canary left, and from the brief nod she'd given him, Oliver knew she was hoping he would be able to convince Barry what a foolish mistake agreeing to Agent Smith's deal would be. However, he knew it was a lost cause especially since Barry had risen from his seat, apparently deciding that the distraction meant their discussion was now over.

Barry moved towards the door and glanced back towards Oliver, "Get the team together. I need to take care of something. I'll be back in fifteen minutes to address everyone." Without giving his friend a chance to argue or shoot him with an arrow, the speedster raced out of the van and away from the hangar. He took off with only one destination in mind, hoping that no one would be home.

As he ran, he thought about his decision. He'd heard everything Oliver had said. He knew that sacrificing himself because of his guilt wasn't the answer. And he'd meant what he'd said to the Green Arrow, he wasn't doing this just because he felt guilty about Flashpoint. It was because he'd feel one hundred percent more guilty about the death of so many people when he'd had a chance to stop such an event and hadn't done so. Heroes sacrificed themselves for far less. Oliver had even played the 'world needs the Flash, the guardian of Central City card,' but Wally had speed now, and while still young and reckless, his brother had proven himself in the Flashpoint timeline. He'd be fine, and he could take up the mantle with ease. Besides, in this timeline, he'd have Caitlyn and Cisco as additional support.

There was no other choice. If he were to stay, and the Dominators attacked and destroyed all metahumans, no one would be left to send Kara home. He had no doubt the Kryptonian would survive, but Cisco would die, leaving his alien friend who didn't care about the mistakes he'd made as the Flash and who he'd dragged away from her loved ones, stuck on this Earth forever. If Supergirl had no way to get back, her family and friends would never know what had happened to her. He wasn't making this sacrifice solely to right his past wrongs, he was doing this to ensure everyone had a future.

In no time at all he reached the house he'd shared with Joe and Iris for sixteen years. At super speed he did a quick run through to make sure no one was home, before entering what was still his old room, even though he'd officially moved out, again. After closing the door, he moved over and sat down at the desk he'd spent many nights working out scientific equations, writing English papers or just getting lost in a text book that Iris would always roll her eyes at him for reading.

Now, as he sat behind the well-used wooden table, he glanced around the room. He'd suggested moving out after the Mirror Master takedown and Joe had whole-heartedly, but lovingly, kicked him out. Since then Barry had only managed to pack most of his clothes and a few necessities, essentially living out of a suitcase for the last few weeks. He hadn't planned on taking anything else until he'd found a permanent place of his own. Cisco's temporary offer of his sofa had come crashing to an early end when Caitlyn's venture as Killer Frost had revealed that Dante was dead as a direct result of Flashpoint. Then because he'd quit his job to protect Caitlyn, he'd taken up residence in one of the spare rooms at S.T.A.R. Labs. Iris had offered him the opportunity to stay with her but he didn't want to just crash at her place. If they were going to live together as a couple, he wanted to do it right and find a place that they could call theirs.

His room had seen a lot over the years. It had been privy to the late night talks between him and Iris. The times they had sat side-by-side on his bed reading books, working out word puzzles, or doing homework. He remembered the countless nights, after he had first moved into the house with Joe and Iris, when his foster father would spend hours making sure the scared and insecure little boy fell asleep feeling cared for. And now it would see him send his final goodbyes to those he loved.

From a drawer in the desk he took out sheets of paper and then found five envelopes that he quickly addressed to his two closest friends, his dad, his brother and lastly, the love of his life.

He'd promised Oliver that he'd be back in fifteen minutes, and he'd wasted half of that in wool-gathering. Knowing what he wanted to say to each of them, he used his super speed to put down on paper the words and emotions that filled his heart. In a matter of minutes he had finished all five letters. He sealed each one, raced downstairs and placed three on the dining room table, then sped out of the house over to Caitlyn's apartment, slipping one under her door, and then ran to S.T.A.R. and, unseen by those working in the building, placed the last one by Cisco's computer in his friend's lab. He then made his way at hyper-speed back to the hangar to brief the team.

Later that evening…

Barry entered his temporary living quarters at S.T.A.R Labs with a spring in his step. They had won. Oliver had banded everyone together, effectively stopping him from making the ultimate sacrifice. While he knew he could have out run Oliver's arrows and even Ray in his Atom suit, it was seeing Kara standing beside Oliver that made him realize he was beaten. He was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to speed away from her as easily. But it had been Cisco's declaration that Barry was still his friend that had been the final nail to be pulled from his noble attempt to sacrifice himself.

He knew he still had quite a few fences to mend, and he was going to make every attempt to be the hero he felt he was meant to be. He hadn't forgotten Jay Garrick's words to him at the diner after his second attempt to fix the messed-up timeline. But even more so, John Diggle's advice that Barry needed to forgive himself, repeated over and over in his head. Dig was right, the first step to moving forward was forgiveness, whether it's to the man who wore the face of your mother's killer, or forgiving yourself. He'd had the chance a year and a half ago to do exactly what he'd done more recently. Back then he'd had everyone's support, but he'd decided not to change the past. However, grief could do funny things. If only the future Flash, who'd kept him from changing the course of history the first time, had been there to stop him a second time, who knows what the present would be like now. The what ifs were endless.

Barry moved over and lay down on his cot. He didn't realize how exhausting saving the world could be. He rubbed his face to alleviate some of the feeling of tiredness from his body. While he'd enjoyed the beer at the bar with Oliver and it had been relaxing, especially after the events of the last few days, heck the last few months, he was more than ready to call it a night. He needed to get changed into something to sleep in, but wasn't quite ready to make that move just yet.

He was glad Oliver had agreed to hang out with him some more before heading back to Star City. One thing the two men had never really had a chance to do was bond outside of saving a city, a pair of reincarnated hawk people, or the world. So a night out with a friend was a nice change of pace.

When the Green Arrow had first learned he'd changed the timeline, the protector of Star City hadn't lectured him but had simply said, 'you made a mistake.' Learning of how Oliver's parents had died, put his friend's acceptance into perspective. Even though Oliver hadn't been mad at him, his friend had, at the hands of the Dominators, been given a taste of what might have been if he had a chance to change his own past. That experience alone had made the bond of friendship they shared even stronger.

Cisco had offered him the use of his couch again, but even if his best friend was on the road to forgiving him, he wasn't sure tonight would be the right time to crash there. It was ironic really, when Cisco had first jumped at the chance to time travel, Barry had bit back the retort that had come to mind. It took all his courage not to state that his friend still hadn't forgiven him for going back in time, but it was okay for Cisco to travel back to the distant past. He'd tried, instead, to get his friend to stay and work on the science side of things to stop the Dominators, but, in the end it had been a good thing Cisco had gone. His best friend had experienced, first hand, what going back in time to try and fix things could do. Changing even one thing, even if at the time you believe it to be the right course of action, will have unseen consequences for the future.

Apparently it took Cisco assisting an alien caught in 1951 go free, who would then decide to exterminate all metahumans on Earth, to help put the death of his brother into a whole different perspective. Barry knew that Cisco would still harbor feelings of betrayal and pain from the loss of Dante at times, but at least now his best friend wasn't going to put the full blame on him, and once again considered him a friend.

Sitting up, Barry decided it was time to get ready to sleep, and had just placed his feet on the floor when he heard the unmistakable click of heels and the steady rhythm that could only mean Iris was approaching. He thought for sure she'd be home and in bed by now and had planned on going to see her first thing in the morning, but he was more than happy to see her tonight.

He stood and, with a smile on his face, took a step towards the door to meet her. However, he quickly paused, the grin fading as she entered the room and he saw the look of fire in her eyes. His gaze fell on the paper clutched in her right hand and immediately knew he was in trouble.

"Bartholomew Allen…what the hell?"

In the aftermath and celebrations of the Dominators' defeat, he'd totally forgotten about the letters. He'd never gone back to collect them.