Drowning madly in deep blue seas
Waves of sadness swallow me
No soul can hear me beneath the weight
No gods or saviors, no hands of fate
I want to be saved
I want to be saved
From the sound, the sound
The world is spitting out
Only love can save me now
Gone so down, lost is all I found
Only love, love, love can save me now
Only Love Can Save Me Now, The Pretty Reckless
The sun was red. People were running away in panic. The last one caused by multiple androids of Red Death, empty suit vessels in the streets, attacking and giving team Flash a headache.
Vibe, Gypsy and Elongated man were close, but busy making sure none of the suits hurt anyone, still trying to figure out a way to deactivate them whereas Barry and Rachel faced the Red Death herself.
She managed to strike Barry hard enough to send him flying and then crashing painfully to the ground. He didn't get up.
Rachel immediately charged, but was struck with Red Death's lightning as well, now not really able to move and helplessly watching as the woman was nearing Barry again, probably with the intention to kill him.
"Noooo!" she screamed and got back to her feet with the last energy she managed to muster only to be stroke again, but… The lightning didn't hit her. It hit the Reverse Flash who just in the last moment appeared right in front of her, shielding her with his own body.
Next thing Rachel saw was Thawne moving to stand right between the Red Death and Barry's body, literally saving his nemesis life before fighting himself.
She couldn't help but open her eyes widely, it was so hard to trust her vision right now, to see Reverse Flash actually helping team Flash and not the other way around. It didn't take much, however, to figure out that it was all because of her.
Right now both Reverse Flash and Red Death were locked in some kind of a power dome surrounding only them as their lightnings collided, negative organic one and artificial one.
Rachel needed to shield her eyes as they exploded, throwing both of them to opposite sides and to the ground.
Once it was safe to look again, she spotted that Red Death was not moving anymore and her multiple androids suits stopped as well. She appeared to be dead.
She could not explain what prompted her to do it, but Rachel got up and sped over to Eobard who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily. She could tell his heartbeat was abnormal, his suit burnt in places, even showing patches of burnt to a crisp skin. To her own surprise, she got down to the ground and pulled him up. His blue eyes met her greens and in that moment she experienced some flashbacks reaching to the beginning of their relationship. How engaging and fascinating she'd found him and how shocked she'd been when he'd actually showed interest in her, when he'd believed in her and what she'd been writing long before anyone else had; how he'd helped her, dated her, loved her. Even if all of that was the real Harrison Wells Eobard Thawne killed, a part of this good loving and romantic man was still in him. Survived in him. She was saved tonight not by the Reverse Flash, but by Harrison Wells. Barry was as well. This good, however small part, won over the evil carried inside.
"I love you," he only said, clearly already drifting away, dying.
And then he closed his eyes and his body went limp and she couldn't help but cry for him. She remembered the good times before the particle accelerator exploded, before powers, back when the only controversy was her dating a girl and then falling for a billionaire scientist who was much older than she was. No deceit, no murder, no time travel and no messing with their lives. She understood now that all the love they had, it was all the part of Harrison that survived in Thawne. And she was finally alright with that too.
Now she not only lost Caitlin. Now Eobard paradoxically died for love, defeated by his own self since by putting on a body of Harrison Wells, he also brought doom upon himself.
Rachel knew this was enough. This was the moment to let go. This was the moment to tend to the man she truly loved. So she got up again and reached Barry.
She ran towards her love, towards her future and towards her destiny.
"I still can't believe Thawne is gone because of love," Cisco commented, shaking his head.
They were all sitting in the lounge, trying to come to terms with everything that happened. Barry and Rachel sat next to each other, holding hands, holding onto each other and still in a slight shock.
"Holy frack!" Cisco then exclaimed when Timeless Wells appeared out of nowhere. "A little warning next time, please?!"
Wells only smiled to that.
"Why are you here?" Barry asked when standing up, Rachel following suit.
"Because this is the end of an era," the answer came. "You have suffered loss and then faced another villain that was stopped by your greatest enemy, driven by love… Here, I came to give you this gift. See…" He reached his hands towards each of them and they looked at each other before taking them.
The world shimmered and disappeared and instead they saw scenes appearing and disappearing all around them, blending one into the other, yet still very clear to them.
Barry was growing up, having his parents. Iris was his best friend.
Rachel wrote a book inspired by the particle accelerator's successful launch – even though something was still released to the atmosphere. Something that gave birth to metas and to the Flash.
While she still conducting research for the final draft of her work, she was trying to get a hold on Harrison Wells (yes, she did have a little, but harmless crush there. After all, the man was handsome and smart) and his wife Tess and in the process got herself in trouble.
The Flash saved her.
He eventually read her next book, recognizing the hero clearly inspired by his own self and went to a book signing.
Sparks flew.
They started dating.
Finally, he told her who he really was.
Their life together started.
The visions disappeared and Barry and Rachel were back at the lounge, just letting go of Timeless Wells.
"That is my gift to you," he said. "You just saw the original timeline. How it all started. Now…" He turned to Khione, leaving still stunned Barry and Rachel, "I think you know it's time as much as I do."
"Time to move on, to grow, to become what I've always meant to become," she agreed as she stood up, ready for her next adventure. "I'm still scared, though," she confessed.
"Every change is scary, but it's also necessary. You are a goddess, Khione. Your true purpose is to be one with everything, to always be there when nature needs you, either if it's to purify water or help a wounded animal or someone who would've died too soon."
She nodded and turned to the team to say goodbye.
"But… we just got you," Rachel protested. "And we already need to let you go?"
"That's the order of things. Like spring turns into summer and summer turns into autumn and autumn into winter. We have to say goodbye now, but I will always be with you." She hugged everyone and then she moved away, nodding at Wells.
They needed to cover their eyes as suddenly there was a circle of air, water, earth and fire till…
"Oh my god!" Rachel exclaimed, not able to believe her own eyes.
Because Caitlin was standing in front of them. Alive and well.
Rachel just got to her and hugged her tightly, crying now that they managed to get her back.
"I am so… so sorry," Rachel told Caitlin when she later found her alone in her old lab. "I feel like I let you down. I couldn't… I couldn't save them," she clearly meant Ronnie and Frost, but those names just refused to come through her throat. "I'm also sorry for coming to your flat with Barry the other day like that… I'm sorry for everything."
"It's ok, Rachel. I understand. It's not your fault. Besides, Barry already talked to me and apologized. We're good. I know I was way out of it. It's all on me. I was the one who isolated myself after… Jesse and Ronnie and…" she came to a stop, taking a deep breath and clearly forcing back tears, "Frost. I felt guilty. I was the one who didn't listen and I asked Frost to help me save him. And you couldn't do anything about it since she already made the decision. You couldn't control minds, Rachel. You could only influence fate sometimes. Besides, all my pushing only let you towards being used by Eobard. I'm sorry for that."
"Don't be. I understand."
Caitlin nodded. "Having Khione in control… it made me realize a lot. I need to live with my decisions and I can't take back time. She helped me accept what happened. Now I need to move on."
"You're not alone, you know? You're never going to be alone. That much I can promise you. I will always be there. Barry and Cisco and the rest of us as well."
"I know." This time Caitlin needed to wipe her tears. "You, guys, are my family."
After all this time, finally - Barry and Rachel made it to the altar and got married.
They were so happy to see everyone they cared about there to celebrate together, even Julian with his girlfriend came from Great Britain and Rachel couldn't wait to catch up with her good old friend. Barry could've also sworn he'd seen Nora briefly before she smiled, winked at him and sped away, back to the future.
Despite the guests all giving them presents as tradition dictated, they still have a special of their own to give.
Rachel suspected it might be true after they found out that Red Death was from another earth, Timeless Wells only confirming it for them – there were other earths, constantly being born as the new universe was still expanding. There was also Earth Two with Harry Wells whose wife was still alive and with Jesse Quick who was the Flash.
Rachel and Barry were really looking forward to Caitlin's reaction to it all as Cisco handed her over a newly made device that would take her there.
"It's Jesse and it's your Jesse. She doesn't remember you, but you can try using the memory device we all did after the universe reset…"
And off Caitlin went.
And she saw her.
And she approached her.
THE END
Follow the path
To where no one's ever been
Don't turn around
Until you reach the end
Across the sea
And beyond the distant lands
The world awaits
So don't make any plans
There you go
There you go
When every step
Takes you a thousand miles away
You'll find the edge
Beyond the break of day
And leave behind
Everything you've ever had
The one's you love
The pillows in your bed
There you go
There you go
What you call home
Is a box of memories
Forever lost
But good enough to keep
Cause you don't know
What tomorrow holds for you
Another path
Or just a glimpse of truth
There you go
There you go
There's a place at the end of the road
Where our lives turn to light pure as gold
Where the past is just a sparkle of time
And the world is all good by design
This is not a farewell
Just a goodbye
Andrew's Song, IMAscore
