A/N: And here it is, ladies and gentlemen! The second story of my series. Hope you all enjoy it. Let's dive right in.

Updates will be a lot slower than my last story, as I'm in school, but I've got the rest of the week off, so I should be able to maybe get the second chapter in by next week.

BARRY

October 16, 2017

Earth 14

"It's Friday. October 16, 2017. It's been a little over two years since I first came here. All that time in this wasteland of a world has turned me restless. A non-stop series of one fight to another, one hunt to another, one step in each run I take to another. For eighteen months, me and the others found some sort of…peace. Some sort of home here."

Barry swung his sword as he cut the upper head of a runner off, the creature's infectious, zombie-like body fell to the ground as the trail of red lightning following it in its super speed ceased to exist, like the life of the creature itself. He and Peter stood on a road as the two speedsters fought off the runners in blurs of orange lightning and silver color. The both of them wore sneakers, best for their near-constant running in the several hours they were doing so. They'd been out since dawn and it was almost evening, the sun nearing downward towards the horizon, its orange light indicating its preparation to set. The purple skies with thin strips of clouds spread out acting as a canvas for the sun to be on. Peter's black pants, black t-shirt, silver, leather jacket, running goggles, and silver-dyed hair caused the silverish blurs when he ran at his speed. That and the silver melee weapons he was using against the runners: a crowbar and a machete. Barry used the same sword he'd been given back at Kamar Taj, along with a knife that was sheathed on the right side of his waist. He wore black jeans, a light brown/beige-colored shirt.

"I want to believe that we've found the New World, that we can finally start building it. But peace is always temporary, it's nothing but a quiet lull between different wars. War had its own lulls between battles. Every day, I hold myself up on guard, focusing on even the slightest danger every waking and un-waking second. I can already see…something is out there, something or someone, coming for us. Circling and luring us into a falsehood of peace…of tranquility, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Like a predator stalking and preparing to strike down its prey. Or a hunter hunting its own hunted."

Drops of runners' blood were speckled across it as result of the near-constant slashing. The two uppermost buttons were ripped as Barry kicked the runner's body off the side of a road, surrounded by forest and woods for miles. The creature fell over the rail-like stands by the edge of the road as its body rolled down dried mud, leaves, and plants. He whirled around as he saw Peter stop to a halt in front of him, the silver-dyed-hair boy's jacket and jeans ripped and torn, his running goggles missing.

"Handled the other fifty ones," Barry said as he sheathed his sword, which rested in a strap that was across his chest, hanging on his right shoulder. "That should be the rest of the pack…"

Peter huffed deeply as he tightly closed his eyes, tilting his head up. "Yeah…cool…"

Barry furrowed his eyebrows as he nodded his head at the younger speedster. "You alright?"

"I'm beat…" Peter groaned as he let his head down. "We done here?"

"Yeah…" Barry responded, looking around an empty road save for the corpses of runners and spread of torn debris from vehicles and torn asphalt. He took a brief look at the black glove on the metal prosthetic of his left hand, how it went up from his lower wrist. The sight of it reminded of the very day he'd lost his hand, of how he'd first met Jaina. Jaina. Her beautiful smile, her kind but warrior-hardened nature, her touch and feel. He missed it. He missed it all.

Barry lifted his head back up as he nodded, swinging his arm upward in a brief gesture. "Let's circle back. We're losing daylight. We can't be out at night; our speed probably attracted more runners."

"Cool," The silver-haired man sighed, his hand clasping to his lower abdomen as he limped. "Cause I've got more than enough broken bones for today."

Barry let out a weak laugh at the dry response. "Here, come on."

He kept an arm around Peter's back as the younger speedster rested his left arm on Barry's neck. After a few seconds, the pair disappeared from the roads as they headed back to the Xavier mansion.

Once they had entered the perimeter, the force field around the Xavier mansion went back up instantly. Barry had never tested his phasing ability against it, and he hadn't bothered it to. Of course, phasing and his speedster abilities weren't the only things he could do. He'd learned and mastered the mystic arts under the training of Strange and Wong, he'd learned the dark magic from the dark dimension from Jaina and the zealots. There, of course, were also the abilities of Dormammu he now had. He wasn't aware of the number of different abilities and powers he had or limits of them, assuming there were any. Peter had been submitted into the medical bay where Hank was examining him. He was fast, fast enough to avoid and keep up with runners but not nearly as fast as Barry was. His healing factor would take longer to fully heal him. Barry kept his arms crossed and leaned against the frame of the door to the medical bay. He heard the sound of a baby cooing as a certain red-haired woman approached him.

"How is he?" Jean Grey asked, carrying her three-year-old, red-haired son Jaime in her arms.

"Hank says he can expect a full recovery by tomorrow," Barry replied as he waited a few moments before turning to his right as he faced her. "How's the little one?"

Jean smiled lightly as her child slept and breathed peacefully. "He's been okay for the most part. Keeps me up late at night but he's alright around the mornings…" Her smile died down little by little as she held her head up, her dark, auburn eyes locked onto Barry's blue-green ones. "Scott was always a bit of a night owl too…like father, like son, I guess."

Barry smiled sadly as he put a hand on Jean's shoulder. "Hey…he'd be proud of you. Of the brave, strong, intelligent woman you are and always have been…of the wonderful mother you are."

Jean forced down a gulp as the slight of water in her eyes sparkled. "Thank you…I needed that. Really. And by the way, I think Jaina would be proud of you too."

Barry nodded as he looked down, leaning against a door frame. "I saw Lily yesterday…she wouldn't stop crying until I carried her. Her eyes…she has Jaina's eyes, yet sometimes I feel like I can see my mother's eyes in them."

"It gets hard," Jean said in a bare whisper. "Not just having to raise them without them around but-"

"Knowing that they'll never be there to see them grow up," Barry said as he thought of Jaina, knowing that Jean thought of Scott. "That Lily won't ever get to feel Jaina's touch or that Jaime will never hear Scott's voice."

"Sometimes, I can't stop thinking about him…do you ever think about Jaina? Does she ever…cross your mind?"

Barry looked out as he stared blankly to an empty space. "She's always on my mind. She never isn't."

He looked down as he took in a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"The truth is…" Barry began. "I'm afraid. One day, when Lily's older, she'll look up at me and ask 'Dad, where's my mom? What happened to my mom?' and I'd have to look her in the eyes and tell my own child how her mother died. She'd think…that because her own father told her…she was the reason her mother died. Growing up, I never stopped blaming myself for what happened to my mother. I don't want that for Lily, but I can't lie to her…what am I supposed to do? What can I tell her?"

"Tell her whatever your heart says," Jean insisted. "Why don't you blame her for what happened to Jaina? Why did you never blame her for Jaina's death?"

"Because she's my daughter," Barry said immediately, looking at Jean. "Because she's my baby girl, because there's nothing that would make me hate or stop loving her…and it's not what Jaina would want."

Jean nodded. "Then just tell her that…just be her father, like you already have been. That's what she'll need the most."

Barry nodded weakly.

"I should go," Jean said with a huff of breath. "Council meeting."

Barry uncrossed his arms as he stood up straight. "Give the council my regards."

"You know…" Jean said as she stood for a moment. "You could come, you know…you should really-"

"No," Barry shook his head as he looked down before looking back up at Jean. "No, Jean. I'm not a council member and that was the deal. I stay off the council and anything involving it."

"Everything here involves it, Barry."

"I'm already out there doing runs for supplies and clearing runners, that's all you need from me."

Jean let out a quick laugh. "Charles thinks differently."

"Well," Barry said with a single nod. "That's probably because he's the one who wants me there the most."

"Who doesn't?" Jean asked. "Barry, you were the one who took charge of the Avengers, you led and fought through it all. You once said this wasn't a democracy."

"That was when we were out there," Barry replied sternly. "Things are different now. If we're gonna live in the New World, I can't have any part of it."

Jean sighed exhaustively. "You say 'we', but then you won't even let yourself live. All you do day after day is fight, run, and train. It's like you're just waiting and preparing for another fight."

"Jean, if the last two years on this earth and my time as the Flash on my earth have taught me anything, it's that there's always another fight."

"But when does it stop? When does it end? Do you not think that, maybe just for some time, you deserve to rest? Or do you just have that low of an opinion of yourself? Cause let me tell you, just about everyone here thinks differently."

Barry sighed as he stepped forward, looking down, tilting his head to the side. "Jean, if I let myself lay back…if I lower my guard at the wrong moment and if I'm not strong or fast enough to keep Lily safe…then there's no reason for me to live."

Jean remained silent for a few moments as she waited for Barry to look at her. He held his chin up, looking up as he stood tall at his height of over six feet.

The red-haired woman breathed in a sigh. "Barry, we all might've built this together…but you're the reason it's still possible, that it's still going. For that and for…everything you've done for the others, you deserve a chance to rest. Even if you think you don't. If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for Lily…she likes it when her dad's around."

Jean took off as she carried Jaime away, heading out of sight as Barry turned around and happened to catch sight of several mutant children, tweens and teenagers alike, playing a game of soccer together. He found himself lost in the sight as the world around him blurred out.

"Jean was right. I've been going too hard on myself. But I have to be ready, I have to push myself, I have to try. For Lily. I would do anything to be there in her life, to be her father, to raise her. I'd already failed in ensuring she'd grow up with her mother, she'd grow up a motherless child like me. Maybe I have to push myself far enough to keep going, but I'd have to do it while being there for her. I can do both. I have to do both."

Later, Barry entered Wanda's room as a giggling, twenty-one-month-old Lily walked at him, wrapping her arms around his right leg. She cooed as she looked up at Barry before the child smiled widely. Barry smiled as he knelt down and scooped Lily into his arms, carrying her as he stood up.

"Hey baby girl…" Barry said softly, carrying her with his left arm, his right pinky stuck out from his hand as Lily fiddled it playfully. "What've you been up to?"

"Dada." The little girl laughed.

She sat on his left arm as Barry smiled softly at her, his eyes locking onto his child. "How've you been?"

He turned to Wanda as he saw his friend laying back in bed.

"Fine…" She replied as she smiled back softly, turning to her right as she shifted under the blanket as her eyes slowly lapsed between open and close.

"Long day, huh?" Barry asked as he looked back at his infant daughter, whose right hand fiddled with some silky, longer-ended strands of Barry's brunette hair. "Didn't think she'd be that difficult to deal with."

"She wasn't," Wanda replied with an exhausted sigh. "Can't say the same about the council meeting…or the rest of the day. Speaking of which, Charles wanted to speak with you."

Barry let out a groan. "Terrific."

"He means well, you know," Wanda insisted. "We all do. We just think it would be better if you were on the council."

"Wanda, he knows where I stand on being in or involved with the council," Barry urged. "You all do."

Wanda nodded, clearly unwilling to argue as she let out another tired sigh. "Okay…you want me to watch Lily?"

"No, it's fine, I'll take her," Barry replied as he kissed her forehead, briefly squeezing his friend's hand. "Get some rest."

Wanda hummed in response before turning to the other side as she sighed, letting herself fall into the comforting chasm of sleep. Barry left the room as he carried Lily in his arms, he walked down the halls of the Xavier mansion. As he did so, he couldn't help but notice a crow resting on the branch of a large tree within the Xavier mansion's garden area. The black-feathered bird wouldn't stop pecking its beak against the tree, as if it were engaged in some one-on-one conflict with it. Barry couldn't help but have a wary thought upon seeing the crow, maybe its presence was trying to tell him something, maybe it was trying to tell him something. Was it? Barry sighed as he turned his head away and entered Charles' office.

"Charles," Barry greeted cooly.

"Barry," the professor smiled warmly as his wheelchair automatically made its way to him. "Good to see you. And how's the little one?"

Charles smiled slightly as he reached up and gently stroked his finger across Lily's cheek, making the infant girl coo as she smiled, before the professor pulled his hand back.

"She's the usual," Barry responded before he inhaled a breath, signing for an immediate dive into what was going to be the topic of conversation. "I hear the council meeting was tough."

Charles let out a scoffed laugh as his wheelchair moved him around the room to his desk. "Every week, we meet and yet, this week was the most difficult one."

Barry nodded. Not too long after he and the Avengers had arrived at the Xavier's mansion, a council had been set up, primarily to be able to keep charge of and run things around the place. Making critically important decisions, when and where to expand the perimeter of the force field around the Xavier mansion, which was currently having an area of about half a square mile, roughly the size of a prison with a yard and fences. Along with much more. Barry had made it abundantly clear that he wanted no part of the council, which consisted of Charles, Hank, Jean, Wanda, Steve, Raven, and Logan. There was specifically meant to be an odd number, that way if there was ever a decision to be made, the votes would never be a tie. An idea that was Steve's, unsurprising to Barry.

"That much to cover, huh?" Barry asked.

"Oh yes," Charles poured some brandy from his bottle into a glass before setting the bottle down as he sipped some of it before leaning back in his wheelchair, letting out a sigh. "Raven and Hank want to expand the perimeter of the field around the mansion, Jean is worried about the field overworking itself and failing, Steve and Logan are worried about runners surrounding us. We're unsure if, even with all the supplies and stockage we currently have, that we'll make it past the winter, which will no doubt be harsh. You don't know the bloody half of it."

"But clearly, you want me to know all of it." Barry muttered, in a way that implied he wanted Charles to overhear it.

"It wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, you know," Charles tried to reason. "Join the council. Sam's been willing to if you will."

"Charles, when we started this council, we made it clear where I was meant to stand. Out there, on runs and fighting is where I need to be."

"With us is where you need to be, with Lily, with your friends and family. This world, this new world we all want so much, these people, our people, they need you to follow. Barry, you were the one who once said this wasn't a democracy anymore."

"Like I told Jean, that was when we were out there, it can't be like that when we're here, when we finally have a home. A place where we can rest and build." Barry pointed out.

"Barry," Charles sighed. "You're the only one who can do this. We can try, but it has to be you."

"What do you want me to do, eh, Charles?" Barry demanded, letting Lily rest on his shoulder as she yawned. "Build a throne in the center of this damn place and call myself king?"

Charles inhaled sharply, his shoulders rising before quickly falling back normally. "Is a king not a man meant to lead and protect his people at the utmost importance?"

"No," Barry deadpanned. "A king is a self-serving jackass who rules for his own desire and lets the people do all the fighting, bidding, and the real work. Not exactly my style."

"Good, because I'm not asking you to rule."

"Then what would you have me do?"

Charles had his automatic wheelchair roll closer until he was directly in front of Barry as he spoke in just one word. "Lead."

Barry paused as he looked down at Charles, the two men's eyes piercing each other's gaze.

"Lead all of us as you lead the rest of them," Charles said, a hint of pleading within his voice. "Barry, you yourself know that this peace won't last. If and when it comes down to it, we'll need you to lead us just like you once did."

Barry planted a quick kiss on Lily's infant forehead before he looked back to his friend. "Charles, it's in both of our best interests that it doesn't come to that. We've made sure it hasn't for more than a year, let's keep it that way."

Charles paused as he observed Barry, gazing at him with a curious face of intrigue. Barry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, wondering what was going on in his mind. Ironically.

"You know you can't my mind, Charles," Barry blurted out. "Neither can Jean. You said it yourselves; speedster minds move too fast for you to catch on to anything."

"I'm well aware, but I don't think I have to…" Charles began as he sighed. "It's just - there's something different about you… you're afraid."

Barry suddenly went silent as he thought to himself, the world around him blurring away from his hearing and vision as he stared out to a distance through the window. The sun was still setting, the evening lit somewhat dim throughout the skies but ever so present. Afraid? Fear? Of course, he was. He had a daughter to look after and he was raising her not only in a world without her mother, but in a world like this. Not just the runners or the apocalypse but a world with Barry Allen in it, a world with a man who dragged and attracted some form of chaos and pain in his wake. To himself and to those around him. What was to say that even an innocent, young, infant sweetling like Lily could be spared from it? Even with all he did, all his love, will to fight, strength to endure and protect her, could he truly keep her safe? Could Lily grow up to live a good life, much less one better than Barry's? Barry blinked repeatedly before he turned to Charles and sighed.

Just as he opened his mouth to try and speak, a loud boom echoed from the outside as a white-glowing light, hinted with light rainbow streaks in it, struck the ground of the yard outside the Xavier's mansion. The entire mansion shook as the wide beam of light struck the ground, pushing against it for a few seconds. Eventually, it ceased as Barry frowned in a look of recognition and realization.

"The Bifrost," Barry breathed as Lily began whining and crying in his arms from the commotion. "I've seen it before. Charles, can you take Lily? I'll go check it out."

"Of course," Charles replied immediately as Barry handed the infant to him.

In a flicker of orange lightning, Barry sped out to the area where the Bifrost had struck as he noticed the rest of the Avengers there already. Sam, Steve, Logan, Matt, Natasha, and Wanda. He saw them circling around Thor, who was laying on the ground, battered, bleeding, and severely injured. Next to him, a man with long, weakly-curled, black hair and a green/black suit looked up in panic.

"Help!" the man cried. "My brother needs help!"

Loki. Barry thought to himself. Thor's brother. He kneeled beside Thor's right while Loki remained by Thor's left. Barry looked down at his injured comrade.

"What the hell happened?" Steve demanded in a mix of worry and anger.

"We were attacked on our ship." Loki replied in a series of panicked breaths.

"By who?" Natasha inquired.

Before Barry could hear anyone respond, he felt a hand grab at his forearm firmly as he looked down to see Thor looking up at him. The injured god, whose hair had no longer been the long blond it was but now, a short-cut of light brown, spoke weakly.

"He's coming…." Thor croaked weakly. "He's…coming…"

"Who?" Barry asked as he kept his hand over Thor's. "Who did this? Who's coming?"

"Thanos…" Thor croaked. "Godspeed…"

Thor moved up closer to whisper into Barry's ear as the young speedster lowered his head close to Thor's level tilting his face away as he heard Thor's next words. His eyes grew in a large shock as what appeared to be terror consumed his face. He moved his head back as Thor slumped against the ground, barely breathing and on the verge of passing out from his injuries. For a second, everything Barry heard around him was blurred as he tried to think, tried to speak even. No, it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. How could it be possible? How?

"...Barry!" Matt yelled as the speedster snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at his fellow Avengers. "We have a problem."

Barry looked in the direction his allies did as he saw a dome-shaped layer of blue around the entire Xavier mansion flickering and glitching. He rose from his knees as he stood tall.

"Force field's coming down," Barry stated.

"Well, we can see that!" Sam exclaimed.

"How is that possible?" Logan demanded.

"Bifrost must've damaged it when it came to Earth and struck here," Barry replied as he and his allies saw multiple flashes of red lightning surrounding the outside of the dome-shaped force field. "We're under attack and in a few minutes, this force field's coming down."

"Then those runners break through," Logan said grimly.

As the force field flickered, Barry looked through the crowd of zombie speedsters, otherwise known as runners, and gulped slightly as he saw the face of an old foe. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, then the face was gone. A reality that had disappeared to taunt him or a feared nightmare in his waking moments. Barry couldn't think as the force field flickered and glitched more and more with the speedster zombies piling up more and more on the outside.

A/N: For Scott (who's dead in this series) and Jean's son, Jaime, I planned on revealing him in the last book, but I forgot to do so. So here he is. As implied, Jaime is just a year older than Barry's daughter, Lily, and both infants will become relatively important characters later in the series. Maybe around book four or book five, but it depends. Not to reveal or spoil too much, but my current plan involves focusing on the future heroes in book four and uniting them with the present-day heroes in book five. I've got a rough but finalized idea of how the rest of the series will go.

To anyone who doesn't remember from the first story, the runners are literally just zombie speedsters on Earth 14. I'll be explaining their origin and going a bit more into detail with them later in this story. Considering that this is an apocalyptic story, they are going to be occurring but for obvious reasons, they won't be the main threat.

Yes, Thanos and Godspeed are confirmed antagonists for this story. What did Thor say to Barry to make him feel so afraid? Well, keep reading and maybe you'll find out! Hope this was a good beginning.

Last but not least, the next chapter will be going over Loki and Thor's perspective of what happened from when they left Asgard to now. I realize that this implies Banner is still out there in space somewhere, but I'll cover what happened to him too. Due to Thor, Loki, and Banner all having been on Sakaar, let's just say that the events of Thor: Ragnarok happened, as they did in canon MCU, with them during the gap between book one and now of this series.

As usual, reviews would be very much appreciated, from comments to constructive criticism. Thank you all and Happy Thanksgiving!