Flashpoint Mayhem

by TrueHorror88

Another victory for the team, yet someone was unable to celebrate that and chose to make a world-shaking decision. Barry saved his mother from death, changing his past and his present, but it also affected others without him knowing. Seth and his family are just as affected, maybe more. The team faces newer threats, but they're not new to the Lethal Protector. They're threats.

2. Chapter 2: Paradox

And now another bedtime story for you wonderful readers out there!

I'm really, really sorry for the long wait. Been jumping back and forth between various responsibilities, so struggled a bit to finish this one. Sorry for it.

Once again, I hope you're all safe and sound, and healthy wherever you might be in the whole wide world. And please remember to still be cautious with human contact, everyone. We can beat this virus, together.

As mentioned before, there will be people with different personalities than their canon personalities. Same goes for feelings as well.

Speaking of the Canon universe, you guys watched the latest Flash episode, right? Really, really, really hope CW brings back Frost! She's innocent and doesn't deserve to be in jail for life! She's a great person! Caitlin Snow needs her sister!

CW give her sister back!

… Sorry just had to let that out…

Hope you guys have been keeping up with the Marvelverse. I finished Falcon and The Winter Soldier, it's an epic series. Hope you guys saw the latest trailer for Venom: Let There be Carnage. It was awesome.

Thanks for all the reviews and the messages you've sent me… It's incredible and keeps me going.

Now to answer some reviews:

Zane214252: Glad to hear that mate. Can't say anything about his child yet.

Starpottergeek: Thank you, I will. Thanks for sticking around for round 3.

War Sage: Thank you, and just so you can look forward to it, there's gonna be some interesting changes introduced in the story, I promise.

Jason Hunter: Glad to hear that. Means a lot.

Guest: That'd be a pretty good guess, honestly… or is it?

Red Eyes. B God: Happy to hear, more will come, promise. And regarding smacking Barry, only time will tell, unfortunately.

flashwolf: I am really happy to hear that.

guest: Unfortunately, I'm not telling anything.

Guest: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting.

So, without further ado… ENJOY!

Chapter 2: Paradox

The jukebox in the back of the diner played soothing music. Everyone in the small diner enjoyed a piping hot meal consisting of steaming eggs and crispy bacon. Most of the customers enjoyed their breakfast meals with freshly brewed hot coffee.

People sat by the counter, practically devouring their meals in earnest, like they're sitting in front of their first meal after a long journey through the desert without water or food. Some of them even downed their beverages in an instant, spilling all over of themselves in their hasty process to eat their food.

But in front of both Seth Fury and Jay Garrick, neither of their plates have been touched and remained as such as the mutant explained everything to the elder speedster, explaining everything about the timeline that Barry created.

Jay was in a mix of emotions. Parts of him seemed to show understatement whilst other parts of him displayed clear disappointment upon hearing of the Scarlet Speedster's actions. But he didn't show any disdain for the speedster.

That was the exact opposite of the emotions that Seth's showing. On his face, he's showing clear and utter disdain for The Flash of Earth-1. The mutant didn't hold a single ounce of care for him anymore. Not after what he's done, and so carelessly. "So, what do you think?"

"Let me get this straight." Jay started, as he surmised everything in his head. Seth struggled not to chuckle, seeing as speedsters are able to gain knowledge quicker than most and also retain it longer than normal humans. "Barry ran back in time. Travelling back to the day of his mother's death, stopping Reverse-Flash from killing her, and then he lived in this new timeline where both his parents were alive."

"Flashpoint, is what Thawne called the timeline, yeah." Seth nodded his confirmation. "And from what I can gather, Barry restored the timeline."

"I get that… But Seth, mind explaining your part again?" Jay felt like he struggled to understand the mutant's part in this.

Seth exhaled before repeating. "After you ran to Earth-2 with Harry and Jesse, so they could help you back to Earth-3, and we sent off my sister and Matt to Earth-616, the rest of us celebrated everything back at the Wests' house. But as we just enjoyed ourselves…" He gritted his teeth in pain.

"Something wrong?" Jay expressed his concern when he saw the mutant hold his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a headache or something." Seth admitted while rubbing his forehead. "I just keep getting headaches like this when I think back to that night is all." Shaking off his head, he continued his explanation. "As I was saying, we celebrated and suddenly Zoom, or whatever the fuck that zombie speedster was, kidnapped my daughters and me and took me away."

"What happened next?" The elder speedster asked.

"I was inside of a thunderstorm thing, and I met a Time Wraith." Seth explained. "It was like when I made my deal with the Speed Force before, and they gave me another job."

"Keep an eye on Barry." Jay deduced.

"Yeah, I was watching that moron frolicking around Flashpoint for three months, and he didn't give a single crap about me and my family."

Jay watched the mutant clench his fists so hard they were turning white. "You know that's not the case."

"Jay, I was there." Seth argued. "I watched Barry enjoying his little happy life out there in his life, not caring about the fact that he could have erased me and my daughters when he created that timeline."

The elder speedster didn't address it but unlike before, prior to the last three months, the mutant was now completely devoid of any trust or friendship he had for the Scarlet Speedster. He could see it in his eyes, clear as day.

That scared Jay a bit.

Scared him enough to change the subject. Jay inhaled slowly. "Seth, what happened to your daughters?"

"I don't know." Seth shook his head, tears in his eyes from the memory of seeing his daughters being taken from him and Caitlin. "For all I know, they're on another mission right now, just like I am. Forced to do the Speed Force's bidding."

"Maybe not." Jay confused the elemental. "While we might both be speedsters, Barry and I that is, I do possess far more experience and also more knowledge of the Speed Force than Barry does."

"Then maybe you could explain why the Speed Force, which hands out superspeed to whoever they want, bad or not, is asking me to run errands for it while holding my daughters God knows where." Seth asked with rage in his tone.

"The first one, I don't know about. Perhaps the Speed Force sees something in you, and needs you to do it." Jay affirmed. "But I don't think the Speed Force is sending your daughters somewhere… I believe they're being held inside of the Speed Force itself."

"How? What makes you think of that?" Seth asked, the teary surfaces in his eyes evaporating from his eyes when an immense heat emitted from his body.

"Like you, they're not speedsters." Jay started. "Chances are that the Speed Force is holding your children inside of it, protecting them like a bomb shelter, keeping them alive from timeline changes. They must have thought of that for you as well, but instead gave you these missions."

"I remember something similar happening to Thawne when he suddenly showed up in Central City despite his ancestor Eddie killing himself to get rid of him." Seth recalled the adventures that Caitlin and the team had been on while he was venturing through Earth-2.

"Same principle must have been applied here, Seth." Jay said. "Your daughters are safe and sound inside of the Speed Force itself."

"That's your theory?" Seth asked.

"It's what I hope." The speedster admitted.

"I hope so too, honestly." Seth confessed. "Something I still don't understand about this entire thing."

"What?" Jay asked.

"Me." He started. "I don't get it. I fulfilled my deal with the Speed Force and now… They kidnap me and make me do missions for them. I don't get what's so damn interesting about me that an multiversal element wants to bother with someone like me."

"Maybe it's something to do with your deal." Jay asked.

"Maybe…" Another question appeared in the mutant's mind. "Jay, you say you know more about the Speed Force and speedsters. Does that include timeline changes and manipulations as well?" He asked.

"I'd like to think so yes." The metahuman answered. "Why do you ask?" He inquired while taking hold of his mug and sipped on his coffee.

"The changes on the timeline… Ever since I arrived on Earth-1, I've been changing it completely and constantly, every change that's happened since I've been there as Venom… Will they exist or are they completely gone?" He asked.

Seth dreaded the thought of Caitlin no longer loving him. Of his friends no longer knowing him… Of his daughters no longer seeing him as their father…

Jay understood why he asked that and said. "No, I don't think they're gone." Seth looked up again, this time with hope in his eyes. "I think somehow, the Speed Force could have taken those changes, secured them and maybe place into the timeline again when you reenter Earth-1."

"Another theory? Or hope?" Seth asked skeptically.

"Bit of both." Jay admitted honestly.

"So, the Speed Force might just copy-paste all my changes into the timeline…" Seth couldn't help but laugh at the irony. Even though the Speed Force punishes speedsters who manipulate the timeline, the multiversal element has no problem with manipulating the timeline itself. "Great.

"But you know why you were brought here? To Earth-3?" He clarified his question.

"No, I don't." Seth confessed. "Another Speed Force errand, I'm guessing."

"Well… Since you're here anyway." Jay chuckled. "How about I bring you back to my base of operations after we eat? I'll show you around and maybe you could try and relax." He picked up his cutlery, about to dig into the food before him. "Eat. The corned beef hash is the best you're ever gonna have."

"Fine." Seth picked up his own cutlery. "But just so we're clear, Garrick…"

As he raised a fork to his mouth with a piece of beef hash on it, Jay faced him and saw the look on Seth's face. The sight made him gulp in fear and his hand shook.

Seth showed a wickedly dark expression, completely devoid of feelings whatsoever. "Unless I'm able to confirm my daughters are safe, I won't be able to relax. And if proven otherwise…"

"Then what?" Jay shakily asked.

Somehow the expression on Seth's face darkened even further. "Then I'm gonna do everything in my power to annihilate the very thing that gives Barry and you your powers… even if it kills me."

The piece of beef hash fell off the fork, landing back on Jay's plate with a thud.

Seth Fury declared to kill the Speed Force… Even if it meant Barry and every other speedster lost their powers in the process…

Jay, for once, feared for Barry's life right now…

X

(Earth-1, S.T.A.R. Labs)

After successfully stopping a robber from getting away with stolen jewelry, Barry returned smilingly to S.T.A.R. Labs to share his victory with his team.

Inwardly he expected and hoped to find Seth actually.

"What kind of idiot still thinks I can't outrun bullets?" Barry asked while wearing a wide smile, entering the Cortex to meet the others.

Wally walked to him with a hand raised for a high-five. "That guy should be the criminal poster boy for what not to do against The Flash."

Barry high-fived the former racer. "So, what are we gonna call him?" He asked him.

"You mean, like, a nickname?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, Cisco does it for all of them." Barry pointed to the viber who remained silent. "He's like the master of it." Iris, Caitlin and Cisco gave him strange looks, like Barry didn't know what was going on between them. "Can't just call him "Suspect on a motorcycle." What do you think?" He directed to Cisco. Joe joined the others, giving his speedster son a strange look.

"I don't know." Cisco shook his head.

"I'll take this one." Barry took off his gloves. "Uh, "The Crook"?" They didn't seem approving of that look. "Lame. That five-fingered-"

"How about, "Thief."" Cisco cut the speedster off. He faced him with a dry look, completely emotionless. "He robs stuff. Let's just call him, "Thief."" He started walking to the exit. "Gotta get to the gym. Excuse me."

Caitlin gave him a sympathetic look as he left the Cortex. She wanted to go with him, be supportive to what he's going through. But as she thought about helping him, she felt a sudden hollowness inside of her. Her hand moved to her stomach, stroking it caringly for some unknown reason.

She couldn't understand it.

"The gym?" Barry said in surprise, snapping the doctor out of her trance. "What, is he, like, working out now, or…" He asked her.

Giving him an incredulous due to his rudeness, Caitlin stood up and stated bluntly. "You know, Barry, sometimes your jokes just aren't very funny."

"Caitlin, wait." Barry stopped her.

"What?" Caitlin asked, hoping it wasn't any more of the speedster's rudeness.

"Have you seen Seth around?" He asked slowly.

Her heart ached at the name, intensifying the emptiness inside of her heart. "What… Who…" She struggled to form words, akin to the person she was in Flashpoint. Caitlin felt the emptiness inside of her, slowly wrap around her heart entirely. "I'm sorry, I gotta go." Caitlin left the Cortex, walking out of the facility.

Barry gulped in increasing fear. He turned around and faced Iris who got up and announced. "I should get back to the paper."

"It's okay." Joe shot up to his feet. "I was just leaving."

"Hey, guys. Hey, Joe, look, hey, I'm sorry." Barry stopped them both. "Look, I know you guys aren't speaking to each other right now." The father and daughter looked at each other. "But I was just thinking maybe we could talk about… Why that is, for a minute." He said, hoping he'd be able to fill the blanks in his knowledge so he could better solve this problem.

All three Wests shook their heads disapprovingly. "No. No, we can't." Iris started. Joe looked away in disagreement.

"Dude." Wally sneered, trying to prevent Barry from jumping into this ocean with hungry sharks.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Look, I'm sorry." Barry said. "I just thought, I don't know, maybe it would be good for you guys. Just to heart it said out loud."

Iris pointed a finger at the detective. "This is because of what he did, Barry. Not me."

Joe gave his daughter an apologetic look. "Iris…"

"What?" Iris faced her father. "What could you possibly have to say?"

Joe exhaled deeply and shakily. He neared his speedster son. "I'll just see you at the station, all right? Nice job with, um, "Thief."" He walked past him.

"Uh, give me a lift to CCU?" Wally asked his father quickly before he left.

"Sure." Joe accepted.

Barry snapped around, turning to Wally before he walked out of earshot. "So, you're still taking engineering classes?"

Wally gave him a look like he has two heads. "Yeah."

"Yeah. Cool. All right, well, good luck with that." Barry told the younger West who moved away with her father.

Turning back to the reporter who asked him. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Barry shook his head.

"Are you trying to make me as mad at you as I am at him?" Iris asked.

"No, no. Look, I'm sorry." Barry assured her. "I… Guess I don't fully understand why you're so upset at him." He hoped he'd be able to get an explanation with this question.

She sighed. "Then maybe you shouldn't bring it up again."

"Yeah." Barry said, even though he hated how he couldn't seem to find Seth anywhere.

"How about we talk about us instead?" Iris changed the subject.

""Us"" Barry smiled. "You mean, you and me, like, trying this thing?" He asked for assurance, gesturing to the two of them.

Iris chuckled at that question. "I just thought with everything that's happened lately, and everything that you've been through, I wanted to make sure that you still felt the same."

"Well, Iris, I did what you said." Barry started, not noticing the confusion on the reporter's face. "I went where I needed to go, I did what I needed to do. And I'm ready." Inwardly, he still put finding Seth and his family as a high priority.

"I never told you to do that." Iris stated.

"Yeah, no you did." He reminded her of their talk. "Right there, on the porch, right after we beat Zoom, right before…" He purposely trailed off, so she'd connect the dots herself and remember their kiss.

But unfortunately, Iris didn't remember something she never did… Something Barry would come to realize in this timeline that made.

X

(Earth-3)

Seth followed Jay Garrick and they entered a tall building and they both entered an elevator. After the elder speedster pressed the keys on the panel on the wall, he waited as the lift elevated itself to the base that's on the higher floor.

Leaning against the wall behind him, Seth crossed his arms and asked. "Your base is on top of this building?"

"It is. Better vantage point than on the ground." Jay faced him. "Forgive the lack of cleanness, it's practically the first time I've used this thing." He gestured to the dirty and dusty interior of the elevator. "I usually run up to my base."

"Understandable." Seth accepted. Though he did run a finger across the railing, gathering up dust on the tip of his finger. "Ever thought about hiring a professional cleaner? Think the entire building could use some TLC."

"We both know hero-ing isn't exactly a job that pays the bills." Jay quipped.

"Jay… About before…" Seth noticed the speedster tensing up like he feared having this conversation. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that before."

Jay shook his head, facing the elemental as they neared the secret base. "I don't understand your feelings, Seth. After all, I'm no father. I don't know what it's like to have kids. You have those feelings of anger, of rage, because you feel like your family's been torn apart by someone you called a friend. I can't pretend to either know or understand your feelings."

"Thanks for understanding that, at least." Seth gratefully told the speedster.

"It's hard not to hate that annoying, selfish prick after everything he's done." Venom stated in his host's mind.

"But then again, I don't know what it's like to lose your father and then also meet his doppelganger. That might throw you for a big loop."

Jay's words made the elemental snap his eyes wide open and face him with shock. "You knew? How?"

The metahuman chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "After his not-so-subtle reaction when Barry first met me, Harry told me all that happened with Zoom, his mother and his father."

"Including that you're Henry's doppelganger." Seth said.

"Yup. After that I thought I'd keep my eye on him for a bit." Jay gestured to the elemental with a chortle. "And to my surprise, I got you instead."

"Unlucky you." Seth chortled back. "Though it's better you keep an eye out for that annoying speedster than me. I'd probably throw his ass into a containment cell than anything else."

"I believe that." Jay admitted just as the elevator let out a chime. "We're here." The doors slid to the sides and the two walked into the place.

Seth took in the place. It was similar to a laboratory with windows at every side, looking over the city. He saw vials around him and other equipment, like monitors and other technological equipment used for surveillance. To the side he saw a mannequin with the speedster's suit on it. "Looks you're taking after Barry on that displaying suit thing."

"I'm older than him, and you, so he's the one taking after me." Jay mock defended as he walked over to a table and placed a Florence flask inside of a laboratory refrigerator. "So do you have any idea of what to do next?"

"Nope." Seth said while examining nearby flasks with chemicals in them. "Mind if I stick around with you?"

"Course not, stay as long as you want to." The metahuman assured him.

"Thanks, and hopefully I'm not here too long so you'll have your place back again." Seth told him.

"I don't mind you hanging around." Jay assured him. He looked to face the mutant and saw him looking at an empty ornate photo frame. "Something wrong with that one, Seth?"

"Nah…" Seth held it in his hand. "I just have a similar one back home… Just with a photo of me, Cait and our girls."

Jay could see him missing his family. The speedster didn't know what to say to him. Right now, he didn't think there were any words he could say to help ease his pain.

X

Caitlin Snow turned the keys to her apartment loft, opened the door and walked into her home. As she stepped into her home, she, like all the other times, couldn't believe she even got this place.

Her loft is a warehouse loft divided into two floors. The ground floor consisted of a kitchen underneath the staircase that led to the upper floor. A dinner table was near the cooking area. A nice little table with recliner chairs and couches near the staircase. There's also a small hallway which shows the way to the toilet and a room on the side which leads to a large bedroom which by all definitions could be classified as the master bedroom. The bedroom had a double bed and cabinets beside it as all was a wardrobe. The second floor has a bathroom and a door leading into a bedroom. Additionally, there are two more bedrooms which don't really serve any purpose right now.

She couldn't understand why she got this place. After all, she's always alone in this big loft all by herself. And worst of all…

For a long time now, whenever she'd walk into her home, she'd feel a strange sense of weirdness accompanying her confusion from her accommodation. Along with the emptiness she'd feel within her stomach, she'd also feel an empty coming from being in this place alone. Those two voids combined scared her, and she didn't like it.

"What is going on…" She rubbed her head and her stomach at the same time.

"Cait!"

Suddenly a burst of warmth and love exploded in her, showering over her heart and made her snap around with a wide smile. But facing the direction of that voice, she found nothing and no one looking back at her. Her smile fell and she gulped in fear when the emptiness intensified, like that singular feeling is trying to hollow her out from the insides.

The bioengineer breathed heavily, panting rapidly just as hard. She leant against the back of the couch. "God what's happening to me?" Subconsciously, she slid down the back of the couch and landed on the floor. Her hands ran over her face, intermingling with her hair and running her fingers through her long hair.

Her face was full of despair and horror and terror. A sea of negative and horrifying emotions drowned not only her heart but also her mind.

She looked up and for a brief second… She saw four other people in the apartment with her…

One young girl with long brown hair with pink streaks… One young girl with bleached-blonde hair… One young girl with long red hair… and a man with brown spiked hair….

"Who… Who are they?" She asked herself.

X

Caitlin Snow wasn't the only person in Central City to have strange mental conditions.

Ever since last night, Edward Clariss had been having strange mentally encounters with a cloaked man. And that wasn't all. He'd hear his voice call out his name, awakening him from his sleep. He'd call out the man who called out for his name, but wouldn't get a name back.

He'd only get an instruction. "It's time to wake up!"

And followed by that, he'd see a name etched into whatever surface he could find.

"ALCHEMY"

That wasn't all. With the sight of that name etching into surfaces around him, he'd also get strange visions, memories even from another life. A life where he donned an obsidian-black demonic suit and had speed, running as fast as The Flash. But only he'd be standing on the other side of him, standing before him as his enemy.

Edward pleaded for the visions to stop, shouting at the top of his lungs. And then he'd hear another instruction from the voice, from Alchemy… To seek him out.

Having no other choice or any idea of what else to do, he listened to the voice and chose to find Alchemy. And it didn't take him long. Edward followed the voice, following its instructions and walked into the underground of the city.

Edward walked down the stairs and entered a sanctuary-like place that is an abandoned subway station. He looked to the side, seeing a group of cloaked individuals kneeling around a monolith with an open section in it.

He quickly realized that the cloaked men were praying to an altar. The one in the middle of the huddling cloaked men perked his head up, standing back on his feet and turned around. Edward gulped at the sight of his mask, which looked to a combination of a gas mask and a plague doctor mask.

"I am Alchemy." The cloaked man introduced himself to Edward in an echoing and distorting voice.

"I have visions… of another life." Edward stammered. "Please make them stop."

"Is that what you really want?" To make the visions stop? Alchemy questioned him. "Or do you want them to come true?" Edward widened his eyes. "To be fast again? To have speed?"

Even though they were only visions of that other life… Edward could practically taste the Speed Force that coursed through his veins in those visions. The feeling of the air, of the wind on his face… The feeling of the ground as his feet lifted him up, pushing him forward… The lightning, it's power and its electricity pumping through his veins… crackling through him… travelling to every nerve in his body… like a shock…

"Yes." He answered without hesitation.

"Do you want that other life?" Alchemy inquired.

Nodding excitedly, Edward affirmed his decision. "That's what I want."

Alchemy nodded slowly. "Once again you will have power… and no man will be your rival!"

Edward Clariss laughed manically….

The Rival will run again…

X

Yesterday certainly wasn't great for Barry Allen, that's for sure.

He learned various things yesterday. Aside from the fact that he's kissed Iris West twice and managed to have erased both times from existence, he also learnt why Joe and Iris didn't talk together anymore and also why Cisco hated him.

Barry got a scolding by Joe for trying to get them to talk together, even though he knew that she wasn't talking to him because the detective held back the fact that her mother was alive the entire time from her. That confused Barry because in the past timeline she had already forgiven him for that, which he accidently let out.

Joe finished his scolding of his adoptive son and the two walked into the CSI lab, where Barry was introduced to his co-worker, who didn't exist in either of the previous timelines, Julian Albert, metahuman CSI specialist.

The speedster was also introduced to the skin husks which have been found around the city, another problem this city faces which he is unfamiliar with. Very bluntly so, he learnt from Julian that the husks are thought to be attached to metahumans. Joe had the two of them working together, handing them a sample of the fourth husk.

But Julian didn't seem to need or want Barry's help…. He doesn't like Barry very much, which was impossible to understand for some.

Afterwards he learnt why Cisco was hardly talking to Barry. A visit to the gym, where a grief support group session took place, and the speedster learned that the viber lost his brother, Dante Ramon, in this timeline. Cisco didn't want the speedster there, leading him to the exit.

And a visit to Star City revealed that Team Arrow has also been affected by his time travel. John Diggle in the previous timeline, had a daughter, Sarah Diggle. But his meddling with time caused her to be erased from existence and now have a son, John Diggle Junior.

And now, as this new day began, Barry had to go to work with Joe. As the other members of the CCPD canvassed the crime scene, keeping civilians away, the two walked along the shore of the body of water and closed in on the spot with the fifth husk.

Joe saw Julian already hard at work, crouched by the husk. "Julian," he got his attention. "I thought you could use some help on this one." He gestured to Barry who walked behind him, making the CSI expert visibly frown. "You know, the two heads things and all."

He turned back to his open briefcase. "I don't need any help, Detective. Especially from him." Julian glanced at Barry before returning to his work, examining the fifth husk.

Barry crouched down and watched as Julian cut into the husk. "What is that?"

"Another epidermal husk, Allen." Julian answered, his voice laced with annoyance. He looked at the piece of the husk, holding it in front of his eyes with his pincers. "A fully intact human pelt comprised of nothing but the stratum corneum." He saw the confusion on Barry's face and faced Joe. "You see what I mean?" He nodded to the secret speedster's cluelessness.

Pointing to the husk Barry asked. "Do we have any theories as to what's causing them?"

"Well, I'll take a wild guess at it." Julian sarcastically said. "And say it's the same thing that created the last four husks."

Barry rolled his eyes while Julian placed a small sample container in his briefcase. "Spalling could be caused from toxic epidermal necrolysis or maybe some kind of moist desquamation from intense radiation exposure. We've had a lot of-"

"Radioactive metas, yes." Julian interrupted him. "Thank you, Allen. I read all the case studies." Barry scoffed. "I'll tell you what. When I figure it out, I'll enlighten you then, shall I?"

"Thanks." Barry quipped and put his sunglasses on. He stood up and whispered to Joe. "How have I worked with this guy for the past year?"

Joe rubbed his nose. "Yeah, you say that all the time."

"I'm sure I do." Barry quipped.

Turning back to Julian, the detective inquired. "Julian, are you certain that Barry can't take a sample or something to speed things along?"

"Ah…" Julian stood up. "I'm sure, detective. Quite sure." He adamantly said and returned to his case.

Barry shared a look with Joe who nodded. No one looked in their direction, allowing the speedster to quickly snatch a sample of the husk for himself to examine at S.T.A.R. Labs.

The two walked away and Joe said. "You might want to get that to S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Yeah." Barry nodded.

X

(Earth-3, Jay's Headquarters)

Sitting on the edge of the tall building that houses Jay Garrick's base of operations, Seth looked over the city of Central City of Earth-3 with narrowed eyes. He felt the wind blow over his face, causing his hair to wave and his trenchcoat to flap.

Yesterday he cleaned himself up and returned everything about his appearance to its previous state, his real self. He pulled off the forest-green lenses, crushing them in his hand and looked at the city with his azure-blue eyes. Using the water element coursing through his veins, he washed off the blonde dye he put in his hair and his hair returned to his natural brown state, maintaining his spiked form.

With the help of his symbiotic partner's help, he changed his clothes and returned to his previous style. He put on an open dark hoodie with a white shirt under it. He clad his lower half in blue pants. After retrieving the item from his partner's pocket dimension, he returned to wearing the brown suede leather trenchcoat that he received as a present from Iris West from Earth-2.

Clenching his left hand, Seth forced a smile. "Feels good to be back again."

But as those words left his mouth, he turned his eyes to his right hand and flipped the three dog tags around with his fingers, the chain that connected the three intertwining between his fingers. With a heavy heart he turned one at random, and read it out loud, though no one could hear him from his current position.

"Frankie Fury, the Magenta of our hearts."

Seth bit his lower lip, his teeth almost breaking the skin and threatening to expel blood. He missed his daughter with all of his heart. He missed her and his other daughters so much. The thought of them all together, the memories of them all together, returned to the front of his mind and he felt tears sting his eyes.

Together the three of them hold up a special place in his heart… in Caitlin's heart…

At the thought of the woman he loves, he flipped over another tag and read the engravings.

"Caitlin Snow, the Cure to the Venom…" He swallowed heavily and his hand shook while repeating the engraving his head. The tears escaped his eyes, trailing down his cheeks and landing on his thighs.

"Does she even miss u-"

"Don't think like that." Venom interrupted his thoughts. "You can't let yourself think those thoughts, Seth. If you do, you'll drown in them and they'll swallow you whole without giving you a chance to escape."

"Sounds like you're describing a bottomless swamp pit." Seth told his "other" who didn't respond, forming a serious expression in his head. "When you'd become a philosopher like that, Venom?"

"We're stuck with you all day, dummy. We gotta learn to kill time somehow." Venom answered honestly.

The mutant raised his left arm, using the sleeve to wipe away tears. As soon as his arm left his face, more tears quickly followed. "Really hopeless, aren't I?" He hated being away from his family so, so much. But the thought of his family not remembering him…

That hurt deeper than any knives could possibly drive into him.

"There you are." Seth turned his head and saw Jay walking towards him. "I saw that you hadn't unfolded anything I placed out for you yesterday." He referred to the sleepwear and attire he laid out for him. "What happened?"

"Couldn't sleep." Seth said while wiping away tears as best as he could. "But thanks for it anyway."

"Don't mention it." Jay walked up to the edge, close to the elemental's spot. He looked over the city from the tall spot. "I've actually never been up here, and take in this view. Pretty weird."

"Guess speedsters really don't take things slow and enjoy the moment." He quipped.

"We're not exactly known for that, no, Seth." The elder speedster agreed with a chortle. "What are those?" He nodded to the dog tags in his hands. "Never knew you served."

"I didn't." Seth held up the tags as he elaborated. "These are gifts Caitlin gave me for both Christmas and sometime after Frankie, she and I became a family. Gotta get some new ones too, for Ruby and Evelyn." He let out a hollow chuckle. "I haven't even had Christmas together with them, as a family."

"I'm sorry for that." Jay apologized.

"Don't worry…" Seth took a look at the speedster's attire and saw him wearing his suit. "You're wearing your suit."

"I'm going out soon, heard on the police scanner there's trouble with Boss Cold and Heat Slinger." The speedster put on his helmet, readying himself for another run.

"Boss Cold? Heat Slinger? What?" Seth asked with shock.

"A pair of criminals who're wielding guns, one projects highly concentrated combustible liquid fuel that ignites on contact with air, the other emits a substance that's similar to a white flame but it's-"

"Cold." Seth cut the speedster off. Jay nodded and the mutant stood up on the ledge. "Guessing these two criminals have names? Snart and Rory?" He had a feeling that'd it be Leonard Snart and Mick Rory again, the two elemental gun wielders on Earth-1.

"Yup." Jay confirmed.

"Need a partner?" Seth asked while his clothes shifted and morphed into black symbiotic matter.

Jay watched as the mass spread over his form, stretching over his body and enlarging his body. "Sure, would be nice to not work alone for once, after all."

"Good." His voice morphed till he stood in his full height. The mass crawled up, reaching his face and engulfed his head completely. White veins pulsated, spreading all over his body. White bone-like spikes shot out of his back, spiraling around his arms and dug into the back of his hands. the black oil-like skin on his face boiled and sizzled before the white skull extension erupted from it, covering his face. His blood-red eyes shined, and he growled into the open air.

Reaching behind him, Seth took hold of the handle that stuck out of his back like a budding flower from the ground. Pulling it out of his back, he revealed his multicolored crystal sword with a demon-like handle. "Let's go!" He jumped off the building, shooting out a tendril and swung into the city.

Jay chuckled, seeing as the elemental doesn't know anything about this city and yet still jumps head-first towards danger. He sped after him quickly.

X

(Earth-1, S.T.A.R. Labs)

While what happened yesterday is still in the forefront of her mind, Caitlin and Cisco obliged to Barry's request and examined the cell sample he got from the fifth husk that he found at the crime scene before. But she did feel uncomfortable being here with both Barry and Cisco, seeing as one wasn't keen on talking with the other one, who wanted to clear the air between them.

And she more than anything, wanted to focus on the feelings and the visions she saw in her home yesterday. Otherwise, she'd believe in the impossible and finally accept that ghosts exist and they're haunting her home.

Caitlin looked through her microscope, examining the slide with the piece of the cell sample on it. She changed the objective lens, looking through a different scope and declared. "You know there's really not that much here."

The speedster saw the monitor that showed the results of what she's looking at, showing the structure of the husk sample. "Yeah. No, I know it's basically touched DNA." He took a seat. "I had to steal a sample because our metahuman expert wouldn't let me take one."

Removing her eyes from the lens, Caitlin gave him a strange look. "Oh, you mean Julian Albert?"

"Yeah, you know him?" Barry asked in a tired manner.

Cisco and Caitlin shared a confused look. The viber answered. "Yeah. We've known him for a while. He's the best." He spoke sarcastically. "Um, you need me?" He directed to Caitlin.

"No." She shook his head. "I think I got this, but thank you."

"Okay." Cisco nodded before walking away.

Barry watched him away and hated that it felt like there was bad blood between them. Caitlin turned an eye to face the speedster. "Cisco told me you showed up to his bereavement group last night."

"Yeah, I did. He also tell you it didn't go so well?" Barry said.

Caitlin turned in the direction of the viber who walked away. "It's only been a few months since Dante was killed by that drunk driver. I'm sure he just needs a little bit more time."

While her explanation helped his confusion a bit, it didn't completely erase it. "Wait, but why is he so mad at me?" He asked her for clarification.

But she immediately shook her head. "Oh, no. I'm staying out of that." Caitlin took the sample and placed it on another table. "I got my own problems to fix."

"Caitlin, he'll barely look at me unless other people are in the room." Barry pleaded.

Caitlin explained. "Maybe it's just easier when the rest of us are around."

This was a long shot, but he had to try and fix things between them. "Do you think maybe you could convince him to come with you to my house for dinner tonight?"

"Why?" Caitlin worriedly asked.

"So, I can try to fix things between us." Barry answered. "Maybe between Joe and Iris, too. Just all of us together again in one room and try to work this out once and for all. Think you can do that?"

"I don't know, I have some stuff I have to take care of." Caitlin explained.

"Really?" He sounded shocked.

"Yeah." Caitlin answered, while inwardly annoyed by his sudden shocked state. "I'll see if I can get him to come, but I don't know I show up myself. I have to work on some problems of mine." Before she could let the emptiness return with a vengeance, she quickly asked. "But how are you gonna get Joe and Iris there?"

"I… I'll figure something out." He chuckled sheepishly. "But what problems do you have? Need a han-"

"Nope." She cut him off. "I'll see if I can get Cisco to come, but I have problems of mine I need to fix to be honest. It's better for me if I do it alone." Caitlin walked out of the room, determinant to try and figure out what those visions meant.

X

(Earth-3, Central City Museum)

GUNSHOT

What sounded like gunfire filled the entire air, echoing throughout Central City Museum of Earth-3. People screamed and hid behind whatever they thought could offer them protection from both bullets of fire and ice.

"Oh, calm down, ladies and gentlemen." The casual voice of Boss Cold, Lewis Snart told them as he walked into the lobby area. He was wearing a dark-blue suit. His feet are clad in black and white shoes. He tipped his fedora hat. His eyes covered by dark-tinted glasses.

He playfully pulled on the trigger of his highly advanced tommy gun, making the barrel emit a bluish shine. The drum magazine emitted a similar shine. The end of the tommy gun emanating whitish smoke. His gun whirring and the sight of it charging made the civilians around him scream.

"It's Central City after all, this can't honestly be your first robbery. Just calm down." Boss Cold told the screaming civilians. "Nowadays, people are so rude. You give them some advice and they won't cool down."

"Thought that was why we had these damn guns!" His partner bellowed like a heated animal. Heat Slinger growled in his suit that consisted of a ragged and charred red suit. His shoes are damaged and charred and dirty like this upper half. His eyes covered by dark-tinted glasses. "To cool them off or burn them to ash!"

He raised his own advanced tommy gun, which is of the same design but holds a red canister on the side of it and emits red light. Pulling the trigger, he projected a concentrated stream of flames into the air. The flames traveled through the air and connected with the dome-like skylight.

The glass heated incredibly quick; the glass shattered when reaching a high temperature as a result. Pieces of glass fell over the civilians. They covered themselves with their arms as best as they could, shielding themselves from the rain of glass shards.

"Slinger, cool off." Leonard ordered Dick Rory. "Dead people tell no tales, or give their money for that matter. I'm not gonna go stealing off corpses."

"I'm fine with that!" Heat Slinger laughed maniacally while swinging his gun around, whipping his flame stream all around, causing more people to scream in fear of being roasted alive.

Lewis scoffed his annoyance at his partner's impulsiveness. "Fine. But you burn anyone to ash, you get the money from their ashes!" He shouted over the surging flames. "I ain't dirtying my hands like that." He walked over to a glass display case with rare fossils. He smirked. "Whoever said old is outdated for our times, hasn't stolen these and sold them to the highest bidders yet."

Boss Cold raised his left arm, shattering the glass with his elbow. "Well, Dicky can have all the wallets he wants, while I sample some vintage relics." He picked up a piece from a fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex, taking in its form with admiration.

One of these sold at an auction would go for about 32 million. They'd be swimming in cash by the end of the week.

WHOOSH

The wielder of the Cold Gun turned shocked when a red blur with yellow lightning sped past him, snatching the fossilized relic out of his hand. Lewis watched the familiar blur speed to the civilians, getting them out of the way.

"Oh, come on!" Heat Slinger shouted his dismay, swinging his Heat Gun and trying to hit The Flash. But his flames didn't hit him, only contacting the sculptures and displays. His flames set them on fire. Dick Rory's attack came to a stop when a huge clawed pitch-black fist slammed into him, hurling him off the ground and into the receptionist desk.

Lewis snapped his eyes to face the owner of the hand, surprised to find a humongous demon-like being with a sword in his hand. Venom growled, stretching out his tongue. "You don't have your pass. Get out!" He bellowed.

"And what the hell are you?" Boss Cold turned his weapon on him.

Before he could pull the trigger, The Flash tackled him, sending him flying in the air before falling back down. Coming to a stop beside the elemental, Jay Garrick confidently announced. "My friend, Venom."

Dick snapped his eyes to the mutant while getting back on his feet. "Flask got a friend?! Since when?!" He shouted.

"Doesn't make that much of a difference." Lewis confidently grinned, charging his gun for empathize. "One friend or two doesn't make a difference."

"But it's more fun to watch them burn!" Dick snarled, pulling the trigger of his elemental gun and projecting a powerful stream of flames.

Wrapping his clawed fingers around Jay, Seth snatched the elder speedster and out of the way as the flames came towards them. Venom jumped into the air, landing on a display box. "Run on the walls, we'll crawl and jump."

"They'll just be shooting around the places, causing more destruction." Jay countered. "We have to do something eLSE!" He screamed out the last word when Seth suddenly began leaping off the wall, dodging a dual stream of ice and fire.

"Got any ideas?" Seth asked the metahuman in his hand.

Jay calmed himself down, a hand on his chest as he steadied his breathing. "Two sec… I'm not used to that kind of thing." He referred to the crazy leaping. Shaking himself to get rid of the residual feelings, he announced his plan. "We have to separate them."

Venom looked down, examining the two wielders. "You take the one with the fire gun, we'll handle the one with the ice gun."

"Alright." Jay nodded. The elemental released him and watched as the speedster ran alongside the walls before speeding towards Heat Slinger, picking him up and running away from this place.

"HEY!" Lewis Snart called out to the speedster who kidnapped his partner.

Landing on the ground before the gun wielder, Venom raised his sword, bracing it against his shoulder. "You're dealing with us…" He sneered.

"Bring it on, ugly!" Boss Cold pulled the trigger on his gun, projecting an ice blast at him.

The mutant dodged it, jumping out of the way and onto a wall before leaping off it again. He repeated this tactic, jumping from wall to wall, to dodge the various ice streams that came from Lewis Snart's gun.

Finally coming to a stop, Venom went on the offensive. He leaped off the wall he's on, raising his sword high up in the air before swinging it down like a mallet. Lewis jumped out of the way, rolling on the floor to dodge the incoming sword attack.

Crouching on the floor, Boss Cold fired off a cold blast. Using his sword as a shield, Seth blocked the ice beam and charged forward. When within arm's length, the mutant swung an adamantium and it slammed into the gun wielder.

Lewis groaned in pain upon collision with the shattered remains of the receptionist's desk. He looked up with a pained expression. Looking directly up, he saw that he's directly under a display of dinosaur bones. Briefly glancing in front of him, he saw Venom charging at him again.

Boss Cold pointed his Cold Gun directly up, pulling the trigger and shot a beam of white-ish flames at the dinosaur skull over his head. The entire skull quickly froze over, and it instantly fell off the rest of the skeletal display. Lewis rolled out of the way before it could fall on top of him.

Fortunately. it did land on top of Venom's head.

"Cool off, pal!" Lewis triumphantly smirked when he watched the frozen skull shatter upon collision with the elemental's head. "Now time to put you on ice, for good."

But that plan came to an end when Venom lashed out his left arm and split into dozens of tendrils. Each one of them attacked like striking snakes, ensnaring the criminal's arms and legs. As the gun wielder struggled and tried to free himself from the tendrils, a singular tendril wrapped around his elemental gun and kept it out of his reach.

"D- Damn you!" Boss Cold gritted his teeth.

"Can it." Seth clenched his fist before punching the criminal in the head, knocking him out. Assimilating his arm again, he held Boss Cold in his hand. "Let's hope Flash's doing well in his old age."

X

WHOOSH

Jay Garrick dropped off the other elemental gun wielder on the ground, sending him rolling. Heat Slinger growled ferociously, snapping around till he was crouched on the ground and raised his Heat Gun. Immediately, he pulled on the trigger and started swinging it left and right, shooting the flamethrower around without care.

The Flash came to a stop behind Dick Rory, who didn't see that and continued to spray his flames around. Flames started spreading and setting various exhibits ablaze. Prestigious paintings burned to ashes in an instant.

The speedster couldn't let that stand. Thrusting out his arms, he spun them around incredibly quickly and created two vortexes of wind. As he spun them in the right direction, the oxygen was sucked out and the flames quickly extinguished before they could spread further and burn anything else.

Dick snapped around and faced the Crimson Comet who lowered his arms after taking care of the flames. "Damn you, red leather pig!"

"Think it's about time someone taught you some manners." By example, Jay removed his helmet as he's indoors.

"Example?!" He screeched. "Here's a better one!" Heat Slinger fired off a flamethrower, aiming for the speedster.

Using a familiar move, Jay held his helmet in one hand while clenching his other into a fist. With the insides of the helmet pointing at the criminal, the Crimson Comet punched from the other side with supersonic speed. A warbling sound came over them, followed by a vibrational stream that came out of the helmet.

The flame stream and vibrational stream connected with one another, resulting in an explosion. Whilst the speedster managed to brace himself against the force of the explosion, keeping himself grounded and from falling, Dick Rory fell to the ground with a thud. His elemental gun fell out of his hand.

WHOOSH

Before Dick Rory could reach out for his gun, Jay sped to the gun and kicked it away. And before the criminal could get a chance to make another move, the speedster punched him in the face and knocked him out. "Learn your lesson in prison."

"Looks like the old dog still got some moves." Jay heard Venom cheekily say.

With a chuckle the speedster turned to him. "Never look down on your elders, Seth. There's a reason why we got more experience than you youngsters."

"Does he know he's talking like an old man?" Venom wondered.

Seth didn't hear the joke from his "other." his mind was elsewhere. Even though this fight was meant to help distract the mutant from his troubling thoughts of his family… Those thoughts quickly returned with a vengeance.

"Wonder if Caitlin is even missing something in her life." He asked himself…

He certainly is missing something in his life… Someone…

X

"What is missing?" Caitlin asked herself as she was sitting alone in her wide apartment loft. She's been sitting here alone by the kitchen counter by herself, biting her lower lip in thought. Her eyes were pointing downwards, peering deeply at the object in her hands.

When Cisco first experienced his strange visions from the other timeline that Barry erased, she and the viber devised a pair of goggles that would allow him to enter those visions via lucid dreaming. Back then they had to be a team and they'd guide him through his memories, using them to find out about Harrison Wells's true identity.

When they did make those goggles, the two also constructed a second pair in case Harrison Wells stole the first one if he were to get suspicious.

And now… Caitlin's holding that second pair in her hands. She turned around in her chair, facing away from the counter and raised the spare goggles up high. Better than anyone, she knew she shouldn't do this alone. She should be doing this in a controlled environment, where others could watch over her and make sure she's safe before, during and after doing this.

But she couldn't do this now, she couldn't bother the others. Right now, they're at the West house eating dinner and Barry was gonna try and repair everything between them. He wants to repair his friendship with Cisco, and at the same time, try and repair everything between Iris and Joe.

She had something of her own to deal with, but that was on hold for now…

First, she had to take care of these strange memories. Just like they did with Cisco, Caitlin prepared a glass of milk to help her out. Scientifically she couldn't see the point, but she chose to go through with it nonetheless. Taking it in her hand, she chuckled before downing the entire glass in one go.

Placing it back on the counter, she sighed deeply to ready herself. "The four of you… I'm gonna find out who you are now." She muttered to herself before raising the glasses and placed them over her eyes.

Back at the facility, she tweaked the glasses a little, so she wouldn't fall completely asleep. She'd enter a state between sleeping and being awake, allowing her to peer into the visions she sees around her in this apartment.

It'll be like she'll see herself in her apartment… but what she'll see is her apartment affected by those visions… Whatever they may be.

Another deep exhale, she pressed the side of the glasses, they released a whirring sound before the glasses turned white… and for a brief second, Caitlin felt like she's slowly slipping into a slumber and her eyes closed for a brief second.

When she opened them again… they snapped open at what she's seeing. The three young girls she saw before in her strange visions… they returned but were clearer this time. While they still remained in a blurry form, this time Caitlin could see them.

She stood up as she saw the blurry vision of the red haired girl with blue eyes wave her over, directing her over to the dinner table. "Who…" Caitlin trailed off in confusion. Nonetheless she followed the girl's instructions and got up from her chair, walking over to the dinner table.

Reaching the table, she saw the blurry visions of the other girls, both of them setting the table with plates and cutleries. Caitlin almost gasped when she saw the two smile at her caringly and lovingly. This time the doctor got the chance to see their faces. She noted that the brown-haired girl, like the red-haired one, also has blue eyes. The bleach-blonde girl has green eyes.

They're completely different from one another… Yet as they're setting the table, they're laughing and smiling widely in a familial way. As she watched them smile and laugh, Caitlin felt her heart warm up quickly and she felt… Love brimming in her heart.

"Why…" She asked herself whilst a smile formed on her mouth. Caitlin Snow had never seen these girls before in her life… but she felt like she knew them… like she loved them…

Her eyes snapped wide open when a blurry hand wrapped around her waist. She glanced at it before facing the source of the hand. Somehow her smile widened even more when she once again saw the man with spiked brown hair in a clearer image. He was smiling at her lovingly with warm blue eyes.

Though she's facing a blurry vision from her mind, she absentmindedly raised a hand to his face. Though it's nothing more than air she's touching, she felt as though she could feel his skin as she stroked the vision's cheek. Though she couldn't hear him or feel him, it's as though she can feel his lips when they kiss her hand and hear his words as he utters them in a love-filled voice.

… she could even envision the words…

"I love y-"

CHIME

Suddenly a chiming alert from her phone began blaring, interrupting the moment. Caitlin gasped in shock, almost tearing off her glasses after shutting them off and exhaled heavily. She placed a hand on her chest, breathing heavily to try and calm herself down. As she did so, she took in her surroundings and was saddened to see that she's indeed alone and without those blurry people again.

The doctor turned to her phone on the counter. Walking to it, she picked it up and saw that it was the metahuman alert app. The others must have gotten the same notification and she narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Speedster Spotted at Broadwalk…"

Caitlin faced the dinner table again. "I'll figure out who you guys are…" She said out loud, as though she's talking to those images once more.

But first, she had to help the city.

X

After a tremendously awkward dinner at the West house, Barry was actually happy to hear that there was a metahuman attack to get him out of that situation. He sped to S.T.A.R. Labs, putting on his suit and ran towards Broadwalk to face off against the latest metahuman threat.

WHOOSH

The Flash arrived at the scene, but paled in shock at the sight.

"Remember me, Flash?" The Rival, the evil speedster from Flashpoint, stated with his vibrating voice. He's fully clad in his demon-like suit, ready for another fight to prove that he has no rival.

Barry stammered. "Clariss?" He asked with a gulp. "Clariss?"

The Rival pulled off his mask. "Oh, do you remember, Flash. Good. Yeah." Edward Clariss stated in frustration, pointing a finger at himself. "Because I remember everything, too."

"How are you here?" Barry asked.

"It doesn't matter." Edward started. "You see what does matter is that I know your little secret." Barry listened carefully. "You changed the timeline. Because if I recall correctly, the only speedsters in my other life were me and that smart-ass Kid Flash. Until you showed up and stole everything from me."

Barry shook his head, denying his accusations. "I didn't steal anything from you, Clariss. I- I was just trying to put things back to the way they're supposed to be."

"This is how my life is supposed to be!" Edward screeched in rage. "For years I felt like something was missing. And now I know why."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do this to you." Barry apologized.

"Yeah, well, you did. And here I am." Edward smirked. "Your rival, back again." After putting on his mask, he spoke in a vibrating voice. "Believe me, Flash, this time, you're not gonna steal my life so easily." He took a running stance.

Barry mimicked that, taking a stance of his own.

WHOOSH

In an instant, the two speedsters ran away from each other, speeding into the big city that is Central City. They ran all over the city, running up the sides of humongous buildings, jumping off tall buildings. No matter what they were, they chased each other.

However, along the race, The Rival lost sight of The Flash, making the evil speedster peer from left to right. Just as he neared an intersection, the Scarlet Speedster appeared and tackled him. Because of the momentum Barry gathered around him, the force of the tackle was immense and sent Edward literally skipping through the city.

Coming close to the docks, Barry watched as Edward's body skipped on the asphalt before bouncing off the railing. Speeding to it, The Flash looked over the railings to try and find Edward Clariss. But he couldn't find him anywhere…

He was gone just like that.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

Standing in the Cortex, the team had gathered and heard of Barry's fight with yet another evil speedster. That note didn't sit so well with the detective who groaned. "We finally get rid of Zoom and there's another evil speedster?"

"Who is this guy now?" Wally asked Barry.

Caitlin jumped in. "I can help you with that." She stood by the console, bringing up the results of her latest scans. "I finally got the results back from the tests I ran on the husk that Barry gave me this morning and it's weird because there's no traces of dark matter, but there are traces of the Speed Force." Along the results, she also brought up the DNA profile of a man.

"And that's the husk from this speedster?" Joe wanted clarification.

"Appears so." Caitlin nodded. "His name is-"

"Edward Clariss." Barry cut her off, getting confused eyes from everyone in the Cortex.

"And somehow Barry is exactly right." Caitlin asked with narrowed eyes, just as she brought up the profile of said speedster on the monitors.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Iris asked, getting up from the chair.

"Yeah." Barry nodded. The two moved into the corridors.

Caitlin kept narrowing her eyes in confusion and in skepticism.

She had a feeling that the speedster knows more than he's letting on.

X

As soon as the speedster moved into the hallway with her, Iris showed her phone screen. Barry looked at the phone, seeing it displaying the conversation between him and the Rival who's not wearing his mask and showing his real face to the Scarlet Speedster.

"S.T.A.R. Labs isn't the only one with access to the city's security cams." Iris told him matter-of-factly. Barry inhaled deeply. "It's pretty obvious that this guy knows you. You want to tell me what that's about?" He struggled to find an answer. "This is why you've been acting so weird lately, trying to get me and my dad talking again, tricking all of us into dinner tonight. Because you're keeping something from us."

Barry didn't say anything, still struggling to find the right words to answer the love of his life.

"You need to tell me what is going on, Barry. Right now." Iris demanded. "And if you lie to me…" She added as her voice broke. She inhaled sharply and clarified her conditions. "This thing between us, it cannot happen."

She was tired of him withholding the truth… from them all…

This time he had to tell the truth otherwise they'd be stuck in the same spot and never move on…

"I'm sorry," Barry exhaled. "I did this, all of this." He gestured to the Cortex. "It's my fault and I've been trying to fix it, but I think that there's only one way to do that now." Barry knew what he had to do, no matter what the consequences this time. "I'm sorry, Iris."

He had to change it again…

WHOOSH

Iris gasped as he suddenly sped away, running into the city and running at full speed. The Flash ran into the Speed Force again, entering the tunnel that leads into time itself.

X

"Argh!" Seth groaned when he felt another painful sensation from lighting crackling in his eyes. This time, the pain was so intense that he ended up staggering… and even Venom began screaming in absolute pain inside of him.

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Venom screeched, tendrils shooting out of the mutant's body and lashing around. Uncontrollably, his clothes shifted and turned into black. The mutant's elements roared chaotically, emanating violently from his body.

"Seth?!" Jay shouted out to the elemental when he reentered his base of operations. He didn't understand what's going on with him. After they handed off the two criminals to the CCPD, they returned to the speedster's headquarters. He walked away for a moment to get them some water and newspapers. Then he returns, dropping all of his things on the floor, and he sees Seth roaring, staggering like a crazy person, with all of his powers going haywire.

But what shocked him was that he's covering his eyes with both hands. Through the gaps between his fingers, he saw an unbelievable amount of blood soaking his hands and dripping down to the floor. "Seth!" Jay rushed to his side.

Seth lashed out a hand, split in the middle between being enveloped by his symbiote and showing its normal state. But the half that's showing his hand's normal state is soaked in blood. The speedster stopped in response to the hand, like it was an order.

Turning to face the speedster with one eye, almost completely red with blood still leaking from it, Seth ordered him. "Barry… Time travel… Find him!"

Jay was confused, but he then saw multicolored lightning crackling violently on the surface of his bleeding eyes. "The Speed Force want-"

"Quickly!" Seth shouted, removing his other hand and showing both of his bleeding blue eyes. "Take me with you! Now!" He demanded with even more lightning sparking in his eyes, causing more blood to leak from them.

He didn't question it… "Alright."

WHOOSH

The speedster put on his suit and ran off with the elemental after grabbing him.

X

(The Motorcar Diner)

Barry was confused. He ran into the Speed Force again, focusing on the night of his mother's murder again and going to travel back in time to prevent her death again in hopes of repairing everything he's done. As he was running through time, focusing on that night, he was suddenly yanked out of the time tunnel by a pair of hands.

He was sent rolling on the ground and stopped, facing, to his shock, Jay Garrick, The Flash of Earth-3….

He noticed his suit having fresh blood stains and also lightly bloodied hands but no wounds on them.

Jay demanded a talk with him, giving the Earth-1 speedster a change of clothes before the two speedsters moved into an old-fashioned diner. Barry looked around in confusion. "Where are we?"

The elder speedster placed his hands in his pockets, hiding his bloodied hands. "The Motorcar Diner in Central City." He answered with a smile.

Noticing a jukebox in the background and an old television, Barry clarified his question. "Yeah, I meant what year."

"In 1998." He smirked. Jay led the two of them to a nearby table. Sitting at the counter was a man with a pair of tinted sunglasses, who shared a look with the elder speedster who sent him a discreet nod. "You want to get something to eat?" Jay asked the other speedster who took his seat. "Because I'm starved. The corned beef hash here is the best I've ever had."

As the elder speedster took a tissue from the tissue holder on the table to clean his hands, Barry inquired. "That's why you pulled me out of the Speed Force? To buy me a meal?"

Cleaning his hands, Jay stated. "No, because you were about to reset the timeline again after screwing it all up." Barry paled in shock, his face dropping. "Oh yeah, I know about that."

"How did you-"

Jay cut him off, throwing away the tissue he used. "After your not-so-subtle reaction when you first met me, Harry told me all that happened with Zoom and your mom and your dad." It's the same answers he gave the elemental. "So, I decided I'd keep my eye on you for a bit."

"He tell you anything else?" Barry wondered.

"He did. I'm your father's doppelganger. Sorry about that." He told the younger speedster.

"It's just… really weird." He admitted.

"And really sad, too, I'm sure." Jay added sympathetically. "Having a loss like that in your life, I see why you'd want to erase it. Who wouldn't try to save their parents? I understand that, Barry. Completely. But the thing is, there are consequences to time travel."

Barry had a tired look. "I have heard all of this before."

"Not from me, you haven't." Jay reminded him. "I'm not some doctor with a theory, Barry. I'm a speedster, like you, who's traveled in time and made these same mistakes you are making right now." He took the small cup in front of him. "Here, let me show you something."

Barry wasn't in the mood for another lecture. "You know what-"

"Humor me, kid." Jay stopped him, mostly on the account of Seth breaking his word and actually forcing the younger speedster to stay where he is. He raised the coffee cup. "This coffee cup, right here, think of it as the space-time continuum." Barry scoffed.

"Whenever you go back in time, it breaks." Jay vibrated his hand, causing a piece of the cup to fall off. "Now…" He picked up the piece. "You can reset the timeline, you can try to fix it," He tried to put the piece back in its place. "but no matter how hard you try," He managed to make it stick, but one could clearly see that it was struggling to fit back its place, as seen by the cracks. "it's never going to be exactly how it was."

Turning his eyes away from the cup, Barry leant forward and said. "Look, I've learned all this stuff that I didn't know before, okay? I'm not gonna make the same mistakes-"

"Mistakes." Jay stopped him, repeating the same word as him. "Yeah, what you just said right there, that is the paradox of time travel and also the paradox of life. I mean, "if only I knew then what I know now.""

"Why have these powers if I can't go back and fix what I broke?" Barry asked in annoyance.

His serious question made the elemental clench his hands by the counter. And it took all of his willpower and his strength to not jump out of his seat and drag the speedster out before finally beating him into a bloody pulp.

"We're not gods. We're men." Jay reminded the younger speedster. "Who for whatever reason, have been given extraordinary abilities." Unlike Barry, the elder speedster could feel the mutant's animosity and grew concerned "The question you need to ask yourself is," He leant back in his seat and crossed his arms. "what kind of hero are you going to be? Are you just going to take a do-ever every time you make a mistake? Or will you live with them and move forward?"

"It's gonna be hard." With regret plastered on his face, Barry ran his hands down his face. "You remember Seth, right?"

"Course I do. He saved my life after all." Jay admitted, which didn't help ease the other speedster's pain at all. "What about him?" He asked.

"He's not on Earth-1 anywhere. I looked all over Central City for him but he's not there." Barry admitted. "His daughters aren't there… and he wasn't in Flashpoint either. I'm really scared of what happened to him."

"Maybe…" Jay shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe something happened with the Speed Force." He suggested. "He did make a deal with a force of nature, after all." He added.

"You think that happened…?" Barry asked slowly.

"I think…" Jay bit his lower lip in thought. "It's time for you to go home and live with the mistakes you've made, Barry."

"What do I do about Seth?" Barry asked.

"I don't know, really." Jay admitted.

Barry knew he couldn't go anywhere with Jay's help now. He nodded his thanks and stood. In a flash, he ran out of the diner. As soon as that crackling lightning disappeared, Seth got up from the counter and took his seat.

"You crying?" Jay asked when he saw the mutant remove his glasses and take tissue to dry his eyes.

"No." Seth slowly opened his eyes, showing that both are crackling with multicolored lightning and with dried blood around his eyes. "Got my latest message from the Speed Force."

"Can't believe that's how they're giving you orders via lighting. But that doesn't explain the bleeding in your eyes." Jay stated.

Seth scoffed. "Actually, it makes perfect sense. I'm no speedster, so the lightning from it hurts me because I'm not a conduit of it." he tilted his head. "Though back in Flashpoint, they sorta gave me permission to use it on my own volition to open a gateway into this Earth. But this is how they contact me."

"What they'd say then?" Jay inquired worriedly.

The elemental confessed… slowly.

And he hoped that this mission would be the last one from the Speed Force.

X

(Earth-1, S.T.A.R. Labs)

Cisco nudged Caitlin's shoulder in an attempt to get her attention. She's been silent this entire time and hasn't been participating at all in the conversation. Instead, she chose to stick to herself and has hardly been talking to anyone except when spoken to.

The viber could see that she's burdened with something. Nudging her shoulder again, he finally gets her attention. "What is it?" Caitlin asked him.

"You okay, Caitlin? You look like you got something on your mind." Caitlin said.

"Yeah, you didn't even come to dinner tonight." Joe said.

"Not that great anyway, except for the food." Cisco admitted.

"I had something else to do. Sorry I missed it." Caitlin expressed her apology. "Actually…" She faced the viber beside her. "I could use your help later if you got the time."

"Always." Cisco smiled at his friend.

"Doubt I can offer anything." Joe chuckled.

Caitlin smiled. "Maybe some leftovers of Grandma Esther's?"

"You got it." Joe assured her. He and the others then saw Iris entering the Cortex, walking in with a look of hurt. "Where's Barry?" The detective asked her.

WHOOSH

They got their answer when the speedster himself sped into the Cortex, making everyone snap their attention to him instantly. "I need to tell you all something." He shared a solemn look with Iris. "The truth."

"The truth about what?" Iris asked.

Barry had to inhale deeply, trying to ready himself for his confession. He knew that there'd be those on the team who wouldn't forgive him for his decision… Some of them wouldn't even wanna stand in the same room as him, or even breathe the same air that he does…

But he'd have to get this off his chest even if it meant he'd be shunned by the entire team.

"Okay, uh, after Zoom killed my dad… After we defeated him, um…" He clarified. "I wasn't in a great space and I felt like the only way I could fix that was to run back in time and save my mom." He admitted.

In shock, Caitlin asked. "You stopped The Reverse-Flash from killing your mom?" Various pieces of the puzzle she was struggling to put together appeared, falling into place. In her mind, she compared her situation to Cisco's when he started getting vibes after Barry changed the timeline.

"Yeah." Barry confirmed.

Caitlin's eyes widened in realization. The memories, the visions she keeps getting… They're fragments from that other timeline. By all accounts, she's the only one getting those visions on this team. But that didn't answer who that person is.

"Wait, so, is she alive?" Wally inquired.

"She was, for a few months." He replied. He formed a smile at the memories. "I lived with her and my dad. I had a completely different life. I wasn't even the Flash for most of it."

"I don't understand." Wally said. "You created a whole other existence? How is that possible?"

"Um…" Barry couldn't find the right words to say. So, like he did in Flashpoint, he walked over to the nearest transparent glass board and picked up a marker. He'd have to explain like this. "This is the timeline." He drew a line on the glass. He drew a dot on it, close to the right end of the line. "This is the point that we exist on it right now." Drawing a dot on the opposite end, he continued. "This past point is where my mom was murdered."

"So, when I saved her, I created a new reality." Barry drew a line from the point of his mother's death. He put the cap on the marker again. "A new timeline. I was living in-"

"A mirror universe." Cisco deduced.

"It's called a Flashpoint, apparently." Barry used Eobard's own term.

Iris saw something flawed in that. "But you decided to leave it. Why?" She didn't understand why the speedster would leave a life where he'd have everything he ever wanted.

"Life started to spin out of control." Barry answered. He pointed to the monitor with Edward's profile. "This guy, Clariss, he was a speedster there, too. He was known as "The Rival." He caused a lot of problems." He vaguely said. "So, um…" He hollowly chuckled. "I decided to run back in time again. and let things happen as they were supposed to, in hopes of resetting the timeline. But…"

"But what?" Joe pressed.

"But, um, when I came back things weren't the same." Barry stated.

Fighting back tears as further realization dawned on her, Caitlin said. "You mean people. Like us." She wanted to interrogate him herself, forcing answers out of him regarding the people she keeps seeing in her visions. She'd hate it, because of the fear she felt inside of her, but she had to get answers from him.

"Yeah, yeah." The speedster nodded his confirmation. Returning to the board, he drew a second line from the point of his mother's death. "Uh, I created another timeline. Uh, this is the one we're living in now. it's not as different as the last one. Not in large ways, but in some ways and smaller ways, and, uh, meaningful ways for all of you or anybody that's close to me, and I can't ever really put it back together." He confessed, finally understanding Jay's words. He wiped a tear away.

And the others gaped their mouths in shock, trying to swallow everything the speedster just said. Joe had to hold onto the console railing. "Barry, that's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, it is." Barry agreed with his father.

Iris asked. "We got along in that other life, my Dad and I, didn't we?" She looked up, seeing him nod as a response. "That's why you've been working so hard to get us talking again."

"Okay, here's the thing, um," Barry stepped forward. "I will tell you what's different, all of you, if you want to know. But you have to live with those differences because I can't change it again. But at least you'll know. And you all deserve that choice."

Rage was brimming inside of him and Cisco raised his face to meet the speedster's eyes. "So, you decided it was okay to change things when someone in your family dies. But when it's someone in my family…" He didn't finish his sentence, walking away to deal with the feelings of anger and hurt alone.

"I'm gonna go talk to him." Barry walked after him. But he sent a glance to Caitlin who seemed to be dealing with a lot on her mind herself. But he had to focus on the viber right now.

Caitlin didn't know what to feel… She was conflicted within… Unable to feel just one emotion or feeling.

She's feeling a multitude of emotions that felt like a tidal wave.

X

Barry walked into the viber's workshop, finding him standing over a pair of gauntlets that's on his desk. "Hey." Cisco's head was hanging down as the speedster walked closer. "What are you working on?" He asked when inspecting the gauntlets.

"These are the gauntlets from my suit." Cisco said in a low voice. He realized quickly. "And you probably know nothing about that, do you?"

"I'm really trying here, Cisco." Barry said.

Cisco snapped around to face him. "Barry, I'm the one who's been trying, I've been trying this whole time to get you to do this one thing for me. But you kept saying, "No, Cisco.", "I can't, Cisco. I would never do that, Cisco." And now you're telling me you went and did it for yourself?"

"Were you listening?" Barry gestured in the direction of the Cortex that's close by. "It went bad. It went really bad."

"I don't care!" Cisco exclaimed with tears in his eyes. "At least I'd have my brother back." He'd accept anything as long he's getting his brother back.

Cisco turned back to his gauntlets and Barry argued. "Yeah, you would have him back. But… Because of it, somebody might have something happen to them that's just as awful as what happened to Dante." The viber listened carefully to his words. "Trust me, you don't want that on your conscience. It's a heavy burden to bear."

He really didn't know how to live with the fact that he has erased Seth and his daughters from existence. He erased the life of someone who swore to both of his fathers that he'd keep him safe out in the field. And this was a burden he couldn't possibly hope to erase no matter how hard he tried.

Actually… Barry didn't know how to erase it… But he did know he had to tell Caitlin… Of all people on the team, she deserved to know that he erased her family from existence.

Barry, as he walked to the exit, told Cisco. "And I don't know how many times I've said this… But I'm really sorry about Dante, man."

Slightly shaking his head, Cisco countered. "Sorry doesn't change anything."

"No, it doesn't." Barry agreed. "But I can't go back. I can't change it. All I can do is move forward… I really hope you can, too." He walked out of the workshop, leaving Cisco alone.

X

After a while, Barry had walked away, going to the precinct to talk with Julian Albert. They didn't assume that talk would go well. Iris faced the rest of them, wondering what they're thinking about since hearing of the speedster's confession in regard to him changing the timeline and resetting it.

She felt like it was time for them to talk. "So?"

Wally returned to his sister with a burdened look. "He changed our lives, Iris. And he kept that secret from us. You really just want us to be okay with that?" He asked her.

Iris faced her brother. "All I'm saying, Wally, is that he made a mistake."

"Yeah. He did." Cisco scoffed.

The reporter argued. "Cisco, we all make mistakes to protect the people that we love." Recalling a past adventure, she stated. "I mean, you told Captain Cold that Barry was the Flash in order to protect your brother."

Caitlin grunted under her breath, placing a hand over her head at that memory of that adventure. She didn't know why but she felt her head banging from that memory. Like something about their past adventures… was missing…

"Okay, not my finest moment." Cisco confessed.

"That's my point." Iris said. "It was one decision made in one moment. One very heart-wrenching moment. Look, guys, we're like a family here, okay? And sometimes families get mad at each other for screwing up." She looked at her father. "I know that all too well. But they also forgive."

Caitlin doubted she could do that… Cause something was bothering her so much, it seemed like it's something unforgivable.

"Because…" Iris continued. "After a while it just seems silly when you stop and think about it." Joe smiled, holding out an arm for her and she walked into his arms. The father and daughter shared a hug.

Seeing his sister and his father hug and finally able to move on, the former racer had a change of heart. "Iris is right." Wally agreed with his sister. "We all have secrets; we've all screwed up. But this is Barry we're talking about."

Suddenly the computers began chiming, and Barry saw that it was the Flash suit's telemetry that shocked them. "Who's apparently in trouble." Caitlin stated.

Everyone faced the monitors on the walls, which display the same results.

X

(Prescott Sawmill)

The Flash grunted when another blue energy beam hit his chest, sending him flying and into a bunch of crates and causing them to shatter into a dozens of pieces.

Before this, Barry returned to the precinct to talk with Julian Albert about the latest report on the latest husk that belonged to Edward Clariss. Though he had to deal with the common unpleasantries that is the metahuman expert's personality, the speedster did get to peek at the report itself for clues.

He noted a strange notation about the location of the body, which Julian corrected and stated that it was due to a strong current that led the husk to the waterfront on Leawood. Chances were that it originated from Williamson, near the old Prescott Sawmill.

Recalling that location from Flashpoint, The Flash sped to the old sawmill and found The Rival awaiting his arrival. But unlike in Flashpoint, where Barry had Kid Flash on his side, he had to fight Edward Clariss alone… Who, in this timeline, brought a sidekick of his own…

… A man in a black cloak… Wearing a peculiar mask that's a mix between a gas mask and a plague doctor mask… And more than that, he was wielding a strange stone with a reflective surface, similar to glass… That same rock projected a blue energy blast that knocked him off his feet.

Perching himself up from the ground, Barry gestured to the masked man. "Who are you?" He didn't recognize him from Flashpoint or the other timeline.

"I am Alchemy." Using a distortive voice, he introduced himself to the Scarlet Speedster.

In annoyance, he rolled his eyes and his head. "Okay, well, what do you want?"

Alchemy passively stated. "To help people achieve their potential." He gestured to the Rival, a man whom he helped achieve his potential. "Such as he has."

"And why are you doing this?" Barry inquired.

"Because I'm preparing this world." He answered.

The Rival sped down, taking hold of the other speedster after picking him up from the ground and pinned him up against a pillar. "Remember what happened here last time, Flash?" Barry looked directly into his eyes.

"It's where I died." The evil speedster ripped off the lightning bolt off his earpieces, using them to stab The Flash's sides, making him grunt in pain. "And I'm not going to waste this second chance I've been given. This time I'm going to show you who's the fastest man alive."

Releasing the sharp lightning bolts emblems and letting them fall to the ground, the evil speedster grabbed him and sped away. Alchemy watched the black speedster run around the entire sawmill as he held the other speedster like luggage. The cloaked man knew he was doing this to gather up a tremendous amount of momentum. He ran around the tall metallic bridge and also on it.

The Rival sped onto a platform and threw Barry into a wooden railing, which crashed when the speedster was hurled into it like a cannonball. "Having fun yet, Flash?" He mockingly asked the other speedster who's on the ground as he walked closer to him. "Cause I'm having a blast!"

Barry barely got a chance to look up when suddenly the evil speedster punched him with a lightning-cloaked fist. Forcing him up, Edward delivered an uppercut that made him stagger backwards. The Flash got up again, and took a fighting stance before swinging his arm.

But Edward dodged it before thrusting his fist into Barry's stomach. He swung his fists for the Flash's head, but both of them were dodged. Barry wrapped his arm around his throat, holding him in place while he delivered another strike to his side.

The Rival pulled out of the hold, grabbing Barry by his collar and swung him around, and down into a pile of wooden planks. He struck with another lightning-cloaked fist which disoriented the Flash. Edward sped away, returning with a large pipe.

"Time to look for a new rival." He stated while raising the pipe high up in the air, ready to impale the man he once claimed was his rival.

However, a vibrational blue blast came flying and hit the evil speedster, sending him flying and to the ground. Barry looked up. His eyes widened when he saw Cisco… Vibe lowering his gauntleted arm.

"Stay away from my friend." He sternly said.

Barry smirked, grateful for the backup. He looked back and saw The Rival slowly get back on his feet. Speeding to him and getting him back on his feet, The Flash punched him twice in the head. Edward tried countering with one of his own fists flying.

But The Flash dodged, appearing behind him and began spinning around. Edward faced him, surprised to see him spin. His surprise turned to pain when the other speedster stopped spinning and launched him into the air with his fist launched into his stomach.

Vibe readied himself, raising both of his arms and projected a vibe blast from his hands. The blast sent the airborne speedster back towards Barry who was ready for him and drove his fist into his stomach. The blow to his midsection sent him down to the ground.

Barry panted while standing over the downed speedster. Cisco took off his vibe glasses, walking closer to the speedster who nodded. "Thank you."

The viber faced him with an apologetic look. "Sorry it took so long."

"You're just in time." He told his friend.

He just got his friend back… and now… He had to announce the news of what happened to Seth Fury…

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

The next day the team met together and stood in the Cortex, facing the monitors on the wall that showed frozen images of the security footage from last night's battle between The Flash and The Rival and Alchemy.

But as they stood around and examined the footage and the images, the speedster was dealing with another matter. He didn't know how to confess what he had done to Seth… He erased his father's best friend… and a friend's entire family, including her daughters…

This was gonna be hard.

"Nothing, no mention of Alchemy anywhere," Cisco's words snapped Barry out of his trance. "no mask-wearing monk metas, not even close." He announced after searching for his name.

"I didn't find any known aliases in any of the records at CCPD. And Clariss won't say anything, either." Joe followed up.

While wiping off sweat, Barry said. "All right, well, keep at him. Alchemy's the one that gave Clariss back his speed."

Inspiration hit Cisco. "He's kind of like a doctor that way, don't you think?" Everyone turned to Cisco with questioning looks. "Come on, don't pretend like "Doctor Alchemy" doesn't have a nice ring to it."

Caitlin chuckled, but her face hid her confusion and sadness. "Okay, well, that explains why he didn't have any traces of dark matter in his cells." She referred to the evil speedster at Iron Heights. "He didn't get his powers from the particle accelerator, he got them from Alchemy."

"What's that?" Cisco jumped in.

"Doctor Alchemy." Caitlin corrected herself. Her eyes drifted to Barry with a questioning look.

"How could he do that?" Iris asked while chuckling.

"I don't know, but we need to figure it out, there's going to be more." Barry said. "Alchemy- Doctor Alchemy has said that he is preparing this world."

"Preparing the world?" Barry hummed his confirmation to Wally's question. "For what? Like, the second coming or something."

Having an idea, the speedster said. "I think that everyone that had powers in Flashpoint is going to get them back."

Recalling the number of husks, Joe stated. "Well, we already found four other husks. Which means there's at least that many running around Central City right now."

"We need to find him before he changes more people's lives." Caitlin adamantly said.

"Speaking of changing lives." Iris got the speedster's attention. "We all talked about it, Barry. And…" Caitlin remained tight-lipped for now. "We don't want to know what our lives were like in Flashpoint."

"You sure?" Barry asked them skeptically.

"To quote the wise words of Harry, "What's the point, Allen?"" Cisco stated.

"I gotta get to the precinct." Joe announced while checking his watch.

"Uh, stop by Jitters on the way?" Iris asked.

"Yeah. It's on me." Joe smiled.

"Guys, wait!" Caitlin called out, standing up from her seat and garnering the attention from all. "I think…. There's something else going on."

"What do you mean, Caitlin?" Cisco asked, not noticing how Barry paled in fear. "Is this about that thing you asked me for help with?"

"Yeah… But now, I know it's something else." Caitlin faced Barry with a cold, stern look.

"What do you mean, Caitlin?" Iris asked her.

The doctor explained. "Whenever I get home to my place, I see things… Like I'm having dreams." Her words, laced with fear and panic, made everyone face her with undivided attention. "No matter where I'm looking inside of my own home, I see… I see people." Tears ran down her face.

"Caitlin…" Cisco got closer to comfort her.

But she held her hand up, adamant on continuing. Her teary eyes faced the speedster. "I see people… and I feel things for those people, though I can't place their faces or names. I don't know who they are, but I know I feel intense feelings for those four." Barry gulped. "At first, I thought it was dreams or some hallucinations, but… After everything I heard yesterday, I pieced it together. They're not dreams, they're not hallucinations. They're people I had a connection to, a strong one."

"Sounds like Cisco's dreams from when Thawne killed him in the other timeline." Joe said.

"I thought the same… But I'm not a viber, not like you, and I don't know those people… and that scares me and it's heart-wrenching that I don't. Especially because I'm sure I love those four…" Caitlin faced Barry with hardened eyes. "Barry, who are they? I have to know!"

Everyone turned shocked by the usually nice and compassionate doctor's raised voice. This information… Those people… They meant more than anything to her and that was clear as day.

However, their moment was interrupted by blaring alarms. Cisco snapped back to the computers, quickly typing away. "It's the accelerator! Someone's inside of it!"

"What? Who?" Joe asked, pulling out his firearm.

Cisco typed away, bringing up the security footage from within the accelerator ring. "I thought he died." He stated with fear as he and the others faced the live footage from within the accelerator ring.

"What is he doing here?" Wally staggered backwards in terror at the demonic form of his kidnapper who stared directly back at the security camera.

"He should be dead…" Iris covered her mouth.

"He's back… How?" Barry gulped.

Caitlin didn't understand what's going on right now, as she, like the others, faced the monitors and see the insides of the accelerator ring. They're seeing the creature in the ring releasing feral roars at the cameras as though it knew it's being watched.

His form… was familiar… But now as he is now, he is something else. His form is akin to that of a zombie, an undead state that is similar to that of Time Wraiths. His suit is still black but much darker than before… And unlike before it appeared to have become one with his flesh. The emblems on his earpieces are no longer black but now crimson red, the outlines and lightning bolt on his chest are also now red, except for the inner part of the logo which is filled with white. His clawed gloves are now actual pitch-black claws, flexing. Only half of his face was exposed, a reminder of his previous fight with The Flash… and something else.

He growled ferally once more.

"…Hunter… Zolomon…?" Caitlin muttered in fear as they watched red lightning sparking along his form. "He was taken into the Speed Force… Why is he back?"

As she asked those questions, she felt as though the zombie speedster was looking directly at her through the security cameras. She saw something else sparking along with his red lightning…

It… it's black lightning mixing with his red lightning.

"What is he doing there?" Caitlin asked.

"How'd he get in here?" Joe exclaimed, while also thinking about what traps would actually help fortify this awful facility. Maybe some traps from the Indiana Jones movies would help them.

"Whatever the case…" Barry's eyes sparked with lightning at the sight of the being that killed his father. "I'll take care of hi-"

"No!" Caitlin shocked them with her words. "Look!"

Turning back to the monitors, they saw the evil speedster release even more lighting, a mixture of both red and black lightning pulsating from his body. They watched it spark around him as though he was standing in the middle of a vicious thunderstorm. They saw Hunter Zolomon turn his face to the side, facing the accelerator.

WHOOSH

"Wow!" Cisco let out as he and the others let out together when they felt a small quake come over the entire facility, shaking its very foundation the very second the undead speedster ran.

Iris braced herself against the console, using it to hold herself up. "What's going on, guys?" She directed to the scientists for answers.

Joe pushed himself off a wall he was about to collide into. "Is this an earthquake?"

"Now's really not the time for Mother Nature to be pissed!" Wally jokes.

The quakes continued and increased, happening more frequently and rapidly. "No…" Caitlin shook her head, her eyes never leaving the monitors on the wall. "It's from him!" She pointed to the screens. Everyone saw the evil speedster run inside of the accelerator ring, running in laps. "Cisco, bring up the schematics of the accelerator now."

Cisco obliged, pressing on various keys on the computer to bring up the virtual schematics of the accelerator ring, displaying what's happening right this moment inside of it. "By Odin's beard!" He gasped when he saw that the insides of the ring was completely filled with black and red lightning.

"What is going on?" Barry wondered while steadying himself.

"Cait!"

Caitlin's ears perked up when she heard that voice call out her name. "Seth?" She absentmindedly muttered before turning around and rushing out of the Cortex.

"Caitlin!" Cisco called out after his friend before following her. The Wests shared a look before rushing after them.

Barry followed. But he accidently ran into a table, causing a newspaper and a clipboard to fall to the ground. Prioritizing the evil speedster inside the accelerator, he sped out of the Cortex and followed the rest of his team.

The newspaper on the floor was unfolded, its front page article showing the picture of Flash tackling the Rival along with the headline.

"FLASH TAKES DOWN HIS RIVAL"

X

Caitlin was running in front of the others, but they all felt the facility shake chaotically. It's like the entire facility was experiencing an earthquake. But she knew better than that. The source of this tremor wasn't due to anything natural like an earthquake. This was all because of speed.

The zombie-like speedster's otherworldly tremendous velocity increased with each lap and every lap he ran inside of the accelerator ring. And this was nothing like when Barry ran back in time to save his mother before after their fight with Reverse-Flash.

This velocity was truly out of this world, able to shake the very foundation of this facility.

"This is crazy!" Caitlin admitted as she came closer to the Pipeline entrance. She braced herself against the wall as she reached for the panel. "What are you doing in there?"

"Caitlin, wait!" Cisco shouted as he rushed in.

"You think that's a good idea?" Joe questioned her.

"The entire accelerator ring is packed with lightning from Zoombie!" Cisco explained in a gasp as the building shook again.

"I know that Cisco…" Caitlin tapped away on the panel.

"Then why do you want to get in there?!" Wally exclaimed, not really keen on facing a demonic and undead form of his kidnapper.

"I…I feel like I have to." Caitlin admitted.

"What do you mean?" Iris asked her just as Barry arrived at the Pipeline.

Snapping her head around to meet her friends' faces, Caitlin said. "I have to see Seth again!"

The mention of the elemental's name coming from her mouth in this timeline shocked Barry and made his eyes expand to the sizes of planets.

Caitlin spun the 3D wheel on the panel, and the Pipeline entrance opened up. The entire team had to shield their eyes when they saw the accelerator's entirely flooded with crackling bright lightning. But that didn't stop the doctor from stepping forward.

"Caitlin!" Cisco called out for her. The others shouted as well.

But their words fell on deaf ears, she continued walking into the accelerator and walked onto the small bridge. It wasn't touched by the lightning thankfully, so she could walk across the bridge without being harmed. Caitlin looked down, and saw the lightning that filled the entire Pipeline.

However, she felt as though… someone was looking back at her.

The rest of the team followed and looked down as well. Together with Caitlin, they raised their eyes and saw a pulsating red orb of lightning with black lightning forming not far from them.

Barry turned his eyes to his team. Turning confused when he saw them all facing the lighting orb with undivided attention. Looking down himself, he felt the undead speedster's lifeless black eyes meet his as he ran.

Snapping his attention upwards, Barry Allen gasped in sheer shock when he saw the undead speedster speed into the orb with the force of a rocket reentering the Earth's atmosphere.

Everyone heard what sounded like a crash upon the collision. And what followed was a reddish-black lightning wave that pulsated from the collision. The pulse-like wave hit the team, making them stagger… and the wave continued, flying into the rest of the facility…

And beyond… hitting the city… and something incredibly beyond this city… Coming in contact with the rest of the universe…

But unlike the rest of his team, Barry wasn't hit by the wave and his eyes didn't spark like the rest of his team. He saw their eyes flashing crazily with lightning. That didn't sit well with the speedster who watched them.

ROAR

Hearing a roar, Barry turned his attention back to the accelerator ring and saw the undead black speedster standing… in front of a yellowish lightning portal with crackling black lightning outlining it. It looked similar to the gateways he opened when he traveled into time itself.

It really looked like it was a portal made of true lightning, a level of lightning that he couldn't possibly hope to emit no matter how hard he could run.

"What is that….?" Barry asked, not noticing that someone on the bridge was staggering and closing on the edge of the bridge.

The undead speedster snarled at the Scarlet Speedster, almost as though it was tempted to attack him. But it appeared to fight against those instincts… Or rather, it was obeying its orders and turned its attention back to the portal behind it.

WHOOSH

In an instant, Hunter Zolomon sped into it. But strangely enough the portal remained open as though it was waiting for something before it could close.

"What is going on?" Barry asked himself.

Unbeknownst to him, Caitlin had absentmindedly walked closer to the edge of the bridge, and she fell over the edge when taking another step.

Cisco managed to wake up and see his friend fall over. "Caitlin?!" He screamed. His words got the attention of the others, making them snap out of whatever lightning-fused trance they were in.

…

…

His scream had been heard… But not by the speedster… By someone who would go far and beyond for Caitlin… Someone who's a demon… But she called him an angel a long, long time ago.

… Her Lethal Protector…

ROAR

Bellowing out a roar of his own, a large demonic being jumped out of the thunderstorm-like portal with a surge of lightning and wind around his body. Landing on the ground, he leaped off it like a spring and…

Venom shot like a bullet and grabbed Caitlin before she could fall on the ground. He landed on the ground and faced the love of his life in his arms. "Caitlin?" Seth called out to her, hoping she's okay… and remembers who he really is.

Caitlin blinked her eyes repeatedly. Looking up, she smiled widely when seeing… When remembering the face that's looking down at her while holding her. "Seth… Seth Fury." She spoke the name of the man she loves.

"You remember." Seth expressed his appreciation while the symbiotic form retracted back into his form. He thanked everything that the Speed Force did to allow her to remember him. He missed hearing her say his name.

"I do." Caitlin nodded, raising a hand and stroked the side of his face lovingly. "I remember you, Seth. I remember us! I remember-" Her eyes widened. "The girls. Where are they?!" She screamed out in fear when she didn't see her daughters anywhere.

Seth gave her a smile, reassuring her that he had it handled. Turning his attention backwards, facing the thunderstorm portal, the elemental gently lowered the love of his life to the ground before walking closer to the portal. When close enough to it, he covered both of his arms with black symbiotic mass, morphing both of his arms into clawed arms.

Barry and the rest of the team watched as the elemental took a stance. The speedster smiled widely, glad that he hadn't erased Seth. And if he's here… Then so are they.

Suddenly three different screams mixed with one another when a pulse emanated from the portal. The source of the screams are three young girls who were shot out of them. One was a young girl with long brown hair with pink streaks shining and blue eyes. The other one was another young girl with blue eyes and long red hair. The last one is a young girl with bleached blond hair and green eyes.

Seeing Evelyn Fury, Frankie Fury and Ruby Fury fly out of the portal, Seth lashed out his arms, splitting them both into a million tendrils. They travelled through the air, wrapping around the forms of their daughters and caught them before ever connecting with the ground.

Feeling calmer now than ever, Seth retracted his tendrils and gently lowered them to the ground around him and Caitlin. "You girls, okay?"

Ruby coughed. "Fine, I think."

"Just confused." Evelyn admitted and Ruby agreed with a nod.

"Oh man, that makes three of us." Frankie agreed with her sisters.

"At least they're not complaining." Venom told his host.

"First words out of the Speed Force." Seth chuckled. He lifted his head up when recalling his partner's daughter. Turning to Frankie, he asked. "Frankie. Is Magenta okay?"

Frankie widened her eyes at the mention of her symbiotic partner, Magenta, the daughter of Venom, her father's symbiote. "Magenta?! You there? Please tell me you are."

"I'm okay, Frankie. I'm fine and here." Her "other" assured her host with her words.

The young magnekinetic turned her eyes to her father. "Tell Venom his daughter's okay and safe, Dad."

"God, I missed you three." Seth admitted with a tear rolling down his eye.

"He's not the only one." Caitlin admitted, standing up and walking to her mate's side. She wrapped her fingers around his hand, and smiled widely.

Ruby looked confused, mostly because of her current surroundings as she was sure she's no longer at the West household with her family. "Mom, what do you mean?"

"Long story, sweetie." Seth declared. "Really long story."

"Hope we get that story." Evelyn stated her true thoughts.

WHOOSH

Barry sped down to them, showing a gratefully wide smile directed at the elemental. "Seth! You and everyone. You're okay-" The speedster was cut off when elemental appeared before him, clenching his fist and punched him in the face. The blow to his face sent him flying and skipping on the ground.

Seth glared at the speedster who perched himself up, looking at the elemental with a bruise on the side of his face. "You motherfucking damn bastard!"

Cisco and the Wests paled when they saw the elemental wear a downright sinister and murderous expression that he pointed at Barry.

The thunderstorm portal behind them closed down…. The Speed Force done working with Seth Fury…

… For now…

X

They all moved back into the Cortex, but now with more knowledge than before. The knowledge they missed before returned to them and the universe is changed now.

Joe was feeling ecstatic but also shaky from suddenly gaining knowledge like that so quickly, and from a universal element no less. But he was certainly happy. He didn't feel it before, but now he was happy that he had his best friend back again. While Seth is definitely the definition of a wild card, and an unorthodox doctor to say the least, he truly missed him and was happy that he was back again.

Iris and Wally are just as happy. Seth's an important friend of the family and he has countless saved them from danger. Now the two of them could remember those times along with their father who couldn't stop smiling. Though they did have questions on their minds, specifically regarding where he was during this entire time. Those questions also involved his daughters.

Cisco was also ecstatic to see the return of the elemental mutant. Along with his return, it also meant that every single one of their adventures together from the last two years are back. The fights and battles with his fellow mutants, Matt Stark and Olivia Fury-Stark all returned to their memory banks. They also remembered the good times together. They remembered the moment the psychic announced her pregnancy…

While they were hiding from a metahuman zombie… Terrifying, but good…

Barry… he was holding his face in pain.

Caitlin, she was the one who's more than ecstatic than anyone on the team. Every single memory she created with Seth and their daughters… Every meal eaten together at the dinner table, every laugh they've shared together as a family, every adventure they've had together… Every hug, every caress… Every kiss… Everything they've shared together has returned to her and she couldn't stop smiling. She was once again to be with her daughters and the man she loves.

No longer would she be meeting hallucinations and visions when she's walking into her home… Now she'd be able to see them again in their real forms. And she'd be able to love them once more.

Seth… He was pissed!

"Honestly, Barry… Of all the goddamn dumbass things you've done," Seth cracked his fists, his knuckles emanating different elements from within. "this one takes the cake."

"What do you mean?" Barry asked while cupping his bruised cheek. Iris brought him an ice pack that he accepted gratefully.

The speedster was positive that he saw a vein pop in Seth's forehead at his question. "You, you moronic speedster of all times, created Flashpoint." He sneered, and this time everyone saw black smoke come out of his mouth. Registering the look of shock on his face, the mutant confirmed. "Oh yeah, I know about Flashpoint. I lived it."

"What?" Barry turned shocked.

"How?" Cisco asked. "You're not from this universe, Seth. How did you get to live in that timeline?"

"Good someone on this team actually remembers that fact, unlike you Barry Allen." Seth sneered at the mutant. "Unlike Barry here, something out there remembered I was not from this Earth, and actually helped me and my daughters."

"Who?" Wally asked.

Caitlin's eyes widened in realization, remembering everything from their final battle with Zoom and the aftermath. "The Speed Force." She deduced.

"What?" Joe asked, hoping for not some crazy scientific explanation that's bound to go over his head.

Seth smirked at Caitlin's deduction. "Smart as always Cait. Nothing's changed." Caitlin smiled at his praise. Turning back to the others, he elaborated. "Yeah, she's right. The Speed Force helped me and my girls, using Black Flash to save our asses before Barry changed the timeline."

"Black Flash?" Iris inquired in confusion.

"Hunter Zolomon's zombie form or whatever the hell that thing is." Seth explained.

"Cool name." Cisco pitched in, approving the name.

"Maybe." Seth glared at the speedster. "But Speed Force thought I did good when I kept up my end of the deal with it, thinking I deserve a reward." His eyes kept pointing at Barry as he gestured to his children. "My daughters and I would have been erased when Barry changed the timeline, but the Speed Force had our backs, unlike someone I once called a friend. They sent Black Flash into that other timeline and took me and the girls away before Barry changed the timeline."

"Why?" Wally asked.

Cisco gasped. "It's like what happened with Thawne. The Speed Force protected you from changes to the timeline."

"Like a bomb shelter, yeah. Garrick had the same theory and he was right." Seth confirmed with a nod. "It was their way of rewarding me: Saving me and my daughters from erasure."

"Wait!" Barry faced the mutant. "You were on Earth-3 and met Jay?"

"Yeah." Seth started. "After the Speed Force held me and my daughters inside of it, they had me go out and do assignments for them. One being keeping an eye on you inside of Flashpoint, making sure you don't do anything stupid. The second being, before you changed the timeline, was to let them send me to Earth-3 and stay there for a while. I helped him with a crime over there."

"But I never saw you there." Barry stated his confusion. "Not even in Flashpoint."

The elemental felt like slapping himself. "I know you hadn't seen me in months, but did you seriously forget that I'm a trained SHIELD agent? Hiding in plain sight is Agent 101. It worked better when you didn't know or even think about me or my family."

"Seth, that's not-"

"Don't lie, I was there. I knew you didn't give a damn about me or my family, Barry." Seth harshly and bluntly stated, interrupting the speedster. Barry lowered his head. "I was there, watching you enjoy your little happy life… Not giving a damn about my family, until you needed someone to hold your hand in a fight." Joe could hear his knuckles crack when clenching his fists. "That honestly… Sickens me." He confessed in a dark tone.

"Seth… I'm-"

"Save it or shove it somewhere else." Seth cut him off again. "I'm not hearing it, nor do I want to."

Frankie got her father's attention. "Dad. You said the Speed Force gave you assignments? What was the last one?" She noted he didn't use the word "last" before in his explanation.

"That one was confusing to say the least." Seth admitted to his daughter. "I was sent into the Speed Force itself; I actually saw you three in there. And then a second after I had entered, I saw Black Flash standing beside me, and showed me a portal into the accelerator underneath."

"You said you saw us in there, Dad?" Evelyn asked for clarification.

Seth nodded. Ruby rubbed her head. "Seriously? Last thing I remember is being in Joe's house and waking up to see that zombie thing attack us."

"It took you guys." Frankie said, as she was the last one to be taken by Black Flash. "Dragged you away to God knows where." Her head lifted up when recalling everything. "Wait, it's been months, Dad?"

"What?" Caitlin said.

"It's been about three months inside of Flashpoint, yeah. I was first dragged into the Speed Force and then brought into Flashpoint and did my assignments." Seth explained.

"We've been in the Speed Force for three months…" Frankie scoffed. "Don't feel any different though." She admitted while rubbing her body.

"Same here." Evelyn agreed while running her hands down her arms.

"Dad, did you see us and do anything?" Ruby said while testing out her motion, clenching and unclenching her fists in succession.

"Like I said, honey, I only saw you guys for a second before I was dragged away to see your mother falling off a bridge in the accelerator ring." The elemental recited. "But the important thing was that you were okay. That was more important to me than anything."

"Understandable." Caitlin admitted.

Joe had a question of his own. "Seth, what made you listen to it? Couldn't you have found your way back here?"

"Not if straying from my orders could cost my daughters their lives." Seth shook his head. "The Speed Force held their lives. I didn't fight back nor disobey my orders… Besides, they did something to my sword, so I felt like they were watching me at all times."

"They kept you from moving with your sword?" Seth nodded to Cisco's question. "Gotta admit, for something that creates speedsters, the Speed Force is awfully interested in you, Seth."

"No kidding." Seth admitted and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm gonna go get some water, I'm thirsty." He walked towards the exit of the Cortex. His daughters followed him, the three of them equally as thirsty.

Caitlin quickly walked after them as soon as they exited the Cortex.

Barry… He didn't know how to feel right now.

And no one on the team noticed the newspaper on the ground…

The front page showing Venom standing on top of a building, looking down on the city with a new unique headline…

"VENOM… OR MENACE"

X

Caitlin almost rushed into the adjacent free room where she found her daughters and mate inside. The mutant used tendrils to hand cold water bottles to their daughters and also take one for himself. As he uncapped his own bottle, he turned to his mate with a smile.

But it fell as soon as he said. "Cait, I'm sorry if I were too harsh back there, but I couldn't handle what he did. He was just-"

He was cut off when Caitlin rushed to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him closer before crushing her lips onto his own. Her eyes were closed upon reuniting lips with him. Seth's eyes were wide in shock at the sudden kiss but only for a second when they closed too. As though they were his tendrils, his arms slithered around her waist and pulled her even closer to him.

The two tilted their heads, deepening the kiss. As soon as their lips moved, it was like the click of a key turning in a lock echoed within their minds. The world that only they knew opened up again and they entered it blissfully together… Hand in hand… Lips locked… and nothing but love between the two.

Both removed their lips at the same time, taking in air and panted upon separation. "God, I missed you." Caitlin said.

"Feeling's mutual… Thousandfold." Seth quickly kissed her.

With a smile on her lips, Caitlin turned her head and faced her daughters. "Girls!" She rushed over to them and hugged them all at the same time. "I can't believe I lived a life where I didn't have you three."

"We missed you too, Mom." Frankie giggled in her mother's hug.

"Love you, Mom." Evelyn said.

Ruby groaned. "Mom, I love you too, but seriously, we're losing air over here. You're gonna lose your medical license if you cut off your own daughters' air like this."

"Someone's being overdramatic." Seth chuckled.

Releasing her bearhug hold on her daughters, Caitlin snapped up and turned around to meet her mate's eyes. "Seth?! The girls' college funds! They were in the other timeline, weren't they? They were in the banks. They're gone now!"

"Cait?" Seth walked closer to her, calming her down. "They're not gone, because they were never in the banks."

"They weren't?" Caitlin asked with more shock. Seth nodded casually. "Why? Where are they? You said you made funds for them back then."

"I did, but I never put them in the bank." Seth tapped his stomach to empathize.

"What?" Ruby asked in confusion.

Being a symbiote-bearer herself, Frankie understood immediately. "You split the money and put it inside of Venom's dimension."

"For real?" The metahuman of light and darkness asked.

"Can you blame me?" One annoying commonality between Earth-616, Earth-1, Earth-2 and Earth-3 is that banks on all Earths are robbed on a regular basis, so he wouldn't dare to trust them with the money he's gonna entrust to his daughters when they have to go out in future.

Seth grabbed Caitlin's hand and he narrowed his eyes in confusion. She saw him run his hands down her arm and also do it to her other arm. "Seth, what's wrong?"

"Something… You feel different Caitlin." Seth stated while feeling her arms. "Are you okay?" His words made her daughters step closer to him, taking a look at their mother together with their father.

Caitlin knew it wasn't right to hide anything from family, from the people she loves. Taking a step back, the doctor raised both of her arms. Exhaling sharply, she showed her secret…

… small ice scales formed on her palms and the back of her hands… while icy mist emanated from her hands…

Seth recognized the cryogenic vapor. "That's like Killer Frost's powers."

"Yeah…" Caitlin gulped, thinking she'd be hated by the people she loves the most in this entire world. "It's like hers… Seth…" She trailed off when she saw a smirk on his face. Her daughters formed similar smirks. "What- What is it? Aren't you scared?"

"Sorry… But no…" Seth assured her. "Caitlin, this just means… We already have some weird kids… but now… we're gonna have some interesting kids in the future." He chuckled.

"You're really not scared?" She asked in shock at their behavior, like they're accepting of her having the same powers as her counterpart from Earth-2.

"Mom." Evelyn stepped closer. "It just means you got something in common with the rest of the family."

"Nothing to be scared about." Ruby admitted.

"This just means…" Frankie chuckled. "We're even closer as a family."

"Nothing wrong about that." Seth assured her.

Caitlin didn't know if it was possible before… But she's sure she loves her family even more than before.

X

(Iron Heights)

Edward Clariss lies in his bed in his prison cell, looking directly up at the ceiling. He had failed to stand against The Flash once again, which led to him being captured and thrown into this very jail cell in Iron Heights prison.

He failed to defeat his rival… once again… just like in Flashpoint.

"You failed…"

The evil speedster got up from his bed, looking around in search after hearing Doctor Alchemy's voice in his head. He rushed to the glass wall, banging on it repeatedly with his hands.

"You failed, Clariss…"

He heard Alchemy speak again. "I'm sorry, please. Let me try again." Edward pleaded and begged. He panted as he awaited an answer from the man who blessed him with speed. "Alchemy?!"

But his eyes catch the sight of something else… something bigger and it was invisible to anyone else.

"No, no, no, no, no." Edward chanted, staggering backwards to get out of that… thing's range.

But it was useless as a large hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Edward by his throat…

The Rival screamed as he received his punishment…

To be continued…

And that's a chapter, peeps.

As the Speed Force's errand boy, Seth Fury was brought to Earth-3 with another mission where he meets up with Jay Garrick. He was there, getting knowledge and also hope from the elder speedster, which helped assure the mutant of his daughters' safety…

Otherwise, he would have gladly destroyed the Speed Force…

Meanwhile Barry himself was struggling to adapt to the timeline he created as not only are things different, but people are too. Iris and Joe aren't talking anymore. Cisco aren't talking with him… At least Wally's alive in this timeline but everyone's so different in the timeline.

Worst of all, Seth's still nowhere to be found and was presumed dead… or rather erased. But to be sure, he asked Caitlin and she ran away, leaving with a hollow feeling inside of her core.

Meanwhile Seth spent time with Jay Garrick on his Earth-2, where he was introduced and brought to his secret lair. On Earth-1, as that was happening, Caitlin walked into her home and… felt another feeling of loneliness in her soul when stepping into her big warehouse loft that she alone occupies.

She'd get strange sensations and hear stranger's voices in her home, yet they also brought feelings she hadn't experienced in a long time.

She wasn't the only one to have strange sensations in Central City. Edward Clariss received visions and feelings from someone, bringing back memories and feelings from Flashpoint, where he reigned as the evil speedster, The Rival. Edward sought out the man who gave him these visions, Alchemy, who once again bestowed him his speed.

Barry was struggling to work with his very unfriendly co-worker, Julian Albert, who didn't want to work with him at all.

On Earth-3, Seth was reflecting on his family who probably forgot all about him now. As he did so, Jay showed up and revealed that there was a crime in progress and Venom gave his aid. Together they stopped Boss Cold and Heat Slinger from robbing Central City Museum.

While the Wests, Barry and Cisco had a dinner at Joe's house, Caitlin had an errand of her own to do. She tried to gain access to the memories she kept getting in her home via the same approach the team took when they first experienced Cisco's vibes.

She put them on and immediately saw the same people she saw before… people she knew she loved. Her experiment was cut short when she received a notification, a speedster had been spotted. Barry fought the Rival again.

After that fight, before Caitlin could disclose the news, Barry already revealed that Edward Clariss is the speedster. Once again, The Flash tried to change the timeline again but thanks to Seth, following The Speed Force's orders, Jay stopped him from doing that.

Jay taught Barry how changing the timeline affects the space-time continuum. It got through the younger speedster who returned to his own timeline… afterward, Seth revealed his final mission to Jay Garrick, which he had to help with.

Barry returned to his Earth, confessing everything to his team, about Flashpoint, about him changing the timeline, about the Rival. He had a talk with Cisco before leaving to talk with Julian again. As that took place, Iris talked with the rest of the team. She was able to get them to lessen their hate… Caitlin though had more on her mind.

A fight at Prescott sawmill took place, where Flash almost came to die at the hands of Alchemy and The Rival. But he was saved by Vibe. The two defeated Edward, capturing him. Afterwards, the team confessed they would rather not hear about their Flashpoint lives, not seeing any point in it.

However, Caitlin was thinking something else, something she think only Barry could explain. She explained the of the people she sees in her home, people she couldn't put names to. She knew Barry was to blame for that.

Then someone was revealed to be standing in the accelerator, Black Flash. The undead speedster used his powers, speeding around and formed a portal, using it to only bring back the mutant and his daughters but also paste the changes he brought to this world with it.

Seth punched Barry for changing the timeline, which was followed up with verbal berating as soon as they moved into the Cortex. After that, the Snow-Fury family moved into the workshop, where Caitlin displayed her new ice powers to the rest.

Later same day… Edward Clariss in his Iron Heights cell, was attacked by an invisible form that only he could see…

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!