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Ch. 9: Killer Frost

Pairing: Barry Allen x OFC // Fandom: The Flash

Story Masterlist • Previous Stories: Rise Up • It Had To Be You

Belén’s Masterlist • Fanfic • Ao3

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @frostandflamesfanfic

Belén and Joe desperately tried to see the force that held Barry against the wall but try as they might, they just couldn't. Anais, on the other hand, was terrified and awed. Her eyes glowed her golden hue and she directed heat beams at the metallic armor of the unknown enemy but it was like a minor cut. If anything, it just agitated the enemy even more. In a flash of a second, it was in front of Anais, grabbing her by the neck. She was thrown across the room, landing on a table which then turned and crashed on the ground.

The armored enemy returned for Barry in less than half a second. Barry could say he didn't even feel when he was briefly let go for Anais. "What the hell are you?" Despite his struggles, Barry couldn't free himself from the grasp around his neck.

"You may serve the speed force, Flash, but I rule it," the metallic armor responded. "You are only a man, but I am a god. Your god. I am Savitar."

Kill us! Get it! Or get out! Belén struggled to breathe in regularly. The voices - sentient as ever - were squirming with the fear of death and wanted to make it known.

"Alchemy!" Joe, at this point, didn't know where to aim his gun but Alchemy made it easier since he was making an escape with the stone that crystalized Wally.

"STOP!" Belén screamed, however for the others it was on behalf of Barry, but she really needed the voices to be quiet or she would lose her sanity there and then.

"Let's go for a run, and give her some space," Savitar said to Barry then zoomed out of the place with him.

Belén dropped to her knees and looked around at the mess they'd created. She screwed her eyes shut when the voices echoed for them to leave.

~ 0 ~

From the cortex, the others tried to get ahold of Barry but were stumped to find him virtually all over the city.

"The suit's tracker must be malfunctioning," Cisco tried to get in touch with Barry himself. "It says he's appearing and reappearing all over the city at once, and that's impossible. He can't be moving that fast."

"Well if he can't, maybe something else can…?" Iris nervously watched the blinking dot meant to be Barry go in and out of appearance in every corner of the street map.

"What about the others?" Caitlin murmured as she switched to the comms. They might not have visuals on the subway but their communications were still intact. "Belén? What's happened over there?"

"I-I messed up, Caitlin!" Belén was quick to respond and let her frantic state be felt from across the city. "S-something took Barry! And it hurt Anais! Wally too - I don't know! I just don't know!"

"I got it!" Cisco cheered with his arms in the air. "Whatever it is, it stopped at the waterfront!"

"We have to get to him," Iris looked between the two considerably.

"Anais is down and I...I don't think I can reach them," Belén sounded on the verge of tears. They had yet to know what happened to Wally because she messed up.

"Cisco, you can open a breach and get you both to the waterfront," Iris thought of instead since this was a clear emergency.

"Guys, I can't," Caitlin gulped just by looking at her hands. "It's too dangerous."

"I'm begging you. Please!"

~ 0 ~

"Still alive down there?" Savitar's taunt came through the raspy, drawling voice of his his armor. Even as Barry tried getting up, Savitar forced him to stay put with a foot on him. "You are only a shadow beneath my throne. You are the past, whereas I... I am the future, Flash."

A breach opened up across them and out jumped Cisco and Caitlin. Cisco lost his balance with the source of energy he just pulled for the breach.

Caitlin wiggled her fingers and looked up ahead but all she saw was Barry in midair. "I can't see it!"

"Just do it!" cried Killer Frost in Caitlin's mind. Even as she shivered from it, she fired a large quantity of ice, probably more than she ever created since she got the powers. It encapsulated Savitar's form and made it visible for her and was able to feel the deep cold through Savitar's grasp.

Barry heard the cracking of the ice and the next he knew, he dropped to the ground. Savitar had disappeared. Cracks of ice sprawled underneath Barry's form, but otherwise he felt he would manage to pull himself up with Caitlin's support.

"Oh, boy. I'm gonna feel that tomorrow. Ah," Cisco groaned as Caitlin helped him stand. "That was a new and painful use of my powers." Caitlin rubbed his arm and looked back to Barry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just cold," Barry nodded them. "Thanks for coming."

~ 0 ~

"Barry, you're already healing. You should be fine soon," Caitlin moved over to the x-rays she'd taken from Cisco, the man lying on a bed with a hand on his forehead. "Um, Cisco, the MRI I did of your brain shows changes in the capillary morphology similar to that of a mini-stroke. I wouldn't try an intra-dimensional breach like that anytime soon."

Cisco nearly went pale as he sat upright. "Okay, okay. Mini-stroke? You can't just gloss over that like that, okay? What does that... what does that mean? Am I gonna have this migraine for the rest of my life?"

"It means you should take a few aspirin and you'll be fine," Caitlin reassured him his health.

"Oh. Well, just lead with that next time!"

"Cait, I know what a risk you took using your powers," Barry stopped her just as she was leaving the side room. "Thank you."

"I didn't do anything..." Caitlin said sheepishly.

"Well, you saved my life."

"You've saved mine plenty of times. I'm gonna go check on Wally," Caitlin turned to finally leave. As she walked on, her eyes flickered silver to dark. Let me out, Caity…

~ 0 ~

Shortly later, Belén and Anais had joined the group in the cortex, each one looking worse for wear in their own way.

"Anais, you're okay?" Cisco asked, much kinder than before now that he knew where his dampeners had actually gotten to.

Anais knew this and scowled at him in return. "You care?"

Cisco figured he had that well earned. "I said I was sorry—"

"Keep saying it, then," she walked past him to her folded suit left on a chair.

"What are you doing?" Barry asked, curiously watching her get the suit.

"I'm leaving," she announced sharply.

"What - now? You're choosing to leave now?" Cisco blinked. Just when he was beginning to like her a bit more.

"Caitlin said I finished with my tests and Barry said I could leave whenever I wanted to after that. Well, I want to leave now," Anais informed them and walked up to them. She didn't quite care for the group's reaction. "No offence, but I didn't come here to sign up for another war."

"Uh, no, you just stole the passageway of another man," Cisco reminded him but it did no good for the case.

"Here," Anais handed Barry a card with a number on it. "I'm not disappearing, but I...I just don't want to be here anymore. I just got out of a war, I can't get into another one. You understand, right?"

Barry gave a nod without the intention of pleading her to stay. Unfortunately, he could understand what Anais was trying to say. In the end, this was their problem with Savitar and Alchemy, not hers.

"Iris got me the cellphone, I will answer if you call, I swear," Anais stepped around Barry and stopped by Belén. "Please take care of yourself, okay?" Belén meekly nodded and rubbed her arm. Anais was sure there was something Belén wasn't saying but who was she to start asking questions? All Anais wanted to do was get the hell out of there before something targeted her next.

"Well, there's your daughter!" Cisco gestured after Anais once she was gone, eyes set on Barry and Belén. "You're not going to stop her!?"

Belén shrugged at Cisco. "What do you want us to do? Call her to come back and fight a battle that's not hers?"

Barry tucked the card with the number inside his pocket. "Maybe she's making the right call, alright? Let's just give her some space."

Cisco wasn't even going to waste more breath on the matter. "Fine, whatever. So what was that thing in the waterfront, anyways? All frozen and whatnot."

"I don't know. But now we know Alchemy is just the lackey," Barry said. "Whatever that thing was, it's what we're really up against."

"So why couldn't any of us see it?" Belén asked. "Joe and I, we-we tried but...there was nothing." Of course maybe she would have seen more things if she wasn't dealing with the insanity going on in her head.

"Maybe it was a speedster thing?" Cisco offered, even though there was no clear explanation for it. "I mean, Anais saw it, right?"

"Maybe, but I think he's more than a speedster," Barry admitted. "I mean, when he had me, it wasn't like we were even moving; it was just like, 'bam!' we were instantly somewhere different, even from my perspective."

"Did he say anything else?"

"He said his name was Savitar."

"Nice name," Belén said distractedly. She felt the echo of pain on the side of her head.

"Bells…" Barry stepped towards her but she sniffed and nodded to the threshold.

Belén blinked at Barry, her face flushing when she realized she wasn't paying attention again. "Uh, Wally's still...I'm so sorry." She shook her head and rushed out of the cortex.

Barry was exhausted and yet this single moment felt even worse than him getting punched by Savitar. Whatever was going on with Belén was distancing them again and the last time that happened, Belén almost didn't come back from it.

~ 0 ~

A few hours had passed by since they brought Wally back and since then, Caitlin had performed a series of tests to see his condition. Her news wasn't relatively the best except that Wally wasn't entirely dead.

Belén heard the whole news and couldn't take the guilt. She cooped herself up in the greenhouse room and tried her damn best to meditate. It wasn't working. In fact, it was perhaps one of the worst meditation attempts of her life. Belén felt like sobbing at one point. That was when Barry found her.

"Bells, c'mon..." Barry had no sophisticated strategy to get her to open up. He was too tired for that stuff today. He sat down on the floor directly in front of her, crossing one leg over the other as if he was going to meditate with her. For the first couple of minutes, he didn't say anything to her. He just looked at her.

Belén did the same. Somehow, the silence between them was even more difficult to manage than when Barry actively tried to find out what was going on with her. In the end, she gave up. "It's my fault," her confession was a quiet whisper.

"Your fault?" Barry repeated. He hoped that it was glaringly obvious how eager he was that she had finally said something to him. Hopefully it would pave the way to her revealing what was really the problem.

Belén swallowed hard. "Yeah," she nodded. "I messed up. I messed up so badly. I let Wally walk right past me to that stupid stone! He was right in front of me and do didn't do anything!"

Barry was still, honestly, stumped about that moment. Even though there was still some fuzziness about what happened there, he knew something prevented Belén from stopping Wally. She was right. He had walked right past her and she didn't do anything. That wasn't like her. Lately, she wasn't acting like herself. "Bells, you have to help me out here, what's happening? I-I am being patient, but...look at yourself. It's like when Datura was getting to you and...and you shut yourself off from everyone, including me."

Belén bit on her bottom lip nervously. As hard as things were getting, she was scared to tell Barry what was happening. "It's scaring the living crap out of me right now," she admitted.

"What is?" Barry gently pushed for the answer. He reached for one of her hands on her lap, enveloping it between his hands. "You can tell me anything."

"I'm afraid how you'll take it," Belén said, watching him carefully. Already, she saw a spark of guilt in Barry's eyes. She couldn't imagine how he would take the news that his changing the timelines truly affected her and Caitlin in the worst ways. She couldn't do that to him. "But it's okay. It's okay. I have it under control."

"But, Bells—"

Belén leaned forwards and pressed a kiss on Barry's lips. She smiled softly at him, eyes looking at him fondly. "I really love you, do you know that?"

Barry recognized a tactic when he saw one and he was ashamed that it worked. Belén was purposely keeping something away from him and he couldn't force it out of her. The only thing left to do was wait and tell her that he loved her too.

~ 0 ~

"Alright then," Veronica settled a folder of evidence on the interrogation table and watched the lone acolyte of Alchemy's shift nervously in his chair. "Now that you lost the monk disguise, we can talk. Let's start with Alchemy."

The man gave her almost a sneer.

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't test these waters," she warned in a deadly tone. "Why don't—" the door of the room burst open with Joe.

He let the door slam behind him as he walked over to the table. "Tell me about Alchemy," he commanded. "What he does, how he does it. Say it now."

There, the man repeated his sneer. However, he spoke this time. "His powers are beyond human understanding."

"Try us," Veronica leaned back on her chair and motioned him to get a move on.

The man merely smirked. "Oh, you will be tried. All of you. When my master rises, the human race will be judged. From where I'm sitting, you will not fare very well."

Veronica was about to tell him how delirious he was when Joe reached out and grabbed the man by the nose, almost threatening to break it. Veronica, startled, straightened up on her chair.

"You think I'm playing with you? My son is in one of those cocoons, and you're gonna tell me how to get him out. Now talk!" Joe ignored Veronica's attempt to get him to stop. He was beyond words at this point. The only salvation was the relentless knock on the door.

"Please just stop," Veronica warned him when she went to go answer. "Caitlin?" she blinked then looked past her to see if she was alone.

"It's Wally," the brunette said, immediately catching Joe's attention. The man hurried over. "He's out of that thing. He's fine."

"And he's okay?"

"Yeah. He's fine. I promise."

"Oh, thank God. Thank you, Caitlin," Joe glanced back at the suspect.

"You should probably go see him, then," Veronica smiled at him. "I can take care of this joke in ten minutes."

Joe laughed and merrily went on his way.

"Actually, Belén is waiting for you in the reception," Caitlin informed Veronica. "She said it's something important."

"Oh, wonder what it is now," Veronica smiled again and walked out of the room, leaving the door to close on its own.

Caitlin struck a boot just before it did close. She waited until Veronica was out of the way then walked in, backwards, and shut the door. Her eyes flickered to the security camera up on the ceiling and shot a hand up at it, freezing it completely.

"Where is Alchemy?" she revealed her silver eyes. The white streaks of hair were already making its presence on her head. "Tell me where Alchemy is."

The man eyed her with curiosity. He was not afraid, merely interested like he expected this to happen. "I sense great fear in you. You fear your power, your own greatness."

"I don't fear anything anymore," Caitlin's voice overlapped with Killer Frost. "Where is Alchemy?"

"The only one I fear is that whom Alchemy serves, the dark lord Savitar."

Caitlin regarded that with some amusement. Her eyes became a stronger silver as she rose her hand with threatening ice. "Maybe it's time you started fearing me."

GetHimGetHimGetHim, Killer Frost commanded and this time had the perfect control over Caitlin. Ice spread to the suspect's hands, causing terrible screams to erupt.

In less than a minute there was pounding on the doors. Caitlin's eyes briefly reverted to their normal chocolate brown. Caitlin herself whimpered as she felt the force that was Killer Frost trying to push her way out again. Her eyes flashed silver again and she filled the air with a cold fog then allowed the door to open. As the two officers hurried inside, she slipped out and shut the door, icing the doorknob as a measure of caution.

She was on her way out when someone called her back.

Julian Albert stood behind with an air of confusion as he heard his co-workers calling for help from the inside of the interrogation room. When he turned to Caitlin, he gasped at her very near proximity.

"I need you to come with me," she informed with her frost smoking up from her hands.

~ 0 ~

Joe came in a hurry into Wally's room and was stunned when he found his son was in the same condition as when he left. He met the others' confused looks and explained to them that Caitlin had assured him that Wally had woken up.

"What? I didn't even see her leave," Cisco realized that Caitlin had been out of sight for a while now.

"She said that?" Belén asked, focusing on the more important details of the story.

"Yes," Joe said, quite irritated to see that it was all lies.

"That's not like Caitlin..." Iris shook her head, thinking the same as the others.

Belén was the first to realize what was going on. Iris was right. Caitlin wasn't like that. Caitlin didn't lie to get officers out of interrogation rooms.

But she knew a certain metahuman who would do all those things.

~ 0 ~

The precinct was on red alert when Barry got there. Before he reached the offices, Veronica caught him on the side, startling him.

"You have got some explaining to do!" Her snap put him even worse for wear.

"What!? I—"

"Come here," Veronica grabbed Barry by the collar and dragged him into the bullpen, ignoring his 'what' again. She stopped by her desk and pulled up the security feed of the interrogation room where they'd kept Alchemy's acolyte. "Caitlin just attacked two officers, one suspect and kidnapped Julian."

"What?" Barry leaned closer to the screen just to make sure they hadn't made a mistake. He could only see Caitlin's side profile as she iced down the camera.

"No one's recognized her from the video but if Julian gets out first, he'll turn her in," Veronica warned him. "What the hell is going on?"

"I...I don't know," Barry rubbed his forehead. Killer Frost was making her appearance, that's what. Just like her earth 2 doppelganger, the ice made her bad.

"When did she get powers? And why would she take Julian?" Veronica's questions went unanswered.

Barry couldn't focus when the bigger issues were at hand. It would be a race to find Caitlin before the cops did.

~ 0 ~

As soon as she could, Belén fled to her greenhouse room to call a certain doppelganger to answers. She faced Datura on a video call while she paced back and forth. "What the hell is happening? Killer Frost is already taking Caitlin over! You said there was more time!"

Datura snickered on the other end. "I said there was only a question of who would end up taken first. Looks like I got the answer. Killer Frost was always a rowdy, annoying meta."

"Well now she's inside my friend and she's making Caitlin do things she would never do!"

"That's the point, stupid," Datura rolled her eyes. "Killer Frost wants access, and since Caitlin is probably getting more desperate, it's been easy for Killer Frost to take over."

"But she kidnapped a friend — Killer Frost kidnaps?"

"No," Datura said with some thought put into it. She looked to the side as she recollected patterns of the Earth 2 meta. "She kills. It's in her name. I think this little outburst might be Caitlin and Killer Frost together as a...mixture. One is just fighting the other."

"So, Caitlin is actively fighting back but losing?"

"Don't know. Look at her intentions and then let me know," Datura winked then shut off the call before Belén could say more.

Belén stuffed her phone in her back pocket then rubbed her face. "Caitlin, what are you doing?" She hated to think what Caitlin might be feeling - if Caitlin was feeling anything as herself at all. If what Datura said was true, then perhaps Caitlin was on her way to merging with Killer Frost to create a whole new person.

Who would that person end up, though?

~ 0 ~

"So, they don't know why she took Julian?" Cisco asked just to be sure. He was currently trying to locate Caitlin's location and a little stress might be making it more difficult.

"No, they don't. But more importantly, they don't even know that it's Caitlin yet, so we need to find her before they do," Barry couldn't hide the urgency in his words.

"Okay, let's say we do find her, then what are we going to do?" Iris made them stop for a moment. "It's obvious she's not thinking straight but have we thought about the reasons? Maybe something that could help us?"

"Killer Frost from Earth 2 is inhabiting Caitlin's mind," Belén walked in, her face expressing nothing but guilt. "Caitlin is literally having a battle with another person inside her own body."

"She's becoming Killer Frost. It's just like in the Vibe," Cisco shook his head.

"We don't know that yet," Barry reminded, but the doubt was still hanging over everyone's head.

"Her mother said the more that she uses her powers, the faster she's gonna go," Belén relayed what Caitlin once told her. "These powers aren't just powers, they're actual people that Datura siphoned. They're sentient and some of them are more forcible than others."

"How do you know that?" Iris now laid suspicious eyes on Belén.

"Because that's what Datura told me," Belén replied, hiding behind the technicality that she was not lying. "We just need to find Caitlin and make her see what's happening."

"I tried pinging her cell and Julian's, but she must have ditched them both," Cisco said with a groan of frustration.

"Stop thinking Caitlin is a regular person and start searching for another meta with cold powers," Belén moved over to him. "The answer here is not to ignore. Caitlin's powers, they're cold, so...could we use something we used for Captain Cold?"

"We tracked him using the satellite to scan for ultraviolet cold signatures," Cisco thought about it then snapped his fingers. "You're good!" he told Belén, making her smile, and got back to work. "Frozen food warehouse! That's where she is! Okay, I'm gonna isolate the feed so that no one else can see it!"

"Please do," Belén hurried after her suit.

"Figure out what she's making Julian do," Barry instructed as he went with Belén. The two would certainly need to know to help.

~ 0 ~

Julian worked incredibly fast despite the fear over his shoulders. Caitlin had him searching for acolytes of Alchemy and with a good motivation too. Find someone or be killed. She had already proven that she was willing to follow through by giving a deadly frostbite on his wrist, so...

"I found two individuals that have searched for the name Savitar. Here are both their addresses, both of them in Central City," he stopped working and looked at the woman. He still couldn't believe this was Caitlin Snow, a friend of Belén's who'd gone mad all in a week since the last time he saw her. "What exactly are you gonna do to them?"

"I don't know," Caitlin admitted as she walked a bit to the side. Killer Frost was screaming in her head to do something more fun, to use her powers. But all Caitlin wanted to do was silence her forever. "What am I doing?" She asked as herself. The noise of typing brought the more suspicious Killer Frost out. Julian had attempted - successfully - to send a message to the police. Angrily, she iced his laptop and destroyed it. "What part of "I'll freeze you to death" did you not understand?"

"Stop!" Barry sped in with Belén. Both were stunned to see Caitlin's appearance. It was half her, half Killer Frost.

Exactly what Datura said, Belén remembered.

"Get out of here," Caitlin warned them with one hand raised.

"You know we can't do that," Barry shook his head.

Belén swallowed hard and moved towards the woman but Caitlin brandished a frosty hand. "What are you doing?" Belén whispered in disbelief. "I know the powers are doing this but you have to fight it."

"Take her out. Take her out!" Julian frantically urged behind Barry.

"That's what I'm doing," Caitlin responded as herself, taking Belén by surprise. "I'm not trying to hurt someone—"

"You are wiring to hurt someone!" Julian was the first one to argue. "Knock her out!" he ordered the two known metas.

Barry didn't hesitate to knock him out instead. Belén threw Barry a look for that, eyes sharp with disapproval.

"Priorities," Barry reminded, though his lips did try to form a smile when Belén returned her attention to Caitlin.

"Cait, these powers, we can work with them—"

"I'm doing something about it!" Caitlin snapped at Belén. "I'm finding Alchemy!"

"We will find him. All right? Together," Barry misunderstood her intentions, as did Belén, and hoped to be reassuring.

"No. You don't understand. I don't want to lock him up. I need him to help me," Caitlin frantically argued.

"Help you what?"

"I need him to get rid of my powers!"

Both Belén and Barry paused in their tracks. Belén sighed at the brunette. "Caitlin... I'm not sure Alchemy can deal with...this sort of power," Belén felt sorry to say. She wished it would be that easy.

"You don't know that it doesn't," Caitlin very logically made her point. "I need her to stop talking to me! To stop controlling me!"

"Then let us help," Barry slowly reached out for her. "We all love you, and we will do everything that we can to help you. We've been through too much together to let each other down now."

Caitlin's eyes glimmered blue and silver. "Like you helped your mother?" Her voice vibrated with Killer Frost's. "Or Wally? Or me? You keep messing with everyone's lives, wrecking everything, and we're left behind to pick up the pieces from your mistakes. Some things you break can't be put back together!"

Barry, ashamed, took that with a hang of his head. "I can fix this."

Killer Frost had no mercy. "Oh, like you fixed Cisco's family? You didn't tell Cisco that you screwed him worst of all, did you?" she purposely spoke louder for the audience watching from STAR Labs. "You hear that, Cisco? Dante was alive, healthy and happy, until Barry created Flashpoint. When he reset things, that's what killed him. Barry is the reason your brother is dead."

"Caitlin, stop!" Belén ordered but Killer Frost was not done.

The best thing about accessing Caitlin's mind was getting a full view of her memories. "You're both—" she nodded to Belén and Barry, "—meant for each other, you know. Keeping secrets, it's what you do best. At least Datura was never a hypocrite about it."

Belén's anger was quick to form. "Be quiet!" she hissed, not entirely as herself, and nearly attacked if the police force hadn't arrived.

Before the bullets could reach them, Barry got them across the room towards another exit. "Bells?" he worriedly saw her holding her head again, reminding him of the last time they'd been like this.

Caitlin, on the other hand, saw a golden opportunity. She created an icicle and stabbed Barry on the lower part of his ankle, and smirked at Barry's cry of pain. "That severed your triceps surae. Even with your healing abilities, it'll take four hours to regenerate! Don't follow me!"

"Caitlin—" Belén didn't even move an inch before Caitlin threw another threat.

"Follow me and I'll say everything," Caitlin rushed out of there.

Belén pursed her lips together, guilt settling over her like layers of mountain.

~ 0 ~

Both Veronica and Joe walked into the cortex, Axel in tow behind his grandmother. The two detectives moved directly for the side room where they could see Barry. Axel, in the meantime, stayed behind with Cisco, chatting him up with questions over what was happening but Cisco barely regarded the boy.

"I'm not a good doctor so just...tell me if that hurt?" Belén slowly pulled her hands off the bandage she'd wrapped around Barry's ankle.

"It hurts as much as I deserve probably," Barry mumbled, feeling pain alright but it didn't exactly come from his injuries.

"They took Julian to County General," Veronica informed them both. "Mrs. Andrews is with him which is why I had to bring Axel around." Axel had given up on talking to Cisco and now directed all his questions to Iris.

"He's still out cold. How hard did you hit him?" Joe had to wonder.

"I don't know. I didn't mean to knock him out," Barry swallowed the pain he felt and he moved his legs to one side of the bed.

"Mhm," Belén's sharp eyes made him reevaluate his statement.

"Or maybe I did," he relented and got himself up. Belén rolled her eyes and let him move towards the cortex.

Barry saw Cisco crossing the cortex for the desks, and took his chance at a little explanation. "Cisco. Hey, man, um, what Caitlin said…"

Cisco stopped and sent him an scrutinizing glance. "Was she lying?"

"No. Um…"

Cisco almost rolled his eyes despite tears threatening to break free. "You're sorry? That you killed my brother? 'Cause he was here. He was alive—" he enunciated slowly, one hand jabbing at Barry's shoulder, "—until you created Flashpoint, until you did this!" he shoved the speedster backwards.

Axel scurried from Iris towards his aunt. "Why are they…" he stopped when Belén warned him to stay quiet with a finger over her lips.

"I don't even know how to feel right now. All I know is Caitlin is out there, and we need to find her. Can we do that?" Cisco backed to the desk, not giving much of an alternative. "I hacked Julian's computer. Caitlin had him look up two addresses: 16 Hawthorne Avenue and 1104 Truman Place. She's trying to find the acolytes, I was trying to say."

"What exactly would she want with Alchemy's followers?" Iris wondered out loud.

"Caitlin doesn't want her powers so... she thinks these acolytes can take her to Alchemy who would then take away her powers," Belén explained. It was exactly what Caitlin, in such a state, would attempt to do.

"We heard," Cisco muttered from the computers.

"Well, two acolytes, two addresses. Which one's she gonna hit first?" Veronica inquired, but knew there was no certain answer.

"We got to watch both," Barry decided. He was shot down before he even took a step towards his suit.

"You're gonna stay here. You can barely walk," Joe pointed him to the chair.

"We can take care of Hawthorne," Belén moved over to Cisco.

"I'll take Truman," Veronica volunteered.

"I care about Caitlin, but I don't want to leave Wally," Joe admitted.

"Dad, Barry and I will stay with Wally," Iris offered instead. "You go with Detective Greene."

"Alright," Joe sighed and moved with Veronica.

Belén started for her suit in the meantime.

"Cisco, if you find her…" Barry trailed off when Cisco directed a cold glare on him.

"I won't call you. You've done enough," Cisco mumbled and went on his way.

Belén came back but before she even called for Cisco, Barry motioned her to stop. "Just be careful," he told her and limped his way to Wally's room.

"Look after him, please?" Belén asked Iris quietly. Iris assured she would, allowing Belén to go on in a relative peace.

~0~

"The acolyte's on the second floor," Veronica settled her eyes on the apartment across them. She picked up her coffee cup then offered the second one to Joe. He shook his head and simply stated ahead. "I understand how you feel about Wally but he's going to be okay."

Joe's face said something else. "How would you know?"

"I think logically," Veronica shrugged. "If they wanted him dead, then that would've happened yesterday."

The manner in which she said it was so...carefree. There really was no trace of concern in her. "How do you do that?" Joe asked incredulously.

Veronica gave a small smile. "You're forgetting my own children have been affected. My eldest is in prison for murder and theft, my son is dead and my youngest...just won't stop fighting. After a while, you catch on that no matter how many times you attempt to stop them... they won't."

"So, what? I'm just supposed to let them do what they want even when my gut tells me something's off?"

"No. You use that intuition to help them. At the end of the day they're young and don't have the same experience that we do. That's why they need us," Veronica said with the utmost certainty. She exchanged a smile with Joe after. "So next time, just follow your intuition."

~0~

The first acolyte had been signaled out as the one chosen by Caitlin. She was sneaky like Killer Frost, but cautious like Caitlin as she waited for the acolyte, named Craig apparently, to come out of his bedroom. Just as the he went for the temperature controller, she let the hiss of her ice scare him into turning around.

"Both of my parents are doctors. It's all I ever wanted to be. Growing up, I used to practice the Hippocratic Oath. I was obsessed with it," she started moving towards the nab who only plastered himself against the wall. "If anyone was even gonna step on a bug, I would say, 'Do no harm'. It's built into my DNA." She raised a finger at him, letting ice encapsulate around it to create a perfect icicle. "Unfortunately, my DNA isn't what it used to be. So, believe me when I say answer every one of my questions, or I will harm you and your family." This left the acolyte with no choice. "Who is Alchemy?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him without the mask!"

"I know he can give people powers. Can he take them away?"

"Yes. But you can't make Alchemy do anything. He's just an acolyte, like me," the man admitted, his eyes constantly flickering to the icicle threatening to claw his eyes out. "We both serve the speed god, Savitar. He's shown us the future. I saw you there." Caitlin's eyes turned back to their regular color, even the icicle disappearing from her finger. "You were glorious and powerful. My lord has special plans for you. He will come to you and speak to you. The honor of that is..." his laughter only brought out Caitlin's fear even more. "He will call you...the Bringer. After all, only you, Caitlin Snow, can bring Her."

Caitlin backtracked, her eyes going back and forth between blue and brown. She was terrified. She needed to leave - now! She hurried out of the house, but by the time she managed to get out, Killer Frost was surfacing again. The light rain made for an eventful night, at least that's what Killer Frost kept saying in the head.

"Caitlin!" Cisco's voice stopped her across the road.

She smirked at him. "Really? You brought your toys?" she nodded to his goggled which he had yet to put on.

Cisco's hand gripped around hid goggles. "I'm hoping it won't come to that."

Caitlin raised her icy hands. "It won't."

"Look, I'm not leaving you out here. I want to help you."

"There's only one person who can help me."

"Really? You really think seeking medical advice from someone named Dr. Alchemy is the way to go?"

"Why not? My name is Killer Frost," Caitlin threatened to shoot frost from her hands.

Cisco moved a step forwards. "Your name... is Caitlin Snow.

"Can Caitlin Snow do this?" Caitlin's eyes glowed stronger. Killer Frost commanded her to start firing, and so she did. Icicles stormed towards Cisco and since he couldn't bring himself to attack yet, he ran for cover behind a tree.

Caitlin pulled back a hand to fire stronger but a vine latched onto her wrist, preventing her from moving it. Belén stood behind her, very much in the same cautious state as Cisco. "Caitlin, please!"

"My name is Killer Frost!" Ice zoomed up Belén's wrapped vine, forcing her to let it go before it reached her. Caitlin then whirled around and blasted a powerful mass of frost at the other woman. "Why fight me? We could be a killer team, you know."

Belén motioned Caitlin to calm down. "Caitlin, I know it's hard. The voice is strong but you are stronger. Don't let her control you."

"I'm doing fine, thanks! Can't say the same for you!" Caitlin swung icicles like boomerangs at Belén, forcing the meta to fight back. She moved forwards as her poison swished forwards along with pieces of vines trying to trap Caitlin but it wasn't enough to keep her down. The frosty meta engaged Belén in hand combat.

"Belén! Move!" Cisco put on his goggles, figuring that the best thing would be to bring Caitlin back to STAR Labs...and for that she needed everyone to help.

"I can't!" Belén was in the middle of dodging Caitlin who was probably drawing on Killer Frost's combat skills.

"Unleash those powers," Killer Frost taunted in-between punches. "You know they're itching to play!"

She's right. Let us out! Belén heard the voices begin to scream. With that distraction, Killer Frost backhanded her to the ground.

"Come on out!" she practically demanded, going as far as putting a boot over Belén's back.

Belén screwed her eyes shut but this time the voices weren't going away. They were doing the same thing Killer Frost said to. They wanted to come out.

Caitlin was drawn back by the noises of a zip. She caught Barry's light as he charged towards them. She froze the roadside and watched as the speedster slipped over and rolled on the ground. She walked over to him, glaring down. "How's the leg?"

Barry hated her sense of humor at the moment. He saw her boots from the corner of his eyes and retaliated in the simplest way. He swiped his arm across her legs and knocked her down beside him.

"I'm sorry, Caitlin," he heard her groans beside him and truly felt bad for her. Everything she said was right. It was his fault.

"That was cold, Flash," she gave him his due. "But this is colder." She jumped to her next move and straddled him, planting her lips over his for a frosty kiss.

Cisco knew it was time to act no matter his feelings. He could practically see Barry's blue face thanks to Caitlin. Belén was still on the ground once again raging at herself to 'stop' ... again. Cisco put on his goggles and struck Caitlin with a vibe energy that knocked her over a car. Cisco then came running forwards.

"Start vibrating. It'll warm you up," he left that advice for Barry on the ground.

Caitlin was just attempting to get up when she felt a hand curl around her ankle. "Oh let go you pathetic plant girl," she hissed with a raging icy hand.

"You wanted me out? Now I'm out," Belén had an unusual glare on her face, her eyes glimmering colors.

"Bells, just hold her!" Cisco ran up to them with the intention of knocking Caitlin out.

"I've got a better idea," Belén smirked. Heat erupted from her free hand and sent Cisco back against the same car that Caitlin had rolled over.

Start killing! Get them all out! Let us be free! The voices chanted in unison. Belén felt herself slowly lose against them. She didn't want to be like Caitlin, she wanted to control them...but she was so tired. The stronger they got, the less pain Belén felt, the less stress and ache.

"Well, you came out to play," Caitlin as Killer Frost looked down at Belén with a smug face.

Belén held her head in pain. "Leave me alone, Frost!"

Caitlin circled the woman, taunting her to come out and match her powers. "We could have some fun, can't you see? I hadn't thought about it before but, after all you were the one who wanted me to come out with Caitlin."

"I SAID STOP!" Belén screamed and whirled around to deliver a punch across Caitlin's face. She raised her hands above her head and let white energy blink into existence around them.

"Belén?"

Belén lowered her arms but kept the moon energy stirring between her hands as she turned to face Barry. He was stunned to find Cisco outcold over a car, Caitlin pretty much under the same state on the ground and... Belén being the cause of it. Her white eyes made him fear that perhaps Killer Frost wasn't the only one who was affected by the siphoning device. Had he done that to her as well?

"Shoot," Belén commanded, but as herself trying to regain control. The power around her hands struggled to keep itself going. "I don't want…" her white eyes flickered to Caitlin, "...I don't want to be...like her...knock me out!"

Barry couldn't believe his ears. Belén stumbled towards him, begging him to do what she asked. "But Belén—"

"KNOCK ME OUT!" she screamed at Barry, eyes flickering to gold. The sight terrified him. "DO IT!"

Barry shut his eyes and absolutely hated himself. He streaked forwards and knocked Belén down as cautious as possible. A smack would be enough, he hoped.

~0~

The next time Caitlin awoke, she found herself inside the pipeline with the group, save Belén, staring at her from the other side with sympathy. "Phew, guess I just needed a little sleep. Thanks, guys. I'm feeling much better now. It's okay. You can let me out. I promise I'm not gonna hurt anybody." Her eyes blue eyes scanned the group to see if anyone faltered, but they knew better. "Hmm. Guess you're all smarter than I thought. You know, that was some blast there, Vibe boy. It kind of hurt."

Cisco's eyes were still glossy with tears. He couldn't believe this is what they were reduced to in the end. "I didn't want to hurt you."

Caitlin's face contorted to disgust. "You're pathetic."

"Alchemy can't help you. But we can. I promise," Barry couldn't stop staring at her, hoping that she would come out of her trance.

Caitlin scoffed. "Oh, like you promised Eddie? And like you promised Ronnie? You know, for a hero, Flash, you sure let a lot of people around you die."

"This isn't you talking. It's the powers. They're messing with your mind. You're sick—"

"Killer Frost might be in my head but Caitlin is broken, Barry. And that's all your fault," Caitlin tapped her finger against the wall. A smug smile spread across her face, almost threatening to laugh. "But this time around, justice came through. You're not getting away with a happy ending this time. You hurt the person you supposedly love most. Belén? She's going to become just like me and then we'll take this city together."

Barry swallowed hard, the guilt he felt once now too hard to push with words of comfort. "We're not letting this happen…" He reached for the controller's to close the pipeline up.

"You did this to me!" Caitlin raged from the inside just before she was lost behind the pipeline.

"Do you have any idea how we can reverse this?" Barry turned to Cisco, hoping for anything at this point. "How we can get her back?"

Cisco refused to look at him. "It's like Caitlin said: sometimes when things get broken, they can't be fixed."

~0~

Belén sat at the edge of the medical bed with her head held low in shame. She couldn't stop staring at the meta dampener cuffs adorning her wrists. Cisco must have put them on her after being taken back to STAR Labs. The voices were dead silent in her head. It was as if everything was normal again.

Except she wasn't. She was far from it.

The sound of footsteps rose her head. She was mortified to see her friends and mother staring at her with...pity. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head over her knees.

"I'm sorry," she said, not that it mattered. She had punched her friend and thrown the other over a car. One apology made no difference.

Barry asked with a pleading look to let him talk to her first.

"Do not let her become like Caitlin," Veronica warned with the same hostility she once showed him when they first met. She was angry. Hell angry.

Barry cleared his throat and walked into the side room once the others had gone. "This was it, wasn't it? The thing that you were hiding? It was about this and Caitlin."

"I could never say anything about Caitlin. It wasn't my secret to tell," she rose her head once more. "And I just didn't want you to think it was your fault."

"But it is," Barry said grimly, "This is all my fault. In the other timeline, this didn't happen to you. It didn't happen to Caitlin either."

"It does no good to think about that anymore," Belén said, letting out a heavy sigh, "You can't change it anymore. If I could, I would have tried to fix this on my own."

"But you shouldn't have to," Barry said, coming over to sit down on the bed with her, "This is my fault so please let me help to fix this. We're a team, right? You and I, we're partners above everything and everyone else. Please, trust in me that I will fix this."

"There's not much to work with," Belén said, "The voices are just getting stronger now."

"These voices... there's more than one?"

Belén nodded. "There's three. One who controls earth, the other controls the moon elements and the other has heat abilities. They're some of the victims Datura siphoned and killed. They're mad and they want to be free. Datura said that it's only a matter of time until I lose it. She was right about Caitlin, so…"

"Datura?" Barry raised an eyebrow at her. "You've been speaking to that woman?"

"Yeah, she called me one day because apparently she can now see the future sometimes. I visited her too," Belén said, deciding it was best to put it all out there now that the truth was out. "We, uh, we made a deal. She said she'll help and in return, she'll get Frost's power back. But being honest...I don't think she'll be able to reverse it. And I certainly don't want to wear these," she raised her cuffed hands. "If I have to live with these powers, then I want to control them. I don't want to hide them."

Barry ultimately knew she wanted the cuffs off. He could already hear Veronica shouting that it wasn't the safest thing but...he had already messed up by creating this situation. The least he could do was give Belén her choice. It was all he had. He reached over and unlocked the cuffs. Cisco had placed a password on it just in case Belén switched personalities again. Belén was a bit awed that he was listening so easily. Anyone else would've told her absolutely not.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you, but I swear I will do anything and everything I can to help you," Barry promised her. "Just please don't feel like you need to be sorry. This isn't on you."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't exactly help to hear you continually blame yourself. There's nothing you can do by that," she leaned her head against his arm.

"I should have just followed you inside the house," Barry deeply regretted that night he changed the timelines. He had everything and he didn't see it. It would probably be his biggest regret.

"But you didn't, and that's the fact. I'm sorry you feel this way but...there is nothing you can do to change it. There is no fixing. We are not projects," she shifted her head to look up at him. "We are your friends and we need you."

Barry wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "I've been the villain of this story, Bells."

"Change the course," Belén said, resting her head on his shoulder.

Their moment was cut short when the lights mysteriously malfunctioned in the building. The only possible source of power had to be from Wally. The two metas hurriedly rushed towards Wally's room and found Joe in the middle of breaking Wally out of his cocoon.

"Joe! Hey! What are you doing?" Barry frantically urged him to stop but Joe had already made the decision long before. "You can't cut him!"

"I have to!" Joe argued back. He didn't want Joe to follow in Caitlin's footsteps, nor Belén's. With the help of a power saw, the cocoon was opened in half but along with it came an odd noise.

Barry figured what it was and sped the others away from the cocoon just as an energy exploded from it. Smoke filled the room over the tipped over furniture. There was only s familiar vibrating noise heard and it wasn't from Barry.

Wally stood in the middle of the room, his entire body vibrating. His gaze slowly went around the room but he never made a noise. Then, just like that, he zipped out of the room.

The group quickly intended on finding him, as well as seeing what exactly the cocoon made him.

"No sign of Wally. I've got the satellite scanning the entire city for rapid movement," Cisco called from the desk.

"If he's a speedster, he could be halfway across the country by now," Iris remarked, still unable to believe what they'd seen mere minutes ago.

"Barry, we have to find him," Joe felt the urgency of a parent but also knew it was his fault. He had only wanted to help his son before something bad happened.

"I'm more worried about what happens when we do find him," Barry admitted. "He didn't seem like he was all there."

"I shouldn't have cut him out of that thing," Joe put his hands over his head.

"If we have no way of knowing what effects Wally did under...should we really try to find him first?" Belén asked. "We need to be smart about this and the only one who could possibly know is…"

"Caitlin," Barry exhaled. "We need a biochemist."

"And how do we break her out of...whatever is in her?" Veronica inquired, accusing eyes landing on her daughter. She had spotted the clean wrists.

Belén sucked in a breath and walked to the desk. "Killer Frost from Earth 2 expects us to fix Caitlin by erasing the powers, her mind. If we want Caitlin back, then we need to remind her who she is."

"Remind her who she is? I think I can do that," Barry decided to play one last card and headed for the pipeline.

Veronica quickly took her daughter by the wrist to the side. "What the hell are you doing? Where are the cuffs?"

"I'm not wearing them," Belén pushed her mother's hands off and returned to the desk.

"I knew we shouldn't have given Barry the password," the woman came after her.

"Mom, you can't just lock them up! I mean, that's exactly what Caitlin tried to do and look where she is right now?" Belén turned to Cisco with the most sincere face possible. "Cisco, I swear I am so sorry that I threw you over a car! I'm sorry that I lied to everyone but you cannot force me to shut my powers away!" she shouted. "Like I said to Barry I am not a project to fix!"

Get them. Make them fear you, Belén closed her eyes and leaned on the desk. The others exchanged cautious glances.

~0~

Caitlin was smug when Barry reopened her prison. It was going to be difficult convincing her but Barry was not planning on stopping.

"We need your help, Caitlin. Wally... he's... he's out of the cocoon, but his biochemistry is all out of whack. He went AWOL."

Caitlin casually leaned against the back wall of the pod. Her lips formed a mock pout. "So?"

"So, when we find him, he's gonna need your help. He's gonna need your medical expertise, your experience with metas. What he needs is Caitlin Snow, MD."

Caitlin gave a mocking laugh. "So, you came to try and talk some sense into me."

"No. I came to let you go," Barry moved to the controls again and opened up the pod.

Caitlin waited a second fir any trick he might be holding back on. Barry just stood there waiting for her. She mocked him and walked out. "For a smart guy, that was an awfully dumb move."

"Like I said, you're free to go."

"What's the catch?"

"You have to kill me," Barry answered in a matter of fact tone.

From the cortex, Iris was deadlocked on the plan, thinking it stupid. "What is he doing!?"

"He's bringing Caitlin back," Belén shushed her, she and Cisco being the only ones not as worried. She had faith that their friend was still there, and if Barry really wanted to help them then he needed to be the one to take the leap. He was faster; he could move if he needed to.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at Barry and moved up to him. He didn't move an inch. "You want to fight, Flash?"

"No. I'm not gonna fight you," Barry continued with his nonchalantness. "But if you want to leave this room, you're gonna have to kill me."

"Don't think I won't," Caitlin warned, Killer Frost lacing every word spoken.

"Then do it."

Caitlin turned her palm over and created one lone icicle.

Barry braced himself and didn't move an inch. Caitlin, for some reason, only raised the icicle to his chest. "What are you waiting for? What's the big deal? Come on! Live up to your name, Killer Frost. I want to see some killing!" he grabbed onto her wrist holding the icicle and yanked her forwards. "You want to be the villain? This is what they do. They kill their friends, because nothing matters to them anymore, right?"

Caitlin seemed to struggle to push the icicle. Killer Frost raged to do it already so they could go. I can't, Caitlin was the one to think. She's not in control.

"Kill me, Caitlin!" Barry practically ordered to the still woman. "You can't do it. You can't, because underneath all that cold, you're still you."

Caitlin released a shaky breath, Killer Frost's rage was being sealed away at least for the time being. She was not a killer. Killer Frost could not make her become that. Absolutely not.

The blue in her eyes faded away and were replaced by tears. She dropped the icicle in her hand and broke into sobs. "Barry!"

Barry hugged her with no hard feelings. "It's okay. I got you. It's okay." He held her tight and sighed of relief to have her back with them.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin felt a huge relief having the meta-dampeners back on her wrists. Her mind was clear again, there was just her and only her. It left her entirely focused on Wally's current state, the latter still unfound. She'd taken a couple of bits left over by the cocoon to see where exactly Wally's structure was at the moment. And because of it, she was able to form an injection that might help him.

"I think extracting Wally early from that cocoon left him in a fugue state. His synapses aren't used to functioning at super-speed, so his mind and muscles are misfiring," she stopped by Barry with the serum ready to go.

"I mean, will this stuff help?" Joe eyed the serum with weariness.

"I've synthesized a neural compound that I think will get his mind and body running at the same speed. We just have to find him first."

"Well, computers aren't doing a damn thing," Cisco muttered from his spot at the desk. He rubbed his face then dropped his hands and turned to the group. "I don't know what else to do."

"But maybe Joe does," Veronica gave the man a glance, knowingly smiling. "Father's know best. "What's your intuition saying?"

Joe had to smile, but didn't disregard her attempt that fast. He got to wondering if perhaps Wally wasn't lost. What if he had just...gotten nostalgic in that state he was in? When nothing made sense, what kept him together?

"The house that he grew up in," he said before he could even solidify the thought. "He used to go there when he missed his mother. In Keystone."

"Let's go," Barry got ahold of him and left together.

As soon as they were gone, Caitlin moved towards Cisco and Belén with that face that spelled utter guilt. "I, uh... I just wanted to…"

"It's okay," Cisco got up from his desk and hugged her tight. "You scared me for a second, getting all Mother of Dragons on me with that hair."

Caitlin managed to chuckle but she was still feeling pretty bad in regards to Belén. "I shouldn't have said anything, b-but I...I wasn't…"

"You don't need to explain anything to me, Cait, I know exactly what that feels like," Belén raised her hands. "I guess they had to know sometime…"

"Still freaked us out…" Iris was heard mumbling from her spot. "I nearly went reporter on you two earlier."

"I know," Belén mocked a putout face. "But it's a scary thing, and that's why we kept quiet. But rest assure—" she placed a hand on Caitlin's arm, "—that we will find a way to help you. Datura said she wanted her power back, so...she's on board."

"Woah, woah, we're letting psycho-Belén help us now?" Cisco went wide-eyed at the news, something that both Iris and Veronica shared.

"You can't be serious," Veronica shook her head. "Tell me you're not serious."

"Who's psycho-Belén?" Axel looked up from the tablet he'd gotten from home.

"No one, go back to your games," Veronica shushed him with a pointed finger.

"It's okay, we're on the same boat - believe it or not - so she's helping," Belén made it clear this was something that had already been decided.

"But did she ask for something in return besides her power?" Caitlin had to wonder. Datura, while Belén, was still dangerously ambitious.

Belén cleared her throat and shook her head. "Nope, just Frosty back." There was no point in telling Caitlin that she would also have to give up her powers to Datura as well. Caitlin felt terrible enough.

That would just remain her little secret till the end.

~ 0 ~

"Oh, so she got back to normal?" Belén rolled her eyes at her doppelganger's disappointment of Caitlin triumphing over Killer Frost.

"Please, don't try to hide your goodness…" Belén sat down on the edge of her bed and glared at Datura on her phone screen.

"Can't hide what I never had," Datura snorted and put a finger to her chin. "Though I do have to express my disappointment of getting this prediction wrong."

"What prediction?"

"I saw Killer Frost in all her frosty glory," Datura shared the vision she'd gotten that day, earlier, but nonetheless about Killer Frost.

"So your psychic abilities aren't always correct, then?"

"Well of course not, the future is never written in stone."

"So...right now, what do you see about...me?"

"Ooh, scared are we?" Datura was quick taunt before laughing. Belén hated her, she really did, because it was fear that was constantly coursing through her. Datura leaned closer to the screen. "I see nothing."

"I know you see something you—"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Dream about that," the doppelganger spat and ended the video chat.

Belén growled and tossed her phone over her shoulder. She buried her face in her hands and thought about the possibilities if she did not learn to control these powers. She already made it clear to her friends that suppressing them was not an option for her - it never would be.

When she heard the front door unlocking, she quickly jumped up from the bed and ran up to the mirror. She didn't want to look so distressed when they had oh-so many problems as it was.

"Yikes," she whispered at her reflection. She combed through her hair with her fingers and walked out of the room to see how Barry did with...getting Julian not to say a word about Caitlin. She offered to go herself but Barry decided that he needed to, because it was part of him owning up to his mistakes. Barry had a somber face until he saw Belén coming out of the hallway. "So, how did it go?" she leaned against the hallway threshold. "Is he going to tell? Do you need me to try?"

How could Barry tell her that one of her closest friends had forced him to quit his job so that Caitlin could avoid jail? He couldn't. At least not tonight when Belén was already looking far too tired to deal with something else. "He's not going to say anything," he informed her with a the tiniest of smiles.

A big relief washed over Belén, even making her laugh towards the end. "Oh my God that is so good to hear!" she walked over and hugged him tight, swaying them a bit.

"Yeah," Barry rubbed her back and rested his chin over her head. Keeping his sudden departure from his job wasn't going to last a day, probably not even a week, but for tonight he would like to give Belén a moment of peace.

After everything, she deserved that much.

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #the flash fics #barry allen fics #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #barry allen x oc #arrowverse fics #arrowverse imagines #the flash x oc #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #oc: the azalea #fic: make you stay

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foeyayshippingweakness · 1 year

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(#) people you want to get to know better

I saw it on the (handwavy gesture) timeline thanks to @saltysatellite804 so I'm gonna do it with my usual lack of brevity :)

1) three ships:

1. I also have many a ship so I'll go with the one I brainrotted really hard for over the last few years, yalex (yassen gregorovich/alex rider) my beloved from the series alex rider! [assassin with a soft spot/extremely reluctant teen spy] dynamic, there's a shit ton of parallels between them, the metaphorical ghost that is alex's dad haunting the both of them, lots of angst-hurt/comfort potential, some infamous lines from the book that is nothing short of describing yassen in unneccesary detail or a literal love confession, I don't take concrit, thank you! thanks to the tv series there's been more fics but I would definitely still categorize it as a rarepair. somehow there still feels like there's such a wealth of excellent writing though!

2. next is adayu (adachi tohru/narukami yu) from the hit game persona 4 or persona 4 golden. [super nuanced jaded cop that goes too far/new in town protag who gains friends as a bit of a butterfly effect from said antag's actions] dynamic, yin-yang opposite sides of the same coin or two roads diverged mirrored equals, and definitely the darker accomplice!yu ending which leads to a lot of creative headcanons and whatnot. also a rarepair that within the last 3 years got a couple of excellent new longfics thanks to the various ports! I have an active discord server for the pairing with about 60-ish people total so we're going strong >:3c

3. finally I'll go with the ship that was the first "fandom" environment I participated in, eobarry (eobard thawne/barry allen) in all media forms, honestly. ngl I was kind of... young then cough so I tried not to be perceived as much as possible... I respect past!fel's enthusiasm but that's about it LOL. simple yet delicious [obsessed antag who is ready to ruin protag's life at a moment's notice/heart of gold protag who messes up... sometimes] dynamic that I need to get back into in order to describe it further. as you can tell, I'm all about the "but they're just opposite sides of the same coin" trope because this one's literally the flash and the reverse flash. from what I remember, I adored eowells but was always craving for more OG thawne in the tv series. in fact, I scoured through the recent flash movie trailer like a goddamn madman in hopes of catching a glimpse of the reverse flash, but no dice. did a little bit of ranting about it here and there on various platforms but since there's visible elements of change in the trailer such as kara instead of kal-el or how barry actually talks to his alt!self and doesn't knock him the fuck out or phase him out of existence, there's a chance they're gonna pull the whole barry vs evil!barry shtick again and I'm going to have to have to write self-cest. also again. rooting for suprise thawne in the theater when I go and watch it to reignite this possible flame, yeah?

2) first ever ship - it's not something I actually remember because it was that long ago. I can, however, tell you that the first three ship fic I wrote were hetalia character/reader-insert fics over on ff dot net about eight years ago. they didn't even last half a year before I wiped them from existence LOL but I've not deleted anything after that ‘cause I not longer care to

3) last song - it's still pulled up right now on my device, heh. it's shadow from the album "face the sun" by the kpop group seventeen. it's a gorgeous song, and if you look up the lyrics, they definitely hit too. about accepting the flaws in yourself, fears, shadows, etc etc

4) last movie - I actually rewatched the animated "flashpoint" movie recently because of the new flash trailer, ha. still can't get over thawne walking out of the shadows mid-movie stirring a mug of (?) so casually jsdfhsdkjfs

5) currently reading - like any other mentally well person, I have over 150 ao3 tabs open, so I'll choose the one that's most recent and relevent. the fic's called "something rich and strange" that's (the distortion/martin blackwood) for the magnus archives. take care to read the tags if you click into the fic^^

6) currently watching - not watching anything at all that can't be finished in one sitting because I've been so busy. the only thing I can think of is my once per week saturday blue lock episode. blue lock's a really well animated and cool-looking hardcore soccer anime that I would say is a totally different genre from something like haikyuu. it's about growth and egocentrism and super fun to watch; it's in-progress but there's over 12 episodes out already

7) currently consuming - the last thing I ate was some pani puri and naan >:P

8) currently craving - you don't understand how badly I need to see that flash movie. I need a flash that's a new flavor from the CW's and I also desperate crave for eobard thawne's entire ass character to exist again. if we're talking food, it's a bit too cold for me day after day so a heart and body warming meal of hot pot with lots of greens and root veggies, mushrooms, fish balls with roe, slices of beef and other meats or seafood, various tofus, and a delicious spicy soup base sounds so good right about now but I'd have to pester my roommate to drive me somewhere to grab it... maybe next week heh! another thing might be, hmm, dragon age 4? get in my mouth right now, dreadwolf.

lastly, the (totally optional) tag line: @suzie-shooter, @that1qb, @lastlymatt, @aurastiel, @spicavenius, @kelbrid, @weavingmemories

#what's funner than cramming 20 different medias into one tumblr post #mm im cold and sleepy...#tag you’re it #do it or don’t it’s whatever (meh)

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written-by-pyrolitheus · 1 year

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Fanfic: Yet Another Timeline for the Flash

Spoiler alert: We begin with Season 3, Episode 23 (“Finish Line”), around the 20-minute mark, which hit Netflix in 2016. If you haven’t watched the first three seasons, you will be lost on the plot of this fic. Ch 1 spoils the third season immensely and the 4th season minorly. If you want to, you can read this fic on AO3 instead.

Special content notice for the first chapter: It's written from Savitar's point of view. The guy has some messed up ways of thinking. CHAPTER 1: The Beginning of the End (of Savitar's Loop) With only Barry and Iris in the med lab, Savitar gave himself time to feel the nostalgia. That was one thing he was certainly better at than Barry - taking his time. It was a skill he had been forced to learn in the ages he spent in Barry’s Speed Force prison. “Strange being back here,” he remarked. And it was. “You remember Star Labs?” Iris asked, proving just how much of a fake she saw him to be. She didn’t really believe he had once been hers, her Barry, or she would never have needed to ask. He employed the other lesson he had learned in prison and shoved the pain her comment sparked down into that place where it fueled his resolve. “I remember everything,” he said. Then, after a moment, he added, “This is where we came up with the cerebral inhibitor. To use against DeVoe.” “Who?” Barry asked immediately. Of course he did. “You haven’t gotten there yet,” he remarked, and then wondered why he was helping. Why was he giving hints that could help Team Flash defeat foes a little faster? DeVoe was formidable of course, but not anything beyond what Team Flash could handle once they got their heads out of their own asses. Yes. There it was. The contempt that he needed to push himself to go through with his plan for his own birth. “So, how’s this gonna work?” Savitar remarked. “Where will I live?” “What do you mean?” Barry asked. “Are Wally and I gonna be bunkmates? Am I supposed to just rejoin Team Flash, fight some rogues? What kind of life were you thinking I’d lead?” Savitar knew the answer already. “I-I hadn’t gotten that far yet,” Barry stammered. Savitar hated himself, his past self that is, for being so incredibly thoughtless. He remembered how smart he’d thought he was at that age. What idiot thinks he is smart but doesn’t plan ahead? “How do we explain me at the wedding?” Savitar continued to rub Barry’s face in his own idiocy, “and do I sit on the bride’s side, or the groom’s side?” He gestured at each of them as he spoke and took neither pain nor delight at the awkward looks this generated. Or was it both pain and delight? He set that question down. The answer didn’t matter. “Ah,” Barry said, “Look I mean, we don’t have all the answers. You know. We’re going to have to figure it out. Together.” Savitar watched as Barry and Iris looked at each other with nodding heads. They had discussed this. They meant it. He remembered that clearly. This was no trick. But it didn’t matter. They did not want him to be Barry Allen. They already had one. They would reject him. Siding with them now meant he would become a time paradox and cease to exist. No, he had his own plans to prevent that from happening. “No,” Savitar said. “Not together.” He turned towards Iris. “Love, and hate, they’re so close. It’s easy to mistake one for the other.” Iris hated him. He knew it. He could remember everything she had said to him about Savitar when he was still Barry. She could not possibly love him, no matter what her eyes were saying now. “You’re going to spend the rest of your life with him. But I remember giving you the ring. Singing to you. Asking you to marry me.” Savitar took a deep breath to swallow his disappointment before continuing quietly. “I can’t do this.” He turned to leave, but Iris blocked his path. “No,” she said. He blinked. This was not how he remembered this conversation. She was supposed to say “Yes you can, okay. I will be here for you.” It was seared into his memory as firmly as the feel of her lips on his, the spark between their fingers, and the look on her face when she had clapped her hands over her mouth when he pulled out the ring during the last few lyrics as he sang to her that night, that night when he proposed to her for the second time, out of pure love. “No, what?” Savitar asked. He noticed Barry looking at her curiously. “No, I’m not going to marry him. Or you. Not right away anyway,” she said hastily, glancing briefly at Barry. “Wha-” Barry started to ask but Iris kept talking. “You proposed to me,” she said, looking at Savitar. Then she jabbed him in the chest with her pointer finger. “You did. You. He did too. But you two were literally the same person when that happened, the same exact person. And you and I have never broken up. So as far as I am concerned, I have two fiances, and that is something we are going to need to talk about - all three of us - before we decide how to handle our lives, much less things like whether to have two weddings or one for all three of us.”

He stared at her in momentary disbelief. So, she did get it. She must have been testing him earlier with that question about his memory. Barry was staring at Iris with his mouth open. She clearly hadn’t talked to him about this yet. The changes to the timeline hadn’t caught up to Savitar’s memories yet and he had no idea what was going to happen next, so he simply said nothing. Barry closed his mouth and just nodded. Savitar sat down on the gurney and Barry finally stopped looking at Iris and turned to him, looking over his face before speaking. “This… isn’t what you remember happening last time, is it?” Barry asked. “No, it’s not,” Savitar confirmed. Then, he looked at Iris. Maybe things would go back on track if he picked up the conversation where it had changed. “I tried to kill you. I killed HR.” “You tried to kill me because you convinced yourself that it was the only way you could exist,” she said, “but there is always another way. And the fact that you would choose yourself over me means you must have experienced something that changed part of you, something that flipped off your hero switch. You have always had this…this darkness in you. It has always been a choice for you to be a hero and you have struggled with that. I know you have. But,” she moved closer and took his hands in hers, “it’s just like you said to me: There is no Flash without Iris West. And you haven’t had an Iris West in a very long time.” Savitar could feel tears appearing at his eyes even though he was not letting his body shake with the crying that wanted to wrack through him. He kept shoving and shoving until his emotions were - mostly - bottled back up again. “But I…I killed H.R.,” he said, to move the conversation back to what he remembered, back to a place where he was in control of his destiny, to a place where Iris would not convince him to give up his own existence, and where he would not give in to her and prevent his own birth and turn into a time paradox and disappear into nothing, never having existed in the first place. He thought of all the other people he had also killed as the price of his own existence and let it harden his heart. “Yes, you did,” she said, and just as he thought things were going back on track, back his way…she said something new, something that broke something inside him, “and I don’t know how you are going to do due justice for that, but we are going to figure that out too after we figure out how to prevent the time paradox from erasing you from existence, because that is part of being a hero, and that is what you are, truly, at your core. You are a hero.” He took a deep breath, savoring her touch on his hands. “H.R. was not the only one,” his voice was barely audible and he hated that something that almost sounded like lamentation showed in it. He needed to be evil, needed that to survive. “I know,” Iris said slowly at first, nodding, “I know. But Savitar or Barry or whatever name you want to use, I can see how much pain you are in. You never wanted to kill anybody. I know you and even though you know there is always another way you also have a tendency to convince yourself that there is only one way to solve a problem. When you get like that, you make rash decisions and act on them no matter what other people have to say, and you can because no one else is fast enough to stop you. That was true before, but God, you’re so fast now that even he can barely see you sometimes,” she gestured at Barry. “I donnnn’t do that…do I?” Barry - the man who had made Flashpoint and thereby created his miserable time loop - asked and sounded serious. Savitar hated him for it, but pity for Barry’s lack of self awareness weakened that hate. “Yes, you do,” Savitar and Iris said together. Then she smiled at him for a moment. And for that moment, the world - and his pain - stopped. There was only her smile. He gave up. He gave into that smile, to the pain, to the grief, to the guilt and the shame. He closed his eyes for one long moment, nearly drowning in all of it, and when he opened them, they were both looking at him, waiting, looking curious. “There was nothing rash about any of this,” he sighed, then gestured at Barry, “As he told you recently, I have had hundreds of years to plan this.” Iris’s eyes were piercing right through him. The tears were back. He wiped his face dry too fast for Iris to see and wondered if Barry noticed. “Hundreds of years to be stuck on the same plan and unable to think about anything else as it consumed your mind, yes, that is actually a lot more like you than you’ve ever really been able to admit to yourself,” - Barry flinched at Iris’s words - “But, it’s over now, isn’t it?” Iris asked and squeezed his hand. “You can stop. You can start healing now.” “I can’t.” Savitar said. “The time paradox,” Barry pointed out. “The time paradox,” Savitar confirmed, but really, he was thinking that being a murderer is something people just heal from. “Let’s fix the time paradox together, and then sort out the rest,” Iris said. “I already have a plan,” Savitar said, emotion making him weak enough to explain it to them. “As long as Cisco does his part - and he will - I will reach immortality before the time paradox reaches me.” Iris and Barry looked at each other briefly. “What is Cisco’s part?” Iris inquired. “And why will he do it?” Barry asked. “I may have led him to believe I would kill Caitlin if he didn’t build what I need,” Savitar said. “He would do anything for her.” Iris’s eyes narrowed. She was wondering whether he meant it. But there was no time for that conversation. It was time to act. He wasn’t sure why he trusted Barry and Iris this time around. But something was different. Something had shifted. Iris didn’t just see him as a charity case, a shadow of her Barry…she seemed to really see him, and Barry was following her lead. He smirked at himself, making a rash decision and acting on it for the first time in far more than just the "few hundred years" Barry had guessed earlier. “I’ll be right back,” he said. Before they could respond, he was already standing in the med bay with Frost - who the others would still think was Caitlin of course -, Cisco, the intradimensional quantum splicer Cisco had just finished constructing from the Speed Force Bazooka, and his emotions ablaze. “If you really mean you want to find a way to keep the paradox from catching up to me, now is the time to do it,” Savitar said.“I’m sorry, what? Uh, we are not doing that” Cisco’s words were exactly what Savitar was expecting. He didn’t need his memories to catch up to the timeline changes predict that response. “Guys, tell me we are not doing that?!”“Why are we here?” Frost sounded angry. “I thought you had a plan.”“I did,” Savitar said, “but plans change.”Barry’s face changed too.“You have an idea,” Iris’s words reflected Savitar’s thoughts.“I do,” Barry confirmed. He walked to Iris, took her hands in his, and tenderly kissed her cheek. It was a goodbye. Iris knew it too, but she was confused, and it showed in the wrinkle of her nose and the pinch of her eyes.“Look,” Barry said to Savitar, “There is one place where the time paradox can’t reach you.”“No! I am not -” he started to say, but Barry interrupted him.“I know, not alone anyway. I’m going with you.” Savitar stared at him, astonished. “It’s the only way,” Barry continued. “It will keep you safe from the paradox while Team Flash figures out how to rescue you, and I will be there so you don’t lose your mind again. We will be in this together. Besides, then Jay can be free and go back to protecting Earth 3.” Barry gestured at the team with his head. "Team Flash will figure out a way to save you and get us out of the Speed Force prison. It's the only way. We have to do this."

#fanfic #superhero #superhero stories #spoilers for the flash

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ao3feed-brucewayne · 2 years

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Every Failure Is A Learning Opportunity

by Goku4025

The final battle with Shigaraki and All For One didn’t end in victory. The final stand was Class 1-A, alone. Even with Midoriya’s immense power and the aid of his class, it wasn’t enough. They weren’t strong enough. It didn’t take long for the students to get outmatched. They each died one by one…

Until they woke up.

Settling In Arc- Ch.1-...

Words: 991, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, DCU, DCU (Comics)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: Multi

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki, Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu, Iida Tenya, Shinsou Hitoshi, Satou Rikidou, Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka, Ojiro Mashirao, Kouda Kouji, Shouji Mezou, Todoroki Shouto, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Ashido Mina, Kaminari Denki, Sero Hanta, Hagakure Tooru, Yaoyorozu Momo, Aoyama Yuuga, Tokoyami Fumikage, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Diana (Wonder Woman), J'onn J'onzz, Justice League (DCU)

Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added

Additional Tags: BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Class 1-A as Family (My Hero Academia), Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, Shinsou Hitoshi is in Class 1-A, Parental Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Protective Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), Supportive Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), Worried Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), BAMF Bakugou Katsuki, BAMF everyone, Don't Have Time To Tag Everyone As BAMF, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Justice League as Family (DCU), Character Death, Character Undeath, Fluff and Angst, I'm Gonna Try My Best With The Angst, A Lot Of DC Characters Will Appear, Even If They Aren't Tagged, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, One For All Quirk Haunted by Past One For All Users' Ghosts (My Hero Academia), One For All Quirk is Revealed (My Hero Academia), Tired Class 1-A

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/41538036

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

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dcmultiverse · 2 years

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Hal Jordan and Barry Allen in Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse (2022)

#dcedit #dcauedit #ch: hal jordan #ch: barry allen #a: teen titans go & dc super hero girls: mayhem in the multiverse #the flash #barry allen #hal jordan #dc super hero girls #teen titans go #green lantern #mine #animated #gif #by jus

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void-stilinskis · 3 years

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Barry Allen

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰. 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘥. 𝘈 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯.”

#yeah i was gonna have to make some for my fav eventually #barry allen #the flash #ch: barry allen #dc comics #character posters #dcedit #barryallenedit

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coredrill · 2 years

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ruby and barry as bffs is Good

#most valid part of the whole comic LMAO #also reminds me. i need to catch up on the last like 3 seasons of the flash fndndndnmsksj #f: rwby #rwby: comics #c: rwby/justice league vol. 1 (2021)#ch: ruby rose #ch: barry allen #t.txt

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bayanation · 3 years

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ocs as songs from evermore:

LONG STORY SHORT: barry allen + maya black

“and he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky, and he feels like home. if the shoe fits, walk in it everywhere you go.” — taylor swift.

#ch: maya black #ch: barry allen #otp: in every version of reality #gs: evermore #p: taylor swift #fic: the ghost #series: ghostverse #fandom: dc #oc: mine #show: the flash #show: dctv #ocappreciation #allaboutocs #ochub #arrowverseocs #dc comics oc #dc oc

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sirenfrost · 5 years

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Neither am I.

#caitlingif #theflashedit #snowbarry #frostvibe #dctvgif #the flash #caitlin snow #cisco ramon #barry allen #dctv #mine #tv:the flash #ch: caitlin snow #ch: barry allen #ch: cisco ramon #100

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saiilorstars · 1 year

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Ch. 4: The Wrong Ending

Pairing: Barry Allen x OFC // Fandom: The Flash

Story Masterlist ● Previous Stories: Rise Up • It Had To Be You ●Belén’s Masterlist

• Can also be found on Fanfic and Ao3 •

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @frostandflamesfanfic

"Where the hell are you!?" Belén raged on the phone while Datura mirthlessly laughed. "This isn't funny! If you think for one moment that I'm going to stop looking for you, you're sadly mistaken! I will find you, Datura."

"Oh, you will," Datura said. "I see it. I'm checking in, dear, that's all. I was fair and warned you what Barry would do, didn't I?"

"You knew he was going to change the timelines," Belén shook her head. "How do you even remember it? None of us could."

"I'm guessing the multitude of my psychological powers helped shield me."

"So you knew this was going to happen and you did nothing to stop it?"

"Why would I? It was going to thoroughly screw you over. How could I ever let the chance pass by? Me being able to escape was a pleasurable surprise."

"You are—"

"Enjoying this," laughed Datura. "And before you even get the idea to, I'm on a burner phone. I just wanted to check in on you. He told you, right? He told you in our original timeline you managed to put me away. You won. But he took that away from you."

"It's not his fault," Belén mumbled. "And I did win, by the way. You're cured and you're alone. No way home, no Poison Ivy." She took her confirmation in Datura's pause. "And absolutely no husband." She was ware of the heavy pause that followed after that last mention. In retrospect, maybe it was a remark too fast but after the hell that Datura put her through, she deserved it.

"You don't know to what extent Barry's decision will affect you and your stupid team," Datura came back strong.

"Do you?"

"You've talked to Caity, right?"

Belén froze again. "How do you—"

"I do. I don't get to see everything but I know that you're all upset with each other too. Your team will never be the same."

"I'm not listening to this. The only thing you need to know is that I'm coming for you. This time, I'm hunting you."

Even though they weren't face to face, Belén knew her doppelganger was smirking at the challenge. "Bring it on, Bells." She hung up.

It took everything Belén had not to throw her phone across the room. But she did grab one of the cushions from her couch chairs to scream into. This was beyond frustrating. The other timeline had her imprisoning Datura but now she was free as a bird.

"Belén?" Caitlin's voice startled her. She spun around, her fingers gripping the cushion in her hands. "Are you alright?"

Belén didn't have the words to begin to describe what she was feeling right now but if anyone could feel slightly anything similar to her, it would be Caitlin. "She knows, Caitlin." Caitlin turned her head slowly. "Datura called. She...she knows."

"A-about..." Caitlin began to gesture to herself.

"She wasn't explicit about everything but I know she knows. She's just that cynical!" Belén smashed the cushion to her face and screamed again. Caitlin made a face as the scream went on. "I hate her so much, Caitlin!" she exclaimed into the cushion.

"I know," Caitlin whispered. "But we can stop her, we can bring her in."

"Can we, though?" Belén lowered the cushion from her face. "Cos I'm not exactly at my best and you know that. Shivhan is gone too."

"But we're still a team, I'm sure the others will help us—"

"No," Belén said quickly. "I...I can't risk Datura telling them what's happened. It'll have to be you and I."

"Me?" Caitlin's eyes went wide at idea. "But...Belén, you know that I can't go out there."

"I don't mean that, just...I just need someone to help me. You and I...we make a good team. In the last timeline, Barry said we imprisoned Datura. We can do it again." She had to believe that they could.

~ 0 ~

Barry's sneakers squeaked as he cautiously made his way into his lab — their lab. Julian worked at his desk on something Barry would deem as...dolls? Who knew.

"Hey, um, I need your help…"

Julian barely regarded him. "It's the four words I seem to hear you most often say, Barry. That and, 'I hate that guy.'" This time he met Barry's look. "Which, the feeling's mutual, so…"

Barry rubbed his hands together and kept himself on business. "Mm-hmm. Okay, um, this is gonna be hard for you, but I just, for a second, need you to imagine that we're actually friends—"

"Can't do it," Julian shot him down.

"Friendly—"

"Equally as challenging, Barry."

"Okay fine then do it for our mutual - and possibly only - person we care about?" Barry knew he'd gotten Julian with Belén.

The blonde stopped his work and leaned back on his chair. "You can't keep using her. It's fairly offensive, actually."

"Spare me that, please," Barry barely held the urge to snap. "I would have believed you if you hadn't said, just this morning, how fun it was to see our argument unfold."

Julian made a gesture that Barry had a point. "Alright, what are you after?"

"I need to read your report on one of the husks."

"Which one?"

"The one from this morning. Edward Clariss."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "Edward Clariss?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"May help me figure out a case I'm working on…"

"Well," Julian tended to the case beside him, "The nutshell is, uh, the hyaluronic acids were found to be above normal. Uh, androgen degradation atypically low. Cellular regeneration seemed to occur at a staggering rate. It's quite a bit different from the previous husks that we found. That's about it."

Barry tentatively reached for the file on the desk but drew his hand back when Julian gave him a hard look. "Could I... could I maybe just take a peek at it? I'm sorry, it's just something I need to see to know what I'm looking for."

Julian scoffed and handed him the report. "Sure."

Barry eagerly took the report and started skimming through it. "Wait, why does this say the body's place of discovery was Williamson when it was found on the waterfront in Leawood?"

"The body ended up in Leawood. There was a strong current this morning, so chances are that it originated from Williamson. Somewhere near the old Prescott sawmill." Julian watched Barry apparently think like he'd been wrong. His impatience got to him and so he held his hand out for the report. "You done?"

"Yeah, uh, yes. Thank you," Barry quickly gave him the report back and started out, missing Julian's highly suspicious eyes follow him.

~ 0 ~

"Eugh, it is getting way too hard to walk around like this," Nina said as she entered the cortex. She battled a brown coat around her that no longer wanted to close over her stomach. "Elliot's going to pick me up in an hour so why am I here?"

Everyone had regathered in the cortex but there wasn't much discussion going on. Iris spoke up since no one else seemed to want to. "We have something to tell you." Nina nodded and waited for this 'news'. "Barry, uh...changed the timelines and...we don't know how that changed us completely—"

"Oh yeah, I knew that," Nina said and subjected herself to various degrees of stares. "What? I'm the only one he didn't screw up. Well, me and Shivhan. Actually, if we're being technical, Shivhan is the only one whose life didn't change because mine—" she waved a hand over her stomach, "—certainly did."

"He told you first?" Belén asked, unable to not feel offended by that.

"Oh please, don't put so much thought into it," Nina motioned Cisco to get out of his chair so she could take it. "He was scared, and rightly so - he royally screwed up. He wanted to tell you but you weren't speaking to him and...he was afraid cos he changed lives..."

"Except for you," Joe pointed, "Because…?"

"Because I wasn't married nor about to pop," Nina shrugged. "I asked him what the differences were about me and he told me."

"Well, we don't know what to do," Iris gestured to their side of the group.

"Nothing," Nina said like it should have been obvious. "That's the thing that's driving Barry crazy. He can't actually do anything about it anymore except apologize and tell us what our lives were like before he changed the timelines."

"He changed our lives," Cisco snapped. "And he kept it a secret. Kind of a hypocrite too…"

"I am not saying you should all be up and ready to forget but we have to be realistic," Nina shrugged.

"She's right," Belén leaned on the desk and massaged her temples. There was an aching on both sides that just wouldn't go away. "I let my brother go when he was a clear menace to the city - and twice. Cisco, you told Captain Cold that Barry was the Flash and you gave him my name all to protect your brother."

"Okay, not my finest moments…" Cisco admitted in a low mutter.

"We've all been rather...wrong with our decisions…" Belén admitted herself.

"You know, I was always hesitant to join this team for real," Nina leaned her head back in thought. "I didn't see it until I finally committed. You guys are like a family. And like a family, you screw up. I just think that as a family we should also...forgive."

"Nina is right," Caitlin nodded. "We all have secrets. We've all screwed up, but this is Barry we're talking about." At the same time, the computer in front of her came to light with an alarm. "Who...apparently is in trouble."

The others quickly gathered behind to see what she meant.

~ 0 ~

Barry was having a hard time getting up from the ground after being blasted by God knew what that hooded-cloak man had used on him. "And who are you?" Barry languidly gestured to the cloaked man behind the golden metal mask. He could hear Clariss' laughter from the rail above him.

"I am Alchemy," the cloaked man responded with a slow, raspy voice.

"Okay, well, what do you want?" Barry pushed himself up despite his balance being off.

"To help people achieve their true potential... such as he has," Alchemy gestured up to Clariss who gave a little smug wave at Barry.

"And why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm preparing this world," Alchemy was left behind as Clariss sped down and pinned Barry against a wal..

"Remember what happened here last time, Flash? It's where I died," Clariss yanked off the comms right from Barry's ear and punctured them - rather strongly - against Barry. "And I'm not gonna waste this second chance I've been given. This time, I'm gonna show you who's the fastest man alive!" He took off with Barry to fulfill his promise.

~ 0 ~

"Where is he, Caitlin?" Belén was already in her suit and was just waiting for Caitlin to give them the location.

"His comms aren't working," Caitlin murmured with knitted eyebrows after trying to get in contact with Barry. "He's at the Prescott Mill, though."

"Great, that's right around the corner," Belén took in a deep breath and let her Azaleas and vines form her usual mask over her eyes.

"Wait…" Cisco stopped her though still seemed unsure as he spoke next.

~ 0 ~

Both Belén and Cisco arrived at the prescott mill with Cisco's help. It was rather quiet, eerily quiet.

"We need to split up," Belén indicated Cisco to the building just up ahead.

"Careful, okay?" Cisco asked, making Belén smile.

"Of course. But you, you're the rookie here, so be careful," she pointed and chuckled when Cisco pretended to fix his goggles for the show. It did feel good to get somewhat back to normal.

Cisco went after the building while Belén went around the mill searching for any lurking speedsters with a trick up his sleeve. "Caitlin—" she tapped her comm. "—can you get in touch with Barry yet?"

"No, I'm trying, but it's not working," Caitlin did sound frustrated she was unable to help. "But you be careful…"

"Mhm," Belén continued walking but stopped when she heard metal clanging behind her. She whipped her head back and scanned the area. Since it was dark all she saw a wavy cape through barrels and structure. "Come out," she ordered and prepared herself for a fight if need be. Vines entangled her fists and continued to swirl as a figure in a hood and golden metal mask emerged from the darkness. "You're not Clariss."

"I am Alchemy," he re-introduced himself. "I am preparing this world…"

"Oh great, a whackadoo," Belén mumbled and pulled her arms back to attack.

"The Azalea will fall so that Amalgam can rise."

Belén involuntarily dropped her arms to regard his words. "What—?"

Alchemy raised his weapon which turned out to be a stone of some sort and emitted the same blast of energy he'd used on Barry. However, it turned out to go directly beside Belén who only had time to shield herself from the blinding light.

"Belén?" Caitlin's voice rang in Belén's ears afterwards. "What happened!?"

Belén lowered her arms from her face and saw that she was completely alone again. "I have...no idea."

~ 0 ~

Cisco had found Barry and Clariss inside the building and did what he could to help bring Clariss down. With his gauntlets he emitted his vortex energy that threw Clariss away. Barry took the opportunity to speed around Clariss who was on his way of getting back on his feet. Punches were delivered from every possible angle to keep Clariss down. The force of his speed chucked Clariss back towards Cisco but Cisco himself was prepared and gave the final blow of a smack.

"Thank you," Barry released a breath and leaned back on a crate. His body was aching but at least their battle was over.

"Sorry it took so long," Cisco gave a weak smile.

"You were just in time," Barry returned the smile.

"Guys?" they heard Belén coming in to look for them. She rushed in and saw Clariss on the ground, out cold, and smiled at the two. She gave Cisco a quick high-five then rushed to hug Barry.

"Ow…" the speedster groaned as she squished his injured body with her force. "Maybe...no hugs…"

"You change the time line, you get a bone crushing hug," she refused to let go of him.

~ 0 ~

"There is no mention of Alchemy anywhere," Caitlin pushed herself away from her computer after a long, exhaustive search for the mysterious man.

"Definitely no mask-wearing monk metas," Cisco agreed beside her. He got up from his chair and walked around to stretch his legs. Belén dropped into the seat instead.

"We didn't find any known aliases in any of the records at CCPD," Joe also said.

"And Clariss is suddenly Mr. Silence," Veronica crossed her arms, rather upset their interrogations weren't working.

"All right, well, keep at him. Alchemy is the one that gave Clariss back his speed," Barry said, still misunderstanding how that was even possible.

"He's kinda like a doctor, that way, don't you think?" Cisco suddenly asked. "Come on, don't pretend like 'Doctor Alchemy' doesn't have a nice ring to it," he gave a warm smile that hadn't made an appearance in months.

"Okay, well, that explains why he didn't have any traces of dark matter in his cells. He didn't get his powers from the particle accelerator, he got them from Alchemy," Caitlin leaned back on her chair.

"What was that?" Cisco gave her a look until she revised her sentence.

"Doctor Alchemy," Caitlin playfully rolled her eyes.

"But how could he do that?" Belén asked, still thinking about the man behind the mask. "Is he a meta that can restore powers or...just plain give powers to people?"

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

"Preparing the world?" Belén immediately remembered Alchemy's words.

"I am preparing this world…"

"The Azalea will fall so that Amalgam can rise."

"Is that supposed to be like some rapture or something?" Nina made a face from her chair.

"He's just...crazy, that's all," Belén gave a wave of her hand at the group. "Every bad meta we meet has some crazy agenda. We can't expect his words to make any sense nor for them to have any truth in them."

"It's still an agenda we need to keep a look out for," Veronica pointed at her daughter. SHe was not going to take any chances dismissing even the smallest of details a crazy meta threw at them. She didn't want a repeat of Datura.

"An agenda we'll be happy to report on," Iris gave a smile to Belén. They were sure to get some deets about those husks now.

"I think that everyone that had powers in Flashpoint is gonna get them back," Barry meant that as a preparation for what they were about to face.

"Well, we already found four other husks, which means there's at least that many running around Central City right now," Joe reminded.

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

"Speaking of changing lives, we all talked about it, Barry, and most of us decided we don't want to know what our lives were like in Flashpoint," Belén spoke up about that delicate matter.

"Most?" Barry began looking at one person to the next trying to see which one had chosen the opposite.

"I want to know," Belén's voice went soft, but it still caused Barry to freeze with fear.

"Um...Dad, you want to stop by Jitters?" Iris asked her father in an attempt to get people out of there for privacy.

"Yeah, it's on me," Joe smiled, more than happy about it.

"Oh good, then I'm coming too," Wally was all for it and trailed after his family.

"Cisco…" Nina grunted in her chair. She couldn't get up and so she held her hands out.

"When is that kid going to pop?" Cisco mumbled as he went over to help her. He'd been on chair duty ever since she stopped being able to get up on her own.

"I'll let you know," Nina rolled her eyes.

"Men are so inconsiderate," Veronica waved goodbye at her daughter and helped Nina walk out.

"For real?" Cisco called after them and marched after them intending on explaining why he was most certainly not inconsiderate.

Caitlin chuckled. "Glad to see everything's starting to get back to the way it was."

"Almost," Belén was the one to mumble, reminding Barry of their pending conversation.

"Bells, whatever you want to know, I will say it," Barry promised her and briefly glanced at Caitlin.

"We made the decision Barry," Caitlin revealed with an apologetic smile. "Belén was just brave enough to say it for the both of us."

"Oh…" Barry blinked, taken aback of course but got himself prepared for any questions thrown at him. "Okay, well...what do you want to know?"

The two women shared glances before Belén spoke up. "My fight...with Datura? Do you know...how that ended? In the other world? Like, I know we imprisoned her but do you know how I took her down."

"Uh...well I wasn't there - was I there in this time line?"

"No," Caitlin shook her head. "I went with Belén with a meta-dampener and the siphoning device."

"Yeah, that's what happened in the other timeline. You, Caitlin and Shivhan went to the community theater to bring Datura in."

"How did the fight end?" Belén asked.

"Oh, um, well you were the one who told me the story," Barry reminded only to realize that it was the other version of herself who told him the story. "It went like this..."

"There we go," Datura bent down in front of Belén. "The start of the end."

Belén stopped struggling with the embedded piece and focused on ending that smug face once and for all. "You're...actually right." Belén revealed Caitlin's device and stabbed one end on her palm then smacked it over Datura's shoulder to embed the other end.

The device whirred to life instantaneously. A golden stream of colors was extracted from Datura while a green glow came from Belén. The two doppelgangers felt the immediate pain followed through. Datura, however, seemed to be taken a worse hit. Her eyes began to flash from gold to scarlet red to frosty blue and so on. Electricity began to spark from her body and into the device. Belén felt the wasps of electricity and hissed louder and louder until it became a true scream, coupled with the pain she already had from her wound.

Caitlin rushed towards them but there was an explosion that made her fall back. A bit of smoke emerged from the doppelgangers as far as Caitlin could see. She waved her hand in the air and coughed as the smoke drifted towards her.

"Belén? Belén! Are you okay?" she called out and used the chairs beside her to get up. Without thinking, she shot the meta dampener neckbrace at Datura who was out cold.

Datura was outcold but Belén was coughing from her spot. "Someone...get this off me." She waved her burned palm over the wooden piece in her chest.

"Oh, oh, right," Belén smiled awkwardly. Caitlin flipped her head in Belén's direction, her eyes asking the ombre-blonde what she was doing. "Yeah, okay. Same thing happened then. The flow of my DNA fused with hers and stabilized her. We were just curious if anything about us really changed."

"Did it?" Barry nervously asked. "Besides the obvious of course."

Belén shook her head. "Nope." She saw the relief flood his face and couldn't help herself but to bring him in for a tight hug. "You're good, Barry." Caitlin, however, stepped away from them. She couldn't be sure her face wasn't outing them both.

Barry nuzzled his head in Belén's neck. He missed her so much. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm so sorry."

"I know," she patted his back. "I know you are. You always have the best intentions."

"I have to get back to the precinct...I can still come home, right?"

Belén chuckled. "Yes you idiot. And who knows, maybe when you come back you'll find some nice chocolate amaretti cookies you like so much."

Barry couldn't believe the rush of relief he felt upon hearing those words. Something as minuscule as cookies staying the same helped so much. Even though Belén thought she wasn't baking them right, he thought they were delicious. They were hers. "I would want nothing more than that," he pulled away from her to meet her happy gaze. He cupped the side of her face and gave her a short kiss. "I'll see you then, okay?"

"Mhm," Belén nodded, still wearing her smile.

"I'll see you then. Bye Cait," he waved at the brunette and left them on their own.

Belén's smile fell from her face once he was gone.

Caitlin bit on her lower lip. "You didn't say anything..."

"Yeah," Belén whispered. "I couldn't do that to him. He already feels so terrible. Imagine what would happen if he found out that he drastically changed the ending of that fight."

Caitlin lowered her gaze. She knew Barry enough to know the answer. She raised her hands and watched as icy smoke billowed from them both. Belén was already used to that. Her mind had wandered back to her fight with Datura. The way Barry had explained it, described it...it wasn't the real ending, at least not in this timeline.

"Belén? Belén! Are you okay?" Caitlin called out after both Belén and her Datura were thrown in opposite directions by the siphoning device. Caitlin rushed down the aisle of theater chairs and looked at the two women. Her siphoning device was still whirring and, concerned for the effectiveness of it, she dashed for it first. She grabbed it, but the moment she did she felt an icy current prick her fingers. She whirled around in Belén's direction, the ombre-blonde still unconscious, and though Caitlin was still under pain, she saw an colorful hue around Belén's hands.

Had the siphoning device transferred more than just from Belén to Datura?

~ 0 ~

Julian purposely dropped his finished report right on top of Barry's current work. Barry, startled, closed the lid of his pen and looked up at the blonde. "What's that?"

"That's the finished Edward Clariss report. Or should I say The Rival?" Julian rolled his eyes at the ridiculous name. "At least, that's what the Flash called him last night when he took him into Iron Heights. I thought you might want to see it," he tapped a finger on the file. "You know, to do with your other case."

"Actually…" Barry leaned back on his chair, "...it turns out there was no connection."

"Hm," Julian gave a small nod. "You know, I have to ask you how did you know his name?"

"What?"

"Yesterday, you came in and you asked for Edward Clariss' report, but I didn't tell you who that husk belonged to, so that means you stole a sample when you showed up to my crime scene. How did you do that?"

Oh my God he was stupid, yes he was. Barry mentally smacked himself for being so...stupid. "I…" It was even worse when he realized he had no excuse to give out.

"Oh, wow. You've really got this good guy routine thing down, haven't you? And everyone just buys it," Julian spat, and Barry was sure there was a little name - a mutual person - Julian was just on the verge of saying. "There is something not right about you, Allen. They don't see it...but I do."

"Is that right?" Barry calmly put down his pen on the desk and leaned forwards, feigning interest in the conversation.

"You know, I learned from Detective Green that she didn't trust you either in the beginning—"

"But now she does," Barry reminded, and maybe that smirk just came out on its own…

"Yes, well, unlike her I am not going down that road. You know why I don't actually like you, don't you?"

"Hm, I've got some ideas…" Barry frowned, "Want to see if they corroborate?"

"I don't trust you," Julian enunciated slowly for Barry to understand. "Ever since I got here there are things about you that do not add up."

"Look Julian, why not, for Belén's sake, we just keep it civilized? You don't like me, that's fine—"

"Whatever you propose, it's not happening," Julian took his leave. "I can't ever like things I don't trust!" He called on his way out.

Barry scowled and found it incredibly difficult to get back to work when all he could think of was…

~ 0 ~

"I hate that guy," Barry plopped down on the couch next to Iris.

Iris snorted and popped in a piece of popcorn. "Yeah, you say that a lot."

"I now know why," he muttered and crossed his arms. "You know, I'm sure he's just looking for some excuse to badmouth me to Belén. I can almost swear it."

"Yeah, you say that too," Iris gave him a brief look which resulted in a small laughter.

"I'm being serious!"

"You're both ridiculous," Iris rolled her eyes and got more comfortable on the couch. "Take your win for today - which is being back in your girlfriend's place and, oh yeah, getting your friends back," she nudged him on the side.

Barry playfully rolled his eyes. "What are you still doing here anyways?"

"Belén said I could stay until I'm ready to go back to my Dad's," Iris smirked at him. "Did I put a damper on your romantic attempts?"

"Shut up," Barry reached for her bowl of popcorn but Iris smacked his hand away. He did wonder where Belén was. She was supposed to be baking cookies.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I just got lazy," Iris admitted and picked up the television control to turn the volume up.

At the same time, the apartment door unlocked and in came Belén with a rather hasty movement.

"Bells?" Barry sat up straight on the couch. "Hey, what happened to the cookies—"

"Gotta shower, be back in a couple minutes," Belén gripped her purse's strap and made a beeline for the hallway.

"What just happened?" Barry got up from the couch and peered into the hallway in time to see Belén practically slam the door to their bedroom.

"She went to meet up with Caitlin," Iris said. Her sour tone did not go unmissed by Barry. "They're up to something," she elaborated.

"Like what?" Barry slowly sat back down and waited for Iris to swallow her popcorn to explain.

"I have no idea, but I'm a reporter...so I'll find out," Iris pointed at him.

"She's a reporter too, Iris."

"You know what I meant," Iris playfully hit him on the arm. While she managed to smile it off, Barry did not.

He wondered if there were, perhaps, things about the timeline he still had yet to know about.

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #barry allen fics #barry allen imagines #the flash fics #the flash imagines #arrowverse fics #barry allen x oc #arrowverse imagines #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: make you stay #6 more chapters and we're all caught up!!!!#finally!

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