In Time | The Flash

Chapter Seventeen | Aspen

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

>>> Aspen's P.O.V. <<<

Benji and I head to the nearest crystal castle, passing strange animals and plants on our way. It's a large building made of pixelated crystals and stones. It shines in the sun, and I hear children talking through the front wooden gate.

When Benji waves his hand, the gate opens. Inside, I see three children. One of them makes me release Benji's hand and run to scoop her up in my arms. "Seph! Oh my goddess, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Persephone's arms wrap tightly around my neck, hugging me back. "Mom, you're choking me!"

I laugh and pull back, just enough to see her face. "Are you okay? I was so worried about you!"

She nods, giving me a smile that reminds me of her father's. "I'm okay. Benji wouldn't hurt me. He just needed a friend. Frank is a bully."

I nod, hugging her again and letting myself breathe for the first time in nearly a full day. "I'm so glad you're safe, darling." I turn to the other two children, Teddy Marshall and Abigail Gomez. "Are you two all right?"

They nod, and Teddy says, "Are we going home now?"

I nod slightly, giving a smile. "We are."

"No, you're not." I turn around and see Benji standing firmly in the castle doorway, a cross expression on his face. "I brought you here because this is where I bring all my friends, not so you could leave."

"Benji, they've been here long enough," I reply, a bit more stern in my tone this time. "Your friends are tired and hungry. They want their families now. You can't force them to stay here forever."

"We wanna go home, Benji," Abigail pleads, standing slightly behind me. "You can come with us."

Benji shakes his head, and the castle around us grows darker. "I'm never leaving! I'm safe here!"

Abigail and Teddy move even closer behind me, and I reach out my hand towards Benji. "Darling, the world might be scary sometimes, but it's the same world your dad wanted you to grow up in. Your mom is there, too. Don't you remember her? Your mom?"

Benji shakes his head. "She'll hate me after what I've done."

I shake my head fervently. "Oh no, darling. She misses you terribly. She just wants you to come home."

He wipes his eyes, and the room starts to line with the red lightning from outside as he gets more and more upset. "Even if Frank is gone, I don't have anybody in the other world! I don't have friends. I'm always alone. It's like I don't exist there! That's why I come here. Here, I matter." He looks at the three children behind me. "Even they hate me now."

Persephone moves out from my shadow, replying, "We don't hate you, Benji. You're just scared, like us. I know you would never hurt us. You're just scared of Frank."

"But he's gone now," I repeat, pride swelling inside me for my daughter's bravery. "You don't have to worry about him. You can go home to your mom and make new friends!"

"I'll still be your friend," Persephone says with a smile. "I promise."

Benji takes a look at my outstretched hand, then at Persephone. Then he shakes his head, firmly, and closes his eyes tightly. "No!" As his words echo throughout the stormy room, the thunder grows louder. The room around us starts to spin, the walls of the castle coming apart, stone by stone. We're in a swirling vortex of scarlet thunderclouds, created solely from Benji's imagination. Abigail, Teddy, and Seph grasp hold of me, trying to keep their bodies on the ground as Benji's body lifts into the air on a wind current.

Then I hear my ear piece flicker to life, a familiar voice coming in through the white noise. "Aspen?"

A smile breaks across my face. "Barry!"

Outside the vortex, through squinted eyes and wind-lifted hair, I see a bolt of yellow lightning heading towards us. I smile as Barry leaves a woman outside the vortex and heads into the opposing direction of the vortex. He runs as fast as he can to get through, taking one child at a time from my grasp. I see them outside the vortex, beside the stranger, and out of harm's way.

He comes back for me in a split second. "I brought his mom!" he shouts over the storm clouds swirling around us like a twister. "Let me get you out of here!"

"Wait!" I shout as he reaches out for me. "I can get to him! Let me try!"

Barry nods and takes off, running against the current of the twister. He slows it down, but Benji just looks at Barry's path and creates all kinds of obstacles appear out of the ground for him to stumble over. Blocks, holes, spikes, they all cover the Flash's path.

I turn my attention to Benji, shouting over the noise, "Benji, I know you're scared. I know that I can never give you your father back, or take back what Frank did to you and your mom. I can never give you your childhood back."

Benji's eyes turn briefly to me, looking solemn as someone ten times his age. I continue, stepping closer to where he hovers, ten feet in the air. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love. You were wronged, Darling, and I can't promise you that it will be an easy road to recovery...but I can promise you that it does get better. You can love again! You can make friends again! Your mother is still here, and your father wouldn't want you to lose her because of him."

Benji stops putting blocks in Barry's path as the woman he brought with him shouts, "Benji!"

Benji turns sharply towards the voice, his wind turbine slowing as his eyes grow wide. "Mom?"

Maria Marcus smiles, walking closer. "It's me, baby! I don't care what you've done, just...come home! I love you so much!"

Benji hesitates, tears filling his eyes as he begins to descend. He looks back over at me as the rest of the wind slows. I reach out my arms, a hopeful look in my eyes. "It's time to go home, Benji."

Benji breaks into tears and collapses into my arms. The wind stops, the thunder halts  and the entire fantasy world he built melts away like snow on a warm day. Around me, I see the dark sky of a cold winter's night, probably even early morning on Christmas Eve. I see the stars above me, wind turbines spinning with the breeze that flows high above our heads.

"I'm so proud of you, Benji," I whisper to the boy I hold in my arms.

Benji hugs me tightly around my neck, mumbling a reply, "Thank you, Aspen."

"For what, darling?"

"Being my friend."

I feel the chill of Christmas finally get to me as Maria runs to take her son from my arms. "Thank you," she whispers. She holds him close to her, crying as she runs a hand through his curls. "My boy! Baby, I was so worried!"

Their voices fade away as Barry runs over to me. He doesn't say anything, just pulls his cowl back and gives me a small smile at the corner of his mouth. I pull him into a tight embrace, burying my face into his shoulder. The superhero wraps me in his arms, resting his chin on my mess of Elvish braids. I see my breath come out in a chilled fog, and close my eyes.

And I finally let myself breathe. It's finished. The longest three days of my life has come to an end. My daughter, and the two other children, are safe. The person who I started this journey hating turned out to be just another scared, lonely kid that needed a friend. And in the end, it wasn't superpowers that let us win; it was kindness. And kindness is the one thing that I will always consider the greatest power of all.

END CHAPTER SEVENTEEN