It's Like Thunder ⚡︎ Barry Allen

34

Barry's POV

The first thing I realized was I didn't know where I was.

"The morgue again?" Arielle asked Joe. I recalled this happening mere hours ago and was hit with a feeling of déjà vu, even though it literally had happened. How had I gone back in time? I shook my head, overwhelmed with the science of things. I must've ran so fast I ripped through time and space. Joe shrugged, about to speak,

"This place is really starting to give me the creeps," I said in unison with him. He and Ari gave me the strangest look and I realized what just happened. Eddie walked up to show them the video,

"You gotta check this out," he rushed as he led me to the video of what had happened. "You recognize him?" he pointed to the man that stood over the coroner who was on his knees. I squinted.

"He looks familiar," my little girlfriend (who I needed to appreciate more after I just watched her die) said under her breath. I hadn't really had the time to process me seeing her die and now that she was right in front of me again, I didn't know what to do. Especially since she hadn't seen me and Iris kiss yet. Or maybe she won't at all. Joe came up beside me and stiffened, turning my attention back to what was at hand. Their eyes widened as they realized who it was that killed the poor man working here last night.

"Mark Mardon," I said at the same time as Joe. Arielle shot me another weird look that I avoided. I waited around for a minute and watched as Arielle stopped Joe with her powers again. Or for the first time? I wasn't sure how this whole time travel thing worked. He walked out of the morgue and I stepped up behind her.

"You can control him," I told her. I remembered hearing her conversation with Cisco in my head as I was trying to make Iris leave to safety. She gave me an odd look and I tried shielding my thoughts from her as she had done to me before.

"What's going on?"

"You can control him because of the water in his body. Which means you probably could control anyone since humans have a high percentage of water," I continued, distracting her. She nodded.

"That makes sense, I guess." She paused. "Why are you acting weird? How did you know what he was going to say? And you're talking to me now?" she started throwing out questions. She looked me up and down. "No more Mr. Grumpy?"

"No more Mr. Grumpy. More like Mr. Jittery," I mumbled the last part and grabbed her hand, practically dragging her out of the morgue. "I need you to go talk to the team, and bring Joe, while I go look for Mardon. Tell Joe that you guys can help him find him there," I told her and pulled her into an alley. As I was about to pick her up she stopped me,

"You want me to lie? Because I know that isn't true and it sounds like you just want me distracting him while you go off and play hero like usual," she spat at me. I recoiled, stunned at the venom I heard in her words.

"Babe," I murmured.

"Don't babe me, Barry." Oh she was pissed. I didn't need a psychological bond with her to tell that. She just had to use my first name. "You've been ignoring me for the past few days and now you talk to me- but you're keeping secrets? Don't think I didn't notice I couldn't hear anything your thinking anymore," she sounded like she was trying not to cry and I started to feel bad.

"Look, Murray, just listen to me. I'll explain when I know something. Okay? Until then please, just go find Joe and distract him while I locate Mardon?" She looked up at me and sniffled before nodding.

"Fine. But you owe me an explanation- and Big Belly Burger."

"There he is! Now the city isn't in danger," I smiled at everyone who was gathered in the Cortex. I set down a bag of Big Belly Burger in front of Arielle and her eyes lit up from confusion to excitement.

"How did you find him?" Joe demanded.

"I, uh, looked at his old hideouts and found him," I lied. Caitlin turned on the camera for Mardon's cell and I heard his voice come through the speakers,

"I'll kill all of you, just you wait! I'm going to make a giant tidal wave that will level the whole city!" I ran over and hit the button that turned off the camera.

"Not anymore you won't," I whispered to myself. I didn't know it, but Wells and Arielle has shared a look like they knew what was going on.

"Can I speak to you and Miss Murray for a minute, Barry?" I looked up and nodded, knowing he probably figured it out by now. We walked into the test room and I sat on the super treadmill.

"You ruptured the time continuum, didn't you?" Arielle asked me through a bite of her burger. I nodded slowly.

"How long?" Wells inquired.

"About a day and some change, I think? I didn't mean to. I was just running to stop-"

"Don't tell me, I don't want to know about the alternate timeline. It could cause cracks in the timeline and that's not something I'll allow. But since there really is no way for you to hide it from Miss Murray forever," he started to wheel towards the door, "You can tell her. I'll want to run tests on you afterwards, if you don't mind." With that he disappeared into the hallway. I stood up to face her and she got straight to the point.

"What happens to me?" she questioned timidly. I was going to do my best not to answer that question, but I knew she could tell something was up. "What happens, Allen?" I grabbed her hand and hissed at the shock, but pulled her into a tight embrace anyway.

"I'm not sure. I couldn't tell, but it was like you died. Remember when I lost my speed, and we couldn't hear each other's thoughts anymore?" I pulled back to look at her. She peered up at me with her bright blue eyes, glittering with fear and curiosity, and nodded. "It was like that. Mardon, who Cisco will end up calling Weather Wizard by the way," she smiled, "I watched him form this huge tidal wave. It was massive. It would've destroyed the whole city. I was trying to stop it from the shore, but you went underwater and tried disrupting it from below. It didn't work out," I mumbled as I replayed it in my head. Her eyes lost focus as she saw the images in her own mind.

"It's like I dissolved into the water," she whispered.

"I don't know what to make of it. But I don't want to think about it, because there's something else that happened."

"I really don't like the sound of that," she groaned, pulling away from me completely and sitting down on the treadmill where I sat moments ago. "Shoot."

"Iris kissed me." I felt her thoughts scrambled about before latching onto the emotion of anger and I instantly explained, "She figured out I was the Flash. Well, I showed her I was Flash. So I guess she has some sort of feelings for the Flash that escalated once she figured out it was me. I did not kiss her, I pulled away instantly, and I felt like shit because you immediately saw and were so distant... It was heartbreaking," I admitted. She scrunched her nose.

"So my friend who's dating my brother has a crush on your alter ego that turns out to be a full on crush on you once she finds out it's you?" She rattled off her question. I tried visualizing the words to make them all connect before agreeing.

"Yup. Pretty much. But I do not have feelings for her anymore, I promise. You literally know this. She is to me as Eddie is to you."

"A brother?"

"You know what I mean."

⚡︎

"Eddie," the blonde woman hissed.

"Rayna?"

"It's Rain, you know this," she rolled her gray eyes.

"How are you alive?"

"I never died, dear brother. Couldn't you tell it was me all the time? I had on blue contacts, but otherwise I was in place of Arielle," she sisterly caressed his face as she spoke.

"Why are you doing this?" Eddie asked as he tried to break free from the restraints he was bound in.

"Psykik needs information. Information you have. And I need it from you. But don't worry," she laughed darkly as she played with droplets of water in the air. "You won't remember a thing."

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9k reads!! Omg thank you all!! I wrote this just because I hit 9k. Enjoy xx