What is and what should never be

Chapter 1 - Bart Allen

Of course Savitar was going to give it a shot at killing, blowing, them all away. What was Barry thinking when he tried to talk Savitar into joining their team? Savitar might've been Barry one day, he might've been the Flash a long, long time ago, but he was too far gone to be saved. Now, by bringing the evil speedster inside the lab, Barry put all of his friends at risk, again. But, to be fair, if putting a bomb inside the lab had been the God of Speed's plan from the start, Savitar would've found a way to do it, with or without Barry opening the doors of the lab wide open. Never had Barry been more grateful that Wally was now a speedster, he never would've been able to get everyone out in time on his own.

Central City's hero sprinted Julian and Harry out while was Wally was taking care of Joe and ...Tracy. Oh God, Iris! After spending months trying to save her, Flash realized with horror that his fiancé was the one person they left in the cortex. Sprinting back inside at full speed, Barry grabbed the woman and ran, sensing his body ache under the all-out effort. He felt the explosion, he felt the force of it pushing his body and the heat scorching his back, but kept going until he was finally outside.

Barely making it outside, he looked in shock the building that slowly became his second house get illuminated by the white blast. His ears were ringing and he was breathing hard from the rage and ...pain? His legs were shaking and his back felt like it was on fire, but it didn't matter, it was going to heal fast enough. Right? Someone was screaming his name, maybe more than one person. But somehow all of it sounded so distant, it sounded like it was coming from a distorted voice.

''Barry?''

''Barry? Man? You ok? ''

''Barr! BARR?!''

Barry felt his knees go weak and his vision getting blurry as the gravity attracted him toward the ground at an accelerated speed. The last thing he was aware of before passing out was a pair a hands grabbing his shoulders, trying to steady him.

***FLASHFLASHFLASH***

''How is he?'' Asked Joe for the hundredth time since they brought his son back to the apartment he was sharing with Iris.

''How am I supposed to know?'' Answered Julian, frustrated, leaning over his patient. He wasn't a doctor, he was no more than a mediocre medic, at best. No wonder they lost Caitlin to Killer Frost when he tried to operate on her. And even if he was a doctor, how was he supposed to diagnose what was wrong with Barry without any equipment? Everything they had at S.T.A.R. was either destroyed or not operational anymore.

Passing his hand in his short hairs, Joe exhaled in worry, walking a couple of steps away from the apartment's bed, brushing his daughter's shoulder in his way. A fact that the young woman barely even noticed, all her attention going to her too-still fiancé,

The philosopher's stone wasn't done doing damage on their base when Barry collapsed on the hard ground with a loud thud, barely avoiding to hit his head on the pavement thanks to Iris slowing down the fall at the last moment. Nobody could explain what happened; other than the burned marks on the young man's back, there was no sign of injuries to explain why Barry fainted. The team managed to take the speedster back to his bed where he was now laying on his side, shirtless, poorly made bandages covering his still un-healing superficial injuries. On the bright, while his skin was pale and his temperature low, his breathing and pulse were still strong and regular. For now.

''Why isn't he healing?'' Said Wally, pointing out the obvious, walking in circles in the room.

''I don't know.'' Answered Julian, worried, straightening up. They needed someone with real medical knowledge and real knowledge of the speedster's healing abilities. They needed Caitlin.