Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

Two Faces of One Coin

Frankie/Magenta

After having showered, Barry sat behind his computers and hacked into the city's camera network as I sat on the arm of his chair and ran my fingers through his drying hair. "How old was she?" I asked as he typed in a flurry. He didn't even look to be using his speed and he was still typing faster than my eyes could follow.

"No older than eighteen," Barry shrugged. Once he had access to the camera feeds, he pulled up the relevant time frames. Turning my attention to the screens, I watched this little girl with bright pink streaks through her hair put up a better fight against Barry than I had fought against anyone, doing something similar to the things I'd seen Terra do. Leaning forward, I could feel my heart sink into my stomach as I recognized that little girl. As if he could recognize my sudden unease, he slid his hand under mine, allowing me to take it as tightly as I needed.

"Frankie," I sighed sadly. I turned my head to look at him a bit as I tried to process this.

"Frankie? She called herself Magenta." I released his hand and cleared the footage from at least one of the multiple screens he was using, searching her name. I could tell he was still confused on how I knew her name, the confusion only growing when her name read 'Frances Kane.' "Who is she?" he asked softly as I slid myself off the arm and into his lap.

I read the police reports, the foster system paperwork, my unease steadily growing. Barry's arms wrapped around my waist before pulling me back to his chest, still able to rest his head on my shoulder. With another sigh, I turned to face him. "It's a long story that's really hard to pick only the important bits out of."

"I'm all ears." The corner of my lips pulled back and I rested my arms over his, feeling his chest flush against my back.

"When I told you I was crazy, it doesn't start with me. It slowly got more potent over generations, and with my grandparents and my great uncles and aunts, they were all bitter and had nothing better to do than to make each others' lives a living hell. Eventually the fued got so bad that half of them went down to the courthouse and changed just one letter in their last names, so then we had the Canes and the Kanes," I summarized as best possible, holding out a hand for each half. "Two generations later, me and Frankie are cousins."

I turned as far as possibly comfortable and looked him in the eye. "Our mothers were from different sides of that petty fued they still occasionally upheld, but Frankie was sick, her mom didn't know what else to do." With a look of understanding and openness, Barry ran his thumb under my cheek. "I've known about Magenta for a long time. Magenta was always the one who did it, never Frankie. I hated that she always used it to get out of trouble until someone explained to me that as a child, she was struggling with another personality. Being the shit of a kid I was, I didn't take in the full scope of it, but she really was sick."

I stopped when he continued the motion over my face and dragged his thumb wetly across my cheek, seeing only now that I was failing to keep a lid on my emotions. I closed my eyes as I leaned into his hand, taking a deep breath as I shoved it all back down again. "If Magenta really is making her do all this, she needs our help, Barry." I opened my eyes again and he nodded seriously, doing his best to keep my face dry.

"I'm here for whatever you need," he softly assured. Well, I suppose now was as good a time as any.

"I don't wanna stay at the apartmemt," I breathed, relaxing further into him. "It's not safe, what with Snart knowing about it. Because I'm sorry, but I'm not going to stay friends with someone who's manipulating my little cousin. I'm not going back to the only place he's seen the both of us."

"You're right." Barry let go of me with one arm and held his hand over his mouth, the remaining hand splaying flat against my stomach. "Selina's apartment isn't safe." Keeping his hand impossibly still, he leaned back in his chair and dropped his other hand to the top of his thigh and the side of mine. "Here is." I put my hand over the top of his, curling my fingers around his palm as I laid back into him, feeling his grip secure tightly around me. "I know it's extremely early in our relationship, but I think it's best if you live with me."

I softly chuckled and pressed my forehead into his neck, taking a second to breathe him in. "I don't have a problem with that." I've wanted this since before even leaving Blackgate. Guess it just goes to prove I'm good at getting basically whatever the hell I want, no matter how long it takes. "So now what?" I asked softly.

"Now we relax until were ready to move your stuff here, and then tomorrow we'll start looking for Frankie." I took a deep breath when he adjusted his grip around me, reveling in the feeling of security that came with his hold.

"Sounds like a plan to me," I breathed.