Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

The Bell That Death Tolls

I stared at the rifle laid out on Barry's desk for a long while, turning over the card in my hand the same way I'd been doing for hours now. Considering our last place had a giant hole torn into part of it, he had relocated us and given me the evidence he collected to turn over while he organized everything. A sniper rifle with a smiley-faced sight and a joker card, smeared with the dried blood of Frances Kane. I don't know why he was toying with me. I steered clear of him all together since the incident with Jason in Blackgate.

Barry's hair was still dripping from his shower as he slid his arms over my shoulders, taking the card from me and setting it on the desk. He didn't say anything as he pressed his head into mine, but I could tell he was scared of another one of his dreams becoming a reality. Despite hurting all over, even more so with certain movements or pressure, I leaned back into him and held tightly onto his arms. "You haven't said much," he noted, his cheek resting on the top of my head.

"People grieve in their own ways," I mumbled. In reality, I think shock still had a firm grip on me, similar to Barry's now. I looked down to the gun and took a deep breath. It had taken Frankie's residence in our space, chewing her up but never spitting her out again. I'd spent long enough away from anyone in my family to make that group of people feel dead, even if the status of some were questionable. But knowing, watching that bullet rip through her head like I had ripped through so many others, it held a different weight than assuming.

I turned around and buried my face in the crook of his neck, not minding that the water was dripping off of his hair and either into mine or onto my face. With a soft sigh, Barry cupped his hands around the back of my thighs just above my knees, easily lifting me off my feet and allowing me to curl tighter around him. I could feel an ache between my shoulder blades, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bruise. "You're four times as closed off as the time you got your lip busted," he noticed, his concern clear.

"If it makes you feel any better," I mumbled, enjoying the smell of his shampoo, "I'm closed off to myself, as well. After years of repressing what I feel, it's started to become automatic." I took a deep breath when a cold droplet fell on my cheek. "I don't even know if I'm capable of feeling much more than my physical pain at the moment." When Barry sat me on the edge of his bed, I instantly moved into my spot, burying my head in a pillow as I laid on my stomach.

"Where does it hurt?" he asked as he brushed my hair back, a smile evident in his voice. I fixed my head so only half of it was hidden, staring at him with one eye and a slight pout.

"My back," I mumbled, watching as his lopsided half-smile turned into a full one. He didn't stay there for long, climbing onto the bed and straddling me so he sat on my butt, his hands drifting up my sides as he carefully lifted my shirt up my back. He pushed it about halfway before he put his hands on my lower back, firmly massaging the tenseness out of my muscles. I closed my eye and took a deep breath, relaxing with each press of his hands into my skin.

We had tried coralling Frankie while I was still in my sleepwear, so when I lifted my shirt over my head in assistance, I was amused when Barry's hands hesitated at my lack of a bra. Likely, he couldn't see much from his angle; at most he probably got to see some side boob. But he just continued on after his minor stutter, his grip unchanging as he moved upwards and rubbed out my stress. He was cautious when he reached my shoulder blades, noticing how I had winced.

Lightly running his fingers down my spine to get a feel of what he was dealing with, he methodically pressed his hands to either side, massaging it into place with a loud pop. With a short moan of relief, I completely relaxed into his touch, feeling much better by the time he started a second cycle over my back. "Thank you," I sighed contentedly. Since my hair was gathered up over my head, Barry leaned down and placed a kiss to the base of my neck.

"Anything you need, Dromi." I fought the downward twitch of my lips hard, curling myself into my arm and his hands, my back popping again in a much less painful spot from the movement. Before removing his hand from my back, he used the other to balance his weight beside my head as he placed a kiss to the corner of my eye, then removed his weight from me altogether. With a soft sigh I pulled my shirt back on, stretching a bit before finding a comfortable spot on my side, facing Barry's spot. He came back to his side of the bed with a hairtie on his wrist, pulling me up so I faced him.

I let him pull up my hair, making sure he never got the right angle to see my tattoo. I got a discreet tattoo for a reason, only certain people needed to see it; Barry wasn't one of them. He looked proud of himself as he tied off my ponytail, dropping into his spot and holding his arms open for me. I couldn't help my smile as I laid half on him, half on the bed, curling into his chest and resting my head in the dip of his shoulder. The smell of his shampoo was strong as his damp hair pressed into his pillow and the deeper I breathed it in, the faster I could feel my mood shift.

The Joker loved his cat and mouse games, he was just toying with me at this point. He had clear shots on all three of us from his vantage point a block and a half away, but he went after the girl having a personality split, a -- questionably -- defenseless girl at that, didn't even give her a chance. It took me a second to realize that the drips falling onto his shirt weren't coming from Barry's hair, but my eyes. I breathed slowly, not wanting to attract his attention. I wanted to stop crying, but I didn't know how to make that happen.

Unfortunately, as my luck would have it, one of my tears fell onto his skin, instantly snaring his attention as he turned more towards me. "Hey," he softly tried, noticing how I subtly started pulling away. Barry put his hand on my cheek and stilled me, my breath coming light and rigid. He ran his thumb over my cheek for a moment, watching me carefully. "It's okay. I miss her, too." His lips were turned up in a half smile, but it was more sad than any other smile I'd seen on him. It wasn't anywhere to be found on his face, but his remorse was in his eyes, poorly hidden, at least to me.

"It wasn't your fault, Barry," I quietly mumbled. I took his hand off of my face and twisted our fingers together.

"It wasn't yours, either," he pointed out softly. I took a deep, unsteady breath and felt his hand tighten around mine. I don't see how it couldn't be. I managed to worm myself free of the Joker, and now he was punishing me even further.

"None of this would've happened if I hadn't pissed off the wrong people four years ago," I admitted as I pulled my other hand from under his head to wipe my face.

"If you didn't do that, I wouldn't have met you. Or if I did, I would probably be the one locking you away. Time is tricky like that." I paused and scrunched my face in confusion, watching Barry instantly grow flustered. "I-I mean, have you ever seen Doctor Who? You've gotta have seen Back to the Future." I knew there was something he wasn't telling me, the hurt in his tone was worse than when we talked about Frankie. However, I didn't have the energy to argue right now.

"Yeah, it's all wibbly wobbly, or whatever," I sighed, relaxing back into him. With wide eyes and a cautious smile, Barry nodded and kissed the back of my hand.

"Exactly. The slightest shift disturbs the balance of everything." Keeping his fingers tightly entwined with mine, he pulled me closer, pulling me up enough to rest his forehead on mine. "The way time fell, I met you, and I'm getting the best outcome I know possible." I closed my eyes and took a slow breath, the tears that had been welling in my eyes slipping out. "Things won't always be easy, Dromi, but I swear I'll be with you for all of it." I could feel my lips struggling to maintain a smile as my hand squeezed his, more tears falling from my closed eyes.

"As long as you'll let me, you'll always have someone to confide in and have your back. If you need me, I'm there," I quietly promised. Letting go of my hand, Barry dried my face a bit before pressing his lips to mine, the sensation of his soft skin brushing against my own sending a warm sense of calm through me.

Slowly pulling away, Barry kept our heads together as he relaxed under me. "Let's get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning." I kept my doubt of that statement to myself and relaxed as well, pressing a short kiss to the corner of his lips as I curled my legs around him. I didn't want to sleep, but it snuck up on me as Barry started running his hand over my back, stealing my awareness without me even knowing it.