Snow Falls

Chapter Fourteen

Eobard Thawne stared thoughtfully at an unconscious Barry Allen; dressed in a black shirt with a grey hoodie and off white jeans. Meanwhile, Barry and Wally had just phased into the pipeline behind the speedster in disguise. They thought they had arrived undetected. However, much like the first time around, Thawne was one step ahead.

"Well, things just got a lot more complicated. Didn't they?" Thawne said in that sinister tone of his that made Barry's skin crawl. He then rose from his seat to face the pair that stood before him. As he did so, Barry found it difficult to recall the moment everyone in Central City believed Harrison Wells to be legitimately paralyzed.

Barry stared at Thawne with a look of intense concentration. His heart began to pound as years of resentment began to resurface. No matter how much time had passed and no matter the Earth or timeline he found himself in, Barry knew he would never be able to forgive Thawne for the lifetime of pain he had caused.

"Barry Allen. But which Barry Allen?" Thawne smiled as if he had been anticipating this moment. "Clearly, you're from a lot later than this one".

"Way later" Barry confirmed.

"Who's your friend?" Thawne asked, turning his attention to Wally.

He then threw out a thousand guesses such as Kyle Lowry, John Legend and even a young Barack Obama.

"It doesn't matter who he is" Barry said quickly, not wanting to delay their mission any further.

"What do you want?" Thawne asked.

"I need you to fix this for me" Barry answered, holding up severed device.

Thawne stopped dead in his tracks. His throat as his eyes locked on the speed force transmitter. Even though he knew a thing or two about time travel, something didn't feel right.

"If you're here and he's here" Thawne began, referring to both past and present Barry Allen. "Then that means-"

"You don't get home" present Barry finished.

Thawne's blood began to boil as he refused to accept the answer.

"I get home!" he said sternly with a stomp of one foot.

Barry only offered the shaking of his head. Watching the man who murdered his mother pace the floor muttering to himself and throwing a tantrum like a child made Barry wonder why he ever thought to look up to him.

"I GO HOME!" Thawne screamed.

"You don't go home Thawne!" Barry yelled over him. But then the volume in his voice softened as he added, "unless you help me".

Thawne turned away from Barry and Wally as he considered the offer. He kicked the still unconscious Barry in the leg as he thoughtfully wiped a hand over his own chin and returned to face the two speedsters.

"What do you want?" Thawne sighed in surrender.

"Like I said, you're going to fix this for me" Barry responded firmly.

"To do what?" Thawne continued.

"To drain dark matter" Barry answered.

"Whose dark matter?" Thawne grilled Barry as if he knew the answers but was just quizzing the younger speedster.

"It doesn't matter" Barry insisted.

Wally's eyes darted back and forth as he watched the argument intensify between the pair of old foes. Growing tired of staying silent, he finally spoke up.

"Cicada's" Wally revealed. However, for reasons he couldn't quite place, he quickly began to regret it.

He threw Barry an apologetic look; which Barry accepted, seeing as this seemed to get Thawne to back off of his interrogation. But not before he could accuse Barry of doing this to save lives, mostly his own.

"Ah. The one that got away" Thawne chuckled.

"Look", Barry said. "That version of me is going to wake up soon. He sees me standing here in the old timeline, he's going to be blown to hell and you're never going to get home. You know that's true".

"I know! I know!" Thawne replied, growing irritated. Once he had calmed down, he looked toward Wally and offered him some water.

                                      ~

"So, who made this?" Thawne asked as he retrieved the transmitter from Barry.

"Someone a lot smarter than you" Barry answered.

"I doubt that" Thawne chuckled. "You know, Allen. For your plan to work, you'd actually have to have his dagger in your possession".

"We've got that covered" Barry responded, nodding at the transmitter; reminding Thawne to stay on task.

As Thawne doubtfully shook his head, Wally presented the piece of Savitar's suit; which was the key to their plan. But Barry was quick to grab it before Thawne could. At such a delicate time, mistakes and other risks could not afford to be made. Thawne couldn't help but laugh to himself at the irony of Barry hating him with a passion, yet a version of Barry ended up being Savitar.

"He was a much bigger jerk than I ever was" Thawne said. "Did you see that face? That awful pizza face?"

"Hurry up" Barry persisted, not knowing how much longer he could take the abuse.

Not long after, Thawne had finished repairing the speed force transmitter. Then as if on cue, the other Barry began to stir in the time vault.

"Here you go" Thawne said, handing the device to present Barry. "I so look forward to seeing how this all pans out".

As Barry and Wally watched Thawne's bright red lightning zip back into the time vault, Barry was anxious to reach their final time destination. Wally felt the need to say something; seeing how hard it was for Barry to face Thawne again. But he was cut off by Barry's focus.

"It's time to go back to the night it all began" Barry said decisively.