⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
dementor! dementor!
⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰
NO MATTER HOW hard Juliet tried, the anger rushing through her veins underneath her skin was impossible to remove.
She couldn't believe that this was happening again. It was the worst kind of déjà vu imaginable. Barry had been right to be wary of Jay when he showed up, but Juliet brushed it off, deciding to trust him instead. She shouldn't have. Jay Garrick was their worst enemy, the one who had caused so much destruction on both Earths — Zoom. Just like Juliet trusted Harrison Wells — or should she say Thawne.
Her point stands.
The same mistake was made twice, and Juliet could not stop beating herself up over it. When Thawne was around, Juliet brushed off not being trained as much as Barry was, placing it on that they were new to heroeing. Turns out he just didn't want to see her reach her full potential. Yet Jay — Zoom — had helped her train, had helped her grow stronger, for his own fucking benefit. He wanted her to reach her maximum so he could watch her crumble.
And Earth-Two Juliet . . . he had done this to her. He had locked her away in a cell for months and beat her until her powers got trapped inside of her. Her supposed best friend. Juliet knew that Earth-Two Juliet wasn't in on this secret. She had seem so scared, so secluded into herself.
Zoom had already gotten the best of Juliet on Earth-Two. But Earth-One? That was her turf. She was going to stop Zoom one way or another, and she knew Barry would be right beside her when that happened. This was the last time they would go through this bullshit. Juliet was determined to make it so.
She sat in the cortex, her hair sloppily tied up into a ponytail and a flannel of Barry's draped over her tank top, pouring over a book about telekinesis. Barry had been speed-reading books about speed and motion while doing equations on the whiteboard, and while that was great for him, Juliet had to focus on her. It didn't really help that everything in this book was hypothetical, clearly before the age of Metahumans.
Suddenly, the sound of books hitting the floor echoed throughout the cortex. Juliet's head snapped up to see Cisco standing there, staring at Jay's helmet with half of the books in his hands and half on the floor.
Barry turned around from the noise. "Yo."
"Can we please get rid of Jay's helmet?" Cisco asked.
"No, I'm sorry. It keeps me motivated."
"Well, it's giving me daymares." He bent down and picked up the books he dropped. "This is everything I could find even remotely related to increasing speed. JJ, I've got nothing for you, unless you want to read some comics."
Juliet rolled her eyes. "Fuck that."
Cisco skimmed through one of the books he got. "How are these supposed to help apply the speed equation to you?"
"The answer's got to be here somewhere," Barry insisted.
"I think I found something interesting," Caitlin admitted, walking out of the medbay.
Juliet stood up. She tightened her ponytail slightly before crossing her arms across her chest, walking up to the screen that Caitlin had put a diagram on, showing three speedsters.
"Good interesting or bad interesting?" Cisco questioned. "'Cause that word could go either way."
"After running some comparative data, it appears that you, Reverse Flash, and Zoom are moving your legs at essentially the same speed," Caitlin explained.
"Then why are they so much faster than him?"
"Best I can tell, with each stride their feet spend less time on the ground, thus propelling them forward much faster."
"By almost thirty-percent," Barry commented. "Great. All right, well, I got to make up that difference somehow."
He walked back over to the whiteboard. As he did so, both Cisco and Caitlin looked over at Juliet. She glanced in between them for a moment, and somehow, someway, she knew what they were thinking. Juliet's heart sank to her stomach and she ran her hand down her face. The truth fucking hurt sometimes.
"Baby," Juliet called.
His eyes flickered to her for a moment. "Hm?"
"Look, after what that monster did, I want to stop Jay just as badly as you two do," Caitlin stated.
"Right."
"But what if the reason you haven't been able to run as fast as him yet is because you just can't?"
Barry froze for a moment, his hand stilling in the air. He looked over at Caitlin for a couple seconds. Juliet watched them carefully, not really knowing exactly what to do. Finally, he seemed to snap out of it, not really wanting to dwell on that thought.
"Family dinner, J," Barry said. "We should go."
"Mhm," Juliet hummed in response, sending an I don't know look to Cisco and Caitlin. "Let's go."
She offered her hand to him. Barry took it, and Juliet immediately teleported to the familiar house. They greeted Joe and Iris before taking their spots at the dinner table right next to each other, their interlocked hands resting underneath the table. Joe started to pour wine, which Juliet was thankful for, because she desperately needed it.
"Barry, Jules, you know what happened to Jay is not your fault, right?" Iris inquired softly.
"Well, I should've known better," Barry argued.
"You?" Joe asked. "With Wells last year, I should've learned my lesson and dug deeper into Jay, but . . . I didn't."
"Come on, Joe."
"Point being is nobody saw this coming. Nobody."
The oven then went off. Joe stood up from the table and went into the kitchen. Juliet sighed and took a sip of her wine before locking eyes with Iris from across the table.
Juliet narrowed her eyes at her. "Why are you looking at me like that? Please don't tell me it's because I look tired, I already know that."
Iris shook her head. "No, it's not that. Um . . . so, I . . . kind of went on a date."
Juliet's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "And you didn't tell me? What the fuck?"
"With who?" Barry added.
"The new editor at CCPN," Iris answered. "Scott Evans."
"You went on a date with your boss?" Juliet questioned. "Oh my God, Iris."
"Okay, I mean — it wasn't like that. He's a really nice guy. He's sweet and smart and, um . . ."
Juliet's eyes trailed across her face before smiling sadly. "But he's not Eddie."
Obviously, losing her fiancé had taken a huge toll on Iris. Juliet had watched her best friend fall apart, and how she started to pick herself up again over the months. She had seen it every step of the way.
Iris nodded in agreement. "It just — it all makes me think about Eddie. I think about him every day. It just feels wrong."
"I know for a fact that Eddie would want you to find love again," Barry voiced.
"Yeah, I know, but—"
"'Ris," Juliet interjected softly, staring at her comfortingly. "If you're not ready to move on, that's okay. Only you will know when you're ready. But please, please don't close yourself off completely. That'll just hurt you more, and you'll miss out on opportunities."
"Yeah," Iris quietly agreed.
The door then opened. Juliet tore her eyes away from Iris and looked to see Wally walking into the house.
"Hey," Barry greeted.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," Wally replied.
"No, no, you're just in time," Iris reassured him.
Joe walked into the dining room, holding a pan with his bare hands. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"Dad, mittens!"
They had all ate their food, making nice conversation while they did so. Finally, once all of them were finishing up, Joe opened another bottle of wine.
"So . . . my advisor loved my engine designs and even asked me to help her out with one of her engineering projects," Wally revealed.
"Okay, big man on campus," Iris said.
"It's not that big a deal."
"It's a great opportunity, and you should take it, because life doesn't give those out all the time," Joe told him. "Isn't that right, Barry, Jules?"
"For sure," Juliet agreed. She then looked over at her boyfriend, only to roll her eyes at the way he was completely lost in space and how he hadn't eaten at all. "Earth to Barry."
Barry snapped out of it. "Yeah. Yeah. What is the project about?"
"It's trying to push the speed limits with smaller propulsion systems," Wally responded.
"Yeah, that's cool."
"Where do you even start?" Joe inquired.
"Well, I really like to read the journals of the classic engineers, so their engine designs, how they increase horsepower, and learn from the best, I guess," Wally explained.
"You read their journals?" Barry asked.
Wally nodded, setting down his glass of water. "Mmm. I mean, it's not like I can just go and talk to Enzo Ferrari or Ferdinand Porsche 'cause they dead, but . . . you know, doesn't mean they can't still teach me."
Juliet slowly looked over at Barry. She could see the realization flashing across his face and how his eyes widened. Suddenly, she knew what he was thinking. He wanted to go talk to someone who was dead, that was always faster than him.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
Barry stood up. "I got to go."
"You haven't even touched your food," Joe protested.
"I — I — yeah, no, I'm sorry, I just, um — I just realized the key to a case I've been working on, so I'm gonna just — thank you, Wally." Barry then turned around, only to quickly dodge a lamp in his way. "Whoo! Um, sorry, guys. I'll be — I'll be back later."
"That dude gets weirder every time I see him," Wally stated.
Joe sipped his wine. "Yeah."
Juliet watched the door for a moment, tilting her head. "How long do you think he'll be gone before he notices he left me here?"
Barry, as if on cue, then burst through the door again, pointing right at her. "Juliet."
"And that's my cue." She got up from the table. "See y'all later."
Barry ran them both back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where he furiously explained his crazy, absolutely batshit plan to run back in time to talk to Eobard Thawne. Juliet honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing, and that he wanted to go by himself.
"You mean the old Harrison Wells?" Cisco questioned. "As in Eobard Thawne? You want him to teach you how to run faster? Oh, that's rich."
"How are you gonna do that?" Caitlin inquired.
"By running back to a time last year," Barry answered.
"And what about the other you, the one from that other timeline?" Cisco urged.
"I'll knock him out with something. I mean, it's not like he'll see me coming, and then I'll have Wells teach me."
"Barry, that's crazy," Caitlin insisted.
"Nothing I've read is pointing me towards a solution, and if there's anybody that's figured out the key to getting faster without V-Nine, it's him," Barry said. "What do you guys think?"
"I hate that you're going alone," Juliet complained. "I don't understand why I can't go with you."
"Because it's about speed, and it'll be much easier knocking out one person than two. Thawne would just brush you off anyways if you asked him to train you."
Juliet thought about it for a moment — as much as she hated to admit it, it did make sense. "I hate it when you're right."
"Your plan is asinine," Harry interjected, back from searching for his daughter.
Cisco watched him walk in. "Did you find Jesse?"
"Does it look like I found Jesse?" He threw his backpack down. "How many times have you traveled through time?
"A few," Barry responded.
"Do you have any idea how many things you could screw up?" Harry continued.
"All I need is one conversation with Dr. Wells."
"He's not Wells."
"Thawne," Barry corrected.
"I'm Wells!" Harry exclaimed. "This man has been studying you for fifteen years — for fifteen years — and you don't think he's gonna know who you are?"
"Barry's pretty good at impersonating himself," Cisco cut in. "You should've seen him over there on Earth-Two. I was like, somebody get this man an Oscar."
"He will know, Allen. He will know."
"All right, then what am I supposed to do?" Barry questioned. "I mean, how am I supposed to stop Zoom without leaving it all up to Juliet? Do you know the answer to this equation?"
"If Thawne figures out that it's you, the timeline will be altered," Harry warned. "People can die. Others could live, and no one will know who or what will be affected, but I promise you, when you come back, things will be different. And only you will know what those differences are."
"Well, if that's what I have to do to stop Zoom, then so be it, because if I don't, and Zoom gets my speed and J's powers before we learn how to stop him, everybody I care about, everybody in this whole city — their world will never be the same anyway."
Harry said nothing before walking out of the cortex. Juliet sighed, crossing her arms as she chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. Everything was just so complicated, wasn't it?
"Do you really think you can do this?" Caitlin inquired.
Barry nodded. "Yeah, I do. When I went back last year and I saw my mom die, it didn't affect the timeline."
"Yeah, but you haven't really time traveled on purpose like this before," Cisco added.
"I have to do this, you guys."
"Okay, let's go for it," Caitlin agreed.
Before going, they put up pictures of the different people and Metahumans they had took down, pre-knowing that Wells was the Reverse Flash. Slowly, one by one, they ruled them out, depending on the situation during that time. Finally, they nailed it down to one — Hartley. On the whiteboard, Cisco wrote down key points, like his dad was still in prison and that there was no Firestorm. Barry got into his suit, and they all stood in the cortex to discuss.
"Okay, you're gonna go back to the time when Wells was distracted by the return of the major jackass, Hartley Rathaway," Cisco instructed. "This is the first time we found out Wells knew the accelerator might explode, and we were all angry with him, so anything that might seem odd about your behavior, Wells should attribute to that. Also remember, do not underestimate Hartley. He almost killed Juliet."
"And don't forget, we weren't together at this point," Juliet reminded him. "I was still having my thing with Ollie."
Caitlin handed him a dart. "This is a tranq dart that should knock old you out for about six hours, which lines up perfectly for when you're going back, because not much was happening until Hartley attacked the Cleveland Dam that night, so that should give you time to learn what you need and return."
"One more thing," Cisco voiced. "You cannot tell us the truth about Wells, no matter what. You must keep the timeline intact. It's gonna be hard to course correct if anything gets altered, so get what you need and come back, preferably to this moment, this exact time you're leaving, or else you might set off some kind of 12 Monkeys time loop you'll never get out of."
"Mm-hmm," Barry hummed in agreement.
"No pressure."
"Yeah. Cool."
"So, we'll see you in, like, two seconds," Cisco stated before hugging him. "Time travel's so weird."
Caitlin hugged him as well. "Godspeed, Barry."
"I believe in you," Juliet told him softly when he turned to her. "Good luck. I love you."
Barry leaned down and kissed her for a moment before pulling away. "I love you more. I'll be fine. What could go wrong?"
He then sped off in a flash of yellow lightning.
ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ
JULIET DIDN'T KNOW exactly how a fucking Dementor was something they had to worry about.
Okay, powers, cool. That was fine. But she didn't expect that Harry Potter would come into real life. Maybe it wasn't an actual Dementor, but it was sure as hell close to it. She remembered how freaky it was, and how they definitely were prepared for it to come back, especially since Barry traveled through time.
She stood behind the desk of computers in the cortex when yellow lightning suddenly reappeared in the room. Juliet's head snapped up to see Barry sliding in on the floor. Her eyebrows knit in confusion. No joke, he had literally left maybe a second ago.
"It's coming!" Barry shouted.
Caitlin blinked about it. "Did you even go?"
"The Time Wraith."
Cisco pointed to him. "That's a good name."
Juliet shrugged. "I still prefer Dementor."
"Looks like that's a yes," Caitlin said.
"Did you figure out how to stop it?" Barry asked.
The fucking demonic screech then echoed from the hall. Juliet looked to see the blackened and decaying thing fly into the room. Cisco pointed the gun they made at it, but when he shot, it didn't affect it that much. It just shook it off and continued flying towards Barry.
"Damn!" Cisco yelled. "We thought so."
The Time Wraith flew over them and headed towards Barry, wrapping a claw around his neck and slamming him on the ground.
"Barry!" Caitlin exclaimed.
Juliet quickly whipped around and held her hand out, focusing on the weird creature. She wrenched her hand up and pulled it off of Barry, but she could feel it fighting against her. Juliet could mind control a lot of things, but things that had to do with time and space were just a little stronger.
"A little help would be nice!" Juliet called through gritted teeth.
Hartley then walked out from the medbay, lifting up his wrists, which had his gauntlets on them. Instantly, a loud, high-pitched sound rang throughout the room. Juliet let her concentration drop, and the Time Wraith shrieked in agony before it pretty much exploded in midair.
"I suddenly realized," Hartley said. "Low frequency, high intensity."
Cisco pointed to him. "I knew that."
Juliet gave him a smile. "Thanks." She then walked over to Barry, who seemed very shocked. "You okay?"
"I—" Barry began.
"Oh, hey, Barry," Hartley greeted. "How was your trip?"
Barry just let his head fall back on the ground, letting out a deep breath. After a couple moments, he got up and sped back into his regular clothes. Barry then reached over and pulled Juliet into his side, his arms around her and his cheek resting on her head. Juliet smiled a little, just letting him hold her.
"So, aside from the fact that a Time Wraith came over here and nearly killed us, how did it go?" Cisco asked.
"It was interesting," Barry answered.
"Good interesting or bad interesting?" Caitlin added. "'Cause that could go either way."
"So far so . . . good."
Hartley then spoke in Latin. As always, Juliet had no fucking clue what he said.
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "How many times do we have to tell you, Hartley? Ever since evil Wells got erased from existence, no one speaks Latin around here anymore."
"Well, as always, it's been a pleasure working with you all on this little project," Hartley told them. "If you need anything in the future, call me. I'm off to a late dinner."
"Mm, dinner. Anyone special?"
"Very." He smiled softly. "My parents."
Juliet looked up to see Barry very confused. "Why do you look lost?"
Barry groaned, letting his forehead fall on her head. "I am lost."
"So?" Cisco interrupted. "You got me on pins and needles over here. What about the speed equation? Did Wells tell you what you need to do?"
Barry let go of his girlfriend and pulled out something that looked like a thumbdrive. "Well, let's see."
He brought them down to the Time Vault. They entered the white room, and Barry placed the thumbdrive into the podium near the front, the very same podium that brought them Gideon the last time they came in. However, nothing happened.
"Hmm," Cisco let out. "Maybe it's password protected?"
"No . . ." Barry breathed out. "Are you kidding me? After everything I just went through . . . this doesn't even work!"
He then banged his fist on the podium. That seemed to do the trick, though, because in front of their eyes, glowing through the podium, came a hologram of different equations. Juliet's eyes widened as she stared at it.
"We got it."
Barry had his key. Juliet just needed to find hers.
〖 ϟ 〗
if you're confused where the chapter breaks, it's juliet's knowledge of the time wraiths after barry travels back in time. I tried to write it in a way where she always knew about it because technically she did after barry traveled in time lol