Present
By the time we got back to the station, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The moment he put me down and ripped his mask off, I could see the rage radiating off of him. As I gathered myself to stand, he lets himself yell first.
"You care about him," he screams, his hair matted down from the hood on his suit. "I should have known...I should have paid more attention. I told you no trust. I told you no love. Here you are cursing at me for caring about Caitlin, but you care about him-"
"You sent me here to get closer to him, Hunter. You sent me here to make sure everything stayed in line, and it did. I tried every second to remember your words, but I guess that just wasn't enough. None of this is my fault," I gasp as I point at my chest, feeling it's leather under my finger tip. "We can't help who we fall for-"
"Yes you can," he states, stressing the you instead of we. "You should have killed those cops in a second and been out of there and done, but instead you listened to him; the man we've been chasing after for months, researching and planning to someday take his speed and kill him. We've come too far for you to pull an act like this."
I feel my blood beginning to boil as I take a step closer to Hunter. "Me? You're seriously telling me that I'll be the one to ruin what we've come so far to archive? I'm not the only one who cares for someone that I shouldn't! Caitlin is a friend of his; she's mixed into the list of people that are supposed to die too. I may have not been able to kill those cops, but you did the same thing earlier today. You listened to her instead of doing it in the blink of an eye. If you would have just did it earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess right now!"
Hunter shakes his head at me, and I knew I wasn't getting through to him. I knew I wasn't; when it came to things like this, he never listened. "Caitlin is different!"
"No she's not!" I belt at the top of my lungs, feeling my words shake the room around me. "You always taught me to only trust you; to never fall for anyone else, or else I'll regret it. Don't you see what this is doing to us, Hunter? You've always been my teacher; you've always taught me what I needed to know, but this is the one thing you never taught yourself. You can't choose who you fall in love with, and you most definitely can't change it. Love makes you weak; we both know that now, but please, just listen to me! You can't stand there and tell me that I've sinned when you've committed the same ones."
He stands there for a long moment as he stares at me, both of our chests heaving from the shouting. I knew that Caitlin was off in the other room listening and most likely waiting in anticipation on what the outcome was going to be, but I didn't care. All I could think about right now was Hunter and Barry.
Finally, he takes a deep breath before speaking. "I was taught long ago that love was weakness, Raven. You just didn't know that. I know what I'm getting myself wrapped up in, but you don't. Like you said, you're my student. You barely even know what the word love is, but to fall for the person you were supposed to hate...it makes me wonder who's side you're really on."
He makes eye contact with me then, and I couldn't believe what he was saying. No matter what I could say, I knew I wouldn't get it through his thick head. For a moment, the thought of killing Caitlin runs through my mind, just to get back at him, but I quickly push it aside. If I did that, he'd go for Barry, and I couldn't have that. But hearing him say those last words really did make me wonder.
Who's side was I on?
"I've always been on your side," I spit as I clench my teeth, my anger starting to die down slowly. "We've always been a team, Hunter, but lately you've been pushing me away...for her."
My eyes trail away from him and look over towards where Caitlin was then. He's dead silent as I wait for him to say something, but he doesn't. I hoped that he would deny my statement; that what I said was wrong. However, he bites his tongue, confirming my thoughts after all.
"It's either her or me now, Hunter," I bite back, feeling the lightning starting to dance on my skin again. "Take your pick."
And with that, I turn and race out of the station.
-*+*-
A car honks off in the distance as I slowly walk down the sidewalk in Central City, my mind filled with a thousand thoughts. After I had left the police station, I had no where else to go. A part of me wanted to run back to Barry, but I knew I couldn't do that...not after what had happened at Jitters. Not to mention that I wasn't on his side; despite seeing that he somehow cared for me back at Jitters, I knew that he didn't consider me on his side.
Besides, I wasn't even sure if I was on his side. That was the thing; I didn't really have a side I wanted to be on more than the other. I wanted to help Barry and the others; they seemed to be the only ones lately who really cared for me, but they wouldn't take me back so easily. As for Hunter...we've been through rough patches like this before. We've always been a team, and I don't think anything could ever change that. Not even Barry.
So as I shove my hands into my pockets, I couldn't help but wonder what I would do if it really boiled down to Barry or Hunter. If I was put in the situation to choose a side ultimately, I don't think I really could. Deep down I knew I'd always choose Hunter, but something told me to choose Barry...and that was the weakness that Hunter had always told me talking. Love makes you weak, he was right.
Even more of a question still, other than who's side I was on, was the one I had dropped before racing out of there; who Hunter was going to choose. A part of me was confident enough to say that I knew he'd choose me; he's been choosing me since the day he helped me. But like I said earlier...if he was feeling the same thing I was about Barry, there was another part of him that would choose her in a heart beat, and that was what scared me the most.
Suddenly then, I hear a loud crack of thunder as my eyes flick up from the sidewalk towards the sound. At first I just thought a thunder storm was rolling in, but that was until I saw lightning directed in one spot and one spot only; S.T.A.R. Labs.
What in the world could they be doing? It takes me a moment to wonder what lightning could mean, but then I pieced the puzzle together. They were trying to get Barry's speed back; I knew it.
I find myself running then at lightning speed; racing towards the storm, towards S.T.A.R. Labs, and towards Barry. I knew that I was running as fast as I usually did, but it felt so much slower for some reason. It was like the more I pumped my legs to go faster, the slower the went. It felt like ages until I finally got there.
When I first run inside, I went upstairs to the main lab area where everyone always met up, but no one was there. Instead, there were a few papers scattered that I slowly reach out and pick up, reading plans on how to remake the particle accelerator. My heart races in my chest when I hear a loud scream then, causing me to drop the paper and dash towards the sound. I knew it was Barry.
As I race downstairs, I wondered to myself what I thought about Barry getting his speed back. Barry without his speed didn't seem like the same person to me; I wanted him to get it back. But then again, I didn't because that meant he would be fast enough to stop Hunter again, and I still couldn't choose a side in this issue either.
Finally though, I reach the lower level and stop in the doorway when I see Barry strapped up to a machine like some sort of rag doll. I feel my mouth fall open as I watch his fists clench from the pain, but I wasn't sure from what. Iris and the others were standing right in front of me, but they were too focused on Barry to pay any attention to me.
"What are you doing?" Iris yells over at Wells, panic and fear written across her face. I knew that she cared for Barry; he was practically a brother to her.
Wells answers her, his eyes still glued to the screen he was in front of. "We have to recreate everything that happened to Barry that night, and these were the chemicals that were in his system when he was struck by lightning."
I look back up at Barry then and see his eyes squeezed shut tight, and I wanted nothing more than for this to be over with. He was in pain; it wasn't a pretty sight at all. For a moment, I envisioned myself running up and taking him down from there, but I knew he wanted this; he would go through Hell and back to get his powers back if he had to.
Suddenly then, his eyes flash open and his jaw falls. His eyes stare at me before he cries out, shock written on his face. "Raven?"
I bite my tongue from the sound of pain in his voice, and hearing my name out of his mouth in that way only made my heart clench. Iris and the others quickly glance back at me before turning back forwards, focusing on the task at hand. It only takes a few seconds before a large burst of light is flashing forwards from behind Barry, striking him hard as his body flies forwards but stays locked in place from the restraints.
A small spark of hope ignites inside of me that maybe this would work after all; that maybe Barry getting his powers back was the best option. However, it was then I remembered that hope was something that I learned to never have long ago.
I hear Barry let out one last scream, one that I would remember. I notice then that he was disintegrating; his skin was utterly and literally falling off of his bones. My legs try to run forwards in effort to help stop it, but I already knew it was too late for me and for Barry. As I watch him disappear into thin air, I let out a loud scream; one that I didn't know I had in me.
It was then the dark matter finds its way towards the rest of us, throwing me back into the wall in the hall before I collapse. For a few moments, I black out from the blow, but in a few moments I was back on my feet and out of breath after what I just witnessed.
I prayed that my eyes were just playing a trick on me; that what I saw was just in my head. However, when I make it back to my feet and use my speed to run forwards to where Barry should have been, he wasn't there. When I stopped to look around for him, I found nothing but a large piece of his suit lying at my feet.
Tears fall from my eyes; ones that I didn't even know I had. As a sob escapes my throat, I slowly bend over and grab the part of Barry's suit, feeling the rough texture between my fingers. As I bring it towards me while I stand, I couldn't help but realize that he was really gone; that I just watched Barry Allen die right in front of my eyes.
I let my tears take over as I bury my face in the last piece of him I had left, completely losing myself.
-*+*-
aw my poor baby Raven...she really is having a rough day, ain't she? I hate to say it'll only get worse from here on out
oh, and what do you think about the new cover? took me ages to finally get it done, but I thought it turned out halfway decent surprisingly haha
vote n comment of course!