Barry POV
"Damn, do you have a telekinetic power of some sort that you haven't told me about?" I ask Kara as she beats me for the 4th time in chess. She giggles and whispers checkmate to herself. I watch her smile and set every piece in position once again.
" Common Kara, I bet you are a lot more busy than being able to play chess all day long." I know why she's really here. The healing from my fight with Reign has been slow and painful. For the last 3 days, she's been here all day, bossing me around. It's more than I can say for Iris, who's been distant and mad for my sudden disappearance.
"I'd rather be here than anywhere else. Plus, chess helps me clear up my mind. Every piece has a purpose, a goal to be met and a sacrifice to be done. But it's all about strategy." I raise an eyebrow at her.
"A little philosophical today, aren't we?" I tease her. She rolls her eyes at me.
"As philosophical as 'we are the Flash'?" She laughs. Kara heard Iris repeating this to me over and over again without knowing that the reason she was doing so was not as romantic as she thought.
I fake a smile and take a deep breath to restart the game. While Kara places the pieces, I somehow do the same thing, mentally.
She must see it in my face since she stops placing the pawns in order and stares at me with a confused expression on her face. I relive the night Kara came out of her coma and start noticing some odd things.
"Barry. What is it?" She asks, worried. I look up to her and open my mouth to speak but I hesitate as I order my thoughts.
"Kara...The night you woke up...Reign wanted to get to you..." I start mumbling. My brain is working at a different speed than my tongue is. Her full attention is on me now. I sit up form the bed and pull the puzzle together.
"Reign wanted to kill me. You saved me." Kara reassures me but I realize that she's wrong.
"But Kara what if you're part of her game. What if she has another use for you, like she's...reserving you for her next move." Her eyebrows knit together.
"Barry, I still don't understand what you're talking about." She speaks softly.
"What I mean is: What if Reign wanted to get to you. Not to kill you, though. But to save you. Save you for her divine move." I conclude. She seems to understand as her shoulders fall and her eyes reach mine, full of fear.
"We're not ahead of her. She's ahead of us." She finishes what I was afraid to conclude.
---
"Mon El!" I call out as he's walking the down the hall. He turns around and I see the hesitation on his face as he looks around, confused. Probably because the last time we were together I had the intention to rip his head off. I jog to where he's at and take a deep breath.
"I owe you an apology..."I start. He squints his eyes at me as if searching for the lies in mine.
"The night of the fight I noticed that the machine keeping Kara alive belonged to your team. I said you had killed Kara but then I realized that the only reason she was alive is because you guys were here. And although, I don't know if this happened because of you being here, I had no right to point fingers" He nods once and offers a humorless smile before offering me his hand to shake.
I shake it and smile at him as if in agreement. He might have forgiven me but I'm still not sure I have forgiven him. He, at the end of it all, hurt Kara. Kara has tried to explain that it was 7 years for him but it could've been a billion and I still wouldn't be able to live without her. As a friend. Of course. Right?
"I'm just glad she's okay." He concludes, snapping me away from my thoughts. Mon El then proceeds to walk down the same hallway he was walking on earlier and my unruled thoughts leave with him.
Iris POV
"Iris, I was looking for you. Brought you some doughnuts..." Kara enters the room and immediatly lights it up as she usually does. She places the box of donuts on the table in front of me and I smile at her.
"You seriously didn't have to-" She cuts me off before I finish my sentence.
"Oh no. I had to. National City's doughnuts are the best in all the multiverse. They're like your Earth's Big Belly Burger. Guaranteed." Her eyes widen as she explains.
"Thank you." I sigh and grab the pink glazed donuts with white sprinkles. She then sits right beside me and takes the chocolate one, finishing it in one gulp.
"You know...I wanted to discuss something with you." She starts, her mouth still full with her second donut. I raise an eyebrow and she continues to speak: "Barry's been...different. I still can't point exactly what it is that's changed but I know somethings not exactly right." She wonders out loud.
I have two options: pretend I don't know what she's talking about or tell her the truth. I opt for the second choice. I sigh and look at the floor, trying to gather strength that isn't there.
"Kara, Im guessing he hasn't told you." I start. Her eyes soon fill with worry but I'm pretty sure she knows what I'm going to say way before I say it.
"Joe passed away 6 months ago." I inform her . Her face falls, her eyes close and silence alone sweeps in the memories...
FLASHBACK I (IRIS)
"Dad, you told me you'd be here for dinner. Barry cooked your favorite dish..." I whine as Joe excuses his absence with work. I hear him sigh on the phone.
"I'm sorry, baby. I have a lot of paperwork and Captain Singh asked me to stay." He explains. I look at the floor disappointed.
"It's all right, dad. I love you." I tell him, eyeing the table with the gravy and roasted chicken set on top of it.
"I love you." He responds before hanging up. However, something about the 3 words when he says them, shake me at my core. I ignore it.
FLASHBACK II (BARRY)
"It sucks, Joe couldn't make it." I complain out loud while chewing on the roasted chicken. Iris nods before swallowing.
"True. But you know, when duty calls..."She explain. She pouts and I smile at her cuteness. I then notice something on her face and starts snorting in laughter.
"What!?" She laughs with me, unsure what i'm laughing at. But my snorts only make her laugh harder.
"You have a gravy beard!" I point at her and resume my laughter. She rolls her eyes.
"Barry Allen. You are so childish that sometimes I wonder if I married a 6-year old." She accuses me, pointing a fork at my face. I slowly calm myself down and leans in to kiss her, with the gravy and all.
"You married me because you love me." I whisper, touching noses with her.
"That's true. Forever and always..." She whispers back. Suddenly a harsh knock, startles us both. We stand up and I open the door.
In front of us, there are two officers. Both remove their hats and bow their heads. Iris and I both know what that means, before a word is spoken.
I always thought that one day, when we opened that door, a monster would be waiting for us, wether it was a meta, a intelligent super-being, a speedster. But the truth is that when we opened that door, that night, something much worse showed up: death.
Iris brakes down.
I didn't follow.
Kara POV
"Barry!" I call out as I open the roof's entrance door. He's there looking at the city's lights. He turns around and offers me a dorky smile.
"Hey." He waves and I look around to see if he's with anyone. But he's completely alone. Im guessing not only physically though.
"What are you doing up here all by your lonesome?" I ask him. He shrugs and leans on the balcony, looking over at the passing cars.
"Wanted to get some fresh air since you haven't let me for 72 hours." He jokes. I chuckle and admit it's true. A comfortable silence sets in between us as we stare at National City's metropolitan skyline.
"Why didn't you tell me Joe died?" I ask him. We're both surprised by the question. His eyes widen for a second but soon he looks at me, with an unmoved expression.
"There was nothing to tell." That stings when he says it. I stare at him in disbelief.
"What do you mean? You're my friend, I care about you." I raise my tone a little and he rolls his eyes like I've told him a ridiculous joke.
"Just drop it, Kara. Everything's fine. People die all the time." That does take me by surprise, specially because it sounds like me, right after I was sure MonEl had died.
"Drop it? Barry, your father's dead." I try to bring up a little humanity from him. I want to see the Barry, who feels. Instead, I am scolded by the Barry who shouts.
"He's not my father! And who are you to tell me how I should feel about it?!" His voice is like thunder. Rumbling under his chest. He turns his back on me and starts walking towards the exit door.
"You're in pain, Barry." I tell him softly and that stops him on his tracks.
"I'm not the one who's stuck on her little crush who, by the way, loves someone else." He finishes off and disappears into the building.
I pretend it doesn't hurt. Partly because, I don't want it to be true but mostly because I know the mask Barry has on this time...grief.
stage two: anger.
MonEl POV
"Hey." I greet Imra as she's typing something into the ship's computer. She turns around and her unruled hair flies, landing on her face. I smile and walk up to her, removing the hair from her face and tucking it behind her ears. She purses her lips and looks up at me.
"Hey." She responds. Brainiac 5 is too busy finishing a sudoku from 1976, he managed to retrieve from a museum. While he's not watching, I kiss Imra. I don't know why, but I feel the necessity to kiss her. Maybe, Kara's almost dying episode, reminded me that we're not invincible.
"What was that for?" She asks. I cup her face between my hands.
"For everything." I respond and proceed to hug her.
I scan the computer she was typing on as my head lays on top of her shoulder and realize it's the mission's file. I can read enough to notice some differences to the one I was given and the one on the screen. The most prominent difference is the title of the mission: 'Word Killer blood Retrieval'.
I pull away from her and lean into the computer. Imra pushes me away and covers the computer with her body. My eyebrows knit together. Something's wrong.
"Imra, why is your mission different from mine?" I ask her, puzzled. She looks at Brainiac for help. His eyes widen and so does hers. I can see the fear inside Imra's eyes. Brainiac, looks at me, sternly.
"You were not supposed to see those." He says and steps next to Imra, shielding the computer's screen away from me. I point at them, unsure as to what to say.
"Why the hell is your mission Reign's blood retrieval and mine includes protecting the world by traveling back in time. What the hell is going on?!" I shout and Imra winces a little.
"MonEl, you're showing high levels of distress, I ask of you to reduce these levels in the fastest manner possible." Brainiac advises. That only fuels my anger and I lean in close to Imra. She can't lie to me. I know it, because I can see right through her. I can see the guilt.
"Imra. Why do you need Reign's blood?" I ask her, measuring myself and speaking the words slowly. He swallows and looks at the floor.
"We told you that we traveled back in time to save the message encoded on our DNA that would later on save the world. That was all a lie." I manage to stay calm and let her speak.
"The real reason, we're here is because the real message is encoded into Reign's DNA. Our mission is to collect it." I try to process all this and questions come to the surface.
"What? Why didn't you tell me? What's the big deal? Why would you lie to me?" I ask them. Brainiac 5 breathes deeply before answering.
"We didn't tell you because we knew that you wouldn't like the methods we would use to get what we wanted." He breathes out. I still don't understand.
"Which methods?" I groan frustrated. That's when they both evade my gaze.
"We can't risk out lives getting it. But Supergirl can. All along there was one thing for certain: We have to get her blood, no matter the cost. We changed specific events in the past, meaning this year, for us to get access to her blood. However, all of the outcomes ended in the same resolution: Kara dies getting it for us." Imra concludes.
Kara dies. I repeat to myself and look at the people I have trusted for 7 years, wondering if all they told me were lies.
---
Kara POV
"Supergirl, we have eyes on something..." Winn's hesitation over the comm, baffles me and I look around the city.
"Something what, Winn?" I ask him and I hear a long and nervous'ummmm' through the comm.
"I don't know, but it's coming in fast. Very fast." He speaks. Anxiety booming over his words. I look around but can't find anything on the night sky.
"Where to?" I ask him, and soon I see red lights flashing near the Cat Co Worldwide Media building. It takes me a second to realize what building it is.
"It's in the DEO, Kara! It's here for Barry! Kara, I think-" Soon static feels my ears and I fly as fast as I can towards the DEO. Hoping I'm not to late. Praying, I get there on time.
A/N: Superflash's on the rocks. Yikes!