The Fastest Man Alive: The Flash by Alex

Chapter 5

Barry felt pain in every cell of his body, and in the blink of an eye the pain was gone. Barry felt peaceful, calm, but deep down he knew that something was missing. He began to remember everything that had happened before that calming aura surrounded him. His meeting with his father. Zoom arrives at Earth-1. Confession of Iris. He tries to regain his powers. His death.

'But if I am dead, why can I still think?'

Barry was confused but still felt that something was missing. And then a memory occurred to him.

--------------------------------------------------

"Thank you Flash," Zoom said, holding Barry by the throat in the air.

"Jay, stop!" Caitlin exclaimed, "Please! If anything you ever said to me was true, or anything we ever shared was real, then please just let him go! Please, I know some piece of you did care for me, so if you have any humanity left, then please, let him go!" Caitlin pleaded with tears in her eyes. Zoom let go of Barry and disappeared, taking Caitlin with him.

--------------------------------------------------

"CAITLIN!" Barry screamed and jumped to a seated position, eyes open. When Barry looked around, he saw that he was in his room, in the childhood home, and everything looked like the day his mother was killed. Barry went downstairs and saw a broken window and Joe in the same uniform when his mother was killed.

"Joe?" Barry asked, looking confused.

"Good to see you, Barry. But I'm not Joe," Joe said, and Barry noticed that whoever he was, he looked like Joe, but his eyes were empty, not alive.

"And all of this it's not real," Barry said, looking around the room.

"How do you feel being back here?" Not-Joe asked.

"I ... I don't know. I feel awful, but at the same time calm," Barry said, confused by his own feelings.

"We thought you'd be more comfortable talking to someone who looked familiar and in a place you knew," Not-Joe said.

"We? Who's we exactly?" Barry asked.

"That's a little hard to explain," Not-Joe said and gestured behind Barry, "sit, Barry."

Barry saw Not-Joe sit in a armchair and then sat down on the chair himself.

"How much do you know about the Speed Force?" Not-Joe asked.

"The source of my power? That's what makes me a speedster," Barry replied.

"Yes I know. When the first subatomic particle sprang forth from the Big Bang to form reality as you know it. We were there. When the last proton decays stops vibrating and plunges the Universe into heat death. We'll be there too," Not-Joe said with a small smile.

"I'm talking to the Speed Force," Barry said incredulously. Not-Joe nodded. "Isn't that like saying I'm having a conversation with gravity or light or ..." Not-Joe chuckled. Barry stood up.

"You need a minute. It's okay if you do. It's a lot to take in," Not-Joe said.

"So you're saying I'm talking to the source of my power which just so happens to look like my adoptive dad?" Barry said, looking at Speed Force-Joe(SF-Joe). SF-Joe nodded. "That's trippy." SF-Joe laughed.

"We've pretty much invented trippy here," SF-Joe said, smiling.

"Look, I'm not sure why you brought me here, but you need to send me back. My friends are in danger from Zoom," Barry said and noticed fast movement outside the house. "Did you see that?"