skinny love | barry allen

65

"Oh my god, it was just a theory." My jaw was dropped and my hands were over my mouth at night in the cortex. We were all gathered to hear about Barry's encounter with Savitar— and we had finally learned who he was. Savitar was a time remnant of Barry's. "I just made an implication. I didn't think— oh my god."

"Your hunches are always spot on." Barry gave me a weak smile and sat down in a chair with a small groan, holding an ice pack to his head. I quickly walked over to him and sat on his leg, taking the ice out of his hands and icing his head for him. "I didn't realize it until you said something."

"I don't understand." Joe looked confused as ever. "How could Savitar be you?"

"He's not me." Barry mumbles. "Not really."

"He's all the worst parts of you— it's like in Star Trek when the transporter splits Kirk into good Kirk and bad Kirk." Cisco's eyes were wide and then he looked at HR. "Please tell me you at least have Star Trek on your Earth."

HR shook his head. "Voyager."

"I hate spinoffs." Cisco muttered.

"That explains why Caitlin was willing to follow him." Julian crossed his arms over his chest. "He has a face that she trusts."

"Half of one anyway." Barry mumbles and leans his face into my hand with I gently held the side of his head, keeping the ice to his head.

"So— when the Legends found that message in the Waverider from old you saying to not trust Barry Allen— it was talking about Savitar Barry Allen." Cisco thought out loud, a chuckle of amusement escaping his lips. "It's all coming together— in the worst way."

"You said you made Savitar?" Joe mentioned. "How?"

"Peep this— four years from now, future Flash creates a time remnant to fight Savitar." Cisco grabbed a marker and the clear board, drawing a visual for us. "But— Savitar lets that remnant live so that it can later become Savitar. So, once Savitar is imprisoned in the Speed Force, this remnant starts to go crazy— and he goes back in time to the past and becomes Savitar, creating the lie that he was the first speedster, spreading the myth and recruiting acolytes throughout the ages."

I closed my eyes and threw my head back after his explanation. "My brain hurts."

"That doesn't make any sense." Joe was on board with me. "Which came first, Savitar or the time remnant?"

"It's a closed loop." Cisco put the top of his marker back on. "No beginning, no end— it's just one endless cycle."

HR hit his sticks together into a quiet rhythm. "Classic chicken and the egg scenario, I think, eh?"

"A time remnant, it's like a duplicate of you, right?" Wally pointed down at Barry who softly nodded. "So, it has your feelings, your memories— why would he want to hurt us? Why would he want to kill Zee?"

Barry stared at him for a moment and then inhaled, changing the subject completely. "HR, how's Tracy coming with the Speed Force trap?"

"Good, yeah, good." HR nodded. "Slow."

"Get her to speed up, all right?" It took me a second to realize Barry was lifting me off his leg and setting me in the seat in his place, then leaving the cortex.

I blankly stared at him leave.

Wally inhaled sharply. "If Savitar is a version of Barry from the future and he remembers everything that Barry does, how are we ever going to come up with a plan to stop him?"

-

"So, tell me." I began slowly when I found Barry in the Speed Lab, seated on the treadmill. I leaned against the railings and crossed my arms loosely, letting the sleeves of Barry's jacket I stole from our closet this morning hang because it was too big for me. "Was he cute?"