skinny love | barry allen

67

"No!" I heard my own voice instead of HR's come out of my burning throat in the form of a scream when I finally made it to Infantino Street. My throat ached and my voice cut out from how loud the scream was when I saw HR in Barry's arms.

Where I should have been.

Barry's head snapped up at my scream and his eyes were wide— like he hadn't processed yet that it was HR that was dying and not me. He looked like a mess— tears were uncontrollable and he was shaking, holding onto the body he thought a second ago was mine until he heard my voice and his eyes laid upon me running towards them.

Bruised and bleeding, with HR's hat on my head.

I threw myself onto my knees by them and they slammed into the hard pavement but I didn't care for the pain in that moment. Tears were burning my eyes and I couldn't breathe at the sight of HR's blood pooling on the cement and now on my clothes.

"Oh good, you made it-" HR's breathing was choppy but he smiled at me with relief, dropping his drumsticks and transmogrifier onto the ground. "I knew you would-"

"You're going to be just fine." My voice broke and I took off Savitar's jacket I had forgotten I had on until this moment. I rolled up my sleeves and bundled the jacket up, pushing it to his bleeding wound while stuttering over my own words. "You're going to be okay, HR— I promise. We just— we have to put pressure on the wound and so we can patch you up. Where's— where's Cisco?"

"It's okay." HR put a weak hand over my blood stained ones. "It was worth it."

"No, HR." My eyes burned and my body was shaking from the pain and the fear that we were losing him. "This is not your fate. You weren't supposed to die, you were supposed to live— Savitar's prophecy said you lived! So you're going to make it, okay? It's— it's gonna be fine—"

"Stop— stop." HR shakes his head slowly and his voice was quiet and quivering. He very lightly squeezes my finger with the most weak pressure. "I'm not going to make it."

"Why are you doing this?" My sadness turned into frustration and my heart ached— my voice got desperate and a little louder. "How could you do this? This was not how it was supposed to happen. It should be me, not you-"

"I'm the reason he found you— I was the reason you were ever in that place. I had no choice— I had to because you are my friend and I couldn't be a coward." HR admitted in a weak tone and his breath hitched for a moment from pain in his abdomen. "I'm not a coward."

I stared at him, my eyes wide and at a loss of words. He gave me a weak smile anyways and I stayed frozen, tears free falling down my cheeks.

I was tired of losing people.

"HR!" Tracy's scream echoed through the night and I felt her fall next to me and grab onto his hands. She was crying and in shock, her whole body shaking with her sobs. "Oh, no— HR."

HR gasped a little and caught onto her hands with his own. "Tracy."

"No, no, no." Tracy was shaking her head in denial. "We just found each other."

"I know— our story would be brilliant, you will be brilliant." HR reached and grabbed her face in his hand, caressing her cheek. "You will be glorious, Tracy Brand. You will be, I've seen seen it with my own eyes— I love you."

I looked between them repeatedly, slowly pulling back from HR and stumbling to my feet. My body was stiff and my chest was so tight I didn't know how long it would be before I collapsed.

Their story was ending tragically because he took my place. So that I could live.

Another person was taking my place.