Hope & Love - SuperFlash [1]

Chapter 8

The Waverider, which had once been full of heroes from across the Multiverse was now empty apart from Barry Allen, who stood at the entranceway of the main hull. The others were scattered across a myriad of worlds, fighting to save as many people as they could, or attempting to bring Oliver's soul back to his body. Barry looked at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and let out a deep breath. Everything had become so complicated and extreme so fast, and he hadn't even had a cup of hot chocolate. It was halfway through December, and he had barely thought about Christmas.

Meanwhile in another room, Lena and Kara were sparring. Lena had spoken to the man she saw before, and had learned many things about the ring and about the green lanterns, which she was apparently now a part of. Lena clenched her fist, before extending her arm and fingers, letting put a wave of energy that knocked Kara down to the ground.

Lena walked over and looked over him, a smirk across her face. "Need some help?" She teased, before grabbing Kara's hand and pulling her back up to her feet.

"Wow, you really got the hang of that thing quickly." Kara said, and Lena laughed.

"Trust me, from what Kilowog told me, I've barely tapped the surface." Lena said. The pair wiped away their sweat, and grabbed bottles of water before they began to make their way to the main hull. As they stepped in, they were very surprised to see how much it had changed since they last saw it.

It was fully decked out with Christmas decorations. A tree stood tall against the wall, decorated to the brim with ornaments. Tinsel, stockings, and reefs lined the walls, and a streak of lightning ran back-and-forth across the room until he skidded to a stop. He held a few remaining decorations in his hands as he admired his work, but he swiveled around as Kara called his name in amazement.

The scarlet speedster smiled, and then sat down all the decorations before wiping off the tree brussels and glitter that had littered him. "This is incredible!" Lena said, a massive smile adorning her face.

"Yeah, I - uh.. we're all fighting for our lives, for the multiverse and it's almost Christmas, so I thought everyone could use a little holiday spirit." Barry said but his eyes faltered for a moment, his smile lessening as he remembered this was basically his Christmas, as he feared he wouldn't make it to the twenty-fifth.

Kara took notice of Barry's change in the demeanor immediately, and moved forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Lena looked away, not wanting to intrude on what looked to be a very personal moment between the couple. She ventured off into the training area once again, admiring the decorations as she left.

"This is amazing Barry, it's beautiful, but this isn't your Christmas. You are making it to the 25th. I miss you. I will fight a dozen armies full of shadow demons to make sure I wake up next to you on Christmas Day." Barry lowered his gaze, wanting to take all of Kara's hope and optimism and make it his own, but he couldn't get the images out of his head. Kara laid her hand on his cheek, gently raising his head once more until they locked eyes. The two stared at each other intently, but before either of them could close the short but so very far distance between them, a noise echoed around them.

They turned to see Cisco with his mouth agape, as he stared at the decorations. He was still lazily chewing a twizzler in his mouth, clutching a tablet loosely in his right hand. "Cisco, don't you think you should answer that?" Barry asked, amusement evident in his tone as he watched his friend tear his gaze away from the winter wonderland around him.

"What? Oh! No, no, no, that wasn't a phone call." He clarified. "I'm triangulating anti-matter wave particles on the Earths that are left."

"Why?" Frost spoke. Cisco jumped, the twizzler falling to the ground, a fate his tablet almost faced before Kara caught it.

"Jesus woman!" Cisco said, clutching his chest. "You can't just sneak up on people like that!" Cisco took deep breaths trying to calm down, and slowly but surely his heart returned to a normal rate. "It's bad enough we have a megalomaniac who goes by the Anti-Monitor destroying the multiverse, but now I have to deal with your scary ass?!" Cisco said, dramatically fixing his hair.

Barry, Kara, and Frost began to laugh, and Cisco eyed them sternly, before continuing. "I'm trying to locate the source of the wave and according to this, it's hidden somewhere on Earth-One, I just need a little more time to find out where." Cisco explained. Before anyone could speak up, the Monitor appeared behind Cisco, startling him as he turned. "SON OF A BITCH!" He screamed, dropping the tablet again, which Barry caught this time. "What do you want?"

"You are not a Paragon, but you do have a purpose. Vibe must live again." The Monitor spoke.

"No. No, my powers are gone and there's a reason for that." Cisco said firmly.

"You must answer the call whether you wish to or not."

Cisco rolled his eyes, placing his hands on his hips. "Okay, maybe you didn't hear me under those voluminous mutton chops of yours-" Before Cisco could finish, there was a bright flash of light, and Cisco stood in his vibe suit, powers active once more. Cisco stared at himself in silence, and Barry looked over to The Monitor.

"Why the hell did you do that?!" Barry shouted. "He has given everything as a hero, he's been my friend, my family, he's lost people he's loved, and he wanted to be normal, to have a normal life, so he gave his powers up!" Barry shouted, and The Monitor took a step back, but Barry took one forward, lightning filling his eyes, the tablet falling to the ground. "It wasn't easy for him to make that choice, but it was his decision, the least you could do was respect it! You have assembled a team of dozens from across the multiverse, and you couldn't find someone that could do what Vibe can?! Why?! You give him his powers back, you don't save Kara's mother, or Oliver, and you tell me I have to die, but I don't see you sacrificing a damn thing to stop the Anti-Monitor! We all have something to lose, what's yours?!" Barry finished, breathing rugged as lightning flashed around him sporadically.

"I already lost mine." The Monitor said, defeated, mind flooded with memories of the woman he loved.

As Barry's breathing returned to normal, he turned to face the others, and realized more heroes had returned, and they had all seen and heard what had just happened. Silver locks faded away as Caitlin took control once more, tears in her eyes. "You're going to die?" She whispered in horror. Barry looked around the room, catching the gazes of various people. Cisco, Lena, Kate, Ray and many more, all staring at him in shock at what they just heard, waiting for an answer.

"A few weeks ago, The Monitor came to me, warning me about the crisis we're in right now. At first I didn't believe him, but then he showed me the future, showed me world after world being wiped away by the Anti-Monitor, he showed me all of you dying." He swallowed the lump in his throat, and his eyes landed on Kara. "He showed me the only way to stop this was if I sacrificed myself."

"No, no, there has to be another way to stop the anti-matter." Caitlin said.

"Barry is not dying." Kara said to Caitlin, taking a step forward. She turned to Barry. "You are not dying Barry!" Kara said, the tears. beginning to run down her cheeks.

Barry opened his mouth to speak, but an alert rang out amongst the silence, and Barry turned to stare at the tablet laying on the ground.

He took a few steps and knelt down, flipping the device over and taking it into his hand. Barry looked over the information displayed for a moment, and everyone watched as he rose to his feet again. He turned towards them, pressing the center of his Flash ting and activating his suit. The red and gold material formed over him, and Barry let out a deep breath. "Its the source of the anti-matter, it's in Central City on Earth One."