Chloroflora

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXII

August 26 2023

6 years have passed, what happened?

Flora has finally moved to become a part of the cardiology crew, which she had wished for as long as she could remember. At the start of 2019, Flora and Barry decided to take a large step by moving in together, into a cute apartment in the heart of central city. Barry had gotten a brilliant position in forensic science and made several friends along the way. Bruce's life remained the same, boring. Joking. The couple's secret life as superheroes was well organized with gratitude towards Alfred.

9 AM

The day had already started for Flora, as she walked up to Central City General Hospital. She makes her way to the canteen to get some coffee, and she notices her good friend Melissa. "Mel! Hey!" she yells out to grab the girl's attention "Flora, hey." Melissa makes her way to the table, sits herself down.

Meanwhile, Barry waits in line at Filby's, his favourite cafe, as his stomach growls. Scoffing at the time, he taps his foot, hoping the line would go by faster. "Hi, so can I get a PB and BRHC on a roll." he quickly says, clearly in a rush. The waiter takes the piss on him as he slowly speaks - "PB would be peanut butter im assuming..." "No, it's popcorn beef, yes peanut butter," Barry says, growing impatient. "BR; bananas and raisins, H; honey, C, cheese on a roll." he gestures with his hands, a sign for the waiter to keep up the pace. The waiter looks at him - "aren't you blessed with a fast metabolism?" he scoffs "Nothing is fair."

"Listen, man, I needed to be at work 3 minutes ago, so please just can you be quick with the sandwich? Please." he begs "You can't rush a good sandwich dude." the waiter rolls his eyes, as he turns his back to Barry to make his sandwich. Feeling a buzz in his pocket, Barry takes out his phone; the caller ID reads Alfred. Putting the phone to his ear, he answers - "Alfred, I can't talk." "good morning Mr. Allen." "No, not a good morning, I'm late and I'm starving," Barry responds, walking back and forth waiting for his sandwich. Ignoring whatever Barry just said - "anyways, we have a situation in Gotham General. A robbery gone wrong." "This is the middle of the morning, why is our bat friend even awake? Call superman. Or flora!" he whispers into his phone, as he eyes his surroundings. "Yes Barry, that was my first thought, trust me. Sadly, Clark's engaged and flora, she in heart surgery." As Barry's stomach growls he now gets irritated by the time, an idea pops into his head. "What about Diana?" "That was my other first thought, she's not picking up." he rolled his eyes. "Wow Alfred, how many first thoughts did you have before you thought of me," Barry says, walking over to check on his sandwich, but the waiter sure is taking his sweet time. Once again, Barry checks his surroundings before heading inside the bathroom. Quickly changing into his suit he makes his way to the street. "OH MY GOD! Flash!" a random girl fans over him, and he gets taken aback - "Hi." he reponds "I love you!" another fan screams at him "Thank you, uh you seem very nice also." he replies awkwardly. "I need you here now, Barry." Bruce is now heard on the other line "Hi Bruce, yes, I'm coming." as he speeds down to Gotham City.

5 PM

As Barry makes his way out of his office building, he stumbles into an old friend, Iris West. they went to college together and haven't seen each other since, so as he walks back home, they make small conversation. "So I heard your father's appeal is tomorrow," Iris spoke, Barry stepped back, confused. "Yea, uh how do you know that?" "Well I'm covering it for the paper" she replied. She got a job as a reporter and Henry Allen's case so happened to be hers to report. "How's he holding up?" she questions, Barry carefully eyes her, and his suspicions are raised. "Well uh, are you asking for the um paper?" sceptically, Iris answers "No, asking as a friend." she chuckles, placing her hand on his shoulder. He steps away, causing her arm to dangle off of him. "Although I'm sure the public would want to know as well." she continued. Barry rolls his eyes, "unbelievable" he thinks. He looks at her with disbelief, and a bit of sadness - "Well my only official comment is that my dad is innocent." "right, no one would want to believe that their father killed their mother," she spoke back, sneaking her perspective into this. "What do you mean 'believe'? My dad should not be in jail. My mom should be alive. It's not about what I believe it's about what the truth is." Barry strikes at her. Raising her eyebrows, Iris strikes back "Right, that's what I meant." a moment of silence passed - "Right." he replies with scepticism in his voice; he walks away.

Flora closes the fridge, as she pours herself a glass of wine, she hears the door unlock. Revealing Barry, with an envelope in his hand. She walked over to him - "Hi..." she spoke, clearly something was on his mind. "Hey," he mumbles, bringing himself closer to her as he places a soft kiss on her lips. Barry looks down at the envelope, and opens it. "What is it?" Flora asks as Barry cringes his face, devastated by the news. "It's from Bruce," he spoke, looking down at her as he passed her the note. It read "I'm sorry - B.W" along with a USB. it was the security footage at the grocery store, on the day Barry's mother was murdered; a last chance of proof of his father's innocence. Unfortunately, Henry never looked up; he never looked up at the camera. His face couldn't be seen, so without evidence to support his alibi, he is still guilty in the eyes of the judge.

Flashback

Nora Allen and Barry in the kitchen. "This question is so stupid." an 11-year-old Barry sat on the kitchen counter, complaining about his math homework. "You right mi amor, it is stupid. Give your brain a rest and help me make the pasta." Nora spoke, as she messed with his hair. "Henry! I need a favour," she yells out, as Henry comes to the kitchen. "Favor? I don't do favours." causing her to playfully roll her eyes. "Okay then, Barry needs a favour." "oh! Anything," Henry answers with sarcasm. "Run down to the store, I need more canned tomatoes, green can not the blue one!" she asks "but I thought you guys went to the store earlier this morning." Henry answers "Yes but I forgot the tomatoes, so please go, be quick." she smiles at him as he leaves the house. Whilst waiting for the tomatoes, Barry goes up to his room to finish up his homework, when he hears objects cluttering downstairs. He gets up and rushes down, revealing his father holding his mother in his arms; knife stabbed in her chest, in her heart. "Barry! Call 911!" Henry pleads.

"You okay?" Flora asks Barry, who zoned out. "What? Oh, yea I mean no not really, this was just you know probably our last chance to prove his innocence." he looks at Flora at the other end of the couch, and he squeezes his monkey plushy. "Yea I know, I'm so sorry. What can I do?" she asks, scootching over to Barry and hugging him. "Nothing, there's nothing anyone can do. Flora I'm going to go on a jog, I uh need to clear my head," he spoke, quickly pecking her cheek, he exited through the doors of their apartment.

Running with such incredible speed, Barry lets a tear drop down his cheek. It wasn't meant to be like this, this wasn't the plan. All of a sudden, Barry feels a rush, leading him to run faster than ever. He lets out a yell, as a form of some bubble of power surrounds him; never happened before. The events from today surround him. From Fibley's Cafe to saving Gotham to his conversation with Iris and to opening the envelope with Flora. Sticking his head out of the bubble around him, an opening to him saving Gotham appears. What is this? Barry realized. Barry realized he could control his past; he could go back to his past; he could time travel.