Paralyzer || Barry Allen (The Flash) Fanfiction

Chapter 17: Time Warp

The next morning I woke with a certain numbness in my chest. I was still trying to process all this time traveling, alternate universe information, as well as the revelation that I was supposed to be dead — or, more accurately, that I was dead in another timeline. That was the sort of news that wasn't so simple to wrap my mind around and just get over as if nothing was different now that I knew.

Even after Barry had explained to me what exactly had happened before he'd traveled back in time, the events that ultimately led to my death, I didn't blame him for any of it. I could tell just how much this had weighed him down as he let it all out. He'd carried the burden these past few days as if my death rested solely on his shoulders. It had taken a lot of convincing — and some mild threatening — on my part for him to believe that I would never hold him accountable for the end of my life, but, eventually, I was able to get through to him. Unfortunately, it didn't alleviate the confused and fearful thoughts that had churned through my mind all last night and into the morning.

At the lab I was even more distracted than usual, especially when I had so many questions that even Barry didn't have the answers to. Apparently, Barry had kept his little trip a secret from everyone aside from Dr. Wells. Barry had explained to me last night that Dr. Wells had tried to convince Barry to repeat every action exactly the same as he had before traveling back in time, but, of course, Barry hadn't been able to follow the scientist's instructions. I, for one, was immensely grateful that he had disobeyed our boss, or I wouldn't have been alive at this very moment. I just wondered what the repercussions of altering the timeline that drastically were.

"Miss Knight. A word please," Dr. Wells' voice pierced through my thoughts, brining me back to reality. I glanced nervously at the other three people in the room who all looked at me sympathetically. Being singled out by Wells was never a good sign, and I was not in the right state of mind to deal with his criticisms today.

Grudgingly, I followed him out of the cortex and into the hallway. We continued to move along the corridor as we talked, and I wondered if he had a particular destination in mind.

"You seem... Distracted," Dr. Wells began as he stopped his wheelchair and turned to face me.

The observation seemed harmless enough, but I knew there was always an ulterior meaning behind his words. "I guess I'm just a bit aloof from the lack of sleep and energy recently."

It seemed like a reasonable excuse, one that was definitely logical, but Dr. Wells' rigid smile told me he didn't buy my act. How did I keep forgetting how incredibly awful I was at lying? And it didn't help that the scientist always seemed to know what someone was thinking whether they spoke their thoughts outright or kept them to themselves.

"Haven, I need you to be honest with me," Dr. Wells sighed as he took off his glasses. That was never a good sign. "Did Barry tell you what happened?"

I thought about beating around the bush, maybe claiming that Barry had told me something but not revealing that I knew about the time travel, but we both knew I was well aware of what the scientist had meant. There was a sense of guilt gnawing at me for ratting out Barry like this, but there was no way out unless I suddenly developed the ability to persuade Wells to believe whatever I said. And, even though I wished it could be true, I knew that was not within my scope of abilities.

"Yes. But, if you'd just let us tell you why—" I tried to reason, but the man raised his hand to silence me.

"Time, Miss Knight, is a very, very fragile thing," Dr. Wells spoke tightly. "Any minor modification of an action previously made in the past will result in the complete separation of the current timeline from the former one. Whatever tragedy Mr. Allen believes he avoided will merely be replaced by something as bad if not worse. Time's tricky that way.