In A Heartbeat ➳ Barry Allen/The Flash

previously.

In A Blink

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The group pushed through the doors and looked up at the sky, the skies turning gray and the winds heavy as the blackhole became stronger. Natalie gripped tightly onto Barry's hand, the two sharing a glance before they turned to Cisco as he spoke, "So that's what we didn't want to happen."

Caitlin stood firmly by Ronnie, her hand in her face to shield her eyes from the wind, "What's it doing?"

"Feeding," Professor Stein shouted over the wind, his eyes wide in awe and fear as he stared at the blackhole. "A singularity won't stop, not even after the earth is gone. I'm afraid the accretion disc is already assembled."

"There is literally a blackhole in the sky that is trying to consume us. We have no time for fancy words!" Natalie screamed as she pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"The diffuse material that's in orbital motion around the singularity," Stein added.

Natalie shook her head and looked at Barry for an easier answer.

His eyes trained on the car that had been pulled into the sky, "We have to disrupt the motion. Basically it's just like the tornado, only upside down. And bigger. And scarier." His getting smaller and wavering as he spoke.

The young hero's head whipped to the side as Professor Stein stepped up to speak to him, "Barry, that event has an energy level of at least 6.7 Tera Electron Volts." Seeing the confused expression on Natalie's face, Stein tried a different way to get her to understand, "It cannot be stopped!"

At those words, Barry's hand tensed underneath Natalie's hand, and by the hardened look on his face, she knew what he was gonna do. He shook his head, "I have to try."

Barry stepped back, looking at the group and nodding his head goodbye before he turned to Natalie. She pulled the edges of his mask and slipped it over his head, smoothing it out as best as she could before nodding her head, "Save us, Barry." Their final kiss short but meaningful, the two knowing all the words to be said.

"I love you, Natalie," Barry shouted as he held her face in his hands. She placed her hands over his and nodded her head, "I love you too, Barry. Now go."

She stepped back, smiling sadly as she watched his eyes flash over with lightning and soon she was left alone with the Caitlin, Cisco, Iris, Ronnie, Stein and Joe. Natalie stood amongst the wind, her eyes trained on the red blur with yellow lightening as he ran up a building, jumping off the top and leapt onto flying pieces, traveling further into the air and into the singularity to save his home. To save Central City.

As much as she was proud of him, she couldn't help but feel scared for Barry Allen. There was no doubt in Natalie Reed's mind that one day, Barry's demise would most likely be caused by metahuman related reasons. Standing there amongst her fellow friends and family, she pleaded inwardly that today was not that day.

"Brilliant!" Martin Stein shouted over the wind as they all watched Barry circle around the eye of the singularity. "He's contained the singularity by adding to its angular momentum."

"Barry! It's stabilizing!" Cisco cried out as he relayed the information to Barry over the walkie-talkie. "Keep doing what you're doing!"

Through the roaring of the singularity, looming over their heads, Natalie could barely hear Barry's reply, "I'm not sure how much longer I can.. Cisco!"

Tearing her eyes away from the lightening circle in the sky, Natalie stumbled her way through the few short steps to get to Cisco, collapsing against him from the force of the wind as she took the walkie-talkie from his hand. "You can do this, Barry. Okay? I believe in you. Just a little while longer," she shouted.

"I don't think I can," she heard Barry cry back. The desperation in his voice cracking it's way through her heart. "Natalie, if I can't do this.. I love-"

"Don't you dare finish that Barry. You can do this," Natalie warned as she turned towards the professor. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

She watched as the look of amazement and wonder at the amazing scientific event unfolding before fell into one of a dark realization when he turned to Ronnie. "We have to merge the inner and outer event horizons. We have to separate in the eye of it! The amount of energy from the fissure should do the trick. It's our only hope, Ronald."

Turning with a heavy heart, Natalie watched as Caitlin frantically shook her head, "No, Ronnie. It's too dangerous! What if you can't escape the inrush?"

Ronnie licked his lips as he pushed his new wife's hair out of her face, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "Cait, we have to try." With one final kiss, Ronnie painfully stepped away from Caitlin before he squeezed his new cousin into a tight hug. "If something happens, take care of Cait," he shouted into Natalie's ear before he pulled away to merge into Firestorm with the professor.

It was as if everything around Natalie had happened in a movie. As if all of the sound was gone and everything slowed down to a certain degree. She remembered grabbing her cousin's hand as Caitlin cried, watching her husband fly into the sky. She remembered the dread flooding her veins as it seemed that everything they ever stood for, their home, their friends, their family... everything seemed doomed. She remembered the explosion, the blast of flames erupting inside of the singularity, shuddering through the looming menace in the sky and sending down a rain of ashes and debris. The scream that left her lips as the world was flooded by the darkness of the smoke. And then she started running.

Running to where she had thought she'd seen a glimpse of lightening. To where she thought she had seen Barry. A sense of relief and joy ran the course of her body as she saw the familiar lanky build in the red suit, everything else becoming unfocused. Barry let out a loud groan as Natalie fell onto him, readjusting his body so that he could hug her back just as eagerly. Her hands finding their way to the sides of his mask as she pulled back, pressing her lips feverishly to his own, desperate to kiss him at least once more.

Barry pulled away abruptly when he heard the others running towards them, his eyes settling on Caitlin. It was then that Natalie realized that something was missing. Her stomach plummeted as she watched Caitlin crumple into Barry's embrace, his muttered apologies mixing in with her cousin's cries.

She ran a hand over her mouth as the tears flowed from her eyes, looking around at all of the damage that had been caused by the singularity. Eddie Thawne and Ronnie Raymond were dead. Their home was in pieces. Everything had changed without a moment's notice. What were they supposed to do now?