Only Because I Need You

Center Of The Ring

Barry puffed out his chest slightly as he strode down the lines of cells that made up the pipeline. The soft clicking of Iris's heels on the floor below them eased his nerves, her gaze was distant and distracted. She was even fiddling with her fingers. The bright light of the pipeline glared down on him. He needed to remain level headed. He had spoken with Iris much since the Tornado, and in a sense she had helped him to clear his mind of his hatred for Ethan. After all, he had helped save the city. No matter how twisted, Barry and him were the same person, so surely he must of had some redeemable features. That however, did not mean he was looking forwards to the conversation he was about to partake in.

He reached their destination much quicker than he had intended. He stared through the thick glass that kept his evil double from the future locked away. Ethan was sitting on the bed, propping himself up with his arms. His lips were curved downwards slightly and his eyes narrowed to slits. Iris's presence beside Barry was the one thing that kept him from feeling fear. Fear for her. Her gaze was much softer than Barry's, her shoulders slumped as she looked at Ethan through the glass, "it's been a while Ethan," Barry said robotically, his brows pinched together slightly.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you two to arrive," he rolled his eyes, pushing himself up until he was standing, "did you come to marvel at the circus freak?" He spread his arms out, gesturing to himself and a cruel smile played across his lips.

"You are not a freak," Irises stern voice cut through the dim silence of the pipeline. Her brows pulled together and her lips were pressed into a dangerously thin line. If that glare had been aimed at Barry, he would have seriously began to panic. He tilted his head at her, his smile never fading.

"I even have the scars to match," Ethan half heartedly gestured at his face with a loose hand. Barry analysed Ethan. He was toying with them for sure, but no one knew Ethan better than Barry. The scarlet speedster could see the pain behind every word, the anger that lingered in his future self's eyes. Ethan stood on the other side of the glass, closer to Barry. His gaze occasionally flicked to Iris, but for the most part, it remained on his past self.

"How did you get those scars?" Barry blurted out. He had been waiting to ask for a while, but then was not the time.

Ethan raised his eyebrows, his smile faltered slightly, "Well Barry, you decided you needed some target practice," he shrugged his shoulders and gave his counterpart a pointed glare.

Barry felt his eyes widen. Surely it had not been him that afflicted those awful scars on Ethan? Then again, with how messed up his future self was, it was very possible. Yet Barry still felt there was more to the story, "we came to thank you," Iris cut off her husband before he could even speak, "for helping Barry to save the city," she pointed to him, her soft voice echoed off of the walls.

"Don't thank me," Ethan bit, his eyes narrowed to nasty slits and his lips curled up in disgust, "I didn't do it out of the kindness of my heart,"

"That doesn't matter, we still thought we should thank you, I couldn't have done it without your help," Barry pushed his pride aside in one fell swoop. Iris glanced up at him, her eyes shimmered gently, "and even though you got injured you kept running, I thought for sure you would have abandoned me,"

Ethan ran his narrowed eyes over both of them, his distrust was evident. It pained Barry that his counterpart couldn't see that they were genuinely thanking him, "it wasn't that bad," he snorted, rolling his eyes, "you make it sound as though I was dying," Barry raised his eyebrows. Was Ethan being funny, or just twisted?

"You were," Iris crossed her arms over her chest. She clenched her jaw tightly. Barry shifted away from her slightly, he knew that meant she was getting angry, "if Caitlin hadn't saved you, you would have died,"

Ethan remained silent for a moment. He pursed his lips, his eyes drifted off into a blank stare. Then it clicked in Barry's mind, Ethan couldn't remember what happened. Caitlin had mentioned there was a possibility of him forgetting the ordeal, but Barry had hoped it wasn't going to happen. Ethan mimicked her by crossing his own arms across his chest, "I didn't ask you to save me," his voice was low and threatening.

Barry could tell Ethan was disturbed by them saving his life, but what he couldn't understand was why, "you were once me, so you should know that we will save as many lives as we can, no matter who it is," Barry replied softly, his expression was calm and relaxed. Ethan began to grind his teeth and he clenched his fists tight.

Ethan opened his mouth to deliver back snark, but he was cut off by Iris, "and that includes you, despite everything you have done, your life still matters," Her voice was forceful and strict, the kind that Barry could imagine her using on their children. Savitar clamped his jaw tight. His frustrated eyes scanned them both, desperately searching for a sign of untruthfulness, for a sign of betrayal, for a sign that they were going to hurt him, but they weren't. Barry may never truly forgive Ethan, but he shouldn't have let that get in the way of helping the monster he had created. "Like it or not you are still Barry," Iris added, her voice much softer than before, "and if this Barry," she jutted a thumb at her husband, "went insane and of the rails, we would do everything in our power to bring him back to us, so we are going to do the exact same for you because believe it or not, we were once family,"

Barry felt the genuine kindness in her words vibrate through him. He was glad she was his wife. Ethan was silent for only a moment before he threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh, a laugh that sounded eerily like Barry's own, "I forgot how much you guys loved your little pep talks and inspirational speeches. Well let me tell you something, you are barking up the wrong tree," he hissed it the last sentence with venom strong enough to kill.

"I don't think we are," Barry shook his head, a small smile tugged at his lips. Ethan was not used to people trying to get closer to him, he was only used to them trying to push him away. For that, the speedster was empathetic, the time remnant had not had the easiest of runs when it came to friendship, but that run had reached the finish line.

Ethan looked at him as though the Scarlet Speedster had just slapped him across the face. His mouth hung slightly agape and his eyes twitched in frustration, "What do you guys not understand?" He threw his hands up the air dramatically, "I am not Barry, you made that pretty clear to me," he voice was loud, close to yelling.

"We never did, the future version of team Flash maybe, but not us," Iris shook her head. The married couple stared at Ethan through the glass, they knew they were winning.

"No, I am not one of your broken little toys that you can just glue back together and hope for the best," he snarled viciously. Barry fought hard to suppress his happiness in the heat of his twin's anger. If Ethan was getting angry at them, then he did care, he cared enough to be mad, "I can't be fixed, I am not broken, I am not Barry," he pointed an accusing hand towards the speedster on the other side of the glass, his face was red and his chest heaving. Even his eyes were mad and wild.

"So you've said," Barry replied, "but that won't stop us from trying to help,"