96

"Zee-" Iris' voice sounded distant, but calling out to me.

"No-no-" Barry's sobs sound right after her voice, his voice somewhat coming closer as I felt myself slowly drift back into consciousness, "I can't lose you- you have to be okay-"

"Zee!" Iris voice is more like a shriek now, as I felt a jerk at my body, as they tried to wake me up.

My eyes shot up as I choke out for a gasp of air, breathing heavily, my eyes landing on Barry Allen and Iris West kneeling at both of my sides, Barry's mask off, his hair a mess, tears streaming down his face, his eyes red, Iris in the same condition.

"I'm okay-" I whisper out, raspiness in my voice, pulling down the collar of my sweater lightly, revealing where the wound once was, "I found a loop hole."

I sat up quickly, my arms wrapping around Iris first, as I held onto her tight, relief erupting in me, due to the last thing I saw was her dead body in Barry's arms, "How did you survive- I- I watched him kill you-"

"I found a loop hole too-" Iris quietly sobs, holding onto me tight.

My arms fell from around her, as I turn, still on my knees, as I jumped into Barry's arms, his arms tightly wrapping around me, not letting go. Fresh tears streamed down my face, as I took deep breaths, "I love you-"

"I love you-" he tightened his grip, "I love you so much."

My eyes land on HR, Tracy Brand crying into his chest, as HR Wells laid dead on the ground, my voice fading quietly, "HR-"

"He was my loop hole-" Iris cries out, "He uses the piece of Savitar's suit to locate them- and saved me- he took my place- and Savitar murdered him- thinking he killed me."

"He was a good man." I sniffle, staring at HR's body, tears filling my eyes once more, "He didn't deserve this."

-

"What? HR's dead? I can't believe that." Julian sets his bag down, "Is Tracy all right?"

"Not good." Iris answers, "She just wants to be alone."

"There'll be time to mourn. Right now, we need to figure out our next move." Barry says, crossing his arms.

"So for the millionth time, I'm lost on all this time travel stuff." Joe spoke up, "What happens now? With Savitar? Iris didn't die. So that changes things, right?"

"I mean, since Iris didn't die, nor did Zee, future me never goes down that same dark path." Barry exhales, "I never create time remnants to fight Savitar. Reign never replaces Zee."

"And if future you never creates these time remnants, then Savitar himself is never born." I finish.

"Precisely." Julian nods, "Once the time paradox catches up with him, then he'll be erased from existence."

"But I saw him." Joe said confused, "He didn't disappear."

"Not yet." Barry inhales, "But he will, Joe."

"Any guesses how long that's gonna take?" questioned Joe.

"Maybe a few hours?" Barry estimated.

"He can do a lot of damage in a few hours." I look between all of them.

"Well, guys, we can't just sit around and wait for Savitar to disappear." Iris tells us.

"But Savitar won't become Savitar if he's erased. Not unless he pulls off whatever he's got in mind, before the paradox hits him." Barry exclaimed, "He stole the bazooka for a reason"

"Yeah, why?" Iris asks.

"I don't know, but remember, he's been planning this for centuries." Barry says, "He wants to be a god.He must need the bazooka, and Caitlin, to achieve his goals."

"Anybody got any good news?" Joe questions.

"Actually, uh, voila." Julian holds up a vial with some sort of blue liquid in it.

"What is that?" I ask.

"This, Detective, is the cure for Caitlin." Julian answers, a small grin on his face.

"You're kidding." Iris breaks into a smile, "You figured it out?"

"Not by myself." Julian admits, "With the help of Caitlin's mother. This is experimental gene therapy. This? This will rewrite Caitlin's meta-DNA. This will bring back Caitlin."

Before any of us could say anything in reply, Wally runs in with a whooshing sound, catching all of our attention, "I searched the forest. Savitar and Caitlin were gone. So was Cisco."

"Savitar has 'em both." Barry sighs.

-

I walked into the Time Vault, dressed in a pastel yellow long sleeve, black skinny jeans that only had rips at the knees, and black vans, after changing from my blood filled outfit. I sat next to Barry on the ground, looking at him, knowing he wanted to talk about something.

"I hated Thawne and Zoom. They took so much from me." Barry began, "I've hated Savitar for threatening to take Iris away. I've hated Reign for trying to take you away from me too.

"But he didn't." The corner of my mouth lightly turned up.

"How did you do that anyway?" asked Barry Allen, turning his head so he was looking directly at me.

I lightly shrug, "The night you found out who Savitar was. I was at Star Labs with Cisco- and the wound I had from Caitlin- it healed right in front of us. So, Julian and Cisco generated some sort of serum that would- decrease the amount of time that it took for me to heal myself. With that- my cells regenerated- healing the wound before I could die."

"You saved yourself." Barry smiles at me.

"No-" I shook my head lightly, "Cisco- and Julian saved me."

We go silent for a while, before he spoke up again,"There is strength in anger. I've used it before. And so we sit here, with our anger, trying to think of a way to hurt Savitar or maybe kill him. And I just don't think that hate's gonna get it done this time."

"What do you mean?" I question.

"Something that Snart said to me that the Flash should stay a hero, all the way, and sometimes that it's not about who can punch the hardest or run the fastest." Barry tells me.

"So what are you gonna do?" I ask him, folding my hands in my lap.

Barry inhales, "The last thing he'd expect."

-

My head snapped up at the sound of Barry's footsteps entering the cortex. I was stood next to Iris, Julian, Wally and Joe awaiting in their own spots. Before heart stopped the moment my eyes land on Savitar, as he slowly followed in after Barry.

This was technically my first encounter with Savitar, my heart feeling different overwhelming emotions. My eyes scanned his face, and down his body, my heart fluttering at the sight, but caution and restraint followed right after.

As wrong as it was for me to feel guilt for him, and for my heart to even feel this way, I couldn't help it. He was the broken version of the man I was in love with.

But if Barry Allen brought Savitar here, it must've been for a good reason.

"You make a move toward Iris-" Joe starts to threaten, pointing at Savitar.