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Barry stared at the Waverider with a sigh. He knew that this was an awful idea. Possibly the worst idea he had ever had. He knew that the consequences of time travel could be severe. Especially since he didn’t even have an AI to tell him about the changes that were made because of what happened. However, he couldn’t just let this happen. He couldn’t allow Leonard Snart to die.
Not after he had finally redeemed himself. Certainly not after he had decided to help save the world. Barry just didn’t think he could go to sleep every night, knowing that he was the one that set him on the path that eventually led to him getting killed.
There was only one option for him, and that was to change the way the events at the Vanishing Point had played out and save Snart from his self-decided fate. He couldn’t let Snart go through with it though, he didn’t give a damn what Snart or anyone else had to say about it.
“Mick, my old friend,” Len said before knocking him unconscious. He had gotten the two of them into this mess, and he would be the one to die. After everything with Chronos, he knew he could never allow Mick to ever take the consequences of his actions. He looked at Sara, gestured to Mick, and placed his hand on the Deadman’s switch. There were worse ways to die, he supposed.
Going out saving the world wasn’t a bad thing, and if it finally meant that his family and friends could speak of him with pride, then it would be worth it. If it meant that the Flash could speak of him with pride, it would be worth it.
At that moment, Len finally admitted what he had ignored for so long. His heart had known the second he had laid eyes on the red-clad hero. Immediately, and without hesitation, his mind had tumbled after. Witty, clever, and obviously willing to get his hands dirty, the Flash was precisely the sort of man that Len could see himself with.
However, he knew that the man in question would never have stooped to be with a common thief, no matter how good his skills were. So, he had upped the ante. Became a proper supervillain to accompany the superhero. Things had gotten…complicated… from that point forward. Then Rip Hunter and the Legends happened. Now he was here, having never admitted to the man himself that he was in love. Having never given an inch on what his feelings really were. Even though all of his decisions since meeting the superhero had been made with the Flash in mind.
Well, it was too late now. Len watched as the time masters arrived and raced to try and stop him. It was too late now. It would take a speedster to get to him in time, and they didn’t happen to have one just lying around. He gave them a smirk. He was going to win this round.
Barry hefted the object onto his shoulder and watched as Sara carried Mick’s body back to the ship. He could see the Time Masters approaching Snart, and Barry knew that he needed to make his move now.
He flashed next to him, watching as Snart’s face turned to surprise. Barry gave little thought to what would happen in the future with Snart, and he didn’t bother to consider thinking about what would change when he did this.
“Hello, Scarlet, odd place to have a tete a tete. What brings you to this shithole part of the universe?”
“The thing that always seems to be drawing me away from what I’m supposed to be doing, you.”
“Oh, finally come to see that you were right? Well, now you have, so leave.”
Barry shook his head emphatically. “No, I’m not going, and you can’t make me. Especially with your hand on that device. I’m staying right here until you let go, let me replace it with this, and we head out of here.” Barry showed him the device he had rigged up to allow the switch to continue being pulled, even with no one there.
“It isn’t going to happen, Flash. I’ve made my choice, and this is what I choose. You don’t get to change your mind on what I should be doing. You should be happy that I am doing the whole superhero lark.”
“I’m not, and we both know why.”
Len winced and didn’t bother saying it out loud because he didn’t want to admit the truth. He had never wanted to reveal the truth. There wasn’t a lot of point in it now.
“There is so much more good that you can do in the world. Walk away from this one. It doesn’t need to happen like this.”
Len looked down and then looked back at him. “There is no amount of good I can do that will ever make up for the things that I have done in the past. There is nothing that will ever change the fact that I am damaged beyond repair. I have been twisted to the point where this is the only way that I can do any real good.”
Barry got closer to him. “That isn’t true. I have always known you could change if you really wanted to. You are brilliant. One of the cleverest people I have ever known. You succeeded as a supervillain in ways that others can only dream of. You did that all on your own. Yeah, you weren’t a good guy. The things you did were bad, but if you dedicated that mental power to doing good, you could change the world in ways that others wouldn’t even be able to dream of. You can impact the world.”
Len laughed bitterly and looked at the approaching time masters, too far away to get to them still. Although he doubted that Barry would ever have allowed them to get too close. He thought about what Rip had revealed, the real reason that so many nobodies and washed-up wannabes were chosen for this grand plan.
“That’s the kicker, I can’t. I and all the other Legends were chosen because we have no real impact on the world. We are nothing in the grand scheme of things. Rip might be nuts, but he knows better than to remove people who have large impacts on the world. Even if I wanted to, I would never make a lasting impact on the world.”
“Then what about the people in it!? You have changed me in ways you don’t even realize. You raised your sister and cared for Mick. You change the lives you have touched and losing you could have ramifications none of us realize. Ramifications you haven’t even thought about. What if it twists your sister into a bitter, angry villain whose only concern is to take her pain out on the world? Yeah, she might not have a significant impact on the whole, but she deserves better.
“What if Mick can’t make it without you? What if he allows the fires and the alcohol to consume him? They aren’t important to the world, but they are important to you, your friends, and their families. The Legends will be irrevocably changed. Whether or not you were picked because you have no impact doesn’t matter. Your time with them matters. You have to listen to what I have to say. They shouldn’t have to live in a world without you in it. I shouldn’t have to live in a world without you in it.”
Len closed his eyes and thought of what Barry was saying. He was right. Len cared deeply for the people in his life, and part of this was wanting to do right by them. However, if he really wanted to do right by them, he needed to consider the effect of dying. He had only thought of leaving his family with an act that could make them proud. He had never stopped to consider what leaving them would do.
There was a perfectly good choice right in front of him, but they were running out of time, and he had to make his decision fast. Len looked down and sighed deeply. “Alright, Scarlet, you win. Use your little device.” Len let go of the switch, and Barry sighed deeply. He situated it and turned back to Snart. They were nearly out of time.
“Alright, time to go. This isn’t where you get off.”
Then he flashed them back to the Waverider, seconds before the self-destruct went off. Silence surrounded the two men as the Legends stared in astonishment. Barry glanced at them and then at Snart.
“I mean this from the bottom of my heart. What. The. Hell?”
“Haven’t you ever seen a speedster, Rip?”
“I have seen a speedster, Mr. Snart, more times you likely ever will. That is not where that question was pointed, and you know it. I meant, what just happened with the destruction of the device?”
Ray felt the need to chime in. “I have to say that I’m just as confused as Rip. I mean, first, it was me, then it was Mick, then it was Snart, except now he is here, and nobody is there, but it still blew up.”
Barry let out an aggravated sigh. “It’s a really long story that I don’t really have the time or energy to tell you guys yet. Suffice to say, I decided that this story needed a different ending.”
Sara shook her head in surprise. “What the hell, Allen? Since when do you get in the middle of our business?”
Barry looked around at the other Legends and then turned back to Snart. “This is my business whether or not you wanted to admit it. You should’ve gone for help if you couldn’t manage this mission on your own. Some of you I would’ve expected better from. That talk will have to wait. I really think Snart and I should talk in private. Is there someplace we can do that?” He directed his question to Gideon.
“Yes, I would suggest Mr. Snart’s quarters. Simply enact privacy mode, and I won’t be listening either.”
“Thanks, alright. Come on, let’s have the talk we’ve been putting off for literal years. We’ll be back in a few hours at most. If you guys need us, you know where we’ll be. If you’d take us back to approximately where I left from, I’ll indulge you with the story. I have the date programmed into the computer.”
Snart, no Len, Barry would have to get used to the change, scowled as he was helped to his feet. However, he followed along quietly enough, gesturing to the door that led to his small room.
“I think we did enough talking, back at the self-destruct. Don’t you?”
“No, I don’t think we did. There is something that we have never said that needs to be.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Len said while occupying himself with straightening the place up.
“I don’t care if it isn’t. It’s time the two of us talked about the elephant in the room. The one, neither of us would ever want to admit to. The thing that kept us coming back for more, every time we thought we had disentangled ourselves.”
Len decided to bite the bullet. After all, there was only so much lying you could do to yourself. “We’re soulmates.”
Barry nodded firmly. “Yes, we are. It’s why you warned me that night. It’s why most of our fights were fun rather than serious. It’s why we are drawn to each other. It’s the real reason you started your little campaign against me. Pulling on my pigtails as it were, trying to get my attention, using whatever method you could. This leads me to my next point. I think that we need to talk about us.”
Len spun to look at him, his fists tightening at his sides. “There is no ‘us,’ Scarlet. There is you, and there is me. There are two intrinsically different people, and even if we tried, it still wouldn’t work out. Besides, you’re nuts if you think I came back because of a chance at a magical happy ending. Those aren’t for men like me.”
“You don’t know that! You changed. If I remember, you became a hero and were literally just about to sacrifice yourself for the timeline. We aren’t that different. Just because we took different paths to get where we are when it comes to being heroes doesn’t change that we both are. I know that you didn’t come back for me.
“You came back so that your sister didn’t have to lose her family. So, Mick had the one person who has always been there for him. Even when things were so bleak that there didn’t seem to be a way out. There are no magical happy endings for anyone, especially not heroes. All you can hope for is for someone to stand by you when the darkness is at its worst.”
“And you think that I could be that person for you?”
“I know that you can. I know it in my heart and my soul.”
“If you really think so, then where do we go from here?” Len’s words were careful, not giving a thing about how he was feeling away.
Barry sighed lightly. “We start seeing each other. We start doing what regular couples do, go to movies, go to dinner, get coffee together.”
“We aren’t a regular couple, though. We aren’t even a couple.”
“Try,” Barry pleaded softly. “Life is so goddamn short, and the last thing I want is to regret having a chance and never even trying it out. Maybe we aren’t suited, or maybe we are the best thing that has ever happened to each other.”
“Alright, Scarlet, we’ll try your way. But I’m not guaranteeing anything.”
Barry nodded, “That’s all I ask of you.”
Len sighed lightly. “I suppose we should go out there and tell them the story. Especially if they actually do take us back to when you left. I don’t want them to have some of the more personal details.”
Barry shrugged lightly. “We don’t have to tell them anything if you don’t want. I wanted them to get us as close to where we left off as possible, but that doesn’t mean we have to keep up our end of the bargain. We can just leave them wondering if you would prefer.”
Len smirked. “Scarlet, that is an absolutely devious plan. Not something a hero would do at all. Perhaps you are worth knowing after all.”
Barry snorted. “I may be a hero, but that doesn’t make me perfect. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the last few years. I’ve trusted people I shouldn’t have and ignored people I should’ve listened to. Part of the problem is that so many people in my life think that I am perfect. They don’t question me when I come up with a plan that isn’t actually good. They never stop to tell me to slow down and think things through. They just follow me into whatever stupidity I’ve decided is the way to go.”
Len sat down next to Barry and reclined against the wall. “Well, you don’t need to worry about that with me. I’m always up for telling you when you’re stupid and when you need to slow down.”
Barry smiled at him. “Actually, that would be a bigger help than you think. Part of what kept me controlled those first years was that I knew I was dealing with regular people, not metas. It’s tough to ignore your rights when I’m supposed to be arresting you in my day job. With the metas, it’s easier to pretend like they don’t have any rights.”
“Mm, I remember the pipeline.”
Barry flinched but didn’t deny it. “Yeah, like the pipeline. At no point did any of the people in my life say, ‘hey, these people have rights, you can’t just lock them away in an underground bunker.’”
“It’s at least partially on you. I mean, you work for the police, you should’ve known that it was illegal, and quite frankly, it’s very unethical too.”
“Yeah, it was mostly my fault. I was the one that put them and kept them in the pipeline. I was the one that made that choice.”
Len hummed thoughtfully. “But you think that you might’ve rethought it if you had someone telling you it wasn’t a good idea. If someone had come along and challenged your infallibility and told you to rethink your choices.”
Barry shrugged. “I’d like to think that I would’ve rethought it. That I would have enough sense to listen to the people around me rather than just plowing ahead.”
They heard the ship land, and Len turned to Barry and shrugged. “Well, if worse comes to worst, I’ll freeze you with my cold gun and then do the right thing.”
Barry smiled sadly at him. “It’s weird to think that that is actually comforting. Here is the real question, are you coming with me back to our time, or are you staying with the Legends?”
Len glanced around and then listened to the sound of them making plans. “I want to see this out to the end. We need to deal with Savage before anything else can happen. Then, I think that maybe being in one time period is the way to go.”
Barry smiled and ducked his head a little. “Maybe go out with a cute guy who has had his eye on you?”
“Maybe. Maybe I’ll even let him talk me into a proper career change. Do something a little less dangerous and a little more long-lasting for a while.”
“Alright, Len, I guess I’ll be seeing you around. Not sure what else there is to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything at all. I think we’ve both finally said what we were supposed to.”