Chapter Text
“Your honor, Barry Allen is—“
Iris started before being surprisingly interrupted by a flash of lightning and a gust of wind. Somehow Barry was able to take her into Flashtime, right there in that court room.
“Wait, what?!” Music Meister shouted out from his seat, popcorn slightly falling out of his bowl.
No one heard him though, as he was only spectating their lives, watching them like they were channels on cable television, rather than actually being there physically. Albeit, he could if he wanted to, as seen last year when he put Barry and Kara in a musical. Ever since then though, Barry’s and Kara’s lives have only gotten more interesting and he couldn’t help but keep watching, which led him to this moment.
‘Barry, how are you doing this?” Iris asked him.
“The question isn’t how Iris, it’s why.” He muttered to himself, annoyed and confused at the same time.
“I don’t know” Barry replied.
“Oh, come on…seriously?”
As he continued watching the rest of the conversation, he was horridly shocked as Barry talked Iris out of revealing his identity to the court, and in doing so the world.
“Excuse me! How could you say that?! The city needs you, Barry!” He yelled like a dad watching a sports referee call a foul on his favorite professional team.
“No no no no no, he can’t do this,” he muttered to himself,
“I won’t let him.”
And just like that he was gone with a simple ‘poof’.
———
Barry was currently running late—not surprising whatsoever—but what he was running late for was…sentencing.
He knew the case was over as soon as the trial began. Even after Cecile had offered him an out, he knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t reveal his identity, and not in a million years would he ever consider it.
He had already accepted his fate, truly.
So as he ran through the streets of Central City, for probably the last time in a while, he soaked in everything around him. Feeling the wind on his face, the electricity coursing through his veins, and the rush in his very bones: It felt wonderful—just like it always did when he ran.
He was at peace again, despite the terrible thing he was running towards.
Unfortunately, like most good things in life, it was cut short.
Something—no—someone yanked him off the street as he was running. The abrupt change sent him tumbling through the empty alleyway nearby.
“Heyyyyy!” Music Meister enthusiastically greeted Barry who still was picking himself off the floor, “Remember me?”
Barry instantly recognized that voice. To be fair, Music Meister wasn’t exactly someone who was hard to remember.
“How could I forget?” Barry asked as he slowly stood up.
He then felt a pain in his side. He pulled up his shirt a little to reveal a large scrape. It wasn’t fully bleeding, but it was already turning blue and purple. Not to mention it hurt like crazy.
“Ooooo” Music Meister reacted to the wound, “Sorry about that buddy, but I needed to get your attention.”
“You couldn’t have gently patted my shoulder? Or called my phone? Or just waited till I wasn’t running at full speed?”
“This was faster, pun intended, and I knew your hefty little speed-healing could fix any damage afterwards…see?” Music Meister said, gesturing to that same wound that was already starting to slowly heal.
“Yeah, but it’ll take a lot longer than usual.”
“Why?” But before Barry could respond, Music Meister stated what Barry was going to say, “Because you’re body’s still healing from the radiation you were just exposed to.”
“Uh, yeah.” Barry replied a little dumbfounded before remembering that Music Meister’s abilities practically had no limitations—at least none that were known to him and his team, “So, you have my attention, what are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
“Why, do I need to learn another lesson?” Barry said jokily.
Despite the fact that he was forcibly put into a musical coma because of Music Meister, and was hurt just now, he didn’t exactly feel that threatened by his presence.
Music Meister may have seemed like a threat before, but if Barry learned anything from his musical journey, it’s that his heart was in the right place. He was only trying to help, even if he did use crazy tactics to express that. Not only that, but without his lesson, he and Iris wouldn’t be where they are today. So, he does kind of owe a bit of his marriage to him—in a sense.
“Yes, Barry. You definitely do.”
‘Oh great’ He sarcastically thought to himself.
Just because he didn’t feel threatened by Music Meister, didn’t mean he wanted him to be around.
“Really? Does it have anything to do with the fact that I’m about to receive a lengthy prison sentence?” He hurriedly looked down at his watch in realization, “Speaking of, I have to get back to the courthouse before they start. Can I get a raincheck?”
To be honest, right now Barry didn’t have the time, patience, or even energy to deal with this right now, so he was desperately hoping Music Meister would postpone his nonsense for at least a couple days. Especially because both of them knew if Music Meister really wanted to, he could easily overpower and trap Barry in another coma dream, so that he could once again force Barry to learn another lesson. This time though, he wouldn’t have Kara with him, and even worse, he’d been watching a lot of horror movies lately.
He’d absolutely hate getting stuck in one of those; he probably wouldn’t survive either.
’Science nerds never last that long’ He shivered a bit as he thought about it.
“No, we have to do this now Barry, before your sentencing…You have to tell them you’re the Flash!”
“Whoa, keep your voice down.” Barry said as he quickly walked over to him, hoping the closer proximity would quiet him down a bit, “Secret identities are supposed to stay secret.”
“Well, not this time.”
“I can’t tell everyone my secret. I’d never be able to live something like that down. No matter where I went, my family and I would never live a safe or normal life again.”
Music Meister huffed a small laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your priorities are so out of whack. The city needs you, Barry. You should know that by now and you can’t protect it from Iron Heights.”
“I don’t have to, I have my team to cover for me.”
“You expect Vibe and Killer Frost to keep everyone safe?”
“More or less, and there are other heroes.”
“Wait, don’t tell me. You think your new recruit—the stretchy guy—can fill your shoes?”
He apparently took Barry’s sigh as a yes, “You do, don’t you?”
“He just needs time to grow into himself.”
Music Meister was outwardly laughing now, so loud that it almost tested Barry’s patience and ability to stay calm.
Who was he to doubt Barry’s team anyway? They’ve been there for him through thick and thin, they have hearts of gold, and according to Barry, they could protect he city even better than he could.
“I trust that my team can defend this city”
“Oh really? Maybe with Wally there, but he’s way out in Cambodia isn’t he?”
If it wasn’t for Barry’s newfound maturity and self-peace from his stay in the speed force, he would’ve challenged him right then and there in the name of his friends, his family. Instead though, he reminded himself of how quickly Music Meister could beat him in a fight and decided to prioritize getting rid of him rather than fighting him. And the only way to do that was to convince him that Barry didn’t need whatever lesson he had planned.
“They can handle it, at least until they find a way to legally get me out of prison.”
“You know, Central City used to uphold this golden standard. It was full of joy and sunshine. Of course there were still robbers, muggers, and other criminals, but it was still deemed one of the safest cities in the state due to its brilliant police force,” Music Meister said as he practically paced around Barry, who was still holding his side as it painfully healed.
“All of that changed after the particle accelerator went off. There was a spike in unsolved cases, suspicious deaths, and unexplainable situations, but you already knew that didn’t you. What you don’t know is that during the 9 months you were in a coma, the city went through hell and trust me, it was bad.”
“So? What’s your point?” Barry asked, trying to speed things along. (Pun not intended)
“Ever since the Flash showed up, the city has been rejuvenated and filled with hope and a sense of security. People could finally go back to living their lives even with meta-humans around. It was a glorious time…but then you left. Poof! Into the speed force and the city was once more left to suffer.”
Barry looked down, away from his eyes. He knew that leaving was the right thing to do—the only thing he could do—but that didn’t make it any less difficult, or easier to accept for that matter.
“Your city was a mess, even with your team on the case, only proving that this city will always need the Flash to protect them. Not his team. Sure, they could eventually get you out of prison—maybe—but how long would that take? It sure as hell didn’t take very long for the city to delve into chaos, so the question is: Do you truly believe, with the amount of evidence against you in this case, that your team could get you out in time to save the city from itself?…I know I don’t.”
Barry trusted his team wholeheartedly, but knew that logically Music Meister was right.
That was the problem.
Because he wasn’t human, Music Meister had a hard time being empathetic, which is why instead of just talking it out or something like that last year, he immediately resorted to trapping Barry in a musical with Kara to fix their problems, completely disregarding their consent because it was faster that way.
Forcing them to confront their relationship issues would logically fix them, but being stuck, away from your friends and family, some place without your powers, where you could also die, emotionally adds new ones. In the same way, logically revealing his identity would remove a big chunk of Barry’s current problems, but what Music Meister failed to see is that it would also emotionally add a whole bunch of new ones.
“Believe it or not, I love this city. Reveal your identity and all your problems go away, Barry. It’s that simple.”
This type of ‘the ends justify the means’ mentality was dangerous and Barry knew he had to get Music Meister to understand.
“In this line of work, nothing is ever that simple. Outing myself would mean that I’d never have a normal or safe life again. I wouldn’t be able to do anything without being judged or stalked, or even attacked.”
“You’re the fastest man alive: a superhero who fights crime. I wouldn’t think normalcy or safety is in the cards for you.”
“Yeah and what about my family? Don’t they deserve normal lives? It’s not just me who has to endure the backlash, all of them, and anyone else who’s ever been close to me, or even known me, would have that target on their backs.”
“I know that. And I also know that you don’t think I understand emotions and that I struggle with empathy.” Music Meister said, tone accusatory and much more serious than before.
‘Can he read minds?’ Barry quickly thought.
“Hey, look I didn’t mean—“ Barry started before being interrupted.
“I know what you meant Barry but you’re wrong. I may not have a family or friends, but I understand this universe way better than anyone else, which is why you have to listen to me.”
“But how could I knowingly do that to them, do that to myself?”
“The pros outweigh the cons, substantially. Tell the world you’re the Flash, Barry. It’s for the best.”
Before Barry could react, let alone respond, he was back in the courtroom. He looked around to find that Music Meister had disappeared from sight and Cecile was already asking him if he wanted to testify one last time.
Without hesitation, he shook his head no.
“The defense rests your honor.” Cecile stated and much to Music Meister’s disdain, Barry’s fate was sealed as the court announced him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.
“I’ll show you, Barry Allen.” Music Meister swore under his breath from the back corner of the courtroom and from then on, Barry developed a slight dreading feeling that Music Meister wouldn’t let it end like this.