Work Text:
Space was so empty. They had been travelling for who knew how long, and they had seen nothing. Met no one.
Around them was an endless sea of a thousand, million stars, light coming from every angle, almost unmoving as they drifted through isolating, lonely, empty space.
Barry was out here all alone.
Iris didn’t know what had happened. Everything that had happened happened in less time than the blink of an eye, and yet Wally talked like it had been days at least. Her family, fighting an alien invasion all alone, one Jesse and Max had seen the potential results of. Days, weeks, just them. Even Clark said he had tried, but it seemed like a blur to him.
All Iris knew for certain was one moment she had been with Barry in a restaurant, intent on asking him to marry her again, and the next she was lying in a bed at Wally and Linda’s. She’d forced herself up, pain radiating from her spine, barely able to hold herself up, and she’d forced herself downstairs right in time to see Bart burst in and blurt out Barry was gone.
Jay had been the one to catch her. Jesse the one to help her sit.
Barry was gone. Barry, her Barry, was gone.
There was a plan, Ace said, they were going to use time travel, Barry had only gone to get some data to finish his calculations.
Except Wally had gone to search and had returned with a box. One he said he knew Barry had bought for her. They both knew what that meant.
Barry Allen would always be willing to give his life to save the world, and Iris loved him for it, even as she’d wished he would never have to.
She twisted the ring on her finger. Barry was scared of this, Iris knew that. He loved her, she knew that. But once, in another life, they had plans for the future, they had such hope and joy, and everything had fallen apart.
They had been so happy, and the man who had shared that joy was sat next to her. The moment he knew Barry was missing, Hal was ready to fly. Iris knew he would be.
She knew without hesitation if either of them needed him, Hal would be there.
She knew Hal understood why she insisted on coming with him.
She knew what these feelings were too. The warmth that came from taking comfort in Hal’s arms as they tried to sleep, the butterflies that came from his brief smiles and moments of joy found even in this endless darkness and fear.
She knew how easy it would have been yesterday too, Hal leaning in, leaning towards her, so close she could see a ring of almost gold in his beautiful brown eyes, and then-
And then Hal had pulled away, a flash of guilt on his face, and Thawne had decided to pipe up and ruin the moment.
Maybe it was for the best. Iris knew Barry, knew he wouldn’t mind, knew they had talked about Hal before, but Hal had Carol and Eve and Carol again and space and there just never seemed to have been a good moment to talk to him. And talking to him now, without Barry, that felt wrong.
“There’s a ring on your finger, Iris,” Thawne said, leaning back in the makeshift brig. Hal had put him in there, after Wally had caught him. The Fraction had used the Speed Force to power their ships. They had stolen the power, used speedsters as batteries, and now they had Barry.
They had left this ship behind. Getting it working again had taken too long. Jesse had managed to get it to draw power from the Equation rather than needing a person, but she said it didn’t seem as fast, and the Fraction had Barry.
Max already said he felt a little slower. Jay said he was getting out of breath faster.
Speedsters got their powers from connecting to the Speed Force. No one truly understood every part of it, but they knew it was connecting to the Speed Force that gave them the ability to run.
Except Barry.
Barry didn’t just connect to it; it came from Barry. Iris didn’t understand how, Barry never talked about it, none of them were even sure if Barry knew, or believed it, but the Fraction had left their world, had left a dozen other speedsters, and just taken Barry, and Barry had left the ring where he knew Wally would find it. They hadn’t caught him by chance, Barry had handed himself to them to protect his family.
It would affect the others soon. Max was sure Wally would hang on the longest- he was their nephew, as good as a son in Barry’s eyes, the first person after Barry touched by the Speed Force, according to Max the first person Barry had- unknowingly and unintentionally- chosen to run with.
Iris didn’t know everything Max knew. She didn’t know if Max was right about everything. But she knew enough to notice Bart wasn’t putting any weight on his bad knee. She knew enough to know Ace and Avery should be healing faster than they were.
They didn’t know what would happen. When they would lose their powers, whether it would take years or weeks, but Iris couldn’t risk her family. Barry had already sacrificed himself to keep them from the Fraction, she couldn’t bring them across the universe just to put them back in harm’s way.
She knew taking the ship and running before they woke and realised probably wasn’t the best way to handle it, but she had Hal.
She knew they wouldn’t understand why she’d brought Eobard Thawne instead of them but, well.
Iris knew Thawne could have escaped a dozen times over already. Wally had caught him, but he could have run. He hadn’t had to help them with the ship, and it wasn’t an accidental taunt, it wasn’t an unintentional letting slip he knew how to get it working. It wasn’t Hal keeping him in that brig, no matter what he claimed.
“There is,” Iris agreed, twisting it around. “And I would like Barry at the ceremony on time and himself this time, please, Eobard.”
“Does he know what you’re doing with his best friend?” Thawne asked.
“Nothing is happening between Hal and me,” Iris said. “Not until we have Barry back.”
“And when you do? What do you think he’ll say?”
“I know you care about him,” Iris said.
Thawne scoffed.
“I am not doing anything that Barry would be upset by,” Iris said. “He’s my Barry. I would never hurt him.”
“If you insist,” Thawne said. He smirked, so certain he had found something he could use.
He cared about Barry. He was here by choice, despite his constant complaining, because he was willing to help rescue Barry. Right now they were on the same side.
That didn’t mean Iris was going to be foolish enough to think she could actually trust him.
The door behind her slid open and Hal walked in. He looked almost guilty, just for a flash, and Thawne’s smirk only grew.
Iris itched to take his hand, to tell him, but she needed Barry.
“I think we’re picking something up,” Hal said. “I don’t know if it’s them, but it looks like it’s a Speed Force signature.”
“Okay,” Iris said. “What’s the plan?”