Central City

There are always voices when you die. Voices of everyone else. The people who love you clambering around your cold, lifeless form. Barry Allen had felt it. He was asleep in his room, having cried his way to that state knowing his children were collaborators with an evil man. The feeling had been one akin to burning. Every atom of his body disintegrating one by one. Like when he had died fighting the Anti-Monitor. Died fighting the force that would have destroyed the multiverse. He…he felt that but then he felt someone lift him up into a white light. Not like the light that's supposed to lead you to Heaven. But the fact was, that everything around him was just white, like a blank canvas. He felt the hand. It seemed like that of a young woman, barely twenty years of age. But she let off a violet ray of energy. Violet…didn't Hal say that was the love light? He needed to find out who this woman was. Her soft, gentle hand guided him into this light.

"Hello, Barry," Kara Zor-El told him, her red hairband holding her long, curly blonde hair in place. "Who? Kara? You look...different." "Don't be silly," she laughed as she laid a massive French kiss on him. Barry was a little stunned this younger woman was doing this to him, and she laughed a little as she pulled back. "Sorry, I wasn't sure which universe you were. I take it you and Iris worked out for your timeline. Good for you." "I…I…um, does this happen often in your universe." "Oh, not in my original one, no. But at this point I've seen all the universes and you and I are a thing in a few of them. Quite the serious thing at that. You suit who I was a little by doing this." "Doing what?" the perplexed speedster queried. "Giving it all up." As ever with spirits from beyond the grave, he knew this one would be annoyingly cryptic. "Where are we?" Barry asked. "Oh, here? This is the Void. It's where we were all born with the death of the multiverse."

"Death of the…oh, you mean the Anti-Monitor's attack."

"Bingo. All eight of us. We don't count Nekron."

"Nekron, eh? This makes about as much sense to me as… Kara, you're Clark's cousin. You were born on Krypton, not some endless white sheet of paper."

"What did I say that made you think I wasn't born on Krypton? Every Kara Zor-El was. Except for that random one who was born on Daxam due to lax emigration laws at the time."

"This is all too weird for me."

"Barry Allen, you're not a child. You know full well the trappings of the multiverse. And being dead well, you get to see what was."

"Dead?"

"Yes. Thawne killed you to mess with your kids. Thankfully, the Entity resisted and now you're just braindead."

"I feel so relieved."

"Sarcasm. Now that's one thing I haven't missed about being a mortal. Think back to the Crisis Barry, when you died. When I died. I stopped the converter, remember."

"Yes, of course, Kara. How could I forget that?"

"But yet Kara is alive and well in your time."

"Well that's not…"

"And she never met you or lived to do what I did."

"Oh…you're her. You're Kara from Earth-One."

"I'm more than that now. I died with the love of the multiverse…of all existence in my heart. As I died, I thought of the love I had for the cousin who held me in his arms while I lost the ability to breathe. With the death of existence and its rebirth, the Emotional Spectrum needed embodiments. I was the last soul bound to love in the original multiverse and now…I'm the embodiment of love. The Anti-Monitor knew of this and so had me dubbed the Predator, for the danger I posed him once."

"Really?"

"In some ways what I said is completely true. In others, it's a big fat lie. A bit like how since I died there's been three new Supergirls, one of whom is me. Still, there's three people here who came to meet you. I won't let you detain them any further by listening to my prattling, Barry." Kara then led Barry through the white void to where a large flash of lightning collided in front of them. Two hooded figures stood beside a man in red tights with a yellow, lightning bolt running down his chest. He was tall and quite handsome, with slightly long black hair, a chiselled face and light blue eyes. "Freddy Freeman?" Barry asked. "Barry Allen…good to finally meet you," Freddy shook his hand quite vigorously. Barry then saw him give googly eyes to the Predator beside him and she gave Freddy the same greeting she had Barry, which was reciprocated much more enthusiastically. "Ah, I got the universe where we were an item. Those ones are rare, Frederick." "Kara, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I think it would be best if you talked to Barry from now on, Freddy. He's the one you came here to see."

"No, I came to Central City. How the hell did I…"

"You came to see Barry Allen. Your powers brought you here instead of Central City, so you could actually converse with him and thereby save the Earth from Armageddon, as Mary Batson told you, you could by talking to Barry."

"Though in some ways we are in Central City," Pandora added, looking suspiciously at the Predator, "Because Barry's living body is a conduit to this dimension. With everything occurring at the moment in Metropolis and Gotham, I forewarned Mary Batson that Barry Allen would need to live to turn the tide of the battle since she could contact you through the powers of the Wizard. That way, the heroes would have a chance at hope if they survived." "Did somebody say hope?" an old, familiar man said walking up with his wife. He had lines on his face and streaks of grey running through his otherwise jet-black hair, but the identity of this figure was unmistakable. "Clark?" Barry asked. "Yes, Barry, but not yours. My Flash was Jay Garrick. I only met you as the Flash of another world. Now, I'm not even the Superman of another world. I just live in enforced compassion to atone for my once being willing to kill an entire universe. I was turned back by reason, and by losing my hope. My Lois." The Golden Age Superman gripped his wife's hand tightly and she glowed blue as he gave off an indigo hue. "Now I am Proselyte, and she is Adara. Together for all eternity, thanks to the Entity and their life-giving light."

Barry was very confused. "Emotional Spectrum, eh?I remember going after you guys with Hal. But you all had forms like animals. We were told that they all used to be creatures from the dawn of Earth." "No," Adara answered, "A convenient cover story for our presence in N-Space. I don't think all the beings of the cosmos would appreciate knowing that some long-dead champions from Earth were their masters." "But why are you compassion?" Barry asked Proselyte. "I'm Superman, Barry. Can you think of anyone more compassionate than me?" "I would have thought you'd be hope instead of Lois that's all. No offence." "None taken." "That's because I stopped meaning hope when I sided with Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime. I brought fear and terror to the world, but it was only my compassion despite my grief that allowed me to save countless trillions of lives by stopping Prime, ending my own life doing so." "As for me," Adara continued, "I was always the one who brought hope. Many would look at Superman and be scared. I never saw him that way. I saw this man from another world do the impossible, and so I wrote articles in his favour at the Daily Star. I defended him, and soon he became respected as the beacon of hope by most people in the world, that I saw him to be. My love. My Clark. My Superman."

The Predator seemed to glow slightly as she saw her cousin and his wife kiss then. "I'm sorry, Barry. It's just these two always make me cry. Tears of joy, mind. Hope and compassion. In love. Together forever. No force can stop them." "You will need to conquer all of us to meet the Entity," Proselyte told him. "Conquer?" "Master the emotions and become a White Lantern. He will not allow you to speak to him if you force your way to him, as Thawne did. Enslaving him with black magic." Barry was still confused. "But conquer…am I supposed to fight you guys? Is that why Captain Marvel is here?" "No," the Predator replied, "Captain Marvel is here to ensure you do not pass from this plane of existence. An anchor to your physical body. We can't have you die in the meantime." "As for conquering us," Adara replied, "You just need to prove that you are capable of mastering our respective emotions. Harnessing our power as a Green Lantern would willpower, a Blue Lantern hope, etc."

"Oh, well that…might be difficult."

"You'd be surprised how easy it is, friend," Proselyte smiled, "Kara, you know what to do." The Predator nodded and whispered in Barry's ear. "Think Barry. Do you love anyone? Or anything?" "Love? Of course, I do. I love Iris and my children and grandchildren. Linda, Jai and Irey too. If you want me to go further, I love Hal and Bruce and Clark and Diana." "Yes, but…your love for them is not tragic. They are all alive. Think of someone you love who is no more. Someone whose love has broken you." Barry shuddered as the image of Wally West was in front of his mind's eye. "But I failed him." "Yes, Barry. Just as my cousin failed me that fateful day against the Anti-Monitor. Does that failure hurt you?" "Yes."

"Then ignore that failure. Rise above it and focus on your love for someone that conquers all. Focus on Iris."

"I can see her. I can see Iris. She's so happy."

"Now use that love. Use that love to overcome the pain of Wally's loss. Use it to consume your very being. Use it as a weapon. Channel it. Can you feel your love for Iris strengthening, Barry?"

"Yes. Infinitely so."

"Then seize it. Become a Star Sapphire!"

Barry raged into the sky as he felt the Violet Light of Love course through his veins and turned around only to see that the Predator was no longer there. "Where's Kara?" he asked Proselyte and Adara. They just laughed. "You must have 'conquered' her, as she would say," Freddy said bemusedly, "You've passed the Predator's challenge. So, now you need to meet hope and compassion's." Barry looked into the eyes of Lois Lane which held Adara. "I already have hope at my side. I've used hope as a weapon since time immemorial. My death became an example to others. I saved the multiverse from dying and gave trillions of lives a chance to hope again. I don't need to hope." "Did you save the multiverse from dying?" Adara asked him plainly. "I did, of course." "Are you sure?" "I stand by it, Lois. Your husband was there. He saw me."

"Very well," she smiled, as she too vanished and Barry felt the Blue Light of Hope surge through his veins. It was as if all worries in the universe had flooded from him. Freddy held him before he could collapse. "I think I know why I'm really with you, Barry." Proselyte smiled. "I'm here to be with someone going through a similar ordeal I endured. I am here for you as you receive the blessings of gods. Beyond gods. Forces of nature. I am to be for you as Black Adam was for me in my recent trials." "Black Adam?" "It's a long story." "How can I weaponise compassion anyway?" Barry plainly queried Proselyte. "Oh, you can't do that one." "What?" "You've failed to be compassionate in life, Barry."

"I'm a superhero. How can I have failed to be compassionate?"

"Your sub-conscious tells a different story. How much compassion did you show Bart Allen? Well…"

"My grandson. I tried to be compassionate to him, but…"

"He'd come back from the dead too. And he's younger, not as strong as you emotionally. And you just neglected him. You couldn't have been more delighted to be in the presence of Iris and Wally again. Your grandson needed you and you failed. Then he died. And when you found out he hadn't, you met him with the same aggression which his father deserved. You are not a compassionate man, Barry Allen. Not when it matters."

Barry knew Proselyte's words were true. "Damn," he said as he fell to his knees and Bart appeared before his mind's eye. He imagined being there for the lad as he grew naturally. Saw himself older. But in the background of one of these scenes he saw the Predator…Kara there. She reminded him to love the young boy. To feel that love. Barry was living in the future. Happily. His children growing up normally and having their children. And him being their father and grandfather the whole way through. But then a darker image showed up. One of scouring the ruins of Titans Tower for Bart's body, and just despairing as his children held him close in their grief. Then he saw a blue light in the distance. Lois Lane. Adara. Hope. Somehow, he reached into the ruins of Titans Tower and found a living Bart. He pulled the boy to him and hugged him so tightly. Let him know that everything was going to be alright. That he would be here for his grandchild now and forever, no matter what he suffered through. And with that, Barry Allen felt the Indigo Light of Compassion flood through his body and he became one with the Indigo Tribe. When he opened his eyes, Proselyte was gone.

"You need to rest," Freddy advised him, "You've taken in three powers born at the Dawn of Time, Barry." "No, I can't rest," Barry said though he struggled to stand, "Pandora…show him what's happening on Earth now." She showed an image of Metropolis consumed by fire as Man-Bats flew through the sky and heroes battled villains with the globe from the top of the Daily Planet lying on the ground in flames. "That is why I need their powers, now. I need them to stop that. And I need to do it quickly. They're running out of time." They walked on through the whiteness, all four of them, Barry at first needing Kit and Freddy to support him. "So, Pandora...how is it you came to be some kind of cosmic being?" "I was an outcast from humanity and from my people. My marriage to Epimetheus was abominated and my unleashing of the Sins only drove the world into despair. There was no need for me to go on, now was there? So, I left Earth and flew through the cosmos with a pair of my uncle Hermes' sandals. Eventually, I found something ancient. Something beyond. It allowed me the ability to see all of time and space. All that was and all that ever could be. All that must never be. And it is with a heavy heart that I made sure the timeline was not altered."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you recall saving your mother's life, Barry?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I was the one who helped you to reset the timeline. Thawne got out through the cracks. I didn't foresee that. Then, I consulted with the entities and they told me of the father of us all's master plan. And it involved pieces as any chess game does. You, Barry are our king, in that your capture could spell the end of our endeavour. And Freddy here, is our knight, whose actions have upset Thawne's apple cart."

"But why have the other embodiments not spoken to me."

"One of them isn't here. He has a host. But…I think you can still access his power, Barry."

"How's that, Pandora?"

"Will yourself into walking."

"I can't, I'm too weak."

"Nonsense. You're the Flash. All you do is move your feet. Walk, Barry. Put one foot in front of the other. Freddy, Kit, release him!" The Freeman brothers promptly did as they were told and Barry fell on the floor. He closed his eyes and saw Adara before him offering a hand to help him stand. The hand of hope. The hand that would aid him in any trying time. Closing his eyes, Barry reached out and took Adara's hand, standing up perfectly. The Green Light of Willpower was now his. He could do anything by sheer force of will. The face of Kyle Rayner appeared behind Adara and smiled. "Kyle?" Barry said perplexedly, "That was Kyle Rayner."

"Yes, it was. Ion, as you may know him now."

"But how is Kyle…he's not dead."

"Not everyone here is in your universe. For instance, Superman, Supergirl and Lois Lane still draw breath in your plane of reality. As for Kyle, he died on Earth-One saving a family from rubble. He didn't have super strength. He just used all his might to hold up some rubble long enough for them to escape, until it collapsed and killed him. In the rebirth of the universe, he was Ion."

"So that means Parallax is here somewhere?"

"Yes."

"Great."

As they continued onward, Barry looked up and saw a sight that would send shivers down the spine of even the mightiest warrior. A large castle with a face of fear etched on it. A face that behoved a supernatural affliction on existence. Nothing could hope to penetrate its force. It was monstrosity incarnate. There was a being of pure terror that dwelled in these walls. The being that had destroyed a whole universe to satisfy its fear of loss. Its inconsolable, illogical grief. Within those walls, dwelt Parallax. The praying mantis at the Dawn of Time who had been captured by the Guardians of the Universe and trapped in their Central Power Battery billions of years ago. Then, it broke free. Since Krona had lashed it to his service, it had fled back to the Void, its home dimension to live out the rest of its days. "It's in there?" Barry asked Pandora. "Indeed, Barry Allen. This will be a difficult challenge for you."

"How?"

"You are a good person, Barry. Mastering hope, compassion and love are easy for you. Now you will have to learn to make a weapon of fear if you want to save your world."

Barry took a deep breath and the four of them advanced on the castle. Inside, they all heard different things. Barry heard the screams of his mother as Eobard Thawne snapped her neck. Freddy had to remember when Captain Nazi killed his grandfather and paralysed him. Kit recalled Thawne burning his face to open the gates of Hell. Pandora just remembered her child dying at the hands of her grandfather as he tied her brother-in-law, Prometheus to his rock. "Mom," Barry just said to himself before shaking his head and walking forward. Freddy realised that they were all then seeing different things. "These are our most fear-inducing memories, I take it," Freddy stumbled as he walked towards the epicentre of this fortress. "Yes," Pandora sighed, "Sadly, yes. They get less intense as we approach him though."

At the centre of the fortress was a throne room, with the doorway carved into the image of a praying mantis. The interior was gothic and suggested whoever dwelt here was ancient and evil. The stone was bare grey, and the torch lighting everywhere was yellow. On the throne, sat a man in a green armour, with a flowing green cloak, a green face mask covering his eyes, brown hair and silver wings going through the sides of his hairline. Hal Jordan. But not Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan who had tried to destroy all of time and space and reimagine it in his own image. Parallax. "Hello, Barry," Parallax smiled towards his old friend as he moved closer, "I've been expecting you. All the trouble I went to, to bring you back from the dead and you can't be bothered to thank me." "You brought me back from the dead?" "Not in the end. No. But I…made an attempt which came close. You were one of many I wished to bring back when I seized control of Hypertime."

"What you did was wrong, Parallax?" Pandora said in an accusatory fashion while she levelled a finger at Hal Jordan's form. "You dare speak to me, witch?" Parallax said as his eyes glowed yellow and Pandora was beset with the fear of everyone who had been harmed by the evil she had unleashed. "Feel their pain, woman. Feel it. Feel their fear." Captain Marvel then rushed to her aid only for Parallax to align his eyes with Freddy causing the young knight of the gods to feel the fear Billy and Mary had known thinking he was dead, making him weep without any chance of consolation. Not to mention the terror he had experienced when the villainous Prometheus sewed his mouth shut. These things were more immediate than the haunting either of them had faced since it was striking them in their minds directly. Akin to being stabbed in the cerebral cortex.

"Let them go, it's me who's here to speak with you," Barry angrily confronted him as Kit simply held back not wanting to face the same fate as his brother and their female companion. Hal smirked at Barry and relaxed his grip on the minds of the others. "What do you want to talk about Barry?" "You are Hal Jordan, right?" "I was, I am, I will be." "Yeah, well…tell me all about when I came back from the dead." "I only saw it from a distance. Your Hal Jordan is not the same as I am." "You're the one who caused the Zero Hour." "Such a melodramatic name. At least I didn't die in the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'. How blasé. Tell me, Barry, what you know about fear."

"Fear is something that has kept me down in the past. Fear destroyed me. It was fear of Eobard Thawne killing someone I loved again that led me to take his life. I snapped a man's neck because I was scared."

"And in that sense, the Reverse-Flash defeated you. You lost yourself and retired from being the Flash not long after. Your fear of losing someone broke you, Barry. Thawne destroyed you that way. He weaponised fear. Think of that, Barry. Dwell on it."

Barry's mind moved to seeing Iris dying when Thawne phased his hand into her head. The day he lost his wife was a disaster, and as soon as he began a relationship again with Fiona Webb all that had consumed him was fear. Fear that she would die. And the fear made him weak enough to commit murder. Snap a man's neck. Break his own code. But then he saw something blue, and something green, and felt the power course through his veins. The will to defy fear and the hope of finding a better solution. He fought back and stopped Thawne without killing him. He married Fiona and stayed as the Flash. Everything was fine. He didn't have to die saving the multiverse.

"NO!" Parallax screamed, intensifying his blast, but Barry held firm. And then Barry advanced on Parallax and punched him in the face. "You want to know fear, Hal. Know it as a weapon? I'll show you fear. Fear is what made you kill all your comrades. Fear that you couldn't do good. And it made you one of the greatest villains in history. Right now, I reckon, deep down, my Hal is terrified that he'll become you. And that fear…it might make or break him. And I'd say that same fear is buried deep in your memory, Parallax. You're afraid…afraid of your own worthlessness. Your failure to be Hal Jordan. Fear it!" Parallax screamed and vanished in Barry's hands as the Yellow Light of Fear bathed the Flash. "Are you okay, Barry?" Freddy asked him.

"He's ashamed," Pandora answered Captain Marvel, "Ashamed of what he had to do. Ashamed of killing Eobard Thawne. And ashamed he knew how to use such dark sorcery to save the day." "Bingo," Barry said, staring at the throne where Hal had been sitting. "Does that make you angry?" an ethereal voice asked from all around them as the room turned red. Blood red. Crimson. A being in a cloak with a scarred face wearing golden armour walked out before them. Whatever hair he had left from whatever had scarred him. The colour of that same fleece appeared to be red, but in a human sense. Barry struggled for a bit to recognise him until he finally put a name to a face. "Alexander Luthor," he sneered, having heard of the young man's crimes since their last encounter, "Son of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane of Earth-Three." "You know me so well, Barry Allen," he said, and Barry could see that the man looked possessed as he drew closer to them. There was blood frothing from his mouth and his eyes were unhealthily bloodshot. Almost as if he were a walking corpse.

"I take it, you're rage then?" Barry smiled. "Got it in one. I am the Butcher. My rage works better than most, since I can control it. I controlled my rage unlike Superboy-Prime. Used it logically and nearly achieved the resurrection of the multiverse you died in an attempt to save." "At what cost?" "It would have been your universe, Barry, which perished as the foundation of my dimensions' restoration." "A whole universe dead because of you? Have they even made up a word for that?" "Ultracide. Had I succeeded I'd be the only being in all reality bar the Anti-Monitor guilty of that. A pitiful excuse. My rage at your universe allowed me to accomplish some of the greatest wonders known to man."

"But you failed in your endeavour, Alex. You didn't get what you wanted and still a lot of innocent people died."

"Yes. And I regret none of them. I was so angry at each and every one of them. So demented. I could care less. I saw most of those people die in my multiverse. These pale copies of them were just reborn enigmas. A pitiful reflection of heroes. They enraged me so much. But, like I said, I used that rage constructively. I take it you are here for my power, judging by what you've done with my peers."

"I am."

"Excellent. Cutting to the chase. Quick to the point. You're a lot like the Barry Allen who died saving the multiverse."

"Well, I am him."

"No, you're not. That Barry Allen is dead. You are the…it sickens me to say this…'New Earth' version of Barry Allen. The Barry Allen of Earth-One had parents who outlived him. The Barry Allen of New Earth lost both of his before he was twenty-one. Do you realise that?"

"I do. And it's frustrating."

"I can only imagine. Doesn't it anger you though."

"No. People die. It happens."

"But your mother who you knew to be alive when you were in your thirties died when you were a child. And in changing her fate, you brought Armageddon upon your world. The unfairness of it all. It must be so enraging."

"It annoys me. But I've been through worse."

"Well, let's be honest time and space aren't your real enemy, Barry. You are your own worst enemy. Your trust of Eddie Thawne, your failure to be a good father or grandfather, your drinking…it is because there's only one person you're mad with. And Wally West's death is the epitome of that rage, isn't it? Well, let's look at all the people you're failing as a superhero if you don't get out of here."

The Butcher waved his hand and images appeared in the crimson upon the walls. Images of people dying in the streets of Metropolis with grins on their faces, as heroes Barry knew such as Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman fought helplessly against hordes of Man-Bats and metahumans. "That battle hasn't been going on too long. But its tide can be turned with the Entity's champions. Does seeing this anger you, Barry?" "Yes." "Channel that rage. Send them a signal. Use the power of the Red Lanterns." Barry felt the rage he had for Eobard Thawne well up inside of him. It was cancerous how much anger he felt at the moment. He would stop him and save the world. Save his friends. Unleashing all the lights in the Emotional Spectrum, somehow Barry fired a burst of energy into the middle of Metropolis which dispersed the Man-Bats about to overwhelm his friends. The Butcher vanished as the Red Light of Rage filled Barry, just as his peers had before him.

"There is still one more embodiment we must face," Pandora said without a hint of emotion. "Greed," Barry nodded. "There's just one thing that isn't making sense to me," Freddy asked, "Why are these people all from the original multiverse?" "Because they were either present, or their souls fell, at the dawn of our universe," Kid Eternity told his elder brother. "I see," Freddy mused, "So the next person we meet, this greed being is going to be from that multiverse, too." "Yep," Barry said to himself, still feeling the weaponised rage he had used to intervene in another plane of reality. "But how can greed be a weapon?" Freddy pointed out. Then they saw a trapdoor had appeared where the Butcher had once stood. "We'll just have to go and see," Barry said, taking a deep breath and turning to the others. They all nodded to him and went down the stairs of the trapdoor. To meet their fates.

Below them was an empty space with a plaque saying 'Nekron'. "Makes sense he's not here," Pandora smirked. "How's that?" Freddy questioned her. "He's not dead." "We're not fighting him," Barry reminded them, "He's the antithesis of the Entity. And only fit to be their prisoner. We'll hear no more of him. Now let's move on." They came to a hollow part of this makeshift dungeon. A very hollow part. A part which seemed to be detached from all reality. Barry looked through this partition and suddenly saw that it was the Justice League Watchtower. But that had been destroyed. How on Earth? Was that Wally? Oh, no. He was watching Wally's death. "I see you like my viewing pleasure," a disturbed voice said before them as Barry looked up and saw an immense being. The being who had once killed him. The Anti-Monitor. No, not the Anti-Monitor anymore. "Ophidian, I presume?" "Indeed. Greed is all that ever motivated me to destroy the realm of positive matter, Barry Allen. I wanted to expand my universe of antimatter into the remaining confines. Purge the multiverse of it. Extend my dominion. And now I am dead, thanks to it, but reborn as greed itself."

"What's so greedy about watching my nephew die?"

"Greed in knowing I am the only one with the power to save him." Ophidian extended a large arm which glowed. "I have the ability to manipulate antimatter. Can you guess what that screen is made of?" "Antimatter." "Precisely. And it's projecting through time." Pandora moved to speak but saw him glower at her and remained silent. She had paid dearly for interfering in a trial once already. "Give it to me," Barry said. "Make me," Ophidian grimaced. Barry ran with all his might, and Ophidian just swatted him away. Freddy interfered and flew straight at Ophidian, punching him with all his might, only to be slugged at the wall in kind. Barry stood up and began channelling all of the Emotional Spectrum. Rage, hope, love, compassion, fear and willpower. Blasting them all at Ophidian had no effect again. "Give it to me!" Barry said with all the rage in his heart, "GIVE IT TO ME!" "Say, please." "No, never from you."

"Why shouldn't you say please? It's mine, after all. And you'll never get to see your beloved Wally live again unless you take it from me."

"GIVE IT TO ME!"

With that exclamation, Barry saw Ophidian vanishing as the Orange Light of Greed became a part of him. With that, he passed out, saying Wally's name as he looked through the partition and saw his nephew perish in the flames of the Justice League Watchtower. "Uncle Barry," the voice that woke him up said. The voice of Wally West. "Wally, my boy. I dreamed you were dead." "I am. And I don't think I'm coming back. Sorry about that." "If I can come back, you can." "That's just it, Uncle Barry. You didn't come back from the dead. Not the real you. The Barry Allen who died stopping the Anti-Monitor is still dead. In a sense."

"That's impossible, Wally. Don't talk garbage. Where're Freddy and the others?"

"Gone. I sent them back to the Rock. They're not needed anymore. Your body doesn't need an anchor to life anymore."

"How are you not…in Heaven or something? Jay and I couldn't find you in the Speed Force."

"Because I haven't passed onto my afterlife yet. When I died, I woke up here and met the Entity. They told me they needed me still to stop Eobard Thawne. To be there for you, Uncle Barry, before I pass on. And so, I agreed. Just tell me, how is everyone?"

"Not good. Bart went missing, but he's fine now. Don and Dawn came back from the dead but they betrayed me. And now Joan's gone too."

"Damn. Did Thawne…"

"No, but he's killed plenty of others. A lot of good people are dead, not just you, Wally."

"Well, I don't want to have died for nothing."

"Died for nothing? What are you talking about? You didn't die for nothing. You saved Keystone City. I'll tell you there ain't deaths much better than that."

"Hahaha!"

"What's so funny?"

"That's exactly the way I thought about your death. I thought, I can never live up to Barry Allen. Not ever. My uncle, the greatest hero of all time. He died saving everything. Took me a long time to adjust to the fact I was the Flash and not you because of that."

"You were a great Flash."

"I was, wasn't I?"

"Better than me. You never…failed like I did."

"Has this been your problem the whole time, Barry? It's not been your mom, has it? You still feel guilty about killing Thawne, don't you?"

"Well, if I'd never killed him, he wouldn't have come back with the power he has now, would he?"

"Probably not. How are my family?"

"Good. Your kids had a trial with the Teen Titans for a while. Hopefully, when everything gets back to normal, they can try again. Linda hasn't met anyone else if you're worried."

"I'd love it if she did one day. And my kids deserve reservations with the team I founded."

"Yeah…I gave up being the Flash, you know."

"What?"

"After you died, I gave up. I said, fuck it. I'm never going to be as good as you, Wally. Don and Dawn took the mantle, and now they've dragged it through the mud. I let you down without even doing anything."

"You're damn right, you did. The Barry Allen I knew wouldn't have given up."

"Oh, shut up, Wally. I gave up after that trial I had for killing Thawne."

"You retired…after deserving it."

"I was in my thirties. Most sports stars tend to quit around then. It's the same difference. You…I was going to ask you not long before you died, if you could take up the mantle of the Flash again. For me. I couldn't do it anymore. I just wanted to be happy with Iris again."

"I get you. The quiet life can suit a lot of people after what feels like a lifetime on the road. We can't all be demented crusaders like Bruce. Some of us just use our powers for good because it's the right thing to do. Like a great responsibility. My uncle dying taught me that even more than the accident did. I'm disappointed, Barry, but I love you. Please...go back to being the Flash when you wake up."

"I'm not going to wake up, Wally."

"And leave my aunt and your children and grandchildren alone? Not to mention my wife and kids. Not on my watch. Please, Uncle Barry, be a hero again...for me."

"You're still an annoying kid, even now, pestering me about the Flash? Okay, Wally. I'll be the Flash again. Just for you."

They hugged so warmly and tightly then. The two Flashes. Reunited. "Oh, and one more thing before I go. Make sure that you let everyone know you met me, and that I love and miss them all." "Of course." Wally then turned into beams of light in front of Barry as he reached out to hug him one last time and then the elder Flash just started bawling as he fell on his knees knowing once more that he would never see Wally again. His boy. His Kid Flash. He'd lost him. But he'd fight for him. Fight long and hard. Fight any adversary who stood in his way from keeping that promise. Opening his eyes, he saw that the castle was indeed gone, leaving only the white void that had been there when he met Kara. There was a thatched house down the road. Small stone exterior. He could see there was a fire roaring in there. The door opened, and a vague figure beckoned him in.

Walking through the door, he turned around and saw he was now part of a bustling metropolis housing so many people. So many. This wasn't really some kind of white void. That was just what the master of this place wanted him to think. "Ah, you're here," a familiar voice said from indoors. He could see someone sitting on a chair which was turned to him and facing the fire. "Kara's just popped out, so you can take a seat over there." Barry waltzed over to the seat beside the fire and sat in it, seeing a cup of tea on a saucer appear in his hands. The house was filled with pictures of him and his family. And of each of the seven people he'd just met. "A father takes pride in their children," the person who had invited him in said, "They're not really my children but I helped give them new life here beyond existence. I'm just waiting on Nekron to join us. Sugar?" Barry was still looking at the walls when he saw a hand pass him a bowl of sugar with a spoon in it. The spoon instantly deposited the sugar in his tea and stirred it. He now had the courage to look into this man's face.

It was his own. "Hello, Barry. It's good we finally get to meet. So, you're my replacement? A mopey orphan." "I don't understand." "I'm you, Barry. I am the Entity. More precisely I am the Barry Allen of Earth-One. The Barry Allen who died to stop the Anti-Monitor from destroying the multiverse." "But that's me." "Yes, and no. You have my memories. But you're an anomaly, Barry Allen. Technically speaking you never lived in the universe you're in now. You lived as me, and yet not as me. And the changes in your past make that all the more apparent. Like the fact that…" "I get the thing about our parents being alive for you but dead for me." "That's just one of them. Jay Garrick and I never shared a universe." "Yeah, I get what you mean," Barry replied, realising that the Entity was from a world almost entirely different to his, but he seemed to remember this world. This old multiverse.

"Your compact universe is all muddled and confusing."

"So, how did you…I become the Entity?"

"When we died, the entire force of the antimatter universe ripped us apart. It meant we were at the epicentre of the new Big Bang. Or our remains were anyway. I felt myself being reborn with the universe as the White Light of Creation. I didn't properly awaken until what you call the Zero Hour. I took the souls of some others I knew and fashioned them into the Emotional Spectrum. I only did this as I saw your universe building."

"But where are we?"

"It's a city. A city where all human beings who ever lived reside in now after your universe has ended. A good point with which to observe history. I brought life into the universe, anyway. Or at least helped push it along and left my fellow embodiments to have their fun with the place. I gather some of them have caused you and yours harm in the past, Barry. But to us…you are just replicas of who we were. Imitations. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't really care about you either. Do you get me?"

"Yes. That doesn't excuse it."

"When you've seen as much death as I have, you tend to grow apathetic. Particularly when you're just a glorified reimagining of me."

"Clearly."

"I only intervened in your universe's affairs once."

"The Blackest Night."

"Yep. And I have to say I got a flavour for it. Being like my fellow embodiments and playing with you mortals for want of a better term."

"Really? Good for you."

"I didn't expect me to understand. I needed history to go in a more positive direction. Make things more like they were on our Earth. Which is why I brought back who I did after the Blackest Night. They all had purposes in my scheme. I didn't foresee Shazam or Thawne doing what they did."

"You're not exactly omniscient then."

"No, like I said. I just watch everything from up here."

"Funny way of appreciating us."

"Well, I tell a lie. I brought you back. Well, I brought Thawne back to bring you back. But I basically brought you back. And do you know why I did that?"

"Because despite living for countless billions of years I still haven't conquered my vanity?"

"No, nothing so gauche. I felt that I needed a version of me to be a part of Earth's history again. The only person who can really stop Eobard Thawne. You, Barry."

"You want me to break his neck again."

"No. But if you have to, I won't judge. And you shouldn't either. He's a universal menace. Do you want your world to live, Barry Allen?"

"Yes."

"Then do what you have to do."

"Any advice?"

"I have one specific request. I'm leaving the Earth in your hands when this is over. Thawne has depleted me. Be my White Lantern and bring back my champions. Give them their powers."

"And who would they be?"

"The Kryptonians. Thawne got some of my views right. Revive Clark, Kon and Kara's powers. Otherwise, they're going to lose that battle. Can you hear them? On the news outside in your hospital bed."

"I can."

"Do it. Turn the tide, Barry. Go on. Unleash the Light of Life."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Like I said, I'm too weak. I'm only doing this because you're my last chess piece. It's up to the rest of you to stop him after this. Now go, Barry. Revive their powers."

Barry then felt the surge of the White Light of Life flow through his body and he vanished. The Predator then walked inside as the Entity stood up and kissed his wife. "Two martyrs still together, eh?" he asked her politely. "Why did you lie and say it's him who needs to beat Thawne." "Because…he needs to believe in something if he's going to live." Leaving their saved city, Barry Allen awoke in his hospital bed to the shocked figures of Iris, Dawn, Linda, Jai and Irey who flinched at seeing him take a firm lungful of air. They witnessed three lights leave his body and exit the hospital. "Get a nurse, quick!" Dawn shouted as her mother kissed Barry. "Don't ever do that to me, again." "I won't. Get them to discharge me, quickly. I need to go to Metropolis. Bart's there, he might be hurt." Iris then just looked sadly at her feet as Dawn shed a bit of a tear. "What's wrong? What's happened? Wait a minute…Where's Don?"