After everything that happened I was standing in STAR Labs, in the Cortex, imaging how things could be different if they weren't like this.

~

AU

Barry Allen and Vera Mitchell were as the Flash and Pyra, facing off with Mick Rory/Heat Wave and Leonard Snart/Captain Cold, both with their heat and cold guns.

Snart shot his gun toward Vera.

Vera used fire to fly up out of reach, starting to lower herself back toward the ground.

"She's coming back around," Rory told him.

"Yeah, to die," Snart told him. Barry zoomed toward Rory, pushing him against the the car. Rory tried to shot Barry with the heat ray gun. Barry stepped aside, making it aim toward Snart. Snart somersaulted out of the way, shooting toward Barry. Vera shot a fire ball as a shield. The cold ray turned the fire it contacted with to ice, making it fall and shatter against the ground. Snart aimed his gun at Vera. "I swear, one of these days, I will kill you!" 

Snart shot toward Vera. Vera somersaulted through the air above the cold ray, ending up behind Snart, shooting fire against the the concrete behind Snart, making it ricochet up and make Snart fall into a garage next to the building they were fighting outside. 

Vera lowered herself to the ground, letting the fire fade, taking the cold gun from Snart, using fire to make it melt in her hands.

Barry stood, chuckling. "Think you perfected that move yet?"

Vera shook her head. "No way."

Vera smiled, using fire to fly away, leaving.

Barry smiled, zooming away, leaving.

There were the sounds of police sirens in the distance coming for Rory and Snart.

~

Without their masks, Barry and Vera walked into STAR Labs, into the Cortex to join, Caitlin, Cisco, Ronnie, Iris, Joe and Stein.

Cisco smiled, doing his handshake with Barry. "You finally took down Captain Cold and Heat Wave. Superhero double play, baby."

"Didn't do it alone," Barry told them, turning to point at Vera.

Vera smiled.

"You're never alone," Caitlin told them.

"Neither are you, Mrs. Raymond," Ronnie told her, kissing Caitlin, pulling away.

Stein groaned. "Thank you for not doing that when I was inside."

"It happened one time," Ronnie told him. "Let it go."

Joe walked toward Barry and Vera. "Snart and Rory. You two are gonna put a cop like me out of a job."

Barry and Joe embraced, pulling away.

Joe patted Vera on the shoulder.

Vera shrugged. "Just trying to help."

Iris walked closer. "You do more than help. You give the people of this city hope."

Eddie put a hand on Barry and Vera's shoulders. "You're heroes."

Eddie smiled, stepping back next to Iris.

Wells rolled closer in his chair. "Congratulations, everyone. A spectacular victory. A milestone, if you will. Barry... Vera... I believe there's nothing left I can teach you." He stood. "I believe... that you're ready to do all of this on your own."

~

Reality

I had to remind myself that I was completely alone in the Cortex of STAR Labs.

My name was Vera Mitchell, and I was what people who didn't know the woman behind the mask called Pyra. When I was a child, my brother, sister and parents were killed in a fire. Started by impossible means. Then an accident made me the impossible. I used my powers to find the man that ruined my life. I thought that I would finally get justice for my family. But I failed. 

It had been six months since the night that Barry and I had traveled back in time to try and save our families. It had been six months since we had failed because the future version of ourselves had told us no or made us stop. Probably because if we had fixed those nights 15, almost 16 years ago, then time would make up for the difference in very chaotic ways.

But it had also been six months since I had learned that I had started the fire. Since I learned that Dr. Harrison Wells had manipulated me into killing my own family. Not now me, but future me. Even so, in present time, six months ago, he had nearly manipulated me into killing Joe and Cisco. But Barry had gotten into the way of the fire and taken the hit himself. It had nearly killed him. But, luckily for us, metahumans such as ourselves had super-healing, even if it took hours to heal something like that.

It had also been six months since the singularity. 

Since Eddie had killed himself to wipe Wells/Eobard Thawne out of existence to save Barry and me.

I was on my own now. I thought it was better that way. It kept the people I cared about safe. It kept what happened with my family and what nearly happened with Joe, Cisco and Barry from happening again.

I was right to be afraid of my power before.

It destroyed more than it helped.

I destroyed everything before I even knew what happened.

~

At home in my loft, I was watching TV, on the news. "Flyra Day is almost here. A special downtown rally to honor the two superheroes who saved Central City. It's been six months since the Flash and Pyra saved Central City from the freak black hole that erupted in the sky."

I turned the TV off, knowing that the mayor was trying to give the Flash and Pyra keys to the city, but I just did not deserve it. I looked down, sighing, knowing that I wasn't going to go, either, as Pyra, or myself. 

I picked up my acoustic guitar, starting to play 'Cut the Rope' by Charlotte OC'. "It's too late / Too late / To be awake / It goes on and on / With every breath I take / Grass will grown and hearts will break / It goes on and one / With every breath I take / Now I'm running in circles / I'm losing it all / From something to nothing / Do the right thing / Let me fall / You're pushing me sideways / But you won't let go / And I know you're sorry / But do the right thing / Cut the rope and let me fall / It's too late / Too late to make mistakes / All flowed with all of my games / Tired and slow to erased the pain / But it goes on and on with every breath I take / I'm running in circles / I'm losing it all / From something to nothing / Do the right thing /  Let me fall / You're pushing me sideways but you won't let go / And I know you're sorry / But do the right thing / Cut the rope and let me fall / Roses to the flame / My love always turns to blame / And it's never enough / No, no, no, no / I'm running in circles / I'm losing it all / From something to nothing / Do the right thing / Let me fall / You're pushing me sideways but you won't let go / And I know you're sorry but do the right thing / Cut the rope and let me fall / Ooh ooh ooh ooh / Cut the rope and let me fall / Ooh ooh ooh ooh / Cut the rope and let me fall / Ooh ooh ooh ooh / Cut the rope and let me fall / Ooh ooh ooh ooh / Cut the rope and let me fall." I heard someone outside the door. "You can come in."

Barry opened the door, walking in. "You know, if there was any chance that you didn't want to be Pyra, you have a good future of a singer songwriter. But I doubt you would go that far. So, that's what you want us to do, huh? Cut the rope? Let you go?" I looked down. "You know, you can't hide flying with fire from the people from down below. People know that you're still working in secret. Still putting out fires you hear of from working at the fire department, so you know where to go, what to do and get out before I can get there. They still know that you're doing what we used to do together, Vera. But they've never seen Pyra. Or Vera, for that matter. Nobody has. Not even your closest friends."

"So, that's why you're here?" I asked. "You came to talk to me into going to the rally? 'Cause I'm--I'm not gonna go."

"People just want to thank you, Vera," Barry told me. 

"Well, I don't deserve to be thanked, Barry," I told him. "You should know that. Better than anyone."

Barry sighed, stepping closer. "What happened 15 years ago wasn't your fault. Whether you want to see it this way or not, you did not kill your family. It was an accident. Whatever happened, it wasn't on you. It was on Wells. Or Thawne. Or whatever." He put a flier for Flyra Day in my hand. "They believe in you, Vera. So do I."

I looked from the flier to Barry.

Barry nodded barely, turning around, walking out, leaving.

I looked at the flier, lost in thought, remembering what happened.

~

Six Months Ago

I used fire to fly, having Barry by the arms, flying up to the black hole, dodging all of the debris being pulled up into the singularity.

Barry ran around and around the inner edge of the black hole in the opposite direction to try to disrupt the motion.

I stayed below the entrance of the black hole, shooting never-ending flames into the middle of the vortex, at such a heat, power and strength that I had never done before, to try to overpower the energy level of the singularity, trying not to be pulled up inside and disappearing forever while doing so.

People and cars were pulled toward us. 

We could hear Cisco, Caitlin, Ronnie, Iris, Joe and Stein from below through Cisco's phone.

"Brilliant," Stein told us. "They've contained the singularity by adding to its angular momentum and overpowering its energy source."

"Guys, it's stabilizing," Cisco told us. "Keep doing what you're doing!"

"I'm not sure how much longer we can," Barry told us.

"Cisco, now what?" I asked.

"We have to merge the inner and outer even horizons," Stein answered.

"How do we do that?" Ronnie asked.

"By separating in the eye of it," Stein answered. "The amount of energy from the fissure should do the trick. It's our only hope, Ronald."

"Ronnie, no," Caitlin told him. "It's too dangerous. What if you can't escape the inrush?"

"Cait, we have to try," Ronnie told her.

After Ronnie and Professor Stein merged into Firestorm, his head and arms in flames, his eyes completely white, they used fire to fly up into the eye of the black hole.

"Ronnie," I told him. "Professor." Firestorm reached to the quantum splicer on his chest. "No!"

Firestorm ripped the quantum splicer off his chest, making it explode.

The explode made Barry and me both fall back toward the ground several hundred feet down below, making the black hole explode into nothing with it, making it disappear.

I used fire to fly while falling, grabbing Barry before he landed on the ground, looking up to see Stein falling toward us, catching Stein, flying to the ground below, landing safely. I let them go and let the fire fade into nothing. 

All of us were worn out and weak. We looked around.

Stein looked at us. "Ronald... Ronald..."

Barry shook his head.

Joe and Cisco ran closer, patting us on the shoulders.

Iris and Caitlin stopped behind them.

Caitlin started to cry.

"I'm so sorry," I told her.

Caitlin and I embraced.  Caitlin cried into my shoulder in despair that Ronnie was gone.

~

Now

I looked around the loft, realizing I was alone again, looking at the Flyra Day flier in my hand, sighing, looking away.

~

The next day was Flyra Day. They were having a parade in town square where everything that had been destroyed six months ago had been restored.

The mayor gave a speech. "Good morning, Central City. Last year, our city became ground zero for... some pretty weird stuff. We got a new breed from criminal. Men and women who defied not only our laws, but physics and reason. But we got something, too. We got the Flash, and Pyra." The crowd cheered and applauded. "Our wounds run deep, and I know many of you are afraid of what threats tomorrow may bring. But they don't just protect us. They restore hope where it was lost. That's why I'm honored to present keys to our city to the people who saved Central City. Flyra!"

The mayor held up the keys on a silver platter.

Barry, as the Flash, of course, zoomed up to the stage.

The crowd cheered and applauded.

I was on the a building high above them, watching, listening, as Pyra. I hesitated, not knowing if I really wanted to go up there, but deciding to go anywhere. I used fire to fly off of the building, toward the stage, landing next to Barry and the mayor, letting the fire fade into nothing.

The crowd cheered and applauded.

One half of the crowd chanted "Flash! Flash! Flash!" over and over again.

The other half of the crowd chanted "Pyra! Pyra! Pyra" over and over again.

They started to chant together. "Flyra! Flyra! Flyra!"

I waved.

Barry looked at me, smiling.

I looked at Barry. "Am I late?"

Barry chuckled, shaking his head. "Just in time."

Barry and I looked over the crowd, at the mayor.

"The doors to Central City will forever be open for you," the mayor told us, holding the platter with the two keys toward us.

Barry nodded, reaching for his.

People started to scream, alerting everyone.

"Look out!" Joe told us.

A large metal containment device was thrown toward the town square. I shot it with fire, making it burn in the air and disintegrate into nothing before it hit anyone. I looked toward where it had came from, seeing a man in black and a mask.

Barry looked at Joe. "We got this, all right?"

Joe nodded.

The man walked closer, pulling back his hood. "Pyra. The Flash. I hate to rain on your parade." 

Barry zoomed toward the man. The man backhand punched Barry with enough strength to send him sprawling onto the hood of a police car.

I shot fire at the man. It had no affect on him. The man took off his hoodie to show fire proof body armor, pushing a police car toward me as if it weight nothing. I used fire to fly above the the police car, flipping through the air to kick the man in the head, making him double over, landing in front of him, punching him in the mask with a fist of fire, standing him straight.

Cisco ran closer with a device.

Joe took it, took it at the man.

A small device shot out of the gun mechanism, wrapping itself around the man's ankle. The man grew so huge that he broke out of it.

I used both arms to throw fire at the man, making him stumble back in pain.

The man took off his mask.

"That's Al Rothstein," Joe told us. "The body we found at the nuclear plant, he's alive."

A new helmet grew around Al's head. He grabbed flammable barrels toward what remained of the crowd.

The rest of the crowd ran away screaming.

I used fire to fly toward the flammable barrels, catching them and flying them into the air, away from everybody else. They exploded, making me fall back to the ground.

Barry zoomed to catch me before I landed on the pavement.

I sighed, breathing heavily. "Thanks for the save."

"I'm starting to envy your invulnerability to fire," Barry told me.

I chuckled barely, standing.

We turned back to Al...

Who had disappeared.

~

I sat at my desk in the fire department, going through the latest fire records, marking them off one by one, knowing what started it and knowing how all of them stopped--me.

My computer beeped.

I looked up to see an alarm at STAR Labs had been tripped.

~

When I got to STAR Labs, it was to see Iris, Cisco, Stein, and Barry were here. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Working," Barry answered.

"So, Caitlin was right," Cisco told us.

Stein nodded. "Yes, all humans contain small amounts of radiation due to contact with cellphones, microwaves." I looked toward the door to see Joe leaning against the doorway. "Televisions, et cetera. Our bodies are natural conductors."

"I think our meta's been sucking up all the radiation around him and using it to power himself," Cisco told us.

"Which is why the x-ray machines at the hospital failed the day of the rally," Iris told us.

"So if we wanna find him, we gotta look for places without radiation," Cisco told us.

"All right, guys, I don't want any of you here right now," I told them. 

"Tough," Joe told me. "You need your partners. You need your friends."

"Vera, everyone in this room cares about you, but we also care about this city," Iris told me. "We all want to make a difference, and that means fighting metahumans, and that means working with Pyra. You can't deny us that. Not anymore."

I sighed.

"Got him," Cisco told us. "There's a three block dead zone near a hazardous waste reclamation plant. It should be blooming with rads, and right now, it's at zero."

"That's where you'll find the Atom Smasher," Stein told us. We looked at him. "Because he absorbs atomic power, and he, well, smashes."

"Come here," Cisco told him, hugging Stein. Barry chuckled. Cisco pulled away. "It's a great name. Welcome to the team."

"Thank you," Stein told him.

"Great, guys, thank you," I told them. "You can go now, all right?"

"Vera, we need to let Cisco and Stein figure out a way to stop this guy," Barry told me.

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

I walked out, getting my suit from the display case.

I had taken out the comm system from the suit months ago. So that I couldn't hear them and that they couldn't hear me.

~

As Pyra, I used fire to fly to the location where Al was.

"Well, this is a curve ball," Al told me. "I thought I was going to have to come looking for you."

I raised my arms in a shrug. "I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone else."

"I'm only here to hurt you," Al told me. "You and your Flash."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Flash isn't here right now. So you're stuck with me for the moment. But why'd you kill Albert Rothstein? And why do you look like him?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Al told me. 

I chuckled without humor. "Try me."

"I'm about to," Al told me, lunging toward me. I shot fire toward Al to keep him back. The suit he was wearing was what protected him from the flames. He pushed forward against them, yelling in exertion. I punched Al repeatedly with fists of fire, kicking him back, making him stumble away. Al turned to me. "My turn."

Al grew twice his size, gripping my throat, lifting me from the floor.

I raised my legs to kick him with fire. Al caught one, squeezing his huge, strong hand around it until it broke, strangling me, making me gasp, pushing my head against the wall repeatedly at superstrength, letting me go. I tried to walk, dizzy and lightheaded, unable to take a step, falling unconscious.

~

Flashback

Young Vera was in one of her foster homes after the fire, sitting at the table with another young blonde girl who looked of about 15 years old.

The foster care mother put a bowl of macaroni in front of Young Vera.

"No, thank you, Mrs. Spivot," Young Vera told her.

Mrs. Spivot looked at the 15 year old girl at the table. "Patty says mac and cheese is your favorite. And Patty's the only one you will talk to."

"I'm not hungry," Young Vera told them.

"It's been months, Vera," Mrs. Spivot told her. "And this is your fifth foster home. I don't know if you can keep this up."

Young Vera pushed the mac and cheese away.

Patty stood. "I got this, Mom." Mrs. Spivot nodded, walking out, leaving. Patty looked at Young Vera. "It's a good move, being angry all the time. I get it. You miss your mom and dad. You miss Kaylee and Josh. And you want to show them that you're strong. Being mad makes it easier. Tougher thing to do would be to let yourself feel. It's okay to be sad. You can be sad, Vera. They will understand if you're not strong all the time. I know that we're not your real family. And I know that nothing can replace them. But you got to let someone in, Vera. You wanna get better, right?" Young Vera stood, hugging Patty, leaning her head down, crying. Patty knelt in front of her, holding her. "It's okay, V. It's okay."

~

Now

I slowly woke up, remembering Al, trying to sit up and see what was going on.

Barry sat nearby, making me lie down again. "It's okay." 

I looked around, seeing that I was in STAR Labs' infirmary, and that the only one in here was Barry. "Where is everyone?"

"I figured you wouldn't want an audience when you came to," Barry told me. 

I scoffed softly, looking away. "Yeah, thanks." 

I started to stand up from the bed, stepping wrong on my leg, sitting back down, moaning slightly in pain.

"Forgot that Al broke your leg, huh?" Barry asked.

"Uh-huh," I answered, lying back down. "What happened with him, by the way?"

"He got away," Barry answered. I looked at him. "What? I was trying to get you out of there before he killed you. And you would take off again if he hadn't broken your leg, wouldn't you?"

I sighed. "Uh-huh. Just give me a few hours. I'll be healed enough to fly."

Barry sighed, shaking his head, looking down for a moment before looking up. "You know, I used to think that you wanted to be alone just because you wanted things to go back to the way they were before the fire that turned you into Pyra. But then I remembered that you hated that life. So why would you go back to it?"

"Barry, do we have to talk about this now?" I asked. "Now?"

"Well, you're not going anywhere, so we might as well," Barry told me. I sighed, looking away. "I see it now. You don't want to be alone. You want to protect everybody else by isolating yourself. You still blame yourself for Wells manipulating you into starting the fire 15 years ago. And manipulating you to--"

I looked at Barry. "To nearly killing Joe and Cisco? To nearly making you burn alive? To almost killing all of you. And Eddie killed himself because the Reverse-Flash was about to kill me. Like what happened to Ronnie." I used his words from the other night against him. "Whether you want to see it this way or not, I destroy more than I help."

Barry thought for a moment. "Tell me something. If you really thought that you are as bad as one of the metahumans that we had put in the pipeline, like Shawna, Bates, Nimbus, Mardon... Why haven't you become like any of them? Hmm? Why haven't you taken a trip over to the dark side?" I didn't answer, looking away. "Because that is not who you are. I realize now that you were only trying to keep us safe from you. But you are not a danger. At all. The danger is that you're out there all alone when you need your friends. Your team. Our team. If you keeping going like this, you're going to get yourself killed. And you know it. When are you gonna realize that you're not as bad as you think you are?"

I looked up. "Well--"

"Don't answer that," Barry told me. I smirked, looking away. "But you got to let someone in, Vera."

I sighed, looking down. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I know that Wells left STAR Labs to you in his will," Barry told me.

"I don't know why," I told him. "I destroyed his life. Took his power. Future me, anyway."

"Well, he didn't leave it to future you," Barry told me. "He left it to now you. And he said that he came to look at us with pride and love, instead of the hate that he felt for us before all of this happened. And he left me something, too."

Barry took out a flashdrive.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's, uh..." Barry trailed off. "Apparently, in case of his death, this video was supposed to be sent to me. It was apart of his living will."

"And you haven't watched it yet?" I asked.

"No," Barry answered. "No, I've... been too afraid."

"You?" I asked. "Afraid? What alternate universe is this?" Barry smiled a small smile. "What if we watched it together?"

Barry nodded. "All right."

Barry turned to the computer behind him, plugging the flash drive in, playing the video.

Wells sat down in his chair, pulling off his glasses. "Hello, Barry. Hello, Vera. If you're watching this, that means something has gone horribly wrong. I'm dead and the last 15 years have been for nothing. Bummer. 15 years. You know, when I realize that in all those years, helping raise you, we were never truly enemies. Were we? I'm not the thing you hate. I know that what Vera hates most is the truth about what happened in the fire that killed her family. And how it could so easily happen again under different circumstances. I can't help that. Not while I'm dead. But you, Barry, I want to give you the thing that you want most. It won't matter. You two will never be truly happy, trust me. I know you. Now..." He cleared his throat, putting his glasses on. "Erase everything I said up to this point. Give the following message to the police. My name is Harrison Wells. Being of sound, mind and body, I freely confess to the murder of Nora Allen." Barry and I were in shock. "In her home, on the night of October 7th, in the year 2000. I attacked Nora Allen in her dining room."

"Oh, my God," I told him.

"I stabbed her in the chest with a large butcher knife."

"He confessed," I told him.

"This is it," Barry told me, chuckling in relief. "This is what I need to free my dad." 

Barry looked at me, smiling. 

I smiled a small smile. 

~

After a few hours, my leg had healed completely.

I was standing in the Cortex with Stein, Caitlin, Iris and Cisco.

Barry walked in.

"Is it good news?" Caitlin asked.

"I think so," Barry answered.

"Henry's coming home?" Iris asked.

Barry smiled, nodding.

Iris and Barry embraced, smiling, pulling away.

"Okay, then that still leaves Atom Smasher to deal with," I told them.

"Last time you faced him, it did not go well," Stein told us.

"No, it did not," I agreed. "I clearly can't stop him by myself. So how are we gonna beat him?"

"Well, ever since I was shown the drain radiation, which I haven't been able to stop thinking about," Caitlin told us. "Thank you, Cisco."

Cisco pretended not to notice the sarcasm. "You're welcome, Caitlin."

"If this guy likes radiation so much, I say we give it to him," Caitlin told us.

Barry and I exchanged a look, nodding.

~

Cisco had made the symbol that had been on the Flyra Day parade and fliers. The Flash's lightning bolt crossing over Pyra's flaming star symbol.

He had also made it into a light that we could shine up into the sky to signal Al.

Barry and I were as Flash and Pyra. 

Al walked toward us.

"What's up?" Barry asked. 

I turned off the light. "See you got our message."

We could hear the others through the comm system.

"That light was perfect bait," Caitlin told us. "What made you think of that?"

"I don't know," Cisco told us. "I think I saw it in a comic book somewhere."

I raised my arms in a shrug, looking at Al. "You want us? You're gonna have to catch us."

I used fire to fly above their heads, shooting through the sky.

Barry followed at zoom speed.

Al followed at normal speed.

"It's working, guys," Cisco told us. "Al's following you."

"I must say, he's quite agile for a man his size," Stein told us.

"Come on," Cisco told us.

I flew down a tube on a roof of the building, waiting in a chamber.

Barry zoomed in, stopping next to me.

Al crashed in, shattering everything. He walked into the chamber. "Didn't think I could catch you, huh?"

"No, we knew you could," Barry told him. "Now, Cisco!"

The door behind Al closed.

I grabbed Barry, using fire to fly out through the tube in the ceiling to the roof.

The tube closed after us.

Barry and I stood on the roof, listening to the alarm beeping from inside.

"The amount of radiation about to flood that room--" Caitlin started

"Atom Smasher won't be able to absorb it all," Stein finished.

Barry took my hand, looking at me, zooming us down into the building below so we could see through the window in the door leading to the chamber.

Al was absorbing tons of radiation. He shrunk back to his normal size until he lowered to his knees.

"The radiation's been cleared," Cisco told us. "It's safe for you to go in."

I hit the button to open the door.

Barry and I walked in.

Barry knelt next to Al. "I'm sorry. We couldn't let you hurt anyone else."

Al gasped for breath.

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you want to kill us?"

Al gasped for breath. "They promised they'd take me home if I did what they asked."

"Who?" Barry asked. "Who promised you that?"

"Zoom and Phoenix," Al answered, closing his eyes.

Barry and I exchanged a confused look.

~

Today was the day that Henry Allen was officially a free man.

Stein, Clarissa, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Joe and I were waiting for Barry and Henry in the West house when they walked in, all of us cheering. "Welcome home!"

Barry closed the door behind them.

Joe and Henry hugged, pulling away.

Barry and Iris embraced, pulling away.

We started to cut into cake. 

Caitlin and Henry hugged, pulling away.

"Come on, Vera, play us a song," Barry told me.

"No, no, no," I told them. They started to cheer. I sighed, giving in after a moment. "Fine. Somebody got a guitar?"

Joe pulled an acoustic out of the closet, handing it to be. "I was never any good at it anyway. Then again, I never had the free time to practice like you had."

I sighed, sitting down, starting to play 'Renegades' by X Ambassadors. "Run away with me / Lost souls in revelry / Running wild and running free / Two kids, you and me / And I said, Hey / Hey, hey, hey / Like we're renegades / Hey, hey, hey / Hey, hey, hey / Living like we're renegades / Renegades / Renegades." Everyone smiled and drank champagne and ate cake, chatting quietly as I continued the song. "Long lie the pioneers / Rebels and mutineers / Go forth and have no fear / Come close and lend an ear."

Joe started singing the verse. "And I said hey / Hey, hey, hey / Living like we're renegades / Hey, hey, hey / Hey, hey, hey / Living like we're renegades / Renegades / Renegades."

Barry sat next to me, starting to sing. "All hail the new kids / All hail the outlaws / Spielbergs and Kubricks." I smiled a small smile, continuing to play. "It's our time to make a move / It's our time to make amends / It's our time to break the rules / Let's begin."

I stopped playing the guitar, singing a cappella. Joe and Barry sang with me. "And I said hey / Hey, hey, hey / Hey, hey, hey / Living like we're renegades / Hey, hey, hey / Hey, hey, hey / Living like we're renegades / Renegades / Renegades."

Everyone clapped and cheers.

I stood, handing the guitar to Joe.

Iris stood, embracing me, pulling away.

I smiled more convincingly this time.

"That was beautiful," Henry told us, giving us both a hug, pulling away.

Stein clinked his glass. "Everyone gather around, please." Everyone else gathered behind Iris and me. "Looking at all of you, thinking how far we've all come, and remembering those who are no longer with us, I'm reminded of a Hebrew word used during times of graduation. Kadima. It means, 'Forward'." Stein raised his glass. "Forward."

We all raised our glass. "Forward."

Cisco and Caitlin clinked their glasses, drinking.

Stein and Clarissa clinked their glasses, drinking.

Iris and I clinked our glasses, drinking.

Barry and Henry clinked their glasses, drinking.

Joe took a drink, looking at Stein. "Well said."

"Thank you," Stein told him.

Barry and Henry walked into a side room to talk alone.

~

Henry wasn't staying. Because he didn't want to distract Barry from being the Flash that Central City needed him to be.

The next day, everyone else met up in the Cortex at STAR Labs.

Barry and Jo walked in.

"Hey," Caitlin told them.

"Hey, guess what?" Cisco asked. "I added a little upgrade to your suits." We looked at the suits to see that they were exactly as they were in the photo from the future. "It's just like from the future newspaper Gideon showed us. I was thinking, you know, you shouldn't fear the future, anymore, right?"

"No," I agreed. "And it will be here faster than we think."

"Oh, by the way, Barry, your suit is now heat and fire resistant," Cisco told him. I looked at Cisco. Cisco held up his hands innocently. "Not because of what happened. Just in case."

I nodded, looking away, to Barry.

Barry smiled a small smile.

"Well, see, I like it," Stein told us.

"And STAR Labs is now safer than ever," Caitlin told us. "Increased security and surveillance."

"Re coded, double firewalled, electronic lock sets," Cisco told us. "Nothing is gonna get in here without us knowing."

"So people can't just waltz in and out of here," Iris told us.

"Exactly," Cisco told us. A brunette man and a redheaded woman walked in. "For real?"

Joe aimed the gun at the man and the woman. "Stay where you are."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You don't know us," the woman told us. "But we know you. Barry Allen. Vera Mitchell."

The man stepped closer.

"Take one more step, it'll be the last step you take," Joe told him.  "The girl asked you a question. Who the hell are you?"

The man stepped closer. "My name is Jay Garrick. This is Quinn Tate. And your world is in danger."

We looked at them in confusion.