Chapter Thirty-Seven: My Sweet Nora; Barry West-Allen

Dedicated to AgentofDreams989 and JoshuaSmith943 for all of their amazing support of my work! Thanks so much guys!

Unknown,

Unknown,

Barry's head rang loudly like the inside of a clock tower's bell, his thoughts as chaotic and jumbled as they'd ever been.

And while it would've been that way from everything that he'd just seen moments before, this was a literal ringing, as his head had just dented the far wall of the Cortex.

He looked over at Nora, to make sure that his daughter was okay, who was still on the ground, but conscious and stirring.

She's okay.

The Green Arrow backflipped over the console in front of him (which seemed unnecessarily showboatish to Barry) and landed in front of him, his bow raised with the tip pointed at the speedster's head. He said no words, just staring at him from beneath his emerald green mask.

Why would the Speed Force send Oliver to attack me?

Cicada casually walked around the large desk, moving over to where Nora laid on the floor. She quickly grabbed her by the throat, Nora gasping for air as she was slammed upright against the wall.

" Nora!" Barry cried, worriedly.

I can't let her get hurt! Not like the others!

Barry tried to speed to her, but Oliver's arrow landed in his shoulder, the one opposite to the one the archer had shot earlier.

" Aahhh!" he cried, stumbling backwards and back onto the ground.

" Focus on your fight Barry, you already failed to save her, to save anyone." The Arrow stated coldly from behind him.

Barry looked up at Nora, who (while beginning to get light headed as she ran out of air) gave him a slight nod.

She has a plan.

" Now fight me, Barry!" Oliver yelled, raising his bow to Barry's spine, an angry fire flickering in his eyes.

Barry just laid there, waiting for his que as he intently watched his daughter.

Come on Nora...

" Aww, little Nora having some breathing issues? Like you gave my father?" Cicada taunted, smiling sinisterly as she pressed her enemy further against the Cortex's exterior.

Nora threw her phasing fist flying backwards into the wall, causing debris and dust to come flying out of it and into straight into Grace's eyes.

" Argh!" she shouted, stumbling backwards, while also losing her grip on Nora, as the hero dropped back onto her feet.

The young speedster quickly speed punched Grace right in the side of the face, causing her to fly backwards and into Cisco's nearby work station, Nora taking the momentary breather to regain her breath.

As for Barry, the distraction was just what he needed. He flung his right foot outward and connected it with Oliver's knee, causing him to wince in pain as he lost his angle on his shot. The projectile missed Barry by mere inches as the hero did a double take, pulling the arrow out of his shoulder.

" I doubt that I can talk any sense into you," Barry started, as he stood up, facing who he would always consider to be his mentor, and best friend.

" But could you please tell me exactly what your problem is?!"

The Green Arrow shot an arrow at Barry's feet, gray smoke instantly beginning to pour out of it, consuming his vision.

"Uh oh," Barry thought, as he tried to see through the smoke, unable to find anyone or anything. This isn't good.

A foot abruptly broke through the cloud, connecting itself with Barry's stomach. As he reeled backwards, Barry used his speed to do a retaliative punch, but was only met with air.

" I already told you Barry," came Oliver's voice, echoing from what seemed like all directions at once.

Another blow landed on Barry's side, and then his leg, and then his chest.

The hero could feel himself getting worn down, slowly being chipped away at by Oliver's relentless assault.

I need to be able to at least see him, or else there's no way that I can beat him!

An idea suddenly formed inside Barry's head, and he wasted no time acting on it.

As soon as Oliver's next blow connected, Barry immediately started twirling his arms around in tight-knit circles, creating two cyclones of air that blew all the smoke away, along with knocking The Arrow backwards and sending him sliding across the ground.

The Archer immediately jumped back upright though, already releasing a torrent of explosive arrows his friend's way.

Barry dodged them left and right, racing around the room in order to avoid the explosions.

" Look out!" he shouted to Nora, grabbing her by the arm and throwing her out of the way on his way past, a series of explosions occupying where his daughter had been only seconds prior.

Cicada, who she had been fighting, was not so lucky though. An arrow stabbed her right in the leg, before loudly exploding and sending her flying backwards.

" AAGGHH!!!" Grace cried as she was thrown clear across the room and out of view.

" You can't escape your fears, Barry!" Oliver shouted as he continued to lay down his barrage. Barry slowed down time as he ducked and weaved past two more arrows, which blew apart the wall behind him in slow motion, before he then grabbed a third one, throwing it back at its attacker as time resumed to normal.

The Arrow rolled to the side, escaping the initial blast, but getting covered by rubble from the wall and ceiling that had been so lucky.

" Is he down?" Nora asked shakily, as she stood up from under the table that she had ducked under for cover during the ring of explosions that had blanketed the room only moments prior.

" Not for long," her father panted, staring at the already stirring pieces of debris.

Why does... this Oliver... have to be... just as strong as mine?

" Perfect, then you'll have more one-on-one time with me." Cicada grinned, apparating in front of both of the speedsters.

" And by the way," she grinned, pulling both her arms back, her dual glowing weapons clasped in both of her hands.

" I'd be scared if I were you."

She flung both daggers outward, now locked onto their two targets.

Barry (having the faster reflexes of the two) grabbed a nearby medical chart, using it to swat away the projectile headed towards Nora, while throwing the board in the way of his own. While both daggers bounced off, they quickly began a turnaround assault, Grace now moving in to attack too.

" Dad, I think that it's time to go!" Nora shouted panickedly, as she quickly took a few steps back, a raging Cicada moving straight towards the pair.

" Couldn't agree more!" Barry agreed hurriedly, watching as all of their villain's attacks came ever closer to them.

The two speedsters blasted right out of the Cortex as they left their villains behind, leaving Cicada and The Arrow to regroup while they did the same.

The two ran straight to the Time Vault, quickly securing themselves inside the timetanium-reinforced vault with the hopes that maybe their enemies wouldn't know how to find them (although in all honesty, Barry highly doubted that that would be the case).

The mixed-mashed space of the room was probably the weirdest thing that Barry had seen since they had come to the Speed Force.

The pristine white and silver walls of his time mixed with the dusty, worn rusted color of Nora's. Various dusty tarps and packing boxes floated past them, filled with 'old' (or old for 2049) relics from the past, such as torn Flash suits, a few team photos, and the like.

And the red light that ran through the space seemed strong, stronger than it had in the last two rooms, illuminating the entire room with its strong, foreboding glow.

We're either getting closer to somewhere better, or someplace much worse.

Barry breathed heavily, not only from the fight that they'd just been through, but also from the weight of everything that he'd had to relive just before that.

He hadn't been able to save his father, his mother, Iris.

Thawne, Zoom, Savitar, each in their own way, they'd won. It may not have seemed like it at the time, but each one of them had taken a piece of him with them to the grave, and the longer and longer Barry was The Flash, the more and more pieces of his heart he'd lost along the way.

Barry swallowed hard, remembering his most recent failure. Nora.

I couldn't even save her.

Everytime someone had come after his family, he'd failed to save them.

He looked over at his daughter, who was quietly pacing back and forth, muttering something to herself as she held her hands to her head, her breath short and panicked.

She was clearly having a break-down.

I've got to get through to her somehow.

" Nora," Barry said, quietly at first.

Nora still kept moving back and forth, muttering to herself as her breath continued to quicken.

" Nora?" he said, a little louder this time.

She suddenly stopped pacing, looking at the wall across from her as her back was turned to him.

" What?" she croaked, pain in her voice.

I hate hearing her this way.

" If it's about what happened earlier, then it's okay. None of that is your..."

" Are you going to say that none of it is my fault?" she snapped, cutting him off.

" Because guess what dad?!" Nora exclaimed, turning and facing him directly, her eyes watery and red as tears fell down the sides of her cheeks.

" It is! It's all my fault! Thawne, Zolomon, Savitar, Orlin, Grace, they're all my fault! I created or released every single one of them because of my own selfish need to see you again! Everyone who's died because of them, every little thing they've done has only one person to blame, and that is me!" Nora cried, stressing the last words as they came out rawly.

" Nora, that's not true! None of what any of them do is on you," Barry protested, though his words went unheard as his daughter continued to spiral.

" Getting us trapped in this awful place!" she shouted, angrily kicking the wall with a burst of her purple and orange speed, lightly denting the metal as small weak sparks of the colorful electricity lingered for a few brief seconds.

" That's on me too! For actually believing that there was some small shred of kindness in a murderer! I should've never trusted him in the first place! Now you're stuck in here, with no way of getting out, just because I'm so native I couldn't tell he was lying to me! When anyone is!" Nora cried sadly.

Barry felt like he could almost see her heart starting to beat out of her chest as she continued to hold her hands to the side of her head,

I have to stop her now!

" Nora, please! Calm down!" Barry pleaded, fear and worry rushing through his entire body as he watched his daughter break down.

I can't let her go through this for something that isn't her fault!

" You and mom!" Nora yelled, throwing her hands down emotionally, causing her father to take a few steps back himself.

" What? Nora what are you talking abou..."

" Since day one, day one, that I got here," Nora stated, her voice suddenly becoming lower, tears now steadily streaming down the side of her face,

" All I have done is make your guys' lives miserable." she croaked.

" Don't you even think that for a second," Barry said teary eyed himself, trying to move in to grab her and give her a hug, but she pulled away from him, her painful eyes telling him more than words could.

" I pushed mom away, I blamed her for things that she hadn't even done yet, right from the start. She gave me love, and, and I threw it back in her face and rejected it! All she wanted to do was show me how much she cared, how much she loved me, and my own selfishness and spite got in the way."

" Nora, you know that's not true. Your Mom and I know you love us more than anything." Barry pleaded again, trying to talk his daughter off of the cliff she was currently hanging off of.

It broke his heart to see her melt down this way, and he would've given anything to make all of her pain go away.

" And you!" Nora shouted again, her voice rising, now looking him directly in the eyes.

The raw pain that shone through immediately reminding him of all the ones he'd had to see since he'd locked her in that Pipeline cell.

" You were my hero! My dad! I came back here to see you for the first time, to actually get to know you! To actually have at least one memory with my father in it! But when I got here, all I was told was that I wasn't good enough!"

" What?" Barry stuttered, taken aback.

" I came here with all of my good and bad, because I know that I'm far from perfect, and tried to let you see me for who I was, because you're my father! I wanted to know you, for you to know me! But all you've done at every chance that you get is push me away! Keep me at arms distance! Tell me that I'm not good enough! That I'm not good enough for you! That I'm not good enough for you not to leave me!"

Barry was so struck by her words, so stunned by her outburst, that despite his heart crying out that it wanted to pour so much heartfelt love and reassurement out to her, that he just stood frozen in place, tears slowly dripping down his cheek.

How did I fail her so badly?

She wiped away some of her tears, turning away from him so he couldn't see her cry anymore, as her voice suddenly became as quiet as a whisper.

" But it's not your fault, or mom's, or anyone but mine. I'm the one who's caused every problem this year, for all of you. I'm the problem. Not Orlin, or Grace, or Thawne. Me."

" And I never should burdened you by forcing my way into your life. You're right, I'm no hero. I'm so sorry dad," Nora wept, burying her head in her hands as she slumped against the Time Vault's wall, sliding down to the ground as her whole body shook with sorrow.

How can she feel this way about anything? About herself? Did I... did I really make her feel this way?

" Nora, you are none of those things!" Barry started frantically, desperate to help his daughter.

" Do you hear me?" he said as he rushed over to her.

" None of them! You are the best person that I've ever..."

But as Barry reached his hand out to touch her, to give her a warm embrace, to just tell his daughter that everything was going to be okay, he was cut off by a thick cloud of red mist.

It was different from the last two times. This time it almost felt heavy, dense, as if it had gained strength since the last time that it had appeared. Pressing down on his chest like an insurmountable weight. It howled all around him, roughing brushing across his face as it took him into another memory.

And one other thing that was different this time around, was that he was alone. He didn't see Nora, his Nora, anywhere.

Around him appeared the familiar walls of the Cortex, all back in the normal colors and shapes that he had called home for the last five years.

In it, stood Nora on one side of the room, and Barry, Iris, and the others across from her.

Nora stood frozen, her mouth stuttering open as she tried to will herself to say something, anything, although no noise escaped.

Not this again. It was hard enough to go through the first time.

" Nora, are you okay?" Iris asked, looking concerned.

Nora tried again, nothing but a small squeak coming out as she tried to speak as tears sparkled in her brown eyes.

Cecile's eyes went wide momentarily, before she spoke for Nora.

" Nora has something that she wants to tell us." deduced Cecile, using her telepathy powers to feel her granddaughter's emotions.

" Nora, is that true? Do you have something that you need to tell us?" Iris asked again, growing concern filling her about the worry that had suddenly overtaken her daughter.

Something seemed different about this memory than the way that Barry remembered it.

It seemed claustrophobic, like the walls were slowly beginning to close in around him.

A loud heartbeat, Nora's heartbeat, almost drowned out all noise around him, as it slowly beat faster and faster. Iris and Cecile's words seemed to echo, as if he was hearing their words ten-fold all around him, somehow .

The feelings of pressure and panic, Nora's feelings, growing more and more intense with each passing second.

" I'm in Nora's memory," he thought, as he looked over at the past version of his daughter.

" So just like with the memory that Iris and I saw a few months back, it'll be from her view. How she saw it happen."

Nora heard her mother's words, but seemed to be barely able to register them as she just stood frozen in front of the crowd of her friends and family, all waiting anxiously to hear what was wrong with their friend.

" I..." Nora trailed off, her words catching in her throat as her eyes met her father's.

" She wants to tell you her secret." Sherloque announced with an air of knowingness, entering from behind the others.

" Don't you, Nora?"

He could see, no, feel, the chill go up her spine as she completely froze, her heart squeezing tightly in her chest, because she knew what was about to happen.

" Secret?" asked Iris, confusedly.

" Yes, her secret." Sherloque began, starting to circle Nora like a shark circles its prey.

" Sherloque," Nora quietly pleaded to him, of which he took no more care than a slight side-eye before pressing forward.

" I want them to hear it from me." echoed Nora's voice. An inner self-thought.

" They have to hear it from me."

" The secret that she has been hiding from you for months, since the moment that she has arrived."

All of the people in the doorway's expression changed from confused to worried, and raw panic quickly formed in Nora's chest, and subsequently, in Barry's as well.

" The true reason why she came here in the first place, the reason that she appeared at the Enlightenment. Because she had help." Sherloque continued, hanging the prospect of his findings dangling just out of reach to the rest of Team Flash.

Nora's heart beat faster and faster, building up to an impressive level even for a speedster.

" A person pulling the strings, the mastermind behind all of this. Who is none other than..." he said, stopping his pacing next to Nora, getting ready for his big reveal.

Nora's watery eyes frantically shot to her friends, her mom, her dad, who all stood listening for the shoe to drop.

She especially looked to Barry in that brief moment, the stunned disbelief at what he was hearing evident on his face.

And above all, Barry could feel his daughter's fear.

" Sherloque," Nora begged again, barely having a voice.

He turned and looked her down, clearly a little perturbed at being interrupted.

" Please," she whispered, pouring every ounce of strength she had into the single tiny word that escaped her lungs.

The detective took a moment before speaking again, now whether that was for dramatic emphasis, or because he was genuinely contemplating his decision, it didn't appear that Nora knew any better than Barry himself did, although he would bet on the former.

" Eobard Thawne." Sherloque stated, staring right at Nora, coldy.

Nora's already tense muscles completely locked up, not even able to move a finger, as the world around her began to spin.

She looked into her hurt and betrayed friends eyes, all of which were either sadly turned away, or wore a mixture of anger/pity.

" Mom," she pleaded, looking at Iris, whose expression of disbelief and shock burned brighter than anyone else's present, clearly devastated from the realization.

" Dad," she said, looking over at Barry, who not only looked hurt as well, tears filling his eyes just like Iris', but also one of anger, betrayal. Of rage.

" Please, no more." the real Barry begged, already knowing that it was futile, as he couldn't change the memories here any more than he could undo them back in the real world.

Before Nora could speak again, or anyone could for that matter, Memory Barry grabbed her and threw her in the Pipeline, angrily locking the door behind him, as he stormed off without another word, unable to even look at the person who was closest to his heart, that had just betrayed his trust.

" Dad! Dad!" Nora called out desperately, watching as he walked away.

" I'm sorry that I lied to you!"

He turned around, betrayal, anger, and sorrow covering the face that had once held the unshakable love for his daughter.

" So am I."

And then he sped off, leaving Nora to herself, who slumped down against the wall of her cell, weeping heavily as she buried her head in between her knees, almost curling up into a ball.

Barry knelt down next to her, trying to put a comforting hand on her back even though he knew that she couldn't feel it.

It had been so hard to watch the first time, let alone a second. And it hadn't been any better being able to experience Nora's side of it either.

While he still didn't agree with her choices, he was at least finding it easier to sympathize with her reasoning for working with Thawne, something that he still hadn't done before coming here.

I just wish I'd taken that moment to look at it from her side before it came to everything that followed.

Nora and the Pipeline disappeared in front of him, instead being replaced by the Cortex again. This time everyone (aside from Sherloque) was present again, all eyes completely on Nora.

" And that's what happened leading up to me coming here." Nora finished, looking around at the crowd around her.

This is when she explained herself to us, soon after the last memory.

Everyone's expressions were mostly the same, deep in contemplation as they processed the story that they had just been told, trying to decide whether they believed her or not. Except for two people.

Despite still looking hurt, Iris seemed to have already made up her mind on the subject. She had been very vocal in advocating for her daughter, and it seemed that after hearing the full story from her directly, her opinion went unwavered, believing in and trusting her with as much certainty as a mother could.

And then Barry, whose look seemed more final than the uncertain others.

Why do I have to already know why that is?

" Guys, can I talk to Nora alone for a moment?"

Everyone nodded, slowly leaving the tense situation.

" Of course," agreed Iris, throwing a half-smile Nora's way before turning and leaving with the others.

Nora looked hopeful, the general tone around them reflecting that as well (since it was her memory).

" Are we about to make up?" echoed her thoughts.

" Was I just worrying about nothing? Does he understand why I did what I did now?"

" If only I had Nora."

" How many times?"

" What?" she asked, slightly confused.

" How many times did you go back to him?"

Nora thought for a moment, running through her head all the talks that she'd had with Thawne over the past months, his words of wisdom and advice he'd given her being the only things she;d been able to trust in her life at that point. Only it continued long after it wasn't.

" Eight, maybe ten."

" Even after you found out what he did to my mother?" Barry questioned, bitterly.

Nora winced in pain, each of his words amplifying the mountain of guilt that consumed her thoughts.

" Look," he sighed.

" I can understand you looking for help after you first got your powers, even going to him," the speedster straining to say that last part.

" But you kept going back, again and again, even when he wasn't the only option that you had for help."

While he may not have been shouting, his tone carried more than enough weight with it to tell her how hurt he was.

" Why?"

Nora (and subsequently Barry, as he could feel what she did) felt a lump in her throat as she tried to speak, so overwhelmed with regret and guilt, and unable to even think of the words she could say to make up for all the lies she had told him. If that had even been possible.

" I'm sorry." she whispered, with every ounce of sincerity that she had.

Memory Barry shook his head sadly, looking down at the ground as he did so.

" Okay, let's go."

" Go?"

" Yeah, there's somewhere that I need to take you," he said, grabbing her hand softly and leading her through the entrance of the Cortex.

Barry could feel her spark of hope, the glimmer of light in all of the darkness that had seemed to be surrounding her, that maybe her Dad was about to give her one of his amazing superhero advice speeches before they hugged it out, letting everything go back to the way it had been before Thawne had ever enter either of their lives.

When they were just together, father and daughter. Happy.

Why couldn't that have been the way that it happened?

The surroundings shifted again, 2049's Central City Plaza coming into view, and very soon after, Memory Barry and Nora.

Nora looked around at her familiar surroundings, confusion slowly spreading across her face as she realized where they were.

" Dad, why are we..."

" I'm sorry Nora, but I can't have anyone on the team that I can't trust." Memory Barry told her, anger and sorrow still cemented on his face.

" What? No! Dad!" Nora protested, though her father ignored her as he pushed forwards.

" If you try to travel back in time I will sense it."

"Dad, please! I promise that I won't lie again! I'll never see Thawne again!" she pleaded desperately, as she held one of his hands tightly, never wanting to let it go.

" I can't lose you again Dad!" boomed Nora's thoughts.

"Goodbye Nora", he said, a sense of finality in his voice as he looked down at her for the last time, before he sped off, leaving her standing alone in the middle of the city, the cold midnight air blowing across her face.

The sea of emotions that hit Barry was stronger than he ever could've expected, her thoughts blasting like rockets all around him, strong, loud and chaotic. One thing piercing through all of the pain, sorrow, guilt.

He left me.

Barry felt overwhelmed by everything that he was feeling, by what she was feeling. A sense of complete loneliness.

Why? Of all the ways that I could've handled this, why did I go and do this? What if my dad, or Joe, did this to me?

The fog returned, sweeping the devastated Nora away, along with the nighttime lights and sounds of 2049. In their place, came a worn and rusted time vault, boxes and boxes of memories littered everywhere, including a clothing rack of superhero uniforms, one of which was Iris's suit (which would soon become Nora's).

In the center of the room was an excited Nora, taking in all of the things around her in awe.

She picked up one of several uniform boxes from a nearby rack, all of which had Barry's Flash emblem on them. After brushing the dust off of the lid, she opened it to find a small ring, wearing the same emblem from before.

The same one that she would give to her father when she went back in time to meet him, and that contained his latest Flash suit.

As she pocketed the ring, she saw the rack of superhero suits across from her, and her face lit up with wonder as she looked over them, recognizing each and every one of them from all of the time she'd spent loving The Flash and superheroes in general.

She was immediately drawn to Iris's suit, the young woman lightly brushing her hand up against the cloth as she felt the jacket that her mom had worn so many years ago.

Something made Barry smile knowing that she chose her mother's suit as her own superhero costume.

She's so much like her Mom, in all of the best ways.

Nora's eye caught an odd clothed pillar standing at the far end of the room, carefully putting back the suit as she walked towards it.

She pulled the sheet off of it, dust flying everywhere from something that probably hadn't been touched in decades.

As she looked around for some kind of activation switch, the lights above her turned on, slowly illuminating the room until Gideon appeared in front of her, her blue robotic hologram suspended across from Nora.

" Hello Nora West-Allen, how may I be of assistance?" she said, rather cheerily for an AI.

" Um hi," said a still awed Nora, " You know who I am?"

" Of course. Nora West-Allen. Daughter of Barry and Iris West-Allen."

Nora's smile grew even bigger, clearly excited that the futuristic AI in front of her knew who she was.

" Also known as, The Flash." Gideon finished.

Nora's smile quickly faded, being replaced with a look of complete disbelief and shock.

" What, so you're telling me, that my dad, Barry West-Allen, is The Flash?" she said, blinking in disbelief.

" Would you like me to play your video message Nora West-Allen?" Gideon replied, barely noting Nora's question.

" My, my video message?" she stuttered.

" Yes, from your father, Barry Allen."

" Y, yes." she answered, still completely stunned by her newfound revelation.

" A video message for me?"

Gideon disappeared, a holographic video forming in her place.

Barry stood unmasked in his Flash suit, a dark inhospitable landscape behind him, his eyes worn and watery as he looked into the camera that he clutched with every bit of the little strength he had left.

" Nora," he said, lovingly, although with a clear sense of dread in his voice.

" Nora, if you're watching this, then that means that something went wrong..."

An explosion rang out behind him, Barry jerking his head to listen to some inaudible orders being shouted in the background.

Nora watched the scene wide eyed and worriedly, intent on hearing every single word that the father she'd never known said.

" If you're watching this, then that means that you're like me." he smiled, tears in his eyes as he nodded his head lightly.

" You have powers."

Nora started breathing heavily, hanging onto every word that he said.

" That also means that I wasn't there to teach you how to use them. I wasn't there for a lot of things."

Nora's eyes began to water, her mouth open in shock as she stared up at her father.

His eyes glowed again, his love for his daughter clearly shining through the darkness around him.

" Remember, my sweet Nora, always remember, I love you, and I always will." her father smiled lovingly.

And in that moment, more than anything, Nora wished that she could've heard that from her father in person, rushed into a loving embrace with him and told him how much she loved him too.

Another explosion boomed loudly, closer this time, Barry quickly reaching down to his wrist and cutting the camera, leaving Nora alone once more.

Nora stepped backwards, her mouth still hanging open as she blinked the wet tears out of her eyes. She looked all around her, overwhelmed by what she had just seen, somehow never being able to look at the things around her, at the people she knew, at anything, the same again.

Barry stared at his hurting daughter's face, and even without being able to feel her emotions, he already knew what she was feeling.

The same thing that he had felt so many times in his life.

She wanted to see her father. She wanted to see him. And not even again, but for the first time.

What have I done? All she wanted to do was meet me, to get to know me, but I pushed her away. She has so much love and kindness in her heart, and wanted to share that with me, for me to share it with her, to actually have a father, and I shut her out. She made one mistake, one similar to ones that I've made, and then I threw her aside instead of helping her work through it. The person that she loved and looked up to more than anyone in the world gave up on her. What kind of father am I?

The stunned and overwhelmed Nora disappeared into the fog again, but the Time vault didn't this time. It changed back into its twisted form that he and Nora had been in earlier, Nora, his Nora, still exactly where he had left her, still looking just as crushed and defeated as before.

It didn't seem like she had even seen that he had left, or maybe he had only left for a split second before returning there.

Either way that doesn't change anything.

" You should just leave," Nora cried, her back now turned to him as she stood facing the wall.

" You deserve to be out there with the others."

" Nora, I'm not going anywhere without you." Barry said compassionately, standing right behind her.

" I'm where I need to be, alone, where I can't hurt anyone else. Where I can't ruin anyone else's lives. I may be too late to stop Thawne, or Grace, or myself from hurting you and mom, but I'm not going to keep making things worse." Nora told him, unable to even look her father in the eyes.

" We are both getting out of here," he stated softly, turning her around so that he could look at her. The pain in her eyes was evident, bloodshot red and teary.

" And you don't deserve any of what you're putting yourself through," he pleaded.

" No dad, you were right. I'm no hero." she said heartbrokenly, tears running down the sides of her cheeks.

You're more of a hero than I've ever been Nora.

A red blur suddenly cut between them, standing there as his blurred form vibrated and red lightning sparked from him, a set of bright burning red eyes glowing menacingly behind the yellow-suited man's mask.

The Reverse Flash.

Nora let out a slight yelp of shock when he first arrived, staring down at her menacingly.

" Hey!" Barry shouted, causing the figure to turn his head.

" It's me that you want! Not her!"

I'm not letting you take her from me again!

The speedster cocked his head slowly, before using his lightning fast speed to grab Nora and blast out of the Time Vault, moving so fast that neither of the two even had time to react to his attack.

" Dad!!" she cried right before she disappeared, her voice and words disappearing almost as quickly as they had left her lungs, as Barry's daughter disappeared from view.

No!!!

" Nora!" he cried back, already about to race after them, when another red blur appeared before him.

" I'm the one that wants you, Barry." the man said in his cold, dead voice.

Thawne quickly grabbed him by the arms, so suddenly and forcefully that he didn't even have a chance of breaking free from him.

The speedster blasted him out of the room at such speed, that Barry's eyes couldn't even keep up with where they were going, only that his worst enemy was taking him there.

The scenery around him began to blur into a rainbow of colors, Thawne going faster and faster and trailing him along behind him, red electricity whipping past his face as it flew from the evil speedster.

The light became even brighter, threatening to blind him, until everything suddenly went dark, taking Barry's consciousness with it.

One last deafening thought rushing through his mind, before it all disappeared at once.

I can't lose you again Nora...