⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER TWELVE
and while you're bleeding on
your back in the glass . . .

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

SECRET IDENTITIES WERE meant to be kept, well, secret. Keeping the circle tight of who truly knew about the Flash and Scarlet was absolutely crucial — but in this case, Barry had ultimately convinced Juliet that this was the only way Linda acting as Doctor Light could work.

She had to trust them fully. And trusting people behind a mask was hard.

Juliet teleported into the West house while Barry sped in, opening the door as he did so. It was dim, and Linda was typing on her computer — no doubt writing an article for work.

Linda turned to them, hearing the gust of wind. "Look, I'm sorry I'm a terrible supervillian. I don't need you two to come here and make me feel worse."

"That's not why we're here," Barry replied, shutting the door.

"Doesn't matter. I — I can't do this. I just don't have it in me."

Juliet decided to let Barry do the talking, considering he spent more time with Linda than she had. She leaned against the railing on the stairs, crossing her arms across her chest. Barry brushed past her, and through the dark, their eyes met. Juliet gave him a soft smile

"That's not true," Barry protested. "You're one of the strongest women I've ever met. You can do anything."

"And you know that about me based on what, exactly?" Linda asked.

"Linda, you are trusting us. So we need to trust you fully. I know that you can do this . . ." Barry then pulled down the hood of his suit and stopped vibrating his voice. "Because I know you."

Juliet took off her mask. "'Sup."

Linda stared at them in shock. "Holy crap. I've made out with the Flash." She then focused her attention on Juliet, and her eyes widened. "Shit, Juliet, I didn't mean to say that."

She shrugged casually. "I'd brag about it, too."

Barry slowly looked at her. "Juliet."

"Don't look at me like that." Juliet pushed herself off of the railing and looked at Linda, giving her a small smile. "I know it's your choice, but you can do it."

Linda ended up agreeing. Even if she wasn't fully prepared, there wasn't any time to waste. She got in Doctor Light's suit and teleported with Juliet down to the docks. They had staged a whole production — Linda would knock out Juliet, then her and Barry would engage in combat, then she would kill Barry, and then she would throw his emblem into the breach.

The docks were completely empty when they got there. Juliet and Barry stood behind one of the large containers in their suits while Linda stood by the breach, which looked like rippling air. Harry and Joe were placed above, both of their guns loaded with the speed dampener.

"I'm here to kill the Flash, and no one can stop me!" Linda shouted, her voice echoing throughout the place. She then lowered her voice, and it came over the comms. "How's that?"

"Uh, it's a little too much," Cisco admitted. "Uh, stop messing with the earpiece."

"Yeah, you don't want to dislodge it," Caitlin added.

"Right, uh, you — you told me that," Linda said. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, you're doing great, Linda," Iris reassured her.

That was their cue. Barry wrapped his arms around Juliet's waist and sped them out from one of the containers in front of Linda. He set her on her feet, and Juliet allowed red energy to start to travel between her fingertips.

"All right, Doctor Light, here I am," Barry stated, and they started to circle around each other. "But we're gonna skip the part where you say you're gonna kill me and go right to the part where I don't let you."

"I'm here to kill you, Flash," Linda voiced. She then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Wait, what are you doing? We're skipping that?"

"Yes," Barry agreed in a whisper.

"Uh, I am loyal to Zoom, so get ready to fry."

"Next time we're doing this, I'm writing better dialogue," Cisco revealed.

"Next time?" Caitlin and Iris chorused.

Juliet summoned a ball of red energy in her hands. She tossed it at Linda, but Linda sent a pulse of light her way from her gloves, and they fizzled out when they met in the middle. Linda then sent another pulse of light to her, and Juliet mind-controlled herself, making her body fly up into the air and land on the ground. She laid on her back and made her entire body go limp, trying to look as unconscious as possible. In the background, she could hear Barry groan in fake-pain and fall to the ground.

"Gotcha," Linda recited.

"Yeah, you did," Barry agreed.

"Real good."

Barry shuffled, obviously getting up. "All right. Ugh."

"Bring it on," Linda urged.

Juliet opened one eye, just enough so she could see. Barry sped forwards, and Linda sent a pulse of light to both shoulders before one to his back. He cried out in pain and sunk to his knees before falling onto his back.

"Told you." Linda stared down at Barry. "Zoom always wins." She then bent down and ripped the emblem off of his chest, but lowered her voice to a whisper. "You're okay, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Barry responded. "I had to make it look good."

Juliet shut her eye and resisted the urge to shake her head. Dork.

"Here it is, Zoom," Linda called. "I did what you wanted. Now bring me home."

A burst of wind. Presumably, Linda had thrown Barry's emblem into the breach. Juliet's heart raced against her chest in anticipation. She could feel the energy inside her reaching an all-time high at the thought of Zoom coming.

However, as time went on, Juliet felt the tension start to drain from her body. It had been a fucking hour since Linda had thrown Barry's emblem into the breach. She was getting sore from laying on the concrete. Suddenly, she heard the sound of leather against concrete, and she opened one of her eyes to see Barry moving his leg.

"Hey, stop fidgeting," Linda scolded.

"Sorry, it's been an hour," Barry replied. "I landed in a ridiculous position, and my foot fell asleep."

Juliet opened both of her eyes. "And who's fault is that?"

"I hate you."

"You don't."

"He's probably just waiting to see if you're really dead," Cisco suggested. "Any minute now, he's gonna strike."

Barry shook his head and sat up. "No."

Juliet sat up as well while taking off her mask, finding comfort in how her back was no longer being pressed against a hard surface. "Well, that was anticlimactic."

"Sorry, I probably screwed up somehow," Linda apologized.

"No, Linda, you did great," Iris insisted.

Barry pushed himself to stand up. He then walked up to Juliet, offering his hand out to her. Juliet took it and used it to pull herself up, but Barry didn't let go and instead intertwined their fingers together. She squeezed back. Obviously, he was way past upset about their plan not working.

Juliet then raised her eyebrow at the sudden crashing noises. Harry was throwing a tantrum like a child, kicking over cans and whatnot as he walked away in frustration.

"So, Wells ain't taking this well," Joe began.

"Mm-hmm," Barry hummed in agreement.

"How about you?"

"Yeah, it just sucks, you know." Barry sighed. "J, you were right about this not being just about Zoom and about it being about the Reverse Flash. But . . . just not for the reason that you think. Not because I didn't beat him. Because of what he said on that video."

Juliet looked up at him with a frown. "Do you mean the part about how he still won because you weren't happy?"

"Yeah," Barry confirmed.

"How the hell would he know?" Joe argued.

"He knew me. He knows future me."

"That's future you. This is the you here and now."

"I still think that Wells is right," Barry admitted, and Juliet's frown deepened. "Ever since I went back to that night and I didn't save her — I didn't save my mom, I just — there's just been this void in me. I — you know, I just feel like that is always gonna be there. For better or worse, Wells — he knew me."

"Better than I know you?" Joe protested. "He may have stalked you for fifteen years, but I raised you. Look, Wells said what he said to you to mess with you. To get in your head one last time. If you listen to him, you let him win."

"I know. I don't want that."

"You're responsible for your own happiness, Barry. Forget about Wells. Think hard about what you want and what makes you happy. Go out and get it. Simple as that." Joe then put his hand on his cheek for a second. "All right?"

"Yeah," Barry agreed as Joe walked away. He then looked down at his girlfriend, who was still staring at him intently. "J, I—"

"You don't need to say anything," Juliet told him softly. "Your happiness—"

"Is you."

She gave him a small smile, her cheeks feeling warm. "Right. But right know, I know you've got a lot of thoughts in your head that you need to sort out. And I think that you need to do it alone first. Wells and you — as much as I want to help, that's your battle. I'm always in your corner, you know that."

Barry nodded. "And when I'm done sorting out the thoughts in my head?"

"Well, when the time comes—" she pressed up onto her toes "—come and get me." Juliet planted a quick kiss on his lips before pulling back. "I'll be at the station."

And with that, Juliet teleported away from her boyfriend, out of her suit, into her regular clothes, and into the lab. She walked up to her desk and sat down, opening up a new case file and reading about what evidence needed to be processed.

(No, it wasn't a breakup. Juliet would actually be fucking dumb to do that. By time, she just meant like a couple hours of letting Barry just think.)

In reality, it was more like twenty minutes. Juliet had walked out of her lab, her messages open with Iris, when quick footsteps sounded from in front of her. She looked up, only to see that it was none other than Barry.

Barry pointed at her. "Coming to get you."

"That was remarkably quick," Juliet noted. "Did you—"

She was suddenly cut off by Barry placing his hands on her waist. Juliet looked up, the words dying in her mouth at the look in her eyes. It was like her entire body turned into jelly, and she allowed him to walk her backwards until she was pressed up against one of the pillars.

"Oh."

Barry leaned in closer to her. "Quiet."

Before she could make some remark, Barry leaned down and pressed his lips onto hers for a much longer kiss than the one she had given him at the docks. Juliet reached up and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him in just a little closer to her. Barry hummed his approval against her, and it sent shockwaves throughout her body.

Finally, after several long moments, or it might have been half an hour, or possibly several sunlit days, they pulled apart. Juliet stared up at him, into his eyes, feeling the same fluttery feeling that Barry always gave her spreading throughout her insides, as red and fire-hot as her energy.

"Happiness," Barry stated. "Joe told me to go get it." He leaned their foreheads together. "And I have it."

She scrunched her nose up a little, her heart racing against her chest. "I love you a lot."

"I love you more." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "My forever lover."

Well, now that that was settled, they had to settle more things at S.T.A.R. Lab. With Zoom not showing up, it meant they had to figure out something else to do — and that Barry's emblem was gone for good. Cisco was not very happy about it as he placed a new one on Barry's suit.

Cisco patted the emblem. "There you go. It's like you think these things just grow on trees or something."

"And we threw away the last one for nothing," Barry added.

"You've been going over this footage dozens of times," Caitlin said to Harry, who was sitting at the computer. "Everything went exactly according to plan."

"If it had, Zoom would've shown up," Harry replied.

"Well, maybe Light was wrong," Juliet suggested. "Zoom might not be able to see through the breaches. Or he gave up." Her phone then buzzed, and she pulled it out to see it was a call from Iris. She answered. "Hey, 'Ris."

"Jules, oh my God, please, you have to help, you have to hurry—" Iris began, but all of her words were strung together and she was talking at a million miles per minute.

"Okay, woah, hey, slow down." Juliet straightened up in concern at the panic in Iris' voice. "What happened?"

Harry's Metahuman watch then suddenly started to beep, along with the computer.

"Zoom took Linda," Iris revealed.

Juliet's eyes widened and she quickly hung up her phone. "Zoom took Linda."

"He's on the roof," Cisco voiced.

There wasn't another option right now. Juliet immediately teleported into her suit before making her way to the roof. Barry sped in next to her.

Juliet looked at the sight in front of her. A figure in a black suit was standing there, his entire body sparking with blue lightning — Zoom. He was dangling Linda over the edge. Slowly, he turned to face the two heroes. Juliet felt a shiver go down her spine. His eyes were completely blacked out, and the mouth represented a muzzle.

"Put her down," Barry demanded.

"You like to fish with bait?" Zoom questioned, his voice slow and a deep growl. "I do too."

He then stretched his hand out farther over the edge. Linda screamed and whimpered, but before any of them could do anything, Zoom let her go. Juliet was the first to respond — she teleported off of the roof while Zoom sped away, Barry chasing after him. She reached the ground and lifted up a hand, focusing on Linda's falling figure. Linda's body stopped in midair, and Juliet slowly lowered her down until she was back on her feet in front of her.

"Linda, you have to go," Juliet urged. "Get out of here, now."

"No, you can't fight that thing," Linda protested, her voice filled with fear. "It's a monster."

"Linda, go."

A flash of blue lightning then appeared again. Seconds later, a flash of yellow lightning appeared, and Barry skidded to a stop next to Juliet. She looked at him in concern as he breathed heavily. Juliet narrowed her eyes at Zoom's figure and walked forwards, lighting her hands up red with energy.

Juliet and Barry shared a quick look, nothing but communicating with their eyes. Barry gave her a single nod before speeding away, starting to run circles around S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet allowed the energy in her hand to form into a ball.

Barry stopped running and threw his lightning, so Juliet wrenched her hand back before throwing her ball of energy. Zoom, however, ran up and took Juliet's energy blast like it was fucking nothing. He then caught Barry's lightning and threw it right back, splitting it in two. One hit Juliet and one hit Barry. She felt herself get thrown back until her body slammed against the ground. Juliet groaned in pain and pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"What in the Percy Jackson?" she inquired.

"Did you guys see that?" Barry added.

"See him absorb JJ's energy and catch a bolt of lightning with his demonic claws?" Cisco answered. "Yeah, saw that."

"Jay was right, they cannot do this alone," Caitlin stated.

"He's not alone," Wells said.

"Run, Barry. Run, Jules."

Barry pulled a syringe out of his boot. "No. I'm gonna see if Wells' speed-dampening serum works." He then raised his voice. "What do you want from us?"

"Everything," Zoom responded.

"You want to be us? Is that it? You want to be a hero?"

Juliet tilted her head. "That sounds a lot like fan behavior."

Zoom chuckled, one that sounded utterly demonic. "Heroes die."

"Only if you can catch them," Barry said.

He then sped away. Zoom didn't immediately follow him. Instead, he turned his attention onto Juliet.

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Oh, fuck me." She teleported closer to Zoom to taunt him. "Catch me if you can."

Right as Zoom reached out, Juliet teleported away. That's when Zoom sped off, both trying to follow Barry and keep up with Juliet. It seemed that his main objective was Barry rather than Juliet, which made sense, considering what Jay said about Zoom's obsession with speed.

Juliet suddenly stopped at the ground, because Zoom was obviously focused on chasing Barry. Huge mistake on her part — she shouldn't have been so reckless. Because in that moment, Zoom saw his opportunity. He abandoned his fight with Barry and sped in front of her.

Zoom wrapped his hand around her neck, his claws digging into her skin. Juliet choked for air as her feet lifted up off the ground, and the oxygen flow being cut off made it hard for her to think. Suddenly, it ended, but not in a good way. Juliet felt herself get thrown to the side carelessly, and her head hit the S.T.A.R. Labs sign. She crumpled to the ground, and everything went black.

She wasn't sure how long she was out for. All she knew was that when she came to, the world was hazy with pain and she had a raging headache.

"St. James," Harry was saying, shaking her shoulder. "St. James."

"What?" she mumbled, blinking to try and get herself to focus. "What . . . what happened?"

"Zoom."

Everything suddenly came rushing back to her. She glanced around, only to see that Barry and the horrific figure of Zoom was nowhere to be found.

She sat up fast, ignoring the black spots in her vision. "Barry. Where is he?" Juliet tapped on her earpiece. "Where is he? Where did he take him?"

"CCPD," Cisco answered.

"Juliet, you're hurt," Caitlin stated. "Heal yourself—"

"No time." Juliet ignored the pounding in her head. "Gotta go."

Juliet could feel her teleportation was weak. She could feel that everything was weak. Juliet opened her eyes, feeling unbalanced on her feet. She blinked through her pain to see that cops were standing around her everywhere, all with their guns pointed at the second floor. Zoom was was holding a familiar figure, but before she could do anything, Zoom sped away.

"Scarlet?" Joe's voice came, very echoey. "Scarlet—"

"Flash," Juliet let out, trying to ignore how all of the cops were standing there. "Where did he — what happened?"

Joe's eyes turned fatherly. "What happened to you?"

"I have to—" Juliet's breathing picked up. "Oh my God."

"Juliet!" Cisco's voice exclaimed through her ear.

There was only one thing that could make him as panicked as he sounded. She left all of the cops behind, feeling herself sink into the familiar teleportation. It felt like a million years when she came back to the cortex. Juliet stumbling a bit forwards from how her mind was all over the place. She looked up, only for her eyes to widen and a shaky cry to leave her mouth. Zoom was standing there, holding the bruised and bloody figure of her boyfriend by the neck, one of his sharp fingers impaled into his stomach. Barry's eyes were wide with pain.

Not really knowing what else to do, Juliet reached out her hand desperately and wrenched it to the side. Instantly, the hand that had the finger piercing Barry's stomach removed itself, and Zoom looked over at her, his eyes narrowing at her through his mask. Juliet felt her powers flicker out of her hands after it, just like it had done with Atom Smasher.

"Not strong enough," Zoom announced, talking directly to her.

"Let him go," Juliet pleaded, vaguely aware of how Cisco was inching towards the gun with the speed-dampener. "Let him go, take me instead—"

"Your time will come, Scarlet."

Cisco apparently had enough. He shot the gun, and a needle embedded itself in Zoom's neck. Zoom cried out in pain, and he dropped Barry's limp body out onto the floor. Juliet cried out again, feeling tears starting to drip down her face. This could not be happening, this could not be happening—

Zoom ripped the needle out of his neck and face-planted onto the floor. Juliet would've laughed if it wasn't such a dire situation. Zoom pushed himself up, staring at Juliet with what could've been murderous, but she couldn't tell because his eyes were blacked out. Juliet's eyes started to turn red with anger, daring him to do anything. Zoom apparently had enough, because he sped out of the cortex, making papers fly up everywhere.

"No!" Harry screamed. "No!"

"Barry," Juliet breathed out, breaking into a run and sliding to her knees once she got closer. She put her hands on either side of his face, her tears falling onto the dried blood that covered him. "Baby, oh my God."

Caitlin put her hands on Barry's chest, starting to do compressions. "Stay with me. Stay with me, Barry. Stay with me. Please, Barry, please."

Juliet's body wracked with a sob. "You have to wake up. Come on, forever lovers, right?"

Cisco looked over at her in concern. Juliet looked absolutely wrecked. Not just the tears on her face and the sobs she was letting out . . . blood was pouring from her neck from Zoom's claws, and he could see as she stumbled that something wasn't right. After all, she had just been thrown into a fucking wall and hit her head before using her powers.

He put his arm around her shoulders. "JJ, hey, let's get you healed—"

"Barry," she repeated blankly, keeping her grip on her boyfriend, despite Caitlin trying to move him. "Barry, wake up—"

Caitlin sent a pleading glance to Cisco. She had to move Barry to help stabilize him, and that could only be done if Juliet let him go.

Cisco sighed and put his other arm around her waist, tugging with all his might. "Come on, JJ."

She fought against him. "No, let me go—"

"Juliet—"

She cried harder as Caitlin moved Barry to the medbay and thrashed against Cisco. "Let me go!"

"Juliet!" Cisco yelled, turning her body around and forcing her to look at him by moving her head with his hands. Juliet stared at him — apparently, the authoritative tone shocked her out of whatever state she had been in. "You can see Barry, I promise. But you have to heal yourself first."

Juliet sniffled. "But—"

"JJ." Cisco's eyes softened. "Please."

They were already down one hero. They couldn't afford to lose another.

If healing herself was the only way to see Barry, who was now in the medbay, then so be it. Juliet nodded a little and reached up, touching her forehead. The skin glowed red, and immediately, the pounding in her head went away and the fogginess cleared. She touched her back, her shoulders, and finally, her neck. All the blood and the cuts from Zoom disappeared, leaving her in her normal state — well, physically a least.

Nothing could do for her crying, though. The sight of seeing Barry laying on a hospital bed, connected with tubes and a brace around his neck, was the most heartbreaking sight. Juliet had gotten back into her normal clothes and had pulled Barry's red bomber jacket over it, just to have something of his close to hers. Her bottom lip quivered as she sat on the bed, reaching over and taking his hand. Another tear fell down her cheek when his hand was limp and didn't grip her back, like it normally did.

So, word had traveled to Joe quite quick. He had stormed into the cortex and shoved Harry against the wall, getting all up in his face. Juliet watched tiredly.

"This is all you!" Joe shouted. "If Barry dies, you die."

"Joe, Barry's vitals have stabilized," Caitlin cut in. "Let's let him go."

"No, Caitlin."

"Why? What good does that do for Barry?"

"It's gonna help me," Joe continued.

Harry got up off the wall and went to walk forwards. Joe then pushed Harry backwards, putting him right back on the damn wall.

Cisco pulled Joe back. "Joe, stop. Who's Jesse?"

Harry stared at him in shock. "How do — Jesse's my daughter." He put his hands on Cisco's shoulders. "Zoom has her. You've — you did vibe me."

"Yes."

"What did you see?"

"I saw your daughter," Cisco answered. "She was with Zoom."

"But she's alive?" Harry asked.

"Yeah."

"Zoom sent you here like the others?" Joe demanded. "You kill the Flash, and you get your daughter back?"

"The only way I get my daughter back is I capture Zoom," Harry argued. "Do you understand? You love Barry. I love my daughter. And none of these children are safe as long as Zoom is here. I tried on my Earth to capture him. I failed. I thought I could bring him down here with Barry and Juliet's help. I was wrong."

"Oh, I'm so sorry we didn't live up to your expectations," Juliet stated, making all of the heads turn to the crying girl. "If you're going to be like that, just fucking leave."

And so he did. Juliet watched him go before looking back at her boyfriend. Another tear fell down her face, and she leaned down, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Come and get me, babe," Juliet whispered. "I'll be waiting."

ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ

BARRY HAD BEEN passed out for days.

Juliet would've compared it to the coma, but she really couldn't, considering she was also in a coma.

Leaving Barry's side was something that Juliet never wanted to do. However, she did go back to her apartment to shower and change into new clothes, most of them being Barry's hoodies. Other than that, she stayed by Barry's side, waiting for something, anything.

Finally, after a couple days, the wait was over. Juliet was doing the usual — sitting on Barry's bed, holding his hand, watching him intently. Then the hand that she was holding twitched, and Juliet's eyes widened as she straightened up. Her head shot up, only to see Barry rolling his head around on his pillow.

"Hey, I think he's waking up," Cisco announced.

"Barry?" Caitlin questioned. "Barry? Can you hear me?"

"Hey," Barry replied.

Juliet smiled, but she nearly sobbed at the sound of his voice. "Hey, baby."

Barry held onto her hand tighter. "J?"

"Glad to see you don't have amnesia."

Cisco let out a soft chuckle. "You scared the crap out of us. You were gone for a long time."

"How bad is it?" Barry inquired.

"Bad," Caitlin responded. "If you didn't heal so quickly, I'd be very worried."

"Linda — how is she?"

"She's fine," Cisco reassured him. "She's staying with some friends out in Coast City."

"Zoom?" Barry continued.

"Let's — let's worry about Zoom when you're up and about, okay?"

Cisco then patted Barry's leg. However, Juliet could immediately tell something was wrong by the way Barry started to sit up by it. Juliet's eyebrows knit in concern.

Caitlin put her hands on his shoulder, gently pushing them back down. "Oh, no, you're staying put."

"Yeah, seriously, you got your ass kicked," Cisco added.

Juliet frowned when Barry let go of her hand and used both of his to start to feel his legs. "Barry?"

"No, guys, I can't feel my legs," Barry revealed.

Juliet's eyes widened. She looked up at Cisco and Caitlin in panic. Holy fuck, this was worse than they thought.

"I can't feel my legs."

〖   ϟ   〗

making the title motion sickness based off that one edit of jules & barry I made on my tiktok <3 (which is jasonsgrace.wp if you wanna check it out btw)

also don't we love to see juliet finally just crash and break down <3 my honey bunny