My Name Is Barry Allen
Title: My Name Is Barry Allen
Fandom: The Flash
Characters: Barry, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, Ronnie, Joe, Nora, Henry. Mentions of Eddie, Eobard, real!Harrison.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Reference to character deaths, spoilers for 2x1 to be safe.
Summary: What if erasing Eobard's existence meant that Barry had never become The Flash?
My name is Barry Allen. I am no longer the fastest man alive. Since Eddie took his life and Eobard Thawne never stole Harrison Wells’s identity, I never became The Flash. In the original timeline, the real Harrison Wells and his wife never set off the particle accelerator until the year 2020, which means it hasn’t happened yet. And maybe it never will.
No one else remembers any of what happened that night when Eddie changed the past. They have no idea that once there was another timeline. Only I remember that once I was the man who used my powers to save Central City from the metahumans. I was The Flash.
Sometimes, Barry thinks that the right thing happened. When he looks at his mother, alive once more, and his father, untouched by the many years that in another timeline he had spent in Iron Heights, he is grateful to Eddie Thawne for having chosen to sacrifice himself so that Eobard could never kill his mother. And every time he sees his brother, Ben, born when Barry was twelve years old but never in the other timeline, he is grateful for the fact that his brother has now had the opportunity to exist. Or even the day he ran into Tony Woodward (literally) in the street. Much as Barry had never liked that guy at school, and he was clearly still an ass now, he had never wanted Tony to meet the fate that had been his in the original timeline and it was still a relief to see him and know that he was no longer a metahuman and more importantly, was still alive. And the experience had made Barry wonder about all the other metahumans he had once known, going about their daily lives, not knowing about the abilities they had once had, but Barry thinks it’s better that none of them ever know.
Then he looks at Iris, still trapped in the same job at CC Jitters which Barry knows she doesn’t really enjoy, but in this timeline she never got her chance at the newspaper job because she isn’t writing her blog about The Flash. And every time he looks at her, he wonders what could have happened had he chosen not to break Eobard’s time machine and just to allow him to go back to his own time. She was happy and fulfilled in her career in the original timeline, and now here she is existing day by day, dreaming of the career in journalism she has wanted all her life, not knowing that it was once a reality.
And in this timeline, Iris is alone. She was never in a relationship with Eddie, for the fact that his body fell into the singularity means that he has been erased from existence and in that timeline there had never been an Eddie Thawne, and Barry has never spoken to her of his own feelings. There are various reasons for that; one is that his feelings of guilt over the fact that Eddie sacrificed his life and that in this timeline Iris never had the chance to have a relationship with him stand in his way, and also his guilt over the fact that his actions have caused her to miss out on her reporting career. Another is that Barry fears that he will never be good enough for her, not as the plain old Barry Allen that he has gone back to being. He remembers, of course, the newspaper article he read which had been written by “Iris West-Allen”, but he doesn’t set any store by that. Who knows better than him that history can be rewritten?
Joe is still part of his life, of course, although in a different capacity as both his best friend’s father and also through his work for the Central City Police Department, for whom Barry still works. But since Joe had never become his foster father, in this timeline they don’t have the same closeness they once did. And while Barry is glad every day that he was raised by his parents, there is still a aprt of him that misses the relationship he had once shared with Joe.
Star Labs still exists in this timeline, run by the real Harrison Wells, who Barry hasn’t as yet met. Neither has he met Caitlin or Cisco, although he did read an announcement of Caitlin’s engagement to Ronnie in the local paper (he was happy about that; in a timeline where Eobard Thawne had never activated the particle accelerator, Ronnie Raymond was still alive and well, so that was another good thing that had come out of Eddie’s having changed the timeline). The day of the marriage, he had walked past the church, seen Caitlin and Ronnie smiling for photographs, Cisco having put aside his usual funny slogan T-shirt in favour of his best man’s suit, he couldn’t help but break into a grin at the sight of them, at the fact that in this timeline things were going to work out for Caitlin. He’d found himself walking over to Caitlin and Ronnie, congratulated them. They had accepted his congratulations, thanked him, and Barry had tried not to think that in another lifetime he would have been in there, toasting Caitlin and Ronnie, laughing at Cisco’s corny jokes. While in one way he can see this future as being one of the positive things about the changes to the timeline, in another way Barry feels that the fact that he no longer has their friendship in this life is one of the negatives.
Sometimes Barry thinks about the possible future that could still await him in 2020, when if things remain as they were in the very first timeline, the real Harrison Wells activates the particle accelerator, he could still become The Flash. He wonders what he will use his powers for in this possible future, if not for saving Central City from the metahumans created by Eobard’s malfunction. And he wonders if he will become friends with Caitlin and Cisco again, get the chance to work with the real Harrison Wells. But he hopes that if he does become The Flash again, he gets to use his powers to do some good in the world, just as he had done back then.
Fandom: The Flash
Characters: Barry, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, Ronnie, Joe, Nora, Henry. Mentions of Eddie, Eobard, real!Harrison.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Reference to character deaths, spoilers for 2x1 to be safe.
Summary: What if erasing Eobard's existence meant that Barry had never become The Flash?
My name is Barry Allen. I am no longer the fastest man alive. Since Eddie took his life and Eobard Thawne never stole Harrison Wells’s identity, I never became The Flash. In the original timeline, the real Harrison Wells and his wife never set off the particle accelerator until the year 2020, which means it hasn’t happened yet. And maybe it never will.
No one else remembers any of what happened that night when Eddie changed the past. They have no idea that once there was another timeline. Only I remember that once I was the man who used my powers to save Central City from the metahumans. I was The Flash.
Sometimes, Barry thinks that the right thing happened. When he looks at his mother, alive once more, and his father, untouched by the many years that in another timeline he had spent in Iron Heights, he is grateful to Eddie Thawne for having chosen to sacrifice himself so that Eobard could never kill his mother. And every time he sees his brother, Ben, born when Barry was twelve years old but never in the other timeline, he is grateful for the fact that his brother has now had the opportunity to exist. Or even the day he ran into Tony Woodward (literally) in the street. Much as Barry had never liked that guy at school, and he was clearly still an ass now, he had never wanted Tony to meet the fate that had been his in the original timeline and it was still a relief to see him and know that he was no longer a metahuman and more importantly, was still alive. And the experience had made Barry wonder about all the other metahumans he had once known, going about their daily lives, not knowing about the abilities they had once had, but Barry thinks it’s better that none of them ever know.
Then he looks at Iris, still trapped in the same job at CC Jitters which Barry knows she doesn’t really enjoy, but in this timeline she never got her chance at the newspaper job because she isn’t writing her blog about The Flash. And every time he looks at her, he wonders what could have happened had he chosen not to break Eobard’s time machine and just to allow him to go back to his own time. She was happy and fulfilled in her career in the original timeline, and now here she is existing day by day, dreaming of the career in journalism she has wanted all her life, not knowing that it was once a reality.
And in this timeline, Iris is alone. She was never in a relationship with Eddie, for the fact that his body fell into the singularity means that he has been erased from existence and in that timeline there had never been an Eddie Thawne, and Barry has never spoken to her of his own feelings. There are various reasons for that; one is that his feelings of guilt over the fact that Eddie sacrificed his life and that in this timeline Iris never had the chance to have a relationship with him stand in his way, and also his guilt over the fact that his actions have caused her to miss out on her reporting career. Another is that Barry fears that he will never be good enough for her, not as the plain old Barry Allen that he has gone back to being. He remembers, of course, the newspaper article he read which had been written by “Iris West-Allen”, but he doesn’t set any store by that. Who knows better than him that history can be rewritten?
Joe is still part of his life, of course, although in a different capacity as both his best friend’s father and also through his work for the Central City Police Department, for whom Barry still works. But since Joe had never become his foster father, in this timeline they don’t have the same closeness they once did. And while Barry is glad every day that he was raised by his parents, there is still a aprt of him that misses the relationship he had once shared with Joe.
Star Labs still exists in this timeline, run by the real Harrison Wells, who Barry hasn’t as yet met. Neither has he met Caitlin or Cisco, although he did read an announcement of Caitlin’s engagement to Ronnie in the local paper (he was happy about that; in a timeline where Eobard Thawne had never activated the particle accelerator, Ronnie Raymond was still alive and well, so that was another good thing that had come out of Eddie’s having changed the timeline). The day of the marriage, he had walked past the church, seen Caitlin and Ronnie smiling for photographs, Cisco having put aside his usual funny slogan T-shirt in favour of his best man’s suit, he couldn’t help but break into a grin at the sight of them, at the fact that in this timeline things were going to work out for Caitlin. He’d found himself walking over to Caitlin and Ronnie, congratulated them. They had accepted his congratulations, thanked him, and Barry had tried not to think that in another lifetime he would have been in there, toasting Caitlin and Ronnie, laughing at Cisco’s corny jokes. While in one way he can see this future as being one of the positive things about the changes to the timeline, in another way Barry feels that the fact that he no longer has their friendship in this life is one of the negatives.
Sometimes Barry thinks about the possible future that could still await him in 2020, when if things remain as they were in the very first timeline, the real Harrison Wells activates the particle accelerator, he could still become The Flash. He wonders what he will use his powers for in this possible future, if not for saving Central City from the metahumans created by Eobard’s malfunction. And he wonders if he will become friends with Caitlin and Cisco again, get the chance to work with the real Harrison Wells. But he hopes that if he does become The Flash again, he gets to use his powers to do some good in the world, just as he had done back then.