open } { emily & ella smash post

[prosecutorial]

Because one day I will play an OC with Chloe Bennet's face. Or Daisy. We just don't know. ANYWAY - we will comment with characters and requests. Surprises are a-okay. Shenanigans shall ensue.

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iris west ⚡ the flash

[journalize]

[prosecutorial]

Rip tells Sara she can't win against Damien Darhk. As much as Sara would like to murder him, violently, she's smarter than that, and after consulting with Thea about how her sister actually died, she comes up with a better idea. She doesn't have to go toe-to-toe with Darhk to save her sister.

She just has to provide the getaway car.

It isn't hard to get Mick on her side, because they deserve the chance to save someone in this mess, even if it isn't Snart. Ray and Laurel are friends, and can more than attest to how worth it it would be to do this to Stein and Jax. Considering how Laurel had gone to bat for Carter and Kendra when Kendra was first emerging, they agree to do one last mission. They couldn't save Rip's family, but maybe, just maybe, they can save Sara's.

As Oliver flees the prison with the bleeding body of Laurel Lance in his arms, Sara is here, in the camouflaged Waverider, ready to help Gideon heal her with it's advanced medical techology. It takes a few days to get around whatever magic Darhk used on her, but at the end of that day? The Black Canary survives.

But Laurel Lance is dead.

Oliver thinks it would be the best, to keep Laurel's survival on the down low for now. She goes into Hero Witness Protection, staying with Dinah in Central City. She helps out with Team Flash where she can but she does her best to stay out of the limelight, even when she really wants to take her doppelganger to the mat. Eventually, though, Zoom is gone, the day is saved, and she heads back to the West House to celebrate. There's a kind of somberness to this, given what was lost in order to succeed, but at the end of the day, the battle was won. That's the part that matters.

She looks up from the couch when Iris comes back in from talking to Barry, giving her a small smile, before inching over so that she has some space to sit next to her.

"How's he doing?"

[journalize]

A head shake is all Laurel will get in response, at first.

Her heart is heavy.

She loved Henry. It doesn't compare to Barry's grief, but she cared for him. She still remembers vividly the night Barry came to live with them. She remembers feeling irrationally threatened. It had been her and Joe, just her and Joe, for so long that she hadn't wanted anything to change. But it did, and for the better, because then it was the three of them, and anything else was unthinkable. She remembers telling Barry she believed him because she did, and the day Henry was awarded his freedom she'd been so certain a new beginning was in store.

Now it has been taken from Barry, just as he was finally making peace with Nora's death. She knows better than to ask fairness of a world that never promised it, but a part of her is angry, too. Iris sits down beside Laurel in the space that is afforded to her, and lets her brave face crumble.

"I don't know how he's going to get through this."

Joe keeps looking to her like she'll have the answer, and she doesn't. Not this time.

[prosecutorial]

Laurel knows this kind of grief all too well, if not from losing her sister previously, but from watching as Thea's slowly lost everyone around her over all these years. It's not something you can fix by yourself, as much as you may want to. It's something you have to give them time to work through, and be the shoulder for them to lean on, as much as you can.

"It's rough," she says softly as she lifts one arm, giving Iris space to curl into it, because as much as Barry is primarily grieving in all of this, Iris has lost something too. "I know. But he'll find it. It's a hard thing to learn to live with, but he will."

Death comes for everyone eventually. It's just a matter of what shape it will take when it does.

[journalize]

Iris doesn't hesitate.

She sinks into the embrace Laurel is offering, resting her head on the other woman's shoulder. She knows that Laurel is right. Tragedy isn't something you can always outrun, not even when you're the fastest man alive. Sometimes all you can do with tragedy is learn to overcome, but he's never looked so lost. "He'd finally been ready to make peace with his mom's death, and now ..."

She doesn't need to finish that sentence. Zoom has been taken care of, but at what cost?

[prosecutorial]

"That sounds about right." Only it's not right. It's not fair. "Sometimes the universe likes to kick your feet out from under you, just when you're finally finding your footing."

It did that for her when Sara died the second time. It did it again when Damian Dahrk stabbed her with that arrow. The world is constantly challenging them, but you're stronger for it if you manage to dust yourself off again.

"Barry has a lot of support and a good head on his shoulders. He'll figure it out, one way or another."

[demonstrate]

"He will. Whatever Barry needs to do, he'll do it, and we'll be there when he's ready."

Iris wants to believe Laurel. She does believe her. More importantly, Iris believes in Barry. It simply doesn't take away the ache in her chest. She sighs quietly, her head lingering at Laurel's shoulder. "Some kind of welcoming we gave you, huh?"

Not exactly the greeting to Central City they wanted to give their fallen friend.

[prosecutorial]

Laurel smirks a bit before shaking her head, leaning into Iris as well. She knows it can be hard to struggle with, but Laurel has faith in Barry too. He's a hero, who saves Central City because he wants to do what's best for the city, just like she wanted to do what's best for Star City.

"Better than what Damian Dahrk would have had waiting for me back in Star City. And at least I could be useful here."

[demonstrate]

Iris studies Laurel quietly for a beat or two.

"You know it's more than that too, right?" she asks softly. It's not just about Laurel being useful. She should get to live her life, beyond what she represents as the Black Canary. It's what she hopes for Barry, too.

because everything should have a riftverse au?

[supertardiness]

It almost seems like the Speed Force knows what he's going to do before he even does it.

He opens the breach, charging his way back through time to save his mother and right this wrongness that's settled heavy in his chest, things go sideways, as things usually do. He hits a bump, skids through a rift, and tumbles to a stop on the streets of Chicago, red suit and all. At first, he's angry, a rage that bubbles through him and over everything else, but whatever this place is, whatever kind of hole in the universe he's fallen through has changed him somehow. He's still fast, but some of his abilities are definitely missing. He can't travel through time. He can't open breaches.

All he can do is chase the rifts and hope that one day, one of them will lead him home.

None of them do. Others land him in worlds where things are just wrong. (Superman's dead? Kara's cousin? Can you even kill a Kryptonian?) But in the end he always finds his way back to Chicago again, to the constant shifting landscape, and as more and more time passes, the ache for his father and all that has been taken from him lessens, and he starts to ache for the things that he's lost instead. He misses Iris and Joe fiercely, wishes for the team at STAR Labs, wishes that he hadn't gotten so ahead of himself, but there's nothing he can do now.

All he can really do is keep trying to find a way home.

He gets word of another rift opening, months after he first arrived, and he darts toward it in a blaze of red and gold. He sees it there, open in the middle of the street and out of it steps someone so familiar that he stops before he can dart into the breach and feel it close behind him. Instead his arms close around her waist, pulling her out from in front of the oncoming cars and depositing her safely on the sidewalk, but part of him can't believe that this is really real.

It's entirely possible it may slip through his fingers again, get taken away so that he loses another thing he loves, but for right now, she's there. She's here. And he just stares at her for a moment before he takes the opportunity to verify that it's actually her.

"Iris?"

sobs you know the way to my heart

[journalize]

He might recognize the clothes she's wearing.

Iris has just finished talking to Barry after finding him on the porch steps. Grief and brokenness enveloped him like a fist, and Iris had never seen him so defeated. She'd wanted to give him hope, but it wasn't that simple, and for once, it was Iris West declaring that she would wait for Barry Allen, the way he's always waited for her. She was determined to do just that, too, except the rift has other ideas.

She opened the door to the West residence, and never got to step inside.

The rest happens too fast for her to process. The silence of the solemn night transforms into the glaring light of day. Iris is greeted with the loud honking of cars and a streak that she recognizes by heart. The lurching of her stomach as Barry speeds them to safety is familiar, too.

None of it makes sense, but if Barry is here, then Iris has unwavering faith that all will be explained and resolved.

"Barry? What's going on? How— "

Cisco wasn't doing his vibe-ing thing, as far as she knows, and she wasn't anywhere close to a breach...

[supertardiness]

Barry remembers that outfit, remembers everything so clearly about the last moment he saw her just like he remembers what his mother looked like tucking him in that night fifteen years ago, or the way his father smiled at him shortly before Zoom showed up and ruined everything. He'd filed away every detail in his mind like a photograph because he thought he was never going to see her again.

And yet here she is, standing right in front of him, almost as though no time has passed at all, when really, there's been too much time.

He pulls her in tightly, hugging her as though letting her go may lead to her disappearing, and he doesn't want that to happen quite yet. He's missed her so much but for right now, he knows she has more questions than he may be able to answer.

"You're in Chicago." Probably the easiest place to start. "But it's another Earth. You fell through a rift - kind of like a breach, but it only really goes one way."

[demonstrate]

Iris has no intention of letting Barry go any time soon. Her hold on him tightens briefly; even in her confusion, her instinct is to reassure and support him. She seems to understand that he needs that reassurance: the confirmation that she is tangible, real.

Eventually, she'll pull back just enough to search his face.

"That doesn't make any sense, Barry."

[supertardiness]

"Yeah, well ... a lot of our lives don't actually make sense, but here we are." He doesn't mean to dismiss her concerns, and that's not what his tone is saying. His tone is saying that there isn't really much more that can make it make sense than that.

"Last thing I remember from Central City was leaving home the night we defeated Zoom." He isn't sure what he's expecting her to say, but he's pretty sure either way it won't help make it make any more sense. "That was six months ago, for me."

[demonstrate]

Iris nods, turning this over in her head. Her stomach clenches helplessly. It wasn't that long ago for her. She's all nerves and discovery, her heart brimming with an awareness that wasn't there before. It simply wasn't there.

"It was five minutes ago. For me."

Give or take.

[supertardiness]

"Oh."

There's a beat as he processes that because ... wow. that's quite a difference. He knows that he's not the same person she last remembers and that could be a good thing. He could be ready for ...

No. Not right now. Now isn't the time.

"C'mon. I know a place we can go that's less ... public. I'll try and explain everything."

[demonstrate]

Iris doubts that he'll be able to make sense of everything that's going on, but. She doesn't need it to make sense. It's Barry, and she trusts him with her whole heart. If he asks her to follow, then she'll follow where he leads. She stuffs her hands into her pockets, glancing at the street she nearly got run over in.

"Does the place have deep dish pizza?"

It's a lame joke, but it's not entirely inaccurate. Chicago is the home of deep dish pizzas, right?

[supertardiness]

[As far as Iris is concerned, this scene is one that's all too familiar. She stumbles into a place she shouldn't be, there's a fog that comes from out of nowhere, a sensation that almost feels like falling, and suddenly she's really not where she's supposed to be, surrounded by things that have elements of the fantastical. In this particular instance, her journalist instincts have her stumbling into the middle of some kind of otherworldly cult, with rituals and symbols lining the walls and a crew of robbed men who think she'll make the ideal sacrifice to their Faerun god that's looking to end the world.

Iris breaks one of their noses and gives another guy a serious blow to the one area where men never, ever want to take a blow, but there are still too many of them and only one of her. They're about to drag her over to the pyre when there's something that's even more familiar and probably more comforting than he actually realizes. A flash of red and gold as the cultists are knocked to the side and Iris is scooped away from the danger as the rest of the team Barry is with rushes in after them.

Dutifully, he sets her down on the ground, once they're in the safe zone, Flash suit and all, and he looks her over carefully, but there's something different about it, even if she can't put her finger on it right away.]

Are you alright?

[demonstrate]

[ under any other circumstances, iris would feel that something isn't right.

if she were ever to possess an extra sense, it would be a barry sense, and it would tingle constantly. she knows when he's sad, happy, depressed. she knows when he's keeping something from her, and when he's bursting to tell her despite whatever it is holding him back. she knows when he's lost and broken and grieving. and she knows, without a shadow of a doubt, across universes and worlds and timelines, barry loves her and always will.

he'll protect her with his own life if he has to, the way she would lay down hers for him. so the fact he's doing so now doesn't seem out of the ordinary to her. the gold streak that blurs past her vision is more than welcome, and as soon as he sets her down, iris lets out a small cry and leaps into his arms. ]

Barry! Oh, thank god.

[supertardiness]

[To Barry's credit, he returns the hug without question, mostly because it allows him to cover the very confused face he's making over her shoulder. That, and he's never minded hugs, so if a pretty girl wants to thank him for saving her life with a hug, she's more than welcome to do that.

The problem is, she knows him. Knows his secret identity knows him. And he ...


... well, he doesn't recognize her at all.

They say that memories can't be completely erased, that there's always something that remains hidden because the human brain is a fascinating thing, but at the same time, while there's something about the way she says his name and the way she feels in his arms that doesn't feel completely foreign, there's still the all-out confusion of who this woman is. Why does she matter to him, and why does he matter to her?

Maybe this is something he should ask Cisco or Felicity about later. Maybe he meets her in the year of time that Cisco remembers and he doesn't, with Zoom and all the other dangers that lie ahead. But for right now, he just wants to make sure this woman is safe.]

Uh, yeah. That's me.

["That's me"? Seriously, Allen, why are you such a dumbass.]

[demonstrate]

[ the world grinds to a halt.

not even an hour ago, she was sitting across from barry on a darkened porch, asking him not to give up hope. for the first time in fifteen years, she was as awake to the possibility of them as he was. it would be dishonest to say that she fell for him somewhere along the line. it would be dishonest to say she woke up and realized she wanted what destiny seemed to be telling them was fated. it's a lot simpler than that. it's something that always was.

loving barry was like following a porchlight, stepping through the door, and knowing that you're home.

this is very different to that.

he's barry and he isn't, and all relief is stripped from her because this doesn't make sense to her. it simply doesn't. she steps back, along with her awareness, her arms feeling suddenly and violently empty. she can't even say she took it for granted before, because she didn't. not for a single day. ]

You don't know me, do you?

[supertardiness]

[And now she's upset. Good job, Barry. He lets her go, though, not wanting to upset her further, and it's clear that he's apologetic about the fact that he can't seem to recognize her, but he doesn't know how far the knife goes in this particular scenario. He doesn't know how much of himself he's really lost.]

Yeah, sorry. The Veil ... it can mess with your head a bit.

[There's a pause as he reaches one hand up to rub the back of his neck.]

Do you know Cisco? Or Felicity? Cisco's already told me I'm missing like ... a year of memories, give or take, so if you met me after the singularity, I've got nothing.

[demonstrate]

[ the veil. he's not the first person to mention the veil to her, but iris doesn't feel like anything is missing. at least, she didn't before now. she doesn't know why those names are so familiar to her, why barry is familiar to her, if it doesn't work the other way around. how is it fair to carve her entirely from his life and his heart, and keep him intact in her own? iris pushes that aside to answer his questions. even now, a big part of her concern is making sure he's okay.

telling him might not be the right thing to do. it might give him more guilt than he already places on his shoulders. but iris is too honest to lie. the times she's kept things to herself, they've hollowed her inside out. and secrets kill things. they both know ... knew that. they both used to know that. ]

We met before the singularity. Fifteen years before that.

[ so. ]

[supertardiness]

[His eyes widen a bit at that because that's a long time to be friends to follow by being just missing from his life now. He glances away for a moment, eyes to the sidewalk as he tries to roll through the memories of his past if only to catch a glimpse of her and try to find the way this all makes sense. But it doesn't and the only thing he can do is spit out:]

You knew me when my mom died?

[There aren't a lot of people out there who did.]

[demonstrate]

[ iris swallows, and suddenly barry isn't the only one glancing away. she tries to think of this place as a different earth, but if there's no going back home, that doesn't really matter. of course she remembers. it was iris' tiny hand that stretched out in offer when barry was most alone. ]

My dad took you in. [ and they became their own family, but she doesn't say that. ]