"Like I told you from the beginning I am the future Flash." I heard from the cortex, my head snapping towards Cisco, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion, this catching my attention and drawing it away from my healing abilities that we had just discovered.

Cisco and I walk into the cortex, both sitting in chairs, as we were a voice identical to Barry's causing confusion to spark up in both of us, "It's like looking in a mirror. Well not quite."

"Can you pull up surveillance?" I question, "Why would Barry we out right now?"

"Hang on-" Cisco types away, tracking Barry's location then pulling up live security footage, "After we watch this, ill erase it-"

His voice faded as our eyes land on the monitor, staring at what was in front of us. Barry stood in his suit, face to face with who was revealed as Savitar. Himself.

Savitar was truly identical to Barry, the only difference was the scarred side of his face, and his different colored eye.

"You're not so scary without your armor." Barry spoke, confidence and courage in his tone.

"What can I say? I outgrew red." Savitar shrugs, his voice low, deep and raspy.

"I know what you are." Barry began, "You're a time remnant."

"This is impossible-" Cisco starts to say.

"We're staring right at it, Cisco." I whisper, my eyes not daring to leave the screen.

"A temporal duplicate created when you run back in time and meet yourself." Savitar exclaimed, calling him out, pointing right at him, "You brought a remnant to life last year to defeat Zoom. Your duplicate died, saving the multiverse, and you continued your happy little life. And it would've stayed that way, but then you decided to play God. You created Flashpoint and changed everything."

"I went to the future. My future self told me that he created time remnants to stop you. But you slaughtered them all." Barry told him, as they walked in a circle slowly, keep their distance.

"All but one. Me. I lived." Savitar threw his arms up, "But a funny thing happened when I did. You. Joe. Wally, Cisco. You all shunned me because I wasn't the true Barry Allen. I was an aberration. A disposable hero. Future you failed to mention that, didn't he?"

"How did you become Savitar?" Barry asks.

"I was broken and alone." Savitar's voice lowers, as you could practically hear the pain in his voice, "I wanted the pain to end. And that's when I realized the truth, Barry. God feels no pain. All I had to do was become one. And I only need two more things: for Iris to die so that you are driven so far into the dark that I can be born."

Tears filled my eyes, feeling guilt pool up in my chest for the villain.

But I couldn't help him. He had the face of the man I love. Deep down, the man I love was down there. Under all the layers of broken, betrayal and hatred.

"And the other?" Barry questions.

"It may sound ironic given who I'm talking to, but I'll keep that one to myself." Savitar concludes.

"What happens if I kill myself?" Barry starts to phase his hand, "If I die, then you'll never be created."

My palm reaches to slap against the button that turns on our side of the comms, Cisco immediately catching my wrist, stopping me.

"Cause and effect's a tricky thing. Didn't work so well for Eddie, did it? Shot himself in the chest Thawne's still kicking around. See, that's the thing about time travel, Barry. The more you do it, the less the rules apply to you." Savitar chuckles, his eyes wide with amusement, acting as if he was the teacher and Barry was the student, Barry's phasing hand stopping.

"But us having this conversation now we're changing the future." Barry says.

"Are we?" Savitar looks at him, "My ascendancy is nearing. When I have control of all of time, it will be you who is abandoned and forgotten."

Savitar turns, starting to move back to his suit, but before he could, Barry moved quickly, punching him, then holding him in a headlock, "You're gonna die right here!"

Savitar chuckles, "I forgot to tell you my suit's cooler than yours."

With that, Savitar's suit turned on and grabbed Barry, tossing him to the side. Eventually, Savitar got into his suit, and they both decided to lightning toss at each other, resulting in a explosion, sending them both back, Savitar disappearing.

I let out a breath, putting my head in my hands.

-

"He's all the worst parts of you." I say quietly, keeping the tears in my eyes held back, staring at Barry as he told us all everything he had witnessed last night once he called the entire team over, "He's all the hurt. All the loss- all the regret- all the anger- that you've ever held inside or ever moved on from. He's the worst version of you."

Cisco and I were keeping quiet about hearing everything and about my healing abilities, but from what Barry was telling us, it was normal for me to go that deep into it.

"It's like in "Star Trek" when the transporter splits Kirk into good Kirk and bad Kirk." Cisco spoke, stood next to me, looking at HR, "Please tell me you at least have "Star Trek" on your Earth."

"Voyager." HR corrects.

"-I hate spinoffs." Cisco huffs.

"No guys-" I look up at Barry, "This explains why Caitlin was so willing to work with him. He has a face she trusts- the face we all trust."

"Half of one anyway." Barry quietly remarked, a sigh leaving his lips.

"So when the Legends found that message in the Waverider from old you saying "Don't trust Barry Allen," it was talking about Savitar Barry Allen." Cisco chuckled in amusement, "It's all coming together in the worst way."

"You said you made Savitar?" Joe asks, Barry barely nodding, "How?"

"Peep this." Cisco goes to the write board and starts jotting down things for us to follow, "Four years from now, future Flash creates a time remnant to fight Savitar. But Savitar lets that remnant live so that it can later become Savitar. So once Savitar is imprisoned in the Speed Force, this remnant starts to go crazy. And he goes back in time to the past and becomes Savitar."

"Creating the lie that he was the first speedster, spreading the myth and recruiting acolytes throughout the ages." Julian finishes, catching on.

"That doesn't make any sense." Joe says, "Which came first, Savitar or the time remnant?"

"It's a closed loop. No beginning, no end. It's just one endless cycle." Cisco answered.

"Classic chicken and the egg scenario, I think, eh?" HR joined the conversation.

"A time remnant, it's, um it's like a duplicate of you, right? So it has your feelings, your memories.

So why would he want to hurt us? Why would he want to kill Iris?" Wally asks.

Barry dodges the question, not knowing how to answer it, "HR, how's Tracy coming with the Speed Force trap?"

"Good, yeah, good. Slow." HR simply answered.

"Get her to speed up, all right?" Barry gets up, leaving the room.

"I'll do that now. Can do." HR nods towards him as Barry walked out.

"If Savitar is a version of Barry from the future and he remembers everything that Barry does, how are we ever going to come up with a plan to stop him?" Wally questions, looking at all of us.

I sigh, jumping up, quickly following Barry. I slowly walk into the Speed Lab, seeing him seated down on the treadmill, staring into nothingness. I lean my arms against the bars, looking at him, "Hi, honey."

The sound of my voice makes his head snap up, his eyes landing on me, "Hey."

The heels of my converse click as I walked over to him, standing in front of him, "What was he like?"

"Broken." Barry croaks out, letting out a sigh.

I sat down next to him, "Barry-" I place my elbow on my thigh, balling my hand into a fist, resting my chin on it, "It's either you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Barry sighs, looking down.

"Okay, I'm not going to lie to you." I started, "I heard everything last night. I heard his voice, I heard what was said. I even heard how you were about to kill yourself to stop him which by the way, If you ever plan on doing that, I will bring you back to life and kill you myself."

Barry very lightly chuckles, shaking his head at me, causing me to speak up again, "Hey- but whatever you saw last night. He wasn't you."

"Part of him is." Barry says quietly, not making eye contact and staring at the ring that rested on my finger, "He said it was like looking in a mirror, and he was right. But not just the way that he looked. It was it was his eyes. The pain that was inside them. I've seen that in myself. When I think about how my parents died so violently sometimes I want to repay that violence with more violence. I want to make someone else hurt as much as I do."

"Barry." I exhale, "I know you. I know who you are- I know the goodness that's in your heart. The pain you felt but didn't act upon doesn't define you. You're the man I fell in love with, Barry. You're a good person. It's normal- to feel broken and in pain."

"But it's in there, you know. That's in me." Barry looks at me, "That power, that pain, that's where Savitar comes from. Just like you said. From loss. From losing you."

"You're not going to lose me." I readjust, placing a hand on his back, "You're not going to. We're going to stop Savitar."

"Jay told me that we're not gods." Barry began, "He was wrong. We could be. Any speedster, and it wouldn't take much. When the love that we feel in our hearts is drowned in anger when the bad memories outweigh the good ones. What am I going to have to become to stop him?"

Before I could say anything else, Cisco ran in, "Hey guys!- Bad time?"

"No-" I shook my head, "Shoot."

"I just came up with the best idea ever. Either that or it's the worst idea ever." Cisco started, "But-"

"It's an idea." Barry finished for him.

"It's an idea!" Cisco cheered lightly.

-

"You want to give me a perm?" Barry asks, as we stood where Cisco had brought us, staring at what hung from the chair.

"It's not for your hair, Steel Magnolia." Cisco remarked, "This is for your brain, okay? I want to stop you from making new memories."

"What are you talking about?" Iris questions.

"Savitar knows everything we're gonna do because he remembers doing it. He's a future Barry. So what if Barry can't remember what we're doing now?" Cisco explained.

"You want to mess with his brain?" Joe asks.

"Just a little bit." Cisco nods, "It's a minimal procedure. It'll still be the same Barry you know and love, except he just won't be able to retain new information."

"There's two types of memory, Allen." Julian starts, "Short-term and long-term. Long-term is where you-"

Cisco cut him off, "Okay, Julian, just stop. This is my presentation; I'm the expert here."

Cisco began again, "This is the part of your brain that retains new information before sending it to the cortex to be stored forever. So what if we block that chain with a magnetic disruption?"

"So Savitar won't be able to remember whatever strategy we come up with to defeat him." I caught on.

"Which means he can't be two steps ahead of us anymore." Wally said.

"With any luck, we'll actually put him one step behind." Julian finished.

"Beautiful." Cisco smiles, pointing at them, "Cause and effect."

"Barry, what do you think?" Iris asked.

"Let's do it." Barry nods.

"Wait, wasn't Caitlin the expert on brains around here?" asked Joe.

"She was." Cisco nods slowly, "But this is something we'll have to do without her."

"I trust you." Barry assured him, sitting in the white seat.

"You won't feel a thing." He pats his shoulder, than moved towards his tablet.

Barry grabs my hand, as I stood next to him, holding both his hands in mine.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road. The disrupter is attached to your hippocampus." Julian said, "So, it's ready."

"Okay, ready for zapping." Cisco began.

"Can we not call it "zapping"?" Joe asks.

"Ready to activate." Cisco corrects himself, "In three two one."

It was quiet simple, Cisco tapped something on his tablet and the machine activated, the procedure lasting a minute, and then it was done.

"How do you feel?" Iris asks.

"I feel fine." Barry practically snatches his hand from my hold.

"Hey- what the hell?" I stare at him with wide eyes.

"Barry?" Everyone's ends up saying one after the other.

"Who are all of you?" Barry says softly, before sitting up quickly, staring at all of us, "What's going on? Seriously, who are you guys?"

"Okay, Barry, stay calm." Iris starts.

"Who's Barry?" Barry snips, staring at all of us.

"Cisco!" Joe's head snaps towards him.

"Slight miscalculation." Cisco immediately starts typing away.

Joe remarks, "Slight wouldn't be a word I'd use."

"Where the hell am I? Is this a dentist office?" Barry got to his feet.

"No, no." Iris shook her head, "This is Star Labs."

"Star Labs? A laboratory? What are you?- Are you guys experimenting on me?" Barry looks at all of us, backing away.

"No one is ex- well, yes, technically, yes." Julian starts, as I hit his arm, "But- but it was consensual."

"Why can't I remember anything? Why can't I remember my name?" Barry put his hands on his head, freaking out.

"Your name is Barry." I stare at him, my eyes wide.

"My name's not Barry. I don't know what my name is, but my name's-" Barry pulls out his wallet and looks at his Driver's license, "-Bartholomew Henry Allen. That's not a good name."

"Look, Barry-" Cisco starts, coming by me.

Barry cuts him off, "Are you sure I don't go by Bart Can we- Bart feels more natural to me. Can we go with Bart?"

"Bart's kinda cool." Wally musters out, not knowing what to do with the given situation, trying to just get him to calm down.

"Wally-" Joe looks at him, stopping him.

"You turned my fiancé into a Bart?" The words seethed through my teeth as I stared at Cisco, my voice dangerously low, my tone practically scaring him as if I had screamed that I would break his face.

"Okay, hey." Cisco caught Barry's attention, "Let's just get you back in the chair."

"No! No, no, no." Barry held a finger towards us, backing away as I took a step forward, "I'm not - I'm not getting in the chair."

"Just get in the chair-" Cisco fries again.

"No, how do I know you didn't kidnap me here to do some weird brain surgery on me? Or maybe you're like those criminals who trick people into hotel rooms so they can steal their kidneys." Barry backs away further, rounding the table, saying all in one breath, causing him to gasp for air and pull the ends of his shirt up, looking down at her bare skin, letting go of the shirt again, it falling back in place, "Do I still have my kidneys?"

"We don't want your kidneys." Julian blurts out, his eyes wide.

Iris hits my arm lightly, signaling for me to do something, this being a literal jolt in my body as I stepped in front of everyone, "Barry- hey. Look at me."

Barry pauses, his eyes landing on me, as I whipped out of my phone, opening up the camera roll, pressing the first picture, handing him my phone, letting him swipe through them and piece the faces together, "Look at these photographs, okay? Look at what they're showing you. You're with us. Each and every one of these photos has at least one of us with you. We're your friends. Your family. We're not conducting some sort of experiment on you to harm you in any way- nor are we criminals trying to steal your kidneys. We want to help you, okay? I know you're- confused- and scared- but we're trying to fix it. Please- just calm down. Just trust us. If you can't trust all of us- at least trust me."

Barry slowly hands me back my phone after looking at the photos, holding eye contact with me, his eyes quickly darting to my ring, "That's a nice ring. Who's the lucky guy?"

My heart ached in pain hearing him say that to me, I quietly exhale, "You."

"Cisco." Joe says, "A minute."

"Yes, sir." Cisco says, immediately leaving the room with everyone else, leaving Wally and I with Barry, Iris making sure Wally stayed to keep me back up.

"So how do we know each other?" Barry asks Wally, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, I'm your brother." Wally simply answers.

Barry slowly brings his hand out, his eyes landing on his hand then looking at Wally, Wally shooting him a crooked smile, as I immediately facepalm.

-

Barry and I were in a room at CCPD, after we had informed Cecile that Barry was suffering from amnesia due to what had happened in the Labs. Joe had left us alone, to see if he could go delay the court hearing, due to Barry not being in any condition to going there and speaking, and testifying.

Barry sat in silence, as I quietly paced, Barry's voice repeating "Bart" in my head on a constant loop, secondhand embarrassment filling me.

Barry spoke up, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I halt, my head snapping towards him.

"I don't know." Barry lightly shrugs, "It just seems like everybody's upset and it feels like it's my fault."

"It's not your fault, Barry." My tone falls soft, "We just want you back to normal, due to all that's being thrown at us. I mean, you're not in any condition to testify, you don't remember anything."

"Well, I would, if I could remember what normal is." Barry told me, standing in front of me, "I mean, what have you and I been doing lately? Are we planning the wedding? Like, are we sending out wedding invitations or picked a honeymoon destination, or am I a warm weather guy or a cold weather guy?"

My heart drops, "We haven't gotten to any of that yet. We've been really busy lately-"

"With what?" Barry questions.

"Um, nothing that you need to worry about, okay? You'll remember soon." I reassure him.

"You know what's weird? I know we just ate, but I'm already feeling hungry." Barry admits.

"Lets go get some food in you."

-

"Science club." Barry listed off his phone as we sat in Jitters, small laughs leaving his mouth every time he read another club he had joined, as I nod to every one of them, confirming, "Key Club, Astronomy Club, Yearbook? And anime club?"

"Oh, yeah." I laugh, "You loved Dragon Ball Z. God, Iris and I used to practically charge into your room and turn it off due to how much you watched it."

"I don't know what that is." Barry admits.

"Honestly, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't be able to explain it to you." I admit.

"I definitely had quite the nerd thing going on, huh?" Barry chuckles, as I nod, a small smile on my face.

"I thought you said we were best friends in high school." Barry looks at me.

"Yeah, we were." I confirm.

"Then why didn't you give me some advice, help me out?" Barry asks.

"Oh come on. Iris and I tried so hard. You wouldn't budge, hun." I giggle lightly, putting my hands up in surrender.

"Really? You did?" Barry places the phone in the center of the table, a old photo of him lighting up the screen, "Because I have evidence that you did not. Um, I don't remember any of this, but even I can see how wrong that look was. This is visual terrorism. I won't look at it anymore."

I stay silent, a wide smile on my face, my stare on him.

"What?" Barry asks, the smile remaining on his lips.