(The Flash) Frozen Flashpoint: Chapter 23 - Looking back and front

Chapter 23 - Looking back and front

Summary: The Speedforce teaching Caitlin and Lyra a lesson.

Caitlin noticed the uncomfortable air around her daughter and tried to redirect the conversation.

Caitlin took a deep breath and asked, "I assume that this lesson is for me and there is another reason for you to take the look of my father rather than explain lightning rods."

She heard sniggering in the back of her head and Frost commenting, 'Smooth, Caity.'

With a mental nudge, Caitlin tried to shut Frost up while waiting for her answer.

Her father, or at least the Speedforce with her father's face, smiled again at her. "You were always so clever, my dear."

Thomas then turned around and gazed out of the windows toward the dark sky with stars outside. "Do you remember how many hours we spent watching the sky, my Snow-child?"

Caitlin's mind was thrown back in time, to when she was laying on that bed, sick, and her dad would spend the entire night with her, watching the dark sky with her and pointing out the different constellations to distract her and make her happy.

It worked. She remembers the warm feeling that would replace all the aches she was feeling. While her mother just kept working around the clock, her dad would return every day from work only to spend the entire night with her.

Caitlin was shaken out of her thoughts from the past when Thomas spoke again. "You were sick, and I wanted to spend as much time with you as I could because I wasn't sure how long we had together."

Caitlin looked at the clone, or whatever she should call it, with wide eyes and asked quietly, "Because of your ALS?"

Thomas shook his head, the smile slipping off his face for the first time as he said sadly, "Because of yours."

Caitlin inhaled sharply and she could hear Frost panicking in her head. 'No, no, no, no, no! She didn't have any symptoms before me! Mother said so, and I stopped them from ever developing.'

Caitlin shook her head and began denying, "No. I didn't even know I had the gene until Frost told me. You were the one who was sick."

Caitlin felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned sharply to see the concerned face of Barry as he asked her softly, "Cait, are you okay?"

But Caitlin didn't answer. Instead, she turned back to face Thomas, who was now wearing a small, sad smile before saying something that caught all of them off guard. "Did you know that most of the lights we see now are stars that died a long time ago?"

Caitlin was speechless because of the topic change, so Lyra tried to fill in with a little awkward tone, "Umm... Yeah. I mean, it's like common knowledge."

"It's interesting, is it not..." Thomas's voice was still calm but had an edge of sadness to it. "All the time we are watching those flickering lights in the sky, we are watching lies, a truth hidden for many years before it's revealed with a deep darkness to replace the mask of light once standing in its place."

Caitlin was starting to lose her grip on her emotions, all of those whiplashes from the random facts thrown at her since she saw the face of her father, and that alone was quite a hit to her sanity. But now the Speedforce wearing her father's face was destroying the best memories she had with him.

Barry finally stepped forward. "Okay, I think we've reached the point where you're doing more damage than good, so if you've got a point, it's time to get to it."

Caitlin was thankful for Barry that he tried to protect her mental health and isn't afraid to go against a force of nature for her, but from what she heard about the Speedforce both from this experience and from Barry's accounts of his last visit, she knew the Speedforce won't relent on her figuring it out by herself.

And Caitlin wants for that to be over with, but what is the Speedforce trying to tell her? There was one thing that kept bothering her about what the Speedforce said. Why did it use the word 'lies' when describing the light of the stars... Anyone who is even interested in stars and space knows about the light of the star fact. So why go as far as calling it a lie while all it really is...

Caitlin's eyes widened and she spoke before she could doubt herself. "Not everything is what it seems. Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Thomas turned to her with a proud smile and said gently, "Those who appear to be strong hide their weakness, and the weak often conceal their strength, fearing it might not be enough."

Caitlin was confused again. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Thomas looked kindly at her and asked, "What do you think your mother did all those nights I spent here with you?"

Caitlin frowned; her voice was filled with bitterness. "She wouldn't leave her precious work."

Thomas nodded a little before exposing the truth. "Precious work indeed. You see, from the moment you first showed symptoms, your mother threw herself and every available lab she had into making a cure for you, or at the very least a treatment."

Caitlin's mind halted. She could dimly hear Frost's voice calling out, 'Caity. Caity, shake it off.'

Caitlin shook her head, trying to focus, but even as her voice came out disbelieving, she had a defiant look on her face. "But that would mean..."

Thomas hummed for a moment as his gaze returned to the dark sky outside, the light of the stars now gone. There was a small, sad smile on his face. "Not all is what it seemed. You thought I was the strong one because I stood by your side when you were sick, and that your mother had abandoned you because she was working too hard. The truth always was the opposite."

Caitlin could feel her knees shaking. She was afraid she was going to drop to the floor when, from each side of her, Barry and Lyra caught her and helped her stay standing. But Caitlin could only stare at the face of her father and choke out, "Why?"

Thomas turned back to look at Caitlin with an apologetic look on his face as he said, "I had always known that my family line carries the ALS gene. I lived over 30 years without symptoms and believed I was spared and so would you. But when you began to get sick, I was shocked, at a loss of what to do. It was easier for me to accept your fate as I watched my father succumb to the same. But your mother refused to. She believed that if she would turn the world sideways, she would find a way to keep you alive and healthy."

Caitlin could just let go and cry. All those years of bitterness toward her mother and the feelings of abandonment she attached to her, it was all her fault. She tried to blame all her family's issues on her mother because she was already mad at her, when in reality her mother was the only one who was giving her hardest to keep them together.

Thomas chuckled a little, drawing Caitlin's attention back to him before he spoke. "Your mother was never an easy woman to deal with, so we all share the blame, my Snow-child. But what is most important is the fact you still have time. You began to process, now you have the drive to complete it. You must always remember, my dear..."

Caitlin found herself completing the sentence absent-mindedly. "Not everything is what it seems."

Thomas smiled at her before turning to look back into the telescope. He didn't even look at them when he said, "We will always have the stars, my dear. I'm so proud of you."

Caitlin was thinking of a way to respond to that when her bedroom door opened by itself, clearly signaling them it was time to move on.

She grabbed the hands of her fiancée and daughter before walking through the door, knowingly avoiding looking back toward her father.

FF FF FF FF FF

When they went through the door, they found themselves in what looked like a training dojo, a messy one at that.

But right now, what Barry was focused most on was Caitlin. He turned toward the love of his life and carefully asked, "Cait, how are you doing?"

Caitlin turned to give him a small, watery smile and answered, "I'm fine."

Barry scanned her face for a moment, saying gently, "You know you don't have to hold back with me."

Caitlin stepped forward and gave him a short hug. When she stepped back, she gave him a full smile and said genuinely, "I want to talk about that, and we will, I promise. Just not here and now. Until then, I will be fine, Barr."

Barry nodded with a smile, satisfied with the response. Then he looked around again and asked, "So, either of you have any idea what this place is?"

Lyra smiled a little when she answered in a wistful tone, "That's our dojo in Star City. Oliver built it for me and Mia so she could train me." After a small pause, she chuckled a little. "Though I don't remember it being that messy."

"Now that's totally not shwei, Babe. You know it's mostly your fault every time," a female voice said, entering the room from the second door on the other side of the room.

The teenager, because she had to be around the same age as Lyra, maybe a couple of years older, had familiar blonde hair that almost reached her shoulders. Her eyes were a familiar shade of blue, and her skin was fair. She was taller than Lyra by a couple of inches, her body had more muscles, and she was smirking. The teen was wearing casual jeans and a green t-shirt.

Barry recognized that teenager as none other than Mia Queen, future daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak.

Lyra took a tentative step forward and said wistfully, "Mia..."

Barry raised his hands and called out, "Wait a moment, I need to catch up here. Did she just call you 'Babe'?"

Mia rolled her eyes and snarked back at him, "The one who claims to be the fastest man alive asks for time to catch up?"

Barry's eyes widened and he began sputtering for a moment, before he shook his head and grumbled, "Definitely Oliver's kid."

Caitlin giggled at him for a moment before directing her gaze at Lyra and asking, "And what do you have to say, Snowflake?"

Lyra was rubbing her arm and laughing a little awkwardly while trying to answer, "Well... You see... It's..."

Mia raised an amused eyebrow at her and asked teasingly, "Ashamed of me, are you, Snow-angel?"

Lyra's face grew red, and she immediately defended herself, "Wait, what?! Not at all! I just didn't want to tell them too much about the future. I didn't even tell them about Dawn."

Barry looked in surprise at the panic his daughter went into and sighed, "Lyra, you do remember it's just the Speedforce, not your actual girlfriend."

Lyra's face returned to its tomato state and her jaw clicked shut. Mia chuckled, "Sorry, Snow-angel, I couldn't resist."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow toward her daughter and asked, "Snow-angel? I like it."

"Mom! Please don't. It will be super weird," whined Lyra before adding, "And I'm not the only one with awkward nicknames. I used to call her Cupid... You know because of..."

Barry chuckled, "Yeah, we can guess, Snowflake."

Lyra then looked into the eyes of Mia and asked, "Why are we here? What do you want to tell me?"

Mia smiled at her and answered simply and with finality, "Nothing."

All three of them were taken aback and had a hard time believing what they were hearing. Barry raised an eyebrow, and when he spoke, his tone was laced with skepticism, "After everything we went through in the last, I don't know how many hours, you expect us to believe that?"

Mia shrugged without a single care, pointed toward the door she came through, and said, "Believe what you want, pal. You walk out of that door and you all will wake up in STAR Labs."

Barry took a long moment to scan the face of the teenage girl, but just like Oliver, if she didn't want her emotions to be seen, nobody would be able to read her. Eventually, Barry let out a sigh and said, "Let's head home, girls."

Barry and Caitlin began to walk toward the door, and it was just before they reached for the handle that both of them noticed Lyra wasn't following them.

They turned back to see Lyra still standing in the same spot and staring at Mia, who was looking back at her with the same carefree smile.

Lyra had unshed tears in her eyes as she asked, "Isn't there something you should teach me? A lesson I should learn?! Anything?!" She finished a little desperately.

Mia answered with a gentle voice, "I already taught you everything I know, Babe. You know it."

Lyra shook her head and kept questioning what was going on. "So why are you here? What was the point of this?"

Mia shrugged. "Why should there be any point?"

Lyra seemed to lose it as she screamed at the blonde teen, "So why are you here?!"

Barry finally had all the dots connected in his mind, and he said loud enough for all of them to hear, "She's here to listen."

Lyra looked at him with a confused expression, so Barry walked over to her and said gently, "She isn't here to teach you anything you don't already know. She's here so you could tell Mia what you never got the chance to before you left."

Lyra looked down after that for a long moment, and Barry began to worry, but then her head snapped back up, and she screamed, "How are you not angry?!"

Mia never lost her smile. She simply raised her eyebrow and asked, "Why would I be?"

Lyra looked shocked and screamed back, "I left! I left you. I left Mom. I left Dawn." Tears began rolling down her cheeks as she finished weakly, "I should be there, to protect you all, to help you."

Caitlin now stood next to Barry, and she called out softly, "Lyra... It's okay..."

Lyra shook her head violently from side to side, sending her hair flying in every direction until it stopped when she looked at Caitlin with pleading eyes. "It's not, Mom! If anything bad happens to them, then it's my fault. Can't you see..."

Barry pulled Lyra into his arms and hugged her tightly while saying quietly, "There is so much of me in you. Too much. We can't carry everything on our own, Snowflake. That's why we have a team." He raised his head toward the blonde teen standing quietly and added, "That's why you have her."

Lyra pulled back from his hug to look at Mia as well. The blonde gave her a smile and said, "Your dad is right. You are not alone in this, Babe. And you are helping—you are changing the future for all of us. We can hold our own until then."

Lyra wiped away her tears and gave a determined nod before looking Mia in the eye and saying, "When all of this is over, I'm coming back to you. All of you, I promise."

Mia's smile widened, and all she said in return was, "I know you will, Snow-angel."

With that said, the three of them left through the final door.