(The Flash) Frozen Flashpoint: Chapter 21 – Starting Line

Chapter 21 – Starting Line

Summary: The path through the past, where relationships grow and hard choices are made.

Barry turned to Caitlin and asked with a raised eyebrow, “Okay, clearly I’m missing something. Want to let me in?”

Caitlin giggled, a much nicer look on her than the dark satisfaction she had before, and said, “Oh, Barry, you were always hopeless when it came to noticing romantic interest.”

Barry’s jaw dropped, and he was about to say something—he wasn’t even sure what—when suddenly they found themselves inside a new scene.

Lyra was the same age as she was now, wearing casual clothes and standing next to a female dressed in a suit similar to the Green Arrow’s, but hers was a deep blue color.

In front of the two girls, a battle was going on. Barry couldn’t recognize the place, but he did recognize one of the buildings in the background as the former Queen Industries HQ.

On the battlefield were dozens of metas as well as common armed criminals. Frost was fighting alongside the entire Arrow team.

Lyra and Mia were hiding behind a building, trying to catch a glimpse of the fight. Lyra clenched her fists and hissed to herself, “I should be there helping.”

Mia took one of Lyra’s fists in her gloved hands and said softly, “We can’t risk them finding out about your speed, Sweetness.”

Lyra had no reply to that, so both of them leaned forward again, trying to catch another glimpse of the fight. That was when they noticed a familiar blonde man advancing toward them.

Mia pushed Lyra back without a second thought and hissed lowly, “Stay hidden. I’ll draw him away.”

Lyra’s eyes widened, and she tried to call quietly, “No, Mia…”

But Mia was already holding her bow, reaching for an arrow while jumping onto a wall behind them. She began running in the opposite direction of Lyra, drew her bow, and launched an arrow at the hot-headed man.

Bran used his explosion to quickly jump away from where he stood, causing the arrow to hit the asphalt next to him. The pyromaniac’s smirk turned into a scowl when, after a moment, the arrow exploded, and his legs were stuck to the ground with ice.

Then the comms came to life, and Lyra could hear Oliver’s voice: “Ice, what are you doing?”

Mia grumbled before answering, “Exploder was close to finding Sweetness. Had to draw him away.”

Oliver cursed through the comms before saying firmly, “Be careful. We have our hands full right here.”

Bran growled and blew the ice apart before using another explosion to launch himself at Mia.

Mia reached for another arrow while jumping off the wall, spinning in the air to gently land on the ground the very moment she released the arrow.

Bran turned midair as well, sending an explosion toward the arrow, but the arrow exploded in midair before it reached him, releasing cold air and depriving Bran of his powers for about a minute.

Without wasting a moment, Mia ran forward, preparing a punch, but Bran was quicker and uppercut her the moment she was within reach, catching her off guard.

The punch sent Mia back a few steps, causing her to lose her grip on her bow. The weapon slipped from her hands and fell out of reach.

She tried to grab another arrow, but Bran launched himself again, using the shockwave of his explosion to knock Mia to the ground.

Bran smirked and growled, “I learned from my fights with the Frost bitch. I’m the best! I’m number one!”

He launched another explosion at the girl, who barely rolled away from it. Still, her neck caught on fire for a moment, which she immediately put out, but there would be a burn scar along the right side of her neck from now on.

Bran growled, “This time, I’ll finish you off for good. Time to DIEEEE!”

Bran was about to use both his arms to launch a large explosion Mia would have no way of escaping. That was when Lyra snapped.

She jumped out from behind the building. A moment before the explosion left Bran’s palms, a thick, strong wall of ice rose between the two.

The explosion barely dented the ice wall, causing Bran to spin around with a growl, “Frost bitch Jr. I was looking for you.”

Lyra glared hatefully at the man. “Well, you found me. And I’m going to make you pay.”

Lyra raised her hands, cold air pouring off them. Bran raised his hands in return with a sneer on his face, “I enjoyed frying your old man, after that useless Simon got rid of his leg and arm. Now I’ll have even more fun with—AGHGH!”

Lyra was so angry at what the blonde was saying that she was about to activate her speed, only for Mia to appear out of nowhere and stab both of Bran’s arms with two arrows.

Mia took a step back just in time for the arrows to explode in ice. Bran howled in pain as both his arms were covered with frostbite, probably enough to destroy both of them for good.

With a furious, hateful scream, Bran jumped and used an explosion from his feet to launch himself off the battlefield.

Lyra ran toward Mia and caught her before she fell to the ground. The speedster looked deep into the blue eyes of the vigilante and asked softly, “Why did you do it?”

Mia gave her a small smile and answered just as softly, “So you wouldn’t have to.”

Everything else in that moment faded away as the two of them kissed for the first time.

All Barry could do was gape and say, “Oh.” Caitlin giggled.

Lyra stood in her super suit in front of Oliver, Felicity, Caitlin, Cisco, and Harry. Mia was next to her, holding her hand.

Lyra looked shocked at all of them and asked, “You’re asking me to run away?! To leave you all behind?!”

Caitlin looked gently at her daughter and retorted, “We’re asking you to change things for the better, little star. You’re the only one who can.”

Lyra had no possible answer, so she began to splutter, “I… I…”

Harry slammed his hands on the table and spoke with anger, “I’m not ecstatic about you doing it either, but you’re the last speedster on this Earth, and DeVoe doesn’t know about you yet. So now is our chance to send a warning. What do you think we trained you for?!”

Lyra’s jaw set back into place, and she hissed back at her Grankle, “To save lives, not run away from the fight!”

Before anyone else could argue, Oliver spoke up. His face was as firm as ever, but his tone was much softer. “And by doing this, you’ll save lives. Many of them… including your father’s.”

Lyra froze, letting the words sink in. She felt pressure in her hand and looked at her girlfriend.

Mia gave her a smile and said, “This is your chance to be what you trained so hard to be… a real hero, like your dad.”

Lyra shook her head and asked in a frightened tone, “What will happen when I come back?! Will any of you still be here? Will any of you even know who I am? Will…” Lyra fixed her eyes deep into Mia’s and asked quietly, “Will you still love me?”

Mia pulled her into a tight hug and said with the utmost sincerity, “There is no timeline where I won’t be in love with you, Lyra Nora Snow-Allen.”

Felicity had a small smile on her face. “Lyra, sweetie, we will always love you. We’re family, after all.”

Lyra looked desperately around. “What if I do the wrong thing at the wrong time? I could erase this family, erase myself, or worse… erase Dawn.”

Cisco gave her a kind smile and tried to sound cheerful. “Don’t worry, Speedstorm. We chose a point in time where the chances of that happening are almost zero.”

Lyra relaxed a little before nodding reluctantly. “I’ll do it! To save Dad, to save Auntie Jess, and everyone else those psychopaths killed.”

Oliver gave her a proud smile and said, “That’s the spirit.”

A woman in a white lab coat with long dark hair and fair skin entered the room and announced, “The treadmill is ready, but with the energy requirements, we only have one chance at it without Clifford noticing.”

Caitlin gave the woman a soft smile and said, “Thank you, Marlize. Lyra will just say her goodbyes, and we’ll be on our way.”

Marlize returned the kind smile and left the room.

“So, this is DeVoe’s wife, huh,” Barry mumbled to himself.

Caitlin nodded. “Doesn’t seem evil, especially compared to her husband.”

Suddenly, the door to the room opened again, and a seven-year-old girl with long brown hair—the same shade as Barry’s—and Caitlin’s eye color ran inside, calling, “Big sis, big sis.”

Lyra knelt and picked the girl up in a hug. “How’s my little sunshine doing today?”

The little girl smiled brightly. “Me and Uncle John painted a picture this big.” She spread her arms as much as she could.

Lyra chuckled. “Sounds awesome. I’d love to see it when I come back.”

The little girl frowned a little and asked, “You’re leaving?”

Lyra looked a little uncomfortable but forced a smile. “Just going for a quick run. I should be back in no time.”

Lyra cringed at her choice of words, while Mia giggled behind her.

The little girl considered the words for a moment before nodding with a smile. “Okay. You can see it later.”

Lyra kept forcing her smile and said, “Thanks, sunshine. You can show it to big sis Mia; she’ll stay with you.” Her smile turned sincere as she said warmly, “Never forget, Dawn, your big sis loves you.”

Barry and Caitlin gasped and at the same time breathed out the name, “Dawn.” Both now realized what had happened that morning during sunrise.

Dawn tilted her head before giggling and saying innocently, “Silly big sis, I love you too.”

Both sisters hugged each other closely for a moment longer before letting go, and Dawn ran out to find Uncle Wally to show him her big painting.

Lyra was about to leave the room to find Marlize as well when Mia tugged her arm. Lyra turned to her girlfriend and found the blonde holding a sealed letter.

Lyra looked at her girlfriend with a raised eyebrow. Mia gave the speedster a smile. “If you need someone to talk to and can’t with your parents, run over to my dad and give him this letter. After he reads it, you’ll have him at your side.”

Lyra looked at the letter and asked, “Is there something about Chase in that letter?” When Mia flinched a little, Lyra rubbed her arm and said kindly, “Hey, I get it. You want to save William and his mom as much as I want to save Dad and Jess. I’ll give it to him in time, I promise.”

Mia jumped on her and kissed the speedster. Lyra returned the kiss, and for a moment, everything was right with the world. When they broke apart, Mia sighed and said, “Damn, I love you so much.”

Lyra giggled and responded, “So do I.”

Mia pushed Lyra a little and said with a smirk, “You better go. Oh, by the way, Dad will try to shoot arrows in your back, so watch out for that. I’ll be waiting here for you.”

A minute later, Lyra stepped onto the treadmill. Her mom came close to her and handed her a USB drive while explaining, “Your dad will have a hard time believing you’re who you say you are. Show this to them as proof, as well as a warning.”

Lyra put the USB drive in her glove so she wouldn’t lose it, then smiled at her mom. Caitlin hugged her and whispered, “I love you, little star. Keep yourself safe above everything else.”

Lyra nodded and said, “I’ll try. I love you too, Mom, Mama.”

Caitlin took a step back, and the treadmill came to life. Lyra allowed the Speedforce to fill her body, and she began to run as fast as she could.

After a couple of minutes, a portal opened in front of her, and Lyra heard her mama call, “Run, Lyra, run,” before she disappeared into the portal.

Suddenly, Barry and Caitlin were standing in a park near a cemetery. Barry recognized the place—it was just outside where his parents were buried. A portal opened in the middle of the park, and Lyra appeared, stopping herself to look around in confusion.

When her eyes landed on Caitlin, she frowned a little. “Mom? Did… Did I do it wrong?”

But then her eyes moved to Barry, and tears filled them. “D… Da… Dad! I… I made it back?”

Barry and Caitlin were shocked she could see them, but the girl was already asking another question, tears still flowing down her cheeks. “Where are we?”

Caitlin shook her head and said honestly, “No idea. Barr?”

Barry had a familiar feeling standing in this place. Where had he felt it before? And how come Cisco’s vibe materialized in front of Lyra? Why now, after all the memories they saw? It had only happened once before… Barry’s eyes widened, and he said out loud, “We’re in the Speedforce.”

After Barry said that, a tall woman with dark red hair appeared out of thin air, a large smile on her face and glowing green eyes.

Lyra gasped and asked, “Who the frak is that?!”

Caitlin took a step back but didn’t say anything. Nor did she turn to Frost, if that was even possible here.

Barry was the one left to answer his daughter. “The appearance is of my mother, Nora Allen. The one in front of us is the representation of the Speedforce.”

Caitlin and Lyra gasped in awe.

Nora’s smile grew a little, and she spoke in the melodic voice Barry missed so much, “Barry Allen, Caitlin Snow, Lyra Snow-Allen. I’ve been waiting a long time for this meeting.”