Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Iris West’s heels were clicking far too loudly on the granite floor as she walked through the Central City Natural History Museum. It had been a while since she’d visited her friend at his second job. Long enough that she had to check the directory at the front desk to find out where Bartholomew Allen worked.

She finds it unusual that she’s told by a stuffy old lady that he is two levels underground and she needs to take the stairs to get there. The door to the stairway is tucked into the corner, set far apart from where the elevators are located. The lights flicker and there is only one security camera that she could see and it doesn’t look like it’s on and recording.

The stairs lead to a dark hallway with a few doors that lead to empty offices and what looks like storage rooms. There’s one door where, through the window, Iris can see a light turned on. There’s lots of noise coming from the room which appears to have once been labelled “The Boiler Room.”

Iris knocks but there’s no answer. There’s music playing and she can hear Barry’s voice projecting as if he’s practicing a speech. She slowly turns the knob, calling out her friend’s name as she peeks in.

“Oh! Iris! Come on in! I could use an audience to practice in front of.”

Barry pulls Iris into the messy office. She notices some exposed pipes and a boiler and several other plumbing devices. This place definitely wasn’t meant to be an office. She starts sweating the moment Barry urges her to sit down. It sounds like she’s come in during the last half of his speech.

“Now I know Atlantis was discovered quite some time ago. However, a lot of the island has yet to be explored due to the indigenous people,” Barry gestures to a map of the island drawn on a large green chalkboard. He’s clearly defined the borders of the Atlantis Resort and the rest of the island. “I believe, according to historic records,” he takes a moment to elaborate specifically, “that there is still a lot more to discover about this island; a history waiting to be uncovered.” Barry holds up one of the artifacts he’s been using as a prop. He pushes his glasses up his nose and give Iris a sly grin. 

“Pause for effect,” he says through his teeth. Iris giggles but is interrupted by the gurgling of the boiler behind her. Barry waves off the noise as a non-issue and pushes forward with his speech. 

“With the museum’s support, I would like to lead a capable research team to finally explore what our world has yet to colonize so that we can further understand this recently discovered civilization. Gentlemen,” Barry holds up his hands, clearly preparing for a formal audience and not the one single female audience of Detective Iris West, “Let me clarify, this would not be a mission to colonize and develop this land into the sort of society we have here in Central City. This would be an opportunity to understand the already well-established civilization and culture that was long forgotten up until almost ten years ago. Thank you.”

Iris gives Barry all the applause she can muster. She can tell that this is a very important project for him and she thinks the Board of Directors for the museum would be crazy to deny him. Though she still wonders if his speech includes one of the main reasons why he wants to go.

“So what did you think?” Barry asks Iris. He can trust her to give him an honest opinion. That’s what a best friend – turned girlfriend, turned ex-girlfriend, then back to best friend – is good for. She stands up and approaches Barry. With her thumbs, she wipes away some chalk dust on Barry’s cheek. Before she can speak, a phone on the wall rings. He reaches for it with urgency. “Bartholomew Allen, Room B7,” he answers. “Oh okay, one second.”

Barry puts the phone down and goes over to the boiler and proceeds to fiddle with the gauges and even hit a few of the pipes with a wrench. The haunting moans of old pipes and an outdated water heater echo throughout the room. Iris looks up as she hears water rushing overhead. A drop of lukewarm water falls on her hand. Barry clambers back over to the phone, navigating around Iris and the desk and other tables.

“Is that better? Good. Oh and about my meeting with the board today…” Barry’s interrupted and Iris watches on with disappointment as Barry’s face falls. “No! Wait! Please don’t do this! Where are they now? No they can’t leave! I’ve been waiting weeks for this meeting!” Barry hangs up the phone harshly and his shoulders are heaving up and down as he takes deep breaths.

“Barr…I’m really sorry,” Iris starts to say but Barry cuts her off by holding up a hand. He spins around and starts to gather a few books and stacks of papers and his lightest prop.

“Wait. Don’t go anywhere! I’ll be right back. I’m not giving up just yet.”

Barry leaves Iris in his makeshift office and charges up the stairs two at a time. He bursts through the stairwell door just in time to see the Board of Directors heading for the exit. He chases after them, pushing past a security guard who’s only trying to say “no running” and then he spins around a startled blonde haired woman with crimson lips. Barry notices that she watches after him, stopped in her tracks as if he’s made her reconsider wherever she was going. He can’t spare a second to wonder what that means because he’s catching up to the men right before they all get into a luxurious Towncar. He manages to prevent them from opening the car door.

“Wait! You have to hear me out! You didn’t even give me a chance to explain my proposal! It would be great for the museum!”

“Mr. Allen! This is incredibly unorthodox and rude!” scolds one of the old men.

“We have heard enough about your pet project and all about your ulterior motives.” Barry’s heart falls into his stomach. “The museum is not in the habit of funding wild goose chases,” says another man.

“But–but this is for the history! And that is what the museum is all about, isn’t it?” Barry counters, but the men just turn their nose up at him.

“Mr. Allen, Atlantis was discovered ten years ago. There’s nothing left to discover, so give it up.” The third man is tall and slender, looming over Barry with a scowl on his face like he’s just smelled bad cheese.

Barry wants to respond. He wants to tell them that they’re being incredibly ignorant and narrow-minded because there’s always something left to explore. But he bites his tongue. He’s too much of a coward to truly stand up for himself. He’s already acted out more than usual.

“We have another, far more important meeting across town to get to. Now get out of the way.”  Barry allows the fourth and last man to move him out of the way so that the car door can be opened. One by one, they start to climb into the car.

Realization dawns on Barry. “Wait, so you guys never intended to keep the meeting you had with me?” Did they really always plan on cancelling last second so that they could go to the other meeting?

“Mr. Allen, like we said, the museum does not fund wild goose chases or search and rescues for people that aren’t even missing.” Barry doesn’t meet the last man’s eye contact because he doesn’t want to admit that they’re right. “Perhaps…somehow…if you do manage to go to Atlantis and you go missing…maybe then we’ll send a team.” The man gets in the car. “But until then, please pack up your things. We no longer need you in room B7.” The fact that he closes the car door without giving Barry a new office assignment makes it crystal clear that he’s just been fired.

Barry tries to make it back to what used to be his office in the basement without drawing attention to himself. The lady at the front desk, however, bids him to come over.

“Psst! Barty!” She never got the hang of calling him by his preferred nickname. He approaches her and she holds out a business card. “That pretty blonde lady you nearly ran into…she left this for you. She said she was interested…in what? I don’t know but she was really pretty. Maybe she wants to go out with you?” She winks at Barry which makes him chuckle as he accepts the card. It’s only a phone number and the silhouette of a black bird.

“Did she say what her name was?” Barry asks, shifting all of the books and papers in his arms to readjust his glasses.

“Oh um…something with an L…Leslie…Lauren…Laura…oh! Laurel! Do you know her?” Barry shakes his head, totally puzzled. Was she interested in his Atlantis proposal? How could she have even known about it? He figures that he’ll consider calling later on. Until then, he needs to get back to his office and to Iris.

It irks Barry that Iris isn’t more surprised about this turn of events. She’d helped him gather everything in that office that was actually his, which conveniently fit into two boxes. Then together they walked down the two blocks to the CCPD.

As Head Detective, Iris was swarmed with messages and reports from other officers when they arrived but she waved them all off so that she could help Barry unpack his things in his lab upstairs.

“Honestly Barry, I didn’t understand why you worked there. Why you let them put you in that basement? It was a terrible second job. If you needed more money, I could’ve looked into getting you a raise here,” Iris tries to reassure him. Barry shrugs though as he sifts through his things and begins to find a place for them in his lab. He’d put up with the boiler room/office because it had given him a space for this research but he supposes a bulletin board will have to be enough.

“It wasn’t about the money, Iris. You know why I was there. It made the most logical sense that they would fund the expedition but…I guess not.” Barry starts to tack documents on the board. In the middle of the board, he pins up a picture. Barry takes a step back, his frustration leading him to untie his bowtie.

Iris stares at the picture of Dr. Harrison Wells. A famous theoretical and applied physicist, Barry practically idolized him. And then he went missing four years ago.

There were rumors that he was dead or had faked his death because he didn’t want to be found but the general theory was that he’d gone to Atlantis and was never seen again. Some people liked to joke that he took a vacation and decided to stay there. But others, including Barry, figured that he had gone for academic or scientific reasons and that he was lost somewhere on the other side of the island. Atlantis, apparently, is quite a large island. It’s a wonder how it stayed hidden for so long.

“I know you won’t give up Barry,” Iris sighs, resting her hand on his back. “But sometimes I wish you would,” she whispers, daring to be honest. Barry’s head drops because he’s heard it before and he knows Iris only wants what’s best for him. “You’re too smart to be wasting your time on anything that isn’t worthwhile and the work you do here for the CCPD against the metahumans…that Dr. Wells created, by the way…that’s more important and we couldn’t do that without you.”

“I know, I know. I know you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Iris chuckles and rubs Barry’s back. “Now I gotta get back to work and so should you.”

“Okay,” Barry nods as Iris gets up and leaves the lab. Between his fingers, though, is the business card with a bird and a phone number.

One Week Later…

Laurel Lance made Barry an offer he couldn’t refuse.

She’d known so much about Barry and his Atlantis research that it should’ve been a red flag. But Barry was too excited to finally have someone supporting this expedition. The motivations weren’t all the same but it could all have the same end result, right?

From what Barry could discern without having met the man yet, Laurel’s boss didn’t necessarily care about Dr. Wells but he was definitely interested in the exploration of the other half of the island. And if he didn’t mind that Barry had a secondary motivation that wouldn’t get in the way of the main goal, then Barry couldn’t see why he wouldn’t join the trip.

And Barry wasn’t the only recruited member. It seemed that Laurel’s boss had been putting together this expedition for quite some time and was just waiting for the last piece before they could set sail. Barry was that last piece apparently.

Laurel was that beautiful blonde woman with crimson lips that Barry had almost collided with that day at the museum. Once he’d called her, she had taken him out to dinner (the old lady at the desk had been partially right) and made her own preposition for enlisting him. She cited Barry’s extensive research on Atlantis as the reason for why he would be an asset to the team. She also mentioned that there were rumors of scientific anomalies at the resort that Barry might be interested in as well, since he was an expert in metahuman activity.

Barry was ready to say yes right then and there. But Laurel put a cherry on top.

“We’ll pay you twenty thousand dollars to accompany us,” she’d said. Barry wasn’t a greedy man but seeing as he already wanted to agree, the money certainly didn’t discourage him.

Iris couldn’t talk him out of it either. She begrudgingly agreed to let him take the time off of work as long as he promised to return. It was a done deal.

So here Barry stands on the deck of a boat that is somewhere between a small cruise ship and a modest yacht. Everyone has their own room with comfortable beds and nice sheets and there’s a dining room where halfway decent food is served.

Barry’s met two of the other people on the team. One is named Francisco Ramon and he’s the leading mechanical engineer for the ship and the tech that the team is expected to use, as well as the demolitions expert.

“In case we run into any roadblocks in the uncharted territory,” he’d explained.

He ties his long black hair back into a half-ponytail and holds himself up like he’s better than everyone else. He kind of reminds Barry of someone but he can’t recall. And Barry doesn’t feel like he can make conversation with him anyways; he reminds him too much of a bully.

And then there’s someone Barry should have but didn’t expect: Jesse Wells. Dr. Wells’ brilliant daughter with all of her degrees, she’s the jack of all trades member of the team. Barry is barely able to resist the urge to geek out over her. It helps that she looks at him like a nerd she’d rather not associate with.

“I’m here to find my dad and that’s it,” she tells him.

Barry wants to tell her that he’s got the same goal in mind but he doesn’t want to seem weird or obsessive. Because he’s totally not, right? He decides that he’ll tell her later on into the journey since it takes a few days to reach Atlantis by sea.

At the end of the first day on the boat, Barry finally meets Laurel’s boss. He’s a tall and fit man with short blonde hair parted to the side. His eyes are a steely blue and something about them is off-putting.

“You must be Bartholomew! I’ve been looking all over for you.” Barry turns around, closing his most recent journal of notes.

“Oh um, you can call me Barry,” he says, extending a hand as a greeting. The man’s grip is stronger than Barry expects and there’s a slight zing to the contact of Barry’s skin with his, as if his skin is electrically charged. If Barry’s welcoming grin falters a bit, that’s why the man releases his hand. “Thank you so much for inviting me along.”

“Well of course! Laurel has told me all about you. I’m excited to be working with you. Can’t wait to see what you can do.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” Barry asks politely.

“Oh yes! Sorry. Where are my manners? My name is Hunter Zoloman.”

Three days later…

The news about the original discovery of the Lost Empire of Atlantis ten years ago was darkened by the account of the journey itself.

It had been an undersea adventure harrowed by supposed sea monsters attacking the submarine and destroying it until only a team of several dozen were left to explore the undersea air-pocket caverns. There, they discovered other monsters and even fireflies that started fires (if you believe the stories). And when they found Atlantis, some power, which has yet to be identified, brought the entire island to the surface. (Just like the force that sunk it, Barry assumes it was a volcano that raised it.)

Within a few years of its discovery, a small portion of the land was granted development rights and work began on the Atlantis Resort which would instantly become a hot, new vacation and honeymoon destination.

Barry and Iris had been dating at the time and while they weren’t married, they were serious enough to plan a vacation together. But then they’d broken up, and rather than let the tickets go to waste, Barry and Iris agreed to give the vacation to Barry’s parents for their anniversary.

Sometime later, Dr. Harrison Wells went missing. Rumors swelled around his disappearance and though his daughter Jesse had filed a missing person’s report, the case went cold. Barry’s curiosity, his friendship with Det. Iris West, and his own access with CCPD, gave Barry the chance to look into the case. And that’s how he drew the connection to Atlantis.

Copies of Dr. Wells’ notes have made it into one of Barry’s journals and they dictate that, at the time of his disappearance, Dr. Wells had developed an unusual interest in Atlantis and it’s mythology. Being the genius that he is, Dr. Wells wrote his notes in code as if it were an ancient language and Barry had yet to decipher it all.

It’s the last night on the boat when Barry finally get Jesse Wells to warm up to him. She’d recognized her father’s handwriting in one of his journals while he sat at a table in the dining room.

“How did you get my father’s notes?” she asks with a high pitched tone that Barry would almost describe as snobby.

“Oh Um…” Barry doesn’t stop her from sliding his journal over as she sits down beside him. “I work for CCPD, they were included in his missing person’s report.” Hearing about the long forgotten report softens Jesse’s exterior.

“So you actually believe my father is missing? Not dead or living a new life after faking his death? You actually still believe he’s out there?” There’s a hint of hope in her voice that makes Barry give her a reassuring grin. He runs his fingers through his hair and pushes his glasses up his nose.

“Of course! Dr. Harrison Wells is too important to forget and far too smart to just leave the life he had in Central City behind.” Jesse nods her agreement. “I never had the honor to meet him but I especially doubt that he would leave you behind if he was leaving town with the intention to never come back.”

“You’re right. My dad did–does have an ego, but I know he loves me. He’s got to be out there somewhere, and I’m going to find him,” Jesse says, sitting up straight in her chair with determination.

“Why do you think he’s in Atlantis? I mean, I have my theories but as his own daughter, you must have more insight. You wouldn’t trek to Atlantis if you didn’t have good reason.”

“My dad is an expert in tracking the energy signatures of his particle accelerator and it’s by-products…”

“The metahumans?”

“Yes,” Jesse stares down at Barry’s journal, at her father’s notes. She borrows his pen and starts to decode some of the words he didn’t know. “Just before he disappeared, he’d managed to amplify the radar that tracked the metahumans. Right on the edge of his radar, just out of reach, something else registered.”

“And it was coming from Atlantis?” Barry keeps his voice down. No one else on this boat cares about the search for Dr. Wells but if he was onto something major, and kept it a secret before he left, then maybe it should stay a secret. Jesse shrugs.

“As far as he could tell, it was coming from the direction of Atlantis. So maybe he needed to get closer? I don’t know. I honestly am just so worried that he was lost at sea,” Jesse’s eyes tear up and Barry places a hand over hers to comfort her. “But what if he found whatever he was looking for? That worries me too. Why would it stop him from coming home? What if it was some all-powerful meta and he was killed…? I just…I have to know. And Atlantis is my only clue.”

“I promise, Jesse, I’ll do whatever I can to help. I want to find him too. And we will.”

It’s as Jesse starts to silently cry that Barry realizes that this search for Dr. Wells is so much more than a pet project and Jesse is more than just a Wells fanatic like him. Yeah, she’s a grown woman–though a year or so younger than him–but she’s also a girl looking for her father, hoping he’s still alive.

The Atlantis Resort is large and extravagant, a truly spectacular-looking island paradise.

Jesse compares it to the Bahamas but Barry wouldn’t know. He’s never been on a vacation to a place like this and it’s not like he’s going to experience it now.

The boat may dock at the resort’s port but the team doesn’t stay there long. The crew of the ship gets to stay at the resort though; Francisco grumbles about that being unfair.

By the look of manicured vegetation and developed landscape, there’s a clear difference between where the resort ends and the rest of the island begins.

Hunter hires a local Atlantean to guide their trek into the jungle. He’s youthful with tan skin and blue eyes but white hair; which seems to be a dominant trait on the island. He speaks excellent English and even knows how to drive the truck, both of which are a result of working at the resort.

Jesse is fascinated by the man’s assimilation and asks him tons of questions. She bids Barry to write down his answers and he’s happy to do so. Learning about the culture and civilization was another one of his goals, and it is supposedly Hunter’s and Laurel’s objective too. But the two of them sit cozy in the backseat with Francisco to the side and Laurel in the middle. They’re looking at some documents and a small and durable laptop. They’re not listening because they’re whispering amongst themselves.

The next day on their journey, when everyone is outside of the trucks (there was a second one for other anonymous workers) and walking around, that’s when Hunter’s attention is on the Atlantean. Jesse and Barry are looking at the ruins which, the guide says, were not protected when the island sank hundreds of years ago. When Laurel asked how the empire was protected, the Atlantean smiles and points up to the sky. He speaks in his native tongue, leaving Laurel confused.

“He said it was their gods who protected them, like a shield,” Jesse translates. Barry raises his eyebrows in surprise. “What? I can speak several languages. Once Atlantis was found and we figured out the root of their language it was easy to learn.” She gives Barry a slightly cocky smile, which he finds endearing.

“I’ve heard that this island has rare stones, gems or crystals. What can you tell us about that?” Hunter asks. His tone is light as if he’s trying not to sound like a jewel thief. The local man freezes up, unsure of how to proceed. The Atlanteans are probably very cautious about speaking about any wealth their people and their land may have.

“Well if there’s a volcano on this island or even under it and other caves, there may be some crystals but without the proper tools they might not be able to mine it, Mr. Zoloman,” Barry explains.

“I thought the expedition was non-invasive?” Jesse adds and Barry is grateful to have an ally who’s willing to speak up if things aren’t going the way they should. Francisco clicks his tongue in disapproval but Hunter shoots him a glare.

“You’re correct, Ms. Wells. I was only asking because I was interested in the properties of the earth and to see if it’s used as currency.” He turns back to the Atlantean. Barry notices the man touching his chest, either to cover his heart or to hold something under his shirt. “Is it?”

“No, Sir. If we find any jewels, they are used in jewelry. But it does not happen often.”

Barry can assume that everyone in the group knows he’s lying. He recalls that earlier he may have noticed the Atlantean wearing a crystal necklace. But if the man is choosing to hide it, then it’s not Barry’s place to push.

He continues to walk amongst the ruins while Jesse looks at the images carved into the stone walls. Laurel and Francisco are walking around but Barry can’t tell what they’re looking for. They’re not dressed for the jungle though so they’re stumbling and tripping on rocks and roots and grumbling to each other. (Granted, Barry isn’t dressed for the jungle either, in his wingtips and sweater vest and bowtie but he hadn’t had the time to change and he’s managing okay.)

They’re completely out of earshot but from the way they begin to argue, Barry is torn between avoiding the situation and eavesdropping.

“Don’t you dare point those hands at me,” Laurel hisses.

“Well then keep your voice down, you harpy!” Francisco bites back.

That’s enough to make Barry turn away. If Barry has already seen their “good” side…he certainly doesn’t want to see their bad side. Barry starts to walk along the perimeter of the ruins. He notices the jagged lines where the earth has been broken up. Pieces of the land raised and other portions sunk. There must’ve been an earthquake here when the ruins were “created.”

It looks like the place where Barry is standing was once a large room or maybe a balcony, judging by some short half-walls. The ground is solid stone. Intricate patterns which had been carved into it are broken up by deep cracks. Steam rises from one of the cracks, which suggests that maybe he was right and there was a volcano under the island or maybe at least a hot springs.

The steam and the humidity of the jungle fogs up his glasses. He takes them off and starts to clean them with his sweater when he hears Laurel and Francisco’s voices increase in volume. And then suddenly, there’s some loud, unnatural boom and strained creaking of wood.

“Barry look out!!” Jesse screams as a large tree starts to fall in Barry’s direction.

Without his glasses on, he’s unable to judge the terrain as he darts to get out of the way and he’s sent hurtling over the balcony and rolling down a hill in the direction of more ruins.

The ancient stones of a once lost civilization bring Barry to an abrupt stop and the last thing he hears is the crack of his his skull and a sharp pain on his arm.

He must’ve hit his head. Right? That’s what that sound was, right? Right before he passed out?

As Barry comes out of his unconscious state, an unfamiliar female voice is all he can hear and she’s not speaking English.

He’s expecting to see this woman when he opens his eyes but instead it’s a large tribal mask that scares him half to death! Barry gasps, his heart races and his limbs flail as he tries to scoot out from under the gaze of this monster. But the monster acts fast and removes the mask.

His blurry gaze lands on a woman with tan skin and long white hair framing her face, giving her a halo in the late afternoon sun. There’s blue paint on her right cheek and throat. She’s speaking to someone else, standing at a distance from Barry which he can’t see without his glasses.

His hand pats around on the jungle floor next him, feeling for them. The woman picks them up for him. She examines them for a moment before smiling kindly and offering them to him. He slides the slightly dirty and potentially damaged glasses onto his face. 

The woman is even more beautiful with 20/20 vision. Her eyes are as blue as the Caribbean waters and they’re staring at Barry as if he’s a new species of animal. Her full lips purse in confusion and she reaches out to trace the rims of his glasses. And then she’s caressing his cheek like she knows and cares him. She seems fascinated by him and asks Barry a question in her language.

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand,” Barry whispers, his roll down the hill and collision with the ruins has left him disoriented and out of breath. She recognizes the English language.

“Uh…who…are you?” Her voice is sweet like honey with a slight accent. Barry tries to sit up, but a pain on his arms has him hissing out a breath in surprise. “You are…hurt?” she says. They both notice the blood seeping through the fabric of his shirt.

Barry allows the strange Atlantean woman to raise his arm and roll up the sleeve. There’s a decently sized gash there, likely from a rock on his fall down. She takes from around her neck a necklace with a dangling blue crystal. For a moment, Barry’s pain is forgotten and replaced with utter curiosity. He smiles and squints at it.

“What is that? What’s it for?” he asks. It looks identical to the necklace their Atlantean guide had too. The woman holds up a finger and presses it to Barry’s lips.

“Shush!” she snips. Barry’s eyebrows raise and his glasses slide down his nose a bit. She smirks and pushes them back up. Is she familiar with glasses? Barry makes a mental note about how touchy she his…and that he likes it…a lot.

She holds the crystal in her palm and rests it on top of Barry’s hand. Her eyes close for a moment as she takes a deep breath and then the crystal begins to glow. It lights up a path along Barry’s flesh and begins to creep up his arm to the injury and like magic–it can’t actually be magic right?–the wound heals and even all the blood on his skin fades away too. Barry stares with wild eyes and a gaping mouth.

“How did…wh-what…how did you do that? What is that?”

The woman’s male companion lends a hand to get Barry back on his feet. The man is bare-chested with lighter skin, an indigo tribal tattoo sleeve and spiky pitch black hair. It’s the tattoos and the way he’s dressed in a sort of skirt or tribal sarong for men that suggest he’s Atlantean. That, and the crystal necklace.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says. “What happened?”

“Um…” Barry looks up the slope he’d fallen down. The large tree is standing out, overhanging the side of the hill. “That tree…it was falling…” There’s a rustling in the trees and Barry thinks he hears Jesse calling his name but then someone else’s voice speaks out.

“Y/N! Move!”

The temperature drops suddenly and white mist forms out of nowhere, right before giant, sharp icicles are flying through the air towards Barry. The woman who’d just healed him–who must be Y/N–pulls him out of the way. He wasn’t the intended target. They’re aimed at Jesse and the rest of his group whom are emerging from the trees!

Barry doesn’t know how to act fast enough but Y/N does. With one hand and a flick of her wrist, the icicles are redirected at a 90 degree angle, hitting trees instead of people.

“Don’t hurt them!” Y/N calls out to the woman who’d produced the frozen projectiles. She steps out of the shadows and Barry is stunned to see another beautiful woman with pale, glowing white skin and hair with blue lips. She holds out her hands and the mist surrounds her as a long spear made of ice is sculpted by the sheer will of her mind.

“They’re strangers! We should be cautious,” she advises, coming to Y/N’s side, tense for a fight. Jesse runs to Barry’s side to look him over.

“Hey Frost, don’t worry about it,” the man with spiky black hair says. The way he speaks is definitely not Atlantean. “Y/N has it covered.”

Y/N holds up her hand to make the whole expedition group come to a halt. The Atlantean guide steps forward to converse with her, she listens as he speaks to her with elevated respect that has Barry wondering who she is. Then she turns her gaze onto Barry.

“Who are you?” she asks him again. The answer sounding more important than ever.

“Bartholomew Allen. My companions and I have come to explore this side of the island. We mean no harm or disrespect…to the land or the people,” Barry answers, trying to sound formal and diplomatic. The woman with the blue lips (it looks like paint, similar to the paint on Y/N’s face) scowls at him skeptically. Her icy spear has since melted though.

It hasn’t escaped Barry’s notice that this woman must be a metahuman or something like that. Had Y/N exhibited powers as well? How was all this possible? He wouldn’t get the answer anytime soon.

“And your companions, what are their names?” Y/N looks at them for their answers.

“I’m Hunter Zoloman. This is my expedition and my team. This is Laurel Lance and Francisco Ramon,” Hunter gestures to the two on his right. Y/N points to Jesse.

“And you? What is your name?”

“Um…” Jesse looks uncomfortable to have been singled out. She tucks some of her hair behind her ear, nervously. “My name is Jesse…Jesse Wells.”

Y/N looks back at her black-haired friend and the woman he’d referred to as Frost. They seem to silently confer on something before Y/N takes a hold of Barry’s hand.

“You’re all coming with us.” She starts to tug him in one direction, picking up a spear she must’ve propped in the ground after finding him.

“What? Why? Where are we going?”

“To our home. Jesse’s father will be anxious to see her.”

Chapter Text

No explanation is forthcoming after dropping the words “Jesse’s father.”

Y/N simply squeezes Barry’s hand and looks at him with excitement.

“I cannot explain it. You will have to see,” she teases him.

Their new Atlantean escorts allows the group to double back up the hill to the ruins where the trucks were parked. Y/N and her friends seem familiar with cars and Barry has to remind himself that mainland technology is not so foreign to Atlantis now.

Y/N instructs the original guide to drive “home” and he knows exactly where to go. She then chooses to sit next to Barry in the truck; Francisco is reassigned to the other truck.

“So your name is Y/N?’ Barry asks her. She responds with a long and elegant Atlantean name. After a couple of tries and fails at pronouncing it, she giggles and puts her hand on Barry’s knee.

“You can call me Y/N. Ronnie was once a mainlander like yourself, he started calling me Y/N and I like it.”

“And Ronnie is?”

“With the…the tattoos…” Y/N gestures to her arm. So Ronnie is the Atlantean with black hair, Barry presumes. “He left the mainland and has lived with us for six years. He has an Atlantean name that means…” She pauses to think through the translation. “…Deathstorm,” she giggles, “He picked it himself.”

“And your other friend?” Hunter interjects from the backseat. Y/N startles as if she’d forgot he was there with Laurel and Jesse. Deathstorm and her friend were in the other truck. “With the ice powers?”

“My sister,” Y/N’s voice is curt and protective. “Her name means…Killer Frost. She is one of our best warriors. You would be wise to stay on her good side,” she offers a warning with a smirk. Her lips pull together into a tight line and Barry’s convinced that he shouldn’t press about her sister’s abilities, though he is curious how an Atlantean could be a metahuman when it was the particle accelerator that created them.

Barry also notices through the rearview mirror that Hunter is staring at Y/N and her necklace. After witnessing what it did to help him, Barry can understand the fascination, but why is Hunter so interested in it?

After driving for half an hour, Y/N declares that the rest of the journey has to be completed on foot. No one complains, the excitement and anxiety of their destination is enough to make everyone willing.

The jungle is dense and everything looks the same. Barry imagines that it would be quite easy to get lost in here. He’ll never remember how to get back to the trucks. But maybe that’s what Y/N wants. After all, her home is a mystery. Barry hadn’t expected to run into Atlanteans on this half of the island, but he realizes now that it was naive of him to think so. Of course, not all Atlanteans live and work on the resort right?

“So your name is…Bartholomew?” Y/N asks, his name sounding thoroughly unfamiliar to her. She’s been walking beside him this whole time. Barry stumbles more than once and each time, Y/N tries to save him from himself. As Barry gets back on his feet, he wipes at his pants, adjusts his glasses and then straightens his bow tie. “Are you alright?” She smiles. Barry sighs, lifting his chin to fiddle with his bow tie before finally untying it altogether and tucking the fabric in his pocket.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a mess,” he replies. “You could call me Barry, if you prefer?”

“Barry?” she tests the name on her tongue and he loves the way it sounds. “I like it,” she grins. Barry starts to mess with the buttons of his shirt. “You are quite messy,” she giggles. “Do you always wear so much clothing?”

A part of Barry is inclined to think of that as a flirtation but that would likely be a miscommunication. He takes note of how she’s dressed: a tight and twisted band of blue cloth to cover her breasts and then a short sarong skirt, which is also very tight. She’s gorgeous head to toe (she’s barefoot?!) and the smartest part of Barry’s brain is telling him that the best thing he can do for the both of them is keep as many layers on as possible.

But the humidity of the island is becoming too much and Barry notices that the blood from his former arm injury has made a mess of his shirt. So he unbuttons and takes it off, revealing his tank top underneath.

“It gets cold where I come from and it’s actually very common to dress like this,” Barry explains. Y/N’s nose crinkles with distaste, which makes Barry smile even more.

“Where you are from…what do you do? You are a scholar, are you not? You don’t look like a warrior,” she comments, looking Barry’s slight but lean frame up and down. Barry blushes, despite her comment. His assumption is that a warrior was a role held in high esteem in Atlantean society. Barry wants to puff up his chest and say that he could be a warrior if he wanted to. But he quickly puts that idea to bed since his city is plagued by dangerous metahumans and he’s not exactly the bravest man in Central City. How could he be, when the city’s most formidable villain was the superfast monster known as Zoom?

“I work with the city’s warriors, helping them catch the bad guys. I’m a forensic scientist,” Barry says, fully expecting her to not understand.

“A scientist? Like Harry?”

That brings Barry up short, almost tripping once again. The entire group catches up a second later. Apparently Jesse was following closely, and probably eavesdropping.

“Harry?! Do you mean my father? So he’s here? You have him?! Is he your prisoner?! Are we your prisoners too?!” Each question out of Jesse’s mouth gets louder and more shrill, building with urgency, paranoia and anger.

Killer Frost gets defensive, her stance getting wider and icy mist emitting from the palm of her hand. Deathstorm’s hand seems to glow orange just before he takes her icy hand in his. There’s steam and she visibly calms down.

“Harry is not our prisoner and neither are you. You will be our guests. Our father, the King, will welcome you,” Y/N reassures them all. Francisco and Laurel both chuckle with surprise.

“The King?” Laurel asks at the same time Francisco says,

“You’re a princess? You’re both princesses?”

“And warriors,” Killer Frost reiterates with a hiss.

“There will be time to explain. We’re almost there,” Deathstorm defuses the situation before it has time to begin. And he isn’t even lying. A hundred feet ahead, Y/N pulls back a curtain of thick vines.

“Welcome to the real city of Atlantis!”

Chapter Text

Everyone stares in awe as the scenery before them. Barry even thinks Hunter is pleasantly surprised with the city. Looking down from their position, it’s a stone labyrinth of neighborhoods building up to a hill on which the palace stands.

“What do you mean the ‘real’ city of Atlantis?” Laurel asks, as Y/N starts down a set path into the city of beautiful architecture and a colorful culture. There are several small ports which suggest they’re near the coast, how is it possible that this place could be a secret?

“When the mainlanders found Atlantis, what they found was only one of our cities. We chose to keep this one secret. Those Atlanteans who wanted to experience the outside world stayed in the city that would become your resort. Others moved here, our true citadel.”

And the city is bustling with Atlanteans! It seems that they walk through at least two markets on the way to the palace. Everyone notices Barry and the rest of the group. Not all stares are cheerful and curious though, some are downright confused, scared, or angry.

“We don’t usually let outsiders into this city. We kept it a secret for that reason,” Killer Frost says.

“I found the place by way of a boating accident. Frost here found me and nursed me back to health,” Deathstorm tells his story, wrapping an arm around Killer Frost’s shoulders. “By the time I was healed up, she loved me too much to let me leave,” he laughs. “We’re too good together.” Deathstorm holds up a hand where in his palm, a fireball forms. “Fire and ice.”

“If you’re not Atlantean, where did you get your powers?” Hunter asks him. Deathstorm shrugs, extinguishing his fireball.

“Where else would mainlanders get powers like this? Central City. The particle accelerator explosion. Harry can explain that for you.”

“No need,” Francisco cuts him off. “Most of us are from Central City.  We know about metahumans. We just didn’t expect to find any on Atlantis.”

Killer Frost, Y/N, and even Deathstorm don’t speak anymore on the subject.

Barry never expected when he woke up this morning that he’d be meeting a real life king.

The palace throne room is actually an elegant garden courtyard, lush with life, with trees at their greenest, flowers blooming, and so many colorful birds flying about. Everyone is escorted into the garden by palace guards. They’re much more defensive than Y/N, more alike with Killer Frost.

The King of Atlantis, Y/N and Killer Frost’s father, is an old man with long white hair, an equally long and stringy beard, and eyes so white that Barry assumes he might be blind. But any hindrance to his movement around the courtyard are not due to poor eyesight, but rather a weakened body. He carries with him an intricately carved staff. Around his neck is a blue crystal necklace, the same as the other Atlanteans.

He sits on his throne as Y/N and her sister approach and kneel before him. Barry briefly wonders how it’s possible this old man has young daughters like Y/N and Killer Frost but he obviously knows that would be rude to ask.

The three of them engage in a conversation in their native tongue.

(Y/N’s POV)

“Daughters,” your father begins in the Atlantean language, “you have brought outsiders into our home. You know the laws. Explain yourselves.” His tone is even but you both know well enough that he’s disappointed and probably angry that rules have been broken.

“Father, Y/N found the one with the glasses in the woods. She healed him.” The disdain in Killer Frost’s voice is evident as she casts you a sly glance. She seems eager to get you in trouble.

“He was hurt! How I choose to use my powers is not my sister’s problem,” you defend yourself. Your father raises and lowers his staff to tap the ground and silence you.

“It is our problem now, Y/N. You have brought outsiders where they are not welcome and now we must deliberate on how to handle this,” he says. Your frustration is growing and the crystal around your neck glows bright. Even Killer Frost reacts to the surge in your power. Her shoulders pull back and her spine straightens.

“You do not understand. We can trust them.”

“All of them?” your sister questions you with a sidelong glance. She has a point. While you feel the urge to trust Barry and Jesse, no one else has given reason to be trusted.

“We will watch them closely, Father. They do not know where we are. We should entertain them for at least a day or two. For Harry? You didn’t trust him at first but that has changed, remember?” you counter and your father starts to nod his head with consideration.

“What does this group have to do with Harry?” he asks. He also waves his hand, gesturing for a guard. He gives him some instructions and then the man disappears. You get to your feet, taking a deep breath to calm yourself until your crystal’s glow has faded. You turn to look at Barry and his group. You extend a hand to Jesse as an invitation to step forward.

“This is Jesse, Father,” you say in English. “She’s Harry’s daughter.”

“So my father is here?” It’s been made clear that Jesse understands your native language but you and your family had spoken too fast. Jesse pulls out a picture from her pocket. “This is what he looks like.”

“Not anymore,” Killer Frost says under her breath. The looks on Jesse’s and Barry’s faces are ones of panic. You wink at Barry to relax him. He doesn’t so much as relax, instead opting for surprise and confusion. Does Barry not understand what a wink is? You’d grasped the concept quickly when walking around the Atlantis Resort.

If he does know what a wink is, does Barry just not know how attractive he is? His posture is perfect, as is his skin. He’s pale with a lean frame and maybe it’s because you’ve never seen those kind of eyes on the island, but his green eyes are mesmerizing.

“Jesse?” A familiar voice comes from across the room and everyone looks in its direction.

“Dad?!”

Jesse runs into her father’s arms for a long overdue reunion. He may not look it–sunkissed skin, unruly black hair and a green sarong–but there’s no mistaking the man known to the mainland as Dr. Harrison Wells.

Chapter Text

header by @heyitsilverwolf

(Barry’s POV)

Barry is starstruck. He fights the urge to run up to Dr. Wells and tell him everything he’s ever thought of saying. But he resists. This moment is not about him. It’s about the heart wrenching scene unfolding before them all.

Jesse has been reunited with her father after four years.

Barry almost can’t believe how easy it was for them to find him too. He’d thought they’d spend days or weeks searching the landscape with the seemingly inevitable result being that they’d find an accident site or other clues signalling the demise of Dr. Wells. Only in his–and probably Jesse’s–wildest and hopeful dreams would they stumble upon a living and thriving Dr. Wells amongst the Atlanteans. Of course, this happy result most definitely raised some questions too but there was a better time for that.

Jesse is crying tears of joy. She’s collapsed in her father’s arms and together they’re kneeling on the ground. Dr. Wells is cradling her head, kissing the top of her head and stroking her hair. He’s crying too. He’s not blubbering but the tears fall freely, fogging up his glasses.

“I can’t believe you’re here! We found you!” Jesse cries. “I never gave up hope, in all these years!”

“I can’t believe you’re here. I missed you so much. How did you find me?” Dr. Wells replies. He releases Jesse from his hug to hold her at arm’s length and look her over. She’s likely changed in the span of four years.

“It was your notes. Everything you left behind, I figured that there was some chance that you’d be here. And I’m not alone Dad, I’d like to introduce you to Barry Allen,” Jesse says as they both get to their feet and Jesse gestures to him. Dr. Wells wipes his cheeks and takes on a stone-faced expression.

The floodgates open. Barry’s mouth is hanging open and smiling at the same time. His cheeks hurt from the excitement.

“Dr. Harrison Wells. The Harrison Wells!” Barry steps forward to shake his hand. “I have always wanted to meet you. Your thesis on string phenomenology was revolutionary to me. I had it laminated so I could keep it.” The words just pour out like vomit. And although he’s not ashamed of turning Dr. Well’s thesis into a keepsake, he knows the moment he said it, that he wished he could take it back. Dr. Wells has always been known to have a gruff attitude and he doesn’t seem flattered upon Barry’s confession, instead he seems only mildly tolerant of Barry’s fanboying.

“Thank you,” Dr. Wells says as he retracts his hand.

“Barry researched your disappearance too,” Jesse explains.

“Have you been here this whole time?” Barry questions him. Dr. Wells nods but opts to explain later, directing his attention to the rest of the group. Jesse introduces him to Laurel, Francisco and Hunter. Dr. Wells seems sort of stiff with his greetings. He must be the kind of guy who takes a while to warm up to people, Barry figures. Why else would he dislike Hunter and his partners? Y/N speaks with her father again in Atlantean. She turns to Barry with a smile but she steps aside so that her father can speak.

“Why have you come here?” the King asks. He’s addressing Barry as if Y/N has assigned leadership to him but Hunter and Laurel step forward.

“We were brought to your city by your daughters. We had no intention of discovering your secret city. We were fine wandering the island,” Laurel says.

“Wandering is not permitted. This island is our home,” the King bites back. Hunter rests a hand on Laurel’s arm to shield her or hold her back. Barry’s learned that it’s hard to tell with Laurel. She’s a strong and independent woman but she does seem to blindly follow Hunter.

“Your highness, I apologize for my friend. But it’s true, we were not searching for your city. Our expedition was meant for a search and rescue. Harry has been gone from the mainland for a long time. We were following clues and hoping to find him on the resort or in the wilderness. We bear you no ill will.” Hunter’s explanation is amenable to the King as he nods.

“We have kept the doctor here far too long, it would seem,” the King says, casting a glance at Dr. Wells, who’s holding onto Jesse like his life depends on it.

“We measure the passing of time differently here. We did not realize his absence would be noticed and would attract more visitors,” Y/N explains, looking down sheepishly. “Our greatest apologies.”

“But Dad didn’t you tell them that you had left me behind?” Jesse asks, craning her neck to look up at her father. He sighs and nods with guilt.

“I did but…I lost track of time and what I’ve been working on here…it was so important…I can’t wait to show you–”

“What are you working on?” Hunter interrupts. Dr. Wells looks scornfully at Hunter for having cut him off.

“It’s private,” Dr. Wells says in a dangerous whisper. He turns his attention back to his daughter. “Come on Jessie,” he wraps an arm around her shoulders and leads her away.

“Okay but first things first, you have to tell me! What are you wearing?!” Jessie laughs.

The King grants Barry and Hunter’s group permission to stay in the city for the next few days. Y/N impressed upon her father the importance of Dr. Wells’ work and that he would undoubtedly be leaving with the team once they were sent away. Clearly Dr. Wells wasn’t a prisoner here because the King then insisted on throwing a feast in a few days’ time.

The Atlantean guards are ordered to escort everyone in Barry’s party to their own rooms in the palace. Y/N offers to personally show Barry.

“So you didn’t even know Harry and you came all this way to find him?”

“Dr. Harrison Wells–that’s how we know him on the mainland–is a well-known scientist. He’s very smart and when he disappeared there were many people who wondered what happened to him. So…how did he end up here?” Barry chuckles, baffled. He’s following behind Y/N as she leads him down an ancient, but intact, stone corridor. Barry has to admit that it’s hard to focus and speak while watching her walk ahead of him.

“Harry was drawn here, to our island. But he–as Laurel put it–wandered on this side of the island for quite some time. He might not have survived if Killer Frost and I did not find him. We took him as our prisoner.”

“But he’s no longer your prisoner?” Barry clarified.

“Correct. I became acquainted with him and when I deemed that his intentions were not malicious, I freed him. He chose to stay to work on his project.”

“Which is?” Y/N turns and leans against two wooden doors. She smiles at him and winks. Why does she keep winking at him? Does she know what that means?

“His secret to tell.” Y/N pushes on the doors behind her and they give way. “Welcome to your living quarters! I hope you find everything to your liking.” Barry was in awe, seeing the large elegant four poster bed with silk blankets and a balcony overlooking the city.

Barry wanders around the room for a moment, dumbfounded. Y/N watches him with a cheeky grin. She sits on the foot of his bed while he walks out onto the balcony. When he turns around, the sight of her on his bed is ridiculously enticing and he has to look away.

He sees in the ornate mirror across the room that his cheeks are a fiery red. He rubs the back of his neck and tries to hide his face with his bent arm. Y/N giggles and gets off his bed. She reads him too easily.

“So what do you think?” she asks him.

“This is amazing. Truly. More than I could have ever imagined. And here I thought I was going to be sleeping in a tent on the jungle floor,” Barry chuckles. Y/N looks him up and down.

“Something tells me this suits you better…that you’re not one to sleep in a tent,” she assumes. Barry smiles and sticks his hands in his pockets.

“You would be correct.”

Y/N starts heading for the door. “I’ll get you in a sarong, just wait. Even Harry likes it,” she giggles, tucking her white hair behind her ear.

“Where are you going?” Barry asks her. She spins around and crooks a finger at him.

“I am going to show you my city, Bartholomew,” she speaks with a slight accent and says his name like it’s cute, teasing nickname. She can call him whatever she wants, as long as she keeps looking and winking at him that way.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Crystal blue waves lap at the white sand and Barry's feet. It's only been a day or so, but Y/N's hand feels so natural in his. He never thought he'd be where he is now, his pants torn into shorts, his sleeveless shirt stained with sweat, and an exotic, beautiful woman by his side.

Since that fancy dinner, Barry has split his time between Y/N and Harry. She'd pulled him away today.

He's been relatively quiet on their walk. He only speaks up to ask a clarifying question or two, but otherwise stays quiet; he loves the sound of her voice and the stories she tells of her people.

The power had not always come from the crystals. It was all around them, a dull buzzing energy that few could truly harness, but then one day it concentrated and culminated in a natural disaster - a tidal wave similar to the one which nearly destroyed the island hundreds of years ago. Only this time, rather than forming a shield to protect from the wave, the power freed them and opened Atlantis to the possibility of reaching out to the mainland if they wanted. It was the same day that Y/N had been born.

She removes the crystal necklace from her neck and holds it out for Barry to look at. The glow from it is pulsating, a steady but fast beat.

"Some say my lifeforce is connected to it. See," Y/N takes one of Barry's hands and lays it flat on her chest, just under her throat. The necklace’s pulse--it matches her heartbeat.

Barry's hand rests on her for perhaps too long. His eyes linger and his lips are parted; he's mesmerized. Y/N doesn't make a move to rebuke his touch, and his hand slides up to her neck, cradling her head. He leans and presses his lips softly to hers and  can feel Y/N's lips smile as she returns the gesture. Her hand fists in his shirt while his other hand--still holding her crystal necklace--rests at her hip.

The moment her crystal touches her skin, Barry feels an exhilarating energy surge through him. It startles him into pulling back and Y/N looks up at him with a soft smile. She takes her necklace back and holds it up, silently asking him to tie it back around her neck. He takes it carefully from her and she holds up her hair before he leans in. His lips graze her throat as he returns her crystal to its rightful place. The energy is still running through his veins, he's so close to her, and the desire he feels is almost too much, yet it seems reciprocated because Y/N is the one that kisses him next.

"Come with me," she says, breathless. They slosh through the waves, further up the beach. The sand sticks to his skin but falls away before they step into the lone bungalow tucked into the trees. "Watch this," she says just before she steps inside. She raises her hands into the sky and her crystal glows. Her eyes shine bright blue, matching the gem, as she turns her head up to the clear sky.

It starts to rain. The cloud cover and the accompanying rain comes from nowhere. It pours down upon Y/N, drenching her. She comes inside, the necklace and her eyes no longer glowing.

"What just happened?" Barry asks, awestruck.

"Barry, I have power…capable of more than you have seen or can imagine." Her eyes look sad as she rests her hands on his chest. Droplets of water linger on her lashes as she looks up at him. "Do I frighten you?" Barry's hand caresses her cheek and he runs his thumb along the blue tattoo under her eye.

"Not at all. I trust you, Y/N." He leans in once more and claims the princess' lips. Lighting strikes the sky, a response from the tropical storm she's started. She leads him further into her small hut, towards the bed. He's claimed her heart as well.

---

Frost shouldn't have to sneak around in her own home, but Dr. Wells has made himself plenty comfortable over the years. There have been few opportunities for her to sneak into his quarters to look at what he's been working on. While the arrival of his daughter and her guides is suspicious in its own right, it did provide the chance for his work to be left unattended.

Deathstorm posts himself in the hallway as she enters. She's had brief glimpses into the room, so she knows where to go right away. With the help of her lover, she's come to understand the language Harry writes in, but his etchings are more numbers than letters. She's almost given up hope of understanding it.

"Frost," Deathstorm calls out for her in a gasping voice. It's strange enough to have her whirling around, a dagger of ice in her hand. She didn't expect what she's looking at: Hunter Zolomon with his hand around her lover's neck.

"Heat up and you'll be dead before you can even light a spark," Hunter mutters a warning to Deathstorm.

"Zolomon? What the hell are you doing?" she says, squaring her shoulders. Icy mist surrounds her hand as a second dagger forms in her other hand.

"Ah, ah, ah, Killerfrost, one move and your boy-toy is done. Who do you think is faster? You?" He holds up his free hand--it only takes one hand to restrain Deathstorm. The other hand starts shaking…vibrating until it's just a blur. He dares to put his hand near Deathstorm's abdomen, then starts to move the hand through him. Deathstorm freezes with discomfort.

"Stop!" Hunter removes his hand, smirking. "You have abilities?" she says, her lips curling in a snarl.

"We all do." Hunter releases Deathstorm, just for him to be taken into the hold of Hunter's companions, Laurel and Francisco. She can't afford to guess what their abilities are. She can't risk Ronnie.

"What do you want?"

"Well, clearly we both want the same thing: to understand and possess the power Dr. Wells is studying." Hunter walks deeper into Harry's room, approaching his equipment and machines. "Isn't that what you're doing here?"

"No," she spits out. "I will destroy anything he works on, so long as it keeps our people safe."

"Really? A source of power? A battery to amplify you and your surroundings…you don't want that?"

"No. I don't need it. I am plenty strong. Strong enough to take you on." She takes a few steps forward but is forced back by a wave of vibrating energy emitted from Francisco's hand.

"What did he say? Stay there! Not another move."

"Frost, please don't. Listen to the man," Deathstorm pleads for her.

Hunter pulls back the blanket over Harry's machine. She's never understood what it was meant to do, but it couldn't be good if Zolomon was interested in it. She feels a gust of wind and in the blink of an eye the man has run to her, stolen her necklace, and returned to the machine. Laurel and Francisco take hold of Deathstorm’s arms.

"Your powers are connected to your crystals, aren't they? Are you weaker now? Now that this crystal isn't around your neck?" She refuses to answer him. She can't tell him that he's partially right, that the true source directs energy into those crystals and gives them their strength and their powers. If the secret was not safe for Harry to know, then it certainly was too dangerous for Zolomon. "Join us, and you won't lose your powers. We'll even make you more powerful." Could he do that? Was this truly something Frost wanted for herself? She would no longer have to answer to her father and sister…but what was the true cost of this? Deathstorm---Ronnie? The Heart of Atlantis? No. She felt guilty for even entertaining the idea.

"No. I will not." Hunter frowns at her response. He glances down at one of Harry's journals and picks it up to inspect it. "You will leave this city before the day is over. Or suffer the consequences," she threatens.

"Hmm…a beating heart?" He reads out of the journal. How much did Harry know? Letting these outsiders in would be their downfall!

"Release Ronnie and leave!"

"Mmm…I don't think so. Black Siren?" Hunter looks at Laurel. A high-pitched shriek cuts through the air and it's too late before Frost can realize that the scream was directed at Deathstorm. He drops to the ground, blood running from his ears.

"Nooo!" she cries out. Even without her crystal, shards of ice form in the air and shoot out in every direction. Harry's notes and machines are either damaged or strewn about, but it does nothing else in the wake of Deathstorm's collapse. She thinks perhaps she heard one small gasp--maybe she had struck Laurel or Francisco--but there's no chance to assess the true damage of her attack. Hunter ran out of the room with them, leaving a trail of blue lightning and her love--Ronnie--on the ground…dead.

Chapter Text

A delicate island fabric is all that covers their forms. Barry plays with the red material, twirling the edges of it between his fingers. Y/N traces a pattern on his bare chest.

“Hmm…that tickles,” he murmurs, his hand coming up to stop her idle hands. She lays her hand flat on his stomach instead and readjusts her head, resting her cheek on his shoulder. He reaches for his glasses and replaces them.

“I could fix that,” Y/N taps his nose but is clearly indicating the frames of his spectacles. Barry shrugs.

“I like them. They’re part of my look,” he smirks. “Is there nothing your power can’t do? Healing a cut, making it rain, fixing my eyes?” It’s occurred to Barry that he never really asked Y/N what her powers were.  Most metas only have one ability. So far he’d only seen her sister, Frost, conjure a spear and frozen daggers.

A silence settles over Y/N. She sits up in the bed and Barry rubs her back, brushing aside her long white hair.

“I meant what I said, Bartholomew,” she says, her accent is thicker when she speaks slower. “I trust you. I can trust you, right?” She turns to look at him with glistening eyes. There’s a fear behind those eyes.

“Of course. I care for you, Y/N.” It’s too early to say he loves her, but he surely feels himself on his way to the tender emotion.

“I don’t…I don’t trust Hunter. Or Laurel. Or Francisco.” Would it inspire her to trust him even more if he agreed with her? Or is it dangerous to say even he doesn’t trust the team he came with? His silence prompts her to continue. “I want to show you something, come with me?”

“Of course.” Barry dresses quickly but still Y/N is ready before him, her small garments only requiring some knots.

Her hold on his hand is reassuring as she leads him to a cave in the jungle. She blows on her crystal to illuminate the carvings in stone.

“Can you read this?” He does his best, translating a story about the “Heart of Atlantis.” It’s depicted as a star, lingering in the air, surrounded by large boulders, monuments to their ancestors. At the bottom of the inscription are small figures, representing Y/N’s people. The Heart of Atlantis is the life-giving force of the island and its people.

“This is amazing!” Barry says, “A primitive, natural source of power. It’s no wonder Harry detected the energy signature. If it could be replicated, it would change everything.”

“Barry…Barry, no,” Y/N squeezes his hand and starts leading him towards the exit of the cave. “Barry, it can't…it can’t leave the island. Harry can keep trying but I’m not sure it will work. And…Hunter…he seemed very interested in his work the other night.”

“Oh,” It dawns on Barry why Y/N is concerned. “Have you told Harry any of this?”

Before Y/N can answer, her crystal flickers and her breath stutters. “Something is wrong.”

—-

The temperature in the whole city is significantly cooler. Barry struggles to keep up with Y/N as she darts through the market. The closer they get to the palace, the colder it gets until Barry can see his breath. That’s when the chaos becomes evident. Ice creeps along every corridor. Atlantean guards have abandoned their posts, yet Y/N is not deterred.

“Frost,” she whispers, seeking her sister around every corner. It occurs to Barry that Killer Frost is likely the only explanation for the frigid shift in their surroundings.

When they get to the sleeping quarters, there’s a loud crash and shouting.

“No, nonono! Stop!” Harry shouts. “I don’t know, please, I don’t know,” he keeps saying in Atlantean. His pleading alerts both of them as they rush to his room. Barry nearly slides past the room, his sandals having no grip on the ice that now covers the ground. Y/N seems to have no problem. The room has turned into an icy vortex, where at the center, Killer Frost looms over Harry. He’s crouched down, enveloping Jesse in his arms to protect her.

“Where is he? What is he planning!” Frost shouts, her white hair flying all around her head like a crown of winter. Her lips are dark blue, set against her white teeth bared in anger. When Harry doesn’t give her the answer she wants, she shoots a spear of ice through a makeshift bulletin board, tearing Harry’s research to shreds; already his machine has been damaged beyond repair.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He shouts over the blistering winds she’s conjured.

“Frost!” Y/N calls out to her sister, opening a rift in her sister’s blizzard to get closer to her. “What’s wrong?” She presses through until she can touch Frost. Her crystal glows and suddenly all of the snow and ice stops, suspended in mid-air. The room is still freezing but with the storm stopped in its tracks, Harry and Jesse are finally able to retreat and Barry finds one other person in the room.

“Y/N!” he says, running to Deathstorm’s fallen figure. “Ronnie?” He rolls him over and checks his body for trauma and finds none. Why won’t he wake up then? Barry checks his pulse. He looks up at Y/N and Frost. Y/N is just barely keeping a grip on her sister’s wrist, as if she is suppressing the icy princess’ powers, holding her back. He solemnly shakes his head. “He’s gone.”

“What happened here?” Y/N asks Frost. But the other princess yanks her wrist free. The storm picks up again.

“Why don’t you ask him!?” she spits as she charges for Barry. He’s able to dodge her, using the icy ground to slide out of the way and head for the door. “He came with him! He works with him! He did this!”

“What are you talking about? He’s been with me all day.”

Frost stops and looks Y/N up and down.

“You’ve lain with him? Him? An outsider?” Y/N doesn’t deny the truth of it and shows no shame at the fact either. “You. Your power.” She switches to speaking in rapid Atlantean and Barry can barely understand it. “It’s all your fault. He wants you, sister,” she sneers. “And maybe he should have you. You have all this power. Why should you get to have a mate too, but not me?” The word she uses could have many meanings: mate, lover, true love, betrothed; commitment is implied. Insult is implied with her next words. “Your male concubine…He works for Zoloman. He killed my Ronnie!” Frost shrieks and ice shards go flying all around them. One of them grazes Barry’s arm as he ducks out of the doorway. Both Y/N and Barry are brought up short by the accusation. Barry had always suspected that Hunter wasn’t the nicest guy but he never thought he would be the evil, murdering sort either. Then again, he barely knew the man.

“I don’t work for him, I swear!” Barry shouts into the room.

“Where’s your crystal, sister?”

“He took it,” she sneers. The snow storm dies, revealing the true damage to Harry’s room and his work, his machine, irreparable. “I’m gonna kill him! I’m gonna kill him! All of them!” Frost shrieks and runs across the room, leaping off the balcony. Barry’s heart skips a beat but Y/N doesn’t seem to worry. He goes to the balcony to see for himself, a bridge of ice that Killer Frost has created to descend towards the heart of the palace.

“We should go after her.”

“Yes,” Y/N agrees. “But she won’t get far. Without her crystal she doesn’t have enough power. She’ll be vulnerable. Barry,” Y/N implores him to look at her, away from the ice bridge that is already melting, away from the machine Harry had worked on for years, away from Ronnie’s–Deathstorm’s–still body. “You trust me?” She cups his face, her delicate fingers adjust his glasses on his face.

“Of course.”

She does something he couldn’t have expected. She wraps her arm around his waist and holds tight. She starts running, running faster than the speed of light. Barry had thought he understood her powers, but he realizes he knows nothing about what she’s truly capable of.

Chapter Text

They’re in the throne room before Barry can even register his feet leaving the ground. The throne room–which they’d visited on their first day here–was an open-air garden with stepping stones and lily pads breaking up the clear water surface where tropical fish lingered below. Barry had recognized the patterns and swirls that were common Atlantean symbols, but it was impossible to focus on them now.

The guards and the king are not alone. Frost is there, an icy spear in her hand, but she’s holding back, her death glare focused on Hunter and his associates. The guards have been disarmed and Laurel has a blade to the king’s throat. Hunter has abandoned his jungle trek attire of cargo pants and t-shirt; instead, he’s wearing a skin-tight black one-piece-suit, a matte black and silver symbol brandished in the center of his chest. It takes Barry only a second to recognize it.

“Tell me where it is,” Hunter makes his demand of the king; the anger and impatience in his voice suggest he’s repeating himself and won’t do it again without consequences.

“Sister…” Y/N says with caution. She takes a step towards her sister but keeps her eyes on Hunter. Frost is panting, the ice in her hand melting. She’s losing her powers, just like Y/N said would happen. When the spear completely melts, her raised hand drops to her side, a great weight taken from her. Y/N grabs her other hand and yanks her to get behind her. Then she faces Hunter. Barry doesn’t know what to do; he stands behind Y/N just like the other princess. “What have you done? What do you want?”

“You have it too, don’t you? Power.” Hunter’s deep voice vibrates layered upon itself. Barry has heard that voice before–on the news in Central City. “Just like your sister. Like your crystals.” He holds up what Barry assumes is Frost’s necklace. “What can you do, I wonder? I want it. It’s mine. Give it to me. Tell me where it is.”

“Where what is?” Y/N says steadily. Barry’s assumption of who Hunter really is is proven correct when he’s suddenly in front of Y/N, a trail of blue lightning left behind him.

Y/N, to her credit, doesn’t flinch.

“Zoom.”

Hunter chuckles, looking over Y/N’s shoulder at Barry. “Too little, too late, Mr. Allen. The secret’s out.” What Hunter–Zoom–doesn’t seem to realize is how Barry and Y/N came to the throne room. He doesn’t know what Y/N is truly capable of, neither does Barry.

“Tell me where you get your power.”

“Central City. Like you, I’m sure.”

“Don’t lie to me!” He holds up a vibrating hand. Frost’s crystal hangs in the palm of his hand. The vibration seems to absorb the crystal’s power before finally shattering it. “I could kill you before you even realized it. I know Harry knew about it. He wrote about it in his research. The Heart of Atlantis.” Zoom rushes back to where Francisco–Barry recognizes him now as Reverb and Laurel as Black Siren–are standing. He holds that vibrating hand up to the king’s chest, as if Black Siren’s knife at his throat wasn’t enough. Her lips are dangerously close to his ear too. How could Barry possibly warn Y/N?

“The–the heart, Zoom, Harry didn’t know where it was,” Barry steps out from behind Y/N. He holds his hands up as he steps forward.

“Barry, no,” Y/N murmurs to him, pleading for the secret or his life?

“The Heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king. That’s it. That’s all he could figure out. It might be a secret too old for any of them to know. You have to stop this. You have power. What more do you want?”

“I want more! More power! More speed! I need it! They don’t.”

“You’re wrong! Hunter, you’re wrong. The power of this place…it’s a living thing. They’re a part of it. It’s a part of them. They need it to survive. Are you willing to let a whole civilization die for your greed?” Barry thought for a second that he saw Laurel’s hand waver. He was right when a moment later she took it away from the king’s throat. Reverb and her still hold onto him–the old man that he is, he’s barely standing.

“Hunter. He might be right,” she says quietly, almost hesitant.

“No! I am a god! That power belongs to me. Tell me where it is!” Zoom lashes out, striking the king in the gut. The entire room protests–even Laurel as she struggles to keep the king up. Barry holds back Y/N and Frost as they reach out to their father.

“Let him go!” Frost shouts, her tears freezing as they fall down her cheeks.

Zoom stands at his full height, a sinister smile across his features. And that’s when he sees it. He sees how the king looks across the room, across the stepping stones, at his daughters.

“Wait…that symbol…the Heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king.”

Catching on, Reverb finishes his realization. “Dr. Wells drew that symbol all over his work. That must be it.” Zoom moves at a normal pace to the center or the swirling design. Standing on the center stone, nothing happens. “Bring me the king. He must be the key.”

“No! No more! You don’t need him!” Y/N stumbles through the water and Barry is compelled to follow her. Zoom gestures for Reverb to join them. “Take me. I’ll be your key. You don’t need him.” Zoom towers over Y/N even as she stands just inches from him. He’s trying to read her face, call a bluff. Not even Barry can do that now.

“What power do you possess, I wonder,” he muses in an almost sensual tone. He even dares to run a leather-clad finger along her cheek, caressing the tattoo on her skin. Barry takes her hand.

“I’m going too.”

Zoom smirks at Barry. “By all means, come. I can kill you anytime I want, Mr. Allen.”

“You’ll have to go through me,” Y/N threatens him, shoving Zoom’s hand away. She steps up onto the center stone with Barry and instantly the stone spiral whirs to life.

“Y/N! Don’t do this!” Frost calls out to her sister, but Y/N doesn’t respond. Slowly they descend into an underground cavern.

—

Barry is the only one with a flashlight. The only other source is Y/N’s crystal, glowing brighter than ever.

“It’s a star,” Barry says quietly. “Even if it’s here, you can’t possess its power.”

“We’ll see about that,” Zoom says as he steps further into the cavern. The ground shifts under his foot. The surface is made of layers of smooth stones and pebbles. A few feet ahead the pebble beach gives way to a lake, it’s surface so still it’s like a mirror, reflecting the roof of the cave right back. Zoom stands at the very edge and kicks a rock in, and suddenly there’s a bright red light above the lake, roaring to life.

The red orb floats there, pure energy surrounding it. Sparks of lightning, sharp as a whip, lash out.

There’s more of the great stones with the kings of the past etched into them. But they’re not floating above like the carvings Barry had seen just earlier today. (has this all just happened today?) They’ve fallen into the lake, standing at odd angles. Barry’s eyebrows knit together, and daring to look away from Zoom, he turns to look at Y/N.

Her eyes are glowing red and at her side, in the palm of her hand, is a small replica of the angry orb.

“It’ll respond to an Atlantean. Looks like the princess will come in handy after all. Bring her here,” Zoom calls out to Reverb.

“No! Don’t touch her!” Barry rushes Reverb but is quickly sent flying by his power. He expects that being thrown into the lake will hurt him, that the red orb from above will lash out at him. But he doesn’t hit the water. Well he does, but he doesn’t sink. He lands on the surface like there is a glass floor beneath him.

That’s when Zoom turns around to face Y/N.

“What the hell?” Zoom pulls up the hood that’s been resting at the nape of his neck, his villainous look coming to fruition.

“No harm will come to you, Barry Allen,” Y/N says in Atlantean. Her voice echoes like more than one person is speaking to him.

The red orb disappears the same moment that Zoom rushes Y/N. But she’s already gone. A single flash of lightning and she’s across the cavern, standing on the lake, just like Barry. Zoom roars with anger and runs at her once more. And she dodges him again.

Reverb tries to attack Barry in that same moment but his power deflects off an invisible dome, a shield. Adjusting his cracked glasses, he reaches out but can’t feel it himself.

Reverb abandons Zoom, jumping through one of his portals.

“You believe you deserve my power. Come and take it,” she challenges him. He rushes at her a few times and soon it seems that she’s not running with lightning but actually becoming one with the electrical current and moving faster than Zoom ever could. A pure stroke of luck has Zoom touching her even for a brief moment and if he was immune to electrical shock, he’s not immune to this. He’s knocked off his footing and jolted by her power, sent flying across the cavern. Y/N stops to watch him land in the water.

“What the hell are you?!” he shouts, the mask slightly muffling his vibrating voice.

“Pure. Pure energy and power. You cannot harness this. You are not strong enough.”

“No!” He roars.

“You were given power, Hunter Zolomon. But you do not deserve it,” Y/N voice is ominous as it echoes.

“You’re the Heart, aren’t you?” Zoom growls. Lightning sparks at his feet as he prepares to run on the water. His blue lightning is not as vibrant as Y/N’s. Her power is without limits, and as Zoom gets close to her, she raises a hand and sends him flying into the cavern wall.

“You believe that you have a right to this power,” Y/N and the voices say. Holding him against the wall with some invisible force, a streak of blue light bursts from Y/N’s chest. Her head falls back as she floats into the air.

Slowly the blue light encases her, until every inch of her is crystalline and thrumming with power.

Her eyes open and everything goes quiet. Barry manages to walk the water’s surface to the beach, not a single ripple left behind, the sound of stone crunching under his feet muted, absent. Zoom’s head is whipping back and forth, straining against the grip of her power. If he’s shouting, Barry can’t hear it.

Y/N floats towards Zoom as if on a breeze.

“You sought out a power you do not understand. You do not respect us. And you do not deserve the power you hold. The world will be better without it–safer without it.” She reaches out and the closer she gets to touching him, the harder he fights. He tosses his head left and right, straining to pull his arms up and away from the wall. His entire body is vibrating; he looks like he might even sink into the stone, phase with it to escape her. But the power holds onto him, brings him back.

Crystal blue light emanates from her splayed fingers, the claws of a greater power. Her hand touches his chest, the black lightning emblem on his suit cracking beneath her palm.

The moment she makes contact, sound returns to the cave. Zoom–no he’s becoming Hunter once more–is screaming, shouting curses like a demon possessed.

“No! You can’t do this! You can’t do this to me! No! I am the fastest man alive! I’ll kill you! No!”

Chapter Text

His figure is no longer humming with friction as he’s lowered to the stone ground. There are no more sparks jumping off his skin. The power has been ripped from him and when she finally releases her hold on Hunter, he falls to his knees. He lashes out but Barry is out of reach and Y/N is still hovering over the water a few feet away. Barry knows that he’s safe, so he dares to look away from Hunter.

He can’t explain why but he holds out a hand to Y/N. She truly looks like she’s made of the same crystal that hangs around her neck. What would happen if he touched her while she was like this?

“It’s okay. Y/N, it’s okay. I trust you.” She takes a step toward the beach. Even the gold bands around her ankles are made of crystal now and they clink like sea glass hanging in the window. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” But did Barry really know that? How could he? He’d never seen something like this before; the woman he cared deeply for had turned to crystal.

As she approaches the beach, walking across the calm waters, she slowly raises her hand. Her wrist is limp, her palm facing down. Barry dares to touch her fingers, to wrap his hand around her fingers like you would a duchess–a princess–at a ball, right before brushing her knuckles with your lips.

He feels that surge of energy he’d experienced on the beach when Y/N had showcased her connection to her crystal, the way it beat in time with her own heart. Her heart. The Heart of Atlantis.

They were one and the same.

When Y/N’s bare feet touch the ground, the crystal transformation starts to undo itself. From her toes to the top of her head, the crystal is absorbed into her, meeting at the very center of her chest until the only light emitted is from her necklace and her eyes. Like water flowing down a drain, when the power is sapped from her, she collapses. Barry is there to catch her, his vigilance keeping her on her feet so that she may look down on Hunter.

He’s a crumpled mess on his knees. A man of menacing size, reduced to nothing. He’s torn at the mask on his face, ripping away the entire cowl.

“Wh-what have you done to me?” he whines.

“You have been reduced to the man you once were, Hunter Zolomon. But your trial is not done,” Y/N says in her singular voice, a hint of exhaustion showing between breaths. She holds onto Barry, readjusting her grip, and then grabs Hunter’s arm. Her eyes don’t glow but the power she exhibits can be felt in their very bones as she surges into the air and through the hole in the cavern’s ceiling. She floats down gently, a flower on the breeze. A few feet above the water garden throne room, she releases Hunter, but his feet do not catch him and he stumbles to his knees again in the shallow waters; colorful fish rightfully swim away, lily pads fan out and drift away with the ripples. Y/N and Barry land on the stepping stones.

No one seems surprised to see Y/N arising victorious. Atlantean guards train their spears on Hunter. A glance around them and Barry realizes that Laurel has disappeared. He thinks to question Harry and Jessie, but they are at the king’s side. He lays on a daybed with pillows supporting him, his condition appearing questionable.

Y/N runs to the king’s side and Barry follows after. His crystal flickers.

“Y/N,” Frost says, her voice trembling. “Do something.” Y/N reaches out to his necklace. She can repair it, and the king himself. Her father holds up a hand.

“No, daughter,” he speaks with ragged breaths, each one weaker than the last. “I have relied on this power for too long. Perhaps it is time,” he says in his gruff voice.

“What? No, Father, don’t say such things!” Frost argues. Y/N doesn’t speak up. “Y/N, please!” But Y/N stays silent, her own blue eyes brimming with tears.

“You have defended our people better than I ever have. The Heart was right to choose you as it’s host. It’s time you and your sister take care of our people.” The king brings Y/N’s hand to join with her sister’s.

The three of them hold tight until the man’s grip goes slack.

Y/N and Frost fold into each other, embracing and shedding silent tears. Barry wants to be there for Y/N, but he also doesn’t dare to take his attention away from Hunter. He sees out of the side of his eye that Y/N slowly and carefully removes her father’s necklace and places it in her sister’s hand.

It’s as Frost is placing it around her neck, the crystal coming back to life, that she looks up and sees Hunter. Her eyes flash white as ice and the tears on her cheeks are frozen in their tracks.

“You didn’t kill him!?” She jumps to her feet and takes a step forward. She doesn’t land on a stepping stone but the water beneath her foot turns into an icy path. Her power has been returned and Barry wouldn’t be surprised if she unleashes it on Hunter.

He doesn’t even have time to think if Hunter is worth saving from her wrath when Y/N makes the decision.

“No sister. He is not ours to punish.” She takes a hold of her sister’s arm, holding her back. “He has suffered and will suffer without his power. But he will not answer to us.” Frost sneers at Y/N.

“You mean we won’t even be putting him in our dungeon?”

“Barry?” Y/N calls out to him. “He has caused trouble on the mainland, as well?” He nods.

“Um, yeah.” He tears his gaze away from the fallen man. “He’s a speedster. They call him Zoom. Are you going to turn him over to the police?”

Y/N hesitates, gesturing to the guards to pick Hunter up, and everyone heads for the exit.

But thunder sounds overhead and a dark cloud appears out of nowhere. Lightning strikes at the heart of the cloud for only a moment before something bursts out of the dark mass.

Everyone ducks for cover as a shrouded creature flies around the garden.

“What is that?” Frost shouts over the creature’s screeching and the thunder.

“No. N-no!” Hunter yanks free of the guards’ grips and tries to run away. His footing is unsure as he transitions from the stepping stones to a solid walkway. “Not yet! No! Just give me more time!” He gets to the throne room door but it’s still locked after his initial attack.

“There is a greater power that people like him must answer to,” Y/N says, rather ominous in her native language. “They call themselves Time Wraiths,” she explains as the creature spots Hunter and snatches him up, bony fingers hooking on the collar of his leather suit. They pull him back, sucking him into their cloud–a portal of sorts–to where? “The gift of speed must answer to its source, the Speed Force.”

No one else seems in danger, even Y/N–who had exhibited speed today. The moment the wraith and Hunter have disappeared into the stormy portal, the cloud disappears and the room is silent.

Chapter Text

You awoke in the palace, in your chambers high in the sky where the sun shone in far too early and the birds sang…rather incessantly. You wish it was the sound of crashing waves and the feeling of a salty breeze. Growing up in Atlantis, the smell of saltwater had been constant. You were surrounded by it, though the air…the air was stale. When the island rose from the sea all those years ago, you had come to treasure the fresh air and how it carried the sea with it. It was stronger at the beach, at your small bungalow. You wish you were there now.

You’re sitting on the side of the bed, staring at a chair where a blue dress is laid out. Beside it is a golden headpiece, a gem in the center and colorful feathers standing on end. You’d only ever seen something like it on your mother when you were a child. But now it is yours; a rather ornate accessory, considering it meant your father is dead. Would Frost wear one just like it? The idea of her dressed this way turned up the corner of your mouth.

You’re not startled by the arm that snakes its way around your waist. Barry’s other arm crosses over your chest as he pulls you into him. The feeling of his bare skin against yours is soothing and you sink into him, your worries carried away on the wind. He kisses your shoulder then the curve of your neck and you turn your head so that your lips can meet his. Barry’s companionship is perhaps one of the only ways you’ve gotten through these last few days.

“How is my sea queen,” he murmurs in a poor Atlantean accent. The title–properly translating to Queen of the Sea–is too new for the both of you; it doesn’t sound right. Will it ever?

You don’t have an answer for him. You just kiss him again before getting to your feet and crossing over to the dress. You’ve no clothing on to shed before putting on the other garment. In your rather large bed, Barry sits up with only a sheet covering his lap. The blanket slips away as he reaches for his glasses on a table; he continues to refuse your offer to correct his sight. He has at least finally accepted what you can do– after so many questions, he is just like Harry.

Once you’ve dressed, once the headpiece is on and you can stand to look away from the face that resembles your mother, an Atlantean queen with the blue tattoos to match…you and Barry leave your chambers and walk past Harry’s room.

His lab, his machine, and all of his research has been packed up.

Harry had sought to harness your power. But his intentions had been true and good. You had allowed him access to a crystal but in all his years here, he’d never managed to replicate the Heart. Because that was you. The crystals were merely conduits for the life-giving force you hosted.

“Pure energy,” Harry had called it. “Not unlike what was released by the particle accelerator explosion.” You didn’t know what he was referring to when he’d first proposed his research during his early imprisonment. He never tried to steal it, he just wanted to replicate it for the betterment of the mainland. You had thought it a noble cause.

Hunter Zoloman had wanted your power to be stronger, and he was willing to kill you for it. That’s what he would have had to do too, as your power couldn’t be harnessed. It was a part of you and a part of your people. But just as it could give energy and power to the Atlanteans, it could also take energy and power away. This was the only way you could explain the events of that day to Harry, Jessie, and Barry.

The danger had finally passed.

Hunter was gone. Francisco and Laurel had fled. The Atlanteans had a king to grieve and queen to welcome.

The stone carving of your father had been completed just yesterday. All other monuments to the kings of the past have been raised from the cavern and set in an open courtyard as a proper memorial. The carvings all glow just as they had before.

Your sister stands by your side, a crown of ice atop her head. She gives you a soft smile of encouragement as you step toward the large boulder bearing your father’s likeness. With the crystal in your hand, you reach out to touch the rough surface and the etchings on the surface begin to glow. You’ve breathed your father’s spirit and his memory into this memorial. You imagine you’ll visit often.

As the Queen of Atlantis, you step into the embrace of the mainlander, Barry Allen.

You’re not concerned about anyone disapproving and why would they? Barry had been with you through this time. He respected and defended your people. He had earned his place.

“Your father would be proud of you,” he said quietly, pressing a kiss into your hair.

“Thank you.”

You eventually grow weary of the attention and the crowd. You and Barry decide to walk through the palace and to the water garden and throne room.

“What is next for you?” Barry asks, squeezing your hand.

“All of Atlantis knows about my father now. I will have to meet with those running the resort on the other side of the island. Not much will change, I expect. Perhaps with Harry’s departure, things will actually go back to the ways things were before we allowed an outsider into the city.”

“And what about me?” Barry asked. The two of you sit on a chaise lounge, laid back in each other’s embrace.

“What about you, Bartholomew Allen?” You’ll never be able to say his full name without struggling with your accent. “What do you want?” Barry’s green eyes search yours before he caresses your cheek and kisses you deeply. “You could stay here. Stay with me.” There was hope in your voice–hopeless hope, fearing you knew the answer.

“I–I promised people that I’d come home. Go back to Central City.” There was true conflict in his eyes. “You could come with me.”

“You know I can’t,” you say a bit sharply. “If I leave, the power comes with me and the power in the city fades. My home and my people would be vulnerable.”

“I have a life on the mainland. Friends and family.”

“You can have that here.”

Barry runs his fingers through your hair, holds your face between his hands and he leans in to kiss you again. You cling to him as he pulls back.

“I have to go home with Harry and Jessie.”

Your crystal glows and pulses with your emotions. All this power and it can’t protect your heart.

“Come back to me.”

———-

One year later….

Technology from the mainland still struggles to perform on your side of the island. You send letters back and forth now. His letters, your sketches of a face you don’t want to forget…they’re pinned up on the walls of your beachfront cabin. They rustle in the light breeze and you wish the warm air was the brush of his knuckles along your cheek.

You’ve weathered recent tropical storms in this small structure, using your powers to protect it. You’ve huddled on the bed, wrapped in blankets that no longer hold his scent, and you’ve wished you weren’t alone.

Although you’d only known him for that short time, you’ve never felt more alone since Barry Allen left Atlantis.

Using the resort’s technology, you’ve been in contact with him. But as time passes, the communication has become less frequent, not for a lack of effort. You’ve learned that Harry was welcomed back into society and cheered for his innovations. Despite leaving without a crystal and ultimately having no living samples, once he had access to all means of equipment on the mainland, he had been able to translate his research to new approaches and technologies that would help people. Admittedly, you’re relieved to know that your trust in Dr. Harrison Wells was not misplaced.

Barry has talked about the friends and family that he returned to. He’s sent pictures along with his letters and the love he seems to hold for them is kind and admirable. You almost can’t blame him for wanting to return to them. But you miss him. You miss the way he looked at you, your people, your culture; his unabashed desire to learn and love everything around him. His desire to understand and share his own intelligence with you made you feel that together, a greater appreciation of your worlds is possible.

Barry regrets leaving Atlantis. His letters say exactly that. But you don’t regret staying. You are the Queen of Atlantis now. You put aside your selfish desires, put the wellbeing of your people and culture first. You do not regret that.

Yet your heart still aches.

You’re once again looking over your letters and sketches on the wall. You haven’t heard from Barry in over a month. As the time between letters grows, the more you fear that the next one will never come.

Windchimes made of sea glass tinkle in their perfectly chaotic way in the doorway. They suddenly ring out against an outside force, stronger than a breeze. And then they stop all together.

You turn around. The sunlight streaming in is blocked by the figure of a man. He releases the chimes gently and then leans against the doorframe. He’s wearing shorts and Atlantean sandals.

“I thought about sending this letter,” he holds up an envelope. “But I decided to deliver it myself,” he says as you rush into his arms. Barry catches you, your legs wrapping around his waist, and as he braces himself, he steps into the sand. The letter crumpled in his hand, he embraces you and your lips finally meet his. You’d nearly forgotten how he tasted. Never again.

Barry pulls back from your kiss, he runs his fingers through your white hair as he catches his breath. His eyes are shining as he releases a soft chuckle. “I told you I’d come back to you.”

THE END