back in a flash

               “Life equals R U N N I N G            and when we S T O P running...          maybe that's how we'll know life is                    f i n a l l y f i n i s h e d.”

[flcsh]

tcra:

TORA hears from guy that the youngest speedster has died, to be honest she’d never met him. only really knew barry, and had met jay a few times. either way, she needs to offer some sort of condolences.  “no – i –,” she puts a hand on his arm softly, “i’m so sorry barry – if there’s anything i can do, please let me know.” she removes her hand, and thinks about hugging him but that might be an overstep. she’s always been a hugger but can’t expect others to be that way. 

there’s not. there’s not anything anyone can do...except himself. and he’d be lying if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind a few times. he could fix this. he could go back and fix all of this...but he knew what would happen if he did. still, the urge was strong, pulsing in his bones. go, go, go, before too much time has passed. he hadn’t realized he was starting to vibrate until she put a hand on his arm. it jolted him out of his mind, grounded him back. he reached up and clasped his hand over hers, gloved fingers wrapping around her wrist. “thank you...” he looked at her. looked at her face. looked at her, alive, alive. miracles happen every day. 

[flcsh]

bluebcctle:

“I don’t really have anything good to say,” Jaime admits, and if he feels like it’s taking all of his energy to hold himself together, to hold everything he’s feeling between his ribs, he can’t really fathom what Flash must feel like right now. He doesn’t even really know if he should be here at all, the only league member he’s ever had any sustained contact with is Batman–but when it comes to pain, maybe something from someone is better than nothing. 

“He was a friend of mine, and I–I know that I’ve been hurting like hell, so I can’t really imagine what you’re feeling. Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m sorry, that I can’t say anything to make it–better somehow.” 

“that’s alright, there isn’t really anything good to say,” the flash admitted, and glanced over at the blue beetle, who was also just a kid. also just a kid who was being thrust into this job. a kid with way too much weight on his shoulders. “thank you,” barry said, because he knew what the sorry meant. “we all did what we could. sometimes we lose...you don’t have to make it better. that’s not your job right now.” that was, technically, the league’s job. but the league was in a state, and he wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to be doing. he didn’t really want to do anything right now but go home, crawl into bed...but he wouldn’t get that luxury, his conscience wouldn’t allow it. “things will be alright,” he tried, though he didn’t even convince himself.

[flcsh]

divincdfuture:

   for a moment, barbara doesn’t know what to say. she rests at the threshold of the door with her hands in her lap and tries to string together anything remotely coherent. bart was a child, one she’d been growing fond of considerably, but to barry and to the other speedsters, he was family that could never be replaced. there’s no words that would make any part of this remotely easier right now. “ i brought food. ” alfred’s leftovers, in fact. he has a way of making them taste fresh out of the oven though. “ you’ve been moving so much. you must be exhausted. would you like to try some ?? ”

despite everything, despite everything (and there was a lot of everything), he small scoff of a laugh crept out of his dry throat. she brought food. when had he eaten last? he hadn’t been paying attention to his own body for fear that any attention to himself would leave him incapable of performing his duties. “—i would, actually,” he said, and gave her the best attempt at a smile he could offer. but her kindness eased some of his tension and the curve of his lips didn’t feel like the hardest thing he’d do all day anymore. “how are you?” he’d almost asked if she was alright, but what a stupid question to ask. 

[flcsh]

damnedsuper:

“ i – ” kon doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to say it.  his visit here is long overdue, but when it comes down to it, kon’s never known barry well.  but – but bart is gone, and if kon didn’t come then who would ??  he swallows around the lump in his throat and holds bart’s carefully folded costume out between them, like its some sort of flag.  “ he had an extra. ”  and it belongs with his family.  kons eyes burn again, overwhelmed by tears he thought he shed the last of already.

the flash turned to kon, a very careful expression on his face that only wavered for a split moment when he saw the folded costume in his arms. he reached out to put a hand over the fabric and his lips twitched. it didn’t feel right to grieve in front of kon, who had also lost, who had been there, who barry knew had tried his hardest. and there was no worse feeling that realizing your ‘best’ wasn’t enough. he knew. he felt it too. “thank you,” he said, and then met kon’s eyes and felt compelled to speak, to soften the wound, to strip some of his own bandages to cover the boy in front of him. “i know we don’t know each other very well, but i feel like i do. he talked about you all the time. you meant so much to him.” he glanced back down at the costume. “...do you want it?”

[irisannwest]

Injustice characters: 16/∞ ↳Barry Allen / The Flash

[flcsh]

foundingflash:

IT HASN’T FELT REAL. like the moment they told him, time just stopped and everything that has happened since has been nothing more than echoes of Before. there’s an almost uncomfortable familiarity with this- the ache in his chest, the constant question of what could i have done different running through his mind at breakneck speeds, the worry and sense of loss he can practically feel radiating off those around him. ( hasn’t he already done this? hasn’t he lived this before? ) 

HE APPRECIATES BARRY more than he could ever really put into words. knows the younger man is feeling his own grief and god almighty, if jay could take it from him he would. barry means his question genuinely and for a moment, jay wants to take him by the shoulders and shake him. he wants to tell barry that he can’t keep putting other people ahead of himself and try to take care of them, that he has to for a moment- god, for one goddamn moment- he has to let himself be first. forget what other people need or what he could do for them but to take the moment and just grieve. be sad, be angry, be broken, be whatever but be selfish for once. ( but that’s selfish on jay’s part— you don’t get to dictate how other people express their grief, garrick. ) 

THE SMILE THAT PICKS UP the corners of his mouth is tired and lackluster, never really reaching his eyes. “i think it’s time someone asked you that,” jay says quietly, reaching a hand out and gripping the other’s arm gently, “how’re you holding up? is there anything i can do for you?”

he didn’t even realize it was jay coming up to him. his mind was too distant, he didn’t really feel like barry allen right now. that was good. barry allen couldn’t really handle this. but the flash could. and god, he knew the minute he took of the cowl and those wings came off it would just be him who’d lost someone. he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to come back from that so easily. he couldn’t afford to lose it yet, not when things were so messy, when everyone was depending on a league that was falling apart at the seams. on heroes that were falling apart at the seams. 

but jay’s hand on his arm broke the very precarious damn he’d built. it was a sharp clarity in a world that had been fuzzy and muted since the bomb blew. his whole body jerked like a snapped rubber band, his eyes welled, a breath was forced out of him that shuddered and cracked like it was escaping through dry branches. but he wasn’t barry allen right now, he was the flash, and the flash didn’t break down the flash didn’t do this. 

he pressed his eyes together and tilted his head to the side, swallowed hard, and in the next breath he regained a bit of his composure. careful, careful not to look at jay because that would certainly pull back the curtain again. there were a few people he couldn’t just be the flash with. jay was one of them. the other reason he couldn’t look at jay was that the guilt threatened to cut him to the very floor. bart was...bart was his grandson, and he loved him, and he was supposed to protect him—god, he wasn’t even a grandparent anymore, was he? and jay. jay. who had just lost joan. who had now lost the boy he’d raised. bart was barry’s grandson, he was his blood, he was kid flash...and he was jay’s boy. 

his mouth opened. closed. words were difficult to find right now. barry usually knew the right things to say but he was failing right now. too much pain. too much pain everywhere. clark. poor clark. so many people. the world was in pain. he didn’t have time for barry’s pain. the flash had work to do. but when his eyes finally did look to jay, flashing a bright blue cased in carefully contained emotion, his mouth found the words and it felt like opening a wound, blood pooling out in one exhausted phrase. “i’m sorry. i’m so sorry.”

[flcsh]

grief was sometimes real funny. it came in waves, like aftershocks, only each one felt just as powerful as the first and it wasn’t fair, but nothing was, and he’d run the scenarios in his head over and over and over again every second analyzed every moment checked. and he could fix this, he could fix this, but his lessons learned the first time around were too fresh in his head and he couldn’t admit that he was too scared to fix it so he did—nothing. “can i help you?” 

[flcsh]

modecrasher:

“DON’T worry, gramps. i’m good.” he looks around, breathes deeply. okay, maybe a snack wouldn’t be the worst idea. “maybe some chicken nuggets, but i can eat and run. i need to – i gotta keep it up.” he worries about kon, about lois being out there. about the joker. he just worries.

“i know you’re good, but you won’t be helping anyone if you’re not at your best. fifteen minutes to eat, that’s all i’m saying. that’s what i took.” never mind that bart should be maintaining normal duties—barry could say that till the cows came home but it wouldn’t make a difference. if bart was going to be out, the least he could do was make sure kid flash (kid flash) was safe. “i’m not asking you to sit out. i mean...i am, but i know you won’t listen and i don’t have time to make sure you do. so i just want you to take care of yourself.” he smiled a bit, reached out and squeezed bart’s shoulder. “i’m proud of you. you’re doing a great job just...go home. eat something. stay out of trouble. trust us, we’re handling this.”

[flcsh]

greenlcntern:

hal became fluent in barryspeakingwithhismouthfullese nearly a decade ago, rendering the post-swallow translation redundant, but something about the simple familiarity of that moment was more than enough to make him, despite all odds, crack a smile. he accepted the drink without second thought, took a sip, and then offered it back. “ probably, ” hal agreed, and then—with just a slight cant of his head, weighing a thought, he amended: “ maybe. ” really, hal didn’t know enough about the joker’s modus operandi to know when something had or hadn’t been premeditated for weeks. “ that is—i’m sure the breakout was planned. and i’m sure they had something planned for their grand entrance. i’m not positive whatever lois’s involvement was planned for weeks. doesn’t joker tend to operate on whim? or maybe he just likes seeming like he operates on whim. ”

“well—yeah,” barry admitted, because it sure as heck didn’t look like the joker planned much of anything. “but if it hadn’t been planned then we would have found her by now, he would have been caught mid-transport, right?” we’re better than this, was the underlying assessment. at least, barry had always thought they were. with their combined skills they should have been able to easily find a woman who had been taken less than twenty four hours ago...right? “it’s just, alright, normally when any major element breaks out, we’re dealing with attacks on several fronts because bad-guy string b sees we’re busy and they take the opportunity. by now, the rogues would know i wasn’t in central, and they should be breaking into the flash museum for fun...but they’re not. what does that mean? and gotham. every time the joker breaks out there’s some giant what-to-do over there and it seems...relatively calm.” maybe it didn’t mean anything. maybe he was tired. but it felt...it felt like something a little more sinister. and he had no other reason to think this, other than experience and a gut feeling. he put his head in his hands, pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes. “i could be wrong,” he mumbled. “i’m wrong sometimes.”

[flcsh]

commissicner:

    it’s an uncharacteristic capitulation from jim when he says, “ of course you’ve got the full help of my department. ”  offering he and his people fully to anyone dressed as some sort of colorful animal is sort of against the very tenant of what makes jim, well, jim.  but if the joker is involved, it’s because the gcpd, gotham, the real, proper law has failed.  it’s harder now than ever to act like he’s in the dark.  like he doesn’t want to call his daughter and demand she bring everyone in off the street before someone else dies.  like he doesn’t want to knock on bruce wayne’s door and demand the plan.  “ what do you need ?? ”

he knew he shouldn’t be the one doing this. hell, he felt out of place in gotham as a whole, and in the station? well, lets just say he wasn’t often feeling incredibly bright but he was almost sure that he was the reddest thing in the room. but it wasn’t just that...it was that the joker had always been a bat problem—and not by choice. but bruce liked to handle things on his own and barry had always been respectful of that. but this felt personal, it was personal, because lois missing? well, that wasn’t a coincidence, and it wasn’t a mistake. the implication that joker knew who she was..who she was to clark, who clark was, and the whole spiraling mess of it all. well, it just— “thank you,” the flash said, derailing his own rapidly devolving thought process. “i’m sure batman and your own detectives have already looked it over but i was hoping i could get into his cell. another pair of eyes never hurts.” plus, we’ve got no leads and we’re desperate for something. that didn’t need to be said. it was important that the league at least looked like they had a handle on things. 

[flcsh]

modecrasher:

“HEY – on your left,” bart called, zooming past. he turned back though, “you heard anything?” he asks, catching his breath walking beside the other. 

“nothing yet,” barry said, squinting at bart, entirely in concern. “how long have you been running? do you need to take a break, or eat something?” a valid question, as far as he was concerned. he’d had to stop twice already to refuel.

[flcsh]

greenlcntern:

( @flcsh​ )

RECOGNIZED: GREEN LANTERN. AUTHORIZATION 005.

hal’s beat, no questions about it, but he’s guessing he’s nowhere near as beat as barry, because if they’re comparing decks, seemingly endless hours of frustrating, futile searching by flight trumps seemingly endless hours of frustrating, futile searching by running every time. they need a new method of attack—the whole purpose in recouping at the watch tower to begin with. “ nothing in bludhaven, ” he offers, tired, by way of confirmation. “ i take it the computer isn’t showing anything useful or interesting yet. ”

multitasking. that was how he’d keep moving. he spoke with his mouth full, because there wasn’t really time for social pleasantries...though a hand move to cover the lower half of his face. “nufing yeh,” he said, nearly unintelligible before he swallowed. “nothing yet, i mean.” though he knew for a fact that nothing had happened, his eyes flicked over hal—second nature now. green lantern seemed alright, if not exhausted. wordlessly, barry held out his drink to him and his foot tapped repeatedly on the floor, a bundle of anxious energy and frustration. “if we can’t find them that means it was planned. probably for weeks. maybe longer.”

[flcsh]

greenlcntern:

depends on the misfortune. oh, if barry only knew. well, he would know, anyway, soon enough. hal sighed and hung his head, defeated, as petulant childishness was the only appropriate reaction for the situation, complete with a dramatic pause and a mumbled, “ i saddled us with a dinner with sonny and cher. ”

a puff of air shot out of his nose as he narrowed his eyes at hal, lips firmly pressed together to try and prevent the small smile— it didn’t work. “do you have to call them that?” he leaned back in his seat, arms that were firmly crossed over his chest slacking just a bit. it was a pretty juicy misfortune, especially considering the amount of times hal had complained about barry trapping them into some excursion with jay and allen (the camping trip specifically, which barry still maintains was a joint decision). “...i’ll forgive you much faster if you wear the blue cardigan to this lovely dinner,” he said, only half kidding. 

[flcsh]

titantroia:

“OKAY – if you say so,” donna shrugs softly, sometimes she feels like anyone in the justice league looks at her like she’s twelve years old still. they all sort of a get a similar look on their faces. not that that she’s going to point it out, she knew diana did it too. “tension on a team isn’t – ideal. maybe you guys need a camping trip,” there something funny about the idea of the justice league out in tents with each other. it was almost a titan tradition at this point but – she knew the friendships between their two groups were very different. 

“somehow i think it would do more harm than good,” he said, though the prospect of a jl camping trip did make him crack a grin. he’d actually enjoy that...but he knew for a fact that the majority would not. while barry considered his teammates some of his closest friends, he knew where the lines were. “we’ll be alright, when the stakes are high people get passionate and when you’re passionate about something sometimes...courtesy goes out the window.” his lips pursed just a bit in evident irritation. “how are the titans?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject so his salt wouldn’t continue to rise. 

[flcsh]

greenlcntern:

“ babe. babe. care-bar. i’m sorry. i got caught up in the moment, i didn’t mean to snap at you. ” it’s not the first time hal has to apologize for letting barry get caught in the cross-fire of one of his and bruce’s… routines. it certainly won’t be the last. “ will you forgive me faster if i tell you about the horrible misfortune i walked myself into? you’ll have bragging rights for years. ”

he hadn’t been in the best of moods before the meeting, and it certainly hadn’t been helped during, so the look he leveled at hal was far from sated. “i know,” he said, because he did know hal hadn’t meant it, and he did believe he was sorry (he knew the levels of pet names)— but neither of those acknowledgements improved his sourness. “depends on the misfortune,” he said, attempting to sound disinterested and likely failing as his edge dampened just a bit.

[flcsh]

harperarsenall:

“What, did you get kicked out of the Green Scouts meeting?” Roy raises an eyebrow and smirks, puts his coffee to his lip and pushes one towards Barry. “He still loves you man, gotta let him play with his friends.” Lian giggles at his joke from her position on his lap, ever confident that Roy is hilarious. 

“mm,” barry mumbled, because he was unimpressed and unconvinced with this explanation and was planning on holding onto his frustrations for the rest of the evening (he was, unbeknownst to many, quite the petty-holder). but roy was bearing both coffee and lian, so he couldn’t maintain it that easily. “thank you, by the way. is this decaf?” he normally drank decaf, but at this point, he’d drink regular coffee. it had been a day. a day that had been made significantly better with lian’s laugh. “i’ve gotta tell you, munchkin, it’s very hard to stay mad around you. it’s a gift, use it for good,” he said to lian, his voice losing the slightest edge it held earlier, lips curving into a smile, the beginnings of a sour mood dissipating.

[flcsh]

lantcrnlight:

“I’m sensing the tiniest bit of resentment. It’s super small. Mostly. You sure you’re good?” She’s like an actual member of the League ( and she takes that seriously, no doubt about that ), but when the senior members start to get into it? She’d rather take a back seat. Embody Switzerland and all that jazz. “We can talk about it. We should talk about it, right?” 

“nope. no resentment at all. i’m feeling entirely unresentful. it captures exactly how i currently feel.” normally, this level of pouty petulance was reserved for hal. he was often able to keep his frustrations at bay until he got home. it wasn’t exactly the right thing to do, but barry would rather swallow his annoyance until it could be safely expelled without consequence. but today he was tired, and things were still a little rocky out there, and he had not been looking to get snapped at and ousted from a conversation that he felt he had equal part in. and he might have kept that feeling to himself but...he liked jess. she was easy to talk to, and he felt like he could trust her to keep his venting between them. “they just get so wrapped up in snapping at each other and then nothing gets done and heckin’ forbid i try to get a word in edgewise.”