Barry Bluejeans spent 12 freakin years alone
The way the finale finale plays out, Barry seems to forgive Lucretia immediately, but I imagine that it goes much deeper than that. Barry is a pretty chill dude; he doesnāt want to instigate drama, so he bottles up his emotions and goes with the flow. They got their happy ending after all, right?
Deep down, Barry knows that he should talk to Lucretia, to ask her why. When Fisherās memory erasure first happened, he thought it was a freak accident. He made it his goal to find his loved ones and ensure their safetyāuntil he found Lucretia leading a dazed Merle to the beach, feeding him stories about a past that Barry knew was fabricated. Hell, Merle hadnāt even seen an ocean until cycle 7. Yet here he was, watching as his dear friend nodded along hazily when told he had practically been raised by the sea.
Barryās next goal was to confront Lucretia, to demand an explanation, but he wasnāt given a chance for many months, when he finally found her hiking along the dangerous routes of The Teeth, fresh on the trail of the Gaia Sash with a small group of vagabonds. He waited until nightfall before approaching her, but was caught off guard as she yelled for the aid of her traveling companions, firing a well placed fireball at his spectral form. Outnumbered and feeling betrayed, Barry fled.
Every time Barry tried to speak with his dear friend, the only member of his family with memories intact, he was shot down. It was only on his tenth visit that Lucretia admitted to remembering his identity. The worst encounter, however, occurred while Barry was in his human form. It was one of his earliest test trials with the resurrection pod, and he had yet to adopt his magic coin for sending messages to his physical form. He was lost in the woods near Neverwinter when he came across an elderly woman, face buried in her hands, sobbing. He instinctively approached her, and was perplexed by her expression of panic when she saw his face. They soon struck up a conversation, however; Barry got a fire going while she spoke about the horrors she had just faced in a place called āWonderland.ā As the sun set and darkness fell, they cobbled together a meal to share. She knew without asking that he liked his meat well-done and preferred his coffee black. She was quick-witted and clever, and had a smile like the sun. They spoke for hours, her doing most of the talking, relaying the wild stories of her adventures as she traveled the world.
Barry had left that clearing in the woods feeling better than he had since the day the voidfishās powers erased him from the minds of his family, feeling for the first time in months like he was truly home. The next day, his phantasmal form rose from his arrow-laden corpse, and the subsequent magical eruption was enough to completely obliterate the murderous thieves who had orchestrated his death.
When he discovered that Magnus, Merle, and Taako had been inoculated, he felt hope for the first time in nearly a decade; he could finally approach his friends. It was only then that he discovered that Lucretia had fabricated a story about an evil order of liches adorned in red robes. She had made him the enemy of the very people who he loved the most. It was then that he grew closest to losing himself; he was stabilized by memories of love and support from his family, only to have his three brothers refuse to trust him. He was hopelessly alone.
Barry Bluejeans was isolated from everyone he loved due to Lucretiaās actions, and while she had the best of intentions, it still stands that Barry spent 12 years alone and afraid. But he puts on a smile, because the past is in the past. Itās not until one cold winterās night after tossing back a few too many drinks that he finally opens upā¦to Taako. Taako, the only other person who can even come close to understanding the weight of what Lucretiaās real crime was.
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