there is a world, darker probably, where Reverb discovered his powers and suffered through them, the headaches, the visions, the blood, the deaths of those versions of himself, of Dante, of everyone and everything.
he was a petty criminal, a stupidly arrogant one at that, that's for sure, but nothing more and nothing less. Zoom, no, Hunter still at the time, is the one who found him and Reverb had seen hazy images of him in his head, in his dreams, unreliable and terrifying, impressive.
Zoom sees a pretty thing in Reverb, first. not as gorgeous as Killer Frost but then he sees the possibility, the power and how he could have that pretty, stupidly arrogant boy at his mercy, working for him, terrified of him, in his hands. Zoom likes pretty things. powerful things. he likes to give them attention and care and hope and then get bored of that and scare them to their knees, have them trembling as they kill for him, with him sometimes maybe.
yes Reverb is scared, he's terrified of Zoom now and he hates him as much as he has to submit to his will. Reverb can't stand that he has none of the control he thought he would get, he was promised. over his powers, his life, this world. Reverb's not in control of anything and he suddenly feels, realizes that he has never been.
and the life Zoom controls? the lives? Reverb sees people around him liking it, loving it even. he sees Killer Frost and Deathstorm. he sees Dante, now Rupture, Killing and Killing and Killing like death incarnate and preening in front of Zoom. Reverb is a petty criminal, he's not a killer.
he makes others kill for him most of the time and it's not good he knows that, he accepts how bad of a man he is, how he's getting worse and worse each day. he hates it. each kill, either his or someone else's, Dante's especially, he vibes again and again and again. Reverb can't take it anymore.
Barry though? Barry is good. he's powerful, he's capable of being more powerful than Zoom and he's good, he gives control to Reverb, lets him say no. Reverb forgot how it felt to be able to say no, to not be terrified, before he met Barry, before he saw him more and more in his vibes as Zoom obsessed over him, made him his new target, the next piece in his collection and his cure. everything and Reverb sees him everywhere be good and kind and nice and adorable.
and Barry loves it when Reverb says no, actually. he loves it when Reverb gets arrogant and says no to his suggestions, his ideas, his questions to command something else, close, similar but his, entirely his.
