9 years ago

"How are you supposed to help her?" Jay hisses, sounding ticked off. A part of me was right there with Jay, but another part told me that she wasn't lying.

She chokes as her face starts to turn a bright red. "P-Put me down and I can s-show you."

"Do it," I say to Jay, sounding curious rather than snappy. He sighs before placing her back on the ground, blue lightning still dancing across his skin as Dust Storm gasps from the oxogen flow again. "What makes you think you can help me? Why now after three weeks!"

She looks up at me. "I wasn't sure if it'd work or not, but now I know it just might-"

"If you're lying I swear to God I'll rip your heart out before you can blink," Jay growls lowly as Dust Storm takes a step backwards, clearly threatened by his words.

I groan. "Spit it out already."

She takes a deep breath. "The reason I didn't come by sooner was because I wasn't sure how long the serum would be in you. Now that I know that it still is, I might be able to...evaporate it out."

It made sense. She had the capability of doing that, but who was to say that it'd work or if she could get it all out of my system. Furthermore, I didn't know why she was so eager to help. The only one who cared about me was Jay. No one else, so it was strange to me that she did.

"You can do that?" Jay hisses, sounding cautious.

Dust Storm nods her head. "Of course I can. I've been hit plenty of times with tranq darts, but just before they can take effect, I pull the particles out of me."

"And you think this will work in my case?" I breathe, looking down at my hands, imagining myself with my powers again. I needed it.

She takes a deep breath. "I think so. I'm not sure what damage the serum might have already done other than take your powers away, but be prepared for absences and maybe...mutations with it. You may not be the exact same."

"But I'll get my powers back," I nod my head as she nods back. "Then there's no question to it. Do it."

Jay steps between the two of us. "If you're wrong about this, I will-"

"Kill me, I get it," she sighs before walking around him, holding her hand out. "Give me your hand."

I stare at her palm for a long moment before giving her my hand, taking a deep breath. A part of me was scared that this wouldn't work, but it was my last hope. I had to do this, no question.

She closes her eyes then as she takes a deep breath, focusing. I wondered in the back of my mind how she knew what to take out of me and such, but I guess I wouldn't ever really understand unless I was in her shoes. I mean yeah, I could borrow her powers and see for myself, but I'd have to learn everything she knows.

After a couple of seconds, she holds up her free hand and extends her fingers, squeezing my hand tightly. That was when I started to feel something similar to tickles all over my body, causing me to look down and see all of the particles floating seamlessly towards her hand, gathering in a large ball of liquid. It was a sight to see for sure, and I could feel something about me changing.

I look over at Jay then, finding him cocking his head as he watched Dust Storm carefully. It looked as if he was keeping an eye on her so that she didn't go too far and kill me of course, but I could tell that he was glad this appeared to be working. Hell, I was more than glad.

Dust Storm's eyes flick open then as she looks over at her hand, the ball of liquid jiggling with every movement of her hand. I notice her look back at Jay for a moment, an odd look on her face, but then she turns back to me and sighs. "How do you feel?"

I look down at my hands, feeling as if my powers were back to me. "I think...I think it worked."

My eyes catch a cup sitting on the table behind Dust Storm then, causing me to stare at it before focusing all of my energy on it. After a couple of seconds, I watch the cup very slowly rise from the table and then fall back down while I laugh, more than glad that my powers were back.

"Thank you," I breathe before looking over at Jay, not being able to tell what his face looked like because of his mask.

Dust Storm continues to hold onto the serum. "There's nothing wrong with you? It's all back to normal?"

I look over at Jay. "I don't know...let me test it out."

He holds out his hand then as I walk over and take it, feeling the speed force flow into my body as lightning flashes behind my eyes. Lord, I had missed this like hell. Before I could hear anyone say anything else, I'm moving my feet and dashing out out of the lair, down the mountain, and through the woods. Everything zooms past me in blurs, the wind cold on my face as I dodge the large trees and jump over tree stumps.

A large smile spreads across my face as I turn to go run back, but just when I started to take off back towards he lair, my feet tripped over one another and I fall face first into the dirt. My body slowly skids to a halt as I tumble along the grass, hitting a tree stump before finally stopping.

I grunt under my breath before I stand back up, ready to take back off, but my feet wouldn't let me. It was like the speed force was already gone from my body...it shouldn't have drained this fast.

I look down at myself then, seeing that I was covered in dirt and grass stains, but when I looked down at myself, I knew that the serum was what did this. Instead of giving me all of that time back that I had after I had touched someone, it gave me back some of it. It wouldn't last near as long as it used to.

I guess not all things can go my way.

-*+*-

Present

I wasn't sure how long I've been locked away in here. I've tried pretty much everything I could think of to get myself out of here, but of course, it didn't work. They had this entire pipeline sealed for good; there was no hope left for me.

After I had stopped crying, I found myself watching the pictures and news articles scrolling across up on the screen. All of my crimes and murders were up on that screen; the robbery from back when I had first went out on my own, the night I first killed that man, and then of course the multiple others that had followed. I couldn't help but wonder what life could be like if none of those things were real; if I had never met Jay.

I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he lied to me...twice. For so long he's called me by my real name, but I didn't have the privilege to call him by his real name. I couldn't understand why he'd lie to me about that, but that wasn't the main reason I was upset with him.

He told me that whatever my parents had done deserved it; that they had what was coming to them. Multiple times I had asked him what he did with them; if he had killed them. Yet still he couldn't give me the truth. I felt utterly betrayed the longer I sat down here alone in the pipeline, thinking about everything that Barry had said.

Suddenly though, I hear something flick on inside of my cell, causing me to scramble to my feet as I looked around, not seeing a change in anything. Well, that was before I heard Barry's voice. "I figured you'd probably want to say hello to your friend."

My eyes flick back to the TV screen in that moment, an image popping up that caused me to gasp. It was a high up camera view of the training room; the place where Barry had taken me a few times after first showing me around. Standing there was Barry, looking at the screen, but then my eyes landed on a familiar black suit...Jay.

I bite my tongue when I see that Barry had used that metahuman ankle bracelet on Jay; the same one Wells had used on me so long ago, only now it was modified, I could tell that much. Barry walks around Jay slowly as Jay grunts, trying to get the ankle bracelet off. I knew he more than likely couldn't do it...not without help.

"Where is she?" he hisses, looking up slowly at Barry. "Where's Raven!"

I could tell that Barry thought he was winning this war, but only he didn't know that it wasn't over yet. Not even close. "Don't worry, you'll probably see her soon, since you'll both be ending up in the same place."

He lunges at Barry in that moment, but he wasn't anywhere close to getting him. I could tell that he was angry, and that was one thing you never wanted to make Jay.

Jay starts laughing. That same laugh I've heard for many years now right before he completely and utterly lost it. "I gotta say, using my parents was pretty genius. Isn't that interesting? That family can be such a weakness."

"Not for me," Barry says coldly. I could tell that he was loving every moment of this, but it only made any feelings I had for him and everyone else around me fade. Sure, Jay lied to me, but what Barry did...you can't come back after doing something like that. Jay's been here for me my whole life, and I wouldn't trade him over Barry in any lifetime, not matter what lies he told me along the way.

Jay grins. "That's where you're wrong. I want what I came here for; your speed and Raven."

"You aren't getting anything from me, and you're certainly not getting her back," Barry snaps, shaking his head. "Face it, Hunter. You've lost."

Jay looks down at his feet before looking back up again slowly. "You can't lock up the darkness."

"What did you just say?" Barry asks as Jay looks him in the eyes, his eyes turning to a dark coal black.

"You can't lock up the darkness," he breathes with that demonic voice of his, and then the next thing I know, I see his hand buzzing and slicing through his ankle band, racing off before Barry could trail behind. I knew there was no way Barry would catch him now; Jay got away.

A grin spreads across my face as I watch Barry take off, causing me to run to the glass doors and stare ahead, waiting for Jay to come...waiting for someone to open the doors. However, after awhile of waiting, I realized that no one was coming...Jay wasn't coming for me.

Another small tear falls down my cheek as I back away into the corner, slowly letting myself fall as I bring my knees to my chest. The tape on the screen blacks out before it goes back to the clips of newspaper articles from me, but I wasn't going to read anymore. I couldn't read anymore.

Jay may have left me behind, but I knew one damn thing for sure. The only person I had left to trust was myself, and no one else.

Not even Jay.

-*+*-

Eh kind of an okay-ish chapter, but still good nevertheless. I really hope you guys are liking this...the end is near and I'm getting emotional already. I can't decide if I wanna make a book two after this, so I guess you guys are the real reason for if I do or not.

welp, vote and comment!