Present

"I can't believe them," Barry mutters to himself as he stares at the glass, no longer being able to see his friends. "I can't believe that they would do something like this."

I wanted to answer Barry, but something was caught in my throat. Ever since I woke up in here, something wasn't settling right in my stomach, and it made me feel queasy. My eyes stay locked on the floor as I focus on my breathing, my heart racing in my chest as well. It wasn't until I started to breathe harder when Barry noticed there was something wrong with me, causing him to furrow his eyebrows.

"Raven?" he asks me, but I couldn't reply. "Are you okay?"

My hand goes to my chest then as I clasp away at my heart, afraid that it might leap out of my chest. The walls feel as if they're coming closer to me as I back away into the wall, my breathing out of control now. What was wrong with me?

"Raven!" Barry shouts as he scoots over to me, panic in his eyes. "Breathe, Raven, breathe-"

"I-I can't," I'm able to choke out, wondering to myself how I was even able to get those words out. I try to say more, but my mouth doesn't let me.

The next thing I know, I'm watching Barry hold up his hands as he stares at me directly in the eyes, making sure that I was paying attention to him. "Count down with me, okay? Trust me on this."

I stare at his fingers for a long moment, not sure what good this was going to do. Somehow though, I'm able to speak. "Ten..."

After I say this, Barry drops another finger and gives me the look to count again. Slowly, I cite the numbers all of the way back down to zero. As I do this, I feel my heart rate slow down to it's normal rate, along with my breathing. Somehow, counting down Barry's fingers relaxed me and made me able to get a grip on myself again.

I take a deep breath. "H-How?"

"You must have been having a panic attack," Barry states as he falls back up against the wall facing me. "I used to get them as a kid...after my mom had died. Joe would always count down with me to help me, and I thought maybe it'd work on you."

I stare at him for a long moment, trying to process the fact that I had a panic attack. "The last time I was in here was when you locked me away. I guess being in here again made me feel alone, I don't know. That's the first time something like that has happened to me."

Barry's eyes search mine for a moment. "You're okay now, that's what matters."

"Thank you," I say softly, my eyes drifting to the floor as silence wraps around the two of us, but only for a moment. "Barry, we need to get out of here."

He looks back at the glass. "There's no way for us to get out of here. We'll have to sit this one out until someone lets us out..."

"Do they really think they can go up against Zoom without us?" I ask, an unsettling fear creeping back into me. "They don't understand what he's capable of."

Barry starts to agree with me before he pauses. "You really think I'll let you race him by yourself?"

I give him a look. "Barry, I-"

"I don't want to hear it," he says simply, cutting me off. "Do you really think I'd let you do that? That any of us would let you do that? We're all a team; we're in this together."

"In this together? Pretty sure that locking away the two speedsters that have the best chance at going up against him isn't working together," I state, causing Barry to sigh.

He lowers his head. "They think that doing this is the best option...but it's not. Joe said that we were both running on revenge, whatever that means-"

"He's right," I confirm as Barry gives me a look. "Barry, the moment I met you, I saw that you had this light burning inside of you. It was what made you, you. That light is what makes you The Flash, what makes you Barry Allen...but that night Hunter killed your father, that light went out. I saw it in your eyes. You reminded me of myself; broken and too far gone."

Barry shakes his head, a little angry about what I had said. "Maybe I am broken, but I'm not too far gone. I want to make him pay for what he did, Raven. Don't you too?"

"I do," I say carefully, noticing the darkness in his eyes once more. "I was raised to be like him, Barry. I've known this type of darkness for almost my whole life. Tell me, do you want to kill him?"

"Of course I want to kill him," he spits as if the words were sour on his tongue. I could tell that deep down he knew that it wasn't right, but he was so blinded by his rage he didn't want to realize it for himself. "He killed my father, Raven. He took him away from me-"

"He took away my parents, my life, my freedom," I start, shaking my head. "The list goes on. What he did to you wasn't fair, Barry, but please, realize that this is what he wants. He wants you to be just like him, and killing him does that. Killing him means you lose that light you've always had inside of you, and that means he wins this battle after all."

A look of realization washes across his face then as he sinks down, silence enveloping in the room for a few moments. "But if he lives, then he wins too."

"I have nothing to lose," I say simply, and I knew that he knew where I was going with this after I started. "Like I said, I've been apart of the darkness for so long, Barry. I can kill him myself-"

"No...no," Barry cuts me off, shaking his head as he holds out his hands. "I don't care what you say about darkness, there's another way."

"Like what?" I say, losing patience now. "We're running out of time, Barry, and we have to be prepared for whatever happens."

I wait for him to speak, but instead, he sits there with an odd look on his face, making me grow nervous. "What?"

He half smiles then. "I think I have an idea."

-*+*-

Out of everyone who could have let us out, I least expected Wally.

Barry and I had thought out a plan on how to take down Hunter when he came and opened the door, and that was when we learned about the mishap that happened while we were locked away. The others tried stopping Hunter themselves, but in the midst of the plan, Hunter took Joe back to my earth.

As expected, Barry hashed it out on everyone when we got upstairs, but I could barely get a word in because he took the words right out of my mouth. After a lot of yelling, everyone decided that we needed to work as a team again. It was soon after that Barry and I told Hunter that we would race, with the help of Cisco vibing us to the place I used to call home.

So that was where we were now, standing outside as we all looked up at the device that I assumed was the magnitar. It was a lot larger than I thought it would be, but it made sense since Hunter needed Barry and I to run around it to power it. Looking up at it made everything set in that this was really happening...that this was the end.

A flash of blue lightning appears in front of Barry and I then as I stare at the man I hated the most in this world, Joe in his grasp. "I see that you brought the whole team with you...can't say I blame you. It's gonna be one hell of a show."

"Dad!" Wally yells as he starts to race towards Joe, but before he can reach him, Iris grabs him by the arm and holds him back.

I glare at Hunter. "Let him go."

"After we race," he snaps back at me. "That was the deal after all, remember?"

I clench my fist as Barry takes a step forwards. "What are the rules?"

"One lap around this thing will produce about one gigawatt of energy, and I need 500 plus in order for the magnitar to do it's job. Once it's full, I win," he grins as his eyes rest on me. "And then there's no stopping it."

"So all we have to do is stop you before that happens," I refresh.

He nods. "It's that simple. And if any time you two decide not to race anymore, dear old dad number two here is a dead man, along with your little fan club."

"They're not our fan club," I state as I shake my head.

Barry adds onto my statement. "They're the reason why we're running."

Hunter cracks an evil smile. "I'll let you say your goodbyes."

He flashes away then as I shake my head, so much hatred filling up inside my heart. I only hoped that Barry and I's plan would work...it had to work. If it didn't, I wasn't sure what we were going to do.

I turn back around and face the others, Barry doing the same. As he speaks to Wally, Caitlin, Cisco, and Harry, Iris walks over to me. "Whatever happens, Raven, just know that you'll always have a home here. We all believe in you."

I nod my head as a faint smile appears on my face. "We're going to get Joe back, Iris. I promise."

She smiles at me before I look back over at Barry, seeing that he was ready to go. I quickly nod at the others, hearing them all wish Barry and I luck before the two of us race over to where Hunter was standing, a smug look on his face.

"Aren't you excited to finally see who's fastest, Raven?" he taunts me. "All of those years I trained you to be who you are today, and now we finally get to see if it pays off."

I shake my head. "I'm not that same person anymore. I'm better."

"We'll see about that," he laughs before walking and standing on the other side of Barry, getting into position.

Barry stares straight ahead as I get into position as well, feeling the speed force flow through me. "Just say when."

"Run."

Before I can think about what I'm doing, I'm racing forwards and up the magnitar, running around in a circle with Barry at my side. The wind whips away at my face as I stare ahead, seeing that Hunter was only a few feet in front of Barry and I. I turn then and look down at the magnitar, seeing our lightning starting to fuel it. If our plan was going to work, we'd have to do it fast.

I push for my feet to go faster as I gain some distance, using my rage as my motivator. Hunter races on faster as Barry and I fall behind, making me grow angry at myself. I was faster than this, I knew that. Why wasn't I running faster?

For some reason, in that moment, I think of my parents. I see their faces in my mind as I push on, reminding myself that he was the one who caused all of this. He was the man that took them away from me, the one that showed me the darkness, the one who put hatred in my heart. Suddenly then, I started to run for my parents.

I scream as I push forwards, gaining more distance. I pass Barry then as he looks over at me, surprised to see me pushing this hard. I knew that I needed to be ahead of him if this plan was going to work, and now I was catching up to Hunter.

As I race on, I find myself next to Hunter. He glances over at me for a moment, surprised to see me gaining ground. However, both of our eyes drift away from one another as we look to the sky, watching a bright white light shoot upwards. I hear Hunter laugh slightly as I push myself harder.

It was then I saw another streak of red race past, and I knew that Barry had done it. Our plan was for him to make a time remnant in order to help reverse the magnitar, and it was working. It takes a moment for Hunter to realize what we had up our sleeve, and the second he does, he turns and grabs me, taking me down to the pavement as he throws me to the ground.

As I look up, I catch a glimpse of the time remnant running around the magnitar, counteracting the energy us speedsters were creating. A small smile appears on my face before Hunter's hand grabs the clothing on my chest, picking me up and throwing me into the wall of another building nearby.

I gasp as I fall to the ground, anger filling inside of me. I use the rage to get back up on my feet, dashing forwards and landing a few good punches across Hunter's face. He lets out a demonic scream before he fights back, knocking my feet out from under me. He goes to land another punch on me, but before he can, a bright light emits from the magnitar as the two of us look over, finding that the time remnant had counteracted the energy...he saved the multiverse.

"No!" Hunter screams as he turns back towards me, but before he can hurt me, I see a flash of red lightning knock him to the ground, Barry and Hunter both rolling across the pavement. I dash up onto my feet in that moment as the two of them take off running up and down the buildings, trying to catch up.

When I finally do catch up, I watch closely as Barry throws Hunter up into the air, and just before he can get back on his feet to dash off again, Barry throws his fist into his chest, throwing him hard against the ground. It was then Barry gets on top of him, holding him down as his hand starts to buzz softly, ready to end him once and for all.

"Barry!" I shout as I shake my head, praying that he wouldn't do it. It would eat him alive if he took his life. "Don't do it!"

He stares down at Hunter, a weak smile appearing on his face. "You couldn't kill me even if you wanted to, Flash."

After Hunter says that, an opening appears in the sky as I turn and see two Time Wraith's fly out, heading straight towards us. I take a step backwards as Barry looks back down at Hunter, hate in his eyes. "I don't have to."

Just as soon as Barry steps away from Hunter, the Time Wraith's are swarming him as he lets out a scream. I stand there in awe as I watch the man that I hated crumble, satisfaction washing over me. Barry and I glance over at one another in that moment, almost as if we were making sure this was happening...that we really won.

However, in the midst of this, when I wasn't looking, I feel a hand wrap around my ankle. I let out a scream as I fall to the ground, being dragged across the pavement. When I look over my shoulder to figure out what was going on, I find a demonic looking Hunter looking back at me, no longer looking like himself at all. His skin was crinkled and torn, but he still had that same look in his eye.

"You and I have always been a team, Raven," he hisses at me, panic yet evilness in his tone. "If I'm going down, you're coming with me."

I let out another scream as the Time Wraiths starts to drag Hunter away, his hand still clasped around my foot, which now was starting to look more like a claw than a hand. I turn back around then as I try to find something to hold onto, but there was nothing...at least, that was until a hand appears.

I quickly grab onto it as I look up and see Barry there, struggling to hold onto me. Our eyes connect for a moment before I hear the Time Wraiths let out a scream, showing that they were getting impatient. The next thing I know, I feel the back half of my body lift up off the ground as Hunter stays clasped onto me, who looked more like a creature than a person anymore.

I look back at Barry then, realizing what had to happen. "Barry, you have to let me go!"

His eyes bug out as he shakes his head. "What? No!"

The Time Wraiths let out another scream as does Hunter, and I knew that before too long, they'd come after the two of us if they didn't get Hunter. "They'll come after you too if you don't! You have to let me go, Barry!"

He struggles to hold on as one of my fingers slip, but I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. "Raven, I can't lose you too! I'm not letting you go-"

"You always told me I was a hero," I shout back at him, knowing what this meant for me. "So please, Barry, let me be the hero."

I notice a single tear fall down his cheek in that moment as he stares at me, realizing that there was no way of me getting out of this. I feel claws dig into my ankle then as I scream, another one of my fingers slipping away from Barry's grasp. The Time Wraith's scream once more as they tug harder, losing patience.

After a long moment, I grunt as I rip my hand from Barry's grasp, causing him to let out a scream. Hunter holds onto me tight as the Time Wraith's take us upwards towards the opening in the sky, and I knew what awaited me. However, for some reason, I wasn't scared. If anything, I was happy. Barry and I were able to save the multiverse. We were able to save our friends.

We were heroes.

I feel myself start to fade away in that moment, just like how I had when that Time Wraith had almost killed Barry and I when we had went back in time to figure out the speed equation. I knew that soon a creature would take my place just like how it had taken Hunter's, just as if Raven Black had never existed.

The last thing I remember is looking down upon Barry and the rest of the team as I disappear forever, my last thought being something I'm surprised I remembered.

I trusted, I loved, and most importantly, I lived.