The Flash: Repentance

Chapter XXVIII

Barry brings them all back to S.T.A.R. Labs where he and Cisco secure the trap in the pipeline.
Wenn and Caitlin take care of the unconscious older Barry.
Cait check his vitals while Wenn tries to replenish his energy somewhat.
Caitlin catches Wenn staring at 'older' Barry.

 "Are you okay?" She asks

Wenn sighs, "Yes, no, I don't know. It's... confusing. It's... Barry, yet a stranger. But at the same time it isn't..."

Caitlin puts a hand on her shoulder. "We have to figure out what happened. And get him back to the future."

Wenn smiles, "You'd make Cisco proud with that reference."

Barry and Cisco enter the sick bay. Both stand at the edge of the bed, staring at the figure in it. 
The older Barry looks pale and worn down, but not all that much older. Barry walks to Wenn and takes her in his arms and holds on tight.
He then whispers, "I know we are not supposed to mess with time, but... but we have to fix this."

"Barry..." Wenn starts

"No," Barry interrupts, "My mom was murdered, my dad is still in prison for it, even though he didn't do it, I can't... I WON'T loose you as well!"

He lets go of her and starts pacing the room. Then exits to the cortex. They stripped older Barry of his suit. Barry examines it. It's quite inginious. It looks like his suit now, but much more tweaked and balanced. There is also...

"Cisco, do we still have that module that contains Gideon?" Barry asks.

Cisco rummages some in a drawer and pulls out the module. Barry takes it from him and fits it in a gap on the suits' sleeve. It fits perfectly. Nothing happens though.

"Maybe you need to be in the suit?" Caitlin suggests.

Barry flashes in to the suit. It tingles, much like when Wenn uses her powers. Also, unlike his current suit, it feels as if he and the suit become one, like it's another skin. He likes the feel of it.
Also, small parts light up as well as start to crackle with lightning. He looks at Cisco, a bit worried.

"There is not trace of the symbiot in here is there?"

Cisco uses a device to scan him.

"Nope, all scary free!"

"Okay, lets try this thing again then." Barry holds up the arm containing Gideon's device.
It crackles a few times, but nothing...

Cisco sighs, "I guess she really is too broken..."

"You need the right frequency" Barry's voice suddenly sounds from behind them. Future Barry has gotten out of bed and is leaning against the doorway. Wenn rushes over to support him. Future Barry stares at her and brushes an arrend strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Your..." he swallows back tears, but at the same time thinks about the conscequences of what he is about to say. "...alive" he finishes.

Barry gets an uneasy feeling, not just a weird sense of jealousy (snap out of it, it's YOU), but the knowledge that Wenn did indeed die doesn't sit well.

"What do you mean?' He asks his future self.

"I built in several security measures in to her so in any case she gets stolen, the information can't be accessed easily. You were right about you needing to be in the suit. But you also need to vibrate at the right frequency to unlock it. You mind?" Future Barry tells him.

Barry nods and as he flashes out of the suit, his future self flashes in. That took quite an amount of energy from the poor guy and he almost passes out. Barry catches him.

"You okay?" He asks.

Future Barry nods, but sits down on a chair. Wenn doesn't say a word, but walks over to him and takes his hands in to hers. Eneregy visible flows from her to future Barry and he seems to perk up somewhat.
He looks at her, staring. Then he sees Barry looking at him and quickly pulls back his hands.

"Sorry, that must be really weird for you. Both of you" 

Future Barry stands again and starts vibrating. There is another crackling and suddenly the image of Gideon appears.

"Sir! I am so happy to see you are back to your normal self! I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but do what he said, mostly. Hij had all the right codes..."

Future Barry smiles. "It's okay. I was in there and you got what I was trying to do. It worked!"

Cisco interjects "Sorry to interrupt your lovely reunion, but care to share what happened? How that.... thing got you in it's claws... creepy slime, whatever you call it."

Future Barry looks at his friends and scratches the back of his neck.

"I'm not sure I can... What I did under the influence of Zoom, it already messed with a lot of things in the future. You knowing too much could be disastrous."

Barry walks up to him and points to Wenn, "At least tell me what happened to her! And when! So we can prevent it!"

Future Barry shakes his head. "It's not that easy. It's a series of events that lead up to it." He swallows and whispers "I promised her I wouln..."

"No, I can't sit idle by, knowing, worrying when I'll lose her! I can't!!!" Barry starts frantically.

Future Barry interjects "The alternative is much worse, believe me. We can't mess with this, Barry." He grabs Barry by the shoulders, "We CAN NOT change this. It's a matter securing the savety of the whole of the multiverse. For the whole of time! I don't think the universe will be able to restore a ripple like that..."

Barry looks in to his future selfs eyes and sees determination, stubborness but more importantly resolve. This is a destiny he's embraced.

"No..." He whispers, "No! How can you say that?! How can you be okay with this?!"

Barry feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns and sees Wenn. He shakes his head. He won't accept this. Wenn takes his head in her hands. "Barry... When that moment comes. It will make sense. You will understand."

He frowns, "You know?"

She nods and looks at the future version of her boyfriend, "There is only one thing in the world that makes a person make a sacrifice like that..."

Future Barry nods in understanding.

"All we need to do is get him back to his time, and hope Zooms rampage didn't do to much damage to his timeline." Wenn continues.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem, if we can get a hold of the right man." Future Barry replies.

"Who might that be?"Cisco asks.

Future Barry smiles.

"Rip Hunter, Time Master"