Chapter Text
*With Andromeda*
Andromeda sat on the island in the middle of the Cortex, looking up at the sun through the glass roof, the tinted panels turning the clouds into a beige sort of colour, she was mesmerised by the world she could finally see with her own eyes. She looked over to the mannequin that had the red suit on. She brushed her fingers over the lightning emblem, and then brought her hand up to the mask, imagining Barry in it, leaning into her soft touch. A light flickered, making her flinch. A spark jumped from Barry’s suit to Andromeda’s bare skin, she felt an energy surge through her and into her tattoo. She winced at the slight burning feeling that crawled up her shoulder blades. “What the hell was that?” She looked over her shoulder scratching her back with her nails, which by this point were shaped into talon-like ends. As she felt herself accidentally draw blood, Andromeda noticed now that the only pain she was feeling, was the pain she had been unintentionally causing with the small and minor incisions on her shoulder blades. She brought her hands back around and stared at them. She thought for a moment, she thought about the fading scars on her knuckles, the roughness of her fingertips, the small bruises on the back of her hands. She then looked to her torso, to the hoodie that Barry had given her. She grabbed the collar and brought it up to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent, the one that gave her a sense of comfort and homeliness. She pulled up the sleeves till they were beyond her wrists, covering her entire hand. She walked over to a wall and slid down to sit upon the floor. She began to reminisce about her past memories of Barry and her. She could remember one day when they were both attending the same middle school where Andromeda had been badly bullied and young Barry went after the kids who had upset her, though he did get quite reprimanded by the principal afterwards. Another time when her ice cream had been stolen by a seagull, Barry then offered for her to take his instead, which she declined at first but then accepted once he insisted. Andromeda smiled to herself, how she loved him. She then remembered that he was only a friend, it was nice to dream and fantasize and all but she knew not to make it obvious. She gave the room one last look around. She then imagined her life, what she could have done in the time she missed, what could have happened if she hadn’t have been taken from the life that she loved. A small tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away before she cried any more. She sat for a few minutes longer, eventually zoning out, and that is when she saw him. A flash, then a tall figure dressed in armour that didn’t look like armour that came from Planet Earth, he was stood in a battlefield. The ground was scorched and charred, it was soaked with blood and sweat. There was a pile of burning corpses to his left, to his right, however, there was a person, barely clinging to life, their hand on their chest as it heaved unevenly, their outfit was melted onto their skin and half of their helmet was torn off. Andromeda recognised the person but couldn’t place where she had seen it before. The tall figure, who had had his back to her, now turned around, staring past her. He wasn’t human. What was he? He has scales like a reptile. She came back to reality when she could feel Barry shaking her shoulder.
“Hey! Come back to me!” He said, desperately.
“What?” She looked up into Barry’s eyes, lost in there for a moment before she then realised she was lying on the ground, drenched in sweat.
“I came looking for you, I walk in here to find you laying on the floor, shaking violently and sweating buckets, and your skin was burning up with a fever! God, you scared me,” Barry picked up her and hugged her really tight, close to his chest, safe. “I was so worried.”
“I saw something, someone,” She pushed away from the hug.
“What?”
“A man, in a field, in a battlefield, burning, bodies everywhere, the was one person, they were barely alive, on the ground, but I could recognise them, not properly, but I could!” She said in a rush.
“What? What about the other one, the one standing above it all?”
“H-he wasn’t human, I don’t know what he was, h-he h-had scales and he wore armour, it wasn’t from planet Earth! I don’t know what he was or what it was. I… I don’t know why! Barry,” She said looking at him, “I’m scared.” She buried her head in his neck, sobbing as he pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms lovingly around her. “What am I going to do?”
“First of all, we are going to calm down, and second, we are going to get through this together, like we used to,”
“Okay, but I need to talk to Mom and Dad first,” She said, standing up abruptly, Barry began to panic, how could he stop her though?
"Andromeda, wait!” He called out, but she was already gone. He ran down the corridor as fast as he could, only to find that she was talking to Oliver.
“Andromeda, you can’t,” Oliver said, tears welling rapidly in his eyes.
“What? Why not?” She looked at him in confusion.
“You just can’t,” He said, his voice suddenly breaking.
“Tell me why!” She yelled.
“Because they are gone!” He bellowed. Andromeda froze on the spot, her face fell immediately.
“What?” Her eyes, too, began to well ith salty tears, “What do you mean, gone?” Her face washed red with a mixture of rage and grief.
“They are dead, Andromeda! What else do you want me to say?” He said, his fingers clenched into fists. Andromeda’s eyes fell to the floor, darting about rapidly. She then looked up at Barry, her eyebrows knitted above her head.
“Did you know about this?” She asked, sounding as if she was about to break down into tears. Barry just looked to the ground in regret, he knew he had just disappointed her. “I can’t believe it, both of you knew and didn’t think to tell me?”
“Andromeda I-” Barry spoke, unable to finish his sentence because of Andromeda’s fury.
“Don’t start with me! You both lied to me!” She burst into tears, “I thought you two were the only two people I can trust, I can’t trust anyone anymore!” She ran out of the room, sobbing. She ran to the elevator, stepped inside and pressed the up button, bringing her to the main lobby. She opened the door and walked across the barren car park. She didn’t look back once.