[When Hal wakes, he might find that the bed is both... slightly familiar, and not familiar at all. The house is undeniably nice, the sort of place that belongs to someone with money - like, say, the owner of Ferris Air, Carol Ferris.
It's a nice morning outside, pleasant and otherwise normal, maybe 8 am from the position of the sun. One could say the weather is even ideal for an early spring in California. Everything before this morning is fuzzy and hard to grasp, it'll be near impossible to immediately recall that just before, Green Lantern and the Flash were tracking down a new metahuman supervillain before getting caught up in a strange flare of white light.
Right now, that seems very far away, like nothing could ever be wrong. Looking around, there are definite signs of a man, who is supposed to be Hal, lives here too, from clothes in the closet to toiletries on the vanity in the bathroom. (Though there are some things that are subtly off - no pictures on the walls, no important jacket.)
If Hal makes his way downstairs, he'll find Carol, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt that looks like it could be Hal's, frying bacon at the stove. She even fixes him with a warm smile when he walks down.]
Morning, sleepyhead. [She flips some bacon, casual, like everything is exactly as it should be.]
[When Hal wakes up he feels immediately...strange. He can't really place what it is but something just feels off. The room around him is familiar, the bed too, but at the same time there's just something. A little nagging worry in the back of his mind that he tries to ignore. Everything is normal, right? Why wouldn't it be? There's no reason to suspect that anything is out of the ordinary.
So with that in mind, Hal heads down the stairs. When he finds Carol there, in the kitchen, he gets the distinct feeling that this is normal and that he should be happy to see her. He is, in a way. But looking at her standing there, being painfully domestic just intensifies the feeling that something is off here.
He tries to shake it off.]
Morning...Carol. [Why does even saying good morning to her feel strange?]
Breakfast is almost ready. I hope you're hungry. [Carol says cheerfully, taking the bacon off the stove, and dividing it up between two plates. (Even this is weird - was Carol ever much of a cook, with her busy schedule?) As she brings cups of coffee to the table, she tilts up to kiss Hal's cheek before setting the mugs down at the two place settings on the table.]
I thought we could take a day off work today. [She sets the table with the plates, bacon and eggs and toast, all perfectly normal, and takes a seat, clearly assuming Hal will join her. Acting like they do this every morning.] What do you think?
[Watching Carol, it seems she's not in the same boat as Hal is when it comes to feeling off. For her, this seems to be a totally normal morning. She even made breakfast, which is...normal. Suddenly, Hal finds himself trying to remember the last time Carol made him breakfast. He comes up pretty empty. But that can't be right, right? Surely this is something they do every day. Why wouldn't it be?]
Take the day off? [Something about that small detail really sets him off. He doesn't know why. There's just something about Carol wanting to take a day off that doesn't make sense in his head. He also feels like he's expected to join her at the table but he doesn't move for now. The kiss to his cheek sets him more on edge than it probably should. What is happening today?]
You sure that's a good idea? You're the President of the company. Don't they need you there?
I'm the President, that means I can take a day off if I want to, right? [She laughs, and even that is mildly- off. Too casual, too amiable. Not that she's normally a hostile person, but she's not usually so... flippant about things.]
Come sit down and eat your breakfast before your eggs get cold. What are you still standing there for? [Her tone is still gently chiding, like she thinks he's being silly right now. With a bite of eggs on her fork, she gestures at him, the corners of her lips turning up in a coquettish little smile (and that doesn't seem right either, it's an expression more out of romantic TV than real life-)] At least have some coffee if you don't want to eat. Though I thought you'd be starving after last night.
Sure. I guess that's...a fair point. [Is it, though? Nothing about this is making any sense. Including the fact that he doesn't think any of it makes sense. It should, right? This should all be normal. The fact that he's trying to think of anything that happened before this morning and can't is also really starting to bother him. But it's fine, isn't it? It has to be.
Then Carol just has to go and say that and Hal just...no]
Last night, huh? Guess I should be. [That doesn't feel right at all. The Carol he knows would never make a comment like that. He decides to try something, then. Just to test things out]
Actually, in that case, I might head out for the day. You're okay with that, right? [He doesn't know quite why he expects her to be annoyed at the idea of him blowing off breakfast and taking off but he does. He feels like that would be right]
That's right, you should be. [Carol laughs, like he's told some funny joke, motioning again to the empty seat and the full plate.] So come eat. Maybe I can wear you out again today.
[Except then Hal says he's going to head out for the day. Carol's upbeat expression doesn't change much, she just leans her chin in her hand and looks at him with a little smile, the fingers of her other hand curled around her cup of coffee.]
If you want to, go ahead. You'll be back in time for dinner tonight, right?
[Not the reaction he expected to get at all. Suddenly, Hal is getting this sinking feeling, like there's something very wrong here. His head is starting to hurt]
Sure. We have dinner together every night, don't we? [That's not right, either. Nothing about this is right. He gets the feeling that there's something he's forgetting but he can't place it]
Hey, Carol. Humor me for a second. How long have we been together?
Yes, sweetheart. That's generally what couples do. [Carol says, amused, laughing and just watching Hal like he's being ridiculous.] Did you hit your head or something?
[Not that she seems too terribly concerned about it. It's all just a game to her, or something - it's hard to guess at the thoughts in her head, when her smiles don't quite reach her eyes. On the surface, she's entertained, but underneath... there isn't much else going on.]
[When Dawn had come into their lives nearly a year ago, the prospect of raising a child was not something Hal wanted. He never plans on telling Dawn that but it's true. Now? He can't imagine not having her in his life or not being her father. As far as he or anyone in his life who matters is concerned, he's just as much her father as Barry is, biology be damned. He and Barry are fully committed to raising her together. The one thing they hadn't taken into account, however, is the law.
In the eyes of the law, Barry is a single father. Hal, despite spending all day with the kid while Barry is at his civilian job changing her, feeding her and entertaining her, is unrelated as far as the law cares. That'll make things like her schooling and medical care down the road very difficult for them, given that it would mean Hal would have zero say. And that just seems unfair, considering he's doing the parenting thing just as much as Barry is. Unfortunately, the law is the law and there's not much wiggle room.
With that in mind, they'd decided it would be best for Hal to formally adopt Dawn. It seemed silly, adopting his own daughter but if that's what he needed to do, he'd do it without any complaints. They received the adoption paperwork the day before, a big, thick packet that needed to be signed in about a million different places. Currently, they're sitting in their kitchen with the paperwork on the table as Barry looks through it. It's...a lot]
That's a ridiculous amount of paperwork for one little kid. That whole stack probably weighs more than she does.
[It's no small miracle that got him and Hal here, together, raising a child. His friend is actually an amazing dad now that he's got the hang of things, and Dawn loves him so much, it always makes Barry have to pause, feeling too many things all at once. There is no denying that Hal is just as much her father from the way he acts with her, to the amount of time he spends taking care of her. They try to do equal parenting, but things don't always work out that way in their jobs. Sometimes Hal has to go to space for an extended period, and sometimes Barry gets bogged down with casework and Flash duties. But with the help of family, they've done pretty well.
She's old enough now to be accepted into an exclusive pre-school program next year, well respected in Central City, and they've agreed that it might be good for her to go, socialize and learn with people who aren't her family. Unfortunately, it came with a lot of paperwork, and Hal could only be put in her file as an emergency pickup - not her other parent. Unacceptable.
That's partly why they've gotten the stack of adoption paperwork, that's stumping even Barry, who deals with legal and government paperwork all the time in his job. He runs a hand through his hair as he reads the page he's looking at over again.]
There are so many hoops to jump through. This says we'll have to have a hearing with a judge?
[It's been a definite process but they're doing pretty well now. Given that kids were never part of Hal's plan at all, that's a real accomplishment. Still, it figures, just when he's thinking things are going well, something like this would happen. Nothing can ever be easy. Hal would do absolutely anything for Dawn and Barry, so it's really fine. Annoying, but fine]
For what? [So he can be approved to parent his own kid? That's so stupid] You've got parental rights to her already. There should be a form you can just...sign and be done with it. We're both agreeing to it, why is all this other shit even necessary?
[Hal's irritation is completely justified. Barry's frustration is a lot quieter, but it's present, as he goes over the stack of papers again, and one more time for good measure.] I know, it should be that easy, but it isn't. Apparently there are all kinds of hiccups in this process when you aren't married. [He huffs an irritable breath, quietly, so their daughter doesn't pick up on it from where she's playing in the living room.]
My guess is, it's because if we ever did split up, the custody issues would be complicated. We won't, but the courts don't know that.
It'd be easier if we were married, huh? [That just figures. Everyone in the world seems to expect you to be married if you're raising a child together]
Yeah. The courts want to see some kind of legal commitment. Otherwise, we have to go in front of a judge. [Barry says with a groan, flipping the page and skimming again to make sure he didn't miss anything pertinent.]
You know that, I know that, our family and friends know that, but the legal system unfortunately doesn't know that. Even something like 50% of marriages end in divorce. [So of course they're not going to take two guys just dating all that seriously.]
[The fact that they even need to do this is stupid to him. He understands that the law isn't just gonna take them at their word but still. They're committed to each other and raising Dawn. Being married isn't going to change that one way or the other. The fact that everyone seems to think it will is beyond annoying. Hal is quiet for several seconds as he turns the options over in his head. This is all annoying but even so...]
[Unfortunately, it needs to be done. They can't send Dawn to preschool without both of them on record as her parents. Setting up others as emergency pick-up persons is fine, but they can't be as involved as an actual parent - and with their jobs being what they are, they really have to both take turns dealing with childcare. He's leaning his chin in his palm, tapping his pen against the page, thinking on this issue, when Hal blurts that out, and he pauses, staring.
[Barry has been missing for three weeks now. The details of what happened are hazy. He'd been with some of the League (Clark, Bruce and a couple other League members neither of them really talked to much) and...something had happened. An explosion? No one could really explain it. But there was chaos, lots of noise and then Barry was gone. No one seems to be able to answer any of the questions about the situation and that might be the most frustrating part.
Actually, the most frustrating part is that the League seems to be on their way to accepting that Barry is just dead again. There's no proof of that. Granted, there's so far no proof of him being alive still either but just calling it quits and saying he's dead seems like a cop out. To Hal, who may be just the tiniest bit too invested but who can blame him? The person he loves the most in the entire world goes missing under weird circumstances and the League is ready to just give up after three weeks of barely looking? No, absolutely not. There's no way Hal is going to accept that.
It's been mostly he, Jay and Wally looking for Barry over the course of the last week. The other three Lanterns have been helping as much as they can when they can but that's been hard given that Hal has mostly stopped caring about Lantern business to focus on this instead. They've picked up the slack while also trying to help. As far as the League goes, the only real help has come from Clark and Diana (when they can) and Ollie and Dinah. Those of them not willing to just accept that Barry's gone seem to be the minority. Annoyingly.
Currently, Hal is with Jay in the last spot Barry was seen. They've been here about eight million times in the last three weeks, trying to find...anything. Anything at all. They've turned up pretty empty so far. But Hal is stubborn enough to not let that discourage him. Well, that's a lie. He's discouraged. But not enough to give up. He'd never just give up on Barry. Luckily, the other speedsters seem to be of the same mind. Hal complains about their optimism but...he's appreciated it the last three weeks]
Still nothing. Just like the last time we were here. I'm running out of ideas and the ring still isn't picking up anything. [This is the most stressed he's been about anything in a long time] Not that I really know what to even look for since no one seems to know what happened.
[The Flashes have been in a state of disarray since it happened. Barry's been dead before, and maybe that's why everyone is so upset - people are willing to just... assume he's dead again. It rips open old wounds, especially for people like Wally and Jay, and Hal.
Where they stand, the crime scene has mostly been preserved, but it's definitely degraded after so long since he first went missing. Jay is stooped down, touching a few scorch marks on the asphalt, frowning. He's seen these before, but he tries to look at them every time with fresh eyes to see if he's missed anything.
The desperation to find Barry is definitely growing, in all of them. Even beyond his own desires to see the man who is like a son to him alive and well, he hopes they find him soon for Hal's sake. His agitation is obvious and concerning.]
Looked like just a flashbang on the security footage we did find. [Not that that was much help. Even Jay couldn't pick much out, it happened so quickly.] It doesn't make sense. If he died here, your ring would be able to pick up traces of DNA.
["Disarray" is putting the way the last three weeks have been mildly. If they had any answers at all, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It'd still be bad, of course, because Barry would still be gone. But at least they'd know why. As things stand now, they know absolutely nothing. Hal hadn't even been there when it happened and maybe that's part of why he's so bothered by all this. He wasn't there the first time either.
The only thing he knows for sure is that he can't do this again. He can't try to live without Barry. It was too hard the first time, it'll be even harder this time he's sure. He'll never say that to anyone, not Jay and definitely not Wally. But he's pretty sure they've figured that out on their own anyway]
That footage wasn't a whole lot of help. You and Wally couldn't even pick anything out from it. [And if the speedsters can't find anything? No one is going to be able to. Ironically, this is the kind of situation where Barry would be a ton of help]
The only thing the ring picked up from the beginning was residual traces of energy. Now, even that's gone. [And that...doesn't tell them much] He's not dead.
[Wally is likely too wrapped up in his own grief still, but Jay definitely realizes how difficult this is for Hal. He's trying to be present as much as he can be for multiple reasons - wanting to search for Barry, not wanting to give up on him of course, but also not wanting to leave Hal alone with his thoughts for too long.]
We're damn sure not going to write him off as dead without a body. [Jay agrees, because he gets the sentiment, but also because he thinks if he tried to argue the point, he might actually break Hal.]
I think it's time to start looking out at other possibilities. Time travel, alternate dimensions...
[It probably doesn't help that Hal hasn't actually been home at all in the last three weeks. He hasn't even been to Central since Barry disappeared. He can't. He knows for a fact that if he has to be in the house, alone, he's actually going to lose it. In the rare instance that someone has been able to convince him to actually stop and rest for a minute, it's been at someone else's house. Jay's or Wally's or Kyle’s or even Alan's. Jay, Alan and Kyle have definitely been watching him]
Not without a body.
[There was no body last time. But he's been refusing to think about that. He won't just give up. He can't. His mental state is incredibly precarious right now. It'd be easy to set him off]
I was thinking the same. Time travel, dimension hopping...something. It doesn't make sense that he'd just disappear. And he wouldn't go down without a fight. So it's gotta be something else.
[Everything he says is true. Barry wouldn't go down without a fight, and the circumstances of his disappearance mean something strange has happened. The fact that they couldn't pick out any details from the grainy security cam footage they could find doesn't really mean anything great.
Jay exhales.] It could also be something to do with the speed force again. Barry is tied to it a lot more closely than the rest of us.
I'm sure, wherever he is, he's trying to make it back.
I was thinking speed force too. [This is why Hal's primarily been with Jay so far. He's calming and Hal doesn't feel like he needs to protect him like he does with Wally. The younger speedster is fragile right now so being with him is hard because all Hal ends up doing is trying to make things better for him]
When Barry came back, he said he felt like he had to be careful or he'd be pulled back in. So...maybe he was. [He kind of hopes it's that, honestly] And if he was, that means we just gotta figure out how to get him back out.
[Jay gets it. He's been honestly trying to stick with Hal as much as possible, or at least be there as a buffer when Wally is with them as well. Wally's state is... not great, and Hal is in no good place to provide all the comfort and support he needs. Not when he needs it himself.
They need Barry back, is what they need.]
It's possible. Wish it wasn't, though. I don't think any of the rest of us are fast enough to enter the speed force ourselves... [Jay looks- both thoughtful, and troubled, and maybe a little guilty too, because it's hard not to feel like he should be better, for Barry. That he should be able to drag him back to his life.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
an ideal life? not so much;
It's a nice morning outside, pleasant and otherwise normal, maybe 8 am from the position of the sun. One could say the weather is even ideal for an early spring in California. Everything before this morning is fuzzy and hard to grasp, it'll be near impossible to immediately recall that just before, Green Lantern and the Flash were tracking down a new metahuman supervillain before getting caught up in a strange flare of white light.
Right now, that seems very far away, like nothing could ever be wrong. Looking around, there are definite signs of a man, who is supposed to be Hal, lives here too, from clothes in the closet to toiletries on the vanity in the bathroom. (Though there are some things that are subtly off - no pictures on the walls, no important jacket.)
If Hal makes his way downstairs, he'll find Carol, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt that looks like it could be Hal's, frying bacon at the stove. She even fixes him with a warm smile when he walks down.]
Morning, sleepyhead. [She flips some bacon, casual, like everything is exactly as it should be.]
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So with that in mind, Hal heads down the stairs. When he finds Carol there, in the kitchen, he gets the distinct feeling that this is normal and that he should be happy to see her. He is, in a way. But looking at her standing there, being painfully domestic just intensifies the feeling that something is off here.
He tries to shake it off.]
Morning...Carol. [Why does even saying good morning to her feel strange?]
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I thought we could take a day off work today. [She sets the table with the plates, bacon and eggs and toast, all perfectly normal, and takes a seat, clearly assuming Hal will join her. Acting like they do this every morning.] What do you think?
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[Watching Carol, it seems she's not in the same boat as Hal is when it comes to feeling off. For her, this seems to be a totally normal morning. She even made breakfast, which is...normal. Suddenly, Hal finds himself trying to remember the last time Carol made him breakfast. He comes up pretty empty. But that can't be right, right? Surely this is something they do every day. Why wouldn't it be?]
Take the day off? [Something about that small detail really sets him off. He doesn't know why. There's just something about Carol wanting to take a day off that doesn't make sense in his head. He also feels like he's expected to join her at the table but he doesn't move for now. The kiss to his cheek sets him more on edge than it probably should. What is happening today?]
You sure that's a good idea? You're the President of the company. Don't they need you there?
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Come sit down and eat your breakfast before your eggs get cold. What are you still standing there for? [Her tone is still gently chiding, like she thinks he's being silly right now. With a bite of eggs on her fork, she gestures at him, the corners of her lips turning up in a coquettish little smile (and that doesn't seem right either, it's an expression more out of romantic TV than real life-)] At least have some coffee if you don't want to eat. Though I thought you'd be starving after last night.
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Then Carol just has to go and say that and Hal just...no]
Last night, huh? Guess I should be. [That doesn't feel right at all. The Carol he knows would never make a comment like that. He decides to try something, then. Just to test things out]
Actually, in that case, I might head out for the day. You're okay with that, right? [He doesn't know quite why he expects her to be annoyed at the idea of him blowing off breakfast and taking off but he does. He feels like that would be right]
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[Except then Hal says he's going to head out for the day. Carol's upbeat expression doesn't change much, she just leans her chin in her hand and looks at him with a little smile, the fingers of her other hand curled around her cup of coffee.]
If you want to, go ahead. You'll be back in time for dinner tonight, right?
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Sure. We have dinner together every night, don't we? [That's not right, either. Nothing about this is right. He gets the feeling that there's something he's forgetting but he can't place it]
Hey, Carol. Humor me for a second. How long have we been together?
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[Not that she seems too terribly concerned about it. It's all just a game to her, or something - it's hard to guess at the thoughts in her head, when her smiles don't quite reach her eyes. On the surface, she's entertained, but underneath... there isn't much else going on.]
Hmm? Have you forgotten how many years it's been?
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the world's least romantic marriage proposal
In the eyes of the law, Barry is a single father. Hal, despite spending all day with the kid while Barry is at his civilian job changing her, feeding her and entertaining her, is unrelated as far as the law cares. That'll make things like her schooling and medical care down the road very difficult for them, given that it would mean Hal would have zero say. And that just seems unfair, considering he's doing the parenting thing just as much as Barry is. Unfortunately, the law is the law and there's not much wiggle room.
With that in mind, they'd decided it would be best for Hal to formally adopt Dawn. It seemed silly, adopting his own daughter but if that's what he needed to do, he'd do it without any complaints. They received the adoption paperwork the day before, a big, thick packet that needed to be signed in about a million different places. Currently, they're sitting in their kitchen with the paperwork on the table as Barry looks through it. It's...a lot]
That's a ridiculous amount of paperwork for one little kid. That whole stack probably weighs more than she does.
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She's old enough now to be accepted into an exclusive pre-school program next year, well respected in Central City, and they've agreed that it might be good for her to go, socialize and learn with people who aren't her family. Unfortunately, it came with a lot of paperwork, and Hal could only be put in her file as an emergency pickup - not her other parent. Unacceptable.
That's partly why they've gotten the stack of adoption paperwork, that's stumping even Barry, who deals with legal and government paperwork all the time in his job. He runs a hand through his hair as he reads the page he's looking at over again.]
There are so many hoops to jump through. This says we'll have to have a hearing with a judge?
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For what? [So he can be approved to parent his own kid? That's so stupid] You've got parental rights to her already. There should be a form you can just...sign and be done with it. We're both agreeing to it, why is all this other shit even necessary?
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My guess is, it's because if we ever did split up, the custody issues would be complicated. We won't, but the courts don't know that.
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We're not gonna split up.
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You know that, I know that, our family and friends know that, but the legal system unfortunately doesn't know that. Even something like 50% of marriages end in divorce. [So of course they're not going to take two guys just dating all that seriously.]
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[The fact that they even need to do this is stupid to him. He understands that the law isn't just gonna take them at their word but still. They're committed to each other and raising Dawn. Being married isn't going to change that one way or the other. The fact that everyone seems to think it will is beyond annoying. Hal is quiet for several seconds as he turns the options over in his head. This is all annoying but even so...]
Let's get married, then.
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[Unfortunately, it needs to be done. They can't send Dawn to preschool without both of them on record as her parents. Setting up others as emergency pick-up persons is fine, but they can't be as involved as an actual parent - and with their jobs being what they are, they really have to both take turns dealing with childcare. He's leaning his chin in his palm, tapping his pen against the page, thinking on this issue, when Hal blurts that out, and he pauses, staring.
Hal wants to get married??? Hal Jordan?]
I'm sorry, say that again?
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Speedforce fuckery
Actually, the most frustrating part is that the League seems to be on their way to accepting that Barry is just dead again. There's no proof of that. Granted, there's so far no proof of him being alive still either but just calling it quits and saying he's dead seems like a cop out. To Hal, who may be just the tiniest bit too invested but who can blame him? The person he loves the most in the entire world goes missing under weird circumstances and the League is ready to just give up after three weeks of barely looking? No, absolutely not. There's no way Hal is going to accept that.
It's been mostly he, Jay and Wally looking for Barry over the course of the last week. The other three Lanterns have been helping as much as they can when they can but that's been hard given that Hal has mostly stopped caring about Lantern business to focus on this instead. They've picked up the slack while also trying to help. As far as the League goes, the only real help has come from Clark and Diana (when they can) and Ollie and Dinah. Those of them not willing to just accept that Barry's gone seem to be the minority. Annoyingly.
Currently, Hal is with Jay in the last spot Barry was seen. They've been here about eight million times in the last three weeks, trying to find...anything. Anything at all. They've turned up pretty empty so far. But Hal is stubborn enough to not let that discourage him. Well, that's a lie. He's discouraged. But not enough to give up. He'd never just give up on Barry. Luckily, the other speedsters seem to be of the same mind. Hal complains about their optimism but...he's appreciated it the last three weeks]
Still nothing. Just like the last time we were here. I'm running out of ideas and the ring still isn't picking up anything. [This is the most stressed he's been about anything in a long time] Not that I really know what to even look for since no one seems to know what happened.
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Where they stand, the crime scene has mostly been preserved, but it's definitely degraded after so long since he first went missing. Jay is stooped down, touching a few scorch marks on the asphalt, frowning. He's seen these before, but he tries to look at them every time with fresh eyes to see if he's missed anything.
The desperation to find Barry is definitely growing, in all of them. Even beyond his own desires to see the man who is like a son to him alive and well, he hopes they find him soon for Hal's sake. His agitation is obvious and concerning.]
Looked like just a flashbang on the security footage we did find. [Not that that was much help. Even Jay couldn't pick much out, it happened so quickly.] It doesn't make sense. If he died here, your ring would be able to pick up traces of DNA.
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The only thing he knows for sure is that he can't do this again. He can't try to live without Barry. It was too hard the first time, it'll be even harder this time he's sure. He'll never say that to anyone, not Jay and definitely not Wally. But he's pretty sure they've figured that out on their own anyway]
That footage wasn't a whole lot of help. You and Wally couldn't even pick anything out from it. [And if the speedsters can't find anything? No one is going to be able to. Ironically, this is the kind of situation where Barry would be a ton of help]
The only thing the ring picked up from the beginning was residual traces of energy. Now, even that's gone. [And that...doesn't tell them much] He's not dead.
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We're damn sure not going to write him off as dead without a body. [Jay agrees, because he gets the sentiment, but also because he thinks if he tried to argue the point, he might actually break Hal.]
I think it's time to start looking out at other possibilities. Time travel, alternate dimensions...
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Not without a body.
[There was no body last time. But he's been refusing to think about that. He won't just give up. He can't. His mental state is incredibly precarious right now. It'd be easy to set him off]
I was thinking the same. Time travel, dimension hopping...something. It doesn't make sense that he'd just disappear. And he wouldn't go down without a fight. So it's gotta be something else.
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Jay exhales.] It could also be something to do with the speed force again. Barry is tied to it a lot more closely than the rest of us.
I'm sure, wherever he is, he's trying to make it back.
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When Barry came back, he said he felt like he had to be careful or he'd be pulled back in. So...maybe he was. [He kind of hopes it's that, honestly] And if he was, that means we just gotta figure out how to get him back out.
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They need Barry back, is what they need.]
It's possible. Wish it wasn't, though. I don't think any of the rest of us are fast enough to enter the speed force ourselves... [Jay looks- both thoughtful, and troubled, and maybe a little guilty too, because it's hard not to feel like he should be better, for Barry. That he should be able to drag him back to his life.]
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