Rise Up
Ch.7: At Odds
Previous Story: It Had To Be You || Current Masterlist
Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC
Chapter Summary: Belén and Barry come to odds with their plans to fight against Zoom for the first time.
Pronunciation of OC: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.
Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel
[If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!]
"Just let me go. Let me disappear," Dr. Light pleaded from her prison pod. She probably sounded like a broken record but it didn't matter to her. Ever since the team decided to try to reason with her, all she kept saying was to be freed so she could hide from Zoom. Unfortunately for her, they weren't having it.
"You would spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, never knowing when Zoom is coming," Barry meant to serve as a reminder but all Dr. Light did was shrug. "Okay, how were you supposed to contact him after you killed me?"
"I was supposed to get something... something I could only get if you were dead... and then throw it through the breach as proof," Light explained.
"And then what?"
"Then he'd come for me. Confirm the kill and bring me home," Light exasperatedly sighed. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I want to find him."
"You really don't," Light said with widened, alarmed eyes.
"He's gonna keep coming for me. He's gonna keep kidnapping people like you, forcing them to do what he wants," Barry shook his head. "I have to stop him before more people die."
"You can't stop Zoom. Okay, everyone on my Earth knows that Zoom wants the Flash from another world," Light shook her head fiercely. "You're not getting away. He has plans."
"Among those is the Siphoner?" Belén walked into the pipeline, throwing Barry a look for his secret meeting with the metahuman.
"It's only a matter of time until she comes," Light warned quietly, her voice indicating she was as much afraid of Datura as she was of Zoom.
"Well too late," Belén crossed her arms, "She's already here." Her revelation seemed to freeze Light in her spot. Fear accumulated in her eyes, making the other two metas almost feel sorry for her.
"You have to let me go!" Light pounded a fist against the pod. "If Datura is here it means Zoom knows I failed. She's going to siphon me or kill me!"
"Then help us take them down before they do any more harm," Barry still tried to reason with her, hoping that her fear would somehow help her see they were her only option now.
But Light refused. "Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work. Because if you somehow manage to escape Zoom's speed, you won't escape Datura's touch. A lot of us have tried and they're dead."
"We'll see," Barry meant it as a challenge.
~ 0 ~
"Zoom wants Doctor Light to send him your new emblem…" Caitlin repeated after hearing the story. It actually made sense in the villain's perspective, but since none of them were villains it just sounded plain crazy.
"Yes. We need it for bait," Barry glanced momentarily at his suit sitting on the display. "If we can get Doctor Light to take my emblem, throw it through the breach, then Zoom will come to collect my body, and we can trap him."
Cisco wasn't happy with that idea. "You know it took a lot of work to make that emblem, right?"
"Am I the only one who remembers that she tried to kill Linda just to escape Zoom?" Caitlin decided to input in case they truly had forgotten that crucial detail.
"Linda sure hasn't," Belén snorted.
"Look, I know we can get her to help us," Barry could almost promise it was the case. "She's rational, she'll see it's the only way."
"Before I left Earth-2, I worked on a serum to dampen Zoom's speed. All we would need is for Ramon to develop a weapon to deliver it," Harry shared.
"Oh, great, that could be this year's cold gun," Belén shot Cisco a warning look that he shouldn't even try it. "Maybe another criminal can get it, and then we'd have Sergeant Slow."
"I would never let that happen. Sergeant Slow is a terrible name," Cisco flatly responded with.
"Are we forgetting how much more powerful than Barry Zoom seems to be?" Caitlin looked at them incredulously. "I mean, if Barry can catch bullets, what's to say Zoom can't catch whatever you shoot at him?"
"Surprise... the element of surprise," Harry laid it out for them. "All we would do is rig a projectile to fire as Zoom crosses into the breach. He can't stop what he can't see coming."
"That's great," Barry was relieved to see that someone was at least following through with the idea.
"Thanks."
Caitlin shook her head. "Joe, voice of reason here?"
"We need a plan," Joe agreed on some level. "That's as good as any. As long as he can deliver."
"Don't underestimate me, Detective," Harry pointed and walked out of the cortex to get started on the task ahead.
Barry's phone went off and when he checked it he saw Patty's name on the ID. "Oh, Patty needs us back at the station," he told Joe.
Joe nodded. "I'll meet you there, all right?"
Barry agreed and took a head start with Belén.
~0~
"Hey," Iris stopped by Belén's desk at work. She put down a coffee for Belén and then took a seat at the edge of Belén's desk. "I didn't know you'd be coming in today."
"Yeah well, since my endeavors to get stronger, I've been neglecting my work," Belén reached for the cup of coffee. "I can't afford to get fired."
Linda came by rather nervously, and Belén knew once again what the reason was for her detour. "Hey. Have you had any word from The Flash about the meta-human that attacked us? Or the other one that got to me? Look at me, I have to keep count on who kidnaps me."
"Linda, I promise you that you'll be safe," Belén sighed. She knew it would take Linda a good amount of time before she could feel normal again, what with Dr. Light and Datura kidnapping her...
"Still...I'd just feel better if I could talk to, um...the Azalea? Or the Flash?"
"Linda, I don't think that's a good idea…"
"It's not that I don't believe you!" Linda exclaimed. "I just...I want answers, Belén. Why does that woman look like me? Knowing there's a metahuman with my face on who likes to nearly kill people makes it really hard for me to concentrate on field goals and doping scandals. And then I've got that new plant meta to think about? I don't want to sit around being told not to worry my pretty little head about it."
Belén acknowledged Linda's feelings and sighed. "I get that. Believe me, I do."
"Then tell the Azalea and Flash that I want to talk to them. I bet you can get the message across to the Flash. Please," Linda said, then added, "Iris says he'll listen to you no matter what because of that crush."
Had it not been because they were in public, Belén would have smacked Iris again for that. It definitely didn't help that Iris was smirking.
"I will...try my best," Belén forced herself to say in one go. Soon as Linda was gone though, she hit Iris on the arm. "I'm going to kill you for ever telling that to Linda."
"Sorry," Iris honestly apologized. "When I did that, I didn't know it was Barry. So really, this is your fault."
"Oh, yeah, my bad!" Belén playfully rolled her eyes.
~0~
After getting word of Dr. Light making a run for it, the group gathered at STAR Labs to figure out what exactly enabled her to do it.
"Doctor Light managed to hack into the lights of her cell. The whole building runs on fiber optics that operate on pulses of light, so she turned off the dampeners and used her powers," Cisco reviewed what he learned from the mechanics.
"And made herself invisible?" Belén glanced at the full costume Light had left behind for them. "That's possible?"
"Apparently," Cisco mumbled.
"I told you how dangerous she was," Harry was beyond mad with them. It wasn't like he had warned them about Light - oh wait, he had. "You should have listened to me and sedated her."
"I thought we would be able to convince her that helping us was the only way she'd free herself from Zoom," Barry argued.
"Well, you thought wrong!"
"Yeah. Okay, look, Doctor Light is gone, so instead of assigning blame, let's try to figure out what we're gonna do next," Joe cut in before they went any further.
"Do you think she's gonna try and take Linda again?" Belén worried over her friend who, at the moment, probably didn't know much.
"I had Iris bring Linda to the house, just in case, to keep an eye on her," Barry informed her to ease her concerns. "How are we doing with the speed-dampener?" he asked the others.
"I think we isolated the composite…" Caitlin began, still sounding unsure with this plan.
"And we're modifying the dart the Arrow used to take down Wells," Cisco added.
Harry was growing close to hitting something if they kept using that line. "He's not Wells. I'm Wells!"
"Whatever, Harry," Cisco sarcastically retorted in a louder voice.
"Okay, but we don't even really know if this thing works?" Joe asked just to be sure he was hearing all this craziness.
"Until we try it, no. This will be a field test, so can we end this scintillating staff meeting and get back to work?" Harry motioned he would at least continue with work while everyone else continued to talk.
"Or how about I say what everybody's thinking?" Joe challenged. "Maybe it's a good thing that Doctor Light is gone. Maybe it's the universe stopping us from doing something really stupid."
Caitlin made an agreeing gesture, and honestly Belén was close to doing the same. They had learned the hard way they couldn't just come up with any old, fast plan against Zoom.
"No. No," Barry said loudly. "Keep going. I'm gonna figure out another way to get Zoom."
"A-are you sure?" Belén had to ask, stopping him before he could leave. "Couldn't we come up with something we could all agree with?"
"We don't have the time," Barry sounded rhetorical. Did no one understand they couldn't have the luxury to sit down like a group and discuss their options? Options that were already little to begin with?
When Barry actually left the room, Belén released a sigh. "We can't just go through without calculating. I'm not the cop, I shouldn't have to tell him this."
"I've got you," Joe promised and went after Barry.
~0~
Later that day, Belén stopped by her childhood home to pick up one of the last boxes she meant to take to her new apartment. As she walked in, she found her mother working at the living room, unbeknownst to Belén it was with the papers Veronica had taken from the precinct earlier in the day.
"Mom, hey," Belén greeted and shut the door.
"Hi," Veronica seemed entranced with whatever she was reading at the moment.
"Where's Axel?" Belén searched for her nephew in the quiet room.
"Oh, out in the garden. What did you need?"
"Just coming to make another trip," Belén left her bag at the side table and walked up behind the couch. "What's all that?" she pointed to the mess of papers on the coffee table.
"Information on some old metahuman cases."
Belén raised an eyebrow at her mother, now noticing there were several manila folders spread around the coffee table. "Why are you looking at old meta cases?"
"Because there's some things not adding up, that's why," Veronica said so matter-of-factly one could believe it was just a casual thing she was doing.
"What?" frowned Belén. "What do you mean?"
Veronica sighed as she raised her gaze from her work. "There are several metas that the cops never found but the Flash and the Azalea did yet there are no arrest papers anywhere. Am I to assume the precinct just let it go?"
"Well, what does it matter? The metas were caught-"
"-what matters is that they were not brought to justice in the correct way," Veronica closed the file on her lap. "Does the CCPD let these super heroes take justice into their own hands? We are the cops. These metahumans should be in Iron Heights. And do you know the most significant thing I've discovered in all these cases?"
"Humor me," sighed Belén, figuring she wouldn't win this argument.
"Every single case has been handled by Joe West, with your boyfriend's signature right along the papers."
"Well...I would deem that normal since Barry is the only CSI at that precinct," Belén tried to be casual, and perhaps a tad sarcastic just to make it sound like she wasn't nervous. "I'd be surprised if he hadn't signed anything."
"These cases all have odd details, Belén. If it's not the fact there's no arrests, it's the fact that Joe's overseeing is everywhere on these cases. Does he only do meta cases that involve the Flash and the Azalea?"
"What?" Belén nervously laughed. "I don't know how case selection works. Do you choose your own case or-"
Veronica raised a hand to stop Belén from going further. "I'm beginning to think there's some secrets at this precinct. I'll have to keep digging."
"But Mom-"
Veronica got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen. "Are you staying for dinner? I'll get Axel and we cant try this new recipe I found online..."
Belén didn't listen to her mother in the end. She just kept wondering how complicated this would all get if her mother didn't stay away from meta cases. It could land Veronica into dangerous trouble with the newest metas in the city...as well as causing more conflicts between her and Barry and the Wests.
~0~
When Barry returned home the last thing he was expecting was to have the entire house smelling of a mixture of meals. He spotted Iris standing by the dining room that was filled with said mixture of meals.
"Are you guys having a dinner party?" for a moment he thought maybe he'd missed one of Iris' planned sleepovers.
"You would think," Iris crossed her arms and waited for Linda to return from the kitchen. Seconds later, Linda came by holding yet another pot of food.
"I know, I know. It's just, sometimes cooking helps me to relax," she profusely apologized to them both. She knew she was running them dangerously close to nothing in the pantries. "Have you heard anything about Doctor Light? Or that Datura? Am I still in danger?"
"We're not really sure…" Barry felt bad lying to her but they couldn't tell her much.
"Come on. I'm going crazy here, Barry."
"Yeah, she is," Iris nodded to the table full of meals.
Linda gasped when the oven timer went off. "That's the cake! Hope you're hungry."
"She's not kidding," Iris leaned off the table and started making way for the couch. "There's enough food in there to feed an army."
"She must be terrified," Barry misread the situation.
"Uh, more like furious. Someone nearly died because of this metahuman who so happens to look like her. And then she was used as bait in front of the entire city? I mean, trust me. If Linda had Doctor Light's powers right now…"
Barry suddenly raised his head with an incoming idea.
"What?" Iris recognized that as his thinking face.
"I just, uh, Linda and Light...they're identical. So identical that Light even thought she could fool Zoom. Now we have Light's suit." Barry stopped when Iris said nothing. "You don't even have to say anything, I know. It's a terrible idea."
"Well…" Iris tilted her head. "No, not really. We make Zoom think that Linda is Doctor Light and use her to draw him out."
"It's too dangerous, right?"
Iris would have said yes, but this was something neither could decide. "Let Linda decide. I mean, she's desperate to catch the person with her face who's terrorizing people, and she deserves the chance to help us."
"Okay," Barry smiled and started to tell her how it would work for Linda to help them.
~ 0 ~
Deciding to show up to Linda as the Flash, Linda was given the chance to try and help them set a trap for Zoom. Linda didn't think twice before agreeing to help. The idea was for her to pretend to be Dr. Light and have a fake fight with Barry where she would 'win' and hand over his suit's emblem as proof of his defeat.
"Where are they?" Belén walked into the training room where Linda would shortly be out to practice. She wasn't happy and that was evident as soon as someone saw her face. "I cannot believe - oh hell no." She had stopped beside a couple of cardboard cut outs near Cisco who was on top of a small scaffold. "Cisco, why is there a cut out of me?"
Cisco looked over the rail and grinned. "They're practice targets. Don't worry though, yours aren't the target."
"I was a bit more creeped out on the part where my friend keeps cardboard cut outs of me," Belén crossed her arms.
"It's important to have hobbies," Cisco turned over another cut out he was in the process of hanging. It turned out to be himself holding a camera while striking an odd pose of him sticking his tongue out.
Belén blinked emotionlessly for a second. "I fear for your future wife," she shared and walked away. She spotted Barry with Iris from a distance, the former donning his red suit, and so Belén made a direct beeline for them. "What is going on here!?" she asked them soon as they could hear. "Linda is doing what now!?"
"It's okay-" Iris began when Belén cut her off with a sarcastic 'really'.
"Having our friend who has no powers put herself on the line is not okay in my book!" Belén then glanced at Barry. "And was it really smart of you to show up like that?" she gestured to his appearance. "You outed yourself...ish."
"We don't have time to think of something else," he shrugged. "Besides, it can work, Bells."
"That's my friend," Belén said quietly. "I have known her for years. I can't even think about it if something happened to her because she got caught up in this."
"Hey," Barry took her into a hug, "I won't let that happen. I promise." Belén relaxed a bit but she still wasn't entirely on board with this idea. She felt like Barry was rushing into this without all the connections being made.
"This is ridiculous," they heard Linda coming in. Caitlin walked beside her in the costume that gave her the image of Dr. Light.
"Linda," Belén pulled away from Barry, blinking as she studied the new appearance of their friend.
"Belén, hey," Linda was relieved to see she'd been contacted. While she was comfortable with Iris, she had known Belén far longer and truly trusted her.
"You look...just like Doctor Light," Belén looked Linda over.
"I feel ridiculous," Linda admitted and hugged herself.
"You're fine," Caitlin assured and held out a pair of black gloves. Linda took them rather confused and looked at them for some explanation. "And with these gloves that Cisco rigged up, you'll be able to do what Light does."
"Oh...great," Linda said nervously as she began to put the gloves on.
"I'm gonna go make sure everything's been set up," Caitlin said and headed for the elevated platform where they would be monitoring Linda's practice session. Iris followed behind her, and soon enough went Barry as well.
"Linda, I'm sorry," Belén felt the need to apologize to her friend. However, Linda didn't understand only took a double-take at her in response. "I didn't know that...Flash, was going to pull this. Rest assured I would not have let him."
"What? No!" Linda exclaimed. "I'm glad Iris took me to him. Though I'm a bit surprised that Iris knows him too?" Belén's eyes widened for a moment but Linda, thankfully, went ahead and made her own assumption. "I guess that comes as a perk when you're the daughter's cop, hm?"
"Yes!" Belén didn't think twice in confirming. "Exactly."
Linda smiled and started walking with her towards the platform. She fixed the gloves on her hands and thought to ask whether or not these were pretty safe.
"They should be," Belén glanced at Cisco on the platform. "Right?"
"Totally," Cisco said without thinking.
"Ish," Harry said instead, freezing both women below.
"What?" Belén raised both her eyebrows.
"Well, come on, it's gotta be believable," Cisco tried to reason with them, "so they really do fire and explode things."
"Hm…"
"And you-" Cisco then pointed at Barry, "-are going to have to let her hit you with those blasts when she gets the hang of it."
"Please don't kill him," Belén then mumbled to Linda.
"Okay, the suit can absorb the blasts," Cisco said for her comfort, and probably Barry who wasn't looking so excited either.
"For real or 'ish'?" Belén crossed her arms. "Because let me tell you the difference between those two."
"Okay, you know what? I like to think I can see the bright side of things, okay?" Cisco got snappish with her as well. "Positivity, people," he clapped his hands and went back to work.
Barry gestured to Linda to follow him down the room where Cisco and Joe had set up several cardboard cut outs of themselves. "So just hit the ones of me. Okay?"
Linda nodded. "Got it. Great." She took several steps towards the cutouts, mumbling to herself to get prepared. "Doctor Light…" she took a deep breath and thrust a hand forwards to shoot. Soon as she did, however, she felt the gloves sort of take control and shot relentlessly. "Oh! Oh!" she stumbled back on her feet while the gloves continued shooting. Barry caught her from behind and thankfully put an end to the glove fiasco.
"Uh, you know what? I'm just gonna adjust those a little!" Cisco snatched a nearby screwdriver from the platform and rushed towards Linda who more than terrified now.
"Just...okay, so, um, do the opposite of that, and we'll have it," Barry gave a light pat on Linda's arm, figuring she was probably a little discouraged now.
Later, when Cisco promised that the gloves would not malfunction, they gave it another try. Linda led the way slowly searching for the right cut outs to shoot at. She nearly shot a couple of the 'civilians' but she did manage to shoot some of the right ones.
"Yes!" Linda cheered excitedly after shooting the first right cut out of the Flash. "I did it!" she turned back to her friends. "Did you see that?"
"Yeah!" Barry was equally happy to see her beginning to get the hang of it. The two went to do a high-five but Linda's glove accidentally went off and fired straight at the platform. Poor Cisco was blasted backwards to the floor.
"Oh my God!" Linda gasped. Cisco rolled to his side then sat right up, looking pretty annoyed. "Sorry?"
"She's gonna kill you," Belén quietly said to Barry, meaning all kindness for her friend. "And when she does...I'm going to kill you."
"C'mon…" Barry tried to be optimistic, but everyone else seemed to agree with Belén's perspectives.
After dispatching Linda with Iris, the group met back in the cortex to discuss the day.
"Okay, no offense to Linda, but there is no way she can pull this off," Caitlin honestly didn't mean to sound rude.
"Well, maybe if she didn't scream every time she fired," Cisco shook his head.
"Okay, Linda had a rocky start, but she can pull this off," Barry continued firm, apparently, despite everyone going against it. "I know she can. All right, did you find someplace near breach where we don't have to worry about civilians getting in the way?"
Against his better judgement, Cisco answered him. "Yeah, there's a place by the docks that's usually deserted at night."
"Awesome. Cait, how are we doing with the speed-dampener?"
"My tests indicate that it should work," Caitlin answered rather doubtfully as well.
"It will work," Harry was the only one who seemed to share Barry's persistence in the plan. "I'll tune up Ramon's gloves, make sure they work better."
"Okay great," Barry nodded as the other man started to leave.
"Wait, so we're actually going through with this?" Belén's eyes flickered from one person to the next.
"Yeah, we're doing this," Barry said, confused.
"Uuum…" Belén trailed off waiting to see if he would make the connection but apparently she hadn't been too clear. "We can't! Linda is not ready for this - hell, I don't even think we're ready for whatever plan you have in that big head of yours!"
"Bells, we don't have the time-"
"We need to have the time," Belén snapped. "I went up against Datura on a whim and I got my ass handed to me! Now my friend is going to be out there, risking her life to help us. The least you can do is be truly calculating and have a right plan."
Barry was giving her an incredulous stare for her sudden outburst. He couldn't believe she actually was doing that. Yes, she did make some sense but he made sense too. They didn't have the luxury of time. "We have this-"
"No, we don't," Belén shook her head frantically. "And I'm a little worried, honestly, that you're so hellbent on getting Zoom against everything. I...I can't go through with it." She decided that upon seeing that Barry wasn't exactly going to back down anytime soon. Waving her hands, she signaled she was sticking to her decision and leaving the place.
One would think that would be enough to put Barry straight, but he proved to be severely persistent. Now Joe thought enough was enough, and decided to add onto Belén's thoughts. However he would do it privately.
"I can't believe we're still on this, Barry," Joe gave a deep sigh and crossed his arms once Caitlin and Cisco had left them the cortex.
"Belén will get over it, but this is our only chance to get Zoom," Barry said truthfully. He thought that perhaps Belén was a bit too close to Linda and that's why she wasn't seeing what he was: the perfect chance to get Zoom.
"You saw what happened in there. Linda's not ready," Joe hoped to open his eyes.
"She is," Barry argued. "She's ready enough."
"Why are you pushing this!?"
Barry couldn't believe he was actually going to have this conversation. "What... why do you think? I want to get him!"
"Get who, exactly?"
"Is that a real question?"
"You tell me. I'm... I'm not sure this is even about Zoom, honestly," Joe admitted. "I'm starting to feel like you're still chasing the Reverse Flash."
"Reverse Flash is dead," Barry flatly said, finding no relevance in this.
"Yeah, but after all he did to you, you weren't the one that stopped him."
"We all worked together-"
"Yeah, and Eddie got him in the end," Joe reminded. "I mean, did that make you feel cheated, like you didn't get your revenge, and stopping Zoom is the next best thing?" Barry remained silent and for a moment couldn't look Joe in the eyes. "Belén is right. If you're gonna ask people like Linda to risk their lives, you better be sure of exactly why they're doing it. Otherwise, call it off."
With those words, he left Barry to think.
~ 0 ~
Belén thought nothing would help her distract herself than by working. So, she had thought to continue with her unpacking . And she did that...until she felt her arms would fall off for trying to put together a side table. Thanking the heavens that she had brought along one of her couches already, she plopped down and grabbed her laptop to hopefully continue an article she was meant to turn in by the end of the week. Trying to write proved difficult after spending a good thirty minutes coming up with about three sentences. Her attention, however, was drawn to the jiggling of her door's knob.
Thinking it was perhaps a burglar, Belén stopped her writing and began preparing for a fight.
"Auntie Belén!" Axel, instead, came running in after Veronica opened the door.
For a moment, Belén just stared at her incoming mother, ignoring Axel clutching her waist.
"Hey there, sweetie," Veronica closed the door like nothing and walked in.
"H-how did you get in?" Belén gave a pat to Axel's back. Seeing he was acknowledged, the boy rushed to his grandmother to retrieve his tablet so he could watch his shows.
"Oh, yes, well, Mark stopped by to give me his set," Veronica held up a different key in her hand. "I thought I'd bring it back for you."
"Okay…" Belén still wasn't very comfortable with her mother's presence.
"What's wrong?" Veronica noticed her daughter's odd behavior, despite their earlier disagreement she was pretty sure it wasn't related to her this time.
"Nothing…" Belén answered slowly and took the key from Veronica's hand. "Did...did you need anything?" she took a seat on the couch and grabbed her laptop again.
"I thought we should talk...about earlier…" Veronica took a seat across her daughter, setting her purse beside. Axel silently sat across on the same couch, delving into his tablet.
"Oh, you mean where you went ballistic on me?" Belén stared hard at her screen. "Yeah, no, I totally forgot about that."
Veronica may have thought it was sarcasm but in truth Belén had forgotten about it due to Barry and the Dr. Light situation. "Well I haven't, and I really don't want this to cause another problem between us."
"Well it's a little difficult when you're investigating my boyfriend's adoptive father."
"Not going to argue there," Veronica admitted. "But...Belén I'm a cop. I can't let things go where I don't see logic."
"Mom," Belén sighed. She pursed her lips together, struggling to keep it together all of a sudden. "I accept your apology, I do...but can we not do this right now? I just...I had a day...and I don't want to do anything tonight."
"Belén, what's wrong?" Veronica asked again, this time hoping she would get an answer.
Belén closed her laptop once she realized she would not be writing that night. "Barry and I may have had a disagreement."
"About…?"
"Stuff," Belén left it at that.
"Well that 'stuff' seems to be making your eyes, uh…" Veronica gestured to her own, "...kind of reddish…"
"It's normal stuff," Belén shrugged. "I don't like arguing with him but I had to say something."
"Good for you," Veronica said instantly, showing right approval. "Never swallow down your words for a man, sweetie."
There, Belén found amusement. "Yeah," she gave a slight nod of her head. "Well, I spoke my big mouth...and now I'm here."
Veronica took a moment to look at her daughter, and try to feel the pain Belén felt. With a sigh, she got up from her couch and moved to sit with Belén. "I told you my thoughts and on that man-"
"Yeah, believe me, we both got the idea," Belén sniffled a bit.
"But, if there was one thing that was left clear to me, was that this was something mutual. It's not everyday that a mother is shouted at that her daughter is loved by someone-"
Belén chuckled. "Yeah, believe it or not...he's sort of done that before with our old neighbor Mrs. Andrews."
"Really?" Veronica laughed for a moment. "Maybe you two share big mouths after all."
"Mom," Belén playfully rolled her eyes.
"Anyways, I can't seem to understand what you would argue about so suddenly," Veronica admitted. "You don't want to explain?"
It was then that Belén gave her mother a look that Veronica had never seen before. It entailed a mixture of guilt and concern to such a level that for a moment Veronica wondered what this argument was really about.
"It's private," Belén finally said, looking away from her mother.
"Really?" Veronica began to show her doubt and suspicions.
"Yes, um, it's just things between us, you know? Sometimes it's too intimate to tell someone…"
"Mm…" Veronica hummed and raised her head momentarily, apparently thinking, "...so, there isn't anything you want to tell me, then?"
"Mom, I'd really rather not," Belén meant that honestly. She didn't want to think what her mother would say if she discovered that her daughter had been moonlighting as the Azalea, and that her boyfriend was doing the same thing.
"Is 'secrets' something that Barry showed you how to keep?" Veronica got up, confusing Belén as she went on. "Because if he did, then I'm pretty sure he learned that from his pseudo-father Joe West."
"Mom…"
Veronica had crossed to the other couch to retrieve her purse. "If that's the matter then I'll have to take back everything I said about him."
"Mom, what are you-"
"I insist that Joe is covering something up with these meta cases," Veronica said, not raising her voice since Axel was still on the other couch. He was so in-tuned to his tablet he didn't notice their growing disagreements. "No one in this precinct bothered to check where these metahumans were initially being kept in prior to the metahuman compartment being built at Iron Heights. Every metahuman case that was handled was done so by Joe West and Barry Allen and that-"
"Mom-"
"I like knowing where I work, and who I work with. Now you and I can both see that there is something going on in that precinct that no one else has figured out. So I'm going to ask you, Belén, do you know something that I should know? Could this argument you and Barry had possibly be linked to these metahumans?"
Belén looked down for a moment. She knew that lying to her mother about this should have been easy considering this was something important. It was something that could put her mother in danger. But, Belén found it difficult to lie straight to her mother's face. Because right now, all Belén wanted was to tell her mother all her problems she was having. She wanted to tell her mother that someone was targeting her for something dangerous; someone wanted to hurt her. That the same someone had already sent her to get shot, had already fought her and won. Belén wanted to share that her boyfriend was also being targeted for a clear death and she was just scared he might get hurt, or killed.
I need my Mom, she came to the conclusion. That'd been the first time she thought about her mother like that...perhaps because it was the first time Veronica had been available as a mother to Belén...
But Belén couldn't do anything. Because telling Veronica everything would put her in the cross-fires of Zoom and Datura.
"There is nothing I have to say," Belén forced herself to say in one go. She surprisingly held her tears together as she then requested that Veronica leave.
Extremely upset with her daughter lying, Veronica took Axel and hurried out the door. Belén was right behind them and was there to quickly close the door.
"I'm sorry," Belén whispered, closing her eyes as they began to spill tears.
~0~
Heeding some of Joe's words, Barry decided to reveal himself to Linda in order to help both of them out. Linda was already discouraged of her villainous abilities, and seeing the Flash was an actual friend did make her a little more comfortable. It also did help explain some of the oddities surrounding STAR Labs and the Flash. So, she agreed to help him out once more. Dressed as Dr. Light, she took on the role as the Flash's current enemy.
"I'm here to kill you, Flash," she stood tall and mighty across the Flash. "I am loyal to Zoom, so get ready to fry."
Soon as she said those words she knew it was a bad pun.
She shot a ray of light towards Barry but hit a couple of a stockage from the docks instead. Barry whipped a head back and decided to just go with it.
"Ow!" he let himself fall to the ground.
"Gotcha," Linda smirked, although she struggled to stay with a serious face.
"Yeah, you did, real good," Barry pushed himself up.
"Bring it," Linda motioned with a gloved hand.
Barry sped towards her and when Linda shot, she actually managed to get him. Struggling, Barry got past her only to be shot yet again on the back. This time, his fall to the ground was not fake. Linda turned around putting on her best evil smirk.
"Told you, Zoom always wins." She walked towards Barry who had kept himself down. She bent down to take his emblem and found time to whisper to him. "You're okay, right?"
Barry cracked open an eye and whispered back. "Yeah, yeah. I had to make it look good."
Linda straightened up with the emblem in her hand. "Here it is, Zoom, I did what you wanted." She headed to where the open breech was in midair. "Now bring me home." She chucked the emblem into the breech and nervously waited for Zoom to appear.
Wells and Joe waited as well, but hidden in place with weapons hoping to deter Zoom's speed. Barry had to remain 'dead' on the ground but he was more than ready to jump at the chance when Zoom appeared. Everything was in place. Everything.
However, nothing happened. Minutes passed and everything remained silent. It added onto the fear already placed over several of the group.
"Hey, stop fidgeting," Linda hissed when she caught Barry slowly attempting to move his leg.
"Sorry, it's been an hour. I landed in a ridiculous position, and my foot fell asleep," the speedster argued quietly and returned to being 'dead'.
From STAR Labs, Caitlin and Cisco were carefully checking over any security feed from the docks they could find in case Zoom appeared from another unknown breech. "He's probably just waiting to see if you're really dead. Any minute now, he's gonna strike," Cisco said as a means of encouragement.
"No," Barry decided it was just not happening tonight. He sat up with a deep sigh.
"Sorry, I probably screwed up somehow," Linda hung her head, feeling like she had failed them all.
Barry got on his feet and moved over to give her an honest thank you. "No, Linda, you did great. Thank you for helping me."
Linda knew he was disappointed and smiled sadly. She wished there was more that she could do for him. Her thoughts were interrupted by Joe and Harry coming out of hiding and the latter loudly kicking anything in his way.
"So Wells ain't taking this well," Joe sarcastically remarked as he met with Barry.
"Mm-hmm…" Barry watched Harry turn in a different direction of the docks, storming and kicking things still.
"How about you?" Joe noticed how unusually quiet Barry was despite the loss of the night.
"Yeah, it just sucks, you know," Barry shrugged, thinking of the entire day's course. "You were right a little bit about this not being just about Zoom... about it being about the Reverse Flash. But not for the reason that you think, not because I didn't beat him." With a sigh, he explained the bit of an old video Joe had yet to know about, that everyone save Belén knew. "It's... Wells... he said something to me on that video before he confessed to my mom's murder. He said that even if he was dead, that he still won because I wasn't happy, that I'd never really be happy."
Joe frowned. It was truly unbelievable how Wells could still manage to screw with them even from beyond the grave. "How the hell would he know?"
Barry shrugged again, thinking logically. "He knew me. He knows future me."
Joe rolled his eyes. "Fine. But that's future you. This is the you here and now."
"I still think that Wells is right. Ever since I went back to that night and I didn't save her... I didn't save my mom, I just... there's just been this void in me. You know, I just feel like that is always gonna be there. For better or worse, Wells...he knew me."
"Better than I know you?" Joe would have laughed had it not been a serious matter. "He may have stalked you for 15 years, but I raised you. Look, Wells said what he said to you to mess with you... to get in your head one last time. If you listen to him, you let him win."
"I know," Barry sighed. And he thought that Wells was already beginning to win. Because of his rushed persistence with this plan, he had gotten into a big argument with Belén. God knows how he would be paying for that one.
"I don't want that. You're responsible for your own happiness, Barry," Joe sincerely hoped Barry would finally begin to listen again. "Forget about Wells. Think hard about what you want and what makes you happy. Go out and get it. Simple as that. All right?"
Barry smiled a bit, giving a small nod of his head. "Yeah."
~ 0 ~
Belén had just finished setting up a small rectangular pot holder for her new Azaleas up on the kitchen window when someone knocked on her door. She dumped the trash then hurried to go open. Her heart skipped a beat when she found Barry standing on the other side. Her first thought was his lack of knowledge of today's events, and for now it seemed like the best.
"You were right," Barry decided to open with that. Perhaps hearing he was admitting she had had a point would soften her up into talking with him.
"Please tell me Linda is okay?" Belén asked in fear. Her first assumption was that his plan went wrong and it got Linda into some serious pain.
"She's fine," Barry promised her. "Zoom...didn't show."
"Oh…" Belén knew that despite her feelings on the matter she didn't like to see Barry so upset either. It was important to him, for good intentions after all. She opened the door more and gestured for Barry to come in. "I'm sorry about that," she honestly said. A good part of her was happy that Zoom didn't show up to terrorize them all, because she knew they were not prepared to fight him yet.
"Thanks," Barry watched her close the door. Sheepishly, Belén crossed the living room, or at least intended to. Barry reached out for her arm and stopped her. "Bells, I'm really sorry. You were right about it all. I knew you were right from the start but I just...I wanted to catch Zoom already."
"Yeah, I think we all saw that," Belén said, mildly playful. "And I get it, believe me I do. I want nothing more than to get Datura...but I just don't like the fact you were willing to go into it all rushed and...fast. This time, we need to be slow and calculating. If Datura was difficult to manage, just imagine what Zoom is like."
"I know," Barry accepted it. "But I have to admit that...it wasn't entirely all about Zoom."
"Then…?" Belén smiled a little as she tried to understand what he meant. "...what was it about?"
"You remember the video Wells left behind as part of his will? Our Wells, I mean."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"He said that I wouldn't ever be happy no matter what. And...and it got to me more than it should have…" Barry ran a hand through his hair, still frustrated it did get to him so much, to this point actually.
"I can't believe you're still giving this dead man the time of the day," Belén said first and sighed. "His words are nothing. They should have gone through one ear-" she pointed to one of his ears, "-and out the other." She then pointed to his other ear. "Ever heard of selective attention? I use it all the time."
Barry smiled knowing this was her playfulness coming out to get them back on track. "Yeah," he nodded.
"You should have said something," Belén touched his arm. "Instead of making a scene in front of our friends, I would have had a very different conversation with you somewhere else."
"Believe me if I'd realized earlier I would have." Barry reached an arm around her waist and brought her closer to him and rested his forehead against hers. "I hate arguing with you, Bells, so much."
"Me too," Belén whispered. "I don't like it. It just feels wrong, you know? If that makes sense?"
"Yeah, it does. I don't like knowing that I upset the person that makes me the happiest." Barry gave her a moment to smile before kissing her. And this time, he meant to kiss her in a way that would show her he was truly happy with her despite everything that surrounded them. He walked her up against the nearest wall and kissed her.
Belén let herself be encased in his arms and kissed back until she had to breath, but even then she barely wanted to let go. Barry dragged his lips from hers and set a one kiss on her cheek, then another lower on her jawline, and last on the side of her neck. Afterwards, he nuzzled his nose against her neck, relishing from their moment. This is what made him happy - she made him happy.
"Can we just rest for a while?" his soft tone made it hard for Belén to understand the first time.
She turned her head to the side and met his eyes. "What?"
"The Zoom problem, the Datura problem...I just need one moment of peace...with you," Barry repeated, hoping he made sense without sounding...weird.
Belén brought a hand to rest on his cheek, and just a few seconds after Barry placed his hand over it. "Okay. Let's do that."
She gently pulled him into the hallway and brought him into her bedroom. She wished she could have finished fixing it earlier, but what was done was done. At least she'd gotten the bed. It was an odd thought to just lay down together without doing anything. Usually, they had some movie times or at the very lest were joking with each other about something. Tonight, there was no television. There was no movie. There were no jokes.
And yet, things seemed more...intimate.
Barry was the one to rest his head next to Belén's neck. He eventually scooted closer to her and nuzzled his nose against her neck. Belén moved her arm so that it would rest over his back and she could run her fingers up and down.
It was peaceful.
"We should do this more often," Belén's voice was soft and quiet, perfect for the moment.
"Mhm," Barry had nestled his head closer to the crook of Belén's neck. He didn't want to move anytime soon.
So they continued to lay together, doing nothing except be together. But, like all good things, it had to come to an end. Half an hour later, both of their phones started vibrating. At first, neither of them wanted to move. Neither wanted to break the nice, peaceful bubble.
But the phones kept vibrating.
"I'm sorry," Belén kissed Barry's hair and sat up so she could answer her phone. Iris was on the other end of the line, and once she was able to speak she said it all in one fast ramble.
Zoom had Linda.
~ 0 ~
STAR Labs' computers were all simultaneously ringing in alarms, indicating there was a new visitor in the area.
"He's on the roof!" Harry shouted soon as he got word from the computer.
"He has Linda," Belén rushed to the desk to see through the security cameras where oh where was Linda. "Is Datura with him!?"
While the question couldn't be answered at once, they had a clear view of Zoom. He had chosen to dangle poor Linda over the roof's edge just as Barry got there. Proving to be the ultimate villain, Zoom dropped Linda like she was a pair of socks. Barry sped down to the ground and, using his whirlwind trick, softened Linda's fall into his arms.
"You need to get out of here, okay?" Barry set her down on her feet.
Linda was beyond terrified. "No, you can't fight that thing. It's a monster! I don't know who's worse, him or that crazy lady!"
"Just go!"
Linda looked up at the roof and thinking that Zoom would come for her again as bait, she ran off as fast as she could.
"What is that thing?" Belén was disgusted by Zoom's appearance despite it being only through a computer screen. She had yet to see the full figure of the speedster but now wished she hadn't. "He cannot be human."
Zoom was pitch black, from head to toe. There was an eerie spark around his figure. One could even say his suit didn't have gloves for hands but instead for claws.
"He is human," Harry was also staring in disgust but in a different tone. "Or was, at least."
"How the hell is Barry supposed to defeat that?" Cisco was thinking of the odds in their favor and they were not looking good.
"Why is he running away?" Harry scowled after they all saw Barry speeding away from Zoom. It looked like even Zoom was a bit confused on it too.
"He's not," Belén shook her head. "He wouldn't. I think we can all agree he's not scared."
A delirious laugh came from Cisco, prompting everyone to look at him. "Ooh, he's gonna thunderbolt him!"
"What?" Harry was left thinking.
"Jay taught him how to throw lightning," Caitlin explained.
Barry returned with a thunder bolt that he threw directly at Zoom. They were all stunned, and horrified, to see Zoom literally grab said thunderbolt and throw it right back at Barry, causing the red speedster to crash against a wall.
"Did he just…?" Belén gaped and glanced at the others just to make sure she hadn't seen things. Even Barry was in disbelief.
"Did you guys see that?" he asked through the comms.
"Uh, see him catch a bolt of lightning with his demonic claws?" Cisco met everyone's looks. "Yeah, saw that."
"Jay was right. He cannot do this alone," Caitlin shook her head.
In their shock, they hadn't even seen Harry go into the side room and come back with his trusty, big gun. "He's not alone," he was busy inputting the syringe into it.
"Barry, maybe this a strategical point where you just run," Belén spoke into the comm. hoping he would listen to her.
"No," Barry, unsurprisingly responded. He had gotten back on his feet and pulled out another syringe carrying the speed-dampener liquid. "I'm gonna see if Wells' speed-dampening serum works."
"Yes, but maybe this is the 'rushed, uncalculating' thing we were talking about earlier?"
Although Barry didn't turn off the communication system, it was almost like he did. He ignored the worries of his girlfriend in an attempt to finally put Zoom down.
"How is Barry gonna match Zoom's speed?" Belén sighed, looking to one of her smarter friends for some reassurance this wouldn't end so bad.
"He's not," Cisco smirked once he had made the realization. "He's gonna take it out of the equation altogether."
Caitlin exchanged a look with Belén, neither one of them in the know. "What are you talking about?" Caitlin then asked.
"Terminal velocity. The highest velocity attainable by a falling object."
"You mean...falling through...the air…?" Belén waved her finger above her head.
"Yeah, freefall fight. Their drag force equals the downward force of gravity, making the net force zero, making…"
"Equal velocities," Caitlin joined Cisco in the end.
"That is genius!" Cisco repeated.
"Is it really?" Belén bit her lip nervously and stared at the computer screen like a hawk.
Following through with Cisco's theory, the two speedsters had made it into the air and as they fell, they tried attacking one another. However, Zoom was the one to put Barry to the ground. Zoom picked him right up and delivered a series of punches that disoriented Barry. The last blow, the strongest of all, was given through the back - through the spine. Barry wasn't sure what he was hearing anymore, nor what he was seeing (it was all mostly blurry) but he was sure he had felt that cracking of bones.
"Never forget, I am the fastest man alive," Zoom declared without a scratch on him to show evidence he'd been in a fight.
"He's killing him!" Belén shouted frantically and turned around, making a run to go and help.
"Woah!" Cisco quickly jumped from his chair to block her way. "You can't go out there! He'll kill you too!"
"Someone has to help him!" Belén tried pushing her way but Cisco kept her there despite her fight. "Cisco!"
"Guys!" Caitlin's loud call made them both stop. They rapidly returned to the desk to see what Caitlin wanted them for. Zoom had injected the speed-dampener into Barry's bloodstream and hadn't stopped there.
"Where did he go!?" Belén slammed a hand on the desk once they lost sight of Zoom and Barry. Even Harry, who'd gone out to help Barry, was struck with confusion.
"I-I don't know," Cisco seemed unable to think of something to help them.
"FIND HIM!" Belén cried. She would've done it herself but she didn't know how the system worked.
Zoom had gone to CC Picture News to make a show of his 'triumph'. In one hand he held an unconscious Barry and addressed the entire staff. "Look at your hero."
Iris nearly had a heart attack. Behind her, cameras started going up and active.
"This man is no god. He is nothing!" Zoom left them with that knowledge and next made a stop at the precinct. "The days of The Flash protecting this city are over."
All of the cops in the area formed a line with aimed guns at the speedster.
"Put him down!" Joe was the one to shout at Zoom.
"Now what will you do without your precious hero?"
"Shoot that thing, now!" Singh gave the order.
All the cops fired until their guns finished their ammo but in the end, Zoom merely dropped all of the bullets to the ground from his palm. "Nice try."
He then sped off again.
~ 0 ~
"I should have gone out there," Belén repeated for the tenth time since Zoom had gone off their radar.
"And then what? Get yourself killed? I don't think so," Cisco remained adamant that he had done the right thing in keeping her inside the place. He was sure that Barry would agree with him.
"But then we wouldn't be in this-" Belén gasped when Zoom sped right into the cortex. "Barry!"
"Harrison Wells, you thought you could defeat me with this?" Zoom lifted Barry's body like it was some rag doll in his possession.
"I made a mistake," Harry admitted truthfully.
"Yes, a costly one."
"Let him go! Let him go right now!" Belén yelled frantically and threw a hand forwards, releasing a vine.
Zoom dropped Barry and sped up to her. Belén gasped with the ugly sight in front of her face, though a good part of it stemmed from fear.
"You are not my fight," he said just a second before Cisco shot a third syringe of the speed-dampener.
Belén stumbled backwards, yelping when Zoom dropped to his knees. Still, he managed to speed out of the place before they could capture him. Soon as he did, Belén ran for Barry's body on the floor.
~ 0 ~
As soon as Joe arrived at STAR Labs after the Zoom fiasco, he went directly for blame. If he thought Harry was suspicious before, now he firmly believed that Harry was at fault for all of it.
"This is all you! If Barry dies, you die!" Joe jabbed a finger on Harry every time he said a word.
"Enough!" Belén walked into the cortex in a hurry with Cisco. Their shouts had carried over down the hallway and, fearing a fight, Belén and Cisco left the workroom to come and stop the two men. "Joe, I get you're angry, believe me I am too, but Harry's got nothing to do with it. Barry wanted to go through with the plan in the end. No one forced him."
Still, Joe cast a menacing glare at Harry who looked more or less unaffected.
Cisco debated whether or not to bring in the mysterious topic he'd learned from Harry, but seeing that Joe was inches away from punching Harry, he decided to go with it. "Who's Jesse?"
It was easy to see that Harry was shocked to know that Cisco had knowledge of the name. "How do... Jesse's my daughter. Zoom has her." Cisco seemed to then be making the connections from his earlier vibe. Harry rushed up to him. "You've...you did vibe me-"
"Yes-"
"What did you see?"
"I saw your daughter. She was with Zoom," as Cisco explained, the others shared mutual surprise - and a bit of understanding - looks.
"But she's alive?" Harry needed to hear proper confirmation that his daughter was still breathing.
"Yes," Cisco said, and he admitted that he did feel a bit of sympathy for Harry. If he was grumpy all the time and had short patience it had to be because he was constantly worrying over his daughter being kidnapped by Zoom.
"Zoom sent you here like the others? You kill The Flash, and you get your daughter back?" demanded Joe, still un-inclined to see Harry in any other light.
"I don't...think he did…" Belén barely got the chance to say when Harry answered and explained his reasons.
"The only way I get my daughter back is I capture Zoom. Do you understand?" Harry tapped the side of his head sarcastically. "You love Barry. I love my daughter. And none of these children are safe as long as Zoom is here. I tried on my Earth to capture him. I failed. I thought I could bring him down here with Barry's help. I was wrong."
"Where are you-" Joe didn't finish on account of Harry storming out of the cortex.
~ 0 ~
When Barry finally came to, he felt his entire body aching in pain. He felt something tight around his neck and took a couple of seconds to realize it was a neckbrace.
"Can you hear me, Barry?" he heard a familiar voice beside him. He found Belén sitting beside his bed, looking so concerned over him. "I've been calling you for a couple of minutes now. Can you hear me?"
"Sorry…" Barry looked around as much as he could and saw it was broad daylight through the windows.
Belén followed his gaze and sighed. "You were out-cold for the entire night. Cait said it was normal, for you anyways…"
"How bad is it?" Barry could see a couple of bruises on his arms and he was sure there were more to discover once he could get rid of the neck brace. But even now, his body still hurt to the point he'd rather not move.
"Well, Caitlin said if you didn't heal fast it would be truly bad," Belén felt relief knowing this situation wouldn't last long for him.
"And...Linda?"
"She's fine. She told Iris and me that she was going to stay with some friends out in Coast City," Belén sighed. "I think after everything that's happened to her it's the best thing she can do."
"...Zoom?"
Belén's eyes lowered. "Um...let's...let's give that some time." When she looked at him again she had plastered a fake, cheery expression for him. "Caitlin says that in a couple of days you'll be able to try and walk and run again." She touched one of his legs with a small smile. "But you're gonna have to be patient. And don't worry, I have a lot of movies we can watch. Maybe we can try to just rest together again?"
Barry smiled, though tired, because the way in which she had asked made her look adorable. He needed that right now. "I'd like that."
Belén's smile widened. She ran her hand up and down his leg. "But you'll be patient, okay?"
Before Barry could answer, he thought of something. He realized that in all this time he hadn't felt her touch. Her fingers running down his leg...he didn't feel it. Thinking perhaps it was just the medication that was affecting his mind, he tried sitting up to check for himself.
"N-n-n-n-n-n-no, you have to stay put!" Belén assumed he would try to get back in the running game before he could.
"No, Bells, I...I didn't feel your hand…"
"What-"
"I can't feel my legs!" Barry frantically yelled, leading Belén to call for their friends.
~ 0 ~
"It's about time you showed up," Wells heard soon as he put one foot into the alleyway he'd been appointed to.
Datura's heels clicked against the cement underneath but she still walked in a graceful manner to meet with Wells. "I was doing my errands." Her sarcasm was met with rolling eyes. "C'mon, you can at least say you like where we're meeting," she gestured to the alley, "It's where I made my first Earth 1 kill a few days ago. What was her name?"
Harry dismissed her smugness and went straight to business. "The hell did you want me for? Can I expect Zoom to make another appearance?"
Datura smirked, almost laughing since she knew exactly what happened. "He really knows how to make an entrance, doesn't he? But that's not why I'm here now. I need you to retrieve something for me," Datura said, losing her sarcasm when it came to her brewing idea.
Of course that idea, whilst unknown to Harry, was one that would require him to further betray the STAR Labs team. "What do you need?" he finally asked.
"It's simple. I need Belén's suit tracker." Datura raised her head the moment Harry's eyes widened. She was already tall, but this was one of her ways to feel in control. And unfortunately for Harry, she was in control.
"Why do you need that!?"
Datura's red lips curled into an evil smirk. "That's for you and the others to find out later - soon, if all my errands go well."
"I...I can't do that-" Harry attempted to argue but Datura raised a finger to stop him.
"Don't say no to me. No one says no to me," she said darkly, bringing one gloved hand to the air. Electricity crackled around it for a few seconds before it was fired at the dumpster just behind Harry. The man jumped to the side to avoid getting hit then wildly blinked at her. She, however, remained completely at ease. "It's not a difficult mission, Wells. All you have to do is take the damn device and bring it to me. I'd let you keep it but I don't trust you not to hand it back to the others."
"What do you need it for!?" Harry still demanded some type of answer from her.
"For an idea, I've said this already," she playfully rolled her eyes.
"I can't take that from her suit!"
"Well, I'd ask you to take it from Barry's suit but he's on another level. I'll take care of him when the time comes." Her resurfaced evil smile gave Harry the chills.
"I thought he was all Zoom's..."
"He is, but it doesn't mean I can't have my own fun. Besides," Datura put her hands behind her back as she took a couple steps forwards, "He's not my target. He's really just a bonus for me - to get to Belén, I need him on the side. And to do that, I need Belén's suit tracker. It's really a whole-" she made hand gestures in the air, "-cycle thing that only I understand, but..." she drew in a deep breath and put on a sweet smile, "...it's all good. I get it. So-" she came to stand right in front of Harry, her sweet smile gone and replaced with seriousness, "-get me the suit tracker by tonight or I'll get it myself and I won't care who gets in my way."
Harry honestly felt like shooting her right there and then...but he was out of weapons...and he was short one daughter. "Fine."
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Sasuke and SASUSAKU.
Okay, I just saw this and I’ll humor you. I’ll even make a whole post for you.
@homez18
1) Whether Kishimoto said he was good or bad at writing romance is pretty irrelevant here as sasusaku related material made it into 44 of his 72 volumes. And actually, he never said he is bad at writing romance, he said he felt uncomfortable seeing characters he ‘grew’ kiss (Hinata and Naruto) and that he does not understand the hearts of women so he had to consult his editor and wife to write certain SS scenes, which in itself is effort spent. He never said ‘Idk how they got together’ he said he wrote the story with them in the back of his mind wondering how he would make them end up together and just decided to go with the flow. This is coming from the man who also said in the second board meeting with the Naruto staff that they were end game since their conception as character #5 and #6 respectively, a rival and a heroine added to the story and he thought of making a love triangle thing happen but was like no I probably could not pull that off. So, there goes that argument.
2) I will mention part 2 ss if you want me to, friend. But, saying SS does not make sense to the character (who I am assuming is sasuke?) and trying to erase part 1 is pretty???? Because a lot of part 2 was focused on getting the Sasuke they loved in part 1 back..a happier more emotionally stable one though.
3) Part 1 SS is very important because it is the time during the run of the series that featured the most positive emotional growth and development for sasuke, and a huge part of it was linked to sakura. We start off with this irritable, socially reclusive boy who’s first thought in the series is ‘more people will just drag me down’, and we later learn the reason of this behavior is trauma and survivors guilt which often leads to isolation, repression and irritability. This is not me trying to add psychology to his character arc, all of this is out right shown multiple times on spaced out occasions which reinforces that these are reoccurring thoughts. His fixation on his ‘revenge plot’ was aided by the fact that he was an introverted shy boy (this does not equal wants to be left alone considering he regularly sought acknowledgment) pre massacre and a full blown out isolated mess afterwards. Being alone only allowed him to obsess over revenge further, which no matter how you look at it is not healthy and it was never shown in the series to be healthy.
But anyways, I digress. A lot of him growing positively linked to Sakura. Some of his biggest part 1 moments include fighting orochimaru, awakening his seal and suppressing it (the cursed seal is arguably one of the biggest progressions of his character in part 1 as it leads to him being manipulated into leaving the village) and his fight with gara (again, arguably the moment he showed how much he grew as a character with team 7)
4) Don’t forget. The Curse of Hatred (憎しみの呪い, Nikushimi no Noroi) was an ideal common to the Uchiha Clan, the Uchiha are people greatly devoted to love and friendship, yet they tend to conceal their more affectionate traits. When the object of their affection is lost, an Uchiha’s love can instantaneously turn into hatred, leaving them more inclined to do anything and everything in their power to achieve their goals and show their own superiority, regardless of the consequences and repercussions of their actions. The despair of these experiences cause a manifestation of unique chakra within an Uchiha’s brain, impacting the optic nerves and creating the sharingan. This also requires extremely painful experiences, which cause the user to delve into darkness that utterly consumes them.
I won’t bring this up
Because this also happens
What I am trying to say is early part one gave a very good set up for who sasuke really is as a person, genuinely pretty empathetic and pure hearted which is easily backed up by the fact that when he was a kid (kishi regularly uses childhood to explain a psyche of a character) despite his inferiority complex growing due to his brother, he was still more concerned with the relationship between his dad and his brother going sour than his own feelings of neglect.
Even so, it was still obvious that he needed to go through some positive development.
The first time we are introduced to Sasuke’s stance in the entire series as an avenger is through his first interactions with sakura, which were literally given romantic context from volume 1 and mentioned again over the entire series and highlighted nearing the finale in volume 70, so yeah pretty relevant.
His isolation and irritability generally made him seem off standoffish but even with that, he took his time out to explain his stance in the story which is a pretty fuckin big deal considering this opening up is something suigetsu complains about in part 2 and jugo struggles to understand him because of. Naruto has to physically pull it out of him, kakashi got it when sasuke was in a very emotionally volatile state and sakura got it with a hug.
Cut to the first mission and his ties with naruto and sakura are established , the rival friend and the girl with the crush he feels some sort of protective affection for.
Moments like these (that make grown ass men cry but get antis panties in a knot) are funny bc when you say that he is comfortable with her touch already someone has to say he just woke up, but homeboy had a bunch of senbon sticking into him like a hedgehog and he still took a moment to call naruto a moron and say he did not want to die before accomplishing revenge.
So, until this day the person he is most physically comfortable with sakura and we all know how he feels about physical touch haha
After said mission, a very sweet and important scene happens and it highlights a shift in character for sasuke. It’s also the scene my avid sasuke hater friend says ‘the only time that dick did anything nice’. Where after he has a lil salty moment with a naruto who was acting particularly bratty that day gives Sakura the ‘instead of minding me why don’t you practice a jutsu? To be frank with you, your abilities are even less than naruto’s.’ which if after the guy readily jumped in front an attack to protect her you think he is going out of his way to be a dick then that is a pretty faulty assumption. He was being frank, it is what it is. Was it needed to make sakura realize her ass needs to grow up? Yes. Could it have been worded better? Also, yes. Which is why the next scene happens where Sasuke grows more in tune with her and is able to tell she is feeling down. Him being aware of and caring about her personal feelings is a huge step forward for his character and is pretty much the only time this type of behavior exists from him.
He is being nice, says a huge compliment and look at his little smile, he is satisfied that she is happy. A huge step forward from ‘I don’t care for bonds bc I have revenge!!11!!’
The fight vs rock lee happens and sasuke grows a little more and team 7 has a scene furthering their bonds (added romantic context on sakuras part ofc)
During the chuunin exams ofc they face orochimaru and sasuke over comes something shown right in the beginning of the land of the waves arc : an intense paralyzing fear of strong opponents with an intense blood lust dating back to the day of the massacre.
He sees Sakura shaking and his sharingan activates, showing he is worried about her and as they are about to get attacked he forces himself to move (ugoke!) and stabs himself to go get her. Cute moment showing he cares. A lot.
And yet again a huge character moment, when she calls him out on being a coward and for his hypocrisy towards naruto, insulting him frequently yet in the same position naruto was once in and in his mind he immediately flashes back to the reason he always believed he needed to live : his ‘moral burden’ of killing itachi and for the first time refuses to live tied by the ‘rules’ itachi made for him and over comes that fear and fights. She talk no jutsued sasuke lol
And ofc he gets bitten and seeks physical comfort from her. he initiated that contact with her meaning her presence is comforting to him, a big deal in a moment of such intense agony.
And then the iconic hug scene, where his survivor guilt is shown in his nightmares and his intense feelings of hating himself for not being able to protect him family causing his curse mark to act up and when he wakes up to see sakura hurt, the mark and by extension sasuke under it’s influence heating him up go out of control. (but even then when she expresses worry over him he takes time out to explain his major stance in the entire story yet again, even if I abandon myself to evil on my path I must obtain power)
‘Sakura, iie! omae o kizutsuke ta no wa doidsu da?’
‘Sakura, tell me! Which of them hurt you?’ chosen in the databook by kishi and readers as one of the best scenes because it shows ‘she is now a person he wants to protect and how angry he would get at himself if he could not do it’
Again quoting the databook, Sakuras heart thinking of sasuke devours the wicked power.
And even after this is over homeboy watches over her getting her hair cut, is like ?? at Naruto when he asks about her hair instead of her beat up face. After this, they really became much closer and more in sync, even working together and show casing that they can strategize together.
His resolve of avenging his families death doesn’t magically disappear however and he is still focused on getting stronger hence the little conversation they have, where sakura is worried about him in pain and starts crying, sasuke sees this and is disturbed so he yet again explains his stance in the story to her but funnily enough singles her out (ikura omae demo) as a very special person and says he won’t forgive even her if she takes that away from him. Inside the fight he is sustained by his wet dream (joke) and the cheer he got from the annoying orange and is able to suppress the curse once again thinking about (his crying fetish) her tears.
And then god damn, they are on a roll here bc the fight with gara happens and sakura jumps in to protect him from a lethal blow and if what happened previously wasn’t enough of an emphasized thing, the love in sakuras eyes #triggers gara.
And Sasuke gives his little speech telling naruto to save her and essentially that he is about to go off on a suicide mission and knows it’ll probably end here but he is ready to do it because he is not willing to see another precious person to him die right in front of him again. Mind you, this is after he shows again the intensity of his survivor guilt straight up saying the only reason he was ‘allowed to live’ was to carry the moral burden of avenging his clan but at this moment in time the pain of losing someone that precious to him is enough to make him consciously decide he is willing to die and leave all of that behind. This is the biggest difference between this and those scenes in the land of waves arc. Back then, it was show casing his empathy and kindness, my body moves on it’s own and even though I could die and not accomplish my goals which I really want to I cant just let a comrade die in front of me, where as now it’s I know I probably won’t come out of this but then pain of dying and not accomplishing my goals seem less than seeing another person I care so much about die right in front me. Seeing this, naruto realizes the importance of caring and fighting for the people you love and fights gara, teaching him the same values. Important scene overall to the story.
After seeing naruto go up to par with gara and ‘realizing how helpless’ he was in that fight he was pretty jealous due to feelings of inferiority to naruto, and that jealousy was partly fueled and thrown in our face twice by seeing sakura smile gently at naruto. Romantic or not, he is jealous of her smiling at naruto, that is undeniable.
And then itachi happens, and that reawakens his intense resolve. It doesn’t help the fact that orochimaru sought him out while extremely emotionally vulnerable. Ofc his petty ass attitude in the hospital scenes was fueled by his feelings of inferiority thrown in his face by the one person he really did not want that from, the same person who made him feel inferior as a child. And again to add heat to the burn, he remembers the smile and the plate thing happens.I see a lot of anti sasuke people talking about his scene pretending that when i say inferiority complex while talking about sasuke i mean something stemming from lack of acknowledgment from his dad, from being weaker than itachi and not able to protect his family, for having itachi be like i am here for naruto idc about you after everything. Not, oh man naruto seems better than me :/ gotta start shit :/
Oh right the hug when he wakes up. Again, people claim he was tired and traumatized, which he was, But the look he gave her for caring about him so much was very tender and it did not go unnoticed to nardo.
He ofc gets manipulated by the sound 4 and we are shown how emotionally attached he is to team 7
And the confession scene happens where sakura just desperately gives him promise after promise of making him happy and it isn’t just because she wants him there but also she doesn’t want to see her loved one torment and hurt himself over revenge, but it is more than revenge to sasuke it’s a moral burden, (he has a right to want to avenge his family from their murderer from a moral stand point) and that is what he kept trying to communicate to both her and kakashi. He doesn’t allow her to come because just as we saw with team taka, he isn’t willing to let anyone shoulder what he believes to be his personal pain and burden, specially not someone so special. And when she cries over him leaving and the fact that she believed for a second that he doesn’t care and forgot all of their meaningful interactions he turns around and says annoying, but with a smile this time.
That thank you meant a lot, man. It was not just a thank you for saying I love you.
Sasuke fights naruto to obtain the mangekyo by killing his best friend but then realizes last moment that he being manipulated by his brother and snaps out of it, refusing to kill such a close person.
Sasuke’s encounter with team 7 early part was pretty significant in developing naruto and sakuras friendship as 2 comrades who share the pain of their dear friend gone from their lives, but it also explains sasukes psychological point of view. After having his resolved awakened to a point of obsession again and realizing that there was a time in his life where he cared about other people to the point of giving up that goal, he decides to cut off his bonds with them.
The ‘attack’ on naruto was again for the mangekyo, and sakuras ass would have come out unscathed if she didn’t go all ‘gotta stop this hoe he out here hurting my pals’ but he was hurting her pals and stabbing people ofc she wouldn’t be like yas baby go. He pulls out his sword in defense but yamato ends up getting stabbed, my poor wood boy.
Sasuke takes down orochimaru because in his constructed moral everything that relates to itachi is bad and senseless killing and torturing( at that time) registered in his head as an itachi thing, which only made his already strong moral code tingle with a strong feeling of ‘im going to take you down you sick son of a bitch, and ill make a bible reference while I am at it’
The lil hawk takes flight and assembles Taka, showing again, a strong moral sense when he says he isn’t going to take anyone by force and he even sets orochimarus captives free. Sasuke is shown to care for Takas safety on multiple occasions but it’s the biggest insult his character receives when people look at him with fan goggles to monopolize him as if he is a cold hearted sadist who only cares for a few people when he is a very selfless, empathetic person. On a personal level though, he did not know their last names, nor did he ask about their history as captives (except for jugo..for obv reasons) so I would not exactly call that emotional investment. But I do think something was there, like they were a hella good team in combat. However,they noticed him going ‘dark’ and never tried to help or stop him so I cant call it a friendship, but I can’t deny it was a team.
After the fight with itachi he is again very emotionally vulnerable and obito hops on his dick to manipulate him, and it works significantly well because sasuke ends up seeing the ENTIRE leaf village as responsible for killing his family after they discriminated against them, and while that might be a wrong train of thought since most people in Konoha are innocent (ten tens worst crime is how little screen time that cutie has), in his now much more jaded, cynical mind it makes a whole lot of sense since it now seems like konoha killed them for their personal benefit and are dancing on their uchiha graves by pretending it never happened and that they never placed the burden of an entire world war on his brothers shoulders. Everyone is guilty. Everyone is laughing at their deaths. I am a little unstable. I am also a victim. Not to say he isn’t held accountable for his actions because he is a victim but a lot of his character arc and decisions make sense and tie in with his suffering …people going ‘bad’ because of their victimhood is not a new concept you see it with bullies all the time and that is why its important to grasp the situation by the balls and end the circumstance that creates such victims. He also awakens his mangekyo sharingan, meaning he is slowly stepping further into the curse of hatred.
They go to retrieve bee and its shown that he has yet to lose all logical moral reasoning because he still cares for takas safety even though he has declared to crush the leaf, meaning he hates only the leaf atm..all of his concentrated itachi hatred redirected. But he falls a little morally when he captures innocent ass bee and attacks the cloud. That shit was uncalled for, but he was trying to further his plans. I mean suna attacked konoha and its all good in the hood so we could chill. But it wasn’t right.
Ofc however during the bee arc sasuke uses his power that is obtainable through an emotionally driven doujutsu by having an image of team 7 on his mind as he was made to remember when he sees people showing genuine care about him. No matter how far he slipped, seven was always there. Right there, in part 2. The only time sasuke remembers team 7 in a positive light (otherwise he just wants to kill naruto because he stands in the way of his plans) includes sakura and kakashi. You cant argue he doesn’t care cause???
In the 5 kage summit arc a new falling rapidly into the curse of hatred sasuke makes the leap in logic that if his brother who he saw as a good person now, and Konoha which he previously thought to be good could kill on multiple occasions then killing is no longer an off the table option anymore and he warns those samurai before doing the doodly do. He is a bit out of character here, but his change in mind set made him 180. Its an interesting shift in character for a kid whos empathy and moral high ground kept him on the fence of killing in a series where a teacher tells 12 year old kids to come at him with the intent if killing. He seeks out danzo and this is where his motives and pain come into full display ‘sono migiude teni ireru tameni nanin no uchiha o teni kaketa?’ ‘how many uchihas did you take down in order to get that right arm’
His driving force for his emotions and suffering are lost bonds and a moral burden he still sees himself accountable for.
Ofc this fight features his full descend into the darknes when he stabs Karin and generally looks beyond mentally unstable, this is where his character even though distorted before, goes through a gross distortion where he seems maniacal and just not there. This is bc as an uchiha, the more emotional pain he feels the more hatred he feels ,and the more he uses magic eye level 2.0, the more he loses himself.
Sakura somewhere out there doesn’t know the truth about itachi so sasuke is just acting like a dick wad and attacking innocent villages to her, and to avoid anyone getting hurt, physically or emotionally she burdens herself with killing him in order to save him from going darker. ‘oh but she gave up on him!!111!!!’ like, kakashi did the same thing for obito and at this point her logical order isn’t flawed. Sasuke was by definition an S ranked internationally wanted criminal attacking villages and peace meetings, falling rapidly into a darkness that his past self wouldn’t approve of and he was getting hunted by every hoe in every country who wanted his ass dead. At least sakura (who again, did not know his reasons and you cant blame her for not knowing) did it to protect the empathetic boy who wouldn’t do something as senseless as attack an innocent man and aid a terrorist organization and to protect naruto emotionally and physically from akatsuki as well as ensure no one gets hurt from him as he is strong. In no way is it her way of being selfish, considering the language she used insinuated she was willing to die right there and then with him. The mission was a complete failure from the start bc hoe can’t kill him and if you truly think she could, I pray for you to find the light.
She shows up ofc and homeboy is suspicious right away, like I know u well enough what u plotting yo?? He knows from the get go shes out here for murder and he goes behind her and almost chidoris her. The factors that go into play here are 1) curse of hatred. 2) she is out for murder, he knows it and turns the table. It’s a low moment for him but that’s the whole purpose behind the scene. The fact that he went behind in the first attack of The Day ™ even though he probably knew he could take her down if he wanted to showed that he still isn’t able to attack face first. That’s not me romanticizing that scene bc ew, but it’s the truth. The look on his face is also not that of the most stable person. Second attack is purely in self defense and he has fallen to the point where he could do it from the front. Naruto shows up and his face shows he knows he done fucked up.
Naruto declares that you are my friend ™ (aaah ano hi no yume..) after sasuke yet again shows how far hes fallen due to the curse, pain and obitos brain washing by some good ol’ evil laughter, shouting he will turn peoples laughter into ‘screams and moans’ (how..awful sounding..to have sasuke make you scream and moan..jokejoke) and sasuke is like fuck u shit how dare u CARE about me ? Stop. And again naruto declares he will stop him and help him to which sasuke pulls an I-listen-to-my chemical romance and bring me the horizon- you don’t understand me!! And although affected by naruto still calling him a friend after all of this, he ends up getting also annoyed by Naruto trying to stop him and leaves thinking give me magic eye level 3.0 I want to kill Missy Elliot in her orange jump suit bc she thinks she will stop me by being my friend. How do I feel about what Naruto said to him that day? Personally, I think he missed the moral perspective of sasuke going crazy (he knew the truth) but he was coming from the right place. They all were. They just wanted him to stop suffering, all of them willed to die with him.
And thus begins their cute chase. Will Naruto fight sasuke first and save him? OR will sasuke kill him first so his ninja jesus light doesn’t stop his plans? Are they going to die together? So much to think about.
Sasuke gets his much deserved confrontation with itachi during the war and this is the healthiest time for them. Itachi no longer sheltered sasuke in a way that was poisonous for the both of them and sasuke asked the questions he deserved answers for. He got them, and an I love you all wrapped with a bow of existential crisis because after the fight with Kabuto, he sees his brother still doing his best for the leaf, still believing kabuto -an evil hoe- could change for the better. And he asks why such a ‘perfect’ person as itachi would still associate with shit like this and itachi is like dude I think you missed the part where I killed your family, tortured and manipulated you. I am not perfect, and neither is the dark world we live in but let me tell you some solid advice that correlates with the star hax of the arc, the beautiful jutsu that makes no sense : Izanami. The past may be shitty, and we could either run around in an infinite loop suffering because of it, or we could chose to break free, accept what happened and change the future instead of doting on the past. Sasuke is like k cool man I get u but what next? ur jesus talk no jutsu ability is impressive but now I am questioning everything. What do I change? What is right and wrong? What is a village? What is a shinobi? I may not know now, but when I become supreme lord of everything, ill know then haha.
To answer these questions he goes to the One Who Knoweth All, the master of snakes-voldermort with a nose, and revives the kage who basically tell him yeah dude listen our history was fucked, apparently now is fucked, conflict always arises in every age and time its like madara said- you can never look into someones gut.But like maybe the new young generation can deal with it?? deal with ur own fucked up economy, suzan. He also finds out more about why the uchiha were so feared (madara, sharingan, tobirama the little shit, a sticky messy situation kishimoto why are u like this)and Donald trump (tobirama) tells him ur bad bc u love too much tf is wrong with u and sasuke was like fix ur fucking face tattoo u discriminatory bitch. Sasuke comes to the conclusion that he is now a renewed konoha fanboy ‘I wont let this village or my brother go to waste!11!’ because he realizes yeah man history is fucked and I want to change that so no other kid ends up in a situation like mine, full of pain, anger and blind hate.
Shows up on the battlefield, (Sakura, ka? ) and engages in some eye sex with sakura while ignoring others and declares yoyo idc bout what u think of me losers, imma be president. And naruto was like um imma let u finish but im gonna be the greatest hokage of ALL TIME (about that…anyways) . and ensues some team 7 and some naruto and sasuke being the iconic duo they are. It is important remember however, sasuke was at the moment in process of truly cutting all bonds, ensuring he is hated and fully immersing himself into the shadows. Although he is the first to react when sakura is attacked, warns her and kakashi multiple times so they don’t get hurt, saves them from infinite tsukiyomi and double checks on them in the Kaguya dimension, he pretends that like uh idc whatever I don’t care u guys cant even do much, I saved naruto because without him the world would end and u were just there so I saved you
to which naruto calls bullshit and sasuke is like ‘ur ruining my reputation as a heartless bitch’ ah brings back memories..of sasuke pretending to be a heartless bitch.
But like, he could not let her hit the floor so I am sure her hitting lava was a no-no. That moment happens, it was nice. Thank u, for that, kishimoto. And he even says ‘okagede todoita’ ‘thanks to you, I reached’ , nice moment.
After kaguya is over, they even exchange smiles. But nah, sakura, still in tune with sasuke as ever was right not to trust him 100% bc he pulls a IM GOING TO BE SUPREME WORLD LEADER, START A REVOLUTION, KILL THE 5 KAGES AND CAST THE WORLD INTO A NEW FUTURE. I fully support sasuke wanting to change the world that caused people like him, itachi, naruto, nagato, madara, obito, neji etc etc so much pain. I fully support revolution. I don’t want him to kill the 5 kages, but they really aren’t innocent so I understand where he is coming from. Him wanting to put the entire weight of hatred on himself is pretty selfless. It pains me (and naruto) seeing him say he is alone and willing and ready to bear hatred. All of that is valid but see :
dictator
noun
1. a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.
Synonyms:
Autocrat, monocrat, absolute ruler
How a dictatorship works : Dictatorship is a form of government where a country or a group of countries is ruled by one person or political entity, and exercised through various mechanisms to ensure that the entity’s power remains strong
A dictatorship is a type of Authoritarianism, in which politicians regulate nearly every aspect of the public and private behavior of citizens. Dictatorship and totalitarianism societies generally employ political propaganda to decrease the influence of proponents of alternative governing systems.
Examples of dictators :
· Adolf Hitler ,dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Benito Mussolini ,dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943.
· Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome.
· Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953.
Sasukes plans :
So, while I do support him wanting change, I don’t think his method was right. Not for the world and not for him and the only person who could communicate that to a boy who is at his core is just lonely, is a boy who was equally lonely but learned the value of comradeship, unity and love. He saw it’s ability to bring about great, good change and he believed he wanted that to continue and not sasukes self destructive autocratic plans.
Anyways, sakura begs him not to slip any further, says that she knows he is in pain but she doesn’t want him suffering any longer but she cant fight him physically like naruto, neither can she convince him to stay even though she loves him so much, however she tries one last time again, hoping maybe his hoe ass will agree that unity is better than separation and sasuke is affected as hell. He shakes, showing once again he is the boy who cares about the people he loves too much.
Gave her a look that would have looked like this without the rinnegan, because he does not want to be alone and anyone who says that is a jackass
She is an annoyance because for a faltering second, she can still after all this time, in part 2 weaken his resolve.
He shows her the genjutsu of him killing her to seal the deal and ensure she hates him, but I doubt he would have ever been able to physically harm her after his head cleared up a bit. A bit.
Kakashi scolds him saying she doesn’t deserve this when all she did was try to help you. literal Japanese translation, Sasuke says ‘ are you suggesting I enjoy ‘renai’’ quite literally ‘romantic love’ in Japanese. He acknowledged the romantic context of their relationship himself. Then he goes on, and I translate literally again ‘I have no reason to love her and she has no reason to love me’, and kakashi calls bullshit by basically stating sasuke, love is not something you have to look for a reason for. The thing you do need excuses and reasons to fill your life with though, is hatred. She is not trying to make you ‘her thing’, she wants to help you no matter how much bad you’ve done her because she loves you so much it makes her suffer. AND IMMEDIATELY he flashes back to the purest love he knows, the love that he never sat down and tried to reason with, the love that caused him suffering. His love for his family. ‘perhaps those are ties to a failed past’..and goes on to kill Naruto bc he is the last friend who will stand in his way.
Hagoromo basically confirms ss will happen when it shots to sakuras face saying ‘love turned to hate’ then kakashi asks ‘so like sasuke is a lost cause?’ hagoromo says ‘not at all I hope naruto and sasuke break the cycle of hate’ then it pans to sasuke saying ‘I hope hate turns to love’ and since this is a shonen, ofc it did.
Naruto and sasukes fight communicates all of their feelings and experiences and no matter how stubbornly sasuke insists on being alone, naruto is like no bitch I know what that’s like and I refuse to let my brother (from another mother) go through that eternally. And boom bada bim, it took an arm but he got free from the curse of hatred, and they broke the cycle. Sasuke then goes on to say how he always admired naruto to a point where it gave him an inferiority complex, just like itachi. He had a strong will and a power source unknown to sasuke. But one thing he finally fucking learned, is wait yeah man when we were on the same time and you became my comrade I felt your pain too. I saw you guys as my family- fuck right shit the sharing of pain and enduring it together until it comes to pass. That is what I learned from team 7, that is where your source of power comes from and you know what I accept that you learned it a lot earlier than I did. It’s my loss. Naruto is like if ur hoe ass don’t stop with this emo shit ill beat u up again bc YOURE MY FRIEND AAAH and sasuke finally god damn gets what naruto meant by that and the realization that the love he starved for all his life was right there waiting for him to accept it was so earth shattering to him that he cried. Blood connected, pain shared, bond reformed and sasuke wanted to start over. Which is why when he realizes what was meant by sakura loves you so much that seeing you suffer makes her suffer was she loves you unconditionally he fucking asked for that beautiful bond again. After all this mess, there is a reason he apologized only to her. She couldn’t do much for him because she isn’t as strong as he is, but her love was pure and selfless and all she ever wanted for him was happiness and he apologizes for not getting that earlier, for his mistreatment in the war, for the land of iron, for ‘everything up until now’.
We don’t know what happened in the blank period, but all we know is they spent some time together. And he is about to go on a redemption journey, again his own moral
burden but this time it’s to start fresh and check some kaguya traces that worry him. Sakura is all like k but can I come, and he tells her frankly girl no ur too pure for what I did, lemme deal with this first. ‘Mata condo na’ is different from itachis ‘mata condo da’, theyre both delaying something, but the difference with na is that is is definite promise of something inevitable. The forehead poke means the world to sasuke, both the negatives and the positives that came with it and he let it’s legacy carry on but in a positive light. This is a promise of a better tomorrow together, where I am ready and think I am in a position where I completely understand the world without being manipulated or full of hate.(he was so easily manipulated when because he was always kept away from the truth so he had no footing to base thing off) that happens, I’ll be back for you, and that is inevitable. I want this, but on amicable, better terms. And fuck, that happens. Sasuke learned the answer to his question by the end of the series and the final blow of logic was thanks to naruto- a ninja is one who endures until things come to pass. The sharing of pain can be applied to greater things.
He would have to endure a little longer before his redemption comes to pass.By shinden sasuke walks around the best human being, helping people, doing a talk no jutsu, worrying about Konoha but he isn’t sure if he shows up there it would be completely safe from people after him or if everyone is ready to welcome him back and at the end of the novel he receives a letter from naruto that’s like sup yo come back homie I miss ur emo ass also sakura was like ooh hes protecting the village from the outside like a police officer!!11! And sasuke flashes back to his dreams when he was younger and says ‘I guess I should head home’, basically this bitch came back for sakura, and sakuras hiden concludes with him showing up home after he took down the people on the outside of root to come save her (lol but his wife is not a weak woman) and seeing her saying ‘I am home, Sakura.’ ‘Welcome home, Sasuke-kun.’
They travel together probably fucking under stars and shit, got married, had a baby and raised her until Naruto became hokage and sasuke took up a mission only he could do bc he has rinnegan. Obviously this fucking hurt him and he was miserable about it considering he finally gets a family and hes walking his baby girl with his wife one day and the next fate is like ok but if the world ends in 2 minutes and they both like die along with the rest of planet earth haha sasuke I like to shit on ur life. But as he and sakura said it he took up the mission for the future to remain bright and because sakura and sarada are very precious to him. Sakura wasn’t allowed to give out any potentially dangerous information as this mission was top secret so she would avoid questions but still gave her daughter the basic run down ‘vv important he loves u k that’s all I can say’ and she was in general a great mother, shown to be caring, reveal what she could and take care of her sick baby. Sasukes mistake was even though he was doing it for his family, he failed to realize that his daughter still wanted him there. That is why he apologized and told sakura that this mess is not on her.The baby mama drama happens and sakura is like leave it to the child of the man who wanted to be ninja hitler to think she has a different mom bc she wears glasses and jump to 30 conclusions about her dad and I’s relationship, which I’d like to mention gaiden has no ss marriage issues. Sakura and Sasukes bond lives, their feelings are connected, their thoughts and feelings reach each other, they both greatly love and respect each other.. gaiden was about saradas adventure in whys my dad such a jerk and holy shit is this woman my mom land. As it goes on she sees her parents interact, sees the love and respect, the depth of the bond between them and is shown smiling, touched by that. She gets her verification of love and the importance of the mission and why it was done by the end of gaiden, and she even gets a forehead poke (try and make it negative but it gave her tears of joy) and a hug. + a cute ass family photo that she stares at and thinks how her family shares a true link of love. He tries his best to spend time with his family despite such an important mission waiting for him and he promises more if he can. I will defend papa-suke until I fuckin die bc from what we are shown he is a deeply caring dad who actually makes sure his child is happy. And if you are pressed about him leaving without kissing her sakura herself says an expression that means he Is teasing me by making me wait, and like sasuke is a reserved ass boy who grew up very traditionally Japanese, he isn’t about to make out with her on public. He does leave however with a smirk on his face (lil shit is happy he saw his wife and teased her) and a bento (not just a boxed lunch..its made with love by someone very special to you –sarada my bb) in his hand. By boruto he comes in time for the chuunin exams and the light novel literally says sakura has been gleaming and glossing since he came back, a Japanese expression for having lots of sex so the wait was worth it. Boruto defeats Momoshiki in 2 minutes like the op bitch he is and hallelujah sasuke is back with his family and everyone is smiling and happy and loved up. Sasuke looks over his child and student with a gentle smile that he only shows sakura (light novel written by kishi), they stand with each other just watching over their baby girl how cute.
Sasukes character is complex but if you sit down and try to understand him before running your mouth, he is easy to understand. Kishimoto does not owe you shit, he worked hard, he put his work forward and that is it. criticize his work or the dude but don’t pretend to understand a character you misinterpreted better than the author. Sakura was always relevant. This is a little SS input into the character of sasuke. If you need anything else i own most of the series (even tho i got lazy to keep taking pictures lol) and i am pretty fluent in japanese, so come to me if you need anything else. Bye.
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