#that evening Siv's going to give themself her iconic scar over their eye using the shards from a broken mirror but yeah sure she's okay

[negative-speedforce]

Important plot stuff

"I read the files." Siv's voice was flat, lip curled in a mix of disgust, rage, and anguish. She gripped a knife in her left hand, knuckles white. "How many came before me?"

"You're the ninth." Eobard replied. "The first four's life spans were measured in hours, or minutes. The seventh died in a fire, and the other three all turned against me, like you did. I eliminated them as soon as I knew."

Siv's eyes widened in shock. "Eight innocent children? Eight of... me, gone, because you thought you could play god? How fucked up is that?"

Eobard grabbed Siv's arm. "Enough about that. With your power and mine, we could be... father and child, all-powerful, with everything you ever wanted. Don't you want that?"

"No! Back off. You don't love me!" Siv ripped her arm from Eobard's grasp. "You love your work. You never gave a single shit about me as a person, or Esme, or anyone else."

"Sivonne-"

"You told me stories of a life, of a mother! Now, I'm supposed to keep going, knowing I didn't even exist before I was four? Knowing that I'm just some kind of... monster that you made on a whim?" Siv punched the wall, a small dent forming from her fist. "How long was I supposed to survive, Dad? What was your end game?"

"That doesn't matter anymore, because clearly, it failed." Eobard scoffed. "You had a destiny. You were supposed to be something great- my legacy. But you rejected that out of petty, immature loyalty to that girl who's been dead for years. You call me obsessive for chasing Allen? You're such a hypocrite."

Siv ignored Eobard's jab. "Am... Am I real?"

"What?"

"Am I real, Dad?" Siv's voice was shaky, her eyes wide with fear. "Please, just tell me that I'm real. That I'm not just some concept that you created. Please. Just tell me I'm a person."

"No."

Siv started shaking, her grip on the blade loosening, the knife falling to the ground with a sharp metallic clang. Everything was too much, too loud, too bright. She wanted to run, but her feet felt glued to the floor. Her chest was tight, and nonexistent hands clenched her heart, making it feel as if it was about to implode.

She fell to her knees, clutching her chest, hyperventilating, nearly blind from the tears leaking from her eyes. Everything had been a lie. Of course, she knew that, all things considered, but this made it all feel so real. Her childhood, her mother-

Eobard smirked, vibrating his hand menacingly. "Maybe Ten won't be such a failure."

"Back the fuck off." Eobard heard from behind him. The person standing there was tall, with honey blonde wavy hair and eyes that were glowing a brilliant amber.

"Who are you again?"

"The name's Ember." They replied. "Now back off. I'm not letting you kill my employee."

"You won't have a chance."

"Really?" Ember cocked her head, as a massive amber crystal shot out of the ground, launching Eobard into the air. "Overconfident bastard." He touched Siv's shoulder gently. "Hey. Hey, it's me. You gotta get up. We need to go, before that dickhead shakes that one off."

"How-" Siv coughed. "-how high did you launch him?"

"It had to be out the ceiling and at least thirty feet." Ember replied. "Come on. Let's get to the car."

Ember helped Siv get to the car, his employee still dazed, shaking and breathing heavily. She hadn't heard their conversation, they only saw the aftermath of it, but obviously, it had shaken Siv up so severely that she seemed to be trapped in her own mind, unable to see straight enough to climb into the passenger seat of Ember's SUV.

Once Ember had wrangled her into his car, they started up the engine, taking off as fast as the car could take them.

"You okay?" Ember raised an eyebrow, looking over at Siv. Siv shook her head.

"I'm..." Siv trailed off. "I'm not real. I'm not human."

"Yeah, I think you not being human was established when you managed to beat up six gangsters, all of which were twice your size, with that level of speed and ferocity."

"You knew?"

"Yeah, of course I did." Ember replied. "Like recognizes like. I got fucked in the Accelerator incident too. So did, like, a quarter of Central City's population."

"No, not like that." Siv shook her head. "I'm not real. I'm not human. I never was human."

"So you're like that National City alien chick? Super-Duper-Girl?"

"No, no." Siv stammered. "I can't explain it right now."

Ember nodded. "I understand. But if you ever want to talk, I'm here. I know I'm just your boss, but I feel somewhat protective of you, y'know, as what you kids call an 'Elder Gay'."

"Thanks. I guess."

Ember drove Siv back to her apartment (which he was fairly certain her employee was living in illegally, due to the big red "condemned" sign on it, but that was neither here nor there). They looped her arms around Siv's, helping her out of the car and up the stairs to the apartment.

"The porch light." Siv mumbled, reaching up to grab a key that was stashed up there. However, her hand was far too shaky to place the key in the lock, something which Ember was happy to help with.

"Are you sure you're safe here?" Ember asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure. He'd never bother checking this dump." Siv stepped inside, and immediately, from her glimpse of the front room, Ember pitied their employee. The carpet was stained and falling apart, the floor and ceiling were sagging, and rather than having a functioning cooking area, a salvaged lawn table with a plugged-in burner sat next to the ancient-looking refrigerator.

"Do you want me to stay? I can, if you need me to. I don't have a show until eight tonight."

"It's fine." Siv opened the door for Ember, letting her back outside. "I'll be fine. Just go, please."

"Okay. Call me if anything comes up."

"I will."