~Author's Note~

Hey guys! Thank you all for the tremendous amount of support with the last chapter. Honestly all of the reviews did make me figure out how to do this faster so thank you for all of the kind words. My issue was that it took me forever to figure out how to order this final chapter and I debated three different endings (one of which would've left things on a cliffhanger) before deciding on this one.

Oh and just a little fun fact to answer some of you guys' reactions about Zoom—I actually got the idea for Zoom being an dark!barry from Grant in one of his interviews where he had said he would have loved to play an evil version of himself (and I would have loved that too) so I made it a reality with this story.

One last thing before you guys get to reading, I'm thinking of doing a quick little one-shot looking more into Zoom as a companion story to this, so keep an eye for that and I've got some more one-shots and future muti-chapters up my sleeve as well so stay tuned.

Anyway, for the final time for this story, thank you all so much and I really hope everyone enjoys! :D

Streaks of White

x
day one
x

It had happened too fast.

"Want me to walk you home?" Wally had offered, hands stuffed causally in his jean pockets, rocking back and forth nervously on the balls of his feet. She had denied, shaking her head and promising she would be careful and that her dad wouldn't kill him before pulling him in for a quick hug.

His entire body had stiffened, instinct jolting him backwards a little before he hugged back just as tight. With a clipped goodnight from Wally (apparently the sisterly hug was something he wasn't quite ready for just yet) they had gone their separate ways; Iris falling into step with the bitter air whipping across her cheeks as she made her way home.

Pulling out her phone, she typed out a cheeky reply to Barry—who had been fretting about her going out to dinner with Wally the entire day.

No need to worry anymore, Flash. Wally and I have officially parted ways.

Iris could understand Barry's fear, with Zoom and whatever other new meta-humans awaited them in the shadows, but she could handle herself. She knew how to fire a gun, how to spray pepper-spray, how to hit someone upside the head with her purse. A girl's gotta be her own hero every now and again, right?

Her phone buzzes in her hand again as she looks down and smiles at the screen, sliding her finger across to read Barry's comeback.

Just be careful getting home. I'll be there before one at the latest, West.

A winky face trails after his words, and Iris can't help but chuckle. Flirting was starting to become another layer to their relationship (could she say again?) too. Not that she minded.

She was almost home, just two more turns and then she would be able to see the front door, but then everything changed.

It had happened too fast.

One second everything around her was mute besides the distant sounds of car engines revving and the wind roaring, and the next everything was too loud. Something that sounded like thunder came out of nowhere, crackling loudly in her ears before speeding past her and freezing in front of her.

Cobalt lightning danced gracefully around Zoom like two opposites forced together—peace and hell fighting for dominance, neither able to get full control—and a bolt of lightning snapped from somewhere far off in the dark sky. Iris was rendered silent at the sight of Zoom so . . . close to her.

He really was the definition of death; from his posture to his claws.

She looked away from him for a split second to dig around in her purse for the handgun her father had bestowed on her so many months ago, but she wasn't fast enough. A guttural sound came out from his throat as he flashed in front of her, grabbing her purse by the strap and ripping it out of her hands before throwing it halfway down the sidewalk.

"Iris," he growls, but it's not exactly a growl.

It's soft—strangely soft like he's afraid he's going to hurt her just by talking to her in the wrong tone—as one of his hands raises to cup her right cheek. Iris flinches back and it seems to startle Zoom out of whatever reprieve he's in as he pulls his hand back like as if it's on fire.

Then he pulls something out of his suit (a secret compartment in the wrist of his suit—which Iris files away as something she needs to tell Cisco to add to Barry's suit) before stuffing a cloth in her face. She tries to fight it but it's useless as the world starts to go black around her.

The last thing she sees is Zoom's face as he gently picks her up and says something that doesn't make any sense to her before the world around her fades away.

"I finally found you."

x
day five
x

It's nothing different each time she wakes up from the scarce amount of sleep she is able to gather.

She's still in the empty room Zoom had dropped her off in four days before, she's still alone and she's still trapped. Iris doesn't know where she is, she was still knocked out when he had brought her here, and all she does know is that the room is too blunt for her taste.

The walls are painted a pale blue, chipped pieces of paint falling from the weathered material and spider webs clogging the high corners. A spare fly buzzes across the room here and there, heading towards the hanging light in the middle of the room that is sure to kill it like all the others, without even knowing. There's one way in and no windows, with a twin-sized bed pushed in the back corner and a toilet and sink in the other.

The room is also lonely. Very lonely.

Zoom's popped in twice in the past four days, and today is about to be marked a fifth until she hears a small clatter come from the door, before he phases through the ratty old thing. She bolts upwards in bed, standing up to face the monster fully.

He gazes at her for what seems like the longest time before finally speaking.

"My Iris," he whispers, using his speed so that he's standing barely a meter away from her, "I feel like I've waited a thousand lifetimes for this." One claw reaches forwards and strokes her cheek in what would be a loving touch if he wasn't Zoom, if he wasn't this crazed monster killing and killing and killing for something he wasn't able to find—for something besides speed, besides the speed force.

Iris musters up the best glare she can, because she isn't his—if anything she's Barry's—because he has no right over her to say such a thing. He's nothing to her, and she should be nothing to him. Besides, she has no idea of what is under that scaly mask.

Is it a forty year old man, blessed with something they didn't deserve? Is it another speedster like Eobard Thawne, out for revenge for something she does in the future? The only other explanation she could come up with was if it was Eddie's doppelganger; something absurd enough to be true with all of the talk about doppelgangers and opposite earths and multiverses, or whatever, lately.

The claw moves slowly down her cheek like a caress, but Iris feels disgusted.

This is the man, the monster, who had broken Barry's back. This was the man who had nearly broken her best friend to no-repair. So with a burst of sudden antipathy, she lifts one of her hands and shoves Zoom's away, staring him down.

"Don't touch me."

Zoom looks taken aback for a second, and it's a look she almost misses, before he turns and bolts out of the room. Iris lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, before turning away from the now closed door of the room and facing the bland wall standing behind her.

She presses both palms of her hands to her eyes, letting out a long sigh.

"Where are you Barry?" She murmurs quietly to no one in peculiar, moving her hands back and running them through her frizzy hair. "I miss you," she continues, unaware that the door's open again and Zoom's standing in the doorway listening in, "I've been here for five days now and each one's been hell. And I'm waiting for you, Bear, I know it's stupid but I'm waiting for you to come and save me. So where the hell are you?"

"Right here."

It's a voice she doesn't recognize, as she whips around and sees Zoom staring at her, and it takes her a second for the thought to click that it was his voice. Zoom's actual voice and nothing else. It sounded oddly familiar, so familiar that the word slips off her tongue before she can stop it.

"Barry?"

Zoom recoils like he's been hit by a car, staggering a step backwards as Iris tilts her head in confusion.

Doppelganger . . . Barry?

It takes Zoom a moment to gather his bearings again, and he utters a few words in reply. "On every earth, you still know it's me. Iris," then he pauses, shaking his head as if to get himself back on track, "I'm sorry for having to do this. But it's to keep you safe. To teach the Flash a lesson."

Millions of questions barrel their way to the tip of Iris' tongue but she isn't able to get any of them out because Zoom advances towards her and tugs rope around her wrists and cloth in her mouth. He sends her one last look before zipping out of the room and leaving her alone once again.

x
day six
x

He doesn't come back in for an entire day.

When he comes back into the room Iris is laying back in the bed, stiff from the rope blinding her arms and cloth seemingly making it harder to breathe. He drops a bag of Big Belly Burger at her feet, the paper crinkling as it bounces with the movements, before sinking down with the mattress.

Iris' stomach grunts in happiness at the sight of the fast food bag, grumbling for the greasy french fries and double hamburger surely to be waiting inside. He then moves to her side, reaching out to undo the rope and wrench out the cloth from her mouth. He drops it on the bed next to her carelessly, before gesturing towards the food when she doesn't instantaneously move towards it.

Iris averts her gaze from his face, his mask, instead finding an interest in picking at her pants.

"Eat."

It's a simple word, sharp and demanding even. She shakes her head in response, holding in a sarcastic laugh. "I'm a reporter, Zoom," she mumbles dryly, "I've seen a lot of things, a lot of murders. And I really don't feel like dying from poison or drug overdose today."

Zoom scoffs, "Death is a mercy. Something you don't deserve all these times."

The words roll in the air for a while as Iris tries to figure them out, and it isn't until Zoom slowly starts to walk towards the door that she finds her voice again. "Wait." He stops. She doesn't know why. "What did you mean by how you wanted to teach the Flash a lesson?"

Zoom doesn't even bother to look over his shoulder when he retorts, body taut as a rubber band. "I needed to teach him what it's like to lose you."

Iris' stomach screams. "Why?"

The letters barley have time to finish leaving her mouth and by that time he's gone again.

When Iris can't take the hunger gnawing at her insides any longer she swiftly readjusts herself so that she's sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed. With shaky hands from not eating in a while (as the trays of gray muck he's been bring her for the past few days just to keep her alive weren't too great of meals in the first place) Iris opens up the bag and greedily grabs a handful of fries to stuff in her mouth.

A sigh of contentment sneaks out of her mouth, because Big Belly Burger's overcooked and fatty french fries have never tasted so good before, before moving onto pulling out the rest of the continents in the bag and spreading them out in front of her.

Holding onto the hope that what Zoom said was true and that he wasn't poisoning her, she unwrapped the burger and was about to take a big bite before stopping dead in her tracks.

It's with an uneasy feeling in her chest that she realizes it's her special order from Big Belly Burger that she's used for ten years.

And one that only Barry would know.

x
day eleven
x

Iris' mind drifts to her dad's smiling face on the eleventh day, when the rain pounding outside starts to cause her head to hurt. She thinks of his job, wonders if he's doing okay, if he's being safe (probably not, because she got her own stubbornness from him) and if he and Barry are keeping each other grounded.

Then her mind floats over to the subject of Barry.

Iris thinks of his smile, his stunning eyes, his laugh; his everything. She thinks of him and feels safe, feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders and thrown to the wolves. Thunder ripples, roaring throughout the room like a train is coming for her. She exhales when the silence engulfs her once again, the minutes passing slowly before she hears what sounds like a crack of lightning.

Barry.

Her mind tries to reason with her.

Telling her she's stupid, that it's just the rainstorm. But she has hope and if she loses that hope, she doesn't make it. She counts the seconds, like how Joe taught her when she was little, the method on how to measure how far away a storm was. She decides to use it now to see how far away Barry is. How far away he has to be.

"One."

Dad.

"Two."

Barry.

"Three."

The Flash.

"Four."

Wally.

"Five."

But instead of Barry bursting through the door, thunder rumbles softly. Tears threaten to come.

She tries to calm herself of thinking about when she was younger; how she used to count the seconds. When she was little, her four words were less. Dad, Mom, Barry, Brownies and Essays. The musings don't help. A tear slips out anyway as she curls into a ball and silently sobs.

x
day thirteen
x

Zoom brings her breakfast early.

He startles her when he walks in, carrying a tray with eggs and brownies. Her stomach complains but she stays put as he drops the tray carefully on the bed next to her. Iris looks up at home, her lips quirked into a frown. "Are you going to let me go?"

Zoom looks at her, hands quivering slightly from where they rest at his sides. She wonders why.

"Soon." He replies quietly, turning away.

Iris doesn't want him to leave just yet, she wants answers, so she prods. "Why did you kidnap me, Zoom? I don't understand." The silence isn't just silence as she waits for a reaction. Birds chirp from outside, muffled by the walls.

"To teach the Flash a lesson."

"Yeah, you already told me that. I want to know why." Iris can't help herself as the reporter inside of her bares it's teeth; demanding solutions. Something isn't right about this entire situation so she just wants to know.

"Why?" He turns towards her violently, towering over her. "Because you are too fucking easy to lose on earth. On any earth." He's breathing heavily and she's confused. Then Zoom runs.

x
day fourteen
x

"Wake up. We're leaving." Zoom picks her up roughly, Iris' eyes shooting open as she starts to struggle in his hold.

"Let go of me!"

"I can't." Zoom throws her over one shoulder, and Iris pounds on his back. "It's time for you to go home." His words suspend her movements as she freezes, fists unclenching.

"Home?" She mumbles, Zoom tightening his grip as he prepares to run.

"Home," he repeats, but it's not sincere.

Iris notices the tone instantly, questioning him on it. "You aren't done yet, are you?"

She thinks she hears him sniffle. "Never."

The memory of her capture fades as she's brought back to the present. But now things are connecting in her brain, it all clicks, but there are still cracks showing—pieces missing. The words that Zoom had spoken hang stale in the air for what seems like the longest time, until the dark speedster breaks it with a shake of his head.

"If I can't have her, then no one can." He goes to move, goes to phase his hands through her neck—or to fucking snap it, he doesn't know which but he just wants it done, wants the pain to be fucking gone (but it'll never be gone)—but Barry stops him by calling him by a name Zoom hasn't been called in years.

"Barry. Stop."

Earth-2 Barry Allen's entire body slacks at the words. His hold lessens enough that Iris is able to pull herself from his grip, shoving him backwards by the elbow before running over to her Barry. She places a hand on his bicep, helping him stand, fretting over him as Other-Barry watches with longing eyes, lax, from across the room.

"I'm so sorry. I meant to shoot him but I missed a-and—are you okay?" Barry brushes her off, waving a hand as he fights with standing up straight.

"I-I'm fine, Iris, it was a clean shot through my shoulder. I'll be okay." He's lying though, because his entire body is on fire and there's so much blood smearing his suit that he doesn't know if he'll bleed to death or not but he doesn't want to scare her. So he gathers what strength he does have and fights. Then he looks to his doppelganger. "What happened to you, Barry? Why . . . why are you this? Why are you Zoom?"

Other-Barry looks at him for a long while, before seemingly giving in.

Black lightning races between his eyes.

"I was struck by lightning. Just like you. Same age, same way. And I was a hero too," he starts slowly, smirking, before shaking his head, "learning how to use my powers, saving damsels in distress. But then I meant her, and my whole life changed."

His eyes flicker over to where Iris is standing and she unintentionally grasps Barry's arm tighter from his heavy stare. "You're talking about Iris, your Iris, right? Earth-2 Iris West?" Barry clarifies, Other-Barry letting out a chilling laugh.

"My Iris," he repeats, before continuing, "one day I saved a woman who was in a burning building—Picture News—and her eyes were so stunning I didn't want to ever leave her. After that, we kept in contact. Fell in love," he mutters lowly, wryly, "so, so in love. Got married nearly a year and a half later. Loved each other too much to wait any longer and her father despised me for that but I didn't fucking care. I was with the woman I loved."

Iris shivers, because what Other-Barry is saying is real but it doesn't feel like it, it doesn't sound sane. The unnerving part is that it is. It's so real it's painful, causing her heart to throb and thrash.

"However," Other-Barry contemplates, "for the past few months before the wedding, something had been going wrong. The speed force inside of me was battling against me or something, trying to control me, trying to show me what to do and how to think. I fought against it of course, and the thought of her kept me going—was the reason I fought it. How I fought it. But then the speed force was able to win one night."

He pauses, swallowing the emotion threatening to interrupt that both Barry and Iris aren't blind to.

"The night after our wedding. We were sleeping. Sound asleep when suddenly . . . my body felt as if it was on fire. My veins were pounding and all I could see in my dreams were flashes of black lighting and Time Wraiths and demons. The speed force was attacking me, taking control. I woke up and told . . . told Iris to run."

Honey, you need to get as far away from me as possible!

Other-Barry scoffs at his own memories. "She didn't listen of course."

No Barry I'm not leaving you. You can fight this. Do it for me.

"I was frantic. I didn't know why it was happening, what was happening to me, why in the hell the speed force wanted me out of all the other speedsters in the world. Why it wanted to take me away from my love. Iris . . . she . . . leaned in and kissed me to try and calm me down but it didn't work. It just angered the speed force to the max and the next thing I knew . . . the speed force—I, me, it—was choking her."

Barry, I k-know you're in there. D-Don't do this, sweetie, p-please.

Real time Iris shivers as Barry pulls her closer to his injured side, promising to protect her without saying anything. "I-I watched myself drain the life out of her with my own hands but not by my own will. I remember cradling her body afterwards. Sobbing. Begging to die."

I'm so sorry honey, Iris, I'm so fucking sorry. Forgive me. Forgive me.

"The speed force saw an opening. Took control. And then I was gone. Without her, I had nothing to keep me balanced. I became a speedster obsessed with speed and needing to be the fastest man in the entire world. Until . . . the world wasn't enough. I was becoming worse and worse a—and evil, so I sought out someone to help me."

Barry links the dots easily, "So you went to Harrison Wells for help."

Other-Barry chuckles amusingly, "Correct. He agreed to help me, saying studying me would help with his research for a greater future in return, but when we thought we had found a cure . . . we had accidently made it worse. Made the speed force mad. And now, here we are."

Barry and Other-Barry gaze at each other for a while. The bullet wound in Barry's shoulder is the only thing that brings him back to the present. "There's one thing you didn't answer. Why are you here? Why did you kidnap Iris?"

Other-Barry scowls. "If I kill you, kill every one of you, nothing bad can happen to Iris West. If the Flash doesn't exist here, she lives. And she forever will."

Within a spilt second he has Barry pressed against the wall, ready to vibrate a hand through his forehead. "Without you she'll be safe!" He roars, black electric circling around him as his eyes go black but Barry has enough time to throw Other-Barry backwards before he can do any damage, flashing forward and standing protectively in front of Iris.

"Killing me won't solve anything Barry, but I know I will sure as hell never let anything happen to Iris on this earth."

Other-Barry growls, "You. Can't. Promise that!"

He goes to attack Barry but Barry makes it to him first, stopping him by the throat. "If you can catch me, you can kill me," he mutters, before smiling and taking off. Other-Barry follows with a hoarse shout.

They zigzag and bolt through every street in Central City, before Barry comes to a stop on the beach. Other-Barry stops a few feet away from him. Both of their masks are still off but neither cares, no one's around and this is between demon and man. Barry's reminded of his fight with Oliver and their equal start.

Ready, set, go.

The waves crash against the sand next to them, and he thinks he can hear Other-Barry's entire body crackle in the distance.

Ready.

Barry clenches his fists. Digs his feet into the gravel.

He has to do this, for Iris. For Iris. He can't come back dead or beaten or bloodied or as that damn thing. He needs to come back as Barry. He needs to come back home to Joe and Iris and Caitlin and Cisco and Wells. He needs to make it through this in one piece.

All or nothing.

Set.

Other-Barry's tired. He's tired as hell.

He's sick of being the speed force's puppet. But he can't escape. He's trapped—so fucking trapped—and though his heart is barely beating by now the speed force still pushes him to prepare.

To snarl. To arch his heels. To get ready to run.

Internally, Other-Barry can only think of one thing. That he will make sure that no Iris West will be hurt again on any earth because of him. He's a demon warped by speed and love, without any morals but one.

To protect Iris Ann West.

Go.

"Iris."

She jumps when her name is called as her eyes snap open and lock onto the speedster standing before her. Her heart is thumping far too fast, her blood is pumping rapidly through her veins, and her head is throbbing. But none of that distracts her as she looks at the man she loves with glassy eyes.

He notices the tears threatening to break loose and sends her a gentle smile, holding out his arms.

"It's alright Iris. I'm here. I won. He's—Zoom's—gone."

Iris doesn't wait a second longer as she launches herself towards him, Barry catching her easily as his arms wrap tightly around her waist. Her lips come up to meet his in an emotional kiss, her hands following suit as they cup both of his cheeks in an attempt to pull him closer.

The kiss wipes away the pain from his shoulder, the pain from his heart, the pain from the fight in one fatal swoop—everything within him calming by the melody of Iris. His heart flutters as he puts just as much into the kiss, to reassure her that he's there, that he's alive, that she's stuck with him. They break apart for air, and their hot breaths are fanning across the other's face as they just stare at each other for a long moment.

Ready, set, go.

"Bear," she whispers, as his arms squeeze her waist in reply, "you're here."

The smile he sports lights up his entire face. "Where else would I be?" A watery laugh leaves her, breath nearly catching in her throat.

"When you ran off, I-I thought that was going to be the last time I was ever going to see you."

Barry reaches a hand up to brush a stray hair from her cheek, leaning in and leaving a tender kiss on her forehead. "Don't ever think I'm going to leave you. I'm gonna be right here." He pauses, shaking his head, "I thought I wasn't going to get to tell you something."

Her brows knit in confusion. "Tell me what?"

Barry says nothing, instead pulling her in close and resting his head on her shoulder, as she does the same to him (careful to avoid where the bullet is) before his voice rumbles through her body. "That I love you."

Iris can't help but smile, embracing him more. "I love you too."

"It's nice to have you back Allen," Singh offers gruffly once they cross paths at the prescient the next day and Barry can't help but smile at the secret coils of relief unwinding in Singh's eyes. He's exhausted, and his shoulder still throbs a little but he's there and that's all that matters. Zoom's gone. Iris is safe.

The speed force is peacefully humming beneath his skin.

He nods as Singh pats his shoulder before walking away and says a simple, "Don't scare me like that again," before disappearing down the hallway. Barry lets out a short chuckle, placing his hands in his pockets.

"I won't."

The speed force within him agrees.

Later that night; Joe, Iris and Barry head out to Jitters for a dinner of coffees and donuts.

"It seems to me," Joe says, reflecting on all the facts about Earth-2 Barry, "that no matter what universe you're on, your love for Iris is everything to you."

Barry nods his head, fumbling with his fingers. He glances over at Iris getting coffee for the three of them by the counter and smiles, though Other-Barry's cries from the cell at the Lab he's holed up in still haunt him.

Being with her doesn't keep her safe! You'll kill her! You will kill her!

He didn't tell Iris that he had ran Zoom to S.T.A.R and had locked him up in one of the most powerful cells there. He didn't want her to ever have to worry about that monster again, so, he simply told her that he was gone. It was true in a way though. Earth-2 Barry was slowly dwindling away as it was, and now . . . Barry wasn't sure how much of Other-Barry was left.

"Yeah," he whispers after a minute, "but there's a difference between those other 'Barry's and me."

Joe looks amused, glancing up at Barry carefully; "Which is?" Barry's lips pull into a determined smile as he glances over at his girlfriend chatting with one of her former coworkers.

"They weren't able to protect her. But I will. For a thousand lifetimes."