"I don't love you anymore Iris."

Those words echoed in the mind of Barry Allen as he left the loft apartment he and his soon to be ex-wife shared but he owned. They were approaching their second wedding anniversary, but to Barry, it was time to clear the air between them. Things had been changing for a while, but it took this last week for him to really open his eyes.

Elseworlds had shifted the perspective for Barry. Being forced to play the role of Oliver and the Green Arrow made him see how limited time could be. He had been confronted with one of the main demons of Oliver's past thanks to the Scarecrow's hallucinogenic gas at Arkham. Yes, there was darkness in Barry that recognized the darkness that Oliver's soul was steeped in, but Barry's power literally generated light, and that light helped balance out all the negativity in his life.

Now that things had changed back, Barry still carried around those thoughts and feelings that he had been exposed to, and they colored how he saw the world and the people in it. He still saw the good in people, but he could now see past the facade and see into the heart of a person. Why Oliver had this skill, only he would be able to say, but Barry was blessed and cursed to have adapted that skill into his own daily life. What he saw about Iris troubled him a lot.

She was shallow, far shallower than Barry would have ever thought. Yes, he grew up with her, so he knew of her faults, but now that the blinders of obsession and destiny were off, he could see what the whole world saw. She was bossy in the way only a cops daughter can be. He used to think that it was a positive quality, she knew what she wanted and went after it. No beating around the bush. Now he sees it as exasperating, especially when she bosses everyone at S.T.A.R. Labs around. She was narcissistic, always needing to be the center of attention and have the final word.

In all honesty, Barry realized that his infatuation with her blinded him to the truth. All that he felt for her was infatuation, there was no real and deep desire there. Not the kind he imagined he should feel towards the woman he loved. Yes, he loved Iris, but he wasn't in love with her. It was time for him to cut ties and move on, to find out who he truly cared for.

Hands in his pockets he slowly wandered through the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs, wondering how the team will take the shake up. When he had gone into the Speed Force, Iris appointed herself leader, in an effort to continue his work protecting Central City. Barry had seen, after he came back, how the others seemed to resent and tolerate her for his sake. He had brushed it off at the time, but now, he wondered if there really had been something to those undercurrents he felt. He had sensed and uneasiness from Iris directed at Caitlin, but he just assumed it was residual mistrust from when Killer Frost took over. Now he wasn't so sure.

With a sigh Barry wandered into Caitlin's med lab, deciding he would sleep there for the night. It would give Iris time to come to grips with reality and time for Barry to rest from his city and dimension hopping trip. He also knew that Caitlin and Cisco had gone home to rest, the two of them having gone on the adventure with him and Oliver as well. Not to mention Kara, Clark and Lois. In reality Iris, Ralph and Sherloque stayed behind in Central City because they had no value to offer the team. Barry laid back on one of the gurneys and closed his eyes, turning to his meditation techniques to calm his always racing mind. Soon he was asleep, lost in dreams.

The last few days and hours flashed behind his eyes as he slept, thousands of different scenarios running through his mind. Caitlin kept popping up, both as herself and as Killer Frost, voice haunting him. There was something hinting at the edges of his mind, something important, but before he could grab onto whatever it was, it slipped through his fingers. On and on in his sleep he raced, trying to puzzle out what his mind was trying to tell him. New images flashed, the strange symbols that he couldn't stop writing once he was rescued from the Speed Force. The revelation came to him in a literal flash as he sat up wide awake.

Time Glyphs. It was a way of recording events that nothing in time would be able to erase. The language was actually part of the Speed Force and existed outside of time. Just like he had those 6 months. 6 months that had felt like an eternity and a blink of an eye to him. Needing to know what he had wrote, Barry sped down to the accelerator, opening the cell that he had been put into, eyes scanning the markings that covered every surface. In shock Barry sat down, reading what he had written over and over again.