A Different History

Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash

Note: Hey everyone… well, a solo Flash story. That's new for me. I am usually writing Supergirl and Flash crossovers for those who don't know. Anyway, this will either be a two-shot or a three-shot story. Right now, I'm leaning towards two, but it depends on how the second chapter turns out. To be fair, this was originally supposed to be one anyway... Hope everyone enjoys!

Chapter One

-From Barry's Point of View-

Hello. My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. My powers… you know what, I'm starting this in the wrong order. I'm sure you all want to know how the man becomes more than he is, how I got powers, but to properly understanding my story, this is not where I start. I should go back. Back to the night my life changed. The night that brought me to where I am now.

It happened when I was 11 years old. At home, I came down the stairs to find my mom surrounded by lightning. It encircled her, encased her, and there was nothing I could do to help. I yelled for her, my dad yelled for me to go, and then suddenly I was blocks away. I had no idea how. I thought I'd blacked out. By the time I ran home though, the police were there and they were taking two body bags out. Two… Both my parents were dead.

When you tell people that lightning killed your parents they're concerned, especially the nature of the story, but it's hard to believe. The police didn't believe me for a start and the foster parents I got stuck with didn't believe me either. Put it simply, no one believed me. I was on my own.

Everyone bullied me, but I was smart, I was better than them. At 11 year's old, I had already skipped a few grades. My mom had called me her little genius. Oh, I missed her. Well, I put my brain to work. My short-term goals were to get myself out of the system as soon as possible. To do that I studied hard and by the time I was 15 I had graduated from High School and was able to emancipate myself. I didn't stop there though. By the time I was 18 I had my Masters and then by 20 I had my PHD.

My long-term goal was to understand what I saw that night – the abilities this person who killed my parents had. That led me on my course of study to physics and became a scientist, well, specifically a physicist. After getting my PHD I traveled to try and find people with abilities and amazingly I managed to do just that. I didn't find anyone like the person who killed my parents, but there were quite a few of these meta-humans, as I call them. Some were bad, using their abilities to their own end… Well, let's just say, stay out of Gotham. Just trust me there.

Some meta-humans are good though. Like there's a man and a woman who come from Atlantis, yes the sunken city… they can breathe underwater and do a whole lot of other things I won't go into detail about here. They saved me from drowning once. There are more good ones like those two, but now you're probably starting to think like some colleagues of mine who call me crazy. Or maybe with the world we live in now you wouldn't think I'm insane. I can't tell.

Anyway, a year after I started traveling I found myself back in Central City. I was traveling and doing things on the inherence left to me by my parents but that was running out. I needed a real job, which is what brought me to STAR Labs and to Harrison Wells.

I remember standing in his office doorway. He had been on the phone. "They are our daughters!" He was yelling down the phone, to his ex-wife I was soon to find out. "And you barely see them… You're breaking their hearts, Tess." Harrison Wells had paused at this to listen to what his ex was saying before retorting: "You know what, who needs you anyway." He slammed down the phone in anger at this, and still hadn't notice me by the door.

"Um… excuse me?" I said, lightly knocking on the wood.

"Oh sorry," Wells said, seeming to get back into job-mood and smiling his most fake-pleasant smile I've come to associate with his memories of… well. "My ex-wife. Drives me crazy." Harrison muttered.

"Tess Morgan, right? Owner and founder of ELLE Labs, not far from here?" I recalled the information instantly, I'm good like that.

"I could never figure out what that stood for," Harrison Wells sighed, rolling his eyes. "I think she just named it that to drive me insane. Not to mention she started it using the money she got in our divorce." Wells leaned back in his chair at that. 'But this is not why you're here Mr.…?"

"Allen," I said. "Barry Allen. I have an interview here today."

"Ah," Wells said. "You should thank my eldest daughter for that. She saw your resume on my desk and told me I had to look you up. Said you were brilliant, and considering she's brilliant herself, that's a high compliment." Harrison Wells moved some papers on his desk as he talked. I didn't dare say a word, not sure how to respond to that compliment. "So I did, and found Jesse, like usual, was right. You're resume and history pose excellence. Everyone I've contacted regarding your possible hiring here say you have a great intellect… but, they also say your crazy."

My heart sunk at that. It was one thing to be called brilliant, but another to be called crazy. Puts potential employers off. "Should I just leave now?" I asked, resigned to the comment, knowing how these things usually went. My theories didn't give me much favor with other people in the science community either, especially since my work on meta-humans was confidential to all – considering the privacy I had given to all those I had encountered.

"Einstein, Aristotle, Newton… all brilliant men." Wells responded, almost as if he had this recited by heart. "All considered mad-men in their time. Brilliant and crazy is what makes great discovers and I could really use brilliant and crazy." Harrison Wells leaned forward at this. 'Tell me what do you know about the Particle Accelerator we're building?"

"Oh. Well, both STAR and ELLE Labs are in competition to make the first working Particle Accelerator," I started, slightly fumbling my words. "I've actually done great research into it since you first announced the project days before Ms. Morgan. It could excel all knowledge of science decades forward, open even the most close and skeptical of minds and –" Harrison smirked as he waved me to silence at that point.

"The Particle Accelerator was something Tess and I wanted to do together, some ten or so years ago she started trying to get me to speed it up suddenly. It was what eventually broke us…" He laughed at this, as though he found it amusing, it was almost worrying. "She suggested…. Well let's just say her opinions got scary… and now we're in competition. She hired Ronnie Raymond, the greatest structural engineer of this century, right from under my nose. Now I need someone brilliant and crazy to help us get there before Tess does. Are you interested?"

"Yes," I said, a grin on my face, "Mr. Wells," I added for politeness. I had not been expecting this to go my way. I hadn't expected the job, especially at the first sign of my apparent madness. I had in fact, taken the interview to meet Harrison Wells in person, at the least. I wasn't ever planning on telling him ELLE Labs was going to be my next application, although in hindsight I'm thankful I never needed to step foot in that place.

"Excellent. You'll get your first work assignment tomorrow as for your personal research into… what do you call them?"

'Meta-humans, sir," I said, knowing what he was referring to.

"Nice name," Wells said with an impressed nod. "You're more than welcome to use the labs for your research on your own time. In fact, I'll even look over it if you want and have a chat? It truly an interesting topic… what's been released to the public, at least."

"You really believe they exist?" I asked, amazed that he hadn't turned his nose up at the research I had so far revealed. Harrison Wells replied in something I recognized as Latin. "I'm sorry my Latin is rusty. All I got was something about the world and heaven… I think."

"Well, more than most people." Harrison chuckled. "Sharpen up your skills, Allen, and you could join me and Hartley. What I said though is there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

"Hamlet," I said, remembering the quote from an old English class. Like I said, I'm good at recalling things.

"You are smart," Harrison Wells said. "The answer to everything is not known – if it were, we would be out of our jobs and life would be ever so dull. So yes, I believe people with abilities can exist, but until I see proof I can't confirm, but neither can I outright deny." I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to tell him about the metas I had met. Not yet. Wells laughed at my silence. "Well I must be going but…" Harrison Wells paused as a girl walked by behind me in the corridor. "Dr. Snow."

That was the first time I saw her. A beautiful brown-haired girl, and I couldn't help but stare. "Dr. Snow this is… you have your PHD if I remember correctly, right?" I couldn't find my voice but I did nod. "Well, this is Dr. Barry Allen. Barry, this is Dr. Caitlin Snow. I just hired him. Could you show him around? I have to go pick up Isabelle."

"Sure," Caitlin Snow said, smiling. I still like to think she was smiling at me.

I followed Caitlin Snow out of the office, my first question already forming. "Um… Isabelle? I thought his daughter was Jesse?"

"He has two daughters. His eldest is Jesse and the younger is Isabelle… One thing you should know is Dr. Well is a dedicated scientist but he puts his daughters above everything. You'll see them hanging around a lot too, considering their mom…"

"Is negligent?" I couldn't help but add, remembering the first thing Harrison has said when I'd walked into his office while on the phone to Ms. Morgan. Caitlin simply nodded. "So what do you do here?" I asked, changing topic and curious about this beautiful girl.

"I'm a bio-engineer," Caitlin answered.

"Pretty and smart," I said with a smile, unable to stop myself.

"Flirting with me Dr. Allen?" Caitlin asked, turning around to look at me with a smirk.

"No… well yes," I said nervously. Flirting with girls was not something I was used to or good at. I had never had time for dating, especially not while I was trying to get out of the system and get my degree as early as possible. "Is it working?"

Caitlin smirked at me and said, "Well, we'll see."

I paused as Caitlin started walking again. "Wait, what does that mean?" I asked after a moment and ran after her.

The next few weeks Caitlin, we became very close. She even agreed to going out on a few dates with me. It was nearly a month later when I finally asked Caitlin if I could show her something important. That was when I showed her my research into meta-humans, including recordings I had taken of the meta-humans I had met.

"I know this is a lot," I said looking at her worriedly, "and I understand the physics of what they can do, but the biological part… It goes over my head. What's going on in their bodies…"

"Is this the whole reason why you've been spending time with me?" Caitlin asked, surprising me. "Just for this? You could have just asked as one scientist to another…"

"Caitlin, I didn't ask you out for this," I said, upset she would think that but also realizing how it could look that way. I'm not exactly a people-person. "I asked you out because I like you. I think you're nice and well… I've never had anyone in my life that was just nice to me, who seemed to enjoy being with me… Not since my parents died anyway."

I looked down, not wanting to meet her eyes. "What happened?" Caitlin asked, sitting down near me, putting a hand on my knee.

I looked up to meet her eyes. "A meta killed them." I said, describing the night my parents died and what I saw. For once, after I was done, I was not called crazy. She even didn't imply that I'd made it up. "I need to understand them. What makes them work… I need…" I continued.

"To find a reason," Caitlin finished for me, and I nodded. "Would these metas you found be willing to let me examine them?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, most of them are as curious as me," I said, grinning. She believed me! "Does this mean you're in?"

Caitlin smiled. "Yes."

"And are we…?" I wasn't sure what to say as I indicated between us.

"We're still dating, Barry," Caitlin said with a smaller smile now.

At that point I leaned in and kissed her. It might seem odd to people reading this, since we have been dating for a while and been on a few dates, but that was our first kiss. I backed away, realizing what I had just done, shocked. But then Caitlin leaned in and kissed me back. I was happier at that moment than I had been in a long time.

For the next year or so, we dated, worked at STAR together, and in secret we gathered information about meta-humans. We even went to Starling on vacation and ended up meeting, and helping the Arrow and her partner the Black Canary – they turned out not to be metas like we thought, but they were nice girls. Sara and Laurel are making a good difference in Starling.

It was during that trip to Starling I plucked up the courage. I brought Caitlin to a fancy restaurant, got down on one knee, and asked her to be my wife. I could have been flying with happiness when she said yes.

Our happiness was not going to last long though. Only a few days after we returned from that happy vacation, ELLE lab announce they were turning on their Particle Accelerator.

"It could be a bust," Cisco, one of our co-workers, said the day ELLE Labs was set to turn on.

"Could be legit though," Hartley said.

"Whether it works or not we'll find out tonight," a voice was heard and we saw Harrison Wells standing by the door. "Today we continue our work as normal." We all nodded, knowing Wells meant it.

That night would be one that went down in the history books. The night ELLE Lab's Particle Accelerator was switched on. "That came from ELLE Labs!" Caitlin stated out loud. We were leaving STAR when we heard the explosion. Even from where we were, we could see it go off. We had not been watching the news about the rival Lab, but now we knew something had gone seriously wrong.

"We should go back ins–" Before I could finish my thought, before I could say we had work to do now, everything went black. I heard Caitlin screaming and that's the last thing I remember as I fell to the ground.

Now, don't worry everyone. This… this is just the start. How else would I be here to tell the story?

That night I was struck by lightning created from ELLE Lab's Particle Accelerator. I didn't need fancy formulas or unknown vials of whatnot for it to have its changing effect on me, but right there, laying on the floor with my crying fiancée over me, neither one of us knew what was about to begin. Being rushed to a hospital, being in a coma…. this is just the beginning of my story.

This was the night I got my powers…. The night I became The Flash.

Post Chapter Note 1: As you can see from reading this chapter, this takes place in a completely different world in the multiverse than the Earth-1 we are used to. In fact, this Earth is part of the Millma Verse! For those reading this who read my other stories you know what the Millma verse is. If you do not read my other stories than I will explain more about the Millma Verse at the end of the last chapter (which should be next chapter).

Post Chapter Note 2: Next chapter will take place during Barry's coma, mostly about Caitlin and other things going on. No idea if I will do first person point of view or my normal third-person for that one. It was kinda fun and different doing it from Barry's perspective this time around though.

Okay, that's it. REVIEW.

Karry Master OUT!