Important: This story will be about the time remnant that was sacrificed in season 2, but it will serve as an alternate Savitar origin story. Really, it will closely mirror what Savitar went through. Just the timing and circumstances are different. Savitar has the saddest backstory of any character that's ever been on the Flash and really, any character I've ever seen on TV. His entire existence is tragic, and what's most upsetting to me is that other people don't entirely see that. They only see the villain. Hopefully, this story will help people see Savitar better, beneath the suit and the burns.

I'm strict about writing only Barry-centric stories, and this story still falls in that category. Savitar is Barry, and that's what this story is going to emphasis.

We only get to see things through "original" Barry's point of view in the show. This is the time remnant's story.

He Was Supposed to Die

Barry knew he was going to die. He knew he was giving up everything to save the multiverse.

And that was fine.

He accepted his fate willingly. That's why he had done this in the first place. He had created this version of himself for this purpose. What he hadn't realized, though, was how much this would suck for him. For the time remnant. He had always thought of time remnants as these disposable things—as pawns to be used and sacrificed whenever the game called for it—but now that he was one, he felt very differently about it.

He still felt like him. He still felt like Barry. He thought being a time remnant would feel different—would feel artificial. It didn't. He still had all his memories. He still thought and felt. He didn't feel like just a pawn. He was Barry.

But he wasn't.

Real Barry—the original Barry—was currently fighting Zoom. He was just supposed to charge up the secondary coil of the magnetar so that it was out of sync. He was supposed to die. It was what he had planned for—what he had been expecting.

What he hadn't been expecting, though, was to feel sad about it. He felt sad to be leaving his loved ones behind. That was why he was doing this, though. He was doing this for them. And he wasn't truly leaving them. They still would have original Barry with them. They wouldn't even mourn him. They wouldn't even have a funeral for him. There would be no body to bury.

For some reason, this brought tears to Barry's eyes as he ran. They wouldn't mourn him. His friends and family would barely pay him a second thought once he was gone. His original self wouldn't care because he didn't know. He didn't know what it felt like to be just a time remnant. He would probably go on to make more. He would readily sacrifice more remnants like him whenever he needed it. Barry wished he could talk to his original self one last time. He wished he had a moment to tell him to never do this again—to never make another time remnant again—but he couldn't. There wasn't time.

Barry was out of time. He was about to die. He didn't stop running, though. He ran until he felt the energy consuming him. He felt like he was going to burn up, to shrivel into nothingness and blow away in the wind. He could feel his skin burning. He was on fire. The sheer pain of it was overwhelming. He had run this fast before, of course, but he had never willingly allowed this much energy to escape his body all at once. He had always instinctively contained it, as if he knew it would kill him. Barry fought against his instincts now, though, and allowed the energy to be released—allowed it to consume him.

He heard a loud blast then. The coil was fully charged. It created its own beam of energy waves, which in turn, caused the magnetar to fall out of sync. There was another loud blast as the magnetar's energy collapsed in on itself, the entire machine short circuiting.

And then silence.

Barry was dead. Everything went black and silent. The pain didn't stop, though. He had thought the pain would stop when he died, but his skin still felt like it was on fire. His nerves were bare and exposed, unfathomable pain signals being sent to his brain in sharp, fast waves of misery. Oh, God. Why hadn't the pain stopped?

Through the darkness, Barry could hear screams. Zoom's screams. He could hear shouts in the distance, the voices muffled as if he were underwater. He didn't know how much time passed while he laid there in pain, but after what felt like an eternity, he suddenly heard the voices grow louder.

And clearer.

"Oh my God," a female voice said, and he quickly recognized it to be Iris, "The time remnant."

"He was supposed to die," Barry heard his own voice say.

His heart clenched at these words. He was still alive. He was supposed to die, but he hadn't.

Sorry to disappoint you, he found himself thinking bitterly.

"He's still alive," he heard Caitlin's voice say, "His pulse is weak, but it's there."

"So what now?" Joe asked seriously, "What do we do with him?"

If he were fully conscious, Barry would probably start crying right now. How could Joe say that about him? He was Barry! He was his son!

"I don't know," Original Barry said quietly, "I…he wasn't supposed to survive. I don't know what to do now."

"He's just a time remnant, right?" Cisco said, "I mean, it's not like he's really you."

Yes, I am! Barry wanted to scream, I'm still Barry!

"It's still Barry, though," Iris said softly, and Barry felt his heart warm at her words, "What are we supposed to do? Just let him die?!"

"It might be better that way," Original Barry said thoughtfully, "I don't know what he's going to be now. He's just a copy of me. I didn't mean for him to live, and with those burns…maybe we should just…"

"Just what?" Joe asked seriously, "Just put him out of his misery?! Barry, we can't do that. He's still you!"

"I guess," Original Barry whispered, "But he's not truly me. I—he was willing to make this sacrifice. That was how it was supposed to be."

Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could he be so cold?! Then again, if it were yesterday, he probably would have thought the same way about it. He probably would have disposed of him, too. But that was before he knew what he now knew. That was before he knew what it felt like to be a time remnant.

"Well, I can't just put him down like a dog," Iris said firmly, "I think we should save him."

"I think you're right," Caitlin said slowly, "Ultimately, it should be his decision if he wants to continue to exist or not."

Of course he wanted to exist! He wasn't suicidal. He never had been! He was willing to sacrifice himself for the multiverse, of course, but now that everything was over and he was still breathing, he wanted to keep breathing. He wanted to live. Barry loved his life and didn't want it to end just like that.

"Okay," Harry said, "We'll take him back to STAR Labs. Get him patched up."

Barry felt hands grabbing him then. The pain increased tremendously as his body was jostled by their movements. Eventually, the pain increased to the point where it was unbearable, and Barry finally allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness. Everything went black and silent.