Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - Running Through Time
"This is the wrong place…" Revive sighed.
The children ran across the massive yard, reaching one end to the next in a couple of seconds.
They were not normal children.
"Chloe and Brandon," The Speedster sighed.
There was another kid, chasing behind the superhuman duo but he was much slower and much weaker.
But Revive knew who the kid would one day become – a very special person.
"And with my intervention," Revive shrugged. "—even more special."
The Speedster checked his digital monitor, noting The Speed Force levels in his body were falling for every second he settled into a new reality.
"Thirty-percent power remaining, huh?"
Revive knew the next jump would be his last but judging by the reality he was currently witnessing and the thousands of calculations flooding into his mind, he had made it to the origin point of the annihilation.
"It took 5,734 realities but I made it!"
The Speedster restrained the urge to jump in glee because where there were powered children, there would also be powered parents.
"Just a bit too early…" He muttered to himself.
Then… a subtle thrum of power caught The Speedster's attention and he flickered with lightning, disappearing from the previous spot and reappearing in a frozen world next to the source of the thrumming power.
It was Chloe – a young Chloe.
There was the glow of building power faintly alighting her throat, on the verge of being directed at Brandon and Hutch.
The world in Revive's eyes regained normality.
The Speedster grabbed the child by her shoulder, dispersed the power building in her throat, and turned the small girl to face him.
"Almost hurt someone there, Chloe…"
The little girl was stunned.
Brandon was stunned.
Hutch was stunned.
"Now…" Revive continued as if magically appearing in a flicker of lightning was normal. "If you want to scream at anyone – scream at me… I will always be able to take it."
"Really?"
Childly innocence caused the anger to dissipate easily but Revive knew it was still there – and it would continue to build in the absence of her father.
Best to lay a foundation now.
"Yeah… give me your best scream," The Speedster demanded, folding his arms to appear tougher.
Chloe giggled.
"Here I go…" She smiled.
"I am waiting!" Revive replied.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
A monstrous high-pitched scream rammed into The Speedster's face and he simultaneously vibrated to match the counter frequency of the sound, nullifying the attack.
A Burst of wind brushed off of Revive's face and onto Chloe's, massaging their faces to the point the little girl couldn't help but break into a giggle.
HEHEHE
"Let me join," Brandon urged, finally deciding to join the fun instead of yelling for his dad like he should have done from the beginning.
After all, stranger danger.
A minute passed…
Hutch had joined them.
It was a fun time – at some point, Revive had placed his hands on the kids' shoulders, sharing The Speed Force with them… allowing them to see the world in a completely new way.
The way Speedsters did – a slow, physics-filled world.
Then, suddenly The Speedster's powers faltered.
The soft Speed Force glow dimmed to the point of near invisibility.
"No rest for the wicked," He muttered to himself and then turned to the kids, specifically Chloe. "I have to leave now… but a bit of wisdom I guess…"
"Already?" Chloe whined.
Brandon and Hutch shared the sentiment but they were fine either way.
It would be a story for them to tell their parents.
"Yeah…" Revive had to forcefully halt the dimensional vibrations of his body, lest he drift to another dimension immediately. "Remember two things: Noblesse Oblige… and when that doesn't work If an injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared, severities should be dealt out all at once so that their suddenness may give less offense. Keep this close when old methods don't work."
Chloe's eyes were confused.
"Will you be back?" She questioned.
"I will be right here when you turn sixteen…" The Speedster promised. "Just wait for me until then… right here, the moment you turn sixteen."
"Here… you can keep this for me until I return…" The Speedster flicked his hands forward and two transparent bracelets wrapped around Chloe's wrists.
And it sunk into her skin the next second.
"Cool!" She chortled and then nodded obediently.
Revive wanted to say more…
He wanted to say everything, especially to Brandon but he had said all that he could – the next second, a boom resounded a couple of miles away and The Speedster knew his time was up.
He stopped containing his atoms in this specific physical space and he phased out of reality with an unmatched speed.
The world fell away.
Black and white burst from the ground.
Colors then ceased to exist.
Everything reversed order as the rules changed… gravity became light, the light became thunder, and existence became unreality.
Finally, Revive started to run.
It was going to be the final run of his life…
The energy and discipline required to run into the future without deviating from the current timeline were intense.
It ate away at his body as he ran.
The Speedster was a blur at first but as reality became more and more solid, his speed decreased proportionally.
Gravity was the first of the forces to remember what it was and it punished him for allowing it to think otherwise.
Sight…
Sound…
Movement…
Time…
Space…
Every fundamental force in the universe was punishing The Speedster for his defiance – a defiance so large that it bordered on non-existence.
That was the only reason Revive could survive – his crimes did not exist throughout all Universes so powerful Beings had to wait their turn behind more powerful beings.
It was a cycle that provided The Speedster.
Revive would never remain in the same place through a time jump but now that he had found the point of the annihilation, there was no more running.
He could only stay…
And hence, for the first time in a long time, Endless, Eternals, Reality Warpers, and Magic Organization detected him.
They would be coming for him.
At some point, The Speedster's lightning became white – a signal that it was now running on his very life force.
An infinite time cycle later.
The lightning turned black, showing that some all-powerful entity had finally figured out a way to sever him from the source of his power – The Speed Force.
It was a dimensional poison of the highest order.
The Speed Force could never be fully severed from Revive – its creator – but it could be poisoned and of course, that poison would trickle down to the source.
Black blood leaked from Revive's eyes and ears.
But he ran.
It felt as if ants were slowly eating his organs.
His skin burned by scalding water.
And glass dug into his skin with the shattering of each time-lock.
Unreal…
Real…
Unmade…
Re-made…
Non-existent…
Existent…
Revive purposely moved through all the dimensional thresholds he could find, managing to shake some of the Ancient Powers fixated on his death.
But he couldn't shake all of them.
And three, in particular, wanted to keep him alive just so the entertainment could continue.
'I will drag them down someday…' The Speedster swore.
The running continued for days…
Years…
Decades…
Centuries…
Millenium…
Then into Eternity itself.
-------------
"Alright…" Sheldon, aka Utopia, voiced.
He tried not to glance at his daughter with too much disappointment but he was disappointed and it showed even if he did not want it to.
Grace, aka Lady Liberty, could see where the building tension would soon lead, so she quickly intervened.
"Your father was just about to say grace, honey."
Chloe was prepared to prickle had her dad say anything but when it came from her mom's mouth, it was much more soothing.
The family joined hands.
Sheldon's to Grace's…
Grace's to Walter's…
Walter's to Chloe's…
Chloe's to Brandon's…
And the favored son completed the cycle.
However, just before the prayers could start…
A dimensional vibration ran through the room.
Brandon and Chloe had never encountered such a thing before so they remained confused for a couple of seconds.
But Walter, Grace, and Sheldon had fought things from other dimensions before… they were knowledgeable and prepared.
The three heroes were already on their feet.
However, nobody was prepared for how fast Revive was.
A dimensional breach opened and closed in a picosecond and Revive stumbled out of it and into a world frozen and arching with Black Speed Force Lightning.
His eyes scanned the room.
All the faces were familiar but one specifically caught the Speedster's attention.
Sheldon's and Grace's eyes could barely track Revive in the frozen world.
And Walter was barely able to keep up due to his psychic wave of awareness and accelerated thought patterns.
The trio watched.
Grace's and Sheldon's eyes widened when they recognized something in The Speedster's eyes – something they saw every day for sixty years when looking into each other's eyes.
And Revive had those eyes for Chloe.
The Speedster suit was writhing on his body, becoming smaller by the second.
His eyes and mouth dripped with dark blood.
Still, Revive stumbled forward to Chloe's side, brushing back her hair to get a good look at her face… forehead included.
"I am sorry it took me so long…" He whispered.
Then, no longer able to stand on his two feet.
The Speedster stumbled drunkenly, black lightning snaking across his body in such a manner that it became clear he was being attacked from the inside out.
Revive stumbled toward the dinner table.
It dispersed into ash as he struggled to get his footing – the laws of physics working completely differently at a capacity of speed no mortal should have been able to touch.
Revive struggled until his back touched the far wall, then he sat and dismissed the lightning that had been running amok inside his body for eons.
Two buzzes.
-------------
In Chloe's and Brandon's eyes, the dinner table had simply disappeared.
The next second, the world blurred and they were standing behind their parents and the hovering Walter.
And Revive was opposite them.
His body danced with black lightning that everyone could tell was bad news.
It felt like the power of annihilation, itself.
UGGGGGGGHHHHH
And judging by the screams tearing The Speedster's throat apart, the black lightning was not being kind to him.
"Dad, we need to help him…" Brandon insisted, his hero instincts kicking in.
"We can't son," Sheldon held his son back rather easily. "I don't know what it is but I do know it's Dimensional… and abyss… those two things never mix so we have to be extra cautious."
"But dad!" Brandon insisted.
Chloe's eyes took time to adjust due to how much cocaine was in her system, and of course, the dinner table's liquor didn't help much.
But when her eyes did adjust… they widened.
"It's him…" She muttered under her breath.
Everyone heard it.
UGGGGGGGHHHHH
Grace found the screams unbearable, though she didn't move to help either.
She had long since learned the lesson of how bad unprepared help was.
It was oftentimes more harmful than helpful.
"Do you know him, honey?"
Chloe rubbed her eyes a couple of times to confirm what she was seeing, then hesitantly nodded. "Do you remember the lightning-time man Brandon and I told you about as kids?"
"Your imaginary friend?" Sheldon frowned.
"Well, I always insisted he wasn't imaginary…" Chloe gave a weak smile and when Revive yelled in pain once more, she quickly pleaded. "Do something, Mom!"
"Do not move… he doesn't want us to," Walter insisted, focusing on Revive as he tried to pierce into The Speedster's mind.
He couldn't get in.
Not until The Speedster let him in.
'Do not come near…'
"He doesn't want us near…" Walter reported, a frown growing on his face. "I can't read his mind… it is shielded but I can hear what he wants me to hear."
Of course, Walter mentioned this fact in passing to warn Sheldon and Grace that Revive could very well be an enemy.
'I need something strong and metal…' The Speedster's mind roared.
"He needs something strong and metallic…" Walter stated.
Chloe's eyes widened.
"If the imaginary friend is real, then…" Chloe glanced at her wrist, recalling the specific childhood memory that got her to wait outside for an entire week when she was sixteen years old.
Under everyone's astonished gazes…
Two golden-silver wrist cuffs manifested on Chloe's arms.
They didn't have time to be amazed because Chloe blurred forward and shoved one of the wrist cuffs into Revive's hand.
"Thanks…"
The Speedster's voice was weak but clearly heard.
Grace blurred and grabbed Chloe the next second, once again placing herself between The Speedster and her family members.
"What do you want with our children?" Grace questioned, internally panicking.
If Revive really was the lightning-time man from her children's stories, then that meant he could have evaded their notice and got to the children fifteen years ago.
It took a lot to evade Grace's senses and even more to evade Sheldon's.
"Honey…" Sheldon floated to Grace's side. "I don't think he means us any harm… I can tell, remember?"
With Sheldon's statement, Grace relaxed a bit.
UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH
Revive gritted his teeth and focused on the solid in his palm, channeling every bit of remaining cell energy into his hands, and subsequently into the cuff.
It was torturous.
It caused untold damage to his cellular structure.
Still, The Speedster channeled every bit of infected Speed Force energy out of his body.
He was severing the connection himself.
As the energy rushed into the golden-silver cuff, the divine weapon lost its luster and became saturated with chaotic, abyssal energies.
Silver became black…
That black became the abyss…
The process took three minutes to complete and when it was done, Revive toppled over and coughed up bruised blood and transparent fluids.
Then The Speedster sunk into unconsciousness.
-------------
"What the heck just happened?" Brandon questioned.
The family was now seated in the living room.
Sheldon moved The Speedster into Brandon's old room and surprisingly, it was done at Revive's unconscious insistence.
Chloe lingered, which was both surprising and unsurprising – she was clearly at the center of the mystery and it wasn't like Sheldon and Grace would allow her to leave.
Grace made everyone a drink.
They sat and they waited…
"Do you have anything to share with the family, Chloe?"
There was a bit of blame in Sheldon's tone.
"Why is it then when everything goes wrong, you look to me first, huh?" Chloe immediately got defensive, lashing out at her father with the full force of her chaotic mind. "Am I just the family fuckup to you?"
"Language, Chloe!"
"Hey… both of you quiet down!" Grace ordered.
Sheldon's and Chloe's lips curled downward but they didn't speak anymore.
"He is unconscious; can you get into his mind now?" Grace inquired, turning to Walter.
Walter had two fingers on the side of his head with his eyes closed – it continued like that for another second or two before his eyes reopened.
"Nothing…" He announced, clearly perplexed and upset. "Your mind is now the second strongest mind I have been up against…" Brainwave told his brother, Sheldon.
"Brandon, is there anything you can remember from when you were small? What did he want? What did he say?"
"I can't remember…" Brandon shrugged, running his hand through his hair as he sunk into thought. "I think… I kinda remember the guy giving me, Chloe and Hutch massages. Then everything kinda became slow. Honestly, I dismissed the memories a long time ago."
Walter's, Sheldon's, and Grace's eyes widened when they heard massages.
They were ready to ram through the ceiling and beat Revive to death.
Luckily, Chloe remembered the day perfectly.
"Massages…" She chuckled sarcastically, a bit of disappointment in her tone.
It was a story she had told her parents a thousand times and still, they had forgotten it.
"We were playing heroes and villains… I was the hero and Hutch and Brandon were the villains. Hutch was acting like an asshat so I wanted to teach him a lesson," Chloe explained, leaning back into the couch as an honest smile adorned her face. "I remember wanting to scream but I couldn't because, at the last moment, someone had turned me around and a shock went through my body – I could no longer feel my powers."
Sheldon's and Grace's eyes widened.
"You were young but to suppress your powers?" Walter spoke, mostly to himself but he did want the others to hear. "He should have at least been as strong as me."
"Anyways… he said I could scream at him and I was still kind of mad so I did… his face vibrated really fast and my voice dispersed all around us. It felt like someone was massaging our bodies when the sound waves hit," Chloe chuckled for a moment then continued. "Then, he kinda showed us how the world looked in his eyes. I remember watching a bee take an entire minute to flap its wings. The world was distorted but everything felt as if it was going really fast. He played with us for a while, then gave me cool cuffs and left. I never saw the cuffs again so…"
"That's who you were waiting for when you were sixteen?" Grace suddenly connected the dots.
Chloe had been manageable until she turned sixteen and faced countless disappointments… then, she became someone completely different.
'This was a part of it…' Grace thought.
"Yeah…" Chloe awkwardly confirmed her mother's thoughts. "The Lightning-Time guy said he'd be back when I turned sixteen but… just another disappointment… until tonight, I guess."
"I think he came for you," Sheldon mentioned.
"What?" Chloe frowned.
"You kids haven't mastered your senses enough to see but—" Walter projected the scenario into everyone's mind but Sheldon's. "He arrived and the first thing he did was go to you… he said sorry for being late. Then, whatever was attacking him started to win the battle."
"Then, he's a creep?" Chloe shrugged, dismissing whatever crazy ideas were forming in everyone's heads.
"But the way he looked at you, honey…" Grace could not help but hold her breath. "He looked as if he would run to the end of the world for you."
"And maybe he did," Brandon voiced, suddenly recalling something from when he was young. "If an injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared, severities should be dealt out all at once so that their suddenness may give less offense… He said we would need to know that someday."
Sheldon frowned. "You will never need to know that as long as you're a hero, Brandon."
Walter, on the other hand, looked intrigued.
"Chloe should be here when he wakes up…" Brainwave suggested, tilting his head toward the ceiling. "I think we have a better chance of getting answers if Chloe is around."
"I was thinking we should take him to The Union, gather everyone, and decide from there," Sheldon mused.
"No, dad…" Brandon spoke up. "I am with Uncle Walter on this. This guy appeared in front of our family a decade ago, and I want to know why."
Grace silently nodded.
"I guess it's too late to wait now," Sheldon revealed. "He is awake after all."
Utopia turned his head to the stairs. "You coming down?" He questioned.
"It's not for a lack of trying…" A voice replied.
Everyone was surprised by how casual the voice sounded.
There was always a sense of awe in people's voices whenever they were near the first family of heroes – this voice lacked that sense of awe and reverence.
It was refreshing, even to Walter.
"Let me aid you," Brainwave suggested.
He pressed two fingers to his temple and Revive hovered down the stairs, floated to a spot on the couch, and was gently placed on the cushion.
"Thanks, Walter…" The Speedster sighed in comfort. "I had to sever my connection to The Speed Force so I am very fucking powerless right now…"
"Language," Sheldon warned.
"Thanks for the reminder, Sheldon," Revive snorted disrespectfully. "God damned, you're a stickler everywhere, huh?"
"Don't talk to my dad like that," Brandon defended.
Revive's eyes narrowed on Brandon for a second, then went to his father, then back to Brandon. "I guess you guys are lucky I am here… the universes where Paragon is trying to be the same type of hero as Utopia always end in planetary destruction."
Sheldon's and Grace's eyes narrowed.
Walter's power also started to build.
"So, you're a what?" Grace questioned. "Reality Warper?"
"You have seen those?" The Speedster sounded surprised. "On the outskirts of the Multiverse and you still get Reality Warpers. I guess there are infections everywhere."
Sheldon sighed as if he had figured it out. "He's a trans-dimensional Being," He concluded.
"No, he's not…" Walter stated.
"No, I am not…" Revive stated at the same time.
Walter continued, gesturing to the lightning bolt symbol on Revive's chest. "I have seen that particular lightning bolt design before."
"Where?" Sheldon inquired.
Grace's eyes widened in realization.
"It was engraved in the walls of the planet that gave us these powers," Walter revealed, a bit of awe in his voice.
Brandon's and Chloe's eyes widened as well.
"Are you our—"
"Creator? No…" Revive killed the question as soon as it formed in their minds. "But I am linked to your origins in many Universes. The story runs along the same script most of the time but I won't know what to tell you until I know where I am…"
"Why not tell us everything before we decide to take it out of your head," Walter threatened, though it was mostly for show.
"If a third-rate psychic could extract information from my mind, I would have been long dead," Revive closed his eyes and reopened them as a serious person. "I can't tell you what or who made you… but I can tell you their reason – my reason?"
Sheldon, Grace, and Walter hovered into their chairs.
Brandon and Chloe remained standing, and Revive was trying his best not to look at Chloe.
"There is a war—"
"Same old story," Walter sighed dismissively. "Another trans-dimensional entity looking for help when we can't even keep America afloat."
"That war has already been lost."
Walter quieted down at that statement.
"Don't you mean there was a war?" Brandon corrected.
"Is, was, will be – it's all the same to me," Revive revealed, then narrowed his eyes at everyone gathered. "If you want me to be grammatically correct, then I should say – you lost the war!"
"We lost the war?" Grace muttered.
"Yes, you did…"
"We won the war," Walter corrected.
"I have no doubt you guys have won many wars in your time but the kind of war I am talking about extends beyond reality," Revive corrected their perceptions. "This war transcends boundaries, dimensions, planets, and entire universes. And it starts here."
"It was a blip on the Multiversal scale but by the time we noticed something was wrong, it had consumed trillions of realities. We fought for a long time… a war that was endless but the Multiverse lost. I was powerless to do anything but I devised a way to… I made myself the ultimate power source – something capable of bending time, space, and existence to get me here. To where it all started…"
"So, you're not a hero?" Brandon questioned.
"I am what you call a Metahuman…"
"Metahuman?" Sheldon inquired.
Revive was confused. "You don't have metahumans here?"
They shook their heads.
"Then you are in for a surprise…" The Speedster chuckled. "Metahumans, Mutants, Hybrid Humans, Bloodline Humans, Mages, Wizards, Witches, Magus, Wiccans, Inhumans, Amazons, Atlanteans, Olympians… Gods, Demons…"
The more Revive listed, the more Sheldon's, Grace's, Walter's, and Brandon's faces paled.
"And you're saying those… things… are coming here?" Walter questioned.
"Not coming… they are here, just waiting for the reaction to wake up or currently hiding in a small part of the world," Revive rubbed his head tiredly – the conversation was taking a lot out of him. "You can feel the urgency of a Universe in preparation… because you guys are the response."
"Excuse me?" Grace quirked a brow, gesturing to herself and then to her children and husband. "We are a response?"
"Yes, you are… a response as ancient as it comes," Revive voiced. "A planet in trouble will respond and this response gave birth to the first heroes. But if I understand it correctly, you guys have been worrying about America?"
"It's our home," Sheldon justified.
"It's a stupid use of your power… you were given this power by a planet that responded to the Universe's call," The Speedster frowned deeply, massaging his temples to suppress the bubbling anger. "Your duty is to the Universe first, the planet next, and then all of humanity last!"
Walter suppressed a smirk.
Sheldon rose from his seat, ready for the battle of convictions.
"And my daughter?" Grace quickly changed the topic, gesturing to Chloe. "Why did you go to my daughter, specifically?"
"That's…" Revive hesitated and turned to Chloe, staring into her eyes as intensely as a human could. "—that's private."
"Well, I am hereby un-private-ing it…" Chloe joined the conversation, finally feeling a bit soberer. "I want to know why you came to me."
Brandon, Walter, Sheldon, and Grace focused on the next part of the conversation.
"Chloe… I promised," Revive's voice was pleading. "I promised I wouldn't tell you until you're ready… and look at you, you're a mess. You aren't ready for this."
"You think I-I am a mess?"
Chloe's heart shook – she had heard it from her parents, her brother, and her friends, but she had never heard it from Revive.
The Man of Lightning and Time that made up her life until the awakening age of sixteen.
"I AM ONLY A MESS BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP AT 16 LIKE YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD!" Chloe yelled.
Revive was stunned.
"You're not sixteen?" He questioned, a bit shell-shocked.
"She's twenty-two…" Brandon stated, placing an arm around his sister's shoulder. "Sixteen was a tough time for her…"
Sheldon remained silent and still.
Grace walked over and embraced her daughter.
Walter watched everything with interest but at the back of his mind, he was worried about just how much Revive knew.
"Then I am six years late," Revive shed two streaks of tears but quickly wiped them from his eyes.
He stood and walked to Chloe, taking her hands into his.
Chloe didn't fight him – she didn't feel the need to fight someone who could look into her eyes like she was the only person to exist.
Her father and mother had never looked into her eyes that way… no one had.
"You want to know who we are to each other, well—" Revive interlocked their fingers and turned his hand over, finally bringing attention to the vibranium signet ring on his ring finger.
The ring glowed.
The transparent braces on Chloe's arms flickered into existence and glowed a deep purple.
Suddenly, everyone understood.
"You're my wife, Chloe…"
Revive dropped the bomb.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
The_Eternal_Ocean
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