⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘

CHAPTER TWENTY
he's back

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

CHRISTMAS TIME WAS arguably Juliet's favorite time of the year. The decorations, the gifts, the spending time with family . . . everything about it just made her so happy. She would finally see her little sister, Noelle, and her parents on the actual day of Christmas for the first time since waking up from her coma, and saying that she was excited was an understatement.

But for now, she sat in Joe's living room, the same exact one that she had spent many Christmases in with Joe, Barry, Iris, and Noelle. She sat on the couch next to Barry, A Christmas Carol on the T.V. Iris was in the kitchen. Joe was currently decorating the tree, and Juliet and Barry were taking turns on handing him ornaments.

"There's only two boxes left," Joe voiced.

"You know, at this rate, we'll be finished by Easter," Barry replied.

Joe laughed at that. However, Barry looked up, a wide grin on his face.

"Don't even," Joe began.

In a flash of yellow lightning, Barry got up and started to decorate the tree. Juliet had barely moved the hair that had blown in her face out of the way when Barry flopped back down on the couch, smiling in satisfaction at the fully decorated tree.

"Okay, the only red-suited dude I want in this house right know is Kris Kringle, you got it?"

Barry rolled his eyes and stood back up. He then sped around the tree, taking off all the ornaments he had just put on. After sitting back down next to Juliet, he placed an ornament in Joe's outstretched hand. Juliet shook her head, a soft grin on her face.

Iris then came back into the room, a tray of four mugs in her hand, and gave Barry and Juliet a scolding glance. "Uh, these ornaments are not going to hang themselves."

"Mm-hmm," Barry hummed in agreement.

Iris then handed each of them a mug. "Grandma Esther's recipe, light on the bourbon."

Joe took a sip and slightly winced. "I always loved her definition of light." He then pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket. "And the Christmas tradition continues." He answered the phone. "Detective West. Yeah? All right." He hung up. "Sorry, kids, the D.A. wants to ask me some questions. Make sure there's some nog left for me when I get back."

Juliet smiled at him, taking a sip of her eggnog. "I cannot promise you anything."

Once Joe closed the door behind him, Iris shut off the T.V. She then walked over to Juliet and took the mug of eggnog out of her hand. Juliet made a noise of protest, but Iris took both of her hands in hers and pulled her off the couch, making her sit on the floor. Iris then did the same with Barry.

"Oh, come on, we're doing this already?" Barry asked. "Christmas isn't for a few days."

"I couldn't wait any longer," Iris admitted. "Plus, Jules will be gone on the actual day of Christmas, so . . ."

She pulled out six presents from under the tree. Iris placed the box Barry got for her in Barry's hands to wait, but then she grabbed it back.

"Oh, wait, me first."

Iris unwrapped the wrapping paper and held a dark red jewelry box in her hands. She looked at Barry in shock, who merely just shrugged. Iris opened it up and pulled out a gold chain that had a ring around it. Juliet felt her heart warm for Iris at the gift.

"My mother's wedding band?" Iris questioned.

"A replica, yeah," Barry corrected. "I mean, you were devastated when you lost the real one."

"Our fifth-grade field trip . . ."

"To the zoo," all three of them chorused.

"I held you every time you cried," Juliet remembered. "You didn't stop for weeks."

Barry then took the necklace from her. "Here."

Juliet watched as Iris turned around, moving her hair out of the way.

"You remembered," Iris stated.

Barry clasped it around her neck. "Steel trap."

Iris pulled him into a hug. "I don't know what to say. My gift to either of you so sucks in comparison, by the way."

Juliet shook her head. "That's not true, and you know it. Want to open mine?"

"Oh, absolutely."

Iris picked up the small wrapped box that Juliet had gotten her. She unwrapped it, only for it to reveal another jewelry box, this one much smaller. Iris opened the top to reveal a small silver ring that had the Cancer symbol on it, Iris' Zodiac sign.

"You always joked that even though you're a Cancer, we were twin fire signs," Juliet explained. She showed her hand to Iris, revealing a matching ring that had the Sagittarius symbol on it. "I've got a matching one."

Iris put down the box and tackled Juliet in a hug, making her laugh and hug her back. "I love it. Thank you, Jules." She pulled away and placed the ring on her finger. "What'd you get Barry?"

"Oh." Juliet picked up a large rectangular present that was a little heavy and handed it off to him. "Here."

Barry took it from her and unwrapped it. It was revealed to be a quite large book of stars, planets, constellations, and galaxies. He stared down at it, a soft grin forming on his face as he ran his fingers over the textured cover.

"You used to tell me that you and your mom liked to sit on the back deck and stare up at the stars," Juliet elaborated. "Thought maybe you'd like to learn about them more."

"I love it, J," Barry said, and she felt her cheeks get hot. "Thank you." He then offered her a small box. "For you."

Juliet grabbed the box from him and unwrapped it. It was a DVD of the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. Juliet felt her heart swell. Her, Barry, and Iris used to watch it all the time as kids, and over time, it evolved into her comfort movie. She would watch it every time she was sad.

"You were complaining how the one you have has scratches all over it and kept skipping parts, so I decided to get you a new one."

"Oh my God, Barry, that's so sweet," Juliet responded. "Thank you so much."

Iris clapped her hands excitedly. "Okay, okay. Now you two can open mine at the same time."

Juliet picked up the only present remaining by her and unwrapped it. Once she saw what it was, she immediately let out a laugh. Barry had also gotten the same present as her. It was a microscope, since the two had been complaining the ones in their lab weren't working as well as they used to.

"It's supposed to be the best one on the market," Iris voiced. "I thought you two could maybe use new ones. It's lame, I know."

"No, no, this is great," Barry protested. "I love it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, of course."

There was then a knock at the door. Iris got up and rushed to get it. When she opened the door, Eddie came in and started to take off his jacket.

"Hey, babe," Iris greeted.

Eddie kissed her quickly. "Hey, Barry. Hey, Juliet." He then noticed Iris' necklace. "Nice ring."

"It's beautiful, isn't it? It's an exact replica of my mom's. Barry got it for me."

"That's very thoughtful, Barr."

Juliet's eyes slightly widened as she felt the tension in the room. She pushed herself up off the floor and sat back down on the couch, grabbing her mug of eggnog again.

"So are we tree trimming?" Eddie inquired.

"Yeah," Iris replied. "Come on."

Barry immediately put the book Juliet had got him in his lap and opened up to the first page. Juliet grinned and looked over his shoulder, looking down the table of contents.

"There's a lot of stuff in here," Barry said, his eyes scanning down the list. "I can't believe you remembered me telling you about how mom and I used to stargaze."

Juliet shrugged. "I just have a knack for remembering things sometimes." She then pointed to something on the list. "Ooh! We can learn about the constellations that represent the Zodiac signs."

The two of them read the book and helped Eddie and Iris decorate for a little longer before they decided to head over to S.T.A.R. Labs, Iris sending them away with a thermos of eggnog. When Juliet appeared in the cortex, Barry sped in next to her, holding a bag of gifts. Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells all gathered around them.

"Merry Christmas," Barry told them, handing them each a gift that him and Juliet had gotten for them. "Just a small token of J and I's gratitude."

"Aw," Dr. Wells commented.

"For everything you guys have done for us this year."

"I think I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say you've been gifts for us, Barry and Juliet."

"What's that?" Caitlin asked, noticing the thermos in Juliet's hands.

Juliet held it up. "Oh. This is from Iris, it's her Grandma Esther's famous eggnog."

Cisco pointed at it. "That's what I'm talking about."

"Maybe later for me," Dr. Wells said, starting to wheel himself out of the cortex. "Wouldn't want to drink or drive."

Juliet watched him with a frown before turning back to Caitlin, lowering her voice. "What? Did I say something? It's the eggnog, isn't it."

Caitlin shook her head. "No."

"No, Jules," Cisco agreed. "He, um — this used to be his favorite time of year, but the accident happened before Christmas, so . . . kind of ruined the holidays."

"I'm going to go get him a present," Caitlin announced. "Maybe that'll cheer him up." She slightly raised the gift in her hand. "Thank you very much."

"Yeah," Barry stated. "So what are you doing for Christmas, Cisco?"

After discussing a little of their Christmas plans, Juliet teleported back to her apartment. She decided against teleporting straight in and appeared at the end of her hallway in a corner. Juliet started to approach her door, pulling her keys out as she did so.

However, as she walked up to her door, she noticed there was a bouquet of red flowers outside her door. Her eyebrows knit in confusion and she bent down, picking up the vase. There was a card sticking out of it, and she took it, reading the little note.

Merry Christmas, Jules. Thought you might like these — after all, red is always better.

- Ollie

Juliet felt her heart beat against her chest and a smile appear on her face. She unlocked her door and entered her apartment, her cheeks flushing a light shade of scarlet.

However, the day that had started out so happy had suddenly gotten very dark. Juliet and Barry were called to a crime scene at Mercury Labs, where multiple people had been murdered. She crouched down next to one of the dead bodies, her eyebrows knit in confusion as she stared at the blood.

"Something's not right, Barry," Juliet told him quietly. "This isn't natural."

Barry nodded. "I know."

Joe walked up to the two of them. "Hey. What are you two thinking?"

Barry stood up, Juliet doing so as well. "The blood splatter patterns and trajectory of the remains — only a high-speed collision could have done this. But to cause this type of damage to a human in this space? Whatever hit them would have to been moving fast."

"Get this," Eddie voiced, and Juliet turned to face him. "The witness says all he saw was a blur. Sound familiar?"

Juliet glanced up at Barry for a moment. It was clear Eddie thought it was the Flash had done this, but it definitely wasn't. However, another blur . . . pieces of a horrible puzzle started to be connected in Juliet's head. Her, Barry, and Joe then walked up to the witness.

"You said you saw a blur?" Juliet began once they reached him. "What do you think it was?"

"Whatever it was, it was looking for something," the witness answered.

"Did you happen to see it? To you, what did it look like?"

"Like a — a man in some kind of yellow suit."

Juliet felt like her veins had turned to ice. She looked up at Barry in concern, who seemed to have froze. Barry immediately walked off, panic written all over his face.

"Barry, listen—" Joe started to protest.

"I have to check my files," Barry let out. "Joe, you heard him, all right? The man that killed my mom — he's back."

"I know. He's been in town for a few weeks now. He paid a visit to me at the house, he took all the evidence from your mom's case. The files are gone."

Juliet's eyes widened. "Joe, what? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I couldn't," Joe insisted.

"Why?" Barry inquired.

"Because he threatened to kill Iris." His eyes then flickered worryingly to Juliet. "And Noelle."

Juliet felt like somebody just punched her right in the stomach. Every limb froze and her mind started to spin. Both her best friend and her little sister having threats over their heads? She couldn't believe it. And Juliet couldn't let that happen.

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THE NEXT DAY, after receiving all that news, Juliet, Barry, and Joe went back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells all gathered around in the cortex to hear what had happened. Juliet sat in a spinning chair next to Barry, her knee bouncing up and down anxiously.

"The witness described seeing a yellow blur, just like the one that killed Barry's mother," Joe explained.

"Then we need to get cracking and stop this speed psycho," Cisco stated before placing a candy cane in his mouth. "That — I wasn't trying to give him a name."

"The floor that the crime scene was on at Mercury Labs had highly secured vaults, and according to the witness, the yellow blur was looking for something," Juliet revealed.

"Whatever it was, he wanted it badly enough to kill for it," Dr. Wells said.

"Doctor, what do you know about this Mercury Labs?" Joe asked.

"Mercury was one of S.T.A.R. Labs' major competitors until our little setback, and then it catapulted to the forefront led by Dr. Christina McGee." He pulled her picture that was in an article up on the television. "Brilliant but egocentric physicist."

Cisco read the article. "It says here Dr. McGee has secured half a billion dollars in private funding to develop, and I quote, prototypes for the technology of the future."

"Well, I'll be," Dr. Wells voiced. "Tina's messing with tachyons, superluminal particles."

"Of course," Joe replied. "So what could someone do with one of those . . ."

"Tachyons."

"Thank you."

Dr. Wells shook his head. "Well, I don't know. Become invincible? If you could devise a matrix stable enough to harness their power, you could travel faster than light."

"Oh, love that," Juliet commented. "Yeah, that's exactly what we need. Great."

"He's going to try to get them again, so we need to get what Mercury has and use it as a lure."

"Exactly right," Dr. Wells agreed. "Cisco, Caitlin, let's start engineering a trap."

"You got it," Cisco responded.

"Of course," Caitlin added.

Not long later, Juliet found herself standing back in the precinct at the CCPD. Her, Barry, and Dr. Wells were standing there with Dr. Tina McGee, who they had called in to ask about last night.

"Barry Allen," Barry introduced himself, shaking Dr. McGee's hand.

Juliet did the same. "And I'm Juliet St. James. Thank you so much for coming in."

"Dr. Tina McGee," Dr. McGee replied. "I assume this is about last night's break-in?"

"Well, yes and no," Dr. Wells said.

"That's usually how things are with you, aren't they, Harrison?"

"We believe that whoever broke in was after one of your prototypes," Barry voiced.

"You'll have to narrow that down," Dr. McGee told them. "We have literally hundreds of projects in development."

"This one contains tachyonic particles," Juliet explained.

"We've had encouraging success with tachyons, yes, but there's still a significant gap between our prototype and any real-life application."

"We were hoping you would lend us your prototype to use as a lure," Barry continued.

Dr. McGee looked at Dr. Wells. "Us? You're assisting the police now, Harrison?"

"I'm consulting on this particular case," Dr. Wells answered. "Listen, Tina, once this man is apprehended, your prototype will be promptly returned. You know nobody wants to ensure the future's technology more than me."

"I appreciate the CCPD's concerns, Mr. Allen and Ms. St. James, but Mercury is quite capable of protecting its own assets. Good luck with your manhunt."

Juliet let out a sigh and shared a look with Barry. This really wasn't looking good for them so far.

Dr. Wells had decided to leave, and Juliet and Barry went back up to their labs. They worked on a couple different things before Barry ultimately decided to sit down in his chair, lifting up the map on the bulletin board to stare at the crime scene board of his mother's murder. Juliet left him be for now, cleaning up their lab a little bit, allowing Barry to just be lost in his thoughts.

"Hi, Jules," a familiar voice then began, and Juliet looked up to see Iris walking into the lab. "Hi, Barry."

"Hey, 'Ris," Juliet replied, shutting the case folder she was organizing. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to talk to Barry about something really quick." Iris stared at Barry, who was still focused on the bulletin board. "Barry? Hello, Barry? Barry?"

Juliet rolled her eyes and walked up to Barry, clapping her hands in his face. "Hey!"

Barry jumped and slightly rolled backwards in his chair. "Oh my God. J, what was that for?"

Juliet gestured to Iris. "You've got a visitor."

"I called your name, like—" Iris started to say, but she stopped in her tracks once her eyes set on the bulletin board. "Your mom's case."

"I used to study this board every day," Barry admitted. "Lately, I haven't looked at it as much as I should have."

"I didn't know you did that."

Barry looked up at her. "I guess there's still some stuff about me you don't know."

Juliet froze for a moment before shaking her head. Wow, way to be subtle.

"Eddie asked me to move in with him," Iris revealed.

Juliet's head snapped up. "The fuck? You didn't tell me that. What did you say?"

"I said yes."

Juliet grinned and walked up to Iris, pulling her into a tight hug for a moment.

"Wow," Barry commented quietly when Juliet and Iris untangled themselves from each other, rolling his chair back to his desk and pulling out his phone. "You guys are moving pretty fast, huh?"

"Well, I mean, it's been a year," Iris insisted. "Eddie thought you might feel weird about it."

"What — I don't — why would he say that?"

"He thinks that you . . . like me romantically. I mean, honestly, it sounds even silly suggesting it. Um . . ."

"I mean, Eddie's wrong," Barry told Iris, clearly lying through his teeth, but she didn't know that. "I — and if I've seemed weird before, it's just that this year has gone by really fast, and I guess I didn't realize how far along in your relationship you guys were."

Iris let out a sigh of relief. "That's what I told him. Well, I guess I should get going. Bye."

"Bye, 'Ris," Juliet responded. Once Iris was completely gone, Juliet looked down at Barry and crossed her arms. "You're not exactly subtle, you know. In fact, it's quite obvious."

Barry groaned and put his face in his hands. "I know."

Juliet sighed. "Barry, I love you, but you're being real fucking dumb right now. You cannot keep doing this to her. She's with Eddie. Yeah, it's hard, and yeah, it sucks, but you're making her all confused. Iris doesn't deserve that."

She stood there, waiting for a response. However, she didn't get one, because their conversation was cut short by somebody with red lightning.

Juliet suddenly felt an arm wrap around her waist and whisk her away. She gasped and felt the wind fly through her hair and whip across her cheeks. It was exactly like what it felt like when Barry would run with her. However, this arm did not feel like Barry Allen. Even moving at super speed, Juliet managed to look down. Wrapped around her waist was an arm covered with a yellow suit.

Her eyes widened, and then suddenly, they stopped. The man let her go on a sidewalk where no one was around. Juliet stumbled backwards, staring at the man in the yellow suit in full form. His eyes were red, just like Barry had described, and he was vibrating fast.

"What the hell?" Juliet let out, breathing heavily.

Barry then suddenly sped up on the sidewalk. "Juliet! Are you okay?"

She teleported away from the man over to Barry, who instantly pushed her behind his back. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Barry stared at the man. "It was you. You were the one in my house that night. You killed my mother! Why?"

"If you want to know that, you're going to have to catch me," the man responded, his voice deep and vibrating as well. "Or, in other terms, catch her."

Juliet, once again, had no time to prepare herself before the man ran behind Barry, picked her up, and ran away. She shut her eyes so she wouldn't get disoriented by the buildings flashing by her. Juliet could've used her powers, but moving at such a fast speed, she barely even had time to think. She wasn't used to superspeed like Barry was.

Finally, everything stopped. Juliet felt herself get dropped to the ground. She felt grass on her hands, and when she opened her eyes, they were standing in the football stadium in Central City. Juliet scrambled to her feet and walked backwards for a moment.

She watched helplessly as the yellow lightning of Barry and the red lightning of the man in the yellow suit ran straight a each other. Juliet gasped as Barry got flipped over and landed on the ground.

The man looked down at him. "Not fast enough, Flash."

He then picked Barry up and started to run him around the stadium. Juliet stood there, feeling completely useless. She could only focus on people and stop them from moving if they weren't moving at super speed. Every time she tried, the speedster would just keep moving, his super speed apparently winning in the fight with Juliet's brain.

Finally, the man came back. He threw Barry on the ground and kicked him, sending him rolling on the field. The man then sprinted back in front of Barry.

"Who are you?" Barry demanded.

"You know who I am, Barry," the man revealed.

Barry got up and went to fight him, but the man just started to punch him. The man punched Barry back down to the ground. Juliet felt her mind freeze. It seemed like what she was watching wasn't real, and she couldn't snap out of it.

"I don't know who you are," Barry said.

"But you do, Barry," the man insisted. "We've been at this a long time, you and I, but I'm always one step ahead."

Now that he was stationary and distracted, Juliet summoned a red ball of energy in her hand. With a yell, she threw it straight at the man in the yellow suit. However, it seemed like he expected it, since he dodged it as it came. The man then took Barry by the neck and slammed him down on the ground.

"It is your destiny to lose to me, Flash, just as it was your mother's destiny to die that night."

The man then sped right in front of Juliet, making her stumble backwards and her back press into a wall, and even through his vibrating face, she could see a smirk. "May we meet again, Scarlet."

With that, in a flash of red lightning, the man in the yellow suit sped away and was not seen again.

"Barry," Juliet breathed out, instantly teleporting to his side on the field. She sunk to her knees next to him and took his face in her hands, inspecting his wound. "Barry, oh my God, are you okay?"

"He took you," Barry stated with a groan of pain. "He took you and I couldn't do anything about it."

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay."

Gently, Juliet sat him up. Immediately, Barry rested his head against her chest. Juliet held him close to her, holding onto his head with one of her hands. She didn't even care that she was getting blood on her shirt, because it was just the two of them on the field, trying to process what the hell had just happened.

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OLIVER SENT HER FLOWERS I'M SCREAMING