Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kara woke up suddenly. She hadn't remembered falling asleep but as she blinked awake, finding herself in her apartment, she breathed a sigh of relief. The Monitor, the destruction of her world, her being a Paragon… maybe it had all been a dream? Or some sort of hallucination. She was due for her yearly coma adventure, after all.

Movement beside her had her jumping up before a regular human could blink; she held the sheet over herself as she realized she was naked, looking down at the man in her bed.

"Kara… you okay?" Mon-El was lying on the bed, also naked, looking at her in confusion.

"Mon…?" Kara blinked, taking in his frame, his short beard and deep blue eyes. "You… but you… what are you doing here?"

"Lying in my bed with my wife… at least, that's what I thought?" Mon sat up, concern on his face.

"Wife…? But Imra…?" Kara began.

"Who's Imra?" Mon asked.

"She's your wife!" Kara responded. He'd returned to the future with her and Winn after all.

"No… you're my wife, Kara. Are you sure you're okay?" Mon sat up and moved next to her. "Is this...? You've yet to have any symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Kara was more confused than ever now. "I don't… I need air," Kara stated, and in seconds she was flying above the city, thankful that the nano technology from Brainy still worked for her glasses as she was in her new costume, and extremely confused. How was Mon back and why didn't he know about Imra? How was she and him married? Had Crisis been a dream…?

"Supergirl!" The voice in her ear made her nearly jump out of her skin.

"Alex. Thank Rao it's you," Kara now smiled, feeling glad something was right. "What's up?"

"There's trouble down in the bay. Weather Witch is causing a disturbance," Alex stated.

"Weather Witch?" Kara had never heard of this one before, but obviously Alex had. "Whatever. I'm heading there now…" without another word, she flew to the bay to see a darker girl in a black outfit, wielding a staff; it had electricity coming out of it, which she blocked with her body.

"Damn you, Supergirl!" This supposed Weather Witch shouted, swinging the staff, now creating a mini tornado.

"Urgh," Kara groaned, about to take on the tornado with her freeze breath but was surprised by a flash of light and Weather Witch flying down the dock, knocked out by a punch. A man in a yellow and red costume stood there, arms folding as Kara blinked.

"Sorry I took so long, Supergirl," the obvious speedster stated. "Red tape and all that…"

"Urm, who are you?" Kara asked, really confused now.

"I'm Kid Flash," the new flash stated. "We've teamed up loads of times."

"We have?" Kara blinked as Kid Flash moved forward, taking some sort of handcuffs off his person and putting them on the now-unconscious Weather Witch.

"Look, I know you prefer working with the Flash – everyone does – but he's on honeymoon. Here, take this," Kid Flash threw the staff to Kara, who caught it.

"The Flash is on a honeymoon?" Kara asked. Iris and Barry got married a while back. "Hang on, why are you on my Earth anyway?"

"Your Earth?" Kid Flash frowned at her as he pulled Weather Witch back to them – his punch had sent her far. "This is our Earth."

"Our Earth?" Kara felt lost.

"Yeah, see Central City over there," he pointed across the water to the city across the bay. Kara had been so distracted she hadn't noticed the city that hadn't been there the previous day, but she recognised the buildings from her time on Barry's Earth as that from Central City. She turned though, looking to her city, just to confirm it was National City she had been in – which it was, given the fact that CatCo stood prominently, along with Luthor Corp.

"Luthor Corp?" Kara asked, distracted by this sudden change. "Shouldn't that be L-Corp?"

"Are you okay, Supergirl?" Kid Flash asked, just as an ARGUS truck pulled up, agents coming out to grab Weather Witch.

"No," Kara finally admitted, gladly handing the staff to one of the ARGUS agents. "I think something's terribly wrong."

"I'll take you back the DEO," Kid Flash stated, surprising Kara as he actually picked her up and sped her back into the city; but she didn't complain.

Being dropped off at the DEO, Kara came face-to-face with Alex and J'onn.

"Kid Flash," Alex smiled at the superhero. "Thanks."

"It was me and Supergirl that handled Weather Witch. Thanks again for letting STAR be involved in your organisation," Kid Flash nodded to Alex.

"Any time. It's what Lex wanted," Alex smiled at that, causing Kara to feel even more angry and confused.

"Lex?! What's that asshole got to do with anything!" Kara shouted.

"I think we need a private word," J'onn countered before Alex or Kid Flash could react.

"Please," Kara sighed.

"I've got to go anyway. With Frost and Flash away, it's only Jesse Quick, myself and Vibe at STAR," Kid Flash stated, but Kara and J'onn had already moved off to a side room as Kid Flash ran off.

"Please tell me you know what's going on," Kara groaned to J'onn now. "Because I'm this close to getting myself put away into an asylum."

"You're not going mad," J'onn stated soothingly. "The Infinite Earths Crisis happened. Worlds lived, worlds died, and we brought what we could back – with the help of Oliver," J'onn explained. "I was confused myself when I woke, but it seems we came back to a point in time just before Crisis would have happened, albeit with some changes."

"Okay, Kid Flash, the Flash… that whole team?" Kara asked.

"When we brought the multiverse back, it seemed we combined our Earth with Earth-1. Now the heroes of both worlds exist and have since the start. Arrow, the Flash – even the Legends of Tomorrow – they all happened here, just as they did on their world, only we're here as well," J'onn stated.

"Okay…" Kara took a breath. "And Lex?"

"In typical Lex Luthor style, he put himself in charge of everything," J'onn sighed, pointing to the DEO logo in the room. "The DEO is no longer a government organisation – that title belongs to ARGUS – so we were founded and funded by the Luthor Corporation."

"So, I did wake up in my worst nightmare," Kara groaned, trying to keep herself calm.

"It's not all bad. Argo exists – in fact, they've colonised the dark side of the moon," J'onn pointed out.

"Seriously?" Kara blinked.

"Yeah. Clark and Lois stayed there while she was pregnant with the twins," J'onn explained.

"Clark has twins?" Kara grinned.

"And hey, you're with Valor, or Mon-El," J'onn changed topic.

"Yeah… exactly how did that happen?" Kara had to ask.

"On our original world Mon-El's mother manipulated Lena Luthor to bring her army to Earth. Well, on this world, Lena never took over Luthor Corp., Rhea couldn't manipulate Lex who apparently had her jailed. Mon-El was never forced to leave Earth and remained here – although not before Lex invented the lead cure Mon-El was supposed to be given in the future."

"Urgh," Kara sighed. "So, no Brainy?"

"No Brainy," J'onn nodded. "But we still have Winn – who indeed did design that new outfit."

"Well, that's something," Kara sighed. "What can we do?"

"What do you mean?" J'onn asked.

"What can we do about… everything? If you and I remember, then all the Paragons remember the old world, so Barry, Kate, Sara and the others would be like me, waking up in an unfamiliar world. Could you do a mind-thing to help us?" Kara tried.

"No… but I can do a mind-thing, as you call it, on our nearest and dearest," J'onn smirked, just as Alex knocked on the door.

"Are you guys alright?" Alex asked.

"Better," J'onn stated. "Why don't you come in, Director Danvers?"

"Okay… that didn't sound ominous at–" Alex started, moving into the room regardless, but before she could finish the sentence, J'onn had his fingers to her temple, reminding Kara of a Vulcan mind meld; it only lasted a few seconds before Alex suddenly backed away, blinking and breathing heavily.

"Alex…?" Kara asked, worried now.

"Kara… I… Oh man," Alex looked up at J'onn and Kara. "We survived the Crisis then?"

"More than survived," Kara grinned, glad her sister finally knew as she moved over to hug her. "We do, however, have a problem," Kara added, moving out from the hug as she pointed to the DEO sign with the Luthor Corp logo added to it.

"Oh god yeah, I remember that too," Alex sighed. "Lex Luthor's a good guy now. Or he wants us all to believe that."

"I should just snap his neck," Kara stated darkly.

"Snap who's neck?" Mon-El's voice interrupted them, as all three now looked to the doorway to see Mon in his Valor suit.

"J'onn…?" Kara sighed. J'onn smirked as Kara nodded and he sped to Mon to put his fingers to the Daxamite's temple.

"Damn…" Mon groaned after a moment. "That… I went to the future?" He looked to the rest of the room. "What the hell happened?"

"It's a long story, I'm just glad you're back to yourself," Kara started.

"We have bigger problems," Alex interrupted, grabbing a remote to turn on the television. "Just been informed of this…"

"Is that a giant Beebo…?" Kara asked, blinking at the giant stuffed toy parading the streets of National City. Alex had been told via her own earpiece.

"I think we need to gather the Paragons," J'onn stated.

"This is going to be interesting…" Mon-El stated, as he, Kara and J'onn headed out.

…

It had been a very unusual day. Kara and the other Paragons had taken on both the Giant Beebo – who had been created by some magical meta human – and had to defeat the Anti-Monitor… again. It had also appeared that Barry and Caitlin had been on honeymoon; Iris West's brother was Kid Flash, with Iris herself dead, having been killed by something called Savitar two years ago.

They couldn't reverse the decision to merge the Earth though, so they had instead embraced it, setting up some sort of superhero headquarters in the STAR Labs warehouse where Kara had first met the others – or at least, had in her memories of her old life. It was hard getting used to the new life they'd been given, and even harder understanding why their two worlds had been merged; but in the end, they were just thankful that they'd all survived.

Well, all but Oliver, but that was something Kara didn't want to address as she collapsed back in bed that night, Mon lying next to her.

"You don't mind sleeping in the same bed?" Mon asked tentatively now. "I mean, we're married but you don't remember, and my memories are now… kind of scrambled."

"It's fine," Kara stated. "I loved you once, and deep down I never stopped loving you. I only let you go back to the future because I thought it was best for you."

"That didn't happen though… not anymore," Mon pointed out.

"True," Kara couldn't help but smile. "This new world… It'll take some getting used to."

"At least I now know why you freaked on me this morning," Mon joked. "I thought it was some unusual form of morning sickness."

"Me freaking out is the least of our troubles," Kara stated, rolling over to look at Mon, unsurprised to see that he had been lying on his side and looking at her the entire time. "Wait, morning sickness?"

"Oh..." Mon went red at this.

"You mean I'm...?" Kara asked, worried now.

"You are," Mon nodded. "From my other memories... you're about a month in. Not showing yet. Hasn't affected your powers. I'm the only other person who knows so far."

"Damn..." Kara groaned, lying back and putting her hands on her belly.

"But what else were you going to say?" Mon asked now, as Kara looked at him, frowning. "You said that you freaking out was the least of our worries."

"Oh yeah," Kara sighed, biting her lip.

"Is it to do with those bangs?" Mon joked, wiping away the hair that covered her forehead.

"Hey, I like my bangs!" Kara protested, jokingly, albeit slightly distracted now.

"Then it must be Lex Luthor," Mon surmised.

"Yeah. He's up to something," Kara stated. "He made himself this larger-than-life figure, head of the DEO, hero to all, best friend of Clark for Rao's sake! There's got to be something more. He hated Clark – he hated me – before Crisis. I don't think he's changed… not really."

"Then we'll investigate him, and stop him – together," Mon stated firmly, taking her free hand.

"Yeah," Kara smiled. "Together."

Chapter Text

He didn't remember how he got here, or where here was, but Barry blinked in confusion as he sat opposite Caitlin in a restaurant, she was saying something he only caught the end of though-

"…reminds me of Beauty and the Beast; well this is Paris after all," Caitlin grinned across the table from him. "It's weird to think it's only, what, 9am over in Central right now."

"Erm… what?" Barry looked around, confused as he looked back to Caitlin. "We're in Paris? But how?"

"Are you okay Barry?" Caitlin frowned, leaning forward across the table a little.

"I…" Barry paused. "We were rebooting the multiverse; Kara, Kate, J'onn and everyone… Oliver had just… and then I was here," Barry admitted, sounding a little deranged.

"Erm, no?" Caitlin stated. "We were having a romantic meal at our hotel restaurant."

"Romantic meal?" Barry paused.

"Obviously. We're on our honeymoon after all. Are you sure you're okay?" Caitlin asked as Barry moved back in his chair in shock.

"I… but… what?" Barry couldn't quite grasp what was going on.

"Urm… Let's head back to the room. We were done anyway," Caitlin sighed, obviously knowing something was off with Barry as she stood, and it was all Barry could do but follow her as they exited the restaurant and moved through reception and down a corridor to a large suite. Within was a large double bed; everything neatly arranged as the hotel staff had cleaned since.

Caitlin moved to the bed, sitting down before patting the sheet, indicating for Barry to sit next to him, which he did.

"What's going on? We were having such a wonderful time and then you just… flaked," Caitlin asked as Barry took a breath. She was his closest friend, he could confide in her, even if he had no idea what was happening.

"Crisis," he started. "It wiped out everything. We Paragons were left in what Sara called the Vanishing Point, but that didn't stop it. We had to reboot the multiverse and were helped by Oliver. But Oliver was dead, and then… I was in the restaurant with you."

"That… sounds like some wild dream, Barry. I know you dream in speed, but even for a momentary nod-off, that seems like a lot," Caitlin frowned, confused.

"It wasn't a dream!" Barry pointed out, not unkindly as he stood and started to pace. "Crisis really did happen. That's newspaper article in the Gideon room…"

"Oh," Caitlin's expression changed at that. "You… do you remember? That article vanished when Iris died."

"Iris is dead?!" Barry turned toward Caitlin at that, his hand absently going to the wedding ring on his finger.

"She was killed by Savitar two years ago… you went into a really dark place after that and then… do you not remember any of this?" Caitlin stood at that, moving to feel Barry' forehead. He didn't resist.

"No, like I said, the last thing I remember was Crisis… although come to think of it that newspaper article said Reverse Flash was involved but he was no where to be seen…" Barry paused at that, frowning himself. Had it all been a dream?

"I need to get you back to STAR Labs," Caitlin stated. "Only there do I have the equipment –"

"No. No… I mean, we're in Paris," Barry stated, having got that already. He was beginning to realize that, if it hadn't all been a dream, then whatever they'd done had restarted the universe in some way. Maybe only he and the other Paragons remembered Crisis while everyone else lived on as normal. He had to remain calm for Caitlin. "Just… what have I missed?"

"Missed? Okay... Well, what do you know?" Caitlin raised an eyebrow as Barry took a seat next to her on the bed again, showing he was calmer.

"Iris. I feel like what I know changes from there," Barry explained, wondering if there was a way to reverse this death. He and Iris had spent so long preparing for him to die in Crisis that he never considered the fact she would die instead. Sort of.

"Well, like I said, Savitar killed her," Caitlin stated, slowly. "You went into a deep depression after that, and I… well, Killer Frost, left Savitar because of that. Iris was her friend too. She regretted what she did, by teaming up with Savitar, so she kind of left for a while, leaving me to pick up the pieces. You were angry at the world, at your friends and me, but somehow, I got through to you. I picked you up, you stopped Savitar – and DeVoe – and then…" she indicated the room and then her own wedding finger.

"We married?" Barry summed it up. He did love her; he didn't know if he loved her like that, but he had been so hung up on Iris that maybe… it could happen.

"Yeah," Caitlin stated, suddenly looking away from Barry, who sensed this had suddenly got too much for her.

"Hey," Barry stated softly now, drawing her attention back to him. "I may not remember that right now, but that doesn't mean I don't love you." Caitlin smiled at that. "Maybe there's a way for me to get these alternative memories… I know J'onn has mind skills, maybe he…?" at that moment there was an alert on both their phones, both frowning as they pulled out their cell phones.

"Looks like our honeymoon's being cut short," Caitlin chuckled. "Beebo in National City."

"National City's on this Earth?" Barry asked.

"There's a giant Beebo wreaking havoc and that's the question you ask?!" Caitlin laughed as she reached into her clutch handbag to pull out a familiar extrapolator device. "Need to get to STAR first – both our outfits are there," she added as her hair started to go white and Barry chuckled, realizing she was still Killer Frost, after all.

…

Barry, as the Flash, sped into National City, just as a portal opened and Killer Frost appeared next to him.

"Good timing," Barry smirked as two people flew in besides them – Ray and Kara, albeit in their hero outfits.

"Barry!" Kara grinned going to hug him. He reciprocated the hug happily before glancing to the giant Beebo down the street.

"Oh, cool!" Ray stated as he pulled out his cell phone. "Smile!" Kara and Barry were in shot of his phone as they turned to look at Ray in exasperation; able to see the giant Beebo parading the streets on his phone behind them as he took the shot.

"Really, not the time," Barry stated as he turned and ran to Beebo, running around him before wondering what exactly he could do to defeat the giant stuffed toy.

"Any idea how to stop this… thing?" A voice spoke in their ears and the group looked up to the nearby building to see Batwoman observing the scene below.

"Hey! Kate's here," Kara grinned as Barry chuckled. It looked like the Paragons that mattered seemed to be gathering for Beebo.

"Not sure what Batwoman can do," Barry commented into coms, speeding next to Kara again. "Maybe…" he glanced to Kara and Frost now, who stood side by side.

"Freeze breath?" Kara nodded, getting the thought as she glanced to Frost, who nodded too. Kara took to the sky and started blowing ice on the toy as Frost joined from below, aiming to freeze the thing.

Strangely enough, Beebo withstood the freezing, shaking it off with a smile as Ray now aimed a well-placed blast on the toy's chest.

"Owie!" Beebo called as he went to hit Ray, who was flying around him, sending Ray spiralling away.

"This is so weird," Barry stated, watching it all unfold.

"Flash?" It was Sara over the coms.

"White Canary?" Barry smiled, glad to hear another fellow Paragon in his ear.

"This can't be natural. The only time we've ever seen a sentient giant Beebo like this was when we Legends became one," she explained.

"There's a lot to digest in that sentence," Barry mused.

"Another time. Look around the city, see if there's anything behind this – maybe a magic totem or a meta or something, anything, that started this," Sara stated as now J'onn joined in, keeping Beebo back.

"On it," Barry stated as he started speeding around the buildings, trying to come to terms that National City existed on his world now.

"Going to use my Batarang to try and contain him," Batwoman commented as Barry momentarily saw the boomerang-like device fly around Beebo, a rope attached to tie him up. It was impressive.

He had scoured a lot of the nearby buildings but was surprised when he reached a bank some distance away to find it being robbed. It seemed unusual that, amid the panic, someone would bother to rob a bank… unless…

He went to punch the robber, who was masked, and sent him flying back into the vault of the bank and unconscious. He moved back out of the bank vault to applause from the staff.

"Where did he go?" Multiple voices came across the coms and Barry grinned as he ran out of the bank and back to the action, to find Beebo had vanished.

"I'm guessing he was an illusion," Barry commented as the heroes gathered. "There was a bank robbery going on, I knocked the guy out and… well…"

"Abra Kadabra," Frost sighed now as eyes went to her. "He tried to return to the future, but we locked him up. He escaped recently but his M.O. must have changed…"

"That explains nothing," Kate was the one to speak.

"He's a meta human that can create very elaborate and realistic mirages – practically magic," Barry stated, to a smirk to Frost. He remembered that meta, at least. He hadn't recognised him just now, but the meta had been masked.

"We need to get him in ARGUS," J'onn stated. "They have the tech to lock him up."

"Not the DEO?" Barry spoke up now. "I mean, we are in National…?"

"Trust me, you don't want to go anywhere near the DEO," Kara stated darkly, as J'onn made the call.

"Hey, urm, do you guys… remember Crisis?" Barry asked now; with Kate, Kara, J'onn and Sara here with him, they were the Paragons that mattered and if he remembered Crisis, then so must they.

"Oh yes," Kate nodded.

"The Monitor, the Anti-Monitor… Spectre," J'onn spoke up, having made the short call to ARGUS.

"And now the world is different," Sara added.

"Yeah… I mean, I'm married to Mon-El," Kara stated, going red slightly as she said it.

"Seriously?!" Barry asked, smirking now.

"Who's Mon-El?" Sara and Kate chorused.

"Long story," J'onn was the one to speak.

"I have no idea what's going on," Frost added, bemused.

"Oh, you haven't got your memories back," Ray grinned, sharing a look with J'onn.

"Not here," J'onn stated. "We're gathering a crowd."

Indeed, they had gathered quite an audience at their defeat of Beebo and their after-chat.

"STAR Labs," Barry stated to J'onn.

"Meet you there," J'onn nodded, taking to the air.

"Erm, I'm going to… see you later," Kate spoke, a little awkwardly as she used another batarang to swing up and away from the group.

"Ray and I need to check on the Legends," Sara nodded as she and Ray made their excuses too.

"I need to speak to Alex anyway. See you guys later," Kara dismissed, leaving just the three of them.

"I guess that leaves us," Frost remarked, pulling out the extrapolator again and activating it.

…

Barry and Caitlin entered STAR Labs, much to the shock of Cisco, who was the only one in the room.

"You two are meant to be on your honeymoon! Oh, hey J'onn," he nodded as the Martian entered the room now.

"Giant Beebo in National City," Barry pointed out. "We got the alert. No one was here when we got our outfits."

"Oh. Well, Wally and Jesse…" Cisco started.

"It doesn't matter," Caitlin dismissed. She was still in Frost's outfit but was Caitlin once more.

"I'm sorry it ruined your honeymoon," Cisco pouted out.

"Yeah, about that…" Barry turned to J'onn now.

"Oh yeah, I can…" he moved forward to Caitlin, but Barry stopped him, surprising the Martian.

"There's a lot that's happened on this world I've forgotten," Barry started.

"You've forgotten?" Cisco asked, but Barry silenced him.

"I need memories. I was hoping…" Barry started.

"Oh, this is unusual," J'onn smirked.

"Can you…?" Barry asked.

"I can access your cerebral cortex, manipulate the information, dig deep to memories now repressed due to the new timeline. It works both ways," he nodded to Caitlin and Cisco at this – he could make them remember the timeline before Crisis, as much as he could make Barry remember the new timeline.

"And to do that… you'd remember both timelines?" Barry asked, hopeful.

"It'll leave you confused for several hours," J'onn confirmed.

"Then do it. To me," Barry stated, glancing at Caitlin now. She deserved this.

"Barry…?" Caitlin started; she'd long-since realized what had happened regarding this 'Crisis', and what had been missed.

"Do it, J'onn," Barry demanded as J'onn nodded, putting his fingers to Barry's temple.

"What's going on…?" Cisco was the one to ask, but this time Caitlin shushed him, causing Cisco to groan in agitation and fold his arms like a kid told off.

Barry gasped though as J'onn released his head a moment later; both Martian and speedster taking a step back from one another as Barry stood stock still for a moment.

"Barry…?" Caitlin asked, unsure now; but as he turned to her, he grinned widely, sped over to her and embraced her, kissing her passionately.

"That worked," J'onn smirked, happy. "Now, your turn," he looked to Cisco, whose eyes went wide with fear.

Of course, their day wasn't over yet as the Anti-Monitor was to return for one last hurrah, and Barry was to set them up in the STAR Labs warehouse, but for the moment, Barry was happy to embrace Caitlin, the wife he'd forgotten; all while J'onn gave Cisco his pre-Crisis memories.