[text]

[commanderspecs]

I'm so sorry to everyone I've hurt.

[He locked himself in a metahuman cell when he's back to normal and Barry realizes what he's done. He sits on the floor and runs a shaking hand through his hair, then curls up]

Comments

[kid_flash_found]

I'm fine, Sparky. No lasting damage. Wasn't the first time I had someone suffer a personality shift.

[commanderspecs]

Bart, how are you talking to me? I hurt you.

[kid_flash_found]

If I stopped talking to everyone who did that, I'd be a very lonely person. Nothing's ever that simple.

Grife, I'm pretty sure that doesn't even land on the top five worst experiences I've had. I suppose it might beat getting shot, but not the hours of reconstructive surgery without anesthesia that followed.

[commanderspecs]

Not even the top fiv w--

[Bart, you're going to be able to kill one grandfather by giving Barry-2 a heart attack.]

[kid_flash_found]

My life was never going to be what most people would consider normal.

[commanderspecs]

Bart, I--

[He's a hugger. He knows that Bart isn't his own grandson but he feels that sort of closeness with the young man either way.]

[kid_flash_found]

If you're going to gush, shouldn't we be doing this in person?

[commanderspecs]

I locked myself in one of the metahuman cells to make sure I don't hurt anyone.

[kid_flash_found]

[The lack of response is punctuated by a very purposefully muted sonic boom that barely shakes the transparent front of the cell.]

Am I allowed to tell you that you're being an idiot?

[commanderspecs]

[He looks at him looking worse for wear]

You can't talk to me that way, I'm your grandfather.

[kid_flash_found]

You really want to play that card? Because I could point out your short more than a few years of birthday and Christmas presents.

[a beat]

Seriously, though. Powers aren't about what you could do, it's what you choose to do and how you respond to your mistakes. I've known demons who cope better with their darker natures than you're doing. Of course, one of my best friends ran away to a cattle farm in Kansas, so reactions vary.

[commanderspecs]

I am? W-w--what, was I a terrible grandfather? Why would I miss birthdays and Christmas?

[kid_flash_found]

[Bart considers the answer, knowing it isn't going to be a kind one, but Barry asked.]

It's...a little hard to buy presents from beyond the grave. Although that had changed a bit lately. I didn't want to believe it when Wally told me. It seemed kinda wrong that of all the speedsters we knew, only he got to come home.

Maybe it makes me a bad person, but at the time I would have rather had a second chance with Max, the guy who taught me how to slow down, than a grandfather I'd never met.

[commanderspecs]

...Oh. I---oh.

I'm so sorry, Bart. Gosh ,and you have all of us doing God knows what and-and me doing that--oh geeze.

[kid_flash_found]

I had Mom when she could visit, and Grandma Iris...

It isn't like I was left alone or anything. I had family, they just weren't always blood-relatives.

[commanderspecs]

[Still feels like the Worst Grandpa Ever(tm)]

Blood still needs to look out for you here. And non-blood. And blood shouldn't do to you what I did.

[kid_flash_found]

It wasn't the first time. That blood tried to hurt me, I mean. I kinda have an evil twin. Had.

[commanderspecs]

Evil--

[He takes a deep breath]

Bart, we're going to do what my grandfather did with me. We're going to find some kind of outdoor activity and do that and bond. Hopefully, you won't be pulled over the side of the boat and into the lake if we go fishing.

[kid_flash_found]

Can't do that if you're planning on staying in this cell for the rest of your life.

[commanderspecs]

I'll see Harry right away to see if I can maybe get something else to control these powers.

[kid_flash_found]

Another dampener isn't going to teach you how to control things yourself. It's kinda like training wheels.

You don't have to actually go out of your way to do things with your abilities, but if you don't learn what you can do and how to control it, there's going to be that day when things go bad.

[Bart looks saddened just by the thought of that, because if Barry is kicking himself now, how much worse will it be if an accident happens when he shorts out the next dampener or something?]

I could tell you horror stories about my own lack of control when I was younger, but I doubt that would really help.