It's strange to be back.

She knows Central City just as well as, if not better than, she knows Boston. It's her home and her real one at that and as unsettling as it is, as unreal as it feels, it's still home and she can't shake that feeling of properly belonging somewhere, a feeling she'd never properly had in Boston. And being here, walking these streets and seeing the sights, makes her realize how much of her current existence was – or is -- a lie and how little of herself she actually knew anymore.

History did, after all, repeat itself in the oddest of ways.

The ironic thing was, she had had that feeling before and it was here, in Central City, in regards to her family and parents. She had been right on that occasion as well, with the feeling of not properly belonging and all, something that had led to the discovery of her adoption and not just a displacement from a place, but from a time as well. That, however, was entirely different than universes being shifted, combined, and people being ripped away from the lives they knew and being forced to live entirely new ones. It led to her questioning everyone and everything that she knew as she tried to piece it altogether and make sense of it.

But then, everything here's different as well. The streets are quiet, for one. No Rogues, no Reverse Flashes, no speedsters rushing down the streets, leaving wind and strewn papers and garbage in their wake. Her family's gone, the little makeshift group of people she'd come to know and love. The Flash family – a nice little group who had managed to find one another and make the best of the situation(s) they had been thrust into by fate, chance, and all sorts of reasons beyond their control. Most of them were gone, too, the only ones she'd been able to reach out to were, unsurprisingly, Wally and Barry. Barry was a presence she'd grown used to, both here and Boston, but having Wally back in this way was a new experience. It was a good one, of course. She loved Wally as if he was her own child and not just her nephew (in this life, that life, any life, that wouldn't change) and having the knowledge that he was safe, if nothing else, eased a lot of her pain and worries.

If only she would find the others, now. Jesse or Max or Jay or anyone, really, even if the thought of certain others made her stomach turn and her chest tighten, knowing how things played out for many of them (time travel and knowing the future was more of a burden than a fun thing, really, and she often joked about playing the lotto, casting certain votes, or generally using her future-gained knowledge for world domination but, no, she kept certain things tight and close to her chest. It was for the best to not change a thing) and she wanted, no needed, to know when and where they were and if they were okay. She'd already failed once at saving Bart, but maybe, given the situation everyone seemed to be in, she'd be able to save him and prevent anything else bad from happening to him. Fate had brought him back to them, but other people hadn't been so lucky.

And now, none of them were anywhere to be found in either Keystone or Central City and the more memories that crept up on her, the hardest it was to handle. She took a deep breath before she crossed the street, coffee in one hand, and her eyes scanning up and down the sidewalk. Every bit of it looked like home, wrapping her in memories and feelings, but there was a feeling that tugged and nagged at her, making her uncomfortable with the whole thing. Memories of Boston are tangled in with them and she was reminded that this was home, certainly, but things were different now. They were different now.

And with all of the running and incredible things their makeshift family could do, there was one thing they constantly had to remind themselves to do and a way to live:

Forward, not backward.