See, Cisco actually loved his powers, because they helped him get away from it all.
No, literally.
When the stress would get too high and the pressure became suffocating, or when the day had been too long and a simple night of sleep wouldn't be enough to rejuvenate himself, Cisco resorted to his powers as a means to relax.
Night after night and usually after Team Flash missions, he'd cut to his room, close the door, and hold up his hand, sending vibrating pulses through the interdimensional barrier - and explore.
He started off small, first traveling to countries and cities on his own earth, exploring and hanging out in new cultures like his very own Indiana Jones, before he finally grew enough confidence in himself to get adventurous and start breaching to other dimensions, starting with Earth-2.
Gorgeous golden skyscrapers against a pale painted sky, and the huge monorail that cut through Central, Earth-2 was a glamorous mix of 20th century style and 22nd century technology.
Cisco went around, smiling and making small talk with the locals. They lived very different lives from those on Earth Prime, more peaceful and relaxing now that Hunter Zolomon was no longer terrorizing their world.
Cisco never really went to visit Harry, but it was definitely nice to be able to catch up with Detective Iris West-Allen and the innocent dork she'd been wedded to for a husband.
The duo always had amazing stories to tell, about their lives and the kind of crimes they'd be running into. Detective West-Allen was expecting twins, the couple told Cisco with glee, and they were planning on naming the children Dawn and Donovan, names Iris's father had picked out before he had passed away. Detective West-Allen's and Dr. Allen's latest criminal was a thief who went after ice cream. Bartholomew had named him the "Raspberry Rough-Houser" - and Cisco had chuckled calmly and corrected him, coining his title as "Raspberry Raider" instead.
And despite incoming baby twins and ice cream robberies and all, Iris and Bartholomew always widened their eyes in shock when Cisco told them his stories.
Barry running back in time, creating Flashpoint. Iris, having a brother who was also a speedster. The alien attack. The new oddball, Harrison Wells. Sentient gorillas.
How Dante had died...
Cisco reluctantly broke down, covering his face with his hands, and the other Barry put his hand on Cisco's shoulder.
His brother's death.
Dante.
That was the reason why he was hopping through breaches.
Cisco may have forgiven his earth's Barry, but he wasn't done grieving.
He would never be done grieving.
An entire side of his life had been torn out by Barry's impulsive actions. He'd seen and dealt with death and loneliness before, but Dante's demise was a fresh wound that would always bleed.
He missed his brother, and it was a pain that could never leave him, a pain that would constantly torment him with heartaches and regret - and Cisco sought to distract himself by breaking the space-time barrier and keeping himself busy.
Cisco continued jumping through breaches, enjoying the peace of his own companionship, discovering new worlds. Earth 47 was submerged entirely underwater. Beautiful fish, exotic corals, endless blue depth - and murderous mermaids. Earth 12 was inhabited by roses the sizes of buildings, and small, delicate people with giant, fragile wings, and glowing eyes. A fairy earth, Cisco realized in awe. Earth-21 had nothing but technology, and giant robots walked and ruled over the planet. This earth had to be Cybertron in real life.
Back on Earth-38, Kara Danvers squealed with delight and gave Cisco a bone-crunching hug when he popped into Catco out of the blue, introducing him to Winn and James as her good friend from Earth Prime. They'd gotten ice cream together, and caught up on old times. Cisco learned Kara was struggling with her new boyfriend - an alien Daxamite, and that she'd gotten into an argument with James, and that there was new Luthor in town whom many were believing to be untrustworthy. Her father was still missing, and trouble always seemed to be afoot. Cisco put his hand over hers and promised her that if she should ever need help, he would never turn her down. It's why he had given her the breaching device, hadn't he?
Cisco vibed over to Earth-3, and Jay Garrick smiled warmly and invited him over for dinner with himself and his wife Joan.
Cisco even discovered another versions of his own Earth - one where the particle accelerator hadn't blown, and Barry was still geeky, and Caitlin had been happily married to Ronnie, the original Wells a happy, loving and successful scientist alongside his wife, Tess, there were other scientists at the lab whom Cisco had befriended - and at night, Dante still came home from concerts, snickering with a wide, familiar smile as he picked on his younger hermano.
No, Cisco left that earth immediately.
At any rate, he was back on Earth Prime, helping his team through another mission. Or rather, the Team was helping him. Someone was here for H.R., and Cisco had just volunteered to fight her for his sort-of friend's safety.
Cynthia Reynolds.
Bounty hunter from Earth-19. Small but unbelievably nimble and strong, with eyes as dark as smoke and twice as entrancing, and dark, wild curls folded down one shoulder.
If beauty could kill, Earth-19 was right to choose her as their huntress.
"A fight to the death," Julian snickered grimly, removing his gloves at the desk in the Speed Lab. "You just had to offer yourself for this, didn't you?"
"Well, I couldn't just leave H.R. to die now, could I?" Cisco mimicked sarcastically, watching his hands as he flexed his fingers. He had little to no hand-to-hand combat skills. His only true skill against her were his breaches and the vibe blasts, and he was getting pretty damn good at those, compared to how he was when his powers had first started manifesting.
But Cynthia was a master at this. She hunted down breachers for a living. Opening portals to other earths, throwing vibe blasts, capturing and defeating her opponents - those were her callings. She was unmatched in her skills.
Cisco traveled to other worlds as a means of escape and coping, not to fight. And he was lucky if he could vibe very far without getting those annoyingly jarring headaches.
"Are you worried you'll lose?" H.R. asked, trying to be helpful. He got down on his haunches and sat in front of Cisco, placing a hand on Cisco's shoulder, "Franchesco, she... she doesn't stand a chance against you. You've got what it takes to best her."
"Thanks for nothing, H.R.," Cisco replied coarsely, still studying his hands.
"I - I know I got you into this mess, and you don't have to do this," H.R. stammered, his expression saddening, "But I truly, and genuinely, and honestly, appreciate you going out and offering to fight Gypsy for me-"
"Gypsy's a slur, so again, thanks for nothing," Cisco announced with a scowl, getting up, "And I'm not going to call her that."
"So what do you propose we call her, then?" Caitlin questioned quietly, working beside Julian on a device that they hoped would help in the situation.
"I don't know..." Cisco began, facing her in confusion. He lifted a hand to scratch his hair before he spoke again. "I was thinking... maybe, Charmer would sound nice for her..."
"Charmer?" Julian repeated skeptically, his brow arched high, "Why? Because you find her charming?"
"Cisco, I don't really think you can afford to, you know, be flirty with her," Caitlin advised quietly.
Cisco frowned. "Make what you want out of it - I'm not calling her the other name. Anyone know where Barry's at? Or the rest of the team, for that matter?"
Everyone's eyes fell to the ground. "He's... he's with Iris right now. Joe was needed at the precinct, and Wally's at school."
"Alright," Cisco sighed, turning to leave, "If anyone needs me, I'll be at my place. I need a little rest."
"What?" Julian queried incredulously, "Cisco, you only have 16 hours left. You still need to practice your skills, lest you-"
"No, let him go," Caitlin interjected kindly, nodding at Cisco, "You've been training nonstop. That training won't be any good for you if you're tired when Gyp- Charmer gets here. We'll see you in a bit."
Julian and H.R. both coughed up farewells, and Cisco left STAR Labs.
So that was it, he thought.
Julian pretty much believed Cisco was going to die, Caitlin was still reaching out for some hope that he wouldn't, and H.R. was still useless.
And Cisco had no idea what was going on in Barry's brain at all.
He urged himself to put his thoughts away, but the second he got home, he broke down, collapsed on his knees.
This was too much.
Too much for any one man, even with a team backing him.
Cisco wasn't a weapon.
He couldn't fight - he couldn't hurt other people. His powers were still developing, and he'd never used them in intense battle before - and he doubted he could face off against an intergalactic warrior with unrivaled skill.
Sad thoughts filled Cisco's mind.
Would the team even miss him, if she won?
What would they say in the papers? What would become of his parents?
Would they lay him down next to his brother?
No, Cisco opened up his hand and held it so it was facing away from him. He needed to take a break. He needed to go visit a calming earth. If he didn't return in time, Charmer would hunt him down and order him to fight, or maybe she would just kill H.R. before she'd return home a valiant hero.
Maybe Cisco could open up a breach to Earth 19, and try to talk to the counsel there.
He put on his Vibe goggles, closed his eyes and breathed slowly, until he felt that cool, familiar energy cutting through his body, leaving his palm in the form of tingly warmth and sharp sting of raw power in his fingers.
But this breach felt different.
Cisco hadn't opened a portal, like he had been used to.
This...
This portal had been cut into the air. This was no pathway that opened to another world - this was a stab wound in the fabric of the interdimensional universe. A gut feeling warned Cisco to close the opening immediately, that he'd done something wrong.
Cisco quickly removed his goggles, and found himself looking at a gaping hole against the wall in his room. Smoke, and a strong rancor of blood bloomed through the air, and the breach was edged with sticky, black webbing, pulsating as if it was alive.
Breaches were not supposed to be alive.
Intense terror filled Cisco's heart as he tried to control whatever adrenaline fleeted through him, twisting inside his stomach and lifted his hand again to try and seal this opening - this entrance, to no avail.
Then his heart skipped a beat - and the opening beckoned him forward. A strange, but sweet signal that tingled Cisco's sixth sense, inviting him into the black, beating webs. Summoning him.
There was something behind the breach calling him. It was hard to explain - but there was something about the taste of energy...
Dark.
Cool.
Soothing.
Quiet, and peaceful.
If he needed to rest, this dimension was the place, the breach seemed to coax.
But at the same time, fear hung in the air like a subtle warning.
Cisco held his breath as he slowly took a step forward - but when he put his hand to the thin, wet web, it grasped him like an inescapable tangle of ivy, and a hot scream pierced the air.
"Ciscooo!" a muffled male voice shrieked in pain from within the breach, piercing the quiet air of the room,"Cisco - please!"
"D - Dante?!" Cisco gasped, his forehead quickly beading with sweat, his heart beating faster than ever before, "Dante! What-"
"Cisco - Cisco, it's chasing me!" Dante's muffled voice screamed, "Cisco - please! "
"Dante! I'm coming!" Cisco shouted back, wrestling his arm loose from the black ivy, and forcing his way through the breach - the entrance - whatever it was.
More ivy-like webbing caught at his torso, thorns jutting into his neck, wrapping tightly around his legs, threatening to crush him, strangle him - but Cisco fought it desperately.
That was Dante.
Dante - he was alive, and he was trapped in this new realm - and he was in trouble and needed for Cisco to come find him.
Cisco tore and beat at the leathery wisps that were tying onto him - pushed through and fell to the ground, gasping for air.
Air - there was no air here. Breathe. Hopeless burning in his throat. Breathe - don't die. Cisco couldn't see, he couldn't breathe. Don't die - Dante. Find Dante. - and he gulped despairingly until the thinned, scarce, musty air sustained him - then he realized he couldn't see not because he had been blinded, but because it was dark.
At first, Cisco saw nothing but pitch black, couldn't smell anything save for the coppery stink of blood.
There was no light here, only shadowy contours of furniture that was decaying, and eaten away, and dust, floating through the atmosphere.
Furniture, Cisco noticed. A rotting sofa - but broken on one stump, where Ronnie's dog had tried to eat it, when Ronnie was still alive. Then - against the far back wall, destroyed paintings and a crushed clump of metal that could be a stove. Familiar windows, but all shattered.
It took his eyes a few minutes to adjust, but he knew for a fact that he had returned to his living room, from where he had entered.
So... why did his living room look like it was abandoned, and haunted?
And - Cisco shivered violently - why was there no warmth, or light here? The temperature in this dimension had to be at permafrost.
Cisco rubbed at his bared arms, and nervously began calling out his brother's name, his tone quivering against the freezing cold. "D-Dante? Dante - I'm here! I'm here - where are you?!"
He stumbled through the damp, pungent living room, and made his way down the stairs, wishing for all his life that he wasn't alone.
He'd never visited an earth like this one before.
And earths usually had people, unless they were populated by mermaids or fairies - but nonetheless, people.
Some form of humanoid life.
This earth was terrifying. Eerie. Ghostly, and quiet, barren and lonely - and everything stank of decay and blood. But he knew he hadn't imagined Dante's scream.
Cisco nearly cried out in fear when he reached the front door. A creature was lying at the threshold - was it dead? Oh god - it was huge, the size of a St. Bernard's shepherd - but it was black and wet and thick and slithery, with more limbs than he dared count, and a blurry, black face - was it dead?
Was it sleeping? Was it dangerous?
Cisco was not getting good vibes from it, and his vibes were going crazy for that matter. Get out of here - get out of here - get out of here! But the entrance behind him - from where he came in - it had stopped pulsing.
Then - footfalls. Heavy, threatening ones.
Cisco stepped over the giant corpse or creature at his door and stumbled out into the darkness - and almost fainted from the adrenaline high. Trees, and giant plants all over the streets. The scent of fresh blood, more putrid than ever, the ground noticeably wet. The air fuzzy and wet, and dark - but the worst part had to be the bones.
Crushed, human bones.
Skulls. Femurs. Ribs.
All across his doorway, littering the streets, sidewalks. Hanging from the trees, like morbid decorations.
And the giant imprints of clawed feet that surrounded them.
The heavier footprints that approached him from behind filled Cisco's throat with glass, and he mustered as much courage as he could when he shut his eyes tightly and spoke, hardly above a whisper. "Dante... Please, for the love of god, let that be you-"
But his words were cut off when he found himself looking at sharpened, jagged teeth.
Thorny. Glistening, Teeth. Painted in fresh blood. Exhaling hot, sweaty air all over Cisco's face and neck, and Cisco choked on a sob.
The monster swung its giant, meaty black arms, with bloodied, knife-like talons for fingers, at Cisco's frame, and he screamed in a fit of pure, unhindered fear. Hot, fat tears streaked his face as he swiveled on his feet and pumped his legs, running as fast as his weak, exhausted figure would allow.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't see.
He was tripping over oozing orange plants, getting caught in web-like vines, stumbling his way through a destroyed city with no life, only demons and blood - and Cisco was crying the entire way as the loud, demanding roars behind him grew in tenor, the sound of its running feet growing closer and closer.
Was it right behind him?
Were there creatures others with it?
Cisco didn't dare turn and look - only forced himself to continue running or risk being murdered here in this hellish nightmare, this cold, dark nightmare. He couldn't stop crying in horror, and the tears weren't making anything easier on his vision, so Cisco threw up his hands and began trying to throw breaches as a last means of escape.
But - but the breaches wouldn't work. Heart hammering in his chest, blood roaring in his ears, Cisco cried out weakly as he raised his hands again, trying to cut open another breach.
Nothing.
He didn't know how he opened the breach into this world, how was he going to open one to get out?
So he kept running, kept weeping, kept - and now he started praying in desperation as the animal roars flourished in proximity behind him.
And something human ran beside him - and Cisco saw a glimpse of matted dark hair, fear-filled brown eyes, and a terrified face, a figure in tattered flannel and soiled jeans, sprinting alongside him, running towards the woods.
"Dante!" Cisco hollered, picking up his speed, no longer caring about the creature that was hunting him, "Dante! Hermano - I'm here! I'm here!"
But - But Dante, or whoever that was, turned away, hyperventilating as he vanished into the forest's darkness.
Like a ghost.
He - he had slipped away from Cisco again.
And now, there was nothing but the everlasting darkness, and the low approaching howl in the haunting, pitch dark woods Cisco was now running through, searching for his brother.
"Dante!" Cisco screeched again in desperation, out of breath, "Dante!"
He had seen him - Dante was right here! He was right here!
Where was he?
Where could he have gone to?
Cisco couldn't see again. He could recognize parts of the city before - but now he was engulfed in complete blackness. He could no longer discern the trees from the inky shadows, nor see the coal sky. The blindness was dizzying him. He didn't know where to go, he didn't know where he was - and he didn't know what to do or what else was out there.
His ribcage felt crushed as he gave up, finally breaking into rocky sobs.
Dante...
Darkness.
Hopelessness.
Exhaustion.
Inevitable death.
Cisco had never known darkness nor hopelessness like this before - and he had watched and felt himself be murdered.
His heart still stuttered fitfully in his chest, and Cisco was tired. So, so tired.
The fiery cold left him shivering and fatigued, and the nonstop running, an actual demon at his heels, from seeing and hearing his brother who had slipped away again - Cisco allowed himself to close his eyes again, to give in to his weariness, sniffling back tears.
He couldn't go on.
Not like this.
A black gloved hand immediately extended itself through a breach, and quickly - but gently - tugged at Cisco's shirt, reeling him in.
"You're not supposed to go there," a soft female voice whispered, pulling a fragile Cisco into her arms, into safety, before she began to rock him.
Cynthia scowled in worry as she sealed the breach shut, and Cisco trembled in the comfort of her arms, before he began weeping and sobbing uncontrollably again, and dropped himself onto his floor, locking himself in fetal position as he trembled with quivering tears.
Warmth.
Safety.
Protection.
These had all left him in that other dimension.
The dimension where he ran alone, where-
"Dante... my brother-" Cisco murmured faintly, as Cynthia carefully layered several blankets over him. "Please. Cynthia. I need to go back."
"Hey, shh," Cynthia half-cajoled half-scolded, touching his cheek. "You're lucky I sensed you, in there. You were in there for hours, you know? And you're lucky you escaped. Nobody ever escapes that realm," she explained, shivering from memory, "The things that are in there are not meant for people to experience. How did you end up there, anyway?"
The things that are in there are not meant for people to experience.
All those bones…
The disgustingly fresh scent of blood…
Dante, running away...
"I - my brother called for me. I thought he - dead. But he's alive. That - that thing inside there, it has my brother-"
"Shh, it's okay," Cynthia responded gently, lifting Cisco's head and shoulders into her lap, holding him close.
"My brother- I saw him," Cisco wept again, shaking, "Cyn - Cynthia, I saw him. He was scared, and he was running away from-"
"Shh..."
And Cynthia found herself looking after her would-be adversary, a complete stranger who had descended into Hell itself, slipping sips of water into his lips, putting damp cloths at his sweaty forehead, comforting him.
Fight to the finish or not - she knew better than anyone that what hid in that realm was a danger that outweighed death itself, a pain more hurtful than the loss of a beloved one.
But she failed to realize that something had escaped through the breach Cisco had left open, and that a deadly creature was now lurking in the shadows of Cisco's home, unbeknownst to them both.
And that it was awaiting nightfall.
Hello! Thank you for reading! Please leave a message with your thoughts on your way out! :)
- DBV