My first ever Flash fanfic. Tag to 1x15 "Out of Time." (My goodness, that ending. I wept like a little child.) I don't know what is coming next, but what if Barry hadn't been vaulted through time? What if he had stopped the wave, but had arrived too late to help Cisco? Though I'm not sure where this story will lead, I'm going to keep updating. I would love your feedback! I'm also going to try incorporating past and future episodes. Warnings: character death & some language.

The Death of Cisco Ramon
Chapter One

It became increasingly apparent to Dr. Harrison Wells that his secret would inevitably be unearthed. Suspicions had taken root in people's minds. Despite his best efforts to cover his tracks, he had slipped up here and there. No matter. He cared little. Soon he would be out of this god-foresaken time era and be back where he belonged.

He had believed that ultimately it would be Detective Joe West who would unmask him. He knew the man was investigating him for the murder of Nora Allen. His little charade with the containment field had taken care of that, but he knew Joe wouldn't stop. He would bring the truth to light. The cop, however, would be easy enough to get rid of – another police officer gunned down in the line of duty. Wells had not anticipated that Joe's suspicions would establish themselves so firmly in Cisco's mind though. Still, he shouldn't have been surprised. The boy was clever. Too clever.

Killing Cisco would be different from killing the others. The boy would be missed. There would be no conning his way out of this one – especially since he had left Caitlin his empty wheelchair. How could he convince Barry to help him now?

Small matters. He had established himself remarkably well in fifteen years; he would think of something.

"You're very clever, Cisco," he remarked, rubbing his hands together, and then shoving them into his pants' pockets. Unfazed. Just another day at the office. "I've always said so." The tone of his voice was gentle. It was the way he always spoke to the young man.

"You're him." Cisco couldn't conceal the betrayal, the hurt, he felt. It seeped out in his voice. "You're Reverse Flash." His tone ironic, as he spoke the name that he had, unintentionally, dubbed the doctor.

'Dr. Wells' formally introduced himself by the name of Eobard Thawne. Cisco might have mused that 'Eobard Thawne' didn't sound as distinguished, as reputable, as Harrison Wells, but he was hardly in a position to debate baby names. Wells claimed to be a distant relative of Eddie, but Cisco didn't feel the need to pursue that any further. What he really wanted to know about was the night they had detained the Reverse Flash, how both he and Wells could be in the same space.

Wells demonstrated his ability. In his awe, Cisco stepped forward – closer to danger. He couldn't help wondering if Barry would ever be fast enough to accomplish the same feat. He hoped so. He could really use the Flash right about now.

Realization and horror set in. Cisco passed his hands over his throbbing temples. His fight-or-flight response was screaming at him to run for his life. But it would be useless. He was, after all, up against the fastest man on earth. "Joe was right. You were there that night, fifteen years ago, in Barry's house. You killed Nora Allen."

"It was never my intention to kill Nora. I was there to kill Barry." Wells stated it simply, without remorse or feeling. He was using the same gentle tone, the one he had often used to comfort Cisco; now it just made his skin crawl.

"Why? You're his friend. You've been teaching him."

Another matter-of-fact explanation from Wells. A complete indifference to anyone's needs except his own. A complete lack of empathy. "No one is going to prevent that from happening." He meant Cisco. The fact of his impending death dawned clearly on him. Or rather fell upon him, as a sudden and overwhelming darkness, which seemed to suffocate him.

Cisco attempted to choke down his emotion, and decided to give a feeble try at saving his own life. "I can help you."

"You're smart, Cisco. But you're not that smart." Wells' hand moved at hyper speed, and Cisco closed his eyes against it. This was going to happen. Wells was actually going to kill him. He was going to die at the hands of the man he respected and admired, practically worshipped. A man he would have laid down his life for. A man he considered to be his friend.

The betrayal stung deeply, shaking Cisco to the core. "How hard it has been to keep all this from you, especially from you." The tears were coming now. Cisco couldn't contain them. He was going to die. Die. He wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye to Caitlin or Barry, to warn them. He had failed his friends. But maybe they would find it in their hearts to overlook that, once he was buried six feet deep. "The truth is, I've grown quite fond of you," Wells continued, softly, kindly. Then he twisted the knife that he had stabbed into Cisco's back: "And in many ways, you have shown me what it's like to have a son."

Cisco swallowed a sob. How could Wells say that to him now? In this last year, Cisco had come to view his S.T.A.R Lab companions as a kind of mini, surrogate family. Caitlin, Barry, Wells. His own family situation wasn't ideal. He was often not only the odd-man-out but was ridiculed and scorned. He didn't fit in with his own family. But he did here, with these people who loved him.

Only yesterday he had blown off another family dinner to spend the day with Wells watching movies, laughing. He guessed he wouldn't be needing that list of movies now. Wells had asked him about the dinner, showed an interest in Cisco's personal life. Cisco had attached himself to the doctor as a kind of father figure, but how much of it was real? Was Wells' fondness genuine or feigned? If he really viewed him as a son, how could he harm him now?

He should have gone to his brother's house and had one final moment with his real father.

Wells looked down at the young face. Boyish and innocent. That was part of Cisco's appeal. Beneath his massive intellect was a goofy, undaunted, child-like heart that liked to name meta-humans and make jokes, that remained optimistic despite all the evil he saw. The evil he now looked upon. His round cheeks were fresh and wet with tears. Poor kid.

Wells didn't hesitate. His hand pierced Cisco's chest. The boy gave a gasp of pain. Their eyes locked. "Forgive me. But to me, you've been dead for centuries." Wells gave one final jerk, aimed for Cisco's heart, and removed his arm from the boy's chest.

Cisco's body crumpled at his feet. Wells sighed, and shoving his hands into his pockets once again, strolled out of the room.

TheFlash

"Cisco?" Caitlin called, entering S.T.A.R labs. Her hurried footsteps echoed in the stillness. It was too quiet. "Cisco, are you here? Wells disappeared! ...Without his wheelchair. Cisco? " The pretty young bioengineering expert pursed her lips. She had tried phoning him when she was leaving Jitters coffee shop.

Her cellphone chimed in her pocket. She hoped it was Cisco. Barry's picture filled the screen.

"Caitlin?"

"Barry, I need to talk to you," she spoke quickly and urgently. She had to warn him. "It's Dr. Wells, he –"

He cut her off. "There's no time for that right now, alright? There is a tsunami heading for the city. How do I stop it?"

Caitlin's nerves were on edge, but she was a quick-thinker. "Theoretically, if you can create a vortex barrier along the coast line, a wall of wind, that would be able to zap the tidal wave of its energy before it hits the city."

"By running back and forth. How fast?"

"I don't know if you can run that fast." Barry hung up on her.

She'd leave Barry to worry about the city. Caitlin was more concerned about finding Cisco. She was sure that he would be here still. A sickening feeling of dread crept into her heart. "Cisco!" she yelled his name and started searching rooms, hurrying from one to the next until she was running. "Cisco!"

The containment field!

Caitlin slowed her pace as she came upon the automatic doors. They opened with a slightly delayed swish. "Cis–" Her sight landed on a motionless figure on the floor. "Cisco!" She ran to her fallen friend and dropped to her knees beside him. The tears were already pricking her eyes as she gingerly lifted his head into her lap. With trembling fingers, she felt for a pulse. She couldn't find one. She lowered her ear to his chest, checked to see that his airway was clear, searched for a pulse again. No, he couldn't be dead. He had to be in some kind of catatonic state, right? Surely he couldn't be dead.

Caitlin sobbed. She lowered herself over Cisco's body and wept. Damn it, why couldn't the idiot have answered his phone? Wells must have done this. Who else could it have been? Anger surged forth with her despair. How could he betray them? How could he hurt Cisco? They had trusted him. "You always have your phone," she accused the corpse. "You should have answered. Maybe I could have warned you in time. Maybe I could have called Barry. You can't be dead, Cisco. You're not allowed to be dead." A wave of grief overwhelmed her and choked the words.

First Ronnie, now Cisco. How many other people would she suffer to lose? But Ronnie was alive, somewhere. Maybe he could return one day. Cisco never would. She held the proof of his death in her arms. No accident this time. Murder. Wilful murder. Was it only that morning that she had re-thanked Wells for helping Ronnie? How could the man who had saved her fiancee be the same one who had slaughtered Cisco?

The thought wrenched her heart, caused another sob.

Caitlin felt like someone had killed her little brother.

TheFlash

Barry was elated. Not only had he rescued Joe and the entire city, but Iris had professed her feelings for him and kissed him (inappropriately timed, but whatever, he was feeling great). Plus she knew his secret now, which was a burden off his shoulders. He wouldn't need to concoct anymore vague explanations.

"Man, you guys should have seen me," Barry cheered, walking into the lab, "I'm pretty sure I've run faster than I ever have before." He was met with silence. Barry's smile slipped. "Caitlin? Cisco?" he called out, confused. "I thought they were here. Caitlin?!" he tried again, louder. "Cisco?!"

Caitlin appeared, her mascara mixed with tears, running down her cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy, her jacket wrinkled.

"Caitlin? What's wrong? What's happened?"

She glared at him. "For someone so fast, you weren't there when he needed you," she hissed.

His first thought was that something had happened to Harrison. "Is Dr. Wells okay?"

Caitlin gave a bitter, humourless laugh. "How should I know? He's gone."

"Where?"

"Wherever it is, he walked there. Bastard."

"He what?"

"Maybe if you had listened when I tried to tell you, you could have been here in time."

Slowly, realization crept upon him. "Caitlin, where's Cisco?"

"Dead."

"What?" Barry thought he must have heard her wrong. No, he had saved the day. Everything had turned out fine. No one could be dead.

"Wells killed him."

"No." Barry flashed out of the room and appeared before the containment field, where Cisco still lay. He bent down, his fingers ghosting over his friend's body. He futilely searched for a pulse. "Come on, Cisco. Open your eyes, buddy. Please. No. No. No."

"He's gone, Barry," Caitlin whispered, coming up behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder. Her anger had subsided, and she reached out to comfort him. There was nothing either of them could have done. She knew that. Chances were that when she had tried calling him, Cisco was already dead. Still, she couldn't help feeling a twang of bitterness that Barry had brushed her off. Her and Cisco. He always did when he was with Iris. Caitlin swallowed the thought. It wasn't fair. She was just venting her anger on him, instead of the person who deserved it most.

Barry leaned back on his haunches and covered his face with his hands. He was crying. This had to be some kind of nightmare, right? He would wake up and find it was all a bad dream. He had saved the day. There was no way Cisco could be dead.

Caitlin bent down beside him, and looked affectionately at Cisco. She put her hand on Barry's back and rubbed it, in gentle circles, reassuring. His mother used to do the same thing when he cried.

"I should have been here."

"You couldn't have been. You had to stop that tidal wave." She smiled, sad and small. "You can't be in two places at once. Even you aren't that fast."

"I should have listened to you. Cisco knew something was wrong with Wells. He knew. But I was too caught up with Mardon."

"You needed to protect Joe."

"At the cost of Cisco's life?"

"You couldn't protect both of them." She said it, but she didn't wholly believe it.

They lapsed into silence. Neither of them could tell how long they sat there. A ghostly pallor had set into Cisco's skin, and he was already stiff. Caitlin finally stood up and went to him. "Barry, we need to figure out what our next steps are." She zipped up Cisco's hoodie, as though fearful he might get cold, and tucked some hair behind his ear. They would have to notify the Ramon family, figure out funeral arrangements, fabricate some kind of explanation. Cardiac arrest, maybe?

"Help me move him." Barry stooped over the body and lifted it into his arms. He didn't think he had ever held a corpse before. At his mother's funeral, he had touched Nora's face, pressed a solemn kiss to her forehead, but he had never experienced the rigidity, the heaviness of lifting a body. Dead weight. Cisco probably would have made some kind of joke about that.

Barry sped into another room and laid Cisco on the hospital bed, before covering him with a sheet. It wasn't the first time he had carried Cisco while running – but it was the last. Despite the fact that it was his friend's body he held, Barry couldn't set him down fast enough. That wasn't Cisco anymore. It was an empty shell.

Barry ran a hand down his face and sighed. Caitlin was standing over the monitors, her hand hovering over them uncertainly. "What's up?"

"There's probably security footage of what happened."

Barry's head snapped up. "We need to watch it."

Caitlin hesitated. "I'm not sure we should."

"I need to know."

"I'm not sure I can handle it," she whispered. Barry stood beside her and put an arm around her.

"You don't have to watch it, if you don't want to. But I need to see it. Please, Caitlin."

She nodded, and pulled up the footage of the containment field. She estimated the last time she had seen Wells and set it for a couple minutes before. The video started; Caitlin crushed the fingers of her left hand in her right, trying to keep down her emotions. They were about to watch Cisco's last moments.

Barry placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. They watched Cisco turn on the containment field, saw with the same shock the Reverse Flash inside of it, repeating the words that he had that night. It had been pre-recorded, a ruse. Dr. Wells appeared in the doorway. Standing. Though they had both been expecting it, Caitlin and Barry were slightly startled at seeing Wells standing upright, especially Barry, who had never known the man before he was 'confined' to a wheelchair.

Some of their words were spoken too softly to be made out completely. But they could clearly see Wells use his super-speed to create a mirage of himself, could make out the fear that stole over Cisco's face. The words "You killed Nora Allen" were loud and clear.

Barry had never felt so betrayed in his entire life. Wells had killed his mother. The man he had trusted, who had helped him hone his abilities, who – he had believed – was aiding his search for the man in the yellow suit, had been the culprit all along. He had worked side-by-side, taken into his confidence, his mother's murderer.

He had left Cisco alone with a killer.

Barry didn't think he could be surprised any further, but then it came out: Wells' intention to kill Barry, his desire to return to the future. The young man couldn't comprehend any of it. His brain couldn't fathom what he was hearing. It was too much.

Then it wasn't about him anymore. Wells advanced on Cisco. Caitlin drew closer to Barry and clutched his arm. He could feel how tense she was. This was it. This was the moment they were going to watch their friend die.

Cisco was crying silently. Caitlin wanted to scream at him, tell him to run, to lash out at Wells, to do anything. Then Wells plunged his hand into Cisco's chest. Caitlin couldn't suppress the sob, half strangled, that escaped her. Her breathing quickened, and she was close to hyperventilating. Next to her, Barry was rigid. He was clenching and unclenching his fists. His eyes flamed.

Caitlin sank into a chair and cried, gasping for breath. "Do you think Dr. Wells is capable of doing something bad?" Cisco had asked her yesterday. No, she hadn't believed that he was. That wasn't the Wells she knew. But he was capable of it. She had just witnessed what kind of evil he was capable of. She felt like Wells had plunged his hand into her chest and pulled her heart out. The "what if's" overwhelmed her, everything she should have done. She felt like she was going to be sick.

What if she had taken Cisco's suspicions at face value? What if she had tried harder to keep Wells away from S.T.A.R labs? What if she had called Barry from the coffee shop? She should have told Cisco that it was too dangerous. She never should have left him alone. She should have been there with him.

They knew now, what Cisco knew. His death hadn't been in vain, though that was hardly any consolation. Cisco was usually the one who developed the tech necessary to stop the meta-humans. How were they going to catch Wells without him?

Barry would do it. He would find a way – him and Caitlin. He had to. Not just for his mother – for Cisco too.

He would find Wells, and he would bring him to justice.