"Cisco?" Her voice echoed through my skull, bouncing off the insides of my brain like a sledgehammer. "Cisco wake up!"
"You don't have to be so loud," I groaned, trying to lift my hands to my ears. Everything was too loud. It was as if I'd been going through a tunnel, all sound stretched out around me for far too long. Every noise was making me ache. The faint beeps from a monitor, the footsteps along the ground, and every breath of those around me.
"He's awake," she spoke again, her voice turned from me. Who was she talking to?
I tried again to lift my arms, I felt heavy. Had gravity turned higher up since I'd been out? With a monumental effort I lifted my hands from my sides and pressed them hard into either side of my head.. it was too much. Too much all at once. I felt dizzy, sick.
"What happened to him?" that was a man, a familiar voice. I recognized through with my jumbled thoughts I couldn't put a face or name to the voice.
"I don't know." The woman had turned back to me again and I heard her words even through the hands I had clamped down over my ears. "Cisco please talk to me."
"Too loud," I tried to give her a clue. They needed to shut up.
"Cisco," there was a hand on my arm.
"Shut up!" I sat up, curling in on myself, pressing the base of my palms further in, trying to block out all noise.
Thankfully they obliged. I took several slow deep breaths, letting myself get used to the muffled sounds of breathing, the even fainter sounds of electronics.
After a few minutes I removed my hands slowly, taking the time to open my eyes. Apart from the amplified sound my eyes weren't properly processing the florescent lights.
"Caitlin?" I spoke softly, the name coming to my lips easily.
"Yes Cisco?" the woman, Caitlin, answered. Caitlin Snow. My best friend, if I was where I was supposed to be.
"Could you turn off the lights? It's really bright in here."
There was a pause where I knew she and the other occupant of the room were exchanging looks, either that or holding a silent conversation. "Sure Cisco.'
She kept her voice gentle and did as I asked.
Even with the dimmed glow of the beside lamp I still felt as if I walking into a sunny day after a long time underground or in a movie theatre.
Blinking away the haze from my eyes I looked around to see the others in the room. Barry Allen stood next to Caitlin. He looked the same as I first remembered him. He worse no accessory apart from an aged watch on his wrist, one I was sure didn't even work anymore. His shirt was a pale gray with a blue plaid rolled up to the elbows. His jeans were a bit worn around the edges, indicating a lot of running done in them.
"Where am I?" was the first question out of my mouth, one I was used to asking. "And please, be as specific as you can."
They exchanged yet another look. "Star Labs, basement med bay, down the hall from the pipeline."
"The year?"
"Cisco," Barry began, "You were only out for a few hours, there's no need to be dramatic."
I couldn't summon the energy to smile and chose a condescending glare instead. "What happened?"
"That what we'd like you to tell us."
My gaze flicked to Caitlin. Long dark red hair in a gentle curl, sensible button up top and pencil skirt, gold watch, gold necklace without a charm, and a worried expression plastered onto her beautiful face. No scars, no white hair, nothing out of the ordinary.
"What happened on this end first?" I grabbed her hand and as she tried to move away and suddenly my surroundings changed. I saw it all in front of me.
Caitlin walked in the lab, pulling out her wallet as a golden lightening streak came up behind her. She held up a five dollar bill and as I blinked it was replaced with a coffee cup.
"Thanks Barry," she sat down at her desk, sipping her caffeinated beverage.
I remembered. The screens read, blank, the shape screensaver bouncing around the ho0lgraphic blue rectangles. The floors, ceiling and walls were scrubbed clean, newly repaired from the latest disaster. Papers covered all available surfaces, waiting to be properly sorted.
I watched as I walked in, an odd sentence in the best of times. The other me looked pale and wan, I knew it was from the hundreds of nightmares that had ensued the night before.
"Morning," Barry was at his, my, whatever, the other Cisco's side, holding my usual coffee.
"Morning,' I had answered, taking the cup and downing half in one swallow.
Barry looked concerned. "Careful, it's hot."
I had nodded, unable to bring myself to care. It wasn't like I had burned myself. I had been fine, what I needed to do was wake up from the horrible night's experiences and get on with the day.
"Are you okay?" Caitlin looked up from her work as I walked around the desk to lean on the thin metal railing set up behind the monitors.
"Rough night,' I had rubbed my eyes, fighting off the pounding headache. I felt like I was trying to vibe, but I couldn't see the visions. There was something I needed to remember, something I needed to do. The feeling of something missing from my brain laughed me.
Barry put a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe you should go back to sleep." He said, his brows meeting in the center of his forehead. "You don't look to great."
"I'll be fine," I had lied, pushing forward and finishing my last dregs of coffee. "Though I may pay you for another cup."
"Consider it on the house," he had headed to the door at a regular speed when the pounding behind my eyes turned up a notch. I felt like I was going to burst.
"Cisco?" Caitlin was at my side when my knees buckled and I was on the floor. The sounds of my name being called followed me into unconsciousness.
The vibe ended as suddenly as my consciousnesses had previously.
"Cisco?" I felt a hand on my shoulder; Caitlin was worried all over again.
"After I passed out what happened?" I said, trying to think straight. My whole head felt like it had been though a blender.
"We got you to the med bay," Barry supplied. "You looked like," he looked at Caitlin, unable to find the words.
"It was like were stuck on a bad signal, you kept fading in and out. We couldn't touch you." Caitlin sounded panicked. "Then about ten minutes ago it flipped back to normal and you were, it was like you'd gone into a coma."
"Sorry I freaked you out," I finally managed to find a bit of humor in the situation thought my smile fell flat when I saw the other's expressions.
"What happened to you?"
"It's a bit hard to explain," I began, unsure if I could even find the words to say it all.
"Try."
"You know when I see the alternate timelines, the other dimension things when I vibe?"
They both nodded, Barry taking a seat on the end of my bed. The movement stretched the thin mattress and sent a spike of pain up my stiff spine.
"It was like I got stuck there. Seeing… all of it."
"All of what?"
I had curled up on myself again, knees beside my chin and my elbows resting on them, linked fingers behind my head.
"All of it. Everything, every time line, every alternate universe, every single solitary moment, how every decision we've ever made could've turned out, the good and the bad and the insane, the terrifying. I got to watch every single member of humanity die in a million billion ways."
Silence followed my proclamation.
'but that's not possible," Caitlin tried to speak, the words sticking in her throat for a minute before finally coming out. "The human mind couldn't process all of that at once, and even if it could you couldn't have done it in a few hours."
"And if it did happen?" Barry thought aloud.
Caitlin's eyes board into me, like she was trying to dig a joke out of me, like trying to figure out if I was lying or not.
I held her gaze, not even blinking. My soul felt heavy and despite the last few hours I was apparently unconscious I didn't feel rested whatsoever.
Then she said exactly what I expected. 'I need to run some tests," she turned and walked out of the room and down the hall.
"Are you okay buddy," Barry asked, looking me over with the eye only the son of a detective had.
"I'll be fine," I laid back down on the bed, not really ready to get up yet.
"If you're sure. Do you want me to go?" he stood, unsure himself of where he should be.
"If you're still willing I'd like that second coffee now."
He grinned. "You've got it.
The plot bunnies have returned with a vengence. Tell me what you think please. I also know that the title is super lame. Thank you for reading