Hello people of the Arrow-verse. Can you tell what's starting to become my favorite show to write for? I still promise to one day right a fluffy one shot, but today is still not that day. That being said, I've been working on this one for a bit, and I know it's going to get 86'd come Wednesday, because I know a bit of what's happened to poor Barry, and it is not this, but I wanted to post it anyway.
Also, since I'm assuming that the timeline in the show follows closely to the timeline in real life, I'm using December 11th as the day it was at the end of Three Ghosts
Getting struck by lightning is not, as one might assume, the worst part of getting struck by lightning.
At least for one Barry Allen, the worst part is waking up after. His brain is running a million miles an hour before he even becomes fully conscious, stating the probability of getting struck, the odds of survival, and how lucky he would have to be to come out of this without lasting damage.
More luck than you have, Allen.
And with that he tells his head to shut up before he pokes it with a cotton swab. He's survived it, and doesn't feel like that's going to be changing anytime soon, so he decides he has more important things to worry about.
Like the incredibly uncomfortable shelf he's lying on. You know, the one that's digging into the most painful places it could possibly find on his back, added with the glass shards from the beakers he crashed into. Beakers that thankfully weren't holding any chemicals that shouldn't be spilled, because they're now all over him, soaking into his clothes and skin, and all over the floor, combining into a mess that's going to be a bitch to clean up. But again, things to worry about later.
Barry carefully pulls himself off the shelf, and notices for the first time that the powers come back on. The storm has also passed, which is something he's grateful for, since he's pretty sure he won't be able to hear thunder without flinching for a while. It's still dark out, so he assumes that only a few hours have passed since the incident.
A noise above him makes him look up, and Barry marvels at the broken skylight. He never knew lightning could do that, even nuclear explosion powered super lightning.
Standing proves to be a bit trickier than it should be, because apparently he's not nearly as okay as he originally thought he was. The world starts turning in sickening circles the moment he's vertical, and Barry has to lean on one of the support pillars for a few minutes while the dizzy spell passes. Once it does, he stumbles over to his television, vaguely hitting at it until it turns on and the news starts playing.
'Its been two days since the S.T.A.R Labs particle accelerator went into full meltdown, and the city is still in chaos.'
Barry hits the screen so quickly to turn it off that he's fairly certain something broke.
He starts backing away from it slowly, staring at it wide eyed like it would randomly attack him.
Two days? There is no way it's been two days. He'd know if he was unconscious for two days.
He jumps back towards the desk and snatches up his phone, ignoring the multiple missed calls and texts to check the date.
December 13th.
Two days. It's been two days since he was struck by lightning. Two days that he's been lying there, and not one person came looking. Not one person. No one.
That hits Barry a bit harder than he thought it would, and before he knows it he finds himself in his bathroom, gripping the sink and hoping that whatever might be in his stomach doesn't make a surprise appearance.
It thankfully doesn't come to that, but as he stands there, he notices that his hands are shaking. From which shock, he's not sure, but he's shaking. Badly. And apparently making horrible lightning puns, so maybe he's not as bad off as he thought.
He doesn't know how long he stands there white-knuckling the sink, but after some time, he hears a weird noise coming from the main door. It sounds sort of like someone breaking in, but after the last two days, Barry can't bring himself to care all that much. Also, the door is on a pretty advanced key card lock, so he'd love to see them get through that.
Less than a minute later, the door slides open, and Barry curses himself for speaking to soon. He can hear the intruder moving around in the main room, and he knows the moment they find the chaos it's become by the shocked gasp he hears. The intruder says something in a whisper, and a voice that Barry can almost recognize responds with 'I don't know.'
When the first intruder calls his name, he recognizes it as Felicity, and the wave of relief is so strong that it makes him even dizzier than he was before. He goes to move, but barely makes it a step before the world tilts the wrong way and he finds himself crashing into the wall, landing rather ungracefully on the floor. He thinks he must've made a fair bit of noise, because before he can get the world to right itself, Felicity is suddenly in front of him, calling his name again. Except apparently Felicity has a problem with using her inside voice when she's worried, and it sends a stabbing pain through his head. He can't help groaning at the pain and screws his eyes shut against the suddenly too bright darkness. He also has a silly notion that if he doesn't hold his head together, it's going to fly to pieces, which is how he finds himself gripping at his hair.
He can hear the yet unidentified intruder say 'Shh Felicity' and then there are two hands holding his, pulling them away from his head, and another gripping at the back of his neck, and he's surprised to find the dizziness subsiding.
It takes him a few minutes to be able to open his eyes again, but when he does, it's to Felicity holding his hands, and to his surprise, Oliver kneeling next to him.
'Hey Barry. You with us?' Felicity asks, much quieter than she was before. Barry nods in response, and tries to gives her a reassuring smile, but he's fairly certain it comes out as more of a grimace than anything else.
'What happened? We saw the mess,' Oliver says. He's not using his no nonsense vigilante voice, the one Barry's become used to hearing from him, so Barry can only assume that means he's worried. And to worry the great Oliver Queen, he must look just as bad as he feels.
Barry tries to say 'lightning' but when he talks, his voice is barely more than a raspy croak, and he's sure it was hardly understandable. Thankfully, Felicity is still her wonderful self, and she does understand him.
'Lightning? What do you mean lightning?'
Barry squints up at her, unsure if he should tell her the truth. Felicity can be scary when she's worried, and Barry isn't sure he's up to dealing with her kind of concern.
'Wait. Do you mean you were struck by lightning?' Damn Oliver. He's smarter than he looks. Barry just nods, trying his best to not look guilty.
'Struck by lightning?' Felicity asks, and damn her she's being loud again. 'What do you mean struck by lightning?'
'Felicity, please. Inside voice,' Barry groans, sounding just as pathetic as he feels. Maybe that can earn him some sympathy points. He tries to bring his hands back up to his head to try to fight off the new stab of pain caused by Felicity's outburst, but she's still holding them in a tight grip. He tries to fight back, feeling like his head is going to fly apart again and that he needs to hold it together, but Felicity won't let go, and he starts to panic. There's a rational part of his brain that's telling him his head isn't really going to fly to pieces, and that it would stop if he'd just stop focusing on it and relax, but everything is starting to catch up with him and he just can't. He'd be fine if he could just get his hands back from Felicity, but she won't let go, and she might be saying something to him, but his hearings gone all weird and he can't make out what it might be, and the panic is growing and he's sure his head is about to fall apart, and now he can't seems to get enough air, even though he knows he's breathing, or trying to at least, because of course hyperventilating is just what he needed to add to the growing list of things wrong with him at the moment.
He becomes aware of Oliver holding the back of his neck again, and as the panic and pain is subsiding again, he realizes that Oliver is gripping at just the right pressure points to get him to calm down. As his hearing comes back, he can hear Felicity calling his name again, and feel one of her hands running slowly through his hair, and it grounds him more than he can think about.
'Sorry,' Barry gasps out, then draws a breath that makes him cough. 'Sorry. I'm okay.'
'No, you're not. We need to get you to a hospital.' He notices Felicity nod at Oliver, and then they're both helping him stand. He has to rely on them for support more than he'd care to admit, but as the world tilts around him again, he's thankful to have them there.
'No, really. I'm okay,' he tries to tell them, even though he can't quite seem to get his feet to listen to him. 'I just... I need... I'm fine.'
'Have you looked in a mirror at all? Because I don't think your particular shade of grey is one typically found on humans,' Oliver says. Barry wants to glare at him, and actually turns his head to do so, but the movement causes that sickening world tilt and he finds himself falling towards Oliver's shoulder.
Except he lands not against Oliver, but against the rolling bulletin board in the main room, sending it crashing to the floor, him with it. Oliver and Felicity come rushing in from the bathroom with identical looks of worry and confusion on their faces.
'What just happened?' He asks, noticing that even as Felicity runs over to him, Oliver is keeping a bit of a distance.
'One second you were there, the next you were... Here.' Oliver is looking at him with concern, and Barry can't help but think that he knows something important. 'You were kind of a blur.'
'Barry? What happened to you?'
There you have it folks. All the Barry Allen feels you could possibly never want.
Please remember to review if you can. I'd love to know what you thought of this, or if there's anything you think I could improve on.
Till next time,
Cadet Eyes
