And all of the sudden, snow and ice filled the room and Cisco closed his eyes, a wave of nausea hitting him.
This is not happening.
He gulped and opened his eyes again.
His best friend, the one who kept him company when his brother died, the one that stood by his side when he first discovered his powers, the one that just died a few minutes ago and was brought back by her unstable and uncontrollable powers.
Caitlin Snow's silver blue eyes locked with his brown ones for a second, a smile spreading across her face. But it wasn't a friendly one. She looked at him with a mixture of malice and mischief, her eyes sparkling with bloodlust he never saw before in her delicate face.
"Caitlin…" he started and stood up, moving his hand in a calm and submissive manner. She watched him, his every movement with her hyper vigilante eyes, but didn't say anything.
"Caitlin, you're okay, you're fine." He walked up to her slightly.
"Okay? We don't wanna hurt you, okay, I would never hurt you. You're my best friend, you know that, right?"
Caitlin blinked and for a second he swore he saw something brown in her eyes. She flexed her fingers in a very un-Caitlin like manner and her hollow voice filled the room, echoing from the walls.
"You know Vibe, I thought that too." She licked over her lips. Cisco gulped.
Caitlin looked around, her eyes moving from H.R. to Julian and lingered there for a second. Her right hand moved up her body towards her heart and up to her neck.
"But if you were my friend, any of you, you would've let me die." And she dropped her hand.
"You removed the necklace, even after I asked you not to do that." Her voice sounding shrill, anger and venom dripping from it.
Cisco looked in shook at her, seeing ice dripping from her hands onto the floor, like deadly poison, moving towards the boys.
And then she smirked.
"But I guess you're even more broken than me, after little Dante died. Tell me, after all those therapy sessions, after all the times I slept on your couch so you wouldn't wake up from those nightmares alone, after all this time…" she paused, walking up to Cisco, cupping his face with her now ice cold hands.
"Are you still this gullible? Believing you can fix me, when you can't even fix your family? You? You pathetic excuse for a human being!" and then her hands left his face, ready to attack him and Cisco sprinted away from her.
Icicles flew from her hands into the wall behind Cisco and he dodged again.
"And the best part? You're helping the one who killed your brother and turned me into a monster!" And more ice filled the room.
"Caitlin, this isn't you!" Julian stood up, blood coming from a gash on his forehead. He held his hands up in surrender.
"He didn't remove the necklace! I DID!" he screamed and Caitlin stood still for a moment.
Julian looked at Cisco and then at his vibe gear near the table. Cisco understood and slowly made his way towards the table, seeing the green lime jello still standing on it, long forgotten.
Caitlin breathed out, white puffs of cold air coming out of her mouth.
Julian looked at her, moving slightly to the left, so she wouldn't see Cisco in the background.
"You died, I couldn't let you die, Caitlin. I can't lose you, I…" he stopped for a second and she looked up to him.
"… you're seeing the real me, not Alchemy not a CSI, but me. Caitlin, I can see the real you, and you don't want to do this."
For a moment he thought, her anger had ebbed, but then she exploded. Her powers overloading her, clouding her mind. Her eyes flashed white for a second and she grabbed him by the collar, malice returning to her features.
Before Julian could do anything, she kissed him, draining him of his body heat. He struggled, but hands kept him in place. And then it hit her, literally.
A wave of energy hit her and she was thrown into the wall. But she barley flinched. It didn't hurt as much as she expected it to be, and the doctor side in her questioned why she didn't feel pain,why she didn't feel tired.
She turned around and saw Cisco with his vibe goggles, a hand outstretched in her directions, Julian crumbled on the floor near him, looking at her sadly.
And rage filled her again.
She shoot more icicles at Cisco's direction, more cold, more snow. She stood up and froze the floor.
"You don't want to hurt me? And what did you just do?" she screamed, ice crawling up the wall.
"You're really something, Vibe. Team Flash's golden boy, always smiling, always making jokes so he doesn't have to face the fact, that he is just as replaceable as every other person here."
She hit him again and he crumpled towards the floor.
"Well, Eddie died, not a problem. Iris found her new lover boy in Barry and Joe still had a son in law! So no harm done, right?"
She kicked Julian in the head, knocking him out.
"Ronnie was also replaceable. Hey, we found someone else to merge with Stein, we still have Firestorm. And I still had my fair share of boyfriends. Ronnie, Hunter, Julian, all replaceable, right?"
She sent a cold blast towards H.R. knocking him on the ground.
"And the evil Wells died, the Reverse Flash. And then we found Harry, only to replace him with this idiot over there. But what did he say, there is whole universe of Harrison Wells out there, so everything it good, right?"
Her voice shrieked.
"We are just as replaceable as they are, Vibe!"
Cisco was about to cry, tears where forming in his eyes, her words stung.
He hit the panic button.
"Oh tears, friend?" she mocked but then saw the phone in his hand.
Further enraged, she sent and icicle in his direction, knocking the phone to the floor. She looked up, ready to strike again, but stopped.
"This is too easy…" she muttered and turned around. She swiftly walked towards the door to the floor, freezing the wall delightful.
Barry came 2 minutes later.
"What happened?" he moved over to Cisco, helping him up. Wally got to H.R. and Julian, helping them up and guided them towards the warmer cortex.
Cisco gulped, tears forming in his eyes.
"Her heart stopped and we couldn't… we couldn't…" he started to cry.
"She was fine and then she kept dying, and Julian removed the necklace so she could heal herself… but…" his eyes moved around the room.
"Her powers are overpowering her, she isn't thinking straight." He said.
Barry nodded, guiding him to the cortex and the paced through the room. There was no time to loose, Barry thought, and looked for the security cams at Star Labs.
He watched as Caitlin died, opened her eyes again and began attacking everyone. He watched as she walked out the room, leaving ice everywhere and he saw as she moved outside, barefooted. And then it hit him. Caitlin stood on the pavement before Star Labs, looking around, white hair around her face. But there was another person approaching her. Barry gulped, seeing the man in his dark armor, white lightning zipping around him, towering over Caitlin, a hand outstretched.
"Savitar." He mumbled and zoomed in.
He said something to her, something he couldn't understand.
First she look enraged, ready to strike, but then something changed. She looked confused at him and the smiled, shaking his hand with delight. And with that, both figures disappeared into white light.
The next time Cisco really saw her was when Team Flash, or at least what remained of it, meet with Tracy Brand, a scientist who might be able to help them defeat Savitar.
Yes, they searched for her, but each time they came near her, she disappeared. She didn't kill anyone yet, but that didn't stop her from criminal activities. Freezing Wally into the wall, sending flying icicles near Iris's head or freezing Joe's gun. She did it all. But she avoided fighting with Cisco. Every time he went out, searching for her, she disappeared without a trace.
But that was different today.
As Cisco and Barry meet with Tracy, Caitlin leaned against the scientist car, smiling innocently. Barry and Cisco tensed, putting the scientist behind her.
"Cai…" but Cisco stopped.
Caitlin smiled again, mischief and malice, a weird combination, reaching her eyes.
"Are you finally calling me by my real name, Vibe? Of are you still afraid to say Killer Frost?" she mocked him.
Barry tensed, ready to take her out, to fix his mistakes and safe her, but white lightning caught his attention.
Before him stood Savitar, the self-acclaimed god of speed. And with that, yellow and white lightning flickered, leaving Cisco, Tracy and Caitlin left standing.
And hell broke loose.
Cisco put on hos googles, sending a pulse in Caitlin's direction and shoved Tracy behind him.
"Run!" he screamed at her and saw that she first stood rigid bit then started sprinting back towards her house.
An icicle flew near his head.
"Aren't you tired of this, Vibe? Helping the self-acclaimed hero of Central City with his false heroics?" she laughed and the trees and grass froze beneath her feet.
"Or are you trying to be a hero yourself?" she giggled and send a cold blast in his direction.
He pulsed and the ice shattered.
"Stop it Caitlin, I don't wanna hurt you, but I will stop you if keep doing this!" he roared.
She dodged his attack and anger filled her eyes once more.
"Doing what? Helping to take out the Flash, the one who hurt everyone around him?" she shrieked.
It began to snow.
"He is the villain, Vibe, no one else!" she roared, hands glowing blue.
She send another wave of cold in his direction and he barley dodged it this time. He hovered behind a tree, trying to think of a way to reach his friend.
Sending another pulse in her direction, he sprinted towards another tree.
She dodged it, looking around but didn't find him at first.
And that was all he needed.
Sending another pulse in her direction, hitting her around the chest, she was thrown back against a tree, howling in pain for the first time.
He heard a bone crack and saw how Caitlin's hand moved towards her collarbone, hissing.
He broke her collarbone.
He felt dizzy for a second. This was the first time he really physically hurt her. A tear escaped his eye.
Caitlin touched her collarbone again, blinking, she hissed in pain while setting the bone back, waiting for it to heal.
…Setting the bone right…don't move too much of it won't heal properly… Her thoughts were invaded by a doctor's voice, much like hers, just more human.
She wasn't that person anymore. Rage filled her again, drowning out the voice in her head.
With a swift move, she turned around, finding Cisco behind the tree. Before he could react, she was in front of him. Healed and ready to strike.
So she grabbed Cisco's right hand, closed her eyes and…snap!
Cisco cried out, moving away from her and shielding his now bloody, broken hand with his body. And she knew, he wouldn't heal so quickly, he wasn't like her. A monster.
She clutched her head with her hands, breathing in and out.
She would end this, once and for all.
Before he could recover she kicked him in the legs and he felt on the ground. Forming an icicle in her hand, he grabbed his googles, threw them away and straddled him, bloodlust in her eyes.
"Vibe vs Killer Frost. Now, I believe will be our last fight." She said.
Cisco looked up to her, tears streaming down his face. And she stopped, looking down at him. She didn't say anything and he looked up to her.
"It's okay. You don't have to stop." And he smiled at her, his special Cisco smile that was reserved for special people. He closed his eyes.
"It's okay."
Thump.
He opened his eyes again and looked up towards the sky. Caitlin was no longer straddling him, rather she lay beside him, breathing in and out.
He blinked and moved his head to the left, seeing her blond her sprawled out on the ground, eyes closed, her red lips slightly parted.
"Caitlin?"
She moved her head towards him and he wanted to cry out.
Her brown eyes looked sadly at him and she smiled slightly.
"Cisco…" she never sounded this tired, he thought.
Thinking of it, she attacked them on oddly times, at 3 am just to strike at 5 am again. Her powers must work like a drug, filling her with rage, keeping her up, even if she would be dead on her feet. She looked so tired.
Her eyes moved over his body, stopping at his broken hand and tears filled her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" she whispered and his left hand moved towards her right one, intervening their fingers.
"It's okay. It's okay, everything is gonna be okay." He reassured her and squeezed her hand a little.
But she only cried more.
"It's not Cisco, I…" but he only squeezed her hand again.
"Don't worry about it, I've got you now, that is all that matters." He smiled up to her, shutting her up.
She sighed but smiled back at him, even if it didn't reach her eyes. Her head moved towards his neck and he could feel her warm breath against his chest.
He looked down at her and saw that she had her eyes closed. Her face gaining color.
"Caitlin?" but she didn't stir, probably catching up sleep from the last few weeks, her body finally coming down from her high.
He smiled. With his right hand he searched for his phone, wincing a bit and pressed the panic button.
He closed his eyes, blackness entering his vision.
This is home.