++++++ I dunno about you but I've been dying to post this since June.

It's definitely a tie-in with my Arrow FanFic The Chronicles of Shade.

If you've read Part 3 - Zhuye than great-you already know who Charlotte Allen is. If you haven't don't worry-it's not overly important that you run back and read the series.

Anyway, please enjoy.

I do not own ++++++

One

The night I was born, I came into the world like a flood.

I was born the night a great storm hit the coast of Florida whilst my parents had one last vacation before baby number two came along. Cyclone Charlotte came as quick as it went but the stress was enough to bring me into the world.

I've always liked the water, it's made me feel safe and no matter where I've been in my life, it's always been there for me.

My name is Charlotte Allen and this is the story of how I died.

The day started like any normal day usually did.

My alarm went off, I ate breakfast, had a shower than went to work. I work at one of Central City's many Big Belly Burger's as a fry cook-I hate it but it's money and I know it's not what I want to be.

Everyone says that after you finish high school, you're supposed to go to university, get a job, get married, have kids, work and live your life out until you die. You're supposed to know what you want by the time you're eighteen and classed as an adult-I'm almost nineteen and I've got no idea what I want to be.

So right now, I'm just floating through life not knowing what my future is.

Well actually right now I'm walking down the street with my headphones stuck in my ears and cruising along on my skateboard but you get the jist. As I weaved in and out of the crowd, I could see flashes of red and blue ahead of me and a tapped off crime scene. Behind the yellow crime scene tape is my adoptive father, Detective Joe West.

I love Joe, he took me and my dorky older brother in after our father murdered our mother-I was only four so I don't really remember much of both of them-but I wasn't what Joe wanted me to be. My brother, Bartholomew 'Barry' Allen, works with the police force as a Crime Scene Investigator. My adoptive sister, Iris West, works at a coffee shop but is a budding journalist who has some pretty radical talent despite my mixed feelings for her. I had a string of B&E convictions as well as some hits for drug possession-because of my lack of direction in life. I could have been a doctor or a lawyer or maybe even a dancer. Joe and I didn't really speak much these days.

Coming to a stop behind the crime scene tape, I watched as my older brother studied the crime scene. I love Barry, we're all each other has left but he had the same problem as Joe, but he was more angry that I wasn't using my high IQ to save the world or some crap like that. Taking a closer look over the crime scene tape, I looked at the tire skid marks on the road.

"It's a Mustang Shelby GT500," I called out, catching Barry's attention. "Shelby's got a rear super-wide tire specific to that model, twelve inches with an asymmetrical tread." Cars were a hobby.

"Charlie!" Barry grinned, standing up. "What are you doing here sis?" I guess he was surprised that I was talking to him after the ultimatum I gave him when we'd left Starling City. You see-my brother had this habit of investigating what he called the impossible but lately I'd realised it would only do one thing and that would be to kill us both. I told him to pick between me and his little hobby or we were done.

So far I hadn't been given an answer.

"Heading to work," I shrugged. "Than I've got dance class afterwards." For the past six months, I'd been an assistant teacher at a small dance studio down by the river. Growing up I loved to dance. Dancing to me, felt like swimming, it always made me feel so light and free. I could do anything, ballet, hip hop, classical-you name it-I could do it. Being as skinny as a twig with originally blonde, but now currently purple hair, and blue eyes, had it advantages sometimes.

"What are you doing here?" Joe questioned, walking over where we stood.

"Relax I'm behind the tape," I told him. See that look? The one that dripped of disappointment? Imagine seeing that look every time someone you loved looked at you. Does wonders for one's confidence.

Barry cleared his throat. "So I've thought of the perfect sibling outing for tonight. You, me and Iris can go see the particle accelerator at STAR Labs." With that look of hope on his face, I couldn't say no to him. Sure Barry and Charlotte Allen had their problems and ever since the Arrow and his friends had kidnapped my brother we'd grown further apart.

"Sure," I answered with a soft smile. "We can go see your dork machine smash stuff." I picked my skateboard up and tucked it underneath my arm. "You could look a little happier to see me Joe. But I guess not." I stepped away from the tape and melted into the crowd.

I had every intention of making it to Barry's lab to accompany him and Iris to STAR Labs but never made it. My boss stuck me with a double shift that his daughter was supposed to have. After work, I headed to the dance studio where I was stuck with a class of five-year-olds making this day one of the crappier ones I've had in a long time.

I'm on my way home when it happened.

Usually when it rains, I'm in heaven. I can remember perfect moments from my first four years of life. I love the feeling of rain hitting my skin. Walking along the riverside, I turned my iPod on and selected my Heroes Remix. Just as I went to stick my headphones in my ears a crack of lightning behind me forced me to turn around.

A storm cloud suddenly formed around the top of STAR Labs making my stomach drop. "Oh no," I whispered, "this is bad…very, very bad…Barry!" I took off running towards STAR Labs whereas people were running away from the building.

I hadn't got more than a few feet away from where I had been when the accelerator exploded. I could see it all in slow motion, a wall of orange energy shoot into the air and rolled outwards like ripples in a pond.

And it was heading straight towards me.

There was nowhere to hide.

Someone ran into me, knocking me down off the path and straight over the rails into the water. I hit the surface of the water just as the orange energy slammed into me. I tried to scream but all I can see is bubbles of air escaping me. Something was dragging me down, a heavy weight that was coming from my chest more than anything I was wearing.

My vision started to blur before eventually I was pulled into the darkness.