Chapter 5

After double checking that Damien was still in the pipeline, everyone gathered in the Cortex. Well, everyone except Ari. After seeing Damien in the pipeline, she got very quiet and told Cisco she was going out and that she would be back later. Tio almost went with her but decided that she need some space.

The team was sitting in the Cortex, trying to figure how Ari saw Damien's face. "Maybe it was post traumatic stress disorder? It would be understandable if she was even the least bit affected bit after what she went through a few months ago. Cisco has she been showing any signs of having PTSD?" Caitlin asked.

Cisco thought for a moment before slowly saying, "People with PTSD have.. strange.. triggers don't they?"

Caitlin nodded and Cisco went on, saying, "She refused to eat, buy, or even look at apples. She used to love apples. She doesn't tell me about small things like why she gets up in the night and I've noticed she's been really irritable. It's almost like she doesn't trust me or something."

"It sounds like she does have PTSD," Barry said and the room was quiet. "Where'd she run off to?" H.R asked.

"Probably the track. She's been going there a lot lately, especially when she wants to be alone," Tio said.

"I'll talk to her," Cisco said as he walked out.

Ari ran another lap and as the image of Damien grew clearer in her mind, she picked up the speed. Soon she was running full speed and the image was still there.

She slowed to a stop and knelt over, putting her hands on her knees, breathing heavily and trying to get the image out of her mind. "You ok? I haven't seen you run that fast in a long time," a voice asked, making her look over. She saw Cisco stand up from the bench he'd been on and walk over to her.

She straightened as he handed her a water bottle and nodded a thanks to him, taking a long drink from it.

"I'll be fine," she said quietly. She walked over to the bench and sat down, Cisco joining her. "You know, we haven't been as close as we used to be since Dante… passed away," Cisco said.

"He didn't pass away, he was murdered by that drunk driver," Ari muttered angrily.

Cisco paused before saying, "How're you holding up? I know we were both a mess when we got the news, but we haven't really been able to talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about," she replied, not looking at Cisco.

They were quiet before she said, "So why'd you really come here? Cause I know it wasn't to talk about Dante."

"Caitlin thinks you might have some PTSD from the Damien situation."

Ari stiffened at the mention of Damien, keeping quiet. "Ari, if you ever need to talk about what happened, I'm happy to-." "I know, Cisco. Um, I need to keep practicing. Tryouts for cross country are coming up," she lied, standing. She'd missed cross country tryouts.

Cisco sighed with a nod. Ari started to walk off before turning back and saying, "I want to keep training. My powers, I mean. Phantom was right, I need to get control of my powers."

Cisco, a bit caught off guard, nodded and said, "We can start back up tomorrow if you want." Ari nodded, but still seemed stiff. "See ya," she said and began jogging, slowly picking up the pace. Cisco left, heading back to STAR Labs, not feeling much better than when he came.

As he heard the sound of rushing wind, he didn't think of much of it. Until he didn't feel any wind. Then he heard it.

The whistling.

A/N: I'm back y'all! Updates might be scarce, but there will be updates. I currently don't really know where I'm going with this, but I've got a vague idea. Encouraging comments would be nice! TTFN! Ta ta for now!