He was drowning.

Everything was so bright.

And, he was drowning!

Barry desperately tried to crack open his eyes, but the light was burning and blinding them savagely with such strength that, as far as the speedster was concerned, he might've well been staring straight at the sun during a walk in the middle of the desert. The hero's chest was severely compressed, and his airways were closing fast, and tight, which was preventing any air from entering or leaving. Who put a damn elephant on his chest anyway? Something, or someone, was squeezing him to death and the hero was helpless to escape! Or, that's how he felt at this instant, no matter how close or far away from the truth that was. And why did he feel like there was water filling his lungs?

Maybe if he could sit down and cough everything out, he would be okay. That was his only thought and only hope. At least, the only one that was overwhelming the hero's mind. Barry's whole body tensed up between two shorts and uneven gasps before he tried to straighten up, but hands pushed down firmly on whatever he was lying down.

No! They were killing him!

There was no escaping, and his surroundings were still way too bright to allow the defeated hero to identify his attackers. Barry's shallow breaths were becoming shorter and faster by the second and the faint level of consciousness he had was drifting away. He was covered with sweat all over his burning hot body and, yeah, he still couldn't breathe! Every breath he took sounded like it was coming straight from a high pitched and defective whistle and his panic was rising exponentially. Barry was in desperate need to shout and scream his frenzied request to be set free, but he was utterly powerless.

Iris's husband didn't even have enough energy, nor oxygen, to fight for his life; there was no way he was going to able to push away the people keeping him hostage. His feeble kicks only managed to hit the air and darkness slowly enveloped him once more.

"NO!" Shouted Barry, sitting up instantly on his bed, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

His bare chest was heaving and his hands that were pushing behind his back and against the soft mattress underneath him were the only thing keeping him from falling back again. His confused eyes darted around in panic; where was he? Where were his attackers? When it hit him that he was back in his loft and that he could breathe again, an indescribable feeling of relief washed over him. It was a dream. He was safe. And, the most important thing of all; he could get the precious gas into his lungs again. Oh, thank God for that fact. Barry might be on the edge of hyperventilating, but that was sure as hell better than drowning.

Everything in that dream just felt so real, just like the one he had of himself in the medical bay after the shadow touched him. But, at least, this time Cisco didn't haunt him in his last delusion, that had to be a bright side.

First thing first; the hero needed to calm down and force his panicked body out of his fight or flee mode. To achieve his goal, he slowly and deeply inhaled and exhaled a few times with his eyes staying close to concentrate even more on his breathing pattern.

Everything was okay; he was back in his home, and his wife was peacefully sleeping next to him in the silent night that was only disturbed by the sound of the winds faintly whistling through the partly opened window. Under the cover of darkness that was preceding the arrival of the dawn, tears silently started to cascade down the hero's already wet cheeks; just when he thought he was finally getting back to normal; he was crashing down again. First, the visions came back, worse than before, and now the nightmares were rushing back at full strength.

He was never going to get better. He was never going to be alright again.

That last thought crushed his soul like a thousand mountains falling on him. Barry's head helplessly fell into his hands, and his entire being started to shake under the relentless wail that followed. What was wrong with him? He couldn't do this, not anymore. He couldn't keep living like that.

For just a fraction of a second, only one, which was long enough to send shivers down his spine, the most terrifying thought crossed his mind. The image of the most unthinkable gestures almost took over his frantic mind, but he chased it away instantly. No, he couldn't end all of his pain, but neither could he keep going like this, what was the third option?

The increased hissing of the wind forced Barry to open his eyes again and redirect his attention back to the window; was it the weather picking up? No, it wasn't. The whispering slowly turned into words, and all of them were emanating from somewhere near the feet of the bed.

"Help me, Barry," whistled the wind for a few more seconds until the silence filled the room all over again.

Closing his eyes once more, Barry summoned the energy to clear his mind just enough to think about his next step. In the maze that was his brain right now, there was only one sure thing; he had to know. Flash had to find out what was up and what was down. Was there a remote chance the shadow was still alive and his friends managed to capture it during the last week where he was away from the lab? If that was so, why would they all stay quiet on the issue? They either were lying, or it was just another, weirdly specific, creation of his mind.

He just needed to find which one it was. If his friend did hide this from him, he had to find out why.

Quietly, he pushed down the sheet off his legs and slid out of bed, only stopping for an instant to make sure he wasn't waking his wife up. A groan coming from the side of the bed attracted his attention and caused him to hold his breath for a second. Except for his head that slightly turned around, he didn't dare to move a muscle as he was waiting and glancing at Iris to make sure she was still asleep.

"I'll be back soon, I just need to know the truth," he whispered before getting up and slowly leaving while carefully minimizing the floor creaking under his foot on the way out.

By the time the hero made it to S.T.A.R. Labs, thanks to the bus, it was almost 7 am, meaning there probably was a person or two already there to answer his questions. Part of the speedster almost wished he wasn't going to run to anyone, so he could sneak into the force field room and check for himself, but if the shadow was alive and had been put there in secret, there probably was a damn good reason why nobody told him. Plus, why risk being affected by that thing again?

As he was walking into the elevator, Barry found himself face to face with Killer Frost's host.

"Hey," he greeted, "you slept downstairs again I'm guessing, how are you?" He inquired while leaning forward to press the button of the cortex' level without thinking that Caitlin had probably already pushed it already. Call it reflexes.

"You're going to be alright, Barry," answered back the doctor. For some inexplicable reason, her voice sounded wholly worn out.

"Hey, you okay?" Gently inquired the CSI as he turned around to face her. Damn, she looked tired; her eyes were reddened like she'd been crying and deep dark circles were all around her eyes, "what's wrong?"

Instead of answering, Caitlin just looked at an invisible spot just over Barry's left shoulder and ran her right hand over her runny nose before rubbing it off against her white lab coat.

"You can't give up," she softly said while repeating the same motion she just did. Her sniffing barely covered the sound of the elevator beeping as it finally reached out the requested facility level. Barry's stomach twisted in worry.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong, Cait?"

Extending his arm forward, with the attention to reach out and grab his friend's shoulder, Barry gasped when his arm passed right through her. What the hell? In the next second, Caitlin disappeared into thin air.

"Oh God," he whispered. Not another type of vision, he had enough of that with Cisco. And since Caitlin was alive, it couldn't be a ghost this time., so much for that theory.

Unless…

It was like a cold shower hit his entire being and Barry gasped loudly. In the next instant, the elevator's door opened up and revealed his daughter who was standing there, sadly smiling at him and struggling to keep her emotions inside.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" Gently asked the young speedster.

"Nora, I think something's really wrong with me," he stated, feeling his heart beating up faster.

The way his daughter didn't change her expression, nor did she look in his eyes while having a semi-blank expression on her face, wasn't helping to calm Flash down.

"We'll figure it out, it's going to be alright," his daughter assured him.

"Nora, listen to me-"

Before Barry could finish speaking, his daughter dissipated like a mirage into thin air in the same way the doctor did an instant before. Alright, so either the girls both became ghost overnight, a thought that turned Barry's blood into ice, or there was definitely something wrong with him.

One step forward. Then, two steps ahead. After walking the third one, as if the hero was hit by a sudden faintness, Barry stumbled and caught himself on the wall, unhearing the loud thump sound from the hit against it. No, he wasn't okay in any way. First thing first, he needed to take just a few deep breaths to find back his composure just before a voice, that sounded like it was coming from the cortex, caught his attention.

"Dad? Dad, is that you?"

Nora. Hopefully, it was the real Nora this time. Finding back his balance, and swallowing his fears, Barry started striding quickly in the direction of her room where he found his daughter just at the entry.

"Hey, I thought I heard you," she greeted him.

Instead of looking at her, her dad only had eyes for the woman behind XS; Caitlin. So, she wasn't a ghost either.

"You were right; something's wrong with me, and I need help," he requested with shaking lips, "I think I might be losing my mind-"

"-and then I heard you guys calling for you," finished retelling Barry to the worried crowd a few instants later as he was standing and leaning against the back of the chair placed in front of the computers. His daughter and Killer Frost's host were looking at him from the other side of the table, and both of them were unsure what do say.

"I'm sorry, Barry," apologized Caitlin, looking down at her black jacket and dark shirt underneath to avoid eye contact for a second before looking up again. "Maybe I shouldn't have dismissed your issues so fast before letting you back home."

While pushing his hands against the back of the chair, Barry straightened himself up and got back at the same height than the two other people in the room.

"What about the shadow? Is it still alive?" He asked firmly.

The hesitation and guilty looks shared by the two women was all the answer he needed; after a moment, Nora shrugged.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, dad; it reappeared after you've already left the lab and we managed to trap him."

Barry frowned at the confirmation of his suspicions; "why didn't you guys tell me about this? What are you planning to do with him... it?"

Him, or it; whatever that thing was. Was the Flash such a liability now that his whole team somehow decided his opinion wasn't needed anymore? His lips twitched, but it was the only physical sign of his inner struggles to keep his neutral expression on and stay quiet.

Caitlin winced sympathetically, "we were worried that discussing this with you would worsen your state while you seemed to be getting so much better," she badly tried to explain. After a quick pause, during which she saw Barry tensing and about to add something, she continued, "but we were planning on discussing his fate with you once you would be recovered. I swear."

"Maybe he's the reason you're still having issues," theorized Nora, turning around and looking at the exit of the room, on the verge of losing herself in her thoughts, but her theory got quickly dismissed.

"No, I don't think so," assured Caitlin, shaking her head slightly. "It didn't appear to be a connection at first."

"No matter whether or not he's making me see ghosts, that thing is still asking for my help. I have to talk to it."

Distinct looks of disapproval about his request came from all around, not that Barry expected anything else if he was to be honest with himself.

"Hum... not a good idea, dad. That thing tried to kill you. It tried to kill us, and it's manipulating you in the hope you'll free it. It's only trying to save itself, don't forget that," said Nora.

"She's right," approved Caitlin as she started to walk around the cortex's table to get close enough to her friend to gently touch Barry's left arm, "I might have a treatment we can try. You can go to the med bay; I'll join you in a minute. We can discuss the Shadow's fate, all of us together after this is taken care of."

For half a second, Barry's mouth opened to protest, but he closed it again. He was too tired to protest.

"Alright," he quickly yielded, causing Caitlin to let go of his arm before Barry's body moved away and toward the too familiar medical bay. He just needed to get this done. On his way, he didn't notice the ominous look getting thrown at him by the doctor with a mysterious smile cracking on her lips.

***FLASHFLASHFLASH***

Caitlin imperceptibly shook her head as she entered the medical lab and saw that the familiar form sitting on a chair in the middle of the room hadn't moved a single muscle since the last time she's been there. What was left to say that she hadn't already expressed? There wasn't much left, so she just silently slid inside and walked around the chair and bed to go straight to her computer to double check the readings displayed all over the device's screen. Behind her, she heard the chair creaking slightly, but stayed focused on her task ahead and barely suppressed the long sigh that was struggling to get out. It wasn't good.

If she could, if she was all alone, Caitlin might've crashed down on the other mildly uncomfortable seat, but she wasn't allowed to do that, not while there was a witness. If anyone were to see her break down, it would crush all their faint hopes in an instant.

"That bad?" Asked the masculine voice behind her.

Damn, the team knew her too well. She couldn't hide the way her shoulders were slightly slumped forward, and she couldn't stop the suspicions from rising at her abnormally quiet attitude. Her efforts to make herself as small as possible just confirmed what she was trying to keep secret. Biting her lips, she turned around to face her friend.

"There's still hope," she affirmed, as strongly as possible, which wasn't much and surely wasn't fooling her interlocutor who just lowered his head and harshly rubbed his forehead, failing at hiding his desperation.

"What's wrong?" Reiterated the young man who was still looking down at the bed in front of him.

Caitlin sighed and looked away for half a second, regaining her composure and unconsciously tangling her fingers together.

"It's like his body just stopped fighting like he just decided to lay down and give up, I don't know why."

"It's all my fault; I'm the reason he came into the forest in the first place. I should've protected him harder."

"You got stabbed by Cicada and almost died, what more do you think you could've done?" She gently, yet firmly stated, even if she already knew deep down there was no stopping the guilt train, "come on, you need to get some rest," she added, walking behind her friend and gently putting her hands on his shoulders.

With one swift movement, the man freed himself with a groan. "I gotta stay here, I can't leave...not yet, not 'til I know he's not-"

"I will call you if there are any changes. Come on, Cisco, you got to nap for at least an hour-long or so," requested the doctor again, while her glance slowly moved away from the wounded breacher with his arm in a sling and focused on the sleeping form. Right there, on the bed, was the unconscious Barry Allen.

To Be Continued... (see note below)

A/N: Dah dah dahhhh! Plotwist! Hope you guys like it, let me know what you thought and if you saw it coming

Letting you also know that, for the past few weeks, I've started to really lose my writing motivation, been feeling bad for a while and went behind in the schedule, especially after seeing how many people just decided to drop to story for some reason. Wish I knew what I've done wrong :( I have the whole plan for the rest of the story, but nothing written after this point, so it will take at least 2 weeks before a new chapter, maybe more.

Are you guys still interested in the ending?