Author's Note: There very well might be a minor uprising in the comments section at the fact that I'm skipping over basically the entire midseason finale. But guys you don't understand… the Force-Children plot. The only reason I didn't quit the Flash after watching eps 10 and 11 was because of this story.

And Frostblaine. I am kind of (totally) obsessed with Frostblaine.

So, yeah. I'm sorry if you were looking forward to me exploring a plot where Barry and Caitlin's tRuE lOvE created a bunch of energies that inhabited people's bodies and decided to all start calling each other bro and sis.

They were dead.

Alexa, Bashir.

Caitlin.

The four of them had been standing in the Star Labs Lounge when Nora and Deon had shown up. Nora looked even darker than the last time Barry had seen her, with thick lines of black around her eyes, burgundy lipstick, and a full-black getup. They had just been discussing how they couldn't defeat her alone, and now here she was.

Barry straightened, wary and on edge. They weren't ready to fight Nora, especially not with Deon in the way. They wanted to save Deon, not let him get caught in the crossfire.

"I'm sorry," Deon said quietly.

"Nora." Barry strode towards her, urgent. Something was about to happen, he could feel it, sickening him. "Please-"

Deon scrunched up his face and held up his fist. Everyone froze in a burst of green light.

"You made me do this, Barry," Nora said, before she reached out her hands. Tri-colored bolts of electricity streamed in between the frozen bodies in the room, culminating at Nora's fingertips. Barry, the only one of those on the heroes side left untouched, could only watch in horror as Caitlin, Alex and Bashir crumpled to the ground.

Nora let her hands fall, looking grimly satisfied. "It's done," she stated.

With a snap of Deon's fingers, they had vanished.

Barry spun around, panic rising in his throat. "No," he whispered, stepping forward, then stumbling back, then falling to his knees besides his wife. Tears began to stream down his face, dripping off of his chin. "Caitlin, please. Please-"

He reached for her, to scoop her into his arms, but suddenly all three bodies on the floor vanished in a purple glow. Barry's hands swept through empty air, his stomach bottoming out.

"So that worked…"

Barry spun in shock at the sound of Bashir's voice. He rose to his feet, gaze skating across three figures, standing completely safe in the Lounge.

Bashir, Alexa, and Caitlin.

Alive.

"Wha- what just happened?!" Alexa demanded. "How're we still alive?"

Barry didn't care- not about reasons, not right now. He rushed forward and crushed Caitlin in his arms. She let out a tearful laugh, hugging him tightly and pressing her hand to the back of his head, fingers weaving into his hair.

"I don't understand," Barry gasped out, pulling away to look between Caitlin and the two others.

Caitlin's eyes trained on Bashir, who shifted awkwardly. Her eyebrows creased. "What did you do?"

"As- as soon as Nora came in, I knew you were right," Bashir stammered. Barry felt relieved at that, at the very least- they had been struggling to get him to realize that Nora was no longer on their team. "I could see the hate in her eyes. I- I wanted to protect you all. So I… took care of it."

"You made her think we were… dead?" Caitlin confirmed hesitantly, taking Barry's hand.

Barry rubbed his thumb over her skin, feeling his heart rate start to finally settle. "You made us all see it. It wasn't a nightmare… that was an illusion. I didn't know you could do that."

Alexa and Bashir immediately started squabbling. Barry tuned them out, turning to Caitlin again. "Caitlin," he said, voice catching. "I don't think I can ever do that again."

"Watching the person you love die all the time?" Caitlin offered him a weak smile, resting her head against his shoulder. "Welcome to my world."

Author's Note: In retrospect, I probably could have done some cool, creative adaptation of the midseason finale that wasn't an actual train wreck… but homie doesn't have the motivation or brain power or time for that anymore so here's a dinky lil scene XD