Two chapters as promised! Hopefully, the rest will follow along smoothly!
Chapter Eight: P.T.S.D
It was silent at S.T.A.R. Labs like it had been for the past few days.
Harrison and Jesse slept peacefully in the room they were given, just a corridor down from Krida's room. The two were at ease, the threat of Zoom coming to Earth-One gone. The demon could terrorize the two no longer.
If only the same could be said for Krida.
The Princess tossed and turned violently in her bed. Nightmares of her week-long capture with Zoom taunting her.
Jay, a man Caitlin had come to care for, plagued her nightmares. The way Zoom killed him, shoving his hand through Jay's chest. Much like how he killed Cisco-Two.
The half week of nightmares was a struggle, but easy enough to deal with.
Until tonight.
Krida stood in front of Zoom, tired and bleeding, her karambit knives drawn. She forced her eyes to stay a glow, not enough energy in her to summon her fire.
Her hands starting to shake, Krida gripped her knives tighter. Forcing the shaking to stop.
Zoom laughed at her.
"You think you can defeat me?" Zoom taunted, hunching his shoulders, preparing to run.
Krida sucked in a breath, raising her hands higher.
"What makes you think you can keep them safe when you couldn't even protect your family?" Zoom questioned, his black eyes circling the area around Krida's feet.
Gripping her knives a little tighter, Krida dared a quick glance down before returning her glowing eyes back to Zoom.
It just took that quick second to extinguish the glow in Krida's eyes, her heart starting to hammer harder in her chest.
Looking back down, Krida started to shake all over at the nine bodies sprawled on the floor, their purple blood collecting in a sticky pool. Blue and green hair tinted with the blood. Coco and fair skin disfigured with cuts and bruises alike. Any green and blue eyes that were open, dulled of life.
A horrified scream left Krida's lips, the tears pooling in her eyes falling freely.
"Once I'm done with him, I'll have you over to Kane" Zoom purred.
Looking up, the drumming of her heart came to a sudden halt. Five of The Famine stood behind Zoom, but it wasn't the sight of Kane's soldiers that scared Krida. It was the sight of Cisco being forced to stand in front of Zoom; Zoom's clawed hand clamped onto the back of CIsco's neck.
"Let him go!" Krida demanded, fear and anger swimming in her heart.
"Krida, help me," Cisco begged, the fear in his eyes matching his voice.
"I will Cisco" Krida promised.
Zoom lifted his free hand and it started vibrating. An evil chortle gliding passed his mask.
"No!" Krida screamed making a break for Cisco.
She has to save him! There is no way Krida was going to lose Cisco too! She wouldn't be able to control the heartbreak.
"Too late," Zoom laughed, shoving his hand through Cisco's back and out the front of his chest.
Shock made Krida stop in a sudden halt, her breath being sucked in through her teeth. Everything moved in slow motion as her horror-filled eyes watched the light in Cisco's eyes disappear in only a matter of seconds. The squish of Zoom's hand leaving Cisco's body made Krida's stomach turn in sickness.
From the shock came the anger when Zoom dropped Cisco's body like he was nothing. Her blue fire roared to life, wrapping around her fingers and knives in a dangerous blaze.
Tearing her gaze away from Cisco, Krida crouched, ready to fight. Her flaming karambit knives raised. She promised to not only kill The Famine, but also Zoom.
Krida would have all of their heads at her feet if it was the last thing she did.
"Krida stop, it's us!" Cisco yelled at the Princess scared.
She just let out a roar of anger, causing the flames around her hands to burn stronger. Crawling it's way up to her elbow in a threat to burn anything and anyone that touches her.
He, Barry, Caitlin, and Joe had received a call from Harrison a few minutes ago; telling them that Krida was screaming in her sleep.
Harrison and Jesse had made their way to Krida's room only to see it empty. They searched the whole lab until finding her in the pipeline.
What the father and daughter saw could only be described as Krida fighting in her sleep. Her weapons were drawn, her fire licking her bare feet as she slashed and kicked the air around her. Fighting an opponent that wasn't there.
When the four arrived, they circled Krida slowly, trying to come up with a way to wake her.
Not the best idea to slowly crowd a sleepwalking warrior Princess.
As they grew closer, Krida's open, but far away, eyes looked around at the six. Ready to kill.
Whatever nightmare she was in, it had a strong hold on her.
Everyone stalled in their movements.
"Ramon, what should we do?" Harrison asked, keeping his panic calm.
One-off sound, a twitch in the wrong direction, and it could set Krida off.
"Why are you asking me?" Cisco questioned, not at all concealing his panic.
Krida snapped her gaze to Cisco, alerted at the volume of his voice. The engineer sucked in a quick breath, hoping to still his raising heart at the sight of Krida flipping her knives into an offensive position.
"Ok, let's try and remain calm," Joe said softly, deciding to be the voice of reason, "Cisco, you know Krida the best, you gotta know a way to snap her out of this."
"She's never slept walked before," Cisco said, doing his best to keep his voice even.
Krida's gaze slowly left Cisco and started traveling over the other five in the group. She looked like a lioness, keeping an eye on her prey, determining which of the heard she should pounce at first.
"She's technically sleepwalking," Caitlin chimed in quietly, "We can't shake her awake, that'll just cause her to attack us."
"Like she's about to right now?" Harrison questioned sarcastically.
"Dad," Jesse scolded quietly.
"How do we wake her Cait?" Barry asked.
Krida snapped her gaze over to Barry. Her angered expression deepened, creating creases in the corners of her eyes, the corner of her lips pulled back to show her bared teeth. Her fire wrapped around her arms crawled up a little more and glowed a little brighter.
Krida was gonna attack any second now.
"We need to make a loud noise, like a bang. That's the safest way to wake her up" Caitlin answered quickly.
"Are you sure that's going to work?" Jesse asked worriedly.
"It should, she's still sleeping technically, when you're sleeping and you hear a loud or sharp noise, that you're not used to, it shocks you awake" Caitlin explained.
"What if it doesn't work?" Cisco questioned his friend.
"Barry can use his speed to grab her and put her in a cell until she wakes up," Harrison answered quickly, looking around the pipeline for something that would make a loud noise.
Spotting the toolbox a few feet behind Krida, Harrison saw a wrench and a few screwdrivers laying about it.
That'll have to do.
Harrison silently prayed that Caitlin was right.
"Barry," Harrison silently called to the Speedster.
Barry looked over to Harrison with his eyes. Slowly, Harrison nodded behind Krida.
Barry's eyes followed the nod; spotting the toolbox quickly. Coming to the same conclusion as Harrison, Barry ran for the toolbox.
The feeling of wind from Barry's wind made Krida turn with him. She drew her hand up and back, ready to throw one of her knives at her target.
Barry grabbed the wrench and quickly hit the metal walls.
Once. Twice. Three times.
The metallic 'bangs' echoes around the metal tunnel they all stood in. The echoes were loud and vibrated into everyone's core, slowly turning into rings and then a soft hum.
Krida's shoulders twitched at the noise. The blue fire wrapped around her arms and weapons extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Pale blue eyes no longer clouded with sleep, Krida stared at Barry's worried face confused; her arm falling to her side.
"Bartholomew? Why are you in my room?" Krida questioned confused.
"Krida," She spun at the sound of CIsco's voice, "We're not in your room," he said, slowly walking up to the alien.
Looking around at her surroundings, Krida's eyebrows dipped more in confusion.
Why was she in the pipeline?
"Tat-?" Looking down at her hands, Krida's heart skipped a beat seeing her knives clutched tightly in her hands.
The nightmare that was forgotten came rushing back to her.
Dropping her karambit knives, as if they burned her, Krida brought her hands over her face. Trying so hard to keep the panic underneath her skin. She could feel it trying to break free, tired off being bottled up inside of her. The panic wanted out. Now.
"Em us urys,"
"I'm so sorry,"
Krida couldn't keep the sob's inside her body, "E edutd nuwk tat asw apenengh."
"I didn't know what was happening."
"Ise ku Krida,"
"It's ok Krida," Cisco spoke.
Wrapping his arms, slowly, around Krida, she quickly latched onto Cisco. Wrapping her arms around his waist tightly; shoving her face into his shoulder. Cisco held onto Krida just as tight, ignoring how damp his shoulder was starting to get.
If he brought any attention to Krida's tears, all it would do is embarrass her. She would just retreat back into herself, bottle everything up and try to seal it tighter.
That is the absolute last thing that needs to happen.
"Umek un, etlug ut ury umr,"
"Come on, let's go to your room," Cisco continued to speak in Gaialan.
Cisco guided Krida to the stairs to leave the pipeline; glancing at Barry, Cisco looked to Krida's forgotten knives before looking back to his best friend.
Barry nodded his understanding before the two disappeared from sight.
"What the hell was that about?" Joe asked, releasing his calm exterior and letting his worry shine though, "What would cause that?"
"Zoom tortured Krida more when he captured her," Jesse answered, wrapping her around herself, trying to protect herself from the horrific memories, "She would antagonize him so he would leave me alone. Honestly, I think he only intimidated me to mess with Krida."
Tears collecting in her eyes, Jesse did her best to blink them back. The feeling, like it, was her fault with everything Krida had gone through. Even though the aline assured her many of times that it was her honor to keep Jesse safe.
Krida couldn't stand by and let an innocent take punishment not deserved.
Seeing the sadness in his daughter's eyes, Harrison brought her into a tight hug. Placing a soft kiss in his daughters hair, Harrison let out a sad sigh through his nose.
His worry for his daughter, and now worry for Krida, weighted heavily in his heart. Krida was the one that did her best to keep Jesse safe. To stall from her having the nightmares the alien is now having.
How is he ever going to pay her back?
Cisco kept his arm around Krida's waist, help guiding her to her room as she kept her face buried in his shoulder.
Exhaustion was creeping up on Krida, all she could do was drag her feet. Krida was grateful that Cisco was allowing her to lean on him. Krida probably would have fallen if it wasn't for him.
Nuzzling her face further into Cisco's shoulder, Krida wrapped her arms around his waist.
"We're here," Cisco said, stopping their walk.
Krida glanced up at her door, and let out a sigh through her nose.
She really didn't want to be in her room tonight. She really didn't want to be alone tonight.
The fear of another nightmare returning lingered in the back of her mind.
Noticing Krida's hesitation, Cisco glanced down at her.
Krida looked like she was going to collapse at any moment. Purple bags hung under her eyes; she looked more pal (which Cisco didn't think was possible) and her cheeks were sunken in.
"Do you," Cisco paused, hesitant on what his choice of words should be.
Looking up, Krida blinked her tired pale blues up at Cisco.
She patiently waited for what Cisco had to say. He was always ever so patient with her, the least she could do is wait for him to get his words in order.
Cisco licked his lips and took in a deep breath.
"Do you want to come stay with me?" Cisco asked.
Krida's eyebrows shot up in surprise, all feeling of fatigue long gone.
That certainly was not what she was expecting.
"Not, not live with me," Cisco said quickly, "Just come and stay at my place until you're better."
Krida's eyebrows tilted downward in confusion.
"Isn't that still living with you?" Kirda asked confused.
"Well, yes, kinda, but it's only temporary, you're not going to stay forever," Krida raised an eyebrow, "I mean! Unless you wanted to! That'd be cool too, I've always wanted a-!"
Krida silenced Cisco's panicked rambling by softly placing a hand over his mouth. Her offended expression melted away and a teasing smile pulled at her lips.
"I know what you meant Cisco," Krida assured.
Removing her hand, Krida placed a small kiss on Cisco's cheek.
"Thank you Cisco, I'll get everything I need packed," Krida said.
Pulling away from Cisco's side, she slowly made her way to her room.
The cold rushing up Cisco's side, he couldn't stop the small shiver. He really, really, didn't like the feeling of Krida not by his side.
Gently grabbing Krida's wrist, she looked over at Cisco. Patiently waiting (again) for him to speak.
That was one of the many things Cisco liked about Krida. She never rushed him and always did her best to be understanding. She would listen when he spoke, wasn't afraid to try something new, and always made sure he felt appreciated.
Stepping closer to Krida, Cisco rested his forehead against hers.
"Yes, Cisco?" Krida breathed, color starting to rise in her cheeks and her heart beating like a drum.
"Just, one second," Cisco mumbled and Krida giggled.
Cisco would always amaze Krida.
He was the only one with a wild enough imagination to create something fantastic. Besides her gloves, he designed Barry's whole suite and at the moment he was modifying Reverbs glasses so they could work with him. Krida has even seen his notes on other projects, she didn't even try to understand them, and just enjoyed looking at them.
Whatever Cisco was passionate about, he always saw it through, but sometimes patients was needed.
Smiling up at Cisco, Krida moved her hands so they were resting on his neck. Standing on her toes a little, Krida brushed her lips against Ciscos in a butterfly kiss.
Sometimes, though, Cisco needed a little push.
Resting his hands on Krida's waist, Cisco pulled her closer and pressed his lips onto Krida's.
Krida smiled into the kiss. Wrapping her arms around Cisco's neck, she pulled him closer to her. The kiss was warm, it wrapped around the two in a hug and made butterflies dance in their stomachs.
This was not Cisco's first kiss, or second, or third, but this one was the best. It felt right, it felt perfect, it felt comfortable, it was everything Cisco thought kissing Krida would be like.
Krida hummed happily when she pulled away from the kiss. So many things made sense now.
"So that's what the fuss is about," Krida said happily.
"Wait, was that your first kiss?" Cisco asked surprised and, if he was completely honest, a little worried.
"No, my first kiss was when-"
"Not. What. I. Mean" Cisco scolded teasingly, knowing that Krida understood what he was asking.
Krida giggled before nodding.
"Shows of affection always puzzled me in my youth, I never understood the need to be close with someone" Krida confessed, moving her hands to Cisco's neck.
She started rubbing circles on his jawline with her thumbs, humming the song her mother used to sing.
Cisco smiled down at Krida.
"So what changed?" Cisco asked.
Krida smiled up at Cisco and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"I met you" Krida answered, wrapping her arms around Cisco's neck in a hug, resting her head under his chin.
Cisco held Krida just as tight, kissing the top of Krida's royal blue hair.
They were both happy, after the horrifying couple of weeks they've had, Cisco and Krida deserved this one moment. This one moment of peace, just to enjoy each other.
Sirens went off in a shrill wail, causing the two to jump. Red and blue lights flashed up and down the halls.
Krida looked around confused, while shock covered Cisco's face.
"I've never heard this alarm before" Krida muttered, subconsciously taking a step closer to Cisco.
"That's because these alarms only went off once," Cisco breathed.
"When was that?" Krida asked.
"When you came to Earth," Cisco answered and Krida looked to him shocked.
The two separated from each other and quickly made their way to the Cortex. The happiness from their first kiss long gone, replaced with panic as the sirens continued to wail. Disappointment lingered in the background of their hearts.
Couldn't they have more than just a couple of minutes of bliss? Is that too much to ask for?
"Where's it headed?" Cisco asked, running to a computer while Krida made her way to the three main screens.
"Just on the outskirts of Central City," Harrison answered, "Almost the exact same spot as Krida's ship."
Krida spun to Harrison shocked, her eyes wide.
"What's the temperature surrounding the ship?" Krida asked, turning back to the three screens.
"27.3 degrees Celsius, why?" Harrison asked.
"That's a Gaialan ship" Krida breathed, covering her mouth in shock.
"How do you know?" Joe asked.
"Gaialan ships are built to keep a regular temperature, so that way if we crash land somewhere we don't burn alive" Krida answered, her heart drumming faster and faster.
Her heart thrummed in fear and hope. Fear that it was a trick from Kane and hope that it was someone from her family. Maybe they've come to tell her that Kane is dead, like on Earth-Two! Or it could be Kane figured out where she was and is trying to trick her into going to him.
Krida looked to Barry.
"You're taking me with you," Krida said, leaving no room for argument before taking off to her room.
Well here is chapters seven and eight back to back! Hope you enjoyed them, I'll try and get the other chapters to follow soon. My personal life has gotten a little hecktic, it's barley slowling down, so please be patient with me. Don't be afraid to ask me any questions you have!