Hey all you people. I know it isn't Friday, but I'm gonna be too busy tomorrow to upload this chapter regularly, so lucky you. You all get this next chapter a day early.

Before we get into it, a few people expressed displeasure with the direction I was taking this last week and I felt the need to address them. You do know that I'll have Barry regain his memories eventually? Right? Because that's what's going to happen. You'd think I would have gotten this reaction when I killed him instead. Barry and Caitlin are not going to get a divorce. The thought never even crossed my mind. They will be reunited again, it will just take some time for them to get comfortable together, especially on Barry's end, but it will happen.

I'm not going to name names, but there were some concerns that I was going to bring up WestAllen because of this. All I can say is that I really like watching Iris... WATCHING SAVITAR PLUNGE THAT BLADE INTO HER BACK. Seriously. I once went on a 3 page rant of how much I "like" Iris after watching season 5. It's a solid text block spanning 3 pages. No joke. It's 3 pages of nothing but text, all detailing how much I "like" Iris. So yeah, that's a thing. I still have it saved somewhere.

The only way I would make WestAllen a thing here is if I had the rights to The Flash, so I could reboot it to make Snowbarry canon and that would make WestAllen fan fiction. Sadly, I do not, nor will I ever own The Flash.

"So, what are we doing exactly?" Barry asked as he was being strapped to a chair with a bowl over his head.

Julian shrugged. "Just a brain scan. Nothing to worry about. We're just using some new equipment," Julian played it off as he was making some adjustments.

"Alright, I'm trusting you here," Barry lied back, deciding to just go with it.

"Alright, I'll be showing you a few random images and measuring your response to them. Let me know if and when you'd like to stop,"

"This is kinda different from what I usually do when committing a brain scan."

"Right," Julian dragged out. "Like I said, new equipment, we're just making sure we've worked out all the kinks. Ready to start?"

Barry shrugged. "Let's do this,"

Julian started the machine and began displaying images. At first they were randomly generated before moving on to more intimate photos. Pictures of weddings mixed in with his own. Glaciers before showcasing some images of Caitlin's battles. There were even some pictures of Killer Frost and immediately afterward pictures of Caitlin Snow to see if Barry could make the connection that the two were the same.

At the end of the test Barry squeezed his eyes to get used to the light again. "So, how did it go?"

Julian gazed at the results and they weren't looking good. Barry showed no familiarity to any of the photos they were looking for. It didn't even seem as though he noticed the similarities between Caitlin and Frost. There was no emotional response at all to his wedding photos. Not even a picture of Ramona in the tube she called a home for about a month after being born. "About what I expected. We won't be doing this every time."

"Great, I'll catch you later." Barry sped out of there. He needed to stretch his legs after nearly an hour of simply staring at still images.

Once he was gone, Julian picked up his phone and dialed Cisco. "Nothing. If his memories are still in that head of his, they are buried extremely deep down. There's simply nothing we can do. He's solidified his reality. Anything we say to oppose that perspective is going to be met with suspicion."

"We need to do something. Maybe we can call in a psychic to unlock his memories. We know plenty of those,"

"We'd need a specific type of psychic. Not one that handles emotions or hallucinations, we'd need some kind of mind reader to pull Barry's true memories to the surface."

"We could call Earth-38 and ask for J'onn but I think I heard that he was going on some sibling outing." Cisco said.

"He has a sibling? When did this happen?"

"He found his brother in the Phantom Zone." Cisco informed him.

"He did? Good for him. Honestly he must be elated to have his sibling come back. I can't even imagine what that must feel like," Julian sighed forlornly.

"Either way, he's not available. Which sucks since his particular skill set would be useful to dredge up Barry's memories again."

Julian sighed. "Which means the only thing we can do is wait and pray."

"This is the part I always hate,"

"It's something out of our control. We can't do anything about it and stressing over it is not going to change anything. Relax and be patient. That's all we can do."

The team developed a new normal. They had all stopped trying to bring memories of Caitlin to Barry's mind because they all realized Barry would never believe them. Either he would come up with his own version of events, ones that didn't include Caitlin or separated her and Frost as different people, or they simply never happened. Attempts were shot down immediately that he never knew Caitlin Snow and if he ever did, she didn't matter in his life anymore.

They focused all of their attention instead to Ramsey Rosso, the one behind all the zombie incidents the past few months.

"How do you know his name?" Barry asked.

"A colleague of mine told me after she ran into him once. You don't know her," Cisco sighed sadly at the last part.

"When did this happen?"

"Like a month ago?" Cisco shrugged his shoulders.

"A month? Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"A lot of things were happening. It slightly slipped my mind,"

"What was happening a month ago? I can't remember anything of significance a month ago that would warrant you to forget a narcissistic power hungry cannibal zombie."

"I was busy," Cisco insisted.

"With what? Hazing me about a fake wife?"

"Just-just let it go. I'm telling you now." Cisco raised his hand in a stop motion.

Barry eyed him to see if there was anything strange about Cisco's demeanor. Deciding there was nothing too out of the ordinary, he let it go. For now. "We'll talk about keeping important secrets from us later. Right now I want you to pull up everything you have on Ramsey Rosso. Workplace and home address. Relatives and their assets. We need to lockdown on a base of operations. I want to know where he gets his coffee from Cisco."

The alarm went off that a crime was currently being committed and Barry tapped a few keys to pull up the location and the situation. "Home invasion." Barry listed. "I'll handle this. When I get back, I want you to compile a list of places you think he might be working out of and any accomplices he might have. We don't think he's working with anyone, but it's never a bad thing to expand our thinking."

Barry rushed off and Cisco was getting flashbacks of the last time Barry rushed off to deal with what they perceived would be a normal crime and Barry ended up dead. Cisco was chewing his fingernails, keeping an ear out for the comms in case Barry called about something. What was happening? Did something go wrong? What if Barry encountered Rosso again? Cisco could almost hear the splat of Barry impacting the pavement in his mind. The blood leaked out of him with no way to heal. Barry should have been back by now. That's it. Cisco needed to get him some help.

Barry returned at that moment looking no worse for wear. "Hey, you got that list for me yet-" Barry was interrupted by Cisco colliding with him in a bear hug. "What's this about?"

"I'm so glad you're okay. You really worried me,"

"Cisco, I was barely gone for a minute. Nothing happened. What's going on? You've been acting strange ever since you were hazing me about a wife that you made up,"

"She's not-" Cisco cut himself off before they could get into this again. This wasn't the time and it wouldn't do anything. Barry's stubborn streak still seemed to be there. That wasn't something he particularly enjoyed at the moment.

"Anyway, did you get me that list?" Barry asked again.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it." Cisco waved him off, wiping a few tears away and sat back down at the computer.

The next time Barry met Caitlin, Cisco never imagined this. She was mind-controlled. He had no memory of her at all. It sounded like the start of a bad joke. Or maybe a fanfiction.

Barry had set up surveillance at several locations where Ramsey was known to frequent. One of them was his deceased mother's house. There had been some activity seen inside and Barry had gone inside with Cisco outside in the van observing everything. Barry had quickly rounded up all the zombies, tying them up in ropes and Rosso was placed in cuffs.

"You shouldn't have picked somewhere so obvious. You're done Rosso," Barry spat at him.

For a moment, Cisco was hopeful. With Rosso in meta cuffs, maybe his powers and influence on all the others, including Barry and Caitlin, would be gone. Everything would go back to the way it was supposed to. Rosso was no match for superspeed. His only advantage was strength in numbers and his anonymity. Both of which were easily overcome.

Cisco shouldn't have expected it to be so easy.

With a single command all of Cisco's hopes were dashed away. "Get him," Rosso commanded.

The sound of ice forming and cracking appeared and Caitlin burst out of her binds. The ropes were frozen solid and shattered. Looking through the camera on Barry's symbol, Cisco could tell her eyes were still pitch black and her teeth had been painted with a slight hue of gray. She released an icy breath that sent Barry flying backwards.

"Stand down," Rosso said but the command was to the others who remained on the floor, compliant. "I want to enjoy this."

The black-eyed Killer Frost positioned herself between The Flash and her master. She bore a look that seemed to pierce his soul. Barry took a tentative step and Frost squared herself, readying for an attack.

Barry looked at the slight covering of ice on his body and looked up at Frost. His eyes seemed to bear slight recognition or realization. "It's you." Cisco held his breath. Could this be it? "You're the one who trapped Vibe in that ice block a month ago. I've found you!"

Barry decided to go for it and sprang into action. Frost responded by shooting an icy blast at the ground, covering it in a thin layer of ice. Enough that Barry would struggle to gain traction to move around easily.

Barry's answer was to avoid it entirely. He'd been working every spare moment he had to increase his repertoire of abilities and he'd finally managed to get down that levitation trick Ace had revealed in their fight. A little anyway. It was a work in progress. It was clunky and he couldn't keep it up for very long, but long enough to cross the distance to get to the ice witch.

But all of a sudden, remembering Ace made Barry's head throb in pain. He lost his concentration and crashed to the icy floor. Who was Ace again? He was a time traveler, that much Barry could remember. But who was he? Did he have some significance to him? Why couldn't he remember?

Frost took advantage of the momentary lapse of pain and created icicles around her fingers and with a great wave, hurtled them in Barry's direction, each with the intent to pierce his skin.

Barry reacted instinctively and grabbed each icicle out of the air before they could reach him. That made him pause again. How did he know that was coming? He felt like he'd done all this before. Many times, in fact. So much that he could almost see how this fight would play out.

"I think these belong to you!" Barry shouted, throwing the icicles back at their creator with increased velocity and Frost made a surprise move and raised her hands. The ice projectiles were suddenly turned to water. While their momentum continued, their impact was much less damaging.

Cisco's eyes widened in shock. Frost had never been able to do that before. Turn her powers in reverse, giving heat instead of taking it. Seemed Rosso wasn't content to let Frost's power remain unchanged.

Barry moved his arms around, building up his electricity and firing them out of his fingertips. Frost moved to intercept it with her own ice blast, but it was clear Barry was winning in this endeavor.

As the lightning inched toward Frost, Cisco decided enough was enough. Sure, he'd seen plenty of fights between the two over the years. Some were more serious than others, but this was just wrong. Cisco opened a breach between the two, sucking in their attacks and sending it to elsewhere. Jumping in the fight, Cisco yelled "Stop!"

"Vibe, what are you doing? I'm trying to put a stop to her,"

"You can't do this. You can't hurt her,"

"Why are you defending her?" Barry shouted. "We can end this right now. I just need to stop her."

"Because you're hurting her. I can't let you do that,"

"What is going on with you? You've been acting strange, distracted even. Especially a month ago when I brought you back encased in an ice block. She was the one who did that. Why are you stopping me?"

"You don't understand what you're doing. You wouldn't believe me." Cisco said helplessly.

Barry looked from him towards Frost and then Rosso who was still tied up on the floor. Anyone could see the gears moving in his head as he was coming to what was the most likely conclusion. "I think I understand perfectly. I can't believe I didn't see it before. It all makes sense now."

Cisco nodded his head. "Yes, you see it now. You know that I was-"

"Spying on me this whole time!" Barry accused him. "Your strange behavior. It's because you're not Vibe. Not really. He's gotten in your head," Barry pointed at Rosso. "Brainwashed you. It's why you've been trying to distract me with some girl. So you could throw me off the trail of your Master. Well that's not happening. Because I'm taking both of you down," Barry glared at them.

Rosso quietly smirked to himself and muttered "Wasn't expecting that. But I'll take it," Craning his neck he shouted "Get him!"

The next moment, Barry literally exploded with electricity, sending both of the metas blasting out of the building through a wall in a clash of thunder and lightning. Cisco lay twitching on the ground as sparks jumped off his body. His prosthetic hand was limp from the large charge. Frost, miraculously, was able to get back to her feet.

Barry huffed and stepped through the gaping hole in the house, his eyes glowing with power and lightning covering his body like a protective shield. Seeing the recovering form of Frost, he growled angrily letting his power surge. The lightning surrounding him moved outward, acting as a protective barrier and he charged forward.

Frost tried to stand her ground, but the moment she was caught in his electromagnetic field, her muscles seized uncontrollably. When Barry reached her, he landed a kick right at her midsection, launching her backwards again.

Taking note of where she landed, Barry focused and sharply lifted his hands forward, directing the electricity around him to follow her in separate lightning bolts. Each streak of lightning moved, guided by Barry's sheer force of will, all homing in on her.

Frost was forced to move. Paving the ground in a thick layer of ice, she glided across the landscape, dodging the voltage chasing after her. While she may have staved off the worst by avoiding a direct attack from the lightning, whenever the bolt struck something close by, the concussive force would sometimes send her flying once again.

When another lightning bolt was heading directly toward her, Frost went on the attack. Cupping her mouth with her hands and putting as much power into it as she could, she let out a veritable blizzard that intercepted the electricity. The two attacks collided with each other, the heat and the cold mixing together to create steam.

Barry paused to witness the explosion and scoffed. "Trash," he glared at her. Feeling the energy currents all around him, Barry lifted one of his hands to the sky, pulling down the energy stored within it, calling forth another lightning bolt, one not generated from within him, to himself. The bolt struck him, renewing him with energy that he released onto her.

Frost didn't let up either, feeling the connection she had with her surroundings. It wasn't like this before, for either of them. The power they used would come from within them, but both of them had managed to manipulate the energy around them as well. Which is why Frost was able to form storm clouds that were pelting hail, and all of them were directed at Barry. Individually, they weren't much, just a millimeter in diameter. But with the sheer amount and the speed she was sending them, they could have been tiny bullets. Too bad they melted when close to the electric barrier. But the cold they brought weakened it, which was the main goal. If Frost could get within that barrier, she might be able to finish him.

It wasn't to be though, as Barry surprised her and took down the barrier and rushed right at her. Keeping up the barrier was energy consuming and he couldn't move very well. He still had his speed, but he wasn't able to make any sharp turns or last minute adjustments. Barry could only manage a straight charge and possibly use the barrier as a battering ram. With the barrier gone, he could move much easier and swiped at her head, sending her backwards.

He sent one more stray lightning bolt at her that finally managed to connect. His aim proved true. Frost dropped and didn't get back up. Not that she didn't try.

Barry approached her and lifted her head by her hair to face him. He huffed in effort. This was more strenuous than he was expecting. "I don't want to kill you, but as long as you stand against me, I will keep knocking you down,"

Frost's facial features twisted for a moment before a bloody smile appeared on her face. "You won't hurt an innocent. You can't," she shook her head.

"But the thing is, you're not innocent. You've hurt plenty of people, done terrible things."

She chuckled. "But you're not looking at the big picture. All those things, it wasn't her. It was me through her."

Barry developed a confused look before taking a stab at it. "Rosso?"

Frost's head nodded. "All these people, all the things they've done, it was by my will. So you can keep fighting the symptoms. You can take out as many blemishes as you can. In the end, you'll never be able to take out the root. Now I am become Death!"

Barry growled in frustration and raised his vibrating arm in the air, ready to plunge it into her chest. Her body wouldn't be able to survive without a heart. Even if Rosso's power could heal the wound, it would hopefully take some time to accomplish it.

"Do it, kill her! Just know, if you do, she's never coming back. Once you do, she's mine until there's nothing left. You'll never see her again. At least, not as herself." Frost smiled cruelly. Barry didn't understand why the words were affecting him so much. It wasn't like he knew this woman personally. She meant nothing to him. Was it just because she was innocent? Forced into this work by a psychopath. Barry had encountered many victims that had been forced into doing many wrongs, but it never made him feel like this.

In his moment of hesitation, Frost clocked him with a right hook, one that was encased in a solid block of ice and knocked him right out. Barry's vision turned black before he even hit the ground.

When Barry awoke, he was lying on a gurney with Julian hovering over him. He could feel his head was wrapped in something, which Barry could only assume were bandages. Had he really been hit that hard?

Julian must have noticed he'd woken up. "Oh good. You're up. You've been out for the night. It's morning now. Your minor injuries have already healed but your head wound will take a little longer to fully recover. Not to mention your powers have been exhausted. You really went all out, what was with that? You did things we didn't even know you could,"

Barry lightly shook his head. "I was just so angry. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I wanted them to hurt. What happened? Is Cisco gone?"

"No," Julian said a little awkwardly. "He's here. He's fine, not controlled like you thought. He was actually the one who brought you here,"

"What? But he-"

"Is fine. We checked his blood samples. No indication at all that he's being controlled like the others. None at all,"

Barry had a confused look on his face. "He wasn't being controlled? But at the house-"

"You just jumped to conclusions," Julian shrugged. Julian himself would say that a bit of suspicion was healthy for anyone, even among best friends. But Rosso didn't seem like one for mind games. He was a bit more direct. What he was doing to Barry right now was purely for his own enjoyment, not to manipulate him.

Barry groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. "Well now I feel like a jerk, blasting him out of the building,"

"Yeah, Cisco's a little bit sore about that, but he's not going to hold it against you. Not for too long anyway," Julian drawled. "He's mostly upset about his prosthetic hand that he needs to get replaced. The lightning fried the circuitry so he needs to get a new one,"

Barry sighed. "I'll put in a request. I'll pay for everything. I feel so bad. How could I have gotten it so wrong?"

"Well, to be fair to you, it did look suspicious on Cisco's part, through no fault of your own. And he has been a little fed up with you this past month. Again, no fault of your own,"

"What are you talking about now?" Barry asked.

Julian chose not to answer him. "Stay here for a little longer. I'll check up on you in another hour, your wounds should have healed completely by then. I'll send word to the others that you're awake,"

Barry laid his head back and closed his eyes for a moment to get some rest. He still had a splitting headache. And why did he feel so cold and empty? Probably that ice witch's fault. That felt about right.

Cisco came in a moment later, noticeably missing a hand. Barry avoided looking at the stump, feeling guilt over being the one to ruin it. "I'm sorry. About everything," Barry blurted out. "I was wrong, and I was acting irrationally. I wasn't thinking straight."

Cisco looked at him for a moment before nodding his head. "Thanks. That-that actually means a lot."

"Why did you do it though? Why did you protect her?" Barry couldn't help but ask.

Cisco sighed. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me. You just can't understand,"

"Try me. I think, if nothing else, I'm owed an explanation as to your suspicious behavior. Maybe if you talked to me about this, I wouldn't be jumping to conclusions," Barry narrowed his eyes.

Cisco looked up to him. He bit his lip in contemplation before opening his mouth. "Fine. But you need to listen to me. Don't just hear what I say, really listen."

When Barry acquiesced Cisco spoke his story. "About a month ago, you died. You fell out of a building and lost a lot of blood. You didn't make it,"

"What?" Barry exclaimed in confusion. "That doesn't make sense. I'm clearly not-"

"Not now. But you died Barry. I saw you. Your life was drained from your eyes. Your face was pale. You were dead. Like, dead dead." Cisco frantically gestured, which would have been slightly comical with his missing hand but at the moment, it was just morbid.

"So how am I here? Why don't I remember any of this?"

Cisco's eyes looked downcast. "She made a deal. Your body was literally fading. You were being taken by The Speed Force. In her grief, she made a deal with the devil. You would be brought back to life. Blood would run through your veins, your brain would be reactivated. In return, he wanted your servitude. She refused so she offered something else in return. Herself,"

"Who is this 'she' you're talking about?" Barry shook his head. "Why would she sacrifice herself for me? I get that I'm the city's hero, but this seems a little extreme. What did I mean to this person?"

"You were her everything. She made the deal on the condition that you would come back to life and he wouldn't place any influence on you." Cisco explained.

"Rosso. Am I right?" Barry guessed.

"That's right. He's the one who brought you back. Only he wasn't being entirely truthful. When he brought you back, he erased your memories of that night and himself along with the compulsion to go back home immediately. That's why you can't remember any of this."

"So this guy brought me back from the afterlife and took away some memories so I wouldn't remember him. In return, he took a random woman who made the deal? Why would he do that?" Barry muttered mostly to himself. Looking back at Cisco, he made a realization. "I'm missing more than that night, aren't I?"

Cisco hesitated for a moment before nodding. "5 years. He's erased up to 5 years of your memories."

Barry furrowed his brow. "5 years? That makes no sense. We've known each other for less time and I still remember you. I still remember being The Flash. I remember caring for my daughter, who is less than a year old. I can't have forgotten 5 years worth of memories because they're still in here," Barry gestured to his head.

"Not everything in those 5 years," Cisco shook his head. "Just some things. Specific things. And he let your mind fill in those gaps with false memories."

"So what am I missing, Cisco? What aren't you telling me?"

"I have been telling you. Since the moment you lost them, I've been trying to get you to remember, but it's just no use. You can't remember, so all I can do now is make you know it." Cisco pointed his stump at him like it was a large finger. Barry's eyes moved from the stump and up to Cisco with a raised eyebrow. Cisco's stern expression faded into a sheepish one and lowered his arm, switching to his other, this time with a finger pointed at him.

"Is this about that fake wife you keep telling me about-"

"It is!" Cisco shouted. "She's not fake! She's real. She sacrificed herself for you. She gave up her life for you. She loved you, and Bloodwork took that away from you."

"Are we still talking about Rosso?"

"Yes!" Cisco yelled. "Don't you see? Everything I've been trying to tell you has been the truth. Everything you know about yourself has been a lie…" Cisco suddenly realized why Barry had been so vehement to dismiss Cisco's claims. "Oh, Barry,"

Barry was breathing heavily, his eyes were squeezed shut. His hands were slightly shaking that was not due to his powers. "I can't believe Cisco. Don't you see? It's not a matter of 'don't'. It's that I can't. I have no idea what you're talking about. I have no idea what to do with what you're proposing. And if I believe, even for a second, that what you're saying might be true, then that just means I have absolutely no control over my life. I don't know what's real anymore. So tell me, how am I supposed to reconcile with the idea that everything I know, possibly my whole life, it was all made up?"

Barry's eyes were shining now with unshed tears. His hands were clutching the bedsheets. His chest was heaving with every breath he took. "Just get out,"

"Barry-"

"Just get out! Out! Get out of my room! Get out!" Barry hysterically screamed at him.

Cisco ran out of there. He didn't think he could handle seeing Barry so broken right now. Cisco suddenly felt like a huge jerk. Why did he never consider the fact that Barry would be like this? He'd been so focused on trying to recover Barry's lost memories, he'd never thought about what would happen if he ever acknowledged them. To him, it was this whole other life that didn't exist, until Cisco forced it upon him.

Some friend, he was.

Barry's had a mental breakdown. I'm honestly surprised I haven't given him one sooner. I hope you all enjoyed the no holds barred fight between The Flash and Killer Frost. They've really upped a level.

And this is when Barry is starting to open up to the idea that someone might have messed with his head. He's still partly in denial, but he's not going to let that stop him from doing what's right.

This season has flown by and we're already down to the last chapter of the season next week. It seemed longer, but that might just be my writing process. It's been slow going for awhile now.

I'll see you all for the season finale next week.