Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/11562159.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      The_Flash_(TV_2014), Arrow_(TV_2012), DC's_Legends_of_Tomorrow_(TV)
  Relationship:
      Cisco_Ramon/Earth-2_Harrison_"Harry"_Wells, Barry_Allen/Leonard_Snart,
      Minor_or_Background_Relationship(s), Non-Consensual_Pairings, Cisco_Ramon
      &_Dante_Ramon
  Character:
      Cisco_Ramon, Earth-2_Harrison_"Harry"_Wells, Caitlin_Snow, Iris_West, Joe
      West, Wally_West, Leonard_Snart, Mick_Rory, Oliver_Queen, Felicity_Smoak,
      Dante_Ramon
  Additional Tags:
      Rape, Underage_Rape/Non-con, Sibling_Incest, Suicidal_Thoughts, Suicide
      Attempt, Self-Harm, Eating_Disorders, Disabled_Character, Physical
      Disability, Graphic_Description, Mental_Health_Issues, Mental_Breakdown,
      Mental_Anguish, Slow_Burn, Angst_with_a_Happy_Ending, Eventual_Happy
      Ending
  Series:
      Part 1 of Love_always_comes_with_a_price
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-07-20 Words: 22807
****** Pain, suffering and superheroes ******
by CaptainLokii
Summary
     Cisco's eyes blinked open to a glaring white light shining down on
     him. His head felt fuzzy and he hurt everywhere. He tries to move
     around but a shadowy figure presses against his chest gently holding
     him against the bed. He's not entirely sure what's gone on but when
     the figure starts coming in to focus what he is sure of is that Earth
     2's Harrison Wells was the most annoying bastard to walk across any
     earth in the multiverse. Cisco was damn sure of that fact.
Notes
     WIFEY YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO READ THIS!! PLEASE!!
     Okay so I never intended this fic to get so dark? It was originally
     just going to be a fic about mental illness but it developed into
     this along the way. I've literally never written anything this long
     in my life.
     I in know way claim to be a good writer because i'm not and i'm aware
     i'm not but I am learning and this is part of my attempts to learn.
     I think i've remembered to tag everything correctly so apologies if i
     didn't
     This is probably going to be a series with a part focusing on what
     Snarts "Promise" is and also what happens next (as well as Cisco
     finally getting to see Earth-2s Captain America)
See the end of the work for more notes
Cisco's eyes blinked open to a glaring white light shining down on him. His
head felt fuzzy and he hurt everywhere. He tries to move around but a shadowy
figure presses against his chest gently holding him against the bed. He's not
entirely sure what's gone on but when the figure starts coming in to focus what
he is sure of is that Earth 2's Harrison Wells was the most annoying bastard to
walk across any earth in the multiverse. Cisco was damn sure of that fact.
Cisco Ramon was your average genius, super powered, crime fighting twenty-
something. Even super powers couldn't battle the voices that whispered negative
things in your ear that never stop echoing round your skull.
So sure they weren't LITERAL voices, he wasn't hearing things. Yet the voices
were there chipping away at his self esteem.
Long before he'd got his powers and long before he'd met Barry or Caitlin or
Harrison Wells, both versions. Even before college the voices had been there.
They started when he was in high school and they never left.
He'd battled them his entire adult life.
His teen years had been rough even compared to other short, chubby, geeks.
For one his old brother was the good looking, talented, popular jock and he was
the sad sack little brother.
Dante's friends instantly took a strong disliking to Cisco and Dante did
nothing to stop them. If anything he encouraged them.
It started small, or small compared to what was to come. His pants were pulled
down in crowded corridors, his lunch tray was tipped up into his face or
smashed to the floor. His bag would be taken and put somewhere out of his
reach. That sort of thing.
Then it took a turn for the more aggressive. Shoved into lockers, pushed to the
ground, shoved around like a hockey puck and on more than one occasion his hair
would be grabbed and he would be yanked to the floor. If they were having a
particularly stressful day they would relieve it by using him as a punching
bag.
By the time he'd manage to crawl home Dante would have already planted a story
in his parents heads that put him in a negative light. His Mom would look away
with disappointment and his Dad would complain about why he “couldn't be more
like his brother” and “why did he have to be so weak”. Everyone who should have
cared about him would go out of their way to excuse what was happening to him.
It was never Dante and his group of followers fault. No it was always Cisco's
'jealousy' or 'clumsiness' that caused him to make up 'such cruel and malicious
stories about Dante'.
They stopped even noticing the cuts and bruises after a while and Cisco had
given up trying to tell anyone. It wasn't like they were going to believe him
anyway.
It reached fever pitch when Dante and his cronies reached senior year. His
friends wanted to go out with a “bang” as they put it. To do something together
that they could always remember.
Looking back on that afternoon was one of the most painful memories Cisco had.
It started for him at the lunch bell when he was walking towards the food hall
to get something and go hide away from the dirty looks teachers and students
alike gave him. He was just turning the corner to the cafeteria when two of
Dante's jock buddy's grabbed him by each arm smiling gleefully and dragged him
away.
Cisco had never hated anyone as much as he hated every single person he passed
that turned a blind eye that day as they dragged him into that locker room.
The room smelled like BO and cheap beer. They had clearly been in there for a
few hours already getting wasted. Empty bottles were tossed on the floor along
with random items of clothing and shoes. He could also smell the distinct scent
of something that definitely wasn't tobacco.
The jock ass hats were waiting for him to be brought in. They were stood
watching the door like the military in formation. Dante was smiling smugly at
the centre of them all.
The biggest of the lot, a tall pug faced guy he thought was called Javier, was
holding a rope in his hands.
Cisco's heart sunk with dread. This wasn't going to be like any of the beatings
he'd received in the past. No, this time they weren't just after a bit of fun
this time they meant it.
“Strip him boy's” the great ape said as the two dicks holding him ripped his
shirt off his back, the sound of buttons pinging across the room and fabric
tearing filled his ears. Next they ripped his pants off leaving him in only his
boxers and one sock that had managed to cling on to his foot.
To this day he wished that is where the humiliation had ended but in reality it
was only just beginning.
The group crowded around him were laughing as he was pushed to his knee's with
a swift kick and was dragged along the cold tile floor to a pipe where they
raised his arms above his head and Cisco suddenly realised what the rope was
for. They bound his hands against the pipe so tight he could feel the fibres
digging into his skin. The more he struggled the worse the rope hurt him.
Cisco was so afraid he wished for every disaster possible if it meant he didn't
have to be here any longer. An earthquake that created a crack a thousand miles
deep right beneath him. A tornado that lifted him up and flew him off to the
land of Oz. A tsunami or alien abduction, anything would do at this point if it
meant avoiding another beating.
The older boys were still circled around him, laughing and prodding at him.
Comments flew around the room about how they would have the best graduation in
all the ages. They pulled his hair out of it's pony tail and ruffled it up
saying he “was almost pretty enough to be a girl” and “prize pig” as they
grabbed on to his stomach and thighs. They pinched so hard he was sure bruises
were going to appear by morning.
“If you are going to beat me just get it over with” he snapped, having had
enough of their torment already and wanted it to be done with. He knew there
was know escaping this situation any more they wanted their fun and they were
going to get it no matter what.
“Oh this isn't a beating hermano” Dante snarled at him “We just want to have a
little fun”
Then it dawned on Cisco what they were really after and it certainly wasn't a
beating.
The two cronies who had grabbed him earlier ripped his boxers from his body and
he was left crouching completely exposed to the group of men around him. The
bastards laughed and jeered as he attempted to cover himself. One of the group
kicked him hard in the stomach to stop him from curling into a ball and then
grabbed him by his hair pulling him up onto the bench so the rope that bound
him was hooked securely onto the pipe.
The first blow hurt the worst, it was from the quarterback of the schools
football team. It hit him like a freight train straight into the ribs. The
punches came thick and fast and he lost track of who threw each punch.
They punched and kicked at every inch of him they could reach. Blood was
pouring from what he assumed was a now broken nose and a kick to the side of
his head meant he couldn't hear anything but a wooshing noise from his left
ear. One of them must've been wearing a ring that split his lip and cheek open.
The beating stopped and Cisco was left gasping for breath covered in his own
blood, sweat and tears.
“Why are you doing this?” he cried “What have I ever done to you? Please just
leave me alone.” he begged. Dante laughed at his pleading and kicked him again.
Everything hurt, every breath every slight movement as he tried to stay upright
from their attack. He had never felt so alone as he did right then. No one was
going to come to his rescue.
“Now now hermanito we know you want this. We know what a little faggot you are”
he jeered. “Now we are only giving you what you've always wanted. Spread him
boys”
“No, no. please Dante don't” Cisco begged when he realised what was coming next
as his legs were pulled apart and held down by two of Dante's cronies. “We're
family! Familia! Por favor hermano! Don't do this” he cried and tried to squirm
away but was met with another blow to the face.
“Shut up! Filthy little faggot” Javier yelled. Cisco froze, he had never heard
his brother sound that angry before. He couldn't look away as Dante undid his
fly and pulled out his erect cock. “Look boys. The filthy faggot can't keep his
mind off any cock in sight. Shall we give him what he wants?”
The others laughed and clambered for a better view of the 'show'. His brother
grabbed him by the hips pulling them back towards them so he could feel his
erection rubbing against his buttocks.
“Por favor Dante. Just let me go” he begged knowing full well it was futile to
attempt to reason with his humanity. None of these men had a shred of humanity
left.
Dante didn't even use spit for lube he just thrust painfully into him making
him scream out in agony. A filthy sock was shoved into his mouth.
Dante thrust hard and fast into him as the crowd egged him on. Did none of them
see how wrong this was? Why were they doing this to him? What had he done to
deserve this?
Dante was getting close as his thrusts became erratic and he came inside him
with a cry. Cisco cried silently from the pain and despair.
He didn't even have time to catch his breath when the next person entered him.
This one was much thicker and longer than Dante and seemed to care even less
about hurting Cisco. He could feel something tear inside him and blood start to
trickle from him as the man thrust harder into him.
The pain was getting so bad he felt faint and was struggling to hold himself up
so the next guy grabbed onto his hair and held him there as he fucked into him.
The sock was then taken out of his mouth and a hand squeezed tightly at his
face.
“If you bite I will kill you” A voice said and before he had time to realise
what was happening a cock was pushed into his mouth.
The rest were getting riled up around him each clambering for a turn to use
him. Cisco could see Dante watching him from the other side of the room eyes
dark and angry as he stroked his newly erect penis.
The cock in his mouth was hitting the back of his throat causing him to choke
and splutter as he gasped for breath but they were unrelenting in their abuse.
Soon Cisco passed out feeling himself slipping from the bench. The last thing
he felt was the pain in his shoulders from the rope holding him up.
He woke up some time later now alone in the locker room. His arms were still
tied up and he could feel the trail of drying cum down his thigh. He dreaded to
think about the blood that would be mixed in with it.
He screamed for help but it felt like eternity before anyone came to his aid.
Some kid he's seen around before but never spoke to before. He still can't
remember his name.
The boy ran for help and soon there was a crowd of staff surrounding him. It
felt like eternity before they untied him and he still had to beg for them to
help before they did. They just stood their chatting about whether or not the
police needed to be called. Unsurprisingly to him they decided not and that
this was an internal matter to be sorted by the principal.
When he was free he was dragged to the school nurse to be checked over and
cleaned up and given a change of clothes to wear before he was dragged to the
principals office.
The principal was a stern looking elderly man who was endlessly proud of his
time at the school when he was head of the football team. Not one assembly
could pass without him regaling them all a tale of one of his teams games.
He was ordered to take a seat and he winced at the pain in his ribs and
backside as he did so. The principal was an unsympathetic man and told him that
“he didn't care about what his sexual proclivities were but that they were to
be kept off school property in the privacy of his own home.”
Cisco tried to explain what had happened and cried as he named his brother as
the leader of the group but it was no use. The principal and teachers just
scoffed and told him that he should be ashamed of himself for blaming his
brother for such an abhorrent thing. They were firm in their belief that
'sweet, kind, caring' Dante Ramon could never do such an appalling thing to
anyone let alone his little brother and he certainly wouldn't be into such
disgusting behaviour as doing anything with another man. No his was just all a
sick, cruel and slanderous story from a jealous little brother who couldn't
live up to the expectations set out for him by his brother.
He begged for them to call the police but was just told that the school would
not be doing so and if he were to go ahead and contact them alone then it would
be his choice to face the humiliation of having his name dragged through the
mud as they outed him for the liar he was.
His parents were called in and Cisco was put on suspension for two weeks. The
rapists got away scot free.
When he got home that night his father had lectured him for hours about his
“sinful disgusting behaviour” and for “picking fights and blaming it on your
brother and his friends” and that “jealousy will get you nowhere”. Cisco
stormed upstairs to his room and cried himself to sleep.
Sleep didn't last long as he awoke from a nightmare of reliving what happened
over and over but this time no one came to find him and there was no escape.
That night was the loudest the voices had been. That night was the first time
he had taken a blade to his skin and the first of many nightmare fuelled
dreams.
Dante must've taken their parents indifference as a sign that he was
untouchable. From then on if he was frustrated or angry or just needed some
relief he would sneak into Cisco's room in the dead of night and rape him.
Cisco knew there was no point in fighting. Who was going to believe him? They
would find a way to make it is fault they always did. Maybe it even was his
fault, maybe he brought it all on himself. He was just a filthy little faggot
after all.
It didn't stop till he got to college and managed to escape his brothers grasp.
The entire time he was their he lived in fear that when he got home that night
his brother would be their waiting for him and it would happen all over again.
When college was over and he got his own place he knew he was free. Dante
didn't know where he lived any more neither did anyone from his old life. Yet
still the nightmares didn't stop. The need to feel the pain from a blade on his
skin. It became his only relief and comfort.
He couldn't stop until he found the goodness in humanity when he started his
first job at Star Labs. That was when he met the best friend he would ever
have. Caitlin Snow was like a sun beam shining down on him helping him to see
the good in the world around him. Going to work each day finally gave him
something to look forward to and a will to wake up each morning. He finally had
something to live for.
With Caitlin came more friends in Ronnie and his boss and mentor Harrison
Wells. Harrison taught him so much and he grew and grew in his work and Cisco
was given a promotion to work on Harrison's newest creation the particle
accelerator. He didn't know then what Wells was really planning or that he
wasn't really Harrison Wells at all.
Then the explosion happened and so many lives were lost and the survivors lives
were changed forever. When the Meta humans started cropping up Cisco had no
time to think about the horrors of his past. By then only he Caitlin and Wells
remained at Star Labs. Everyone else had either perished or run for the hills
at the thought of coming back there each day.
Then they encountered the comatose Barry Allen and everything changed again.
When he woke up and realised his new speedster powers they became a team to
train him so he could become a hero to protect Central City from the Meta's
gone rogue. The Flash was born.
Then it all got turned upside down when he stumbled on the hologram of the
reverse flash in the lab and pieced it together that Harrison Wells wasn't who
he claimed to be. Before he could warn the others he had his heart punched out
by the evil speedster and Barry had to go back in time to save the city which
in turn awakened his own Meta abilities as he started to remember the previous
timeline of his death and who Wells was and together they were able to defeat
fake Wells.
Then Harry Wells happened.
Harry Wells stumbled into their lives after falling through a vortex running
from a speedster called zoom. Back on his earth Zoom was causing havoc and was
seeking to destroy Harry and his Meta detecting inventions.
Over the time it took to defeat Zoom and his army of Meta's, including the
alternate versions of Cisco and Caitlin, they had grown to care about Harry and
he became one of the team.
Cisco thought he cared about them to.
 
He didn't realise until Harry said he wanted to go “home” how much he meant to
him. He thought “home” was with Team Flash at Star Labs not in an entirely
separate universe. He couldn't help but blame himself for Harry's desire to
leave.
He only truly realised how much he missed Harry when he found himself talking
to thin air on the other side of his lab were the annoying bastard should've
been sitting fiddling with some gadget and making snarky remarks at something
Cisco was doing or doing his impression of a cat and pushing things off the
desks in a temper.
How in the whole fucking multiverse did Cisco Ramon, the 100% heterosexual
ladies fall at his feet Cisco Ramon fall in love with Harrison fucking Wells.
Okay so maybe that was an overstatement but the 100% heterosexual thing was
completely accurate!
Okay so maybe there was that one guy in college but they were drunk and he was
hot and warm and smelled like old spice and whiskey but it was a completely
stand alone occurrence! Everyone experiments in college right? It's not like
they sort of dated for the rest of the semester. Or like they went on picnic
dates to the lake and cuddled under the stars. It's not like he made him feel
safe. Safer than he can ever remember feeling. Being wrapped up in his arms was
the first time the nightmares didn't haunt him. Nope that never happened not
one bit. Cisco Ramon was as straight as a ruler!
Except he wasn't and deep down he knew that but given what had happened to him
in the past he couldn't face the reality of what he was. It didn't take long
for people to realise something was bothering him after Harry left. Nor did it
take long for him to realise how well and truly fucked up in the head he really
was.
“Cisco?” a voice called from behind him. He had his headphones on to
concentrate as he worked on his Vibe goggles and couldn't distinguish whose
voice it was but the vibrations in the room told him it was a taller stockier
person which ruled out Caitlin and Barry....and unless his new security system
had been compromised which he seriously doubted as Barry had bribed Snart into
trying to break through after they started their sort of friendship and he only
got to the second floor.
“Hey Joe, what'ya know?” he replied placing his headphones on to the computer
screen.
Joe snickered his AI reference. At least there was someone who could appreciate
him for the comedy genius he was.
“I don't want to pry but my fatherly instincts are telling me something's
bothering you” he said walking in and taking a seat on the desk next to him.
Cisco did his best to look bewildered at the question.
“You can talk to me you know. If something is bothering you anything at all I'm
all ears. If you need help or to talk or just need a drinking buddy I'm here
for you. You've become like my second adopted son since we met and I care about
you.” he said
Cisco tried to come up with a good answer that wasn't the truth. How was he
going to explain all of that mess? That he was sulking like a teenager because
he had fallen in love with a man twice his age that was an alternate realities
version of a man that once killed him and that this version had got sick of
them and left to go back to an earth where people were still trying to kill
him? Nope there was no avoiding this one and he was well and truly screwed.
“It's nothing Joe” He insisted fiddling with the screw driver he was holding.
Joe put his hand on Cisco's shoulder “Ya know just because Barry can't hide any
of his emotions it doesn't mean I don't know when someone is trying to hide
that they are upset”
Cisco sighed “I just miss Harry is all” he explained. It wasn't exactly a lie
that that was what was wrong. Joe didn't need his entire life story. Also he
was only excluding the crucial facts as to exactly WHY he missed him. “It's
lonely working in here alone all day”
“Okay” Joe paused “but it's not the first time he's gone back to his earth. Why
do you miss him this time?” he asked. He could tell by his voice that Joe knew
why but didn't think it was his place to say it.
Cisco felt like a toddler when he replied “I don't know I just do, I guess”
pouting down at the ground. This whole scenario was ridiculous he was a grown
man with a school boy crush.
“He's coming back Cisco” Joe assured “he always does”
Cisco felt a flash of anger “Then why did he leave in the first place? Why did
he say he wanted to go home? This is his home! We are his friends! There's
nothing left for him on Earth 2 yet he still went back. There are people
hunting him there! Yet he still left us! He left me!” he yelled at Joe. He
didn't realise till half the glass in the room shattered that he had let off a
pulse of vibration across the entire room and was now on his feet squaring up
to Joe with tears flowing down his cheek.
Joe didn't bat an eyelid at his outburst or things breaking around him. Instead
he stood up and pulled Cisco into a hug and smoothed his hair whilst he broke
down and cried into his chest. “Shhhh, shhhh, It's okay Cisco to be angry. Let
it all out”
Cisco felt ridiculous. He was a grown man crying over someone like a school kid
and yet no matter how hard he tried the tears wouldn't stop.
Joe rocked them both from side to side and soothed him till he calmed down.
Cisco seriously wondered after everything he had been through and seen in his
life how this man managed to say so good natured.
“Cisco, are you in love with Wells?” Joe asked and Cisco froze against his
chest. “Hey now kid its okay, no judgement here. You can talk to me about it”.
Cisco was still frozen in fear. Did the others know? Was he that bad at keeping
secrets? Even worse than Barry?
Shit, no Joe wouldn't come to him privately if everyone know would he? He
wasn't like that. No Joe was a good man and was just trying to help him, right?
“I...I don't know? I guess? Fuck I honestly don't know. I'm still not even sure
if I'm gay or bi or what” he rambled “I just.....It hurts so much now he's
gone. It feels like I'm missing part of my soul theirs just a gaping hole in my
heart and I feel so fucking stupid because he's Harry, he's an incredible
genius that has a million girls falling at his feet and I'm just....me..... a
short, weird chubby dude that he clearly hates enough to risk a horrible death
to get away from” Cisco blurted out. So much for secrets Ramon, he thought to
himself.
“Heya, hey now Cisco first of all it's okay to question your sexuality its
perfectly normal and I will always be here for you if you want to talk about
it. Good lord I've been waiting for Barry to open up about it since he got sent
home from school at thirteen for kissing a boy on the cheek. Second sure you're
short, weird? definitely and yeah maybe a little on the chubby side, not that I
can talk about that” he joked patting his stomach as he did. “but I can assure
you Harrison Wells does not hate you. I cannot conceive of any reason why any
earths Harrison Wells barring ass holes masquerading as one could possibly hate
you.”
Cisco sniffled against Joe's chest “then why did he leave without saying
goodbye?”
Joe's heart was breaking at how broken and small Cisco's voice sounded. Over
the years since they met he has become like another son to him and he'd be
damned if he was going to let anyone hurt one of his kids and it broke his
heart that there was nothing he could do to make this better for the smaller
man curled into his chest crying.
“I don't know Cisco. Because he's an ass hole with a death wish? Because he's
got unfinished business that he needs to sort out back at his Star Labs? I
really don't know but if I could fix it I would”
“I hate this” he whined
“I know Cisco, I know”
Joe comforted Cisco and let him cry until he couldn't any more and grabbed both
their coats and dad voiced him into letting him drop him off at his apartment
after he insisted he didn't need to spend the night at the West's. He had to at
least pretend he wasn't a big five year old.
 
A few month's had passed since Cisco broke down and still there was no sign of
Harry returning. Not even so much as a message about what he's been up to.
His nightmares had returned and he spent less and less time sleeping and it was
starting to show. He spent every second he could avoiding doing anything that
would remind him of Harry or the past and now sported dark circles under his
eyes from lack of sleep.
Cisco felt like a broken wreck at this point. The sleeplessness was having a
seriously negative effect on his ability to function as an important member of
the team. He became increasingly more clumsy as the days went by, dropping
things and knocking things over in his tiredness. Joe hovered around the lab at
every spare moment he wasn't at the CCPD giving him concerned looks when he
thought he couldn't see.
Barry had tried asking him if something was wrong but Cisco didn't have it in
him to tell anyone again so made up an excuse about being busy working on an
upgrade for the B.O.O.T. After a few attempts at trying to get a real answer
out of him Barry stopped asking. In fact he stopped asking much all together.
Neither he nor Caitlin really spoke to him outside of work matters any more. He
knew it was his own fault and he was pushing them away in an attempt to keep
his stupid thoughts secret.
And it's not like he couldn't understand why they wouldn't want to talk to him
much any more. He wasn't the best company with the mood he had been in
recently. He didn't feel like going out and drinking at the bar and doing
karaoke and if he went for their benefit he would just be a buzz kill. No it
was much better staying behind whilst they enjoyed their free time.
~~
 
It had been a long day for team Flash. Snart and Rory had been causing trouble
again with his band of rogues so they had spent the entire day and most of the
night chasing them down and putting out fires Rory had started for the hell of
it. By the time they were all done everyone was suitably drained. Barry and the
suit were also slightly singed but Barry would heal and the suit could be fixed
and they had managed to avoid any casualties which was a plus he guessed.
Barry had been in a temper the entire journey back to the lab complaining about
Snart breaking a promise of some kind. The hell were he and Barry up to? Why
had Barry trusted any promise made by a master criminal?
One by one the others had filtered out of Star Labs back to their own lives, or
in Barry's case to work because whilst The Flash had stopped the crimes CCPD
still needed to investigate them. Eventually only Cisco was left and he was
walking around the lab switching things off and putting things away when he
bumped into Caitlin's desk knocking a box over spilling its contents across the
floor.
“Fucking damn it” he said out loud as he bent down to pick up what had fallen.
Pages of medical records for different Meta's and odds and ends like the
hairbands she used to put her hair up when she needed to do surgery and
pretended she didn't notice when Cisco stole them. A half eaten pack of gum and
a photo album. He picked things up and put everything back in the box when
curiosity got the better of him and he opened the photo album.
The first few photos were of her and Cisco when they first started at Star Labs
then there was several of her and Ronnie from their first date up to their
engagement. Those photos were clearly looked at frequently as the pages were
starting to look dog eared.
The last photo made him stop dead in his tracks. It was all of team Flash,
Barry, Caitlin, Iris, Wally and Joe, him and Harry. They were all smiling and
laughing. It was from Barry's birthday the year before and the drinks had
flowed by the time the photo was taken Caitlin and Iris were drunkenly clinging
on to each other for support as they laughed at something. Joe had his hand on
Barry's shoulder and was laughing at his daughters antics. And Harry.....Harry
had his arm round Cisco's shoulder and was smiling broadly at the camera and
they both looked happy and drunk and all of them made one big happy family.
Cisco's hands began to shake and the album fell to the floor with a clatter.
They were happy then but was it all fake? Theirs nothing he wants more than for
things to be like they were in that photo, all happy and smiling and together.
But they can't because Cisco isn't happy, he hasn't felt happy in a long time
and he knows it's ridiculous but he doesn't feel like he can ever be happy
again it feels like all the good emotions in his body have been sucked out and
just an endless black hole has been left in its place.
He stares down at the photo and it feels like its staring back, seven sets of
eyes boring into his soul judging him, laughing at him and he wants to scream
and tear the photo to shreds and burn the remains because he can't have that
life any more. Caitlin and Barry are fed up with him and Joe pity's him and
Harry's left him and he feels broken. Every negative thought that he had
managed to push to the back of his mind for years started breaking past the
wall he had built to block them out. Memories of school with Dante and his
friends. Of the dark nights Dante would creep into his room. Of Harrison Wells
piercing his heart.
A tear drop falls on to the photo and he feels angry and he screams in
frustration. Why was this all coming back now after all the work he had put
into locking it away and throwing away the key. He barely had time to register
what was happening as the anger within him built up and exploded out of him
shattering everything around him. He screams in pain as he feels something
break in his arm from the strength of the vibration and then something heavy
hits him on the back of the head and everything goes dark.
 
beep......beep.....beep
The noise is muffled but consistent and theirs a rustling of fabric somewhere
near by. He tries to get up but something is holding him down. He tries to
fight against it but is stopped by the intense pain that seems to cover his
entire body.
Cisco tries to calm himself and focus on what ever is holding on to him and
tries to send a shock wave through it but nothing happens. He can't tell if his
powers didn't work or if the thing restraining him didn't budge from it.
Whatever it was he was trapped.
An image flashed across his mind of him being tied up in the locker room unable
to escape. He tries again to pull the restraints off him fighting against it
despite the pain. They aren't budging and he starts to panic his breathing
becoming laboured when he feels a cool hand placed against his forehead and a
familiar voice talking calmly in his ear.
“Cisco?” the voice is still slightly muffled but unmistakeably belonging to
Caitlin Snow. “Cisco? Can you hear me?” She pulls one of his eyelids up and
shines a bright light into them and he tries to pull away as his head hurts
enough already.
“Caitlin?” he mumbles, his voice is rough and his throat is dry “what the hell
happened to me?”
“Barry and Wally found you when they came in this morning to train in the
pipeline. You were unconscious on the floor with blood everywhere. What were
you doing here last night Cisco? The security cameras don't show anything from
last night. All the ones in the room you were in were destroyed. ” she asks.
Cisco tries to think back but its fuzzy and disjointed “I can't remember much”
he says. He pulls at the restraints again “Cait why am I tied down?”
“Because you kept trying to use your powers when you were out so we had to put
the meta cuffs on you and stop you hurting yourself more.” she explains. She
looks at him for a second and he can see the cogs turning behind her eyes
before she nods to herself and starts un-cuffing him. When they are finally off
and he can move again and the panic decreases. He tries to sit up but the pain
hits him again and without realising it he makes the class on the table next to
the bed shatter. Caitlin jumps back in fright letting out a little squeak of
surprise.
“Cisco?” she asks in alarm.
“Sorry, sorry the pain startled me. Why do I hurt so much everywhere?” he asks.
Caitlin looks at his arm and back up at him and it dawns on him that his arm is
in a brace and theirs a bandage round his head and what definitely feels like a
broken rib or two.
“Woah, what the hell?” he asks lifting the cast up to examine it. “How did I
manage that?”
Caitlin shrugs at him “We don't know Cisco, When they found you you were alone
and the place was trashed and you were on the floor. There was no sign of
someone breaking in and nothings been taken. Is there nothing you remember?”
“I was cleaning up something....I can't remember …... I knocked something off
your desk......and then there was pain and darkness....everything's so fuzzy
and now I'm here.” His head is pounding and he can't think straight.
Caitlin just looks at him, clearly just as confused as he is.
The door opens and Barry comes whizzing in. “Oh hey, you're awake! Perfect!” he
stops and looks between the two “Um so Joe is basically having a panic attack
out here so can he come in now and see for himself Cisco's okay?” he asks
Caitlin. Barry doesn't even finish his sentence when Joe is rushing in behind
him, Iris and Wally close behind.
“Cisco? Are you alright? What happened? Who did this to you?” the questions
flow out in a stream.
Caitlin puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder “He's going to be okay Joe, It's
a broken arm, bruised ribs, some stitches on his head and a concussion. Nothing
we can't handle and haven't handled a million times before” she promises. Joe
doesn't look entirely convinced but steps back to let Caitlin run obs on Cisco.
It takes another few hours before Caitlin is comfortable letting him go. Joe
keeps insisting she run more test's to make sure he's not got any internal
injuries or brain damage but Iris manages to convince him Cisco is fine and
just needs rest so after Joe questions him more about if anyone else was here
last night she and Wally drag him home so he can get some rest too.
When he's up on his feet again he goes to look at the room where they found him
and sees how every piece of glass in the room has now gone and Caitlin's box is
sitting out with every object laid out across the desk. He steps in to take a
closer look to try and jog his memory of what happened. He touches everything
one by one hoping to get some kind of vibe off it but theirs nothing until he
gets to a photo album. He flicks through the first few pages and notices the
blood that someone has tried to clean from it. So many of the photos are ruined
from blood and Cisco feels guilty for ruining some of the few photos Caitlin
had left of her and Ronnie. He reaches the final picture which is almost
completely unrecognisable from blood soaking in to it. Something in his head
pings and he runs a finger across the photo and the familiar feeling of being
sucked into a vibe hits him.
He watches as the album drops and he watches the anguish on his own face as he
screams. Then his past self looks like it let off a self destruct button as
everything around him smashes and he's laying on the floor blood pouring from
his head.
He's brought out of his vibe by the feeling like an electric shock and he drops
the photo album on the desk.
Cisco wonders out and collapses in to a chair. What the hell did he just see?
His powers just fucking exploded? What on earth could cause something like
that? What the hell was wrong with him?
He feels drained and his head hurts along with just about everything else in
his body right now and he just wants to go home and curl up in his own bed and
sleep for eternity. He's had too long a day to figure this shit out right now.
~~
Cisco flicks the TV on the moment he gets through his front door and switches
to a random repeat of some old Sci-fi show he used to watch as a kid that would
make good background noise. He kicks his shoes off and lays on the couch and
starts to drift off.
Laughter.......screaming..........noise......so much noise......voices......he
tries to walk towards the voices but for each step he takes they seem to get
two further away.
A streak of red light........Barry........he calls to him “Barry? What's
happening? Where are we?” he doesn't stop but the laughter gets louder.
A cold blast sends him flying backwards and he crashes to the floor. He yells
out in pain.
Another cold blast crashes in to him pinning him to the ground. Out of the
darkness walks Caitlin Snow she smirks as she walks in a circle around him
leaving frozen footprints in her wake. “Caitlin?” he asks. “why are you doing
this?”.
She laughs as she fires another shard of ice at him which shatters what's
holding him and as fast as she arrives she's gone.
The laughter gets louder and louder and circles around him getting closer and
closer the more laughter there is.
Cisco tries to cover his ears and block out the sound but it's to loud. He
tries to get to his feet and run but something grabs him by the back of his
hair and yanks him backwards.
“You're pathetic, Ramon”.....oh god....he things.....Harry....”Still clinging
to the false hope that any of us care about you? You are worthless. Look at the
state of you” Harry pushes Cisco to the floor and gestures at his body. “You
are a mess. You can't even control your powers any more. You're a joke” His
eyes are like flames burning through him and he laughs a cold laugh that hurts
Cisco worse than Caitlin did.
“Harry? Why are you doing this?” he pleads. He's frightened, theirs so much
going on. The noise is clouding his head.
Harry kneels down next to him and grabs his hair again pulling so hard Cisco
screams “Why? Because we are fed up with your pathetic ass getting in the way
all the time. Always so needy, always so pitiful. Always worthless” he snarls
at him.
“no...”
“noooo” Harry replies in a mocking mimic of his own voice “noooooo Harry why
did you leave me? Oh Harry I love you so much!” his voice is high and sarcastic
and it cuts into Cisco like a dagger “I could never love someone as worthless
as you. The sight of your fat worthless ass makes me sick. It makes us all
sick” he waves an arm in to the dark which recedes to show Barry, Caitlin,
Iris, Wally and Joe all standing together laughing at him.
“We don't want you here any more Ramon.” Harry jeers as Barry runs at him
grabbing him by the front of his shirt and spins him so fast everything is
blurry. He can only see spinning lights and hear the cruel mocking words of his
friends.
“Worthless”
“Pathetic”
“Useless”
“Stupid”
“Needy”
“Ugly”
“Clingy”
“Fat”
“Embarrassing”
“A joke”
“Pathetic little faggot” a new voice joins in the chorus. One he hasn't heard
in a long time.
“Good for one thing and one thing only”
Cisco screams into the dark.
Barry speeds up until a portal appears and he sends Cisco flying through it.
Cisco jolts awake and falls off the sofa in a panic. He's soaked through to the
skin with sweat his shirt sticking to his skin.
He drags himself into the bathroom to shower but when he catches sight of
himself in the mirror he stops. His reflection looks back at him and he gets a
proper look at the dark circles around his eyes. The acne that had come up from
a mixture of bad diet and lack of sleep. His hair looks dull and dry and is a
mess down his back. He stares down his own reflection and realises its all
true. Every word of it is true. He is pathetic and pitiful and a complete mess.
He is a useless and a fat, ugly embarrassment. He's worthless.
“FUCCCK” he screams as he raises his good arm and punches the mirror sending
shards of broken glass splintering across the room. His knuckles are bloody but
he keeps punching and punching until the plaster begins to crumble beneath his
fist.
It hurts. It hurts so much but it feels so good. It feels like release. He
keeps going until he starts hearing bones crack. He stops in his tracks and
stares between his balled up bloody fist and the blood stained hole in the wall
before him.
Cisco tries to open his hand out but he can't.
“fuck” he says out loud and stumbles out the bathroom into his bedroom. He
fumbles with his cell phone he'd thrown on the bed and tries to get up the
contact list. He needs to call for help.
He stops.
Who was he going to call? He lists off all the reasons in his head why each
person was a bad idea. He couldn't call his parents he didn't even have their
number anymore and he wanted nothing to do with them or any of his family..
Barry would be crashed out by now after patrolling the City or whatever it is
he has been doing every night for the last few months. Iris would be sleeping
as she had an important meeting about a big story in the morning so he couldn't
disturb her. Wally had school so he couldn't call him and if he called Caitlin
she would never let him out of her sight again.
He stops on a contact, Joe.
He awkwardly presses the call button with his 'good' hand and kneels down so he
can put his ear to it.
It rings twice before a sleep weary voice answers “Cisco? Wha? Waswron” he
mumbles.
“Joe, I'm really sorry for calling so late but I need your help.” He can hear
Joe quickly get up and start fumbling for his shoes and keys.
“What's happening? Do you need Barry? Is Barry there? Is he hurt? Why did no
one call me?” he sounds angry and worried and Cisco feels like shit.
“Joe, Barry isn't here and please don't call him. I really need your help. I
think I need to go to a hospital.”
He hears a thud of what is probably Joe slamming his car door. “I will be with
you in a flash”and hangs up. Cisco doesn't even have it in him to find the
humour in that sentence. He's just so tired.
 
“Cisco?” Joe yells through the door “Cisco are you in there?” he bangs loudly
on the door. Cisco can imagine the dirty looks he's going to get off the
neighbours tomorrow.
He clumsily tries to unlock the door with his fucked up hands. It takes several
tries but he finally hears the click and Joe pushes in almost sending Cisco to
the ground.
Joe takes one look at him and just yells “What the hell Cisco? What happened
this time?” and he instantly regrets calling anyone. He should've known he was
just making a nuisance of himself he was annoying just like the dream said. He
wasn't worth Joe's time their were a million better things he could be doing
other than sorting his mess out and now Joe was angry with him. Cisco can feel
the tears coming but he can't stop them. They are flowing down his cheeks and
he's trembling. He feels pathetic.
“Cisco?” Joe asks. He sounds concerned but he must've been imagining it.
“Cisco, hey come on talk to me”
Cisco lets out a sob and holds is newly injured hand up. He'd tried to stem the
bleeding with a t-shirt but it was still dripping on to the floor. Joe's eyes
go wide and he rips the scarf from around his neck and ties it firmly around
Cisco's hand and elevates it. “I'm going to call Caitlin” he says as he flips
out his phone.
“No! Please! Don't!” Cisco begs.
“Cisco you need a doctor”
“Please, I don't want Caitlin to know” he begs
“Cisco she's going to find out sooner or later.”
“Please” he pleads.
“No Cisco, I'm calling Caitlin and getting you to Star Labs immediately” he
says sternly.
Joe practically drag's Cisco into his car and drives them as fast as he safely
can whilst still holding Cisco's arm in the air.
When they pull in Caitlin is already waiting at the entrance with a lab coat
over her pink night dress and slippers.
“What happened?” she asks them as she helps Joe almost carry Cisco into the
med-bay.
“I don't know. He called me half hour ago and I found him freaking out covered
in blood”
They push him down onto the bed and Caitlin unwraps his wounded hand. Both the
scarf and shirt are soaked with blood which Caitlin gets to work cleaning out
the wounds and stitching him up. She runs a scanner over his arm and tuts at
the computer screen.
“You've broken half the bone's in your hand Cisco, and have fractures going up
your arm. What on earth were you doing?” she looks annoyed with him so Cisco
tries to avoid eye contact.
“Cisco?” she demands “What were you doing that would cause this much damage in
less than a day?”
Cisco just looks up at the ceiling and doesn't say a word. He feels sick and he
doesn't think its just from the pain.
She gives him something to numb the pain and starts setting the bones back in
his fingers and putting a cast and splint on to hold everything in place when
she asks “Cisco? Did you do this to yourself?” and he freezes like she's just
zapped him like in his dream. “Just you've got yourself into a seemingly
impossible situation twice now and twice have claimed to have no memory of the
event? Why would you do this to yourself? A cry for help? Attention? Why
Cisco?” she sounds exasperated with him.
He rips his arm out of her hands and curls in on himself against the wall.
“Cisco, come on kid you've got to let her fix you up” Joe says trying to help
Caitlin free his arm again but Cisco just curls up tighter.
He can hear their exasperated sighs as they try to move him but they can't.
“Cisco!” Joe yells at him in his dad voice and tries to grab his arm again.
He feels the surge of vibrations and anger go through him again and hears
things shattering around him. He curls up tighter, covers his face and cries
terrified at what is happening to him.
He barely even registers Caitlin telling Joe to hold him down as she sedates
him. Before he can fight back everything is fading to black.
~~
This time when he wakes up there is no beeping noise or people moving around,
just the faint buzz of the AC and the sound of Joe snoring.
Cisco sits up and his head spins. When his vision settles he catches sight of
the casts on both his arms. One covering all the way to the finger tips with a
few blue stitches poking out. What the fuck had he done? He thought to himself
as he examined his injured arms. It was just a dream. A stupid dream that
wasn't real. Why was he letting him get into his head again.
Then Cisco thinks back to the annoyed look on Joe's face before he sees his
arms and the exasperated look Caitlin gave him when they got to star labs.
Every interaction with his friends from the last few months flickered before
his eyes. The pity in their eyes, the annoyance in their voices, the disgust.
All aimed at him.
“Shit.” He thought “It's all true”
He wants to cry again which feels like all he has done recently. He wants to
scream and shout and smash things and hurt something. He wants to run and run
further and faster than even Barry could catch up. He wants to hide some place
and never be found.
But where would he go? He doesn't have anyone. No friends, his family has
disowned him and his savings would only last him a few weeks. Even if he did
have some where to go they would just hunt him down why would they let this
entertainment go to waste? The freak show. Their own personal circus every
night.
Joe coughs in his sleep and wakes himself up with a start. When he gets his
barrings he notices Cisco sitting upright on the bed.
“Cisco?”
he doesn't reply
“Cisco, hey man talk to me. Tell me what's going on”
'talk to him' he thinks to himself. He can't talk to him or anyone, he has no
energy left to talk. Every ounce of energy he had has been drained from trying
for to long to fight off his past that haunts him everyday and messes with his
head.
Caitlin wakes from her slumber over her desk at the sound of Joe talking.
“Cisco?” concern. She sounds concerned but it's all fake he knows it is.
“Cisco?” they keep asking and still he can't answer. He feels like an empty
shell with his soul off floating somewhere else.
They try and act worried as Caitlin performs test after test and scan after
scan on him whilst Joe calls Barry in. He crashes in whilst Caitlin is scanning
is brain. They find nothing.
What is their to find when you feel dead inside? Like you've been separated
from your soul like Peter Pan and his shadow.
There was no Wendy Darling to stitch him back together. No, he was more in need
of a Dr Frankenstein. He's what dealt with monsters.
“Cisco please talk to us” Barry asks “you're my brother. I want to help you”
He can't burden them with his bullshit. He doesn't want to drive them away any
more.
“come on please talk to us. What changed? Why are you suddenly doing this? Why
are you acting all weird?” Barry is frustrated and he knows it because Cisco
can tell from his eyes the moment the question leaves his mouth he instantly
regrets it.
Funny how the truth comes out when you least expect. He knew they thought he
was weird but hearing them say it out loud felt like a dagger to the heart. He
stumbled off the bed and stormed out the room.
“Cisco wait! I'm sorry!” Barry called after him.
“No you aren't Barry.” he yelled “ Don't lie to me. If you want the truth so
bad maybe you should stop lying to us about yours and Snart's little 'promise'”
“Cisco!” Joe snapped at him angrily as Barry stared at him like a kicked puppy
Cisco just kept repeating to himself not to look back until he was outside.
Barry didn't follow
~~
Cisco walked home from the labs. Thankfully their aren't many people out at
that time of night to give him weird looks for the blood. It starts raining
about a mile into his walk. As if tonight couldn't suck any worse.
He reaches his apartment and once inside he slams the door behind him. He goes
back into the bathroom and tries to sweep up as much of the glass as he can
with his hands in a cast. He takes off his sodden shirt and wipes the last of
the blood up and throws it into the tub to deal with in the morning.
He examines the contents of the dust pan looking at all the destruction and it
looks almost beautiful. He takes out the largest shard and pours the rest in
the trash can. He hides the shard under a book in his bedside cabinet.
He spends the rest of the night watching the drawer from his bed.
He knew he was falling down that dark path again and was lashing out at those
he cared about because of it but there is nothing he can do or wants to do to
stop it.
~~
A week passes by and Cisco manages to restrain himself from getting the shard
out of the drawer. He still finds himself watching it most nights until he
falls asleep only to wake up a few hours later from another nightmare.
Things change after a bad mission.
Cisco wasn't sure why but he still hadn't managed to get himself to speak to
anybody since that night. The others had gotten used to his wall of silence and
either ignored him or found a way to communicate without speaking.
That proved to be a problem when he was tracking some Meta's Barry was after
from the lab and when one of them suddenly blipped off the map and reappeared
right behind where Barry had just taken down two of the other guys he couldn't
alert Barry fast enough before he was blasted by the Meta's fingertip lightning
laser thing, he needed to come up with a better name for that guy.
Cisco watched on the CCTV feed as Barry hit the ground like a tonne of bricks.
Not moving and bleeding from a hole in his shoulder Cisco needed to do
something fast before someone found Barry before he healed and discovered the
identity of the Flash.
He texted Joe the address of where he was as a 911 message and alerted Caitlin
to prepare the med bay.
By the time Joe gets Barry in he's conscious but something in the Meta's laser
is stopping Barry from healing as fast as he normally does. The hole in his
shoulder is about an inch across and goes straight through. It reminds Cisco of
the girl in the garden in Shaun of the Dead.
Caitlin thinks it will take Barry at least a day to heal at the slowed rate so
she would have to give him stitches until then. Super speed means that local
anaesthetic will have no effect so Barry will just have to brace himself for
the pain whilst she stitches him up.
Cisco watches from the cortex as Barry screams in pain as Caitlin pulls the
wound back together.
Barry won't be able to do any fighting for at least a day.
The bad guys get away that time.
Cisco blames himself for what happened. When he gets home that night he takes
out the glass shard and drags it across is thigh. He watches the blood for
droplets and slide down his leg. He cuts again and again each time feels like
the pressure inside him is being released like a burst balloon. He keeps
cutting, one for every fuck up he's made recently. He stops when there is more
lines across his thigh than cocaine in a seedy nightclub. He watches as the
remaining beads of blood start to dry and looks at how the blood glistens on
the shard when he holds it up to the light.
~~
After he cleans himself up he feels the immense sense of shame that always
followed when he cut himself in the past. He knows it's all part of the cycle
of 'you feel down you cut yourself, you feel bad for cutting yourself so you
feel even more down, you feel down so you cut yourself again' on and on in an
endless circle of bullshit.
He tries to distract himself from the guilt and pain with watching TV then with
playing Bioshock on the 360 but even sucking the Adam from a few Little Sisters
and fighting their Big Daddies doesn't distract him.
He's laying on the sofa making patterns on the ceiling when he remembers the
tub of ice cream he's got left in the freezer. It's chocolate and cookie dough,
his favourite, and on top of that he remembers the bag of double stuff oreo's
he'd bought the other week. His stomach starts to grumble at the thought of
them and he realises he hasn't eaten anything in two days now. He'd been so
caught up in his own head that it had never even crossed his mind.
“No harm no foul” he said to himself out loud. Its not like he doesn't need to
lose a few pounds anyway.
He takes the food back to the sofa and flips the TV back to some random movie
channel and cracks the lid off the ice cream tub. He starts off slow taking a
small spoonful and moans at how good it tastes. Before he realises, he is
opening the oreo's and using them to shovel the ice cream into his mouth.
With speed that could give Barry a run for his money the two litre tub is empty
and all that's left of the oreo's is crumbs. He feels full and his stomach
looks like its sticking out even more than usual. He prods at it with one of
his uninjured fingers and it feels firm and hot. He presses again a bit harder
and a wave of nausea hits him and he just makes it to the toilet before he's
chucking up everything he just ate.
“Great plan Cisco” he says to himself, spitting bile into the bowl “Real
fucking clever that was.” He flushes and stands up, rinsing his mouth out in
the sink and wiping his sweat and vomit covered face.
He goes to change into some non blood stained, sweaty, puke-y clothes and
whilst changing his shirt he catches sight of himself in his wardrobe mirror.
His chest is littered with bruises from before. His ribs are healing and no
longer hurt as much as they did. He didn't realise how bad he had gotten but
his stomach stuck out so much he looked obese and his love handles sagged over
his waistband. He slammed the door shut in disgust and dives under the duvet.
That night his dreams are full of people who thought were his friends. They
circle him and mock him and he tries to beg them to stop but no sound will come
out.
~~
Things stay relatively quiet for team flash for a few months. The Meta's that
do show their faces are simple to take down. The one's who escaped that night
thankfully don't show their faces again.
The team had learned to cope with Cisco's muteness, letting him focus entirely
on the technical side of things with Wally taking over on communications. And
Cisco had learned to cope with the voices by falling back into his old routine
of cutting. Thankfully for him so far their had been no reason for him to have
to strip down to his skivvies in front of the team. His ribs had healed as had
his arms and other than a small scar left on his forehead, on the outside he
looked perfectly okay.
Underneath was an entirely different story. His body was littered with scars,
healing and fresh wounds. He did his best do keep them hidden under clothing
but he was starting to run out of useable skin.
He was also grateful that no one expected him to talk any more as his throat
was constantly read raw from purging. He knew it was messed up but he enjoyed
the sense of control it gave him. When things got bad he would cut and binge so
the purging felt like it was making up for that.
Barry's birthday is coming up and Cisco knows they are planning a party for
him. Caitlin and Iris are organising everything with Wally's 'help' who is
mostly just after control of the music. He knows they've had a cake made
especially for him and that it's chocolate with red icing and a fondant Flash
logo on it. He found that out by over hearing the girls telling Joe about the
baker thinking they were a couple and it was a cake for their sons birthday.
Hey knew that Joe was cooking one of the famous Grandma West's recipes for them
to share.
The only thing he didn't know was when the party actually was because so far no
one had invited him. Every time he walks into a room whilst they are planning
party business things go silent.
It's not that he believes they are deliberately not inviting him. He is well
aware they would never do that but he can tell its just none of them have
remembered to ask him and he doesn't have the courage to tell them he knows.
It's not like he would be much fun at a party anyway. He would just sit in the
corner nursing a beer for the entire night whilst the others danced and sang
and chatted the night away. He couldn't eat any of the party food as he
couldn't risk absorbing all the calories before he could get away to purge
without someone noticing his absence. Yet it still weighed heavily on his heart
that he never got an invite.
Barry wouldn't want him there anyway. He still wasn't talking to him after he
called him out over him being secretive with Snart. He still didn't know what
the pair of them were up to.
~~
When Barry's birthday comes around he sees Iris and Wally sneak into the lab
with the food and gifts. He watched on the CCTV as they laid it all out in
Eobard!Well's old room and start hanging a sign they had made. Later he watches
Joe sneak in with a box of balloons and decorations to hang.
Caitlin keeps Barry distracted by faking the need to run some tests on him that
would require the whole day. Barry being Barry was none the wiser. When the
clock hit 6 still no one had said anything to him so he grabbed his satchel off
the door and left.
No one noticed him walk out.
When he gets home he skips the shard of glass and goes straight for the scalpel
he stole from Caitlin's supply room. He cuts deeper than he ever has before.
He starts cutting a deeper cut across his wrist giving up on any attempt to
hide the cuts. Its not like anyone paid enough attention to notice anyway. When
a bright flash of purple light lights up the room and a loud bang comes from
outside. He drops the knife and runs to the window and looks out on Central
City.
There is smoke floating upwards in the distance and he realises its coming from
Star Labs. He grabs his keys and runs straight for the door.
By the time he reaches Star Labs he's breathless and sweaty but he can see
figures standing on the other side of the smoke filled parking lot. There is a
purple flame still burning on the ground and Barry is doing his thing to put it
out.
When the smoke clears he can finally see that everyone is uninjured if a little
shaken. Joe has Iris, Caitlin and Wally wrapped up in his arms protecting them
from what ever caused this. When Barry slows down to a stop and signals that
its safe they all gather closer to exam the cracks that now covered the
entirety of the parking lot.
Caitlin notices Cisco standing off to the side so he tries to gesture what
happens and she just shakes her head.
“We don't know. We were inside and then there was a bright light and the alarms
went off and we smell smoke and next thing we know Barry has dropped us all off
outside and the car park was on fire but it was purple”
“Who could've done this?” Wally asks, looking between his dad and Barry.
“I think I know” Barry says “That Meta that hit me with his lasers six months
ago had purple lasers and his teleportation looked like purple smoke” he
explained.
“But what would he want with us and how did he know this is where you would
be?” Caitlin asks.
“I don't know but I think this is just a warning. I need a higher vantage
point” Barry says and speeds off up the side of the building to the roof.
When he gets down again he looks even more puzzled than he did before. “Its a
message” he yells down.
“A message? For who?” Joe asks.
“I don't know it just says 'I'm back' Caitlin and Iris share a frightened
glance. “Who ever it is they know who we are and what we do”
They are about to go back inside and plan what to do when another bright flash
appears behind them. They turn to look and standing in a cloud of smoke is the
Meta from before. His suit is all black with purple piping and purple lenses
over the eye holes. Small cracks of purple lightning strike out from inside the
smoke.
Barry charges at him and as he reaches out his fingertips to grab him he
vanishes and reappears a few metres away. Barry tries again and again but each
time he teleports away.
“What do you want” Barry yells at the Meta “Who are you?”
the dark figure raises a pointed finger at Cisco and the others turn to stare
at him. He shrugs confused as to what the man wants with him.
“Cisco? What do you want with him”
“Revenge” a loud booming voice calls out
“Revenge? For what?” Barry demands
“For taking away what's mine” he winds up another charge of purple lightning
and aims it straight at Cisco. Before the lightning or Barry can reach him he
opens his own portal and hops through. He lands on the roof of the visitors
entrance and looks down as the lightning hits the building and travels along
the metal cladding and down into the ground.
Barry runs at the stranger again and he teleports away and up on to the roof
behind Cisco. Before he can get away the man has him by the throat and holds
him out across the ledge. The moment the man touches his skin he gets a vibe
from that night in the locker room. That doesn't make any sense? He thinks to
himself. Of course now as is the time his powers start malfunctioning again
giving him false vibes and not letting him escape whilst he dangles thirty feet
off the ground.
“No one takes my property from me” he yells at those below “If any of you
follow he dies” and with that Cisco feels himself engulfed in smoke and lands
with a thud on cold dirty floor. He gets up off the ground and sees bars
surrounding him and the Meta walking in circles around it.
“Don't you recognise me Cisco?” he sneers. Cisco is confused because he doesn't
recognise him for all he can think this is some crazed man he stole a crayon
from in kindergarten considering he keeps going on about stealing his property.
He is definitely a lot more scared of him now then he would be if he was a
crayon loving toddler.
He looks around the cage trying to see if there is a way to get out but their
doesn't even appear to be a door. He tries to vibe to open a portal to get out
but nothing works. “Now now Cisco you should know better. You think I would
lock you up if you could simply use your powers to escape? No these bars are
made of a material I found when I encountered an old friend of yours on my
travels. See when I first discovered just how far my powers could take me I
decided to explore and find the best solutions to getting my property back and
making sure it can never be taken again. I met just the right man who has much
a disliking for you and your little team as I do. I believe you know him as
Zoom?” The man seemed almost gleeful at Cisco's reaction to that name. “He
sends his regards by the way. His earth is an interesting place you know. I met
your other self over there. You sure know how to win them over don't you Cisco”
Cisco's face turned red with rage as he ran at the cage bars trying to reach
through and strangle the man on the other side. With a flick of his wrist the
man sent lightning bolts at the bars and the shock sent Cisco crashing to the
floor. He could hear his booming cackle as he started to pass out. As his head
impacted the ground he saw a vibe of Harry flash before his eyes sat at his
desk as an assassin entered his Star Labs. He tried to get him to notice but he
was sucked back into the real world.
“Harry!” he tried to call out loud as he sank into unconsciousness.
~~
When he woke up he found himself strapped to a board with his arms and legs
spread out like an X. His clothes had been removed and the man was pacing the
floor once more but this time seemed a lot more aggressive.
When he noticed he was awake he stopped and pivoted so he was facing him and
fired his purple laser at Cisco who screamed in pain.
“WHO IS HE” the man screamed at him. “WHO IS THE MAN TRYING TO STEAL YOU FROM
ME? WHO IS HARRY? WHO IS TRYING TO STEAL MY PROPERTY AGAIN?” the pain
intensified the angrier the man got.
“TELL ME” he screamed again.
“no one. No one” Cisco pleaded “please stop. Please”
“YOU CALLED FOR HIM! NOW TELL ME WHO HE IS”
Cisco fell silent, biting onto his lip to stop himself screaming out in pain.
“TELL ME OR FOR EVERY HOUR YOU DON'T I WILL KILL ONE OF YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS!
STARTING WITH THE WEST BOY”
Cisco thought of Wally back at the lab probably pacing back and forth as the
others planned on what move to take next. He thought about what it would be
like if Wally was no longer there. How Joe would fall apart, how heartbroken
Iris would be to lose the brother she only just got to meet. He thought of
Barry who had taken to Wally finally after rejecting his willingness to learn
for so long. They were a family and they loved each other. He couldn't do that
to them.
“TELL ME” the man screamed again.
“HARRISON WELLS” Cisco screamed out. The pain suddenly stopped “But he's gone.
He's been gone for a long time” he sobbed.
“Dead?” the man demanded.
“No. Not yet at least”
“then where has he gone?”
“Please, I mean nothing to him. You don't need to do this you can take me and
leave my friends alone but I need to get a message to them”
“Tell me where this Harrison Wells is you pathetic little faggot” the man
growls.
“No”
“Tell me now or when I find him I will kill him in front of you. I will hold
your eyes open and make you watch as he chokes on his own blood when I cut is
throat from ear to ear.”
“Please, no. I don't even know why you are doing this” Cisco begged “I've never
taken anything from you I've never even met you before.”
“oh but you have and deep down you know it. Now tell me or I will kill you,
Wells and your little friends.”
Cisco couldn't risk his friends lives but he couldn't risk Harry's either. He
may have meant nothing to him but he meant everything to Cisco.
“I can't let you kill him” he sobbed
“Oh I'm not going to kill him. I wont even lay a finger on him. No I merely
want to teach him a lesson on touching things that doesn't belong to him” he
snarls.
“He hasn't taken anything from you either you fucking psycho” Cisco spat at him
“I don't know what is going through that bat shit little head of yours but what
ever it is its not true”
The man conjured a ball of purple lightning in his hand that crackled and
fizzed loudly.
“Don't test me Cisco” he warned. “Tell me where he is”
Cisco doesn't say a word just glares at him. The man growls angrily and sends
the ball flying at him. When it hits it spreads out across Cisco's skin in a
blinding pain that never ends. He screams and flails and tries to get away but
there is no hope. He feels the last thread of strength inside himself snap and
he breaks.
“Star labs” he calls out “He is at star labs”
“Liar!” the man shrieks and conjures another ball “I combed that place top to
bottom”
He aims the ball at him again
“Not this one!” Cisco screams before it hits him “ANOTHER ONE! ON ANOTHER
EARTH” the ball freezes and fades away. “He went back to his earth but it's to
late someone is coming for him”
“See now that wasn't so hard was it? Now lets go meet this Harry before someone
else gets to steal my fun” he sneers. He gets as close as he can to Cisco and
stares him in the eyes. He's so close Cisco can feel his breath through the
mask. It smells of cheap beer which he knows he's smelled before but can't
place where. The man suddenly grabs him by the throat again and jumps through
another portal.
The journey takes longer than the previous one and he can tell by the change in
frequency of the vibrations his surroundings give off that he is no longer on
his earth. Some time on the journey he had shut his eyes and when he opens them
again he sees the white walls of Earth-2's star labs. They are in Harry's
office but its empty. Out the window he can see its dark out and most of the
surrounding buildings lights are out. He lets out a sigh of relief that Harry
isn't working late.
The man pushes Cisco against a wall “Move from this spot and I kill him the
moment he enters the room” and in a puff of purple smoke he's gone then seconds
later he reappears with the man from his vibe held round the neck by his clawed
glove. “Now what do we have here then? A petty criminal trying to take my prize
away. We can't have that” he sneered and raised his other hand to the man's
neck and ripped his throat out and dropping him to the floor where he squirmed
as he bled out.
Then the door behind them starts to open and in steps Harry looking half asleep
and sipping a coffee. His hair is longer and slightly more grey than when they
last met and his stubble is slightly scruffier but all in all he's not changed
at all.
Harry has shut the door before he notices the pair standing in the room with
him and the freshly deceased corpse on the floor. The coffee cup he was
carrying hits the floor with a splash as he stares wide eyed at the intruders.
“Ramon?” he asks confused. Cisco suddenly remembers he has had his clothes
taken and tries to cover himself but the man grabs his throat and tightens his
grip.
“What's going on here?” Harry demands.
“I do not tolerate people stealing my property. Thievery will not go
unpunished.” the man snarls.
Harry's eyes flicker to Cisco's and back “Thievery? From Cisco? The hell did
you do to get yourself in this mess Ramon? God I leave you guys alone for a
year and you become a petty thief?”
Cisco feels immense shame wash over him. Is that how little Harry thinks of
him? No wonder he left.
“You seem to misunderstand me Mr Wells” the man snarls “Cisco is my property”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Harry asks clearly tired of the drama
already.
“Cisco belongs to me and he tried to run. I've searched for him for many years
and now I have him and find you tried to take him from me as well. That cannot
go unpunished. He has to learn his lesson”
“You don't own Ramon. You can't own a human being what decade do you think this
is? He doesn't belong to anyone but himself and I certainly did not try and
take him from anyone” He can see Harry spit out the last bit in disgust.
“You cannot lie to me Harrison Wells” The man screeches and sends a bolt at him
and he goes flying backwards. The man drops Cisco to the floor and teleports to
Harry and hefts him into a chair. Cisco thinks about running but there is
nowhere to go other than a several hundred foot drop out the window.
The man conjures a purple lightning strand that wraps around Harry's wrists
holding them against the back of the chair. Harry struggles against the
restraint but the more he pulled at them the stronger the current got.
“What are you going to do to me” Harry demands eyeing the corpse on the floor.
“Oh you will live that I promise but you need to learn your lesson that you
shouldn't take things that aren't yours” he smirks at him then turns and walks
back towards Cisco hauling him off the floor by his hair. “do you remember me
now Cisco? Do you recognise me yet?” he asks
Tears role down Cisco's cheek “why are you doing this? I don't know you. Just
let me go I'm begging you”
“Crocodile tears didn't work then Cisco and they sure as hell won't work now.
You belong to me and I keep what's mine close” The man reached up and took hold
of the front of his mask and pulled it off. Cisco froze in terror as the eyes
of a man he hasn't seen in years and hoped to never see again.
“Dante”
He looked older and looked older than his years. His eyes were blood shot and
his face was scarred and unshaven but unmistakeably he was still the monster
that crept into his bed at night.
“Oh you remember me now do you hermanito? Surprised? Seems you aren't the only
Ramon who got powers that night” Dante points at Harry “You will watch and you
will learn what happens if you steal from me. If you look away he will suffer
the consequences” He drags Cisco by the hair and slams his face down hard
against Harry's desk and raises his other fist bringing it down hard against
the side of his face then again into his side. Cisco screams in pain.
“Leave him alone!” Harry yells fighting at his restraints with everything he
has. “Do what you like to me but let Cisco go!”
“Now where would be the fun in that?” Dante jeered. “It's time I taught this
little faggot a lesson”
Cisco knew what was coming next. He didn't even have to listen for the sound of
a zip being undone. Dante kicks him in the knee to separate his legs and for
Cisco it feels like just another routine he's never been able to forget. He
knew there was no point in fighting back or screaming for help. No one would
come. No one ever did.
Dante drags him further round the desk and pulls his hair so he has to look
Harry in the eye. Cisco had never wanted to die more than he did in that
second. He didn't want Harry to see him like this. As the filthy little faggot
whose brother raping him was the only time he could get fucked because he was
such a worthless pile of shit. No one else wanted him.
Dante thrusts into him completely dry and it burns worse than it ever had
before. The force of him being shoved into the desk opens up the cuts on his
stomach and thighs again and they start to trickle blood down his legs and
smear it across the desk.
“That's it Cisco be a good boy and show Mr Wells what a little fuck up you are”
“Dante please let him go” Harry begged “Can't you see this is wrong”
Dante grabbed the letter opener from Harry's desk and sliced it across Cisco's
cheek. Cisco screamed and tried to pull away from the blade but Dante held
fast. “Now, now Cisco don't act like you aren't enjoying this. I know how you
like it rough” he says as he thrusts hard into him again and Cisco can feel
something tear within him and the wet sticky feeling of blood coating Dante's
dick. This seemed to spur him on more as he picked up the pace. Cisco cried and
whimpered but remained as still as he could hoping Dante would give him some
slack and put the blade down but he didn't and the thrusts got more violent.
“Cisco” Harry whispered “Hey, Cisco look at me. Focus on me okay. It will be
over soon just focus on my voice. Someone is coming I promise”
Cisco tried to focus but between the physical pain and the mental torture he
was going through the only thing he could focus on was wanting to feel nothing.
So long he had wanted to feel anything that he took the blade to his own skin
but now in this moment he would give anything to take it all away.
“You see Cisco? No one could ever love you. You are worthless. Nothing more
than a faggot fuck toy for me to use. I couldn't even sell your ass to anyone
now. people would be too repulsed at the sight of your flabby body. No that's
why you belong to me so I can treat you how you deserve.” Dante's thrusts
become more jittery and violent as he reaches his climax. The mix of semen and
blood inside him stings as it trickles out and down his leg. Dante thrusts a
few more times and pulls out throwing Cisco to the floor and zipping himself
up.
Cisco doesn't even try to move just curls in on himself crying trying to cover
up what little dignity he had left. Dante kicks him square in the ribs “You are
pathetic Cisco. No wonder Mom and Dad disowned you. Can't have a failure of a
faggot for a son could they? No! Do you know that night after the locker room I
heard them talking. Mom said she wished she'd had an abortion like she
originally planned. She only wanted me to begin with your fucked up little self
was never wanted” with each point Dante kicks him again and again.
“Dante please stop this. What ever you want I will give you just leave Cisco
alone!” Harry begged
“There is nothing I want that you could ever give me” Dante replied kicking
Cisco again
“Money I can give you money! All of it! I'm a rich man you can take the lot!
Just stop hurting him”
“I don't want your money Wells, I want him dead. I want him where no one can
ever have him but me” he roared and went to kick him again this time in the
chest.
As he raised his foot to stamp hard down on his head a portal opened behind him
and before he could get away Barry tackled him to the ground slamming the
dampening cuffs on him as he went.
The cuffs meant Dante no longer was able to sustain the restraints holding
Harry who ran straight at him punching him squarely in the jaw again and again.
Dante's nose poured blood and Harry showed no signs of stopping.
“HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM? YOUR OWN BROTHER? TO CISCO? WHAT KIND OF MONSTER
ARE YOU” he screams as he aims another punch at his face. Before it hits Wally
jumps in through the portal to and holds Harry back.
“ROT IN HELL CISCO. YOU RUINED MY LIFE” Dante screams at Cisco.
“Don't do this Harry. You aren't a murderer. He will get what's coming to him
just let us take him back to our earth.”
Barry handed the now powerless Dante over to Wally who took him screaming and
cursing back to earth-1 presumably to the pipeline.
They both run to Cisco's side where he is still laying curled up on the floor
sobbing. Barry reaches out to help his friend but Cisco cowers away from his
touch.
“What happened here Harry?” Barry asks looking between Cisco, the corpse and
Harry. Harry shook his head in shock at what had happened.
“I went to get coffee and when I got back they were waiting here. He tied me up
with this plasma rope he created that I couldn't free myself from and he
started ranting about Cisco stealing something from him?”
“He said that to us to when he showed up. What did he steal?”
“We need to get him back to your earth he needs medical attention” Harry
replies
Harry grabs his sweater off the back of his chair and puts it on the floor next
to Cisco. He keeps his distance and Cisco remembers the disgusted look he gave
him earlier and understands why he wouldn't want to get to close.
“Cisco, put the sweater on its all we have right now but we need to get you to
Caitlin quickly” Harry whispers calmly to him. Cisco doesn't uncurl from the
position he's in.
“Harry we need to get going” Barry insists “The portal won't stay open for long
and you know its more difficult to open another on your earth without Cisco's
help. If he needs medical attention we need to go now”
Harry looks down at him with pity. “I'm sorry about this Cisco” he says as he
scoops him up in his arms as Cisco tries to cower away. He nods at Barry who
grabs the back of his shirt and speeds them back to earth-1.
~~
They fly out of the portal and Harry narrowly avoids tripping as he hits the
cortex floor with a thud. Caitlin is waiting with a trolley for Cisco.
They rush him into the medical bay as quickly and steadily as possible and lay
him down gently. Cisco doesn't move or look at anyone just curls up and cries
silently to himself.
Wally has taken Dante down to the pipeline and must've had the sense to give
Cisco the privacy he needs so took Joe and Iris with him.
“Barry what are we looking at here” Caitlin asks as she attaches' wires to
Cisco to monitor his vital signs.
Barry looks frightened and lost at the sight of his friend in such a state. “I
don't know. Other than shock I didn't see what happened. I didn't get there in
time to stop him”
“Harry?” Caitlin asks. She exams his body taking note of every visible injury
and what tests to do to check for internal ones. She hooks him up to an IV to
get some fluids into his system but when she reaches his legs she stops at the
blood that's still trickling from his backside. “Oh god” she gasps “Cisco” She
reaches out to touch him and comfort him but second guesses herself as Cisco
flinches away. “Harry? Is this from what I think it is? Did Dante really do
this?”
Harry nods running his hands through his hair distraught at what is happening
to someone he cares about. “I don't think this is the first time either. He
kept going on about Ramon being his 'property' and that I was trying to take
him away. What happened since I left Snow? He's covered in scars old and new
did no one notice?”
Caitlin looks guiltily down at her friend. Barry put his hand on Harry's
shoulder “I think we ought to give him some privacy and let Caitlin treat him.”
he says as he leads Harry out the room who glances back over his shoulder as
Caitlin pulls the portable scanner over to the bed.
~~
Caitlin sets to work treating the visible injuries first after the scan reveals
no internal injuries other than minor bruising. She cleans the wounds on his
face and thighs and puts a stitch or two in a few of the deeper ones. She stops
when it comes to the final injury.
“Cisco” she whispered “I have to examine you...internally... It's not going to
be pleasant and I can't even begin to imagine what you are going through right
now but I need to make sure there is no serious tears down there, okay? I
promise I will try and make this as fast and painless as possible but once this
is over we can get you a nice hot shower and a change of clothes” she tries her
best to sound reassuring but to Cisco it just fills him with dread. Someone
touching him there, even someone he knows, after everything that happened is
just to much.
“Cisco I'm going to talk you through everything as I do it. There will be no
sudden surprises I promise and if you need a breather just say” Cisco feels his
breathing coming quicker and quicker as he hears Caitlin snap on another pair
of gloves and coat them in a thick layer of lubricant. “You are going to feel
my finger inside you in a moment. It will be cold and painful but I am just
going to feel for any tearing that needs seeing to.” she explains and she
wasn't kidding and Cisco lets out a cry of pain as she inserts her finger.
“I'm now going to move my finger around to check everything is okay”. Cisco's
vision blurs as tears cloud his sight. The immense feeling of shame Is
deafening in his ear.
“There seems to be only superficial tearing which won't require stitches” she
whispered as she removed her finger. He listened as she removed the gloves and
lifted the blanket up to his shoulders.
“Would you like to take a shower now Cisco?” she asks calmly. Cisco just wants
to get the feeling of disgust off his skin but he knew no shower would wash
that away but getting the blood and semen off would be a start. He nods at
Caitlin but doesn't make eye contact.
“Okay here put on this” she takes off her lab coat and wraps it round his
shoulders “You shower and I will get Barry to get you something clean to wear.”
Cisco does the coat up around him and goes to stand off the bed. The moment he
tries to take a step he winces from the pain shooting up his back and in his
knee and almost topples backwards. He takes another step and then another and
slowly and painfully makes his way to the shower room.
Never had he been more glad for the wet room than he was right now because he
couldn't even imagine the pain from trying to climb into a tub to shower like
he would at his apartment. Caitlin walks with him till they get to the shower
and then lets him have privacy whilst she sorted out clothes for him. Cisco
turns the shower on to as hot as he can stand and hangs the lap coat over the
towel rack and steps under the spray. It burns red hot against his skin that
turned an angry shade of pink as Cisco scrubbed at every inch of skin he could.
He watches as the blood mingles with the water and flows down the drain and out
of sight. He looks up at the shower head and lets the water pour down across
his face and gets so lost in his own head that he doesn't hear Barry come in
until he speaks.
“Um, Cisco. I brought you some clothes and your phone. They're a little big but
its all I could find” he says and scuttles back out the door.
Cisco turns the shower off and grabs the towel Caitlin had put out for him. It
takes him a while to get dry as he tries to avoid pulling on any stitches or
aggravating any wounds but finally he manages to slip on the track suit bottom
and grey Star Labs sweater Barry had brought him.
He walks back towards the cortex where the others had now gathered. Joe and
Iris had clearly been crying and Caitlin was examining Joe's hand as Barry and
Wally chatted together. Harry was sat slumped in a chair staring at the wall.
They all froze and stared when he walked in.
“Cisco” Joe said and pulled out of Caitlin and Iris's grasp and marched towards
him. Cisco flinched away from the physical contact. “Cisco he will pay for this
I promise you” tears leaked from the corner of his eye again “I'm so sorry this
happened to you” he wiped at his tears and turned away trying to gather himself
together.
“Why didn't you talk to us Cisco?” Caitlin asked. “We knew you were having a
hard time but we didn't think it was like that” she gestures at where the
majority of his cuts are. She feels guilty, Cisco can see that and in a way he
feels like she should. They all should feel guilty but he knows it's not their
fault and he's just angry but his head is racing and his heart is hammering
away at his chest.
He watches Harry who still hasn't said a word to him. He wants him to look at
him. Acknowledge him but also he wants to run far from anyone.
“What are we going to do with Dante?” Wally asks. “Is he going to stay down
there? Go to prison?”
“That's up to Cisco, Wally” Iris explains
“He needs to be punished though!” Wally says “He raped someone! And you said
he'd probably done it before to”
“Shut the hell up West” Harry interrupts “Don't you think he's been through
enough for one day without you wittering on” He's on his feet eyes blazing as
he stares down Wally who backs off.
'he's been through enough' repeats through his head over and over. Did Harry
mean Dante? Was Harry siding with him just like his parents did? Did Harry
believe Cisco wanted this?
Cisco feels a panic attack building inside him. Maybe he did ask for this.
Maybe it was his fault. Maybe he was exactly what Dante always said he was.
Just a filthy little faggot that no one would ever care about.
Shit, he thought to himself. It's true. Everything he ever said is true. No one
does want him here. Just look at their faces it's written all over them. The
hatred and disgust. He can't be here. He needs to get away. Needs fresh air.
“I....I...I need to g..go” he opens a portal next to him, he knows what he
needs to do. “I'm Sorry. I have to” he says and jumps through it.
~~
He lands on the labs roof with a thud that sends shooting pain through his
body. He walks over to the ledge and takes a seat and watches the city beneath
him. Everything just looks so alive with all the bright lights and car engines.
He watches as Barry's red lightning streaks out across the city searching for
him, closely followed by Wally. He's glad in a way. They will be preoccupied on
the other side of the City and won't have to witness this. He could least spare
them that burden after everything they've put up with from him.
He knows deep down that they care about him and wouldn't want him to do this
but it was the only choice he had left. As long as Dante still existed in this
world he couldn't
He takes the phone out of his pocket and opens up empty text copying in
everyone he thought needed to know.
SMS: Queen Elsa, Speedy, Padawan, Flower power, North South East and West, The
beauty to my beast,
I'm Sorry for everything I burdened you with. You didn't deserve to put up with
my shit.
I want you all to know that none of you are to blame. I've been a fuck up long
before any of you even met me. Deal with Dante as you see fit but I can't be
anywhere he can reach me again. I need to go to the one place he can't follow.
Don't feel angry that you couldn't save me. Don't blame yourselves I've wanted
this since I was a freshman after Dante and his friends first used me. I can't
go on living as someone's fuck toy. I can't even look in the mirror any more
without making myself ill at the sight of my self.
This is for the best.
To Caitlin my ice queen: you have been my best friend for the majority of my
adult life. You are like the sister I never had and I can honestly say with all
my heart that there is nobody on this earth more brilliant, kind and caring
than you. You will go far in this world Caitlin Snow and don't let anything
stop you <3
To Barry my speedy friend: You are a hero Barry Allen. Not because you are the
Flash but because of how pure your heart is. You have always gone above and
beyond to help those around you and can't stand by whilst a person is in need.
With or without your powers you will always be the greatest hero this world
will ever know. I'm sorry for what I said about Snart and I know if it was
something any of us needed to know you would've told us. I love you brother.
To Wally: You are learning well young Padawan and I know one day you will be a
great hero. You're a good kid and should be proud of how far you've come in the
last few years. It was a pleasure to call you a friend.
To Iris: I will miss teaming up against Barry with you on movie nights. We all
know Star Wars is better than some slushy romcom any day. I will miss your
beautiful smile that lights up a room and the way you never back down from a
fight no matter the danger if it means helping innocents or seeing justice
done. You are strong and smart and promise me you will continue kicking ass and
taking names?
To Joe: You are the closest thing I've ever had to a father. Mine never gave a
shit about me. You gave me a family that actually gave me the time of day.
Please don't feel bad for what happened. You tried to help me but I couldn't
bring myself to tell you. I am a weak man Joe West and as always I must take
the easy way out. I just can't hold on any longer. Please be strong when I'm
gone, the others will need you now more than ever. Don't let Caitlin or Barry
shut you out. I know them and I know they will try.
To Harry: The most amazing man I've ever known. I guess now is the only chance
I'm gonna get to be honest with you. When we first met I thought you were an
annoying, shifty, frustrating, selfish ass hole. You constantly got on my
nerves and messed with my things to annoy me. But now after all this time I can
say with all my heart that I still think you are all those things except maybe
the selfish part and yet Its what I love about you. Fuck I don't know when I
fell for your stupid face but after you left without a goodbye it hit me like a
freight train how much you meant to me. I understand why you wanted to leave
now. I know I'm a freak and disgusting to be around and I will never blame you
for going. I just need to tell you and get it off my chest: Harrison Wells I
have fallen head over fucking heals in love with you. You will forever own my
heart. I need to make a request of you now Harry. When I'm gone, stay. The
others will need you to hold them together and get them back on track. I know
it's a lot to ask but as my dying wish please help guide them forward.
It has been a pleasure knowing you all and maybe we will meet again in another
life
I love you all
Goodbye
Cisco Ramon
He read the text over making sure he'd said everything he needed to. He hovered
his finger over the send button as he watched out for Barry and Wally's
lightning trail. They were far enough away that even at their fastest they
couldn't reach him in time.
He got to his feet on the ledge and looked down at the ground. He'd calculated
the perfect distance to ensure death from long ago and if the buildings blue
prints were accurate then the roof of the reactor was the perfect spot. It was
now or never.
He hit send and threw the phone behind him. Within seconds of the text being
sent he could see Barry and Wally racing back towards him. He inhaled a deep
breath of the cold night air, closed his eyes and stepped over the edge. He
could feel the air hitting his face as he got closer to the ground.
~~
Cisco's eyes blinked open to a glaring white light shining down on him. His
head felt fuzzy and he felt like everything was on fire. He tries to move
around but a shadowy figure presses against his chest gently holding him
against the bed. He's not entirely sure what's gone on but when the figure
starts coming in to focus what he is sure of is that Earth 2's Harrison Wells
was the most annoying bastard to walk across any earth in the multiverse. Cisco
was damn sure of that fact.
The next thing he's sure of is that he is definitely in a hospital. No where
else has such bright lights and chemically clean smell. Unless of course he was
in hell.
He noticed Harry's mouth was moving but his head was so fuzzy he couldn't focus
on what he was saying.
“Where am I?” he asked. His throat was rough and dry and hurt as he spoke.
Jesus how long as it been since he had a drink?
Suddenly there are more shadows in the corner of his vision and the sound of
hospital machinery starts coming in to focus.
“Mr Ramon? Mr Ramon?” a voice kept asking with an unfamiliar accent “You are in
Central City Hospital Mr Ramon, In the intensive care unit.”
Intensive care? He thought “What happened?” he coughed out. He felt a straw
being held to his lips and he drank the cool water like it was the last drops
on earth.
“You don't remember?” The doctor asked. Cisco tried to shake his neck but it
was stiff and painful and something was wrapped around it tightly.
“Cisco?” Harry. Definitely not hell then.”Cisco you jumped off the roof. We
thought you were dead. We thought we'd lost you, that I'd lost you” he sounded
exhausted and relieved.
Cisco suddenly remembered how he got here. He remembered Dante and the text and
everything. “No, no, no ,no this can't be real! I'm not supposed to be here.
That was meant to be it, over, done with. Why couldn't you just let me die”
he's crying again and it stings like a million fire ants.
“Mr Ramon you need to keep calm” The doctor barked “You have been in an induced
coma for three months to prevent the risk of any permanent brain damage and to
let the swelling around your brain heal. We have just removed the tube from
your throat hence the soreness so please keep calm and sip slowly on the cold
water”
Three months? What the hell has happened to him, he wondered to himself. He
could see fine and his hearing was only a little fuzzy but he'd just woken up
he couldn't expect to feel perfect yet. His speech was fine and his mental
capacity seemed to be operating at the same level as always and yet he still
had a gut feeling that something was wrong. Something felt different. “What's
wrong with me Doc?” he asked.
“You fell a long way Mr Ramon, any normal being would not have survived such a
drop but god was on your side that night”. And god had a lot to answer for
Cisco thought to himself. “You suffered serious head injuries so were put into
a coma to allow your brain to heal. Unfortunately some of your injuries were so
catastrophic there was only one option” Cisco felt Harry cup his hand and hold
on to it tightly.
“Cisco, when we found you....I don't know how to put this......we didn't think
there was any possible chance you were alive........your body was bent in ways
I never thought possible..and....god, Cisco your arm it was...it was...” Harry
stops talking and looks up at the Doctor.
“Mr Ramon when you were found your right arm was being held on only by a small
portion of tissue and unfortunately there was nothing we could do to save it.
We had to perform an amputation from the elbow down.” Cisco stared wide eyed up
at the ceiling. This can't be happening, It's not possible. He raised his
aching right arm up into his line of sight and sure enough it was a thickly
wrapped stump where his lower arm should be.
Cisco couldn't do this “no,no this isn't fair. It can't be happening this is
all just some nightmare or a sick prank or something but it's not real!” he
screamed. He shoved the covers off his legs and went to swing them over the
side of the bed and run....but they didn't move. He tried again and again over
and over but still nothing. He pinched the flesh until it left a visible bruise
and still nothing.
“I can't feel my legs..... I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!” he screamed punching at them
trying to get some sort of reaction “WHATS WRONG WITH ME?”
“Cisco...” Harry said
“Harry, please tell me this isn't happening. It's all a joke right? I can't be
like this forever right? Please Harry” he begged.
“Mr Ramon the impact of your fall severed your spinal cord at the T2 vertebrae
causing complete paralysis of the lower half of your body. Unfortunately at
this time there is no treatment option that can restore any movement. You also
suffered multiple broken bones in your hip and leg region along with your
shoulder and ribs. Fortunately whilst you were comatose most of your injuries
were able to heal but your hip injuries required multiple operations to piece
everything back together again.” the doctor explained, everything sounded to
clinical and Cisco's mind was racing and he couldn't process it all.
What sick fuck of a higher power let him live? What punishment was this? Was
this what hell felt like? No fiery pits and being tortured just your life being
obliterated. What use was he going to be now to Team Flash? He couldn't build
things for them any more he only had one arm and he couldn't be Vibe any more
because he couldn't walk. He was useless.
“Given the circumstances that lead to your injuries I'm required to give you a
referral for therapy. It is up to you whether you take it but I recommend you
do” The doctor sounded harsh, judging and Cisco wanted to scream at them to get
out.
“No, I don't need nor do I want therapy” he insisted.
“The offer remains there until you are discharged. I will be back to visit you
after I've chased up your test results.” and with that the doctor left.
“Cisco please” Harry said “You need help”
“What do you care? You left without a word and gave up all right to interfere
with my life” he snapped.
“I care Cisco but I had to go”
“Why? Why did you have to go? I thought you were our friend, my friend but you
didn't even say goodbye to me. I didn't even know you were going until Barry
got back. Why would you go back to a place where people still wanted to kill
you because of Zoom? You would've died that night if...if Dante hadn't done
what he did.”
“Cisco don't do this. Now isn't the time. Right now you need to focus on
healing both mentally and physically.”
“Horse shit Wells! Answer my question” Cisco demanded.
“I can't!” Harry looked frustrated as he avoided eye contact.
“TELL ME!”
“BECAUSE I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU JACKWAGON!” Harry's chair toppled over as
he got jumped to his feet cheeks burning red. “I fell in love with you. You
annoying frustrating little bastard. I fell so hard I would rather go face my
future assassin then tell you and risk everything.”
“This isn't funny Harry. You don't need to lie to me to try and make me feel
better” How could Harrison Wells be in love with him? No this had to be a trick
for sure. They probably all planned it together as a revenge plot for all the
trouble he's caused.
“I'm not lying to you Cisco. I fell in love with you and I didn't know what to
do so I did what I always do and left. God how do you think I ended up on your
earth to begin with? I always run from my problems”
“Why would you love me? Of all people?”
“Why would I fall in love with a kind and caring, funny ridiculous nerd with a
smile that can light up a room? Oh I don't know Ramon you tell me.” he tried to
look angry as he glared at Cisco “When I read your note and realised what you
were doing I knew what a huge mistake I had made in leaving you. I couldn't say
goodbye because I knew the moment I looked in your eyes I would back down and
stay. Don't you realise what you do to me Cisco? You make me happy and as
someone who has been a grumpy old man for most of his life that's a huge
fucking achievement. You said in your note that you were a disgusting freak and
on my life Cisco I will work every day to make you realise you aren't.” Harry
was crying now and Cisco wanted to wipe away every tear.
“Harry...I...”
“No Cisco listen to me. I know my love for you won't fix you or make you
better. Life doesn't work like in the movies but I promise you from this day on
I will be by your side through it all. I thought I lost you Cisco.” Harry cups
his left hand again and he's shaking “Please don't let things get this bad ever
again. I can't lose you”
Cisco squeezed Harry's hand tightly. Maybe hell on earth wouldn't be so bad
after all with someone to guide him through the pain. “I'm sorry Harry. I
didn't think, I was just so broken I just couldn't do it any more. I didn't
think about the people I would hurt that got left behind”
“Cisco don't ever be sorry for something that isn't your fault. You were
struggling and we didn't notice. We should have been better friends and been
there for you. I promise from now on I will be with you every step of the way”
Harry laced his fingers through his and held tightly on to his hand.
“Harry....I....I need to know.........Where is he? Where's D....Da...”
“Gone.” Harry interrupted “Don't ever think about him again. He was handed over
to Oliver and Felicity to be put somewhere he can never escape. His powers are
no longer a worry either. Caitlin was curious as to why he always used the one
hand to summon his powers and discovered that his DNA only changed on one side
of his body. When he was being transported to Starling City the van was
attacked by Snart and Rory who took his arm off with their guns. Barry didn't
try to stop them just said something about 'making up for broken promises'. You
will never see that monster again. He would have to go through every universes
version of me before he could ever hurt a hair on your head again.” Harry
sounded so sincere that even the doubting voice in Cisco's head started to
believe him.
“I'm so scared Harry. What am I going to do with my life now?” Cisco started to
cry the tears rolling down his cheek.
“We will find a way to get through this Cisco, we always do.” Harry promised
and leaned over Cisco to embrace him as gently as he could.
“Geez Wells” Cisco gasped “When was the last time you showered?”
“Shut up jack wagon”
~~
It didn't take long for news of his awakening to reach the others and within
hours his room was filled with visitors and gifts. Unsurprisingly to Cisco or
anyone for that matter, the moment Caitlin and Joe saw him they both started
crying and telling him how happy they were to see him awake. Iris rolled her
eyes at her dad and walked over and gave Cisco a big hug and a kiss on the
cheek he was certain left a perfectly lined lipstick mark behind.
“I'm glad you're still with us Cisco” she said and Cisco smiled broadly because
honestly, with all his friends surrounding him, so was he.
Barry unloaded a bundle on his bed of lots of wrapped items of different shapes
and sizes.
“It's not my birthday.....I think......Wait, what day is it?” he asked looking
around.
“Not your birthday Ramon.” Harry teased and Barry blushed
“I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate you as my friend and brother”
Barry said scratching the back of his neck.
Cisco picked up the first package and awkwardly tried to undo the paper without
much luck.
“Um....This might take some getting used to.....someone lend me a hand?” he
asked poking the parcel with his good hand.
“Shit, Sorry Cisco I didn't think...I should have realised” This time it was
Cisco's turn to roll his eyes.
“You may run first but you aren't half slow on the uptake. 'lend a hand?' get
it?” he says waving his stump in the air. “Because I could really do with one
if you've got one going spare”
“Jesus Ramon” Harry said smacking his head down into his hands as everyone else
laughed.
Barry unwrapped the gifts for him and Cisco was overjoyed at the lengths Barry
must've gone to get some of these. He had managed to get some of the comics and
figurines he had been hunting down for years. “Holy shit Barry how did you get
this? It must've cost you the earth”
“It's a shared present. Between me, Felicity and Oliver. They send their love
by the way and said they will come and visit as soon as they can. Felicity can
track down anything” he explained
“Damn, If I wasn't gay as all hell I would marry that woman in a heartbeat” he
joked.
Caitlin gave him a cute teddy bear set of Captain America and Bucky which Cisco
instantly fell in love with and hissed and swatted at Harry when he tried to
take one to look at.
“Captain America and the Winter Soldier are bears on your earth?” he asked
confused and Barry and Cisco both looked at him offended.
“No!”they both said together
“Okay just checking. They are married here too though right? Greatest cinematic
love story of all time? Won loads of awards?”
“What? No? I mean the married thing is up for debate if you ask any shipper but
its not part of the plot....wow I need to see your earths version now” Cisco
said shocked and Barry nodded in agreement.
Wally gave him a mix tape of songs about friendship and healing. Joe brought
him a tub of home made cupcakes that were still warm with the icing melting off
the top. “I'm not sure if you are nil by mouth or not but they're an old family
recipe”
Cisco was starving and didn't think twice before gobbling them down making a
mess of crumbs across his lap. “Vees ar eely gud” he said with his mouth still
full of the last bite of cake.
“So who is gonna break me out of this joint then?” Cisco asked “Anyone? No
takers?”
Harry rolled his eyes “You've been awake less than twelve hours after being in
a coma for over three months. There is no way in hell you are getting out of
this place today. Even if we tried I think Snow would kill us for endangering
your recovery.”
“He's Right Cisco” she said “You have to get your physiotherapy organised and
you might need further surgery on your hip plus any other things that might
crop up and you have to go to counselling.”
“I don't need counselling!”
“Cisco you need to go” Caitlin insisted
“But I don't! I can do this by myself”
“Shut up Ramon and do as your told if you want to go home” Harry injected.
Cisco pouted at him which earned him another eye roll.
“So how long till I can go home?” he asked then paused “Wait....HOW am I going
to go home? My apartment doesn't have a lift.....”
“Well, We were thinking....Thawne's old place got transferred to Barry's name
after he 'died' and even though he was faking it the whole place was still
wheelchair accessible soooo...” Iris said
“It's yours if you want it” Barry said shrugging “Or we can convert part of the
labs into a living space for you if you don't want to live there?”
Cisco thought for a moment. So Thawne's place was like a mansion and true it
was fully accessible BUT did he want to live in the home of the man who
literally did kill him once already? Would it be filled with to many ghosts of
the past? Did he want to be alone in such a big empty place? Could he trust
himself there?
“I don't know if I could handle being on my own. Not for a while at least” he
said shyly.
“You won't be on your own Cisco. You won't ever have to be on your own again.”
Harry said. “I can stay....if you want me to I mean.....I don't mean like
that.....relationships should be the last thing on your mind right
now.......but as a companion......I can stay...” he rambled and Cisco thought
about how endearing it was to see the always calm cool and collected Harrison
Wells get flustered.
“I'd like that” Cisco replied “I can't promise I will be much fun to live with
not for a while. I know theirs a lot of shit I have to get through before I can
think about anything else for now but if that's what you want I would really
like you to stay”
“Then that settles that! Now I think it's time we let Cisco get some rest.
Seeing as you can see he is in no immediate danger Harry, can you please come
back to the lab and get some proper sleep and a shower?” Caitlin asked.
“You've been here the whole time?”
“No!” Harry insisted
“We made him come home twice but other than that yes” Joe teased
“Awwww! Where you worried about me Harry?”
“Shut up Ramon”
~~
It took almost another month before Cisco was allowed to leave the hospital.
Most of it was him being under the observation of the hospitals psychiatric
team whom he finally managed to convince that whilst yes he was depressed and
had been for a long time he was not suicidal any more.
It felt like a huge weight off his shoulders finally having someone to talk to
about everything that had happened in his life and for them to believe him when
he told them. It had been an incredibly emotional journey which had many ups
and downs and he lost his temper more than once. They taught him strategy's for
coping with his need to self harm that for the most part helped take the edge
off the craving.
He still found he had trouble trusting people even his friends which deep down
he was certain loved him dearly but after a life time of having your head
fucked with who can really blame him. He had invited the team to join him in
some of his sessions so he could share with them his feelings about what lead
to his attempt and it really strengthened the bond between them.
Things with Harry had been slow and steady neither wanting to push the other
further than they were ready for. Harry knew Cisco wasn't ready to dive into a
proper relationship and wouldn't be for a long time but there was something
more than friendship there and he could feel it strengthening every day. Harry
bared the brunt of his temper when he had bad days and would scream and cry and
scratch at his skin trying to draw blood or would refuse to eat because he
couldn't go to the bathroom unsupervised to purge. Cisco was eternally grateful
for Harry's ability to stay calm through it all and comfort him when he needed
it or give him a kick up the backside when he was being an ass.
Since waking up he had suffered most nights with bad nightmares which woke him
up in a panic and Harry would calmly talk to him and help him realise he was
safe until he was able to go to sleep again.
Felicity and Oliver had visited bringing with them a present of a fancy
electric wheelchair that Harry had designed and they had made with a few
modifications, namely for Cisco's benefit by making it look like something
Professor X would use but in a blue the same as Cisco's vibe goggles.
Physio had helped him with getting used to the prospect of spending the rest of
his life in a chair. He had to learn new skills such as transferring himself
from place to place with only one useable arm as well as dressing and
undressing himself and showering and bathing. It had been tough work but with
the aid of some weight training to gain more muscle things had started to get
easier.
The biggest problem he was currently having was the fact he was right handed
and was now having to learn to write with his left hand. He had taken to
practising by writing lines but after Harry teased him about his writing being
worse than a kindergartener 'the quick brown fox' became 'Harry is an ass'
written a hundred times over.
Barry and Wally had moved all of his things into his new abode under the
direction of Iris and Caitlin which he was eternally thankful for because after
living with Barry for a few weeks he couldn't even begin to imagine the state
the place would've been in if those two were left to their own devices.
When he wheeled himself in to his new place he was instantly bombarded with the
smell of home cooking. He turned into his new living room and the light
switched on as everyone jumped out yelling 'surprise' and 'welcome home Cisco'
“Awwww, you guys! This is so cool!” he laughed pulling streamers out of his
hair.
After a queue of hugs and a tour of his new place where Wally and Barry
excitedly showed off all the new things they had put in around the house to
make things easier for Cisco, Joe called everyone to dinner and Cisco almost
ran over Wally's toes trying to get there first.
“Sorry Wally!” He yelled over his shoulder “Hospital food is the worst and this
smells so damn good”
“Glad to know my cooking is appreciated Cisco” Joe said placing a plate piled
high with delights in front of him.
“I may be mad and possibly bulimic but I'm not stupid Joe. I know a good meal
when I see it” he joked as he grabbed the fork and started wolfing it down.
They spent the next few hours chatting and laughing and watching Captain
America to show Harry the differences between their earths versions. Harry gave
a running commentary over every difference and complaining that Peggy didn't
get as much air time in his version.
Slowly as the hours went by people began to excuse themselves as it was late
and they had work tomorrow. First it was Joe and Wally, much to Wally's
annoyance, because he had school in the morning. Then Iris and Caitlin made
their goodbyes shortly followed by the half asleep Barry who mumbled something
about having to go 'patrol'.
Soon only Harry and Cisco were left.
Harry walked around picking up trash and putting dirty plates in the dishwasher
whilst Cisco attempted to sweep up the confetti on the floor whilst also
steering his chair. After his fifth time dropping the broom he gave up.
“Can we build a Roomba into the chair? “ he called into the kitchen.
Harry poked his head round the door “Lazy ass! No you can't build a Roomba into
your chair”
“But sweeping his haaaaaard” he whined “this is a cruel and unusual
punishment!”
“Get used to it”
“meany”
“brat”
“bully”
“Cisco you won't win this one”
“fine” he sulked and wheeled himself back over to the telly and grabbed the
remote.
Harry rolled his eyes and followed him taking a seat on the sofa beside him.
“So I've been working on a prototype prosthetic arm for you” he said “It's in
the very early stages but its going off some of your old designs plus some blue
prints for Ray Palmer's suit Miss Smoak gave to me. It won't function like your
actual arm would've but combining it with the technology from your Vibe goggles
you may still be able to use your powers with it” he explained
“Whoa, way ahead of me already? I'd been thinking up some plans but you've
designed the entire thing already? Can we start working on it tomorrow? Please?
Can we make it look like the Winter Soldiers arm?” he babbled
“Yes, fine and Winter Soldier? Really?” Harry sighed.
“What's wrong with that?”
“Nothing. Just didn't realise you were that much of a nerd”
“And proud of it!” Cisco yawned “I'm really tired I think I'm gonna hit the
hay” he wheeled himself towards the door “Goodnight Harry.”
“Night Cisco. If you need anything I will be just across the hall”
“Sleep well”
Cisco opened the door to the en suit bathroom and raised his chair so he could
brush his teeth in the mirror. After he wheeled himself back into the bedroom
and wrestled with his shoes and socks before pulling of his shirt and pulling
on his favourite oversized sleep shirt. He pulled back the covers of the bed so
he had enough room to hoist himself on so he could pull his trousers off and
pull his legs up on to the bed.
By the time he was in bed and ready to sleep almost an hour had passed and
Cisco was panting from the effort. He flicked off the light and lay their
listening to the unfamiliar sounds of the house settling. As he counted the
creaks he started to fall asleep.
“I own you Cisco.........you belong to me..............worthless little fuck
toy”
Cisco spun round in the dark as the voice circled around him
“You can never escape me Cisco. You are mine. No one else can have you and no
one else will ever want you”
he swung out at the voice in the darkness but nothing was there
“Mine....mine............mine” an arm reached out from the darkness and grabbed
him by the throat.
He screamed
He shot upright in bed the scream still ringing in his ear. His door burst open
and the light flicked on.
“Cisco? What happened? Are you hurt?” Harry was in his pyjamas his hair tussled
from sleep and didn't have his glasses on.
“Dante” he panted “He was calling to me”
Harry stumbled closer towards his bed “Cisco, Dante can't hurt you any more
he's gone and you won't ever have to see him again. It's just a bad dream”
“It felt so real. He's never going to leave me is he?” he felt tears start
rolling down his cheek.
“I don't know Cisco, I can't predict the future but I can promise you I will
protect you”
Cisco yawned loudly “Will you stay” he asked
“I already told you I'm staying”
“No, I mean here. Will you lay with me? I don't think I can sleep alone. It's
silly but I'm scared.”
Harry looked like he was in two minds about what to do “Are you sure you will
be comfortable with that? I can sleep on the floor if you aren't”
“No please Harry. It's easier when I know you're there” he said trying to wipe
the tears off his face.
Harry nodded and flicked the light back off and climbed in the bed beside him
whilst trying to keep as close to the edge as possible. They lay there in the
dark neither trying to move before Cisco finally spoke up.
“It's okay to say no but...would you hold me?” he asked. Harry shifted so he
was looking towards him
“Are you sure?”
“It sounds daft and cheesy but you make me feel safe” he answered, really glad
it was dark so Harry couldn't see him blushing.
Harry moved closer to the middle of the bed and put his arm over Cisco's waist
gently pulling him closer towards him so as not to inflict any pain. Soon Cisco
was curled up against Harry's chest and he felt safe and warm.
“Thank you” he whispered “For everything.”
“You have nothing to thank me for. You mean the world to me Cisco”
Cisco smiled putting his hand over the arm Harry had wrapped around him “I love
you Harrison Wells”
“I love you too Jack wagon now go to sleep”
Cisco snickered but shut his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep to the
steady sound of Harry's heartbeat.
End Notes
     So I hope you guys liked it and would like more (much happier) fic in
     the future
     and yes as you can tell by my title for the series I've recently
     started watching OUAT
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!