Flicker ⌁ Barry Allen [1]

twenty-six.

I felt the sudden urge to run. I lept forward, sprinting at superspeed. Then my feet lurked to a stop suddenly, and I felt my speed leave. I fell as I wasn't prepared for the sudden hault. I looked to see that I had barely made it out of the Cortex. Cisco gave me a surprised, shocked look. I sighed. I walked sullenly back to Cisco. 

"Your speed?" He asked.

"Still there. Barely." I mumbled.

I then remembered. Barry.

I walked over to him as fast as I could, crouching down next to him where he was slumped against the floor. He was barely conscious. Zoom had nearly suffocated him.

"Barry, don't you die on me." I said softly.

Cisco and Dr. Wells moved him to the infirmary. They had assured me that he was stable, and just needed rest. I had been told that before, so I was terrified. Dr. Wells said something about looking for Jesse, and he left STAR Labs. Cisco said he was gonna see if he could find Caitlin or Zoom on surveillance cameras. But I refused to speak or move from Barry side.

Emberlynn's body was in STAR Labs' 'morgue.' 

I hadn't decided where to bury her, but I knew it had to be back home. In Gotham. It would have to wait. 

It hadn't really hit me yet, I guess. The fact that she gave her life to save mine. That she had died knowing that I saw her as nothing more than a villain with my little sister's face. Barry's condition and the search for Caitlin had distracted me from it.

"Come on, Barry." 

As soon as the words left my mouth, his heartbeat went erratic. The heartbeat monitor went crazy.

"Cisco!" I yelled, feeling helpless. I had emergency medical knowledge from my years as Nightingale, and I was a doctor. But I was a doctor of the mind, and Barry would require different medical attention. 

Cisco ran over, getting to work. He, too, felt helpless. Caitlin was usually the medical one. 

"Barry, don't die on me, please!" I shouted, eyes moving rapidly between Cisco and Barry.

Suddenly the heart beat monitor slowed. I feared the worst.

"Barry!" I shouted again.

"Jesus, Aurora. Why are you yelling?" Barry mumbled, his eyes cracking open.

"Dammit, Bartholomew." I said angrily, but cracked a smile nonetheless.

~

Barry and I had decided to have a movie night. After running more tests, Cisco had determined that Barry was fine. We decided to take a break from the craziness, so we went to spend some quality time while Cisco looked for Caitlin and Wells looked for Jesse.

We were about twenty minutes into the movie when Barry suddenly paused it.

"Okay. I'm calling it. You're upset, and you need to talk it out. So let's talk." He said, turning his body towards me.

I sighed. "I thought you were going to die." I said quietly.

He rubbed my arm. I shuddered when I didn't feel the jolt of electricity.

"I'm not going to die, Aurora. I'm not going to leave you."

'But I might leave you.' I thought, the newspaper Gideon showed me coming back into my mind.

"I love you, Rory. I promise you, everything is going to be okay. I don't know how or when, but I do know that as long as you are by my side, nothing could ever be too bad to handle." He said.

I smiled faintly. "I love you too, Barry."

"What about you, how are you holding up?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"I can't even remember how it feels to run anymore. I can't remember the rush I would get. I can't remember the feel of the wind on my face. I can't remember the pride I felt helping people. I can't remember getting to run next to you.. Maybe Wells will find a way to get it back." He said.

I hugged him tightly. "You're going to run again, Bar. I promise."