Pitch Black, Pale Blue///A Snowbarry Story

Chapter 6

"Focus, Caitlin." Barry's words sounded in Caitlin's ears, grounding her. She focused her concentration, feeling the powers flow through her veins and onto the tachyon, freezing it completely.

She lowered her hands, feeling accomplished. She had successfully frozen the tachyon all the way through, which she hadn't been able to do just a week ago when Cisco had first shown it to her as a way for her to practice her powers. 

Of course, first he had introduced her to another invention of his, one that was Caitlin's personal favorite. 

He had come up to her one afternoon at the labs, a hesitant smile on his face as he held a box out to her. At her look of confusion as she took the box, he smiled a bit wider, speaking with a slightly cocky tone-"Open it up, you'll see."

Caitlin opened the box, slowly at first then all at once. "Are these what I think they are?" She almost whispered, holding the bracelets in her hands.

"Well, if you think they're top-notch and extremely fashionable bracelets that took me forever to perfect, costing me hours of my life that I will never get back, then you would be right." He grinned a bit wider, obviously getting a little excited. "Although I suppose if you also were thinking they will help you with your powers, you wouldn't be too far off there." 

Caitlin had to resist the urge to hug him, the feeling of fear that she was still dangerous if she tried to make actual contact still weighing heavy. The only reason she let Barry hug her (or, if she was lucky, hold her hands in his) was because of his speed-generated warmth, which helped him ward off her cold. 

She chose instead to give him a grateful smile, trying her best to convey the overwhelming  feeling of wonder and joy.

The bracelets had three small buttons on them. The first gave her full control over her powers, the second limited her abilities, and the third shut them off completely. 

They gave her the ability to use her powers and learn how to control them with a lessened risk of Killer Frost appearing, which Caitlin was extremely grateful for. 

Whenever she felt the slightest shift, as if Frost was coming, pressing the second button usually got rid of her. The one time it didn't resulted in all reasonable trains of thought going out the window as Killer Frost's harsh, threatening voice echoed in her head.  

Kill them. Kill them all, or I will. It's only a matter of time before I gain control. 

As a mental reflex Caitlin automatically shut down, desperately trying to fight her off mentally. 

Soon, you will see. They will all see.

 Barry had been there to ground her, gently grasping her small wrists in his hands and looking into her eyes. "Caitlin, calm down."

Caitlin jerked back into reality, pulling her hands away from his and fumbling with the buttons in her haste to shut off her powers completely.

She had asked him a little while later why he didn't just reach forward and push the button himself to stop her powers from growing. After all, he easily could have done it in less than a millisecond. 

"I didn't want to force you into doing anything. I wasn't sure if you would have been okay with me just taking the decision for you." He then spoke his next words with conviction, as if it was a fact or belief that he had assured her of many times over.

"I trust you, Cait."

Caitlin squashed down the bloom of happiness she felt at the obvious sincerity of his words and the wild hope that he might feel the same way towards her as she did for him. Instead, she matched his seriousness word for word as she too spoke from her heart. 

"Well, I trust you, Barry. And if I ever start to lose control like that again, I trust you to make the right choice. Ok?"

"Alright." Barry gave her a warm, soft smile, then leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back, enjoying the feeling of his arms around her, holding her close. 

Even after that, it still took a whole lot of persuading on Barry's part to get her to use her powers again.

(Of course, the way the butterflies that seemed to now live in her stomach went insane at his gentle hand on hers as he tried to convince her to try again helped immensely.)