Only Because I Need You Too

Chapter 25: I Know You

The frozen wall of ice crumbled before Ethan's eyes. Glittering pieces of diamond like gems fell from the air into a large shimmering pile on the floor. Medusa leaned over the balcony, her mouth agape. Ethan felt his brows furrow, the speedsters next to him were frozen in their tracks. A black silhouette with a long bow was doubled over on one knee in front of the small wall of broken ice. Ethan's fingers twitched. A hollow surprise chained him to his spot. Medusa turned heel and ran down the rickety catwalk, throwing open a rusted door and escaping into the night air. The Sandman sprung into action with no hesitation, he was only a few meters behind Medusa. The Observer threw a hand into the air and before Ethan's very eyes spikes of ice erupted from the ground, inches away from impaling him, but alas he managed to avoid them and escaped to his freedom.

The Observer's hand dropped to his side, his other hand was conceal by his haunched over body. "It was you..." Nora whispered under her breath. The demonic wooden mask peered back at her. "It was you this whole time?" Nora snapped, taking an assertive step forwards.

"Nora, don't." Barry grabbed his daughter's arm to stop her threatening advance on the Observer. A thread of inky blood dropped onto the floor from the Observer's body. Nora gasped and took another step forwards, her lips tugged downwards, but Barry's grip stopped her from moving too far. The Observer wobbly got to his feet and turned to face them, a large rock spike was protruding from his abdomen. With one hand the archer grasped the spike and yanked it clean out of himself, letting out a soft whimper and dropping it to the floor with a clatter. Ethan moved closer to Barry and Nora, standing slightly infront of the pair.

"Why did you do this?" Nora demanded but her voice wobbled. A blush of heat shroud her eyes. Without a further word, the Observer drew her bow and knocked an arrow in one fluid movement. All three speedsters ducked as the arrow went sailing over head and embedded itself into the wall behind them with a buzz and a bang. In that moment Ethan felt electricity rush back into his body, but the Observer vanished in a crack of lightening.

The speedsters all righted themselves in record speed. Ethan whipped around towards the arrow. It had landed in what looked like a house alarm or a small control box but, judging how Ethan felt, it had been the thing dampening his powers. Moving his hand back and forth it began to vibrate and generate lightning in its wake. All heads turned to Nora, but she was just staring blankly with a downturned smile at the small puddle of blood that belong to the Observer.

"What happened?" Cisco's voice buzzed down the earpiece.

Ethan was dumbstruck. The wall. Ice. The way she disappeared. Speed. Ice and speed. Nora seemed to know her. The Observer knew where to find them. "Dawn," he murmured inaudibly beneath his breath. Nora turned to him with glittering eyes and a wobbling lip, holding his stare. Ethan's shoulder's fell.

"We have a lot to discuss," Barry said down the comm link as his eyes flicked from Nora to Ethan and back.

*

The cortex was eerily silent despite the large number of people that had gathered in it. The whole team had congregated around the computers, the West-Allen family all standing side by side. Cisco was seated at the main computer next to Caitlin and Ethan was leaning on the desk at her other side. The speedsters, after having just gotten back from staring down death spikes, were still in their crinkly speed suits. "So let me get this straight, the Observer saved your lives from an oncoming rain of rocky spears with a giant wall of ice but got impaled in the process, broke the device that was emitting the meta dampening field and used super seed to run away?" Cisco squeaked, his brows raise high. Barry nodded, pursing his lips. Cisco sent a wary glance towards Caitlin. The doctor felt a strange hollow open in her chest. Ethan's warm hand on her shoulder took the edge off it, but she could not ignore its gaping presence.

"Nora knows who she is." Barry murmured, casting his eyes to his own daughter.

Iris slung an arm over the female speedster, giving her a one armed hug of reassurance. "Her name is Dawn Louise Snow, but we call her Loui." Caitlin felt eyes fall on her, but kept her sights trained on Nora. Loui... they called her Loui? Ethan squeezed her shoulder and Caitlin gently placed a hand on top of his.

"Why is she here in this time?" Barry asked, a concerned stare possessed his features. Nora's mouth twitched downwards and her whole body was slumped inwards. Even her eyes seemed to droop. The speedster had her arms wrapped around her as she paused to think. Ringlets of brown hair swished around her ears.

"I don't know." She replied simply, pressing her lips into a thin line. "My best guess is that she is from a future further than mine." Caitlin puckered her brows at Excess, who sent her back a small smile. "You see, Caitlin was Frigid's first victim, but not the last." The doctor let her head fall into her hands, a whoosh of hair rushed past her ears. Ethan ran a hand gently over her shoulders. "Frigid can kill hundreds and seconds and is nearly impossible to detain. She can run twice as fast as us with help from her ice. Dawn has no control over her and she can use her ice powers with the same speed she runs at. Not to mention, her cold powers aren't affected by the meta dampeners."

Rubbing her face, Caitlin righted herself and looked squarely at Nora. "What has this got to do with her being in our time?" Iris raised a brow. Cisco sent the doctor a thin smile, to which she half heartedly returned.

"Well, when she was five was the first real time Frigid got out of control. Lots of people were killed and turned into heat zombies just like her. The cold spread like a disease. It took all of us," she gestured to the rest of the room, "to detain her at five. Then again when she was eleven. It was even worse. A few people close to us lost their lives." Nora's eyes dropped to the floor. "Loui tried to run back in time to stop it from happening... but we stopped her." The speedster shrugged.

"So she didn't come back to kill me. She came back to kill herself." Caitlin's eyes grew wide. Pressure pounded at her temples. Pressing a splayed hand onto her stomach, she fought back the heat the pooled into her eyes.

Nora nodded, pressing her lips into a thin line and fiddling with her fingers. "I know where she will be... but if you come with me-" her eyes flicked to Ethan, "let me deal with her. Even she can't survive being impaled for long, and she can be very... unpredictable when pushed into a corner." Nora offered gently. Ethan nodded a silent approval. "Dad, you should come too... only because of Frigid."