Chapter 24: The Firestorm Within
The city blurred beneath their feet.
Barry carried Caitlin in his arms, the wind tearing at his face, his eyes locked on the streak of red lightning ahead of him.
Dante.
He wasn't using speed like Barry—his movement was something else. Something darker. More violent. It didn't crackle like Barry's lightning. It boomed. It didn't shimmer—it roared. Wherever he passed, the air itself seemed to tremble with unease.
They were heading to the outskirts of Central City. An open field just beyond the warehouses, far from civilians and chaos. Ronnie had gone there, as if he knew he couldn't be around people. As if the part of him that remembered love and humanity still lingered.
When they arrived, they saw him.
Hovering.
Alone.
And burning like a dying star.
His body floated ten feet above the cracked earth. Fire dripped from his arms like blood. His eyes were molten. His hair had turned into rising flame. Smoke swirled around him with every breath. The air around him shimmered from the heat, distorting his silhouette like a mirage.
"Ronnie!" Caitlin stepped forward from Barry's arms, voice trembling. "It's me!"
He turned slowly.
His eyes—if they could be called that anymore—flickered. A crackle of flame passed over his face. And for just a second, Caitlin saw him.
Not the fire.
Not the power.
But Ronnie.
"Cait…lin?" he asked, voice layered with static and distortion.
"Yes!" she cried. "It's me. It's us. You're safe now."
Behind her, Barry took a cautious step forward.
"You don't have to run anymore, Ronnie," he said gently. "Whatever's happening to you—we'll figure it out."
Ronnie shook his head, gripping the sides of it with both hands. Flames flared from his palms.
"No… no, you don't understand. I can't go with you."
"Why not?" Caitlin pleaded, tears rising in her eyes.
He looked at them—painfully, fearfully.
"I'm not alone in here…"
The voice changed. It grew deeper, older, layered.
"I'm… Martin Stein," it said.
Then flickered again.
"I'm Ronnie. I'm both. I'm neither. We can't control it. We don't know who's steering this body. We don't know who we are anymore!"
The fusion—the torment—was tearing them apart from within.
"You're not dangerous," Barry said, stepping forward again. "You're scared. But we can help you."
"I can feel every heartbeat within a mile," Ronnie rasped. "Every scream, every sound, every thought. If I lose focus—if I lose control—I could burn everything!"
A tremor of power surged through him. The earth cracked beneath their feet. His eyes glowed brighter.
Caitlin reached forward. "Please. You're not alone. Not anymore."
But the voices screamed in unison.
"STAY BACK!"
And then the fire burst.
A shockwave of flame exploded outward. Instinctively, Barry grabbed Caitlin and vanished in a bolt of lightning, dodging the inferno that torched the grass and splintered the soil.
Smoke covered the field.
And through it…
A figure walked forward.
Calm.
Unmoving.
Dante.
The fire rolled over him—and evaporated.
His hair lifted slowly, dark tendrils turning red with the rise of heat. His boots crunched on the charred dirt. His cigarette burned out in the blaze. He didn't flinch. He didn't blink.
He just kept walking.
"Okay," Dante muttered, cracking his neck. "Enough chit chat."
He looked up at the burning figure hovering in the air, then stepped through the last of the smoke.
"Time to fight."
Ronnie's voice shook. "Who… are you?"
Dante smirked darkly. "Someone who doesn't give second warnings."
The fire flared again.
Barry stood beside Caitlin at the edge of the clearing, watching in horror.
"Dante, wait—he's not the enemy—he's just—!"
"I'm not doing this to hurt him," Dante said coldly without turning. "I'm doing this to stop him before he kills someone. Maybe even you."
Ronnie hovered higher into the air, spinning flames around him in a growing sphere. "I don't want to fight—"
Dante's eyes glowed red.
"You already are."
He took another step.
Ronnie clenched his fists—and the sky turned orange.
Barry shouted, "DANTE!"
But Dante didn't slow down.
The earth beneath his feet cracked, the red lightning crawling up his arms like armor.
And then…
He smiled.
And kept walking forward.
Straight into the firestorm.
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