Chapter 52 – "The Pain Beneath the Lightning"
Dante's body began to shake.
But it wasn't rage.
It wasn't wrath or fury or hatred.
It was pain.
Real, raw pain.
He knelt on the floor, his arms wrapped tightly around her icy body. Her blood soaked through his shirt, her breaths slow, broken, shallow. His vision blurred as he looked down at her pale face.
She was still alive.
Barely.
Her eyes opened, just enough to see him—this man she didn't know.
And yet...
Dante's lips trembled.
His eyes filled with tears that refused to fall until they overflowed.
"No," he whispered, voice cracking. "No, no, no, no…"
He cradled her closer, holding her as if she would disappear if he let go.
Killer Frost looked at him, confused.
She had never seen this man before. Never touched him. Never shared words or memories.
But she saw it.
The agony in his face.
It was real.
Not theatrical.
Not strategic.
Real.
His heart was breaking in front of her eyes, and she didn't even know why.
His words trembled out of him, broken and childlike.
"Please… don't die…"
Killer Frost blinked slowly.
She was from Earth-2. A killer. A weapon. A shadow of the woman known as Caitlin Snow.
But she had felt pain once before—when Ronnie died in her arms. She knew grief.
Still, this was different.
This wasn't grief that belonged to her.
It was his.
And it shattered something inside her frozen chest.
For the first time in her life, she wanted to live.
Not for herself.
For him.
"Please…" he begged again. "Please don't die…"
Her lips tried to form words, but her body gave out.
In a flash of red lightning, they vanished.
The next thing she saw was light.
Bright, white light.
The smell of antiseptic. The hum of machinery.
Voices.
She was on a table. Her back burned. Her chest barely rose.
Barry Allen stood nearby, stunned.
Cisco stared in disbelief.
And Caitlin Snow—the real Caitlin—rushed forward, mask already over her face, gloves snapped tight as she took command.
"What the hell happened?" Barry asked.
Dante didn't answer.
He stood there, holding Killer Frost's blood on his hands, shoulders heaving with breath, his face soaked with tears.
Ronnie stood behind Barry, shocked into silence.
"I need help!" Caitlin snapped. "Barry, stabilize her vitals. Cisco, I need plasma."
They moved fast.
Killer Frost's vision flickered, fading.
Dante didn't speak.
He just pressed his palm against the glass, watching the woman who was dying because of him.
Inside the operating room, Caitlin worked in silence.
Killer Frost's body was colder than death. Her veins frozen, her heart slowed.
Caitlin looked at her—really looked at her.
The same face.
But different eyes.
"I don't know who you are," Caitlin whispered through her mask, "but he's breaking out there. So you better damn well fight."
Outside, Dante didn't move.
The blood had dried on his hands.
His legs refused to sit.
His voice stayed silent.
Cisco approached cautiously.
"Dante… is that…?"
Dante didn't blink. "Killer Frost. From another world. Zoom used her to distract me."
Cisco frowned. "But… she's the bad one."
"She didn't deserve that."
The pain in Dante's voice was so deep it silenced everything else.
And then, inside the room, Killer Frost turned her head.
She looked at him through the glass. Just barely.
Their eyes met.
And she understood.
Not the details.
Not the story.
But the emotion.
He wasn't crying because of Zoom.
Or because of a fight.
He was crying for her.
She tried to lift her hand. It didn't move.
Her lips trembled.
There was something she needed to say.
Not to Zoom. Not to Caitlin. Not to anyone from Earth-2.
Just him.
But her body gave out.
Her eyes closed.
Flatline.
The monitor screamed.
Caitlin stood over the body, motionless.
The room fell quiet.
She pulled her mask down slowly and looked at the glass where Dante stood.
And shook her head.
The door opened.
Dante stood there, unmoving.
Caitlin walked to him slowly.
Her face was pale.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
Dante didn't speak.
He looked past her.
To the body on the table.
Caitlin swallowed. Her voice broke slightly.
"She said something before she passed."
Dante's heart clenched.
"She said…" Caitlin paused. "I wish I met you earlier."
Silence.
The words cut through him like razors.
His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
No scream.
No cry.
No sound.
Just pain.
So much pain.
In the corner of the room, Ronnie looked down at the woman who wore his late wife's face.
Cisco rubbed his hands together, trying to process it all.
Barry leaned against the wall, staring at the red lightning still crackling softly around Dante's shoulders.
They all watched him.
But none of them could understand what he was feeling.
Only Caitlin stepped forward again.
"She wasn't like me," she said.
"I know," Dante answered, softly.
"She wasn't supposed to mean anything."
"I know."
"But she did."
Dante nodded.
And turned.
Then, without another word, he vanished in a scream of red lightning.
Caitlin looked at the blood on the floor.
And felt cold.
Because something had changed.
Not just in Dante.
But in her.
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