Chapter 56 – "What Broke Him"
It had been two days.
Dante hadn't opened his eyes.
Hadn't moved.
Hadn't breathed a word.
And yet, he was perfectly healthy.
Every scan said the same thing—his heart was stable, his vitals strong, his body in peak condition.
There was nothing wrong with him.
At least, not physically.
Barry stood at the edge of the medbay, arms crossed, watching the quiet body on the bed.
The soft beeps of the monitors filled the silence.
He sighed, running a hand down his face. "Why isn't he waking up?"
Caitlin didn't answer right away.
She was sitting beside the bed, her hand resting near Dante's, not touching, just… close.
When she did speak, her voice was so quiet it almost vanished in the hum of the machines.
"It's not his body," she said. "It's his soul."
Barry turned to her slowly, eyes narrowing.
He looked at her not with suspicion, but with understanding. With knowing.
He'd seen that look on her face before.
He'd worn it himself.
When he lost his mom.
When his father went to prison for something he didn't do
When the world didn't give him a reason to keep running.
And now Caitlin… she was staring at Dante the same way.
Like she was waiting for a ghost to wake up.
They all remembered it.
How Dante first arrived.
A stranger.
A question mark.
Powerful, quiet, raw.
The first person he ever really opened up to was Caitlin.
The first smile he gave… was for her.
The first real conversation he had in this world… was with her.
And she smiled back.
Talked to him.
Listened.
And then… Ronnie came back.
Everyone thought he was dead.
Even her.
But when they found him, alive… Caitlin chose him.
And Dante didn't fight it.
He didn't cry.
He didn't argue.
He smiled.
And he saved Ronnie's life without hesitation.
Because that's who he was.
Quiet. Kind. Hurt. But still good.
After that, Dante drifted back, faded into the background.
But he was okay.
He was trying.
Until the trust broke.
He told them not to trust Jay.
He warned them again and again that something was wrong.
That Jay Garrick was hiding something.
He didn't say it out of jealousy or spite.
He said it because he saw the cracks, the lies, the silence.
But they didn't listen.
Jay helped them close the breaches. He fought beside them. He smiled and lied and smiled again.
And then Zoom killed Jay.
And somehow… somehow, they blamed Dante.
Even Barry.
Even Cisco.
Even…
Caitlin.
She looked at him Like it was his claws who went through jay chest
Like he'd murdered someone.
And that… that was what really broke him.
Not Zoom.
Not betrayal.
Not lies.
But her eyes.
Her disappointment.
The way she stepped away from him like he was poison.
He left after that.
No one stopped him.
No one called out.
No one believed him until it was too late.
Until they found out the truth.
Jay was Zoom.
From the very beginning.
He had played them all.
Lied to them all.
Dante had been right.
And they had treated him like a monster.
Barry remembered the moment they realized it.
The silence.
The shame.
The way everyone avoided the truth.
They tried to find him again.
Tried to say sorry.
But it was too late.
He didn't answer.
He didn't come back.
Not until Zoom killed Killer Frost.
And something inside Dante snapped.
The storm he unleashed wasn't lightning.
It wasn't the speed force.
It was something else entirely.
He was the void.
He killed Zoom's army of metahumans in minutes.
One by one, silently.
And then he killed Zoom.
Tore him apart without hesitation.
And now…
Now he was lying there.
Silent again.
Motionless.
Not because he was weak.
But because something deeper was shattered.
Something that wouldn't heal.
Caitlin sat by his bed and felt it.
Not guilt, exactly.
But something close.
She was with Ronnie.
Of course she was.
She'd always loved him.
But that didn't change the truth.
Dante loved her.
More than he ever showed.
More than he ever said.
And now… she realized she knew it.
She had known it all along.
But she didn't know how much it meant to him.
She didn't know that her eyes—the look she gave him when Jay died—would be the last straw.
It wasn't her fault.
Not really.
But it felt like it.
Barry stepped forward, his voice low.
"He's not in pain," he said. "Not physically."
Caitlin nodded slowly. "He's hiding. Somewhere deep."
"He needs a reason to come back."
Caitlin didn't reply.
She didn't know what that reason was anymore.
Maybe he was tired of fighting.
Tired of being right when no one listened.
Tired of being alone in a world full of people.
That night, when everyone was gone, Caitlin stayed behind again.
She sat by his bed and stared at him.
His face was peaceful.
Too peaceful.
It terrified her.
She reached out and took his hand.
This time, she held it.
Her thumb traced a small scar across his knuckle.
"You saved so many people," she whispered. "And we… we didn't save you."
Tears filled her eyes.
She didn't blink them away.
"I don't know if you can hear me," she said, "but I hope you know that I'm sorry. For not believing you. For not trusting you. For looking at you like… like you were something else."
Her voice broke.
"You weren't. You're not. You're just… Dante. And I miss you. I miss talking to you."
She squeezed his hand gently.
"And I need you to come back."
No response.
Not a twitch.
Not a flicker.
Just silence.
But somewhere deep inside, behind the walls, the shadows, the cracks of a soul torn and burned…
A single heartbeat echoed.
And it didn't feel alone.
Not entirely.
Not tonight.
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