Orion - Chapter Four: The Hearth Stones
Title: Orion
Subtitle: The Hearth Stones
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: ~8,200
Rating: NC-17/MA
Warning: In addition to adult content, graphic descriptions of violence, and dark material, this chapter has additional warnings for emotional anguish, suicidal thoughts, and depression.
Summary: Caitlin attempts to save Killer Frost, but an unforeseen threat strikes, putting her life in danger.
About an hour ago... Caitlin went over the results again, hoping that she had missed something, but she came to the same conclusion as the last five times she reviewed the data.
The accident that gave Killer Frost her freezing abilities had completely disrupted her thermoregulation, causing a major energy imbalance, and her digestive system failed to adapt to the new circumstances. Frost's body could survive at ultra-low temperatures without ill effect, but only if she absorbed high-intensity bursts of heat through her skin. Deathstorm's touch had provided her with more than enough, essentially acting as a battery.
The problem was artificially replicating Deathstorm's exothermic reaction. She wasn't an engineer, but Cisco had taught her a few things. Anything with the capability to create heat from fission or fusion would be too large to integrate into a suit. The only exception was an aqueous homogeneous reactor, which could be millimeters in length while still producing energy, but the nuclear material it required would be dangerous.
When they had first met, Jay - Hunter - had told her that he had been trying to purify heavy water without residual radiation, but he never mentioned completing his work.
She almost laughed out loud when she realized what she was thinking. Hunter had lied about everything. He wasn't hit by dark matter while working in his lab. It happened during one of his electroshock sessions at a mental institution.
Still, he chose to lie about heavy water, and he was too intelligent to put himself in a position where his deception could be uncovered. He must have experience with the topic. He had also demonstrated his background in applied physics and chemistry, though she couldn't imagine how he managed to be both a brilliant scientist and a serial killer.
'Scientist' and 'killer' aren't mutually exclusive terms.
Despite Earth-2's scientific advancements, there was a fundamental lack of understanding when it came to the abnormal psychology of serial killers. From what Wells had shown her, there was no delineation between spree and serial killers here, nor was there any associated criminal profiling patterns. Nothing she read indicated that Earth-2 psychologists factored in or even identified stressors or triggers.
She tried to piece what little truth she had about Hunter together in a coherent narrative, but she didn't have enough information. He obtained higher education in chemistry and physics and gone on to a career in research. Sometime in his adult life, he experience a stressor that triggered his serial murders. He killed for three years, the last of which contained a rapid devolution, eventually resulting in his capture.
Caitlin closed her eyes for a moment. She kept obsessing about Hunter's history, hoping to find some foible to prove that the man she had fallen in love with wasn't a cold-blooded killer. Jay had been too convincing. Hunter was probably a calculating, intelligent psychopath, rather than a sociopath with self-control. That made the likelihood of him having a real attachment to her very, very low, and if he didn't have a true emotional investment in her or their 'relationship' - or whatever the hell this was - then her chances of survival were pretty slim.
Escape. Don't trust him. He'll use you and kill you. His 'love' is nothing more than a psychopath's manipulation. He's clever. He wants you to think you have leverage. You think you can dupe him long enough to find a way to escape, but you're wrong. He's an intelligent psychopath. As soon as you've done whatever it is he wants, he'll dispose of you.
The thought hit her in a rush, and for some reason, even though she had considered the possibility before, she couldn't dismiss it this time. It wasn't just fear; this was panic.
Don't wait until he decides he's done with you.
Caitlin knew, objectively, that attempting to escape now was a bad idea. She also was aware that whatever he wanted from her wouldn't be done today, yet she couldn't shake the sense of impending doom.
RUN!
She gathered everything she needed to free Killer Frost from the carbyne. She hated acting on impulse, but she pressed on like her life depended on it.
Because it does!
"What took so long?" Frost demanded.
"We're getting the hell out of here," Caitlin replied. "Now."
Even as she set up cables and clamps, she knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn't stop. If she did, the panic roaring inside her would consume her. She had to do this. She had to. She was ready to flip the switch and close the circuit, but then she noticed the other cell.
The person inside was frantically tapping on the wall, trying to get her attention. A metal mask obscured his - she concluded that it was a man given build, height, and hand size - face, and he wore something akin to a prison jumpsuit, which had once been green but had long-since faded to gray. The rips and thin spots indicated that he had been wearing it for a very long time.
"Can you speak?" she asked.
He knocked on the cell wall five times, then four.
"That one doesn't talk," Frost said loudly.
The man in the mask put his palm flatagainst the wall, spreading his fingers out, and though she couldn't see his face, she saw his eyes. They were full of resignation and sadness with the faintest glimmer of hope. She couldn't look away. She put her hand over his, hoping it would provide some kind of comfort, even though he couldn't possibly feel anything through the carbyne.
"Uh, hello?" Frost yelled. "What happened to us getting out of here?"
What the hell had she been thinking? Even if Frost elected not to kill her, she'd absorb all the heat, dropping the temperature of the cave to below freezing. She'd be better off descending the cliffs herself, yet she had become fixated on freeing her doppelganger.
"Caitlin Snow, space cadet," Frost said loudly. "You're just a big tease with these toys, aren't you?"
The man in the iron mask nodded to her, as if giving her permission to turn around and face her doppelganger, so she did.
"Don't worry, this will work," Caitlin replied. "But I can't free you until I've found an appropriate heat source."
"You're a smart cookie."
Pain erupted across her upper back as something propelled her forward. She didn't have time to break her fall, but she managed to turn sideways so when she crashed hard to the cavern floor it was her left side that hit first rather than her face. It also prevented her from hitting her head.
"Just not smart enough," Frost added with a gleeful smile.
The pain was substantial, and she could only hope that the surprise attack was to blame because she didn't have time to assess her injures. She rolled onto her stomach to get her feet under her, though her left side protested with a throbbing ache that radiated down her leg and up her torso into her arm.
Before she got to her feet, she caught sight of her attacker as he flipped the switch next to Frost's cell. Electricity roared, and Caitlin decided to take advantage of the distraction. She kept low to the ground in a crouch, allowing the miscellaneous contents of the cavern to hide her from direct view. Her leg was shaky, but it didn't slow her down.
She registered that the roaring stopped - which meant the batteries had burned out - but only after she heard glass shattering.
Then the temperature plummeted.
Caitlin ran for the lab. It was the only place she had a chance of defending herself from the attacker and Frost's impact on the climate.
She didn't make it very far before somebody grabbed her and spun her around. She was face-to-face with a weedy man in his sixties. He had a blank expression on his face. His grip on her right arm was bruising.
"How?!" he asked. He sounded like a robot with the sound turned up too high. "How did you fight me?!"
"Let go of me!" she shouted as she stepped back and yanked her arm free.
"How?" the man repeated. "Tell me!"
Caitlin tried to run, but he blocked her path, trialing yellow lighting as he zipped in front of her.
She was now caught between the mysterious speedster and Killer Frost as the cold began to dig into her. When she exhaled, her breath produced a mist.
The speedster tried to rush her, but he slipped and fell when ice suddenly appeared under his feet.
"Run if you wanna live, Caitlin!" Frost bellowed.
And she did. By the time she was halfway to the lab, the cold slowed her down to a stumbling power-walk, indicating mild hypothermia. The man's screams echoed throughout the cavern, adding to her disorientation. She pushed herself, but her lunges ached with every breath, and with her rapid heart rate and uncontrollable shivering, it became increasingly difficult to lift her legs.
She braced herself against the cavern wall for support. She cried out as the frigid rock sapped her hands of what little warmth they had, stopping her in her tracks. She couldn't keep her feet under her, so if she pulled away from the wall, she'd collapse. Her teeth chattered as she moved as fast as she possibly could, holding herself upright with the wall so she could swing one heavy leg forward. And then the other, and the other. Moving her hands became more and more difficult, and she dreaded the idea of pressing her forearms against the unforgiving stone.
She let herself come closer to the wall, ready for the splintering pain to spread to the rest of her arms, but then her nerve failed her. She staggered away from the wall and made it a little farther before collapsing. The lab door was only a few yards away, but she couldn't get back to her feet. All the fight inside of her crumbled; she was too cold and too tired.
She vaguely registered her fatigue as a sign of moderate hypothermia, so she curled up to conserve heat. Even if she made it those last few steps to the lab, closing the door wasn't enough to insulate that room from Frost's absorption. Even with the climate control, it was probably just as cold in there as it was out here. Then what would she do? Start a fire? If it kept her alive long enough, she'd die of smoke inhalation because of the limited ventilation.
It didn't matter. She was fast-approaching severe hypothermia, assuming she wasn't already.
So this is how I die? Freezing to death in a madman's dungeon?
Cisco would've called it a 'lair.'
Though her head was tucked into her arms, she imagined Cisco right next to her, correcting her villain terminology. Had she been able to feel her lips, it would've brought a smile to her face.
Wells would've rolled his eyes, but the next time he spoke about it, he'd call it a lair. And every time after, too.
She choked. It was something between a laugh and a cry, both of which she was too-far-gone to indulge in.
God, I miss them all. Has it really only been one day without them?
Logically, it had only been a few minutes at most since the stranger attacked, but it felt like eons. Soon she would fall into unconsciousness, and not long after, she'd die.
Caitlin always thought she'd be terrified when this moment came; instead, her impending death inspired something comparable to relief.
What about Cisco, Wells, and Barry? All of them - Iris, Joe, Wally, Jesse - they'll never know what happened to you.
The plunge into the unknown of death was far less frightening to her than spending the foreseeable future as Zoom's captive. Succumbing to the cold meant she'd escape the unimaginable horror of succumbing to Zoom, becoming his, loving the monster who terrorized this earth and her own.
You'll never see any of them them again.
That hurt. It hurt more than her crash to the ground, more than the bitterness of hearing 'I love you' from Hunter, more than the grief and anger of his betrayal. The thought of never seeing her friends again hurt more than dying.
Don't give up. They wouldn't.
Unfortunately, the her only hope was Hunter, and she doubted that he knew the protocol for stabilizing and reheating people with acute hypothermia.
Ventricular fibrillation.
If he did return before her internal organs failed, his first instinct would likely be to move her somewhere warmer, and transportation by super-speed during even moderate hypothermia would put her at a high risk of life-threatening heart complications.
She fumbled through her pockets and found a marker, but she didn't have paper. So she pressed hard into her skin, and with the last of her strength, scribed the message that would save her life.
Hunter made it back to the Roost in less than a minute after the alarm. He felt the temperature drop before he ascended. Killer Frost was free.
If she had harmed Caitlin, he would annihilate her.
Contain her first.
Restraint was never his strong suit.
Killing her won't guarantee the temperature will return to normal. It might do just the opposite.
More than one powered person had gone critical postmortem. Deathstorm's demise would've ended in a nuclear explosion had it not been fro Reverb's Quantum Splicer. As much as he wanted to snap Frost's neck, it could trigger another catastrophic temperature drop.
Hunter loathed rationality, but he couldn't ignore it.
He raced into the cavern, the freezing temperature straining his speed. Frost's former cell was shattered, and there was someone in her hands. Someone frozen.
Hunter zipped passed her and gave her a glancing blow to the head, knocking her out. Relief washed over him when he saw that the iced person was an older man.
Caitlin had gotten away.
In the blink of an eye, he swapped the man in the iron mask for Frost because the only way to contain her powers was with carbyne walls. He dragged his prized prisoner into the barred cell, throwing him onto the mat and blankets normally reserved for his human captives.
"You try anything, and you will regret it," Zoom announced after he secured the bars.
Get to Caitlin.
Hunter had already wasted too much time. She had gotten away, but she could've been injured. And she definitely wouldn't survive in here long. The cavern temperature would take time to rebound.
Hunter removed his mask and ran to the lab. He found her on the ground outside the door, sitting with her knees tucked in and her arms folded over herself.
She wasn't moving.
He could have her to a medical facility in under a minute, but when he reached down to pick her up, he saw something scrawled across her left forearm.
DON'T RUN ME.
The letters were shaky but clear enough. On one hand, it was a good sign. She trusted him to find and read the message. On the other hand, he wasn't a physician, and he didn't know why she didn't want him to speed her somewhere warmer.
She trusted you, so return the damn favor and warm her up without super-speed.
Hunter gingerly lifted her and carried her into the lab. It felt like an eternity between the door and the cot, but he walked, careful not to jostle her.
He knew warming the core was important, but he didn't have heating pads or anything like that in the lab. He collected every cover, happily surprised when he found a thermal blanket in one of the first aid kits. He was back at her side in the blink of an eye, just in time to see her eyes flutter open.
An unfamiliar sensation passed through him.
It's relief. She's still alive.
"You're going to be all right," he said.
Then he covered her with blankets, layering them one over the other, tucking in the larger sheets so that she was wrapped up.
"H-h-heat," she said through chattering teeth. "M-m-more heat."
She wasn't going to like it, but his body heat was the only safe option.
He stripped off the top half of his suit. Then he carefully rolled her on her left side, pulling up the layered blankets and joining her on the too-small cot. He brought her flush against him as his arms circled around her.
She was freezing to the touch. Every nerve in his body told him to pull away, but he wouldn't. He put his head over hers, enveloping her as much as possible. She didn't move. Was that normal? Had she fallen asleep or become unconscious?
She remained still against him for what felt like a very, very long time. Under other circumstances, this situation would've been highly desirable, but now he only felt an all-too-familiar sense of dread. All he could do was focus on her breathing.
She's still breathing.
He was selfish, and it never bothered him before. But now? Caitlin was only here because he wanted her in his life. He told her he'd protect her, yet a few hours later, she was in mortal danger.
You should've been here.
Would she experience long-term complications? What would happen if she didn't recover? What would he do if she died?
She's still breathing.
Anger flared inside him. Caitlin shouldn't have let Killer Frost out of her cell. She was a smart girl, yet she ignored his warnings. Was it just to spite him? If she'd done this just to get back at him, he'd... he'd...
Too happy she survived to do anything else.
This must be what other peoples' lives were like. Full of the kind of fear and doubt that fueled too many emotions. He wanted nothing more than to provide Killer Frost with a particularly unpleasant demise and yell at Caitlin for making such a stupid, stupid mistake.
But he'd forego those things if she'd just open her eyes. That's all he required to know that she wasn't... to know that she'd be all right. Then he'd have the chance to ask her, calmly, why she'd done something so stupid.
And beg her not to do it again.
Then Caitlin shifted, and his entire body relaxed, like he'd been holding his breath waiting for her to be okay. It only lasted a second, though, before he remembered that she would not be pleased by this arrangement.
He heard a ragged breath and muttering, but he couldn't see her face or make out what she was trying to say.
No need. You already know what she's saying.
"Hate me later," he said quietly. "For now, just get warm."
"Thank y-you," she replied hoarsely.
He resisted the urge to squeeze her closer, to touch her, to kiss her. He was a patient man, after all.
Hunter rescued you.
That was her first thought when she woke. He had been standing next to her when she opened her eyes. What struck her was the concern - no, the fear - on his face. It took him a moment to register that her eyes were opened, then something that looked a lot like relief flooded over him.
You're imagining it. It's all an act.
He told her she would be all right before piling on layers, but she had lost a lot of body heat and not eaten much that day. Insulation alone wouldn't be enough. She needed something like heated IV fluids or a heated oxygen to raise her core body temperature.
Tell him.
The fog of fatigue made it hard to think, but she forced her eyes open. She didn't have much energy left, and her teeth were chattering.
But she spoke anyway. "H-h-heat... M-m-more heat."
That was all she could get out before her eyes closed of their own accord, and the muddled blackness of partial unconsciousness took hold of her.
She came back to her senses, seconds or minutes later, she couldn't tell, but she was warmer. That was the only explanation for the immense discomfort she felt. Everything ached as sensation returned to her limbs, and for a little while, that was all she noticed.
Then she realized she was on her side rather than supine like before, and...
Oh God.
Of course. Either he didn't have a heating blanket, or he wanted any excuse to touch her. His shirt was off, though she could feel the texture of his suit against her legs, so he must have his pants on at least. She ached, and now she was pissed off.
Unless this was the only thing he could do.
She resented her own sensibility. She wanted to kick, scream, and shove him away. She had the urge to tell him how much he repulsed her, how much she hated the fact that she'd fallen in love with his persona.
But now wasn't the time.
She tried to speak, to tell him that there was enough heat under the blankets now, but she was too tired. She must've mumbled something, though, because he replied as if he'd heard what she'd been thinking.
"Hate me later. For now, just get warm."
Play along.
She mustered her energy and replied, "Thank y-you."
The words were bitter, and her throat was hoarse. But she reminded herself it was necessary. She needed him to think that she trusted him.
Rage burned inside her, a destructive ember that made her no warmer. How could she keep up this act? She wasn't Hunter. She was a terrible liar. She hadn't asked for any of this. The man who had just saved her life was responsible for so much death and destruction, it would've been better if Killer Frost had killed her.
No, it wouldn't.
She didn't want to die, but she couldn't stand living with Hunter.
Pretend he's Jay.
Her stomach dropped at the thought. It was a terrible idea for so many reasons, not the least of which was that it might actually work. If she could pretend Hunter was Jay, the man from another universe who stole her heart in a flash, then she could let herself feel again. It might even help her lie to him.
But she loved Jay. She was - or had been - in love with him. What if she still was? She had been remembering him as Jay because part of her wanted to protect the good memories, even though they were a lie.
Pretend he's Jay.
If she was still in love with Jay, would that mean she'd be in love with Hunter?
Don't love him. Just pretend so you can get through this.
That settled her thoughts. The idea of pretending Hunter was Jay was too much, but she could lie to herself for the next few hours to speed her recovery.
So she began to invent a story. While Barry assisted the police on a meta-investigation, she and Jay fought to save a metahuman who needed to absorb heat constantly to survive. Cisco designed a suit that would contain a continuous exothermic reaction devised by Wells, who had found some clever way to recycle the materials within. The meta put it on, and it worked. But there was a malfunction, and they nearly froze before Jay was able to fix it. Cisco and Harry had wandered off to his workshop in search of something Cisco kept calling 'the matchbook.' Jay tugged her in the opposite direction toward one of the empty residential rooms, so they could warm up together.
And that where she was right now. Inside the STAR Labs on Earth-1, curled up with her hero, with everyone else she loved nearby. No doubt they'd be along soon to check on them, and she couldn't help but smile when she imagined the comment Cisco would make when he walked in on them.
She felt content and safe, and soon she fell into a deep, restful slumber.
Three months ago, in February... Caitlin watched Jay sleep. She had promised she'd wake him as soon as she got to his apartment, but the image of his body at rest transfixed her.
Something had been burdening him lately. He hid it from Cisco and the others, but she saw it. She saw it in his stride and his posture. She saw it in the moments when he - thinking that nobody was looking - let his veneer falter.
She even saw it while he slept.
She had thought he was struggling to adjust to a life without his speed, but something told her it went deeper than that. Was he trying to be strong? Or was he hiding things from her?
Jay's eyes abruptly snapped open, wide with panic, and gasping and panting as if he'd been running. He sat up, his face contorted in terror as he sat up and his hands fisting the sheets.
"Jay?"
He didn't respond, and he seemed disoriented. So she went to the other side of the bed and sat on the edge, facing him. He closed his eyes and retreated inside.
"Jay?" she repeated.
She took his hand and waited.
Finally, he asked, "Caitlin? When did you get here?"
"A few minutes ago," she replied. "Are you all right?"
"Just a bad dream," he grunted.
"Jay, I saw. That was more than just a dream."
"Caitlin, there must be a hundred more important things we can talk about."
"Not right now," she replied. "Right now, this is the most important thing."
"They're nightmares. I've had them for my entire life. After the coma, they got worse. Talking about it won't change that."
"For the last two weeks, something has been eating away at you," she replied. "If not the nightmares, then what?"
"Caitlin..."
"You can tell me anything," she said. "You should tell me everything."
He sat back against the headboard and cast his eyes up to the ceiling. He definitely didn't want to talk about this.
He avoided eye contact when he said, "You were a speedster. In my dream. Both of us, we were speedsters on Earth-2. Working together to protect Central City. Then Zoom came after us. At first he wanted our speed, but when he found out you were a woman, he fell in love - I mean, became obsessed - with you, and... please don't make me tell you the rest, Cait."
He didn't have to say any more. The agony on his face made it all too clear.
"Look at me, Jay. I'm right here. I'm fine."
The pain and sadness in his eyes crushed her.
"Every night, you disappear in a blur of blue lightning," he continued. "And I know I won't see you again. That's when I wake up. That's how I've been waking up, scared that I'll never see you again. I know I've been dreaming, but it feels so real. The only thing keeping me together is that you've been with me every time. I could feel you, see you. You were real. And here. With me."
"You don't feel any better telling me, do you?"
He shook his head, no.
"Maybe you need to forget," she suggested. "Put it all out of your mind."
"Easier said than done."
She took him by surprise with a kiss. His hands came up around her back as he recovered, and he quickly turned the tables on her, deepening the kiss and taking her breath away.
"Hmmmmm," he said when they broke apart. "What were we talking about?"
Caitlin didn't reply. She stood up and threw the covers off. He was only wearing boxers and a nightshirt, the fabric fitting the contours of his body perfectly. She stepped out of her dress so she was in nothing but her underwear, and she felt a surge of pride as Jay groaned at the sight of her.
She straddled him, loving the sensation of his hardness beneath her. He brought them together for another kiss, taking the opportunity to remove her bra. He kissed down her neck and chest before taking each nipple into his mouth, lavishing them with attention until she was panting hard and arching into him.
She grabbed his shirt and lifted it over his head before her lips caressed his neck and chest, following his happy tail down to his boxers, which barely contained him now that he was fully erect.
She was going to make him forget every nightmare and every what-if horror scenario inside of that head of his.
She dragged his underwear off, and despite the wetness pooling between her legs, she took her time coming back up. His hands were eager to bring her to his lips again, but she had other ideas. She stopped at his thighs.
"Cait?"
"I'm real. I'm here," she said. "With you."
Her hand wrapped around the base of his cock as she leaned in, her tongue flicking across the head. He was salty and savory, and she indulged in his flavor again by wrapping her lips over the tip.
She looked up and saw him worrying his bottom lip, holding back his moan. She took that as a challenge.
Caitlin opened her hand so she could lick his full length. She alternated between that and swirling her tongue over the top until her saliva coated him. Then she gripped him in her hand again, pumping up and down along the base as she began to take him into her mouth.
"Oh, fuck," he groaned as his hips bucked involuntarily.
She took him deeper, tracing figure-eights along the bottom of his cock with her tongue. She had fantasized about taking all of him, but he was too big. So, with her free hand, she rubbed his balls as she bobbed her head.
Jay moaned a string of nonsense, and he grunted her name when she hollowed out her cheeks and hummed against him.
"Stop-stop, Caitlin!" he said, his hands on either side of her face.
He was wrecked and so incredibly close, but she could tell he didn't want to come this way. She stopped, but she couldn't help but make a show for him. She slowly released him, dragging her lips over his member, her eyes fixed on his.
"You," he said breathlessly. "You... I need you."
His hands coaxed her into a long and desperate kiss as he peeled off her underwear. She groaned when his fingers slipped through her wet folds, gathering slickness before returning to where she needed him. It was her turn to moan nonsense, and he reveled in it, driving her to the edge with two knowing, dexterous fingers.
She was hot everywhere, her skin flushed and her blood roaring, wanting more. She leaned into him, breathless and lightheaded.
Jay took advantage and flipped them, pinning her to the mattress, his expression fiery as his eyes devoured her, his focus on her as if she were everything in the world, in the universe, in any universe.
She wrapped her legs around him, and he kissed her again, this time gently, deliberately as he lined himself up and sank into her, satisfying that aching need inside. His thrusts were measured and sure, and he angled himself so he brushed against her clit each time.
Their lips broke apart when her back bowed up off the bed, that bud of pleasure growing hard and fast as he moved inside her. Her hands roamed his body, feeling his hot skin under her fingers. Then she came, her body quivering under Jay's steady motions as she shouted his name over and over again.
Her name echoed over his as he spilled inside her, following her over the edge until he was spent. His hips snapped against hers as he rode it out, given her an exquisite post-climax friction that prolonged her high.
He slumped over her for a moment before rolling to one side, panting and sweating, his nude body red with effort and her marks. They both laid there for a while, overheated, exhausted, but happy, staring at one another.
Caitlin trembled when the cool night air finally chilled her, and he threw the comforter over them. She curled into him for warmth, and he wrapped his arms around her protectively.
Neither of them said anything, and after a time, they both fell into the reprieve of a dreamless sleep.
Here and now... Caitlin woke up to the sunlight streaming into her room. She was elated.
She sat up in a four-poster bed and noticed the softness of the sheets caressing her skin. She was inside a luxurious but simple bedroom that had incredible, floor-to-ceiling windows that revealed a stretch of coast not ten yards away. It was an incredible view, and she didn't even have to get out of bed to see it.
There was something off about the sunlight, yet the sky was completely clear. Then she noticed that it wasn't just the sun. Everything had an altered palette.
As she gradually came out of the fog of sleepiness, she realized she couldn't remember coming here or climbing into this bed. In fact, she was having a hard time recalling anything more than curling up with Jay after...
Earth-2. Jay is Hunter, and Hunter is Zoom.
Then everything came back to her in a full-force cascade: Zoom abducting her, Killer Frost, nearly dying of hypothermia, Hunter's body around hers.
She felt miserable and sick to her stomach. So sick, in fact, her body wretched, making her thankful that she had eaten only granola bars the day previous.
She was in the same clothes as yesterday, minus her shoes, which were by the door. Hunter must've moved her here sometime last night while she slept. Knowing him, he probably marooned her on an island.
Caitlin got out of bed and examined her surroundings, not allowing herself to get swept up in their beauty. The room was nearly empty except for the bed and nightstand. The closet had a bureau with clothing, all of which was like new, in her size, and washed with her favorite detergent, which explained why they were so comforting. The scent reminded her of home.
Don't wear them.
Chances were that Hunter probably stole them, and even if he didn't, he would expect some kind of acknowledgement from her.
He's not getting a thank you.
Unfortunately, she had been wearing the same clothes for two days, and they hadn't faired well. The odor they had wasn't unpleasant, but there was something about it she couldn't place.
They smell like him.
Jay - no, Hunter - had a distinctive scent. Not unpleasant, but strong, especially when he wasn't wearing aftershave or cologne. It must've gotten all over her clothing when he crawled into bed to warm her up. She wished she was disgusted by it, but her mind associated it with waking up happy, tangled up in the arms of the man she had loved.
Still loved.
She bit her lip. The last time she had spent this long deciding what to wear, she had been preparing for a date with Jay.
She hated that he permeated her thoughts like this. It felt like she couldn't take a breath without him crossing her mind, and every time that happened, he brought anger, self-loathing, happiness, grief, and a hundred other things she couldn't filter through. She didn't have time for it.
Caitlin pushed her thoughts away and focused on what she could handle: getting dressed. She considered her options. She could either wear the clothing he provided or smell him on herself all day.
He wins either way.
She found herself following her morning routine: making the bed, selecting what to wear, laying it out on the bed, and then stretching before leaving her bedroom.
She found the bathroom immediately. It was ridiculously large with a deep tub and separate shower, and there were piles of fluffy towels stacked neatly on shelves. The soap and hair products she used were exactly where they were in her bathroom at home. He had even left the same brand and style of toothbrush.
He remembered that you're persnickety about certain things.
Caitlin was suddenly overwhelmed by her circumstances. She flushed red as her eyes pricked with unshed tears, but she wouldn't cry. She was not going to let the anxiety and frustration get to her. She was going to brush her teeth, take a shower, and get dressed like she did every morning.
She unceremoniously stripped off her clothes, tossing them into a small pile on the floor.
That was when she noticed the bruises. One was above her left hip. It was a deep, deep blue with radiating purple that stretched up her torso and down her leg. She remembered the hard fall she'd taken the day before. There were also four large, round marks on her right forearm from where the man who had attacked her had latched on.
She went to the shower, determined to put it all behind her, but she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Nearly her entire left side was black, blue, or red, and the thing that stood out the most was the writing on her arm: DON'T RUN ME.
The marker had hardly faded. She turned on the water and stepped in as soon as it was warm enough. She would get through this. She could do this. She could do this.
"I brought you here to protect you... The truth is, I looked at her and saw your face, and I couldn't kill her. Is that what you wanted to hear, Caitlin?"
Hunter's voice popped into her head, the memories from the past two days blurring together. She closed her eyes, trying to escape his words, but her mind conjured up Killer Frost in her cell, followed by the worsts photos from the autopsies of her victims.
She gasped, fighting the tears that threatened to spill out of her. For a moment, it felt as if someone had grabbed her right arm, and she panicked. It took her a moment to realize that it was just a visceral memory of the night previous, when her attacker gripped her.
Then she remembered the fear she'd felt when the glass shattered and Killer Frost was free. The memory of collapsing not far from the lab and genuinely believing that dying was her best option followed it, dragging her down, down, and down. She had fought to live on the ridiculous hope that surviving meant she'd see her friends again.
But now that the hypothermia was gone, she saw that hope for what it was: delusion. The only speedster in either universe was Zoom, and he'd never take her home. She could fight him, but sooner or later, he'd take what he wanted, one way or another. She was never going home.
A few weeks ago, she had been in love with a hero, and from the portal closed, the only thing she wanted was to have him back. There was more than one night that she had muttered into her tear-soaked pillow that she'd give anything to have Jay back. She wished - no, she begged whatever powers that existed - that he'd come back to her.
And, fuck, he did.
The sob snuck up on her, and she couldn't hold it back anymore.
Why did it have to be her? Why was she the one in the wrong universe?
"Because I know you, Caitlin... You're here because I love you... I am a very patient man."
His voice filled her head again, and she became completely overwhelmed. The tears were flowing in earnest, and now that she started, she couldn't stop. So she cried until those tears dried up, long after the hot water ran out.
She dried herself with one of the towels. She was spent, exhausted. She usually felt better after crying, but now she felt drained.
Caitlin returned to the room, and she briefly contemplated crawling back into bed and avoiding the world. But her stomach ached. She needed to eat a real meal, so she dressed.
She checked the upstairs first. It had three other bedrooms, all roughly the same size, and one bathroom. When she descended the stairs, she stepped into a huge, open layout that also had floor-to-ceiling windows.
Wherever she was, it was beautiful.
"You're awake."
His voice came from behind her, and its effect was immediate. She tensed up, her heart raced, and her mouth went dry.
"Caitlin?" Hunter said.
"Where are we?" she asked without turning around.
"A tiny island a few miles off the coast of California," he replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Better."
"You must be hungry. Would you join me for breakfast?"
When she didn't reply, he came closer and continued, "Join me. We have a lot to discuss."
It's not like you can outrun him.
There was nothing for it, so she turned to face him. He was wearing dark trousers and a sleeveless undershirt.
She had seen him like this a hundred times before, and it pulled her apart. The fear and anger from his lies made her want to obliterate him. The familiarity, the comfort of the known, made her yearn for Jay, and she despised herself for it. She hated the fact that he tempted her almost as much as the fact that she had no way to hurt him. Not really.
One foot in front of the other.
Caitlin nodded her head, yes. Then she followed him into the kitchen-dining room. The table was set with pancakes, syrup, and butter. Her favorite non-granola breakfast.
He pulled out her chair for her, like a perfect gentleman, but she hesitated. In this beautiful house full of sunlight, dressed in regular clothing, holding out her chair, all she could see was Jay.
There was never any Jay. Jay is Hunter, and Hunter is Zoom.
"You look scared," he said, jolting her from her thoughts. "Don't be. I know you weren't the one who freed Killer Frost."
She sat down, and he sat opposite her.
"Is she... what happened to her?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"She's been contained," he replied as if he was commenting on the weather. "And alive, if that's what you're asking."
Relief flooded her, and she relaxed a little. She reached for her utensils and began buttering her pancakes to distract herself. He followed suit. He'd been waiting on her.
"I haven't decided what to do with her yet," he continued.
"You said you'd let her live, let her go," Caitlin reminded him. "You gave me your word."
"That was before she nearly killed you."
"She saved me," she blurted.
"I saved you," he replied. "You were ice cold when I found you."
"She could've drained all the heat from my body," Caitlin said quickly. "She attacked the man who freed her even though I was closer. He came at me, and she stopped him. Then she told me to run."
She had a hard time chewing, her mouth was so dry, but she ate, doing her best to keep her hands busy as she waited for his reply.
Something dark passed over his features before he turned away. He clenched his jaw and audibly inhaled before looking back, and whatever it was had gone.
He's made up his mind.
"What do you suggest?" he asked.
"I, uh... I don't know," she replied. "Once I find a way to compensate for her energy imbalance..."
What? Let her go? She's murdered a lot of people, and not by accident.
"Then turn her over to the police?" she suggested.
"The police? They aren't equipped to deal with powered people, not on this earth," he replied. "If she doesn't escape, they'll turn her over to the only people who can. The MTU. I can't allow that."
"I thought the DOD commissioned STAR Labs to create metahuman prison cells."
"They did," he explained. "There are a dozen containment units in Iron Heights prison, but they're all empty. Any metahuman captured by law enforcement are held at black sites controlled by the MTU, regardless of their crimes."
"Like the pipeline," she said quietly.
It bothered her that her team hadn't found a better way to handle dangerous metahumans on her earth, but locking them away was better than killing them.
"It's nothing like your meta-prison," Hunter said gruffly.
That was when the idea hit her.
"The pipeline," she said. "You could take her across the breach and lock her in the pipeline on Earth-1."
"Interesting," he mused.
It sounded like he actually meant it, like he was really considering it as an option.
Give him another push.
"No one from Earth-2 would be able to capture her," she continued. "And she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone."
"She wouldn't be able to hurt anybody if she was dead," he countered.
"People say the same thing about you."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Everything was so familiar, so Jay-like, that she'd fallen back to old habits and forgotten who she was speaking with. She shoveled a few more bites into her mouth to hide her alarm.
Then he laughed. Not his dark chuckle, but the laugh she'd heard after he told her they had whatever-he'd-just-asked-about on Earth-2 as well. The laugh that warmed her chest. He looked entertained.
"Once you've resolved her heat absorption issue, I'll lock her in the pipeline on Earth-1," he said.
She continued eating, even though she had no appetite. Having something to do made it easier to stay calm as silence settled between them.
A question nagged at her.
"What's the MTU?" she asked. "Is there an Earth-1 equivalent?"
Hunter was pleased by her question. That was probably a bad sign.
"As far as I can tell, there isn't one," he replied. "The MTU is a fully-funded branch of the DOD. The party line is that they are trying to find a cure, a way to de-activate the meta-gene, but that's been a thin front from the beginning. Their real goal is to weaponize metahumans."
"Both ARGUS and the US Army tried that on my earth," she said. "ARGUS shut down those programs, and the US Army hasn't pursued it since General Eiling..."
Cisco had been keeping tabs on Eiling with the help of Felicity Smoak and Lyla Diggle, so they knew he'd given up on his quest for metahuman soldiers. For now. But he had gone after Firestorm, Plastique, and the Flash.
He had used weaponized phosphorous on Barry.
"Caitlin?"
"I, uh, had an idea about a non-nuclear power source that could keep Frost warm," she replied. "But the delivery device would need to be air-tight and prevent diphosphorous pentoxide from becoming phosphoric acid."
"You want to use white phosphorous?"
"It's safer than heavy water," she replied. "But an entire suit would be too dangerous..."
"Actually, a suit could work," he said. "We apply a container molecule to the white phosphorous, so it will only burn when a signaling agent is applied. Something like that would take me less than a day."
"You?" she asked.
"Me," he replied. "I'll deal with the suit. I've something planned for you today, and it can't wait."
Planned? That can't be good.
"Planned?" she repeated.
He smiled, but it was all teeth and smugness.
Jay is Hunter, and Hunter is Zoom.
"I'm impressed," he replied. "You sit here, eating with me, doing your best to act like nothing's changed. It can't be easy for you."
She bit her tongue.
"I know you think I have ulterior motives for bringing you hear," he continued. "I don't."
"That's hard to believe," she said through gritted teeth.
"Time will tell. Unfortunately, that's the one thing we don't have. You need to know what's going on. Now. So I've tasked a few associates to get you up to speed."
"Associates?" she asked. "You mean one of your followers? Why would I trust them?"
"Maybe you won't," he replied as he stood up. "But I think you will."
She didn't like smug confidence in his voice.
He rinsed off his dishes and put them in the dishwasher before coming back to the table.
"Promise me you won't leave the island."
"Fine."
"Caitlin?"
"I promise I won't leave the island," she said automatically.
He put his hand on her shoulder, and she fought the urge to tense up and failed. He squeezed lightly - a sign of affection Jay had favored before their first kiss - before walking out of the kitchen.
"I'll be home before nightfall," he said from the other room. "When you're ready, head down to the basement."
He didn't speed out like Zoom. He strolled out. She heard a door open and close - probably him leaving the house - walking. What the hell was that about?
Did he expect her to live like this? To wait 'at home,' stranded on some island off the coast? And what was in the basement?
Keep playing along for now.
That was all she could do. So she cleaned up her plate and utensils and dropped them in the dishwasher. She'd go for a walk to see how big the island was, and then she'd search the house.
Then, and only then, would she descend into the basement, hopefully armed.
Chapter notes: The title of this chapter, The Hearth Stones, comes from the Mayan name for Orion's belt, Oxib X'kub', which translates to 'the three stones of the hearth.'
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Chapter Five: Bellatrix
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