Only Because I Need You

Chapter 43: Swirly Whirly Whoorly

When Ethan arrived at the sea side, his mouth hung slightly ajar. The salty breeze licked his face and dark waves crashed into the pebbly shore he was standing upon. The inky black sky stretched into darkness until it melted into the sea. The moon's brilliant light cast down on two girls. One with stunning black hair, the other with rich caramel hair. They were dancing together on the water. No, not the water, the ice. Part of the shore was completely frosted over and a large barge of ice reached out into the ocean where the two women were dancing, dangerously close to the choppy waters. Ethan and Barry shared an uneasy glance. Thoughts ran through Ethan's head at one hundred miles an hour. Every time the swaying pair took a step further into the ice, and closer to the water, his heart shuddered, "Iris, Caitlin!" Barry shouted, waving his arms like a fanatic. No response, not even a slight change in their deathly waltz.

Barry was the first to take off, lightning crackled at his heels as he ran at the pair. Ethan watched as the speedster began to slide about the ice, ultimately skidding right past the pair and falling into the dark, frigid waters. Ethan internally grumbled. He instead began to walk across the ice. He care fully placed his feet down listening intently for any cracking. Within seconds Barry hauled himself up from the water and onto the ice. His foggy breath cradled his frosted features. The Scarlet Speedster clambered to his feet, his arms out wide to balance himself. Barry then vibrated himself sending water droplets flying and warming up his body. Ethan rolled his eyes and continued his careful stepping, "funnily enough Barry, ice is slippy and if your run on it, you will fall,"

"Not the time," Barry snapped back.

"It's always the time to poke fun at you," Ethan retorted as the pair crept closer to Caitlin and Iris, who seemed completely oblivious their impending watery doom. When Barry reached within a few meters of Iris, he reached out and gently grasped her arm, pulling her away from Caitlin. Iris simply melted into his arms, her body going limp. Caitlin stood there for a moment before she turned to face the ocean. Ethan's heart leapt into his mouth. Picking up the pace, he arrived at her side in a matter of seconds. He grasped at her arm and pulled her away from the water. Caitlin turned to look at him, her dark eyes caught his and in that moment, the ice began to crack. Ethan wasted no time, he sped back towards the shore with Caitlin his arms. Placing her disgruntled form down on the beach, Ethan turned to Barry who had done the same with Iris, "What is wrong with them?" Ethan asked.

Barry shook his head, "I have no idea," the ice slowly began to submerge itself under the inky black waters. Ethan let out a puff of air and then glanced back at Caitlin who was staring at the water. Her face was blank and her eyes held little emotion, but she was leaning close towards Ethan. He hoped that was a good thing.

*

Ethan watched in amusement as Iris and Caitlin babbled on to each other. Caitlin's enthusiastic hand movements as she spoke were making her drunken ramblings much more entertaining. The speedsters had taken the girls back to the Lab, where almost immediately they had morphed from sullen and silent into eccentric and intoxicated. They were sitting cross legged on the floor facing one another playing some game with their hands. Barry and Ethan were leaning on the entrance desk, both staring at the girls. They weren't sure what to do. Cisco was sitting between the speedsters, leaning against the chair, his arms crossed over his chest and his dark brows pulled into a frown, "so you think they were drugged?" Cisco asked, not taking his eyes away from the childish pair who had been claimed by a giggling fit.

"Yeah... they were fine until they had those shots... and we wouldn't be effected by drugs or alcohol that aren't tailored to speedsters," he grumbled, bitterness creeping into his voice. Ethan nearly snorted. He couldn't wait until Barry experienced the alcohol from the future, heck, he couldn't wait till he experienced the alcohol from the future, if he made it that far. Ethan froze. All his muscles went rigid. He wanted to make it that far, he wanted to experience the future again, but a better one. Flicking his eyes to Caitlin he realised that he wanted to live a future because of her. No longer feeling the incessant need to kill Iris, Ethan had lost all meaning in his life... then along came that bio-chemist with a quirky smile and dimples. He was lucky to know her, that much he knew.

The squeaking of Cisco's chair snapped Ethan out of his mind. Wiping the smile that had begun to form off his face, he turned to look at the other boys. "We just don't understand how they got to the beach so quickly or why they were dancing on literal thin ice," Barry spoke again.

"Have you tried asking them?" Harry's voice made the men jump as he strode into the room with a cocky smirk.

"Well, in their state I don't think even they know," Cisco grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Caitlin?" Harry called her name. The caramel haired woman rolled her head around her shoulders to look at him with a goofy smirk. Cisco shuddered muttering under his breath about an exorcist, "how did you get to the beach from the club?" He spoke slowly, annunciation get every word.

A smile split her face and Iris began to giggle again. The women were holding hands and rocking back and forth, "the l-lady tooked us," Caitlin sighed, her eyes were still glassy.

"What lady?" Barry asked leaning forwards, placing his hand on his chin. Ethan nearly snorted, if that was what he looked like when he was interested in something, then he never wanted to do it again.

"You know, the one that s-sptepped in and owt of air... what called it?" She scratched her head, her face scrunched up.

"Breaching?" Cisco asked.

Iris shot him gun fingers, "das de one,"

Harry crept closer to the crouching down at their level and waving a hand in front of their faces. There was no reaction, "they haven't just been drugged, they have been reverted back to a child like state," he mumbled to himself, "but why?"

Silence gripped the team by the throat. Ethan rocked on the balls of his feet, his hair was standing on edge at the peculiar movements the girls were making. "Children are impressionable," he huffed, thoughts began to string together in his mind. Casting his eyes up to the rest of the team, they were looking at him strangely.

"The fact that an ex-murderer is the one that came out with that makes a lot of sense... but it's not any less disturbing," Cisco's top lip curled upwards. Ethan just rolled his eyes, tempted to flip that man the bird, but he couldn't do that in front of Caitlin, drunk or not he would never hear the end of it. Instead he just shrugged.

"That's a good point," Barry agreed, turning to Iris, "why were you dancing on ice?"

"Dat lady sed it would but fun to dance acwoss the ocean so Caity made us a raft. We wanted to reach the other side but we were interrupted..." she deflated like a burst balloon.

"It would havvvve been fun," Caitlin added, pulling her brows into a cross frown.

"Then I guess it's official, someone tried to kill them," Harry stated loudly. All of the room fell silent.

A/N: I am hoping to finish this book in the next few days, eek! So far I am on chapter 51 😵. Anyway, just forewarning because I might just spam the rest of the chapters as a goodbye gift 💝.

- Potato 🥔