Not What You Expected

The Mistake You're About to Make

'This is going to be such a pain in my ass, Francisco you're anidiot!' that along with aconstant stream of curses ran through Francisco's mind as he worked,applying a generous amount of salve to the purple areas of Amy'sskin, keeping his mouth clamped shut so that his thoughts didn'tbecome absent muttering. He hadn't been lying to her when he saidhe'd saved her out of boredom, he had honestly been wandering thestreets flexing his powers when he'd been struck with the vision ofher facing off in that alley. He'd never experienced a sensationquite like it, the vibration distinctly different and intriguing,adding on top of that the fact that in his vision he hadn't been ableto see her face, he couldn't resist the opportunity to investigatethe situation. But how he was regretting it now.

The thugs were easy, just kids really, looking for a thrill and somefree cash off the lady who had stupidly taken the alley as a shortcut to wherever. They had recognized him instantly and done the smartthing, running for the hills with tails between their legs, but thelady victim needed more convincing. He didn't even give Amy a chanceto turn around when he blasted her, and she flew so far the womannearly fainted, but she scrambled away like the others, and Franciscohad felt quite proud of himself; but then he saw her face. She hadlanded face down so he had to roll her over to look at her, and whenhe did his heart skipped a few beats as he recognized her.

"Amaryllis?" he'd whispered hername, the feel of it on his tongue like holding an old friend close.He couldn't believe it was her, it couldn't be her, he'd been therewhen it happened, he'd watched her....but it wasn't her he quicklyrealized, she was too different, something about her screamed thatshe was out of place. And then it clicked, and all the images cameflooding back of the other world, the other earth, the other Cisco,and her. Amy they called her on that world, a cheap childishtruncation of her beautiful name, and she was strong, a powerful metahuman who could control energy itself, and god was she magnificent onher world. But she wasn't on her world, she was here in his, whichbegged the question, how the hell did she get here? He spent a theentire time she was unconscious trying to see it, vibrating into herworld, picking up the after shocks and piecing it together, but theportal had been too strong for him to get a proper look at, it wasn'tuntil she told him that he realized just how deep this rabbit holewent.

"Keep an eye out for anyone out of place," Zoom had ordered him,his deep vibrating growl unnerving Francisco as always, "I don'twant anyone or anything interfering with my city, understood?"

"Understood," Francisco had said, he had made a contract with thedevil he knew that now, and here he was harboring the thing Zoomwanted most, a breacher.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' hethought, even as his hands gently wrapped Amy's arm in bandages, 'Hewill find out and he will probably kill us both!'he taped the bandage down, 'shes not even the same girl youmoron, she doesn't know you like Amaryllis did, she's not yours tokeep safe!'

'But someonehas to'

The voice sounded the same as his, and he knew it was him, Cisco.Francisco had seen the way he looked at this girl, saw how he caredfor her even if she didn't completely understand his feelings, hewatched as he loved her endlessly in the background and felt the dullaching memory of that same feeling within him. He remembered hisAmaryllis, not so strong as this one, but just as beautiful, hisbright flower who never knew his love completely. 'Fuck youCisco,' he thought as he closed the first aid kit and stood up,'why do you have to be right?'

"Come on, you need to eat and I need to find you something towear," Francisco left the bathroom before he got a response fromAmy, and as he entered the kitchen he reached up on top of therefrigerator to pull down a bottle or Arak he'd been saving for someunknown future occasion, "Fuck you Cisco," he muttered, voicinghis thought from before, "this is going to suck,". He poured theliquor into a glass and mixed in the water, gulping the contents downwith a wince and a hiss, sending out a silent prayer that he wouldlive through what was to come, which knowing Zoom he thought, wasvery unlikely....