𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭: ᴢᴇʀᴏᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ² − b. allen ((editing))

∟ 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲.

broken
part one

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eight months later.

LIFE HAD SLOWLY gone back to normal for the S.T.A.R Labs team. While most of them were still broken from what happened eight months prior, they all put on brave faces and continued to show up to work every single day.

          Cisco and Anna had taken the events from eight months ago the hardest. Anna wasn't the only one who lost HR and Shannon, the whole team had, but she and Cisco were the ones that had the closest relationships with both people. Shannon, of course, was Cisco's girlfriend and Anna's best friend. HR was Anna's uncle and Cisco had looked up to him like a father figure or even an uncle.

          HR had gone down a hero and did something so courageous that it made the team proud even though they had lost someone they loved dearly. Shannon had been killed in cold blood before she fully got a chance to live. The world would never know her acts of courage as Rupture, but the S.T.A.R Labs team would always remember even if it hurt them to do so.

          After HR had died, Anna had travelled to Earth-19 to find his niece and family. When she had found them, Anna had explained who she was and where she came from before they got the chance to bombard her with questions. It broke her heart to watch the family fall apart before her eyes and it was even harder to keep herself from crying along with the people she loved on Earth-1. Earth-19 Anna had crumbled to her knees and let out a sob that made Anna want to throw her arms around her and hug her, but she held her ground and remained respectful.

          After Shannon's death, Anna and Cisco had gone to meet up with Shannon's parents. Neither of them had known about their daughter's powers or her superhero alias, but they soon learned after Anna and Cisco walked them through every single detail. The part that hurt the most was telling them their daughter had been murdered by two speedsters who looked exactly like Anna and Barry. Mr. and Mrs. Gates could hardly keep themselves together. Shannon's mother had dropped down onto the sofa with a hand clamped over her mouth as she cried, while Mr. Gates had stared off blankly at a wall with tears streaming down their faces. Cisco and Shannon had said their quick apologies, wished their condolences and left before they fell apart themselves.

          HR and Shannon had both been buried in Central City not too far from each other. Mr. and Mrs. Gates had bought a plot of land at the cemetery for themselves when they passed, but a fresh grave with their daughter inside took it up instead. HR had no one on Earth-1 besides the team so, without giving it a second thought, Anna had him buried on the family plot where Elizabeth was buried. Their funerals were days apart, but it gave the team the closure they needed to keep themselves together.

          Anna woke with a start as soon as Shannon's scream echoed through her head. She sat up quickly, clutching her chest as her heart raced and slammed against her ribcage. She looked around the dark room and practiced the breathing her therapist had taught her; inhale sharply through her nose, exhale softly through her mouth, and repeat. Anna reached out and rested a hand over Barry's chest as he slept peacefully, closing her eyes as his heart thumped rhythmically against her palm.

          Just days after Shannon's and HR's funerals, Anna and Cisco took it upon themselves to sit through therapy sessions together. Each day, they grew closer together and their pain slowly subsided as they poured out their feelings to an older woman with salt and pepper hair. It was hard finding a therapist willing to see them both at once for something other than couple's therapy, but Dr. Lynn Reid had happily accepted.