𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄 ━━ 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩

⠀⠀𝟱𝟱. ❛ THE DEATH OF S.T.A.R. LABS ❜

     Shakily, she pushed herself off the ground, stumbling as black dots appeared in front of her.

     Dust danced across her purple-clad feet, giving them an ashy look as she limped over a broken TV screen. Beads of sweat trickled down her face as she desperately searched for anyone, anyone, left standing.

     They made it. They're fine. Everyone's fine.

     Deep down, she felt as if they were just lies regardless of how many times she repeated those words in her mind. Yes, she'd won the war, but at what cost? How many of them got hurt? Had anyone managed to get out before the walls crumbled in?

     Flames of fire were the only sources of light helping her navigate through the demolished building as she struggled to keep going. Pushing her garnet-red hair behind her ears, she coughed hoarsely.

     The smoke was spreading and making its way more into her lungs already.

     "Barry?" Piper yelled, stopping in her tracks. All around her were clouds ranging from light gray to a dark navy blue, flickers of red and orange popping up sporadically. What were once walls laid on the ground in piles of rocks and dust; cables and broken pieces of technology hiding beneath the rubble, sparking slightly. "Miles? Damon?"

     Everything was destroyed. S.T.A.R. Labs was gone. Reduced to nothing but atoms and molecules of dust.

     After receiving silence as her answer, her heart started to beat harder and faster, true panic seeping in as her adrenaline levels rose. "C-Cisco? Caitlin? I-Iris?" she shouted, her voice wobbling. She could feel her body pouring out more beads of sweat and blood as silence answered again.

     Every part of her being felt as if it was burning, and maybe that was because she was standing next to a roaring fire, but the heat she felt crawled up and over every crevice, never once stopping or easing up on its harshness. Everything was burning, and it was only getting worse.

     Speeding forward, it felt like the air had been knocked out of her as she fell to the ground; the purple lightning trailing behind her was vanishing. Her body was drained. She'd used her powers so much and forcefully to hold up the facility that she barely had enough energy to search for anyone, yet here she was, calling out to what appeared to be ghosts.

     "Erin?" she yelled, wobbling from side to side as she stood back up, ripping off her eyepiece and tossing it mindlessly into a pit of flames. "S-Somebody? P-Please..." her voice became a croaky whisper, and tears welled up in her chocolate-brown eyes, blurring more of her vision. The bottom of her lip trembled as no one answered, and a dreadful feeling settled in her heart.

     "Piper?"

     The woman turned around and spotted the face that belonged to the familiar voice. Relief flooded her veins, and she used whatever speed she had left to push forward, collapsing into the arms of Erin Osborn as her knees buckled. "Oh, thank God," the redhead breathed, holding the latter to her chest tightly. "I thought I lost everyone. Lost you."

     Erin frowned deeply, hating that she was the one they had sent to come to get her.

     The speedster had been through enough to last a person twenty lifetimes, she didn't deserve what was coming. No one did. Especially after she'd just defeated the drug and Savitar, saving them all from Hell on Earth.

     "Babe, the team sent me to get you. Something happened," Erin whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. Why did it have to be her? Why did she have to be the bearer of bad news?

     Piper pulled away, her eyes wide and panicked, her thoughts on high alert. "What happened?" She asked, becoming more scared by the second as she watched her best friend blink back tears.