The Line Between Living and Dying

Metahumans

"Well, I hope everything stays fine." She smiled.

"Me too." Barry smiled back.

A semi-awkward silence fell over the two. Finally, Dani cleared her throat.

"Anyway, I, um, I have to go meet up with Caitlin. But call me. We have a lot to catch up on."

"I will." Barry grinned, continuing down the hall.

Dani glanced behind her. There was still something off with him. Dani just didn't know what it was yet.

Pushing her thoughts aside, Dani entered the cortex. The sight of Cisco and Dr. Wells made her hesitate to talk to Caitlin. Luckily, Dani came up with a quick lie.

"Hey, Caitlin, ready to go?" She asked.

Caitlin looked up at the brunette in confusion. "What?"

Dani faked a laugh. "To go to lunch, duh. Wait, did I forget to text you? You know what, I probably did. Is this a bad time, cause I was really hoping to talk about something kind of personal."

Caitlin caught on. "Oh, right, lunch. I completely forgot. Just give me a minute to get my purse."

"Great. I'll be out in my car." Dani left the room, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. Thank God Caitlin got the message.

It took a few minutes, but Caitlin finally made it out and climbed into Dani's car.

"Are you okay if we actually go get lunch? I'm actually kind of hungry."

"Sure."Caitlin shrugged. Then she changed the subject. "How'd you learn to lie like that?"

Dani laughed awkwardly. "Let's just say that I wasn't exactly what you'd call a good child."

Caitlin raised her eyebrows at Dani, hoping for more information.

Dani licked her lips, sighing. "I kind of snuck out a lot to go drink, do drugs, have sex. You know, normal stuff." She shrugged.

Caitlin's eyes widened. "Wow."

"What?" Dani glanced at the redhead.

"I just never thought that, with you being who you are now, would be a rebellious teenager."

"There's a lot about me that people would never expect someone like me to do."

At the restaurant, Caitlin and Dani were sat in the back, by request.

"Okay, so what's wrong with your powers?" Caitlin asked in a low voice.

"It's not really something being wrong. I think I found an answer. But it leads to more questions." Dani bit her lip.

"What does that mean?" Caitlin furrowed her eyebrows.

"You know how you've been working tirelessly to figure out where I disappear to when I teleport?" Dani asked and Caitlin nodded. "Well, I think I know where I go. See, I was doing some background research on a painting that came in a shipment to the museum and something I read fit in with what I've seen."

"What you've seen?"

"Since I got my powers, I've died twice. And each time I got sent to this place-- this world and the descriptions that I read in an article match exactly what I've seen. And I think I go to that same place when I teleport."

"What's the place?" Caitlin asked, uncertainty laced in her voice.

"The astral plane," Dani informed.

Caitlin shook her head. "That's not possible, Dani. The astral plane isn't real."

"My mom believed it was." Dani deadpanned. "Look the astral plane is believed to be a place where souls pass through to the other side. It's like a purgatory of sorts. It's connected to the dead and I'm half dead. Is it really that hard to believe?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Caitlin sighed. "If you're right, and you really do pass through the astral plane then it would mean that when you teleport, you're temporarily dying."

"So, to know if I'm right we're gonna have to find out if my heart stops when I teleport?" Dani questioned.

"Exactly." Caitlin nodded.

"Okay," Dani said. "Text me a time and date and I'll meet you back at the field."

Caitlin agreed and the two girls chatted about other things throughout their meal. But Caitlin never mentioned Barry and his powers or anything about meta-humans. That would mean outing Barry and Caitlin wasn't gonna do that. Having speed powers was Barry's secret to tell and the same went for Dani.

And just like that, Caitlin found herself leading a double life. One that could end disastrously.