Chapter 35 – "The Ghost and the Wedding Bells"
It had been one month since Dante vanished.
No sound.
No spark of lightning.
Not even a shadow left behind.
Barry searched. Every day, every night.
He ran across cities, countries—even called on old friends from ARGUS,
But no one had seen Dante.
No one had heard his voice.
No one had felt his storm.
It was like he had dissolved with Eobard Thawne—two ghosts swallowed by revenge and silence.
And life… moved on.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Team Flash kept the lights on. They showed up. They fought metas. They patched each other up. But there was a hollowness to everything now. An empty space in the Cortex. A missing presence that used to lean against the wall with a cigarette in hand and eyes that burned with loss.
They didn't speak about him.
Not directly.
But they felt him in the quiet.
In the empty chair.
In the silence between jokes.
In the cup of coffee left untouched on the console.
Dante was gone.
But still—they didn't stop.
A few days after his disappearance, something unexpected happened: Iris and Eddie got married.
It was a small ceremony in Central City Park. Simple. Sweet. Iris wore a white dress that shimmered in the sun, and Eddie cried when she walked down the aisle.
Barry watched from the front row, smiling.
His heart ached. Just a little.
He'd loved Iris for as long as he could remember.
But she was happy.
And that meant something.
That meant everything.
When Eddie kissed her, Barry clapped louder than anyone.
She looked at him from the altar and smiled back.
Thank you.
He smiled in return.
You're welcome.
Two weeks later, Ronnie and Caitlin's wedding was something else entirely.
Huge. Loud. Wild.
The Arrow team showed up in suits and formal wear. Felicity made a toast. Oliver grunted something like approval.
The Legends came too. Sara brought wine from 1960. Ray built a glowing heart-shaped centerpiece. Even Mick behaved—sort of.
Everyone danced. Laughed. Celebrated.
Caitlin looked radiant, like she had finally escaped every shadow behind her.
Ronnie cried during his vows.
Barry gave her away. It was something she asked him to do the week before.
He said yes without hesitation.
Cisco caught the bouquet.
Everyone screamed.
Even Joe danced.
It was joy. Real joy.
And for the first time in a long time, the team let go.
No threats.
No missions.
Just life.
Two weeks after that, Barry met Patty Spivot.
She bumped into him at CCPD. Literally. Coffee spilled. Apologies were made. She laughed, and he noticed how warm her smile was.
She liked chemistry jokes. He liked that she didn't treat him like a superhero.
They went on a date. Then another. And another.
Barry found himself smiling again.
He still thought about Dante sometimes—what he'd done, where he'd gone. But thinking didn't bring him back. So Barry ran forward.
And life felt…
Normal.
Beautiful.
Good.
Until the day everything changed again.
It was early. The lab lights hadn't fully flickered on yet. The morning sun was still hiding behind clouds.
Cisco was the first one in, yawning, hoodie half-zipped, coffee in one hand, donut in the other.
He muttered to himself, stepping into the Cortex.
And then he saw him.
A figure standing in the shadows by the window. Motionless. Silent.
"...Oh," Cisco said, mid-yawn. "Hi, Dante."
He walked past him, sat down at the computer, and took a long sip of coffee.
It wasn't until the screen lit up that Cisco's brain caught up.
His body froze.
Mouth still open.
Hand still holding the coffee in midair.
He turned slowly.
The figure hadn't moved.
Still dressed in black.
Still smoking.
Still silent.
Eyes dark. Hair messy.
And a presence that felt like thunder waiting to scream.
Cisco stood.
"...Dante?"
The figure looked up.
Not a ghost.
Not a memory.
Dante. Alive. Real. Standing there.
Cisco's breath caught. "Dude."
Dante exhaled smoke, voice soft. "Hey, Cisco."
Cisco didn't know what to do—hug him? Punch him? Cry?
He settled for blinking.
"You've been gone for three months."
"I know."
"Where the hell were you?"
Dante looked out the window. "Everywhere."
Cisco shook his head. "No, man. No. You don't just vanish after going full supernova and show up like you went on a vacation."
"I didn't go on vacation."
"Then what did you do?"
Dante took one last drag from his cigarette and flicked it into the trash. His hand trembled slightly. Not from weakness—but from restraint.
"I looked for a way to stop it," he said.
"Stop what?"
"The storm inside me."
Cisco fell silent.
Behind them, the Cortex doors slid open. Barry walked in with a file in hand, talking into his comm.
"—we need to cross-reference the security footage from—"
He froze.
File dropped. Words stopped. Lightning in his chest paused mid-beat.
"Dante?"
The man turned.
For a second, neither of them moved.
The air thickened.
Time stretched.
Barry stepped forward.
"You're back."
Dante nodded.
Barry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Where did you go?"
Dante looked between them both—Cisco and Barry. His eyes were heavier than before. Like they'd seen too much, lost too much, burned through too many days without sleep.
But he smiled softly
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