Waking Up

[run_barry]

A little Gaga goes a long way.

"Where am I?"

It's the first question Barry asks after snapping awake in S.T.A.R. Labs.

It's bright — way too bright — and confusing. Machines are chirping at him, there are sensors attached everywhere, Poker Face is playing in the background, and there's a doctor violating his personal space while another stranger stands nearby.

"What is happening? What is going on?!" Barry demands, pulling off wires and electrodes, getting up and trying to squirm away from the pair, who identify themselves as Cisco Ramon and Dr. Caitlin Snow.

"You were struck by lightning, dude."

Lightning?

Dude.


*****

He’s been in a coma for nine months.

Nine months, literally comatose.

The surreality threatens his ability to process; the strike, his coma, the weeks upon weeks he’s missed — it’s all one giant question mark.

It doesn't feel real and the sense doesn't fade any when Dr. Harrison Wells, renowned scientist and Barry's hero, appears and takes Barry on a tour of the blown out S.T.A.R. Labs facility.

None of this feels right.

Despite the protests of the two doctors and Cisco, Barry leaves the lab, and heads to CC Jitters.

The sight and smell of the coffee shop is a familiar comfort, but he doesn't feel grounded again, or returned, until he sees Iris.

"I watched you die, Barry," she tells him, the concern in her features twisting something in his stomach and tightening his chest. "You kept dying. Your heart kept stopping."

He takes her hand and puts it against his chest, smiling to reassure her. "It's still beating."

"It's really fast."

Fast.

She has no idea, and neither does Barry.


*****


The day gets weirder. Barry discovers that the lightning strike did more than put him in a coma, and the Particle Accelerator explosion affected the city more than anyone realized.

It starts with a couple of tiny hiccups. The world around Barry falls out of sync, coming to a near standstill while Barry watches. After that Barry himself falls out of line; the world slows down and he speeds up —

— and he's tearing down an alleyway like a bat out of hell;

then

— he's racing down an abandoned airstrip while the S.T.A.R. Labs people watch in awe and excitement.

It's Cisco who explains it to him: The world isn't slowing down — Barry's moving so fast, it only seems like everything else has slowed.

It's crazy. Unnerving.

And, at the same time? Awesome.

He's never felt anything so exhilarating. The speed, the power coursing through him, it's practically indescribable.

It was the lightning bolt and the Accelerator, both coming together to make Barry the impossible, and he's not alone.

[dialogue taken from episode 1.1]