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July 12th, 2013

Haylee walked down the busy streets of Starling City with earbuds in her ears, she was humming casually along with the Bon Jovi song playing loudly. She blended in with other people in her casual blue jeans and random shirt, a leather jacket and her hair tied back out of her face. She was on her way to her favourite restaurant when someone rushed by her, bumping into her along the way. She turned her head and noticed her bag had been taken, with a groan she followed after them.

She turned a corner and booked it down an alleyway where she pushed off the ground and onto a dumpster, jumping up and gripping onto a ladder that pulled her up onto a balcony. She moved quickly and efficiently until she got to the roof, opening her phone she switched on the locator for her laptop that was within the bag. With its location, she ran towards the edge of the roof, jumping across to the next roof where she rolled against it.

After jumping across a few buildings, she dropped down safely and skillfully into an alleyway blocking the thief, a smirk was present on her face as they looked at her stunned by how quickly she caught up to them. As they were stunned, she rushed forward and grabbed her bag from him, safely placing it to the side before kicking him and punching him in the face. "Be careful who you mess with next time. You never know who someone could be," Haylee warned before walking away with her bag.

Her phone began vibrating in her pocket, pulling it out she read the contact name and smiled before answering. "And what could I do for my favourite Queen?" Haylee asked with a grin on her face as she continued on her path to Big Belly Burger. "We need your help. Got a little problem to deal with," Thea Queen's voice replied instantly. "Where to?" Haylee asked, her grin faded and was replaced by a serious expression as she waited for the response.

"Meet us at home," Thea told her before hanging up, the brunette threw her phone into her bag before stepping into the alleyway and using the buildings and shortcuts she's learned of during her time as Raven to get to the Queen Mansion quicker. She knew by the sound of Thea's tone, it had to be something important that needed to be dealt with and she'd do anything for her family, the cost never mattered for her.

She finally reached the mansion spotting Oliver and Diggle standing with Thea, they all had sad and angry expressions on their faces. "Who am I killing?" Haylee asked instantly, with no comedic tone as she was completely serious. "Ashley was taken by Victor," Diggle told her, the brunette woman froze in place. Ashley was one of her good friends, someone that was outside her vigilante life and gave her normality in the midst of chaos. She reminded Haylee of Barry, the two shared many similarities.

"What are the details?" Haylee asked as they walked into the house, her body was tense much like Oliver when it came to their vigilante life. "Victor reached out around an hour ago, Felicity is locating him as we speak and we assume he took her last night," Diggle explained to Haylee, the woman nodding along with his words. "What are the chances he'll kill her?" Haylee asked though her lips quivered at the thought of yet another innocent being caught in the crossfire of their battles.

Everyone stayed silent which gave her the answer she was dreading, she knew that if Victor's plan was to anger the team then killing Ashley would be the way to do it. "We kill him, once and for all. I don't care about Merlyn's threats anymore," Haylee told them before walking towards the door. "Where are you going?" Oliver asked unimpressed with her rash actions. "To do what I should've done two months ago. I'm gonna kill Victor Henrikson," Haylee called back before leaving the mansion.

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July 20th, 2013

Haylee stood on the hill a short distance away in her Raven suit, the hood upon her head in the pouring rain. Her face was emotionless as she watched a mother lay her daughter to rest, mascara dripping down the woman's face with no idea why or how her daughter had died. Haylee's heart ached as she watched a young boy holding his father's hand, sobs wracking his body as he said his goodbyes to his older sister, his role model, his best friend.

Haylee felt a presence step up next to her and she didn't have to look to know who it was. "You know this isn't your fault," Oliver assured her, the words had no effect but the thought did count. "Don't say that, Oliver. She did die because of me," Haylee snapped back in a harsh whisper, she had enough of everyone saying it wasn't her fault. "Lee..." Oliver started but Haylee scoffed before looking at him, revealing her puffy red eyes from crying.

"She was taken by Victor because she had a friendship with me. Because she didn't know I was the Raven, she couldn't be prepared for the dangers that would come her way," Haylee told him before looking back at the funeral at the bottom of the hill. "She had a chance to run, Oliver... And if she did, she wouldn't be in that coffin and that little boy wouldn't have lost his idol. So spare me the pity party," Haylee seethed out before taking shaky broken breaths attempting to fight back the tears.

"Or it could've been you, Lee. It could've been us burying you right now, your brother crying at the loss of his idol. Your best friends falling apart," Oliver told her softly before turning her face to look at him, "It could be me burying you and I refuse to ever let that happen." Haylee and Oliver stayed at each other in silence, both their focus was on each other. "I don't know what to do..." Haylee sobbed out, Oliver pulled her into his arms. "You take it a day at a time," Oliver told her.

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March 2nd, 2001

Haylee was sitting alone in the schoolyard, she had her back against the wall with the novel Little Women in her hands ignoring the other kids that ran around with their friends. Her attention was stolen when she heard Tony Woodland laughing, she wasn't the biggest fan of his attitude around others but he was nice to her when it was just the two walking home from school. She let out a groan debating whether she should get involved or leave it alone.

"Leave him alone, Tony!" A girl called out but Tony just laughed and ignored her before shoving the boy to the ground. Haylee tilted her head to get a view of who the boy was, her eyes widened at the sight of her science buddy. She instantly put her book into her bag before running over catching Tony's fist before he could hit the boy. "Haylee?" Tony spoke softly before clearing his throat, "Get out of my way Brager." Haylee rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm not scared of a twelve-year-old boy who is trying to impress his boys by beating on a kid who has a potential future unlike you," Haylee told him before crossing her arms and looking into his eyes daring him to make a move. He swallowed dryly looking at the girl he liked before motioning for his friends to follow him as Haylee waited until he was gone. She turned to look at the boy, his gaze was focused on her in adoration while Iris smirked at the interaction.

"Barry Allen, right?" Haylee asked despite knowing exactly who he was, he nodded wordlessly. Haylee held out her hand to help him off of the ground, "I'm Haylee Brager, by the way." Barry made a slight squeak sound before coughing. "I know who you are... uh, because we are in, um, science together and, uh, we are, um, science buddies, uh yeah..." Barry rambled as he stood in front of her, she smiled softly at him.

"You're cute when you ramble," Haylee told him with a light blush on her cheeks before turning Iris, "And you are Iris West." Iris nodded with a smile while Barry was staring at Haylee with so much puppy love in his eyes, Iris was instantly giddy inside at the idea of Barry finally talking to the girl he had been talking about for the past two months. "Did you wanna hang out with us?" Iris asked as Barry's eyes widened, he was internally begging she would.

"I'd love to!" Haylee cheered before collecting her bag and following behind them, the three of them sat down together under a tree building a friendship with so much strength, that it would take a meteor to tear it apart. Haylee was happy to have friends for once that didn't play pretend, Iris was beyond happy that she had a female friend and finally, Barry Allen was beyond happy at the fact that the girl he had a crush on was talking to him willingly and he saw it as one step closer to something more.

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Author Note
Just a short chapter that connects to the upcoming plot along with a cute little scene where Barry and Haylee first became friends officially.

This was written via phone rather than my laptop (with Grammarly) so apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Also, drink responsibly!
-Message from the hungover author!

-Rose <3
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