Sara pushed upward on the hatch, pulling herself onto the floor. Alex followed quickly after her, her limbs aching from stuffing themselves into the small space.

"How did you even know that was down there?" Sara asked, stretching her arms out. Alex joined her, leaning over until her elbows touched the floor, a soft tug on her hamstrings before pulling back up.

Leonard joined them, a smirk on his face as he moved out of the library and into the main part of the bridge. "When Rip first recruited us, I made it my business to case every square inch of this tub in the event there was something worth stealing," He paused, like he was considering his next words, "There wasn't. Let's get out of here."

Alex stood up at his statement, eyes widening in disbelief. "Hold on, we can't just leave,"

"Why not?" Leonard remarked, lifting his eyebrows at her, "We're alive, we have the ship, and the Time Masters are taking care of Savage. Our job is done."

Alex scoffed, crossing her arms at his callous behavior. What the hell had happened to him? She thought he was changing. He was changing.

"What about the team?" Sara brought up, taking a spot next to Alex, her tone incredulous.

Leonard simply shrugged, "There's nothing more we can do for them."

She scoffed again, rolling her eyes. This was not the same person she had come to know.

Snart was good, she knew that.

"You're just gonna leave Mick?" Sara exclaimed, trying to appeal to his loyal nature. Despite what he may project, Leonard did care about his friends.

They all knew it.

"If the Time Masters are half as twisted as Mick said, there's an excellent chance Mick is no longer Mick," Leonard was getting impatient, his foot tapping the floor while his voice went up in volume, "Now why aren't we flying yet?"

"You're scared," Alex announced, catching the rogue off guard, "That's why you want to leave."

"Of course I'm scared," Leonard snapped, "They turned my partner into a killing machine, who's to say they won't do that to us?"

Alex stepped down, her boots clanging against the metal of the Waverider, "Because we can break them out, but we need your help,"

"You're insane," Leonard chuckled, shooting a quick look at Sara, "Get us out of here now,"

Sara shook her head, arms still crossed, "No, I'm not going anywhere without the rest of the team."

The charge of the cold gun caught them both of guard, the barrel pointed directly at Sara, "Maybe I didn't make myself clear."

He wouldn't do it, Alex told herself. That wasn't who he was anymore.

But the pounding of her heart and the constriction of her throat were disagreeing with her.

"Don't do that," Sara's jaw clenched, her hand shaking, "Don't act like you're that same cold-hearted bastard that I first met," Leonard's grip never wavered, "I remember Russia. And you were the one who told me not to kill Stein."

"Yeah, because you seem to have a problem with being a killer," Leonard remarked, keeping his eye trained on Sara, "I, however, don't."

Alex had to do something. Even if she believed that Leonard wouldn't shoot Sara, that didn't mean she could stand by while it happened.

"Prove it," Sara challenged, "Shoot me."

Without hesitation Alex stepped in between the two, "Enough!" she turned to face Leonard, taking a protective stance against the man. "You do that and you'll have to go through me,"

The seconds that passed felt like hours, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Leonard's eyes never moved.

Alex kept hers trained on the rogue.

The silence that hung over them was agonizing.

Until it was broken by the sound of a phone ringing.

It rang three times until Sara finally picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ms. Lance."

Gideon's voice barely cut through the static, but they could hear her. She was alive.

"Gideon, you're alive," Sara spoke into the old phone, shoulders relaxing as relief washed over the three of them.

"If by "alive" you mean that my operating system is intact, yes," Gideon informed them, launching into a spiel that Alex could barely understand, "I was able to upload into the latency core to avoid being wiped out when the Time Masters--"

"We can share war stories later, Sara cut her off, "Where the rest of the team?"

"They're in cell block 4587," Alex immediately grabbed a lone piece of paper, writing down the number and stuffing it in her pocket as Gideon continued, "and they, too, are alive... for the moment."

Her chest seized, tightening up as she caught the end of Gideon's statement.

"What do you mean "for the moment?" Alex gulped.

Gideon didn't answer.

***

Alex sprawled across the Captain's chair, tapping her fingers against the worn metal, waiting for Gideon to finally reconnect to the Time Drive.

"Just another moment. I'm almost through."

Leonard's drawl brought her attention back to him, his tin ring tapping out a similar rhythm against the floor of the stairs. "Even if this works, we're never gonna be able to fly out off here."

"Well, that's the beauty of having a timeship," Alex snapped back, her voice flat, "We don't have to fly anywhere."

Leonard chuckled softly. She still wasn't over his previous behavior. He had almost shot Sara. And She wasn't sure he would've called it off if it hadn't been for Gideon.

He continued to tap, and Alex stared at Leonard, silently telling him to stop.

He didn't.

Thankfully Sara was saying exactly what she was thinking, "Can you stop doing that?!" She yelled at the rogue, "Why did you start wearing that thing, anyways?"

Leonard ceased his tapping, twirling the ring around his finger, "It's from the first job I ever pulled off with Mick," He announced, sitting up from his laid back position, "A Freeport warehouse."

Alex's laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it. Leonard and Sara both turned in her direction, waiting for her to finish.

"I'm sorry, I just never pegged you for the sentimental type," Alex continued to laugh, trying to swallow it down so she could focus on the mission.

Leonard rolled his eyes and stood up, "It's not a keepsake. It's a reminder."

"Of what?" Sara questioned, trying to get a better sense of Leonard's motives.

"That even the best-laid plans can go sideways," Leonard explained, sending a look Alex's way as he said that, "Spent a lot of time prepping for that heist. Casing the target. Memorizing shift changes and delivery schedules, and then surprise! Turns out they'd upgraded their security system. We had to bolt. Three weeks of planning and all I have to show for it..."

"Was a lousy pinky ring." Alex finished for him, standing up from her position, "So sad."

Leonard scoffed, twirling the pinky ring again, "Considering I'm about to trade my life for nothing, I think I came out ahead."

The two of them stared at each other, and Alex briefly wondered if he was gonna pull the cold gun on her again.

"The Time Drive is back online," Gideon informed them and Sara wasted no time. She slid into the Captain's chair, Leonard and Alex buckling themselves in.

"Everyone ready?" Sara asked, and Alex nodded.

Sara took a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting the seat spin around "Alright everybody, buckle up, cause we're going back to the end of the universe!"

***

Ray tapped his fingers against the metal of his cell. He couldn't stand this anymore. Alex hadn't been brought in and Kendra had been taken from the moment they had stepped foot in the cell block.

He was starting to get worried. He had heard the Time Masters whispering, and Rip's insanity wasn't helping.

He had been shown the future.

A future where he dies.

He swallowed the lump growing in his throat and pushed himself away from the front of the cell.

The swishing of fabric could be heard as the Time Master who arrested them marched in with a frown on his face, "Your friends have time-jumped away. We've lost them. And I've lost any reason to keep you alive," He sighed like he was losing his favorite toy instead of taking the lives of several people.

Ray held up his hands, his protests going unheard, he wasn't ready to die yet, "Hold on, let's just talk about this a moment."

He still had so much he wanted to do. The Time Master seemed uninterested.

Thankfully the sound of footsteps delayed their execution, "Time Master Druce." A guard announced, gun at the ready.

"Kill them all." The Time Master ordered, pointing at a crestfallen Rip Hunter, "Starting with him."

The guard gave a salute, "Yes, sir. But we've calculated when the Waverider is headed."

That seemed to catch the Time Master's attention, and Ray's as well.

"Past or future?"

Ray knew their friends wouldn't leave them here. Alex wouldn't leave them here.

She cared too much about this team. Ray's pulse quickened.

He needed to see her. He needed to tell her the truth about everything.

Needed to tell her how important she was to him.

"The present." The guard announced.

Before Ray could register what was happening, a blast of cold air flew through the entryway, followed by a jet of blue plasma, knocking the guard out.

A flash of golden light followed, wrapping itself around the neck of the Time Master before tightening the grip.

The Time Master clawed at his neck, trying fruitlessly to tear the lasso away from his jugular, but a fist to the face silenced his attempts, Alex's frame standing over the unconscious man.

"Somebody call for a rescue?" Alex smirked, and Leonard shot a look at her.

"That was my line," He quipped, causing Alex to chuckle.

"Couldn't resist,"

Ray could've kissed her right there. He knew she wouldn't leave them behind. How she had gotten Leonard to agree he had no idea.

"Mr. Snart, Miss Prince, as always, your timing is impeccable," Stein spoke in awe from his cell.

Ray caught sight of a shadowy figure emerging behind Alex in the entryway, "Or not," He warned pointing out the man behind them.

The lump in his throat returned as he watched his two friends take on Mick Rory again.

Alex had taken up a defensive position, while Snart had his gun trained on the man.

"Put the gun down, Mick," Leonard ordered.

Mick stood there, stuffed into the Chronos bodysuit like the first time they had seen him. Cold. Unfeeling.

This time he didn't have vengeance to keep him going.

This time they had really lost their teammate.

One of the Time Masters had appeared, a twisted smile on his face. Ray's throat constricted as he watched Alex step in front of Leonard.

He knew she was strong, but she wasn't invincible.

"Chronos, fire." The Time Master ordered.

Ray wanted to close his eyes, but found he couldn't look away. It was too late for them. Mick was Chronos once more, and Ray would soon watch his friends die before being executed himself.

He waited for the shot to come.

Waited for the screams that would haunt him like Anna's did.

Waited to see his closest friends die while he stood by, unable to do anything again.

He had spent his whole life's work ensuring that he was never put in this position again. And here he was.

Pain pierced through his chest, eyes trained on the four adversaries. No matter how hard he tried.

He couldn't look away.

"Sure thing." He heard Chronos speak aloud, laser fire going off.

The Time Master collapsed to the ground, placing pressure on his newly cauterized wound.

When Chronos took off his helmet, there stood Mick, free from any brainwashing.

Ray blew out a sigh of relief.

***

Alex led the charge into the bridge, Rip and Ray following close behind. She hadn't had time to comes to terms with the fact that Mick had almost killed her. Again.

Or the fact that they were struggling to escape. Again.

"Where's everyone else?" Sara asked trying to maneuver the Waverider away from the Vanishing Point and back into the temporal zone.

"Uh, Mr. Snart is helping the Professor get situated in the Med Bay." Rip announced, heading immediately toward the navigational and communication panel.

Ray moved in for a hug, embracing Alex tightly as he answered Sara's question, "He's not doing so how without his nuclear super-half-- I'm so glad you're okay."

Alex reciprocated, her response cut off by a very angry Mick Rory.

"Get me out of this stupid robot suit!"

Rip moved back to the main controls, "First get us the hell out of here... Gideon?"

"I'm here, Captain," The AI chirped, "and if I could take a moment to add how wonderful it feels to be back together."

Alex caught a slight upward tick of Rip's lips, "I have missed you too."

Gideon almost sounded like she was smiling too, "Now that we've had our reunion, I should mention we have a slight problem."

Alex stumbled, grasping ahold of Ray's arm for support, "What the hell was that?"

Ray pulled up the footage from outside the Waverider, eyes going wide, "Uh, the Time Masters are locking onto us with a tractor beam."

"Well then let's get moving," Alex requested, sending a look Sara's direction.

"Punch it, Gideon!" Sara called before taking her hand off the controls, "Sorry, your job."

Rip dismissed her concerns, moving back toward the navigational panel. The Waverider shifted again, throwing off Alex's balance.

"Ms. Lance, stay right where you are," Rip ordered, pressing a series of buttons, "You've proven yourself quite adept at piloting this ship."

Mick was next to intervene, "About the tractor beam--"

"Dr. Palmer is going to help me remotely disable it." Rip announced, and Alex felt Ray straighten up at the news. Clearly he had no idea that was the plan.

"I've already established an uplink to the omnimatrix mainframe, Captain." Gideon chirped.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Someone who speaks English tell me what that means?"

"She's trying to override it remotely," Ray explained, shaking his head, They're not gonna let her though, The Time Masters are evil, but they're not dumb."

The ship rumbled again, jolting backward, almost sweeping the floor from underneath Alex's feet.

"Well that doesn't sound great," She muttered under breath. Maybe she should be flying this ship instead.

"Whatever you're gonna do, you better do it now," Sara ordered, trying to move out of the tractor beam, "They've locked on."

Alex sent a silent prayer to the gods, hoping they were listening.

"Wait," Ray began, turning his focus toward Mick, "What if we convince the system that the override command is coming from somewhere else?"

Rip seemed to catch onto his plan the same time Alex did, "Or someone else."

Ray smiled, happy someone was understanding his train of thought, "Someone they trust. Just need to borrow..." He ripped Mick's gauntlet off, "Chronos' operating system."

His hands flew across the tech, wiring it so Gideon would have access to it.

Alex couldn't help but be impressed.

"I'm "hot-swapping" Mr. Rory's hard drive as we speak," Gideon announced. Ray smiled, letting his hands do all the work. Alex's mind wandered, gaze trained on the fingers that were working their magic.

"And... done," Ray announced. Alex cleared her throat, trying to keep the heat off her face and ignoring the fluttering between her thighs.

She moved forward, focusing on the video footage of the Vanishing Point as the Waverider pushed forward, soon surrounded by the calming green of the Temporal Zone.

The door to the bridge slid open, revealing Leonard sans Stein. "Professor's in the Med Bay," Leonard announced, something akin to a smile on his face, "Promises not to blow up while he's onboard, which I thought was considerate."

Alex bobbed her head, "That's nice of him,"

Rip paced anxiously, his hands settled on his hips, "Yeah, the Professor's condition is the least of our worries, I'm afraid."

Alex creased her eyebrows. What the hell had happened to them in there? Rip's eyes refused to look at any of them, staring off into the ground. She knew that look, the sunken circles that decorated his skin, red lining his irises.

She'd seen it on too many people.

"Yeah," Ray spoke up instead, his gaze locked on the control panel before him, "much to my chagrin, it turns out everything we've done, maybe even our whole lives, has been determined by the Time Masters."

Alex scoffed at that revelation, "Well that's bullshit"

Ray nodded his head, eyebrows twitching upward in an 'oh well' gesture. Alex shook her head. Her life wasn't determined by fate. The Time Masters couldn't have interfered. Because if they had, then her father's death wasn't an accident.

Her mother leaving the island wasn't an accident.

If the Time Masters had been manipulating everything about her life, then that means that they wanted her to interfere in the DEO's experiments regarding universal travel, they wanted her to get stuck here.

That means everything she did since being here, her time with Fitz, it had all been orchestrated to get her here.

Her stomach churned, crawling up her throat until it threatened to expel out of her, a wave of nausea falling over her.

And for someone who never got sick, it was a bit disconcerting.

"What?" Sara asked, the same incredulous look on her face.

Rip faced the two of them, a regretful look in his gaze, "The Time Masters have this thing called the Oculus, which allows them not only to gaze into the future, but to engineer it." Rip explained, moving his gaze until it was solely focused on Alex, "A future where Miss Prince joins forces with Savage to stop an alien invasion."

"And a future where I'm dead, apparently." The statement came from Ray, who sounded like he was casually debating the weather.

Alex shook her head, running a hand through her curls. Suddenly it all made sense. The Pilgrim's reluctance to kill her, Savage's obsession with her. It was the Time Masters feeding him information.

And Ray...he couldn't die. She wouldn't let him die.

He was the only good thing she still had left in her life. She wasn't gonna let the Time Masters take him like Ares took her father.

She would find a way to save him. She would find a way to save all of them.

"And why would they want you dead?"Sara asked, still trying to process all of this information.

"More importantly," Alex interjected, "Why are we even listening to the Time Masters? They imprisoned you, who's to say they didn't make all of this up?"

"Because I saw it," Rip said solemnly, his face falling, "Dr. Palmer's death is inevitable, but in my opinion, his death is not part of their plan."

Alex rolled her eyes at the blanket statement, "You know, shockingly, that doesn't make me feel any better,"

Ray nodded, "Yeah, I'm with Alex on this one, that's not reassuring." The sound of skin hitting skin echoed through the bridge as Mick punched Ray in the shoulder, "Ow!" The scientist grunted in pain, rolling his shoulder back.

Alex just sent Mick a series of raised eyebrows, all saying 'really?'

"You saying the Time Masters wanted me to do that?" The rogue asked, a smug look on his face. Alex rolled her eyes again.

Rip shook his head, voice growing in volume, "What I'm saying is that they've been engineering our lives to move in very specific directions. And we are playing out that script even now."

Sara thankfully, decided to actually take charge of this conversation, "So we can go to 2016, but that might be what the Time Masters want," She began, "Or we can go get Kendra and Carter...

"Which could also be what they want." Alex finished for her, letting out a groan of frustration. She hated being told what to do, especially if it was coming from people who thought they were better than everyone else. She barely did what Rip wanted her to do, but an entire council of Rip Hunters monitoring her life from start to finish?

Now that was insufferable.

"Then we need to do what they don't want," Ray piped up, looking like a lightbulb had gone off in his head, a slight upturn to his lips, "If the Oculus is what they're using to control us, then we need to destroy it."

"But how do we do that if the Time Bastards are pulling our strings?" Leonard asked from beside her, drinking in all the information that had been laid out before them.

Rip's demeanor suddenly changed, eyes lighting up again, "Well, Druce told me that the Oculus' ability to control our actions doesn't work in the Vanishing Point, most likely because the Vanishing Point itself exists outside of time."

"Explains why we were able to escape," Mick commented.

Alex nodded, "And how they didn't see us coming," She added on, recalling the surprise on the Time Master's face when they had rescued their friends.

"And why we might actually have a shot at destroying this thing." Sara smiled, standing up from the Captain's chair to slap Ray's other shoulder, "I'm with Ray."

He rubbed his shoulder, and Alex chuckled at his hurt expression. She didn't blame him. Sara was almost as strong as a natural Amazon.

Rip nodded, " If I'm gonna be someone's puppet, I'm gonna be the one who cuts his own bloody strings."

"And I like blowing stuff up." Mick justified.

Alex smirked at their attitudes. This was what she had signed up for. "I've been saying 'screw you' to fate for years. I'm not about to stop now."

Her eyes shifted to Ray, waiting for his answer. He seemed lost in thought.

"We set out on this mission to stop Savage and save the world," Ray began, the slight smile widening as he caught Alex's dark hues in his own, "To become legends and change our fates. That mission hasn't changed."

"This is madness," Leonard smirked, "I like it."

"Gideon, plot a course to the Oculus Wellspring," Rip ordered, turning back toward the team, "Team...I think it's about time we seized our destinies back."

***

Alex always went to the kitchen in times of stress and it looked like she wasn't the only one. Ray was sat on one side of the counter, chowing down on a red velvet cupcake.

She was thrown back to her birthday celebration, the two of them sharing her birthday cupcake from Sal's.

Times really were much simpler then.

"You make those yourself?" Alex joked, pulling a chair out next to him, leaning against the white tabletop.

Ray nodded, "Kind of," he began, "I wanted to recreate Sal's recipe, but that man is a genius,"

Alex chuckled, reaching over and stealing a piece from the bottom of the cupcake, "Actually his daughter was the one who made them," She smiled at the thought of the two of them. Sal was long dead by now, but his daughter...she was still alive. She was still there in 2016.

And she had no idea what was going to happen in the future.

Footsteps brought both of them out of their thoughts, Mick joining both of them.

"Mmm. If I'm gonna die, no sense watching my diet." Ray explained reaching for another cupcake.

No one chuckled at that joke. Alex couldn't even entertain the idea.

"The Time Masters have been known to make mistakes, you know?" Mick announced his unlikely support, sending a worried look Ray's direction.

Ray just shrugged, his optimistic expression dropping at the thought. "But what if those mistakes were all part of their plan? Actually, I gotta stop thinking about it. The temporal implications are infinite."

"That's why I don't think."

Alex chuckled and shook her head, facing the rogue. "You want one Mick?" She gestured to the plate of sweets Ray had made for his last meal and Mick took a pastry from off the top.

"Not bad, right?" Ray smiled proudly, no doubt grateful for the change of subject.

"Good."

Ray and Alex looked at each other, both sensing what the other was thinking. They had the same question, and no one wanted to be the first one to ask.

"So how'd you do it?" Alex broke the silence, swallowing her nerves.

Mick spoke through mouthfuls of food, "Do what?"

"How did you not get turned into Chronos?" Ray followed up, his gaze never wavering, "You said the only way you held onto yourself the first time was by focusing on your hate--"

"What did I focus on this time?" Mick finished for them, the couple nodding as Mick stared at them, "The team."

"Aww," Alex responded, causing Mick to turn around in embarrassment.

"And how much you cared for us?" Ray's comment wasn't helping, but it was funny to see Mick put in such a vulnerable position.

"I thought about how royally screwed you'd be without me." Mick turned back around, grabbing another pastry, "My point being, if I can survive not being turned into Chronos, you can survive anything they throw at you."

Ray nodded, his optimism finding a way back onto his face, "Thanks. I'll keep it in mind."

Mick nodded, his threatening demeanor returning, "Well, you better because if you tell the team I actually care, I'll shave your head,"

Alex made a face and shrugged as he left the room, "At least he didn't threaten to kill you, so progress?"

Ray chuckled at her joke, tossing the wrappers in the garbage and turning to face Alex.

"Alex, listen, if I die out there--"

"You won't," She reassured him, grasping tightly onto his hand and squeezing it, "I promise,"

"Please I need you to hear this," Ray choked out, placing his other hand on top of hers, "If I die, I need you to know how much this," He gestured to the ship, "All of this meant to me, how much you meant to me."

Alex's throat tightened, breathing shallowly as Ray continued to talk. She wasn't ready for this conversation. She wasn't ready to say goodbye.
"I know we've had our ups and downs, but our friendship..." Ray paused, silently scanning her face before continuing, "Everything that we've been through has made me a better person. Because of you."

The prickling in Alex's nose was a warning sign, telling her to shut down this conversation now. "Why are you acting like this is goodbye?"

Ray's hesitation told her all she needed to know.

Alex shook her head, "I'm not letting fate dictate our lives anymore," She spoke strongly, determined to stop whatever was going to happen from happening, "If fate says that I team up with Vandal Savage then I will do everything in my power to stop that from ever happening, and if fate says that you're going to die out there, then I'll stop that too." The knot in her throat grew bigger and bigger, until she finally choked out what she had been trying to say all along, "I can't lose you too."

Ray nodded, and he pulled her into his chest, arms squeezing her tightly as her head fit underneath his chin.

No one disturbed them for a long time and all they wanted to do was stay there until the storm passed.

***

The team met no reinforcements as they walked through the Oculus Wellspring. Alex felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

It was easy. Almost too easy.

"Hello again, Rip," Druce drawled, several guards popping out from behind the pillars, "Right on schedule."

Alex pulled out her sword and shield, grateful for Ray revamping the circular disc so it could deflect blaster fire.

"Uh, I think we've walked into a trap," Ray muttered, looking around. They were surrounded.

Druce shook his head, "No, it's destiny. I must say you've all played your parts well," He announced, turning his gaze toward Alex, "And it is a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Prince,"

She sent him a sarcastic smile, "Wish I could say the same,"

Druce simply sighed and continued forward, "As with everything else you've done, I'm afraid it was all for nothing. All your posturing--"

"All your claims about doing what's best for the timeline," Rip cut off his superior, anger stirring just below the surface, "About protecting history, and it all comes down to cold-blooded murder."

Alex stared at the firing squad Druce had assembled. Even if she could take them, her friends couldn't.

It was too late for them. They would kill her friends, take her prisoner, and her entire life would be determined for her.

Her throat constricted, heart pounding at the thought. She wouldn't let that happen.

"The difference between murder and execution is only a matter of authority," Druce explained, his arrogance poisoning the air around them, it made her sick, "I have it. You don't. Kill them." He ordered, the Legends taking a defensive stance against the guards. But it was too late.

They were already dead.

The sight of laser fire rained down from the sky, killing most of the firing squad and clearing the path.

Alex whipped around, the rare synchronicity between the team returning as they all turned to face the Jumpship that had just touched down.

A laugh escaped Alex's lips. She knew there was someone else missing.

"Hope I'm not too late." Jax joked, holding out his hand for Stein to take.

Stein shook his head, reuniting with his other half, "No, Jefferson, you're right on time."

The two merged and Alex ran forward, engulfing Jax in a tight hug, "Thank god you're a genius," She quipped, and Jax just shrugged.

Rip couldn't even move, still in awe from the rescue, "How did you--"

"What?" Jax challenged, a wide smirk on his face, "You thought you were the only one who knew a thing or two about time travel?"

Rip let the matter drop and congratulated the kid, "Good work. We need to get to the Oculus before reinforcements arrive."

They walked through the open doors, boots clanging against the cement as they reached the giant glowing pit in the middle of the floor.

It stared up at her, almost tempting Alex to take one step into the green timeline, but she knew that if she did she would be scattered through time, burnt up.

Ray's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, slowly climbing up the ramp. Alex's heart jumped into her chest as he crossed the ramp. Silently praying that he wouldn't fall.

"It'll take about two minutes to figure out how to self-destruct this thing," He began, Rip following close behind.

The Captain nodded, "We'll buy you some time." He turned back toward the team, "You lot guard the entrance. Mr. Rory, Miss Prince, you're with me."

Alex nodded, catching the pistol Rip had thrown her way. She knew he didn't mean anything by it, but she needed a long-range weapon. She supposed this would do.

Taking a spot on the other side of Ray, she stared around the corner, looking for any guards that were coming their way.

She didn't have to wait very long.

"Hurry up, haircut," Mick ordered, keeping a lookout.

Alex moved from her post, checking in on Ray.

"How much longer?" Rip asked, cutting off her response.

Ray shrugged, playing with several wires and cutting several others, "Well, just about to reverse the polarity matrix. Once I do that, I say we have about two minutes before this whole place goes boom."

God, she could've kissed him right then and there.

"How big of a boom?" Mick asked.

Ray continued to poke and prod the Oculus, his focus never wavering, "On a scale from one to ten... a googolplex."

Alex chuckled. Even at the end of the world Ray was gonna crack a joke.

He let out a grunt of frustration and removed his helmet, followed quickly by his gloves.

"What are you doing?" Rip asked, his tone growing frantic.

While Alex didn't entirely understand it, she knew it couldn't be good.

"I can't work with all this gear on," Ray complained, setting down his helmet and gloves by his side.

"You can't."

He wiggled his fingers as he began to get back to work, "A programmer needs his hands."

Rip seemed unconvinced, his forehead creasing as he tried to stop the inventor from going through with it.

"Ray--"

"I got this, don't worry."

"No, you don't." Rip yelled, the tired look in his eyes returning, all hope lost, "This is what I saw. This is what Druce showed me. This is how you die."

Alex's heart dropped into her stomach at his words, pressure building behind her eyes as she stared at Ray's hesitant gaze.

"It's okay," Ray finally spoke up, his adam's apple moving up and down as he swallowed whatever he was feeling, "All my life I've wanted to make a difference. Creating a future for you guys without the Time Masters influence, that counts."

Alex shook her head. She wouldn't let him die.

She promised him that he wouldn't die.

She couldn't lose him too.

"Alex--"

"No," Her voice cracked, shaking her head.

"Please, I need you to hear--"

Alex wrapped her hands around Ray's cheeks, thumb caressing his skin, "Save it for later, because I'm getting you out of here,"

Ray nodded, his gaze fluttering to the lower half of her face, lingering there before pulling up to meet her glassy gaze again.

It would be so easy. If they were dying she would do it.

But they weren't dying. Ray wasn't dying.

So she pulled him into an embrace instead, ducking to avoid the laser fire sent their way.

The two of them pulled apart, and Alex prepped her pistol, the green laser meeting red.

"I'm almost there, so keep 'em off me, okay?" Ray requested. Alex nodded, and an unlikely form of support came from Mick.

"We got you."

The barrage was endless, she killed one, two more popped up.

It was agonizing, firing, and then hiding and then firing again.

This was why she would've been a horrible Archer. Great with firing arrows, but too damn impatient to actually stay in these defensive positions. She wanted to just take her sword and slice through them.

"How close are we?" Alex yelled over the blaster fire, taking refuge beside Ray as she watched him fiddle with the Oculus some more.

"All right. Almost done." Ray said with a smile on his face. The smile faded when something popped up, and he dropped into a frown, "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" The three of them said at the same time.

Ray shook his head, dodging more blaster fire as he pressed down on the platform that had popped up, "There seems to be a failsafe to prevent tampering, which probably includes trying to blow this thing up."

"English, haircut."

For the first time, Alex found herself agreeing with Mick.

"I have to maintain contact with the failsafe it order to destroy the Oculus."

Alex's stomach dropped again, and she met Mick's gaze. He seemed to be just as worried as she was.

"Not that much English."

Alex couldn't focus anymore. Her shots were all over the place.

Ray was going to die.

He was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.

She couldn't keep her promise.

"Get back to the ship!" Ray ordered, his hand never leaving the failsafe.

Alex shook her head, "Not without you,"

"Alex," Ray whispered her name, pleading with her, silently telling her to leave, "Please, I can't lose you too."

"We're not leaving without you," Rip interjected, not ready to give up either. Ray turned toward their Captain.

"You've already seen the future: I'm dead already."

"You're right," Mick muttered, hitting Ray over the head with the butt of his gun, knocking the man out and taking his place.

"Mick--" Alex began.

The rogue shook his head, "I got this. I want revenge on those bastards. Now get outta here."

While Rip shrunk Ray, Alex moved forward, pressing her lips against Mick's scruffy cheek, embracing him tightly, "Thank you," She choked out, "You're a good person Mick."

Mick nodded, "Make sure haircut knows how lucky he is,"

She nodded, scrambling after Rip until they were back outside. Relief washed over her. Ray was safe.

Her friends were safe.

Not all of them. A little voice inside her head whispered. Her gut twisted, and the voice was telling her to go back in, to save Mick instead.

She tried to shake them away, but they kept returning.

"We're leaving!" Rip called, Leonard and Sara turning around to face the two of them.

"Where's Raymond and Mick?" Leonard yelled over the chaos.

"Ray's safe," Alex assured them.

"Ray is in my pocket and Mick has elected to stay" Rip explained staring back into the Oculus chamber.

"Why?"

"Ray said there's a failsafe," Alex explained, "Someone has to stay behind to hold it down."

FIRESTORM flew to the ground, out of breath, "We gotta go!"

Leonard dropped his gun to his side, turning to face Alex with a look of determination on his face. "It's been a pleasure Girl Scout,"

The realization hit her too late. His lips pressed against her cheek, dropping the cold gun in her hands as he charged forward, ignoring the cries behind him.

"No, I'm not letting you do this," She called after him, vision blurring as Rip grabbed her arm, struggling to hold her back, "Leonard! You can't! Please--"

Her chest was pounding, pain licked every bone in her body, using every ounce of strength to keep herself from breaking apart right then and there.

"Alex!" Rip sounded miles away, her gaze locked onto the door Leonard and Sara disappeared through. He couldn't do this.

She needed him.

She needed both of them.

He couldn't do this.

With one final wrench, she pulled free from Rip's grip, charging forward toward the door. The world seemed to pass in slow motion, the Time Masters barely paying any attention as she moved through them, dirt rising up from underneath her boots.

It was sharp, a stab to the chest that slowed her movements, sapped her strength as she used every ounce to move forward, dodging laser blasts, the cold gun heavy in her hand.

It weighed her down, becoming heavier with each step she took, until she felt like it was dragging on the ground.

He would survive this.

She would see him again.

"L E O N A R D!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, hopelessly trying to stop him.

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist, and she struggled against the tight grip, throat closing up as she continued to scream his name until her voice went hoarse, trying to kick her way free.

But the person holding her was determined not to let her go.

Her throat burned.

Her eyes itched.

Her head ached.

Her legs dragged against the floor of the Waverider, Sara and Mick falling close behind. The oculus blew up in a cloud of blue and red behind them, taking the vanishing point with it.

Where she should've felt victory she felt nothing.

She was hollow. Empty.

Alex crumpled to her knees, curling into the embrace of the person who had dragged her aboard, Rip's hands embracing her shoulders and squeezing tightly.

She stared off into space.

The tears didn't stop.

He was gone.

He had been her one constant aboard this ship. And he was gone.

What was she gonna do now?

Rip's body moved away, and she fell further, her hands barely holding her up.

Arms shook, threatening to collapse underneath her until another figure took his place soon after, with familiar arms that warmed her and a comforting whisper that soothed her. He lifted her up until they were both standing.

Hot water splashed against her cheeks again, squeezing tightly before staring out into the temporal zone, playing the scene over and over in her mind.

"He traded his life for ours. He was a hero." Ray spoke with a choked tone, he was grieving Snart as much as she was. "Which I'm pretty sure is the last thing he wanted to be remembered as."

"But that's what he was." Sara wiped a single tear from her face.

Alex nodded, biting her lip in frustration. Any tears she had left had dried up in crusty trails on her face, and any grief inside her body had morphed into anger. "That's how he deserves to be remembered," Her voice caught in her throat, ignoring the prickling in her nostrils, "As a hero. As a legend."

Ray's hand moved up and down her spine in a comforting gesture and she leaned into it.

He was gone.

Leonard Snart, the one person she had in her corner since the beginning, was dead.

It was all too familiar.

A dead friend, a craving for vengeance.

She'd been down this road before.

Except there was one crucial difference this time.

This time she wasn't alone.

***

a.n: thank you guys so much for the love on this story! one more chapter until the end of act one I'm so excited! if you feel inclined feel free to leave a vote and a review!