Hello Fluff loving people of the internet. I hope you are having a lovely spring. This is a new series planned to be a six-parter. Don't you worry, I'm writing another chapter for my oldest fic as we speak. Anyway, nothing here is mine, I love you DC, please don't sue me.

Ray sat in the mess hall of the Waverider. A greasy pile of french fries sat in front of him in a plastic bin, the type that would be from a Five Guys or a Wendy's. He slowly shoved one at a time into his mouth without much chewing. His mind was on other things. He watched Martin get shot. And somehow Martin still pushed on to save them. Thankfully Professor Stein was still breathing and Gideon is a miracle worker, she's healed legends from worse. Any minute now Jax would walk out of the med bay supporting Stein on his arm. Martin would make a quip like "What's the difference between my father and me? … The Nazi's didn't kill me." and he would be put in bed-rest on Gideon's orders and in a few days the whole group would be out and about galavanting through the time stream and stopping Mallus with both halves of Firestorm alive and well. (Ok, two thirds of Firestorm, sorry Ronnie)

Out of the corner of his eye Ray saw the team's newest member, Zari Tomaz, enter the mess hall. He expected her to go and grab a burger from the fridge and nuke it, but she didn't do that at all. She walked towards him. "Hi Ray." She said quietly, no usual sarcasm or wit in her voice, just care and a hint of sadness.

"Hey. Want a fry?" He asked grabbing one of his greasy potato sticks, holding it out for his new friend to take.

"Um… no thanks." Ray shrugged.

"Your loss." He popped the cold fry into his mouth chewing softly. Silence ensued as the two just kind of looked at each other. Zari's eyes showed hurt, something that usually isn't there, but Ray didn't press her on it, Martin's injury was rough on all of the legends, even the new ones. After a few uncomfortable minutes, Zari Finally broke the silence.

"So… I don't… I don't know how to put this Ray…"

"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere." Raymond said with a reassuring smile. It was really sad how oblivious he was to what was about to happen. Zari shut her eyes for a bit and then looked down at the floor. She didn't want to look at Ray when she said what she had to.

"I'm just gonna come out and say it: Martin died Ray, I'm sorry." After a beat Zari looked up, Ray's smile didn't change from a moment ago. "Did you hear me? Do you want water or something?"

"Zari, that's not a funny joke. It would be cruel if I wasn't sure Gideon couldn't heal a gunshot wound or two. Plus, his connection to Jax is also a safeguard." Zari pursed her lips together and pressed on them with her teeth.

"I'm not trying to be cruel… he really is dead Ray. I know it's hard to hear, but it's true."

"But Jax…"

"Martin drank Cisco's drug. They split up Firestorm so Jax could live." Ray dropped a fry from his hand onto the floor. His mouth was agape, his eyes no longer shimmering. Abruptly Ray stood up and took off running. "Ray!" In her mind, Zari knew that there was a possibility that Ray wanted to be alone, but she couldn't let him be by himself at such a dark time. She had to be sure Ray didn't do something he would regret, if he did, Zari would never be able to forgive herself for leaving him by himself.

When Zari finally caught up with Ray, he was in the med bay. The room was clean smelling, like a doctor's office. Martin's cold grey body was being held by Jax, who was silently the sight, Ray dropped to his knees. A short breath escaped him as he fell. "No." HE said. "No, no, no, it can't be. No." he repeated over and over again. Soon a few sobs left his lips with his . Zari dropped down to him and put her arm around him. She rubbed his back as he turned into her, letting his head rest on her shoulder, his tears wetting her neck. "I know, Ray." she said softly to him. "I know. Let's get you away from this." Wrapping her arm around him she stood pulling him up. While he still had his face buried in her, she led him to his room and sat him on his bed. A few minutes passed of Ray crying into Zari in soft quiet breaths. Ray pulled away from her and grabbed a picture of him and Martin in the Wild West. Tears fell onto the glass. He pulled Zari back into an embrace, the picture trapped between them. Zari ran her hand up and down Ray's back, trying to calm him like she saw his mother do when they visited young Ray. Soon his crying stopped and Zari pulled back leaving Ray looking down at the floor.

"Do you want me to leave?" She asked. Not looking up or making a sound, Ray shook his head. Zari put her hand over his, "I won't. Grief is a long process with many steps, I won't leave you for any of them." Ray leaned against her and cried some more. As the hours went on, Ray's eyes dried up from the tears and he was just crying in dry sobs. By 11:00 Zari felt his head get heavier against his shoulder. "Ray?" She asked softly. She got no response. Zari slowly pushed him off of her and laid him out on his bed. She pulled the neatly rolled quilt up from the foot of his bed and covered him with it. "Goodnight Ray. I'm sorry that this happened."

Zari walked out of Ray's room and wandered the hallways. She got herself a glass of water and sat in a chair watching the timestream pass by and allowing her attention to be engulfed by the greenish-blue hues out of the window. She heard behind her Nate and Amaya, comforting each other with promises of love and never leaving each other. 'What a load of crap' Zari thought… then again, that was a little sweet, just not her style. Once the glass was drained Zari walked to her room. She grabbed a pillow and blanket from her room and brought it out back to the bridge. She sat back in her chair and curled up, trying to fall asleep, but her mind kept wandering back to Ray, she couldn't bear the thought of leaving him alone at this time. Sighing she stood back up for a final time and walked towards Ray's room. She tossed her pillow on Ray's floor silently shutting the door behind her. She lay herself down and stretched herself out for sleep, letting herself drift off to Ray's steady deep breathing.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed it. As always, flames are allowed. Love ya!