***Author's Note: After the premier, I needed to write this to deal with all my feels. I cranked this out in less than two hours, so I apologize for any mistakes I made. Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.***
"Someone has got to tell Sin." Felicity said quietly.
Oliver, Dig, and Roy all nodded solemnly. All of them had just come from Sara's funeral, which none of them had wanted to go to in the first place because Sara was still totally alive… right?
As much as they wanted to believe that, they knew that that was a lie where no true comfort could be found. Sara not only was shot in the chest three arrows, but she also fell of the roof of a building. Sara was extremely tough, they all realized that. But even through all that, all the training, the weapons, the quips, she was still a human being with all the limitations of one.
But just because Sara had her limitations doesn't mean that they couldn't grieve. She was their friend after all. Oliver was leaning on a table, Roy and Dig both propped against the walls, and Felicity took her normal perch on her computer chair. Her fingers traced the keys of the keyboard. They absentmindedly went over the letters of Sara's name; over and over again.
"I agree." Dig replied after a long pause.
"I'll go. I know where she's living. Well, what you can call 'living'. From what research I've done, it's a piece of crap." Felicity offered, already rising out of her chair.
"How do you know where Sin is living?" Dig wondered from the shadows.
Felicity gave him a look that screamed, 'Really John?'
Roy shook his head. "No. I'll go. We have some resemblance of a friendship. She'll take it better coming from me, not some blonde chick she's never met before. Okay?"
"Good point." Felicity answered.
As Roy walked up the stairs, clad in his black suit, he looked like the Grim Reaper, off to tell his next victim when their life would end.
Felicity had given Roy the address of Sin's residence. He hustled down the streets- which was sort of difficult to do, since he was still wearing his suit that he wore to the funeral. He did his best to shake off the strange looks he got from passersby, especially the more rugged looking ones.
It took him awhile to actually get to the residence as he kept taking wrong turns or missing the streets. Finally, he ended up in the outskirts of the Glades. There weren't a lot of buildings, but the ones that were there were practically abandoned. A fire broke out her before he was born and much of this sector had suffered. The city didn't bother building it.
The house Sin was holed up in was hardly a house. Just four cement walls with a collapsed roof that had been replaced with a tarp. A bonfire was burning inside, as he could see the light through the tarp and smell the smoke. He thought he could hear Sin humming a tune.
"Sin? You home?"
There was the distinctive cocking of a handgun. "Who's there?" She asked defensively. There was a trickle of fear in her voice.
"Sin, its' me Roy- Abercrombie. I know it's been a long time."
There was the clicking of a lock being unlocked. The door swung open. Sin's face peeped out, covered in dirt and more than a few bruises. "Abercrombie? Shit, where have you been?" Sin wondered. Roy was relieved that she sounded relieved to see him. But that also worried him; it made what he about to tell her so much worse.
She let him inside. "What's with the suit?" Sin asked while Roy was trying to make sense of the messes of graffiti in the walls.
"That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about."
"You joined a secret agency and want to recruit me? Sorry, pretty boy. I'm doing just fine on my own. As you can tell by my humble abode." Sin joked. She tucked the gun into a cinderblock on the floor. When she did so, her jacket slithered up her abdomen a bit. Roy could make out stark bruises and what appeared to be knife slices. He winced a little.
"Not exactly. You might want to sit down."
Something in Sin's dark eyes flickered. She understood the magnitude of Roy's visit. Slowly, she sat down on a cinderblock. Roy pulled up a wooden crate from the corner. "This... this is going to be tough to hear-"
"Just spit it out. Whatever it is, I can take it." The venom masked her fear.
"Sara… Sara was killed a few nights ago. I'm sorry." He said slowly.
God, the look on her face. It sunk in a way that was so painful Roy would have rather shot himself in the throat.
Tears welled in Sin's eyes. "No. She can't be dead. She's just gone missing like when she was shipwrecked. She can't be dead!"
"Sin. We have a body this time. She was shot three times in the chest with arrows, fell off a building. She fractured her skull. She's not coming back this time. I'm sorry." Roy replied as calmly as possible. Though that was difficult with Sin being as hysterical as she was.
Sin took a deep breath, stood up, and sauntered over to the wall. From there, she started pounding the solid cement with her fists screaming that it was unfair. She thought back to that conversation in Verdant. How Sara had said that she was her little sister and she would never have to know what it was like without Sara.
But Sara had been gone for five months. No letter, no postcards, no emails. Sin has had to fend for herself and has been doing a poor job of doing so. Most of her old friends wouldn't talk to her because they knew she affiliated with the Canary- whom had taken down their own criminal activities and forced them to face justice. She had been used as a practice dummy for a lot of up and coming gang bangers and Sin could only do so much to defend herself.
Still, despite all that, Sara had still been alive. Maybe not physically there, but she was somewhere alive on the planet. Sin never even got to really say goodbye. Never got to tell Sara one last time what she meant to her.
And that was why she was banging on the walls and screaming so loud.
It. Just. Was. Not. Fair.
Sin had been silent for a while. Eerily silent. She had stooped so she was sitting with her back to the wall and her knees tucked to her chest. She looked like she was concentrating all her energies on not crying. Which, Roy reminded himself, she probably was.
In the time since the melt down, he had examined Sin's condition.
Her clothes, which looked like they hadn't been properly cleaned in months, were covered in muck and grime. A rank smell diluted the air about her. Her face looked hollow, as if she hadn't eaten a proper meal in weeks. Sin's skin had always been vampire pale, but now it was even more than vampire pale. Not to mention the bruises and scrapes about her face and chest. No doubt she had more on her arms and back. Maybe even her legs.
As horrible as all that was, none of it was as sad as the look in her eyes.
When Roy had first met Sin, she was all cockiness and swagger. A bit over confident, yes. But all Glades' kids needed to be that way if they wanted to survive. Maybe she wasn't always happy but she sure made you believe she was better than you.
Now, even before he delivered the terrible news, she looked beaten down. Defeated. Like this tough life had finally gotten the better of her. And, in part, Roy blamed himself.
He should have realized with Sara off with the League that Sin would be vulnerable to all kinds of crap. Perhaps he didn't really owe it to Sin, or even Sara for that matter, but he should have protected her. Kept in better contact looked after her. After all, street rats should stick together, right?
He looked over at Sin for the millionth time. "I really am sorry, Sin."
"Get out." She muttered.
"Wha-"
"GET OUT!" Sin roared.
Roy, remembering the gun stashed under the cinderblock, backed up to the door. "Sara's buried at 52nd street when you want to see her." He said before hustling out.
On the way back to the Foundry, he made a mental note to tell the other's they need to make more patrols to the burned out section of the Glade's and keep an eye on Sin; make sure she's safe.
After all, Sara would want that.
*** So what did you think? Pleas leave a review! Also, the next chapter of 'You're Always Welcome Here' will be coming out within the next week or so. I've just been so busy with school and work I haven't had a whole lot of time to write, so I'm sorry about that. Thanks again for reading!***