Everything's a Mess

And all these sorrows I have seen

They lead me to believe

That everything's a mess

Martin tried to start his car for what seemed to be the millionth time. He had tried everything, but his car still wouldn't start. He angrily hit the steering wheel and got out of his car. He opened up the hood to inspect it, but he was no mechanic. He had no idea what he was doing. Martin heard a car approaching and turned towards the road. Maybe if he could get this person's attention, he could get help. He waved his arms as the car came nearer. Martin smiled as the car began to slow down and pulled over to the side of the road. Martin's smile faltered as he saw who came out of the car.

O

Jax was driving back from the café when he saw something. An old man was pulled over on the side of the road and was waving frantically at him. Jax knew a thing or two about mechanics, so he pulled over and stepped out of his car. The man visibly paled upon seeing him.

"Hi," Jax said.

The man just stared.

Jax approached the car, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Uh, um," the man stuttered, finally finding his voice. "It won't start," he said lamely.

Jax walked over to the hood of the car and inspected the engine. Martin mentally kicked himself for acting so foolish and walked over to Jax.

"My apologies," he said, staring intently at Jax. "Have we met before?"

Jax looked up from the hood of the car and returned Stein's gaze, "I'm not sure. You actually seem kind of familiar."

"Professor Martin Stein," Martin said, extending his hand.

"Jefferson Jackson," Jax said, shaking Martin's hand. "You can call me Jax."

"Nice to meet you," Martin replied.

"Nice to meet you too, Professor."

O

He soared through the air, his powerful wings flapping mightily. He turned to see Kendra flying beside him, dressed in warrior garb. She looked beautiful, fierce, and strong. He smiled. This is where he belonged; the wind rushing past his face and rustling his wings, the adrenaline of being so high in the air, and the strong bond he felt when flying with Kendra.

Carter blinked as he saw a small, shiny object sail through the sky towards him. He didn't realize what it was until it was too late. A knife buried itself in Kendra's throat. She gurgled in surprise and clawed at the knife as she plummeted to the ground. Carter jerked his head in the direction that knife came and barely avoided being hit with a knife himself. He looked down at the ground to see an Arabic man dressed in elaborate, ornate robes lined with a variety of impressive daggers and knives. The man sneered at Carter and threw another knife in his direction. Carter swung to the left, but the knife clipped one of his wings and he began to plunge towards the ground. He landed with a grunt at the man's feet and fearfully looked up at him. The man smirked triumphantly.

"It was a valiant effort," he said mockingly. "But I'm afraid it was not good enough." The man bent down and sliced Carter's throat with a decorative knife.
"Carter! Carter!"

A gentle hand caressed Carter's face. He opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Kendra's beautiful, but worried, face looking lovingly down upon him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It was just a bad dream."

"It seemed like more than that. You were really upset."

"Well, you died," he paused. "In my dream. I think."

Kendra looked puzzled, "I'm not dead, Carter."

Carter looked off in the distance as if he was remembering something, "But haven't you died before?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I haven't died before! Are you sure you're okay?"

Carter fully sat up and studied Kendra, "There was this…man."

Kendra looked confused.

"In my dream," Carter elaborated. "I'm sure I've seen him somewhere." Carter looked off into the distance again, "He killed us both."

"Carter, it was just a dream."

"But that's the thing. It seemed so real. It seemed – " Carter gasped. Memories flooded Carter's mind and hit him like a slap to the face. He remembered ancient Egypt, he remembered his first death, he remembered Vandal Savage, he remembered being born and reborn, he remembered falling in love with Kendra countless times, and he remembered fleeing for their lives everywhere they went. Carter was suddenly brought back to the present when Kendra tightly gripped his arm.

"Carter! What's wrong?"

"Kendra," he breathed. "I remember."

O

Ray happily hummed to himself as he walked down the street. Anyone could tell he was beaming with joy. Ray was beginning to really get into his humming when he heard something. He paused and listened. He heard a meaty thump and a cry of pain. Ray raced towards the noise. He stopped when he reached the alley where the noise came from. Two men were holding another man down while a third punched him in the gut. The restrained man groaned.

"Hey!" Ray shouted. The men looked in his direction.

"Keep moving!" one of the men holding the injured man commanded.

Ray hesitated and looked at the beaten man, "No."

The men exchanged a look.

"No?" the leader asked.

"That's right," Ray said while stepping into the alley. "Now let this man go," he said gesturing to the wounded man.

The three criminals chuckles, "Is this guy for real?" one of them asked.

"I said let him go," Ray said with more confidence than he had.

The men looked at each other. They released the injured man and slowly approached Ray.

"If you say so," the leader said, the other two men flanking him.

Ray held up his fists, prepared to fight.

O

A black SUV quickly pulled up to a devastating scene of dead bodies and gun-ridden buildings. Mick opened the car door angrily and slammed it shut. He assistant nervously got out of the car behind him.

"I guess we didn't get here in time," he said timidly.

Mick was about to reply when he heard an explosion; the building behind them suddenly caught fire. Mick and his assistant ducked behind the car.

"Help!" someone cried from within the building.

"Should we help, sir?"

Mick looked at his assistant as if he had just asked him what two plus two was, "Of course not!"

"…it could be one of our men."

"It might not."

"What if it was a member of the rival mob family? We could get some information."

Mick glared at his assistant, "You check the back. I'll go in the front."

His assistant nodded and raced towards the back of the building. Mick nonchalantly walked to the front of the building and opened the door as if it there hadn't been an explosion nearly a minute earlier. Mick entered the building, took a quick look at his surroundings, and turned to leave when the room suddenly combusted into flames. Mick turned around. There was some sort of flammable fluid covering the floor and the fire eagerly spread its way across the room. Mick stared in awe.

The flames danced around the room and cast dark, flickering shadows across the walls. The flames themselves were so beautiful. They quivered in pure, raw energy – an energy so powerful that it could not be contained to any one shape. The flames bounced and arced across the room like joyous spirits dancing in celebration. The brightness of the flames cast an earthy glow on the room, causing everything to look mellow and soft. The fire was always moving and changing. Its energy and motion completely unharnessed. Fire was the image of wholesome, pristine power; its power unmatched by anything else. The heat the fire emanated was able to warm the entire building; the heat that suddenly seemed too close.

Mick blinked and realized the hungry flames were nearly a foot away from him. He took and step back and turned towards the door to find that the door was also blocked by the flames. Mick was suddenly aware of the smoke and began to cough. He covered his mouth with his sleeve, but it was useless. He was trapped by the very thing he admired. Mick jumped at the sound of a loud smashing noise to his right. It seemed too early for the building to be collapsing already. The noise sounded again, and the wall to Mick's left burst open.

"Mick!" a voice called.

Mick could barely make out a figure through the smoke and ever-changing light caused by the fire. Mick stumbled in the voice's direction. When he drew nearer to the wall, a strong arm pulled him from the burning building and into the clean, sweet air. He took in several large gulps of this beautiful air and turned to his rescuer. It was the mysterious man from the club.

He stared at Mick coolly, "You're gonna get yourself killed."

"Who are you?"

"You really don't remember me, do you?"

"Why? Should I?"

"Mick!" the voice of Mick's assistant floated through the air.

"Don't go anywhere," Mick said sternly to the strange man.

"No promises," he replied icily.

"Mick!" his assistant called, rounding the corner. "I thought you, well, you know."

"You thought I died? It'd take more than a simple fire to kill me."

His assistant looked at Mick confusedly, "Did you find someone? I thought I heard you talking to somebody."

Mick turned to look back at the man he was speaking to earlier, but he was gone, yet again.

"No," Mick replied gruffly. "I didn't find anyone."

O

Sara and Laurel walked happily down the sidewalk of Star City.

"Oh, c'mon, Laurel," Sara said, giving her sister a teasing smile. "I saw the way he was looking at you."

"Sara!" she said swatting Sara lightly on the arm. "Besides, it's not like that at all."

Sara rolled her eyes, "Sure it's not."

Laurel sputtered.

Sara laughed, "See? You can't deny it."

"Hey, pretty girls," a rough voice said.

Sara and Laurel turned to see a rugged, ruffled man slouched against the wall of a building next to an alley looking at them with a lopsided grin on his face. The girls looked at each other and began to walk faster.

"Hey!" the man called. "I was talking to you!"

Laurel screamed as the man grabbed her and pulled her into the nearby alley.

"Laurel!" Sara said, racing after her sister into the alley. "Take your hands off my sister!"

"Or what?" a voice behind Sara asked hungrily.

Sara spun around to see another grubby looking man holding a knife slowly approaching her. Sara tensed and warily eyed his knife.

"That's what I thought," the man with the knife said.

He lunged at Sara, but she sidestepped him and grabbed him by his arm and used his momentum to bring his face to her knee. She wrenched the knife from his hand and elbowed him in the back of the head. He crumpled to the floor. The man holding Laurel faltered, but Sara was unstoppable. She ran towards the wall, pushed off of it with one foot, and arced through the sky towards the man, and punched him in the face as she descended. He landed on the ground with a thump. Sara knelt beside the man on the ground and stood up shakily.

"…Sara?" Laurel said timidly.

Sara mirrored her sister's fear and dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor next to the man who had been holding Laurel. Sara was breathing heavily. Laurel saw her sister's distress and immediately went over to her.

"Let's go home," Laurel said while guiding Sara by the shoulders out of the alley.

O

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" a confused Ray asked.

"Yes," Martin agreed. "I was thinking that same thing myself."

Martin, Jax, Ray, and Mick all stood upon a rooftop. A cool night breeze lightly rustled their clothing.

"I thought I was going to an international convention on molecular science," Ray explained.

"You don't seem like a scientist," Mick noted, nodding at Ray's black eye and small scrape across his nose. "What happened to you anyway?"

Ray looked down in embarrassment, "It's a long story."

The door to the rooftop opened and Kendra and Carter joined the others on the rooftop.

"Great," Mick said sarcastically. "If things weren't confusing enough, who are these people?"

Kendra and Carter assessed the others warily.

"Hello," Martin said approaching them. "I am Professor Martin Stein and this is my associate Jefferson Jackson."

"Hi," Jax said waving. "You can call me Jax."

Kendra smiled and shook their hands, "I'm Kendra and this is Carter."

Kendra gave Carter a pointed look and he shook their hands reluctantly.

"Who's that?" Carter said gesturing towards Mick. Mick heard him.

"I'm Mick Rory. I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you, but I'd be lying."

"What a nice guy," Carter muttered to Kendra. She giggled.

The door to the rooftop opened once more, and Sara strode onto the roof and paused when she saw the others. She eyed them suspiciously, but approached them anyway.

"So…" she said. "What's going on?"

"Hopefully, I might be able to shed some light on the situation," someone said.

The team turned around.

"My name is Rip Hunter, and I'm here to save you."

"Save us?" Sara asked.

"Save us from what, exactly?" Kendra said.

"Yourselves."

The team exchanged a look.

"I don't know about you, but I don't need saving," Mick said and began to leave.

"Mr. Rory!" Rip called. This caused Mick to pause.

He turned, "How do you know my name?"

"Because we are friends."

Mick looked at Rip unconvinced, "I don't remember you."

"None of you do," Rip said addressing the whole team. "But we all know each other."

The team surveyed each other.

"He is right," Martin said. The others turned to him, "I have been having these dreams about Jefferson."

"Wait, what?" Jax asked.

Martin ignored him, "In these dreams I seem to know him. The other day I felt as if I knew where he was, and so I went to find him. Sure enough, we met."

"Besides the fact that that is really creepy, I actually feel the same way," Jax admitted. "When I first saw Professor Stein, I felt like I had met him before, but I don't actually have a memory of meeting him."

"I'm confused," Mick stated.

"What Professor Stein and Mr. Jackson are saying is that they are beginning to remember reality," Rip explained.

"What do you mean 'reality'?" Sara asked. "Isn't this real?"

Rip sighed sadly, "I'm afraid not, Ms. Lance."

"If this isn't reality," Kendra began. "Then where are we?"

"You are all in a dream," Rip answered.

"A dream?" Ray asked skeptically. "How is this a dream? I've never had a dream this real."

Rip sighed, "That is my fault. You see, we are all a part of this team. I am supposed to be your leader, but I failed you. We were on a mission, but we were attacked. The enemy found us, and they attacked us with weapons that are able to create what are known as dream fabrications."

"Dream fabrications?" Martin said. "I am unfamiliar with that term."

"As you should be," Rip said. "They do not come from this planet."

"Now I'm really confused," Mick said.

"Look," Rip said. "All you need to know is that you are trapped in a dream. If you do not wake up soon, you will be stuck here forever and will eventually die."

"Well, then," Martin said. "How do we wake up?"

"Excellent question, Professor," Rip said. "Once you realize you are dreaming, you will wake up naturally."

"What about you?" Jax asked. "You know this is a dream, and you aren't awake."

"This is not my first time inside of a dream fabrication," Rip said mysteriously. "I know how to recognize one, and, in turn, I can control when I wake up." Rip looked at his team once more, "I know this is not easy to take in, but you need to wake up soon. You have about twenty-four hours until you are permanently asleep. Please, consider what I have told you," Rip turned and began walking away.

"So, you're just going to leave us?" Ray asked.

Rip stopped and turned back to the Legends, "I cannot wake you up; you have to do this yourselves. I will try to help you the best I can, but you need to do this. Please, try your best to see that this is a dream."

O

A/N: I apologize if this was confusing. If this was confusing, please review and ask about it, and I will try to clear things up.