AUTHOR'S NOTE: I posted this over on AO3 on Halloween and didn't realize until days later that I'd neglected to post here as well. Sorry about that... I plead extra business at work due to the election.

Three times, Sara's story was interrupted as Leonard went through cycles of dreams and nightmares. His breathing had just returned to normal for the third time when Rip and Mick returned. Ray was with them, carrying a stretcher.

"What's that for?" Lisa asked, wiping her eyes. Leonard had called her name during the last nightmare, in a tone that broke Sara's heart.

"Madam Fortuna says she cannot break Darhk's control here aboard the Waverider," Rip told them. "Something about its future tech interfering with the flow of the mystical energy she needs."

"So we need to go to her," Ray said, flipping the stretcher down so Mick could take one end. "Our ride's waiting outside."

Sara and Lisa helped Rip to carefully move Leonard onto the stretcher. Then they followed Mick and Ray through the passageway to the external hatch.

Night had fallen. Oliver, Thea and Diggle stood at the foot of the ramp, still in their leathers, but their masks were off.

"The rest of your team went ahead of us with your father," Oliver told Sara.

"Where's Malcolm?" Thea asked.

"He's in the brig, sedated," Rip told her. "Nate and Amaya are keeping an eye on him."

"I'll help," Thea said. "I need to give him a little daughter-father lecture before we drop him in a deep, dark hole."

She gave Sara a quick hug before disappearing into the Waverider. Oliver and Diggle helped load the stretcher into the van Sara recognized from so many adventures. She took a seat between Rip and Oliver in the back, with Mick, Lisa and Ray on the other side of the stretcher. Once everyone was on board, Diggle climbed into the driver's seat and started the van up.

"So where are we going?" Mick asked as the van began to move.

"A place in the Glades where Madam Fortuna says she can best tap into the power she needs to undo Darhk's handiwork," Oliver answered flatly.

Mick narrowed his eyes. "Why are you lookin' so sour about it?"

Sara studied Oliver. Mick was right; he did seem… sour. Angry, even. "Ollie, what is it?"

"This isn't the first time we've dealt with Esrin Fortuna," Diggle called back. "She's been less than helpful before."

Oliver huffed. "That's putting it mildly. She tried to train me to resist Darhk's powers, but gave up almost as soon as she started. And she wouldn't ever help us directly. But she's willing to help you."

"Not for free," Mick noted. "This gives her a marker against a bunch of time travelers. Probably a better deal than you could have given her."

"Maybe," Oliver said. "But Laurel might still be alive if Madam Fortuna had helped us before."

Sara's eyes widened at Oliver's declaration. Rip put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "No, Mr. Queen. You're wrong there. Gideon and I analyzed the timelines very carefully when we brought Sara back to 2016. Esrin Fortuna's involvement would have made no difference in Laurel's death, but it could have had a serious negative impact on the future. Things happened as they were supposed to happen."

"So have you analyzed the timeline for tonight?" Diggle asked. "Do you know what's supposed to happen here?"

Rip shook his head. "Gideon is programmed not to show me things in my personal future. Like tonight. We all still have to live linear lives."

"So you can't tell me if the Rockets are going to win the championship, or if my baby girl is going to marry some slime ball," Diggle said, a smile in his voice.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Diggle," Rip answered with a smirk. "You'll have to find out the hard way."

The van slowed and stopped. "Well, we don't have to wait too much longer to see if Madam Fortuna can out-spell Damien Darhk," Ray said. "We're here."

Oliver pulled his mask and hood back into place. "Not exactly a place Mayor Queen should be spotted," he said before opening the back doors to the van.

A small crowd was waiting for them: the rest of the Waverider crew; Barry, with his cowl in place; Cisco, Caitlin… and her dad, who wrapped her in a tight hug. "You okay, baby girl?"

She smiled up at him. "I should be asking you that. You took quite a hit from that guy with the baseball bat."

He winked at her. "You know it takes a lot more than a 'Legion of Doom' or a baseball bat to take this old man down, sweetheart." He looked past Sara toward Lisa. "And you!"

He released Sara and took two quick steps to give Lisa a hug too. "You were amazing during that fight. Almost as good as a Canary, and I should know. I'm their father!" He glanced over the van, where Barry was helping Mick and Ray to take out the stretcher. "How's your brother?"

Lisa looked over at Leonard with a worried expression. "I don't know. I don't really understand any of this." She paused and took a step back toward her brother. "Sara, it's starting again."

Leonard's eyes had started twitching. The two women moved to either side of the stretcher, Lisa taking his right hand and Sara taking his left. While still on the ship, they'd found the contact seemed to ease his transition from dream to nightmare, though it didn't break the pattern.

Whatever he was seeing in this unnatural sleep, it didn't last long. Leonard groaned weakly after a minute and his eyes stilled again. Lisa let out a shaky sigh. "Sara, what if we don't get him back?"

"We'll get him back," declared John Constantine. Sara turned, and for the first time really noticed where in the Glades they were.

The van was parked in front of an abandoned stone church. Its windows were boarded over, its walls painted with graffiti. Constantine stood at the top of the entry steps, in front of the door.

The church's name plaque was still legible. "Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus," Sara read. "Isn't thaumaturgy another word for magic?"

Constantine grinned. "It is indeed! Saint Gregory was known as the Wonderworker. And also a saint of lost causes. So this is appropriate all around."

Mick glared at him. "You sayin' my partner is a lost cause?"

Constantine held up his hands and shook his head. "Not lost, mate. Just… difficult. His dark past won't make it easy."

"There's good in him," Barry declared, his mouth taking a stubborn set under his cowl. "The darkness wasn't his fault."

Caitlin spoke up, almost timidly. "I can't believe I'm saying this about the man who kidnapped me, but he protected us from the others in the Legion."

Cisco added, "You should've seen what he did to Merlyn for slapping little Sara because she was crying."

"Merlyn did what?" Diggle growled.

Cisco smiled. "Snart made him pay for it, trust me." He looked over at Lisa, and Sara was surprised by the emotion in his eyes. "Barry's right. There's good in him."

"You must believe in that for this to work."

Esrin Fortuna had emerged from the church, looking regally down at the group. "There is no room for doubt in the dreamwalking. If you have doubt in this man, then do not enter these sacred grounds."

She looked over the group one more time before turning and walking back into the church.

Diggle snorted at her haughtiness. "You say the man defended my little girl?" he asked.

When Cisco and Caitlin both nodded, he said, "Then I owe him one."

He moved next to Mick to take one handle at the head end of the stretcher. The two men exchanged a nod and began leading the way up the stairs, Barry and Ray carrying the other end.

Sara exchanged a glance with Lisa, and the two women followed Leonard up. Sara paused at the top of the stairs to look back. Nearly everyone was ascending the staircase.

Everyone except Oliver, who remained at the bottom.

Sara murmured to Lisa, "Go in. I'll be right there."

She took a few steps down the staircase, passing Stein and Jax, who glanced back in curiosity. She waved them on and stopped halfway down the steps. "Ollie…"

His expression under the mask was… uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Sara," he said. "I know… I know he means a lot to you. And I know everyone on your team believes he's reformed."

"Even Barry believes it," she replied, "and he should know better than most."

Oliver nodded. "I know that too. And believe me, your opinion… and his… both count for a lot. But I've spent too many years not trusting people, even the ones who are closest to me."

He sighed. "I'm not like Barry. I can't get rid of all my doubts, no matter how much I want to. You heard Madam Fortuna. There can't be any doubt."

He took a step up the stairs, then another, so his eyes were level with hers. "I've seen how you look at him, Sara. I understand what he means to you," he said quietly. "I can't be the reason you don't get him back. Do you understand?"

She studied his blue eyes for a moment, and then nodded. "I do. Thanks, Ollie." She leaned forward to kiss his cheek, then turned to run up the stairs and into the church.

She passed through the littered vestibule and into the main sanctuary, halting for a moment to take in the scene lit by scattered candles. A scent of incense hung in the air.

The church was nearly bare of furnishings and artwork, most of it apparently having been removed when it was abandoned for a friendlier neighborhood. All that was left was a huge stone altar table. Leonard lay on the table, her friends grouped around it.

Esrin Fortuna acknowledged Sara's arrival with a single nod before speaking. "This man's spirit is being held hostage through evil memories and the darkness of his past."

As she spoke, she walked around the table in a wide circle, motioning to the onlookers to move out of its perimeter. Constantine followed her, drawing the circle of her footsteps in chalk on the floor.

Esrin looked carefully at each person she passed. "But there is a way to free him, through a shamanic journey. I will take three of you with me on this dreamwalk," she said, stopping in front of Lisa and touching her shoulder. "Three tied to him through bonds of blood…"

She walked on to Mick and touched his shoulder. "And of brotherhood…."

She stopped in front of Sara to touch her shoulder. "And of love."

Sara's breath caught a little; she'd never actually put the word "love" to her feelings for Leonard. But Oliver had seen something, and this stranger…

When she looked around the circle at her Legends teammates, there were no expressions of surprise. Barry and his friends simply grinned, while Lisa's lips twitched in an almost-smirk, so like her brother's.

And her father… "Your teammates are a bunch of gossips," he said with a smile. "Not that I hadn't already figured it out by the way you acted when he collapsed."

He shot a hard look at Esrin. "This dreamwalking… is it dangerous?"

The woman tilted her head elegantly. "It can be, if a walker gets lost in the dreamscape," she said.

She nodded to Constantine, who had finished drawing his chalk circle and had picked up a large drum and drumstick. "The rhythm of a heartbeat will be our guide," she said. "All of you will need to lend your spiritual strength to these walkers. All your goodwill. All your hope. All your love."

Her expression became stern. "But you must not enter the circle, no matter what occurs."

She held her hand out to Sara. "Come with me," she said.

Sara gave her father a slight smile and a nod before taking the shaman's hand. Esrin led her into the circle to stand at Leonard's left, then did the same with Lisa. "The two of you hold his heart," she said.

She turned to Mick and led him to Leonard's right side. "You are his strength," she said, and Mick nodded.

Esrin walked around the table once more, this time parting Leonard's torn shirt so the brand of the amulet was visible. There were gasps from some of the watchers. Barry pushed his cowl back with a sickened expression, and Stein murmured, "Dear God!"

Esrin moved to stand at Leonard's head, while Constantine stood at his feet. The two magicians nodded at each other, and Constantine began to beat on the drum with a steady, monotonous rhythm.

Esrin raised her arms over Leonard's prone form, splaying her fingers wide. Light began to stream from her palms, playing over his body as she chanted in a language Sara didn't recognize.

The brand over Leonard's heart began to glow.

In a strangely modulated voice, Esrin intoned, "We are gathered here through the bonds of friendship and of brotherhood. We are gathered here through the ties of blood and of love."

The drumbeats seemed to become louder, more hypnotic. The scent of the incense seemed to get heavier. The light from Esrin's hands became more intense, and her voice got louder too. "We seek to enter the realm of dreams, to free this man of the Askaran enslavement."

Leonard's mouth opened in a gasp, and the brand became even brighter.

"We call on the elder hearts to lead us to the spirit of Leonard Snart, and then to return us safely with him to the waking world!" Esrin shouted.

Sara saw Leonard's body arch on the stone altar.

Then she was blinded by the light flaring brilliantly from Esrin's hands.

Additional author's note: Some things you can't make up. St. Greogory Thaumaturgus really did exist. I found him while looking up patron saints of lost causes.