"So you're telling me that you cast my future daughters soul down to literal hell?" Sara questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"That is exactly what I'm saying," the dark brown haired, blue eyed man nodded.

"And who the hell are you?" Ava spoke up for the first time the entire conversation.

"You were with Darhk. When he knocked me out, you were the other guy with him," Nate realized. Sara looked at Nate before shifting her gaze back to the unknown man.

"You're working with Darhk?" Sara's voice was cold, and her stance was aggressive and it looked like she was going to attack at any second possible.

"Whoa! No murdering any of my team!" Nic exclaimed, her hands raised in front of her like a person would when being arrested as she stood defensively in front of Val. "This is Val, the only member of my team you haven't met yet, aside from the currently indisposed of Heywood's. He is also the person we were just talking about," Nic gestured between herself, Liam and Cassie.

"He still sent you to hell," Amaya pointed out. "No matter the reason."

"It's not his fault. When Nic said we've heard stories of Mallus, she was being a bit light on the details," Cassie stepped in sending a glance at Nic. The Legends still had their guards all the way up and it didn't look like they were coming down anytime soon.

"Mallus disappeared about a year ago. Before then he had been on our asses much like I imagine he's on all of yours," Liam guessed. The four guests nodded reluctantly. "We fought against him and his lackeys on many occasions. The last time we ran into any of them was when Nic was cast to hell. It's been nearly seven months since we managed to pull her back."

"If you said Mallus disappeared a year ago, and it's been seven months she's been back, that would mean that Nic was in hell for five months," Nate worked out quickly.

"Five years," John cut in nonchalantly correcting him. "A month here is a year there," he elaborated after receiving odd looks from the four. "I am curious of what you'd done for it to deem ya worthy of that punishment though."

Nic looked down while Cassie and Liam shifted uncomfortably. The history behind that truth was one that wasn't talked about often amongst the team. They all had their own pasts, some they weren't proud of, some they wished to forget and some they left behind. Over the past four years, every member of the team had changed in their own ways and none of them particularly liked to remember the person they were beforehand each for their own reasons.

"Four years is a long time. Suffice it to say, we aren't the same people we once were," Nic answered vaguely.

"But that wasn't the question," Ava pointed out. She was right, whether they had changed or not wasn't the question that everyone was waiting for the answer to. It was what did you do to deserve hell accepting you.

"It doesn't matter if it was or not becaus-" Liam started in defense only to cut himself off when his eyes met Nic's.

Her gaze was telling him to stop, to let her handle it. While he may not have agreed with it, he reluctantly did it. He respected Nic, they were family and even though they had just found out that Nic and Val had been lying and keeping secret some very important things, that didn't change the fact that they were family and they respected one another. The fact that Nic was standing there, calm and controlled amidst everything that was happening showed exactly why she was respected.

They all respected one another, sure they fought, argued, yelled, and insulted one another and in the end they did respect each other, but it wasn't the same type of respect Nic had on top of that. It was the trust that went with putting your life in someone's else's hands and letting them make the decisions, you had to respect someone in an entirely different way to do that.

"I've done questionable things. Did many of them before my tenure here. But it's the fact that I don't regret them, any of what I've done, that I was deemed deserving of hell. I don't need to tell you what I've done, because I'm sure you all have a decent imagination and can take your own guesses, now this conversation is over. There are more important things happening right now. John, I can see you have a question, so what is it?"

Her words were unexpected. The four had believed she would give an explanation but rather than do that, Nic had just closed off the topic and made it clear with she would rather let them come up with their own theories than discuss it. Not only did this worry all of them in their own ways, it struck deep in Sara.

The words were painful to hear for Sara because not only was she aware of who Nic was to her but was also painfully aware of the types of people in the world and some of the horrors that a person could face. She had no doubt that if hell had her chance to admit her, it would take it in a heartbeat. And that was what was most worrying to her. The unknown of who Nic could've been for it to be the same with her.

"Hell is mighty hard to get free off, nearly impossible as it takes great power. How'd ya get out?" John questioned.

"Time," Nic answered shortly.

The response pulled the Legends out of their own musings and thoughts and back into the conversation.

Nic sighed, "Nate before you asked why time flickered concerning my tittering existence but not Zoe's? Apparently I can't put off this answer forever as much as I would like to, so here it is. The only way to get out of Hell is have something more powerful to pull you. It's kind of like tug of war. And things more powerful then the hold of hell are hard to come by."

"That's an understatement," Cassandra scoffed at the same time that Liam remarked, "More like impossible to come by."

"We searched for months looking for a solution only to find nothing. So we decided to bite the bullet and contact the one person that we knew that could help. Stefan," Cassandra told.

"Stefan agreed to help once he found out who exactly was in hell. He didn't know of anything but he studied it and looked more into it," Liam picked up.

"Eventually he found the key to it. Took him a while and a lot of reading his father's old research and books but he finally had an understanding of what it would take. A lot of power," Cassandra continued.

"Power that Stefan didn't necessary have. So upon some brainstorming, we all realized that what we needed was all around us," They switched off again.

"So Stefan channeled the power of time from the time stream, acting as it's conduit, to make the tether to Nic in hopes that the tether would be powerful enough to snap the hold Hell had on her soul. Long story short, it was. And Nic was back."

"But it was at the consequence that she's still tethered to time and because Stefan can no longer be its conduit to undo it since he couldn't handle the influx of power, that job has fallen to Nic. So if she fails to exist thanks to what Mallus and his goons have done…" Liam trialed off, leaving the Legends to put the last piece together.

"Then time would be severely damaged," Nate realized grimly.

"What happened to Stefan?" Amaya wondered looking between the two storytellers.

They were surprised when it was actually Nic that was the one to answer, "He's in a coma. He has been since that day. The spell wasn't meant to transfer the power, it was only supposed to create a tether with the purpose of pulling me back, not to instill me as a conduit of time. Stefan's magic was drained after, and he's only just slowly getting it back. We believe that when it's fully restored, he'll wake up."

"So what exactly will happen if Nic were to stop existing?" Sara questioned.

"To be honest we don't know the extent of the impact it will have on time. Time is already damaged because of Mallus, it's quite possible that Nic acting as it's conduit is the only thing keeping it together and that's why Mallus wants her gone. It's also equally possible that Nic being gone would absolutely no impact on the destruction of time," Val spoke up for the first time since he announced what he did.

"And we can't really afford to take the fifty fifty gamble," Cassandra finished off.

"It's possible that it's a co-balance," Amaya suggested after some thought. "I mean your origin has already been wiped from timeline but as long as you are in the time stream and not a constant time period, you'll continue to exist. So being in time is keeping you alive and you being alive is keeping time in check."

"There's also that possibility," Val conceded.

"And if that is the case, then our priority needs to be getting rid of Mallus and finding the change so we can restore the events that lead to Nic existing," Liam announced.

Just by watching them all interact and continue sentences and thoughts for each other reminded Sara that there was a lot about all of them that they didn't know. They finished each other thoughts and sentences as if it was nothing, they hadn't fought, not even when they found out they had been lied to by Nic and Val. They understood, accepted it, and moved on to the important matters at hand.

Of course, Sara could only imagine that it would be a big discussion at a later time in private between the team, but it still remembered her of how different the teams were. Her own team would've started yelling at each other right there with absolutely no regard for who was around or what was happening. Her own time was close, but not like the one she was seeing before her. The team she saw before her were people that were a family not a dysfunctional family, a family some of which she could tell had known each other all their life.

The way Cassandra didn't blow up at Nic over the very large and elaborate lie gave way to the obvious familial connection that the last names only hinted at.

It was very similar with Cassandra and Liam, they knew each other's tells and language so well they were able to have a complete explanation and conversation split between the two of them seamlessly. Well Sara herself didn't know a Luthor as of yet, she did recognize the name vaguely, so she knew she heard it in passing once before evidently more in the future.

Val, she didn't know but that didn't stop her from disliking on him on the mere principle of what he did. Sara was well aware that she didn't know the full story and that she herself had done things just as bad if not worse but somehow that didn't change her feelings on the matter. While she may not of liked him, she wasn't blind to the bond that he shared with the others, especially Nic. It was evident that he trusted her implicitly if she was the only one that had known the full truth. The fact that that was returned was clear from the interaction and understanding that passed between them.

Sara was jarred from her observations and thoughts when Nate spoke loudly.

"Wait you don't know what change caused her to be wiped from the timeline?" He realized incredulously.

"No we don't and considering the fact that our historian is currently unavailable, until they wake I don't think we will be making much progress," Nic paused. "Gideon, estimated wake up time?"

"Sometime tomorrow morning Captain."

Nic nodded in acceptance before addressing the gathered group, "Well its been a long day already and it's late. So, you are all welcome to find quarters on the ship to spend the night if you wish. It's up to you. John, I would very much appreciate it if you stuck around?" Nic looked questioning at him.

"Drink?"

Chuckling, Nic nodded, "There is plenty of alcohol stashed around the ship. I'm pretty positive everyone has their own personal store of whatever is their favorite but I think if I let you steal their booze they would form a mutiny and kill me in my sleep. So you are otherwise welcome to the studies supply. Good night," She nodded before leaving the bridge.

It didn't take long for Liam, Cassandra and Val to exit as well, leaving only Sara, Ava, Nate, Amaya standing there as John had already made himself welcome to the study.

The group of four split into two separate groups of two and moved to opposite half's of the room to talk.

"I'm staying," Sara told Ava breaking the silence. Ava nodded absently, it made sense, she saw it coming. "I would like it if you did as well," Sara continued. That was not what Ava was expecting if her slightly surprised expression anything to go off of.

"But why?" Ava asked in confusion. She could understand why Sara would ask that if they were together, but they weren't. They were... well they were quite messy.

"Because if you noticed, Nic didn't spare you a single glance. She didn't even say a word to you."

"So? We haven't exactly had a chance to talk, and besides, maybe she just doesn't know me," Ava shrugged. She did indeed notice what Sara had pointed out, she just wasn't exactly sure if there was more to it than that.

"If she didn't know you, do you really think she would let you stay on the ship? Or wouldn't even so much as bother to ask who you were. She knows," Sara reasoned. Ava looked away, the logic was irrefutable. Sara brought one of her hands up to rest on her cheek and turn she face to look at her. When Ava conceded and their eyes met, Sara's eyes were soft and caring. "Stay."

Ava's resolve wavered and weakened under Sara's gaze. Before she had been determined to distance herself from Sara after finding out the truth about herself. The truth hurt, it hurt her just as much to push Sara away as Sara tried to pull her back. As much effort as she had put into it, she also recognized that now wasn't the time to do it.

So instead, she nodded and agreed, but not before making a single condition, "Fine, on one condition."

"Anything," Sara promised. She was happy that Ava was letting her fix things, little by little, it was still progress. She had went from wanting to break up, to admitting she loved her, to fighting for her all over again.

"We sleep in separate quarters."

That one sentence sent Sara reeling slightly on the inside, but she didn't show it. She pushed it down and accepted it. Little by little, if that's what it took, she was going to do it.

"Deal."

If Ava was going to admit it, she thought Sara was going to be more ready to argue the condition, claiming that it wasn't necessary, but she didn't. Instead she accepted Ava's condition without faltering. At least on the outside. In her eyes, Ava saw them dim ever so slightly, so slightly that unless you knew her, really knew her, you wouldn't be able to tell. So no matter how much it hurt Ava on the inside to do that, she knew she had to.

With Sara and Ava on one side of the room, Nate and Amaya were on the far other. They stood in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to really say. It was Amaya that broke the silence.

"You're staying."

She was right of course. She knew him as well as he knew himself. This was the second conversation of the day between them that she had started with a statement that Nate somehow knew would just be the beginning of a painful conversation.

"I am. I was hoping you would do the same," Nate paused just long enough to collect his thoughts but not long enough for her to interrupt. "I know that none of this is ideal, but I love you and you love me. Can't that be enough for now?" Nate pleaded.

Amaya hesitated to meet his gaze. She knew if she did she wouldn't be able to look into his eyes and see the pain and sadness she had caused.

"Love isn't always enough," She broke and looked up meeting his eyes that reflected her own sadness. "I'll stay but that is all I can do. I can't be with you Nathaniel, knowing your future makes it to painful."

The words hit something deep in Nate, and sparked something in him. It wasn't pain, but rather the beginnings of anger.

"How do you think I feel then? We've always known your future. Hell we have been fighting one of your grandchildren for months! And she's not mine, so how do you think it feels for me? To see that and to know that somehow you move on. That somehow you forget about me and knowing that our love was never enough. Now that you're experiencing it, does that suddenly make it real? We were together knowing your future, so why the hell can't we be together knowing mine?" The last few sentences came out as desperate angry pleas.

It hurt him that now that she was feeling what he had been feeling since they first got together, they weren't on the same page anymore. It pained him to know her future and have no idea when their time together would have to come to an end. It broke him to know that she would leave him one day and would love someone else. Now she was experiencing that firsthand.

She was on a ship with his future children that he will have with another woman. He had been living with the reality that one day she would love someone else and devote her life to them. Now she was living with the reality that he would do the same, and suddenly the time they did have was nothing but pain, a constant reminder that as things stood they wouldn't get forever, no matter how much they wanted it.

As a historian, he understood that it was necessary that time continued unchanged. A lot hinged on Amaya's contribution to history. He knew that. He knew that before they became what they were. He was also willing to experience the pain that he knew would one day come for the chance to love her for however long they got. He had learned to live with that reality, the reality that they were doomed in the end but he still was willing to take that leap of faith.

Knowing his future meant that she wasn't. She wasn't willing to take the pain that was destined to come. She wanted to spare him, spare herself, spare history. But in the process, it only hurt them all more for it.

When she wasn't able to formulate a response, he shook his head and turned away from her, taking it one step at a time, he left the bridge leaving her standing in the same spot, frozen in shock at his outburst.

Nate walked the halls absently before he found himself turning up at the med bay. Slowly entering, he stopped and stood in front of the two reclined chairs where the two laid. That was where he stayed, just staring, unmoving for who knows how long. At some point he found a chair and sat, but his gaze never shifted from the two unconscious figures. If Nate was being truthful with himself, he was afraid.

Terrified even.

But he remained there, sitting.

Waiting.

After Sara and Ava's conversation, on her way to an empty quarters, Sara took a detour to their jump ship and informed the team that remained on their own Waverider that they would be staying the night and that there was no reason to worry. After that quick stop, Sara eventually found an empty sleeping quarters and laid on the bed, above the covers, staring up at the ceiling in thought. She remained unmoving until her body and mind gave in to a much needed escape to sleep.

Though Nic had been the first to exit the bridge, she had only left to make a short retreat to her own quarters to retrieve a thing or two before making her way back. When she reentered the bridge on her way to the study, it was cleared out, with no one in sight. She had known courtesy of Gideon that everyone had decided to stay on the ship for the night, but she didn't ask for anymore than that. How they split up or the status of their relationships she decided to remain unaware of, she had figured long ago that as long as no one killed each other on her ship than what happened behind closed doors would remain as such. If they choose to inform anyone, that was their business.

Unfortunately, not everyone was that discreet and instead chose to air that information out in the open. But again, no one was killing each other, so she let it be knowing she would rather just stay out of whatever was happening.

Stepping up the short step that separated the bridge and the study, Nic spotted John just to her left in the leather chair, an empty glass beside his hand on the small table. She chuckled inwardly at her spot on memory. While John may have lived on alcohol, he was particular about what he drank often. So making her presence known, she waited passed him, retrieving a glass before walking to the large circle table piled with maps in the middle of the room and opening the full bottle of whiskey. She poured the glass before moving and setting it and the bottle on the stand next to John's first empty glass. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow before picking up the bottle and looking at it.

"Glenfiddich. 1937," John whistled before picking up the previously poured glass and taking a generous swig. He nodded tasting it on his lips. "Expensive and rare stash, isn't it? Now how did ya know exactly what I would like?"

"Good memory."

"And what is it that you like?" John questioned curiously spotting the other bottle she set on the table behind her. From what he could tell, that bottle was already open with a quarter missing.

"Pyrat 1623," Nic grinned before retrieving her own glass and pouring the rum.

"I never quite could come to enjoy the taste of rum," He commented, before taking another swallow, finishing the glass. He poured another one. Nic took a sip of her own drink.

"You always would make a comment about that. Really I think you just never found the perfect one," Nic admitted offhandedly.

"I take it that it was more than a shag with my boy?" John lifted an eyebrow.

"There was a time when we were close. I spent two years in London when I was 18 to 20. Met Stefan during that time. My team is also like a family, but we all have things we don't know about each other."

"What happened?"

"I left. When I was twenty something happened and I made my team and left to save time," Nic mocked, the last words slightly bitter leaving her mouth as she took another sip.

"Regrets?"

"Not exactly. I wish I did it definitely because I hurt him, but I would still do it over again."

"Understandable. I may not know him, but if he's my blood, you would probably be good for him."

Shaking her head, Nic finished the glass before looking down at it. "It was the other way around really. He changed me for the better to be honest."

"Miss him?"

"Everyday. Miss her?" Nic wondered knowingly. John didn't look surprised that she knew things not many others would've.

"Everyday," He nodded. "He'll wake up?"

"One day."

"You'll be there?"

"One day."

"That's all we can give."

They drank in a comfortable silence. While he may not have had the memories she did, nor the knowledge she had, that didn't stop it from feeling comfortable. He may have been different from the John she knew, but his presence was the same and it reminded her of a time she thought of often. It was a nice reprieve to be in his company again even if it was twinged with sadness from the knowledge that he was gone. That was one thing she did regret, not knowing that he was gone.

Stefan never told her about it when they picked things up how they did. They didn't talk much in an effort to avoid falling back into a relationship that involved more than sex. Slowly they did open up more, they did reconnect on other levels than just a physical one. But they never quite could let the other fully back in, not when they knew the painful ending was likely to repeat with the life's they led. Maybe things could be different someday.

Maybe, one day.

I feel like I'm doing really good with the character relationship stuff. At least better than I used to. I'm seriously making an effort and I'm happy with how I've been doing. This chapter didn't really have a lot of plot other than story telling and major reveals. It was a lot about the characters and their underlying relationships.

I don't like to beg, but reviews are really appreciated and valued. They truly do mean something to me and help so much. So please, just take a second and tell me what you thought. Good or bad. Just honesty is all I need.