This one honestly veered off into a completely different direction than what I intended, so much that I had to change the chapter title because it no longer fit.

And I'd just like to say something about the two new episodes I've seen so far. 'Out of Time' was nothing short of awesome. I loved pretty much every second of it. 'The Justice Society of America'... not so much. One phrase can sum up my feelings for the episode, and it is this: Bad first impressions. The Legends did, honestly, make a bad first impression on the JSA, but the JSA spent most of the episode being dismissive, a bit presumptuous, and at some points downright rude to our heroes. They basically made a bad first impression on me. They spent most of the episode acting like the Legends were a bunch of rookies who had to prove themselves to the JSA, when they were really just having an off day. I mean, I'm pretty sure it was barely an hour after they learned they weren't getting their leader back that the JSA showed up. Hopefully Amaya joining the team will at least give her some new perspective.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Legends of Tomorrow.

WORD COUNT: 1553

"One need not be a chamber to be haunted. One need not be a house. The brain has corridors surpassing material place." – Emily Dickenson

There's so much blood everywhere. So many dead bodies. She stands in the middle of a sea of them.

Sin, her neck twisted at an impossible angle.

Thea, with bruises around her neck and blood dripping from her eyes.

Roy, facedown in a pool of blood with his arms outstretched toward the girl he still loves.

Dig, curled around a bloody Baby Sara, who is lying in her father's arms like a broken doll.

A woman with blood-soaked dark hair, whose face is beaten beyond recognition but she knows it's her mother.

Her beloved Nyssa, her throat cut so deeply her spine can be seen.

Her Daddy, with a gaping hole in his chest.

Felicity, with a long gash across her torso and her crushed glasses lying beside her.

Ollie, whose body has actually been cut in half, spilling entrails onto the ground.

And Laurel, with three black arrows sticking out of her body, just like the ones that killed her.

Their blood is gushing from her hands, pooling around her feet. She has done this. All of it. She wants to run, someplace where there's no one to hurt, but there's nowhere to go.

"Monster."

Laurel is looking up at her. Even as she watches, her face begins to rot away.

"Killer."

Thea is getting up. They all are, the decaying remnants of her friends and family all rising up.

"You did this to us."

No. No, she didn't mean it. She didn't want to.

"You are a monster. A killer."

They're reaching for her, grabbing her arms and pulling her down as the ground beneath her feet changes into the waters of the Lazarus Pit. Desperately, she reaches for the ledge and clings to it, but they keep pulling her.

"Join us in Hell. It's what you deserve."

Her grip slips, and she's plummeting into darkness.

Wednesday, June 6th, 2046, 3:46am

NIGHT ELEVEN ON THE WAVERIDER

Sara Lance was no stranger to nightmares. Since the Queen's Gambit had sunk – and nearly taken her with it – she honestly had more nights plagued with them than nights without. So when she woke up screaming yet again, it was nothing new. She took a few minutes to steady her breathing, as usual, then got up to get a drink of water from the kitchen – sorry, the galley.

She rarely met anyone there during the night. Rip was more likely to be moping in his office, whenever he was up at this time of night. So when she was greeted with the back of a slumped-over Ray, it came as a bit of a surprise. She wasn't sure what to do, but then he let out a soft snore and Sara figured she could sneak past him and around the bar, get her water, and get back to her room without waking him.

And she would have, but it seemed Ray wasn't exactly a still and peaceful sleeper. He muttered something about dwarf stars, hypotenuses, and talking snowmen, then shifted in his sleep, slightly pushing his half-full coffee mug towards the counter's edge. But Sara didn't notice, as her back was to him while grabbing a glass from a cupboard. She was just filling it at the sink when Ray blurted out something about Frosty and his arm jerked again, this time knocking the mug off the table before Sara could reach over to catch it.

CRASH!

The loud sound had Ray jumping out of his seat with an even louder yell. And since his position hadn't given him any advantage in balance whatsoever… well, the scientist promptly disappeared from view with a resounding thud, followed by a low groan.

Sara stood frozen. She'd seen so many unspeakable things, but that was… that was like something out of a sitcom!

And it got even better when she peered over the bar to see Ray rubbing his sore rump. He didn't even notice the ex-assassin looking down at him until he tried to stand, as he glanced up to grab the edge of the bar's tabletop to pull himself up. He then yelped and fell back on his ass.

Sara couldn't help it. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, but not before a laugh burst from her lips.

Ray scowled at her. "Yeah, yeah, real funny."

"It is!" Rolling her eyes, she walked around the bar and offered Ray a hand. She pulled him up to his feet, a smirk still on her face. "That was like something out of a cartoon." She shook her head. "What were you doing sleeping here, anyway?"

"I didn't mean to," Ray protested, "I was just researching this new upgrade for the A.T.O.M. Suit, and came here for a coffee refill. I was feeling a little tired so I figured I could just, you know, rest my eyes a little. I guess I rested them more than I planned to."

Sara arched an eyebrow. "And were you planning to stay up all night, after researching all day?"

"Well, I guess. Once I'm on a roll, it's not a good idea to stop. I could wake up, go to work again, and just be… stuck. Because I lost my momentum." He frowned down at the mess of coffee and broken ceramic on the floor. "Damn it." He started to bend down to pick it up, but winced and grabbed at his back. "Ow…"

"I'll get that." Sara crouched down and began carefully picking up the larger pieces.

"Thanks. Ooh, that's going to be even worse in the morning."

"Technically it is morning already – it's nearly four. You should get to the Med Bay, Gideon'll get you an ice pack or something, and then get some sleep. You're no good to us sleep-deprived."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that. What're you doing up so late, anyway? I mean, early?"

Sara shrugged. "The League trains all its assassins to operate on as little sleep as possible. I physically can't sleep a whole night."

"Oh. I thought it was a… something else." He looked uncomfortable saying that, and avoided looking her in the eye.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what the genius had assumed. Especially since he was right. "A nightmare?" At Ray's embarrassed flush, like a kid who'd been caught doing something wrong, she decided to just go with it. "It's okay to say it. Considering all the things I've seen, you should be more disturbed if they didn't give me nightmares." She shrugged. "I'm used to them, okay?"

"You shouldn't have to be." Ray's tone was very serious.

"I know. But that's the way it is. I go to sleep, bad things happen, I wake up, and I remember that it either didn't happen or happened a long time ago. Then I move on with my day."

"And… that's it? You don't talk about it with anyone?"

Sara laughed. Unlike the last one, this had no humour in it whatsoever. "Talk to someone? Know anybody else who's been dead for a year? Anyone who could possibly have any idea what it's like?"

"No." Still dead serious. "But I do know what it's like to be gone from home for a long time, to be thought dead, and to come back and find out that everything's changed, so much that I don't feel I have a place there anymore."

At that, Sara paused. She'd never talked about that to Ray. But he had been presumed dead, just like she had. And he'd come back to a company in the red, and a city that he'd wanted to make better but that had only gotten worse while he was gone.

She'd been gone for six years, and had come home to divorced parents, a resentful, alcoholic sister, and an ex who was tearing himself apart trying to save the city. She'd tried to fit back into her old life, her family, but it just hadn't worked. Because her home had changed, she had changed, and she couldn't just fit back into the way things were before. Like a puzzle piece that had changed shape trying to fit into its original slot, which had also been altered.

Sara wasn't sure how long she'd been silent, but she looked up when Ray started talking again. "I don't think there's anyone who can relate to everything you've been through. But there are people out there who understand parts of it. And I know from experience that talking about it can actually help. I'm not asking you to talk to me right now. But… the option's open, if you ever want it. You don't have to deal with it on your own."

And he turned and staggered out of the room, leaving Sara alone in her thoughts.

So yeah, I intended for Sara to talk to Ray about her actual nightmare, about how she still feels like she's a monster. But then I figured she needed to deal with not talking about it, first. That'll probably come later, as writing this story made me realise that I've written myself into a corner. In 'I Pushed Him Away', I wrote that Sara would often go to Leonard when she had nightmares. But when I wrote 'Dear Lisa', which is almost entirely from Len's perspective, I didn't include that at all. So while I have no solid plans for it at the moment, that's a story that needs to be written (I'll say Len never mentioned it because it was personal enough to Sara that he decided not to put it down in a journal meant for his sister to read).

Anyway, next chapter is going to be Len's. I'd already written his and Mick's chapters months ago, so now I've only got two chapters left to write, and an extra two weeks to do it. See you then!