Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had taken a lot of work, but Mick had finally gotten everyone’s memories to return. Now all they had to do was get the spear back so they could restore reality; so they infiltrated the Merlyn Tech building and engaged with their enemies.

The team had split up to lead the legion in different directions and distract them while Ray stole the spear back. Sara ended up facing off against Snart. She had quickly gotten the cold gun away from him, which turned the fight into hand to hand combat. At first she held back, but then she realized that Snart wasn’t; he was aiming to kill her. So she let go of all of her pent-up emotions and gave it everything she had.

The crook barley lasted a minute against the assassin. And even after he began backing away from her, her rage pushed her to keep attacking. Finally, a strangled scream tore through Sara’s throat as she hit him full in the face with all of the strength in her right fist. Snart hit the ground with a solid thud, blood streaming down his face.

Sara watched him panting on the floor for a few seconds, one of her many knives clutched in her left hand.

“Well,” he gasped, “what are you waiting for? Do it, finish me.” Sara lowered the knife, still staring at the man crumpled on the floor in front of her.

“No.” that was the only word she said before spinning on her heel and heading towards the door. She was hallway across the room when his voice ripped through the silence.

“What did I ever do to you!?” she stopped cold.

“What?”

“That was one hell of a punch.” He drawled. Pretty amazing he could do that with the split lip and possibly broken nose she had given him. “You only punch that hard if you're holding a grudge.” He drew the last word out and then trailed off.

The assassin still didn’t turn to look at him.

“So,” his words were strained as he struggled to sit up, “What did that future version of me do to make you sooo godamn mad at me . . . ?”

With those words Sara whirled around and marched up to the bloodied thief. He craned his head back to look at her as she stopped a few feet away.

“You wanna know what he did to me!?” Her words were harsh and biting with the pain that filled her voice.

The crook just stared, blood running into an eye. Sara paused, then-

“He made me fall in love with him.” Silence followed and Snart was at a loss for words. His lips parted but no sound came out; for once he didn’t have a snarky come back.

The assassin just let out a strained sigh, and then turned and walked away.

The criminal watched her go.

Love? Who the hell would love him? Surely not one of these heroes. No, of course not. No one could care about a man as tainted as he was. So he watched the blonde woman leave, and he knew that she didn’t love him, because he was not the man she had known.

That man didn’t exist. Not here, not now, and maybe not ever.

Chapter Text

“Sara! Over here!” Ray waved frantically at the assassin as she ran down the stairs and into the lobby of the Merlyn Tech building.

“You got it?” she yelled back. Ray confirmed yes but Sara had already seen the spear clutched in Mick’s hand. As she drew level with the rest of her team, Nate began explaining.

“According to Mick, all we have to do is repeat the inscription on this tablet ten times and concentrate on what we want reality to become."

Everyone reached out to grip the spear. It was a little difficult with the eight of them. Nate opened his mouth to start reciting but was immediately interrupted by a high pitched whine.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Snarled a familiar voice.

“Snart.” Mick murmured. He stared at his former partner only twenty feet away, his weapon aimed directly at Mick’s head. Blood dripped down his face and he held himself stiffly; souvenirs from his fight with the blonde currently half-hidden behind Mick’s large form.

“Give me the spear Mick.”

“Or what?” The arsonist retorted.

“Or I’ll ice you. That’s why I’m pointing my gun at you. Jeez Mick, I never thought you were that thick.”

“Hey!” Sara snapped. Snart’s eyes jerked over to follow her as she took her hand off the spear and walked around to stand in front of Mick.

“Leave. My team. Alone.” Snart froze as she strood across the room, until she was barley a foot away from the end of his gun. She stopped and looked him in the eye.

“I’m not him,” The crook snarled. “I’m not soft.” He hissed the last word through clenched teeth.

“Prove it,” She took another step, “Shoot me.”

And the crook faltered. It wasn’t much, just a slight lean, a foot shifted backwards; but Sara’s sharp eyes caught the movement. And she recognized a fragment of the man he would be some day.

“You wanna live?” She snapped. “Fine. You said that you never pull a heist without a getaway plan, right?” No response. “So,” she continued, “after we set reality straight, come up with one. Find a back door, some trick. But you get yourself out.”

“. . . why do you care?” For once he spoke softly. The others were too far away, Sara was the only one who could hear him.

“Because you stole something from me.” With that, she turned her back to him and his cold gun and made to walk back to her team.

And Captain Cold smirked.

“What could I possibly have stolen that made you NOT want me to die? Doesn’t it usually work the other way around?” He called after her.

Sara stopped and turned back to him. Her eyes flickered briefly in the direction of her teammates before walking right up to the crook, who slowly lowered his gun as she approached, stood on her toes, and leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

“You stole a kiss, you ass.” She pulled back and looked him dead in the eye. “And proved that you are one hell of a thief.”

With that she turned around and made her way back to her friends. Who started reciting the tablet as fast as possible as soon as her fingers closed around the wood.

Captain Cold stared after her and kept his eyes open as blinding light filled the room.