"Pieces of the dagger have apparently broken off and are, as we speak, en route to her heart." Rip explained Kendra's condition to us and I sighed, looking down at my hands.

"Can't we just time jump into the future where they got the stuff that can fix her?" Jax asked.

"This ship is from that very same future and has, thus far, been unsuccessful in saving her." Rip said.

"Kendra wouldn't survive the time jump anyway." Snart said and Rip looked at him. He shrugged with a small smile. "I pay attention."

"To sum up, Carter Hall is dead, the girlfriend's not too far behind, Vandal Savage is sitting pretty in 1975, which we're all stuck in. That how the plan's supposed to work, Rip?" Mick asked and I couldn't take it. I stood up and walked out of the room, going anywhere but that room. Eventually, I stumbled upon a library and sat down. I recalled the dream I had the night before and shivered.

"Of all the places on this ship and you choose to spend your time in a library?" I heard a gruff voice and looked up to see the two criminals and sighed.

"Of all the people to follow you choose to follow me?" I asked and and Mick nodded.

"Rip told us to sit and we got a little bored." Snart said and I rested my chin in the palms of my hands.

"You guys never took off my mask, right?" I asked and Snart smirked.

"No, tempted though." Snart said.

"Great. I should just glue this thing to my face." I muttered jokingly and Mick stared at me.

"That would hurt." he said after a minute. I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Anyways, I'm gonna read a book and you two can scurry off and play thief." I said, looking at the books before thinking and turning around. "You get anything good though, you bring me with you." I said and Mick began to walk away. Snart sent me a smirk before following. I eventually found a book that seemed somewhat interesting and sat down, reading a few chapters. It didn't take long before they were back, Snart leaned against the door frame of the library, which scared me when I looked up.

"Wanna steal something?" He asked.

"What's "Something"?" I asked and he grinned.

"You'll see, come on." he said and left. I sighed and stood up, following him. We made it to a place I hadn't seen before, but Jax was sitting in it doing mechanic-y things.

"Ha! Nice ride!" Mick said causing me to smile.

"Yeah, it can hit a Mach 3 in a walk. Pretty cool." Jax said as we circled around him.

"How'd you know so much about it?" Snart asked.

"Little thing called an instruction manual." Jax said, holding up what I presume to be a future instruction manual.

"Did you read the part about how to fly this thing?" Snart asked, taking a seat. Jax turned to him, confusion written all over his face.

"Maybe," he turned to Mick, who was smiling at him, making me laugh at how dopey he looked. "Why?"

"We're gonna take a little sojourn to Central City. There's a priceless jewel that needs to be freed from captivity." Snart said, smirking like normal.

"You want me to help you steal something?" Jax asked. "Nah, man. I'll pass." Jax said and went back to his mechanic-y stuff.

"Not exactly asking, Jax." Snart said, trying to sound scary, it was obvious. I lightly hit his arm and he looked at me. I glared at him and would've mouthed something if he could see my mouth.

"Wow. Carter is dead, Kendra is this close to joining him, and Vandal Savage is still alive, and out there doing God knows what, and all you think about is stealing some diamonds?" Jax asked and I looked down, suddenly feeling bad for joining them.

"It's an emerald." Snart corrected him and I rolled my eyes.

"Is there anything you think about other than yourself?" Jax asked.

"Yes." Snart answered and I looked back up at him. "Money." Jax stood up, obviously not having it.

"Nah. I'm not helping you guys steal anything. So if you wanna shoot me, then shoot me." he said and Mick began to stand up to shoot him. Snart and I stood up and I looked at Mick, crossing my arms as I stood in the way of him shooting Jax.

"Can I shoot them?" Mick asked Snart, to which I glared. Snart held up his hand and looked at me.

"Sit back down." he ordered me.

"I'm sorry, you seem to think I take your orders." I laughed and glanced at Mick, who'd sat back down before sitting down again. "I'm sitting because I want to. Not because you told me to."

"You got a pair on you, kid. I respect that." Snart said to Jax after giving me a sarcastic look. How do you give someone a sarcastic look?

"So no shooting..." Mick trailed off and I glared once again.

"Look, you don't actually have to help us steal anything. We just need to get to central city. We'll be there and back before anyone knows we're even gone." Snart said, sounding very persuasive. I looked at Jax, who seemed like he wanted to help.

"Man, even if I wanted to help, and I'm not saying that I do, this thing's got a security lockout. We need an access key." Before he had even finished his sentence, Snart had started digging in his pockets. He pulled out something that looked like the plug in end of a phone charger, also what I was guessing was the access key.

"You can't tell me you don't wanna see what this baby can do." Snart said, raising his eyebrows. Jax gave a small smile and I knew he was in. As he began to figure out the jump ship so we could go, Snart sat back down beside me.

"So where'd you get that thing?" I asked.

"Little gift from Captain Hunter." He answered with a smirk.

"You stole it." I rolled my eyes, yet couldn't help a smile forming on my face that he couldn't see. Soon the jump ship started moving and we were on our way.

"Hey, Fae, I meant to ask you, why do you always wear that mask?" Jax asked. Since I had already been asked this multiple times, I sighed.

"It's comfy." I said. He looked back at me, raised an eyebrow, and then went back to flying. I saw Mick grin and Snart smirk. "So what's the plan?" I asked, turning to Snart and knowing he had to have one.

101

I was standing guard outside the exhibit with my sledgehammer, waiting for any guards on night duty, while Snart and Mick actually got the emerald. I yawned and checked an invisible watch on my wrist before something shiny came into my view. I walked towards it slowly, letting my sledgehammer fade to smoke, and finding a beautiful sword. Just as I was about to break into the case, someone grabbed my arm. I turned around, ready to punch the lights out of whoever it was before seeing Snart.

"Not tonight, sweetheart." he said and I pulled my arm out of his grip, pouty as we all walked out of the museum.

"That's what I call a clean heist!" Mick shouted as we got back into the jump ship.

"And thanks for not setting the museum on fire, partner." Snart said to Mick before looking at me. "And you, thanks for not letting us get caught." he then turned to Jax. "And you, thanks for being our getaway driver." I sat down as Snart leaned up against the door, acting cool, pun highly intended.

"Speaking of, let's get the hell back to the ship." Jax said, turning around in his seat and getting ready to fly us home.

"Oh, one more stop." Snart held up his index finger.

"What?" I asked.

"What are you talking about, boss?" Mick asked, just as confused as me.

"1629 Handley Avenue." Snart said, not answering us.

"And that's important because...?" I trailed of in a questioning manner.

"What's on Handley Avenue?" Jax asked.

"It's where we grew up." Mick answered and I looked from Jax, to Mick, to Snart. "That's why you wanted to steal the Maximilian Emerald."

"Mick, enough." Snart said, clearly becoming frustrated.

"You wanted to give it to your old man so he wouldn't go to jail trying to steal it for himself." Mick finished and I gave Snart a sympathetic look, despite the fact that he couldn't see it. I knew my mask translated it to something similar.

"Your father was a thief too?" Jax asked.

"And unfortunately, not a very good one." Snart answered.

"Like father like son." I teased, he just glared and I held up my hands in defense.

"Didn't Rip say something about not messing with the timeline?" Mick asked.

"You could accidentally blink yourself out of existence." Jax said.

"And that would suck cause I kind of like having you around." I spoke up and he looked at me.

"Thanks, you too." he said and I could tell he didn't fully mean it. I rolled my eyes.

"You're screwing with history here, man." Jax said, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, well, history screwed with me first." Snart said, pushing himself off of the door frame. I sighed and crossed my legs.

"Look, Snart, I don't know one thing about your past, but I know screwing with it isn't gonna fix it. If anything it'll make it worse." I said, looking at him.

"You're right." he said and I started to smile, "You don't know a thing about my past." he said coldly and sat down. "Come on. Let's go."

101

We had gotten to what I guessed was Snart's old home. He told all of us to stay outside, but directly after he went inside, I followed.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Mick asked and I shrugged.

"Someone's gotta be there if this thing goes south." I said and followed after Snart, making sure he didn't realize. I watched through the window in the door as he walked around before sneaking in myself. I quickly pulled off my mask so the LED lights wouldn't draw attention to me. I saw him reach for a beer bottle laying around before pulling his hand away, making me raise an eyebrow. He still hadn't realized I was there, which was good. He looked around and I hid behind a corner as a little boy came down the stairs. Snart was looking at a coffee table with children's toys on it when the little boy saw him.

"I came down for a glass of water." he said. Snart stared at him, almost like he'd seen a ghost. "I'm Leo." the little boy introduced himself and my eyes went wide. It was him. "Are you friends with my daddy?"

"Kind of." Snart answered.

"I think my daddy's sleeping." Leo said. Snart smiled and took a few steps closer to him, kneeling down.

"Can I tell you something, Leo? It's important." Snart asked and Leo nodded his head. "Don't ever let anyone hurt you." Snart shook his head slightly, "Ever. Not here." He pointed to his head. "And especially," he pointing to his younger self's heart, "Not here. No matter what, you always have to look out for yourself. Okay? You understand?"

"I think so." Leo answered. I saw someone walk up behind Snart and cock a gun, aiming it at him.

"You get the hell away from my boy, you son of a bitch." the man said and I realized it was Snart's dad.

"Why don't you go on up to bed? Go on." Snart said and Leo began to walk back to the stairs, by where I was hiding. I made a black shield out of smoke and held it up, making where I was look just like an empty dark room. Once Leo was gone I looked back to where Leonard and his dad were, creating my sledgehammer in case I needed to help, should something bad happen. Leonard was now standing and walking closer to his dad.

"Talk fast, or you take a bullet. What're you doing in my home?" his dad asked, aiming a light at him.

"A favor for you." Leonard answered and started reaching in his pocket for the emerald.

"Watch it." his dad warned and Leonard pulled out the emerald, showing him.

"Relax."

"How the hell did you get-" his dad started, but got cut off by Leonard.

"Two days from now, you try to steal this and you get arrested, and you spend five years in Iron Heights." Leonard said. I stood up and began sneaking to where they were, knowing that neither of them could see me. I was ready to knock someone out before someone knew too much about something.

"What are you talking about?"

"Cut the crap. We both know if I go down to the basement right now, I'll find floor plans for the Central City museum. Let's just say I've saved you the trouble... And from being arrested." Snart said, putting the emerald down on the table harshly.

"How do you know all this?" his dad asked.

"The same way I'll know if you even think of raising a hand to your wife and son. I know who you are. I know the man you become. And it's all I can do to keep from ending you right here, right now, but if I do, that means my sister's never born, so you get a pass." he whispered and turned to walk down the hallway I was in. I quickly rolled back and held up my shield once again.

"Your sister?" I heard his father ask. Snart walked out the door, not seeing me. I sighed and followed, pulling on my mask and running up to him.

"Hey Snart!" I shot him a closed eyed smile which turned into two upside down less than/greater than symbols on my mask.

"Where were you at?" he asked me with a skeptical face and I looked back at the house.

"I was looking around. I wanted to bash something but this place is so deserted." I groaned as we reached the other two.

"Yeah, not much to bash." Mick said and I smiled, knowing he was keeping my secret. "Looks like you didn't write yourself out of the timeline." Mick said.

"Looks like." Snart said, obviously disappointed.

"But?" Jax asked.

"I don't know, I just thought maybe things would feel differently." Snart said, I frowned.

"The Englishman said it takes time for time to change." Mick said.

"What were you trying to change?" Jax asked. I already knew the answer from what I'd witnessed inside.

"My dad was never father of the year, but at least he never raised a hand to any of us." Snart said, turning to Jax and I looked down at my feet.

"Until he went to prison, which now he won't." Jax said, putting the pieces together.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't even have a family." I shrugged and looked back up at them all.

"Let's get out of here." Snart said.

As we walked to the jump ship, I pulled Snart back slightly to talk to him.

"I'm sorry." I said quickly and quietly. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"About?"

"Your crappy childhood. No kid should have to go through that kind of thing." I said, remembering my own childhood.

"No. Well, I'm not one for sappy moments, but what was yours like?" he asked.

"Foster homes left and right. Most of my foster parents hated me, a lot yelled at me, others worse. If it was a bad enough home, I'd steal food for the other kids and get in trouble for that too. Then I was adopted, somewhat, at the age of sixteen." I said. He stared at me the entire time, listening. I stole glances. We got to the jump ship without either of us saying a word and no sooner had we taken off, we heard a voice.

"Jefferson?" Stein said through some kind of speaker on the ship, "Jefferson, where are you?" he asked.

"Well, it's not a short story." he said.

"There's no time! Gideon will upload you coordinates to the Greyhill building. Rip and Sara are in danger." he said and my eyes went wide.

"We're on our way, professor." Snart said. I stared at my feet, forming another bouncy ball and throwing it in the air and catching it. We soon made it to the building and the bouncy ball turned into my sledgehammer, landing in my hand as I stood up and we all walked out of the ship and into the building. Snart and Mick pulled on their goggles, and I don't know what Jax was planning to do, but I was ready to bash something. Mick threw open the doors as we all walked in.

"Let's get this party started!" he shouted.

"Here's our invitation!" Snart shouted, shooting someone with his cold gun. I saw Savage take the dagger and hide and Mick and I helped Sara and Rip.

"You came!" Rip shouted happily as he shot his laser gun.

"We're a team! Next time remember that." Jax said and I smiled, swinging my sledgehammer and knocking someone right into Mick's flames.

"Enough!" Savage shouted, emerging from behind Carters body. We turned just in time for him to shoot at us with some kind of laser ray thing. Rip pulled me down with them and my eyes went wide.

"Get Carter's body out of here. Sara!" Rip shouted as I let my sledgehammer disappear, wrapping my smoke around Carters lifeless body. They continued fighting as I ran out the doors with the body, Snart and Mick coming with me as backup. Savage did some kind of blast thing and we all fell to the ground. I groaned, becoming dizzy, but nevertheless, stood back up and picked up Carters body again.

101

We made it out and back on the ship and I got curious, wondering if everything had worked out for Snart. I walked to the bridge, about to ask Gideon about it when I saw Snart in there already.

"Maybe you didn't understand me. I asked for the new timeline, Gideon." Snart said and I let out a silent sigh.

"This is the new timeline. Two days from now, your father will be arrested trying to sell the Maximilian Emerald to an undercover police officer." Gideon said. I sighed once again and began to walk up to him as he whispered something. "He'll be sentenced to five years in Iron Heights. Despite your intervention, his future remains unchanged." Gideon said. I walked up to him, knowing he knew I was there and sighed.

"At least you tried. It's better than doing nothing." I said. He looked deep in thought before looking up at me.

"Turns out it isn't." he said and I looked down.

"Come on." I heard as Sara walked in with Jax.

"Where are we going now?" Snart asked, obviously upset.

"To say goodbye." Sara said and we followed her. I reached out to Snart and took his hand.

"Don't fight it." I said as he gave me a strange look. He sighed, but I could see a smile daring to show.

101

Two graves. Two graves was all it took for me to know that I had to be better. That we all had to be better. I sighed, staring at where our friends lay, six feet under, knowing I had to change. I headed back to the ship and to my room, taking off my mask. I stared at it for minutes, maybe hours, wordless.

"I won't let the beast inside control me for any longer."