Everything was dark. Everywhere I looked it was just blank, empty, devoid of everything. I turned around as I could've swore I heard someone whisper something behind me, then again and again until I turned to face someone familiar. Leonard Snart.

"Hello Cassie, long time no see, now, here's the deal. I'm not real, you're not real, and nothing you are about to see is real." he said and I looked at him in confusion.

"W-What do you mean?" I asked and he sighed.

"I'm not Leonard Snart, I just needed a form that you would trust and he seems to be one of the clearest ones. The real Leonard Snart is dead, as you are about to be." he said and I shook my head.

"N-No. I'll be fine." I said, not wanting to believe this weird thing standing in front of me.

"Listen, Cassie, this will all go a lot easier if you just listen to me." he said and I nodded, biting my lips, "I'm about to show you a few different things and at the end of it all, I need you to choose. It won't be easy and I don't expect you to understand it just now, but you will in time. Are you ready?" he asked and I hesitantly nodded my head. He smiled and snapped his fingers and everything went white.

I looked around as the scenery changed. I was outside an apartment. It was one I recognized easily and I slowly made my way to it. I opened the door and looked inside to see her. I hated her. She was yelling at Natasha for not cleaning the house as she was asked and I watched her pick up a vase. I knew what would happen next and so I looked around, seeing a younger version of myself run into the room.

"Stop!" younger me yelled, getting in between her and Natasha.

"Get out of the way, brat." she replied, ready to throw the vase.

"Not until you put the vase down." younger me stood her ground, glaring at her. She grunted and put the vase down, crossing her arms. Young me turned around and faced Natasha, helping her up as she was huddled on the floor in fear. 

I watched as she picked up the vase again and slammed  it over my head as I wasn't watching, knocking me out instantly. Everything then went white as the scenery changed again.

Younger me was in my old schoolyard, a jacked up face as always, when someone walked up to her, a teacher by the looks of it. 

"Cassiel Carlisle?" he asked and young me looked up at him, nodding, "You've just been adopted, the family's here to take you home, said you have the rest of the day off."

This was weird for me. I had never known anything but orphanages and foster homes, but I knew that when someone was adopted, you couldn't just pick them up anywhere. I scoffed.

"What, are they rich or something?" I asked and the man nodded.

"Yes, actually, it's the Queens."

Everything faded out once again. I was now in a house I found familiar, Ollie's house. I looked around and saw my younger self huddled on a couch with a blanket and a cup of tea, bandages on her face. I remembered this day, it was the first day with the Queens. Soon Thea walked in and upon seeing me, her eyes widened. She walked up to her mom, who was sitting on the opposite side of the room. She leaned down and though she thought I couldn't hear her, I could.

"Who is that and why is she here?" she asked my my younger self fidgeted.

"Thea, this is Cassiel, she'll be staying with us for a while." Moira said and Cassie cleared her throat.

"I-I'm an orphan." she stuttered before cursing herself mentally, "I mean, I was an orphan, but I think you adopted me." she fixed herself and Moira nodded.

"Mom, can I speak with you privately?" Thea asked, not giving her mom a chance to answer as she dragged her out of the room. Cassie stayed sitting there, sighing and I followed. They went into a whole other room and I stared from the door.

"What is it, Thea?" Moira asked, seeming like she wanted to get back to my younger self, maybe not trusting her or worried about her.

"She can't stay here. I-I have a reputation at school to keep. Mom, she's a freak." Thea said and I flinched, backing away slightly. I had never heard Thea call me that, I had almost always trusted her, it hurt.

"She's had a rough past. I want you to be nice to her, become her friend. Please, for me." Moira asked and Thea sighed.

"Fine, I-I'll try." Thea nodded and Moira patted her back, pushing her to the door. I hid and watched as they walked back to the room where my younger self was supposed to be, but she wasn't and I knew exactly where she was. I ran to the kitchen and saw Cassie digging in the pantry looking for food like an animal.

"Stop!" I heard and we both turned to see Oliver run into the room. It was so strange to see him with longer hair as he ran to her and grabbed her, pulling her away from the pantry, "Who are you? Why are you here?" He asked, trying to sound intimidating. That was nothing compared to him after Lian Yu. Cassie looked at his hands on her and stayed quiet as Moira and Thea ran into the room.

"There you are! I started to worry." Moira put a hand over here heart and Ollie looked back to her.

"What?" he asked, confused, "She was stealing food." he said and Moira frowned slightly.

"Oliver, let go of her." she ordered and he hesitantly did. Cassie pulled away from him and frowned, inching away, "She is our guest."

I remembered the talk Moira had with me after that. She told me I didn't need to worry about stealing food or fending for myself because I would always have plenty to eat with them. Of course, I didn't believe her until months later.

Everything flashed out and back in to Lian Yu. I saw Slade, Oliver, Shado, and me. We were all training. I was sparring with Slade and Shado with Oliver. Slade didn't think I could take him on, but I'd learned ways on the streets. Still, it was obvious that he was going easy on me.

My younger self swung a stick to his side while he aimed at her and was open. He winced and she frowned, stopping.

"You okay?" she asked and he looked at her before smirking.

"Yep." he said and swung at her, hitting hard.

Everything faded out once again to me staring at something. It was after the whole fight with Slade, when Oliver and I had thought he'd died. After that, we had split up. I'd thought he'd abandoned me as I tried to search for Sara.

But someone had knocked me out before I could start.

I tried to get a look at the guys that had done it, seeing as when it happened to me years ago, I never saw their face. Looking at the way they held themselves and the clothes they wore, I had never seen anything like it.

"What you're seeing now is your past." I heard behind me and turned to try and face the voice, seeing nothing, "But I assume you already know that."

Everything faded out once again and I saw myself tied to a chair and gagged in a chair while two men sat in chairs in front of me, smoking cigarettes. They kept blowing smoke in my face, doing nothing as if waiting for someone. My younger self would cough through the gag whenever smoke got in her face. She mumbled something and one of the guys got up, walking to her to take off the gag as she glared.

"I will get out of here and I will kill you both." she threatened and he looked back at the other man, shrugging.

"I think I'm done with my cigarette." he said simply and put the lit part into the skin of her wrist. She winced and grunted before laughing.

"I'm going to kill your family first." She said and he punched her, hard enough to draw blood.

"Gentlemen. Gentlemen." I heard and everyone looked to see someone walk in, wearing a lab coat, "Can we not harass the test subject?" he asked and the man huffed, sitting back down. The guy in the lab coat pulled up a table of all sorts of things, scalpels, needles, other tools which looked even more painful.

My younger self began fighting against the restraints and the scientist guy just waved her off, picking up a needle and making sure it wasn't clogged or anything before walking up to her.

I looked away, remembering everything that happened for a year. Every day, there were more tests. Every day something happened. I was poked, prodded, injected, inspected, cut open, electrocuted, anything that you can think of, it happened. I hated that man and I would give anything to kill him.

I heard my own screams as he injected me with whatever kind of poison was in the needle and quickly covered my ears.

Everything flashed out and I dropped my hands. I was still in the same room, but I was older by a year. I knew what was about to happen. The scientist walked into the room, his supplies with him once again. My younger self made no move to look at him; she knew the drill.

He inched closer, needle in hand. He raised an eyebrow at the fact that I wasn't trying to fight back today as I had all 354 days before.

"Do you know what today is, darling?" He asked, kneeling down in front of her. She stared at him.

"Go screw yourself." she spat and he smiled wickedly.

"Today," he stood up, "is our one year anniversary." He said as if trying to sound sane, "So I thought I'd try something new on you." He turned and stuck the needle in her arm, shooting her up. She screamed in pain and I remembered it. The pain of that one was worse than any other I'd felt before. The others I had become numb to, but this was new.

It didn't last long though as black lines began growing up her neck like veins. Blood began to drip from her nose and eyes and laughter rang through the room. Smoke began to curl around her and he pulled back, staring in fear as he backed up.

"Not so fast." she said and the smoke grabbed a scalpel, cutting the rope from behind her. She stood and held out her hand, shooting smoke to him and it grabbed him, pulling him closer to her, "I said I'd kill you, did I not, professor?" She asked as he looked on in fear. She held him there with the smoke and held out her other hand, smoke pulled a scalpel in it as she stared at him.

Everything faded out once again and I looked around as nothing seemed to be coming back. It was just dark once again.

Soon, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Oliver standing there.

"Not Oliver." I said, making sure, and he shook his head.

"No. I'm not." he said and smiled sadly, "I could show you more, but I assume you don't want to see any of it any longer." he said and I shook my head.

"I've lived through it all. I don't think I need to see it again." I said and he nodded.

"Well then, would you like to know what's next?" He asked and I nodded. He smiled and everything faded to white. I looked around and saw the Wave Rider. I saw the team and I saw myself, all standing there. Only one thing was missing. I walked up to them and counted. Eight. We were missing one.

We were missing Leonard.

I turned around and everything seemed to swap so fast as I saw Len standing by the Oculus. My eyes widened as I shook my head. Druce was standing there, ordering Leonard to stop and he just smirked.

"There are no strings on me." he said and I felt tears streaming down my face as the Oculus exploded. Time seemed to slow down, in fact it did slow down enough for me to watch the flames burn the skin of everyone in the room, including Snart. I was sobbing by the end of it and I blinked just long enough that when I opened my eyes, I was on the Wave Rider. I looked around, time was still slowed and I saw Sara sitting on the platform, wiping tears from her eyes. Mick was drinking a beer, most likely to drown his sorrows.

"They're mourning." I heard and turned to face Natasha, "Before you ask, no, I'm not Natasha." she said and I nodded as everything faded to blankness once again.

"Why am I here?" I asked and she chuckled slightly.

"The question everyone is asking themselves." She said and I shook my head.

"No, not alive. Why am I here? In this place?" I rephrased and she nodded.

"You'll see." She said, not looking at me, "Listen, I'm about to make you make an impossible decision, but to make it easier, you won't know which one is real." she said and I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"W-What do you mean?" I asked and she sighed.

"Good luck Cassie." She said and put a hand on my forehead. I was about to question her when images began flashing in my mind. It was like I had forgotten all prior knowledge in that moment.

There were two lives. Two of my lives and I could hardly understand it myself.

In one, I saw myself growing old with a family. I got married and raised a child. It seemed like a dream life. At the very end I saw Leonard and me. He leaned in and whispered something in my ear before kissing me.  He lifted his hand to my cheek and I could feel the cool metal of his ring.

Then in the next I saw multiple flashes. I was with the team and all I could see were faces and small flashes of events. I saw Malcolm Merlyn, Eobard Thawne, and Damien Darhk. I watched Mick get impaled by something that looked like ice. I saw a dinosaur and alien-looking thing. It all went by so fast, but the last thing I saw was the team, laughing and toasting. Sara was there, Jax, Ray, Mick, Snart, though he seemed different, there were two other people that I had no clue of who they were, but we all seemed close. A team. A family.

I gasped out of it and looked around, facing two blue eyes. I looked up at Snart and he stared down at me with what looked like pity.

"I need you to choose, Cassie. Which life would you rather live?" He asked and I remembered everything.

"I-I..." I remembered what Snart in the vision had whispered to me.

"Check your pocket." He had said before kissing me. I reached my hand in my pocket, feeling something metallic. I pulled it out and looked at it, recognizing it as Leonard's ring. When I remembered the vision, I remembered that he was the one with the ring.

"Where'd you get that?" the Snart in front of me asked.

"From Leonard before he..." I tried to remember. Tears began streaming down my cheeks, though I couldn't remember why. It felt like I had lost something, but I couldn't remember what.

Suddenly it hit me. I remembered everything that had happened at the Oculus. I looked up at the Snart standing in front of me.

"Before he died." I finished my sentence.

"The choice, Cassie, you have to make it now. Live in a world of cruelty and hate or die and live a life of piece, with me. Won't you come back to me, Cassie?" he asked, taking my hands in his.

"You aren't Leonard." I said and looked up at him, "Not my Leonard, therefore I will never live with you. I choose to live." I said and pulled away and he glared at me.

"Alright. So be it." He said, his voice sounding distorted and far away, "But remember what you gave up." He said and everything faded into black.

101

I woke to find that I was in the MedBay and smiled, letting my head fall back.

"Gideon?" I asked, wincing at a pain in my side. I was guessing that I was shot by a laser or something.

"Yes, Ms. Carlisle?" I heard the familiar voice of the computer and bit my lip.

"Will you please alert the team that I've woke?" I asked.

"I already have. They're on their way as we speak." as soon as she finished, the doors opened and in piled Sara, Jax, Ray, Stein, but no Rip or Mick. 

"You're awake." Sara said, looking at me. I chuckled.

"It wasn't easy, let me tell you." I said and she shook her head.

"You're still unstable." Ray said, checking the screen and I looked at it, trying to sit up and hide a wince.

"What? No, I'm fine." I said and smiled at them. I forgot how much I'd missed them. I wasn't gone for that long, but for me it had felt like an eternity.

"You were shot in the back with a laser just a few hours ago." Jax said, not buying that I could be fine. He also proved that my guess was right.

"Perhaps it would be best if you got a little bit more rest before trying to move." Stein suggested as Sara tried to get me to lay back down. I sighed and pouted.

"Fine, but only if it'll get you guys to stop worrying." I said, crossing my arms and laying down. They smiled at me. Sara put a hand on my shoulder.

"We're a team. We'll never stop worrying."