alltheroads | open } { emily & ella smash post

Rip tells Sara she can't win against Damien Darhk. As much as Sara would like to murder him, violently, she's smarter than that, and after consulting with Thea about how her sister actually died, she comes up with a better idea. She doesn't have to go toe-to-toe with Darhk to save her sister.

She just has to provide the getaway car.

It isn't hard to get Mick on her side, because they deserve the chance to save someone in this mess, even if it isn't Snart. Ray and Laurel are friends, and can more than attest to how worth it it would be to do this to Stein and Jax. Considering how Laurel had gone to bat for Carter and Kendra when Kendra was first emerging, they agree to do one last mission. They couldn't save Rip's family, but maybe, just maybe, they can save Sara's.

As Oliver flees the prison with the bleeding body of Laurel Lance in his arms, Sara is here, in the camouflaged Waverider, ready to help Gideon heal her with it's advanced medical techology. It takes a few days to get around whatever magic Darhk used on her, but at the end of that day? The Black Canary survives.

But Laurel Lance is dead.

Oliver thinks it would be the best, to keep Laurel's survival on the down low for now. She goes into Hero Witness Protection, staying with Dinah in Central City. She helps out with Team Flash where she can but she does her best to stay out of the limelight, even when she really wants to take her doppelganger to the mat. Eventually, though, Zoom is gone, the day is saved, and she heads back to the West House to celebrate. There's a kind of somberness to this, given what was lost in order to succeed, but at the end of the day, the battle was won. That's the part that matters.

She looks up from the couch when Iris comes back in from talking to Barry, giving her a small smile, before inching over so that she has some space to sit next to her.

"How's he doing?"

Edited 2016-05-26 19:23 (UTC)

A head shake is all Laurel will get in response, at first.

Her heart is heavy.

She loved Henry. It doesn't compare to Barry's grief, but she cared for him. She still remembers vividly the night Barry came to live with them. She remembers feeling irrationally threatened. It had been her and Joe, just her and Joe, for so long that she hadn't wanted anything to change. But it did, and for the better, because then it was the three of them, and anything else was unthinkable. She remembers telling Barry she believed him because she did, and the day Henry was awarded his freedom she'd been so certain a new beginning was in store.

Now it has been taken from Barry, just as he was finally making peace with Nora's death. She knows better than to ask fairness of a world that never promised it, but a part of her is angry, too. Iris sits down beside Laurel in the space that is afforded to her, and lets her brave face crumble.

"I don't know how he's going to get through this."

Joe keeps looking to her like she'll have the answer, and she doesn't. Not this time.

[Witch specializing in bardic magic. A little reckless, a little impulsive and a probably a giant pain in the ass.

You're welcome.]

[ a slightly more grown up version of everyone's favorite guardian angel. a rainbow-colored wrecking ball who may or may not leave smoke in her wake.

you're welcome. ]

It almost seems like the Speed Force knows what he's going to do before he even does it.

He opens the breach, charging his way back through time to save his mother and right this wrongness that's settled heavy in his chest, things go sideways, as things usually do. He hits a bump, skids through a rift, and tumbles to a stop on the streets of Chicago, red suit and all. At first, he's angry, a rage that bubbles through him and over everything else, but whatever this place is, whatever kind of hole in the universe he's fallen through has changed him somehow. He's still fast, but some of his abilities are definitely missing. He can't travel through time. He can't open breaches.

All he can do is chase the rifts and hope that one day, one of them will lead him home.

None of them do. Others land him in worlds where things are just wrong. (Superman's dead? Kara's cousin? Can you even kill a Kryptonian?) But in the end he always finds his way back to Chicago again, to the constant shifting landscape, and as more and more time passes, the ache for his father and all that has been taken from him lessens, and he starts to ache for the things that he's lost instead. He misses Iris and Joe fiercely, wishes for the team at STAR Labs, wishes that he hadn't gotten so ahead of himself, but there's nothing he can do now.

All he can really do is keep trying to find a way home.

He gets word of another rift opening, months after he first arrived, and he darts toward it in a blaze of red and gold. He sees it there, open in the middle of the street and out of it steps someone so familiar that he stops before he can dart into the breach and feel it close behind him. Instead his arms close around her waist, pulling her out from in front of the oncoming cars and depositing her safely on the sidewalk, but part of him can't believe that this is really real.

It's entirely possible it may slip through his fingers again, get taken away so that he loses another thing he loves, but for right now, she's there. She's here. And he just stares at her for a moment before he takes the opportunity to verify that it's actually her.

"Iris?"

Laurel knows this kind of grief all too well, if not from losing her sister previously, but from watching as Thea's slowly lost everyone around her over all these years. It's not something you can fix by yourself, as much as you may want to. It's something you have to give them time to work through, and be the shoulder for them to lean on, as much as you can.

"It's rough," she says softly as she lifts one arm, giving Iris space to curl into it, because as much as Barry is primarily grieving in all of this, Iris has lost something too. "I know. But he'll find it. It's a hard thing to learn to live with, but he will."

Death comes for everyone eventually. It's just a matter of what shape it will take when it does.

[Here's the thing. Derek Hale doesn't really date.

He's tried, in the past, to varying degrees of spectacular failure, but for some reason, he got talked into actually acting on whatever this thing is that exists between him and Phoebe and asking her out on a date. He's fairly certain that should they stay together she won't turn on him and viciously try to murder his family and/or pack, so it's a fairly safe move to make.

It's sad that that's the kind of criteria he needs to judge the women in his life by, but what can you do?

He's currently pacing a bit in the entryway of his loft waiting for her to finish getting ready so they can go, and quietly running through all the ways this particular venture could go wrong.

Get your shit together, Hale. It's just a movie.]

Almost ready?

[ it probably starts with sarah yelling at noah.

sarah yells at noah often, so this is probably not news to anyone that's spent any amount of time with them. she has a temper on her, and he is incredibly talented at getting under her skin. who knows what they fought about this time? what matters is that sarah threw a shoe at his face and has vowed in suitably dramatic fashion to never return to their loft.

(this means, of course, she will be returning tomorrow just in time for dinner.)

serena's always had something of a wild streak. the thing about the women in their family is they're a force of nature. sarah's sensibility and serena's impulsiveness often balance each other out, but make no mistake. there's a tiny wild streak inside of sarah too, and with the right kind of encouragement, she lets it come out and play every now and then.

... she's going to regret this, isn't she?

oh, well. she ignores noah's text (the fifth one tonight) and settles inside the cab serena has hailed for them. they're all dolled up and looking fab. ]

Where are we going, anyway?

We are going to this great new place I heard opened downtown.

[You know the one. The one Serena's been begging you to let her take you to for weeks now. In fact, you can only imagine the grin that crossed her face when Sarah calls her, proclaiming the need to go out.

There may have even been fist pumping and a grateful text to Noah that reads something along the lines of: Thank you for pissing off your girlfriend.

She is not subtle.]

You will love it. I promise.

He might recognize the clothes she's wearing.

Iris has just finished talking to Barry after finding him on the porch steps. Grief and brokenness enveloped him like a fist, and Iris had never seen him so defeated. She'd wanted to give him hope, but it wasn't that simple, and for once, it was Iris West declaring that she would wait for Barry Allen, the way he's always waited for her. She was determined to do just that, too, except the rift has other ideas.

She opened the door to the West residence, and never got to step inside.

The rest happens too fast for her to process. The silence of the solemn night transforms into the glaring light of day. Iris is greeted with the loud honking of cars and a streak that she recognizes by heart. The lurching of her stomach as Barry speeds them to safety is familiar, too.

None of it makes sense, but if Barry is here, then Iris has unwavering faith that all will be explained and resolved.

"Barry? What's going on? How— "

Cisco wasn't doing his vibe-ing thing, as far as she knows, and she wasn't anywhere close to a breach...

Iris doesn't hesitate.

She sinks into the embrace Laurel is offering, resting her head on the other woman's shoulder. She knows that Laurel is right. Tragedy isn't something you can always outrun, not even when you're the fastest man alive. Sometimes all you can do with tragedy is learn to overcome, but he's never looked so lost. "He'd finally been ready to make peace with his mom's death, and now ..."

She doesn't need to finish that sentence. Zoom has been taken care of, but at what cost?

Barry remembers that outfit, remembers everything so clearly about the last moment he saw her just like he remembers what his mother looked like tucking him in that night fifteen years ago, or the way his father smiled at him shortly before Zoom showed up and ruined everything. He'd filed away every detail in his mind like a photograph because he thought he was never going to see her again.

And yet here she is, standing right in front of him, almost as though no time has passed at all, when really, there's been too much time.

He pulls her in tightly, hugging her as though letting her go may lead to her disappearing, and he doesn't want that to happen quite yet. He's missed her so much but for right now, he knows she has more questions than he may be able to answer.

"You're in Chicago." Probably the easiest place to start. "But it's another Earth. You fell through a rift - kind of like a breach, but it only really goes one way."

"That sounds about right." Only it's not right. It's not fair. "Sometimes the universe likes to kick your feet out from under you, just when you're finally finding your footing."

It did that for her when Sara died the second time. It did it again when Damian Dahrk stabbed her with that arrow. The world is constantly challenging them, but you're stronger for it if you manage to dust yourself off again.

"Barry has a lot of support and a good head on his shoulders. He'll figure it out, one way or another."

Haven't you heard? You can't rush perfection!

[ a light scoff punctuates her sentiment, but soon enough, phoebe emerges from the bathroom. she twirls in place for his benefit, because she's shameless that way, her light blue skirt billowing out before her. she lifts her hands up in a ta-da! sort of way. ]

Well?

[ phoebe is tinkerbell, derek. she needs applause to live. she'll settle for a non-sour expression, in your case. ]

I distinctly remember what happened last time you promised me I'd love something.

[ mind, sarah doesn't appear to be dissuaded by this past experience of theirs. it's always an adventure, one way or another. she loves serena for everything she is, and her cousin has been wanting to go to this place for weeks now. it's noah's turn to wait. ]

Can you at least promise no cops this time?

Iris has no intention of letting Barry go any time soon. Her hold on him tightens briefly; even in her confusion, her instinct is to reassure and support him. She seems to understand that he needs that reassurance: the confirmation that she is tangible, real.

Eventually, she'll pull back just enough to search his face.

"That doesn't make any sense, Barry."

"He will. Whatever Barry needs to do, he'll do it, and we'll be there when he's ready."

Iris wants to believe Laurel. She does believe her. More importantly, Iris believes in Barry. It simply doesn't take away the ache in her chest. She sighs quietly, her head lingering at Laurel's shoulder. "Some kind of welcoming we gave you, huh?"

Not exactly the greeting to Central City they wanted to give their fallen friend.

I cannot in good faith make that promise. I never intend to find cops. They find me.

[She's totally innocent in all of this.]

What I can promise is serenading a ton of free drinks out of Wall Street trust fund assholes, dancing, and them getting absolutely nothing in return because that is what they deserve.

[He rolls his eyes at the statement before he turns around to face her, but once he does there's a small smile in return.]

Perfect.

[There. Happy?]

Laurel smirks a bit before shaking her head, leaning into Iris as well. She knows it can be hard to struggle with, but Laurel has faith in Barry too. He's a hero, who saves Central City because he wants to do what's best for the city, just like she wanted to do what's best for Star City.

"Better than what Damian Dahrk would have had waiting for me back in Star City. And at least I could be useful here."

"Yeah, well ... a lot of our lives don't actually make sense, but here we are." He doesn't mean to dismiss her concerns, and that's not what his tone is saying. His tone is saying that there isn't really much more that can make it make sense than that.

"Last thing I remember from Central City was leaving home the night we defeated Zoom." He isn't sure what he's expecting her to say, but he's pretty sure either way it won't help make it make any more sense. "That was six months ago, for me."

open } { emily & ella smash post

iris west ⚡ the flash

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serena chen ♫ original

phoebe donovan ☪ original

because everything should have a riftverse au?

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this is probably predictable but i don't care. i love them.

because the visual of a girls night out was impossible to resist

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sobs you know the way to my heart

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i love predictable, tho.

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alek(sandar) hale.

apollo.

laurel lance | for riftverse things