“Who could have imagined that aliens were controlling human’s timeline” Ava said still processing what just happened.
“Not even the greatest legends of all time” Nate replied, throwing his arms in the air a little bit too excited.
“Alright guys go get some rest because tonight, we celebrate our final victory. Gideon, get everything ready!”
“Right away, Captain”
Ava and the Legends walked towards the main corridor, all retrieving to their rooms following their Captain orders. Just before crossing the threshold, Ava turned around to realize that Sara was still standing next to the monitors looking through some files.
“Hey babe, aren’t you coming?”
It took a few seconds for Sara to look at her girlfriend, smiling sweetly.
“I’ll be there in a minute, just double-checking something.”
Ava simply nodded before disappearing toward their room.
A few hours later, the Waverider looked like a nightclub. Music was loud through the speakers, food and alcohol were heavily consumed and the Legends were apparently having the best time of their life, dancing, laughing and chatting.
It only seemed fair to them after everything they’ve been through. After being kidnapped, Sara realized the aliens were causing damage to the timeline, they were trying to destroy human history to create chaos and take over the Earth. But the Legends being obsessed with repairing time was deadly slowing them down. So kidnapping Sara was a plan to distract and weaken them. But they clearly underestimated them, Sara was able to break free, discover what the aliens were up to and contacted her team for backup. The fight was not easy though, they were clearly outmatched but with Gideon and her tech and John and his magic they were able to take them down without any of them being hurt.
With the last threat for the timeline being delt with, it appeared that there was no need for the Legends to keep doing what they do best. They talked about it together and even though it was a really painful decision, they decided that it was time for them to go home; a home that was not a time ship. They were always going to be family and planned to see each other very often.
Tonight, it was their last night on the Waverider altogether. In the morning, Zari and Behrad were going back to their parents in 2042, John and Astra were headed to London, Nate was going to be an historian at Yale, Mick will go spend some time with his daughter, Sara will spend a few days in Star City with her dad before joining Ava in DC, moving back into her old apartment from the Bureau.
Ava was dancing with Zari and Astra, looking for Sara to ask her to join them when she realized that the small blonde was missing. She made her way to their room; she was about to enter when she overheard Sara talking with Gideon.
“Are you sure the program is operational?”
“Last time I checked I was an AI, of course it is 100% operational.”
Sara lightly chuckled at Gideon answer; and felt a bit silly for asking her that question, because of course everything was ready.
Sara sensed a presence behind her, she turned around to see Ava standing in the corridor staring at her.
“Were you spying on me, Miss Sharpe?”
Sensing that Sara was hiding something from her, Ava ignored the comment.
“What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing?”, Sara smirked nonchalantly.
Ava stared at her, a frown on her face, clearly letting Sara know that she didn’t believe her and was waiting for a real answer.
“Okay, I asked Gideon to run a program that will allow her to be partially shut down once we are all gone. Her subconscious will keep scanning the timeline 24/7, just in case.”
“You don’t want to believe that it is really done, don’t you?”, Ava took a few steps forward, looking at Sara with so much sweetness, no one could believe it was possible to love someone this much.
“I- I do believe that we eliminated a great threat but who knows what could happen, right? Doesn’t hurt anyone to keep an eye on the timeline.”
Ava was now standing right in front of Sara, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders, her fingers playing with hair at the back of her neck. Sara wrapped her arms around Ava’s waist, pulling her impossibly close and resting her head on her collarbone.
Ava knew how sad Sara was to leave to Waverider and the team, she has been living here for the past 6 years, she is a part of the ship and will always be. This was the biggest adventure of her life, the one that changed everything for the better. She finally knew who she was and were she belonged.
They stayed wrapped up against each other in the middle of their room for a few minutes, no word spoken, letting the familiarity of their bodies comforting each other. A few tears escaped Sara’s eyes and Ava only realized it when Sara sniffled. She pushed Sara a little only to grab her face firmly and kiss her deeply. Sara’s emotions were kind of a mess right now and Ava kissing her only made more tears escaping and running on her cheeks.
“I’m right here babe, I’m not going anywhere okay?” Ava tried to comfort her, tears in her eyes threatening to escape as well.
“I know, I know” was all that Sara managed to whisper before crashing her head on Ava’s torso, holding her as close as possible.
After a few minutes, the couple joined their friends in the main room. The party felt like it was never going to end. Alcohol was starting to hit Ava’s head, Sara was never leaving her side, in case she needed some support.
The party ended eventually, all Legends being fast asleep in their bed, except for Sara. She managed to untangle herself from Ava without waking her up. She was slowly walking down the corridor, stopping in every of the Legends room, she would watch each of them sleep for a minute or so, before making her way to the bed and kissing their forehead, her heart feeling so tight in her chest. She could have never imagined how hard it was going to be to leave when she first set a foot on this ship.
She eventually got back to her room; pressing her front against Ava’s back and holding her tight, the tightest she ever held her.
Sara woke up when she felt Ava slipping away from her embrace.
She didn’t move, didn’t dare to open her eyes.
She knew she didn’t have to look for her girlfriend.
Because she was gone.
Sara rolled on her back, opened her eyes and starred at the ceiling. Her gaze empty, feeling like her soul has left her body.
“Gideon”, she managed to weakly say.
“Yes, Captain?”
“Status on the program.”
“100% completed. Zari, Behrad, Nate, John, Astra, Mick and Ava have all being teleported to their destination of choice, unaware of what happened to them as being a part of the Legends, their memories have been restored as if they never left home. Except for Ava, as you demanded, she is fast asleep in her DC apartment with her memory unchanged.”
Sara’s body was aching with sadness, but she knew she didn’t have another choice. The Legends deserved to be sent home, it was time for them as the world didn’t need saving anymore. Before they took down the aliens, Gideon discovered that they armed the timeline to its core, at the dawn of time; and that it needed to be restored to ensure timeline stability for eternity. It was a simple but risky mission; she couldn’t afford to lose anyone, and the Legends would have never let her do this on her own. She had to restore the time stream to ensure stability, once done the power it would release could kill her, even Gideon was not able to predict the amount of energy that will come out. Or if she could ever leave the dawn of time. Indeed, they also discovered that time travel was a consequence to the timeline instability. Once fixed, it appeared that time travel would be impossible and that the reality at this instant will be set for eternity.
As Captain, she had to make sure that her team was home and safe, before restoring the timeline stability. Erasing their memories was to make sure they would not come after her and cry her death of she did not make it. She knew it sounded wrong and she never wanted to play God, deciding what her friends’ life will be like. But they won’t remember anything, meaning that they had a chance at truly being happy.
She just could not bear doing this to Ava, not without telling her. They made a promise to never lie to each other, to always communicate no matter what it was about. Sure, about that, she made the decision herself, but she could at least be honest with Ava.
“Gideon, plot a course for Ava’s apartment.”
Sara carefully entered Ava’s apartment. She made her way upstairs, but Ava was still found asleep in her bed. Not wanting to startle her, Sara went back to the living room patiently waiting for the tall blonde to wake up.
There were a million thoughts going through her head at that moment, she played the scene that was about to happen in her head more times than she could ever count. And it broke her heart a little bit more every time.
She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Ava climbing down the stairs. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Sara? Sara are you there?”, Ava’s voice sounded panicked.
She didn’t reply and waited for Ava to spot her sitting on the couch.
“Babe what happened? How- why are we here? We didn’t say goodbye.”,
“Sit down babe, there is something I need to tell you.”, Sara hasn’t yet looked at Ava, afraid that seeing the distress in her love’s eyes would break her even more.
Ava hesitated, totally lost and unaware of what might have happened. After a few seconds, she sat across from Sara on the TV table. Looking expectantly at her girlfriend waiting for an explication.
“The Legends are back home already, Gideon had them teleported. With no memory of what happened to them as being Legends.”, Sara spoke quietly, sorrow filling her voice.
“What?”, Ava exclaimed loudly. “How did that happen? And why do we remember?”
As expected, Ava had a lot of questions.
“I made Gideon do it.”, for the first time Sara dared to look at Ava. The look on the other woman face immediately broke her heart. She started thinking about regretting what she had just done.
“Sara what the hell is going on here?”
Sara sighed, “Listen Ava, it is not done. There is a final mission for me at the dawn of time in order to stabilize the timeline, the aliens made more damaged than you know.”
“What do you mean for you? And it still does not explain the whole situation here.”, Ava asked, still not understanding what was happening.
“Stabilizing the timeline is easy, but the energy it will release, it is dangerous. I can’t let anyone else do it and you guys would have never allowed me to go there alone.”
“You think? I won’t let you do that, Sara. Not under my watch, there must be another way.”, Ava didn’t want to believe what Sara just said.
Sara cupped gently Ava’s cheek. “Gideon’s been searching, there is no another way babe.”
“Wait- you lied to me? Last night about the program? It was a program to make us all disappear during the night?”
“Yes, that’s what the program was about.”
“Why is not my memory erased?”
“Because I wanted you to know the truth and say goodbye bef-“, she was cut mid-sentence by Ava raising her voice.
“Oh my god Sara, don’t you dare saying goodbye to me I won’t let you-“
“Before I erase it myself.” Sara slowly took the flashlight out of her pocket and aimed it at Ava even though she hasn’t plan on flashing her right away. However, Ava was fast catching Sara’s arm and pushing it down, so the device was now aiming at the floor.
“Ava.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Don’t fight me please, we both know who will win if it comes to this.”, Sara said, eyes closed.
“Please baby, I beg you don’t do this.” Ava’s world was starting to fall apart right in front of her, her voice started to weaken and her eyes filling with tears.
Sara couldn’t bear to see her like that, so she looked away.
“I won’t let you get through losing me again. This time, if it happens there will be no coming back for me. Time travel is actually possible due to the timeline instability, once fixed nothing and no one could do anything to save me. I’ve put you through so much already. I love you Ava and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I really do. But I am a Captain and that is what captain do. I won’t let anyone suffer for my choice, especially you.” Sara’s pain could be heard right through her words.
Ava couldn’t find anything to say. She knew Sara was stubborn and that it was impossible to change her mind about something that important. So, she let it all out. Tears started rolling down her cheeks like they never have before, loud sobs escaped her mouth. She rested her arms and head on Sara thighs. Gripping at her flesh like her life depended on it.
Sara rested her head on top of Ava’s. Letting the smell of her shampoo comforts her one last time.
“I really thought about it, I remember how you felt when you realized that all your memories were fake. I feel like I am doing something horrible to you, but you won’t remember, and you will never know.” Sara explained.
“No Sara- I- please.” Those are the only words Ava could let out through her sobs.
Sara grabbed Ava’s waist and motioned her to sit on her lap. Grabbing her face, she kissed her fiercely. The kiss was a mess of bitterness, sadness, sobs and tears.
Ava broke the kiss, hardly breathing between Sara’s lips and her sobs.
“Gideon planned a good life for you. You have this beautiful apartment, you’re an FBI agent surrounded by lovely friends and colleagues. And you have the most caring and sweet girlfriend in the world.” Sara tried to comfort her, well aware that none of what she could say would help Ava to calm down.
“I don’t want any of this if it’s not with you. How can I know if you made it or not?”
“My love, you won’t know me at all.”
“Don’t, I want to stay with you please don’t do this to me.” Ava’s body was shaking.
Sara’s heart was shredded into a million pieces by now, it was unbearable seeing Ava like this because of her.
So, she kissed her again, and every time she broke the kiss, she couldn’t accept that it was the last one, so she kissed her again and again. After a few minutes, Ava’s crying seemed to calm down a little bit.
Sara held Ava’s face in her hands and sweetly smiled at her, tears still rolling down her cheeks. She pressed their foreheads together, wiping the remaining tears on Ava’s cheek.
“You will always be the greatest love of my life, Ava Sharpe.”
She didn’t let time for Ava to say or do something. Sara quickly grabbed the flashlight with her right hand, pushing Ava in a tight embrace with her other arm. In a blink of an eye, she managed to position the flashlight on Ava’s right temple and shoot.
Ava, unconscious, sank deeper into Sara’s embrace. She finally looked at peace even with red puffy eyes.
And just like that Sara held her in her arms, murmuring to her ear, voice filed with sadness.
“I’m so sorry baby, please forgive me.”
After a few minutes, it was time for Sara to pick Ava up and carry her to the bed. She lay her down, covering her with the comforter.
Just like she did the other night with the rest of the Legends, she watched her sleep a few more minutes, before pressing a long kiss to her forehead.
“I will find you again, I promise.”