Loosing Faith

  Len's POV

    I fell back against my bunk exhausted from another day on this crazy ship and another day without him. This time it was a shitty trip to some perfect world where crime and smog had been eliminated and it pissed me off. Mick would've died here. That made me think about him again. He had always been my rock and when he needed me the most I bailed on him, giving into group pressure. I shouldn't trust these people anymore. Jax was in the room with Rip when he shot his mouth off and said nothing. stein was too busy playing superhero and well Rip only gives a shit about himself. Ray was too busy fawning over the resident hawk lady and Sara was getting over our near death experience. I should've worked harder, tried to talk to him to see what was going through his mind, I might've been able to see if he had a secondary plan or if this was something that could've been handled with fists. I should've done anything, not just let the others dictate to me how I should handle the person I loved the most. Fighting every primitive urge to take my freeze ray and make Popsicles out of the whole crew and have Gideon find Mick. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but I couldn't. I just laid there until I passed out.

       I heard his voice. He was close. I kept running to where I heard his voice. I couldn't seem to locate exactly where he was. "Mick, where are you?" I screamed into the void but no answer. Than he could hear a loud voice and the roar of a very loud crowd  and the voice was announcing a wrestling match in New York City. He was talking about 'heatwave' and how the man came literally out of nowhere to become the number one contender for the WWE World heavy weight championship. I gasped. That's definitely Mick I thought but how did he get back home. I listened again. The announcers said it was 1986 and the twenty year old phenom was taking the wrestling world by storm. Shit. "Mick at twenty, which made sense since they said it was 1986  and a wrestler what the hell" I said to myself as I tried to make sense of everything. How did he get here? Why would he have come back to 1986 just to become a stupid wrestler especially since Mick thought wrestling was the dumbest thing next to reality tv that the tv had to offer. I continued searching because I heard my Mick screaming now. My heart felt like it was being ripped from my chest with each blood curdling scream. This was my fault. I caused him the pain he was feeling at this moment. I was no longer at a wrestling match but in a dark cavern. That's when I saw him. Tied to a pole and his neck slashed and beaten to almost beyond recognition. I ran as fast as I could and then I was sitting up in my bed. Sweating and crying and cursing.

       "Leonard what's wrong?" I heard Sara ask from my doorway. She was the only one on this damn piece of metal I trusted anymore so I opened the door. "Nothing too bad just a bad dream, Sara" I said trying not to loose my composure to much. "Mick?" She asked worried. "Yeah I heard his voice but couldn't find him. Then I saw him tied to a pole and bloody with his throat slashed." I said letting the tears fall freely. She sat down and put her arm around me and laid her head on my shoulder and we sat like that for quite awhile. I liked how she didn't push me to talk or make a big fuss. Finally I wrapped her in a big hug and said "thank you for being here for me Sara" I said kissing her on the forehead. She smiled and said "anytime Leonard and I know Mick will be back" and with that she headed out. I laid down and looked at the ceiling. "Tomorrow I think we shall go to 1986 and figure out what the hell is happening" I told the room and went to bed.

      The next morning came way to fast, or at-least the damn machine indicating it was morning went off way to fast. I was getting tired of no early morning sunrise or the sunset in the evening. I used to watch from our hideout because it made me feel calm and I knew Mick was watching as well he would call the morning and evening skies the fire dance. He loves his fire. Thinking about that energized me even more for what was about to happen. Sliding on my pants and old t-shirt I headed to the captains bridge. Thankful I was the first person out there I said "Gideon take us to New York circa 1986 now". For a moment I thought Gideon would ignore me but then I heard the lady say "alright mr.snart, we will head to New York circa 1986" and then I heard the engines come to life and the quest to bring my Mick home started. No matter what the other quacks said.

Mick's POV:

  I still couldn't believe that my Len abandoned me in a forest in a different time. Sitting on the ground I listened for any chance the waverider had come back and it was just a bad joke. I sat for so long before I gave up. I was tired of fooling myself, allowing myself to believe that someone on that ship actually cared about me. Hell, all I was is the muscle that was there to get the scrawny ass punks out of trouble. I heard the sound of my stomach. I hadn't had any food since everything with the pirates and at that point I knew that I had to find food. I gathered berries that I knew to be safe and also was able to catch a couple of small critters to cook and eat. Thank god Len had atleast left my fire gun where I could find it. After eating my thrown together meal, I found  a clearing and put together a bedding of leaves, which is not as comfortable as nature shows would lead us to believe. I laid down and tried to relax as best as I could. I know that I had betrayed Len back on the Pirates ship but damn it why didn't he fucking stick up for me. Fuck. I don't know how to take care of myself in the city and so how am I supposed to do it in the wild I thought as I laid there. I stared up at the night sky. If Len were by my side this wouldn't be half bad. I watched as the stars and the two moons moved in a symmetrical dance. The firefly like bugs dancing in the tree limbs were actually quite beautiful and calming. I watched as multiple stars became brighter and then fizzled into a fire like dance. The air was nippy but not bad and the trees moving in the wind was beautiful. I finally decided that sleep was what I needed. I closed my eyes and let the nightmares in my mind attack me.

   I heard Len's voice. He was calling my name but I couldn't see anything but an abyss of blackness. I screamed out his name but all I could hear in return was him calling my name again but still all that really existed was total blackness. 'Calm down Mick' I told myself. I closed my eyes and reopened them. It was clearer. I still couldn't see Len but at least I could see what was in front of my nose. I started following the sound of Len's voice. Everytime I got close it seemed to move further away from me. Then I saw the waverider and the crew except for Len. Where was he? Why wasn't he with the others? I tried calling to them but no one seemed to hear me. I didn't think much of it because nobody on that piece of shit ship ever listened to me but I wanted to know what happened to Len. I started to move closer to the group when all of a sudden they vanished and all that was left was a remittance of a time long gone. It was everyone getting together for the first time and boarding and leaving me out. I then heard it again. The voice of the only person I've ever truly loved screaming my name. I ran towards the screaming again. I ran into a big empty room this time. As the my eyes adjusted I saw something in the center. It was a casket. I slowly headed over and then my wildest fears finally faced me right there. The casket contained Len and he was burned and beaten badly. The ring marks around his eyes told me one thing, that I was the cause of Len's demise. I crumbled to my knees. My heart was heavy and my mind was spinning. 'Wake up Mick, your having a seriously fucked up dream' I said out loud. I heard laughing all around me. "Shut the fuck up" I yelled. "The meat man is talking" said a voice while another said "I didn't know brick walls could form sentences". "Hey all you mother fuckers shut the hell up and get out of my head" I screamed into the empty room again. Taking a deep breath and tired of my predicament I took the only viable step I knew to take and I shot myself with my fire gun.

   My eyes opened slowly and I wasn't where I fell asleep. I looked around. I was in a room that needed painted and on a bed that felt that it was made out of rocks but hell it was a roof over my head. "Hey Rory, get your ass up and make some money" I heard a course voice shouting. "Today your on the main roster and your going for the championship belt tonight. You better get your ass up and practicing soon" the voice said again. I groaned and got my ass up. Looking in the mirror I noticed that something was a little different about me. I was a lot younger, had a full head of black hair, and my eyes looked brighter and ready to take on the world. I missed that guy, but that guy didn't wrestle. So what the fuck was going on. "What year is it" I shouted to the other person in the room. "Hit your head or something dipwad, it's 1986" the now very annoying voice said. 'Ah mother fucker, I'm twenty fucking years old and a fucking wrestler. My life is just getting worse and worse'. I looked over to the closet. I saw my jacket and goggles and thank god, my heat ray gun. I noticed a poster of what must of been me going down the ramp. I looked pretty damn awesome but I still couldn't believe I had chosen this as my job, which made me wonder why this was my job. I never worked in the wrestling industry, I lived in Central City and Len and I made our living thieving. Maybe I am dreaming still. I pinched myself and it hurt. I also tried walking into a wall to wake myself up but all that did was hurt even worse than the pinching did. Ah shit. Something must've fucked up the time line or the nice time keepers decided it would be funny to give me the worlds worst job. I figured I might as well make the most of this and started to stretch and do some exercises. I looked at the man in the mirror again and sighed. 'I wonder if I had been a wrestler at the age of twenty maybe I would be a different, better person and Len would still be at my side'. I shook that thought out of my head quickly. If I had been a stupid wrestler I wouldn't have ever met Len and so he wouldn't be by my side anyways. I would find my way back to Len and make him listen to me or die trying. I loved being a thief but I loved Len more and if he wanted to be a part of the good guy squad then I would give it a go. I sighed. What if Len never trusts me again or he has met someone new, like the blonde Sara and her obnoxiousness. I shook my head again. I had to believe in Len. I had to believe that no matter what he was always waiting for me no matter what. I stood up and gave the punching bag a hard hit and watched the stuffing inside fly everywhere. I kicked the now empty bag and put on the outfit set up for me by the costume department. The only thing that felt natural was the ray gun in my hands. I was shining it a bit and noticed a piece of paper stuck to the inside of the gun. I pulled it out and read it. 'Hey shithead if your reading this then you probably fucked up and got your ass kicked off the waverider. I did the same stupid ass thing and ended up getting kidnapped by those time freaks and becoming an outlaw named chronos and almost killed Len and the others. Under no circumstance what so ever don't leave that damn forest and if you do keep your eyes out for Len or the others because they will come searching for you. To finish this little note up because I'm sure your hot headed way of doing things might try to read it's ugly head again stop and think about what your next course of action should be before reacting and god damn sakes try not to get your dumbass kicked off the waverider again. Your future self- Mick'. I wanted to so badly go to the future and kick my future selfs ass. But I just stuffed the note back into the gun because I knew the fucker was right and headed to where the dinky little stage manager pointed me to. Supposedly I was fighting some dink for a belt or something and if I won I would get paid more. The money sounded nice but this whole thing seemed stupid and I still didn't know how I ended up here. I took in a deep breath, heard only what could be my musical cue, which was some dumb song that had something to do with fire, to enter the arena full of stupid people chanting my name and when I heard them say "here is the blazing one himself" I headed through the curtain.