Chapter Text
As the jumpship flew through the temporal zone on its regular path back to the Waverider, Zari's hands shook as she held the controls. It wasn't because of the mission they were returning from. In fact, it was surprisingly easy. Charlie, John and Mick sat behind her in silence, clearly aware of why she was trembling.
It was because of how badly the previous mission had went, and its consequences for one of their own.
6 hours ago, Sara had called them up to the bridge for a mission. "Ok, we have ourselves a dragon hiding in France, 1965. Charlie, Mick, you go on foot to the dragon's current location. John and I will stay here and find a way to send a dragon that big into hell. Zari, you and Ray take to the skies."
Zari's face lit up at this, and turned to look at Ray with a small smile. Ray didn't even notice, he was just nodding as he looked at the holomap with an excited expression on his face. "I've always wanted to see a dragon," he beamed.
"Any questions?" Sara asked.
Silence.
"Alrighty then. Legends, let's go catch a dragon."
{France,1965}
Over the endless forest shone a sky full of stars, thousands of white dots... Except for two. One was the red glow of Zari's totem, the other the light blue glow of Ray's Atom suit.
"Any sign of the dragon, Z?" Ray yelled over the wind whooshing in their faces as they flew over the trees.
"No, nothing yet," Zari yelled back.
"Nothing down here," came Charlie's voice via the comlink.
"There better be a dragon for me to burn soon," Mick grumbled.
Zari then turned off her comlink and turned to her right to appreciate the splendor that was Ray. He had a cute face, and such a cheerful personality that he made a rainbow seem bleak. She remembered how at first, his positive attitude towards pretty much anything drove her crazy. She never understood why he acted so happy all the time.
But after meeting his younger self, she started to appreciate everything that Ray was. It didn't really irritate her anymore. Well, not as much anyway.
And then there was Nora. Nora Darhk. She and Ray had started writing to each other now, and it was starting to piss her off. What did Ray see in her?
Not that she was jealous of Nora of anything. It's just that she didn't trust her. She had spent most of last year trying to kill them. And now, Ray was willing to believe that she had changed for the better. Zari wasn't sure. Just definitely not jealous. DEFINITELY not jealous.
And yet...
Maybe she was.
Just a little bit.
But maybe if she told Ray how she felt-- No, she couldn't do that. There was no point. They were too different. They wouldn't last together, she thought with a heavy heart. He liked Nora, and Nora probably liked him back.
But maybe the main problem wasn't Nora. Maybe it was herself. Was she afraid? Afraid of being turned down? Maybe she was. What if she confessed her feelings to Ray, only for him to act weird around her? What if he didn't want to speak to her again?
Just then, an ear-splitting roar brought her back to reality as 30 feet underneath her, two orange eyes shone in the darkness and the sound of wings flapping reached her ears...
"Dragon!" Mick yelled with joy as he pulled out his flamethrower.