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Zari is just a little… confused. She tries to keep her head down, keep the Waverider flying, and keep her teammates alive. But right now, the Captain who usually saves all their asses is acting like an… actual idiot. And one of the people they’ve teamed with this mission, a beautiful, tall, former assassin who looks vaguely familiar to Zari, has to routinely save Sara’s ass. It’s weird. But Zari doesn’t like to middle. She is going to keep her mind on the mission.
“So, these… pools…”
“Pits,” the man in the group says. “Lazarus Pits.”
“Yeah, those. They bring people back to life?”
“Yep,” the woman, Thea Queen, Green Arrow’s little sister, confirms.
“And it brought Sara back from the dead?”
“Yep,” Thea nods.
“Why are you destroying them?”
Zari’s confused about that, too.
“Ask Sara what these things do to a person,” Thea says grimly. “I was only mostly dead and the consequences…” Thea shakes herself. “It’s a blood lust. Insatiable. I don’t know how Sara was cured of it, but Nyssa had to track down a cure for me, or I’d be a soulless monster by now.”
Nyssa… that’s the final member of their party. The confusing one. Zari can’t help herself.
“So, what’s the deal with Nyssa and the Captain?”
“The Captain?”? the man, Roy, asks. “Oh, Sara.”
“Yeah.”
Thea and Roy exchange a glance.
“What?”
“It’s hard to explain…” Thea starts.
“Soulmates. They were soulmates. If that can be a past tense thing,” Roy says.
Thea gives Roy a sharp look.
“What? I listen. I was there for all that Mirakuru shit. I have eyes.”
That’s not exactly the response that Zari was expecting. She agrees with Roy: she’s not sure than can be a past tense thing.”
“What happened?”
Roy shrugs and looks to Thea, who mirrors his shrug.
“Sara came back from the dead. Nyssa was locked in a dungeon. That’s all we know. Nyssa doesn’t talk about it very much. Sara?” Thea asks.
“I didn’t even know there was a Nyssa,” Zari admits. Both frown just a little bit. “Of course there has been an Ava most of the time I’ve been on the team, so I guess that makes sense…”
Thea nods thoughtfully, and Roy shrugs again.
“So…” Zari says. “You guys hungry?”
***
Sara thinks it is normal to be awkward around your ex. Probably. She only really as the one serious ex. (Not to discount what she had with Ollie – it was just never very steady or long term.) So it’s just Nyssa, and their “ex” interactions have never been terribly ordinary, so this awkward, tumbling feeling is probably just what everyone usually feels.
Probably.
That completely explains how she literally fell on her ass in the middle of a fistfight.
Yep.
“I do appreciate the assistance, Sara,” Nyssa says. “When I discovered there were more of them, I…” Nyssa shudders at the thought.
“Hey, you know I feel the same way,” Sara assures her. “Happy to use our resources. How many more on the list?”
“Two. I am sure Thea and I-“
Sara grins at how Roy is truly an afterthought, but interrupts:
“We’ll help. Keeps the crew out of trouble.”
Nyssa nods appreciatively. Sara smiles.
“What are you gonna do once the world is Pit-free?” Sara asks.
“Find somewhere to settle, I suppose,” Nyssa says softly. “I do crave a bit of peace. I haven’t felt that, since…”
She trails off. She doesn’t need to say it. The gulf of their past lays spread out between them, the good and the bad. So much happiness, and yet such deep sadness.
To have stumbled upon each other again, all these years later, it sets Sara’s mind tumbling into earlier days.
“It’s just about dinner time. Let’s head to the kitchen.”
Nyssa checks her watch.
“It’s 10:34.”
“This is a time ship, Nyssa. It’s always dinner time.”
Nyssa rolls her eyes, and even gives her a little laugh as they head towards food.
***
“This job seems a little outside your mandate, is all,” the larger than life video of Ava is saying.
She has been uncomfortable with this mission from the start, but since she knows who Nyssa al Ghul is, Sara figures that’s natural. To her credit, Ava hasn’t gone all jealous partner and forbidden it out right, which Sara would have completely understood.
“I know. But it’s a good thing to do, and I owe her a lot,” Sara says honestly. She has not shared much about her time with the League – Ava is still a little queasy around the assassin thing. So much of her League life was wrapped up in Nyssa anyway, and that’s weird to talk about at length with her current girlfriend.
But Ava knows the basics. Nyssa saved her life, and then kept her alive, for years.
“That does make sense,” Ava nods, and Sara loves her for it. “And I know you don’t want anyone dealing with what you went through in the Lazarus Pit. I just thought if you’d be spending this much time in 2019, we’d spend it together.”
Sara meets her sad smile with a beaming one of her own and says:
“I’ll sweet talk my boss, see if she can give me a little extra R&R when I finish here.”
Ava blushes, and the sadness drains away.
“Well, see what you can do. Don’t forget to fill out the leave request in triplicate…” she teases.
“That’s my girl,” Sara says. “I’ll let you know when we’re wrapping up, okay?”
***
There are no more Lazarus Pits. Using the Waverider’s speed and Gideon’s super intelligence, they make short work of destroying the remaining few.
“Why didn’t we call Sara a year ago?” Roy asks, mostly joking rather than accusatory. Nyssa looks uncomfortable all the same.
Sara just leans over and fills all the glasses closest to her: Nyssa, Thea, Roy, Zari. When she hits the end of her reach, she passes the bottle off to Mick to continue the rounds.
“That is for the circle. It makes it back to me,” she says pointedly to both Mick and Charlie. “With something in it.”
There is grumbling, but the bottle keeps moving, past Ray, right into John Constantine’s hands. Nyssa gamely swipes it from him as soon as he is done pouring. John pouts, but, as he has been eternally frustrated to learn, his charms hold no sway on Nyssa.
“Captain’s got herself an enforcer, then,” John teases as Nyssa hands the bottle back to Sara.
“I see the chain of command is more of an abstract construct aboard,” Nyssa says wryly. “But I do appreciate your assistance in shutting down the final Lazarus Pits, Mr. Constantine.”
“Nasty sort of magic, that. No one should be messing with it,” John nods, downing his glass in one go. “Happy to help.”
Eventually, one by one, everyone wanders off to their room or lab or wherever, until only Nyssa and Sara are left in Rip’s study.
Sara is not drunk. She’s thrown a couple back, but that’s just a day that ends in Y now. Time travel has brought out the heavy drinker in her.
“So. Where do you wanna be dropped off? And, with a few restrictions, when do you wanna be dropped off?”
Nyssa gives her a soft smile. It seems sad.
“I will have to give that some thought. I never spent much time mulling after. And I’ll have to discuss it with Thea as well. She and I are no longer bound by common purpose.”
No, Sara thinks, but their other commonalities are still there, and she’s been caught off guard by the depth of their bond.
“I know Roy wants a simple life,” Sara says idly.
“I do wonder what that would truly be like,” Nyssa says, surprisingly wistful.
“You wouldn’t miss the punching?” Sara asks honestly. Every time she’s tried it, she has always missed the punching.
Nyssa chuckles a little, warmly, and Sara’s cheeks flush delightedly. She has always loved making Nyssa laugh, as dangerous as that feels right now.
Sara is spoken for. Happily spoken for.
“I fear I grow weary of the ‘punching’, ha-“ Nyssa catches herself. “Taer al-Asfer.”
Sara hasn’t heard that name in what feels like a lifetime. It feels… strange, but good. Very good.
But Nyssa misinterprets her face, a sign of how long they truly have been apart.
“I apologize. I know that isn’t-“
“No, no,” Sara cuts her off quickly. “You can always call me that.”
Briefly, terribly, Sara thinks that Nyssa can also always call her what she intended to say originally.
Sara sets down her glass before it can fuel a bad decision, or even a too candid disclosure. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone.
“Then choose when and where you want your simple life, and I’ll do my best,” Sara grins winningly.
Nyssa’s eyes twinkle, but then grow serious.
“I don’t know that such a life is mine to have.”
Sara frowns.
“Hey. You can have whatever you want. You deserve that. You don’t have any more amends to make.”
Nyssa’s smile is definitely sad now.
“You have always believed that more than I.”
“Yeah, well. My ship. And I’m always right on my ship.”
“Yes, Captain,” Nyssa teases, and Sara does not hate that. “And what was your excuse before? Because I’ve never know you to not believe you are always ‘right’.”
Sara laughs freely. Like she’s twenty-one again, stealing moments of joy in the halls of the Demon.
“Well, start listening to me!”
They lock eyes, laughter fading away. It might be minutes, or just seconds, but they are them again.
Sara clears her throat.
“Sleep on it. You’re all welcome aboard as long as you need.”
Nyssa’s face is so soft. Not quite a smile.
“Very well. I’ll do that. Goodnight, Sara.” She says the last part in Arabic, and it makes Sara smile, just a little.
“Goodnight, Nyssa.”
Nyssa leaves, and Sara wills herself not to watch.
It’s always like this, she tells herself. It’s always like this between exes.
***
fin