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Chapter Text

Gasping, I sit up in bed, drenched in sweat while my heart nearly beats out of my chest.  I have to warn him.  I have to warn them all.
 
For the last three years, my visions have become more specific and more frequent.  At first, I thought they were just vivid dreams but when they started coming true sometimes days later, with startling accuracy, I knew it was more than that.  I haven’t told anyone about the visions, but I do my best to use them in a positive way.  Sometimes it’s something as simple as suggesting to my best friend Meg that she wear the blue dress for her interview, sometimes it’s something more serious like an anonymous tip to the police about the location of a suspect.  Sometimes, there’s not enough to go on until it’s too late and I am powerless to change the ending.  No matter how innocent my intentions, lately the visions only seem to cause trouble.
 
This is the first time I’ve seen someone’s death.  And I’m not ready to lose my favorite cousin to the whim of fate just yet.
 
I pace the floor, silently willing Nate to answer.  White t-shirt.  He was wearing a white t-shirt.  Nate’s monochromatic wardrobe is going to be a problem.  There’s no way to tell which day the white shirt turns red with his blood.
 
“Tay?”

 “Nate what color is your shirt?”

 “Tay?  What’s wrong?”

 “Nate, just tell me, please!  What color shirt are you wearing?”

 “Taylor it’s like-”

 I let out a frustrated yelp and throw a pillow across the room.  “Nate TELL ME!”

 “Red!  Geez it’s red, Taylor.  What is going on?”

 I collapse on the edge of my bed with my face in my hands.  Red.  It’s red.  There’s still time.  Nate says my name a couple of times while I try to regain my composure.

 “I need to tell you something.  I need you to come get me.”  I pack a bag while Nate starts to quiz me about what’s going on but I know that time is running out so I stop him short, “You and the Legends need to come get me, now.  You’re all in danger.”

 “How do you know about the Legends?”

 “Nate, you need to come now.  I’ll explain soon.  You can park the time ship on the football field at the high school.  I’ll be there in ten.”

 I hang up before he can ask me anything else.  An echo of the vision passes through my head and I have to steady myself on the door frame as I throw my bag over my shoulder.  Echoes usually mean that the vision is changing.  Or sometimes that it’s coming sooner.  I speed all the way to the high school, nearly taking the corners around town on two wheels.  It’s a miracle that I’m not pulled over.  When my car screeches to a stop in the parking lot, I see the time ship settle onto the turf of the football field a few yards away.  It’s bigger than it seemed in my visions.  It blinks out of sight as Nate and his team mates filter out onto the field.

I click the lock on my car and step over a curb and into the lawn around the football field.  I’ve seen more than a few visions of the Legends.  I knew at some point I would end up on the ship, I just didn’t know how I’d get there.  From the visions alone, I can identify almost all of them.  Sara Lance and Mick Rory are easy to spot.  Beside Sara stands a tall, blonde woman with sharp eyes.  I haven’t caught her name, but she’s with Sara most of the time.  There’s the dark headed boy with wind powers that Nate spends a lot of time with, but I can’t sort out his name either.  Not all of my visions play out with audio, sometimes I just have to watch people’s lips move and guess at what might be happening.  The last two out of the ship are Ray Palmer and a man with bleached hair and a long tan trench coat with a cigarette hanging from his lips.

 “Taylor?” Nate calls as they head towards me.  I feel another echo coming on and brace myself against the bleachers as the waves of nausea and flashing images roll over me.  Meeting people from my visions usually has this effect.  Normally the echo is over quickly but I’ve never met so many strangers from my visions all at once and this wave takes longer to pass.  When I shake my head and come out of it, Nate and his friends are only a few feet away.  His face is pinched in concern when he reaches me.

 “What is going on?” he says, reaching out for me.  I let him pull me in for a hug as the last traces of the echo leak out of my system.

 “That’s kind of a long story.”

 “Nate?”  Sara says his name, looking back and forth between us.

 “Uh guys, this is my cousin Taylor.  Taylor, these are-”

 “The Legends of Tomorrow, yeah I know.  Nice to meet you all in person finally.  I think your lives are in danger.”

 “I’m gonna need a little more context” Ray says, his smile faltering.

 “I can see the future.  Or, little glimpses of it and I’ve seen little bits of all of you.  I’m supposed to be on that ship with you.”

“You can see the future?”  The tall blonde next to Sara asks, her eyebrows furrowed.

“I dream it…mostly.  Last night I saw Nate die and all of you did too.  Something’s coming and I think I’m supposed to help you stop it.”  I turn to the man in the trench coat as the familiar feeling of déjà vu that accompanies the moment when a vision comes to pass rolls over me.  “You’re gonna need to duck.”

The football hits him square in the back of his head before he can move.
 
“The football team is already on their way.  We need to get out of here now.”  I say turning back towards Sara and Nate.  The rest of the Legends survey the field and nod as a couple of the football players start coming out of the locker room.

 “You heard her, wipe them and get back to the ship” Sara say, pointing to Ray and the dark headed boy standing next to him.  With that, the team falls in line to carry out orders.

 “What have you gotten yourself into?”  Nate sighs, pulling the bag off my shoulder and nodding for me to follow him.

 “Good question” I mutter, following him across the field.

 When we step onto the ship, Nate shows me where to sit and how to strap in for take-off.  Once we get into something that Sara calls the Temporal Zone, we all stand around a large device in the middle of the ship and everyone looks to me for an explanation.

 “When did this all start?”  Nate asks, leaning against the control center and looking over at me.

 “A few years ago, I started seeing the future while I was asleep.”

“You’ve been seeing the future for years and you didn’t tell me?”  Nate asks, appalled.  

“I haven’t told anyone about it, and I promise I don’t use it to my advantage, I just try to help people as much as I can.  Sometimes it’s just a fraction of a moment and I can’t figure out where or what it is.  And then sometimes…it’s like I’m watching a movie of an entire block of time.  A few months ago, I saw Nate dressed up in some ridiculous outfit with all of you and I didn’t know what to make of it.  I didn’t realize you were on a time ship until a few weeks ago.  I heard Sara talking about the Temporal Zone and going back to another time.”
 
“So, you’ve been spying on us?” Mick growls from across the room where he has his feet propped up on a table.

 “Not spying.  I can’t control who I see or for how long.  Sometimes I can hear what’s going on and sometimes I can’t.”

 The tall blonde next to Sara crosses her arms before she looks at me.  “You said we were in danger.  What did you see?”

 “It wasn’t very clear.  You were all on this ship, there was an explosion and the lights went out.  When they came back on, all I could see was Nate on the floor covered in blood.  All of you were on the floor, not moving and the ship was spinning out of control.”  I swallow hard, the images from last night’s vision still making my blood pressure rise.

 “What about you?”

 “I wasn’t there.”

 “How do you know?”  The trench coated man asks in a thick British accent.  It takes me by surprise and I realize I’ve never heard him speak in my visions.

 “Um it’s hard to explain.  When I’m in the vision, it’s like an out of body experience.  I can see myself there doing whatever I’m doing.  But when I’m not, it’s like I’m watching it happen around me.  I wasn’t here when it happened.”

 “But you’ve seen yourself on the ship with us?” Ray asks.

 “Yes.  I saw us meeting in the field and you,” I gesture to Trench Coat, “getting hit with that football.  I’ve seen myself here for a few other moments but they’re not specific, I can’t figure out when or why they’re happening.”

 “How accurate are these visions?” Nate asks, turning around and placing his hands on the control panel like it’s holding him up.

 “It depends on how actively I try to change them.  Usually they aren’t so…fatal so I try not to change much.  But when I do, I get these insane headaches and I see the old vision overlapped with the reality of the moment it changes.”

 “Is that what happened when you almost passed out earlier?”  The dark-haired boy asks, studying me with curious eyes.

 “Sort of.  When I meet people from my visions, the visions echo back through my head and it hurts a little.  There are just a lot of you so I guess that’s why it hurt more this time.”

The team is quiet for a long minute and I look up to Nate with a frown.  “I’m sorry that it had to be like this, but I’m not going to let you die.  You’re my favorite cousin, after all.” At that, Nate smiles and pulls me in for a big hug.

Sara smiles at us and then looks around the group.  “Well Legends, lets figure out how to stop the future from killing all of us.  Nate, show her around the ship?”

As Nate pulls me away and starts naming different rooms, I hear Sara pull up Gideon to scan the timeline.  Maybe my visions have a purpose after all.  He introduces me to Behrad and John Constantine, and points out Ava Sharpe when I tell him that I already know a few of his team mates.  Officially meeting people from my visions is always a weird sensation.  Sometimes, I forget that we haven’t actually met, and sometimes their voices and mannerisms come as a surprise.

I settle in to the room Nate gives me and pull out the journal I try to keep of all my visions.  If I don’t get all the details down as soon as I wake up, they start to fade a little over time.  Chills cover me from head to toe as I scribble down every single, tiny detail I can recall about my vision last night.  In my panic to call Nate, I didn’t write it down and the edges are starting to get fuzzy.  The horror, however, doesn’t get fuzzy.  I’ve never had a vision quite to vicious and deadly and it’s all I can do to keep my hand steady when I write out all the details.  For a long time after I’ve finished detailing my vision, I sit and flip through the book and reread visions I’ve had involving the Legends.  A knock at the door pulls my attention and I look up to see Nate in the doorway.

“Hey, I just wanted to see if you were okay.  You seemed really freaked on the phone this morning.”  He says, leaning against the doorway.

“I’m okay, I’ve just never had such a violent vision.  They’re normally so…mundane.  And it was you so that just made it worse.”

“We’re gonna find a way to stop it, Tay.”

“I know…” I hesitate.  I almost confide in him the rest of the story, the way my visions have changed over the last year but I don’t want to worry him.  We have enough on our plates.

“Taylor?”

“I’m fine Nate.  I just need a minute to adjust to being here.”

“I’ve missed ya kid.” He smiles.

“You too” I tell him, smiling as he turns and walks back down the hall.

Chapter Text

I wander the ship a little, and talk to Ray who is maybe the friendliest person I’ve ever met.  I see why he, Behrad, and Nate get along.  At least two of them are always together, making jokes and living their best bro-mance.  It makes me smile to see Nate so happy.  Growing up, there was always an underlying tension with his dad.  He really seems to have found his place.  Despite the visions I’ve had, I’m not so convinced that this is my place too.  When I find my way to the library, I take a deep relaxing breath, happy to be alone amongst the books.  I walk around the room running a finger down the spine of ever book I can get my hands on and looking for anything that might be useful.  If there were a way to focus the visions, maybe I could get out ahead of whatever is coming for us.

“Future vision, eh?”  A thick accent says, startling me out of the book I’ve settled down to flip through.  I look up to find John Constantine leaning in the doorway.

“Seems that way.”

“And we all die?”

“Seems that way too.”  I say, shutting the book in my lap.  He looks me over and a wave of déjà vu hits.  “Don’t light that cigarette.”  I tell him.

“Don’t have one out, Love.”

“Your right pocket.  You were going to pull one out and light it.  When you flick the ashes in the trash, the papers catch fire.”  I say, my voice coming out hollow as the vision plays through my head again.  When the vision is gone, I shake my head and wait for the ache to stop.  John crosses his arms and watches me as I get to my feet, book in hand.  I cross the room and pull the crinkled papers out of the trash can and hold them up like proof.

“You saw that?”

“A few weeks ago.  I forgot about it actually.”  I tell him, putting the book back on the shelf and tossing the papers into a recycling bin instead of the trash.

“How did you know if you forgot?”

“I forget a lot of visions until the moments leading up to them, then the world kind of slows down and I get this weird kind of déjà vu as the vision replays in my head.”  I explain, looking over the books.  Still nothing to help me focus my visions.

“Ever see something more than once?” John asks, still at his post in the door way.  He watches me with an affected air of indifference but I have a feeling he’s paying more attention that he seems to be.

“Not exactly.  Never from the same angle more than once.  The few times I’ve seen the same thing again it’s been from a different place in time or a different place in the room.”

He doesn’t say anything to that.  Instead, he pulls a cigarette from his pocket and tucks it between his lips before stalking off down the hall.  The ship gets quiet as everyone finds their way to their rooms for the evening.  When lights start going off, I venture out of my room again and to the front of the ship where the control panel is.

“Gideon?”  I say softly into the screen lit darkness.  I’ve heard the Legends activate the ship’s AI system a dozen times but it still startles me when she answers.

“Yes Ms. Miller?”

“Uh it’s just Taylor.  You haven’t found anything about my vision yet have you?”

“Not yet.  I am currently scanning the timeline but the possibilities are infinite so there’s quite a lot to work through.”

I rub my hand over my eyes.  How are we supposed to stop something if we don’t know when or how it happens?

“Might I suggest getting some rest Ms. Taylor?  Time travel takes it’s toll.”

“Yeah.  That’s probably a good idea.  Thanks Gideon.”

“Goodnight Ms. Taylor.”  She responds as I make my way back down the hall to my room.  As much as I want to stay up and avoid another vision, I know from experience that it only makes the visions harder to decipher.  I fall into bed and immediately feel the heavy pull of sleep dragging me under.

I watch a horde of pirates on the deck of a ship somewhere in the ocean from inside a room with a small, round window.  Something about the pirates is off.  They stagger back and forth and swing their arms wildly, but with very little accuracy.  I try to focus on something specific and notice that there’s a paper in the corner of my eye.  Moving is hard and it takes every ounce of concentration to point the vision to the paper on the desk. A long scroll of parchment with the date 1718 scrawled across the top sits on the desk.  As I watch, the date flickers between 1718, 1818, 1918, and finally 2018.  I catch the name Blackbeard and the words ‘undead legion’ before the vision snaps back up to the view out the window of the crew.  Blackbeard has zombie pirates?  The ship is coming to dock in a bustling city and I can barely make out the sign in the distance.  Port of…?  The sign bursts into shards as Blackbeard blasts it with his cannon.  On the docks, people start running away, the screaming echoing in my ears like I’m right beside them instead of far away inside the ship.

I sit up with the screaming still echoing in my ears.  Around me the ship is quiet.  Hopefully not for long.

“Gideon?” I call, hoping she’s got access to my room.

“Ms. Taylor, are you in distress?”

“1718 I think, something’s getting blown up.  Scan the timeline.  Blackbeard is a zombie.”

She doesn’t answer me but I jump out of bed and run down the hall searching for Nate’s room.  Gideon wakes the ship up and Sara appears in her pajamas just down the hall.

“What’s going on?”  She asks, Ava appearing at her side rubbing her eyes.

“Zombie Blackbeard is blowing up a port in 1718.”

“How-” Gideon cuts Ava off by announcing what I just told them.  Sara and Ava exchange a look and then shrug to me.

I’m the first one at the control panel at the front of the ship.  It only takes a couple of minutes for the rest of the team to gather.

“First time travel mission, are you excited?” Nate asks, coming to stand next to me.

“Uh I-yeah.”  I say, holding my tongue.  Gideon’s on it, he doesn’t need to know I had a vision of it first.  When I lift my eyes, John Constantine is staring me down.  I look away, waiting for Gideon to give us the rundown.

“It seems Blackbeard became a zombie in 1718.  If he is not stopped, he and his crew will terrorize the world for centuries.”

“Ready to swashbuckle team?  We’re playing pirate.” Sara smiles.  We buckle in as Gideon sends us through time.  I dislike the sensation of time travel almost as much as I dislike the echoes that my visions give me.  When we stop, Sara splits up the team.  She, Ava, Ray, Nate, and Behrad get ready to go stop zombie Blackbeard.  John, Mick, and I stay back to QB from the ship.

“Don’t get turned into a Zombie” I say, grabbing Nate’s arm before they leave.

He turns to me with a big grin and brandishes his sword.  “Aye Matey!”  he says, in a horribly dramatic imitation of a pirate.

“And maybe don’t say too much” I laugh.  When they’re off the ship, Mick and Constantine both go off in different directions.

“So, what do we do?” I mutter under my breath, hesitant to leave the room in case something goes wrong.

“We’re benched.  They don’t need us” Mick calls, his gruff voice echoing through the hall.  I walk down the hall and find him kicked back in a chair in the kitchen, beer in hand.

“I don’t know, Zombies seem like the kind of thing one might want to set on fire.”  I say from the doorway.  Mick grunts approvingly but doesn’t say anything.  I have Gideon make me my favorite kind of coffee with the fabricator and head off towards the library, still hoping to find something to help us find a way to stop the team from dying.

“You were up awfully fast, Love.  Anything to tell us?” John asks from behind me.  He always seems to sneak up on.  I take a deep breath and set my coffee on the desk.

“Just an early riser.” I say, turning to face him.  He’s much closer than I anticipated and he grabs my wrist, whispering a few unintelligible words.

My vision plays back at high speed, up until the moment I woke up in bed.  When John releases my wrist, the vision stops and I stagger back to steady myself against the desk.

“What the hell was that?”  I gasp, my head screaming in pain.

“You’re forecasting our deaths with very little detail and keeping secrets.  You didn’t tell your dear cousin about your vision.  I want to know why.”  He says, his eyes locked on mine.

“What did you do to me?”  I snap as the room finally stops spinning.  I press my hand to my head as the ache finally subsides.

“Magic, Love.  Just wanted to see if it worked on these visions of yours” he explains, unapologetic.  “Now tell me why you’re keeping secrets.”

I take a deep breath, irritated that I got myself into this situation and irritated at Constantine for using his magic on me at all.  “I don’t want to worry Nate.”

“Bullocks.” John snaps.

“I don’t!  And I don’t know how to do this.  I haven’t been around this many people in almost a year.”  The truth falls out so quickly I almost wonder if his magic is still doing something to me.  But I know it’s just the weight of my secrets pushing for the truth to come out.  He narrows his eyes at me as I push a book over to make a spot for myself and sit on the desk.

“Seeing the future is a fun little trick when you’re the girl who always seems to have an umbrella on the right day or when you just have a good instinct for who your friends should date.  It’s not so fun when you tell your boss you’re sorry for her loss two days before her grandmother dies because she was wearing the same dress you saw her wear to the funeral.  She called the police on me completely convinced that I was some psychopath who somehow gave her grandmother a heart attack.  It’s not fun when people stop talking to you because you know too much about them or when the police start to become suspicious of all the anonymous tips you give them.”  I shake my head, thinking about all the times I was a little too generous with my knowledge.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember what you’re not supposed to know.  “I got fired after I was suspected for murder.  People stopped talking to me.  I stopped going out.  The more time I spend with people, the more I see their futures.  And the more I see, the more I have to filter through and figure out what to ignore and what I need to help them with.”

“Bein’ on this ship, is that how you saw Blackbeard before even Gideon felt the disturbance?” He asks, his fingers constantly flickering over a lighter.

“I don’t know.  I think so.”

“You might not want to scare your family, but you watched us die, Love.  And I certainly don’t want to have to go through that, so whatever you see, you tell me.  Got it?”

I nod my head and he vanishes around the corner.  It feels good to get the truth off my chest, even if it’s just to Constantine.

The rest of the team is back before long, and I can hear the sounds of victory before I even leave the library.  When I come around the corner, I stop and watch them all together, riding the high of triumph.  Nate and Ray are covered head to toe in lime green goo that I have no interest is finding out more about.  Behrad is reenacting his best moments of the fight and Sara is handing a curiously heavy bag to Ava, pointing towards the library.  Mick has somehow gotten his hands on a treasure chest as is trying to drag it inconspicuously across the ship towards his room.

“Going to join the party?”  John says, appearing at my side.

“Do you sneak up on everyone like that, or just people who predict your death?”  I ask rolling my eyes.

John gives me a half smile as he passes me to join the team.  Nate calls my name and I laugh, shaking my head when he tries to give me goo-covered hug.  Against Sara’s better judgement, Behrad tries blasting Ray and Nate with a gust of wind from his totem to clean the goo off and really only makes the mess worse.  When the guys finally take off down the hall to get cleaned up, I lean back against the control panel, trying to adjust to being around so many people after spending so long isolating myself.

“Everything okay?”  Sara asks as she comes down the hall, freshly changed into her normal clothes.

“Yeah.  It’s just been a while since I’ve been around so many people.”

“You wanna tell me how you knew about a time anomaly before Gideon?”

“I had a vision.  The more time I spend with all of you, the more likely it is that I’ll start seeing more visions of you.  Hopefully it’ll be something useful that we can use to stop whatever’s coming.  Or at least figure out what that thing is.”

“We’ll figure something out.  That’s what we do.”  She says, patting me on the shoulder.  When her hand touches me, I fall head first into a vision.

I jerk away from her and shake my head.

“Taylor?”

“Um don’t go in the galley tonight.  Or just be careful if you do.”

“Taylor did you just have another vision?”

“Yeah.  It’s not a big deal there’s just a piece of ice melting on the floor and you slip and hurt your leg if you step in it tonight.”

Sara looks at me for a long moment and then nods her head before walking away.  Great, now Captain Lance thinks I’m crazy too.

Chapter Text

I spend the rest of the day avoiding the rest of the team and making periodic passes through the galley to check the floor for the rogue ice cube.  There’s nothing in the library to offer any suggestions on how to pinpoint more details of my visions.  Apparently even the library of the Legends of Tomorrow is clueless when it comes to future vision.  About 7:30 that night I find an ice cube melting on the galley floor.  I steady myself in the doorway and the vision of Sara falling echoes through my head.  When the wave of nausea passes, I cross the room and pick up the ice cube, tossing it in the sink.  I mop up the tiny wet spot on the floor with a towel and then head to my room.

Part of my journaling ritual has also become noting how and when I change visions.  At first I thought it would help me find patterns, see how and why the visions were happening.  Now it’s really just out of habit.  My journals have afforded me none of the answers I had hoped for when I started keeping them.  After I jot down the change to my vision of Sara’s little accident, I decide to call it a night.  After a quick shower, I climb into bed and go to sleep.

The Legends are splayed out on the floor in various states of pain.  Gideon is offline.  Sara and Ava are reaching across the floor for each other but their eyes are glassy and I know they’re gone.  Sara has blood pouring from a wound on her head.  Ava too.  Something must’ve hit them.  This is the vision I’ve been trying to pinpoint.  John is on the floor, a burst of red blood staining his white button up right over his heart.  There’s a book on the floor with gold detailing on the spine.  I try to figure out what the name of the book is but I can’t get the letters to stay in focus very long.  I can’t find anything with any details and the harder I look, the blurrier the vision gets until it’s like I’ve got my eyes open underwater in a chlorine pool.  My eyes sting as a wave of energy rocks the Waverider.  Behrad stumbles down the hall and I’m shocked to see him alive.  Another wave hits the ship and rips through Behrad, knocking him hard enough against the glass wall behind him to shatter it.  A glass shard sticks deep in his side and I watch, helpless, as the light goes out of his eyes.

I wake up clawing at my throat for air.  Tears blur my vision and I have a panicky moment where I’m not certain I’m awake.  Someone saying my name jolts me awake and as I blink the tears out of my eyes, I find John beside my bed, pulling me up to a sitting position.

“Just breathe, Love.  Bloody hell, what did you see?”

“You were all dead.  The ship-I need my journal.  Hurry, before I lose it” I gasp, pointing to my journal on the chair across the room.  John grabs the journal and a pen and hands them to me.  As soon as they’re in my hands, I start scribbling out the details.  Behrad was alive.  The book on the floor…what was it called?  I forget that John in there until my hands stop shaking and the vision is penned.  Finally, I look up and realize he’s been standing beside my bed watching me the whole time.

“Alright?”  He asks, reaching his hand out and gesturing for the journal.

“Fine.  I have to get them on paper when they’re over or I start forgetting the important stuff.”  I say, absentmindedly handing the journal back to him.

“You sounded like you were the one dying.  I heard ya screamin’ in the hall.” He says, sitting down in the chair and opening up the journal.

“Wait-I was screaming?”  I ask as his words filter through the haze I’m in.

“Like a banshee.”

“John there was a book on the floor in my vision.  I don’t know if I just didn’t see it before or if it’s new but I need to find that book.”  I say, slipping out of bed and into my slippers.  The ship is cold so I dig a sweatshirt from the bottom of my bag and slip it over my head before tiptoeing out into the hall.  Behind me, I hear John’s footsteps echoing down the hall.  When we get to the library, we split up to look for the book from my vision.  I search the shelves over and over again, digging in piles and looking in cabinets but I can’t find it anywhere.  By the sound of the frustrated grunts beside me, John hasn’t had any luck either.

“It has to be here.  It’s in the vision, on the ship, so it has to be here.  We have to get it somehow.”  I say, running a hand through my short, tangled hair.

“Well if the book isn’t here, that means we have some time before we all kick the bloody bucket, right?”  John sighs, leaning back against the shelves and crossing his arms over his chest.  Without his trench coat, he looks different.  He looks more like he belongs here and less like he’s getting ready to run.  I notice that even in the middle of the night, he has his tie on askew.

“Do you sleep in that?”  I ask, gesturing to his tie.

“Ah I don’t sleep much.”

“I know the feeling.  What were you doing up?”

“Trying to find a way to get into your head, Love.  I think I found a way to see that vision for myself.”

I shake my head, taking a step away from him.  “No, whatever you did last time you can’t do that again.  You need to stay away from me.”

“What for?”  He asks, eyebrow raised.  He takes a step across the room and I move back again.  I don’t want to tell him about the incident with Sara so I search for another excuse.

“It hurt.  I don’t want you to do that again.”  I lie, recalling the headache that his last little spell gave me.  He doesn’t seem to buy it, stalking closer to me.
 
“I mean it John, leave me alone.”  I say.  The desk stops my backwards progress and John keeps advancing towards me.

 “Are you afraid of me, Love?”  He asks, his voice low with genuine concern.  He stops a few inches from me.

 “No.  I’m afraid of what I’ll see.  I don’t just keep to myself to keep the visions at bay.  They get worse the more I see.  I don’t want to see any more than I have to.”  I tell him.  Stepping to the side, I go to walk past him but my elbow brushes his hand as he reaches out to stop me and I fall forwards into another vision.

 John has a large, black stone in his outstretched hand.  I hover above the two of us, alone in a big, old house with a grand staircase.  
“This will do.”  John says, handing the stone to me.  
“How is this going to help us stabilize the Temporal Zone?”  I ask.  I watch from my vantage point as John drops his eyes and rubs a hand over his hair.
“Don’t worry about it, Love.  Lets just get this thing back to the ship, yeah?”  He grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door but I stand my ground.
“What aren’t you telling me?’
“It’s gonna be okay.  Trust me.”  He says, cupping my cheek with his hand.  There’s something silent exchanged between us before he touches his wrist and the door to the mansion opens to the control room of the Waverider.

I rip my arm out of John’s grasp and grab my journal from his hands.  As I take off down the hall, I recite the details of my vision so I don’t forget them before I have a chance to write them down.  I hear John behind me, whispering my name as loud as he dares in the sleeping ship but I ignore him and shut the door when I get to my room.  My hand aches as I scribble down the details of my vision, making sure to include everything I can remember down to the way John looked in my eyes just before the portal back to the Waverider opened.  My stomach does a somersault just remembering the gesture.

Cheeks burning, I toss the journal to the floor when I’m done writing the vision down.  It thuds on the floor as I rub a hand across my face.  What does stabilize the Temporal Zone mean?

“Gideon?”  I call out softly.

“Yes Ms. Taylor?”

“Do you know what the stability of the Temporal Zone would mean?”

“I do not.  Shall I run a search?”

“Yes please.  But don’t tell the team.  I’m not even sure what I’m looking for.”

“Very well Ms. Taylor.  Mr. Constantine is attempting to spell your bedroom door open.  Would you like me to give him a hand?” 

Spell my door open?  “Fine” I sigh to Gideon.

The door slides open as John’s eyes roll back in his head.  He starts muttering in another language but stops when he sees the door is open.

“What the hell are you doing?”  I ask him.

“What did you see when I touched you?”  He says, walking in like nothing ever happened.

“Nothing.”

“That’s a load of bull and we both know it.  You took off like a bat out of hell, and I’ve been a few times so I know the look.  Tell me.”

“It was you…and me and we were at some old house and you had a rock that was supposed to help us ‘stabilize the Temporal Zone’ or something.”

“What kind of rock?”

I roll my eyes and shrug.  “I don’t know John I’m not a freaking geologist.”

“Then give me the journal and I’ll figure it out for myself.”
 
My cheeks flush red and I shake my head.  “It just says rock.  No details.”
 
“Where’s the damn book, Love?”

 I flick my eyes to the floor and jump out of bed to rescue the journal before John can get to it.  He lunges at the same time and our hand collide on top of the leather journal and yet again, I fall into a vision.

 I hover above the medical bay and see myself in a chair with a silver cuff on my wrist.  The vision is silent but a blue light scans me and I see the team gathered around my body.  Sara’s mouth moves and she puts a hand on John’s shoulder.  One by one, they walk away until Nate and John are left sitting on opposite sides of me.  Their lips start moving and soon they’re at each other’s throats, both red in the face from screaming.  Nate grabs John by the throat and turns to steel and John lift his hands to cast a spell.

 I gasp back to reality, the transition from vision to waking life always sudden, like coming up from under water.  My legs shake and I drop to the floor, heart racing.  John slowly knees in front of me and waves a hand in front of my face.

 “Taylor?  You in there, Love?”

 “I was in the med bay unconscious.  You and Nate started fighting.  He almost killed you.”  I breath, my hands searching absently for the journal.  John gently pushes it towards me and digs around in my bag for a pen.  It doesn’t take me long to jot down the vision and then I toss the journal on the floor between myself and John.  I haven’t had this many visions in a long time, and I forgot how exhausting is was.

 “Was it like this before you left your job?”  John asks, pulling me from my thoughts.  I nod.

 “Every person I brushed elbows with on the street, every barista that touched my hand when they handed me my coffee.  Every coworker who wanted to shake my hand or hug me.  I turned into this freak who blacked out for a second after anyone came too close.  It’s exhausting trying to be cautious all the time, and the visions are exhausting too.  It’s all a mess.”  I sigh, leaning my head back on the drawers behind me.  I pull my legs up to my chest and wrap my arms around them trying to contain myself and not accidentally touch him again.  John leans back against the wall and stretches out his legs, perilously close to mine.

 “I know if feels like natural instinct to avoid people, but how you ever tried maxing out your visions?”

 “What do you mean?”

 “Prolonged contact.  Just grab someone and hold them bloody tight?”

 I shake my head no.  Just the thought of the amount and intensity of visions that might come if I grabbed someone and held on makes my head spin.  No, I definitely haven’t tried that.

 “Just a suggestion, Love.”

 Around us, the lights start turning on slowly; the ships way of telling us it’s morning somewhere outside the Temporal Zone.  John gets up to leave and reaches his hand down to help me up.  Instead of giving him my hand, I put the journal in his hand.

 “All the visions I’ve had of the Legends are marked.”

 He dips his head and takes the journal, leaving me alone with my thoughts.  I quickly change out of pajamas into black leggings and a hot pink t-shirt I got at a concert back when things were easier and I wasn’t trying to save my cousin and all of his friends.  I braid my short blonde hair into two matching braids and wash my face.  Once I slip into my black sneakers, I venture out into the ship.  I can hear the team laughing in the galley so I make my way there.

 “Taylor!  Good you’re up.  Wanna go to ancient Rome?” Nate smiles, opening his arms wide for a hug when I come in the room.  That must be the kind of thing you get used to hearing on a time ship.

 “What’s in ancient Rome?”  I ask kicking the foot of his chair instead of hugging him.

 “Uh only the beginning of like all civilization ever.  And roads.”  Nate says, dropping his arms.

 “Okay but why would I go there?”

 “Oh!  We gotta go steal back a piece of twenty first century tech that one of us might have, allegedly, accidently, left there when we were making sure Brutus killed Caesar.”  He answers, waving his hand non-committal.

 “Ray dropped his cell phone in the middle of the palace.”  Sara sighs, rubbing her face.

 “Allegedly!”  Nate cries.

 “No, he definitely dropped it.  Nate, you and Behrad both knew.  And none of you said anything until now.  There’s no telling what damage it’s done.”  Ava argue, shooting Ray a sharp look when he starts to defend himself.

 “I mean, what harm could it do?  It’s been like a couple of weeks.  It’s probably dead already” Behrad shrugs, stuffing a brownie in his mouth.

 “You left a cell phone in ancient Rome for two weeks?”  I ask, pulling a cup of coffee out of the fabricator and turning back to frown at Nate.

 He rolls his eyes and Ray shrugs.

 “See, she gets it.”  Sara sighs.

 “So do you wanna go?  It’s a quick in and out.  You’ve been on the ship for days and haven’t even done anything fun.  You just search the library and avoid all of us.”  Nate says, getting to his feet.

 “I search the library to save your life Nate.  And besides, I’m not a Legend.  I’ll leave the time travel to the professionals.”

 “Actually, Nate’s right.  If you want to go, they could use some supervision.”  Sara says, looking to me.  The eyes of the team all turn to me and I feel a little kick of excitement.

 “I mean, yeah?  Sounds fun.”

 Nate is way too excited to be going back to ancient Rome to clean up his mess.  He barrels towards me for a hug and I don’t have time to stop him.  

 Nate is standing in the middle of the ship staring at the control panels.  The rest of the team is there too, myself included.  Nate’s wearing a white shirt.  This is it.  
 “Gideon?  What is that?”
 “The Temporal Zone is unstable.  If it continues deteriorating at this rate, the energy surges through the ship will be fatal.”
 Nate punches a few of the items on the screen in front of him but error codes keep coming up.
 “How do we get out of here?”  He exclaims.
 “I’m afraid a time jump is impossible with this level of-”
 Gideon’s voice fades out as a wave of energy hits the ship, sending the team to the floor.

I struggle out of Nate’s embrace, trying to get my bearings.  He asks me if I’m okay and I find myself nodding my head.  Somewhere across the room, John calls out that I should go get my toga ready and I exit the room with my head spinning.  John meets me in the hall, journal and pen in hand, and ushers me away to a quiet space to write down what I saw.

 When I look up, I realize we’re in a different bedroom surrounded by tons of creepy looking objects.

 “Where are we?”  I ask, closing the journal.

 “My room.  It was close.”  John explains.  I feel a blush paint my cheeks and clear my throat, stepping back towards the door.

 “Thanks for helping me out back there.”  I say, looking everywhere but his face.

 “You can’t hide it forever, Love.  In fact, you’d do well to tell them now.”  He says, crossing his arms.

 “After this little trip.  Maybe.  I need more information.”  I tell him.  Without thinking, I reach out and hand the journal back to him.  He takes it, careful not to brush my hand.  I flick my eyes up to meet his and shrug.  “At least you know.  Maybe you can find something I’m missing.”

Chapter Text

Before he can tell me that the team needs to know again, I head out and look for the clothing fabricator that Gideon has.  The boys are already there, dressed in ancient Roman garb laughing about some inside joke.  It doesn’t take long to get my own costume on.  We head to the control room where Sara and Ava are waiting on us.  I see John leaning against the back wall, watching me intently but I ignore him.  For one second, I want to enjoy our time travel ability with Nate.

 We buckle in and Sara sets a course for Rome.  When we arrive, I get fitted for an earpiece and Sara gives us very clear instructions.  Get in, get the phone, get out.  Don’t screw anything else up.  Don’t run into ourselves from the past who are there still on the original mission.

 “Are you sure you guys can handle this?” She asks, a hand on her hip.

 “I’ll keep them out of trouble.” I promise.  With that, I follow Nate off the ship and out into ancient Rome.  I cant quite grasp the fact that I’m actually here.  Even if I had seen a vision of myself walking these streets, I never would’ve believed it.

 “So that explosion is definitely us last time we were here.” Behrad says as the ground beneath us shakes.  The civilians around us all scream and cower.  We use the panic to run through the streets and up the steps of a white stone structure.  Tall white columns hold up a ceiling of intricately craved stone.  Inside, there are tons of people milling around, turned towards the south side of the city where the Legends of the past are blowing up something that apparently wasn’t too important to the timeline.

 “Got it!” Nate says, pointing to a small black device on the back step of the pantheon.  We try to blend in, looking around in confusion as we make our way to the phone.  Just as we get to the phone, a woman near me grabs my arm.  I fall into a vision of the stranger without a way to stop.

 The woman kneels next to an older man with a long, straight nose and white hair.  Her sobs echo through the vision as she calls for help.  Beneath the man, a pool of blood seeps out, staining his white tunic a deep red.  Roman solider run on scene and pull her away from his body.
 
 A new set of hands grip my shoulder and rip me away from the woman and snap me back to reality.  I blink away the haze of the vision and see Ray looking down at me.  Shaking out of his hold, I take a deep breath and try to act normal.

 “You okay?”  He asks.

 “Fine.  Just overwhelmed.”

 “It’s awesome, right?”  He smiles, looking around us.

 “It is kind of awesome.”  I reply, taking in the sights again.  The woman who grabbed me is walking away, grabbing onto other women and whispering, cutting her eyes towards the cloud of smoke across the city.  Nate and Behrad appear next to us and Nate shakes the phone at us with a smile.  He puts a finger to his ear to activate his com.

 “Treasure found Captain.”

 “Get back to the ship.  The other version of us is on our way to you.”  Sara says, her voice staticky over the coms.

 Ray leads us out of the pantheon and back through the winding streets that take us out of the city.  

 “Hey, first mission and no disasters.  Boo-yah!”  Behrad says, reaching out to clap me on the shoulder.  Before I can stop him, his hand lands on me and I fall into the fourth vision of the day.

 It’s the same damn vision again.  Behrad runs down the hall in the dark.  When he gets to the control room, most of the team is already laying unmoving on the floor though Ray and I are both missing.  From this angle, I see Behrad stop in the hall and plug in a few loose wires in an open panel of the wall.  I think he’s trying to get Gideon back online.  He makes his way towards the controls at the center of the room but a wave of energy blasts through the ship, sending him through the glass wall behind him.  When the glass pierces his side this time from my new vantage point, I see that a dozen other shards of glass are impaled in the side of his neck.  He’s dead before he even hits the floor.

 I snap back to reality, exhausted and fall to my knees.  The rough stone cuts through the fabric of my outfit and I feel a gash open up in my knee.

 “Taylor?”  Nate says from above me.

 “Don’t touch me” I warn him, pushing myself to my feet.  “It’ll happen again.”

 “What was that?”  Ray asks.

 “What’s going on?”  Sara asks in my ear.

 “I’ll explain when we get back on the ship” I say, gesturing for Ray to lead the way.  I have no idea where we are but I hope the ship is close by.  The short walk back to the place where the Waverider is waiting is very quiet.  Nate shoots me concerned looks the whole time and Ray and Behrad take turns looking at each other with furrowed brows.  As soon as we step foot back on the ship, Nate turns to with his arms crossed over his chest.

 “What is going on with you?  What was that?”

 “I had a vision.  It’s fine Nate.”

 “I thought you only had those when you were asleep” he says, not letting up.

 “Normally, yeah.  But the more time I spend around people, the more visions I have of them.”

 “You said not to touch you.  Do you see things when people touch you?”  Nate asks as the rest of the team enters the room.

 I search their eyes for help, but I can see all of them waiting for me to answer.  John catches my eye and raises his eyebrows, and I sigh.

 “Sometimes.  That woman in the pantheon touched me and I saw her lose someone.  Her father maybe.  But then Ray grabbed me and it snapped me back and I didn’t have a vision of him so I guess not every time.”  I explain, looking over at Sara.  She purses her lips and looks away from me.

 “You looked like you were going to pass out.  Is it those echo things or is it something else?”  Nate’s endless saga of questions continues and I start to feel faint.

 “Something else.  I’m going to faint.”  I manage to say as the world starts to go black around the edges.

 I wake up in the med bay, a silver cuff on my wrist.  I panic for a second, thinking maybe this is the moment I saw when Nate nearly killed John, but the room is empty and I think I would remember if I was supposed to wearing a roman tunic in that moment.  When I try to sit up, my head spins.

 “You should stay still.  You’re experiencing very high blood pressure.  I’m going to administer a sedative to slow your heart rate.” Gideon says.

 “Wait!  Please don’t do that.  I’ll sit still.”

 “Very well Ms. Taylor.  If your pressure spikes again, I will have to administer the sedative for your own safety.”

 I try to sit as still as possible while the dizziness ebbs away.  Just as the room settles, the door slides open and Nate marches in.

 “You should’ve told me this was happening.”  He says, collapsing in the chair next to me.

 “It’s not the first time.” I say softly, refusing to meet his eye and focusing instead on the bright white bandage wrapped around my knee.  I finally tell him the truth about how chaotic my visions got and the last year I spent in isolation trying to slow them down.

 He shakes his head and rubs his eyes like he’s tired.  I understand.  I’m tired of it too.  He looks up at me with a sad smile.  “I want to hug you” he says.

 A small laugh escapes and I shake my head.  “I want to hug you too.”  I pick at the edge of the silver cuff on my wrist as the rest of the team filter into the room to check on me.  Nate fills them in on the severity of my visions and how frequently they’ve been coming.

 “We’ll be careful around you, but Taylor you don’t have to hide from us” Sara says, “We just need to know what we’re working with.”

 “Yeah we want you around.  Nate always talks about you.  I thought you just didn’t like us.”  Ray says sheepishly.

 “I’m sorry I made you think that.  Honestly, I felt like I knew most of you when I came onboard just because I’d seen you spending time with Nate in my visions.  I thought I could just show up, stop the vision from coming true, and be out of your hair but-” I hesitate and look up at Nate.

 “It’s not changing is it?”

 “Not yet.  The more I see, the more details I have.  I think I might have a clue what’s coming.  I just don’t know what starts it or how to stop it.”

 “Tell us what you know.  We’ll try to figure it out together.”  Ava says.

 “Actually, if I could have a few minutes alone with her, I think I have an easier way to do that.”  John pipes up from the back of the room and everyone turns to him.

 “Magic?”  I ask, certain I already know the answer.

 “Magic.”  He confirms.

 The room empties out and Gideon does one last scan before popping the cuff off my wrist and letting me go.  I change out of my ripped, roman clothes and back into my leggings and t-shirt but I leave my braids in the little crown that Ava helped me pin them into.  John meets me in the library a few minutes later and closes the door behind him.  He has my journal in his hand and puts it on the desk, looking at me.

 “These visions, the ones of us dead, are all part of the same moment from different angles and different starting points.  I think I can connect them so you can see them all in order at once, and maybe we can figure what the bloody hell we’re up against.  Are you ready?”

 “We have to figure something out.  Do it.”  I tell him.  He burst into action, pulling out books and ingredients and talking through the steps of the spell.  

 He paints a mixture of herbs across both of our foreheads and then takes one last long look at me.

 “Let’s get to the future, Love” he says.  His eyes roll back as he starts the spell and I reach both of my arms out for him like he told me to.  He grabs my forearms and I fall into another vision.

 Something is different.  I can feel another presence beside me.  Constantine is here too, watching with me.  The vision starts before the first wave hits the ship.  Everyone except for me in present in the control room.
 “Gideon what is that?” Sara asks as the ship shakes.
 “The Temporal Zone is destabilizing.  I’m not sure how long I can stay online.”  As if on cue, a wave hits the ship and all the power goes out, leaving the team in the dark without Giedon’s help.  Behrad and Ray take off down the hall, shouting something about getting her back online.  John pulls out the thick book with the gold detailing and flips it open, cursing under his breath.  A wave hits the ship so hard, it rolls throwing the team around like rocks at the bottom of a river.  John’s head collides with the console with a sickening crunch and blood immediately starts pooling around him.  Sara and Ava cling to each other.  Nate grasps at his chest as blood stains an ever-widening circle of his white shirt.  A shard of metal is lodged in his heart.  Sara calls his name as the light fades from his eyes.  The ship rolls again and Sara and Ava are thrown apart, the land reaching for each other, but they’re both gone.  Behrad scream’s Ray’s name and there he is, running down the hall.  I watch him fall into the glass for the third time until the vision glitches and fractures, tossing me and John into a new vision.
 John and I are in the mansion.  He cups my cheek, asking me to trust him before opening the portal back to the ship.  When we walk through, the vision follows us in.  The team is alive, standing around the console.
 “Gideon, what’s the Temporal Zone’s stability rate?” Sara calls.
 “Seventy percent and falling Captain Lance.”
 “Constantine, whatever you’re going to do, now’s your chance.”  Ava yells.
 “Join hands and for the love of everything do not let go” John calls.
 The team huddles close together, linking together in a tight circle.  John has the black stone in his hand stretched out to the middle of our cluster and I close the circle by grabbing onto his shoulder.  Johns eyes roll back and he starts another spell sending shafts of purple light erupting from the center of the stone.  I open my mouth to say something-
 
 

We jerk out of the vision as we’re blasted apart.  The explosion between us sends me hurtling backwards, over the desk and into the wall.  I land on the floor with the breath knocked out of me, blood pouring from a gash in the back of my head.  My chest aches as I finally suck in a shallow breath.  When I try to call out, the sound gets stuck in my throat and nothing but a dull wheeze escapes.  I take a few deep breaths before I try again.

 “John?”  I call.  Silence answers me and I begin to panic.  “John!?”  My body screams in protest as I push myself to my hands and knees.  Beneath me, I feel my busted knee reopen as I crawl across the room.  John is unconscious on the opposite side of the room, books scattered on the floor all around him from where he collided with the bookcase.

 “Gideon we need help!”  I cry as my hands slip out from under me.  The bowl of herbs we were standing over is a raging fire, smoke filling the room.  Above us, I hear a siren going off and the sound of boots coming down the hall.  “John?”  I say again, reaching out for him.  Just as the door creaks open and the team pours in, I grab John’s wrist and fall into another damn vision.

 I hover over the hall outside my bedroom and see myself and John there.  I have a bandage around my head and a brace on my knee.  John’s arm is in a sling but otherwise he seems fine.  The vision is almost painfully silent, but I see my lips moving.  John lets out a laugh and says something in response.  Immediately, my cheeks burn red and I look away.  John takes his good hand and lifts my chin so I have to meet his eye.  I can’t tell if the version of me that I’m watching has a vision when John touches me or not but I don’t have time to worry about it because the next thing that happens shocks me more.  John’s lips crash against mine.  The moment seems to last an eternity and a single second all at once.

 Someone shakes me awake and I wake up choking on smoke.  When I look around, I realize that I’m out of the library and back in the med bay.  Nate is gently shaking my shoulder, saying my name.  Behind him, John is in the other chair getting scanned by Gideon and fussing about it entirely too loud.

 “Shut up” I wheeze, coughing for a long second.

 The med bay gets quiet and Nate covers his face with his hands.  When he drops his hands and looks back at me I can see his eyes are red.

 “Are you okay?” he asks, crossing his arms.

 “Mostly.  What the hell happened?”  I ask, leaning back in my seat to look over at John.

 “Overpowered the spell a bit.  Sorry.”  His eyes lock on mine and I notice his face doesn’t look half as casual as his tone sounds.

 “What’s the damage Gideon?”  I ask, closing my eyes.

 “Mild concussion and a deep laceration on your knee.  Otherwise, you seem to be in good health.”  Gideon replies.

 “Great.”  I sigh.  I almost ask for my journal, but I realize that the vision is staying in my head crisp and clear like it never has before.  Whatever John did must’ve given the vision a little bit of staying power.  

“Constantine I don’t know what the hell you did, but stay away from my cousin.”  Nate snaps, turning towards John.

“Aye, I don’t take orders from you mate” John barks.

The sound of them fighting makes my head spin.  I have to get out of here.   When I move to get up, Nate throws his arms out to stop me.
 
“Hey you need to stay here.”
 
“Nate, I’m fine.  What I need is to get a cup of coffee.

 “You heard Gideon-”

 “Yeah I have a head ache and a scrape on my knee.  I’m fine Nate.  But if you want, you can escort me to the galley.  I can’t let you stay in here where you two will kill each other.”  I finish with a pointed look at John who rolls his eyes.  This isn’t the vision I saw of them fighting either, but I’m not taking any chances.  Despite Nate’s many arguments, the cuff on my wrist pops off telling me that Gideon probably doesn’t want them killing each other just yet either.  I stand up on shaky legs and follow Nate to the door.  As he stalks off down the hall, I turn back to look at John, who has a cigarette in his mouth as he flicks his lighter open.  I shake my head and try to forget the vision I had of us and follow Nate down the hall.

 “Okay but if the vision thing hadn’t happened, time travel is pretty freakin’ cool right?”  Nate smiles, shoving a donut in his mouth.

 “It is pretty cool.  I can’t believe this is your job.  Coolest member of the family by far” I laugh, sipping my coffee.  There are a lot of cool things about Gideon but her ability to make the exact cup of coffee I’m craving is probably my favorite.

 “I was the coolest before I became a time traveler.”  Nate argues as Ray comes through the door.

 “Debatable.  I’m pretty sure half our family thought you were legitimately crazy.”

 “To be fair, you did seem kind of crazy there at the beginning Nate.”  Ray agrees.

 “Tay, I know you’ve been all party-of-one recently but have you talked to your parents?”  Nate asks, sending the mood of the room plummeting down.

 “Uh no.  But that has less to do with the visions and more to do with me dropping out of school without telling them and moving like five states away and also not telling them.”

 “Woah.  What happened?”  Ray asks.

 “She’s a genius artist.  Her parents are lame and wanted her to take over the family accounting business.”  Nate replies, taking up for me.  I give him a small smile and relax as Ray takes to conversation in a different direction.  My relationship with my parents is the last thing I need clouding my mind right now.  I sit in the galley and listen to Nate and Ray talk and laugh and for a second, I feel at home.  Something about the Legends feels so safe that I almost regret that I’ll have to leave when this is all over.  Mick and Behrad come and go from the galley and eventually John makes his way in from the med bay, blue sling holding his arm.  I try not to look at him, willing my last vision of us away.  He comes to a stop right next to my chair, a little too close for comfort but Gideon alerts the crew to another anomaly before I have a chance to excuse myself from the room.

Chapter Text

We travel to 1925 to take care of a mob of gangster who have somehow risen to power and tipped history in the wrong direction.  Sara leads everyone but Ava, John, and I into battle.  Still wary of my vision of John, I decide to walk around the ship in hope that he won’t be able to find me.

 “How are you feeling?”  Ava’s voice catches me off guard deep in the halls of the ship and I nearly jump out of my skin.

 “Sorry, still not used to all the contact.”  I say, turning to face her with my hand pressed against my heart.

 “I didn’t mean to scare you.  I just wanted to make sure you were okay after this morning.”

 “Yeah, I’m fine.  A little headache but nothing major” I tell her, reaching up and brushing the bandage across my head.  “Looks worse than it feels.”

 “Nate’s happy to have you on board.  I’ve never seen him so eager to show off.  Well actually, he’s like that all the time, it’s just been worse the last few days” she smiles.

 “He’s always been like that.”  I laugh, thinking back to the days we used to run through his yard playing flag football.  “I’ve got a few cousins but me and Nate… he always just felt like a big brother to me.  When my parents were harsh about my art or strict about where I was going to go to school, Nate was always there to encourage me and remind me that my life is mine to live.”

 “And here you are, on a time ship seeing visions of the future.  Your parents never would’ve imagined that.”

 “No.  No they would not.”

 As Ava turns to go, her shoulder brushes us against my arm and another vision over takes me.
 

 “It’s a trap!”  Ray’s voice echoes through the ship followed by the sound of a gunshot.
“Sara!?”  Ava screams into the coms.  John and I stand at the control panel, looks of shock painting our faces.  I force myself to focus on the map where the team is parked by blinking little lights.  Sara’s vitals drop.  Another shot rings through the speakers and I watch as Ray’s vitals drop.  The time stamp on the screen says 3:45.

“Gideon, what time is it?”

“It is 3:40 pm Ms. Taylor.”

“Ava, they’re going into a trap!”  I say, taking off towards the control panel.  Ava runs beside, calling out over the coms for Sara to stop.  When we get to the control room, I put a com in my ear.

“Don’t go in.  I saw Sara and Ray get shot.  It’s a trap.”  I gasp.

“Taylor?”  Nate asks through the coms.

“Don’t go in!”  I yell, watching their blinking dots move through the map towards a building.  The computer reads 3:43.  Finally, still a little too close to the building for my comfort, I watch them all stop and take cover in the street.

“I don’t hear anything” Sara says.  As if on cue, shots ring out in the distance.  My throat closes up as I scan through their vitals and an echo rolls through my head.  All of them are stable and unharmed.  We changed it.  I let out a shallow, shaking breath and close my eyes.  Ava looks up at me with wide eyes and nods her appreciation.

“Thanks Taylor.”  Behrad says over the coms.

Ava and I stay glued to the monitors until all of their little blinking lights start tracking back towards the ship and history is back on the right track.  I pull the com from my ear and set it back in it’s place, taking my first full breath since the vision overtook me.

“That was way too close.”  I mutter.

“You stopped it.  That’s what matters.”  Ava promises, as the door to the ship opens and the team files in.

“Another save!  Thanks for keepin’ us alive out there” Behrad cheers, pointing to me as the door closes behind him.  I give him a half-hearted wave and lean back on the control panel.

“You seem upset you just saved them again, Love.”  John says, appearing at my shoulder.

“You need to wear a bell or something” I sigh, keeping my eyes focused on the metal wall in front of me instead of turning to him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you ever wonder if these close calls are happening because I’m here.  Maybe my future sight or whatever is making this stuff happen.”  It’s a thought that’s run through my head a few million times in the last few years, but saying it out loud makes it seem so much more likely.

“Absolutely not.  You can see the future, Love.  You don’t make it.”

When I don’t answer, John reaches for my shoulder.

The ship rocks again as John chants his spell.  The black stone in his hand is glowing a deep purple, the fractions of light reaching out like lingers and wrapping themselves around Johns arm.  The vision cuts to the scene I’ve seen before, except this time I’m dead on the floor as well and the black stone is shattered on the floor and John is nowhere to be seen.  The big book with gold detailing is splayed out on the floor, the pages covered in blood.
The scene cracks open like broken glass and I fall into another vision.  John’s arm is still in the sling, so he uses his opposite hand to hold the stone out in the middle of the Legends.  My knee is wrapped but my head bandage is gone.  It’s coming soon.  This time when John starts the spell, he looks down at the book open on the floor and I take the opportunity to slip my hand onto the stone and repeat three words three times.  The sound drops out and I see John’s mouth open in surprise.  The version of me that I’m watching is wrapped in purple tendrils of light until I can’t see myself anymore.  A shockwave blasts out of the stone, sending the Legends flying.  For a brief second, I fear this is another version of their deaths.  But one by one, they get to their feet as the ship steadies and Gideon comes back online.  John picks up the stone with a gentleness I’ve never seen in him before.
If I steal the spell from him, the Legends live.

“Taylor?”  I hear John saying my name before the haze of the vision clears.  I must’ve fallen to the floor at some point.

“What the hell?”  Nate says, his face looming over me.  His hands are inches from my skin but he seems afraid to touch me.  Good.  I can’t handle another one of them right now.

“I’m-I’m fine.”  I say, pushing myself up to a sitting position. 

“That’s crap.  You looked like you were having a seizure and I’ve never seen you react to your visions like that.  What did you see?” Nate asks, sitting back on his heels.  The rest of the Legends are hovering behind him, worried looks on their faces.

“I-I don’t know.  It wasn’t clear enough to make out.  It happens sometimes.”  I lie, using the control console above me to pull myself to my feet.  I sway a little and Nate’s hands reach for me like he’s going to steady me.  Finally, my vision settles and the room stops spinning.  “I promise I’m fine.  I think today was just a little too much excitement.  I’m gonna get some rest.”  Without waiting for anyone to answer, I make my way back to my room hoping no one follows.  Nate drops off dinner at my door but I wait until I hear his footsteps leaving before sneaking out to get the food.

After digging through my bag and destroying my room, I realize John probably still has my journal.  I run a hand through my hair, frustrated and unwilling to leave to go get it.  At least I know how to keep them all alive.  The black stone must have some sort of power but if John tries to use it…it seems like they won’t make it-none of us will.  So all I have to do is trick a powerful warlock into doing the spell and steal it out from under him to keep Nate and his friends alive…no pressure.  A knock at the door pulls me out of my thoughts and when I open it, John is there; journal in hand.

“You’re a bloody terrible liar.  But write it down so we can fix it.”  He says, tossing the journal past me and onto my bed.

“I wasn’t lying.  Gideon said I have a concussion remember?”

“She said mild concussion.  Usually mild doesn’t include seizures, Love.”

“Usually people with concussions don’t see the future.”  I remind him.  He lets out a short laugh that takes me by surprise and I smile.

“You are a special case.”  He says softly, his eyes burning with an intensity that I haven’t seen from him before.  I feel my cheeks burn and let my eyes fall to the floor but an echo rolls through me as he brings his hand to my chin and tips my face up so I’m looking at him.  “You’re gonna save ‘em, Love.  I know it,” he says in a whisper before his lips land on mine.

John Constantine kissing me is not something I really believed would happen, visions or not.  But as his lips move against mine and I taste the subtle hint of tobacco that will always linger on his lips, I lose myself in him.  He works his one good hand into my hair and runs his tongue across my bottom lip.  All the places his fingers trail along my neck and shoulder feels like little fireworks are being set off right beneath my skin.  The reality of touching him and being present in the moment, not rocketed into a vision, settles over me and I kiss him harder.

When I finally pull away breathless, John just winks and stalks off down the hall.  My head spins as I stumble back into my room, the air feeling much too cold after having someone so alive and warm in my arms.  I settle in my bed with my journal and a pen in my lap, a soft smile on my stinging lips.  In a haze, I jot down the last few visions I’ve had.  When I get to the latest one where I stole John’s spell, the smile slips from my face and I have to focus to keep all the details in order.  I have to remember the words I heard.  I have to get it just right if I’m going to save them; and I’m pretty sure I have to keep it a secret from John.  Before I fall back against the pillows, I tuck the journal up under the top corner of my mattress.

Chapter Text

I gasp awake from my vision when Gideon has already turned the lights on for the day.  For the first time since my powers started, I saw the exact same vision.  The second version of events where I steal the spell from John and disappear played out while I slept.  I kept waiting for something new, some new bit of information but it was exactly what I had already seen from beginning to end.  The only difference is that the vision then cut to me in the med bay, Nate and John at each other’s throats.

Hoping not to run into anyone, I tiptoe through the halls and take a fast shower, discarding the bandage Gideon had around my head.  The gash on the back of my head is tender but closed.  I take special care to wash the flakes of dried blood out of it and wait until the pink-tinged water runs clear to be finished with my shower.  I braid my wet hair back into one braid that barely reaches over my shoulder and pull on a charcoal t-shirt with my black leggings when I get back to my room.  Nate finds me on my way to the galley, cup of coffee in hand.

“Had Gideon make it just the way you like” he says, handing me the mug.

“You’re my favorite” I smile, taking a long drink.

“Also, more good news; John thinks he knows where to get that magic rock or something?”  He says, more of a question than a statement.  The black rock flashes in my head and I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

“Good.  I think I figured out how to change the future.  Or at least buy us some more time.”  I say, following him back towards the galley.  The team is gathered there, eating various types of breakfast foods and talking.  John gives me a knowing smirk when I walk in that I try my best to ignore.

“Any news on our impending deaths?”  Ray asks, surprisingly chipper.

“I think there’s a book somewhere that we need.  But I know it’s not on the ship, I’ve gone through the library a dozen times” I explain, taking a waffle off the plate that’s piled high with them on the table.

“You haven’t seen my collection, Love” John says.  I meet his eye, tilting my head in confusion.

“John’s got a creepy mansion house with a much of magic stuff in it” Nate clarifies.  Of course, he does. 

“Ms. Taylor, I’ve completes the Temporal Zone stability scan.  Would you like to hear my findings?”  Gideon interrupts us and my heart begins to race.  No point keeping it a secret now.

“Yeah, tell us what you know.” 

“There is a minor disruption in the Temporal Zone.  It was almost undetectable, but it’s been growing steadily.  I fear if this disruption continues, the Temporal Zone will collapse.”

“What started it?”  Sara asks, concern passing over her face.

“I’m working to discover that now Captain Lance.  The changes are difficult to pinpoint.”

“Ray, Behrad, go see what you can find out.  John, Taylor, whatever you two are going to do, do it now.  The rest of us will scan the timeline to see if we can figure out what’s causing the problem.”  Sara directs us and everyone gets to work immediately.  As I follow John and Nate out of the Galley, Sara calls me back.

“Is this it?”  She asks.

“Yeah.  I think so.”

She nods and I take off after John.  We meet in the library and I see a thick black band on his good wrist, just like he wears in the vision when we get the stone.

“Hey, be safe and I’ll see you soon” Nate tells me from the doorway.

I nod at him, unable to trust my voice.  He gives me a soft smile and I turn my attention to John.

“Ready, Love?”

“No.  But let’s go.”

He clicks the watch on his wrist and the space in front of us splits open to reveal the interior of the mansion.  I follow him through and turn around as the ship disappears to find myself in the house.  John leads me to the library.  We should’ve started here.  There are books upon books upon books.  I don’t even know where to start my search.

“You find the book.  I’ll get the stone.”  John tells me, disappearing down the hall.  Frantic, I scan the shelves trying to find the right spine.  Too dark.  Too light.  Too much gold.  No gold.  I scan the shelves until I’m dizzy and then and echo rolls through me as my eyes land on a think leather-bound book with gold swirling up the spine.  That’s the one.  I push the rolling ladder across the wall and climb up a few feet to reach the book.  When I touch it, a jolt of electricity runs down my arm and I have to cling to the ladder to keep from falling.  I pull the book from the shelf and clamber to the floor just as John comes around the corner.

“This will do.”  John says, handing the stone to me.  

“How is this going to help us stabilize the Temporal Zone?”  I ask.  I watch from my vantage point as John drops his eyes and rubs a hand over his hair.

“Don’t worry about it, Love.  Lets just get this thing back to the ship, yeah?”  He grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door but I stand my ground.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s gonna be okay.  Trust me.”  He says, cupping my cheek with his hand.  “Let’s get out of here.”  John says, holding the stone against him as he walks back onto the ship.  When the gate closes behind us, the ship rocks under our feet and I nearly hit the ground.

“You’re sure we need both of these?”  He asks when I hold the book out to show him.  Trepidation passes over his usually indifferent face.

“Yeah.  Why?”

“This stone is a nasty bit of magic.  Any clues on the spell?”  He asks, taking the book from my hands.

“I think I’ll know it when I see it.”

“Taylor?  John?  It’s getting worse.  Do you have what you need?”  Ava calls as we run towards the control room.

“We have to find the right spell.”  I tell them sitting on the floor with the book in my lap.

“Stability at ninety percent and falling Captain Lance” Gideon announces and I flip through the book.  The first wave is supposed to hit at seventy percent.  There’s not much time.

“What do we know?” I call as the lights flicker.

“There’s a disturbance somewhere in the timeline that’s sending out waves through the Temporal Zone but with the stability falling, Gideon can’t pinpoint the event.  An echo rolls through me and I slam my hand down on the page.

“John!  This one!”  I tell him, jumping to my feet.

He grimaces after his eyes run down the page.  “Are you absolutely sure?”

“What is it?”

“It’s not going to be pretty.  But it’ll buy you lot enough time to find the problem and jump there to fix it.”

“Eighty percent Captain Lance” Gideon says as the ship rocks again. 

“What do we do?”  I ask John, looking up and meeting his eye.

“I’ll do the spell.  After you fix whatever the hell is tryin’ to kill us, you’ll recite the spell backwards.  Just don’t spend too much time screwin’ around in between.”  John says, his face grim.  I don’t like the way he’s taken himself out of the plan.

“John I can’t do magic!  I don’t even know what this says!”  I cry over the raging sirens that are blaring.

“This’ll help.”  John grabs my face and I feel a shock roll through me.

I see the team in the background, but John is in the center, staring at me, calling my name.
“It had to be that way, John.  Fix the Temporal Zone and bring me back.”  I say as purple light starts to fill my vision.  My body feels like it’s being pulled apart bone by bone.  The team is gone and all there is, is pain.

When John pulls his hands away and I look down at the book, the letters make sense.  I can’t tell what the words are, but I have a feeling I can read them.

“Gideon, what’s the Temporal Zone’s stability rate?” Sara calls.

“Seventy percent and falling Captain Lance.”

“Constantine, whatever you’re going to do, now’s your chance.”  Ava yells.

“Join hands and for the love of everything do not let go” John calls.  He drops the book on the floor in front of us.  The team huddles close together, linking together in a tight circle.  Ava and Sara wind their hand together and Ray and Behrad flank them on either side.  Nate grabs onto Ray and grabs my hand.  John has the black stone in his good hand stretched out to the middle of our cluster and I close the circle by grabbing onto his left shoulder.  John’s eyes roll back and he starts the spell, sending shafts of purple light erupting from the center of the black stone.  I slip my hand across his chest and down his outstretched arm to maintain contact as the ship gets knocked by another wave of energy.  My hand lands on top of the stone and I turn my face to John.

“What the hell are you doing?” He yells.

“You’re a good man John.  But I have to do this.”  I recall the words I heard in my vision and repeat them three times as the purple light releases it’s hold on John and snakes towards me.  Purple tendrils of light start wrapping around my arm like vines.

“Taylor, no!”  He calls as the light takes over my chest and starts winding around the rest of me.  It feels like trails of white-hot fire and the pain in nearly unbearable.  Beside me, I hear Nate scream my name but I keep my eyes locked on John’s.

“It had to be that way, John.  Fix the Temporal Zone and bring me back.”  I say as purple light starts to fill my vision.  

My body feels like it’s being pulled apart bone by bone.  The team and the sound of their voices calling my name disappears as the light engulfs me.  The ship is gone.  John is gone.  Nate and the team…everything is gone and all there is, is pain.

I can’t breathe.  I can’t think.  I can’t even scream.  I don’t want to exist but just as the pain feels too overwhelming and I think I’ll finally fall unconscious; it backs off just enough to keep me awake.  To keep me suffering.  My bones break a thousand time only to heal and break again.  I can’t see through the red glow of intense agony.  I can’t remember where I am or who I am or why. All I know is anguish.  Suffering.  Endless pain.

Chapter Text

*On the ship*

A wake of purple light erupts from the stone sending the Legends across the room.  The sirens have stopped and the ship is blissfully still.

“The Temporal Zone is stable, Captain Lance.”  Gideon says.  Even she sounds relieved.  Nate stumbles to his feet, reaching for Taylor but the space beside him is empty.  

“Taylor?”  Nate calls, scanning the room.  There is no sign of her.

“Taylor?”  Sara calls, getting to her feet and surveying the room.

“She can’t bloody hear you” John hisses, picking the black stone up gingerly from the ground.  The team turns to him, confused.  “She’s trapped in here.”

“Damnit!  John what the hell did you do to her?” Nate cries, pulling at his hair.  She can’t be gone.  He can’t lose her.

“I didn’t do a dammed thing.  She stole the bloody spell.”

“Well how do we get her out?”  Sara asks.

“This stone is like a battery for the spell.  The Temporal Zone stays stable as long as it’s active.  But it uses human suffering as its power source.  If we take her out, the Zone collapses.”

Nate’s fist turns to steel seconds before he punches the wall behind him.  The sound of steel on metal rings out, silencing the room.  He hangs his head, fury and terror rushing through him.

“Are you saying we have to leave her in there until we can fix whatever is tearing up the Temporal Zone?”  Ava asks what the rest of the crew is thinking.

“Yeah.  We better hurry.  I don’t know how long she can last in there.”  John answers, turning his back on them.  Sara starts calling out orders and having Gideon scan for the anomaly that’s wreaking havoc on the timeline.  John heads to the library and searches for a safe place for the stone.  When he finds an enchanted glass box, he sets the stone gently on the bottom and spells the box to be unbreakable.  Then he heads for Taylor’s room.  The journal isn’t in her bag or in any of the drawers so he thrashes the room apart until he sees it sticking out from under her mattress.

He wants to light the bloody thing on fire when he reads the newer entries.  She knew they wouldn’t live if he tried to tie himself to the stone.  Why, he has no idea but she knew; she knew and she kept it from him.  Granted, if she had told him, he never would’ve let her go through with it.  John throws the journal across the room, cursing under his breath.  Foolish, heard-headed girl.  She had no idea what she was doing.  John has never been trapped in the stone himself before but he’s heard nightmare stories about the people who have and how they never come back quite themselves.  The stone has to keep the soul inside conscious for it to use the pain to power the spell.  He never should’ve agreed to this.

Gideon pinpoints the event causing history to unravel- or rather the dozens of events.  The team stands at the control center overwhelmed as they watch more anomalies pop up.  This will not be a quick and easy task.  Sara doesn’t bother with a speech.  She just programs Gideon for the worst anomaly and the team straps in for the time jump, stoic and silent, anxious to get back one of their own.  When they land, John doesn’t take no for an answer he leads the charge out of the ship.

After one too many messy jobs, Sara decides to bench Steel.  When the ship arrives at the next location, Sara turns to stop him when the door opens.  “Nate, you need to stay here.” 

“No Sara, this is family-”

“That’s why you need to stay here.  I know you’re worried about her but I can’t have you in the field without a level head.  You can QB from here.  Ray, stay here and make sure Nate doesn’t abandon the ship.”

Ray nods without any argument and Sara leaves Nate fuming in the doorway.

“We’re going to get her back” Ray says, clapping Nate on the shoulder.

“I’m gonna kill Constantine” Nate replies, patting Ray’s hand.

“He didn’t do this to her, Nate.  She did it on her own.  You saw how shocked he was when she took over the spell.”

“No, you’re right.  I should’ve been looking out for her.  I never should’ve let her on this ship and I should’ve known John was gonna try to screw with her head-”

“Nate listen to yourself man,” Ray says, stopping Nate when he tries to walk away.  “She did what she had to do to save us.  That’s not John’s fault, that’s because she’s just like you.  She’s a Legend.  She does whatever it takes to save the team.  If she hadn’t been here, who even knows how many of us would’ve died in 1925.  Nate, she’s not a kid.  She’s a grown up with her own powers and it’s her choice how she uses them.”

Nate sinks back against the control panel and runs a hand over his face.  “She was supposed to come live with me when she was in high school.  Her parents and her were fighting all the time and she called me to help her…but when her parents found out they said I was too irresponsible to take care of her.  I keep trying to protect her and I keep screwing it up, Ray.  That’s all I’ve done her whole life.”

“The way she talks about you man, you’ve been the only one who ever had any faith in who she really is.  We’ll get her back.  We always do.”

The Legends travel through history at record speed.  All at once, it seems, a rash of anomalies crop up over the timeline.  Creatures out of storybooks and nightmares pop into existence by the dozens, all over the world in different times.  The team splits up, teams of two or three trying to dispatch and dispel the anomalies as fast as possible.  Every day, Nate visits the library and sits with the stone, talking to his lost cousin.  John doesn’t have the heart to tell him that she can’t hear him in the torture realm she’s in-and he’s smart enough not to try talking to him at all.  Nate’s heartbreak and anger have become laser focused in the days since Sara benched him; John Constantine ruined Taylor’s life.  The Legends are long past trying to talk him out of it, so the two men spend their days trying to stay as far from each other as possible.

Chapter Text

*Four Weeks After Taylor was Lost*   

Sara and the others board the ship battered and bruised.  Their final target-a minotaur running rampant in 19th century England-slipped out of their grasp.  Everyone had their own ideas of how to deal with the anomaly and none of them worked out well.  Behrad sent a half-built tower of brick and steel tumbling down on the houses below and they barely got all the citizens out in time to avoid disaster.  Mick tried to barbeque him in the middle of a lumber yard and ended up nearly burning down the city.  Nate doesn’t have words for his disappointment or anger.  The team lets him leave when he stomps out of the room.

“We know what we’re up against now.” Sara says after a long moment of silence.  “We just need to regroup and come back with a plan.  Get some rest.  We’re going back out there tomorrow.”

With just one anomaly left to lay to rest, John’s emotions start catching up with him.  At first, there were enough monsters to drown himself in the fight but now…now his mind has nowhere else to go but deep into the depths of guilt that have been welling up.  Maybe it is his fault Taylor made a reckless decision.  He had no business kissing her…she just carries so much on her shoulders.  He saw something in her that reminded him of himself-a flicker of loneliness and self-distrust.  The way she lurked around the world trying to keep out of reach made him ache in his chest in a way he didn’t know he could properly feel anymore.  Now, they are in the home stretch.  They would get her back, but Gideon wouldn’t be able to heal her completely.  John turns on his heel and clicks his time courier to get him back to the mansion.  Magic is the only cure for pain inflicted by magic.

That night, quartered off in their own areas of the ship, each member of the team has trouble falling asleep.  No one notices that John is nowhere to be seen until they regroup the next morning and Sara asks for his help.

“Is John still asleep?”  She asks Gideon.

“Mr. Constantine left the ship yesterday while you were gone.  He has not yet returned.”

“Damnit John” Sara mutters.  “We could use a little help catching the mythical monster.”

“Let me come with you.”  Nate begs, taking Johns absence as his opportunity to redeem himself.  Sara gives him a long, weary look before nodding.

“Mick, you stay here and when John gets back on the ship, tell him he better not leave again.”

Mick grunts his agreement as the team leaves the ship.  Seconds later, a portal opens and John Constantine falls inside.  Mick casts him a sidelong look and sighs.

“Don’t leave the ship again.”  He says before taking off down the hall, his duty complete.

John totes the armful of ingredients brought from his mansion to the med bay and sets them up on a tray, ready to use them as soon as the team gets Taylor back.

“Captain Lance is on her way back to the ship, Mr. Constantine.  She’s requesting your help with a Minotaur.”

“What the blasted hell is a minotaur doing here?”  He grumbles, marching back towards the ship’s control center.  Just as he and Mick arrive, the ship door opens and the Legends run in, a raging monster on their heels.  The second the last Legend is out of his way, John lifts his arms and casts a spell, opening a portal to hell that the Minotaur run head first into.

“The timeline is back in order Captain Lance.  I detect no structural damage to the Temporal Zone.”  Gideon announces to the team, still lying on the floor trying to catch their breath.

“Get us there, Gideon.”

The ship takes off, landing back in the Temporal Zone with ease.

“So we can get Taylor out of that thing now?”  Nate asks, looking to John.

“We have to try.  It’s the only way to be certain that the Temporal Zone is holding up on it’s own.  If it starts to collapse again-”

“You have to put her back in?”  Ray asks, finishing John’s sentence.  He nods his head, looking around the grim faces of his teammates.

“Let’s have a go at getting the psychic back, shall we?”

They gather in the library for the spell, linking up in a circle the way they did before.  This time, John doesn’t need the book.  He gently removes the stone from it’s protective glass cell and places it on the floor in the middle of the circle.  His eye roll back as he starts to chant the spell backwards; using the same knowledge he pushed into Taylor’s mind second before she sacrificed herself.  The stone begins to glow purple, sending fractured shafts of lavender light cascading through the room.  Nate and Sara tighten their grip on either side of him as he chants louder, causing the stone to glow brighter.

*Taylor*

The pain goes from pinpoints of agony to an overwhelming sensation of pressure.  It feels like someone has hooks stuck through my skin and is reeling me up from the bottom of an endless ocean.  The pressure is awful-more than I can bear.  My lungs compress, out of oxygen, out of room.  I am being crushed alive, that must be it.  At least the end is near.  The red blur of pain across the back of my eyelids turns a darker shade.  Something is changing.  Red becomes purple.  Purple fades to Black.

Nate cries out with relief when John’s voice fades and he opens his eyes to see Taylor lying on the ground, the stone clutched in her outstretched arm.  Her eyes are closed and she isn’t moving but the rise and fall of her chest is enough to give him hope.  He collapses on the floor beside her, pulling her up into his lap.  The stone rolls out of her hand and comes to a stop on the floor beside John’s feet.

“Easy, mate.  She’s not out of the woods yet.  Get her to Gideon.  I’ll be there soon.”  John instructs the team, picking up the stone as they rush out of the room.  He places the stone back in the enchanted box and seals it up before heading off to the med bay.

“I’m sensing a variety of neurological anomalies in Ms. Taylor’s brain.  Her pain receptors are firing at nearly triple the regular speed but there’s no detectable stimuli.”  Gideon says as John steps into the med bay behind the crowd of Legends.

“Give her a double dose of sedatives Gideon.  We don’t want her wakin’ up for this.”  John says.

“No!  Gideon don’t do that!” Ava cries.  The Legends turn to John, shock on their faces.

“That’s dangerous, John she might not wake up.”  Ray says, turning to him.

“She’ll be fine if you would all give me some room to work, Mate.”

“You need to get out of here and let her rest!”  Nate barks, stepping towards John.  Behrad and Ray step between the two men, sensing their animosity.

“I need room to work so she can bloody live” John snarls.

“This is your fault!  You did this to her!”  Nate yells, throwing himself at John.  Ray pulls him away as Sara tries to take control of the situation.

“Hey!  Both of you knock it off!  Taylor is the only priority right now.  What work do you need to do John?”

John takes a step back and clenches his fists before running a hand through him hair.  “That stone has tortured her for the last month.  She’s going to be in so much pain it will kill her.  I have a spell that can jumpstart her healing before her nervous system shuts down but I don’t have much time.”

As if in answer, the monitor reading Taylor’s vitals begins to wail.  Her blood pressure swings rapidly from high to low in a highly unnatural way.  Sensing the urgency of the moment, the fight drains out of Nate and he staggers, holding onto Ray for support.

“Everybody out.  John, do what you have to.  Save her,” Sara orders.

The legends file out of the med bay and John waits for the door to close before he lets himself breathe.  Beside him, Taylor’s body starts shaking.  He’s almost out of time.  He mixes together the ingredients that he prepared on the tray and fills a syringe with the thick, black liquid he creates.

“Gideon, the sedatives, now please, Love.”

“Administering double sedatives, Mr. Constantine.”

John grabs Taylor’s arm and ignores the shaking of his own hand as he pierces her skin.  As he injects the concoction, he chants the spell that will rush the sludge through her veins and activate the healing properties in his ingredients.  He is glad Nate isn’t here to see the side effects of his magic.  All over Taylor’s body, scars and burns start to appear and fade rapidly.  Evidence of what the stone put her through rushes to the surface and the magic John worked accelerates the progression.  There is no part of her left unscathed.  Her vitals plummet and for a long moment, his throat constricts as he worries Ray was right about the sedatives.  But then slowly, as the scars and bruises start to slow, the numbers on the monitor start to slowly climb.

“How is she?”  Sara’s voice startles him and he realizes he’s fallen asleep in the chair next to Taylor’s bed.

“She’s a tough bird.  She’ll be fine in time.”

Sara’s eyes catch on a long, jagged scar running down the entire length of Taylor’s right arm.  “What is that?”

“The spell that I cast accelerates her healing but it also brings the pain to life.  Everything she felt has shown on her skin since I cast the spell.  That one must’ve been recent.  It’ll fade soon enough.”  John says, unable to look at the scar.  The pain she must’ve felt…

“Nate wants to see her.”  Sara says, clearing her throat.

“Give her just a bit more time.  Just till the worst of the scars fade.  For his sake.”

“It’s been hours John.  I don’t know how much more time I can give you.”

John tilts his head to the side, curious.  Hours?  He must’ve lost track of time during the spell.  Sara leaves when he doesn’t say anything in reply and a wave of exhaustion settles over him.  How many days has he waited for this exact moment?  For Taylor to be out of the stone and back on the ship-safe?  As the door slides open again, he recalls the entry in her journal about Nate and him having a row in the med bay and he looks up to find Ray there instead.

“I told him I would check on her.  How is she?”  Ray asks, scanning her fragile body and then flicking his gaze to John.

“She’ll be fine.  Don’t know when she’ll be up.”  He looks over and see that the redness on the scar on her arm is fading.  “He can come sit with her.  Let me know if she wakes up.”  John stands and lays a gentle hand on Taylor’s knee before marching out of the med bay and down the hall towards her room.

Chapter Text

Nate feels like his chest is cracked wide open when he walks into the med bay and sees Taylor lying there, peaceful and alive.  There’s a long, faded scar running down one of her arms that wasn’t there before but she’s alive.  He sinks down into a chair next to her bed and grabs her hand in his.  It’s limp, but there’s a heartbeat under his fingertips and the feeling brings tears to his eyes.  He’s never letting her out of his sight again.

Down the hall, John picks up the clothes and linens strewn across Taylor’s room.  He trashed it in agony and desperation for answers after she was sucked into the stone but now…now she’s home.  She shouldn’t have to come back to a mess.  Silently and methodically, he folds up her clothes and tucks them back in her duffle bag.  When he finds the journal, open on the floor, he resists the urge to read through her prophecies and simply tucks it under the top corner of her mattress.  The end of a red tie peeks out from under her bed and a soft smile touches his face as he picks it up.  

One day, in the library after another fruitless search for the book in her vision, she had been giving him a hard time about the way he wears his loose like a necklace.  He pulled it off to rattail her with it as proof that it had some use and she wrapped it around her hand and took it.  He crossed his arms and lit a cigarette, affecting disapproval when she slung it around her neck and did her best John Constantine impersonation, but he has liked seeing himself the way she did.  It hadn’t turned out half as bad as he’d thought it might.  When she held the tie back out to him, he nudged her hand away and told her it looked better on her version of him.  He didn’t miss the blush on her cheeks when he stepped past her to get out of the room.  He didn’t miss the way it made his mouth twitch upwards either.

After Taylor’s room is pristine, John can’t help himself from going back to the med bay.  Nate is fast asleep a chair next to the bed when the door opens, so he walks quietly to the other side of the bed and sits down.  With the mix of medicine and magic flowing through her veins, there’s no real way to tell when she’ll wake up.  

Nate wakes up as the door opens and Ava walks in.

“Any change?”  She asks.

“Nothing yet.”  Nate answers, shaking his head.  

The three of them sit vigil by her bedside and one by one, the team makes their way to the med bay.  Everyone is anxious to see if Taylor will wake up.  

“She’s going to be okay.”  Sara says, as she puts a hand on John’s shoulder.  One by one, they walk away until Nate and John are left sitting on opposite sides of the bed.  

“You shouldn’t be here” Nate says, turning to face John.  It’s the first thing he’s said to him since their argument earlier in the day.

“Look, Mate, I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“We’re not mates.  You’re the reason she’s like this.  It should’ve been you in that stone getting tortured.”  Nate says, getting to his feet.

“She did this because her bloody visions told her too!  If I had done it, we would all be dead.”  John argues, getting to his feet as well.  

Soon they’re at each other’s throats, both red in the face from screaming, though neither of them really knows what they’re saying anymore.  Weeks of fear and anger and regret bubble to the surface in their screaming match.  Nate grabs John by the throat and turns to steel and John lift his hands to cast a spell.  Gideon alerts the team and in seconds, the men are being pulled apart.

“Stop it!  Both of you OUT!”  Sara yells.

As Ray pulls Nate towards the door, a sound pulls their attention.  Taylor gasps for breath, clawing at the oxygen tube across her face.

*Taylor*

The room spins so fast, I can’t make anything out.  I can’t breathe.  Something is up my nose and I claw at it to get it free.  Something is near me, yelling.  Someone is near me.  It didn’t work-the spell didn’t work.  I try to cry out for John but I can’t breathe.  I can’t breathe.  Something is forcing air up my nose and I stop fighting it, desperate for oxygen.  As my lungs fill up, the room starts to focus and I see The Legends around my bed.  The ship doesn’t seem to be rocking.

The bright lights of the med bay sting my eyes and I blink rapidly, trying to get accustomed to the brightness.  One by one, I focus on their faces.  Mick by the door.  Ava and Sara clinging to each other at the foot of my bed.  Ray and Behrad on either side of them.  Nate is on my right and John is on my left and both of them are hovering over me, mouths moving.

“-alright, Love, just breathe.  You’re alright.  You in there, Love?” John breathes.

“Taylor?  Calm down Tay, are you hurt?  Can you hear me?”  Nate asks, scanning my face.

They’re all asking too many questions and my head is spinning so I’m grateful when the two of them are pulled back, out of my face.  The team half drags them out of the room until only Sara is left.

“What-” is the only word I can croak out, desperate for answers.  Did the spell work?  Are we safe?  Is the Temporal Zone still collapsing?

“Taylor, can you hear me?”  Sara asks, stepping up to my right side.  It feels like I’m moving in slow motion when I turn my head to her but I nod.

“Do you remember what happened?”  She asks.  Nodding my head takes all the energy I have and I slump back against my pillow when I’m done.

“Are we-safe?”  I groan, closing my eyes and taking deep, rattling breaths between the words.

“Yeah, yeah we’re safe.  You saved us-again.”  Sara says.  When I open my eyes again, she has a soft smile on her face.

“John-”  It takes so much work to force the sound out.

“John’s fine.  You need to rest” she tells me, stepping away from my bed.  But she doesn’t understand, I need her to tell him he couldn’t do it.  I need her not to blame him.

“John-” I breathe his name again as my eyelids grow heavy.

“I’ll get him for you.  Just rest.”

The world goes dark as whatever Gideon is pumping through my metal cuff gets to me again and I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.

For a long time, I sleep.  Uninterrupted by visions or nightmares or dreams, I sleep.

When the visions start again, they’re chaotic and they play at full speed like someone pressed fast-forward on a movie too many times.  They come in fragmented little bursts that I can’t piece together.  Just when I think I can make out the people inside, they slip away through my hands like sand.

The visions start to slow down just enough for me to make out a detail or two.  A hair color here, an eye color there.  Nothing substantial.  Nothing that will stick.  When my visions first started, I thought not sleeping would make them go away, but it only made them worse when I finally did fall asleep.  But even at their worst, they were never like this.  Never this chaotic.  Never at this dizzying speed.

I sit up gasping for air again, but this time the med bay comes into clear focus almost instantly.  The drowsiness has mostly worn off and I feel a little more like myself.  Nate is asleep in the chair to my right so I reach out and grab his wrist.  He turns to steel under my hand and rockets to his feet, ready to fight.

“Nate?!” I croak.  Instantly, he turns back into himself and his arms go around me, holding me tightly to his chest.

“Holy crap.  Tay are you alright?”  He asks.  I can feel his heart racing against my cheek.

“I’m-I think I’m okay.  I can’t breathe” I tell him, tapping his arm.  He lets me go in an instant and I take a deep breath.

“Are you okay?  Gideon is she okay?”  Nate asks, running a hand through his hair as his eyes search my face.

“I only detect a minute number of neurological anomalies in Ms. Taylor’s brain.  Her vitals are stable.”  Gideon tells him.  I reach for his hand again, surprised when I touch his wrist that I’m not overtaken with visions.

“Nate, I’m okay.  What happened?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“We were trying find a way to stabilize the Temporal Zone…I-I don’t remember how we did it…did it work?”

Nate opens and closes his mouth before he nods.  “It worked.  You saved us.  Again.”

“How?  What did we do?”  I ask as he pulls the chair closer and sits back down.

“It was-well it doesn’t matter.  All that matters is that you’re okay.”

“Nate you’re not a good liar.  What happened?  How did we save the ship?”  I ask, pulling my hand out of his.  He looks up at me with his mouth open like he’s going to answer me but he just closes it and shakes his head.

“You’re okay.  That’s what matters.  I’m gonna go tell Sara you’re up.  She’s been asking.”  Nate gets to his feet and turns to walk away but turn back and looks at me.  “I love you Tay.”  He says, leaning down to kiss to top of my head.  He walks out of the room leaving me with a thousand questions.  I pick at the blanket as the minutes pass by.  I keep thinking the door will slide open and John will walk in, but the door stays closed.

“Gideon, does everyone know I’m awake?”

“I made an announcement as soon as you awoke Ms. Taylor.”

A knot forms in my stomach.  “Um okay thanks.”  I pull my feet up and sit crisscross on my bed while I wait for Nate to come back and try to ignore the fact that John hasn’t come by.  When Sara, Ava, and Nate come back in, I’m watching my heart monitor just to have something to focus on.

“She’s back!  How do you feel?”  Sara asks, leaning up against the wall at the end of my bed.

“Um okay I guess.  Nate won’t tell me how we stabilized the Temporal Zone though.  Anyone want to clear that up?”  I ask, looking between her and Ava.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Ava asks, echoing Nate.

“John thought he had a spell that would help me focus my visions.  I don’t remember what I saw but I know that we knew what we needed.  Someone tell me what’s going on.”  Panic starts to bubble up in my chest and the pressure makes it hard to breathe.  

“Why don’t you guys take a walk?  I’ll catch her up.”  Sara says, gesturing to Ava and Nate.  After a moment of hesitation, the two of them leave and Sara crosses the room slowly to sit in the chair Nate was occupying when I woke up.

“Sara what the hell is going on?”

“You and John did find a way to stabilize the zone so we could find the hiccup in the timeline that was causing the instability.  There was a stone that would act like a battery and magnify the spell that John was going to cast to keep the integrity of the Temporal Zone intact.  But the stone got it’s power from-from causing pain.  We had to trap a soul inside to keep the spell going.”  When she pauses, my heart stops and a horrifying thought crosses my mind.

“Oh my-Is John in the stone?  We have to get him out! We have to-”

“No!  No, Taylor, John’s not in the stone-You were.”  Sara’s words fill my veins with ice.  I wrack my brain trying to remember any of the things she’s said but I can’t.

“No-I don’t- Why don’t I remember any of that?  Where is John?  Why hasn’t he come by here?  Why don’t I remember any of this?”

“Taylor, it’s okay-” Sara reaches out to me but I jerk away.

“No!  Don’t touch me!  I just-I need John!  Please, I need to remember!”  I cry, tears pooling in my eyes.  I keep pushing through my memories for something-anything-but I can’t find it.  Every time I get close to something that feels familiar, a shooting pain blasts through my head and the room spins.

“Gideon, she needs to be sedated!  And get John Constantine NOW!” Sara orders.  I don’t have time to argue before I feel the effects of the sedatives and I slip into a blissful ocean of ink again.

Chapter Text

The sound of voices in my room pulls me from deep under the waves of sleep.  I lay still, trying to make out the words as I try to find the strength to open my eyes.

“She’ll be fine.  She doesn’t need those memories and she sure and bloody hell doesn’t need me.”

“John you didn’t see her before.  She needs to know that you’re okay and she needs to know what happened to her.”

“You could’ve told us you were using your magic to wipe her memory.  I knew we never should’ve let you near her.”

When I finally get the heavy curtain of my eyelids open, Nate has his forehead against the wall and Sara has a hand on his shoulder.  I watch the tail of John’s coat flutter around the corner as he leaves.  At least he’s alive.  As I sit up, Sara squeezes Nate’s shoulder and he turns around.  He’s not quick enough to hide the anger on his face.

“Hey.”  Nate comes to my bedside as Sara leans up against the door.

I want to ask about John but I know that will just set Nate off again.  “Hey,” I say instead.

“How ya feelin’?”

“A little tired of people asking me that.  But okay.  Sara told me what happened.”

“You were really brave.  A little stupid, but really brave saving us like that.”  Nate replies.

“I learned it from you” I say, a light smile pulling at my lips.

“The stupid or the brave?”

“Both, obviously.”  I answer.  That makes him laugh a genuine laugh and the sound is so fresh and so needed, it brings tears to my eyes.

“Can I get you anything?”  He asks, brushing my hair out of my face.

“Coffee?”

“Oh yeah.  She’s back.”  Sara laughs as Nate shakes his head in feigned disbelief.

“Back in a sec” he promises.

I wait until they’re both gone to close my eyes and call out for Gideon.

“Hey Gideon, don’t dose me with any more sedatives.”

“My apologies Ms. Taylor, but it was a direct order from Captain Lance.”

“Well this is a direct order from the person you’re pumping the sedatives into.” I sigh.

“Very well Ms. Taylor.”

As promised, Nate is back in a flash with a cup of coffee in hand.  As I sip on my drink, he starts telling me about all the time anomalies they had to stop to get the Temporal Zone stabilized permanently.  Ray and Behrad stop by to add to the tales and even Mick comes by to detail exactly why he thought setting fire to a lumber yard was a good solution to their problem.  Eventually, the room is full except for one highly-irritable Brit.

“That’s a lot of fights.  How long did this take?”  I laugh as Ava corrects Nate about the final battle.  The room gets quiet before Ava takes a deep breath and answers me.

“Four weeks.”

“Four weeks…wow.  I was in that stone for a month.”  I say, more processing the information than asking.

“We worked as fast as we could.”  Nate assures me, but I shake my head.

“No I didn’t mean it like that…I just-I was in there for a whole month and I don’t remember any of it.”  Another tense silence mushrooms out around me and I quickly try to change the topic.  “It’s fine, I mean, it’s just crazy.  You guys must’ve been exhausted.”

“We had a pretty big reason to push through.”  Sara smiles.  “But we should let you get some rest.  Everyone out, even you Nate.”

I wave goodnight to everyone and as the room empties out, I realize that I don’t need any more rest.  My legs are itching to get up and walk around but I don’t want to worry anyone.  I watch the time click by on the top corner of my monitor.  About forty minutes after everyone has left, I can’t take it anymore.

“Gideon, I’m going to go stretch my legs so do me a favor don’t hit me with anymore sedatives tonight.  I feel like I’ve slept my life away and I would really love not to pass out in the hall.”

“Understood.”  Gideon answers.  As I get to my feet slowly to make sure I can actually do all the walking I’m planning to do, Gideon speaks again.  “Mr. Constantine is in the library, if you were going to stretch your legs in that direction, Ms. Taylor.”

“Thanks Gideon.  You read my mind.”

I walk slowly down the hall, my bare feet stinging against the cold floor of the ship.  Part of me wants to make a pitstop to my room for warmer clothing, but I don’t want to miss my chance to talk to John.  The ship feels immense and I have to stop a few times along the way to lean against the wall and catch my breath.  When I get to the library, I see John standing in front of the desk with his back to me.  It sounds like he’s talking to himself but then I hear a tiny, muffled explosion and a sting of curse words.  

“You’re an absolute jackass.”  I say, stepping into the library.  I stop just inside the door to rest, leaning up against the shelves.  John’s shoulders freeze and the room goes quiet.

“I can’t argue with that, Love.”  He mutters, still not facing me.

“Why can’t I remember what happened to me?  Why don’t I remember my vision of how to save the team or any of the things they told me happened after that?”

“Taylor-”

“And better yet,” I interrupt, “why the hell haven’t I seen you since I woke up?”  My voice catches on the last word and I swallow hard, hoping the lump in my throat will go away.  John’s shoulders slump and he finally turns to face me.  He looks like hell.  There are dark circles under his eyes and his usual 5 o’clock shadow has grown into rugged, messy stubble.

“Nate’s said it a dozen times, Love.  You’re better off without me.”

“That’s bullshit.  You’re the one who helped me get through my visions and figure out how to save the team.  The way Sara tells it, you’re the reason I’m still alive after whatever the hell I went through in that stone.  So why won’t you talk to me?  Why can’t I remember anything?”  I press, stepping forward.

“Sara skipped some parts of the story if that’s what she’s got you believin’.”  He says, shaking his head and leaning back against the desk.

“Then fill in the gaps.  Tell me what happened.”  I demand, stepping towards him again.

“I helped you get your visions sorted which gave you the dammed idea to steal the spell from me.  I never should’ve used that stone.  I should’ve made you look for another way.”  John crosses his arms and flicks his eyes to the side so he won’t have to look at me.  I step towards him again, equal parts rage that he won’t explain things to me and joy that we’re both alive.

“I stole the spell?  What spell?  Why would I do that John?”  I ask.

“Because you’re a dammed fool!” he snaps, looking up at me.  There are only a couple of feet between us now.  His words cause me to stop and the chill of the ship hits me anew.  Embarrassment rolls through me and I fight the urge to run off.  He can’t really think that of me.

“You don’t mean that.”

He flinches just the slightest bit before he steels his gaze and glares past me.  “I mean it with every damn fiber of my being, Love.” 

“I don’t believe you.” I cross my arms, shivering against the chill of the ship and his eyes lose their fire.

“You look like you’re going to freeze to death.”  He says, shrugging out of his coat.  Before I can argue, he slips it around my shoulders and pulls it tight.  It smells like him-like smoke and alcohol and something I can’t quite put my finger on.  When he shifts out of my way, I can finally see the desk and what’s on it.  There’s a glass box without a lid and inside is a black stone.  It’s shiny, like obsidian, but it almost looks fragile.  Something comes over me and I reach out for the stone.  It’s calling me.  I need to touch it.

“Taylor no!”  John cries.  But he’s too late.  My fingers slide along the glassy black surface of the stone for only a second before it shatters under my hand, sending a beam of purple light out and shattering the glass box.

Memories roll through me at lightning speed.
 
John and I searching my visions.  An explosion.  More time in the blasted med bay. 
John and me in the hall.  Kissing.
John and me in the mansion, stone and book in hand.
My visions filter in.  The team dead with the stone in John’s hand.
Me stealing the spell.
Pain.  Endless pain.

Every nerve ending in my body feels like it’s being set on fire.  The library comes back into focus as I stumble and John cradles me against his chest.  He guides us to the floor.  There’s a ringing in my ears, drowning out what he’s saying, but I know his lips are moving.  “The pain isn’t real,” I tell myself, trying to focus.  It’s just a memory.  It’s just a memory.  Slowly, the pain recedes and the ring in my ear bottoms out to a low hum.

 “Taylor?  Can you hear me, Love?”  John asks, his voice frantic.

 “I-I remember” I breathe.

 “Darling I wish you hadn’t done that.”  John sighs and I feel his body relax underneath me.  He doesn’t release his hold on me but I don’t mind.  We sit in the floor until my breathing is normal again.

 “Do you really think I’m a fool?”  I ask quietly, sitting up on my own and pulling out of his arms.

 “Love, you are a brave, headstrong mess.  But you’re no fool.”

 I close the space between us in seconds, pressing my lips to his.  He doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around me and pull me closer, even as we fall backwards.  His lips move against mine frantically and he holds me against his chest with one arm and works his free hand into my hair.  His coat slips off my shoulders, but his hands on me keep me warm enough.  The scratch of his stubble against my cheeks is something I never want to end and when he nips my bottom lip gently with his teeth, I want to live like this forever.

 “Captain Lance is en route to the library.”  Gideon announces, sending us ricocheting apart.  I brush my hair down and pull John’s coat around me like a blanket as he sits up.  His hair is sticking up in a few places from where I ran my fingers through it, but he looks about as disheveled as normal when Sara appears in the door.

 “You weren’t in the med bay, I was worried-but-maybe I should be worried that I interrupted something here?”  She says, stopping in the doorway and looking between John and me with a smile.

 “We’ve got to work on your timing” John grumbles, getting to his feet.  He puts out a hand for me and pulls me up beside him.

 “Um I remember it.  All of it.”  I tell Sara, hoping she’ll stop smirking at me.  That does the trick.

 “Are you okay?”  She asks, stepping forwards with a look of concern on her face.

 “I don’t know.  Seems okay so far.”  I shrug, pulling my arms through John’s coat so I don’t have to keep holding on to the lapels.

 “Don’t jinx it, Love.  There’s no comin’ out of that stone without side effects.”  John says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

 “Well let’s just worry about that when we get there.”  I tell him, rolling my eyes.

 “Well if you’re good to go, there’s a situation in 1512 that needs our attention.”  Sara says, raising her eyebrows at me.

 “Let’s get to 1512 then.”  I smile.  John walks me back to the med bay so Gideon can run another scan and get the metal cuff monitor off my wrist.  After a quick evaluation, Gideon makes it clear that she doesn’t think I should jump back into saving history, but after a little sweet talk from John and a promise from me to come for hourly check-ins, the metal cuff pops off my wrist and I’m free to roam the ship.  John and I amble through the halls towards my room in silence.  When we get to the door, I shrug out of his coat and hold it out for him.

 “You sure you don’t want to keep it?”  He says, a smile creeping to his face.

 “I think I’ll be okay.  Besides, I know where to find you if I need it again.”  I put my hand on the door and notice that my room is pristine.  “Did someone clean this?”  I ask, taking in the clean room.

 “I might’ve torn it up a bit and then felt guilty.”

 “Torn it up?”  I ask, looking over my shoulder at him.  He just shrugs, flicking his lighter open and closed absently.  “Well I’m gonna take a shower and then-” Pain stabs through my stomach, cutting me off and I fall forwards, catching myself on the edge of my bed.

 “Love?  You alright?”

 I can’t concentrate on anything other than the shooting pain in my abdomen.  Trying to catch my breath, I sit on the edge of the bed doubled over.

 “Talk to me, Love, what’s goin’ on?”  John says, tossing his coat to the floor and coming towards me.  The pain finally starts to fade and I take a few shallow breaths, shaking my head.

 “I think-I don’t know.  It’s over now…It felt like someone was stabbing me.”  I explain, sitting up slowly.

 “Side effects from the stone.  The magic I pumped you full of when we pulled you out should stop most of that, but touching the stone reminded your soul of your connection to it.  There’s no way of knowing how often that’ll happen or for how long.”  John explains, kneeling on the floor in front of me.  I look down at his hand resting on my knee and I put my hand gently on top of his.

 “Any idea why I’m nothing visions when I touch people anymore?”  I ask softly, too scared to give into my hope that maybe those visions are gone.

 “None at all, Love.  Worried they’re gone for good?”

 “Not worried…hopeful maybe.  But when Gideon put me under, I still had some so I know they’re not gone completely.”  I tell him, hoping that putting the truth out there won’t jinx my chance that at least the contact induced visions are gone.
 
“Get a shower and I’ll meet you back in the front of the ship.  We’ll figure it out.”  John promises, kissing my forehead before scooping up his coat and walking out of the room.

I fumble through my bag and find a pair of jeans and a grey sweater.  The ship has always been comfortable, but since I woke up it feels like an ice box.  I try to press the worry that rolls up away as I walk to the bathroom.  The hot water warms me up and when I get out of the shower, I knot my short, wet hair into a little bun on the top of my head.  When I look up in the mirror, I gasp in horror.  There’s a nasty black bruise growing up from my neck and taking over my right cheek.  Fascinated, I watch as it turns from a black-ish blue to purple before fading to green, then yellow and fading out all together in seconds.  Running my fingers over the area, I notice my face and neck aren’t tender and the bruise is gone.  I’m either seeing things or the effects of the stone are a little more than just psychological.

 “Shouldn’t you be in the med bay?  Gideon, shouldn’t she be in the med bay?”  Nate asks when he sees me walking down the hall.

 “Ms. Taylor has been cleared as long as she returns for hourly check-up scans.”  Gideon explains.

 “You can just ask me next time.  You don’t always have to check with Gideon.”  I tell him as we walk down the hall together.

 “Sorry, I just want you to be alright.  How do you feel?”

 “Okay.  Did Sara talk to you?”

 “About you getting your memories back?  Yeah.  Are you okay?”  Nate asks as we walk into the front area of the ship.  The team is gathered around the control center talking about whatever’s going down in 1512.

 “I think so.  There might just be some side effects for a while.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”  I reply, hanging back from the group a little unsure of my place.  John leans up against the wall by the door, always just a fraction removed from everyone else so I cross the room to stand by him.  Nate eyes us with a frown before turning his attention to the screens.

 “Anymore ghost pains, Love?” John asks under his breath.  He pulls a cigarette from his pocket and slips it between his lips.  I’ve never seen a man put so many cigarettes in his mouth without even bothering to light them.

 “Not pain, but this wicked bruise showed up, changed colors a dozen times and then just disappeared.”  I answer, plucking the cigarette from his mouth.  He kicks my shoe gently and makes a disapproving face.  Ignoring him, I twirl the cigarette between my fingers like a baton for a second before holding it up for him.  “Either light it or throw it away.  It’s not an accessory.”

 He rolls his eyes and pockets the cigarette, pulling out his lighter to mess with instead.  “Did it hurt?  The bruise, I mean?”

 “No.  It just looked like hell.  That’s gonna be hard to explain when I get home.”

 “Planning on leaving then?”  He asks, clicking the lighter shut.

 “Can’t stay here” I sigh.

 “They let a nasty piece of work like me hitch a ride, I doubt they’ll boot you off, Love.”  He replies with a wink.

 “Taylor, how are your powers?”  Ava calls, pulling my attention from the way John’s hair is falling in his eyes.

 “Uh don’t know.  Why?”

 “There’s a teleporting serial killer on the loose.  We thought maybe you could give us a hand.”

 I cross the room and take a hesitant step into the little space between Nate and Ray.  “I’ve never really tried to see anything before.  I don’t know if I can.”

 “If you think you can try, anything you get will be more than we have.”  Sara encourages me.  I look around the hopeful faces in the group and see that John has stepped closer to hover over Ava’s shoulder across from me.  When I lock eyes with him, he nods his head ever so slightly.

 “I’ll give it a shot.”  On instinct, I reach to my left and grab Nate’s shoulder, closing my eyes.  For a second, I think my visions have left me but just at the hope surges through, the black of the back of my eyelids turns bright white and a vision takes over.
 

Nate runs down an alleyway just in time to turn to steel in front of a cowering woman.  He yells for her to run as the attacker slashes at him with a long knife.  The screech of the knife across steel echoes through the alley at a deafening pitch.  Just as Nate reaches for the knife, another man comes up behind him and knocks a bottle over his head.  He falls to the ground unconscious as Ray runs down the alley and the two identical attackers disappear into a doorway.

 I jerk out of the vision a headache exploding behind my eyes.  “There are two of them” I say, rubbing my eyes and willing the headache to stop.

 “Two?”  Sara asks.

 “He’s not teleporting.  He’s working with someone else.  A twin.”  I explain as the throbbing in my head eases up a little.  I try my best to describe the alley I saw in my vision, as well as what the twins were wearing.

 “Good work Taylor.  Get her to the med bay.”  Sara says, clapping John on the shoulder.  The rest of the team heads off in their period-appropriate clothing and I follow John to the med bay holding a hand to my head.

 “Gideon, can you give me something for this headache?”  I ask as she scans me with a bright blue light.

 “Administering a dose of acetaminophen now.  Your scan is showing slightly elevated activity in your pain receptors but otherwise, you seem alright.”  Gideon explains.  I wait for the metal cuff to pop off my wrist before swinging my legs over the side of the chair.

 “Thanks Gideon.  See you in an hour.”

 John is waiting in the hallway when I walk out of the med bay.  The way he leans up against the wall seemingly unbothered by anything sends a little flutter through my chest.

 “That was a neat party trick, Love.”  He says, falling into step with me.

 “Didn’t know I could do it.  I hope it helps the team.”

We walk in silence to the front of the ship.  Sara left Behrad on board to QB but I put in a com just in case.  Behrad and I start a game of ‘don’t let the ball touch the floor’ while we wait for the team to get back.  Every once in a while, John will blast the ball back towards us with a shot of magic when Behrad’s air currents send it rogue, but he never leaves my side.  Sara calls in a few times for specific coordinates, but over-all the mission goes off without a hitch, which I have a feeling is a rare occurrence for the Legends.  When the team gets back, Ray and Nate pick up our game without a second thought.

 “Good heads up on the evil twin thing.”  Ray tell me, tossing the ball to Nate.

 “Is it really an evil twin if both of them are murdering people?”  Nate asks throwing the ball across the room to Behrad.  He sends it towards me on a gust of air but when I reach out to get it, Sara catches my hand.  The ball hits my palm and falls to the floor as we roar in protest.

 “Sara!”  I cry, looking at the ball on the ground and then back up at her.

 “How did this happen?”  She asks, turning my hand over.  A mess of knotted, ugly scars takes over the back of my hand and winds up my wrist where it disappears under my sleeve.

 “Um it’s not-It’ll go away in a second.”  I tell her, pulling my hand out of her grasp.  I pull the sleeve of my sweater down to cover my hand and the neck of my sweater pulls down to expose my shoulder.  I watch the team’s eyes go to my shoulder and judging by the horrified looks on their faces, the scars are all the way up there too.  Stepping away from the group, I pull my sweater up over my shoulder and cross my arms, tucking my hands under my arms.

 “Is that from the stone?”  Nate asks.

 “Yeah.  It doesn’t hurt it just…it looks bad.”  I say, my face burning red.

 “You all stink.  The lot of ya need a shower.  And that’s coming from a chain-smoker with very little sense of smell left” John barks.  His voice breaks the tense silence of the room and sends everyone back into action.  Nate pulls me in for a hug-John is right, they do stink-and then heads off down the hall. A few seconds later, the normal sounds of laughter and discussion echo through the halls and I let out a long sigh.

 “Thanks.”  I say, turning to John who is lounging in one of the seats behind the control panel.

 “Just told ‘em the truth, Love.”  He says, not looking up at me.

 “So you really don’t know how long this will last?”  I ask, holding my hand out in front of him.  The scars are already almost completely gone.

 “Sorry, Love.  That stone is the one torture realm I haven’t been trapped in.  Heard lots of stories from other unlucky souls ‘bout it.  Bit different every time, sounds like.”  He finally looks up at me and purses his lips.

 I can’t go home like this.  And I can’t go home if I don’t know how long this will last.  After all the time I’ve spent on this ship, I’m not ready to go back to a life of isolation.  Turning to John with a forced smile I shrug.  “It’s fine.  It’ll just take some getting used to.  For all of us, I guess.  I’ll be back in a few.”

 John calls out after me but the urge to talk to Sara pushes me down the hall without looking back.  I peek my head in the galley and find Sara and Ava sharing a bowl of chips.  Knocking on the wall, I get their attention and offer a small wave.

 “Hey, sorry about earlier.  I thought something happened when we were gone.  I forgot that the ghost scar thing was a side effect of the magic.  I saw it in the med bay when we first got you back” Sara says.

 “I saw it for the first time this morning after my shower.  Kind of freaky.”  I agree, shrugging my shoulders.  

 “Speaking of shower, your cousin better be out by now.”  Ava laughs, getting to her feet and leaving me alone with Sara.

 “Is everything okay?”  Sara asks, pushing the chip bag across the table towards me.  I sit down across from her and grab a chip from the bag but I don’t put it in my mouth.  Instead, I look down at my hands waiting for the next scar to show up.
 

“Actually I was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”

 Sarah nods and waits for me to continue.

 “Um, I wanted to thank you for taking a chance on me and letting me in on all of the stuff you guys do.  And I was wondering if it was okay if I stayed on board a little while longer-at least just until we can find some more information about how long this-” I pause and hold out my hand to show her the ghost burns that are blistering up on my palm, “how long this might last.”

 Sarah tips her head to the side like she’s confused.  “Taylor, I thought Nate would’ve told you by now, but you’re part of this team.  I mean, you can go home if you want but there’s a place for you here if you want to stay too.”

 For a second, I can’t quite believe what she’s saying.  But then there are tears in my eyes and I’m nodding as she grabs my hand.
 
 “Once a Legend, always a Legend.”  She says as a vision takes over.

 Sara and Ava are walking through the ship arguing about something.  I can barely hear them.  “I’ve made my peace with being a clone, but I don’t think this is funny” Ava snaps.
“Babe, it’s a joke!”  Sara argues. 
“I’m glad to know where we stand.”  Ava says, holding out a box for Sara to take.  The second Sara takes the box, Ava storms off.  Sara takes the top off the box and hurls the contents across the hall.  

 “Whatever you got Ava as a joke, don’t give it to her.”  I say, pulling my hand from Sara’s.

 “How-Why?  What happened?”

 “She’s still kind of sensitive about the clone thing.  Not ready for jokes.”  I explain.  Sara lets out a surprised laugh and claps me on the shoulder.

 “Better go get it before she finds it in our room then” she says as she leaves.  Taking a deep breath, I lean back in my chair and munch on the chips Sara left.  I have a home here if I want it.  Thinking back to my old life, the burned bridges, the problems, I realize that this is where I want to be.  I’ve always wanted to be wherever Nate was and life never let me have that chance.  Now I’m here, and my visions have a purpose.  Now we both have insane powers and we’re on a time ship.  If there were ever a place for me to feel at home, this is it.

 “Something on your mind, Love?”  John says, coming around the corner and leaning up against the table beside me.

 “Sara said I could stay.”

 “Figured she would.  Kind of predictable like that.”  He says, raising his eyebrow at me.  “Anything else on your mind?”

 I almost say no but then something hits me and I nod.  “I might have a theory on my contact visions.  But I might need your help testing it out.”

 That earns me a rare, real smile from him and he gets to his feet. 

 “Show me what ya got, Love.”  He stretches out his hand and pulls me to my feet.