“for how long? how long were you bottling this up?“
there was no forgetting just how much time had passed since laurel’s death, the memory of returning home to find out forever seared in her mind. the overwhelming depth of rage consumed her then, curling fingers around rip hunter’s throat to take from him what damien had taken from her sister. he’d lied in the beginning, held his winning hand in secret while he played them for fools. for a time, sara had even found herself placated by their attempts to force her to see her anger as selfishness, her attempts and desires to restore laurel to life as impossible — something she had now learned was the opposite.
still, the weight of denying herself had taken it’s toll. every day, they’d done more and more for others, rewriting history or preserving it as they went, forcing sara to confront the truth of her fractured mind. she’d like to them all, to stein, to nate, to amaya, to zari — even to ava. i don’t even want to start looking for loopholes, because then i’m going to start looking for ways to save my sister. the final straw had been their father’s death, taking from her the last relative who cared enough to see her. something inside of her had finally given in, and the fruits of the decisions come after was standing in front of her.
she could lie to everyone else, but not to the woman who knew her best. laurel could see through what masks fooled all those around her. ‘ years. ‘ it had been years, and those years had taken their toll, even with moments of light along the way. once she’d begun to speak, the floodgates saw fit to open, tearing her eyes away. ‘ i didn’t think i could bring you back — i was told i couldn’t, that it would be selfish of me… that i could ruin a timeline. after — he — i realized i didn’t care if it was selfish, i didn’t care what price i had to pay to make this right. i should’ve been there, laurel, i should’ve been there to protect you — and i can’t make everything perfect again, but i can give you this. i can give you a second chance, like you did for me. ‘