[Chapter 23]

I wait, hidden among the rocks by the town. My emotions are really mixed. I feel guilty for leaving Leonard on Mick's timeship and I feel slightly worried about the implications of what I'm planning to do.

But most of all, I have this yearning to protect my family. I have the chance. I just need to enact my plan.

I take a deep breath and walk into the town. I earn weird looks from the townspeople but I just glare furiously at them. Hatred starts to grow inside of me but I continue on my path to my old house.

As soon as I see the house, a wave of memories hits me. I shake my head, desperate to get rid of the pain that comes with them but it doesn't work. Just at that moment, Emmy walks out of the house. I gasp as she comes over to me.

"Are you okay miss?" Emmy asks me. She was still so young and beautiful. With her raven hair and violet eyes and bright smile. I didn't realize I was crying until I felt a tear slip down my cheek. It's been so long since I've seen her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smile at her. She looks at me with her signature compassionate look and gives me a hug. I inhale sharply.

"Everything will be alright love. You just need to have hope," Emmy said.

"I'm afraid all of my hope is gone. I lost it years ago," I sniffle.

"It's in your heart. You just need someone to help you find it," Emmy releases me and gives me a bright smile.

"Goodbye miss," Emmy skips away.

"Goodbye little sister," I sigh quietly.

I continue to walk to the house but all of a sudden, I'm forced away by an invisible force and I find myself walking away from the house and the town.

"No no no no no," I cry out in frustration, trying to lunge forward but my legs won't listen to me. Against my will, I take one of my blades and raise it up. I cry in fear and I try to stop myself. What if I'm forced to stab my heart?

I then bring it down quickly, right into my abdomen. I scream in pain and yank the blade out, collapsing to the ground. No no no, how could this have gone so wrong? It's because Mick has my ring, the realization dawns on me.

I feel the force that dragged me away from the town release me and I gasp in relief. I force myself to stand up and to go save my brother and sister. I run/walk as fast as I could back to the town when I see the Waverider land by the town.

Damn it. Of course they're coming to stop me from changing the timeline but I don't care. If they want to stop me, they're going to have to kill me.

I see Ray, Sara, and Firestorm come out of the WaveRider and I ready my blades. I have the element of surprise. I take a deep breath and flick my wrist. I command the air to carry my blades the whole distance and to speed them up.

"Blades!" Sara cries out and she ducks and rolls into the grass. Ray and Firestorm blast off into the air and I race to the town while they were distracted.

"Isabelle stop!" Sara yells at me but I ignore her. Firestorm comes racing after me and grabs me, hoisting me up into the air. "Put me down!" I yell at him but he shakes his head.

"We can't let you ruin the timeline!" Jax says.

"You're not gonna stop me," I glower at him. From this high up, I can see that they already took Jayden and Emily and my energy is renewed. I use the air to push me out of Firestorms arms and I blast him back into the timeship. I rocket toward the town but Ray comes out of nowhere and hits me out of the sky.

We both tumble to the ground and I can feel my shirt is wet with blood. But I don't care. I force myself to get back up and I wince at the pain. Ray grabs me and I use fire to make his suit heat up. Since its metal, it got pretty damn hot. Ray let go of me, desperate to get out of his suit. I use this moment to run.

But my foolishness had cost me. Sara flung a dagger and it struck me in the shoulder, causing me to fall. I roll and rip it out desperately. Sara tackles me and holds me down and I struggle against her.

"I know how much you want to save your family. I want to save my sister too," Sara tells me but I continue to thrash.

"But changing the past will change the future and that will have horrible consequences," Sara tries to convince me and I stop struggling.

"Oh yeah? Then why does Rip get to save his precious family huh? That future is someone else's past. Wouldn't that screw with the timeline?" I spat, angrily.

"Maybe. But the point is to stop an immortal tyrant from destroying our world. This is something he has been working on for centuries," Sara says softly and I sigh.

"And I've been working on this plan ever since I've gotten on the ship. If you want to stop me, you're gonna have to kill me," I scowl and use the air to throw Sara off of me. I've wasted too much time. I jump up and run as fast as I can while clutching my abdomen.

I can see the past memories unfold over my eyes all over again. But they're not dead yet, which means I'm not too late.

Just as I reached the town, my head was hit with a searing pain and I fell to the ground, clutching my head.

"No... No!" I yell just as I see Rip towering over me.

"You son of a bitch," I spit at him and he looks at me with pity.

"We can't let you do this Isabelle. The implications across the timeline would be catastrophic," Rip explains but I glower at him with rage.

"Right now, I don't give a damn about the timeline. I'm saving them," I lunge forward and got caught in Ray's arms. My eyes shine bright with power and anger.

"Let me go!" I scream.

"You are not to use your powers, Isabelle," Rip commands me and I snort in his face. I will the air to fling Ray off of me but nothing happens.

"What?" I say confused and then I see it. The ring on Rip's finger.

"No!" I yell and I try to break free but Ray's Atom suit was stronger than me. I look desperately at Sara and Jax but they look away from me. Then I look over to where my brother and sister were.

"No, I can't let them die again," I cry. And that's when I see it. I watched their throats slit and I scream. I scream and I cry and I struggle to be free. But I didn't realize how bad I was bleeding. I passed out, from too much blood loss.

I watched them die. Again.

***

I gasp awake, panting as I sit upright quickly. At first, I didn't realize where I was but then I noticed I was in one of the Waveriders cells. I was momentarily confused until everything came crashing back. My failed rescue attempt. My family's death, again.

And it's all the Legends fault.

"Glad to see you up," Rip said.

I glare at him.

"How could you?!" I yell at him. At all of them "You're so desperate to save your family. Why wouldn't you let me save mine?!"

"You don't understand. If you succeded, you could have very well wiped us all out of existence. You would have changed everything." Rip tries to explain.

"I don't care. When I get out of here, I'm going to kill all of you and do it again. I'm not losing them," I yell.

"They are already lost," Sara told me and I glare at her. That's when I see Leonard, standing there in the corner.

"You backstabbing piece of shit. You told them?!" I scream at Leonard. He looks away and that makes me angrier. I try breaking through the cell but my powers were still off.

"I'm going to rip my ring off of your bloody hand," I swear, and Rip puts my cell on mute. They all leave and I scream in frustration and anguish. Then I start to sob.

I've lost everything.

"I'm really sorry Isabelle," Leonard comes back.

"Are you really?" I say at him, still angry.

"Believe it or not, I am sorry. It destroyed me to tell them, but I wanted to protect you," Leonard apologizes.

"Protect me? Or yourself?" I ask hostilely.

"You're impossible," Leonard gives up and sits down. Technically we were back to back. There was just a stupid piece of glass that I can't break through between us.

"How many times can you lose someone, and it doesn't hurt anymore?" I ask, putting my head against the glass.

"I don't think it will ever stop hurting," Leonard answers and I sigh.

"How am I supposed to go on?"

"I guess... you just have hope."