Present

When I finally open my eyes again, I find myself laying in the bed I had stayed in at S.T.A.R. Labs, in the room they had given me when I first arrived here on this earth. It takes a moment for me to fully realize what had happened as I flutter my eyes open, the light feeling like a thousand suns.

I quickly inhale as I try to sit up, my head throbbing. A small ounce of panic starts to set in my gut before I feel a hand on my arm, and I didn't have to look to know who's it belonged to. Barry hums for me to relax as I turn my head towards him, my eyes locking on his.

"This has got to stop being a thing," he says, a small smile finding its way on his face. "I think this is the fourth or fifth time I've had to sit by your bedside waiting for you to wake up."

The panic that I had seconds ago vanishes and is replaced with those silly butterflies that I got whenever Barry was around. "You don't have to-"

"It's alright, it's actually kind of nice to just sit and think about things for awhile," he states, taking his hand back that had still been placed on my arm. "Just promise me you'll stop passing out, and getting poisoned, and getting hurt-"

"I can't promise, but I'll at least make an attempt," I grin as my hair tickles my neck a little. Barry sighs and then laughs, the air clearing a little.

After a small moment, Barry takes a deep breath. "Why didn't you put on the headphones Cisco gave you?"

I stare at him for a second before answering him. "I don't know..it's just, I was the one who created her, Barry. I was the person who made her into the person she is; I made her into Black Siren. I hate Hunter for making the person that I am, and I guess now I'm just realizing that I was that person to her. I was the one thing that turned her into a monster, just like how Hunter turned me into one."

Barry doesn't hesitate as he places his hand onto mine instead of my arm this time. "You aren't a monster, alright? What he did to you doesn't matter anymore. What matters is now-"

"But what about Laurel?" I counter-ask, feeling that burning feeling in the back of my throat. "She's too far gone now, there's no way in saving her."

He sits there in silence for a moment. "What you did to Laurel wasn't you. It was him, okay? It was Zoom getting into your head. You can't go around blaming yourself forever for something like that, especially if that blame is going to get you hurt. Everyone is capable of saving, Raven. Even Laurel."

I knew he was right. Blaming myself was something I was growing quite used to now, and this wasn't entirely my fault. I wasn't sure if Laurel was in as deep as I had been, but hearing Barry say that she was capable of being saved gave me hope. I only hoped that he was right.

When I tune back in, I notice that Barry looked like he had something he wanted to ask me. "What?"

He shakes his head. "I was just...I was wondering what she had meant when she said that you had been the one to cast her away. What happened between the two of you?"

I think back for a moment before sighing, not offended that he asked me, but only because I hated myself for what I had done. Even then, I knew it was something I shouldn't have done, but I deserved the consequences that came after.

"It started soon after we first took her in; when she killed her first victim."

-*+*-

8 years ago

I cross my arms as I watch Laurel scream, her sound radiating towards a pile of barrels we had set up for target practice. It's been a week now since we took her in, and she's been getting better with her ability, but she still was a little sloppy. For example, instead of knocking all of the barrels over just now, she only knocked down three of the six.

"You need to aim towards the center of the stacked barrels to get them all to knock over," I say before I flash forwards and reset the barrels, stacking them up three on two on one. After I do this, I grab Laurel's arm to borrow her scream ability, feeling the speed I had a moment ago fading away. "Watch."

I ready my stance before throwing my hair over my shoulder, letting out a scream just like how she would, only this time, I directed it towards the middle of the barrels. Laurel watches closely as all of the barrels topple over, clanking against the hard ground.

After I do this, I hold out my hands to use my gravity power to set the barrels back. I step to the side as I look back at Laurel. "Try again."

She doesn't say anything as she steps back up, biting her bottom lip as she focuses. A few seconds go by before she lets out another scream, directing it just like how I had shown her. This time, all of the barrels fall to the floor in a heap as she smiles, proud of herself. Seeing her smiling reminded me of the feeling I had felt when I was first able to lift a soda can off of the table.

"Looks to me like she's ready," I hear a raspy voice say behind me, causing me to turn and see Zoom standing there, mask still on. He had yet to reveal himself to Laurel, and I wondered how long that would take until he trusted her.

I nod my head. "I'd say she's good to go."

"Good, but there's something she needs to do first." I stare at him blankly, unsure what he was talking about. Laurel looked just as confused as me, if not more. "Have you ever taken a life before, Laurel?"

She widens her eyes. "What? No-"

"Well then I guess today's that day, isn't it?" he says back, cutting her off. When I turn back to look at Laurel, I thought I was going to see her panicked, but instead, she actually looked half-way okay with it.

I raise my eyebrow. "Why is this a requirement all of a sudden?"

Jay looks over at me, but I couldn't see his eyes behind his mask. "I don't just hand out trust. If she's really with us, then this will be no problem, right Laurel?"

Laurel nods her head stiffly, and I knew then that she was going to do this. "I want to kill him. I want to kill the man that broke me.."

"The man who left you those scars?" Jay hisses lowly as he points towards her arms. Laurel glances down at them before nodding her head, revenge radiating from her.

Jay raises his chin. "What are we waiting for then?"

Laurel glances over at me as I nod my head. Hearing all of this again only reminded me of the time I first killed someone, and it almost wrecked me. If it weren't for the fact that I had lost my powers for the time being to distract me, it would have eaten me up alive. Killing someone wasn't easy, but I wondered if that hatred that Laurel had for this man would make it easier.

I hoped it would, for her.

-*+*-

"How did I know we would find him in a club."

I sigh as I cross my arms, reading the glowing letters Verdant up above. Laurel takes a deep breath as she stares at the building, people bustling in and out of the place. I could sense that she was nervous about this, but something about that nervousness also brought a sense of excitement, and I knew that this wasn't going to bother her as much as it was going to bother me.

Jay stands behind me, silent as can be, which was new for me. I turn around and look at the two of them. "So what's the plan here?"

Jay glances over at Laurel. "That's up to her."

I raise an eyebrow. I knew that Laurel was capable of a lot, but this was the first time she was doing something on her own. At least, she's never gone out with Jay and I on any of our other heists; I couldn't believe Jay was willing to risk losing her and blow our cover just so she could make up her own plan.

"I want to do this alone," Laurel says, nodding her head. "I want him to know that this was all me."

I envied her determination. "Are you sure-"

"That's him," she cuts me off as I turn back towards the entrance, watching an older man stumble down the steps before turning the corner and heading back into an ally. He looked exactly as how Laurel had described him, only seeing him now made me realize how real he really was.

Before I can say anything more, Laurel races off after him, making sure to look as if she was apart of the crowd, but clearly trying to get somewhere. I lose her in the mass of people before I turn and face Jay, cocking my hip.

"Are you sure about this?" I ask, worried that something was going to go wrong.

Blue lightning dances on his skin. "Do you not trust her?"

I hesitate. "Yes, I trust her. I just don't think-"

"She's going up against a non-meta, Raven." I sigh, knowing that he was right. "I'm sure she'll be just fine, especially since you think she's ready."

I stare at the ground for a moment. "Yeah, you're right."

Right after I finish my sentence, I hear a gunshot ring off in the distance. Before I can even think, I'm using my speed to race off towards the sound, finding that it came from where Laurel had disappeared off to. When I turn into the ally to figure out what had happened, I was surprised to see what I found.

Lying there on the ground was Laurel, grasping at her side. Standing a few feet away from her was the man she had claimed to be her ex, a gun in hand as it points towards her.

"You really thought you could strike back?" he shouts, not noticing me standing there. "You couldn't before, Laurel. What made you think you could now?"

Blood oozes out of her wound and onto the pavement below as she hisses in pain, but surprisingly, she wasn't screaming like how I would have been if I were her. For a moment, my eyes stay fixated on the blood on the ground, not quite sure of the reason why. However, during this short moment, I hear another gun shot ring out, and I wasn't going to be fast enough to stop it.

The moment I look up to see where the bullet was heading, my heart falls into my stomach. The man had fired another shot at Laurel, and it was already too close for me to stop or to move Laurel herself. I start to run towards her anyways, knowing I wasn't going to be fast enough, screaming.

However, the split second before it makes contact with Laurel, the bullet disintegrates and hits her chest, exploding on contact, but harmless. I stop suddenly as I watch fragments of the bullet flutter to the ground, confused as to how that had happened. My question was answered when I look up to see Dust Storm standing a few feet away, her eyes focused on the three of us.

"What the hell-" the guy says as he turns to face Dust Storm, but right when he does, he's met with a punch in the face, causing him to fall to the pavement below. The gun flies out of his hand before skipping across the pavement, and before I could give him another chance to grab it again, I race forwards and grab it.

I look back over at Dust Storm as Laurel scrambles to her feet, holding her hand up against her wound. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

"It's a damn good thing I was," she snaps back, the man lying by her feet starting to groan. "I thought speedsters could catch a moving bullet."

I sigh, shaking my head as I throw the gun to the side. "Only if we catch it in time."

Dust Storm rolls her eyes slightly. "So who's finishing him off; you or me?"

"Me," Laurel hisses as she walks forwards, her hand now stained in blood. I stand there in silence as I watch the man roll over on his side, glaring up at her.

Blood covers his teeth as he tries to speak, but Laurel doesn't let him. "This is for all of those years I wasted with you; for all of those bruises you left scattered across my arms like trophies. You won't be able to hurt me...not ever again."

I watch closely as he tries to plea for her to stop, but Laurel doesn't listen. She throws her hair back over her shoulder before letting out a scream, the sound waves directing straight towards the man she used to love at one point in time. I noticed that this scream wasn't like the same ones I've heard before; this one came from deep inside of her.

And then just like that, he was dead. All it took was a few seconds of her scream, and then he was just...gone. When Laurel finally cuts off, her knees fall weak and she starts to fall to the pavement below. However, just before she could hit, Dust Storm catches her and helps her stand.

"He's finally gone," Laurel whispers before she starts to cry. "I'm free."

-*+*-

Present

"So Laurel killed the man who abused her," Barry states, trying to get the story straight through his head. "That's where it all started?"

"Two things started that night," I state, thinking back to that night. "First it was what signified the trust between the three of us; Hunter finally was convinced that she could know his identity...well, the identity that he convinced me of anyways. After that night, it was like everything fell into place. Laurel soon after got her nick name, Black Siren, and she even got her costume and went on heists with us. She grew stronger and more powerful; she worked alongside the two of us."

Barry nods his head, following what I was saying. "What was the other thing?"

I shake my head, realizing that I should have noticed it that night when it first happened, but it slipped right over my head. "Laurel may have killed the person she used to love that night, but she found a new person to care about too."

He furrows his eyebrows. "What? Who?"

I look over at him, shaking my head. "It took me ages to finally see it, but she fell for Dust Storm. And as Hunter likes to say, love is weakness, and for her, it truly was. It was what tore everything apart."

-*+*-

DAMN sON, whoever said Black Siren was straight was clearly wrong, muahah.

but yes, I will be continuing the flash backs to show more of how all hell broke loose back then; it's not the end yet! trust me on that.

also, how do you guys like the new cover? I thought I'd change things up a little just for awhile. I'll probably change it again soon lmao.

one last thing: I need help coming up with a book two name. the only things I've come up with are Silver Lining(s), annddd yeah that's about it omg. I suck at book title names. So yeah if you have any suggestions, PLEASE comment some ideas!! If I do use one that you give me, I'll dedicate that book to ya, how's that sound?

OKAY but yeah, vote and comment and I'll try and update again soon! xx