Sandstorm {Discontinued}{Rewritten}

28.Kissing and Fighting

Ray woke to the roaring in his ears and the pounding against his skull. He groaned and tried to open his eyes, but the harsh sunlight forced him to keep them closed. No, wait. Not sunlight. Starlight. It was night. Those were stars, not the sun.  All sound was gargled and warped, as though he were listening from underwater, but he recognized the distinct chirping of crickets in the distance somehow. There was something else too. Voices, he thought. Unfamiliar voices. No, that wasn't right. It was just one voice. His hazy state just made it sound like there was more than one. 

"Damn it, Haircut. Why's it always you who ends up throwing your own ass into danger?" The more the person spoke, Ray came to realize that he actually did recognize the voice from somewhere. He just couldn't place it. It was gruff, angry. A little scratchy. Like whoever it belonged to constantly spoke in a low growl that irritated their throat more than anything. Ray tried to remember where he'd heard it from, but the incessant ringing in his ears and the distorted noise made it hard to think.

Ray shifted, trying to sit up and maybe open his eyes again so he could see who was there. He winced, apparently causing the person in front of him to realize he was waking up. The person pushed him back down, and Ray let them. He thought maybe his ribs were broken. (Or at the very least he had one hell of a bruise.) "Don't move until the others find you. They'll bring you to Gideon and fix you."

"Who...?" Ray tried to speak, but he winced again. Everything hurt like hell. His head was pounding like a vicious drum set, his torso ached, and his ankle was throbbing, so he had probably sprained that too. Still, it could have been worse, he thought. 

The other person let out an annoyed grunt. "Haircut, would you just stop being an ass! You weren't suppose to get hit by that! That was that other idiot's fault. So, just shut up. Sit there. And wait."

"Huh?" Haircut. That was familiar too, Ray realized. Ray forced himself to sit up, despite every muscle in his body screaming at him not to. He forced his eyes open, doing is best to ignore the searing light of the stars that seemed as blinding as the sun. Ray squinted at the blob in front of him, willing it to transform into a more solid shape.

Slowly, his vision began clearing, the star light didn't seem so intense, and the blob was beginning to become a person. Ray saw that it was a white man, big in stature, probably someone you didn't want to mess with in prison. Someone you didn't want to mess with period. Also familiar...

Ray squinted, trying to make out some distinguishing features, but before he could the person slipped on a thick helmet, hiding their face from him. The helmet was familiar too. His mind must have been clearing a little too, because he recognized it almost immediately as Chronos's. But that wasn't right. That voice wasn't the bounty hunter's. It was someone else's. Someone a little more familiar. Why couldn't he piece it together? It was driving him crazy!

Ray changed his focus from the voice to the body. That seemed a little easier, since he didn't know a lot of rough people. There was Oliver, of course. But this man was much larger than the Green Arrow, and Oliver was back in 2016. So not him. John Diggle seemed about the same size, but then this man in front of him was white, not black. (And again, Dig was in 2016.) So, he was also out.

The pounding in Ray's head caused him to lose focus, so he decided to think about something else. That nickname. Only one person called him that. Back to the body. He was about the same size as the man in front of him too. He had the same voice. Ray's heart skipped a beat, his vision clearing just enough that he could properly make out the armored form of Chronos crouching in front of him, trees and shrubs in the background. 

Ray forgot all about the pain his body was under, as he scrambled to his feet, only to slip and fall again, his ankle letting out an angry cry as he tried to put weight on it. His eyes widened, staring back at Chronos. The puzzle had finally been put together. "You're...you're..."