The Hood and Athena: An Arrow: Season 2 Fanfiction

Chapter 33: A Bittersweet Ending

Sara Lance left Starling City to go back to the League of Assassins with Nyssa Al Ghul. 

Everyone was okay, mostly. 

Quentin Lance had to go to hospital after the fight. He was badly injured. 

Roy was okay. But while he was okay and ready to leave to start a new life outside of Starling City, Thea wasn't. 

In the Glades... 

Roy entered his small home, calling Thea's name. 

'Thea! Thea.' He walked into the main room, where a suitcase lay open on the bed, with a duffel bag full of a bow and arrows, with a note on top of it in Thea Queen's neat handwriting. He picked up the note slowly and sat down on a seat with a bump, staring at it as if it was too horrible, too excruciatingly sad to be real. He read the note. 

Roy, 

I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I thought I could still be with you. I thought I could still be Thea Queen. But Thea Queen was trusting. And I don't trust you. Or anyone. Not anymore. Thea Queen was also weak. And no matter what it takes, I will be strong. Don't try to find me. You won't. Even I don't know where I'm going. I only know one thing - I am never coming back.

Outside the city limits, Thea Queen walked towards a black limousine. The driver opened the door and the teenager got into the spacious backseat, crossing her legs and meeting the eyes of the other occupant. Malcolm Merlyn. He simply smirked at her, said nothing. 

In an ARGUS prison facility on Lian Yu... 

Slade Wilson awoke with a gasp. 

'Where am I?' he asked gruffly. 'As far away from the world as we could get you,' Oliver's voice spoke, across from him. He was sitting on a stool, with his sister, Evelyn, by his side. 'Where you can't hurt anyone ever again.' 

'That's your weakness, kid,' Slade taunted, walking rather slowly, painfully, to the bars of the cell where he could look out at Oliver and I. 'You don't have the guts to kill me.'

'No,' I said softly, making Slade look at me. 'He has the strength to let you live. As do I.' 

'Oh, you're a killer,' he replied, still taunting. 'I know. I created you. You've both killed plenty.'

'Yes, we have,' Oliver said, looking up at me from where he was sitting. 'You helped me turn into  a killer when I needed to be one. And I'm alive today because of you. I made it home because of you. And I got to see my family again. But over the past year, I've needed to be more... and I faltered. But then I stopped you. We stopped you. Without killing.' He turned towards Slade, and got up from the chair, coming close to the bars. 'You helped me become a hero, Slade. Thank you.' We turned and walked to the door. 

'You think I won't get out of here?!' Slade shouted, slamming his hands on the bars as Oliver calmly opened the door. 'You think I won't kill those you care for?' 

'No, I don't,' Oliver replied softly. 'Because you're in purgatory.' Then Oliver shut the door, hearing Slade shout from inside. 

'I keep my promises, kid. I keep my promises! I keep my promises.' We looked at each other, and I took a deep breath, then Oliver took the ladder, leaving me to climb after him, out into the sunlight of Lian Yu.

Oliver opened the large metal lid and the two of us climbed out and onto the beach, seeing Diggle and Felicity standing there. We walked along the beach to the seaplane that was waiting to take us home. 

'Last time I didn't notice; it's actually kind of beautiful here,' Felicity commented. 'Don't get me wrong, I'm counting down the seconds until we shove off Minefield Island.'

'So you think that'll be enough to hold him, ARGUS' supermax?' Diggle asked. 

'Him, and anyone else we send here,' Oliver replied. 'This battle may be over, but there will be others. Starting with getting mine and Evelyn's family's company back.' 

'That's not going to be easy, since you and Evelyn are poor now,' Felicity joked, causing me to chuckle warmly. 'You're going to have to get a job. If Slade doesn't scare you, that's got to.'

'Do you know anyone hiring ex-billionaires with superior archery and dagger throwing skills?' I asked, chipping into Felicity's joke, making all of us smile more. 

'Hey, why don't I and Evelyn give you two a second?' Diggle asked Oliver and Felicity. Diggle and I walked away, giving the two a moment together alone. 

'Well, you did it,' Felicity said, walking in front of him. 

'I had help,' he said modestly, causing Felicity to smile. 

'Yeah. It was really smart. How you out-foxed him. Talk about unthinkable. You and me, I mean. When you told me you loved me, you had me fooled.' Her expression fell for a moment at remembering the moment in the empty mansion. 'For a second, I... maybe you might have meant it. What you said. You really sold it.' There was a moment of quiet. 

'We both did,' he replied softly. 

'Let's go home,' she said. He smiled and walked around her to where Diggle and I were standing, waiting for the two to come down to us. 

'Finally, it's about time,' I said, moving my shoulders up and down. 'I'm ready to fly back to the nest. Starling needs us.' 

'Dig, what was the news about you and Lyla?' Oliver asked, stopping by Diggle, who threw a pebble aside as he stood, the four of us walking to the plane. 

'It can wait.' 

'I'm flying,' Oliver replied. 

'Be my guest.' 

'I got one more question,' Felicity said. The three of us turned. 

'Wouldn't be you if you didn't,' Oliver replied, jokingly. 

'If you spent five years on this island, when did you learn how to fly a plane?' I looked at Oliver, his expression going dark. 

Four years earlier... 

Oliver awoke with a gasp, nearly falling off the bed in his attempt to stand. He recovered, the bruises and scrapes now prominent on his shirtless frame. He surveyed his surroundings. Very old surroundings. Intricate decorating. Most definitely Asian. As he kept looking around, two men in black coats and white shirts came into the room. Oliver picked up something to throw at them, but it seemed as if it was in vain. One spoke in Cantonese as he threw him a shirt. The man opened his suit jacket to show him a gun hanging from a holster. 

He walked out of the building, shirt now hanging rather loosely over his body as he met the eyes of a dark skinned woman, looking very put together with a pencil skirt, white blouse and reddish high heels. 

'My name is Amanda Waller, Mr. Queen.' He looked utterly confused. 'We have a lot to discuss.' Someone opened the door of a limousine for him, and he slipped in, looking out the window at the cityscape. 'Welcome to Hong Kong.'