Athena and the League of Assassins (An Arrow: Season 3 Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Second Attempts

Thea walked out of the cafe building when Oliver and I walked out to meet her. 

'You want to stay in Corto Maltese, it's fine, but there's not much here in the way of sightseeing,' Thea said to Oliver and I. 

'We need to talk to you,' I said. 

'Look, between you two and your new best friend Roy, I'm pretty sure you guys have said everything.' 

'I haven't,' Oliver replied. 'Not yet, anyway.' Thea sighed and led Oliver and I over to a table. We sat down and Oliver began to talk first. 'Roy showed me the note you left him. And you were right about everything. I have lied, Evelyn has lied, we have kept secrets. The truth is that if I tell you... all the things that you don't know about me and Evelyn, that I might lose you forever. Evelyn and I - we spent five years in the worst kind of hell, and there were things that happened, things that we did... that if - that if you knew, you would see us differently.' 

'No. I'll always see you as my big brother and my big sister. I mean, no matter what happened to you on that island, or who you became - it's the secrets you kept about my own life. I mean, you - you lied to me about who my father was.' 

'Malcolm may have been your blood,' I said to Thea, gently touching her arm, 'but Robert was your father.'

'I lied to you... and Evelyn, about him too,' Oliver said. 'He was better. And I've kept something from you two because I just... never wanted you to know.' I gave him a look. 

'Wait... what?' I asked, being surprised by Oliver for the second time today. 

'Dad made it off the 'Gambit' with me.' Thea and I looked at each other in shock, then at Oliver. 

'You told us he drowned,' Thea replied.

'We made it to a lifeboat together. But there wasn't enough food or water for both of us - so he killed himself. And that is one secret I'm telling you now because I need you to realise... Mom and Dad, they sacrificed themselves so that we could live. But if we're not together, then we're not even really alive.' I leaned forward and spoke to Thea. 

'I lied about a lot of things too, Thea. Things that haunt me about what happened after I was kidnapped, things I was forced to do that sicken me, that pain me more than anything. From both Oliver and I, we are sorry for lying to you. You're our family. And even if you don't need us, we need you. Please just consider what we're saying.' The two of us stood and walked away from Thea. 

At Malcolm's mansion...

'I've been thinking,' Thea said, facing her father on the fighting mat. 'I want to go home. To my brother and sister.'

'And all their lies and secrets? Maybe you haven't come as far as I thought.' 

'Let me prove it to you,' she replied defiantly, and retrieved two swords from a rack nearby, tossing one to Malcolm. Then, the two fought. A statue was smashed, then a terracotta pot. The two fought on and on until Thea knocked Malcolm's sword away in an unsuccessful bind, to which he said, 

'Impressive.'

'I had a good teacher.' The two traded blows again, until Malcolm knocked Thea's sword out of her hand. She smirked, and flipped his blade from his grasp, grabbing it easily and placing it at his throat. He smirked back at her. 

'Looks like you're going home.' She pushed the blade back into his chest and walked away from him. Then she turned. 

'You let me win, didn't you?' He still wore the same smirk. 

'I'll be seeing you soon. Safe flight.' She said nothing, only walked away from him. 

At the airport... 

John Diggle brought four small cups of coffee over as Roy, Oliver, him and I all sat on benches in the lounge, waiting for our flight back to the States. 

'Thank you,' Oliver said politely, taking a cup from Diggle's hands. 

'Ooh, coffee!' I said excitedly, taking one of the cups and cradling it to my chest, taking a sip. 'My precious,' I added in a Gollum-like imitation. 

'You okay?' Diggle asked Oliver. 

'She's not coming,' Oliver replied, looking towards the open door. 

'I'm sorry, man. You and Evelyn did everything you could.' Roy stared at Oliver and I, then looked towards the door. 

'Oliver...' We all looked up to see Thea walking in with a suitcase. She sat next to me, as I was on Oliver's right hand side. 

'I'm glad you changed your mind,' Oliver said gently. She smiled.

'Still not sure about flying commercial, though.' We all chuckled warmly. That was, until there was a small fuss next to us, sending boiling hot coffee flying out of the cup of the stranger that was sitting next to Thea and onto the back of her hand. She barely flinched, instead taking one of her handkerchiefs and wiping the back of her hand calmly. 

'Thea, are you okay?' I asked. 

'I'm fine,' she said. I looked at Oliver, frowning, as I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

It seemed like we all had secrets of our own.