These Prison Walls (An Arrow: Season 7 Fanfiction)

Chapter 25: Breakdown

TW: talk of suicide, self-harm, depression, etc. 

Star City. 2040. 

'Hey,' Felicity spoke, leaning against the wall, looking at Evelyn. Her eyes were darker now and carried much weight to them. They weren't as light as they once were. Evelyn looked up at her sister-in-law. 

'Hey, Felicity.' 

'How are you?' she asked. She shrugged, letting out a deep sigh as she took a swig of the alcohol she had near her. Felicity walked forwards to sit next to her, and then touched her arm gently. 'I know things haven't been easy for you since Oliver went away. I want you to know that I'm here. You can talk to me.' 

'You're right, you know,' she said, placing the bottle down. 'Things haven't been easy. The medication that I was taking after Oliver left... stopped working as it should a couple of months ago. The nightmares came back, I was sleeping less, and then... Zoe and Dinah found me, barely responsive after fighting some deadbeat idiots in the wrong place. They took me in, but when things started going south with Galaxy One and the SCPD - they noticed that something was really wrong with me. I would attack them instead of the enemy, and soon enough, more of the injuries they received came from me. On the off days, I was depressed, and angry with myself because I was depressed and not stable enough to help. A couple of times, Dinah would find me trying to kill myself. That or injure me. I almost succeeded once, and I still have the scar to tell the tale.' She pulled aside the collar of her shirt to reveal a deep scar that crossed her neck. 'I tried to cut my throat. I was lucky at the last moment. They found me just in time.'

'I'm sorry if we didn't make things easier to bear for you, Evelyn,' she said. Evelyn said nothing, only pulled out a pistol, holding it in her hands.

'Even now, I want to do it, you know? I wonder what it would feel like to take this gun, empty it to the last bullet and put it into my skull? It might... just - I mean, it could make the pain go away.' 

'But then you'd be gone, and no one wants that.' 

'Better me dead than one of you die because of me.' 

'Don't say that,' Felicity said softly. 'We need you. William and Mia both need you.' I looked up at her and smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach my eyes, and I wiped away a tear lingering at the corner of my eye. 

'I can't do this anymore. This fight. Living. Surviving. I can't do it anymore, Felicity. My body is done. My mind is done. I don't want to hurt you anymore. I don't want to hurt anyone. Athena has gone too far. She's become a danger, a threat that needs to be stopped, and I will not place that burden on any of you to put me down for good if it should come to that. I already asked Dinah if she would be the one to do it, and she refused.'

'It'll be okay, Evelyn.' 

'You know, I used to tell myself that, to try and make the pain of everyone leaving my life a little easier. So I could sleep at night. But then I realised that that wasn't an option. Nothing was going to be ever fully okay. I wasn't going to be fully okay, and I hated that. I think I was... I think was doomed from the start, fated to this life. Being a vigilante, being part of Team Arrow, it was a good ride, but for now, I think - I think I'd like to rest. I'd like to be done.' She stood, touching her shoulder and softly rubbing it. 

'I hope you'll change your mind, Evelyn. We all love you no matter what. I know I can't change your mind on this, but hopefully, you can change your own mind.' She gave Evelyn's shoulder another compassionate squeeze, then turned and left the room. 

Star City. Present-day. (Evelyn Queen's POV)

'I expanded my search parameters and presto,' Felicity announced as the team, including Diggle, Rene, Oliver, Dinah, myself and Roy walked up to the platform, watching eagerly at the screens for any news of Emiko's whereabouts. 'Facial recognition puts Emiko in an abandoned building a few miles outside of Star City.' 

'Any background on the building?' Dinah asked. 

'I mean, if you name it, it's been it. Hospital, shipping warehouse, manufacturing plant. I mean, it's had more owners than a "Fortune 500" company.' 

'Which means it could be a cover for something,' Rene said. 

'Yeah, that something being the Ninth Circle's headquarters here in Star City,' John spoke up. 

'Emiko's there, which is all that matters to us,' Oliver replied. 'We're going after her as a team,' he added, placing a hand on Roy's shoulder. 

'Are you sure?' he asked. 

'We've got your back,' I replied. Just as the team walked away, Felicity called out to Dinah. 

'Oh, hey, Dinah! Thank you for wiping that security camera footage. I could not get there before the cops did.' The Canary frowned. 

'I thought that was you,' she said and walked away. Felicity frowned, looking back at the screen, her heart sinking. 

'No...' 

Later... 

'Oliver, confirm your location!' Diggle shouted through the comms as Oliver ran into another room, coming upon Emiko. 

'This is over,' he announced. 

'Is it?' she asked, turning to him. 'Right now, Sargeant Bingsley is receiving an anonymous gift delivered to his office: the missing security footage from the metro station.' 

'You're the one who made it disappear?' Oliver asked. 'You set us up,' he added, nocking an arrow in his string and letting it fly towards Emiko. But the arrow didn't hit Emiko. It stopped, having landed on the plate glass separating Emiko from Oliver. 'What do you want?!' he yelled, walking towards Emiko. 

'For you to suffer the way I suffered. You and your team are going to die in there. And I will be out there destroying yours and Evelyn's legacy. You'll both die villains just like our father did, and I will be the cause of both of your deaths. And justice will finally be served.' 

'What did you say?' Oliver asked in shock, walking towards his sister. 

'I had the chance to warn our father about the "Gambit". It was rigged to explode, and I knew about it. I let our father die because he didn't deserve to live. And neither do you. Or Evelyn.' She lifted a controller and pressed the button. 'Bye, brother.' Oliver tried to run, but the room exploded, and as he dived for cover, the room began to cave in on him.