These Prison Walls (An Arrow: Season 7 Fanfiction)

Chapter 28: You're Still Stuck

Oliver groaned, waking up, and standing up slowly. 

'I think the concrete gives up,' Tommy remarked. 

'I need to get out of here,' Oliver said. 

'You will. Trust me. What you really need to worry about is what happens when you do.' Oliver turned to face him. 

'Why?' 

'Everything you've done this year - working with the cops, fighting for the city without a mask... you've got a shot at something we never had.' 

'What's that?'

'A clean slate. You can't shed your past, but you can keep it from hurting your kids. That's something our parents could never give us, but it is never, ever going to happen, Oliver, if you keep seeing red with Emiko.' 

'As long as she is still breathing, my family will never be safe. You know this, Tommy.' 

'Then you haven't moved past your family's mistakes, Oliver. You haven't broken the cycle of lies and hate. You're trapped. You're trapped just like you are in this room.' 

'But you're not here,' Oliver replied softly. 'You are - you are a figment of my imagination that has been sent here to test my resolve. Won't work.' Just then, the wall crumbled, showing a small way out through which a pocket of light shone through.

'Looks like you found your way out,' he said. Oliver turned to Tommy. 

'To stop Emiko, if I need to be as ruthless to her as she was to my father, so be it.' 

'Good luck finding your team, Oliver,' Tommy replied. 'You're gonna need them.' 

'Goodbye, Tommy.' He turned and left. 

The team walked through the halls. 

'The comms just dropped off,' Rene remarked. 

'Yeah,' John replied. 'We should be getting closer to Oliver.' Dinah hung back with oy. 

'You need a minute?' she asked. He groaned in visible pain. 

'No. Yeah. Okay. Maybe I do.' He sat slowly with a grunt. 

'Why don't you guys go ahead?' Dinah said to Rene and John. 'Find us a way downstairs? We'll catch up.' The two went away. Dinah turned back to Roy. 'You must be a pretty big idiot, risking your life like that.' 

'Well, we're alive, aren't we?' 

'You're lucky to be.' 

'I'm surprised you even care if I made it out alive or not.' 

'Of course, I care. You're our teammate.' 

'Maybe I shouldn't be. You lost everything to protect me, and you don't even know me. Those guards that I killed, they're innocent. They had families.' 

'What you did back there, it was awful. But we all know it was the bloodlust, Roy. That wasn't you.' 

'No. That doesn't change the fact that I put everyone else around me at risk. You should have just let me go to prison.' There was silence before Dinah spoke. 

'No. I was wrong. We all make mistakes. I was just pissed because we had just lost everything. That doesn't mean I want you dead.' 

'Maybe it's best if I am six feet under,' he replied bitterly. She stepped closer to him, tears shining in her eyes. 

'Dying is the coward's way out. Every day that you stay alive, you try to redeem yourself for that messed-up thing that you did because this world is a better place with a hero like you. Now let's go.' She walked away, down the stairs and Roy limped off behind her. 

Oliver limped through the halls, coughing. 

'John!' he yelled. 

'Oliver!' John's voice echoed back at him. He rounded a corner and met the team. 

'Oh, thank God,' Dinah said. He scanned over the team, noticing one person missing. 

'Where's Evelyn?' he asked, a crack coming into his voice at the thought that she might be missing - or dead. 

'She's back that way. Got a really bad injury. We were going to go back for her after we found you -' John said, but was cut off by a yell. 

'Ollie!' the voice screamed. 'Ollie!' 

'Evelyn?!' Oliver called back. I limped into the hallway, throwing myself into Oliver's arms. 'Oh God, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?' 

'You're hurt,' he replied pointedly, kissing my forehead. 

'I know. I thought I would lose you.' 

'Let's keep moving,' John said. We went down the halls down to the lowest level of the building. 

'We're lucky this is still standing,' Oliver said. 'Which way?'

'East,' Dinah replied. 'Felicity said it was the best way out.' 

'Oh,' a voice called out from above. 'It definitely is.' We looked up to a top landing to see Emiko. 'Hi brother, sister,' she said. 

'Emiko!' he shouted up to her. 'You have one last chance to stand down!' 

'Funny. I was going to say the same to you.' We didn't fail to notice people in black surrounding us, getting ready to strike at a single command. He pulled out a small dagger and threw it into one of the pipes, making it hiss and steam. Emiko ran, and we took on the dark-hooded men while Oliver and I ran to engage Emiko. 

'This place is about to explode!' Rene yelled after they had finished taking on the men dressed in black. 

'Oliver, we have to go, now!' John exclaimed. 

'Not without her,' I called back. 

'Oliver, Evelyn, now!' John shouted, but his pleas were unheard as Emiko rounded the corner of the corridor. 

'It's over,' Oliver said. 

'Is it?' she asked with a dark look in her eyes. 'I know about your baby.' Without saying another word, we engaged in the fight. Myself and Oliver versus Emiko. At one point during the fight, Oliver was aiming a bow at Emiko, and I was behind her with my daggers. 'Your family's going to die,' she hissed. 'I made sure of it.' John walked up behind Oliver. 

'Oliver, don't,' he said. Oliver loosed the arrow and it sunk into Emiko's chest. She looked down at the arrow in shock, stumbled and then fell to the ground, dead. Oliver turned to see John gasping, an arrow in his chest. 'Oliver...' he gasped, then fell over the ledge. 

'John!' Oliver screamed and looked over the ledge in horror to see all of his teammates dead on the floor. Turning back to me, I was on the floor as well, choking out my last breaths. 

'Ollie...'