The End Of All Things (An Arrow: Season 8 Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Betrayed

Oliver blinked, his vision going in and out of focus as Thea looked over him. 

'Looks like you two are down one evil companion,' she remarked. He gave her a look. 

'I thought I told you to stay at the camp.'

'You did,' Thea shot back to her brother. 'Looks like I didn't ignore you soon enough.' I started to rouse from the effects of the tranquiliser.

'God, that hits worse than a hangover,' I groaned, sitting up slowly. 

'Hey. I don't have time for an "I told you so",' Oliver bit back to his youngest sister as the two of us rose off the ground and walked to the top of the steps. 

'She's not wrong,' I said. 

'All right,' Oliver said, and we stopped at the top of the steps. 'Talia will take the trail to the summit. It's safer, you conserve energy, but going up the face of the mountain is faster.' 

'Thought you said it was harder,' Thea replied. 

'Yeah. I've done it before,' Oliver said. 

'Okay. If you can do it, I can do it.'

'Thea -' 

'Ollie, just stop it,' she snapped, turning to him. 'Start walking.' She walked away from Oliver and me. 

Oliver pulled himself up onto a rock ledge, and then pulled Thea up to sit beside him. I pulled myself up with ease, sitting beside my sister. 

'Thought you said this was the hard part,' Thea remarked to Oliver. 

'Don't get cocky,' he shot back, but it came out a little harsher than it meant to. 

'Okay. What is going on with you, Ollie?' Thea asked sharply. 'You were never this overprotective when I left Star City.' 

'Things have changed. I left my family behind, Speedy, and I miss them.' He looked back toward the sunrise; his eyes glassy with tears. 'And every day, I wrestle with whether or not I made the right decision because maybe I didn't, and... I saw an entire world wiped out of existence, a world that you weren't in, by the way, because I wasn't around to protect you. I'm sorry, Thea, but the only way I can bear this is if I become 100% certain that my sacrifice... my death - will protect the people I love. I need my family to be safe.' There was a moment of silence before Thea spoke. 

'You know, I've been thinking a lot about Mom and Dad lately, wondering what they would think about the lives we've chosen. All the mistakes they made, all the... lies they told in their own very, very messed up way. They thought they were protecting us.' 

'They weren't. They didn't,' I spoke up. 

'No,' Thea replied. 'But it did help us become the people we are today,' she added, looking over at the both of us. 'They turned us into heroes. We can't change the future, Ollie, Evelyn. The past teaches us you might as well not bother trying to.' Oliver let out a short laugh, looking at Thea. 

'When'd you stop being our baby sister?' he said. 

'No,' she said. 'I never did. I just grew up a little bit.' I let out a chuckle. 'Now can we please get off this mountain?' she begged. 

'Yeah,' he said. 

We had finally made it to the summit of the mountain and came upon a small clearing with a stone door ahead of us, emblazoned with a phoenix. But the problem was... the door was open. Oliver looked around warily. 

'We're not alone.' The three of us spun around to see several warriors in heavy black and grey clothing approach us. And who should come upon the clearing as well but Athena, the leader of the Thanatos Guild, and a few other warriors, who had Talia in tow. 

'Apparently, this day is not going the way either of us had planned,' Talia remarked to the three of us.

'Surrender your weapons,' Athena said. 

'No chance in hell, bitch,' I snarled. 

'What do you want?' Oliver asked. 

'The route to Al-Fatih's crypt will be dangerous.' She nodded to her guards, who untied Talia. 'Always good to have a few sacrificial lambs to tell us where not to stray.' She pushed Talia forward. 'After you,' she barked. The three of us unwillingly surrendered our weapons. 

'Just a word of warning, Miss Scarface,' I growled, 'if your guys start fucking around with my prize daggers, there'll be hell to pay.' We walked away from the group and down the steps to a large, empty room. 

'Underground in Nanda Parbat. What could go wrong?' Thea mused sarcastically. Oliver looked at her. 

Oliver and I lit the torches and they each sparked with flames in turn. We walked towards the centre of the room. 

'Well, Indiana Jones made this look way more fun,' Thea quipped. 

'Right on the money there, sister,' I replied. Athena and her group followed after us. We came up to the large coffin-like structure. Talia read the Arabic script on the plaque. 

'To survive death, you must embrace it.' 

'The coffin,' Oliver said. 'Come on.' The four of us pushed it open to reveal a set of stone steps descending into ominous blackness, and my heart sank. 

'Go on,' Athena hissed. 

We made our way into another room that had a large rope going down to the floor. 

'Prisoners first,' Athena said. Oliver took the rope first, then me. Soon enough, we all came down the rope, except for Athena and her men. 

'Ollie, a phoenix,' Thea pointed out.

'All right,' Oliver said once we were on the floor. 'Crypt must be through there.' 

'Okay,' Thea said and took a step. She stepped on a tile, and it sank into the ground, flames shooting out. 

'Thea!' I screamed, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. 

'Thank you,' she said, and we all walked up to see more Arabic script on the ground. 

'All beings burn, but a phoenix rises from the ashes,' Talia recited. 

'I think we need to use the phoenix tiles to get across,' I said. Talia leapt from tile to tile effortlessly and ran down the hall to the crypt. Then I went, and then Thea. Oliver was the last, and he carefully collected his bow and arrows. The two unfortunate guards who went with us were burned alive in Talia's run across the tiles. 

'After them!' Athena screamed. 

'You two hold them off. I'll get Talia,' Thea said. Oliver turned to the two of us. 

'Thea!' 

'Just trust me,' I said, and Thea ran. As the men came down the rope, Oliver shot them with ease, and I threw daggers into them.