The Rise of Athena (An Arrow: Season 1 Fanfiction)

Chapter 23: The Queen Christmas Party Pt. 2

'Tommy, do you mind if I talk to Oliver for a minute?' Laurel asked. 'Evelyn?' 

'Yeah, sure.' 

'Come on, Ellie-bear. I'll go grab us a couple drinks... and drink them both.' Laurel and Oliver chuckled as I walked out of the room with Tommy. 

Oliver Queen's POV

I led Laurel over to the fire. We stood there, in silence for a few moments, until she spoke. 

'I know it's probably not easy for you to see Tommy and I together.' 

'Ah, the invitation said 'plus one,' I commented, 'not minus Laurel.' She chuckled warmly. 

'I've been wanting to move forward with him, but something's been holding me back. I keep making these excuses, that it's my dad, it's my work, when really... it's you. But for five years, I was emotionally - off, because you had died. And the truth is, the last person that I expected to make me feel again... has.' I stepped forward silently and kissed her on the cheek. 

'I'm happy,' I replied. 'For both of you.' 

'Thank you.' Without another word, she walked away and over to Tommy and my sister, who were waiting with glasses of wine in their hands. I looked around, investigating my surroundings, then walked out of the room. 

I came upstairs to the rooms, where rock music was playing from one of the closed doors. I knocked on it. 

'Thea? It's Ollie.' I stepped into the door and there Thea and Shane were, wrestling to get their clothes back on.

'Oliver!' Thea yelled out. I stopped where I was and pointed at Shane, who looked in terror at me. 

'Hit the road,' I hissed. He grabbed his jacket and left the room immediately. 

'What are you doing?' she scoffed. 

'Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing, because there's a party going on downstairs that I threw for you.' 

'I told you, I didn't want a party. And neither did Evelyn. But you didn't care. Because you came down with the holiday blues. I've been trying to get you to open up for months. All this party is doing is bringing back memories I've been trying to forget.' She turned away from him. 

'Thea!' I yelled. She turned back to me, an angry expression on her face. 'Why would you want to forget?' 

'No matter how fancy the party is you throw, things will never be the way they used to be in our family. Ever again.' There was silence. I heard footsteps and the voice of Diggle. 

'Oliver.' I turned to see him standing at the door with Evelyn. 

'What is it now?' Diggle beckoned me to come with him and all three of us left the room. 

Time skip - in a sitting room of the Queen Mansion

'The other archer's moved to the next level. He's taken hostages.' Evelyn picked up the remote and turned it on. 

'This just hit the news.' The screen flicked on to show a woman who was holding a piece of paper. 

'Happy holidays, Starling City,' she read. 'For the past three months, this city has been laid siege by two vigilantes. But the police have been unable to bring them to justice, because they lack the will to do what justice demands.' She started sobbing, then kept reading through tears. 'I will kill one hostage... every hour in the name of these vigilantes until they surrender themselves to my authority.' She kept sobbing. Evelyn turned off the television. 

'Fucking ridiculous,' she said. She looked to me. 

'Police are on the scene,' Diggle said. 'I think you two should let them handle this.'

'Those people are there because of us,' I replied. 'I have to end this.' 

'Oliver, this guy... this guy, he's very dangerous.'

'Diggle, there wasn't anything on the island that wasn't twice as dangerous as this pretender, and I survived there for five years.' 

'So we'll take care of it?' I asked. He looked at me. 

'Yes. We will.' 

Time skip - abandoned warehouse in the Glades (not the Arrow/Athena warehouse) 

'Starling City holds its breath as the hostage crisis unfolds,' the male television announcer said. 'Police have attempted to enter the abandoned structure in the Glades, but found rigged explosives preventing them from doing so. At the moment, there's been no sign of the vigilantes as they're one-hour deadline nears.'