-Summer 1940-

Is this how it ends? Felicity thought. Am I really going to die on my wedding day? She looked up at the monster that was currently smiling at her. The smile did not reach his cold eyes. He stepped closer and raised his gun. She closed her eyes as she heard the gun cocking and silently sent out a prayer. The sound of the single gunshot reverberated throughout the church. Screams from the wedding guest reached a crescendo as they were forced to watch the macabre scene.

Felicity opened her eyes when she felt something wet hit her face. Her father's crumpled body met her gaze. The gunshot had been meant for her father and not her as she had expected. Half his face had been blown off by the blast. The liquid that she had felt on her face was his blood. Hundreds of little red droplets lay all over her wedding dress. The expensive white lace material that papa had worked night and day to be able to afford for her big day.

From her left, she heard a broken cry. It sounded like an animal. The sound was coming from her mother who lay on the floor in the corner of the church. Ugly bruises were forming all over her mother's beautiful face. Her fancy dress had blood smeared all over it. The huge clock in the church began to chime. She looked up. It was exactly 3:00pm, the hour of her father's death. Maybe this is a nightmare. Maybe I'm dreaming. But she knew that was a foolish thought. Felicity was paralyzed. She realized she was holding her breath. The monster with the cold eyes laughed and spit on her father's lifeless body. Suddenly, he turned sharply to her and raised the gun to her head.


-24 hours earlier-

"Hold still." Donna said as she yanked her daughter's white lace wedding dress down in frustration. Her mouth was full of bobby pins. She kneeled on the floor and pinned the seams of the upper torso of the dress together.

Felicity rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous! We've been stuck here for hours trying to fix this dress. This is my last day of freedom. Why can't you let me enjoy it?"

Donna grunted in frustration. "Young lady, you are not leaving this room until this dress is good and ready. If you had not lost so much weight- Donna pulled two pins from her mouth and slid them into the left side of the lace dress -I wouldn't have to make all of these alterations. Don't think that your father and I haven't noticed that you have not been eating properly or sleeping. At this rate, you will be nothing but skin and bones before this month is over."

Felicity stopped struggling. She looked down at the oversized white lacy wedding dress that her mother was adjusting painstakingly. Tears started to roll down Felicity's cheeks as she thought about her upcoming marriage. "Mamma, please don't make me marry him." Her throat felt tight. Her body started shaking as a rising tide of claustrophobia surged within her at the thought of being trapped in a loveless marriage.

Donna sighed and stood up, forgetting the alterations for the moment. She pulled Felicity into her arms and wiped the tears rolling down her face. "I know that you're not happy with this arrangement, but starving yourself won't change the fact that this wedding is going to happen."

Felicity shook her head. "How can you force me to marry a man that I've never even met?"

Donna brought her hand up and twirled her finger in Felicity's dark brown hair, "Sweetheart, I wish things could be different, but we have run out of time."

Felicity looked at her in confusion. "Run out of time…what does that even mean?"

Donna stared at her for a long moment with a look of indecision on her face. Finally, her face cleared up. "Hold on. I want to show you something." Donna quickly ran up the stairs of their small home.

Felicity could hear her moving throughthe master bedroom. The creaks of the floorboards were loud. They had lived in the tiny home for over fifteen years and the house was beginning to show signs of wear and tear. She heard her mother run down the stairs.

Donna was a little out of breath. In her hands, she held a newspaper. "Your father made me promise not to show this to you until after the wedding. He didn't want you to be frightened before your big day.

"Frightened about what?"

"I just think it's only fair to explain to you why it's crucial that you marry this man and leave France as soon as possible." She handed Felicity the newspaper.

Felicity unfolded the newspaper and scanned the first page. Immediately she noticed that the usual ads for women's clothing and perfume were missing. The newspaper headline filled her with dread. "This can't be true," she whispered.

Donna pulled the newspaper from her numb fingers. "Believe it. They say that the Germans have already taken Paris. We are lucky that we are so far from the capital, but eventually those brutes will come here. You have to leave at once."

"What about you and papa? How will you get out of France?"

Donna gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry about your father and me. We have a plan in place, but all of our planning means nothing if we can't ensure your safety. I wish you had time for a proper courtship. I wish you could fall in love the old fashion way but that is impossible now."

Sighing heavily, Felicity moved away from her mother and sat down on the chair in the corner. She put her head in her hands. All her worries seemed so trivial now with news of the invasion. "Tell me about him."

"His name is Ray Palmer. I don't know much more than that. Your father made the arrangements. I know that he comes from a wealthy American family"

"But why would a man born with such privilege want to marry a perfect stranger?"

"Apparently he has a savior complex."

"Is he Jewish?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

Felicity looked up at her mother in shock. "I never thought I'd hear you say that."

Donna shrugged. "The world is on fire right now and we have to adjust. The only thing that matters to me is that his family has been able to smuggle papers to him that will give you a new identity. As his wife, immigration will not deny you entry into the United States like they are doing to other Jews."

Felicity said nothing.

Donna moved closer to her. "I believe you will grow to love him in time. This is how it was with your father and me. When our parents forced us to get married, we knew nothing about each other. But over time we fell in love. I pray that history will repeat itself for you and Ray."

"I hope your right."

Donna reached for the white dress and helped Felicity carefully pull the lace off of her body. "Now go wash your face and enjoy your last day of freedom. I have a lot of work to do on this dress if it's going to be ready for tomorrow."

Felicity put on her plain brown dress and quickly washed the tears from her face at the kitchen sink. "I'll be back later. I want to see if Sara has arrived in town yet."


As she grabbed her bicycle to make the twenty minute journey into the local village, her mind flooded with thoughts of her only childhood friend. Felicity's family had moved near the town when she was five years old. The town's people tolerated her Jewish family because of her father's expertise in the medical field. However, when it came to social events, they were ostracized and looked upon as outsiders.

Felicity did not find any girls her age to play with until Sara arrived with her mother. Mrs. Lance had become fed up with being married to an alcoholic. After the divorce, she returned to the town of her birth to live with her parents. It had caused a scandal in the small village, but Donna Smoak ignored the ugly gossip and befriended Sara's mother. Felicity and Sara grew close and spent most of their childhood together.

Everything changed when the girls turned seventeen. Sara was caught by the town gossip kissing an older girl named Nyssa. News of the event had spread all over town like wildfire. Like mother, like daughter the town's people whispered. The mother was a divorcee. The daughter was a lesbian. The Lance family was tainted. Felicity remembered the last time she had seen her friend.

"I'll never be able to live this down." Sara paced back and forth. "Of course that witch would run her mouth. I'm going to kill her."

"Slow down and breathe. Maybe it's not as bad-"

"I have to get out of here before this place suffocates me."

"I'm sure things will calm down soon and people will find someone else to gossip about."

Sara stopped pacing abruptly and faced her friend. "You have always been so naive. Do you really expect these people to change? Look at the way they have treated your family for years."

Felicity shrugged. "I've always believed that if given a chance, people will do the right thing in the end."

Sara dragged her hands through her hair. "I wish I could believe that, but I'm not going to stick around to find out."

"What are you planning?"

"I'm leaving with Nyssa."

"Okay now you're talking like a crazy person. You barely know her."

"I know enough."

"So you're just going to run off with some girl you just met based off of a couple of good kisses?"

"It's more than that. You don't understand."

"Then make me understand."

"I've never met anyone like her before. It's not just that she's beautiful, but she and her father-"

"What about your mother, you know that she will be heartbroken if you take off like this.

Sara laughed bitterly. "She's already heartbroken. She always believed that I would get over my attraction for women and fall in love with one of the guys in town."

Felicity grabbed Sara's hand and squeezed. "She may not understand you, but I know that she loves you."

"I know, but I can't afford to think about what my mother wants anymore. I'm tired of pretending that I'm something that I'm not. I need to be true to myself and I can't do that here with everyone judging me."

Felicity said nothing.

"You know that I've always hated it here. I would have much rather stay in Paris with my sister."

Felicity nodded her head in defeat and turned away so that her friend would not see the tears glistening on her face. She always knew that Sara's destiny lay beyond this small village. "I thought we would have more time together," she whispered.

Sara placed her hand on Felicity's shoulder. "This doesn't have to be goodbye. Come with us."

"I won't leave my parents."

"You may eventually have to. Haven't you heard the rumors coming out of Germany?"

"So?"

"So my point is that you need to prepare yourself for what is coming."

"Based on a couple of unsubstantiated rumors?"

Sara sighed heavily. "It's more than that. Something terrible is happening in that country. Nyssa says that the rumors about the death camps are true. I'm afraid of what that means for your family if they succeed in invading this country."

"The Germans will never be able to invade France. The French people are too strong."

"Your parents have sheltered you too much. War is definitely on the horizon. The Nazi's believe that they are some kind of master race and they want to spread that belief all over the world."

Felicity shook her head. "I don't believe that day will ever come."

"I trust Nyssa's intel. The madman leading them is power hungry and he is not going to stop until he's taken over the whole world."

The sound of the loud church bell snapped Felicity out of her thoughts of the past. She realized that she was getting closer to the village.

She tightened her grip on her bicycle and peddled harder toward town trying to escape her thoughts. Maybe if she went fast enough, she could escape thoughts of her upcoming wedding. Maybe she could escape thoughts of the German soldiers that were currently marching through the streets of Paris. But her mind would not let her escape. She shook her head in regret. Sara had been right. War had finally come to France and she was completely unprepared.

Author's Note: This will be a AU that takes place in France during World War II. It will feature many characters from the Arrowverse and their quest to defeat the Nazis.