A/N: Just a little one shot I wrote in between writing the latest chapter of Your Banging My Bedroom Wall and Death in the Family. I hope you enjoy it, guys :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow. Obviously.

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It's Like the Sun Came Out

And the day is clear
My voice is just a whisper
Louder than the screams you hear
It's like the sun came out

"Start of Time" – Gabrielle Aplin

It was like staring into the heart of an immense darkness. Everywhere he looked it was like the darkness was closing in on him and there was nothing that he could do to stop it from happening. It became a deep pressure on his heart and lungs, squeezing tightly and suffocating him but not quite killing him. The feeling was unpleasant and uncomfortable, but somehow it felt good at the same time.

His entire body was numb. He couldn't move his arms or legs and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't wiggle his big toe. It was the first time that he had noticed the lack of sensation in his extremities. But no matter how hard he tried to think back to when it had started, he couldn't remember when. Maybe it had been like this the entire time and he had failed to notice.

As he continued to think back, he found that the last thing – the only thing – he could remember was the faces of his family members flashing before his eyes in a haze of light before the darkness came and snuffed out the brightness.

Dad. Mom. Thea. Her.

Their faces flashed in his mind's eye over and over in an endless loop.

Dad. Mom. Thea. Her.

Again and again he saw their faces, the faces of the people he loved and held closest to his heart above all else. His family.

Dad. Mom. Thea. Her.

But before long he found himself only thinking of her, of the single kiss they had shared before everything had turned sour and bittersweet by his own machinations.

Screams, terrible gut-wrenching screams assaulted him all of a sudden, painfully ripping away the image of her from him and drowning out the soft whispers that had surrounded him. The wails only got louder until they completely surround him at all sides, becoming the only thing that he could concentrate on.

The darkness that threatened to consume him crept deeper into the recesses of Oliver's heart, chasing away what little light that lingered…

…

"When do you think he'll wake up, Digg?" she whispered, stroking a hand down the side of the face of the man lying before them.

He shook his head despite her not being able to see him from his tense position beside the closed door. "I don't know, Felicity. We did the best we could patching him up, but the rest is on him now," he responded. It was the only thing that he could say without giving false hope.

She nodded absentmindedly, half aware of the others anxiously shifting around behind her. A comforting hand came down to rest on her shoulder before moving down to rub at her tense back in a soothing manner. The person leaned down to press a single quick kiss to her temple. "Ollie'll be okay. He'll pull through like he always does," Laurel murmurs softly in her ear. "He loves you too much to leave you."

That was her undoing and the tears flowed freely, sobs tearing through her uncontrollably. "I can't lose him, Laurel!" she cried. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest and she wished that she could tear it from her chest for a just a little while to stop the pain.

Laurel dropped down to her knees beside the bed, dragging the younger blonde who had become like a sister to her down to the floor with her. She tightly held her against her chest and silently cried with her.

Behind them, Roy's eyes slammed shut, blocking the scene in front of him out, and buried his face in Thea's hair as she silently cried in his arms. A part of him wanted to run as far away from this place as he could so he didn't have to witness this anymore. But he knew that he could never act on that urge.

He could never leave his family.

Felicity's sobs were the only sound that filled the bedroom long into the night until she finally tired herself out into a fitful sleep.

…

But then a blinding light hit him in the face and he woke with a start.

He blinked against the sudden brightness in confusion.

No. This wasn't right.

He should be in hell, where it was dark and suffocating. He didn't belong in heaven with its light and comfort.

His soul was damned. It had been damned from the very moment he had first stepped foot on Lian Yu all those years ago.

A spot in heaven shouldn't have been reserved for him of all people – a murderer, a killer, a man with no identity.

Oliver blinked again and it was like the sun came out for the very first time. Her face hovered above his and hesitantly he reached out to touch her, only to snatch his hand back before he made contact. No, this wasn't possible. She couldn't be here. If she was then that meant that she was dead, too.

Her mouth moved, forming words that he couldn't hear. His gaze traveled over the planes of her face. He noted the dark circles under her tear-filled eyes and the lack of bright colored lipstick that he had always seen her wear.

"Oliver," he heard her say as she rested her warm palm against his face.

And then he knew.

He knew.

Oliver shot up into a sitting position, ignoring the sharp, stinging pain in his shoulder, and pulled her in close. She gasped but let him. He searched her eyes and once he found what he was looking for he buried his hands in her blonde hair and pressed his mouth to hers in a searing kiss.

Felicity gasped into his mouth and threw herself into his kiss, wrapping her arms as tight around his shoulders as she dared, mindful of the near fatal wound that rested there. She kissed him like he was going to disappear.

Eventually they pulled apart for air. Oliver rested his forehead against hers and offered her a small smile. "You scared me," she breathed, feeling the tears prick at her eyes again.

He nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Please don't do that to me again, Oliver," she whispered, running a hand through his short hair. "I don't think I could take it if something happened to you."

"I'll be more careful. I promise," he told her, brushing away her tears with the pad of his thumb. She nodded and leaned into his warmth, relishing in the fact that he was okay. After three long days of not knowing and worrying, he was finally awake.

Felicity pressed a kiss to his lips, pulling away before it got too heated. "I love you." She whispered the revelation she had come to from this entire ordeal like it was a secret. Afraid that if she spoke any louder that her world would come crashing down in time for her to realize that it was all just a dream.

A soft smile pulled at his mouth. "I love you," he returned. "And I know now."

She frowned. "Know what?"

"That I can be both. Oliver Queen and the Arrow. I can be both as long as I have you, my light in the dark to guide me home."

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Um, I know I should be working on the next chapter of YBMBW but the muse decided that I needed to write this and work on Death in the Family. Sorry. But don't worry, lovelies, once the semester is over in a few weeks I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible :)