The Greatest Bowman
A/N: So. This is how I am coping with EBR's announcement that she will not be in Season 8 anymore. Actually, the idea for this AU crossover fic came to me last year, but because I had no more intentions of writing and posting any more fics, I did not bother writing it. But having to say goodbye to my favorite character on television changes things, and I plan to go out with Arrow with a bang. I hope you like my last fic - and I mean it, this time. :-)
Chapter 1: The Greatest Show
She never expected this… this spectacle of sights and sounds that overwhelmed her inner self. And Felicity Smoak was not easy to please. Every part of the greatest show she'd ever seen in the entirety of her young life had taken her breath away – the trapeze acts, the animal stunts, those strangely interesting human beings, the dazzling displays of unique human abilities. There was absolutely nothing quite like the extravaganza that Mr. Barnum has put together. It had transported her to another world in just less than two hours. To someone like her whose curiosity and brilliant mind constantly searched for satisfaction, the experience she'd just had was incredible!
Felicity already had a plan. She was going to scrimp and save her meager pay from the paper so that she could go and see another one of Mr. Barnum's shows, maybe even frequent his highly controversial theater and visit every other weekend. Her mother need not know. It was her money anyway, and her mother did not even know the truth about how she was earning her keep and helping them survive day after day. It wasn't easy – being immigrants in New York, without a man in the house to protect them and provide for them. But Felicity was just as resourceful as her mother, just as resilient and headstrong. They had promised themselves that they were going to start anew in America and leave the stigma of their past life behind, and P.T. Barnum's Circus was the perfect weekend getaway from Felicity's mundane life and from the challenges of the daily grind.
A circus. At first, she thought it odd that an old museum of wax figures of various sorts could be turned into a theater that promised "the greatest show on earth." Like most people in Starling City, Felicity used to think that Mr. Barnum was either too ambitious for his own good or simply out of his mind. Word had spread that Barnum had rounded up an entire cast made up of extraordinary persons that may be considered genetic anomalies, and a reference to something even remotely related to science had initially triggered Felicity's interest.
However, the literally "critical" reviews of J.G. Bennett in the Herald certainly hadn't helped convince her to come and see the shows sooner. The reviews weren't encouraging to say the least. Mr. Bennett had called Barnum's show a hoax, a commercial deception that took advantage of middle class people who were willing to take risks in spending their hard-earned money just to be entertained at the end of long week's work. Barnum's critics, as well as the protesters that still picketed in front of the theater from time to time, seemed reasonable, for the most part, in Felicity's opinion.
For months, Felicity had vacillated between buying a ticket at Barnum's box office and just saving her money to buy more paper, pen, and ink to sustain her part-time (and very temporary) employment at the newspaper. Nevertheless, for some strange reason, each time she passed the theater on her way home, she had always felt like something about it kept drawing her in. Felicity disliked mysteries that remained unsolved. So, one day she finally motivated herself to pay for her first ticket and see the show that Saturday night.
She did not regret every penny she spent.
A grown woman with a beard as thick as a jungle's foliage. A man whose body was covered entirely by tattoos and piercings. A doglike human being. A pretty girl dressed in pink satin and lace and feathers, who was obviously bi-racial, hanging from a rope with no nets below to catch her. And oh, that adorable little man riding on a galloping horse! Felicity was completely fascinated by them.
By him.
He wasn't a freak like the others. Physically speaking, there was nothing abnormal or peculiar about him. Except of course for his well-built, muscular body, which had perfectly filled the dark green leather outfit he wore. Unfortunately for Felicity, his well-defined, stubbly jaw line was all that she could see of his face. She had wished the hood he'd worn did not cover the upper part of his head. She had wanted to see his eyes, for she believed the old adage that the eyes are the windows to one's soul. She had wondered what his eyes looked like. For a mysterious man with a magnificent frame, she was willing to wager that his eyes were just as grand and captivating.
As soon as the hooded archer's act had been introduced, her attention had been immediately captured. "The Green Arrow," as Barnum had called him, was highly adept with a bow and arrow. He shot his targets flawlessly while running through a maze of obstacles. At first the stunts were easy, but after a few minutes, the archer had escalated his game by aiming at moving targets. He then began to shoot two arrows at a time, and then three, to the thrilled satisfaction and raving applause of the audience. Best of all, he had attempted to shoot the various targets placed around the theater while swinging from a rope and even hanging from it upside-down. To say that Felicity was impressed would be an understatement. As far as she was concerned, he was greatest bowman she had even seen.
And she was going to see him… the show, rather… again. Next weekend. Even if meant that she had to skip a meal or two, maybe three, just to buy herself a ring-side ticket. She had to see him up close, perhaps even see him after the show. She didn't mind waiting out in the cold at the back stage exit and watch him leave.
She still wondered about those eyes of his, and she fell asleep that night dreaming of them.
A/N: Please let me know that I am not the only Arrow fan who also loves The Greatest Showman and its songs. It would be nice to know if this farewell fic is worth your time and mine. ;-)