I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything and I think there might be a few different reasons for that. One is mainly that the world of Arrow, the real one, was changing so drastically and so quickly that I honestly couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. I guess I'm here now on a brand new story that is so completely different from all my other ones because I really needed a change. I'm really not happy with the turn Olicity has taken in their relationship and this is something I've been wrestling with. This doesn't mean I'm no longer an Olicity fan, this just means that I need something that is completely different for a while. I need a world that won't clash with the real one. I also got really tired of reading all the stories of Felicity leaving and making Oliver crawl back to her. That is something I needed to rid myself of. So without further ado...

"Honestly it's like you don't even want to be a hero anymore!"

"I DON'T!"

This statement startled the Arrow Cave into silence. It was unlike Oliver to say something like that, especially to Felicity. But they were all there and they had all heard it. Everybody turned in that direction. Before this they had all been going about separate activities, pretending not to hear the things that were being said. But they couldn't pretend what was going on didn't include them too. For once Felicity Smoak was stunned speechless. She looked at Oliver as he sat down, frustrated. He looked done. And if she was being honest with herself, he had looked done for a while now. She noticed the droop in his shoulders and the tension in his brow. She saw the hard set to his jaw and the stiffness of his movements. All these things she noticed and didn't acknowledge. They had been doing well in relation to Arrow activity. It was quiet. Quiet enough that most of the time, the police handled the situation without any help from them. It was better than it had been in a very long time. And suddenly she could see the seriousness in his words. Maybe he didn't want to be the city's hero anymore, and maybe the city didn't need one anymore. But still she had to ask.

"What are talking about Oliver? What do you mean you don't want to be a hero anymore?"

He looked up at her fatigue clear in his eyes. "I'm tired Felicity. I've done this for a long time. Longer than everyone else on this team. You and I are the only two left from the original team. Diggle and Thea are retired. Roy's in hiding. Laurel's dead. We've come a long way since that dingy old basement, but this was never something that was supposed to last forever. I had a list of people and when I was done with that list, I was done. This started as a means to an end. I had accepted that this life I was choosing was probably going to end with me dying. I was okay with that. I might have come home but a part of me was still on that island. Then you and Diggle came and made me see that there was another way. A way for me to be a hero and save the city my father loved. You guys brought me back. But it's been years. I've done what my father asked me to do. I've saved this city and now I'm done. It's been so long since I've lived any semblance of a normal life. I want that. I've done my share and I deserve to live my life in peace."

By this time he had stood up and was addressing the whole team, who had all come closer, gathering around the table he had been sitting at. "A lot of good has come from this life, but there's also been a lot of bad. I've gained a lot of people over the years, but I've also lost so many. I don't want the bad to ever outweigh the good, but this life has a way of ruining things." He looked at Felicity as he said this. "It has a way of snuffing out the light in people. Of twisting them and corrupting them and making them completely unrecognizable. And I don't want that. Someone once told me that a man cannot live by two names. Today I've finally come to the decision that I want to be Oliver Queen. And that means I will no longer be the Green Arrow. I can't keep living this life where I have to be both. After tonight, I'm done. I'm hanging up the bow and putting away the suit. When my term as mayor ends next month, I'm leaving. I've spent too much of my life in the dark and it's time I tried finding the light again."

Felicity, stunned asked, "So that's it? All we've worked for, all we've built we're just done? Just like that?"

"Just like that." With these final words, the matter was decided. Slowly, the stunned team trickled out of the Arrow Cave, leaving Oliver the sole occupant. It was fitting in a way, that he should be the last to leave. He had started this and it was his responsibility to end it. He slowly walked room to room and turned off the lights. In the coming weeks, he would return periodically to pack up the things that would be shipped back to the members of the team. Old workout clothes and shoes, thing they had brought but left behind. He packed away the clothes he himself had brought while staying there. And he packed away the things that couldn't stay. As he gently pulled the hood of his suit up over the head of the mannequin, he gazed at the wooden box resting at it's feet. It was old and worn, the Chinese symbols faded and dull. He knew what was inside but was compelled to look in it one last time.

He opened the lid and found exactly what was expected. After all, he had place the items in there himself. In there were the remnants of the original bow. The pieces placed together in a small pile, resting on something equally important. Below the bow was his old suit. It was worn, the leather of the suit stitched neatly where Felicity had mended bullet and knife holes. Next to that the quiver he had used and the jar of grease paint. In this box were the remaining pieces of a large part of his past. The remains of the Arrow. Neatly folded and preserved. Just like everything else in the Arrow Cave. He closed the lid and stood, pushing it back into place. As he gazed around the Cave one last time, he marveled at the amount of suits. There were so many now. So many hero's inspired by the crusade he had started, and these were just the ones in Star City. He smiled as he thought about all the people he had come to know because of this part of his life, and he was grateful for the chance he had to experience it. As the light went out and the elevator doors closed, sealing the Arrow Cave in it's museum like state, Oliver couldn't help thinking that this might be the end of one life, but it was also the beginning of another.

Yup. I have no words.