Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Arrow characters. Or DC comics. Or any other characters that show up in here. . Other than that, enjoy! Review please!

Slade moves through a series of movements in his cell, brutally attacking invisible enemies. Sometimes he imagines Yao Fei. Sometimes Sara. Fyers. Ivo. In his darker moments, even Shado. But always Oliver. Leaving him back on this godforsaken island.

He was well cared for. His living conditions were good. He had almost expected for Oliver to have him tortured. Kept more dead than alive. But he hadn't. He was going to play the hero game was he?

Slade whipped his foot out, crashing it against the unforgiving bars of his cell.

They didn't budge.

Suddenly exhausted, Slade collapsed down on the cot. What would Shado say to him now? He had failed to keep his promise. Was there any hope of getting off this island without the Mirakuru?

Slade screamed, his voice echoing painfully off the walls. This was his punishment for failing her... Both times.

Oliver visited twice a month. He would check to make sure that Slade hadn't been coming up with an escape plan. Beef up security if he felt it needed to be done.

The first time he visited, Slade ended up screaming after Oliver, telling him how he would keep his promise. He would rip everything away from him, and drive an arrow through his eye.

Oliver always remained calm in the face of his anger. He would nod quietly, before leaving again. It infuriated Slade to no end.

Blood had betrayed him. Not that Slade could talk, but if Oliver and the League hadn't found a cure for the Mirakuru, it would have been a very different ending. He imagines Felicity dead at his feet, her life blood trailing away as she stares blankly into the abyss. He imagines Oliver screaming, screaming as he had screamed so many years ago over Shado. His lips curl into a smile as he imagines finally shoving the arrow through Oliver's eye. Brothers had to go through everything together, didn't they?

He allows himself to wonder what would have happened if there had been a cure 5 years ago. Could it have been different?

No. Shado had still died. And it was Oliver's fault.

Another day. The same walls. The same food. The same anger. Slade lay on the floor, before starting to do push-ups, his breath coming soft and even. Finally managing to work up a sweat. In that moment he was thankful the Mirakuru was gone. He might not have been able to do so otherwise. The first week, while his body recovered from the lack of the Mirakuru was the worst.

He shook his head. Stupid thought. The Mirakuru had saved him. He had needed it. Relied on it. He would give anything to have it back.

Anything.

Argus employees would give him two meals a day. They never said anything, under strict orders from Waller. By Slade's reckoning, he had been imprisoned for two months.

The third month, Oliver climbed down the hatch as usual taking the Argus employees job of giving him food for the day. Slade glared at Oliver. "Why do you always come here? I hate you!" How dare this man, someone he had once considered a brother, dare show his face.

"I hate you too Slade. You killed my mother. You made my life hell. You almost killed Roy. I just... Hope to see a little regret."

Slade smirked at him, "I'm not going to change kid. I don't regret anything. Just wait till I get out of here-"

Oliver sighed, before leaving again, "We were brothers once. Now look at you."

When Oliver climbed out of the Argus prison, and headed back to the airplane, he started to think to himself. He didn't know why he kept on visiting Slade. There was nothing left of the man he once knew. He knew that. That man had died as he came back to life, fueled by the Mirakuru. Oliver wished things could have turned out differently. He shook his head. But they hadn't. He looked back at the prison. He would not be visiting Slade intentionally again. He had left the island behind.

Shado came to him that night. She climbed onto the bed, straddling him, pressing a kiss to his lips, her soft lips moving slowly against his. Her hands stroked his face, running through his beard. He tried to grab her, to hold her close, to never let her go. He wouldn't fail her. Not again.

Before he could, she slipped out of his grasp. "You failed me Slade. You didn't avenge my death!" Her eyes flickered with hate. "HOW COULD YOU? I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!?"

Slade winced, stepping towards her imploringly. "I just need more time! I will still avenge you. I promise!"

She flipped up her hood, hiding her eyes, and fired an arrow straight at Slade's heart. He fell back onto the bed, wheezing in pain. She turned away from him, and when she spoke, her voice seemed to merge with Oliver's. "We all know what your promises are worth."

Slade woke with a start. He thought he saw Shado walking away from him, but as the sleep cleared from his eyes, he saw that no one was there. Slade cried that night. Silently, unmoving, his face turned away from any potential cameras.

But soon the sadness turned to anger. With a howl of rage he picked the mattress up, hurling it across his cell. It did nothing. He couldn't do ANYTHING!

Days past. Weeks past. Months past. He was no closer to finding an escape from the island. No closer to have Shado stop tormenting him in his dreams. No matter how much he trained himself, no matter how much he honed his skills, he was no closer to escaping. Part of him feared he never would be.

On the fifth month of his imprisonment he continues to fight invisible enemies. Only now, he mostly fights Shado. She taunts him. Mocks him. Blocking each of his blows with ease.

"You betrayed me!" She screams. "You betrayed us all!" And she vanishes from his mind. Leaving him confused and hurt. His heart beating painfully in his chest.

His voice, no more than a whisper, echoes throughout his prison. "Us?"

Shado continues to come to him. No matter how much he tries to send her away. To get her to leave. Even though he wants her to stay desperately. He can only wait, watching as she slips into his mind in sleep or awakening, constantly tormenting him. On the sixth month of his imprisonment, things change. He waits calmly for Shado to appear. And right on schedule, she does. Right after he has eaten his last meal for the day. He remains sitting, for once he is calm as he stares into her soulless eyes.

"Hello Slade."

He doesn't respond, merely nodding his head in acknowledgement.

"Are you read to die for your failures?"

His voice rasps through the room. "You never were skilled enough to kill me." He slowly stands up, his back straight. Madness replaced with confidence. He stares into Shado's eyes, watching dispassionately as blood drips from them. The aftereffects of the Mirakuru. "Get out of my head!"

Shado's body distorts, becoming taller and wider. She screams silently until he is face to face with Billy Wintergreen. "Did ya miss me Slade?"