Arrow and The Swan 2.0
This is a rewritten story of my Arrow and the Swan story. Going to be more like the animated movie the Swan Princess. I hope you like it!
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"Felicity, darling" a warm hand came over to stop the young woman from totally ruining the magazine she was currently rolling tighter and tighter, she couldn't help it. The young woman was nervous and her mother gave her a comforting smile.
Felicity tried to smile back and unrolled her magazine again and studied the front cover – a glossy photo showing the Starling Royal Family, King Robert and Queen Moira standing proud with warm smiles on their faces with their children the Crown Prince Oliver and Princess Thea. Felicity tried to smile at the unmoving young man but couldn't and looked at her mother with determination "This is my final summer here, mother. Tonight I make my decision" she flipped threw the magazine, stopping on a story about Crown Prince Oliver and his latest stunt with the press.
"As Crown Princess of Draemond" Felicity's mother raised one eyebrow "you should know not to listen to that drivel. Besides, spending some time with you might bring out the Gentleman in the Crown Prince" she smiled hopefully at her daughter "you never know"
Felicity watched the trees zoom passed as the car moved on the secret road only those invited to the palace could use. How could her mother do this to her? Force her to spend all her summers here in the hopes that her and Oliver would fall in love and join their kingdoms? Felicity remembered the night her mother spoke to her about the idea:
The Queen and Crown Princess were watching television when a segment on the news came on about Starling. Both kingdoms of Starling and Draemond were friendly so they listened to everything going on there. This news story was about the Crown Prince and his birthday; he was 20 now and spared no cost at celebrating early. Someone on the street had filmed the prince on their phone – the images showed Felicity what she expected, the Crown Prince was drunk and stumbling out of his favourite nightclub called Verdant, he then vomited in the street. Felicity was appalled but the women he had on each arm didn't seem to mind. They flipped their hair at the cameras hoping for a good shot in the next day's newspaper.
"He needs to slow down" Felicity said aloud in a disapproving voice "his liver will give out before he is 40. And those girls, I bet he doesn't even know their names!" she huffed.
"He is a bit of a pistol isn't he? They're all a bit rowdy at his age. He needs someone to show him how to act" Donna stared knowingly at her daughter
"hmm mm" Felicity nodded before looking at her mother and frowned "…what?" she quizzed
Donna couldn't keep it in any longer and spilled the beans. She and the Royals of Starling had been in talks secretly about Oliver and Felicity. King Robert and his wife looked at Felicity with awe and pride; she was the darling of both kingdoms with all her charity work. Their people loved her and the few times they had visited in the past were always filled with joy and light.
King Robert and Queen Moira agreed that it was time for Oliver to settle down, they had tried to show Oliver the importance of actually knowing their people, what they loved and didn't love about the running of the kingdom and how to change it if they could. Oliver did seem interested at first but would always become distracted by a pretty girl or something and they would all roll their eyes. Sending the Prince to his room didn't seem to work either, in fact the Prince seemed to actually try to mess up at times to be sent to his room so he could be alone.
Princess Thea had often gone to his room at night with a plate of food for her brother but more often than not would find the room empty! They were all at their wits end with the Prince. Then, one day when King Robert had finally had enough, he had an idea and phoned the Queen of Draemond. His idea – to wed Oliver and Felicity.
"You have to be kidding me?!" Felicity got up from the lounge scowling at her mother "and where was my input in all this and what about Prince Oliver? I bet he is thrilled!" she spat sarcastically "You think I'm going to marry HIM!?"
"Darling, we are all thinking about what's best" Donna tried to calm her daughter "I know you are only sixteen and I made them put it off until you were older, until you're 21. By then you might change your mind?" Donna said pointedly "you're also going to spend every summer at the Palace in order to get to know him better so the wedding won't be as much of a shock"
"I refuse to do this! I won't go! What about all my commitments here? I can't just up and leave for three months of the year, I have too much to do" Felicity flopped back down "please mother, don't let them carry this out" she begged "I hate him! How could you set this up with someone I don't love?"
"You never know, you might come to love him in time. That's how it worked out for your father and me"
"Soon after I was born he abdicated his throne and left to travel the world!" Felicity pointed out angrily "we haven't seen or heard from him in year's mother!"
They had fought long into the night, there were tears and tantrums, things were thrown across the room from both parties and words became screams that neither could understand. At 4:00am, Felicity was tired and worn out, she finally agreed to the marriage on one condition – that if in the six summers they would have together it really didn't work out and she couldn't stand Prince Oliver then she would have the power to call it off rather than waste their time. Donna agreed and preparations were put into motion for their trip to Starling.
Now, Felicity was 21 and this was her final summer in Starling. Tonight at the ball, Oliver would dance with her as was expected of him, they would eat and drink and she would speak with Thea and Moira and Robert – as her parents-in-law it was expected of her to get along with all of them. Then they would make the announcement – would they have a new King and Queen or not? Felicity had already made her decision based on the past summers and felt sure that Oliver had made his. All this ball was was a formality. Nothing more.
The royal family of Starling waited outside the palace as their car drove into the grounds, Felicity counted Thea, Moira and Robert there but not Oliver. She rolled her eyes "my future husband isn't even here to greet me" she scoffed and got out of the car before her mother could say anything.
Felicity put on a warm smile and hugged Thea genuinely "I missed you" she said into her ear
"Missed you too, sis!" both girls laughed lightly at Thea's little joke and that set the mood to a lighter tone as Felicity greeted the king and queen "Your Highnesses" Felicity curtsied lightly with a smile
"Darling, we are family now or we will be tonight! Call me dad!" Robert laughed and embraced Felicity warmly and they all went inside, leaving the camera behind.
As they entered a sitting room with tea and small cakes, Felicity thought it would be alright to mention her small shock that Oliver wasn't there "as my future husband he should have been the first to greet me"
Thea gulped her tea and sighed "you know my brother, always allergic to hard work and sufferer of many hangovers. I'm afraid he won't be joining us until tonight for the ball and the announcement"
Felicity again rolled her eyes and eyed her mother in a look that said 'I told you so' and hoped his headache was painful and miserable as she was right now.
The late afternoon sun cast long dark shadows that hid the archer well. He crouched low and aimed an arrow at the man walking without a care in the world to his car, Adam Hunt was a greedy man who build aged care homes but made sure they were not up to code on their heating and cooling facilities. Many of those people in his homes died by either freezing to death or heatstroke. The Archer had been hunting this man for months and now he had a clean shot finally. He pulled back the arrow some more aiming it perfectly at his heart, ready to let it fly when a voice sounded in his ear "Hey man, the princess and the queen of Draemond are here, you had better hurry up"
The voice startled the Archer so much he let go of the arrow and watched in annoyance as it flew way too high and alerted Adam hunt that he was not alone "Damn it Diggle! You couldn't have shut up for two more seconds?" he voice his anger over the coms
"Sorry, I just thought it was important that you know your future bride is here!"
"I know she is here, I saw her car drive through the city on its way to the palace!" the Archer threw back his hood as he shrunk back further into the shadows, Prince Oliver ran a hand through his sweaty hair in defeat "I'm on my way back" he made his way to his motorbike and sped off to his secret hideout "open the door for me" he told his friend as he worked his way through the streets until he came to the back of a club and the back dock was opened.
"Have you thought more about Princess Felicity? About your decision?" Diggle asked as Oliver got off his bike and proceeded to remove his suit "Are you going to come clean?"
"I plan to at our wedding, maybe not tonight. I can act for one more night" in truth, Oliver was exhausted mentally and emotionally. He had been lying to everyone for many years about who he really was; it hurt to lie to his bride most of all.
Growing up, it had been easy to be a snotty nosed teenager given all the power in the world by his royal status. Felicity had hated him and his attitude towards her and the way she was so young and already throwing herself into charities that helped his kingdom. Oliver was more than happy to throw himself as his adoring fans and ignored Felicity completely the first few summers they spent together.
One day, something inside Oliver came alive when he noticed something spray painted on a wall 'THEY HUNT US AND WE BURN OR FREEZE!' At first, Oliver hadn't really paid the graffiti much attention but noticed that Felicity donated endless amounts of blankets, medicine and air conditioning units to all the aged care facilities in the kingdom. Oliver had gone with her and watched as she cried for those who were sick and dying, unable to help them.
Something in Oliver didn't like seeing the young princess upset and he wanted to do something. However, given she hated him he couldn't readily help her out of the blue now. But he wanted to do something. Oliver asked who was the maintenance man of one of the aged care homes and found out his name. Oliver waited until darkness and confronted the man "why do people keep dying in their beds when you're meant to make sure they get enough heating?" he demanded
"I…I…I only do what my boss tells me to do! He tells me not to fix things and to keep their money for him!" The poor man was shaking so hard he could hardly stand "please don't kill me"
"By order of the Crown Prince, I order you to fix this building! If the Prince comes back next week and things aren't the way they're meant to be then it'll be your life!" Prince Oliver was thankful for the mask he wore and punched the man in the face, knocking him out.
The next week, Oliver and Felicity had gone back to the aged care home and Felicity shed a happy tear as the people noted how happy they were since the Princess had come.
That had been the beginning of The Arrow. At night, Prince Oliver would help the city in anyway he could and allow Felicity to take the credit during the day. Everyone noted how happy and safe the streets were when Princess Felicity visited in the summer. Now Oliver would use his late nights with girls as cover while he was The Arrow, sure Felicity thought he was being unfaithful to her but Oliver would let her hate him until their wedding night – when he would come clean about all his vigilante work and his growing feelings for her.
Crown Prince Oliver's feelings for the princess had grown from hidden friendship to full blown love from afar. He loved Felicity with her smile full of light, her eyes that longed to learn more and more each day and he loved that she loved his kingdom. It pained Oliver that she only saw the fake Oliver, the one the lied and cheated to her all these years, only one more night of being a spoilt prince and it would all be over! He could come clean and together they could join their kingdoms.
Oliver looked at his watch and saw the ball had already started "It's good that Prince Oliver is always late" he put on his best suit and headed out with Diggle his bodyguard "tonight, everything changes"
Everything was beautiful, the gowns all the ladies wore, the lights that dimmed and shone with the music and the food was divine. Felicity busily made sure everyone had enough food and drink, Thea kept trying to pull her onto the dance floor while everyone looked for the Crown Prince.
Thea was paranoid that he would miss his own wedding announcement!
"Not a chance little sister" Oliver appeared at his sisters side and smiled when she jumped, he scanned the crowd "where is my…" his words left him as his eyes caught sight of a beautiful green dress that shone in the light, blonde hair and pink lipstick also made him speechless as his feet carried him over to his future bride "Sorry I'm late" he didn't waste time and swept her into his arms and clumsily began to dance with her.
Felicity was taken aback by this new Oliver, he never wore his nice suit and he never ever danced when other girls had offered in the past "Wouldn't you rather drink or something?" she asked expecting all of this to be a joke to him.
Oliver twirled her again and purred softly in her ear "the only thing I want to drink in tonight is you, Felicity" his comment was meant to sound charming but Felicity looked annoyed and offended, her usual look when he spoke anything to her over their summers together, he quickly changed the subject "You look amazing tonight, more so than any other night I've seen you"
"You hardly ever see me at night since you're out with your whores" Felicity was intent on fighting him every step of the way "I assure you, you'll need them" she raised an eyebrow
"After tonight, you'll be all I need Felicity" he stopped dancing and got everyone's attention by standing on top of the nearest table in pure Oliver fashion. He took a deep breath before announcing "ARANGE THE MARRIAGE!" while smiling at his bride.
Cheers and shouts erupted all around, older ladies swarmed to the Princess to congratulate her while some of the younger ladies frowned openly at her.
The band started to play a happy song for the couple, Oliver stepped down and embraced his bride.
Felicity had had enough "WAIT!" she called above the music
"What?" Oliver held her arms in confusion "you're all I ever wanted! You're amazing and beautiful" he looked pleadingly at Felicity hoping his plan wouldn't backfire, Please just a few more hours!
"Thank you" Felicity nodded "but is that all that matters to you? As my husband, you'll be expected to go to charities with me and help the kingdom outright"
"Wh-wh-wh-won't we have other people to handle that for us? All that was a play right?" This was not going well!
"Are my looks all that matter to you? Do you even care about your kingdom at all or am I just wasting my time? You know what? I came to my decision already!" She looked for the King and Queen and apologised "The wedding is off!" She marched away with her shocked mother in her wake leaving Oliver looking shocked and defeated. It had all blown up in his face. If only she had waited one more night he could have shown her the real Prince Oliver!
Diggle, the Princes advisor came up to him and put an arm around his shoulder "No one can say you didn't try to make her see you. Give her until the morning. You can talk to her then" he softly punched his friend on the arm as comfort. Oliver felt like an idiot, why hadn't he come clean sooner? The minute he had donned his Arrow persona he should have told Felicity everything! Now she didn't want anything to do with him. His bride was leaving him forever.
Felicity hurriedly packed her bags, ignoring her mother and telling one of her ladies to get a car ready for her, if Donna wouldn't come with her tonight then she could come home in the morning. Some time alone would do Felicity good.
Felicity could have screamed at all her wasted time! Years she had wasted being annoyed at Oliver, taken away from her home for months at a time and for what? It had all been a waste of time!
In all her fury and packing, Felicity had failed to notice a black hooded figure scale the wall and open her window from the outside, they silently entered while Felicity was again growling at her frustrations. A dart was fired and pierced the princesses skin, cutting off her voice as she tried to scream, the hooded figure caught the princess "My master has longed to meet you, Your Highness" they picked her up as if she weighed nothing and lept out of the window into the night
"who…who is…master?" Felicity could feel herself slipped in and out and couldn't make out what her captor said properly and questioned him again before blacking out "who…is…Ras Al Ghul?"
this was written hastily at 3:00am. Yes I know it might need work but I AM SO EXCITED TO BE WRITING AGAIN! As I don't have a computer right now, I will be writing at my local library and uploading from there when I have days off from work. Read and review!
