Title: The Damage In Your Heart

Genre: Adventure, Romance, Friendship

Rating: T

Character(s): Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen, John Diggle, Roy Harper, Malcolm Merlyn, Thea Queen, Amanda Waller, Ra's al Ghul, Nyssa al Ghul, Slade Wilson

Summary: A bargaining chip for the cooperation of a dead man, that is what she has been reduced to. yet, no matter how many times she tells Amanda Waller that Oliver is dead, the woman adamantly refuses and instead imprisons Felicity on Lian Yu. Amidst all this, Oliver Queen learns just how fragile the mind really is by facing the true Demon behind Ra's al Ghul's sanity.

A/N: I wanted to put this new fic out before 3x10 airs, so here it is, hot off the presses. I rewrote this chapter so many times it's not even funny, but somehow writing from Malcolm's perspective just seemed to flow better than anyone else. So I went with it. This is another crazy, what-if theory of where things go after 3x09, so, spoilers abound, beware! There will be more Felicity in the next chapter, I promise.

I hope you enjoy it!

xoxoNelly

Note: Italics = flashback

Disclaimer- I do not own any characters or entities recognized from the TV show Arrow or the DC Comics, nor am I making any sort of profit off of this writing. I do not own the lyrics used either, they belong to No Doubt.

The Damage In Your Heart

Chapter 1: Don't Speak

You and me, I can see us dying

are we?

Malcolm Merlyn liked to think of himself as a fairly intelligent man. More resourceful than most with a sense of self-preservation that served him well, and instinct that had kept him alive when all odds seemed stacked against him, when death was certain he seemed to cheat it and come out of it all the better.

He was a winner, who was not afraid to cheat to achieve his greatest accomplishments. His twisted sense of right or wrong could easily be justified by him, he was good at shaping words to better serve his argument, he could trick others into doing what he said by framing words and questions in ways that appealed to them when really they only appealed to his goals and aspirations.

He had brought a city to it's knees to make up for its failings, intent on rebuilding it.

Ultimately, though he seemed to come out of the ordeal a failure, he had been successful.

Malcolm Merlyn had both lost and gained a child in that earthquake, so it was not a failure on his part even though the world had lost Tommy.

Now, as his only daughter stared back at him with a glint in her eyes that he recognized as one of his own creation he felt quietly humbled by his own skill. He had crafted this woman, the Thea he had met months before, during the siege of the city was a scared, fragile and broken girl who was afraid of being abandoned and torn apart by lies and half-truths.

He had only ever been honest with her since he rescued her at the train station.

That didn't mean he had been honest with her about things that happened before that night.

But that was neither here nor there.

"I need a favor, father." She said, head tilting slightly, her short hair falling out of her hazel eyes.

"If it is within my power, you know I will do whatever I can," he replied, spreading his hands wide as he spoke, taking a step toward her as the city sprawled beneath them.

A sharp wind ruffled Thea's hair as she stood across from her father on the rooftop.

"I don't think Oliver is backpacking through Europe again." She spoke the words slowly as her eyes narrowed, "something's wrong, and I don't know how to get into contact with him."

"I don't hear a favor. I hear hunches and theories."

"I need you to find him for me."

Malcolm lifted his brows as she spoke the words quickly, "you want me to find out where Oliver has gallivanted off to this time?"

"I don't think he's gallivanting anywhere. There's something he's not telling me. Just find him."

Malcolm settled his lips into a hard line and nodded, "I will try my best, Thea."

"Good," she replied with a nod before she turned and walked away, heading for the doors to the stairwell that would lead her back down to her loft.

Malcolm remained on the rooftop, staring out at the city sprawled below him, remembering his conversation with Oliver's partners the week before.

.

.

.

"Oliver Queen is dead," Merlyn's gaze was unflinching as he took in the team before him, his hands sliding into the pockets of his coat.

Diggle's brows pulled together, his chest tightening as Roy's jaw set and shoulders pulled up tensely. Felicity, however, remained still, her eyes focused intensely on Malcolm Merlyn.

She shook her head once, ponytail swinging, "he isn't dead."

Malcolm's head tilted slightly, expression telling her he thought different.

"He is not dead." She repeated, face determined.

"Test the blood on the sword, Ms. Smoak, you'll find it is Oliver's. He lost to Ra's al Ghul, and the only way you escape Ra's al Ghul is by death."

"Yet you're alive." Felicity countered, staring at the blue-eyed man before her.

Merlyn smirked, "I think it is fair to say Oliver and I are not the same type of men."

"No, he's a hero."

Malcolm's smirk widened into an impressed smile, "think of me what you will, Ms. Smoak. I just came to break the news so you could stop waiting for Oliver to return."

There was a lengthy pause where Felicity's gaze dropped to the green leather suit hanging in its case and she bit down on her lip.

"Despite our differences, I grieve for Oliver too. I did not want him to die."

Felicity's shoulder blades pulled together at the man's words, her eyes shutting for a brief moment before opening and fixing on Malcolm, eyes flashing dangerously, "leave."

.

.

.

He had been to the mountaintop where Ra's al Ghul had slain Oliver Queen and found only the murder weapon there. No body.

In an effort to keep expectations low, he had told Oliver's team the worst case scenario, that Oliver was truly dead.

"He is not dead."

Felicity was a radical in his carefully calculated equation that he had not expected, but she was a variable he had to consider now. It was obvious her importance had escalated since the Undertaking, but when he had tried to unearth information on the woman past what can be found in online databases and records, he seemed to come up empty. Thea had only met the woman a handful of times and only for short moments—a dead end. His other leads were just as dismal. Felicity Smoak was quite the underestimated and mysterious woman.

Malcolm sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest, knowing a trip to Tibet was in order once more. Death had been the easiest explanation for what had happened to Oliver. There was a chance that Oliver was alive but Malcolm did not know for certain. It was more probable that he was dead.

However, he did know that in the life he lead, it was hard to make the dead stay dead when there were countless ways to keep them alive.

Maybe Oliver Queen was with Tommy.

Don't speak

I know just what you're saying

So please stop explaining

Don't tell me cause it hurts

Tell me what you think! Leave a review? xo