"He's still in here," Diggle said as he and Oliver emerged from underground. "It was just a rumor, Slade didn't leave. He can't leave."
"We're going to have to stay here tonight, oceans too choppy," Oliver said reluctantly as night fell, probable regretting not taking the plane this time around, but maybe that was for the best.
Roy's face lit up, "Can you show me where you lived when you were here?"
"Roy…" I said quietly as a warning, by the look on Oliver's face he really didn't want another trip down memory lane.
"Felicity, its fine," Oliver said softly. "It's going to rain soon anyway, better in there than out here."
Oliver lead the way off the beach and threw the thick woods, walking rather faster than usual, Diggle trying to keep up, and Roy and I hanging in the back, Roy was gazing at anything and everything he passed in awe. We walked for an hour; night fell heavy and dark in the canopy of the trees.
"We're almost there," Oliver said as the rain started to fall and the angry clouds drew gloomily together.
"Am I the only one who- who's seriously out of shape?" I panted "Duh, I mean, I'm the only one who doesn't have beefy muscular thighs and a six pack," to my surprise they laughed, even Oliver.
"I can carry you if you want," Roy offered with a wiggle of his eyebrows, "Only kidding, Oliver."
Diggle snorted. Oliver didn't, however.
The rain started cascading down now. I was soaked to the bone within a minute and my hair was plastered to my face. "How much longer did you say?" I ask, "Not that I'm complaining-" A loud crack of thunder bellowed from above making me jump out of my skin with a shrill scream. "Sorry."
"Ten, maybe twenty," Oliver said loudly over the pounding rain and occasional thunder, he stopped and waited for me and Roy to catch up to them.
"That's your idea of almost there?" Roy said, teeth chattering.
The thunder sounded again.
"So glad I decided to forgo makeup or you'd all be walking with a soggy raccoon," I say.
The lightning lit the woods for a split second before it fell back into darkness, but in that second I saw Oliver, a smile drawn on his face, and his eyes on mine.
We reached the fusel lodge and Oliver immediately started a blazing fire.
"I left clothes in those boxes," Oliver said adding another wet piece of wood.
Digg and I looked at him, "Why?"
Olive opened and closed his mouth, conjuring up a lie.
"Just tell us the truth, were you or were you not thinking about coming back when we picked you up after Tommy?" Digg asked.
"I was."
I felt my stomach drop.
"Here," Oliver handed me a big grey sweatshirt.
I mumbled a thanks and walked away from them and the fire to strip out of my sopping wet jacket and t-shirt.
"Woha, Blondie, give me a heart attack, warn a brother next time," Roy said.
I was glad I had enough common sense to turn my back when I changed, but I still frantically pulled the sweatshirt over my head. "I'm cold and tired and I would just really like some dry pants."
Roy snickered and threw me a pair, "Now, we're all going to turn around like gentlemen so you can change."
"Thanks."
None of us really talked after we all changed, we were all too exhausted from the day's adventures, instead we all sat around the fire till our eyes grew too heavy and we gave in to sleep.
I thought for sure I wouldn't have been able to fall into a deep sleep because the cacophony of the thunder, but I was wrong, I fell into a deep enough sleep to have a reoccurring nightmare. I sat up suddenly, heart pounding, and looked around frantically; my panicked eyes met another set of panicked ones.
"What's wrong?" He asked at the same time I asked why he was up.
He grabbed my cold hand and pulled lightly, "Felicity," he said sharply.
"I'm fine. It's nothing," I say, but he tugs me close to him, "I'm fine. Why're you up?"
He gazes into my eyes for a long moment, "I was putting wood on the fire."
"You don't have to lie to me, Oliver."
A sad small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, "I didn't actually even go to sleep, I couldn't."
"Oh, I'm sorry," I say quietly with my own sad smile. It's quiet for a moment and then I stand.
"Where are you going?" He asks as he stands too.
"I just need air," which I realize is basically my go to answer, "where are you going?" I ask as he fallows me
"I'm getting fire wood," he says with a shrug.
I look down at my feet by the stack of wood, "We have fire wood."
"We need more."
We didn't.
He fallowed me outside, the storm died down, but I missed the fire all the same. The sky was clear now, the moon lit the ground efficiently enough for me to find my way to a rock.
"Who was it?" He says suddenly, his voice sounded far away and haunted.
"Who?"
"The person who woke you up," he sat next to me and looked into my eyes.
"I don't like talking about it."
His brows drew together and my name left his lips in that helpless way it always does.
I laugh awkwardly, "I'm twenty seven years old and I still have nightmares."
"I still have them, Felicity," he says softly.
"Oliver, you lived here for four years and Hong Kong for one, you've seen so many things that will haunt you, how could you not have nightmares?"
"You've seen some of those things too, Felicity. And I'm sorry I brought you into it."
We sat quietly after that looking around the dimly lit land. A drop of rain rolled down my forehead and into my eyebrow. I look up and expected it to be cloudy again.
"It's beautiful," I say so quietly I hadn't expected him to reply.
"What is?"
"All the stars," I say mesmerized, he looks up too. "I've never, in my whole life seen close to this many. I've always lived in big cities that drowned out all the stars, but here, they go on forever," I whisper.
"I never noticed before."
"You haven't?" I look at him, who could miss them, especially someone who lived here for four years?
"No," his gaze falls back on me. "How do you do that?"
I look over at him, confused, "Do what, Oliver?"
"Find the good in everything?" I knew by the way he said it that he wasn't only talking about the endless stretch of stars in his purgatory. "You saw me as a hero when everyone saw me as a killer, I just don't understand how you turn everything dark-"
"Why are you out here?" Digg's voice made me jump to my feet and made Oliver grab me and push me behind him protectively. Roy and John were walking towards us, Roy's hands were deep in his pockets while Diggle blew on his.
"I'm going to have a heart attack one of these days with you three creeping up on me all the time," I say wiggling out of Oliver's hands.
John laughed and came to sit on the rock Oliver and I were just occupying.
"What were you guys doing out here?" Roy asked looking from me to Oliver with a smirk.
"I needed air," again, it's my go to excuse, "too much testosterone in there," I say sitting back down, this time next to John. "Then I saw the all the stars…"
"Romantic," Roy said looking up at the stars, then nudged Oliver's ribs with a laugh, to my surprise Oliver only shook his head with a smile I could tell he was fighting.
I would love prompt ideas, so feel free to leave them. Thanks for reading.