Title: You Knelt Beside My Hope Torn Apart

A/N: If some of this sounds familiar, it's because I have taken a few dialogues/scenes from 2.21. However, it diverges pretty quickly from what happens in that episode.

…

Chapter 2: To the Brink

…

A white blank page and a swelling rage, rage
You did not think when you sent me to the brink, to the brink

- Mumford and Sons, 'White Blank Page'

….

Walking through the familiar rooms of Queen Mansion was an almost surreal experience for Walter. So much had changed since the last time he'd been happy in this house; yet it looked exactly the same. He kept expecting Moira to turn the corner at any moment, or smile at him as she came down the stairs, and it made his chest heart to think that she never would again.

Worse, in only a few days, the house would be completely empty. The majority of the expensive furniture was being auctioned off, and so was Robert Queen's priceless collection of Victorian art. Walter was overseeing the process himself. Neither Thea nor Oliver was in any shape to think about practical details, so naturally, it had fallen to him. Though the family had lost their assets, there was still considerable wealth contained in this and other properties they owned. Oliver and Thea would still be comfortably off, at least for the next few years, and that was a relief.

But it still broke Walter's heart to dismantle this ancient establishment, to sell the things he had once almost, but not quite, considered his own, to perfect strangers. It seemed unbelievable that after so many generations of being the elite family of Starling city, the Queen legacy was over.

Walter watched his stepdaughter as she moved through the room, her eyes disturbingly vacant. He didn't know how she was taking all this, whether she even realized how different her life would be from now on.

"How are you holding up?" he asked when she stopped beside him to look at an old photograph.

"I'm not," she said.

Impulsively, he pulled her into a hug. "Your mother gave her life for you, Thea," he said. "She showed you how much she loved you in ways very few parents could."

"I know," said Thea bitterly, "She died thinking I hated her. All we ever needed was the truth. It was a lie that killed her."

"I don't understand," Walter said, frowning.

"Slade Wilson," said Thea, her fear and hatred for the man clearly audible, "He was on that island with Oliver, and despises him for some reason. There was a psychopath in our lives and my brother never warned us about him."

Shock and alarm jolted through Walter's body. "What are you talking about?"

"They knew each other," said Thea angrily, "He kidnapped us to get to Oliver, killed Mom because he wanted to hurt him. He said so himself, right before he killed Mom."

"God," said Walter, horrified.

That poor kid.

No wonder Oliver hadn't been able to bring himself to attend the funeral. He couldn't even begin to imagine what must be going through his stepson's head, and was now even more worried about him. He couldn't help but picture the kid that Oliver had been before the island, the charming, irresponsible playboy who for all his faults hadn't had a mean bone in his body.

"What could he possibly have done to make Slade hate him that much?" he wondered, not quite able to believe it.

"I don't know," said Thea harshly, "Or care. All I know is; if Ollie had told us the truth, we could have prevented all this. But now it's too late, and the only thing I want to do is leave Starling City and never look back. There's nothing left for me here."

"Thea," Walter said, angered and a little hurt, "Even if you don't count me, your brother loves you more than life itself!"

"If that's true, why does he always lie to me?" she shot back, hers eyes filling with angry tears. "Why does everyone always lie to me?"

"Have you asked him why?" Walter countered. "Maybe he had a good reason for keeping all this from you!"

"I know what he'll say if I ask him," Thea replied, an ugly look on her face. "He'll say he lied to protect me. But that's a load of crap."

"You're right, it is," said a voice from behind them.

They both turned in surprise. Laurel was standing in the doorway.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she said. "I came to see if Oliver came back here. But when I heard you blaming him like that-" He eyes were hard as she fixed her gaze on Thea. "You're right. He didn't lie to protect you. I mean he did, but that wasn't the biggest reason. I think he lied mostly to protect himself."

"What do you mean?" Thea asked, obviously caught off guard. Walter, too, was startled.

"Isn't it obvious?" Laurel asked quietly. "He's terrified of Slade Wilson. Whatever he did to him on that island, it was bad enough to shake him to his foundations. And you and I both know that your brother doesn't scare easy. He lied to you because he didn't know what else to do. Two years he's been back, and he still hasn't even started dealing with what happened to him on that island."

Thea shifted uncomfortably, but still looked unconvinced. "Even if that's true," she said, "it doesn't change the fact that he lied to me. If he had just told the truth, none of this would have happened."

"That's all you have to say?" Laurel said, her eyes flashing fire. "You know, for all that you complain about your brother lying to you, you don't actually want to know the truth. I just told you Oliver's terrified of Slade, and you don't even think to ask why that is?"

Thea shook her head, her eyes wide. "It's not like I-" she began, but Laurel hadn't finished.

"Last year, how many times did you complain that Oliver wasn't there for you?" she demanded, "That he wasn't the brother you needed him to be? Did you ever stop to think about what he must have gone through, to make him that way?" Her eyes glimmered with tears. "He was tortured on that island. His whole body is covered in scars."

"W-what?" Thea gasped in shock, her eyes wide. "I saw the scars, but he never said anything about-"

"And you didn't push him, did you?" Laurel asked, "Did you think he inflicted those marks on himself?" She shook her head, looking disgusted. "Last year, he nearly ran himself into the ground trying to please you and Moira, trying to act like he was completely unchanged by that island; and all you ever did was get mad at him when he failed to keep up appearances."

Thea opened her mouth to protest, but then shut it a few seconds later, looking guilty. That last comment had obviously hit home.

As for Walter, he was sickened by Laurel's revelation. How was it possible that none of them knew Oliver had been tortured, that none of them had ever asked him? How could Laurel know, but not him and Thea? Oliver was his family, and in that moment, Walter had never felt more as if he had failed him.

"You can't leave Starling City," Laurel said into the stunned silence. "Oliver needs you right now."

"Nobody even knows where he is," said Thea.

"Actually, Diggle and Felicity tracked him down," said Laurel, and then hesitated. "He's…he's planning to turn himself over to Slade."

"He's what?!" Walter exclaimed in alarm. "Why would he do that?"

"He thinks it's the only way he can stop all this," said Laurel. "Felicity and Diggle tried to talk sense into him. So did I, but he just won't listen!"

"He's afraid he's going to hurt us, isn't he," said Thea in a hollow voice. When Walter turned to stare at her, she wrapped her arms around her front and lowered her eyes. "A-after Slade killed mom, he told Oliver that one more person had to die before all this was over."

Walter inhaled sharply. So Thea, Laurel, all of Oliver's friends and family, were still in danger. And Oliver wanted to throw himself off a cliff to keep them alive.

"We have to stop him," he said with grim resolve. "You said you know where he is? Take us to him, right now."

Laurel looked startled. "I don't think-" she began.

"No," Thea interrupted. "We are his family. He doesn't get to die on us without at least telling us why." Her eyes were fierce, determined. "This time, he's going to give me an explanation."

"Thea, I don't think you should push him for answers right now, not when he's already this close to the edge," Laurel cautioned her.

"I have to," she said. "Maybe I was a brat last year, maybe I was a little insensitive about everything Oliver went through, but he still really hurt me." She hesitated, and then confessed, "He knew Malcolm Merlyn was my biological father, and he kept it from me."

"W-what?" Walter gasped. How had she found out? How had Oliver, for that matter?

"Are you sure?" Laurel asked, her eyes wide, "Ollie never even mentioned-"

"Slade told me after he abducted me," she said as tears spilled down her cheeks. "Can you believe that madman knew before I did? I spent the last few hours of mom's life hating her guts for lying to me, and then she died saving my life. How screwed up is that?"

"We're wasting time," Walter cut in, "Any second now, Oliver could be turning himself over to Slade. I am not losing either of my stepchildren to that man. You have to take us to him, right now."

Laurel continued to hesitate for a moment, and then she gave in. "Fine," she said. "I'll talk to Diggle and find out where he is."

She walked out of the room, leaving Thea and Walter to stare at each other in a troubled silence.

…

TBC…