Oliver had spent so much time patrolling the piece of plane that was their current camp that he hadn't gone in to check on Felicity since he'd last seen her. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was just that he was terrified that she might look worse. He didn't know if he could honestly handle that. He knew that he had a battle ahead of him and he was trying to keep his head level.

That wasn't easy.

"Digg wants you."

"Do you know why?" he asked calmly from where he was perched.

"He asked me if there could be any other caches of medicine on this island. I told him what I thought, but let's face it…you'd know better, Ollie."

"She's worse?" he asked, his voice breaking a bit thus betraying him.

Sara approached his position and started to climb the tree he was up in. He knew that she'd be there in a flash. "You should see for yourself," Sara told him.

"Sara—"

"Look, we knew that this wasn't going to be the best situation…"

"Felicity shouldn't have been involved in this," Oliver said, his anger rising in his voice, but he tried to push it back. "She doesn't deserve to be put through this…or whatever else Slade has planned for us."

"I know," Sara whispered as she made it up and next to him. She sat down on the sturdy tree branch, but kept her gaze downward on the plane. "But Diggle thinks that maybe because Slade hasn't been seen…that this is all part of his plane…get us worked up…only to have us go find him and beg him for help."

Oliver just thought about what she'd just told him. Felicity had to be worse. He already knew that Diggle had said that he just had to hope that he'd gotten out all of the foreign particles and he'd sewn up the gash crudely and as best as he could. There would be a scar and he was worried about infection. But that hadn't been all of it. She was in pain and they just had ibuprofen to try to quell the pain she was experiencing. Felicity had also lost a lot of blood, which they'd tried to replace…but DIggle was afraid of giving too much. All of the medical equipment was either basic or crudely constructed.

"I'm not going to bury her next to Shado," he whispered. He kept the tears back as he thought about Felicity and as he thought about Shado.

"Oliver, I hate to say this…but we might have to face that reality…"

Her voice was all too calm for him and he really wanted to lose it. He didn't though. He kept his cool and breathed for a moment before finally speaking up. "So, you're saying that we're going to have to go looking for Slade…"

"I'm saying that I think this might be his plan…"

"How is this a plan? How could he have known that Felicity would have been hurt in the first place?"

"He dropped us all around the island in the middle of the night. I'm more surprised that Felicity is the only one who is injured."

"Sara—"

"Look, Ollie, I know you're not going to like any of this, but we need to be smart about this. You and I not only know how dangerous Slade can be, but this island… With Slade here…on Lian Yu, I think we need to worry about the ghosts too… There are so many ghosts here…"

"I know," he whispered.

"You want to get Felicity home?"

"Yes."

"Then you have to face that we may still bury a body on this island."

"I know."

"Ollie—"

"It's right that way," he whispered. "To be buried next to Shado…and my dad. I should have died here… I shouldn't have been spared… I shouldn't have been given a second chance… I screwed up my life before…"

"You're wrong," Sara told him as she looked over at him.

Oliver looked at her. "Am I?"

. . .

He'd woken up on the beach alone and from the moment his eyes took in the landscape, he knew. It was like something out of a nightmare.

Lian Yu.

Oliver looked around wildly once he was on his feet. He'd been on the ship with Diggle, Sara…and Felicity.

Felicity…

He wanted to dwell on her loss, he did, but he knew that if he did then if Diggle and Sara were on that island that they might not make it off. All his heart wanted to do was to stop and break down. Oliver wanted to mourn her loss because he hadn't done it when they were on the boat. In truth, he really hadn't accepted or believed that she was gone. Not until his eyes took in his surroundings and he knew where he was.

Slade obviously meant war as far as his vendetta was concerned. He was out to avenge Shado, but Oliver knew that Shado wouldn't approve of what Slade was doing. He'd already killed so many… Felicity was innocent in all of this…he'd never intended for her or Diggle to be involved in anything like this. The only reason for it was to hurt him.

Slade had done that now.

Oliver had kept holding out hope that Felicity was somewhere else. That maybe Slade hadn't followed through with his threat and she was safely locked away on the ship somewhere. The truth was that he couldn't even be sure if Diggle and Sara were alive.

With a heavy heart, Oliver started along the shore. He was hoping that he'd find Sara and Diggle along there since that's where he'd woken up. He stayed on his guard though in case Slade appeared. At this point Oliver just really didn't have fight in him. If Slade wanted to kill him in order to avenge Shado, then he'd happily hand over his life, but the killing needed to stop. No one else should die at Slade's hands because of him.

"Ollie?"

At first he almost thought he'd imagined her voice. When he'd turned towards the jungle, he hadn't seen her.

"Ollie!"

Sara stepped out of the jungle and seemed just as surprised to see him. "Are you okay? Have you seen Diggle?" Oliver rattled off quickly as they both closed distance between them. Oliver grabbed her for a quick hug, thankful that he'd found her alive.

"I haven't seen him," Sara told him.

"Maybe he's up here further," Oliver said pointing ahead. "I was back that way," he explained as he pointed in the direction he'd just come from. "I woke up on the shore. I thought maybe Slade dropped off everyone along here…"

"Let's hope so," Sara told them as they started further down the shore. "Digg doesn't know this place and there are still landmines in some areas."

As those words tumbled out of Sara's mouth, all Oliver could think about was the last time he'd been on Lian Yu and how Felicity and Diggle had shown up to retrieve him. Felicity had stepped on one of those landmines and Oliver had swung in to the rescue."

They walked a ways and they hadn't found any sign of Diggle. Oliver just kept telling himself that Slade could have his friend somewhere else.

"We might have to accept that Slade killed Digg like he killed—" Sara started.

"I can't accept that."

"Well maybe Slade has him locked up on the ship."

That really wasn't a much better option as far as he was concerned. Oliver wouldn't have to worry about Diggle stepping on a landmine, but there were other conditions he could suffer from sitting in a cold, damp cell on a boat docked in the middle of the China Sea on an island that had no traffic.

"Maybe," Oliver mumbled. "We have to keep looking," he pushed a moment later.

They'd walked for far too long. He was getting worried and from the look on Sara's face, she was irritated with him. Oliver couldn't help it though. He wanted his friend to be alive. He couldn't have the weight of Diggle's death on him too. He couldn't bear more death on him. He'd changed. Felicity had proven that there was another way…

Felicity.

His heart wrenched as he thought about her. Oliver stopped and looked around. "He shouldn't be so far away…"

"Unless that's what Slade wanted," Sara told him. "For us to be split up."

"I'd rather find him…"

"He knows how to handle himself," Sara said confidently. "Digg's going to be okay." She was quiet for a moment. "But if it would make you feel better, it's not much farther until this turns from shore to rocky cliff tops… We might as well scan the rest of the beach."

Beach.

Lian Yu was not his idea of a beach…or a beach getaway. It was filled with death and destruction…and beach just brought on ideas of young people partying in skimpy bathing suits. That wasn't where they were. Lian Yu was death.

Oliver just nodded and started to head on instead of speaking up. He knew that Sara was right. It would ease his mind if they scanned the rest of the shore before it turned into rocky cliffs. Otherwise he'd always wonder. He needed to give Diggle every chance that he could.

They turned a corner and Oliver stopped. There on the beach was Diggle and he was hovering over someone. His hesitation was momentary before he and Sara broke out into a sprint across the sandy shore. But when they got closer, he didn't believe his eyes.

There on the shore, unconscious and pale, was Felicity. Diggle was trying to stop her leg from bleeding and seemed too busy to even acknowledge their presence. He could tell that whatever had happened that Felicity needed help. Oliver knelt down on the other side of her and immediately was removing what remained of his button-up shirt. It had been stained over the last few days with sweat and blood, but it seemed like the sea had washed much of it away. He reached down and put pressure on her leg and handed the shirt to Diggle. Oliver knew that they needed to stop the bleeding, but Diggle was the closest they had to an actual doctor.

"We're going to need to sew it shut," Diggle told him. "I don't know how much blood she's already lost…passing out is never a good sign."

"Slade—"

"It wasn't Slade," Diggle told him and then shook his head. "I mean, technically…Slade did this." Oliver watched as Diggle pulled apart his shirt as he spoke. "I found her out that way," he said as he pointed out towards the water. "There's a build up of wreckage…her leg was caught and cut because of where Slade left her…"

"At least she's alive," Sara spoke up.

All this time he'd blamed himself for her death…now he had to make sure that she stayed alive. She and Diggle shouldn't be there in the first place. "She's going to be okay, right?" Oliver asked as he watched Diggle lay out what looked like a new bundle of cloth to try to stop the blood and a bunch of strips to hold it in place.

"I don't know," Diggle told him all too honestly. "We need to check the wound, clean it, stitch it closed, and protect it. That's not even considering pain medication and possibly antibiotics…"

He watched in horror as Diggle made him move so that he could better bandage Felicity leg, even if it was only temporary. The cut was long and deep. At least it didn't seem to be near an artery, so there was that. "What can we do?"

"Get her to a hospital."

Oliver wished he could do that. He stared down at her. He was so overjoyed and thankful to find her there alive, but at the same time…he feared that she might not make it off of Lian Yu. That wasn't acceptable. She needed to make it.

"I left supplies here…"

"But those were basic medical supplies," Diggle reminded.

"There might be more on the island," Sara spoke up. "But it won't be easy…"

"It never is."

Oliver just stared down at her for a while in silence. He eventually reached out to touch her face. She was warm, but she wasn't warm enough. It didn't help his worry. "You're going to be okay," he whispered.

. . .

TBC…