A/N: I spent a lot of time on this and re-wrote it several times. I just didn't like it. So I suppose this is my final draft. Hope you enjoy reading more than I enjoyed writing.

Roy

Roy was angry, and in truth, had every right to be. The love of his life, Thea, was gone. She had left a note and vanished. He wanted to hurt someone. Mostly, he wanted to impair Oliver. If he had just told Thea then the lies would have stopped. Thea would never had been mad and had never of had a reason to leave. He couldn't blame her, she was hurting. She just learned everyone in her life was lying to her, about her father, about how they spend their nights, about everything. Even some things she hadn't found out yet, all Roy wanted to do was stop the lies. He wanted to go back and change the past. Roy walked around the empty streets of the glades. The sound of police sirens wailed in the distance, filling the empty and dark streets with their song. He himself didn't seem to know where he was going but his feet did.

He had started out at his old house and had been walking for a long time. Finally he found himself at an old subway entrance. No one was around to keep him out so he slipped in. He found his way down to the boarding station, the tracks where quiet. Nobody was using the subway anymore. No one had since Mr. Salvation. Technically no one even knew that The Salvation had been using the subway. They just knew that the Arrow had stopped them. Apparently they never cleaned up his mess.

Roy jumped over the turnstile with hindrance. The Mirakuru was officially out of his system and so was the Pit Viper venom. His strength and agility wasn't what it used to be. But it wasn't completely gone. He was in much better shape than he was in originally but not as good it once was. He was okay with that, though. He didn't have to worry about hurting Thea….Thea, that's why he was down here, she was gone and he wanted to go back to the moment he lost her.

No, he didn't lose Thea when she found the bow and arrows under his bed. He lost her the moment he met The Hood. The moment he decided he needed to be like The Hood, he had unknowingly signed a contract agreeing to betray Thea's trust and lose her. If he had known at the time, he would never have looked for the Hood. But sometimes life wants you learn lessons the hard way.

Roy made it to the tracks and wasted no time jumping down to them. He walked for a while until he saw the old abandoned subway car on the tracks. He had only come down here one other time other than when he was kidnapped. And that was when He discovered that Oliver Queen was, in reality, The Arrow. He hadn't known what to think and he came down here, to the place he became obsessed, and he thought about it. About what joining them would mean. Now he needed the clarity this place provided once again. He needed to think about what to do without Thea. He practically screamed at Felicity to find her. And she had cringed at Roy's over the top reaction, his cursing and threatening. He felt slightly bad. He had always liked Barbie but he hated the fact that Thea was gone. Oliver had apologized immediately for the raise in noise level, and had told Roy to apologize as well but he stormed out instead. Probably not a good choice but he was livid and didn't seem to care about how the others must be feeling.

Roy boarded the subway car and pushed his way past the construction tarp, he passed the old bones of Mr. Salvation whose body was never taken out. At first it was gross and it stunk but after so long the body decayed and with it, the smell subsided. Now they were bones with clothes hanging off them and an arrow caught in between the rib cage. Part of him wanted to run and never turn back, but most of him was stuck in a trance.

*flash back*

He had been arranging this for weeks now, with Trever his second hand man. Scoping out the joint hadn't been difficult. They had gone in a few times to find security cameras, which there were none. The liquor joint was also a front for a brothel and the owner couldn't exactly film his illegal operations now, could he? So, he had opted for look outs with walkie-talkies twenty-four seven. Taking them out would be easy. They weren't buff men but Roy was street smart enough not to under-estimate the small ones. They were faster than the buff guys and could make a quick get-away if necessary. But Roy was talented and had no doubt he could take them out. It was Trever's job to get the weapons.

It was a simple job and he had ordered Trever to get the gun to him the day before the heist. Unfortunately Thea was there that day. He should have known she would be noisy. She kissed him until he was thoroughly distracted and then grabbed the brown bag dumping the contents into her hand. She was less than thrilled to find a gun in Roy's possession especially given to him in such a shady manor. She gave him the whole 'You can be better' speech. In hind sight, he probably should have just stayed there and listened to her lecture. But nooooo heaven forbid he catches a break, and instead he marched outside like the drama queen he was.

"Wow," He mutters, because despite everything she was there, in front of him. However, this time he knew what she was going to say, "I was waiting for this." He tells her still moving, he couldn't stop here, if he stopped he would have to look into her eyes and listen to her words. And his resolve would crumble.

"Waiting for what?" Thea asks all too innocently.

"The whole You-can-change-I-can-see-the-real-you speech." He motions to his surroundings with his arms wide open. "Look around Thea, this is home-sweet-home for me. You either starve or you do things that make you lucky enough to reach twenty-one." He stops to stare at her now. Hoping his words will sink into her thick skull.

Thea's eyes watered as she spoke, "I- I can't accept that." She was shaking her head in complete denial, refusing to see the truth that was right in front of her. The truth was written over their surroundings. From the old and weathered brick walls, the exposed trash cans, and the cheap, rusted tin roofs.

"No, you can't except me." He knew it was cliché for him to say it, but things are clichés because they're true.

"Roy Harper?" A booming voice calls his name behind him. The voice was demanding and was admit to be heard.

"Yeah?" Roy turns to face the man but not before acquiring a pinch in his neck, a needle, and blow to the head. He heard Thea scream and he saw the figure looming over him. He pulled out his gun and began firing. Shit! He remembered he had emptied the gun to try to set Thea at ease. He didn't know how many times he fired the empty gun before he lost conciseness.

"He remembered talking. He didn't want to fight anymore. After the man asked him why HE should live, he realized. He shouldn't. He was no better than the lawyer. He was no better than that con-artist builder man. He was rotten, filth, scum of the street, "I don't deserve to live. No one will miss me." He said the words in defeat.

Then it happened. He heard the words and his heart picked up. He knew that was what he wanted to do. To make himself a better person, he needed to help. The world was falling apart and he and the Arrow were the only ones who noticed. He could serve justice, by helping the Arrow. The next words he heard saved his life. Not from the madman with a gun, but from himself. The words were nothing special but the man that said them, the words, no matter how insignificant gave him purpose.

"Let the kid go!"