So this is about to get a little more strange...thanks so much to everyone who has favorited/reviewed! And to everyone reading now: Thanks so much for giving this crazy idea a good try~ haha.
The underbrush rumbled dangerously, making Oliver tense just as a huge being stumbled out and came to a halt in front of them. When the being raised its head to look at them, Oliver relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. He'd recognize John Diggle anywhere, even dressed like...that.
"Totally didn't think you were an ogre." Roy quipped upon likewise recognizing Digg, sheathing his sword.
Sure enough, it was John Diggle, dressed in a red tunic with a bow and arrows design on the front, a white long sleeved shirt underneath, and black trousers. Beside him, Oliver could hear Roy snickering.
"Ok, so, all of us are dressed funny...but Digg, I think you take the cake." Roy declared in between his fits of giggles. Digg did not seem at all amused. Oliver stepped forward.
"It's good t'see you, Digg. Are you ok?" Oliver asked first, getting right down to business, and as soon as the big man had nodded, followed up with, "Have you seen Felicity?"
"No." Digg responded, his countenance suddenly falling. "I thought for sure she'd be with you." Diggle mumbled, looking worried. Oliver felt his heart drop, there went the hope of Digg being wherever Felicity was to protect her...wait, what'd he say? Before Oliver could inquire as to why he'd thought that Felicity was with him 'for sure,' John went on.
"I can help offer some insight as to what exactly is going on, though...and maybe where we'll find Felicity." Diggle said, giving both Oliver and Roy appraising looks.
"I woke up and there was...I suppose, a fellow knight nearby, able to answer any questions I had. So, there are two kingdoms here...we three are from that kingdom," Diggle pointed behind them, "...and they are, evidently calling it Starling Kingdom. Which," John paused and eyed Oliver. "You, for some reason, are supposed to be their beloved prince." Oliver startled, taking his time to digest that as Roy cut in,
"Hey, and what am I?" Roy asked, quite eagerly.
"Their idiot knight." Diggle informed him, crossing his arms. Roy grinned anyway, muttering the words, 'knight, I'm actually a knight..' over and over again. Ignoring him, Oliver turned back to Diggle,
"And you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Diggle glowered and turned his gaze to Roy.
"Well, that guy seemed to think...I...I am not your stinkin' page boy, ok? There is No Way I'm ever runnin' errands for Mr Pretty Boy over there." Diggle finally sputtered, turning away with a frown. Oliver allowed himself to crack a smile, as Roy still didn't quite get it.
"You're Roy's squire?" Oliver asked, his voice quiet but thoroughly amused. Roy looked from Oliver to Diggle and back again, then burst out laughing. Poor Diggle just stood there and shook his head. After a moment, Oliver cut in again, his words sobering them all up,
"You said you had a clue on Felicity's location?"
Digg nodded, "It's sort of a long shot, but...so, rumor is, the 'beloved prince of Starling' has his eye on a princess of a rival kingdom. A kingdom called Coast Village. A princess with hair the color of the sun. And given that you are playing the role of prince here..." Diggle trailed off, waving a hand at Oliver. Who looked adorably confused at Diggle's last words.
"It-it sounds like it is her, yeah, but why would my being prince have anything to do with her being-?" He was cut off by a loud groan from Roy.
"Oh, please - could you be anymore obtuse? You two make the perfect couple, ok? Even Thea and I agree on it. Digg and Lyla, too. Pretty much everyone knows how sickeningly sweet the two of you would be together except for, apparently, the two of you. So yes, if you're a prince here it actually does make perfect sense that she be a princess!" Roy unloaded upon the both of them, to which Digg just stood there and nodded his head in agreement.
"I didn't...I mean, we're not.." Oliver tried, but was thankfully interrupted by Digg.
"Yeah, you can save your stuttered disapprovals for later, why don't we all get a move on and find our girl? There were some horses back this way, let's go." Receiving nods all around, the three set off.
Felicity was done with waiting, and was now attempting to put her plan into action. It would require a great deal of upper body strength, which she really didn't have, but would have to make do. Once she was free and out of here, then she could pass out. Or, well, at least take a nice long break. With that thought, she got to work.
First, she pushed, pulled, and dragged that over-sized chest to the area directly under that little sliver of a window up there. Then, she selected the chair she thought most sturdy and heaved it up onto the chest. After a moment's rest, she grabbed another chair and heaved it on top. Yes, she was attempting to make a furniture tower to bring her within reach of that little window.
It was quite exhausting, getting all those chairs and things into place. She'd had to rest more than once. But then, finally, if she stood on the last chair she was within about an arm's length of the window...if she leaned closer, and maybe jumped a little bit, she almost could...
There was an ominous creaking sound, and then her leaning tower of chairs started to lean away from the window a little too much. A bolt of fear shot straight through Felicity; she knew this tower was balanced rather precariously, but if she went falling with it...hitting that stone floor from this height? That would spell most certain death for our dear blond. Her only chance was to reach that window, and so she propelled herself forward and made a desperate leap for the window, feeling the chairs start to fall away from beneath her feet.
She was reaching, reaching...and felt the solid window seal beneath her fingertips, and held on for dear life. She could hear, rather than look over her shoulder to see, the leaning tower of chairs come crashing down upon the stone floor...it made quite a racket, she wasn't sure how anyone could not have heard it. It would more than likely send someone in here to check on her, whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen. With her last remaining strength, Felicity pulled herself up to lay across the narrow window seal. It was too low for her to even sit up properly, but wide enough that she could almost stretch out across it length wise. She would just...wait up here a moment, catch her breath.
That is when the strangest thing happened. She heard her mother's voice.
"Oh no, my sweet little baby," it began, and with a start, Felicity looked over into her room and saw...well, her mother, Donna Smoak standing there.
"Mom?" Felicity questioned, wondering what in the heck was going on and why her mother had suddenly appeared.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart, but you've commited a fraction against the rules." The Donna-that-wasn't-Donna said much too sweetly, because Felicity knew for sure...her mother didn't talk like that. It had actually started out sounding like her in the beginning, until it...hadn't.
"Destruction of property. Those poor chairs." 'Donna' continued, frowning at the furniture massacre that was all over the floor around her feet. "You get a warning with this first offense, sweetheart." And here she looked up at Felicity, eyes the same color as her mother's, only quite expressionless. There was no love there, when usually Donna's eyes held at least some sort of emotion, or as was more usual, more than one emotion. "Second offense, you'll have to spend two hours in that horrible, awful dungeon. I would do anything to keep out of there, if I were you, sweetie." She said, waving up a hand towards Felicity, who was still perched upon her window seal. "Third offense," there was a pause, and 'Donna's face fell, "deletion." She said, completely emotionless. Then, "Have a nice day!" She waved cheerily, then was gone. Just disappeared into nothing.
"O...k. That was, uhm...that was weird." Felicity mumbled to herself, her mind racing as to why whoever was in charge of this game chose - out of all the possible people on the entire planet - her Mother as the apparent in-game warning/police system? An admin sort of thing? It was so...weird. Also, it freaked her out a bit because it likely meant someone was watching everything she did. Sighing, she lay her forehead to the cool window seal beneath her and just let herself be for a moment.
Next week's will be longer, sorry this was kinda short. Thanks for reading!