Summary: After Chloe is found siphoning money from Oliver's company in order to purchase Kryptonite weapons, she realizes that she losing her sense of humanity. She decides that the only way to escape from who she is becoming is to erase her memories and start over. Oliver has 4 months to stop her before it's too late.

Spoilers: Up to Conspiracy, and then I write my own way.

POV: First chapter is Chloe-centric, and then Ollie-centric for the rest of the journey.

Chapter Six

A window opened, and the video started. Chloe's face popped up on the screen. She was wearing a green leather jacket and her hair was curled. God, she always looked beautiful in green.

"Oliver, I'm not exactly sure how to say this, so I guess I'll just come out with it." She took a deep breath. "I'm leaving. I'm getting out of Metropolis to start everything over again. I'm sorry about everything- about the money and the Kryptonite weapons."

He waited for something more, something about this video that was different from the other one. Some sort of clue that would tell him where she was going.

"Please don't blame yourself for all of this. I'm not leaving because of anything that you…said or did. It's just that…" she stopped for a moment.

So she didn't leave because he accused her of being another woman who was manipulating her for his money or for calling her a booty-call? Doubtful.

"I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong. I thought that as Watchtower, it was my job to protect the human race. For a backup plan to be in motion in case Clark fails and the Kryptonian are killed. Maybe I have trust issues, but I didn't want to put all of our eggs in one basket."

She was right- the weapons were the best option. He just wanted her to ask before taking money from his account. That was all. It was the principle of the matter.

"If the future that Clark saw actually does happen, I wanted to be prepared. And since it was a responsibility that I had as Watchtower, I didn't think that I needed to ask for the money. In the end, you're a person. And just because I have the ability to gain access to any bank account in the world, it doesn't mean that I should. I mean, I can take money from a random person in Italy, but I won't. Why should you be any different?"

He decided to check out the Italian news later. Maybe there was a reason that she chose that particular country.

"Anyway, I'm rambling. I have a friend of a friend who can erase a particular memory. If I start a new life for myself, there's always going to be someone tracking me down to get information on the team. So I'm going to go through with the process so that I can start over without risking the identity of the team. I want to make sure that you guys are protected."

This part always made him a little bit angry, because if he hadn't introduced her to the team in the first place, she wouldn't need to erase her memory.

"It's 100% permanent, which is why they won't do it without me thinking it through first. I wanted to have it done right away, but I was told that I needed to wait. They wanted me to wait 6 months, but I was able to persuade them to do it after 4. They just won't let me bring any of my things with me. Everything that I know is in Watchtower's database. And I'll drop off my laptop just in case I missed something."

Not being able to bring anything but the bare necessities with her would explain why her apartment wasn't emptied out.

He took a deep breath. So she hadn't had her memory erased yet. And he had almost four months to find her. He could search the entire world in that time.

And if she was starting over a permanent life, then she wasn't going to move from place to place. She would stay put.

He could finally get a full night's sleep tonight, and not worry that while he was passed out on the desk, Chloe would be getting her memory erased. This was doable. He could do this.

"Maybe it'll be good for me to start over, or maybe it'll be a complete disaster. I don't know."

She was trying to sound positive, but the tears were flowing freely. She was crying a lot more than she did in the other video.

It looked like leaving was harder than she originally intended.

"I've worked at the Watchtower to give myself a role in your lives, but there's no real reason for it. There's…no room for me in Metropolis anymore. Clark doesn't need me to help him save the day anymore. He makes his own decisions, and I'm proud of him for doing it. Lois doesn't need my help on a big story anymore. And you…" her voice broke.

She inhaled sharply and wiped away her tears. "I know that you think I saved you, but the hero is inside of you. You would have pulled yourself out of your downward spiral in time. I'm sure of it. And even if you did need me, you don't anymore."

Right, because borderline suicidal people living off of alcohol can put their lives back together easily.

"As far as the team is concerned, Victor is better at everything that I can do. He can hack into places faster, he is trained physically. There isn't a single computer that he can't crack, and he can do it all on-site. I have complete confidence in him, and I'm confident that you can lead them. You did it before I hopped on board just fine."

Victor may have the abilities, but Chloe had the calm in high pressure situations. And that was hard to come by. She was irreplaceable.

Just watching this was draining Oliver of whatever energy he had. He had been fighting off sleep ever since he found out that he had almost four months. His body was beginning to take over.

"Clark's so unpredictable these days with his emotions. I'm not sure how he's going to react to all of this when he finds out. I know that you guys don't agree sometimes. Take care of each other, no matter what he does."

He still didn't know what to do about Clark and the Kandorians. It was best for both of them if Oliver just watched as this whole thing played out.

If Chloe had her memory erased, and the Kandorians took over, she would be vulnerable. If she had her memory intact, they would fight together. But if she didn't know what was going on, he would lose her. Finding her was more important than offering Clark help that he wasn't going to take.

The whole idea of creating Kryptonite weapons was to stop blindly trusting and following Clark in such important times. And when Oliver agreed to keep it a secret for the time being, he agreed to stop following Clark blindly as well.

"I'm going to go, before I talk myself out of this."

He really wished that she did talk herself out of everything. More than anything, he wished that he was around when she dropped off the computer. He could have stopped her from leaving.

She wiped her tears again, and smiled. "Goodbye."

The video ended.

There were so many thoughts and emotions swimming in his head right now. He was angry with Chloe, for thinking that he could run the team without her. She had been working with the team on and off for the last 3 years. She was always there for the big things that were going on, regardless of where the team was.

He was mad at himself. He always thought that he showed his appreciation for her whenever she did some digging and came up with something amazing. How could he make her think that there was no room in Metropolis for her? If anything, there was no room for him- Star City was supposed to be his home.

Four months. That was all his body could comprehend. Oliver started to feel dizzy. There was no reason to freak out about everything that he just saw- he had four months to make sense of it all and find her.

He barely made it to his bed in time before his body collapsed.

Days without Chloe Sullivan: 9

Oliver woke up to an incessant beeping noise coming from his pocket. He knew that it was some sort of notification, but he was so exhausted that he couldn't even open his eyes. He felt around for the off button. He turned off his phone, and put it on his nightstand.