"WHEN I'M WITH YOU, I FEEL SAFE FROM THE THINGS THAT HURT ME INSIDE"

John Constantine

The only thing I can focus on as I hold Melissa Angelus' arm are the intricate tattoos covering it.

I'm supposed to try and picture the Arrannon in my head; I'm supposed to picture the blood coming out of its eyes, and the large open wound on its chest. I'm supposed to picture the black oozing mush that won't stop leaking from its mouth and the missing fingers and toes.

Instead, my eyes won't leave the swirl of black ink covering Ms. Angelus' arm; words, pictures, symbols.

"How do you know?" I'm snapped out of my inspection when her friend asks me the question.

We're in a dark alley, off the shore of the Chew Valley Lake. I look at Melissa's girlfriend, Eliza who had asked the question and tilt my head to portray confusion.

While Melissa looks like the type of girl that most parents will be wary of; her half-shaven head dyed in a multitude of colours, piercings coating her eyebrows, jaw and nose, and tattoos covering up every inch of her body, Eliza is the complete opposite; blonde hair, blue eyes, pale, unmarked skin, and an innocence that I've never really come across before. How in the world these two found each other will always be a mystery to me.

I'm broken out of my inner thoughts when Eliza explains, "How do you know what demon you're looking for?"

I answer her immediately, "Well for starters, the demon that possessed your friend is called an Arrannon. The bloody sucker gets into your soul and sucks everything up, until there is no more fight left in you," I tell her, with dramatic gestures that cause her eyes to go wide.

"You'd fall unconscious immediately."

She nods and follows along, but I can tell she isn't convinced because I've just described the symptoms for every demon possessing shown on TV.

So I elaborate, "I've been chasing this creature for a week now love, and it's jumped from people to people too many times to count. Each time, it leaves a kind of representation of the next person it's going to jump into, which is how I found your friend."

I anticipate her next question, "How did you know it was in Mel?"

I point to the black ink on her shoulder; the sun, formed by names.

I bow mockingly, "Now if I may, let's get rid of this bloody demon."

Focusing all my energy onto reciting the words I've recited far too many times, I feel my body start to go slack as I'm taken to the other side.

And then I'm back to reality again.

I look around my surroundings for an answer as to why the spell didn't work, when a loud roar reverberates throughout the alleyway, followed by a large smoke-like figure that appears and ceases to within a split second.

Melissa Angelus' eyes snap open just then, and she embraces her lover; the two girls whispering corny-ass words of love to each other.

I follow the trail of black blood, hoping desperately that the Arrannon's next victim will be easier to track than Melissa was.

And when I see the green mush that flows out of a silver bow, a rich emerald arrow nocked in, I smile.

There is only one person I know of, that wears green leathers and goes around shooting a bow and Arrow.

I arrived at Star City on the next flight; ignoring odd looks from the airport staff as they scanned through my suitcase filled with what a normal person would consider odd possessions.

Not bothering to call Oliver or try and remember the code to their stupid elevator, I place my hands on the electronic panel and smirk cockily to myself when the elevator slowly takes me down.

I'm a damn genius and I know it!

The elevator dings my arrival, and as expected, Felicity Smoke is at her place in front of her computers.

What's unexpected is the gun she has pointed my way.

"Now, now, love. I, for one, am not confident you're confident using that gun. And we both well bloody know that a gun isn't going to fare well if it does come down to a fight between the two of us," I say, my hands going up in the air regardless in a show of peace.

She drops the gun as if it burned her, and goes on one of her tangents, "I was expecting someone else here because everyone is there," she points to the five dots on her monitor, "And the last time I checked, the only people that could get in here was the League of Assassins but they did not use the elevator, but with Malcolm you'll never know so I was just trying to save myself which was completely unnecessary because it's just you and I don't know how to fire a gun very well. I tried to once and it just," She made an oddly adorable gesture of things breaking with her hands and while her rambles entertain me like no other, I stop her immediately because we have no time.

"Where is Oliver?"

Picking up on my no bullshit, business voice, she points to the screen with the small green triangle on the move, the words "Arrow" being written above.

Cute.

"He's..."She looks up and looks around, "He's here."

True to her word, the elevator doors open for the second time that hour, and Oliver Queen, decked out in full Arrow ensemble walks through, looking straight at me questioningly.

I just observe him with disbelief. Unless I was wrong in assuming that the signs the Arrannon left led to Oliver Queen, he shouldn't be looking like he just walked out of a magazine cover; walking, talking and breathing. The monster should have captured his soul in a vice grip and rendered him comatose.

"John, what the hell...?" He startles back when I invade his space and force his eyes wide for any sign of the demon.

"Doesn't make any goddamn sense," I say, more to myself than anyone else but loud enough for Dig and Oliver to hear.

It's only when the man with the scarred face and white mask decides to open his mouth that I remember the three new members on Oliver's team, "Hoss, you wanna tell us what the hell is going on?"

The question is directed to the team leader but I answer since Oliver himself clearly doesn't know what is going on. I look at Oliver and tell him, "You. Possessed. Demon. Me. Exorcist."

The woman, whose suit and mask looks awfully similar to the one Laurel Lance wore speaks up, "Did he say demon?"

John Diggle rounds the three new members of the team, guiding them to the back of the room to where I presume he will explain the whole "Soul world" demon bit.

In the meantime, I focus on my predicament with Oliver Queen. Never before have I wrongly assumed where the Arrannon was going next. There is literally no other person in this planet who can be associated with a green arrow other than the Green Arrow.

"So are we going to get an explanation better than five words or what?" Felicity Smoak asks from behind me, her heels tapping impatiently on the floor and I wonder why she isn't taking her usual place beside Oliver Queen.

"There's a demon. Called the Arrannon. It's going around possessing people, jumping from one host to another, and I've been wasting too much of my bloody life trying to find it."

Oliver puts his bow down and unzips his leather jacket, "Why are you here?"

I tilt my head, "See mate, I'm not so sure anymore. Before the Arrannon enters a new host, it leaves behind some sort of representation of the person. When I saw a bow and a green arrow, I thought that it got to you. But I guess I was wrong?"

Another member of the new team, Curtis, asks me why.

"Because, when the Arrannon possesses you, it grabs a hold of your soul. Without your soul, you don't have any fight in you and you lose your conscious state. But considering that your fearless leader is still very much awake and not comatose, I suppose I got the wrong person."

Diggle speaks up after a long bout of silence, "Is there any way you can check? Oliver may have found some kind of loophole to fight the demon."

I look at Oliver for confirmation and he nods his head with uncertainty, the whole talk of demons possessing him leaving him uneasy.

Diggle helps me set up the ritual, and as we're lighting the fire at each corner of the wooden replica of Oliver's Bratva tattoo, I look at Oliver and Felicity. Last time I was here, I didn't see the two of them without each other; always finding some way to touch and talk and feel. Now, he's on one side of the room talking to the new Black Canary, and I have no idea where Felicity is.

"Those two fell out of love?" I ask John, knowing that he'll understand whom I meant.

At my signal, Oliver lies down in the space provided for him in the middle of the Bratva star, the rest of the team take their places on a specified corner, everyone except for me, John and Felicity.

Diggle shakes his head, looking sympathetically at Oliver, "Nah, those two could never fall out of love. He screwed up big and she got scared to give him another chance and now they're both silently pining like they were two years ago."

I turn around at a sharp intake of breath to come face to face with Felicity. I don't know how long she's been standing there, but the bothered look on her face tells me that she heard everything.

"I'm coming too," She says, her tone hinting stubbornness and leaving no room for argument. I suppose it's easy for her since one of the only two people that would try to argue with her is lying unconscious on the floor.

The other one of the only two that would try to argue against her coming does, "Felicity, it's not..."

"It's not real, is it? We're all still here, and if anything happens, Constantine will send me back."

John opens his mouth to argue again, but I interrupt him this time, "We don't have much time for a court discussion. Whoever wants to come, take a corner and let's get on with it."

They take their corners, and I perform the ritual, only opening my eyes and stopping my chanting when I feel the brush of trees on my coat. Of course, Oliver's soul would take us back to this wretched island!

I move up front with Felicity by my side, addressing Diggle and the rest of the crew, "Now remember, Oliver's not going to make it easy for us. Chances are that we'll get interrupted by one or more of his many demons. It's why I had asked for you to come prepared, suit and all."

Rene points to something behind me, and I turn just as he says, "By one or more of his demons, do you mean them?"

Lined in front of us are four men. I recognize Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk, and Ra's Al Ghul, but the fourth man has a mask covering his face as well as two swords strapped on his back. I suppose this is Slade Wilson.

Dinah Drake whispers to her team, "I don't suppose anyone had the time to think of a plan?"

Diggle responds without hesitance, "The four of us can hold them off for a while. Felicity and Constantine can go find Oliver."

I look to Felicity and we run off the other way, as she asks me through panting breaths, "How do we know where to find him?"

I stop and so does she, the sounds of guns and swords an echo in the distance, "We don't find him, love. He finds us."

True to my word, the scenery changes, this place unrecognizable to me, but not to Felicity.

"It's the entrance to the Foundry. The old one. The first one." She walks up to the old metal door and opens the keypad to the right, and punches a series of numbers in.

We walk down the metal stairs, each step making a creek too loud for my preferences. On stair number 16 we stop. The loud roar that resonates throughout the hollow lair allows us to do nothing but freeze. Felicity's reaction to the gnarly beast was the same as mine the first time I saw it. She whimpers and gags in disgust, and I whisper into her ear, "It isn't real, Smoak. It cannot exist in your world."

But as we walk down the stairs, I find myself so bloody confused. If the Arrannon is really here, then why hasn't it snatched Oliver's soul yet? Why hasn't it stopped Oliver from fighting yet?

The answer presents itself when we walk down the steps and the whole picture falls into view.

Oliver Queen, decked out in the Hood he wore five years ago, shoots arrow after arrow at the monster, each arrow preventing it from moving forward. And as I survey the scene, I feel a smile threatening to take over my face and I take a step away from Oliver, ready to leave, only to be held back by Felicity.

"Where are you going? You can't leave him in here!" She hisses.

I realize I'm going to have to explain myself to her, and I hope that what I say won't strain the couple's relationship any more than it already is.

"When the Arrannon enters its host, it goes for the soul. Without the soul, the person can't fight back and the Arrannon will have a peaceful stay until someone like me attempts to ruin its life. When I came here, I expected to take the Arrannon out of Oliver's comatose body because I had expected the Arrannon to have already taken control of his soul,"

I point to the scene in front of us; Oliver Queen repeatedly putting arrows in the Arrannon, without any hint of exhaustion.

"But as you can see, Oliver Queen never gives without a fight. Especially when it comes to protecting his soul,"

I force her to acknowledge the one aspect of the scenario I know she's been trying to ignore.

Because Oliver Queen has strategically placed himself between the Arrannon and the woman seated at a silver table, typing away in front of her monitors, red pen in her mouth and blonde ponytail swaying.

"I don't know what happened between you and him, I really don't. What I do know is that he will fight this bloody thing until his bones crack and his heart stops because he's protecting you from it. So we need to go back and capture this demon from the outside before that archer's bones crack and heart stops. Because we both know Felicity, he's not going to let that thing get to you otherwise."

And with that, I'm chanting again, only stopping when we're back in the foundry.

Everyone looks at me wide-eyed, stumbling back as an after-effect of going to the other side. Rene and Diggle have their guns out, Dinah has her staff, and Curtis holds two silver balls (how kinky). They're too busy gasping for air that they don't notice Felicity's look of agony and terror.

"Stand back!" I call out, before I put all my energy into completing the ritual that I've been chanting for the past few months but never got to complete.

The demon disappears in a smoke of black air and green mush, splattering itself on the ground, causing groans of disgust.

A few moments later, they walk out of the lair to clean themselves up, telling Dig to text them when Oliver wakes up. Diggle walks away to the lair's showers after asking Felicity if she wants to go first, to which she replied with a hard no.

We sit there quietly, both our eyes trained on the man resting in front of us, not knowing what else to say to each other. I'm about to make small talk when a quite groan breaks the silence.

"Oliver," Felicity crawls over to him, and when he manages to sit up, she throws her arms around him in an obvious gesture of relief.

"What happened," He says, looking very much disoriented.

Diggle appears then, face clear of green goo and I respond to Oliver's question, "Demon's gone. All good."

Moments later, after I retold the entire evening to Oliver (minus some personal parts on Felicity's request)I make my way out of the liar and onto a plane to London.

And as the plane takes off and I look at the city getting smaller and smaller, I remember the way Felicity refused to leave Oliver's side all evening, something Oliver either didn't notice or chose to ignore.

And I leave Star City knowing one thing.

The next time I come back, it'll be to an Oliver and Felicity with rings on their fingers and the same last name.

It doesn't take a genius to know true love.

"I'M NOT PERFECT. I AM SOMETIMES SELFISH. OCCASIONALLY SELF DESTRUCTIVE. AND PRONE TO VERY BRIEF, YET SEVERE SPELLS OF SADNESS. BUT I WOULD FIGHT UNTIL EVERY BONE IN MY BODY WAS BROKEN TO PROTECT YOU. THAT'S A PROMISE."

John Constantine doesn't know what happened between Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. What he does know is that Oliver Queen will protect Felicity Smoak until his very last breath. And if that isn't love, he doesn't know what is.