Aside from the ending, this is pretty much a filler chapter, but I do hope you guys enjoy it anyway.

Guest 2.0: Glad to hear it. Yep. Glad to hear it.

Guest: Respectfully, even the age of the actors aside, I just can't picture them as the Big Thee. Thank you for the suggestion anyway.

Philadelphia

Mid afternoon

"Patty?" Barry breathed as he stared at his former girlfriend.

She was as beautiful as he remembered. Her blond hair cascaded down her back in waves as her blue eyes stared into Barry's dark ones. She didn't seem shocked by Barry's dagger, just taken back. Barry wasn't sure what she was seeing through the Mist, but Barry knew he had a lot of explaining to do.

"You mind putting that away?" Patty asked a grin at the corner of her lips, obviously amused.

"Right. Sorry," Barry sad awkwardly, lowering the dagger and putting it in his coat pocket. "I felt someone come up behind me."

"So naturally, you pulled out a dagger to stab them," Patty teased and Barry's face turned red. "That's good. With monsters coming at us, those instincts will keep you alive."

It took only a moment for Barry to digest what Patty meant. Then, once it did, confusion and disbelief flooded him.

"You're a…" Barry trailed off, not sure how to say it.

"Not here," Patty said, glancing to some bystanders at a nearby table who were watching them with interest.

In hindsight, maybe it wasn't the best idea to nearly stab his ex-girlfriend in a crowded café.

"I have an apartment a few miles from here. We can talk there," Patty suggested.

It was as good an idea as any, Barry mused as he put down a ten dollar bill before following Patty out.

San Francisco

Not long after

When Slade had said 'safe house', Oliver had pictured a warehouse or an underground bunker. Instead, Slade took them to a two story house that reminded him of some of the summer homes his family had visited on some of their vacations when he and Thea had been younger. Slade walked in, Percy following behind him and Oliver with the wounded Annabeth in his arms.

"Set her down on the couch," Slade told Percy as he walked over to a cabinet.

"Can we trust this guy?" Percy asked Oliver once Slade was out of hearing range.

That was a loaded question, Oliver reflected. Slade had been both his worst enemy and his closest ally. Even after he was cured of the Mirakuru, Oliver was never quite sure where he stood with Slade. But, he reasoned, if Slade had wanted them dead, he would have left them to fend for themselves against China White and the Triad.

"For now," Oliver allowed.

Percy nodded and walked over to the couch, setting Annabeth down as Slade returned with a bag. Slade opened it up and pulled out a black material.

"Have her bite down on this," Slade ordered as he all but shoved it into Percy's hands.

As Percy coaxed it into the barely conscious Annabeth's both, Slade pulled out a needle and thread. Annabeth bit down on the object and, with Percy's help, Oliver gently turned Annabeth on her side and Slade began stitching up her wound.

"While I stitch her up, why don't you tell me what's going on kid," Slade said, his gaze completely focused on the task at hand.

Philadelphia

Later in the afternoon

Barry walked into Patty's apartment, looking around. It was actually a lot like her apartment in Central City, except nicer. Barry noted that there were some drawings around the room, detailed drawings of a temple. Barry was about to ask what they were about when he spotted something. He paused, staring down at a picture of him and Patty. A mix of emotions welled up in him before Patty spoke up.

"You want something? I have tea," Patty offered.

"No, thank you," Barry cleared his throat awkwardly before turning around to face her. "You're a demigod."

"Well, I guess we're not beating around the bush," Patty joked but Barry remained serious, so she sighed. "Yeah. Daughter of Athena."

As Barry stared at her, he could see the slight recumbence to Annabeth Patty had. It wasn't so much in the hair as it was in their eyes and the way they held themselves. They had the same fiery spirit.

"How long have you known?" Barry asked, trying to wrap his head around it.

"Since I was a kid. Athena's not like most gods, she claims her children at birth," Patty explained.

Barry was silent, processing this. She had known she was a demigod for most of her life. She had known who she was when they had met. Then, part of his conversation with Chiron earlier in the week came back to him.

"I sent a scout to look into all possible demigods in Central City. They came back to me with a report on you. But they said you had too much to deal with as it was; that you were dealing with someone named Zoom."

"It was you," Barry breathed and she looked at him confused. "You were the one Chiron sent to look into me during the war, weren't you?"

"Barry-" Patty started.

"Weren't you?" Barry repeated more forcibly but the look on her face was answer enough.

"Yes," Patty finally admitted her voice no louder than a whisper. "Things were bad during the war, you can't even imagine. We needed to round up every demigod we could find. While most of the younger generation was doing the fighting, the older demigods were looking for unclaimed kids. There were reports coming out of Central City, things we didn't understand. We didn't know about Metahumans at the time, we thought people were starting to see through the Mist. Chiron sent me because I grew up in Central City. I got a job as a cop so I would be first on the scene, so I could determine what was happening while I looked for any new demigods in town."

"There was no CSI program in Midway, was there?" Barry realized and Patty looked at him regretfully.

"Once I figured out you were the Flash, I needed to come up with an excuse to leave so I could keep looking for more unclaimed demigods before Kronos' forces could find them," Patty said softly. "Having to lie to you was the hardest thing I ever had to do."

Barry was silent, his mind whiling. He had loved her; he had considered a future with her. He had seen it, wanted it so badly that it physically hurt him. And the whole time, she had been lying to him. Was this how Iris had felt when she found out about his secret, he wondered.

Silently, Barry turned and headed for the door.

"Barry-" Patty started again.

"I just…I can't look at you right now," Barry said gruffly before storming out.

Slade's house

Same time

After stitching up Annabeth, Slade had gotten two squares out of his bag and fed them gently to Annabeth. They seemed to help, as Annabeth was sitting up and seemed like she barely felt where the stab wound was.

"What did you feed her?" Oliver asked as he and Slade gave Percy and Annabeth a moment.

"Ambrosia Squares. They'll heal most wounds demigods suffer," Slade said nonchalantly and Oliver narrowed his eyes.

The first clue that something was up was when Slade had not so much as batted an eye when Oliver and Percy had brought up demigods while he had been stitching up Annabeth. When Oliver had said they were looking for a son of Ares, that's when things got interesting.

"Well, it appears you've found him," Slade had said, not looking up from where he had been stitching up Annabeth.

Slade being the son of the war god was not a surprise to Oliver. If anyone embodied the spirit of a warrior, it was Slade Wilson. It looked like this made them cousins, as Ares and Artemis were both children of Zeus, Oliver mused briefly.

"Why are you in San Francisco? Last time we met, you were searching for your sons," Oliver pointed out and Slade grimaced.

"I followed Joe for a while, but I lost his tail. I started looking into Grant, my other son. Eventually, I discovered that my wife put him up for adoption under a different name, Joseph Wintergreen. I suppose she wanted to mock me," Slade said with a bitter grin before frowning. "Eventually, I found him. He was…happy. He has a family, a real family. He has a normal life. I could not take that away from him for my selfish desire to make up for Joe."

"You put his happiness before your own," Oliver muttered, remembering his own choice with allowing William to live with his grandparents. "I'm sorry. That must have been hard."

"One of the hardest decisions of my life," Slade said emotionally, his eye shining with pain. "Not long after that, I got word that Joe was in Argus custody. For a few weeks, I wondered aimlessly, feeling lost, without purpose. I ended up here, in San Francisco. A demigod was being attacked by a Hellhound. Without thinking, I cut it down. I failed my son…but I realized that there were many more children, demigods in danger. So I decided to make their paths away from this city easier."

"You did a good thing Slade," Oliver said and he nodded silently.

"So, what aren't you telling me about this quest kid?" Slade asked pointedly. "I know you enough to know when you're keeping something from me. You were holding something back when you told me about this quest. What's going on kid?"

"Mar Novu…he's seen my fate. This Crisis that's coming…he says I don't survive," Oliver admitted.

Oliver hadn't been sure how Slade would react, but him bursting into laughter had not been what he pictured.

"Sorry kid, but I spent the better part of two years trying to kill you. At this point, I'm sure you'll outlive us all," Slade said once he'd managed to gain control of his laughter.

"In my last meeting with Novu, I met Apollo," Oliver said and Slade looked at him sharply. "He said there were multiple ways this Crisis could unfold. Only one future exists where I survive, along with the two people I'm trying to protect."

"You may be new at this kid, but I've known who my father was before I was old enough to drink, known what I was for most of my life," Slade said after a moment and Oliver listened, sure this was going to be one of those times when Slade gave him the rare bit of sage advice that tended to be useful. "We are pawns to the gods, merely chess pieces used to fight their wars. This Mar Novu is no different, using you to fight his battle. If this is a fight you're destined to die in, be sure of what you're fighting for kid."

Slade then walked off, leaving Oliver to his thoughts.

Philadelphia

Night

Barry had raced around the state for a while, his mind trying to come to terms with everything he had learned. Eventually he ended up in a bar. He knew he couldn't get drunk, but he had a feeling if he didn't stop running, he'd either end up back in Central City or at Patty's apartment, neither of which were options he was ready for. He was sitting at a table, a half empty bottle of beet in front of him as he examined his mother's mirror, trying to figure out why she had given it to him. Hearing someone sit down at the opposite end, he looked up, somehow not surprised to see Patty had taken the seat opposite him.

"What are you doing here?" his question came out harsher than he intended.

"Somehow, I just…I had a feeling I'd find you here, I'm not sure why," Patty admitted. "I owe you a lot of answers Barry."

"How do I know it won't just be more lies?" Barry demanded.

"I swear on the River Styx that whatever you ask me, I will answer with the truth," Patty said simply.

In the distance, Barry could hear the sound of thunder as he stared at Patty. A swear on the River Styx was the equivalent of a death sentence if you didn't keep it, you break it and you die. Patty would know that. As he stared at her, remembering everything he'd been through with her, some of the hurt began to ebb as he realized how serious she was about this.

"Was any of it real? You and me?" Barry asked the question that had been on his mind for the last few hours.

"Barry, I lied a lot when we were together, but what we had, what we felt for each other, that was real. All of it," Patty told him seriously.

From the look in her eyes, he didn't doubt her. It made him feel better that what he felt, what part of him still felt, wasn't one sided. That it hadn't just been a con to get close to him.

"When did you know I was The Flash?" Barry asked.

"Right around the time Zoom gave his little show and paraded you around the city," Patty said with a sad smile. "When you disappeared right after, I put the pieces together. The lame excuses, how you and Joe could never get your stories straight, I looked over your reports and saw details you could only know if you were there. I'm a daughter of Athena," Patty said with a smile that did something funny to Barry he tried to ignore.

"If you knew, why did you act like you didn't for so long, why ask me to tell you the truth?" Barry asked in confusion.

"Because I knew you wouldn't," Patty admitted, taking Barry back. "I knew you wouldn't because you love me. It's your fatal flaw."

"Fatal flaw?" Barry repeated dumbly.

"Every hero has one, that one characteristic that could kill them if we don't keep it in check," Patty explained.

"And what's mine?" Barry asked wearily.

"Love. Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. Barry, you have the biggest heart out of anyone I have ever met. It's what made me fall in love with you in the first place," Patty said and Barry's stomach started doing summersaults. "But that love drove you to protect the people in your life, to extremes. I watched you keep everyone you love at a distance for months, believing you were protecting them. I knew it would be the same for me. You would never tell me the truth because you believed that I would be safer not knowing."

"But you still asked me anyway," Barry noted and she nodded with a sigh.

"I guess I had to try. A daughter of Athena, letting her heart overrule her head. For a son of Aphrodite, no less. I'm not sure who's a bigger disappointment to my mother, me or Annabeth," Patty said with a tight smile and Barry was silent for a long moment.

"And if I had asked you to stay, told you my secret?" Barry finally asked.

"Had you said the word…I would have left the war behind to build a life with you in Central City," Patty said without hesitation. "Maybe that's selfish of me, but it's the truth."

Barry looked away, not sure how to deal with this. Knowing what he knew, he couldn't really fault Patty for her lies, he's not sure he would have believed her if she had told him the truth. It was so much easier when he could just be angry at her.

As he tried to process all this, something caught his attention. His half empty beer bottle was shaking, vibrating, as though some tremor shook it. Now that he noticed it, there was a slight rumbling under his feet. He looked up at Patty and saw from the look in her eyes that she had noticed it to.

Then they heard it. A loud sound, like something slamming onto the ground, followed by an identical sound. The entire bar was silent, the band having stopped playing as they heard it. Barry and Patty stood up, Patty pulling out a knife nearly identical to Annabeth's as Barry pulled out his dagger. They waited, their hearts hammering in their chests.

Then, there was a crash. A long, muscular, hairy arm punched through the wall. The people cried out as they scattered. Barry wasn't sure what they were seeing, but Barry was pretty sure what he was so seeing. Whoever it was crashed through the wall, debris scattering everywhere.

It was a beast. It was at least eight feet tall, hair covering its naked body. It had the body of a man, but its head was that of a bull.

The Minotaur.

It gave what was probably the bull version of a roar as it walked forward, the civilians running in terror. Gripping his dagger, Barry rushed the Minotaur at super speed, intending to stab him in the heart. But, to Barry's shock, it caught his hand with its own larger, beefy hand, stopping his dagger a foot from its heart. Angrily, the half bull threw him, hard. Barry crashed into some tables, which were destroyed by the strength of the Minotaur's throw. Barry landed on the floor, hard, his dagger landing a few feet from him.

Dazed, he watched as the Minotaur approached Patty. She tried to fight him off, trying to strike him with her knife but he managed to easily knock it out of her hands. With a knock to the head, Patty was knocked out, crumpling to the floor.

It was this that allowed Barry to shake it off. He grabbed his dagger once more, speeding back towards the Minotaur. However, it seemed to anticipate this, whirling around and trying to strike Barry once more. However, Barry made a miscalculation: he anticipated the half bull going for his dagger again. While he was focused on guarding it, he left the rest of him wide open.

The Minotaur grabbed Barry roughly by the neck, immobilizing him. Before Barry could do anything, the Minotaur had snatched Barry's dagger and slashed him across the chest with it. He felt the fire of pain as his blood flew up into the air. The Minotaur dropped him to the floor and Barry couldn't move. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was the Minotaur picking up Patty's unconscious form and walking out of the ruined bar with her thrown over its shoulder.

Well, Patty is a daughter of Athena and the scout Chiron mentioned a few chapters ago. The course of true love never did go smooth.

When you actually stop to think about it, Grant Wilson's appearance in season eight of Arrow makes little sense. The 6x05 flashbacks take place thirteen years prior to the present day events of that episode. And since Slade had no idea he had another son, Grant would have been born sometime after Slade was marooned on Lian Yu. Depending on the time of conception. Grant would have been either 15 or 16 by the time of season eight, not a full grown man. So I decided to forego the fan service and have Grant be his actual age rather than a full grown lunatic.

I did not originally intend to include the Minotaur when I started this, but it just worked really well for what I was planning for Barry's Arc, so I decided to throw it in.