A/N: I want to thank everyone who has left a review or fav this story. It means a lot.
"The future?" Digg repeated flatly.
"This is right up your alley, Felicity." Roy shot her a teasing grin. "Like that Doctor Who TV show you're always going on about."
"This is not like Doctor Who. I doubt he used a tardis to get here." Felicity shook her head. "But that does beg the question how did you manage time travel?" She looked at Oliver curiously.
"Magic," Oliver answered.
"Magic?" Felicity repeated, remembering a time before she joined the team when they talked about magic.
"Magic." He confirmed. "I know a guy who let's say is quite good with magic, and he performed a spell to send me back."
"But why did you need to come back?" Digg questioned.
"I lost someone very important to me." Someone Oliver couldn't live without. "I came back to save that person."
"It wasn't Thea, was it?" Roy asked alarmed. He hadn't seen Thea since she left Starling City, but it would kill him if something happened to her.
"No." Oliver shook his head, looking directly at Felicity.
Felicity swallowed hard, her chest tightening with the way he never looked away from her. It was a dawning realization that had a pit forming in her stomach.
The way Oliver reacted to her when she came down the stairs. The way he clung to her, his tears. Even now with the way, Oliver refused to look away from her for even a moment. Like he was afraid, she was going to disappear. Or the way he clasps her hand, remaining some kind of physical contact with her no matter how small as if he was reassuring himself she was real.
Felicity's throat constricted with a wave of fear.
Digg was having a hard time believing in magic and time travel; however, he got distracted when a sound of distress escaped Felicity, her skin paling. "Felicity, are you alright?"
Felicity couldn't answer him; however, her focus narrowed down to Oliver. Future Oliver. "It was me, wasn't it? I mean, I'm not presumptuous but the way you're looking at me right now, I can't help but think it's me who you lost." Her frown deepened. "Except, I know I'm important to you, but I doubt I'm important enough for you to take such drastic measures like time travel."
"Don't say that." Future Oliver shook his head. "Don't do that to yourself. You're more important than you possibly know."
"Why would you think you're not important?" Present Oliver steps forward until he was standing side by side with his future self directly in front of her.
"Because of you, you idiot." Future Oliver snapped, finally looking away from Felicity only to glare harshly at his younger self. "You can't just tell her you love her and then reveal it was a plan to take down Slade. You should have talked to her first. How did you think that was going to affect her?"
"Hey, you're from the future. You did the same thing." Oliver protested. "If I am an idiot, so are you. You did the exact same thing."
"You're right. I am an idiot. But I'm not the one with my head still stuck so far up my ass that I'm too scared to take a chance on something real." Future Oliver snapped. "I know what I want, and I know what I'm willing to do to fight for her."
Oh, wow. Felicity's heart thudded against her ribcage. That sounded like a declaration.
Present Oliver clenched his jaw eyes darkening in anger.
Felicity's eyes widened, and she bit her lip, watching as the two Oliver's glared one another down. The veins in their neck straining, tension coming off them in waves.
She never thought she would see Oliver literally arguing with himself or looking like he was going to throw a punch any second with the way their muscles were bunching.
It was hot in a weird way. Felicity bit her lip. Something was wrong with her.
Something was definitely wrong with her. She should not find it hot that they were arguing or that they were arguing over her.
It was not hot. It wasn't.
She nibbled on her bottom lip. Maybe, if she repeated that on a loop to herself, she could convince herself of the lie.
"Can we not do this right now?" Present Oliver's eyes flitted to Felicity then back to his future self, arching an eyebrow.
"I'm not gonna hide anything from her." Future Oliver threw back at him.
"This is so weird." Felicity murmured. "It was already weird with there being two of you, but it's extra weird that you're fighting about me. I mean, I might have dreamed about there being two of you before, but you hadn't been fighting over me. There was zero fighting, but there was fuck-" Felicity cut herself off abruptly her face flushing red as both theirs eyes snapped to her with a laser-like focus.
She hadn't meant to say any of that.
"I mean, there was no fu- um, there was sharing going on, in the strictly platonic sense." Felicity bit down on her lip to keep from embarrassing herself further.
"Yeah, I'm sure it was completely platonic." Roy shot Felicity a teasing look. "Like how when you can't take your eyes off him when he's working out. Is that platonic, too?"
Felicity shot out her arm in an attempt to swat at him, but he was too far out of her reach. "Quiet, Scarecrow."
"How does it happen? When does she get killed?" John demanded, stepping toward the two Oliver's, his eyes flitting to Felicity in concern.
His questions sucked the teasing and playful air out of the room.
"Three weeks?" Felicity repeated, her voice rising in alarm. "So I'm really going to die?"
"No." It was an echo from all four men, but it sounded harsher from future Oliver as he took her hand in his again.
"I am not going to let you get hurt again. I will protect you with my life."
"That's great, and all but you're not the only one here who wants to keep her safe," Roy interjected.
"Exactly, so we need to know everything so we can protect her," John said.
Felicity knew they didn't mean anything by it, but they were talking about her like she wasn't standing right there. "Can you guys stop talking like I'm not here. It's my life we're discussing."
"I'm sorry." Present Oliver apologized. "We want to keep you safe, but you're right. This is your life. I, I mean, he-" he nodded at his older self beside him. "Will explain, and we will take it from there, and you have a choice in how we handle all of this."
Felicity nodded. She turned her focus on future Oliver, squeezing her fingers around his. "Tell us."
"In a few days, bodies are going to start to drop. Arrows being the chosen weapon. A copy cat Hood."
Roy frowned. "Like the ones who took Thea?"
"No," Oliver shook his head. "It's just the one man, and this isn't about what happened with the Undertaking or the Glades. It's about me. About who I was when I first came back to Starling City. About the killer, I used to be."
"But you're not that person anymore." Felicity protested.
"That's why this man surfaced." Digg realized. "He thinks he's doing the Hood's work."
"No, he resurfaces to remind of who I was. To prove that the person I've become is too weak to be the symbol this city needs."
"That's not true." Felicity protested. "You've become a symbol of hope for the city."
"He doesn't want me to be a symbol of hope. He wants me to be a symbol of fear." present Oliver realized.
"Yes, and he figured he could bring forth the man I used to be by taking the people I care about away from me. Starting with the Team."
"Felicity was his target then. Kill her and bring forth the killer inside of you," said Digg.
"No." Future Oliver shook his head. "Roy was the target. Felicity pushed him out of the way and was hit with the Arrow that was meant for him."
"What?!" Roy's eyes shot to Felicity in alarm. He didn't want Felicity to die for him. It had been two months since everything that happened with Slade, and in that time, he was more involved with the team, and they had become his family. Felicity was the sister he never even realized he wanted.
Felicity's brow furrowed. She didn't like knowing she was going to die. No one would, but in a strange way, it was better knowing her death wasn't pointless. She gave her life for someone she cared about.
Felicity glanced at Roy, seeing his look of alarm, she knew he didn't see it the way she did.
She pulled her hand from Oliver's and took a step toward Roy and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, relax. It's okay."
Roy shook his head. "No, it's not. I'm not going to let you die because of me."
"She doesn't die because of you. She dies because of me." Future Oliver interjected with a pained look.
"This isn't anyone's fault," Felicity told them both. "I made a choice to save a friend, and I can tell you I would make the same choice. It's my life, and I would choose to give it for a friend. It's not either of your faults."
"It's a moot point." John crossed his arms.
Roy's eyes shot to him in betrayal. "How can you of all people say that? We just find out Felicity dies for me and your response is it's a moot point. Like her life doesn't matter?"
"Oh, it matters." John's voice took on that hard soldier edge. "It's a moot point because we're not gonna let it happen. If we take this guy down before he even starts dropping bodies, Felicity won't ever be in danger."
"Exactly." Present Oliver agreed. "We find him and make sure he doesn't have the chance to hurt anyone in the name of the Hood and then I," Oliver waved a hand at his future self. "He will go back to his time."
"As soon as Felicity's life is no longer in danger, and my task is complete. I will immediately return to my time." Future Oliver said, moving closer to Felicity again. He just needed to be in arms reach of her.
"Is that a qualification of the spell?" Felicity's head tilted in curiosity.
"Yes, once you're life is no longer in danger, I'll just return to my time," Oliver confirmed.
"Well, that makes it simple." present Oliver declared. "We'll know for sure that the danger is gone when you are."
"If we're going to stop him before he kills anyone, let alone me we should get to finding him." Felicity moved to her computers, pulling Oliver along with her because he refused to let her hand go. "Give me his name, and I'm sure we can find him."
"No, need." Oliver squeezed her hand. "I know where he is. I will go there and handle him, and then you'll be safe."
"We'll go." present Oliver interjected.
Felicity frowned. "Which one of you is going to wear the hood? And how is the other one, going to disguise themselves? What about the bow?"
"He can use one of my hoodies and my old bow." Present Oliver stated.
Future Oliver didn't protest. Mainly cause he didn't care who wore the suit. It was meant to be a symbol of heroism and what he planned on doing was not heroic.
He didn't need a bow because he planned on killing the man with his bare hands. Again. Instead, he replied. "Let's suit up."
Felicity monitored the two Oliver's and Jonn on the monitors, listening over her comms. Roy was sitting next to her, silent. That wasn't unusual. No, what was unusual was that he wanted to stay back with her. Especially when he liked being in the thick of the action.
"You know, you didn't have to stay back with me," Felicity told him.
"I know I didn't have to. I wanted to." Roy needed to. The knowledge that Felicity in the future died for him was a future he didn't want, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Felicity looked at him a moment, the tense set of shoulders, his eyes hard and his frown deepening by the minute. A wave of empathy hit her. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling to know a friend, that she sacrifices her life for him in the very near future. She reached up and muted the comms before focusing her attention entirely on Roy. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" Roy shook his head in disbelief. "You just found out you're going to die, painfully, I might add in three weeks, and you're asking me if I'm okay?"
"Yeah, I am." Felicity concerned didn't waver.
"I'm fi-"
"And don't say fine. I hear that enough from Oliver. I don't need to hear it from you, too." Felicity leveled Roy with a look. "Are you okay?"
Roy looked away from her. "No, I'm not. I mean, how can I possibly be okay when I learned a friend is going to die for me?"
"Hey, it hasn't happened yet." Felicity patted his arm to get him to look at her again. "And once we get this guy. It's never going to be something either of us will ever have to worry about again."
"I hope you're right." Roy couldn't lose his sister, and that's what Felicity was to him.
"I always am." Felicity patted his hand before unmuting the comms her eyes widening at the commotion she heard on the other line. She couldn't ever remember hearing Oliver swear so much over comms.
"Fuck! This is not fucking happening. That murdering bastard is supposed to be here!" Oliver's voice thundered, echoing in her ear, his heavy breathing, telling her just how angry he was and knew instantly that it was future Oliver that was losing it in a fit of rage.
A primal rage coursed through Oliver's veins, making him feel like his blood was boiling over.
Andrew Miller was supposed to be here. It was the same place he had found Andrew resided in when he hunted him down in his time. An office in the Glades.
But here, he wasn't there. There was the chance that he hadn't set up roots here yet, but what if that wasn't the case.
What if one of the consequences of him coming back changed how Felicity dies by Andrew Miller's hand? Or God forbid what if it sped up the timeline for Felicity's death?
He kicked a desk, swiping boxes off another, he picked up a lamp and threw it at the wall, the ceramic shattering on impact.
"Don't you think you should stop him? Destroying everything isn't doing us any good." John looked at his partner.
Present Oliver made a face, he understood why the other him was angry. How were they going to protect Felicity if they didn't know where her killer was? He turned his gaze away from his future self just as he picked up a box and threw it at a window, shattering the glass. "Why does it have to be me?"
"Becuase it's your future self having a meltdown." John crossed his arms.
Oliver rolled his eyes but stepped forward and grabbed his future self by the shoulder just as he slammed a fist through the wall. "That's enough."
Future Oliver whirled around, knocking his arm away. "Don't touch me!"
"You need to calm down," Oliver ordered, stepping forward.
"Don't fucking tell me to calm down!" Oliver shoved his self back with a hit to his chest. "He's not here. I have to find him and kill him."
"Whoa," Digg stepped forward. "Who said anything about killing this guy? We neutralize him and hand him over to the authorities."
Future Oliver spun on him, leveling him with a murderous look. "I'm not going to let the man who kills Felicity live. I'm not going to give him the chance to take her from me again. He will die."
"Oliver," John stepped forward brushing past the present Oliver. "Killing is a last resort. When there is no other choice."
"There is no other choice when it comes to Felicity's life. I will kill whoever I have to, to keep her safe," The words vibrated from his chest. "And I will put anyone down who gets in my way, and I don't care who it is."
The threat was clear.
"Oliver, that's enough. We don't go around threatening our friends." Felicity's voice sounded in his ear, and future Oliver tensed, his shoulders slumping forward. He hadn't intended for her to hear all that.
Oliver didn't want Felicity to know that her death had brought the killer in him back to the surface. "Felicity," he whispered contritely.
"Come home," Felicity said, and Oliver nodded, he barely spared his present self or John another thought as he pushed past them and out of the room, intending to get back to Felicity as soon as he could not wanting to be away from her any longer than he had to be.
Felicity stood as John, Present Oliver, and Future Oliver came bounding down the steps. "I already started running my searches for Andrew Miller. Hopefully, we get a hit soon in the meantime I feel like we need to discuss that no matter what is going on, we don't turn our anger on each other. We need to be on the same page."
Present Oliver moved to put his bow away, and John followed. "She's talking to you." Oliver threw over his shoulder at his future self.
"I'm sorry." Future Oliver stepped forward, reaching for her hand. "I just want to make sure you're going to be safe and not finding Andrew, where I found him in my time, has me worried."
"I understand, but that's no reason to come at John the way you did. We will get Miller, but we cannot let this create a divide in our team." Felicity laced her fingers with his. "Please, try to show some restraint."
"If it's you asking I will." Oliver murmured.
Felicity blushed, her cheeks warming and the way Oliver was looking at her with soft eyes wasn't helping either.
"Where's Roy?" John asked.
"He went to talk to Sin. See if she knows anyone by the name Andrew Miller." her brow furrowed in concern. "He's not handling this well."
"And how are you handling this?" Present Oliver wondered, trying his hard to ignore the way Future Oliver had his fingers laced with Felicity's, standing barely two inches apart.
"I'm fine." Felicity browed furrowed, realizing it was hypocritical of her to say that when she had just given Roy a lecture about it. "I mean, I'm okay. Still processing and everything. It's easier when I keep busy."
"If you want to talk about it we're here," Present Oliver assured.
"I know," she ran a hand through her hair. "For now, I'm just focused on my searches." She gently tugged her hand free from future Oliver's grasp and returned to her computers.
"Hey," Oliver called out to himself when he moved to follow Felicity. "Let's spar. You can get some of the anger off your chest, so you don't lash out at the team."
"I doubt that's going to help but fine. I really need to punch something anyway."
While the two Oliver's moved to the training mats, John took a seat next to Felicity. "I know this has to be scary, but I promise we are not going to let you get hurt."
Felicity looked at him. "This is scary. I don't want to die." he frowns deepened. "And I don't want to be the reason Oliver kills again. I hate that my death had such a negative effect on him."
"That's because it's you. You're irreplaceable, Felicity." John reminded. "And you mean more to him than any of us realized."
"Yeah, I guess so." Felicity wasn't sure what to think about that, and ultimately she was more concerned with Oliver's emotional well being.
Her eyes found future Oliver again, and she hoped he was able to get through this still the good the man, the hero she believed him to be in one piece. He didn't deserve to suffer more than he already has.
Why couldn't the world for once give someone as selfless as Oliver a much-needed break? Hasn't he earned that reprieve?
Felicity worried her bottom lip, watching both Oliver's spar her concern shining through.
Felicity was more concerned for him than she was her impending death, and she knew that said a lot about how she really felt.
Felicity settled on her couch. She had just gotten out of the shower; her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, her hair still damp. She wore a simple pair of panda pajama and a green tank top.
She had left the foundry around two. Her searches had not gotten any hits, but she set up an alert on her phone for when they did.
John had headed home to Lyla but only after following Felicity home.
Both Oliver's had still been sparring when she left and showed no signs of stopping and Roy had accompanied her home.
He had wanted to stay, but Felicity insisted he go home. Felicity understood he wanted to protect her. But she was not going to drop dead that second and she didn't need her boys hovering over her constantly.
And she really just needed some time to be alone and really process everything.
She was going to die in three weeks if they couldn't stop Andrew Miller.
If they found Miller, she had no doubt that future Oliver was going to kill him. He was going to get blood on his hands again.
She didn't want him to kill someone in her name. She didn't want to erase the strides he had made in being a hero and not the killer he once was when he first returned to Starling before the Undertaking happened.
She didn't want to die, and she didn't want to be the reason why Oliver suffered.
It was hard to believe that her death would cause him so much suffering.
What could possibly change in three weeks between them that she was so important to him?
Felicity thought back to Oliver's fake I love you and the moment they shared on Lian Yu and how they talked about it.
Had his words really been a lie? Or did Oliver love her, and that was why he couldn't cope with her death. Was that why he came back to save her?
Oliver had lost a lot of people he loved. More than one person should in such a short expanse of time.
His dad, Shado, Tommy and his mother, yet it was her death that he was trying to change.
She wanted to understand, but she was also afraid of the answer and what it could mean for her?
She was afraid of knowing too much about the future. The consequences that knowing too much would bring forth.
And if Felicity was honest with herself, she was in a bit of denial about the ticking time bomb that was her life.
Three weeks.
What if they couldn't stop it? What if she was meant to die and there was nothing anyone could do? What if it was fate? What if it was just her time?
She needed more time than three weeks.
There was still so much she wanted to do. Things she had yet to accomplish.
Hell, she was too young for a bucket list, but if she was dying in three weeks, maybe she should get started on one.
Felicity looked around her apartment, feeling more alone than she had in a long time. She jumped when her eyes passed over the window near her kitchen. A man was standing out on her fire escape.
She scrambled from her couch, reaching for the first thing she could find grabbing the umbrella by her front door and wielding it like a baseball bat, she walked toward the window.
In hindsight, she should have grabbed her phone from the table and sent out a 911 to Oliver, but she wasn't exactly thinking with a clear head.
She moved closer, and her eyes widened when she was able to make the hooded figure out. "Holy Frack!"
A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are encouraged!