Silence.

After being amid the Chaos of the battle, the silence felt wrong. She couldn't even hear the normal background sounds of the insects or cars in the distance or the hum of the electricity that powered the city. Slowly, she opened her eyes. All around her people were froze in different positions. All of the city was frozen. **What was happening?** Her gaze fell beside her where Oliver lay on his back in a large puddle of blood. The same blood that coated her hands and arms. "Ollie!" She pushed herself up and scooted over to him. She couldn't hear a heart beat, couldn't sense him breathing. A sob escaped her lips as she lay her head on his chest, tears sliding down her cheeks. He had been the only friend she had, the only person she had ever trusted. "I'm sorry." She whispered softly as she lay there.

There was the sound of rustling wings to her right but Nikita didn't lift her head. She had tried to heal him, despite that she was giving her own life force back into him...despite knowing that Darhk had trans mutated the ink of her focus into silver so that the damage would be worse to her if she used the light within her. Despite knowing it could kill her...that it HAD killed her, she had to bring Oliver back. She had been so sure it would work. But she had failed.

"He was a brave man." The voice held the soft tinkle of bells as he spoke.

Nikita didn't raise her head, she knew who the voice belonged too. "What do you want." She forced herself to lift her head off Oliver's still chest. Her cold emerald gaze going to the Angel standing beside her.

"You called on me." He stated matter of factly. He crouched down and met her eyes, his massive bronze wings flaring out behind him for a second before folding behind his back and disappearing. "That...is my question to you."

She pulled her knees up to her chest. For the first time in her life she was free of pain and of the darkness within. She just felt numb. She laid her chin on her knees, her eyes on the still form before her. "He's dead."

"Yes, and you are dying." The Angel's voice was soft as he spoke. "In your last moments, you called out to me and asked for my help." He placed a hand lightly on the girl. A soft smile warming his face when she didn't pull away. "I hold true to my promise. Ask me for anything and if I can, I will grant it."

Nikita brought her gaze to him. "Anything?"

"If it is in my power." Emmanuel answered.

"Can you save us? Can you bring us back to life." Her voice was a soft whisper.

Sorrow filled the angel's features. "I can only bring bring one of you back from the brink."

"Oliver." Nikita met Emmanuel's eyes. There was no hesitation her decision. "Bring Oliver back."

"Nikita," the angel's voice was soft. "The Oliver Queen of this world is dead."

"You said you can save one of us. Save Oliver. I don't care how. Save him!"

Emmanuel was silent for a second as he considered. "If I do, it will not be in this world but in another. He will not remember anything of this world. He will not remember anything of you or his time in Lian Yu or the countless other places that helped him shape himself into the man you love."

"I don't care." She glanced down at Oliver's still form. Memories of her time on the island with him as a pup coming to the front of his mind. Of the pain and sorrow he experienced ..of the small smile that played across his lips when he had finally understood what she had been trying to tell him. "Just...promise me that he will live and that his life will be a happy one. Not the life he had known since I had met him."

The Angel nodded lightly. "I can return him to a time before he had ever stepped foot on the island. However, I can not guarantee his life will be a happy one. That is for him to decide."

Nikita nodded, laying her head on his still chest one last time. She knew that her life was about to end but at least Oliver could have the chance that this life never offered him. He could live and grow old. He wouldn't know of the true darkness that he had known in this life. "Live happy for me." She whispered softly to him before rising and moving away from him. The angel raised a hand above him, causing his body to glow as Oliver's soul was drawn forth. For an instant the glowing shape solidified and Nikita saw recognition in his eyes as Oliver met her gaze. She gave him a small smile, tears in her eyes. "Live well, Oliver." She told him softly. Seconds later, agony engulfed her once more as the world around her once more started to move. Smoke and blood overtook her sense of smell. Screams of pain and the sharp sound of ambulances slice through her sensitive hearing. Finally, a wave of numbness started to embrace her as her vision and other senses started to fade. Her last thought as the pain and the world faded away was of Oliver.

He was safe and he would be happy. That is all that mattered.