Alas! It arrives. (I'm literally posting this during school so bare with me) Believe me, I did not give up on this story. There is still plenty more to come ;) I just wanna' say thank you to everyone for having patience and sticking around. It means the world to me and I promise I will finish each and every story I've posted! Cuz I love y'all :) Now, grab some popcorn because this one is a bit of a doozy.

Disclaimer: I do not own this.

"Apparently banks weren't good enough for her. She wants to dabble into the jewelry industry now," Felicity stated as she rounded the table with her tablet whilst Barry and Oliver entered the room.

"Well, her name is Crystal," Cisco spoke quietly as he spun in his chair.

"Cisco." Caitlin reprimanded and he nodded.

"Right, not the time." Oliver sighed, and Barry shook his head in confusion.

"But it's broad daylight. This isn't her usual M.O.," Cisco shrugged.

"Maybe she's trying something new?" He suggested, and Oliver shook his head. A feeling of impending doom rested on the forefront of his mind, making him feel almost nauseous.

"Not good enough," He declared, struggling to remember whether it had been light or dark outside during the vision. But he couldn't remember that tiny detail to save his life.

Or Barry's.

He'd had many other details to be concerned about at the time.

"Well, whatever the deal is, we got to go now. There's too many people there at this time of the day." Barry spoke, and Oliver knew he was right. But a part of him wanted to stay back - let the police handle this one, Barry, we don't have to - even if knew they couldn't.

People were in danger. And they were the only ones who could sace them.

No matter the personal cost.

He tensed his jaw, meeting Barry's eyes with the same look of his own.

He only hoped this wouldn't be the lastg time.

"Suit up."

"Wait, before you do that," Cisco interrupted, opening one of the cambinet drawers and pulling out a syringe. "You're gonna' want this," He handed it to Oliver, but he shook his head.

"Maybe Barry should take that-"

"I'm gonna' be busy getting the people out. Besides," Barry paused, a smile on his face. "I trust you."

"-but like, imagine, you're on your lunch break picking out your engagement ring, and bam! A meta shows up and ruins your day-"

Oliver gritted his teeth, ignoring Cisco's endless rambling.

He couldn't afford to be distracted.

Not now.

He scanned the rooms of the jewelry store, looking for Crystal, while Barry ran the civilians out of the store. Oliver vaguely heard Barry's words as he comforted the hostages.

"-'re okay. You're safe, just run-"

He wished he could feel as confident as Barry sounded.

He frowned, noticing that none of the jewelry had been taken.

It was all still there...

With a quiet whoosh, Barry showed up beside him, slightly out of breath.

"-everyone's out." He shook his head lightly, with a frown. Why would the Meta show up to the jewelry store in broad daylight if it wasn't to steal anything?

He realized it a moment too late.

"Run!"

He spun around on impulse to fend off his attacker, only to be met with the cold blue eyes of a meta-human. Her long fingers grabbed onto the side of his head and his neck arched at the pain, causing his knees to buckle.

He gasped, the pain coursing through his veins was unlike anything he had ever experienced. With one last surge of energy from her hand, knowing what was about to happen and he couldn't fight it, he cried out.

One breathless word.

"No."

He heard one last voice as it all went black.

"Oliver?"

He should have seen it coming.

He's the fastest man alive.

But he didn't.

The meta-human disappeared once more, but that wasn't his concern.

No, his concern was the man who currently resided on his knees, motionless. Barry was having Deja Vu of only days before when this exact same thing had happened. Except, that time Oliver had fallen to the floor, not simply stayed in the same position.

He was almost afraind to move, himself.

"Oliver?" Barry repeated, his heart thudding loudly in his chest as Oliver reached his full height. He tensed his jaw as Oliver turned around to face him. His eyes looked fine - thank God - but his face remained passive.

Emotionless.

"Hey, Barry,"

A chill went down Barry's spine.

This wasn't the same Oliver as before.

He swallowed hard, not letting his nerves show. He just needed to get the serum away from Oliver-

"Looking for this?" He questioned, pulling the vial and syringe out of his pocket, holding it up as if he were mocking him.

"Look, Oliver-"

Barry's heart sunk as Oliver crumbled the vial in his hand.

The smirk on his face was almost inhuman.

Barry took a step back, raising his hand to the comms. "Uh, guys, we have a slight proble-"

His head jerked back to the window that shattered, an arrow being the culprit to it's sudden destruction.

He barely had time to react before the first arrow was shot into his shoulder.

Barry's breath caught as he hunched over, more from shock than fom the actual pain. That would come later. His hand came up automatically, cradling the arrow in his hand. He looked up to see Oliver smiling.

His blood ran cold.

"Oliver-"

His voice was cut off by a scream.

His scream.

Oliver ripped the arrow out with such force that Barry fell to his knee, gasping for breath.

He looked up, seeing Oliver watch him with such satisfaction that it made him shudder. "Ollie, please, you can fight this-"

"Who says I want to?"

His next words were met with an uppercut to the jaw.

"Cisco, do something!"

"Can't you see I'm trying!?" He shouted back. "I didn't exactly memorize the recipe when I made it! I didn't think we'd be needing more than one batch of it!"

"Just- just hurry!" Caitlin yelled, desperation dripping from her words.

"We are!" Felicity countered back, her own voice shaking with fear.

Thanks to the security cameras and the comms, they had a very, very good - awful? - visual and audio feed of every little thing that was happening. And hearing Barry's pleas and cries of pain had them all just a little bit on edge as they hurried to make another batch of serum.

"How about you guys stop talking and just make the damn stuff?!" Dig asked, voice loud as he spoke over their arguing. He may look calm but he was the exact opposite of that. Especially since he was the one in charge of taking his best friend down.

"How are we supposed to even take Oliver down? Yeah, we'll have the serum but it won't do us any good if we can't get to him!"

"We got tranqs. Trust me, it'll work," Dig replied to Cisco.

"But-"

"It will work."

It had to.

Barry cried out in pain, cradling the pulsating wound on his abdomen.

He sputtered, blood dribbling out between his lips as he struggled not to choke on the crimson liquid.

"Ollie, no more, please-" He coughed, voice thick and gargled with blood. Another punch landed on his temple as he fell to the side, but refused to meet the floor. Instead, he stumbled to the right, catching himself with his hands on the ground.

"She's just messing with your head-gah!" He yelled, his shoulder throbbing with the pain of being dislocated, making the other wounds only a dull ache.

"Shut up," Oliver seethed.

Barry whimpered uncontrollably, rising to his feet once more. He met Oliver's eyes with his own, still slightly startled by the look of malice that greeted him.

He wanted to hurt Barry.

He liked it.

No, no, that's not Oliver.

Oliver wouldn't hurt you.

He didn't give up on Barry with Bivolo and Barry wouldn't give up on him now.

"Ollie, she's making you do this. I know this isn't you," Oliver rolled his eyes, reaching up to make his bow taut.

"Oh yeah?"

Ping.

Scream.

Agony.

"Who are you to say who I am?" Barry gasped, doing his best to ignore the new addition to his shoulder.

"I'm your friend. You know that-" He grunted, ripping the arrow out of his already dislocated shoulder. He did his best to stay strong, to keep going, but his strength was fading fast.

He couldn't do this much longer.

But he wouldn't give up on Oliver.

Ever.

"I got it!" Cisco shouted, relief and joy in his voice as he looked up from the table, holding up the vial of antidotge. Dig took it from him, glancing at Caitlin.

"Let's go."

Barry fell to his knee, his chest rattling with every breath he took.

Blood dripped off his hands, and from his chin.

"I'm not giving up on you," His voice was gargled, his pain matched only by his sheer stubborness.

"Then you're making the worst mistake of your life." Oliver declared, taking two steps closer to Barry and he unwillingly flinched. And Oliver looked at him for a moment, before he laughed.

No.

He cackled.

"Ollie...please, you don't, you don't want to do this..." He tried to push himself up, but his strength was waning, and his body shook from sheer exhaustion. He coughed, blood spattering on the ground before him as he was vaguely aware of Oliver circling him.

Bow and arrow drawn.

He suddenly got the sick realization that this was the end.

"This...this isn't y-you. Ollie, come on, I know that somewhere you're in there. Please, if you do this, you'll never forgive yourself." He pleaded. Not so much for his own life, but Oliver's.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he went through with this.

"I don't think I'll mind that much." Oliver said, his voice low as he walked around the back of the struggling speedster. His breathing was ragged, and it was all he could do to not collapse.

"Oliver-"

Ping.

Grunt.

Agony.

Barry collapsed to the ground, choking in shallow breaths.

"Stop talking," Oliver ground out, coming closer to face him. Barry jerked, weakly trying to push himself up off of the ground, but his arms shook, and the other one was basically useless. He fell back to the ground in a bloodied heap, a cry of pain escaping past his lips.

He distantly heard Oliver growl.

Growl.

Before suddenly his head was yanked up and all he saw was a mess as the world spun and his head throbbed. He looked into Oliver's eyes, trying to focus on them, but the world turned violently and a quiet whimper escaped past his lips.

He was vaguely aware of the clatter of Oliver's bow being dropped, but was more aware of the hand that suddenly wrapped around his throat; choking off any residual air he might have had left. He gasped, his breath sounding more like wheezing as he weakly fought against Oliver's death grip.

It was no use.

He fell to the ground as Oliver dropped him, and coughed weakly as he lied there on the ground.

Writhing in pain.

"Pathetic," He heard Oliver say, and opened his eyes to see him bending over to grab an arrow off of the ground. Barry's heart sunk. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. Barry rolled onto his back, facing the man he called his friend. He spoke once more, his words actually coming out, if only in a garbled mess.

"Oliver, no...please, don't-don't do this. I know that you're in there, somewhere. God, please, Ollie." Barry pleaded, but Oliver continued to stare down at him, as if he were prey. "You know me. We were-"

Cough.

More blood.

"We were friends. I know that you know that, somewhere in-inside of you...you know that." Barry stated weakly, his eyelids continuing to flutter as they began to close. Oliver paused, and for a moment, Barry had hope.

But it vanished just as quickly as it came.

"Who cares?" Oliver questioned darkly, kneeling down next to him. Barry noticed that arrow Oliver had in his hand now rested right above his heart. He fidgeted, even though he knew there no chance of getting away.

"Ollie...think about Felicity, think about..." Cough. Blood. "T-Thea. Just..think, Ollie. Please. Ollie..." Barry said, voice fading as he began to lose consciousness. He didn't even notice Oliver raising the arrow.

"Ollie's dead." Oliver declared.

The last thing Barry saw, was Oliver bringing the arrow down to his chest.

Yes, I really am that cruel.

Just hope you don't have to wait another year for an update ;P Stay awesome, guys! And remember, y'all's reviews are what keep me going!