ArrowSwan9
The Arrow carried the Princess gently down the stairs to the Lair and lay her down on the medical table where Diggle was waiting. The Arrow turned away respectfully as his friend began to check the Princess for any injuries on her body, The Arrow put away his bow and arrows and took down his hood "I'm not going to change since I don't know how long she is going to be knocked out for" he explained
"You didn't tell her?" Diggle asked as he examined the mark left by Slade on Felicity's neck "are you going to tell her soon?"
"When she wakes up I'll…I'll think about it, is she alright?" The Arrow asked worriedly "I didn't get to her fast enough and I don't know what he did to her"
"Other than a hickey on her neck, some slight bruising on her lips and thighs I think she'll be fine" Diggle said with a warm smile and covered her with a blanket and turned to The Arrow and asked if he had heard anything about the Queen and if she was better, Oliver replied that he had heard nothing so far. All his energy was focused on Felicity and the idea that he was going to tell her who he was.
Slade lips were on her, his hands were holding her to him and his voice was all around her "You said yes" he cooed "you're mine and I'm going to enjoy every little bit of you"
Felicity tried to move, tried to push him off of her, to scream for The Arrow or Oliver to come and help her but no one came. Slade was holding her too tight.
"Felicity wake up, it's just a dream!"
Felicity screamed again as Slade tenderly brushed her hair with his fingers "No please no! NO! NO ARROW PLEASE HELP ME!"
"I'm here, Felicity you're safe" The Arrow held her as she shook and cried in her sleep "please open your eyes" he held her tighter both to give her comfort and stop her from hurting herself. Seeing her in this state broke his heart and he prayed that she would somehow hear his voice and wake up.
Slade pushed her down on to the desk and kissed every inch of her, ignoring her pleas to stop. Felicity kicked and struggled with everything she had "Arrow! Oliver! Please help me!"
"You're alright now Felicity, you're alright" The Arrow said firmly yet as gently as he could as he held her
"You're all mine Felicity, all mine" Felicity watched as Slade slipped his hands under her skirt, raking his nails along her inner thighs and began kissing up her leg…
"NOOO!" The scream tore from her throat as Felicity snapped her eyes open and shot up in the strong hands of The Arrow, she was breathing heavily and a sheen of sweat appeared all over her skin.
The Arrow was right there with her, he had let go of her now that she was awake and placed a warm gloved hand on her cheek looking right into her eyes "Princess, it's alright now, I'm here" Felicity tried to calm her breathing and held his hand and stared into his eyes.
He was there, The Arrow was there and she was safe; Felicity repeated that over and over in her head and she took a deep breath and then another and another until her heart stopped pounding.
"Where am I?"
"You're safe" The Arrow removed his hand from her cheek and stood up straight again "that's all you need to know"
"You found me…" Felicity wrapped her arms around herself as memories came back to her, her hand went to her neck and felt the bruise there left by Slade and felt a shudder "…thank you for coming for me" she looked down and away from The Arrow's face as he tried to get her to look at him again "please…don't. I just want to go home" she said weakly
"I'm sorry I didn't get to you in time" The Arrow said sincerely "but I need to know what Slade wanted from you and if he hurt you" his eyes went to the hickey again and he felt his insides burn as he waited for Felicity to answer him, her voice sounded so hurt and broken that it nearly made him cry.
"Slade, he…he wanted to…" Felicity covered her face with her hands as the memories flashed before her eyes "please don't make me talk about it" she covered her mouth as fresh tears fell from her eyes "please? I don't want to talk"
"Princess…" The Arrow began and took a deep breath "…Felicity, please. I can help you, I can protect you if you'll tell me what happened" he said gently
"You weren't there when he…Slade…he has plans for my kingdom. He has pushed everyone, all my previous suitors away, in the hopes that I will eventually marry him and then he'll be King" Felicity had a disgusted look on her face as he continued "Slade poisoned my mother! He thought that using her would finally get me to crack and say yes to him"
The Arrow held her as she cried, she was shaking horribly in his arms as she remembered Slade's lips on her "he asked me to marry him or he would poison the whole Kingdoms water supply, I'm not sure if he's done it or not yet but…he had the last of the clean water and he offered it to me and I…to save me people and Oliver – I said…yes" The Arrow wanted to kill Slade more than ever.
"Slade tricked you, I'm sure Oliver will understand"
"No he won't!" Felicity looked desperate now "I can't hurt him like this! Slade is going to send him away like all the others and I…I can't lose him!" Felicity looked down and away from The Arrow as he took her hands in his again
"You won't lose him, I know he loves you"
Felicity didn't meet his eyes as she began to think I love him too but…I have to protect my people Felicity took a few steps away from The Arrow and crossed her arms over her chest just like my people, Oliver will eventually understand why I'm doing this. I'll marry Slade tears fell at that thought that way, maybe in the future, Oliver and I can at least be friends? Yes. I have to do this.
Felicity turned back to The Arrow with her plan forming in her head "I need to go home" her voice was thick with emotion but her face remained determined "please Arrow, take me home"
The Arrow could see that she had a plan but didn't push her "If that is what you want, Felicity" he spoke gently and pulled out a blindfold and held it out to her, gesturing kindly "would you mind? I can't let you see where we are right now. Would you wear this until we're at the palace?"
Felicity obliged and put the blindfold on and let The Arrow lead her up a long flight of stairs and out a heavy door. Felicity felt safe as he guided her and she was sort of glad that when Oliver left she would still have someone around that she trusted with her life.
The Arrow slipped the Princess back into the palace with ease and took her to her room "Will you be alright tonight?" he asked as he stood before the window ready to jump out
"Yes. I just have to take care of some business first" Felicity nodded and tried to swallow the lump in her throat "thank you again"
"If you need me I'll be here" The Arrow leapt out the window expertly landing before running off into the darkness leaving Felicity alone in her room. Felicity took a few deep breaths, deciding to take a shower before going looking for Oliver and potentially ruining both of their lives.
The hot water did little to soothe the raging butterflies swarming in her stomach as she washed herself, trying to get rid of the feeling of Slade's fingers touching her and gave a disgusted look and rubbed harder at her skin. Felicity's skin was nice and pink when she got out of the shower, wrapped in a large soft dressing gown she left her room and went to find Oliver I'm sorry Oliver.
Oliver looked up from his bed when he and Diggle heard the soft knock, Diggle answered it and Oliver smiled when Felicity came in. The Prince went to his Princess and gave her a big hug and kissed her cheek "I missed you today" Oliver had no idea what she had been through tonight and Felicity looked into his eyes and saw as much love and emotion for her as she did for him. Felicity stepped deeper into his room and sat down on his bed trying to work out how she could even begin to break his heart.
Felicity couldn't do this, she just couldn't! Her own heart was breaking and she didn't even do anything yet! Just do it Felicity! Like a band aid just rip it off! It's for his own protection! Felicity opened her mouth and let the word vomit take over "Ican'tdothisOliverI'msosorryIcan'tmarryyou!"
"Wha-what?" Oliver quickly sat down next to her gesturing for Diggle to leave them alone for a bit "what are you talking about? Slow down" he took hold of her hand but looked confused when she pulled away
"We can't do this Oliver" Felicity's voice broke "you need to go back to Starling, you can't be here anymore"
"Felicity…what…? I don't understand"
"This just isn't working out, Okay? We're two different people and I don't…I don't love you anymore" Felicity felt her heart splintering as Oliver took hold of her hand again and made her look at him
Oliver wasn't letting her go without an explanation "Felicity, please talk to me! Whatever is wrong we can talk about it and work together! Please, I don't want to lose you. I love you!" Oliver kissed her tenderly and he felt love swell in his heart when she kissed him back, when he pulled away he smiled at her "why would you kiss me back if you-"
Felicity slapped him hard across the face.
"I've fallen for someone else!" Felicity lied through her teeth "I'm marrying someone else" she wiped tears from her eyes as she made her way to the door "you have until tomorrow to get your stuff together and leave!"
Felicity opened the door and slammed it shut behind her leaving a confused and heartbroken Oliver in her wake. Oliver wasn't giving up on her yet.
Hours later, just as the sky was beginning to turn grey in the predawn light, Felicity lay broken on her bed. Her pillow was soaked and her heart she felt was broken beyond repair. Outside she could hear a car start, goodbyes were said and the car drove away from the palace. Oliver was gone. She would never see him again.
Felicity cried harder.
A shadow cast itself over the Princess and she rolled over to see The Arrow standing there, the dawn light behind him. Without a second thought, Felicity got up from the bed ready to throw herself into his arms but The Arrow held up a hand to stop her "You need to tell me what's going on" it was an order but he tried to keep his voice calm "why is Prince Oliver being sent away, did something happen? Did he hurt you?"
"No, no he would never hurt me! But I…I had to send him away " Felicity wiped her eyes and looked down "I…I've fallen in love with someone else" she tried to sound convincing
"Look at me!" The Arrow barked and hated when Felicity flinched away but he needed to know
Felicity squared her shoulders and looked up again and spoke slowly "I'm. In love. With someone else" and for the second time that night she lied to someone she cared about and for the second time she felt her heart breaking.
"You're lying" The Arrow stepped forward nearly closing the gap between them yet still keeping his distance from her, The Arrow didn't trust himself "why are you lying to me? Why did you really send the Prince away?"
"I love someone –" The Princess jumped again and fear fuelled tears sprang up in her eyes as The Arrow grabbed hold of her arms and stared into her eyes with a fire she only saw him use when he was talking to criminals
"STOP LYING TO ME!"
"I had to send Oliver away because I need to protect him!" When the words fell from her lips so did her tears "I'll marry Slade to protect Oliver, I need to save my kingdom and this is the only way!" The Arrow let her go and tried to come to term with what Felicity just told him "I need to do this"
The Arrow was furious with the Princess but tried to keep his voice steady "What you're doing is…Felicity I can't let you –"
"Do what? Save my people? What would you have me do? I need to be brave, I can do this!" Felicity said defiantly
"But it's NOT brave it's STUPID! Oliver loves you and you send him away before he can even help you? You just make this decision without contacting me?! I can protect you from Slade Felicity if you'll let me, please" The Arrow actually begged her? Felicity looked away before speaking again
"I need you to go as well, I want you to protect Oliver and Starling, you have been away from there long enough"
The Arrow felt something snap inside of him. He again gripped the Princess and pushed her against the nearest wall, the dawn light from the window blazed through and lit up The Arrow's eyes as he spoke dangerously close to her ear not trusting himself to look in her eyes "You do not have the right to send me away" he felt Felicity shiver against him "Starling can wait. You need me, you can't see it right now because you're so…so infuriating but you do! You can't send me away. Oliver wouldn't want it, he would want you protected"
"I'll be fine! I don't need you! I can take care of myself" Felicity's whole body was shaking as she rustled up the courage to tell the biggest lie to the only other man she cared about "Starling needs you more than I do, so why don't you leave and let me do what needs to be done?" her voice broke when she felt The Arrow's breath leave her skin and watched as he put his face close to hers searching her eyes. The Arrow was filled with anger and annoyance at hat she was doing yet somehow pride and love for her great sacrifice. Anger won over as he tangled his fingers behind her head and pulled her to him in a searing kiss; letting his emotions talk for him.
Felicity stiffened as The Arrow pressed his body to hers, his kiss caught her completely by surprise. Felicity tried to push The Arrow away from her but he held her against the wall, still kissing her heatedly and encouraging her to let lose the emotions he knew she felt for him. The Arrow felt Felicity slowly respond to him and gently graced his fingers over the sensitive spot behind her ear and heard Felicity moaned against him; finally giving in.
The Arrow pulled away and stared down at his Princess "Don't ever ask me to leave you behind"
A/N: Yes, I'm sorry it's not really a new chapter but I had no idea where to go after the original so I came up with this idea. Felicity is back to not knowing – I'M SO SORRY! But I kind of have an idea to go with this – sort of – I'm kind of looking for a beta to help me because I keep losing ideas for the story when it gets good! Please be patient and read and review!