Authors Note: If I owned Arrow, Felicity's last name would be Queen. A big thank you to Naitch03 for my first review, I hope I impress!

Rebecca Merlyn- Loving Mother and Wife. We will never forget you. The grave was simple but elegant. A smooth dark marble stone jutting out of the perfectly manicured lawn. The air was crisp, her breath forming in the morning air, overhead the birds chirped and the sun rose. It was another beautiful Saturday. Thea could only stare at the name on the headstone, conjuring up fantasies of the woman that lay below. The only memory Thea had of her Mother was a grave. From her earliest memory and beyond, always the grave. Standing before it she always racked her brain, searching for some other memory of the woman's embrace, a song maybe, or a feeling of love and warmth. Nothing, always nothing. She always felt tears at the sight of the tombstone, of the loss of the Mother she would never have. Thea didn't have an image of her Mother, not even so much as a foggy memory. It was the thought alone that drove her to tears of pain and frustration. She turned away the moment she felt a welling in her eyes.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Don't cry, don't be a baby. She grinned to herself pulling up her coat and clearing her throat among the grave yard. The statures of angels and children watched her from all angles as she walked off the sadness, her boots crunching underneath the grass. She walked to the graveyard gate and closed it on her way out. She left her grief at the gates, that's what her father had told her.

"Sadness and grief Thea," He had told her on a morning just like this, " Even rage, they are powerful emotions every warriors feels, that's why we fight for the ones we've lost. But you have to keep it all somewhere...Powerful emotions weaken the mind. I leave all of my Sadness with Mommy and she keeps it nice and safe for me." Thea had been young then, only eight and a half, "Let's me clear my head and focus on the mission ahead. Leave your emotions at the gates Thea, and Mommy will take good care of it." She hopped on her motorcycle and kicked up the stand, heading up the road back home. She cleared her mind and her face relaxed, she could feel her steady heartbeat as she rolled to a stop in front of the family mountain lodge.

It was a normal Saturday morning, the lodge was quiet, seemingly deserted, and Thea was prepared for all out war, her hands gripping the shinai perfectly. Not to tight but not to lose. It officially started at sunrise, the agreed upon time was when "the sun sat at the top of the mountain" as her father said. Thea was fine with that, she left her jacket by the motorcycle and waited outside, watching the sun rise, slowly emerging from behind the mountain. She counted in her head, practicing her breath, in (one) out (two) in (three) out (four) in (five) out (six) in (seven) out (eight) in (nine), the sun gave the appearance of balancing directly on top the mountain and she let out a breath. Her grip tighten on the shinai and she walked into the lodge.

The mountain lodge was much large than it appeared. From the outside, looking like a simple mansion with modern style, lots of windows and wood flooring but the house deceived at every turn revealing a hidden labyrinth of rooms and corridors, secret passage ways and new rooms that revealed themselves to Thea every time she visited. It had scared her from the time she was little, the fear still distantly tugging at the back of her mind. To her, the mountain lodge stretched on for infinity, a scary training ground that her father seemed to control. She closed the door as silently as possible and crouched slightly ready to strike, she smirked in the semidarkness, her father had closed many of the windows, blocking the morning light, allowing the darkness to pour out of the deeper hallways. She walked lightly through the main entrance, keeping her feet to the carpets and her back to the wall. She put both hands on her shinai and raised it to her normal position of striking. Thea went through the empty kitchen; dark and silent, the living room was the same. Everything an eerie still. She dreaded walking through the main hallway, it left her extremely exposed and she jumped at every creak and small sound, her own footsteps made her heart race. She came to the end of the hall, a massive grandfather clock stood, its ticks echoing through out the silence and her calm. She stood against the wall and watched the hallway, every door seemed to be slightly ajar, as if every angle were surrounded and watching her.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Her hands began to sweat, the anticipation grating on her nerves. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. This was new...something always happened by now. Thea rushed down the next hall, running down the stairs. She stopped at the rec room. She saw a brief shadow flash across the wall. Jumping out she dashed behind the pool cabinet. She raised the shinai horizontally and breathed. So they were hiding down below, of course. Thea jumped from behind the wall and attacked nothing but air, feeling slightly sheepish she stood at the hallway arch, watching for anything, it was completely dark.

Would it kill to turn on like, one light? Thea looked into the dark hallway seeing nothing but a rectangle of blackness. She could still hear the grandfather clock ticking in her mind with her Father's voice saying something along the lines of "the only thing to fear is fear itself" it was now or never and Thea had never been one for passivity. She charged the darkness,

"AHHH" She plunged into the dark room, keeping her steady grip of the shinai. She hit a solid mass she assumed was a person. Multiple pairs of hands grabbed her. Neck, left arm and right shoulder. Thea's training did the rest. Her hands reacted quickly, dodging the tightening pair of hands around her neck and pushing the shinai in to the mass that let out a uhhhh, she struck again but felt a precise strike to her stomach and much larger hands grab her sword. Another kick to her stomach and gravity kicked in, with a loud cry Thea flew to the side, her sword lost to her in the darkness. She heard a door close and saw the last remaining light fade away, another cry escaped her lips as she was surrounded in complete darkness. Footsteps, one heavy and one light, a whooshing from above. Her arms were grabbed and for a moment she panicked,

Think, think, think, breath, com'on think. Thea kicked out and jumped landing on her attacker, the body was tall but slim, Thea reaching her way up to the neck, the heavy footsteps came closer until she could hear his breath. The taller attacker, obviously highly trained, was reaching back to grab her, but Thea had a plan, she reached out a grabbed a fistful of the fast approaching footstep's shirt and was delighted when she felt a long braid.

Perfect. She yanked on the braid as hard as she could, and with her other hand dropped down ramming both of her attackers into each other as fast and hard as she could. Thea rolled out of the way still keeping her foot to feel them, they let out gruff male yelps at the collision, with her eyesight adjusting she could make out a jumbled mass of two crumpled figures in the darkness. She smirked triumphantly, wishing her father could have seen her clever victory. Her head snapped up.

Find the shinai, and she dropped even lower, crawling around in the darkness searching for the fallen sword. Thea never herd the third swoosh, light as the wind. Moving so fast she barely registered what happened as she was kicked from behind then flipped over, she let out a pained scream then a gasp as she was lifted up and slammed against a wall, pain pulsed through out her spine but Thea was determined to fight, though her arms where pinned, she lifted her legs and pushed out, suddenly into air it seemed. Her attacker let her go to doge her kick only to expertly pick her back up again. Thea tried again, using her whole body to flip herself out of the hold, only end up grunting and struggling underneath the vice like grip. She gritted her teeth and tried the same move over and over. She struggled, her stomach burning from trying to pull and kick her self free. Frustration clouded her mind and rage at being so hopeless boiled in her blood. She wanted a gun, she wanted to shoot all those physically stronger than her. That would show her father how strong she was, it wasn't about real strength after all right? Only the strength of pulling the trigger. Thea struggled and let of a furious growl, her arms and legs twisting back and forth, wouldn't her Father help her by now? Was the next phase of training going to be beating until she won?

I don't need his help anyway! She thought furiously struggling. Tears welled up in her eyes. The darkness was becoming clearer.

"Thea, honey relax." Her Father's voice rung clear and void of any emotion through out the room and suddenly the lights blazed on. Harsh florescent bulbs buzzed several feet overhead. She came face to face with the man holding her down and let out a gasp. His face was covered in a mask, strange green sockets stared down at her, the real human eyes lost behind. Two other figures wearing the same mask looked down at her, the biggest man was holding down her legs, and the other two had hold of each arm. The man with the his hands on her left arm stared at her the close, his head tilting to the side. She felt her pure rage slowly sink back down in her mind. Her breath came out in harsh heaves. She stared at the man unblinking.

Night vision, she thought blankly, taking in the light. Thea realized she was in the training room and her father came to stand over her, he was smirking.

"Let her go." He told the masked trio. They immediately let go, backing away, slowly disappearing from view. With the pressure released from her arms and legs she smirked too, who had once said they had identical smirks? Her father helped her sit up and thumbed a fresh bruise on her face. She could feel a stinging pain in her stomach, she tasted blood in her lips. Her wrists turned a deep shade of purple.

"You let your anger get the best of you." He said calmly, she felt her face flush, angry at being angry. "But it took all three of you to hold her back, and it was in complete darkness." He turned to the three masked men and smirked. "I told you Thea was strong. You're just lucky she didn't have a real sword." One of the men pulled off his mask chuckling,

"I am impressed." He said, his voice deep and heavily accented. Thea looked at him, the man seemed to be middle eastern, tall and lean, his black hair curling down to his ears and blocking his eyes. He was around Tommy's age, she laughed in her mind at the thought of Tommy being a trained warrior of some kind. "Your little girl has enough fire to make up for sloppy technique." Thea frowned and slid off the table standing with her father and the man. She suddenly wished to be taller as they all looked down at her.

"I just haven't stared serious training yet." Thea cringed at the sound of her own voice, the statement sounded pouty and childish. Her father put his hands on her shoulder,

"Thea, this is my good friend Ansari." She looked through the locks of hair, trying to find his eyes, he simply smirked at her.

"Nice to meet you." She said holding out her hand, Ansari shook firmly and she caught a brief glimpse of his dark eyes.

'It is a pleasure to finally meet the Magician's esteemed daughter." His voice held a hint of a English accent. Ansari cocked his head to the side. "Your father speaks very highly of you Thea." She smiled,

"Thank-you?" He drew something from behind him., "You dropped this." He held out her shinai pointing it at her shoulder. "Don't bring a weapon if you can't keep hold of it." He said handing it to her. Thea frowned again, already not liking his smugness. Her want for a gun returned. She gripped the shinai and looked to her Father. He was no longer smiling.

"What did I tell you child?" He asked. She looked down.

"To leave my emotion at the gates and remember who I fight for." She repeated the mantra he had taught her long ago.

"And did you?"

"No, not really."

"From the moment you stepped in this house you were shaky with fear and anger. Control you emotions Thea, a warrior must never lose his calm." She looked up and he sighed. "Never lose her calm. Leave it at the gates, if you can't, than perhaps I won't step in next time." She sighed running her hands over the carved wood of the shinai.

"Visualize who you fight for Thea, who do you fight for?" She looked up and felt a sob at the back of her throat.

"Its easy for you Daddy, you can remember Mom, you can close your eyes and think of what she looked like or how great she was, but I have nothing!" She threw her shinai to ground and it spit into three pieces, cracking on the hard ground. "I can't remember anything about her! She's just a name to me, I don't even have baby memories! How am I suppose to fight for her when I can't even remember her? I don't have anything, I love her but I don't even know who I love! Its so unfair!" She hadn't meant for the anger of that morning to spill over into her words. Thea never meant to shout. Ansari stood looking at the broken shinai, her father frowned, his face taking on a cold marble look. It was the face Tommy feared and Thea swallowed, fearing she had gone to far. Instead he turned to Ansari and spoke in a language she didn't understand. He nodded and her father looked to her.

"Training is done for today." Ansari was gone in a matter of seconds, leaving Thea blinking, trying to see where the other two had gone. Her Father was already have way to the door. Was he going to cancel all of her training? Would he treat her like Tommy now? Her face paled at the thought, she'd endure a hundred rough training sessions as long as she didn't end up like Tommy. Her mind jumped to the worst possible scenarios.

"Wait, Daddy!" She said, running after him, he was already in the rec room and she rushed to keep up with his fast pace, ignoring the pain in her stomach. He stopped and waited for her to catch up. His face was still cold and blank. She swallowed, nervously trying to read his expression. "Daddy," She began but he stopped her.

"Follow me to the office Thea." He turned and she had to jog to keep up, her nerves making each step wobbly, the pain in her stomach was intense.

The walk upstairs to his office was a quiet and dark as her walk down to the training room. He closed the door when they entered and motioned for her to take a seat. She chose the black leather love seat. The relief from all the standing was wonderful but the nervousness she felt made her nauseous. She bounced her knee up and down, up and down as her Father moved behind the desk, sliding open the door he grabbed a small black box. He took a set next to her.

"You will never know what a beautiful person Rebecca was Thea, how kind and gentle and how much you remind me of her every day." He cleared his throat, a rare sign of emotion clouding his voice. "I am so sorry and angry and sad you will never know her and she will never know you. She would love you Thea, just like I do." He looked at her for a minute that seemed to stretch on for eternity. Thea saw the sadness in his eyes. He gave her the black box. Her hands clasped around the thin smooth box and she swallowed taking a deep breath and looking from her Father to the box. She slid the lid open to reveal a small black tape recorder, barely the size of an iPod. She glanced up at her Farther briefly before pressing play.

Thea heard her Mother die.

Each moment broke her in an indescribable way. Her mother's voice was scratchy and weak begging for help, begging for her father. It lasted for seven minutes before the voice recording beeped.

"I love yyou, ssso much." Her mother cried, "I love you Malcolm, I love you Tommy." Her mother's sobs filled the silent office, Thea couldn't help the sob that came out of her mouth. Her mother's crying continued with a mixture of sentences and sobbing. She loved them, she needed her father, calling for help, over and over, but nobody came or heard. Thea felt her whole body stiffened and the recording stopped. They both sat in silence, haunted by the recording. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she tried to stop herself from completely crying.

"Your Mother is why we fight Thea." Her father said.

"Evil ripped her from us, the glades killed her." Glades, Thea looked up. G lades? She racked her brain, the glades was the worst part of town, how did it kill her mother? Anger boiled in her mind at the mere thought.

"I wish I could miss her." She sobbed.

"Every time you feel empty Thea, think of this, this is what we fight for." Thea looked at her father and nodded. Another wave of silence passed. She set the recorder on the coach and embraced her father. He hugged like when she was a little girl, rocking her back and forth.

"I feel so angry." She murmured, he nodded.

"And that's good child, we are going to use that anger, I am going to show you how to control it and then use it. You show so much promise Thea. He stroked her hair and she let her tears fall down her cheek.

He had her listen to the recording again, then again, and again. Until she knew the entire recording by heart and mind. For the first couple listens she was furious, then she began to sob, for her Father to stop and for her Mother lying dead in some slum. But he continued to play it over and over until it moved around the room endlessly. The sounds of her Mothers pain swirling around in her mind. Thea cried like when she was a child but her Father played it on. She slid away from him, yelling at him to stop, to turn it down. She drew her knees up to her chin and buried her head in her lap. Tear soaked her lap. Her father simply turned the volume up.

It was some where along the seventieth listen when she stopped crying, tears ceased spilling out of her eyes and she uncurled herself. The sound of her Mothers sobs echoed in her ears and mind. She stilled, watching her father who sat frozen in the chair opposite of her. Watching her as if he were studying something dangerous and exotic. She moved with lighting speed and agility bounding from her seat to her father grabbing the recorder before he could react. She felt the smooth metal in her hand and switched the button off.

"Stop." She hissed. A different kind of anger pulsed in her mind, it was like cold fire. "Stop playing it." They stared at each other for a long silent moment. She set the recorder back in the box and closed the lid. She calmly took a seat opposite him. Something clicked in her mind. A switch that turned on her statue. Her father spoke first.

"I am sorry I never thought of it the in that way, you never having a memory." He stood up, grabbing the box. "I forgot how important it is to have a mother, I am sorry Thea.' He set the box in her lap. She looked up at him, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"I want to lean." His eyes filled with sadness again.

"And what is it that you want to learn my child?"

"Teach me how to control my emotions and use it as a weapon. I want to learn, I want to be a warrior." He bent down so they were at eye level.

"Thea," He said, his voice cracking. "I love you, and...and I want you to know once you start down this path, there is no turning back." She shook her head.

"I will not be weak." She said, her voice scratchy from all the sobbing. "I am not afraid." She clutched the little black box tightly. The cold fire in her heart pushed her up, Thea stood over her kneeling father.

"I know Tommy took the way out, but I am choosing the warriors way. Train me."