#olivarryweek2016

[olivarryweek]

Olivarry Week 2016 is officially over!

Thank you so much to everyone that took part (including those who were just there to enjoy the fanworks!) - you've all been wonderful! Remember we take suggestions for future events, so feel free to send them in to us! We hope you enjoyed this week as much as we did. 

[elementofcreation]

Olivarry Week 2016 Prompt 1, The Flash and the Arrow Part 3/4

My contribution to Prompt 1 of Olivarry Week:

Fairytale AU: Beauty and the Beast

Pairing: Barry Allen/Oliver Queen

Words: c.11000  this part. Probably about 40000 total.

Crossposted to A03: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7148747/chapters/16277735

Summary:

Where Barry’s beauty is his ability to see the best in people and Oliver’s beastliness is his inability to trust anyone.

When Oliver Queen decided to take on the evil Damien Darhk, he never expected to be on the receiving end of a powerful curse which would kill him unless he found true love before his 30th birthday. Weakened and scarred, Oliver retreated to the Queen mansion in the middle of the forest with his team to try and work on a cure. When nothing scientific can break the curse and when none of his relationships work out, Oliver struggles to accept that he has been ruined by something that he cannot fight. That is until a young man comes into his life and changes his perspective.

Summary (this chapter):

Secrets are revealed, tensions rise and another enemy joins the Darhk side.

The Next Day, Central City Police Department

'Detective West!' Captain Singh yelled from his office.

Joe sighed and headed inside. 'Yes, captain?'

'Where the hell is Allen? I haven't seen him since the day before yesterday,' Singh demanded. He looked exhausted, and Joe couldn't blame him, what with the rumours that Damien Darhk had his sites set on Central city.

'He had to take a couple of personal days,' Joe explained. It wasn't exactly a lie after all. 'I did fill out the paperwork. My daughter, Iris, told him that Eddie proposed to her. Kid's loved Iris for a long time and he's not taking the news very well.'

'Well see it it that it's not more than a couple of days!' Singh warned him and rummaged on his desk for the paperwork Joe had filed. 'We have enough to worry about as it is.'

'Understood Captain,' Joe muttered and left the room. He pulled out his phone and scrolled down to Barry's number. 'Come on, Barry, pick up.'

Joe frowned when the call went unanswered and went to voice mail. 'Hey Bear, it's Joe. Call me when you get this, I just need to know that where ever you are, you're safe.'

Joe ended the call and headed over to his partner. Lance was frowning as always, but his face lit up when a young woman approached him and hugged him.

'Hey, Daddy,' the young woman kissed his cheek.

'Laurel, where have you been?' Lance exclaimed, and looked her over in what Joe knew was check for any injuries. Joe recognised the relief in his partners eyes when she seemed unharmed.

'Hanging out with Thea and Felicity,' Laurel explained. 'You're right, dad, Starling city is a complete mess. People are suffering.'

'Sweetie, I think we need to accept that Starling city is a lost cause. Damien Darhk has eyes on Central now, and we need to do everything that we can to stop him from gaining control here too,' Lance insisted.

Joe sighed. It was a terrible time for Barry to up and vanish. From the sounds of it, Darhk was a menace and they would need the Flash's help to stop him. He tuned back into their conversation.

'Actually dad, I was wondering if we should go on the offensive and take down Darhk in Starling city before he gets the chance to turn his sights here. You guys have a vigilante, like we did, right? Can't we get in contact with him and tell him to take Darhk down?' Laurel asked, and folded her arms across her chest.

Lance shook his head. 'He's mysterious, no one really has contact with him.'

'Then put out a message in the media, we need to do something, dad!' Laurel protested.

Lance sighed, exasperated. Joe decided to take charge. 'We'll see what we can do.'

'Thank you, detective...?' Laurel asked.

'Joe West. Please to meet you, Laurel,' Joe held out a hand.

Laurel shook it with a firm handshake. 'You're Barry's adopted father, right?'

'Yes, how do you know Barry?' Joe asked, and was immediately on guard.

'We have a mutual friend,' Laurel explained. 'He's staying with them for a while, so you shouldn't worry about him.'

'Where is he?' Joe demanded.

Laurel shook her head. 'I can't say, but he's safe.'

Joe sighed. Still, if Caitlyn and Cisco were not worried about Barry, there was no need to panic just yet. 'All right. Fine. Thank you for letting me know. Tell him to call me when he feels better, won't you?'

'I will,' Laurel nodded. 'I'm going to head off, dad, see if I can get a message to the Flash.'

'All right, just be careful Laurel, you know I don't trust these vigilantes.' Quentin insisted, and hugged her.

'I will, dad,' Laurel hugged him back and rolled her eyes fondly. 'I'll see you later. Bye detective West.'

'Bye Laurel,' Joe said and turned to Quentin. 'Ready to go, partner?'

'Yeah, just give me a second,' Quentin replied and grabbed his coat. He sighed heavily. 'You know that my daughter is involved with Oliver Queen right? For Barry's sake, you better hope that this friend of Laurel's that he's staying with, isn't Queen.'

Joe nodded grimly as they headed out of the station. 'It's unlikely. I think that Barry would have mentioned it if he knew Oliver Queen. Come on, let's get to work.'

Queen Mansion

Barry woke early, and felt well rested from a good, long, nights sleep. He sped through his morning routine and consulted the map that he had copied from a book in the library. Starling city was the closer city, and although it was tempting to check in at Central, he also didn't want to leave Oliver's mansion just yet and knew that his friends would try to persuade him otherwise if they saw him. Starling city was also far more likely to have what he needed, and Barry had scribbled down the address of a couple of places to try.

Barry sped downstairs and ate a quick breakfast. He felt a little guilty as he borrowed some money from Felicity's purse, but it was necessary. After all, his own wallet was back at Star labs with his clothes and phone. Barry made a promise to himself that he would pay her back later and exited the mansion and peered around the corner. Oliver was not practising today, and Barry was thankful for that. It made sneaking out of the mansion so much easier. Barry made a run for the gates and sped off in the direction of Starling city.

It was so refreshing to feel the wind rush past him and through his hair, and Barry revelled in the feeling of freedom that came with running outside again. He was disappointed when it was barely half an hour later when he skidded to a stop around the corner from the shop that he was approaching first, a small, specialist poisons shop. The owner had just opened up the shop and Barry walked inside and straight up to the counter.

'Hi, I was wondering if you can help me,' Barry smiled charmingly and handed over the list he had written earlier. 'I'm looking for all these to help a friend of mine.'

The man looked suspiciously at Barry and then eyed the list contemplatively. 'Seems fairly straightforward,' the man grudgingly admitted. 'You making some kind of strength elixir?'

Barry nodded, and was relieved that the man recognised what he was trying to do. 'If I mix the first three on the list first, and then add items five and six, followed by item four, that should work, right?'

Barry watched as the man looked at the list again. 'Yes, that should work just fine. I'd recommend adding a catalyst though.'

'Thanks,' Barry smiled. 'So how much do I owe you?'

The man gathered some ingredients together from behind the counter and bagged them up. He totalled up the goods and turned back to Barry. '$54.95.'

Barry sighed and dug the notes that he had taken from Felicity out of his pocket. It was a good job she carried a lot of cash. He handed over three 20 dollar bills and smiled as the man handed him his change.

'I hope that Oliver appreciates this,' Barry muttered under his breath and directed to the shopkeeper. 'Thanks, hey I don't suppose you know the best place around here to get something to eat?'

'There's a big belly burger a few blocks away,' the man frowned, but Barry was too busy grinning to notice as he waved and left the shop quickly in search of a snack. Running so far and so fast had been amazing, but it had also made him really hungry.

The shopkeeper sighed and picked up his phone to dial a number that he knew from memory. When it was picked up at the other end, he muttered, 'I need to get a message to Mr Darhk regarding Oliver Queen. There's a new player on the field that may affect his plans.'

'All right, I'll put you through,' the young woman replied, and the shopkeeper waited patiently for the call to connect as he pondered the best way to tell Mr Darhk his news without suffering his wrath.

Later that day, back at Queen Mansion

By the time he returned to the Queen mansion, Barry felt exhaustion creeping up on him. He had only been able to afford one burger with the change from the $60 and it had been a long run. Barry breezed through the hallways and past a startled Felicity into his room to change.

It was only a moment later that Barry emerged and walked at normal speed down to the kitchens. He had eaten through an entire loaf of breads worth of sandwiches and was starting to feel a little better when Felicity entered the room.

'Oh, hey Barry, where have you been all morning?' Felicity asked as she headed to grab the second loaf of bread with a small frown on her face.

'I've been trying to sort out the ingredients to mix something up for Oliver,' Barry smiled and grabbed some of the bread that she offered him. 'I'm going to start working on it this afternoon.'

'That's good. Do you think you have everything that you need? I can send Diggle out for you if not,' Felicity offered as they made sandwiches together.

'Yeah, I have everything, thanks.' Barry replied. 'Those for Oliver?'

Felicity shook her head. 'No, for John. Oliver hasn't left his room yet. You want to eat with us? It's pretty sunny out under the cherry trees.'

'Sure,' Barry frowned and followed her outside. 'Is Oliver ok then?'

Felicity sighed. 'It's not unusual for him to spend a lot of time in his room, especially when he's feeling weaker. He sometimes only manages to be up for a few hours a day. He hates it. Here, John.' Felicity handed him a plate of sandwiches.

'Thanks Felicity,' Diggle nodded. 'Morning Barry.'

'Hey,' Barry greeted and turned back to Felicity as he sat down. 'Well, hopefully I can help him manage a little better.'

'I hope so too,' Felicity smiled sadly. 'It hit Oliver hard when he couldn't do half of the things that he used to be able to.'

They ate in companionable silence and Barry felt his strength peak again as his large lunch digested.

'Could you pick up some more food on the way in tomorrow, John?' Felicity asked as she finished her lunch. 'I swear that we had more than we did.'

Barry flushed and looked away as Diggle nodded his head and replied, 'Sure, Felicity. I'll stock you up. Any requests, Barry?'

'Can you get some of those high calorie, high energy bars?' Barry asked. They would not be as good as the ones that Cisco usually made, but something like that would top him up better and avoid the suspicion Barry felt that he raised when he ate nearly everything in sight.

'Sure kid, you'll need all the energy you can get if you're going to climb more trees,' Diggle laughed.

'Oliver told you?' Barry asked and pouted.

'I did,' Felicity laughed. 'How is your arm?'

'Oh, it's fine,' Barry smiled. 'The only thing wrong with me now is my energy levels. I keep getting so hungry.'

'Felicity,' a voice yelled across the grass as Oliver moved slowly towards them.

'Oliver, are you ok?' Felicity rushed to his side to help support him.

'Do you have any more of my medication? I've run out,' Oliver muttered.

'I didn't realise that we were nearly out already,' Felicity exclaimed, and gasped when Oliver stumbled in her arms.

'I've had to take it more and more frequently, I didn't realise how low we were getting,' Oliver explained. 'We're out of the purple flower that grows in the forest too so we can't make more.'

'I'll get it,' Diggle offered and made for the gate.

'No, I'll go,' Barry insisted and hurried to explain why he should go without revealing his super speed. 'I saw some on my way here and it will be quicker if I go because I know exactly where it is. Be back in a Flash.'

'It's dangerous!' Felicity yelled, but Barry had already jogged off towards the gate.

'Will he be ok?' Diggle asked. 'Should I go after him?'

Oliver sighed. Even if he had his suspicions that Barry was the Flash, it still wasn't worth the risk to let him go into the forest alone. 'We should.'

'Oh no, you're not going anywhere, you have very little strength left,' Felicity insisted. 'Let Diggle go.'

'All right...woah....' Diggle stopped in his tracks as he saw Barry jog back over to them. 'That was fast!'

Barry shrugged and tried to appear casual. 'I run. Here.'

'Thanks,' Felicity said as she took the flower from him. 'I'm sorry, Oliver, but this will take a few days to process.'

'I might be able to help with that,' Barry offered and took the flower back. 'Just explain the process to me and I'll see what I can do.'

Felicity smiled. 'All right. Dig can you help Oliver inside?'

Diggle nodded and slipped an arm around Oliver's shoulder's as the man's eyes slipped closed. 'Come on man, lets get you back to bed.'

Oliver grunted in protest and cursed his sluggish thoughts. There was no way Barry could have been that fast, right? He felt John guide him away and decided that he would try and piece the rest together later when he was more alert.

Barry followed Felicity down to the lab as she explained the process. It seemed fairly simple and Barry knew that his powers would come in handy when it came to speeding things along.

'So do you think that you can help speed it up?' Felicity finished.

Barry nodded. 'Leave it with me, you check on Oliver and make sure that he eats something. Skipping meals can't be good for him.'

Felicity nodded and smiled. 'Let me know if you need anything else, Barry.'

'Will do,' Barry muttered and was already lost in his work. Felicity shook her head and left him to it.

As soon as she had left, Barry grabbed the ingredients that he had bought earlier and started to mix the strength potion. Once that was on the go, Barry looked around the lab and frowned. Felicity had said that all the ingredients for Oliver's regular medication were in the lab, but in her rush she had not specified where they were. Barry shrugged. It didn't matter. With super speed he could look around the entire lab in a matter of seconds.

The first cabinet he checked was empty, the second in a similar state. In the third, Barry found some of the ingredients that he needed and set to work on the first stage of the potion. He gave it a quick mix with his super speed to aid the reaction and speed up the entire process, then went back to searching for ingredients.

The fourth cabinet he checked had Barry stopping in his tracks. He reached inside curiously and pulled out an arrow head. Barry held it up to the light and frowned. It was very similar to the arrows that the vigilante of Starling City was reported to have used. Barry put the arrow head in his pocket and continued his search of the room. He came across most of the rest of the ingredients and set the rest of the potion to brew whilst he tried to find the final ingredient.

In a cabinet near the far end of the lab, behind a pillar, a large trunk sat hidden under a sheet. Barry approached cautiously and threw the sheet aside. He knelt by the trunk and brushed the dust off the top, and wondered if perhaps he should leave it be. Barry knew that he wouldn't appreciate someone prying into his things. On the other hand, this could be the proof that he needed to confirm that Oliver Queen was the vigilante. Barry sighed and let his curiosity win out. He lifted the lid and reached inside to pull out what was definitely the Arrow suit. Barry grinned and coughed as he held it up. It was a little dusty, but there was no mistaking it, and it was Oliver's size. Oliver was the vigilante, and Barry felt intrigued. It would be nice to talk to someone else who was used to saving the city and being a hero, someone who understood the burdens that they carried and the choices that they had to make. Assuming of course that Oliver didn't bite his head off for invading his privacy.

Barry turned back to his potions and ran a hand through his hair. So, the curse was why Oliver had hung up his bow. Barry vowed to try and find a scientific cure and focused on the blood sample that Oliver had left with him yesterday. Without a sample of Oliver's blood before he had been cursed, progress would be slower, but Barry had noticed some blood samples in the freezer earlier. He dashed over to investigate and found that someone had kept samples of Oliver's blood from around six months ago. Barry wondered if these were pre curse samples and decided that he would try and compare the two to see if he could help. He placed the blood sample in the fridge so that it could defrost naturally and focussed on Oliver's medicine and the other potion which would hopefully improve Oliver's strength for the rest of the afternoon.

---

Barry had just finished Oliver's medicines when his stomach rumbled. He looked around but he could not spot a clock in the lab. It was probably time for some food though. Barry got a couple of vials and added the two medicines carefully into them. He dipped his finger in the strength potion and put it in his mouth. 'Ugh, gross,' Barry grimaced, but felt a sudden burst of strength before the liquid was out of his system. 'At least it works.' It was strong stuff, but there was no telling how long the effects would last in Oliver's system.

With the vials safely corked and in his pocket, Barry sped up to the kitchens. He had decided earlier that he would take the medicine, along with dinner, straight to Oliver when he was done. That way, he could casually drop into conversation, whilst Oliver was distracted with food and grateful for the medication, that he had found the suit and hopefully get Oliver to talk to him about being the vigilante.

It took Barry less than 15 minutes to prepare a simple spaghetti bolognese, with enough food for him and a much smaller portion for Oliver. It took him much longer to locate Oliver's room, and really it was lucky that he was so fast, or the food would have gone cold before he found it.

Barry knocked tentatively and entered the room when there was a gruff 'Come in,' from the other side.

Barry pushed open the door with his foot and went inside. 'Hey, Ollie, I brought food, and some more of that medicine.'

'That was fast, Barry,' Oliver smiled from his spot on the bed. There really was no question in his mind about Barry's secret identity.

Barry walked over and perched beside him. He handed Oliver the medicine first. 'I added a little twist, it should make it more effective. Also, here's the strength potion that I promised you.'

Oliver accepted the two vials and downed them instantly. He could trust the other vigilante, the hero of Central city, not to poison him, and that was a strange feeling for Oliver. He even felt that he could tell Barry about his own secret. Suddenly, his face scrunched up in disgust. 'What did you do to these?'

'Hey, I said that they would be effective, not that they would taste good,' Barry shrugged. 'Here, I made spaghetti. The sauce works wonders to get rid of that nasty after taste.'

'Thanks,' Oliver murmured and accepted the bowl that Barry offered him. 'Did you cook for Felicity and the others too?'

Barry flushed slightly. 'Nope, the rest is for me.'

Oliver gave him an odd look and raised his eyebrow.

'What? I get hungry,' Barry muttered defensively and scooted over to lean against Oliver's headboard beside him.

'So, how did you find the lab?' Oliver asked as he began to eat.

'Better than what I'm used to back in Central,' Barry admitted. 'At least here the equipment doesn't malfunction.'

Oliver smiled and then frowned as he realised that Barry's portion of food had decreased pretty quickly. He was about to call the young man out with his theory when Barry spoke again.

'I did find something interesting though. Either you like to cosplay, or you were the Starling city vigilante,' Barry revealed, and carefully watched Oliver's face for a reaction.

Oliver sighed and gave a slight nod. 'I was, before the curse.'

'Cool. You're my hero, you know I always wanted to meet you?' Barry gushed. It was true. When he had first gotten his powers he had tried his best to be like the Arrow, only he wanted to go one better. The Flash saved people and gave them hope. He did not do the dirty work that the city needed and have most people fear him. Barry reached into his pocket and pulled out the arrow head from earlier. 'You know if you used a stronger material, you'd penetrate better. I can help with that.'

'You have a weird definition of hero, Barry,' Oliver muttered, but was pleasantly surprised that someone as inherently good as Barry was taking this so well. 'I think my arrows are just fine.'

Barry shrugged. 'If you say so. So, you trained in an island environment right? The city is full of darkness and shadows, so black would have been a far better camouflage, but I guess the green is a nod to where you trained?'

Oliver nodded, and was surprised by Barry's intelligence yet again. 'I was stranded on an island for the better part of five years.'

'You must have learnt a lot about survival,' Barry nodded to himself and Oliver was surprised that he didn't offer sympathy. Most people were horrified to learn that he had been stranded. Barry continued talking. 'Then when you came back you decided to make your city a better place. It's honourable.'

'I've never looked at it that way before. I've done some terrible things,' Oliver mused.

'Yeah, but your heart has always been in the right place. There has to be some goodness in you, otherwise you wouldn't have survived everything that you went through and come back with a desire to do good,' Barry insisted.

Oliver found himself smiling in response and felt his heart lighten. Even though they had both finished their food by now, Barry seemed content to stick around and it was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't Felicity, Thea or John.

'So, why no mask? I've seen you on TV and the greasepaint thing? It's a poor identity concealer,' Barry commented and reached into his pocket for the chocolate bar he had stashed there earlier.

'I couldn't find one that conforms perfectly to my face and doesn't disrupt my view when I'm trying to aim,' Oliver explained.

'I could fix that,' Barry grinned and broke the chocolate in half to offer some to Oliver.

'More science?' Oliver teased and took the chocolate to take a bite.

Barry nodded and spoke around his mouthful, 'Hey, science is one of my most useful skills!'

'Apparently so is getting through locked doors,' Oliver murmured. 'I never did figure out how you pulled that one off. After your friends stumbled in I was sure that we locked the door.'

'You did,' Barry confirmed and nodded decisively. 'Want to know a secret?'

In the blink of an eye Barry was gone, and a second later he was back with a cheesecake.

'I'm super fast,' Barry explained at Oliver's raised eyebrow. Suspecting it was one thing, but seeing it in person was another thing entirely.

'Cool,' Oliver nodded and accepted half of the dessert.

'Cool? That's it?' Barry frowned and joined him on the bed again.

'I had my suspicions,' Oliver admitted and Barry pouted. Oliver smiled. 'You're not exactly subtle, Barry. You got that flower from the forest remarkably quickly, even though it grows near the river which is a good mile from here and you eat far too much and too quickly to be a regular person. You must be one of the meta-humans that was affected by the particle accelerator that exploded. Super speed doesn't explain the door though.'

'I managed to move so fast that I phased through it. It wasn't pleasant and I lose my suit in the process. Cisco isn't happy with me.' Barry winced.

'That's a hell of an ability you have there. You could easily be a hero.' Oliver mused in the hope that Barry trusted him enough to confide in him that he was.

Barry flushed. 'Well, the thing is, I am. Remember the guy I was telling you about?'

'The Flash, right? I thought that might be you.' Oliver insisted.

'Seriously? You had me on that too?' Barry complained and ate the rest of the cheesecake sulkily.

'I found this outside,' Oliver reached into his bedside table and pulled out the Flash emblem, which he handed to Barry. 'You were struck by lightning, and it gave you your powers. That wasn't the only thing that gave you away though. Last night at dinner, you expressed so much faith in the Flash, and yet when Felicity said that the others were safe in Central city, you didn't appear convinced. It's because I'm keeping you here, from your city.'

'You're not keeping me here! I was injured in a fight with one of my worst enemies and when I arrived here I was in a bad way. I needed time and space to recover before I could even think about using my powers again,' Barry protested and looked at Oliver intently. 'Now though? I like you Oliver, and I want to stay for a while. Firestorm can handle Central's meta-humans for a few days.'

Barry smiled and Oliver could see that it was genuine and warm.

'I'm glad to have you here,' Oliver admitted and returned Barry's smile.

'You know, you inspired me to watch over Central, just like you did in Starling, pretty cool, huh?' Barry admitted with the hope that Oliver would share some of his stories.

'It was,' Oliver murmured and there was a wistful look in his eyes as he remembered a time when he could run across rooftops and shoot arrows down on his enemies.

'Hey, you'll get out there again. Or at least you will if I have anything to do with it!' Barry insisted. 'It will be fine, Ollie.'

They were silent for a few moments as Oliver finished his dessert.

'So, what was your favourite part?' Barry asked hopefully.

'Swinging from rooftop to rooftop patrolling.' Oliver smiled wistfully. 'You?'

'The rush I feel when I'm running, nothing beats it,' Barry sighed and leant back. 'Although that feeling of helping people, saving people? That comes a close second. It's nice not to be helpless.'

Oliver nodded. 'Sometimes, just sitting and watching over the city was enough. It was peaceful.'

'I get that when I'm running. I'm so fast that no one can touch me, it's like my own personal bubble,' Barry smiled.

'It must be nice, being able to case an environment in an instant,' Oliver commented thoughtfully. As the Arrow, he didn't always have the time.

'Case an environment?' Barry asked, confused.

Oliver shook his head, amused. 'You've been rushing in blindly, haven't you? You could assess the situation in an instant, yet you don't. I'm amazed that you haven't been killed yet.'

'I'm fast,' Barry shrugged, as if that were all that mattered.

'One day, that might not be enough,' Oliver insisted. 'Look, tomorrow I'll show you a thing or two.'

'For real? I get to train with the Arrow!' Barry exclaimed. 'What about the curse?'

'I'll be fine,' Oliver decided, and stretched. He felt stronger than he had done in a long time. 'The medication is already taking effect, and your strength potion is really effective. I'm sure that it won't take it out of me and we can see how long the potion lasts.'

'Great!' Barry grinned widely and handed Oliver another vial. 'I don't expect it to last through the night and into tomorrow, so take that when you wake up. I'll see you in the morning.'

Oliver couldn't help but smile back and add with a cheeky grin, 'Just be sure to use the door this time!'

Barry laughed and waved him off. He headed straight for the labs, where he was sure that he had seen something suitable to make Oliver a proper mask.

The next morning, Central City

'I knew that we should have come here right away,' Caitlyn complained as she followed Cisco into the precinct.

'We had to give Barry a chance to heal first,' Cisco insisted in a low whisper. 'Can you imagine what would have happened if the police found him beaten and bloodied, and then a couple of days later he was fine? We couldn't explain that away!'

Caitlyn sighed and nodded reluctantly.

'Cisco, Caitlyn, have you heard from Barry?' Joe asked when he spotted them.

'No, actually that's what we're here about,' Cisco said hesitantly.

'You can't get hold of him either? His phone was going straight to voice mail, and he didn't call me back, even though Laurel said that she would tell him to. I was worried. We issued a BOLO this morning,' Joe explained, worried. He looked as if he had not gotten much sleep the night before. 'If you hear from him at all, let us know.'

'Of course,' Caitlyn replied. 'The thing is...'

She was interrupted by a large explosion, which sounded nearby.

'Christ,' Joe exclaimed and yelled at them on his way out. 'Try and find Barry, please, we could really do with him right now.'

'What's going on?' Cisco exclaimed, and rushed to the window to look outside.

'I don't know,' Caitlyn frowned as they watched smoke rising from a location in the distance. 'I'm going to call Ronnie. You let one of the uniforms know that we last saw Barry at the Queen mansion. We need to find him fast.'

Cisco nodded and they both jumped into action. As Caitlyn pulled out her phone, Cisco approached a young sergeant who he had seen around Joe and Lance a couple of times. 'Yo, dude.' Cisco called out, and explained the situation quickly. The sergeant promised to check it out, and Cisco sighed in relief. At least this way they would know if Barry were still there. In the meantime, he and Caitlyn could work on a way to comb the forest for any signs of Barry, perhaps by hacking into some satellites or something.

Back at the Queen Mansion, also the next morning

'Ow, you shot me!' Barry complained and turned to glare at Oliver. They were in the grounds of the mansion and so far Barry had been showing off and getting increasingly overconfident.

'It's just a tranquilliser, Barry,' Oliver smirked at him. 'You didn't even consider that I may have set a trap, because you always run in blind!'

Barry frowned and vibrated at super speed to get rid of the tranquilliser from his system. 'Maybe.' He was willing to admit that Oliver had a point.

'You should always inspect an environment before you run in. I don't always have time, but whenever I can, I make sure that I know exactly what I am up against,' Oliver advised and winced as his hand gave a twinge inside his glove. The curse was getting worse the nearer he got to his 30th birthday. Still, at least he had a purpose now. Oliver would make sure that Barry learned enough in the time that he had left so that the young man didn't get himself killed, because in the past few days he had grown very fond of him.

'Well, there aren't any more traps around here,' Barry grinned and he looked a bit flushed.

'See, I told you that you'd have time,' Oliver grinned back when he realised that Barry had taken his advice and scoped out the garden.

'Guess you're right,' Barry replied, a little reluctantly. 'Come on, let's get something to eat and then you can fire as many arrows at me as you want.'

Oliver moved to follow Barry inside, but Barry was back at his side in an instant with a large plate of sandwiches, croissants, ham and cheese.

'Come on, let's eat out here.' Barry led the way to sit in the sunshine under one of the apple trees that he had spotted earlier. Oliver sat beside him and they ate together whilst Barry told Oliver all about the man in yellow and how he had ended up at the Queen mansion in the first place.

'So, that's my story. I'm surprised that Cisco and Caitlyn haven't been worried enough to send out a search party yet.' Barry smiled as his shoulder brushed against Oliver's when he leant over to grab some cheese.

Oliver felt a frisson of heat travel down his body and he turned to look at Barry in wonder. He felt a sudden urge to lean in and kiss the young man beside him and began to lean forward towards him.

'I think that they must have been worried,' Felicity reluctantly interrupted what she thought may have been a moment between them as she moved to sit beside them. She saw Oliver jerk back quickly and sighed. Unfortunately this was urgent news and it couldn't wait. 'The police put out a BOLO on you first thing this morning. I think that under these circumstances you're free to go, Barry.'

'I'm not a prisoner here, I'm your guest, remember?' Barry frowned. 'I could leave any time that I wanted to.'

It wasn't that he wanted to leave at the moment either. Barry wasn't sure how he could face his father knowing that he had screwed up his one chance at freedom. He was also sure that he could learn a lot more from training with Oliver.

Felicity nodded and was about to speak, but Barry beat her to it.

'It doesn't matter anyway, I want to stay. I feel like I'm learning a lot,' Barry smiled over at Oliver then, and Felicity was stunned when Oliver returned the smile with an open, genuine one of his own.

'Wow...ok,' Felicity replied and was convinced now that she had ruined a moment between them. 'Can you at least call the police and let them know?'

'Sure,' Barry nodded and accepted the phone that Felicity handed to him. He keyed in Joe's mobile number, which he had memorised. Joe answered on the first ring.

'Who is this?' Joe grunted, agitated.

'Joe, it's Barry,' Barry was quick to answer.

'Bear, are you all right? Are you safe?' Joe insisted instantly and Barry was reminded just how much he loved this man.

'I'm fine, Joe. Didn't Laurel tell you? I'm staying with friends for a little while,' Barry explained quickly.

'She did, but I didn't believe her,' Joe grumbled. 'She was supposed to tell you to call.'

'She hasn't been back here yet, and I left my phone at Star labs,' Barry covered. 'I just saw the BOLO and borrowed Felicity's phone right away. I'm safe, though Joe, I promise. I'll be back soon, I just need time.'

Barry knew that Joe was probably nodding as he replied, 'Ok, Bear, you take care of yourself. Just remember that Iris will always love you as a brother, and as little consolation as it may be right now, you will always be a big part of her life. I'll see you soon.'

'Thanks Joe, I'll be fine,' Barry replied, and realised that he meant it. He hadn't thought about Iris since that first night here. 'See you later.'

Barry hung up the phone and handed it back to Felicity. 'That should keep them happy for a while.'

Felicity nodded and accepted her phone back with a smile. She looked meaningfully at Oliver. 'I'll leave you guys to it then. I'm going to check in with Thea.'

'See you later, Felicity,' Barry smiled, and did not notice the way that Oliver rolled his eyes at Felicity as she retreated.

Oliver stood and grabbed his bow. He felt the urge to blow off some steam and wanted to put off analysing his feelings towards Barry for now. He had nearly kissed Barry out of the blue and he wanted to be sure of his actions before he ruined the best friendship that he had ever had.

'Come at me, Barry,' Oliver taunted and motioned with his hand.

'Challenge accepted,' Barry grinned and stood in a flash. Oliver let loose a volley of arrows and Barry moved swiftly around them. This was too easy.

Oliver frowned and pushed himself further, past the pain of the exertion. The young man was getting cocky. Oliver watched Barry to see if there was a pattern to his movements and let loose another volley of arrows. He grinned when the speedster was unable to dodge them all.

'Oww,' Barry winced as he stopped and rubbed at his arm where an arrow had grazed him and created a small cut.

'Not fast enough, Flash,' Oliver grinned, but found himself disarmed and on his back in less than 5 seconds.

'Clearly I am,' Barry grinned down at him from above where he now had Oliver pinned to the ground.

Oliver paused briefly and looked into the playful face of the man above him. He felt something stir within him that he hadn't felt in years, since before the island when his life had taken a turn to the dark side and never recovered. Barry was bright, a beacon of hope, and Oliver could not remember the last time being around another person had made him feel so light, happy. Was this the love that Felicity had spoken of? The love of a fairytale? Oliver's heart stirred in longing, and he felt like all he wanted to do was take the man above him in an embrace and connect their lips.

Barry smirked, and the moment was broken. Oliver could not stand to let him win, and rolled them over to try and pin Barry to the ground. Barry was up and away before Oliver could blink and Oliver continued to roll until he reached his bow.

'Ready for round two?' Oliver growled, and aimed ready to fire. Despite his growing feelings for Barry, it felt so good to have a real moving target to aim at again, and Oliver would not hold back from the challenge.

Barry nodded, determined, and charged.

–--

The sun was high in the sky by the time Oliver felt his strength fade to the levels that it had been at before he took the strength potion. He pulled off his gloves and raised his hand to get Barry's attention. The speedster was by his side in a second.

'Something wrong, Ollie?' Barry asked, and frowned as Oliver coughed into his hand. 'What happened to your hand? It looks worse than yesterday.'

'It's a part of the curse. As it progresses my dominant bow hand will grow more frail and sickly looking,' Oliver explained. 'A cruel twist of fate, no doubt designed as revenge for the hand that I took from Malcolm Merlyn.'

'Ouch, so that's why you've been using your left hand to pull back your bowstring,' Barry commented.

Oliver nodded. 'I also think that your potion is wearing off. I can feel my strength fading.'

'It didn't last as long as I'd hoped,' Barry frowned. 'It's ok, you rest, I'll take another look at it.'

Oliver groaned and stifled a yawn. 'I don't need to rest, Barry.'

'Clearly you do,' Barry insisted with a small smile. 'I was going to be done soon anyway, using my speed so much has really depleted my energy. I need to eat. Anyway, I've learned a lot this morning, I can dodge much better than I could before, and I even caught a few!'

'You are improving,' Oliver agreed and this time did not stop his yawn. 'All right. 'I'll take lunch and a few hours rest. I'll meet you in the entrance hall at six.'

Barry nodded and they headed inside together. They grabbed lunch and then went their separate ways, Oliver to his room, and Barry to the lab to see what he could do about Oliver's strength.

–--

Barry had left attempt number two of the potion to brew, had finished making a mask for Oliver, and was analysing the two sample's of Oliver's blood when Felicity found him.

'Hey Barry. 'What's up?' Felicity asked as she sat beside him at the table.

'Oh, hey, Felicity. I found a sample of Oliver's blood before the curse took hold in the freezer, so I thought that I'd take a look,' Barry explained and was about to continue when Felicity interrupted him.

'Oh my god you're trying to clone Oliver!' Felicity exclaimed.

Barry shook his head frantically and held up his hands. 'No, no, I'm just trying to find a scientific cure to this curse,' Barry frowned in thought. 'Not that cloning him is a bad idea...I bet Star labs could...'

'Barry Allen!' Felicity exclaimed and her hands flew over her mouth in shock. Barry smiled at her sheepishly.

'Don't worry, I don't think even I could manage that,' Barry frowned as he looked again at the microscope. 'I just can't figure it out. Oliver's blood from before and after the curse doesn’t have any noticeable differences. There's nothing wrong with his DNA. It's as if this curse really is magic.'

'We've seen some strange things with relation to Damien Darhk,' Felicity sighed. 'He could stop Oliver in his tracks just by raising his hand. I think that it is magic.'

Barry sighed. 'I want to help him, Felicity. I feel like he understands me on a level that no one else would ever come close to. Meta humans, magic, if all that is possible, then surely a cure is? I've already improved his strength.'

Felicity smiled sadly and thought of the real cure for the curse. 'Not everything can be solved with science, Barry.'

'I know, I just feel like I owe it to Oliver to try,' Barry insisted. 'He's a good person.'

'You always saw the best in him even from the start,' Felicity smiled and asked curiously, 'Why is that? Oliver had been nothing but a jerk to you.'

'Oh he just had his 'Arrow' persona on,' Barry laughed. 'That guy is a douche, but Oliver? Ollie is something else entirely.'

'He told you?' Felicity asked in wonder. In a few days, they really had gotten close.

'No, I figured it out,' Barry laughed and grabbed the new strength potion he had been working on. 'He wasn't doing the best job of hiding it, and giving me full access to the place where he stashes his suit was a mistake if he didn't want me to find out. Come on, I promised that I'd meet Oliver for dinner.'

Felicity looked at Barry closely. His eyes lit up when he spoke about Oliver, and he was so determined to help him. There was certainly admiration there, but love? Was it possible? Felicity shook her head and followed Barry out. It was a sad thought that only time would tell. Barry held Oliver in a high regard now, but time was something that they were running out of rapidly. Even if Barry were to fall in love with Oliver in the short time that Oliver had left, there was no guarantee that Oliver would feel the same in return and learn to trust him completely.

'This situation is beyond messed up,' Felicity muttered under her breath as she followed Barry out. 'Why does Oliver have to meet the one person that might break through his walls to break the curse so close to his birthday?'

Unknown location, Starling city

'We need to get rid of him, what if he breaks the curse?' Malcolm Merlyn huffed as he paced in front of Damien Darhk.

'Don't worry about it, my new associate will put an end to this boy,' Darhk snapped his fingers and a frightening blurred man appeared in front of them. 'I'd like to introduce Zoom.'

'Woah,' Merlyn exclaimed. 'What is it?'

'He is our ticket to getting rid of Oliver.' Darhk turned to Zoom. 'I have located the speedster that you seek. I only ask that you break him beyond repair and let nature do the rest. I need him to die in Queen's arms to break him completely.'

'Of course,' Zoom nodded, voice gravelly and terrifying. 'And as agreed?'

'Yes, once he is taken care of, Central city will be yours to control and together we can branch out to take over the entire world.'

'Understood,' Zoom growled, and in an instant he was gone.

'Is that kid really a speedster?' Malcolm asked after Zoom had left.

Darhk shrugged. 'There is a possibility that he is Central city's hero, the Flash. If he is, we get rid of two threats to our power at once, and if he isn't, at least we get rid of any chance that the Arrow has to break the curse.'

Malcolm laughed, but it was hesitant. 'He makes me nervous, are you sure that you can trust him?'

'Not entirely no,' Damien shrugged. 'We need his power and are running out of options though.'

'I could kill him myself?' Malcolm suggested.

'With one hand?' Darhk laughed. 'Don't be absurd. If he does turn out to be the Flash, neither of us stand a chance. We use a speedster to kill a speedster, and then reap the rewards afterwards.'

Malcolm sighed and looked down at his remaining hand. 'I'm going to prepare to leave for Central city tomorrow to find Thea then. It's nearly time.'

Damien nodded. 'I will continue to move our plans to take Central city forward. If I do not see you before then, I will meet you at the Queen mansion on our dear Oliver's birthday. I think that it will make a lovely base of operations once we wash his blood from the walls.'

Malcolm smirked. 'Yes, I rather think that it will.'

Back at the Queen Mansion

Felicity headed into the hallway and frowned when she heard raised voices. Barry had gone on ahead to meet Oliver and she wondered what had happened. She stopped in the shadows and listened as the scene in front of her unfolded.

'Tell me who you are,' Oliver growled and stalked towards a man who had a gun held in front of him with his bow drawn and his hood down.

'Ollie, it's fine,' Barry started to explain, but Oliver interrupted him.

'He shot at me, Barry. It's not fine,' Oliver insisted and indicated towards his grazed arm.

'I won't tell you anything,' the man insisted stubbornly. 'Lower your weapon and step away from Allen or I'll shoot you again, and I won't miss this time.'

Oliver advanced and let loose two arrows. One knocked the man's gun away and to the side and the other embedded in the man's shoulder. Oliver stalked towards him menacingly and gripped the arrow tightly.

Barry was at his side in an instant, a look of horror and disbelief in his eyes. 'Leave him alone Ollie,' Barry insisted and grabbed at Oliver's hands.

'Only if he tells me who he is and why he is here,' Oliver growled and broke away from Barry to twist the arrow.

The man let out a scream and Barry reacted quickly. He pulled back his fist and punched Oliver hard in the face. Oliver staggered and let go of the arrow and the man took his chance to run.

'I know him, he works at the precinct. He has a wife and two children, Oliver!' Barry exclaimed hotly and folded his arms across his chest defiantly to prevent himself from reaching out and making sure that Oliver was ok.

Oliver clutched his cheek and glared at Barry. 'He should have told me who he was, and he shouldn't have shot me!'

'Heroes don't torture people. You could have easily just disarmed him,' Barry threw back and Oliver noticed the look of disappointment in his eyes.

'Sorry to disappoint you Barry, but I'm not a hero. In my city, people that I care about get hurt regularly, my best friend was murdered, my mother was killed in front of me. I have to be ready to make tough choices and do whatever it takes without hesitation, because if I don't then people die,' Oliver insisted bluntly.

'My mother was murdered in front of me too, but I don't use that as an excuse to torture whoever pisses me off!' Barry insisted. 'I'm better than that. I thought that we both were.'

Oliver was momentarily stunned. He knew that Barry's mother had been murdered, but to hear that this man, this beautiful breath of fresh air, had witnessed such a tragedy at a young age? It was shocking, especially considering Barry's general optimism and carefree nature.

It was not enough to break through Oliver's frustration however. 'Maybe I'm not as emotionally healthy as you, Barry,' Oliver scoffed and tried to keep the hurt he felt from his expression. 'This is who I am. If you don't like it then you don't have to stay here. You know your way back to Central.'

Barry's eyes crackled with energy and for a moment Oliver felt afraid by the anger that he saw there. 'Fine,' he yelled and thrust the potion at Oliver before he ran out of the door faster than Oliver could blink.

Oliver sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He felt a deep sense of loss coil in his chest and frowned at the feeling.

'What the hell was that, Oliver?' Felicity shouted at him as she stalked towards him.

'I was being myself, clearly Barry wasn't happy with that,' Oliver scowled, but he looked down at the vial that he held in his hand. Barry had spent all afternoon here, trying to help him out, when Oliver knew that the speedster could have easily left at any point.

'So you're just going to let him go out there, by himself?' Felicity exclaimed. 'I can't believe you. Go after him. Now!'

Oliver stalked off towards the lab to see if Barry had left the rest of his medication there. He had every intention of ignoring Felicity in the hope that she left him alone. Barry was more than capable of taking care of himself

He had no such luck.

'It's getting dark outside Oliver, it's scary in the forest and he's so young. He doesn't have your survival instincts and the wolves are really hungry and protective this time of the year because they all have cubs to feed. You can't give up and just let him leave, let him be killed, he's your only hope!' Felicity exclaimed, and this time there were tears in her eyes.

'I know what he was, Felicity,' Oliver growled. He did not need her to remind him that he had driven away his last chance, especially when he had begun to care for the young man.

'Please, you'd never forgive yourself if something happened to him,' Felicity begged.

'Barry can take care of himself,' Oliver insisted as he reached the lab. 'Now leave me alone.'

'Fine, I'm going to call John so that we can look for Barry. At least he has a heart!' Felicity exclaimed angrily through her tears and left Oliver to himself in the lab.

Oliver sighed as he watched her go. If she knew the truth about Barry and his powers, she wouldn't be as quick to judge him for his inaction. Although this was Felicity, and knowing her she would insist that he go regardless of what super powers Barry had. Oliver found his medication and took a dose in a single gulp. The foul taste only reminded him of Barry and he sighed heavily. It was then that his attention was drawn to the mask which lay on the desk.

Oliver picked up the mask curiously. It was lightweight and when Oliver tried to pull and stretch it, it did not lose it's shape or break. He tried it on and was surprised to find that it was the perfect fit. Oliver grabbed his bow and realised that no matter which way he aimed the mask did not obstruct his vision at all.

Barry's words to him yesterday came back to him and Oliver realised that the young man had exceeded all expectations. Barry had done this for him even though he knew that the likelihood of Oliver being able to don his hood again was slim. Barry listened to him, understood him more than anyone ever had been able to and broke down through his walls like they were made out of playing cards. He was worth fighting for.

Oliver downed the potion which Barry had thrust at him before he ran off and ran to the back of the lab to grab his suit. Once he was changed he ran out to his bike. He would never catch up to Barry, but at the very least he would make an appearance at Central city's Star labs and apologise for yelling and the torture of the police officer. Sometimes extreme measures were necessary in this line of work, but Oliver could admit that maybe on this occasion he had overreacted.

–

Barry ran quickly through the forest and did not pay a lot of attention to where he was going. His thoughts were flying wildly around in his head. To think that he had trusted Oliver with his secret, had shared so many moments with him, had felt drawn to him in a way that he had never felt with anybody but Iris... Barry skidded to a halt in a clearing and could feel his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. Did he love Oliver?

'OK. Calm down,' Barry insisted and ignored that last thought for now as he began to pace. So the vigilantes methods were sometimes violent. He had known that before today. It was just a bit of a shock to see it in action. It was probably natural for Oliver to get defensive when someone broke into his home with a gun. Someone who he didn't know or recognise, who had tried to hurt him and then refused to say who he was.

Barry sighed. To Oliver, it was an extreme situation, and sometimes Oliver dealt in extremes, if the news reports on the Arrow were anything to go by. It wasn't Oliver's fault if whatever happened to him on that island had taught him the wrong lessons about drastic measures, which he then felt that he had to use in Starling. It still wasn't right that he had acted without thinking, refused to listen to him and shot the officer of course. Barry could only guess that Oliver had been in situations in the past where people wouldn't respond to anything else but torture and that there had been consequences for his hesitancy in the past which led to Oliver shooting first and asking questions later now.

He could just leave, return to Central without look back and pretend that none of this had ever happened, but his heart felt heavy at the thought of doing that. Oliver was lonely and hurt and Barry ran a hand through his hair as he remembered the hurt look that Oliver had tried to cover up just before Barry had left. It wasn't just that he felt sorry for Oliver though. Oliver was a hero, just like he was. He understood what it was like to protect your city and the pressures that came with it. He would also understand the deep pain that went with being unable to save everyone, every time.

Barry smiled. Oliver was also a fun sparring partner with a quick wit and when you could get him to laugh, it was magical. If Barry could get the strength potion right then Oliver could be someone that he could Spar with without holding back. He could also be a good friend, maybe even more. Barry felt his cheeks flush slightly and shook his head. They had to get through this fight, first, but perhaps Oliver would be willing to give him a chance.

Barry nodded, determined to head back. His eyes crackled and he was about to speed off when a dark shape barrelled into him. Barry cried out and sped to the other side of the clearing.

The blur became a man and growled, 'I am Zoom, and I am to be your end, Flash.'

Barry grinned, confident. The man had taken him by surprise, but if he could beat the man in yellow, he could beat any speedster. 'The last speedster who said that is dead, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope if I were you,' Barry shot back cheekily and engaged the man in a high speed fight which quickly spiralled out of control.

–

Oliver was about to set off on his bike when he heard a horrifying scream split the air a little way off from the mansion. 'Barry,' Oliver panicked and pushed the bike off road through the trees towards the sound. He came to a clearing and swore that he saw a blur of blue light rush off and away from the scene in front of him.

Barry was surrounded by a pack of very menacing wolves with teeth bared ready to attack. The young man looked like he was struggling to stay conscious and Oliver watched as he vibrated slightly as if he were trying to speed away. Oliver threw his bike to the ground and let loose some arrows, startled with the speed with which he managed to fire. The potion that Barry had made must be to thank for that. Oliver felt stronger than the last time he had taken the potion and was almost at the strength he had been before the curse had struck him down. Three of the beasts fell quickly, but the rest turned towards this new threat. The alpha let out a howl and jumped towards Oliver. Oliver acted quickly and shot an arrow into one of the taller, sturdier trees to propel himself upwards. He struggled a little to get his footing: he had been used to buildings rather than trees in Starling, but he adjusted quickly. This was just like fighting in the wilderness on the island, only for higher stakes than his own life.

One of the wolves prowled back towards Barry as the rest circled the tree. Oliver let loose an arrow and struck the wolf nearest Barry. From up in the tree it was easy to pick off the remaining wolves and Oliver leapt hastily down from the tree. He winced as he landed but recovered quickly and rushed to Barry's side.

'Barry...' Oliver sighed as he sank to his knees and took in the younger man's injuries. This couldn't have been done by wolves alone. He had to get Barry back to the mansion before he bled out.

Oliver's ears pricked up as he heard something rustling in the undergrowth and as he turned he was pounced on from behind. Oliver struggled briefly with the wolf that pinned him and brought up his bow to deflect it's teeth. Oliver rolled and shoved the animal away. He pushed himself to his feet but was unprepared for the second beast which latched onto his leg. Oliver winced and brought his fist down on the wolfs head. It let go and fell to the ground, unconscious. Oliver aimed an arrow at the first beast, which snarled viciously but did not advance. After a time, the animal backed down and ran into the forest.

Oliver sighed with relief and slung his bow across his back. He would have to act quickly, the wolf was sure to be back with allies.

Oliver winced as he hobbled over to Barry's side again. His leg hurt to put pressure on it, but he would manage. Barry was in a much worse state. Oliver knelt beside Barry and scooped him up to carry him over to his bike. It was tricky, but Oliver managed to manoeuvre Barry so that he could sit facing Oliver on the bike. Barry's head fell to rest on Oliver's shoulder and Oliver kept one arm around Barry and used the other to gun the throttle. This would be dangerous to both of them if they fell off, and it would likely cause some damage to his bike because he would have to stick to one gear, but it would be faster than attempting to carry Barry back to the mansion. Oliver tried not to think about how cold and lifeless Barry felt where he was pressed against him as he moved them steadily back towards the mansion.

They made it back without further incident and Oliver kicked the door shut just as a loud howl split the air. He held Barry's limp body close to him, bridal style, as he stalked up the stairs and towards their medical room.

'Felicity!' Oliver shouted as loud as he was able. 'Felicity, get over here right now!'

'What is it?' Felicity muttered, as she appeared in the hallway. She stopped dead still when she saw Barry in Oliver's arms. 'Oh my God, Oliver what happened to him!'

'Wolves in the forest, but I'm sure that there was something else, although I didn't get a good look,' Oliver explained as he carried Barry into the medical room and placed him on the bed.

'Oliver, I can do basic first aid, but this? These are pretty severe injuries,' Felicity panicked as she looked over Barry carefully.

'We do the best that we can,' Oliver insisted and pulled the mask down around his neck. Together they worked on Barry to bandage his wounds and assess the damage.

'It really doesn't look good for him, Oliver. I don't know what got to him before the wolves, but his back is broken. He has severe internal bleeding and his pulse is barely there. I think you need to say your goodbyes,' Felicity broke off, choked up with tears in her eyes. 'I'll leave you two alone.'

Felicity gave Barry's hand a squeeze and gave Oliver a one armed hug before she left the room. Oliver sat in a chair near the bed and reached out to hold Barry's hand tentatively. He sighed and found himself at a loss for words. How could he say goodbye to someone that he barely knew, yet felt closer to than anybody else? To someone who he could easily see himself falling in love with?

Oliver thought of Barry's smiles, his laugh, his carefree attitude and supportive nature and felt a pain in his chest and his eyes begin to tear up as he realised the severity of the situation. It had only been a few days and he was already in love with Barry. It was all his fault. If he had not wasted so much time before he went after him, Barry may not be in this situation now. Dying. He had killed the man that he loved, just like he hurt everyone else around him too.

Oliver could not stop the sob that escaped him as he looked at the prone young man on the bed. He pulled his chair closer to Barry's bedside and decided that the least he could do for the young man was stay by his side so that he was not alone when the inevitable happened.

Notes:

I hope that you liked it, even with a bit of a cliffhanger.

I am sorry about the wolves. I really do love animals :)

I did a bit of research and I don't think that the concoction that Barry made is actually possible, so I have taken a few fairy tale liberties with it.

There is one more chapter to go, and I really hope to have that posted by the end of the 12th, which is the last day for reblogging for Olivarry week, although I still have a bit of writing for that one left to do as I ended up putting the end on hold whilst I read through the rest of the chapters for posting.

[artemis-the-sinister]

Never Again

This is a short fic for Olivarry weak 2016 based on a longer fic from Barry’s perspective that’s still in progress. I want to have something to post today. 

Oliver choked on his breath as a sharp pain lanced through his arm. He looked down and stared in horror at the arrowhead buried in his shoulder-

-And found himself staring at a plain metal bathroom door, feeling sick to his stomach. He had Switched with his Soulmate. In the time of his worst pain, he had let his Soulmate bear the brunt of his pain. As he slipped into unconsciousness, the lingering pain of his dad’s suicide, the physical pain of the hunger and the arrow, and the guilt of passing it all onto his soulmate swirled together in his head. 

“You have a soulmate, right?” Yao Fei asked him. Oliver hesitated, then nodded. 

“In the times of your worst pain, your soulmate can switch minds with you to share your pain.” he said. “You must learn how to block it.”

Oliver stared at his mentor in pure shock. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Do you want your soulmate to take your place each time you are shot with an arrow or hunted down in fear?” Yao Fei asked sharply. “You are the one here, and you must be the one to carry your burden.”

Looking down at his hands, Oliver nodded. “You’re right,” he grumbled. “Why are you always right?”

Oliver got the first chance to block out his soulmate quickly, when Edward Fyres captures him and has one of his men torture him with a knife. He doesn’t break, neither letting his soulmate bear his pain nor revealing the location of Yao Fei. Oliver managed to shut out his soulmate for the next 5 years. At times, it was physically painful, and he felt sorely tempted to give in, but he wouldn’t let it happen. Oliver had done plenty of terrible things, but he knew that letting his soulmate experience his hell would be the most unforgivable thing he would ever do. 

It wasn’t until he returned home from the island that he let his guard down. It wasn’t even on purpose. The emotional toll of reconnecting with his mom, Thea, Laurel, heck, even Raisa, had lowered his defenses. He was in the foundry, breaking a hole in the floor to access the basement for his base of operations, when he suddenly found himself in a much better lit room, staring at a case file. He dropped the papers in shock and twisted around. He got a flash of plain wallpaper and beige carpeting before he’s back in the foundry, holding his sledgehammer. 

Shaken, he takes a deep breath, before slamming the sledgehammer down hard on the floor. The hole widens enough for him to lower his duffel bags down, but he doesn’t do anything for a moment. Oliver had messed up, allowed the one thing that he swore would never happen again occur. 

He sighed, getting out the rope. It wasn’t like there wasn’t anything he could do about it. What’s done is done, and there wasn’t much his soulmate could infer from finding himself holding a sledgehammer in a warehouse anyways. 

[coldflashwave-baby]

If your love were a grain of sand

     Olivarry Week Day Seven-Soulmates  AU

(I did true love instead of soulmates, because it’s kind of the same thing; based on OUAT)

  Oliver sped through every red-light, around every car in his way, in his rush to get to S.T.A.R labs. He couldn’t be too late—he just couldn’t. He pushed the bike to its limit until he reached the labs, not caring how hard it hit the ground when he jumped off and ran inside.

           When he finally made it into the main cortex, his heart plummeted to the ground. He was too late.

           John Constantine, Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, and Joe and Iris West, along with Nyssa al Ghul, all stood solemnly around the bed in the makeshift hospital room, tears falling freely.

           Constantine was the first to notice Oliver walk in. He cleared his throat and stepped back, motioning for the others to do the same. There, laying still as death on the bed, was a young, chestnut-haired man. Oliver stepped forward slowly, not really believing what he was looking at. After all they’d been through, it couldn’t end like this.

           Barry Allen couldn’t be dead.

 00000000

           The first time Oliver Queen laid eyes on Barry Allen, he was straddling his waist in the middle of a deserted road.    

           He and his partner, Nyssa, were transporting an artifact, the Staff of Horus, for their Ra’s, Malcolm Merlyn. They didn’t expect a tree to have fallen in the road.

           Nor had they expected something faster than they could see breaking into their car and stealing the staff from right under their noses. Oliver had been the first to react, jumping from the car, bow in hand, and firing an arrow where he thought the blur might be.

           The blur stopped, tumbling to the ground when the arrow struck its calf. Oliver raced over to his prey, who was fighting to get away, and pinned it down to the ground with his body.

           “You’ve just made a huge mistake.” He growled, pulling the hood that the thief was wearing off his head. His breath caught in his throat. Laying out on the ground, staff in hand, was the most beautiful human being he’d ever seen. It was a young man—his eyes a dazzling shade of hazel with a twinkle behind them, his lips delicate and beautiful, his hair thick and soft enough looking for Oliver to want to run his fingers through. Their eyes locked, and the thief stopped struggling.

           “Hi.” The thief breathed, obviously as stricken as Oliver. The assassin swallowed hard.

           “OLIVER!”

           He turned to see Nyssa climbing out of the car, weapons ready. It seemed to break the spell between the two, because the next thing Oliver knew, he was being thrown back and the thief was speeding away, along with the staff.

           “What was that?” Nyssa demanded, peeved that they’d lost the artifact.

           “I…I don’t know.”

0000000

           That meeting had changed everything. Oliver became obsessed with finding the thief again, hiding it under the guise of reacquiring the staff. It was like something had unlocked in him the moment their eyes had met, and Oliver needed to feel it again.

           Which is why, when he finally did find the thief again, Oliver used a net. Really, the thief should’ve seen it coming. He struggled against the net holding him against the shipping container, fighting to loosen the arrows holding it up so he could free himself. Oliver laughed at his futile attempts.

           “I wouldn’t use your speed to try and get out, Flash.” The thief’s head perked up at the mention of his name. “Or should I say Barry Allen? That net is made to shock any attempt to get free, including using metapowers.”

           He stepped forward until he and Barry were as close as they’d been back on the road. “I propose a deal. If you give me the Staff of Horus, I’ll forget that I saw you, and Eobard Thawne will never know you were here.”

           Barry Allen’s eyes widened. “You know about Thawne?”

           “The League knows everything.”

           “Then you know I was framed!” Barry growled, his hands clenching into fists. “I’ve never killed anyone, and I’ve only started robbing people for survival.”

           Oliver rolled his eyes. “I really don’t care if you’re guilty or innocent. I just want the staff back.” Barry licked his lips nervously, and Oliver knew. “You’ve already fenced it.”

           “I know where it is though!” The speedster insisted. “I just sold it yesterday. Their buyer doesn’t show up until Monday. I can take you there and you can get it back.”

           Oliver stepped closer, his eyes boring into Barry. Reports from Central City called the Flash aka Barry Allen a psychopath—the man murdered his father using his superspeed before robbing the owner of S.T.A.R labs, Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne for those that knew better) and threatening to kill him. Looking at this kid in front of him told Oliver different story, though. He’d met con men, guilty men that insisted they were innocent, and honest to God psychos. Barry didn’t seem like any of them. In fact, Barry was completely unlike anyone Oliver had ever met.

           Oliver shook away the thought. He’d only just met the kid. There was no way he had such an impact on him. He pulled one of the arrows free, releasing Barry from his trap. “Take me there. And if I even get an inkling that you’re going to betray me, I’ll kill you.”

           After taking Oliver to the buyer and helping him fight to get it back, Oliver realized something—in the two encounters he’d had with Barry, he’d fallen in love.

 0000000

           Barry hadn’t known that he was in love until Cisco Ramon told him. After fleeing from Central and Eobard Thawne, Cisco and Caitlin were the only two people from his life he stayed in contact with—Joe was a police officer that needed plausible deniability, and Iris was bad at keeping secrets from her dad. Cisco and Caitlin had been irreplaceable. Without them bringing him news or bringing him supplies when he needed to stay low, Barry would’ve been caught a long time ago.

           “Dude.” Cisco said a few weeks after his and Oliver’s second encounter. They were sitting around in one of Barry’s safe houses, chilling on the couch, and Barry had been wondering if he should text Oliver. They’d exchanged numbers for a reason, after all, and it wouldn’t be too strange for him to text Oliver because he missed him, right? “Dude, you were in la-la land again. Were you thinking about Oliver Queen again?”

           Barry scoffed indignantly, even though he was right. He couldn’t get the billionaire/assassin off his mind, though. He remembered their discussion about the League and why Oliver had joined after his shipwreck on Lian Yu.

           “They saved my life.” Oliver shrugged. “I owed them my loyalty.”

           “But do you want to be an assassin? To be Ra’s al Ghul one day?” Barry asked. “Do you even like it?”

           Oliver frowned, like no one had ever asked what he wanted out of life before. Which, considering the life he was in and the life he came from, was probably true. “You need to do what makes you happy, Oliver. Don’t spend your life being someone you’re not. You’re so much more than a killer.”

           A small smile grew on Oliver’s face. “You’re much more than a thief.”

           “Maybe we should both change our lives, then.”

             Something about Oliver had drawn him in. He couldn’t put his finger on it. He felt Cisco’s eyes on him. “You’ve got it bad.”

           Barry frowned. “What?”

           Cisco threw his head back and laughed. “Dude, you’re so stupid. Every time someone says the guy’s name, you go into some kind of trance, like you’re imagining him here. You blush whenever anyone says his name. You’re in love with Oliver Queen!”

           Barry blushed, then quickly hid his face in his hands. “I am not!” His burner with Oliver’s number buzzed, and Cisco snatched it up before Barry could stop him.

           “Barry,” Cisco read out, holding the phone away from Barry, which was quite the feat seeing as he was both shorter than Barry and not a speedster. “I’ve thought a lot about our conversation about change, and you’re right. We are both better than what our lives have become. I’ve also thought a lot about you, and how you make me feel.” Barry lunged at the phone again, but Cisco practically tuck-and-rolled away. “I don’t know if your feelings are platonic or more, but I need to see you again. There is a party tomorrow night at Queen Manor, 9pm. If you don’t show up, I’ll know your answer. Love, Oliver.”

           Cisco was so shocked that Barry was finally able to rip the phone from his hands. “Dude.”

           Barry shook his head. “No.”

           “But your dreamboat wants to meet with you and admit his love!” Cisco exclaimed. “Not to mention he’s a billionaire, badass assassin. You have to go. You can’t let your fear of Thawne ruin your life forever.”

           God, Barry hated it when Cisco was right.

           And so, the next night, he was sneaking into a party with League of Assassin security (being faster than the human eye helped out a lot sometimes), searching for the man he loved.

           “Mr. Allen.” A sharp voice said behind him. Barry froze at the familiar sound of a cold gun whirring to life, and glanced slowly behind him. Malcolm Merlyn stood calmly behind him, a smaller version of Captain Cold’s gun pointed directly at Barry’s back. “Come have a word with me.”

           The new Ra’s al Ghul led Barry into what looked like an empty study, shutting and locking the door behind him. “Please, have a seat, Mr. Allen.” He nodded to one of the chairs situated in front of the ornate oak desk across from the door, acting more like he was having an impromptu meeting instead of threatening someone at gunpoint.        

           Barry nervously sat in one of the chairs, his eyes staying on the cold gun. Malcolm took the seat behind the desk and propped his feet up on it so casually, Barry wasn’t sure if he should be afraid or not. When the other man saw what the speedster’s eyes were locked on, he laughed and put it on the table.

           “I’m not going to hurt you, Mr. Allen. I’m just here to talk.”  

           Not believing that for a moment, Barry let out a shaky laugh. “Sure. Just like the League isn’t working with Eobard Thawne—I know where that gun came from.”

           Malcolm shrugged. “It is true that Thawne had been of some help to the League, but that’s not what this is about. This is about something far more personal: Oliver Queen’s feelings—specifically the ones towards you.”

           The Ra’s dropped his legs from the desk and leaned across it menacingly. “You see, Oliver is one of my assassins. He does as his Ra’s commands without hesitation or question. And he’s very good at it. Except now, because he’s fallen in love with you, he’s started questioning things. That’s very dangerous for both the League and for him.

“He’s already packed and ready to run away with you in a spontaneous display of his love, leave the League and the killing behind. Now, his feelings have become a serious problem, and tonight, I’m going to put an end to the problem.”

Barry swallowed hard. “By killing me.”

Malcolm’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he barked out a laugh. “Killing you? If that was my intention, Mr. Allen, you never would have made it in here as far as you have. I want to tell you a story.”

He leaned back in his chair, his hands resting across his stomach. “I used to be married, a long time ago. Her name was Rebecca, and I loved her more than anything. We had a son together named Tommy, and we were happy. Then, one night, Rebecca was murdered while she was leaving me a voicemail, asking me when I would be home from work.”

Malcolm’s expression melted into sorrow. “When I checked my messages, I could hear my wife dying, begging for help that never came. After that, I left to join the League so that I would never feel that pain again…until my son died in the earthquake that destroyed the Glades. My heart is stone now. There is no one else in this word that I love—I have no more weakness. That’s all love is—weakness; a disease. And there are two ways to end a disease—a cure or a death.”

The Ra’s rose to his feet to stride around the desk, a dangerous gleam in his eye. Barry sunk into his chair worriedly as Malcolm grabbed the arms of it to lean into his space. “You are going to cure him. You will go out there, take Oliver to the side, and tell him that you came here to tell him that you don’t love him. That will break his heart and rid him of this ridiculous notion of love.”

           Malcolm stood up and circled the chair. “If you don’t, I will have to resort to the second choice.”

           “I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me.”

           “And I’m not.” Hands came down from behind the chair to rest on Barry’s shoulders. “Killing you wouldn’t stop Oliver from loving you, especially if it were at the hands of a League of Assassins member. He’d lose all trust in the League, and then we’d be in the same place.”

           A breath of air puffed next to his ear, and Barry shivered. “If you don’t break Oliver’s heart, I’ll kill him.”

           Barry stiffened, his head whipping around to stare at the assassin in horror. “You wouldn’t! Oliver is your heir; you need him!”

           “His love for you is making him a traitor. I can deal with traitors however I wish.”

The last time Barry remembered crying was the first time Eobard Thawne tried to kill him. This time, he turned his head so Malcolm Merlyn wouldn’t see.

0000000

Barry moved through the crowded ballroom solemnly, knowing he needed to find Oliver, but dreading what would happen when he did. Suddenly, there was a grip on his hand, and he was being pulled into a small hall closet. Light burst into the pitch-black room to reveal Oliver Queen, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“You came.” He whispered, wrapping his arms around Barry’s waist and burying his face into his neck. “You came.”

Barry started to wonder how many times people had let Oliver down, had promised him the world only to leave him alone. It hurt that he would be one of those people. Barry opened his mouth to reply, but Oliver pulled back to grab his face gently in his hands, like Barry was something precious and breakable.

“I’m going to leave the League, Barry. You were right. I don’t want to kill anymore. And I want you to come with me.” He nodded to a duffel on the floor beside them. “I have everything we’ll need—clothes, fake ID’s, fake passports, money. We can go somewhere that Malcolm Merlyn and Eobard Thawne will never find us. I just…I love you.”

He seemed so excited, more excited than Barry had ever seen him. All he wanted was to take Oliver up on his offer. They could go anywhere they wanted, be whoever they wanted. Travel the world together. Always together.

Oliver leaned in to kiss Barry, but the speedster turned his head away. “Oliver…I’m sorry.” He breathed, fighting back tears. “But I don’t love you back.”

Something shattered behind Oliver’s eyes that made Barry want to take the words back. But he had to go through with it. He couldn’t let Oliver die. “Oliver, you have given me your friendship, which is the most generous gift I’ve ever been given. But I came here tonight because I didn’t want you to have any doubt that all we have is that friendship. There is nothing else there. I don’t love you.”

The assassin stared at him, stuck between shock and heartbreak. Then, his expression hardened. “I understand. I’m sorry if any of this has made our…friendship awkward, or you uncomfortable.” He left the room hurriedly, heading to find a private place to do exactly what Barry was now doing—sobbing.

 After ten minutes of crying in the hall closet, two League members came to drag him out and back to the study to face Malcolm Merlyn, a dark-haired woman standing at his side. The Ra’s was grinning smugly. “I take it that Al Sah-him has been cured of his illness?”

Barry nodded. “I broke his heart. You have no reason to hurt him now.”

“Excellent.” Malcolm grinned. The woman sucked in a sharp breath, clearly ready to say something to Malcolm, but a knock on the door interrupted her. Three League members entered the room, dragging a blonde man in a ratty trench coat behind them.

“My Ra’s,” one spoke. “This man was found poking around the magical artifacts.”

The blonde man shrugged nonchalantly, like he hadn’t just been caught sneaking around party held by the League of Assassins. Malcolm sneered at the man, before turning his attention back to Barry. “Take them both away. I will let Eobard Thawne know that he can come and get Mr. Allen whenever he wishes.” Barry fought against the hold the assassins had on him. “And you can interrogate our visitor here to find out what he was after.”

The League members moved to obey their Ra’s’ commands when the blonde started to chuckle. “Thanks for the invite, mate.” He smirked. “But I think that I’ll be heading out now.”

           The man hung his head and began to chant, fog crawling in around the room until Barry couldn’t see his hand in front of his own face. The League members released their holds on him, and another hand grabbed his.

             The next thing Barry knew, he was running out of the room and out of the mansion, the blonde man dragging him behind him. They came to a stop about a mile away, the blonde doubled over panting.

           “Why’d you save me?” Barry asked, glancing around to make sure no League members had followed.

           “You looked like you were in a bit of a spot.” The blonde smiled. “Anything to piss that pompous ass off. Name’s John Constantine.”

“Barry Allen.”

Constantine let out a low whistle. “The Flash? The thief and murderer? No wonder Malcolm Merlyn wanted you gone.”

He didn’t even bother arguing his innocence. “Actually, he wanted me to tell Oliver Queen I don’t love him.”

Constantine frowned. “Why?”

“Because I do.” He started walking away.

“Hey, kid.” Constantine moved to stop him. “Why don’t you come with me? We can watch each other’s backs, and I have a place we can stay in. It’s a whole hell of a lot better than being alone.”

“You don’t want me around.” Barry shook his head, his tears still not dry. “There’s a man after me—”

           “Eobard Thawne? I heard.” Constantine grinned. “I’m not afraid.”

           Barry sighed, sending one last look back at the house and Oliver Queen, and nodded.

0000000

           After getting his heart shattered by Barry, Oliver dove into his training. For three months, he forced his body to its limits, channeling his misery into fury. Nyssa was the only League member that still spared with him, fear driving all the others away. Before the end of the third month, Nyssa paused in the middle of a sparring session to narrow her eyes at Al Sah-him.

           “You really loved that thief, didn’t you?”

           Oliver’s nostrils flared angrily. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

           “Because he broke your heart?” She asked, side stepping the punch Oliver sent at her. “Because you’re embarrassed that you allowed yourself to open up to someone, and they hurt your delicate feelings?”

           “Enough, Nyssa.” He swung at her again, and she easily stepped away.

           “Because, in your heart, you know that he lied when he said he didn’t love you, and you don’t know why?”

           “STOP!” Oliver attacked again, only this time Nyssa used his fury to her advantage and knocked him to the floor, her knee pressed against his throat. “Get off!”

           “No!” She shouted back. “Listen to me carefully, Oliver Queen: Barry Allen does love you. He came to that party with the purpose of running away with you, but Malcolm caught him first and forced him to say those things.”

           She lifted her knee and helped Oliver to his feet. “I care about you, Oliver. Don’t become a puppet for Malcolm’s use. Go after your Barry and run away with him. Leave this life behind.”

           Oliver stared at her in shock, unable to comprehend what she was telling him. She rolled her eyes.

           “GO!”

 0000000

             To say that the last three months had been easy on Barry would’ve been a lie. He and Constantine had been living in an abandoned (or so it looked) mill house in the woods on the edge of town. It was protected by magic, which would keep Thawne and the League out, and it was big on the inside that Barry could practice his speed if he wanted to.            

           Unfortunately, he’d been wallowing more than anything. For the first two months, Constantine had left him to his own devices, catching bits and pieces of what had happened between him and the demon heir. Then, at the beginning of the third month, Barry came to him with a request.

           “I need you to use your magic to make the pain go away.” The speedster begged. “I just can’t deal with it anymore.”

            Constantine sighed. Over the months, Barry had grown on the mage. He was one of those people that made everyone want to take care of him and make him happy. “Are you sure? I don’t know what the side-effects of such a spell would be.”

           “I don’t care. I just want them all gone.”  

           Now, though, Constantine wished he’d said no. The spell had worked perfectly—Barry didn’t remember a thing about Oliver Queen or his feelings. But it also took away his positive feelings for everything. He’d become angry and cold towards everything, and Constantine wasn’t sure how to reverse it.

           Then, the unthinkable happened. Barry disappeared one morning, leaving behind a post-it note:

Killing Eobard Thawne. Don’t wait up.

 Without another thought, Constantine pulled on his trench coat and rushed out the door. He had to find Oliver Queen.

 0000000

           When Barry’s new friend, Constantine, found Oliver, he was searching through the Glades for any sign of the thief, ducking and fighting off any League members Malcolm sent after him. When he told Oliver what Barry was planning on doing, he wasted on time tracking the speedster down—which is how he ended up tackling the speedster to the ground on the edge of the woods between Starling and Central.

           “Barry, stop!” He shouted, shooting an arrow at the speedster. The arrow caught Barry’s arm and pinned it to the tree behind him. The speedster roared, his eyes flashing red, and Oliver actually was scared.

           “Barry, you need to calm down.” Barry ripped the arrow out and sped into Oliver’s space, grabbing the collar of his shirt and practically throwing him across the forest floor. Then, Barry was on top of him, his hands around Oliver’s throat and eyes burning red.

           “I…still believe in you, Barry.” Oliver choked. “I…still…love you. And I…I’d rather die…than see you become a killer.”

           Right when Oliver thought he was going to pass out, the hands disappeared. Barry was still on top of him, but his eyes were back to hazel, and his expression was confused instead of angry. “You…would die for me?”

           “Does it look like I’m making this up?” Oliver choked, sitting up and laying a hand on Barry’s cheek. “I love you.”

           “But I don’t remember you…” Barry breathed, leaning their foreheads together. “I don’t…”

           Oliver brought their lips together. It was like magic cut through them. Lightning shot through his body, and it was like a static shock on their lips. The only thought that went through his mind was true love. When he pulled back, Barry was staring like Oliver was the only thing that mattered in the world.

           “Ollie?”

           Relief filled Oliver’s heart, and he kissed Barry again. “I love you.” The speedster whispered against his lips. “I’m sorry I had to lie. I love you so much.”

           “I love you, too.”

           And at that moment, everything was perfect.

           Until a black arrow struck the tree behind them. Coming over the ridge was a whole group of League members rushing at them, arrows drawn.

           “Barry, you need to run.” Oliver pushed Barry away and jumped to his feet. “They’re after me, but if they catch you, they’ll give you to Thawne.” He pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed. “Run, Barry. Run.”

           Before he flashed away, Barry pressed a kiss to Oliver’s cheek. “I will find you.”

0000000

           Somehow, Barry always knew it would come to this—him and Eobard Thawne, facing off against each other one last time. Only now, he knew it was a battle he was meant to lose.

           Malcolm Merlyn handed Oliver over to Thawne as an act of revenge against them both. Thawne sent Barry a message—meet me at the Central City Dam, or I kill Oliver Queen.

           So, there they stood. “I don’t understand.” Barry finally said. “I’ve never done a thing to you, yet you ruined my life and want to destroy my happiness. Why?”

           Eobard sneered. “Because I hate you. The future you. I want to ruin you.” He held out something that looked like a tachyon device. “And this is how.

           “This device won’t kill you—the speedforce wouldn’t let that happen—but it will drain away all of your speed. In fact, it will drain everything from you—every bit of speedforce, every bit of energy. You will fall into a deep sleep, not so different from your coma, forever.”

           “You’ll let Oliver live if I do?”

           The other speedster shrugged. “I don’t care about Oliver Queen. After you’re gone, he’ll have no more use.”

           Barry took the device with a shaky hand and sighed. “Congratulations. You’ve won.” He hooked the device up, and pain shot through his entire body.

0000000

           “Barry,” Oliver gasped, leaning over his love’s still body. “I’m so sorry.” He leaned down kiss Barry one last time, one last apology for not being able save him. The feeling returned the second their lips touched, the shock went through him, and Oliver inhaled sharply.

           And so did Barry.

           There was a collective gasp around the room when Oliver pulled back and Barry’s eyes fluttered open. “You found me.” He smiled up at him, and Oliver could have Barry look at him like that forever.

           “Barry…I will always find you.”

[sigmundite]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/5 Fandom: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Barry Allen/Oliver Queen, Ronnie Raymond/Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen & Iris West Characters: Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, Harrison Wells | Eobard Thawne, Joe West, Iris West Additional Tags: Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Canon Temporary Character Death, Grief Series: Part 2 of Readamancy Summary:

Knowing and accepting your soulmate is only the beginning of the path, especially if you both happen to be superheroes. Barry and Oliver are just beginning to explore their bond when fate throws a few wrenches into the mix. Will their bond strengthen, or will they both falter?

Just in time for Olivarry Week 2016, the next part of my soulmate AU series is up!

[ruensroad]

Olivarry Week | Day Seven | Soulmates AU

From the time Barry was nine years old and he’d stumbled into a charming girl with a sunshine smile on his way home from school, he’d known in his heart just who he was meant for. A feeling that, the following morning, became truth with a name and a flower spreading over his chest over the fiercely beating organ, his own Soulmate Mark. His One. His Iris.

And for a long while, it’d been just like the ideal love he’d witnessed in his parents. One Mark each, true love to the core. They were happy and impossibly in love and that was everything Barry wanted.

Even when that love was severed with a man in lightning and a knife, a funeral and a tearful, desperate goodbye through a prison cell, Barry held on to that ideal with all he had. He had one name, one Mark, and he was determined to love her as wholly as he could, even if it seemed she didn’t share in the affection.

It was still clear she was his soulmate. No one knew him better. No one could make him laugh so easily, or destroy him with a single teary look. And he liked to think he gave it back just as much. He was someone Iris came to for help, for laughs, for comfort. He was a firm, permanent fixture in her life and Barry hoped that, one day, she’d come to feel for him what he’d felt for her all along. And that, well, that was enough. It had to be.

For Oliver, it was different. He didn’t get one name. He got many. A tattoo one morning that was gone by dinnertime, the warmth of his latest fling fading with the mark. Each tumble into bed stayed with him, despite what Tommy or his family tended to believe. He was shallow, for certain, but more than half the girls he took to bed had their Mark on him, gone in the morning once the laughter and pleasure had been had.

Each dalliance taught him a lesson in some way, about himself, about the opposite sex. About life. About how to deal with troubles and how to not. A love match seemed impossible for him and that was fine, because it didn’t mean all the others didn’t mean something.

Laurel was a blessing in a way, her Mark on him staying the longest, the color unfading even through the island and the torture. Even when she hated him. Even when he saw Tommy’s name at the back of her neck, peeking over the low collar of her shirt. Laurel remained, a shooting star on his hip that he touched through the long days back at home, through mission after mission.

When Tommy died, it faded away as he finally let her go and she him. Unlike the others, it had left a scar, and Oliver promised himself that if another Mark appeared, he wouldn’t waste it.

A pale but readable Felicity was the Mark he bore when he first met Barry. Barry who smiled too much and took delight in everything, who saved his life and aided his quest simply because he believed in what the Hood stood for and all he could become.

Barry who was taken too soon by a lightning strike that left him comatose.

Oliver had visited exactly once, as the Hood, and had stayed by the young man’s side for long hours of the night, tracing over the man’s Mark in silence and hoping Barry’s Iris knew how lucky she was.

Back in his Cave, Felicity was a little stronger on his wrist, but a scar appeared on his lower back he had no knowledge of creating.

Iris still bloomed strong and brightly over Barry’s heart when he awoke to a new world of powers, of speed, of hope and the promise of something more. Of seeking out his hero on a lonely rooftop and hearing words of courage and belief from a man not easily trusting.

With Oliver’s words settling into his heart, Barry raced home to his new future… and to a new Mark between his shoulder blades, dark green and vibrant. An arrow with Oliver firmly written within.

Such a simple change that set a course of history no one saw coming.

It took years, many smiles and laughs, losses and pain, but one day as Oliver climbed the salmon ladder, Felicity noticed the scar on Oliver’s lower back wasn’t a scar at all, but a lightning strike, shimmering to life in red and yellow on his skin. She knew the name even before it appeared. Barry. And Oliver’s face when she pointed it out was by far the funniest, most endearing expression she’d ever seen.

What happened after that surprised no one. Oliver lost all the lingering names on his body as Barry took hold in deeper, darker colors with every moment Oliver’s feelings came to the forefront of his mind, shining brightly when the acceptance of those feelings finally took hold.

Then there was Barry, breathless and flushed, who appeared in the Cave speechless but determined, and pulled his shirt away to reveal a scar where Iris had been, once so strong now nothing more than raised skin.

“I’m making my choice, here and now,” was all the speedster had to say to seal their fate forever. “I choose you.”

And after, as they lay laughing and smiling in the joy only a soulmate could bring, it was awe that Oliver traced his name on Barry’s back, proof he was wanted, loved, needed.

And Barry responded in kind, kissing each letter with reverence, the proof he was accepted, adored, beloved.

Home.

[elementofcreation]

Olivarry Week 2016 - Prompt 1 The Flash and the Arrow Part 2/4

My contribution to Prompt 1 of Olivarry Week: 

Fairytale AU: Beauty and the Beast

Pairing: Barry Allen/Oliver Queen

Words: c.11000  this part. Probably about 40000 total.

Cross posted to A03: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7148747/chapters/16266848

Summary:

Where Barry’s beauty is his ability to see the best in people and Oliver’s beastliness is his inability to trust anyone.

When Oliver Queen decided to take on the evil Damien Darhk, he never expected to be on the receiving end of a powerful curse which would kill him unless he found true love before his 30th birthday. Weakened and scarred, Oliver retreated to the Queen mansion in the middle of the forest with his team to try and work on a cure. When nothing scientific can break the curse and when none of his relationships work out, Oliver struggles to accept that he has been ruined by something that he cannot fight. That is until a young man comes into his life and changes his perspective.

Summary (this chapter):

Barry has his first sensible conversation with Oliver and has a few adventures around the mansion.

Notes:

Wow, Thank you so much for all your interest in this little project of mine :)

Chapter 2 is being posted a little later than I would like (the next morning my time zone) because although I had finished editing this last night, it was done in a 'too much food induced super sleepy state' so I wanted to double check a few things when I was more with it :) Times like that I wished that I had Barry's fast metabolism!

Anyway, Chapter 2!

---

Barry glanced at his watch. It had been an hour since Oliver and Felicity had left him alone, and it probably wasn't late enough to sneak down to the kitchens and grab something to eat yet. He didn't want to risk running into Oliver but Barry felt a desperate twinge in his stomach and wondered if his speed would hold up long enough to get there and back unnoticed. It was worth a try, if he could find the kitchen that is.

Barry stood and stretched his arms above his head and winced when his right arm ached. The shirt he had changed into after Felicity left rode up and exposed a shallow cut on his stomach. Barry sighed. He needed to eat to kick start the healing process. At the moment the injury was still red and raw. He started towards the door and groaned as the borrowed pair of jeans rode low on his hips. Barry paused to tighten his belt and then twisted the door handle.

'That can't be right,' Barry frowned and jiggled the handle harder. 'They locked me in?'

Barry reached forward and placed his left palm flat on the door next to the handle. It would not be a challenge to unlock the door and Barry prepared to vibrate his hand.

Just as he was about to unlock the door, Barry heard a click as the lock disengaged and jumped back as the door knob turned.

'Felicity!' Barry exclaimed. 'Are you here to rescue me?'

Felicity laughed nervously and indicated to the door. 'Sorry about that, Oliver...'

'I get it. He doesn't trust me, and he wants me to starve,' Barry joked grimly.

'Oh, no, no it's not that,' Felicity insisted quickly. 'He just has very bad manners. I'm sorry about him. He should know better than to order people around by now, but he's been ruder than ever since he got ill. You must be starving, come on, let's get you something to eat.'

'Oliver is ill?' Barry asked as he followed her out of the room and down the large staircase.

Felicity nodded. 'It's pretty debilitating and causes him a lot of pain. We also don't get a lot of visitors, I think that he's forgotten how to act around people. You can join me and Thea and Dig for dinner.'

'Are you sure that it's OK? Shouldn't you be sneaking me to the kitchens and telling me to help myself?' Barry asked, and part of him hoped that she would do as he suggested so that he could eat as much as he needed without raising suspicion. He didn't know these people well enough yet to trust them with his secret.

'Oh, don't worry, Oliver is in another of his moods and it's really unlikely that he will join us tonight. He usually wants to be by himself when he's sulking,' Felicity explained and plastered a smile on her face. She hoped that Barry would not see through her lie.

Barry laughed as they entered a room with a large table. 'All right then, sure. I really am hungry.'

'Good, because I think that I overdid it,' a young woman frowned as she looked at the banquet on the table. 'I'm Thea, and this is John Diggle. You must be Barry.'

Barry smiled. 'Yeah, how did you know?'

'Felicity will not shut up about you,' Thea laughed. 'She seems to think that you'll make a good friend for Ollie.'

'Really? Felicity, he's been nothing but a jerk to me so far!' Barry protested and sat beside her near the head of the table.

'He grows on you,' Diggle commented.

Barry shrugged and helped himself to a large bowl of stew. He waited until the others turned their attention to each other for a moment and demolished the whole bowl in seconds, thankful that he managed to maintain his speed for long enough to eat. He was helping himself to his third bowl when the other's seemed to notice him again.

'Hey how much are you going to eat, slow down, you'll give yourself indigestion!' Thea exclaimed

'Oh, I have a big appetite.' Barry grinned. 'This is actually pretty normal for me.'

Felicity frowned in shock and Thea looked on with her mouth open. 'You weren't kidding when you said that you were hungry,' Felicity laughed.

'Yeah,' Barry nodded and looked around for a change of subject. The hall that they were in was spacious with a large, vaulted ceiling and Barry wondered if anyone else lived here. 'Big house for 4 people,' Barry commented.

'There used to be more of us,' Diggle turned to Barry 'but some of them couldn't stick Oliver's attitude any more, and left.'

'So, what are you like his servants? Carers?' Barry asked, eyes alight with curiosity. Surely they couldn't be...

'Friends,' Felicity replied and indicated to herself and John.

Thea smiled sadly. 'I'm his sister.'

'Oh wow, you guys are nothing alike,' Barry observed, and wondered how someone so nice was related to Oliver.

'Hey, Ollie used to have a pretty face, just like mine!' Thea protested indignantly.

Barry shook his head and held up his hands. 'I wasn't saying anything about his looks! I just meant that your a lot friendlier than he is!'

'Well when you've been through what Oliver's been through, it's hard to be bubbly and optimistic like you are,' Thea replied sarcastically.

'I take it back, you guys are definitely related! Seriously, this is more and more like a fairytale the longer I stay here, creepy mansion, grumpy host, although if I didn't know any better I'd say that you and Oliver are what's left of the Queen family, and we all know the rumours...' Barry trailed off as he saw Oliver wander in from a side entrance. He saw the man quickly pull up his hood before he walked further into the room.

'What. Is. He. Doing. Here? Felicity?' Oliver growled as he took a seat at the head of the table next to Barry.

'Eating?' Felicity answered and held her breath for the explosion.

'I specifically said that he was not to eat unless he ate with me,' Oliver glared at her, filled a bowl and took a bite.

'And look at that, I am,' Barry retorted with a grin as he nodded at Oliver's bowl.

Oliver looked surprised and was stunned into silence. Barry took that moment to help himself to another bowl and ignored Felicity's raised eyebrow. Even Barry couldn't believe that he was still hungry, even for him this was a lot of food.

'That's...That's not...' Oliver spluttered.

'Ollie dear, he's right,' Thea smiled and sent a look of surprised respect Barry's way.

Oliver sighed. 'Fine.'

Oliver began to eat and kept his head down, content to ignore everyone around him.

Felicity had to stop herself from smacking her head against the table in annoyance. How, exactly, was Oliver supposed to get to know Barry if he refused to even talk to him? She had already done the hard work. She had tricked Barry into the dining room for dinner under the impression that Oliver would not be there and convinced Oliver that he needed to eat, no matter how upset he was. It looked like she would have to get them to talk to each other too. Time to go to work.

'So, Barry, you said that you were from Central city?' Felicity smiled. Now that Oliver was here it was time to get to know Barry a little better. 'What's it like there?'

'Better than Starling city,' Barry smiled. 'The crime rate is manageable, the people are mostly friendly, and the meta-humans are kept in line. We even have our own superhero!'

Oliver looked up with interest. 'Meta-humans?'

Barry looked surprised that Oliver had spoken but recovered quickly. 'Oh, we had an incident a little over a year ago where a particle accelerator exploded and caused changes to the DNA of some of the population. A lot of the people affected developed super powers, but so far there are only two who are using their powers for good. The Flash keeps the rest in line.'

'The Flash?' Oliver prompted. He had heard rumours of a Central city vigilante, but had not confirmed them.

'Central city's own superhero speedster. He wears a hood too.' Barry frowned. 'Well, more like a cowl really. Why are you wearing a hood anyway?'

'My appearance disturbs people,' Oliver ground out and looked down at his food in an attempt to signal that the discussion was over.

Barry saw Felicity shake her head out of the corner of his eye, in an attempt to discourage him from pushing the issue further. Barry was not phased and blurted out, 'I'm not easily disturbed. Take it down.'

'I don't think that's a good idea, Barry,' Oliver insisted and folded his arms across his chest.

'I don't see what the big deal is,' Barry exclaimed and stared Oliver down.

'Fine, you asked for it!' Oliver yelled and pulled down his hood.

Barry drew in a sharp breath of surprise as he got a good look at Oliver's face for the first time. Felicity, Thea and Diggle watched him carefully to see his reaction. Barry took in Oliver's features with a critical eye. There was no doubt in Barry's mind that Oliver had once been very handsome. Now however, scar's littered his face, over his cheeks, under his eyes, across his forehead and down his neck. Barry was sure that the scars continued down his chest too. He looked closer and noticed that some of the scars were red and raw where the skin had not closed back together, as if they had not healed properly. It must have been painful. No wonder Oliver was so abrupt and grumpy. What stood out the most though, even with the extensive scarring, were Oliver's eyes. Crystal blue and captivating. The kind of eyes that you did not forget easily. A jolt of realisation sparked through Barry that for once had nothing to do with the speed force.

'I was right, you guys are the Queen's. What happened?' Barry asked and ate some more food as he waited for one of them to confirm his theory.

Thea nodded sadly and when she noticed that Oliver had again been stunned into silence, she turned to Barry. 'That's us. We fell on hard times after Oliver was...injured.'

'Your not disturbed?' Oliver blurted out, surprise evident on his face.

Barry shrugged. 'I work as a CSI for the Central city police department, I see all kinds of things. This one corpse, the cheeks had been blown apart from the inside by miniature bombs. Poor guy's face was barely recognisable. We had to identify him from his dental records.' Barry indicated to Oliver's face. 'Believe me, I've seen worse.'

Oliver raised an eyebrow at him and Barry realised what he had said.

'Not that your face is bad or anything, I mean, your actually pretty handsome underneath all those scars, not that I'm looking or anything, and...I should stop talking now,' Barry sighed and focused back on his food, only to look up in shock a second later when Oliver laughed.

'Were you and Felicity separated at birth?' Oliver teased, but his eyes were bright and he had a small smile on his face.

Barry smiled back playfully. 'No, if we were, it would make that kiss really awkward.'

'You kissed her?' Oliver exclaimed, and glared at Felicity.

Barry laughed and clapped Oliver gently on the shoulder, mindful of his injuries. 'No, I was just messing with you. Should have seen your face.'

Oliver sighed, but Felicity could tell it was fond. This was going better than she had expected. She thought around for a new topic of conversation, but Oliver surprised her and beat her to it.

'So, you work for the police? Oliver asked and leant his elbows on the table to prop up his face with his hands.

'Yeah. We got this new guy transfer from Starling city recently, Detective Lance, you might have heard of him?' Barry asked as he pushed away his 6th bowl unfinished, and mirrored Oliver's position.

Oliver nodded and his eyes widened in surprise. A quick glance at Felicity proved that this was news to her too. 'I have, but I didn't know that he had transferred away from Starling.'

'Apparently the city went to hell about six months ago when the vigilante disappeared and Lance couldn't take it any more. Lance is still obsessed with catching the vigilante though, even though no one has heard from the hood since he vanished. Honestly, for a minute there I thought that you were him. There were always those rumours about you and he wears a green hood too. I mean it didn't make any sense given that green is poor urban camouflage, but the colour did suit him.' Barry sighed. 'It's sad, Starling city used to be defended just like Central is, but now it's lost its hero.'

'You think that the vigilante is a hero?' Felicity asked and looked pointedly at Oliver. Oliver looked away and exhaled heavily. He was tired of the constant argument between himself and Felicity over the Arrow's status. She maintained that he was a hero too, but Oliver insisted that he wasn't that good.

'Of course! He's a legend!' Barry replied and his eyes shone with admiration. He noticed Oliver's dark look and continued with a small frown. 'All right, sometimes he breaks the law, and sometimes he takes things too far, but it looked to me like he was turning over a new leaf: he hadn't killed in ages before he disappeared, and even one of his worst enemies only lost a hand instead of his life!'

'You sound like your stalking him,' Thea laughed.

Barry blushed slightly. 'No, not really. I mean I guess it could come across that way... I'm just fascinated by his work. He's been involved in a lot of impossible cases, and I used to follow impossible cases obsessively before I was struck by lightning. When I woke up, Central city was involved in so many impossible cases that I couldn't keep up with my blog any more, and then the Arrow vanished.'

'You were struck by lightning and your still alive?' Thea exclaimed.

'Oh most lightning strike victims survive,' Diggle commented. 'But they often have brain damage or other adverse affects. My cousin was struck by lightning once, he has a stutter now, and near constant muscle spasms.'

'You don't seem to have any adverse affects at all though,' Felicity frowned thoughtfully. 'Oh! That light spidery scarring on your right arm, I wondered what it was when I examined your arm for breaks earlier, but now I get it. It's a Lictenburg scar, right?'

Barry nodded. 'I got lucky really, that scar is the only lasting damage from the strike. Although I was in a coma for 9 months.'

'Wow, you call that lucky?' Thea exclaimed. That was like Oliver saying he was lucky to be stranded on an island for five years. 'You must have missed so much.'

'Yeah, I did,' Barry sighed, and Oliver noticed the way that his shoulder's slumped and he leant more heavily on his left hand. Sad didn't really suit the young man, and Oliver felt a sudden urge to try and cheer him up and get back to the easy smiles and grins of earlier.

'So why the interest in impossible cases?' Oliver asked and hoped that the change of subject would brighten the young man's mood.

Barry looked down at the table and his shoulder's shook slightly. Felicity could see him take a deep breath.

'You don't have to answer if you don't want to,' Felicity offered and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'No, it's OK.' Barry took another deep breath and then looked up at Oliver. 'When I was eleven, my mom was murdered by something impossible. A blur of yellow light, and in that light, I saw a man. No one would believe me, I was just a kid, but I swear that it's the truth. My father went to prison for her murder, but he didn't do it. Ever since then I had been looking into anything else unusual to try and find the real killer.'

'I'm so sorry, Barry,' Felicity offered.

'Tough break, man,' Diggle sympathised and Thea nodded beside him.

'You said that you had been looking,' Oliver asked carefully after a pause. 'Something happened, didn't it?'

Barry sighed and nodded. 'I recently caught up to the guy that killed my mom, but he died before I could get a confession out of him. Now my dad will serve a life sentence and there's no hope for his release.' Barry stood and felt a wave of exhaustion threaten to overcome him. 'Thanks for dinner, I think I'll go to bed now.'

'Good night Barry,' Felicity and Thea offered sadly. Diggle waved him off and Oliver nodded and looked down in thought as Barry left the room.

Felicity glared at Oliver after the young man had left. Oliver noticed as soon as he glanced up.

'What? It's not my fault, Felicity!' Oliver protested. 'How was I supposed to know that his mother was murdered!'

'You could have sympathised instead of pressing the issue!' Felicity protested.

'You were the one who said that I should get to know him better!' Oliver huffed and stood up. 'See you tomorrow.'

Thea stood to hug him. 'Night Ollie.'

'Goodnight, Thea.' Oliver pressed a kiss to her hair and nodded to Diggle before he left the room.

'Well, that didn't go too badly,' Diggle commented.

Thea nodded. 'I like Barry, he's nice. I've never seen Ollie go for another man before, but who knows?'

'I didn't know that Barry was a fan of the vigilante,' Felicity smiled. 'At least if Oliver tells him, they may find something to bond over, as well as the fact that they both seem to have gone through hell.' Felicity frowned. She never would have guessed that Barry had such a dark past, and supposed that she couldn't blame Oliver if he wanted to know all the details.

'Never seen anyone stand up to Oliver like that either,' Diggle laughed. 'You were right Felicity, kid has no fear.'

Thea smiled. 'We can only see what happens tomorrow. I'm going out for a bit with Laurel, I'll see you tomorrow.'

'See you later, Thea,' Felicity waved.

'Be careful,' Diggle warned.

Thea nodded and left the room.

'Your sure that no one will notice Barry is missing?' Diggle asked Felicity once they were alone. 'I'm not comfortable keeping a member of the police force hostage.'

Felicity nodded. 'Laurel said that she would cover for Barry the best that she can. It's not for long anyway, John. It will be nice for Oliver to have some company in the coming weeks. You know he's been a little lonely since Roy left.'

John nodded. 'All right, just keep an eye on the Central city police channels, will you? The moment they put a BOLO on him, we let him go.'

Felicity nodded. 'I'll go and set up the alert now.'

'I'm heading home to Lyla, it's late and I should have been home hours ago,' John frowned. 'See you tomorrow Felicity.

'Good night, John,' Felicity offered and headed towards the lab to her computer.

–--

The next morning, Central city

Caitlyn Snow sighed as Cisco locked the pipeline. 'Are you sure we need to do that, Cisco? He's dead, he's not going anywhere.'

Cisco nodded his head. 'I'm not taking any chances. He gave me the creeps when he was alive, and I'm not having his corpse in the cortex or in my lab. If you had seen any zombie films at all, you would understand.'

Caitlyn smiled, amused. 'Fine, your the expert. So what now?'

'We call detective West and see if finding the man in yellow is enough to clear Henry. It's the least we can do for Barry after he traded himself to the beast for us,' Cisco frowned and removed his lolly pop from his mouth before he dialled. He followed Caitlyn back to the cortex and put the phone on loud speaker as he waited for Joe to answer.

'Cisco, what's up?' Joe answered on the third ring.

'There was an incident. The man in yellow is dead. Could you come over to the labs when you get a chance? We want to know if there's anything we can do for Barry's dad,' Cisco explained quickly.

'I'll be there as soon as I can,' Joe replied and hung up.

'I think he must have been at the station, or somewhere he couldn't talk. He didn't ask any questions,' Cisco frowned. 'I guess now we wait.'

Caitlyn nodded and sat at her desk. She brought up an article on Oliver Queen and his mysterious disappearance. 'I'm worried about Barry. You know, I heard that place is the old Queen mansion. Everything I can find on Queen says that he lost his mind when he was cursed a few months back. What if he hurts Barry?'

Cisco shrugged. 'Barry can take care of himself. As soon as he's better he'll be back here before we know it.'

'But what if they lock him back in the dungeon's and don't feed him?' Caitlyn worried, and bit her lower lip.

'Felicity won't let that happen, she seemed nice enough,' Cisco replied with dreamy eyes.

'You realise that you have a girlfriend, right?' Caitlyn slapped his arm. 'Anyway, she won't stick up for Barry just because she's hot. Oliver is scary, intimidating, she's probably terrified of him.'

'Ow, I know, I know. I have Kendra, she's fantastic. Doesn't mean that I can't appreciate beauty when I see it,' Cisco grumbled and looked to the door.

'Cisco, Caitlyn,' Joe nodded as he came in. 'What happened? Is Barry OK?'

'He's fine,' Cisco lied smoothly.

'Where is he then?' Joe frowned.

'He dashed off after we locked up Wells, haven't seen him since,' Cisco covered. 'He said something about chasing down something in Starling city?'

'Really?' Joe frowned. 'He must be taking Iris' news harder than I thought.'

'Something happened with Iris?' Caitlyn asked curiously.

Joe nodded. 'She told me that Eddie proposed to her. She was going to tell Barry yesterday over coffee. If he's run all the way to Starling he must be taking it harder than she thought he did.'

'Wow, tough break,' Cisco sympathised. 'Do you want to see the body?'

Joe sighed. 'May as well. Although without him alive to confess, getting Henry out is going to be difficult. Barry probably realised that too. Between this and Iris he must be feeling awful right now.'

'It was an accident,' Caitlyn explained and thought back to Barry's meaningful look in the dungeon. 'Your right, Barry wasn't too happy about it.'

'Poor kid's having a rough week. I'll give him space for now, we all should, and I'll cover for him with the Captain. If I haven't heard from him by tomorrow I'll give him a call.' Joe nodded decisively and stuffed his hands in his pockets. 'All right, show me the man in yellow.'

Cisco nodded and headed towards the pipeline. Caitlyn caught up to him and whispered in his ear. 'I hope your right and Barry doesn't get hurt, because lying to Joe, Cisco? That's his son Oliver Queen has hostage.'

'I don't think that Barry is in danger,' Cisco whispered back and Caitlyn glared at him. Cisco rolled his eyes. 'Look, if he doesn't return in a couple of days, when he should definitely be healed enough to run away, then we can get CCPD involved and storm the castle. Until then, we wait.'

'Fine. But I hope you know what your doing,' Caitlyn sighed as they reached the pipeline and showed Joe the body of the man that had tormented Barry's nightmares for years.

---

The next morning, Queen mansion

When Barry woke the next morning, he felt well rested. He rolled over to sit up on the edge of the bed and stretched his arms above his head. His right arm still hurt, although it felt as if it had partially healed at least. It was probably nothing more than a small fracture now compared to the break it had probably been yesterday at the river side. His chest and ribs felt a little sore, but it was nothing compared to the pain of yesterday. Food and a good nights sleep in a comfortable bed had done wonders for his injuries and it looked like his speed healing was back on track. Barry glanced down at his leg. The gash had healed completely along with the rest of the cuts and bruises that he had received when he fell over the waterfall.

Barry stood and tested his legs. He let out a sigh of relief when he barely any pain. He dressed much slower than usual and had just pulled a clean t-shirt over his head when his attention was drawn to a noise from outside, a twang, whoosh thunk, on repeat. Barry was in front of the window before he had realised he had moved. He groaned and held a hand to his chest. Super-speed still hurt slightly at the moment.

Barry opened the window and sat on the ledge. He swung his legs over the edge so that they dangled outside and gazed around the garden below to try and find the source of the noises. With his left hand, Barry held the edge of the window frame as he leant forward slightly. The wind ruffled his hair and Barry caught sight of Oliver in the garden below, letting loose arrows at moving targets.

'No way! Is he really...?' Barry exclaimed, and leant forward further.

Barry frowned and watched closely as Oliver hit each target dead centre. Looking closer, it looked like Oliver was struggling to keep the bow steady and to pull back the string. Barry closed his eyes in an attempt to remember the pictures of the vigilante which always appeared on the news, and yes. Oliver was using his left hand to pull back the string, but the vigilante always used his right. It was still pretty cool that Oliver could shoot though and Barry couldn't deny that he wanted to get a closer look.

If his speed was pain free at the moment, it would have been easy to run down the side of the building. As it was, Barry was unsure if he could hold out long enough to get to the ground safely. Barry looked at the tree near his window and began to formulate a plan in his mind. He reached out with his good arm and grasped the tree trunk. It felt sturdy and did not wobble when he shook it. Good. Barry pulled himself to his feet and looked at the gap between the windowsill and the tree branch critically. He looked down at his legs and judged the distance to be manageable, especially with his long legs. He was only three floors up. If he fell, he would only sustain mild injuries, nothing that he couldn't handle.

Barry grasped the tree and stepped carefully across the gap. He looked down and sighed, relieved when the branch barely moved under his weight. Barry lowered himself to sit on the branch and carefully made his way down the tree.

It was going really well until Barry lost his footing on a wet branch and felt his feet swing out under him. Barry cursed as he fell and he reached out to try get a grip on another branch. His left arm scraped against the tree trunk but before he could fall further his right arm caught hold of a branch. Barry winced in agony and scrabbled to bring his left arm up to help support his weight. He pushed past the pain and pulled himself up to sit on the branch. That could not have done his fractured arm any good.

Barry looked over towards Oliver but the man was focused on his shooting and had not noticed his predicament, or his fumbling. Barry took a deep breath and when he had gained his breath back, he continued down the tree. He made it to the bottom without further incident and glanced up at how far down he had come. He had come a long way from the normal lab assistant he once was. Before he got his powers he never would have climbed so recklessly out of a window and to do so without using them was an achievement to be proud of.

Barry brushed himself off and wandered closer to Oliver. The spring sun was warm on his back and Barry marvelled at the way it brightened the gloomy mansion into something less scary. He chose a spot behind Oliver and to the left, near the wall of the mansion. Barry lowered himself to sit in the grass and leant back to rest his back against the wall. He closed his eyes momentarily and tilted his head up to bask in the sun.

A few moments later, Barry opened his eyes and watched as Oliver moved slowly but with precision, and fired off arrows in slow succession. In the light of day, Oliver looked pale and sickly and his moments were slow and careful, as if he were in pain.

As he watched, Barry couldn't help but notice Oliver pick up the pace and let loose arrow after arrow in a quick volley. Each one struck its target perfectly. For his final three arrows, Oliver ducked and dived in a roll, only to spring up and let loose all three arrows at once. They struck three vertical targets at the exact moment that they aligned one above the other and Barry could not help but cheer enthusiastically.

Oliver flung his bow over his back and immediately headed for Barry.

'Wow, you could give the Arrow a run for his money!' Barry smiled, impressed.

'It looks like you were trying to be a vigilante yourself,' Oliver gave a small, amused smile. 'You could have just used the door.'

Barry flushed slightly. 'I don't know my way around here yet. I probably would have gotten lost.'

'Better that than injured, surely?' Oliver raised an eyebrow at Barry's arm and offered a hand to help him up.

'I'd rather take my chances with the tree. This place is huge, I could have been lost for weeks and starved before anyone noticed that I was gone!' Barry protested and accepted Oliver's hand to pull himself to his feet as Oliver laughed easily.

'Here, let me see,' Oliver held out a hand for Barry's arm.

Barry held up his grazed arm without hesitation. 'I should probably have the other one in a cast, or at the very least a sling. It's fractured.'

Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes. 'So you thought that climbing a tree would be a good idea?'

Barry shrugged. 'I wanted to get a closer look. Do you think it will need stitches?'

Oliver shook his head. 'No, just cleaning. Come on, I can do that over breakfast, and then I'll give you a tour. Can't risk you climbing another tree in case you break your neck next time.'

Barry smiled as he followed Oliver inside and through into the room they had eaten in last night. 'It was only 3 stories up, I would have been fine!'

'Your not a super hero, Barry!' Oliver joked and pulled out a chair. He moved to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a medical kit.

Barry laughed and sat down with his arm outstretched. 'How do you know? You barely know anything about me.'

Oliver sat beside him and cleaned his arm with efficiency. Barry marvelled at the ease with which the supposedly spoilt billionaire treated his scrape. It was as if he had experience dealing with injuries.

'Plenty of time to get to know each other over breakfast,' Felicity smiled as she entered the room. 'Morning Barry, what happened to your arm?'

'I scraped it on a tree,' Barry explained. 'It's OK though, I'm in expert hands.'

Felicity laughed. 'I'll leave you two to it then, I promised Thea and Laurel that I'd help them track down Roy.'

'I don't think that he wants to be found, Felicity,' Oliver warned.

Felicity waved him off. 'Oh, I know that. He's the love of your sister's life though and she just wants to know that he's OK. I'll see you later, Ollie.'

Oliver nodded and stood. He turned to Barry. 'Come on, let's get something to eat. Any requests?'

'Big Belly Burger?' Barry joked and followed Oliver into a large kitchen.

Oliver smiled. 'I can't do that, but if your after something hot, I can fry up something.'

'Please,' Barry nodded. 'I get really hungry. Ever since I woke up from a coma my metabolism is super fast and I need to eat a lot more than regular people.'

It wasn't a lie, but it was more than he needed to share and may make Oliver suspicious. Still, Barry could not help but feel open around Oliver. Perhaps it was his theory that Oliver was the vigilante and was one of his kind which led him to share more with Oliver than he would anyone else that he had just met.

Oliver opened the fridge and pulled out bacon, eggs, sausages and mushrooms. 'Your in luck, Felicity bought too much food again. She hasn't adjusted to Roy and Laurel leaving yet.'

Barry leant against the counter and crossed his arms. 'Roy was Thea's boyfriend?'

Oliver nodded as he set the food to fry and leant beside Barry. 'I don't think that he could take my temper or my condition any longer. Things have been going steadily downhill since my mother died.'

'I'm sorry,' Barry offered and placed a comforting hand on Oliver's shoulder. 'What condition do you have? If you don't mind me asking.'

Oliver sighed and pulled away to turn their food. 'I was cursed by a magician that I pissed off.'

Barry began to laugh, but one look at Oliver and he tailed off uncertainly. 'Your serious?'

Oliver nodded and dished out their food. His eyes scanned Barry's face carefully for any traces of disbelief and he was surprised when he saw none. He handed a plate to Barry who accepted it gratefully.

'Wow, and I thought that Central city had it's fair share of nut jobs. Tough break,' Barry muttered as he followed Oliver back to the dining room. 'Is that why your face is so scarred?'

'Part of the curse, yes. I also don't have the strength or stamina that I used to have,' Oliver sighed and was surprised when he felt like talking more. Barry was easy to talk to. 'These past few months haven't been easy, and I may have taken that out on the people around me a little too much.'

'Don't most curses have a cure? An out?' Barry frowned as he watched Oliver look blankly towards the window and took the chance to demolish half his plate of food.

'Yes, but it's complicated,' Oliver sighed and turned to Barry. He noticed the speed at which Barry had eaten and frowned. He already had his suspicions: an emblem with a lightning bolt had been on the floor outside the front door of the mansion this morning and Barry did not seem bothered by his injuries much. Barry had also admitted to a fast metabolism, ate faster and more than any of them could, and was from a city where meta-humans were common. It was possible that he was one of them. Oliver decided that he would keep a close eye on Barry over the next few days. It was possible that Darhk had sent the young man to ensure his demise, although Oliver hoped not. He actually liked Barry.

'How bad can it be?' Barry asked as he picked at his food at a more normal speed now that he had Oliver's attention, unaware of Oliver's suspicions.

'The only way to break the curse is to fall in love, and have that person love me in return. I've tried, but nothing, not even my attempts with my closest friends, worked. I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life,' Oliver regarded him sadly and decided not to burden the young man with the fact that the rest of his life would not be that long.

'Wow, Cisco was nearly spot on with his Beauty and the Beast theory. There isn't an enchanted rose hidden in the basement is there?' Barry was unable to resist asking. 'I'm sorry, that was insensitive.'

Oliver's lips twitched into a smile. 'No, it's fine. There's no enchanted rose.'

'Probably just as well. To have the symbol of true love counting down your days? That's just cruel.' Barry frowned. 'Not that love isn't cruel anyway.'

'Do I sense bitterness?' Oliver smirked.

'No, no. I shouldn't be really.' Barry sighed and looked down at the table. 'It's just that my best friend, Iris, got engaged to her long term boyfriend. I should have expected it really, they've been living together for a while now. He's a typical pretty boy like you, not a gangly nerd like me, and she's beautiful. I should have known that I'd never have a shot.'

'Your in love with her?' Oliver asked, and tried to keep the disappointment out of his tone.

Barry frowned and leant back in his chair. 'I don't even know any more. I'd been in love with her since I knew what love was. I even told her how I felt, but Eddie, her boyfriend, punched me in the face and she's thrown herself into their relationship ever since. I guess I just threw myself into my work and didn't want to dwell on it too much. If I think about it, I'm not in the right place to be in a relationship right now anyway, I'm far too busy with work. She deserves someone who can give her all the time in the world and make her happy.'

Oliver nodded. 'I can relate to that. There's always something else going on. It was even worse when I was trying to run QC on top of everything else.'

'Didn't that get taken over by Ray Palmer?' Barry asked and finished his food.

'Yeah, he's doing a far better job than I ever was,' Oliver admitted. 'Although he did have help from Felicity. I don't think that I was cut out for corporate meetings and business management.'

'Maybe you should take up the vigilantes hood?' Barry suggested. 'You really are good with a bow, and I wasn't kidding when I said that Starling city has gone to hell without it's hero.'

'As much as I want to help, I couldn't, not with my poor stamina.' Oliver sighed and ran a hand through his hair. 'What use am I when I struggle to pull back my bow string?'

Barry could see that Oliver's shoulder's had tensed and his eyes had closed briefly.

'Your frustrated, you feel helpless. I get that. I've been there.' Barry remembered clearly the time when Blackout had zapped his powers and attacked Star labs. He had never felt so helpless since he had gotten his powers. Still, he had gotten them back so could Oliver get his strength back? 'Surely there must be something we can do to improve your stamina, your strength, other than breaking the curse?'

Oliver shook his head. 'Felicity has had me try so many types of medications, supplements, even herbal remedies. None of them work.'

'How about home brewed elixirs then? Those are always tons more effective in my experience,' Barry suggested. He raised his hand to cup his chin thoughtfully and looked upwards towards the ceiling as the possibilities churned in his mind.

'You think that's possible?' Oliver frowned. He had never really considered the possibility when Felicity had failed to come up with anything.

'I'm a scientist, of course it's possible,' Barry scoffed and rolled his eyes.

'Your a CSI,' Oliver frowned.

'The best there is,' Barry insisted. 'Or the best that I know anyway. Most of my work is based in science. If I had access to my lab I bet I could figure something out if I had a sample of your blood.'

'I have a lab,' Oliver mused and continued when Barry's head shot up and his eyes widened as he regarded Oliver with interest. 'In the basement.'

'You do? Show me!' Barry insisted and stood to lean his hands on the table. 'Please?'

'I'll see if I can include it on the tour,' Oliver mused and held his hand up to his chin in thought as he pushed back his chair to stand. Perhaps if Barry discovered his secret, he would show his hand, and one way to let that secret slip was to let Barry have access to the lab.

'I hear the owner is a real hard ass,' Barry joked, and his eyes twinkled with amusement as he smiled at Oliver. 'Might have to sneak around him.'

'Hey!' Oliver exclaimed and moved around the table to punch Barry playfully in the shoulder.

Barry grabbed his arm and winced. 'You know, I find it hard to believe that you have a problem with your strength with a punch like that!'

'Sorry,' Oliver murmured, but he smirked when he saw that Barry didn't seem to mind really and turned towards the door.

'It's fine,' Barry laughed. 'I just wasn't expecting you to hit so hard.'

Oliver smiled. 'I'm stronger than most people, even with the curse. Come on, I'll show you the lab.' Barry nodded and Oliver turned and led his way to the grand staircase to start the tour.

–--

Oliver had left Barry to it once they had reached the lab, but Barry had not stayed long. Oliver had some good equipment, but Barry's focus had been on the large library Oliver had shown him earlier, where he hoped to find some books to help him create something to help improve Oliver's strength.

The library had a high, vaulted roof, and the walls ran floor to ceiling with books. The curtains were shut but the room was not neglected. An abandoned coffee cup sat on a desk near the door and when Barry pulled back the curtains there was an open book on the windowsill, both clear indicators that someone had used the library recently.

Barry sighed and looked towards the desk for some kind of index. Luckily, the library appeared to be well catalogued, and soon Barry found himself in the medicine and science sections. After a quick look around to ensure that he was alone, Barry decided that it was safe and sped around to grab a few books that may be useful. He was relieved when he felt more in control and less in pain when he used his speed than he had before, and settled into the deep recess of the windowsill surrounded by books.

He had sped through around 20 books when he startled as the door creaked open and he dropped the current book he was holding into his lap.

'Felicity! Hi!' Barry squeaked.

'Barry, I'm sorry did I startle you?' Felicity smiled.

'Just a little. I was really into my research,' Barry returned her smile. 'Did you find Roy?'

Felicity nodded. 'Thea is with him now, he was in Central of all places!'

'That's good,' Barry smiled. 'I take it she won't be back for a while?'

'Probably not. I just hope that Oliver won't mind,' Felicity sighed sadly.

'I'll keep him company until she gets back,' Barry offered without hesitation.

'You don't mind?' Felicity mused, surprised.

'No, not at all,' Barry replied and found where he was up to in his book.

Felicity smiled a genuine smile and moved towards the window. 'So, what are you reading?'

'Oh, just a few books about medicines and alchemy. Oliver said that his strength and stamina aren't what they used to be because of the curse, so I'm trying to see if I can help him,' Barry explained, and made room for Felicity to sit beside him.

'Oliver told you that?' Felicity asked, surprised, as she took a seat and picked up the book that she had abandoned on the windowsill yesterday.

Barry nodded and then a look of realisation dawned on his face. 'You tricked me last night, you said that Oliver wouldn't be at dinner!'

'Hey, don't blame me, I said that it was unlikely, not that it was impossible,' Felicity protested.

'Well, it's not like it matters. I'm glad that he was,' Barry smiled, a small genuine smile as he looked back to his book.

'Really?' Felicity asked, trying not to sound too eager.

'Yeah, he's not so bad. He just makes a terrible first impression. Once you get past his walls, he's actually a good person. We've been getting along fine, he even let me in the forbidden basement!' Barry exclaimed and sat up straighter. 'Your lab is amazing.'

Felicity smiled. 'That's Oliver for you. Although I'm surprised that he's opening up to you so easily, he's usually fairly cagey and secretive, even with the people that he knows well.'

'I seem to have that affect on people,' Barry mused and remembered how Caitlyn had opened up to him fairly soon after they met, even though she had closed herself off pretty well from most other people.

'Well, I'm glad that your getting along,' Felicity said happily and settled in to read her book. Barry went back to his book, although it was at a significantly slower pace than before. It was not long before he felt his leg begin to twitch as his mind attempt to skip words and read faster.

'Can I borrow these?' Barry asked as he closed his book. 'I'll need to look through the rest to see if there's anything useful, and I have a few theories now so could use them in the lab.' He would also get through them much faster if he locked himself in his room and used his super speed to get through as many books as possible.

'Sure, go ahead,' Felicity smiled. 'You really think that you can help Oliver?'

Barry nodded. 'It's going to be tricky, and I'll need some ingredients either from the forest, or from the lab, but I think I can make things easier for him.'

'That's good,' Felicity smiled sadly. 'Anything that you can do to can help Oliver lead an easier life would be much appreciated.'

'Sure,' Barry agreed and grabbed as many books as he could carry. 'I'll see you at dinner.'

'Good luck,' Felicity offered.

'Thanks,' Barry replied and made a hasty retreat from the library and to his own room.

Once he had dumped off the books, he made an additional trip to the kitchens to grab as much food as he could carry for lunch and snacks during his extended study session.

Back in his room, Barry dumped the food on the bed beside the books and closed and locked the door. He rummaged in the bedside drawers and was relieved to find a notepad and pen. The first book he picked up was a book on herbs and their practical uses in potions. Barry settled comfortably on the bed, grabbed his sandwich and lost himself in his reading.

A couple of hours later Barry had finished reading the stack of books he had brought up from the library. He looked around himself at the empty bag of prawn crackers, three chocolate bar wrappers and sandwich crumbs that surrounded him and dashed off the bed to clear up quickly. Barry grabbed the notepad he had been writing on and frowned down at his scrawled notes. He had a few ideas for things he could brew up to improve Oliver's strength, but he would need some ingredients, and he could probably only get those in the city.

Barry stood and stretched. His ribs still twinged slightly, and he knew that he could not run all the way to Starling or Central city, whichever was closer, today. Still, that didn't mean that he couldn't run at all. His body felt tense from his extended study session, much as it usually did if he spent the whole day seated at his lab at CCPD when there were no crime scenes to attend. His legs twitched and his body ached to run, to clear his head in a way that only running through the streets of Central city could nowadays.

It was not an option to run in the forest with it's wolves, just in case his speed failed him again, so Barry left his room and wandered the halls of the mansion until he came to the darkened stairway at the far end of the mansion that led towards the attic. Oliver had shown him the disused space earlier and Barry had known at the time that it would be a perfect place to stretch his legs and test his speed without anyone else knowing that he was there. It was a square shaped space and Barry was sure that the attic, like the rest of the mansion, circled the courtyard in the centre of the mansion that Oliver had pointed out earlier.

Barry reached the top of the stairway and stretched out his legs as a quick warm up. His eyes crackled with electricity and he took off seconds later around the large space. Barry sighed and felt himself begin to relax. It was not as freeing as running in the city, where the wind whistled around him and he was free to run where ever he wanted, but it was safe and would do until he had made a full recovery. Just to feel the speed force coursing through him strongly again was a relief to Barry and he did a few laps of the attic before his ribs began to ache again.

Barry slowed to a stop and walked over to the nearest window. He pulled back the curtains to let in some light and threw open the window to try and clear the musty smell from the attic. It was a little better, but not perfect. Barry looked around at the other windows which were evenly spaced on the same side of the building where he currently stood. There were eight windows on this side of the building, and on the opposite side, higher up, a further six windows. From up here in the attic it was easy to see just how large Oliver's mansion was.

Barry frowned and stared at the nearest window on the opposite side wall. 'I wonder if these open...'

There was one way to find out. Barry took a lap of the attic at breakneck speed and ran up the wall towards one of the upper windows. He grinned when he realised that the window opened and got a glimpse of the central courtyard. From the first window, it was easy to speed around to throw open all the windows around the courtyard. Barry then turned to the outside wall and opened the windows and curtains there too.

'Much better,' Barry sighed as the cool breeze from outside began to circulate in the now much brighter space. This was now the perfect training ground.

Barry did a few more laps of the attic before he felt his chest begin to ache and he sighed as he came to a halt. He stretched his arms above his head and winced. The little bit of running that he had done had taken a toll on his body, and he was still weaker than he would like to be.

Barry shook his head. That would be all for today. If he pushed himself too hard he risked delaying his recovery further. There was always tomorrow, and by then he would probably be up to running to the nearest city and back for those ingredients.

Barry was about to head down the stairs when he heard voices. It took him a second to realise that the wind had carried the voices inside through the now open windows from the courtyard below. Curious, Barry zipped closer to the nearest window and eyed the gap critically. He was small enough, and the window would open wider. Barry sped up and pulled the window open as wide as it would go. He dragged himself through the window and onto the small ledge that skirted the courtyard, high above the two people talking below.

The ledge was just wide enough to sit on, and Barry leant back against the sloped tiled roof so that he would not be spotted. He closed his eyes and listened as the two people continued their conversation, unaware that they were no longer alone.

'You don't know if he will work anything out, Oliver. I wouldn't get your hopes up,' a woman was saying, and Barry recognised the voice as Felicity's. Barry leant forward and looked over the edge of the small wall that ran around the ledge.

'I know, but he sounded confident,' Oliver's voice carried up to where Barry was perched. 'I just hope that he can help. If I get even some of my strength back I can help Starling city like I used to. It really sounds like it needs me now more than it ever did...'

Barry frowned and continued to listen. Just what did Oliver mean by helping Starling city?

'Oliver, you can't risk yourself like that. What if you run out of energy at the wrong moment? You could get yourself killed!' Felicity protested.

Barry shook his head in wonder. Could it be that Oliver was the vigilante after all? Or did Felicity mean that any attempt to help Starling city and get rid of Damien Darhk would be dangerous and could get Oliver killed?

'I'm going to die anyway, Felicity, at least if Barry can help me, I can do some good until then,' Oliver insisted and folded his arms across his chest. Barry could not see his expression clearly from high up, but he felt that Oliver sounded pained. Barry watched as Oliver looked at Felicity and ran a hand through his hair. 'I'm sorry, Felicity. I know that this situation is hard for you. It's hard for me too.'

Barry watched as Felicity reached out and hugged Oliver close. He could not make out her next words but he saw her lips move near Oliver's ear.

Oliver returned her embrace and smiled sadly at her. 'Come on, let's get dinner sorted. I'm sure that our guest will be hungry.'

Felicity nodded and Barry ducked back to lean against the roof as they walked towards the entrance nearest to his hiding place. He leant back against the tiles in the warmth of the afternoon sun and closed his eyes. From what he had heard, all he knew for sure was that Oliver wanted to help Starling city, needed his strength to do it, and could get killed if he ran out of energy at the wrong moment. It did sound like he could be the missing vigilante, and Oliver could certainly shoot well enough to be him.

Barry sighed. Short of getting definitive proof, or asking Oliver directly, he would never know the truth. If Oliver was anything like Barry himself, he would be careful to hide all proof, and quick to deny it if Barry asked. Barry knew that when it came to protecting his identity as the Flash, he would do the same.

Barry vowed that, regardless, he would make the elixirs well and get Oliver to test them within the mansion grounds before he put himself at risk, just in case he was the vigilante. Tomorrow he would gather the ingredients that he needed to start experimenting in the lab. He just needed to find out which was closer, Central or Starling city, because although he was not at full strength yet, Barry knew that by tomorrow his super healing would have caught up with itself and he would be more than up for the extended run.

Barry opened his eyes and stood to stretch. He made his way carefully back to the window and down into the attic. Not happy to leave the windows open all night, Barry sped around and closed them before he ran down the stairs towards the library, where he had spotted a few maps earlier which he could use to figure out which way to run in the morning.

–--

'Sorry I'm late!' Barry exclaimed as he ran into the dining room at a normal speed. 'You wouldn't believe how easy it is to get lost around here!'

'Oh believe me, I would,' Felicity laughed and reached into her pocket. 'I carry a map at all times, I'll make you a copy.'

'Thanks, that would be amazing,' Barry replied and sat down to dig into his food.

Oliver frowned at him. 'Barry why are you so dusty?'

'I was exploring, and some of the rooms around here are pretty unused. I didn't have time to change,' Barry explained easily.

'I thought that you would have stayed in the lab,' Oliver mused, with a slightly sad smile.

'Don't worry, I haven't forgotten,' Barry smiled at him. 'I spent a lot of time reading and in the library. Even the best need to research sometimes. I'll have something for you by tomorrow afternoon, promise.'

'Thank you,' Oliver murmured quietly.

'It's the least that I can do,' Barry grinned.

'What do you mean?' Oliver asked cautiously.

'Well, even though you blackmailed me to stay here, you've given me a room, food, time to recover. I appreciate that, it's much better than the dungeons, and I feel much better already,' Barry explained and Oliver could see that his cheeks were a healthier colour already and his eyes were sparkling.

Oliver looked down, unsure how to respond. Barry was too honest, too good, to be one of Darhk's men. That was a relief, but the fact that he had blackmailed someone so good did not sit well with Oliver. Being a good person didn't rule Barry out as a meta-human though, although if Barry were a meta-human, Oliver could not see him as an evil one.

'I wouldn't have let him keep you in the dungeons,' Felicity smiled. 'Your our guest, really.'

Barry smiled at her and looked to her left. Someone was missing. 'Where's Diggle?'

'He's with his family tonight. It's just us now.' Felicity explained.

'So you really think that you can make something to help me?' Oliver asked.

'Of course,' Barry nodded. 'It might take a little while, but I have a few theories that I want to test out.'

'Let me know as soon as your done,' Oliver smiled, eager to test anything that Barry made now that he was convinced that Barry was on his side.

'I will, but please don't push yourself too hard as soon as I give it to you, OK?' Barry warned, and thought back to the conversation that he had overheard. 'I want you to test how long the dosage lasts and how effective it is before you go hunting in the woods or something stupid. I don't want to risk the effects wearing off and landing you in trouble.'

Felicity smiled in relief and looked gratefully towards Barry.

'Fine,' Oliver sighed. 'I suppose one extra day couldn't hurt.'

'Thanks, Barry,' Felicity added. 'I know how stubborn Oliver is, he'd have been out there like a shot otherwise.'

'So, were you planning on doing something daft like running for major or trying to take back your company?' Barry asked, hoping to glean a little more information from Oliver.

'No, nothing like that,' Oliver laughed and deflected easily, 'I don't ever want to run a company again, as much as it was my families legacy, it was also my burden, and I wasn't the best CEO ever.'

Felicity scoffed into her drink and covered her laugh. 'He was the worst, always late for meetings, never there when he was supposed to be. I practically ran the company for him.'

'I had other responsibilities, Felicity,' Oliver growled.

'Oh, I know, Oliver, I understand that more than anyone. It was just really funny that a girl from the I.T department suddenly became the acting CEO of QC,' Felicity smiled.

'So, if Felicity was running the company, what were you doing?' Barry pressed and leant forward on the table.

Oliver did not expect the question and paused, but Felicity jumped in quickly to cover for him. 'He was mostly at his sister's nightclub, which he found far more interesting.'

Oliver nodded and decided to turn the tables. 'So how about you, Barry, does your day job interfere with your night life?'

'Oh, no, not really. I mean, I'm late, a lot, but I get my work done so fast that the chief is cool with it. Most of the time,' Barry rambled, afraid that Oliver was onto his own secret life as a vigilante. 'The hours are odd and I'm on call a lot though, so there's not much time for anything else. It's cool though, I enjoy my work.'

'If Oliver had been that passionate about QC, we wouldn't have lost it to Ray Palmer,' Felicity smiled.

'There were more important things to worry about,' Oliver shrugged. 'I couldn't do everything.'

'Sometimes there's just not enough time in the day,' Barry agreed, 'Even for me.'

'So, what's the most interesting case that you've worked on?' Felicity asked. She wanted to keep Barry on a topic that he was passionate about because it really did bring out the best in him.

'That's a tricky question,' Barry frowned and was grateful that neither of them had caught his near slip up. 'There are so many, especially since the meta-humans showed up. Anything involving Captain Cold is always interesting.'

'Captain Cold?' Oliver mouthed to Felicity. Felicity shrugged and mouthed 'Deathstroke? Huntress?' back at Oliver.

'Is that a code name?' Felicity asked and sent a pointed look Oliver's way.

'Of course,' Barry smiled. 'His real name is Leonard Snart, but that's a bit of a mouthful, so we call him Captain Cold, after the cold gun that he swiped from Star Labs. He does heists mostly, all complicated and planned to the second. Even when we catch him, he gets away again.'

'How do the police confront someone with a gun that freezes?' Felicity wondered aloud.

'Oh, that's where Star Labs and the Flash come in. Caitlyn and Cisco work there, and they developed some riot shields to protect our officers, and so long as the Flash doesn't get hit, he can usually stop Cold in his tracks,' Barry explained eagerly.

'So your police force willingly work with a vigilante?' Oliver asked intently.

'Well, me and detective West, my foster father, do. Technically the rest of the department don't know just how closely we work with the Flash and Star labs.' Barry sighed heavily. 'Although people are gradually coming around to the idea of the Flash as a hero, and not as a vigilante. I hope that it won't be long before the police acknowledge his positive influence and we can work together more openly.'

'I bet detective Lance won't like that,' Felicity frowned and thought of his difficult relationship with Oliver when Oliver still had the strength to be the Arrow.

'No probably not, the Arrow had plenty of issues with him when he was active,' Oliver mused.

'Actually, he's surprisingly tolerant of Joe's pro-Flash stance, although I do get the feeling that he's worried that the Flash will start taking the law into his own hands.' Barry frowned. 'The Flash would never do that though, he's by the book.'

'You seem pretty sure of that,' Oliver commented casually and thought back to the emblem on his doorstep, a lightning bolt. Was that a nod to the lightning that struck Barry? Could Barry be the Flash? A hero in his own right?

Barry flushed slightly and shrugged in an attempt to appear casual. 'Well, Joe's a pretty good judge of character, and when you work with someone that closely, you tend to get to know them.'

Felicity nodded and smiled at him. 'That's true. It's good to see that Central city is well protected. At least we know that Thea, Roy and Laurel are safe there.'

Barry smiled, but this time it was forced. Oliver could not help but notice and wondered when he had learned to know the difference between a false smile and a real smile from the other man. If Barry was the Flash, his forced smile made perfect sense: at the moment Central city was not defended at all, because the Flash was here.

'Thea, Laurel and Roy are all perfectly capable of taking care of themselves,' Oliver insisted and smiled at Barry.

Barry looked at him and nodded. He hoped that Oliver's friends and family would be OK in Central whilst he was here, and that Firestorm could handle any meta-humans who appeared whilst he was away. As intriguing as Oliver and his situation was, Barry knew that he couldn't stay away too long, and it was with a heavy heart that he finished his meal and retired for the night. He had a long day ahead of him tomorrow.

---

So, that's chapter 2: hope it was as good as the first :)

Chapter 3 is completely written, It just needs a few tweaks, double checks, edits etc and a few scenes added. I hope to have that up later today, if not very late tonight!

[coldflashwave-baby]

The Glass Lies

Olivarry Week: Day 6- Justice League AU

This is not my best work, I apologize. Writing it was like pulling teeth. I couldn’t think of anything to write, so my mom sat down and helped. So, half credit to my mom. 

Batman was probably the most terrifying man that Barry had ever met. Ever. That included Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Vandal Savage, and Ra’s al Ghul. The man in the black cape and cowl stared unimpressed at the speedster, who was embarrassed about turning to the Dark Knight with such a somewhat personal problem.

           “I need your help stopping Sam Scudder.”

           The Dark Knight wasn’t surprised. It hadn’t even been a whole hour since the Justice League gathered in the Watchtower to watch Scudder’s (aka Mirror Master) worldwide broadcast calling out the Flash.

           “As you can see,” the criminal mastermind smirked, turning the camera away from himself. “I have something of yours you may want back.”

           Barry’s heart fell at the sight of Oliver Queen chained up and gagged, his face more annoyed than scared. The other League members gave him a mixture of confused and sorrowful looks, but Barry couldn’t take his eyes off his fiancé, his fingers subconsciously turning the ring hidden underneath his gloves.

           Diana was the first person to approach him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Flash. I’m sure that this Oliver Queen is unharmed, and that you’ll save him.”

           Barry smiled. Diana really was proof that a warrior could be both strong and compassionate.

           “What I want to know is how you scored billionaire playboy Oliver Queen of all people?” He heard Green Lantern joke from behind him in an attempt to lift his spirits. “What is your secret?”

           Barry laughed humorlessly. “I’m actually a likeable human being.”

           “Can’t argue that.” Lantern smiled sympathetically. “Even Arrow likes you, and he doesn’t like anyone. Speaking of which, has anyone seen him today? I’m sure he could help with Scudder.”

           The speedster resisted the urge to laugh at the irony. If the Green Arrow was at the Watchtower, there would be no need in Barry saving him in civilian form. When Superman (“Kal-El, Flash. We’re friends.”) flew over to his side, Barry was starting to feel smothered. “If you need our help against Scudder, we’re here.”

           He nodded, both happy and annoyed at the support from his team. No one knew about his and Oliver’s identities or their engagement, and he knew Oliver wanted it to stay that way. He had no idea how Scudder had found out about them.

           “Thanks, but if Mirror Master sees the entire League coming, he might panic and hurt Mr. Queen.”  

           In reality, he just didn’t want someone accidentally finding out that Oliver was the Green Arrow. Superman raised an eyebrow at the formal way Barry addressed Oliver, but accepted his answer. That’s when Barry noticed Batman standing quietly in the back of the room, looking less surprised and less worried than everyone else. If it had been a few months ago, Barry would’ve brushed it off as Batman being his usual, serious, broody self. Now, though, after working closely with the Dark Knight, he noticed a knowing gleam in the detective’s eye. Which is why he waited for everyone else to mill out of the room before approaching.

           Batman stared at him like he hadn’t said anything. “Look, I know that who I am and who Oliver is, and I need your help saving him. Scudder is going to be expecting me to come alone, and I can’t ask the others. Please.”

           Batman continued staring silently at Barry for a few moments, before nodding. “I’ll help, Flash, but you need to do everything I say…”

0000000

           Oliver was definitely not used to being a damsel in distress, but he already knew he didn’t like it.

He’d been getting ready for a business meeting when someone in an orange suit and green cowl appeared in the mirror beside him. His mind had barely been able to register Mirror Master before he was being pulled into the mirror and knocked unconscious.

Now, he was chained up at what appeared to be the abandoned Central City Carnival in the Hall of Mirrors, because where else would a supervillain take his hostage?

Oliver rolled his eyes and pulled at the chains wrapped neck-to-ankle around him.

“Now, now, Mr. Queen.” Mirror Master’s voice echoed through the building. “That’ll do no good. The only way you’re getting out of here is in a body bag, or carrying the Flash’s body.”

“What do you want with me?” He asked, playing the ignorant captive, because he couldn’t find it in himself to play the scared captive.

A cold laugh sent a chill down his spine. “You know exactly why you’re here. People think they can hide secrets from me, but I see everything—like you and the Flash having a ‘private’ lip-lock behind S.T.A.R labs.”

Oliver groaned. Now he remembered. It was a week ago. Oliver had come into town to spend time with Barry—it was actually when he proposed, which Barry accepted excitedly—but a bank robbery had interrupted the end of their date. Barry insisted that the Flash had it handled, so Oliver went back to S.T.A.R labs to wait. After about an hour of waiting, Oliver was ready to throw on his costume and check on his fiancé when the speedster ran in, tired but relatively unharmed. Barry immediately began discussing with Caitlin and Cisco the meta that was robbing the bank—a young woman with super-strength—and Oliver quietly excused himself to get some air.

           All Oliver could think about was how everyone he loved got hurt—Sara died twice, Laurel was murdered, Felicity was paralyzed, Thea was stabbed. He knew that with Barry things would be different; after all, Barry had superpowers and faced off against dangerous metahumans all the time. Somehow, though, that thought didn’t comfort him. He was beginning to think that he’d rushed into an engagement too quickly when he heard the door open. Barry walked out, still in his Flash suit, a worried expression on his face.

           “Everything okay?”

           He nodded, averting his eyes. “I’m fine. I just needed some air.”

           Footsteps approached, and a hand raised Oliver’s face so that he and Barry were eye-to-eye. Instead of the confusion he so often saw in his other partners’ eyes when he felt this way, Barry’s expression was one of understanding. He forgot sometimes why he and Barry worked so well—they both understood the life. They’d both watched people they loved be murdered. They both knew what it was like to feel like poison in people’s lives. Neither ever had to explain what they were feeling or why—the other always knew.

           Barry leaned forward and pressed their lips together, running his hands calmingly down Oliver’s arms. “We’re going to be fine.” He sighed against his fiancé’s lips.

           Honestly, Oliver should’ve known they were being watched. He should’ve insisted they go back inside or something. He’d been lucky that neither had mentioned Oliver being the Green Arrow, or that he hadn’t called Barry by his name.

           “Remembering now?” Scudder chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry your pretty head, Mr. Queen. The Flash isn’t one to leave anyone to the mercy of a supervillain, especially someone he loves.”

           “I’m not afraid of you.” Oliver growled, fighting his bounds once again. “The Flash is going to stop you.”

           A new voice—a very familiar one—now cut through the room, and Oliver nearly stopped breathing. “Oliver!”

           One of the mirror’s shimmered, and Oliver could see Barry moving through the rides and games outside. “Come on out, Scudder! I’m here!”

           Oliver could only watch as Mirror Master stepped out to meet the speedster and drew his mirror gun. What he didn’t expect was another Barry to appear beside him, hood and quiver in hand. The second Barry laughed at the confused expression on his fiancé’s face as he helped remove the chains.

           “How—?” Oliver’s eyes shifted between the Barry fighting Scudder to the one crouching beside him.

           “Sometimes we have to trust our teammates.” Barry grinned, handing Oliver his effects. “Like when Batman says that he can replicate Scudder’s illusion feature on his weapon and create a fake Flash to distract him while I snuck in to help you.”

           Oliver pulled on his costume and shook his head, a goofy smile on his face. “I love you.”

           “I love you, too, babe.” Barry pecked a kiss on his fiancé’s lips. “Now let’s go kick his ass.”