This is a like what missing scenes would be from Arrow in the aftermath of The Flash 2x20 "Rupture" and also during 2x22 "Invincible". This story is also kind of written like half story, half script. I haven't really been keeping up with Arrow in season 4, and I'm not sure what specifically was going on at the time, so please forgive any plot-holes or errors! Enjoy!

-LowTide1322

Star City

"Felicity? What was that about?"

Oliver stood up after doing his second set of one-armed push-ups. He had been too engrossed in his workout to make out what Felicity was talking about on the phone, or who was on the other line. Diggle and Thea walked into the "Arrow Cave 2.0" behind him.

But Felicity didn't respond. All she did was set down her phone on the table in shock. Everything around her was white noise as she tried to believe the words she heard a minute ago.

"Oh my God," was what she choked out. Immediately, Oliver was at her side and lightly grabbed her arm to steady her. He had no idea what was making her so distressed, and it made him nervous.

"What's going on? Who was that on the phone?" he asked, his tone gentle.

"Team Arrow" looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. After a few moments, Felicity collected herself and turned to Oliver.

"That-that was Cisco, and Iris, and STAR Labs…"

"Is Zoom headed this way? Does Barry need our help?" Oliver turned his attention to Diggle and Thea to signal them to suit up and get ready to leave for Central City.

But Felicity's words stopped him. "It's-it's about Barry...oh God..." The mention of Barry's name was enough to let the tears pooled in her eyes trickle down her face. She put a hand over her mouth, trying to stop the flow of words that allowed the tears to fall.

The tears streaming down Felicity's face made Oliver panic. What happened to Barry? was what he kept repeating to himself as he awaited her news. He didn't know what could have happened to Central City, STAR Labs, or the scarlet speedster himself that could make Felicity this hysterical. Oliver knew that Zoom wanted to steal Barry's powers, and maybe he'd achieved that goal, or maybe all hell broke loose in Central City and STAR Labs needed the Green Arrow's help. Whatever was going on, he had faith that Barry could save his own city, and Oliver knew the Flash would go to any lengths to do it.

He just didn't understand how far.

"Barry—he...he's dead," Felicity said at last.

Oliver looked at her in confusion. Had he heard her right? It wasn't Barry that was dead—their Barry, the Flash, the hero of Central City. It simply couldn't be.

Oliver let Felicity's words sink in as he released her. If he had to be honest, Oliver thought that he would be long gone before Barry would be, having made all the mistakes and enemies that the Arrow and Green Arrow have. He never thought he'd live to hear of the death of his ally, friend, brother.

Oliver didn't think he had it in him to mourn for another friend, so soon after Laurel's death. They hadn't even had a funeral for her yet, and he had to get prepared to plan another.

"What? How? Felicity, what happened?" Thea asked, looking upon Felicity in disbelief.

"Zoom; he-he—"

At the mention of the villain's name, Oliver suddenly felt enraged. Already, Zoom had hurt Barry; injured him, broke his back, and Oliver had wanted to get revenge on the evil speedster for just that. The thought of Zoom even coming close to Barry again, let alone killing him, made Oliver's blood boil.

"What did that psycho do to Barry?" Oliver practically yelled. "I swear to God, if he—"

"He stole his speed," Felicity interrupted. She took a shaky breath and continued, "Apparently, Zoom was holding someone close to Barry and Joe captive, and threatened to kill that person if Barry didn't give up his speed. So he gave it up. But Central City wasn't doing too well without 'the Flash', so they tried to get his speed back by creating another Particle Accelerator explosion."

Diggle cut in this time, "Are they insane? Whose idea was that?"

"Wells', apparently—"

"Wells?" If it was possible, Oliver felt even more angry than he did before. He didn't know or care really if this was the same Wells or different Wells from a year ago (he didn't understand the whole "doppelganger" and "multiverse" situation) but he associated the name with that of the other psychotic speedster that Barry had to face against.

"Earth-2 Harrison Wells," Felicity clarified. She could see how tense Oliver had become and it was starting to scare her. "So, Barry decided to do it and—" she began to choke up again and couldn't continue any further with the story.

"And I'm guessing it didn't work out...for Barry…" Thea trailed off. Imagining what went terribly wrong for the Flash made her feel sick to her stomach. Thea only heard rumors about the first Particle Accelerator explosion, and those rumors alone were horrific. If all of that destructive power was targeted onto one man…

"No," Felicity said quietly.

Oliver sat down in a chair nearby, taking in all of the news he just received. Classic Barry, he thought, even without his powers, he would still be the hero. But where did that get him?

"Is—" Oliver cleared his throat, "Is there anything we can do? Could we have—they have saved him? Did they try, was it too late, or..." Oliver became angry again; angry at Zoom, angry at STAR Labs, angry at Barry, angry at himself for not being able to do anything to help his friend.

No matter what he did, Oliver never seemed to be able to save the people closest to him. His dad, his mom, Tommy, Laurel, now even Barry, and the list of lost loved ones could go on and on.

"Oliver, I don't think…" Felicity began. But Oliver was tired of hearing how there was nothing he could have done to save his loved one, how he had to attend another funeral, write another eulogy.

"So, what, is there going to be a funeral? Will we be asked to speak?" he let out a cold laugh, "I wonder where they'll bury him—"

"Ollie, that's enough—"

"Dammit is there even a body?" At this Oliver stood up from his chair and threw it across the room.

"Oliver!" Diggle scolded him this time. Felicity had shed another tear and turned away. Even Thea looked deeply saddened and disturbed by this thought.

Diggle softened his tone, "Look, I know you're upset, but being angry at…him…" he paused,"...is going to get you nowhere."

Oliver turned to face Diggle. "Now what, you're going to tell me some war story that relates to what's happening right now, and tell me that it'll get better with time? John, I'm tired of losing people that I care about and then having to blame myself."

"Ollie, this wasn't your fault. It's never been your fault—"

"Don't tell me that, Thea. Don't say you've never blamed me for when mom died; when dad died."

Thea opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it. It was the truth, yes, she used to blame him for not being able to save their father, for allowing Deathstroke to murder their mother. Obviously she didn't feel that way anymore, but she didn't want to admit the simple truth that she had blamed him before aloud. It wouldn't make him feel any better.

Even though she was silent, the message was pretty clear to Oliver. He sighed and continued.

"If I'm not angry at him, Dig, I'm forced to be angry at myself. And I don't know if I can handle that again. I just can't do this anymore; any of it."

"Would Barry want that?" Felicity spoke up finally. Oliver whipped his head towards her direction because of her sudden input in the conversation.

"What?" he asked.

"Would Barry want you to be mad at yourself? At him? No. And he wouldn't want us to just give up on ourselves, on our cities, because he's gone."

Oliver thought this over. Barry would want them all to forget about him, protect their cities, stop evil, and just move on with their semi-normal lives. And that's who he was; the selfless hero who would sacrifice himself and his happiness for the good of his family, his friends, his city, his earth. But Barry Allen never expected anything in return. He didn't expect anyone to mourn him, and he didn't want anyone to.

That's what Oliver hated about him.

How could he expect none of his friends to care that he was gone? Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Detective West, Felicity, and Oliver himself didn't get to feel sad because their friend, a part of their family, was gone. And because of that, Oliver felt guilty when he wanted to grieve Barry. Guilt was an emotion far too familiar for his liking.

"I just don't want to have to grieve anymore," Oliver said quietly.

Diggle approached him from behind and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we understand. I understand. We've all lost our fair share of people we care about."

"But it's Barry this time, Dig—"

"I know. I still remember the day he, quite literally, stumbled into our lives. And because of that, we've all been better off. He was a hero; the perfect definition of the word. But, you know better than anyone that heroes don't always end up happy."

Oliver was no longer in shock, but he felt anxiety begin to take over.

"What about Central City? How can we save Star City and Central at the same time?"

"Barry wasn't the only one at STAR Labs who could defeat metahumans," Thea spoke up. "They know what they're doing over there, but if they need our help, we'll be there as fast—" she winced at the poor choice of words, but kept going, "—as we can."

Oliver sighed heavily. He knew they could figure out where to go from here; they always did. But the team didn't have to yet, the Green Arrow couldn't yet, not until he had a sufficient amount of time to pull himself together.

"I'm just—I'll just need a day to...collect myself—"

"Oliver, you're allowed to grieve. You can take as much time as you need; the team will be here when you get back," Diggle reassured him.

Oliver responded with a small smile, and nodded to the rest of the team. Without a word, he turned towards the elevator and left.

2 days later

Central City

STAR Labs

Barry Allen skidded to a stop as he arrived in the STAR Labs cortex. Surprisingly, this was the happiest he'd felt in a long time, considering his city was going through what was being called a "meta-apocalypse". The speed force coursed through his veins stronger than before, faster than before. He knew that if Zoom showed up at any moment, he could take him down without breaking a sweat.

The Flash felt invincible.

Some would say (meaning Iris) he was being overconfident, but it didn't matter to him. He finally could help the people of this city without any casualties.

"Barry, dude, you're taking down more metas right now than you have the past two years combined!" Cisco said from behind the desk and put up a hand to high-five his best friend.

Barry laughed and high-fived him. "I wouldn't say that. But I do feel stronger and faster than I've ever been. I feel great, Cisco," he smiled to himself, then asked, "Any updates on where Zoom might be hiding?"

Cisco typed on his computer and shook his head. "No, not since we rescued Caitlin. But we will—" he stopped talking when he saw a news update on Star City pop up on his screen. "Oh God. Ohhh God, I can't believe I forgot. Barry...you have some people to go talk to in Star City."

"What? What do you mean? Is Oliver in trouble or something?"

"No, no, it's just, um, well, you need to go see them and tell them we're sorry."

"Cisco, what are you talking about? What happened—?"

"Just go, like, now! And hurry back when you're done."

Barry narrowed his eyes in suspicion at his friend. "I always do," he said before disappearing in a gust of wind and flash of lightning.

Cisco rested his head in his hand and mumbled, "Oh man, Oliver is totally gonna kick his ass."

Star City

Oliver exhaled as he sat down in one of the chairs in the new "Arrow Cave". Damien Darhk was only getting stronger, and he had to be stopped. The Green Arrow and the team just weren't sure where he would strike next, and how many people could get hurt in the aftermath. It was tiring work, chasing down a mastermind villain.

Felicity swiveled around in her chair to face the remaining three of the team. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by a blast of wind and the crackle of electricity that filled the room.

And, to the team's great surprise, Barry Allen stood before them in the center of the room.

"Hey guys," he said, and everyone in the room jumped at the sound of his voice.

Thea looked back and forth between Oliver and Barry, trying to formulate a sentence or say something, but couldn't find the words. Diggle looked as surprised as when he first found out about Barry's speed. Once Felicity overcame her shock, a huge smile began to form on her face. Oliver stood up from his chair and just stared at his thought-to-be dead friend.

"Uh, are you guys okay?" Barry laughed at their surprised expressions, his cockyness following him from Central City, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

At this, Oliver clenched his jaw, trying to hold in all the curses he wanted to throw the speedster's way. Instead, he threw his arm and punched Barry in the face as hard as he could. And the Flash didn't even see it coming.

Barry staggered backwards, extremely confused. "What the hell, Oliver!?"

"Don't give me that. STAR Labs calls us, tells us you're dead, and then you just show up making jokes about it? Who the hell do you think you are!?" Oliver yelled.

"Oh my God, I'm going to kill Cisco…" Barry said under his breath, then turned to face Oliver and the team. "Cisco told me to come here to apologize to you, and he didn't say why. Now I know why he needed to apologize…"

"He didn't tell us you're alive," Felicity summed up.

"I was stuck in the Speed Force. Eventually, I got my speed back, and I came back faster than I've ever been. Lately, I've had to stop a bunch of Earth-2 metahumans that Zoom's been sending over to our earth, but I'm able to manage."

"You—you're alive," Thea found the words she tried to express a few minutes ago.

Barry smiled. "Yeah. You guys didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?"

Diggle laughed. He hugged Barry finally and said, "We're glad you're alive, Barry."

"Glad to be back, Dig."

It was Felicity's turn next. She walked up to him and squeezed the living daylights out of him. "Thank God you're okay!" she exclaimed.

"Yep! All good here. Okay, Felicity, too tight—"

"Oh, right! Sorry," she said, releasing him. She didn't want to for the fear that if she did, he would disappear and this would all be a dream. But, it wasn't; Barry Allen was in their midst alive and well.

Even after hearing Barry's explanation, Oliver was still pissed.

"What were you thinking?" he said simply. Barry slowly turned to face him, slightly flinching. He was afraid that he might punch him again.

"I'm sorry, Oliver, I didn't mean—"

"Look, I get that you were trying to save your city, but what if you died and stayed dead? How could that have helped your city? Do you know how reckless that was?" Oliver scolded him.

"I didn't see any other way. Being the Flash...that's the best version of me. I'm as much use to Central City and our earth without my powers as I am dead. And that's what I'd rather be, dead, than to be alive and watch my city, my earth, crumble. You of all people should get that, Oliver."

On the inside, Oliver agreed with Barry completely, but his stubbornness was getting the better of him. He still wanted to be angry at Barry so badly, for scaring the hell out of him. But, looking at the speedster now, in front of him, unscathed and surprisingly content, Oliver felt a sense of relief.

Oliver sighed. "Just don't do that again Barry, or I'll kill you myself."

Before Barry could get another word in, Oliver left the room. He needed some air, some privacy where he could celebrate Barry's "revival" alone.

"You know, I'd actually believe that," Barry joked.

The rest of the team laughed and gave him another round of hugs. Finally, after a few minutes of "catching up", the scarlet speedster decided it was time to go back home to Central City. Cisco had a hell of a lot of apologizing to do, after all.

As the Flash left Star City, Oliver watched the trail of gold lightning cut through the city and eventually fade into the night. He took a deep breath, and smiled to himself.

"Glad you're okay, Barry."