I know, I have other stories I should be working on, but this idea would not leave me alone. It's not going to be a long story, so it shouldn't distract from my other works. Tell me if you think I should continue this or not.

Lian Yu

Night

Oliver had told Thea he was going for a walk. It was what he told himself to, perhaps naively. But he still ended up on the beach. He walked up to the entrance to the prison and opened the hatch. Oliver climbed down the ladder and walked down the hall. He stopped outside the door that housed one of the prison's occupants. He took a deep breath, telling himself he didn't need to go in there, that he never needed to see that man again. But, almost against his will, he felt his hand wrap around the handle on the door. He turned it and, with a loud squeak, it opened.

Oliver walked inside as he saw the occupant sitting up in bed. Even in the dim lighting, he could see the difference between when he had seen him last and now. His beard had grown in the months between and his hair was longer, almost animal like in nature.

"Slade," Oliver greeted roughly and his onetime friend chuckled.

"Hey kid. I'm glad you came back," Slade said warmly.

Oliver faltered, staring at him. Slade seemed…different and it wasn't just the fact that he was in dire need of a shave and haircut. Rather than raving and vowing that he was going to hurt everyone Oliver cared about, as he had last time Oliver was here, Slade was instead staring at him calmly, a wistfulness in his eyes. He seemed almost…happy to see him.

"So, what brought you back to the island?" Slade asked, getting to his feet. "Or did you just come back to taunt me?"

"You seem…" Oliver trailed off.

"In position of all my marbles?" Slade supplied and Oliver nodded. "The Mirakuru, it wore off a few months ago. I remember everything that happened, I'm not trying to escape that, it just feels like some bad dream. But, regardless of my sanity, what are you doing here kid?"

"Training," Oliver said vaguely, still eying Slade wearily.

"Well, good luck with that kid," Slade said, lying back down in bed. "The guard will be here in a few minutes. So, if there's nothing else, you should get back to your training."

Oliver stayed only a moment or longer, staring at Slade as he tried to process this. Then, he turned and walked out.

Oliver returned to his and Thea's camp site and almost immediately knew something was wrong. Thea was gone and there was signs of a fight, a pile of fire wood all over, like it had been dropped. Worry shot through him.

"Thea?! Thea?!" Oliver called out worriedly.

Which was only heightened when he received no answer. Suddenly, Olive's cell phone by his jacket rang. Oliver frantically grabbed for it and, seeing 'unknown caller' flash across the screen, answered.

"Hello Oliver," the calm voice of Malcolm Merlyn answered.

"What did you do?" Oliver snarled.

"You told me you lost your duel to Ra's because you hesitated despite your will to kill him. If you, Thea, and even myself are to survive this, you need to regain that primal, killer instinct, born of a need to survive," Malcolm told him.

"Where the hell is my sister?!" Oliver snarled.

"Your friend Maseo, he has a brother. Takeo Yamashiro, former Japanese Special Forces. He was the best at what he did, killing. He was a necessary evil until they deemed him unnecessary. He blames you for Akio's death and Maseo joining Ra's. He's taken Thea as revenge, an eye for an eye. If you want to save your baby sister, the only way you can do so is by killing him," Malcolm told him.

"You're sick," Oliver sneered but Malcolm merely chuckled.

"Your cell phone is going to stop working after this call," Malcolm said before Oliver heard the dial tone.

Snarling in rage, Oliver threw his phone into a tree and it shattered. As he stood there, shuttering in rage, Oliver knew he couldn't get Thea out of this alive and stop Takeo if what Malcolm said was true. Not by himself, anyway.

A little later, Slade sat up in bed as the door to his room opened and Oliver walked back in.

"I need your help," Oliver said breathlessly and Slade realized Oliver had run all the way here.

"What's going on?" Slade asked as he got to his feet.

"There is a man on this island named Takeo Yamashiro. He's former Japanese Special Forces with an axe to grind. He has my sister. Are you gonna help me?" Oliver demanded.

"I think I'm stating the obvious when I say I killed your mother. For that alone, you should have killed me," Slade pointed out.

"Maybe what's happening now is the reason I didn't," Oliver said before the door opened and the guard burst in.

'Hey, what's going on here?" the guard demanded.

"I'm taking him. Don't stand in my way," Oliver said as he turned around to face the guard.

"He's not going anywhere," the guard snapped as he jammed the gun in Oliver's face.

Oliver grabbed him and threw the guard to the floor, disarming him in the process. Oliver then struck him across the face with the butt of the gun, knocking him out. He then grabbed the keys from the guard and walked over to Slade's cell. Oliver unlocked the cell and Slade wearily got out. As a peace offering, Oliver offered Slade the gun. Wearily, Slade accepted it.

"You and me kid. Like old times," Slade noted and Oliver nodded grimly.

Takeo does not belong to me. He belongs to Bl4ckhunter, who has given me his permission to use Takeo.