Broken Birds

Chapter Seventeen - Goodbyes Are Too Painful

Nyssa's POV:

I rushed towards Oliver Queen with my fists raised. I swung my fist towards his face, but he quickly ducked, pushing me back. I picked up two short swords off the shelves as he did the same. He ran towards me swinging the swords wildly. I blocked every single attack with ease. I laughed as I said "Oliver, you could work on your swordsmanship". He angrily swung the swords until I knocked one from his grasp.

I then sliced through his shirt with the second sword. He stepped back, clutching at his wound. I twisted the sword in my hand and hit the hilt against his head, knocking him out. He unconsciously slumped to the floor as I swiftly turned my sword on Sara.

"Nyssa", she exhaled as she raised her hands above her head in surrender. "How could you", I asked, too angry to find any more words. I lifted the sword to the neck of my beloved, the sharp edge resting against her windpipe. Her hands slowly reached behind her back until she pulled out the two parts to her bo-staff. She swung them towards me in an effort to defend herself.

I defended each blow and said "my beloved, you have been training?" She grunted as she continued to fight me, until I had hit her bo-staff from her grasp. "Too bad I know your every move, I trained you myself," I said with a laugh. She looked up at me in fear as I stepped closer to her, my swords raised.

She gasped as I closed the distance between us, pressing my lips to hers and dropping the swords to the floor. "Nyssa", she exhaled as I gently bit her bottom lip. "My beloved", I whispered as I pressed another kiss to her lips.

She then pulled back and looked at me in confusion. "What? You didn't miss me?" I asked as I crossed my arms. She shook her head and looked at the floor "n-no I just didn't know what to expect". I sighed and gently grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the changing room and into the main headquarters, away from the unconscious Oliver Queen.

"Sara, you must return to Nanda Parbat", I said in an authoritative tone as I sharpened my dagger against the edge of the stone table. Her eyes widened as she said "I can't, I've already seen Oliver and my father. Goodbyes are too painful". Anger flashed in my eyes as I replied "is that why I didn't get one?"

Sara stepped towards me again, "Nyssa, I couldn't, I loved you too much". My eyes began to water as I questioned "loved?" Sara shook her head and gently held my hands, pulling me closer to her. "I didn't mean that, I just... I needed to come back home and protect my family, I knew that meant losing you", she whispered as she ran her thumb along my knuckles.

I stepped back and angrily said "return to Nanda Parbat or you have put your family in danger". Her eyes widened as she shakily breathed "Nyssa, don't". I stormed out of the room and left towards the league's Starling City Headquarters.

As I entered an assassin approached me with a burner phone. As I put it against my ear, my father's angry voice erupted from the speaker. "Nyssa, you must return Ta-er al-Sahfer to Nanda Parbat". I replied "she will not return, she loves her family too much". I heard his wicked laugh as he growled "then take them from her".

I gasped, "I cannot she is my beloved, I will not hurt her like that". He growled once more, "do it or I will make both of your lives hell, I won't just stop at killing her family, I will kill everyone she ever makes contact with". I quickly hung up the phone and crushed it under my heel. I did not take my father's threats lightly.

I spoke to two of my assassins, "bring me Dinah Lance, alive". They both nodded and I awaited their arrival.

Sara's POV:

After Nyssa left I entered the room to find Oliver dizzily standing up. "I'm sorry I didn't come in, I thought it was best for you two to sort this out. She wouldn't listen to me but she would listen to you", he said as he held the side of his ribs that came into contact with the blade of Nyssa's sword.

"She didn't listen to me", I said quietly as I picked up the fallen weapons and placed them back on the shelving. "She will", Oliver said as he gently squeezed my hand.

We walked back into the main room as Felicity and Diggle marched in. "We got a call from Detective Lance", she said as she sat down in front of the large computer screen. "There's been an abduction", she carefully eyed me this time as she quietly said "Dinah Lance".

My gaze snapped to Felicity as she gave me a sympathetic look. I shook my head and grabbed my bo-staff and marched out of the room. Oliver tried to follow me but Felicity and Diggle held him back till I was gone.

I picked up my burner phone and called her. "Nyssa, give her back", I sternly said. I heard her laugh on the end of the phone, "do not worry my beloved, we are taking good care of her". "Where are you?" I asked as I headed towards the league headquarters in an abandoned mall near the coast. "You know where I am, I taught you well. Be there and be ready to leave to Nanda Parbat. I do not want to kill the woman who brought my beloved into the world".

I hung up the phone and ran towards the mall. When I got there, four assassins jumped from the ceiling until they stood in front of me. I turned my head and yelled into the mall "I thought love was based on trust".

The assassins grabbed my arms and pushed me forward until we were in a large room with my mother tied to a chair, facing the other way. Nyssa was pacing around the room, fidgeting with her dagger as she always did when she was nervous.

Her gaze landed on me as she rushed forward, "Sara I did not think that you would come". I saw the happiness and joy in her eyes as I had arrived. As she held me in her embrace, I slowly collapsed to the ground. All I could hear was Nyssa and my mother calling my name as everything went black