I found Marcus the next morning eating his breakfast to the news, his state happy and calm. I knew I had to confront him about how he had tried to condition me into hating Oliver, but part of me wanted to let him carry on being carefree.
But I had to do this.
'Oh Ari, how's your arm?' He asked me with a smile.
'It's okay,' I said quietly.
'Do you want to come and join me?' Marcus asked me lovingly, tapping the seat next to him. 'I'm watching a report on that Peter Declan case.'
Peter Declan was a man convicted of murdering his wife in 2008, and I clearly remembered the day the SCPD had arrested him. Lance had given me a knife covered in blood to analyse, and sure enough, Declan's fingerprints were covered all over it.
'Are you okay?' Marcus sensed my worry. 'You look upset.'
'I'm... Fine,' I shook my head. 'I just... I need to discuss something with you. It's important.'
Oh God, I felt terrible about what I was going to do.
'Why do you want me to be so... Angry at Oliver all the time?' I suddenly lost it.
I couldn't keep my feelings hidden any longer. It was like someone had popped the cork off my bottle of emotions.
I couldn't keep quiet anymore.
'For your own safety,' Marcus said unconvincingly. 'If you have a better opinion of him, you'll become friends with him again.'
'Why is that so bad?' I spouted angrily. 'You never even knew the guy until he returned to this city!'
Instead of saying anything spiteful back, Marcus just scarily laughed, as though I had said something stupidly funny. And it was frightening.
'Oh no, I knew Oliver before I even met you,' Marcus said with a slight chuckle. 'And I know things about you, Aria.'
'What... Things?' I asked, starting to get worried.
'I know you were on the Queen's Gambit, Aria,' Marcus said seriously. 'I know you survived on that island, with Oliver.'
'How?...' I asked in bewilderment.
I hadn't told anybody such information, Oliver only knowing I was there because he was too.
'What else do you... Know?' I gulped quietly.
'I know you were a vigilante a few years ago,' Marcus grinned sinisterly. 'And I know how I could tear your life apart if I said one word to the SCPD. But I haven't, so far. Because I love you.'
'Who are you working for?' I cried out. 'Is it Merlyn?'
'No,' Marcus shook his head. 'Somebody much more important. You'll get to meet him, soon. Or have you already met him?'
'Get away from me,' I said quietly, but then decided I would shout it at the top of my lungs. 'Get away from me!'
'I'm not leaving,' Marcus denied stubbornly.
'Get out!' I shouted again.
But once again, Marcus denied my wishes.
'You asked my why I didn't want you to befriend Oliver again,' Marcus narrowed his eyes. 'So that's what I did!'
'Well I had no idea you were going to say... That!' I exclaimed back. 'And for the third time, get out of this apartment.'
'No,' Marcus towered over me domineeringly.
'Then goodbye, Marcus,' I said quickly, picking up my essentials and heating out of the apartment.
I was done with Marcus, and I didn't care if he got hurt without me there. I had no love for that man anymore.
Storming out of the room in pure hatred, I bumped into Laurel.
'Laurel,' I said slowly, trying to control myself, but I soon felt tears trickle down my cheeks.
'Oh my god, Aria, are you okay?' Laurel asked in an extremely worried tone, hugging me at once.
'I wish I was,' I cried.
'What happened?' Laurel asked me, still rather concerned.
'Me and Marcus,' I explained as easily as I could. 'It's over.'
'Is he the boyfriend that stopped you being friends with me?' Laurel realised, suddenly filled with rage towards him.
I nodded quickly, trying to calm myself down, remembering how Marcus demanded I distance myself from Laurel because she was associated with Oliver.
'I think you're better off without him, Aria,' Laurel talked some sense into me. 'He's such a control freak, and I know you didn't see that at the time, but you do now.'
'I heard that you're an attorney now,' I tried to make conversation. 'Your dad never stops talking about how great you are.'
'Same here,' Laurel smiled. 'My father always talks about your work at the SCPD.'
Observing my luggage and upset state, Laurel joined up the dots about what had happened.
'Did he kick you out?' Laurel asked, angry again. 'Of your own apartment?'
'Not exactly,' I shook my head. 'I left, actually. I realised what an idiot he was.'
'I'm glad you came to your senses,' Laurel joked, causing me to smile. 'You can stay at mine for a while if you want, once you get back on your feet.'
'Really?' I was taken back in surprise. 'I wasn't at all that nice to you, so why are you being nice to me?'
'It wasn't you who was being the mean one, Aria,' Laurel said matter-of-factly. 'It was that jerk who was the problem.'
'Thank you, so so much,' I cried with joy. 'You're such a great friend, I have no idea why I let Marcus take you away from me.'
'Me neither,' Laurel laughed as we headed to her apartment.
With a free day left to my own devices, I made my way down to SC Jitters for a much needed cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Laurel was at her law firm, the City Necessary Resources Initiative, or CNRI for short, and I had no shifts for the day. It made me realise how dull my life had been, committing my time solely to work and Marcus. Now I only had work.
But I never got to the coffee shop. The Reverse Flash enjoyed interrupting my journeys.
'It seems I didn't make myself clear,' The Reverse Flash growled. 'I told you to stay away from Oliver.'
'I realised that I made a terrible mistake not being friends with him,' I stood up to him. 'And you can't to do anything to me that'll change my mind.'
'Not even Marcus could stop you,' The Reverse Flash said with disapproval. 'I guess he's no use to me now.'
'You're the one who Marcus works for?' I exclaimed with astonishment.
'He never loved you, Aria,' The Reverse Flash said as though he was laughing underneath all that camaraderie. 'He was just doing what I told him. To keep you away from Oliver Queen. But it looks like you don't care about him anymore.'
'You... Know I left him?' I asked, surprised yet again.
'I know everything, Miss Coleman,' he jeered menacingly. 'I know that you don't love Marcus anymore.'
'Well apparently we didn't have anything in the first place!' I said angrily. 'That's what you said, anyway.'
'Be warned, or I may have to kill you myself,' The Reverse Flash threatened.
But I didn't care what he had to say. I was going fix things with Oliver, Tommy, Laurel and the Queen family before it was too late.
---
Walking back through the city square, I found another old friend. Tommy.
'... Hey,' Tommy greeted me awkwardly. 'What brings you here?'
'I... Went on a walk,' I said quickly, trying to cover up my brief meeting with The Reverse Flash. 'I forgot you took your Sunday walks here.'
'I thought you'd do anything in your power to stay away from me,' Tommy joked, but soon realised something had happened. 'You don't seem... Yourself. Where's Marcus? You're always with him.'
'He's not important here,' I denied anything that had happened between us. 'I just found out that someone I knew wasn't who I thought they were. And that they didn't love me.'
'It is Marcus,' Tommy carried on like he was a sleuth or something. 'What did he do to you?'
'I left him, okay,' I said with a sigh. 'He was too controlling. I realised that he kept me away from you. And Oliver. And Laurel.'
'Finally!' Tommy said with happiness, making me laugh. 'Now you can actually go out with us on a Friday night. You don't have to worry about him anymore.'
'Maybe I don't want to go clubbing with you and your Playboy pals,' I said sarcastically.
'I mean me, you, Oliver and Laurel,' Tommy explained. 'It'll be like a non-romantic double date.'
'Well, not for me and Oliver,' I agreed. 'But you and Laurel - Tommy, I know you're both together. Her father likes to frequently rant at me about how he disagrees with the relationship.'
'But, we're not officially... A couple yet,' Tommy said, lowering his voice in panic. 'What does he know?'
'Do you think you can hide something like this from him for four, even five years?' I supposed, trying not to laugh at Tommy's naïvety.
'No,' Tommy agreed with me. 'But I thought Mr Lance would want to try to believe we weren't a thing.'
'He's a detective, Tommy,' I reminded him. 'He can read between the lines way too easily.'
'Do you wanna grab a coffee?' Tommy invited me to join him.
'I was just about to go to SC Jitters actually,' I remembered what I was doing before The Reverse Flash showed up. 'I'd love to.'
We talked for hours, catching up on each other's lives. I really had missed these meet ups, and I was glad I had resolved them.
'Do you know where Oliver keeps disappearing off to?' Tommy asked me in a hushed voice. 'He's been acting... Weird lately.'
'He just returned to civilisation after 5 years,' I told Tommy. 'Of course he's going to be acting weird.'
'Do you think it changed him?' Tommy asked me with prolonged concern. 'Being on that island, it must have been awful. He won't talk about it, Oliver.'
'I'm sure it must've been hard,' I said, trying to be as vague as possible to cover up my past on the island. 'Being lonely for that long. Away from your friends, your loved ones. Oliver will have changed; his survival instincts will have kicked in and he would have had to adapt to his surroundings. But now, he's adapting back to what this city is like, and I'm sure he'll get used to it all soon enough.'
---
Returning to Laurel's apartment, I unpacked the groceries I had bought her and sat down on the couch, happy at last. I had not only one, but two more people in my life who I desperately wanted to see all these years, and now Marcus was out of the picture, I was free to do anything I liked and converse with anyone I wanted. He really had been too controlling, and it had taken me four years to realise that.
After a few hours of solitude, I heard a strange noise from outside the window. Peering out through the glass, I caught sight of a shadow of a man lurking at the side of the building. The noises became louder, and so I hid in the nearest cupboard, defenceless.
After five minutes of peering through the gap between the door and the frame without a show, I heard the door of the apartment unlock. Laurel was back. It was silent, she obviously realising something was wrong too.
And then he came into view. The Hood was there, standing in Laurel's apartment.
But why?
'Hello Laurel,' The Hood said in a rather robotic voice.
'Don't move,' she yelled firmly, pointing her emergency gun at The Hood steadily.
'I'm not gonna hurt you,' The Hood said, showing her that his bow was unloaded.
'Stay back,' Laurel demanded. 'My father's a cop. You're making a huge mistake.'
'I'm not the person you think I am,' The Hood explained. 'And I need your help. Peter Declan is gonna be executed in 48 hours. I think he's innocent. Declan's wife was gonna blow the whistle on Jason Brodeur. Brodeur had her murdered.'
'There are a thousand lawyers in Starling City,' Laurel argued. 'Why me?'
The Hood pushed Laurel's gun down, now inches away from her. She lowered it, giving in to The Hood and his charm.
'We're both trying to help,' The Hood further explained his ways.
'What makes you so sure I'm going to help you?' Laurel questioned him.
'Because I know you'd do anything to save the life of an innocent man,' The Hood answered her, before disappearing.
But was Laurel actually going to take up The Hood's request and believe that Declan could be innocent? I was just going to have to wait and see.