Arrow: Reckoning Part 2

Long is the Night Part-1

The following evenings consisted of more surveillance with no leads on Slade, every option from Satellites to informants led to the same empty conclusion. Oliver slowly allowed his fear to consume him and begin to cloud his judgement, easing him toward a breaking point. The team was already fractured from Slade's previous attacks and this led to less eyes searching. Exhaustion and fatigue plagued Oliver, he had been out every night prowling for his nemesis in an attempt to put an end to the entire campaign of misery. The countless hours of searching the shadows and the noises heard from unseen sources pulled him back to his final days on Lian Yu, to his final test during his five year trials.

The days following the incident with the pirates had passed with a troubling sense of time and confusion. The days and nights blurred together and Oliver seemed to lose track of time itself, at first he thought a few days had gone by since his murderous rampage for survival but it also seemed as if that had happened months ago. The burning sensation remained in his chest, igniting every breath from his lungs with rage and primal instincts. Sleeping was all but impossible, every time Oliver attempted to rest he would find himself haunted by the images of him killing all those men. Even though the men's faces still plagued him during the day he could atleast try and focus on other things to take his mind off the incident. One ghost remained however, and no matter the hour he continued to haunt Oliver. Slade constantly followed Oliver every step he took around the island, judging his every move and taunting his mistakes. Oliver searched for an answer as to why he could not shake Slade's spirit away, wondering if this was the cost of releasing his inner beast to survive. Slade had taught him much of his tactics after all and the man had been one of his most important lessons during his time away. Perhaps his conscious thought of his primal instincts and rage as a direct response to Slade and how he had ended things with him. Oliver had the chance to cure his friend and try to save him or kill his enemy and end his threats with him. The choice he made still haunted him to this day, especially since it was one of the first times Oliver had felt that fire burning inside him that took control and plunged the arrow into Slade's eye. Punishment was the only explanation Oliver could come up with as to why Slade still haunted him day and night.
The collection of firewood grew larger as Oliver dropped a few more branches on to it. His robotic gaze fixated on his task while Slade's ghost stood leaning next to a nearby tree.

"I never understood the difficulty of making a fire. To me it was never that challenging, even from a young age. The process was very basic, all the different ways of making a fire and they all have that one simple goal. It must have been the end of the process that aided in my fast apprehension of it all, things are simpler when the goal is direct and focused." Slade explained as Oliver continued to collect more wood, keeping his silence as his only way to combat the ghost.

"Atleast that is how I was going to teach my son...but that hope was lost the minute I met you." Slade added, a hint of disgust in his voice. Oliver did his best to shrug off the comment, but thinking back on all the parents he might have killed during his five years of hell. Slade smirked as he saw that his verbal jab at Oliver had succeeded.

"Ofcourse I was lying, my son was fifteen when I left, but I doubt all your other victims were so lucky." Slade added, grinning as he waited for Oliver's reaction. The clenched fists and locked jaw were all the indication Slade needed to know he had hit his mark and further added to the mental demise of Oliver. A rustle of leaves caught Oliver's attention as he snapped toward the noise but saw nothing. His senses refused to calm themselves as he peered out into the forest and searched for the cause of the noise.

"Probably a rabbit." Slade muttered as he dusted off his sleeve. Oliver kept his gaze on the wilderness, unable to look away from whatever had drawn him toward it. An uneasy feeling washed over him, keeping him from looking away. A twig snapping from his side pulled his gaze as he turned toward it and found nothing again. Slade looked toward the noise and slowly moved behind Oliver, looking out in the forest as well. Another noise behind them caused both men to jolt around where they saw a bush sway in the distance.