Feb. 24th, 2015

dieastra: Strauss (Strauss)
Title: Back, Chapter 2/2
Author: [livejournal.com profile] dieastra
Beta: Thank you Beth for the quick beta!
Rating: T
Characters: Malcolm Merlyn, Ra's al Ghul
Word Count: 2.274
Notes: Spoilers for episode 3x15 "Nanda Parbat" which airs this week! I saw promotion pictures which inspired me to this story. If you've seen them too you'll know why. I linked the pictures in the text.

Summary: Malcolm is back in Nanda Parbat. Oliver and Diggle try to get him out.

Link to chapter 1/2

Back chapter 2/2


They had given him time to heal which unfortunately gave him way too much time to think.

Could he hope for some sort of rescue? For how long had he been missing now? And who would even miss him? Certainly not Diggle or Felicity who never made a secret of their hatred for him.

Oliver? Doubtful. They hadn’t spoken since Malcolm had pulled that stunt with Slade on the island. Maybe not one of his better moves. He had miscalculated. Again.

Malcolm hadn’t even started to teach Oliver everything he knew about Ra’s al Ghul, so even if the kid was stupid enough to try anyway, he might not survive this time. Malcolm was certain everyone in their right mind would talk Oliver out of it.

And Thea… None of the pain Ra’s al Ghul could inflict on him would hurt as much as the pain in his heart. Malcolm was actually surprised that it hurt quite so much. He had thought his heart had already shattered to pieces when Thea claimed that she wouldn’t be his daughter anymore. It had left him cold and numb inside. It also had pulled the rug out from under his feet. Still, he hadn’t seen her betrayal coming.

But Ra’s had taken great pleasure in gloating how he came to know about his whereabouts – that it had been Thea of all people who had sold him out. Malcolm felt he should actually be proud of her. Even if the result was – inconvenient. He obviously had trained her well. Maybe a little too well, but then, he couldn’t complain. He remembered telling her how proud he was of her when she had shot him back at the station.

So no, no rescue could be expected. If he wanted to make it out of here, he’d have to start thinking.

Once his feet had healed enough he was back for another round as a Thanksgiving turkey. Time soon became a blur. He couldn’t tell whether it was day or night. Time in Nanda Parbat was a funny little thing. When he had returned home to Tommy twenty years ago, he had been surprised to find that only two years had passed in the outside world while in truth he had been gone and in training for much longer.

So he couldn’t know for how long he had been here already, and for how long he really had been gone where the outside world was concerned.

He felt his mind starting to slip, and his body beginning to shut down. It became harder and harder to care about anything. Maybe it was better this way. He had lost everything that once had meant something to him. Rebecca, Tommy, Moira and also Thea. Nothing left to fight for. So why did he still struggle to stay alive? When it would be so much easier to give in, to welcome the darkness? He didn’t know. Maybe his stubbornness wouldn’t let him.

He barely could keep his eyes open.

Suddenly he registered movement. Someone was stealthily sneaking into the room. He blinked smoke-induced tears from his eyes. Maybe he had started to hallucinate. Was that really Oliver standing there? And Diggle? What the hell were they doing here? Were they even real?

Picture: Oliver and Diggle find Malcolm

If they were shocked to see him like this, they didn’t show it and a small part of him was grateful for that. The last thing he needed was their pity. Just somebody to get him out of these chains. Preferably right now?

But before they could make any move, there was another noise at the door and Ra’s and his men came in. Malcolm had forced himself to raise his head a couple of inches, but now he let it drop again. He should have known better than to hope against hope. Now they indeed would all die.

With sudden dread he realized that this was the only reason he was still alive – to lure Oliver over here. He had been the bait. He’d have rather killed himself than help with this perfidious plan.

Read on under the cut: To his surprise, Oliver and Diggle did not put up a fight... )


The End.

Also available at AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3429791

Also available at Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11069887/1/Back


If you want to know what happened after Malcolm returned home, look for the story “Aftermath” by my friend BethAlex on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3433130
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