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Author’s Note: So here’s the thing… I have a lot of unfinished stories. And yes, I should be working on those right now. But hear me out, I just finished watching the last episode of Arrow and I can’t get this idea out of my head. So here we are with this new story. I will talk about the episode at the end of this chapter but I wanted to give you a heads up: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! There will be spoilers for the final episode of Arrow as well as the Crisis event. So if you haven’t seen those, go do that first. Also, I am not an Olicity shipper nor am I a fan of Felicity so if you love her or that pairing this may not be the story for you. But for those of you who stuck around here comes the disclaimer and then story!
Disclaimer: Guess what! Arrow doesn’t belong to me. Because if it did there would be changes in the show for sure. Anyway, don’t sue or whatever because I’m broke anyway.
Summary (SPOILERS): Oliver saved the day and recreated the universe, but, unlike in the show, he is a part of it. Some key events throughout his life have changed and not everything will turn out to be how it was before. What changes happened to his story? How did his journey to becoming the Green Arrow differ from the original timeline? Who lives and who dies? Who is the Arrow of Earth-Prime?
********************************ARROW-LINE-BREAK-NUMBER-ONE********************************
Oliver watched as the universe above him exploded into existence. The atoms around him seemed to hum in pleasure as matter consumed antimatter and the first star was born. The air around him felt electrified and power surged through him as time burst into existence. And even though the situation was dire and he knew that he was most likely facing death for the last time, he couldn’t help but smile at the beauty of it. How many people could say they saw the beginning of everything? Another burst of energy surged through the atmosphere as a final burst broke through the chilly air. Who would've ever thought the beginning of time would be so cold?
The light of the explosion reflected in his eye as a single tear made its way down his cheek. They’d won. There was no way for the Antimonitor to succeed now. His family was safe. Mia and William were safe. No matter what happened to him, it was all ok now. He hated that he had to sacrifice everything for the sake of just a chance of survival, but it seemed like the risk paid off. So even though each breath was becoming increasingly more difficult and the world was growing dim and fuzzy, Oliver Queen was a happy man.
“Oliver!”
His view of the big bang was suddenly blocked by two blurry faces sitting over his unmoving form. They seemed sad, which he supposed was a normal reaction when someone close to you was dying. He couldn’t exactly tell who it was that was with him, but he knew that no matter who it was he needed them to make a promise.
“I need you both to watch over my family,” he said breathily his voice barely able to form sentences. Oliver began to cough as his airways continued to constrict and one of the figures grabbed his hand.
“Hey, Ollie they’re gonna be fine. Alright? You’re going to be fine,” said the unmistakable voice of Sara Lance. He wanted to believe her. He desperately wanted for it all to be a weird dream of some kind, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe that. It wasn’t true.
“You did it,” he said instead. Well, he wasn’t sure if it actually made it past his lips so he tried again and again. They’d saved the multiverse, they had to know how much that meant to him.
“What, what did we do?” Sara asked him confused, her head shaking slightly. Oliver smiled to himself as he turned his attention back to the cosmic event above them.
“Just look.”
Both Sara and the other figure turned their eyes skyward as a boom echoed out from above them. They seemed awestruck for a few moments before they shook off their stupor and turned back to him.
“Earlier, we saw but what is it?” Sara asked. Oliver grinned patiently at her slow understanding of what was happening.
“It’s the new universe,” he said simply.
“He’s got a spa for a universe?” the other voice asked confused. Barry. That’s who the other person was. One of his closest friends and the first one to know about William.
“Wait for it Barry,” Oliver managed to say. “It’s almost time… almost time.”
A final crack resounded through the battlefield as the rebirth was completed.
“There. You did it.”
“No, you did it, Ollie,” Sara argued. “You did it ok? And that’s why we need you to come back with us we need you to hang on ok?”
“Sara,” Oliver responded softly wanting her to understand. “This is just what the monitor said would happen.”
“What?” Barry said leaning forward to try and meet Oliver’s gaze.
“It’s an end,” Oliver said calmly, “and a beginning.”
Barry closed his eyes as tears flowed freely down his face. Oliver looked at his friend with a tinge of remorse for putting him through this.
“You remember what I told you?” He asked Barry trying to get him to understand.
“Dying is the easy part,” the Flash responded solemnly.
“I’m at peace,” Oliver added trying to express that it was all ok. “The real heroes…”
“They’re the ones who keep going,” Barry finished for him, his voice full of sorrow.
“So keep going,” Oliver replied as firmly as he could. “And don’t ever stop. This world, this new world… it needs both of you.”
Barry looked down at him sadly and Oliver wanted to continue, but he couldn’t. He didn’t have the energy to. He looked up as he felt his heart clench in his chest, wanting to see his home one last time before his eyes slipped closed and the breath stopped coming from his lips.
********************************ARROW-LINE-BREAK-NUMBER-TWO********************************
“Oliver Queen,” a deep voice boomed out startling the vigilante. Oliver jumped up reaching to grab an arrow from his quiver before he realized that it was no longer strapped on his back. His green garb had been changed out for a blue shirt and pants and his hood was nowhere to be found. “Congratulations, you have succeeded.”
“Where am I?” Oliver demanded looking for the source of the voice.
“Where you are does not matter, but what you do next will change everything.”
“What’s going on?”
“When you restarted reality, you changed everything. Events in the past are no longer what they once were.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Oliver asked confused. “I thought I was dead.”
“You were. But seeing as how the universe and time have been rewritten, the crisis never occurred. I am sending you to take your place in 2020, where there was no anti monitor and you did not die. However, to do this I must replace your old memories with new ones. What you remember about your past from here on out will be your life on Earth Prime.”
“How are you going to do that? And what has changed?”
“Much has changed, Oliver. All for the best, however there are some changes that you may not be happy about. Which is why you will not be able to recall your old reality. That universe is gone.”
Oliver was shocked. This entire thing was insane, but it didn’t seem like he had much of a choice. Slowly he nodded, his head continuing to turn. He still couldn’t see who was speaking to him.
“You never answered my first question,” he pointed out. “How are you going to do this?”
Within moments of asking, his head suddenly was bombarded by pain. He dropped to his knees screaming as his memories were torn apart and put back together before he lost consciousness and his new memories planted root in his mind.
“Have a good life, Oliver Queen.”
Author’s Note: I really did love the finale for the series and I cried so hard when it was over, and a bit during… and before. The point is it was incredibly emotional for me to say goodbye to a character I love and admire so much. No matter what, this show will always be with me and it will always be one of my favorite shows of all time. Getting to see a lot of dead characters come back for this episode was amazing, although there were a few things I would change. Which is why I am writing this. It will be based on some of the stuff we saw in the finale (i.e. Oliver saving Moira) but other stuff, which you will find out about later, is from my imagination. Let me know what you thought of this chapter and I’ll talk to you guys next time!