Second Chances: Arrow

Chapter 2

Merry Christmas to all and happy holidays to everyone else. Here's a present from me to you, the next chapter of Arrow. I wasn't sure I'd get it finished before the end of today, but I managed it. Now, here it is.

When Oliver woke up in the new reality, he found himself back on the fishing boat Anatoly had hired to bring him back from Lian Yu as part of his plan to keep people from being suspicious about where he's been for the past five years.

Since he knew that he had a while until they got back to land, Oliver decided to use the time to go through the memories Novu had given him of his counterpart from this world so that he could properly adapt to this new world without drawing attention to himself and he was also curious about just how different his life was in this reality and it was very different.

The first big difference was that growing up, Thea wasn't only his only sibling. In this reality, Emiko had grown up in the Queen Mansion with him and Thea, though she'd been introduced as their adopted sister, not their half sister, likely because their father did not want them to know that Emiko was the result of an affair he'd been having, though he knew that now.

Anyways, aside from the fact that he grew up with two sisters instead of one, his childhood was pretty much the same as it had been before, though he couldn't help but notice that he'd grown up being a bit more responsible in this reality, probably because now he had a younger sister who was a bit closer in age to him than Thea was, so she was able to keep him in check. Especially since in this reality, she'd been close friends with Laurel, something that had honestly surprised him, but anyways, that had led to Emiko actually keeping him in check so that he would not mess things with Laurel, meaning that he never cheated on her. Something that in his opinion was a major improvement over the old reality and it proved that keeping Emiko away in the old reality was a huge mistake, since it was clear that her growing up in the Queen Household just had a positive impact on everyone.

Anyways, in addition to Thea and Emiko, Oliver had grown up with Tommy Merlyn and Laurel Lance being two of his oldest friends and he and Laurel had actually started going out while they were still in high school in this reality and that had honestly led to them developing a much more stable relationship. Well that, and Emiko being there to keep Oliver on the right track.

After they graduated from high school, while Laurel was still dead set on becoming a lawyer, Oliver was still looking for some direction, since despite his parents wanting him to join the family business, Oliver knew that was not what he wanted to do with his life, so to escape it, he chose to enlist in the army, which had been a good decision for multiple reasons, since for one thing, it had helped him realize a lot sooner that what he wanted to do with his life was protect people. For another, and this one was probably more significant, it meant that he got to meet John Diggle a lot earlier on. In fact, in this reality, John was Oliver's commanding officer in the army, something he knew Dig would get a laugh out of, since for once in his life, he was the one who gave Oliver orders, though that would never happen again, since Oliver would always be the one who was in command of the team once they got it started up again. Anyways, after Oliver returned home from Afghanistan, he found that his parents still hadn't given up on the insane idea of him running the company, so his father had taken him on the Queen's Gambit in an effort to butter him up enough to consider running the company, of course that was the official reason for the trip, Oliver knew now that the real reason for it was to try and stop Malcolm from his Undertaking.

Anyways, from what Oliver now remembered, he could tell that the Gambit still went down, though without Sara on it, thankfully, he did not need that kind of trouble with Laurel and her family because of that. Anyways, aside from that, the Gambit going down still happened exactly like it did before, and he'd once again had to watch his father shoot himself in the head after shooting Dave Hackett in order to ensure that Oliver survived.

After that, his first two years on Lian Yu remained the same, since Sara had still wound up on the Amazo and had still linked up with him, Shado and Slade and that all went down the same it did before.

It wasn't until his third year away that things began to change again, since in this reality, while Oliver had still gone home to Star City under duress from Argus, this time, he'd been discovered while he was in Star City by none other than Laurel, who to his surprise was already operating as the Black Canary in Star City at that time. He didn't know how or why she'd become a vigilante so early, but she was clearly well trained, since from what Oliver could remember, she could actually match him blow for blow, something that she definitely couldn't do in the old reality. When she'd realized it was him she was fighting, Laurel had tried to convince him to stay in Star City, but Oliver told her he couldn't, not because he didn't want to, but because he was being forced to work for Argus and Laurel had to pretend she never saw him for her own safety. He made her promise to keep this a secret, which she did, as long as he promised her that he'd come home when he was ready. A promise he was finally keeping, he just hoped that the Laurel he came home too wanted him to come for the same reasons the Laurel he left did.

Anyways, after that, everything else had happened the same, including Akio dying with the Alpha/Omega Virus, Shadowspire and the Bratva and now Oliver was finally heading home. He just hoped that he would be able to prevent history from repeating itself and that he'd be able to correct as many of his mistakes as he could. And not just the ones he made as the Green Arrow, but also the ones he made as Oliver Queen.