Sapphire (Book One, Arrow)

chapter 1 ⚔ Pilot

It had been six years. 

Six years since I had been trapped on an island.

Having to run and to hunt and to train, hair impossibly long and tangled, filthy and tired and ragged...

I was completely different than I had been.

But that was not all that had happened to me in the last six years.

I could tell you everything that had happened now, but what would be the fun in that?

I met a few people on the island, one of them being Oliver Queen.

And everything was going to change when we finally got to go home.

The name of the island they found us on was Lian Yu. It was Mandarin for 'Purgatory'.

Being stranded there for so long, I'd dreamt of rescue every cold black night since. 

All that time, I had only one thought. One goal.

Survive. 

Survive and one day return home.

The island held many dangers.

To live, we had to make ourselves more than what we were, to forge ourselves into weapons.

We were returning, not the people that were stranded, but the people who would bring justice to those who had poisoned Starling City.

My name was Jillian "Jill" Wright.

And I had nowhere else to go besides Starling City.

  ⚔

Oliver was kind enough to lead me to Starling City.

We were both in the hospital to be checked up on.

I was alone in my hospital room, watching the news.

The news was talking about it everywhere. "Oliver Queen is alive, discovered after five years he was believed to be dead. The Starling City resident was found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago, along with a woman by the name of Jill Wright, six years she was missing and presumed dead. Queen was a regular tabloid presence and a fixture at the Starling City club scene. Shortly before his disappearance, he was acquitted of assault charges stemming from a highly publicized drunken altercation with paparazzi. Queen is the son of Starling City billionaire Robert Queen, who was also on board 'The Queen's Gambit', but now officially confirmed as deceased. Wright was previously residing in Mexico with her family before they were killed in a violent criminal attack. Jill and her sister Amy were the only survivors, rumored to be on an oceanic trip to clear their minds after the death of their family. Their boat was not minor and restricted, but had dozens of people on the boat. Some survived and made it to the island, along with Jill. Amy, however, was lost, along with many others. 20% of Queen and Wright's bodies are covered in scar tissue. Second-degree burns on their backs and arms. X-rays show at least 12 fractures that never properly healed."

I finally had enough, turning off the TV, gazing off into nothing, feeling as if I wasn't really here. As if it was all just a dream.

Oliver slowly walked in. "Jill?"

I looked up. "Hey."

"I talked to my mother, Moira," Oliver told me. "She said that you can stay with us until you get on your feet. That is, if you want to stay here in Starling."