Original (Roy Harper x OC)

Chapter Three - Is it Real Life?

I waited patiently in Oliver's mansion, pacing back and forth in the living room. Now that I knew Roy was back, safe and sound, I couldn't wait to see him again.

"Rou, why don't you sit down?" Oliver suggests. "We don't know when he's going to wake up"

"Sorry," I mumble, sitting down like he told me to, but now my foot was tapping against the carpet on the floor.

"How about you turn on the tv while you wait?"

I turned on the tv and relaxed a little as I started watching a show. I got so invested in it that I didn't notice as someone walked down the hall, stopping when they made it to the living room.

"Rou?"

I froze at the sound of the familiar voice. It had been months since I heard it, yet as soon as I heard it it felt like I had heard them speak only yesterday. I slowly turned and my eyes widened when I saw Roy, standing there looking perfectly fine.

"Roy," I gasped, not moving my eyes from his.

I rushed forward as fast as I could and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His arms went around my waist, holding me up off the ground as he hugged me back.

"I can't believe... is this real?"

"Does it not feel real?"

"It's just been so long..."

"Well, it's real," he said with a chuckle.

I buried my face in his shoulder as he set me back down on my feet, the two of us still not letting go of each other. When I did finally look up and move away from him I noticed Oliver was no longer there.

"How does it feel being free?" I ask.

"Can we train? I just feel like I should be moving around"

"Yeah, we can do that"

He led the way to the gym and I followed behind, my eyes on the back of his head. I still couldn't believe this was real, he was actually standing in front of me again.

He turned into the gym, going straight to the mats set out. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, standing across from him, getting into a fighting stance.

I was the first to attack. I lunged forward, trying to push him off his feet, but his hands grabbed mine and he spun around, flinging me towards the wall. I caught myself before I collided with it and ran back at him, kicking and punching the air as he dodged each of my hits.

I jumped away from him, pausing to catch my breath, but he took that chance to sweep my legs out from under me.

He pinned me to the ground, winning the fight, but all I could do was stare into his eyes. I hadn't noticed earlier, too overwhelmed with seeing him again, but there was something different about him.

His eyes had changed.

He was no longer the Roy I used to know.

"Rou-"

"Roy, what happened to you?" I ask. "What did they do to you?"

He let his head hang as he sighed and moved off of me. I sat up and he knelt in front of me, staring at the ground as he searched for an answer to my questions.

"Did they hurt you?" I ask.

"No," he responded. "I don't remember much, I was knocked out most of the time. They ran tests on me... that's about it. Why?"

"There's something different about you"

"Good different or bad different?" He asks with a joking tone.

"I can't tell"

He looked up at me with his eyebrows scrunched together, my face serious. But then I smiled and shrugged it off, standing up.

"I should get home, it's getting late"

I left the room, hearing him muttering to himself. "It's only 5"

I laid in my bed later that night, staring up at the ceiling in thought. There were so many mixed emotions I was feeling, all involving Roy.

My window slid opened and when I looked over I saw Speedy sitting on the window sill. He jumped down and came over to me.

"The Clock King was spotted in the city. Suit up"

"You want me to come with you?"

"Yeah"

"What's the truth?"

He sighed. "I'm still a little weak, but I'm not going to pass this up"

"Alright, give me a second to change"

After changing, I followed him across the rooftops towards the Clock King's last sighting. As we ran I asked some questions.

"So, this Clock King, what does he do?"

"Well, he doesn't have any powers. He does have these explosive pocket watches and a very good sense of time"

We stopped atop one roof, looking down at a dark alleyway. Speedy jumped down, landing quietly in the dark, and after a moment I jumped down as well. Speedy had already started fighting the Clock King, and after the Clock King threw an explosive pocket watch at Speedy I started attacking.

I managed to catch him off guard, but then he threw an explosive at me. I jumped away but was still thrown into the brick wall.

I watched Speedy pin the Clock King to the ground, police arriving just in time to cuff and arrest him. He helped me up and we walked back along the roofs, taking our time as he walked me back to my house.

"Earlier, during our fight, you weren't fighting like you normally do," he says.

"I haven't been training as much, I was more focused on finding you so that left me with no time to train"

"So you lost your touch"

"You could say that. I was really worried, Roy. If we hadn't found you, I think it would've been the end of me being a hero. I probably would have given up the mask"

"Why?"

"Why? You're the one who made me want to be a part of the superhero life. Because it's not worth it if I'm not fighting by your side"