The Rise of Athena (An Arrow: Season 1 Fanfiction)

Chapter 4: Приходить домой (Coming Home)

(For people who don't remember, this is where the first episode, 'Pilot' of the first season of Arrow starts off; I'm doing one book per season. 

Two Years Later...

I awoke, hearing a steady beeping beside me. It had been two years. 

Two years since I had left the Bratva with Oliver, continuing to find ways to cross people off of our dad's list that he had left Oliver. 

It had been a total of five years since the Gambit had sunk and I was kidnapped from Starling City. 

We had been rescued by fishermen fishing off of the coast of Lian Yu, also known as 'purgatory' in Mandarin Chinese. Fishermen sent by none other than our good friend Anatoly, who insisted that we return to Starling City as soon as possible, but we had refused countless times, Oliver telling him that our family would not be ready for the different people we would be coming home as. Two vastly different people than the ones that had left, or in my case, been kidnapped from Starling City five years ago. 

I awoke slowly and sat up, feeling the band that identified me as a hospital patient rubbing around my wrist, the needle penetrating my arm. I winced at the piercing feeling. My eyes involuntarily flickered around the room, surveying my surroundings. I saw a doctor standing outside my door, taking notes on a clipboard. Then the door opened, and an Asian doctor stepped in. 

'Where am I?' I asked. He stepped forward, starting to check my vitals, writing more stuff down on the clipboard that he had. 

'I am Dr Lamb,' he said. 'You are in Starling City. Starling General Hospital, to be exact.' 

'I'm - I'm home?'

'Yes.' He gently helped me lay back on the pillows softly and smiled, but it was a sad one. 

'Where's Oliver?' 

'In the room next to you. He is still recovering from the extent of his injuries and so are you. Try not to move too much, we are still examining you.' He kept going on his examinations and soon after, both him and the other doctor left the room. I fiddled with the band on my wrist. It was then that I finally heard the hum of the television as it was flickering to the news report. There was a photo of me, with a much younger Oliver, then one with Oliver and Robert, my Dad. 

'... Oliver Queen and his sister Evelyn Rose Queen are alive. The Starling City residents were found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago, five years after they were both missing, him presumed dead following the accident at sea that claimed the 'Queen's Gambit' and her being mysteriously kidnapped by an unknown party...' Another anchor-woman started to speak. '... The Queen children are the son and daughter of Starling City billionaire Robert Queen, who was also on board but now officially confirmed as deceased.' 

                                                                     -Time skip-

Oliver stared out the window at the city he once knew. He'd gotten the news that his sister was awake, he so badly wanted to see her. Hold her, make sure she was alright. Outside his hospital room, he heard the hum of conversation, but was lost in his thoughts, hardly paying attention to it. All he was thinking about was that he was home. He'd made it. He'd survived Lian Yu, Russia, all of it. But the elation was barely there, covered by a feeling of pain. Pain that he couldn't save the ones he'd lost. He couldn't save his dad. He couldn't even imagine how his sister Evelyn must be feeling. The weight of the past five years on her shoulders and his - how hard it was to bear. 

Outside the hospital room... 

'20% of his body is covered in scar tissue,' Dr Lamb said to the grey-haired woman, watching Oliver staring out the window, his back turned to her. 'Second-degree burns on his back and arms. X-Rays show at least 12 fractures that never properly healed.' 

'What about Evelyn?' the woman asked. 

'Hers are severe, at least internally. She's malnourished, dehydrated, and may or may not have a concussion from being hit so many times on the head. If not sustaining brain damage. She sustained multiple one to two-inch lacerations on her back, neck, shoulders and legs, which are covered in scar tissue. Scans showed internal damage to her reproductive system, as well as additional scar tissue, which -'

'Which what?' the woman asked, looking at him. 

'She may never be able to come back from. We've done enough surgery to ensure that she's well enough to stand and walk, but she may never be able to have children again. Only time will tell. She's only just woken up, so she's not out of the woods yet. Neither is he.' 

'Have they said anything about what happened?' The doctor shook his head. 

'No. She's only just woken up, and he's barely said anything.' She looked back to Oliver as the doctor started to speak again. 'Moira, I'd like you to prepare yourself. The Oliver and Evelyn you lost... might not be the ones they found.' Moira stepped through the door, making Oliver tense at the unfamiliar sound, of the heels clicking on the tile floor. 

'Oliver,' she said softly. He visibly relaxed and turned. 

'Mom,' he said breathlessly. The two walked towards each other. 

'Oh,' she said, tears watering her eyes. 'My beautiful boy.' The two hugged each other. 

                                                                      -Time skip-

I was awake now, after having had a short nap, when I heard the door open. I looked up to see Oliver, the doctor known as Dr Lamb and a short, grey-haired woman stepping through. Oliver came to me and I stretched my arms out for a hug. He wrapped me in a hug tenderly, kissing my forehead. 

'I was worried about you,' he said gently, in a low, deep voice. 

'I'm not dead.' I shifted my eyes as he let go of me and I faced the grey-haired woman. Realisation hit me. I shifted and sat up, Oliver grabbing my upper arm so I didn't fall. I all but collapsed in my mother's arms, tears filling my eyes as my shoulders shook with happy sobs. 

'Mom.' 

'Sweetheart. My baby girl. I missed you too.' Oliver wrapped us both in a hug, and I all but melted into the loving touch. The warmth of Oliver, the loving touch of Mom... 

I was home.