The Deadliest Hunt (Arrowverse A/U)

Chapter Three- Fadeout

Together Dinah, Rene, Thea, Roy, and I walked into the main room of the Arrowcave to see Diggle leaning against the railing.

Felicity wasn't there but she had the mark, she knew what the idea behind it was and Barry of course was still saving Central City.

The ones chosen to carry on Oliver's legacy aside from a select few were standing in front Diggle now.

"Dig, What's going on?" Rene asked.

"This is the end of the line." Dig said. "You were right, the missions over. Just took me awhile to accept it. I think accepting that meant accepting Oliver is really gone."

He paused before continuing. "You know Sara said that before Oliver died that he became something else. I like to think that somehow, someway, he's still here."

"I'd drink to that." Rene said causing the rest of us to laugh.

"As long as it's no more of that god awful vodka." Dinah said laughing.

"Ok. Cool, you're moving on. So what's next for you?" Rene asked him.

Diggle put his hands in his pocket. "Lyla, accepted a promotion in metropolis, so we're all going to move there after the funeral."

"So am I." Dinah said. "I'm not going to take the promotion. There's not point being police in a safe city, and there are lots of cities that need saving."

"Damn, and here I am getting elected in a few months, and you guys decide to move away. Kind of hard not to take that personally."

"Don't worry, Rene. You are gonna be a great mayor." Diggle said putting a hand on his shoulder. "Because you're a great man.

Rene rolled his eyes and looked at me. "I learned from the best. How about you Spider boy, you bailed on working for Dinah. What's next for you?"

I rolled my eyes before I spoke. "To be fair I did go into a coma." I pleaded my case to Dinah. "But there's someone out there coming after me, I'm going to go after whoever it is first."

"Roy?" Diggle asked him.

"I have something's to sort out with my family, then I'm going to take Dinahs lead and follow up on saving some cities. I got the feeling this won't be the last we'll be seeing each other." He said smiling.

"If anyone ever needs anything. You just have to call." Dig said to us as we all agreed.

Diggle nodded his head as Thea and I headed to the elevator.

"Who's got the lights?" He asked.

"I will." Dinah said.

And as we waited for the rest to board we watched as the lights of the arrowcave turned off one last time.

***
"Thank you for coming." Quentin Lance started. "For a long time. I hated Oliver Queen. I blamed him for the death of my youngest daughter, I blamed him for the violence in my city. I interrogated him. I hunted him. Persecuted him. I've never been more wrong in my life. Oliver Queen wasn't just a hero. He was a good man. He was an honorable person. The fact that he didn't start out that way makes him, in my book, even more honorable. He stands as a reminder to all of us that anyone can change. So will this." Lance said gesturing to the cloak beside him.

It was pulled off to reveal a marvelous statue honoring the late Oliver Queen, The Green Arrow.

***
The rest of the funeral was held at the Queen Manor for close friends and family days after the reveal of the statue.

Lukas avoided the confused crowd but eavesdropped on every conversation due to his keen sense of hearing.

"I don't understand." Thea said to her mother. "If Ollie could fix everything then why couldn't he fix this?"

"I think Oliver could only change the things that didn't change him, and if not for your father and what he did for Oliver, your brother would have never become the man he was." Moira said to her.

Thea looked up. "I still can't believe Ollie's really gone."

Emiko Queen came up to the pair and introduced herself and was welcomed into their family with open arms.

Tommy and Laurel met each other once again after his Laurel had died and so had he I guess.

The Al Ghul sisters even made an appearance both Thalia and Nyssa who had a complicated argument about Nyssa and Oliver's marriage.

Felicity and her daughter Mia had a very heartfelt and emotional introduction with each other. Lukas walked towards them but was interrupted by another figure approaching at the same time.

"Felicity." The man said to her as Lukas stood next to Mia.

Barry Allen walked forward hugging the widow. "I'm so sorry." He said to her. "He was a good man. I was there at the end, and every day I'm tortured with the thought that I could've done more, should have done more."

"No, you did everything that you could, Barry." Felicity said to him.

"How could you know that?" He asked.

"Because I know you." Felicity replied.

Barry hugged Mia and then made contact with me.

"Lukas." He sighed.

"Barry." I said to him before we embraced each other in a hug. "So much loss this year."

I felt him nod. "I miss them. I miss them both." He stepped back and nodded at me. "I hope to see you again."

I nodded to him. "You will."

***
"There is no body down there, no?" Antoli asked.

"We buried a casket full of mementos." Tommy said.

"Does anyone want to say a few words?" Sara asked.

Felicity rubbed her nose as I stood between Barry and Thea. "I'm barely keeping it together the way it is."

"I think Oliver would've been worried that I'd say something Tactless anyway, so." Tommy said trying to lighten the mood.

Diggle smiled.

"I don't know what to say." Barry said

"Yeah." Kara Danvers, Supergirl, said. "Words seem. Meaningless."

Felicity touched Diggles arm. "It should be you."

Diggle held Lyla's and Felicity's hand before speaking.

"The Oliver that I met eight years ago. Is not the one that we say good-bye to today. Oliver always told me in order to save this city. He had to become someone else, he had to become something else. I always thought that meant becoming the Green Arrow, but today I realized that meant becoming a better man, the best man he knew how to be, and he took all of us on that journey. He changed everything. Oliver brought heroes into the world, he inspired heroes. He inspired all of us here. I was his brother, and Oliver Queen was mine." John looked down and wiped a tear.

It was solemn, depressing, melancholy...

It almost felt like I was losing Nora all over again, my throat scratched my eyes watered and my gut twisted into a knot.

Thea squeezed my hand and we locked eyes in sadness.

This was the hero life.

"Of course, life will go on. It always does, but how. What twists and turns it will take. I can't say. I don't know what the future holds. Except to say expect the unexpected. Oliver may be gone. But his mission endures. Oliver lives on in the people he inspired. Some will take that mission to the rest of the world, maybe even beyond that. Because if the past eight years have shown us anything, it's that this universe is far bigger than any of us could have dared imagine. Even if it is a little less bright without him in it."

With one final send off all of what Team Arrow had become over a span of eight years was left only with a headstone that read.

"Oliver Queen
1985-2019
Beloved son, brother,
Husband, and father
Hero of Star City
The Green Arrow"