falcon [sara lance]

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The raven-haired girl had never been alone in her life.

Born Camilla Merlyn, she entered the world minutes after her twin brother, Thomas Merlyn.

Therefore, when she came out of her mother's womb it was with her brother at her side. When she took her first steps, it was with her mother at her side. When she held her first weapon, it was with her father at her side.

And then, her mother was brutally murdered. Only eight years old, she was left with one less member of her already small family. Her twin and father mourned deeply with her, knowing that this would alter their family forever.

With her mother's death came money - a lot of it. Thrusting her and her brother, Tommy, into a new lifestyle their father was able to somehow maintain, they made a trusted friend and ally in fellow trustafarian Oliver Queen. Through this friendship, the twins were introduced to friends they would keep for life: Laurel Lance, Thea Queen and Sara Lance.

As the twins grew up, the raven girl had began to edge away from the lifestyle that her friends lived in. It was all becoming less important to her; there were more important things in the world than partying.

This realisation was mainly aided by discovering her father's involvement with a top secret league of assassins situated in a remote location in the middle of nowhere. Upon accidentally discovering Malcolm Merlyn's outfit and weapons hidden in his office, the youngest Merlyn found herself wanting more.

As Tommy and their friends started to crave more adrenaline in the form of booze and drugs and parties, she found herself craving it in the way her father showed her how to work her way around a gun.

And then, at the slightly older age of 22, she found herself losing more family. Oliver and Sara - who was having an affair with the Queen billionaire behind her sister's back - were announced missing, presumed dead. Their boat had capsized, along with William Queen and the rest of the Queen's Gambit crew.

Callie Merlyn (Callie hated being referred to as Camilla, not even her dad called her that) had never felt as distanced from her brother in her life. He turned away from his family, leaning fully on Laurel for support - and although neither would realise until later - causing his relationship with Callie to be hindered.

While Tommy and Laurel got closer and closer, so did Malcolm and Callie. She had always loved her father more than her mother - as horrible a thought it was. It had never been a secret that her mother favoured her brother during her short years with them; especially not to Callie who had noticed it before she even understood it.

So even though she was losing friends, she still wasn't alone. Malcolm understood the girl's need to feel more important in her life and knew the one thing she would excel at.

At the age of 23, a year after Oliver and Sara's death, she was shipped away to Nanda Parbat to continue her training that Malcolm could not provide. Having believed her to have gotten a job helping rebuild tribal homes in the Amazon, Tommy had been informed that there would be no possible contact between the twins for an uncertain period of time. That was when she met an assassin who went by the name that translated to 'Yellow Bird'. She however, had known the girl by a different name: Sara Lance. The girl had been taken in by Nyssa al Ghul, the closet thing to a friend that Callie had in Nanda Parbat. After three years with the league, Callie would return home.

She arrived back in Starling City with new skills, a new understanding of the world and a new name. The league had welcomed her with open arms, and eventually allowing her to leave the league once she had proved herself worthy. Having had the previous experience with Malcolm, her training had accelerated quickly on the island: having finished her training.

Callie had never seen pride on her father's face that meant as much to her as it did when she uttered her league name that had been chosen for her - along with her reputation that had developed during her short time with the league. She had learnt his was translated to 'The Magician' so while hers was much different she understood it. When she had been given the translation of 'Black dove' for her name, it made sense to her. A magician needed his doves.

After the sudden reappearance of Oliver Queen, Callie headed back to Nanda Parbat to get away from the deaths that seemed to follow the Queen boy. She spent almost a year there, before returning to Starling city after hearing about the impending doom of the town caused by her father's machine. Before she left, Ra's al Ghul also granted her leave from the league as she had served her purpose to the man.

She arrived to find her father dead, and got to her brother in time to hold him for his last breaths. This incident, rendered her with two facts: The Hood had killed her father, and Oliver Queen was the Hood.

While she was originally out for Oliver, she learnt of her father's plans to kill the city and how he had tried to stop the earthquake that had killed her brother and ripped her family from her. With news of this, she had became an ally to Oliver and his team - from Slade Wilson and Sara's return to her father actually being alive to Damien Darhk's reign of terror. Adopting the codename Falcon, shedding the 'Black Dove' persona that had tied her to Malcolm, she joined their team as a vigilante.

She had been standing next to Laurel when she had been comdemned to death by an arrow stabbed into her by Darhk. As her friend died, she was there to comfort Quentin Lance. He had lost so much since she had first met Sara and Laurel all those years prior.

It was in that moment that Callie truly felt alone for the first time in her life. Sure, Oliver and his team were about, but they had never really felt like family to her. Tommy, Laurel, Sara, her father - they were absent in her life. Her father had disappeared, and Sara was away travelling through space and time with her team of 'Legends'.

Therefore, Callie made Quentin a promise. She would not let another one of his children die - again.

So when a crazed historian entered Oliver's mayor office during their coffee break on that fateful morning ranting about Sara and her team being in grave danger, she knew it was time for her to really step up.