HOPE ▪ARROWVERSE▪

▪︎HEY, KID▪︎

Sorry for taking so long to put this out, I've been busy.

"Momma?" A small, child-like voice called, pulling Thea Harper out of her thoughts. Raising her head from her seat after the others left to get started, she spotted the source of the voice.

"Did your father drop you off?" She questioned, sweeping the small girl into a tight hug. The child had long brown hair, similar to her mother's, with light blue eyes that caught many off-guard.

The small girl nodded. "He's off helping the others." Her bright smile faltered as she watched her mother break down slightly. "What are you guys doing?"

Placing a kiss gently on her head, Thea placed her daughter gently on her lap. "We're saving our world."

"But I thought you retired?" The small girl questioned.

"Not in that way," Thea laughed softly. "But, there's a chance you get to meet your uncles and grandparents." She smiled, playing with the girl's hair.

"Really?" The small girl brightened up. "I can't wait! Uncle Ollie and Tommy sound so cool in your stories!"

"They really were." Thea smiled painfully at her daughter. "Now, what do you want to do while we wait?"

"Can you tell me another story?"

"Of course."

▪¤▪

Oliver Queen sat alone with only his thoughts. It's hard to recognize the billionaire, blonde hair longer and dirty, eyes dark and devoid of emotion.

Five years in different levels of Hell would do that to you.

Dad, I promised to do right by you. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. But I don't know how anymore.

"You look like shit, kid," a familiar, thickly-accented voice called from just outside the door. The blonde man stiffened in his bed, hand reaching for a bow that wasn't there.

"You're not real." Oliver snarled, standing up swiftly. He reached to his bedside table, fiddling in the dark for the gun he knew was there.

The door opened, and the breath was knocked out of him.

Slade was standing there, though not as he remembered him last. The craze was gone in his eye, and the eyepatch stuck out painfully to Oliver as a reminder of what he did. His hair was strikingly white and short, no longer the black, wiry texture he was used to.

"Do I look real to you?" His voice was aged, raspy, though the Māori accent was still the distinct, deep tone.

"Slade," Oliver rasped out, glare focused on the man in front of him. His throat was dry, and he could barely find the words. "You can't be here, I killed you."

Slade snorted in that disapproving tone, a sound Oliver had heard many times over the two years they spent together. Gesturing to his eyepatch, he glared right back. "May have worked on Wintergreen, but the Mirakuru is a wonderful and hellish thing."

Before he could snap back a reply, Slade pulled a glowing device out of his pocket. "Sorry kid." Oliver reached for the device but was not fast enough.

A blinding light filled his gaze, and Oliver was slowly slipping into unconsciousness. As he fell, he felt two strong arms grab hold of him.

He could not struggle, or resist, leaving him alone in the darkness wrapped in a dead man's arms.

Okay, last short chapter, I promise, I just wanted to get that moment out there between the two of them.

Their story is going to be the main focus of this book, and you can either see it as shipping or just brotherly love.

Either way, hope you enjoyed.