A Ghost
From The Past
Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. This is a one-shot sequel to Ghosts of Oliver Queen and reveals the aftermath of what Akio told Oliver. Takes place about a week after Nyssa's departure from the city after releasing Sara from the League. Though its entirely possible I have some things mixed up but whatever.
A week after Nyssa had shown up with the intention of taking Sara back to the League with her, failing to do so, and releasing her Beloved from the League in the end, brought about another visiter from the League of Assassins. And this time it was someone Oliver Queen himself happened to know from his five years away when believed dead. Oliver had been able to have a brief word with Nyssa prior to her leaving the city in order to get the message Akio needed passed on to his father. She'd been understandably wary of the whole thing but thankfully agreed as the idea of actual ghosts wasn't a farfetched thing for to believe considering the Lazarus Pit's existence. This particular visitor however was not too happy with the message he'd been given by Nyssa and after obtaining permission from Ra's Al Ghul, he departed for Starling City to have a word or two with someone he once knew.
Of course he made sure to travel in civilian clothing so as not to attract suspicion and the like as that would not bode well for the League in any way. The first stop he made was to the Queen mansion and after learning from his old friend's mother on where he was exactly, he then quickly headed towards the club known as Verdant. A club Oliver himself had apparently started sometime after finally coming home the previous year. Once there, he quickly saw that Ta-er al-Safar was in the building and looking like she was being quite the entertainer behind the bar if the three teenagers' reactions were anything to go by. "Greetings Ta-er." Spoke up the man as he came up to her and the three youths.
Sara went still in seconds as she definitely was not expecting to hear the voice of Sarab of all people in Verdant! "S-Sarab!? What, what are you doing here? Because I'm sure you're aware of what Nyssa did when she was here herself."
"I am quite aware and you have no need to worry about anything from me. Matter of fact I am here for a very personal reason."
"If its to get drunk you're a little early." Spoke up the long haired brunette girl with a smile on her face, who was also wondering about the slight tension between Sara and this guy.
Sarab, formerly Maseo Yamashiro regarded the young girl for a moment and briefly wondered if Akio would have been like her before ruthlessly pushing that sort of thinking down. "No, I have no need for substances that would slow me down."
"Yeah, you can never be too careful." Spoke up the short haired male of the three teens present.
"Indeed."
Before more could be said, Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity showed up and the blonde hacker could be heard grumbling again about how she wasn't meant to be a personal assistant. Executive or otherwise. Sarab turned around when he heard Oliver speak up in exasperation to the blonde woman about the need for the whole thing and started towards him. "I think the guy just found his personal reason." Muttered the short black haired girl to the others who all nodded in agreement.
And when Oliver saw who was walking right towards him, he stopped dead in his tracks from the pure shock of seeing a man he hadn't seen in several years since Hong Kong. "Maseo!?" Got out the surprised archer and making Diggle and Felicity look towards where he was looking.
They, along with Sara and the three teenagers were surprised when the Asian man struck out at Oliver. Sending the man to the ground with a grunt of pain as Diggle pulled out his gun and aimed it at the standing man. "You DARE to tell the Heir lies about MY son!? I never thought you to be that sort of man."
"Yeah? Well I didn't think you were the kind of man who abandoned his wife during her own time of need." Shot back Oliver as he stood up and rubbed his sore jaw.
Maseo went to strike out at him but Oliver caught the fist and had to duck another strike. The two continued to trade blows and or duck an attack that made quite a ruckus through out the club while also trading back barbs back and forth. Oliver had even told Sara and Diggle to stay out of it as this was between the two of them. "This is seriously getting messy." Remarked Felicity.
"You're tellin' me Goldielocks." Remarked Sin as they watched the fight with the realization that these two clearly knew one another.
The archer finally managed to get his old friend into a headlock that he struggled against. "I may be a lot of things and I may have done a lot of things, but I would NEVER be the kind of man who would use the memory of a little boy to his own ends."
"But ghosts are NOT real!" Protested the struggling man who likely was in a heavy amount of denial.
"Actually, they are real. Ollie almost dying proved that a few weeks ago. But it actually helped to bring a little closure for some of us." Spoke up Thea and she had a feeling the little boy in question was Oliver's 'Little Buddy' from that time with all the ghosts. Which nicely enough had brought about meeting a girl named Mei, who'd been Shado's twin.
Something that had been a surprise and something of a freak out when the girl first showed up. "Look no further for proof Mr. Yamashiro if you need it." Came the voice of General Shrieve.
The appearance of the man who Maseo himself once put a bullet in after Oliver had tortured him for several hours. "YOU!?"
Shrieve just nodded before vanishing as he felt he had made a point in showing up and doing nothing else. Maseo's eyes widened at that in shock as he could hardly believe what he had just seen. "My son… Truly is unable to rest because of my actions with the League?" Asked the man brokenly as the reality of the situation fully hit him then and there.
Oliver, trusting that his old friend wouldn't try anything further, let go of him slowly and looked down at him sadly. "I'm afraid so." Admitted Oliver sadly.
"Even if I wanted to leave the League to allow my son proper rest and gain forgiveness from my wife, one can not simply walk away. I have sworn my very soul to the service to the Demon himself." The man spoke and out of all of them, Sara could relate the most.
Walking over to the two with a sad look on her felt, she knelt down to be eye level with the man she knew as Sarab and placed a hand on his shoulder. "it won't be easy, but I think even he would understand the situation. Of course if it comes down to it, you could always fake your death."
The grin on her face made the heartbroken man laugh a little. "Out of all those in the League, you were always the most lighthearted of us all despite the darkness that invades us all when doing the work required of us."
She was honestly surprised by all that considering her own particular views of how things were going for her. But she was pleased to know that at least one other person aside from Nyssa seemed to have that line of thinking about her. Sara helped him up and Sarab made an apology to Oliver but he considered it to be water under the bridge since he would have most likely felt the same way. Sara would wind up proving herself right as it would definitely not be easy to leave the League as Ra's would have him venture deep into enemy territory to retrieve a valuable object that if used against the League would prove to be disastrous. But the end result thankfully gave him the freedom he needed that would allow his son the proper rest that was being denied him. Things with Tatsu weren't particularly easy at first but nothing worthwhile was ever easy to begin with.
The re-united couple would even join Oliver's crusade as well and Maseo would use it as his way of redeeming himself for all he'd done in the aftermath of his son's death. Akio himself would watch from his spot in the Afterlife with a pleased smile on his face that all was thankfully in place now where his parents were concerned. Their involvement in Oliver's crusade would be a boon in the days to come as well in regards to an old figure from the archer's past.
Author's Notes: I hope this lived up to any expectations some may have had over this one. Once I have my latest Flash story out of the way I'll get to working on what I call the Ghostly Chronicles. Which features what all the ghosts got up too during Ghosts of Oliver Queen. R and R!