Title from 'Hold My Hand' by The Fray
I JUST FINISHED SEASON 5 AND SOMEBODY FUCKING HELP ME
AND I LOVE OLICTY SO MUCH JUST *CRIES*
LIKE I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO BE OKAY DAMMIT (OF COURSE MALCOLM'S DEATH CAN'T BE UNDEATHED)- IS HAPPY SUPERHEROES TOO MUCH TO ASK?!
Even though Oliver couldn't see the explosion, he saw his world fall to pieces when he saw Adrian Chase shoot himself in the head. There was not near enough time for any of them to get to the other side and off the island and it was rigged with so many explosives...
All Oliver could do was hold William tight, just for a moment. One moment before he had to actually address what happened.
His son looked up at him. His son. There was so little chance that anyone survived, let alone specific people. He was William's only parent.
"Is my mom ok?" William stared up at Oliver.
The whisper sounded so broken. And yet, the only sound that could come out of Oliver's mouth was just as broken.
"I don't know." He hated not knowing anything
His mind screamed at him that he needed to get William to safety.
But, just as he wanted William safe, he knew that he couldn't just not know who died, or if anyone was really dead, a miracle that would not happen no matter how much he wished for it.
Miracles did not happen for Oliver Queen.
William was only 10. Too young for that much loss, too young to see the carnage.
But yet...
there was no way around it.
The death toll had to be dealt with, friends and family contacted.
His sky fell to pieces.
And somehow, someway, he had to keep his son from becoming messed up from the grief, when Oliver couldn't even hold himself together. More often than not, he still had nightmares.
He couldn't even deal with his own past. How was he going to help his son through his present?