Strangers in The Night
Rating: T, will be upgraded to M when continued
Characters (In Order of Appearance): Oliver Queen, Kara Danvers, Moira Queen, Eliza Danvers…?
Summary: Oliver Queen and Kara Danvers, best friends since they were children, and party to all of each other's secrets. The world was told they both died when The Queen's Gambit sank, so what happens when they return to Starling City 5 years later?
Author's Note: I've been itching to write a Dark!Kara story ever since doing 'Here's That Rainy Day', and going for more Red-K fuelled incidents didn't feel right to me. It's not going to be super dark (we're not talking Earth-X Overgirl kinda stuff), but there's going to be a much more ruthless side to Kara. She's still going to be the more optimistic of the two, but not by much.
There's going to be plenty of violence, swearing and potentially smut (as yet undecided, I'll let y'all know when I make my mind up) coming up, so you've been warned.
As for now, this is just a little tease at the future while I try to work some other projects. This is probably going to be my next pick-up when 'Falling In Love With Love' is finished, but there's a few other ideas I've got that might come along first.
Chapter 1
Oliver Queen is alive. The Starling City resident was found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago. Five years after he was presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed The Queen's Gambit. Queen was a tabloid presence and fixture on the club scene. Before his disappearance, he was acquitted of assault stemming from a highly publicized drunken altercation with paparazzi. Queen is the son of Starling City billionaire Robert Queen who was also on board but now officially confirmed as deceased. With him returns Kara Danvers, a close friend of Queen for years. Miss Danvers reportedly snuck onto The Queen's Gambit alongside Sara Lance, who has also been confirmed as deceased.
The city looked different, Oliver was certainly noticing that. Perhaps it was just nostalgia, perhaps things really had become so much worse in his absence, or perhaps it was the clarity that the last five years had gifted to him. Oliver could practically see it now, the twisted, ever growing sickness that filled Starling City. Looking down onto it all from above was somehow liberating, providing a strange sense of relief on top of everything else, he really was back.
"Oliver?" A voice called from behind him. He didn't need to turn, he would know that voice anywhere, the voice of his…girlfriend wasn't right…soulmate? "Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine, it's just…more than I expected." Oliver turned his head a little to see Kara come up behind him. His body relaxed immediately as Kara's arms wrapped around his waist, her head lightly resting on his shoulder. Even after everything they had been through, the constant state of alert Oliver had trained himself to, just a touch from Kara could relax him completely. "How are you feeling?"
"Never better." Kara smiled, Oliver able to see her reflection in the window. "I've got my powers back, so everything's healed, as much as I can anyway."
Tilting his head, Oliver pressed a kiss to the top of Kara's own. He knew how much she hated her scars, not that he was fond of his own but it was different for Kara. Until the island, she had been invulnerable, she had never so much as bruised herself and now…now her body was a veritable map of the torment that they had endured for five long years. The first time Kara had been hurt was one of Oliver's most hated memories, it had been the first time she had experienced any kind of pain in years, and it had been horrifying to watch.
"How about you?" Kara spoke again, nudging Oliver back to reality. "The doctors clear you?"
"A little concerned about all the scars, but nothing I couldn't handle." Oliver answered, his eyes drawn back to the city that spanned out before them.
"You stuck to our story?" Kara questioned, just wanting to be sure that there were no discrepancies she would need to account for in the future.
"Word for word, not that they believed me. Unless they think we gave these scars to each other, they won't buy that we were alone on the island."
"We can handle…" Oliver could feel Kara's grip get a little tighter as she broke off. "Our moms are here. The doctor's telling them about the scars."
Letting out a heavy sigh, Oliver separated himself from Kara, taking her hand in his own as they turned to face the door. Neither of them had seen their parents in five years, not really. They knew this would be hard, not just seeing them again but explaining everything to them…well, not everything. Just the fact that they were now in love would undoubtedly be hard enough.
The door slowly pushed open, and the couple stood silent, gripping hands a little tighter. Through the now-open door came Moira Queen, the cracks already visible in her usually well-maintained visage. Behind her was Eliza Danvers, who shared neither Moira's restraint or façade. Eliza didn't even blink as she ran to Kara, Oliver easily allowing their hands to separate so Kara could return the embrace.
"Oliver?" Moira's voice was a little faint as she spoke, and Oliver stepped towards her, allowing the Danvers women a small modicum of privacy.
"Mom." Was all he could manage, almost surprised by the emotion welling up within him.
Moira closed the rest of the distance, her arms wrapping around him, and Oliver retuned the hug gladly. It had been over half a decade since he had last felt his mother's embrace, and even with the hardened heart he now practiced, Oliver did, deep down, still hold a lot of love for his family. There really was nothing more important, Kara had taught him that one more than once.
"My beautiful boy." Moira all but broke down, hugging Oliver even tighter, and pressing a kiss to the side of his head. Oliver knew she would never want to let go, that she desperately needed to reassure herself that this was really real, that it wasn't some horrid dream or a vicious joke.
A choked sob from Moira ended the moment between both mother and son, and mother and daughter. The two sets managed to break apart, and Oliver subconsciously drifted back to Kara, their hands finding each other easily. The action didn't go unnoticed by either Moira or Eliza, but there was an understanding in their eyes, it almost didn't need questioning. But, Oliver had no doubts in his mind, it would be questioned soon enough.
XXX
The journey back to the Queen Mansion was, regrettably, not a silent one.
After their parents had left the hospital the previous evening, Kara and Oliver had once again run over the plan. They had two families to deal with, two detail-picking, narrative-questioning families that might get a little bit too close to the truth. Then, after it all, the months of careful and meticulous planning, Eliza Danvers had thrown them one hell of a curve ball.
"You know, don't you, Oliver?" Eliza had suddenly asked.
Moira had ordered one of the Queen family limousines to collect them, which had left Kara and Oliver sat beside each other, holding hands, while Eliza and Moira sat opposite them. The couple had shared a look of utter surprise at the question, knowing exactly what Eliza was referring to. Oliver had known about Kara's powers long before the island, she had finally shown him on his 18th birthday, when she'd had to save him from falling off the roof of the Queen Mansion while trying to hang some stupid banner. Clearly, Eliza hadn't known back then, there had been four years between that event and the island for her to question Oliver.
The other shock, was that Eliza had asked such an obvious question in front of Moira. Though, going by the well-practiced neutrality on the Queen matriarch's face, Moira clearly already knew. Not too much of a surprise, Oliver quickly reasoned the two must have spent an awful lot of time together, and must've been forced to come up for an explanation for Kara's disappearance. Both women would have known full well that Kara hadn't been aboard The Queen's Gambit when it left port.
After the couple shared a look, silently agreeing that the truth would be acceptable, Oliver answered.
"Yes, I know." It was short, simple, and offered no room for debate.
"Then why didn't you come home sooner?" Eliza's voice was a little more pleading as she addressed Kara, and Oliver felt his heart break a little for the older woman.
"I…I couldn't." Kara began, quickly continuing at the look on the faces of their mothers. "It's kinda hard to explain, but the island did…something to me, it stopped me from using my powers."
"How does that work?" Eliza spoke again quickly. "Your powers, they…"
"Eliza," Moira suddenly cut her off. "Let's get them back to the mansion first. We at least owe them some time to settle in before the interrogation, no?"
Eliza didn't seem to calm at all, but she acquiesced nonetheless, even if she was still quite visibly tense. Oliver and Kara shared another silent look, this one questioning. How long had Moira known about Kara?
Five Years Ago
"Moira!" Eliza burst into the living space at the Queen Manor, quickly followed by Jerimiah.
Moira herself had hardly moved in two days, since the reports of the accident had come in. She and Thea had been spending most of their time sat by the phone, just waiting for some kind of news to come in. She hadn't seen the Danvers family since first hearing about the storm, but Moira was brought back into the world at seeing Eliza running so worried into her home.
"Eliza," Moira was quickly to her feet, almost thrown off them when Eliza rushed her into a hug. "What is it? What happened?"
Eliza, quite clearly, couldn't answer, just letting out a sob into Moira's shoulder. Instead, Moira's eyes sought out Jerimiah, seeing equal distress there as she had in Eliza's.
"It's Kara." Jerimiah began. "She's gone after Oliver. Said that the search teams were taking too long, that she'd have better luck out there."
"She hasn't flown for years, Moira." Eliza suddenly spoke, pulling back a little from her friend. "What if she can't make it? Or if one of the teams you've got out there see her? What do we do if…"
"Listen, both of you." Moira sniffled, a little happiness finding its way into her at the thought of Kara searching for Oliver, she knew that she might just yet have some hope. She was also thankful that Thea was still in bed, and wouldn't witness the conversation. "Kara is incredible, she'll be fine and you know it. If someone sees her then…we'll handle it. Robert and I promised that your family would be under our personal protection, it's been over 20 years, but nothing has changed."
Deep down though, Moira knew; everything was about to change.