Prologue
A/N: So whilst planning a far bigger story I found myself needing to write this story first. I'll leave more detailed notes at the end, but just an fyi – this story opens in a more sci-fi/supernatural way, but will be significantly more grittier afterwards. The supernatural/sci-fi stuff will appear a bit later, but the story will remain dark and gritty throughout.
Summary: Oliver Queen dies fighting an impossible evil many years after the events involving his imprisonment following his agreement with the FBI. However, unknown forces bring him back to Lian Yu, to the day he was rescued. Now, Oliver Queen must fight to prevent the future he knows is coming, whilst tackling new threats and a timeline who's stability seems tenuous at best…
The apocalypse had come and gone three times.
Whole countries, whole continents, were destroyed and forgotten – victims of wars both past and present.
… The world was very different in 2040.
One city in America remained, burning, starving and dying as it was.
Star City held it's tenacity even after war after war… Even after the nuclear bombs.
Although it could barely be described as a 'city' anymore. Buildings were knocked down, skyscrapers toppled, homes abandoned.
Oliver Jonas Queen stood at the top of the building once known as Queen Consolidated, and looked over the city that was so very doomed. He raised a small cylinder to his mouth.
"Audio Log number six hundred and thirty-three. Date and year unknown." He spoke clearly despite his old age. Oliver was 55 years old now, and even though it only somewhat showed in the lines on his face and the white of his long beard, he truly felt it in his weary bones.
"Grant Wilson has continued his journey through the Glades through blood and fire. He is now aided by someone claiming to be Ra's Al Ghul, although I have not been able to verify his identity..."
Oliver sighed and looked down at the metal hand holding the device.
"The last of the rebels are dead, cut down by Wilson's forces. It's just me now… Bu-"
Oliver suddenly started coughing roughly and slowly slid down to the floor. He felt the device slip in his hands, and he tried to keep a grip on it, but his cybernetic hand simply crushed it into tiny pieces.
He looked at the bits of metal and circuitry falling from his fingers, and then gazed at the dented and rusted arm that had replaced his natural right arm. He looked to his left arm and saw something similar.
He sighed again.
"Well, I guess I couldn't keep fighting forever..."
Seconds before his heart failed completely, Oliver let his mind go to his Family, to Thea, to Laurel, to Diggle… For a moment he forgot how they were all gone, and how he knew he wouldn't make it to whatever heaven they deserve.
Then he closed his eyes, and died.
*Arrow – Fundamentals*
Dinah Laurel Lance reached over, and lovingly put a hand through Oliver's long grey hair. After a moment, he awoke.
"Lau- what..." He muttered.
"Ollie, relax." She said. "You're safe here, you're safe."
He blinked and looked at the room around him. It was like his room from Queen Manor all those years ago, the sheets on the bed he and Laurel were laid on, the blankets tussled around them.
"This… This can't be real..." Oliver said mournfully. He sat up quickly, and examined his surroundings in full detail – the room was the same, but the blinds on the window couldn't hide the crazy amount of blinding light threatening to push through it, and the door was slightly ajar but the hallway didn't seem right… "It's… It's another trap. Vertigo? Probably."
"No, Ollie, it's-" Laurel tried, but Oliver shot out of the bed, grabbed the glass on the bedside table and bolted out of the room.
… And it was a goddamn forest.
Grass grew tall here and the trees were gigantic. Oliver smashed the glass against the bedroom door that seemed to stand there with no support in the middle of a forest, and held a large shard of glass in his right hand, which bled quickly from the cuts the glass was already causing. Oliver looked down and realised that his arms were human again.
He held the glass tighter and walked slowly through the grass, Laurel quietly trailing behind him.
A few minutes into the forest that seemed oddly familiar, Oliver found three figures standing by two graves.
"Ollie, you're finally here!" The youngest one said, and it took Oliver a second of shock to realise it was Thea.
He couldn't help it – even in his paranoia, seeing both his long lost love and his sister again was too much. He ran into her arms and hugged her tightly.
"Oh, my beautiful boy..." The eldest said, and a second later he was being embraced by his mother. Oliver could barely breathe.
"I tried to think of something witty to say..." The last figure said dryly, "But all I could think of was 'I told you yachts sucked'."
For a second Oliver didn't breathe at all, and then he was grabbing Tommy Merlyn and pulling him into a brotherly hug.
The five of them – now that Laurel had quickly joined – spent a long time just like that, hugging and crying. Then a new figure, someone that they all knew well, walked into the graveyard that Oliver now realised was his and his father's, from outside Queen Manor so many years ago after the Queen's Gambit.
"Oliver." The man said in a welcoming tone. "You have arrived after all this time..."
It was Walter Steele, but his eyes glowed white light and he had a… Presence to him, that did not feel human.
"… Mr. Steele?" Oliver said disbelievingly. "You don't seem… You."
"Walter volunteered to become a … Messenger." Moira said delicately. "A man named Doctor Fate talked to us all when we all first arrived. He said he was 'very busy', and that he needed a 'conduit' for when you arrived."
"And, just to rip off the band-aid..." Tommy said awkwardly. "Your father isn't exactly in the 'good guy' side of the afterlife like all of us here."
Oliver took a second to process that, then swallowed his feelings. It wasn't a good time to deal with something as complicated as his relationship with his father. "… What must I do? I have to be here for a reason..."
"Well actually, you do actually deserve to be here without an agenda." 'Walter' spoke. "You have earnt your place in this peaceful sanctuary a thousandfold. Which I do offer to you, but I offer another prize as well."
"And what is that?" Oliver questioned.
"A second chance." Walter spoke, and his voice changed to his normal british tone as the light in his eyes left and formed into a tall man in a strange helmet.
"I offer you, Oliver Jonas Queen, a chance to save the world… And yourself." Doctor Fate intoned. "I fear it is an imperfect chance, fraught with imperfections and mistakes, but a chance nonetheless."
He waved a gloved hand and a circle of pure light opened nearby.
"A timeline where Slade Wilson was cured but considered dead by everyone including yourself. Shado Gulong lives, as does Sara Lance, but she is bound to The League of Assassins. If you choose to live this life, I must warn you – you will have to adapt and survive hardships as you always have."
Oliver sighed. "As always.."
He looked at his family."I.. I can't leave you all to the lives you have now. I have to go back."
Doctor Fate nodded. "Thank you, Oliver Queen. For your sacrifices and everything you continue to do to keep people safe in a world of darkness.
I shall give you time to say goodbye. The portal will wait for you when you need to leave. Good luck, Oliver Jonas Queen."
With a swish of his cape, Doctor Fate left. Oliver looked over at his family, and hugged them even tighter.
*Arrow – Fundamentals*
After a long time indeed, Oliver Queen gave Thea, Tommy and Moira one last hug, and kissed Laurel passionately before walking to the circular portal of light, and looked back to his family who stood there much like the Dominator's alien simulation years ago.
"I won't let you down." Oliver said, and then he stepped through the light into a brand new world.
Coming up next: Oliver has to quickly find his footing in a world that is not an exact copy of his own, and finds himself in an identity crisis very quickly as he asks himself… What exactly is he supposed to do, and what exactly should he change?
A/N: So, there ends the opening to Fundamentals. I hope you have all enjoyed what you have read so far, and rest assured that more will come later. I can't promise exact dates, but know that – thanks to having finally built a new pc – I am actively working on it. Worst case scenario if I hate the way I've started it and found it too flawed or something, I will re-post it with some alterations.