Keep Your Eye on the Shore

Oliver felt himself slump into Felicity's embrace, and it was like a thousand walls shattered around him and his heart. Between ragged breaths, more and more tears came from a never ending fountain of grief. Three years ago he rejoined civilization and the land of the living, and during that time he had been a shell of a man walking amongst the living. He made himself a symbol, a weapon. The Hood, the Vigilante, the Arrow, they weren't, aren't, self-serving. They weren't allowed grief and mourning, or joy and elation. He meticulously crafted this hard exterior to fulfill a mission, a crusade. Now, finally, none of that mattered. Oliver Queen, the man, was still alive and taking hits under that hard exterior. With each year, each death, the shell fought back. The Arrow ran to Lian Yu after Tommy's death. The Arrow was ready to sacrifice his own life after his mother was murdered in front of him. The Arrow flung himself into the search for Sarah's murderer after her death. And with Roy's last breath, all the fight left the Arrow, and Oliver Queen emerged.

His cries bounced off of the far reaching walls of Nanda Parbat. Felicity continued to hold him and rock him, despite the ever growing pain and numbness in her legs. She knew that he was finally, finally, allowing himself to grieve. It was everything that had been building since Sarah's death. Malcom's duplicity and betrayal, Thea losing parts of her soul, the city losing faith in him, pushing Felicity away, it all reached a boiling point and Roy's death pushed him over the edge.

Oliver felt an additional hand on his back, then two strong arms wrapped around him and Felicity. Oliver knew it was Diggle, but when he looked up he was shocked to see the tears streaming down the former soldier's face. Laurel and Lyla joined the huddle around Roy, each one adding a hand to his arm or shoulder. He was surrounded by his team, his family, and it was suffocating. He didn't push away this time though. He embraced the support his family was offering, he embraced their love, and he embraced the grief.

Nyssa, who was weak from the fight, walked up to the small group. She was quiet and reserved, but there was a levity to her countenance that wasn't there before. As she finally felt the weight of her father's oppression evaporate, she looked towards the future.

With one sentence, she pulled all of the eyes of team arrow on herself.

"There is a way to save Roy Harper's life."

Felicity was the first to recover her senses. "How? He's already dead. There is no life to save?" Felicity all but yelled out, angry that Nyssa would even suggest something so unrealistic.

"Perhaps I should have said bring him back to life." Nyssa answered.

"The pit." Oliver whispered, as if saying it out loud would allow someone to jerk it away from existence.

"What's the pit?" Laurel asked Nyssa.

"It's an ancient pool of water that contains restorative properties. My father bathed in it for centuries. It is what has allowed him to live and rule for so long."

"That's…that's impossible." Diggle said incredulously.

"It's very possible, Mr. Diggle, and I can prove it to you by submerging Mr. Harper's body in the restorative waters of the pit." Nyssa replied assertively.

"What are we waiting for?" Laurel asked breathily as she brushed away the remaining tears and moved to stand next to Nyssa.

"There is the chance that the pit could have negative side effects. How harmful these side effects are, I do not know. My father had built up a resistance to its mystical properties a long time ago. I never witnessed first-hand the side effects, I've only heard stories, all in varying degrees and harshness. The only thing I know for certain is that the effects wear off eventually." Nyssa informed the group.

"Okay, what do we need to do?" Oliver asked, his voice raw from crying.

"Are you sure about this, Oliver? What about the consequences of this. Even if it brings him back, should we tempt fate? The god fearing man in me isn't sure we should stand in the way of the natural order of things." Diggle voiced, wary of the way he might be interpreted.

"So you think we should just let him stay dead when there's a very good chance he could come back to us? Isn't it worth it?" Oliver replied desperately.

"You have to ask yourself, Oliver, is it worth his soul?" Diggle asked heavily.

"I don't know, John. All I know is that we have seen some crazy things in the past three years. Mirakuru, Barry, meta-humans…I don't want to lose anybody else. For once, I want to be selfish, consequences be damned." Oliver choked out.

"Okay. Let's do it." Felicity finally spoke up.

Oliver untangled himself from Felicity and stood, looking at Nyssa.

"Remove his weapons. Then follow me." Nyssa responded as she turned and made her way to the intricate screen towards the back of the room.

Oliver removed Roy's quiver and various knives stowed on his body. The weight of his body was welcome, even though the dead weight was painful, physically and emotionally. Oliver carried him towards to steam billowing over the screen and heard the others follow him.

Reaching the edge of the pit, Oliver kneeled and placed Roy's body next to it. "You need to remove his clothing. Then you can lower his body into the water." Nyssa directed Oliver.

The others kept their distance and were patient. Oliver took his time though removing Roy's clothes, scared of possibly hurting him further. When he was done he looked up to Nyssa, who nodded at him to proceed. He gently lowered Roy's body into the steaming water, but held off on letting his head slip under the surface.

"He must be fully submerged for the properties to restore his body. It will not harm him." Nyssa reassured.

Saying a silent prayer, Oliver pulled his hand away, and watched as Roy's body sunk further into the pit.

"How long?" Oliver asked as he settled himself at the edge of the pit and stared. The rest of the group joined him, all taking spots around the steaming waters. Felicity sat next to Oliver and leaned her head on his shoulder and held the hand that was still damp from the pit. He was so grateful for her presence.

"It is unknown. It could be minutes, or it could be hours. He will resurface on his own though."

So team arrow waited, and for the first few minutes they were quiet, none of them sure of what to say.

Everyone's head jerked up as they heard Felicity snort and let out a soft chuckle.

"Remember that time you shot him with an Arrow?" Felicity asked Oliver with a wistful smile on her face as she circled her thumb across the back of his hand.

"Yea…Thea was furious at me, well, at the Arrow. He still came back though."

"When we all thought you were dead, he looked out for me. I would have been dead ten times over if it wasn't for him." Laurel supplied with an uncommon softness to her voice.

"That kid was a class act." Diggle added with a slight shake of his head.

"No. He is. He is a class act." Oliver quietly asserted.

The small family continued to tell stories, some funny, some sad, about Roy. It carried the same weight as a wake, and perhaps that's what it was. None of them were sure they believed that he could actually come back, and if he did, would he even be the Roy they knew? It was unclear how long they sat there, but the storytelling had eventually stopped and silence had taken its place. Their thoughts were finally interrupted when splashing was heard coming from the pit.

Roy's hands flailed above him as his head finally broke the surface of the water. He gasped and coughed, while he continued to flail, trying to find purchase. Nyssa rushed over with a dark robe and instructed Oliver to pull him out. Wrapping him in the robe, Roy continued to cough, but the flailing stopped as he was laid on the cold rock floor.

His eyes flared to life as he took in one large gasp of air. Then he immediately started to seize. Diggle and Felicity rushed over to help hold down Roy's limbs as he jerked around. The seizure didn't last long, but when it stopped, Roy didn't open his eyes, and he didn't move.

Oliver frantically searched for a pulse. Upon finding one he relaxed and sat back on his haunches.

"It should be safe for you to travel with is body. He will be in a coma-like stasis for a period of time. I can make arrangements for horses to take you back to your plane." Nyssa informed them.

"But it worked?" Felicity asked in awe.

"Yes. As far as I can tell." Nyssa turned to leave the group and confer with the remaining assassins that were loyal to her. "Laurel, you are more than welcome to stay, I could always use help re-organizing the League."

"I think I should go home for now, but I'll return once all the legal issues are settled in Starling, and hopefully after I make amends with my father." Laurel replied.

"As you wish. You can carry Mr. Harper's body out front. Horses and an escort will be waiting for you."

"Thank you, Nyssa." Oliver said, slightly bowing his head to her.

"Thank you, Mr. Queen." With that she left the group to find their way out.

A wave of relief washed through everyone as they all realized that their time here was finally over. Ra's was no longer hanging over their heads, and the comforts and solace of home were calling them.

Without another word the group made their way out of the compound, Oliver serving as their guide as he carried Roy. Once outside, they spotted their horses, and in pairs they mounted them. Diggle had to assist Lyla up, but she was able to hold herself up once she took hold of the saddle. With help from the assassin escort, Oliver hoisted Roy onto the horse, across the saddle in front of him.

Felicity and Laurel stared at the remaining horse, neither one sure of who should sit in front. Felicity settled the silent debate fairly quickly.

"Uh, yea. You should definitely take the reins. I've never ridden a horse in my life, and quite frankly, they terrify me. Huh, take the reins. So that's where that saying came from." Felicity rambled off as Laurel just chuckled and pulled herself up onto the Saddle. Gripping the saddle horn with one hand, Laurel leaned down and offered her other hand to Felicity. Taking the offered hand, Felicity pulled herself up behind Laurel, instinctually wrapping her arms tightly around her waist.

"Well aren't you friendly?" Laurel sassed.

"Only in life and death situations, like swinging from an elevator shaft, or jumping out of an airplane, or swinging out of high rise office building, or zip lining out of a high rise office building…" Felicity trailed off sheepishly.

"Felicity Smoak, lady of adventure." Laurel stated in a posh voice.

"No, No, you've got it wrong. It's Felicity Smoak, bitch with Wi-Fi." Diggle boasted proudly as the group made their way back to the small village where their plane was waiting for them, where life was waiting for them.