"Sir, why'd you open the window? It's raining outside."

"Sir!!?"

I heard a loud voice. It was my driver.

"Hmm?"

I had no clue why he called me.

"You want me to close the windows, sir?" he asked quietly, looking at me through the rear mirror.

'What did he know?' I wondered.

The rain wasn't anything to be afraid of.

The wet droplets from heaven hitting your face making you feel...something, anything. Making you feel alive, for once.

"No, let it be," I replied.

"Sure, sir.." he obliged and kept driving,

Lightning roared, louder than everyday, as dark grey clouds took over the evening sky.

As if they were angry. As if they were crying to vent. As if..there was no tomorrow.

I know the feeling...all too well. I have, for god knows how long.

But not today.

A smile pushed through my lips as I glanced to my left.

A bouquet of flowers firmly placed on the seat.

They were blue. Who knows what they were called? But they are her favorite. And a box of that expensive chocolate that she and Oliver used to bring over to my place when we were kids. So rare and special. And difficult to find too.

But what wouldn't I do for her?

She's my family, after all. And we Merlyns take care of our loved ones.

It is Thea's 18th birthday.

I'm so proud of her. And scared for her.

It's been a rough couple of years for her.

Her brother, Oliver - my best friend - and her dad died on a godforsaken voyage in the middle of nowhere.

The truth about her parentage too came out soon after. My dad and her mom had an affair all those years ago and that's how she was conceived.

Then, after my mom died and her dad's accident, our parents began seeing each other again and actually got married.

Who wouldn't get into drugs in her position?

But she doesn't know when to stop.

Or she knows but just doesn't care. Not anymore.

But as I said, today's different.

She came to me in my room and hugged me, out of the blue.

"I promise, Tommy. I promise to you that I'll double down on the treatment. That I'll be better. No more drugs. I'll start therapy. I'll do anything. Just don't be mad..."

I threw a fit last night. That probably played a part in it.

A random guy I had never seen had brought her home a week ago. It was late, almost 2 am and she was all drunk and out.

Her clothes were torn from one side. Her eyes had blackened out and she didn't respond to anything. Even her car was totalled.

Starling City's best doctor and two days' worth of praying later, she finally woke up.

She couldn't even look me or Moira, her mom, in the eye.

Just anger in her eyes. Pure anger.

The detox hit her hard, which certainly didn't help.

Puking her lungs out every two seconds. Having seizures and nightmares at night.

But she was still mad. That life was unfair to her. That she had all this family money but she still had a pathetic life.

That nobody cared.

That was when I snapped.

"You know what, Thea? You need to get over it!!" I shouted.

"Get over it? Losing them? Get over how fucked up everything is?"

"YES."

"That's so easy for you to say..."

"It isn't easy, Thea. You know what happened to my mom?"

She was in her bed, resting with not a word to say back to me.

"She ran a clinic. In the Glades, the worst part of the city.

No fees, no reward. But just for the sake of it. Charity. We were the second richest family in the city after yours due to Merlyn Global Group. But she still went there. Every single day.

Despite my dad asking her to stop, she didn't. She was a good person. She wanted to help her patients.

And one day, one of those random patients came and killed her for peanuts. Peanuts!!!

She died all alone, crying for help..in the street as those very people she wanted to help walked by her bleeding body and nobody even batted an eye when they saw her.

I know that life is hard. But you have to do better. You have to be...better.."

"And for the record, I care!!!"

She gave a nod to me and turned her side to let her face away from me.

Her eyes were still mad. I can always tell.

But I was proved wrong this morning.

She knocked on my door and gave me a long hug.

After listening to her, I knew I had reached through to her.

"Thank you.." she said, her eyes wet with crying for god knows how long.

"No...thank you.." I said, embracing her in a hug.

"I'm a mess.." her tears broke through.

"Shhhhh...it's okay. I'm here..."

"I'm a drug addict..." she confessed.

I looked at her. "Listen, I have a very important meeting today. Our companies merger will fall through if I don't personally go.

But when I come back, I'm taking a break from work for some time. We'll get through this together. Okay?"

"Yeah.."

"Promise?" I said, my right hand on her cheek.

"Promise.." she smiled and gave me another hug.

"How does Merlyn Queen Global Group sound?"

I smiled thinking back at our conversation.

We didn't grow up together. Nothing I could do.

My best friend died. Nothing I could do.

My mom died a horrible death. Nothing I could do.

But now...I could help her. I could save her.

The car slowed down as we reached the main driveway.

"Sir, please wait inside. Let me bring you an umbrella or something.." my kind-hearted driver suggested.

Normally, I would refuse. But, I didn't want the flowers to ruin.

I nodded and he ran away towards the mansion.

The Queen family mansion. The massive structure had stood years of calamities. Whether it's the sky which is pouring down or it's us breaking down at every bad news we have had to endure.

But it's all gonna be okay. At last and at least today, everything is gonna be fine.

I closed my eyes and took a breathe in, when I heard my driver shout from a distance.

"SIR..MR. MERLYN...!!!" he ran towards me, seemingly without any umbrella.

"Sir...it's..." he huffed for miniscule of a second, his face held an expression of horor and despair.

"What? What is it?" I spoke through the window.

"Sir.."

It was his refusal to speak for the third consecutive time which made me realize what he was really saying.

With the flowers and chocolates in my hand, I walked out slowly.

I was immediately submerged in the heavy rain from atop.

I asked him again, "What happened?"

But it wasn't a question to which I didn't already knew the answer to.

'Oh, god..' my mind hit me before he even spoke anything.

"You should go inside sir. It's madam."

'Madam'? Moira? or..Thea...? My feet froze in their spot as the sound of the rain grew louder.

Everything else wasn't audible to ke anymore. Not even his voice.

I didn't even realize when the flowers dropped from the tip of my fingers to the ground, as I ran for the entrance.

"Moira!?? Dad?" I shouted as I entered.

Only to see them sitting in the living room with Detective Lance. My step-mom was crying as my dad consoled her.

They saw me and stood up.

My teary-eyed dad came to me. "Why weren't you picking your phone?"

I checked it to see 10 missed calls. I had switched it off for the meeting.

"What happened, dad? Is everything alright? Is Thea okay?"

He pushed forward and gave me a hug.

"No..." I said.

"NO..." I murmured again and breaking the hug with force, I ran towards her room.

"Thea!!? THEA!!!?" I shouted.

Entering her room, I saw her.

Laying on her back in her bed. Sheets covering her torso. Her hand hanging from the corner of the bed.

"Thea..?" I mustered up, with a choke.

I sat beside her, grabbing hold of her hand.

"Thea, wake up. Are you alright?"

"Thea!!?"

No response came up.

"Thea!!?" I kept it going.

I tried shaking her.

"Thea, you promised...You promised me. I brought...I brought flowers for you." I looked around for them.

"I must have dropped them.."

A sinking feeling had settled in.

I had lost...again.

The doctor walked in with everyone.

"She overdosed.." he announced.

I turned her face towards me. Foam coming out of her mouth.

"How!? She hadn't had anything for the last 2 nights.."

"In detox, it's normal for people to have a little bit more just to get a kick. So that the urge would stop.

But her body couldn't handle it.. I'm sorry," he said.

He probably said a lot more. But I didn't care.

I was numb.

I was done.

My step-mom laid her crying head on my shoulder and I comforted her.

And after a minute, I walked away.

"I need some air.." I said and walked past everyone.

I stumbled on the ground on my knees.

The rain or the tears. What had engulfed me, you couldn't tell.

And just then, I saw the flowers on the ground. Crumbled and dirty.

I couldn't stop the downpour as I put the flowers close to my chest.

"Thea...You promised..." I cried.

My eyes looked to the heaven in pain.

And then down below in anger.

"It's NOT FAIR..!!!" I screamed, but who would listen? Or better yet, who would care?

Except for him, of course.

"Sir, a-are you alright!?" my faithful companion asked me.

I raised my head, my eyes meeting his as I told him what I really felt.

"No. I'm not alright."

Author's notes:

- This is a one-shot for now. I planned like a 5-7 chapter arc to properly show Tommy's origin story as the Dark Archer. But I don't know think I'll be having the time in the near future to do it justice. So, yeah.

- I have also wrote a 10-chapter story about Earth-1 Dark Archer. (Hint: It's an complete AU where Thea becomes the new Dark Archer). So, you can check it out and I'd love to have more people reading that story.

-Finally, I may have gotten a few things wrong about how the drug abuse stuff works. I apologise, if that was indeed the case!

Have a wonderful day (or night!)