Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Arrow. We all know I wouldn't have ended it that way.

A/N: Finally getting around to writing something Arrowverse again. This was gonna be a one-shot, but now I've got other ideas for it, so…

Like with Arrow: Rebirth, I'm no longer doing 'Chapter 1', 'Chapter 2', etc. at the tops of the chapters.

The Green Arrow Returns

By

Arlyss Tolero

Oliver Queen shot up in the hospital bed, turning and leaning over the side as he dry-heaved from the images still coursing through his mind. Oliver slid off the edge of the bed and made his way unsteadily to the bathroom, where he splashed water on his face with shaky hands. Images and memories of a timeline that had been and may yet be continued to course through his mind. The last thing he remembered was his final words to Sara and Barry as he lay dying at the beginning of time, even as a new universe began above them. He remembered pouring everything that he had into focusing on what he hoped this new universe would bring to his family, his friends, and his city.

Oliver slowly made it back into the main room, heading to the window to see if he could ascertain where he was. His eyes narrowed as he realized the 'window' was actually a flatscreen portraying a view of the skyline of Central City. He turned to face the entrance to the room and found a familiar figure standing there. "You," he said, eyes narrowing.

"Me," Amanda Waller agreed. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Queen. Imagine my surprise when my agents revealed that you were found on Lian Yu, thousands of miles from the confrontation the other heroes had with the Anti-Monitor, a confrontation that presumably led to your demise. Care to explain how that's possible?"

"Magic," Oliver replied dryly, which technically was true. Lian Yu was a mystical convergence. He supposed it was better that he had ended up there rather than Nanda Parbat. If Waller was alive, for all he knew it meant that so was Ra's. Waller had narrowed her eyes at the one-word answer, but Oliver met her gaze without flinching. After everything he had done, everyone he had faced down and defeated, including the Anti-Monitor, Amanda Waller was simply not as scary as she once did to him. "You didn't bring me to an A.R.G.U.S. facility out of the good of your heart, Amanda. What do you want?"

"The world considers you dead," Waller replied.

"And you want your indentured servant back," Oliver deduced. "Pass."

"You act as if you have a choice," Waller said.

"You act as if you can keep me locked away in here," Oliver replied. "We both know what it is I'm capable of, and what I'll do to you and your sycophants if you stand between me and those I love. You may be a sociopathic bitch, but can you say that for everyone in your employ?" Waller's eyes narrowed again. "I'm leaving as soon as I have some clothes, or even without that if you decide to stand in my way. It's your move, Waller."

Waller was silent for over a minute as she calculated every possible angle and concluded that, yes, her former asset could and would escape. "Then it seems we had better get you some clothes," Waller said, turning on her heel. Oliver followed, still suspicious while also examining the other memories that had surfaced in his mind, the memories of this new Earth that he and the others had given birth to.

Dinah Drake didn't seem to exist; instead Sara had originally called herself Black Canary before passing the mantle onto Laurel, who still held it. Oliver's heart sang with joy that Laurel was still alive on this Earth. Apparently, she and Oliver had an on-again, off-again relationship even now, and that led to something that troubled him.

Felicity Smoak also didn't seem to exist. Oliver had never met her in this world and as the C.E.O. of Queen Consolidated he not only knew his employees, but also knew his business rivals, and there was no Felicity Smoak in I.T., Applied Sciences, or as the C.E.O. of her own tech company. This meant that Oliver's daughter also didn't exist in this world, but he focused on discovering more about this new world in his memories. He would mourn the loss of Mia and his relationship with Felicity later, when he had time to do it.

While he was considered the first human hero, in part because he had revealed his true identity unlike Gotham's Batman (and in this world Batman appeared to still be active), the first hero in this world had been Superman. That had startled Oliver; this implied that he and the others had combined at least two separate universes together to form this new universe. Superman had helped out in the aftermath of the Undertaking and been there to help during the Siege, saving the lives of people who might've otherwise died.

Samantha Clayton was still alive and had custody of their son; she and William lived in Central City and Oliver visited them on occasion while also paying child support (not to mention making sure William got into the best schools available).

His mother was still alive but serving a life sentence in Slabside for her role in the Undertaking. Emiko was still with the Ninth Circle and an ever-present threat. With their mother alive, the battle for Thea's soul in his third and fourth years as a vigilante had been won by a mother's love early on. It helped that Oliver had captured Merlyn and turned him over to the authorities in this timeline. Merlyn was locked away in a secret prison (possibly even the one on Lian Yu), along with other villains, including Slade Wilson, who had not regained his sanity in this world, mainly because there had been no cure for the Mirakuru this time since Felicity had been the point of contact with S.T.A.R. Labs and that hadn't been an option. Superman had helped to rescue Laurel and Oliver had prepared accordingly for his confrontation with Slade.

It wasn't a perfect world, Oliver reflected, but then again, what was?

*DC*

Laurel Lance had one arm wrapped around Samantha Clayton's shoulders as she, Samantha, John, Rene, Curtis, Sara, Barry, and Kara gathered around the computers, trying to locate William, who had been kidnapped from Central City by someone looking to get revenge on Oliver, on the Green Arrow, for his imprisonment. Samantha had given enough to Barry to create a sketch and they had found the person in question was John Byrne, a human trafficker that Oliver had taken down during his year as The Hood and one of the many people he had spared the life of; Laurel honestly didn't understand the people who insisted Oliver had been a monster during his first year, in either world. Her memories from both words showed an Oliver who knew exactly what he was doing and who provided all the evidence she or the D.A. could ever ask for to convict. The only times he seemed to have slipped was when he came up against someone truly heinous, like Justin Claybourne or Leo Mueller.

Crime might be at an all-time low right now, Laurel knew, but she doubted it would remain that way. Evil never ends, it just changes form. Fighting alongside Oliver in both worlds had given her that knowledge, and she wouldn't let herself forget it because things seemed so good right now. She knew John and Lyla were planning to move to Metropolis for the safety of it being protected by Superman as much as for Lyla's new job, Rene was planning a mayoral run, and Curtis had his company to run. That left the city all but defenseless, but Laurel would be damned if she let the city return to the cesspit it had been seven and a half years ago, when Oliver had begun his crusade on both worlds.

The sound of the elevator descending caught Laurel's attention and she turned, as did the others, as the elevator doors opened. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized the man walking out of the elevator. She heard noises from the others ranging from gasps of shock to sighs of relief.

Oliver Queen raised an eyebrow and said, "Sadly, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. The hard-ass is still here."

The first to reach Oliver thanks to their super-speed were Kara and Barry, though everyone else was trying to descend from the platform as fast as they could.

"We thought you were dead," Barry said, pulling his friend into a hug. Kara's eyes were wet with unshed tears as she looked at the man who had not only given up his life for her and Barry, certain as he was that they would be the ones to stop the Crisis, but also given up his life to save over a billion people from her Earth during the evacuation of Earth-38 to Earth-1. She pulled him into her own hug, ignoring his sigh of irritation.

"I ended up on Lian Yu," Oliver said by way of explanation. "A.R.G.U.S. found me and I had to negotiate my way to freedom since Amanda Waller was intent on me becoming her indentured servant again."

"Man, I can't believe she and Ra's are alive again," Diggle muttered even as he pulled Oliver into a brotherly hug.

"Let's just be glad that Ra's is fixated on Batman and not me in this new world," Oliver said with a tired smile.

"Kate got in contact with us, she woke up where she used to train," Sara said as she hugged Oliver as well. "She's back in Gotham and has talked her cousin into letting her help. From the sound of it, he's actually worse than a certain archer in the categories of brooding and accepting help."

"Sounds like the perfect kind of mentor," Oliver said blandly. Sara rolled her eyes as Curtis shook Oliver's hand followed by Rene. Oliver's gaze went to the last two people in the room. "Samantha," he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He looked around, eyes narrowing in suspicion even as his stomach curdled in dread. "Where's William?"

"He was kidnapped, Ollie," Laurel answered for Samantha, who was still staring at Oliver in shock. "John Byrne was recently paroled and wants revenge. Since he couldn't get to you…"

"He goes after my son," Oliver finished grimly. "The downside to being the only hero who's identity is known." That was another change; in this world, Oliver had revealed his identity to the world in order to testify against Ricardo Diaz, who's lawyer was smarter than your average bootlicker and had pointed out that the 'apprehending officer' was a vigilante whose identity was unknown and Diaz had the right to face his accuser. Unwilling to let Diaz back on the streets with his designer drugs, designer weapons, and fingers dipped into nearly every criminal enterprise in the city, Oliver had unmasked in a session of the court. By then, the Dominator invasion had happened and both Green Arrow and Black Canary had received pardons for their criminal actions. After the Dominator invasion they had been hailed as heroes. "Any leads?"

"We're searching for possible locations now," Laurel said quietly.

"I already know where he's taking William," Oliver replied. "People like Byrne are predictable. They want to wipe the slate clean when they start again. He can only do that in the place where it all ended for him. The place I took him down."

"On it," Curtis said, rushing to the computers. The others followed at a more sedate pace behind Oliver, who admittedly didn't remember the exact location he had taken Byrne down at (it had been one takedown over seven years ago). It didn't take long for Curtis to access S.C.P.D. records and establish when and where John Byrne had been apprehended. "Got the location."

"I'll call Thea and Roy," Laurel said quietly. "They're at the Queen Mansion with the police, just in case a ransom call is made," she added, seeing Oliver's confused expression. Oliver nodded at that and she stepped away to make the call (and to no doubt tell them that Oliver was alive, after all). Oliver, meanwhile, took note that his uniform was gone. Well, that was alright; he had others, and to be honest he hadn't liked the uniform from Earth-2's Green Arrow. He preferred his old Hood uniform or the one he'd worn for years five through seven of his journey as a hero.

Oliver turned to see the others looking at him expectantly. His lips quirked as he said, "Suit up."

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter.

I hope people enjoyed the details of my own retcon. Obviously, some things HAD to change considering it's a world with all the heroes on the same Earth, so retconning was inevitable. But how it was handled in-universe is… lacking. Also, since E-38's Batman was presumably still active, he's the one who survived the Merging. While I enjoy Batwoman to a degree, I've always found the idea that Bruce would abandon his city while still able to fight for it offensive. But that's typical of the CW.

Alright, now for the 'fun stuff'.

What the FUCK were the writers thinking with that blatantly Olicity-shilling, Black Canary-hating, and 'the fans are too fucking stupid to think for themselves' contrived bullshit series retcon they pulled in the finale? First off, there's no way there's gonna be twenty years of NO CRIME in Star City, regardless of Oliver's sacrifice in Crisis. Evil NEVER DIES, it simply changes form. Hell, Byrne popping up and kidnapping William is fucking PROOF that evil will never end and the city will always need its heroes.

Second, Guggenheim's pander-scent was all over this finale with Earth-Prime Laurel remaining dead and them keeping Earth-2 Laurel. It makes NO FUCKING SENSE and it was clearly contrived because they knew Earth-Prime Laurel, if she were made Black Canary, would never go to the future but remain in her own time to fight corruption there. As I expected, everyone but Laurel gets a second chance since they even brought Moira and Tommy back to life. Hell, I'd bet Samantha is alive and has custody of William since Oliver would want his son safe and happy in this new world.

Third, the pander-scent continued with the fact that the Felicity from the timeline that GOT ERASED FROM EXISTENCE ALONG WITH ALL OF EARTH-1 showed up in the afterlife where Oliver was supposedly finally at peace. That entire scene was the worst kind of shilling I have ever seen in all my years watching television and proved without a doubt that the Arrowverse is not about superheroes, it's about relationships and who is fucking who. Fuck that.

Fourth, some people might wonder what I mean when I say 'Black Canary-hating'. I'll explain. In 8x09 (the backdoor pilot), Dinah Drake says she found no trace of herself or Black Canary in history. Meaning BLACK CANARY altogether didn't exist. This was further cemented by the revelation that Earth-Prime Laurel (who was probably still killed by Darhk to punish Quentin) was married to Tommy, implying she was more interested in settling down rather than ensuring justice was done. Obviously, I have changed this nonsense in this story.

Okay, I think I got everything off my chest. Others have already addressed whether Diggle can safely call himself Oliver's brother (I think Barry deserves that title more).