Back once again for the third chapter! Before we begin I think I should answer a question. Looking at the reviews its clear that Evelyn's appearance in my story is quite unexpected. The reason for this is because her story is an open hole. As of the Season 5 finale, that was the last anyone saw of her. Come season 6 and she gets two off hand mentions, the first being in the premier when Slade says that Nyssa is going to find her but there isn't a single mention of her fate even when Nyssa returned later that season, still no mention of her. Even her actress had no idea whether or not she will return to Arrow.
With that in mind, this chapter will delve into what Evelyn has been up in Season 6 and how she survived the Lian Yu.
Chapter 3: Reconciliation
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Central City Motel
After Evelyn passed out, Oliver took her back to the car and put her in a passenger seat before driving her to the nearest motel. After paying for a room and covertly sneaking the unconscious girl into it, Oliver ducked out to the closed nearby pharmacy and stole a large array of medical supplies ranging from tampons and gauze to heavy pain medication and stitches as well as a change of clothes that were Evelyn's size as far as Oliver remembered.
When Oliver returned to the motel room, Evelyn was still passed on the bed and Oliver took this time to analyze the young girl's wounds. The first thing Oliver noticed was that her previously hygienic body was covered in dirt and it looked like she hadn't showered in months. What parts of her body that were exposed by the ripped clothing had either scars or burns on them and Oliver guessed that they were the result of the explosion on Lian Yu. As Oliver ran his hand over her right arm, it tensed up and a mark of pain crossed over her face despite the fact that she was still out. Oliver then guessed that perhaps her arm was broken. As Oliver began treating what wounds her could he silently wondered how she had gotten all of these wounds. Some of them looked old enough to be from Lian Yu but a great deal of them looked recent.
As Oliver continued to work on her, Evelyn suddenly began to move and thrash about. Oliver dropped his work and moved to her side. At first Oliver was confused by her actions. Clearly she wasn't seizing but then he heard her voice and he knew exactly what was happening.
She was having a nightmare.
"No, No, No… Please don't leave me…" Evelyn mumbled.
"Evelyn?" Oliver asked trying to wake her from her dream.
"Mom! Please don't go!" Evelyn begged.
"Evelyn, please wake up." Oliver pleaded as he shook her.
"Mommy… I need you…" Evelyn began crying.
"Evelyn!" Oliver yelled. His words were enough to wake Evelyn from her nightmare panting and breathing heavily. However as soon as she saw Oliver she started to hyperventilate and tried unsuccessfully to pull herself away only to fall from the bed on onto the floor.
Oliver rushed to her side and helped her back up to the bed. This action seemed to calm Evelyn's hyperventilation however she still looked on edge as if worried that Oliver might strike at her at any moment.
"Are you ok Evelyn?" Oliver asked putting her hand on her shoulder.
Evelyn's eyes darted from his arm to his eyes. She felt am urge to speak, to answer him but when she tried to find the words, her mouth ran dry. Instead she just nodded.
Oliver gave her a quick but warm smile as she lay on the bed. "Good then. Your body is covered in wounds and I'd like to take the time to look at them. Make sure none of your wounds are infected or life threatening."
Evelyn finally found herself able to speak though she was surprised by Oliver's sudden care for her health. Her training from Chase and Talia was telling her that Oliver was playing with her before killing her. But her instincts were instead telling her that such a plan wasn't Oliver's way so she decided not to fight him on this.
After what felt like several hours of silent first aid but was more likely on one hour, Oliver had finished his work cleaning up her wounds.
"Alright, all good here." Oliver spoke finally. "Now that I'm done fixing the important injuries, you should take a shower. Take time to clean off your body. Don't worry I got you a change of clothes for after.
For the first time since the two had entered the motel, Evelyn actually looked somewhat happy. Oliver guessed that the off of a warm shower given how dirty she was probably seemed like a miracle to her. Plus the fact that Oliver had gone out and gotten her a change of clothes was another surprise to the young archer.
Eventually she exited the shower having changed into the clean clothes Oliver got her. It felt a little tight for her but she wasn't going to complain. Then another wave of silence passed over the two former teammates. Both of them had questions that they wanted the other to answer but they both felt awkward asking it.
Eventually Oliver was the one to break the silence again. "What happened to you after Lian Yu?"
"You mean after you left me to die on that hellhole?" Evelyn snapped however she face was quickly mired in shame.
"I didn't want to leave you but I was sure that you were dead. Your cage and been practically vaporized by the explosion so when we found it like that, we'd assumed that Chase had killed you when he detonated the dead man switch." Oliver defended.
"Chase is gone?" Evelyn asked a ray of hope in her voice.
"Yes he's gone." Oliver answered. "He committed suicide to detonate the island."
Evelyn nodded silently as she leaned back. "He left me to die. He knew I was trapped in the cage and he was going to let me die just to get to you. Bastard."
Oliver silently agreed with Evelyn's assessment. Chase had gone so far off the deep end in his misguided revenge against him. "How did you escape the Island?"
Evelyn sighed before continuing. "Cayden James came to the Island and gave Laurel and I a ride off it in exchange for our support in fighting you."
"I don't remember fighting you this year." Oliver pointed out. "Why didn't you?"
Evelyn started to curl up in a ball as tears threatened to escape her eyes. "Cayden James and Diaz informed us about what happened on the Island. They told us about what happened to Samantha. Then something in me snapped. Every time I heard William's name or saw his picture in the news, all I saw was me."
"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.
"Damien Darhk killed my parents. Left me alone in this world and now I had done the same to him. I had played a part in getting Samantha killed." Evelyn began crying. "I started fighting because I wanted to make sure that no one else lost their family and I did exactly that! And that wasn't even the worst part."
"What could be worse?" Oliver aked.
"When I got back to Star City, one of the first things I did was go back to my family's old home to find someone else there. I snuck into the house and stole back my mom's journal. It had her deepest thoughts and she had always kept it with her since I was born. She promised that when I graduated that the journal would be mine to look through. After everything I lost I felt it would be good to have something to remember her by."
Evelyn took a pause and tears started to flow down her cheeks. "Then I began to read it starting right before my family was taken by HIVE. I wanted to know why we were involved with them and what I found made me second-guess everything I knew. The reason my parents went to Darhk was because of me. My grades had plummeted last year they went to him because they thought he could help me. All this time I'd been mad at you for leaving my parents to die when I was the one who dragged them to HIVE in the first place! Their deaths were my fault!"
By now Evelyn was balling her eyes out with her head resting on her knees as her whole body shook. Oliver slowly moved onto the bed and put his arm around her. Oliver felt somewhat awkward doing this, not just because of their difficult past but also because Oliver wasn't big on physical affection. But he knew that Evelyn was distraught and she needed someone to lean on. So he pushed the awkwardness aside and let her continue to cry while holding her close. "Shhh… Evelyn, you're ok now. It's ok sweetie."
Eventually Oliver's words calmed Evelyn enough to stop her crying and she regained some control of her composure, enough for Oliver to continue his questions. "What happened after that?"
"With how I was feeling, I knew that I didn't want to fight you anymore. Seeing what I had done, I felt so much guilt not just for Samantha, but for unfairly blaming you for my parents and for everything else I'd done. I tried to leave but Cayden James wouldn't hear it. He sent Vigilante after me."
"Dear god." Oliver whispered. "How did you escape?"
"I was lucky being small." Evelyn answered. "I could get into places he couldn't and hide out until he left. After a week he stopped chasing me. Hasn't shown up since."
"Vigilante's dead Evelyn." Oliver answered somberly. "Turns out Vigilante was Dinah's old not so dead ex partner. He was spying on Cayden James trying to take him down before Black Siren killed him on James's orders."
"Can't say I'm sad he's gone. But I feel there's more to the story." Evelyn said looking at Oliver.
"There is. But for now we have to finish yours." Oliver replied. "So continue."
"When I finally got away from Vigilante, I wasn't sure what to do. My home still had that new family living there and all my things were gone so I moved around a lot. Most nights I ended up on the streets scavenging for food in order to survive the day." Evelyn shuddered as she continued. "A couple of times these gang guys tried to grab me. I don't know what they wanted me for but whenever they showed up I would move to a new place. Most of my new scars are a result of those assholes."
"Wow…" Oliver replied. "And I thought I had a bad year."
"Yeah I read what was happening to you in newspaper trash I found." Evelyn stated. "I'm sorry about what James and Diaz did to you."
"Thank you. But it wasn't your fault." Oliver said rubbing her shoulder. "I'm just glad you got out before the next round of violence began."
A comfortable silence then passed over the two of them as they both lay close to each other. Eventually Oliver sighed and broke the silence.
"Evelyn…" Oliver began. "I know things are significantly different than last time we spoke but after the year I had I need to know something. Why did you betray the team?"
Oliver felt Evelyn flinch at the question and begin to slide away from him. He knew that the question would be awkward for her but after what happened with Diggle, Rene, Curtis and Dinah, he needed to know what had pushed Evelyn away.
Evelyn took a breath and after a minute began. "When my parents died I needed someone to blame, Darhk for killing them and you for abandoning them."
"I didn't want to leave them behind." Oliver defended. "I tried to save them."
"I know now you did. But I was angry at everyone and I wasn't seeing clearly." Evelyn replied. "When I went to work for you I told myself that you weren't the one who pulled the trigger. You hadn't killed them and when you and the team worked to take care of me I began to realize that blaming you was wrong."
"But then you heard about the List." Oliver said somberly.
"Yeah…" Evelyn replied. "Knowing that you were the Hood hurt me more than you know. I tried to put it past me. To see you as the hero that the city sees you as but I just couldn't. I had friends whose parents were on the List, people you killed. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to continue blaming you for my parents dying."
Evelyn took a breath before continuing. "And then Chase came. He knew who I was under the mask and kept feeding me crap telling me that you had killed my parents and that the city needed saving from you. He made it so easy to hate you, so easy to blame you for everything bad that had happened to me. It was that hate that led me to help him break you. I wanted you to suffer like I did. But even after all that I still felt empty inside. Chase convinced me that killing you once and for all would be the end of my pain. But he was wrong. All I feel now is pain and regret. Especially when I learned about my parents joining Darhk." Evelyn started crying again.
"Evelyn, you aren't to blame for your parent's death." Oliver affirmed. "Darhk was the one who killed them. All your parents wanted to do was help you and they got suckered by a monster. You couldn't have done anything to stop it."
"But my grades…" Evelyn began with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Darhk would have found some other way to recruit them. You aren't responsible or to blame for what happened to Darhk. He made the choice to kill them, not you." Oliver assured. "Here's what I know Evelyn. You're a strong, beautiful girl who has done everything she can to make her family proud of her. Everything you have done had been for them even when you sided with Chase. And do you know what? After everything you've done, I forgive you."
Evelyn's face displayed pure shock. She never expected Oliver would ever forgive her for her actions. But those words finally got through to the former hero. She smiled her first real smile in months and dove herself into a giant hug with the former Green Arrow. She was still shaking like a leaf as she muttered out a series of thank yous to Oliver. Oliver felt a smile cross his face as he held the young girl in his arms. Despite everything that had happened, he truly believed that Evelyn could be redeemed and seeing how much she had changed in the last few months, Oliver truly believed that Evelyn was now completely on the path to redemption.
"Evelyn, no matter what happens to us now, I'll always be there for you." Oliver promised.
"Thank you." Evelyn whispered with a smile on her face and tear streaming down.
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Star City Church
The heroes of Earth 1 and Earth 38 had covertly gathered in a Church for Oliver's funeral near the old Queen Mansion that the Queen family had attended in their. All the heroes of Teams Flash, Legends and Supergirl had arrived to pay their respects to the departed hero and friend. Because no body had been recovered, the casket was empty, just like the last time Oliver had died.
As everyone got seated in the church, Sara and Thea were off to the side preparing for their eulogy speeches. "Thea I'm not sure I should be up there talking about Ollie." Sara said.
"Sara what are talking about?" Thea wondered. "You were Ollie's oldest friend. You should be the one to tell them about your time with him."
"But he was your family." Sara countered. "You should be the one to speak about him. Not me. You were his sister, he loved you."
"And he loved you too Sara." Thea countered back. "Ollie always loved you even after everything you two went through. There is so much about my brother that everyone here should know about him. These are stories only you can tell."
Thea's words gave Sara the confidence she needed. She hugged Thea tightly as the young woman went up the altar and gave her speech. As opposed to what Sara had planned to say, Thea's eulogy was about a different Oliver than they all knew. The Oliver Thea mentioned was a carefree, joking, paparazzi punching but above all else a happier Oliver than before. As Sara looked at the crowd of heroes present, she could see a huge amount of surprise on many of the guest's faces. While everyone present was aware of Oliver being the Green Arrow, they all knew Ollie as the always alert, cold and serious man who led them into battle against an army of foes without showing so much as a hint of fear. Hearing how their now deceased cynical leader was once a carefree party boy really shook the worlds of everyone in the room. Sara could see it on their faces, they were all asking the same question. What the hell had Olive gone through to cause such a change in personality?
And now it was Sara's turn to tell them how. She silently walked up to the altar and took Thea's place after she finished. Fiddling with the mike, she began to speak. "I think I speak for almost everyone in this room when I say that at some point or another Oliver Queen saved each of our lives. But as Thea's told us, Ollie wasn't always the man we knew recently. The island changed us both in ways that we didn't want seen by others. Ollie and I didn't want the world and our families to see us as broken or depressed even if we were. The Island was called Lian Yu, in Mandarin it means Purgatory and it certainly was an apt name. Every day on that island was a fight to survive and that fight… forced us both to do things that made us hate ourselves, actions that we wished we could have taken back. However in spite of all of that, when I saw Oliver again for the first time in years, what I saw surprised me. Despite all the darkness that Lian Yu forces us into, Ollie still emerged from his crucible as a man willing to put his life on the line for others, something we have all tried to emulate. Even when we have all been at our lowest, Oliver saw the hero in us that maybe we couldn't see ourselves. To me Oliver Queen was more than just the Green Arrow, he was the best hero I've ever known."
By the end of Sara eulogy, she had been crying and slowly walked herself back to her seat where Ava was waiting for her. Her girlfriend put her hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. Sara was relieved to have Ava here with her. Ava helped to remind her that she did see the hero inside her that Oliver had as well, it gave her the strength to keep going despite having lost her best friend.
As the service went on, others went up and told their own stories about their interactions with Oliver Queen. Barry retold the story of how Oliver had shot him in the back with his arrows, a story that got a laugh out of everyone as well as a silent acknowledgement that such an act was totally an Oliver move. Felicity retold the story of how she first came to meet Oliver when he brought a bullet-ridden laptop to her office in Queen Consolidated and told her that she spilled coffee on it.
As the service ended, the pallbearers took Oliver's casket to the cemetery and buried him in the grave next to his father and mother. Sara, in a last act of honor to the Green Arrow took Oliver's bow, took aim and released an arrow. The arrow screamed through the air before landing dead center in the fountain outside the Queen Mansion. It was to be a modest monument to the hero of Star City, a memorial to the man who gave up his life for his city.
Following this the group began to disband and head home however Sara, Kara, Barry, Diggle and Felicity stayed behind for a brief moment in the mansion. Sara pulled out a set of glasses and an old bottle of bourbon. She poured one for each of the heroes and they all said one final toast to their departed friend.
As the last of the heroes left the grounds on their way home, Kara began thinking back to her last interaction with Oliver. The last time the two of them had spoken alone had been at Barry and Iris's wedding reception shortly after Felicity's loud decline of Oliver's proposal.
"Oliver I don't want to marry you!" Kara heard Felicity practically yell turning the heads of everyone there to the arguing couple.
Kara saw Oliver looked quite embarrassed as the attention was now on him. As Felicity went over to sit in a corner, Oliver slipped out the back door.
"Wow didn't see that coming." Kara remarked.
"Oh jeez, that's my fault." Barry sighed.
"Uh… What?" Kara asked.
"Earlier today I told Oliver that he and Felicity could have what Iris and I have. Guess it didn't go as well I hoped it would." Barry answered.
"How long have the two of them been dating?" Kara asked.
Barry looked confused as he tried to get an answer. "I'm not sure actually. The broke up two years ago when Felicity learned that Oliver had a son and didn't tell her and I think they only recently restarted their relationship again. After everything Oliver went through to get her back. I guess I just hoped that they would get their happy ending."
"Should we go after him?" Kara asked.
"I don't think so." Barry hesitated. "I think Oliver just wants to be alone now."
"I may not know Oliver like you do but no one should be alone after something like that." Kara retorted. "Maybe I should go after him, you know make sure he's alright."
"I sincerely doubt he's alright." Barry answered. "But it probably couldn't hurt to make sure that he knows that he's not alone."
Kara took that as her cue and hugged her friend before heading out. Kara took off in an instant and began looking for her friend in the city. Listening for him was impossible as Oliver was clearly being silent right now. However her eyesight eventually helped pick him up at a small bridge overlooking the pier a few blocks from the party.
Kara slowly descended from her flight and landed far enough away from him that she wouldn't startle him. Even still he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. "I expected that Barry would be the one to chase me down." Oliver said not even looking back.
"What… How… How did you do that?" Kara asked dumbfounded.
"More an instinct than anything else. Leftover skills from my past." Oliver answered.
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Kara asked.
Oliver smiled a half smile. "Not really teachable. You'll learn it through experience."
"You ok?" Kara asked in a soft tone.
Oliver sighed. "Not really."
"You want to talk about it?" Kara asked.
Oliver sighed again and began to speak. "Felicity and I have been through some rough patches over the years but we always came back to each other. After everything I've lost, I felt that we deserved that chance for our happy story for once. Especially with everything William lost."
"William, your son right?" Kara asked. "Barry mentioned that the two of you broke up over him. Can you explain that?"
Oliver looked somewhat annoyed. "Really hoping Barry wouldn't mention that."
"I'm sorry I crossed a line." Kara quickly replied trying to dig herself out of her hole.
"Well cat's out of the bag so might as well tell you." Oliver sighed. "I discovered that I had a son with a woman I had a relationship with years ago. She made it clear that if I wanted to see him then I had to keep it a secret from everyone. Out of respect for her and because I wanted to know my son I agreed. Eventually he was kidnapped and Felicity learned about him."
"Oh…" Kara said.
"Yeah…" Oliver replied. "She didn't take it too well. She was upset that I never told her the truth about William and that I didn't lean on her when I was dealing with it. She told me that she believed I was incapable of leaning on people and instead I would push them away."
"Oliver that's not fair to you." Kara replied. "I may not know what you've been through but I know trauma and it leaves its marks. From what I know of you, you've dealt with more trauma that anyone else I know. It's bound to affect your ability to make connections with people."
Oliver looked somewhat shocked. "I certainly didn't expect you to say that. Most people would say I screwed up and had amends to make."
Kara gave him a soft smile. "When we suffer it changes us Oliver. You know this. There's nothing we can do about it but try and get better. Sometimes we fail but we just have to keep trying."
Oliver gave Kara back a smile. Kara continued talking. "So why the whole argument tonight?"
"Well Felicity and I eventually got back together. Tonight I wanted to quietly propose to her. I told her that I wanted us to be up there like Iris and Barry but instead she tells me that she doesn't believe in marriage and wants us to stay at where we are. I mean I love her but we can't just stay in this stage of our relationship forever can we?" Oliver wondered.
Kara thought for a moment before answering. "Oliver I don't know. I've never been where you are right now. But you're right. You need to decide if where you're at is enough for you or whether you want something more. Either way you have to make that decision."
Oliver took a breath. "Thanks Kara."
Kara smiled her sweet and infectious smile. "Come on give a hug."
"I'm not really a hug guy." Oliver said smiling back knowing it was futile.
"Come on please." Kara mock pleaded.
Oliver laughed as he let Kara drag him into a sweet and comforting hug.
Kara truly loved that memory. It was the last time she ever got to speak to Oliver alone and she had to admit that she enjoyed it. After the Earth X invasion, she saw Oliver break up with Felicity over the fact that they were at two different points in the relationship and that they couldn't continue like this together. Felicity for all her faults in relationships took the breakup well. She understood his reasoning and accepted it without argument or making a scene. Plus she continued to stay on the team and not let her previous relationship affect her judgment for the team.
As Kara took one last look at the headstone before returning to hero Earth, she remembered the different side of Olive that she saw that day. Oliver looked to everyone like this intractable, cold and serious hero but beyond that was actually a sweet, kind and vulnerable man and she was happy to get the chance to see it.
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S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City
Oliver and Evelyn both promised to stay close and protect each other as they worked to make a new life for themselves. Because both of them were considered criminals Oliver knew that no place in the US would be safe for them for long. Eventually someone would find out about Oliver being alive and William would get dragged back into the fray. Oliver had considered moving to a foreign country but Evelyn only spoke English and the same risk still applied to most any nation they lived in.
However eventually a genius idea struck Oliver. On earth their presence would be in constant danger, on this earth anyway. After doing his best to explain the multiverse to Evelyn, they had both agreed to steal one of Cisco's breach devices and travel to Earth 38 and create new lives there and because no one would be looking for them there, it was a chance for the two former heroes to have a second chance at life.
The two former vigilantes had made their way to S.T.A.R. Labs for their next move. Because of the funeral for Oliver in Star City, Team Flash was out of town and S.T.A.R. Labs was abandoned. With minimum security, Oliver and Evelyn easily snuck their way into the lab and found Cisco's workshop and with it, two breach devices. Remembering how Kara worked hers from the Dominator invasion, Oliver activated the device and opened a breach to Earth 38, or so he hoped.
Turning to Evelyn, her face was a mixture of shock and fear. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Oliver asked.
"It's our only chance to have normal lives again." Evelyn said, her voice now filled with confidence. "Let's go."
Oliver took Evelyn's hand as they both walked through the breach and in less than a second in another universe.
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Earth 38, National City
As the two reached the end of the breach and exited onto another Earth they both took a second to gather their bearings and make sure that the supplies were all still there.
"We all good?" Evelyn asked.
"Everything is still here. Let's make sure we're on the right Earth." Oliver said.
They had both landed in an alleyway near what seemed like a major highway. As they exited onto the main sidewalk, they saw a magazine stand a quickly swiped a copy before anyone noticed.
Looking at the title, both Oliver and Evelyn were certain that they were exactly where wanted to be.
Catco Magazine; Supergirl Saves National City.
ARROW