Hello everyone, how are you? In regards to Oliver reversing a lot of things in his and his loved ones lives while restarting the world, I'm 50/50 on him not bringing back Laurel. On the one hand, I really like Laurel 2.0. She's tremendously cool in my opinion, a real bada** and warrior when she's written with respect, and from my personal perspective, a superior version of Laurel.
On the other hand, Laurel probably should've been brought back as well and not just the others so that she could receive a second chance at life. And it would've also been a way to make up to nearly the entire "Arrow" fandom for killing her off.
And so I think the best thing to have done would've been to merge her with Laurel 2.0, enabling the former to reach her full potential while giving the fans the best of both worlds. And this is what this one shot is for and is also partly inspired by a conversation between Aragorn II Elessar about merging the two Laurels.
As Oliver Queen, now the all-powerful Spectre, unleashed the raw, pure white energy into the skies above to reset the universe, while also merging it with the universes of his friends and their allies, he thought about everything he wanted to reset in order to create a new timeline that was better than ever for his family. He'd already decided, first and foremost, to ensure that his children's futures were full of light and because of that, and also to ensure the fulfillment of his mission and the cementing of his legacy, used his awesome powers to completely erase crime from his city, present and future.
Plus he maintained the defeat and arrest of Grant Wilson and further cemented the now non dystopian future by rewriting fate to maintain his created fact that no villain, whether it'd be Grant, Eden Corps, the Ninth Circle, nor any other enemy would ever destroy his city or ruin his legacy. Not in the future, or the far future.
He also changed other things for the better such as, for example, rewriting Helena Bertinelli's history so that her family was never criminal and she herself never became the villainous Hunters. And there was also him replenishing Rory Regan's rags with its supernatural powers, restoring the Queen Mansion, his family's home for generations, and other positive changes as well.
The most important thing however for him, besides making sure his family and city's present and future was as close to a utopia as he could, was by giving those he'd lost another chance at life. And so he began the process of reviving all of those who'd died, including Moira, who he was able to save from the Mirakuru Slade this time around, Tommy, Quentin, and even his other half-sister Emiko while also rewriting fate so that she never fell into darkness.
There was one fate in particular that he wanted to rewrite, and that was the fate of Laurel Lance, his Laurel. Approximately four years ago she'd been tragically murdered and it was not a fate she deserved. For years he wished he could've done something, anything, to have saved her life. For her to still be with him, Thea, the team, and the rest of their loved ones. And now he was poised to do something about it.
There was one major complication however. The presence of Earth-2 Laurel Lance. Bringing back his Laurel could potentially restructure history in such a way that it could erase her doppelganger's presence from the timeline and he could not do that in good conscience. She had put in tremendous effort towards redemption and had managed to become a valuable member of their team and someone he could also consider a close friend. There was just no way he could take any of that away like it never happened.
As he continued to restore and merge the Earths he'd chosen to merge while the Paragons were still helping in this effort, an idea suddenly came to him and he decided to carry it out. The plan was to merge the Laurels, thereby giving them both a full chance at what life had to offer but as one single person.
As he used his will to merge the Laurels, he created a new history for them in which this Laurel would have the same history and life she'd lived on what was originally Earth-1, albeit with a bit of the rebellious nature and bad decisions the Earth-2 version went through due to his disappearance resulting from his trip on the Queen's Gambit. She'd even used her beauty selfishly a few times to get what she wanted. But she would not fall so far or, outside of some instances of petty theft, have a real criminal record.
Instead, in this new history, her father would move quickly to snap her out of the wrong path through a mixture of tough love and gentle support, the resulting wakeup call causing her to clean up her act, study hard and eventually go on to make it to law school where it would allow her to obtain a career as a lawyer for the disenfranchised as head of CNRI and soon as the assistant D.A. of Star City and, since Oliver as Spectre ensured she did not die by Darhk's hand, she would next go on to be promoted to head D.A.
Spectre Oliver also rewrote his and hers love lives in that while they did have a strong romantic relationship in the beginning and were in love with each other, even being the it couple among their social circles while their romance lasted for a few years, they would, after some time, begin to drift apart since they wanted different things.
Later on, after a moment of weakness in which he slept with Samantha Clayton, who later became pregnant with their son and moved away to Central City, something which he was unaware of and thought she'd lost the baby due to his mother's manipulations, Oliver confessed his indiscretion which led to them breaking up and it would take a while before she forgave him. Following her forgiveness, they'd go on to form a platonic, yet very strong, friendship between them.
Furthermore, Spectre Oliver also added to her story the fact that he'd gotten together with Sara, realizing that she was the love of his life, and then, following their ill-fated voyage on the Gambit with his father and during their missing years away, but after she'd gotten her life together following Quentin's intervention, Laurel ended up getting together with his best friend Tommy and they formed a strong, committed relationship. It also benefited Tommy by having him grow up and mature from the irresponsible playboy he once was.
And when Oliver in this new timeline returned home to begin his crusade, he showed genuine pleasure that his close friend and best friend had found each other and were happily thriving together, giving them his blessing but with a bit of a shovel talk for Tommy, which the other man had no problem with. And with all of this added to Laurel's love life, Spectre Oliver effectively erased the love triangle between Laurel, Tommy, and himself and the resulting drama it came with.
Definitely a change for the better as far as he was concerned and his new love life involved him getting back with Sara immediately following her return during the second year of his crusade, their relationship resuming until her tragic death the following year at Malcolm Merlyn's hands. Though she was revived a year later through the use of a Lazarus Pit courtesy of her sister.
As for Laurel's heroism, Spectre Oliver ensured that she was present in Central City during the Particle Accelerator explosion, just like the Earth-2 version was, during which she received her tremendously powerful Canary Cry, a cry so powerful that it could implode buildings. And he had her maintain her extremely advanced martial arts skills and high level combat moves while giving Earth Prime Laurel the same trajectory as the Earth-2 version in regards to how and where she received her training. And shortly after her sister's murder, she decided to take up the former's mantle but with her own identity, the Siren Of Justice, Siren for short.
After she revived her sister, who was proud of Laurel's work and later decided to change her own identity to the White Canary to symbolize herself having a fresh start, Laurel, with her sister's blessing, officially took the latter's Canary mantle but renamed herself as the Black Canary and did all she could to protect and fight for her city, both as the city's most high profile lawyer and as a hero who protected its streets by night.
And she and Tommy, the latter not dying since Spectre Oliver erased the Undertaking and also changed things so that his past self stopped Malcolm beforehand, would marry in this new reality while Tommy would fully support his wife in her roles as D.A. and the Black Canary.
Spectre Oliver also decided that Laurel should retain her Earth-2 personality, including her sassiness but in a good way, her no nonsense attitude, her fierceness, and her edginess but all of it mingled with her Earth-1 personality in regards to her strong desire for justice and to help people, her genuine caring and comforting nature towards her loved ones and those she helped, and her compassion towards all who needed it.
Satisfied with his work and the new reality he'd created for the Laurels, but with both of them now one person, Oliver finished his work and died peacefully in the arms of his wife Sara Lance-Queen and his fellow hero, mentee, and one of his many brothers in all but blood, Barry Allen aka the Flash.
Right before he died, he charged them with protecting this new world and all of those he cared about, to continue to be the heroes he knew they were, and asked his wife to ensure that both William and Mia, her being currently pregnant with the latter, would always know how much he loved them both and that bringing them into the world was his greatest achievement.
Following these events, and at Oliver's funeral, the revived and merged Laurel Lance, having learned about her original fate, would feel extremely blessed and grateful that Oliver had given her this second chance at life and had also done the same for her doppelganger. Having learned however that the alterations of her history and why her personality was somewhat different because she and said doppelganger were now one took some getting used to.
In addition, a part of her would always be saddened that things had not worked out for herself and Oliver since she really had loved him deeply, but she was very happy with her husband, who was currently beside her as they both mourned the man who'd impacted both of their lives, and thankful that Oliver had given them the chance to have a good life together.
She would also be eternally grateful that her father had been restored to her after being told of his original fate. At least this time around, Dinah Drake, who she never went to war with and who served as a liaison only between Team Arrow and the SCPD, and herself were able to rescue Quentin successfully before Diaz could cause his fatal injuries. She would, however, never regret using her cry to blast him into the river for laying one hand on her father.
And so Dinah Laurel Lance, once the Siren Of Justice and now the Black Canary, would continue to honor and maintain Oliver's legacy, would always be there for her sister and her niece and nephew, and she would forever serve her city as she was always destined to while enjoying the best that life had to offer.
The End
In regards to Laurel's rebellious past and using her beauty to get what she wanted, that was a major part of Laurel 2.0's past and therefore a part of the merge between the Laurels. I learned about it from Wiki.
Plus Sara being Mia's mother in this universe, besides shipping and preferring Canarrow and not Olicity but nonetheless tolerating the latter ship, also serves as a part of the merge. Also according to Wiki, Earth-2 Sara had gotten pregnant, making her sister an aunt. But there was no info as to who the father was. For this story, it's Oliver but with Sara having gotten pregnant during S7's events. And Laurel 2.0 is now once more an aunt.
I hope I was respectful to both Laurels and hopefully did them justice.
Have a wonderful day.
