Hello everyone! Wow, it's been a crazy last few episodes, huh? I'm going insane because I need to know everything now.

Like I said before, this chapter is short and more of a transition chapter than anything else. Yeah... it's really really short. I apologize for the shortness, but I just really want to get on to season 2 and out of season 1 and start getting back to more action-y things. Yeah... uh... okay.

I don't own anything besides my stuffed animal Grace and my iPod I bought off my brother.

Five months had passed. It was now early October, and things had settled down for Starling. Recovery efforts were still happening in the Glades, though they still had little effect. Many people were still outraged at the event, and at the Hood's lack of stopping it. Not that Oliver could blame them. Every day, he blamed himself.

Which was why he had gone away for a few months. The Hood had failed, and Starling had no more use for him. Oliver was grieving; despite his demeanor, Tommy's death was still affecting him strongly. He couldn't get over letting his friend down. Even in his last moments, Oliver had lied to Tommy.

But now he was back, in full swing. He saw that Starling actually needed the Hood, now more than ever. Businesses were still corrupt, but the major crime rate was on the rise as well. The cops were doing nothing, whether from laziness or, more probably, not having the right tools to make a difference.

Starling needed its vigilante back, although Oliver knew the vigilante would never return. Now, though…

Now Starling would get a hero.

Oliver sat in the hospital, watching Roy and Thea through the door. He didn't know Roy's relationship to the girl in the bed (what was her name? Sin?), but that didn't mean he was going to let her waste away in a hospital under a pile of debt. That was the least he could do.

Sighing, he got up and began to walk away. A blond woman brushed past him, and he had to do a double take to realize Sara was back to check on her friend.

Sara. Sara was alive. After seeing her die twice, he had thought she was gone for good. Hell, he hadn't even told her family she had made it to the island. Just that she had gone under with The Queen's Gambit. Now she was back, but her family didn't even know it. Just him, Diggle and Felicity. He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around it.

He felt another person bump into him, and grew frustrated. It wasn't as though the hospital was that crowded. He turned around to tell the person to watch where they were walking, grabbing onto their arm.

"You should really watch where you're going," he said, a slight, mocking smile on his face. He looked down at the other young, blonde woman. His smile dropped. "Do I know you?" The girl yanked her arm out of Oliver's grasp and turned, heading the same direction as Sara.

He didn't bother following her. Even if her face rang some distant, familiar bell, he couldn't chase after her. He had been late to a lot of things lately. Discovering who someone was, whether they were or weren't important, wasn't worth the bad publicity again. Especially since it might be as simple as he ran past her in the street.

"What the hell is Oliver Queen doing here?" Artemis asked, bursting in on Sara and Sin. Sara stood up. The two women weren't exactly friends. Rather, they met through a friend (Sin) and had a mutual respect for each other.

"He's paying for Sin's medical expenses," Sara explained.

"I repeat. Why is he here?" Artemis asked, looking between the two other women. "The only reason I'm even here is because I thought he'd be at some gala or whatever."

"Artemis, it's not that big of a deal," Sin said.

"Not that big of a deal? The jackass ruined my life!" Artemis said. Sin frowned. She knew that Artemis hated Oliver, but she had never heard the story before. In fact, neither of them had. One day Artemis had just shown up, about a month or two ago and, although questions were asked, she was accepted by Sin and eventually Sara.

"Artemis, what the hell happened?" Sin asked, confusion on her face. Artemis gritted her teeth and turned, walking out the door and letting the door slam do all the talking for her. She half-expected to see Oliver there again, ready to corner her. To find out if she told anyone his secret within these past few months. Fortunately, he wasn't there, and she was able to leave the hospital in peace.

Yeah, like I said, short chapter... really really short... yeah.

Um, so not too much happened besides establishing a kind-of-friend relationship and moving into season 2 and a hint at Artemis' post-Triad life. I guess you can review on how you think the story is going? I dunno. NEXT CHAPTER will be good. I'm thinking of a nice cliff hanger for you all. AND A REALLY REALLY CUTE SCENE I'M FLAILING FROM IT. It's gonna be an Artemis-centric chapter so weeee.

SPEAKING OF REVIEWS Shoutout to arrowflash for reviewing all the time you awesome person you