The Five

Year Wait

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. This is a fairly different AU idea for Lian Yu that I don't think I've seen anywhere. Essentially, Oliver winds up on the island but its got a village there with no Edward Fyers or Slade Wilson, though it does have issues with Ivo and later Rieter. Robert survived and was picked up by a fishing trawler after a few days on a raft while Sara did the same with a piece of the Gambit until she got picked up by Nyssa. The island gets a fresh batch of extra supplies from the outside world every five years so Oliver has to wait that long before he can return home.

Summary: Its been five years since the sinking of the Queen's Gambit and Oliver Queen is finally going home.

Oliver had certainly never expected life to turn out the way it did when he got on the Queen's Gambit five years ago, but he could also certainly say he wouldn't do a thing to change it since the five years since the Gambit sank were some of the best times he'd ever experienced. Well outside of a few issues here and there involving Anthony Ivo and Baron Reiter anyway. Being taken in by the people of Lian Yu had led to the former playboy becoming a truly better person that his family would be proud of. The weight of not having the Queen name to deal with had been a huge breath of air for him and not having to deal with Laurel's blind pushyness was another nice thing to deal with. Even though it had been pointed out to him that he could have just manned up and ended it instead of doing what he did with her sister. Yao Fei and his twin daughters Shado and Mei, the Yamashiros, and Anatoly Knyazev had truly become good friends to him over the years he spent on the island.

He even wound up marrying Shado during his fifth year on the island and it had been one heck of a huge celebration as well. Sure things hadn't been so easy at first for him and he had to learn the way of Shengcun from Yao Fei since life on the island wasn't always easy but he pushed on and survived. The Chinese man was essentially the village leader and everybody loved the man and his daughters. Shadow's medicinal knowledge also helped a great deal for the people too while Mei helped to educate the youngsters there. Though for whatever reason, Akio Yamashiro still didn't quite grasp a lot of what she thought but he had a smart mind in his own way and his antics always managed to get Oliver to smile. The Queen Scion honestly saw the younger man as a little brother but could get stumped as Hell when he did something nobody honestly expected him to pull off.

His parents had wound up on the island several years before he did after they had fled Japan due to some trouble they were experiencing and while this was the last place they had expected to wind up, they had truly come to love the place and its people. Learning that Anatoly used to be the leader of the Russian Mob had been a huge surprise to the Billionaire Castaway but neither he nor anyone else cared about that since the Russian had left that life for something different and had found his way here. The man was a genuinely good guy to know and was something of a jack of trades much to his own surprise at times. He, along with Shado and Maseo had taught Oliver how to speak Russian, Mandarin, and Japanese. Which the boy formerly known as Ollie Queen had cherished a lot and he had even gained some medicinal knowledge from Shado as well.

Yao Fei and Shado also helped turn Oliver into an archer as well and it was certainly a damn good skill to have on the island. Not to mention some fighting skills he'd been able to learn that made him more than a match for anyone looking to stab him in the back. Something that had come in damn handy when Anthony Ivo and later Baron Reiter had been around and raising some Hell. Two men Oliver had personally took out himself and if it hadn't of been for Shado, the archer likely would have lost himself to a dark pit. When he had initially learned that it would be five years before he could return home, Oliver had been initially crushed at that since it would mean a lot of people back home thinking he was dead but as time went on that changed as he grew to love the place and its people. Though there was always that part of him that longed to return home and make amends with the Lance family and be re-united with his mother and sister. He and Shado had had long talks about her coming with him but since the island was home for her, she had never been able to give him a definitive answer until her father and sister talked to her about it.

A talk that had proved fruitful with the promise of her returning with him to the main land when the time came. But they weren't foolish to believe their union wouldn't cause problems back in Starling but they would deal with that as it happened. Mei also got Oliver to learn more about Shakespeare after she learned he'd never learned any of his work properly. Something he hadn't liked at first but gradually came to like the man's work and she'd also get him hooked on poetry as well. A thing her sister would be thankful for as he'd wind up using it at times to be romantic when the mood struck him. And while he actually came to love having long shaggy hair and a beard for awhile, Shado managed to talk him into keeping it trimmed so he didn't look like a cave man out right. The suggestion of doing a Van Dyke look with all the facial hair had been instantly turned down as well by Oliver since he didn't think that was an appealing look.

The day it was finally time for the island's fresh batch of supplies to arrive, Oliver had been helping out a few of the older villagers with a few of their errands when Akio came up to him in a rush and out of breath. "Alright buddy, just calm down and breathe okay?" Said Oliver with amusement in his voice.

After getting his breath out, the young man was able to tell his older brother what was going on and the man's eyes widened in surprise at hearing that. Immediately he handed over the errand he was on and told Akio where to take it and ran off to a cliff he knew of that had a pretty good view of the ocean as fast as he could. Once there, he saw with his own eyes that the ship was really on its way there and he couldn't help but be happy as can be to see it! Though a slight sense of sadness was also to be felt since he was pretty much going to be leaving a place he had come to see as home and all its people as family. But he wouldn't stay gone forever however as visits would have to be done to see them. Especially where Yao Fei and Mei were concerned since Shado would be coming with him. "Mom… Thea… Raisa… See you all soon..." Came the whispered words as he stood there watching the ship make its way to the dock.

Two Weeks Later

"In today's news that is honestly shocking to learn of, Oliver Queen, the son of Robert and Moira Queen has been brought home alive and well after being believed dead for the past five years since the sinking of the Queen's Gambit that also took the lives of the crew and Sara Lance. For some time it was believed Robert Queen had fallen the same fate until he managed to return home thanks to a fishing trawler. Oliver Queen was found on an island in the North China Sea known as Lian Yu when a supply ship that makes a visit every five years arrived with fresh supplies for the natives there on the island."

A scene is shown of him, Shado, and Akio on the ship that had brung the supplies to the island and it was clear to see that Oliver had a huge smile on his face at the sight of his home town while Shado was looking at him with a smile on her face. "Its unknown at this time who the woman and the young man is with Mr. Queen save for the notion that they likely came from the island he was on for the past five years. But regardless, we here at Starling Media wish Mr. Queen many happy returns now that he's back home."

For quite a few people, there was a lot of reactions to this bit of news. From Tommy being happy as Hell that his best friend and brother in all but blood was alive and finally home but apparently not being bothered enough to tell him that though he could guess why since his family would be wanting some alone time with him. Though he was curious about the hottie and the kid who was with him and would get the answers to those questions once he got over there. To Laurel and Quentin Lance who were taking the news about his being alive but not Sara in different ways, though the lawyer was also having some very unkind thoughts towards the woman Ollie had brought home with him. She figured the girl and her son must have fallen for whatever he'd been trying to sell and would try to do what she could to keep them from getting hurt by the cheating jack ass.

Sara Lance, or Ta-er al-Safar as she was known now in the League of Assassins was feeling something close to joy at seeing her former lover alive and well and hoped that he would be able to handle the wrath of her family since they all likely believed his horn dog ways had gotten her killed. Even though the horn dog aspect had never even been a factor between her and him in the first place. The Canary was curious on who the woman and kid was but figured they were likely people Ollie had gotten pretty close too in the time he'd been gone. Shrugging off her thoughts, she went back to making her way towards the motel room she'd been staying at for a mission while giving a silent prayer that his return home would not met with much difficulty.

Malcolm Merlyn wasn't entirely happy that Robert's son was alive and well as it meant the Queen family would likely have more reason to be more united than ever with his return home. Which could mean trouble for him and his Undertaking since the other man had told him he and his family would not be taking part in Malcolm's plans in any way and if pushed on it, he would go to the authorities no matter the potential circumstances. The dark archer wisely let things be for the sake of their friendship but there would come a time when things would have to be his way as there could be little room for anything else. Though perhaps he could convince young Oliver to join his cause if he had leverage over him? Or a few hours alone with him would also work too. Either way, nothing would get in the man's way of ending the Glades entirely.

Author's Notes: Boy, Tuesday and Wednesday were fun times let me tell you. 7 Am to 4 PM shifts that left me with little energy to write. But thankfully the 4 PM to 11 PM shift I had last night allowed me to get this one out. Hope you guys enjoyed this and I will be coming back to it sometime soon. And yay for a few days of requested time off! With Akio in this story, I kinda decided to go in an Eric Matthews (Boy Meets World character) direction with him mostly for the comedic side of things. That and the strong lack of teenage Akio is something I wanted to cover a little. Anywho.. R and R!