Another Chance,

Another Life

Disclaimer: The good man Arlyss Maligue came up with this awesome idea on Twitter and I just had to try my hand at it. Slight crossovers with Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel and Yu Yu Hakusho.

Summary: After he ends up dying in the most unexpected way, Oliver Queen is presented with another and rather, unique, chance to do things over.

June 18th 2018, Star City, Washington, The Bunker

Anticipation was a bit high down in the Bunker as an idea of Felicity's was finally ready to be made use of. An idea that would see them no longer need Cisco's power source to keep the Bunker going with the occasional problem. Felicity had been of the opinion that a power source of her own would be far superior to his since she was making it all on her own. Even thinking ahead some that if it was a success, that perhaps she could market it as one of the first products to be sold from Helix Dynamics. A company that Curtis no longer had any part of after she had gone behind his back one too many times for him to forgive. He, like Rene and Dinah, had chosen to continue having nothing to do with the team either due to trust issues after dealing with Agent Watson and Cayden James' Injustice Crew and getting back in the good graces of the city while dealing with them. Earth-2 Laurel would get sent packing back to her Earth so she wouldn't be a further problem for anyone on Earth-1. Though this had been Felicity's doing since she thought the Earth-2 native was going to kill Quentin.

When in actuality, they were just gonna hug. "And all I have to do is press this button?" Asked Oliver a bit doubtfully in the room where they were housing the new power source made by Felicity.

Or 'Smoak Source' as she liked to jokingly call it and even claiming it was fueled by the power of her ramblings and ill timed remarks. "Yes, my love, why must you doubt me?" She asked with a slight frown.

"I'm not doubting, I promise. It just… Feels like there should be more to it then pressing a button."

Shaking her head at her dear husband, she just hugged him from behind and rubbed on his arms. "Sometimes, there doesn't have to be more."

Right, makes sense.

"Alright then, let's do it." Oliver said and she let out a whoop of excitement and backed away to give him some room to move.

Taking a look at her, the Emerald Archer then gave his attention to the new power source, pressed the button to power it up, felt something happen to him, and then knew no more. Sometime later, Oliver found himself stirring thanks to what sounded like argumentive voices. Voices he wasn't familiar with and thought that maybe he was in a hospital. But why they would be arguing he hadn't a clue unless they were just near his hospital room. Which was just rude! He received a shock however when he opened his eyes while experiencing pain. "What the Hell!?" As where he was looked nothing close to a hospital room!

"About time you woke up, man." Came a voice that shouldn't have been possible.

"T-Tommy?"

"In the flesh! Or somethin' close to it anyway." Replied Tommy Merlyn himself with a smile as Oliver stared at him.

"Am I on another Earth?" Questioned Oliver suspiciously.

But got a shake of the head in return. "Nah! You've bucked the flesh, passed the mortal coil, shuffled off to the afterlife without even getting a t-shirt. I could go on but I won't."

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that." Oliver said as he paled.

"HEY! Old Guys! Stop the arguin' already, would ya? I don't need my best pal in both life and death feeling even more shock then what he's already feeling!" Tommy called out to the two to argumentative individuals.

One being a guy who dressed like it was still in the 90's and the other being some oddly dressed toddler with a pacifier in his mouth. Yet… Still somehow talking despite it being in his mouth. "Ah, yes, my apologies, Thomas, Oliver."

"Yeah, what he said."

"Death… Seems a lot more different then what I thought it would be."

Tommy chuckled. "Yeah, I get what you mean by that. Bet you thought you'd be burning in Hell or something right now, right?"

"Well, yeah." Answered the archer honestly.

"And herein lies the rub, so to speak, Mr. Queen." Declared the pacifier having toddler.

"Ya died when ya shouldn't have. So basically, the Afterlife ain't ready for ya just yet."

That shocked Oliver greatly. "I… I need to sit down."

"You already are, buddy."

"Oh, that… That's good." He muttered a bit distractedly.

A sigh came from Tommy. "For such an incredibly smart girl, Felicity misses the Hell out of the obvious." He said with a tsk.

Which seemed to snap Oliver out of his shock. "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean, buddy, is that she didn't think to make sure it wasn't overflowing with power prior to turning it on. Think all the Blonde in her hair and her arrogance is responsible."

That made the archer frown as now that he thought about it… Felicity never did bother to test the thing out prior to having it installed in the bunker. Feeling strongly confident in her work that it wouldn't need any testing. Something that he now realized was foolish more then anything else. A scoff could be heard as he thought about this. "Yeah, well, I'm still convinced the girl is a player for the other side."

"Of which you've yet to find proof." Argued the toddler.

"That's cause they seem to be really smart about things this time around." Replied the guy with the hat and 90's wear in a tone of annoyance.

"Other side?" Questioned Oliver curiously.

Tommy answered before the other two could. "Yeah, the bad guys' side of things. Cause let's be real, Ollie, that girl had WAY too much hold over you then anybody was really comfortable with."

The retort Oliver was about to make quickly died as various moments began to filter through his mind. Making him realize in shock that his best friend was telling the truth. And he wasn't the only one she had this kind of influence over as well. A truly terrifying thing now that he thought about it. "Ah yes, the joys of being dead, clarity begins to shine brightly when not affected by others." Declared the pacifier having toddler.

"By the way, I am Koenma, son of the King of the Afterlife, Enma."

"And I'm Whistler, an agent of the Powers That Be."

"That Be What?"

"Does it matter, kid? Just know they represent the good guys."

"Even if they don't like to directly interfere." Added Tommy.

"Yeah, well, can't help you humans with every single thing after all."

Oliver sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "As fascinating as all this is… If I'm not supposed to be dead right now, then what's gonna happen to me? For that matter, what the Hell is my son gonna do?" Growled out the man as he thought over his boy worriedly.

Koenma answered first. "In regards to young William, he will be sent to Thea and Roy since your sister is his last living relative. Though he will harbor a hate of heroics and the like for some time but he will get past it once he realizes Felicity was at fault for her arrogant minded thinking."

Oliver let out a breath of relief at that despite the fact he didn't even need to breathe. But he could hardly care at that point. "Now, as to your first question, your situation is only the second occasion of such a thing ever happening. The first being Yusuke Urameshi back when he was 14 years old. But that's for another time. Now tell me, you are aware of the 53 alternate Earths in existence, correct?"

"Yeah, the 53rd being the one where Nazis took over." And damn did he wish he hadn't of let Felicity hijack Barry and Iris' moment like she had in their second attempt at a marriage ceremony…

The toddler gave a satisfied nod while Whistler began to speak. "Yeah, well, what you don't know is that there are a crap load of variants of those Earths."

Hearing that made the archer look at the man in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know how those guys from Sliders went to a bunch of different Earths?" Asked Tommy before the other two could say anything.

"Yeah?"

"Well, its a bit like that. Each of those Earths were basically formed from every decision ever made. You didn't take that left down Papp Street? That decision created a new Earth variation where you did take that left. Survive the explosion of the Amazo? That creates a new variation of our Earth where you didn't." Tommy told him and Oliver began to feel like a headache was forming despite the fact it probably shouldn't.

"So essentially, for each of the 53 Earths, there's thousands upon thousands of variants of those Earths where different outcomes happened." Added Koenma helpfully.

Oliver just groaned. "Yeah, okay, I get it, no more."

Chuckling came from Tommy. "Alright, so… What the Hell's this got to do with me?"

The trio looked at one another and it'd be Whistler who'd speak. "With your interestin' situation, its given us an opportunity to try an experiment of sorts."

"What kind of experiment?" Asked the archer warily.

"You ever wanted to go back and do certain things differently?" Asked the PTB's agent.

"Yeah… I mean… Who hasn't?" God, there was so much he wished he could go back and do differently on.

Whislter gave a satisfied nod, having a feeling that the archer was hooked now and let Koenma have his turn. "How would you like to go to an Earth where its you died on the Amazo? You would take his place but wouldn't be found by ARGUS, HIVE, or the League. Allowing for you to go and do whatever you felt was needed thanks to your memories and skills being intact. Such as begin your Green Arrow identity years earlier for example."

"Or seek out your baby momma and try your hand at the family man thing." Tommy added with a wiggle of his eyebrows that had Oliver rolling his eyes over.

"So what'cha say, kid? Wanna try it and see how it works out?"

"Can… Can I have some time to think about this?" Maybe try and see Laurel, his parents, and so many others if it was possible…

A nod came his way from Koenma. "Of course. And if you don't wish to do this, no one will think any less of you. You can even visit with lost loved ones while you think over your decision if you wish." Replied the toddler with a knowing look on his face and making for a rather happy Oliver in the process.

"Though if you say yes, I'll even grant you a new skill to utilize if you'd like. Perhaps a new position that would have you reporting to me if you wanted to try your hand at it as well." Genkai or Yusuke might even be willing to train him further too.

Which would make for an interesting development if it happened! "I'll… I'll think about it."

"Very well."

"That's my cue to get on outta here then. I'll be back when ya make your decision, kid." And with that, Whistler vanished.

Extending his hand for his best buddy to get up, a hand he thankfully took, Tommy helped Oliver to his feet with a smile. Even hugging him afterwards. "Come on, there's a few folks I think you're gonna wanna see while you think things over."

In the end, Oliver took the deal and the extra addition Koenma offered. Gaining the skill of the Spirit Gun and as well as the tutelage of Yusuke Urameshi and his mentor, Genkai. And when he woke up on a variant of his Earth, alive and whole, he'd conveniently find himself on a boat bound for California. Where he'd make his new start on life and go from there. Gradually learning just what all was different from his original home as time went on.

Author's Notes: Probably a whole lot different then what Arlyss had in mind but I think it works for my version. R and R!