[Silent Darrow, Day 2]

[likeahero]

It's been a few hours since dawn and since the confusion and horror of the night ended. (It had taken Oliver some time before being able to say it was over, at least for a little while.) Oliver had wanted to keep going, but even he couldn't deny that he needed to rest, needed a few hours of sleep and some time to decide if he was going to deal with what the hell happened overnight.

How does one deal with the ghosts of dead friends and a murderous doppelganger?

Ultimately, Oliver chooses not to answer. They'll rest. They'll try to see if anyone else is out there. And maybe, somewhere along the way, they'll figure out what's going on and how to get home, if there's a way.

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[Sundown/Ghosts]

[likeahero]

They're already barricaded away when the sirens sound out this time. In a bank this time, they have enough protection to make Oliver feel only slightly safer than the apartment. But he knows himself, and he knows if the Hood shows up again, it'll be short work for him to break in. At least they have an escape plan this time, and a few more weapons other than his bow and quiver. It's not much, in the long run, but it should be enough to keep them alive. (And that's all he wants: to keep Felicity alive. She deserves none of this, but Oliver can't deny that having her by his side is keeping him sane.)

It doesn't take long for the shadows to disappear, but the figures that they form this time aren't Sara and Tommy. His bow makes a terrible sound as it hits the marble floor, and it takes Oliver everything he has not to drop along with it.

He'd loved the two people standing in front of him in different ways, and they represented all he'd done, all he'd lost along the way to becoming the person he is now.

In Shado, he'd had an equal, a confidante, love. And she'd died-- for what? For Oliver's own indecision.

Akio had been the most innocent of them all, a child caught in the crossfire of power gone completely astray. They'd tried, they'd tried so damn hard but nothing they did made it worth it. Oliver had still watched as Maseo and Tatsu had to say goodbye to their son. He'd watched as a family he'd grown to love was ripped apart -- and what he'd done afterward, with all that pain eating him up completely flew in the face of what they'd represented. They'd been a safe haven, his only friends in the world, and Oliver had desecrated Akio's memory in the name of revenge.

They both deserved to be alive, truly alive, and not more literal ghosts from his past.