For two and a half years of his life, there was only darkness.
The night of The Undertaking, he had committed himself to saving the only person that mattered to him that night and he did his job with complete vigor and abandon that it left him dead.
Or at least he thought he was dead.
The others say he was in a coma for a year, but the memories that he had right before his death proved different. If his father was a mass murderer and his best friend put on a green hoodie every night to become some sort of vigilante is possible (not to mention the fact that there’s someone in Metropolis who can fly), why couldn’t there be something to resurrect someone from the dead? After all, the others—who were dressed like god knows what in black masks and gray suits—didn’t call him the Magician’s Son just so for no reason.
Leave it to his father to find that something.
For the next year and a half, he poured himself into training with the minions his father had left in charge of him. He heard the murmurs, the trappings of him diving into his so soon had left him temporarily insane; but he knew different. He wanted to be better, stronger, faster—and it was all for her. It was all for Laurel. It was all to protect Laurel—from his father (he had gotten better at lying to the man, which made him sick to his stomach), from the dangers that still resided in Starling City, and himself.
After all, the Tommy Merlyn that she knew before wasn’t the Tommy Merlyn that was here today.
Occasionally, during his training he’d look down at the watch around his wrist. What replaced the Rolex on his left was now a digital countdown, though it wasn’t just an ordinary countdown. His teachers say they knew nothing about it, only that it was a gift placed on him by the Head. He knew enough that that name was feared and that he should also; but that didn’t mean that his curiosity didn’t spike at the mention. Didn’t that Head have some beef with his father? Maybe there was a bomb within him that would explode if he ever got near his father.
That wasn’t a chance he was willing to take.
He had only arrived in Starling City for the weekend after he had heard the news—Oliver Queen was dead. He cursed himself every day for those five weeks after for being so late. Even though he had a falling out with is best friend, he still made peace—and he only wanted nothing more than to be able to help him. In then those five weeks, he used his learning to shadow the people that he was connected with, learning more about the time he was away than he would have liked.
Laurel moved on, which was great for her and sucked for him, but that was what he wanted in the first place. Thea killed Sara (which if he heard the rumors with Nyssa, she wouldn’t be dead for long) and learned that she was his half sister, which he smiled about somewhat. It was more or less poetic. He had always thought of the Queens as family, and now it was only confirmed that they were.
His signature half smile came out with his thoughts.
Though he spent his weekends in Starling, he spent his weekdays traveling the globe with his teachers, learning everything that was thrown to him be it martial arts, gun wielding, sword play, or even a bow and arrow. Again, he found it sort of poetic.
The obsession with poetry came about seven years ago when Oliver’s boat went down. Tommy thought it was poetic when he had taken Sara on the boat and not Laurel, when he had a crush on Sara and would often visit her at college in Coast City. He also thought it was poetic when he and Laurel started hooking up, falling into this deep pretense that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be with the other Lance sister and he was meant for her. The poetry didn’t ever come to an end when he saved Laurel’s life, pulling her away from the crumbling CNRI building, only to see Oliver come to late to rescue him.
His last thought that he didn’t voice? He would be able to joke around with Sara again like they did years ago.
But he ended up coming back from the dead and she was already alive, and now she’s dead and he’s on his way to talk to Nyssa al Ghul about his father.
Yep, life was just grand like that.
Even then, he looked down to his countdown watch, dressed in his signature black suit and half button up shirt underneath, and realized that the countdown had gone down drastically. Maybe it was his time now. His friends and family (sans his father) really and truly believed him to be dead. Why put them through the misery that Sara had done with a wound so soon?
Ra’s al Ghul’s network of caverns in Nanda Parbat were something of legends. The atmosphere was exactly like a story—medieval in the sense that the walls were reinforced like castles and an evil tyrant sat at the head of the throne. Though he didn’t think he’d be able to see the Head himself, the Heir was just as chilling when she wasn’t presented with what she wanted—and Tommy really didn’t want to be on her bad side since he truly believed Nyssa loved Sara.
And anyone that loved Sara or any other of his friends were okay in his book.
"I’m here as you requested", he let out, his tone of voice completely solemn and nervous to the empty room. Concealing his emotions was nothing that he could master so easily. He had always worn his heart on his sleeve, let everyone know what he was thinking and how he was feeling, and that was the same trait his mother had. He wasn’t going to suppress anything that was given to him by his mother.
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, a dash of brown hair escaping him. It was different from Nyssa’s black, having come to recognize the woman that could potentially kill him if she wanted to, and there was an odd air of familiarity about it. It couldn’t be, could it?
The sandy brown hair that he learned to braid when they were children in their early twenties and late teens (mostly because she swears she couldn’t do it on her own, but probably only said it to get him to do her bidding) had evoked emotions within him that he had managed to suppress and tried to forget for so long. It was only her voice that broke him out of his revere, the memories that flooded towards him, and the headache that was impendingly pounding against his skull.
"Sara", he asked only to be sure; but two simultaneously beeps coming from his wrist had taken his attention from her.
Fuck, they both were going to die again.
"Sara, don’t come near me", he held out his hand and started backing away, as if he didn’t realize that the bomb within him wouldn’t crumble this place down in a matter of seconds.
"You have a bomb within you too?"
He stopped in his footsteps, confusion etched in his face while the other held out her wrist. Her same watch read exactly like his.
"Good, you’re both here."
The voice had sent chills down his spine. Two sets of steps started walking towards the two of them, a smirk on the older male’s while a sort of scowl was placed on the female’s. He recognized Nyssa instantly, and the other now just had to be Ra’s.
He was going to die tonight, he was sure of it.
"Don’t be nervous, my son." And yet, he still was unnerved by the monotone voice that enveloped the cavern at this point. "It’s not every day when your soul mate comes back from the dead."
Stunned would be the understatement of the century when it came to Tommy’s reaction. He stood there, unyielding as everyone looked to him and Sara. Was it some sort of sick joke that Ra’s got his kicks from? Why torture his daughter in such a way that would insanely break her? Was this some sort of mental training thing for Nyssa? Did his father learn parenting techniques from the man standing before him? What sort of monster would toy with one of the most truest emotions that someone could embody? But the only thing that he could voice, could do or say, he did.