The Avenged Arrow

Chapter 3: Back From the Dead

Oliver and Tommy were waiting for Ronnie to arrive, both men had missed the raven haired girl. "Why'd Ronnie leave?" Oliver finally asked Tommy. That had been in his mind ever since he found out she left Starling City and never came back till now.

"After they declared you dead, Ronnie changed. It was like a piece of her died too. She started to let her emotions out by learning different fighting styles. And for a while the old Ronnie came back. Then her dad died. That was the last straw." Tommy replied remembering how he witnessed the downfall of his best friend when she lost two of the most important people in her life.

"Last straw?" Oliver asked confused. He felt guilty for not being there for Ronnie when she needed him the most.

"She stayed in town for her dad's funeral and the reading of his will, and left Starling City that very night. No goodbyes or anything. Veronica Stone was gone and there was nothing anyone could do. Laurel, Thea, and I tried to contact her many times, but she would always come up with an excuse to why she couldn't come back. After a while we figured that it was best that we left Ronnie alone to mend herself." Tommy told him.

Oliver stayed silent, taking in the new information. He knew that his death affected people, but he didn't know that it caused for the one person he loved to change so much.

Tommy and Oliver stayed silent, thinking to themselves until they heard a melodious laugh. A laugh that hadn't been heard by either of them in a long time. The laugh was followed by a woman cursing in what seemed to be Russian.

"She's here." Tommy announced getting up to walk over to the door that was pushed open by Ronnie.

"Ooh I can see my reflection in the floor, and damn do I look good." Ronnie said when they walked in.

"You have been spending way too much time with Stark." The red haired woman muttered.

"Well it's kind of hard to ignore the guy when he's your best friend and just crawls into your bed in the middle of the night." Ronnie retorted finally looking up to see two of her oldest friends. Forgetting everything else, Ronnie rushed into Oliver's arms hugging him tightly.

"God you look so different now." Oliver said hugging her tightly. He had missed holding her like this. When he was on the island all he thought about was going back and telling his best friend how he actually felt about her instead of being a coward.

"You do too, Ollie." Ronnie said letting go of him before hugging Tommy.

"So who's this Stark guy that crawls into your bed?" Tommy asked sounding like a protective older brother.

"Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. His words, not mine." Ronnie said.

"He's not wrong though." Natasha said walking over to them. The two men looked at the red haired woman confused. "Oh right, Natasha Romanoff. I'm her roommate and best friend."

"And a pain in my ass." Ronnie said laughing as the Russian assassin rolled her eyes.

"Hey if it weren't for me, you'd be at the bottom of some ditch because Tony convinced you that it'd be a great idea to drink the night away." Natasha retorted. "Or in prison. Probably prison."

"That is very true, and Tony would be right beside me being the instigator for it all. While Steve is on the other side giving us a lecture about how we need to adult better." Ronnie said as the two woman laughed. "Have they declared you to be alive yet?"

"Not yet, the court hearing is next week." Oliver replied taking in every detail of her beautiful face. He saw something in her eyes that he had never seen before. He saw pain. "What have you been up to the past few years?" Oliver questioned. Natasha and Ronnie shared a look trying to figure out she should say. Maybe they should of discussed this beforehand.

"Traveling." Ronnie replied vaguely making Oliver raise an eyebrow. He knew her well enough to know when she was lying. "Though I spent most of time in New York having 12% of the moment."

"I thought it went up to 15." Natasha said remembering the amusing conversation between the two.

"Nope. Tony is still being the five year old he is and saying that I only get 12% of the credit because he did all the heavy lifting quite literally." Ronnie replied. "It's my baby, but I don't even get 20% of the credit. But I will get my rightful 50% out of him."

"You know what we need?" Tommy asked pulling out his phone.

"What?" Oliver asked as Ronnie groaned at what he was about to say.

"A killer party to welcome back my best friends." Tommy said his eyes twinkling with excitement. "Everyone needs to know that you two are back. I'm going to go plan the party for tomorrow night." He said before getting up and leaving.

"I gotta go call Clint." Natasha said before walking off to find a room for myself.

"You were lying." Oliver said once they were alone.

"Why would I be lying Ollie?" Ronnie asked nervously.

"You weren't traveling, you were doing something else and your friend knows, but you don't want Tommy and I to know." Oliver stayed confidently. Ronnie sighed deciding what she had to do.

"Ollie things changed when we thought you died. I changed, I'm not the same girl that fought with you because you were cheating on one of her best friends with her sister and yet she did nothing to stop it. I became someone who took charge and did what had to be done no matter how bad it was. That eventually led to me getting into trouble with the wrong people. Natasha and Tony, they helped me find the light in my dark world. So yeah I wasn't traveling for the past five years, but I'm not ready to fully disclose what I was doing because if you knew then you wouldn't see me as your best friend." Ronnie told him holding back some tears. Oliver instantly regretted bringing it up. The last thing he wanted to do was make her cry.

"I've done things that I regret too, Ronnie. You're not alone." He said hugging her. "When you're ready to tell me, I'll be here waiting for you."

"Same goes for you Ollie, if you ever need to get something off your chest, I'll be here. Always." Ronnie told him.

"Always." Oliver repeated still hugging her.