An Origin Story: Prologue
Author: BlueSuede
Title: An Origin Story
Rating: R/M
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: Chloe/Oliver
Summary: AU in which Oliver's parents never died
Warnings: minor spoilers for most early seasons
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Prompt (from JoyBlue on FFN): "I was wondering what would happen if Robert and Laura didn't die, and the reason for Oliver becoming the Green Arrow was because he was jealous of Clark after finding out about the 'Traveler' (without his parents knowing) I just thought, what if he became the GA to prove a point to his parents?"
Prologue:
An Account of Robin Hood and His Adventures
October 12, 1989
Oliver Queen, eager to get away from Alexander, and even Patti and Jason (though he usually didn't mind the two latter, crept quietly upstairs.
It was the eighth day in a row that he had been brought to the Luthor Mansion and made to 'play' with the other children, and he was fed up with it. He knew his parents didn't bring him here because they thought he was especially good friends with the other three children, but simply because there was nothing else to be done with him while they made nice to the other parents.
He'd asked why they had to go again today, growing immensely bored with the place. He hadn't minded in the past, but then, in the past, their visits to the Luthors hadn't been so frequent. His parents had told him nothing...nothing valuable, in any case. Even in the fourth grade, he'd been easily able to detect when people were lying to him or withholding information from him. It bothered him that his parents were so secretive about the visits to the Luthors. Normally his parents were relatively honest with him. He couldn't understand why this should be any different.
Silently, he swept along the hallways until he found the study where his parents had joined Lionel Luthor, Genevieve Teague, and Virgil Swann. It was that moment that everything in his life took an ultimate turn. Eavesdropping on one conversation, Oliver's universe suddenly expanded drastically, mostly to include something-or, rather, someone-called The Traveler.
Oliver was an ambitious, competitive boy. While his parents were good to him, and perhaps went so far as to spoil him on some levels, he gloried in their attention and approval. Discovering the story of the Traveler awoke something new in him: jealousy. He became strangely envious of someone he had never known, someone his parents were so unquestioningly devoted to. He was someone who was destined to save people, to be a hero, and all Oliver knew for sure that he was destined to do was go to prep school. Until that moment, he had been content with that future, or at least not cared one way or the other. No, not until he heard the awe and respect in his parents' voices when speaking of someone else did Oliver determine that he would be more.
He would be great.
October 14, 1989
Oliver sat grumpily in his bedroom at home, glowering at the book before him, too bored to bother reading it. He sneezed. Groaning in misery he threw his head back on his pillow.
Laura Queen entered the room, opening the door just a crack and peeking around it to be sure her son wasn't sleeping. Finding it to the contrary, she chuckled softly and walked in and sat down on Oliver's bed, laying a gentle hand across his forehead.
Oliver didn't say anything, so she spoke first. "We've decided not to go."
He looked up at her, surprised.
"To Seoul, I mean. Your father and I decided to postpone the trip until next week."
"Why?"
She smiled. Truthfully? She hadn't want to leave her son behind while he was sick. She shook her head. "It was more convenient for everyone." Which was partially true, the politician they were visiting was perfectly fine with setting back the date, and the airstrip had reported to them some suspicious behavior the previous night. Had they been determined to leave that day, they might not have bothered, but since they had time now, she and Robert had requested their jet be thoroughly looked over, to make sure it was in fine condition. She expected some thief had syphoned the gas or something along those lines. "What are you reading?" she asked Oliver, who was looking considerably cheered at the fact that his parents were staying home. "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle," she read aloud. She looked mildly surprised. "Where did you find this?"
"Your bookshelf," he said unabashedly. He knew he was welcome to any book in the house.
"This is awfully heavy reading for a fourth-grader," she said amusedly.
Oliver rolled his eyes. "I noticed." He hadn't made it past the first page.
Laura smiled at the book, fingering the pages. "I always liked this story."
Which, of course, piqued his interest. "Why?"
She shrugged. "Good versus evil. Damsels in distress. A hero rising to defend the weak. It doesn't get much better than that," she joked.
He looked intrigued.
"Out of curiosity, what was wrong with the books on your shelf?" she asked, glancing across the room where a large set of shelves housed Oliver's many books.
"I've read them all."
She raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Have you really? We should fix that sometime soon. In the meantime, though..." she trailed off, scooting over next to him on the bed and propping herself up on a pillow. She opened the book to the first page and began to read:
"Giving an account of Robin Hood and his adventure with the King's foresters. Also telling how his Band gathered around him; and of the merry adventure that gained him his good right-hand man, the famous Little John.
"Prologue: In merry England in the time of old, when good King Henry the Second ruled the land, there lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham Town, a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood. No archer ever lived that could speed a gray goose shaft with such skill and cunning as his, nor were there ever such yeomen as the sevenscore merry men that roamed with him through the greenwood shades..."
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