Title: You Knelt Beside My Hope Torn Apart

A/N: This is a mildly AU tag to 2.20 'Seeing Red' and 2.21 'City of Blood'. I have already written the rest of it already so I promise you won't have to wait long for the next two updates. It's an ensemble fic which focuses on Oliver and his family after Moira's death. Hope you enjoy reading!

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Chapter 1: In Blackened Holes

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You were cold as the blood through your bones
And the light which led us from our chosen homes
Well I was lost
And now I sleep
Sleep the hours that I can't weep
When all I knew was steeped in blackened holes

- Mumford and Sons, "Below My Feet"

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Walter wasn't surprised by Oliver's absence from the funeral. He still remembered that first night when Oliver returned, how he and Moira had found him sleeping on the floor, in the cold, wet spray of a thunderstorm, because he was no longer used to sleeping in a real bed. It had really hit him then; that the kid he had watched grow up, the son of one of his oldest friends, had spent the last five years stranded, alone on an island.

Walter would never forget that moment. The sudden brutality with which Oliver had attacked Moira when she'd tried to wake him, the guilt in his stepson's eyes when awareness had returned, the way he had crouched, panic-stricken, in a corner of his bedroom- it had left Walter reeling and horrified.

"We need to get him help," he had told Moira the second they left Oliver's bedroom, "I mean; professional help. Because that was-"

"Oh, don't be silly," she'd interrupted glibly, pretending to misunderstanding him. "This is Oliver. He would never really hurt me. It was just a nightmare."

"That wasn't just anything," Walter had replied incredulously. "The way he reacted? Can you even imagine what must have happened to make him so-?"

"Well of course he's changed, Walter," Moira had snapped, with a sudden anger that had surprised them both. After a moment's pause, she'd continued evenly, "He'll be fine. He just needs to be with his family again, get used to being home. There's nothing a shrink could say that would help him, anyway."

The finality in her words had stopped Walter from protesting, but he had recognized her reaction for what it was. Moira hadn't wanted to face the fact that Oliver had changed, had just wanted everything to go back to normal, and so had Thea.

In the following weeks, Walter had watched as they pretended not to notice the way Oliver flinched if anyone snuck up behind him, the way dark circles seemed to ring his eyes permanently, and the distant, closed off look he often wore, as if he was now permanently trapped in a reality that none of them would ever understand.

There had been many times that Walter had wanted to say something to help his painfully isolated stepson, but he hadn't dared because Oliver clearly viewed him as an outsider, a usurper of his father's position, at least in those first months. He hadn't wanted to disturb the precarious balance of their family dynamics.

When Walter had been abducted, during the long months alone in captivity, he had often thought about Oliver, and wondered if this was what it had been like for him on the island. He had bitterly regretted not pushing him to talk when he'd had the chance. He still did.

When the service ended, and everyone else had left, Walter's eyes fell on the solitary rose lying on an empty chair. With a heavy heart, he picked it up and placed it reverently on Moira's casket. He stepped back, closed his eyes and whispered two prayers- one for her, and one for her son.

TBC…

A/N: Besides asking for reviews, can I also ask for some fic recs? I haven't found very many Arrow fics which are not Olicity, and I don't particularly like that ship. At least, not the way it's done in this fandom. So if anyone can rec me something good, gen or slash or any other pairing, I'd be very grateful.