Grief Is A Bitch!
A sudden knock at his door roused Isaac from his memories, it was Raisa, his 2nd mother.
"Isaac your parents are leaving, they said they will be back later tonight." She said as she peaked her head through, a smile on her face.
"Spasibo Raisa" He smiled back.
"You sound like a real Russian already; you even got the accent down." Raisa looked stunned and Isaac knew why, she had only started to teach Isaac Russian two months ago and he was already fluent, that would shock anyone. This was now the tenth language Isaac had mastered, he started with Spanish when he was five and now, he could add Russian to his impressive list (Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tibetan, Arabic, French, Latin, Italian, and Hebrew). As soon as Raisa left, Isaac put on some black shorts, a white sleeveless tee, and a pair of black and white Prada downtown leather high-tops and left his room, it was time for his magic lessons.
He headed out to his spacious backyard, the sun was out and covered the area in a gentle heat, it was a beautiful day. He took a moment, enjoying the feel of the sun on his skin, and then sat down on the grass, his legs crossed, and began to meditate. Each breath took him deeper into his mind until he could see his library of magical knowledge. There were rows and rows of bookshelves, filled with knowledge of the occult and he got more every day. Isaac wanted to work on his silent casting, something the books warned not to start until he hit puberty, it did not say why. According to his magical books the only things Isaac needed to master silent casting was an organized mind, which he had, and practice. It was all about picturing it in your mind and then willing it to happen, so Isaac spent hours outside, only stopping for lunch, practicing spell after spell. Even after he ate dinner, and the sun had long since set, he continued to practice in his room. Finally, after almost nine hours of continuous practice he started to get the hang of silent casting. It would still take much more practice to master it, but at least Isaac had made some decent headway.
He spent the next two days doing exactly that, though he made sure to find time to spend with his family as well. With only three days until the Gambit would make its final voyage, Isaac agonized, endlessly, about what to do or even if he could in fact do anything about his father's fate. He knew in his heart, as painful as it was for him, that the only thing Isaac could really do was protect Oliver. Protect him from the guilt that his father's last words would leave him with and ensure that he still survived that damn island. With that in mind, Isaac spent the next day brushing up on his dream-walking and astral projection magic. He needed to make sure that he could do both over large distances, they would, but it would weaken him too greatly. It was only when he thought to add a physical representation of the recipient of the spell that the cost was lowered enough to be feasible. So, the night before the Gambit was to set sail Isaac took a lock of his brother and father's hair for the spell he had planned. He also spelled two necklaces, one had a thin gold chain with a golden canary in flight on it, the other had a thicker platinum chain with a stylized silver spear arrowhead with deep black grain in the middle.
He spelled them to go unnoticed by all, including the wearers, and put a healing spell on them to ensure that any injuries they sustained would heal properly and without issue. His final spell on them both was that they could never be taken off and that those that tried to forcefully take it would be shocked, badly. Isaac held the gold necklace and pictured Sara in his mind, once he had her image clearly, he whispered, "Involvent circa verum dominum tuum!" in his mind. Isaac repeated those words three more times before the necklace vanished from his hands and wrapped gently around Sara Lance's neck. For Oliver's necklace it was a simple matter of sneaking back into Oliver's room and putting the necklace on him, he was a deep sleeper. Isaac walked slowly back to his room, his shoulders slumped over, unshed tears filled his eyes, the guilt threated to crush him as he tried to come to terms with his father's necessary death. Sleep did not come easily that night for Isaac. The next day could not have arrived slower for Isaac, all night he spent thinking of alternate solutions. He could not think of a single one that wouldn't fundamentally change the course of future events, he had to accept the reality of the situation. He went downstairs to spend what little time he had left with his father, and he brought his camera with him.
It was a quick trip to the docks; his father and brother took their bags and when they returned it was time to say goodbye.
"Hey, why don't we take a quick family photo together, I brought my camera." Isaac pleaded. Oliver and Robert tried to convince Isaac that it was unnecessary and that they had plenty of photos, but Isaac would not be moved.
"Fine, well take the stupid pics, just hurry up." Oliver relented. The whole family gathered, the Gambit in the background, and took their last family picture. After a few more photos, some with Thea and Robert alone, Moira and Robert, and Oliver and Robert. Isaac asked for one with just his father, Robert looked at him and smiled, Isaac didn't return it, he couldn't, he just hugged Robert and took his photo with him. As they said goodbye Robert turned to look at his youngest son and almost said something but seemed to think otherwise and headed onboard. There was a time when Isaac thought that salvaging his relationship with Emiko would save his father. It turned out that saving Emiko only forced Dante and his 'Ninth Circle' to act alone and without a new leader. Isaac had even checked the boat, to see if Malcom had still had 'The Gambit' sabotaged, just in case, and it was. The only upside of this was that Isaac was able to get a hold of the plans that showed Merlyn's intent to kill Isaac's father, insurance for when Oliver returns.
Three days later Moira's screams filled their home, all Isaac could do was hold his mother and sister as they cried, his tears refused to come. As the days passed Isaac spent a lot of time at his mom's and sister's bedside, he brought them their meals and made sure they took care of their hygiene. They were broken, it would take time for them to recover, and until they did Isaac would be there for them. It was fortunate that Isaac's parents had trusted him with all of their important information, in case anything happened to them. So, while Thea and Moira grieved, Isaac made sure the house staff was paid, that any bills were taken care of promptly and that Thea's tuition was delt with. Isaac had also dealt with any issues at Queen Consolidated following the death of their CEO and his son. In addition to everything else he was responsible for, Isaac had to go to the Lances' place. Grief had hit his mother harder than canon had shown and she had not even remembered to tell the Lance family of Sara's fate. Isaac stood in front of their door for what seemed like an hour, easy, but had only been a few minutes. Finally, as he went to knock, Laurel opened it instead, when she saw Isaac she smiled brightly and told him to come in. The whole family was there, minus Sara, Isaac steeled himself and asked that they all sit down, the Lance women did but Mr. Lance took one look at Isaac and his knees buckled.
"Dad!" Laurel ran to her father, his wife looked on in concern.
"Quentin, what's wrong?" Mrs. Lance asked, already out of her seat.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Lance, I didn't know until after." The Lance women both looked at Isaac, confused. Isaac got down on a knee and looked Mr. Lance in the eyes, he was breathing in gasps, his eyes barely able to hole Isaac's gaze.
"She went on the boat with my brother, no one knew he snuck her onboard. She wasn't on any of the logs so no one knew to tell you." Tears started to fall from Mr. Lance's eyes, Laurel collapsed when she saw that, she understood what Isaac was telling her father.
"No, no, no, she's at school! She wouldn't do that!" She pushed Isaac away from her father, as tears pooled in her eyes, anger and hurt etched on her face, her previous smile nowhere to be found.
"You're lying, Sara is not dead!!" She roared. At that yell, Mrs. Lance dropped, she finally understood why her husband looked so broken. She stared at Isaac, as if begging him to deny Laurel's words all he could do was look at her in sadness, his own grief in his eyes. When she saw that, she truly broke down, sobbing and yelling out for her baby girl. Isaac got up, looked at all the grief his visit had caused and walked to the door. He said one last 'I'm sorry' and left the now broken family to their anguish. Twenty-five minutes later and he was back home and drained. The first thing he did was ask Raisa if his mother and sister had eaten their lunch, it was after 4 when Isaac got home. She told him how they tried not to and complained when she tried to insist, but she eventually guilt tripped them into it. Isaac told her that if they ever tried not to eat their meals to call him immediately and he'd deal with it. Isaac took a moment to calm himself after his emotional day and then spent time with what was left of his family.
Before going to sleep in his sister's room, he checked how a few of his investments were doing. Isaac was lucky that many of the successful companies in his world were also here. He had invested heavily in Apple before they even released their iPod back in 2001, and he had been reinvesting in them for years. The family had also followed his lead and invested heavily in Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Google, and YouTube when they were startups. It hasn't been too long for some of them, but they all were doing quite well, so far.
For the next few months life seemed to stand still for the Queen family, the only change was Isaac had forced Thea to go to school after the first month. Moira was still a wreck but Isaac made sure to remind her that she still had a daughter to take care of, she tried to argue but she knew Isaac was right. They weren't in any way pass their grief, they just knew they had to find a way to live with it. It helped that Isaac was always there for them and made sure that they didn't drown in it, as much as they wanted to. He still slept in Thea's bed, she had a hard time being alone, and Isaac still spent a lot of time with Moira, comforting her. Isaac had thought he'd have to deal with his grief alone, but Emiko surprised him. As soon as she heard about the death of their brother and father she immediately reached out to him. She was the only person Isaac could lean on and didn't have to be strong for or take care of it felt nice.
Before Isaac knew it the first anniversary of his father and brother's death had arrived. Many things had happened over the last seven months, Thea had her first crush, whom Isaac had promptly scared the hell out of, and she had made the honor roll. Isaac was so proud of how strong Thea had shown herself to be, and he had told her that almost daily. Moira struggled for a while, but eventually found her way, she took over the day to day at Queen Consolidated two months ago. It was then that she found out about all Isaac had been doing while she and Thea were indisposed, Walter felt that she should know. When she got home that day, she ran right at Isaac, in tears, and hugged him so hard he thought he'd break a rib, if he wasn't super strong that is. Moira held him tight, her tears dampening his shirt, as she alternated between apologizing for not being there for him, and thanking him for everything he had done for them. That night she told him about his birth parents, apparently they were extremely well off and big in the entertainment industry. Isaac's father started off as an artist and made hundreds of millions of dollars, by the time he finished his music career, he had earned over 800 million. After a monster career, he transitioned onto the big screen, he directed, produced, and even starred in many movies during his time. His mother was a big shot scientist that had worked for Queen Consolidated and owned several of their most successful patents. Moira told Isaac that his birth parents had been great friends to the Queens, so when his parents died they took him in.
"How did they die?" Isaac wondered aloud. Moira looked at him and took a deep breath.
"Your mom died giving birth to you, as for your father no one knows what happened to him. He was fine one day and the next he was dead, the doctors couldn't find any cause." She sighed and got up to grab something from a file cabinet. Isaac watched as she revealed a false bottom and typed in a code. Moira pulled out a thick folder and handed it to him, inside were a bunch of pictures and documents. This was the first time Isaac had seen photos of his parents, there were even some from their wedding day. As he went through the photos, the documents pushed to the side, he noticed there were quite a few that showed his bio parents with the Queens. There was even one with them at the hospital with a newly born Oliver.
"Wow they were there when Oli was born?" Isaac asked in wonderment.
"Of course, they were his godparents. They would have loved the young man you've become." Moira added wistfully, her eyes filled with unshed tears. She wiped at her eyes and urged Isaac to continue, he still had the documents to look through. It took more than a few minutes to go through it all, when he finished he looked at Moira in shock. Robert and Moira had not only set up a trust for him, that matched Oliver's, they also had been using Isaac's investment tips to grow the money my bio parents left me. That was another thing, Isaac knew, from Moira, that his birth parents had done well for themselves, but this was something else. At the time of my birth mother's death, their estate was worth 2 billion dollars (the Queens were worth 7 billion before Isaac was born). Since Moira and Robert had been using Isaac's investment tips their wealth and his bio family's was set to make a significant jump (Isaac had made sure they wouldn't be too conservative in their investments).
Ever since Moira told Isaac about his bio family the two had never been closer, she even took it upon herself to tell him stories about them. Thea would even join them for those story times; she felt that if she knew about Isaac's bio family that it would bring Isaac and her even closer. Over the past year, besides being there for his family, Isaac also checked in on the Lance family. Just like in the show Quentin Lance started to hit the bottle hard, this time though Isaac stopped him before it got too bad. He dragged Quentin to support groups for people who lost loved ones and took him to an MMA gym in his area to work out his anger. At first Quentin refused, he even swung at Isaac a few times.
However, when Isaac asked him how Sara would feel if he kept on drowning in booze, he started to make some headway. It didn't hurt that he used Laurel as an added motivator to guilt him into it. Isaac pointed out to him that Laurel did not just lose her sister, she was also betrayed by her. Isaac asked him how Laurel was supposed to come to terms with all those conflicting emotions if she kept having to deal with his mess. Isaac told Mr. Lance that he was robbing Laurel of a chance to grieve, forcing her to take care of him and that maybe she was the one that needed help. After that Quentin began to change, he took Isaac up on his help and started being present for Laurel, which gave her a chance to process her feelings.
Unfortunately, Isaac couldn't save Quentin's relationship with his wife, the loss of Sara was too much for their marriage to handle. Though it seemed like Quentin's sobriety did allow for them to separate on better terms. Hell in canon Mrs. Lance didn't even tell them she was leaving, she just disappeared, this time it almost seemed mutual. With Laurel things were a little more complicated, yes she was doing better emotionally, thanks, in large part, to her father being there for her. It also helped that she didn't need to carry the weight of being responsible for an alcoholic father and getting him sober, like she had to in the show. Alas, her anger was another story, she couldn't reconcile the betrayal she felt at Sara's actions and the grief she felt for her sister's death.
Her father saw how the grief and anger ate her up so he asked Isaac to help her, Quentin thought Isaac would get through to her better than he could. So that was what Isaac did, at first he just met her for coffee a few days a week, then he told her about a support group he went to. He told her about the guilt he felt for his brother and father's death, he told her how he had, had a bad feeling about the trip for days but didn't say anything. He explained that a big part of why he went to his support group was so that he could get those thoughts and feelings that haunted him off his chest. Isaac told her that if he had not done that, he would not have been able to process his grief healthily. She relented and agreed to go to a meeting, especially once Isaac told her his plan to help with her anger towards Oli and Sara. He would take her to the same gym he took her father and then help her with some fighting techniques to help her release some of that anger. By the time canon came around Quentin and Laurel would be a dangerous duo, Isaac planned to make sure of it.
Almost a year later Isaac still met with the Lance duo for coffee and their workouts. Isaac had been impressed at how quickly both had progressed, not only in their hand-to-hand skills, but emotionally as well. Isaac had invited the Lance's and Tommy Merlyn to the Queen Manor for the anniversary, he thought it would be easier to deal with their collective grief if they were together. It turned out that Isaac was right. At first Thea and Moira were against it but he reminded them that the Lances had lost someone too and that they were partly at fault. Tommy was an easy sell, Robert practically raised him after his mom died and his actual father turned into an ass, and he was like a brother to Oliver.
After the initial awkwardness, things went well, funny stories were told about Oliver, Sara, and Robert. Everyone took turns telling their favorite stories and they talked about the little things that would suddenly remind them of their loved ones. Tommy had some hilarious stories about Oliver that left everyone in tears laughing and some touching ones that let the Lances see a different side to the fallen Queen heir. At the end of the night, Isaac saw a certain lightness in everyone, as if a weight had been lifted. That was all the proof he needed to know he had made the right decision to bring everyone together that night.
Before anyone left, Isaac asked them to join him at one of the more private gardens on the property. It took some convincing, everyone was tired from all the tears, laughter, and food. Isaac pushed on and he explained that there was something important that he wanted everyone to see. He walked them outside and around the property, to a secluded part of the grounds. As they walked through the middle of two benches in front of them everyone stopped and stared. There were Christmas lights wrapped around the nearby trees that left the whole garden area aglow, even at that late hour. The garden was full of colorful flowers that brightened the area even more than the lights. There were hibiscuses, some beautiful orchids, a few golden marigolds sprinkled throughout, a line of begonias up front, for their orange and pink color, and many more.
In the middle of the garden, in front of the two large benches, were three beautiful granite headstones, surrounded with flowers. Isaac explained to the tearful group that he had been slowly setting this up for the past 2 weeks so that they could have a peaceful place to grieve and talk to their dead. He also apologized to the Lance family, who could not stop staring at the gravestone with Sara's name on it, if he had overstepped. Before he could say another word Quentin and Laurel grabbed him into a hug, each gave their thanks. As soon as they let go, tears in their eyes, Thea charged at him, almost knocking him over, and squeezed her brother for all she was worth. Tears soaked his shirt as he heard a muffled 'I love you' from his chest, Isaac kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly.
Isaac watched Moira look on with a smile as tears made their way down her face, even crying he thought she looked beautiful, after a moment she walked over and joined in the hug. After that emotional moment, everyone took a moment to see the headstones. They marveled at the detail of the designs that ran along the border of each one, of course each stone had their names and date of birth and death as well. What stood out the most to everyone was the beautiful piece of art on each headstone that seemed specific to the person. Robert's headstone had the Queen Consolidated logo, a stylized Q, etched underneath his epitaph. Inside the large Q was the Queen family's coat of arms, something Isaac knew meant a great deal to Robert.
When he had the headstone commissioned Isaac made sure that each color on the coat was correct. For Oliver's headstone he had the Queen logo with the green arrow logo inside it, Isaac made up some crap about what the arrowhead symbolized. Thea thought it looked cool and Moira appreciated the thought that went into it and that was all that mattered. Sara's was the easiest one for Isaac to do, on her headstone there was a beautifully stylized blue canary in flight. Suffice it to say the Lances approved, Isaac made sure that they and Tommy knew they were welcome here anytime no matter what, no one would stop them. Isaac pointed out they didn't have to go through the manor to get here and it was out of the way, so they didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone.
They hugged him again for that, Isaac also told Tommy that he was always welcome in the Queens home, he was family. Isaac hoped that all the beautiful colors and wonderful smells from the garden would help to ease, even heal, everyone that came to visit the headstones. That night helped to kick start the healing process for both the Queens and the Lances and began a path for reconciliation between them. It was Isaac's hope that mending fences and shoring up allies would help everyone survive the conflicts to come.