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MONTHS LATER
LANCE CABIN
Oliver Queen
I hold a big box marked Canary Bunker and walk into my new home as it’s in the middle of the woods by a beautiful lake. The cabin is beautiful home with 3 bedrooms with a lot of space for a lot of things. This was Drake’s dream, to live in the cabin after all this and I made it happen for him. I walk up the stairs into the spare empty room that I will make my little museum of Green Arrow and Black Canary.
I place that box in the room as it’s the last of all the boxes that I packed. These are all the sentimental items that Drake kept in the Canary bunker. These items include things like Laurel’s mask and suit, Drake’s albums and posters. Little Green Arrow and Black Canary action figures. Artifacts and objects the Drake kept along the way in his adventures. Framed photos of Team Arrow, the photo of Drake and I in Russia, and Slade with Will.
Felicity had taken taken over the bunker and she plans to stay in Star City. I in the other hand have no more business in Star City. I’m staying in this cabin, near a small town where nobody knows my name.
I open one of the Canary bunker boxes and as I do I find one of Drake’s debut album posters. I pull it out as it’s already framed and I smile at the poster. ‘Kicking and Screaming’ was the name of his first album, and it was what I called him. The Kicking and Screaming Black Canary.
I look around the room trying to find the perfect spot to place this on the wall and I do. I walk towards the wall and place nail in the wall. I hang up the framed poster of his debut album and I look at the album seeing him being the rockstar he is.
I look out the open window and see a bright yellow canary fly in. Drake. The canary flies into the office, and perches on top of one of the boxes.
“Hey.” I say to it quietly walking towards it as it doesn’t fly away. It’s not scared of me. The bird hops around the box and I take it as a sign to open it. The bird flies to another box and I open this box and as I do, I see Drake’s Black Canary leather jacket with the canary on the back. The iconic jacket that he never stopped fighting in.
I take it out knowing Drake would want me to hang this immediately and the bird is smart for knowing that. I find one of the mannequins that I’ll be using to dress Drake’s uniform on and place the jacket on the mannequin. I look at the bird, and the bird flies on the shoulder of the leather jacket.
I reach my hand to it slowly and the bird jumps on it. “You like it so far?” I talk to the canary as I know it must be Drake’s soul. “It’s coming together.” I say looking around the room seeing the boxes still taped heavily and the poster hung up, along with Drake’s jacket on the mannequin. The bird chirps and I chuckle softly imagining that Drake would say, ‘Very slowly‘.
“I know… but we’ll get there.” I say and the bird chirps again. The bird sings something and then flies away from my hand and out the window back into the wild. As I look out the window I see Drake’s doppelgänger walk out of sleek black Audi towards the lake. What’s Silver doing here?
I make my way out of the house, joining up with Silver as he stares out into the lake where Drake bathed in when he was younger according to Quentin. I stand next to Silver as we don’t talk and stare out into the lake and the beautiful mountains with their tips always covered in a light layer of snow. It’s a beautiful view.
“I wish there was a way that I could tell him. That he did it.” I say out loud admitting that maybe Drake didn’t hear anything. Maybe he didn’t understand what was happening because of the pain he must’ve been in. Silver looks at me as I look back at him with a smile.
“He knows.” Silver says and then looks out back into the lake. “They both know.” He speaks about Slade.
“So what’s next for you?” I ask Silver the tricky question as there is nothing left to do for him here. “You think you’re gonna take on that Black Canary mantle?” I jokingly tell him and he stays serious making a very small smile.
“No.” Silver says softly. “Drake always believed in me. He knew that somewhere in my deep black red soul, that there was good in me. Believe it or not, it’s taken me quite the time to realize that he was right. He trusted me like nobody has ever.” Silver speaks from the Earth and Drake always believed in people. People might’ve thought he was naive, but he knew some people were capable of being good.
“So you’re gonna stick around?” I ask and he chuckles not taking me seriously.
“Perhaps.” He says and as he does I hear a short loud cry of a baby from the house. I turn around looking at the cabin and walk away from Silver.
“I’ll be back Silver.” I tell him as I don’t want him to leave. Maybe I’ll convince him to help me out with some unpacking and decorating. I hope he has the same taste as Drake.
“It’s Sasha.” I hear Silver say loudly and I stop. I turn around and look at him not knowing what he’s talking about. “My name… It’s Sasha Romanov.” Silver or Sasha says proudly and I begin to feel him trust in me. I smile at him as I’m honored to be trusted by him and walk into the house.
I walk into the yellow nursery room decorated with birds and as I walk in I spot something odd. I see the crib and spot the same canary from before perched over the crib singing. I walk towards the crib and look down to see my daughter, Juno giggling at the bird. At her father.
“She’s gonna be just like you.” I say to the canary and the canary continues to sing to Juno as she continues to giggle. “Beautiful, strong and hopefully not as stubborn.” I chuckle and the canary chirps at me telling me to shut up.
I pick up my daughter and carry her around her room. I sit down on the rocking chair I placed by the opened window for us to read bedtime stories and I think I have a story to tell. I coo at Juno and smile at her as she’s comfortable and calm. “Let me tell you a story Juno. Not a story about fairies and knights. But a story about a singer who had fought hard to keep his city in peace and would do anything to keep the monsters away. Even if it mean to sacrifice himself so that everyone could live happily.” I tell Juno calmly and she gives me her full attention staring directly at me.
I look at the canary as it’s silently perched on the crib still. I watch it and know it’s Drake watching over us, making sure I am being who I should be. I smile at him and the bird flies out the window leaving me and Juno to have our story time together. Bye Drake.
I stare out the window and into the sky watching the bird fly away and as I do, I spot a phoenix bird fly through the sky as it’s Drake confirming his presence to me. He’s not dead, he’s just gone.
I look back at Juno as I don’t know where to begin the story. Maybe from the beginning. Where it started. “Once upon a time…”
________________
MIDTOWN STAR CITY
Sasha Romanov
I walk around the city streets, with my trained to attack doberman towards the new park that was recently built. The mayor dedicated a park to Drake, as Drake is the hero of the city. They decided to call it The Park of Canaries as it’s ground zero where Drake sacrificed his life for the city. In the exact spot where Drake died, is now a memorial of those who were lost in the event and in the middle of it all, the very exact spot of Drake’s death is the statue of The Black Canary.
I walk up to the statue and stare at him. As I do, I remember the adventure of a lifetime I had with Drake.
Somebody once asked me if I had learned anything from it all. So let me tell you what I learned… I learned that everyone dies alone…
But if you meant something to someone,
if you helped someone,
if you loved someone,
if even one single person remembers you.
Then maybe you never really die. And maybe… This isn’t the end at all.
FIN
Author’s Note
This is my last and final Black Canary story! Thank you for the massive support on BOTH books. Thank you for even reading this! Drake Lance is one of my favorite characters that I created myself and I’m very sad to say goodbye to him.
If you want to continue reading my work, my upcoming work is going to be based on Silver Siren’s / Sasha Romanov’s Origin. It’s definitely going to be a very different book than Black Canary and you’ll get to see just who he really was before he met Drake Lance. The book is published as of NOW and it’s called Black Wolf.
Once again, thank you so much! Goodbye Drake Lance, thank you for always keeping me busy and I hope you live forever in these pages and in the hearts of fans that love you ❤️
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