That…thing…had been nagging at Aspen from the back of her mind for the past week since she met the Team. And Raene.

    It would play over and over in her head: the woman entering the warehouse trying to find Raene. The Team stopping her. Then Raene popping out of nowhere. 

What scared her the most was that the ‘memory’ was first-person. Artemis said that Ghost was part of the League of Shadows, so why did Aspen have a memory from her point of view?

Aspen and Oliver sat in the kitchen eating breakfast. She was reading a book she found in her room earlier—one good thing that came out of losing her memory was being able to pick up the book without needing to reread any parts. Ollie sat across from her, watching the news as he sipped his coffee.

“Who’s Ghost?” Aspen asked suddenly, unable to ignore the thoughts swimming around in her head. Oliver blinked a few times, processing what she had just asked before saying anything.

“The assassin?”

“No, the thing that’s haunting the upstairs bathroom,” Aspen quipped.

“Okay, first off, we had that light fixed a while ago, and there was never any other proof of something supernatural in there.”

"I know what I saw," Aspen replied defensively. "But yes, tell me about the assassin."

"There's not really much to tell," Ollie sighed. "She started popping up more and more on the League's radar, and she fought the Team on multiple occasions. She was highly skilled, so we were never able to apprehend her."

"That's it?" Aspen asked. That didn't help her situation with the memory-thing at all.

"What, are you writing a book on her or something?"

"No, it's just…"

"What?" Aspen could hear the genuine concern in her adoptive father's voice, but she ultimately decided against telling him.

"Nothing. I… uh… heard Artemis saying something about her at the Cave the other day."

    Upon hearing her name from the TV, Aspen turned her head. Grateful for the distraction, she watched as Cat Grant talked about rumors of her return, showing very low-quality pictures and video clips of herself walking around the streets of Star City.

    “The beloved adopted daughter of Oliver Queen, Aspen LaFont, suddenly disappeared just over four years ago, with no explanation. No ransom note was ever found, despite Mr. Queen’s multiple pleas for the return of his daughter.

    “Now, as these photos and videos are surfacing, the media has blown up, posting theories as to if this is really Ms. Lafont, or merely a doppelganger. We have been unable to reach Mr. Queen at this time, or even get a statement from any of his employees. More information to come.”

    The TV went to a commercial break, and Aspen looked over to Oliver, who shared the same look of confusion as herself.

    “Sooooo…” Aspen trailed off, looking at him for a response as to what just transpired on the TV.

    “Hey, don’t look at me,” he said, putting his hands up in defense, “I’m not the one who has a conspiracy theory about herself.”

    “Oh really?” Aspen asked, raising an eyebrow. “When was the last time you went on the internet and searched ‘Green Arrow Conspiracy’?”

    “When was the last time you were on the internet?” Oliver shot back. He looked at Aspen over his coffee mug and smirked at her apparent lost for words.

    “Rude,” she finally mumbled.

    “You do know this means I have to make a statement soon, which will eventually lead to you making an appearance on live TV to make one also.”

Aspen sighed and sank down in her seat.

"Can't we do a phone call or something where I don't have to, you know, go on TV?" 

Aspen hated being out in front of cameras and reporters, especially when they started asking her questions. She would always clamp up and be unsure of what to say. It had gotten better the more she did it, but she still hated it, and Ollie knew it.

A knock came from the front door, followed by footsteps making their way to the kitchen. Aspen looked up to see Dinah standing in the doorway.

“Did you guys see the news?” she asked.

“Sadly," Aspen sighed.

"I'm guessing Oliver told you that you're going to have to make an appearance soon?"

"Can't I just… stay 'missing'?" Aspen asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Nice try," Oliver said, "but no. I'll talk to someone about this whole ordeal later."

"Go get ready for training,” Dinah said to Aspen. “I have some things I need to discuss with Oliver.”

“C’mon, you know I can have myself a new identity in like five minutes, and in ten it’ll be like the new me was real the whole time!”

“No,” the two heroes deadpanned simultaneously.
 
~~~

    Aspen stood in the Arrowcave, pulling her hair back into a half up-half down style so she could stretch and warm up for training. 
Each day, Aspen used her shapeshifting more and more so she could test her limits and rebuild her strength. The first day she did what was easiest, which was changing her hair color. The next was her hair length and texture. Then she tried with her skin color. And yesterday, she finally tried putting it all together, shifting into her usual form: fair skin and vibrant, chin-length, purple hair. 

So today, Aspen took the next step, which was using her shapeshifting while sparring.
Just as she started stretching, Aspen watched Dinah and Oliver walk into the room, both sharing the same look. ‘Please just be a coincidence,’ she hoped as they walked over to her.

“So, Aspen, is there anything you want to tell us?” Oliver asked as the two stopped right in front of her. Aspen shook her head.

“Not that I can think of,” she replied, silently regretting the hole she was now digging. “Why?”

“Nothing about your training session at the cave?” Dinah asked. So they found out about that.

Aspen was, surprisingly, able to keep the whole training incident under-wraps for the past few days after making Artemis promise not to say anything and telling her she would tell Dinah and Ollie at some point. Obviously, she never did—nor was ever planning to—which is what got her into this mess.

“So you found out about that…” Aspen said sheepishly. She went to fidget with her ring, but only found an empty spot on her finger and remembered taking it off before training. “How, exactly, did you find out?”

“It’s not the best idea to hide something from us that had multiple witnesses,” Dinah chided. “Witnesses that see me multiple times a week.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” The only thing left at this point was to try and downplay it, but Aspen doubted she would get too far with that.

“It was obviously bad enough that you needed to use the emergency syringe.” Aspen looked down at the floor as Dinah scolded her. “I don’t think you understand what toll this might have taken on your body, Aspen!”

“Look, I’m perfectly fine! I knew you guys would continue to run tests on me, and nothing came up in the tests, so I’m fine now,” Aspen snapped. She immediately put a hand over her mouth. Oliver and Dinah were just as taken aback by her sudden outburst. “I—I don’t know where that came from—I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly, and ran out of the room.

* * * * * *

I'm sorry it took so long for me to update this! I've been going through writer's block with this story (sadly), but I hope it ends soon!

So what did you guys think about this chapter? Was it smart for Aspen to keep the memory from Dinah Oliver? Should she have told them?

Comment what you think below and don't forget to vote!

I hope you enjoyed!