"There's more to life than this," Callie decided, not even sitting up as she turned her head to face Sara. The girl was straightening her hair as Callie lay on her bed. They were in the process of getting ready for another night of boozing and potentially doing substances that Ollie and Tommy gave to them.

"Callie, please don't do another one of your save the world speeches, you're almost as boring as Laurel," Sara replied, rolling her eyes as she chewed on a piece of gum while not bothering to even cast a glance at the raven haired girl on her bed.

They were too young to be throwing their lives away like this - on the news every other day for being tangled in some sort of scandal concerning Oliver and Tommy's party lifestyles. Callie was gathering a name for herself as the female version of her brother, something she didn't want. She loved him, and Oliver and Sara - but she needed something more from her life.

She refused to believe that she would be stuck in Starling City all her life just living off her trust fund. Her father worshipped the ground her and Tommy walked on so she probably would be able to do it, considering how hard he worked to keep them rich.

Sara smacked the gum, turning around to face the girl as she held her straighteners in her hand. Callie huffed, getting up and changing places with Sara knowing that - like always - the motion signalled the blonde was finished with the question.

"Ollie was talking about going away for a week or so on the Queen's Gambit tomorrow," Sara casually slipped into the conversation as she ironed her best friends hair. Callie sighed, knowing all about the affair that Sara had going on with the Queen boy. She had warned them both many times that Laurel did not deserve this, but it was never her place to say.

"Sara, you need to stop this before someone gets seriously hurt," Callie warned and pleaded again, hoping that the girl would just leave the boy alone. Not only did Laurel deserve better, but Callie knew that Sara could also do much better. Ollie was her friend, but he was a notorious womaniser. One woman was never enough for the blonde.

"He's invited me to go with him," Sara continues, ignoring Callie's plead for her to avoid the boy. Sara believed that Ollie would leave Laurel for her eventually. It was only a matter of time before he came to their senses. "I've decided to go."

Callie spun around in the seat, moving her head back as she almost smacked her face against the straightening iron held in Sara's grasp.

"I can't stand by you this time Sara," the girl admitted, knowing that this was all too much. She didn't think this behaviour was acceptable. They were ruining so much by sneaking around.

"Then leave," Sara said, her face now stone-cold. Callie stood up, ignoring the fact that only half of her hair was straightened. She grabbed her bag from the side of the room and turned to face Sara once more before she left the room.

"Don't you dare come to me for help when this all ends in a shipwreck!" Callie yelled, slamming the door on her way out of the Lance house. There was no cause for concern about their argument on either parties behalf, for the two were known for their colossal fallouts.

Callie's words came back to haunt her in less than fourty-eight hours.

She was awoken by Thea. Callie had spent the night with the girl at the Queen Manor as she was missing her brother and father even though they had only been gone a day or less.

The second Callie looked at her face, she knew her life was about to change forever. She had ran downstairs, to find Moira Queen sobbing hysterically as she watched the green news headline scroll across the screen.

The Queen's Gambit had literally capsized. No presumed survivors.

Oliver (and Robert) was dead. Sara, the one she had told to not come to her even in a shipwreck, was dead. The sheer irony of her words hit her full force, the tears beginning to cascade down her face as Thea burrowed her head into the raven-haired girl's shoulder.

Everything would change from there onwards.

Malcolm recognised her pain. He knew what losing a loved one was like, and he knew that although the relationship between his wife was different than the friendship his children shared with the two rich kids had been, they were in pain.

Tommy shied away from the other two remaining Merlyn's, choosing to take comfort in his friendship with Laurel. Lauren was in a state. Not only did her boyfriend die, but so did her sister - but she was angry at the revelation of their affair.

So Callie found herself leaning on Malcolm. He was the only one left for her to share the pain with. The only one who understood why Callie had always wanted more for herself than just the drugs and the parties and the fancy cars that she had spent so long surrounded by. He had already taught her the basics of a gun and hand-to-hand combat, but he knew that she really craved something more life fufilling.

He knew it was only time before Ra's al Ghul had caught wind of this. Robert Queen was a man that was famous worldwide, and the League knew of Malcolm's family's association with the family.

So almost 11 months after Sara and Oliver's supposed deaths, Callie found herself introduced to a completely new lifestyle. There was something about the power she felt as she trained that made the killing okay for her. She was training to be an assassin, not a police officer. She didn't need perfect morals anymore.

Nanda Parbat became her home.

Ra's al Ghul accepted her as his personal trainee with open arms. He craved someone who would be able to challenge his daughter Nyssa, and he saw that in the young Merlyn the second she had arrived at the island.

She was a quick learner, becoming one of the best by the ten that another person entered her life only 16 months on.

Nyssa had been on Liam Yu, doing some scouting when she had came across the barely breathing blonde woman. She brought her back to the league, her father allowing the survivor to be trained.

Ra's summoned Callie for what she assumed to be a usual training session that afternoon. He knew exactly what he was about to sort.

The raven haired girl was fighting off all of the lesser members of the league when she heard the gasp. And despite not having heard the voice in three years, she recognised it instantly.

"Sara Lance,".

"Callie Merlyn."