Chapter Text
A soft emerald glow filled the bedroom like a comforting nightlight as Y/N felt her and Hal’s breathing begin to slow down. She buried her face into his shoulder and the firm arm that laid over her hips pulled her closer out of instinct. Hal’s soft pink lips upturned in a lazy smile as he placed kisses on her temple, ear, cheek – he let out a laugh when Y/N scrunched her nose and let out a whine. Y/N decided to pull her face out of his shoulder and placed a firm kiss on his lips – lips she had kissed hundreds of thousands of times over the past two years (aka: ever since they both finally confessed their feelings for each other after working 5 years together as Green Lanterns.)
She felt Hal run a hand through her messy hair and she smirked into the kiss as she teasingly touched the sides of his hair. Hal quickly parted the kiss and let out an offended gasp.
“Stooooop…” He grabbed her hands and pinned them over her head as he moved to straddle her – the same position that got them all sprawled out and naked in bed in the first place.
Earlier this year, Hal started getting little white hair streaks at his temples and sides. Hal nearly shattered all the glass in their apartment when he noticed – she was sure mainland Australia could hear his scream.
“No,” Y/N breathed as the tips of their noses touched, “I think it’s cute…”
“I’m only thirty, Y/N! Thirty! Barry doesn’t have any white hair and he’s 30. Neither does Spooky, and he’s pushing 40!”
Y/N playfully rolled her eyes when Hal brought up their Justice League teammates. While Hal was considered one of the “Original Seven” – Y/N followed soon after, so she was able to be in some important founders’ meetings. Her and Hal confessed their feelings for each other at Lois and Clark’s wedding, and they happily announced their official relationship at the next JL meeting.
Hal and Y/N expected their friends and teammates to be shocked, but none of them were. Y/N could’ve sworn she heard Diana mutter “finally, by Hera, it took you both long enough…”
Arthur was surprised, though! Well, he didn’t really count – he had thought that Y/N and Hal were already married – he expected the announcement from them to be about a baby or something. Y/N couldn’t blame the Atlantean – the dude literally lived 20,000 leagues under the sea.
Barry, Hal’s best friend and one of Y/N’s, was usually super sentimental about these kinds of things – he cried the entire length of Lois and Clark’s wedding ceremony. He just let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.
“Congratulations guys, this is just great…Iris had the bet for this month. Now I owe her $50!”
Clark already knew that Y/N and Hal were together, so he tried to act surprised. But…that man can’t lie to save his life. So, her and Hal saw right through him. Later, Lois told Y/N that Clark knew about their relationship as soon as the confession happened due to his super hearing picking up on her and Hal canoodling in the corn field adjacent to the barn where the reception was held. Maybe she should reach out to Clark to see if he needs therapy.
Batman’s reaction was what you’d expect, really. He knew the two GLs had feelings for each other the moment he saw them together for the first time, so he just grunted. And Hal took that personally.
J’onn was sweet about it, even though he was completely aware of their feelings for each other long before anything transpired, due to him having to use psychic mind links from time to time on missions. Still, he had a better “surprised” reaction than Clark, so it was all good.
“I told you that I think it’s cute and sexy,” Y/N felt Hal’s pointed stare on her lips and neck, “it shows that you’re…experienced…”
Hal dropped his head onto her collarbone, still pinning her wrists gently as he pressed sloppy kisses on the column of her throat. She playfully rolled her eyes.
“I knew you had a thing for older guys, so maybe this white hair is a good thing…since we’re the same age…” Hal teased, nipping her ear lobe.
“Older men? Gross!” Y/N retched, wriggling under Hal as she felt his erection press against her right hip.
Hal let out a low groan, kissing her forehead and unpinning her hands. He grasped her face gently and teasingly bit her bottom lip as he got situated between her legs. He could already feel the heat coming from her, and he was ready to be inside her again.
“Tell me, baby, do you wanna go higher—”
“HEY! IS THIS THING WORKING? I did the override thing that Kilowog taught us, but I can’t see—AGGGGGH!”
Hal and Y/N felt like cold water had been poured on them when they heard a very familiar, very annoying voice coming out of their rings that were sat by Hal’s lantern in the corner of the bedroom.
“Keep your voice down, and I told you not to do that! It’s a complete invasion of privacy, this could’ve waited until morning—”
“I WISH I LISTENED! IT’S HAL AND Y/N’S SEX NIGHT! THAT RUINS SEX AND TONIGHT!”
Ah. Guy Gardner and John Stewart. The finest additions to Sector 2814. Soon after her and Hal got together, a human named John Stewart received a Green Lantern ring. He was a great partner and always had everyone’s back. If you had a problem, you could always go to John for a good talking to. He also wasn’t afraid to call you on your bullshit – which was more valuable than one would think. Y/N had grown very close to him, and Hal did as well. A few months after John joined, a red headed nuisance from Baltimore, Maryland also got a green glowing ring.
You weren’t allowed to date fellow Lanterns in the Green Lantern Corps, and it was a rule that the Guardians upheld – the rings ran on willpower – a GL did not need any distractions. GLs put their lives on the line so innocent people don’t have to. That’s what you sign up for when the green ring slides itself on your finger. Of course, John, Kilowog, Tomar-Re and Arisia knew, but they were the only ones for quite a while.
It went out the window when Guy Gardner was added to the 2814 club. They really did keep it under wraps for months…until Guy made an inappropriate sexual comment about Y/N.
Y/N had broken her leg during a particularly nasty confrontation with Atrocitus and the Red Lantern Corps. She was brought back to Oa to heal after the battle, and Hal, as usual, refused to leave her side for a second. Guy Gardner (who had the worst timing) decided to stride into her curtained-off bed as Hal was running a hand through her hair, shushing her as she let out a whine of pain. Y/N couldn’t shake her cold sweat, and she held Hal’s hands tightly as she looked into his sympathetic brown eyes. She noticed Guy entered when Hal’s eyes shifted away from hers and instantly took on a glare.
“Y/N is healing from her injury, Guy,” Hal annoyingly huffed, squeezing Y/N’s hand tighter, “She’s in a lot of pain, and she doesn’t need you adding to it.”
“Hey, maybe my presence will make her heal faster. Say, Y/N…” Guy wriggled his eyebrows, leaning against the IV pole, “When that leg of yours heals up, how about you wrap it around me?”
Hal then proceeded to get into an all-out BRAWL with the red head. When they were pulled apart by John, Hal had a handful of red hair.
So, after Hal’s aggressive display, the GLs that now know of this relationship are John, Kilowog, Tomar-Re, Arisia…and Guy Gardner.
Hal reared his protective head again, quickly covering Y/N up with the sheets on the bed, glaring at their rings in the corner, where a projection of Guy was standing with his hands on his hips.
“I’m two seconds away from finding your location and disemboweling you, Gardner—”
“What do you want, Guy?” Y/N cut Hal off, sending him a warning look. Hal and Guy weren’t best friends, but Y/N kind of liked Guy’s spunkiness. He definitely made things more entertaining…but there was a time and place. Hal about to slide into her and take them to ecstasy again was not one of those times.
“We got a briefing from the Guardians while we were on Oa,” John quickly stood in place of Guy, shielding his eyes with his hands to make sure he didn’t see anything, “they’re seeing reports throughout the sectors that Sinestro may be active again with his corps.”
Y/N felt Hal’s body tense with hers, and she bit her bottom lip. Sinestro had defected from the Green Lantern Corps about six months into her and Hal’s relationship. It was a battle for survival, and many Green Lanterns passed away battling Sinestro and his corps that ran on fear. They were able to defeat him thanks to Hal. He baited Sinestro and locked him into the main battery on Oa. A few weeks ago, it was found out that Sinestro had escaped his confinement.
“Has it been confirmed?” Hal asked.
“There haven’t been any verified reports, but the Guardians are gathering more intel as the other GLs are out across the sectors. Guy and I confirmed that there was no activity by Sinestro or the Sinestro Corps in 2814.”
“Mm…” Y/N nodded, pulling the covers higher on her chest as she sat up, “well, I’m sure that if any sector will be targeted, it will be ours.”
“Yeah, since Sinestro has a hate boner for Jordan…” Guy decided to add his comment, and Y/N knew that John was fighting the urge to slap the man upside his head.
“That’s a very astute observation, Guy,” Y/N sighed, “but we’ll face him head-on.”
Y/N placed a reassuring hand on Hal’s back, putting her head on his shoulder as he sat in front of her, facing Guy and John’s projections.
“If we pick up on anything, we’ll be sure to let you know,” Hal offered, wanting to get off the call. Being interrupted by Guy Gardner was nearly enough to kill his libido, but the mention of Sinestro slaughtered it. He hoped he could salvage the rest of his and Y/N’s time in bed.
“Same. I’ll be heading back to 2814 after we finish up. Guy’s gonna stay on Oa for another night.”
“Is it because Hal threatened you?” Y/N giggled, seeing Guy cross his arms tighter.
“Maybe.” Guy stuck his nose in the air.
“Let me tell you something, Gardner. If you ever override the communication on our rings to give us a simple non-emergency report again…you’ll lose more than your hair. And it’d be a real shame, seeing that it’s starting to fill out again.”
“Well, at least my hair is red and not white, old man—”
“GOODNIGHT, Y/N and Hal!” John shoved Guy out of the frame and ended the communication.
Y/N and Hal’s bedroom was now quiet, the only sound being the breathing between them. The room also dimmed a bit since the only green light in the room was coming from the lantern, not a projection of Guy and John. Hal let out a sigh, shaking his head.
“It’s going to be okay, Hal,” Y/N whispered, forcing him to face her.
“I know,” Hal swallowed, “I know. We’ve defeated him before, and we will defeat him again.” Hal’s brown eyes looked over her and a smile stained his lips when he saw the engagement ring on Y/N’s left hand. She glanced down at it, her cheeks heating up.
Hal had proposed last week, and Y/N was still so giddy about it. The ring wasn’t anything to gawk at, but Y/N didn’t want anything fancy. It was a gold band with a little solitaire diamond in the middle. They would tell their friends later, but they wanted to soak up this bliss together. She played with the ring as Hal adjusted in the bed, fully facing her, and touching the sheets she was using to cover her chest.
“I love you,” He breathed, gently pushing the sheets down. Y/N let out a soft hum, tracing her hands down Hal’s bare chest.
“I love you, too…”
“Are you ready for me, sweetheart?” Hal whispered, beginning to kiss down her sternum.
Y/N’s breath hitched as Hal kissed lower and lower, and she could hardly get the muddled words out of her throat.
“For you? Always.”
--
The next morning, Y/N winced as she rolled out of bed. Hal had already gone into Ferris Aircraft for the morning since he had an early test flight. She was barely able to stay awake since they had stayed up so late last night – she didn’t know how the hell Hal felt comfortable operating heavy machinery commissioned by the US Government. Then again, he was Hal Jordan. She rubbed her hips as she fully stood, deciding to quickly shower before heading in to work.
When Y/N moved out of Keystone City to live with Hal in Coast, she had to leave her job as an Archeology Professor at Keystone City University. (She was sure that the board of directors and provost breathed a sigh of relief when she did – due to increasing threats to earth’s sector, she had been missing a lot of lectures and conferences. Things were a bit more even now since John and Guy joined the team.) She now worked at Coast City’s Natural History Museum as a research archeologist (she had full flexibility to go ‘dig’ when she wanted, if it lined up with the other archaeologists’ schedules, which meant more time on Oa and Sector 2814 when she was needed.)
The moments where both her and Hal were home were precious – and as evidenced by last night, they always tried to make the most of it. She floated through the rest of the routine as she thought of her fiancé. God, she adored Hal. He could drive her nuts sometimes and make her want to pull her hair out, but she knew they flowed within each other. She couldn’t wait for the day she’d be able to put on that beautiful veil that the alien princess gifted her all those years ago.
Y/N never thought she’d love a ring as much as she loved her Green Lantern ring, but Hal’s simple yet thoughtful engagement ring was really giving it a run for its money.
--
Y/N let out a relieved sigh when she spoke to the research director – she was given permission to travel to Egypt for a month to give some advice to a group of graduate students that were on a dig site. (Of course, Y/N would visit Egypt for maybe a week – the amount of time she told the students in Egypt – and spend the rest on Oa, with her latest assignment.) Seeing as there were rumors that Sinestro was active with his corps again, she knew that she’d probably spend weeks in space. She wouldn’t be surprised if Hal was desperately searching for excuses to also be gone for a month. (Sometimes their assignments lined up, other times, they were stationed on other planets, whispering sweet nothings to each other through their rings as they were on the edge of different galaxies.)
Ganthet tended to hand out the assignments for the 2814 group of lanterns, and she noticed that he tried to keep her and Hal together and John and Guy together as partners. She didn’t know why he attempted to do that, but she wouldn’t complain. Unfortunately, Appa Ali Apsa was the one doing their assignments at the moment, which meant she was usually paired up with Guy. (Normally she’d be paired up with John, but… Hal and Guy didn’t have the best brand of teamwork in the corps…)
When Sinestro defected from the corps and they took heavy losses, Y/N knew that her position at the Natural History Museum may have to be sacrificed. Her and Hal were staunch in their belief that they had outside lives. They weren’t just space rangers – they were normal people…with a very powerful ring on their middle fingers. But the more they were called into space, the more they felt estranged from earth. He was the light she needed in those times, and she’d be forever grateful to him.
She dreamily looked up from her research station to wonder if Hal would pull his trick of doing a sonic boom right over the museum that day. It always sent the Museum Director into a fright, and a poor intern at Ferris Aircraft would receive a very loud phone call. It was just a little reminder that he was thinking about her. Which was cute at first, but after one of the sonic booms nearly sent a bone she was examining off her desk, she told Hal to cool it. (But she still adored it.)
Y/N quickly told herself to focus, and she turned the bone she was examining over with her gloves. She pulled out her magnifying glass, propping the bone up to take a closer look when she heard a loud explosion from the outside. Y/N felt her insides shrivel up. She knew what a sonic boom from one of Hal’s jets sounded like.
And that sound was not a sonic boom.
She nearly dropped the bone she was holding in surprise. She was grateful she had good reflexes, and she quickly sat the bone down, completely disregarding protocol as she left it unwrapped – she had no time to follow instructions. She could hear screams and gasps of horror, and when she looked out of the glass windows of the research lab, she saw people frantically running in multiple directions, sheer panic on their faces.
This isn’t good.
Y/N threw off her lab coat and bolted to the main staircase of the museum. People were shaking and cowering in the main hall from the commotion outside. People were shoving and scrambling to get into the museum, jumping over the metal detectors and ticket stands. It was chaos. Y/N took a steady breath, looking down at her emerald ring.
No fear.
She quickly threw herself down a back corridor and activated her ring. Guy and John may call her and Hal “old fashioned,” but she wasn’t ready to give up the slight peace she still had as a random civilian in a crowd of other unremarkable faces. She floated up into the air and smashed her way through the glass dome that decorated the ceiling of the museum.
She didn’t have to look for the threat…because she was completely engulfed in it.
Large yellow constructs filled the air and dark clouds began to shroud the sun. The color yellow used to be one of Y/N’s favorites. The color of the rays of the sun, of delicate dandelions that would spring up in the yards of Coast City residents. The color of the first poorly-picked flower Hal shoved in her face after their first ever mission together.
But now she hated the color. It meant murder, betrayal. Fear. The color of the Sinestro Corps – and multiple members of the corps they once considered defeated, filled the sky. They were targeting buildings and created constructs of monstrous beings, much to the horror of the citizens of Coast City.
Y/N realized that the Green Lantern Corps no longer had to continue searching under every rock for the escaped traitor – he had delivered himself right on her and Hal’s doorstep.
Chapter Text
Y/N clenched her fists as the Sinestro Corps members realized a Green Lantern was now among them. She knew that their goal was to lure out the Green Lanterns of 2814, but she wasn’t going to give them any satisfaction. She blocked a sharp construct of yellow light with an emerald wall and blew back the Yellow Lanterns closest in proximity to her.
“This is embarrassing,” Y/N began, creating a whip construct and sending some distracted Yellow Lanterns flying through the air, “but I guess you all didn’t get the memo…”
Y/N grunted as a yellow construct began to squeeze around her midsection, “In Coast City, we prefer the color green!”
Y/N was able to loosen the yellow whip around her, but was quickly put into another trap.
“That’s cute, but we have you outnumbered,” The humanoid Sinestro Corps member sneered, “aw…did your little hero run way when he heard Sinestro was back?”
Y/N glared at the alien in front of her, not exactly impressed that the member was downplaying Hal. He struck fear into even the most polished members of the Sinestro Corps since he was able to combat great fear. This idiot had no room to talk. She decided to hold her tongue on that front, but she was ready to put Sinestro and his little underlings back where they belonged.
“Here’s a tip,” Y/N ignored the bait, creating a hammer construct and swinging it towards her current enemy, “It’s a really good tip, so you should listen closely,” Y/N continued, frustrated that the lantern was able to dodge the construct at the last second.
Y/N let out a sharp gasp when a fist construct slammed into her jaw, uppercutting her. She was dazed for a minute, feeling her jaw beginning to purple. She squeezed her eyes tightly until the desire to vomit passed – she had enough of this baby stuff. She created a fly swatter construct and slapped the Sinestro Corps member into the side of a building.
“When you’re down, stay down. It’s something your glorious leader still needs to learn.” Y/N taunted.
Before she could pride herself on the successful zinger, she noticed even more Sinestro Corps members arriving. This was not going to be handled with just her and Hal fighting. She quickly opened a line of communication with her ring as she continued to deflect multiple attacks.
“Lantern L/N to Lanterns Jordan, Stewart and Gardner – do you copy?”
“Hear ya, Y/N!” Guy was first to respond, and Y/N was grateful to hear his voice.
“It looks like our old pal Sinestro has brought the party to us in Coast City. Think you guys could come join in on the festivities?”
“I’ll be there, Y/N.” John confirmed.
“Sure thing! Over and out.”
Y/N waited to hear her fiancé’s voice, but there was no response.
“Jordan?” Y/N barked.
Silence.
Y/N felt ice fill her veins, but she couldn’t focus on Hal. This threat was real and she wasn’t going to let them inflict any more pain on Coast City. She told herself that Hal was probably flying a jet and had to think of a way to land the aircraft before joining her. She prayed he wouldn’t just crash land in the desert (…again.)
Before she could go back to her duty, she was spotted by one of the most notorious and powerful members of the Sinestro Corps – Arkillo. Arkillo was one of Sinestro’s first recruits and was perhaps one of the vilest creatures ever created. He was a cannibal on his home planet, and took pleasure from horrified screams and whimpers. He was the drill sergeant for Sinestro – basically a disgusting equivalent of Kilowog to Sinestro and his ring bearers.
Arkillo let out a blood curdling cackle and before Y/N could even shoot a sliver of light, she was slammed forcefully into the concrete ten stories below her. She was able to cushion her body from the fall thanks to her instincts, but the distinct taste of copper and sodium filled her mouth. She spat out the crimson blood and wheezed as her lungs struggled to function after the physical shock. She shakily tensed her arms as she attempted to peel herself off the ground, but her body needed more time to recover. She nearly retched when she noticed her middle finger that had her GL ring on it was floppy – she had broken her finger with her life-saving cushion, which may have caused stress on the ring and her life support function, resulting in the break. She attempted to switch her ring to the other middle finger, but she was sloppy – she couldn’t take off her ring now and count on herself to get it back on – not when she was still seeing stars behind her eyelids. Before she could take a deeper breath, she heard those cursed words…
“In blackest day, in brightest night,” Arkillo’s voice was so deep and guttural that it reverberated in her bones, “Beware your fears made into light. Let those who try to stop what’s right, burn like his power, Sinestro’s—”
A visceral slicing noise filled Y/N’s ears and Arkillo’s finger that held the yellow lantern ring rolled into her view. Arkillo let out an infuriated roar before being mercilessly sucker punched thousands of feet into the air by a green construct. Due to his ring being cut from his finger, he was ultimately powerless.
“Aw…you started without me?” A voice teased.
She felt familiar warm hands grip her around the waist and help her to her feet.
Hal.
“What took you so long?” Y/N huffed, still frazzled with her near-death experience.
“Let’s just say Ferris Aircraft is going to have another hefty bill from the US Government…”
“…You sliced off his finger…” Y/N decided not to let Hal go further with his tale, and focused on the situation at hand.
“No worries, it’ll grow back in a few months. Kilowog used the same maneuver during the Sinestro Corps war.”
Y/N didn’t want to “reminisce” because in the present moment, it felt like they had never left the battlefield -- all the Green Lanterns that had sacrificed themselves to defeat Sinestro had died in vain.
“Did you run into Guy and John?”
“They’re holding their own,” Hal kept an eye out for threats near them, knowing they’d have to rejoin the fight soon, “but there’s more coming. We may need to call in the JL.”
“There’s more?” Y/N winced as she tried to gingerly pull her power ring from her broken finger.
Hal noticed and assisted her in coaxing the ring from her finger and transferring it to her other hand, “let’s say they hit recruitment hard after the war…” Hal breathed. Y/N constructed a green cast around her injured finger, but not before Hal placed a delicate kiss on it.
“Have you seen Sinestro yet?” Y/N quickly went up into the air with Hal to get back into the action, and he shook his head.
“Not yet…but he’ll be here. And we know who he’s after.”
Y/N took a steadying breath, looking into her fiancé’s eyes, “be safe. I’ve got your six.”
“You know I’ve always got yours…and when have I ever not been safe?” Hal teased before going to Guy’s defense and distracting the three Yellow Lanterns that had the red-head surrounded.
Y/N set her sights on a group of Yellow Lanterns and set off towards them before they could inflict more damage.
--
The fight was now nearing in on its third hour. Coast City was getting more and more destroyed by the moment, and Barry was now trying to cart citizens as far out of the downtown area as possible. He had also begun moving civilians to the lower level of the Natural History Museum after Y/N gave him detailed instructions. Multiple fires were burning and black smoke filled the overcast sky, blocking out any chance of light. Flashes of yellow and green filled the sky between the dark clouds, indicating battles between the Sinestro Corps and the GLs.
The Justice League joined in on the battle just minutes after Y/N and Hal were able to strand at least 40 aliens in the Sinestro Corps by ridding them of their rings. Calls for help from Y/N, Hal, Guy, and John fell on deaf ears with the Guardians – they couldn’t spare the Green Lanterns on Oa in case Sinestro was planning to divide and conquer. Hal, Y/N, Guy and John simply didn’t have the time to protest.
Y/N was covered in blood and dust and many of her colleagues were too. While several members of the Sinestro Corps decided to flee the action, many decided to stay and fight to the end. Sinestro still hadn’t made is appearance, and Y/N didn’t like that fact. The 2814 GLs and the Justice League were fighting with all that they had, but fatigue was starting to set in. They didn’t have the numbers that Sinestro had – the only positive that Y/N could see was that there were no more new Yellow Lanterns showing up.
Hal continued to fight while also making sure civilians were in safe places. She could tell that Hal was beside himself with grief already, but he was determined that his city would stay safe. It just had to. It was where he grew up, where he became who he was. This was his base. And like any hero that was responsible for a city, he knew it like the back of his hand.
“Flash!” Hal barked, shooting off missiles with his ring, “There’s a corridor two blocks from here that leads into an underground service tunnel off fourth street. Move the civilians from the park into there. They can’t keep hiding behind trees!”
Barry didn’t have to be told twice, leaving behind sparks of lightning as he surged towards the park on the edge of the city.
Y/N was doing her best to keep people safe, constantly reinforcing the foundation of the Natural History Museum that already had its highest floor cleared. If any more structural damage was done to it, the building would collapse and bury those sheltering in the basement.
“I can handle this,” J’onn quickly came to Y/N’s side and began to support the building, “you serve better out there.”
“Thank you, J’onn…” Y/N breathed, joining back in on the fight.
Superman was able to round up several members of Sinestro’s team, but their constructs weren’t delicate, and Superman was not used to lanterns that showed no restraint with their rings. As far as Y/N was concerned, Lanterns were extremely powerful – what one could do with their ring was only limited by their imagination. Some used their ring for good and didn’t believe in killing…while others just saw the ring as the greatest mass death weapon in the universe.
Before long, an eerie calm settled over the heroes. Guy raised an eyebrow as the Yellow Lanterns seemed to be leaving in droves. Him and John attempted to stop the fleeing cowards, but Y/N was more alarmed about why they were leaving.
Before any of them could even process this development, a large yellow construct swung from the sky and knocked Hal back several feet, causing him to land on his back.
“Hal!” Y/N shrieked, quickly constructing a powerful green bubble around Hal just before he made full contact with the pavement. He could feel the familiar prickle of bruises developing at the back of his head and spine. He was lucky that Y/N was able to soften his impact. If she hadn’t done so, his brains would probably be smeared over the concrete.
Guy and John flew up above Y/N and Hal to see the traitor that was now descending from the black clouds.
Sinestro.
“Calling in backup, Jordan? How unlike you…” Sinestro drawled, keeping his head held high as he created an enormous force field that separated Y/N and Hal from their friends. Immediately, they all tried to break out of the construct, but Sinestro was one of the greatest Lanterns of all time. Nothing would break through that construct if Sinestro stayed focused, and Y/N and Hal knew it.
They were on their own against Sinestro. Y/N had no clue why Sinestro was involving her in his rematch with Hal, but she knew she had to watch her back. Sinestro was aware of Y/N and Hal’s relationship, and she was sure that he was going to use their attachment to each other to his advantage.
“And how like you to let others do your fighting for you.” Hal seethed.
“It doesn’t have to be like this, Sinestro,” Y/N tried to reason, but she knew Sinestro would never back down from a challenge, “we’ll put you in a more secure lock-up so you can’t even imagine pulling something like this again.”
“Still trying to use your words, hm? How have you not given up on that approach? It certainly didn’t work on Star Sapphire.” Sinestro blew Y/N off, but not before creating a snake-like construct, its sharp teeth mere millimeters away from piercing her abdomen. Y/N was able to quickly avoid the bite, but she wasn’t able to escape the whiplash she received from a yellow construct wrapping around her ankle and smashing her into a bent telephone pole.
She felt one of her ribs crack. She let out a miserable cry, fatigue seeping in. She didn’t know how many more hits she could take – her battery was going to start running low any second. Then she’d truly be powerless. She had taken several harsh hits – hits that she should’ve seen coming and avoided. She was sloppy and frantic.
Two things a Green Lantern had no business being.
Y/N gripped the asphalt under her fingers to focus her vision on what was at hand. She looked over to see that the JL and Guy and John were still trapped in Sinestro’s construct. Hal could hold his own – she had to figure out a way to split Sinestro’s attention so she could assist her friends in breaking out of the yellow prison of light.
“Y/N!” Hal screamed.
“I’m okay!” Y/N could barely raise her voice – if her lungs expanded even more, she was afraid her shattered rib would pierce a lung and cause it to collapse. She could barely catch her breath now – she definitely needed both lungs to function properly.
Hal wasn’t convinced, but he knew that the only way he could get to Y/N to look her over was to defeat Sinestro. He had done it once before…but nothing was guaranteed. He wasn’t going to give Sinestro the pleasure of a conversation. This ended now.
Hal aggressively advanced on Sinestro, and it soon became nothing but eerie flashes of green and yellow. Y/N held herself around her midsection as she watched Sinestro’s constructs like a hawk. Soon enough, Hal had backed Sinestro into a corner that forced the defector to shift all his attention to fighting the Green Lantern. She saw the construct holding back her friends glitch, and she rocketed up into the air to send all the power she had towards splitting it open.
“Get ready,” Y/N shouted, creating a train construct before she sent it flying into Sinestro’s force field. At the same time, Hal hit Sinestro with an eye-watering sucker punch, which led to a split second of opportunity.
Clark, Diana, J’onn, Barry, Guy and John were able to escape their confinement. Y/N was confident now that Sinestro would be defeated within seconds, but that would’ve been too easy. Members of the Sinestro Corps descended from the sky yet again, although their numbers were depleted.
“Shit!” Guy cursed, “Do these fuckers just hang around in the clouds?”
“We’re finishing this now,” Diana glowered, looking at her teammates.
Everyone got into their positions and moved forward on the final offensive.
It ends now. It had to.
Hal was able to back Sinestro into a corner once again, and he kept his ring pointed at the traitor. Y/N floated above the confrontation, observing every slight movement. Sinestro fought dirty – there was no decorum or respect. He was a trapped animal.
And Y/N was acutely aware of how trapped animals acted.
Sinestro had a nasty glare on his face and was eerily calm. He took a deep breath and tilted his head when he noticed the gold band with a solitaire diamond on Y/N’s left hand. His yellow eyes looked back at Hal with a disturbing amount of sick glee.
“Oh, I believe congratulations are in order,” Sinestro mocked, “Ready to start a family, are you, Jordan?”
“Surrender.” Hal bit back. He didn’t like where this was headed.
“It’s a noble thing to do, I suppose,” Sinestro ignored Hal’s request and let his eyes go back to stare at Y/N’s floating form, “Is she with child? We all know that you’re not fond of taking things slowly. I hoped that L/N would have more sense.”
Hal clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to choke the alien in front of him. His brown eyes darkened and he just begged Sinestro to keep going – to fuck around and find out.
Sinestro sighed, shaking his head in fake sympathy, “I suppose L/N isn’t pregnant…there’s no way a protective little guard dog like you would allow his wife to fight such a massive threat with junior inside.”
“It’s over, Sinestro. Surrender.” Hal demanded, his chest heaving in effort. It was never easy to fight Sinestro, and he was sick of the cryptic bullshit.
“You may think you’ve won the battle, Jordan…but you will never win the war,” Sinestro ominously spoke, a sneer filling his thin lips, “For I know something…that you do not know.”
Hal was about to respond when Y/N saw a sliver of yellow light spout from Sinestro’s ring. The thin line went between Hal’s legs and a spear materialized before her very eyes, the serrated 10-inch blade now poised to stab Hal through his back and jut out of his chest. Y/N didn’t notice the shadow that appeared over her form, not until Hal looked over and saw a force field that was ready to slam his fiancée into the pavement and crush her to smithereens.
Sinestro was trying to split their focus so they’d be distracted and try to save each other. That was the reason he kept Y/N free from his construct. She didn’t have time to think – she had less than a millisecond before Hal would be stabbed from behind. She didn’t want to envision the long blade stained with crimson and littered with viscera as it jutted out of the chest she had laid her head on numerous times. After that, she’d be crushed by the force field Sinestro placed above her head, her innards decorating the city street.
Two lovebirds, one stone.
Hal effectively used a construct to shield Y/N from the impending crush, which left Sinestro free to escape. Y/N took a note from Kilowog and Hal’s strategy notebook, and sent a sharp construct of light towards Sinestro’s finger that held his ring.
The long blade had barely grazed Hal’s spine when Sinestro fell to the ground, powerless, his ring finger swiftly separated from his body. Y/N was ready to cheer in victory but stopped when she realized the ring didn’t just clatter to the concrete like all the others that day.
The ring continued to float, rising higher and higher into the sky.
The JL, John and Guy had defeated the left-over members of the Sinestro Corps, and the others they were currently fighting let out screams of horror as they rocketed up into the sky, desperate to get out of the atmosphere.
Sinestro began to laugh as his ring began to crack, and Y/N and Hal made eye contact, realization dawning on their faces.
“BRACE!” John screamed, wrapping a fortified force field around himself, Guy and the JL. Hal bolted to Y/N’s side and pulled her into his chest, wrapping them up in a ball of light just before Sinestro’s ring shattered and a bright white light filled the expanse of the horizon. Y/N could see Hal’s skeleton behind her closed eyelids, as if they had just been thrust into a massive x-ray machine.
They’d gone nuclear.
Chapter 3
Notes:
Hello Everyone! <3
Just a quick warning -- this chapter and the next have some canon-level violence. If you've read Emerald Twilight, these next two chapters have similar themes. However, there are character deaths and some of it is graphic. (This is why the fic is rated "M.") I definitely want to just warn you all before you go on and read since I care about you guys!
After the next two chapters, we shouldn't have any chapters that are as violent as this.
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
Y/N stood in front of Kilowog as he explained the seriousness of a Lantern’s ring and personal power battery. She was a few days into her training, and she kept trying to ignore the fellow human beside her that had a mesmerized look in his warm brown eyes as he stared at her. He was friendly and encouraged her, but she was finding it very difficult to focus on the Bolvaxian’s physics lesson.
“A power ring ain’t a pretty piece of jewelry. It’s a terrifying creation. It has enough energy to level a city. A personal lantern, if shattered, has the energy to obliterate an entire planet.”
“…Are you saying that a power ring,” Y/N nodded to the one that sat upon her middle finger, “has enough juice in it to…set off a nuclear explosion if its shattered?”
“Isn’t that what I just said, poozer? And Jordan, if you don’t stop making goo-goo eyes at our new recruit, I’m going to castrate you!”
A loud explosion came next, the decibels just now reaching their ears. Y/N was sure that her eardrums shattered, and it wasn’t until she heard the distinct roar of flames that she opened her eyes.
The bustling city scape that she was so used to seeing was absolutely unrecognizable. Everything was gray. Fires roared on the horizon, and there was an eerie silence. A silence that made her skin want to crawl. The situation still hadn’t gripped her.
But it had gripped Hal.
His green construct fell apart and he fell to his knees, his entire body shaking in horror. John’s construct slowly came down next, but Y/N didn’t care to see the shocked faces of her colleagues. She didn’t hesitate, she fell down next to Hal and gathered him up in her arms, and her chest heaved painfully from her wails.
Coast City was obliterated…and along with it, all of its people.
--
Y/N was barely able to make sense of anything around her when she arrived on Oa with Hal. Nothing made sense.
They were heroes – and all of them had seen horrifying things in their lives. None of them were rookies. But the nuclear disaster that awaited them when they opened their eyes was enough to take all of them to their knees. Y/N continued to have a death grip on Hal, and she could still hear his screams echoing in her ears as they stalked down the main passageways on Oa to get to the council room where the Guardians usually came together.
Curious things happened after that explosion. The first instinct that the heroes had was to see if anyone had survived. Guy and John got bizarre life signature reports from their rings.
“Ring, scan for life!” Guy was able to stutter out, his face paler than snow.
“Scanning…”
Everyone waited with bated breath as the electronic voice of the ring echoed into the silent wasteland.
“There are 2,686,164 life signatures.”
“…Did the radiation screw with the rings?” Barry managed to croak, looking at everyone that was surrounding Guy.
“Ring, scan for life…” John decided to test his ring and prayed that there was still hope for Coast City. If even one civilian was alive…
“Scanning…There are 2,686,164 life signatures.”
“That…that’s not possible,” Diana whispered, putting her hands on her hips.
She glanced over to Y/N and Hal and she felt her heart crack wide open. They weren’t even off of the ground yet. They were in a heap, and she couldn’t imagine the pain. Nobody dared to make their way over to the couple just yet.
They needed to figure out what the hell was going on before they could even start a conversation with them.
“I…” Clark paused for a minute, almost afraid to utter what he was able to pick up with his super hearing, “…Wait.”
“What is it?” Barry whispered.
“I hear…heartbeats. I can hear talking. I can hear traffic?” Clark still didn’t raise his voice enough to sound confident, and he looked at his colleagues that stood around him with frustrated eyes.
“I can’t physically see them, but I can hear them.”
“Scan for radiation. With a blast this massive, there has to be radiation. We really should still be under a protective cover – the fall out is still a threat to us all,” Barry, ever the scientist, blurted.
“Ring, scan for levels of radiation.” John barked.
“Scanning…”
The ring took its sweet time scanning the atmosphere, and Guy nearly screamed at the damn thing on John’s finger.
“Radiation level is at…0.17 millisievert.”
“…That’s normal background radiation per hour…” Barry murmured, “we should be seeing levels above 4,500 millisievert…”
--
“Hal, slow down…you’re still injured,” Y/N cleared her throat as Hal continued his large strides, his fists curled up into tight balls. Y/N struggled to keep up with him due to her broken ribs. Some viscera was on her ankle from the whip Sinestro had wrapped around it when he threw her into the telephone pole. But like Hal, she was on pure adrenaline. She couldn’t fully feel her injuries just yet.
--
After Hal was able to somewhat grasp the situation, he quickly stood, shaking his head.
“No. No. This isn’t real.” He croaked, shaking his head, “It’s not. It’s not. I’m dreaming. This is…it’s not real.”
Y/N didn’t know what to say, but she kept a firm grip on him, supporting most of his weight. He needed her to hold him up – the shock was enough to make his legs give out again.
“Where is everyone? Where are all the buildings?” He whimpered, tears streaming down his dirty cheeks, “There…there’s no way…”
“Hal…” Y/N gently breathed, holding back her sobs, “I don’t know,” She forced her feelings to the back of her mind even though she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. Other things were at stake here, she couldn’t just shut down. She had been through crisis intervention before – hundreds of times as a Green Lantern. She had seen entire civilizations wiped out in a matter of 24 hours from alien threats. She had seen legions of GL corps members vaporized in a matter of seconds.
But she had never seen a city she was so familiar with and loved blown flat into a gray, almost liminal space. It was familiar, but it also wasn’t. She couldn’t ever hope to describe it. She looked over to see her teammates shakily speaking to each other in hurried whispers. Guy’s face was scrunched up in confusion. Clark was staring into space, his eyes then racing around, locking onto empty spots, like he was looking for something that wasn’t there. Barry was jittery, counting on his fingers as he was obviously trying to do calculations.
Their whispers were garbled. She couldn’t understand words. She couldn’t understand anything.
“We…” Y/N looked into Hal’s unfocused gaze, “We need to…we need to see if anyone’s…still…” She couldn’t even spit out the word ‘alive.’
“We…we need to rebuild it…” Hal hiccupped, quickly starting to create buildings that resembled the structures that were there before. His focus was just obliterated, so the buildings made from hard light fizzled out quickly.
“Oh,” Y/N breathed, “Hal, w-we need to…put out the flames. We need to put out the flames and look for…survivors—”
“Survivors?” Hal hissed, turning to face his fiancée, clenching his jaw, “do…do you not see? Do you not see the fucking wasteland?!”
Y/N closed her eyes, unable to hold back the bitter sting of tears, “I…”
“There’s no way! There’s no way anyone survived this…survived this fireball, this abomination! It’s GONE, Y/N!”
Despair. He was in utter despair.
“Let me scan for life—”
Hal pointedly ignored her, attempting again to rebuild some features of his city. His. City. The city that he was in charge of protecting. His family lived here. His roots were here. He lived here with her. Hal was constantly in the air, away from home. He desperately needed a home base. It tied him back down to the surface of the planet and gave him a sense of security that just couldn’t be beat. A sense of security, finally regained after the turbulent years after Martin Jordan’s fiery death in a plane crash.
The flames…the destruction – how no object was truly identifiable on the craft – everything was burnt, bent out of shape. Just a big mass of steel, crunched beyond repair. They couldn’t recover his father’s mangled body.
Mangled. That’s what Coast City looked like right now.
The constructs Hal made were continuing to fizzle out, and Hal let out frustrated wails each time. Eventually, his ring just stopped creating anything. Y/N originally thought it was due to Hal’s wavering focus, or his weak willpower from seeing such a disturbing sight.
“Lantern Jordan,” Appa Ali Apsa’s voice spoke from Hal’s ring, “This is a priority one call to Oa to give a report about the siege conducted by the Sinestro Corps in Sector 2814. Do not delay.”
As soon as Appa Ali Apsa’s voice began, it faded out. Hal was now obligated to go to Oa. She knew that Hal would most likely reject Appa Ali Apsa’s request. She let out an angry huff and opened up the communication channel on her ring.
“Lantern L/N to Appa Ali Apsa—” Y/N began.
Hal didn’t say a word, but rocketed up into the sky.
“H-Hal?!” Y/N was taken aback by Hal’s quick action – he didn’t even look at her before he took off. He was headed straight to Oa? She was positive he would’ve thrown his ring onto the ground or at least protested.
She looked over to see Guy, John, Barry, Clark, Diana and J’onn look at her with solemn expressions.
“Hal…was called to Oa to report on the siege,” Y/N managed to speak, beginning to float in the air, “I’m going with him.”
“Wait, Y/N—”
Y/N didn’t wait around, and rapidly made her way up into the atmosphere.
--
She continued to try and keep up with Hal, and she saw Tomar-Re, Kilowog, and Arisia in the long hallway that led to the council chambers. They all had sympathetic looks on their faces – they had heard about the devastation. Hal uncharacteristically stormed past all of them, violently pushing open the doors to the chamber. No one truly batted an eyelash – the man was in mourning.
“Y/N…” Arisia squeaked, her big blue eyes full of worry, “Are…are you okay?”
“I don’t know, Arisia,” Y/N sniffed, “I don’t know.”
“We’re right here if you need us…” Kilowog solemnly held Y/N’s shoulder. Bolovax Vik had been utterly destroyed a year ago, and Kilowog had lost his wife and child. Y/N squeezed his hand with her hand that didn’t have the broken finger, and she held Tomar-Re’s concerned stare. She felt a pang in her chest for Kilowog. At least she still had Hal. Kilowog had nobody left.
“Thank you…” With that, Y/N quickly scurried behind Hal into the chamber, hearing the large, heavy doors echo shut behind her.
“Lanterns Jordan and L/N.” Ganthet greeted the pair, the other Guardians in their usual spots. All of them hovered above the two human Lanterns.
“Are you ready to give your report on the Sinestro Corps interaction in your sector, Lantern Jordan?” Ranakar inquired, looking between the Lanterns.
Y/N watched Hal stand there in silence, and Y/N could tell that Hal was glaring at the Guardians through his mask. His eyebrows were furiously furrowed, and his hands were on his hips. Hal could have a very threatening glare if he desired. Y/N was grateful she wasn’t ever on the receiving end of it.
None of their Green Lantern or Justice League colleagues had witnessed a glare like that from Hal. Y/N was sure the Guardians had never experienced that type of a glare either. This was a glare Hal reserved for enemies. For threats. Y/N decided she would speak up. She hated that she was going to use such…formal language to describe one of the darkest experiences she had so far.
“At around 0900 hours today, The Sinestro Corps invaded downtown Coast City—”
Hal was not at all interested in recapping what happened to his city, and he stuck out a hand, placing it over her chest as she spoke. Bewildered, her voice died out.
“You damn well know what happened. You know exactly what happened. You’re all knowing. All seeing. Don’t waste your breath, L/N.”
Y/N stared at Hal with wide eyes. L/N? He had never called her L/N before, not even when they met for the first time. It was always her first name, or some ridiculous nickname like “my little glowstick.” Recently, it had evolved into embarrassingly mushy pet names.
“Yes, Lantern Jordan. You are correct. We are aware of most of the actions taken. However, we do have the sense and the decorum to ask our Lanterns to explain themselves before we strip them of their ring,” Appa Ali Apsa began, “look at the actions your fellow Green Lanterns took upon the destruction. Lanterns Gardner and Stewart immediately scanned for life signatures, prioritizing innocent life. Lantern L/N was able to control herself and not fall into the sinful desire to alter reality. You, however, began to rebuild your city, completely ignoring reality and the grave situation at hand—”
“The situation was and is grave, Guardians,” Y/N spoke up, livid, “I know that you all pride yourselves on your immortality and inability to be swept up in emotion, but isn’t that what got you all in trouble in the first place? Did you not design your original force, the Manhunters, to not have any emotions, resulting in millions of genocides across the universe? You basically indirectly created the Red Lantern Corps, one of the biggest threats to life in the universe—”
“We know the history, Lantern L/N, it does not need to be recited back to us. Perhaps we should take your ring too, if you do not understand the egregious sin that Lantern Jordan committed.” Ranakar chimed in.
“Why did you not send any backup when we begged for it?” Y/N refused to stay silent, bewildered that Hal wasn’t squeaking out a single word.
“This is a Sinestro plot, Lantern L/N!” Appa Ali Apsa spoke up, “That is why we called Jordan to our chambers – to discuss everything that occurred in detail. What happened could have merely been a—”
“Been what? A dream? I stood at ground zero!” Y/N scoffed, incredulous, “there is nothing left but flames and dust! How can that be a dream?”
Y/N looked wildly over to her fiancé, waiting for him to back her up. He still stayed still, like the words were just passing right past him, smooth and soft like water. They were going to strip Hal of his ring. Hal Jordan. The Hal Jordan. Hal had saved the corps and his fellow Lanterns multiple times. Whispers always filled the air about who the greatest Green Lantern was. Y/N knew she was hopelessly biased, but Hal usually topped many lists. He was passionate about his role and had overcome so much to give his all to the corps. There were many times he put himself in the firing line to save fellow Lanterns’ lives and those of other alien species… and now it was just…over? All because he had a human reaction to his city being fucking obliterated?
“I see you do not care to defend yourself, Jordan. Turn in your ring. You are no longer a member of this corps due to your belligerent behavior. It is just one city that has been theoretically lost! We will make our report from Lantern L/N’s observations. Be lucky that your planet and race still exists. Lantern Kilowog did not receive the same considerations as you. Sinestro has the ambition to remake everything in his image, and planets and galaxies are far more important than mere cities.”
Hal looked up at the Guardians, touching the ring on his middle finger. It looked like he was going to pull it off, and he very calmly walked forward, clearing his throat.
“Sinestro plans to remake the universe in his image?” Hal quietly spoke, his eyes slowly meeting every Guardian’s gaze one at a time, “How will he be able to do it?”
Y/N felt her stomach flip. Something in Hal’s tone was…off. Her fiancé wasn’t defending himself – he was just taking the unjust punishment from the Guardians. This wasn’t the Hal she knew. She understood that he had just gone through a horrific trauma that would no doubt take decades to truly work through, but Hal Jordan didn’t believe in backing down from what was right. And this judgement call from the Guardians was not right.
“Guardians, please—” Y/N began, ready to beg on Hal’s behalf.
“How will Sinestro be able to remake the universe in his image…if I’m the one to do it first?”
In a sudden shock of light, Hal sent a sharp construct that separated Appa Ali Apsa’s head from his body.
Y/N’s eyes widened and a horrified scream ripped from her throat. Did Hal….did Hal just…murder—
The chamber doors burst open due to Y/N’s loud scream, and Kilowog, Arisia, and Tomar-Re filed in, their rings at the ready. They looked from the decapitated head of Appa Ali Apsa to Hal, who was targeting Ranakar next.
Y/N was frozen to her spot. She just watched…her fiancé, the man she adored and loved, and knew with every fiber of her body, kill someone in cold blood. It wasn’t self-defense. Appa Ali Apsa wasn’t threatening Hal’s life. This couldn’t be…this had to be some kind of sick nightmare.
Tomar quickly created a hard light construct that blocked Hal from giving Ranakar a fatal blow with a sharp spear construct, and Hal did not like that one bit.
“Y/N, FALL BACK!” Kilowog shouted, wrapping Y/N up in a construct and placing her to the back of the chamber, “WE CAN’T LET JORDAN OUT! LOCK THE DOORS!”
Y/N finally got the feeling back in her bones and followed the Drill Sargent’s orders, using her ring to slam the chamber doors shut, fortifying it with a strong wall of light.
“Tell me, Tomar-Re,” Hal’s voice dripped in saccharine poison, “do you fear death?”
“No.” Tomar-Re shot back, trying to get Hal off balance – all he needed Hal to do was make a misstep. If he was able to get Hal off beat for just a second, he’d be able to neutralize him.
“Oh, I believe you. But there’s someone in this room that does fear death…”
Y/N couldn’t recognize the tone that was leaving Hal’s lips. It was a tone she had never heard him use before. It was nasty and each syllable felt like it was full of malice and hatred. She clenched her fist and prepared to join in on the fight to neutralize Hal.
A rapid construct of light fired from Hal’s ring – but it didn’t go towards the target that Tomar-Re and Y/N expected. Instead of the bullet going through Tomar-Re, it had hit—
“Y/N!” Arisia cried.
Y/N looked over to see her mentee holding her midsection, blood pooling underneath the white fabric. Y/N let out a wail of terror.
“NO!” Y/N wasted no time, catching the teenager in her arms before she could crumble to the floor from the gaping injury.
Tomar-Re pushed back against Hal aggressively, going on the offensive. They couldn’t lose any more members of the Corps. This was a battle for survival.
Y/N cradled the blonde girl, shakily creating a construct with her ring to stem the bleeding. Y/N knew it was useless – the wound was too deep, and Arisia was bleeding out rapidly.
“Stay with me, Arisia, stay with me…” Y/N prayed, ignoring the feeling of warm blood soaking through her gloves, “Don’t leave me, come on.”
“Y/N,” Arisia whimpered, closing her eyes,
“No, don’t you start. No. I’m stemming the bleeding, Arisia. I’m going to get you out of here. Gonna get you patched up and on the path to recovery, okay? You trust me, right? Trust me. I’ll take care of you—”
“D-Did I m-make you proud?” Arisia breathed, blood beginning to seep out of her mouth. Y/N let out a soft sob.
“You never…you never had to worry about making me proud. I was always proud of you…an-and you’re going to continue to make me proud when we make it out of this.” Y/N continued to apply pressure to the wound.
Tears continued to stream from Arisia’s eyes, and she hiccupped slightly, not finding any strength to open her eyes.
“I-I don’t think I’ll make it,” her breathing was raspy and slow. Y/N could hear the gasps for air the teenager was desperately trying to find, “T-thank you, Y/N…for eve-everything. You tau-taught me so much…”
“I-I’m going to teach you more!” Y/N desperately cried, shaking her head, “Please, please open your eyes, Arisia! I can stop the bleeding, I-I can—”
Arisia had just enough strength to squeeze Y/N’s hand, “M-Mom?” She breathed.
Y/N felt a fresh wave of tears erupt from her eyes. The teenager was asking for her mother with her last breath. Y/N leaned over and kissed her forehead, moving her blonde hair out of her eyes with her bloodied hand, “Shh…shh, honey…”
Arisia’s heart came to a stop.
Y/N saw Arisia’s ring slide off her finger and begin to float in the air. She desperately wanted to grab it, selfishly keep it from harm. Before she could even consider an action, the ring was wrapped up in a green construct and whipped out of her face.
She watched the ring sit itself upon one of Hal’s fingers.
Chapter 4
Notes:
Hi again!
Just another warning -- this chapter is also violent, detailing events similar to those laid out in the Emerald Twilight storyline. This is the last chapter that is really full of violence. I just wanted to put a warning on this chapter to let you guys know! (This is why the fic has an "M" rating.)
Thank you!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
“What…what are you doing?” Y/N couldn’t get her strangled voice to speak above a whisper. A lump was in her throat, and the smell of Arisia’s blood filled her nose. She violently heaved, but nothing came out.
Tomar-Re was still fighting Hal, but she could tell her friend was getting fatigued. Hal now had two power rings, which meant he had double the power. Kilowog was evacuating the last of the Guardians and trying to keep the door fortified, since Y/N had to abandon her station. Y/N knew she’d have to join in on the fight and stop Hal at any cost.
She wasn’t going to let anyone else get killed by Hal.
“Tomar-Re!” Y/N called out, rushing to his side.
“You’re going to want to stay away, L/N,” The strange voice took on a sweeter tone, but still sent spikes of disgust into Y/N’s chest, “you don’t need any more blood on your uniform.”
Tomar-Re was able to send Hal flying back against one of the back walls, which placed him closer to Ranakar who was one of the last Guardians to escape. Hal took advantage of his placement, and sent a serrated knife right through Ranakar’s midsection.
“NO!” Kilowog shouted.
Rather than fall to the ground and succumb to his injuries, something curious happened to Ranakar. He vanished in a shock of white light, his robes falling to the floor. It was as if he had been instantly vaporized.
They couldn’t think too much about this turn of events, though. Kilowog needed to get the Guardians off Oa, and Tomar-Re and Y/N had to neutralize the biggest threat the Corps had faced in months, if not years.
Hal had injuries – Tomar-Re was able to keep the fight up against the “greatest” Lantern, but Y/N knew their luck may just run out. Hal wasn’t defeated. She wondered if she’d be able to even fight aggressively against him. She still had a broken rib, a broken finger, and the wound around her ankle was beginning to bleed again. She dared herself to stare at Hal. While it didn’t feel like Hal, it looked just like him. His gloved hands, stained with blood splatter, had held her so close and intimately less than 48 hours earlier. The lips that sneered and made threatening comments bruised against hers that morning, in a sleepy haze when he left for the airfield.
Who was this man?
Y/N used her ring to trap Hal against one of the walls. It was a strange feeling to restrict his movement, but she continued to hold him in place.
“Tomar-Re, we need to go in hard. He has two rings, but so do we. If we—”
“Y/N,” Tomar quickly spoke, shaking his head, “you need to help Kilowog. The Guardians are so important…if we lose any more of them…”
“Tomar…” Y/N’s voice cracked, “Don’t…”
“I’ll be okay. Help Kilowog.”
Y/N knew Tomar-Re was right, but she was not going to leave her dear friend. Not the dear friend that had saved her life countless times. She was going to return the favor. She had owed Tomar one after he saved her from the Star Sapphire space sector, she had depleted her battery in after a particularly explosive fight with Star Sapphire.
Y/N didn’t think twice, she sucker punched her fiancé with a fist construct, slamming his face against the wall. She winced when she heard the impact. God, she didn’t want to hurt him. But she had to. She had to stop him, no matter what it took.
Tomar-Re got closer to Hal’s figure and took over Y/N’s hold on the man. Unfortunately, Hal was several steps ahead of them. He broke out of the construct (Y/N wondered if her construct even truly held him in the first place since he had two rings at his disposal) and he grabbed Tomar-Re harshly around the shoulders, his hands clenching around Tomar’s neck, causing the Xudarian to choke.
“HAL! STOP! Tomar-Re is not your enemy! None of us are!” Y/N sent a ray of hard light to separate Hal from Tomar, but it was no use. Hal merely waved a hand to send her ray in the other direction, nearly crushing Kilowog under the concrete that fell from the ceiling.
Y/N quickly sent a construct that shielded Kilowog from the debris. She let out a soft sigh of relief, but before she could even fully exhale, she heard a nauseating crack from behind her, rapidly followed by a thud.
She dared to look over her shoulder, and she desperately wished she hadn’t. Hal had snapped Tomar’s neck, and one of the Lanterns she was the closest to was now dead in a mangled heap on the floor.
“TOMAR!” Kilowog noticed next, and he did not linger – he made his way over to Hal, ready to duke it out.
Y/N squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get the dead bodies out of her head. They couldn’t be dead…Tomar and Arisia weren’t dead. They…they just couldn’t! She couldn’t keep losing the people she loved!
“Kilowog!” Y/N tried to put herself between him and Hal – she couldn’t stand to lose another person to this…monster. Kilowog was a powerful Lantern, highly skilled and full of tenacity. If anyone was going to defeat Hal, it was Kilowog. Kilowog had taught Hal most everything he knew. He would be able to counteract most of Hal’s movements. She knew he had the capabilities, but the thought of losing one of her mentors and closest friends was a thought she just couldn’t stand. Not after all the death and destruction she had witnessed so far.
“The Guardians have sent out a Priority-One alert,” Kilowog panted, “we’re not going to be able to keep the fight isolated in here.”
Y/N watched as Tomar-Re’s ring floated up into the air before fitting itself comfortably over one of Hal’s other fingers.
He now had three rings, and that meant he had three times the power.
“I’ll take Jordan. Go and warn the others – protect the battery!”
“No! I won’t let you take him on alone!” Y/N screamed, frantic, “I can’t lose you either, Kilowog—”
“What was one of the first things I taught you, Y/N?” Kilowog huffed, quickly putting a protective bubble around them as Hal prepared to continue the fight.
“Kilowog,” Y/N huffed, shaking her head.
“Come on, Poozer! What was one of the first things I taught you?”
Hal stalked closer to the Bolovoxian and Human, somewhat amused by the little emotional discussion they were having.
“You…” Y/N choked back her tears, “you said, we talk later. First, we save lives …”
“That’s right. Now go serve and protect! I’ll catch up with you later!”
“But—”
“I promise I’ll catch up with you later, Y/N! And I keep my promises.”
“Y-yes, Sir…” Y/N tearfully nodded, turning on her heel and slamming through the large council doors. Kilowog always kept his promises…he had to keep this one…right?
Kilowog and Hal watched Y/N’s retreating figure, and Kilowog let down the force field that he had put up to shield her.
“You know that was a lie,” The strange voice lilted out of Hal’s mouth. He hovered closer to the alien that taught him everything he knew, “You won’t be returning to L/N.”
--
Kilowog wasn’t able to hold Hal back.
Nobody was.
The Lanterns that were already on Oa fought their hardest, including Y/N. But Hal was too powerful. With each new ring he received, the greater his power grew. He cut down six Lanterns without breaking a sweat. Sure, he had been battered and Y/N was sure he had some broken bones, but he was still going.
Earlier, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kilowog (who was horrifically injured, nearly completely vaporized,) and Ganthet rocket off the planet. She didn’t know where they were going, and she didn’t take the time to ask.
Other Lanterns eventually followed suit, but only when they knew they had no other choice.
Scores of them lay in piles on the surface of Oa. The stench of blood was putrid, but Y/N was so used to the smell by now that she was blind to it. Her white gloves were still covered in maroon blotches. Most of it was Arisia’s blood, but she had held onto so many bloody bodies and her own wounds that there was no distinguishing what was her blood and what was someone else’s.
After being told to leave the chambers by Kilowog, she managed to end the priority one call that the Guardians originally raised. Green Lanterns stopped showing up to Oa after that. She was able to stop Guy and John from personally coming to the planet by sending them a transmission that was chock-full of static. She then destroyed the main communication area on Oa to prevent any other Lanterns from communicating openly.
She had to try and preserve the lives that were left out in the galaxy.
But on Oa, she was the only one left.
And she wasn’t going to let Hal go any further.
“Get out of my way.” Hal was measured in his words, staring at Y/N as she stood in front of the entrance to the central battery. Kilowog instructed her to protect the battery. And she was going to do that, even if it took her life from her.
Y/N stared at Hal, lowering her eyes into slits. Her mask was off now, and so was his. They were eye-to-eye. She stared at the green glowing rings that piled up Hal’s lithe fingers, and she felt her heart ache.
For every ring, there was at least one dead lantern.
One dead friend, one dead member of her family.
“No.” Y/N stood firm at the top of the stairs that led into the battery.
They were both bloody and had seen better days. Y/N’s uniform was ripped across the middle, slight friction burns from being dragged littered the exposed parts of her abdomen. She had more than one broken rib now, and she was wheezing. Lines of dried blood stained her upper lip from her nose, and she had a black eye. Her bottom lip was swollen from a nasty punch.
If Hal destroyed the main power battery…he would be filled with absolute power, and the Corps would cease to exist as they knew it. The surviving Lanterns wouldn’t be able to charge their rings. All the Guardians’ residual energies would be gone. She prayed that Ganthet and Kilowog were far away from Oa, now. All the other Guardians were slaughtered by Hal after he had achieved as many rings as he could fit on his fingers.
“Now, that’s no way to talk to the new God of the Universe, L/N…”
“God?” Y/N bit out, disgusted, “Who the fuck are you—”
“Once I get to that power battery, I’ll have the power to set it right, L/N. To set it all right. To right the wrongs of the fools that ruled over us with an iron fist…”
Y/N knew he was referencing the Guardians, and while Y/N knew that they had made bad calls, she never considered them dictators—
“Stop. Stop it right now, Hal!” Y/N demanded, hardening her voice, “You sound like—”
“Sound like what, dear? Sound logical? Rational? You know you feel the same. We both saw Coast City destroyed. Don’t you want the power to be able to bring everything back? The power to stop bad things from happening?”
“That is not what we are called to do!” Y/N shrieked, creating a rope structure and wrapping it around Hal, squeezing it tightly with her closed fist, “You have slaughtered innocents!” Y/N squeezed her eyes shut as she recalled seeing the mangled bodies of Lanterns that were shot through the back – they were retreating. And Hal killed them anyway.
Hal let out a dark laugh, and Y/N felt the color drain from her face. That laugh was disgusting. Dark and deep, full of hatred.
“Innocents?” Hal quickly burst out of her construct, sending her flying back, smashing into a sharp pile of debris.
Y/N landed on her back against concrete and let out a muted whimper. She could feel blood pouring from her hairline. She could feel the sharp pain radiating from her shoulder – it had been dislocated from the harsh impact. She took a shaky breath in through her noise, biting her bottom lip hard as she shakily tried to lift herself using her forearms.
She fell face-first into the pavement. She couldn’t get up using her arms. She’d have to use the strength in her core and thighs.
When she attempted to face Hal again, she was interrupted. A powerful hand grasped around the column of her throat and hoisted her from the ground. She let out a strangled scream, her lungs begging for mercy. Her hands clawed at Hal’s as she let out pitiful choking sounds.
“There are no innocents here, L/N.”
She flailed around, kicking her legs in an attempt to injure Hal enough to get away, but it was useless. He easily put up a construct, and each time her legs made contact with the hard green light, she felt another bruise begin to develop.
She managed to create a chain construct that slapped Hal across the face, taking him off guard. He quickly let go of Y/N, and she greedily swallowed gulps of air.
How…how could he have held her in such a way? This wasn’t Hal. It couldn’t be. This was something else. Something had to have poisoned him. A small voice in the back of her head told her it was his grief that had poisoned him.
But she couldn’t believe it.
It had to be external.
She didn’t have the time to keep contemplating. Hal got his bearings and created a barrier that forced her to retreat into the large room that held the power battery.
“I won’t let you win, Hal!” Y/N protested, knowing that her methods would have to turn lethal. She wasn’t a killer – she didn’t believe in that. But…if the only way to save the universe was to put Hal down, she knew she had no other choice.
“Oh, L/N, I’ve already won…”
She saw a flash of yellow in Hal’s brown eyes that caused her to pause. Yellow? She had to be imagining things. She created a sharp construct with the goal to slash Hal across the chest, but he blocked it, turning it against her. She barely dodged the weapon, feeling blood ooze from the blade grazing her forearm.
“Not while I’m still here. I won’t let you do this, Hal. This is not who you are. Give up the rings.”
Hal didn’t even dignify her demand with a response, using a hand construct to grab her harshly and throw her back so she was closer to the battery.
“You better charge your ring now, L/N. I’ll grant you a fighting chance. Even I hold some affection for you. Must be Jordan’s influence…he’s a lovesick fool.”
Y/N did a double take.
Jordan’s influence?
“What are you—”
Before Y/N was able to get her question out, she was violently blasted back from a green wall of energy, the strength of her body’s impact shattering the main battery.
“I gave you the chance to charge your ring, yet you continued to yap. Don’t say I’m not capable of moments of mercy.”
Y/N was too stunned to move. The battery…the battery that she was so familiar with, the battery she had seen countless times over the years, the battery that was warm and inviting – the battery that brought her and her loved ones so much reassurance and empowerment…was now dead. The familiar green glow was gone. The room was now a dingy gray color, the only green glow coming from some of the shards and the multiple rings that Hal possessed.
How were they keeping a charge? She looked down at her ring to see that it was still glowing green. She bit back a sob when she understood that as soon as her ring ran out of power…she would never be able to recharge it again.
She’d never be a Green Lantern ever again.
And neither would the Lanterns that were able to escape with their lives.
A loud, maniacal laugh ripped from Hal’s mouth, and he threw his head back as he laughed. He now had all the power he’d ever need. He was as powerful as the Guardians now, if not more so. Y/N looked at the shards that littered the floor around her broken body. She painfully reached out her hand to grab a shard to hold. She let out a hiss when the shard burned her hand from the heat. She could feel her skin bubbling underneath, but she refused to let it go.
The shards were still energized. These could be their last hope. God, if she made it out of this alive, she needed those shards. She needed to get them and keep them safe. She managed to reach out for two other shards, ignoring the smell of her flesh sizzling, her blood leaking down her fingertips and onto the floor.
Despair now began to sink in. Hal’s laughter died down, and tears fell rapidly down her cheeks. It was over. Hal was now evil, driven to madness by his grief and desire for power. He was no longer the man that she loved, the man she pledged her heart and soul to when she accepted the engagement ring he gave her while down on one knee. Coast City was destroyed. The apartment they shared was burnt to a crisp. She couldn’t go back. Could she even go back to that apartment if it was still standing? Hal’s family was vaporized by the atomic explosion from Sinestro’s ring. Little Helen Jordan was dead. Jack and Jim were dead.
Maybe it was a good thing that they died painless, quick deaths. Y/N didn’t think they’d be able to live with the fact that their uncle/brother had transformed into a monster. A killer.
John and Guy would have each other – she prayed they’d be able to get in contact with Ganthet and Kilowog sooner rather than later. As long as they were alive, there was still hope for the Corps. The Justice League would simply find new members to replace her and Hal.
She’d never make it down the aisle to wear that multicolored veil the alien princess gifted her and Hal when they saved her planet from a dictatorship. She’d never feel the bliss of Hal’s fingers trailing up her hips to her face, where he’d cradle her so close and let their lips touch. She weakly looked down her arm at the diamond that sat on her left ring finger. What happened to Hal? What happened to the man that would giggle and call her a little glowstick? The man that pulled her into his water-soaked body and begged her to never leave him after a particularly nasty battle with a member of the Red Lantern Corps?
Even now, she’d never leave him. He would kill her…but she’d still be with him. She’d be with him until the end of the world. She let out a soft sob. She couldn’t stop loving him.
She didn’t even listen to the footsteps that made their way over to her, crunching over the broken glass. Hal wrapped his arms around her and pulled her from the floor, clutching her against his body.
She felt every bit of familiar muscle. She could no longer decipher his scent since he was covered in so many different types of blood. She couldn’t even grasp onto his uniform – she didn’t have the strength to grip anything. She desperately tried to imagine that the monster holding her was Hal. With his tousled brown hair that had the stupid white streaks at the sides. With his beautiful brown eyes shining in anticipation. In his classic flight jacket with the “JORDAN” name patch on the left breast. She bit back the urge to vomit when she felt lips graze against her cheek. She shut her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could manage.
“Hal…” She croaked, hardly able to keep her eyes open, “Please…”
“Please, what?” He hissed into her ear, his fingers piercing into her back, as if he was trying to claw each bit of her out.
“P-Please,” She was utterly defeated, “Please kill me.”
She felt the man holding her pause. She wondered if she had broken through. Even if she had, she didn’t think she’d survive much longer. Her injuries were grave. She could taste blood at the back of her throat. With her being thrown around like a rag doll, she was able to make the conclusion that one of her lungs had been punctured by a broken rib.
She felt herself be pulled out of his chest, held an arm’s length away. The familiar face tilted his head and she could see the brilliant yellow in his irises as he opened his mouth to respond to her last request.
“Why would I kill you…when you’re the one thing keeping my host alive?”
Y/N felt her body go completely cold. It wasn’t Hal. It wasn’t Hal that was holding her. It wasn’t Hal that slaughtered the Green Lanterns and Guardians.
“Wh…What…are you?” Y/N shakily asked, suddenly nauseous.
A sick smile stained “Hal’s” lips, and he pulled her closer to him. She didn’t have the strength to resist. She felt him move closer to her ear.
“I am fear itself. A parasite. A blight upon all life. When you believe I don’t exist…that’s when I do my best work…” The voice hissed.
Y/N shuddered.
“I am Parallax.”
A parasite.
“Now,” Parallax drawled, pushing Y/N away from his body and wrapping a construct around her, “Go and be a good little girl and tell the others. Tell them that Parallax is here. And I’ll be back for you, L/N. A God always needs a Goddess…”
Y/N was barely conscious when the construct flung her out into the vast emptiness of space.
Chapter 5
Notes:
Here's a long chapter for you guys! <3
Thank you so much for reading and I love reading your comments! Thank you for all the support, it means a lot!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
A soft humming noise filled Y/N’s ears as she shifted restlessly on a soft surface. Her eyes felt too heavy to open, and she began to panic. Why couldn’t she move? She took a few deep breaths and tried to listen to the humming that continually got louder.
Voices.
Several voices.
They were all somewhat deep – male voices.
One voice raised its tone sharply while the other took a more soft, strict one. She continued to focus only on the voices – not the soreness in her joints or the itchiness on her stomach.
“She’s…coma…Stop!”
“No! Hal…slaughtered…spared?”
She took a sharp breath as horrific images and sounds filled her mind – blood, shattered glass, the screams, the pleas for help – the strange, venomous voice coming out of Hal’s body…she felt her heart speed up as panic began to settle in.
An alarm started to beep, and the humming voices sprang to life again – she could hear footsteps and shuffling. The voices were a bit clearer now—
“Her heart rate just skyrocketed!”
“Maybe she’s waking up!”
“Shit, she’s bleeding again. Create a construct to stem the bleeding!”
Bleeding? Y/N fought to open her eyes – they weren’t as heavy as earlier, but it was still taking a lot of effort.
She began to see light behind her eyelids – a disgusting yellow color. It came closer and closer and then she saw a row of sharp teeth – they almost looked like needles. She felt her heart squeeze as the teeth materialized into what looked like a massive yellow insect. It unhinged its jaw, ready to eat her alive—
“NO!” Y/N shrieked, jolting straight up in the med bay of the watchtower. Everything was a blur as she ripped the IV out of her arm.
“Shit!”
“She’s scared, she just got out of her coma – help me calm her down!”
“LET ME GO!” Y/N cried, protesting the sharp ache in her abdomen, “HE NEEDS ME!”
“Get the IV back in!”
“Y/N, I’m so sorry, please forgive me—”
Y/N let out an anguished cry when she felt the IV be shoved back into her arm. She felt warm arms hold her to the bed gingerly but firmly. Her breathing began to slow down when she recognized the people around her.
Guy. John. Barry. Oliver. Barry kept her anchored to the bed as John put a sedative in the IV. Guy stared in horror as he watched the commotion, and Oliver was right at her side, putting a hand on her forehead.
“Ha-Hal, where’s—”
“Shh, Y/N…” Barry whispered. Y/N could hear the slight crack in his voice as she stumbled into another restless sleep.
--
After Y/N properly woke up, she refused to say a single word. All the memories came flooding back and she ended up vomiting twice. Her wounds were nearly healed – there was less pain than earlier. Teammates would come and check in on her – Diana, Clark, J’onn, Barry, Oliver, Dinah. Guy and John stayed by her side constantly – one of them was always sat by her bedside.
Guy was tapping his foot on the floor loudly as he sat in silence – a whole hour of silence, a new personal record.
Y/N appreciated his presence – she didn’t trust herself alone. She looked out one of the med bay windows to see the stars. The inky black background that used to bring her so much wonder now brought a startling emptiness to her chest. She looked back at Guy. He was sat in the chair next to her bed, a glare in his green eyes. His hand covered his mouth in thought as he continued to tap his foot. Y/N could tell something was on his mind. She shifted slightly in the bed before she parted her lips.
“Talk,” She croaked.
Guy’s head whipped up in surprise, nearly giving the man a serious case of whiplash. Y/N hadn’t spoken since she woke up in terror the first time. She had refused to eat and had to be connected again to the IV. She didn’t fight it this time.
J’onn did a psychic link with Y/N while she was in the coma. When Superman found her lifeless-looking body floating outside the watchtower, they all feared the worst. Hal was nowhere to be found, and he wasn’t the kind to leave an injured Y/N behind. Guy and John knew something serious happened when they initially got the priority-one call from Oa. Y/N told them to stay put though, so they did.
Clark wanted to make sure that the threat Y/N had faced wasn’t on its way to the watchtower. J’onn looked into Y/N’s mind and staggered back in disbelief and horror. He then told everyone what he (well, Y/N,) saw and experienced. He had bits and pieces – he refused to pry further into Y/N’s mind – they got the main gist – but none of the finer details.
Guy didn’t know where to start. He ran a hand through his hair, speechless for once. He knew Y/N would tease him about it if it was any other time. He wanted to talk to his friend and teammate calmly, but he felt anger bubble up his chest and esophagus.
The entire GL Corps had basically gone extinct. Him and John could no longer charge their rings. Friends that he considered family were either dead or severely injured. He knew the reason him and John were still alive was because of Y/N. They got that priority one call, but Y/N quickly communicated with them – her hologram figure was glitching, her message full of static, which was unusual for GL rings. Oa was now lifeless and in ruins.
And you want to know the worst, most infuriating thing about all of this?
It was done by someone they knew, admired, respected…and in Y/N’s case…loved.
Hal Jordan.
“Why did he spare you?” Guy spat out in a growl. He tried to keep himself from flying off the handle, but he was furious. He wasn’t furious that Y/N had been spared – he was furious that any of this ever happened in the first place. And hell, he was a little mad at Y/N, if he was being completely honest. Did she tell him and John not to come to Oa to protect her precious fiancé? He glanced at the obvious engagement ring on Y/N’s left hand.
Y/N looked at Guy before closing her eyes. She admired Guy for being honest and just putting his thoughts out in the open. It did no good to keep them inside. There were many times Guy’s off-the-cuff comments put their asses in jeopardy, she was truly grateful for it in this situation. She could hear the anger in his voice. Her lips were dry and she felt them split with blood rising to the surface when she finally opened her mouth to reply.
“I...I begged him—”
“You begged him to what? Save you?!” Guy scoffed, standing up and crossing his arms, “why didn’t you beg him to spare the others? Your friends, your loved ones! Why did you ask him to spare your ass—”
“Guy!” John walked in, eyes wide, “What the hell are you—”
“John,” Y/N breathed, sending him a measured look, “it’s okay.”
John clamped his mouth shut, still bewildered. When did Y/N start talking? He knew Guy was angry, and hell, he was too, but he had a better control of his emotions – although he did have to walk around the watchtower often to keep himself composed.
Guy continued to rant, knocking some things over, letting it all out. John was about to put an abrupt stop to this when Y/N sent John a look to allow Guy to continue – he had to get this all out of his system. John crossed his arms tightly – he respected Y/N – he’d listen to her wishes…for now. He wanted an explanation too. J’onn was only able to give them bits and pieces. Only Y/N had the connecting parts.
“TELL US WHAT HAPPENED!” Guy roared with tears in his eyes, “Why! Why did he spare you?”
“I begged that thing to kill me,” Y/N hissed, glowering at Guy.
The room went silent. Guy and John didn’t dare move.
“That thing?” Guy turned to look at Y/N to see if he had heard her properly. John took a deep breath.
“It is not Hal. It’s something else, like a parasite,” Y/N breathed, staring at her hands – she couldn’t hold their gazes, “I begged ‘Hal’ to kill me…and the disgusting voice that came out of Hal’s mouth sounded nothing like him – it was a tone that he would never use on me,” Y/N sniffed as the memories flooded back, “and that thing asked me why would he kill me when I’m the one keeping its host alive.”
“I don’t buy it, Y/N—”
“You don’t have to buy it, Gardner,” Y/N growled, “but I know what I saw and heard.”
“Did you get a name?” John asked, wanting to investigate. It did sound a bit out of left field, but when you join the GL Corps, you see a lot of things.
“Yes,” Y/N clenched her jaw, “Parallax.”
“Christ,” John let out a shocked gasp, “I read something about it in the Corps Library a year or so ago. It’s this entity of fear – the Guardians had locked it up in the main battery on Oa – it was the only thing strong enough to keep the parasite locked up.”
“How the hell did it get out, then?” Guy was still trying to wrap his mind around the whole situation.
The room went silent as they all tried to organize their thoughts.
“…What if it entered Hal when he locked Sinestro into the Power Battery?” Y/N offered, rubbing her face in regret. Why couldn’t one of the damn Guardians have shoved Sinestro into the battery?
“…A week after that is when Hal began to get the white hair at his sides,” John looked up, quickly standing to pull the missing pieces together.
“The parasite did it!” Y/N nearly screeched, wincing when her throat protested, “The stress? God, Hal’s body…” Y/N held back choked sobs, “it was wrecked with the constant battle to hold the damn thing back. His willpower was so strong…”
“Until it wasn’t,” Guy cut in, beginning to understand the timeline, “seeing Coast City destroyed must’ve…”
“When the Guardians…told Hal no, and asked for his ring…” Y/N swallowed, squeezing her eyes shut, “that’s when…”
“Shh, Y/N…” John shook his head, “you don’t have to relive that for us. Oa is a festering crater, so there’s no hope in going there to raid the ruins of the library. When you were in the coma, you kept murmuring about Ganthet and Kilowog. Are…are they?”
“They survived…but they were severely injured…maybe even more than me. The main battery was shattered…we have no way to charge our rings and try to contact them. Even if we could, we’d have to keep in mind that Parallax has several rings at his disposal – there’s no saying what he be privy to.”
“How can his rings work if the battery was shattered?” Guy rose an eyebrow.
“Parallax was inside of the battery for centuries. It can sustain itself from that charge. No charging needed.” John reasoned, pacing the room as he thought out loud, “God, how…how can we even stand a chance? Any GLs that survived have a powerless ring. We don’t know where everyone is scattered. We can’t reach the one Guardian that’s left—”
“Wait…” Y/N felt her eyelids getting heavy – she was utterly exhausted, and she knew that her pain medicine was kicking in – she was beginning to wean off of it, but it still knocked her on her ass, “When…Parallax threw me through the battery, it shattered. I was able to grab some shards. We should be able to charge our rings from those. It’s raw power, so we’ll have to be careful,” Y/N frantically looked around, “where…”
“Clark said that you had these in your hands when he found you,” Guy offered, quickly opening the bedside table to reveal thick emerald glass, “we couldn’t tell what they were, but figured they were probably important.”
Y/N let out a relieved sigh and looked at her hands. They had begun to heal, but there were still shiny pink scars from where the glass cut into her hands from her death grip. If she thought about it too long, she could still feel the shards searing her skin. The smell of her burning flesh would be something that would continue to haunt her.
“Those would be the shards. I think if we say the oath, they’ll begin to glow. Maybe then we’ll be able to get in contact with Ganthet and Kilowog…”
“Wait,” Guy held his hands up, still not done with his line of questioning. Y/N hoped he would ask it fast since she was beginning to fade into sleep, “Why was Ganthet spared? And Kilowog?”
“Y/N isn’t going to know the answer to that,” John scolded Guy.
“I might,” Y/N felt her limbs getting heavier, but knew she could at least try to answer Guy’s question, “GLs aren’t supposed to be involved with each other, which is why Hal and I tried to keep it secret. Th-thank you…for keeping our secret safe. But…Appa Ali Apsa discovered the relationship several months in. He called the Guardians to council to strip me and Hal of our rings. We…we didn’t know about this until Sinestro told Hal this information a month before he defected. I think Sinestro was trying to convince Hal to defect as well, and join his Corps. But, unlike Sinestro’s other manipulative games, this one was based in actual fact. Ganthet was the first Guardian to reject the proposal and was able to convince the other Guardians to let us keep our rings. Ganthet is the reason Hal and I are…were…able to continue being Green Lanterns.”
“Whoa.” Guy couldn’t hold back his surprise, “And…Hal—I mean, Parallax, remembered that and spared Ganthet?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It could’ve been sheer luck,” Y/N closed her eyes knowing that she wouldn’t open them again for hours, “I don’t know anything, anymore…” Tears began to stream down her face, and John wiped her tears away with a gentle hand.
“Sleep, Y/N. Just sleep.” He prayed her sleep would be dreamless. “Let’s go, Guy. We’ve got a lot of research to do.”
--
It took several weeks, but Y/N was now able to leave the medical bay. Her physical wounds had healed, but that was all. She still had awful night terrors, unable to get the senseless slaughter out of her head. She could still hear Arisia’s raspy breathing, the squawk of surprise Tomar-Re let out when his neck was snapped. Worst of all, she heard Parallax’s poisonous voice enter one ear and out the other in her dreams.
His threat was still there. A God needs his Goddess…
She hadn’t returned to Coast City. When she mentioned the city, all of her colleagues looked away and didn’t truly give her solid answers. She figured that it was still a sensitive topic. It infuriated Y/N that nothing was being done to the city. As far as she knew, it was still a crater. Guy and John didn’t talk about there being any survivors, or any clean-up efforts. Was the city just forgotten? Lost to the ether like Hal was?
As soon as she was strong enough to leave the Watchtower…she’d go straight to Coast City and see how she could help. She was able to charge her ring from one of the shards she had saved. She was grateful that Guy and John were able to charge their rings too. They were the only three functioning Green Lanterns in the entire universe.
…Besides Hal. If he could just break through Parallax’s influence…
Y/N shook her head to get the hopeful thought out of her brain. No. Hal…Hal may still be in there, but he couldn’t fight the parasite alone. Her fiancé was strong and had a willpower that was unmatched. But his willpower was broken from the destruction of Coast City. And that damn parasite was just too strong. If Hal ever had any hope of breaking out, it was up to her, Guy, John, and the rest of the Justice League.
If she ever crossed paths with Parallax again…she wouldn’t back down. Not ever again.
Barry and Oliver visited her in the watchtower constantly, and she was grateful for Hal’s best friends. They seemed to also have a hard time grasping this information – hell, the entire JL did. But it seemed to cut Guy, John, Barry and Oliver deeper.
“You can come and stay with me and Iris, Y/N…when you’re ready to leave the Watchtower,” Barry kindly offered, watering some of the flowers next to her bed. The array of colors all seemed gray and dingy to her.
“Excuse me, but I think Y/N would prefer to stay with me and Dinah,” Ollie retorted, putting his hands on his hips. “We’re in Star City, still in California. Our state has claimed her now, no more of that Midwest ‘twin cities’ crap.”
“…Y/N was born and raised in Keystone City, Arrow. Central City is right next door. I think that Y/N would benefit from something familiar. Besides, Iris and I are way more down to earth—”
“Down to earth? What’s that supposed to mean, you square? It’s not like Dinah and I are out partying every night—”
“That’s not what I meant! I meant that—”
Y/N droned out their bickering. This is what Hal had to sit through each time he brought his two best friends together. Was she going to have to be the referee from here on out? She didn’t want that job. It was Hal’s. She wanted to go back to cackling at the digs that flowed out of Barry and Ollie’s mouths with Iris and Dinah. Hal’s frustrated face was always extremely amusing.
She felt her heart ache as she thought about Hal.
Ultimately, Y/N decided that she would go back to Coast City and help with the rebuild efforts. She didn’t want to be anyone’s charity case. The looks of sympathy were touching at first, but the more and more sad gazes that were directed towards her made her want to scream. She didn’t need sympathy or honeyed words. She needed them to all get off their asses and rebuild the city that Hal protected. She’d protect it now.
She had to.
Y/N was now sitting with Guy and John in one of the various conference rooms, using their rings as a knowledge base for their research. John stood in front of a whiteboard, jotting down notes and theories as they went through them one by one.
If they were to defeat Parallax, they needed to know everything about it.
“Have we found any weaknesses yet?” Guy groaned, putting his head in his hands, “I swear if I have to hear that damn robotic voice again, I’m—”
Y/N glared at Guy’s immature whining.
“Uh…I’m going to sit through it and listen! Because I love and support Y/N.”
“I think we’re going too hard at this,” Y/N whispered, wincing as she sat up straighter – she was still having to attend some form of physical therapy with Dinah since she had severe injuries – “we’ve been researching for the past several weeks and we haven’t made any breakthroughs. I know you’re both tired…and you both have your cities that you protect. I can do the research…this is my battle.”
“This is not your battle,” John sternly spoke, crossing his arms, “This battle belongs to all of us. To all Green Lanterns. I won’t let you take this on alone, Y/N.”
“You can’t get rid of us that easy, glowstick,” Guy smirked.
Y/N clenched her fists at Guy’s nickname. She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but only Hal could call her that. Her quick anger suddenly evolved into a deep, deep sadness.
“I want Hal.” She whimpered, looking at her engagement ring.
She sniffed harshly when she decided that the ring wasn’t as shiny as it was back when Hal was…well, Hal.She refused to take it off, even though it made her feel like all hope was lost. Would Hal ever come back? Did the parasite just eat him alive inside? Was there any part of the love of her life still holding on?
She hated Parallax. She hated Sinestro – the only thing that brought her some comfort was the fact that he died from his ring exploding. She nearly wanted to hate the entire universe. This fucking parasite, who only entered and attached to Hal due to Sinestro’s damn vendetta against him, had taken all of her fiancé out – and was now wearing him like a suit made of flesh.
“Don’t let go of hope yet, Y/N,” John spoke, looking into Y/N’s watery eyes, “We don’t give up. And Hal doesn’t either.”
“I hope you’re right…” Y/N breathed.
Before the GLs of 2814 could continue with their research, Barry entered the room. They looked over to the blur of scarlet.
“Sorry to interrupt, guys,” Barry sighed, “but we’ve got a Founder meeting…and Y/N’s needed at it…”
Y/N looked at Barry and felt her heart shatter. The original seven (now six…) hadn’t gathered for a meeting since Y/N arrived at the Watchtower with her life-threatening injuries. She knew exactly what this meeting was going to be about, and she prayed this day wouldn’t come.
But her prayers had been unanswered. Today is the day.
“I’ll be back soon,” Y/N whispered, going to Barry’s side so they could walk to the main conference room.
--
Y/N stared pointedly at the table as the original members of the Justice League gathered around to discuss the major elephant in the room. Barry, J’onn, Clark, Diana and Bruce were present. Arthur was unable to attend due to some duties in Atlantis. Y/N dreaded this meeting, and she detested the reason she was in the meeting. Sure, she was the one that had all the intel, but she was also wordlessly being offered a spot…to replace Hal as a member of the original seven. Nobody could replace Hal. Nobody.
“I think we all know what the subject of this meeting is,” Bruce began, crossing his arms, “We have a major adversary on our hands.”
“Let’s not be so quick to label Hal as an adversary,” Clark spoke up, tapping his foot against the floor in thought, “Y/N said that this could be the work of a…foreign entity?”
“It doesn’t matter what sent Hal over the edge. Either way, he is responsible for his actions, and he destroyed the Green Lantern Corps. That should be all we take into consideration—”
“Wait a minute,” Barry cut Diana off, “that’s not very fair, is it? Something like this could happen to any of us, no matter how strong we are! Hal is infected with a parasite, Y/N mentioned--”
“I will say that from what I saw in Y/N’s memories, Hal did not seem like himself. If we try and base this off his usual demeanor, we all know that he would never harm those he loves. He nearly killed Y/N – we know that Hal wouldn’t ever lay a hand on her like that.” J’onn didn’t like bringing up Y/N’s memories he saw, but he knew that this was information that needed to be put out there.
“He’s a danger, and that’s what is crucial here. If he is capable of slaughtering the entire Corps, imagine what he can do to others. Green Lanterns are already difficult to fight – they’re only limited by their imaginations. They can go at the speed of light like Flash if that’s their goal, they can create constructs that are as strong as Superman is. They’re a Corps – they study strategy and have fought in all kinds of conditions. This is a threat we need to stop immediately.” Diana put her hands on her hips, reiterating her point from earlier.
“I agree with Diana,” Bruce spoke up, “Hal is a threat and is to be dealt with on sight. He needs to be brought to justice immediately.”
Y/N abruptly stood from her seat, the chair making a loud screeching noise from the sudden movement. Everyone’s eyes went to her.
Did they all just conveniently forget that she was in the room, listening to their desires to exterminate the man she loved? J’onn, Barry and Clark were at least level-headed.
“Deal with him on sight?” Y/N seethed, raising an eyebrow, “How about we deal with you, Spooky? Did we all just conveniently forget about Batman’s plans to incapacitate all of you? Hal was doused with fear gas and I had to call him to let him know I was still alive! It affected him for months! Superman nearly died from a kryptonite bullet. Diana had something injected into her blood stream – she almost destroyed half of a city and had hurt countless civilians! Barry got a bomb strapped to his fucking wrist. J’onn was set on FIRE.”
“My plans were not to kill, they were modified by the rogues—”
“But you still thought of these things!” Y/N shrilly shouted, “and you expected everyone to suck it up and understand. You didn’t apologize. You still haven’t apologized, and you left the team. Hal was the first person that backed you up, and you know that Hal isn’t the biggest fan of you. I can see why. You’re ready to lay him out to dry.”
“Y/N, this isn’t personal,” Diana spoke, sympathetic, “Our Hal…your Hal…is no longer here. He’s gone. Sinestro did something to—”
“My Hal is still very much alive. As long as he is breathing, there is hope left for him. Sinestro infected Hal with a fear parasite called Parallax when Hal locked him into the main battery. John has done research on this entity, and Guy and I are getting up to speed—”
“Do you not care that the Green Lantern Corps has been effectively destroyed?” Bruce was not here to play, and Y/N clenched her fists. She saw Clark send him a look to cut it out, but she knew Bruce wouldn’t back down.
Neither would she.
“How dare you,” Y/N snarled, “Of course I care! My best friends…my family…were part of that Corps. I fought alongside all of them. My mentee was slaughtered in front of me, I felt her blood soak my gloves – I saw the light leave her eyes. I saw things that you should pray to whatever you believe in you’ll never see. I had to look my fiancéin the face as he slammed me through the central battery. I had to feel his hands, that once cradled me to him, nearly crush my windpipe—”
The room went silent when Y/N said that Hal was her fiancé. Nobody knew. Bruce didn’t show any surprise on his face, and continued to push her.
“Then you should understand the severity of the crime—”
“My Hal is still in there! That parasite may have a lot of control, but it said something to me before it spared me. I begged the parasite to kill me. Begged. But it refused. I am the biggest threat to that thing. It refused to kill me because if it killed me, the parasite would’ve killed the one thing that keeps Hal alive.”
“That doesn’t excuse—”
“COAST CITY IS DESTROYED! Hal saw his city turned into a crater! You weren’t there, Bruce! You stayed in Gotham with your head up your ass!” Y/N screamed. Barry stood quietly and made his way over to her. He was worried that she’d over-exert herself, and she’d be in the medical bay again.
“Y/N…” Barry whispered, touching her hand, “How about you sit down?”
“No.” Y/N sniffled, shaking her head defiantly, “I’m standing.”
Clark bit his lip and looked over to Diana who let out a soft breath. Y/N could tell they were hiding something from her. She felt her anxiety skyrocket.
“What? What is it?”
“Y/N—”
“Tell me!”
“Coast City…wasn’t destroyed. You and Hal rocketed off so quickly, so you all didn’t see the illusion fall apart. The Sinestro Corps was able to…warp our perceptions of Coast City using fear. That’s why we didn’t pick up on any radiation, and Guy and John had the entire population of Coast City pop up when they scanned for life. The city is safe. There was only mild damage from the battle. We…tried looking for Sinestro, but he was gone. Nowhere to be found. We didn’t defeat the Sinestro Corps afterall.” Clark broke gently.
Y/N shook her head, biting back her tears. No. No way. Coast City was a crater. That’s what set Hal off, what made the parasite overpower Hal’s will and take him over completely. It was all an illusion? The Guardians tried to tell that possibility to Hal, but he refused to fully believe it. Hell, she didn’t believe it. The Guardians did have good intentions for the protection of the universe, but they had made hundreds of mistakes and thousands of bad calls over the millennia. Hal was beginning to distrust the blue guys – and she could see why. With the whole revelation about the “manhunters” that they unleashed into the galaxy to old fashioned rules of engagement, anyone with an alert conscience would hold the Guardians at an arm’s length. And now only one of them was left.
“That’s not true…” Y/N breathed, shaking her head, “then that would mean…”
“Sinestro is alive and Hal committed a mass atrocity for no reason. Nevertheless, he shouldn’t have committed the slaughter in the first place, even if Coast City was destroyed.” Bruce spoke up. This conversation needed to end. They had important things to discuss, such as defeating Hal.
“It wasn’t Hal who committed it! It was Parallax. If I hear you refer to Hal as the one who killed the Corps, I’ll rip out your throat,” Y/N growled, “that parasite was already within Hal. Why do you all think he was getting white hair at the sides? Sinestro knew that in order for the parasite to break through Hal’s will, something had to happen that would weaken it. Seeing his city destroyed with him powerless to stop it…that would cause any of you all to lose your will.”
“Y/N, please, how about you—”
“I’m not leaving this room until Batman gets it through his fucking skull that Hal is under the influence of a powerful, ancient parasite. And if you’re going to talk about dealing with anything on sight, it’s Parallax. Not. Hal.”
“You are allowing your emotions to get the best of you,” Bruce spoke up, shaking his head, “Hal committed this crime. And he has to pay for it. We’ve already discussed this, Y/N. We had the decision made before you came in here. This wasn’t going to be a conversation or debate. This was going to be us breaking the news to you.”
Y/N saw red. Not only did Bruce say that Hal was the one who committed the crime, but he also informed her that everything she said was bullshit to them. She saw Barry and Clark let out sounds of protest, saying that they hadn’t fully made their minds up, but Y/N didn’t hear any of it – her anger-filled scream and dive over the table to grab Bruce’s throat was all that she could hear.
Before she could even wrap her hands around his neck, she was yanked back by Barry who pulled her close. She sobbed loudly into his shoulder. This all had to be just one awful, fucked up dream. She’d wake up next to Hal, and he’d hold her close to him as she attempted to forget about it.
But this wasn’t a dream.
She felt Barry take her out into the hallway outside the meeting room in the Watchtower, and he took a deep breath.
“Y/N…I hope you didn’t feel ambushed. I can assure you that most of us hadn’t made our minds up. You know how Batman is.”
“I’m going to kill him—”
“You don’t mean that. I know you’re angry and hurt. I am too. I believe everything you’ve said. Hal is my best friend. I know him just as much as you do. Oliver and I will keep the JL off of your back as you, Guy and John investigate this mess.”
She took a deep breath to steady herself. She wouldn’t be able to do anything if she was angry. She needed to push forward with her fellow GLs and help rebuild the Corps, so the next time Parallax reared his head, they’d be ready for him. And she’d get her Hal back.
“Thank you, Barry…”
“And the invitation still stands, even though I know you don’t want to take it now,” Barry sighed, “we’ve always considered you the eighth member. You joined right when Hal did. You’re important to us.”
“Thank you, Barry…but I’m looking forward to the day that Hal takes that spot again.”
And he would, right? He just has to come back as the Hal everyone knew.
Right?
Chapter Text
Y/N did not have the homecoming she expected when she returned to Coast City after spending over a month recovering in the watchtower. Nothing was as she expected. Not anymore. She felt a sense of impending dread as she got closer and closer her and Hal’s apartment complex. Seeing the city standing and not decimated into a crater was also a weird feeling. Everything was exactly the way it was on that fateful morning. To the citizens of Coast City, nothing had changed.
But to Y/N, nothing was the same.
Y/N never thought she’d see the day that she would seek out Jack Jordan for some form of familiarity and comfort. Jack was absolutely relentless in his anger towards Hal after their mother died. He blamed the entire thing on Hal, and it was completely unjust and unfair. Hal did not kill Jessica Jordan. But Jack believed that Jessica’s health took a turn for the worse due to the stress Hal put on her. Y/N knew that was a ridiculous thing for anyone to believe, but Jack was as stubborn as Hal. And that’s saying something.
Their mother did not want to lose another precious being to an immolating fighter jet.
Y/N could not even fathom what Jessica went through, but to scold Hal for wanting to be similar to Martin was something Y/N would forever hold against the Jordans. She pulled into the driveway of the suburban home, and before she even got out of her car, she saw Helen Jordan bolting out of the front door, squealing.
“AUNTIE Y/N!”
Y/N had known Helen since she was around a year old. Due to the dysfunctional situation between the Jordan brothers, Hal brought Y/N to Helen’s first birthday party as a friend and a buffer. Y/N was grateful that Jim Jordan, the youngest Jordan brother, was a lot more agreeable than Jack was. She got along well with Hal’s brothers and their wives, and she was sure to bite back at Jack occasionally. She saw that over the months and years, the brothers began to mend their relationship – but there was still a long road ahead.
She didn’t want to think about that road ending right now.
“Helen!” Y/N exclaimed, quickly wiping the leftover tears from her eyes. She fully got out of her car and let out a huff when Helen launched herself into her arms.
Helen adored Hal to the moon and back, and Hal loved her too. Helen quickly attached herself to Y/N, since the child always associated her uncle with Y/N. She became “Auntie Y/N” before they even confessed their feelings for each other. It was so cute to see Hal get flustered every time Helen squealed her title. He wasn’t flustered now – since they were together.
Y/N bit her bottom lip. Would Y/N still be Helen’s aunt after all of this? She couldn’t stomach the thought of being wrenched away from Helen and the other Jordans.
“I missed you soooOooOooo much! What took you so loooooooong?”
Y/N ran a hand through the girl’s brown hair. Helen was now around 6 years old, and her hazel eyes shimmered in the sun. Y/N painted a smile on her face. She decided then and there that she wouldn’t say a word about Hal’s…situation.
“I was…” Y/N looked around conspiratorially, “in space!”
Y/N would forever scold Hal for this, but he let it slip that he was a Green Lantern when the girl turned 5. It all started when Hal wanted to pretend to be Santa and land on Jack’s roof to entertain his niece. Y/N warned him repeatedly against it, and when Helen looked out her bedroom window, she immediately called her uncle out.
“Uncle Hal! Turn the green lights off! The real Santa won’t come!”
Yeah. So, little Helen Jordan (along with Jack and Jim, of course,) knew of her and Hal’s other job. She was grateful for that in this moment – she wouldn’t have to come up with an elaborate lie as to why Hal wasn’t at her side.
“Oh!” She nodded her head, quickly peering behind her aunt, “Where’s Uncle Hal? Is he taking too long to get ready, again?”
Y/N felt her chest burn as she rejected the urge to let out a dry sob. She was about to respond when Jack Jordan walked out the front door.
“Helen! I said wait for me!” He shook his head at his daughter before looking at Y/N, “Hello, Y/N. I’m sure Helen nearly knocked you on your butt when you got out of your car. She’s been asking about you and Hal for weeks.”
The Jordan brothers all looked somewhat similar, but they had distinct differences. Jack resembled Jessica more than his father, and was a bit shorter. Hal was the tallest even though he was the “middle” child, and was almost a carbon-copy of Martin Jordan from the photos she had seen. Jim was the same height as Jack and but had Martin’s hair and Jessica’s facial features. She quickly snapped out of her recollection and cleared her throat.
“Hey Jack,” Y/N gave him a side hug when he came closer, “we had a rough couple of weeks up there. Thought I’d drop by and give you guys an update. I…I missed you both.”
“Come on in, Y/N. You look like you’ve seen better days, no offense…” Jack tilted his head at Y/N as he escorted her into the house. She had bags under her eyes, and her face was gaunt. Her eyes were dull, and she didn’t carry herself with her shoulders back as she usually did, oozing confidence and excitement.
She seemed…meek.
“Daddy!” Helen scolded her father, “Auntie Y/N always looks like a princess.”
“It’s okay,” Y/N shook her head, trying her damndest to get Jack off of her back, “It always takes me awhile to adjust to the time and light changes when I come back to earth.”
“Hm. Is my idiot of a brother on his way home, too?” Jack teased, rolling his hazel eyes. Helen let out a giggle behind her small hands.
“Uh…” Y/N blanched. Oh God. What to say? She didn’t have to make up a ridiculous story, but she couldn’t just tell them both about Parallax. Helen would be terrified, and Jack was just now starting to see Hal in a more positive light. He wouldn’t understand the nuance.
She decided to give Jack and Helen a “half-truth.”
“Hal’s still up in space. On an assignment in Sector 2514. He tried to get me to join him, but his request wasn’t granted. I’m not sure how long he’ll be on assignment. But I’m here if you or Helen need me.”
“I see…I can maybe guess some of the reasons why Hal’s request was denied…” Jack raised his eyebrows teasingly, “the Corps doesn’t want any new members after nine months, huh?”
Y/N would usually find the humor in his suggestive sentence, but she stayed quiet. Hal and her never really talked about having a baby since that one Luthor gala they were forced to do intel at. She had to say she was pregnant to get them out of the situation they were in. She closed her eyes to indulge in the memory, but Helen spoke up before she could get fully wrapped up in it.
“…but daddy,” Helen spoke up, her face scrunched up in adorable confusion, “the stork wouldn’t be able to get to Uncle Hal and Auntie Y/N if they were up in space! Storks can’t breathe up there!”
Y/N let out a sad giggle and looked at her engagement ring.
It was all just so cruel.
--
Y/N stared blankly up at the ceiling in her and Hal’s bedroom. She had finally returned to the apartment, and she thought she was handling things very well. She just simply refused to move anything. She decided to keep their apartment identical to how she and Hal left it that morning. Hal’s mug that once held coffee in it was still on the left side of the kitchen sink. The three dishes from dinner the night before were still sat in the dishwasher. The laundry basket stayed full. No clothes were added to it, or taken out.
The food in the fridge stayed the same. She simply didn’t open the door. She absolutely refused to fix anything to eat in the kitchen. If she had to eat, she’d grab a yogurt or something from down the street. She wasn’t very hungry and she allowed work to fill up her hours. She’d stay late at the Natural History Museum, or ask for long archeological assignments (half the time, she just simply didn’t go on assignment and stayed home. She hoped she’d be able to continue to pull that card for at least a few more months.) The other times she was protectively watching over Coast City and meeting up with Guy and/or John as they continued to try and find a way to rebuild the Corps.
They hadn’t been over to her apartment yet. Y/N didn’t want anyone in her and Hal’s apartment right now. They could mess up how everything was set up.
Her body was torturing herself as much as her mind was.
She held the space that Hal once shared with her in bed sacred. She put up a pillow in the middle of the bed to separate Hal’s side from hers. She was always afraid she’d roll over onto his side during the night and mess up the familiar and warm scent that he left behind. It was the last bits of the man she loved. The closest she’d get to him for now, at least. She felt some tears slip down her cheeks as she turned over to stare at the cold side of the bed.
Sure, that side of the bed was cold sometimes – they were Green Lanterns on assignment. They were pulled all around the world, all around various galaxies. But she still always had the knowledge that Hal would end up in bed next to her again.
Now she didn’t have that assurance.
She could still remember the late nights when Hal would finally get home. He’d try his best to stay quiet and tip-toe into their bed, but it was useless. He’d always trip over something in their bedroom, or pull her extremely close once he settled into the bed. When they were apart, they always came back together passionately.
She’d feel his soft lips brushing against her neck, and she’d let out a sleepy giggle when the small amount of stubble he’d have would tickle her. There were nights when she got in later than he did, and he always did his best to stay up until she walked through the threshold to their bedroom. He’d grab her around her waist when she got close enough to the bed and they’d eventually end up panting into each other’s mouths, praying their moans wouldn’t wake up the neighbors.
She curled up tighter and clutched her midsection. She wondered if that empty feeling would stick with her for the rest of her life.
Before she could focus deeply on the feeling, she heard a knock on her apartment door. It was early in the evening, and she hadn’t realized that she had spent the entire day so far in her bed. She had half a mind just to ignore the knock – to continue in the very delicate “peace” she was able to cultivate.
Her hope was quickly dashed.
“COME ON, Y/N! WE KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!” Guy shouted through the wooden door.
Y/N let out a soft groan.
“Y/N, we’re here to visit and help out. Let us in? We have food…”
Damn John Stewart. He always knew her weakness, even though she hadn’t had an appetite in what felt like ages.
Y/N rolled out of her shared bed, careful not to misplace anything, or end up on Hal’s side. She walked up to the door and slowly opened it.
“Hey…um,” Y/N suddenly felt her stomach tighten. She wasn’t expecting anyone to visit the apartment, and she didn’t want Guy and John to see the state of it. She quickly stammered out an excuse, “I-I’m kind of feeling under the weather, so maybe you all should—”
“Give it up, Y/N,” Guy rolled his eyes, shoving his way into the apartment. Y/N sent the redhead a glare, but couldn’t really hold it against him.
She was truly about to go out of her mind with the silence that had imposed itself in the one lively, loud apartment. She followed Guy into the kitchen, John trailing behind her.
“JESUS CHRIST, Y/N!” Guy gagged, “Something in your fridge up and died,” Guy was completely revolted when he opened his friend’s fridge. “You better be careful, some of this shit looks radioactive and might grow legs…”
“Guy…” John crossed his arms.
“I’m sorry, but this place has got to be cleaned, Y/N!” Guy began throwing things out of the fridge into the trash can and Y/N nearly went feral.
“STOP!” She cried, shaking her head, “We can’t change anything! It all has to stay the same!”
Guy and John stopped in their tracks. Y/N stared at the floor, upset that she let her emotions get the best of her. She hated how her voice echoed – she hated how she finally admitted that she was preserving everything just to keep some sense of normalcy. To keep the hope that Hal would just walk through the door any day.
“Y/N,” John gently began, “you can’t keep everything the same…”
“Says who?” Y/N snapped.
“Says the health department!” Guy scoffed.
“Have you been eating?” John stared down his friend, and Y/N shrugged.
“I don’t taste anything anymore,” Y/N admitted, “it’s all like cardboard. I eat enough…”
“Don’t give me that. First, we’re going to clean this apartment up. Then we’ll make dinner together with the groceries I bought.”
“John—”
“It’s not negotiable, Y/N, so don’t try.”
It turns out that John was willing to negotiate on some things. She could keep the sheets on the bed as long as she washed the duvet. She could keep the blankets that were on the couch without having to wash and re-fold them. She could keep where most things were placed in the living room and bedroom as long as they were dusted and then sat back down. They were finishing up and Guy was helping himself to another tour of the apartment.
“Every other wall in this apartment is filled with pictures or posters…why’s this one blank?” Guy asked innocently, looking over at Y/N who was sweeping up some dirt left over where their table and chairs sat.
“Hal and I were going to get a portrait done,” Y/N quietly explained, grabbing the dust pan and dumping it in the kitchen trashcan, “at our wedding.”
Y/N hated the ringing silence that followed.
“…How about a placeholder in the meantime?” John suggested, grabbing his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through his gallery.
“I like the way you’re thinking, Stewart,” Guy smirked, quickly going into his pictures.
Y/N felt a small laugh bubble up her throat. It had been so long since a genuine laugh or smile stained her lips.
“I got one!” Guy exclaimed, quickly bounding over and thrusting his phone into John and Y/N’s faces.
Y/N looked down her nose at the photo. It was a picture of her, Hal, Guy, and John at the Coast City pier. They got a passerby to take a picture of the four of them, and it just oozed pure chaos.
Guy had the ice cream part of his ice cream cone fall to the floor mid-picture, John was trying to shove the giant stuffed animal Hal won Y/N out of his view so his face wasn’t obstructed, and Hal was laughing hysterically at the fact that Guy was in the middle of dropping his ice cream. Y/N was in the middle with her face scrunched up, having got a whiff of the ocean.
“What the hell makes you think Y/N wants that hanging up on her wall?” John shoved Guy back, letting out a laugh.
“It captures our true spirits!” Guy whined.
“Mine is much more appropriate,” John showed Guy and Y/N the photo that he chose.
It was a picture of the four of them sat around in John’s apartment for a game night. Y/N was all about teambuilding, so she suggested that they all get together and hang out a couple of times a month when Guy joined the “2814 club.” Y/N was smiling victoriously since she had won the card game. Guy’s lips were pursed since he wasn’t exactly happy that Y/N hustled him, and John was obviously trying to hold back his laughter. Hal wasn’t staring at the camera, but at Y/N.
And he looked so proud.
Y/N closed her eyes.
“I like this one,” She cleared her throat.
“Oh, of course you like that one! I was exploited that night, Y/N!”
--
After Guy and John’s impromptu visit the other night, Dinah and Iris stopped by on the weekend to drop off a gift from the two men. John got a large print of the game night photo and had gotten it framed for her. He was going to bring it over, but him and Guy had to help Superman with some natural disaster clean up in Japan. Y/N had been doing her part in Coast City, protecting the civilians and doing her own research on the Parallax entity, and she had the feeling that the JL didn’t want her spreading herself too thin while she continued to “recover.” The physical wounds may have been gone, but the emotional ones were barely scabbed over. Y/N felt like the flesh was ripped back open every day she opened her eyes and realized that Hal wasn’t in bed next to her.
But the photo that John got printed into a poster really did help her in her darkest moments alone – the empty space was now filled momentarily. At least now she had something to smirk at when she got home from work – not a reminder that her and Hal’s vows may never come to pass.
She still held on to hope, though. He’d break through.
He had to. There was no other option.
After helping her hang up the poster, Iris and Dinah insisted that Y/N needed to get out of the apartment. To be honest, Y/N was so happy to see her best friends, and she decided to indulge them by going out in Coast City with them. Y/N felt comforted by their presence, but the slimy monster of jealousy began to creep its way from the base of her spine to the seat of her stomach.
It was completely irrational and stupid, but Y/N wondered why Dinah and Iris were able to live so happily with the men they loved while she had to be cast out of her bliss with the man she adored with each ounce of her being.
She missed the way he would drench her in his attention and affection. Whenever she spent late nights researching archeological dig sites at their kitchen table, she could feel Hal’s gaze from the couch in the living room, watching her hunched figure as she mumbled to herself and used a red sharpie to circle important places on a map. When she started to dip her head every few minutes from her exhaustion, Hal would take his cue and walk up behind her, nuzzling his head into her shoulder.
“Come on, Indiana Jones. I think the Ark of the Covenant can wait another day to be discovered…”
“Ha. Ha,” Y/N sleepily rolled her eyes, leaning her head back so Hal had more access to the sensitive skin of her neck, “You wanna be my love interest? Get stuck with me in that stupid monkey temple?” Y/N breathed.
“Oh, I might be able to be convinced…” Hal smirked, locking his lips onto hers, “I’ve always enjoyed the idea of you with a whip.”
“Ugh, shut up!” Y/N squealed, smacking his chest.
“Y/N!”
Y/N was brought back to the present by Dinah’s voice.
“H-huh?”
“Iris asked if you wanted another drink,” Dinah crossed her arms, amused by Y/N’s daydreams. She could tell that it was a pleasant one since Y/N didn’t have a blank look in her eyes. She wished she knew a way to make Y/N only have pleasant daydreams.
“Oh, no, I’m fine—”
“I’m getting you another drink,” Iris decided for her, walking up to the bar.
“And I’m going to run to the bathroom. Are you okay on your own for a few minutes?” Dinah asked.
“Of course,” Y/N dryly swallowed, “I’ll be fine.”
When Dinah and Iris left their booth, Y/N bit her lip, watching the ice melt in her glass. She longingly looked at the door to the bar, reminded of the time Iris dragged her to a “singles night” at a bar in Central City. It was before her and Hal confessed their feelings, and Y/N didn’t know until Iris and Barry told her that they planned the whole thing to see if Hal would confess his feelings for her. Once they admitted that, all the pieces started to fit together – how Hal just randomly showed up in Central City, nearly kicking down the bar door to get to her.
She bit her lip as she held back her tears.
What she wouldn’t do for that hot-headed pilot to kick down that door right now and take her home.
Take her home and make her laugh until her stomach hurts. Take her home and spin her around in their living room to some old love song. Take her home and make love to her, over and over and over again until she forgot her name and what it was like to feel empty.
“Hey…”
Y/N looked up to see a man around her age stood in front of her booth. She blinked owlishly, wondering how the hell the man materialized so fast.
“Hello…?” Y/N responded, raising an eyebrow.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
Y/N cleared her throat at the question, suddenly uncomfortable. She felt her muscles tense and she shook her head.
“No.”
“Aw, are you sure?” The man continued, leaning against the table, nearly in her personal space, “you’re so beautiful, and I think I’d just die if I didn’t get the chance to get to know you…”
Then die.
“I said no…” Y/N growled.
“So, you’re taken?”
This fucker was not getting the message. Y/N continued to feel her blood run hot in her veins. She dug her fingers into the wood of the table, trying to keep her cool. How dare he hit on her? Did he not know she belonged to the greatest Green Lantern? The best damn pilot that ever lived? The man who had a willpower that was unmatched?
“Yes.” Y/N stated.
She was sure he’d leave her alone now.
“Hmm…” His eyes flashed dangerously, raising an eyebrow before leaning in closer, “are you sure he’s taking good care of you? You look pent up…I’m sure I could take care of that.”
“I—”
“Does he leave you lonely? I can’t imagine ever leaving a pretty thing like you behind. Come on, baby…I can take you so high—”
The man didn’t get to finish his statement – she reeled back her fist and he staggered back from the intensity of her punch.
He tried to scurry away. But she wasn’t done with him.
She savagely shoved him to the ground and began to slam her fist into his face, over and over again. She felt his blood on her knuckles and she didn’t stop.
“HE’D NEVER LEAVE ME ALONE!” She screamed, grabbing his collar, “HOW DARE YOU!”
“Y/N!” Iris shrieked, bolting over to the woman, yanking her off the man’s body. Dinah had finally left the bathroom (talk about a long line…) and saw Iris struggling to hold Y/N back.
“I’LL KILL HIM!”
“Y/N! Stop it right now!” Dinah helped Iris, quickly rushing their hot-headed friend out of the bar before more attention could fall on them. The last thing Y/N needed was to catch a case.
“What happened?” Iris quickly pulled her phone out of her back pocket, calling Barry.
“…”
“Tell us, Y/N! Do I need to go back in there and finish the job?” Dinah nodded back to the bar; her eyes intense.
“He…he hit on me…” Y/N managed to croak, her brows furrowing, “said he…”
“What did he say?”
“He could take me up so high…” Y/N spat, clenching her fists, “O-Only Hal…only he…only he can—” Her anger quickly dissolved into harsh sobs.
“Let’s go home. Come on.” Dinah grabbed Y/N’s arm and started to walk towards the corner to catch a cab, “That asshole isn’t worth it.”
“Yeah,” Iris continued to speak quietly into the phone to Barry, “she’s okay…him, on the other hand…”
--
Y/N apologized to Iris and Dinah about her behavior, but she didn’t fully mean it. She was sorry that her friends had to see it, but that was it. If she was put in the same situation, she’d do the exact same thing again.
And maybe this time she’d knock the motherfucker out cold.
Barry called her to check up on her, but she let his call go to voicemail. She didn’t feel like explaining herself. She continued to lay on her couch, listening to the loud thunderstorm outside, the lightning lighting up the room every few minutes. The rain was a nice monotone to have in the familiar silence that constantly mocked her.
It wasn’t until she heard a harsh, short knock at her door that she tuned out the rain and thunder. She stood and walked to the door, looking out the peephole.
It was John Stewart, and he was livid.
Chapter 7
Notes:
This is another long chapter, but we get introduced to someone super special at the end!
Thank you all so much for reading!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
“I don’t have to explain myself,” Y/N snapped, crossing her arms and cocking her hip as John stared her down, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“I get a call from a frantic Barry saying that you attacked a random, innocent civilian in a bar last night, and each time we try to call you, you send us straight to voicemail? What the hell were you thinking, Y/N?”
“I—”
“I’ll tell you what you were thinking – you weren’t.”
“That fucker hit on me, John! Does he not know that I belong to—”
“Of course he didn’t, Y/N!” John pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a frustrated sigh, “How could he have known? I understand that it’s frustrating and disgusting for someone to hit on you when you’re not interested, but to violently attack the man to the point that he was bleeding profusely—”
“I won’t let anyone disrespect Hal like that.”
“Hal wasn’t there, Y/N! How could this man have known? We have been extending you so much grace. I can’t imagine how much pain you’re in, Y/N…but to let it drag you down like this?”
“I…I don’t…” Y/N felt her voice get quieter, staring at the floor, “I was just…mad.”
“I get it. Trust me, I do,” John offered.
“No. No you don’t, John…” Y/N sharply looked up at her friend, “you didn’t see the love of your life slaughter your family. You didn’t have to hold a dying teenager in your arms—”
“No, I haven’t gone through that specific situation, but I have seen a lot, Y/N. And a lot of what I’ve seen is death, devastation and betrayal. Guy’s seen it too. We all have. When we vow to protect the innocent, we see things. Horrible things. But we rise above—”
“How could Hal rise above Parallax? Above Sinestro? How can we rise above when monsters like that exist? They play dirty, John! They cheat!”
“We are not them, Y/N.”
“Then why do they always win? Why do they never lose what is precious to them?” Y/N croaked.
“They don’t win, Y/N. Because they hold nothing precious. They hold nothing sacred. To me, that’s a worse fate than anything we could experience. To have nothing.”
“I have nothing,” Y/N whispered, closing her eyes.
“You have everything, Y/N. Don’t you dare ever think something like that—”
“I have everything? What do I have, John? Genuinely? I come home to an empty apartment! Silence is all that surrounds me. People look at me like I’m some delicate piece of glass! The Justice League doesn’t call me out on missions like they used to—”
“Do you blame them?!” John put his hands on his hips, incredulous, “you are a ticking time bomb! And you exploded last night! You could’ve killed that man!”
“What do you want from me?” Y/N screamed, a crazed look in her wet eyes.
“I want you to pull your damn self together, and I know you’re capable of doing it, Y/N! You were the second human chosen by the Guardians to help protect the universe. You have a strong willpower. You are resilient, you have faced off against countless threats and never gave up. Don’t you believe in protecting the innocent? In justice?”
“O-Of course—”
“And you’re a loyal Green Lantern, are you not? Bound by the oath that we’ve all said countless of times?”
“Yes—”
“How the hell do you expect to uphold that oath in the state you’re in right now? You’ve got to pick yourself up off the floor. What would Hal say if he heard about you acting like this?”
“…”
“You know what he’d say. What would he say, Y/N? Tell me.”
“He would tell me to rise above it. He’d tell me to stay focused on the goal. To trust my will and know that no matter what happens, I am in control of myself. Of what I create.” Y/N croaked.
“That’s the Hal we know. That’s the Hal that you love. And that’s the Hal that we are going to get back. I know you want him back, safe and sound, more than anything in this world. Tell me how you expect to accomplish that feat with your anger and fear.”
Y/N looked away, wishing the tears would stop coming. John grabbed her soul and ripped it to the surface. What had she been doing the past couple of months?
She neglected her work. She neglected her friends. She violently attacked an innocent civilian. Why did she do that? All she had to do was flash him her engagement ring and leave. When she did her research on Parallax, her eyes would just flit over the text – she didn’t take notes. All she did was sit and stew in the fear that she was alone.
Hal was not just her lover. He was her best friend. Before he even laid his lips upon hers, he put his life on the line constantly to protect her. When he jumped in front of her and was stabbed by that rogue member of the Red Lantern Corps. When he grabbed her by her hips as she was falling out of the sky because her ring ran out of battery.
And she protected him too. She jumped into the ring to fight against a huge alien because Hal had failed to win. If he couldn’t complete his goal, she would. She’d adopt the goal and do it her way. She constantly patched him up after some nasty battles, whether it was in a spaceship, her bathroom, or the middle of a battlefield.
He had her six, and she had his. He was the sleepy voice on the other end of the phone when she wouldn’t be able to get images out of her head at night. She was the warm home he could collapse in after he missed rent for the fourth time at his old apartment.
It wasn’t the sex; it wasn’t the fevered whispers and thrusts. It wasn’t the way he pulled her into his side and excitedly showed her off at Ferris Aircraft events. It wasn’t the way she would giddily introduce him to her colleagues at the Natural History Museum.
It was the way they deeply cared about each other, to the point that Y/N was convinced that their souls were sewn together. But they were their own person. She was not Hal Jordan, and he was not Y/N L/N. Neither of them “belonged” to the other. They chose to be together. Not out of duty or a pesky responsibility. They had their own independent streaks. They didn’t need the other to stick up for them. She knew Hal certainly didn’t.
She could just see little Hal Jordan, at the age of 8, watching his father’s craft burst into flames. She could see him clutching onto his father’s flight jacket at night, scared and confused, waiting for the day he would grow into it. It was so big that it probably engulfed his little shoulders.
His father touched the sky beautifully – with no fear. Hal wanted to do that.
But it was a misconception.
It was something that the Green Lantern Corps commended Hal Jordan on. His inability to feel fear.
But that was a damn lie.
Like his father, Hal Jordan felt fear. Every time he clipped himself into a jet, he knew the chances of dying. And Hal was a proud little shit when he was in his early 20s. Rules didn’t apply to him sometimes. He could cut the sky open and drown in the praise. He was handsome, he was untouchable. He was made of steel, a mirror of the sky. She didn’t know he even existed back then, but she had heard the stories.
But that little caricature that Hal created of himself was false. Some people still believed he was that caricature. That wasn’t his true self. But he wouldn’t admit that until later.
Everyone felt fear. And it was childish and stupid to think that it didn’t exist.
It was like Parallax said – when you pretend fear doesn’t exist, that’s when it does its best work. And Hal Jordan felt fear. He tried to run away from it. He pretended that it simply couldn’t touch him. What could scare a man like him?
Hal learned that a lot of things scared him. Losing the ones he loves. Being unable to protect what he held close. The dangerous aloofness that came with pride.
Committing fully to someone he’d move the heavens and earth for.
But he faced those fears. Accepted them.
And became one of the best Green Lanterns in the Corps.
Their fear made them stronger agents of will. Y/N had more fears than she could count, and many of them had overwhelmed her for the past several months. This was her chance to accept them and overcome them.
And become who she was meant to be in the Corps.
Y/N looked up at John who continued to stare at her in silence. His eyes had softened and he waited for the woman to say something.
“I’m still angry, John. I think I’ll stay angry for a while,” Y/N spoke in a measured tone, clearing her throat, “but I’m not going to let my fear dictate my life. Not anymore. We need to rebuild the Corps. We need to get to Ganthet and Kilowog. And we need to defeat Parallax.”
“There she is,” John smiled.
--
Y/N worked tirelessly over the months. Her, Guy and John were able to get a plan in place of what to do if Parallax showed up in 2814. They didn’t have the backup or the resources to be able to go out and hunt for the damn parasite themselves. They’d be wholly overwhelmed without backup, and the Justice League couldn’t just leave earth for several months to defeat this threat against the universe. The other villains would have a field day. She continued to protect Coast City – it was very entertaining when Star Sapphire showed up and tried to destroy downtown.
But Y/N was able to take care of it, with her mastery of wit on full display. (She did get a few bruises, but hey – it was par for the course.)
She visited Helen when she could, taking her on little adventures. The little girl always asked Y/N about her uncle, and Y/N continued to assure her that her uncle would be back. It was painful when Hal missed her seventh birthday. To make up for it, Y/N took a road trip over to Central City to visit Barry and Iris. The little girl had so much fun in the Flash Museum, but kept questioning Barry (she did not know his identity, thank God,) as to why “Green Lantern” aka “Uncle Hal” didn’t have any part of the museum dedicated to him since he had “got the Flash out of a lot of hairy situations.”
Barry was in a grumpy mood for about 15 minutes after that, and Iris and Y/N could not stop laughing.
She was on more missions with the JL now, and even though she continued to resist the role of being the “seventh” core member, she did attend the bi-weekly meetings. Parallax was not brought up in those meetings, and Y/N was grateful.
She didn’t want to strangle Batman (well, she did, but not as much as before – she figured he’d be useful at a later date.)
She was taking on less and less responsibility at the Natural History Museum, but that was due to her own choices. She did part-time work. (Now she was the one struggling to keep the lights on in the apartment, but she did have savings.)
Things were not back to normal – they were different. Normal…didn’t exist anymore. And the thing that kept her going was the fact that she was going to defeat Sinestro and Parallax someday. They were due to appear. They couldn’t stay away for much longer. She had a job to do, and she couldn’t waste away until after she completed it.
Y/N was now sat out on a field outside of Coast City. There was a hill not too far away that she and Hal would sometimes sit on to look at the sky. It was away from all the harsh lights of the city, and they could lay back on a blanket and admire the night sky as regular people. She bit her lip as she stared, thinking about all the fun conversations they had on that hill.
She could feel the ghost of a smile on her lips as she thought of all the jokes they shared, how Hal would say something embarrassing and she’d playfully roll around with him in the grass until she had him pinned and would stick her tongue near his ear.
“I GIVE! I GIVE!” He’d squeal.
And then he’d gently turn the tables and pin her to the ground before tickling her sides, causing her to cackle and wriggle around.
“I give!” She’d cry, breathless.
She closed her eyes in bliss. She loved him. And everything that she was doing now was in the hopes of saving him.
She opened her eyes and felt her stomach drop to her feet. Up in the night sky, a flicker of green caught her attention. She stared for a bit longer, realizing that the green beam was coming directly towards her.
“No,” She whispered, quickly jumping to her feet and activating her ring.
No, no. No. Not right now. It couldn’t have been Guy or John – they wouldn’t be coming from out of the atmosphere. It came closer and closer, and Y/N clenched her fists, ready to take on the threat.
Was it Parallax? She didn’t know if she was emotionally ready to see that parasite wearing Hal’s skin again, but she knew she’d have to be.
And she wasn’t going to back down. Not ever again.
Y/N stood her ground, waiting for the being to slam down in front of her. As it came closer and closer, she was able to make out a humanoid shape – but this shape wasn’t as tall as Hal, and it didn’t really have his body shape. The being was definitely not a Guardian – way too tall for that, and it wasn’t Kilowog – it was far too small to be the Bolovaxian.
It was something…new.
“WHOA!” The unfamiliar voice yelled, the green bubble he was in making contact with the ground. The construct, like a little bouncy ball, jumped off the ground and took the human-looking figure back up into the air again, continuing to bounce until it lost its crazy velocity.
“Who are you?” Y/N spoke up, steadying her hand with the ring, “Answer me, or I’ll blast you full of light.”
“W-wait!” The green bubble disappeared around the figure, and he quickly came into view.
It was a young man – definitely younger than her, Hal, Guy and John, but not by too much. Maybe in his early twenties? He had black hair and brown eyes, and she was sure the kid thought his legs were like jelly since he was having a very hard time standing up straight. She kept her stance, hardening her stare.
What if this was just a distraction?
“Tell me who you are. I won’t ask again.” Y/N pressed.
“Are you Y/N?” The kid asked.
Y/N hardened her stare – how the fuck did he know her name? She was suited up, and her mask was on. She clenched her fists and pointed her ring straight at him.
“WAIT! NO! Kilowog said you might be flighty, but—”
“Kilowog?” Y/N squawked, grabbing the “kid” by his t-shirt, “Did you say Kilowog?”
“Uh, yeah! Big pink guy? Rough around the edges, but has some weird endearing quality that doesn’t send you running for the hills. That Kilowog?”
“…Yes…” Y/N whispered, continuing to hold his shirt, “…who are you?”
“My name is—”
“How did you get sent here? Where did you meet Kilowog? Is Ganthet alright? Are the other Guardians back? How the hell did they get their rings to charge? And why the hell—”
“Okay, first off,” The kid spoke up, clearing his throat over Y/N’s rambling, “my name is Kyle Rayner. Yeah. And I don’t know what the hell is really going on here, but I do know Kilowog and the little blue dude named Ganthet…can…um…can you let go of my shirt now?”
Y/N crashed back to the planet and quickly let go of Kyle’s shirt, taking a step back before blinking a few times.
“Sorry, I just…”
“It’s okay. I’m…super overwhelmed too, if we’re being honest…”
Y/N looked closer at the young man, her eyes widening when she saw a green ring on his left middle finger.
“…Who gave you that?” Y/N barked.
“Ganthet!” Kyle was learning to answer Y/N’s questions quickly – he did not want to get on this woman’s bad side, “Ganthet created it and gave it to me. He…he said I was one of the last Green Lanterns.”
“Without the other Guardians…Ganthet could only create one more ring…God, that must’ve wiped him out…” Y/N tilted her head as she gently touched Kyle’s hand, looking over the ring.
It looked just like how her, John, Guy, and Hal’s rings looked, but it did have a deeper green color. She bit her bottom lip.
“I don’t know what happened,” Kyle began to gush, unable to hold back his words any longer, “one second I was leaving my art class on campus and the next thing I knew, some freaky green ring appeared in front of me and teleported me onto some PLANET…IN OUTER SPACE!”
Y/N let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head. She remembered when she first got her ring.
“Yeah, that tracks,” Y/N was relieved to hear that Kilowog and Ganthet were out there in the galaxy – alive. “Are you…okay?”
“Yeah, I think so…” Kyle murmured, looking over his body, “When I stopped screaming, they explained everything to me. Basically, I learned that the Green Lantern Corps has been wiped out, and there were only three functioning Green Lanterns left—”
“There are only three Green Lanterns left that are able to charge their rings,” Y/N closed her eyes, “which effectively makes them the GL Corps.”
“And you’re one of them.” Kyle asserted.
“Yes.”
“Ganthet and Kilowog sent me straight to you,” Kyle offered up, “Kilowog is still recovering from his injuries…he told me he was usually the one who trained the new recruits. He called me a poozer?”
“Ha, yeah, Kilowog is the Drill Sargent of the Green Lantern Corps. He’s a tough teacher, but he’s got heart. Most GLs were trained by him - the best in the business.”
“Yeah, well, Kilowog and Ganthet explicitly sent me to you for training. The big bubble Ganthet put me in was coded to go exactly where you were…thank God you were all the way out here!”
Y/N paused.
What?!
Why not John? John Stewart was formidable, responsible, and a great ring slinger. He was a great leader as well! Guy would also be a great coach. Why her? She felt her lungs begin to shrivel.
Kyle would be her mentee.
The last mentee she had died in her arms.
“No,” Y/N shook her head, stepping back from Kyle, “No. They made a mistake.”
Kyle stared at the woman with wide eyes, perplexed. Why was she so reluctant? He had heard about Y/N. Well, maybe not by name, but he had seen her several times on the news, or in newspapers. She was constantly saving the world.
“I don’t think they did,” Kyle offered.
Y/N paused again. Kyle seemed like a good kid – he had to be worth his salt to get the ring from a recovering Ganthet. Kilowog and Ganthet had to see something in him. She was sure she would see it too – he wasn’t going to let her crawl away and hide under a rock. But she didn’t want to train him. She looked up and into his eyes.
He had a hopeful gaze.
Arisia had that same look in her eyes when Y/N met her for the first time.
She could still feel the warm stickiness of the teenager’s blood on her hands and arms as she held her while she was dying. What if Kyle ended up the same way? There was no telling when Parallax would show his face again or Sinestro. The entire Green Lantern Corps was basically extinct due to the battery’s destruction. Unlike all the other GLs before him, Kyle didn’t have the resources on Oa or the greatest lanterns to train him.
Kyle only had her – a husk of a human being. She did have hope for the future, but it was still meek and quiet. She wondered if she’d just be nurturing another lamb for slaughter at the hands of Parallax. At the hands of fear itself.
“Y/N,” Kyle spoke up, pulling her out of her doom spiral, “I know I’m…putting you in a tough situation. I crash landed here and asked you to train me. I know you’re hurt -- Ganthet and Kilowog told me everything.”
Y/N winced when Kyle brought up the elephant in the room. She ran a hand through her hair as she fidgeted.
“But I have hope that Hal will break free from Parallax’s influence. A-And I know that you think you can’t train me, but I meant what I said – Ganthet and Kilowog didn’t make a mistake sending me to you. From the way Ganthet and Kilowog told it, if they didn’t have you…the Green Lantern Corps would be extinct. You do know that, right?
Tears began to blur her vision as the young man spoke. She didn’t look at the situation that way – she always looked at it as if she had failed.
Maybe…just maybe she didn’t fail. She saved John, Guy, Ganthet and Kilowog’s lives. She saved countless other lives by ending the priority-one call. She was able to grab the shards from the battery that her, John, and Guy would desperately need to have a fighting chance.
Kilowog and Ganthet…didn’t make a bad judgement call.
She could train Kyle.
She could, yes, but should she?
Fear paralyzed her to the spot she was standing. He could die. This could all just be one major slaughter down the road. Kyle shouldn’t be dragged into this mess. The Guardians had made bad calls before…
This was a true fear…but she had the power, the ability to overcome it.
She couldn’t fear what happened in the past. Her, John, Guy, Ganthet and Kilowog will defeat Sinestro and Parallax. Failure simply wasn’t an option.
Kyle wouldn’t die like Arisia – she simply won’t allow someone else to die.
“Listen,” Y/N whispered, seeing Kyle’s gaze return to her, “you need to learn this right from the go. Being a Green Lantern doesn’t mean not having any fear. Fear exists, and we shouldn’t ignore it. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place. Being a GL means feeling that fear. Recognizing it. Rising above it.”
Kyle hung on to each word Y/N spoke, knowing that he was on the cusp of something that would change the rest of his life.
“I’ll be honest with you, Kyle,” Y/N took a steadying breath, “I’m scared. The universe is facing its biggest threat…and I can’t lose anyone else.”
The young man looked down at the ground. Maybe she wouldn’t train him after all. He bit back his disappointment. He couldn’t really blame her—
“But…that’s a fear that I’m going to rise above. I will train you, Kyle.”
Chapter 8
Notes:
this is my FAVORITE chapter I've written to date. i hope you all enjoy reading as much as i enjoyed writing it! please feel free to comment - i love hearing from you all!
thank you for all the support!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
It had been several months since Kyle Rayner crash-landed in front of Y/N as the newest Green Lantern Corps recruit, and his training was progressing nicely.
“Keep your focus, Kyle!” Y/N barked, sending another strong construct towards the young man.
Kyle blocked it, but his construct was flimsy and immediately shattered.
“Good block, but keep your focus. You’re going to want your blocks to be reinforced – those few seconds before you make your next construct are crucial – it could make or break you. Literally.”
Kyle took her instruction to heart, and when she sent her next construct, Kyle was able to block it again and keep his construct in its form for a few more seconds.
“Ugh…” Kyle groaned.
“Hey, you’re getting there! It took me some time to be able to keep up my constructs. It takes a lot of practice. You’re also super creative – you’re always thinking about what to create next. It’s that artist in you – it’s helpful when you’re on offense, but not on defense. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“Thanks Y/N,” Kyle panted, obviously tired, “What’s next?”
“Let’s take a break,” Y/N smirked. She knew that Kyle was trying to stay on top of things to make her proud and show that he was worthy of the ring that Ganthet gave him. Y/N already knew he was worthy, and so did John and Guy when they met him.
She hoped that Kyle would begin to believe that sooner rather than later. He’d need that confidence to face off against Parallax and/or Sinestro.
“Thank God,” Kyle muttered, deactivating his ring.
Y/N deactivated hers and walked up to Kyle on the abandoned hillside they were on. Y/N did plan on taking Kyle up into space that evening, but after the kid nearly took out a satellite the other night, she decided they’d stay planet-side for the time being.
“You’re in college, so I’m going to assume you’re always hungry,” Y/N teased, stretching, “come on, let’s grab something to eat in town.”
Kyle grinned wide and sent Y/N his puppy dog eyes.
“And since you’re in college, I know you’re dead broke. It’ll be on me.”
“YES!” Kyle exclaimed, quickly scurrying to Y/N’s car that was parked down the hill.
--
Y/N bit into her burger as Kyle picked at his fries – something was obviously on his mind. She chewed thoughtfully before putting her burger down and clearing her throat.
“Normally you’d be scarfing down this food,” Y/N crossed her legs and raised an eyebrow at the kid, “what’s on your mind?”
Kyle blushed at how easily his mentor was able to read him, and he took a sip from his soda, playing with his fingers.
“I was just wondering…” He began.
“Wondering what?”
“Y-you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but…could you tell me about some of the times you had when the GL Corps was…well, the GL Corps?”
Kyle was a very curious guy, and he was always asking questions and trying to soak up all the information he could – Y/N was wondering why he had never asked her about the GL Corps before this – she figured that he had asked John and Guy about their experiences.
“Haven’t Guy and John told you?” Y/N nonchalantly spoke, placing a fry in her mouth, “Guy’s got some pretty hilarious stories…”
“Well, John and Guy have told me their stories, but I want to hear yours. You are the one training me, you know.”
“Sounds like you want to hear about me and Hal’s stories, not just mine…” Y/N could see through him very well, and his brown eyes got wide.
“Uh…”
Got him.
“It’s okay, I like talking about it,” Y/N smiled.
“Are you sure? Doesn’t it make you…kind of…sad? I don’t want to put that on you—”
“Kyle, I said it’s okay. I mean, it does make me kind of sad to look back and realize that…everything has changed, but it’s…good to look at the past. It gives me hope for the future.”
Kyle looked down, wondering how the hell Y/N was still standing. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain he would be feeling if something like that happened to someone he loved. He looked back up at her, and she put her head in her hand.
“Now, let’s see…oh. I’ve got to tell you about the time I had my first solo assignment. Well, it wasn’t supposed to be a solo assignment…”
As Y/N told him about her favorite missions and experiences with Hal, Kyle could see the fond, far-away look in her eyes, and he felt a pang in his chest. She truly loved Hal Jordan, and from the way she talked about him, Kyle was sure that Hal loved her too.
“Hal truly cared about every living thing,” Y/N shook herself out of her flashbacks, “everyone was important to him, even if he tried to pretend that they weren’t. He’s loyal, he’s responsible. He doesn’t believe in leaving anyone behind. He would fight even if he was the last one standing. That’s who Hal is. He’s stubborn. Each time that you think he’s down and out…he rises back up. He may get smacked down several times, but he refuses to stay down. He will always stand back up. He doesn’t live life on his knees…” Y/N swallowed dryly, closing her eyes, “He’s not the little poozer like Kilowog would affectionately call him when he was a new recruit. Hal’s a senior member of the Corps. And he fought hard to get there. With everything stacked against him, he still has hope. I know…” She took a steadying breath, “I know that if Parallax had…infected me…he would not stop until he ripped that damn thing out of me. And I won’t stop until that parasite spits him out. Hal’s seen a lot of things…some of the things I know about…the others I don’t. Hal never assumes he knows everything, or that he’s the best. He still gets surprised by things…he still gets excited when he discovers something new. I’ll get him back. I have to.”
Kyle sat there and listened to his mentor, feeling some tears prick his eyelids. He looked away quickly and cleared his throat. Y/N blinked and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Sorry about that,” Y/N laughed, sipping her drink, “but I haven’t even gotten to the best of the best of our missions together. There’s been countless others. Now, let me tell you about the time Hal and I were surrounded by Manhunters and our only back up was this squirrel named Ch’p...”
--
Y/N let out a sigh as she made her way up to her apartment. She was happy that Kyle asked her about Hal and their time in the Corps. Kyle was a sweet kid and had a good head on his shoulders. The future of the Corps was bright with him. She did worry about him, though. She worried that something could happen that would take his bright light away. He hadn’t seen any major combat so far. If he continued to work with her, John, and Guy…he would see things that could absolutely break him.
Was it worth it?
Time would tell. She just hoped that she could shield Kyle from the world just a while longer. She could feel her fatigue in her bones, and all she wanted to do was walk straight back to the bedroom and collapse on her side of the bed. As she walked up to her door, she paused.
Her lights were on – she could see them from under the front door. She tilted her head – did she leave the lights on? She could’ve sworn she turned them off. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She had to have left the lights on, there was no other explanation.
She put her key in the door and stepped inside, a chill going up her spine.
All the lights were on, and the heat was on in the apartment. Her candles were lit, and the TV was on a low volume in the living room.
She definitely didn’t leave the candles lit and the TV on when she left.
She stood in the doorway, trying to decide what to do. She could activate her ring and charge into her apartment fully. But that could give away her identity. She didn’t know who was inside…and the fact that nobody had jumped out at her gave her a sliver of comfort. If someone wanted to ambush her...wouldn’t they have kept all the lights off? She tip-toed further in and quietly shut the door behind her. She stayed quiet, slowly inching closer and closer into her living room.
When she fully entered the room, her heart fell out of her chest and onto the floor. She froze to her spot, her muscles melting within her skin. A familiar, lovely face turned to look at her. His brown hair was parted like it always was, with the little white whisps at the sides. His brown eyes were expressive and his pupils grew larger when their eyes made desperate contact. His jaw was cut and handsome, as it always was, and the smile that formed on his perfect lips made her heart go into a fit of palpitations.
Hal…?
“Haven’t seen you in quite a while,” His voice softly spoke. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at his fiancée, biting his bottom lip as he awaited her answer.
His voice sounded familiar – it didn’t have that poisonous twinge to it like it did nearly two years ago…when they last spoke. She swallowed dryly, stuck in her spot. This…this had to be an illusion. There was no way…
“Time passed so slowly without you…” He breathed.
Y/N felt her knees give out, and she tumbled to the floor. She heard Hal let out a surprised noise, rushing over to her to help her off the carpeted floor. She did not fully grasp that this man was real until she shakily reached out her hands and touched the sides of his face. Her fingers didn’t pass through him – he wasn’t a ghost. He was physical. He was there.
She quickly rolled out of his grasp, panicked as she crawled back from him, grabbing onto the couch to help her stand once again. He watched her patiently, his eyebrows pinched together in what seemed like genuine concern.
“But…P-Parallax…” She stammered, breathless, “…how…?”
“That doesn’t matter,” He cut her off, daring to step closer to her. He was slow in his movements, like she was some wild animal ready to bolt, “I’m here now…it’s me.”
Y/N knew that she shouldn’t fully believe this…but Hal was strong. It had been two years since their paths last crossed – he could’ve purged the parasite from his system. She cleared her throat, ready to press on.
“It matters to me,” She whispered, daring to inch closer to him as well, “Hal, is it really you?” She felt tears well up in her eyes and she couldn’t hold them back as they spilled over.
“Yes,” He answered, wiping her tears with his thumbs.
His touch was cold…not warm. She shook her head of the thought. Just because he had cold hands didn’t mean that he wasn’t Hal.
“It took a while, but I was able to pull the parasite out…now I can focus on more important things,” He purred, placing a kiss on her forehead.
It felt foreign.
But then again, she hadn’t been touched affectionately in ages.
“Oh, Hal,” She sobbed, throwing herself into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and she clutched onto him like he was her last shred of humanity. “I needed you,” her voice was muffled by his chest, and she felt him constrict her tighter. She felt her lungs protest, but she didn’t mind the strong grip.
She was touch starved.
And he knew it.
His hands traveled from her shoulders down to her hips, and she canted closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. It had been so long since she pressed her body against his that it no longer felt…familiar.
“Are you really back?” She sniffled.
“Yes. And I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh,” She gasped for air, pulling out of his grasp, “Hal, we’ve got to tell everyone!” She exclaimed, rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off, “w-we’ve gotta tell Guy and John! And Helen! Oh my God, Hal, she’s missed you so much. It was so hard to hide this from her and your brothers…God, I thought I was going to burst with guilt—”
“Y/N—”
“And the Justice League! Barry and Oliver are going to be ecstatic! You can finally join back as a founder and I don’t have to go to those crazy bi-weekly meetings! Although, you should watch out for Bats, he said some pretty unsavory things about you, but—”
“Y/N!” He shouted.
Y/N shrunk back into herself at Hal’s outburst, her lungs shriveling up at his cold tone. She saw his eyes widen and he cleared his throat, a warm look filling his face once again.
“Y/N…I just…want it to be you and me for a while…let me have you all to myself, hm?”
“But Hal…our family, our friends…they deserve to know—”
“Y/N, I’m not ready to announce that I’m back…” Hal sternly spoke.
“We can rebuild the Corps!” She exclaimed, “We can band together and try to rebuild the battery—”
“Y/N. I said I’m not ready.” He snapped.
This was weird. She chalked it up to Hal feeling horrible and ashamed for his actions. She stepped closer to him once again, rubbing his cheek with her thumb as she tried to soothe him.
“Coast City is still standing, Hal. It…it was all an illusion…which I’m sure you see now. And I know that the road is tough. You’re wondering how anyone can forgive you. You feel like a murderer…but we all know that it was that damn parasite. It was Parallax, not you—”
“You talk like it was the end of the world,” Hal’s voice took on a tone that made her hair stand up. She cleared her throat.
“It…it was the end of the world, my world…” Y/N whispered.
“It isn’t the end of the world. That’s not until later.”
“Later?” Y/N reeled her head back, stepping back from her fiancé, “What do you mean?”
“To rebuild the world, you have to destroy it first,” He stepped closer to her, caging her against one of their walls.
He leaned closer, their lips brushing together. She didn’t close her eyes in bliss – she kept them wide open in fear.
Hal then added more pressure to his kiss, closing his eyes as he bruised his lips against hers. His lips were like ice. She felt the color drain from her face, and her hands became clammy. She felt him run his tongue along her bottom lip, but she refused him entry, causing him to let out a soft frustrated noise.
If Hal had cast the parasite out of his body…his hair would be all brown again. His touch and lips would be warm. He wouldn’t talk about destroying the world and rebuilding it.
Dear God…
She shoved “Hal” away from her, and when they made eye contact again, she saw those damn yellow irises.
Parallax.
It was still wearing her fiancé like a flesh suit. She felt sick to her stomach again, and she clenched her fists, ready to activate her ring. She let out a shocked yelp when Parallax gripped her hand that had her ring on it, nearly crushing it.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
He was right. If she activated her ring and started a fight right now, the apartment building would be destroyed, and the innocent people who lived in it would be hurt or killed. That fucking parasite was making good on his promise. The poisonous statement that left those familiar lips two years ago had come to pass: “I’ll be back for you, L/N. A God always needs a Goddess…”
The parasite inched closer to her again, Hal’s hands landing on her hips. He pinned her to a softer surface this time, and she wriggled against him. She felt his hips push forward and she bit her bottom lip as she fought against her touch-starved brain.
“Look at me, Y/N,”
Y/N glared at the man on top of her. It looked like Hal, but it wasn’t. Damn that Parallax…he had begun to master Hal’s soft and sweet voice. He was trying to seduce her instead of prey on her fears.
“Look how happy you were to see me,” He whispered in her ear, nuzzling his nose against it, “your eyes lit up, you felt alive for the first time in years, didn’t you?”
Y/N strained against him, trying to ignore the sweet lilt in his voice. Her eyes rolled back when he canted his hips against hers again. She squeezed her eyes shut once again. She heard him let out a breathless laugh.
“Look at us…we’re as close together as a bride and groom,” He groaned, sliding his hands down her sides, “you know, you could have this every single day…if you join me,” His lips slotted against hers and he kissed her until she was breathless.
“Be my goddess, Y/N…” He whined. Y/N kept her eyes shut and clenched her fists, “There won’t be as much blood this time,” Parallax smirked, touching her breasts, “I know it makes you queasy.”
“Oh,” She moaned, pushing her chest into his, “oh…”
“Tell me you want it, Y/N. Tell me you’ll help me rebuild the universe in my image. Tell me you’ll be my goddess…let me give it to you.”
She bit her bottom lip as she pulled him closer, her lips kissing the shell of his ear. “Oh, I’ll tell you…” She wrapped her leg around his hip before taking him off guard and forcibly turning him so he was laid flat against the bed, “I’ll NEVER join you, you murderous fucking parasite!”
Parallax rolled his eyes, and his irises changed from brown to yellow again. He shoved Y/N off of him and stood up, dusting himself off. She glared at him, her nostrils flaring. He cleared his throat.
“Hm, I figured the seduction would work since you’re so touch starved. Humans are so simple-minded. Looks like I’ll have to prey on what actually works with you, L/N.”
There was that unfamiliar voice. Cold, calculating, hateful.
A tone that just didn’t sound right coming out of Hal’s mouth.
“Your fears.”
“I’m more than my fears, Parallax.” Y/N spat.
“Are you?” He spoke, looking Y/N up and down with his cold eyes, “you’re scared right now. I can just smell it.”
Y/N knew she had fear on her – she was human. It was like she was in the uncanny valley – here was this evil being that was inside something that had been intimate with her thousands of times. The parasite was getting impatient. Y/N could smell that.
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Y/N glowered, “We’ll stop you, Parallax. I promise it.”
“Oh, you’ll stop me? With your little posse?” Parallax threw his head back and laughed, shaking his head, “Are you going to use the new little toy? Don’t tell me you were foolish enough to fatten up another lamb for me to slaughter, L/N.”
He was talking about Kyle.
She knew she could explode at Parallax. Call him names, lash out in her fear. He had her pegged – she was afraid of losing more friends, especially the one that she agreed to train. The guilt weighed heavily on her mind.
But she had accepted that fear.
Parallax hadn’t made any moves to physically hurt her. She knew he was capable of doing it…but he refused to. Bits of Hal were able to power through just barely – the fact that the parasite could mimic Hal’s voice a bit more and concentrate enough to keep the man’s brown irises to seduce her told her what she needed to know. This was her chance to try and break through. If Parallax could bring her fears to the surface…she could bring her Hal to the surface too. She decided to ignore Parallax’s prodding.
Two could play at this game.
“Hal, please listen to me,” Y/N confidently spoke, putting her hands on her hips as she stood her ground, “I know you’re in there. I know that Parallax is having a hard time holding you back now.”
Parallax raised an eyebrow at Y/N’s new tactic, and he let out a scoff, crossing his arms. This was just getting pathetic.
“Hal no longer exists, L/N. I’m all that remains.”
“Hal, honey,” Y/N ignored the parasite once again, “I love you. I’ll always love you. I’ll wait for you…until the end of the world.”
“Give it up, L/N—”
“You can fight it. This parasite is scared of you. Scared of your capabilities. I know you’re in there. Please fight it. Keep fighting. I know you’re tired…but you can’t stop. You’ve never stopped before. Don’t stop now.”
“When are you going to get it through your damn skull that your little hero is dead, L/N?” Parallax had enough of these games, beginning to physically threaten the Green Lantern.
He loomed over her, pinning her against the wall once again. She had nowhere to escape to. She couldn’t activate her ring…but Parallax couldn’t truly activate all of his either.
If he were to activate his rings to put her down, it would alert Guy, John, and Kyle, who would in turn, alert the Justice League. Parallax needed the element of surprise – Parallax loved it. He wouldn’t be as effective without it. Parallax was able to go through various galaxies now and take what he wanted. He wouldn’t be able to do that any longer if he gave his position up.
Beyond that, Y/N knew something – it resonated deep within her. Hal was still there, whether Parallax wanted to acknowledge that or not. And she knew Hal was in there. But not because of the soft tone Parallax could manipulate, or his brown eyes that shone through.
“I’m all that stands in your way, Parallax,” Y/N reasoned, putting her hands on her hips and pushing the parasite back, “You know that, and I know that. You had no problem killing the others…”
Parallax raised an eyebrow, unsure of where the hell the Green Lantern was going with her little speech.
“I am the one who was able to save what is left of the Green Lantern Corps. I grabbed the shards from the battery. I ended the priority-one call that kept the rest of the Lanterns off Oa. I contacted Guy and John and told them to stay put on earth so you couldn’t target them.”
“I’ll slaughter you all at the end—”
“You won’t slaughter me. It’s kind of pathetic, Parallax,” Y/N tsked, backing him into a corner now, “You kept me alive. You could’ve easily killed me before I even left the Guardians’ chambers. There were so many opportunities for you to just smite me. You could’ve slaughtered me while I was holding Arisia. While I was trying to assist Tomar-Re. While Kilowog and I were talking. I foiled you, Parallax. If it wasn’t for me, the GL Corps truly would be extinct, and you’d be able to do whatever you want in the entire universe. After you get rid of Sinestro, of course.”
Parallax still had no clue where Y/N was going with this, but its frustration and anger was mounting with each passing second.
“You want the universe, Parallax? You want to be a God? I’ll tell you how you can do that…” She took a deep breath, keeping her hands firmly on her hips, “You wanna take what you want? What you desire the most? You’re going to have to kill me.”
Parallax’s eyes widened at Y/N’s outburst. Yes, Y/N begged Parallax to kill her on Oa. She was broken, tired, defeated. But that wasn’t the Y/N that was facing him right now. She removed her hands from her hips pushed her body against his, forcing him to look down at her, their lips touching once again.
“Take what you want, Parallax. Kill me. Kill me and get the whole universe. Take. It.” She hissed against his lips.
She felt Parallax’s chest inflate against hers, and she held his yellow stare. Pure anger and poison exuded from his glare, and she saw his hands clench violently. He shoved her back and she stumbled, waiting for his final blow. He could easily kill her just by overpowering her. All he had to do was snap her neck. He did it to Tomar-Re.
He could easily do it to her.
She waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
He made no moves towards her, and he stood in one place, a snarl on his lips. He was frustrated and couldn’t move.
“That’s right,” Y/N sneered, nodding, “You want to kill me. It’s written all over you. You want to paint the walls in this apartment red with my blood…but Hal Jordan won’t let you.”
She had broken through. Parallax was incapable of killing her because of Hal’s influence. He was still in there. He wasn’t fully in control, but Hal was still alive. He hadn’t been dissolved into Parallax’s vitriol. She still didn’t know if her fiancé would ever break through. But she had hard evidence that Hal was in there. It should’ve been easy for Parallax to kill her. But Parallax was inside Hal Jordan’s body. And Hal Jordan wouldn’t let anyone or anything harm her.
Not without a massive fight.
She let out a surprised yelp when Parallax yanked her back into his grip. She winced. Shit. Had she spoken too soon?
“Listen here, L/N,” Parallax hissed, inflicting bruises on her arms, “Jordan is barely holding on. And when he fully dissolves…I’m going to slaughter everyone you love in front of you…and then kill you last. I’ll torture you, L/N.”
Y/N stayed defiant, watching the parasite let her go and storm out of her sight.
Y/N fell to her knees, letting out the breath she was holding. She panted violently, gripping the carpet under her fingers. Parallax reached out for her…and truly tried to destroy her. He tried.
She’d make damn sure he’d never succeed.
She made her fateful decision then and there. If Hal was unable to break out by the next time she and the parasite crossed paths…she’d end Parallax. She’d end Parallax before he could end anyone else.
She had to.
Chapter 9
Notes:
Hi Friends!
Thank you so much for your patience as I wrote this chapter! We are getting closer to the end, and I hope you enjoy this chapter - it's a long one to make up for the wait.
I enjoy reading and replying to your comments - thank you so much for all your support and interaction! It truly inspires me.
As always, thank you for reading!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
After her “run-in” with Parallax, Y/N wrestled with whether she should tell Guy, John and Kyle about the interaction. At first, she didn’t even believe that the whole meeting even took place – it felt like some fever dream, a figment of her overactive imagination.
But it wasn’t.
When she saw the bruises Parallax had left behind from his grip, she knew she didn’t just imagine the exchange.
She trusted Guy and John with her life, and they had the right to know…right?
Parallax was their greatest threat – to keep this information from them could harm them in the long-run. On the other, it could cause Kyle to panic and over-exert himself on his training and put the Justice League, Guy and John in a difficult position – Parallax had proven that he could get onto the planet completely undetected.
She felt her stomach sink when she realized it may be her subconscious that was trying to…protect Hal and herself. What would the “others” say if they found out she kept this information from them? What if they began the manhunt for Hal and with her information, decided to destroy him? Parallax was able to play the role of her lover so well that it nearly fooled her. She didn’t have extremely high hopes that Hal could break through the parasite’s influence, but she knew she’d be the only one out of all of them that would be able to tell if he was successful in shedding the parasite or not.
She felt the searing heat of pure terror strike her in her chest when she realized that if she gave this information up and Hal (broken free from Parallax) confronted anyone but her, they could mistakenly kill him thinking it was Parallax playing the same trick again.
Y/N was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Kyle let out a yell of protest.
“GUY! That’s not cool!” Kyle screeched, ducking when Guy sent a large construct straight towards the young man’s head.
“Hey, the bastards we go against don’t fight fair, Kyle! The first time I was in a fight, some chick in the Sinestro Corps sent a construct straight for my dic—”
“OKAY, but there’s a MAJOR DIFFERENCE in being hit in the dick versus being DECAPITATED BY A CEMENT BLOCK!”
“SAYS YOU! You probably think the most valuable thing on you is your head, but that’s where you’re wrong, kid—”
John let out a chuckle at the interaction as Y/N observed from the side. They were currently just outside earth’s atmosphere, completing the last rounds of Kyle’s training. Y/N was so proud of his progress, and she knew he’d be an amazing Green Lantern – he had the capabilities to become even greater than the ones training him. Ganthet had made the absolute right decision when he picked Kyle Rayner.
Y/N, however, wouldn’t admit that she upped the intensity of Kyle’s training after her “visit” with Parallax. The parasite’s poisonous laugh coupled with comparing Kyle to a lamb she was fattening up for him to slaughter played on a constant loop in her head. She was sure the young man was wondering why she all of a sudden kicked his training into overdrive, but he didn’t dare ask her.
She watched the familiar green constructs fly through the starry background, and her eyes flitted over the men she trusted the most giving Kyle tips and encouragement. Y/N didn’t know what she’d be like in the aftermath of the destruction of the GL Corps if it weren’t for the love and support of John and Guy – and that’s when she felt like cold water had been thrown over her.
If Hal didn’t break through, Parallax would target Guy and John along with Kyle. She could be inadvertently setting up John, Kyle, and Guy for failure – a failure that would result in their lives being lost. Y/N could barely hear their voices now, the humming in her brain intensifying by the second.
There was radio silence from Kilowog and Ganthet – Parallax could’ve already found them and killed them. Parallax knew about Kyle when they crossed paths…how much did Parallax know? How did he get his information? She was a bit relieved that he didn’t mention Ganthet and Kilowog, but he knew of Kyle. Wouldn’t he know of Kyle’s backstory?
Dear God…Parallax could be watching them right now. Y/N felt the sharp jumble of words climb up from her stomach to her throat and she couldn’t help but spew them out.
“Guys, there’s something that I need to tell you—”
Before Y/N could get the rest of her sentence out of her mouth, a large, violent burst of light lit up their surroundings, nearly taking away the brilliance from the stars that surrounded them.
The GLs looked over to the sun to see a large explosion on the surface. Y/N’s stomach dropped down to earth’s atmosphere in horror. This looked too familiar…she let out a soft gasp when she saw a shadowy, pitch-black blob with a yellow-orange border spew out of the explosion and shoot through space, towards them.
“PUT YOUR SHIELDS UP!” Y/N screamed, quickly fortifying Kyle’s shield with her own. Kyle looked pretty annoyed, but Y/N was not going to take any chances with Kyle’s focus being off for a split second, making him vulnerable to the shadows.
They passed through and puttered out once they reached past Jupiter. Kyle, John and Guy all stared at Y/N in disbelief.
“What the hell was that?” Guy barked, quickly turning to look back at the sun.
“Is it the Black Lantern Corps? I haven’t seen constructs like that, though…” John raised an eyebrow, looking at Y/N.
Kyle stared at his mentor, waiting for her answer. Guy swiveled his head to look at Y/N.
They were waiting for her to tell them what the abomination was. They must’ve seen how she reacted to the explosion and the subsequent “constructs.” She really didn’t want to believe it. They had defeated this threat years ago – back when Hal was still Hal and all of her friends and family were alive.
“It…it’s Krona…” She croaked.
“Who the hell is Krona?” Kyle and Guy chimed in.
“Krona, as in anti-matter Krona?” John questioned.
“Jesus Christ, John, how do you always know what Y/N’s talking about?” Guy groaned, slapping his hand over his forehead.
“Because I actually read what the Guardians recommend us to read,” John rolled his eyes at Guy’s statement.
“Yes, that Krona. My God, I thought we had defeated him years ago…”
Kyle floated there like a sitting duck, completely unfamiliar with the terms her and John were blabbing to each other.
“Can Guy and I please get a lifeline here?”
“Krona used to be a Guardian, but he abused his abilities. He became a cruel tyrant, hell-bent on destroying all of creation. Once the Guardians were able to neutralize him, they turned him into anti-matter, scattering him throughout the universe,” Y/N tried to give the “SparkNotes” version of Krona, since she knew they were going to have to act fast – another explosion on the sun was imminent, which would create more shadow demons.
“To destroy everything…that’s what his goal is. After making him into Anti-Matter, the Guardians thought their work was done. That was until around 8 years ago, when Krona appeared in the sun in the center of the Universe – where Oa’s located…his goal was to destroy the sun and therefore, destroy the Guardians, the Green Lantern Corps, and, by extension, the entire universe.”
“…oh. Well. Uh. That’s quite a…yeah…” Kyle cleared his throat.
“Guy and I weren’t Lanterns 8 years ago, but Y/N and Hal were,” John stated, trying to get Kyle up to speed, “which means Y/N was there for the most recent fight against Krona. You all defeated him by sending a planet of equal or greater mass into him, right?”
Y/N would always be grateful that John did his damn homework when joining the Corps. Y/N nodded, relieved she wouldn’t have to dive deeper.
“Yes, it was actually—” Y/N felt the words die in her throat and she looked over at Kyle with wide, tear-filled eyes, “it was Arisia’s idea…”
John and Guy closed their eyes in understanding, and Kyle bit his bottom lip. Y/N had spoken about Arisia before. The teenager was her first mentee – well, Arisia was supposed to be Hal’s mentee, but the man couldn’t stop gushing with stories about Y/N’s experiences in the GL Corps (he talked about Kilowog too, of course) so when Y/N finally arrived to assist the Corps with neutralizing Krona, Arisia immediately attached herself to the woman that would become like a big sister to her. Kyle could understand Y/N’s reaction.
“What do we need to do to send Krona back into smithereens?” Kyle asked.
Y/N took a deep breath and steadied herself. She recalled what their protocol was the last time they faced off against Krona.
“First, we need to place sensors around the sun. Those sensors will warn us when there’s about to be another spike in activity. Krona will engulf the sun and use it to cement himself. We need to be ready when that happens.”
“Got it,” John nodded, creating sensors with his ring and shooting them off towards the sun, “what next?”
“We’re going to need to gather all of our resources. We’ll need the Justice League…last time it took the entire GL Corps to face off against Krona…we don’t have those numbers,” Y/N sighed, biting her lip.
“We just need to generate enough force to knock Krona back, right?” Guy spoke up, crossing his arms, “well, say no more. Could our rings work?”
Everyone stared at Guy with an eyebrow raised.
“…What about our rings?” Kyle asked.
“Well, you weren’t in Coast City when it theoretically happened, kid,” Guy blew imaginary dust off his shoulders, not wanting to feel like a rookie, or a poozer, as Kilowog would say, “but when Sinestro’s ring cracked, it caused a nuclear explosion. We just need to use one ring, cause it to crack, and send it careening into Krona.”
“That’s…not a bad idea,” John spoke up, “but we’ll need more than one ring to do that. I’m unsure if combining our four rings would even create an explosion with enough force to neutralize the threat.”
“While Sinestro’s ring cracking and exploding was an illusion, the rings truly do cause nuclear explosions if severely damaged. But, sadly, I think John is right. And even if we forfeit our rings and cause them to crack, the four of us could die, unless we stayed in the watchtower and had Superman throw our rings into the sun…if he could even make it there in time.” Y/N felt poison dripping off her tongue when she hissed Sinestro’s wicked name.
If she saw him again…she’d kill him. He was the reason her life ceased to exist. She hardened her expression and began to pull together the facts of the situation.
Krona was back...and Krona’s whole deal was destroying creation. There was someone else out there, hell-bent on destroying creation and rebuilding it in his image. What if Krona was brought back by Parallax? She shook her head. No. Parallax would then have to duke it out with Krona for ownership. Parallax wouldn’t want to dirty his hands with that. He’d want it all to be clean cut. He would want to let the “little ones” duke it out in some type of proxy war and destroy each other in the process – that’s when he’d swoop in.
She clenched her fists.
Sinestro had to be the one to bring Krona back – Sinestro had the manpower and the ability. Krona was made of yellow energy. Fear. She took a steadying breath before touching her earpiece.
“Green Lantern to Watchtower.”
“Watchtower to Green Lantern, go ahead.”
Y/N was relieved to hear J’onn’s voice. She was still not on the best of terms with Batman. She cleared her throat.
“We’ve got a major situation on our hands. We’ve got a big baddie inside our sun. I can explain more later, but we need to act fast. We’ve placed our sensors around the sun to monitor energy spikes, but I don’t think we have very long to create an elaborate plan. We need manpower, as much as we can get!”
“We’ll meet you shortly, watchtower out.”
--
Before long, the majority of the Justice League was in space, readying their response for when Krona would begin his assault. The sensors were picking up readings that were constantly on the rise. Before Y/N could shout a warning, another major explosion rocked the sun’s surface, causing a plethora of shadow demons to manifest.
“Thicken the shield!” Y/N advised her fellow GL’s that were on the front line. They were able to shoulder the majority of the burden, but some shadow demons made their way through. Y/N was sure to jump in front of her fellow leaguers, blocking off the attacks while John, Guy and Kyle did the same.
“Y/N! WATCH OUT!” John yelled.
Before Y/N could move out of the way, a shadow demon was coming straight for her. She thickened her shield, but had to divide her attention to Batman’s ship. If a Shadow Demon made impact with the ship, it would vaporize, sending Bruce into a free fall that would kill him within seconds due to the lack of oxygen.
She winced, preparing for the pain.
A pain that never came.
A shine of bold, green light appeared in front of her, causing the shadow demon to let out a shriek and shrivel into nothingness. The angle the light came from was different from the positions Kyle, John and Guy were in – she whipped her head around to see a very welcome sight.
“Kilowog!” Y/N sobbed in joy, throwing her hands up.
The Bolovaxian made his way over to Y/N and wrapped her up in his big arms, a rare display of affection for the loud Drill Sargent of the Green Lantern Corps. She shoved her face into his large shoulder.
“I can’t believe it…” Y/N sniffled.
“Hey, I always keep my promises, Poozer. Consider this catching up to you. Now let’s send this bastard back to the anti-matter realm.”
Y/N cleared her throat and composed herself, quickly getting an extra hug in, just to cement to herself that her friend was alive and real.
Soon after Kilowog showed up, Guardian Ganthet arrived, which caused Y/N, Guy, John and Kyle to let out another sigh of relief – having a Guardian here added more manpower than one could even imagine. Y/N was barely able to croak out her questions, but Ganthet tended to be able to read her expressions very well.
“There is not much time to talk, Lantern L/N, but if you must know, I was able to resurrect most of my fellow Guardians, and they are working on rebuilding our battery so that more Lanterns may partake in this fight.”
Y/N nearly pinched herself – she had to be dreaming. Kilowog and Ganthet were able to get on the front lines, and if the other Guardians were successful in re-creating the main battery, the Green Lanterns that survived Parallax’s onslaught could be Lanterns again. Once they got Krona out of the way (and that was a big maybe at this point,) could the Corps be rebuilt, once and for all?
Would she be able to return to her home on Oa?
…Would she be able to return there without Hal by her side?
Y/N couldn’t think of that right now. She needed to focus. Another enormous explosion sent flames into space, followed by more shadow demons. She was about to get back onto the front lines when she saw it.
A momentary glimpse of yellow, black, and red.
And with it, a momentary lapse of reason.
Y/N felt fury erupt like fireworks in her veins, and she sharply turned her head to see the motherfucker that caused all of this.
The bastard that sent her and Hal’s live careening over a cliff, making her watch every sharp hit and violent crash.
Sinestro.
The sounds of fighting and heightened effort went silent, and she could hear her heart furiously pumping. She felt her jaw tighten and she wasted no time, rocketing after the traitor that took everything from her.
The universe just delivered Sinestro to her on a platter, and she was going to thank the universe the best way she knew how – by slaughtering him and ending his reign of terror. If this was a trap, Sinestro was going to regret trying to catch her. He was going to pay.
“SINESTRO!” Y/N bellowed, wrapping a fortified green rope construct around the fleeing coward, causing him to whip back into her vicinity.
The man stared back at her with unimpressed black eyes, raising an eyebrow. His expression infuriated her further, and she tightened her grip, seeing his eyes widen. A sick smirk appeared on her lips as she watched the man clear his throat.
“Ah, what a surprise…” Sinestro eloquently spoke, looking her up and down, “I was hoping you’d enjoy the little gift I left for you and your friends in the sun.”
“I knew it was you…” Y/N sneered, making her way closer to the demon, “you’re a fool. Don’t you understand that Parallax is just trying to get you out of the way? Even if Krona is able to destroy our sun and send us into darkness, you’ll have to fight him to lay claim…and Parallax will destroy you when you try.”
“I feel like you are reading far too into this, dear. Has it ever occurred to you that the parasite and I may be working together? After all, I am the one that made sure Jordan locked me in the battery.”
“You think that you’ve won…but you haven’t. This isn’t the blackest night—”
“You are correct about that. It is only dusk. There are still so many nightmares to come…the first being that of Jordan. The parasite has done a lovely job! No part of him exists anymore.”
Y/N swallowed dryly – the mention of Hal caused her focus to wane slightly, giving Sinestro an opening. He quickly lashed out at Y/N with a sharp yellow construct, but Y/N had enough of this. She wasn’t going to hold back. She masterfully blocked the construct, her fury and hurt erupting to the surface. Each trickle of sweat that left her pores and muted curse that filled her brain caused her to fight viciously. She managed to create a straight-jacket like construct around her enemy, and she made sure it was pulled so tightly around him that one of his ribs let out a sickening crack.
“I am going to slaughter you, Sinestro…and you’ll be nothing but a blip in history. No awards or accolades await you. You won’t even go down as the most sinister villain. You are nothing and will always be nothing. I’ll make damn sure of it.” She seethed.
“Oh, will you now? Somehow, I find that…unlikely. Don’t demean yourself by engaging in charades and lies, Jordan,” Sinestro’s eyes widened in a sense of false realization, “Oh, I forgot. You never made it to the altar. Forgive me, L/N…”
Y/N glowered at the monster in front of her. He was the reason she never got to wear that beautiful veil. He was the reason she would never walk down the aisle to the man she adored with her body and soul.
She was ready to end his life.
“Nothing ever changes, L/N. You’re still a little hero, one of the good guys…” Sinestro continued to mock.
Y/N clenched her fist tighter and caused Sinestro to choke on his laugh. She let out a dark scoff, tilting her head as she watched him attempt to hide his struggle to breathe deeply.
“Not. Right. Now.”
With each syllable, she tightened her grasp. Sinestro could no longer form words. She quickly created another construct – a construct that Sinestro was fond of using – a long, serrated blade. She was ready to send it right through his back when it was immediately destroyed by another green blast from her left side.
She let out a yelp in surprise, sharply turning her head to see who the hell had the audacity to stop her quest for revenge. She felt her harsh words be robbed from her throat when Hal stood there, his hand extended out to show that he was the one that disarmed her.
Y/N felt angry tears bubble up in her eyes. This wasn’t Hal, this was fucking Parallax. It made her violently ill to see him continue to wear Hal like a flesh bag.
She wasn’t going to let this parasite terrorize the universe with her fiancé’s likeness anymore. She going to end this right now.
Chapter 10
Notes:
Hi Friends!
Super sorry for the late upload -- life grabs you fast! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. We're three chapters away from the finale!
Thank you all so much for your comments and interaction - y'all make the dream work!
Enjoy reading, and please feel free to comment!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
Y/N always knew that she’d have to confront and defeat both Sinestro and Parallax. She just didn’t imagine having to do both at the same time and survive.
Parallax still had his hand stretched out, and she took a split second to observe him. His eyes were brown and blown wide, his face pale with an expression of horror.
Her heart shuddered in her heaving chest – hell, the parasite was acting just like Hal would if he saw her ready to kill. She hardened her stare. This was very obviously another sick trap.
“Okay, new plan,” Y/N growled, turning from Sinestro who was still in her tight restraints, “I’ll deal with you and then Sinestro. I’m not going to let you masquerade around the universe committing atrocities wearing Hal’s face any longer!”
As soon as she finished her sentence, she sent a violent beam of green light towards the parasite, ready to engage in a battle that would surely end in her death if she didn’t succeed. There was no way Hal could’ve broken through. The fact that the parasite could mimic him fully was enough to confirm her worst nightmare.
Surprisingly, Parallax dodged her attack (but only just barely) and sent a construct that freed Sinestro from his confinement.
“What did I say, L/N? This parasite answers to me—” Sinestro began.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Y/N shouted incredulously, “If you want to remake the universe in your image so bad, then take out your competition, Parallax. You don’t have to put on a ridiculous show of pretending to be Hal. I fell for it once, but I won’t fall for it again,” Y/N pointed her fist that had the GL ring on her middle finger, “I can’t let you win; I will die in order to stop you. But I won’t protest if you want to eliminate Sinestro and level this playing field. You and me, Parallax. Right here, right now.”
“Your fear is obvious, L/N…” Sinestro scoffed, “and this crazed lover routine is beneath you…just surrender and you may make a fair member of the Sinestro Corps—”
“Do you ever shut the hell up?!” “Parallax” snapped, creating a crate-like construct and slamming Sinestro into it. As a finishing touch, he put a duct tape construct over the alien’s mouth.
Y/N waited for Parallax to create a sharp construct and kill his competition, but he made no such move. He merely put Sinestro to the side and stared at her like she was made of glass.
“Y/N, oh my God, what are you doing?” He breathed, his eyes flickering over her face and clenched fists.
“What should’ve been done a long time ago,” Y/N hissed, completely bewildered.
Why was Sinestro still alive? Why was Parallax not ready to end her life? It could all be done so easily – she was away from the front lines of the battle with Krona. Sinestro could be disposed of, and she was an easy target. Her mind wasn’t focused and she was bitter and angry. She had no idea how her constructs were able to stand strong. It seemed like anger and revenge were the driving factors behind her “willpower.” She wasn’t being a Green Lantern at the moment.
She was being something she swore she’d never become.
A potential killer, drunk off the idea of revenge.
And Parallax stopped her before that could come true and be irreversible.
Why would Parallax do that, though? If she crossed that line in the sand and killed Sinestro…wouldn’t that please Parallax? This simply didn’t make any sense.
“STOP PRETENDING TO BE HAL!” Y/N shrieked, fighting back tears, “Just be the damn parasite you are and fight me!”
A sympathetic look flooded “Hal’s” face, and his bottom lip wriggled slightly, “I’m not going to fight you, Y/N, you know I never would…”
Y/N felt her stomach flip. Wouldn’t Parallax just give up the game by now? Krona was about to destroy everything, Sinestro was captured, and she was far too gone to even be considered a threat.
“S-stop,” She breathed.
“Y/N, Krona is going to destroy the entire universe if we don’t act. I know you don’t believe that I’m Hal, and honestly, I don’t feel completely all here, but I was able to break through – barely. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on, but I’ve got to do something to stop this—”
Y/N floated her way over so they were face-to-face, her fingers aching to touch him. They stared at each other and she dared to reach out her hand and touch the side of his face, almost afraid that he’d bare his fangs and rip her to shreds. His brown eyes closed when she made contact, and she let out a gasp.
His skin was…warm. Not cold like it was the last time they crossed paths. Of course, it wasn’t a normal body temperature, but it didn’t feel like she was touching ice.
“Hal?” Y/N croaked.
“I’m right here, Y/N…” He whispered, biting his bottom lip.
She let out a loud wail, throwing herself into his chest. He immediately gripped her tightly to him, and she nuzzled her head into his shoulder, her fingers digging desperately into his skin. She wanted to be completely one with him – this couldn’t be real. She had to have died or something. She had waited years…
“I love you,” Hal whimpered, burying his nose in her hair, leaving soft kisses everywhere.
His lips were warm, too.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” She couldn’t stop repeating the phrase, upset that her tears were blurring her vision. She wanted to drink him in.
They heard a loud explosion, and that quickly pulled them out of their little world. They turned to see another large flare spouting off the sun, a whole group of shadow demons in its wake. The situation quickly sobered their reunion.
“I expect a thousand more kisses once we smoke Krona,” Y/N cleared her throat, “come on.”
Hal winced when Y/N brought up Krona, and while he did go forward with her, he knew that he had to come clean to her with his plan to finish this once and for all.
“Y/N…I have an idea on how to stop Krona—”
“Great! We can tell everyone and—”
“It only involves me.”
Y/N turned abruptly, raising an eyebrow, “…okay, I don’t know what impact the parasite had on your confidence, but you definitely can’t do this—”
“Y/N, listen. Parallax is still inside me, and—”
“No, it’s not! I mean, a part of it must be, but it can be purged, like any parasite! Once we get everything taken care of, we can fix—”
“I’m not completely free, Y/N,” Hal ran a hand through his hair, touching the white whisps on the side, “and I don’t know…if Parallax will even spit me out.”
“We can get rid of Parallax together! You’ve been able to hold it off this long, and Ganthet and Kilowog can help! Ganthet resurrected the Guardians, and—”
“Baby,” Hal breathed through his nose, “it’s not going to work. It’s been too long.”
“We’ve got to try!” Y/N panicked, clutching his shoulders, “we can’t just give up—”
“It’s not giving up,” Hal shook his head, “it’s doing what’s right. I let this parasite eat me from the inside out…and I caused all of this. I have done things that…I…” Hal squeezed his eyes shut.
“Shh, you don’t have to explain yourself. It was the parasite. You saw so much destruction, and it broke your will—”
“A will that should’ve been indestructible, Y/N.”
“I nearly killed Sinestro!” Y/N exclaimed, “and I wasn’t possessed by anything—”
“But you haven’t killed. I stopped you in time…”
Y/N looked to the side, unsure of what to say. She saw Hal take a deep breath before placing a soft kiss on her lips.
“I need to do this. You know I do.” He murmured.
“No, you don’t. No. Just…no! Don’t you dare!” Y/N shook her head, grabbing his hands. She begged with each part of her soul, but Hal didn’t budge.
“I’m the only one powerful enough to defeat Krona. We don’t have the backup that we need. Even if the Guardians fix the battery, it would take hours for the Corps to return the call, and many of them will need to be re-trained. It’s been nearly three years since they’ve been able to use their rings…”
“We can find another solution. We can take another planet and—”
“No planet is larger than the sun in this solar system, Y/N. You need to trust me.”
“I can’t lose you; I just got you back!”
“But I’m not fully back. This parasite is not going to be purged until I die.”
Y/N knew Hal was right. There was no other logical solution. She just didn’t want to believe it. Hal had all those rings, and the amount of power in them would certainly be enough to neutralize Krona and return the sun back to normal.
It was either Hal or the universe.
She selfishly wished that she could choose Hal. The entire universe could get blasted away, but if she had him…she’d be fine. She shook away the childish thought. What was another sacrifice in her life? She buried her face into her hands and sobbed as Hal cradled her close, sniffling.
“You can never lose me,” Hal breathed, gently taking her hand. He smiled down at the engagement ring he gave her – she never took it off, “I’ll be with you until the end of the world, my little glowstick.”
That nickname used to drive her wild when they were friends. But she always adored it when he called her that. Her brain was so jammed with various signals and feelings that she couldn’t even reminisce about the times they had together.
“Take me with you,” She weakly suggested.
“Absolutely not. You need to stay here. You need to help rebuild the Corps. Kilowog’s going to need help training the returning lanterns and the new recruits. John, Guy and Kyle need you. The universe needs you…the greatest Green Lantern that has ever existed.”
“No, that’s you…”
“Not in my eyes.” Hal firmly spoke, holding her shoulders, “and Helen’s going to need you. So will Jack and Jim. You’re a Jordan, you always were.”
Y/N felt tears continue to fall from her watery eyes, and she tried to ignore the sticky trail that they left. Hal was right. She couldn’t just throw herself into the sun with him. She still had responsibilities, duties. She would have to live and fight on for him, for their mission.
She wrapped her hand delicately around his, squeezing so tight that she could hear her knuckles pop with the stress.
“Let’s go show Krona what happens when you mess with a pair of Jordans.”
--
Silence filled the inky star-filled sky as Y/N and Hal drew closer to the fight. The sun wasn’t giving off any explosions yet, but it was about to rupture – John’s sensors had begun to flash an angry red color. Kyle was the first one to look behind him and see Y/N and Hal coming towards the action. His fight or flight response was triggered, but not before he shoved his elbows into John and Guy’s sides. They quickly turned to see what Kyle was gesturing to, and they watched with wide eyes.
Y/N was holding hands with Hal…or Parallax. Nobody could verify either conclusion, but John could tell that everyone didn’t dare move. They trusted her judgement. The entire Justice League and the GLs stared at the interaction, seeing Y/N and Hal get closer and closer to the sun.
Y/N stopped just in front of Guy, John and Kyle – that was as far as she was allowed to go. Hal would have to continue the rest of the way on his own. Hal turned to look at his fellow earth GLs, and he looked at them solemnly.
“Take care of her, yeah?” His voice cracked.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” John cleared his throat, squeezing Hal’s shoulder. Guy and Kyle watched with wide eyes, unsure where Hal was going with this.
Hal nodded at his friend and turned back to Y/N. She was sobbing but trying so hard to bite back the sound, clenching her jaw to try and stay composed. He delicately put a hand on her chin, lifting it up so they were face-to-face. His other hand caressed the other side of her face, and he leaned in closely, their noses touching.
“I’m so in love with you. I always have been. I always will be. I’m just sorry that it took me so long to spit it out,” He whispered, referencing to how it took him five years to finally admit the fact.
“We were never really quick on the uptake, were we, honey?” Y/N let out a muddled giggle, shakily raising a hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, “but I wouldn’t trade it.”
“Me neither,” Hal affirmed, letting their lips wisp against each other, “I never got to see you in that veil,” Hal’s voice broke again, and he let out a sob.
Y/N whimpered and pressed their lips together before pulling back just slightly, “it was ours and will remain ours. It belongs to us. And I will hold on to it until the day I stop breathing.”
“Maybe then I can see you in it,” Hal’s lips upturned into a sad smile, “now don’t you cry,” He cleared his throat and wiped her tears, “I need you to be strong.”
“I will be, as long as you light my way,” Y/N croaked.
“Always.”
They crashed their mouths together one last time, and their arms wrapped so tightly around the other that it seemed like they were nearly fused together. Hal left a light kiss on her lips as he pulled away, making his way closer to the sun. Everyone watched as Hal got closer and closer. And with a mesmerizing flash of green light, he was gone. The sensors around the sun quickly turned green, and the sun returned to a normal color.
Y/N couldn’t hold back, letting out a heartbreaking wail that reverberated in everyone’s chest. She felt John, Guy and Kyle catch her before she collapsed, but their touches didn’t mean anything to her – they barely registered.
When Hal was possessed by parallax…she always held onto the fraying sliver of hope that he’d return. And he did return. He was able to break through when it truly counted. However, hope felt…useless at this point. Hal sacrificed himself to save everyone – he was dead.
And you don’t just come back from the dead. He was gone, and he took a part of her soul with him. Hope wasn’t needed to fix the universe, to set it right again. Hard, back-breaking work was needed. Determination. Tenacity.
She looked up at her friends faces, seeing Kilowog and Ganthet make their way over to her as well. Ganthet had a solemn look on his face and Kilowog offered a large hand to help her up. She grasped onto it and stood tall, pushing back her shoulders and hardening her face.
Jordans didn’t give up. Life could continue to kick them down the stairs, but they had the moxie to stand back up and continue to climb until they reached that final step. They were able to work hard – they were full of determination, tenacity. Even when all hope seemed lost, they weathered their way through the storm. That was what a Jordan did. It’s what Hal did. It was just second nature. She licked her dry lips and took a deep breath, looking at her friends/teammates.
“The universe isn’t going to protect itself. Let’s rebuild our corps.”
Chapter 11
Notes:
Hi everyone!
Here's the next chapter! I know the last chapter was devastating (I cried while writing it, y'all are not alone) so I knew I had to upload this next one quick. It's long to compensate for the emotions from last chapter. We are getting even closer to the finale! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter, and I look forward to hearing from you guys!
Again, thank you for all your support!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
After Hal’s sacrifice, Y/N felt…weird. She felt emptier than she did while Hal was under the influence of Parallax – it was as if a bigger, darker raincloud swarmed around her head. When Hal was infected by Parallax, there was always a deep-seated hope that clung to her chest like rigor mortis had just set in. That hope was now gone – she instead filled it with tenacity and the stubborn belief that the Green Lantern Corps could be rebuilt and operate better than ever before. All these responsibilities and demands she put on herself It made it hard to breathe at times, but she survived. There was no time to mourn, no time to simply quit. She made sure she was occupied on all fronts – she didn’t want to go through what she went through when Hal was infected by Parallax nearly three years ago. Being alone didn’t solve things.
Being alone wouldn’t help the GL Corps, and it certainly wouldn’t help the citizens of Coast City or the Jordan family.
She needed to keep going – for Hal, for the ones she loves.
As she was rebuilding the corps with her bare hands (with the help of the Guardians, Kilowog, John, Guy, Kyle, and the other GLs that were able to recharge their rings and get some updated training), she noticed a shift in how the Guardians regarded her. They always had a healthy dose of mutual respect for her (since she didn’t fly off the handle like Guy or make split-second decisions without a plan like Hal) but nothing like this.
When the Guardians were able to create and sustain the new battery, she was called in to their rebuilt chambers. (She was grateful that most of Oa was destroyed when Parallax went on his rampage – she wouldn’t be able to stomach standing where Arisia and Tomar-Re had taken their last breaths.)
“Lantern L/N,” Ganthet began, clearing his throat, “our council has discussed the selfless actions you have taken to uphold your oath.”
“You upheld your oath with grace and dignity, even in the face of certain death and adversity,” Ranakar added.
“Guardians—”
They didn’t allow the human to interrupt their (rare) display of praise, and she swallowed the lump that was in her throat. She didn’t deserve all this fanfare – she did what any Green Lantern would do. Usually, the Guardians would simply nod at a Green Lantern after completing their duty – this felt so…formal and awkward.
“Due to your dedicated actions and strength, we have decided to extend to you an offer to join our Honor Guard.”
Y/N’s eyes widened, and she felt like she was just thrown into a very busy intersection in Coast City. The Honor Guard? That was an invitation that very few Lanterns received, if any. She was sure she was the first lantern to be invited since everything was being rebuilt from the ground up.
When you joined the Honor Guard…you truly gave up your life as a civilian. You could, of course, go back and visit friends and family from time to time, but your job wasn’t to protect just your sector of space. The Honor Guards had no specific sector to look after – they were tasked with watching over all the sectors and taking the lead on intergalactic crises. Each Green Lantern still had their own sector, but a member of the Honor Guard could be called at a moment’s notice to assist any Lantern. They were also tasked with the responsibility to protect the Guardians. It was not a role to be taken lightly, and only the most elite Lanterns were invited.
She licked her dry lips as she stared at the Guardians, unsure where to begin. Thoughts swirled around her mind and all she could hear was a loud buzzing as she tried to focus in on any of them. Normally, she’d decline the invitation – but life wasn’t normal. Hal wasn’t alive anymore. She had quit her job at the Coast City Natural History Museum a week ago since she knew she was going to be spending months upon months in space.
She was beginning to pack things up in her and Hal’s apartment – she didn’t really want to live there anymore, and what was the point in paying rent if she was never there? (Also, her bank account had barely ten dollars in it since she went part-time and then quit her job.) She dreaded thinking about what her next step was.
It seemed like the Guardians were presenting her with the step she was so desperately looking for. She closed her eyes.
“Lantern L/N, this is a very serious decision to make,” Ganthet picked up on Y/N’s inner turmoil, “we will await your answer.”
“But do not delay,” Ranakar spoke up, crossing his arms tightly, “as a Green Lantern, you must make rational, deliberate decisions at a moment’s notice.”
“Yes, Guardians. I appreciate the time you have afforded me to think about this offer.”
With that, Y/N left the chamber, feeling like she had been hit by a semi-truck. The praise she got from her fellow GLs also made her feel sticky and weird. Kilowog, Guy, John and Kyle didn’t treat her any differently, which was a relief, but some other GLs did. The new recruits would look at her with big, shiny eyes, and she wanted to hide behind Kilowog’s hulking figure.
“That’s Y/N! She’s like, the mother of the Green Lantern Corps…”
“She’s the reason the Corps was even able to be rebuilt…”
“Oh my God, do you think she’ll help Kilowog train us?”
And don’t even get her started on the stupid statue the Guardians placed outside of the new central battery. Y/N rushed past it each time she went in to charge her ring. It was a life-sized statue of her with her hands on her hips, a stern look on her marble face.
When Guy first saw it, Y/N was positive he was going to vomit from laughing so hard. Kyle was fond of finding ridiculous accessories and placing it on the effigy, which led to an intense lecture from one of the Green Lantern historians.
This just didn’t feel…good. She didn’t want to be worshipped. To be praised and held in such a high regard that she was seen as something…other. She was just a human, the second human recruited by the Corps, mourning the first one that was called. She was sure Hal would get a kick out of all of this if he was here, but he’d also be a little bit jealous that he never got a statue commissioned of him.
Speaking of Hal, it was hard for her to go back to earth and visit as well. The offer from the Guardians was looking better and better by the day. While earth was her home and she enjoyed being able to live as a regular citizen, everything reminded her of Hal. Oa was a bit comforting in that sense, since everything was brand new – she had no memories of Hal in the new streets and structures. She adored seeing her friends while planet side, and that always brought her immense comfort. She recently stepped down as a member of the “core seven” of the Justice League, happily giving John that title after she spoke with Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman and….Batman about it. John was responsible and seemed to be enjoying the gig, and Y/N was always happy to help with professional development.
Y/N concluded that she certainly would’ve moved to Oa already and joined the Honor Guard with no hesitation…if it wasn’t for Helen Jordan. She blew the hair out of her face after she finished packing up a cardboard box full of picture frames, letting out a few pants. She had spent most of her time packing up some boxes – when she would return to earth, that’s what she’d focus on. She looked over at the clock to see that she was running late – Jack had invited her over for dinner that night.
She hopped up off the floor and grabbed Hal’s signature flight jacket, pulling it on as she grabbed her bag and car keys from the kitchen island. She never went anywhere without it. She smiled as she got in the car, thinking about her niece. Hal told her that Helen would need her, and Y/N took that promise to heart. Whenever she’d be able to get away from her duties on Oa, she’d immediately come visit Helen, even if it was only for a few fleeting moments. Helen took the news of Hal’s death very hard, as did Jack and Jim. She still hadn’t told them about Parallax – what was the point? Parallax wasn’t Hal anyways. All they knew was that Hal had sacrificed himself to save the universe.
Because that was Hal’s work, not Parallax’s.
While her desire to move permanently to Oa was very strong, Y/N knew that she couldn’t just leave Helen behind – she had already lost her uncle…she couldn’t lose her aunt next. Y/N made a point to visit Jack and Helen at least once a week, and she hadn’t broken that promise yet. She noticed that Jack (and Jim) had really taken her under their wing after they learned of Hal’s death. Y/N would never say it out loud, but she could tell that the brothers could see similarities in her with their mother, Jessica, when their father died. She was grateful for their thoughtfulness, and she continued to wear her engagement ring, since it belonged on her left ring finger. She’d never stop wearing it.
While Jack and Jim took Hal’s death hard, nobody (other than Y/N) really took it harder than Helen. Y/N truly wondered if the girl would ever smile again – she was close to turning eight years old and hadn’t seen Hal since she was around 6. Y/N prayed that Helen would continue to have memories of her uncle – she always made it a point to talk about Hal and their memories of him each time she visited – she seemed like she held the memories close to her little heart, and it was a relief.
While Y/N hoped Helen would giggle and smile again, Y/N knew it would be a long process…which was why she was so surprised when Helen began acting like her normal self about three weeks ago. She bounced back like nothing had happened, and it took all the adult members of the Jordan family by complete surprise. Y/N couldn’t help but be a little bit jealous of her niece – she wished she had the ability to do that.
When Y/N arrived at Jack’s home, she was greeted by Hal’s brothers and their wives. Helen came bounding down the stairs and wrapped her arms around Y/N’s waist, squeezing tightly. Y/N placed a kiss on her forehead, and they all got ready for dinner.
“Thank you for having me over, Jack and Jan,” Y/N spoke as they sat at the dinner table. Helen sat right next to her since she had called “dibs” and Jim’s wife was on her other side. Helen put her head on her aunt’s shoulder as the adults began to converse.
“Of course, Y/N! You’re always welcome here,” Jan smiled.
“I think Helen would burn our house down if we didn’t invite you over” Jack teased, smirking when his daughter nodded enthusiastically.
“I’d burn this sucker to the ground, Auntie Y/N.”
“Okay, let’s not add arson to your resume, Helen,” Y/N laughed, shaking her head, “but honestly…I am so grateful for you all and your love and care…ever since, Hal…y’know…” Y/N cleared her throat.
“You don’t have to thank us, Y/N,” Jim quickly cut Y/N off, knowing that it was still very difficult to talk about her fiancé, “we’ll always be here, just like Hal would be.”
Y/N quickly wiped at her eyes that were threatening to leak tears, an action that was not unnoticed by Helen.
“Auntie Y/N, please don’t cry,” Helen put her hand over her aunt’s, “Uncle Hal isn’t really gone!”
The table quickly went silent. The adults, Y/N included, assumed that Helen was talking about an afterlife, which was something that Y/N appreciated.
“That’s very sweet to say, sweetheart,” Jan smiled at her daughter.
“But really…he isn’t really gone,” Helen sat up straighter, “and he’s not in heaven either—”
“Helen.” Jack sternly spoke in warning, staring at his daughter with sharp hazel eyes.
“He’s not in the hot place either!” Helen defied her father, looking directly at her aunt, “He’s here, with us! I saw him a few nights ago! He visits me sometimes!”
Y/N felt her bottom lip wriggle, but she ignored it. She could feel the stares of the Jordan family on her, and Jack was not at all impressed with Helen’s behavior.
“Helen Jordan, that’s enough—”
“Daddy, you said lying is wrong and I’m telling Auntie Y/N the truth—”
“Lying is wrong, Helen, and it is extremely rude for you to tell your aunt about these ridiculous dreams you’ve been having—”
“They’re not dreams!” Helen’s voice raised an octave, and Y/N could tell the girl was getting frustrated. She felt Helen squeeze her hand harder.
“Helen, Jack,” Jan spoke up, Jim unsure of where to jump in, “let’s relax a bit. It’s completely normal for you to have dreams about Uncle Hal. I’m sure that Aunt Y/N has them too—”
“Not like my dreams! And they’re not dreams, mama! Uncle Hal comes to visit me at night, and he told me that he’ll visit Auntie Y/N soon, but he doesn’t want to scare her—”
Y/N’s throat was drier than the desert, and she wanted to bolt. She tried her damndest to keep from sobbing. Y/N knew Helen would never lie about something like this, which is what made her want to keep listening to her niece.
“Helen Jordan!” Jack raised his voice, “Stop it right now, you’re going to make Y/N cry…and that’s not fair. She has been through enough—”
“Auntie Y/N, please don’t cry! I-I didn’t mean to make you cry! Can Auntie Y/N spend the night tonight? Then she can see Uncle Hal with me—”
“HELEN. UPSTAIRS. NOW.” Jack stood from the table and marched to the staircase, pointing up it, “and I will not ask you again.”
“Wait!” Y/N begged, shaking her head, “it’s okay, it’s okay. You say they aren’t dreams, honey?”
Helen shook her head, sniffling, “Yeah. It’s real life! But Uncle Hal looks a little bit different. He still looks like himself, but he’s really pale and he kind of glows green,” Helen continued, ignoring the looks from the other Jordans around the dinner table.
Yeah, Helen was probably definitely having dreams about her uncle…but Y/N wouldn’t discourage the child. Y/N patted Helen’s head and kissed her forehead, “Does he still have the white streaks of hair?” She smiled.
“No! He has his brown hair back.”
“I’m sure your Uncle Hal is very happy about that,” Y/N sadly smiled. The tension at the dinner table died down, and Y/N continued talking to her niece about Hal. As the other adults got up and began to clean up, Y/N followed Helen to her bedroom. Y/N figured she’d tuck Helen in and then make her way home. She needed to get everything in order before she’d rocket back into space. She was going to take the Guardians up on their offer, but would put some conditions on her agreement. She had to be able to go to earth once a week. She would never leave Helen or the other Jordans behind. They were family.
Helen rubbed her eyes as Y/N brought her blankets up to her chin, making sure the girl was nice and cozy. Helen looked at her aunt thoughtfully before she opened her mouth to speak.
“He misses you so much, Aunt Y/N,” Helen stated, very matter-of-factly, “he tells me all the time. And I ask him to tell me stories about you! Is it true that you have a colorful veil from an alien princess?” Helen couldn’t help but squeal the last part.
Y/N felt a part of her heart crack and fall onto the floor. She took a deep breath to stay composed and nodded, licking her lips.
“Yes. It’s so, so beautiful. I was going to wear it to the wedding. How about you come over sometime next week and I’ll show you?”
“Would you really!” Helen exclaimed, suddenly sitting up, “Show me now!”
Y/N laughed at her enthusiasm, shaking her head, “It’s your bedtime, missy. I promise I’ll show you next week.”
“Fine…” Helen sighed, laying back down, “…Auntie Y/N…do you miss Uncle Hal?”
“Oh,” Y/N let out a sad sigh, “yes, Helen. I miss him so, so much. I miss him like crazy,” Y/N chewed on her bottom lip to stay in control of her strong emotions, “he’s all I think about, sometimes. But the important thing to know is that Uncle Hal loves all of us very much – he loves us and the whole universe so much that he sacrificed himself to keep us safe.”
Y/N couldn’t stomach talking about Hal in the past tense. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to.
“I know he’ll come visit you soon!” Helen nodded, her brown eyes lighting up, “I’m going to keep bugging him about it until he does. But!” Helen swallowed, “You gotta wear warm pajamas when he comes! He brings a bunch of cold air with him. Last time he visited, I had to put socks on!”
Y/N nodded as Helen continued to describe Hal. She had a feeling that her niece was watching some ghost programs and that’s what was filling up her dreams. Y/N was happy that these dreams brought Helen comfort – she just wished that it brought her comfort as well. She stood up and leant down to plant a kiss on Helen’s forehead.
“Good night, Helen. I love you.”
“I love you too, Auntie Y/N…”
--
When Y/N arrived back at her apartment, she took off her shoes and let out the tears she was holding back. She was getting better at holding her emotions in, which she knew was not an accomplishment. She had to feel her feelings to survive. She just didn’t like crying in front of Helen. Y/N sniffled as she rubbed her eyes, and she walked into her and Hal’s bedroom, grabbing another cardboard box. She was going to start packing up some clothes. She spoke to Jim and Jack after tucking Helen in and let them know about the Guardians’ offer. She told them that she would come back to visit them every week, which relieved the brothers. Y/N could tell that Jack was grateful – he didn’t want his little girl to be even more crushed.
Jim offered to let Y/N store her boxes in his unfinished basement so she wouldn’t have to pay for a storage unit. It was a major relief, and she couldn’t count how many times she said thank you to the youngest Jordan brother.
Y/N began folding her shirts, and once she got her side of the closet all packaged up, she dared to allow her eyes to stare at the delicate box on the top shelf of her and Hal’s closet – the box that held the veil. She slowly got up on her tiptoes to grab it, and when she held the box in her hands, she felt a sadness decamping in her chest. She sat the box on her bed and sat down next to it, pulling the top off slowly. Little by little, the gorgeous multi-colored veil with a white base, made of a strange water-feeling material, was revealed. She reached out to touch it, smoothing it over her hands and caressing it with her thumbs. She shut her eyes.
“The reflective colors represent all the seasons and emotions you will go through with your betrothed – together until death…”
The alien princess’ words rung clear as day in her mind, and she let out a broken sob, unable to hold it in any longer. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
What was more permanent than death?
She held the veil tightly in her hands as she laid back, her head hitting her pillow as tears continued to flow freely.
--
Y/N let out a soft, miserable groan as she shifted uncomfortably in bed. Her neck had an awful crick in it, and her cheeks felt sticky from the tear tracks. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperately trying to go back to sleep. She knew she fell asleep while crying – it wasn’t the first time she had done such a thing, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last. She wrinkled her nose as she shifted, feeling the sleep residue in her eyes.
Come on, just try to go back to sleep…
It would probably be easier to get back to sleep if she was under the covers – she was freezing! She could just turn back the covers and settle back in, but that would totally wake her up and not be able to fall back to sleep. She curled into a tighter ball to compensate, holding the veil to her chest. The cool air kept caressing her body and she let out a soft groan.
Looks like waking up to get under the covers was the only course of action she could take. She shifted onto her back again and worked up the energy to open her eyes. Before she could fully open them, though, she felt a cold touch on her cheek. She didn’t think much of it – until she distinctly felt what seemed like fingertips caressing her cheek, trailing to her lips.
With a gasp, Y/N sat up abruptly, her eyes wide. She looked at all the corners of her room and saw nothing. She touched her cheek in disbelief – Helen’s words from this evening were really getting to her. She let out a resigned sigh and pulled back her covers, shimmying in. She began to close her eyes when a rush of cold air filled her space again.
She did not have the A/C on, and none of her windows were open. She sat up again, and instead of being met with an empty room, a tall figure in a dark green cloak had its back turned to her. She blinked harshly a few times, but the figure did not retreat. She had enough sense to activate her ring, and a flash of green filled the room, alerting the figure to her awake state. She aimed her fist harshly, ready to blast beams of light.
“Who are you!” She exclaimed.
The figure quickly turned around and lowered the cloak’s hood, and Y/N’s heart felt like it had stopped pumping blood, tears gathering in her eyes.
Hal.
Chapter 12
Notes:
Hi friends!
SO SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER AT THE END OF THE LAST CHAPTER. I just had to do it, and I'm sure that was fun for you guys, seeing as Ao3 was down for several hours! I'm happy to upload the last chapter before our finale! We begin to highlight Spectre Hal in this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it! (I will say that I took creative liberties with the Spectre character/background, so if you want to learn more info about the Spectre that may be more canon-accurate, I highly recommend that you check those comics out!)
I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I can't wait to share the finale coming up soon!
<3,
Jo
Chapter Text
“No,” Y/N whimpered, shoving the heels of her palms into her eyes, “Helen just got into my head, and—”
Y/N was cut off when she felt a delicate touch on her hands, gently pulling them from her face.
“Shh, honey, it’s me, it’s me,” Hal breathed, daring to put his forehead on hers.
She observed him like he was a precious work of art, lost from the eyes of mankind for centuries. He was pale – his skin wasn’t that typical barely sun-kissed color, but his hair was how it was always styled – not a speck of white hair to be seen. His lips were still plump, and she saw his tongue peep out to lick his bottom lip in nervousness.
Y/N didn’t say a word, suddenly launching herself into his cold embrace, smashing their lips together. Hal let out a soft sound of surprise, but quickly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back passionately. They were a mix of lips, whispers, and limbs. It didn’t take long for Hal to come to his senses, and as much as it pained him, he had to pull his fiancée back so their bodies had at least an inch of separation. Y/N let out a whine but cleared her crowded mind – she needed an explanation for all of this, and it looked like Hal was ready to give her one.
“You might want to know what’s basically co-opting my soul right now before we go any further,” Hal explained, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Y/N’s heart dropped to her feet, and she felt a chill go up her spine. Did...did Hal get infected by something else? God, he couldn’t even escape in “death.” She tried to subtly move away from him, but Hal put his hand over hers before she could scoot any further.
“Not like that! I’m still conscious – I have a say! Most of the time, I’m mainly myself.”
“What…what is it?” Y/N croaked.
“Nothing major, just the spirit of God’s righteous wrath or something.”
Y/N stared at Hal with extremely unamused eyes. She raised an eyebrow and she was ready to lay back and ask for the universe to absorb her. This had to be some fucked up dream. What did she eat at Jack’s house?
“I’m serious!” Hal exclaimed, pulling the cloak over his head, “you’ve heard of the Spectre, right?”
Y/N’s ears perked at the familiar name, and she nodded, tilting her head. The outfit Hal had on was familiar as well – she just never made the full connection.
“Yeah, I’ve heard the Guardians talk about the Spectre before. Dr. Fate as well. Why…” Y/N squinted as she thought of the best way to say this, “why did the Spectre…choose you?”
“I…I don’t really have an answer for that, but I have a guess,” Hal shrugged.
“Wait. Hold on,” Y/N shook her head, “are you…are you really…dead?” She whispered, reaching out to touch his shoulders.
Hal allowed Y/N to touch him, and he leant forward, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath.
“Yes. I am dead, Y/N,” Hal breathed.
Y/N let out a pathetic whimper, and she felt tears gather on the edge of her eyelids. God, when would she ever stop crying like a little baby?
“So are you, like, a zombie, or—”
“Not a zombie or reanimated corpse, Y/N, I promise you that…” Hal continued to explain, “Maybe more like a spirit? I’m effectively in…like, purgatory. I think that the soul that hosted the Spectre before…finished its unfinished business. But the Spectre can’t…rest. There’s a lot to be corrected in the universe, along with keeping balance to it. I think that the Spectre picked up on my soul when I sacrificed myself…I wanted to atone for all my sins, Y/N. Throwing myself into the sun and stopping Krona was simply not…enough to pay for my crimes…”
Hal hung his head, looking down at his palms. He wondered if the guilt would ever subside. He felt Y/N pull him into her embrace, and he let out a sigh of relief. She was so, so warm…
“It wasn’t you who committed those sins, Hal. You saved us all. Sinestro is in a high security lock-up, he won’t be showing his face in the galaxy ever again. Parallax was killed, and—”
“Parallax is still within me. That’s what the Spectre is trying to flush out of me. Parallax needs to be purged. Most of it is gone, but until I finish atoning, it’s going to stay on me, like a fucking rash…”
“What…” Y/N was afraid to ask her question, but pushed forward nevertheless, “what will happen…if you’re able to purge Parallax and your…work is done?”
Hal rubbed soothing circles into her hip, his hand tracing up her sides and landing on the side of her neck as he leaned closer to her.
“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m trying to pull away from wrath and go towards redemption…I feel like…every day, I die again…and again, I’m reborn,” Hal murmured against her cheek, turning her neck so they were eye-to-eye, “and I don’t know how long I’ll go through that cycle.”
“Oh, Hal,” Y/N lamented, holding him tight in her arms, “let me take on some of the burden, please—”
“I can’t do that, baby…” Hal shook his head, “this is my journey, and you have yours…” Hal ran a hand through her hair and let out a soft sound of happiness when she used her strength to pull him down to her side, so they were laying in their once shared bed, staring at the ceiling.
Just like old times.
“Helen told me that you’ve been away on Oa a lot,” Hal murmured, raising an eyebrow when he felt a unique material underneath his head. He leaned on his elbow and grabbed the fabric – when he pulled it in front of him, he let out a sad sigh.
The veil.
He clutched it close, and Y/N wordlessly watched him process his emotions.
“Yeah,” Y/N choked, “a lot has been rebuilt. We’ve got a long road ahead, but the battery has been replaced…Ganthet was able to resurrect all the Guardians except for Appa Ali Apsa,” Y/N shook her head, “it’s been so weird. The Guardians even erected a life-size statue of me next to the battery…” Y/N groaned.
“Is it as pretty as you are?” Hal smirked.
“…it’s downright creepy. I have this strict look on my face. I hate it, Hal,” Y/N swallowed, deciding to be honest, “all the new recruits and even some of the older members look at me like I harness the power of a fucking sun. I’m the savior, I’m the mother, I’m all this…but I’m not. I don’t want that. I don’t want people tripping over their feet to try and please me. Hell, the Guardians asked me to join the Honor Guard—”
“Are you going to?” Hal blurted, his head in his hand as he stared at her.
“I…” Y/N’s voice failed her, and she closed her mouth. Hal watched her patiently, waiting for the words to find her again, “I think so. I-I’m going to come back to earth each week to see Helen…but there’s nothing really…left here for me anymore, Hal…” Y/N croaked.
“I’m not leaving your side,” Hal sniffled, clutching the veil close to his chest, “each moment that I can spend next to you, I will…”
“Hal,” Y/N shook her head, “your soul isn’t completely yours, remember?”
“…Yeah, but I promise, Y/N. I’ll visit you. I miss your voice, your touch…your love,” Hal murmured, pressing a shaky kiss to her forehead, “why…why did this have to happen—”
“I ask myself that question every moment of every day,” Y/N admitted.
--
Each time Y/N was on earth, Hal paid her a visit. Hal knew he could visit her anywhere in the universe, but it was more private and better if they met behind closed doors in their old apartment. Sometimes he could spend most of the night at her side – others, he only had enough time to stop in and place a kiss on her forehead before going to where he was needed. It brought them comfort, which was extremely valuable, but Y/N and Hal did keep in mind that his soul couldn’t be co-opted by the Spectre forever. Once Parallax was purged…Hal would disappear. He’d be truly dead. No more late night visits, cold brushes of slim fingers against warm skin.
Y/N curled up to Hal’s chest as his green cloak covered her, the cool air of the universe barely seeping through her with Hal’s protection. She, of course, was wearing her GL uniform, but she adored being as close to him as possible. She felt him press a soft kiss into her temple, and her eyes glanced back, watching stars appear in the inky sky since a new galaxy was being created. Hal’s duty was to re-create a galaxy that had been destroyed by a tyrant. Hal did various things as Spectre, but this was the first time he ever brought her along, and she had a feeling this may have been against the rules. She paid it no mind as she curled up tighter.
“I already looked at you as if you weaved all the stars together,” Y/N whispered, “but actually seeing you do it is something else entirely…”
“It’s not me that’s doing it,” Hal rolled his eyes, “I’m merely a vessel.”
“Take the win, honey,” Y/N sighed into his shoulder, their lips coming together once again.
--
The Spectre was a powerful entity, and it was as serious as it was otherworldly. He held many beings to their crimes, and doled out punishment that seemed fit. Y/N heard from Zatanna that Constantine was recently on the end of the Spectre’s “wrath,” (but Y/N knew that it was truly the redemptive spirt of the Spectre with how Hal discussed his role in everything) and was cursed to spend an eternity in the House of Mystery, lost within its walls until he atoned for his many sins. (Knowing how many sins Constantine has committed in the past, Y/N was sure he’d be there for billions of years, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud…)
Y/N ran into the entity one night as she worked with Tomar-Tu, Tomar-Re’s son who had now grown up and was a member of the Corps. They were cleaning up debris from a war-torn planet, and Y/N stayed close to the newest recruit. She specifically took him under her wing and held him close – his father had saved her life countless times, and sacrificed himself to give the Corps a fighting chance against Parallax. Y/N was happy that Tomar-Tu knew of his father’s sacrifice, and she often entertained the young Xudarian with stories about his dad.
However, this time, her and Tomar-Tu were silent as they looked through the rubble. Tomar-Tu had called for backup, and since Y/N wasn’t truly assigned to a sector anymore (Ranakar had enough and practically made her an Honor Guard without her acceptance), she was sent out to assist. Kyle would be joining them soon after he finished up a retcon in Sector 4467. Guy and John were on a diplomatic mission between 2814 and 2319, and Y/N kind of wished she was with them to see the pure chaos they were running into.
“He killed everything,” Tomar-Tu whispered, seeing the vaporized remains of various civilians who had left mere shadows as proof they even took up space.
“We’ll find him and bring him to justice, Tomar-Tu. He’s got a bounty on him from here to the edge of the known universe. If we don’t catch him, someone else will.”
“How do you deal with stuff like this, Y/N?” Tomar-Tu asked, tilting his head, “so much…destruction and chaos?”
Y/N took a deep breath, knowing this was a teachable moment, resisting the urge to reveal to Tomar-Tu her somewhat defeatist attitude. She still looked at things as positively as she could, but when it came to abject evil in the universe, she didn’t really know an effective answer beyond that of “evil things happen, will always happen, and all we can do is resist and fight against it.” That wouldn’t be very comforting to little Tomar-Tu who was on the verge of tears.
“I don’t deal with it very well, Tomar-Tu. Nobody should. It should infuriate us, cause us to lament the lost. The minute you start seeing this stuff and feel nothing is the moment that you know you are not right for this job. Feel your feelings but push through them. We save lives and talk later,” Y/N quoted Kilowog’s wisdom, patting the new recruit’s shoulder, “and know that I’m always here to listen. So is Kilowog, Guy, Kyle, John – all members of the GL Corps.”
“I wish my dad was still around,” Tomar-Tu admitted. Y/N felt a pang in her chest.
“I miss him too, and I know that he’d be very proud of you, Tomar-Tu. Now come on, let’s get some stuff cleaned up and try to smoke this dictator out.”
As soon as Y/N spoke, a terrified scream echoed from a few feet away. They looked over to the sound to see the dictator flung into the air as a large entity seized him. The entity had a deep green cloak on, and by the profile, Y/N could see that it looked a lot like Hal.
The Spectre had beat them to the dictator, and Y/N was a bit grateful for it.
“What is that!” Tomar-Tu yelped.
“The Spectre,” Y/N whispered, “we have nothing to fear.”
After the dictator disappeared out of thin air, the entity noticed Y/N. Tomar-Tu was a few steps behind Y/N, still very wary of this large figure. Y/N stepped towards it, quickly feeling the familiar embrace of the man she adored when he landed down onto the planet and pulled her in close.
Tomar-Tu watched with his mouth hanging open, but was ignored for the moment.
Y/N was swept up into the familiar green cloak, and an icy kiss was placed on her lips. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tilting her head to deepen their affection. The kiss was fleeting, though – Hal stepped back, sent her the most loving look he could, and disappeared into thin air, probably to deal with the dictator that had also “disappeared” into thin air.
“Uh….Y/N, pardon me for asking, but…did…did you just make out with that thing?”
--
Y/N and the Spectre continued to cross paths in a multitude of ways, but her favorite time was when she had Helen over for a sleepover. She had to fudge a bit on her promise to Helen to show her the veil since she was run ragged by the Corps over the past several weeks. When Y/N pulled the beautiful item from its box, Helen’s hazel eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and she gently let her fingers touch the unique material.
“It feels like water, but isn’t wet!” She exclaimed, in absolute wonder.
“It’s a rare material, only available on that planet your uncle and I visited that one time with Kilowog. The princess was so nice. You know, I was supposed to marry her since I had won the battle against her potential suitor…”
“Ha! I bet Uncle Hal wasn’t very happy about that…” Helen giggled loudly.
“Well, the princess already had someone in mind to marry, and I was happy to let her do that. I had a huge crush on your uncle at the time, but I wouldn’t admit it…”
“That’s embarrassing, Auntie Y/N,” Helen put her hands on her hips after she flung the veil over her head.
“How is that embarrassing?” Y/N raised her voice in mock offense, putting a hand over her chest.
“You having a crush on Uncle Hal!”
“He liked me back the whole time, Helen—”
“Still!” She squealed.
“Here, let me get this veil on you properly,” Y/N murmured, pulling the girl close as she pulled back her brown hair, clipping in the veil.
Helen looked delightful in the veil, and Y/N’s heart sung in happiness. The girl was still very young, having just turned 8, but the veil looked like it just belonged on her head. A sad smile stained Y/N’s lips as she looked at the child spin in circles and giggle.
“Do I look like a princess, Auntie Y/N?”
“Princesses wear crowns, Helen,” A familiar voice spoke from a corner in the bedroom, and Y/N and Helen quickly whipped their heads over to see Hal leaning against the wall, holding back laughter.
“UNCLE HAL!” Helen shrieked, running into his open arms.
Y/N beamed as she watched the affection between the two Jordans. When Helen let go, Hal made his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her in close, leaving a heart-fluttering kiss on her forehead.
“I see you showed Helen our veil,” Hal murmured, squeezing Y/N’s hand.
“Yup. She looks great in it!” Y/N swallowed back her pain, taking a deep breath, “you know, Helen, if you ever get married, you should wear it on your wedding day.”
“Oh! Auntie Y/N, really?”
“Yes, really. But I want it back,” Y/N pointed at the girl, giggling, “it’s my veil.”
“Have you ever tried it on?” Helen unclipped the veil and handed it eagerly over to her aunt, “I wanna see you wear it!”
A lump appeared in Y/N’s throat and she shook her head in response to Helen’s question. Hal kept silent.
“I..I’ve never tried it on. I wanted to wear it for the very first time when I walked down the aisle, to your uncle…”
Helen looked down at the ground, suddenly feeling guilty. She perked up when she looked over to her uncle and began to jump up and down.
“Uncle Hal’s here now! You can pretend to walk down the aisle to him!”
Y/N’s eyes widened, and she looked over to Hal who waited for her response. She cleared her throat and nodded.
“S-sure. Um,” Y/N stood in front of the mirror in her and Hal’s bedroom, gently pushing her hair back and clipping the veil in. She kept her eyes closed, afraid to see what she looked like.
“Open your eyes, Auntie Y/N!”
Y/N slowly opened her eyes, and a soft sound of surprise escaped her throat. The veil was even more gorgeous when it was on her head. The various colors reflected in the light of the bedroom, and the colors melted into each other effortlessly. She slowly turned to face Hal, who in turn, had to try extremely hard not to fall on his knees and cry.
“Helen, don’t you know that every wedding needs a flower girl? Get to it,” Hal croaked, letting out a soft laugh.
“You got it, Uncle Hal!”
Helen quickly ran up to her aunt and pretended to flutter flowers in the air before excitedly standing next to her uncle. When Y/N made her way over to Hal, he couldn’t hold on any longer, yanking her into his body and slamming his lips onto hers.
“Ew!” Helen squealed, covering her eyes.
“I couldn’t wait for the vows,” Hal teased, sniffling as he wiped Y/N’s tears from her eyes.
“So, am I officially Y/N Jordan, now?”
“What did I say before flying into the sun?” Hal breathed, their noses touching, “you always were.”
--
Hal was starting to feel faint. He didn’t want to alarm Y/N or Helen, so he kept that bit of information to himself. His time was Spectre was obviously ending, but he wasn’t ready to be spit back out and taken up to the heavens. It had been nearly a year since he became the Spectre, but he still wanted to hang on to the role.
He wanted to stay at Y/N’s side – it was the only place he truly belonged.
But the Spectre wouldn’t have that. Hal’s soul was at peace, and when one’s soul is at peace, it moves to the next stage. That’s why the Spectre couldn’t hold on to its original host – the soul had found peace, meaning it was no longer on the market for the entity to use as a physical presence.
Hal laid next to Y/N once again, his favorite place to be, as they spoke in the dark bedroom. A storm had rolled in, and thunder was rumbling loudly enough that her and Hal could feel the vibrations in their bones.
“Remember that time Barry got so freaked out by that random clap of thunder that he vibrated through the floorboards in Iris’ apartment?” Y/N snickered, causing Hal to laugh out loud.
“YES! And he fell into the apartment below hers. He was lucky nobody was home. That was insane! We didn’t let him live it down for weeks…” Hal snorted.
“That totally doesn’t beat the time that Ollie accidentally knocked himself out with that stupid boxing glove arrow, though. Dude had a black eye for weeks.”
“The worst part was the excuse he made up for it,” Hal rolled his eyes, “he said that Deathstroke ran out of weapons and had to resort to punching him. How the hell would Deathstroke run out of weapons? That’s like, his thing…”
“Good thing we never had any weird embarrassing moments,” Y/N sarcastically whipped, turning to face him.
His brown hair was in his pale face, and Y/N dared to reach out a hand to smooth it back, wanting to soak up each inch of his skin.
“Oh, really? What about that time you smashed into that satellite?”
“I told you, Hal, I was sleepy!”
“That could’ve turned off the US Military’s GPS tracking, Y/N.”
“It stayed on! It only glitched for a second. That’s better than your passenger plane mishap!”
“…to be fair, it was raining super hard and that Delta jet just snuck up on me, okay?”
“God, we’re a mess,” Y/N let out a content sigh, happy to think about joyful times.
Hal laid in silence, Y/N’s words playing like a broken record in his head. When the Spectre would spit his soul out…would Y/N ever talk about him in the past tense? Would she eventually have to say, “we were a mess” or “I loved Hal”?
The thought crushed him, and he yanked her close again, causing her to splay out in surprise. She didn’t question his affection, and she buried her face into his neck.
“Don’t leave,” Y/N whispered sleepily, holding his hand, “I don’t want you to go…when will you visit me again?”
Hal didn’t have the heart to admit to Y/N that this may be one of their last moments together, so he merely kissed her forehead and pulled her closer, feeling her drift to sleep in his arms.
--
Hal had never gone this long without visiting her as the Spectre. It had been nearly two months now, and there was no trace. Y/N asked Helen, but the little girl was also upset – Hal hadn’t visited her for three. Y/N didn’t want to think that the Spectre was done with Hal’s soul and released it into the universe. That Parallax parasite was strong and dangerous – it would have to take longer to be purged, right?
She knew she was just grasping for straws at this point.
She should be happy that Hal had atoned for his sins and was set free. He no longer had to be at the beck and call of the Spectre, forced to do things out of character for the sake of the balance of the universe.
She could finally sell the apartment, and she did so after Hal didn’t visit her for nearly six months. Helen was beginning to move on too, in her own little way. When Y/N would come visit, “Uncle Hal” wouldn’t be the first words out of her mouth.
After kissing Helen goodbye and telling her that she’d be on Oa on assignment for several months, Helen took it well and waved goodbye to her with Jack and Jim. She’d visit when she could, but her time was being demanded more and more by the Guardians, and she wasn’t even officially an Honor Guard, no matter what Ranakar says.
“How are you doing, Y/N?” Kyle asked, walking next to his fellow GL as they made their way towards the central battery, ready to charge their rings.
“Better than I have in a while, and that’s saying something,” Y/N offered, speaking the oath as she thrust her fist forward.
“I’m sure…” Kyle smirked, charging his ring next.
“…okay, I don’t like this little smirk, Kyle. What’s up?” Y/N raised an eyebrow, letting out a playful groan when Guy and Kilowog caught up to them, walking past the training facility.
“Did you ask her yet?” Guy loudly spoke, causing Kilowog and Kyle to send him a glare.
“Oh God, ask me what?” Y/N was getting sick of the run-around, stopping in her tracks before putting an exasperated hand on her cocked hip.
“Gee, thanks, Guy,” Kyle rolled his eyes, “I was trying to ease her into a natural conversation.”
“That obviously isn’t getting us anywhere—”
“What’s the question!” Y/N exclaimed.
“So uh, Tomar-Tu told us some very titillating news several months ago,” Kyle began, rubbing his hands together.
"Well, he told me during a training exercise. Little poozer still has loose lips. That’ll be kicked out of him sooner rather than later…” Kilowog winced.
“He said that you made out with some weird green-cloaked entity thing!” Guy couldn’t hold back, causing Kyle to let out another groan.
He wanted to be the one who said that!
“What!” Y/N exclaimed, taking several steps back, “Uh, he was just seeing things!” Y/N desperately didn’t want to tell her friends the truth. They’d probably think she was crazy, and she really wasn’t trying to think about how Hal hadn’t visited her, and wouldn’t be visiting her ever again while she was alive.
“I don’t think he was seeing things, since I saw that entity while John and me were doing our diplomatic mission!”
“Don’t bring me into this,” John’s deep voice rang out, joining up with the little social group.
“We’re making a scene,” Y/N groaned, smacking her forehead.
“You know…it kinda looked like Jordan,” Guy teased, fluttering his eyelashes.
“YOU GUYS DIDN’T TELL ME THAT!” Kyle shrieked, shocked by the turn of events.
“Probably because it was Jordan? Geez, do any of you poozers do any original research?” Kilowog grunted, getting annoyed with the pomp and circumstance, “well L/N, is it true?”
All the eyes fell on Y/N and she shrunk under their expectant gazes. So much for trying to keep the Spectre under wraps. She was going to be the one to teach a lesson to Tomar-Tu about loose lips at this point!
“…I still think Tomar-Tu was seeing things, and that’s my official statement,” Y/N put her nose in the air and strutted off, causing the guys to let out disappointed groans.
“STOP STONEWALLING US, Y/N!” Kyle cried.
With that, Y/N marched herself over to the Guardians’ chambers, clearing her throat before she began to discuss her decision about the Honor Guard.
“Lantern L/N, have you come to us with a decision about our offer?” Ganthet spoke evenly.
“You sure did take your time, Lantern L/N. Your decision making is weak and must be worked on if you expect to continue your ranking in our Corps.” Ranakar was not fucking around, and Y/N sucked her lips into her mouth at his reprimand.
“I have made a decision, Guardians,” Y/N took a deep breath, holding her head up high, “I will join the Honor Guard and serve the Green Lantern Corps until death.”
“That is great to hear, Lantern L/N. You will receive your instructions for induction soon. Be sure to let anyone you hold close know about your rise in rank, as I am sure they would like to support you.”
Y/N raised an eyebrow at Ganthet’s insistence but took it in stride.
“Of course. Thank you Guardians, again, for this opportunity. I look forward to serving.”
Chapter 13
Notes:
Here it is, folks! Our final chapter!
This chapter is long, because I can never just wrap things up in a strict word limit - I just have to go where my brain takes me. Which is why there's a chapter 14 -- don't worry! It has been uploaded at the same time and it's an epilogue! I adored writing this sequel to Want Want, and I hope you all also enjoyed this run with me. I loved seeing your comments, kudos, and bookmarks. Hal is such a precious character to me, and I had so much fun exploring different aspects of him in this -- as a GL, Parallax and Spectre.
Please enjoy, and thank you all again, for all your comments and encouragement. I truly mean it when I say that you guys inspire me!
<3,
Jo
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When a Green Lantern dies, something very peculiar happens. Normally, when someone dies, their rank, throne, and/or belongings go to the next in line. The eldest son, the vice president, the corporal. In the Green Lantern Corps, the ring chooses.
And the ring chooses the being that is worthy of such wonders.
Some think that the “worthiness” is based off fearlessness, bravery – but that’s all conjecture. The ring sees something in the being it flies to, like a moth to a brilliant flame. If you’re lucky, you’ll live long enough to discover what that piece of technology, that ethereal emerald glow, saw in you.
Ten years ago, the ring saw something in Y/N L/N, and when it fell off the lifeless finger of its wielder, it went feral in its search for her. Nothing could cause it to go off its path as it crossed the vast “emptiness” of the universe.
To say that the ring was courteous, though, would be totally false. At 3 in the morning that fateful night, a loud shattering noise echoed off the walls in Y/N’s bedroom.
“Jesus!” She shrieked. She felt her heart ram against her ribcage, and she clutched her blankets tighter, pulling them up to her chin as her eyes flitted around the room to discover what could’ve caused so much commotion.
She couldn’t see the offender, but she could see the bright green glow that filled her room – a light that was not there when she went to bed. Swallowing dryly, she dared to push her covers away from her chin before shakily putting a bare foot down on the carpeted floor. She looked behind her to see that the window had a sharp hole in it, about the size of a bullet.
…Did someone try to shoot through her window? What if she was on some assassination list? She knew that was unlikely but try thinking rationally when a bullet flies through your window!
She then quickly reminded herself that bullets…don’t usually glow a bright emerald green color. As she snuck closer to the source of the green light, she was quickly hit by reality – she was renting this apartment.
Was she going to have to pay to get the damn window repaired? It wasn’t even her fault! And rent was already astronomical!
Her thoughts quickly fell silent when she saw the culprit – a ring.
“What?” She whispered to herself, kneeling onto the carpet to take a closer look.
It was a ring, no doubt about it, but it was unlike any ring she had ever seen before. Instead of a diamond or stone in the middle, it had a weird emblem.
When she couldn’t find her trowel or gloves (they were probably still caked with dirt and on her kitchen table,) she decided to take a chance and pick up the ring with her bare hands. She gently slipped her palm underneath the object, and as soon as the ring made contact with her skin, it slammed itself on her middle finger.
“AGH!” She yelped, a bright flash of white covering her room. When she looked back down, she saw a uniform wrapped tight around her body. This had to be some kind of weird dream—
She slowly turned when the moonlight from outside was suddenly obscured.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
A large, hulking figure shattered her entire window and floated into the room, and Y/N quickly realized that this was not a “weird dream” but a FUCKING NIGHTMARE. She scrambled, falling against her dresser as she tried to bolt out of her room.
“I told you to let me in first, Kilowog! God, what woman wants to see you climb in through their window? Now me, on the other hand, I’m a dream with a happy ending, if you know what I—”
“You better shut up before I knock all your teeth out, poozer! You’re lucky I even let you tag along in the first place!”
“Admit that my plan would’ve worked better—”
“WHO ARE YOU?” Y/N yelled, giving up on trying to get a non-sweaty grip on her bedroom doorknob. If she was going to get skinned alive, she at least wanted to know who was going to rip her limb from limb.
The two beings stood in the middle of her bedroom. When the moonlight was able to bathe her room in more light again, she saw that the they wore the same uniform that was on her body. They also had similar rings on their middle fingers. One was a huge pink alien who kind of resembled a pig but had some kind of weird endearing quality to him. The other was seemingly human. He had brown hair that fell just right, and he was tall. His eyes were covered by a green mask, so she couldn’t investigate them to gauge his reaction. She could feel his eyes on her, though, wide-eyed with wonderment.
“I’m Kilowog, and that idiot is Hal—”
“Kilowog! There’s something called a secret identity—”
“Oh, I forgot, you humans like your privacy.”
“You’re human?” Y/N whispered.
“…You can’t identify a member of your own kind, poozer?” The alien named Kilowog dead-panned.
“Yup! First one in the Corps, too. What’s your name?” Hal crossed his arms, tilting his head.
“I don’t think it’s fair that you’ll know my name and I won’t know yours.” Y/N crossed her arms in response, suddenly very self-conscious in her new “uniform.”
“HA! I like this one,” Kilowog laughed and Hal deflated a bit.
“…I’ll let that insubordination slide, but you really should treat your mentor with more respect.”
“What the…mentor? Jordan, you’ve only been here for three months!”
“So, Hal Jordan, hm?” Y/N giggled, seeing him stiffen, “my name is Y/N L/N.”
--
The thought of why the ring chose her had plagued Y/N for years. She wasn’t necessarily extremely brave, and she wasn’t talented in military strategy and intelligence. She was an archeologist by trade – she had no business being part of a universal corps that were meant to keep peace and justice in various sectors across the universe, answering to a bunch of little blue guys.
She wasn’t physically strong and formidable in the way Kilowog was. She didn’t possess the strategic intelligence and leadership of John Stewart. Guy Gardner’s stubbornness and drive wasn’t something that she particularly oozed from every pore. Kyle Rayner’s creativity and ability to hang onto a mere sliver of hope was also not on her collectible trading card. She didn’t have Hal’s…well, Hal-ness. He was indescribable. The best in the Corps. She still believed that. Always would. Who else could fight off such a demonic parasite and still have a strong desire to atone for the “sins” the parasite committed? He could’ve placed the blame on anyone else. But Hal didn’t. That’s not who he was.
What qualities did she possess? What made Y/N L/N a Green Lantern worthy of the ring, of the Honor Guard? She knew that the actions she took over the past three years would be the actions that any of them would take. Well, her friends probably wouldn’t do it the exact way she did – they wouldn’t have lashed out at some drunk guy at a bar or live with rotten crap in their fridge due to the fear of misplacing anything in their apartment that they once shared with the love of their life.
She was happy to get the Honor Guard rank, don’t get her wrong – but she still didn’t understand all the praise. The Guardians credited her with “saving” the Corps as they know it, but that wasn’t all true. She couldn’t fight Krona – without Hal, that victory would’ve never happened. Ganthet resurrected the Guardians and gave Kyle that newly forged ring. Kilowog supported Ganthet during exile, and Guy and John did a lot of the heavy lifting while she was curled up in a ball, mourning all that she had lost.
“Hey Ms. Honor Guard,” Guy’s voice filled up the room that held the central battery, raising a red eyebrow at how Y/N just stared ahead with a faraway look in her eyes, “you ready for your crowning?”
Y/N shook herself from her thoughts and smirked, rolling her eyes at her friend. Guy charged up his ring before making his way over to her, shoving her with his shoulder.
“I don’t get a crown, Guy. It’s just a bump in rank…”
“Still. They should get a crown or something. I’ll buy you one off Amazon,” Guy pulled out his phone.
“I wouldn’t wear it—”
“Your statue will,” Guy snickered. He was about to scroll through some of the results on Amazon but quickly pocketed his phone, able to feel the overwhelming emotion surrounding his friend. “…what’s with the kicked puppy look, Y/N?”
“Guy…it’s nothing, I’m just fine—”
“You’re not just fine. I know the energy of a ‘just fine’ Y/N, and that energy is missing. Come on, tell your best friend all your thoughts.”
Y/N smiled and let out a laugh, motioning for Guy to follow her to outside the central battery, towards the Corps Library.
“I don’t know how you can read energies, Guy – I think you’ve been watching too much late-night psychic commercials. Either way, you are right. I’m not really…feeling like myself today.” Y/N admitted, playing with her fingers, “like, I’m so flattered and excited for this Honor Guard rank and role, but…I just don’t understand.”
“Listen, those late-night psychic commercials are legit, Y/N, and I don’t want to hear you talk smack about them again,” Guy took a big breath, “but what do you mean you don’t understand? What I don’t understand is why you don’t understand.”
Guy Gardner. Always a true poet with his words. God love him.
“I don’t understand why it’s me. All of you would’ve done the same thing as me. You would’ve saved the battery shards. You would’ve stood up against Parallax. You would’ve put your all into solving this, into training Kyle. And you did. You helped so much. I was just…a victim of circumstance.”
Guy stopped walking with his friend abruptly, sternly crossing his arms. Y/N looked back at him, bewildered. What? Did she say something offensive?
“You can’t seriously think that.” Guy scoffed, shaking his head, “victim of circumstance? Are you kidding? You saw how I fucking reacted in the med bay on the watchtower! I threw things, Y/N. I yelled, screamed, said some pretty shitty things. I was so angry. All I felt was anger – and not just in that moment. I held onto that rage. I still have a little bit of it. Not towards your precious lover,” Guy fluttered his eyelashes for emphasis, “but towards Sinestro, his bullshit. You saved my life, Y/N. If John and I showed up to Oa during the siege, my rage would’ve killed me.”
“You don’t know that,” Y/N whispered.
“Yes I do. You’re…you. You’re Y/N. That’s what saved us. Now come on, I don’t want to see anymore pouting. I want to see that girl that kicked my ass in front of all the new recruits that one time.”
“You’re lucky I got to you first. If Hal heard what you whispered to me before our combat demonstration, he would’ve thrown you into the sun.”
“I could’ve totally taken him—” Guy was cut off by his ring letting out a little beep, “Shit. I promised some new recruits I’d help them with target practice.”
“Wait!” Y/N exclaimed, “before you run off…do you think you’ll be able to come to my induction? The Guardians said I could invite the people I want to be there. And I want you to be there…as long as there’s no sassy objections.”
“Aw, I wouldn’t do that to you. Now jeering, that’s still on the table,” Guy threw his head back and laughed as he began to float towards the training facilities, “I wouldn’t miss it, Y/N. I’ll be there.”
“…Did I hear something about Guy teaching target practice?” John Stewart was just walking out of the Corps Library with some books in hand, raising an eyebrow.
“I know. He’s the worst person to do that. I’m surprised they didn’t ask you!” John Stewart was immensely talented – and he never missed a shot.
“They did,” John snickered, “but I have some more research to do.”
“Sometimes I think you like to torture yourself, John, but I’m not much better. What are you researching now?” Y/N breathed.
“Oa’s history. I figure I should be more caught up with some of the stuff than I am, especially since I’m working with the JL full time along with the Corps. I swear, Ollie has a new question every meeting.”
“Hah, he’s just testing you,” Y/N smirked, “when him and Hal did that road trip together a few years back, I’m sure Hal told him all the deep secrets. I just started making up bullshit – Ollie really believes that we all must drink some chlorophyll mixed in water to use our rings to the best of our ability. I was totally dedicated to the bit; I drank green food colored water in front of him for months. Barry caught on fast, no pun intended, and he’s always eager to make Ollie look like an idiot, so he was a great ally.”
“Maybe I should tell the Guardians about your little lies, Y/N – see if you’ll still get that Honor Guard position,” John squeezed her shoulder in jest, “speaking of, are you excited? I know it’s a big responsibility. But you’ve got this. That’s something I admire about you.”
“John, don’t sell yourself short. If the JL could spare you, I’d ask the Guardians to add you to the Honor Guard with me. You deserve it as much as I do, if not more.”
“You give me way too much credit. You’re the best of all of us. We all bring our unique talents to the table. Still wondering what Guy’s is…” John let out a soft laugh when he heard Y/N choke back her giggles, “I know you hear it a lot, but I think it holds a lot of truth. The Corps wouldn’t have been rebuilt this quickly and efficiently without you.”
“I’m—”
“I mean it. You know, the Green Lantern Corps is something that means a lot to me. It’s taught me a lot of things. Allows me to make a difference in everyone’s lives, no matter who they are. That’s something that drives me. Beyond all the strategy and battle preparation. It’s like being part of a unit, again. A family. And you’re to thank for that community.”
“You contribute to it too, John. More thank you think. Oh, speaking of community,” Y/N cleared her throat, trying to hold back her emotional tears, “I’d love to have you at my Honor Guard ceremony. I know you’ve got research to do, but—”
“You’re more important than some research. The texts can wait. I’ll see you there, Y/N. I’m probably going to cross paths with Kyle and Kilowog on the way back to the dorms. Is it safe to say they’re invited too?”
“Of course! Ugh, you’re a lifesaver, John.”
“I’ll be sure to extend your invitation to them. We’re proud of you, Y/N.”
Y/N felt a warm fuzzy feeling fill her chest, but it still felt out of place. Could she be proud of herself? She should be, right?
So why didn’t she?
--
When Y/N entered the Guardians’ chamber, she saw Kilowog, Kyle, Guy and John flanking the left side. She couldn’t help but feel a pang in her chest. There was someone else who belonged there next to them. She tried to imagine how Hal would be stood there, just embarrassing her with his exuberant excitement, pointing at her and loudly whispering to his fellow GLs, “that’s MY wife! We’re married!” She was sure to smile at them before she stood in the middle of the large room.
The Guardians called Y/N forth, having her kneel in front of the Guardians’ seats which elevated them off the ground, near the vaulted ceiling. Ganthet waited for the signal from the other Guardians before beginning his speech.
“Although the Honor Guard was created several centuries ago, very few Lanterns have proven their worth to count themselves within that rank. As a member of the Honor Guard, you must be loyal, responsible, and able to apply a strong willpower to all situations, even in the face of certain death…”
Y/N closed her eyes as she listened to him continue to speak in a serious tone.
“Honor Guards are not restricted to one sector, as other Green Lanterns are. They are granted the distinct privilege and responsibility to not only protect the Guardians, but also the universe at large. A peacemaker, a conciliator that puts the safety of the universe, including the precious lives that call it home, from danger and injustice. Honor Guards serve as incorruptible leaders in battle and aid any Green Lantern or sector that calls upon them. This is an honor that is not to be taken lightly. Upon deep consideration between myself and my fellow Guardians, we have concluded that one Green Lantern stands prominent above the rest and would serve well in such a specialized role.
A Green Lantern that faced certain death, certain defeat, and faced it with the tenacity and courage that any Green Lantern would be proud to possess…”
Ganthet’s voice began to fade out of her ears, and she stared down at her hands, unable to focus on the Guardian’s praise. She didn’t like the flowery words, or the clinical analysis of her actions and character. What did she possess? Sure, Guy and John’s sweet encouragement and honesty did help her feel like she could support such a responsibility, but she still felt weighed down by the uncertainty of her place, her role in the universe.
Her role in wielding the ring.
What led her to continue serving as a Green Lantern after experiencing all that she did?
There were several factors, of course. She had the “required” amounts of tenacity and willpower. They were deeply appreciated, but they weren’t necessarily the great driving factors that others had.
What was it?
In the space of a buzzing silence, only one phrase came to mind.
The will to love.
And not in the Star Sapphire way, either – there was a reason she had a green ring and not a pinkish purplish one. It wasn’t love in the “emotional” sense, of fidelity, heartbreak, rekindling an old flame. It was the distinct ability to love and expect nothing in return. To will yourself to keep steadfast in your love, even though quitting and spitting at the universe would bring so much satisfaction and much needed rest.
Through her time in the Corps, she learned what it was like to love something that was fragile, a fledgling on the edge of either something beautiful or heinous.
Our morals. Our choices. The fate of the end of each day, dictated by how one wanted to shape the hours that were graciously given to them – hours that could be snatched away at any time, anywhere.
It wasn’t her stubbornness that caused her to reach out for the battery shards that burnt her hands during her first battle against Parallax. It was the will of love against all odds. It was her will to love that scarred her hands with shiny burns from the shards of the destroyed central battery. It was what made her train Kyle to be the best Green Lantern he could be, despite her worries for his safety. It’s what gripped her as she held a dying Arisia in her arms. The ring, that fateful night ten years ago, saw the immense willpower in the love that Y/N was capable of. And that ring didn’t let anything get in its way to her – not even some shoddy double-pane glass on a bedroom window.
The will to love took courage, guts, moxie. A Jordan through and through, who was still blissfully herself – Y/N.
Ganthet’s voice began to fill her ears once again.
“That is why we have decided to bestow this rank upon Lantern Y/N L/N—”
“Jordan.” Y/N interjected quickly, unable to hold her outburst.
Kyle, Guy and John all looked at each other when they heard Y/N’s whispered request, and Guy could’ve sworn he saw Kilowog tearing up next to him (then again…he was having a hard time seeing past the tears that had gathered in his eyes…but like hell if he’d admit that to anyone here.)
Silence filled the space momentarily as Ganthet studied the Green Lantern. A small, hardly noticeable smile appeared on his lips for a split second (Kyle was sure it was a trick of the light), happy to grant the newest Honor Guard her request.
“We bestow this rank upon Lantern Y/N Jordan with zero reservations. May she continue to cast a light in the universe that all Green Lanterns strive to emulate.”
With that, Ranakar motioned for Y/N to stand, and when she stood to her full height, she closed her eyes and tilted her head down slightly to honor the Guardians.
“I accept this role full-heartedly and hope to serve the universe in the way that it has served me.”
--
Y/N couldn’t wipe the warm smile from her lips as she talked with her closest friends. The ceremony had ended, and the Guardians had momentarily left their chambers, so they were able to stay inside and soak up Y/N’s new rank.
“Congratulations, you little poozer.” Kilowog ruffled Y/N’s hair and she let out a laugh, hugging the huge alien as tight as she could.
“You’re the only one that’s still allowed to call me that, Kilowog. Thanks for smashing through my bedroom window all those years ago…”
“Eh, don’t mention it. We’ll call it even if you forgive me for letting Cupid tag along.”
The mention of Hal made Y/N smile bigger, and while she knew he was gone until death reached her, she held him close to her heart. She’d never stop thinking about him, dreaming about him.
Loving him.
“Are you kidding? That was the best part. Especially when he tripped over his own two feet while trying to get a tour of my apartment.”
“He has spunk, I can give him that.”
Y/N was happy to hear Kilowog talk about Hal in the present tense, and she turned to her fellow earth GLs.
“I can’t say that I won’t miss good old Sector 2814. Please ask for my help constantly, guys.”
“I’ll switch ya,” Guy huffed, shaking his head, “there’s this old lady in Baltimore that has it out for my ass. I knock her over one time in a crosswalk chasing a baddie, and now she’s got this petition—”
“Congratulations, Y/N. This is so well deserved,” John smiled, handing Y/N some flowers he was able to snag from the greenhouse on Oa.
“It is, Y/N. I told you that the Guardians didn’t make a mistake of sending me to you for training. Although my follow-up training with Kilowog was way easier…”
“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Y/N giggled.
“Rayner, I’d be happy to do some more one on one sessions with ya if you think you’re gettin’ rusty,” Kilowog smirked, seeing the color rush out of Kyle’s face.
“Hey, when am I going to be able to congratulate Lantern Jordan?” A familiar voice lilted out.
Bewildered, Y/N looked to see who would’ve called her name. She had just made the official name change in her Honor Guard ceremony, and everyone that was present for the ceremony save for the Guardians was in front of her. She looked to see where the voice came from, and she dropped the flowers that John just gave her. (Thank God for Kyle’s reflexes, because if those blooms hit the floor, John would’ve been splitting hairs for excuses with the horticulturist.)
There, walking in from a side room, was the man that she wanted to wake up next to for the rest of her waking life. He was sporting that beautiful grin, and his brown hair was in that classic part, the one that he would spend several minutes in front of the mirror to make juuuust right in the morning. As always, some of the fringe was in front of his warm brown eyes. His skin had that barely sun-kissed gleam to it, and his jaw was still so beautifully crafted, Michelangelo had to have sculpted it with his two hands.
And God, that flight jacket with the “JORDAN” name sewn onto the left breast…
Hal Jordan.
Her Hal Jordan.
Hal couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh at his fiancée’s expression, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes.
Y/N didn’t speak a word, she bolted towards him and flung herself into his arms – her home – and when their lips met, she couldn’t help but let out a breathy sob of deliverance.
He was warm. So, so warm. She was finally wrapped up in that unmistakable warmth that only Hal Jordan possessed – the warmth that she was cruelly deprived of over the last three years. And she’d be damned if she’d ever lose it again.
“H-How?” She croaked, her fingers clutching him tight.
Hal didn’t back out of her embrace, leaning further into her, wanting every single inch of their bodies to touch. He kissed her quickly on the lips again.
“The Guardians,” Hal smiled.
“We were able to resurrect Jordan after the Spectre completed its business with him,” Ganthet appeared.
God dammit, Ganthet. He always did that – just appeared out of thin air!
“Our business was not finished with him either,” Ganthet continued, “and seeing as the fear parasite was finally obliterated, we had no qualms bringing back one of our best lanterns.”
Y/N looked down at Hal’s slim hands to see that no GL ring sat upon his middle finger. Bewildered, she looked up and tilted her head.
“I’m going to leave the ring slinging to you for now, glowstick,” Hal murmured, looking at Y/N with a teasing look in his eyes, “but when I do come back to serve in the Corps…will you train me? I think Kilowog has some kind of vendetta against me now—”
“Your little ass is grass, Jordan!” Kilowog bellowed from across the chamber, “I don’t take too kindly to poozers!”
“See?” Hal tilted his head.
“It would be my honor.”
“I expect some perks, Lantern Jordan…” Hal purred.
“Aw great. Now when Hal comes back, we’re going to have to work with codenames,” Kyle whined as the rest of their friends came to stand around the reunited lovers.
“Hey, I’m more interested in how Hal’s going to be Mr. House Husband. Do you even know how to cook, Hal? And that chili that you made that got us all sick that one time doesn’t count…” Guy scoffed.
“Y/N loves my cooking, don’t you, honey?” Hal looked to Y/N for back-up.
“Uh…”
“You’ll have time to brush up on your cooking lessons, Hal,” John offered.
“WAIT. I’m still hung up on this nickname thing! Does this make Y/N like, ‘Jordan 1’ and Hal ‘Jordan 2’ when he rejoins?”
“I’d be Jordan 1, obviously,” Hal shook his head in disbelief.
“Well, no, Y/N is technically Jordan 1 since she’s been here longer than you have, Hal. Just take the L, you’re embarrassing all of us,” Guy sneered.
“But! I’m the one that gave her that last name! This is a set-up! Speaking of which, we need to plan our wedding…and Guy? You’re officially not invited because of that comment.”
“ONLY Y/N CAN MAKE THAT DECISION; YOU CAN’T PULL THAT ON ME!”
“We’ve been talking about this wedding crap for weeks! Can’t we have a break?” Kilowog groaned, “I don’t get human customs…”
“Wait. You all knew Hal was back for WEEKS and didn’t tell me?” Y/N cried.
“…So, I was thinking that a light sage green would be a good color theme to go with,” Kyle interjected, praying that Y/N’s death glare would fade away.
As intense debate continued, Y/N curled up into her lover’s side, finally content. As she stared at her friends and the rebuilt Oa that surrounded them, she felt as if the universe was finally back on the right track -- whole, as it should be. Of course, there would be bumps in the road, and hardships were never too far away -- but they would see it through. As long as she held on to that will to love, she'd never go down without a fight. But that was all something she could think about some other time. She and Hal had three whole years to make up, and she was sure that after the wedding, it wouldn't be too long before the pitter patter of little feet would fill the Jordan home. (If Hal's love sick look was anything to go off of.)
Notes:
How about that ending, huh? (you can find the optional epilogue if you would like in the next chapter - you know I had to throw smth in there for my fellow epilogue girlies)
Again, I hope you all enjoyed reading and going on this journey with me! I can guarantee that I'll write for Hal Jordan again, but if you have any particular ideas or scenarios, please feel free to comment those! Your feedback means the world to me.
Thank you all so much, and I'll see you guys in my next Hal Jordan work! <3
If you still need a Hal Jordan fix and have not already, I do have two other standalone fics (not in the GL!Reader universe) about Hal that you can read! One is called "Just a Man on the Moon" and the other is "Sweetest Thing."
Chapter 14: Epilogue
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
This baby monitor was going to be the absolute death of Harold Jordan, and he knew it. The tip of his tongue touched his upper lip as he focused on smushing new batteries into the damned contraption. He shook it a few times, but the batteries just didn’t set right. He let out a defeated sigh when he noticed the monitor had a large crack on the front. He rubbed his tired eyes and heard the pitter patter of tiny feet running on the hardwood floor.
“Hold it!” Hal called out, standing up.
The footsteps came to a jittery stop. Hal smirked a bit and walked out of the room he was in, holding the broken baby monitor in his hands.
“You wanna tell me why I’m trying to put new batteries in a broken baby monitor?” He cocked his hip, looking down at his son.
Martin, a pure carbon copy of his father, stared at Hal with big brown eyes, pulling his thumb out of his mouth.
“I didn’t like the music coming from it,” He offered before going back to sucking his thumb. Hal stared at his boy, incredulous.
“Music?”
“Yeah, daddy. It’s just Joshie crying.”
Hal couldn’t keep his stern facial expression, bursting into laughter, picking his son up into his arms. The five-year-old let out a loud squeal. The little Jordan loved the sky and whenever his mom or dad would create a construct of a little green rocket ship around him, he’d giggle and ask to go higher and higher. Like father, like son.
“You thought the baby monitor was a radio?” Hal cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair, “Didn’t mommy tell you that it was to listen to Joshie?”
“Yeaaaah,” Martin sighed, “but I wanted to listen to other music, so I threw it on the ground to change channels.”
Hal rubbed his face with his free hand. Yup. This baby definitely had his genes.
“Alright, here’s the plan. We’ll go to Target and buy a new baby monitor before mommy gets back. She’ll think that I fixed it like I promised, and your little secret is safe with me as long as you keep mine…”
“My lips are sealed, daddy!”
Hal winced when he heard the newest Jordan addition began to sob, putting a finger over his lips to Martin. He set his son down as the boy put his small hands over his ears and whined, following his father. Hal put the broken monitor down on the hall table and entered the nursery, seeing the little 8-month-old gripping the edges of his crib.
“Did we wake you up, bud?” Hal whispered, leaning over to pull his son out of his crib.
Josh’s E/C eyes were watery, and he hiccupped a bit, fisting his little hands into his father’s shirt.
“Shh…” Hal soothed.
“Why’s he crying, daddy?” Martin asked, protective over his little brother.
“He could be crying about a lot of things. He could be hungry,” Hal bit his lip remembering he fed the infant an hour ago, “he could need a change,” Hal prayed to God that wasn’t the case, letting out a sigh of relief when Josh still smelled like baby powder, “or maybe he misses mommy.”
“I miss mommy too,” Martin whined, holding around his father’s leg, “why did Uncle John and Uncle Guy need her?”
“Well, the Corps needed her, baby,” Hal softly smiled at the infant in his arms, seeing him begin to fall back asleep, obviously feeling warm and safe in his father’s arms, “the Corps needs daddy too, sometimes. They let us take turns.”
Hal took a seat on the chair in the nursery, patting his lap for Martin to crawl up. He held Josh in the crook of his left arm as Martin settled down in his lap. Martin tilted his head, looking at the green ring on his father’s right hand.
“When can I get one?”
“If you’re lucky, you won’t get one,” Hal laughed, shaking his head, “it’s a big responsibility.”
“What’s a responsibill-itty?”
“It’s something very important – it means you have to make good choices and help out. Like, how mommy and I ask you to put the napkins on the plates at dinner time.”
“Oh…” Martin nodded, “so napkins is my responsi-bill-itty?”
“Yes,” Hal laughed at his son’s pronunciation, keeping his voice low as to not disturb Josh’s nap, “and mommy and daddy are responsible for you and Joshie. We’re also responsible for protecting the universe. When you get a ring like mommy and daddy’s, that’s your job.”
“Your job is flying,” Martin corrected his father.
“Ha, yes, that’s my job too. Just like how your mommy’s job is…bones?” (It would be a long time before little Martin could understand and pronounce ‘Archeologist’ correctly.)
Martin looked at his father’s other hand, his small fingers touching the gold band on Hal’s ring finger.
“What does this ring do?” Martin asked.
“This ring doesn’t have any special powers,” Hal replied, “but it is just as important as my Green Lantern ring. Your mommy has a ring like this one too, only hers has a diamond on it.”
“What do they mean?” Martin was notorious for asking tons of questions and Hal knew it was payback from all those years of him asking tons of questions growing up. Y/N was also very inquisitive, so he really should’ve seen this coming.
“Well, they show responsibility too. My ring shows that I’m responsible for your mommy. My responsibility is to love her and take really good care of her. The ring on her finger means the same thing, only towards me.”
“How’d you get those rings? Did they fly to you and you and mommy found each other by comparing rings?”
Damn this kid had an imagination. He ruffled Martin’s hair with his free hand, clearing his throat.
“I’ve never told you how me and mommy met, have I?”
“Ooh!” Martin squealed, putting his small hands over his mouth, “No! I wanna know everything!”
“I can’t tell you everything,” Hal noted, shaking his head, “but I’ll tell you some of my favorite stories about your mommy and me, okay?”
“Mmhm!”
“Alright. So, there I was, being the greatest member of the Green Lantern Corps at just three months in, when Uncle Kilowog finds out that another human got a Green Lantern ring…”
Notes:
I'm a sucker for this trope, okay??
<3,
Jo
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