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It was nice, having joint missions. Especially ones where there wasn't guaranteed mortal danger. He hadn't had the chance to work with John in far too long
He really really wished it wasn't first thing in the morning though. Couldn't have waited until noon or something noooo..
He was still trying to shake the last of sleep off when he found John in the cafeteria. He sat at a small table, coffee resting next to him. By the look on his face today's attempt at real coffee had been no better then yesterday's..Or the day before that.
Kyle slide into the seat across from him.
"Morning."
"Morning! Coffee any better today?"
John gave a dramatic sigh that sounded eerily similar to Guy's. He has to wonder whether Guy picked it up from John, or the other way around.
"Worse. They're trying to kill me, I think."
"With watery coffee?"
"Prime way to do it."
Kyle stretched out his wrists, feeling the faint pops. "When did you want to head out?"
"Ugh..Give me five minutes."
__
The mission wasn't supposed to be very complicated. There'd been a string of disappearances by a moon. One of two for it's planet. It was a bit distant, but the planet itself was a sort of rural outpost. Somewhere for ships on longer trips to stop and refuel. Except, every couple of visitors, someone never made it to their destination.
It wasn't something that required many Lanterns. Having two go was a failsafe. Sending just one was practically begging for the sudden appearance of a new rookie.
It kinda sounded like those serial killers who'd take people out on long highways because it'd be harder to track down.
Kyle really really hoped it wasn't a serial killer.
He didn't get long to dwell on it. They'd approached the moon in what had seemed like no time at all. Slowing down to regular speeds, he could see it more clearly.
It was barren, like alot of moons. Scattered craters littered it's surface. Tall mountain ridges near the top. It looked like a fucking wonderful place to hide. Great.
They landed near the base of the mountains. John had said that if someone was going to hide, it'd probably be there. The whole thing was just grey and dusty and so plain. On closer inspection, it held even more little nooks and crannies to hide in. His hope that this would take less then a day was dwindling by the second.
And so the search started.
It'd be alot easier if he knew what exactly he was looking for. Other then evidence of corpses or (Hopefully) living missing people. Though..Now that he thinks about it, this moon has no atmosphere. If they were looking for anything, it's likely a ship.
A ship would make sense..Hide out here, shoot down unsuspecting visitors, stop down at the planet when they needed gas. It worked out. He made a mental note to go ask the fuel station about regulars if they came up empty today.
He'd been so caught up in trying to find evidence of any space craft, he almost missed it. Impressions in the dust and rubble that almost looked like footprints.
"What the.."
He looked over his shoulder. John was about thirty feet away, by what almost looked like the start of a cave.
"John! Think I found something!"
He turned back, and started following the trail of footsteps winding through piles of rock.
"Kyle, wait!-"
__
The outside of Mom's house was the same as ever. Trim and neat as long as you didn't look too close. The paint was starting to get too old. It peeled off by the corners. He wondered if he was going to get roped into fixing that while he was here.
He lifts his hand to knock, and pauses.
He doesn't..Know why he hesitates. He'd been here recently enough. Made a habit of stopping by every month at least just to say hello. They'd gotten through most of their issues when he'd come back the first time.
Still, he feels like there's something he should know that he's forgotten. Odd. He'd been sure he wasn't supposed to bring anything today.
The door doesn't wait for him to knock after all. It swings open to reveal his mother's face. She's smiling. It's so warm that he wants to cry.
Jeez. He needs to get a handle on himself.
"Conas atá tú Kyle."
"Conas atá tú mháthair." The reply comes easy now.
She steps inside a bit, letting him pass her while she closed the door. It's still the same old place. Though he does wonder if maybe she's repainted the walls or something. Everything seems brighter almost. He kicked his shoes off, slotting them by the door in the same place they'd always went.
"You've got perfect timing, dinner's just about done. It's in the oven."
He follows her through the house and into the kitchen. The soft tick of a timer greeted him. He couldn't really make out what the smell of dinner was. Or at least, whatever part of it was baking. Some kind of pork?
Again, he feels out of place. Like he's forgotten something. Someone.
"How have you been Kyle?"
"Huh?" He drags his eyes away from the clock on the oven. "Oh..Good. I've been good. Got a couple of commissions I'm working on right now."
She's already moved into the adjacent dining room, sat on one of it's chairs. He follows suite.
She gives him a little mischievous look, leaning in like they're sharing in a secret.
"And what about your hero work?"
He smiles back at her. "It's good!..I think everything's calmed down a bit. Which is great. It means more downtime. And I miss Earth. It kinda sucks we've mostly moved to Oa."
Her face flickers. "You have?"
"Yeah, remember?"
She smiles again, smoothing out her shirt. It's starting to unease him. Or maybe it's just another small thing on a growing list.
"Of course. Right. Tell me about Oa? I don't hear much about these other planets."
He's overreacting. Still wound up from too long playing hero to properly relax yet. That's all it is.
"It's..Nice. I mean it's not bad, just not the same. Though I guess, why would it be. It's not really habitable outside of the main areas. The ring takes care of that anyway. The buildings are cool! Nothing like Earth's. Here, I can.."
In the middle of trying to make her a construct to demonstrate, he finds he can't remember. He can't recall a single detail about any of these buildings he's passed a hundred times. The formless green light flickers and dissipates.
"Oh.."
"That's alright Kyle. You can remember later."
He nods, swallowing through a lump in his throat. Later. He'll remember. He's got a pretty good memory. If anything, he'll just draw some when he goes back.
"Anyway. I'm glad I could visit. I miss you- missed you."
Slip of the tongue. He's here now, hard to still be missing her.
"I love being a Lantern, but with the move..Time on Earth has gotten more and more sparing. I'm not stationed in this sector anymore. I'm glad to be doing more but..Looking after just Earth was simpler."
His mom makes an odd face again, but she doesn't say anything. Maybe she's just getting old, and her memory is going. The thought makes him more guilty for his lack of free time.
"It's not even just hero stuff. Work, life..Even when things are calm it's just so much more complicated. I don't regret this choice, but sometimes I wonder. Sometimes it just feels like I'm risking everyone around me for no good reason. It hurts."
"That's just the price of responsibility."
He frowns.
"What?"
"It's the risk of the job. But you're doing good work, and I'm so proud of you."
He wants to laugh. The woman who had told him it was so risky and fussed over his saftey in this job, telling him that. She's starting to talk like a seasoned hero. Did she pick that up from him?
It's too bright. Did she change the lights? It feels like it's gotten brighter since he stepped into the room. It's starting to hurt his eyes. The soft tick of the timer is growing. The sound going from an underlying current to a hurricane in his ears. It hurts. It hurts. He can't breathe. He stares at the clock on the oven. Yellow numbers burn into his retina. They're changing, once a second like they should. Why can't he read them?
His hands are shaking in his lap. Out of his peripheral he can see his mother still sitting. Perfectly poised and stock still. Why can't he breathe right?
"Mom," He can barely hear himself, "Mom I need help."
Soft hands grab his own. She stands infront of him now. Why can't he remember seeing her move?
"I can't help you," Her smile is soft and sad and he aches. "You're a grown man, I can accept that now. You have to do some things on your own."
"Mom."
"You're stronger then you know."
How. He can't even understand what's wrong, how is he supposed to-
"You should invite Donna over for dinner."
She's back in her seat, across the table. Smiling.
The noise cuts out.
"..What?"
"Jen."
He's not..He's single right now, right? Why would he?
"Mom, what's for dinner? You never told me."
"I think I've made too much.."
The timer is sharp, cutting through his skull.
"What's in the oven?"
She almost seems to deflate. Her smile is dim and sad again. She's slumped in her dulled chair. She looks so normal he nearly wants to cry again.
"I can't help you, I'm sorry."
The ticking is louder, faster. He shouldn't be able to hear her soft voice so clearly.
He doesn't want to speak it into existence. Just in case. Maybe this time it's real, she's back. His whole body feels trembly and wrong. They can bring him or Hal or John back, why not her? Just one time.
"You're dead."
It's not a question, and she doesn't tell him no.
The ticking is loud and it's fast and he's starting to fear what happens when the timer runs out of all it's impossible numbers.
"How was your day?" His voice is shaky. He thinks he does good job keeping it as steady as he does.
Her hands tighten around the bottom of a loose shirt.
"It's been good. I like having you around more."
__
It felt like it ended too quick.
He should be grateful. More time to help his friend who desperately needs all the time he can get. And here he wastes it being unsettled.
The yellow lantern hisses at him from inside their green bubble.
Despite getting the jump on them, they'd lost the advantage of suprise quickly. Their strategy so far had likely been a quick ambush, hunting down any prey that managed to survive the first attack. It didn't seem prepared for an enemy who also had a power ring. Or one that wouldn't run.
He's bleeding. John knows that. Gashes on his forearms from where he'd tried to grab Kyle and pull him away. He can feel the blood slowly dripping down. Can hear it hitting the ground below. He can't actually feel the wound itself. He doesn't know if that's a good thing or not. He can't check that now.
Kyle is lying on the ground a few feet away, curled in on himself. John could be a thousand times more dignified on his way over, but he doesn't care. He doesn't have time to worry about his audience.
Kyle isn't conscious, at least not fully. But he's alive still. It hurts, to see his face twisted in pain. To hear the small, quiet noises. But he's still here. John tears his eyes away from Kyle's face (Has he always looked so young?) And down to the mangled mess of his torso.
It's bloody all over. The suit construct had helpfully torn itself to reveal the wound, but he still can't make out how bad it really is. There's just..So much-
He asks his ring to scan for Kyle's vitals. It takes only a second, but that feels like a second too long.
..That's. Shit, that's alot of bloodloss.
He asks it how long, down to the second, will it take to get to Oa. He grits his teeth. Fuck. Fuck. They'll be cutting it close.
He reminds himself to stay concentrated. He can't let it slip. Even for a second. Their attacker may not be a good fighter, but another suprise abush and they're not going home.
Small green bandages wrap themselves around Kyle's middle. Tight enough to hopefully keep enough pressure. John lifts him gently with a construct. Some non specific formless thing. He can do so much better. But he needs all his energy focused on getting them both back alive.
Kyle shifts and curls tighter in the construct's hold. John thinks he almost hears the word "Mom".
His stomach twists.
__
It's almost over, he knows it. Time is almost out, and he'll have to face whatever that means. He knows, somehow, that she won't be here when that clock strikes zero.
She's not real. He shouldn't be begging her to stay like he is.
But she's here.
Soft hands grab his own again as the oven's timer goes off.
__
Kyle opens his eyes and everything is bleary as shit. It takes him like a minute of blinking to get his vision to settle into focus.
He's in Oa's infirmary. A couple wires extend out of his body to different little machines. Looking over, he finds John sitting on the bed next to his. Both of his arms are all wrapped up.
"Hey." His voice comes out croaky.
John looks over at him, and in an instant, it's like a weight had been lifted off his friend's shoulders. Kyle tries to sit up, but sharp pain and tight bandages around his stomach stop him in place pretty quick.
"You should be laying down for now. Your torso has some delicate patching."
He lets himself fall back into his pillow.
"So much for a simple mission." He sure fucked that up.
John laughs. "Yeah, but hey. It's not a Green Lantern mission if you don't lose a bit of blood."
Kyle nods along as best as he can, and hopes John can at least see it. He closes his eyes, and the image of her is still so vivid against his eyelids.
"You should get some sleep. It's pretty early in the morning."
He turns his head towards John with all the grace he can muster (Which right now is none) and does his best attempt at a scowl. From the face John makes it's a very poor attempt.
"Apparently I've been sleeping all day. I'm not tired."
He's not sure what waits for him now if he were to go back to dreaming.
"You should sleep though. You don't look like you've been asleep all day."
John sighs, small and quiet. "You're probably right."
Kyle watches as John shifts, swinging his legs up onto the bed so he can lie down. He pauses there, like he wants to say something more. The moment passes, and John lays down. He isn't sure how much time passes, but slowly, his breathing evens out.
Kyle finds his own eyelids growing heavy again. He doesn't want to go back. The not-her aches something awful. Getting ripped away felt worse. Even in his sleep, he's barred from a proper goodbye.
He drifts off and hopes maybe this time, he can have a couple more seconds.