Chapter Text
Two years ago
It was the best of days, it was the worst of days, and everything was quiet as Hal Jordan lay still and motionless in a hospital bed. His bright eyes, once so pure and bright, were dull, almost glassy, as they stared into nothingness, his skin an almost feverish pink where it was visible, as most of him was covered in bandages. Next to him, Oliver Queen was fast asleep, but it was a fitful, pathetic sort of sleep, the kind hounded by nightmares. Hal didn't even seem to notice whenever Oliver flailed and hit him in his sleep, too caught up in his grief.
On the floor, Clark Kent and Diana Prince were holding on to each other, her head resting on the other superhero's broad chest, still both dressed in their uniforms (unlike Hal, who was in a hospital gown, and Oliver, who had changed into his civvies). Both of them had that recognizable tint in their eyes that told you they'd just lost someone dear to them. Despite their strengths- and they had many- grief broke them like it would any ordinary human.
Barry Allen, the fastest man alive, sat in the corner of the room furthest from everyone, as if he were denying himself the comfort of his closest friends. His face, usually graced with a grin or a smirk or simply a kind smile, was pale and ashen, his eyes red-rimmed as tears silently fell down his face.
Bruce Wayne was not present, nor was Victor Stone, and yet everyone knew they too were mourning what had been taken from them that day. Not even a cyborg, nor an orphan used to pushing grief away, could not feel miserable after a death in the family. Because that's what the Justice League was, first and foremost, above all else: a family. How could they not be, after spending so much time together? And after all, it was a member of their family that they had just lost; J’onn J’onzz.
Misery sure did love company, and all present could not bear to be apart from one another. They feared if they went their separate ways, they’d have more corpses to bury; more funerals for friends. And no matter their powers, their intelligence, their aim, any more of that grief would utterly ruin them beyond repair.
How he died as well also haunted them all.
Two days earlier…
“Go,” Hal told them, straining as his viridian construct struggled to contain the extraterrestrial radiation- and the coldness of space- vying to enter the doomed spacecraft upon which the Justice League was on.
Ring, ten percent, a voice informed him.
He muttered curses in ten languages as another hole opened in the hull. He formed another construct to block it, but that would only buy them so much time to get the escape pod up and running. Kal was unconscious from kryptonite poisoning, as the Thydarins had very not-so-fond memories of Kryptonians after a prolonged experience with General Zod, so he couldn’t help. Oliver was recovering from being drugged and almost kidnapped- the Thydarin rulers wanted him as a consort, and apparently consent was not important on Thydaria’s twin-planets. Bruce was trying to get an especially complicated power-dampening collar off of Barry, but they were having a minor spot of trouble: it wouldn’t come off unless it detected the release of “human love chemicals”, whatever that was supposed to mean (though Hal had an inkling, and it wasn’t a particularly good one). Victor and Diana were busy trying to get the escape pod primed for departure, leaving Hal alone as he struggled to keep the ship together until the last person got onboard the escape pod- J’onn- and the escape pod was ready to be used.
Damn the Machiavellian, conniving, Thydarins and damn them for asking for the Justice League specifically. Murderous, sex-obsessed bastards.
“Hal, d’n’t you d’re!” He heard Oliver shout from the escape pod, his voice slurred. “Get y’r ass in gear and get back h’re!”
“I can’t,” Hal called back through gritted teeth, his voice strained. “If I do, we’ll all die.”
An explosion rocked the lower levels of the Thydarin embassy ship and Hal nearly fell over. He almost felt like he was at sea, the explosion’s movements feeling like particularly violent waves. Hal felt determination rise in him. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to the others.
So this is how I go out- protecting my friends, protecting my family. I’m okay with that. It means they’ll live to see another day. Live to protect so many lives in the future.
“Fuck that shit!” Oliver shouted, his voice clearing somewhat (the drugs’ effects must have started wearing off) and sounding strained. “Please, Hal…don’t go.”
It took every inch of Hal’s willpower to fight back the urge to run to his friend when he heard how utterly broken the archer sounded. But he couldn’t. Not now, and quite certainly never again. Hal snapped out of his thoughts when he saw J’onn round the corner of the corridor, bleeding from a wound in his gut but otherwise unharmed.
“Go,” Hal barked to J’onn.
Another explosion rocked the ship, this one much closer, and the Martian’s eyes darkened as he met Hal’s gaze. He did not move. There was a grim energy in the air as the two friends stood there, on the edge of death, both aware that this was very likely the last time they’d see each other.
Ring, five percent, a voice told Hal.
“Almost there!” Victor shouted from the pod.
The metal seemed to scream as the explosions got closer and closer and the holes became bigger.
“Leave,” Hal spat at J’onn. “Get in the goddamn pod, right now, before that fuckin’ fire gets over here and roasts you like an overdone piece of steak!”
Something in J’onn’s eyes grew hard, as if he had just reached a decision and it wasn’t a good one.
Yeah, leaving your friend to die, and letting them die for you, is generally very difficult.
“Let me go,” Hal whispered.
Ring, three percent.
“Engine’s online!” Diana called. “Come on!”
“Hal!” Oliver screamed desperately.
You know if I let go the holes will suck us all into space and we’ll die being boiled in the cold, cruel, expanse of stars. That is, if the explosions don’t get us first, Hal thought, knowing J’onn could hear him with his telepathic powers. They’re getting closer.
The ship was now shaking so badly Hal was almost getting vertigo. Left and right, up and down, they were all blurring together.
Let me die. It’s okay. I’m at peace.
A sad smile formed on J’onn’s face, and then there was a sudden pain in Hal’s head. He vaguely remembered hitting the ground, farther away from J’onn then he had been only moments before, as arms wrapped around him and pulled him into the escape pod. Thick, warm, copper flooded his mouth as he stared out at J’onn through the door’s window.
Ring, zero percent. Please charge with battery as soon as possible.
“None of you will die on my watch,” he swore he heard J’onn say.
And then fire was starting to fill the corridor, and the closest hole tried to suck J’onn into space, and then Hal was screaming silently as he watched his friend be sucked through a ten-inch hole. There was so much blood, and then the fire came, and then the escape pod pulled away just as the fire consumed what was left of J’onn.
Hal stared at the smoking remains of the ship for a long, long time, unaware of anything and everything around him, until his body gave up on him and his eyes rolled back into his head, sending his exhausted consciousness down into the dark.