Every time she absorbed a star system, Aya imagined that she was filling that gaping wound with the remnants of life. It was the living, after all, that made her as she was now. Before, she'd been a slave to them. Then she was cruelly fooled, deceived like a child. She fought for them and they betrayed her. It was a mercy. But she'd save them for last. Especially him.

That was why she hadn't destroyed them when she had the chance. She no longer possessed emotions, after all, so clearly that couldn't be it. It was vengeance, more righteous and just than the vengeance of the Red Lanterns. Than of his vengenace.

Aya could easily turn off her emotions. But memories... unless she started deleting entire databanks, she had to keep them. Good, she thought. It would fuel her to complete her mission. Her and her manhunters would create a kinder universe, without heartbreak. Without sorrow. Without pain.

Without love.

Even so, sometimes she shut off her memories. They distracted her when she needed to focus. ("Razer, h-how?") No. Those memories, while lessons, did not define her anymore. Aya was no longer Ilana's stand-in. She was no longer beholden to the crew of the Interceptor, to be bossed about. She was Aya, queen of the Manhunters and the most merciful creature in the universe. She pitied the living. Her infinite mercy would cleanse them of their painful emotions. Just as she had cleansed hers away and found clarity.

The last particles of Star System 427 vanished in a flash of light. Another part of the universe was saved from the living. From emotion.

("Aya. What are you doing?" The memory always sprang up, unbidden, when she destroyed a star system. Just a momentary glitch, but it was certainly obnoxious. Him and his opinions no longer mattered to her.)

She turned her sights onto the next closest system, pushing herself further and further away from who she was with every system she destroyed. Free- she was free of emotion now. Every star system in the Forgotten Zone was on her itnerary. Afterward, she would move on to Guardian Space. Surely she would meet them there. They would try to appeal to emotions she no longer had. Foolish. It was a mercy- ("This Lantern is dead inside. It is a mercy to destroy him.")

Her very last act would be to destroy them, the most emotional creatures she'd ever met. For their crimes, logically, they should suffer. (Make restitution. No. Restitution was a second chance. She would spare them second chances too.) He would go last, for his crimes are the greatest.

The sun crumbled before her, its energy flying toward her in a steady stream of light. Soon, Aya would see them again. Soon, they would understand their folly, the way she had understood hers.

("You came back for me."

"Always.")