Faithful Eyes
By: Dreamcatcher89
Disclaimer: I don't own the Justice League, DC Comics, or any song lyrics mentioned (I quoted them).
Spoilers: This is a Post-"Starcrossed" story ( ya, ya, I know, some of you may be sick of them by now but please just give it a chance), but before "Initiation".
Rated for Language, Violence, and future Adult Content.
Summary: Shayera's past has come back to haunt her again. Gordainians are truly an evil force, but so are vengeful Thanagarians. "All's fair in love and war!"
"It's just a matter of time
That we all go to a better place I'm told
It all sounds well and fine
But without you around I feel nothing but cold
And I now have nothing
But your heartbeat in my head
And a photograph of my traveling friend
And I became nothing when I found out you were dead—When I found out
I'd never see you again"
"You're Dead" by: Alkaline Trio
Prologue: Memories
It was another beautiful sunset as she watched the magnificent colors slowly fade away from the horizon. With the sun's departure she could feel a cool breeze and left the open field. The warmth of the sun had become comforting in some odd way but now that it was gone she flew into the dead of night to return to the cave that she was currently residing in.
When she approached her destination she immediately started a fire, it was always especially cold at night in the mountains. Looking over her surroundings, she carefully examined her few belongings, to make sure that everything was in place, and she wasn't discovered. Everything was as she left it, she was just being paranoid. Before being 'escorted" out of Midway by an angry mob of humans, she had managed to take a few clothes, a blanket, some photographs, and the duffle bag that she shoved it all into before they managed to break down the door of her apartment.
Apparently there had been an anonymous tip as to her whereabouts, there were a few people whom she entrusted her secret identity with, anyone of them could have easily blabbed. Then again how could she blame them, she was a traitor wanted by almost every government in the world.
She set her gaze onto the fire, the dancing flames only reminded her of the torches, knives, gunfire, and utter chaos that chased her out of the city. She could still remember them calling out 'Monster', 'Winged Beast', and her personal favorite, 'The Angle of Death'. The anger she could deal with, but it was the fear on their faces that really got to her.
Isolation from the humans was probably for the best, she could only plague them with complications, for now she was belittled to nothing more than a fallen warrior.
Now huddling closer to the fire she covered herself with the blanket to conceal whatever warmth she had left. Then pulling the duffle bag closer to fashion into a pillow, some of her photos fell out. Picking them up, she now held in her hands her most precious memories. The good old days with the League, before their invasion and before her betrayal.
Examining the pile, she noticed the picture on top and couldn't help but smile. It was a picture of Flash the day he offered to cook dinner at the Watchtower, only what appeared to be burritos, had exploded in his face and they ended up eating left-over pizza. He could always manage to make her laugh.
Beneath that she had one of J'onn gazing at the stars. The memories of their conversations started to fill her mind, they would discuss anything from politics to how much they missed their home planets.
The next photo was of Batman, Diana, and Superman. To this day she was still shocked that Batman willingly posed for this picture, but it was taken right after Superman's supposed death so every one was in a good mood and desperately wanted a copy (since he still had his beard). She never really got that close to the 'Dark Knight', 'Princess', and 'Boy Scout', never really understanding them and their beliefs. None the less, she would always hold a great respect for each and every one of them.
Flipping through some group shots, her smile slowly faded as she came to the one of her and John. They had taken it a few days after their first kiss, he was holding her like he would never let go. Tears took form and started streaming down her cheeks, if only she could change the past.
She hurt them all so much, especially John. Why didn't she realize what the Thanagarians true plans were? Why did she play John like a fool and knock him out? Why did she have to be the perfect little patriot like her mother? Why was she so naive? Why didn't she have a better sense of right and wrong? Why?
Why did she keep the damn photos? They only ended up bringing her pain and grief. Maybe somewhere in her mind, she wanted to feel the pain, the same pain that she caused the humans and their heros, her heros. The internal conflict raged on in her mind for another good hour before her eyes grew heavy and she finally allowed herself to succumb to sleep.
If you believe what you are feeling now hurts just remember the past, you will never forget........... never!
Where was she? Everything had changed, the room she was in was huge and she then realized that she was in an actual bed wrapped in silk sheets. There were purple plants in the corner and when she looked out the window she could have sworn she saw two moons.
She got out of the bed then she remembered that her mother had agreed to let her sleep with her after she had that nightmare about the Gordainians attacking them. Even though there were guards at every entrance of the estate, she always felt safest with her mother.
But where was her mother? She searched the room to find her gone so she got out of bed to look for her. She opened the door to an empty hall way.
"Mommy.", her voice echoing into the darkness.
Something didn't feel right, her feathers were standing on edge. That's when she heard the loud 'CRASH' down the hall, followed by her mother's screams. The alarms in her head went of as she dashed down the hall, her mommy needed her.
Running faster and faster she could make the words "HELP! HE'S GOT A KNIFE! HELP, ANYONE!", the shrieking getting louder and louder as she saw the light from her father's room.
When she reached the door she saw a tall hooded figure hovering over her mother's limp form, she was crying and bleeding. When she saw her daughter, her eyes shot open as she called to her in pain. That's when the monster turned to face her, his face was covered in bandages but she would never forget the look of insanity burning in his eyes.
That's when she did the only thing a child could possibly think of. She turned and took flight into the dark halls screaming, but no one came, she was alone. Noticing her father's prized energy mace hanging in the trophy room, she flew over and ripped it off the wall.
She fell back at first, she was so small and the mace was so heavy, but she found the strength to lift it and flew as fast as she could to her mother's aid.
When she came back, it was to late. She found her mother, her body now submerged in a sea of blood, with a knife sticking out of her heart. Then to her left she noticed her father's body on the ground with none other then a Gordainian standing over him, the dark cloak and bandages were discarded on the floor.
It was nothing like the tales her brothers had told her, or like the scary pictures she saw, the demon before her almost seemed surreal. The monster then turned and faced her, showing no emotion what so ever.
In that one instant she saw red, she would not let him kill her father too. Shayera flung the mace as hard as she could at the Gordainian, but instead of nailing her target, he effortlessly knocked her aside. She hit the ground pretty hard, everything was starting to go black. Before she passed out she heard the beast grunt, and saw it take flight as the sirens finally started to ring.
Darkness now consumed her body, her mommy was gone, she lost her forever.
Her eyes shot open, drenched in sweat. It was just a dream, only a dream. Her hands reached up to her earrings, her mother's earrings. When she had them on she could cope with the past, in her mind they made her just as strong as her mother. As she got older, with the earrings she even looked like her mother. That made her smile.
Then her stomach started to growl, it was time to find breakfast. She would probably just eat some of the raspberries that grew by the river. They should be ready to pick by now.
Today was a new day.
Alrighty then, there you have it, the first chapter of my first ever fanfic! Fair warning, this story is going to revolve mainly around Shayera, but don't worry I haven't forgotten the other Leaguers: GL, J'onn, and Flash (who will be added mainly for comic relief like in the show, gotta love that Speed Demon), will be added in the next chapter, and I am considering to add Batman and Wondy(I'm not sure if I want to add a BM/WW relationship into this yet, only time will tell). This whole thing is sort of a half-backed plan, so I'm pretty much making it up as I go along, I have to fit it in between my guitar and tennis. Anyways, as for that little dream sequence, Shayera's past is coming back to bite her in the ass, yet again (in that dream she was like 5 years old, so it really dramatizes her). Another warning, I've given her a very painful, dramatic past, like the story lines they have in novelas, only this will be in English of course, with ten times more blood, action, fight scenes, etc. Of course their will be future romance between, oh come on you all have to know by now who my favorite couple is by now. That old flame will never burn out! As for the lyrics at the beginning, music is a major influence on my writing so there you have it, extra points for whoever can tie the lyrics to the chapter, it shouldn't be that difficult, this time at least! As for the length of the chapters, this was only the prologue so you can expect more lengthy chapters in the future. Anyhoo, I hopped that you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I'm no F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I did get a 91 in English 9H, that has ta count for something, right, anyone?
Ohh, and can anyone answer this question; How old is Hawkgirl? I know it sounds random, but it will be explained later, I guessed somewhere between mid twenties and mid thirties. And the usual, if anyone has any info on Hawkgirl returning, please tell me ASAP, I'm always the last to know about these things dammit, not this time! (If you want to hear my crack-pot theory concerning her return just click on my profile)
Peace out and rock on!