Whoo! Fast update! Hopefully this story can help me get my groove back. Hope you guys enjoy!


Slipping into La'gaan's mind was relatively easy. Her mind brushed against his, lightly at first, testing the waters. Then she moved deeper. Through his consciousness – which was only a couple of broken images and thoughts, as Robin's had been – and into his subconscious. She submerged herself into his mind. For a few moments, everything was black. And then she was falling. A wide, dark ocean stretched out in front of her. M'gann fell into it, going further and further down…her descent began to slow as she reached the ocean floor. Out of instinct, M'gann shifted into her 'underwater' form. Though she didn't seem to need to. The sea was just like oxygen, with or without gills.

M'gann began to look around and get a feel for her surroundings. Robin's mind had been a hodgepodge of different cities and mismatched buildings. But, from what she could see, La'gaan's mind was completely different. Around M'gann was an underwater wasteland. The water was dark and murky. Rocks rose up from the sea floor in sharp angles. For whatever reason, the first word that came to M'gann's mind was 'starved.' And, as she really looked, that was truly the best way to describe the area. There were no fish, no underwater plants, no anything. It was completely lacking any sort of life. M'gann spotted a few small, crude buildings made from the rocks. But there were only a handful, and seemed to be abandoned.

Without knowing what else to, M'gann began to swim forward. Her experience from Robin's mind and her uncle's teachings told her that she would find La'gaan in his mind's 'heart.' Usually that place was in the center of everything, and manifested itself in the form of the person's home. For Robin it had been Wayne Manor. Presumably, La'gaan's 'heart' would be where he had dwelled in Atlantis.

The wasteland seemed to stretch on endlessly. It seemed to grow more desolate the farther she went. The sandy floor was almost completely replaced by the dark, craggy rocks. M'gann to feel a deep sense of foreboding. It struck here how thoroughly unprotected the area was. In the Atlantean cities she had visited, there had been large dome that protected the area from the dangers of sea. Here, there was nothing. If it wanted to, a shark could come out and attack her. A killer whale might decide she looked like a tasty meal. And, for some reason, M'gann got the distinct feeling that something like that had happened in this place before. It was lifeless. It was hopeless. And it was dangerous.

Preoccupied with her own thoughts, M'gann didn't notice the whale skeleton until she was swimming through it.

It was about a hundred feet long, resting on the sea floor. The fish (and possibly the natives) had picked the skeleton clean long ago. All that remained of it was smooth, white bone. M'gann ran her hands over it curiously. And then, suddenly, the silence around her was shattered.

The desolate plain came to life in one moment. M'gann jumped and retreated into the skeleton's enormous rib cage, looking out at the wasteland as it came to life around her.

Atlanteans seemed to come from nowhere, forming into translucent ghosts. None of them were human-looking, as Kaldur and some of his friends were. They resembled fish, whales, sharks, dolphins…M'gann stared at them in wonder. She had seen only a handful of these Atlanteans before. But now they were everywhere. It was amazing. Some of them looked as if the marine life had simply taken a more human shape. Some looked like a bizarre mix between human and aquatic. And others could barely be told apart from the actual sea life. The colors, the variety…their society itself was an aquarium. They spoke to each other in the Atlantean language, which she somehow understood easily. It took a while for this enchantment of diversity and beauty to wear off. But when it did, M'gann was hit with a hard dose of reality.

Everyone was starving.

They were all skin and bones. Some of them were diseased. She spotted Atlanteans with rotting fins, bleeding scales, sunken eyes…no one seemed healthy. Their faces were grave and aged. M'gann spotted children – guppies, rather – swimming around completely naked. Even they were skinny and sick. Only a few of them seemed to have the energy to actually play.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable once more, M'gann kept swimming. None of the specters paid her any attention. Some of them passed right through her, though she did her best to avoid them.

After what felt like hours of swimming through the haunted wasteland, M'gann noticed something…different. A guppy swam in front of her. He was extremely small and thin. There was blood seeping from underneath his scales. Like most of the other children, he didn't have any clothing. But there was one thing that set him apart from the rest of the figures that M'gann saw: he was solid. And, from what she could tell, he was a younger form of La'gaan. After a moment of hesitation, she swam after him.

The young, sickly La'gaan led her to a group of rocks. Together they formed a small cave that was just barely big enough for little La'gaan. He swam inside and curled up.

"Hello?" M'gann said as she swam up. There was no telling if the little figure would react. He was just a representation of a part of La'gaan's personality. It could be that he could talk, or even recognize her. Or he might not react at all.

Little La'gaan raised his head. He narrowed his hollow red eyes at her. "This is my cave. Get your own."

"Why are you so sick?" M'gann asked, looking at him with concern. Had La'gaan ever actually looked like this? Or was this just a part of his mind 'dying?'

"Because," Little La'gaan said grumpily. He coughed once and shut his eyes.

"Because why?" M'gann settled herself at the mouth of her cave, letting her tail rest on the sand. "Who is taking care of you?"

"The ocean is." Little La'gaan growled and opened one eye. "I don't need anybody-"

Suddenly there was a cry among the passing ghosts. They all scattered, disappearing into nothingness. The guppy at her side gasped. He pressed himself further back into his cave. With one little hand, he grabbed her fin and dragged her tail into the cave. "Hide, stupid! He's coming!"

"Who?" M'gann asked, trying to find the source of everyone's fear. This scene seemed eerily familiar. She thought of the skeletons that had haunted Robin's mind and terrorized his younger self. What was it that haunted La'gaan's childhood?

The guppy lowered himself against the sandy floor of the cave. He whispered, "Ocean-Master."

A large group of hooded shapes swam past. M'gann couldn't see their faces. All that stood out to her was their eyes. They glowed like fire. Those eyes were the embodiment of hate and malice…they swam over the cave, not seeing her or La'gaan. Behind them, one some sort of vehicle, was Ocean-Master. His suit of armor was a royal purple, and his face was covered by a mask. More of his followers swam behind him. A few of them pulled other Atlanteans by ropes around their necks. Some of the captives looked lifeless and dead. A few were being eaten apart by fish. Others were just skeletons, as if they had been dragged by Ocean-Master's servants for years…

One figure in particular caught her eye. One of the dead captives resembled La'gaan. Parasitic fish trailed after his body, darting up and taking off chunks of his soft flesh. As he passed over them, the corpse seemed to come to life. His red eyes opened. He reached down towards them.

"La'gaan…" he gasped.

La'gaan whimpered. "Papa…"

The group vanished, fading off into the distance. Slowly, the Atlanteans began to return. Their specters looked around once or twice. Then they simply carried on as if nothing had happened.

La'gaan was still shivering, his back pressed against the rocks. "He comes when you least expect it, and there's nowhere to hide."

With a slight frown, M'gann swam upwards and looked in the direction Ocean-Master had gone. "La'gaan, did he kill your father?"

The young guppy seemed reluctant to answer. For a moment he looked vulnerable and scared, as if the very thought of it terrified him to his core. But then the walls went up. He bared his sharp little teeth at her. "That's none of your business, chum!"

She was taken aback by his combativeness. "I'm trying to help you-"

"No you're not!" La'gaan yelled. "Now leave! You don't belong in the Bones!"

"The Bones-?" M'gann began to ask. But La'gaan shot off before she could finish the question. He vanished into the murky ocean water, swimming faster than she had thought possible. M'gann sighed.

Well, that was unhelpful. M'gann thought. She had no idea where the 'heart' of La'gaan's mind was. Or if this wasteland ever came to an end. Desperate for a clue, M'gann looked towards the small cave. It like it was frequently visited. There were small fish bones littered around the entrance. She saw a dark shape towards the back and reached in. What she pulled out surprised her. It was a light blue object, crafted into the shape of a closed scallop shell. When M'gann opened it, music began to play. Two small dolphins, made of twinkling gold light, swam out of the shell and began a dance in time with the music. Somewhere in the distance, a woman sang:

"Sweet water child,

Don't be afraid

Sweet water child,

I will stay right here

Sweet water child,

I love you…"

The song ended, and the two dolphins vanished. M'gann closed the shell. It was odd, the things you found in people's minds. She put the music box back into its place. Her uncle had warned her before going under that – to minimize the effects of merging their minds – M'gann was to disturb nothing while she was in La'gaan's mind. Everything had to remain as it was. Nothing could be moved. It may just be a music box in his subconscious, but in reality it may be a vital memory.

When everything was just as it had been when she arrived, M'gann swam off.

xxxx

"How is she – they. How are they?" Conner asked, walking into the room. Underneath the beeping of the monitors, he could hear La'gaan and M'gann's heartbeats. Both were steady, which brought him some comfort.

Nightwing glanced over his shoulder at him. "Stable. She's been under for about four hours now.

There haven't been any changes in either of them."

Conner frowned worriedly. He had hoped that M'gann would be in and out. Just like that. What was happening inside of La'gaan's mind? Was she in danger? "Feels like déjà vu. I remember when it was you that had to be woken up."

"M'gann saved my life," Nightwing said, "I just hope that La'gaan won't be in the same danger I was. Kaldur will kill me if anything happens to him…"

His teammate looked at him in surprise. "You've talked to Kaldur? No one has heard from him since…well, you know."

A grim look passed over Nightwing's face. "No, I haven't. But I know he was friends with La'gaan. When he comes back, he'll be pretty ticked off at me. Mal was right. That exercise is too dangerous. We were traumatized for months. Years, even…"

His words fell on deaf ears. Conner was only looking at M'gann. Worrying for her. How long would it be until she woke up? What if she didn't? He turned his face away and sighed. Yes, they'd all made a lot of mistakes lately. Nightwing made the mistake of putting the rookies through the exercise. Robin had made the mistake of setting off the alarms...

Had Conner made a mistake when he broke up with M'gann?