Chapter Summary: After an altercation with his estranged brother, Hal decides to face his past and find closure for his father's death.

Closure (Hal)

BRRRIIIINNGG!

Ah, the sweet sound of the release bell on a Friday afternoon. About time, I was gonna fall asleep in this any minute now. All the other kids packed up and rushed out the door while I waited for my two good friends in the back: Miss Jillian Pearlman and Tommy Kalmaku.

"Hey there, Highball. Did you enjoy the lecture?" the Texas girl asked me.

"Of course I did, Cowgirl. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I almost fell asleep," I replied, which got a laugh out of her. "What about you, Tommy; did you like it?"

"Well, history isn't always the most interesting, but it was okay, I guess," he shrugged. "So Hal, any plans for your birthday?"

"Oh, you know, hang out with you guys, get together with my beautiful girlfriend, and if I have time, hit the airfield."

"Hmm. Sounds like a plan." The three of us walked down the hall to meet up with Carol. Ah, there she is…

I snuck up behind her and gave her big hug and a kiss from behind. Setting her back down, I expected a smile and a kiss back, but all I got was a frown and an angry look. "Carol?"

"Don't talk to me," she replied coldly. She passed by Tom and Jill, giving the two of them a small smile before heading towards the exit. Geez, what did I do this time?

I ran after her and caught her just as she got to the flagpole. "Hey Carol, Carol! Is something the matter?"

She turned around and looked me dead in the eye with a scowl on her face. "What's the matter, Hal? Gee, I don't know, do you remember what we planned last Sunday?"

"Uhh…"

"We had a date last Sunday. And what did you do? You completely blew it off!" Carol yelled at me. "You didn't call or let me know ahead of time that you weren't gonna show. No, you just stood me up and left me at the diner for an hour, Hal Jordan!"

Oh, she was mad. "Look, something came up and I guess it just slipped my mind-"

"Just slipped your mind?! How could you forget your three-month anniversary with your own girlfriend?!"

Uhh… crap. I looked behind me and signaled for Tom and Jill to back me up, but they both just back off and looked away awkwardly. Well, this isn't good. "So what? Does this mean we're off again?"

Before Carol could answer that, a familiar voice called my name. "Hal!"

I turned to see my little 10 year-old brother jogging up to me with a wrapped gift in his hand. "Happy Birthday, Hal!"

"Jim! It's great to see you!" I said, hugging him. "It's been a while. How've you been?"

"Been doing well. I couldn't forget my big brother's birthday." Ah, man, I love this kid. He's been the closest family I've got since the family fell apart. He looks up to me and I could never let him down.

"Hey there, Carol," Jim said to my girlfriend. Or is it ex?

"Hi Jim!" the black-haired girl greeted, putting a smile on her smile and sounding as friendly as possible.

"You look nice today."

"Thank you. Hey, you look a little different. Did you get new glasses?"

"Yes, I did," Jim answered enthusiastically. My little bro also said hi to Tom and Jill while I sensed another presence nearby. Approaching us was a man in his mid-20's with combed hair and flat look on his face.

He looked as though he didn't want to be here. He was also waiting for Jim to hurry up so they could leave. Oh, how could I forget… "Jack," I greeted my older brother.

"Hal."

"Come here to say happy birthday to your baby brother?" I smirked.

"I have nothing to say to you, Hal."

"A 'hi' would be nice too, y'know…" Rolling his eyes, Jack told Jim to give me my gift so that they could go. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's the rush? It'd be nice for the two of us to catch up."

"After what you did to mom? I doubt it." Oh, here we go…

"Jim, why don't you wait in the car? Jack and I need to talk for a bit." Looking at us with a worried expression, he gave me his gift and reluctantly walked towards Jack's car. "C'mon, Jack, I thought we were over this."

"It was your recklessness that caused her to get sick. Everything she told you not to do, you did the exact opposite. It stressed her out and you know what? I had to support the whole family while you were out doing God-knows what!" Jack ranted. "What have you done to help our family at all?!"

"Tom, hold this real quick," I asked him, handing over Jim's gift. "Well, Jack, let's see," I started, "After you left for law school to 'become the District Attorney,' you didn't really talk to the family for a few years. In that time, when I found out that mom had cancer, I quit ROTC to cause her less stress, I stopped going to the airfields, and I got a job to support her and Jim because she was too sick to work. I drove Jim to school every day, helped him out with his homework every night, and took him to all of his events and supported him." Finally, I retorted with, "And you say I don't care about our family?!"

"It's only after all that is when you finally learned to take responsibility!"

"And what's the thanks I get for that?! You take Jim away from me, refuse to let me see mom on her deathbed, and disown me from the family!" I yelled. A small crowd started to look at us as we argued, but I couldn't care less. "The house got taken away too, so I had to live in my car for three weeks until Tom let me live him! I worked overtime at the café just to make enough money for food for those three weeks! Thank God the owner let me have some leftovers!" My yelling started to turn into screaming. "Do you have any idea how I felt?!"

"Well, karma's a bitch, ain't it?!" Jack yelled back. "And you know what, dad would've been disappointed in the man you are now!"

That's it. That's what set me off. I threw punched him at his face as hard as I could. I heard Carol screaming my name in shock, and Jill and Tom holding me back before I could do worse things to him. How dare he bring up dad like that?! It took a few seconds but I managed to calm down. Slowly looking around, I saw the crowd with various looks directed at me, mostly of shock and surprise.

Getting back up and recomposing himself, Jack just scoffed, "You're never gonna grow up, are you Hal?"

I've had enough of this crap. I shook off my friends' grip and stormed through the crowd to my car. I started it up and floored it out of the parking lot. So much for making things up…

It was a quiet night. I was back at Ferris Aircraft for the first time in months. This place brings back so many memories. All the times I skipped school just to see dad fly by in his jet, where I was when the ring chose me, and the day-

I sighed as I sat in the hangar full of wrecked planes. In the far end was dad's old plane. The metal was bent, burnt and rusted, the paint was chipping off, and the whole thing was a crumpled mess, really. I remember that day like it was yesterday.

I was eight years-old. It was a big day that day where Carl Ferris was showing off his newest jet model. Dad was the test pilot for it.

It was also the day where I met Carol. He told me to hold onto his jacket for him. While he was zooming by, Carl was next to me with his daughter, checking with dad to make sure everything was running smoothly. She told me that jacket looked too big for me. I told her I was holding it for my dad, who was flying the jet. She said that her dad owned that jet and that one day, she'll be flying one of them. That's when we formally introduced ourselves to each other.

But something went wrong. I heard dad radioing in that there was a leak or something. Carl brushed it off as nothing and told him to keep flying. Then the end of the plane started smoking and catching fire. It started descending quicker and quicker until BOOM! The plane hit the ground and exploded. Gasps and screams radiated throughout the audience. The air crew rushed out to the crash site to put out the flames and to see if dad was okay. All I could do was stare at the wrecked plane as everything around me went to hell. I knew he was gone.

I looked at the jacket I was wearing right now. My father's jacket. I always wondered if he was scared out of his mind right before he hit the ground. I always convinced myself he wasn't, and so I set out to be a man without fear to honor him. Guess that's why I turned out so cocky…

Then, I thought back to earlier this afternoon when I had that argument with Jack. I realized how our family fell apart after dad died. It was all Carl's fault. He knew there was something wrong with the plane, but he didn't do jack about it. For ten years, I've always blamed him for dad's death. I bet he doesn't even care that he died; he just wanted money. You know what, I'm gonna get this off my chest. I going to face to him and give him a piece of my mind.

I flew to Carol's house and landed in a secluded spot about a block away. Checking to make sure no one was around, I got out of uniform and started walking towards her house. I disguised my ring as a silver band with the saying "This too shall pass" in Hebrew. For one, people wouldn't think much of it than if it were my actual Green Lantern ring. Second, it looked exactly like the ring mom gave me for my bar mitzvah. While Jack and Jim leaned more towards being Catholic like dad, I took after mom and was more Jewish. It was a shame I had to sell the real thing in order to feed myself.

I showed up to her front porch and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, Carol opened the door, dressed in a purple shirt and sweatpants. "Hal?"

"Carol, I need to see your dad."

"Wh- huh?"

"Let me talk to your dad."

"Why?"

"Carol, I think you should know why," I said, inviting myself in.

"Um, no, I don't," she said, stopping me. "What do want to talk to him for?"

"About my dad. What happened ten years ago."

Carol paused and looked at me for a moment. "Hal, you can't-"

"Why not?"

"Because he's- he's-"

"He's what?! Too much of an arrogant prick to talk to anyone?!" I snapped.

"What?"

"Carol, your father practically killed mine!"

"Don't say that!" she yelled back at me.

"Well it's true, isn't it? Your dad knew there was something wrong with the plane. And my dad died because of it. I want to talk to him, now!"

Carol just looked at me, stunned and silent. She sighed and quietly told me to follow her. Going upstairs, she knocked on her father's door. "Daddy?"

"Come in; it's open," his voice answered.

As soon as she crept the door open, I barged in, furiously saying, "Alright Carl, I have some words-!" But all I saw was an old man, laying in his bed struggling to get up. His hair was graying and the middle-aged man looked like he aged 20 years. "-for you?"

"Ah, Hal, it's been a while since the last time I saw you," Carl smiled weakly. "Carol, do you mind leaving the two of us alone for a minute?" His daughter nodded and closed the door behind me. "Come, sit down."

I sat down on the bed beside him. "Carl?"

"That's me. Wow, you really do look like your father," he noted. "I heard the commotion downstairs. I know why you're here."

"Do you really?"

"Yes. You're here to talk about your father," he said quietly. Then he broke out into a coughing fit. I grabbed the cup of water on his nightstand to help ease it. "Thank you, Hal."

"Now, about my dad…"

"Yes, of course. Hal, I want you to know that your father's death affected me as well. Him and I were a part of the 'Four Musketeers' back in the Air Force. Oh, those were good times…" Carl smiled. "You see, on the day he died, I had poured $15 million and six years into that jet he flew. Investors were watching and yes, I needed to sell it to them. But when the plane crashed, his death haunted me for the rest of my life. I lost my best pilot and my best friend."

Finally, I understood. And I started to regret hating him after he just told me the truth. "I buried myself in my work, and I neglected Carol. I gave her everything she wanted just to get her to shut up. I spoiled her, but at the same time, I think all she wanted was for me to pay attention to her." Carl took a sip of water. "So she got all straight A's, joined the AFJROTC, and even dated several bad boys just to try and get my attention. It… didn't really work."

Huh. Now I could see why Carol kept going back to a guy like me… "But that's beside the point. From what Carol told me, Martin's death didn't just affect you."

"Yeah… it kind of tore the family apart, too…"

"That's unfortunate. I heard what happened to your mother and the falling out between you and Jack. It's quite a shame."

"Yeah…"

Carl put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. "Hal, I just wanted you to know how much this has affected everybody who knew him and not just you. So please, just move on. Your father would've wanted it that way." I nodded. God, I feel like a jackass…

Leaving his room, I walked back downstairs with his words rolling around in my head. I heard sniffling coming from the dining room. It was Carol. She had her hands covering her face and she was trying to hold back gasps.

"Carol?" I said softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

She turned around to look at me. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheek was wet with tears. "Of course you wouldn't, Hal. You never took the time to listen to me." I hung my head down and nodded. "It's been hard for me these past years. After your dad died, my dad got so busy in his work that he stopped paying attention to me. With no mom in my life, I tried everything to get him to love me. I did everything I could to impress him and I even acted out of order, but nothing worked." During that last part, her voice broke and more tears streamed down her face.

I sat down in the chair next her and held her hand tight. Oh, Carol… "And what's worse is that you come here out of nowhere and accuse him of killing your dad." Alright, I don't need another reminder of how much of an ass I am…

Carol calmed herself down, but as she talked more, short gasps of breath interrupted her speech. "I remember… one thing he said... to me when I was acting out… 'Why can't you be more like Hal?'" I widened my eyes at what she said. "He was jealous about… your relationship with your dad… how close you two were… how ours wasn't like yours…"

Oh, if only he saw how I acted towards everybody else… I pulled Carol in for a hug and held her for a long time. "Carol, I'm so sorry…" I whispered in her ear. I looked into her eyes, wiping the tears off her cheek. "The truth is I haven't been the best person either. Not the best friend, brother, or boyfriend either. There's a lot of stuff I'm going through right now, and I guess I don't really know how to vent it."

"Hal, just tell me. I'm your girlfriend; it's what I'm here for." I opened my mouth, but no words came out. How could I tell her about the Corps, Sinestro, and everything else?

Looking away from her, I let go of her and turned my head towards the ground. "It's a little complicated right now," I said, "but I promise one of these days I'll tell you." I leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Good night, Carol."

Flying back to Tom's house, I thought about everything that led up to this. When I first got the ring, I didn't know what to do with it. Abin Sur told me that the ring chose me and that I was the one to carry the light, but I didn't believe it. Then Sinestro came to me on Oa, telling me that he was going to train me to use it, master it.

Things were tough at first. Sinestro was a hard teacher, and I only made things harder because I didn't listen to a thing he told me. Listening to authority isn't my best suit. But over the next two years, we built up a close relationship and I started seeing him as a second father to me. He always reeled me in, keeping me grounded, and I always thought that I could trust him. Then I found out what he was doing on Korugar. What he did to his own planet. I helped the people fight against him. We beat him and turned him in to the Guardians, but as he was being taken away, he cursed me and swore revenge on me. Half of me died that day. I was betrayed by someone who I thought was my friend.

Going back to Earth later, I found out that mom was dying soon. I rushed to the hospital to see her before she passed, but Jack stopped me before I could go in her room. He berated me, blaming me for all the stress I caused mom and how I made her die early. Then he disowned me from our family and said Jim was going to live with him now. He slammed the door in my face and locked it as I was practically begging him to let me see mom. It was no use. After ten minutes of begging and crying, I just left. I wasn't even invited to the funeral. The rest of me died that day, and there was nothing but a numb, empty feeling inside me.

Arriving outside my bedroom window, I unlocked it and went inside. Getting out of uniform, I remembered the week after mom died. I didn't show up to school for the rest of the week. My ring stopped working for that time, too. Jill, Tom, and even Carol tried checking in to see if I was alright. Looking through my phone, I scrolled back to the texts they sent me.

Jillian: Hal, r u there? Txt me back, is everything ok? :(

Tom: Hal, I heard what happened! Come on, let's talk about this

Carol: OMG, Hal! Im so sorry about your mom! Just wanted to let you know that I love you and Ill be here if u need me 3

I don't deserve friends like them… I looked at my ring, still disguised as the ring mom gave me. It was the only thing left of her and now it's gone forever. "This too shall pass," it said. Mom told me that it meant that whatever is happening now will pass and life will move on. Even though I still identify as Jewish, I stopped practicing. Hell, I even stopped believing. Maybe I should start again just to honor her.

Looking on my desk, I saw Tom left Jim's gift there. I picked it up and unwrapped it. Seeing what it was, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a framed photo of our family, a few days before dad died. There I was, holding Jim as he looked at the camera curiously. I had the biggest grin on my face. Behind me was dad, his arm around mom, laughing with joy as the two looked down at us. Jack was next to all of us, hands in his pockets and cracking a rare smile that I almost never saw.

On it was a Post-It note saying:

Happy Birthday, Hal! I hope you like this old photo of us! I miss you very much and I hope you can visit soon!

-Jim

I smiled and my eyes welled up a little as I read that. Oh, Jim, I wish I could. Undressing myself to go to sleep, I set the picture on my desk and got into bed. I took my ring off, which turned back into the standard Corps ring and threw it next to my alarm clock. Turning over and closing my eyes, I felt happier than I did in ages. Finally got that weight off my chest. Guess I'll start making amends tomorrow. Okay, Jim, I'll see you tomorrow…