"Her heart rate is up," Nightwing said, frowning at the monitors. "Way up."
Batgirl stood at his side, her arms crossed over her chest. Everyone on the team took turns monitoring both M'gann and La'gaan. She glanced at La'gaan's monitors. All normal. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad. "Any idea what she's seeing in there?"
He shook his head. "You can never be able to tell. Everyone's mind is different."
"Obviously," Batgirl replied. "So…what do we do?"
"If her vitals drop into dangerous levels, we have to wake her up," Nightwing answered.
"What about Lagoon Boy?" Batgirl raised a hand, indicating to his monitor. "If we have to wake her up before she wakes him…?"
Nightwing frowned. "Then we wait for him to wake up on his own. And…if he doesn't…"
She set her hand on his shoulder. "Don't think about that, Dick. You're not doing yourself any favors. He's going to wake up. Whether M'gann is able to help him or not."
xxxx
M'gann turned to face the Atlantean with the trident. Something in La'gaan's mind told her his name was Galeo, and he was a force to be reckoned with. She grabbed the trident, yanking it from his hand. Not real. He's not real.
She kicked his chest, propelling herself backwards into the crowd of dead Atlanteans. She stabbed blindly with the trident, spearing them left and right. At first, she felt horrified at herself. These were children. These were innocents. Hello Megan! They're not real. They're. Not. Real.
This thought spurred her on. One of them grabbed her arm, trying to bite her with rows of razor-sharp teeth. M'gann steeled herself. Using her free arm, she put the trident through the person's face. She drew back, disgusted with herself. No matter how many times she told herself it wasn't real, it still looked real. It felt real. There was blood in the water. She could smell it. She could taste it. M'gann felt herself about to get sick. Then the man, Galeo, grabbed her shoulders and turned her around.
"Bad move, chum," he growled. He punched her across the face, busting her lip.
Her immediate reaction was paralyzing fear. He had huge black eyes. Like a shark's when it's on the prowl. They were soulless and empty. And she knew this man was capable of murder. The idea came from nowhere, popping into existence without warning. But she knew that her gut feeling was right. Galeo was an evil man. He'd killed before. Chances were, La'gaan had seen him do it. M'gann readied herself, and began to fight back.
Something told her to go for the gills, so she did. She clawed at the sides of his neck and at those horrible black eyes of his. Galeo lost his grip on her, giving M'gann the opportunity to swim away. The water had suddenly gone dark and was thick with blood. She couldn't see where she was going. All around her, voices howled and screamed at her.
"Kill him! Kill him, boss!"
"No one steals from the Red Fins!"
"Spear him!"
And then, suddenly, there was a light in the darkness. At first it was just a pinprick. A little dot far in the distance. But M'gann swam for it, and it got bigger. It grew and grew, until it was so bright that it blinded her. A million emotions surged through her at once. Anger, fear, guilt, sadness, relief, happiness…then suddenly the voices calling for murder fell away. A new voice, strong and female, replaced them.
"Shhh, young one, you will be well again soon…get this child out of here! He has expelled too much energy!"
Everything went black.
When M'gann awoke, some part of her instinctively knew that she wasn't seeing through her own eyes. She was looking through La'gaan's. Somehow she had managed to insert herself into one of his memories. It was so much more…personal than the others. Now she could feel exactly what he felt, hear his thoughts echoing in her own mind.
They were lying in a sleeping pod. Through the glass, they could see the ceiling of the room they were in. It was elaborately painted with water nymphs and sea creatures. The ocean god Neptune was in the very center of it all. Only the very rich had things like that.
Where am I? La'gaan's voice echoed through her head. But the thought was sluggish and delayed. That wasn't any surprise, giving how they felt. Their body seemed to be made of stone. They didn't have to move. M'gann had never been so exhausted in all of her life. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep forever. She didn't care if they never moved again. Suddenly, nothing seemed to matter anymore.
Their eyes closed. When they awoke again, a medic was checking their pulse while a woman stood by. This time they had a bit more energy. They turned their head to get a better look at them. The medic was a 'pure' Atlantean, much like the woman beside him. She was beautiful, with long red hair and clothes fit for a queen. But they only saw the long red hair. Their mind was so exhausted, somehow they mistook her for Cor'rel.
"Mother," they said, reaching out towards her. It took all their strength to lift their arm. The woman grabbed their hand gently. She set her other hand on their cheek.
"Shhh," she said gently, "go back to sleep young one."
So they did.
The third time they awoke, a medic was feeding them. They swallowed obediently, even though half of the stuff tasted awful. When the medic left, they fell back asleep.
The next time they opened their eyes, they had the strength to get up. They opened the sleeping pod and got out, their muscles still weak and shaky. Almost immediately after, a medic came rushing in.
"No, no!" he said. "Sit, child, sit."
So they did. He checked their vitals and asked how they felt, over and over. Finally, he asked for their name. They eyed him distrustfully. Every stranger – no matter how nice they seemed – was regarded this way. Strangers lied. They cheated you out of food and what little money you had. But they answered his question honestly. "La'gaan."
"Where are your parents?" asked the medic.
"Dead," they said. Well, they didn't know where Cor'rel was. But, to them, she was dead. She abandoned them. They didn't have a mother anymore.
"Any other family?"
"No."
"Who has been taking care of you?"
"I have."
The medic raised his eyebrows, and they frowned. "How old are you?"
"I don't know. Ten, I guess." They answered.
"You don't know how old you are?" The medic was shocked. "What's your birthday?"
"I don't know. Why do you care?" They snapped. The medic gave up and left shortly after that, telling them to stay put. But, of course, they didn't. They swam off into the hallway. The rest of the building was just as ornate and lavish as the room they'd been in before. Where were they? In the rich part of Nanauve? That might explain all the nice stuff. But it looked like a hospital. Who took them to a hospital?
A medic finally noticed them wandering and took them back to their room, scolding them harshly. They weren't alone for much longer after that. The beautiful woman with long red hair swam in. She sat down in front of him and introduced herself as Mera.
They snorted. "Like the queen?"
"I am the queen," she said, a hint of a smile on her face. "I was visiting Nanauve for diplomatic reasons when I noticed your little…predicament."
They cringed. The last thing they could remember was being entangled in a net while Galeo stood over them, a black trident pointed right at their neck. "So you saved me?"
"No. You saved yourself, La'gaan. You used a powerful spell. Too powerful, for someone of your skill level and age…you almost killed yourself. Who taught you how to do something like that?" Queen Mera asked.
"None of your business!" They growled.
The queen's face grew somber. "Was it a man called Aurelius?"
Hearing the name was like a slap across the face. "How- how did you-"
"He was a student of mine at the Conservatory of Sorcery. I lost contact with him a couple of years ago…I presume he is no longer with us." Queen Mera said, sighing. "He wrote to me often, and he mentioned he was caring for you. And that he intended to raise you as his own. I know that only death would keep him from helping someone that so desperately needed him."
They didn't like this subject. It hurt too bad. "Where is Galeo?"
The queen hesitated. "He…he is no longer with us, either. Your spell…it was very powerful La'gaan. It obliterated everything – and everyone – that was too close."
She waited to see how they would take this news. But La'gaan, and by extenstion M'gann, felt nothing. "Oh."
"Did you mean to kill him?" Queen Mera asked quietly.
"No." It was the truth.
"Are you happy that you did?"
"Yes."
The memory disappeared suddenly, and M'gann was suddenly herself again. But the city around her was completely different. She was no longer in the war-like, harsh city of Nanauve. She was in Poseidonis. Everything was bright, colorful, and beautiful. Finally! Finally, she had reached the center of La'gaan's mind! It had to be here somewhere. Most likely in the Conservatory, near the heart of the city.
She started swimming, elated. But her mind kept going back to Galeo. He was a gang leader, a warlord, or something along those lines. And he was ruthless. So ruthless that he was willing to spear a ten-year-old child through the neck. What had La'gaan done to invoke his wrath? Or had he done nothing at all? Well, in the end, it was the child that won out. A mere boy had destroyed him with one spell. La'gaan had poured all his energy, anger, and hatred into that final act. What did Galeo do to make him so despicable in La'gaan's eyes?
It struck her then.
La'gaan has killed someone! M'gann thought. And he doesn't regret it!
How was she supposed to feel about that? Killing someone was a major offense in the Justice League, and was treated as such. The queen of Atlantis obviously knew. But did Aquaman? Did the rest of the League? Or was this one of La'gaan's darkest secrets, something only he and the queen knew? It made her sick. But at the same time, she knew La'gaan hadn't meant to. She was inside his head, she knew he wasn't lying. In fact, that spell wasn't meant to be a spell at all. It was an accident. An accident that saved La'gaan's life. If he hadn't done that, Galeo would have killed him.
Whose life is more important, M'gann? she asked herself, ashamed that she had been so quick to persecute La'gaan for what he did. A little boy, or a grown warlord?