There was the sensation of floating in a pool. A heavy, thick pool that completely coated me in sticky black nothingness.
I felt the need to open my eyes, to take in any form of light. But my eyelids were weighted down like lead.
The feeling rushed away, carrying me with it, so that I felt like I was being hurtled upwards too fast for comprehension.
My eyes flew open to reveal the harsh glare of florescent lights and I quickly sat up. My breath was coming out pretty ragged and I was completely disoriented…and also completely covered in a cold sweat. Looking up, my eyes adjusted to the lighting and I saw someone I never thought I'd ever see again. Several someones, in fact.
The first of which was Batman. The second of which was Robin.
Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, and Martian Manhunter were also there, as was the rest of the Team.
I was on a metal medical table and it appeared as if everyone on the team were too.
"Sparrow," Batman asked.
I nearly cried. Why did I have to feel so weak?
Around me, the rest of the Team was waking up.
Everything was moving so fast.
"They're all okay," Red Tornado stated.
"Okay!" I snapped. "We all just died!" I stood up, my legs wobbling slightly. "And you guys were dead too!" I pointed at Batman and the others. "I'm so confused," I mumbled.
Once everyone was awake and semi-okay, I settled down beside Robin on his table, my legs against my chest and my arms wrapped around them. I was shaking slightly.
"What happened in there?" Batman asked Martian Manhunter.
"The exercise, it all went wrong," he replied, holding his head.
I shared a look with Robin.
"Exercise?" he asked quietly.
"Try to remember," Batman instructed us. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter mentally linked the seven of you in an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware that nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."
That would explain why we didn't mourn them. I knew something was fishy about that whole thing. But did it have to feel so real?
"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Krypto was disintegrated right before your eyes," Manhunter explained. "But that all changed when Artemis died. Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise. And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too."
"I-I'm so sorry," Miss Martian said after we all turned to look at her.
"This isn't her fault!" Superboy defended. "Why didn't you stop the exercise?"
I felt like even though I wanted to put the blame on someone, I couldn't. This wasn't anyone's fault. It was just one of those series of unfortunate events.
"We tried," Manhunter assured. "But M'gann had a…death-grip on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should have awoken upon her death, was so convinced she had passed that she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to wrest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much…noise to think clearly, to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped, but it was not until the mother-ship exploded with Robin, Kid Flash, and Sparrow inside, did my mind clear enough to remember to shock M'gann out of the exercise. Before your comas became permanent. My apologizes. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous, so damaging."
I grabbed Robin's hand.
Sure, that training was pretty rough. But I think we all had some remnant of remembering. I mean, I knew that I shouldn't tell the others about my membership in the League, or about the laser. That had to be something.
"Robin, Sparrow," Batman called.
We slid off the table, not letting go of each other's hands, and sullenly followed after Batman. Passing through the zeta, I couldn't help but remember how Aqualad had died before he could make it through them.
It was going to take some time to let go of this.
As soon as we reached the Batcave, I took my sunglasses off. I collapsed in a chair by the Batcomputer while Bruce fiddled about with it. Dick claimed a chair beside me and the two of us quietly watched our mentor, following his every move.
This just had to be awkward for him.
Bruce wasn't the type to sit down with people and talk through feelings and whatnot (not like Dick and I really were either). What he did, was he would let those feelings run through a person's head until that person went mad, or until they grew strong enough to expel said feelings.
Don't get me wrong, there were times when Bruce would talk to us about these things, but I was pretty certain that this wasn't one of them.
"You two should get some sleep. You have school tomorrow," Bruce said, as stoically as ever. "If you're up to it," he added as an afterthought.
"Couldn't sleep if I tried," I whispered. Once more, I pulled my knees to my chest and pressed my forehead against them.
"You two can't stay up all night," Bruce continued.
"We have before," Dick shrugged.
Bruce sighed. Turning to us, he rested his hands on our shoulders. "Try to get some sleep. I understand it must have been hard, but you two can't let it stop you from being my partners," he assured us.
I looked up at him and nodded. It was one of those times, apparently.
When he actually tried, Bruce was pretty good at heart-to-heart conversations.
Dick and I got up from our chairs and headed for the stairs. Before I reached the first step, I turned back to Bruce, ran up, and hugged him.
He wrapped his arm around me to return the hug.
"Thank you, Bruce," I whispered to him before coming out of the embrace and hurrying after Dick.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep…and that tomorrow at school was going to be living heck, but I wasn't going to give up.
****YOUNG JUSTICE****
So yeah, just a filler chapter really (with some DaddyBats fluff).
missmusiclover: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!
Synk: I know! I love Robin too! But I had to kill him off! Thank you for reviewing!
Lady Ishtar12123: I was kind of going for sad, so I'm glad it ending up like that! Thanks for reviewing!
MapoTofu21: Sorry I made you almost cry! I started crying when I wrote it! Thank you for reviewing!
Please review!
Lates,
~AvenJackel
