Planet Mogo, mobile headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps

"Extra! Extra!" cried a young officer, carrying a buncha copies of this week's Weekly Volcano and handing them out like crazy. "The Sinestro has challenged Queen Carol Ferris of Zamaron to a death-defying duel, and...and...and..."

"And what?" a voice said as the young officer was yanked back by a green construct.

"Corps Leader Stewart!" said the officer, surprised.

"Death-defying duel, you say? You still have them papers?" asked John Stewart.

"I...I lost them when you yanked me back. They're now all over the place." said the officer as he pointed behind him.

John looked around at the mess before letting the officer go and picked one of them up. His eyes skimmed over the front page while his eyebrows twitched suspiciously, the newspaper company had surely left something out and the architect Green Lantern knew what it was at first glance. Personally, he held a grudge against Carol—he had lost his wife Katma Tui to her and he never really forgave her for that. But personal grudges aside, this was a corps matter. The whole deal was built upon the two contestants' shared affection for one Hal Jordan, which Weekly Volcano had been so bold to leave out. And since Hal was a meaningful and valued member of the Green Lantern Corps, all three colors had a say in that matter, yellow, violet and green.

Sinestro looked at the front page of this week's Weekly Volcano, and sighed.

The clueless newspaper company was marketing his and Carol's death-defying duel as "the showdown of the century, the ultimate smackdown, an all-out war, the brawl to end all brawls, the battle of the sexes, the definitive clash between fear and love, a momentous confrontation of the most critical-blah-blah-blah" and things like that in order to get more readers in. Yes, indeed, this year's Lantern Games were cancelled for the duel, that's how big of an event it was, but to the Yellow Leader and the Violet Queen themselves, it meant so much more than just that. Weekly Volcano had been ever so bold to write an article about the duel and leave out the very reason why it was decided in the first place—Hal Jordan.

From the first moment he laid eyes on Carol Ferris, Sinestro knew he was no match for her—not in terms of power, but in terms of what they were.

~FLASHBACK~

After a tiring mission, Sinestro had followed Hal to Coast City to make good on his word—he had promised the younger Green Lantern that they would spend time together on Earth. Right now, they were at a beautiful lake, relaxing before they visited Ferris Aircraft. "You won't leave me, will you?" Sinestro asked, a hint of desperation in his eyes.

"Why would I? You know I'd ride to the death with you." Hal smiled, then looked at Sinestro again to spot something different—the older Green Lantern now looked more human than Korugarian. "Wha—"

"I figured I'd draw stares with pink skin, so I made a little disguise with my ring." Sinestro said as he gave a cheeky grin.

"But Sin, you'd still draw stares!" said Hal. "Mostly mine." He then gave his lover a kiss on the cheek, and they set out for Ferris Aircraft. Upon arriving, Sinestro got to know a lot of Hal's Earth friends including the engineer Tom Kalmaku, and a black-haired, beautiful woman.

"Who's your friend?" asked the woman, causing Hal to sweat a bit.

Instantly, the mood shifted. Everybody present stood back. The air crackled with tension. The brunette knew he had to improvise, and said "Um, Carol, this is Thaal Sinclair, my good friend. He's from Manhattan. Sin, this is Carol Ferris. My girlfriend."

That last sentence left Sinestro dumbfounded. He didn't react when Carol offered him a hand, saying "Oh, nice to meet you, Mr. Sinclair."

And the overall experience he had after had left him quite angry and confused, even after he returned to Oa. Despite Tomar-Re and Kilowog's efforts to calm him down and Salaak's "it's just a phase" talk, Sinestro was still unsettled until Sheriff Mardin of Sector 1253 stepped up and told him "First, there is desire. Then, passion! Then, suspicion! Jealousy, anger, betrayal! Love is for the highest bidder, there is no trust! Without trust, there is no love! Jealousy, yes, jealousy! It's bound to drive you...mad!" She then began singing.

MARDIN:

Roxanne!

You don't have to put on that red light,

Walk the streets for money,

You don't care if it's wrong or if it is right,

Roxanne!

You don't have to wear that dress tonight,

Roxanne!

You don't have to sell your body to the night...

Upon hearing the sheriff's words, Sinestro once again recalled the events on Earth. Carol Ferris was perfect, she was an Earth woman with luscious pale skin, lustrous blue eyes and perfect breasts. Sinestro, on the other hand, what Earth humans would call "E.T" then tell him to "go home" at first glance with his "unnatural" skin color, the spark in his yellow eyes would often come across as threatening and, oh, he didn't even want to get started on what lay hanging between his legs!

SINESTRO:

Her eyes upon your face,

Her hand upon your hand,

Your lips caress her skin,

It's more than I can stand!

MARDIN:

Roxanne!

SINESTRO:

Why does my heart cry?

MARDIN:

Roxanne!

SINESTRO:

Feelings I can't fight!

You're free to leave me,

But just don't deceive me,

And please believe me when I say,

I love you!

~END FLASHBACK~

Maybe that was the moment their feud truly began. You see, even after everything that had occurred, Sinestro still wanted Hal for himself and that put him at odds with several Green Lanterns, and after he went yellow, the Justice League. After the whole love triangle thing was brought up in front of the heroes' team, most of the League took Carol's side with only Wonder Woman remaining neutral. Well, Martian Manhunter too, he didn't care if Earth, Mars or some Earth delicacy known as "Oreo cookies" wasn't involved.

Another instance, after the Blackest Night, when he and his corps were out to prevent the capture of the seven emotional entities, they had come across an alien soothsayer who told Sinestro "Your heart's bleeding."

"It's not." he had told her.

"But it definitely is." she had retaliated, and when he thought about it now, maybe she was right. He had gone through a lot—first, he had lost Korugar and sure, that hit REAL hard. But what hit him even harder than that was what occurred after. Hal had become a Black Lantern and helped him(and Parallax) defeat Volthoom, then was resurrected by a stray green ring. At that point, Sinestro just straight-up assumed that Hal would, 100% without a doubt, return to him but instead, his human had gone straight to Carol. That was the last straw. The Yellow Leader had lost his home planet AND the one person worth giving everything up for, and it hit so hard that he just straight-up decided to leave everything behind but Lyssa Drak was there to pull him back to his feet. And now, he was up against the biggest challenge of his life.

Pull it together, Sinestro! The duel's next week! Parallax screeched from inside him.

"I got it, I got it." the Korugarian nodded. After all, he did get a few benefits out of the whole deal anyway. When he attempted to let Parallax go, it turned out the fear entity wanted to stay with him. Sinestro, surprised, had asked him why and he had replied that they both had one thing in mind:Hal Jordan. And as much as Sinestro hated to admit it, he had to agree, considering the creature's own twisted interest in his human, and the two had been partners since then. If the duel ever went awry, the entity could be of great help.

He had also consulted his former Injustice League allies about the duel. Luthor had scoffed at the whole deal. There was no use asking Manta's opinion. Catwoman and Deathstroke had a bet on who will win just like pretty much everyone in the universe. Captain Cold tried to kill him on it. And, of course, Teth-Adam had his back, one hundred per cent.

Suddenly, an alert came from his ring. It was from one of the female yellows, stating that a Star Sapphire had broken into Warworld. And so he went to investigate. The Sapphire, upon seeing him, put on the biggest, sunniest, most awkward smile she could manage and asked "Parley?"

LATER...

"So what you're insinuating is, a split faction broke off from the violets and they're staging a coup d'etat to overthrow that Ferris woman?" asked Sinestro.

"That's right. If it goes well, I'll convince my leader to stop the abduction and converting of female yellows." replied the Sapphire.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"Zynaurael of Keldar, from Sector 1417. I know you're in doubt, but if the Weevil Bun was behind all of this, I would've tried to assassinate you on the spot instead of asking for parley. So what I wanna say is, I bear no ill will."

"You sure about that?" The Korugarian's arms were crossed, and his voice had a hint of doubt in it. But then again, it made sense. Her eyes were big and innocent, not like any of the Evil One's puppets.

"I guarantee." said Zynaurael.

"Very well, then. If you dare cross me, then I will kill you with my own hands." Sinestro declared.

"Oh, one more thing...what exactly transpired between you and Hal Jordan? I knew you two were lovers, but my leader didn't tell me the exact details." asked the Keldarite.

And the ensuing monologue was the most ridiculous yet heartbreaking thing she ever heard. "...things were going well, until he wanted to have an "open relationship". So I asked, what exactly is that? And he told me that an open relationship is one in which both parties aren't exclusively dating each other, and one thing he didn't know, was that we Korugarians take adultery very seriously. So I was all "No way!" and he said "Yes, way." That day, we got into a huge argument and..."

Zynaurael sighed as Sinestro rambled on, and on, and on about his doomed relationship with Hal Jordan.

"...but I've told you too much already! Now get off my headquarters, or I don't know what I might do next." Sinestro snapped, and Zynaurael nodded before high-tailing out of the place as soon as possible.

Later, she was sitting on an asteroid, processing all she had been told when her ring gave an alert.

Familial love under threat in Sector 1417. You are needed.

And so she flew all the way back to her sector and found a pirate ship trying to raid a caravan carrying a humble family. "Stand down, you pirates, or I'm gonna whoop y'all's asses so bad you won't be able to walk straight for a year!" she said.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning, pinky." said a feminine voice which Zynaurael recognized.

"Radea..." she growled.

"Aye, 'tis me, the peg-legged unfortunate soul." replied the pirate captain. "Now get out of my way unless y'wanna get blown to smithereens!"

"Will you knock it off?" asked Zynaurael. "I've got enough threats from Sinestro today."

Radea was now sounding surprised. "You spoke to Sinestro?"

"I asked for parley." repiled the Keldarite Star Sapphire. "Also, when you read that newspaper, didn't you have the feeling that something was left out?"

"No, I just thought it would be one helluva fight, why?" asked Radea.

"Let me in, and I'll tell you." Zynaurael said, and the Star Scourge beamed her aboard. "Alright, where was I? Turns out there was a reason behind them suddenly deciding to fight, and Weekly Volcano had been so bold to leave it out."

"And what's that?" Radea asked.

"Hal Jordan."