A/N: I'm slightly sad, because I got no reviews on the last chapter.

Chapter Six: Scorched Brown

Kent Nelson was awoken from his sleep at the ungodly hour of five in the morning by a definite, inescapable realization that something was wrong somewhere. Although he had never fancied himself as any great fortune-teller — that was an art best left to his esteemed colleague, Madame Xanadu — as one of Earth's most powerful mystics, Kent was closely attuned to the forces of the universe, and on occasion, he was able to sense great disturbances in the balance of these forces.

Inza had awoken at the same time her husband did, having been married to him long enough to realize what it meant when he unexpectedly woke up in the middle of the night.

"What is it, my love?" she inquired calmly.

"I'm not entirely certain," Kent admitted. "However, I sense that there is a war occurring."

Inza's brow furrowed. "A war?"

"Nowhere near us, dearest," Kent assured her. "Not on Earth, in fact. The conflict is far, far away."

"Hmm." Inza yawned. "Then what does it have to do with us?" She was ready to go back to sleep.

"Perhaps nothing," Kent conceded, as his wife snuggled back under the covers. It was summer, but Salem was fairly far north and yesterday had been unusually cool.

Inza was fast asleep almost instantly, and Kent pondered his sense of disturbance for only a few seconds more before he too dove back under the sheets.

Sorcerer or not, not all battles were his to fight.

Hal ducked a would-be lethal blow from Sinestro's yellow sword, before trying and failing once again to touch his former mentor with his own weapon construct. As in his previous three attempts, the green blade simply disintegrated before it got within two feet of Sinestro's aura. Hal gave a frustrated cry and flew out of the way of Sinestro's next swipe.

"Surely even you can see that it is pointless to keep fighting against me?" Sinestro scoffed. "Your ring is useless against the power of fear. Surrender, Jordan, and your punishment will be less painful."

Instead of replying, Hal used his ring to pick up a piece of debris and flung it at Sinestro, feeling a grim satisfaction as it collided with the shield Sinestro hastily erected. His energy constructs might not be able to attack the yellow Lantern, but he could certainly use them to propel other objects that could.

Exerting his will once more, Hal lifted several more large bits of debris and used the ring's energy to fashion them into a makeshift prison for Sinestro, enclosing the yellow Lantern within fragments the Qwardians had broken off Oan buildings in their attack. With a solid barrier between Sinestro and the ring's energy, Hal was gratified to find that he was able to maintain the green will holding the debris in place.

Hal was just figuring out how to neutralize Sinestro when the latter broke free of his ad hoc containment unit with a burst of yellow. Hal's green energy was instantly nullified as Sinestro's power made contact with it, and the debris fell to the ground.

"I tire of this, Jordan," Sinestro thundered. He created a yellow gun and fired it at Hal; Hal, too slow to avoid it completely, hissed in pain as the bullet grazed his thigh. Sinestro paused to contemplate his new weapon.

"Your Earth weapon is crude," he noted, "but effective."

Hal knew what was coming next. Aware that he wouldn't be able to shield himself, he put his U.S.A.F. training to good use and relied on his reflexes to dodge the hail of bullets from Sinestro's gun. Despite his best efforts, however, two more bullets clipped him, one in the shoulder and one in his side. Now bleeding profusely, if superficially, Hal blasted a hole through a tower that was still half intact and sought refuge in the building.

He's too strong, Hal thought in despair as he extinguished his green aura in order to prevent Sinestro from locating him. Not for the first time, he wondered how a Green Lantern as great as Sinestro had fallen to this level.

"I never saw you as a coward, Jordan," came Sinestro's voice from somewhere beyond the room. "Reckless and impatient, yes — but now I can feel your fear…fear that I've never sensed in you before. What happened to you?" Sinestro sounded mildly curious, but what had always been bluntness was now malice, clear in his tone.

And he was getting closer.

I need a different plan.

Making sure that he was well hidden, Hal waited until he could see the yellow glow of Sinestro's searchlight — then he lunged forward and bowled into the Korugarian. The force and suddenness of his assault startled Sinestro enough that Hal was able to knock him to the floor.

Sinestro recovered quickly, however — his left, ring-bearing hand pushed against the wall with yellow energy to put some distance between him and his former protégé. At the same time, he closed his right hand into a fist and punched Hal.

Pain exploded in Hal's head, but he refused to let go, and Sinestro's energy propulsion sent them both skidding across the floor, crashing through a reinforced glass window, and plummeting to the ground.

Sinestro swore and twisted violently in Hal's grip. Hal was forced to let go in order to reactivate his power ring, and both Lanterns pulled out of their combined dive in streaks of green and yellow. Hal hovered in the air, trickling blood from his bullet wounds, fully aware in that split second of how dire his situation was. On solid ground, he had some chance against Sinestro without his ring — he'd always been better at hand-to-hand combat — but in the air, he had no choice but to use his ring's power, which was useless against Sinestro.

Hal was nothing if not stubborn, though — he would give it all he had, regardless of how ineffective it may prove to be. With a roar, he charged at Sinestro, who swept aside his attempts at projectiles easily and caught him in an energy chokehold.

"Goodbye, Jordan," Sinestro said impassively as Hal gasped for air.

Out of nowhere, Arisia appeared, careening in from behind Sinestro and startling him to such an extent that she was able to snatch his yellow power ring from his outstretched hand. She was none too gentle about it, either; Sinestro roared in pain as her rough maneuver broke two of his fingers.

Without the ring, gravity pulled on Sinestro; and touching the source of yellow energy negated Arisia's own power ring, and she too was unable to stay afloat. Hal didn't hesitate; he dove to catch Arisia, choosing to leave Sinestro to his fate.

However, he'd forgotten about the Thunderers of Qward — who appeared to be Sinestro's allies in more than name. One of them caught the falling Yellow Lantern — and Sinestro, ever quick, grabbed a qwa-bolt from the quiver on the Thunderer's back. Spitefully, he hurled it at Hal and Arisia.

There was no time to react before the bolt slammed into them, sending them reeling to the ground.

When Hal came to, he was amazed to discover that he wasn't dead. Qwa-bolts were lethal in most cases, and a direct hit like he'd taken was always fatal. Although theoretically Green Lanterns could do anything with their ring, none so far had proved to have enough willpower to withstand an anti-matter attack on such a scale. Hal had a very brief moment of self-congratulations when he realized that his survival meant he had that amazing strength of will. It seemed his period of weakness was over.

Then his mind caught up with his thoughts, and he remembered that Arisia had also been hit — and with her aura neutralized, she would have had no defence against the qwa-bolt, even if her will had proved strong enough.

It was at this exact point that Hal registered the still-warm form on top of him.

"No…" His voice was begging, pleading with whatever God existed not to take another person he cared about, but in his heart he already knew it was pointless.

He gently pushed Arisia off him and checked for a pulse, feeling something break in him when there wasn't one to be found.

"No, please…" He scrabbled frantically to reposition his fingers, thinking that maybe he'd find the right place to feel the life-giving throb — if his hand could just stop shaking…

"Arisia, stay with me," he entreated, refusing to acknowledge her death, even though the tears filling his eyes meant that his body knew what his mind would not accept. He gave up looking for a nonexistent pulse and cradled her face in his hands, brushing her hair away, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs — anything to elicit some reaction.

"Stay with me, don't go — you're right, I need to find myself again, but I need you to help me — I can't do it on my own, Arisia — please, stay —"

He choked, unable to continue what he knew to be a hopeless plea, and buried his face in her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed to her deaf ears. "I'm sorry — I'm so, so sorry…"

It was several minutes before Kilowog found him. The normally gruff lines on the large Bolovaxian's face softened in grief and sympathy at the sight of Hal crying over Arisia. Kilowog might not have known the extent of their relationship, but it was plain that the only human Green Lantern had cared deeply for the dead woman in his arms.

Kilowog cleared his throat. "Jordan — are you hurt?" He'd seen the alarming amount of blood covering the other male.

Hal shook his head. "It's nothing."

"You're still bleeding. That's not 'nothing'. Here." Kilowog pulled some self-adapting bandages from the small first-aid kit he had with him and slapped them over Hal's three bullet wounds and a cut on his forehead. Hal would still need proper medical attention, but the bandages would serve well enough as a quick fix-it.

"Thanks," Hal said numbly. He had yet to actually look at Kilowog.

Satisfied that Hal wasn't about to faint from blood loss, Kilowog stood up. "Come on, poozer, we need to regroup."

"What is there to regroup for?" Hal asked bitterly. "What's the point? Sinestro'll take over, and there's nothing we can do to stop him."

"Sinestro ran away," Kilowog informed him bluntly.

"What?"

"Katma saw him leave. I don't know what happened, but he retreated, and the Thunderers went with him."

A memory from what seemed like a lifetime ago nudged through the haze of his grief, and Hal remembered what Arisia had done just before she died.

"Arisia —"

"There's nothing we can do for her now," Kilowog said sadly.

"No — she did it," Hal explained. "She stopped Sinestro. She snatched his ring from his finger."

His hand reached for Arisia's clenched fingers. Gently, almost reverently, he pulled the yellow ring from her grasp and held it up.

Kilowog whistled, impressed. "She did good," was his simple statement.

"Yeah." Hal was surprised his voice didn't break. He stared at the dim yellow ring and felt an irrational urge to crush it into dust. However, he knew the Guardians would want it, to see how they could adapt the Corps' power rings to fight it — and besides, he wouldn't be able to destroy it with his bare hands anyway.

"Come on," said Kilowog. "The Guardians have ordered every remaining Green Lantern to the courtyard. Ring or no ring, you know Sinestro will be back."

"I'm not leaving Arisia here," Hal insisted stubbornly.

"Then bring her along."

"We have suffered a terrible tragedy."

Hal thought resentfully that that was an understatement of epically massive proportions. Of the nearly four thousand beings in the Green Lantern Corps — all of whom had flown to Oa to participate in the battle — little more than half had survived the bloody day. Most had died valiantly, fighting against Thunderers to the very last, but some had not even had a chance to defend themselves — to say nothing of the hundreds of Oan civilians who had also perished. Of the Corpsmen who had survived, none had escaped without injuries. A full third of the city had been damaged beyond repair, and another third required heavy reconstruction. It was nothing short of a miracle that all six Guardians had survived unscathed — this was mostly due to the heroic efforts of the Lanterns who had protected them, at great cost to themselves. Hannu, Galius Zed, and Tomar-Re were among those who had sacrificed their lives to save the Guardians.

"It's been a horrible day and night," Ganthet continued. The Head Guardian did not normally look youthful, but now he seemed more ancient than ever. "I commend each and every one of you for your courage and strength in fighting against this attack. Know that we share your sorrow for those who have fallen."

The assemblage of bruised and battered Green Lanterns bowed their heads in acknowledgment, and Ranakar picked up from Ganthet.

"Despite all that has happened, we still have a duty — to the Corps, to the galaxy, to the beings we protect." The Guardian's normally apathetic eyes flashed with fire and fury. "We are beaten, but not broken. We will rise from the ashes of this day, we will rebuild, and we will bring Thaal Sinestro to justice."

Lianna said, "We have the ring he used to wreak such havoc. Without it, Sinestro will be delayed for some time. We will use this respite to find a way to work around the power of yellow fear, and when he comes again, we will be ready. We will not give in to fear."

"You are the Green Lantern Corps," Ganthet continued. "You have given much this day, but now I ask for more. I ask for your commitment, your heroism, your bravery, your power, your will — and together, we will move on past this."

Hal had to admit, it was a pretty speech — and it seemed to be working, bolstering the worn spirits of the Green Lanterns and injecting new resolve into them. Hal, however, was completely numb to the rousing effects of the Guardians' carefully chosen words. Everything he had been through in the past few months had changed him; it was as if a veil had been lifted. He could see how the Guardians themselves were barely holding it together, even if they were too proud to admit it; he saw how utterly clueless they were about how to progress from here, how helpless that made them feel, and how strongly they resented that; he saw how many of his fellow Lanterns could not wholeheartedly believe in the idea of a better tomorrow after the horrors of this battle, and how they clung to every word the Guardians said like a lifeline.

And for most of them, they probably would work it out. The Guardians would pull themselves together sooner rather than later — they'd retrieve their composure, their superiority, and come up with a plan. They would find new Green Lanterns to replace those who had died, and the Lanterns themselves would eventually recover, moving on past this tragedy once enough time had passed and they had found their purpose again. They would, because Green Lanterns had strength of mind, heart, and will.

Hal, however, knew he was done. He was not the same person Abin Sur had made his successor, and he knew he was no longer fit to be a Green Lantern.

Hal Jordan was broken.

A/N: I've been wondering whether I should move this fic to the crossover category between Justice League and Green Lantern, rather than just the former. What do you think? Sound off in the reviews!

Next chapter up on Monday!