A/N: Big thank you to Alverrann for her review, as always. You are a lovely person!

This is one of my favorite chapters in the story, not least because it features some guest appearances that I would absolutely squeal about if I were the reader instead of the author.

Chapter Eight: Given the Green Light

"John! Have you seen my sketchbook?"

Looking up from the housing brochures he had spread out on the dining table, John found his younger brother searching frantically under the chairs in the living room.

"Wasn't it on the coffee table last night?"

"Well, obviously it's not there now, is it? I took it to add some modifications to my latest design."

"Where'd you put it after that?"

"If I could remember, I wouldn't be asking you, would I?"

John snorted, because this was just so typical. Unlike his older brother, James Stewart was messy, rather disorganized, and more than a bit scatter-brained. John had a strong, square jaw, and was broad-shouldered and well-muscled from Marine Corps training; James was long and lean, with softer features. John was serious and reserved; James was cheerful and effervescent. One of the only things they had in common was a mutual love for drawing — even then, the two brothers had taken different directions. John had channelled his artistic talents into architecture, earning his degree before serving with the Marines. James, twelve years John's junior, was currently eighteen and just about to start his major in graphic design — a major that he had gained admission to on the basis of drawings in his missing sketchbook.

"Found it!" James crowed, fishing the large, leather-bound book out from under a couch cushion.

"Congratulations, hotshot," John deadpanned. "Try not to lose it for the next two weeks — the college will want to see those designs when you enroll."

"I know, I know. I'll try to remember where I put it next time." James grinned, then bounded over to the dining table. "What're you doing? Housing brochures? Looking to get back to work?"

"I'll probably do that soon." Before he'd joined the Marines John had had a fledgling career as an architect. He had been taking things easy for the last two months since returning from Afghanistan, but being a man of action, he was already beginning to feel restless and would definitely seek out a job before long. "But actually, I'm looking for a decent apartment to rent."

James' eyebrows shot up. "You wanna move out?"

"I'm 30 years old, James. I should have my own place."

"But then Ma will be all alone!"

"I'm sure she'll manage," John said dryly. Carrie Stewart was a fiercely independent woman who had no compunctions about speaking her mind. Since the first two weeks or so after John came home — and after she'd gotten four years of worry out of her system — she'd been dropping hints that she might quite enjoy having the apartment to herself once James left for college in September. In other words, she wanted John out of the house ASAP. She probably already had plans to turn his room into an indoor garden (she was nuts about plants).

James chuckled. "She probably will, at that. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts hosting weekly bridge parties."

"Exactly." John checked the clock on the wall and gathered the brochures into a neat stack. "I'll see you later, James; I have to go pick up Rex from the airport."

"Rex…your buddy from the Marines?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't know he's from Detroit."

"He's not. He's stopping by on his way to Chicago." John grabbed his keys from the key rack by the door and went out.

The Stewart apartment was only on the third floor, so John forwent the ancient elevator and jogged down the stairs to the basement parking. As he unlocked the door to his old Camaro, he thought he'd caught sight of a flash of green; but when he turned around to look, there was nothing to be seen.

"I'm telling you, James, I saw a light. I know I'm not crazy."

James 'hmm'ed absently, doodling in his sketchbook while keeping the phone tucked against his ear with his shoulder.

"James!" came the exasperated voice from the other end. "Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, sure I am…you saw a green — er, something — following you for about two blocks before it disappeared into the sky." Tongue between his teeth, James sketched several lines into his latest artwork.

"Light, James," his friend stressed. "It was definitely some kind of green light."

"What, like a traffic light?" He groaned internally as he noticed a mistake that had to be erased.

"No, not like a traffic light. Traffic lights don't follow you around."

"Mm-hmm…why are you telling me this?"

"Because it was really weird and I thought you might be able to give me an explanation? Although now I'm wondering why I ever thought you would be of any help."

"Yeah, you and me both."

"James!"

James sighed and finally set aside his sketchbook. "What do you want me to say, Kyle? It's not like I can come to L.A. and help you investigate, or anything."

"Tell me there's nothing to freak out about."

"There's nothing to freak out about," James repeated dutifully.

"You're very reassuring," Kyle said dryly.

"Hey, you called me, remember? I wouldn't worry about it, Kyle. Odd stuff happens all the time — especially with all the metas around."

"There are no metas in Los Angeles."

"How would you know? They're not all going to be like Superman, you know," teased James.

"Hey! Superman is awesome, okay? Green Lantern's got nothing on him."

"Green Lantern can create anything he can think of," James pointed out. "That's much cooler than super strength and invulnerability."

"You're forgetting heat vision, freeze breath, super speed, super hearing, super vision —"

"Yeah, super everything, sure. I still stand by Green Lantern. Hey — Coast City's not that far from L.A. Maybe that green light you saw was one of GL's constructs," James suggested.

"I doubt it. The guy hasn't even been around! Besides, even if it was Green Lantern, why on earth would he be following me?"

"Maybe he's eyeing you as a successor," James joked.

"Har-har-hardy-har. You're a real comedian, James."

"I try." James shrugged. "Feel less paranoid now?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Anytime, buddy."

"Any change?"

The nurse sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry, no."

Unlike most people who desperately yearned to hear that their loved one had made some progress, the young woman in front of her remained undaunted by the nurse's gentle negative.

"He's taking his time, isn't he?" the woman mused.

The nurse couldn't understand it. For nearly three months now the woman's boyfriend had lain comatose in his bed in Baltimore General Hospital, with no indication that he would ever recover from the horrific auto accident that had put him there; yet she had never once been disappointed by the endless days with no progress. She didn't even appear at all anxious about his possible death; the nurse would have concluded that she didn't really love him, if it weren't for the fact that she had come to visit him everyday without fail.

"Ms. Limbo, you have to understand — there's a possibility that he will never wake up," the nurse said cautiously. "Regular car accidents are bad enough, but when you throw a bus in as well…"

"I know how bad it is, Janet," the woman said serenely, "but don't worry — he will wake up eventually. It's just going to take him some time."

"Ms. Limbo, three months is a persistent coma," the nurse tried again.

"I understand." She gazed fondly at the man on the bed. "But no matter how persistent, a coma will not hold him forever." She gently stroked her boyfriend's light red hair. "My Guy has great things ahead of him — he must be alive for that."

Finally deeming it a lost cause to convince the poor woman that her love was essentially brain dead, the nurse finished administering the patient's medication and quietly slipped out of the ward, leaving Kari Limbo alone with the unconscious Guy Gardner.

Something bright danced across her vision, and Kari saw the glowing green ring floating just outside the hospital window. She smiled knowingly.

"You'll have to find someone else. He's not ready just yet," she said conversationally.

As the ring glided away, Kari turned back to Guy. "Not yet, not quite," she murmured. "But someday, Guy Gardner, on a day of paramount importance, you will be the last of a great tradition."

Star Sapphire was still seething about Green Lantern's resignation when she made her patrol of Coast City, as had become her habit since taking over as the city's sole protector. She'd thought it was temporary until Lantern got back from whatever Justice League or Corps mission he'd been on for the past month — never in her wildest imaginations had she thought he would quit.

"Well, who needs him, anyway?" she muttered angrily. "Men are violent, arrogant, and close-minded. They oppress women and bring conflict and disunity. I'm better off without him slowing me down."

She spotted an attempted break-in going on in the residential neighborhood below her, and she immediately dove down to deal with the culprits (men, of course). The three would-be robbers knew who she was and attempted to flee, but she used her fuchsia energy to pull them back and systematically pummel them into submission.

At last, thoroughly cowed, the tallest one in the group finally begged, "All right, all right! We surrender! Take us to jail!"

Star Sapphire paused in consideration while her victims huddled together morosely. Her general practice since she'd started vigilantism had been to deposit any criminals she encountered at the nearest police station, as Green Lantern did — but she was tired of taking her cue from Green Lantern. He had proven weak, and she was not going to follow his example.

Of course, if she wasn't going to send these three hooligans to the police, she needed another method to neutralize them; if she let them go, not only would she be allowing them to rob again, but she would be undermining her own reputation. A strong person did not simply let criminals walk away.

A thought popped into her head just then, and she smiled at the beautiful simplicity of it. Green Lantern most certainly would not have approved — neither, for that matter, would most of the Justice League — but it was the ideal solution to ensure that these three wouldn't cause trouble again.

Fisting her right hand, Star Sapphire unleashed a powerful blast of pink energy at the three intruders, then launched herself back into the air.

Those men wouldn't be a problem again.

"I will be Coast City's protector from now on," she decided, "and the champion of women's rights. And the next Green Lantern, whoever he is, had better not get in my way."

Hal Jordan's ring returned to Oa approximately twenty-four Earth hours after the former Green Lantern had left, surprising the Guardians with its expediency. They had imagined that the ring would take its time selecting several suitable candidates for them to choose from, but apparently they had underestimated the quality of the inhabitants of Sector 2814.

By this time much of the debris from the Qwardian attack had been cleared off the streets of Oa, and the bodies of any Green Lanterns that could be found had been retrieved and placed in a chamber to await interment. Confident that the remaining Corpsmen could continue to handle the cleanup and regrouping without their intervention, the Guardians ensconced themselves in a private room to examine the chosen candidates of Hal's ring and the rings of the other dead Lanterns that had already sought out their replacements.

Never had they ever had to appoint so many new Green Lanterns at once, but the process remained the same. Each ring that had returned was laid on a circular pad which scanned the candidate data stored on the ring and then displayed it for the Guardians to see.

The Corps' leaders had already selected the new Green Lanterns for five sectors when they got to ring 2814. Ranakar's face darkened slightly as he placed it on the scanner, but otherwise he was his usual emotionless self.

He couldn't restrain himself when he saw the candidates the ring had selected, though.

"What!? Three Earthlings? And no one else?!"

"Jordan would have released the ring on Earth," Lianna pointed out.

"Regardless, there are many inhabited planets in Sector 2814," said Ranakar. "Ungara, for example. Alaxos, Dalgova, Caudatia Prima, Heliopolis, Zerbon — all these worlds must have individuals capable of bearing the ring. Why is our selection limited to Earthlings alone?"

"The ring knows best…" Ganthet began.

"In the interest of full disclosure, Ganthet, I'm beginning to wonder whether this particular power ring has some sort of malfunction," said Herupa Hando Hu. "First it chooses Hal Jordan without any contest, and now it appears to be limiting its selection of bearers to a single planet. It cannot be that there are no possible candidates on any of the other worlds in 2814."

"On the contrary, it is quite possible," disagreed Appa Ali Apsa. "You will recall, of course, that at the time of Sinestro's selection, each of the potential Corps members hailed from Korugar."

"And look what became of that," said Herupa Hando Hu. "Oa is in shambles."

"And yet," interjected Lianna, "we chose another Korugarian to be Sinestro's successor, despite the potential of the candidates from other planets."

"Katma Tui's appointment owed just as much to political reasons as it did to the ring's choice," Ranakar reminded her. "After Sinestro's egregious abuse of power, we needed to give the Korugarians reason to trust the Green Lantern Corps again. They would not have reacted well to the appointment of a non-Korugarian Green Lantern for their sector."

"Agreed," concurred Basilus. "Even Tui, beloved as she is for her revolution against Sinestro's oppression, faces some hostility on her home planet for accepting the ring. It will be a long time before Korugar is ready to forgive the Corps."

"Which is why I am disinclined to trust the ring's judgment when it presents such a limited list of candidates," concluded Ranakar. "Particularly a list comprised solely of Earthlings."

"Be that as it may, Katma Tui performed most admirably in yesterday's battle, wouldn't you say?" Ganthet asked mildly.

"She did," Ranakar admitted. "But let us not forget, Sinestro once showed even greater promise."

"As did Hal Jordan," Basilus added.

"Are you saying that because of two disappointing former Green Lanterns, you're going to doubt every ring's choice as to who is fit to wear it?" questioned Lianna.

"Not every ring," Herupa Hando Hu refuted, "but Sinestro's and Jordan's, certainly. Both selected Green Lanterns who ultimately failed in their duties — and in Jordan's case, we, the Guardians, were given no choice whatsoever as to his appointment. If that ring," — he pointed at the green band on the scanner — "is not flawed, then we cannot trust any of the other rings, either."

Ganthet raised one white eyebrow. "The rings have proven near-infallible for eons."

"Eons of use might have contributed to their degradation."

"This is absurd!" exclaimed Lianna. "We created these rings ourselves. If the rings are flawed, then our work was flawed, which means we are flawed."

"Indeed," said Appa Ali Apsa. "Are you suggesting we did something wrong when we made the rings?"

Ranakar and Herupa Hando Hu both looked a bit uncomfortable. They were wise enough to be aware that they were, in fact, not perfect, but they were too proud to admit it.

"Of course not," Ranakar said finally, "but the fact of the matter is, after Jordan's disgraceful resignation, I am most reluctant to select another human. They are still an extremely young species, and Jordan has done nothing to assure me that they are mature enough to wear the ring."

"Hal Jordan defeated Parallax," Ganthet reminded him.

"With a great deal of help from his Earthling friends," Basilus qualified.

"What other Green Lantern do you know of who is capable of sustaining a shield over an entire city, against the living embodiment of fear, for quite a significant length of time?" demanded Lianna. "Even we required all of us to defeat Parallax the first time."

"Alan Scott was a human," Appa Ali Apsa chimed in. "He served with distinction."

"Scott was considerably older than Jordan when he got the ring," said Ranakar. "As well as the only human, until today, to ever be a Green Lantern candidate — and I still wonder why we decided to pick him over the many other prospects for Sector 2814. There must be a reason why only two humans have been Green Lanterns in the entire history of the Corps."

"Yes," agreed Appa Ali Apsa, "as there is a reason why this ring now presents us with three humans."

"I say we send the ring out again," suggested Basilus. "It's entirely possible that, having found three prospects on Earth already, it deemed that number sufficient and did not proceed to other planets. Perhaps a second scouting will yield more results."

"If that were true, we would not have just had to sort through over three dozen candidates for the last ring," Lianna said dryly.

"Precisely!" exclaimed Herupa Hando Hu. "Three is far too small a number to make a wise decision on a Green Lantern."

"But according to the ring, these are the only three it will accept."

"Which is why I doubt its judgment."

"Haven't we already had this debate?" inquired Appa Ali Apsa.

Ganthet had finally had enough. "The question," he interrupted, "is not whether we can trust the ring's judgment. The question is, do we have a choice? We need to replenish our numbers — quickly, for I don't doubt that Sinestro will be back as soon as he is able. We do not have the time to investigate, much less rectify, any perceived flaws in the ring; we need a Green Lantern for Sector 2814, and as Lianna has pointed out, it must be one of these three humans. The ring will accept no other — either we choose a new Green Lantern from the Earthlings, or we will not have a Green Lantern in 2814."

There was a pause as the Guardians processed this. Lianna was nodding, Appa Ali Apsa looked approving, and even Herupa Hando Hu had a resigned expression on his face. Ranakar and Basilus grumbled lightly, but even they knew when the battle was lost. They might not have liked it, but Ganthet was right — they didn't have a choice.

"Very well, then," Basilus gave in. "An Earthling it is."

"An Earthling," Ranakar acquiesced with chagrin. "I do, however, object to the child." He pointed at the screen that bore the name Kyle Rayner.

"Actually, on Earth, seventeen years is very close to adulthood," Lianna informed him.

"But not yet an adult," Ranakar stressed. "If we must choose a human, at least let us choose one not so immature."

"Agreed," Basilus said at once.

Herupa Hando Hu and Appa Ali Apsa quickly indicated their agreement as well.

"Very well," said Ganthet, "but that leaves us with only one option, seeing how the other…" — he waved at Guy Gardner — "…is currently indisposed."

"Even more reason why we should examine this ring as soon as we have the chance," Herupa Hando Hu murmured. "A comatose man should never have gotten near the candidacy."

"Then we are in agreement," spoke up Lianna, ignoring Herupa Hando Hu. "The new Green Lantern of Sector 2814 is this man." The other two screens vanished, leaving only the one Lianna was pointing at.

John Stewart.

"Another military man," Appa Ali Apsa observed, studying the brief data on the screen. "Let's hope this one follows orders better than Jordan did."

"I just hope, for all our sakes, that we do not live to regret this," Ranakar muttered.

A/N: And this was the point where the story really took on a life of its own and I realized it was going to be much longer and much more intricate than I'd originally planned. Accordingly, chapters from now on are going to be longer.

Next chapter arrives on Monday. Enjoy your weekend!