Here goes the story......

Disclaimer: I own nothing and my account is currently overdrawn so YOU CAN'T SUE!!! Muhwawawawa

Ahem.

Rating: PG-13. Things of grown-up nature are discussed, but never distastefuly (I hope.) There is also a bit of language, but only where I thought it necessary as a writer.

Chapter one

"Oh, great Thangar......" Hawkgirl whispered, clapping her hands over her mouth to stifle another scream.

John Stewart was lying in the bed, as she had predicted, but nothing, nothing could have prepared her for the sight that now lay before her eyes.

He was laying there, feet tangled in the fitted sheet, one arm over his head, the other tucked underneath his back, protectively. He looked thinner, leaner, and his cheeks were sunken. A long, thin scar ran from his collarbone, down his chest, down till it disappeared into the waistband of the jeans he was wearing.

Hawkgirl winced, staring at the scar, which was raised, red, and glaring. Katar's knife. It must be. The mark was unmistakeable. She reached out to touch it.

"Don't make another move, woman."

The voice behind her didn't evn register at first; Hawkgirl was still in shock, staring at this shell of her former love, laying useless on the bed. Then she froze.

"Turn around slowly."

Hawkgirl did so, although her limbs seemed immobile. when she rotated fully, she fixed her eyes on the door, where the steely voice was coming from, and froze. "John?"

No.....it couldn't be John- John was lying on the bed! She rubbed her eyes. No, it wasn't John.......or was it?

The man standing in the doorway of John's bedroom was tall and broad shouldered, and sported the same short cut, as well as the same dark, flawless complexion and features. A more searching glance revealed that he was a few years younger, however, and he sported a gold stud in his left ear.

"Who the heller you?" He rasped.

Hawkgirl raised her hannds slowly- she hadn't brought her mace- and sent up a silent prayer. She could see the moonlight glinting off of something tucked in the man's black pants- the barrel of a gun, perhaps?

"Preston, what is going on?" A woman's voice cut into the tense silence, and a small face appeared over the man's broad shoulder. When the woman saw Hawkgirl, her thick brows knitted together, and her eyes narrowed. "You!"

"Katma!" Hawkgirl saw no other alternative. She turned and began to run, taking to the air and diving for the open window.

"Don't let her get away-!" Hawkgirl heard Katma shriek.....then heard an explosion of gunfire, and felt a sharp, intense twinge of pain in her left wing.....it wouldn't hold her up anymore! It was sagging, and she was dropping to the ground, falling fast.......

Was this the end?

Vaguely, she heard a shout- a woman's scream, and saw a flash of green light. She felt herself being lifted upward........

"Thangar," she whispered....."I have served you well......into your hands I commit my spirit......."

She hadn't said such prayers since she was a child. How did she even remember them? "Thangar...."

All of a sudden, she felt an intense warmth, a comforting warmth. The pain was dulling, though still there. She opened her eyes, feeling a pair of strong arms enveloping her body. "I've got her........" she could hear a man's voice, vague, but clear. John? But it couldn't be John. She was dead.

"Lady?" That voice again-!

"Her name is Hawkgirl." What was Katma doing in Thangar's paradise? She struggled to open her eyes.

"Hawkgirl." The man's voice was urgent, panicked. "Wake up.....Katma, call an ambulance- we can't let her die!"

Why not? Shayera wanted to ask. She was so comfortable, now.......

"Hawkgirl!" The man's voice was even more urgent, and he shook her. "Damn you, Katma, and your trigger finger......Hawkgirl! Open your eyes for me! Please!" His voice was shaking.

Hawkgirl struggled and did so, staring into the man's dark face. "John...." But it wasn't John. John's eyes were green. A deep, emerald green. This man's eyes weren't green, although they were beautiful- a deep, dark brown, flecked with lighter specks of hazel .....she reached up and touched his face.

"What happened to my brother?" Not-John was screaming hoarsely. "Dammit, woman, what did you do to him....."

"Preston!" Katma's voice was louder now, and clearer. "The ambulance is here!"

"It's about time....." with the last of her conciousness, Hawkgirl strained to hear Not-John's words. "Katma, I need answers from her, you fool......why did you shoot her....."

"I'm sorry! I thought......"

"Paddles!" This was the medic. "Step back!"

Hawkgirl moaned as her chest was jerked upward by the force of the electricity. And everything went black.......