Puffing out a thick cloud of air miserably, Kyle Rayner, the universe's last active Green Lantern glazed over the frozen lake below him through a heavily shaded pair of sunglasses.
It was a reasonable day for winter time- snow fluttered down in a blanket of haze, resting softly on the slushy grass below. A cool nip in the air would brush by, glazing past only to chill the very surface of his skin. Sniffing a few times, he flicked the collar of his ski jacket higher to block out the frost. He could think of many sweltering hot beaches he'd rather lay on than walk in this slushy mess. Puffing out another warm breath, he noticed it turn a slight green colour. Smiling, he turned around to see a jade coloured Wonder woman hovering behind himself patiently.
"You find the street?" Kyle asked hopefully. Nodding in return, a green Superman suddenly appeared, motioning him hastily in another direction. Grinning to himself, Kyle nodded to Superman, and started running in that direction. Alex hasn't changed a bit. He must be out skating or somethi…
Stopping dead in his tracks then, something smacked him face on, and immediately dashed off into the distance.
"What the heck was that?" Kyle stammered, phasing out the two emerald Justice League clones as he swooped around to see what it was. Squinting to see a slight flare in the distance, he was temporarily distracted by something toppling onto his shoulders, and falling to the snow below him. He raised his brows in wonder, before a burning feeling flushed right over his face where that thing hit him. Latching his hands to his forehead to asses the damage, he cringed. Damn it! Broken the front of my shades! That was a weeks worth of rent for those things! Calming himself down quickly, he then realized that it could've been his face that had the impact instead of his sunnies. Glancing at the remains, however, he thought different- that was not just an impact, his sunglasses had melted off.
Strange… Mumbling to himself, he formed a janitor with his ring, sweeping up the plastic before chucking it into a nearby bin. There was no need to act like Guy Gardener, the damage was done.
Breaking back into a sprint again, wary of any stray… fireballs deciding to greet him again, he spotted another frozen lake with two people skating around slowly. His eyes lit up hopefully, taking his last strides to the side of the lake. Looking at his shoes thoughtfully, the ring came out once more to form blades at the bottom of them. The first pair of snow boot-ice skates ever. I could start a new fad here…
"No! Don't you dare let go of me!" One of the skaters laughed as Kyle scuttled toward them self-consciously.
"There is no way you can skate on your own if you don't let go, Thena!"
"Al-lex,"
Kyle stopped dead in his tracks.
Well, he hoped that he would.
Falling face first onto the ice, he slid about a meter before stopping. Groaning to himself, he felt the rest of his face start to burn. Now for my next trick…
"That was an impressive nose dive." A voice laughed, lowering a fingerless gloved hand to his grazed head. Mumbling to himself, Kyle slowly lifted his body off the ice to see the owner of the hand.
Expecting to see the same young, innocent teen he once knew, his eyes meet a completely new person. The gentle aurora his friend used to have felt more like a dam wall in the path of a river. His hazel eyes rested narrower, and his expression stern. His ear length, brown hair breezing about his eyes was about the only recognizable feature on his now chiseled look. Kyle flushed a slight pink colour, rubbing his grazed face to hide his embarrassment.
"Hey, I'm all about style. I came looking for a guy called Alex Daniels though..." A grin appeared in his friend's eyes then, tugging him to an upright.
"Kyle… right? Kyle Rayner. You and I were best friends before I moved here and…" Kyle's eyes flashed toward him, only to see him smile secretively. "It's great to see you again! I see you haven't improved on the ice in that time."
"Hey," Kyle bit back, not pushing Alex's mysterious disappearance anymore, "I'll let you know that I've gotten much worse than you have gotten better!"
"Don't worry- I believe you after your nose moon-walked that last few meters," Alex nodded, brushing Kyle's accusing finger aside, "How did the drawing go? You said that you were going to go free lance, right?"
"Yeah, and I landed the best gig a while ago now. All the perks," Kyle grinned back, holding up his hand to count thoughtfully, "This comic strip for Feast, been doing it since… lets see… December, January, February…" Alex looked at Kyle's hand strangely.
"In between saving the world I bet," He stated, looking at Kyle with a lively sparkle to his hazel eyes. "So you hang out with guys like Supes, huh? What's it like to fight with that kind of artillery on your side?"
"Who? Superman? What are you talking about?" Kyle flushed cool for a moment, fudging his way along with a smile, "what would they do with a twenty-something year old freelance artist, with the imagination of a Hugh Hefner wannabe? Give the guy a serious paper cut? Paint smiley faces on them?"
"Wh… What the heck are you talking about?" Alex questioned, narrowing his brows curiously, finally pointing at his Green Lantern ring, "I don't know who you are trying to kid, Kyle, but that's a real Green Lantern ring. I'm not an idiot." Biting his bottom lip, Kyle's expression turned limp. He should've guessed that this would happen. He remembered of when they were younger; Alex talking about how a guy dressed in a green and black outfit had saved him from some alley cats that were attacking him when he was about five. He could describe the person so vividly; it always surprised him that Alex couldn't remember anything before that. It was only since becoming the Green Lantern though, that Kyle realized that the person that had saved his life was Hal Jordan himself. Poor Alex, he probably thinks Hal is me.
Letting out a stupid grin, Kyle flicked his hand behind his back, "Oh, don't be crazy, Al. Me in spandex? Your brain is in the gutter."
"Is everything OK, Alex?" Looking past Alex's shoulder, an incredibly beautiful blond woman lent down beside him, cradling his cheek. Alex nodded firmly, giving Kyle a searching look.
"I know how you work, Kyle. You joke about when you're uneasy about the truth. Just do this for once- for me. Go Lantern, please?" Blinking his eyes off the woman hanging off his friend's shoulder, he glanced down at his ring.
"Your memory hasn't changed much either..." Kyle mumbled, finally giving Alex a grin, "Ok, then. Time to show you why I can't skate." Phasing on his Green Lantern outfit, Alex's eyes widened slowly as he saw his costume- Kyle wasn't surprised. The only Green Lantern Alex knew of had a completely different outfit. Floating up to his feet before forming a pair of ice hockey sized skates over his boots, he watched Alex's jaw drop.
"This is incredible. A Green Lantern. I've read stuff on the net about you guys. So you're guardians too, huh?" Kyle stopped posing and looked back startled. Too? What's that suppose to mean?
Not having time to respond, another flash of fire glanced past his head, darting in another direction, then another hit his back, and another, and another…
"Kyle! Protect yourself from their fire!" Alex yelped, leaping to his feet. "Those are Embaflais! They'll burn you to death if you touch them too long!"
"No kidding! Why are they attacking us?" Kyle flashed around in surprise, forming a green field around himself, and his two friends. "Are they trying to kill me? They aren't doing a good job if they are." Creating a large fire hydrant with his ring, the blond girl screamed.
"No, don't! You'll kill them!"
"Well how should I stop them then? Tell them to go away?" Kyle demanded, holding the hydrant back for the moment, "How do you know so much about them anyway?"
"I think… I think that their kind must be in danger, but I… I can't help them." Alex bore fiercely, slamming his fist into the thick ice, "I can't touch them- They are completely protected by fire. None of the power I still have will help if they burn me to death! I hate this!"
"It's all right, Alex," his girlfriend calmed soothingly. "Desmond or Isidore is bound to appear and…"
"No!" Alex roared, placing his hands on the green globe around him, and slowly digging his fingers into the shield, parting open the field as if it were nothing more than green goo. Spotting his friend force the rest of his body through the opening of a shield that could keep Superman busy for at least ten minutes, Kyle began to wonder how much he didn't know about his… friend. Storming in front of Kyle, and throwing his arm out protectively, Alex's composure flared the air around them, eyeing the balls of light in grimace. "It stops here! I may not have the power, but I am not useless."
"Ale…" The balls of light stopped dead in their tracks just in front of the brunette skater. Finally getting a good look at the fiery creatures, Kyle grinned. Those little demons that had destroyed his sunglasses were actually palm sized dragons with red butterfly wings. Thinking of how Jenny would absolutely love these creatures, he noticed Alex reach out his hand toward one. Taking in a shallow breath, Kyle put on a game face. What is he going to do? What is he capable of doing?
"Little Embaflais," Alex started, suddenly switching on a caring tone of voice, his hand only an inch away from the creatures, "You can only give me one thought, OK? I'll see if I can't help you." One Embaflai immediately leapt onto Alex's hand for a second, and then retreated quickly for his reaction. Shifting to see what was going on, Kyle noticed that Alex hadn't said anything about what the miniature dragon had said.
"Damn, I bet that hurt, huh?" Kyle asked, suddenly spotting Alex's white face. "Al?"
"I need your help, Kyle," Alex breathed, still staring off into space, "You ever had an arch-enemy that was just as powerful as you?"
"Yeah," Kyle breathed, descending to the ice carefully, "All of the time with the JLA. Everyone is out to 'take over the world' in New York too."
"Well," Alex breathed, "my enemy is a spirit that claims the body of the most powerful spirit, born at the same time as anyone from my family. It taints their mind and soul, with anger and hatred. I thought that I got rid of the last one, but this little guy reckons that there is another walking around this minute." His soon to be wife gasped from nearby.
"No… Not another…"
"Drakobitus."
