Faithful Eyes

By: Dreamcatcher89

Disclaimer: I don't own the Justice League, DC Comics, or any song lyrics mentioned (I quoted them).

Spoilers: This is a Post-"Starcrossed" story ( ya, ya, I know, some of you may be sick of them by now but please just give it a chance).

Rated for Language, Violence, and Adult Content (take notice that the future has been removed).

Summary: Shayera's past has come back to haunt her again. Gordainians are truly an evil force, but so are vengeful Thanagarians. "All's fair in love and war!" (GL/HG BM/WW)

"I can't remember,

The last time you cared about anything,

The last time you allowed yourself to be seen,

So pretentious your lies unrelenting disguise,

Creating tears in your eyes your mind withers and dies,

Pretending to be something you are not,

Somewhere in the middle you are now caught,

You've never seen who you really are"

"Hollowman" by: Trapt

Chapter 1: Nightmares

Candles were scattered across the room, illuminating her shapely form. Her head was rested on his bare chest as each gasped for a much needed breath. Hot sweat dripped down his brow as he held her closer and lightly kissed her forehead, running his hands through her soft, auburn hair.

He watched her drift off to sleep still holding her close, not once taking his eyes off her. She was truly the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Her wings shifted so, that one was wrapping itself around his abdomen and her right leg hooked on to his. It was at that point, that state of pure bliss, which he knew that he would spend the rest of his life with her, love and hold her forever.

John Stewart had fallen hard for his co-worker, his best friend, his eternal soul-mate.

Each had held back their true feelings for so long, that he was beginning to think that this moment would never come. But he had succeeded in breaking down those forceful walls the second he took off her mask, the moment that she let him into her life.

From then on he would try to spend every spare second he got with her, smother her with kisses, caress her soft skin and feathers, bring her into the same state of nirvana that he experienced whenever he was around her.

Life was perfect, he had all that he ever wanted and much more.

Looking down at her peacefully asleep, he started to stroke her wing and instantly noticed that soft smile that he loved so much creep onto her lips, such sweet lips. After gazing mystified for lord knows how long, his happiness was interrupted by a crash.

Broken pieces of glass were now scattered across the floor as that winged beast he dreaded so much stepped into the room, axe in hand, ready for battle. Fire ragging in his eyes as he sent John a death glare.

"She is not for you to have Lantern, SHE IS MINE! Now you die." his eyes narrowed as he threw his charged axe straight at Lantern's heart. John immobilized in pain, blood spilling all over the bed, watched helplessly as Hro walked over to the bed, ripped her out of his arms, and carried off Shayera's unconscious body.

"Now, it's your turn to burn and watch the love of your life leave with another man! DIE LANTERN, DIE AND BURN!"

In that instant the soft candlelight turned into a blazing inferno, completely engulfing the room with flames. With what was left of his heart now hanging out of his chest, and the sheets set afire, he struggled to lift his arm but found no ring. He couldn't do a thing, he couldn't fight, he couldn't move, he couldn't even scream.

Completely powerless, he watched his love get carried off into the night, never to see her again.

He had lost her, forever.

John's eyes immediately shoot open. His head and chest throbbing in pain, it was just a dream, only a nightmare.

It had been seven months since the invasion, seven months since he had a decent night's sleep, seven months since he'd last seen, talked to her. Seven months of endless agony, and what long months they were.

What had he been doing again, oh ya, looking over the list of supplies that would be needed to finish the interior construction of the new Watch Tower. It wouldn't be long before it was completed and they'd start looking for new troops to recruit, the replacements for the fallen Leaguer.

No one had dared mention her name after the invasion, and when questioned about what happened concerning her actions or whereabouts, the answer that he was told to give was "No comment", Superman's direct orders. After a while the questions began to stop, it was almost as if she never existed. A part of him even tried to forget with the rest of the world, but for some reason, his heart just wouldn't allow him to.

In fact, she was constantly on his mind, almost anything and anyone reminded him of her. He couldn't even take a step into his own apartment without her face flashing into his mind. That only resulted in him spending a good majority of his time at the Wayne Manor, the temporary headquarters of the Justice League. At least until the new Watch Tower was up and running, then he would spend his time on monitor duty.

His apartment must be filthy; he hadn't been there in how long now, almost two weeks. Shay was always mocking him for keeping it so tidy all the time, no, he shouldn't go there. Every time he thought of her he only ended up hurting more, but when he tried to push her out of his mind, it always became unbearable. His only escape was drowning himself in his work.

Luckily, his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in, I'm just going over the to-do-list for the final preparations of the Watch Tower."

Just then the Martian Manhunter entered the room, with a bag of oreos in hand.

"Do you need something J'onn" putting on his cold, military facade.

"I think you may need one of these" then offering him an oreo.

"Why?"

"Well, according to some of my own personal research, at times like these humans feel better once they have consumed some matter of comfort food. All I have at the moment are these oreos and you may have some if you wish."

"I don't need comfort food" he grunted returning back to his work.

"Your new facial hair might help you fool the others, but it doesn't fool me" he replied putting an understanding hand on his grieving friend's shoulder.

"You've been goin through my mind Martian!" angrily pulling back from his grasp.

"No, but other then the fact that I heard you calling out her name a few minutes ago, you haven't been eating much, you barley ever sleep, these days all you seem to do is nothing but work. This lifestyle your leading is not a very healthy one, and I'm only concerned for your wellbeing my friend."

"It's none of your concern, and the way I live my life is no one's business but my own" turning back to his papers he then added, "Your time would be better spent on preparations for the new Watch Tower"

"Alright, if that is what you wish, but know one thing; I too have nightmares at night about losing My'ria, if anyone knows what you're going through its me."

"I don't need your pity, or anyone else's for that matter."

"I don't pity you John, but I do understand how you feel, and just so you know as time goes on, the pain will become easier to deal with, but only if you let your friends help you."

Before leaving, he placed the bag of oreos on top of John's desk and then turned to take his leave, at least he tried.

"Wait J'onn, thanks for the oreos."

"No problem my friend", with a feeling of achievement he closed the door. There was hope for Lantern yet.

Meanwhile, the clicking of keyboards and clattering of tools could be heard down in the Batcave as Superman and Batman were hard at work on completing the new Javelin. The project was almost complete, only a few minor kinks to work out.

"Could you hand me the screwdriver Bruce?"

He then received a growl and intense glare as the Dark Knight handed him his tool. The last thing he needed was to get on the grouchy millionaire's nerves this morning.

"Ah sorry, Batman."

"Just don't go around advertising it."

"You know I wouldn't do that."

"Whatever" [1]

They both had not slept in four days, so tensions were high. The dreary setting of the cave wasn't helping Clark either. On the other hand, Batman was flourishing in his environment, minus the big, blue Boy Scout in the corner. He always did his best work and thinking in his familiar terrain. The darkness was calming for him in a way, until he showed up.

A split second later, the Flash zoomed in at full speed; all the papers on the table were now flying all over the room.

"Hey guys guess what, guess what!"

"You just gave us another hour of work trying to put all of the schematics back in proper order!" Batman spat at the Speedster.

"Hold on I'll fix it, gees no need to erupt Vesuvius."

Sure enough, at the speed of light, all the papers were back in a neat, little pile.

"That better Brucey boy."

Batman only scowled and stormed out of the Batcave, he couldn't deal with this, not today.

"Okay, someone needs a nap. Anyways, Supes, I got good news, guess what!"

"You are never going to call me Supes again."

"Nope"

"You are going to leave me in peace and let me finish my work."

"Even better"

"Just go tell someone else Flash, I don't have time for this."

"You're no fun, but I'm gonna be nice and tell you anyways."

With that, Flash pulled out a newspaper revealing some sort of blurred snapshot on the cover.

"According to the Weekly Word, Bigfoot has been spotted in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Midway!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope, but that's not the best part, it says here that he has learned to fly!"

Superman could only stare at his teammate in disbelief. It was just last week that Lois was chastising him about being a naive farm boy, if only she met the Flash, maybe he'd get a little more respect.

"Flash, you do know that's not possible."

"Well daaa, any idiot could tell you that. Everyone knows that due to Bigfoot's weight he couldn't possibly posses the ability to fly."

"No, I mean that Bigfoot isn't real."

"NO, Bigfoot is real, it's Santa Clause that isn't real." [2]

Superman immediately sent Flash a glare that could even scare Batman, but only for a second.

"Um, well anyways, that's not the point."

"And what is the point exactly, because the way I see it this conversation isn't going anywhere."

"Take a good look at this." handing the newspapers paper over to Superman and pointing at the cover.

"Ah, yes the Bigfoot column, right next to the heartwarming article on how a Gorilla gave birth to human Siamese-twins."

"HEY, those babies have been through a lot and from what I hear they have just come out of a long, hard surgery! And for your information that's not the point." Motioning to the snapshot.

"Doesn't that blur look familiar."

"What exactly are you getting at." Hoping the Speedster wasn't thinking what he shouldn't be.

"What I'm getting at is that Hawkgirl was once a resident of Midway and now a creature, that from what I can tell looks like her is roaming around the mountains in that vicinity."

"Flash, don't tell me your searching for her, I thought we all agreed to never bring her up again."

"No, you agreed to never bring her up again, I said nothing of the sort. Hawkgirl is my friend and I want to know if she is okay or not, I thought you would too but I was obviously mistaken."

With that, Wally angrily zoomed out of Batcave, leaving the schematics flying in the air once again. It was not only a bad day for Superman, but for papers as well.

"We need to get paper weights."

Batman was now stomping his way down the halls to the kitchen, he was in dire need of caffeine. In a mixture of aggravation and fighting the urge to close his heavy eyelids, he accidentally bumped into someone. Looking up, getting ready to give whoever it was a scowl, his features slowly softened as he met her gaze.

"Hello Diana."

"Bruce, are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry I wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's alright, I wasn't paying attention either. Are you sure you're alright."

"I'm fine." He spoke in a defensive tone.

Unfortunately, it was at that moment that his sleep deprived body decided to give in, and he almost collapsed had Diana not been there to catch him.

"Bruce, you are not fine."

"Yes I am. All I need is some coffee."

"No, you need bed rest." She snapped. "I know our operations are almost back up and running, but that is no excuse for why everyone has apparently forgotten how to sleep. We may be super heroes but were no energizer bunnies!"

"You've been hanging out with Flash again, haven't you?"

"These days he seems to be the only one who can crack a smile, but you're getting off the matter at hand. I'm taking you to your room."

"I don't need to be carried."

"Fine, but I'm not going to let you collapse." She said while swinging his right arm over her shoulder keeping his body steady. "And I won't hear any more complaints."

And with that they set off down the hall, Batman way to tired to argue. In fact for some odd reason he was rather enjoying the company.

Another sunset, another day of her life over and done with. That seemed to be all Shayera was doing, living only to have another piece of her waste away day by day. It was almost as if living were a slow death, but as the months rolled on, that was what her life had amounted to. Simply living only to wait for the end. Her favorite pastimes had become eating and sleeping, whenever she was able to complete these now difficult tasks.

Fall was coming, and the nights were becoming longer as the food became scarce. It wouldn't be long before she had to fly down south with all the other birds. Peru sounded good, or maybe Brazil, where she could lose herself in a jungle. Of course the tropical climate would be much different then a mountain, but with time her body would adapt. It was part of her training as a spy after all, adapt to any environment necessary to complete the project successfully.

But earth wasn't hard to adapt to, not at all. Despite a few conflicts here and there, it was actually a rather peaceful place to live, much different then Thanagar. The air wasn't constantly filled with thick black smoke, with the exception of a few cities. There wasn't constant crime at the end of every street. People were free to do as they pleased, not confided in one section of the planet in fear of a Gordainian attack.

When she was little she would dream of the once peaceful times her mother spoke of, times that she would never know. All she ever wanted was for Thanagar to be a better place, the same paradise she would day dream of, but due to her actions it was now impossible. In fact they were all probably Gordainian slaves by now.

The past couldn't be changed; she had to quit crying over spilt milk, something that John had once told her. Thinking of him was always comforting, although a painful experience she would admit. Reliving the pain she caused him was anything but easy, but like the sunset in some peculiar way, it was comforting and very much worth it.

She started to gather her things; she would take her leave in the morning. It was then that she smelt something, a very repulsive scent. Now that she realized it, the odor was everywhere. What was it? It seemed so familiar, only she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

As minutes turned into hours the smell got worse and worse. The animals were also starting to act up as she watched the birds flying in all directions, utter chaos was starting to brake out in the skies. It all seemed so familiar, like it had happened before.

After a few more moments she finally realized what was going on, her worst nightmare, but it was too late. At that moment a Gordainian cruiser came into view. Before she could act, it shot its lasers at a hawk which was immediately annihilated into dust.

She could only gaze in awe, as hundreds of ships descended from the sky, all heading to Midway. Like the hawk, the unsuspecting people didn't stand a chance.

[1] I'm quoting Batman from "Kid Stuff", so for the record it's not some preppy girly whatever, but a Batman dark, deep voiced whatever.

[2] That part was sort of taken from the Christmas episode "Comfort and Joy", where it clearly shows Clark as a sincere believer in Old Saint Nick.

Alrighty then, there you have it. For the record, this was the first time I've ever written fluff before, so don't be to harsh with that little bit at the beginning and sorry for the lack of action in my first two chapters but the Gordainians are a comin so you can expect some conflict soon. Also, I don't really know where Midway is so I guessed near the Rocky Mountains, hope that's not a problem. As for the search for Hawkgirl no new news except for a little something on my profile about my thoughts on "Initiation", but as the series goes on I'm kind of disappointed with what they did with J'onn's role, now he's stuck in the Watchtower all day (but I did see a commercial with him punching some guy so lets keep our fingers crossed). Also, where is Flash, he hasn't even said one word throughout the new series, just a brief appearance in the first episode; I'm also kind of upset with that. Oh, and just so you all know, I am many things but I'm no a pyromaniac, but I have been known to be an insomniac.

Review Responses:

Desert Hawk- Wow, I would have settled for my first review saying I didn't completely suck or something along those lines, but you LOVED IT in big frikin capital letters, I am truly touched

stuyfreak- Thank you for the constructive criticism and I sincerly mean that (for once in my life). Like I said before I'm no great author, only a student and I am always looking for ways to improve my writing. I hope I didn't screw up this time, but if something is wrong grammatical wise, don't hesitate to tell me please.

Weapon X 61- Another person who loved this chapter, now I'm all giddy, and about the info thing, its okay, no need to be sorry, this search for Hawkgirl has kinda become my latest obsession so odds are I'll probably end up informing you or something, but if you do find something do tell.

Ray 1- Gladyou enjoyed my last chapter, I hope ya liked this one too.

T.- And here you are chapter 2, or chapter 1 in this case.

Tomboy 13- The third person to love it, and I had ya jumping up and down, this day just keeps getting better and better. Thank you for the age range, I'll be taking that into account for something that will come in the future.

Angelic Temptress- Hopeya liked this chapter too, and for the record I don't think anyone knows Hawkgirl's real age but thank you for your opinion.

Lady Xiu Mei Phoenix- Shay is my favorite League member too (or I guess Ex-League member), and kick-ass character is really the only way to describe her Thanks a bunch for your thoughts on Hawkgirl's age, and sorry if there wasn't enough of Shay in this chapter, but I had to show where the other guys were at this point in time. There will be more of her in the next one though, hee hee hee (I'm now officially hyper)!

Peace out and rock on!