Hey Readers!

Here it is; the chapter you've all been waiting for! The bit, dramatic part of the story that's about to change the entire flow of the plot as secrets are revealed, friends are betrayed, and it all ends with a big bang! But I'm getting ahead of myself; read the chapter for yourself, and enjoy!

NOTE: I am ALSO posting the next chapter [Chapter 9] along with this one today on 1/17/2020. So feel free to read on after this chapter!

The Breaking Point:

Mrs. McDormand POV:

Mrs. McDormand was busy straightening the house (even though she didn't have much to straighten up living by herself), when the doorbell rang. Since she wasn't expecting anyone, she figured it must be a member of the Justice League to tell her something about Sam. Diana was an excellent conversationalist, and the only reason that she hadn't insisted that they take her to Oa to get her son back. Turning off the vacuum, she went to the front door, giving a small scream when she saw who it was.

Her son stood in the doorway, looking like he'd been through hell and back. For one thing, he wore only a plain t-shirt and undershorts; his shoes were gone. His hair was disheveled, and a lot longer than it had been the last time she'd seen him, and his nose looked like it'd been broken at one point. He also smelled awful, like he'd been dragged through a landfill a couple of times. But it was the look in his eyes that scared her; she hadn't seen that hollow look since his father died, and that shocked her more than the sight of her son for the first time since the beginning of summer.

"S-Sam," she gasped, mouth dropping open in shock.

"Hi mom," he said hollowly, his voice sounding like he hadn't spoken in years. "I'm home."

Sam POV:

The day that Sam lost control started out like a normal day. There was no warning that anything was amiss; on the contrary, when he woke up, he had a positive feeling that today was going to be good, for some reason.

Opening his eyes, he groggily sat up, yawning and stretching as his ring flew onto his hand, his uniform covering his body. A small brush construct appeared, brushing his hair to the side (it'd grown quite a bit since he'd first arrived nearly two months ago) as he walked out of his room, heading towards breakfast. Pulling up a floating watch (apparently the rings could tell time), he saw that he had about twenty minutes to eat breakfast before going to the training field for the final test, so he decided to skip it, flying straight for the field as he tried to keep his emotions calm.

He was so preoccupied, he didn't notice a small green construct keeping his door from closing all the way, nor the figure hidden in the shadows of the hall behind him.

Kilowog had graciously told them a few days ago that they had their Final Test in a week, which decided what job they would be assigned; the better they did, the better the assignment. If they failed, they would either get assigned a job here on Oa, or they would have to go through basic training all over again. Since both meant that he'd be stuck on a planet hundreds of light years away from home with the combat trainer, the teen was determined to do the best he could; hopefully, he'd get assigned either on Earth, or at least somewhere close by (since he was now an expert at flying through space).

Quickly stopping to charge his ring to full capacity, he landed in the training field, reading for another regular day of whatever might happen. The other Rookies, save Elantra, were already there, waiting for him; the Bolovaxian hadn't arrived yet, either.

"You're late," Uhjan told the boy as he landed next to the group.

"No I'm not," the teen protested. "We haven't started yet."

"But you're usually the first one here," Yanxa spoke up. "Which is weird, since you don't really like Kilowog, and he doesn't like you."

"I just like to make sure that he hasn't set up anything to make my life a living hell, that's all," Sam replied jokingly, covertly scanning the other Rookies with his ring.

Real tissue detected, his ring's voice played in his ears; none of them were constructs.

"Good," he muttered, determined not to get tricked by another fake Lantern.

"Sorry I'm late," Elantra called out, landing a few yards away from them. "Slept in."

"That makes two of us," Max called out to her, a small smile on his lips. Ever since she'd finally opened up about being his ring's predecessor's younger sister, they'd gotten along pretty well. Sure, she had her quirks, like asking a lot of questions about him and humans, but he figured that she was just curious. Besides, she wasn't acting like she was superior to everyone, so she couldn't be that bad, and she promised not to read his mind, and so far she had kept her word. "At least You-Know-Who's not here yet!"

"Voldemort," Pzanar asked, looking interested.

Everyone turned towards the rock-loving alien. "How did you-" Sam started to say.

"Someone once brought a copy of the first book for all of us to read. That Rowling human's pretty creative."

"I know," the teen replied, wishing he could spend all day talking about Harry Potter, but a familiar voice brought them back to reality.

"Fall in, Poozers," Kilowog called, landing nearby. "Let's get ready for sparrin'!"

..

By the time their afternoon training was over, Sam was tired (like he usually was), and after a quick shower, he went to his room, ready to just turn his mind off for half an hour before going to dinner. Usually, dinner ran for about two hours each day, but he usually went near the end of the time period, just so he could rest, and recuperate, and listen to his music player...

Which was missing from its usual place underneath his mattress.

He wasn't worried at first; he probably left it under the bed, since he always moved it before going to sleep, and he recalled not putting it back before he left that morning. However, he felt his heart freeze when he didn't see his dad's gift underneath the bed. Knowing it was fruitless, he quickly examined the rest of the room, even checking under his pile of civilian clothes, but not finding anything.

"Ring," he said, holding up his right hand. "Scan the room for plastic."

A pair of green glasses covered his eyes, bringing the room into darkness. He felt the ring emitting a pulse, almost like SONAR, and the plastic on his tennis shoes and the communicator Hal had given him shone with a bright neon green, but that was it; no other plastic was in the room. Which meant that someone had taken it, and he knew exactly who it was.

"Kilowog," he muttered angrily, the glasses disappearing as he stormed towards the door.

Kilowog POV:

"I'm telllin' ya, once I'm finished with this group of Rookies, I'm takin' a vacation," Kilowog assured his friends.

"Somewhere warm," Guy joked, taking a bite of his meatloaf. They were currently sitting at one of the many tables in the cafeteria, eating dinner together for the first time in a long time.

"Remind me why he's here," the Bolovaxian complained.

'Well," John Stewart spoke up, the voice of reason, "you asked to speak to with Hal and I about Sam, and we figured Guy, also being a human, and closer to the boy maturity-wise, -"

"HEY!"

"- we thought that he might be able to shed light on the situation."

"How is he," Hal interrupted. "I assume well, since he hasn't sent me a message complaining about you tossing him off the planet."

"You gave him a communicator?" The pink alien shook his head. "Wow, you guys sure are paranoid about your youth! Wasn't it enough to put that tracking band around his head?"

"Can I assume he's alive, at least? I doubt his mom or the JL would like it if you've killed him."

"Yeah; broke his leg at one point, but other than that, he's intact."

"How'd he break his leg," Stewart asked.

"Happened during the survival exercise."

"The one where you take their rings and have them make their way across a desolate wasteland on their own," Guy asked. "Oh, I hated you for that one! Was he angry too?"

"Yup!"

"But you still haven't answered the question," Hal cut in again, taking a bite of his salad and swallowing it before speaking again. "Which makes me think that you've dazzled him with your sunny personality."

"I'm a nice guy," the combat officer argued.

"You're about as sunny as John here," Guy said.

"What's that supposed to mean," the man in question replied, giving his fellow Lantern a stern glare.

"Nothing," the joking Lantern said quickly, shivering in his green leather jacket, looking everywhere but at his friend. "I was just… but we're here to ask about Sam. I think we can all agree that you probably didn't go easy on him during training, and you probably ostracized him throughout the whole process, like you did with us. Now, he's probably pissed off at you, and once again, you've come for us for advice on what to do."

"There is no way you of all people could know that," the alien replied, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And I didn't ask you to come, so I doubt you know much about the situation."

"Knock it off, both of you," Hal interjected. "I think we can all agree that even Kilowog needs help sometimes; I know I and John have helped him a few times for the past few months to make sure he wasn't too hard on Sam. But if we're just going to argue about what Guy knows and doesn't know, then we might as well leave."

Kilowog and Guy glared at each other for a moment before finally nodding. "Fine," the Bolovaxian said.

"Now," John spoke up, "why are we here?"

Kilowog picked at his tray of food before speaking up. "So… you all hated me at one point, right?"

The three humans exchanged confused looks. "Is this a loaded question," Guy asked.

"No, I'm being serious."

"Then… yes. I think we could all say that we disliked you at first, but now we're friends."

"Why do you ask," Hal questioned.

"Because, as you know, at some point or another," the officer continued, "you stopped hating me and started respecting me as your trainer and superior, and then eventually we became friends." He hesitated before continuing. "By now, Sam should have been at the part where he doesn't hate me, but at least tolerates me somewhat. He still strongly dislikes me, for some reason."

"Have you done anything more than what we told you to do when it comes to training," John asked.

"No… Well… I may have created a fake Ch'p construct that he thought was the real thing, and then he broke his hand trying to break a construct of mine." He looked down at his food as he waited for the hammer to fall. "And maybe mocked him with his family history that you told me about."

"Woah, dude," Guy told him, not sounding joking for once. "That's… a bit much."

"I agree," Hal added. "What were you thinking?"

"I dunno," the combat officer said exasperatedly, confused himself as to why he was sometimes too tough on the boy. "He's a smartass some of the time-"

"So am I," Guy interrupted, "but you've never did anything like that to me!"

"And Ch'p was his first friend here," Hal added. "So I can't believe that you would do something like that. And you knew his dad- Did you mention his dad dying to him?"

"He insulted my entire race dying once," the Bolovaxian argued.

"But you're older and more mature; he's just a child," John Stewart interrupted. "His mind and body is currently changing, and for him to be chosen as a Lantern at this age is the worst thing that could probably happen to him. That's why we've been trying to help you so you don't make things worse for him. We get that you have a reputation to upkeep, and that you still need to train him, but you've gone above and beyond to mess with him, and you wonder why he doesn't respect you?"

Kilowog sighed, still looking down at his tray. Stewart was right; he was usually right 99% of the time. Looking back at all he'd done to the kid, it was no wonder he hadn't noticed how much of a jerk he was. Even though he wasn't exactly the nicest guy, besides towards his friends, he wasn't usually as ruthless towards any Rookie as he was with Sam. "Fine," he eventually spoke up, looking up at the human trio. "So what do I do? Apologize? He'd probably think it was some sort of trick."

"You must've messed him up pretty bad," Guy told him.

"Now we don't know that," Hal said, coming to his friend's defense, probably ready with some solution to the problem.

"Well, seeing as how said child is storming across the cafeteria straight towards us, I don't think he's here to talk about the weather," the red-haired human retorted, jerking his head to the side.

The four seasoned Lanterns turned to see Sam heading straight towards them, walking briskly across the room, eyes narrowed at Kilowog, fists clenched. Determined not to end up covered in food again, the alien pressed both hands down on the sides of his tray, ready to prevent it from flying in the air. The boy stopped in front of their table, ignoring the other humans as he stared at the trainer.

"Where is it," he asked, his voice low and menacing.

Kilowog blinked in surprised. "I don't know what you're-"

Apparently, the kid had noticed his hands on the tray, so instead of making the tray fly, he made the Bolovaxian's head move. Feeling like someone pushed him from behind, Kilowog's head slammed forward, his face hitting the tray of food and breaking his nose. The thud of the alien's face hitting the table caused everyone in the vicinity to turn around, and for Guy to give a, "Ow!" of sympathy, though he was stifling a laugh as well.

Now angry, the food-covered alien whirled towards the boy. "What the hell do ya think you're-"

"Shut up," the boy snapped loudly, glaring at him, ring glowing on his finger. "Don't play dumb, Hippo-head. I'm tired of the same bullshit everyday, but I kept my mouth shut and my head down. I get that you don't like me, but now you've crossed the line. So I'll ask you again: Where. Is. My. Music. Player?"

The officer Lantern stared at him, not only stunned by the impact of face-planting his dinner, but also by how angry the boy looked. He'd seen Sam look angry during training sessions whenever he added a new twist to the exercise or used the human as his practice dummy, but the teen looked enraged, as if he were a volcano about to erupt.

"Uh, hi," Guy spoke up, trying to lighten the mood. "Guy Gardner; Greatest Human Lantern of All-Time-"

"Excuse me," Hal spoke up.

"WHERE IS IT," Sam screamed, now catching the attention of the whole room around him. "I know you took it! It NEVER leaves my room, and after I get mad at you and knocked you to the ground, you take it out of retaliation?!"

"I didn't take your… whatever it is," Kilowog said, trying to get control of the situation. "And as for your tone, Poozer-"

"I'M NOT A POOZER," the teen screamed, somehow going up a few decibels (it was a miracle his voice didn't give out). "MY NAME IS SAM, WHICH YOU KNOW, AND IF I HEAR THAT WORD ONE MORE TIME, I'LL RIP YOUR FREAKING HEAD OFF!" Well, he didn't exactly say 'freaking', but it was shocking to hear that word come out of the boy's mouth

You could hear a pin drop. Most of the Lanterns in the room went through training with Kilowog, and they remembered feeling the same way the boy was feeling. However, none of them had ever snapped and gone off on the Bolovaxian like that, and they wondered what was wrong with the kid. Probably because he's young, some probably thought, while others might assume it was Kilowog's fault. However, Kilowog knew that while he was hard on the boy (for the sake of making him a good Lantern), he would never stoop so low as to steal something from him.

"I think we should all calm down," John Stewart started to say, trying to diffuse the situation. "Wherever this player of yours is, we'll help-"

"Oh, you've helped enough," Sam continued, now turning on the three human Lanterns. "Who else would've told him about my past? He knows about my family life, my dead dad, my mom struggling to put food on the table… as if I didn't already know! As if becoming a Green Lantern's gonna instantly solve all of my problems! He had no right to know that! You three had no right to tell him!"

"I just came along today," Guy said, throwing his hands up in surrender.

"But none of you would steal from me," the teen added, turning back to the Bolovaxian. "But you… you who has made every day of my life for the past two months HELL… you would stoop that low! If you're this much of a jerk, it's no wonder that someone wiped out the rest of your species; we'd all be a lot happier and better off if you had died with them!"

Hal had once told him about human arcade machines; put in a quarter, and the machine is instantly alive with an automatic response of lights, sounds, and the promise of winning a prize. Kilowog was no better than one of those machines as his fist shot out, hitting the boy in the nose and knocking him backwards, sending him tumbling to the floor. A collective gasp filled the room, as if the group of Green Lanterns were all a group of curious children, waiting to see what would happen next. The three human Lanterns were instantly on their feet, ready to diffuse the situation if necessary, but Kilowog still sat in his seat, staring down at the boy who sat up, feeling his broken and bloodied nose. Then, glaring at the pink alien, he got to his feet, turning on his heel and started walking towards the exit, all eyes on him. Kilowog and the other still sat at their table, staring after him, before the he stood up.

"Don't," John told him, getting up as well, looking ready to hold him back. "Don't get mad-"

"I ain't mad," the pink alien told them, food bits and blood still covering his face. "I'm gonna end this. Right now."

"We're coming to," Hal added, climbing to his feet and following the other two Lanterns toward the exit.

"Yeah, I'll catch up," Guy told them, grabbing Hal's slice of pizza off his tray and taking a bite. "Be there in a bit!"

Sam POV:

Sam landed in the empty training field, his nose throbbing with pain. By now, it had stopped bleeding (thankfully), but he didn't care about his nose right now; he was currently planning on the best way of taking out Kilowog.

His anger was like a volcano; slowly building up, and he was surprised he hadn't snapped and attacked the officer instead of walking out. He wanted to hit something, right now, and he created a punching bag construct, starting to attack it with no form or care whatsoever.

He took it, he thought to himself, punching the bag with all his might. I know he did! Who else would've taken it?

"Sam?"

The boy whirled around, ready to attack, but held off when he saw Elantra standing a few yards away.

"Oh," he said simply, lowering his ring as his construct faded behind him. "Sorry; thought you were Kilowog."

"I know," she told him, standing at attention, hands behind her back, which was unlike her, since she only stood like that when Kilowog was around. The teen quickly looked behind him, searching for some sign of the officer, but saw none.

"So," he continued, turning back to her, "what's up? If you're here to spar, I'm not really in the mood to-"

"I know you're not in the mood," she said, reading his mind again (he had no idea why she was doing so after he'd asked her not to). "I know you're mad at Kilowog because you think he took your music player."

"I don't think, I know," he told her, a bit of his old anger returning. "And stop reading my mind! I'm not in the mood to-" He cut off as he noticed something about the bright yellow alien.

She was smiling.

Okay… Kilowog took his music player, and now Elantra was smiling like everything was alright. What was going on with the world today? "What's… uh, what's with the smile," he asked her, a sense of uneasiness filling his chest.

"You're about to find out," she told him, bringing her hands out from behind her back, revealing what she had been hiding behind her back.

His dad's music player.

Sam didn't care why or how she had the player, but he moved forward, opening his mouth to ask for it back, when he suddenly stopped. Frowning, he tried to take a step forward, but he couldn't move his limbs; he was a statue. At least he was, until his legs suddenly took a step back on their own accord, and his head lifted to stare at Elantra, who was giving him that sadistic grin again.

"Now," she said, glaring at him as she held the music player loosely in her hand, "let's you and I have a talk, shall we?"

"SAM!"

The teen heard a familiar voice call his name, followed by the sound of three Lanterns landing behind him; he tried to turn around, but his head wouldn't move, nor could he open his mouth to say anything.

"Sam," he heard Hal Jordan speak up. "We've come to-" His voice suddenly cut off, and he heard three gasps before silence. Again, the boy tried to turn his head to see what was happening, but he couldn't. However, there was no doubt in his mind that Kilowog, Hal and whoever else was back there was probably stuck in place, unable to move.

But they're fully-fledged Lanterns, he thought. They could use their wills to-

"No they can't," Elantra spoke out loud. "My mind is too powerful for them." She looked at someone over his shoulder. "I suppose you thought my species lost their mental powers, Sir? After we lost the war, we all had to receive that operation that made us like everyone else in the universe. Well, let's just say that I'm grateful for my parents for hiding me long enough to avoid that procedure." Sam had no idea what she was talking about, but probably reading his mind, she turned back to him.

"You humans really are stupid," she told him, tossing the music player into the air before catching it, as if taunting him. "I'm surprised I didn't have to work so hard in coming up with a believable story! Swet'llanga's not my sister; she's not even the same species as me! And as for being a child-" She laughed a little at that. "I'm surprised that you even believed that!"

"Why are you doing this," the teen wanted to ask, but his mouth still wouldn't work, though he could move his eyes around and breathe through his nose.

"You're probably wondering why I'm doing this," the other Rookie continued, starting to slowly pace in front of the four Lanterns. "To put it simply; I want to be the best Green Lantern, and I'll do whatever it takes to do so. This human child here was in the way, so I had to make sure I came out on top. I was just lucky that you, who didn't want to be here, never did your research on your ring's predecessor, which makes this better for me! Know that I'm telling you all of this because I'm proud of how things worked out for me, so listen up before I crush your device." The boy gasped on the inside as she mockingly pretended to drop the device, laughing at him the whole time. Kilowog and the others didn't do or say anything, probably still trapped where they stood by her mind.

"You see, where I'm from, we don't have much honor or anything good going for us; we were once a powerful species, using our minds to help ourselves grow stronger and better than everyone else! But that was before the war; now, we are nothing special. We are like everyone else, which is something we could not have. So when my ring chose me, I knew that I would have to be the best Lantern that ever lived to do my people proud. And, with my mental abilities, I was determined to do whatever it took to come out on top.

"I was the best in the group at first, until some pathetic human child who whined and bitched about being here suddenly grew stronger, realizing his potential with the ring. We've heard of your human Lanterns on my planet," she added, staring at someone behind Sam. "Think you're the best Lanterns to ever grace the universe! You're full of problems and flaws, but there was only one I was concerned with: while you're weak on your own , your brains are practically strong, so I couldn't read them and determine what I needed to do to stop you. It was easier with Kilowog; just let his ego and dislike for you let him work you harder than everyone else, though he needed some prodding along the way. He had to be hard on you, because you remind him of his dead son that he couldn't save."

Sam heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him, and figured that now, NOW, the trainer would break free from his invisible bonds and take Elantra out. But seconds later, the teen's hoped diminished a little when no one rushed past him to take the neon yellow alien out. He stared at the female in shock, wondering how long she'd pushed Kilowog to be hard on him and torture him. Then he wondered if she did the same thing to him, and he felt his heartbeat quicken.

"Fortunately," Elantra continued, tossing the plastic music player from hand to hand, "with a bit of storytelling, I was able to get you to lower your mental defenses down enough for me to get in. And you had SO much to give me; a broken family, a dead father, and a history of bullying that nearly cost you your life when you were eight."

Sam stared in shock at her, his cheeks red as he realized Kilowog and the others behind him were hearing about his personal life, as well as shocked by her statement. It comforted him somewhat that they probably knew these facts about him already, but he still cringed on the inside, not wanting to talk about it.

"But I decided to use your dislike for Kilowog to get what I want," the yellow alien added. "It wasn't hard; just the occasional mental prod in both of your directions, building up the animosity between the two of you, knowing that one of you would eventually push the other one too far, and then you'd take each other down while I soared to new heights. But about a week ago, after an argument between you two, Sam went back to his room, cried for a few minutes about his pathetic life, and then pulled out this." She held up the device for all to see. "It was his dad's; one of the last things he gave his son before getting killed in a drunk driving accident a few years ago. Pretty useless, as far as gifts go, but you made the mistake of getting attached to this device." Looking over at the teen, she walked towards him, stopping a foot away from him, holding the plastic device in front of his nose.

"But now, my plan is complete," Elantra said proudly, giving him a cruel smile. "Stealing may be against the rules, but mental manipulation isn't, so I can't get in trouble for that. Though I figure that you'll probably try to take me in and arrest me, so I'll be going soon; I'll still be a Lantern, I assure you, but I sure won't be wearing green!" She knelt down in front of him, staring into his eyes.

"You're probably wondering why I decided to break your spirit in this way" she said. "I could've shut down your motor functions so you couldn't move, but that would've been too suspicious if a healthy human like yourself suddenly stopped working. But, to put it simply… it was fun! But not as fun as what's about to happen next."

Sam's eyes widened in panic, and he tried in vain to move his body so he could stop her before she broke his only memento from his dad, but failed. Probably sensing his effort, Elantra laughed. "Oh, Sam," she told him. "I'm not going to destroy your silly machine." She waved one of her arms, and the teen's mirrored hers, his right hand now outstretched towards her. "You are."

No, the boy thought, his panic level jumping from an eight to an eight million as she placed the device in his hand, watching his fingers close around it. No NO NO! Why wasn't anyone coming to help him?! He couldn't let this happen; he COULDN'T. He tried again, sweat beading on his forehead, to fight against his own body, which was kneeling down on the ground, the machine still in his hand. Elantra, meanwhile, watched with avid interest, that same demented smile on her face. He kept trying to something, ANYTHING, to prevent his dad's gift to him from being destroyed.

I will not break it. His arm raised to send it crashing to the ground, a few tears rolling from his open eyes. I will not break it! I WILL NOT BREAK IT! I WILL NOT BREAK IT! I WILL NOT-

"What's going on," a new voice spoke up. "Why's everyone kneeling on the ground?"

Elantra quickly looked up at whoever had spoken, and her concentration must've broken at that moment, because the teen was able to fall forward, in control of his limbs again; he heard a few more thuds behind him, and figured that the other Lanterns were probably free as well.

"STOP HER," he gasped, hugging the machine to his chest. "STOP-"

Suddenly, a green gas covered the space, making the field, the planet, and the sky disappear. Now that he could move again, Sam scrambled to his feet, ring ready to fight as he tried to squint through the fog. He was just about to make a fan construct, ready to blow the smog away so he could see, when someone slammed into him from behind, knocking him over and sending the machine tumbling from his hands. It clattered to the ground, but didn't break, lying a foo or two away from him. He was about to reach out and grab it when Elantra suddenly appeared over him, looking furious. Then, raising her foot, she stomped down on the machine.

"NOOO!"

There was nothing else he could do or say; she probably was controlling him again, preventing him from moving, or it was his own horror that kept his eyes glued to the rogue alien as she stomped on his dad's present again. The crack of the plastic seemed to echo around him, and the tape inside was crushed, bits of plastic and metal flying from the device with every stomp of her foot. Finally, however, she stopped, gave him a cruel smile, and took off into the air, flying through the fog. A few seconds later, the green fog disappeared.

"After her," someone yelled, and the teen vaguely saw someone from his peripheral taking off into the air as well, quickly followed by a red-haired individual. But he didn't care about Elantra, or who else was around him, or even were he was. All he could focus on was what was left of his machine.

It was flattened like a pancake; no doubt that the bright yellow alien used a construct on her foot to increase the power of each stomp. Pieces of plastic and bits of metal were scattered around the main pile, and parts of the old cassette tape ribbon were visible. Crawling forward, Sam picked up one of the pieces of the demolished machine, staring at it as if it were something else. It was something else now; it no longer was a music player. Even though he wasn't an expert, he knew that it was beyond repair, and the special mixtape his dad had made so many years ago was no more.

" … Sam," he heard someone say from behind him. Hal Jordan. "Sam… I… I can't-"

"I'm sorry," another voice spoke up. Kilowog. "We should have-"

The boy blocked out both of their voices, hunching over the pieces as more tears started to flow from his face. He was shaking so bad, he had to put his hands on the ground, on either side of the pile of pieces, in order to steady himself. His breathing deepened, and his ring felt hot on his finger, as if it was going to explode; so did the band on the back of his head. If he hadn't been chosen, he wouldn't have come here; he wouldn't have met Elantra or Kilowog; he wouldn't have been beaten down again and again and again; he wouldn't have gotten stronger than Elantra and she wouldn't have come after him; and his dad's gift would still be-

It was too much; he could feel the pain in his chest growing, like a balloon expanding in his ribs, and was it his imagination, or was the ground shaking a little as well? His ring was starting to burn, itching to be used, and the metal band around his head was starting to tremble as well. The pile of pieces beneath him started to tremble as well. Then, when the pain had reached its crescendo, he took a deep breath, opened his hands,

and screamed.

Hal POV:

The blast that came from the teen was like an atom bomb.

Kilowog and Hal were thrown back by the force of it, flying nearly two football fields away as a bright green glow, the brightest either of them had ever seen, took over their vision. Even passing Lanterns flying above them at the moment were tossed aside like rag dolls, blinded by the light as well. But that was nothing compared to the sound coming from the source of the green. Lanterns back in the cafeteria several miles away heard it; a long, drawn out, pained scream, amplified so that several covered their ears, and looking out, saw a bright pillar of green light coming from somewhere in the distance.

Hal tried to get to his feet, but whatever wind was coming from Sam's construct (was it a construct?) was so powerful, he couldn't get to his feet, and flying was out of the question. But he needed to do something; whatever was happening, it wasn't normal. He also didn't know how long the teen could keep this up, and-

Suddenly, the green light intensified, and the man shut his eyes as the scream somehow got louder, becoming the only sound they could hear. Then, it stopped. It simply stopped, and the silence that followed seemed more deafening than the scream from before. Now able to move, the Lantern opened his eyes, looking at where the source of light was.

The light and noise were gone, and so was the boy; all that was left was a scorched circle on the ground, perfectly round and even. For a crazy second, he thought that the teen had somehow blown up, but then he noticed the fading trail of green dust that shot straight up; also, if the kid had died, his ring would still be intact, flying off to find a new owner. Looking into the sky, he noticed something like a green star slowly getting smaller, already disappearing from view. He'd never seen anyone fly that fast, and even if he were to leave now, he would be unable to catch up.

Looking back at the ground, he saw Kilowog stumbling to his feet, staring up at the sky, as well as other Lanterns who'd been to close to the blast getting to their feet as well, turning towards him and the trainer, obviously wondering what the heck just happened. If he was being honest, Hal didn't know what just happened either, but he was certain of one thing as he bent down, picking up the twisted and melted remains of the tracking band.

Samuel McDormand was no longer on Oa.

Wow! What a chapter!

Yeah, so now Sam's basically gone, and with his anger, as well as a power ring that's not fully charged, he's in for some pretty interesting times!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, along with the story so far! As always, feel free to follow and favorite the story if you want to be updated on new chapters and so on, and feel free to leave a review on the chapter if you want.

I hope you all have a great and safe weekend, and feel free to read the next chapter, which I also posted today!

-aggiefrogger

Note: I do NOT own Harry Potter or Voldemort in ANY way, shape or form!