Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Chapter Ten

One of my best friends is dead.

Roy Harper died from poison that had been injected into him from the tips of Jade Nguyen's needles. The poison worked quickly, killing him almost instantly. He had enough time to shoot and kill her as well, though.

But he's still dead. And I'm still standing here at his funeral, staring as his coffin was being lowered into the ground.

Kory, as always at times like these, was by my side with her hand in mine. While on her other side was Donna, leaning on her slightly for support. By her side was Oliver Queen, Roy's adopted father, and Dinah Lance, who had always bee like a mother to him.

Basically everyone was here. Mia Dearden, Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bart Allen, Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Arthur Curry and his nephew Garth Storm, Gar Logan, Rachel Roth, Vic Stone, Karen Beecher, Babs, Cass, Commissioner Gordon, Diana Prince, Clark Kent, Conner, Cassie, Tim, Jason, Bruce, Selina, the list could go on and on, but trust me, there are a lot of people here, paying their respects.

As I stood there with Mari in my arms and Ryan holding onto my left leg with one of his hands, I couldn't help but think of the questions that come to my mind at every funeral I go to.

Did he know it was coming?

What could have been going through his mind in those last few moments?

Did his life flash before his eyes?

And why? Why did it have be him?

Roy was barely twenty-five. He still had a lot to live for. He had a lot of fight left in him. There was still a lot of good that he could have done.

But…he's gone now.

"He was a good kid," I heard someone say as they put their hand on my shoulder.

I looked back to see Ollie standing behind me. Everyone else was gone. Even Mari was able to jump out of my arms without me noticing.

"He wasn't a kid," I told Ollie as I looked down at the headstone.

"He always was to me-" He started to say.

There was still a lot that had been left unsaid between Ollie and Roy. Just like Bruce and I, they had only begun speaking to each other a few months ago, and still had a lot of things to work out. This was one of them.

"And that was the problem!" I cut him off angrily. "You always saw him as this little kid. Well guess what? He grew up! Maybe you should think of doing the same."

With that I turned and walked away, making sure not to look back. I know that if I did, I might have broken down.

Kory had most likely left with Donna and the kids. She knows me and knows I need time to clear my head. The long walk to the hotel did an okay job of that. Having been through things like this before, I know how to at least let the pain ebb away a little and begin coming to terms with it.

Roy Harper is dead and there's nothing I can do to change that.

He's gone and I'm still here. And I still have a job to do.

I finally walked into the hotel room to find the only one light on, by the bedside table. I walked over to the small refrigerator, pulled out a beer, and opened it up.

Usually, I don't drink, but there are days when I make an exception. This would be one of them. I looked out toward the balcony to see Kory sitting out there, gazing up at the stars. I took a sip of my beer as I walked over to her and sat in the seat beside her and put my hand over hers. She turned her hand over and laced her fingers with mine as she continued to stare up at the nearly pitch black sky.

"Donna's watching the kids," She told me after a few moments of silence.

Donna was the first person I called after bringing Roy to the hospital. I knew there was nothing they could do to save him, but they could definitely tell me what killed him. Their analysis had only confirmed my suspicions.

When I had called Donna, I expected her to break down crying right then and there. Instead, she was completely calm, even when she had come down to the hospital and saw his body, which had been as white as the sheet covering him, she was calm. She just sat at his bedside and held his hand for as long as the doctors would allow.

"How's she been holding up?" I asked, keeping my gaze t the night sky.

"She's been fine. Just trying to stay a little busier than before." Kory was worried about that. Donna's usually someone that openly expresses her feelings and emotions, while I'm the one that usually suppresses them.

I finally looked at Kory's face to see her bright jade eyes still turned to the starless sky.

"You think she knew?"

It was a question I had wanted to ask Donna herself, but decided it was best that I didn't. She was already going through so much. If she had told anyone the answer, though, it would be Kory. She was her best friend after all.

Kory finally turned her gaze to me and smiled sadly.

"They both knew," She told me, her voice barely a whisper. "Although it didn't make anything easier on either of them. In fact, it made the goodbye more difficult. All Donna could do was wait for you to call with the news. By then, she had already been crying for a long while. She even called me after Roy left and told me what was going on. How you called to let Roy know you'd found Tim and Jason, how Roy told her he'd been getting this feeling that something was going to happen; that it'd be that night. How he put on a brave face while deep down she could see how sad he was inside. He walked through the door after giving her one final kiss goodbye, knowing he'd never see her again. A sad ending to a romance that never had a chance to truly grow."

Roy always went with his gut. Usually, his gut feelings were right, which was why he always went with them.

I wish his gut had been wrong on this one though. I bet he did too.

After I finished my beer we went to bed, and I held her close that night, as I had done every night since I saw her again. I put my hand over her round stomach and tucked my face into her neck, but didn't fall asleep.

I couldn't. Not without finally giving her my answer.

I put my lips to her ear and whispered, "To protect you, our family, and do the right thing. To show prove that one person can make a difference in people's lives and that, even in the darkest of places, there's always a light."

My eyes finally shut and just before I drifted off to sleep, I remembered something. I never did thank Roy for reminding me.

The next day I found myself having lunch with Kory and Wally. We had invited Donna as well, but she decided to take the kids to the park.

Wally and I sat staring at Kory as she poured out practically a whole container of mustard on her spaghetti.

"So…do you always eat like this when you're pregnant?" Wally asked hesitantly. Both of our eyes widened as she took a large bite of her mustard, spaghetti, and meatball lunch.

I looked over at Wally and just nodded my head yes. During the last few months of her pregnancy Kory would eat…a lot of strange food. I'd actually rather not think of the types of things she's concocted in the midst of her pregnancies. I will say that just looking at them had made me hurl for hours.

"So how have things been at the shop, Wally?" I asked, changing the subject before he would ask another stupid question. Kory kept her temper down enough to ignore the first one, but she'd probably try to choke him. Either that or start crying. Either way, I'd probably end up sleeping in the hallway since he is my best friend. She didn't know him before I introduced her to him.

Wally work as a police mechanic is Keystone City. With how quickly he moves while working on those cars, he could probably be a one-man pit crew for a race car. The guy moves like lightning.

"Not bad," He answered with a shrug, going along with the subject change. "Heard your car got totaled, though. You know how salvageable it was?"

I shook my head slowly. "Trust me, Wally; you wouldn't even have enough pieces to put it back together. The only thing that actually stayed intact through that explosion was a headlight, and even the wires got burned off on that. Everything else was blown sky high or burned to a crisp."

He just laughed for a few minutes before there was silence.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something else, Dick," He said after a few moments, his face now completely serious. "Last week, my dad called up and said there was this new church that opened up in Blue Valley. When told me what the name was, I automatically thought about a case you had solved about a year ago. The one with that thirteen-year-old priest… What was his name?"

"Sebastian Blood," Kory and I answered simultaneously. I looked over at her in time to see her looking down at the table for a moment before lightly shaking her head.

When I was looking for someone to go inside the church that Blood had taken over-and named after himself-Kory had offered. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was determined to help me solve it. She'd end up staying there for about three days at a time and, when she finally was allowed home, she would shudder as she recounted the gruesome details for me, and wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

I rested my hand atop hers and squeezed it gently, as a sign of comfort.

"He was one of the crooks that had escaped," I informed Wally. "The juvenile hall he had been in had caught fire a few months ago. They had to move residents into a ward in Blackgate while the hall was being rebuilt. He was broken out a few days before the hall was reopened."

"Well it looks like he moved up to my hometown and started a Church of Blood there," Wally told Kory and I. "Dad and mom have been telling me all kinds of odd stories about their neighbors suddenly disappearing. Dad was telling me that some people go missing for days at a time, while other go in, but never come out."

"If they've been gone for more than five days it means they're as good as dead," Kory spoke softly so no one else could hear what she said.

Wally's eyes just widened.

"It's a cult," She explained, "and Blood is insane. He's trying to bring some demon to life and fills a huge pool, which he keeps under the church, with the blood of some of his followers. He sacrifices their bodies and burns their bones, while he drains their blood into the pool which is where the demon is supposed to appear from. He also chooses one female member of the cult as his mother. If she ever disobeys or disagrees with him, he'll bite her nose off, then slice her into pieces and adds her blood to the pool."

Wally quickly pushed his plate to the side, before jumping out of his chair, and running to the nearest bathroom.

Any other time, it would have been funny. This time it was different, though. Kory wasn't just telling him what the teenage leader of the cult did. She was telling him of her nightmares from the whole experience.

While Blood had been able to brainwash many into believing in his misguided and unorthodox scheme, Kory had been one of the few to easily overcome his brainwashing. Of course, she couldn't let him know that, or else end up one of his sacrifices herself.

I moved my hand from on top of hers and wound my arm around her shoulders instead, and pulled her close.

A/N: Okay, I've been very hesitant to update chapter 11 because of a part I have in there that I'm not really sure about.

I do have a question for you all. This past weekend I wrote a one-shot entitled 'Going out with a BANG!' Basically, it's chapters seven, eight, and nine of this story, from Roy's POV. I would post it in this story, but it could end up being very confusing.

Anyway, my question is, would you like me to post 'Going Out With a BANG!' on Friday, instead of chapter 11? Now chapter 11 isn't complete at the moment, but if you'd rather I post that instead, than I'll finish it up this week.

Other than that, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review!

Oh, and check out my profile for a preview of 'Going out with a Bang!'. It could help with your decision.