A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter than the rest, and I'm sorry for the delay. Still swamped with HW. Too much procrastinating. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Contains spoilers for Justice League #11. Reviews are welcome (and enjoyed), and if you have any constructive criticism, feel free to let me know. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. All characters belong to their rightful owners.

Chapter 5:

Illusions

Watching Batman walk away, I felt a bit ashamed for my actions. Not for striking against Hal, but for kicking Superman in the face, and for nearly decapitating Batman.

Sighing, I turned away to look at the rest of the group. I already knew someone is going to speak up, probably Hal.

"No," Green Lantern exclaimed, "We deal with everything now. I was only offering to help." Hal didn't know what went wrong. He actually wanted to help bring Steve back.

I waledk up to him. "I don't need help from someone who treats everything like a game." I stated, still annoyed by the fact that he was trying to contain me.

"You think I don't take our job seriously?" He asked, seemingly incredulous that I would even think that. "Do you know what I have to deal with out in space, Diana?"

Hal knew his attitude wasn't always professional, but when lives are at stake, he knows what needs to be done. There's a time and place for everything. During a mission, he knows it's time to get to work. He was a green lantern after all.

Before I could reply, he looked me in the eye and stated condescendingly, "Being with the League is a vacation compared to my time with the Green Lantern Corps!"

Aquaman deciding to intervene before another fight breaks out, stepped between the two of us.

"You two need to stop." He stated before threatening Hal by thrusting his trident in his face, "It doesn't matter how difficult your duties out in space are. You would do well not to antagonize us." He then turned to me, pointing his finger at me accusingly, "And you need to get a grip. We all want to bring Trevor home, and we're going to do that faster if we work as a team."

"Really now? Shocking." Flash muttered, while searching the desk for information. Everyone had been listening to the argument the whole time. It was a small room.

"Agreed." I stated, swallowing my pride for the time being.

"Sure." Hal muttered.

Content with how things worked out, Aquaman started looking around the room, though he's not much of a detective.

"I'm going to feel that for a while." A voice from behind me exclaimed.

I turned around to see Superman rubbing his jaw. Oh yeah, I kicked him. I do feel bad for him, he was just trying to stop the fight. Hopefully this apology goes better than the one with Batman.

"Superman," I began, "I was-"

"Worried." He cut me off. "I get it. But we only want to help."

Grateful that there were no hard feelings, I nodded to him before going to see what everyone is doing. We may have hunted on my island, but I am not much of a detective when it comes to Man's World. No doubt Batman would figure something out soon, I waited in the middle of the room.

To my left, I heard Flash and Hal talking while they searched. Well, Flash searched, Hal just stood behind him, using his ring to light up the room.

"How come when I said that, she wouldn't listen?" Hal asked Flash.

"Superman's better with words than you." Flash explained. "And he's more charismatic. Smarter. Taller, too. And Arthur is a king. He probably deals with bickering fish diplomats on a daily basis."

"Sorry I asked!" Hal responded, a little bit annoyed his friend would say all that.

And then, Batman's cold voice broke through. "Here's what we've been looking for."

We all turned to see Batman holding a book to us, "It's all in his journals."

"Journals?" Flash asked. "He's been trying to kill us off, and he's writing about it in his journals?"

"Some people are just idiots." Hal tells us.

Ignoring the two, Batman started to walk up the stairs, pausing momentarily to grab a picture off a nearby desk. Wordlessly, the rest of us followed him to a room with a table in the middle. Once there, he laid the information he found out on the table.

He showed us the framed picture of David Graves and his family. He went on to explain that Graves and his family were visiting Metropolis when Darkseid invaded. Apparently, Graves was grateful for our work, admiring the good we were doing and decided to write books about us.

That all changed when his wife started to get sick a few months later. Then his son and daughter followed. He already stated on the watchtower that he blamed us for their death in some way.

"He buried them on the ground." Batman tells us, pulling back the curtain to show us the three tombstones on the hill. "He fell ill shortly after. The doctors couldn't figure out what it was, but they theorized that David and his family were exposed to something during the attack. Something we missed."

"It's awful that happened, it is," Hal said, "But why do we end up the scapegoat for every super-powered psycho out there?"

"What if Graves is right, Lantern?" Aquaman asked, "What if he was exposed to something?"

"Then others would have been exposed too. It couldn't be just his family." Superman stated.

"So he's wrong."

"He doesn't believe that." Batman said, turning away from the graves to a map on the wall. "But he does believe in other things. He's spent his life researching the mysteries of the world. That's why we went to Mount Sumeru."

"He went to find his family."

Batman

"Where did you say Graves went?" Flash asked me.

"The Valley of Souls." I tell him.

I didn't blame him for his uncertainty. After studying the map, and finding the location we were teleported to the arctic mountain of Sumeru. Here, the cold was overwhelming, but that wasn't the thing. These mountains, they seem to be filled with despair. We started walking to the nearest mountain.

I told Superman to search the mountains with his x-ray vision, but he tells me he doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. It seemed as if Graves' information was true.

Once we get to close to the mountain, I ignored everyone's protests of dubiousness. I stopped, and turn to look at Cyborg, waiting for him to say something.

"I see it." He stated, his mouth hanging a little as he walks hesitantly towards the face of the mountain. "There's a cavern ahead."

"Your cybernetic eye detected it?" Flash asked him.

Cyborg didn't answer for a while. "No...my human eye can see it." He stated disbelievingly.

"So, why can't we?"

"According to Graves' book, only those walking the line between life and death can see the entrance to the valley of souls." I informed them.

"I'm not partially dead, am I?" Cyborg asked worriedly.

I nearly snorted. "Of course not."

And then there's a moment of silence. It seemed the rest still don't believe that we can walk into the mountain. Trusting that my information is correct I started walking towards the face of the mountain. My head held high, and confidence filling my step, I walked into the wall calmly.

Fortunately, I was correct and didn't end up looking like an idiot who walked into a wall.

I turned around and could see the rest of them follow me one at a time.

Once everyone is through, Superman asked if everyone is alright. Nodding to him, I began to walk around, taking in the expansiveness of this cavern. It's huge, but it's obviously been inhabited in before. There are steps leading somewhere, as well as ruins of some buildings. Whoever lived here hasn't been here for a long time. The architecture didn't resemble anything I've seen, and the cavern is somehow colder than the blizzard outside.

And ever since stepping into this cavern, that feeling of despair has only heightened.

Leading the way, I started towards the flight of stairs in front of us. As we walked, no one said anything, seemingly content to take in our surroundings.

After reaching a clearing, I stopped. We're not alone. I felt it, and it seemed everyone else did too. We formed a circle, our backs facing inwards as we search around for our company.

And then we saw it.

The same spirits that Graves' used to take us down. But these spirits don't seem to want to do us any harm. they were just circling above us in the air. Then the spirits broke away from each other, splitting up and then landing in front of us. Two landed in front of me, and for a moment I just stand there, waiting to see what's going to happen.

"What is it?" I heard Wonder Woman ask to no one in particular. Apparently the spirits had landed in front of each of us.

"The valley of souls." I replied cryptically. The valley of souls...these two spirits can't be them. Not their souls. It's impossible.

Soon the two spirits took shape. One took the form of my father, and the other, my mother. I couldn't even believe my eyes. I stood there, narrowing my eyes at the two.

And then they whispered my name, "Bruce." Why are they here?! Why are the souls of my parents in this god-forsaken place?!

My eyes widened and I'm was at a loss for words. It seemed the rest of them had similar reactions.

To my left, I heard another voice I'm familiar with. Steve.

I turned to see Diana. She's shocked, and then her face fell. She understands. If Steve is here, then he is already dead. And I'm overcome with a need to comfort her. To help her through the pain. Losing someone is never easy, I would know.

"Diana..." Steve called. "You're too late..."

And she just looked down at the ground, no doubt blaming herself for Steve's death.

But some things just don't add up. Firstly, how are all these "souls" even here. Secondly, why is Cyborg looking at himself. If these souls are supposed to be dead, then Vic's soul shouldn't be here. He's alive, part machine, but alive. Something's not right. I had a feeling that these "souls" aren't what they appear to be.

Turning away from my "parents" I move to Diana's side and turned her toward me, lifting her chin up with my finger so her eyes met my lenses.

"This isn't real. Things aren't what they appear." My voice is gentler than I'd like it to be, and even I heard the concern in it. She didn't seem convinced though, so I pushed a little further. This time my voice was filled with confidence, for her and me. "There is a chance Steve is still alive. We will find him. We will bring him back. And we will make Graves' pay for what he's done."

And then I watched her eyes change. Slowly, the sadness left them, replaced by the steely determination I have come to respect. But there's something else mixed in there. Mixed with the determination that I have come to expect. Looking into her eyes, I also saw a look of affection.

And before I did something I would regret, I turned away from here and addressed the rest of the league. "Let's go." I commanded.

I looked back towards Diana and saw her nod. I nodded back, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly before I started to walk again. Walking through the ghosts of my "parents" I vowed to myself to not let Diana down.

And I heard her footsteps not far behind. It's time to complete the mission. There is work to be done.

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