Title of Prompt: Care [Part 3]
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not a thing.

Author's Note: No, your eyes are not deceiving you. After two years, I'm finally finishing this arc. Even though most of the original readers of the first two installments are long gone, I still felt like I owed you guys an ending. I'm determined to finish/update most of my other old stories, so keep an eye out for more, I guess. I apologize if my characterization is a bit off, but I tried to write as close to their personalities as I could remember.

It was silent on the Interceptor.

It had been silent for quite some time, though no one wanted to bring up why.

However, the raised voices and frustration still bubbled to the surface in violent, short-lived debates, reminding each of the passengers that they were not in a soundproof vacuum like the rest of space.

Hal, haunted by flickers of Razer's empty eyes, argued vehemently that it was their duty to protect everyone, especially those harmed by the Red Lanterns.

Kilowog had to drown out the memory of Razer's whispered plea with more shouting, countering Hal's argument with the sheer implausibility of any rescue attempt. It was a blatant suicide mission; he could never risk their lives when Razer had sacrificed his for their sakes.

Aya, who had not been awake throughout most of their captivity and release, remained silent, staring blankly at the dashboard as she struggled to process the missing information.

The powerlessness, the guilt, the confusion.

Their team was slowly crumbling.

Despite their Green Lantern might and their uncontested willpower, three Lanterns couldn't save a single kid and it was destroying them.

Run-ins with Red Lanterns seemed to happen more frequently, but Hal wondered if they just paid more attention to them now. Each time a burst of red rage flared in his periphery, he had to smother the ghost of a smile on his lips.

Once that red light meant someone was watching his back. It had been a fleeting observation he had always taken for granted.

But now?

Now it meant they had to be more careful. Their brush with failure had shaken them to the core. Hal especially felt the burden, shouldering the blame for their team's faltering despite Kilowog's emphatic insistence that it was no one's fault.

I'm supposed to keep them safe, he would always counter. What kind of leader can't keep his team together?

Hal sure as hell wasn't going to let another one of his teammates get hurt.

Therefore, when the Interceptor touched down on an abandoned planet after receiving a scrambled emergency call from a grounded freighter, Hal was instantly suspicious. After all, it was all part of the Red Lantern's MO—to trick unsuspecting Frontier Lanterns into lowering their defenses before they were to be slaughtered. Before, Razer had always been able to reverse his training and descramble the frequency to decipher the enemy's location. However, without his assistance, the others now had to tackle each prospective "mission" with the highest care and precision.

Instead of flying out of the Interceptor as they might have done before, they hesitated by the port door. Kilowog sent out a wobbly, misshapen construct of a Green Lantern. They watched it dart erratically across the dry landscape, towards the stranded ship. His pressed lips curled downwards into a frown as his construct exploded in a shower of green and red sparks.

"I guess that answers our question," Hal muttered darkly, breaking the grim silence.

"I say we go out blastin' and knock those Red Poozers back to Shard."

Hal ignored Kilowog's blunt suggestion and glanced to his other side. "Aya, can you find out how many guys they got?"

If it's any more than three, we aren't going. Can't ris—

"My scanners detect only one Red Lantern." Aya frowned and her eyes briefly flared, tossing blue tinted afterglows across their faces. "But there is something else. I cannot quite make it out—"

"You heard her, Jordan. If there's only one, then what're we waitin' for?"

Hal hesitated before nodding. "Alright. Kilowog and I will take out that Red Lantern. Aya, you stay by the Interceptor and try to figure out what that second thing is."

Each Lantern nodded at their respective role.

Aya watched with a furrowed brow as Kilowog and Hal shot towards the downed ship in a burst of green energy. There was something bothering her about the secondary trace, though she couldn't quite verbalize the feeling.

Hal mentioned this sensation before. On Earth, they have a special term for it. It's jeda… deja…

Aya's head jerked up as her gaze leapt to where Hal and Kilowog were.

Déjà vu.

Relax, Jordan. It's just one Lantern. What's the worst that could happen?

Still, Hal could not force himself to calm down. Although they had spent weeks dismantling Red Lantern traps, something about this particular setup seemed a bit too familiar.

Hal swallowed the churning, sticky sensation of déjà vu and increased his speed to match Kilowog's breakneck pace towards the downed craft. He reminded himself to confront Kilowog about his uncharacteristic rise in recklessness when they return to the Interceptor, but he knew he had to focus all of his attention on the mission now.

"So, who'd you think it'll be this time?"

Kilowog uttered an amused grunt, but his expression changed when his noticed Hal's thoughtful frown. "What? Don't tell me you're startin' to name those Poozers."

"I… Doesn't this seem a little familiar to you though? The whole abandoned ship setup? Like maybe we've gone against this guy before?"

"Huh…" Kilowog fell silent, considering the possibility. "Now that you menti—" His sentence was cut off as a missile of red energy nearly skewered him. He rolled away with an irritated growl, spinning around to face his attacker. Immediately his expression darkened when he saw their rotund opponent.

"I hate it when you're right, Jordan."

Hal's upper lip curled in distaste. "The demented beach ball," he spat at the cackling Red Lantern.

"Oh, it's you," Zilius sneered back, barring his teeth at the Green Lanterns. "Atrocitus should have killed you when he had the chance. Still…" Zilius tilted his body to the side in a show of mock contemplation. "This could be just as much fun."

Something about his tone caused the hairs on the back of Hal's neck to rise. However, he couldn't afford to look nervous.

"Look, Poozer. It's three against one. You seriously think we're afraid of you?"

"Is that what you think, you filthy pig?"

Hal froze and tried to keep his faded grin from slipping off.

Does he have reinforcements elsewhere? Aya said something abo—

"Green Lantern Hal! Green Lantern Kilowog!"

"Ay…a?" He turned to see Aya rushing towards them with a faintly distressed expression. "What are you doing here? I thought I said to stay back."

"I apologize for disobeying orders, but I discovered what the secondary trace meant. There's another Red Lantern nearby."

"Aya, what are you talking about?" Kilowog looked about as confused as Hal felt. "You said there wasn't anyone else here."

Despite the dangers of having Zilius only a few feet away, Hal kept his gaze locked on Aya. She opened her mouth to answer, tilting her head to address Kilowog. Hal's eyes caught onto the reflected flare of red on her helmet.

"Everyone! Get down!"

With a determined grunt, Hal thrust his ringed fist in the air, creating a blanket of green to surround him and his friends. Within milliseconds, he could feel the fiery burn of red energy rage against his weakening construct.

This isn't going to last much longer. Hal gritted his teeth as the exhaustive effort drained his stamina. Whoever this guy is, he's too strong. Just before he was about to collapse, a flare of green in his periphery informed him that Kilowog had recovered enough to contribute to the shield. Hal's shoulders slackened in relief at the welcomed respite.

Once it was apparent that the attack was no longer effective, the red energy surrounding the Lanterns flickered and faded. Hal lowered his ring and squinted through the swirling smoke screen, trying to make out the newest Red Lantern's blurry features.

Panting amidst the crimson sparks and dust clouds was Razer.

"Kid?" Kilowog looked just as shaken up, eyeing the Red Lantern as if he were a ghost.

As far as Hal was concerned, Razer was a ghost. After all, he had partially resigned himself to never seeing the Red Lantern alive again. Part of him wondered if he was just delusional.

However, the Lantern in front of them was not an apparition. Pale and blank faced, but still, amazingly alive.

"Ra…zer?" The word came out in broken, uncertain syllables. Hal unconsciously reached towards Razer, but jerked backwards when the Red Lantern turned his detached gaze in his direction.

No emotion or recognition flickered in his icy eyes. Instead, his fingers curled into a tighter fist on his ring hand, causing a pulsing red glow to cast unnatural shadows across his steely features.

No, Razer wasn't a ghost.

He's an empty shell, Hal realized with a furious start.

"What…what did that monster do to him?"

Zilius looked amused at the situation, leeching joy from the Green Lanterns' obvious anguish at the unsavory reunion.

"Oh, you mean Razer?" A nasty sneer spread across Zilius's face. "Our Lord Atrocitus just returned his righteous rage to him."

Hal kept his gaze firmly planted on Razer, hungrily absorbing every detail of his appearance and mannerisms. His protective shield…it's bigger than the last time we met. More consuming. Does that mean that Razer's…stronger?

That did not bode well for them, especially if he no longer recognized their friendship.

"Unfortunately a few memories of his had to be discarded in order for him to reach his full potential. His time with the dissenters made him weak." Zilius's sneer morphed into a triumphant, open-mouthed grin. "But don't worry—he remembered just enough about you filthy Green Lanterns to know how to trick your little robot."

Hal's wide stare darted back to Razer's pulsating aura. It would continually ebb and flow, disappearing and then surging back with an infuriating irregularity, making Hal increasingly dizzy.

No wonder Aya couldn't get a fix on him. He keeps fluctuating his energy to throw us off.

But…that means he's probably distracted by keeping it up as well. Maybe we can use it to our advantage.

"Lord Atrocitus didn't want me taking him out," Zilius continued, blissfully gloating while missing Hal's quick, furtive eye flicks towards his team. "Though, I have a feeling if he can destroy you, then his little transformation must be compl—"

"Hey, Kilowog?" Hal interrupted Zilius mid-sentence, causing the latter's jaw to drop in frustrated disbelief. "You think you and Aya can shut this guy up?"

"Yeah," Kilowog grunted, smacking the distracted Zilius with a constructed hammer. The Red Lantern spiraled away, shrieking and flailing. Immediately Razer flared to attention, but he remained wary, simply watching his new enemies with hooded eyes.

"Make sure he runs back to Shard. He might mess everything up," Hal added, gesturing in the distance at Zilius, who had finally recovered and was speeding back towards them in a frothing fury.

Kilowog sent him a suspicious side-glance, no doubt nervous for whatever crazy scheme was in Hal's head. Still, it was better than whatever he had planned, so he agreed with a gusty sigh. "Just don't do anything stupid, Jordan."

"Do I ever?"

Kilowog rolled his eyes but didn't argue. "Come on," he grunted, waving towards Aya. "We better hurry, 'cause I don't know how long Jordan's stupid plan's gonna last."

Aya agreed with a nod, but hesitated before following the Sergeant. Her curious gaze landed on Razer briefly before she disappeared after Kilowog.

"So…Razer… How's life?"

"Stupid Jordan with his stupid plans trying to save the stupid kid."

Aya tilted her head to better hear Kilowog's muttered curses.

"I believe that Green Lantern Hal has a plan to save Razer. Usually he 'wings' it, so I assumed you would be grateful for a more concrete course of action."

Kilowog met her puzzled frown. "I bet he does have a plan, but that's not what I'm worried about." Kilowog pursed his lips in a weak grimace. "I'm worried that the kid won't want saving."

Not again.

Aya turned her determined stare on the approaching Zilius, still foaming at the mouth in rage. "Then we must hurry here so we can return to the others and guarantee Razer's rescue."

"That sounds better."

In all his hopeful musings of their reunion, Hal never imagined that Razer would be trying to kill him.

Every time he tried to say something to bring Razer out of his deluded hatred, the latter countered with a violent burst of red energy.

"Razer! Listen to me!"

"No!" Razer jerked back his ring bearing hand and swung it forward, catching Hal in the side with a jagged construct. Although Hal managed to block the brunt of the spikes, the blow still sent him tumbling through the air.

"Lord Atrocitus warned me of you!" Razer seethed, his red aura surging forward in his anger. "He said you would try to trick me!"

"Why would we trick you?" Hal shouted back, quickly dipping out of the range of Razer's follow up attack.

"He said you would lie! Lie about me!"

"What lies would we tell?"

Razer's upper lip rose in a fierce snarl, but he refrained from attacking, dropping his curled fist with an irritated sigh. Hal noted the fleeting hesitation with a thick swallow.

"Lies…lies…about how I betrayed Lord Atrocitus's noble cause to help traitorous Green Lanterns!"

"Razer! Please! Atrocitus is the one lying to you! He feeds off your rage—he's just using you to further his warped vision!"

"How dare you insult him! He is the one who saves me from my weakness, from the darkness!"

"We were the ones to do that!" Hal countered. "Can't you remember?"

Any of Razer's earlier hesitation disappeared in a blinding flash of crimson. Hal automatically brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the light, barely able to make out Razer's trembling form in the cocoon of writhing flames.

That might not have been the right thing to say…

Well, things can't get any worse then, right?

Razer burst from the fiery maelstrom, pulling back his fist with blazing eyes.

Next time I should keep my mouth shut.

Hal braced himself, waiting for the inevitable incinerating sear of Razer's rage against his skin. He did not expect to feel the sharp, rough grate of Razer's knuckles against his cheekbone.

The lighter, more intimate attack hit Hal just as jarringly as a constructed strike. He fell backwards, hand leaping to his aching face.

He... With that much power, he could have killed me. Instead, he…punched me?

Emboldened by Razer's minor slip in composure, Hal felt his confidence in his plan grow.

"Can't you remember?" Hal repeated in a louder, firmer voice. "Zilius said Atrocitus let you keep a few memories. What about Shyir Rev and his sacrifice? You destroyed his planet!"

For the first time, an expression other than blankness or hatred echoed across Razer's features. Although it wasn't the unadulterated joy or recognition Hal was hoping for, the stunned confusion was still a welcome change.

"I don't know who that is."

Hal pushed harder.

"He was a Frontier Lantern you and Zilius tried to kill. We stopped you earlier, but we couldn't stop you from setting one of Atrocitus's Annihilators."

"How—how do you know about those? About that?"

"You told us, Razer. Just like how you told me that you wanted to die after killing all those people, saying that it was your fault."

"I… no! Lord Atrocitus said that wasn't what happened! He said I successfully completed my mission. Those people—they were in the way of Lord Atrocitus's glorious mission!"

"They were innocent!"

Razer reared back at Hal's words, the confusion flickering into distress.

Hal's firm glare softened. "But he told you they died, didn't he?" He couldn't read Razer's expression. After knowing him for a few months and then being forcefully separated and reunited, Hal was starting to realize there wasn't a lot he really knew about the real Razer.

Is this the real Razer then? Or was he the sulking kid we rescued? Which one is it?

"I completed my mission."

"Sergeant Kilowog saved them. Shyir Rev sacrificed himself so Kilowog could save the people. They are still alive."

"I…I don't know who that is," Razer insisted, though his words sounded a bit more uncertain. "I completed my mission," he echoed.

"And do you remember the Spider Guild Prison? We found out they were torturing you, so we came back to rescue you…only you ended up saving our butts because of that yellow rock."

"That never happened."

"Hey, Kid! Jordan ain't lyin' to you." Hal jumped at Kilowog's loud assertion in his ear. He had been so focused on Razer that he hadn't noticed their return. The looked dusty and tired but unharmed nonetheless.

Now that he was outnumbered, Razer eyed them with considerably greater suspicion. Hal noted that his red aura had dimmed significantly, though he wasn't sure what it meant.

Is he losing his anger? Is he giving up?

Or is he too focused on what's going on now to think about fighting us?

"Have you really forgotten us, Razer?" Aya tilted her head, studying him as if she were trying to diagnose the cause to his devastating lapse in memory.

Razer's wide gaze darted to Aya. He gave a shuddering breath after a moment of silence.

"Ila-No… I don't know you. Any of you."

"If you don't know who we are, then how can you be sure that we're the ones Atrocitus warned you of?" Hal lowered his voice, biting back his smile at the stunned expression on Razer's face. Apparently, the thought had never occurred to the Red Lantern.

Now that he was considering it, the walls were starting to crumble.

Kilowog opened his mouth to add onto Hal's statement when Razer jerked backwards with a frustrated cry. Immediately the three Green Lanterns tensed, watching his lurching actions with unnerving concentration. His trembling fingers clenched and unclenched and he brought them to his temple with another guttural growl. He buried his face in his shaking hands with a muffled grunt.

"Jordan… I think we broke him."

"His vitals are abnormally accelerated. It is likely he is under extreme stress."

"Razer… We are trying to help y—"

"Help? Help? You think lying to me will help? Lord Atrocitus was right." Razer dropped his hands and barred his teeth at his former teammates. "I am tired of your pathetic lies to try to steer me from my rightful course. I killed those people. I am a Red Lantern who serves only Atrocitus."

"I. Don't. Know. You."

Hal's shoulders drooped. They had been making so much progress. For a moment, he even thought he had caught a glimpse of their Razer, peeking through the dead shell of Atrocitus's pet.

"I'm really sorry, Razer, but then you leave us no choice." Hal lifted his ring slowly, making sure Razer watched the deliberate action.

He responded accordingly, snarling and leaping towards Hal.

He never noticed Kilowog's hammer construct until it slammed him to the ground. Razer writhed under the green energy, trying to escape the confining hold.

"I hope you will forgive us, Razer," Aya added. In another burst of green light, she dropped a delicate, netted construct over his wriggling form, further pinning him to the ground.

Hal watched him struggle weakly for a moment, noting the Lantern's lack of effort.

If he really wanted to escape, he'd be using his ring. It's…it's just like last time.

Hal mashed his lips together.

Maybe a small part of him survived that monster's torture. Just enough for him to recognize an outstretched hand.

They had already saved Razer once. They could do it again. They could make him remember.

He dropped to the ground and kneeled by Razer's heaving side.

He said nothing as Hal reached for his ring, only watching him with narrowed, wary eyes. As soon as the ring left his trembling finger, Razer released a violent cry and convulsed before falling still.

For the first time in weeks, Hal finally allowed himself to breathe.

Razer had finally returned to them, though he had a feeling it would be a long time before their family was complete again.

Thank you so much for all of your amazing reviews for this arc. Hopefully this ending wasn't *too* disappointing, even though it felt a bit rushed to me.

If I had known how developed I could have made this idea, I would have made it a multichap story of its own. But we all know my track record with updating, so maybe it's for the best.
(Also, at the end, I suddenly started getting Steve/Bucky vibes, which made everything 10,000 times worse. I never realized how much I missed this dorky team until now)