I woke up, my head absolutely burning. I was in a familiar place that I couldn't put my finger on for a little while, until I realised where it was.
The hospital. The gang were all around me, dressed normally and standing by the hospital bed I was lying in.
"What happened? Did we win?" I asked groggily, my head spinning.
"Yeah, we won... Thanks to you..." Artemis smiled at me and patted my head, looking somewhat sadly at me.
"If we won, why don't you look happy?"
"We won at a cost..." Conner explained, gripping M'gann's hand. He flicked his head toward me left, and following his line of gaze, I was shocked.
Leonne was lying in the bed next to me, barely conscious.
"He's only just in a stable condition, but... the nurse said... He'll be gone by tonight..." Dick explained, holding my other hand. No... No, that couldn't be right! He couldn't go! We only just go here!
"But, wasn't there a cure? I was sure there was a cure!" I exclaimed, instantly regretting it as everything came swirling around me. I groaned and closed my eyes, hearing footsteps coming closer to me.
"Shanelle, there was only the cure for the early stages... Not any for his severity." I could see a shadow emerging from the archway. They did and didn't look familiar; they had a bigger build, very masculine.
"She's awake, Bruce." Dick explained as Bruce Wayne came closer to me. It was so strange seeing Batman without his cowl.
"You fought valiantly, Shanelle. You should be proud. There are always consequences whenever the fight is worthy, and this was the price we had to pay..." he whispered in my ear, making me blush slightly. But even though I was blushing, I still felt absolutely terrible that Leonne had gone through all of that. "But it looks like Leonne is waking up now. We'll leave you too alone." I smiled and turned on the bed, trying to face Leonne.
"Leonne, you're awake," I said once everyone had left the room.
"Yes... I am... Look, I'm sorry about his... I wanted to be with you so badly... But... This isn't how I wanted it to be..." His face was full of regret and sadness. If I could have reached him, I would have kissed all the sorrow off of his face.
"Leonne, don't worry... We both made mistakes... I'm just happy you're with me right now... No matter what happens, I will be here for you..."
"Shanelle, you know, you've always been my number one girl... All throughout high school and primary school. You've always been there for me and I've tried to be there for you..." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.
"Stop it. I know. You've always been my number one guy. Even though I acted like I didn't care that you were there. In all honesty, you were the one I could rely on, no matter what... And thank you for that..." I could feel Leonne grab my hand and saw a smile come onto his face.
"You know... When all this is over... I'll miss you... You just can't forget me..." His eyes were starting to water and his lip was shivering slightly, so I leant over, kissed my hand and put it on his lips, seeing as we were too far away from each other.
"When this is over, we'll be together. I swear, I will try to help you as much as I can. You can't leave me! Please don't... Don't leave me..." His hand squeezed mine once more as I heard his words.
"I've always loved you..." I looked back up at the ceiling, enjoying the moment. Until it ended.
Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeep.
His hand was still holding onto mine minutes after, but the time came eventually, when we both had to release our grip. Tears ran down my face as I looked to my left again, seeing Leonne's head facing the other way to me, so I couldn't see his face.
"No... You can't leave me... You... You can't..." I mumbled to him, knowing he couldn't hear me. My heart was breaking in my chest as I sat up and pulled my knees to my body.
"Shanelle, are you o-," M'gann started asking, before seeing what had happened and running up to me, embracing me in a hug.
"H-he's... He's gone... I thought... All that time, he actually... he was trying to help me..." I mumbled through gobs of sobs, squeezing M'gann close to me. One by one, the rest of the team came over to me, hugging me and holding onto my hands in reassurance.
"It'll be okay..." they all tried to tell me, but I felt my heart break enough for things to never be okay. My little brother... My best/boy friend... They were gone... And I didn't even get to see the end of Droughtstorm, the reason that I was in this mess in the first place!
~~~.~~~
Time passed and eventually, again, I was allowed to leave the drab place that hurt me mentally and physically every time I thought about it. Before I left, M'gann gave me a basic shirt with everyone's superhero symbols on it, even 'Cade's' and my own and a pair of shorts to change into. Even though the entire group, including Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, was surrounding me, I barely had anything to do with them. The reassurances barely entered my mind as we walked back to the headquarters, myself in silence.
When we finally reached the cave, the first thing I told everyone was that I was going to sleep, which seemed to strike them up. M'gann and Artemis came running over to me, flinging their arms around me and squishing me as though they wouldn't see me again for a long time.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, but no one answered me. Kaldur came up to me and shook my hand.
"It has been a pleasure having you with us." I smiled as he grinned at me, before walking back. M'gann looked at Conner, who walked up to me and awkwardly gave me a hug, which I eagerly accepted. Hey, not every day does Superman's 'son' give you a hug, and I wasn't about to pass it up!
Wally and Dick looked at each other before they both came up to me and gave me a hug, causing me to blush a little through my tears.
"We'll miss you..." they said to me as they walked back. I looked at Kaldur, seeing as he was the only one who hadn't given me a hug, and managed to, without a word, convince him to do exactly that.
"Now, will someone explain what's going on?" I asked, my voice soft and sad, but as loud as I could manage. Everyone just looked at each other before looking at me, remaining quiet.
"Fine... Night..." And with that, I walked back to my room, crashed on my bed and fell asleep, thoughts running wildly through my mind.
~~~.~~~
That morning was probably one of the strangest mornings of my life. I felt so weird; like I was a completely different person.
"Wow... Last night was so weird..." I mumbled to myself, standing up. And that's when it hit me. Looking down, I saw my outfit and my body. The shirt was a simple singlet and I was wearing boxers with all different kinds of symbols on them. More than likely something Leonne had given me.
"Wait... Was I just dreaming?!" I exclaimed to myself, realising nothing was like what I had seen the previous night. I was in my normal house, with my parents! I wasn't in some room in the team's headquarters! I WAS IN MY HOUSE!
"No... It must have been real! It was... It wasn't real... Wait, that means that Leonne-!" I started confusing myself, but become excited at the thought that Leonne was still alright. It was probably one of those things where you have a dream that you lose someone, just so you appreciate them more.
"Mum, Mum!" I called, running out of my bedroom and being greeted by my parents, who looked as though they had just seen a ghost.
"Shanelle? SHANELLE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" my Mum screeched, running over to me and squeezing me in her arms.
"Mum, it's so great to see you! And... I don't know... Wait... How long have I been gone?" I asked, pulling from her grip and being pulled into my father's embrace.
"Over a bloody month, Nelle! We were worried that maybe... You had... Ended up like Malin..." Dad explained, squeezing me even tighter.
"And Leonne, you've both been gone!"
Right... So I hadn't been imagining everything... But that means... Leonne...
I felt a tear run down my face as I made my way back to my room. Raiding my drawers, I was sure I hadn't been imagining things. They were filled with the different outfits that I had worn throughout the time I spent there.
If only time would go back and I could help Leonne...
~~~.~~~
Hours passed and I found myself only sitting on my bed, moping about everything that had happened, but suddenly, my Mum's calls knocked me out of my dreamland.
"Nelle! You have a parcel!" I stood up slowly, waddling over to the front door, not wanting to be out of my room at all.
"Is it really important?" I moaned, making my way past Mum, to the table where the parcel sat.
"I don't know... It's from someone called Mount Justice. Who's that?" As soon as I heard that, I grabbed the parcel and ran to my room, explaining it was a place, not a person.
Ripping the packaging off, I threw off the lid and lit up when I saw the contents. There was a green arrow, a black shirt with an 'S' on it, a burnt cookie, a shirt with all the symbols on it (including the T and the C) and a little cookie with a lightning bolt on it. Pulling all those things out, I noticed a few others that really made me smile and reminisce.
Robin's shuriken. It still had 'Hope you had fun – Robin' written on it. I felt a grin appear on my face as I continued through the box. There was a little trigger that had the word, 'Souvenir' written on a tag that was attached to it. Wally, more than likely. And finally, the one thing that excited me the most: a DVD with 'Young Justice' written on it.
I looked at an envelope that was hidden under all the things and smiled as I opened it.
They were photos of the times we spent together. There was some of the final hugs that I had gotten from the gang and there was a few of the times I had at school with Wally. A tear escaped my eye as I looked through, admiring the pictures, especially when I found one of myself and Leonne sitting on the cliff, talking to each other. And then, I found a note at the bottom.
"Leonne wanted you to have the disc. Feel free to visit anytime!"
Visit... So, did that mean I could go back and see them whenever I wanted? I could go back and talk to the gang at any time I chose?! But how would I get back... Oh well, it wouldn't matter; at least I'd see them again!
I was starting to get the feeling my life would soon become very exciting. Even though I had lost my best friend, I could visit him any time I wanted! I would definitely be holding onto the CD.
Hey, readers! Thank you for sticking with this until the end! It means so much to me! I am currently working on the sequel (I know, I said that with the other book, but I got a bloody writer's block on the other story. It's not fun.) to this! It'll be based on another girl and I think it's going pretty well! So, keep an eye out for it! It'll be out soon!