Sorry for the late update, totally forgot what day it is. Hope you like it, please review!

Mallory squared her shoulders, her chest heaving as she balanced herself after being thrown. She held up her arms and narrowed her eyes, blocking out everything except her opponent, and charged forward. She heated her hands more with each step and launched into the air to get more force behind the punch. The force field went up at the last second and her fist slammed into it, feeling like she'd punched a brick wall. She winced and jumped back, shaking her hand and cracking a smile. "Wow," she said, shaking her head at Raquel as her friend let the bubble down, "I know you said no holding back, but you could at least warn me so I can pull my punches a little instead of break my hand."

Her friend laughed, running towards her. "You don't see me complaining about the fire, do you?" she asked, throwing consecutive punches and kicks.

Mallory blocked most of them, but she was hit in the side before she managed to retaliate with a jump-kick to the chest. Raquel put up a shield to block the kick, but she had to back up a step to give herself the room, and the pyrokinetic took advantage of the space to fill it with smoke by burning fires low in her hands. The smoke billowed out in large, dark clouds, and as soon as she couldn't see her opponent anymore, she spun around the fists coming blindly at her, making her way around Raquel. When she was behind her, she pounced tackling her and pinning her to the ground just as the smoke was clearing around them.

Raquel coughed and glared at her out of the corner of her eye. "All right, let me up," she demanded.

Mallory chuckled, staying put. "What, you can't get out of this?" she teased. "Canary would be so disappointed."

Raquel's phone went off at the side of the room, and Mallory rolled to her feet, letting her friend up so she could check it. "Sorry, time's up," Raquel said, accepting the redhead's offered hand up. "I have to go change and pick up Amistad."

"Why?" Mallory asked, walking with her friend to the side of the training room and grabbing her water bottle while Rocket turned the alarm off.

"We're going to the Super Mommy's day out," she said, rolling her eyes slightly at the name.

"Oh, yeah. That's today? Weird, Artemis didn't say anything about going the other night." It had been almost a week since the teens' first mission, during which Mallory and Artemis had both been avoiding Brion like the plague since they didn't have anything to report, and Dick had, yet again, gone off the grid. They'd gone to the movies twice that week, and teaming up for patrols was becoming a regular thing.

"Well, she doesn't usually come," Raquel said, shouldering her bag and holding the door open for Mallory. "Roy brings Lian." She chuckled and added, "he's the only dad in the club, and believe me, the younger him couldn't have handled it." Mallory laughed, easily imagining the teasing he was enduring. "You can come, if you want to," Raquel told her, pausing at the zeta tube to see what her answer would be. "I know it's just the parents, but anyone's welcome, and we can always use the extra hands. Especially with the twins."

Mallory smiled, thinking about Barry and Iris's kids. She didn't know how Iris took care of two speedster toddlers by herself. She was about to say that she might drop by, but her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, then shook her head. "It's Peter, I'll probably be on the phone with him for a while," she said. "Besides, I have another visit to make today."

Raquel pressed her lips together, nodding with understanding. "Send him my…encouragement," she said.

Mallory nodded, knowing she wasn't talking about Peter, and the mom punched in her coordinates and disappeared in a flash of light. Mallory slid the button and held the phone to her ear. "Hey, how's LA?"

"Hey, it's so cool. Gar's agent books an extra ticket for me to go to all the premieres with him, so I've seen, like, four new movies. And the show's set is, like, the size of the Watchtower. Oh, and people out here are way more into hero sightings than they are on the East coast."

She chuckled. "Well, yeah. Most of us are over there, people are way more used to seeing a hero over there than in LA. So, who have you been fighting? Anyone in particular? Oh, anyone I know?"

"Nah, not really," he replied. "Mostly just muggers and pickpockets. Oh, wait, there is one. We've seen her like two or three times, always stealing stuff from museums."

"Who is she?" Mallory asked, punching in her coordinates. "I'm about to zeta to Metropolis, so I might lose you for a sec."

"K," he replied.

The computer scanned her and transported her to an alley a few blocks from the suicide slum, and she started walking away from it, intending to stop at the corner market she liked to grab some snacks and paper towels. "Ok, I'm out, go ahead," she said.

"Well, I haven't caught a name so far, but she's a magician."

"What, like Zatanna?"

"I mean, kind of? She's got magic, but it's not the same as Z's. It's more like…bad luck, I guess. Like, she makes stuff fall down a lot. She can still do other spells, too. She makes herself disappear a lot, that's pretty annoying."

"Huh, I'll have to ask Z if she knows her. What's she look like?"

"She's my age, pale, pink hair."

"Your age?" Mallory asked, surprised that there were steady bad guys starting so young.

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know, I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."

"Yeah, its totally unheard of for a bad guy to be a teenager," her brother said sarcastically. "The Terrors, Cheshire, Klarion, Black Spider, oh, and your ex, or course."

"All right, I get it," she said, stepping into the store and nodding to the girl at the counter. "But you know Klarion doesn't count, right?"

"Sure he does," Peter insisted.

She shook her head, but she let the argument go. "What do Karen and Mal think of her?" she asked, getting back on track.

"They haven't seen her yet," he replied. "They don't really go out a lot anymore." He paused. "So, what's been going on with all of you?" he asked, too casual.

She knew he'd seen the press release about the League walkout, it was the story of the year already, but she didn't really want to waste her time talking to him about the drama they'd been dealing with for the past few weeks. "Well, Brion went on his first mission," she said, keeping the details of the mission to herself. "Moe is thriving over at Megan and Conner's, but Wolf hasn't been happy with me since he found out I'm the one that dumped a baby in the house with him. Oh, and Raquel told me about this great seafood place she found when she was in New Orleans a week or two ago. I kind of want to try it, but I'm never down there unless it's, like magic stuff, which is the last time you want to eat seafood because–"

"Mal!"

She sighed. "Yeah, I know, I just don't know much more than you do," she admitted. "There wasn't any warning, it just happened. They took half the team with them, too."

"Yeah, I know, Jaime told us," Peter said. "But, why?"

"Because of all the restrictions," she explained, putting her items on the counter and shifting the phone to the other hand to pull out her wallet. "It's too much. I would've left, too, if I hadn't already."

Peter chuckled, then took a breath. "But, still…" he said, his voice trailing off.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"So, what's going to happen now?"

She sighed, pushing the door open and stepping into the sunshine. "I don't know, we'll have to figure it out. But, hey, don't worry about any of this, just have fun over there. But not too much fun," she warned quickly, smiling a little. "Remember, I'm only one tube away if you do anything."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, and she could hear the annoyed smile in his voice, "you and every other senior member of the team."

"And half the League," she added. She could picture his exasperated eye roll, and it made her smile widen.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Well, at least that's one good thing about the walkout. That half the League just got a lot smaller without Batman."

"Hey, I've still got Clark and Diana and Dina," she pointed out.

Her brother scoffed. "Yeah, but I'm not scared of any of you."

She groaned, realizing that he was right. The Justice League had lost the only member that was universally feared and respected in the community. She didn't know how they were going to keep the respect of the younger members of the team without him. She reached her apartment and shouldered her phone so she could pull out her key. "Whatever. Punk," she muttered.

Her brother laughed, and she put the phone on speaker and set it on the counter so she could get settled in. "Oh, I saw a headline about the Toas center. They're sending criminals there?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, if you're gonna believe something, at least actually read the article."

"Whatever, is it true?"

She sighed. "I mean, technically, yeah," she started. He started to say something, but she pushed on, "but it's not that simple. We sent this girl called Mist there, we caught her with the Shadows, but she was being mind-controlled. That's a big part of the trafficking now, and the authorities just aren't sure what to do with them. Jail's not the answer, but they also can't be turned loose before we know they have a handle on their powers and they aren't just going to turn around and use them for the wrong reasons."

"And their answer to that is Taos," her brother finished.

"For now," she said. She sighed. "Look, I know it isn't perfect, but–"

"No, I think it's crash," he assured her. "I mean, it's the best solution there is right now, and at least the people at the center actually care about the kids coming through. Ed, and Neut, and Megan and Canary, they aren't going to let anyone slip through their fingers without a fight."

"Yeah, you're right."

"So, have you seen the new VR goggles that came out?"

Mallory chuckled. "Well that was random."

"Got bored. But have you seen them?"

"The Good Goggles? Yeah, I think Roy's gotten a gig or two guarding shipments."

"They're so cool! I went to set with Gar the other day and we got to try them after a commercial finished shooting next door. They feel so real, no matter what setting you put it on."

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "If you're hinting at a Christmas present, forget it. I can't even afford to buy props for training right now."

"Oh, come on. There has to be someone you can bribe or blackmail. Doesn't Oliver owe you for something?"

"Oh, absolutely not. I will never ask him for anything ever again. He goes way to overboard. What about Gar, though? He's making way more than I am, hasn't he bought at least one pair for himself?"

"No," her brother replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Every time he talks about getting one, he ends up getting distracted before he orders it, and they sell out so fast once they get in stock. He's missed the window three times already."

She rolled her eyes, kicking off her shoes and settling in on the sofa to finish catching up with her little brother.

That evening, she headed to the zeta tube with a bag of Chinese takeout, wincing slightly as she reluctantly punched in her coordinates. She came out in a nice, clean little neighborhood and walked along until she found the house she'd visited dozens of times before. She sighed, looking down at the bag in her hands. It never got any easier. She forced herself to knock on the door, and it was opened a moment later by a tall woman with black hair, her Ferris Air badge still hanging from her neck. She must have had a long day. "Hey," she said, not making the move to step into the house right away.

Carol smiled tiredly. "Thank you for coming," she said. "He's in the living room."

Mallory didn't say that she already knew that, because that was always where he was. She followed the woman down the short hall and into the small living room. Kyle was there, and he looked up and shook his head slightly, telling her everything she needed to know about the situation. She bit back a sigh and walked in front of the chair that was positioned away from the door forcing a smile onto her face. "Hey, Hal," she said brightly, forcing down the shock she always felt these days when she looked at him. She set the takeout bag on the table in front of him. "I stopped at that little place you like and got your favorite."

He didn't answer her, or look at her, and she exchanged a look with Kyle and Carole, not sure where to go from there. She sat on the sofa and stared at the husk of a man in front of her. Ever since Parallax, Hal had been deteriorating. Physically, he was fine. He hadn't suffered any injuries, and there weren't any lasting side effects for being possessed that they could tell. Mentally, though, he was a wreck. The weight of the lives he'd taken, no matter the fact that it wasn't really him who'd done it, was too much for him to live with. He'd aged since, his hair turning gray on the sides, premature wrinkles lining his face, but it was more than the physical appearance. He just seemed to sag in his skin, his eyes were dull, and he'd lost interest in everything around him. There was no trace of the man he'd been not so long ago. The fearless, fun-loving, cocky pilot turned space cop seemed to have died when Parallax took over his body, and the rest of him was just waiting to join him.

Carol pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes tight and taking a calming breath. "Hal, Kyle and Mallory came to see you, you could at least look at them."

Kyle's eyes widened a little and he looked at his predecessor, shaking his head slightly. "Nah, don't worry about it, man. Hey, let's see what Mal brought." He slid the takeout bag closer and started to pull out the cartons, trying to move the evening on.

Mallory, however, was still staring at Hal, trying to see if he had even heard his wife. She saw some recognition in his face, but he still refused to look at them. She narrowed her eyes slightly, frustrated with the situation. It had been almost a year, they'd tried everything they could think of, and none of it had worked. She was tired of pretending like everything was normal, and of watching Carol run herself into the ground trying to keep up. Finally, she just shook her head and got to her feet. It was so out of the ordinary for their visits, everyone looked up at her, even the former Lantern.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asked.

She shook her head again, raising her hands in a half shrug. "I don't know, I just…can't do this today," she said. She looked at Hal, catching his eyes before he looked away. "I'm sorry." She shoved her hands in her jacket picket and left, walking right out the house. She slowed down at the sidewalk when she heard the door open behind her, turning to let Kyle catch up to her.

"What was that?" he asked, not exactly angry, but definitely not happy.

"I just can't sit there and pretend like everything's just fine when it's not," she explained quietly.

"What, and you think Carol's happy with the way things are? He's going to get better, we just have to keep trying."

She shook her head sadly. "Kyle, I don't think that he is." It was the first time any of them had said it, and the Lantern deflated a little. She sighed and tried to explain. "It's just, I've been through this before. Well, not exactly, but I've done things that I wish I could take back, things that have affected people I love. I checked out, I…I was waiting to die. I wanted to be punished, I didn't think I deserved to be alive after what happened."

Her friend looked at her with surprise, not knowing what she was talking about, which was why she was comfortable telling him this. Anyone else would be able to put the pieces together, but he hadn't been around then, and he wasn't the type to carry this kind of story. "So…what happened?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I hit bottom, got help. Hal was there for me when I was on the line. If it wasn't for him being there right when I needed him, I don't know that I would have come back."

"You can't abandon him, Mal."

A flash of anger went through her. "I don't want to abandon him! I have tried everything I can think of, I have tried to be there for him, I've tried the pep talks, giving him space, lectures. It's been ten months, Kyle. I think the man he was is gone, and I can't keep living like he's going to come back if we just act a certain way."

He was quiet for a moment, then he looked at her, his eyes pleading. "Just try one more time. If it doesn't work, then you don't have to come back."

She shook her head. "It's not that I don't want to come back. We've all tried everything, two and three times, and nothing's worked."

"What worked with you?" he asked. "What brought you back after you checked out?"

She shook her head, thinking about it for a moment. "I don't know, a lot of things. Cam–uh, Junior, he helped me when I hit bottom, and the team was always trying to be there for me. Hal gave me a pretty good pep talk about survivor's guilt, that's what got me to move on enough to accept help from my friends."

"Ok, so–"

"But that was only part of it," she interrupted, trying to get him to see that it wasn't as simple as he seemed to think. "It's hard to work through that kind of guilt, even just for one person. I can't even imagine what it must be like for Hal every second of every day. And even when I was ready to hear it and I started letting people in again, that was only for Inferno. I still wasn't ready to restart my life as Mallory. You need something to fight for, or work towards, and yet you can't look too far into the future or you'll just get overwhelmed and quit. And the longer you let it go, the less willing you are to get back on track."

He let a beat go, and for a moment she thought he was letting her words absorb, but then he just repeated his request. "Just try one more time." She twisted her lips, trying to come up with a good reason to say no, and he added, "if not for him, for Carol."

She shook her head, pressing her lips together as she twisted them further to the side, but in the end she sighed and said, "fine."

He smiled a little and they went back to the house. Carol raised her eyebrows slightly, asking what was going on, but Mallory just went and knelt in front of Hal's chair, looking straight into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hal. I don't want to give up on you," she started. "I just can't keep watching you rot in this house. You're too old to think that it somehow makes up for something, and you're way too young to be waiting to die. You think you're doing some kind of justice, that slowly killing yourself is somehow going to make up for the lives that Parallax took? You know better than that. It's not going to bring them back, or make them rest any easier, or help their families, and it sure as hell isn't helping the people who care about you. You want to do something for those people? Get up and go do it. This isn't the Hal Jordan I knew, anymore than Parallax was. The Hal I knew wouldn't have let anything stop him from getting back out there and making every second count. He would have been living for those people, honoring their memories and making the differences they can't, because the Hal I knew wasn't afraid of anything, and he had the willpower to make anything happen. Even when he didn't know what he was doing, people followed him because they knew he would figure it out as he went. I'm not asking you to know what to do right away, Hal. I'm just telling you to get going so you can start to figure it out."

She held his eyes as she finished, looking at him hopefully, part of her believing that all it would take was one more pep talk, and he would be back to the man he used to be. Then he looked away, and she felt that hope crushed under reality, deflating her. She sighed and looked at the ground. "Well, maybe I was wrong," she said quietly, getting to her feet. "Maybe you really are just an old man, too scared to face the consequences and just waiting for the easy way out." She walked a few steps, stopping in front of Carol. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I didn't mean to make things worse when I came."

"I can't."

The three looked at each other, their eyes wide, then they looked at Hal, who had turned in his chair and was looking at them intensely. It was the first time he'd seemed like he was there in months, and it was so sudden that they weren't quite sure that they'd actually heard him speak or not.

"You can't what?" Kyle asked tentatively.

The man kept staring at them, and Mallory saw the faint glimmer of a spark that hadn't been there when she first walked in. "I can't be a hero," he said. "I don't have my ring anymore, and even if I did, I couldn't make it work."

They went back to him, Mallory and Kyle sitting across from him and Carol sitting on the arm of his chair. "You don't have to be a Lantern to be a hero," his wife said, taking his hand in hers. "And you don't have to be a hero to make a difference."

Mallory nodded, her hope starting to rise again. "Believe me, Hal, I know it's hard, but you told me once that you just have to find your reason for being here. You have people who want to help, you just have to decide that you want them to be there."

The man was nodding slowly, taking it in. "You just have to go one day at a time," Kyle said.

"One day…" Hal repeated, already looking overwhelmed.

Mallory shook her head quickly, leaning forward. "No, not at first. Right now, just one act at a time. Just get up, get dressed, and come have dinner with us. You don't have to look any further ahead than that. Not right now."

He smiled a little, his face smoothing out. "One act at a time." He stood and started walking to the stairs. He paused at the banister and nodded. "I think I can do that."

When he disappeared upstairs, the three in the living room looked at each other, still in shock. "I…don't know what just happened," Mallory admitted. "I didn't say anything he hasn't heard before."

Carol laughed out of pure relief, blinking away tears. "I guess this time he was just ready to hear it."

Kyle grinned. "I told you, just one more try," he said.

Mallory smiled, looking at the empty chair that Hal had been glued to for so long, still not fully believing what had happened. She knew this wasn't a cure, that he would still have good days and bad, but he was on his way back to the person he had been, and she was so proud of him in that moment for being brave enough to face the guilt instead of wallow in it.