On Oa, after everyone's back on earth:
Pang
Splash
Ting
The yellow ring bounces around in it's reinforced confinement. Created by the Guardians themselves, the emerald field, constantly maintained by three Alpha Lanterns, barely flickers. Over and over it slams against the field as if seeking something.
And then it suddenly stops. Hovering in the center of the field. The sudden change barely registers with the Alpha Lanterns. Until it shrinks itself, imploding into nothingness.
The Alpha Lanterns looks at each other for a moment before dropping the field.
"We must warn the Guardians..."
On Earth:
"Those blue-skinned sons of bi-!"
"Carol," I interrupt, nodding my head at the child in her arms.
She looks at Martin and bites her lip. The purple ring on her finger glowing brightly. Martin squeals in delight and entertains himself with trying to pull it off Carol's finger. "I have half a mind to fly there right now and shove a violet rod right up their arrogant blue a-"
"Carol!"
"And of course Hal has to play hero and give himself up."
"He said not to worry, that it'll be ok."
"Oh, of course he did. Just fine, he says. Locked away in a cell on Oa with god knows how many enemies he put in there himself, all ready to get a piece of him." She sighs and rubs her forehead. "And Sinestro turned evil again?"
"Well, he certainly didn't think he was evil. Thought he was going to save the universe. Even brought Ted back."
"I'm grateful he did, but, come on, save the universe by becoming it's tyrant? That beyond insane."
"Hal tried to do it once."
"Well, yeah, but that was...different..."
"Who are you trying to convince?"
"You're sticking up for Sinestro?"
"I'm...giving him the benefit of the doubt. I think he actually did change. But he went too far, or let the power get to him, or...just made a bad choice. I don't know which."
Carol sits there with Martin, creating a violet toy for him to play with. "Is Sinestro dead?"
"Not sure. But I doubt it would matter if he was. Death seems more like a...vacation these days."
That actually gets a brief smile out of her. "So what now?"
"For now, you take care of Martin. And I go back to Keystone to catch up with what's going on with Wally. And we hope the League can do something for Hal."
She gives me a slightly mischievous grin. "Prison break?"
I grab my hat and stand.
"Heh. I'm sure they'll call you if that's what they're planning. See you later, Carol."
"Bye, Jay." I run out the front door. "...so they kicked Guy out of the Corps..." Carol snorts as she tries not to laugh at the thought.
Elsewhere on Earth:
Mary closes the front door behind her and puts the keys on the table. Samantha runs inside the house, leaving Mary to carry all the groceries. Samantha's instantly through the back door and climbing onto her swing-set. Mary puts the bags on the counter, turns, and barely stifles a scream.
"Hello, Mary."
Floating before her in the living room of her house is a familiar yellow ring. And projecting from that ring is a familiar shape.
"Sinestro?" The ring must just have appeared, she think to herself. There's no way Sam or her could have missed this. Or, maybe it was keyed to only activate for her?
"If you are seeing this projection, then...my plan, everything I had been working towards, has failed." Mary puts her hand to her mouth, fearing the worst. That the Guardians found him guilty, and...
"I was found innocent, and remade a member of the Corps." She gasps with relief, not realizing she had been holding her breath. The pride in Sinestro's voice fills her with a small spark of hope.
"But I may have gone too far...or not far enough. I am not yet sure. But, suffice it to say, I am no longer around."
"What does that mean?"
As if answering her question, the projection continues.
"I will not lie to you...I may be dead. But if there was a way out, be sure that I have taken it. And whatever it takes, no matter how long or what I must do, I will return to you. And if I truly am dead...then know that I have loved you like no other. You and Samantha represent a part of my life I thought I would never have. I am grateful for everything you have shared, and keep you with me wherever I am."
Mary has no words, but the tears on her cheeks speak volumes.
"I love you, and even if I have to defy the universe itself, I will return." The projection fades. The ring lingers a moment longer, and then launches itself through the open back door.
Samantha runs back inside excitedly. "Did you see Uncle Sinestro's ring? ...Mommy, what's wrong?"
When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
This I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
Qward
Arkillo was a terrifying creature. A savage carnivore and barbarian from Sector 674, his whole home planet lived in constant fear of his presence. This was why he was one of the first beings in the universe to receive a yellow ring. Because he had the ability to instil great fear. He was not only welcomed to the Parallax Corps, but given a very important duty. To train new recruits.
Listen to Arkillo, pathetic worms! Under my command, you will know fear. I will make fear your one and only friend, your lifelong lover, and fear will replace your filthy ****e of a mother. Know fear, feel fear, and only then can you become its master!
Heh.
Arkillo spun round, furious. Who dared interrupt him by laughing? A puny Earthman, standing at the end of the line.
Is something funny, earthworm?
Heh heh heh heh ha ha ha ha ha.....
Then it started. With his ring, the white-skinned earthman began to form elaborate constructs that towered over the assembled inductees. Terrible, nightmarish things that cannot be explained. It was simple to him, like second nature he was simply illustrating the thoughts that routinely ran through his own mind. Arkillo was a master of fear, he was hardened and experienced. This is perhaps why he was the only witness to those images whose sanity was not instantly broken. The rest? Soon, they were all laughing along with The Joker.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children
But I have many friends,
And some of them are with me.
Streaking through the skies of Earth, a purple comet breaks through the planet's atmosphere and scorched past the moon. The man at the center of the ball of energy is Guy Gardner, formerly of the Green Lantern Corps.
The former Lantern streaked past the moon in the violet light as he headed towards deep space. The ring now planted on his finger was not a weapon of will power, but a tool of a stronger power. The power of love.
An old woman gave us shelter,
Kept us hidden in the garret,
Then the soldiers came;
She died without a whisper.
All around me, reality blurs and morphs, taking the form of worlds I've never seen, but all of which look so familiar. I'm adrift between worlds, between entire Multiverses, with no way of knowing where I will come out...if I ever come out at all.
Being lost and alone against impossible odds isn't exactly new to me, though. I steel my nerves as I plummet through everything and nothing, and I make myself a vow.
I will stop Zod...
I will bring back Kara...
...and above all else...I will find my way home...
There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
But I must go on;
My name is Hal Jordan. I used to be a Green Lantern. Now Im a prisoner, a criminal, a
scapegoat. I sit in the sciencell, staring hard at the floor and blocking out the catcalls and threats streaming in from the various other cells around me. After all Ive done, all Ive fought for, this is my reward from The Guardians. They lock me up here, and refuse to recognise the fast-approaching threat of The Blackest Night. I close my eyes, and a series of images flash before me.
Atrocitus barking orders at his seething, raging horde of Red Lanterns.
Larfleeze hunched in his dark, squallid lair, cursing me for not returning his ring.
The Indigo Tribe wondering what role they have to play now, having set Ion free.
Dinah Lance at home, with a blue ring, and no idea what to do with it.
Carol Ferris patrolling the cosmos as a Star Sapphire, and my son left alone and crying.
Sinestro. Out there, somewhere. Waiting...
There is so much on the horizon. But with all the will in the world, how can I do anything about it when no one wants me to?
The frontiers are my prison.
A breeze blew through Gotham City, catching Batman's cape and sending the cloth fluttering through the wind. The vigilante, perched on the edge of a rooftop, observed the city from the breath-taking height of the skyscraper he was planted on. Somewhere in the city, a scream pierced the night. In a matter of seconds, Batman disappeared as he leapt through the air.
His job was never done.
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
Through the graves the wind is blowing,
Freedom soon will come;
Then we'll come from the shadows.
Not a sound could be heard on the streets of Oolong island. What was once an island paradise of unrestricted free thought and boundless thought has disappear. What remain was an unrecognizable husk of nightmares.
Every nook, every crack, every space, and deep below the island a single cancerous thought started to spread. Reality was sick, the universe was broken with this singe thought. Slowly, entirety was be pulled together and fall into itself into a single image of darkness. The devil of the cosmos, the bane of freedom, and the messiah of ignorance has fallen onto this Earth and his forces will be unleash upon the whole of all-being.
For there is a new god and deep below the island his hell cackles with pure black light. His willpower filtered in reality, his willpower made flesh. A robed man walks up to a lumbering figure in a chair. Machines are hooked up to him, prepping for the final phases of his entrance. He bows before the New God and awaits his new creed.
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
Through the graves the wind is blowing,
Freedom soon will come;
Then we'll come from the shadows.
TO BE CONTINUED... IN SEASON VIII!
