In the Golden Light - A Justice League AU

Chapter 14 - "Forget About Him..."

Where had it gone wrong?

Why won't they come to save him? 

Why hadn't they saved him as he was falling?

Goldwath's vision was getting darker as he only saw the bubbles rising to the surface that escaped from his mouth, the only air he had held in as he sank. He couldn't swim; his injuries prevented him from such. He never had the idea to even learn how to swim in the first place. He sank further and further into the waters, the sunlight growing dimmer, the ocean current caressing his ears and muffling all noise from above.

Before all went black, some creature blurred by his view: an unknown stranger, normal wolf looking but with a fish tail, reaching out to him and taking him into its arms as he passed out...

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{Prior}

He couldn't stand by and be seen as what he physically looked like: weak and disabled. He could still fight, he still had the Thanagarian warrior spirit in him! He wasn't going to let the Justice League fight his battle alone. They needed him, and Goldwath definitely needed to go after Dazzling Hawk. Defying the order he was given, Goldwath ran to the rear door of the Javelin, opened it, and leaped out to the nearest Rebel: Scarlet Snake. ("HEY!" shouted Flash as he saw him escape.)

"What the?"

Despite his injuries, the Thanagarian kept a good grip with his hind paws and teeth, biting down hard and desperately shaking to tear off some chunks of flesh. All the while Scarlet Snake hissed and shouted, spiraling mid air to throw him off. "Get off me you scumbag!" In one final attempt, he bucked hard like a wild bull, finally throwing Goldwath off.

He furiously flapped his good wing as he fell, somewhat gaining airspeed before colliding into someone else with a grunt. That someone being Green Lantern.

"Goldwath!" he shouted, encapsulating him with his green ring before the Thanagarian could fall. "You..... We told you to stay with Flash!"

"And let me stand by while the enemies are attacking? No way!" Goldwath retaliated, squirming in the green bubble. "I can fight JUST like the others!"

"With those injuries?"

That angered Goldwath immensely. "STOP POINTING OUT MY INJURIES!!!"

Green Lantern was struck from the side by Candycane and Silverclaw. He turned his attention towards the duo and started to fire from his ring. The green light surrounding Goldwath began to fade, and he felt himself falling again before someone caught him into their paws.

"You're mine now."

Dazzling Hawk!

Goldwath twisted his body to see the large Thanagarian smiling from cheek to cheek, lifting up a paw to strike at him. Goldwath managed to dodge the attack in the nick of time and lose some parts of his fur on his neck. He swayed forward and backward to throw Dazzling Hawk off course, the latter letting out a sound of anger as he tried to recover.

Goldwath used this temporary shift to twist his body and haul himself to Dazzling Hawk's back, clinging on desperately. "Get off of me and fight!!" the bigger Thanagarian shouted, circling around and doing other aerial stunts to get Goldwath off him. It failed as Goldwath got a good grip on his flesh with his claws, biting onto the back of his neck. Dazzling Hawk choksed out as he stopped, lifting up his arms to try and reach Goldwath. Dazzling Hawk had two completely different wing sizes, so this meant his smaller wing was dragging the both of them down as he stood in midair. Dazzling Hawk flapped again. He couldn't reach Goldwath, only feeling blood rising from his neck, which prompted him to shout a simple cue: "SUIZUL, NOW!"

Huh? 

Another body pounced onto Goldwath's back, adding extra weight to the two of them. Both Dazzling Hawk and Goldwath grunted, Goldwath letting go of his neck. He turned around upon feeling a claw tap his mask; he saw the Atlantean above him, a rock in paw, smirking. He laughed, wide-eyed, crazed.

"Say hi to the princess for me~" Suizul muttered to the Thanagarian, "if you make it, that is."

What?

Stars fluttered in Goldwath's vision, and blood dripped from his mask. Jerking from the head injury, he slipped off Dazzling Hawk, failing to keep his grip on and spiraled downwards towards the ocean.

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"HAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Hawkgirl took another swing of her mace, hitting Candycane square on her hind. The pink-furred wolf yowled in pain, being caught by Silverclaw as she fell. The two of them fled without second thinking. Dazzling Hawk began calling for a retreat.

"Thanks," Green Lantern said to Hawkgirl.

She raised her mace to her shoulder and noticed something from the corner of her vision. Turning her head in curiosity, she noticed it was Goldwath falling. Her eyes widened. "GOLDWATH!!" She dashed towards him, fast as she could. Her arm extended towards him; she could feel him close to her grasp. So close, come on... She almost reached him until...

"STOP!"

Encapsulated by a green light. She thonked her head in the field with an "oof!" She struggled in the force field and looked up to Green Lantern. His eyes were narrow as he shouted, "It's no use! He's falling towards Atlantis territory, you KNOW the law! He's as good as dead!"

"But.... He saved our life! He saved your life! I was close to saving him before he could fall!" Hawkgirl growled. 

"Just forget about him, ok! It's..." Green Lantern huffed out sadly, turning his head away. "It's no use. He won't make it...I'm sorry, Hawkgirl." He freed her out from his ring and planted a paw on her shoulder. "Let's go back."

Forget about him...

Forget about him?

That broke Hawkgirl's heart but eventually she came to the truth Goldwath wasn't going to make it. It was over.

{To Be Continued. . .}