ILLUSION || Jason Todd

SIXTY-THREE

❝WAKE UP LIKE "WHOOP!" NOT A GOOD CHOICE❞

FRAWLEY, HARD BOY

Being a Queen would mean making hard decisions that may stray from what Lorelei would want to do, her moral belief straying away from what was correct from her realm. That is how Lorelei felt when Hank died. Torn apart with a devastating truth she couldn't shake off. Her soul felt a destructive rage while her heart remained pernicious with deflation and utter hurt. Her mind wanted to scream at Jason, her gut felt nauseous.

Nobody had been themselves after Hank's passing yesterday. Lorelei, for one, hadn't slept until her body forced her into a nightmarish slumber she forgot to remember when waking back into the pain of her life. Her lucky star, once again, failed to hear her calling.

After washing her hands at the kitchen sink, Lorelei zoned out from the noise of Conner washing his own hands and arms as she dried her hands. Just yesterday Hank was here, in this kitchen, alive and breathing. He was here, fueling up for the day, and ready to take Jason on face first and- well, it didn't matter. He was gone. Jason made sure of that. Using trickery and Dawn's desperation to his advantage. It was smart. A good plan, really. But it hurt. Oh, it really fucking hurt.

"Take a break, you've been cleaning for hours." Garfield said with a quick glance to Conner. The sentence pulled Lorelei from her mind as her green haired friend walked into the kitchen from the pantry, holding the correct ingredients for the meal they would cook together. She didn't know what the meal was, she just wanted the simple distraction. "Eat something."

"Can't eat, I failed." Conner answered with a sharpness to his tongue, his scrubbing intensifying under his frustrated touch. Garfield was right, Conner had barely left the room Hank was- had stayed in, choosing to spend his time discarding the evidence that the bomb existed out of the blueprints they had found. "Superman never would've failed."

"Don't think like that, we did the best we could." The green haired boy said from beside Lorelei, the two sharing a concerned look for their teammate.

Even Lorelei knew, for survival, she had to eat. Even if she would feel guilt for every bite she took, Lorelei would eat. The many days, nights, weeks, and months spent without much food granting enough knowledge on how serious an empty stomach could be.

"Then why isn't Hank alive?"

"Because the bomb was activated early, he had five beats left." Lorelei stated, the emotion she felt failing to fall with her words.

The young mage had found out, with Dawn and Dick's return, that Dawn had activated the bomb after Jason led her to believe it was the deactivator - that she would be saving him. Instead, she killed him. Because of Jason.

Jason had really, really fucked up this time.

"Conner, I know this is hard-"

"How about stop the bullshit?" Conner snapped, interrupting Garfield from his attempt to comfort his friend. "Just come out and say it. If I wasn't some fucked up half breed none of this would've happened."

The green haired boy let out a thin stare, his lips pursing against Conner's claims and self blame. "Don't say that word."

"And that's not true, Conner, we all have our demons." Lorelei added, taking some of the vegetables from its packaging.

Conner let out a scoff at their words, his stare hardening in the deep pit he was falling into. "I'm talking about the lex part of me. It's like everyone was waiting for him to take over so you can all do your happy dance now because Superboy definitely did not save the day."