Aero *Completed Story*

Chapter 14

There is nothing left of you,
I can see it in your eyes
Sing the anthem of the angels
And say the last goodbye
I keep holding onto you,
But I can't bring you back to life
Sing the anthem of the angels,
And say the last goodbye

Wally sat with his hands behind his head, leaning against the bed's headboard. He couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth. It had felt good to finally get them out in the open but that had not been the way that he wanted to tell Preston that he loved her. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was his overwhelming concern for her, his anger at how she had been acting or that she was denying herself the support from everyone she loved, but somehow the words just came out.

Like a shockwave, a scream broke his thoughts. "Wally!"

As quick as he could, Wally closed his eyes concentrating on the sound of Preston's voice in his mind. Her voice sounded frantic yet despondent.

Before her feelings could overwhelm him, Wally had to speak. "Where are you?" He repeated the words over and over in his mind until a blurry image appeared. From it he could make out a large pile of dirt and beyond it he could see water. He needed more.

"Preston just tell me where you are." Wally was almost frustrated at her lack of communication until he realized why everything he was seeing was so blurry. She was crying. He was seeing things through her tear-filled eyes.

His anxiety heightened so much he felt like he was choking on it. "Preston give me more, I don't know where you are!"
Suddenly a thought was pushed into his head and he knew exactly where she was. The Narrows.

Pushing the button on the ring his uncle had given him last year, he quickly ran into the Flash costume that was released from it. As quickly as he had changed, he was gone.

***

Skidding to a stop a few seconds after he left the Queen Mansion, Flash looked around at his current location. He knew he had arrived in the Narrows because all the buildings were run down, the rails on most of the fire escapes were either missing or broken and the air smelled of motor oil and soot.

He looked to his right and immediately recognized the dirt pile from Preston's thoughts. Running to it he saw the water just beyond. Right before he could turn around, he heard a faint cry.

"Wally. Help."

Startled, his head snapped around to see Preston propped up against a dumpster wearing a red hoodie and green mask. Her arms were wrapped around Dove. She was holding him close to her chest, sobbing. Flash walked slowly toward them. As he examined the scene more closely he saw Dove lay limply against Preston and all the color had drained from his face. Flash knelt down and took Dove's wrist in his hand, laying his index and middle finger against it. He felt nothing.

"Wally I can't hear him anymore. He's gone." With those words a gut-wrenching sob rose from her chest. She clutched onto Dove and tried to bring him even closer to her.

Sadness filled Flash as he watched this. He reached his hand up towards Preston. "It's ok." Those weren't the words that he knew would comfort her, but he didn't know what else to say. He knew they needed to get out of there and back up to the Watchtower. But he wasn't sure if he should move Preston right now. This was the most fragile he had ever seen her, and it made his heart break.

"Preston we have to get you and Dove back up to the Watchtower. Here," he reached both hands out. "Let me carry him."

"No, no he needs me." Her voice lowered as she leaned her head down toward Dove's, resting her forehead on his. "I can't let him go."

"Ok. It's ok. We don't have to go right now." Bringing his arms back down to his side, Flash moved around until he was crouching down next to Preston. Putting his arms around her, he held her gently and whispered in her ear. "Everything is going to be ok."

***

Hawk rummaged around in his locker. "Where is it? Damn I am always losing that stupid phone." He angrily threw the contents outside his locker and onto the floor. As he did the sound of hard plastic hitting the floor drew his attention. He grumbled to himself as he reached for the lost item.

His mood the last few days could only be described as atrocious. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. To top it all off he hadn't heard from or seen his brother and he knew it was because Don had been purposely avoiding him. That frustrated him more than he admitted to himself.

It was hard to be without Don. He was the one person who balanced Hawk out.

Picking up the phone, he shook it a few times then proceeded to turn it on. It refused, so he hit it with the edge of his palm. Pushing the button to power it up again, Hawk was relieved when it finally lit up. Frustrated with himself for dropping it, he ran his finger over the now broken screen. As the home screen came on he was instantly notified that he had two missed calls and voicemails. Pushing play and holding his phone up to his ear, he began to listen to the messages that were left.

"Hank it's Wally West. You need to give me a call as soon as you can."

Wally? What could he possibly be calling about? The only time they ever talked was when the League assigned them to work together.

He pushed a button on his phone to go to the next message.

"Hank Hall this is J'onn J'onzz. Report to the Watchtower as..."

From behind him he felt someone approach. He brought the phone away from his ear and slowly turned around.

"Hank."

The man who stood before him was someone that Hawk deeply respected. Martian Manhunter was the sole survivor of his race. He came to earth and not only made it his home, but earnestly fought for the people on this planet as he did on his own. One of the main things he admired about the Martian was his ability to keep his emotions in check. Hawk wore his feelings on his sleeve. But as Hawk looked up at the Martian's face he immediately got the sense that something was wrong.

"J'onn what's going on?"

With a look of sympathy J'onn responded. "Hank, you need to come with me to the infirmary."

The informal way J'onn was addressing him made Hawk worry. All he could do was nod in response to the request as J'onn led the way out of the locker room and into the hall.

They made their way to the infirmary in an uncomfortable silence. Hawk wanted to ask what was going on, but he knew if the Martian was going to tell him, he would have done so already.

J'onn stopped right outside the doors to the infirmary and turned around to face Hawk and placed his hands on his shoulders. "I'm so sorry Hank."

Doubt and fear permeated Hawk's face. "J'onn what is it? What happened?"

"Your brother. He's been," J'onn paused, trying to compose himself.

Putting the pieces together, Hawk looked back up at J'onn in horror. He pushed him aside and ran into the infirmary.

On a bed in the middle of the room lay Dove. Hawk couldn't help but think how peaceful he looked lying there even though he was ghostly pale. Slowly concentrating on walking towards the bed, he failed to notice The Atom a few feet away.

"Hank, I'm so sorry. There was nothing I could do." Not knowing what else to do or say, the Atom left the room, his head held low in shame.

Hawk's head was clouded. Glancing down at his brother in the bed the reality of the situation hitting him, he clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists. "Don what did you do?" At those words Hawk broke down. He grabbed his brother and clutched him to his chest. "What did you do? You know I can't do this without you. We are Hawk and Dove, we are supposed to be there for each other." The tears poured down his cheeks. "Don what do I do now? How can I go on without you?"