A Dragon's Love (Young Justice)

How Are We Alive?

I wake up with a gasp, falling off of a table, and landing onto the hard floor. I sit up with a groan, placing a hand to my pounding head. My mind instantly replays everything that happened, before I look around me in confusion. What am I doing back in the cave? I hear a groan and look over. I freeze. Kaldur's laying on another table, slowly getting up. He's alive? But how?

"You're all alive?" I hear Megan say happily. I glance at her, before looking to where Manhunter and Batman are standing. "What happened in there?" Batman asks. "The exercise, it all went wrong." Manhunter explains. "Exercise?" Robin asks. I glance over at him. He's covered in sweat, breathless.

"Try to remember." Batman begins to explain. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware nothing was real, including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes." Manhunter continues, "But all that changed when Artemis died." I glance over at Artemis to see she's glaring at the ground. "Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise, and her subconscious took control, making all of you forget, too."

We look over to M'gann. "I-Im... I'm so sorry." She stammers. "This isn't her fault. Why didn't you stop the exercise?" Superboy yells. "We tried. But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should have awakened upon her death was so convinced she had passed, she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to rest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within."

"But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly... to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped." At that, I flinch, and see out of the corner of my eye that Kaldur glances at me. "But only when the mothership exploded, and Dracona, Robin, and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose. To shock M'gann out of the exercise, before your comas became permanent."

"My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous... so damaging." We look over to see that M'gann's facing the wall, her back to us. Her head is bent down, and I can hear her gasping breaths as she begins to cry. Captain Marvel goes over to comfort her.

I turn back to see Manhunter nearly collapse to the ground as he begins to turn, Batman and Red Tornado catching him. "As bad as all that?" Batman asks. "Perhaps worse." I hear their whispers. "Yet this is not what troubles you." Tornado comments. "Make no mistake," Manhunter begins, Batman pulling him back up, "My niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this... for our debacle."

"No one blames her." Batman replies, "But clearly we underestimated her abilities." "You understated." Manhunter corrects, looking over to M'gann. "In terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind I have ever encountered... Stronger by far than mine." I look over at M'gann again. She's shaking.

Tears form in my eyes once more, and slide over my mask as they fall. Memories of the exercise fill my mind. I stand up, walking over to M'gann. I place my hand on her shoulder, and she looks up at me, her tears streaming from her eyes. I pull her into a small, short side hug, keeping her in Marvel's arms. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself." I whisper in her ear.

I pull back, give her a small smile, then walk through the door. Once I'm out of their sight, I start running. I don't even care where I'm going, I just need to feel the adrenaline running through my legs, pumping through my veins. Before I know it, I'm in my room, slamming the door shut. I sit against the door, weeping, and for the first time since I don't remember when, I don't try to hide my sobs, or my ragged breaths.