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The rain poured from the sky into the streets like most of the cold nights, some that approached winter too closely despite the hidden sun above the grumpy clouds of Gotham.
It was a city that was all and nothing, bliss and defiance, obedience and knowledge, a city that was the embodiment of “Let the ignorant be happy, for shall their paradise be destroyed as soon as it becomes blinding .”
Or something like that, Jay was the most poetic out of the Wayne sisters, at least in Rachelle’s mind because no matter the universe, no matter the timeline, Jay was always a dramatic girl with an on-going theatrics about “ hating the family!!” while actively attending the dinners just because Avery’s food was the best and she couldn’t just ignore it. (And also because Alice allowed her to bring any type of food she cooked, god, Rachelle was missing those days.)
…She was missing her entire life from where she came from, the days bothering Jay, the missions spent with Theia, silent outgoings with Caiside, hell, even the nagging of Damiana, she was missing not her life but her family . Sure, a version of them was in this universe (two in fact), but it wasn’t hers .
She couldn’t call them her family because they weren’t them . But what else could she do? They didn’t exist anymore, she, Talon and Richard were the only ones safe from what she once heard was an incursion… two realities clashing to the point of destruction. That’s how she met Richard and then eventually Talon because, lucky her, a double incursion was the weirdest of all according to people that had magic and could see that or whatever.
Rachelle stared at the window, at the droplets with a sense of longing, of a grief that she didn’t want to confront or comfort, whatever word came first. The background noise became that, background noise as she simply continued to stare at the drops of water that came from the sky… it reminded her of many things… but especially that day that she doesn’t like to talk about.
All the three have things they don’t like talking about, especially with the person that wore the face of someone they all knew (in different variations of familiarity that is) but acted so differently from them. But it was one of the unique weirdnesses of this world, because apparently, Jason here was a triplet and the three of them had different degrees of trauma ( “Trauma flavours, basically .” The person which Rachelle remembers their name is Jace. “Jackie has like, the most bitter of all, Jay has the most spiciest and I don’t really have flavour… unless you count space and fear of open spaces” A joke could’ve been made there, but nothing came to mind)
“Hey.” A voice she didn’t recognize startled her, making her head turn around so quickly that it could’ve broken her neck but— oh. It was just Jace… in their Green Lantern uniform… were they going to head out? A mission that lasted around two to three months? Maybe even four?? What would happen if one of the Bats or even the birds came to check Jace— “I am… not leaving.”
Their voice was monotone-ish, as close as they can get it to sound despite having a voice filled with raw emotion and compassion, a voice that was fitting of a child that had more in their heart that their tiny body could contain. One that, from the tales of the parents of Jace, would usually cry out of the tiniest things, even a butterfly that lacked wings and couldn’t predict the catastrophe that would doom all.
Not only this place, but the place of everyone, the home of Talon, the home of Richard… her home. She noticed them get a bit closer, extending their hand as she slowly moved away from it, the moment they saw the movement, they stopped. “Sorry.” They apologized, sitting on the other far side of the couch. “I am not… used to people here.” Oh.
This wasn’t Jace Jace, this was… someone else, their face more monotonous than Jace’s, one filled with emotions like their voice, one that could see their expressions behind the astronaut helmet even if that was there to hide it all. “It’s okay- I guess people are never used to other people.” Provided a comfort, a bit of it. “You are…?” And left the question hanging for an answer.
“Green Lantern.” Ja- Green Lantern replied… what an original name.
Silence for a moment, and then she spoke again. “Your name is just- Green Lantern?”
“Something wrong with it?”
“No! Nothing at all, just- curious about it. Can I call you glowstick?”
A groan. “No.”
“What nickname can I give you? GL?”
A pause, the mouth of Green Lantern stayed open for a moment before closing, rubbing their fingers in the bridge of their nose, clearly annoyed at the proposal of the nickname while Rachelle smiled slightly, but the smile turned bitter, too much like
her
, like
her sister
. God, she didn’t want to be reminded of her sister, her little sister, the one that she lost once and now lost again.
Bitterness filled the room like a fragrance that was always looming in the world, something that was so- raw and pure and lacking in understanding yet it was so familiar at the same time.
So natural to the both that were sat in the both extremes of a couch, rain becoming a background noise with background feelings and background memories.
“...Yeah. You can call me GL.” The silence was broken by those words. “Or Lantern.” And it fell back, consuming the entire place.
It stayed like that, until the Green Lantern left.
The rain poured from the sky into the streets like most of the cold nights.
Winter was approaching. The most depressive season of the four.