The Dark Fairy (Young Justice)

Chapter 22: Wally Nay Nay

“I swear, either you're doing this on purpose or fate is fucking with you.” I heard a voice.

No. There is no way I am stuck with that voice in the afterlife. I was scared to open my eyes as I saw what I hoped I wouldn’t.

“No! There is no way I am playing poker for eternity!” I yelled when I saw Dumbledore standing there. He seemed surprised at my outburst and tried to understand.

“My dear, are you alright?” He asked, for once actually concerned for my mental state.

“Alright? Alright?! I’m dead for Oberon’s sake! Of course I’m not okay!” I yelled in frustration.

I was going to be stuck here for the rest of time wasn’t I? Is this hell what hell looks like? What did I do wrong?!

His wrinkled face scrunched up in confusion and he asked, “Dead? What are you talking about. You come here when your body is semi-shutdown, not when it’s gone.”

I myself grew a little weirded out but soon it hit me. I wasn’t dead.

Just as this came to mind, I felt myself fade and I knew I was about to wake up again.

How the hell did I survive?

***

Ugh. Do you know what it feels like when you die mentally? No. No you don’t.

It feels like a literal part of you is blown up and strewn across your brain like flower petals. It’s weird and it feels like you should be dead, but you know you aren’t.

It was almost like I had been in a blazing heat though. I was sweating profusely and I was short of breath like I had run a marathon.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Batman staring down on me and he helped me up. I looked up at him and fresh tears nearly breached my eyes as I realized that he was alive. I instantly gave him a bear hug, not letting go.

My Dad isn’t dead for once. I still have him. I didn’t lose him. I felt a tear roll down my cheek but quickly wiped it away with a smile.

He was a little surprised, but soon hugged back. I don’t even know what to say but my Dad is alive. I still have a parent. Do you know how little I get to say that?

I don’t think I could ever have someone be my father again of Bruce died. He’s the only one who really knows what I’ve been through.

“You’re all alive!” I heard M’gann and I looked up too see that we were all in the cave.

When I saw Artemis and Kaldur, I ran and hugged them tightly. They were a little confused but returned the hug. Give me some slack, I thought all of these guys were dead.

“The exercise… It all went wrong.” I heard Martian Manhunter say, struggling to get up.

“Exercise?” I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

Batman looked at us all while he helped J’ohn to his feet. He said, “Try and remember, what you experienced was a training exercise.”

And that was when all of my memories came flooding back in, along with it came a massive headache. I winced and held my head as the images from before the exercise flashed through it. I remember now.

We had been doing a psychic exercise. We knew that going in but… why did it never go right? We knew that everything was fake till Artemis died and then it felt like we were in an actual war zone.

“We didn’t tell you, but it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse.” Batman explained and we all understood.