011
— an ode to the dead —

HAZEL STOOD IN FRONT OF THE S.T.A.R LABS MIRROR, PULLING AT THE FABRIC OF HER SHIRT. She had cleaned her clothes in the washing machine but even with the most expensive stain remover, she couldn't strip the fabric of the metallic stains of blood, her underwear, bra and socks were the only things to remain unstained. She had swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled on her jeans, the colour dark enough to disguise the crimson stains, but her shirt had been completely destroyed.

The soft knocking on the door made her jump. "It's just me," Gar called, keeping his voice soft, "Can I come in?" Hazel hummed and Gar pushed the door open, smiling at Hazel. He held out his hands, offering his red skeleton shirt and jeans to her, "I uh, brought you new clothes. I figured you didn't wanna wear those so. . . I know my shirts fit you, let's hope my jeans do."

Hazel laughed softly and took the clothes, "Thanks." Gar nodded and Hazel cleared her throat. "Can you turn around for a sec?"

Gar went red in the face. "Uh, yeah, yes. Absolutely." Gar spun on his heel, running his hand down his face. Hazel dumped her bloody clothes on the sink for the moment as she switched clothes, and indeed Gar's jeans were too big. She weaved a vine through them as a belt before pulling the shirt on, clearing her throat as she tucked the shirt into the jeans.

"They're a little big, but I improvised," Hazel teased.

"It's cute," Gar laughed. "Uh you've got. . ." Gar nodded at Hazel's hairline before cursing under his breath. Hazel watched him closet as he grabbed her stained shirt. He tore a piece of untainted cloth off before tossing both the shirt and jeans in the trash.

He wet the cloth with some warm water and Hazel stepped closer, looking at her reflection, spotting the red blood caught in her hair just beside her eyebrow. Gar reached out, brushing the hair from Hazel's eyes. Hazel took a breath and stilled as Gar leaned closer whipping away the blood.

Her eyes drifted away, focussing on nothing in particular. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop replaying May's words in her head. Why would she ever consider it? Why was May right?

"Hey," Gar called. "What are you thinking about?"

Hazel shook her head softly, "Don't worry about it."

"I'm going to."

Hazel sighed and grabbed his wrist, "Gar I'm serious."

"Hazel—"

"No, I can't talk about it." The panic that had started to grow in her stomach suddenly expanded all through her body. Her hands shook, her breaths coming in shallow gasps as her chest tightened with each passing second. The room seemed to shrink, the air growing heavy against her bones.

Gar didn't say anything, simply taking her hands and pulling her down to the floor, kneeling in front of each other as Hazel tried to focus but her breaths got shorter. She could feel the cold tiles against her skin, the hair rising on her arms. Gar held onto her hands, tightening more as she panicked, trying to draw her eyes to his. "Hazel, I need you to look at me. Breathe with me," Gar said calmly.

Hazel shook her head and Gar quickly let go of her hands, holding her face in his palms. His thumbs traced her skin, Hazel's breaths steadying slightly as she stared at him. "Talk to me."

Hazel took a shaky breath, "About what's happening?"

"No, anything else," Gar said, moving to sit with his legs crossed, his hands dropping back to Hazel's. "Tell me about when we first met."

"What?"

Gar shrugged, "Just do it. What game were you playing?"

Hazle stammered for a minute, her mind racing. "Hitch— Hitchhiker lane," Hazel remembered, her eyebrows furrowing as her mind wandered through her memories. "I thought it was weird you came up to me, but you were cute and really nice. You had cool hair. And you helped me get a good score."

Gar laughed softly, "I had cool hair?"

Hazel smiled softly. "You have cool hair."

As Hazel looked down at her hands, she realised that the shaking had stopped and she had begun to play with Gar's fingers. She took a deep breath and dropped back, sitting cross-legged across from Gar, her back pressed against the wall. Hazel looked up at Gar and smiled. "Thank you."

Gar shook his head and spun to sit beside Hazel, keeping his grip on her hand. Hazel squeezed herself closer to Gar, dropping her head onto his shoulder, her check pressing the red shoulder patch. "Do you ever wish you could make all the pain go away?" Hazel asked, her voice still shallow. "Like all the hurt and guilt."

Gar shrugged, "Dick says—"

Hazel shook her head quickly, "I'm asking you."

Gar took a heavy breath, his head rolling back against the wall. "Sometimes yeah, but then I think about it and, no," Gar said with a nod. "You can't just take away an entire part of yourself."

Hazel hummed softly. "Terran's looking for you," Gar added, still keeping his voice soft.

Hazel groaned, "I have to talk to Dick as well." She said it but she didn't move, instead she sunk further into Gar's side.

"Aren't you—?"

"Shh, let's just stay here for a minute," Hazel interrupted him quickly. Gar laughed, wrapping his arm around Hazel. "I really like it here."

❁

Tim kicked himself off the desk, sighing in annoyance as he started to spin in the chair. His eyes scanned over the monitors each time he spun, each little huff getting louder and louder each time. The doors opened but he didn't look up, recognising Cole's footsteps. He stopped at the table, immediately grabbing a tablet and scrolling through it. "Did you see Hazel?" Tim asked and Cole nodded softly. "How is she?"

Cole shrugged softly, "She's being very Hazel. Then Dick came to talk to her. . . I don' know man." Tim furrowed his eyebrows and Cole sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He spun to face Tim and shook his head, Tim stopping his spinning to look up at him. "Doesn' matter, how's the empty hallways?"

Tim looked over his shoulder. "Empty."

"Good, yet boring," Cole groaned. He turned back to the tablet and Tim stopped to watch him again.

"What are you doing?" Tim asked, pushing himself up. "You've got stress hair." Cole groaned and racked his hand through his hair, trying to flatten the parts that had gone wild. Tim chuckled softly and leaned closer, trying to read the tablet. "What's this?"

Cole pushed the tablet out of Tim's sight. "Sorry," Cole whispered, turning the screen off before he could see Hazel's light readings. "It's not mine to share."

Tim huffed and spun, crossing his arms over his chest, "Dick ask you to do that?"

Cole eyebrows furrowed, "What? No."

"It's cool, I mean I know Dick's putting me on ice," Tim said but his words sounded so sour. "Everyone with no skills go hide behind the monitors."

"Rude," Cole scoffed, laughing slightly and Tim winced. "Being arrested messed with Hazel's power, I'm montering them. But no one knows, this has to stay secret, got it?" Cole pointed a finger at Tim and he nodded quickly. "And don't think too hard about what Dick makes you do. I mean I'm a Demi-God and I'm computer monitoring because this job is dangerous."

Tim scoffed, repeating the word job in a whisper.

"Tim, I'm serious," Cole said sternly. He pushed himself up and stood in front of Tim, standing over him slightly. Tim rolled his eyes and Cole stepped back. "Hit me."

"What?"

"Take your stupid Robin staff and hit me," Cole clarified. Tim grabbed the staff he had left on the desk and flipped it in his hand, the metal expanding as it touched his palm. Tim spun the staff and swung at Cole, but he didn't even move, he just battered the staff away and grabbed Tim's wrist. He yanked Tim closer, forcing him to drop the staff.

Tim sucked in a quick breath as he stared up at Cole. "You missed," Cole teased. Tim swallowed hard and Cole dropped his wrist, stepping back slightly. He smiled before turning back to the tablet. Tim sighed intending to crouch and grab the staff but Cole had already grown a vine to pick it up and hold it up to Tim.

Tim laughed and grabbed the staff, the metal retracting back to shorten it to the size of his forearm. "Thanks," He said with a grin. Cole glanced over her shoulder and smiled. Tim's eyes focused on the monitors and he furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey, did Bernard say anything about experiments here that involve snakes?" Tim asked, looking up at Cole.

Cole turned the tablet off and looked at Tim. "No. . ." Cole walked to Tim's side, pressing full screen on the monitor Tim was looking at. Slithering through the north wall was an enormous black and red snake, eyes bright white and sharp fangs it showed off each time it hissed. "Hazel said that it was a snake that killed Lex Luthor," Cole remembered. "And that man that Kory and I talked to."

"That's what I call suspicious activity," Tim said with a smile. He knocked Cole's shoulder and ran off.

"Tim, no," Cole called, running after him. He threw the doors open and chased Tim down the hall. He grabbed Tim's arm and pulled him to a stop. "Tim, stop!"

"We're just checking it out," Tim said sternly, starting to walk again. Cole groaned and raked his hands through his hair in frustration. He took a breath and caught up to Tim.

"Tim this is a terrible idea, this thing is dangerous, and enormous," Cole compained, hoping he could simply annoy Tim into listening to him.

"Cole, calm down, we're not gonna get close. . ." Tim trailed off a low hissing cut through the silence of the hall. They froze in place, both not wanting the turn until the hiss turned into an almost demonic growl. They finally turned, looking at the midnight black snake, the beast lifting its head and upper body from the ground, poised to strike at them both.

The snake opened its jaws, displaying the sharp fangs as it hissed at the boys. In a second Cole had grabbed Tim hand and had started dragging him down the hall, sprinting away from the snake. Cole flicked his hand and volts of electric lightning raced from his fingers and across the metal framing over the glass windows, shattering the glass. It scattered across the hallway floor and the snake hissed, forced to turn down another hall.

The boys did not stop running, not until Tim spun Cole around and pulled him into a room to the left. They slammed the door closed, staying close against it to hold it shut as they waited for the security system to properly lock. Cole motioned for Tim to stay quiet, still keeping a tight grip on his hand.

Once the slithering sound disappeared entirely Cole sighed, dropping his head against the door. "Christ you're lucky you're cute," Cole teased. Tim looked up at him and laughed, his shoulder relaxing as he slumped against the doors. Cole laughed before speaking, "Still telling everyone it was your idea."

❁

IN A SINGLE MOMENT HAZEL HAD COME TO COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND DICK AND HIS STRICT TRAINING. Cole had called the entire team to the security room where he and Tim had told everyone that an evil snake was roaming the hallways, and they had chased after it. "The thing was enormous," Tim explained, him and Cole standing in front of the others. "It went by the door, and then we lost it on the monitors."

"But it was in the north hallway, you can see where I broke the glass," Cole insisted, pointing to one of the monitors.

He looked up at Hazel who stood beside Dick and she took a long breath. "Why— Why did you go after it in the first place?" Hazel questioned, her voice raising slightly in annoyance. "This is magic, this isn't something you can just idiotically rush into—"

"Haze," Gar stepped closer and squeezed her arm softly. She took a breath and sat on the chair Gar was resting against.

Cole looked away, "I'm sorry."

"Point is, you're safe," Dick spoke up and Tim nodded. "But Hazel is right. This is magic. We're in Jinx's world now. What's your take on this?"

Jinx looked up from the complimentary snacks and turned to Dick. "Well, a snake is that crazy lady's signature move, right?" Jinx asked, stepping forward.

"Could have been the same snake that killed Lex," Kory suggested.

"Or the hundreds of others killed Lex's entire team," Terran reminded.

"How did the snake get inside of S.T.A.R. Labs?" Gar asked. "We had every inch of this place covered."

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Jinx said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. "The point is that it's here. And Mommy's gonna use that snake to get what she really wants."

"Which is Sebastian. So how do we stop this thing?" Terran asked, kicking herself off the table.

"Well, I am gonna have to consult the only person capable of handling a snake of this magnitude," Jinx said and they all turned to look at her. "Samuel L. Jackson."

Gar and Hazel laughed as Dick groaned. "Jinx. Focus, please," Kory said, trying to cover her laugh.

"Okay, okay," Jinx sighed, motioning for everyone to relax. "She wants magic versus magic, right? May I remind you all that you have three children of Videl, aka The God Of Existence. You get one of the three near that thing and the snake is as dead as a doorknob. Little snake is done."

"So not little," Tim snapped.

"Then, they will assassinate your enormous snake," Jinx said, shrugging. "Hazel could dissolve it, Terran can shatter its spine and Cole could barbeque the thing for all I care. You get close and this thing is done for."

Dick sighed but ultimately nodded. "Okay, let's split up. Terran you come with me Kory, we'll take the west wing. Gar, Jinx you guys go with Hazel, take the east. Conner, guard the silo and make sure nothing gets to Sebastian." Conner nodded and pushed himself from the counter, walking toward the door. "Cole, you and Tim stay here. Only go out if you see it in the North Hall, okay?"

"Okay," Cole nodded and everyone split.

Hazel and Gar led the way to the east hall walking through a backdoor that had been knocked off its hinges. Jinx tried to flick the lights on but nothing happened, the dark back room still entirely black. Hazel sighed through her nose, "Great." She stepped forward raising her hand, conjuring a soft ball of golden light.

She walked further on, Gar and Jinx on either side. "Have you ever transformed into a snake?" Jinx asked, looking over at Gar.

"Well, hypothetically, yes, I have turned into a snake before," Gar said with an unsure shrug.

"Hypothetically?"

"I was testing out the suit, Dick a transformed into a bunch of animals," Gar answered, looking back over his shoulder.

Hazel hummed, "Including an armadillo and velociraptor."

"Well thankfully it's just a snake, but the superior plan is that you are gonna turn into a snake, then, you're gonna make the snake fall in love with you, and then you're not gonna text the snake back." Jinx grinned and Hazel shook her head softly, laughing to herself.

"Ghost the ghost snake," Gar said in agreement.

"That would be one the easiest days of our lives," Hazel teased.

"Oh my god, Days Of Our Lives, I love that show!" Jinx squeaked and Hazel laughed softly. "Oi, Icarus listen, about what I said, back at the asylum—"

"It's all good Jinx," Hazel said with a nod.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Gar cleared his throat. "Hey, can I, uh— Can I ask you something?" Gar asked, looking over at Jinx.

"Yeah, spill," Jinx encouraged.

"You know about magic?"

"My guild card came in the post last week," Jinx said, walking to a shelf and pocketing something.

"This is gonna sound crazy," Gar muttered.

"I hope so. I am getting bored."

"A tree of bones tried to talk to me."

"Whoa," Jinx said suddenly and they all stopped. Jinx looked over Gar's face and then over Hazel's, checking if they were serious or not. "Tried, or did?"

"Did," Gar confirmed.

"Do you know what it is?" Hazel asked.

"Did this tree of bones happen to be under a red sky?" Jinx asked, looking between the pair.

Gar nodded softly, "Yeah."

"Yeah, that place has a name. The Red." Jinx chuckled and continued on, the ball of light following.

"Underwhelming and unoriginal," Gar huffed.

"It could be worse," Hazel shrugged and Jinx hummed.

"What else do you know?" Gar asked, following after Jinx.

"Ugh, not much, really, just rumours," Jinx said casually. "It's a place of great power and mystery. You know, rumour-ey stuff." Jinx shrugged and continued on.

"It's really starting to freak me out, Jinx. I don't know why I keep seeing it or what it wants from me—"

"Ugh, Gar," Jinx groaned and Gar stopped suddenly, his eyebrows creasing as he stared at Jinx. "Only the most boring people need to know what's at the other end. Can't you see that this is a gift? Sometimes, you just have to go in blind and figure it out." Gar looked down at Hazel and she shrugged with a tight smile.

"I could ask Kruger," Hazel said, keeping her voice soft. "Maybe Videl has something on—"

"Uh, Sunshine, you doin' this?" Jinx yelled. Hazel and Gar turned walking over to Jinx. She stared at the ceiling, watching as something tried to slip through the grate of the vent. The small glob, almost like a jellyfish squeezed through the small hole and hovered by the roof. Hazel held her hand and the creature floated closer, moving to hover on top of her palm.

Jinx peered over Hazel's shoulder. "What is that?" Gar whispered, stepping closer.

The glob grazed the very end of Hazel's finger and a bright blue light rippled through the creature. It started to shake before the creature let out a small squeak and the light exploded, sprouting a dozen growing tendrils flowing like ribbons around its body.

"What the fuck?" Jinx squeaked.

"I think it's a Noko," Hazel muttered, moving her palm underneath the small creature to make it bounce. "They produce a certain frequency that keeps certain creatures at bay. They're also attracted to death."

Jinx furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Gar, "What does that mean?"

"The snake killed someone back here and this guy was making sure it didn't come back." Hazel let the creature go and it floated to the left. She looked back at Gar and Jinx, "Stay here or stay behind me." Gar and Jinx shuffled closer together and trailed behind Hazel, following her through the darkness.

The Noko disappeared behind an overturned shelf and Hazel pasused. "What?" Jinx whispered.

"You ask a lot of questions for someone who doesn't care about answers," Hazel teased, looking over her shoulder at Jinx. "Just stay here a sec." Gar sighed but ultimately he and Jinx waited by the storage shelves as Hazel walked towards the broken shelf. "It's a body," Hazel muttered, glancing up at the others.

"Is he alive?" Jinx asked. Hazel's eyes light up green for a moment before fading. She shook her head softly and Jinx's hands twisted together. "How does she know? Jinx asked, looking up at Gar.

"She's connected to life, she knows when it's. . . not there anymore," Gar whispered.

Hazel stepped closer to the man rolled onto his side, wincing as she looked at the man's managed leg and mauled face, the skin torn, and bone exposed. She pushed him back the way he was and pressed a finger to her, "Found a body, Jordie Young. The snake ate his face." Jinx shuddered and stepped closer to Gar.

"Hazel!" Cole shouted in Hazel's mind. "Get the South Wing off the silo, Conner's possessed."

Hazel turned and sprinted out the door, not even sparing a glance at the others as they called after her. Jinx and Gar chased after Hazel but she was already halfway up the stairs. She burst through the door to the south wing and toward Dick and Kory shouting at Conner.

Hazel slid around the corner and tackled Conner to the ground. Terran fell to the ground, dropping her sound barrier as Conner and Hazel quickly stood again. He tried to fire another red bea but Hazel easily blocked it with her light.

"Conner, stop!" Terran ordered rising to her feet.

"Terran don't!" Hazel shouted, pulling her down and taking the laser shot to the chest. Hazel slammed to the ground, her arms going limp at her sides. Jinx and Gar rounded the corner, Jinx knocking out Conner quickly with a flash of bright purple light. He fell to the ground with a thud and there was a moment of silence. Then Gar noticed Hazel's body.

"Fuck," Gar hissed. He rushed towards her, pulling her closer to rest her head in his lap. Dick knelt by his side, running his hands through his hair.

"I—" Jinx stammered walking closer. "I thought I had him."

Gar slid his arms under Hazel and pulled her to his chest, picking her up. "She'll be. . . Fine," Gar mumbled, his voice strained on the last word. "I gotta move her." Dick nodded and Gar sped down the hall.

Dick walked over to Conner's unconscious body, "How long is Conner out for?"

Jinx turned her head away from Gar and Hazel and looked up at Dick. "Three minutes," Jinx said plainly.

— rapture —