This is the sneak peak of the first chapter, PLUS the end of it! x If you haven't please check my authors note before!

Happy 2015 x

~

The way 'Midnight's' black lips curve into a smile makes most of the younger members shiver in fear. Her movements are fluent and smooth as she steps towards the glass.

Slowly, her shoulders move up and her eyes close blissfully as she takes a deep breath. It is clear she may be preparing to speak.

"Finally," she almost whispers. Her voice is much darker, much calmer and much more unsettling than Hana's. “Freedom.”

“I would not consider what is happening to you freedom, Neridian,” Siren says to her. Midnight’s red eyes meet with Siren’s own green gaze.

“Aunty,” she breaths, “so long it has been.” Siren does not reply.

Midnight turns around and stares down at Hana, whose stare is pointed at nothing now, outside of the prison.

“Hana, Hana, Hana…” Neridian chides. She paces slow steps over to her host. “Let’s see how you are after I am through with them…”

Her gaze turns on M’gann first. “Hm, eleven. You shall do.”

M’gann panics and looks around. No one is quite sure what will happen, as Neridian raises her palms. Her eyes begin glowing as her smile turns sadistic.

When nothing happens for a while, confusion hangs over the room. Midnight stops smiling and frowns. Her hands drop, her eyes dull and she loses her composure.

“You’re dying! Why are you dying?” She yells at Hana’s immobile body. She collapses beside her and touches her cheek. Her eyes glow again.

Meanwhile, Batman takes out a monitor and scans Hana’s body. “She is dying,” he says. “There is a convulsion around her ribcage.”

“Heartbreak.”

All eyes turn back up at Midnight. “What?” Siren asks.

“You stupid, stupid girl!” Neridian shouts down to Hana. “You impossibly idiotic- ugh!” Midnight looks almost like a child having a tantrum. “You erased yourself from their memories!?”

Doctor Fate reaches over and switches the volume off as Midnight continues to rage at her host. He turns to face the League and the Team, Siren standing beside him.

“You see, Hana has been a member of the Team for over five years,” Nabu says. An array of replies erupt from the Team. Batman silences them with a look.

“Her first mission with you was to retrieve my previous host, Kent Nelson from the clutches of Klarion the Witch Boy.”

“But that’s impossible. We would remember,” Tigress argues.

“No. Hana had to erase herself from your memories.”

“Why?”

“To protect you.”

A knocking sound came from the glass. Attention goes back to Midnight, who taps the prison wall for attention. Doctor Fate turns the volume on.

Neridian appears to be back in her calm state.

“I remember when she met all of you,” her tone is evil and patronising. “She didn’t like you very much at first, M’gann. Artemis, she liked you very much. Conner, you scared her, but after that the two of you were like brother and sister. Kaldur’ahm, she found you most calming. And there was that other boy; the fast one…” she trails off, before laughing. “Well, guess he wasn’t fast enough.”

Her teasing only makes the team angry. Midnight could not care less what they call her. Instead, her eyes watch Nightwing carefully.

“Of course, you were her favourite. Boyfriend of six years,” this silences most of the team. Nightwing shows no reaction, like a child of the bat should.

Midnight looks at Hana. “It’s cute, really. She’s always had this fear that you love her more than she loves you. She’s watched you flirt with multiple girls over the years; and just now, she’s seen everything you think you’ve done the past five. That’s probably why she’s dying of heartbreak…”

Neridian drops to the ground beside her host. She reaches out and brushes some of the hair out of her eyes. “I’ve never had a host quite a beautiful as Hana. Not Cleopatra, not Joan of Ark. Hell, not even Sacajawea. The Emerald Star, the Sparkling One is truly a Pearl among Swine.”

~

“Where am I?” 

I look around, but all I see is black, with a bunch of portal like shapes. One opens up, showing the apartment. Dick and I are cooking Rogan Josh.

Sunshine, Wipeout and Bugs Bunny are bounding around and around in circles. I watch myself turn away from cooking the papadums to laugh at them.

Both dogs run over to the lounge. I lift bugs bunny into my arms.

Suddenly, everything freezes. Wipeout suddenly begins evaporating into gold dust. His big wet eyes stare up at me before he is gone. Dick's first present to me...

Sunshine follows and last is Bugs Bunny. Then I fade.

“Where am I?” I ask again.

“We call it the Never Kingdom,” a voice replies. When I turn around, the black fades and I am standing in a garden that reminds me of The Hobbit movies.

“Hello, Sparkling One.” 

I spin on my heels to find two men standing there. 

Both have clear, pale skin that almost sparkles in the sun. One is blonde, with a blonde beard. The other has darker hair.

“Who are you? Why would you call me that?” I ask timidly.

“Because you are the one we have been waiting for,” says the blonde one. “My name is Declan. This is my brother Corinthian. We are of the Coldust family.”

The truth finally clicks. “You’re Neridian’s brothers. The ones that she killed.”

“No,” Corinthian says. “Our deaths were not at the hands of our big sister, but rather, our little sister.”

I frown. “Lowri? But the records say-“

“Father changed the records. For Lowri, he will do anything.”

“But Neridian’s his daughter too. Why wouldn’t he love her the same?” I ask.

Declan and Corinthian look at each other wearily.

“Because Lowri is not just his daughter. She is also his lover.”

Okay that is probably the most disgusting thing I have ever hear in my life.

“We too are sickened by this,” Declan admits.

“But I don’t understand. Why would he…”

“We know you have heard different versions of the story from our Aunt, from the book written by Lord Bleak, and by the story left behind by Secilia Carven. But we have the truth of it.”

I nod, ready to know.

~

“She’s conscious in a way, you know? Immobile, but her conscience hears everything. Probably why she’s dying right now,” Midnight says.

The League and Team have broken into smaller groups, but most pay attention to what Midnight has to say.

“So you’re saying we know her?” Cassie clarifies.

“Well done, Cassandra,” Neridian chides.

“How did you-“

“Well it’s obvious. I know everything Hana knows, and Hana knows all of you.” She kneels down beside Hana’s body again. “I guess in the end, it is why I picked her. She had the perfect aura and the sweetest of personalities. Hn.”

Her gaze goes back out to the watching crowd. “You’re her protege, Misty Thompson,” she says, looking at Laurel Destiny. “And you; you’re Daphne Wayne. Dating Jaime Reyes; which is you-“ her gaze goes to Blue Beetle, “-and you. Bart Allen, used to be Impulse. In love with your own best friend, Lily Jones-“

“We understand. Miss Shiloh was part of our co-ops, and you know everything she knows. The question is; what do you want?” Captain Atom asks.

“I don’t know, Nathaniel. You tell me,” she replies, making most gasp in surprise. 

“You know the League too?”

“You all love Hana. You tell her quite a bit.”

“The point is mute,” Siren says, stepping close. “Neridian. My dearest niece. What do you want?”

“Simple,” she says. “The Light of the Midnight.”