Long Past Dawn

"Dawn!" A scream seems to pierce through me, it feels so familiar, but who is it?

***

I can hear crying. I don't know who's crying. They sound really sad. I try to open my eyes but they feel like stone bricks. I can't move anything, I wonder if this is what it's like when you die.

I slowly open my eyes, they still feel heavy but I can still open them slightly. I see a cement ceiling and my stomach drops, am I back in that horrible room?

I turn my head slightly and try to ignore the stinging pain it causes, I'm lying on some type of bed in what is most definitely not that horrible room. If anything the room looks more like my one in the warehouse.

That's when I realize, I am in the warehouse. I almost shout for joy. I'm free, I made it.

I look around the room for where ever the crying is coming from and see Stephen, a wave of relief seems to roll over me, they didn't get Stephen. "H-hey..." I manage to get out, my voice feels raspy and my throat feels dry, like I haven't had anything to drink in days.

Stephen's head shoots up when he hears my voice, panic, joy, fear and so many other emotions flash across his face. He stands up so suddenly that the folding chair he was standing on falls with a clang to the floor behind him.

He seems to sputter for a moment, not knowing how to react, before he runs over to the side of my bed. He hugs me tight to his c.h.e.s.t and I try not to wince in pain, my body hurts in so many different places I don't know a place that doesn't anymore.

"Y-you ok?" I manage to say, my voice still raspy. Stephen buries his face deep into my hair and I can't see his face anymore but I can feel his shoulders trembling.

"Don't you ever do something like that again." He says into my hair in a whisper that I almost missed, I reach up a slightly limp hand and rub my fingers through his hair. Something I've secretly been wanting to do since the first time I've seen him, and d*amn, it feels like silk. Even my hair doesn't feel as smooth as his.

Stephen brings his face away from my hair and I can finally see his face again, his eyes are red and puffy behind his glasses and dark circles are starting to form. His expression is so sorrowful I don't know what to say, I bring my hand from his hair and cup his cheek, "What's wrong?"

His big brown eyes look down at mine and for a second I think he's going to cry again, "I thought I was never going to see you again..."

I smile up at him, I wince in pain when I try to move. Stephen looks down at me in concern, "Where does it hurt? Stay here, I'll go get Bruc- I mean Batman."

I'm about to say I'm fine and I really have nowhere to go but he's already left the room. I let out a shaky breath I didn't know I was holding. I absentmindedly run my hand over the material of the bed, soft cotton. I'm back. I'm safe.

I sigh and lean into the pillows, tears start to prick my eyes but not out of pain. I'm just so f*cking confused. What the hell is Cadmus? What the hell did they want me for? Am I safe now?

I hear a door beep and I flinch, my pulse seems to fly just from hearing a door open. That red-eye, I've escaped from him but he's still got me trained like a d*mn dog.

I try to calm myself down as Batman, Wonderwoman, Superman, and Stephen step into the room.

Batman comes over and pokes around some machines that are connected, he then turns to look at me. What surprises me is that I can almost see worry in his normally emotionless eyes.

Wonderwoman comes over to me and places the back of her hand on my forehead, as if testing for a fever. "How do you feel?"

Well, everything hurts, and I don't think I can move... "Alive," I say with a slight laugh.

Wonderwoman gives a hollow laugh, I notice Stephen and Superman staying at the side of the room. Wonderwoman and Batman ask me various questions that I don't pay much attention to, I'm just trying to remember what happened...

"What happened...? Where's Jikan?" I ask, my mind is still foggy and I can't remember much after I got out of that horrible room.

They all go quiet and Wonderwoman and Batman stop their questions, no one speaks and for a second I think I've stepped on a land mine.

Finally, Superman speaks up, "Dawn... Jikan, she... Dawn, you have yo listen to me very carefully ok?" I nod, my stomach seems to be sinking, "Dawn, she should be dead."

What? His words wash over me, I can't breathe, I can't think. Dead. The word rings in my ears and I don't know what to do. "D-dead...?"

My world seems to stop, everything just comes to a crashing halt. I couldn't save her. I promised her I'd keep her safe, but I didn't.

"Dawn, listen to me," Superman says, he must see he's losing me because he speaks slowly as if to a kid, "Her organs failed, as of right now she should be dead but... She's not, she... She wants to see you."

Jikan...? What? What in the f*cking hell is going on right now? If her organs failed how the hell would she want to see me right now. "How."

My voice is weak and I'm surprised he can even hear what I said, I guess he really does have super hearing, "I-we don't know..."

God must really hate me at this point, is there anything else you can do to f*ck up muy life at this point? I push myself up into a sitting position, only flinching once when I put force on my left shoulder. "I'll see her."