Episode fanfic title: The Mourning.

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(Razer's POV): *Click this song*

She's gone.

Right when I was about to float her away from the Maelstrom, I was already taken back into the Interceptor, feeling defeated, feeling broken, feeling all the light around me turn to darkness. Cassandra...the one whom I call an ally, the one I call my friend, and...

The one whom I call my lover...is gone.

The weight of my actions pressed down on me, forcing me to my knees. A wave of anguish washed over me, quickly followed by a crushing sense of guilt. 

Tears welled in my eyes, a physical manifestation of the turmoil within, threatening to spill over and betray my composure. But I couldn't allow that. I clenched my fists, battling against the rising tide of emotion, and forced the tears back, denying them their release. 

'Cassandra...' The name echoed in my mind, a painful reminder of everything I had lost, everything I had done. With a renewed sense of purpose, fueled by grief and regret, I slowly rose to my feet, my legs trembling slightly beneath me. 

Each step was deliberate, a conscious effort to regain control. I began to walk toward the main hangar, the vast structure looming in the distance, a symbol of the difficult path that lay ahead. I was met by Hal Jordan, Cassandra's uncle, and Kia, Cassandra's best friend.

Guilt and fear weighed heavily on me, knowing the news of her death would shatter them, just as they had torn her from me. I almost missed what Green Lantern said: 

"Now that we're all here, we leave." 

I stood frozen, already prepared for what was going to happen next, "Razer, where's Cass?" Already letting my feet drag me away from what had happened out there, I couldn't meet his gaze, couldn't bear to see the hope, the expectation, in his eyes before I crushed it. 

Kia, ever perceptive, was already studying my face, her brow furrowed with concern.

"Razer? What's wrong? You look...pale." Her voice held a tremor of fear, a premonition of the storm that was about to break. My throat tightened, words failing me, just as I got to my seat to sit down, I had enough strength to tell them.

"She's gone...." I regretted saying it immediately.

I could feel their eyes drilling the back of my helmet for more information.

"What do you mean, 'Cassandra's gone'?" Hal Jordan questions me.

I close my eyes and snap them back open in anger: "I mean, she's gone." Already frustrated as it is, my patience was wearing thin right when I repeated it now, if he didn't stop pestering me: "Where is she?" 

"She's dead!" I stood up, enraged: "She went looking for me, to rescue me, and that thing killed her!" Everyone stared at me like I was telling a sick joke. "You mean 'she's hiding'?" Kilowog asked, doubting if my answer was right.

As did Hal Jordan, who probably didn't believe me, "R-Right! She probably is just pranking us and is hiding back in the ship." He turns on his ring to communicate with her, "Cassie? Cass, you got us, stop hiding and come out." 

"It was too far to contact you... She's dead." 

I told him calmly, though my fists clenched and sadness weighed me down, eyes closed, my body shaking slightly, while Aya frowned and began typing for a few seconds before announcing, "I... cannot find any readings or vital signs of Cassandra's life."

"She just became strong...even became a lantern..." Kilowog said, sounding devastated by the news, whereas Cassandra's best friend, Kia, gasped as her green neon sunglasses vanished. 

Unable to contain her distress, tears streamed down her face as she bit her lip, stifling a whimper to turn away and continue typing down the console: "What were you doing so far away?" Hal Jordan questioned me, anger evident in his voice, "I ordered you back to the ship!" 

"You think this is my fault?" Already feeling my rage bursting in flames just by using my power ring to construct a sword, "Then say that! Don't mince words. Say that! One time!" 

I dare him to speak up, but we were interrupted by the Guardian named Scar.

"Stop! We have no time for this. Though you cannot see it at this moment, 2814's family member's death is not an entirely negative event." I grunted at her words as it increased my anger even further, whereas Hal Jordan cuts in, "What she means is, we can mourn my niece later."

A wave of fury crashed over me, blinding and all-consuming. "Are you blind?" I bellowed, my voice cracking with a raw, guttural sound, almost ready to cry, "Can't you see? She's gone! Dead! Because of that infernal thing! WHAT KIND OF UNCLE ARE YOU FOR NOT ANSWERING FOR OUR HELP?!?" 

The words ripped from my throat, laced with a pain I couldn't contain. I couldn't stop the growl that rumbled deep within my chest, a primal expression of anguish and rage. 

"If you had just answered my ring," I continued, my voice dropping to a dangerous level, trembling with barely suppressed fury, "If you had been there...if you had only picked up! She'd still be alive! She'd be here, with me!"

Kilowog, sensing my imminent loss of control, moved quickly. He reached out, his large, green hand clamping firmly onto my arm, pulling me back with surprising gentleness.

"Razer! I'm talkin'. Look here!" His voice, a low rumble meant to calm me, held my gaze with sudden seriousness, "Aya is going to run diagnostics in the engine room. What you need, Razer, is to rest. You're exhausted, and you know it."

He's right...

I need to rest.

Just like that, Kilowog let me go after I had calmed down and walked out of the main hangar, heading to my quarters to cool down, however, the only problem was: it was or used to be mine, and Cassandra's room.

A coldness enveloped me, I was hesitant to enter but slowly walked inside to look around the empty room I had once shared with her, contrasting sharply with its used warmth. The silence pressed down on me, heavy and thick like a shroud.

I ran a hand over the shelves filled with books that I had read several times alongside her, with my fingers now tracing the familiar wall that was spray-painted with a blue lantern insignia mixed with the red lantern that had initials that said:

 ❤️"𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖."

Each imperfection was a memory, a silent echo of laughter, arguments, shared moments, missions, and whispering shared stories in the dead of night. Now, only the faint light filtering through the large window of the room.

Every single thing in the room reminded me of her, and it hurts.

It hurts so much that I couldn't take another look at it, I pressed the soundproof button to shut the world outside from hearing the agonizing pain, constructed a holographic sword, and began slicing everything (not the books or the bed) around me non-stop. 

A crash stopped me. Reluctantly, I turned. "No..." I knelt, the destruction sinking in. I snatched up the plant, already graying, and frantically looked for help. Anyone who knows how to care for this plant, I need it...because it was the last thing that reminded me of Cassandra. 

I thought of Aya, but I didn't want to because she was already busy as it is. So I turned to the next person that I could think of, and just when I was about to exit, my prayers were answered when I saw Kia. 

It was too late to cover the half-destroyed nightflowers from her as I was immediately frozen at my door, and so was she. Neither of us said anything, other than stare at each other with the same expression that I was feeling: Sorrow.

"What do you want?" I coldly asked her, only for Kia to finally take notice of Cassandra's flower, her eyes dim in sadness, and immediately say, "I'll get a glass of water from my bathroom." She silently orders me, "There's a new pot that's lantern proof under Cassie's bed, find it."

I stared at her, dumbfounded, not knowing what to say, until she snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Come to my bedroom when you're done. You know where to find me." She left for her quarters, and I immediately rummaged under my bed for the new pot she'd mentioned. I found it on the second try, surprised.

Later, at Kia's, I was stunned to see her room overrun with computers. After blinking a few times, I noticed stacks of datapads, bags, an engineering toolbox, and, surprisingly, a clean floor being organized. 

Minus the wires on the floor.

"Sorry for the mess." Kia's voice pulled me back. She offered a glass of water. "I'll tuck away the wires." She moved to secure them along the room's edges as I watered the night flowers, which had miraculously revived and blossomed.

The night flowers bloomed under my care, their petals unfurling in delicate shades of blue, a stark contrast to the storm raging inside me. I set the glass down, my fingers lingering on the rim as the weight of Kia's words settled over me.

"It should be my fault." Her voice was quiet, but the pain in it was sharp enough to cut through the numbness I'd wrapped myself in. I turned my head slightly, watching as she sat on the edge of her bed, her fingers gripping the fabric of her jeans so tightly her knuckles turned white.

She wasn't looking at me. Her gaze was fixed on some distant point, as if she could see the moment replaying in the air between us.

"I knew something was going to happen," she admitted, her voice cracking. "I told her. I warned her. But she—" A bitter laugh escaped her, hollow and raw. "She just... smiled at me like always and said we were unstoppable."

My chest tightened. That sounded like Cassandra.

Kia's shoulders trembled, and for the first time since I'd known her, she looked small. Not the fierce and straightforward, but not the quick-witted troublemaker—just a girl who'd lost her best friend.

"I should've stopped her," she whispered, covering her eyes with her hands, "I should've dragged her back to the ship. It's my fault she—" "No." The word left my lips before I could stop it. Kia's head snapped up, her dark eyes wide, glistening with unshed tears. 

I hadn't meant to speak, but now that I had, I couldn't stop.

"You warned her," I said, my voice low but firm. "You did what you could. Cassandra... she made her choice."

The words tasted like ash.

Kia's breath hitched, and for a moment, I thought she'd argue. But then her face crumpled, and she brings in her knees closer to her chest by burying her face into them as if she could push the tears back in.

"She was so stupid," she choked out. "So damn confident. And now she's—" She couldn't finish. I didn't know what to say. Comfort had never been my strength until I met Cassandra, but now that she's gone, I don't know what to do other than watch the sight of Kia breaking...

—Someone who had always been so unshakable—left me feeling untethered. So I did the only thing I could think of, I crossed the room and sat beside her. Kia stiffened, but when I didn't speak, didn't offer empty words, she slowly lowered her hands. 

Her face was streaked with tears, her usual bravado stripped away: 

"I miss her," she whispered, to which I curtly nodded in agreement, "So do I." And then, without warning, Kia leaned into me, her forehead pressing against my shoulder. 

A shudder ran through her, and then the tears came in earnest. I hesitated—only for a second—before hesitantly wrapping one arm around her; She didn't pull away. We sat like that, two broken souls clinging to the only person who understood the depth of the loss. 

The silence, thick with grief and unsent words for Cassandra, wasn't empty. It was, however, the first time since her death that I didn't feel completely alone. Kia's grip tightened on my arm, her soft sobs the room's only sound. 

As my own tears finally came, I understood: this was the beginning of something new, not a replacement for Cassandra – that was impossible – but a bond forged in shared sorrow, a friendship echoing the love we'd both lost.