Long Past Dawn

I wipe it away to make sure my guess was correct and the skin doesn't even look like it might have once been broken.

I was right.

Batman too stares in astonishment at what just happened. "You are explaining this right after I get done with the blood test."

He then rushes off with the blood sample in hand.

I get up from the chair and walk back over to the main table in the warehouse and pull out a chair, I knot my fingers together and rest my forehead on them. Everythings going to change now, will Batman come back and say I suddenly have a time limit on my life? I'm not sure I want to know.

I raise my head when I hear the chair next to mine being pulled back, Wonderwoman sits down next to me.

"What am I going to do when I find out the truth? What's going to happen?"

Wonderwoman is silent for a moment, "... I do not pretend to know the future but I do know that what one does with the truth is more difficult than you think."

Damnit, why do they all have to make sense? "How Jikan? Can I see her?"

Wonderwoman nods and gets up from her seat and I follow her over to a corner of the warehouse which looks more like a hospital than anything really.

Then I see her, her little body is hooked up to so many different machines it hurts to see. I walk over to her and see that she's still awake. When she sees me she tries to sit up but I slowly and gently push her back down. "M-materfamilias please let me sit up."

I just shake m head a little, "It's ok Jikan, you don't have to sit up. Also please just call me Dawn."

My voice ends up cracking but I don't mind, "B-but..."

I raise my eyebrow and she stops. I smile and rub her head, "You're going to be ok. You're going to be ok."

I know I'm just saying it for myself but I just need to be able to say it. Jikan looks up at me, "But they told me before I came to see materfa- I mean Dawn that just because I lasted longer than the others didn't mean I was going to live..."

I straighten my back. Others? Does that mean she's not the only one like me? But what the f*ck type of organization does this type of sh*t to people? It's just so wrong. And to tell a little kid her age she's going to die? That's so wrong.

"D-did I do something wrong, Dawn?" Jikan asks, looking up at me with her big black eyes.

"No, you didn't," I sigh, looking down at her and all the tubes coming out of her. "But I need you to tell me something, where did you come from?"

Jikan looks down at her bed and doesn't say anything, I sigh and turn to leave so she can get some rest when she starts talking in a small voice, "Jikan didn't like it there. There were five of us there, and they would do bad things to us. They would inject us with things and they would open us up and take things out and put things in and make us use our powers. Jikan hated it so much. But then when the others got sick the caretakers didn't do anything, but they would say to Jikan she was a lucky girl because she had lasted the longest. But then Jikan sensed ma- Dawn and I wanted to escape so Jikan tried to leave and somehow Jikan got out, but then there were machines that would move on their own and the people weren't nice so Jikan didn't know where Jikan was but Jikan wanted to meet Dawn so Jikan kept on going."

I'm shocked. I don't know what to say, to do all those horrible things to a child and then for her to still be able to act as she does... I clench my fists, how evil does someone have to be for this to happen?

I lean down until I'm at Jikan's level, "Don't worry Jikan. They're not going to hurt you anymore."

I'll make sure that they never touch a hair on your head again. Jikan nods and I can tell she's tired so for a bit, I just sit there beside her until she's fallen asleep. As soon as I see her even breathing telling me she's asleep I get up silently and leave, anger boiling in my stomach.

Wonderwoman quietly follows me and when we're a safe distance away so we won't wake Jikan I turn to her a growl, "I'm going to murder every one of them."

Wonderwoman looks at me with sad eyes, almost like she sees someone else in my place, "I once knew someone who was like you, he wanted to protect the ones he loved. He told me 'I can save today. You can save the world.' I would take his story in before you decide if you want today or forever."

"And? What happened to him?" I ask, I'm not interested but I'll ask anyway.

She gives a sad laugh, "That was the day he died to save more than I think I ever can... You have the same fire as him, don't let it burn you like him."

After she finishes she walks past me, probably to let me think. Die today and save one day or live and save the world? Wow, quite the choice you're giving me Wonderwoman.

But... maybe she's right. I can be headstrong and try to save Jikan or I can think this through and play it smart. For all the disinterest I showed for her story earlier I can't help but wonder, in the end, did he get what he wanted?

I sigh. I'm most definitely headstrong, that is a fact I already accepted that a long time ago. But for once I'm ready to lose control, I'm ready for whatever to happen as long as I don't lose anyone else.

I break out of my thoughts, I head back over to where the others are, Batman probably already has the results of the blood test by now. Well in two minutes I'm going to find out if I'm going to die in a week or not.

I sigh as I come over to the group, Batman already has a couple of papers in his hands. I bet that they're the results.

"Well? Do I have a week left or not?" I ask as I pull over a chair to sit down in.

Batman sighs and rubs his brow. I'm starting to wonder how many wrinkles I've given him. "See that's the thing..."

He presses a button on a little remote I didn't realize he was holding and two holographic imagines come up. Damn these superheroes and their way to advanced tech.

I have no idea what I'm looking at but what I do know is that they look like a before and after picture, the one on my left is a jumble of stuff while the one on the right is the same stuff from the left but they're all in neatly stacked rows that seem to almost be in a crystal pattern.

"Ummm one question. What are we looking at?" Stephen asks for me, he looks just as confused as I am.

Batman sighs and rubs his brow again, I'd say that adds two more wrinkles to the list but who's counting. "The difference between life and death."

***

A/N:

I bet you got all excited because you thought this chapter was going to be really long, didn't you? Ha! Jokes on you!

Well... actually it's more on me... I just had to add this in here cause the author's thought wouldn't let me add it all in...

So funny story.... this is actually version two of this chapter because in the middle of writing my computer died and none of it was saved. Yes, I was crying when that happened because I was on my third hour of working on this chapter... So two more hours later I have down what I can remember of the chapter not to mention I still have yet to finish the chapter before the deadline so this chapter though being as long as my normal chapters took almost three times as long... you better like it... but no pressure or anything lol

Please like it T~T