Author's Notes: This story is set after "Starcrossed" and turns AU. This fanfic is in continuity with my other stories "Queen of Hearts" and "Half For You, Half For Me." I suppose for complete understanding of this tale you'd have to read those stories of mine in that order. I hope you enjoy this story and please leave a review.

Disclaimer: Justice League doesn't belong to me.

No Longer There

Chapter 3

J'onn's too shocked to fight, to defend himself against Ma'alefa'ak, and his attacker spares no mercy, taking full advantage of this weakness. Ma'alefa'ak slashes at him, his claws raking purple streams of blood into green skin, tearing the cape, his teeth slamming down onto his arm, puncturing it and releasing more blood, all the while a mad gleam shining in his eyes, turning it a shade of crimson different from J'onn's reddish-orange. Instinct finally overcomes surprise, and J'onn lowers his density, phasing away from his enemy, but fire suddenly flares behind him, and he stops, unknowingly returning back to his solid form. Foolishly, he focuses on the dancing flame, his fear getting the better of him, allowing Ma'alefa'ak to swiftly change into a serpent, then slam J'onn into the sand.

Picking himself up, grains of sand clinging to his face, blood dripping, J'onn pauses once a ring of fire sprouts around him, its wall of flames stretching so high up he could not see the sky. Fear takes him again; the Martian starts to breathe heavily, his eyes darting around, wondering where the Hell this fire was coming from.

"Me, where else? You can't have possibly forgotten J'onn," spoke Ma'alefa'ak mockingly as the flames recede, slinking back to its master, absorbed by his serpentine tail. With the fire gone, J'onn stands up, grasping his punctured arm, trying to stop the falling blood.

"How can you be alive," J'onn asks in little more than a whisper, for the moment ignoring his enemy's capability of conjuring flame.

"Tell you later," promises Ma'alefa'ak casually as he swiftly lowers his density to invisibility, catching his opponent off guard before quickly reappearing behind him, wrapping J'onn up in the thick coils of his tail. "Maybe when you're lying almost dead on the floor," he says as he begins squeezing J'onn, summoning up flame to trace around his coils just to see his enemy squirm as he tries to draw in breath through clenched teeth. "Or even better yet, when I give you Shayera's still-beating heart." J'onn's eyes snap open to attention, turning crimson just like Ma'alefa'ak's, a cold look in them.

"Hell, it would be perfect if I gave you all of their still-beating hearts: Bruce Wayne's, Clark Kent's, Wally West's, John Stewart's, Princess Diana's. That'd be nice, wouldn't it little brother?" With an animalistic roar, J'onn is transformed into a serpent paralleling Ma'alefa'ak, and he breaks free while simultaneously tearing into his ex-captor's throat. J'onn is shocked to find no familiar taste of blood oozing around his fangs, and he soon feels claws raking into his body once more; obviously, his opponent had grown limbs. But how could he not feel any blood from his enemy when he bit him? J'onn still tries to keep his fangs sunk into Ma'alefa'ak nonetheless for as long as possible, but his enemy eventually shakes him off, blasting a pillar of fire into him, throwing him back, but he remains standing.

"Finally, you're fighting back. Too bad you can only do it when you're angry," replies Ma'alefa'ak before charging toward J'onn, who is charging as well. With a loud cracking noise, they slam into each other, biting and tearing and slashing, purple blood flying everywhere staining the once pure white sands of the beach.

He sees Ma'al, hears Ma'al, smells Ma'al, tastes Ma'al's blood, touches it, but He still can't believe it is Ma'al, His Shattered Twin Brother. He can hear Ma'al call Him little brother, and even after all these centuries, He still feels that juvenile indigence flare within His heart; Ma'al was only born 5 seconds ahead of Him, he wasn't that older than Himself.

He needs to focus on the fight, but his concentration is slipping. It takes all his energy just to keep his Head afloat above the sea of memories: little Ma'al playing with Him, big Ma'al and that ugly scar on his chest, little Ma'al setting up a prank with His help, big Ma'al holding Daddy's limp hand, little Ma'al sneaking out of bed with Him tagging along, big Ma'al hovering over Mommy's corpse...

Blood, blood, blood everywhere, and not a drop of it was Ma'al's. All of it His, He could feel it, the light-headedness in His head proving to be overwhelming, the breathes becoming harder and harder to take. But he can't give up, no, had to keep pushing forward-SNAP! He loses control of His head, His entire body, feels it slipping away from Him; doesn't even truly feel the sensation when He falls down to the ground, just hears the thundering slam.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, J'onn, you really should've paid more attention. And now look at you, gone and snapped your neck! Well, I did actually, and damn, it was enjoyable," mocks Ma'alefa'ak, back in his original chained form, kneeling down beside his brother's still body, no longer serpentine but back to his original state as well, his torn cape draped over him, purple blood pooling beneath him. J'onn can't feel Ma'alefa'ak's fingers stroke his broken neck, but he can see him do it, although it is difficult for him to focus his eyes. Hell, it's difficult to stay conscious.

"Sorry to say little brother, I'm gonna have to leave you now. But don't worry, I'll be back soon to play, and maybe we'll invite your friends to join the fun," says Ma'alefa'ak in a voice that is close to giddiness as he edges his head closer so that he was face to face with J'onn on the sand. "By the way, just to let you know, I go mostly by the name 'Malefic' these days. Anyone not Martian says my birth name is too damn long and unpronounceable, so there you have it." Just as those last words filter through J'onn's mind, darkness comes to claim him...