Disclaimer: I do not own anything DC has already laid claim to. If I did then Bats and Wondy would be doing rather more than kissing...

A/N: There are spoilers for Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2. This is my first JL fic set in the comic verse, so I'm excited to see what people think. Daisy Jane was my beta for this, so massive thanks to her. I hope you enjoy.

Silence Is Defeating

Fear always surprises me. Perhaps it is because I rarely feel it. Not for myself. Fear for my friends, for those I love, is a familiar companion. Especially recently. Realising that my hands were not covered in Cassie's blood, that Donna did not lie in two pieces and that Mother's head was still firmly connected to her body, I've never been so relieved. I am not responsible for their deaths, and I am no longer a vile Black Lantern.

Being a Star Sapphire is…taking some acclimatising to, to say the least. Unquestionably it's better than being a servant of Death, and I have always fought for love. Why should I not now embody it? It should fill me with hope. It should make me stronger.

Instead I am so afraid — and weak as a child.

I am only here because of one truth. I love a dead man.

It makes sense, apparently, so Carol Ferris tells me. We most of us are here because we have lost our true loves. She gave me this information with sympathy and compassion in her gaze; I think she expected it to comfort me. It didn't. Bruce is dead. But if we had had some romantic times together, shared more than a few hesitant kisses — would it be more bearable then? Instead I remained unaware of my love, buried under the heaviest tombstone of all. Sometimes friendship is a terrible thing.

I have not tried to convince myself I am not in love with him. I love my mother. I love my sisters. I love my friends, and I love the Earth. But my love for all of them was insignificant compared to the power of the Black Lantern ring. The reaction that my soul gave when beckoned by his was the only thing that enabled me to survive. It was the only thing that could.

And I never told him that. I never even saw it. Somehow believed that I loved him as a brother, like Kal.

That is why I am weak. I will fight in the War of Light. But I will fight with no purpose. No motivation, which seems ridiculous. The whole of Creation at stake, and I can find no reason to fight. The Star Sapphires fight for love; mine is long lost to me.

But that is not why I am afraid.

What if he's not gone forever? It's happened before: I am a perfect example of that. What if Tim's suspicions are correct? What if Bruce walks back into my life tomorrow? Am I strong enough, do I have courage enough to tell him? Can I admit we made a mistake all that time ago? Will I confess that I want more from him than he than or I offered before? That I love him as more than just a friend? All this is moot, if one is rational, of course. Bruce is dead.

He is dead, and he isn't coming back. I would believe that if I listened to my intellect. But now more than ever, it is my heart that I follow. And my heart tells me he's not gone, not forever. He'll come back, and I'll stare. I'll drink in the sight of him; I'll scream mentally how much I love him.

I'll stare.

But will I speak?

A/N: Review please!