A/N: By the way, I will write more of The Caged Goddess soon. I just wanted to start writing this too since I've had the idea for a bit. =) Enjoy!

Tensions were high between the inhabitants of the Interceptor. And, like expected, the limited space the Interceptor gave them made it worse.

"You two are stupidity at its finest. Do you two enjoy plowing through asteroid storms and acting like it's some joyride?"

"Will you quiet down already?" Kilowag growled. Razer turned his glare from Hal, who tried whistling away the oncoming argument, to Kilowag. "It's not like turning around was any better of an idea!"

"Both of you have valid points," Aya interrupted, "but I believe both of you need to, as people from Earth would say, 'chill out'." Hal chuckled.

"And that makes it a smart idea to act like going through the storm was a game? We nearly crashed more times than I can count."

"Guess you can't count that high then!"

"Okay, now that's enough." Hal stood from his seat in the cockpit and quickly moved between the two. "Aya's right. You both need to calm down. I have an idea: Aya, how long would it take us to get to the closest civilized planet?"

"Roughly two point two hours."

Hal nodded to her. "Thanks Aya." He looked between Razer and Kilowag now, grinning. "Who's up for some drinks?"

"This is pointless."

"If you think you're not going, guess again."

"Hal, I bet you Red Lantern here just doesn't want to stay out of his Red Lantern gear."

"Well he doesn't have to; just it'd make it less likely for there to be any issues." Hal grabbed Razer's arm and pulled him to the front. Razer still wore his Red Lantern ring but he allowed himself to be persuaded into losing his gear and wearing his normal, all-black clothing.

"And if someone spots my ring?"

"That'd be easily fixed if you'd just take it off."

"I think not…"

"Why not, afraid of a little—"

"Let's just go," Razer said as he walked out of the Interceptor. Hal and Kilowag exchanged confused glances. Neither could do more than shrug so they walked out, but Aya was hot on their heels.

"What activity is it you three will engage in?"

Hal turned, amused by her curiosity, and responded, "We're just having a few drinks, Aya. Sorry you can't come but we need you to watch the ship so no one tries stealing it."

"And how long will your 'drinking' take?"

"A few hours tops. Don't worry; we'll be back soon."

Aya nodded and watched as Hal jogged to catch up with Kilowag and Razer to go to the bar. The door to the Interceptor closed once Hal was a safe distance away and Aya would've sighed had she been able to. She only hoped they wouldn't get into trouble.

The trio walked through the desert for approximately three minutes before reaching the town. The buildings were mostly constructed out of wood while others were made of an alien equivalent of human brick. The town was fairly large in size but bordered on under populated.

"Does this place even have a bar? Most of the people here are children, Hal!" Kilowag stopped just short of stepping on a young alien boy, with blotchy white skin, ducked underneath Kilowag's foot and slapped the back of Razer's leg as he passed. Razer glared; Kilowag yelled, "Hey, watch where you're going kid!"

Hal frowned. Kilowag was right; most of the citizens so far were children. There were few adults except for the elderly. "You're right. I wonder why that—Razer!"

As Hal stopped looking around to look at his little group, he saw Razer sprinting away from them. "Has he lost his mind?!"

"No time for that Kilowag, let's find out what he's up to."

They took off running after the Red Lantern but they could barely keep up. Whatever was motivating Razer had to be big to give him that burst of speed.

When they started to lose sight of him, as he weaved through alleyways, somehow deaf to their shouts, Hal and Kilowag opted for flight.

"Razer, what are you chasing?!"

Razer wanted to shout. He wanted to tell her to slow down, stop, and let him look at her. Surely this was madness. What was he thinking? It wasn't her. If it was her she wouldn't be running.

"Razer, what are you chasing?!"

Hal's voice, surprisingly close, snapped him back into reality. She had turned left… no right… "Leave me alone," he choked out. Razer wouldn't bother with more words when the circumstances made it hard to breathe. It was a long shot but he had to do it. He had to know. Razer activated his Red Lantern ring, feeling the power become usable to him, and turned to flight. He flew up high, ignorant to how close Hal and Kilowag were, and saw her duck into another alleyway.

He dove down but was stopped. He felt hands grabbing his feet and he growled, whipping around to glare at them. "I said leave me alone!"

"And we said to—" Kilowag couldn't finish before Razer blasted him and Hal. They released Razer's feet and flew back long enough for Razer to catch sight of his target again and take off. However, the blast hadn't been to kill—only to push back. Hal and Kilowag recovered quickly.

"Okay, if he's playing that way we're fighting fire with fire."

"I swear when I get my hands on Razer he's dead."

"You'll have enough time to kill him after we find out what in the world's wrong with him Kilowag. Now let's go; we don't want him hurting anyone."

They took off after Razer again. Thankfully it wasn't hard for them to spot him in the desolate streets and alleys below in his bright red getup.

Meanwhile, she ran. She was terrified; Razer knew it. It pained him to scare her if it was her, but he'd live.

"Ilana, stop! It's me!"

She turned but Razer didn't see her face. Instead he saw lights explode from behind his eyes and then saw the ground up close. The wind was knocked out of him and he couldn't breathe. Worse yet, he saw Hal fly down and land between him and the woman he thought to be Ilana. Kilowag, who had blasted Razer, landed beside him.

"Kilowag, are you sure you didn't use a little too much force?" Hal asked, though even in his breathless state Razer knew Hal would've hit him harder.

"Not at all." Razer almost flinched when Kilowag cracked his knuckles. He would have, had Razer not been more interested in the woman.

"What are you doing? Let him go!" Ilana screamed.

"Well, let's get him back to the Interceptor and maybe into a cell… I'm not eager to see if he'll attack us again."

Kilowag stepped back from Razer and pointed his ring at him. A green beam shot out and a sphere formed around Razer for easier transportation. Razer, still doubled over and fighting for breath, couldn't believe the Green Lanterns were ignoring Ilana's pleas to release him.

"Are you just… just going to ignore her?" he gasped.

"Ignore who, Razer?" Hal looked around and saw no one. "Don't tell me you were chasing someone."

"Her!" Razer yelled and jabbed his finger at Ilana, who knelt next to him—outside of the sphere, of course—, and still asked if they'd let him go. Razer could only think of her as Ilana because they weren't just similar; they were the same. Both her appearance and the way she spoke caused hope, actual hope, rise in Razer it was Ilana. She knew him too, which convinced him more. But what hurt was how she looked exactly as she had when he last saw her alive.

Kilowag stared at where Razer pointed. "Hal?"

"Yes Kilowag?"

"I don't see anyone."

"I don't see anyone either. I think Razer just needs a little sleep and maybe a checkup from Aya."

What was this? Razer didn't understand. How could they not see or hear her? Ilana was right there! Suddenly he felt very, very unstable. Ilana's dead, he thought, I know this, but I'm seeing her. Is this some wicked dream? Razer shut his eyes tightly. He desperately wanted to wake up from the nightmare he was trapped in. This—seeing Ilana—rehashed old wounds. When he opened his eyes he was in the air and could feel Hal and Kilowag glancing at them. Razer didn't try to fight his way out of his confinement and instead allowed his mind to slip into what he hoped would be consciousness despite it feeling a lot like sleep.

"So, do you think Razer's finally lost his mind?" Kilowag whispered. He didn't know if Razer really was asleep or not and he wouldn't take the risk of being wrong. "There was no one there, Hal. I think that classifies as crazy."

"Or he tried running and came up with a bad cover story," Hal countered. "Though that doesn't sound much like Razer."

"Whatever's wrong with him I hope Aya can fix. We can't afford to lose his power as a teammate when it's only three of us against the Red Lanterns."

"Four you mean, counting Aya."

"You know what I mean Hal. If he's gone psycho then the Red Lanterns are that much closer to overpowering us."

"I know." Hal shook his head and sighed as they approached the Interceptor. "If we're lucky maybe he really does just need some sleep."

"And when have we ever been that lucky?"

"Point taken."