Night settled over the city while J'onn stood on a rooftop, his hands clasped behind his back. He could see the spray of lights beneath him and the hum of all their thoughts.
Ever since Sophist had sent him the footage, he'd been scanning for her presence, any hint of her existence, only to find nothing.
She was here and out there somewhere. Another survivor. Another Martian who could remember the wonder of Mars, their home, before its death. But she decided to remain hidden from him, and the question has haunted him since. Why?
The air shifted, and J'onn's instincts screamed at him as he turned too late.
Cay'an crashed into him at full speed, the force of the collision sending both of them through a ventilation structure. They hit the roof surface and kept going, J'onn's back carving through the concrete.
J'onn had barely enough time to process what was happening before Cay'an continued his attack.
She drove her fist towards J'onn's face, her strike passing through empty air as J'onn had become intangible. She followed his path with her other hand, waiting for him to return, her hand placed around his throat.
J'onn rolled away, coming up in a defensive stance, trying to speak. "Wait!"
She didn't let him continue. Cay'an launched herself towards J'onn, elongating her fingers into claws that raked across his chest.
J'onn phased through and appeared several feet away, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Please, I don't want to..."
"You don't get to speak!" Cay'an yelled at J'onn with rage. She grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him hard enough to crater the road below. "You don't get to pretend you don't know what you did!"
Jonn's eyes widened. "What...I did?"
J'onn studied her as she attacked him relentlessly, her red eyes blazing with fury. But J'onn could feel grief in her rage. The guilt. The pain of being a survivor. When he first came to Earth and fought as Martian Manhunter, he was the same.
Cay'an became more violent and desperate, forming blade-like protrusions from her arms. She was fighting to kill.
J'onn wasn't. He phased through her attacks and redirected her when he could, using his experience to stay ahead of her. He didn't want to fight; he just wanted to talk.
"Please. Tell me what happened to you. Let me help..." he said, his voice desperate.
"Help?! You want to help?!" She laughed in a broken and jagged way. She struck him hard in his ribs. "You don't get to help! You don't get to fix this!"
Cay'an grabbed and slammed J'onn into the ground and held him there, her hand tight around his throat with her other hand held high, ready to strike.
"You let it burn!" Cay'an yelled, her voice breaking.
"Mars...?" J'onn asked, catching his breath.
She tightened her grip as tears started to form in her eyes. "You were supposed to protect us! You were one of the strongest! A protector! When it mattered. When we needed you..." Her voice cracked. "You hid and survived when everyone else died," she whispered.
J'onn didn't reply. He didn't defend himself because a part of him believed her.
I failed them
I could have done more
Why did I survive?
But something wasn't right. The way she spoke was as if she knew exactly what he had done,, but they've never met. He had never sensed her presence before today, so how could she know?
"Who told you this?" J'onn asked.
"Don't you dare..." Her eyes blazed.
"Who told you about me on Mars?"
Cay'an's grip loosened, a flicker of uncertainty.
"I was there and I survived, but I didn't destroy our world. I couldn't have stopped it. No one could have", J'onn pressed carefully.
"Liar!" She roared, slamming J'onn into the ground again, but there was less conviction this time.
"I'm not lying. I don't know who told you I was responsible, but they were wrong," J'onn said, his eyes meeting hers directly.
"Malefic showed me..."
J'onn's expression changed. "Malefic. My brother", he said softly.
Cay'an released him and stepped back, her hands shaking. "He showed me. I saw you living on Earth. With them. Choosing them over..." she said, her voice wavering.
"Over ghosts? Over a world that's already gone?" J'onn said carefully while he straightened himself.
"Over us! Over our people. Over everything we were! Cay'an's voice rose.
"What people? They're dead! All of them! I can't choose them over Earth because they don't exist anymore!" J'onn's control slipped as his voice now spoke with raw emotion. "I don't...You're Martian. You survived. And I'm...so tired of being alone," his voice softened.
Silence between them. Cay'an's breathing was ragged. "You left us", she said, sounding more like a question.
"I survived. I don't know why. I've spent years asking that every question of myself every waking second. Years of hating myself for it. I didn't want to be the last one. I just...was. At least that's what I thought," J'onn replied.
Cay'an's legs gave out, but she didn't collapse and controlled herself down into a sitting position.
"He said...Malefic said you abandoned us. That you could have saved people but chose to hide instead. That you chose Earth over us," she said, struggling with the words.
"Malefic is...was my brother. I still love him but...he's damaged. He felt so alone for so long, and I didn't notice before it was too late. He was right, however. I could have saved people. I should have saved people. There's not a day that goes by where I don't wish I was brave that day and not a coward. Here on Earth I can repent for my mistakes. No matter how many I save, it will never be enough for the people of Mars, but I hope they would at least be proud that I've shown the people on this planet how amazing we were. J'onn said while moving towards her and sitting across from her.
Cay'an looked at him. "You really didn't know I existed," she said.
"No. I've searched for decades, hoping. Praying to gods I don't believe in that maybe one other Martian survived. Yet you were here, right under my eyes," J'onn replied, his voice carrying a profound sadness.
"Hiding from you," she replied.
"Why?" J'onn asked.
She laughed bitterly. "Because Malefic showed me you on Earth, happy. I felt such rage. I thought you abandoned us." Cay'an pulled her knees to her chest. "I've spent two years trying to kill you. Turning myself into a weapon to kill the traitor who let Mars die", she whispered.
"And now?"
"I don't know." She looked at her hands. "Every day I would see you...happy. You seemed so comfortable."
"I'm not comfortable here; I was just enduring," he replied.
"Why are you alive? Why us? Out of billions, why did we survive?" Cay'an asked.
"I don't know... I don't know why I survived, and I don't know if I deserved it, but I'm done letting that question destroy me. I survived. You survived. We can't change that. We can't bring them back. All we can do is decide what we do with the life we still have," J'onn answered, leaning slightly forwards.
Cay'an was quiet for a long time. "Malefic said you replaced us. That you made Earth your home and forgot about Mars", she said finally.
"I remember Mars every day. Every moment. I thought for the longest time I was the only one left to carry our history and culture. How could I ever forget?" J'onn replied.
Cay'an's anger was draining away, only leaving exhaustion. "So what do I do now? I've spent most of my life alone and built my existence to kill you. Every choice from the last two years pointed at this moment. And now..."
"Now you decide who you want to be, not what your grief turned you into. Who you really are underneath the pain."
Cay'an looked at J'onn with what seemed like hope, fighting away her despair and grief.
"I don't know who that is anymore."
"Then we'll figure it out together. You're not alone anymore. Neither of us are," J'onn replied, extending his hand.
Cay'an stared at his hand. She didn't take it and instead stood, stepping back.
"I can't. Not yet. I need...time. To think," she said.
"I understand," J'onn replied, nodding slowly, letting his hand drop.
Cay'an looked at him for a long moment. Martian to Martian. Survivor to survivor. Then she vanished.
She turned invisible and simply left. J'onn didn't try to follow. He felt the ache of his ribs from her punch. It was a good punch.
For now, that was enough.