Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Reborn

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 17:

Alex held her breath as she watched Kara’s face closely after her admission that she had murdered General Samuel Lane. Instead of shock, she only saw confusion as Kara opened her mouth, then shut it again, as she stared at her sister.

Alex wasn’t sure what to make of Kara’s silence and blank face. “What are you thinking? Are you upset?”

Kara shook her head. “No, I just… I can’t unlock that memory… why can’t I remember?”

Alex sighed, almost relieved knowing Kara wasn’t alarmed she had killed Lane, just confused as to why she couldn’t recall the memory. “Because you weren’t there. It happened when you were… away.”

“Oh, ok.” Now, it was Kara’s turn to sigh with understanding. “Would you, umm… will you show me?”

Alex knew her sister wanted to know what had happened to her during that year, but she wasn’t ready to share any of that unrestrained rage with Kara yet. She was worried about Kara’s reaction to learning how much anger Alex truly possessed. They still had too much to work through with Kara’s memories first.

She sighed, changing the subject. “I know you want to know, but I’m honestly not sure how the hell this is working. I think we are just along for the ride. It’s like an avalanche I can’t control. Can you? Control it, I mean?”

Kara shook her head slightly, already knowing the answer. To this point she had no real control at all. She was able to show the good memories she had of Astra but could not stop nor unlock any of the thousands of memories crashing into her, both Alex’s and her own.

Suddenly, the feel of increased darkness rushed the two, the same feeling that accompanied every one of Kara and Alex’s most traumatic memories, she was nearly unable to get her bearings. She already knew what it was like to fly at incredible speeds, but this was different. The speed did not bother her. Instead it was what she heard, the dripping of gasoline from far away, the moans of a mother, the screams of a child… and the sizzle of electricity.

Not this time, kept repeating in their head. Adrenalin, fear, so much fear, but the constant mantra stayed in their head. Not this time.

It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds before the two sharing Kara’s body in the memory were near the wreck. The girls saw the gasoline leaking to the live wire on the ground, the doors of the car jammed due to the front end of the car being driven into the knocked down power pole.

Young Kara’s mind was processing possible courses of action rapidly.

Freeze the gas, absolute zero. Grab the line then dive away from the car. It will electrocute me, but I’ve been through that before.

Use my cape to grab the end of power line?

Pick up the car and fly. No, may risk further injury or explosion if metal sparks. Rip roof, pull out… they are seat belted in. Don’t have time to unbuckle, rip seats from car? Not enough time for both seats. Dive on power line.

Ok, Freeze the gasoline it is, don’t need absolute zero, -40 to – 70 C… should be easy. Hurry, hurry, hurry, not again, not this time, not again.

Kara screamed when she landed a few feet in front of the car and it exploded.

The rush of heat, the deafening sound of the explosion, the metal hitting her and falling harmlessly away, none of that mattered.

Kara stood still, flames licking off her clothes and eyes fixed on the burnt, ruined bodies in the car, now nothing more than charcoaled remains that resembled an adult and child.

Kara no longer felt the fear, the sheer panic. Her mind was no longer indecisively sifting through ways to stop this from happening.

Instead she stood, surrounded by flames and felt… disbelief. This was wrong. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. This was her chance, the chance to right a wrong, to correct a failure in the past. This couldn’t have happened.

It was with that same feeling of disbelief, a feeling of numbness, that she entered her apartment. Kara saw Alex’s younger self, the worry on her face but it didn’t matter. She heard herself mumble some excuse about an apartment fire, walked into the bathroom and stared in the mirror at her haunted face, covered in soot, and dead eyes, lifeless… focused on nothing.

Kara felt herself lay on her bed, and the feeling of numbness eased, letting in a darkness, a sense of hopelessness, a sense that she would never be good enough. She closed her eyes and saw her mother, Alura, shaking her head before burning to nothing herself.

Kara didn’t want a drink for once. A drink, not even several drinks, not whole bottles would be enough. There was no point. She had failed, time and time again. Five feet away, two seconds, maybe less than a second to correct her mistake but it was enough time. It should have been enough time.

No, the urge for a drink was not there. Just the darkness creeping over her soul, a resignation. It wasn’t sadness, or anger, or anything else Kara could define. It was just there, a desire for the darkness, a darkness she had been fighting her whole life and now she wanted to stop fighting. Kara wanted to let it consume her. Take her away, make her nothing.

She saw Alex in the morning, looking at her with concern when she refused to get out of bed, simply wanting to sleep in as her excuse.

After Alex left the apartment, Kara rose, taking a red-light bulb she kept in her nightstand drawer for nights when Grayson visited her in National City, and walked to the bathroom. She closed the door and screwed in the bulb, bathing the room in red, then walked to the kitchen. Reaching around the refrigerator, she took the straight razor she kept taped the back wall -hidden from Alex- and moved back to the red lit bathroom.

“Please don’t.” Alex whispered, watching the scene unfold through Kara’s eyes. Though she had seen the aftermath, Alex never once imagined she would be seeing and feeling the act itself through Kara.

Kara stared at her face in the mirror and saw no signs of anger, or pain, or sadness. She simply saw herself resigned, emotionless, cut off from herself, from everything. Kara wanted the darkness waiting for her. It was calling her.

Astra was standing behind her in the mirror. Her aunt told her it was time. Cut off your emotions, no hesitation, do what needed to be done, just like she’d been taught.

Alex was frozen in horror. Neither of the girls could stop Kara’s hands from moving her wrists, making deep gashes up her forearm then switching hands and doing the other. She looked back in the mirrors and raised her arms, satisfied the blood was running freely, Kara lay on the cool floor, closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. Her thoughts were not on her family, or even herself other than a begging for the darkness to swallow her whole.

Kara cried softly while Alex screamed, the memory shifting to her own.

Alex found herself in the DEO medical bay: her mother, Connolly, Dante, all covered in blood.

Kara’s blood.

Her little sister was on a gurney being unloaded from an ambulance and rushed into a surgical wing. Alex had not believed the call she had gotten minutes ago.

Her father believed though. He had sprung into action, taking pints of Kara’s blood from his safe, setting up IVs and transfusion lines, preparing a ventilator, rolling a defibrillator into the room, preparing bandages, nurses rushing to follow his orders.

Alex stood still, frozen with terror, seeing her little sister, the one she had shared a life with for the past nine years, practically dead, paler than Alex had ever seen her. Bloody and lifeless. The brunette tried to convince herself that someone, something had done this to her.

She couldn’t make herself believe what her eyes were seeing, what her mind was telling her.

Kara felt it as well. Kara watched herself be wheeled into the room, watched her mother nearly pass out, soaked in her blood, watched her father’s shaking hands try to set up an IV, too scared to turn on red lights to make the puncture, even though it was desperately needed. She saw Hamilton moving her Dad out of the way, flipping on the red lights, setting the IVs, beginning the transfusions while another doctor placed a tube down her throat. A nurse placed EKG pads on her chest.

Kara felt Alex’s fear, the twisting in the depths of her soul. The blonde moved towards herself, knowing that she was a passenger in Alex’s body now. She grabbed the bloody blonde’s hand only to be pushed back slightly by a nurse who was frantically working to administer as much blood as possible to the patient.

Kara was expelled from Alex’s body, seeing her older sister next to her, watching their younger selves in the same room, the two of them alone. Kara had been cleaned up, but the breathing tube was still attached, the heart monitor showing her low blood pressure and slow heartrate. Young Alex was extremely unsettled, pacing by the bed, arms wrapped around herself, her breathing shallow and rapid.

“At this point, we still didn’t know if you would live.” her sister whispered next to her. “We did everything we could. All we could do is wait, see if your heart had sustained too much damage. We put you under yellow sunrays because we ran out of your blood. You still wouldn’t breathe on your own. I didn’t have a complete map of your brain like I do now. I wasn’t sure if parts had been damaged, the parts that controlled your everyday functions. I didn’t know if you would ever wake up or even able to breathe on your own.”

Kara said nothing. There was nothing that could be said. She felt Alex’s fear, but what surprised her was her sister’s intense anger.

Alex stopped pacing by Kara’s bed.

“You bitch.” the older sister whispered. “How dare you! You just quit? When the hell do we quit?! We don’t quit! We survived so much and what? One damn car accident and you are ready to die? What the hell were you thinking! Damn it, Kara, do you ever think about anyone in this family? Do you know what Clark is going through right now? Mom is nearly catatonic. Dad has been crying, and me? You wanted to leave me your body as a welcome home present after work?”

Alex stood in front of the bed, arms crossed, tears flowing from tired eyes. “Damn you!”

Kara stared, tears forming in her eyes as she watched her strong, level-headed sister fall apart before her eyes… and there was no question. Kara was responsible for that destruction.

The scene continued to play out as Alex continued ranting. “Why didn’t you come to me?! You could have told me! We always tell each other everything! At least we used to!”

Alex shook her head, tears falling unchecked down her face. “It’s my fault. I knew you were acting weird… weirder than usual anyway. I thought I would be dealing with another bout of your depression and bugging you to get out of bed. But this! This is over the top! You were going to leave me? Let them win? Damn you, Kara. Why do you do this to me?! To us? We are a team. Where you go, I go. If you don’t wake up, where does that leave me? Did you even once think of me?”

Young Alex’s voice was breaking. “Every time you come home drunk, telling me it’s going to be the last time…”

“ It was a one-time thing Alex, don’t make a big deal out of it! ” Alex parodied. “Where were you today Kara? At work, Alex. No, you weren’t! Kelex told me you were at another funeral!”

Alex’s voice was increasing in volume as she spoke to her comatose little sister. “All you did was lie to me and I let you! What would you say if I did half the things you do? You would lose it, never let me out of the damn apartment!”

The door opened. Connolly stuck his head inside… “Alex?”

“Get out.” Her tone left no room for argument. The door closed.

The brunette walked over to her sister and gently kissed her on the forehead, running her fingers through her hair. “You better wake up, damn it. Do you hear me? Things are going to change. I won’t let this happen again. You are going to stop all this crap! Everything. No more drinking, no more visits to hospitals, helping at these disasters… no more Supergirl. It’s over… no more. I’ll lock you up if I have to, Kara. I know how afraid you have always been of cages, but I will keep you in the damn apartment with a team of shrinks all day and night if I have to. I will never let this happen again.”

Alex straightened up, her voice now breaking as she shouted, “Wake up so I can yell at you! So, you can explain this to me! You owe me an explanation! I have walked through hell by your side and you owe me that!”

Getting no response, she finally broke down, sobbing, collapsing in a seat in the corner, staring at her younger sister as night fell.

Time passed without acknowledgment; her eyes dry now. She was unmoving. The lights had been dimmed in the building, so she was not surprised to see a dark silhouette enter the room.

“Alex.” The Batman was quiet, seeming afraid to startle her.

“Bruce.” Alex replied quietly.

Seeing he had her attention, he said softly, “I checked and rechecked, everything in the apartment. I discreetly talked to patrons of the bar she sometimes visits. No one has any active plans or has been bragging… no one knows. I couldn’t find any evidence of an intruder…”

“She did this to herself, Bruce,” Alex interrupted him, her tone as dead as her heart felt. “J’onn knows it, you know it, everybody in the DEO knows it. Thanks for looking but it was a waste of time. We know what happened.”

Bruce sighed, then offered, “If you need me, I’ll be on the roof.”

“Go home, Bruce. Go back to Gotham. There is nothing that can be done now but wait.” Alex said.

“I’ll be on the roof if you need me.” the man said again and walked out.

Kara was distraught, her anguish reflecting her sister’s so profoundly, she couldn’t breathe.

She looked to Alex, her heart breaking at the tears in her older sister’s eyes and feeling so much guilt over this memory.

“You did nothing wrong, Alex. You couldn’t have known. I told you I was very good at lying.” Kara whispered. “I’m so sorry I did this to you.”

Alex replied, “I should have seen the signs, known this was a possibility, but I said nothing… I did nothing. When you started drinking again… you hid it better for a while, but I knew. I thought maybe surviving… this… had been a wakeup call, maybe you learned a lesson and would handle life better, but I should have known. You just kept falling and I didn’t stop you.”

Alex’s intense gaze drew her in so tight, Kara couldn’t help but feel her sister’s sorrow. “You wanted to keep being Supergirl and I said nothing. I am your older sister. I’m supposed to protect you. Instead, I went along for the ride and kept hoping for the best. I didn’t look for all your hiding places. I didn’t check the trash outside for bottles. I had myself so convinced that when you insisted I move in with Cameron, I thought you were okay. I even convinced myself that being on your own might do you some good.”

Alex paused for a moment, obviously lost in thought, before continuing. “I was so wrong. Instead you began drinking more. You were hurting yourself more often, snorting the alien version of cocaine… left alone with your ghosts.

“I noticed your hands shaking one Sunday. We had been on the beach all day with the family and it had been hours since you arrived. I saw your hand tremble. You hadn’t had anything but tea to drink all day. When the trembling started you clenched your fist and left soon after. I never said anything until Dad noticed it two weeks later. We still convinced ourselves it wasn’t a problem because we had no way of helping you.”

She hesitated slightly, then said, “It was around that time Bruce told us about the place he was having built.”

“The Block. He said it was a place to help me if the Government ever tried to use some type of biological warfare on me.” Seeing the look on Alex’s face, she realized the truth. She asked even though she knew the answer. “That wasn’t really what he had in mind, was it?”

“No, it wasn’t. He started construction while you were still recovering from almost killing yourself. He told me about it when it was nearing completion, he wasted no time getting it fully staffed and equipped… all for you.”

Alex’s eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she confessed this secret to her little sister, but her tone was unapologetic. “The two of us came up with the plan. I knew you wouldn’t get help on your own, but I hoped. We tried, all of us tried to get you to talk about it with us but it was never enough. I didn’t want to force you to go but I had to, you left me no choice, and the final decision was left up to me. I made you a promise… and I was going to keep it no matter what. You were so close to attempting suicide again and I wasn’t going to let that happen. Not this time.”

They were standing together in the DEO’s quarantine labs where Kara had been taken after she had finally awakened. The lab was secure and near the medical facilities, so it was easier to keep the catatonic Kryptonian under continuous observation.

Every attempt to speak to Kara by her family, her friends and doctors had been met with silence and a vacant stare at the ceiling above her.

She had a red crystal bracelet on her left wrist, rendering her powerless. Unlike most of her bracelets, this one would not come off without a key.

Seeing herself lying there, Kara felt immense sorrow and no small amount of shame. “I felt too embarrassed to talk to anyone. I just felt empty… humiliated. I couldn’t even kill myself correctly. I remember thinking I should have done it somewhere no one could find me. Instead I was in a damn lab, handcuffed and alive… and hating myself even worse because I hadn’t succeeded. I knew I screwed up and… I don’t know. I guessed if I retreated inside myself I wouldn’t have to deal with the accusations, the pity…”

“Yeah, I feel it… all of it.” Alex assured her. “It was a living hell for me as well. You left me behind… and even here, in this place… you still tried to get away. So damn hardheaded and scared.”

As they watched, there was finally, a reaction. Somewhat of a reaction. Eliza walked in and nearly forced Kara into a sitting position and Kara cooperated. The woman began brushing her blonde daughter’s hair.

“You have such beautiful hair.” Eliza whispered, a noticeable tremor in her voice. “My baby daughter. I love you so much. You haven’t been eating. You want pot stickers or maybe that pizza you love? You haven’t been to a bathroom since you woke up. You have to eat Kara. If I bring you orange chicken or that pizza from the place on Ocean Drive, would you eat?”

Kara lay back down without a word. She raised her left wrist and glanced at her mom briefly before returning her gaze to the ceiling. The question was obvious without being spoken.

Eliza replied softly, love in her voice while seeming to be nonthreatening but wanting Kara to understand. “You tried to kill yourself Kara. You are under a 24/7 suicide watch. You haven’t spoken or eaten in three days. The cuff… the bracelet stays on. If you want it off, you will have to talk to someone and eat something. Until then you are staying in this room. Do you want to go to the bathroom? Take a shower or brush your teeth maybe?”

Neither girl watching was surprised when Eliza was met with silence as Kara continued to stare at the ceiling.

“This is when we began.” Alex admitted. “Planning, trying to figure out what to do, no longer hoping things would get better. Dad started giving you antidepressants he had designed through your IV while you slept, but nothing worked. Nothing. You didn’t even have side effects. Your blood rejected everything, even in your weakened state. It took months, but we eventually figured out that alien ingredients were needed. Dad gave Lobo a list and he began searching the universe for them.”

A slight shift in memory showed the Danvers parents and Alex sitting in one of the DEO’s conference rooms with Batman on video chat.

“It’s not ready,” a masked Bruce Wayne told them. “I need more crystals for lights, and the weapons defense system isn’t completed. Some of the lower levels still have weaknesses. The staff hasn’t been fully vetted by J’onn. This place will have to be airtight before she gets here. How exactly are you going to get her here when it is ready? I doubt she will volunteer.”

The parents looked at Alex. The older sister sighed knowing this decision would be on her.

She replied, “I’m not going to give her a choice. If she refuses to go, we will come up with a plan to get her there. Start thinking, Bruce. We have time. She isn’t going anywhere. We haven’t developed workable depression medication yet, but Dad thinks he has perfected a sedative for her at least. If we have to, we can drug her under red sunlight and take her.”

“She will hate us.” Jeremiah mumbled.

“Would you rather she was dead? That’s where she is heading if we don’t force her to get help.” Alex retorted. “Besides until she starts talking to her therapist again, this is a moot point. She is staying here. If she does, then maybe we can bring her to the beach house, keep here there. Maybe she can recover from this without resorting to being taken against her will.”

“And the drinking?’ Jeremiah asked, looking at Alex.

At this question, Kara felt Alex’s hesitation and indecision. She turned to her sister, expression questioning.

“I lied.” Alex simply said, shrugging her shoulders. “It was natural. I was used to covering for you.”

Kara shook her head at the loyalty her sister had always shown her, knowing she didn’t deserve it. She turned back as the conversation between Alex and their Dad continued.

“Not as big a problem as her depression. She hasn’t had a drink since she entered this place. It’s been three weeks and she is showing no signs of withdrawals…”

Jeremiah interrupted her. “Alex, how much has she been drinking?”

Alex took a deep breath. “Not as much. She has come home a few times drunk. J’onn of course had to retrieve her after a tough night but it doesn’t happen often. I’ve seen her drunk maybe once or twice every couple of weeks. Most of the time she just has a drink or two at home… like we all do. She is 21.”

“Alex, does she have a problem with drinking?” Jeremiah asked again.

The older sister closed her eyes for a moment. “When she begins speaking again we can have Jess talk to her about it. She won’t have access to any here obviously and I won’t let any alcohol at our place, alien or otherwise. This is a wakeup call for her… it has to be. This has everything to do with that car accident. We all know how guilty she felt the first time.”

She opened her eyes and looked at her parents. “I spoke to a firefighter on scene. They saw her fly in a minute before they got there. The car blew up in her face. The firefighter said she put it out with freeze breath but wouldn’t move. Just stared at the burnt bodies while the fire department killed the power and secured the scene.”

Alex could see the doubt in her father’s eyes. “Look, I’ll keep an eye on her drinking, but that’s not what this is about.”

Kara felt Alex take her hand, feeling a need to connect, knowing she needed that connection as well. Alex squeezed gently. “I lied to them and they believed it, because they wanted to. They needed to. We all knew you had been drinking. We all thought if we just told you to stop, you would. I enabled you… we all did. None of us called you out until we were forced to and by then it was too late.”

Kara pulled closer to her sister, hoping to stave off Alex’s self-recriminations. “Don’t blame yourself for this Alex. All you ever did was love me and I betrayed you, I let you down. I did this to myself and everyone who loved me. I see that now. It has always been my decision to do what I did. Yeah, I was becoming addicted, I was already addicted but I did everything I could not to let you find out. I didn’t want you to know how much I drank. I sure didn’t want you to know about the drug use.”

Alex didn’t say anything, but her sadness over her own perceived failures was acute to both of them. She leaned into Kara, chuckling under her breath. “I did figure out a way to get you to talk to me, though.”

A new memory surfaced. Kara lay on the bed in her usual position. She had not spoken or ate in five days. On the sixth Alex walked in with a brown IV bag and a long tube. She set the items on the bed and walked out, only to enter once again, holding a bucket. Without hesitation she tossed the contents of the bucket of saltwater over Kara’s head.

The blonde sat up, quickly, closing her eyes tightly and spitting out the water she had hated tasting since her first days on Earth.

“What the hell, Alex?!” Her scratchy voice demanded.

“So… she does talk.” The older sister said sarcastically. “I wondered if the blood loss had given you brain damage. Now that you are up, I need you to lay back down. This is going to hurt a bit, but it has to be done.”

Kara saw the brown bag obviously holding a liquid inside.

“What is that?” Kara asked quietly with her scratchy voice.

“It’s a feeding tube that will enter your esophagus through your nose. It’s common for people who can’t eat. Since you haven’t had food in a long time, wearing a red bracelet means you are losing nutrients and weight. Saline can keep you hydrated but it won’t provide what your body needs. Hence, liquid food.” Alex finished setting up her equipment, then pinned Kara down with a pointed stare, daring her to argue. “Now, are you going to lie still and help me out or do I need to bring a couple agents in here to hold you down?”

“You wouldn’t.” Kara whispered, eyes wide, watching Alex place some sort of gel on the outside of the tube. “Take the bracelet off me. I won’t need to eat.”

Alex actually laughed. “No, bad little sisters who bleed all over older sister’s bathroom floors don’t get to have superpowers or sharp objects. You want out of here, start eating, start talking to Jess, Mom, Dad, Clark. Then you can go to their beach house where we will all stay so we can take turns watching you. Now lay back. This part is going to hurt a bit but then it will be fine. Just swallow when I tell you to.”

“No!” Kara shouted and turned her face into the pillow.

“So, do I get Hawk to hold you down, or will you eat solid food on your own? You can start with dry toast and work your way up to pizza. Then we go to Mom and Dad’s for a while. Do you understand?”

Kara remained silent; face buried in the pillow.

“I asked if you understand.” Alex said again, her voice hard. “I’m not giving you a choice. You ever want a life outside of being watched like you are in a psych ward, then do as you are told. Do you understand?”

Kara nodded her head, angry at being treated like a child, though she knew deep down, in this case, it was probably warranted.

“I hated when you talked to me that way. I’m not sure why I put up with it.” Kara admitted, pushing her sister away from her now, though still feeling edgy.

“Because I told you when the adoption papers were signed, I’m the big sister. I make the rules.” Alex said as the scene moved on.

It was two months later that Kara had her final session with Jess. Though she had not been as animated as in the past, simply walking around the house for the first week, staying in her bed, barely speaking to any of them, she had gotten better as time went on.

“I made a stupid mistake. What happened… I couldn’t have done anything about it.” Kara told her therapist and sounded very sincere.

Alex shook her head looking back on this moment, the truth plain to see in hindsight. “You became so good at lying, I almost believe you even now. You always did know the right thing to say, to throw Mom, Dad, even Jessica off your trail.”

Seeing this conversation through her sister’s eyes had Alex so upset, her voice cracked. “I get it now; you never forgave yourself for any of this. You felt guilt about what you did but not because you tried to kill yourself. It was because you traumatized us.”

Kara said nothing. There was no point… there was no hiding in here. She felt Alex’s anger and Alex felt her deep depression.

Hoping to soothe her sister, Kara took Alex by the arm and drew her close. Despite how angry and upset Alex was, having Kara close, knowing they were together, calmed her. “No matter how angry I still am about all of this, knowing now I couldn’t have stopped you… I still can’t get past the feeling that I failed you.”

She leaned her head over onto Kara’s shoulder, watching the events continue to play out.

The family was sitting in the living room, watching television when a breaking news alert interrupted the program. A hostage situation was developing at a bank in National City. Kara had been gone too long. Criminals were bold enough to hit National City. Unbelievable to her, yet it was happening.

Police officers had been shot along with possible hostages.

“Someone going to unlock this damn bracelet, or should I just suit up and hope for the best?” Kara asked her speechless family, holding out her wrist.

“I can’t stop… being Supergirl, I mean.” she continued. “Lives are on the line. Batman isn’t making the trip from Gotham to stop this in time.”

“I’ll get suited up…” Alex started, hoping to keep her sister in the house.

“Unlock the bracelet, Alex. I know you keep a key in the house in case I got a hold of a sharp object. I made a mistake. I promise it won’t happen again. Jess and I have met every day, but it’s time I got back to my life now. Those people need Supergirl.”

Alex recognized the tone. She knew Kara had become restless and would eventually leave on her own, figuring out a way to remove the bracelet. She retrieved the key from where it had been taped under Eliza’s desk and hesitantly placed it in the cuff. “Are you sure? No more drinking? You will talk to me…”

“Unlock this, Alex. Time equals lives. You know this.” Kara interrupted, as the Supergirl persona pushed to the forefront, her command presence felt by everyone in the room.

Five minutes later, Kara landed in front of the bank to the relief of the police. The armed robbers saw her from the windows. A couple minutes later they walked out, hands in the air without Kara having to do anything.

Then she was back in her apartment, on the phone.

“How fast can you get here?” she asked Dick Grayson.

Kara sighed. “I needed him, and I needed a drink. I needed to forget everything that happened. Everything I did. As usual, when I called, my black clad puppy came running, didn’t he? Why could I never love him?”

“You liked him too much to ever love him. Because you hated yourself, Kara.” Alex admitted.

The next night the man was at her apartment while she texted with Alex and Eliza every five minutes to reassure them she still lived. The night after that, her Dad visited her after having a chat with Dante, suggesting she stop seeing Dick Grayson permanently and taking the red sun device Kara kept hidden in the house. It didn’t matter though, Kara had more than one hidden around the apartment, not to mention a couple she kept in secret locations around the city.

The night after she had her discussion with Jeremiah, Kara drank enough to loosen any inhibitions and waited for Dante in his apartment.

Alex was shocked from the feeling… the sting of rejection. Kara’s humiliation, her words to Dante, her demand he stay out of her life forever.

“That probably wasn’t the best way to handle that.” Kara admitted to Alex.

Her sister looked thoughtful. Alex now understood Kara’s feelings for Dante… and so much more made sense to her. “I always wondered what was said that night… and I understand now. You wanted to be loved by somebody… someone like you. Who better than the guy who helped mold you into what you became? The embarrassment, the heartache… It hurts. I never felt that with Cameron. She never rejected me. No one did.”

Alex hesitated for a moment shaking her head, pleading with her sister. “Could you please stop remembering having sex with Grayson? It’s not something I want to remember or have in my head… or feel. And now, I’m stuck with it… forever… so please stop. It’s just… eww.”

Kara snorted. “You think I like remembering what it’s like to be with Cameron? Suck it up.”

Kara’s eyes lost focus, starring into nothing. “I can feel more memories coming through now. Can you?”

Alex braced herself as she was bombarded. “Yeah, I am feeling everything you are feeling, whether I like it or not.”

“I can’t focus. What is coming, Alex?” Kara’s voice was shaky as she tried to comprehend the chaos swirling around them.

Alex closed her eyes, feeling the memories move through them, eventually falling into a cohesive picture as Kara unlocked them. The memories settled at a particular time and place. Then Alex saw it.

“Barry Allen is coming.”