Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Reborn

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 20:

“What are you eating, Alex?” Eliza asked her daughter as she sat down for dinner with her parents and Clark at their home.

Alex shrugged her shoulders, looking at the Tupperware container she had brought, containing some sort of noodles, mixed with various herbs and beans.

“I have no idea what this is. Nyssa said to eat it so I’m eating it.” Alex told her mother dismissively.

Her mother made a disparaging noise before replying, “You aren’t supposed to be eating much solid food yet, remember? I checked with Shay and she said you could start eating soup or stew…”

Alex looked up at her mother, lowering her fork, wrangling her temper back under control. “Veritas can go to hell. She isn’t my doctor. I know my body and I know what it needs.”

Jeremiah watched her closely, obviously noting that the hand holding her fork was slightly shaking. “What about Leslie? Is she still your doctor? Have you been taking your anti-anxiety meds?” her father asked, his tone somewhat challenging.

Alex shook her head, annoyed. “They slow me down.”

“You are supposed to slow down!” Eliza snapped. “You haven’t been cleared for work yet and you aren’t allowed to exercise for another few months and only then lightly. Do I need to remind you…”

“I don’t need you to remind me of anything.” Alex told her coldly. “I have business to take care of and it won’t wait six months. If you want to give advice, go to the Fortress and help Kelex figure out a way for a crystal to store a Rann transporter and reintegrate it in a half second in the core of the sun. I know what I am doing.”

The family ate in silence for a few moments, Alex wondering why the hell she was even here when she had so much work to get done. She had spent the day meditating to her disappointment instead of combat training, but she had agreed to follow Nyssa’s instructions.

“You really think she could be alive?” Clark finally asked her quietly.

Alex’s expression softened as she looked him in the eyes. “I know she is. We just have to figure out a way to bring her back if she can’t get back herself. Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay.”

Eliza dropped the spoon into the bowl she was eating from, her hand still shaking. “Clark, why don’t you go to the Fortress for a little while? I want to talk to Alex about her house guests.”

“Why? They’re helping her get better, aren’t they?” Clark looked between his mother and Alex. When neither said a word, he leaped to the most obvious explanation. Looking at his sister with wide eyes, he said anxiously, “I thought you said you were done. No more fighting, remember? After the invasion, that would be it. Please, Alex, no more!”

Alex patted the boy reassuringly on his shoulder. “This isn’t superhero or DEO stuff, Clark. I still have business left unfinished. Something Hank Henshaw started when he arrived at this house 13 years ago and I plan to finish it now. It’s going to be okay. Go to the Fortress. Let Kelex tell you what he is working on, get him to teach you about the crystals. You need to know about the crystals and the physics of them. Believe me, I wish I had paid more attention in college to physics. Go.”

Clark still looked distressed, but dutifully rose from his seat as the rest of the family sat in silence waiting on the familiar hum from the basement telling them the boy was now at the bottom of the world.

“Ask your questions about my houseguests.” Alex told them shortly.

Jeremiah cleared his throat, a bit nervous at the edge in Alex’s tone. “We only met Nyssa once, briefly but we know who she is and what she does. The blonde woman…”

“Sara Lance.” Alex succinctly filled in the blank.

Jeremiah nodded in recognition. “Right… Sara Lance. The one who was dead and came back to life… why are they really here, Alex? What is going on?”

Alex stared at her father, glancing over at her mother, knowing how they were going to respond before she even answered. “They are here to help me heal and prepare. Since the world thinks Kara is dead, Cadmus has been open with communications again. They are using cell phones, emails, the dark web, military back channels… you name it. They are giving me a roadmap of targets. We even know where Lillian Luthor and Sam Lane are holed up. Cadmus thinks it is safe for them to target aliens again. I’m going to burn their organization to the ground and kill them all. That’s what is going on. I have to hit fast though. As the bases fall, word will reach the others and they will go silent again. Still, I don’t believe they will go completely silent. Thanks to Lois Lane, the world is convinced Kara is dead, so it works in my favor. They won’t panic, they will just tighten security. I have the locations already and they won’t have time to pack up and move. There is nowhere for them to hide anymore.”

Eliza picked up her spoon with her still shaking hand and tried to take another bite. She failed. “Alex, just let it go. Bruce, the others, they can handle this. Give them the information and let’s move on. We need to be supporting each other…”

“Then support me!” Alex exclaimed, cutting her mother off. “Tell the Dean I will be back at work in six weeks. Let him know I will consider the CDC’s request and have an answer by then. I need to keep up appearances. We all do.”

Kara said nothing as she watched this memory unfold. Tears fell down her face as she saw her parents barely holding together, her brother lost, confused, scared and heartbroken. She acutely felt her sister’s pain and growing isolation. She was beginning to really understand how her loss had devasted her family as she watched the once tight family unit shatter before her eyes.

Her sister said nothing, but Kara could feel her anger humming below the surface of Alex’s calm façade. She also sensed understanding, their parents’ arguments making sense to her sister, but Alex’s deep hurt over their parents’ refusal to acknowledge it was possible Kara was alive ultimately driving her anger towards them.

The two watched as Alex stood from the table and walked out quickly, making her way home. Once there she would concentrate on falling asleep, something her body desperately needed but her mind hadn’t allowed recently.

A week later, Alex was asleep, curled up in Kara’s bed. She woke at three AM and went to the restroom.

When she opened the door, the roaring face of Doomsday abruptly appeared. Alex fell back and retreated until her back was against Kara’s bed, reaching for a gun on her hip that was not there. Her scream brought Sara and Nyssa flying into the room ready for battle. Seeing no enemy, Sara grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her.

“Alex!” the blonde screamed at her, hoping to get through to the panicked woman.

Alex’s eyes slowly began to focus on Sara, and she was extremely confused. Sara hadn’t been there when Doomsday had struck. What was she doing here now?

The woman took deep breaths and looked carefully into the dark bathroom. Doomsday was not there. He was dead, she remembered. Burned into ash by her little sister.

“Sara?” Alex began trembling uncontrollably.

“Yeah, it’s okay. Here, take this.” Sara slipped an unloaded gun into Alex’s hand and the woman felt much better. She was able to go back to sleep for another thirty minutes holding her gun before she woke to begin training.

During the second week, Nyssa taught her a new way to meditate. Alex had been unable to clear her mind since they started so the former assassin decided on a different approach.

“Think of your body. This has been a method used by monks and assassins for centuries.” Nyssa told her, her voice calm and comforting. “Feel it, concentrate only on the parts of you that are damaged, that are weak. Focus all your mental energy on those parts. The mind tells the body what to do, so if your mind demands that it heal faster, your body will obey. Keep in mind your goal, why you need to be strong and you will be.”

By the end of the second week, Alex and Sara were doing sprints on the beach, while Nyssa watched closely. Alex felt good. The food she ate tasted horrible, her sleep was nearly nonexistent, but it allowed her more time to focus on her own body in the dark of night.

The flashbacks did not stop, and she had taken to carrying a knife with her at all times, strapped to her calf. Alex had seen Non, Astra, White Martians, Henshaw, and a host of other enemies she and Kara had fought at one time or another. Her flashbacks had become so real she had difficulty bringing herself back to reality. Alex had even attacked Sara one night when the blonde had been in the kitchen getting a glass of water, thinking she was Astra. The woman felt horrible about that, but Sara understood. She knew about demons that haunted a person in the waking world.

The third week, they began sparring. Alex increased her workout routine, meditated at night rather than sleeping, sparred outside, bare fisted against Nyssa and Sara, sometimes the two of them together.

They sparred in the yard, in the old training grounds Kara used once for flight training, even in the house.

By the end of the fourth week, Alex was physically healed. Kelex confirmed she was in excellent health, similar to before the invasion, but she didn’t need his confirmation. Alex had always relied on her body as her primary weapon and she knew her weapon was ready.

Alex asked the two to stay for a fifth week. She wanted more. She needed to be sharper, better than she had ever been. She and Kara had always been a team. Now she was alone.

Bruce had offered to help her, be her backup as had her old mentor, Connolly. J’onn tried his best to talk her out of her mission. She refused them all.

Kara was her partner and for the moment Kara was gone.

The stronger she became, the less the flashbacks, the hallucinations and nightmares occurred. The tremors that were common in the early days after her surgery were gone. She felt like herself again.

On the last night, she had taken down Sara and Nyssa, none of them holding back.

“You’re ready.” Nyssa told her, a huge smile on her face as Alex held a blade to her throat.

Lowering the blade, Alex helped Nyssa to her feet, then bowed respectfully to both women. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

Nyssa bowed her head in return and walked back towards the house while Sara accompanied Alex to the beach. The sun had just set and the two started a fire.

Nyssa arrived minutes later, a sheathed katana in her hand. She knelt by Alex near the fire and pulled the sword from its scabbard. Alex couldn’t help but admire the way the flames glinted off the blade.

Nyssa handed the blade to Alex. As she carefully took the sword, Alex leaned closer to the fire, examining the weapon. It was beautiful. On the blade she noticed an engraving, the words ‘Al Malak’ carved into the steel.

Nyssa spoke softly then, almost reverently. “I realize you prefer firearms and knives, but this blade is special.”

She hesitated a moment before continuing her story. “After Kara killed my father and passed on the mantle of Ra’s Al Ghul to me, we had a ceremony. I had our finest sword maker prepare this for her. I named her ‘Heir to the Demon’. Should I have fallen, she would have stood in my place. Of course Kara had no need for a sword. She had never trained with one regardless. Still… she loved this katana.”

“Al Malak.” Alex said quietly. “You called her that at the Block. It means ‘the Angel’, doesn’t it?”

Nyssa nodded. “Take it for what you will. Angel of Death. Angel of Vengeance. Angel of Justice. To me, she will always be the Angel. Do this for me. When this is over, when only one remains, use this katana, take his head and leave it buried in his chest. Let those prisoners you free know the Angel was their salvation.”

“I swear it will be done.” Alex told her.

The next morning, Alex said farewell to the two women who had become her friends. Alex had spent time with Nyssa in the past, but she found herself drawn to Sara as well. The two had sat up many nights when neither could sleep, just talking. They talked about life, irony, cruel fate, death. Alex found to her surprise that the two were very similar in many ways. Sara even told her about Laurel’s battle with substance abuse, how she had watched her sister become someone she didn’t know before she got help. Sara knew about bloodlust and how it affected someone, how it was just as addictive as alcohol and drugs.

Alex would miss her… would miss them both.

Kara stood silently, taking in the scene when Alex said fondly, “They were willing to help me as I needed them too. They weren’t pushing me to do anything I didn’t want, not really. They helped give me focus and made me stronger… faster.”

Alex studied Kara’s face while her sister watched as Nyssa and Sara faded into memory. “They were good for me at a time I really needed someone who understood what I was going through.”

Kara’s voice cracked slightly, as she spoke. “Your feelings seem calmer now, in this place. I sense you see what I always saw in Nyssa… someone who had so many demons, so much pain, but still cared to help those she saw suffering.”

Alex smiled, taking her sister’s hand and squeezing lightly. “Sounds like someone else I know.”

Memories moved slowly but steadily now as Alex moved the two through them. Kara observed her sister as she prepared her weapons, planned her attacks, returned to work, assisted Kelex, and studied everything there was to know about the star her sister was trapped inside. She took up her medical research and added CDC consulting to her duties. She did everything she could to avoid going home to an empty house, or despair because she was no closer to getting Kara home that when she had begun.

She ate breakfast every morning at work with her parents. She agreed to see Leslie once or twice a month as she had time. She lied; told everyone she was taking her medication just to get them off her back.

It was at breakfast in the campus cafeteria when her parents struck, apparently hoping Alex would not make a scene in front of the entire staff.

“Alex,” Eliza began, “we need to talk.”

“We talk every day.” Alex pointed out, flippantly.

Eliza’s expression grew annoyed as she looked at her husband. At Jeremiah’s encouraging nod, she said, “We need to talk about Clark, in a place he can’t hear.”

Alex knew this was a lie. Clark could easily hear from Midvale to Raleigh if he wished. She knew they wanted to talk in a place where they hoped she wouldn’t lose her temper.

“You’re lying, but ok, let’s talk.” Alex told them.

“Clark is confused.” Jeremiah told her, obviously wary from her response. “He doesn’t know what to believe. This talk of getting Kara back… Alex, Kara is gone.”

“Why are you so sure?” Alex asked, desperately trying to keep herself calm.

Her father replied, “Gardner told us four Red Lanterns died when their rings exploded the moment Kara entered the sun just from some surge of power. We have gone over every possibility with Shay and there is no way even she could survive. I want to think she is coming back to us any day too. We miss her, Alex. Clark misses her. But he needs…”

“Closure.” Eliza finished; her eyes wet. “This false hope you are giving him is tearing him apart. He needs to mourn… so do you. We all do, Alex.”

“Kelex believes she is alive.” Alex pointed out, tightening her fists under the table.

“Kelex will believe whatever you tell him to believe.” Jeremiah told her quietly. “If you believe…”

“Kelex is sentient. He tells me what he believes, and he knows it is possible.” Pushing her tray away and resting both arms on the table, she leaned forward, her tone heated but controlled. “Tell me, since we have known the apparently all-knowing Shay Veritas, what has she ever done to help Kara? Hmm? She couldn’t make the drugs without Caitlin Snow, she couldn’t figure out a way to get the ring off her, even after studying Gardner’s ring for a month… she figured out nothing. Why would you take anything she says as truth?”

Eliza cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. “We have looked into this too, Alex. The pressure at the core of the sun… no one, not even Kara could be that strong. You know very well what happened when she burned herself with heat vision. You saw what her heat vision did to Non. If she could burn herself, what would the sun do to her? I know this is hard to hear but you know it is the truth. Until you come to terms with this… that Kara is gone and not coming back, you won’t begin healing.”

Alex laughed bitterly. “You would like that, wouldn’t you?” she asked her mother. “Kara gave you your son and now she is gone. Life must be simpler for you now. You always were jealous of her, jealous that she shared blood with him, and you didn’t…”

“Alex!” Jeremiah nearly shouted. “Why the hell would you say that?! You know that isn’t true! We loved her with everything we had, we still do. Would you listen to yourself? Apologize now!”

Alex stood up. “Go to hell. You believe what you want. Put up a stone in the yard and lay flowers next to it so you can all feel better. I’ll be actually doing something about getting her home. I’ll be gone the next four days starting tomorrow. I’ve told the Dean I’m doing field work for the CDC. I’ll tell Kelex to let you know when I’ve made it back.”

Jeremiah grabbed her hand before she could walk off. “Where are you going?”

Alex looked down at his hand gripping hers, then looked him in the eye as she clenched her teeth and pushed down her instincts to physically retaliate. He was still her father, and no matter how angry she was, she didn’t want to hurt him. “I’d suggest you remove your hand before I remove it for you.”

Jeremiah abruptly removed the hand, apparently understanding she was holding back and not wanting to push her further.

She leaned down and whispered in his ear, the rage she was barely holding back evident in her voice as she coldly replied. “I’m going to make sure your son is safe. It’s what Kara and I have always done. It isn’t your problem.”

Alex saw the grief and despair in his eyes, but she was beyond caring. “Now… just so we’re clear… don’t you ever tell me to move on again . I know she is alive. So, you and mom keep lying to Clark, tell him she is gone but I won’t lie to him. One day, she will come back to me… you’ll see.”

Kara stood by her sister, tears streaming down her face, feeling the anger, the bitterness in Alex’s memories as they watched Alex back away from their father and walk away.

“They wouldn’t even consider that I was right about you.” Alex spoke softly as Kara became aware of her sister standing behind her. “They refused to have any hope and left me alone to figure out how to get you back. Only Kelex believed it was possible you survived.”

Kara was shaking now, softly sobbing, her eyes and face red as she turned to face her sister. “Alex, you were right, but from what they knew, so were they. They were doing the best they could. They had to do what was best for Clark. But they love us too… and they only wanted what was best for you too, I have to believe that.”

Alex knew she couldn’t hide her pain or her anger from Kara in their merged state. She didn’t even try to respond to her sister’s statements because rationally, she could understand them. But with everything she had lived through when Kara was gone, it wasn’t something she was willing to admit or let go of as if it had never happened. She had lost faith in her parents and their relationship with her wasn’t going to be fixed quickly, but Kara was right. Her parents loved her and if their family was going to heal… if she was going to heal, she was going to have to let go of her anger.

Despite Alex’s reluctance to speak, Kara heard all those thoughts, felt every emotion as Alex simply stood there watching her. Kara could sense her sister’s apprehension and was very nervous to see what was coming next. She didn’t have to wait long.

Kara was overwhelmed with grief as Alex’s memories played out and she watched the last bonds tying their family together falling totally apart, the individual members living separate lives, the lines of communication severed between them, the front they showed the world a complete fabrication.

She witnessed Alex, killing Lillian Luthor, emptying the rest of her clip into Sam Lane’s body. Kara saw Bruce talking her out of killing Lucy Lane, her sister reluctantly giving into his argument.

She watched Alex at their home, alone, feeling empty inside, sleeping at the lab, despair filling her every night as she and Kelex came no closer to finding a way to bring her home.

She felt the excitement every time Kelex picked up something unusual from the sun and the overwhelming depression when it turned out to be nothing.

Kara watched her sister go through bases, Cadmus operatives falling from gunshots, plasma bolts, inferno blasts, dwarf star grenades. Bodies being burned to bone and ash, heads being taken off, throats being slit.

Kara was no stranger to killing. She had practically perfected it. The difference that she was experiencing now was that before she had taken the red ring, she had never felt the level of anger Alex was feeling as she unleashed hell on Cadmus. It was frightening as she struggled to keep her sister’s rage from engulfing her.

She desperately tried to feel Alex’s pride every time hundreds of alien prisoners were released but could not find it. Alex saved the aliens but that was not what she was there for.

When the last man had been found, a general, the last standing member of Cadmus was dead, Alex covered in his blood and Kara’s sword planted in his chest, Kara recognized a feeling she had become very intimate with.

Nothingness. Kara had learned many times, over and over, that once the enemy was dead, the mission completed, the hole had not been filled.

Alex had completed her mission, but nothing had changed. She had unleashed her anger, but Kara was still gone. The house was still empty, no one was sitting with her at night watching television, sharing ice cream, or throwing popcorn at her.

Kara was still gone. As the months went by Alex felt more and more desolate.

The fights with her parents had turned to long periods of silence. Alex would visit Clark and find Eliza sitting on Kara’s former bed, holding a picture of the girl and crying. Jeremiah looked lifeless and tired constantly. He put on a brave face for Clark, but the man had changed. He wouldn’t even look at the telescope on the deck, the one he and Kara had spent so much time looking through. He still hung her drawings, her paintings around the house, changing them out every month.

Kara was understanding what had happened to her family while she was away. Alex felt empty inside, lonely, angry, betrayed and given up on. Eliza and Jeremiah grieved, and Clark…

Kara watched through Alex’s eyes as the happy boy he had been turned into a young adult bitter towards the human race. She saw the deterioration of her family, a family that had been so strong, survived so much, all to be brought down by her apparent death.

She saw everything through Alex’s eyes, felt her at night, the hallucinations and flashbacks that had come back with the death of Cadmus, the loneliness, watching the sky and begging Kara to come back to her.

“I’m so sorry, Alex.” Kara whispered to her sister.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Alex told her quietly. “Like I said before we never should have split up. We would have found a way. Bruce could have taken… I could have been there… I know we would have found a way, just like we always did. We made a mistake. We became too confident, never really thought anything could beat us and separated. I nearly died, you nearly burned up.”

Kara shook her head, taking Alex’s hand gently. “It’s not just that. It’s everything. I put you all through hell. I put myself through hell and hurt everyone around me. I see now. I understand. While we never had a choice in what life threw at us, we did have a choice in how we handled it. I handled it badly and everyone suffered for it.”

“There’s plenty of blame to go around, but maybe we can learn from all this.” Alex told her with a tired smile, pulling Kara in and wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. “We are still here and now we’ll have plenty of time for clown college, right?”

The two women suddenly found themselves in a familiar area but before they had a chance to place the moment, a blonde streak flew into a thick tree knocking it down with a loud crash.

They watched the young blonde stand up, brushing off dirt from her blue flight suit as a young skinny brunette ran towards her.

“You okay?” young Alex asked her little sister.

“I’m never going to make these turns, Alex.” Kara told her sadly as she reached for her sister’s hand. “I’m tired. I just want it to stop.”

Both girls stood unmoving for a few moments, before looking up at their older counterparts and slowly walking towards them.

Kara and Alex saw their younger selves, Alex wearing shorts, not hiding her scraped knees and the bruises from sparring, Kara her blue bodysuit with broken sensors flashing on and off, leaves in her hair and dirt on her face.

The two young girls looked exhausted. Their eyes showing how worn out they were.

“We don’t want to do this anymore.” young Kara told the older girls. “We are tired.”

Young Alex nodded her head and took her little sister’s hand. “Is it over? Please say it’s over.”

Kara knelt in front of the smaller girls and looked at little Alex who had tears in her eyes. “Yeah, it’s over. We won, and now it’s time to rest.”

“No more? You promise?” little Kara asked. “Will the nightmares go away?”

“Yeah, they will. We have done enough. Thank you both.” Kara told their younger selves.

“For what?” young Alex asked.

“For making us strong enough to survive.” Alex told her younger self with conviction. “We are still here because of what you two did and now it’s over. It’s time to go home.”

A smile appeared on both young faces as they joined hands and skipped off into the distance before fading away.

Alex smiled softly at her sister. “I guess it’s time for us to go home too.”

“Yeah.” Kara’s returning smile was wistful. “Do you think we’ll be okay? Me and you, our family? We have so much to work through, I just… I don’t know…” she shook her head, still distraught at what she had seen and felt through her sister’s eyes during the year she was gone.

Alex reached out, wiping an errant tear away as she comforted her little sister. “Kara, I can’t pretend I’m not angry, even though I understand where mom and dad are coming from. I can’t pretend we can kiss, hug and make-up and everything go back to the way it used to be. But I can promise that I will try to let it go so we can move on.”

Alex sighed, forcibly relaxing her body. “We have so much to work through. I have all the issues from the past year, plus what happened in our past. Leslie will have her work cut out for her. But she is willing to help us, to help our family, so the least I can do is be willing to meet her halfway and not be so defensive… no matter how hard that woman pushes my buttons.”

Kara choked back a sob and drew Alex into a thankful hug. “We will do this like we do everything else… together. I won’t leave you again, Alex.”

Stepping back, Kara took a deep breath, looking at the destroyed trees around her with a small smile.

“It’s over. It’s finally over.” she told her sister. “I want to go home.”

Alex silently agreed, looking around the area. “Yeah, now we just have to figure out how to wake up. Since we’re merged, I have no idea how to even begin. I know Kelex won’t risk hurting us either… I feel he would’ve tried to wake us earlier if he thought it was safe. We’re going to have to do it ourselves.”

Kara looked concerned, easily sensing her sister’s worry. “Well, I have no idea how to separate us, it wasn’t like we planned it.”

Abruptly, the two girls were thrown into another place, one they both recognized, Kara from her memories and Alex from holograms and video she had seen at the Fortress.

They were in a bedroom on Krypton. Unlike Kara’s bedroom, this area had two beds side by side, only a small table separating them.

“Is this your memory?” Alex asked.

Kara shook her head. “I’ve never been in this room before,” she told Alex shakily.

The two jumped slightly when the door opened. Two teenage girls walked in and sat next to each other on one of the beds.

Walking closer to have a better look, Alex and Kara noted they were twins, only a single streak of white hair on one of the girls separating one from the other. The Danvers sisters froze in recognition.

The girl on the left, one Kara instinctively knew was her mother began crying. A young Astra had taken her hand. “So… who have you been assigned to mate with?”

Alura grimaced and wiped her eyes furiously. “Zor El.” she spat.

Astra cringed but tried to remain positive. “The House of El. It could be worse.”

Alura looked at her in disgust. “How? Have you met him?”

“Have you met Non?” Astra asked. “The man is scum and so proud that he is joining our house. He obviously thinks I am some step in his career ladder.”

Alura shook her head as she obviously disagreed. “You will always outrank him. He will be forced to take our House’s name. On the other hand, I will be forced to become an El.”

Astra nodded her head, squeezing Alura’s hand tighter. “The House of El is one of the most influential houses in our history. You will be a part of that.”

Alura’s voice shook as she fought back tears. “In the past, yes. But Zor and his brother… arrogant, cold… Father is not happy with either of our assignments. He may not say it, but I know he is not happy. Zor is a cruel man.”

“So is Non. I won’t let them hurt either of us. I will protect you, Alura. I will always protect you.” Astra wrapped her arms around her distraught sister and Alura curled up into that safe haven, feeling the comfort that only her sister could give her.

Kara and Alex stood transfixed, not understanding how they were seeing a memory neither of them had lived through but drawn to this innocent view of the In-Ze sisters. They couldn’t help but feel compassion for the two young women given their unenviable predicament.

The scene faded as they found themselves in a grassy field, beautiful, snow-covered mountains in the distance, a ringed planet shining in the sky.

“What was that? And where are we now?” Alex asked, getting worried, sensing Kara was just as confused.

Glancing around, the two noticed a woman walking towards them. As she drew closer, Kara gasped, while Alex went totally still in shock.

Alura Zor-El smiled as she calmly addressed the dumbstruck younger women. Reaching out, she took one of Kara’s hands in hers and one of Alex’s in her other. “My beloved daughter… I am so grateful to see you again. And you, Alex, you have no idea how much I love you for always protecting and loving my Kara.”

The girls glanced at each other before looking back at the older Kryptonian. Alura understood. “I know you have questions. I am here to help you answer them, and to help you find some closure.”