Chapter Text
"Tell Kara I love her."
That was the last thing Lena had said, according to Alex, before she took a running leap and knocked Lex into the largest group of Phantoms. Kara had been trying to protect the other citizens. She hadn't seen that Lena had been taken up with them. She didn't realize until Alex let out a gut-wrenching scream, that Lena was falling from the sky, having been pushed by her brother as he tried to escape the monsters. She didn't factor in that human spines were fragile when caught going at high speeds towards the ground.
Oh, how fragile her beautiful Lena was...
She could see it all, even now as she knelt at Lena's grave, tracing over the date with the tip of her finger. A year ago to the day. A year since she'd felt more than heard Lena's spine shatter with the force of her landing. A year since she'd watched, almost in slow motion, as the breath left Lena's lungs and the life, her eyes. A year since she'd knelt on that pavement, screaming and crying and begging with the gods, any gods that she could think of, to let it not be true. A year since she'd cradled Lena's broken form to her body until Kelly and Nia moved to pry the corpse out of her arms.
She had given up on being Supergirl after that. Not even Alex could talk her out of it. The very sympathetic public was told Supergirl had suffered from a mental break and would likely not return.
Ever.
Her suit laid untouched next to the many boxes of Lena's things. Lena had gifted Kara her penthouse...and the entire building, as well as the majority of her money that didn't get donated to the Luthor Children's Hospital. And so Kara found herself the multi-millionaire CEO (technically) of L-Corp, though Sam was the one that actually ran it, having moved back to National City following the news.
Andrea had been almost as affected by Lena's death as Kara had, so Cat had come back to run CatCo until Andrea could get back on her feet. And just like Kara, Andrea was still just as lost as she had been when she'd watched it happen. After publishing the article of Lena's life and achievements, for which she had received multiple awards and failed to go to any of the ceremonies for, Kara had been running fluff pieces. It was all she could do. All motivation, all hope, all love of writing she had ever had, it had all died in her arms the day Lena had. Even Cat had given up hope on returning her to her former glory.
"Kara, come on," Alex murmured softly. "Only an hour, remember? It's time to go."
The blonde shook her head, tears streaming steadily down her face. "I don't want to go."
"I know. But you were the one who said we should only let you stay an hour, remember? Kelly said--"
Kara turned to face her sister. "I don't care!" she sobbed. "I don't care! It should have been me! It should have been me!"
"Don't say that," Alex breathed, kneeling down to pull Kara into a tight hug. "Please don't say that. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you."
Kara shook her head, even as she buried her face in Alex's chest. "I loved her! I loved her, and I couldn't save her! And I never even told her!"
"She knew, Kara. She knew," Alex murmured, running a hand through her sister's hair. "And you did everything you could. And she knew that, too."
Kara let out a long wail. "Make it stop hurting!"
"I'm sorry," Alex whispered. "I'm sorry. I wish I could. I really wish I could, Kar."
They stayed like that for a little longer before Alex was able to coax Kara up and into the car to drive her back to the penthouse. Alex helped her inside and got her curled up on the couch with a blanket and the news on TV before she set about making some food, well-aware that if she didn't make her, Kara simply wouldn't eat.
"Here," Alex murmured.
Kara looked up at her sister, who was holding out a plate of leftover takeout for her. "Thank you. And thank you for taking me to...Thank you for taking me."
"I'll take you whenever you want, Kar," Alex replied softly. "Now, let's turn off all that depressing news and watch a movie or something."
Kara nodded and went to change the channel when the actual contents of the TV caught her eye. There was a glowing circle in the middle of Kara's favorite park, and just in front of it, a figure dressed in all black was shooting what looked like Kryptonite beams at J'onn, Brainy, and Nia, who looked like they were trying to plead with whoever it was.
"What's going on?" Kara cried.
Alex shook her head. "I'm sure they're taking care of it. Besides, you can't go out there and risk getting hurt."
But Kara wasn't listening to her sister's words because the figure had turned just enough that the camera could see her face. And suddenly, it made sense why it looked like the trio of superheroes wasn't even trying. Because there was no possible question about who it was. There she was, standing in the middle of all that green, the middle of her chest matching that hue almost as well as it matched her eyes.
Lena Luthor let out a roar as she sent another beam toward Nia, who barely managed to dive out of the way.
"Kara, don't--"
But it was too late.
Kara was long gone.