I Always Want You

Chapter Twenty Two

Lena slumped down next to Kara, who was sitting against a tree by the lake. Clouds hung low in the sky, blocking out the warmth of the sun and reminding everyone that spring had not quite yet begun. Lena felt Kara shiver next to her. She looked out at the lake in front of them. A terse silence stood between them.

Lena swallowed when Kara shifted away slightly from her. It was barely a movement but Lena felt it. She was always aware of Kara. Always aware now that Kara felt like she was pulling away.

And she was.

The nightmares never stopped. Once Lena had accepted her brother's terms he hadn't stopped his visits. Plunging into her memories. Her thoughts. Her secrets.

Lena blinked slowly, taking in the gloominess of the weather and the atmosphere that surrounded them. Silence had become their norm. Lena couldn't tell Kara about what she had been seeing and hearing every night. Or the sudden painful sear mark that appeared one night right above the crease in her elbow.

Kara knew though. Kara knew but didn't want to push Lena.

She didn't know Lena would pull away so quickly though.

Lena listened to the sound of Kara taking in a shaky breath. "You-" Her voice broke, "You still love me right?" Lena felt Kara turn to look at her.

Lena closed her eyes and breathed in sharply through her nose. "I'm only doing this because I love you."

She saw Kara nod from the corner of her eye and slump her shoulders down.

The nightmares stopped. They had been plaguing her for a full month and then stopped without warning.

Lena still couldn't sleep though.

She stopped asking Kara to lie with her after the third night of waking up in a panicked sweat. Kara shouldn't have to see her like that. Lena knew it only make Kara doubt the plan more and more as the days went by.

She didn't want to think about what the visitations stopping meant.

Lena understood what was happening just minutes before everything came crashing down. More specifically, before the roof came crashing down in a magnificent explosion of rubble.

The mark on her arm pulsed. Lex was close, suddenly. Very close.

Lena knew she had to find Kara.

There were more followers in Hogwarts than Lena could have even imagined. The dozen that were arrested just months before. They lined the main hall, stopping anyone who tried to make their way into the destruction that was the main hall.

Lena stood with them.

Kara paced the length of the Room of Requirement. A few records laid broken on the floor where Kara had thrown them at the wall where the door used to stand.

Lena had dragged her in and sealed the entrance from the outside with no explanation.

A thunderous explosion coming from the Great Hall sounded just seconds later.

The fearful look in Lena's eyes when she pulled back from a searing kiss was enough to make Kara hit the wall forcefully over and over

She knew exactly what Lena was about to do.

Kara had to get out.

"Lena, my wonderful sister."

Lena shivered at the sound of his voice. She tried not to move when her touched her chin and smiled at her. His voice was so much worse to hear whispered in her ear. So much worse in person. It didn't used to sound like that.