"Oh my god, oh my god!"
Mon-El heard Alex before he saw her, but he didn't move from his perch on the stool. Kara lay asleep on the bed next to him, yellow sun lamps bathing her in soft golden light. He held her hand to his mouth, her fingers pressed against his lips. He was afraid that if he took his eyes from her for a moment, she would disappear. Again.
"That's-That's Kara!" Alex sputtered, reaching her sister's bedside. "How? How is she alive?"
"We don't know," J'onn said, his eyes glued to Kara.
"Sir! I mean, J'onn." Agent Vasquez stood in the doorway of the med bay, holding a tablet. Her eyes flickered between all of them. "Sorry to interrupt, but I found something I think you're gonna want to see."
"What is it?" Mon-El asked. He turned to face the agent, but didn't let go of Kara's hand for a second.
"The Supergirl that died—we found traces of Black Kryptonite in her bloodstream."
Mon-El glanced back at Kara. "And this one?"
"Nothing," Vasquez replied. "It's clean."
"Does that mean..." Alex trailed off.
"The Black Kryptonite split her in two," Mon-El realized, his mind racing. "This is the real Kara."
"But where had she been all this time?" J'onn narrowed his eyes at the sleeping Kryptonian, as if he could read her mind simply by concentrating harder.
"That's the thing," Vasquez said, joining them by the bed. "The portal she came through, we traced it back to the Phantom Zone."
Mon-El inhaled sharply. Kara had told him about it—the place where she was stuck for 24 years, reliving the destruction of her planet and the death of her family over and over again. Gods knew what she had been reliving this time.
"How could she find her way back?" he asked softly, more to himself than the other people in the room. J'onn responded anyway, his tone solemn.
"That's a question for her."
***
Kara didn't want to open her eyes. She could faintly hear the voices of people she loved, but it could easily be another Phantom's trick. An illusion built only to hurt her.
Finally, curiosity got the better of her, and she opened her eyes, automatically raising a hand to shield them from the harsh light.
She was in the DEO med bay, but any other details were quickly obscured by a blur of red hair. Alex.
"I missed you so much," her sister whispered, her voice hoarse with tears. Kara could only hug her back, too shocked and relieved to say anything. Alex pulled away momentarily, cupping Kara's face in her hands.
"I can't believe it's really you."
J'onn patted her leg, his eyes crinkling with joy. "Good to have you back, Supergirl."
Kara smiled weakly. She noticed that there were other people in the room, Agent Vasquez, and...him. Mon-El.
He hovered awkwardly a little ways away, like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to get close. Kara wanted to call out to him, but like Mon-El, she wasn't sure what was okay anymore.
"W-We found about the dopplegänger," Alex stammered, glancing back at J'onn for support, "And traced the portal back to the Phantom Zone. H-How did you escape?"
Kara opened her mouth to speak.
Suddenly she was on the ground in the Phantom Zone, screaming with pure terror, white mist pouring from her mouth.
A Phantom was tackling her to the floor, its claws raking across her neck.
She was in the Anchor, screaming in horror as she watched her friend's body slowly hit the floor.
She was crying as she touched his cold face, silently begging him to wake up.
Kara closed her mouth.
***
They were talking about her. Kara could tell.
Alex and J'onn were standing in the hallway, chatting in hushed tones. Mon-El stood off to the side, occasionally jumping in with a comment.
Her powers weren't fully back yet, but her hearing was already better than the average human's. She caught words like "trauma" and "mute" and sighed inwardly.
She wished more than anything that she could just talk, but something inside just wouldn't let her. It was frustrating beyond belief.
"Hey."
Kara jumped, startled. The memory of a Phantom ambushing her at the Anchor surfaced and she pushed it away. Lost in thought, she hadn't realized that Mon-El had made his way to her bedside.
His eyes widened in alarm. "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to say, um..."
He swallowed, meeting her eyes as his next words came out in almost a whisper. "I'm really glad you're okay. When we thought you were dead..." He trailed off.
I missed you. The words bubbled up in Kara's throat, begging to be let out, and it was all she could do not to break the bedside table out of frustration. Instead, she just smiled weakly and hoped her eyes conveyed how she felt.
Mon-El cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyways, I'll, uh, I'll let you get some rest."
Don't go.
Kara watched helplessly as he walked away.
If only.
***
A knock sounded at the door and Kara started, almost knocking over her glass. Immediately, warm fingers wrapped over her own.
"It's okay," Alex muttered soothingly, rubbing her sister's shoulder. "It's just the door."
Kara nodded and smiled faintly. They were having a family dinner to celebrate her return, and the stress of having to interact with more than a few people at once was already getting to her. Ugh. It didn't use to be like this.
She steadied herself with a deep breath and opened the door to her apartment, stepping aside to let whoever it was in. Or at least, she tried to. As soon as she stepped away, a pair of arms pulled her back and enveloped her in a tight embrace.
Winn. The name echoed in Kara's mind and she blinked back tears, burying her face in her friend's shoulder.
"Oh, I can't believe you're really here," he whispered hoarsely, breaking the hug to cup her face in his hands. Kara chuckled through her tears.
Winn then moved to greet J'onn, Alex, and Mon-El, and Kara leaned against the counter, surveying them all. All those moments in the Phantom Zone, crying silent tears and mumbling a prayer for Rao to bring her back to the people she loved. She couldn't believe she was finally home.
Home. Jix-Til's face flashed in her mind, grief clouding his eyes as he told her of the two people who were his home. He wanted so badly to escape...now he never would, thanks to Nyxly.
Or was it because of her? Kara had spent so much time convincing him to have hope, to believe that they were going to escape. He had distrusted Nyxly, but Kara had waved away his concerns. Perhaps the only villain in this situation was her.
"Hey." A soft touch on her arm pulled Kara out of her self-loathing spiral. She glanced up to Alex's concerned gaze.
"You okay?"
Kara nodded, squeezing her sister's hand in response. Her stomach rumbled, and Alex laughed softly.
"C'mon, let's get some food." She led Kara to the table, where everyone else was already seated. Kara's gaze swept over the table, and she was pleasantly surprised to see Mon-El there. She hadn't noticed him arriving. Their eyes met and he gave her a shy smile, gray eyes twinkling. Kara couldn't help but return it.
A sudden idea seizing her, she supersped to her room and grabbed her journal, ripping a page out and returning with the paper and a pen.
"Uh...Kara?" Winn asked tentatively. "What are you doing?" Kara ignored him, her pen racing across the page at superhuman speed.
When she was done, she placed it next to Alex's plate and looked at her imploringly. Alex blinked.
"What's that?"
Kara tapped the paper then gestured at Alex.
"You want me to read it?" Alex asked, finally catching on.
Kara nodded, chewing her lip nervously.
"Okay." Alex cleared her throat and picked up the page, shooting Kara an encouraging smile.
"I can't begin to express how much it means to me to finally be back home. When I was in that place, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to all of you. I know I'm not the same person I was before, but I hope you'll be patient with me."
Alex put down the paper and immediately reached over to pull Kara into a side hug. "I'm so glad you're home," she whispered.
"Us too." J'onn squeezed her hand and others sent her warm smiles.
Kara smiled back. She might not be able to speak, but it would be okay. They could figure this out.
***
Later, they lounged around in the living room area, sipping wine and chatting. Kara was curled up on the couch, observing everyone. Alex had an arm around her shoulders, and everything felt warm and safe. Things she hadn't felt in a while.
"Gonna get some more wine." Alex patted Kara's shoulder and stood, heading towards the kitchen. Mon-El glanced after her, then followed.
Kara frowned. Interesting. She brushed some hair behind her ear and subtly (she hoped) listened in on their conversation.
"You've been awfully quiet," Alex was saying, her voice lowered. Even from across the room, Kara could sense Mon-El's discomfort.
"Yeah, I just...don't know what to say. Things are...complicated."
"They certainly are," Alex agreed, her gaze flicking towards her sister. Kara quickly looked away, taking a sip of her hot chocolate and hoping Alex couldn't tell she was listening.
"How's she doing?" Mon-El asked quietly. Kara's heart constricted at the concern in his voice.
Alex sighed. "She's been...quiet. Obviously. I just hope she's not bottling things up. That tends to be one of my sister's favorite coping mechanisms."
Mon-El frowned. "What do you mean?"
Oh no, Kara thought. Is she going to—
"After you left," Alex started, and Kara held back a grimace, "Kara was...completely shut off. She barely smiled or laughed. Didn't want to let anyone in. She started doing better before..."
Mon-El looked down. "Before I showed up again." The pain and guilt in his voice made Kara want to scream.
It wasn't his fault. It was hers, for not knowing what to do with all those emotions, all that pain. For being so focused on shutting everyone out that she forgot Ms. Grant's advice.
The thing that makes women strong, is that we have the guts to be vulnerable. We have the ability to feel the depths of our emotion, and we know that we will walk through it to the other side.
Deep in thought, Kara had lost track of the conversation between Mon-El and her sister, and jumped a little when Alex settled onto the couch next to her.
"You alright?"
She nodded a little too quickly, taking a sip of her now-cold hot chocolate. Across the room in an armchair, Winn gave a spectacular yawn, almost spilling his wine. Alex chuckled.
"Okay, maybe it's time to call it a night." She got up and started waving everyone towards the door. "Thanks for coming, everyone."
Winn hugged Kara, Alex, and J'onn before leaving, as he was going back to the 31st century soon. Kara noticed, with no small amount of surprise, that Alex and Mon-El shared an embrace as well. It was obvious that they'd grown closer in her absence, and she wasn't sure why that made her so happy.
Kara spun around at a soft noise and saw that Alex was sitting at the counter, setting down a notebook and two pencils. She quirked her eyebrow questioningly and Alex simply smiled and waved her over.
Kara sat down cautiously. What was this about? Her unspoken question was answered when Alex leaned over the paper and began to write.
I thought it might be easier to talk this way. For both of us.
Kara chewed her lip nervously and Alex wrote again.
We don't have to. Just if you want.
Kara sighed. On one hand, she really wanted to just forget about the Ph—about that place. On the other hand, though...maybe Ms. Grant was right. It was time to stop blocking out her emotions.
Before she knew what was happening, her hand was moving across the page.
It was so cold. In there.
What?
In the Phantom Zone. Every breath felt like...ice.
You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.
Kara swallowed hard at that. No, I know. I want to. I need to.
Alex reached over and rubbed Kara's back, writing with the other hand. A soft, sad smile adorned her face. Okay.
Kara took a deep breath. I was so weak, so helpless. I couldn't help anyone, least of all myself. I felt completely cut off from everything. Everyone. Just like last time.
Tears were beginning to blur her vision, splashing onto the page below. I don't want to be alone anymore.
Alex put down her pencil and turned to face Kara. "You are not alone," she said, her voice gentle but firm. "You've got me."
Kara swiped at her eyes and nodded shakily as Alex pulled her into a tight hug.
El mayarah. Stronger together.
Sorry about the lack of karamel here >_<
On that note, wow, guys! The next chapter is the last one! I can't believe it. Chapter 8 will the epilogue btw
Also, just wanted to say thank you to everyone who left a comment and/or a vote! You make this so much more worthwhile and it's a pleasure to write for you <3