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Kara gasped, flecks of blood spattering against her lips as her weakened body absorbed the force of a clawed fisting slamming into her middle. She had tried to avoid the hit, but she could barely stand anymore and the monster was just too strong—stronger than her.

“Supergirl!” Alex called over the comms, panicked. “Retreat! Winn just finished analysing the DNA and it’s—”

“Radiating kryptonite, I know,” Kara ground out, blood now spilling through her teeth. “I realized too late. I can’t get close and he’s faster than me.”

“You need to get out of there, Supergirl,” came J’onn’s voice.

Kara grunted as a fist clipped her shoulder, sending her into an undignified twirl through the air that ended with her crashing into a concrete block. Pain exploded through her entire body, numbing her immediately from the foreign intensity of it. All she could do was pathetically gasp for air as the creature grabbed her through the rubble and lifted her into the air.

He wasn’t just radiating kryptonite; he seemed to be made of it. His was like the hulk, green skinned and bulging muscles, but a lot uglier. He might have been human once, but his glowing green eyes had nothing but the look of death. Staring into them, with his massive hand around her throat, squeezing so hard, she realized that she actually needed to fear death this time.

His veins seemed to pulse with liquid kryptonite, so with every beat of his heart Kara’s skin burned. She felt like her skin was about to melt right off her bones, and the pain of it all was starting to make her panic. She scratched at his hand, kicked and screamed, but her own veins were glowing green and she had no fight left in her. She was pretty sure her ribs were broken and if he didn’t let up, her neck would snap.

Never had she felt so human before.

There was no getting away from him. Her vision was starting to spot with black and her lungs were screaming for air. She was going to lose. Die and be dead and gone and oh god she was going to die and—

An explosion repelled her backwards. The monster dropped onto his knee, shaking his head as if to clear it. When Kara hit the ground a distance away the last bit of air in her lungs escaped, and she very nearly blacked out.

“Supergirl!” Alex called from somewhere in the cloud of dust and smoke.

“Alex!” she croaked, throat raw. Every second she spent away from that kryptonite was a percentage of her powers back. She started to heal quickly, the pain and exhaustion melting away. Kara climbed onto shaking legs, hands on her knees while she tried to catch her breath. She needed to escape as quickly as possible, before he approached her again and rendered her powerless.

A figure materialized in the smoke around her, so she quickly lifted her fists, but it was only Alex. Kara felt a flood of relief. “Alex—”

“Supergirl, no!”

Blood spurted out of Kara’s mouth, more than she’d ever experienced before. At first she was incredibly confused. Alex was right there, safe and in charge and ready to kick butt to help her escape. But then she glanced down, at the razored tail plunged right through her chest, coated and oozing both her blood and kryptonite, and then she realized.

Oh. Oh.

“Kara!” Alex screamed.

The tail violently pulled out if her chest, and then Kara was falling, falling. A fountain of blood poured out of her mouth and her chest, and oh god, how could she lose so much blood so quickly?

The kryptonite was eating her up from the inside, making her uncertain as to which hurt the most, her punctured, ripped apart heart or her seared veins.

She never really had the chance to decide. As Alex started running for her, arms outstretched, Kara hit the ground. She was dead before her body even bounced off the slick, scarlet stained pavement.

XxX

Lena was just settling in for another long night doing overtime in her office when her attention was suddenly drawn to her TV. She usually kept it on just for background noise, to chase away the constant sense of loneliness. It worked, most times, except this time when she saw the news program and Supergirl getting thrown around like a toy, she was only filled with horror.

The news anchor was hurriedly narrating Supergirl’s struggle with, as they called it, the green beast. He was glowing a pulsing, radiating green and Lena immediately knew what it was. Kryptonite.

“Kara,” she gasped, barely a whisper.

Her hands went to the arms of her chair and she gripped them so hard her fingers turned startlingly white. Her heart was hammering hard in her chest and her stomach clenched hard. Supergirl was having an incredibly difficult time.

The Green Beast had been rampaging through town, then Supergirl had appeared, all gallant and strong and confident. But then he rushed her and Lena had watched in shock as Supergirl went down. After that it was a one sided battle.

Lena was confident Alex would be there to rescue Supergirl, though, so she allowed herself to breathe and forced her fingers to relax. When Alex finally did arrive, dressed in her badass suit and looking ready to kill, Lena exhaled in immense relief. An explosive separated the beast from Supergirl, but created a cloud of smoke hiding their forms. Lena could only see their murky silhouettes. The camera footage itself was shaky as well from the helicopter hovering close by and the violent nature of the fight.

Lena searched, panicked, for Supergirl’s figure until she saw it, and she exhaled again. Supergirl stood, reached out, and then a massive shadow appeared behind her as the cloud began to dissipate.   

The next few minutes were a storm of confusion. Lena watched, breath held, as the smoke cleared and then Supergirl was revealed. Except, instead of standing there unarmed, or getting up, like she always did, she was motionless in Alex’s arms. Lena couldn’t hear her, but she could see Alex wailing. Supergirl was slowly being surrounded by a massive pool of blood, and at her chest sat a gaping hole.

At first Lena didn’t believe it. Supergirl, dead? Just like that? Impossible. But then DEO agents rushed the scene and took the body away and Lena stared at the screen, tears she didn’t feel dripping from her eyes. She grabbed her phone and dialled Kara’s number. It rang and rang and rang, finally going to voicemail. Lena tried twelve more times until the phone was switched off and it no longer rang.

She tried to breathe evenly through her panic, but the air wouldn’t return to her lungs. Eventually she gathered her wits and called the DEO.

XxX

They had two funerals for her.

The first one was quick and public, uncomfortable for everyone there who loved Kara and everything she had been, because it was Supergirl’s funeral, and almost all of National City wanted to attend. There was no actual body, and it was mostly just a memorial, but it was still crushing and painful, and Lena had to try extremely hard to shove all of her dark, dangerous feelings into those tiny boxes she so loved.

Seeing the crushed look on Alex’s face as she tried so hard not to let the pain show made Lena’s heart ache. J’onn, Sam, James, Nia, and even Winn, who had returned just for this, they all stood around the empty grave with hollow expressions, and Lena wondered if any of them realized how hollow she felt, now.

After words were said for Supergirl, they all left for the second funeral. Lena decided to take her own car even though she wanted to be there for Alex especially. She’d been grateful when Sam and Ruby had pulled Alex with them into their own car, Sam’s hand never leaving Alex’s shoulder.

The second funeral wasn’t that long, but it felt like it went on forever. Kara’s family and friends were all present, which meant that the crowd was most certainly a lot smaller than Supergirl’s funeral, but it was even more painful. Lena saw faces that she recognized, but more that she did not. Even Cat Grant was present, because of course she would attend Kara Danvers funeral. She stood off to the side, stoically starring at the coffin as it descended into the earth.

Alex’s eyes were red and puffy, and there were wet streaks across her face. Sam had an arm around her, holding her tight, and Ruby held her hand on the other side. Lena felt the space around her like a yawning chasm. The loneliness amplified so harshly that the air nearly caught in her lungs, but she forced herself to breathe in, breathe out, to stare stoically forward and not let her emotions through, because if she did that then she would be ruined. Lena Luthor would crumble right there on the grass in front of all of those people, and she would no longer care how she looked as she sobbed and wailed and cursed the universe for being so cruel as to take Kara from them so soon. Too soon.

“Hey.”

Lena didn’t physically react to James as he stepped up beside her. His eyes were bloodshot and red, and his hands were covered in bandages. Lena could guess what he had been doing, but she didn’t have the capacity to really care. Everything she had once felt was just… gone. As Kara’s cold body descended into the ground, so did Lena’s every human emotion. She felt dead inside. Like her heart had been ripped out and her chest cavity hollowed, and she was just left with nothing.

“James,” she greeted impartially.

He shifted, clearly uncomfortably, and shoved his hands into his pockets. They both stared forward as Alex bent down to throw a handful of soil down into the hole. Lena’s heart throbbed in pain. “I still can’t believe that she’s gone,” he admitted softly, voice breaking.

Lena looked at him then. Really looked. He was clearly falling apart, but she had no idea why he felt the need to confide in her, as if she was capable at all of offering any sort of comfort to him.

“Wrong place, wrong time,” he added, sniffing. “She should never have been there. I should have saved her.”

“Wrong place, wrong time?”

James sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “You know, she was on the street when the monster attacked, just happened to be walking by when it—”

Anger flared so hard in Lena’s chest that it was physically painful to bare. James continued to try and paint the picture of innocent, unaware journalist Kara simply being there at the worst time, suffering the fate of a concrete block falling on top of her, killing her instantly. The absurdity of him still trying to protect Kara’s secret identity, after her death, made Lena breathless with rage.

“Don’t you dare try to sell me half-hearted lies,” Lena snarled at him.

James straightened, alarmed. She had never used that tone with anyone but her attempted murderers and her mother, and she knew it sounded overly vicious. Good.

“I’m sorry?”

Lena forced her eyes forward. Almost everyone had thrown a handful of soil and it was probably time for her to leave. She shouldn’t stay there and take her pain out on James, but it was so difficult not to. Lena had cried and cried since Kara’s death had been confirmed, and she still felt like she hadn’t cried enough. There was too much pain in her heart for her mind to comprehend, so she’d simply shut down.

“It’s bad enough that we’ve all had to attend Kara’s funeral twice,” Lena snapped at him, “don’t try to sell a bad lie to protect a persona that no longer exists.” She speared him with a final glare.

“You knew?”

Lena sighed, rolled her tense shoulders. Her muscles ached everywhere. She felt like she was constantly tense, waiting for something to jump out at her. She felt like she was constantly holding her breath—they all were. In case by some miracle Kara would return, like she always would, unharmed and alive. Though Lena knew that was a dangerous hope to keep, so she tried not to.

“Of course I knew, James,” Lena ground out. “I’m Lena Luthor.”

She didn’t stay to see the pain wash over his face or the angry words he probably wanted to throw at her. Instead she walked forward, her high ponytail swishing behind her, and bent to grab a handful of soil. She hesitated for only a second before she opened her hand and watched the soil scatter across the smooth wood surface of the coffin. She stared for a moment, heart bleeding, and then she stood and left.

No one watched her departure. They were all too concerned with their own pain, and that was okay.

Lena climbed in her car and headed back to L-Corp, and she didn’t look back. After all, she was the reason Supergirl was dead.   

XxX

5 Years Later

“Lena, over here!”

Lena let the door shut behind her and followed the voice until she found Alex and the others sitting together at a table in the far back. Alex was smiling at her, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Steeling her nerves, Lena went to join them and accepted the various greetings and hugs.

“Is Winn late?” she asked as she dropped down in her seat beside Alex and accepted a drink.

“Winn couldn’t make it,” James said over his glass of whisky. “Too busy saving the future.”

“Kara would understand,” Alex interjected. All eyes went downcast as the memory of their fallen friend filled the spaces between them, sucking out any cheer they might have had.

Lena clenched her teeth and took a breath, and let the tension roll off of her. “Enough of that,” she told the group, “Kara wouldn’t want us to sit here sulking. We’ve gathered to remember her, so let’s do that, shall we?”

“Of course,” Alex agreed and everyone echoed the sentiment.

The drinks started flowing and they all started to share their memories and stories of both Kara and Supergirl, and it was easy for them to smile and laugh at the retellings, at how bright and wonderful Kara had been. Every time someone mentioned her name, a sharp spike went right through Lena’s heart but she was careful never to show the pain of it on her face. Actually, she was making a show of being the most unaffected, because she had to.

After a few too many drinks, their group started to scatter. After everyone had left, it was just Lena and Alex. Sam had left much earlier to help Ruby with something, and Alex had stayed. They sat there together in the silence of the bar—the one Kara had loved to frequent because of karaoke—and stared down into their drinks. Alex downed the last of hers and set the glass carefully down on the table.

“How are you really?” Alex asked her.

Lena swirled the alcohol around in her glass. “I’m doing well.”

“Lena, I mean really.”

Alex was smiling softly at her and this time it did reach her eyes. Lena decided to finish her drink and push the glass away. “I’m fine, genuinely. L-Corp is doing better than ever and the streets are safe.”

Alex lifted a brow. “You mean thanks to that vigilante that James is always picking fights with?”

Lena smothered a grin. “What, don’t you appreciate the help Knight is giving? Guardian can’t do it all.”

Alex gave her a look, one that told Lena everything she needed to know. That Alex knew. She swallowed nervously and looked away. “She is taking on more than she should, since she’s just human. That fancy suit won’t protect her all the time.”

“Well, I think everyone should be grateful. Without Supergirl, National City would have turned into a cesspool.”

“National City has always had Guardian and the DEO. Plus, all the tech L-Corp has been developing has helped the citizens by leaps and bounds.”

Lena suddenly felt the intense urge to order another drink. Her hand twitched on the table, but she ultimately smothered the urge. She was still somewhat sober, and one more drink would promise that she needed to go home immediately and sleep, and that wasn’t something she was planning on doing. Alex seemed to sense her nervousness because she placed a hand on Lena’s and gave her a soft, motherly smile.

“Lena, remember that I’m always here for you. Whatever you need, I can help you with it.”

Lena turned her hand to give Alex’s a squeeze. She tried her best to hold in the tears threatening to burst out. “Thank you. That means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

Alex’s eyes softened. “You need to stop blaming yourself.”

Lena pulled her hand away abruptly, feeling like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on her head. They had this argument often, and every time it came up Lena felt like she was drowning, even though she kept her face and voice neutral as she levelled Alex with a look.

“How can you stand to be around me, knowing what my family—I—did?”

Alex exhaled harshly. “Lena, that wasn’t you.”

“It was a Luthor Corp experiment!” she nearly shouted, temples throbbing. She forced herself to calm down, to level her voice. Alex was just looking at her with so much pity and understanding and it infuriated her, because she was fine. “Lex created that thing and it did its intended purpose—it killed Supergirl.”

“And I don’t blame you for that.”

Lena clasped her hands together, blunt nails digging harshly into her pale skin. Immediately after Kara’s death, the monster had continued to rampage, and the DEO had asked for Lena’s assistance in figuring out how to kill it. In her research she had discovered something horrifying: that the creature had once been a man, and that man had worked for her brother. Not only was it an experiment that Lex had created, but the creature had broken out of one of the old Luthor Corp labs. He was never meant to still be alive. The moment Lena had found out, she destroyed every record that could link the monster back to her family. Deep down she had known that she should report it, but she couldn’t let L-Corp burn down in flames because National City found out that Supergirl was dead because of a Luthor. Regardless of if she’d made the damn thing herself or not, people would still blame her.

Yet, she blamed herself—for not finding the monster first and killing him, for never knowing he existed until it was too late, and for having this tainted blood in her goddamn veins.

At first the guilt had almost killed her, and it was Alex that had come to her rescue, and Alex she had brokenly confided in. She was sure that Alex would arrest her, have L-Corp burn to the ground. But instead, Alex had quietly kept it to herself. The two of them worked together using the monsters DNA to create a serum that would kill him instantly, and it was Alex who injected him herself after days of endless fighting.

Even now, Lena knew that Alex had told no one that the Luthors were responsible, and it confused her greatly.

“Why?” she breathed out, throat tight. “Why don’t you blame me? It would be so much easier. And yet you’ve held onto this secret and you’ve been a friend and I simply don’t understand it.”

Alex sat back and gazed out of the window. It was drizzling outside, but otherwise the weather was pleasant. It was beautiful, actually, the way the streetlight sprinkled across the slick, black tar. It made Lena think of Kara’s beautiful eyes and it made her chest clench in agony.

“Because she loved you for a reason,” Alex finally told her softly. “Kara had an endlessly good heart, so when she told me she loved you and that you are good, I believed her. Ever since then I’ve seen the proof of that. You are a good person, Lena. Why else would Kara have always defended you? Been there for you? She was incredibly intelligent and her gut instincts were always spot on. She loved you for a reason.”

Lena clenched her teeth hard. Alex had never told her before, and part of her wished that she hadn’t. Of course Kara had loved her, Kara loved everyone—even a lowlife Luthor.

No. She needed to stop feeling like that. Whenever she let herself get swallowed up by the guilt of what her brother had done to her best friend, it send her down a spiral of terrible thoughts and self-deprecation. Kara wouldn’t have wanted her to feel this way. So with tremendous effort, Lena forced her negative thoughts away, and her shoulders sagged.

“Kara always loved so freely.”

“No, she didn’t.”

Lena looked up at Alex’s serious face, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Kara lost her entire planet, Lena. She cared so much about everyone, but she didn’t let herself truly love someone that easily. She was always afraid of losing them. She was terrified of losing you.”

The suggestion there made Lena’s heart thrum hard. Could Alex be implying…? No, there was no way.

“I can’t imagine why,” she forced out with a choked laugh.

Alex stood then. Lena didn’t look at her, afraid of what her expression would be. A warm hand came to rest on Lena’s shoulder, and then Alex sighed. “She was painfully in love with you,” she admitted softly. “I just wish she had managed to tell you, before her time was gone.”

The hand disappeared, and then Lena sat alone in the bar, staring wide eyed at the glass in front of her. Alex’s words bounced around in her head over and over. Memories of Kara haunted her every waking moment, and her dreams too, and as she sat there she analysed every single interaction she had ever had with Kara. She remembered the awkward laughs, the lingering hugs, the brunches and gifts and heart emoji texts. At the time she had simply thought Kara was just very affectionate and very straight, and therefore all of those things meant nothing to Kara the way they’d meant to her. But had she been wrong? Had Kara really been harbouring feelings for her?

This new revelation made Lena’s blood surge. She paid for everyone’s drinks—as she always did, after a lot of arguing to have them all agree—and then she left. She drove herself home, dropped her purse carelessly by her front door and padded out barefoot to her patio. She lived high up in the city, so she could hear the sounds of police sirens and people talking and shouting. The city was always so alive, so violent.

She gripped the cold metal of the railing and peered over the edge, not for the first time. Perhaps she had had too much to drink, she mused, as she carefully climbed over the railing until she was leaning over the other side. She barley let herself think as her fingers unclenched and she let herself fall. The city turned into a rushing blur, but there was none of that panic she used to feel when falling. Lena wasn’t afraid of the height anymore, or the descent.

Her body tumbled and sailed, and then she landed with her fist in the concrete. She’d created a crater where she had landed, and maybe that had been a bit stupid to do, especially since anyone could have seen her. Lena decided not to care. She pressed her fingers to a device on her chest—imbedded there—and then her suit covered her body and her face disappeared behind a helmet, and she leapt high into the air.

The serum flowing into her veins made her physical abilities insane. Like this, soaring through the sky, she was almost a Super.

Lena followed the sounds she had heard earlier and happened upon a robbery. Without any worry for her own safety, she jumped into the fray, fists slamming into faces and bullets pinging off of her black suit.

“It’s Knight!” one of the men shouted.

Lena smirked to herself.

“We surrender!” another one added. His eyes were wide with terror. The police had stopped shooting and stood there, watching and waiting. Lena didn’t have a lot of time, since Guardian would probably show up soon. There was a reason he didn’t like her.

“You surrender?” she asked, her voice altering through the suit, sounding deeper, more demonic. “I never asked anyone to surrender.”

They knew what was coming.

After she was done with them, she left their bodies there for the police to take care of, and then she hurried away. She caught the familiar sound of Guardian’s bike, but he just missed her.

So the night went, Lena pushing herself harder and harder until she had no choice but to return home and collapse on the patio, muscles numb and aching. The suit retracted and Lena exhaled. She was drenched in sweat.

“Ms Luthor, your vitals are dangerously low. You’ve injected too much serum.”

Lena grunted and forced herself onto her feet. “I didn’t ask, Jax.”

Her AI went silent for a moment, and then made a sound that was akin to a sigh. “Shall I run a bath and start on the anti-serum for you?”

She could feel the ice filling her body already, and she knew he was right. She’d used too much. “Thanks,” she puffed out, and forced herself to wobble down to her bathroom.

She was littered in welts and bruises, and there was blood on her skin that she wasn’t sure the origin of. Luckily the hot water soothed her aching body, and when Jax delivered the anti-serum to her, she allowed herself to relax and let the liquid warm her up again.

“At this rate, Ms Luthor, your body will begin to shut down in just under a year.”

Lena lifted her hand and stared at the scars over her fingers, her busted up knuckles. She used to have such pretty hands. “That’s alright,” she told him, dropping her hand back into the water. “I don’t need that much time anyway.”

XxX

She was running out of time. When Jax had predicted just under a year, he hadn’t anticipated the sudden acceleration of damage to Lena’s cells due to the serum. What should have been around 10 months turned into only 6, and she could feel that she was already running on borrowed time. Despite that, Lena still carried on like nothing was amiss. She used more anti-serum than she should, but that kept her going long enough to run L-Corp and CatCo, to attend board meetings and galas and occasionally show her face at CatCo to greet James and discuss business.

But Lena was well and truly running out of time. Her body couldn’t hold on much longer, and she was so close to achieving her ultimate goal. She refused to let herself waste away before she succeeded. Her very existence relied on this project seeing fruition. See, Lena hadn’t just decided to become a hero. She had also decided to become the hero.

She was going to save Kara.

How? Kara was dead. She knew this. Kara’s body was already decomposed inside its wooden box. No, Lena wasn’t going to bring her back. Initially, though, that was what she had tried. That was how she invented the serum. She had been so desperate and heartbroken that she had thrown herself into research and experimenting. Unfortunately, the serum wasn’t able to reanimate dead tissue. It was, however, able to enhance living tissue. So she used it on herself, as any Luthor would, and discovered that it gave her powers close to that of a Kryptonian under their yellow sun, and it was exhilarating. After perfecting the serum and her use of it, Lena had decided to make her own suit.

She based it on the suit she had made for Kara to protect her from the kryptonite in the air, but that was only the very skeleton of it. Using her best and still top secret tech, she managed to compress her suit into a tiny panel that she had surgically inserted into her chest, and whenever she pressed the button it slithered along her skin like a symbiote until it hardened into her suit. She didn’t need an emblem or a cape, so she crafted neither.

When the media started to call her Knight, she went with it. She kept to the shadows and she murdered those that deserved it. Her mother would be so proud of her, if she knew. Lena had finally given in to that deep, dark impulse in her blood. She was a killer.

At first she had been horrified at herself for taking a life, but the more she did it, and the more obsessed she became with this project to save Kara, the less she started to care. That was why Guardian hated her. She didn’t just stop crime. She stopped lives, too. Only those that deserved it, though. Lena would never take an innocent life, and with her advanced tech she was always able to tell if her victims absolutely deserved it. They did, and she relished in ending their pathetic lives.

Kara would hate her. She knew that, in the back of her mind, but she usually ignored it. She had tried so hard to be a beacon of hope, in the beginning, but her descent into despair had sent her to the dark side.

Half the people feared her, the other loved her.

Unfortunately her reign of terror would be ending soon. She had already started to get her affairs into order, ready for her death—if it really was going to happen. If she didn’t manage to complete her project, then everything would have been for nought and she would welcome death’s embrace gladly. No, she couldn’t go yet. She really couldn’t.

“Give it up, Knight!”

Lena grunted as she slammed down into the concrete. Cracks fissured along the floor of L-Corp and the building shook, but her smart design kept the supports standing. She had been pumping serum into her veins for over an hour, and she was already starting to feel the horrible side-effects. Even though her suit protected her from most of the impact, she still felt the breath escape her lungs.

He lifted her, face contorted in rage and blood-lust. Lena’s fingertips were already frozen stiff and she could barely move them, so she used the suit to do it for her and curled her hand into a fist. It connected solidly with his face, sending him flying sideways through a panel of glass. It shattered and scattered around him.

Lena landed hard and ungraceful but skipped back onto her feet quickly. Before she could ready an assault, a flurry of movement startled her and bodies dressed in black flooded the room. Lena exhaled loudly and tasted blood. She stood as tall as she could and stared as Alex approached the mess of a battlefield.

“We’ve got it from here, Knight,” Alex told her. Her eyes were fierce and commanding and her tone left no room for interpretation.

Lena bristled. This was her property and her fight.

“I have this well under control, Agent,” she sneered.

Alex gave a once over at her scraped up suit, at the obvious twitching of her fingers. The man got up from the pile of glass, crunching the pieces uncaringly under his heels. He turned to face them and peeled his lips back over sharp teeth.

He moved faster than any of them could have anticipated. One moment Lena was staring at him and trying to strategize the best move to take him out quickly and evade the DEO, and then she was crashing through the building and skidding into the crowed street. People shouted and jumped back and cameras started flashing. Of course the media were there. Wherever Knight went, the paparazzi followed like starved animals.

She climbed back onto wobbly feet.

“Ms Luthor,” Jax’s voice filtered into her ear, “I do advise a quick retreat and immediate treatment of anti-serum. Your heart is struggling to beat and in ten minutes time you will suffer a heart attack should you not stand down.”

Lena could feel that he was right, but she was most certainly a Luthor and that meant she was incredibly stubborn and had no regard for her own wellbeing. Lena decided to hell with it and rushed the man with everything she had. He slung his fist at her as she did the same, and both hits connected solidly. Lena was propelled backwards into a police vehicle and the man ended up crashing into a swarm of DEO agents, limp and hopefully dead. Lena felt a surge of satisfaction when he didn’t get up, but that quickly drained to horror when she felt the helmet of her suit crack and then slide right off her face.

Flashes of light blinded her momentarily as the media took in her open, naked face. It took her too many seconds to have a new helmet cover her up, and by then the damage was done.

“It’s Lena Luthor!” someone was shouting.

“Luthor is the Knight!”

“Lena!”

“Do you have any comments, Lena?!”

She noticed Alex approaching her with a fiery expression, but her heart was starting to palpitate and she needed to get out of there. As quick as a shadow she left the scene and returned to her apartment, gasping and clutching at her chest. She collapsed in her hallway, vision swimming with black and her chest constricting so hard that she could barely breathe. But then a drone landed on her back and the anti-serum was injected directly into her spine, and she inhaled a gasping breath like she had just surfaced from being underneath water for too long. The warmth spread out to her fingers and toes and enveloped her heart, and she managed to crawl up onto her knees.

“Ms Luthor, I’m afraid we have a problem.”

Lena collapsed against the wall and slid down onto her backside. She let the suit melt away and dipped her head back to suck in much needed breaths of air. “You don’t say?” she retorted.

“Ms Luthor, you are now on the front page of every news outlet. Pictures of your face as Knight have circulated all over the internet. What do you need me to do?”

She flexed her fingers and watched the pink colour return to them. All the while she mulled over her AI’s words and wondered exactly what she was going to do indeed. “We complete the project tonight, then,” she eventually decided.

“But Ms Luthor, we haven’t—”

“I know,” she sighed. “But I don’t have time anymore. And none of this matters.”

Jax went silent for a long time. Even though he was an AI, he still tended to exhibit concern over Lena whenever things like this happened. He was never programmed to watch over her health so closely; he just did that on his own. Lean often found it amusing that her closest friend seemed to be an AI she herself had created. Alex was a friend, of course, but that was… complicated.

Lena eventually pulled herself up long enough to get some food and then collapse in bed. Her phones were ringing like a choir but she ignored them until Jax dutifully switched them off, and then she let herself drift into a brief nap. She was snapped awake an hour later when something exploded in her apartment. Before Jax could even warn her she was already up and inside of her secret lab. The bookcase slid closed behind her with a definite click, and whoever was in her house would struggle greatly to find her.

Lena made up her mind.

“Jax, ready the helmet.”

Jax didn’t respond for a long length of time. Lena rushed over to her computer and started typing in a hurry, code and words flying across the screen. Eventually Jax made a noise like he was sighing.

“Yes, Ms Luthor.”

She made sure that all of her preparations were complete in case this project only resulted in her brain getting fried. She needed to ensure that CatCo and L-Corp were handed over to people she could trust to run them right if she wasn’t there to do it, and she had a one page will written up for her family and friends—though she knew her mother would be unlikely to accept anything from her after finding out she was really Knight.

Lena also really didn’t want to experience the fallout of her identity getting out. Whatever happened now, the present and future no longer mattered.

“The helmet is fully charged and ready to engage, Ms Luthor,” Jax informed her neutrally.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

She turned and strode over to the chair she had designed, and picked up the helmet sitting on the seat. It fit perfectly to her head, with soft cushions inside to prevent the hard metal of the outer casing from causing any discomfort. The helmet was attached to various tubes and wires and it was vibrating with energy. Bright liquids pulsed in and out through the tubes.

Lena forced herself to relax. She could still hear those people in her apartment, throwing things around and ripping things apart. Sooner or later they would blow a hole through the wall and find her here, but she hoped that by the time they did, it would be too late.

“Ms Luthor, might I remind you of the dangers of altering events of the past?”

Lena smirked in defiance and opened up a panel on the side of the chair. “I’d prefer you don’t, Jax, but thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Ms Luthor.”

Her finger hovered over the start button. This was it… truly it. If all of her hard work over the past five years had really meant something, then this would work, and Lena would be able to send her memories back in time soon enough to save Kara’s life. It wasn’t possible for Lena to send something physical back, as she had tried multiple times. Each object she sent did appear in the time period she had set, but that object had become gelatinous. Whether it was just an object or a live creature, they weren’t able to materialize physically in the time they were supposed to. Lena had discovered purely by accident that she could send her memories back, by doing so five minutes into the past after she had punched her console in anger and electrocuted herself. The farther back she tried, though, the more strain it put on her and the higher the danger. Trying to go back five years could kill her instantly.

But, if she succeeded and her self of five years ago received her current memories, then even if her brain turned to steamy soup, it didn’t matter.

“Jax, what is the probability of success?” she asked, voice hushed.

Jax went silent for a moment, and then his voice returned, oddly cheerful. “Taking into account all of the successful experiments and your work over the past five years, the probability of Project Kara succeeding reaches a high of 76.52%. Probability of your death as a result of this success, however, is 98.13%.”

Lena’s stomach fluttered. “So I can do this?”

“Of course you can, Ms Luthor,” Jax said. “You can accomplish anything.”

Getting encouragement from an AI was absurd, but it was the boost she needed. She could hear loud noises from her study, where the entrance to her lab was hidden, so she pressed start and shut her eyes. The sensation of so much entering her brain was so painful that it instantly became painless, and then her vision wavered, teetered, and everything went black.

What felt like hours later, her eyes fluttered open and she felt a touch on her arm.

“Lena?”

XxX

Lena left her desk and the work she had been busy with to pour herself a glass of scotch. Her shoulder muscles were aching from hours of hunching over her desk but she wouldn’t let herself finish for the night yet. Most of her staff had already gone home, including Jess, but Lena wanted to get more work done and the best way to do that was to sit down at her desk and power through. When she glanced at the time she sighed audibly—it was crawling close to midnight.

She took a deep sip of alcohol and enjoyed the warm burn down her throat that settled in her tummy. The alcohol would allow her to relax and loosen up enough to finish what she needed to get done, especially since—

Lena jolted violently. The glass slid from her fingers and shattered at her high-heeled feet, but she barely even heard the sharp sound. Pain exploded behind her eyes and made her vision black out entirely for the longest, most agonizing second of her life. She stumbled forward and gripped the edge of the table. The pain came in waves that eventually ebbed and disappeared, and in their wake Lena was left panting harshly and drenched in sweat. Her temples were throbbing and her fingers ached from the force of her grip.

But she had done it.

Lena took a steadying breath and looked around. Her office looked exactly like it had five years ago—which she realized was now her present—and that was… an uplifting feeling. Logically she knew that what she had just experienced was her brain being assaulted by electronic waves sent back in time, she felt as if she had travelled that time herself. Her body showed no result of the next five years, like it did in the future with her muscles and scars and deteriorating cells, but her heart and soul certainly felt all of the wounds that future Lena had felt.

It was strange. She knew her reality was not the same one as her future self, and yet she felt entirely different to how she had a blissfully ignorant moment ago.

“Jax—” she cut herself off and sighed, realizing that she hadn’t invented Jax yet. With that irritating revelation, she went to her desk to dig out her phone to check the date. November 20^th, 2018. Lena exhaled a massive breath. Any doubt she’d had a mere second ago was gone. She truly had succeeded, but there was only one problem.

She only had one week to save Kara.

When the memories of Kara assaulted her, Lena realized with a jolt that she no longer needed to wallow in her usual grief and agony at the memories of Kara alive and well. She could go and see Kara in the flesh.

Everything else took a backseat in priority after that revelation. Lena abandoned the work she had been doing and raced out of L-Corp. She took her own car and drove silently through the night of National City. Her heart was hammering hard in her chest and her gut kept twisting into knots.

Later she would take a moment to really sit down and consider what she had just achieved—which had literally changed time itself. For now, though, she only cared about Kara.

Normally she would have paused in front of Kara’s door and hesitated, but this time there was no urge to. Her desperate need to see Kara after suffering five long years without her overweighed it all. So Lena knocked. She knocked like the world was ending.

The door opened and there she was—Kara Danvers, in cute pyjamas with glasses on her face and hair a little messy but otherwise still looking as beautiful as Lena remembered, and the sight utterly broke Lena apart.

Kara saw the expression on her face and her surprise melted to concern. “Lena?”

XxX

It was one of those nights where Kara felt exhausted and she couldn’t get herself to fall asleep. So instead of lying in bed for hours on end and staring up at the ceiling, she decided to have a mug of hot chocolate and watch a movie. Halfway through she had started to doze off, but then she heard the familiar sound of Lena’s heartbeat close by and she instantly straightened on her couch.

Why would Lena be here after midnight? she wondered. The happiness at Lena visiting was overshadowed by the worry. Was it her family? Another assassination attempt? When it came to Lena, it could be anything. When Kara had flown by L-Corp a couple of hours ago she had seen Lena working at her desk, and had assumed everything was fine. A lot could happen in a few hours, she guessed.

Kara forced herself to relax and stared forward at her TV, but her focus was utterly devoured by the frantic sound of Lena’s heart and footsteps. She was almost rushing up the stairs and though Kara really wanted to rush out to see what was wrong, she made herself wait.

It felt like an eternity before Lena finally arrived at her door. Kara dropped her glasses to see, but Lena was alone and looked unharmed though very hurried. Kara stood and made for the door, but Lena was already knocking. She banged on the door so hard that Kara winced in pain at the booming in her hears, and quickly pulled her door open.

The moment Lena saw her, the most painful expression Kara had ever seen passed over her face. It was instant and quick, but it made the hairs on Kara’s arms stand up. She frowned and furrowed her brows and glanced down the hallway just in case.

“Lena?”

Suddenly and without warning Lena was in her arms, pressing their bodies firmly together. Kara was assaulted by the feel of her, the warmth of her body and the soft swell of her breasts. She smelt sweet and mildly like alcohol, but it was a scent Kara knew well and it instantly calmed her nerves. Lena was shaking terribly, so Kara pulled her into the apartment and shut the door.

“Lena, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Lena didn’t say a word, she just held on. The force of her hold would have really hurt a normal human but Kara didn’t care about pretending to be human. There was something strange in the air, something Kara could feel but not identify. Lena seemed… different.

“I apologise,” Lena finally mumbled against her shoulder.

Kara had been so worried that she hadn’t really properly computed how intimately they were holding each other until Lena lifted her face and nuzzled into her throat, inhaling and sighing. Kara sucked in a strangled breath and felt a tingle zip right down her spine.

“Lena?” she squeaked.

Normally they would spring apart and blush at each other, and Lena would say what a good friend Kara is, and then Kara would give her a big smile but her heart would ache, because she definitely didn’t just have friendly feelings for Lena. Instead, Lena pulled her face away just far enough for them to gaze into each other’s eyes.

Kara really started to go into gay panic mode. Her heart started pounding and she used every shred of her focus to keep her powers in check. But god, Lena just felt so good and soft and warm, and why was just a hug enough to turn her on? She really shouldn’t let her mind go into the gutter. Lena was clearly very distraught even though she was pointedly staring at Kara’s lips and Kara swallowed thickly.

“Lena, are you gonna tell me why you’re here so late at night?”

Lena’s eyes flicked up back to hers. “I…” she swallowed. Her throat bobbed. “I missed you.”

Kara opened her mouth then shut it with a click, brows furrowing deeper. “You… missed me?”

Lena’s hands slid along her arms until they reached her shoulders. Her touch was so firm and sure and it was making Kara squirm. Why the hell was Lena feeling her up? What was happening?

“It’s been a while since I saw you,” Lena told her.

Kara tried not to let her eyes linger on Lena’s red lips or pale throat or perfect jawline. Crap. “We had lunch this afternoon.”

Lena closed her eyes for a second and sighed. “You have no idea how long it’s been for me, Kara.”

Her hands started to move, sliding over Kara all over, like Lena was making sure she was really there. Kara was quite frankly at a loss for words and her body was frozen stiff, so she just stood there and let Lena handle her until finally Lena gently touched her face. Her expression was so soft that Kara’s heart skipped many beats.

“I’m sorry for coming over so suddenly, unannounced.”

Kara swallowed thickly and bobbed her head. “That’s alright.”

Lena smiled. It was a beautiful, heart shattering smile. It was the sort of smile Kara had never seen on Lena’s face before.

“Lena, did something happen?”

Lena traced a thumb over Kara’s cheek. Kara felt uncomfortably warm and if she wasn’t careful one of her powers would just go berserk, but she tried her best to focus on Lena’s face and give her the time she clearly needed to sort through whatever… this, was.

“No,” Lena finally said. Her lips pulled up into yet another smile and this time it was blinding. The sadness melted away to pure joy and Kara wasn’t certain if Lena had perhaps taken drugs by accident or what. “Nothing will happen.”

“That’s not what… I… um…” She swallowed and inhaled sharply. Lena leaned forward, a fingertip tracing Kara’s lower lip. Rooted to the spot as she was, Kara couldn’t move as Lena pressed their lips together. Neither of them moved or breathed or made a sound, and the kiss ended just as quickly as it had started. Lena’s eyes were shimmering with tears as she pulled away, but she was grinning, and then she stepped back and reached for the door.

“Everything is absolutely fine,” Lena told her, laughing then. “I promise.” She started to laugh even louder, face absolutely exuberant, and then she stopped and took a breath. “I promise you, Kara.” And then she opened the door and strode out, ponytail swishing behind her. She left in her wake the smell of her perfume and alcohol, and Kara stood there staring dumbly at her closed door until her brain started to work again and she realized what had just happened.

Lena Luthor had just kissed her.

Kara turned dumbly and dropped down onto her couch. She stared at her ceiling, open mouthed, brows furrowed.

“Lena kissed me?”

Her lips till tingled.

XxX

“No attacks, no threats, not even a bump in her salary. Kara, there’s nothing going on with Lena.”

Kara blew out a frustrated breath and looked at her sister. “Something had to have happened last night, Alex. She came to my apartment after midnight and just… she…” She couldn’t get the words out. Just remembering the embrace, the touching and the kiss made her heat vision flare up.

Alex stared at her, eyebrow raised. “She…?”

Kara fiddled with the edge of her suit sleeve. They were at the DEO, but standing out on the balcony in somewhat privacy. Kara had barely slept last night, and as soon as she woke up she had called Alex and begged her to just run a check on Lena. After arriving at the DEO she had pulled Alex aside to hear the results and to also confide in her, when she eventually found the words.

“She looked like someone had just died, and she held onto me really tightly. I felt her shaking, Alex. Something really bad happened. But then she… she went from incredibly sad to just impossibly happy, and I’m still not sure what happened.”

Alex’s forehead creased. “Maybe she was drunk.”

“Nuh-uh. She smelt like alcohol but she didn’t taste like it.”

Alex immediately sputtered. “Taste like it?”

Kara flushed a bright pink. “She kind of kissed me.”

“Alright. I’ve always know you had a massive crush on Lena Luthor. But… she kissed you?”

“Exactly!” Kara threw her hands up and groaned. “My brain hurts from how weird last night was. Why would she kiss me? Why did she look like she was terrified that I would disappear?”

“You might need to just talk to her yourself. My investigation brought up nothing, and I can’t keep dropping everything to spy in on Lena.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Kara bit down on her lower lip. She couldn’t get that expression of Lena’s out of her mind, when she’d first opened the door.

Kara’s phone started to ring, so she gave Alex’s arm a squeeze and stepped away to answer. Alex took the hint and left her. Kara’s heart stuttered when she saw Lena’s name flashing on the screen.

“Lena! Is everything alright?”

A pause. “Kara. Yes, everything is fine. I actually called just to apologize about last night. I know I must have really confused you.” And kinda kissed me, Kara thought. “I had a bit too much drink and I guess I was just a bit lonely and drunk.”

Kara traced her fingers over the railing. “Oh, uh, that’s okay. I’m glad I was at least there to give you a hug. You seemed like you really needed one.”

Lena sighed. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Look, um, are you free this afternoon?”

Kara wondered why Lena was lying about being drunk. She’d had the smell of alcohol on her, but she hadn’t been intoxicated. “Sure! I’m always free for you.”

“Great. Let’s have lunch somewhere new. My treat to make up for my weird behaviour.”

Kara bit her lip. “That would be lovely.”

“Meet me at L-Corp at 3?”

“Sure thing.”

They said farewell and then hung up, but Kara stared down at her phone for a long moment. Lena sounded normal. She acted as if last night hadn’t happened at all, like they hadn’t kissed. It still haunted every part of Kara’s mind, and she ached to feel it again, to kiss Lena until they were both gasping and flushed. She wanted to do much more than just kiss Lena, too.

“Supergirl,” Alex called from inside.

Sighing, Kara pushed thoughts of Lena aside and went to Alex. At lunch she would bring up the kiss with Lena.

XxX

Lena certainly wished she hadn’t been so impulsive and kissed Kara, but the memory of it still tingled on her lips. Hearing Kara’s voice again made years of grief and sadness wash right out of Lena’s soul. She sighed, dropping her arm and slipping her phone into her jeans pocket. She wasn’t at L-Corp or at home, and as far as anyone knew, she wasn’t anywhere else. She tightened her leather jacket, slipped her bike helmet on and then kicked the bike to life.

Even though her body had more softness and curves than she was used to, thanks to years of punching faces and working out until she ached, she still felt strong. Her body knew how to move even if she struggled to do it properly, and as she sped through National City she felt comfortable with the speed and the wind hitting her sides. Adrenalin kept her warm and she pushed her bike to go faster and faster.

Her destination was an hour out of the city. Lena wasn’t concerned about being late for her lunch with Kara, because she knew exactly what she was going to find in one of Lex’s secret labs. She got in easily with a simple DNA scan, and then she opened a locked cabinet and pulled out a capsule as big as her hand.

This was a mere prototype and still chunky and unattractive, nothing compared to her Knight suit in the future, but it would do. Lena crushed the capsule in her hand and watched, fascinated, as black liquid spread out from her hand to cover her entire body. The liquid hardened into steel and glass, and her substitute suit was set.

The technology was definitely rudimentary compared to what she was used to, but she was busy working to develop Jax. She wished she could have just sent something physical back, like a drive packed with her programs and data. But she hadn’t been able to, so everything was in her brain and it would take her years to get herself back to where she would be. Though she was certain she would be able to develop her tech—and Jax—in incredibly time compared to the first time she had done it.

Satisfied, Lena abandoned the bike and took to the skies. The suit allowed for flight but it relied on too much energy, so it only took her as far as getting back to her office. That was fine. The suit liquefied and returned to its capsule in her hand and Lena shoved it into her jacket pocket. Despite having just worn the suit and worked up a mild sweat, she didn’t look like she had just soared through the sky. Her dark outfit was impeccable, her heels high and sharp, and her hair was as neat as it had been when she’d first pulled it up into a high ponytail.

The door to her office opened and she heard a strangled noise from the doorway, and turned to see Kara staring at her with surprise and unconcealed desire. The sight of it made Lena’s heart spike. What Alex had said echoed through her mind, so she analysed every little detail of Kara’s reactions to her.

“Lena! Sorry, Jess said to come right in and wait for you. She said you were out?”

Lena smiled and reached down to grab her bag. She probably should have thought to change out of this outfit, because it wasn’t something she usually wore, but she enjoyed the way Kara’s eyes dragged over her jean-clad legs.

“Just got back in,” Lena told her, smirking. “Are you hungry?”

Kara swallowed. “Starving.”

XxX

Kara’s leg bounced anxiously as her mind kept replaying her lunch with Lena. That outfit had been absolutely sinful. Black stilettos paired with exceptionally tight black jeans, black shirt and that leather jacket. Kara groaned and rubbed a hand over her face. She had been uncomfortably wet the second she had gotten a look at Lena’s dark outfit and red lips, and especially when Lena had given her that little smirk, Kara had almost stepped right through the floor.

“Whoa, calm down there Supergirl,” Alex said, stepping in front of her. “You’ve dented the floor.”

Kara immediately sprang up, brows furrowed. “Shoot. I’m sorry, Alex.”

Alex gave her a look. “The tile can be replaced. What has you so jumpy?”

Kara hesitated. Alex knew about her feelings for Lena—quite frankly, she knew they were obvious—but she wasn’t sure if she should continue to confide in her sister. Maybe this whole thing was just her mind taking things too far. Of course she wanted Lena to be just as attracted to her, and maybe Lena just enjoyed dressing like she was about to murder someone.

Exhaling, Kara decided that for the time being she would keep her thoughts to herself and gave Alex a smile. “Actually—”

An alarm suddenly went off and Brainy rolled towards them in his chair. “Agent Danvers, Supergirl,” he greeted them, fingers steepled. “It would appear we have a new masked vigilante attacking a group of aliens.”

Alex frowned and stalked over to the screens where security footage showed someone in a green and black suit battling a bunch of men. “Who?”

Brainy rolled back to his desk. “Well, due to the nature of the mask and its intended purpose,” he paused and gave them a serious look, “I do not know their identity.”

Alex immediately rolled her eyes and gave Kara a look.

“I’m on it,” Kara told her, smothering a laugh. She knew Brainy was being serious and not intentionally sarcastic, and that just made it funnier. Kara immediately flew out of the DEO and followed Brainy’s instructions until she landed behind the scuffle.

“It’s Supergirl!” one of the alien men shouted, eyes flying wide. Instead of relief like Kara had been expecting, he seemed extra terrified.

Kara opened her mouth to reassure them that she was there to help, but then the man pulled out a small gun and aimed. Kara had absolutely no fear of weapons. Bullets bounced off of her like marshmellows, so she didn’t even think to flinch out of the way when he pulled the trigger. What she hadn’t anticipated was kryptonite bullets, so when it sunk into her flesh and poisoned her blood, she fell forward onto one knee and yelled in pain.

“Supergirl, what happened?” Alex yelled into her ear.

“Alex,” Kara groaned. She could feel the kryptonite burning its way through her body. It took almost all of her focus not to crumble into a heap and scream in pain. “Kryptonite bullet,” she choked out.

“Shit.”

Kara’s vision started to swim. She wasn’t certain what happened to the guy. She wanted to get up and chase him but her muscles wouldn’t move. The bullet seemed to have injected liquid kryptonite into her and it was agonizing.

“I’ve got you.”

Warm hands cupped her face and Kara’s hazy vision stared up at the dark vigilante. Kara noticed a slight swell at the chest and decided it was a woman, but she didn’t even have the strength to ask who she was or why she had been here.

“The kryptonite is circulating in your system,” the woman said. Her voice was altered through her suit, slightly deeper, but it was soothing and calm. “This should help.”

Kara gasped in pain as a needle pierced her neck, and then she slumped forward. The woman set her down gently and lingered. Kara tried to suck in deep breaths, but she was burning everywhere, and then she started to throw up and all of the kryptonite left her. She immediately scrambled backwards until she was far away from it, and felt her strength return to her in a rush. The woman stood there watching her, almost as if she was making sure that she was safe.

“Who are you?” Kara asked her shakily. She climbed onto her feet and wiped her mouth.

“You can call me Knight,” she responded.

“Who were those men? Why were you fighting them?”

Kara tried her best to project her voice and make herself appear taller than she was. Knight didn’t seem to care, though, but Kara wasn’t afraid of her. If anything, she felt odd kinship with her.

“They were developing kryptonite weapons,” Knight told her. “I destroyed their factory and bound most of them.” She pointed over her shoulder at a smoking building behind them. “You might want to stay away from there until the DEO can confiscate and destroy the kryptonite.”

Kara’s chest pulsed with anger. “Where did they manage to find kryptonite?”

Knight shrugged. “Who knows?” she turned then and started to leave, but Kara rushed forward and grabbed her shoulder.

“Wait.” Knight flinched away from her, so Kara dropped her hand. “Why don’t you come back to the DEO with me? We could use someone like you.”

Knight gave her a soft chuckle that sounded oddly familiar. “I’m already helping, Kara,”

Kara’s body filled with panic. Before she could question her again, Knight shot into the sky and disappeared. Instead of rushing after her, like she should have, Kara stared at the streak of smoke she’d left in the sky, mouth slightly open.

“Supergirl?” Alex yelled into her ear. “Are you there? What’s happening?”

Kara swallowed and licked her dry lips. “I’m alright, Alex. I’m fine.”

“I couldn’t get through to you. Something was jamming our signal.”

“It must have been Knight.”

“Who?”

“The vigilante,” Kara explained. “Alex, there was a factory here filled with kryptonite. Knight knows my identity.”

“I’ve already sent agents to your location. Get back here so I can see if you’re alright.”

Kara did as she was told. The entire flight back to the DEO she kept thinking of Knight. She recognized the design of that suit, but she didn’t want to put weight on that thought.

Because it was definitely Luthor devised.

XxX

It was taking her days to create the serum to kill the Kryptonite mutant that would kill Kara if not stopped. Lena tried to act completely normal, but her search for the ingredients and tech to make the serum meant that she spent a lot of time beating people up and breaking into illegal labs as Knight. That also meant that she had a lot of run-ins with Supergirl, and while it always delighted her to be near Kara in any form, it was mildly irritating. She was trying to save Kara but all Kara seemed concerned with was capturing Knight.

The DEO had decided that Knight was a danger and needed to be brought in. They wanted her to either stop what she was doing or reveal her identity and sign on with them. Lena wasn’t willing to do either of those things. She wanted more than anything to tell Kara the truth—that she knew about everything and things yet to come, that she was here explicitly to save Kara’s life. But she couldn’t. No one would believe her and the last thing she needed was to be locked up in the DEO as the clock ticked and Kara’s blood ran across the tar.

When she wasn’t running L-Corp and CatCo, or out beating ass, Lena spent as much time with Kara as she could. She could sense that Kara was constantly studying her, constantly worried or suspicious. Maybe she was worried because of Knight, but Lena knew that she definitely didn’t suspect who Knight was. Maybe just her origin.

Lena took a long sip of her wine and tried not to stare at Kara’s profile. They were at L-Corp, sitting together on the couch. It was after hours and everyone had gone home, but Kara had showed up suddenly and asked if they could have dinner together. Lena hadn’t eaten much in the past week so she was thankful for Kara’s concern.

“I haven’t had sushi in such a long time,” Lena commented, groaning. Kara laughed at her and popped a piece of maki into her mouth.

“Well, eat up.”

“You mean before you eat all of it?”

Kara started to blush. Her cheeks flushed bright red and it even highlighted the tips of her ears, and Lena was hit very hard in the chest. Her love for Kara wasn’t just adolescent or based on sexual desire. Her love for Kara ran deeper than her soul, and being here with her… with an alive and breathing Kara… it… she…

“Lena?”

Lena felt a soft touch underneath her chin and looked up, eyes wide, into Kara’s concerned blue gaze. She felt the warm trickle of tears on her face.

“Lena, you’re crying.”

She tried to pull away and hide the shame of her feelings, but Kara’s gaze was so open and concerned that she couldn’t bring herself to pretend. She let the tears flow and grabbed hold of Kara’s hand.

“Come here,” Kara whispered, pulling her in tight. Lena went gladly and cried softly against Kara’s shoulder. It felt absolutely wonderful to feel those arms around her again, to smell Kara’s skin and perfume. She could feel her heat and her breath, and hear her heartbeat in her chest. It was all so overwhelming that Lena was absolutely terrified that she would wake up and find herself back where she was, five years in the future with no one beside her. No Kara.

“I’m sorry,” Lena sniffled, pulling away and wiping her wet face. “I’m not accustomed to crying on you.”

“Lena, you can cry on me whenever you need.”

Lena took in the wet spot and smudged makeup all over Kara’s nice shirt. She managed a shaky smile. “Really?”

Kara followed her gaze and shrugged. “I can wash it, or buy a new one. I don’t care. You matter more to me, Lena. Do you…? I mean, are you okay now?”

Lena took Kara’s hand in her own and flipped it around to trace the soft skin of her palm. Kara visibly shivered. “Kara, would you believe me no matter what?”

Kara’s eyes turned thoughtful, calculating. Lena thought she would be neutral or outright say no, instead Kara responded with complete devotion. “Without hesitation.”

“Even if I told you something that was completely science fiction? If I told you to believe I had done something no one else has?”

Kara took a slow, measured breath. She moved her hand and slid their fingers together. Lena’s heart ached when she felt the perfect slot of their fingers. Kara’s hands were so strong, and Lena knew that with just the wrong twitch Kara could break every bone in her hand. The thought that Kara exercised such control just to hold her hand made Lena breathless. She wanted to kiss her, right there and then. She might have, too, if she didn’t feel so sick.

In two days’ time, if Lena didn’t stop it, Kara would die.

“You’re the most brilliant person I’ve ever known, and I highly doubt anything you say could be so farfetched.”

Lena kept her eyes on their hands. “What if I told you that something terrible will happen in two days? Something—” She swallowed, throat moving. “Something to you?”

Kara remained silent for a long moment. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t tell you the details but, Kara… please, you need to listen to me. In two days’ time, you can’t leave your apartment at all.”

Kara slowly pulled her hand away, suspicion and concern clouding her face. “What do you mean? Why can’t you tell me?”

Lena’s heart started to hammer.

“Alex!” Lena pushed her way through the DEO, frantic and anguished. Her face was wet with tears and her makeup was a mess, but she didn’t care. She spotted Alex standing in a hallway, shoulders hunched. At the sound of her name Alex straightened and turned, but her eyes were red and wet. Lena’s heart sank.

“Lena,” Alex choked out. Lena didn’t even think twice about opening her arms and pulling Alex into them. She knew their relationship had always been shaky, what with her last name and Alex’s constant concern for her sister, but that didn’t seem to matter in the moment. “She’s gone,” Alex mumbled brokenly into her shoulder. “She’s actually gone and I don’t know what to do.”

Lena couldn’t stop her tears from coming, or the waver in her voice. But she didn’t dare let up. She held Alex tightly and hoped to god she could keep herself together long enough to leave and get home.

“What—” She cleared her throat. “What happened?”

Alex told her through wracking sobs. Agents walking by looked on with grief and sadness, clearly not equipped to see their director breaking apart like this, so Lena opened the door to their side and pulled Alex in with her.

She immediately noticed the motionless body on the bed, and her stomach clenched hard. She pressed Alex’s face against her shoulder, not letting her look up again. She knew Alex had most likely tried her hardest to save Kara, but she didn’t want her to see her again.

Kara was… gone. Her skin was already pale and the colour gone from her lips. Her chest was a mess of blood and gore and Lena felt nausea rip through her, but she held it together. She stared forward are Kara’s body and let Alex fall apart against her and she wondered why her life always turned out like this.

The panic was crawling closer. Lena had barely made any progress and being this close to Kara was both heaven and hell, because how was she supposed to suppress so much emotion? Her whole life of boxing everything up hadn’t prepared her for this level of intense grief and frustration, and it must have shown on her face. “Please, Kara,” she choked out. Tears filled her eyes. “You have to believe me. I can’t lose you again.”

Kara’s brows creased together. “You haven’t lost me.” She put an arm around Lena’s shoulders and gently rubbed her back. “I promise you, Lena. I’m not going anywhere. Is this about your family? About these extremist groups?”

Lena shook her head. She knew there was no point trying to beg her again, because even if she spilled her guts and revealed everything, in two days’ time Supergirl would still race into National City to battle that monster, and she would die. The only way to prevent that from happening was to kill him herself.

Lena’s tears dried up and she felt her resolution harden. “I’m sorry. I’ve barely slept this week. L-Corp has been keeping me up.”

Kara’s face was so filled with worry that Lena ached. “You need to let yourself rest. L-Corp can’t run without you as their fearless leader.”

Lena’s cheeks started to burn. “Kara, I…” Her words dried up. She remembered their kiss from days ago and her fingers twitched.  She leaned forward but stopped herself, bit her lip. Kara seemed to almost catch herself as well, as if she had been fully prepared to fall into another kiss.

They hadn’t spoken about it yet, and Lena wasn’t ready to. Instead she gave Kara’s hand a squeeze.

“Crying seems to have increased my appetite,” she said. “Maybe we should finish this sushi?”

Kara looked at her face seriously, but Lena put on her best imploring expression. Kara’s shoulders dropped and Lena knew the subject had been dropped, so she exhaled in intense relief. When she said goodbye to Kara outside of L-Corp, her chest clenched hard in sadness. She watched Kara climb into a cab and drive away, and she wished that she had just let them kiss again. But they couldn’t yet. She needed to put her focus on finishing the serum and then killing that monster before he took everything from her.

XxX

His name was Xavier. He had been a cleaner at one of the labs, with no family and hardly any record. Lena remembered reading that he had a dog, but then he disappeared and his dog was rescued. His apartment had been emptied and rented out to other people. Since no one seemed to care, no one really looked for him. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor experimented on him violently until he changed the man down to his very DNA. He became infused with Kryptonite, and he was also instilled with a dangerous desire to hunt and kill any kryptonian. Lena wasn’t sure how her brother had done it, but he had, and now she was left to take care of Xavier herself.

“Ms Luthor, it appears the subject has broken free of his restraints,” Jax Jr spoke through her suit. His mechanical voice was completely devoid of the emotion her future Jax exhibited, but she didn’t have time to miss him.

Lena grunted and slid out of the way as Xavier swing a huge fist at her. “I noticed, thank you, Jax.”

Jax rattled off a few escape routes and chances of success. He was a quickly built AI using current tech, so he wasn’t as efficient as Lena was used to, and neither was the suit. Her frustration started to mount as she struggled to execute moves her future self could with ease. Not only was the suit almost worthless, but her body ached. Her muscles felt like they would rip to shreds from all of the physical work she had been doing in the past week.

But I have one day left, and I refuse to let muscle ache be the reason I let Kara die.

Xavier was still half restrained in his cage, which he had completely decimated, so Lena had some breathing room to spring away from him. His hits were extremely hard. Without kryptonian invulnerability, one punch from him in the wrong area could kill her instantly. Best case scenario she just broke a few bones. Lena couldn’t afford either of those things, so she needed to be extremely careful.

On it went, Lena trying her hardest to find an opening, to jab the needle in Xavier’s throat. She didn’t want to risk injecting him elsewhere. If the serum didn’t work immediately, his body could become immune to it. In the future Lena had studied everything there was left to study of him after Alex had dealt the killing blow—and many more. The serum essentially made his DNA reconstruct and somewhat resemble that of a kryptonian, and therefore his body would start to attack itself. In the future when Lena had succeeded, she and Alex had watched in satisfaction as Xavier died a horrific death.

Logically Lena knew Xavier hadn’t been responsible, truly, for what he had done, but they had just lost Kara and what else were they supposed to do? Taking that into account, Lena had adjusted the serum so that Xavier would die quickly and not quite as horribly.

“Come on,” she grunted, fear spiking.

A metal shriek filled the air and Xavier finally pulled free of his last restraint. They were still in the lab, so Lena wasn’t too afraid, but seeing him free of his cage made her blood cold.

“Jax, make sure every entrance is sealed tight.”

“Yes, Ms Luthor.” Jax went silent. “All entrances sealed, Ms Luthor.”

Xavier rushed right at her, more quickly than she’d ever seen him. She must have been too distracted making sure he had no way to escape, so when he slammed a flat hand against her middle she shot through the air, burst through three walls and then crumbled into a defeated heap, unconscious.

She came to with a start mere minutes later, with Jax speaking in her ear.

“Ms Luthor, the subject has managed to tear through the doors at entrance C. He is on his way to National City. Should I notify the relevant authorities?”

Pain radiated through her limbs like waves. Rising and crashing and leaving her breathless, but she pushed through it and climbed onto unsteady feet. “No,” she gasped out. “No authorities. Bring up his location.”

She clumsily made her way over to one of the tables and grabbed for a vial. While working on serum X, the one to take Xavier down, she had also worked on her own serum, the one that gave her superhuman abilities for limited time. She knew the dangers of taking it now without having built the stamina for it, but she was out of options. She had let Xavier out a full day earlier than before, which meant that she was already fucking up the timeline and Kara was not safe at all.

Lena didn’t hesitate before sinking the needle in her throat and injecting the liquid. It burnt like acid and she yelled, but she clenched her teeth and endured it, and then the burn turned into intoxicating warmth, and Lena felt the familiar feeling of impossible strength in her muscles. She immediately left the lab in search of Xavier. She found him just outside of National City, but she felt all of the warmth leave her in a second.

In his grip, with his tail aimed at her chest, was Supergirl.

Lena’s stomach dropped. “No.”

XxX

Kara would admit that Lena’s request had kind of spooked her. She couldn’t stop wondering what Lena had meant, and what terrible thing could happen to her tomorrow. But that was still tomorrow, so she pushed it out of her mind and focused on her duty. Then she responded to an attack just outside of the city, and she wondered if maybe Lena’s request had been serious after all.

He was radiating dangerous amounts of kryptonite. Kara had only noticed it too late, when the waves of it sunk into her skin and sent her down on her knees. He was incredibly strong too, because when he kicked her she skidded like a stone across the hard ground and every bit of motion hurt so badly that she felt like throwing up. As much as she tried to get up, she simply couldn’t. The closer he stomped, the more life left her body.

He was definitely something able to kill her, and that realization made her fill with cold, hard fear. Not so much for her own life, but for those she would leave behind. She thought of Alex and J’onn and Winn, and god, Lena. Everyone she loved would be devastated, not to mention what a hit on morale National City would take if they lost Supergirl. She couldn’t lose, damnit, she couldn’t, but every cell in her body felt like it was boiling and she was in agony.

Kara really thought she was going to die. Alex’s voice was yelling distantly in her ear until it cut off, and Kara’s vision started to waver. The big green guy grabbed her throat and lifted her into the air, and Kara didn’t even have the strength to lift her arms. She could only stare through half-closed eyes, her pulse thrumming in terror as he lifted a pointed tail and aimed it right at her chest.

This is it, she thought.

“NO!”

A blur of black flew between them, and then Kara was down on the ground again. She managed to force herself around to see what was going on, and choked on a breath as she watched Knight fight off the green guy. He was roaring at her, his features contorted in absolute rage. Though he was so big, Knight seemed to fight him easily. She dodged and moved in perfectly calculated ways and finally her hand darted out, sinking something into his throat. He roared again and stumbled back, a hand at his throat. It was a syringe, and whatever was inside had disappeared inside of him.

He didn’t seem very impressed. He stumbled slightly, but he kept his balance and then he lashed out and caught Knight by the head. He lifted her up and though she struggled violently, she couldn’t seem to get out of his grip. Kara watched, helpless, as he thrashed her around like a doll, slamming her on the ground over and over until his grip simply slipped and he stumbled away. He let an angry shriek fill the air, and then he ran off, bounding so high into the sky he was nearly flying.

Kara counted her shallow heartbeats and started to crawl closer to Knight, who was limp on the ground. It took longer than she liked for her to get back on her feet. The whole fight must have happened incredibly quickly, because it was only then that J’onn landed at her side and helped her up.

“Supergirl, what on earth happened?” he asked.

Kara sucked in deep breaths and gave his hand a pat. “I’m okay, I can stand now.” She brushed her hair from her face and made her way over to her unexpected hero. “It was Knight, she saved… me…” Her words died quickly on her lips.

The moment she got a good look at Knight, with her suit mostly broken to pieces and her face completely revealed, her body turned cold. She furrowed her brows and tried to make sense of what she was seeing, but nothing connected. She immediately bent down and collected her unconscious body in her arms, relieved to feel her still breathing. J’onn was speaking to Alex, and when he turned to her, his face was grim.

“We have to take her in,” he told her.

Kara knew he was right, that they probably had to. But she found herself moving between them and J’onn stopped, lifting his hands.

“I’ll take her,” Kara told him, heart thudding hard.

J’onn nodded. He pressed his fingers to his ear again, and Kara tried to ignore the next words he said.

“Alex, we got Knight, and we’ve discovered her identity. Knight is Lena Luthor. We’re bringing her in.”

XxX

Lena woke to the feel of a hand in hers, squeezing almost too tightly. When she moved her face, the grip immediately loosened and she felt a touch on her cheek.

“Lena, are you awake?”

Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned. Everywhere hurt. Pain radiated through every inch of her body, but the worst of it was her head. It was pounding hard with every heartbeat.

Lena looked around and took in the stern faces of Alex and J’onn. The only one not glaring was Kara, who was looking at her with open worry and nothing else. She still hadn’t removed her hand and the warmth of it helped to ground Lena for what she needed to do next.

“Well,” she started, licking her dry lips, “this isn’t quite how I pictured this going.”

Kara started to frown. “Lena, why on earth didn’t you tell us you’re Knight? You could have been killed! You had seven broken bones when we brought you in. Seven.”

“Not to mention the havoc you’ve caused in that suit of yours,” Alex interjected. “What were you thinking?”

Lena caught an undercurrent of worry in Alex’s voice too, but she dared not hope to have that yet. It was too soon. Sighing, she sat up and ran a hand through her messy hair. She felt like actual death, but she was relieved to feel that all of her wounds had healed.

“I found traces of kryptonian DNA mixed with your own,” Alex added. “What did you do to yourself, Lena?”

She schooled her expression and looked up at Alex sharply. “I guess I have to explain everything, though I’m not sure you’ll believe what I have to say.”

Kara’s fingers tightened in a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll listen, I promise.”

Lena’s chest ached. Kara, always so quick to believe, so eager to give comfort and support. Lena wanted to just fall into her arms and never have to leave, but she had to own up to this mess she had created. Maybe if she had gone to the DEO from the start, none of this would have happened.

“You better start explaining, before we decide to lock you up for running around in that suit and putting yourself and other people in danger,” Alex told her sternly.

Lena wanted to laugh, but didn’t. She supposed the cold truth was necessary. “Alright. I’ve sent my memories back in time. From five years from now, to be exact.”

Everyone’s faces morphed into disbelief. “But how is that possible?” Alex asked.

“And why?” J’onn added.

Lena gently pulled her hand away from Kara’s, regretting the loss of contact but suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. “My self five years in the future developed a machine able to send memories back in time, which is what I did to myself. In the future I also developed my own suit and fought crime as a hero, as Knight. The reason I did all of this is because in the future five years from now, Kara is dead.” She met Kara’s surprised gaze and drank in her features. The words hurt to say. “Tomorrow, Xavier kills you,” she almost whispered. Her throat felt tight.

“We have two funerals,” she continues. “One for Supergirl, and one for Kara. After that, I throw myself into finding a way to bring Kara back. I use her kryptonian DNA and experimented, but it was ultimately a failure. I do however invent a serum I use to enhance my own physical abilities. I also managed to invent a serum to kill Xavier, and you and I,” she tells Alex, “managed to take him out. So that is all of it. My memories are from five years in the future, and I did this so that I can save Kara’s life and prevent Xavier from killing Supergirl.”

Alex and Kara both looked to J’onn. From his overly serious face, they must have realized that every word Lena had spoken was the truth. J’onn’s jaw clenched and he looked away, exhaling.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” Lena asked him. She waited for him to meet her gaze. “The pain I endured when I lost her?”

He nodded stiffly. “Alex, a word outside.”

Alex seemed reluctant, but she left behind J’onn. Lena exhaled and looked to Kara, who was staring at her with wide eyes. She seemed like she had a lot to say, but her mouth just hung open.

“That’s why you hugged me that night,” Kara finally said, realization filling her features. “And why you kissed me.”

“I kissed you because I’m in love with you.”

Kara’s mouth clicked shut. A bright, red blush spread cross her cheeks. “You… what?”

Lena slumped back on the bed and covered her burning face. Despite how elated she felt at finally being able to tell Kara how she felt, it was still highly embarrassing to spill her heart out like this. “Kara, I’ve been in love with you from the very first day I met you. My biggest regret in the future is never having told you. And when I lost you, I…” Her throat felt swollen and she was unable to push more words out. Hot tears spilled out and we the pillow below her head.

Suddenly Kara was on the bed with her, pulling her firmly into her arms. Lena gasped softly but then exhaled, eyes sliding shut. Kara was always so warm and comforting.

“I’m so sorry that you had to spend all that time in pain,” Kara said. Her voice was laced with sadness. “I can’t imagine what that must have felt like.”

Lena laughed. “You’re apologizing?”

“Yeah. I lost and that’s on me.”

“You had no idea, Kara. No one had.”

“Still, I have a duty to this planet and its people.”

Lena traced the crest on Kara’s chest. “Xavier was made by my brother. Ultimately, your death was my fault.”

Kara shifted and pulled away, and Lena stared uncertainly into Kara’s eyes. “It was absolutely not your fault, and I refuse to let you live with that guilt.”

“I already have.”

“You won’t have to again. You know how to kill him, right? You wouldn’t have done all this if you didn’t.”

“I do.”

“Good. Tell Alex and J’onn what to do, and we’ll have then go out and defeat him next time he shows up. It’ll probably be tomorrow, right?”

Lena sat up slightly. She was almost straddling Kara, but this wasn’t the time to blush over it. “Wait, are you not going to fight him too?”

Kara pressed her lips together. “I want to, but I know that I’ll only be a nuisance out there. I can’t fight him and if I’m foolish enough to try, I’ll die. I’ll stay right here at the DEO until Alex takes him out. Will you stay with me?”

Lena’s chest tightened painfully, and then relaxed. The tension melted away from her body and she fell forward, kissing Kara with the love and hunger built up over five years without. Kara responded to her kiss eagerly, opening her mouth and running her tongue along Lena’s bottom lip, and it sent a violent shiver down Lena’s back. She threaded her fingers through Kara’s soft hair and pressed her other hand against her chest. There, pounding strongly, was her heartbeat.

Lena felt high.

“So you knew all along though, huh?” Kara mumbled against her lips.

“That you’re Supergirl?”

“Mm.”

“Of course.” Lena laughed softly, kissed her again, softly and gently. “It took a while, but I’m smart.”

“I love you too, Lena.”

Kara’s strong hands came to rest on her hips. Lena really wished they had the time and freedom to do whatever they wanted, but this wasn’t the time or the place, and no matter how hot and firm Kara’s grip was, she couldn’t give in. Kara’s words sent a spark of emotion right through her and it only made her kiss with more enthusiasm than before, taking Kara by surprise. Kara only laughed and moved her hands to cup Lena’s face.

“I’ve been in love with you just as long,” Kara added. “I just thought you never felt the same.”

“I was never very subtle.”

“Well, I can be a bit dense sometimes.”

They pressed their foreheads together and simply relaxed, soaking in each other’s presence. Lena had never felt this sort of happiness before, and when, the next day Alex and J’onn successfully captured and eliminated Xavier, and Kara remained alive long after that, she knew this happiness would stay.

XxX

What felt like hours later, her eyes fluttered open and she felt a touch on her arm.

“Lena?”

Lena grumbled and sat up, rubbing her tired eyes. She realized with a start that she was slumped over in her chair. Had she fallen asleep? She looked up and into endlessly blue eyes. That smile she loved so much spread across Kara’s face, and Lena felt like the entire world slotted back into place.

“You said you just had a little work to do last night. I didn’t expect you to sleep with Jax.”

Lena laughed.

“Kara, I assure you that Mrs Danvers and I have no affair going on,” Jax spoke through their home speakers, his voice laced with amusement.

Kara lifted a brow like she didn’t believe him. “Oh really, Jax? Then how come my wife spends more time in here with you than with me?”

Lena stood from the desk, ignoring the ache in her muscles, and pulled Kara against her body. Jax was about to start giving Kara all of the details of their latest project, but he clearly decided it wasn’t needed, and his voice disappeared.

“Whoa!” Kara laughed, hugging her back. “What got into you? Aren’t you sore from sleeping in your chair all night?”

Lena ran her hands all over Kara’s strong arms and shoulders and smiled at her. “A little. Care to share a bath with me?”

“We really need to head to work, Lena.”

She lifted a dark brow. “Are you really saying no to a bath with me, Kara?”

Kara bit down on her lip. Lena was immediately picked up and whisked away to the bathroom, where a warm bath already waited, the tub surrounded by lit candles and rose petals. Lena gasped softly at the sight and grabbed hold of Kara’s hand.

“Kara, what is this?”

“Today is the day, you know.”

“I mean, I know but…”

“But nothing.” Kara slid her shirt aside and lightly kissed the skin on her shoulder. Lena shivered at the warm feel of her lips. “Five years ago today, you saved my life. Five years ago today, I vowed to love you forever. Today means everything to me.”

Lena turned around until she was facing Kara, surrounded by her arms. She drew her in for a soft, urgent kiss, and groaned against her mouth when Kara’s hands slid underneath her shirt.

“So no,” Kara continued softly, lips spreading back into a smile. “I’m not saying no to that bath, Mrs Danvers.”

Lena’s heart stuttered. She loved hearing Kara call her that. Together they undressed, unhurried and gently, kissing exposed skin and giggling at each other like teenagers. Kara climbed in first, then Lena after, and she settled her back against Kara’s front. Despite having just woken, Lena’s eyes felt heavy with sleep. She leaned back fully and relaxed, and revelled in how safe Kara made her feel.

“I love you, Lena,” Kara whispered against her temple.

Lena took her hands and squeezed them gently. Her mind drifted to all those years ago, the everything she had endured and what she had accomplished. It felt like just an hour ago she had sent her memories back, had saved Kara’s life. Her chest filled with warmth and emotion, and she turned to bury her face in Kara’s throat. She pressed a very soft kiss there.

“I love you too,” she mumbled sleepily, content and happy. “More than you’ll ever know.”

Kara’s fingertips traced along her back, and Lena was hit with the intense feeling of being home and exactly where she was meant to be.

Not even death could keep them apart, and like this, together and peaceful, Lena was truly and fully content. She wouldn’t be anywhere else.