Title: Heart of a Hero

Chapter Title: TimeLine 2

Fandom: Supergirl (2015), Elements of Man of Steel, Lois & Clark: Adventures of Superman, Comic book world (so many of them), Superman Unbound, New 52, Supergirl (1984), Smallville, Young Justice

Rating: Low M

Pairings: Canon only

Background: Personal interpretation of Kryptonian Culture/ History/ Social Structure/ etc

Summary: Kara knew there was only a small chance she could stop Non. He had years of experience over her. But never did she expect, even as she laid dying, that she will wake up in her bed. The same day of Alex's flight to Geneva.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supergirl

Note* Warning. This will end up as Non/Kara, but it will also be a slow burn.

WARNING! Graphic description of torture

Warning. Major Character Death

00000

Timeline 1

Kara knew there was only a small chance she could stop Non. He had, after all, years of experience over her. Not only as a soldier, but years spend at mastering his powers.

Honestly, Kara was only trying to hold off till J'onn was done with Indigo, so he could help her. She just needed to keep Non distr-

Kara coughed, blood spitting out of her mouth and ran down her chin. She felt a pain in her chest and looked down.

A male hand had erupted out of her chest, her blood clinging to the black sleeve. Kara gasped, trying to get air into her damaged lungs, but it was futile. Her vision started to blacken and her body went cold. She didn't even feel the hand pull out of her.

Her vision blurs slightly, and she blinks slowly, trying to see the sky one last time. When she looks up, she finds herself in Non's arms, his bloodied hand stroking her hair and face softly. Kara can't stop herself from pushing her face into the comforting touch.

"N-No-Non," Kara tried to gasp out, her mouth moving only as no sound came out.

"Hush child," Non said and started singing. Kara was sure she knew the song, but her ears were only catching every other word and his voice was fading away along with his face.

She wanted to reach up and touch him, but her hands were too heavy. Her chest was still and he-

00000

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Kara shot up, clutching her throat as she gasped for breath. She took short hiccupped breaths as she looked around her.

She was in her apartment.

How? What?

Kara clawed at her chest, quickly ripping her sleep shirt and stared at the space between her breasts. The skin was smooth, glittering only in sweat. (Her vision blurs as she sees blood splatted all over her chest, the hole visible again)

Kara screams and jumps to the side. She ends up on her back, staring up at her ceiling. Her hand slams onto the whole flesh. She breaths fast and shallow, her heart hammering in her chest.

She stands up slowly, her legs shaking as her knees threaten to give in. Kara grips her bedside table, her fingers digging into it and splintering the wood.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Her face now inches away from the clock, Kara heard her alarm ringing clearing. (How could she not hear it until now?)

Kara slammed her hand down on the clock, easily crushing it flat. Edges dig into her skin, but the soft prickling doesn't register as Kara pushes herself towards the bathroom.

Her stomach turns with every step and Kara has to move to grip the archway. She held still, her eyes closed tightly, enough to even start to hurt. She took several breaths before taking another step, then another. Then another. Then another.

Her knees give away and her hands stop her descent. She digs her fingers into the porcelain of her toilet, cracks appearing as she pulls herself over the bowl.

Kara opens her mouth as bile pushes up her throat and started spilling out. Kara heaves around the bile, trying to keep her breath even. She knew she could hold her breath, but even the idea of doing so…

(Kara gasps, knowing it's no use. Not one of the four chambers that make up her lungs were still whole. Blood pools at the back of her throat as she coughs, trying to clear her airways, but more keep coming.)

Kara can't even shake the memory before even more bile raises up.

It takes several minutes before Kara's stomach is completely empty, her body still dry heaving over the toilet. The action finally stops, sweat covering her body as her pajamas cling to her.

Kara takes several deep breaths, trying to calm her beating heart. She pushes herself up, her hands breaking more of the toilet bowl as she did so.

Kara pushes herself to the sink, falling on top of it, her body refusing to hold itself up. She looks up, seeing her ashed face staring back at her. Her eyes were bloodshot and her shirt still ripped open.

Kara forced herself to stand up straight, pulling off her shirt and throwing it to the ground. She stares at her chest, the smoothness and evenness of her skin causing her heart to hammer even more wildly. She struggles, but is able to turn around. She bends her head back and looks at the spot between her shoulder blades. And like her chest, the skin was smooth and even.

At that Kara gives up and allows her body to fall back to the ground. She falls on her side, the coldness of the floor feeling good against her warm body. Kara stared into her bedroom, her vision blurring again.

(Would she be back in that field when she opens her eyes again?)

Kara's eyes snap open and she forces herself back on her knees. She looks around herself wildly, making sure she was still in her bathroom.

Finding she was, Kara pulled herself into the shower, opening the cold water as much as she could. The freezing liquid hits her and her muscles tighten in objection. She sat on her knees, her face pointed to the shower head, for several moments as her body started to get used to the temperature. In response, Kara turned off the cold water and opened the hot water.

The burning liquid hits her, her skin not even turning red as it did. (Alex screams as she steps into the bath Kara prepared for her. The water burning her foot. Eliza runs in, seeing her oldest on the floor, crying as she gript her red, blistering foot. Alex had to stay off it for two days after that incident. And she never trusts Kara with the bath again.)

Kara stays under the water till it turns cold.

Turning off everything, Kara forced her body to stand up, her legs protesting. She heads to the kitchen, uncaring of the water that pretty much drowns her floor.

Kara takes out several glasses and a large can of an emergency protein shake, for the days she forgets to eat. (Her body feels heavy as she heads towards Ms. Grant's office. Her vision blurs and she's not even sure what she was supposed to be doing. Her hands are shaking and legs jerk as she walks. Her vision gets worse, blackness growing at the edges)

She drinks the glasses one after the other before heading to her refrigerator. She shoves two cupcakes into her mouths and falls to the floor, chewing aggressively.

Now, with her mind calm and her blood sugar up, questions float around in her head.

How did she get to her apartment?

Why wasn't she dead?

Why didn't she have a hole in her chest?

… What was going on?

Her phone rings suddenly and Kara has to force herself to stand up. She pauses before she heads to her bedroom, grabbing another cupcake before stumbling off.

She half falls on her bed, her wet pajama bottoms only now registering in her head. She looks at the caller ID.

Winn.

Winn was alive.

Did that mean that J'onn was able to stop myriad? Was it him that saved her? If it was, why was she in her apartment instead of at the DEO?

Or…

Had she been in a coma?

"W-Winn?" Kara said, her voice shaking and soft.

"Hey, Kara. Are you coming to work? Ms. Grant has been shouting for you for almost 10 minutes now," Winn told her.

"Work?" Kara asked, trying to raise her voice beyond the shaking whisper.

"Wow. You sound horrible. I don't think I've ever heard you sound like this," Winn said. His voice was worried, but… light. Like there was nothing he had to worry about.

"Myriad," Kara said, her head starting to hurt, "What about Non and Indigo?"

"Who?" Winn asked.

"Winn?" Kara asked, her heart starting to hammer again.

"Kara, I don't think you should come to work today. You sound… horrible and confused. Not that you sound bad, you just sound sick, you actually have a nice voice- I mean-" Winn starts to rumble.

"Yeah," Kara cuts him off, her head starting to pound, "I don't feel so great."

"Ok. I'll tell one of the interns to help Ms. Grant," Winn said, "Get some sleep. Ok… Bye Kara."

"Bye," Kara said, her head spinning.

Sleep? No. She couldn't sleep now. She needed to get to the DEO. Find out what Non and Indigo did. Find out wh-

Kara choked when she saw the date on her phone.

October 26, 2015

It was nearly seven months earlier than it should be.

What was going on?

0000

Timeline 2

After 4 hours and several internet searches later Kara started to believe she was actually in the past. There was no mention of Supergirl, Ms. Grant's emails leaking, an attack on Lord Industries or even the widespread natural disaster when she lost her powers. It was all gone- No…

It hadn't happened yet.

The question now was: how did she travel back in time? Was it Non? And if it was, why? Was he back too? And if he wasn't and she was alone… What should she do?

Should she go to Kal- No, she couldn't. He was off planet. That left the DEO.

But would they listen to her? Technically they didn't know her and she shouldn't know about them, or even about Alex working for them. Then there was J'onn who was hiding as Hank. Should she reveal that she knows? Would that make him trust her? Or should she call Alex and see if she could explain everything?

Shaking her head, Kara stood up from her bed. She was still only in her pajama pants, now dry. She needed to take a proper shower and get changed. Then… then she was going to head to the DEO.

Except she didn't have her suit. Would they trust her if she didn't wear it? Or will they be even less willing to listen if she did?

Would they be afraid of her?

No. These people know she wasn't dangerous; they wouldn't hurt her.

0000

Except they did.

Kara bit her lip as the Kryptonite cuffs were bound over her arms. Even the low-grade green rock burned at her skin, a stinging sensation traveling through her nerves. She tried to block out the pain, but it kept lingering in her mind.

She had arrived, flying over their training grounds before landing at the front door. She went in and was immediately met with normal guns. She tried to talk, but they started firing. When they realize the bullets kept bouncing off her they called in for their 'green grade'. The new bullets, Kryptonite bullets, replaced the normal ones and they fried again.

Kara had to force herself to keep conscious, but when they realized that, they called for the cuffs.

Now she was in a cell, Kryptonite radiation seeping into it as the cuffs burns at her wrists and the bullets still rested in her body. The bullets alone were burning her and her vision was slowly going dark.

No, she couldn't give up.

Kara sat up and started to dig the bullets out of her body. One, two, three, four- the skin was fried of her finger points- five, six, seven- she had no more feelings on her fingers. Most of the meat had been burned away and the radiation was traveling through her veins and up her arm- eight, nine, ten, eleven- Her pointing finger was down to her bone when she got the last of the bullets out.

She took her other hands and ripped at her shirt. She struggled, not as much as she would have if there hadn't been so many holes in the shirt, and then wrapped her fingers individually.

It wasn't easy, the cuffs restricting her movements, but she used her teeth to finish of the make-shift bandages.

"You're still awake," a voice came. A voice she recognized. Kara looked up and saw J'onn in his disguise as Hank.

"Please," Kara said, her voice shaking, "I'm not here to hurt anyone."

"Do you know where you are?" J'onn asked, not moving from his spot.

"The DEO," Kara said before swallowing, "I know, I know it's weird that I know about this place, but I can explain… just, please… the kryptonite, it burns."

"I don't know you Miss Danvers, and the last time I checked, you are the reason the DEO exists," J'onn told her.

Oh. She forgot about that. Not forgot, forgot, but… the DEO had stopped blaming her for Fort Rozz when everyone found out about Indigo, how she connected the prison to her pod. Here, now, no one knew that. She was still the reason these people lived in fear.

The worst criminals of the galaxy.

But was that true? What about that Professor? The one that was caught as a drug mule? His first run, one he only did to save one of his wives? Were their others like that?

"Then get Alex. Please. She'll know I'm telling you the truth," Kara said.

"Agent Danvers is one her way to Geneva," J'onn said and Kara's heart stopped.

"What?" Kara asked, her voice a breathless whisper as her body turned clammy and cold.

"Is she the one that told you of the DEO?" J'onn asked.

"No! No J'onn you have to listen! You have to get Alex off that plane! Astra is going to have someone sabotage one of the engines! She's going to die! J'onn please!" Kara shouted as she sprung forward, hitting the glass of the cell with her bond fists.

J'onn's eyes narrowed, but Kara could see he was afraid. She knew who he was, used his name.

"What did you just say?" J'onn asked.

"Astra, she going to have the plane crash," Kara said.

"Who is Astra," J'onn asked.

That's right. Astra, Non, and the rest of their resistance were high profile criminals. Their existence was kept on separate records. It was Kal, after she contacted him, that brought the information from the fortress. They transferred the information over to the DEO's computer and Kara learned of what her aunt had done.

(Kara always wondered why though. Why was their imprisonment such a large secret? Was it because of their crimes, because of Myriad? Or was is it something else- No. Her mother wouldn't do that. It had to because of Myriad. It had to be.)

"Who is Astra?" J'onn asked again.

"She's an inmate of Fort Rozz. She's my Aunt," Kara said.

That was the wrong thing to say.

"Your Aunt? Is that why you know about the plane? Are you working with her? Where is she? Is she the one in charge of everything? What is her plan?" J'onn asked, stepping closer.

"NO!" Kara shouted, "I'm not working with Astra. Look, please, you have to get Alex off that plane. You have to save her! Please J'onn," Kara said.

J'onn narrowed his eyes and pressed a few things on the controls by the door. At first, Kara thought he was lowering the Kryptonite radiation or letting her go, but then she recognized the sequence he was putting in.

He was increasing the radiation.

"No! Please!" Kara cried as the burning sensation covered her body. The stinging became worse, traveling throughout her body, igniting her nerves. She fell to the floor, twitching occasionally as she vision started to blank.

"Please. Alex," Kara muttered, her voice hardly audible.

0000

When Kara woke up she was in another cell. Her cuffs were off and the bullets had been taken away. The burning sensation was lessened, but still there. Even bit of her solar energy was being used to heal her body and keep the radiation from causing too much damage. Once she ran out…

Her fingers were newly wrapped and she was even wearing different clothes. Kara shuddered immediately. She wondered who changed her and what else they did to her body while she was unconscious. She's heard and read too many stories of what happened to female prisoners.

(She remembers hearing some of the male DEO agents talking about her aunt. Heard the crude things they said about her. What they wanted to do once she, Alex, and J'onn weren't around. She immediately went to J'onn and from then only she, Alex and J'onn had access to her cell. It was J'onn's access code General Lane had used.)

Kara sat up and looked around her. She was still behind thick glass, but instead of being in a sphere, the room was divided by it. She had a cot on one end of the room and a toilet and sink combo on the other. The glass had two doors. One large enough for a person to walk through and the smaller one by the floor, no doubt for her food.

The door opened and General Lane walked into the room, several of his men following him. He walked up to the glass and knocked on it like she was an animal at a zoo he needs to get the attention off.

Maybe that because that's what she was now. A zoo attraction.

"Kara Danvers," Lane said and Kara took a deep breath, "My name is General Sam Lane. I am now in charge of the DEO."

"Where's Hank Henshaw?" Kara asked.

"You mean J'onn J'onzz?" Lane asked as he walked back and forth in front of her cell wall.

"What?" Kara asked. No. They shouldn't know about that.

"Yes. In fact, I should thank you for that. If it wasn't for you, we may never have found about the deception," Lane told her, a smug smile on his face.

No. She did it again. Caused J'onn to be revealed. But if he was free? He would be able to save her or get Kal to get her.

"The Martian has been locked away. He will be transferred to Cadmus in a few hours," Lane told her.

Well, there goes that plan.

"Alex Danvers?" Kara asked, needing to know.

For the first time ever, Kara saw sympathy in the man's eyes. But the emotion didn't fill her with comfort, "No, please no."

"Agent Danvers was killed when her plane to Geneva lost one of its engines and crashed into CatCo. She and nearly 2,000 humans have been declared dead," Lane told her.

"No," Kara muttered before she clenched her fists, slamming them on the glass. The soldiers immediately raised their guns, pointing them at her, "Why didn't you listen to me!"

"I think the real question is Miss Danvers is how you had this information," Lane told her.

"It's complicated," Kara said as she stepped away from the glass, her mind still on the fact her sister was dead.

"More complicated than the theory that you are working with your Aunt?" Lane asked her.

"… seven months in the future I'm- I was fighting against Non-"

"Non?" Lane asked, mispronouncing the name.

"Non is Astra's husband. He took over after Astra was killed," Kara explained, not bothering to put enthuses on the names. Humans never get them right. They literally didn't have the vocal ability to do so, "He defeated me and I died, I think. When I woke up I found myself in my apartment."

"Time Travel," Lane said in disbelief, "That's what you're going with?"

"It's the truth!" Kara told him.

"Here's what I think. You found out about your Aunt and joined her, but realized that Agent Danvers was in danger and you developed a conscience," Lane said.

"No, that's not what happened," Kara tried to explain.

"I think it is. Now, Kara Zor-El. You're going to tell us everything," Lane said.

"And if I don't give you the answer you want," Kara asked.

Lane smirked and walked over to the wall opposite the glass wall. He pressed a few buttons and the burning increased.

Kara screamed, the burn attacking every one of her cells.

"I'll leave it there for a while. When I come back, maybe you'll be more willing to talk," Lane said and left Kara screaming, green veins covering her body.

00000

Alex once asked her what kryptonite feels like. It was after she was captured by the Fort Rozz guard and placed in a cell with Red Sun Radiation. Kara had taken the technology and had asked that the training room be refitted with it instead of the kryptonite radiation.

She told Alex that is was like having stiff muscles in the morning, that the pain was like her muscles hurting after an extensive workout. It was like she was she's been running on one hour of sleep in three days and was just tired and disorganized.

She lied.

Kryptonite was like a paper cut. That stinging sensation that doesn't stop. But instead of it just being in one place it felt like it was everywhere on her body. And when she touched her home world's rock, it was like bathing in a tub of lemon juice when her entire body is covered in paper cuts. That holding it for long starts to burn her flesh away like an ice cube melting when you hold your finger on it.

Being around it for too long was like her nerves were on fire, the pain pulsing through her body. She couldn't move, not because her muscles were stiff, but because the nerves tighten the muscles, making it impossible for her to contract and relax them. Like a cramp that covered your whole body.

It was not being able to think of anything except the pain. That no other thought entered your mind, could enter your mind. You can't sleep, except when the pain knocks you out, but even then the pain will only wake you up again. It's like wishing and praying for it to end but knowing it wouldn't. That there was nothing that can help you.

You lose hope.

Now, Kara learned another thing about Kryptonite. Once your powers 'dry up' the pain only gets worse. Without any solar energy to heal you, burns start appearing all over your body.

Her three fingers on her right hand had to be amputated, none of them healing. In fact, they just got worse, all three ending up burning to the bone.

Kara hated Kryptonite. Hated Sam Lane. Hated Kal.

0000

It takes her a month to accept that Kal wasn't going to save her. Whether he knew where she was or if he just didn't care she didn't know.

No. He has to care, he's family-

So why didn't he take care of her when she landed on earth? Why did he leave her with the Danvers? She was prepared to give up her life for him. To raise him from a baby in a primitive and suspicious environment. She was thirteen and she was ready (No she wasn't. She was scared. Sure she was going to screw up. Sure she would get them killed), but she was willing to do everything to keep him alive and safe.

Why wasn't he ready to do the same?

He was older then she was. Known on the planet, not as Superman, but as Clark Kent, he was safe from other people, so why?

Why is he abandoning her?

She screams and cries and yells his name, begging him to find her, but he doesn't care.

Not as long as she doesn't wear the cape.

That's the only reason he sent James to her, to convince her to be a 'hero'.

(Hero? No, she was their cleaning lady. Happy when everything is going well, but when one thing is out of place she is shouted at and put under suspicion. Like she was a criminal for just existing.)

But no, she wasn't a hero.

She was the person they needed only for powers. She wasn't a person to them, just a tool.

Cat saw her that way. James saw her that way. Kal saw her that way.

Lane saw her that way.

0000

He comes in every few days. Kara can't count the days without the sun or a watch, most of it being spent on the floor, pain pulsing through her body.

Lane always had an armed guard with him, a single Agent with food, the only time she gets food, and a 'doctor'.

They give her the food and she eats like a rabid animal, like a dog, one of the soldiers mutter once.

After that Lane asks her questions. And she answers. More often than not he's not happy with her answers. He wouldn't even listen to her when she says anything about time travel. He's convinced she's working with Astra and if she says anything to contradict that he gets… unimpressed.

They take away her food first. But that doesn't 'work'. They then inject her with liquid kryptonite, but that doesn't 'work; either. Lane gets creative after that. Knives are used to curve into her skin. Whips marks decorate her back. Her powers run out and her fingers get rotten and they have to remove them. Lane threatens not to 'help' her again and seven of her toes rot off.

(She screams the truth at them. Begs them to believe her, to help her. She cries and screams and more often than not her voice is hoarse and barely there.)

00000

Kara tells them everything. From Winn to Lucy and Berry that comes from another dimension. She tells them about the aliens she fought and the disaster that strikes National City. She tells them about Maxwell Lord and Red Tornado.

(Miss Grant dies the same day Alex does, having worked late. James moves back to Metropolis when she doesn't show up. Winn is killed by the FBI when he is forced to help his father. Lucy gets framed and dishonorably discharged. Berry is taken captive and used to make 'super soldiers'. And Kal does nothing to help.)

She can't tell them about Myriad.

She tries, but the words stay stuck in her throat. Part of her believes they will let her go when they find out about it, but another part… Lane would just use it as proof that she was working with Astra this entire time.

Would they kill her once she is of no use, or are they using her blood for the same reason they are using Berry's… to create the perfect soldier?

0000

The doctors are the worse. They poke and prod at her, trying to find out how she works.

One day she wakes up feeling energized and when she looks down she sees blood all over her chest, implying they cut her open. Another day she wakes up and her stomach hurts so badly. She finds out they removed her womb and her ovaries. They try to fertilize them, but figure out that humans and Kryptonians aren't compatible.

(She laughs at them when they find out and several soldiers are let in and beat her.)

They do other things. Humiliating things. They watch her all the time. When she changes, uses the bathroom or the shower. They force her body into almost impossible shapes when they find out she's double jointed and can move her body in almost any direction.

Sometimes they put her under the sun lamp, giving her some power only to have her use her heat vision. An almost unlimited power source they called it.

She becomes a tool to them. A puppet. A toy.

0000

Kara wakes up one day completely void of pain. She slowly turns onto her back as she laid on the cot and looked up.

No green light.

Why was the radiation turned off? Did they want to see if she would regain her powers slowly even if she wasn't under direct sunlight or any sunlight? Did they thing that her body would just pick up on the solar energy that 'floats' around on the planet?

"What have they done to you?" a voice comes.

Kara turns her head when the door opens. The figure is blurry, but she recognized the black and red suit as well as the voice. He walked over to her, kneeling next to the cot. Now, much closer she could make out the ash blond hair and grey-blue eyes.

"Little girl," he said softly.

"Non," Kara muttered, but like last time, her voice got stuck in her throat and she was only able to move her mouth.

Non raises his hand to her face, it shaking. He then clenches the hand into a fist and turns to the door.

"Astra! I found her!" Non shouts before turning back to Kara. He gently, so gently, pushes his arms under her body and slowly picks her up. He carefully movs her head to rest over his heart. He held her bridal style before moving to hover over the ground. The unbroken genital movement was a blessing on her sore body.

There's a sound outside the room, coming closer to them. Kara turns her head just in time to see Astra burst into the room, her hair wild. She rushes over, but Non stops her.

"Careful," he tells her, "She badly injured."

"What have they done to her?" Astra asked, tears in her eyes.

"When I find out, I will have the same done to them twice fold," Non growled out.

Was she dead? Little pain, her Aunt alive and next to her. Non being nice to her again. Something that hasn't happened since she was a little girl on Krypton.

Kara smiled, her eyes closing as she listens to the soft beating of Non's heart and falls asleep for the first time in… forever

0000

Kara wakes up completely pain-free. She was on the softest bed and covered by the softest blankets and her head was on the softest pillow. She was surrounded by warmth and everything smelled nice.

A hand gently touches her head and fingers run through her short hair.

(They said it kept getting in their way, so they shaved her head.)

Singing. Someone was singing. She knew the song. Didn't she?

Kara slowly opened her eyes, finding her mother next to her- No, not her mother (the woman who abandoned her. Threw her away. Sent her off to be a monster and a tool).

"Astra," Kara said softly, her voice still scratchy, but her throat wasn't hurting anymore.

"Hush Little One. You're still healing. Go back to sleep," Astra told her.

"Hhmm," Kara said and closed her eyes again, a small smile on her face. Yes. She was still tired, and sleep! When had she last slept so… freely.

The singing started again, the fingers never stopping.

The next time Kara woke up she was alone. She was still in the soft bed, but there was no one next to her. No one singing.

She stayed lying on her stomach. She didn't want to turn on her back, knowing the pain from the whip marks will flare up. She didn't want to push her body up; she didn't want to see her hands. (Only five fingers left. Which one will she bite off next just to stop the pain?) She didn't open her eyes. Where was she? Fort Rozz? Her cell, the softness a trick? The field where she died?

Her apartment?

Her stomach growls and Kara beggs it to stop. She wasn't going to get food anytime soon. She had just eaten before she hallucinated Non and Astra. She wouldn't be brought food for another 'three' days at least. (She measures the days now by how many times she passes out. She figured she passes out at least five times a 'day'.)

"Someone sounds hungry" a light voice fills the room.

Kara's eyes snap open and she quickly turns and sits up. It only after that she freezes, waiting for the pain, but nothing came. She looks to the source and see's Astra.

Was she real?

"Astra?" Kara asked as her right hand (still only her ring figure and pinkie left) stretches out to the older woman.

Astra glares at the broken hand before a soft smile comes back when she looks at Kara.

Her eyes are sad and Kara wonders just how bad her face is. She knows she got burns on them. Knows one of her ears is gone, she pulled it off herself. She can't breathe through her nose, was it even still there? Her lips were cut and the edges have torn from all her screaming. She struggles to blink and Astra is still blurry.

Astra walks closer and Kara sees the food. The woman doesn't even get the chance to put it in front of her before Kara snatches the tray and starts eating. She vaguely notices the fork and knife, but doesn't bother with them. She's too hungry to eat slowly and she knows she wouldn't be able to pick them up with her broken hands.

(She remembers that she was voted the most beautiful person by several magazines back when she was Supergirl. She remembers the blush as her friends, all dead now, tease her about it and read the articles. Those people wouldn't even look at her like this… this monster. Finally, she looked like what she was.)

"Slowly, Little One," Astra said and starts running her finger through Kara's hair again. Kara pauses and tries to slow down, but it doesn't last long.

She finishes, but she still feels hungry. Kara doesn't ask for more, just pushes her tray away, refusing to look at Astra.

"Look at me. Please Kara," Astra asks her.

Kara shakes her head, "I'm a monster."

"No! The humans that did this to you are monsters!" Astra hisses and gently puts her hand on Kara's face. The older woman easily turns Kara's face to her, "There is my beautiful girl."

Kara quickly shakes her head, "No. I'm horrid. I don't know how you can still look at me."

"Because I love you," Astra told her, "Nothing has- nothing will change that."

Kara brought her palms to her eyes, only then realizing that tears were running down her face. She couldn't even feel them.

"Thank you," Kara said.

"What for love? For calling you beautiful?" Astra asked, brushing her hair from her forehead.

"No. For saving me," Kara told her.

"Did you think we wouldn't? When Non and I found out you were there we came immediately," Astra said.

"You're the only ones to come for me. Kal… Kal never cared," Kara told her.

"Oh, Love," Astra said and pulled her o her chest as Kara cried.

She cried for what she's been through. She cried for what they did to her. For what they wanted to do. She cried for her sister and her friends. She cried for the life she lost, for her death. She cried…

For the people. Now being subjected to Myriad… and she didn't care.

She didn't even care that she didn't care.

0000

She wears a hood when she leaves her room and another cloth that covers the bottom of her face. She wears gloves, the fingers that are missing stuffed. She hobbles slightly, her feet mangled beyond repair, and each step causes her untold pain.

(The earthquake hits and her cell opens. She tries to escape but is quickly recaptured. They take a hammer to her feet and smash her bones to almost splinters. She screams and doubts she will ever walk again.)

She doesn't walk around much, the pain echoing through her legs, but she can't stay in her room, lest it becomes another cell to her.

A few of the inmates try to intimidate her, but she's doesn't care anymore. She's not ashamed to tell Astra when she brings Kara her food, much more than that first time, and the woman quickly deals with them.

She finds Non on the third day outside a strange room. He stands by a window and when she walks up to it, she finds herself staring at Lane as he's being tortured. Next to him are soldiers and doctors, all going through the same things.

"I have used Myriad to make them tear parts of themselves off," Non tells her, not even greeting her.

So they know. Know what she did to herself. No doubt the sadistic bustards recorded everything for their sick pleasures.

"Kill them slowly," Kara begs him, not saying anything else.

A smirk grows on Non's face. He wraps one arm around her shoulder and kisses her hooded head and says, his voice deep with… something she doesn't want to think about, "With pleasure."

Kara turns and walks away.

She never goes back.

00000

Astra beings to take her to the control center when the other inmates start to try and kill her. Kara doesn't know what her aunt and Non did to them and she didn't really want to know.

Kara sits on a large soft chair that was specially brought in for her and watch Astra and Non. She looks at the hologram above the circular console, lights shining on the map, some connected to others.

Astra and Non walk around it, strange things over their eyes and talking to each other like they were seeing two different things at the same time. They walk around the console, typing things and sometimes moving their hands like they were controlling someone.

One day Astra takes of the visor and sits down against the console, resting her head against the machine. She looked like she ages a hundred years from the stress. She was exhausted, not just from controlling Myriad, but having to take care of Kara.

"What is that?" Kara asked, even though she knows.

Astra opens she eyes and Kara could see she didn't mean to sit down where Kara could see her. She stands up as Non also removed his visor. They glanced at each other before turning to Kara.

"It's called Myriad," Astra told her.

"That's the thing Non used to control Lane and his men," Kara commented, "Is that what it is? Mind control?"

"Not initially," Astra told her, "When we first created Myriad it was only supposed to send out an idea. This idea would plant itself in the minds of those it affected and the affected would follow the idea."

"The plan was never to completely control the actions of those affected, just… convince them to abide to the idea," Non told her.

"What was the idea?" Kara asked them.

"'Save the planet'," Astra told her, "It would not have dominated their lives, but it would always be in the fore front of their minds. They would think, 'Would this action help save the planet?' or 'Was there something they could do to save the planet?' and then they would work to ensure the survival of the planet."

"Another idea would have been sent out," Non told her, "One that encourages cooperation between the affected no matter where they came from. The Science Guild would work with the Labour Guild… House members would talk to each other without the belief that one was better than the other… everyone would work together to one goal."

"Thanks to Myriad, there are no more racial divisions, no Republicans, no Democrats. Only one people, working with one purpose towards one goal. To save the world."

Non's words from the previous timeline echoed in her mind. Was that always the end plan? To make people work together, not caring about their backgrounds?

But Ms. Grant's words also came to her: "Except you haven't saved them, you've enslaved them."

"What changed?" Kara asked, "Why does Myriad have complete control now?"

"The humans' are primitive," Non told her, "Their minds are weak and could not accept the original signal."

"So you had to increase it?" Kara asked. That's not how it worked last time. A higher signal caused people to have horrible migraines and would cause their heads to explode.

"We had to change it," Astra told her, "That is why it took us so long to activate Myriad… we needed to change it to fit the human's physiology."

"But why are you controlling them manually," Kara asked.

"Because the humans are more different then we expected. They become completely obsessed with accomplishing the injected idea," Non told her, "We realized that unless we completely control them, they will kill themselves."

"Kill themselves?" Kara asked.

"They don't eat. Don't sleep. They don't care for their young or pets," Astra continued, "That and almost everything in manual on this planet."

"You mean farming and stuff?" Kara asked.

"Yes," Astra said.

Kara nodded, understanding. While not everything was automated on Krypton, Earth was considered primitive by industrialized standards. They needed people around for everything. And if Myriad makes them concentrate on only saving the planet… what will happen to the economy? To the people living on the planet.

And what of Krypton? Would Myriad have worked? Would it have saved the planet?

(Kara remembers the warning of unsafe areas. How they started only a few weeks after Astra 'died'. She remembers almost falling to her death. She remembers going to school and realizing people are gone because their dead.)

(She remembers running on that last day. People dead in the streets. Building crashing all around them. She can hardly move and her mother has to pull her along, her father shouting at her to hurry up.)

"Can I say something without you getting mad?" Kara asked them.

"You think Myriad is immoral," Astra said.

"Well yes, but its more about if you think Myriad would have worked on Krypton," Kara said, "I mean the planet exploded only a year after my parents told me you were dead… would we have had enough time to save the planet? Or should we have concentrated more on saving our people?"

"What do you mean?" Non asked as he walked towards her.

"It would have been hard, but we could have made a new world our home," Kara said, "We could have saved our people, our culture instead of just our planet."

Kara looked at the two and saw the same realization on their faces… that Krypton was beyond saving… but Kryptonians weren't.

00000

She finds out what happens to her friends. From Winn's death to James and Lucy's wedding. She wants to cry when she hears about that, about the baby they're expecting. She was so close. So close to having him love her, and now…

He doesn't even know who she is.

A part of Kara wants to use Myriad so he could love her, so he could be hers, but what does that say about her. So she leaves him be, lets him walk around her like she, and everyone else, doesn't exist, Myriad working in him.

She finds Alex's grave.

0000

Eliza buried Alex next to the small grave they put up for Jerimiah in the backyard. Kara flies over to the site and just sits there for several hours, just looking at the name. How much of Alex survived the crash? What were her last thoughts? Was she sure Kara wouldn't be found? If she saw her sister now…

Kara pretty much declares Alex's grave a holy site. That if anyone did anything to it they will pay.

(One tries and Kara asks Non to rip him apart. He does, surprisingly, and drops the body in the middle of Fort Rozz as a warning and no one tries again.)

00000

"There's a small resistance lead by the one called Maxwell Lord," Non tells her when she finds Astra and Non arguing in the control room.

"Oh, him," Kara mutters to herself.

"He's somehow found a way to block Myriad and has slowly been 'freeing' the humans to join him in opposing us," Astra says before glaring at Non, "And there is only one way he would have found out how to combat Myriad."

"Her name is Brainiac 8. She is a Coluan that helped us create Myriad," Non told her, ignoring the glare from Astra.

"Why would she help try to stop it if she helped create it?" Kara asked. She remembers the headaches everyone got as Myriad threatened to kill everyone.

"… She and Astra don't get along," Non told her after a long stretch of silence

"Ok? Why?" Kara asked.

"He had sex with her," Astra tells he before Non could answer. Kara's mouth fell open, not that they could see that. She never expected that!

"I told you. I was given the mission by the military council," Non told her in a voice that said that they've argued about this a lot.

"Oh, so they forced you to have relations with her," Astra asked, crossing her arms.

Non's head drops as he leans on his hands that were on top of the console, "Actually, since you forgot, yes they did."

This argument sounded very familiar.

"You were within your right to refuse the mission!" Astra started to yell.

"Everyone knew of her interest in me. I was the only one that could discover what she was planning!"

Yes, Kara sure she's heard this argument before, "That's why you left."

The two stopped arguing and turned to her. Non frowned and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I remember you two arguing about something on Krypton. I was hiding behind a couch. Non left and I didn't see him for years after that," Kara told them.

"You… you remember that?" Non asked.

Kara shrugged, "You told the best stories and the one day when I was staying over you didn't come to tell me my bedtime story."

Non stared at her with wide eyes before looking down again, "I did not think you would remember that. You were… very young when Astra and I stopped talking to one another."

"Yeah," Kara said before changing the subject, "Is there a way to overcome the ion blockers?"

Astra and Non frowned at her before looking at each other.

Why were… oh. They never told her how Max was blocking the Myriad signals. What were they thinking?

"We are not-

Pain ripped through her as her vision went completely green. A large sound echoed in her ears and she open her mouth to scr-

00000

End

00000

Hypoglycemia: AKA Low blood glucose. I gave Kara this because it just seems to make sense. With her extremely high metabolism, this just seemed logical.

Description of Kryptonite pain: I always wonder just what it felt like to be near Kryptonite. Was it like any other radiation that burns the flesh from your bones? Is the only reason it doesn't happen immediately because of the Supers' healing ability? What if when their powers run out. Is it their very physiology that is affected by Kryptonite or because of their powers that the radiation effects them? In the comics, Lex Luther gets cancer because of his years of being exposed to Kryptonite.

Kara's Background with Non: We got nothing from the actual show, so I'm throwing my own ideas in there. From what Non said in Ep 8, it sounds like he wasn't either really in her life, or stopped being in her life after a certain age. I choose the second one.

Non's history with Indigo: Again, we didn't get much background on that. Personally, I feel like they only threw in the infidelity to make us hate him more. Because if you really look at it, Non honestly looked like he loved Astra. I don't understand how someone could cheat in that situation, but I'm not married. What do I know?

Non and Astra being Nice: Before you go on about how Non would never be nice to Kara go back and watch the first two episodes of Season 1. Astra spoke like she was willing to kill Kara in episode 1 and fought her like she would in episode 2. Again, I feel like they only gave her a redemption arc because the actress couldn't keep playing the character. Otherwise, she would have been the big bad with Non. As for Non, I feel like Indigo manipulated him a lot those last two episodes. He didn't seem like he wanted to kill Kara or even hurt her, but Indigo convinced him to. And I feel like Kara could have gotten through to him using Astra's death if it wasn't for Cat, Max, and Indigo.