"Through fire we are reborn."

Seg cannot even begin to recall the countless times he has already heard these words before in his life, and yet, not once have they ever filled him with anything even remotely resembling the cold terror he is feeling right now.

For a moment there he was infected by Kem's happiness at seeing Ona return to the tavern, but the young girl's silent stance and the lack of familiarity in her eyes was enough to set off all the warning bells in his head. Only that they didn't ring loudly enough.

"What's wrong?" he asked, hesitating, and only now does he realise the terrible mistake he's made. That those precious seconds he wasted were enough to doom both Kem and himself, and probably Jayna-Zod as well, who is standing only a few feet away from them.

"Through fire we are reborn." Glowing markings illuminate the small face in the relative darkness of the room and Seg's eyes grow wide as the meaning of it all reveals itself to him. Ona is a bomb. A trap. An innocent child transformed into a deadly assassin, send to kill what little family she has left. He knows he has to do something to stop her, to save his best friend's life, but a part of him fears that it is already too late.

Seg instinctively positions himself between Kem and the little girl in front of them, but it's the only thing his shell-shocked mind can come up with right now. He briefly considers grabbing Ona and dragging her away from the others, but given her current state, he isn't sure that the slightest movement won't set her off right away. Not that it matters anymore, as the light coming from the letters on Ona's skin becomes ever brighter, indicating that she's close to reaching a critical point.

As Seg's eyes remain entirely focused on the girl who's about to kill them all, the sound of a familiar voice shouting reaches his ears. It's not a voice he expected to ever hear again, so at first his mind blocks it out, convinced it can't be real. After all, Adam isn't even on Krypton anymore. He has gone home, Seg was adamant about that.

His attention solely on Ona, he doesn't even see the figure rushing into the tavern before he is suddenly being pushed back hard, away from the danger. The dirty blond shock of hair is unmistakable and Seg knows it's him before they're even fully facing each other. Desperate blue eyes – yet full of conviction – meet his brown ones in a silent exchange right as an energy barrier appears between them. Adam is holding the Zeta Beam device in his hand and Seg can only stare back at him as he's being hit by an overwhelming sensation of both understanding and confusion all at the same time.

Of course he knows what Adam is doing, that he is protecting him and Kem from the explosion that's about to happen with the force field of his transportation device, and yet he has not the slightest idea why. Adam is supposed to be gone, away from Krypton, away from Zod, the Voice of Rao and from all the fighting. Out of his way, yes, and unable to interfere with them saving Krypton, but also safe and sound at home. Where he is absolutely not supposed to be is right here, standing between Seg and certain death, with only some unreliable, previously broken piece of tech to protect him.

Seg can see it in his eyes as they look at each other now. Adam isn't sure. He doesn't know whether he will live or die and this might just be the last time they will ever get to see each other. Seg wants to say something, to shout, really, and ask the crazy alien what in the name of Rao he is thinking, but then it's already too late. The moment between them is gone, interrupted by fire and a sound so deafening that it makes him feel like his eardrums are going to burst.

Seg turns away from the explosion and pushes Kem against the wall with his own body, shielding him as best he can. He can feel the blazing heat radiating through the back of his clothes, but the blast is not nearly as painful as he expected. It's not immediately evident, what with the fire and the noise all around them, but Adam's insanity actually seems to be working.

And then, just a few seconds later, it's all over. Gone. In fact, they both are. Seg turns around as Kem frees himself from his protective grip and there's no sign of Ona or Adam left in the room. None other than the smoke and ash billowing around them and the scorch marks on the ground, that is.

"Through fire we are reborn."

Once words of comfort, now the last cruel, taunting message of the maniac out to kill them all. Sweet innocent Ona gone, torn to pieces in what Seg can only assume was the Voice of Rao's plan. And Adam... disappeared. Probably dead as well. Without a body in sight, he obviously cannot be sure, but right now Seg simply cannot find it within himself to be hopeful about his friend's chances of survival.

His friend's...

"We're still friends, Seg." At the time, Adam's insistence in the tunnels outside Kandor has left him cold, but now Seg knows better. Of course they are!

As he lays his hand on Kem's shoulder in an effort to provide whatever comfort he can to his best friend – uncertain whether the other man is even aware of it – Seg tries not to let himself be overwhelmed by his own loss. A loss that has become so much more glaringly obvious, now that it's been forced into the light.

Through fire we are reborn.