Kara knew she was going to die.

It was a fact that did not scare her, it just was, and she had accepted her fate. Dying wasn't what she had imagined it to be. There was no warm white light or angels coming to welcome her, it simply felt slow and peaceful, like a dream. As she faded in and out of consciousness her life didn't flash before her eyes, instead her mind simply drifted. Ironically her mind went back to an event that had happened just three days earlier.

oOoOo

Kara walked up the familiar driveway in Smallville as she took in the sights around her. The day was warm and beautiful with a clear blue sky and fluffy white clouds that seemed endless. The air was filled with the smell of pine and freshly mowed grass and she sighed as she breathed in the atmosphere's aromas. Kara had traveled all over the galaxy and yet she had never found a planet quite as beautiful as Earth, it was truly a wonder and she had forgotten how much she had missed it. A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she approached the familiar white house complete with blue shutters and a charming rose garden out front. It amazed Kara how little the house had changed in over twenty-five years. It was the same house that her cousin used to stare at dreamily through his telescope for so long; it was Lana Lang's house. It had baffled Kara at the time that her cousin could be so infatuated by a mere human, but the more time Kara had spent with Lana the more she understood his reasoning's. Lana was kind and nurturing with a soul as pure and lovely as her hauntingly beautiful face. Clark had loved her. It wasn't the earth shattering, twin soul's kind of love he had eventually found with Lois, but it was a first love; a love that was founded upon childhood innocence and hope. Lana Lang would always be the girl next door.

Kara took a deep breath as she knocked on the door, she wasn't exactly sure what she was doing on Lana's doorstep but something inside Kara knew she would be the only one to understand, understand why Kara had left Earth in the first place. It was one of the hardest decisions Kara had ever had to make, to vanish and never look back, leaving the only family she had left in the Universe behind. Clark had been so angry and so hurt when she left; it had broken Kara's heart. Though as much as she loved Clark she felt she had to go, it was the only way to get out from underneath her cousin's shadow and embrace her own destiny.

Kara was not someone who cried but she could almost feel the tears beginning to form at the thought of her cousin, her beloved Kal-El. When she had learned of his disappearance she had scoured the entire galaxy trying to find him, but she did not find so much as a trace; it was like he simply stopped existing. She couldn't help but blame herself. It had been her mission to protect Kal-El and she had failed, all because of her own selfishness.

She quickly willed the tears away as she focused on the task at hand. She knocked on the door again and it swung open to reveal a beautiful young girl who Kara knew must be Lana's daughter; with the same angelic face and silky brown hair the young girl was a carbon copy of Lana.

"Can I help you?" the girl asked with a hint of caution

Kara almost laughed in spite of herself at the girls tone. It was the same inquisitive tone that Pete Ross used when he had a question, which was quite often. He had always been as precarious as he was stubborn and something told Kara it was a trait he had also instilled in his daughter.

"I'm here to see Lana Lang…I mean Lana Ross" Kara responded

"You're not a reporter are you?" she replied with obvious disdain

"No, I am not"

"Are you sure because with the whole Superman anniversary thing we've already gotten a few snoops hanging around here looking for a story"

Kara winced slightly at the name Superman. "I promise I'm not a reporter, I'm just an old friend of Lana's. You must be her daughter, Riley right?'

Riley raised an eyebrow as she took in Kara's appearance. Time was different in certain atmospheres so even though it had been over twenty-five years since Kara had been to Earth she still only looked to be in her twenties. Riley obviously found it strange that someone as young as Kara looked would be an "old friend" of her mothers.

"Your friend's with my Mom?" Riley replied suspiciously "How exactly do you know her?"

"What I meant was she was an old friend of my…uh Mother" Kara fumbled

Riley wasn't buying it and just as she was about to question Kara further a voice interrupted from the staircase. "Riley, who is it?"

"I don't know Mom, someone who says you were friends with her Mother" Riley replied

"What are you talking about friends with whom…?" Lana stopped mid-sentence as she saw Kara standing on the doorstep. Her face twisted with shock as all the color drained from her face. "Kara?" her voice croaked almost in a whisper.

"Hello Lana" Kara replied

Kara saw Lana's eyes graze over her like she was making sure she wasn't hallucinating. Kara took in the sight of her old friend. Though she was obviously older she looked just as stunning as Kara remembered her to be. Besides a few age lines that graced her face she still looked exactly like the small-town girl who had once stolen her cousin's heart.

"I can't believe it's you" Lana said her voice filled with disbelief

"It's been a long time" Kara replied

Riley watched the odd exchange curiously. She had a funny feeling there was something strange going on as she saw the look on her Mother's face.

"Well I'm headed over to the Kent's" Riley said to her Mother giving her a kiss on the cheek. Riley saw Kara's face perk up slightly at the mention of the Kent's which made Riley even more suspicious of the strange blonde visitor. She went over to Kara throwing her another curious look as she said "uh…nice not quite meeting you"

"It was nice to meet you too Riley" Kara said as Riley headed out the door. As soon as she was out of sight Kara said to Lana "She is beautiful. She looks just like you"

"Thanks" replied Lana still seemingly in shock. She motioned for Kara to come inside and the two women took a seat on the quilted living room couch. "You look…I mean you look…exactly the same"

"You still look the same too Lana"

"No I mean you still look exactly the same, I guess it must be the good Kryptonian genes"

"It has nothing to do with being Kryptonian, every planet has a different atmosphere that controls time and ageing. If I had stayed on Earth my ageing process would have been similar to yours, except the yellow sun once made me immune to sickness which would have prolonged my life greatly. We all age and die Lana, even Kryptonians"

"You mean Clark" Lana replied matter of fact

Kara's face fell. "Yes, even Clark. Just because someone is invincible it does not make them immortal"

"Is Clark dead?" Lana asked her voice heavy

"I do not know whether he is dead or alive" Kara said sadly "I did not sense his death but I have looked everywhere. I have found no trace of Kal El."

"He's been gone twenty years Kara. Why didn't you come back? First you just disappear without a trace, breaking Clark's heart in the process, and then you don't even come back when you were needed the most?" Lana said her tone angry. Her eyes began to tear slightly as she said "Without Superman this World became dark, and everyone needed something to believe in. We needed you"

"I understand why you are angry, but I had my reasons for leaving as well as not returning. Kal-El's destiny was to become Earth's greatest savior but I had my own purpose to fulfill, my own destiny"

"And what destiny was that?" Lana asked

Kara hesitated slightly. She did not really want to talk about the past but then she knew it was necessary if she was going to continue her purpose. "I could not save my home planet; it is a fact that I have to live with every day of my life. Things were different for Clark; he was raised on Earth and had no real memories of Krypton or his family. However, I knew Krypton as my home and I watched my own people turn against each other and destroy our planet. On Krypton I had no powers, I was just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life and I didn't know any different nor did I desire to. When Clark found me on Earth all those years later I was scared but I was also determined to make a new life for myself and find my purpose. Like Clark I too felt that I had been saved from my Planet's destruction for a reason, for something greater then myself. I suddenly had these incredible powers and with them came unimaginable freedom. It was the kind of invincibility that could go to your head and make you feel almost like a God. However, no matter how powerful I was or how much evil I fought, here on Earth I was just Clark's cousin. He was the one with the destiny, the one who was fated to save the World. The day he finally put on that red cape and stepped into the light to become the hero we always knew he would be was also the day I knew I wanted to do the same thing, but on my own terms"

Lana looked at Kara sternly. "On what terms? Why didn't you just put on your own cape and stand beside him?"

"Because you and I both know I wouldn't have been standing beside him, I would have been standing behind him. All of us in the JLA were heroes, but Clark he was more than that. I had all the same abilities as Clark, yet my powers could not even compare because I wasn't raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent. I didn't have the wonderfully true humanity instilled inside me, the amazing goodness and morality that radiated off every inch of Clark. On Krypton we could feel emotions like love and friendship but we were taught not to embrace them. I could never be the human's greatest savior because I did not understand what it meant to actually be human" Kara said with defeat trickling off her beautiful face

Lana took in Kara's deep blue eyes that looked so much like Clark's and she suddenly felt sorry for the lost alien girl. If anyone knew what it was like taking a backseat to the amazing Clark Kent it was Lana Lang. Still, it did not answer the question of where she had been all these years and why she looked so incredibly tired and defeated. Though Kara's perfect features had remained unchanged Lana could tell that this was not the same feisty blonde she had once known. The girl who sat next to her was just the shell of someone who had lost all hope.

"Where did you go Kara?" Lana asked softly

Kara gazed out the window seemingly lost in thought before she responded. "My Father used to tell me bedtime stories before I went to sleep. I enjoyed all of his stories but there was one in particular that had always been my favorite. It was the story of a Planet called Sperosolis, or the Sun of Hope. Like Earth this planet was infused with a yellow sun, a sun that would give a Kryptonian power beyond their wildest dreams. The beings on Sperosolis were advanced like Kryptionians, yet they were more emotional like humans. However, unlike Earth or Krypton the Planet Sperosolis struggled to survive due to its harsh atmospheric conditions. The Spersoloians began to lose hope that their Planet could be saved. Then by a pure twist of a fate a young Kryptoninan woman had managed to find her way to Sperosolis which was almost an impossible feat, but this girl had travelled the Universe and had somehow found her way. Using the power of the yellow sun she was there savior, when all was lost she was the light. They called her Eximus Puella"

"Super Girl" said Lana

Kara smiled. "You know your Latin. Yes, they called her Super Girl and she was there greatest hero"

Lana was beginning to understand "so this bedtime story, it wasn't just a story was it?"

Kara smiled again. "No it was my destiny. I left Earth in the capable hands of other heroes, and I went off to save another World, which is where I have been for these many years"

"Clark would have understood, why didn't you just tell him that instead of disappearing without letting him know where you were going?" Lana asked

"You know how Clark could be, he already put so much responsibility on himself and if he knew there was another planet out there that needed saving he would have tried. That wouldn't have been fair to him; he had so much here on Earth. He had the Daily Planet, the JLA, the Farm, and he had Lois. He struggled for so long to find happiness and I wasn't about to take him away from it"

Kara saw Lana's face fall slightly at the comment. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean he wasn't happy with you Lana"

Lana smiled warily. "It was a long time ago. We were so young, practically kids"

"He did love you Lana" Kara said truthfully

"I know he did" she sighed. "No matter how long it's been since he's been gone, I still haven't quite come to terms with it. Whenever I hear the phone ring or a knock at the door, even though it's only for a moment, I think it's going to be someone telling me he's ok. I constantly feel guilty about it, because I don't just want him back for the sake of the World; I want him back for me. I know that must sound selfish to you, especially given my history with him."

"It doesn't sound selfish Lana, it just sounds honest" Kara responded

"I really do have a wonderful life" Lana said whole heartedly. "I have a husband who I love and a beautiful little girl who has grown into an incredible young woman, I'm extremely lucky. Still, there is always this small part of me that wonders what if. What if I hadn't broken up with Clark? What would my life have been like if I had stayed with him?"

"Why didn't you? I mean I know it all worked out in the end so it's pretty much circumstance but I always wondered. Clark never really wanted to talk about it." Kara said

"I was scared" Lana replied honestly "I was never like the rest of you heroes, I never sought out the weird and unexplained it just always seemed to find me. I always knew Clark was different, that he was special but I never allowed myself to see the truth about him that was right in front of my face. When he finally told me his secret, while I was relieved, I was also terrified. I did love him, but I loved the boy next door with the big heart. It was the crime fighting alien part of him that I just couldn't quite accept. I was young and selfish and I wanted a normal life with a family and a home and I knew that even though Clark said that was what he wanted too, he would never be that for me. I had to let him go. If I had allowed him to stay with me for my own selfish reasons he never would have become Superman, and what kind of world would that have been? I guess Clark and I were just never meant to be, I held him back, and Lois was the one who moved him forward."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Maybe you weren't the girl meant to fly high in the sky with Superman, but you helped shape the boy who became him. All of you did. The Kent's, Pete, Chloe, even Lex Luthor, you all inspired the hero inside him. As much as we may want to put our boy scout on some God-like Pedestal, we have to remember he was just as flawed as the rest of us. He never would have achieved the things he did on his own." Kara said with a fierce look in her eye.

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit either. Maybe none of us do. We have always been so used to giving all the credit to Clark" Lana replied

The two women looked at each other and an understanding passed through them both. They both understood that they had been holding on to the memories of the past, blaming themselves for things that weren't important. The only thing that mattered was somehow moving on and to continue to fight for the greater good in their own way.

"You still haven't told me what brought you back here. If you were really this other Planet's hero, then why did you leave?" Lana asked

A prickly sensation welled up in Kara's eyes as she thought about Sperosolis. "I came back because this was the only place left I had to come back too. Sperosolis was destroyed, just like Krypton. I failed to save both planets" She said with utter despair "I had to come back to Earth to stop it from suffering the same fate, I cannot watch a third home of mine succumb to this evil. I only hope I am not too late"

Lana looked at the fire in Kara's eyes and a chill ran up her spine. "What are you talking about? Too late for what?"

"Too late for the end of Earth as we know it" Kara said seriously

Lana thought about how many times she heard that phrase uttered in her lifetime. Working alongside super heroes she had faced her share of world ending apocalypses and unspeakable evil, it was fact she had grown used too. She had looked death in the face so many times, only to be miraculously saved. However, looking at the Super Girl in front of her she felt that this was something different. She got the sense that maybe her luck was going to run out and this time the evil would prevail. Lana had always felt such belief in her heroes but suddenly she felt the hope disappear and all that was left was fear.

"Tell me what's coming Kara?" Lana asked wanting the truth

"It's not like anything this planet has ever faced. There is ancient belief that in order for a planet to be created it has to have a balance of good and evil. However, eventually the balance has to shift to one side and only the more powerful will survive. Every planet has a foreseen demise and it is because in the end the evil has always won out. The evil creates a monster that will eventually destroy the planet and all who inhabit it" said Kara

"So you think this monster thing destroyed Krypton and Sperosolis and is now headed to Earth?" Lana asked

"The monster is already here Lana. It has always been here. Since there has always been a balance of good and evil every person has both good and evil inside of them. The monster makes sure the evil in all of us dominates, creating chaos. It destroys all that is good, meaning we destroy ourselves"

"I don't understand"

"The monster doesn't destroy the planet, we do. On Krypton the evil took over by taking away hope and eventually it led to a Civil War. The Kryptonians destroyed themselves. The same thing happened on Sperosolis, though I tried to keep giving them hope and tried to stop them from destroying themselves, eventually they turned against me and they too eventually blew up their own planet."

"So you're saying that humans are going to destroy Earth?"

"Yes. It's already started Lana. There is so much War, genocide and unspeakable acts of evil happening on this Planet every day. The monster has already begun to take over."

"How do we stop it?" asked Lana

Kara sighed. "I don't know. I wasn't able to fight it and it nearly destroyed me. I have heard rumors of a prophecy that says one hero; a man from two Worlds with god-like abilities has the power destroy the monster for good, not only saving his planet but all future planet's."

"Clark?" Lana asked her hope returning slightly

"It could be. It certainly sounds like Superman, only I still have no idea how to find him. Then another thought crossed my mind, what if the hero in this story is Clark and Lois's son?"

"JP?" Lana questioned "It can't be him; he doesn't have any sort of powers. Pete and I have kept an eye on him his whole life and he has always been normal"

"No, that can't be right. I saw JP a few days ago, and I could sense his power immediately" Kara said matter of fact

"What do you mean you saw JP? How did you find him? What did you tell him?" Lana asked sounding slightly frantic

"I could sense JP's presence as soon as I got to Earth, a connection I could also feel with Clark but somehow lost. It's a Kryptonian instinct. Don't worry Lana, I did not tell him anything of importance. I just knew I had to see him; he is my family after all. I don't understand how he could not have powers? I was so sure" Then suddenly Kara's face lit up with understanding as she said "Jor-El. Of course."

"Jor-El? What are you talking about?" Lana asked not usually liking anything that had to do with Clark's disgruntled biological father

"After Sperosolis was destroyed I used my crystal to get back to the fortress. Without the yellow son to recharge I was powerless to return to Earth. I had to make a deal with Jor-El in order to return" Kara said

"How were you able to get to the fortress? Oliver tried using Clark's key when he disappeared in hopes Jor-El would help us find him but it was like the fortress ceased to exist"

"There is an emergency back-up instilled in the Fortress database if it senses danger. Once the back-up is in place it allows only someone from the House of El to enter" said Kara

"What kind of deal did you have to make with Jor-El in order to come back here?" asked Lana

"Jor-El was disappointed in my inabilities to save Sperosolis" Kara said sadly "So he told me the only way he would return me to Earth was to return as a human. He took away my powers Lana. If he took them away he had to put them somewhere, everything has to have a balance"

"Do you think he gave them to JP?" Lana asked with disbelief in her voice

"It's possible. All I know is that we have to find a way to defeat this monster before it allows human's to destroy Earth. Without Clark, JP may be our only hope"

Lana shut her eyes briefly as she tried to absorb all the information that had been thrown at her. She thought about JP, she loved him like a son and did not want to see this kind of burden thrown on his shoulders. She thought of her daughter. She saw how she looked at JP. It was the same look Lana used to have herself when she looked at Clark, like he could walk on water. She didn't want this life for Riley. She didn't want her to have to face the responsibility that came with the knowledge of the World's darkest secrets. However, Lana also knew that she couldn't be selfish any longer. She was no longer the doe eyed naïve girl she had once been. She wouldn't allow her hope to be compromised or fear to take over, she would fight it. She looked at Kara and asked "What's next? We should probably call Oliver and let him know your back and tell him what's going on"

Kara shook her head. "I don't want the others to know I'm back just yet. I don't want to put everyone in harm's way until it's absolutely necessary. I'm the only one who has gone up against this thing before and I think I can hone in on its path"

"Kara it's too dangerous for you to face this thing alone. Your powerless remember, you need our help" said Lana

"I know but the JLA does not trust me right now, which I cannot blame them, I abandoned them too. I cannot make the same mistakes this time around. I'm not afraid of dying Lana, not if it means protecting Earth. You have to trust my judgment on this right now and not tell a soul, even Pete, that I'm back. The JLA is already aware something is looming in the horizon and they are already beginning to strategize. I will reveal myself when I have some more information on the Monster's whereabouts. Please promise me you won't tell anyone" Kara pleaded

Lana took in Kara's pleading eyes and said "I promise…"

oOoOo

Kara's eyes fluttered open as she continued to lye bleeding on the Kent's living room floor. She saw Lana's distraught face as she whispered "Kara?" and Kara just looked at her trusted friend and said "I'm not afraid Lana"

Lana began to cry softly as she continued to stroke Kara's golden hair. "You have to hold on Kara, you have to fight. We need you"

"She's lost too much blood" said the voice of Dr. Emil Hamilton. He looked at Lana and said "I'm sorry but there is nothing more I can do"

Kara gave Lana a reassuring smile and she nodded in return, squeezing Kara's hand. Kara then looked over at the young man who had tried so gallantly to save her; she looked into the eyes of her own flesh and blood her voice hazy as she said "Kal-El"

JP had tears in his eyes as he gazed down at Kara and said "No my name is JP, remember we met at the library last week. I'm not Kal-El"

Kara just smiled again as she reached up and touched JP's face. "Use the crystal, it will show you the way. It's all up too you now"

"What are you talking about? Use the crystal for what? What's up to me?" JP asked frantically

Kara was no longer listening. Instead she finally began to see the white light as it wrapped around her. She saw her Mother and her Aunt Laura smiling at her as they held out here arms beckoning her to join them. They looked so beautiful. She then saw the faces of all the people, humans and Sperosolians alike whose lives Kara had saved. Kara smiled as her eyes began to close. Her soul left the World to the sounds of their victorious chanting of one word:

Supergirl.