DISCLAIMER: Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling.

Darkness Descends

The pain inside her head was excruciating. She had two voices battling for control of her deep first one was telling her to destroy her friends and end the life of the man she loved for his betrayal. It was this voice that she tried to push out of her mind. She tried to remind herself of how much her friends had put up with in the past in order to protect her. How much Ethan had done to save her when she had almost died. These were not people who wished to do her harm.

"Get out of my head!" she screamed as she spun out of control while flying. The voices were getting louder with the passing of time. So loud that it had turned into a tormenting pain for her.

"Ethan doesn't love you. He wants to hurt you. He wants to kill you so he can go with Lucy. All his past decisions were wrong. He has seen that now. Kill them both! They don't deserve to live!" an evil sounding version of her own voice was echoing in her thoughts.

"I won't do it! I won't hurt my friends! No!" she screamed as she struggled to regain control of her flying.

"You have to! You want to stay alive? Then destroy them!"

"No! I would rather die!"

"Then die you shall Kara... die you shall!" she felt as if her brain was going to explode.

She held her temples as she tried to stay conscious. Closing her eyes and standing up in mid-flight, she began grasping and pulling on her long blond locks in an effort to relieve the pressure that threatened to tear her apart.

Trying to regain control of her senses, Kara pushed herself to remember when she first started feeling this way. When did the voices start? After she had grabbed the gemstone on the ring. After the rash that now covered and reached up to the middle of her arm appeared. The ring had something to do with it. Taking hold of the object on her finger, she poured all her effort into taking it off. She spun into aerial cartwheels in an effort to force it off but nothing happened.

Hurling through the sky while battling the pain, Kara wished there were some kryptonite on hand that she could stab herself with in order to end her suffering. Maybe Kal-El, Ethan, and everyone else would be better off without having to constantly worry about her after all.

Weakened by the mental anguish,she could not steer herself out of the thunderstorm forming above the clouds. Flying directly into the path of a thunder strike, she was hit square on the back, knocking her unconscious body out of the sky.

**********

They had slept in shifts, taking turns watering the Virtus seeds every 3 hours while it sat over a flaming charcoal pot. The instructions were clear, they had to plant the seeds together with the amulet that they were going to use to make Kara face her pain. It was difficult to awaken every 3 hours even though Clark kept the coffee coming and insisted that he did not need any sleep. Such was the schedule that they would have to keep for the next 24 hours if they were to have a prayer of saving Kara from herself.

The clock struck 9 AM. Clark excused himself to go back to the school to formally get the girls excused from school for a few days. He would worry about dealing with the Lane's later. The important thing now was to get everything ready for the battle that lay ahead of them.

Jimmy was just about to knock on the door when Clark opened it. "Lois asked me to come over with breakfast."

"They need that more than I do." Clark said showing Jimmy in.

"Could you hang around and lend them a hand till I get back? I have to go to the school for a bit." he requested Jimmy who was setting the food down on a table before the sleeping pair of friends.

"No problem. I called in sick with Perry today."

"Thanks. Oh, wake up those two in an hour. Have them show you what to do." Clark instructed loudly as he walked towards the door.

**********

Ethan left Lucy and Jimmy to tend to the plants. He was going through Linda's dresser drawers looking for her small box of memories. In order to make the plant flourish at exactly noon, the spell called for the crushing of the person's childhood hair into the soil. After which the plant would grow to full size and blossom in a few moments. The effect would help the afflicted remember the past and offer a glimpse into the future.

"Got it!" he said triumphantly when he found the S-emblem bearing box at the bottom of her shirt drawer. Now the problem was how to open it. It would only open up for Kara as far as he could tell. He remembered that she had to touch the palm of her hand to the outline on top of the box before it would open to full size and reveal its contents.

"One problem down." he announced dropping the box in front of Lucy at the dining table. Jimmy was feeding more coal bricks into the stove while Linda showered the soil with more water. There was a green bulb beginning to show above the dark potting soil. He glanced at his watch. They had 2 more hours to go.

"Jimmy, pass me that piece of paper." Lucy told him indicating the instruction sheet from Nigel that was being held down by the coffee pot.

Reading the rest of the instructions, Lucy decided that she and Jimmy would have to leave Ethan to keep up the watering of the seed and feeding the flame so that they could get the necessary "fresh water from a source that has not passed through a water pipe." That closest source would be the Midvale Lake.

"Take the box with you. If you see Linda, figure out a way to get her to touch the box and come back here as soon as you can."

"Why does it have to be here childhood hair! I really doubt that Linda would be willing to touch this for me right now." Lucy complained.

"Well if Clark could do it, we would not need to have Linda would we?" Ethan was being sarcastic.

"Whatever." Lucy snatched the box from him.

"I just have this gut feeling that Linda is out there watching us." Ethan explained.

**********

Kara had fallen face first onto the ground near Midvale Lake. The sounds she heard as she came to scared her. She opened her eyes and saw a huge rat in front of her trying to nibble on the ring. She drew herself upright and ran. When she looked back again, a gray furry rabbit was sitting where she had seen the rat.

"I am going crazy! I need help! " Kara cried out. Almost immediately, the voices were back. Hearing familiar voices by the edge of the forest, she peeked from within the bushes and saw Lucy scooping up water with Jimmy holding the water jug open.

"Now is your chance Kara. Tell Jimmy. He needs to know." the voice coming from the recesses of her mind prodded.

"No! You are wrong!" she shouted loudy, catching the attention of the pair.

"That was Linda." Jimmy said. The voice was even louder now. Who was Linda arguing with?

"We've got to help her." Lucy said without a second thought. Dropping the dipper, she pulled Jimmy towards where they heart the voice.

"Give me the box.' she told him.

Kara was locked in a battle with herself. She saw a shadowy image suddenly attack her as she tried to shake the voices out of her head. The entity held her neck in a lock. Strangling her as tightly as possible. Kara was trying to fight it off. Rolling all over the ground and slamming into the trees.

What Jimmy and Lucy saw proved to them that the psychosis was getting worse. Linda was strangling herself with her own bear hands. Lucy reached her first and pried Kara's hands off while Jimmy tried to hold her down.

"Lucy! Help! I don't know what's wrong with me!" she cried out in a moment of sanity.

"Kara! Stay with us Kara!" Lucy cried out as she watched her friend's eyes roll within its sockets. Jimmy continued to hold her down as best as he could while her body convulsed.

Her attitude had changed completely by the time the convulsions were over. Her eyes looked like she had not slept in weeks, clothes were soaked with sweat even though she did not normally wet her clothes due to her different metabolism. She opened her eyes and laughed diabolically at them.

"Do you really think you can hold me down Jimmy?" She held his leg nearest to her and shoved him backwards. The impact of his body on the tree sent chunks of tree bark flying through the air. He writhed in pain. His spine had hit with such tremendous force that he felt like his back had broken in at least 3 places.

"Did you know that Lucy was cheating on you Jimmy?" she told him while he reeled from the impact.

"Kara, I never did anything of the sort!" Lucy defended herself while she ran to Jimmy's side to tend to him.

"Oh no? I saw you with Ethan. You were kissing him! And what about the card he gave you?" She came over and picked up Lucy with one hand by her throat so that she could not answer. Tossing her aside, she slammed into a boulder that was sticking out of the ground. Lucy felt the ligaments in her arm tear. She screamed in burning pain. Linda was walking towards her. Ready to hurl her once again.

This was her chance. Holding the box upright in front of her, she grabbed Linda's hand before it could touch her and slammed it onto the box. It reacted instantaneously.

"What did you do?" Kara asked in surprise, totally not recognizing her heritage box. Feeling a sudden rush of fear she turned and kicked upwards to fly away from them.

"Kara, where are you going?" Lucy wanted nothing more than to stop her friend from running.

"To find Kryptonite and be with my parents!" Kara shouted as she disappeared with a sonic boom.

"We need to get to the hospital." Jimmy was panting his words in weakness.

"First, we need to get these things to Clark and Ethan." Lucy said holding onto her injured arm as she tried to get up.

**********

Clark flew the injured to the hospital and returned to see Ethan almost finished with the preparations for the potion and amulet.

The seed came to full bloom as he watered it at exactly noon. The yellowish brown blossom had the petals of a daisy formed like a rose blossom. The green gel like center held the pollens that he was to mix with the washing of the charcoal ashes and drink in order to gain the equivalent of super human strength.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? I think you forgot to read the fine print" Clark asked him.

Ethan took the instructions from him and read the bottom of the page.

"The power will last only 2 hours. If you fail to subdue the inner demon of the possessed at the end of 2 hours, the elixir shall turn into a poison within you. Releasing your own inner demon to feed upon your soul resulting in a slow and painful death."

He could die. Was he willing to die to save Kara? There was no doubt in his mind as to the answer. Yes.

"Here goes nothing." Ethan said putting the smoking glass to his lips. It tasted like cigarette ashes. He almost threw up the first few gulps of the tonic. He will never be able to explain how he was able to hold down the full glass.

"Do you feel anything?" Clark asked him.

"Nothing." Ethan replied sadly. He had failed.

"Maybe it just takes a little time." Clark said trying to pacify him.

"Kara doesn't have time! I have to save her! She is all I have Clark! She is my family and my life!" Ethan punched the table top and broke it in half. A look of shock crossed his face.

"Oh yeah, I think you are super now." Clark patted him on the shoulder.

"Now you go to the backyard and learn how to control that power and make it fast. Let me work on the amulet."

"I already worked on that while you took them to the hospital. Let's not waste time Clark." Ethan pleaded. He produced the necklace he had given Kara for her birthday from his back pants pocket.

"Alright. Are you ready to take flight?" Clark was amazed at the bravado that Ethan was displaying.

Ethan headed to the backdoor and opened it. "After you Superman."

**********

Nothing could compare to the feeling Ethan had while he soared through the skies with Superman. So this was how it felt to take flight. He felt so free and happy up in the clouds. It was no wonder that Kara loved to fly every chance she got.

He wondered how strange he looked wearing his everyday clothes next to a Superman. They were flying high enough not to be seen by the townsfolk because there would be no way to explain how the town gardener was able to fly like Superman.

"Where do we look for her?" he asked Superman.

"Lucy said Kara told her she was going to find green Kryptonite so she can be with Zor-El and Alura. There is only one place she might be able to find that."

"The farm. She is going to dig up the earth to look for Kryptonite." Ethan replied grimly.