Icarus (author's ending)
Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.
Summary: Author's ending 1/3.
WARNING: VIOLENCE AND MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH.
Kara grunted, wincing, coughing up blood that built up in the back of her throat.
The spear ripped clean through the middle of Kara's torso and was beginning to blacken, indicating that Eclipso's soul was being trapped within it.
Lucy's hands trembled, increasing in motion until they shook so much that she loosened her grip on the spear. She looked at her palms, wet and red from the sanguine fluid that flowed from the stem of the lance.
"Told you I'd come back," Kara said, forcing a painful laugh, "I promised."
Then she fell on her side, the lance still impaled through her body.
"No...no, no, no, no... Please, no!" Lucy's panic sank in and she quickly grasped the handle of the holy weapon once again, "K-Kar...I'm going t-to take this out. Don't move."
The blonde was too weak to even nod.
The soldier tugged slightly and the gravely injured woman flinched, letting out a garbled screech, more blood falling from her lips.
Lucy took a deep breath and exhaled, a hideous sound came when she extracted the blade from the flesh of her body.
The blonde groaned and began to hyperventilate, she was clearly trying to hold back an agonizing scream.
Then when it was halfway out, it became lodged.
"Shit," Lucy cursed, her eyes darting alternatively between Kara's pained expression and the weapon.
She noticed that one of the prongs was unable to get past a still intact rib and had a dreadful thought.
It's stuck and it's definitely not going to budge...I have to twist it around, adjust it until it has an opening.
The brunette could not leave the weapon in either, it had the same effects of Kryptonite and caused profound cell regression.
"Kara...I'm going to have to...move the spear to a more...comfortable spot so I can slide it out."
The blonde hoarsely chuckled and croaked out, "'Comfortable'."
Lucy released a sound that was a cross between a dry laugh and a whimper, "I'm sorry."
The weapon was readjusted several times due to her fumbling hands, and the wounded hero gritted her teeth, pressing her lips into a thin line and clenching her fists. Her breathing became more ragged, wheezing, and she was trying to gulp in as much oxygen as possible for her one lung that was not stabbed through.
Kara choked a gasp when it was fully removed and yelped in pain when the brunette flipped her on her back and pressed her hands firmly onto the large open wound to staunch the profuse bleeding.
"Hey," Lucy whispered gently, "Hey, stay still, you're going to be fine. Help's on the way."
The hero's forehead creased, her brows furrowing, "It's not...not your fault."
"Don't talk like that!" the Lane snapped, then gritted her teeth, rephrasing herself, "Be quiet..."
Then it suddenly occurred to her.
"You...you came back and...and you let this happen?"
Kara frowned, "When I regained consciousness...I had to make a decision in less than a split second... I would've killed you if I hadn't let the spear kill me instead."
"How dare you... How could you..."
The injured alien noticed that Lucy was attempting to cover her puffy, reddened eyes with her draping hair, so the blonde excruciatingly lifted her arm to brush the strands behind the woman's ear.
"Don't cry..." she pleaded, stroking her wet cheek.
Kara was a hypocrite. They both shared the same misty eyes and facial expressions: hurt, worry, despair, anger...love...
Lucy cradled the Kryptonian in her arms, "Please don't leave me. I love you. I love you so much."
"Zhao khap rrip."
She cried out at the Kryptonese phrase, recalling that it was a declaration of love, "Please don't! You can't do this to me! This isn't the end!" then she sniffed, "I've...I've been practicing."
"Practicing...what?"
Lucy's lips trembled, "Nim rrip I zrhemin?"
Kara shed several tears, finding the accent endearing, knowing that the brunette had spent forever learning the tonal inflections, "Yes...of course I'll marry you..."
The voice was softer and lighter than a whisper, Lucy almost missed it because she was crying.
Then, "El mayarah..."
"Stronger together," the brunette translated, her voice shaky.
She nodded.
The last thing Kara remembered was Eclipso's words...
"You're not allowed to save her."
The tips of her lip curved to a slight upturned smile.
But I did... Maybe not from this ordeal...but she'll heal...in time...
Kara's hand fell from her lover's face, the remaining stars fading from her eyes, rendering it void of the liveliness she once gave the world.
The last thing she saw was the bright light of the rising sun and Alura's figure reaching out to her, with Astra, Kal-El, and Zor-El by her side.
"Welcome home," her mother said, flashing a sweet smile.
Kara wrapped her in a tight hug and proceeded to do the same with her father and her aunt.
"We've been waiting for you," Clark grinned, pulling her into his embrace.
"It's nice to see you again, Kal..."
Together, they all entered the rapture of Rao's light.
Lucy cried out, her anguish apparent, her jittering hands folding over the lids of the lifeless eyes. She leaned her face into the crook of Kara's neck, the sunny yellow tresses tickling her skin; her usual scent of vanilla and strawberry was tainted by the iron odor of the blood. Her hand clutched the emblem on the super suit, the other moved through the gored and matted blonde hair to caress Kara's paled cheeks.
The brunette's sobs transitioned into tormented wails.
Limping footsteps approached her, she lifted her head up and wiped the blurriness from her eyes to see Alex and J'onn slowly approaching.
At the sight of her little sister, the agent rushed as fast as she could to her side.
Several emotions flashed across her face: anger, denial, hopelessness, grief.
J'onn as well. He was standing off a little way away, silent tears dripping down his face.
Soon, Alex was joining Lucy in mourning.
The world was shaken, numbed by Supergirl's sacrifice. Like her cousin, a memorial was held for lament, complemented with a vigil to commemorate the selflessness of the world's two most beloved heroes.
Then a funeral for Kara Danvers was conducted for friends and family.
In its path stood Alex and Eliza, who were filled with pure agony.
Then Martha, who endured the loss of her niece with them, with Lois by her side as well.
Finally, Lucy, who bore the unique yet excruciating burden of the pain alone.
After the wake, she rolled her wheelchair towards the grave's headstone and just sat there for what seemed like forever, scrolling her eyes over the engraved writing repeatedly.
"In loving memory of Kara Danvers... You've been the sun of our lives. Our prayers will be the sun that lights your journey home. We'll remember you every dawn and await the night to join you in the sky."
"Rao's will be done..." Lucy whispered to herself, finishing the last sentence of the Kryptonian prayer.
A warm and friendly hand graced the brunette's back palm, she startled from her downcast eyes.
"Sorry," Alex apologized, squeezing her fingers, then moving behind the wheelchair, "Ready to go?"
Lucy hesitated, reluctant to leave, "Yeah... Let's go..."
The aftermath of the traumatic event was unbearable for everyone with a deeply personal relationship with Kara.
Cat took the death particularly well on the outside, but when she was alone and ran out of ink or needed papers filed, she always caught herself in the middle of calling out for her former assistant. It was those moments she regretted not referring the blonde by her name correctly.
Her youngest son, Carter, was quite perturbed by the news, bewildered. He was always unsettled when he noticed his mother's confoundment when she needed assistance with anything.
Winn had no one to geek out with over alien technologies, spacecraft, along with any scientific mumbo jumbo. He could not tell her how excited he was that NASA was developing a rocket that would transport humans to Mars; though he knew she would not be interested as Krypton was much more advanced, he definitely was, and if she were alive he would not have hesitated to invite the super gang, and maybe even J'onn as well if he wanted to come along.
James almost never took any photos anymore, and scrapped any prints that even reminded him of the caped crusaders in any way.
Eliza often looked to the night sky, dearly hoping there was a heaven that existed for Jeremiah and Kara to rest in peace.
J'onn reminisced about his biological daughters, how they died at the hands of the White Martians. Then he thought about Kara, and experienced that very same pain all over again. Then he thought of Agent Danvers, who retracted into a shell of her former self, lost and confused.
Alex had no sister to confide her secrets to, to binge watch television shows with, to eat ice cream and sweets with, to stuff her face full of delicacies and be beaten by the alien every single time with. Her sister was no longer there to steal the last piece of pizza or potsticker while she attempted to snatch one of them back in vain, no longer there to threaten to melt her face off if she did not get the last piece.
Before Lucy recovered physically from the ordeal, she fell into a slump and resorted to alcoholism; days and nights were spent in isolation, mostly of hangovers and the putrid smell of ethanol that stung her nose and bloodshot eyes. Whenever she was too short to reach for something in the cabinets, she would habitually look behind her for...her. Then her expression would darken.
The brunette eventually became sober at Lois's insistence, her requests remained constant: go to a rehabilitation center and get cleaned up, then acquire some therapy to fix, or stitch up, what was left of her sanity. Her persistence was admirable, and she did it. Successfully. But it did nothing to help with the psychological brunt of the pain, especially since there were so many reminders.
Mrs. Carlsen from across the hall had noticed the relative silence and stench of alcohol, who knocked on the door to ask if everything was all right. The shock on her face with the news was expected, so were the many apologies and condolences spewing out of her mouth. Lucy would always tell herself that it was not the other people who were at fault. She would tell herself that when most humans were faced with loss indirectly, they could think of nothing more than to vomit a bunch of words of consolation and solace for the awkward situation. She just blocked them out at this point.
It had been a while since Lucy actually somewhat relaxed; she and J'onn often busied themselves with D.E.O. paperwork, Alex was always on a mission or the shooting range, Lois was in Metropolis, and everyone else had sort of...moved on.
Lucy despised it, that Winn and James and Cat and Carter had let go so easily, from her perspective at least. It had been a few months and most people usually recovered from loss within that span of time. However, the brunette felt it was too short, and could not help but feel bitterness swelling inside of her every time she looked at them.
Winn and Carter were great friends and began to spend more time together.
James went right back into photography and even experienced a bit of writing and editing.
Cat hired a new assistant, and was less mean and pronounced her name correctly.
Truly though, Lucy hated herself. She wanted to move on, but at the same time she could not bring herself to let go.
She wanted to forget. Yes, that was it. No memories meant no pain. No more imagining Kara's blood dripping from her hands, no more obsessively washing them until they became red and sore, until her very bones ached. No more feeling or thinking about Kara's dried blood under her fingertips. No more wishing that it should have been herself instead. No more of the stark phenomenon of Kara's mortality. No more crying herself to sleep every night. No more of the unwillingness to listen to Kara's favorite song.
No more.
Sometimes she just wanted the blonde's very existence erased from her mind.
That thought always seemed so very appealing whenever she came home.
Asa would eagerly sniff the floor for that familiar sweet scent. Mu would creep along the hallways to look around. They would do it for so long until they gave up, heads hanging, and returned into the apartment. Their loyalty never faltered each passing day, they refused to register the failure.
Lucy would always coax them back inside.
One day, the pets stopped their routine, opting to lay on the bed, the bed that was void of Kara's warmth. They accepted the fact that one of their mothers was gone. Asa often whimpered and whined in the middle of the night. Mu was always squaring the perimeter, almost as if he was paranoid something else would take the rest of his family away.
After a long year, Lucy finally found it in herself to visit Kara's grave. It was a bright afternoon, the spring equinox passed a few days ago and the grass was already so green and lush, and the flowers were already budding into beautiful blossoms.
Lucy trekked her way to the stone and sat herself down, carefully placing the box that held the necklace charm she made into the small hole she dug and buried it.
A tear escaped from her eye, trickling down her cheek until it dripped on top of the heap of dirt housing the jewel.
"El mayarah..." Lucy whispered.
Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.