Author's Note: HUGEEEEEE gigantic massive thank you to the wonderful InfiniteGalaxiez for inspiring/prompting this fanfiction. I really needed that extra boost of creative juices to get this rolling… this, of course, being my VERY FIRST multichap Willara/Sundey fanfiction!

Here are some things you should know:

1) This takes place soon after episode 6x02 BUT…

2) Kara's father isn't a part of the story; maybe he was just a Phantom hallucination like I theorize he might be cannonically, or maybe he just doesn't exist for the sake of this fanfic. And…

3) Much of William's backstory is still the pre-crisis version, with his reluctance to let Kara in on the Rojas investigation and all that.

I think that's it. Now strap in, my small but beautiful group of Willara fans, and enjoy the story!

I know that when I wake up

There's gonna be be seven texts and three calls to you

And I'm not gonna know what to do

Julia Michaels, "Don't Wanna Think"

First came the hurt.

William wasn't sure exactly what he'd done, and that was the worst of it. Kara had been completely radio silent for almost four days now, ignoring numerous calls and even more texts. William had left messages, he'd gone for the serious angle by just up and asking if there was something the matter, he'd even tried Facebook messenger and Instagram DMs but he got absolutely nothing in return.

After the hurt came the worry.

Nia claimed that everything was fine, but William knew that Kara must not be answering her either because he could see the bags under her eyes growing deeper every day. Part of that could have been due to Brainy, who William had only ever heard Kara talk about but who Nia had mentioned being recently injured.

At least he was answering her texts.

Something had to be wrong. William knew that deep down, there was no story. Why would Cat Grant, after years of distancing herself from CatCo, suddenly call Kara up to chase down a story together? And on top of that, why would Kara agree to go? She knew how critical things were getting with Lex, and with the amount of pressure she'd put on William to get included in his investigation, it seemed just plain odd that she'd drop off the face of the Earth just when things were starting to get somewhere.

After the worry came the fear.

William knew firsthand how dangerous Lex Luthor could be. He had dozens of contract killers ready to do his bidding, a hundreds of ways to cover his tracks. If he'd managed to avoid getting convicted in one of the most cut-and-dry cases William had ever seen, he could manage anything. As the days stretched into weeks, William began to realize that Kara's disappearance wasn't just odd, it was alarming.

William had warned Kara of the danger of going up against Lex from the very beginning. At the same time, he'd never actually expected that something would happen, not when they had each others backs. But somewhere between Eve capturing him and getting shot, William had managed to lose track of the one person he felt he needed to protect above all else, even himself.

The one thing that kept him from fully thinking that Lex had something to do with Kara's disappearance was Nia. If she knew Kara was gone, why would she keep pushing the far-fetched story that she was off on an investigation with Cat? William would have thought that she would go to the authorities, or at least work with that secret government agency Alex was affiliated with. There was something that didn't quite add up, and William was determined to get to the bottom of it.

William cornered Nia as she was at the coffee bar getting her third midmorning dose of caffeine (that woman drank a lot of coffee). He couldn't help but notice that her face fell just a little at the sight of him, and he felt a surge of guilt. He'd become so consumed with his worry for Kara of late and asked after her so often that he rarely had time to even find out how Nia was.

Well, today didn't feel like the day to start.

"Nia," he said quietly, approaching the coffee bar. "I know that you've claimed to know nothing about Kara's whereabouts save that she's with Cat, and you've stuck to that story for over a week now. But I just… I can't help but think that there's something not right about all of this. We're dealing with Lex Luthor. You know how dangerous that is."

Nia's gaze fell. "Yeah," she murmured. "I do. But I promise you, William, Kara is perfectly… fine."

"Then where is she?" William demanded. "And don't say with Cat. I know Cat Grant, Nia- she spends more time on her phone than a fifteen year old. She would not be in some place without- without reception or whatever you said to cover for Kara not answering our messages." He paused, letting out a sigh. "Look. I would think that it's just that she doesn't want to talk to me, and I'd accept that. But I know for a fact that she wouldn't ghost you unless something was really wrong."

Nia searched his face. "You're scared," she realized.

"I'm not scared, Nia," William swallowed. "I'm terrified. You know what happened to my best mate Russle after I got him involved with this mess of an investigation. If something happened to Kara because it, too…I'd never forgive myself."

Nia gritted her teeth, not looking at him, before she abruptly put down her coffee and strode away from the table. William stared after her, surprised and a little hurt, before Nia glanced over her shoulder. "We can't talk here," she said, nodding her head towards the hallway. "So are you coming, or not?"

William most certainly was.

Nia led him into an empty meeting room and shut the door behind him, turning the lock for good measure. "Okay," she said, pacing into the center of the room and clasping her hands in front of her. "I'm probably going to get in so much trouble for this, but… you deserve to know. I really believe you deserve to know."

William raised an eyebrow, eyeing her warily.

"Kara's not with Miss Grant," Nia said in a rush.

William blinked. After all the drama and build up of the last minute or so, being told something he already knew was a bit of a… let down.

But Nia wasn't done. "Kara's not with Miss Grant because she's- she's stuck in the Phantom Zone."

"The-" William squinted at her. "The what?"

"The Phantom Zone," Nia repeated. "It's like this… this planet, kind of, out of time, way in the middle of space. Kara got stuck there and we don't know how to get her out because Lex didn't have her location."

"Lex?" William echoed incredulously. He had, of course, originally suspected Lex Luthor to be a part of Kara's disappearance, but once Nia had started talking about space and Phantom Zones he had figured that this must be something way beyond even the evil mastermind. "Why did Lex Luthor send Kara to this- this Phantom Zone?"

Nia stared at the ceiling. "Because she's Supergirl."

William sat down very hard in a nearby chair.

His first instinct was to inform Nia that she had officially gone crazy. But, now that he was thinking about it, Kara being Supergirl made sense. All the weird explanations for why she had to leave work, always knowing exactly what was going on with the newest criminal, spending seemingly no time on her articles and yet always getting them in by the deadline… so many pieces suddenly clicked into places at once that it left William reeling.

"Are you… okay?" Nia asked hesitantly. "I know that's kind of a big thing to learn, and I really wish that she could have told you but, like… it's been over a week now and I'm honestly really worried that we're never going to be able to get her out."

William put his head in his hands. "I can't believe this," he mumbled, before looking up at Nia again. "I need to do something to help, Nia. You have to let me help your guys find her."

"William, you can't," Nia sighed, sitting down at the table across from him. "Alex is working with someone to get a portal open, but once we're inside, I'm the only one who'll be able to find her."

She took his his bewildered expression and smiled weakly. "I'm Dreamer."

"That… actually makes quite a bit of sense," William admitted. "So you- you have a plan in place? To rescue Kara?"

"Kind of. It's hard to explain." Nia reached up to rub her face, and suddenly the bags beneath her eyes made that much more sense, too. "Brainy -he works with Supergirl and I- thought that I'd be able to use my powers to find Kara in the Phantom Zone, but when we tried opening the portal the first time the whole place was… fractured. So now we're kind of back at square one."

"So- so she's in this Phantom Zone," William pressed. "But you said it's a place out of time, so she's safe? In a sort of… bubble?"

The look on Nia's face immediately told him that wasn't the case, and he felt his heart sink. "She's not safe," Nia whispered. "There are these phantoms, the things the Phantom Zone is named after, and this have the ability to show you your worse fear so realistically that it- it drives you mad."

"And she's been in there for a week?!" William exploded, rocketing to his feet.

"We're doing everything we can!" Nia cried, standing up, too. "Look, William, we're all scared for her, okay? But we learned the hard way that we can't rush into this. The last thing we need is for all of us to get trapped along with Kara. We need a plan, and right now we don't have one, so however much it sucks we can't do anything, okay?"

But William Dey had been fighting injustice and hunting down the truth since he was fifteen years old.

Doing nothing just wasn't in his vocabulary.

Swallow it down like a bitter pill

At least it will taste better than this feeling will

And I don't like myself when I'm just standing still

Julia Michaels, "Don't Wanna Think"

Author's Note: And so it begins! I'm actually legitimately excited about this story, and I hope that at least a few of you guys are, too.

Is it OOC for Nia to tell William Kara's identity? Perhaps. But it really did need to happen for the sake of this story, so it is what it is.