Kara dove behind a rock, turning to look as her last hope for escape disappeared in a ball of red fire. She stared helplessly, wondering what had become the father she was still so angry at but who had given her so much joy in a place where joy felt only like a distant memory. She saw no sign of him or of Nyxly, but she stared anyway, looking for any reason to believe they weren't dead. Tears began to fall as he guilt set in. If she hadn't trusted Nyxly, if she hadn't been so desperate for someone to help her get home, her father would be safe. They'd be on their way back to Earth, back to Alex and Lena, back to somewhere where time passed and the worst moments of her life lived only in her memory.
"You have to go," a voice bellowed. "You have to keep moving."
The voice was forceful, but there was no anger behind it. It was something else. Worry, maybe. Love, maybe. Kara had heard that voice before. "Alex," she whispered. Kara moved tentatively, her eyes darting back and forth, searching for her sister. Alex was nowhere to be found. "Go," she heard again, realizing that the voice was in her own head. Kara looked back at the debris in front of her and bit her lip. Alex had always been the voice of reason in Kara's head. She's always been the one who knew what to do. Kara wouldn't, no, couldn't believe that her father was dead, not after all this time. She didn't find him after so many years just to lose him so quickly, but she couldn't help him alone. "I'm sorry, Father," Kara whispered. "I'll be back for you."
Kara ran off back toward a cave she had seen earlier. If she could just get herself safe, she could think of a plan. Kara slowed down and rested against a big rock, quickly remembering that she didn't have any powers here. "I forgot how terrible running is," she thought. "Why do humans do this for fun?" Kara suddenly felt a pang of sadness wash over her. She'd had this question before, when she, Alex, and Lena were projected into Juru to look for Sam. Kara hated thinking about the time when Lena didn't know she was Supergirl. How much time had she wasted not letting Lena know who she truly was? Kara has been so happy that their relationship was healing from the hurt, anger, and lies. What if she never made it back to see where it went next? What if she never got to tell Lena how much she meant to her and how happy she was to have her back? What if these questions were all she would ever have?
"Get it together Kara," she thought, straightening up and getting ready to keep moving. Before she could take her next step, a chill overtook her, starting at her fingertips and moving rapidly across her body until all she felt was cold. No. No no no no no no," she said. Kara knew this feeling. She had felt it when she first got to the Phantom Zone, again when she tried to leave her father's shelter, and a few times as Nyxly, Kara, and Zor-El made their way to the mirror. A phantom had found her.
Kara bolted, eyes turning white and blinding her to her path. Kara tripped, falling down a ravine. Rolling, rolling, rolling until she landed with a thud against the rock below, her body screaming with the injuries she picked up along the way. Injuries that wouldn't heal while she was here. Kara couldn't bother with those, though. She was so cold, and visions of the past began to flicker in her mind. She curled in on herself and slammed her eyes shut, trying to will the visions away. She'd always had someone to help her before when the phantoms came, but this time, Kara knew she was truly alone.
—
"Take me!" Kara yelled, watching Lena gasp for air as
reign held her by the neck. "Take me instead!" Alex and Lena both looked at Kara, fear taking over, as Kara confidently and selflessly offered herself up to the Worldkiller. "Thanks for the offer," Reign said, smirking. "I think I'll go for the bonus round instead." Reign used the hand not suspending Lena above the ground to grab Alex by the neck, holding both women in front of Kara. "Well, Supergirl," she taunted. "Looks like you have a choice to make."
"No!" Kara exclaimed, lurching forward. Reign kicked Kara square in the chest, easily subduing her. "It's the agent or the Luthor," Reign said. "Make your choice." Kara lifted her head from the ground, trying to push herself up on shaking arms. "I can't. Pleasen. I can't." Reign let out a terrifying cackle, one that brought goosebumps all the way up the back of Kara's neck. "You just did."
Reign lifted Alex and Lena higher, both squirming to get away. In one seemingly effortless movement, Reign pressed into their jugulars with her thumb, wrapped it around the sides of their spine, and wrenched them to the side, breaking their necks. Kara screamed as Reign dropped their bodies to the ground. Reign turned, winked at Lara, and walked away into the fog, leaving Kara alone to stare into the dead eyes of her best friend and her sister.
—
"No no no no no no. Not this way. Not this way. Take me instead. Take me," Kara chanted, body crumpled into a ball on the ground, hands covering her ears, face contorted in pain. Kara opened her eyes, a white glow obstructing her vision. "Not this way. Not this way. Not this way." Kara felt cold, hopeless, and like every happy feeling she'd ever felt was being transformed into nothing but debilitating sadness. Kara couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't get away.
Kara had visions like this for hours. Or was it days. Weeks? Mere seconds? Time was indistinguishable here, one of the worst things about this place. First, it was Juru. Then, it was Lena managing to free herself from Kara's grasp, hurtling toward the ground as Kara held the chemicals that could poison National City's water supply in her other hand. Next, it was Kara breaking open the water tank in Malverne's warehouse only to realize that Alex had already drowned. Krypton exploded before Kara's eyes again and again, but her cousin never made it to Earth, and nobody was there to find her when her pod was dislodged from the Phantom Zone. All of her worst moments, only altered to include the worst possible outcome, played in her head over and over again.
Kara wrapped herself up in her own cape, knuckles white from dripping too hard. She rocked back and forth, tears streaming down her face. "Go, Kara. We need you." Alex's voice thundered in her head. "I can't," Kara thought. "There is nobody left."