The floor was hard. There were dozens of thoughts floating around in Selah's head, darting just out of reach, but that was the first one she was able to grasp onto. She was slumped awkwardly on the ground, and her shoulder ached where it was pushed into the concrete. She tried to adjust it, but it was like she was moving underwater. She grimaced as she slowly shifted her weight, turning onto her side. Opening her eyes was also an ordeal, but she finally got them open. Everything was blurry and her vision swam as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. She heard her name being called from somewhere, but it sounded distant and tinny.

"Selah," the voice said again, more insistent this time. The girl managed to turn her head to see Kara crouched down next to her, concern evident in her face.

"Hmm?" she groaned.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-" Selah cleared her throat. "I'm okay. Where are we?"

"You don't remember?" Kara asked. Selah looked past the hero and blinked a few times to clear her vision. Beyond Kara, she saw the familiar bars of their cell, and the thin, dimly lit hallway behind them. Her stomach dropped.

"What-" the girl breathed. "How did we get back here?"

"Slow down," the hero urged. Disregarding this, Selah began trying to push herself up, ignoring the dizziness that rushed over her.

"No, we were back home, we saw Alex and-" Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to will the spots out of her vision. "This isn't right."

"You've been unconscious for a long time, Selah." Kara's voice was hushed. The girl turned to look at her; Kara's face was grimy, with distinct tear tracks down her cheeks. Her blonde hair was matted and bloody, and she was still wearing the super suit, although it looked faded and dull in the weak light of the cell. Selah ran her hands over her face, desperately trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

"No," she replied. "We got out of here, we made it back to our Earth."

"Selah." Kara's face twisted in pain, and her eyes filled with tears. "No."

"What happened?"

"Beta caught us trying to escape." The hero's voice was soft and broken. "She shot us both with power dampeners, and I woke up back here."

"That's not right. I beat her." Kara shook her head sadly as Selah struggled to her feet and began examining the walls, trying to find some clue as to what was happening.

"Selah, she shot you from behind. You didn't even have a chance to turn around."

"I remember beating her," she insisted. "And there was an explosion, we were in a forest. Kara, this is a different Earth, we need to get back to 38." She clutched her hands against the side of her head as another bout of dizziness overtook her. She slumped back down to the floor and asked, "Why does my head hurt so bad?"

"You were out for so long. I didn't know if you were going to wake up or not."

"How long has it been?"

"A few months, maybe. It's hard to tell in here."

"But... That's not right," the girl repeated.

"Selah, please," Kara implored. The girl turned to look at her, taking in the state of the hero again.

"They're hurting you," she stated, already knowing the answer. Kara shrugged sadly.

"I heal."

"This isn't right," Selah whispered, the dizziness getting stronger. Blackness began seeping in at the edges of her vision and she staggered.

"Just rest," Kara said, and the girl slipped back down into the swirling darkness.

.

She awoke again later, and could tell that time had passed. She had no idea how long, but Kara was now positioned on the opposite wall, her shoulders hunched and legs drawn in close to her body.

"I'm still here," she muttered, dragging her stiff body up off the floor.

"Hey." Kara tried to smile.

"Kara, this isn't right. I don't know how we got here, but it's not... right."

"I already told you, you were out for so long. I don't know what you dreamed about but," the hero paused, carefully deciding what to say. "It wasn't real, Selah."

"But it was," the girl insisted. "We made it home, Kara."

"We didn't."

"But-"

"Selah," Kara snapped, her tone harsher than she intended. The girl flinched, shrinking back against the wall, and she sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I just... I remember leaving, I remember going home. This morning we had breakfast together, and last night you and Alex made me watch The Princess Diaries-" she stopped herself, seeing Kara's face grow tighter with sorrow.

"Read my thoughts," she said, her words short. "Look into my mind."

Selah shut her eyes, ignoring the pain that still radiated from her temples, and focused in on Kara's presence.

She saw herself lying on the ground and Kara crouched next to her, sobbing. She saw Beta's guards coming in and dragging Kara away, to a small room with a red sun lamp where they would beat her until she was bruised and bloody. She saw Kara crawling back into the cell and curling up on the ground next to where she was still laying, unconscious. She saw her waking up from surgeries, with deep, gaping wounds on her body. She saw the hero weeping and punching the walls in sheer frustration, begging to Rao, to Beta, to anyone who would listen, for them to get back home. She felt Kara's fear and desperation, that she was scared Selah would die in the cell and she would be left alone with the girl's body. She saw fragments of every day as they passed, Kara changing position in the cell, or sometimes not being there at all, but the constant in it all was her own lifeless form, laying limply on the concrete.

"No," Selah whispered, opening her eyes again.

"Selah, it's done," Kara muttered. The girl stood stock still, her body stiff as she processed what all this meant. "Hey," the hero said, and Selah slowly turned to look at her. "Come here."

Selah felt as though she was sleep walking while she pulled herself over to Kara, who wrapped her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered into her shoulder.

"It's okay," Kara replied, holding the girl as she cried. "It's not your fault."

.

"So what do we do now?" Selah asked a few hours later. Once she had run out of tears, she just sat motionless in Kara's embrace, feeling the depths of grief that sat inside the woman. But now she pulled herself back and sat with her back against the wall, beside Kara.

"What do you mean?"

"What's our plan? I'm sure you've had some ideas percolating while I was comatose. What do we do?"

"Selah," Kara began, but the girl wasn't done talking

"Are we still in the same facility, or did they move us? Are all the guards the same? Are-"

"Selah," she repeated, more firmly this time. The emptiness in Kara's voice made the girl stop. "Let's not do this right now."

"What else are we supposed to do?" Selah replied, her forehead crinkling. "Just sit here and lose our sanity?" Kara frowned.

"There's just not much of a point anymore."

"I am not letting you give up."

"It's not giving up, it's just... moving on."

"No."

"Selah-"

"No!" the girl maintained. "I'm not moving on, I'm not letting this fight go."

"It's done," Kara yelled. "Okay? It's over. We lost, just-" she took a long, slow breath. "Let it be."

"What happened to 'I don't bend, I don't break, I don't stand down for anyone'?" Selah asked lowly.

"I have sat in this cell for so long. I can't fight anymore."

"We are not giving up."

"I'm at peace with it, Sel. It's okay."

"No-" The girl was going to say more, but she was once more overcome with dizziness, and nausea rose up in her throat.

"Let yourself sleep. Just let it be." Kara pushed Selah's unruly curls out of her face and smiled sadly. "It's okay," she said again.

"This isn't you. You never give up Kara. You taught me to never give up, and yet now you're so apathetic and resigned, it's... It's not you."

"I'm just accepting facts the way that they are."

"No."

"You need to sleep, Selah. You're overtired."

"I'm not," the girl insisted, even as another wave of nausea hit her.

"Don't be difficult."

"I'm not being difficult. I want to go home."

"You think I don't want that?" Kara scoffed. "You think I wouldn't give anything to get out of here, to see my sister again?"

"Then why aren't you trying anymore? Why are you being so passive?"

"I'm being realistic. There's a difference."

"You were the one who said we have to get up and try every day, even when it's hard."

"This has gone pretty far past hard. There's nothing we can fight for now. There's nothing to work for anymore."

"Kara, I spent the last five years of my life in a cell just like this one. I sat there, staring at the walls until every bit of hope I had left was gone. And I sat there and I waited to die. But I didn't. And then I got out, and I met you and Alex and Nia, and you taught me how to hope again." She stared at Kara's face, but it was hard and emotionless. "I don't want to let that go, Kar. I'm not going to let myself lose that again."

"Just let it be," Kara repeated hollowly. Selah paused, looking at the emptiness in the woman's face before letting her gaze drop to the ground.

"This isn't..." she began. A quiet ringing began in her ears as the spots returned to her vision.

"Hmm?"

"This isn't real." She met Kara's eyes, gritting her teeth and pushing back the nausea. The hero continued to look perplexed.

"Love, you just woke up from a month long coma, you're confused-"

"I'm not. The Kara I know doesn't talk like this. She is tough and dedicated and she never gives up. You're not Kara."

"Selah-"

"I know it's you, Beta."

"Beta?" Kara tried to laugh, but Selah's face was serious. The hero shook her head, and her expression melted away, her eyes growing cold.

"How did you get me here?" Selah asked firmly, moving away from not-Kara. But not-Kara just smiled cruelly.

"I didn't realize you were so close to the Kryptonian," she said sweetly, examining her hands, which were still covered in dirt and grime. "I thought you might catch on eventually, but I didn't anticipate it being so quickly."

"You don't seem to anticipate a lot of things with me. I guess you're not as all-knowing as you'd like to imagine."

"All in good time," Beta replied cryptically. "In fact, I'm glad you two are close. It will make it that much sweeter when you have to watch her and all the rest of your world burn." Not-Kara's eyes lit up as if she was about to use her heat vision, but instead of the orange tinged blue that she usually had, it was all a cold, icy blue. Selah felt her body grow colder as she was caught in the glow of Not-Kara's eyes, and it only amplified itself, until she was enveloped in the frigid, blue light. The familiar pain in her temples grew to an astronomical level, and as much as she tried to push it away, it overcame her once again.

.

.

.