Homecoming

by Leighgion

(Standard fanfic disclaimers apply).

The Fatalist

I am the Fatalist.

As an agent of chaos, it is my purpose to offer choices where otherwise none would exist. I make the immutable into the mutable and the inevitability into the uncertain.

Twice have I intervened in the existence of the heroines who have borne the mantle of "Supergirl." The first was when I took the rocket bearing Kara Zor-El, sole survivor of Argo City and diverted it through time and space to land on an Earth far removed from the one she expected; far from the path that would lead to her death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor. Later, when the Spectre decreed that Kara must return from whence she came and live out the existence she was meant to, again, I intervened to stop Linda Danvers, the Supergirl of that world, from taking Kara's place in the rocket, as that path would end all choices. Instead, it was another I dispatched to live out that life that would end in certain death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor, lest reality be unraveled.

Certainty? No. I do not deal in certainty.

The battles of the Crisis were fought, "Supergirl" fell as she was meant to and her grieving cousin, the Superman of that world, cast her adrift in the void for her eternal rest.

I've granted the fallen heroine a scant few minutes of eternity, but now I intervene for the third time, for even the wisest and strongest could not see the truth of what I had wrought.

Rendezvousing with the fallen girl, I drew open the red shroud that was in life her mantle and sundered her. Her flesh flowed like wax and from her one mold she became two: the flaxen-haired heroine mourned by the world below, and a silver-haired maiden known to none in this universe. The later, bare as nature, was still, but the former, once divided, opened her eyes once more. Looking upon my countenance, she knew me and spoke.

"Fatalist?"

The void does not permit most to speak and be heard.

"Matrix."

But I offer choices where none otherwise would exist.

"Are they...?"

"Safe. The Anti-Monitor is defeated. All has come to pass as it should. Even your lost one is at rest."

Even weakened as she is, Supergirl reaches out to the silver-haired one, gently shrouding her in the red cape.

"Poor Twilight."

"She found satisfaction in turning her rage upon the Anti-Monitor. He was as a god, yet brutal and without compassion. She rests in peace, knowing her hand helped destroy him."

Completing her task, Supergirl turns to me once more.

"You said when the time came, I'd have to choose."

"Yes. The last of Twilight's power kept your candle from being snuffled out completely, but even now that flame is fading. The Anti-Monitor's energies damaged you badly. You may choose to remain here with your last charge until you succumb completely or, I you may return home to succumb there."

"Home?"

I nod, but wait for the final answer.

"Home. I want to go home to die with the rest of my people."

The Matrix

The cold void's gone.

I'm lying in a field. The grass is tall and dry and frames a patch of blue sky above. The sun's warm on my face, but my strength's all gone. I'm not going to stand again, but that's alright. This world's much better than when I last saw it.

When Lex Luthor created me, our world, this world, was being razed by the Kryptonian Three: General Zod, Quex'al and Zaora. I was to be our last hope; a super weapon to defeat them. I wasn't good enough. I broke the barriers between realities to bring Superman here, but it was too late. He brought them low, but not before the surface was blasted into a wasteland and the last human being on this world was killed.

I failed them all.

I've saved others since then. I even shared the bodies and lives with Linda and Twilight for a while. The Fatalist says that by taking Kara's place, living her life and fighting the Anti-Monitor, that I've helped to save billions of lives across five Earths. It's not much, but it's the best I have to offer. I hope it's enough for the souls of this world to forgive me, and let me rest here with them. I'm the last.

I'm trying to get up again, but it's fruitless. I can blink my eyes, move my lips and wriggle my fingers, but I haven't the strength to lift an arm. I'd hoped to be able to see something familiar, but maybe this is for the best.

I can hear crickets and the distant sound of a bird. I smile. After I'm gone, something will live on here. Eventually, the planet will recover. There's a breeze coming. Time for my last words.

"I'm home, Lex. Thank the Fatalist, I'm home."

Linda

I worry about Kara.

In the beginning, it was her power and naivete. I'll never forget that time she was standing on her hands trying to push Earth out of its orbit. Damn though, if I didn't start believing she might have been able to get that ball rolling if she tried hard enough. Ridiculous, but scary.

Now though, no matter how bulletproof she is, I'm afraid she'll find a razor that can slash her wrists.

It's been a week since the Spectre gave us that ultimatum that Kara had to go back to her own reality to die. A week since the Fatalist pulled another one of his stunts and changed the rules of the game again, but this time we're in the dark and the not knowing is killing Kara.

I try to tell her that we're not all dead, so that's a good sign. Whatever the Fatalist did hasn't screwed up yet. But that's not really what's on her mind. Nobody in any number of worlds could blame the poor kid for being scared.

Nobody but her.

The guilt's eating her. Guilt that when she was up to bat, she bailed out and now, somebody else is out there taking the heat for her and probably dying in her place.

For now, she's asleep, but that won't last. Nightmares come every night since the showdown. Kara's got ten, twenty, thirty times more power in every way than me, but she insists on sleeping with me as if I'm the one that can keep the monsters away. Right now, she's got such clench on my arm I couldn't budge her pinkie with both hands. Truth is, I'm not that much better off than she is, but I don't dare let on.

I was going to take Kara's place.

Had it all planned out. Abuse the kid's trust, sucker punch her and jump in the rocket. No, it wasn't me that the Spectre said had to go back, but I'm left wondering like Kara: is something awful going to happen because I didn't step up to the plate fast enough? Did I chicken out when my number was up?

Kara's starting to toss. I hate thinking this, but I really hope she wakes up soon. Her grip can crush steel, and she's squeezing my arm tighter and tighter. She's going to break it any minute, but I can't afford to cry out. If I give her any idea it's not okay for her to touch me, she's going off the deep end and I'm not going to be able to live with myself. I'm her rock and I mean to stay that way. Just have to breath and ride out the pain like the night before, when she cracked my rib and the night before that, when she broke my other arm.

The Fatalist hinted an answer to the mystery might find us. I just hope we can hold out long enough to hear it.

Kara

In my dreams, I see their faces.

My mother, my father, and all the people of Argo City. At first, they're smiling and happy, like I remember from the good times. Then, the radiation breaches the shields and they're all burnt and covered with festering sores. They're an angry mob of the walking dead, shouting, pointing and shaking their fists.

'We gave up everything to save you, our youngest and brightest and you shame us!'

'Shamed us!'

'Failed your test.'

'Failed!'

'Billions depending on you and you ran.'

'Ran from your destiny.'

'Ungrateful.'

'Serpent's tooth.'

'Coward.'

I'm inside the rocket when the mob charges me, clawing at pounding on the ship. I know I belong with them. The release to the door in right in front of me. I reach for it, but instead I pull the launch lever. The sight of my people burning in the exhaust is too much.

I come back to the present and wake up, strangling the scream in my throat. If I scream, it'll hurt people. Linda's there with me though, and she soothes me like she's done every night since it began. I don't know what I'd do without her. This isn't the Earth I thought I was coming to.

Kal-El, Superman, exists on this world. He tries to be kind to me, he's not the Kal-El I saw through the scope from Argo. His Krypton was nothing like mine. We're the last two Kryptonians in this universe, but we're strangers.

Kon-El? I don't pretend to understand him and he doesn't pretend to understand me. We wear the same crest, but he's even farther from me than Kal.

Linda's holding me and smoothing out my hair. She was there when I landed. Not everything has worked out perfectly, but she's taken care of me. It doesn't matter that I'm stronger and faster. Linda's the one that makes me feel safe.

That's when I hear it.

"Linda!"

She stiffens and looks down at me, eyes wide. So concerned! I don't deserve her.

"Somebody just said: 'Thank the Fatalist!' "

Linda

Fatalist. It's a word normal people use, but not that often. Thanking "the" Fatalist? That's not something normal people would say most mornings.

Kara was gone before I could finish blinking, but I can still feel the ghost of her iron grip on my arm throbbing like a hammer. Even if the bone was intact, there's no way I can match her speed. Odds are she'll be back in under two minutes though.

Just enough time for me to start to get some clothes on. Slowly. Left arm's useless.

Skirt goes first, then the shirt. I'm just getting to the wig when I feel the breeze and hear Kara's voice behind me by the window.

"Linda..."

The voice is trembly, but I don't have time to think about it. I turn around, but whatever I was going to say dies in my mouth when I see it.

Kara's there, still in her nightshirt and in her arms is somebody I know.

Supergirl.

Somebody drops her wig and just stands there speechless. I guess it must be me.

Supergirl. It's a name that's been passed around a lot lately. I'm a Supergirl, Kara's a Supergirl, but only one Supergirl saved my life when I was about to be sucked down into Hell. Only one Supergirl merged her life and form with mine and made me what I am today. We were separated, and now when she's come back, she looks near dead.

Kara lays my savior out on the bed, then comes over to take my arm and steer my shocked ass over. Supergirl - confusion be damned, she's always been Supergirl to me - opens her eyes and gives me a little smile. That breaks my paralysis and take her hand. It feels... far too soft. She's losing her cohesion.

Dying.

"Linda," she says quiet like mouse. "Kara. You're both safe."

I can feel the hot tears coming.

"Supergirl..."

"No more. Don't cry. This is.. all I could have asked out of life. Saved.. all those people. Saved you."

"And me..." Kara. Somewhere.

Supergirl smiles a little more. I think she's trying to squeeze my hand, but there's no strength left in it.

"Fatalist even showed me.. this is my real home. I'm ready to..."

She doesn't finish. I lose it. Kara's on me in a shot and I haven't got a prayer of breaking her grip on my arms, but she can't stop me from screaming; screaming at the injustice of it all while Supergirl's hand disintegrates in mine.

No hope.

That's when I feel it start again.

Her hand melts into mine.

The tears are still running, but I smile. Once upon a time, I was beyond hope and she saved me.

Now it's my turn.

"Linda!"

Kara doesn't understand what she's seeing and she's trying to pull me away. Somehow, in the confusion, I manage to look her in the eye. Kara's scared, but she trusts me implicitly. She hugs me and holds on tight. This time, I can feel the broken bones knitting as Mae's essence dissolves back into me.

She's still holding on long after the second union's complete.

Kara

The field where I found her is just a few miles away from the house.

She looked so much like me! It was like the stories I've heard on this world when the dying feel they're floating and looking down at themselves.

She was dying.

Dying in my place.

I didn't know her story, but I knew she had to be the answer the Fatalist meant. Whatever was going to happen, I couldn't leave her there.

The spot where I found her is a special place for us now. I come here alone too, but I like it best when Linda comes with me. Most of the time, we just lie in the grass and watch the sky, the way Mae did while she was alone. We don't talk. We don't have to. It's enough to appreciate how miraculous it all is.

Linda's told me everything now about how Mae was the first Supergirl of this world, the joining, and how things were before the joining for Linda and her parents. She's been so strong and kind to me, it's hard for me to believe how her life was before. I know she wouldn't lie to me about this though, so I accept it as true. Really, it makes me love her even more and gives me hope.

If things were really so bad for Linda and she still became who she is today, then I have a chance. I was too afraid to do what the Specter said I had to, but I did save the one who took my place and brought her home to Linda. It isn't much since I didn't know what I was doing, but it's a start. Best of all, reuniting with Mae's made Linda happier than I've ever seen her.

My people may be gone, but they're at peace and I'm not alone. The nightmares don't come anymore. I have the Danvers and most of all, I have Linda. One day soon, I'll tell her how much it meant that she hid all of her pain to comfort me.

I'm home.