HALLEY'S P.O.V
She smiled at Lena as they walked toward her office. Her cousin's friend had promised to spend the morning with her so she would not spend that much time in the Tower while the rest were working on finding a safest way to get into the Phantom Zone plus investigating how to stop the main phantom that had escaped the last day.
Her heart stopped beating the moment she saw who was waiting for Lena on the couch, forgetting to breathe when her eyes met his as Lena pulled from her arm to bring her closer to her.
"What a thoroughly unpleasant surprise" Lena said, keeping the grip of her arm.
"Morning, sis. Are you now a babysitter?" Lex asked while observing her.
"Go with Jess, stay there, okay?" her cousin's friend told her, but she stayed there not knowing what to do. "It'll be alright" Lena tried to reassure her, but even if Lex did not remember who she was, she was still scared of him.
However, she just nodded slightly before walking to the desk Jess where was working, feeling a little uneasy about the fact that Lex was there, and that Lena would have to deal with whatever he wanted.
She knew that he didn't remember who Supergirl's real identity was, so there was no way for him to know that she was her cousin, but still she had that fear of him finding it out and going after them again.
She looked away when she saw him walking out of Lena's office, a smile on his face as he walked toward her direction, since they were near the elevator, just hoping that he would leave without even staring at her. However, things did not happen exactly like that since Lex ruffled her hair, getting her to look up only to see him smiling at her.
"I hope you didn't have something planned for today, I think my sister is going to stay at work for a little longer" he commented as she frowned, being afraid of him having done something to Lena, calming down when she saw her approaching them. "Oh, here you go, a lollipop" Lex said as she doubted about what to do, seeing how his sister nodded slightly.
"Thank you" she whispered, faking a smile the best she could while taking it.
"You're welcome, kid" he pinched her left cheek shortly before leaving.
"Throw that away" Lena told her the moment he was gone, pointing to the lollipop, which she did, not really trusting him. "Are you okay?" the woman asked her, getting her to nod as they walked back to her office. "He's not going to hurt you, sweetie" her cousin's best friend assured her.
"What if he does?" she questioned her, sitting on the couch while looking down.
"He won't. I made sure to destroy every information he had about Kara and about every research he had made on you" the CEO answered, sitting next to her. "And even if he did, we would be prepared"
"Thank you" she smiled slightly while hugging herself at her.
"Why?" Lena asked, hugging her back.
"You stayed with me and you helped me escape to the Future" she answered as the woman tightened the embrace.
"It was the least I could do for you after everything I had put you through… And Kara" those words made shake her head while pulling away a little.
"Kara doesn't hate you. She was upset, but she never hated you" she stared directly into her eyes. "She knew I was going to be safe if you were there with me" she commented, observing how she frowned.
"I'm so sorry, kiddo" Lena whispered.
"I forgave you, you didn't want to hurt me" she told her. "And I know that Kara forgave you, too" she added before hugging Lena again.
They remained like that for a while, her eyes closed as she rested her head on the woman's shoulder, not being able to avoid remembering the last time Lena had tried to comfort her.
"She stared at Lena a little confused, trying to understand what the woman was explaining to her. It was dawning and they were both standing in a little backyard, her whole body shivering because of the cold and fear.
"We will only have a few minutes after I disconnect the cameras, so we'll have to do it quickly" Lena told her as she frowned a little scared. "Hey, sweetie, it's going to be alright" the woman crouched to her height, taking her face in between her hands.
"What if he learns?" she asked her, afraid of what would happen if Lex learned about it.
"I'll try my best to make him believe that you escaped on your own" her cousin's friend tucked her brown hair behind her ears.
"You're going to have to lie to Kara" she pointed out because only Lena, Brainy and her mom knew about what was going to happen.
"Yes, but at least you'll be safe" Lena answered before pulling her into a hug, her head resting on the woman's shoulder. "Come on, you have to leave before he comes looking for you, kiddo" the CEO said, getting her to nod slightly while taking the Legion´s ring in her hand, hoping to remember what Brainy had told her.
She observed how Lena picked up the tablet before looking at her, so she nodded, letting her know that she was ready.
"Now, do it" her cousin's friend told her, but her nervousness wasn't letting her remember what she needed to do and hearing the alarm was not helping at all. "Go! It'll be alright, I promise, you really have to leave, Halley" Lena assured her when she looked at her one last time.
She shook her head, gripping tightly the ring in her right hand before leaping into the sky, just hoping that it would work"
She was standing tip-toed on the Tower's balcony, watching the sunset as she hoped for her cousin to be alright, safe from all those Phantoms.
It had been just a few minutes since they had fought against the main Phantom and, honestly, she was terrified with everything she had seen that evening, so before anyone could have gotten to her, she had run to the balcony.
"Hey, kiddo" she turned around to find J'onn walking up to her, smiling slightly at him. "Are you okay?" he asked after observing her for a few seconds.
"Scared" she murmured, seeing how he nodded before sitting on the stairs, patting the spot next to him.
"Well, if I'm honest, I was scared today too" J'onn admitted as she sat down, getting her to stare at him for a few seconds. "You want some?" he asked her while offering some cookies.
"Thank you" she smiled, accepting them.
"You're welcome, Hal" he ruffled her hair. "Just don't tell Alex I gave you cookies before dinner" he smiled as she couldn't avoid giggling a little. "You're a lot more like your cousin than you think" he commented, getting her to look at him a little confused. "Whenever your cousin thinks she's doing the right thing, she doesn't care about getting hurt if it's going to save others" J'onn made a little pause, looking at her. "And you're just like her. You want to help so badly with your dreams, but, kiddo, things aren't that easy" he brushed her hair away from her face.
"But Kara doesn't have time" she complained. "She's trying to get out, but there's no other way than the Anchor and… and Alex said the Phantom Zone is fragmented, which means that it's really unlikely for them to be where the Anchor is…" she tried to explain, barely breathing within each word. "I could try to guide you if I see how it's now… Brainy doesn't want to show me" she looked down, being upset since she really wanted to help, but no one seemed to listen to her.
"Halley, when Kara helped find Sam in Juru's Valley, most of her energy was drained" J'onn started talking softly as if he was trying to calm her down. "I know you want to help, and you can help by using your dreams to let us know how Kara is doing" he said, getting her to sigh since she could do much more than that. "We have to keep you safe, kiddo" he embraced her.
She closed her eyes while resting her head on his shoulder, being aware that the only thing her cousin would want was for her to be safe, so that everyone around her was going to try as hard as possible to keep that promise.
"We're going to find her, okay?" J'onn whispered, kissing her hair as she nodded slightly her gaze meeting Alex's, who smiled at them.
"Hey" her cousin's sister approached them. "I would like to investigate a little bit more about your dreams, only if you want to" Alex told her, to which she nodded without even thinking about it. "Are you sure? Okay" the woman smiled after seeing her nod for the second time.
She grabbed Alex's hand to take her to the Tower's med bay where Brainy was waiting for them, feeling a little scared the moment she saw the electrodes, still having bad memories of Lex using them.
"It's okay" Alex whispered, taking the electrodes away. "It won't hurt, sweetie, but we can put them on once you're asleep if you're more comfortable that way" the woman caressed her cheek as she nodded.
She ended up being hugged by Alex, both of them watching a movie until her eyes closed, falling asleep.
"She looked around herself. She was inside a cave, her cousin seemed to be asleep laying against a rock, so she did not hesitate to run to her.
"Kara" she whispered while kneeling next to her, trying to figure out if her cousin was fine.
She wrapped her arms around Kara's body the moment she heard someone getting closer, being really scared of the phantoms being able to find them there, to hurt them both.
"Hey, who are you?" she heard a woman's voice ask, but she did not move. "Hey, kid, you know Kara?" that question made her turn her head, finding a woman in front of them before slowly nodding.
Kara stirred so she did not have any other choice than to pull away from her, still being observed by the woman while being confused about how it was possible that her cousin could not see her, but she could.
"Nyxly?" her cousin called as she frowned, that name sounded too much like Mxy.
"You can't see her" Nyxly pointed out in just a whisper. "Do you have any sort of Guardian Angel?"
"What? What are you talking about?" Kara was looking around, but not seeing her even though she was sitting right next to her.
"A little girl… Uh, brown hair, blue eyes… Eight-nine years old…" the woman described her after observing her for a little longer.
"Halley" hearing her cousin named her brought a smile to her face.
"That's your name?" Nyxly asked her, so she nodded, getting Kara to look at where she was.
"She can't be here" Kara shook her head. "Is it a dream? I can't lose her, not again… No, I can't…" the young superhero was starting to panic, only getting her to frown.
"I believe she's here…, wait…" the woman, who she at that moment was convinced was a fifth dimensional imp, said.
It was only a few seconds later when her cousin turned her head to her again, that time smiling slightly as Kara seemed to finally be aware that she was truly there, so she did not hesitate to throw herself into the woman's arms in between sobs. Both of them were crying as they remained in each other's arms.
"You can't be here" her cousin whispered, still embracing her as tight as possible. "It's not safe here"
"I… Um… I'm not here. I'm asleep at the Tower" she tried to explain, but only managed to get Kara to pull her away.
"What do you mean you're asleep?" Kara asked, taking her little face in her hands.
"Every time I'm asleep, I have dreams about the Phantom Zone… You" she answered. "Alex wanted to study them. I think she's doing it right now" she added. "They don't let me use them to find you" she could not avoid complaining.
"And they're right, it's dangerous" her cousin told her.
"But… I just want you back…" her voice cracked as she started sobbing again, Kara hugging her again. "You have to come back… You have to… Please, I need you" she begged in between tears.
"I'll be back, baby, I promise" Kara whispered while tightening the embrace.
"What if you don't? What if we never find you?" she asked in complete fear, her hands forming fists, not wanting to let go when her cousin tried to pull her away.
"Kara, it won't last long" she heard Nyxly say as Supergirl nodded slightly.
"I don't know how long it will take for me to get out of here, but I'll get it. I'll keep fighting even more now that I know you're here by my side" Kara smiled at her, getting her to smile a little as well. "I love you so much, baby girl, don't ever forget that" her cousin kissed her forehead before she hid her face on her shoulder.
"I love you too" she answered in just a whisper while closing her eyes, not wanting to leave from there."
She woke up gasping for air. Tears were contained in her eyes as she sat up on the bed, not even reacting when Alex wrapped her arms around her to calm her down, only wishing to go back to that moment, to be hugged by her cousin again.
Hi!
It took me a while to finish this chapter. It was going to be a little bit longer at the beginning, but I thought it would be better to divide it into two parts. I hope to be able to publish it soon!
Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you think,
Ayrin