Oh my goodness, THANK YOU to you all for your amazing insights and willingness to help me with my dilemma as well as words of encouragement! I think I have an idea of what I'll be doing. If you PM-ed me, I will be messaging you back soon, I promise! I just wanted to say thank you with what you probably want most - another chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl

Kara was being burned alive.

Her fingers grasped for purchase but found none against the smooth glass that surrounded her.

"Please," Kara managed to croak out with parched vocal chords. "Please, I have to help Alex, she's hurt…"

A figure approached the glass, pale eyes surveying her curiously.

"Alien #379 appears to have formed an emotional attachment with the DEO agent." A man appeared in a white coat.

"Good." The first woman's piercing gaze did not waiver from Kara. "And its vitals?"

"Improved, madam. Greatly improved," the man fidgeted with the tablet he was carrying. "It seems to have regained interest in life."

"Spit out what is on your mind, Parks." The woman turned slightly, sharply.

"I just don't understand… after the deterioration of Alien #378, the subject has not responded to any efforts we've made to improve its health… why now?"

"Ah." The woman smiled, a motion that did not reach her eyes. "Do not make me quote Harry Harlow's findings to you."

"What?"
"Companionship," the woman barked, severe eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly with annoyance. "Even the needs of animals are more than physical." Her sharp gaze turned back to Kara, who gasped as the heat around her rose even further. "This is working exactly to plan."

The woman's laugh echoed as the flames rose around Kara, choking her. She banged helplessly against the glass, gasping for air, twisting to try to avoid the agony that seared her body…

"Kara!"

Arms were around her, holding her steady. The flames faded into darkness although the heat did not subside.

"Kara, please don't move. You're going to hurt yourself more."

Alex was somehow beside her, shrouded in darkness.

"Alex…" Kara groaned. "You can't be here…" She tried to sit up but hands held her gently down. "They're using us, you have to get away, the woman is evil and she'll burn us both, Alex, you have to run…"

"Shhh. It was just a dream." Alex's voice was soothing but Kara could only focus on the imminent danger that pressed her lungs.
"I'm burning, Alex. If you stay with me, you'll catch fire too… You have to leave!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Kara. I'm staying here with you."

Kara couldn't hold back the panicked sobs that tore at her chest as the dark world spun and pressed in. "No, Alex, no, you have to leave, you have to leave…"

"Shhh. It's going to be okay, Kara. Remember what you taught me? El mayerah, right? Stronger together."

"El Mayerah," Kara blinked, the words washing over her like a distant memory. She switched to Kryptonian, muttering the last words she had heard from her mother, from her father, from Astra… She mustn't forget, she mustn't forget…. Where were they? Why were they gone? Why did they have to leave her? Her muttering turned into a cry of grief and for a moment she saw her mother lean over her, the curved contour of her cheek shining in the moonlight.

"Mom…" Kara tried to reach out, tried to stand up. Alura just smiled slightly, sadly, the same smile she had when she had placed Kara in the pod on Krypton. Then she was gone. "No, no, no, don't go, please!" Kara wailed.

"Kara, shhhh, please Kara. Please, you're having fever dreams. You're going to hurt yourself… Can you speak English so I know what's going on?"

It was only the desperation in Alex's voice that caused Kara to pause. "Alex?" She blinked, the world strangely fuzzy and distant. "Alex, where are we, what is going on, I don't understand…"

"Kara." Hands were on her shoulders, the touch grounding. "You have a fever and you're hallucinating. We're in the woods still, we escaped the lab and you got hurt. The wound is infected. That's what is causing this fever. Do you remember getting hurt?"

Kara stared into the darkness around them. "My leg hurts," she finally identified the source of the searing agony that burned her skin. "Why does my leg hurt?"

"You fell out of the sky while you were rescuing us and onto a branch." A hand met hers, touch so cool against her burning skin, and guided her hand to the splintery end of a branch then to where it met with her own leg.

"There's a branch in my leg," Kara's eyes widened. "We should take it out." She reached for the wood again.

"No!" Alex's form was close again, taking her hands and holding them back. "No, we can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because even though it's hurting you, that branch is keeping you from bleeding out. Without it, there's a big hole for all the blood to come out of. Right now the branch is blocking that. We can't take it out until we have the tools to patch you back up."

"But I can heal." Kara was confused, so confused… the only thing keeping her from falling back into panic was Alex's presence.

"You aren't healing, Kara. Do you feel this?" Again, Alex's hand guided hers, this time to her head, fingertips brushing against the dried blood and angry gash there. "I don't know why, but you aren't healing."

"Oh." Kara tried to make sense of that even as absolutely nothing made sense. She wasn't even sure where she was or how she had gotten there… "That happens sometimes." She did remember that. "They make me do it, make me use everything until nothing is left and then I can't…" She stopped, trying to sort through her brain.

"Then you can't do what? Is it Kryponite?"

"Then I can't heal or fly or hear or use my eyes… or anything." The heat was rising again. "It happens without Kryptonite, just when I use everything, when I don't have anything left, and I can't… I can't…" Urgency raced through her veins again. "I can't protect you. Alex, you have to get out of here, please!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Kara. El mayarah, remember?"

"El mayarah." Kara relaxed slightly at the familiar words. "El mayarah." The darkness thickened around her and she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.

"It's going to be okay Kara. I'm right here beside you and I'm not going anywhere." Alex's soft whisper was the last thing Kara heard before descending into nothingness.

Alex jerked awake, unsure of when she had even fallen asleep. The last thing she remembered was finally getting Kara to sleep again after the girl had battled feverish hallucinations and dreams in the depths of the night.

Now soft light carpeted the forest, reaching even their hideaway with its glow and somewhere a bird was singing. Under different circumstances, Alex might have even said it was beautiful.

Kara stirred beside her, face still flush with fever, bringing Alex back to the desperate reality of the situation. Gently she smoothed back the strands of hair sticking to the Kryptonian's sweaty brow, feeling the heat radiating from her skin. They were running out of time.

Carefully, Alex slid out from under the fallen tree and searched the surroundings.

As far as she could see in any direction, there was nothing but trees.

Trees, trees, trees.

Somehow Alex got herself up one of the damn trees so that she could scour the landscape.

And still, nothing but green foliage.

Perched on a branch, body physically trembling with exhaustion and pain, Alex let the hopelessness she had been fighting ever since their crash in the woods finally wash over her.

There was no way she could save Kara. She was going to have to watch the light slowly fade from the brightest person she had ever met.

Despite desperately not wanting to think about it, Alex couldn't help but hear Kara's instructions ring in her ears.

"Face me toward Krypton, toward where Rao's star sits in the sky, say the Prayer of Death over me and send me off however you can, into the sky, into the waters, in fire… It must be done by a female relative. Rao will surely honor the sacrifices you have made for me and recognize you as my sister. Then, set aside work for two weeks to observe the mourning period; this will allow you to guide me to Rao. When I have found him after those two weeks, your duty is done. I will lead Rao to Astra and our House will be at peace, thanks to you. I will teach you the Prayer of Death, repeat it after me..."

Alex pushed the thoughts away with some difficulty, refusing to acknowledge that possibility of fate and turning her mind instead back to the situation at hand. She knew she could ignore her own injuries for so long; she could feel their effects growing, closing in on her. For one tiny moment she let herself acknowledge the truth; everything hurt and she was not okay.

Still, staring out at the carpet of treetops, Alex willed herself to keep looking for something, anything. She wasn't an optimistic person, but for Kara, she would search for hope even when she had none.

She was about to give up when she saw it: a thin wisp of smoke rising from the trees.

Alex had to keep staring at it for a couple seconds, unsure if she also had begun hallucinating.

But sure enough, there it was.

Someone was out in these woods, maybe campers or even a hunting cabin. They could have a phone. There could be a way out of all this after all.

Or it could be a trap.

However, there was no other feasible option. Their time was running out and this was their best shot.

Adrenaline surged through Alex, its pain numbing and strengthening power a welcome sensation. She was going to need to use up her last ounce of strength to get Kara the long distance. Quickly she checked the position of the sun and the way it was moving, carefully comparing it with the direction of the smoke to get a crude idea of which way to go.

Taking a deep breath, Alex carefully maneuvered down the tree, faint with pain by the time she finally made it to the ground.

Mental note, climbing trees with a bullet wound was really not a good idea.

"Alex?"

Alex spun around, finding Kara standing in the small clearing between the trees, staring at the sky. In the daylight, Alex could see just how sick and vulnerable the Kryptonian looked. Her fever-bright eyes were huge in her wan pale face, golden hair tangled and stained with blood. Like a reed, she trembled in the air, emaciated form almost too weak to hold her up.

"What are you doing up, you shouldn't be standing!" Alex was beside her in an instance, wrapping her good arm around the girl's waist, gaze drifting to the bloodstained leg wound. Kara hadn't ripped out the branch, thank god.

"I…" Kara's blue eyes darted around their surroundings. "I didn't know where you went." A frown furrowed her expression and for a moment she looked like a child who had just woken from a nap. "I was worried."

"I'm right here." Alex said soothingly, hesitating only to quickly make sure she knew which direction they needed to go. "Ready for some more nature hiking?"

Alex absolutely hated to make the Kryptonian move when she knew every step was going to be agony but there was no other way.

Kara didn't look particularly upset at the prospect however. She just complied and let Alex help move her forward, head still tilted back to look dazedly at the sky.

"It's so beautiful, Alex."

"I know. It is." One step after another, they could do this, they could do this…

"On Krypton we couldn't really go outside, not at the end." Kara's words came in soft bursts, agonized breathing taking the rest of the space.

"Yeah?" Keep going, keep going, keep going…

"Yeah."

They stopped for a moment as Kara suddenly bent over, dry heaving.

"Just a little further, Kara. You can do this." Alex was biting back her own tears but still Kara didn't seem particularly upset. Alex could only hope that she was in such a feverish haze that she wasn't even feeling the pain.

They continued on.

Keep going, keep going, keep going…

"I saw a bird… I saw a bird, right? When was that?" Kara stopped suddenly, eyes clouded with confusion.

"It was yesterday, Kara."

"It was so beautiful, Alex. I'm so happy we saw it."

"We'll see more," Alex paused to kiss the side of Kara's head. "We'll go to a bird sanctuary when we get out of here, we'll feed ducks and put up a bird feeder… Hell, I'll buy you a parrot."

Their movements were becoming more and more uncoordinated as time slid by, the sun inching across the sky. Every step was agony and Alex was practically dragging Kara, fueled by only pure willpower.

"Alex, they shouldn't… they shouldn't be in cages."

"What?"

Kara was silent, breath coming in gasps and eyes closed.

"Birds, you mean," Alex filled in the gaps. "Birds shouldn't be in cages?"

"Birds… Birds and aliens." Kara was swaying. "It's not right, Alex. I don't want… I don't want to go back to a cage…"
They suddenly both stumbled, tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs and exhaustion.

Alex wanted nothing more than to just lie on the ground and close her eyes for just a moment… God she was so tired. She was so so tired and in so much pain… In a second she could face it all but she just needed a second, one second to rest…

Still, some inhuman drive forced her to find her feet, blearily placing her good hand against the earth to push herself up…

For some reason, the ground was rough and pointy.

Gravel.

Alex's eyes widened as she stared at the little rocks below her then to their surroundings. They had tripped over a line of stones that marked the edge of a gravel path.

"Kara!" Alex somehow pulled the semiconscious alien to her feet, pulled her down the path… "Kara, look, look…" Alex had never seen anything so beautiful as the little cabin that stood in front of them. "We made it!"

Kara had stopped.

"Come on Kara, just a little further…"

Kara didn't budge, even as Alex gently nudged her, just stood staring at something, her expression one of horror.

"Kara, what…"

Alex followed Kara's gaze to find what the Kryptonian was looking at.

Lying in tall grass was the lifeless form of an old man, long barreled gun still in his hand, eyes staring unblinkingly up and head resting upon a congealed crimson halo.

"Shit, CADMUS…" Alex breathed, suddenly alert and searching the surroundings. However there was no sign that they weren't alone. If it was a trap, they would have already been caught. Most likely the man put up a fight when CADMUS came to search his property and they were long gone by now.

"Why…" Kara was crying, tears carving paths through the grime and blood that coated her face. "Why did they kill him?"

"Come on." Alex gently led her away and toward the cabin door that hung crookedly from its hinges. "There's nothing we can do for him."

"Wait." Tears continued to run down Kara's cheeks. "Can you at least close his eyes, Alex? Please? We can't just leave him like this…"

As Alex knelt to close the man's eyes, she couldn't help but feel the cruel irony of the situation. While the world saw aliens as a threat, this alien had more respect for human life than humans themselves.

Sadly, Alex straightened, focusing her attention on getting Kara into the cabin. While they might have been too late to save this man, his home might just give her the chance to stop CADMUS from taking Kara's life as well.

For the moment, that was all that mattered.

Our poor Danvers sisters, they aren't out of the woods yet! (see what I did there?)

Again, if you PM-ed me, I will be messaging you back soon, I promise! I just wanted to say thank you first with what you probably want most - another chapter!

Until the next one!

~silverliningineachcloud