Cause you're the one thing I believe in
When I lose faith in all I do
This paradise comes when I close my eyes
It's true, in the darkness I see you

Breathe
Don't you let that heart beat fall
No matter how far it goes
You'll always be where I belong

And I get a feeling when you're near me
Yeah I get a craving when you go
And getting clean was never easy
When the side affects all start to show

I have to breathe
I never held a heart before
No matter how far I'm thrown
You'll always be where I belong

Seafret

Mon-El's veins were radiating, and the gleaming light was spreading slowly across his whole body. Within seconds it had reached his fingertips and the top of his head, and purple appeared even through the thick material of his shoes.

The glow, which had started out barely visible, like the dying embers of a fire, became brighter and brighter, until the whole warehouse was lit up in electric purple. Kara released her sister and scrambled forward on all fours, praying for a miracle, for anything to happen.

There was a moment of heavy silence, in which everyone waited with baited breath, leaning forward anxiously. The tension was almost a visible entity, and it only broke when the light exploded outwards with incredible force. Everyone was thrown backwards – heroes hitting soldiers, soldiers hitting soldiers, heroes hitting heroes. They all went down in the flash of blinding violet light. They shielded their eyes against it, but even covered, the light filled up every crevice of their vision, and for the longest minute, purple was everywhere. Then, abruptly, it vanished without a trace.

Kara collected herself and opened her eyes, barely daring to hope. Everyone else still seemed a little out of it, so she was, predictably, the first to recover. Across the warehouse, Mon-El was still lying there, motionless and lifeless as he had been before. She rocketed forward and slipped slightly on the smooth floor, landing harder than she intended next to him. His chest had healed, and the pool of blood he'd been lying in had vanished. She couldn't hear a heartbeat, and his chest wasn't moving, but surely the glowing veins had meant something.

She tilted closer, but she was too afraid to get any nearer, too afraid to hold his lifeless body again in case it didn't move. She hovered on her hands and knees a foot away, searching his face for some movement, some sign that he was alive.

"Mon-El?" She begged softly.

Suddenly, Mon-El sat bolt upright and gasped in huge gulps of air, "I am SO SICK OF GETTING STABBED TODAY!" He bellowed, winded and sore.

He barely had a second to get his bearings, however, because Kara threw herself at him with great force and he fell right back down again.

"THANK RAO!" She was on top of him, gripping his shoulders painfully and she looked him over to check that he was alright. Then she smacked his arm, "What the HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! I hate you!"

"Sorry." He mumbled, but she didn't seem to care, she appeared only to want to yell at him.

"Why didn't you tell me you still had lead in your system! If you'd just told us we might have caught it earlier and you might not have died! You DIED!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry…"

"God, I hate you so much," Kara growled furiously, and he opened his mouth to apologise again, but she disregarded her anger instantly and kissed him. When their lips touched, Mon-El instinctively pulled her down on top of him properly, and he'd never been so happy to kiss her in his life. She gripped his face with both hands, as she often did, but there was something more desperate about it this time, more tangible. His arms wrapped around her tightly and his fingers tangled in her hair. She kissed him harder and he relished the feeling of his lips on hers, the familiar weight of her body on his, the grip of her fingers on his cheek. She shifted slightly and he sat up, adjusting her on his lap and she broke the kiss, pressing her forehead to his.

"Hi." He breathed.

"Hi." She said back, tears glistening in her eyes, "Don't ever do that again."

"I promise."

"You were dead Mon-El. Not sick, not dying… just dead. You were gone and I thought I was never going to get you back." Some of the tears spilled over her lashes and he brushed them away gently.

"I'm sorry. I never wanted to put you through that."

"Stop apologising!" Kara joked, but it was a laugh of panic and tension and he felt guilt settle uncomfortably in his stomach.

"I'll never stop apologising to you, Kara." Mon-El sighed, kissing her cheek, "For as long as I live, I'm always going to want to be better than I was before I met you."

Kara shook her head, her voice more strained, "Stop it, don't… I…" She trailed off, words catching in her throat.

"Hey, it's okay… I'm okay. I'm right here."

"I know, I just…"

"What?" Mon-El looked at her, concerned, and she couldn't have contained the words anymore if she tried.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She exclaimed.

"For what, you didn't do anything?"

"Exactly, I didn't do anything! I made you think that I don't… want you in my life, that I'm always disappointed in you, and it's not true."

"Kara, if you keep being annoyed at me for the rest of my life, I'm fine with it, as long as I'm in your life."

"No, but…"

"What's wrong?" He stroked her lips with his thumb and she held her breath.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made you feel that way, and I'm sorry… I'm so, so, sorry that I didn't say it before you died. But I'm saying it now." She said hesitantly, and he nodded, not wanting to interrupt. The silence between them was heavy with expectation, and even though Mon-El knew what was coming, he could barely let himself blink. Finally, Kara broke the silence with the only words that could have made him happier than he already was, alive with her in his arms.

"I love you, so much… I love you, Mon-El." She breathed and he felt one of the smiles that he saved for Kara's cute faces playing across his lips. Kara searched his eyes and his heart started thumping erratically against his rib cage, betraying his elation. She could feel it through her suit: Mon-El's heart back to its usually deafening regularity, and she closed her eyes and focussed on it, committing it to memory.

"Well, I mean, you're okay… I guess…" Mon-El murmured teasingly, and she was about to open her eyes and tell him off, but he kissed her and she forgot her own name.

In the meantime, across the abandoned warehouse, their friends had been dusting themselves off when Mon-El sat bolt upright and yelled. Barry held out an arm to Oliver and yanked him up and both of them clapped each other on the back, glancing over at their friends, but by this point, Kara was punching her boyfriend's arm, and they began to help everyone else to their feet.

"I'm sorry about Savitar," Oliver said.

"We'll get him." Barry said confidently, "I've got you guys, and we've got a few more weeks to stop him yet. We'll get him."

"Yeah buddy, we will." Oliver agreed, offering an arm to Alex. They turned as one, only to see Kara and Mon-El locked in a passionate embrace, "You know, maybe we should focus on taking out all of these soldiers."

"Good idea," Alex said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Uh, actually, Winn and I have that covered." Cisco said triumphantly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when we were on Rhea's ship, Barry went for the antidote, and Wally went to get us these," Cisco held up two remotes.

"And what are they?" Rene asked suspiciously.

"Oh my god, is that more alien tech?" Curtis started fangirling.

"Oh my god Curtis, be cool, this isn't our first rodeo," Cisco feigned embarrassment, "And yes, it is. In Winn's hand is the teleportation beam receiver for Rhea's ship, and the remote I am holding is for the torture machine she used on Kara and Mon-El."

"Right, and what are you going to do with those?" Rene asked.

"Are you aware that everything that comes out of your mouth makes it sound like you're suspicious all the time?" Cisco asked.

"Yeah?" Rene said sardonically, and Cisco squinted at him, trying to gauge whether it was a deliberate joke or not. After a brief pause, he pointed at Winn.

"Winn is going to send all of these soldiers back to the ship with no fuss whatsoever." Cisco beamed.

"I'll bite – how?" Alex frowned.

"Well, all of these soldiers have software built into their spears, or poles or whatever you want to call these things: that's how they teleported down to the DEO, and it's how they got back. That's the reason he clapped that band on Mon-El's wrist – because the beam needs to know your exact location in order to pick you up, and we didn't offer them coordinates this time."

"Okay, so what does that mean for us?"

"It means that with a little tweaking, I can send all of these guys back to the ship and then lock it up. We can get rid of them with practically no resistance."

"You would receive very little resistance anyway, friend." A voice they didn't recognise rose up from the pile of unconscious bodies, and one of the guards removed his mask and rolled his eyes.

"We are not your friends, dude." Cisco said snarkily, "You've just spent the last few hours fighting us."

"Of course – it was war, and we serve Queen Rhea. But with her majesty dead, our loyalty falls to the surviving heir."

"Oh. So, wait, that means that you'll do whatever Mon-El says?"

"Within reason."

"Fighting a dying man and attacking defenceless humans seemed within reason to you?" J'onn barked.

"We were not informed of the individual capabilities of our opponents, only that they opposed Queen Rhea's rule."

"All we wanted was for you to leave us alone." Alex said.

"We know that now. We will go quietly, I swear it."

"What will you do?" She asked, curious.

"Whatever King Mon-El orders."

"Urgh, great, Mon-El's a king. This won't go to his head at all." James shook his head and Winn sniggered.

"In the meantime, I think we're still going to send you back up the ship. We really don't need you messing up this dynamic we got going here." Cisco instructed and the man nodded and saluted them all.

Winn pressed a few buttons on the remote and all of the rods started shimmering, until every soldier was fading into the sky. He shrugged, "Wow. That was surprisingly easy. That… No, but seriously, is no-one else worried that that was way too easy? We are never that lucky."

"I wouldn't say we've been lucky these past few days, Winn." Alex pointed out, and Winn couldn't help but agree. The memory of Kara's screams and Mon-El's fervent pleas for her to hang on came to mind, and one look at Alex and J'onn and he could see that they were reliving it too.

"And uh, the torture machine controller, what are you going to do with that?" Alex tried to shake the shrieks from her head.

"Overload it, shut it down completely." Winn said decisively, and he and Cisco got to work, while everyone else pretended not to notice the two aliens kissing on top of each other on the other side of the warehouse.

"So, King Mon-El, how are you feeling?" Alex raised her eyebrows at him suggestively and he sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"We are never going to drop that, are we?"

"Oh, no, absolutely not!" Winn chortled, "I have miles of material."

"I mean, I don't have miles, but I could certainly come up with something. If that's okay with you, your highness?" Barry quipped and Kara snorted.

"Well at least you're all sort of okay with it now, so I can't complain."

"Complain all you wish, my liege." Alex sniggered.

"I hate you all, so much."

"Guys, be nice," Kara scolded, "We don't want him pronouncing us enemies of the kingdom!"

Everyone chuckled and he faked shock, "I cannot believe you would grass me like that! Here I was, thinking you were on my side, and this whole time you were just coming up with a joke of your own… I feel betrayed." He said matter-of-factly, and she giggled and elbowed him. He took her movement in his direction as an invitation and wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her closer, and she made no objections.

"Well, I for one am glad you're alright." J'onn said.

"Thank you." Mon-El said pointedly.

"If you had died, I would have had to hunt down Daxam's next heir, and honestly space is huge…"

Everyone burst out laughing and Mon-El nodded, defeated, "Okay, okay, I concede. You all win. I'll just go kill myself now."

The group chortled, but Kara stomped on his foot, and even though there was no lead in his system, it still hurt, "Don't even joke about that."

"Kara, the only thing I can do is joke about it. If I don't find it funny, I think I might curl up in a ball somewhere and never come out."

Oliver nodded, "Trust me, you do not want that. I've been there, more than once, and it took a lot to pull me out. If joking helps you deal with it, then that's what you do."

"How did you deal?" Mon-El asked.

"I had good friends." Oliver said considerately, and smiled, glancing at his team.

"Ah, well then I'm SCREWED." Mon-El joked and laughter filled the space between them again.

"So, what happens now?" Wally asked.

"Uhm, I think maybe, dinner?" Barry asked the group.

"Yeah, dinner sounds good?" Oliver agreed, looking around at the faces of his friends, all of them smiling back at him jovially.

"You know what, it does sound nice, but the only time I've slept in the last three days was the 13 hours I was healing, and Mon-El has slept even less than that, so I think we'll pass. We can come visit and we'll all get dinner some other time – for Barry and Iris's wedding!" Kara said excitedly and Barry gave her a grateful smile. He was glad that she had made it sound like such a certainty, like his future with Iris wasn't in jeopardy. But then, he supposed, if you've just seen the love of your life die and then return, you have the right to be optimistic.

"You're right, Mom and Maggie will be wondering what's going on." Alex mentioned.

"And we'll have a lot to tell 'em." Winn said, in the understatement of the century.

"And I have to go and order around my army," Mon-El said casually, "because I totally have one of those now."

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do about them?" Felicity asked.

"I'll probably just send them back off into space – look for the next in line to the throne, like J'onn said."

"I was joking."

"Yes, but I don't need an army, and I have no desire to rule over Daxam. The best thing to happen to our people was to be forced out into the stars, and if there are any of us left, they should have the choice of going back or staying where they are."

"That's… surprisingly wise of you." James said.

"Yeah, well, dying dramatically will do that to a person."

Cisco opened the portal as they said their goodbyes. Everyone was clapping Mon-El on the back, and Barry yanked him into a bear hug.

"You take care of Kara." He said, "And don't die."

"I'll make a note of that, thanks." He countered, and they both grinned.

Oliver walked up to Kara, "You okay?"

"I think so. We'll see." She said.

"You'll be fine, girl of steel." Oliver said, "You're stronger than me, and not just because you can snap a car in half. I wasn't lying before – you have the most heart of anyone I know, and if today was anything to go by, it's in good hands." He gestured at Mon-El and she smiled serenely.

"Are you feeling the group hug?" She asked.

"No…" He said futilely, but Barry had zoomed over and the three of them hugged it out. He relaxed enough to embrace them back, but he rolled his eyes at them as they let go, "I suppose I'll just have to get used to it."

"What, hugging?" Kara looked concerned that Oliver wasn't getting cuddled enough.

"No, your death grip." He responded.

"Yeah, you gotta watch out for that!" Winn agreed wholeheartedly, and she glared at him, but everyone who had been on the receiving end of her ambitious hugs was nodding.

Oliver shook Mon-El's hand, "You take care of yourself. And if you need someone to talk to… call Barry."

Mon-El grinned, "And if he's not available, call someone else, right?"

"No, Mon-El, if he's not available, call me. You're a good man." Oliver said seriously, and Mon-El seemed a little taken aback.

"Thanks, Oliver. If it helps, if I die, I give you my permission to date Kara."

"Hey, I heard that!" Kara retorted good-naturedly.

"Joking!" He declared, and slipped his hand into hers, "Thanks for not letting me die, guys. I really appreciate it. Next time I see you all, I really hope that there's less dying involved. And that Caitlin's back, for your sake."

"You and me both, man." Cisco said, and Julian nodded in agreement.

"Bye! If you need us again…" Kara paused, "Uh, maybe just call first, Barry, because I really don't like the idea of you portalling over to us without warning. Last time it was thanksgiving dinner, this time it was an argument and Mon-El telling me he loved me. Even just any warning would be good, so I don't reflexively punch your face out the back of your skull."

"Whoa, you can do that?" Barry looked impressed.

"I have to make a conscious effort not to do that."

"Cool." Rene, Curtis, Felicity and Cisco said as one.

"By the way, you're all knights of my kingdom," Mon-El managed to pronounce dramatically, and Kara cackled uproariously, just before they slipped through the portal and vanished into their world.