I have a tip for you guys – when writing something sad, do NOT listen to sad piano music. It will make you cry. (At least it made me cry).

Apart from that, I have no words for this chapter.

EIGHT

Somewhere outside National City...

Reign flung Kara forward into the sky. She seemed to disappear into the haze of pink and blue, and that caused Lena much distraught. Trying to release herself from Reign's taut grasp, she yelled and cursed and squirmed.

"Kara!"

Reign cackled as they broke the sound barrier. Lena's ears popped.

Grimacing, Lena could hear the wind whistling in her ears, the chilly morning air tickling her face. She looked down and saw lush green fields and trees that tried to bite at the sky. In front of them was a clearing.

No, it wasn't a clearing. It was an old factory. Outside were a few bare trees and a huge concrete, abandoned parking lot. Lena immediately recognized it as the infamous Lord Technologies factory site that had exploded after an employee went rogue and decided to seek vengeance against billionaire CEO Max Lord.

They dropped down and Lena could feel her face peeling off. Adrenalin coursed through her veins as they plummeted to their deaths. Well, at least to her death. (Reign would no doubt survive the fall and then dump her body into the streets of National City as she had previously promised).

Before they hit the ground, Reign manipulated the air around her so they hovered. She then pushed Lena off of her. The scientist's head hit the floor with a thump. As Lena gazed through watery eyes, she could only see blurry figures. The knock on the head had somehow immobilized her legs and arms. She could not move.

Snarling, Reign moved forward. However, what she hadn't noticed was a certain infuriated Kryptonian loitering behind her.

"I don't mean to Reign on your parade, Worldkiller." Kara remarked as she stepped into the light. Reign growled upon seeing Supergirl. "No, actually I do."

And with that, Kara smacked her fist into Reign's cheek sending her sprawling. Unfazed by this, Reign engaged in battle.

Kara levitated in the air, trying to get a better view of her surroundings. Reign slid underneath her, before snapping her leg up. It slammed into Kara's ankle and she crumpled to the groan, her face contorted in pain. The kryptonite was evidently weakening Kara – consequently, it slowed the healing of her ankle.

Limping, Kara clutched her cape, swinging it under Reign. She pulled it up and Reign shot into the air. Kara grabbed this opportunity and zapped the Kryptonian with her heat vision. Reign tumbled backwards.

Reign clenched her fists and Lena winced when she heard a click.

As Kara advanced, Reign swung her fist, catching Kara with a solid punch to the jaw. Reign brought her knee forward into Kara's stomach and the hero doubled over. The Worldkiller grabbed a fistful of Kara's blonde hair and yanked it hard, sending Kara crashing into the ground.

Reign unsheathed her knife. Lena blinked, suddenly able to move again. Her eyes scanned the area around them, looking for something – anything – that could distract Reign. Then her eyes locked onto the gun.

The gun! Of course! Lena chided herself for not thinking of it before. The gun had the cure. Now was the time to shoot Reign. Lena scrambled forward, her hands hastily clasping the gun. Pulling it back, she put her finger on the trigger and aimed it at Reign.

Unfortunately, Reign had one arm around Kara's throat, the other gripping the knife that was hovering over Kara's heart. Reign locked eyes with Lena and she smiled.

"Choices, Lena. Choices."

Her grip became tighter. Green veins ran up her face as she grimaced, the kryptonite exposure causing her pain. Her eyes slowly began to obtain the same nasty green colour as the knife.

"Lena..." she managed, but Reign cut off her air supply. She coughed relentlessly, but Reign squeezed even more.

"Lena Luthor. Now is your time. You can shoot me, but you won't be able to stop me from driving this into her heart." Reign sneered. Lena's eyes darted to Kara, who was rapidly losing the colour in her face. More green veins shot up her face.

"This is quite amusing: a Luthor in charge of a Super's life. And this isn't any ordinary Luthor! It is the rebellious Lena Luthor. See Lena, even if you don't shoot me, I will kill Kara Zor-El, traitor of Krypton. But, it's your choice."

"She's not a traitor!"

Reign laughed. "How can you possibly know that? You don't even know what the great Kara Zor-El did. Do you want to know?"

At this point, Kara was desperately fighting against Reign's grasp, but it proved to be futile. She screamed in abject agony, the kryptonite sapping the strength from her blood.

"She left her family to die. She left everyone to die. She was selfish. She could helped them, but she thought she was too great and mighty to perish alongside her blood." Reign screeched at the top of her voice. Tears streaked down Kara's face as she began to slowly give up.

Lena refused to believe what Reign was saying. "No! Kara is a hero. She's everyone's hero. She is my hero. Even if she did leave her family behind, do you know how much she has brought to Earth? She has saved hundreds of lives. If she did stay behind on Krypton, what more could she have done? I was told it was a dying planet. How can you save something that is dying? By leaving it showed how selfless she is. How she gave up her family to save Earth and protect her cousin. You can't match that, Reign. You're weak. The people who don't have a weakness are weak. They have nothing that can teach them lessons or help them improve. A weakness is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be proud of. And because you don't have a weakness, you can't learn, you can't develop into a greater version of yourself. Therefore, Reign, you are pathetic and weak!"

Lena had never spoken with such confidence before. But each word that she said, she meant. Hope was bubbling up inside of her.

"Oh Lena. Speeches won't save you. You are the devil Lena, and this is your choice. Make it fast."

Time seemed to slow. Lena's heart was thumping loudly in her chest.

Bum. Bum-bum.

Time had slowed so much that Lena could feel each molecule, each atom in the universe floating past her. Reign gave Lena a sad smile:

"It's so beautiful today. The sunrise is magical, don't you think?"

And with that, Reign stabbed the knife into Kara's chest.

The scream that filled the morning air was one Lena would never forget. It was filled with agony and despair, shock and melancholy. As soon as it came from Kara's mouth, Lena's heart broke. Something with in her was crushed mercilessly.

Screaming Kara's name, Lena sprinted forward, firing rounds at Reign. Everything seemed to blur into one: Reign's menacing expression and the dappled ground merged into a mess of colours. The sky became one with the huge factory behind her, becoming an ugly mixture of blue, pink and grey.

Lena didn't care. She charged at Reign, her tears falling to the ground. Anger was all that she could feel. Pure rage. Her scream was belligerent, like an orchestra of cacophony. All other emotions were dulled. Her eyes were glued on Reign. She didn't even see Kara fall to the ground, gasping for breath, her eyes wide in terror.

"Lena..." a voice whispered amid the chaos. Lena ignored it. Her fists connected with Reign. The Kryptonian was shaking uncontrollably, and her eyes were rolling into the back of her head. Reign coughed and spluttered. The cure was working. The Worldkiller produced a red aura around her, and she cried out in pain. Her eyes were filled with loathing as she wrapped an arm around Lena's throat. Lena didn't care. She continued to pummel Reign.

A few moments later, the red aura faded into the misty air. Reign became silent and still. Lena was the opposite: her knuckles were caked in blood and she was sobbing. Dragging her hands down her face, she cried. It seemed as if that was all she could do.

Reign looked so peaceful lying in the grass. No, it wasn't Reign anymore. It was Sam. But now, all Lena could think of was Sam driving a knife through Kara. It was an image she would never be able to forget. And she knew that she would never be able to forgive Sam if Kara died.

Kara.

Lena immediately ran to Kara's side. Her hands fumbled over her wound.

It was so bad. While looking at the mangled flesh, Lena felt pain in her chest – it was as if someone had grabbed her heart and was trying to yank it from her ribcage.

"Kara..." Lena managed between two sobs.

Kara's eyes were wandering. They had lost their colour: once bright blue, now pastel blue. Lena gently tapped Kara's face.

"Lena," she said in that beautiful voice of hers.

Lena smiled, her tears lubricating her lips. "Yes, Kar?"

"You look really pretty in this light."

More tears fell. Why was this happening? Why was this happening to Kara, of all people?

She gazed down at the hero's supersuit. It was torn, marred by Kara's fight with Reign. Where the S met the blue fabric they was a gaping hole filled with oozing blood. It was spreading up to her S. Lena hurriedly wiped the blood off the Super symbol. She didn't want Kara's suit to stain. How would she continue her superhero work if the S was damaged?

"Kara. Your S... it's getting stained."

Kara laughed weakly. "Yeah, I know." Each word was filled with anguish. It was as if Kara had given up on herself.

"Don't worry, Kara, you are going to be fine. The DEO are on the way. They'll save you. They have before, so they will now."

Kara suddenly cried out pain, clutching her stomach. More blood gushed out. Lena felt helpless. How could she help? Fate had such a twisted mind to make her watch Kara go through such affliction.

"I need...I need to put-" Lena moved her hand forward, as if to put pressure on the Kryptonian's gash, but her hand was batted away. Kara held out her shaky hand. Her forehead was beaded with sweat and her eyes were droopy. As their hands met, Lena could feel how cold Kara's were...

"No, Kara. I need to. There's no other way... I can't... I can't... let you..." Lena's voice broke. She couldn't get the words out of her mouth.

"Lena, like you said... how could you save someone who is dying?"

Words could not form in Lena's mouth. As Lex used to say, 'the truth hurts'. Except this truth felt like a punch in the gut. It felt like something inside of her was burning.

"You look so pretty in this light, Lena." Kara whispered, her voice fading into the sound of morning. Her blue eyes were glittering in the pale sunlight. They were endless seas of blue that Lena wished she could dive into.

"Tell Alex..." she coughed. Black spots riddled her sight. Kara frowned, as if the world beginning to spin. "You need to tell..."

"I'm not going to tell her anything, Kara. You are going to bloody tell her yourself!" Lena screeched at the top of her voice. Kara gave a sad smile.

"Alex is the best sister... I could have ever... ever... wished for..."Another fit of coughing. Blood spurted out of her mouth. Alarm bells rang in Lena's head. "And I'll always protect her... even from Rao's light... thank her for giving me another chance at life... on Earth. It's a chance... a chance that I'm so grateful for..."

Lena stood still. The anger inside of her boiled and bubbled. She watched as the life was slowly sucked out of Supergirl. Then she snapped.

"You can't go Kara!" she yelled with all of her might. "Everyone here needs you! Alex needs you! How would she feel if her sister died? How would the whole of National City feel? They need Supergirl! They need Kara Danvers! Don't be selfish! Stay with me! I can't lose you! I need you Kara!"

"The world doesn't need me, because the world has you."

Suddenly, the Kryptonian's back arched as she screamed in torment. More green veins ran up her face and the stab wound began to glow green. Her head slammed back onto the ground as Kara gasped, the energy inside of her draining out. Every movement she seemed to make sent huge flares of pain down her body.

Kara was looking at Lena with half-open eyes.

"Kara, please!" Lena was begging. She was pleading for Kara to not succumb to the anguish. Kara turned her head slightly. She watched the grass sway to the wind.

"I love my life." She said in a hushed voice. "And I love you." This time she gazed up into Lena's eyes.

Lena banged her fist against the grass. "No! Kara!"

She moved forward, cupping Kara's cheeks, pulling the Kryptonian into a kiss.

Kara smiled one last time at Lena as they parted.

Time froze.

Lena wanted that smile to last forever. It was the smile that brought her joy. And if she never saw it – experienced it again – she feared that she would never feel the joy of Kara. She would forget it. How could she forget that smile? That would be a crime Lena would never be able to forgive herself for.

And at that moment, it wasn't Lena who seemed breathtaking in the light. It was Kara. The gilt rays of the sun lit up her pale face as her suit shimmered dark blue. Lena's breath was stolen away by Kara's beauty. Her blonde locks shone gold and every part of her was extraordinary.

Kara stared at Lena, a smile still painted on her lips. Lena let out all of her sorrow, her anger. She cried and cried.

"I love you too...I love you so much... Words can't describe...my love...for you."

"Mom?" Kara's eyes were elsewhere. She was looking behind her. Lena turned, and saw nothing. But as she waved her hand through the air, she felt another force. It was Kara's mother. And she was here to take her away.

Alura smiled sadly. She had never wished this fate upon her daughter, and to see her so vulnerable was tearing her heart in two. Still, she held out her hand, beckoning Kara to take it. Kara... she whispered, her voice no louder than the wind.

"No!" Lena yelled. "Don't take her away! Please!" It seemed ridiculous screaming to someone she couldn't see but Lena couldn't care less.

Kara's eyes moved to Lena. They stood at a standstill.

Then Kara spoke in a sweet, innocent voice: "I love you Lena."

And then her lips parted one last time. Her eyes were focused on Lena, and Kara said softly:

"I'm home..."

The birds stopped singing.

The wind stopped whistling.

The sun stopped shining.

The grass stopped swaying.

Kara's heart stopped beating. Kara's eyes stopped seeing. Everything seemed to stop: life, death, and the whole world. But Lena did not stop crying.

Something inside of Lena had disappeared – vanished with Kara's soul.

Lena's stare was locked on Kara. She was still smiling. But her pupils were dilated. Her eyes were open wide – like a child gasping in delight on Christmas morning. She seemed as if she was frozen in time.

But Lena knew otherwise.

Lena couldn't think. She forgot how to breathe. Each inhalation was struggle: she had simply lost her will to live. Maybe that was because a part of her died with Kara. And she felt empty. Lena didn't know what to feel. Anger? Dejection? It was too confusing for her.

All she wanted to do was sit with Kara and wither away.

Her whimpers were the only sounds audible for miles. All sounds had muted, perhaps in tribute to Supergirl.

She looked around, feeling nothing. Her eyes caught Sam's limp form. She didn't care for Sam anymore. How could she? She had killed – no, murdered – Kara. Sam had stolen the light from Lena's life with one quick snatch. And Lena was left to pick up the pieces.

Oh, god. What would she tell Alex?

"I should have found another way… I should have saved you…"

Her world broke down.

It was her fault. It finally dawned on her. She could have shot Reign and saved Kara. But she didn't. Kara had always found a way to save everyone without any casualties... so why couldn't Lena? Lena clenched her fists tightly, and held them to her face.

Sam hadn't killed Kara.

Lena had killed Kara.

Lena had murdered Kara with the choice she had made.

TBC...