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Do not go gentle into that good night

Chapter 8: VIII

Notes:

I freaking did it, guys!! I feel super sad and relieved and excited all at the same time. I might have tears in my eyes but you won't know for sure. ;) I thank you for the support you gave me all throughout the story. It really kept me writing and be motivated. THANK YOU! I wrote the chapter listening to the main theme of Interstellar so I apologize if I lost myself a bit with hyperboles and illusions of grandeur...

WARNING: For sexual contents and lots of violence. I'm sorry for any mistakes I made. I can't proofread the chapter anymore without wanting to pull my hair out... ;)

I hope you will like the ending! Happy reading! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

 

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas

 

 

 

Isn’t it weird? Lena recalls, chuckling softly. How the odds used to keep on stacking against her?

 

Lena never asked to be a Luthor. She never felt like she was one in the first place. And yet, here she is, hiding, plotting under her own kingdom and listening to her Lieutenant and Sergeant argue with the heads of the Resistance about the best way to take control of her city. She observes with interest these people she came to trust and care about. They stand, all crammed into this small space filled with this damp earthy smell and the bitter scent of their sweat, as they fight passionately about strategy and vantage points while pointing incessantly at the map of her city. Lena hides her amused smile into her hand. Not Luthor enough in her family’s eyes but enough for all these people to fight with her, for her and her kingdom.

 

It's not something she would have thought possible just a month ago.

 

Just a month ago, she had been chained to a wall alone, dirty and hopeless; silently awaiting death to take her. And while it had been her situation a month ago, Lena had felt that way her whole life. She always saw herself more like an animal; forced into a cage, clawing and thrashing against the bars of her cell and yet feeling utterly helpless. Living in wait of death.

 

Her father, even secretive and questionable as he was, had tried to instill in her this will to survive. To fight no matter what. Lena hadn’t understood what he had been asking of her then.

 

She had been arrogant and naïve. Fighting was all she ever did. She had scrambled for every scrap of pride, warmth, recognition, and preservation she could reach. And it had been enough for years. Until death had come knocking on her door and Lena hadn’t know how to fight anymore. She had stopped fighting because she hadn’t believed she could have something more. Rage, Rage against the dying of the light, he would whisper to her. Lena had thought that he meant to rage against the dark and the pain, to rage against life because life was cruel and sly. But now, looking at these people arguing, fighting passionately, Lena finally understands. Lena finally embraces it.

 

She finally embraces everything she fought so hard against. The pain she feels in her guts, the fear clawing at her insides, and the rage burning in her heart. It’s there, and Lena doesn’t fight it anymore. Rage, Rage against the dying of the light, he would whisper. Her father died and Lena only saw death when he was asking her to fight for the light. To hold on to the light even in her last breath.

 

She had been so consumed by the lifeless eyes following her that she forgot that hers weren’t. They won’t stop following her and they won’t stop from haunting her mind but instead of fighting against them, she’ll fight for those eyes raging over maps and battle formation.

 

Lena looks at them and she doesn’t see death anymore. She looks at them and she sees hope.

 

She feels Kara rub her nose against her ear. It brings her back to the room. Lena smiles and breathes. Kara Zor-El is fight personified. Kara Zor-El defies death on a daily basis, not out of fear but for the love and the hope of those around her.

 

“Are you okay?” She asks quietly, her lips touching the skin of her ear.

 

Lena turns toward her and inhales, filling her lungs with the faint smell of honey and mint. She nods and the Kryptonian smiles at her. Lena sighs, focusing back on the conversation. Jess is pointing at a few spots on the map, describing the weakest parts of the City’s defenses. Unfortunately, there aren’t many.

 

“We won’t be able to get in undetected,” Alex frowns, looking at the map and searching for answers. “If we can’t even breach the outer wall, going into the Castle is crazy… Those who would get in would be trapped and vastly outnumbered.”

 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Luke replies, rubbing at the back of his head in frustration. “It's a fortress. Getting in is hard enough but try getting out. It’s even harder. We have tried to save some archers before their execution and we just couldn’t get out of the City without nearly getting ourselves killed. Once in, we are trapped, ” Luke emphasizes, voice strained and tired. “And even if we do enter, archers are wildly at a disadvantage. It’s a closed space and we would face an infantry who is fucking good at melee and closed combats. To get in the City like this is not possible,” Luke glares at Alex who glares right back.

 

They have been butting heads ever since the beginning of the meeting. Lena muffles a grunt into Kara’s shoulder. It’s been two hours already. They’ve been pouring over maps and castle plans over and over again trying to find a way to invade the City, and so far, no one could agree on anything. Lena had kept quiet for the most part, waiting for them to realize that it wasn’t possible. But Kara had asked her to consider all possibilities. So that’s what Lena is doing. Even though it bores her to death.

 

Kara chuckles and rolls her eyes at her. “What do you say, Maggie?” She asks, interrupting the glaring match. “You are a spy. How would you get in?”

 

The woman puts her hands on her hips, sighing heavily. “The defenses are really good. There is no way we can have the upper hand if we do a textbook invasion. The only way would be to blend in. While it is risky with the check-in at the Gate, I don’t think invading the City by force will be advantageous. We need a decoy.”

 

Luke looks smugly at Alex, now that Maggie’s input has finally proven his point. Lena rolls her eyes at his bravado. No wonder Alex knocked him out the first chance she got. Lena feels smug too but unlike her Lieutenant, she hides it better.

 

“I had an idea,” Lena finally says looking at everyone around the table. She feels Kara tense beside her, her arms crossed over her chest. “We’ve talked a bit about it last night but Kara wasn’t on board with it.”

 

“Because it’s reckless,” Kara snorts.

 

Lena ignores her. “I will give myself up,” Lena says to the surprise of the Resistance. “The execution Lex is planning for-f" Her fingers tremble suddenly, a nervous tic that she has learned to ignore. Quite ironic for an archer to know that their fingers respond to emotional stress when they ought to be still and impassive. Kara takes her hand in hers and Lena smiles gratefully, hiding the trembling in her warm hand. “The execution he is planning tomorrow will get as public as it can get if I trade myself for their life. Lex won’t pass up an occasion to put his victory on display.”

 

Alex frowns at the idea. “Alone? How would you do that?”

 

Lena shakes her head. “I’ll need some people with me to go back to the border and surrender. It will delay the execution. As soon as the word will reach my brother, he will make a spectacle of my surrender. I’m sure he’ll want to parade me through the City for everyone to see.”

 

Maggie hums, looking more and more onboard with her idea. “That would be our chance to get in. They’ll likely let everyone around come to assist to this…”

 

Kara sighs beside her and caves in. “What about weapons?”

 

“We’ve already smuggled weapons into the City a few weeks ago just in case,” Jess replies. “Hidden by civilians and in some other spots. There should be enough for all of us.”

 

“It doesn’t change the fact that we are still outnumbered by those inside,” Kara scowls. “How will we get to you after the prisoners have been liberated?” She asks her and Lena smiles sheepishly. Kara narrows her eyes, squeezing her hand reproachfully. “You have no idea, don’t you?”

 

Lena shrugs. “It’s usually the time where I improvise.”

 

“Unbelievable.”

 

“I might have an idea,” Jess cuts in saving her from Kara possibly murdering her. “I have a friend in the Infantry. He is at the border right now.” Luke raises an eyebrow at her, a teasing smile stretching his lips. “A friend, Luke!” Jess insists, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I can ask him to be the one to get you inside the City. We begin the attack and he’ll get you out of the shackles in the confusion.”

 

“Is he trustworthy?” Luke asks more seriously than he has been a moment ago.

 

“He is.”

 

“We would still be outnumbered,” Kara groans, rubbing her forehead. “Did you get any word back from the army on how many would stand down or join us?”

 

“I’ve been trying to start an uprising at the border so that they can join but from what they told me even there the loyalty to the King is split nearly equally. They can’t leave and make their sergeants suspicious. King Lex would know immediately. The only thing they can do is stop anyone from sending back-up. I don’t know for those already in the City,” Jess shrugs. “It was too risky to ask.”

 

“Then they are all foes,” Alex declares. “How many are they?”

 

“The Infantry, Cavalry, and the Guards all in the City combined?” Jess lists and grimaces. “I’d say a good fifteen thousand…”

 

Kara shakes her head. “It’s too much. We can’t take control of the City with that many against us. We barely reach eleven thousand and most of us are archery trained…”

 

Luke nods. “Like I said, archers are at a disadvantage in closed combat. The City is huge but it is cramped. We need to deal with the Cavalry first. The Archer’s Corp can easily overpower them. If we go inside, we will get stopped by Corben’s Infantry in no time while Sinclair’s Cavalry will be picking us off from behind.”

 

Alex steps toward him, narrowing her eyes threateningly. “You want to attack from outside the walls? You’ll cut our force in two with no back-up for either of us!”

 

Luke steps forward too, rising to the challenge. “We can’t let the Cavalry inside the walls either!” Lena throws a glance at Jess who nods and stands at Luke’s back, ready to haul him away.

 

“Is there any way for you to get to higher grounds?” Maggie cuts in. “Take control of the City walls, perhaps?”

 

Luke frowns ready to retort before Lena glares at him and he closes his mouth to think about it. “We could hold off the Cavalry if we take control of the ramparts,” he finally says scratching the stubble on his cheek. “But we will be under attack on two fronts and those inside will be on their own.”

 

Alex scoffs. “From what I understand you wouldn’t be effective inside anyway…”

 

“Hey now!” Luke exclaims glaring at the Knight and Jess quickly grabs his arms and pushes him behind her against the wall.

 

Lena sighs. At a young age, she had resigned herself to the fact that her life was out of her control. Like a piece on a chessboard, she had been thrown into a game and forced to play only for the chance to stay alive. She watches her Lieutenant push Jess’ arm away with an angry scowl. He looks at her and Lena sees how tired, haggard and angry he is, the stress finally getting to him. Lena hangs on to Kara’s hand.

 

“Calm down!” Lena hisses as he stands next to her with the energy of a caged animal about to die. “It is suicide for our Infantry if we send them alone against Corben’s and the Queen Mother’s Guard. There is just no way anyone would survive,” Lena finally says, rejecting Luke’s idea of dividing Lex’s Army by having the archers attacking from the outside. Luke nods, breathing deeply. “You will lead the Longbow Squad to take control of the rampart. The key position is the console that controls the gate. It is our only way to prevent the Cavalry from getting in. You will be under attack from both the Infantry and the Cavalry… But you’ll have to keep the gate closed for as long as possible…” Luke nods, clenching his jaw. Lena sighs, meeting Jess’ eyes from across the room. “The Crossbow Squad will have to go in and watch the rear of our Infantry. You will have to fend off the rest of Corben’s Infantry from sending back up to the Queen Mother’s Guard at the Castle…”

 

Jess stares at her, shocked and hopeless. “We will be sitting duck, at the heart of the City…”

 

“I know…” War was like a game of chess and Lena learned the rules. She learned how to anticipate her opponent’s moves and she learned to make sacrifices to win. “Until we capture the King.”

 

Kara squeezes her hand in support. “If it only comes down to numbers, we can’t win.”

 

“If we capture Lex, there is nothing they can do,” Lena insists staring at Jess’ wide eyes, trying to reassure her. “They will have to surrender. I’m the next in line. But for that to happen we will have to get Sinclair’s, Corben’s, and the Queen Mother’s soldiers out of the way…”

 

“So that’s it?” Jess asks breathless.

 

Lena nods, waiting for anyone to object. This was sink or swim. Luke was right. They have to divide Lex’s Army or they wouldn’t stand a chance otherwise. But by dividing his army Lena was also dividing hers and like Jess said, her squad and Luke’s would only be sitting duck, fending off the bulk of Lex’s Army for the Resistance to storm the Castle against the Queen Mother’s Guards and hope for a quick surrender. If they failed or dragged the fight too long, there was no going out of this alive.

 

“This is suicide…” Jess suddenly whispers and chaos erupts in the room.

 

Lena hears them argue in fear, Luke and Alex butting head like usual, while Maggie stands on the side in support of her wife, throwing quips here and there. Lena sees the dejected faces, the fear, the anger… She feels Kara’s hand in hers and can’t help but rub Kara’s warm golden ring. Rage, Rage against the dying of the light, he would whisper.

 

“The odds are against us,” Lena says loudly, interrupting the shouting match. “They have always been. We’ve always fought against the odds. Against Krypton, against Daxam we were always one step of losing…” Lena watches them, these people she cares so much about. Those she learned to survive with and those she couldn’t live without. “Do not go gentle into that good night,” Lena whispers fiercely noticing the Luthorians around the table suddenly perk up at the familiar saying, surprised and struck by the cry of war and of hope that had been passed through generations. “We fought and we are still here, we fought and we came out victorious. The odds are against us but that never stopped us before. This is no different. We will fight! We will-“

 

Rage!” Luke exclaims right beside her, a twinkle in his eyes and a wide grin on his face. Lena smiles back, relieved to always have him watching her back.

 

Rage against the dying of the light!” Jess whispers with a teary smile, nodding toward her Captain, thankful and ready.

 

Lena nods. “We will do as we planned. Luke will take on the City Walls. Jess will protect the Infantry while we storm the Castle. If we can get close enough to Lex, we will capture him and put an end to this!” Lena promises looking at her Lieutenant and Sergeant drawing strength from their faith in her.

 

“And if we can’t capture him?” Alex asks softly, apologetic.

 

Lena gulps, struck to the heart. “I will do what is necessary.” Lena knew she had to overthrow her brother. And yet, it is the first time that she fully realizes she might have to kill him to do so.

 

Alex nods gravely and Lena feels Kara’s hand squeeze her maddeningly trembling fingers.

 

“Dismissed,” Lena whispers, shell-shocked. Had she been too naïve to think that Lex would surrender of his own volition? This wasn’t a game anymore. Lena knew Lex despised losing. He would play the game until one of them would be checkmate and nothing less.

 

Kara looks at her in concerns as everyone files out of the room to brief their squad. Lena shakes her head, seeing Alex and Maggie waiting for Kara to join them at the door and organize the Infantry. Kara nods, kissing her forehead softly before letting go. Lena hides the trembling by crossing her arms over her chest.

 

She exhales forcefully, in the hope of cleansing herself from this nervous energy, this dread that has suddenly taken over her body. Lena closes her eyes and breathes. She lets herself have this one moment of fear, helplessness, and doubt in that lone room under the ground because she knows that as soon as she will open them, all of these feelings would be gone, replaced instead by the will to fight for something more.

 

Rage, Rage against the dying of the light, he would whisper. Lena nods to herself. She has stuff to do. She needs to compose a team that will go back to the border with her.

 

***

 

She stares at the ceiling of the room she and Kara called their own. It was only a matter of time now before a member of her team comes and gets her. She had asked for the quiet. The short reprieve. If she could, she would have taken a bow and shoot countless arrows to quiet her mind but they didn’t have this luxury in here... There’s a knock on the door and Lena’s eyes widens, standing abruptly. It couldn’t be time to go already…

 

“Hey,” Luke says, opening the door.

 

Lena smiles in relief. “Hi,” she sits back on the cot, her back against the wall, motioning for Luke to do the same.

 

He nods, closing the door behind him, and sits, his shoulder pressed against hers. “Feels like old times, doesn’t it?”

 

Lena nods breathing deeply. “It does.”

 

“Are you scared?” He asked watching the opposite wall intently, the clench of his jaw more prominent than usual.

 

“Immensely.”

 

“I’m not,” he whispers with a smile, his gaze intent on the wall. “What you said earlier, at the meeting… It has been a while since I heard it.”

 

It’s been a while since she let herself remember too. “I know.”

 

Luke shudders and Lena feels the reverberation in her shoulder and then all over her body. “It made me think…” he trails off, looking oddly composed.

 

“About what?” She asks him, confused. She watches her best friend steel himself, a light shine in his eyes.

 

“Life…” he utters quietly. “I… Sometimes, it feels like there is nothing beyond this,” he says finally looking at her, and Lena sees the tear falling down from his other cheek. “Beyond this battle and the next and the next… It made me forget what I’m fighting for…”

 

She stares at him breathlessly, a lump in her throat. “What are you fighting for?”

 

He smiles and looks back toward the wall, clenching his jaw to hide the trembling of his lips. “Do you remember before our first battle? We were at a campfire and the Captain asked us what we hoped for?” Lena nods taking his hand in hers. “I still want that… I want to go to the sea and fish. I’ll come visit you in that little cottage you wanted to live in… and we’ll eat fish… around a campfire,” Luke whispers smiling still as Lena hears the tears in his voice. “I still want that,” he repeats quietly. She nods hiding her tears against his trembling shoulder. “Your wife will be there of course.” Lena lets out a strangled laugh as he puts his arm around her in a side hug. “Looks like she is not going to let you go anytime soon.”

 

“I’m not letting her go either,” Lena whispers.

 

“Good. I’m glad you managed to sweep her off her feet…” She sees the teasing smile on his lips and braces herself for the dig. “Because you weren’t doing so well the last time…”

 

“Shut up!” She hits him in the chest as he laughs, his eyes twinkling in mirth. He rubs his chest in mock hurt and stands. Lena stands too, a sudden worry animating her. “This is not goodbye, is it?”

 

Luke shakes his head, smiling in reassurance.

 

“Because it feels a lot like it,” she whispers taking him in her arms and holds on to him as hard as she can.

 

He chuckles deeply, the shake of his laughter traveling through her body by the skin of her cheek. He holds on to her too. “Don’t worry. Whatever happens, I have your back.”

 

The door opens behind them. “Oh, uh, sorry… for interrupting,” Kara stammers and Lena laughs against Luke’s shoulder.

 

“No. It’s fine,” Luke replies detangling himself from her. “Lena was missing you anyway…”

 

Lena frowns. “What? What are you talking about?”

 

He winks at Kara and Lena sees her blush. “You did a number on her… See how dazed she looks…” He whispers to the blonde motioning to Lena’s bewildered expression as he goes out of the door, a teasing smile thrown her way.

 

Lena fumes. “Luke!”

 

Kara frowns watching her Lieutenant surely retreat out of the tunnel before Lena can strangle him. “What? What’s just happened?”

 

“That’s Luke,” Lena’s sighs. “He is a great friend but sometimes he just likes to annoy everyone.”

 

Kara laughs closing the door behind her. “Yeah, I thought Alex was going to kill him earlier… Here!” She says handing her a little basket. “I found us some food.”

 

“Thank you. I’m starving,” Lena brings the basket to the cot and looks inside. Kara sits next to it and Lena hands her some bread with some dry meat.

 

They eat in silence and Lena feels Kara’s gaze stray toward her every few minutes. She waits chewing on some dry fruits. She knows she won’t have to wait long; patience wasn’t really Kara’s strongest suit. Kara fidgets next to her. Three… two… one…

 

“Are you okay?” She finally asks in a breath. Lena smirks. “I mean, I saw your face when we talked about Lex…”

 

Lena finishes her food and sees Kara put the basket on the ground, opening the space between them for Lena to get closer. To open up. She frowns. Old habits die hard. “You don’t think I can do it? You don’t think I can kill him?” She asks crossing her arms.

 

“That’s not what I said,” Kara sighs, shuffling toward her. Her knee touches her thigh. She pries Lena’s arms open and takes one of her hand in hers. Lena stares at their tangled fingers. At the golden ring shining on Kara’s annular. “But, I would… I would understand if you can’t…” she continues hesitantly, the pads of her fingers mapping every nook of Lena’s hand. “My aunt has done horrible things for power and revenge… She ordered my parents’ death… But I still love her, you know?” Kara whispers. “I still feel guilty about it. But I… I still remember the nights when we would sneak outside to that hill I told you about… to see the stars… I still remember the good…”

 

Lena nods, relaxing. Kara sits back against the wall, her shoulder pressed against hers, and Lena sighs. “Could you do it? Kill your aunt?”

 

Kara shrugs, uncertain and pained. “I don’t know… Even if it would be the right thing to do for everyone, I don’t know if I could do it. She and Kal are the only family I have left…” she trails off and Lena understands.

 

How could she not understand when she was right now facing the same dilemma? She used to think that Lex couldn’t be saved just to rid herself of the guilt, of having to wonder constantly what she could have done differently to keep him away from this path. But deep down, Lena knows she had always wanted to save him. Deep down, she still feels the guilt of not having done enough… And it makes her so angry.

 

“Lex used to tell me stories,” Lena whispers instead, looking at the wall and thinking of nights running outside or stories in the dark. “He would captivate me with his words and take me on adventures where everything was possible. He is brilliant and gifted and so lonely…” Lena remembers those long hours playing chess, the two of them in that big, cold room. Lena remembers those first few months where she would hide under her bed and Lex would crawl in beside her so that she wouldn’t be alone. “I think that’s why we held on to each other as hard as we did when we were kids. I used to think that it was us against the world. For a time, it was…” Lena breathes shakily and burrows her face in Kara’s neck. “You are right… I don’t know if I can do it…”

 

Kara nods, putting her arm around her shoulders, her lips against her temple. “I’ll be with you, every step of the way. I’ll… I’ll do it for you.”

 

Lena raises her head from her hiding place and stares at Kara’s determined face and steady eyes, in shock.

 

“You are not alone,” she continues fiercely, offering to shoulder the burden together. Lena nods, speechless. Kara kisses her temple. “How long before you have to go?”

 

“An hour, maybe. Someone will come get me. Why?”

 

Kara nods, shy and flustered. “I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while but it… it never felt like the right time and I… I feel like there never will be a right time but…” Kara stammers, detaching herself from her.

 

Lena frowns, confused. “Kara?”

 

Kara stops and inhales, not meeting her eyes but frowning at the ring on her finger. “What Jess said… at the meeting? What… What does it mean?” Kara stutters fast, words jumbled, twirling her ring. “Because… I took away my ring once, when I was mad at you and… you engraved it into the ring and…” Kara breathes finally looking at her, confused and anxious. “What does it mean?”

 

Lena gulps watching the golden ring. It feels like ages ago. “It’s a poem. An old one made by a self-destructive, drunkard Luthorian but a brilliant one,” Lena explains and smiles at Kara’s frown. “It’s about his dying father.” The image of her father’s smile as he charges against Krypton for the last time suddenly appears into her mind. “It’s also about defying death. It’s about fighting even when the end is near. Even when everything is lost…” Lena bites her lips as they suddenly shake and watch the understanding slowly dawns on Kara’s face.

 

“You came into my cell and broke me out when I was about to stop fighting…” Lena whispers feeling small and vulnerable, unable to meet Kara’s eyes. “And I thought you were dead,” she recalls laughing in disbelief and grief. “All these years, I would look for you amidst the Kryptonian’s army. At every attacks and raids… I couldn’t find you on the battlefield and a part of me kept thinking that I had killed you… without knowing it,” she finally confesses. “It hurt and I didn’t know why… why sometimes it felt like I couldn’t breathe just at the idea that I…” Lena stops and breathes deeply, willing her tears not to fall. Not to fall apart because it didn’t happen. “I just couldn’t believe it,” she says shaking her head and feels Kara’s hand cradle her jaw. Their eyes meet and Lena feels bewitched. “But when you came back and when we got married I just knew… Rage against the dying of the light. You remind me of that,” Lena lays her hand on the one on her jaw, feeling the warm ring against her palm and holds onto it. “Of that rage that just keeps on fighting no matter what. A rage that never gives up. You don’t give up Kara Zor-El,” Kara smiles, small and shy, caressing the skin of her cheek with her thumb. “And to see it on your finger, to touch it… It reminds me not to give up too. Even when I am being a jerk,” Lena jokes, heart suddenly in her throat as Kara straddles her and presses her forehead against hers.

 

Kara nods, nuzzling against her nose and Lena doesn’t know how to breathe anymore. “Yeah, you were kind of a jerk.”

 

“I had… reasons to be,” Lena stutters and closes her eyes at the feel of Kara’s lips against her cheek.

 

“None at all. You were just too stubborn,” Kara whispers against her lips.

 

“Are you… going to kiss me?” Lena asks, breathless.

 

“No…” Kara denies against her bottom lip and Lena grabs the back of Kara’s tunic in her hand and doesn’t let go.

 

“It really feels like you might…”

 

“If I kiss you now,” Kara sighs, both hands in Lena’s hair, trapping her body under hers. “It might be hard for me to stop. And you have to go soon.”

 

Lena groans. “Even more reasons to shut up and kiss me now…” Lena doesn't fight against it anymore. She falls and breaks apart against Kara’s lips.

 

Kara kisses like she fights, wholeheartedly, relentlessly. She chases Lena’s lips and holds them prisoners against hers again and again until Lena is forced to surrender, to open her lips and let Kara invade her mouth. It doesn’t feel like a defeat. Lena moans in victory.

 

Kara’s tongue explores the new, conquered land and Lena smiles as she slides her hands greedily over the burning skin of Kara’s waist, stomach, and ribs. Kara relents on the assault of her lips as Lena’s hands stop just below her breasts, both breathing heavily. It’s like all the pent-up energy, the years and years of fight and wariness and danger just exploded into that one kiss. As if they just couldn’t wait anymore.

 

Kara nods, biting at the skin of her jaw, and Lena resumes her exploration. She relishes in the soft skin and the moans escaping from Kara’s lips. She feels Kara grind against her and Lena wants more, biting Kara’s collarbone, a hand at the small of her back helping the movement of Kara’s hips. Lena wants everything.

 

A sudden knock at the door makes them break apart, slightly.

 

“Captain Luthor! It’s time!” The voice says through the door.

 

“One minute!” Lena breathes harshly against the skin of Kara’s neck. She hears Kara curse above her and Lena muffle a chuckle against her throat, listening to the footsteps walking away from the door and then, she sucks on the skin pulsing just under her lips.

 

“You have to go,” Kara protests against her ear, standing up but not letting go.

 

Lena stands too, a willing captive as Kara walks them toward the door. “I know.”

 

“Don’t be reckless,” Kara whispers against her lips. Holding on till the last second until Lena feels the cold doorknob in her hand.

 

She nods, inhaling the scent of Kara’s skin. “Don’t charge headfirst.”

 

The blonde chuckles and puts her hand over her own before opening the door. “See you on the battlefield.”

 

Lena nods and slits out of the room as quickly as possible. Kara closes the door and Lena finally breathes, the imprint of Kara’s lips still on her skin, the pounding of her heart giving her the strength to meet the team waiting for her at the end of the tunnel.

 

***

 

Here we are, Lena thinks watching her Kingdom’s border loom over her.

 

It is a quiet affair as the Infantry opens the gate of the border. Lena and her team are quickly put into shackles waiting to be escorted back to the City. A party of twenty escort them and eight of the soldiers catch Lena’s eyes, nodding at her.

 

The first time Kara proposed to overthrow her brother, Lena didn’t take it seriously. She never wanted to lead. She never wanted the Kingdom or the power. If anything, it felt more like a burden than anything else. She had just wanted to be free and she had thought that fleeing her brother would be the solution, for her and those following her.

 

She couldn’t imagine a scenario where she would take on a fight against her brother and survive. On her own? Lena didn’t think it would have been possible.

 

When Kara proposed it to her, Lena remembers watching her with wide eyes, stunned and utterly captivated by the hope and belief in her intense blue eyes as Kara Zor-El asked her to fight.

 

Be the hero Lena never thought herself to be.

 

This is it, Lena thinks as the rampart of the City suddenly appears on the horizon. This is the moment where she’ll know if she can be what Kara saw in her in that little house in Mars Republic.

 

It all feels really ominous. The tense atmosphere, the cloudy sky above them, the jittery feeling in her fingers longing to have a bow in her hands. She knows they have a plan but here, in this carriage, trapped on both sides, Lena feels vulnerable and exposed. She feels like thrashing in survival, desperate, angry, and hopeless. Lena breathes and steels herself. Ignoring the lifeless eyes from gripping her ankles and the darkness from swallowing her. Rage, Rage against the dying of the light, he would whisper. Lena thinks instead of Kara’s lips on hers. Her warm body pressed so eagerly into her own as they battled for something they would both win. If she closes her eyes, she can still feel the heat of her breath hitting her skin as Kara bit into her neck. Lena smiles as they pass the Gates of the City. Kara promised to help her in any way she could at the time. Lena didn’t think that just the thought of her in the City, right now, waiting, watching over her would be enough to calm her racing heart and bring her back into the fight.

 

They make her step out of the carriage, the soldiers who nodded at her on either side. The rest of her team is escorted away where, Lena knows, the Resistance will free them quietly.

 

She’ll make the walk alone.

 

She notices the silence as everyone watches her: Corben’s Infantry, the civilians behind them as she is escorted straight toward the Castle. They all watch her with apprehension. Lena sees the hope in the civilians’ eyes, the fear and she nods, head held high as she vows silently to free them. As she vows to take back her City.

 

It’s weird to walk on these streets paraded as a fallen enemy when she remembers running in them with Luke, laughing, and joking around. It’s terrifying to see the innkeeper nods solemnly at her from the door of the Tavern her Archers used to frequent and other faces she recognizes from her day to day life, all watching her in expectation and hope.

 

Lena clenches her jaw and breathes at the sudden sight of Alex standing in the crowd. She breathes again as she sees Jess, Maggie, Vasquez, and more of her company dispersed on both sides. She is not alone, Lena remembers as she meets intense blue eyes following her till Lena passes her. Till Lena stands in front of the Castle Courtyard where the prisoners are kneeling in front of her.

 

Lex watches her from the steps of the Castle, tall and intimidating. Corben, Sinclair, and the Queen Mother on either side.

 

“Lena,” Lex greets her in that pleasant voice he always used when he would tell her stories. “I’m glad you came back.”

 

The soldiers holding her step away as Lex and the shadows following him walk down the stairs to stand behind the line of prisoners separating them.

 

“You have me,” Lena says catching Eli’s eyes, battered and bruised, as he suddenly raises his head at her voice. “Let them go.”

 

“I was deeply hurt when I learned that you fled, Lena,” Lex says instead, walking calmly behind the line of kneeling, trembling prisoners. She feels their eyes on her, hopeful and scared while she stands there helpless and chained, like them. “I looked for you.”

 

“You framed me!” She hisses, remembering the month-long captivity in the Kryptonian prison.

 

“You left me!” He retorts with rage and Lena sees the madness in his eyes, the sadness, and the hurt. She sees the boy she loves dearly pushed toward the edge and fall into the darkness that threatened every day to swallow her whole. “Everything I did, I did it to protect you,” he whispers madly and Lena nods.

 

“Let them go, Lex. I’m here. It’s over.”

 

He shakes his head, smiling at her apologetic. “You don’t understand little sister. This is only the beginning…” he says, unsheathing his sword.

 

“Lex, no!” Lena screams as two of her escorts hold her back.

 

“Luthorians!” Lex bellows addressing the crowd behind her. “Let’s give a warm welcome to my dear sister who betrayed her kingdom and her King,” she watches him helplessly as he walks back and forth behind the line of prisoners, his sword still and at the ready. “Let’s give her our mercy for her faults and our kindness for her repentance. But above all,” he tones, stopping behind Eli, who gulps staring at her straight in the eyes. “Let’s teach her not to do it ever again!”

 

“LEX!” Lena trashes against those restraining her. She hears the grumbling crowd at her back and pleads desperately as Eli shakes his head at her with a smile.

 

“Any last word to your Captain, boy?”

 

Eli looks at her and she can’t breathe. It’s like time has stopped. She sees him as the young boy who kept following her, begging her to teach him how to shoot. And she sees him now, a young man, trembling bravely; eyes shining with tears as a fierce determination and stubbornness fill his eyes. "It's been an honor," he utters loudly and Lena watches Lex sink his sword into his back, the tip coming out of Eli’s chest. "Captain," Eli breathes for the last time, blood pouring out of his mouth as he falls to the ground, lifeless eyes trained on hers, following her till the very end.

 

She hears herself scream as utter chaos suddenly erupts behind her.

 

The soldiers unsheathe their sword and form a wall around her as another one free her from her chains.

 

Lena pushes them away. She sees Lex glaring at her from the protection of his shadows and is quickly escorted back to the Castle as the Queen Mother’s Guard fills the courtyard.

 

The soldiers push her back behind them and form a wall against the oncoming threat. Lena is about to make a run for it, watching desperately the space between her and Lex increase exponentially when a hand claps around her shoulder and turns her around. Intense blue eyes stare back at her.

 

“Together, remember?” Kara says, handing her a longbow and a quiver as a spare one full of arrows hangs over her back.

 

Lena nods and inhales forcefully through her nose. She refuses to let her eyes stray toward Eli’s lifeless eyes as the other prisoners flee behind her. She watches the soldiers and Kara brace themselves as the first wave of Guards crashes against them. Lena steps aside and aims toward the Guards coming down the steps. Nock, draw, release. Arrows after arrows. She watches them fall one by one, tumbling down the stairs, struck suddenly in the chest, neck, or thigh.

 

She throws a glance behind her and sees the Resistance fight against Corben’s Infantry. Lena curses under her breath, shooting into a Guard’s leg as he runs toward her and crumbles to the ground screaming in pain until he yanks the arrow out and Lena knows he’s dead. They are on their own.

 

Suddenly a Guard gets too close for her to shoot and she dives back behind a soldier who puts his body in between hers and the Guard. He promptly impales him with his sword and doesn’t look back as he continues their defense until the Resistance arrives. Lena has to step further back from the fight to aim at the Guards but they are closing in on them more rapidly than she can shoot.

 

“LENA! ON YOUR RIGHT!” Kara yells and Lena doesn’t question the order. She shoots on her right and a Guard falls dead at her feet.

 

She hears a scream to her left as another charge toward her. Lena shoots him in the neck and he falls gurgling on his blood. She releases another one straight in between two of her soldiers, the arrow lodging deeply into the hand of a Guard about to strike Kara from the back. Kara turns at the scream of pain and finishes him off with a clean cut to the neck.

 

A clank of metal resounds behind her and Lena grimaces in pain as she receives a blow to the nose, thick liquid gushing out of it. She drops to the ground instinctively to avoid the slash to her abdomen. She feels the sword graze her back and grits her teeth against the pain. She rolls away, feeling her blood and the gore on the ground against her clothes. She nocks, draws, and releases an arrow into the Guard’s chest before he can come any closer.

 

Kara comes up behind her and hauls her up to her feet and pushes her back toward the soldiers. They are surrounded, Lena realizes. They form a circle, back pressed against one another as the Guards closes in on them, watching them warily, ready to strike.

 

“Where’s our Infantry?” Lena shoots an arrow at a Guard’s chest. She feels Kara’s back press against hers.

 

“I don’t know,” Kara grunts behind her. The gurgling sound of blood reaches Lena’s ears as one of their soldiers is tugged into the mass of Guards, away from their circle, and falls to the ground. “KEEP THE CIRCLE TIGHT!” Kara orders.

 

Nock, draw, release. Over and over again and yet, it feels like it doesn’t make a difference. There’s always more Guards coming toward them. She fends off a Guard with her bow, too close for her shoot as he nearly slices her with his sword. The momentum of his failed strike exposes his neck to her and Lena jams an arrow straight into the tender skin as blood spurts everywhere. The Guard falls against her and Lena uses his dead weight to push him into another Guard’s path who stumbles backward. Kara grips his chainmail in the confusion and pierces him through the chest.

 

A sudden rise of cries of rage reaches her ears as their circle is quickly surrounded by the Resistance. Lena sees Alex hack her way toward them, blood and sweat dripping down her face. The Guards fall one by one and retreat toward the steps of the Castle.

 

“We got held up! Sorry!” Alex bellows stabbing a Guard through the stomach.

 

Lena nods and inhales deeply, shakily before she shoots at a Guard coming at Kara’s back. He falls to the ground. Lena grits her teeth as she dives away from a Guard, unable to shoot as an ally steps into her line of sight. Lena holds on to her arrow. It’s too crowded. She can’t shoot without risking touching one of theirs. She tastes the sweat and the blood on her lips, watching desperately the mass of bodies colliding into one another. She aims at the top of the stairs but her aim is off and her arrow bounces away on a Guard’s helmet.

 

“We need to open a path!” Lena yells as she feels the mass of allied bodies bump into hers in the confusion and chaos.

 

“Alright!” She hears Kara says somewhere beside her. Kara grabs her arm and pushes her behind her, retreating into the heart of the Resistance.

 

“What are you doing?” Lena screams.

 

“Trust me!”

 

Lena watches the front of the battle disappear as they back away from the Castle.

 

“FORMATION!” Kara suddenly yells and Lena sees their Infantry regroup and form a thick wall all around them. Guards are tugged into the formation and slain by the soldiers inside, one by one. “ONWARD!” Lena feels them push back into the Guards lines, as one entity, hacking into them as they trudge up the steps of the Castle.

 

Lena finally puts her foot on the first step, red with blood, and then the next and the next. She takes a second to breathe in the relative safety of the formation. She discards her nearly empty quiver and takes Kara’s full one.

 

They are suddenly on flat ground and Lena knows they reach the Castle.

 

“GO! GO! GO!” Kara yells and Lena hears the front part of their Infantry scream in rage as they pierce a hole into the defense line and open up a way for them. Kara runs toward the doors and Lena follows, shooting arrows after arrows over Kara’s shoulders as they make their way one step closer to the King.

 

Lena, Kara, Maggie, Alex, and a handful of soldiers break suddenly into the Castle. There is no one inside. The sudden silence is deafening, the sound of the battle muted by the closed doors.

 

“What?” Maggie breathes, confused as they all look around the empty Great Hall. “Where are they? Could they have escaped?”

 

Lena shakes her head, wiping away at the blood she can now feel under her nose. She frowns at the copper taste and she knows she made more of a mess. There was no way Lex would leave. He was waiting for her. Somewhere. “We have to search the Castle.”

 

“It might be a trap,” Alex retorts.

 

“It is a trap,” Lena confirms. “But we have to get him before they all die outside.”

 

“Alright,” Kara whispers. Lena frowns, a lump in her throat at the blood she sees matting Kara’s hair down to her ear. “It’s not mine,” she reassures her. “Lead the way.”

 

Lena nods and draws an arrow, at the ready.

 

The cold walls of her home suddenly become even more oppressing than they already were as they make their way, silent and alert through the corridors. Leaving bloody footprints on the pristine floor. Lena leads them toward the Throne Room, a hunch she decided to follow. From a strategic standpoint, it would be the best place to wait out an enemy. They would have to get through the whole Castle just to get there.

 

Lena feels Kara beside her, the sound of their breathing too loud in the silent Castle. It makes her nervous. Every step, every clank of metal feels like a scream resounding in the empty corridors. Lena clenches her jaw and wills her terrified mind not to see every shadow as a foe. Or every sound as a sign of impending danger. She can’t lose her mind now. They finally reach the long corridor leading to the Throne Room and Lena knows in her guts that something is wrong. She just knows. She watches warily the numerous doors on either side. Innocent study rooms and parlors but that now could hide Guards ready for an ambush.

 

As soon as the idea crosses her mind, Lena curses herself as the doors open one by one, and Guards flood the corridor. Corben and Sinclair wait for them at the other end. Lena glares at them.

 

“Princess Lena,” Lady Veronica drawls in the silence. A spear in her hand. “Your presence was dearly missed. You should check out my establishment, there have been some improvements made…”

 

“I’m not interested in your type of entertainment,” Lena cuts in abruptly.

 

Lady Veronica tilts her head with a smirk. “Not anymore?”

 

Lena grits her teeth and she feels Kara tense beside her.

 

“Kill them all,” Lady Veronica orders. Suddenly, all of the Guards charge as one.

 

Lena steps back quickly. Nock, draw, release. A Guard falls on his knees. She shoots again and again before she feels someone grab her from the side and push her violently. Lena grunts and crashes heavily against the wall, rattled and confused, a ringing sound in her ears. She feels the sword come toward her and she ducks instinctively as it slices the skin of her cheek and finishes its course against the wall. Lena throws her shoulder wholeheartedly into the Guard’s chest and pushes him to the ground. She punches him in the face and stabs him in the neck with an arrow.

 

Lena hangs her bow over her back and steals his sword just in time to meet the sword of another Guard before he cuts off her head. She sees blonde hair crash into him from behind and Lena stands up quickly as another one charges at her.

 

She slashes into him without thinking. He howls in pain and then falls, silent onto the ground. Another comes toward her and another one but Lena doesn’t care. She slashes and stabs until she can no longer discern their cries of pain from her screams of rage. It’s like her vision has narrowed to this one moment, this one space where the only thing she has to do is duck, dive away and stab, slash, cut over and over again. Lena only feels the strain on her shoulders as swords clashes against hers. She barely feels the blood running down her nose anymore or the taste of blood sitting heavily on her tongue.

 

Someone grabs her by the shoulder. Lena is about to stab them in the chest when she realizes it is Maggie who pushes her away from two Guards coming from behind her. Lena nods and meets the one on the right while Maggie takes the one on the left. The Guard screams and kicks her in the stomach. Lena doubles over, wheezing in pain. She is thrown to the ground by a punch to the face, her jaw trembles in pain as she spits even more blood onto the floor. She watches in panic as the Guard raises his sword above her and stops. Black blood coming out of his mouth as the tip of a sword comes right through his chest. Lena exhales deeply as she stares at the falling body, revealing a bloody Kara Zor-El just behind.

 

A body suddenly crashes into the Kryptonian. Corben punches Kara in the face and Lena hears her grunt. She sees red and charges toward him before something makes her trip and Lena plummets to the ground. She quickly and painfully raises a dead body as a shield to protect herself from the spear thrust toward her. Lady Veronica smiles smugly, motioning her to stand up with a raise of a brow.

 

Lena grits her teeth and screams charging straight at her. Her sword clashes against the shaft of the spear violently. The force of the blow jostles her body from her arms to her teeth till Lady Veronica pushes her away with the other end of her spear in a well-aimed blow to the side. Lena feels out of breath, wheezing slightly as she sees the door of the Throne Room just behind the Knight. Lady Veronica raises an eyebrow at her, twirling her spear in a challenge.

 

“LENA! GO! I’ll TAKE HER!” Alex screams as she charges into the surprised Knight.

 

Lena doesn’t think and runs toward the double doors. She sees Alex clash against the woman from the corner of her eyes. There’s no one left separating her from the door anymore and Lena throws her body into it. The doors open. She crashes to the floor, sliding nearly to the Queen Mother’s feet. Her bloody clothes leaving a wet, red trail on the marble floor.

 

“Lena…” the Queen Mother says, watching her with those cold eyes she was so used to see. “Lex is waiting for you.”

 

Lena stands back up, panting and she glances toward the Throne but it is empty. She frowns and Lillian motions toward the stairs leading to the balcony and Lena gulps at the dark steps.

 

She clenches her jaw and stares at Lillian warily as she backs away toward the stairs. But Lillian doesn’t make a move. She only watches her with that cold stare of hers.

 

Lex doesn’t turn toward her as she reaches the final step. Check. He watches the Throne Room instead. The sound of struggle reaches her ears as the Resistance and the rest of the Guards bursts into the Throne Room, continuing the fight below.

 

“LENA!” Kara screams.

 

Lena breathes, scared and apprehensive. “Lex, it’s over…” she whispers.

 

He ignores her, silent and still.

 

“The Resistance is outside the wall. The border is under my control,” Lena lies. “It’s over.”

 

Her brother suddenly turns toward her, betrayal shining in his eyes. “You allied yourself with the House of El,” Lex states calmly.

 

Lena approaches closer to the edge and sees the Resistance have the advantage against Lex’s last line of defense. Their grunts and cries of pain echoing all around.

 

“Why? They are our enemies,” Lex hisses at her.

 

Lena sees the loaded crossbow in his hand and gulps. “Not all of them,” she whispers, thinking of intense blue eyes and blonde hair. Lips on her skin and the scent of honey and mint.

 

“I can protect you, Lena. I can make this world a better place,” Lex whispers full of rage and fear. “The world our father wanted us to live in!”

 

Lena shakes her head, sorry and sad at her brother’s blindness and at his incapability to see beyond when she knows for a fact that he used to be a dreamer when she knows for a fact that he could create a world so much brighter than the one they were living in. “You can’t live in fear, Lex. There is more to this world than what you see.”

 

Lex laughs and points the crossbow at her.

 

Lena gulps, fingers trembling. She hears the soft sound of her sword fall against the thick carpet. She can’t do it. She can’t kill him “Lex, please! Put it down,” Lena says feeling her bow at her back but she can’t reach it to defend herself. Lena looks into his eyes and she doesn’t know how. “We can still change the world. You and me.”

 

“All these years,” Lex whispers, a chill suddenly runs into her body as the crossbow lifts away from her. “I spent them protecting you, protecting this Kingdom! And all they did was killing us, those Kryptonians!” Lex aims toward Kara and Lena suddenly doesn’t know how to breathe.

 

“Don’t Lex, please!” Lena screams in the sudden silence, stepping forward. “I love her!”

 

Lex stops and stares at her with empty eyes, thrown on a path where it is now too late to stop or even go back. Lena glances down the balcony and sees Kara staring back at her. “Lex, please.”

 

“It’s too late, little sister,” he whispers regretfully.

 

Lex shoots as her own arrow flies straight into his heart.

 

Lena is the best archer in the Kingdom. The fastest too. And she watches in shock as her brother falls over the balcony. Her trembling fingers still on the string of her bow.

 

Kara cries in pain below. Alex’s scream resounds in the Throne Room. Lena gasps horrified as she is suddenly the only one left. The last Luthor. She hears Lillian’s cries echoing against the walls and sees the woman she loves bleeding on the ground; Alex’s calling her name over and over again.

 

It’s hard to breathe. It’s hard to see. Her fingers shake and Lena howls in pain as she lets go of her bow. She is dizzy, the floor moves under her feet as she tries to reach the stairs. She feels the cold stone on her hand, palming the walls on her way down desperate to find a way out, from the balcony and her mind. She feels her heart stutter painfully, undecided if it wants to race or just crumble inside her chest. Lena reaches the last step in a haze as she watches Kara sitting on the ground clutching at her shoulder.

 

“She is okay!” Alex exclaims, delirious herself as soon as she sees her. “She is fine!”

 

Lena falls to the ground in relief, out of it as her whole body shuts down. She feels the wall behind her and cries. Fingers trembling as Lex’s lifeless eyes stare at her from across the room. His blood pooling under him. Lena shudders. It’s over.

 

Voices echoes in the Castle, reverberating on the cold walls. “THE KING IS DEAD,” they say. “THE KING IS DEAD,” they scream in joy as Lena stares at her brother’s lifeless eyes. The scream bounces off against the wall over and over again until it reaches the whole City.

 

Lena watches everything unfold absentmindedly. She watches soldiers take away Lady Veronica and the Queen Mother. She hears them laugh in relief and congratulates each other from outside the Throne Room. She watches them throw a sheet over her brother’s body. Lex no longer stares at her and Lena finally sees the intense blue eyes fixed on hers, asking her to breathe. Lena does. The fog lifts away.

 

“You’re okay, Lena. Breathe with me,” Kara whispers, cradling her jaw and Lena nods not believing it herself. She is okay.

 

Kara helps her stand back up, nearly supporting all of her weight. Lena lets herself fall into her arms, the scent of blood, sweat, and this unmistakable perfume of honey and mint still lingering on her skin. She sees bodies and so much red all over the floor. She sees Jess, blood, and dirt all over her face as she talks to an equally bloody Vasquez. They both stop talking and smile as Lena and Kara steps out of the Throne Room. Jess laughs and takes her in her arms, holding on tightly.

 

Lena laughs too, relieved as she feels Jess grip her shoulder and will herself not to look at those lifeless eyes on the ground. Not now that she can’t wait to see the eyes of those she fought for. Those who fought alongside her from the very beginning. She looks around, a lump in her throat, as she waits for her Lieutenant to suddenly appear. He does not. “Where is Luke?” Lena raps, holding on to Kara harder, as she stares at her Sergeant begging silently.

 

“I don’t know,” Jess replies and Lena feels tears burning in her eyes and a sudden breathlessness overtakes her. Lena hides her face against Kara’s throat as she tries to breathe. Fishes and campfires echoing into her mind.

 

“You are okay, Lena,” Kara whispers but she isn’t so sure anymore. She doesn’t know anything anymore.

 

“Look who we’ve found!” Alex exclaims from the other end of the corridor. Lena turns toward her and see her Lieutenant, limping toward them, bruised and bloody, supported by both Maggie and Alex. “We found the idiot crawling on the stairs!”

 

“I nearly got my leg cut in half, thank you!” He grumbles and Lena laughs wetly. “Hey, Lena,” Luke says taking her in his arms. “I told you not to worry.”

 

“You did.” She burrows herself in his arms. Her last link to her childhood. Her last family.

 

“We did it.”

 

Lena nods against his shoulder. They’ve done it.

 

“I really fucking need a drink,” Luke exclaims letting her go.

 

“I second that!” Alex nods, putting his arm back around her shoulder.

 

Lena smiles at them and squeezes Kara against her. The blonde winces.

 

“Are you okay?” Lena frowns, suddenly more worried as she watches Kara clutch her shoulder, blood staining the sleeves of her arm.

 

“You should check out the wound, just in case, Kara has never been cut before. It might get infected quickly,” Alex says.

 

Lena nods, her gaze straying back to her brother, in the Throne Room.

 

“We’ll take care of it. Go!” Maggie whispers.

 

Lena thanks them and guides Kara to her quarters. She knows there are medical supplies there. They open the door and Lena sees that it is still thrashed from Lex’s fit of rage when he learned that she fled.

 

“I’m fine. I promise. I’m alright,” Kara grumbles.

 

“You winced. And you screamed earlier…” Lena retorts not believing a word the blonde will say until she can check the wound for herself.

 

“I know. I’m sorry. I was shocked.”

 

“Sit here,” Lena says, motioning to the sofa. “And take your chainmail off. We’ll need to clean the wound.” Lena goes to the side room to fill a pitcher of water and take some fresh bandages with her. She washes her trembling hands into a bucket and watches the water turn red. She runs a wet cloth over her face and neck to wash off the blood on her skin before joining Kara with some more water and light medical supplies.

 

“I changed my mind,” Kara says, bare-chested blood all over her arm, seeing her approach. “It really hurts,” she mutters at the cut on her shoulder and pokes at it. “How did you manage to survive all of your wounds?”

 

Lena kneels before her and examines the wound. She rolls her eyes at Kara’s injury. “The bolt grazed your skin, Kara. It doesn’t look too deep but it might bleed for awhile. Besides, you dug into my shoulder with a knife…” Kara smiles sheepishly. “You’ll be fine.”

 

“It’s going to be my first battle scar,” Kara whispers, oddly excited.

 

Lena smirks and pours some alcohol on it.

 

Kara yelps. “Wait… Wait… Is it normal?” she hisses, holding her shoulder and turning away from her.

 

Lena smiles innocently. “What?”

 

“I feel like it is throbbing!” She utters between a whisper and a scream, eyes wide, panicked, and fascinated at the same time.

 

“You’ll survive. I promise,” Lena laughs and passes her a cloth for Kara to clean the blood away from her skin and other scratches they discover here and there. Lena helps her but she is quickly distracted by the line of her neck and that little patch of skin just between her breasts where Lena can imagine the soft thrumming of Kara’s heart. It’s like nothing else matters but that little fluttering on Kara’s skin.

 

“Lena…”

 

Lena hums, fascinated by the soft skin and kisses it tenderly. Kara’s heart pounding against her lips. Lena breathes against it, head pressed between Kara’s breasts. “Can you believe it? We’re still alive…” Lena mumbles, nuzzling the soft slope with her lips.

 

She feels Kara’s chest tremble before the blonde cradles her jaw into her hand and kisses her. Wholeheartedly, relentlessly. Kara guides her to the sofa, nearly lifting her. The pot of water on the little table next to them falls to the ground. Lena sighs feeling Kara’s hands over her thigh, opening her legs to slide in and get as close as she can to Lena’s skin.

 

She burns deliciously as Kara’s lips trails over her throat and tears away at her clothes, one by one, kissing every inch of skin discovered.

 

“Don’t let go,” Kara whispers.

 

“I won’t.”

 

Kara stands and takes their trousers off in one swift motion before laying over her gently. Lena moans at the heat of Kara’s skin over her own, holding on to Kara’s back as it flexes and bends as the blonde kisses her collarbone and grinds into her.

 

Lena surrenders to the movement, to the heat, to Kara's lips trailing a path down her stomach kissing, biting every inch of skin on her way down.

 

Lena surrenders and it feels glorious, otherworldly even as she feels her blood rushing into her veins, right between her legs, pulsing between Kara's lips as Lena goes higher and higher. It's enough to make her dizzy. It's enough to make her scream.

 

Kara's hand trails back up over her stomach until Lena traps it into her hand, over her wildly beating heart and holds on. After this, after everything they've been through, Lena can't imagine ever letting go.

 

Lena shakes and trembles, suspended in time, toeing the fine line between life and death. Her heart stops, she tenses, there is no more air... until everything rushes back in, the air, her blood, her mind. Lena feels her heart rage inside her ribcage and she has never felt more alive than she feels right now, spent and boneless as Kara kisses her thigh softly, lovingly. It takes her breath away.

 

And the only way for her to breathe normally again is to steal Kara's breadth from her lips. Lena smirks in delight at Kara's surprised laugh as Lena tugs at her hand, away from her chest to lay it above her head. Kara lands over her, straddling her waist, wet lips, and rosy cheeks.

 

It's weird and terrifying to have this wonderful being hovering over her and yet, to have her at her complete mercy. To be trapped under this former, longstanding, powerful foe and yet, still feel absolutely free. It's a strange dichotomy that makes Lena bite, suck and soothe Kara's lips for an answer. The best thing is, Lena doesn't think she will ever find one and so, she continues. She kisses Kara's lips and other questions are begging to be answered. Kara's tongue begs to be chased; her body begs to be explored. Lena forgets why she is looking for answers in the first place when she hears Kara whimper against her ear, burning cheek pressed against her temple as Lena's fingers stroke the inside of her thigh slowly, meticulously like the traps she used to set over the border for Kara to fall in just to see the look of rage in her blue eyes.

 

It worked then; it still works now as Kara groans in frustration and grabs her hand to guide her where she wants it.

 

"You are impossible!"

 

Lena chuckles against her neck, biting the skin softly as Kara does what she always does. Charge headfirst and rolls her hips over her fingers and set a rhythm. Lena follows easily and claims every inch of new territory with the pads of her fingers until Kara kisses her, frantic and out of breath and Lena wants more.

 

Lena wants to see her fall apart and let go.

 

The thought suddenly takes over her mind as Lena lets go of the hand above her head to tangle it in blonde tresses. She pulls Kara’s head away from the skin of her neck which the blonde had been sucking on avidly to look at her face, eyes screwed shut, chest rising and falling at every roll of her hips. Lena changes the pace and like she does with her bow she draws the string of Kara's body until she sees the woman gasp and tense above her. Kara misses a step, and then two and then three before her back bows before Lena’s eyes and Kara lets go completely.

 

Lena watches in awe as she brings Kara back to her with greedy kisses and gentle strokes. Kara's half-hearted protest turns into moans and desperate buckling of hips as she tenses again and her body shakes over hers relentlessly, her groans and sighs captured by Lena's lips.

 

Lena wants more. She doesn’t want to leave the heat of Kara’s body. She wants to keep burning even if it scorches the pads of her fingers. It feels like she can't have enough but Kara's body falls heavily on hers, exhausted and delirious and Lena stops, caressing the soft skin of Kara's back instead, feeling Kara's heart pound wildly against hers.

 

"Why... Why haven't we... done that sooner?" Kara asks, breathless, into her neck. "I feel like it would have solved... so many things!"

 

Lena laughs. "Would it?"

 

"Maybe..." Kara mumbles, nuzzling her nose against hers. "Or maybe not..." She settles next to her, cuddling into her and presses her face against her neck, one of her leg rubbing softly against hers. “What did you do to me? I can't feel my legs anymore.”

 

Lena chuckles and brings the red cape lying on the floor over their body. "Is that a complaint?"

 

"It's an observation."

 

"I'd be happy to show you what happened. Step by step," Lena drawls, her fingers trailing higher and higher over Kara's thigh. Kara groans. "I might add a few things but I'll let you draw your conclusions... What do you say?" Lena whispers and nuzzles Kara's blushing ear suggestively.

 

Kara raises her head from her neck and watches her with narrowed eyes. Lena grins wide at her scowl.

 

"Don't look so smug!"

 

"I'm only trying to be of help," Lena defends herself with a shit-eating grin.

 

Kara scoffs. "Sure, you are."

 

"Look how tense you get?" Lena jokes pressing the pad of her thumb against the crinkles on Kara's brow.

 

"You are making me tense!"

 

"I can make you relax too," Lena says wiggling her eyebrows.

 

Kara groans, burrowing her head in her collarbone. Lena laughs.

 

"I hate you," Kara grumbles.

 

"No, you don't."

 

The blonde looks back at her. Lena caresses her jaw and Kara leans into it, kissing Lena’s palm, tender and sweet. "No, I don't. I kind of love you."

 

Lena raises an eyebrow at Kara’s smug grin. "Kind of?"

 

"Kind of."

 

Lena smiles. "Liar."

 

Kara agrees and kisses Lena’s smile away. She melts into the kiss, content to lay there and kiss Kara at her heart's content.

 

It’s surreal, Lena thinks, to have this pocket of calm and hope and warmth when she knows that just outside their door chaos still reigns on the corridors of the Luthor’s Castle. Lena doesn’t want to leave. She wants to stay right here, in Kara’s arms, and forget about the world and everyone else. Lena never had any point of reference for that sort of thing. She doesn’t know if the devotion she has for Kara is normal or too intense. She doesn’t know how to explain this constant breathlessness that has nothing to do with her health or maybe it does… Because Kara makes her heart race, stutter, and beat again with just a few presses of her lips. It’s maddening how helpless and hopeful she feels at-

 

Kara pecks her lips, once, twice before detaching herself from her. “I can hear you thinking,” she says looking into her suddenly panicked eyes. “What is it?”

 

“I…” Lena begins and then stops.

 

“Whenever you are ready,” Kara says with a smile, stroking her jaw, and Lena surrenders.

 

“I love you,” Lena breathes softly, hesitantly, scared out of her mind. She knows she is in love with Kara, she even told Lex before she-

 

Flashes of the battle appear in her mind. Lex’s blood on the floor. Lex’s blood pouring out of his chest because of her. Her trembling fingers on the string of her bow. His lifeless eyes looking at her, following her-

 

“Lena, breathe!” Blue eyes suddenly say and Lena does automatically, finding an anchor in them. Kara smiles, rubbing her forehead against hers. “Stay with me.”

 

Lena nods and breathes deeply. The fog lifts away. “I just… I never said it before,” she whispers. “To someone,” Lena adds. Kara nods. “It’s scary.”

 

“I’m scared too,” Kara confesses smoothing the line of Lena’s brows with her thumb. “I… It’s not something I planned. I don’t do well with change,” Kara chuckles depreciatingly. Lena nods and detaches herself a bit from Kara, just to be able to see her better and listen to everything. Kara smiles and looks toward the ceiling, sighing. “And I, I feel like everything is changing around me. I can’t control it. We are going from one conflict to another, battle after battle… My sister doesn’t need me as much, Kal saved me from the Phantom Zone but he left me with strangers when I needed him the most, and James and I kept having this back and forth into our relationship that confused me to no end!” She says in one breath. Lena smiles and tucks away a strand of hair that fell over her eyes during her rant. Kara turns back toward her, hand under her cheek, torn and undecided. “I just… I didn’t know if I could be both…”

 

Lena frowns. “Both?”

 

“The Kara from before and the one I am now… They feel like two separates entities in my mind. I was…” Kara pauses confused, trying to put words on what she is feeling, trying to explain something she never told herself out loud. Lena takes Kara’s hand and holds it against her lips, gently, and encourages her to go on. Kara exhales and Lena feels her fingers tremble against her lips. “I was so sure of whom I was before. I was so sure of where I belonged, who I could trust, who I was supposed to be… Even though we were at war, I always had this certainty inside me of knowing… where I fit… in all of this. But now… everything keeps changing and I can’t keep up,” Kara whispers, bitter and furious, holding on to her hand like someone would clutch at a rope in the dark. “Everything keeps changing, except you,” Lena’s eyes widen in surprise. Kara smiles and gravitates closer toward her, close enough for her lips to touch the skin of Lena’s cheek when she talks. “You’ve always been a constant. I used to wonder how your life was… behind the wall,” Kara chuckles embarrassed and Lena feels her heart rage with love and hope. “I’d see you on your high wall, looking at me, challenging me to come closer. It was maddening. You still make me mad,” Kara adds quickly nudging her forehead with her own playfully. Lena laughs. “But I looked into your eyes and I knew…”

 

“What?” Lena whispers, scared and elated. Confused and grateful.

 

“That you were innocent. That we were both dragged into something we had no control over. When Lady Cat gave me your letters, it only confirmed what I already knew. I don’t know how to explain it but it felt right to fight for you. And I’ll keep fighting for you, Lena. Always.”

 

Lena nods, letting go of the hand against her lips to latch onto the back of Kara’s neck and presses her body as close as she can against the burning one that she gets to call hers. “I feel like there's always been a fine line between awe and fear, love and hate and I feel like, I feel like…” Lena stutters against warm lips. “I've been toeing these lines for a long time… with you.”

 

“Are you trying to seduce me?” Kara asks as her hand wanders to Lena’s thigh slowly.

 

Lena nods. “Is it working?”

 

Kara kisses her and Lena forgets about everything else. The war, the fear, the uncertainty, and even death. Kara kisses her and it’s like they are suspended in time, hidden from the world, existing somewhere and nowhere at the same time.

 

Their door opens suddenly and time takes back its course as Lena wrenches her lips away from Kara’s and glares at the person standing at the door.

 

“Oh fuck!” Luke looks at them, speechless, a contrite expression on his face as he suddenly turns away.

 

“What? What’s happening?”

 

Lena groans as she hears Alex’s voice hurry toward the door, followed by an equally curious Maggie. They all stop, frozen at the threshold and Lena feels Kara press her body against her back to hide herself better. Lena tries to cover them with the cape the best as she can, blushing under their scrutiny.

 

“Fuck, indeed…” Maggie smiles widely. “Glad you are alright, Kara. Looks like Princess healed you up real good,” Maggie winks at them.

 

Lena chokes and she hears Kara groans behind her.

 

“Would you just close the door and leave us to put our clothes back on?” Kara asks high-pitched and hides her face into Lena’s shoulders. “Please?”

 

Alex looks stunned, stuttering a few times, embarrassed. “Alright, but don’t be too long!” She warns them, turning to close the door. Lena sighs in relief.

 

“Oh,” Luke warns chuckling softly. “You can’t trust Lena on that one. She knows how to-“

 

“Luke,” Lena warns. She is going to kill him, slowly. “If you don’t shut up right now, I’ll put you in the same cell as Lady Veronica!”

 

Luke laughs. “Oh come on, Captain! You know she hates my guts.”

 

Lena looks at him pointedly. A silent threat that Luke waves away, having next to no value against the teasing Lena knew she would get from her friend.

 

“Hey!” Kara exclaims. “Let’s focus here!”

 

“No,” Maggie shakes her head and opens the door widely. “This is just too good to pass up,” Kara groans behind her, hitting her head repeatedly against her shoulder. Lena would like to tell Kara to stop but she doesn’t trust the three smirking faces enough to turn her back on them. “Just, you know, out of curiosity, who kissed who first?” Maggie asks.

 

Lena narrows her eyes at their sudden interest.

 

Kara pokes her head out from her shoulders. “Did you bet on us?” She asks scandalized. “Alex!”

 

“What?” The knight shrugs and caves in at Kara’s pointed glare. “Okay, we did! But I totally bet on you, Kara! Sisters’ solidarity and all that, you know…”

 

Lena rolls her eyes. “Will you please close the door?”

 

“Alright, alright!” Luke chuckles, limping away.

 

The door closes behind them and Lena turns toward Kara laughing at her mortified face.

 

“It’s not funny,” she pouts.

 

Kara falls back against the back of the sofa, an arm thrown over her eyes and Lena grins wider. “It is pretty funny.”

 

Kara looks at her incredulously and rolls her eyes. “Let’s get dressed and see what they want.”

 

“Wait…” Lena whispers, stopping Kara from leaving yet with a hand on her arm. Lena sits up and draws Kara back to her and kisses her. “Okay, now we get dressed.”

 

Kara stares at her stunned and blushes. Lena chuckles and they both laugh while quickly getting dressed.

 

***

 

Lena sighs at Luke’s smug grin, a few doors away as they wait for Kara and her to leave her quarters.

 

“We got some news,” Alex clears her throat, trying and failing miserably at ignoring the awkwardness all around. “And they aren’t so good.”

 

Maggie nods, winking one last time at Kara who blushes crimson. “J’onn is here. He’s waiting for us.”

 

Lena frowns as she catches Kara’s eyes, a deep worry shining in her blue eyes. “Let’s go,” Lena says taking Luke arms over her shoulders and helping him limp toward where J’onn was waiting for them. The Resistance takes the lead and Lena stalls a bit with Luke at her side.

 

“I would have proposed you to celebrate this victory with a drink or two,” Luke whispers teasingly. “But it looks like you already got a celebration all on your own…”

 

Lena stops and presses her foot against his limping leg. He howls in pain. They both smile innocently at the three women looking back toward them. The women resume their walk and Luke chuckles softly.

 

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop. For now.”

 

Lena laughs, shaking her head. They follow the girls slowly and Lena hangs on to her friend more than she helps him walk. “What happened out there? How’s the Corp?” Lena finally whispers.

 

He sighs and Lena knows it means. “There were some heavy losses,” Luke whispers. “We can’t really put it in numbers right now. But…”

 

Lena nods, biting her lips. “Eli…”

 

She feels Luke shudders against her. “We got his body back. I asked the archers to bring him back to his mother.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Lena breathes, tears burning in her eyes, as Eli’s lifeless eyes stare at her.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Luke whispers, squeezing her shoulder. Tears in his voice. Eli had been following them for as long as she can remember. Lena knows Luke saw him as a protégé ever since Eli got into the Archer’s Corp. “We knew what we were getting into. We all went into it knowing what was at stake.”

 

“He…” Lena bites her lips, not knowing how to convey the thing haunting her mind. “He looked at me Luke,” Lena finally whispers. “I thought we could save him.”

 

“Do not go gentle into that good night,” Luke murmurs into her temple. He grips on her shoulder painfully but Lena leans into it as it grounds her to the moment. “Remember? He fought till the very end, Lena. We will too.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Luke smiles at her. They finally arrive at the library, re-purposed into a command room. Jess comes to them and takes Luke’s arm over her shoulder to guide him toward a chair. J’onn stands in front of them, solemn. Lena gets closer to Kara, feeling her warmth against her side.

 

“Queen Lena,” he greets.

 

And Lena sucks on a breath, tongue-tied. “I’m… I’m not…”

 

“You are,” J’onn reaffirm, apologetic. “I come to warn you. Krypton left the battlefield in the Outlawed Territories two days ago. Kal is moving the Resistance as quickly as he can to you. I have intelligence tell me that General Astra got wind of the uprising here and wants to attack during the confusion. We don’t have much time to prepare.”

 

Lena swallows. Fingers trembling.

 

“When do you think they will strike?” Kara intervenes, holding her hand into her warm ones.

 

“In a day or two. This coup is an opportunity for her,” J’onn explains. “Your whole Kingdom is weakened and divided. She’ll want to strike hard and fast.”

 

“I… I…” Lena looks toward Luke who nods at her. Lena breathes deeply. Rage, Rage against the dying of the light, he would whisper. “We’ll need to inform the Kingdom. Call on a meeting,” she says looking to Jess. “Have all the officers come to the Castle as soon as possible and spread the word that the Kingdom is in crisis to the people and that we need representatives, quick. We’ll need all the extra hands to organize our defense. We will meet them in the Throne Room.”

 

Jess nods and runs out of the door, Vasquez close on her heels.

 

“What do you intend to do?” Alex asks.

 

Lena inhales. She never wanted to lead. And yet, here she is, suddenly Queen. “Luthorians respect power but it is not enough. I need their trust. I need to mend the gap Lex created for years between the different factions of the Army,” Lena says rubbing at her forehead, trying to remember names of people she could trust, people who fought alongside her from the different branch of their Army. “There’s no way we can win otherwise.”

 

“When is Kal supposed to arrive?” Kara asks, turning toward J’onn.

 

“I’m not sure,” he replies apologetically.

 

“We’ll have to presume that we will be on our own,” Luke says. “We can’t plan a defense with an interrogation mark.”

 

“Your walls will stop them down, right?” Maggie asks hesitantly, looking at Luke first and then at her. Looking for an answer, Lena knows she can’t give.

 

“Only for a while,” Lena mutters, frustrated. “Archers were the main force of dissuasion…” Lena trails off looking at Luke who sighs. “We are half our numbers now. The walls won’t hold for long. The Cavalry or Infantry wouldn’t know how to defend it unless they are on the ground. There’s no time to set up traps,” Lena lists, possibilities and scenarios running in her head. She rubs the golden rings on Kara’s finger, meeting the eyes of those all around the room. “We’ll have to fight them head-on and have the walls as our last line of defense.”

 

J’onn frowns and nods gravely. “I can go back to the Resistance. Have them hurry up and prepare an attack. Where will this take place?”

 

“Where it all began.” Lena murmurs to herself. She shakes her head and looks at Luke. “At the border, where my father first led Luthorians against Krypton. Luke will show it to you on the map.”

 

Luke nods at her.

 

“But, first. I’ll need you with me at the Throne Room, J’onn. I’ll need all the allies I can get.”

 

Lena gulps as everyone discusses strategy and possible course of action. She rubs her eyes, feeling the tiredness hit her suddenly. Kara squeezes her hand and Lena burrows her head into her neck, breathing in slowly.

 

“Come on, we should go to the Throne Room,” Kara whispers and Lena nods, trusting Kara to guide her there.

 

The walls of the Castle are still dripping with blood. The white floor has now various hues of red as Guards and soldiers lift dead bodies, one by one out of the Castle.

 

The Throne Room is how she remembers it, minus Lex’s body on the ground. Lena watches absentmindedly the line of officers with a scowl on their face, wide-eyed civilians staring at the remains of their fight apprehensive and wary.

 

Lena nods at them as the room fills up to capacity. She breathes and dives straight in, Kara at her side. They don’t have time to lose.

 

“A new threat is menacing our border. Krypton will attack us in two days at the most. I need you with me,” Lena tones, her voice echoing on the walls. “To prevent them from invading our Kingdom.”

 

A man scoffs and steps forward. “Queen Lena,” he sneers. “You fled the Kingdom and killed our King. And now you want us to believe that you want to protect us?”

 

Lena clenches her jaw. “Officer…?”

 

“Officer McGill, of the Third Infantry,” he claims proudly.

 

Lena hums, running the name in her mind but coming up empty. She raises an eyebrow at him. “Where were you Officer McGill five years ago when Krypton attacked our border and the Archers had to fend off the attack by themselves resulting in the death of our Captain and promoting me,” Lena emphasizes, “Captain of the Archer’s Corp?” Lena lets the question hang for a while as the Officer doesn’t respond. She hears the crowd murmurs all around. “If I remember correctly,” she continues. “Corben’s Infantry refused to hear our warning and left us on our own,” Lena says as the Officer retreats inside the crowd. She can’t let them doubt her commitment to protect the Kingdom and judge her or condemn her for the failure of her first Treaty with the Outlawed. “I’ve been defending the border my whole life. I’ve been defending this Kingdom over and over again. If you disregard this warning, we might as well hand over our Kingdom now,” she tells them fiercely, watching every one of them in the eyes.

 

The crowd grumbles and Lena clenches her jaw. She never wanted to lead but she knows she can nudge them toward peace.

 

“I drafted a peace and trade treaty with the Outlawed,” Lena continues. “I allied myself with Mars Republic,” J’onn steps forward and nods. “I am bound to the rightful heir of the House of El,” Lena says as Kara steps forward and stands next to her. “This is our chance to broaden our horizon. To see beyond. To live and not just survive!”

 

“We are tired…” a voice suddenly echoes and several follow, resounding in the Room. Dejected, cynical voices bouncing on the walls, touching everyone’s at the heart.

 

“I’m tired too,” Lena roars and watches them raise their head at the outburst. She finally has their full attention. “But I won’t give up. My father led us to war in fear. My brother bled us dry for greed and vengeance. But I’m asking you to fight with me for peace,” Lena says, asking them to believe in her, in hope, in something more. “We sacrificed everything, years after years protecting these walls. We built them with the blood of our blood, the flesh of our flesh,” she whispers fiercely as she meets Eli’s mother’s eyes suddenly. She gulps, breathless for one second. “The sacrifices we made will never be undone. The loved ones we lost will never be forgotten. But my father started a war he never got to finish. My brother continued a war he didn’t want to end. We can put an end to it. We can build peace together. If we fight one more time,” Lena says as she feels the warmth of Kara’s body against her side. “We rage,” Lena roars passionately and sees the crowd respond to her positively. “We never give up even in the face of impossible odds. We fight back even when we are down. We hope even in despair. Do not go gentle into that good night!” Lena clamors one last time, her father’s face in her mind, her mother’s, Lex’s, Eli’s. All those faces she couldn’t save replaced by those just in front of her, looking at her with hope.

 

Rage,” her archers tone.

 

Rage,” the Throne Room repeats as one. “Rage against the dying of the light.”

 

***

 

“What are the odds we survive this?” Lena asks watching the stars above them. She managed to sneak away for the rest of the night before she had to attend other meetings at dawn. Lena wants to make the most of it. Enjoy the peace while she still can.

 

“I don't know,” Kara shrugs, “but we had pretty good luck so far.”

 

Lena nods, breathing deeply. This is where she used to sneak away with Lex and run around at night. It feels weird and right at the same time. To be here. “Do you think there is something more out there?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Lena points upward, head on Kara’s belly. “Beyond the stars. Do you think there are other worlds... other us?”

 

“Possibly,” Kara replies, caressing Lena’s hair. “Kryptonians believe that once bound two souls will always find each other through every repetition, in every life... That's why we don't take the treads away,” Kara admonishes her with a smile.

 

“I'm sorry about that,” Lena whispers, kissing Kara on the lips as an apology and settles next to her, head pressed against her lover’s cheek. “Do you think there is a world where I'm... maybe just a farm girl and you the beautiful lady coming to visit? Or a knight having to save the whole village...”

 

Kara laughs and Lena does too at the silliness of it.

 

“What would you like to do after this?” Lena whispers, feeling the strong heartbeat under her palm.

 

“Eat.”

 

Lena laughs and pokes her side.

 

“No, really!” Kara insists, still laughing. “There’s this amazing little tavern in the Outlawed that serves potstickers. Have you ever tried that before?”

 

Lena shakes her head. “I don’t even know what that is…”

 

“Then we’ll definitely have to go!” Kara says excitedly, tangling her fingers with hers.

 

Lena chuckles feeling excited too. “We’ll do that then,” she whispers caressing the ring on Kara’s finger. “What else?”

 

Kara hums and Lena leans closer wanting to feel the reverberation in her body. “I’ve never seen the oceans before…”

 

“Really?”

 

Kara nods. “You Luthorians have the monopole of the coast,” Kara reminds her teasingly.

 

Lena blinks. “I… There’s a cottage, near the ocean that belonged to my mother. It needs to be restored… and enlarged maybe… but we could…”

 

Kara stops her stammering with a kiss. “I’d love too.”

 

Lena nods delighted, feeling oddly peaceful and confident even with another war approaching. “So you'll find me?”

 

Kara nods cradling her jaw.

 

“In every other world?” Lena asks against soft lips.

 

“Yes, I’d reckon I’ll have to save you in every one of them.”

 

Lena laughs and rolls her eyes.

 

She used to think that the odds kept stacking against her, her whole life, but if they had to lead her to this then Lena wouldn't change a thing. She will defy the odds, over and over again, if only for the hope that she'll find Kara again somewhere along the way.

 

Kara kisses her. Time stops. Lena thinks of stars, possibilities, and hope.

 

She has finally found her something more.

 

 

 

Notes:

This was so long!!! I know I left the story open ended but I really feel like their character's arc is finished. They will now fight for each other till the very end! You decide if they win the war or not...

Personally, they do for me. I just like happy endings... They travel through the five Kingdoms and come back to that little cottage from time to time. Lena puts in place a Council and now she doesn't have to be a full-time Queen. Nor does Kara cause there's Kal and Krypton has always had a Council to rule the Kingdom...

Anyway, that's it for this story. Thank you all so much for reading it! I hope you liked it!
Take care!

Series this work belongs to: