• June 22, 2017 •

Kara had not gone with Connor and Luke to Sacramento for the last-minute surprise they had to give to Zach by showing up. But as they had left, she felt quite bored by herself. She was thinking that she should have gone when she had the chance because she was still stuck on whether Zach would make it through or not.

She had seen Luke's post as well but when she had called them, neither Connor, Ava nor Luke had picked up. They could probably not hear their phones ringing over the noise.

The race would have ended by then because a considerable amount of time had passed since Luke's post. She should have checked the sports channel covering the championship but couldn't do so earlier as she had just returned from the Kents' residence.

The house was empty when she returned as Alex and Eliza had gone out so she went to the living room, quickly switching on the television. It took her a while to find the sports channel covering the championship and by then the race had definitely ended and the results had been announced.

Somewhat disappointed that she had missed the results, she was about to change the channel when the camera did a full aerial then landed on the candidates who had won. Seeing Zach among them with a gold medal gleaming on his chest made her face break out into a smile.

He looked happier than she had ever seen him before, the adorable dimpled smile playing upon his lips brightly.

That definitely meant he had won the race. Just like she had told him he would.

She sat through the rest of the broadcast, having fetched some food to eat in the meanwhile. The interviews had been done as the candidates had started to return to their families.

As the camera swept around at the end of the live broadcast, she caught sight of Luke and Connor messing around with Zach again and her smile widened. Seeing him secure such an important milestone in his life made her want to be there and congratulate him in person.

She could go to Sacramento and even come back within an hour if she wanted to but then she would have to lie a lot about how she got there. And she could not risk exposing her alter ego while doing so.

Hence, she simply made herself comfortable on the couch, waiting for her mother and sister to return as she flicked through channels randomly.

Not long had passed when her phone rang and she picked it up, not noticing who had just called, "hello..."

"Hi Kara," Zach's familiarly cheerful voice greeted her and she sat up, evidently glad that he had called, "guess what?"

"You won, I saw it on TV. Congratulations."

"Thank you," he chuckled lightly, "and now I'm finally qualified for the next round. World Championships."

"That's great. I'm so glad you made it."

By the noise buzzing from the other end of the call, she could judge that he had not yet reached the hotel and had called her soon as he got the chance. he was likely still in the stadium or in some cab heading to the place they were staying.

"I remember you had said not to joke around this once so I called soon as these three let me," Zach resumed, referring to Connor, Ava and Luke, their distinctive voices could be heard in the background as well.

"Oh, then where are you?"

"We're just going for dinner. I had offered to give them all a treat but Dad refused. He said he'll treat us this once and I should save for a larger feast once I make it through the next round too."

"Awww, that's sweet," she could sense that talking to him had made her mood lift up remarkably. There was a soft smile on her face and she felt much more relaxed to know that he had qualified and was very happy about it.

Something about him made her want to see him be happy always. Perhaps it was that smile with the adorable dimple denting his cheek or perhaps it was the shine in his brown eyes whenever he was excited.

No matter what it was, she knew that Zach being happy was a truly beautiful sight. One that she was missing out on right then as she hadn't gone to Sacramento or else she would be there with them all too.

"Zach, I'm glad you called me to let me know the truthful account of your race but right now I feel the others are waiting for you at dinner. It's your day, don't miss out on all the fun," she remarked, eyes flickering towards the clock that was striking quarter to nine.

"Ah yes... I wish you were here too." She went silent at that remark but he quickly added, "alright then, I'll talk to you later. Take care."

"You too. Bye."

He hung up after bidding her farewell and she placed her phone on the coffee table. It was late and Alex and Eliza should have returned by then.

Thinking that she would wait a while for them, she decided to stay where she was instead of going up to her room. However, she didn't realize when sleep befell her and as the couch was rather soft and comfortable, she drifted off to a brief sleep.

She was sure that Eliza and Alex as well as Jeremiah would be back by the time she woke up.

***

The chilling darkness felt unnervingly foreign as she tried to navigate her way around it. Even with her enhanced eyesight, she could not see what was going on. She had no idea where she was yet somehow the place felt vaguely familiar.

Feeling her way around to prevent herself from bumping into things, she stepped forward, keeping her senses sharp for any unusual occurrence.

Far ahead, the darkness was fading into an eerie blue light and curiosity got the better of her as she followed the light source. It seemed as if a very thin inlet was allowing the light to spread through the darkness hence it was taking a long time for it to light up the surroundings.

As she stepped closer to the gradually spreading light, she found the space was changing into a larger room and surprise took hold of her as she recognized it to be the lab area of Mount Justice.

That area was accessed only by Tim and Richard and the last time they had accessed it was when Mon had been unconscious and Tim was studying his genetic coding.

So finding herself in that place after such a strange corridor of darkness felt unreal to her.

"Mon-El?"

She recognized the silhouette that was gradually becoming clearer as the light increased. The blue light was engulfing him and it seemed as if he was the one summoning that mysterious energy.

"What are you doing?"

He had turned around to face her and it was then she noticed that the light spreading around them and the color of his irises was the same. No wonder that light was somehow connected to him.

"Goodbye, Kara," he whispered, a sad smile flickering on his face.

"Wait... Mon..." 

She tried to reach out toward him but the blue light had engulfed him completely, creating a barrier between them. All she could register was that Mon was leaving and for some unknown reason, she didn't want him to go.

"Mon, stop!"

She forced her hand through the loop of light swirling around him and caught hold of his arm to stop him.

"Why are you leaving? You can't just leave without letting the others know," she held on tight, trying to pull him away from the light that was bent on swallowing him whole.

He shook his head, leaning closer as he remarked, "I must go now. Thank you for everything."

The last thing she felt was a light brush of his lips against hers in a sad parting kiss. And before she could stop him, he seemed to have dissolved into the light himself.

She stood there in a mixture of shock and confusion because Mon had vanished and even the eerie blue light had started to fade. The unexpected scene and the kiss had frozen her but then realization started to kick in, forcing her senses to come out from the shocked state.

Mon-El had left. That kiss was a goodbye forever.

She sat up exasperated, seeing the lab at Mount Justice and the blue light transform into the living room of her own house where she had fallen asleep a while ago. Her eyes flickered towards the clock immediately and it showed that only an hour had passed since she had gone to sleep.

Whatever she saw was just a dream.

A sigh of relief escaped her but she felt that dream was somehow connected to reality. Unable to quench her curiosity further, she decided to go and find Mon.

Even if it was just a dream, she had to make sure that Mon-El was safe and not leaving Earth as she had just envisioned.

***