• June 22, 2017 •

"Kara, where are you going?" Alex asked as she saw Kara hurriedly get up from the couch. It seemed as if she was leaving for somewhere urgently. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. I'm just going to Mount Justice," she grabbed her phone and slipped on her shoes, eyes flickering towards the clock in haste.

"But you haven't even had dinner yet..."

"Later, Alex, I'll be back soon."

The door shut as Kara had rushed out, leaving Alex to wonder what could have gotten her to be so anxious to go to Mount Justice at that hour. It wasn't a mission because she hadn't suited up but it seemed equally as important.

Alex found her hastiness a bit alarming but didn't go after her. She knew that Kara was sensible enough to look out for herself and if she had said she'd return soon, then she definitely would.

Kara on the other hand was quite disturbed due to the strange dream and that weirder feeling of it being a premonition.

She had texted Lois to ask her about Mon but the reply confirmed that he wasn't at home. Completely on instinct, Kara went to Mount Justice because she felt as if she would find the answers to all her questions over there.

As it was a weekend and there was no high alert in the city, the Mount Justice was empty and its occupants were all with their families respectively. Time was ticking by and it felt no different than a ticking bomb to her as she searched for Mon.

The labs were empty and there was no sign of someone being there. But as she came up, an eerie blue light zapped at her before vanishing. Feeling a sense of deja vu, she followed the light up to the roof.

She did not want her dream to come true yet at the same time the likeness of the situation couldn't be a mere coincidence.

When she came up the roof, the blue light seemed to have faded but it was very evident that there had been some source of illumination there. And a chill went down her spine to see Mon, standing with his back towards her.

It was just like it had happened in the dream except for the absence of that light.

"Mon, what are you doing here?"

Hearing her voice, he turned in surprise and she saw that he was holding a small blue orb which had blue sparks whizzing around it, slowly dying out.

Her eyes were suspicious as she looked at the mysterious object and then back at him. "What's this?"

He looked as if contemplating whether or not to tell her but then decided to let her in on the secret he had uncovered. "I got a message from my parents."

"Your parents?" The surprise was evident on her face as she spoke, thinking about how Mon had told them that he had been trapped in space for years so his parents' survival for that long seemed impossible, "but shouldn't they have... I mean... For all we know, Daxam exploded too. And years must have passed since then."

He nodded, holding the orb towards her that had flickering images of Lar Gand and Rhea. It seemed as if they had been trying to communicate with Mon but as the blue was waning out, their images were also becoming unclear.

"I came here because Tim told me about some strange signals the radar was picking up," he explained, revolving the orb that had completely died out by then, "I was supposed to help him in decoding the message but when I realized it was in Daxamite code, I asked him to look after it myself."

He paused, judging her expression to see whether she was still in doubt or not. He was telling her the truth but he was uncertain of how she would react if he told her the decoded message.

"Then? Was it a message from your parents?"

He nodded in reply.

"So they're alive?"

"Surprising for me too," he sighed, a forlorn look creasing his features, "apparently they had been tracking the space pod I was in. And when I got trapped in the Well of Stars, they followed me there. Seems like they have broken out of its gravitation as well by now."

"Oh..."

Kara could sense that Mon hadn't told her everything just yet and there was huge underlying threat to the entire situation that he was intentionally concealing from her.

"Would you tell me what was in the message?" He stiffened and Kara took that as an answer, coming to a possible outcome. "They want you back, don't they?"

He was silent for a short while but then spoke up, "for all I know, they aren't even aware that I survived the crash. And honestly I'd prefer if it stayed that way. I don't want to leave."

She felt it odd for him to say that. They hadn't talked about his life on Daxam but right then it seemed as if he could give up anything not to go back.

"Mon, if there's any way I can help, don't hesitate to ask," she added sincerely, "I can see you're worried about this but don't shoulder the burden on your own. We're all your friends here, we'd want to help you out."

He smiled softly, "I know. And even though I don't say it often, I'm glad to have you all's friendship. It means a lot to me."

The blue orb shattered with a light cackle, sparks of blue whizzing for one last time before completely extinguishing. It was clear that Mon had intentionally destroyed the message but Kara didn't probe further.

"There is one thing I might need your help with," he remarked after a while of considering it.

"Oh," she looked up from the just shattered orb back to his equally blue eyes, "what is it?"

He decided to tell her about his time on Daxam and how much of a difference his stay on earth had created in him. But whether or not to tell her the contents of that message was what he would decide according to her reaction to his account first.

"Would you have dinner with me tonight? I have a lot to tell you and I feel like this is not the right place."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically, however, a slight smile tugging upon her face, "and a restaurant will be the right place to discuss it?"

He thought for a while then nodded, agreeing with her remark, "ah, you're right... Takeout then? Connor taught me how to order through this app."

"Yeah, that would be good," thinking about dinner made her realize that she hadn't eaten anything in a long time and was very hungry.

She was gradually easing up as she had seen for herself that he wasn't leaving right then. Her dream might be a premonition but the time predicted in it was probably not the current one.

Deep down, she hoped nothing terrible happened to any of them. But little did she know that fate had other plans.

***

• June 23, 2017 •

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• June 24, 2017 •

[ Luke Protection Squad ]

Luke: the wait is over and the USATF championships have finally wrapped up.

Nora: does that mean you guys are coming back?

Connor: yup. Tomorrow morning to be exact.

Kara: that's great.

Aviana: I bet you missed this little nuisance.

Kara: ...

Zach: this little nuisance is also on this group chat and can see your texts, Ava.

Connor: 😂

Aviana: ah so Metropolis' celebrity finally has time to check our group chat?

Aviana: how endearing...

Nora: why do I get the feeling that you two are fighting again?

Zach: we're not.

Aviana: yes we aren't but that doesn't change the fact that I sometimes want to choke the life out of him.

Luke: oh come on...

Kara: you two are never going to be completely on good terms with each other at this rate.

Zach: no, I try my best to never bother Ava.

Zach: but she somehow gets ticked off by even the slightest of things that I have nothing to do with.

Connor: 😂😂😂

Zach: why are you laughing? Shouldn't you know it better than me?

Connor: ...

Aviana: oh shut up.

Aviana: just because you won doesn't mean we'll all accept whatever you say.

Aviana: right guys?

Luke: ...

Kara: ...

Connor: ...

Nora: ...

Aviana: are y'all ghosting me?

Aviana: hey, don't you dare do that!

Aviana: just let me come back to the city, I'll set y'all right asap.

Nora: Kara, we gotta run for our lives.

Kara: agreed.

Aviana: 🙄

***