The Darkest Place

Hope

In which decisions are made and promises are broken.

"Mon-El? Could we speak for a moment?" Mon-El turned at Brainy's voice as his friend joined him on the balcony.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," he answered. He was pretty sure he knew what Brainy wanted to talk about.

"First, I would like to express my condolences." Brainy's eyes were filled with the closest thing to compassion Mon-El had ever seen him show. He nodded, waiting for the real reason the Coluan wanted to talk.

"I understand that you are grieving, but I hope this will not derail your mission in the 31st century. The future—"

"The future will be fine without me," Mon-El interrupted. He saw Brainy startle at his words, but he didn't care. He knew he was doing the right thing.

"You're staying? But this is out of character," Brainy said, confused, and Mon-El felt a little sorry for him. He didn't know what it was like to love someone so much that when they were gone, your whole world stopped.

"If you don't come to the future, Mon-El, thousands of lives will be lost—"

"Kara is dead, Brainy!" Mon-El shouted, feeling tears begin to sting his eyes. "There is a whole legion of superheroes to help in the 31st century. But not here. They need me more than the future ever could, now that she's gone. I'm staying. I have to."

Brainy looked like he wanted to argue, but he knew Mon-El wouldn't be persuaded. When he spoke next, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "I hope, for all of our sake, that you haven't made the wrong decision."

"I know I haven't," Mon-El said, and walked into the main room as Winn finished saying goodbye to everyone. He had told Mon-El separately that he had decided to leave and go help in the future, that he needed some time away and something to help him cope with Kara's death. Mon-El couldn't blame him, he'd done the exact same thing when he first arrived in the 31st century.

"I'm gonna miss you, buddy," Winn said, hugging Mon-El tightly.

"You too," he said as they separated. "You're going to make a great Legionnaire."

Winn smiled weakly. "Thanks." He turned to Imra, who was waiting off to the side as they said their goodbyes. "So, uh, shall we?"

Imra nodded. "We shall." She gave Mon-El a quick hug goodbye, and they left for the future.

***

Kara's eyes flickered open as she drifted out of consciousness, and through blurry vision she saw an unfamiliar face and a hand reaching for her. Her eyelids became too heavy and she let them close, sinking back into the darkness.

When Kara opened her eyes for good, she found herself in an unfamiliar cave, with a fire pit in the middle. She bolted upright, looking around wildly.

"Calm down. There are no Phantoms here." Kara jumped at the deep voice and realized there was another person in the room, watching her.

He was wearing gray pants and a red long-sleeved shirt under a gray cloak. His hair was the same reddish-brown as his short beard, and reached his shoulders. The outfit felt faintly familiar, but Kara couldn't place it.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I mean you no harm, I promise. My name is Jix-Til."

Wait. Wasn't that a common name on...?

"You're from Daxam," she realized. That explained the clothing.