Scattered Sanity (Sanvers)

Coming Home.

(The video above is of a woman singing a cover of Coming Home by Sigma ft Rita Ora at an East of Eli concert. For those of you who don't know, Nathan West, Chyler's husband, leads East of Eli. During this song, at around 3:00, the camera moves to Chyler, who is crying hard. She knows what's going to happen to Sanvers, and that really broke my heart. Anyways, here we go.)

Alex Danvers, the girl who had gone missing for two years, the girl who had been tortured, whose soul had been pried from her weak fingers and pulled apart, the girl who had survived, was coming home.

She almost couldn't believe it herself. It had been a long while since she had been taken to the hospital, and over the course of that time, she could see some of her former self floating back to the surface. She had been eating regularly, so the sunkenness of her cheeks was beginning to be filled back in, and some substance was returning to her appendages, making her seem less like a withered skeleton. Her bright hazel eyes were reemerging, adding more life to her complexion. The path to recovery was slow, frustratingly so, but she was hoping that one day she would be able to fully rebuild herself.

One of the most defining moments of Alex's hospital stay was when the doctors were curious to find out if she could still walk. She had been placed in a wheelchair and rolled to a physical therapy room, where they positioned her in front of a path, bordered with two bars that she could grip onto to steady herself. Kara was watching her, anxiety prominent on her face, though she was reiterating positive encouragements to Alex. The doctors told Alex that she could attempt to stand up whenever she wanted to, and they were ready to catch her if she couldn't find her balance. Alex had bitten her lip, her heart pounding. Carefully, she pushed on the arms of the wheelchair, lifting herself out of the seat. She was vibrating intensely, the minimal task straining the capacity of her muscles, but she managed to rise into a standing position. At first, she wobbled, her knees threatening to buckle and collapse, though when she grabbed onto one of the wooden bars, she was able to stabilize. Alex could spy Kara out of the corner of her eye, who was frantically attentive. She exhaled determinedly, then tried to pick up her foot and drop it in front of her. The movement was foreign, and she landed heavily on her foot, the momentum making her jerk forward. Her knuckles turned white as she grasped the bars tighter, and she repeated the motion. This time, it was a bit smoother. Alex concentrated hard, pouring all of her mentality into making it to the end of the pathway. Her steps were awkward and sluggish, but she staggered to where the bars ended, her breathing labored. The second she released the bars, her legs quivered dangerously, and she crumpled into Kara's arms, which wrapped around her protectively and steadied her.

"I'm so proud of you." Kara told her older sister.

Despite her legs still feeling like they were made of jelly, Alex recovered her balance and hugged Kara back. "Thank you."

Alex was eating, she was walking, her hair had been cut, and she was rising from her own ashes as if she was a phoenix, spreading her wings to launch into the world once more. And even though that prospect was tantalizing, she was also scared. It would be months before she could gather the strength to return to her job at the DEO, and there was no telling whether she would be able to take her position as second-in-command again. There were too many variables to straighten out at once, making Alex's head spin, unsure of where her life was headed outside of the hospital.

On the fateful day, Alex had an arm around her sister's shoulders, both of them trekking their way to the front doors of the hospital. The instance when the doors parted caused Alex's heart to flutter with excitement. The summer sun cast its rays upon her skin, tickling her with its warmth, and she was reminded of how it felt to be in its glow. She inhaled the scents of life all around her, hastily gathering as much sensory information as possible, filling up the empty space where she hadn't seen the outdoors in two years.