Call of the Sapphires

Chapter 5

They smashed into a giant dome, shards raining down around them. Grabbing him by the collar, Kara threw Mon-El. He sailed into a crystal pillar and she immediately set off after him. She tasted a tinge of blood in her mouth; her very bones ached as if she felt on herself the blows he was receiving. The ring on her finger glowed mysteriously.

Mon-El raised his arms to deflect her blows. "Please, this isn't you!"

She wouldn't hear him. The purple energy buzzed around her, giving form to her every intent. It formed a majestic purple lion around her, shaking its mane, baring its teeth. The image fell apart, being replaced by a mess of gangly vines.

Mon-El darted upwards, but the vines shot down like piercing arrows, stopping his ascent. Kara vaulted after him. She threw him up against the wall, pinning him. His hand closed around her arm. His fingers disappeared in the mysterious glow that enveloped her body.

"Kara," Mon-El croaked. His face was pale. He struggled, but couldn't move away from her. Slowly her hand closed around his neck. His lips were moving but no sound came out. Kara stared at him. His familiar gray eyes lost their focus. Kara froze.

"No." That's not what I want.

"No," she repeated, the words leaving her mouth slowly. "This, this isn't right." A strange crinkling sound and reached her ears. Kara looked down. Around Mon-El's feet a mass of pink crystals had formed and was growing upwards. What, what was that? Kara's gaze veered off to the side.

Crystals.

Everywhere.

Pink. Translucent. Hundreds of them.

Each crystal contained some sort of dark shape. A humanoid shape. This was a prison.

Kara's fingers slackened. Her hand dropped from Mon-El's throat. "Somebody, they, these people have captured them. All of them." Her gaze moved back onto Mon-El's familiar face. "But why?"

"I don't know," he coughed. "I think they must be trying to harness them in some way."

"Yes." Her eyes widened. "Harness their strength." Whatever these crystals were made of, they were already draining the color of his skin. He was shivering. And the glow emanating from her ring was feeding right into the crystal, communicating with it.

"Mon-El!"

Kara's will faltered. Her hands were shaking. "This ring. It's doing something to me. I can't control it. I don't know what to do."

Mon-El's eyes lit up with relief to see her on his side again. "Focus, Kara. You can pull through this."

"I don't know if I can. It's holding me."

"If you can't break through the control, then please find, find Shalima and Ixi and tell them. Don't worry about me. Tell the Legion that they have to get back to the outpost. Save them, Kara. It's okay, Kara, it's okay."

"No. No." Kara shook her head vehemently. "I'm not leaving."

"Please, let me go."

"I can't. Not again. Never again."

"Kara..."

His voice..., it was weakening.

"I'm a failure," Kara whispered. Her emotions were collapsing in on her, overtaking her like a tidal wave, unmooring anything she had kept hidden. "I let go of you. I lost you. I gave you up." Pain flared through her. Her finger carrying the ring—her entire hand —was burning.

"You did the right thing," Mon-El implored her. "You saved people. You saved your home."

Kara's eyes filled with tears. "I don't know anymore. I was wrong. I wasn't a very good girlfriend to you. I should have fought harder. I should have found another way."

"No, Kara, don't say that. There was no time. You helped me. You inspired me. You made me everything I am today. You gave me the courage to fight, fight for others."

"I sacrificed you," Kara mouthed quietly.

Mon-El shook his head, his voice full of desperation. "I wanted you to. I wanted to show you that I changed. I wanted to make up for all the hurt my family did. For all the evil I allowed to happen."

"You shouldn't have had to."

His eyes were alight with pain. "It was my choice. You didn't force me."

"I didn't love you enough."

"Kara..." Mon-El struggled against the crystal holding his arms in place. "Listen to me, Kara, don't do this to yourself."

"I...I..." The crystal grew with an ugly crunching sound, now almost reaching his throat. The glow and the strange saccharine smell were growing ever stronger, inviting her to just give in. She could just sink into this feeling and she wouldn't have to think anymore. Her new powers were an extension of her will. Kara could feel them invading her, seducing her, whispering to her how many people she could save if she just gave in. And if she just let him be safe, peacefully, securely encased in her heart, just like in a crystal.

"I can feel it," she whispered. "I'm not strong enough. I don't have the heart."

"I don't believe that, Kara. You always had the strongest heart."

A tear slid down her cheek and she smiled sadly. "I was wrong about you. I miss you. I miss the boy who wasn't afraid of his own feelings. The one who inspired me not to be afraid of my own."

"I'm sorry that I wasn't more honest with you, Kara. I'm sorry for failing you."

Kara wanted to scream at him and shake him and yell at him that he wasn't the one who should be apologizing. Her hands grasped his shoulders, fingers digging into his skin. "I can't stop it."

If the crystal was going to take him, at least she wanted to go with him. "I'm not leaving you alone. Not again. Not you. Never you." The Sapphire energy around her had turned into a web of tentacles that had slung around him tying them together, mirroring the way her arms clung to him. Her eyes veiled by tears, she lifted her head upwards and pressed her lips against his. For one heart-stilled moment, she froze. Everything just fell away. The energy along her arms shimmered, becoming more transparent, losing power. It seemed to communicate with the material of the crystal.

A faint memory danced on the edge of consciousness. Love is about letting yourself be saved. Slowly she pulled away from his lips and opened her eyes.

"Mon-El!" Kara gasped. "It's, it's dissolving." She cupped his face, the heartbreaking relief so obvious in his dear, familiar eyes.

Kara began to tremble. Everything was beginning to slip away again, her new alien power was dissipating, retracting back into the ring, taking with it the supercharging of her emotions. "I love you, I love you!" Her body shook. "I don't, I don't know what is happening to me."

"You can do it, Kara. Just ... just have faith."

"I'm scared." She could sense the power of the ring leaving her. "What if when I do this, all of this will go away again?"

Mon-El gave her a pained smile. "I'm scared that it won't." Emotion welled up in Kara's chest. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. Maybe her connection to her emotions would be severed again as soon as the ring's influence waned. Mon-El nodded.

Kara closed her eyes and focused, focused her heart on Mon-El and what she wished for him. Slowly the soft purple glow ebbed away. A wobbly feeling rose in her belly. Mon-El caught her as she collapsed.