Call of the Sapphires

Chapter 8

Kara didn't recognize the Legion ship; it seemed to be a smaller, more agile model. Their small group reached it after a short flight. It opened its hatch for them as they approached, letting them slip on board and allowing them a breath of relief as they moved onto the bridge.

Everybody instantly took their positions in front of various control panels and before long they were in orbit over Zamaron. At this point the other Legionnaires swiveled around in their chairs, and suddenly all eyes were on her.

"Is this...?" the pixie girl was the first one to blurt out what must have been on everyone's mind.

"Yes." Mon-El smiled broadly. "This is Supergirl herself."

Kara blushed and nodded. It still always threw her that she was a celebrity to all these fellow heroes from the future.

"You came and saved us?" the pixie girl chirped.

"In a way," Kara mumbled. "Technically, it was a bit of an accident."

"Are you coming with us?"

"No, Shalima, Supergirl has to return to her own time. Fight her own battles. Isn't that right, Supergirl?"

The Nidaran plopped down in the chair in front of the Legion ship's nav console, flipping an assortment of colorful switches. "The Star Sapphires have transmitted instructions on how to coordinate Supergirl's journey back to her time." She looked over her shoulder. "We are going to need your help."

Mon-El nodded. "Will do." He leaned over Kara's shoulder. "We should talk."

"Yes, we should," she murmured under her breath.

Mon-El pulled her aside. "The Zamaronian ring, did it influence you?"

Kara nodded. "It did." It had torn away her inner walls and opened the floodgates to her emotions, had heightened and catalyzed them. "But I don't want to take back what I said," she added quickly. "We do have a lot to talk about."

"Yes, I want to."

"You do?" she asked shyly.

Mon-El squeezed her hands tightly, pulling them in close. "More than anything in the world." Kara felt her heart flutter in response. She remembered how she had felt when she had stepped through the portal and laid eyes on him. The pure joy that had flooded through her. Could that be wrong? It sure didn't feel like that.

All she knew was that she felt it still even though the mysterious ring that had called them together was nowhere to be seen anymore. "I liked how I felt, when, when I saw you. I don't want to lose that again. I don't want to go back to, to having to hold my distance." There were so many unanswered questions. Where would they go from here? How had the merge of the multiverses affected the Legion, affected him? How long would he be able to preserve that pure feeling in the heart before she was overtaken by doubt again?

Wordlessly, Mon-El pulled her into his arms and just held her tight. Kara's eyes fluttered shut and any unease evaporated from her body as she leaned into him.

"I got you," he murmured.

"Yeah, you do." She clutched him, held him close. Just like it used to be between them. "Better now," she whispered.

And it was. After he had returned from the future, he had felt so far away, even as they stood, shoulder to shoulder. No more. She could stand like that forever.

"Are you two friends?" the Nidaran poked her head in and asked, her tethers curling towards the ceiling.

Mon-El slowly pulled out of their embrace. He smiled at Kara. "Let me put it this way: we have known each other for a long time."

The pixie girl appeared on the hefty Nidaran's shoulder. "Are you leaving us, Mon-El?" Her wings fluttered nervously."You can't leave us, Mon-El! We need you!"

Mon-El frowned, then turned to Kara. "I have to..."

"I understand."

Mon-El sought her eyes, his expression full of worry. Kara smiled encouragingly. "I mean it. I do." Her heart beats softly, achingly, with just the tiniest bit of hope. "A little bit more time. It won't make a difference."

"Promise?" he asked.

"Promise. You go and take care of your family."

And for the first time, him using those words to refer to the people that waited for him in a faraway future didn't make Kara's chest flare up in pain. Because, this time, in her heart she knew that he'd be back.