#I need my room smaller it is meant for one person only -> moi

[insistonyourcupofstars]

this is not how i am supposed to start my year.

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Fractured Foundation: Scorned Soul Ch.5 Spark

The smallest embers can lead to raging wildfires if left unattended.

”Ladybug…" Adrien looked down as the guilt opened a pit in his stomach. "I'm sorry-”

Carapace interrupted Adrien by tackling him. Arms wrapping around him in a tight embrace. "You're okay!" The Turtle's voice broke. "You're okay."

Confusion clouded Adrien's eyes but, slowly, he wrapped his own arms around Carapace. "I didn't... hurt anyone, did I?"

Feeling Carapace stiffen under his hands was all the response Adrien needed. Pulling away from the hero Adrien curled in on himself. "I see."

"It wasn't your fault you were akumatized!" Queen Bee pointed out. Coming off harsher than she meant to, Chloe softened her voice. "Everyone has bad days. It doesn't mean you're a bad person."

Adrien bit his lip. Chloe's words seemed to have the opposite effect of her intention. If the growing void in his gut was any indication.

Rena Rouge stepped forward to add her voice to Chloe's. "She's right, Adrien. You two aren't the only ones here who were akumatized."

Eyes widening, Adrien's head whipped towards Rena. Her? Akumatized? And Ladybug still trusted her with a Miraculous? Maybe he-

Suddenly, four near simultaneous beeps rang out. Announcing the heroes' imminent detransformation.

"...Go. I'll collect your Miraculous later," Ladybug decided.

Carapace shot his Miraculous an accusing look as Rena Rouge grabbed his arm and pulled him away. Casting worried glances at Adrien over his shoulder. Queen Bee stood still, struggling with what to say, before she too left. Eyes locking with Ladybug for a too brief moment.

Coming closer, Ladybug held out Adrien's previously akumatized item. The lucky charm she gave him.

Letting it drop into his hand Adrien stared at it. Slowly, he brought it to his chest.

Placing a hand on his shoulder Ladybug pretended not to feel him tense at her touch. She opened her mouth... And nothing came out. Fire and smoke danced behind her eyes as Scorned Soul's heartbreak echoed in her mind. No words seemed solid enough, strong enough, to pierce the spell. Not even to ask why Adrien was akumatized in the first place.

"Have you ever had something you loved ripped away from you?"

No. Ladybug couldn't say that she had. So, instead she said. "I can take you home?"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say as Adrien's shoulders hunched slightly. And Ladybug was about to force words out of her mouth to fix it. Even if they didn't come out right, even if they wouldn't obey her, when Adrien answered. "... O-okay."

He trembled in her arms as his own wrapped tightly around her neck. Burying his face in her shoulder to avoid looking at her. Ladybug swinging quickly across the city. Relief at the lack of fires bloomed in her chest. Adrien's grip shifted as he focused on keeping his breath even.

At the sight of the Agreste manor her eyes watered. There was no sign at all of Scorned Soul's unbridled rage. Adrien seemed to sense her shift in mood and opened his eyes.

A vise gripped his heart as he saw their destination. Tears streamed in the wind, disappearing into his hair. When he searched himself for the reason why his eyes stung at the sight there was nothing. Nothing but fire and ash.

Before leaving him in his empty room Ladybug glanced back. Eyes setting in determination. But for what he didn't know. Then she was gone.

The door to his room slammed open. Adrien jumping at the sound. Gabriel strode in, his expression thunderous. Nathalie hurrying behind.

"F-Father?"

"What have you done!?" Gabriel snapped and Adrien flinched at the steel in his voice. "What have you done!?"

Adrien backed away. "I- I don't-"

"Gabriel," Nathalie soothed, though there was a tremor to her words. "Ladybug put everything back as it should be. Everything is fine."

Taking a deep breath Gabriel adjusted his tie. The eruption he was about to loose on his son quelled. For now. Fixing Adrien with his usual look of unimpressed dismissiveness, Gabriel turned on his heel and left. Nathalie glanced at Adrien sympathetically before closing the door.

Adrien collapsed to the floor as his breath came in sobbing gasps. Tears burning from his eyes. His phone rang. He tossed it away without looking. There was no more strength for speaking to others. Gabriel sapped it out and left without even saying why he was so angry.

His phone rang again. Adrien stood, stumbling, and muted it. He felt... drained... Empty... Alone.

----------

Marinette waited quietly, if not quite patiently, across from Master Fu. Her desire to speak was superseded by the persistent guilt that weighed down her tongue. Their kwamis whispered to each other beside the Miracle Box.

First losing Chat Noir then almost losing Adrien, it was too much. She shuddered at the way Scorned Soul had somehow manifested her guilt. Using her own emotions to add fuel to his fire. Turning her own weaknesses against her...

Finally, Master Fu spoke. "I am sorry."

Marinette stared, uncomprehending.

“I created this hatred in him. I could have simply addressed it with him. He was not beyond hope…”

"Wait... Chat Noir is going through the same thing as Adrien!? We have to help him! We have to-"

"Sit down, Marinette. I have already decided to return Chat Noir's Miraculous to him."

Her legs suddenly unable to hold her weight, Marinette collapsed back onto her seat. "I- Really?"

Master Fu nodded, glancing from the Miracle Box to giving her a knowing look. "Recent events have shown me that it is better he remain by your side."

A thought came to the forefront of Marinette's mind. It solved a problem she actively prevented herself from solving. But it wasn't the first time she dismissed it. So, with practiced ease she sent the unwanted answer back where it came from. "Thank you, Master Fu."

He waved away her thanks. "I acted rashly. It is only fitting I correct my mistake."

"Stll-" Marinette's phone rang and she saw her maman's face smiling from the screen. "I have to go Master Fu." Marinette stood and this time her legs held. "Tikki, transforme-moi!"

Ladybug stood for a moment at Master Fu's window. Glancing back at her mentor, Ladybug smiled. A genuine smile at the thought of seeing her partner again. "Thank you." And then she swung away.

Master Fu stood slowly. Although the Miraculous Cure healed his burns the memory of them had not faded.

Wayzz hovered closely to his wielder. "Master?"

"I am alright, Wayzz," he walked toward the Box and pressed the proper code to open it, "Simply thinking."

The ring of the Black Cat seemed to wink at him in the light. Casting his mind back to that day.

Master Fu remembered a call from his memory-less protege suddenly being cut off. A great sphere of amnesia magic ready to wipe every mind in Paris clean. But mostly he remembered Ladybug getting hit while covering Chat Noir. His last mistake, which convinced Master Fu to take his Miraculous.

Picking up the ring, Master Fu placed it in one of the smaller octagonal boxes. He would keep a closer eye on Chat Noir. Obviously, he was too susceptible to akumatization to be let in more than he already had. But this time Master Fu would be there. Watching and assessing from the side. This time Chat Noir would have a guiding hand to set him on the proper path.

----------

Adrien stared disbelievingly at the box in his hand. The same one he'd found the ring in over a year ago. It was even in the same place.

Why? That thought echoed in his head. Sweat beading along his brow, hand trembling and mouth dry.

Why? It was only a day since his akumatization. And suddenly his Miraculous reappeared in his room without explanation or warning.

Why? It was the question itself that made him hesitate to open the box. Or was it the answer?

Why? Gut clenching Adrien snapped it open.

Before he even finished materializing Plagg crashed into Adrien. Calling out his name. Purring into Adrien's chest.

The last shred of his disbelief faded as Adrien slowly hugged Plagg to himself. Tears brimming as Adrien asked for answers he knew would bring no satisfaction. "Why?"

Plagg stopped purring. "Well, Master Fu changed his mind."

"Why?"

Floating at eye level, Plagg gazed at Adrien. "He realized taking me away was a mistake."

"Why?"

Ears drooping, Plagg's tail fidgeted anxiously. "Is that all you're going to say?"

"I was akumatized," Adrien stated, a question in his voice.

Plagg forced his tail to still. "He... Fu's sorry he took Chat Noir away from you."

"I see... And he couldn't even tell me that himself." Adrien turned towards his bed.

Zooming after him, Plagg tried to elicit some reaction besides this unsettling monotone. "Adrien-"

"I'm sorry."

Plagg blinked.

Adrien stared at his friend. "It's good to see you again." He smiled sadly. "I... I missed you."

"Of- Of course!" Plagg tried to downplay the sudden lump in his throat. "I missed you too."

Adrien's smile became a touch brighter.

"Why don't we take a little rooftop stroll? That's always fun."

Abruptly, Adrien's fledgling smile fell and he looked down. Normally he'd jump at the chance to transform, to fly across Paris. But transforming meant seeing Ladybug again. And he didn't want to face her. Not yet.

"Thanks, Plagg." He started for his bed again. "But I'm tired. Maybe later..."

Stunned into silence, Plagg slowly floated into the boy's hair while Adrien settled in. Adrien never turned down an opportunity to transform... Plagg purred for his kid. And if Adrien's tears stained his pillow, well, Plagg wouldn't tell anyone.

----------

Ladybug didn't find Chat Noir until the third night.

He wasn't transformed when she checked her yo-yo contacts and couldn't bring herself to leave a message. She didn't know what to say. Still, Ladybug searched his favorite spots and double checked his patrol routes. All in vain.

Until she spotted a dark shadow purely by chance. Turning sharply, Ladybug angled herself towards the rooftop. "Chat Noir!"

The shadow stiffened at her voice and turned in her direction.

Landing, Ladybug all but tackled him into a huge hug. "I'm glad you're back!" Pulling back to get a better look at him, her enthusiasm faded.

Chat Noir was smiling but... it didn't reach his eyes. His ears were flat against his head and his tail hung limply from his waist. As he pushed her to a respectable distance Ladybug realized he never hugged her back. Merely let his arms hang limply and let her do what she wanted.

"Chat?"

"Hello, Ladybug."

"Wh- What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." His smile widened but his ears didn't move. "Everything's fine."

Ladybug didn't believe him. "I... I'm sorry I didn't try harder to convince Master Fu."

That did get a reaction. Eyes widening slightly and ears twitching, Chat Noir's smile tightened. "It's fine. You were just obeying your Master."

Before Ladybug could linger on how he'd called Master Fu her Master instead of their Master, Chat Noir jumped to the roof's edge.

"Well, we should get started on patrol don't you think?"

"What? Chat wait-" Ladybug reached for him but he was already leaping away from her. Fading into the shadows.

This whole mess started because he couldn't act professionally. Because he burdened Ladybug with his feelings when she needed to focus. Distracted her with his irrelevant emotions. Chat Noir knew that the only reason Master Fu gave him the ring back was for Ladybug's sake. It was... something. For him to lie and say he regretted taking Plagg away.

But it wasn't true.

Master Fu only regretted that Adrien's emotions hurt Ladybug. So, he would keep them buried like he always does. Chat Noir would smile and do what he was told and not ask questions. That's what everyone expected of Adrien anyway, it was foolish to think anyone would want differently from Chat Noir. He had practice, after all.

Pressure built up in his chest and pushed into his throat. But he swallowed it down. Adrien wouldn't make the mistake of baring his heart again.

That never gave him anything but pain.

----------------------

Inspired by @gale-of-the-nomads Scorned Soul AU.

To Be Continued in Fractured Foundation: Chat Blanc

[imagine-lcorp]

To Be a Hero (Full Text)

A/N: Hi little beans! I just wanna say thank you again for all of your support and comments about the story. It was great writing it and better yet finishing it, so here it is the full text. I also included a little moodboard of my own creation and some sort of deleted scene at the end, something i wanted to include in the story but couldn’t find a place for it. So, please enjoy and kudos to y’all!!!

Lena Luthor & Metahuman Daugther R//Word Count: 7,744

I.

When you were younger, the idea of being a superhero wasn't foreign to you. Your aunts and uncles were supers after all and it certainly crossed your mind that one day you may become like them. However, the thing you wished the most was being like your mom. She was beautiful, brave and smart, so smart. Who else could say their mom helped supers without having to be one? She was simply the best and you had always looked up to her. You felt lucky and proud to be her daughter.

Come to think of it, it was that admiration for her that had led you to acquire your own superpowers. Not that you had bathed yourself in radioactive waste or put yourself inside a particle accelerator, even though the latter came close to what had happened, but you had indeed tried to reach her level of awesomeness by doing something you thought she would do. Or rather, by improving something she had done.

"Alright, (Y/N), you got this." You said to yourself one day while pacing with your tablet in hand around the homemade teleporter you had built on your garage.

Your mom had to go in a business trip to Europe and you had seized every single moment to make the final calculations for your first test, the one that involved direct human interaction. She was going to receive a big surprise when she came home.

Admittedly, building that thing hadn't been easy. From your younger years and until you got older, you realized exact sciences were more complicated and difficult that you had anticipated. But you also discovered you were as intelligent and clever as your mom so, instead of assembling a machine like that from scratch, you tried to look into previous works about the subject. You had been so excited when you had found your mom had actually made one back in the day, more specifically, a matter transformation and reconfiguration device that had only seen the light of day once.

When you read the old news you understood why it hadn't been so popular, not after how it seemed to help with an alien invasion, but you decided to give it a second change. You did the proper modifications and you were able to reconstruct the device with your mom's help, under the idea that maybe this was some personal project, and even when she had her own doubts about it. It amazed you then how such device could fit now on the garage of the Luthor Manor. It was way smaller in size, just enough for one person to pass through its frame -for security purposes, your mom had said- and you were about to be the first person to cross it.

You took a final look at the charts displayed on your tablet. They told you everything was ready and, while taking a deep breath, you had prepared yourself.

"Make your mama proud." You said, finally activating the machine and crossing the portal.

In that second everything you could see was darkness and you had the strange feeling of being everywhere. The next, however, you appeared in the middle of the night at the foot of the Eiffel tower.

Needless to say, you were utterly confused. The calculations you had made were supposed to place you barely a few meters away from your house. Then the confusion was replaced with worry and panic. You checked upon yourself, which gave you some hope. You didn't end up in pieces and nothing seemed to be missing. You were complete, with whole body parts, clothes and the same tablet in your hands. The teleporter had been a great success although you had to do some checking on its positioning system. But that would have to come later, once you found some help.

"Excusez-moi. Um, Le...Le Louvre?" You asked with a poor French to any passerby you encountered.

Even when your pronunciation seemed to hurt their ears they did they best to help you. They gave you some directions and it took less than you had thought to find the museum. You only had to follow the edge of the Seine and, once you saw the crystal pyramid, you ran towards the main entrance. Its doors were still open and you rushed towards the information desk. It had been a while since you had been in Paris with your mom, and you barely remembered the streets, but you knew the only person that could help you was there.

"Ma'am, s'il vous plaît," you tried to catch your breath, "Diana Prince?"

First time you were there with your mom, Diana had been the one to give you a personal tour. You knew she was best friends with your Aunt Kara's cousin, Clark, and that she was one of curators at the museum. After that little visit she and your mom seemed to click and she turned soon into another friend to you.

After a few minutes of convincing her not to call the police, the lady at the info desk finally called Diana.

"She says her name is (Y/N) Luthor." The lady said with a thick accent. When Diana heard your name over the phone, she made sure you were escorted immediately to her office.

"(Y/N), how did you get here?" She placed a cup of tea in front of you after she made sure again you were alright. You were seated in front of her desk while she leaned on it with crossed arms.

"Yeah, I was in the garage, testing my, uh, teleporter." You blushed a little.

"And, how long have you been here? I mean, in France." She asked with that little accent you couldn't quite place but that had started to fascinate you.

"Like, an hour? The time it took me to find the museum."

"Well, I think I have to call your mom." She uncrossed her arms. "She may want to come and pick you up."

"Wait, she's here?"

"She is. She made a little space in her business trip to come and visit." She offered you a little smile. "We had lunch this morning but she's supposed to take her flight home tomorrow."

"Oh." You raised both eyebrows at her and then flopped further into the chair. Your mother wasn't going to be happy. "Oh..."

Diana chuckled and reassured you everything was going to be fine.

Later that night you mother came to pick you up. Hearing over the phone that her daughter had traveled to the other side of the world thanks to an untested machine wasn't something she took lightly. Like you had expected, she wasn't happy but more than that she was worried, and thankful you didn't end up in pieces in two places at the same time.

First thing she did when Diana opened her office's door to her was to rush and give you a thigh hug, inspecting then every inch of you, just to make sure.

"Am I in trouble?" You asked her.

"Not yet, young lady, but we'll be having a long conversation about security protocols with untested prototypes once we get home." She gave you a hard look that only lasted a second before she kissed your forehead.

Back at home, you actually got a lecture on security measures but you realized something else was happening with you. You started to experience what you could only describe as glitches, which were becoming more frequent with each passing day. One day you would appear one step ahead of you mom while you were walking down the street, the next you would appear suddenly on the next room of your house, or the next you would appear in a completely different town. It had been the biggest revelation of your life when, after several exams and tests, your mom found out your homemade teleporter had done something more than just move you to another place. It had given you the ability to place your own cells in any other place at will, even if you hadn't figured out yet that part.

It was a game changer for you. It was like attending Sky High, only it wasn't the fun superhero school but the DEO and your family had become the faculty. Though you were still learning about your own limits, you acquired enough control over your powers thanks to them. You even got some sort of part-time hero job at the agency, working along Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter from time to time, mostly helping evacuate civilians from dangerous and fighting zones. It had also been the condition under which your mom had let you participate with the DEO. But the time spent working side to side with then had taught you much more than what you had wanted to.

The best part of being a superhero was not only having superpowers, you were already past the excitement of being able to do something no one else could, but being able to help the people around you. On the other hand, the worst part of being a superhero was the lost, the pain, and the sacrifice.

You had seen every part of that while growing up surrounded by heroes. Winn, James, Alex, J'onn, Kara, your mom, they all had been in the same situation once and they had made sure you knew what it mean to be like you. Having power and being willing to use it for the greater good even when that meant losing even your family, a father, a brother, a lover. They all had lost someone along the way and, if you didn't do something right there and right now, much more was going to be lost.

You couldn't let that happen.

"(Y/N)? Are you ready?" Your Aunt Kara's voice pulled you out of your thoughts before the timer was down to twenty seconds.

"Yeah..." You swallowed hard while standing in front of the bomb that could possibly destroy the whole city. "Just, uh, I need you to do one more thing."

"What is it?" Supergirl was ready for anything.

You looked at her and she couldn't read your expression. "Tell my mom I love her."

"(Y/N)-" It was the peaceful resignation what she saw in your eyes. Sadly, you didn't give her enough time to even try to stop what you were about to do when you teleported her back to the control room at the DEO. "-don't!"

Everybody in the room turned to see Supergirl screaming at someone that was now so far out of reach.

"Supergirl?" When Lena saw her, it was as if a bucket of cold water had washed over her.

She turned to the screens. The bomb and you had disappeared from the DEO radars, three seconds before the bomb was supposed to go out, and your signal appeared again only when another computer registered a nuclear explosion on the other side of the planet.

Definitely, that was the worst part of being a hero.

II.

The first time Lena ever held you in her arms she knew a few things right away. One, you were a pretty tiny thing, so fragile, that she couldn't fathom how it was possible for humans to be this little at the start of their lives. Two, you were going to be loved. After all, there was already a long line of uncles and aunts ready to fill you up with affection and she was, of course, already in love with you. Three, she would do anything in her power to make sure you were safe and sound, no matter what it took, and you were going to grow up a strong and fierce child. However, she never imagined just how strong and fierce her little girl would be, ready to take on the world, and she never imagined it was going to be the world the one to take on you. It was not the way your life was supposed to be.

Lena knew that much as she read the reports over your last mission, over and over again. The words slowly losing all meaning the more she stared at them trying to understand what had happened and why it was you the one disappearing from the face of the earth. The reports, however, were as clear as they could be.

She had received a call from the DEO while you were still having breakfast. You were trying to convince her to take you to the office since you had heard somewhere she was working on some old project involving nanotechnology you didn't want to miss it. She refused at first, not wanting you to miss school, but you complained saying the educational system in the country didn't work for you and you could learn more in her lab. Lena almost gave up as you displayed a pout she was sure Kara had taught you, even though she had denied it. But Lena didn't have time to yield at your adorable face when the sound of several explosions around the city made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Mom!" You shouted and ran towards her as the blast of a close explosion shattered the kitchen windows.

Lena barely had time to notice she was standing in the DEO bullpen with you by her side and it took her another moment to shake off her initial stupor.

"(Y/N)? Are you okay?" She turned quickly to look at you.

"I'm fine, mom." You said and turned your head to look around. "But what is going on?"

The whole department was already on the move, Alex and Winn were over the control room, giving orders and mobilizing unities around the city.

"Let's find out, sweetheart." Lena said as she moved towards the control room with you closely following her every step. "Alex?"

Alex seemed to be on edge, looking at the DEO screens and talking with someone over her comms, but she turned at the sound of her voice. "Oh, thank god you're here. I was about to call you. Are you okay?"

After assuring her you both were fine, Alex didn't waste any time and explained briefly that a threat from an unknown source had been made public. Winn displayed a video on his screen. Somebody, wearing a golden mask over their face and with a distorted voice, called upon the citizens in National City, they who let the city get infected for too long with the alien disease that put in danger the human existence. They proclaimed a bomb that would destroy the whole city had been placed in the hopes people would learn from their mistakes. Lena heard you said you recognized them as a Lost Son of Liberty.

Kara and Alex had told you about them when you joined the DEO and they were finally able talk to you about their jobs. Lena recognized them too, although she had known them as the Sons of liberty and meet their number one fan. It had been a long time ago, before you had been even born. But even when the organization had been dismantled, those who still believed on that hateful speech were lurking in the shadows, not with the strength or numbers fear had given them before but a few they were still around and their message was clear. They wanted the city destroyed.

"...like the gardener, we will burn the field infested by briers and thorns, and false gods, so it will be healed and made anew-" The voice claimed solemnly.

"After the video was over seven bombs went off around the city." Winn stopped the video and showed a map of the city instead, marking the points where an explosion had been registered.

Lena and you watched in horror as one by one the points appeared on the screen. Those were locations Lena knew by heart as they were all schools, clinics and shelters with a large majority of alien population. Lena had organized and attended several charity events to help them and you had volunteered at some of them during summer.

"How can we help?" You asked. The determination in your voice, the serious expression in your face and the concern in your eyes, it all seemed to Lena like you had grown a little bit older.

Alex then continued to explain they had reason to believe they were hiding a much bigger bomb around the city. The destruction of those locations had been only to instigate chaos. If the Lost Sons of Liberty wanted to destroy the city, they would do it one way or another.

So their action plan was simple. Winn showed you another city map divided into several quadrants. They were trying to scan those areas as fast as possible with the help of J'onn and Supergirl to search for the bomb, as James and Maggie were already aiding the police department, keeping people from hurting each other on their own panic.

Lena teamed up with Winn in the control room, exploring every possible plan they could fathom to keep the people and the city safe. Finding the bomb before it exploded was first on the list and you were needed to help with that. You went to suit up and appeared a minute later, ready to go out.

"(Y/N), Kara and J'onn are done with these areas but we need a hand to do it faster." Winn explained.

"Alright. Do we know how much time we have?"

"No." Alex said plainly as she handed you your ear comms. "We don't have any clues as to when the bomb will go off so we need you to search as best as you can. Once you find it, we will be guiding you so you can dismantle it safely."

"Okay." You said trying not to let your worry show at the idea.

"Remember we're here looking for it too. If anything happens, you won't be alone out there." Lena reassured you.

"Don't worry, tootsie-wootsie." Said Winn with a grin. "We got your back."

Lena saw you take a deep breath and smile shyly at the silly nickname Winn had been using for you since you were a baby. She smiled too as she wrapped her arms around you and placed a kiss your forehead. "We got you, sweetheart."

"I know, mom." Your mom's words helped you regain confidence and you took a moment before disappearing within an aura of energy, knowing she would be there with you whatever happened like she always did.

If only she had known that was the last time she would get to see you, she would have held you tighter and never let go.

Lena put herself on sentinel mood the second you left the building, rushing towards the panels and screens. Winn and the rest of the team were scanning the whole city in search of any clue that could lead to the bomb's location. She put herself to work too, pulling her own resources to speed up the search and following your every move around the city. She watched you on radar, passing from section to section in the blink of an eye.

However, as the minutes passed, Lena realized they had a ratter complicated task at hand. The Lost Sons of Liberty had been cautious and smart enough to hide their tracks that it was taking all of their efforts. This was a race against time and they had to be faster and smarter, and as it turned out, you were the fastest.

"Guys?" Your voice came over the comms.

"(Y/N)" Lena responded immediately, stopping everything she was doing at the sound of your voice. She looked for you on the radar but your signal was gone. "Where are you?"

Alex got closer to the screens. "We can't see you on the radar. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm downtown, uh, underground." Lena thought you started to sound tired. "I think...I think I found it."

"What exactly did you find?" Lena asked.

The bomb exploded about 1600 feet below sea-level across the Pacific Ocean. After the moment of detonation followed a shock wave of whitened sea water of approximately 800 feet in height. No damage was reported near any city or coast as the blast occurred at a distance beyond the reach of the 20-kiloton nuclear bomb, the report read.

"Lena?" She heard Kara's voice call her from her home office's door. "It is time."

Lena raised her head and nodded slowly. She stepped out of her chair, leaving the files reports above her desk with one last glance. No damage but one casualty, Lena thought with unshed tears.

As she walked with the procession towards the cemetery, she tried to put her feelings in little boxes like she used to. Otherwise, it would have been too much for her to bear. The soft wind so out of place, the silence filled with the sound of the bagpipe and its solemn and sad tune, the color black dressing every of her friends around, the empty casket she had to follow and watch as it was being buried. Only then a box opened without her permission. It was not the way your life was supposed to be. That much she knew, and she finally let the tears come down her face.

III.

To be dead is a strange state of being. Especially if you are still sensing the world around you.

You couldn't find a way to accurately describe what it was, but you somehow felt all over the place. Like dust filling the air, being there but not really there as something tangible. There was light and darkness surrounding you, a constant mix of noise and calm, of warm and cold. It felt like living inside a little galaxy, a little world of your own.

Unfortunately, you weren't alive, not anymore, and if this was the afterlife it had a weird place to land after... what? You couldn't remember how you had ended up like this. Your cause of death was a mystery and you felt a bit foolish. It was like forgetting something from the shopping list and having to go back for it. Like that time you forgot to grab the cereal and you and your mom where already in the middle of the check out line.

(Y/N).

A familiar voice called.

"What exactly did you find?"

You were sure the answer to that question wasn't cereal but it sparked something inside.

You don't know how much it actually took you to locate the memory, from a shopping trip to a dark room, but once you cleared your thoughts the more you remembered little pieces and scratches of your former life. You felt less lost.

"I found the bomb."

You had responded to the question back then with your own voice and the right memory came rushing back to you.

"Where are you?" Lena, your mom, had asked again.

"Near the my aunt's monument." You almost didn't answer. In front of you was a giant bomb ready to blow out the city.

It was huge, and it looked strangely like an octopus, a ball made of metal placed in the middle of the room with thick cables connected to other machines around. You weren't sure they had prepared you for a something like this at the DEO.

"(Y/N), do you copy?" Alex voice came now.

"Yes! Sorry. I'm, uh, near the Supergirl Monument. Two blocks east, one floor underneath the building."You tried looking around instead of looking at the bomb."I don't think this was here before."

"Alright, we got your location. We're sending the team over there to-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" You heard behind you.

You moved without thinking, vanishing and appearing around the room as quickly as you could. Two Sons of Liberty were pointing all their guns at you, not knowing exactly where to shot and afraid one stray bullet would detonate the bomb before time.

One of them pulled out some kind of charger and pressed a button on it before throwing it on the room. You saw the thing bounce on the floor from different angles, still glitching from one place to another, until a beep and a blinding flash of light came out of it. The light hit your eyes making you stop right away with a scream.

"(Y/N)?" Your mom called. "What's happening? Are you alright?"

"I-I can't see!" You responded frantically, pulling your hands out and trying to hold onto something other than the floor.

That was the moment when your life should have ended for good had it not been for the quick response of Supergirl. You could only heard the gunshots and the screams that followed as Kara entered the room and disarmed those two.

"(Y/N)!" She came to your aid after a few seconds and you struggled at first with her, thinking she was one of the Sons of Liberty. "It's okay, it's okay. It's me, Supergirl."

"Oh, god." She held you as you tried to get up, blinking many times so your eyes could recover. "I think, I'm blind now."

"(Y/N)? Supergirl? Are you alright?"Alex's voice came over the comms.

"We are okay but (Y/N) is having some trouble. They hit her with a flash."

"If by some trouble you mean I'm blind now, yeah, I have some." You said irritated after the whole incident.

"Darling, you're gonna be okay, just keep calm." Your mom assured you. "It may take a couple of minutes."

"Uh, you better recover quickly (Y/N)." You held your aunt by the arm as she walked around the room and stopped a few steps ahead. "We may not have much time."

You rubbed your eyes and let them adjust once again to the light in the room. When finally opened them you were able to see a bit of a blurred image in front of you. It was a timer set down to twenty minutes.

"We gotta work fast, (Y/N), we don't have much time. Winn? Lena? We got-" Kara instructed and just before you could make a move you had to jump at the sound of metal gates closing around the room.

"What's happening?" You asked as the last gates went down.

"None of you will leave now." You both turned to see one of the Sons of Liberty on the other side of those doors, holding a control on his hand.

Kara rushed towards the gates trying to crash into them and break them but the metal didn't even bend an inch. Kara's super strength was doing nothing to it.

"I guess you aliens are good for something." They guy said. "This is Nth metal. Unbreakable."

"Your partner is still here with us." Kara tried to reason with him. "You wouldn't let him die."

"He would be honored to die for the cause. Anything to get rid of you alien scum. Now enjoy your last minutes on Earth." He said pressing another button on his control and left.

A fast beeping followed his footsteps, and you turned at the sound horrified to see the timer go down faster.

"Holy sh-"

"(Y/N)? Sweetheart, are you alright?"Your mom called from your comms.

"We are trapped." You answered frantically.

"(Y/N), try to keep calm. We're gonna get out."Kara came to you and started to examine the room."Lena, they put us on a cage of Nth steel, we can't get out and the timer of the bomb is going down faster now. They are not wasting time anymore."

Kara explained what had just happened and tried to describe the bomb as accurately as it was possible, and everything after that seemed to pass even faster. Your mom had been left speechless for a moment as she processed the situation. You and Kara were trapped with a bomb you didn't even know how it worked and with less time than you had expected. But your mom, along with Winn, got down to business just as quickly.

They tried to evaluate the situation and the possible solutions to it. Unfortunately, it seemed the type of situation that was ruled by Murphy's Law. You couldn't call the rest of your friend for help as they were busy fighting a group of Sons of Liberty that had managed to get themselves powerful alien weapons and were using them to cause more chaos around the city. You couldn't escape the bomb room and when Kara used her powers to open the device, every single cable and component looked the same to you that you feared it would be impossible to stop the tragedy. You were running out of options and time.

"Maybe I could move the bomb?" You suggested.

"Not that I don't trust you, kiddo, but that's the least we want you to do." Winn explained. "We don't know the mechanism of that device. Those cables connected out of it could be anything and if you tried to disconnect them it could cause the final detonation."

"I guess there's only one option." Kara sighed.

"Yes, only one, so listen to me." Your mom called you once more. "You will have to dismantle the bomb yourselves. Winn and I will be guiding you but you have to tell us exactly what you see, understood?"

You could heard the beating of your heart and breath, and even your Kara's, as you tried to follow your mom's instructions to the letter. It was a complex mechanism it seemed. Every time your aunt moved a cable from inside the metal ball something from the machines connected to the ends of its thick cables was activated too. You had to teleport from machine to machine making sure to deactivate what was probably a backup fuse to make it explode no matter what and as you did you kept looking at the timer from time to time, making sure you were still alive.

Your aunt called over the comms for final instructions after Winn assured you taking one last cable would deactivate the bomb. Or at least, that's what they had thought. Kara pulled the cable and the timer stopped for a brief moment before it resumed the countdown once more and the other machines were activated simultaneously. You had what seemed like five minutes, which were in reality just three. Then your mom spoke again.

She was sure there was one last cable to pull off but it was not on the center piece of the bomb. You had to find it and pull it to finally stop it. Kara and you used your powers to try to find it but none of you were able to. After all, the bomb had been designed to not fail.

For a moment, you thought about your family, the heroes they were and their lives, and then you thought about your own. Your powers and what it meant to have them. Being a hero had never been more difficult. But still, you did the only thing you thought could save them all.

"I found it." You said this time as sure and confident as it was possible, muting your ear piece. You would have to make amends to you mom some other life.

"(Y/N)? Are you ready?" Your Aunt Kara called as the timer reached down to twenty seconds.

"Yeah..." You swallowed hard. "Just, uh, I need you to do one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Tell my mom I love her."

Everything after that was a series of flashing images. The bomb, the water, the salt of the ocean, the force of the explosion, the muted sound of it below the waves. The unbearable heat. The shock consuming your body.

It all started to take you back, and you knew it was time to make amends.

IV.

It was midnight when Lena received the first call that was about to turn her life around.

It had been a couple of months after the attack of the Lost Sons of Liberty and she was still getting used to the silence in her own house. A silence that was plagued with echoes of chattering and laughter of someone that was no longer there. And Lena did not believe in the supernatural but she could have sworn she had seen the ghost of you a couple of times already. It was hard trying to sleep with your silhouette adorning the door frames and your voice calling her in a muffled whisper.

So she rolled on the bed and took her phone from the nightstand after the third ring, mostly so she could stop the noise of it and hear another voice that wasn't the ghost of yours.

"Lena?" She hear from the other side once she answered, not bothering to look at the number ID.

"What is it, Alex?" Lena recognized her voice but couldn't identify its urgency at first.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Don't worry, I'm sure there's something going on so, what is it?" Lena asked hoping there would be something at least interesting to distract her mind.

"There is indeed something going on, but I need you to come to the DEO." She heard Alex sigh. "It's about (Y/N)."

At the sound of your name Lena jolted fully awake from her bed. "What about (Y/N)?"

"I would like to explain it to you, but I think it's better if you see it for yourself."

A thousand things crossed Lena's mind in that single moment and only one strong enough to set her into motion. Hope.

"I'm on my way." She finally said.

When Lena arrived, she was taken to the conference room at the DEO. Alex, Winn, J'onn and Kara were already there, looking at the screens and reading papers as if they were getting ready for a new mission. They almost didn't see her come in as she spoke.

"Lena-" Kara tried to ease the following conversation.

"What is it?" Lena asked as a manner of a salute, leaving the formalities aside.

None of them was bothered by this as they knew why had decided to come in the first place. She was a worried mother about to do the impossible to have her daughter back.

"A month ago our radars started to record certain signatures of radioactive activity." Alex started and handed Lena the file records as she took a seat near her. "We didn't put much attention to it, after the attack of the Lost Sons of Liberty we thought it may have been a glitch."

"What do you mean a glitch?" They looked at each other briefly in awkward silence as Lena passed the pages and read the reports.

"After the radioactive explosion, they were reading seconds of activity in many other locations." J'onn added.

"Yeah, it was like there were being many mini radioactive explosions everywhere." Winn continued. "I double checked the systems. It wasn't an error."

"All these places..." Lena said, still looking at the reports. "(Y/N) was in all of them at least once."

"We noticed that too." Alex turned to face Kara, encouraging to speak.

"I went to check most of them, to make sure there wasn't something out of the ordinary but in every location there was at least someone telling me they had seen some kind of-" Kara struggled to find a word for a moment. "Ghost."

"Ghost?" Lena lifted her eyes from the papers and looked straight at Kara. She flinched slightly at the intensity of Lena's stare. "Are you really telling me a bunch of strangers saw the ghost of my dead daughter?"

Lena thought it had to be some kind of sick joke. She had come to the DEO against all reason, holding some hope in her heart that there would be a kind of miracle that could erase the past weeks of longing and solitude, or at least something that could help her ease the pain of your absence. She certainly hadn't come to hear about the undead. She had enough with the traces of you at home.

"N-no, Lena, no." Kara blurted immediately. "I'm telling you the truth."

"I promise you, Miss Luthor, it is not a game for us." J'onn spoke, her voice calm and collected. Lena imagined he had pondered for a long time before revealing this to her, not wanting to bring her any more sorrow. So she listened and Kara continued.

"At first, we weren't sure about this either but after I visited one of those locations, the music shop in Warden Street, I talked to the owner. He said he was so excited he had finally caught a poltergeist on camera and then showed me his security cameras. Winn, could you?"

"Yes, right." Winn pulled his laptop from the table and after a few seconds the screens in the conference room were on and displaying the security footage from inside the shop.

Lena's eyebrows were going up slowly as she watched second by second the images on the screens. There was a circle of light forming in the middle of the shop, then there was a small explosion, a strong pulse coming from inside the light, expanding and contracting until Lena could see some sort of figure emerging from it. It all looked like a bundle of cables moving and trying to find a way to hold themselves onto the air until Lena realized it had the resemblance of a human body.

"I used the DEO system to identify more security cameras that could have been near this locations. I put the few videos I was able to collect in chronological order and while revising them, well, I think we found more of (Y/N)'s ghost. Look."

As Winn showed each video, the figure coming and forming from these little explosions was taking better shape. Lena could see it now. The nervous system, the bones, the muscles showing progressively like it was a puzzle finding its own form, its own body.

"Lena, we think (Y/N)'s trying to come back." Alex said. "We just haven't figured out how."

The first time Lena ever held you in her arms she had feared for a moment she wouldn't be a good mother. Scared that she couldn't protect you from the evils of the world, scared that she could hurt you too. After all, what did she really know about motherhood? But she loved you. She had loved you the first instant she ever knew about your existence and even more the moment she saw you. You had looked so tiny and fragile once you came into this world that she had sworn to protect you no matter the cost. So that was what she was gonna do.

"Then we will." She assured, more to herself than to anyone else in the room, and they all set to work.

Needless to say, it was complicated task. One day you would be back at the music shop and the next you would be on another corner of the world. There were also many times when Lena returned home hoping she would catch any sign of your silhouette or hear your voice. But your appearances were too erratic and too short to even recreate an ordered pattern. Lena had never seen something like this, not even when you had first tried your powers.

"We have to give her time." Lena suddenly said one evening as she and the rest of the team watched the last video Winn had been able to retrieve of you.

"Uh, how much?" Winn asked a bit confused. "Like a week or something?"

She remembered the initial diagnosis the DEO had given about your powers. The ability to travel from one place to another at will by disassembling and reassembling your own cells at will. Lena guessed you were finally learning the cellular part of that while pulling yourself together.

"Just time." Lena assured with a little and confident smile. "She is figuring it out."

They followed your every move after that. Your mom was hopeful every time they were able to catch you on camera as you looked more and more like a whole body.

Sooner or later, she thought, she would have you in her arms again and, after weeks of following you, Lena went to get a peaceful night of sleep. She never imagined, however that, while they were waiting patiently for your return, the wait for you was already over that same night...or day.

It had been during the late evening when Diana felt the sudden change of energy inside the room. She had been in the Louvre, taking care of the final details in the pieces for the next exhibit, when she felt the air turn heavier and had thanked the gods no one else had been there to see what occurred next.

There was a small explosion in the middle of the room as a tangled figure emerged from the light. Diana had to cover her eyes for a moment to be able to see nerves and veins, bones, muscles and skin, all finding their way and wrapping around to form a human figure. It all finished in seconds and with another flash of light as your body fell heavily to the floor and Diana was finally able to recognize you. She ran to your side, making sure you were in fact you and you hadn't suffered any other kind of injury.

"(Y/N)? Can you hear me?" Diana took you gently on her lap and tried to wake you up.

You opened your eyes slowly, trying to adjust to the newfound light and focused them on her. If you hadn't felt so tired and out of breath you would had slapped yourself on the forehead in annoyance. You weren't suppose to be this far from home.

"Why France?" Diana heard you say with an annoyed but happy grunt before you fainted.

That's when the second call came in.

It had been two in the morning when Lena jolted awake and grabbed her phone imagining it would be Kara or Alex, or someone else at the DEO, to finally tell her you were here. When she answered she heard a familiar voice just not one she had expected.

"Diana?" Lena frowned a bit in confusion. She and diana were good friends and she was not unused to her calls but this was different. She sounded different.

"I'm sorry if I wake you up but you need to come." And with that Lena knew. "It's (Y/N). She's back."

It may have been the fastest trip Lena Luthor ever took in her life. With the help of Supergirl, she was able to reach Diana's apartment in less than an hour. Lena sat beside you as you laid in Diana's bed. Diana had explained to them what had happened at the museum and how you had been sleeping since. She looked at you, the slow rhythm of your respiration and the features of your face. She almost didn't believe you were there.

Then Lena saw you take a deep breath and open your mouth slightly.

"Am I in trouble?" You mumbled a moment after.

"Not yet, young lady, but we'll be having a long conversation about playing the hero." She managed to say, keeping the tears at bay and touching your face gently. "Just wait till we get home, sweetheart."

"Yeah, sounds about right, mom." You said with a little smile playing on your lips. You could be a hero any other day but, for now, it was enough to be back.

--------------------------------------------

Deleted Scene.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?"

You were about five when one day your mom asked you. She had found you lying on the floor, making some drawings, after a late meeting. You had spent a good part of the evening in her office while she finished in the conference room. It had been a busy day for your mom, too busy she even had to ask Jess to pick you up from the kindergarten. Her meetings weren't fun at all. Always filled with boring men and boring presentations. So you liked to stay at her office even though didn't happen too often. Your mom had made very clear you were first on her list of priorities, she had to teach you the word, meaning that she preferred to spend her time with you anytime. However, when it happened and your mom and you had to stay at work for long, you couldn't help but miss her. Those times, the only thing you had found to entertain yourself was drawing.

"Math." You had replied, not looking away from the things you were putting on the paper.

"Oh, I see. Are you doing some calculations?" She had taken one of your drawings, observing every detail she could as she kneeled near you. There where leeters and numbers all over, mimicking formulas you had surely tried to copy from her. "What for?"

"It's a," you struggled for a moment with the next word, trying to get every syllable, "a prototype."

"What kind of prototype?" Your mom took another drawing. You had made cute little stick figures of yourselves inside a little box with lighting around it.

"A teleporter." You said carefully.

"Are you planning on building one, (Y/N)? Where do you wanna go?"

"Home." You said serious, pulling another drawing from the floor. "The car is too slow and we need more time for more bedtime stories."

Lena's heart shrunk and melted right on the spot. Your drawing was about you two again but this time you were already wrapped in bed and she had your favorite book in her hands. She left your drawing back with the rest and moved to lay down with you.

"You want to go home now?" She asked you and gently stroked your hair.

"Will we have time for a story?" You finally turned to see her with hopeful gaze.

"As many as you want, sweetie. Promise."

"And will you help me finish with my math?"

"Sure, I will." She assured you and only then you smiled back at her.

You had headed home like she had said. You had dinner, she read you your bed stories, and she actually helped you with the science part of your plans. She never imagined, however, that years later, those cute drawings and her own lessons in physics would turn into equations, diagrams, and blueprints of a real teleporting device.