Okay, so I may have lied about this being about Kara and Earth-38. That will be more of the next chapter. This used to be one big chapter, but it was getting too long and I was getting writer's block, so now I can start fresh now that this is out of my system.

It's really hard for me to come up with emotional scenes and figure out how to put them onto paper, so that's why it's been so long since I've updated. I'm really excited for the next chapter since there will be more action and a very interesting character arc for Kara. Also, the title of this chapter is named after a common phrase in one of my other favorite CW shows...see if you can guess which one by the end of the chapter.

Please enjoy! -LowTide1322

(Disclaimer)

Chapter 6: Flip the Switch

May 23rd

Earth-1

Kara landed in front of STAR Labs and set Alex down. Almost instantly, she began walking towards the doors without even looking at her sister.

"Hey!" Alex moved to stand in front of her. "What's going on with you? You can't just stay silent, Kara—"

"I'm not doing this with you right now, Alex," the kryptonian took a step around the DEO agent, but Alex quickly moved in front of her again.

"Kara! I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now, which is why you need to talk to me! What we just witnessed was...insane—"

"I've seen lots of insane things," the kryptonian said monotonically. She could easily get around her adoptive sister, but wasn't in the mood to get yelled at later for it.

Alex knew her sister was putting a wall up to shield her feelings, and everytime she did that the wall was nearly impossible to demolish. That didn't mean that she wouldn't try to destroy it, though.

"I know how much Barry means—meant—to you, so you must be feeling awful right now and I just want to help you! I'm your sister, so don't think for a second I'm not going to care about how you're dealing with this."

Kara crossed her arms. "Fine. When we go home, we can talk. Right now let's just get inside." She finally pushed past Alex and walked through the entrance to STAR Labs. As soon as they got back to Earth-38, she most likely wouldn't have a heart-to-heart with her sister. She'd be too focused on the possible Daxamite invasion that was quite literally looming over National City. There wasn't any time for her feelings.

The two walked through the building and eventually found themselves in the cortex. Julian, H.R., Tracy and William were all there as well as Caitlin, Rene, Lance, Dinah, Diggle, Nyssa and Slade. It seemed that they all had been getting along nicely, meaning that none of them had started yelling at each other yet. As soon as they saw Kara and Alex, they instantly perked up with excitement and turned to face them. Diggle was the first to speak.

"Why didn't you guys come through the breach with us?" he asked. He looked between the two of them, trying to see if their expressions could give him some kind of answer. The sadness and anguish etched on their faces didn't make him feel any better. What could have happened that would make even Kara so distraught? Finally, Diggle's eyes wandered to Kara's hands, which were stained with blood, and from the looks of it there had been a lot. Panic festered in his chest as he tried to make sense of what it all could mean. Whose blood was that? What had Chase done to them?

Anger swelled up inside him and he had to ball his fists to avoid smashing one of the expensive computers. "Where is Chase?" he asked. His voice broke because he was on the verge of screaming.

Kara followed Dig's eyes down towards her hands, and quickly shielded them from view. At least, from William's view. H.R. noticed this and motioned for Tracy and Julian to take the youngest Queen elsewhere. He probably shouldn't have been seeing or hearing any of this right now. The physicist and CSI nodded and took the boy down the hall.

With William gone, Kara held her hands in front of her, examining them. She hadn't really noticed that when she'd been trying to help Barry, she had been trying to put pressure on his wound. Needless to say it was ineffective, but her hands were effectively covered in red. Alex had also followed Dig's eyes to her sister's hands, and her eyes grew wide with shock. It was disgusting, and she could feel her chest tighten as her eyes grew teary.

"Kara…" she mumbled. Even though the blood on her sister's hands made her feel a little squeamish, Alex grabbed her hand and held onto to it, tight.

The tears streaming down the sisters' faces only made Dig panic even more. Had something happened to Oliver? Maybe the people on the ARGUS supply ship? So much could have happened between them all coming through the breach to now.

"Where is Chase?" he repeated, his voice dangerously low.

The thought of having to break the news to Dig about Barry made Kara choke back a sob. She thought that she could do this; be strong so everyone else wouldn't have to be.

But she broke down each time she glanced down at her hands.

She turned her back to the group and rushed out of the room to find a place where she could wash her hands thoroughly. Seeing the blood only reminded her of her failure to keep the ones she loved safe, to keep Barry alive.

"What happened, Alex?" H.R. asked quietly. The DEO agent never thought she'd ever hear the man speak in a tone so serious. Since she'd met him, he was always teeming with energy and excitement, but even he must have understood what a grave situation they were in. To see him calm and solemn only made the day's happenings more real.

"We defeated Chase and Savitar," she said finally.

"Why do I sense a 'but' coming?" Dig said, relaxing slightly at her words but tensed up again as he awaited her answer.

"It wasn't easy…" she continued. "We thought we'd won, Cisco was able to make breaches again, and we were almost out but then...then Chase hit Kara with a kryptonite dart. Savitar took the opportunity and was going to kill her. He-he held the kryptonite and we begged and begged for him not to do it, but he wasn't going to stop—"

"We just saw Kara though...she seemed alright. Isn't she?" Nyssa asked.

"It happened too fast. Before we knew it, Kara was thrown to the ground and Barry...Barry had taken her place."

H.R. sighed and put his head in his hands. "B.A., no…"

"What-what do you mean he took her place?" Dig stuttered. He wouldn't believe what Alex was implying. Barry wasn't dead, that couldn't be right. Not his friend, not one of the best men that he knew.

"The blood on your sister's hands...it was the speedster's?" Slade spoke up. He didn't know much about any of these people, but he was smart enough to put two and two together.

Slade had to give the fast kid some credit. Sacrificing himself for others was no easy feat, and it took true courage; courage that sometimes Deathstroke wish he had. It seemed that the speedster took after Oliver in the sense that he'd do anything to protect those he loved…

His mind then shifted to his old friend. The archer was fond of the speedster, that much he knew. And, for the first time in a long time, Slade felt sorry for his old friend. Yes, he'd eventually felt remorse for everything that happened on the island and after, but this time, it was something that he didn't cause.

A wave of empathy kept washing over him and he was surprised that it wasn't going away.

Alex nodded slowly as a response. She wanted desperately to leave and run after Kara, but for some reason she couldn't walk away from the small group of people. She was frozen in her place, awaiting everyone else's responses.

The air in the room was heavy and a silence that lasted for hours fell upon them.

Dig's eyes stung as he slowly accepted the fact that his friend wasn't going to walk into STAR Labs to celebrate the team's victories. None of this was fair. That son of a bitch Chase had taken someone away from them; another villain had taken someone they loved away from them.

He didn't even try to hold himself back from punching one of the computers this time. He swung his fist and shattered the screen, leaving a bloody dent in the glass. Alex flinched at the noise and looked at her shoes to avoid looking at the somber group before her.

"John...I'm sorry," Dinah offered, but her comforting words were lost on him.

In a corner of the room, a bright blue breach sparked to life, making almost everyone jump. From it walked Thea, Felicity, Samantha, Curtis and Cisco.

"Hey…" A teary-eyed Felicity walked to over to John and enveloped him in a hug. Her voice sounded strained and her eyes were red and puffy. She and the three others on the ARGUS boat hadn't gotten very far when Cisco appeared in their midst and explained to them what had happened. Felicity had felt like she'd been punched in the gut; she loved Barry. Her world instantly grew darker as soon as she heard the news. He was the one thing that helped her escape the constant evil pressing on their lives, but now it had spread to him too. She'd never get to scold him for being too reckless, to thank him for saving all their lives, to hug him because she was scared she'd lose him. She did lose him, and it was killing her.

For a moment, it seemed like everyone was going to be okay. But looking at Dig like this, she knew that nothing was ever going to be okay ever again. With the loss of the Flash came the breaking of all the heroes in their world.

Thea blinked hard a few times before glancing around the room. All of this imprisonment and then escape with the added teleportation was a bit much for her to take in. Seeing Slade at the other end of the cortex didn't help matters, but Cisco had vaguely explained that the old villain wasn't who she thought he was anymore. Besides, it would be hardly appropriate to start up an argument at a time like now. While Thea didn't know Barry as well as the others, she was always in awe of him. She held him in the highest of respects for being the inspiring hero that he was, and she knew the world would never be the same without him.

Once her eyes focused, it looked like almost everyone was accounted for, except for her brother. "Where's Oliver?" Thea asked.

Cisco set down his goggles and rubbed his eyes. His voice could only be heard by the few who were within a couple feet from him. "He was still at ARGUS when I left, but maybe he left with Wally—"

Almost as if right on cue, Kid Flash's yellow lightning lit up the cortex. Wally then appeared before them looking as somber as ever. He'd just set Barry's body down on one of the gurneys in a room branching off of the cortex. It was strange; so many times had Barry laid down there to be patched up after a bad run-in with a meta and would be up in a couple of hours. Now, he wasn't going to wake up ever again.

"Me and Oliver decided it'd be best to bring Barry here," he said simply. "Iris and my dad are back at the house, and Oliver should be here soon."

The large group of heroes gave each other comforting words and then slowly dispersed themselves within STAR Labs. After what felt like hours, Alex finally found it in herself to walk out of the cortex to comfort Kara, wherever she ran off to. Her sister turned out to be gathering what little possessions they had brought with them from Earth-38, seemingly preparing to leave. Alex raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Alex?" Kara replied coldly. "We need to get back to our earth. I've been gone too long already."

Alex gave a small gasp, taken aback by her sister's tone. "It's just…They want us to stay for a funeral—"

"The only funeral I'll be attending is Rhea's unless she surrenders, wherever she is…"

"You're not serious," Alex scoffed. Her sister's silence, however, proved that she was. "Everyone needs you to be there: Oliver, Cisco, Iris. You can't just leave now."

"Has anyone thought about what I need? I can't be here, Alex. Everything that happened today was my fault. I'm not letting the same thing happen to National City. I won't fail again," Kara said. She finally collected all of her belongings and tossed a bag at Alex, who wasn't expecting to have it thrown at her and staggered backwards. Kara's "toss" was actually more like she chucked a bowling ball at her.

She couldn't believe this. None of it was Kara's fault, and Alex was surprised that Kara thought so. Her sister had grown so much over the past two years, and she'd become too mature to believe that she was the only one to blame. This wasn't who Supergirl was; this wasn't the hero of earth and it certainly was not Alex's sister.

Then again, she was grieving. Loss could change people so drastically that they would become unrecognizable. Barry had died hardly even a few hours ago, so of course Kara would be completely devastated. Unfortunately, National City couldn't afford to have its hero in such a state at a time like now. Alex only hoped that somehow her sister would be able to pull herself together enough to defeat the Daxamites the right way. Otherwise, Earth-38 might as well have lost its savior too.

"I'm sorry, Kara," Alex said with the most sincerity she ever could have expressed.

"I know," Kara replied, her tone softer than it had been before. "Me too."

The two walked to back to the cortex to find Cisco. Vibe didn't give any judging glances when they said that they wanted to leave, he only led them to the breach room without saying a word. As they walked down a hallway, the three found themselves face to face with Oliver. He was the one to cast them judging glances when he heard of their desire to leave.

"You-you're leaving? Now?"

"I have to," Kara said curtly. "You wouldn't understand—"

"I wouldn't understand?! I am the only one who understands, Kara! I know what it feels like to lose my world and then some. And after all of that, I didn't abandon my friends," Oliver caught a glimpse of a hurt expression on Kara's face before it returned to impassive. He pinched the bridge of his nose. That didn't come clutch how he wanted it to… "Nothing that happened was your fault—"

"Save it, Oliver," Kara snapped. "Don't tell me how it was 'Barry's choice'; don't tell me that it couldn't have been prevented, because—"

"No, I won't, because it was my fault."

Kara tilted her head to the side. She wasn't expecting him to say that. She'd placed all the blame on her own shoulders, she couldn't even imagine anyone else feeling the same way.

"It's all my fault," Oliver continued, "for Prometheus in the first place. I'm the reason you or Barry were even there. Hell, I could go even further; if future me didn't treat Savitar like crap, then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe if I'd stopped Barry from going back in time after his father died, he would still be here!" he yelled, seemingly to himself and no longer at Kara.

Alex wiped a tear from her eye. For some reason, she found herself relating to the archer on a deeper level than she anticipated. She didn't need to know Oliver very long to understand he rarely got this emotional, and she knew he only was to try to prove to Kara she wasn't to blame. The amount of strength that it took to be open like this—to admit this, it was worthy of reverence.

Cisco decided to remain silent. He, like Alex, never thought that Oliver would ever be this open with other people. If Barry were here, he would have been proud to see his friend be mature enough to share his opinion with Kara in order to help her.

However, the Flash wouldn't be there to see it.

Oliver sighed and tried to keep his voice steady. He opened his mouth and closed it, like he was about to say something but decided against it. Instead, he settled on whispering to himself, "It's just like with Tommy, I guess; it should have been me."

Kara suddenly felt a swell of emotion overcome her as she rushed to hug Oliver. She'd wanted to be cold and aloof, but her humanity was getting the better of her.

"You have to understand, Oliver," she said in their embrace, "I can't be here. Looking at the pain in their eyes—in your eyes—hurts me more than kryptonite ever will. You have to believe me."

Kara broke the hug and gathered her belongings. She silently made a vow to herself that her humanity would stay buried as long as it needed to be. If she let it take control, she'd never leave and never get back home to stop Rhea.

From now on, her duty as Supergirl came first. She couldn't afford to think otherwise.

"We ready?" Cisco asked.

The two Danvers nodded. Alex took a glance at Oliver, and he held out his hand. The DEO agent scoffed and pulled the archer into a hug.

"Don't give up on her, no matter what," he whispered in her ear. He didn't really care if Kara heard or not, but she needed all the support she could get right now. He had a feeling the superhero could convince her sister otherwise, so he needed to make sure Alex wouldn't let Kara off the hook. He couldn't let her go down the same dark path he once did.

"Never," Alex replied sternly. The two broke the hug and Cisco's breach blinked in and out of existence. Eventually, with a lot of concentration and cursing on Vibe's end, it became stable.

Cisco sighed and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. "I bid you both a very fond farewell."

Alex smiled ever so slightly, "Lord of the Rings?"

"Yeah. Nice, Danvers. Didn't know you were a fellow nerd," Cisco teased.

"Yeah, well, sometimes me and Kara would pull all-nighters binge-watching the movies. Maybe when we get back we can do that again," Alex said as she slung an arm around her sister.

"Whatever you want, Alex," the kryptonian replied rudely. Alex's smile slipped off of her face. Kara walked forward into the breach, without looking back.

Alex, on the other hand, turned to face her new friends. "I'll see you soon. We both will," she said. She took a couple hesitant steps forward to the edge of the breach. If she took one more step, nothing was ever going to be the same. Her relationship with Kara would still be in tact, but her sister was definitely scarred. An unstable kryptonian was never a good thing.

She took a deep breath and trudged forwards. Alex hoped that she could help mend the damage done to Kara's heart, for the sake of National City, if not the world.

Oliver looked on as Alex finally disappeared through the breach. Cisco closed the blue portal and gave Oliver a small smile before exiting to go back to the cortex.

The archer didn't really know where his feet were taking him, but eventually he found himself in the time vault where he and Barry had been talking not two days earlier. All of that felt so long ago now. The more Oliver thought back on it, the more he realized that Barry hadn't really planned on making it through this whole ordeal in one piece. All of his talk about wondering what would happen to the future if he wasn't in it…

How could Oliver be so stupid? He was so focused on saving William he didn't even realize his friend was planning on being the sacrificial lamb for all of them. Maybe if he'd noticed sooner, maybe if he never got involved with Chase, maybe if he'd stopped Flashpoint from happening, Oliver could have saved his friend. But no, once again the universe has taken someone away that Oliver Queen cared about.

Oliver looked back to where the future article had been, but now there was just a blank page. It was just another reminder that Barry was gone. He slammed his bow into the wall repeatedly, until it snapped, and at which point the archer sunk to his knees and held his head in his hands. It took everything in him not to scream.

He heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and expected it to be John or Felicity or maybe even Quentin.

"Ollie…?"

Oliver lifted his tear-streaked face from his hands to see Thea standing in the doorway, looking deeply concerned. He let out a sob at the sight of his sister, and she instantly fell to her knees beside him.

"It should have been me, Thea," he choked out. "First Tommy, then Laurel, now Barry…"

"It's okay, Ollie. It's not your fault," Thea enveloped him in a hug. Usually, Oliver was the one who would end up comforting her, but she decided that it was time for her to return the favor.

The two stayed like that for hours it seemed. Oliver had cracked, and it could only be his family that could help put him back together.

The Queens weren't the only ones with heavy hearts. All of Central City could feel a shift in energy, even if they didn't know what it meant. National City anxiously awaited its heroine's response to the evil hovering over their city. Earth-1 had lost a hero.

Little did Earth-38 know, it might have lost its heroine as well...

Yes, this chapter was a bit short, but the next one will be longer. Hopefully it will be out sooner rather than later. The name of the show the chapter title comes from is...you guessed it, Vampire Diaries! Thanks for reading! Please review to let me know what you thought!

(P.S. I will never stop loving Lord of the Rings. I saw an opportunity for a reference and a parallel, so I couldn't resist!)