The walls came down, and Bette moved through them. Just like he had said, he simply let her in. There was no resistance. He really did invite her in.
She started to reach for the power. The vast reservoir of energy that could give her permanence. She searched and wandered his mind, but what she found was a kitchen table.
Her surroundings shifted. A memory. The morning light was sneaking through the window, and she could smell burnt toast. She turned around and saw a girl sitting across the table, a book in her hands. Kira. The name seemed to appear in her mind with her image. She tried to push past it, towards the energy.
Another memory surfaced instead. A bar. In front of her was a table with a group of people. Laughing and drinking. She felt a strong warmth and looked at the empty chair.
"They cared even when I pushed them away," a voice echoed. "I pushed them away from so long. I was afraid of loss."
Bette reached out her hand before retracting it. She reached deeper into his mind, more desperate. The space around her narrowed down into a sort of corridor, a white light at the end. She went through.
She found grief. The space around her transformed into Mars. It was burning. She could see all the people scream and cry, but all of it was muted by a whimper. She turned towards the sound and found a cluster of rubble. She lifted the rubble, and underneath was the green-colored man she had just been fighting. He was fetal, his hands covering his head, a stream of tears mixing with a small pool of blood at the bottom.
"Over a billion Martians died that day. My people. It's a day that I will never forget and a part of me I will never forgive," the voice told her.
The space around her changed, and in the distance, a large and glowing orb pulsed. His psychic energy. She didn't even have to move. It came to her. He let her gaze into its power. His power. Enough for an entire lifetime.
She reached out her hand, stopping only a few centimeters away from everything she had ever wanted. Stability. She felt a pair of hands caress her shoulders. She looked back and saw J'onn on her left and on the right Kira.
"I don't know what you went through, but I'm sorry it all happened," J'onn told her.
"Did you read my mind?" she asked.
"I would never do such a thing without permission. What is stored here is more precious than anything else in the world," J'onn replied.
"I wish it would all just disappear," she said, looking towards the ground.
"You must have experienced happiness at one point, no? That's why we continue going through hell. Just to reach that happiness again. I'm thankful that I was able to reach it myself. The greatest obstacle I found was myself, but only you have the power to remove it. Though you can have a little help," J'onn replied.
Bette remembered her times with Mike. Her form stopped flickering as she let go of J'onn's hands and pulled her own towards her chest. J'onn's eyes opened and he looked exhausted.
"You stopped," he said quietly.
"I didn't find what I was looking for. I found something else instead," Bette replied.
"And what was it that you found?"
"I don't have a word for it."
Mike appeared above them, his wings spread wide.
"How did you survive it? Losing everything. All of it," she asked.
"I didn't. Not until I stopped trying to punish myself with excuses."
"Thank you. Both."
J'onn looked confused and looked around to see Mike floated above.
"I think in the end I did find happiness, in my own way, J'onn. But if to live my life means to destroy another person's, then I won't do it," she said. She looked at Mike, a tear in her eye. "I'm sorry it couldn't end in a better way, but I used too much of my energy. Goodbye. Thank you for everything," she said.
As her tear fell to the ground, her body seemed to dissolve, leaving nothing left. It was like she never existed.
J'onn looked towards Sophist.
"Until next time, J'onn," said Sophist before disappearing.
J'onn could sense the hidden sadness behind his words.
TWO WEEKS LATER
J'onn's apartment smelled like garlic bread and scented candles.
"Dad, can you grab the forks?" asked Kira, her hands full of paper plates, looking down into the drawer.
She froze.
J'onn also froze. He was standing next to her. Kira looked embarrassed. She wasn't very good at hiding it. The moment passed away quietly, neither of them commenting on it. J'onn simply handed her the forks with a smile and she took them.
The cornerstone was loud that night. It was David's birthday. Tom the bartender was strict on the no food rule but made an exception for his birthday cake. Just this once. The cake was lopsided, and the numbered candles were placed incorrectly. Sarah was laughing, much to David's annoyance, to the point she almost spilled her drink.
"Now that you've reached the ripe age of forty-three, I think it's time you give everyone a speech," Marcus demanded.
"Very funny, Marcus... I don't have a speech. I have a burrito, though," he said, holding it up like a trophy.
"Ey, dickhead. No food!" yelled Tom.
Marcus slid back into his jacket pocket. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Tom," he replied, smug.
The group laughed.
"Just this once, you fat bastard," Tom replied after laughing.
"Hey. I've been losing weight, you know, you cheeky cunt," replied David.
"Just give the damn speech," said Marcus.
J'onn laughed. Kira sat next to him, drinking from her bottle of pepsi. She enjoyed the unusual taste of it. Sarah caught J'onn's eye from across the table and blushed a little before looking away.
Across the room, Mike was sitting with Willow drinking a drink unknown to him. Willow ordered for both of them. 'A fun surprise,' she told him.
The grief and guilt still hadn't left him. But he knew one thing. The dead do not ask us to follow them. They ask us to keep on going. He could only hope then when his time came, Bette could forgive him.