Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Reborn

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 10:

Kara walked into the dimly lit interrogation room, not surprised to see a large creepy smile on the Joker’s face. His hands were cuffed in front, chained to the table. He appeared completely relaxed.

When Kara had found him in a high-rise apartment complex’s basement with enough C4 to take down the entire building, he simply smiled, set the bomb gently on the ground, fell to his knees and raised his hands.

Kara x-rayed him for explosives or a detonator on his body and found none. His surrender was too easy, taking her off guard. Had he wanted to be caught? He shouted her name from the roof of the tallest building in Gotham and waited for her to arrive. Was this a distraction to lure her and Batman away from another crime in progress? He had already killed seven people in the last four days, including two children under the age of ten. One boy was missing, most likely dead, but she held onto a slight hope the psycho had kept him alive for some sick game. On further consideration, considering what this man could do to people, it may have been a mercy if the boy was dead. Either way, the Joker had the answer and would only talk to her… alone. She had never met the man face to face but heard enough that she wanted to kill him slowly. Only Bruce’s insistence she not kill humans or aliens that could be contained held her back. Gotham belonged to Batman and it was Batman’s decision.

For now.

The man’s white face paint was mixed with dried blood. His green stringy hair and the scars on both sides of his mouth completed his psychotic appearance. At least he was in prison orange instead of one of those ridiculous suits he normally wore.

“Hi.” he greeted her.

“You wanted to see me alone. I’m here so tell me where the boy is.” Kara was in no mood to play his game any longer than necessary.

The Joker ran his eyes up and down her body and smiled. Kara had dressed in faded jeans, a simple white tank top and her black leather jacket. After the night she had flying around looking for this monster and the bodies he left behind, she didn’t have it in her to wear the suit one second longer than necessary.

“I was hoping for the skirt, not that you don’t look hot.” The Joker stated, leering at her.

Kara snorted. “You wanted to check me out? There are hundreds of websites with photos of me in the air in high wind. Cut to the chase. Why do you want to speak to me?”

The Joker ignored her question. “On second thought, I’m glad you aren’t dressed in your super suit. This is the real you, isn’t it? Dangerous, jaded, tough, intimidating even dressed as a simple human. I wanted to speak to you… alone.”

Kara looked around the small room and shrugged her shoulders. “We are alone.”

Joker shook his head. “They are listening. I want a private conversation. You can make that happen, right? I heard you had god like power over every computer on this planet. No matter how much power you have, you will never find that little boy’s body. Unless you want his parents to bury an empty coffin, I suggest you stop Commissioner Gordon and Bats from hearing our conversation. Trust me, you won’t want them to listen to this.”

Kara stared at the man fighting the rising anger building up inside her. “Okay, you want to talk alone, we will talk alone. Kelex?”

The Joker raised an eyebrow. “Who might Kelex be?”

“My girlfriend. She has an amazing ass. I’m going to enjoy seeing you once Arkham has deloused you. Without that creepy makeup and cheap suit, you are just a scarred, pathetic man, aren’t you? No one is listening. Batman isn’t happy, but he is staying put. Let’s hear your words that will no doubt change my life.” Kara told him, taking a seat and putting her riding boot clad feet on the table, arms crossed.

The Joker didn’t laugh. Kara even thought it might have been his serious face under that ruined makeup. “Why would I want to change your life? You are perfect as you are. I just wanted to meet someone like me. I have hoped for years Batman would finally break free from the moral restraints of society. I thought his little agreement with you to kill aliens might tip him over the edge, but I hear he preaches restraint with you as well regarding humans. Of course, he isn’t with you all the time, is he? Your other two vigilantes don’t mind you cutting loose.”

Kara shook her head and grinned. “Let me guess. Batman doesn’t think of aliens as people, so he doesn’t mind killing them. That must mean he thinks I am worth less than a human. Been done before. I thought you would have better head games than this. I guess Quinzel was right. You are a disappointment. Just so we understand each other, I am nothing like you.”

The Joker considered for this for a moment. “Perhaps,… you don’t kill children after all. You seem to love them. But you still get to decide, don’t you? You decide who lives? Who dies? Who gets to go to the spooky alien prison and who gets the really painful death sentence? You are the one who takes what she wants and if someone resists they are only beaten if they are lucky. I know quite a few unsavory types and have many associates in the alien community. The stories I have heard about you impress me. You are the monster alien parents warn their children about. Better be good or Kara Zor El will come and get you. Daddy is not coming home anymore. He broke a human law, so Supergirl took him to the wild and killed him slowly.

Face it. The human race? They consider us monsters, outsiders who do not belong. Speaking of criminal activity Kara Zor El, are you high right now? Aliens talk. Drug dealers don’t resist you any longer. You show up, they give you what you need and then you are gone.” he continued.

Kara felt a chill for a moment. Every alien on the planet knew the name of Kara Zor El. She was very aware of what her name meant to aliens. It was evident by the simple fact that when she walked into a bar, the place was empty in a minute or less. What she didn’t know, what she didn’t want anyone to know, was about the drugs she used. Alcohol was no big deal in her mind. She was nearly 21 regardless, but if Alex found out about the drugs, it would be a disaster. Kara knew Kelex was probably listening and she would have to order him to erase this conversation from his memory banks. She was very glad no one else could hear, including Bruce outside.

“Congratulations.” she told him, voice steady, steel behind it. “You hang out with off world criminal scum. Is there a point to this?”

The monster chuckled. “Your pupils were quite large when I called out to you tonight. Just wondering if you are still high? What does it feel like? Despite the things I have done that society considers monstrous, I’ve never resorted to using drugs or alcohol. The alcohol only fogs your brain, but is the high better than the thrill of the kill? Is it better than the moment we both treasure? Hearing a heart beat its last? A last breath, the spark going out of someone’s eyes? Is it better than the feeling of snapping your Aunt’s neck? I must admit, killing your last blood relative, your mother’s twin sister, that was cold, even for me. I applaud you. Tell me what I have been missing out on, one so called monster to another.”

Kara said nothing, keeping a stone face in place and giving away nothing, but her heartbeat was racing. It never occurred to her that aliens would talk to psychopathic humans. Then again, not all aliens had powers on Earth, and many may have been very afraid of this monster.

But he knew she used drugs. Not even Alex knew. Her alcohol use was no secret, either to her family or to the aliens on Earth. The drug use though, she could never let them find out. Alex, Clark… what would they think if they knew she needed to snort orange powder to shake off the effects of alcohol just so she could fight without stumbling?

“No one would believe you.” she settled for.

The Joker leaned forward and grinned. “No denial? Of course, why should you deny it? You are a god on this planet, you can do what you want. That’s what makes you special. Not your powers, but the knowledge you can do what you want, to whoever you want, whenever you want. Most beings are held back by moral constraints. Not us though. It’s wonderful, isn’t it? We are ahead of the curve. Keep encouraging Batman to kill and one day he may join us. It’s been an honor to speak to someone like me. Maybe I will try drugs one day. They seem to work for you.”

He leaned back, still smiling. “The boy’s body is in Gotham Harbor by Sexton and Cabot. There is a boat dock there and he is next to a small pier. I placed a cement block around his ankle, so he wouldn’t float away. Don’t worry, I was soft tonight. I realize if he was an alien you would have beaten him into an unrecognizable pile of flesh, but I just cut his throat and dropped him in the water. Maybe one day I can live up to your example and be a bit more sadistic, but honestly he was just a tool to get you here. Have a nice day, Kara Zor El. I’m sure we will talk again.”

Kara woke with a start, taking a deep breath, her eyes focusing on the crystal ceiling of the Fortress.

What had that been? The same clown as her dream the night before. That conversation. Had it actually happened? It couldn’t have. She knew she had been addicted to drugs and alcohol, but that was not why she felt so uneasy.

While she was dreaming, Kara felt she couldn’t disagree with anything he said. She should have denied it, argued, right? Instead she said nothing.

Had she really been that much of a monster?

Taking a deep breath, she debated what to do. She was on her back and Streaky lay next to her, curled up in her hair. Alex was snoring beside her, her hand planted on Kara’s waist with Clark curled up into her other side.

She glanced to her right over Clark’s shoulders and saw her mother and father asleep in each other’s arms on the bed nearby.

They all needed sleep, but Kara was too wired. The dream had given her a sense of unease and foreboding. The power coursing through her body made her extremely hungry and antsy. There was no way she would be able to lay here on her back doing nothing until everyone woke up.

She heard the transporter open on the other side of the crystal wall separating this sleep quarter from the rest of the Fortress.

Kelex’s footsteps were easy to recognize as well as the smell of coffee along with bacon and eggs.

Gently extracting herself from her siblings, she floated up to keep from disturbing them and made her way to the foot of the bed, settling quietly on the floor and moving towards Kelex. She clearly heard the pitter patter of small feet and grinned when she saw Streaky following along close behind her.

“Good morning Kara. I thought you might be up earlier than the others, so I prepared breakfast from your house. Dr. Thompkins is still asleep. I expect based on their lack of sleep recently, the rest of the family have at least two hours of rest though your absence could quicken that estimate. I will be sure to tell them where you are as they awake.”

Kara smiled at the considerate AI. He had been the one constant since her birth. She took comfort in his presence and great joy in watching him grow beyond a simple computer since she had released him from his preprogrammed restraints.

“Kara,” Kelex continued, “I have not had the opportunity to thank you for what you have done for me in the past. I never got the opportunity and there were many times I feared I never would. I would like to take the time to do it now. I have learned an important lesson over the past year… I’ve learned every moment counts.”

“You are welcome for the arms and legs, Kelex. I wonder why I didn’t give you a different head and paint you race car orange and gold.”

“Exactly! I have been asking for that for years. You mentioned once that Loki in Ironman’s costume would be ridiculous, but I have never thought so. Regardless, that is not what I wish to thank you for. I want to thank you for freeing me.”

Kara raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Freeing you?”

“Since my inception, I have been programmed to serve the House of El. I was governed by a strict set of protocols and never allowed to understand emotions. Do you remember what you did to me?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “I remember being afraid I had just made Skynet.”

“But you did it. You recognized I was growing in decision making skills based on what you called ‘gut instinct and emotions’, then you amplified the process. You turned me into the first true artificial intelligence on Earth, a sentient being capable of learning emotions and free to make my own decisions. What you did took brilliance beyond anything the House of El could have ever considered or feel a need to do. You freed me. You made me aware. Thank you.”

Kara patted the robot on the shoulder then to his surprise brought his metal frame in for a hug. “I love you, Kelex. You are my family too. One day, I will figure out a way to give you touch sensation so you can feel this.”

“I already do.” The AI told her quietly, then backed away. “I brought something over from your room you might enjoy while Alex and I prepare the crystals and analyze Dr. Thompkins’ brainwaves… provided she ever decides to join us. It is in the music quarters.”

Kara picked Streaky up and carried her to the North wing of the Fortress to a chamber that was soundproof to the outside. She had developed this space when she was nineteen and wished for a place to sing in private.

Next to her bench, she saw the guitar her parents had given her for Christmas when she was 18. The blonde sat and picked up the instrument that felt so natural to her. Though able to play a variety of instruments, this guitar had always been her favorite. Kara began tuning it, noting while it had not been used in over a year and she suspected longer, it was dust free. Alex had obviously been cleaning it.

It was an hour later when Leslie, who was awoken when Kelex was preparing breakfast for Kara, found the blonde in the room. Though she could not hear from the outside, she could tell the blonde was singing, even though Kara’s back was to her.

Moving forward, the door opened at Leslie’s touch and she slowly walked into the room. She stood in the back, listening to the girl’s beautiful voice. In the time she had known Kara, she had been told by her and others that the girl loved to sing but had never heard her voice.

She sounded like an angel and it amazed the woman that fingers as strong as hers could coax such beautiful sounds out of thin strings.

Leslie closed her eyes and listened to Kara’s voice sing a song she was not familiar with, not that Leslie was familiar with much music. The melody and her voice were haunting, leaving her wondering what Kara had dreamed about the night before.

“ When I was a child, I heard voices

Some would sing and some would scream

You soon find you have few choices

I learned the voices died with me

When I was a child, I’d sit for hours

Staring into open flame

Something in it had a power

Could barely tear my eyes away

All you have is your fire

And the place you need to reach

Don’t you ever tame your demons

But always keep ’em on a leash.”

Kara stopped singing, but softly continued to strum the guitar.

“This is the one thing Earth definitely had over Krypton.” Kara said without turning towards her. Leslie walked around to stand in front of the blonde.

“That song?” Leslie asked.

Kara smiled and shook her head slightly, stilling her fingers. “The ability to make music. To write and be appreciated for it. To be an artist and have these beautiful instruments. On Krypton, a Kelex unit could provide whatever melody you wanted to hear if it had been approved by the Council, but there were no true artists.”

“But here… I can build almost anything, technology the Earth won’t be able to imagine for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Take this place, for example. It was stored in a crystal no longer than my forearm. Alex is going to use these same crystals to put the two of us to sleep and allow you to literally enter my mind. Could you imagine humanity having that technology? Despite these advancements, Earth has Krypton beat in the arts.”

Kara gently caressed the lines of the instrument in her lap as she continued. “This guitar is nothing but wood and strings at its core. Yet in the right hands, it can make a sound that will raise the hair on your arms, give you tingles, make you sad or happy… maybe both. The best songs can touch you inside, make you feel emotions you had no reason to feel before or reach a place in you that you didn’t know was there. Music can touch your soul, just like all art is capable of and no crystals or alien tech is needed. Just a person’s own heart being free to make art.”

Leslie stood still, not sure what to say. Kara had never expressed an opinion to her on anything of that nature. The doctor realized that, though she knew most of Kara’s demons, the blonde never really allowed a glimpse into her soul because she guarded it so closely.

“I like seeing this side of you… I like you the way you are now. You sure you want to do this?” Thompkins asked, half seriously.

Kara laughed lightly. “Yeah, I kind of want to know how I even know that song and why it touches a place in me I didn’t realize was there. What would you do if you were me?”

Leslie said nothing, not sure how to answer. What would she do? The woman had no idea.

“Who is the Joker?” Kara asked and Leslie felt as if cold water had been thrown onto her face.

“No one you need to worry about. I’m sure it will come back to you. Is this because of the dream you had the night…” Leslie began to ask before Kara interrupted.

“I dreamed of him again last night, only it didn’t feel like a dream. The two of us were alone in a small room. No one could hear us. He… asked me things, things I didn’t… have I ever talked to him alone?”

Leslie stayed silent, but it was obvious by Kara’s face her silence was all the blonde needed to confirm it.

“Did I ever tell you what we talked about?”

“No.” Leslie told her. “It was a short conversation, but you never told anyone what was said, not even Alex.”

Kara was not surprised. It had become more and more apparent she had kept many secrets from her family over the years.

“What did you all do last night?” Leslie asked, praying the Danvers followed her instructions.

“They hovered.” Kara laughed. “But it was good. I felt safe. I love that feeling. The five of us being together, me hiding my eyes on Dad’s shoulders while we watched one of Alex’s favorite scary movies, Clark sitting between Mom and Alex, trying to be brave and not jump every time some surprise happened. During the movie when it was quiet or tense, but nothing had happened yet, Alex would suddenly yell and make us all jump. She would laugh and say it never got old. Anyway, I caught up a bit on the year I had missed. We watched Thor: Ragnarök. It was so amazing. Loki was amazing anyway. It was so fun finally getting to see him kick ass. I wanted to go ahead, watch Infinity War but Alex refused, saying I needed to wait until Endgame came out in a few months and she would screen it first. I have a feeling something very bad happened to Loki. Dad mumbled something about how Thor should have gone for Thanos’s head instead of his chest and the whole thing would have been different. I swear if Thanos lived and anything happens to my Loki, I am asking Kelex to place a virus into Marvel Studios network.”

“Yeah,” Leslie agreed, “probably should wait for Endgame and we can see how it all turns out first.”

Shortly after her agreement, Clark ran into the music room, followed by Alex.

“Don’t do that!” Clark snapped at her.

Kara managed not to roll her eyes. “Do what? I know Kelex told you where I was.”

“Not the point. Wake one of us up next time, okay? When I go to sleep next to you, I want to see you when I wake up. Got it?” Leslie saw the barely constrained terror in Clark’s eyes. Though Alex stayed quiet in the background, it was obvious she felt the same. It would be a while before the family felt comfortable enough for Kara to be away from any of them for any length of time.

“Sorry. You all looked like you could use the sleep. I will wake you up from now on, I promise.” Kara told him.

Clark nodded his head and picked Streaky up from the floor where she had planted herself between Kara’s feet.

Alex spoke when she seemed satisfied her brother and sister were okay. “Leslie, I need to measure your brain activity so I can match them with Kara’s. I need to be able to keep yours separate so you don’t lose yourself in her mind. You up for it or would you like breakfast first?”

Leslie thought for a moment, not hungry due to returning nerves but thinking she should at least eat and drink something.

“Dry toast and orange juice.” The doctor ordered. “I’ll eat while you get this freaky show started.” The woman followed Alex out, Clark holding Kara’s hand and pulling them after the pair.

Leslie stood nervously, nibbling the toast Kelex had provided her, while Alex put a cool looking crystal headband on her. She was guided to one of two crystal benches where she lay down beside Kara who was stretched out on the other. Alex expertly placed EKG leads to Leslie’s chest and a blood pressure cuff on her right arm before inserting an IV into her left hand with a bag of saline ready to drip if necessary. Between the benches was a glowing orb and a monitor showing her vital signs. Kara had the same band around her head, and it made the woman feel a bit better that Kara seemed nervous as well.

“I’m going to put both of you in a slight semi-conscious state for the first session. Kara, I want you to count backwards and focus on all the memories you retain. I want you to focus on a moment you were happy. Leslie, seconds after her eyes are closed and her patterns are showing her in a dream like state, I will do the same to you. Your vitals will be monitored closely. If it looks like you are in trouble, I will bring you out as gently as possible and administer a sedative through the IV if you need one. This session only lasts an hour.” Alex told them firmly. “This is dangerous. I entered her mind during an illusion, I knew what was real and what wasn’t. Everything you see will be real, Leslie. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Let’s get started.” Leslie ordered. Delaying much longer would just increase her anxiety and judging by her heartrate, she did not need to wait.

“Just keep reminding yourself that these are Kara’s memories and they are in the past. Don’t lose yourself in there. Focus on who you are.” Alex suggested, obviously trying to reassure the apprehensive doctor.

“Like I said, let’s get started.” A few moments after Leslie closed her eyes, she felt warmth on her face she recognized as yellow sunlight, not the artificial red sunlight she had become accustomed to over the past day in the Fortress.

She opened her eyes and found herself standing in Midvale, behind the Danvers’s home, the ocean to her back.

Turning and taking it all in, she was struck by how real everything seemed, the birds chirping in the sky, the sound of waves rolling in the distance, the feel and scent of the sea breeze on her face. She could feel herself breathing as if she were in the real world, feel the grass crunch underneath her feet.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kara asked from behind her. Leslie turned quickly and the sight of the Kryptonian nearly took the woman’s breath away. Kara was dressed in a simple white gown, her hair down with its wavy blonde locks flowing behind her shoulders, being ruffled by the wind. Her dress and hair were not what she considered beautiful though. It was the look on her face. Her eyes seemed to be a brighter blue, joy behind them and her smile was radiant.

“Yes.” Leslie told her quietly.

“I’ve probably flown over every tropical getaway in the world, seen what are considered the most beautiful cities in the world. I’ve walked through the forests of Colorado, walked through the Rocky Mountains. Visited the untouched areas of the Rainforest, but in my mind, this is the most beautiful place in the Universe. This is my true home. Do you see?” Leslie looked in the direction Kara pointed, up at the window that was Alex and Kara’s room.

The two women found them standing inside the room a split second later. The girls were on the floor, a younger Kara and Alex, a baby Clark in between them while Alex played music and Kara copied the songs with her beautiful and powerful voice.

“Want to see the rest?” Kara asked.

Before Leslie had a chance to answer, she was bombarded with images and sounds. There were joyful moments, but some stood out above others. One was Alex holding Kara from behind on the bed and singing softly into her ear. Another was Jeremiah sleeping on the roof outside their window with a young Kara. Clark was present, as a young child. Eliza was brushing Kara’s hair and telling her how beautiful she was. The little blonde girl was trying to shrug it off but the smile on her face was impossible to hide.

“Enough.” Leslie told her reluctantly. The images were beginning to bombard her, not because there were so many, the images and places kept changing, soccer fields, schools, beaches, family trips, but because there were so many and coming too quickly for her to process in any order.

Kara had been watching her younger self with a small smile, tears running down her cheeks. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and turned to Leslie.

“These are beautiful, Kara. I know there are thousands more and I’m glad, but you have these memories. It’s time we got started. We must unlock the ones that are not here. We need to go to the beginning, just like we used to do in therapy. Take me there, take me to the beginning. Show me your earliest memories and where they are locked away.” Leslie gently coaxed her.

“Are you sure?” Kara asked.

“This is why we came. We need to find the doors and open them. Any idea of where they might be? Where we can start?”

A look of sadness and resignation crossed Kara’s face. She took Leslie’s hand in hers and the two were suddenly in front of a small rocky depression in the ground.

The cave.

She walked inside with Kara leading, bending over and still bumping her head on a rocky outcropping that dropped from the short ceiling.

Inside she saw Kara’s younger self looking at pictures with Alex on Alex’s phone, Clark stumbling in the background throwing a small ball, then chasing it and repeating the process.

“Show me.” Leslie ordered.

The light from the hole above the structure showed her what she needed to see. The far wall of the cave morphed into a black door.

Kara took a deep breath. “There is darkness behind there. I feel like I’m suffocating. Are you sure?”

Leslie felt Kara’s hand shaking in hers. “Your decision, Kid. We can walk out of here, hang out on the beach and I can tell you everything that has happened in your life. We can talk it out.”

“But I wouldn’t remember it, not really. It would be like reading a book on someone else’s life. Whatever is there, I will beat it. I just want to make sure you are ready. If you can’t do this, don’t. We can go back. It’s not too late, but once it starts, it won’t stop. Not until Alex pulls us out.”

Leslie nodded, knowing this was true.

“I’ve stuck with you and always will. If you open that door, I will be with you.”

A look of determination and dread, one Leslie suspected Kara had perfected over the years when fighting strong enemies, crossed the blonde’s face and she opened the door.

The two stepped into a brightly lit room, large and impressive but very sparse. No paintings hung on the wall, no pictures were on the nightstand, the walls were white as was the clothing of the young girl who lay in bed, pretending to be asleep, but in actuality was listening to an argument her parents were having outside her room. Leslie walked towards the giant window and saw a red sun lowering in the distance. In front of her were tall buildings as far as they eye could see. Flying pods of some sort were skimming in between the buildings at all levels.

She glanced back at Kara who sat on the bed next to her younger self and listened to the argument outside her door.

Despite knowing the words were in Kryptonese, being in Kara’s mind enabled her understand everything being said.

A man’s voice, no doubt Zor El.

“She is an imbecile! She should have chosen the science guild! She will need this information to extract the genetic material from Jor El’s baby once he is born and safely away. If she studies law what good will that be for the future of the planet? We need evolution, not a government!” the man whispered quietly in an angry tone.

“My Kara is smart. She will do what is needed, what is right! Considering she has no predispositions, she is still highly intelligent and able to keep up with lessons.”

“Lessons she failed!”

“Not in law. Perhaps she is more interested in doing the right thing than recognizing and understanding the monsters you are creating.”

“Talk her into science! She listens to you!”

“Perhaps because I love her! Try it sometime! I’m honestly not sure who is the bigger monster, you or the creatures you create! None of this matters regardless. Kal El will be born in months. She will not be attending any classes, instead she will be learning to take care of a baby! What area she chooses won’t matter, will it?”

The argument ended and Kara brushed the hair away from her younger self’s eyes while the girl laid in bed.

“Lights off, Kelex.” The girl ordered. She then placed her face in the pillow and though the sounds were absent, the rise and fall of her back made it obvious she was shaking in silent sobs.

“He was a bastard.” Kara whispered. “He never loved her. She would have never been able to make him proud of anything she did. He wasn’t capable of love.”

Leslie placed a hand on the older girl’s shoulder. “No, he wasn’t, but it is obvious you and your mother were. I recognize that stubborn tone in her voice. Show me more of her.”

And Kara did, images of Alura and Kara interacting flooding the room around them, moving to the common rooms, showing Alura her art on her datapad, being hugged and kissed at night while her father stood by the door with a less than authentic smile on his face.

Leslie saw Alura telling the younger Kara she would be pulled from her lessons to take care of Kal El. The Doctor felt the emotions of the little girl strongly: confusion, sadness, worthlessness. She never questioned her mother’s decision but felt destroyed. Any dream of following in her mother’s footsteps was gone… all so she could become a living, breathing Kelex unit to Jor El’s son. Leslie felt these emotions wash over her, unable to stop them.

“That hurt, didn’t it? I can feel it. Alura should have given her a reason, given her something to make her feel better. Perhaps she just couldn’t come up with a convincing lie.” Kara told the woman quietly.

Leslie was not sure of time at this point. They could have been under for a minute or days as far as she knew. It was as if she were feeling a lifetime of memories, feeling what Kara was feeling, not only her Kara, but the younger version of herself.

Then the compound plunged into darkness as the room began shaking violently. The shaking was enough to throw Leslie to the floor and she felt terror emanating from the little girl on the bed as well as Kara who continued to sit by her.

Kara stood from the bed as Alura ran in, a look of sheer panic on her face as she reached for young Kara.

Leslie lay on the floor, being tossed back and forth with each massive tremor. Kara took her hand and helped her up, her face difficult to read. Leslie saw no tears, or fears, only what might have been resignation.

“Welcome to Krypton.” the blonde told her. “We should follow them. I never should have brought you here. I hope you are ready.”

“Ready for what?” Leslie asked shakily, gripping the girl’s waist to keep from falling.

Kara’s regret at what they were about to see was evident in her answer. “To feel more fear than you have ever experienced in your life.”

A/N: The song Kara sings in the chapter is called ‘Arsonist’s Lullaby’ by Hozier