I don't own the MCU, Smallville, DC.. do I really need to say this? It should be obvious by now.

Here we are, for the first part of the next AU! Hope you'll enjoy it. This is the first story where I actually do something with Sebastian Salani, beyond that goodbye in the original Nightingale. Seems only right that I'm posting it on what for me (in Mexico) is Father's Day, though I didn't actually plan it.

Dreamcast: John Barrowman as Sebastian Salani, Kristin Scott-Thomas as Kathryn Adler(Salani), Emily Browning as Silbhé Salani/Nightingale, Taraneh Alidoosti as Kendra Hall, Emayatzy Corinealdi as Shuri (because my Shuri is older than canon).

Also, on the topic of Black Panther characters. Please remember that, much as I might have loved that movie, it's not canon for the Nightingale-verse. I took what we knew of Black Panther and Wakanda at the time of Civil War (and things from the comics I found online) and built my own verse from there.

If you can, listen to Moonlight Sonata. It was my inspiration for parts of this fic, especially in this chapter. It's also explained in the story itself.

This fic is written entirely in Third Person, just so you know.

Enjoy and see ya in two weeks!

Daughters of the Sky

(Alternative Universe to Nightingale)

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

How easily lives change: from husband to widower, from daughter to orphan, from villain to hero. In the end there are only 2 constants in life: the world is what it is, and we are who are, everything else is subject to change, destiny itself malleable, especially for them: the protectors of kings, daughters of the sky…

Sonata

Some melodies don't need words to tell a story, others are just too big for them.

Sebastian Salani wasn't a complicated man, not at all. He'd been born in Wales, the second child (first son) of British parents who were never around, working the kind of jobs they could never talk about; as a child he'd joked about his parents being spies, later on he'd simply decided they preferred their jobs over their family… he'd no idea how right his former thought was. His older sister Kathryn did her best to look after him, especially after their parents fell sick and died one shortly after the other. Sebastian didn't remember crying at their funeral, by that point they'd become a non-entity to him. The only family he truly knew was his older sister… and then she left him too. Right after turning eighteen, it made Sebastian believe that love did not exist; because if the very people that were supposed to be in the world to love, to be right by you, your parents and siblings, didn't, what hope was there for anything else?

Sebastian met Aislinn Kinross in high-school. She was the one who made him change his mind about love. Because she loved him, and he loved her. She was an artist, a concert pianist, so very talented, and she loved him, even though he was just a boring nerd, with no talent for music whatsoever, he wanted to be an architect. She loved him, made him believe that love was real, and he loved her with all his heart.

The two went to college, and despite studying very different things, spending most of their time apart, their love did not disappear; in fact, it grew. Grew so much the two of them finally got married in 1990. A private ceremony. Sebastian had been so happy he even sent an invitation to Kathryn, despite the fact that he'd hardly seen her at all in a decade. She didn't show up. By the time Aislinn gave birth to their baby girl two years later Sebastian knew better than to try and get in touch with her.

Sebastian was so happy… he had a dream job, working for a great company in London, married to the love of his life and with a beautiful baby girl: Silbhé Arianna. He and Aislinn had even begun talking about giving Silbhé a sibling, the girl was about to turn two, and Aislinn didn't want them to be too distant in age, so they might be close growing up. They tried for a few months to have a child, even thought they'd managed it, until the terrible involuntary miscarriage Aislinn suffered. She was in the hospital for two days and afterwards… they never expected the doctor to give them the news he did: cancer. Aislinn had leukemia, and it was very advanced.

They hadn't the slightest idea how they'd failed to notice it until then. It seemed Aislinn had been completely asymptomatic. Until they began trying for a second baby, her body, weakened by the disease, couldn't deal with a pregnancy, that was what caused the miscarriage. After hearing those words Sebastian no longer cared about a baby, all he wanted was to keep his wife…

It wasn't to be. Aislinn Kinross-Salani passed away in early 1995, just days after her daughter's third birthday. Sebastian was never the same man again. He tried his best to hold on, to move on, not for himself but for Silbhé, the little piece of him and his love, she was a defenseless little girl, she needed him. One thing Sebastian was eventually forced to admit was that he just couldn't keep on living in the home he'd shared with his wife. So he packed his bags, took Silbhé, and moved them all the way to the other side of the Atlantic. To another family home they had, in Westbrook, Maine.

There… things weren't perfect, but Sebastian found a way to endure. He loved Silbhé with all his heart. At times he couldn't help but see his wife in her, but instead of causing him pain, that made him smile, because Aislinn deserved to have something of her live on. It was also why he made a point of instilling the love for music in her. Even if he'd never been much for such things, Silbhé deserved to have a part of her mother with her, and Aislinn had always loved music best.

In 1998 the two of them were on their way home from an Orchestra concert in Portland. Silbhé was half-asleep in the back of the car, quietly humming the final song of the concert, Moonlight Sonata. She loved that song, which was not exactly surprising, considering Sebastian had taken to playing a record of Aislinn playing that very song, for her every night; it was the last song she played professionally, before putting her career on stand-by to have Silbhé and spend her first years at home with her. The plan had been for her to go back to the Orchestra once Silbhé (and perhaps a sibling) reached schooling age. But that never had a chance to be…

Silbhé had asked him for a chocolate-milk when they were leaving the Concert Hall, and while Sebastian wasn't one to indulge her at so late an hour (they'd gone to dinner before the concert began), he abruptly decided to give in, this once. So he stopped at one of those 24/7 places halfway through the road to Westbrook. Silbhé smiled brightly at him as she took the treat (or at least as brightly as she could, sleepy as she was). And then they were on the road again. Five minutes later Sebastian was forced to swerve just a bit to avoid what looked like a tire.

There had been an accident, a terrible accident by the looks of it. A part of Sebastian wanted to stop the car, to go find out what had happened, if anyone needed help… but the six-year-old girl in the back of his car stopped him. He had no idea what happened, but stopping in the middle of the highway, so late at night, would mean potentially putting his child in danger, he couldn't do that, not to Aislinn's girl. So he kept driving. He'd call 911 as soon as he got home…

What he certainly wasn't expecting was who was waiting for him there… his sister, Kathryn. For a moment he didn't recognize her, wouldn't have, hadn't it been for her green eyes. Her usually brunette hair (so much like his own) was dyed a dark, almost golden blonde, and she was wearing clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place in some high-end cocktail party.

"Kathryn?" He asked, confused over what was going on exactly.

"Oh Bastian!" Kathryn cried out, throwing her arms around him effusively. "You're alright!"

It took a bit of doing, to let her embrace him while still holding the sleeping six-year-old in his arms, but Sebastian managed. He noticed his sister had used his old childhood nickname, and the embrace… she hadn't done either since the last time she tried to explain to him why she couldn't be home for Christmas… he'd been tired of excuses by then, didn't give her a chance. And to suddenly find her there… she hadn't even been there for him when Aislinn died!

"What the hell Kathy!" His own use of a nickname was completely subconscious.

Truth was that, no matter how many years passed, how many things were wrong, Kathryn was and would always be family, his older sister… the one who'd once been his whole world… bad as things might get, he'd never forget that.

Then he remembered the accident on the highway.

"I need to call 911!" He announced, hurrying to the phone.

Kathryn slammed it down before he could even begin dialing.

"What the hell?!" He repeated. "Kathryn, there's no time. There's been an accident on a highway. Someone might be dead and…"

"Someone is most definitely dead." She announced, more coldly than he ever expected. "And it could have been you."

"What?" He so wasn't expecting that.

"It wasn't an accident Sebastian." She told him, so very quietly. "They were after you."

"Who is 'they'? And why would they be after me?"

"I'm not completely sure who 'they' are, only that they're crazy and powerful enough to have the most proficient assassin in the world at their service. A man who, until tonight, many of us were sure was nothing more than a myth. As for why… I'm afraid it's kind of my fault. Have you never wondered what it is I do little brother? What mum and dad did?"

Sebastian would have snapped something about her job, he'd asked that very question time and again, never getting an actual answer; the mention of their parents though, pulled the wind out of his sails abruptly.

"Well, it's not exactly the same." Kathryn went on. "We don't work for the same organization, but the core of it is the same. We work for the government."

"What? You here to tell me you're a spy, that mum and dad were spies?" He almost scoffed. "Some CIA Agent shit…?"

"Wrong country." She deadpanned. "Mum and dad were MI5. So was I, at first, nowadays I'm with SHIELD. Have been since it was founded in '85."

"Why tell me? Why now?"

"Because they're trying to kill you! I've been investigating several events that do not match up. In China, South America, and here. Agents have died in suspicious circumstances… I fear I might have gotten too close to the answer. Got a couple of warnings, threats. I ignored them of course, it's not like its the first time… and then I got a picture of you, you and Silbhé, leaving the house earlier tonight. I knew then they'd be coming after you next. Got on the first plane out and came here. Hoping that I might find you in time… when I heard through the radio about the accident on the highway… I thought I was too late."

A part of Sebastian's mind was lost on the insanity that his sister's life seemed to be. Researching odd happenings, receiving threats on her life, and they were nothing to her! Until they (whoever the hell 'they' might be) chose to threaten him and his daughter instead. Then he caught up to what she'd said about the accident…

"You think that was them?" He asked, shocked. "That they… what? Got the wrong person…?"

"Is it possible?" She asked in turn.

He was about to point out that she was the one who was supposed to know those things, and that it all was absolutely crazy, until he abruptly turned to look at the little girl in his arms, the edge of her lip had the slightest dark stain, from chocolate milk…

"Oh my god…" He was forced to sit down abruptly on the closest sofa, only half aware when Kathryn took the girl from his arms and laid her down beside him. "Silbhé… she wanted a chocolate milk so I… I stopped in one of those 24/7 stores by the side of the highway; it was only a few miles ahead that I saw the accident. I… you think… you really think…"

Kathryn didn't answer, but she didn't really need to. They were both thinking it: someone had been checking on him, confirmed that he was on the highway, but no one expected him to stop in the way. So when the assassin acted… he got the wrong car. Someone, an innocent person was dead, and miraculously Sebastian and his daughter were not. And it's not like they were out of danger, once they found out the Salanis were alive…

"What am I supposed to do now?" He asked with a tired sigh. "They won't just give up on us, will they? I mean, it cannot be that simple..."

He didn't even suggest going to the police, he wasn't as foolish as to believe that would help at all. He might not be involved in what appeared to be the 'family business' but he understood enough of how the world worked. No, calling the police would be pointless.

"You're going to pack one suitcase for yourself, with everything you cannot do without, then you're going to the same for Silbhé." Kathryn explained to him, slowly and concisely. "Then I'm going to drive the two of you to Boston, where we'll take the first train I can find across the border and into Canada."

"And after that?" Sebastian asked, wondering just what his sister's life was like that she was capable of planning something like that.

"It depends on what I find about the situation from now to when we get to Canada." She answered honestly. "Now, we need to get moving. It's impossible to know right now whether they're unaware that the hit failed. If they are, that means we have time, from a few hours to… well, it depends on whether the car burned, how many people were on the other vehicle…" She broke off, seeing how pale her brother was getting. "If they are aware though, that means they might come after us sooner. So we need to get moving."

Sebastian nodded, standing and giving a few steps automatically before stopping, turning to look at his sleeping daughter over his shoulder.

"I'll stay with her." Kathryn promised.

Sebastian just nodded, and left the living room.

xXx

They made it to Boston just in time to catch the late train to Montreal. Unknown to Sebastian, Kathryn had already arranged for someone to 'steal' her brother's car, chop it and sell the parts. She believed that if the mistake hadn't been discovered yet, it'd be easier if the car couldn't be found, or them. They arrived early enough to Montreal, where Kathryn took advantage of the fact that it wasn't even seven to rent a car without really giving any names (the man was practically falling asleep, he didn't even notice; and she was sure he'd be covering his own ass as soon as he realized). Sebastian insisted on driving, if mostly to distract himself; they made it to Toronto sometime after noon.

Silbhé had no idea what was going on. Sebastian had introduced Kathryn to her, before telling her they were on vacation. It'd worked, especially when Silbhé got distracted with the view of Lake Ontario. But it wouldn't last forever. Especially because it had become clear in the past few hours that there was no going back home, not for either of them.

Kathryn stayed with them for two weeks, before finally revealing to Sebastian what the next part of the plan was. She was going back to her job. Because she needed to. It seemed that thus far no one knew that the Salanis hadn't been the ones in that car. And she'd managed to cover their tracks enough that unless someone had reason to suspect, they wouldn't find them. She had to go back and keep the fiction. Sebastian would wait a further two weeks, then he and Silbhé were going back to the States, to Kansas.

"What the hell?!" Sebastian cried out, a part of him pondering on hos often he'd been saying that since the whole mess had begun…

"If they ever do realize that you didn't die, they will dig, and they will find the train tickets to Montreal. They will believe that you either stayed in Canada, or chose to leave the continent entirely. No one will expect you to have returned to the States." Kathryn did her best to pacify him. "Also, I have contacts in the US that I don't have anywhere else."

"Why Kansas?" Sebastian insisted.

"That's where my contact is." Kathryn nodded. "Metropolis Kansas. There is a man called Carter Hall. I will give you his address, tell him that Eileen Grayson sent you, and that I'm calling in the blood-debt he owes me."

"Blood debt?!" Sebastian hit his limit then. "Just what the hell are you involved with Kathryn?!"

"It's what he calls it, though it's not quite as dramatic as it sounds." Or maybe it was, Kathryn didn't have the time to explain the whole story. "I need to go now." She pulled out an envelope. "These aren't the best, but they'll do for the time being."

They were papers, fake ones: birth certificates and passports for both him and Silbhé, as well as a driver license for him. They were Arianna and Allen Grayson, their middle-names, and some name Kathryn appeared to have used before… Sebastian hated his middle-name with a passion. Though he understood it was the best way to make sure no one would suspect them being back in the country. He had no idea how he was supposed to trust a man he'd never met, not just with his life but the life of his only child! And yet… Kathryn had done everything in her power to help them, and she was the one telling him to go to this Carter Hall… so he would.

Whatever Sebastian might have been expecting from his sister's contact, he certainly didn't expect the dark-haired man with deep-blue eyes in a dark-red shirt, washed-out jeans, work boots and a tanned-leather jacket; with a three-year-old, dark-haired, dark-eyed girl in a green tunic-like dress on his hip.

"So you're Carter Hall..." Sebastian honestly had no idea what else to say.

"And you're Eileen's brother." Carter replied, then, upon seeing Silbhé, added: "and niece."

"I am Sebastian, this is Silbhé." The older man introduced the two of them. "Kathryn didn't tell me you had a child as well. And mind telling me what this whole 'blood-debt' thing is?"

Carter snorted as he waved for Sebastian to follow him inside the townhouse.

"Eileen and I met in '95." Carter explained quietly. "I don't even know what she was doing in Metropolis, exactly. When she found me and my wife… we'd been in a terrible accident. My wife was seven months pregnant, and very badly hurt; we knew the ambulance wouldn't make it on time. And then Eileen was there. She was completely honest with us, there was no way to save Shayera, she was bleeding out, and nothing any of us did was going to change that. But she could save the baby, and she did. Eileen even managed to get Shayera to survive long enough to hold her, name her. So you see, I owe your sister my daughter's life. That is no minor debt."

"And you will pay it by helping us?"

"It's the right thing to do."

"What if helping us puts you and your little girl in danger?"

"We're already in danger. That won't change. And I'm not defenseless. I will help you."

Sebastian knew he was missing something, something important; but he and Carter didn't know each other, he could hardly demand explanations. The man was already risking a lot by helping him. So he decided to let it be.

A month later Bastian Hall, Carter's younger brother officially arrived from Egypt, along with his young daughter: Silbhé Hall. At least, that was the official story. The two men looked enough alike to pass as brothers. Silbhé and Kendra got along immediately, and Bastian couldn't help but be reminded of the sibling he and Aislinn had once wanted to give Silbhé. And really, while his daughter was her mother all over, with her auburn hair and hazel eyes; Kendra's dark hair… well, there was a reason he and Carter passed as brothers. Though the girl's eyes weren't blue but a brown that looked at times very dark, and others very light (like the desert sands, Carter claimed, and it was obvious to Sebastian that that meant something important).

It wasn't easy, starting life over, but they managed. Silbhé was thankfully young enough, had just been starting school, that she didn't mind. It also took no time for others to notice how bright she was, they got her into a special program for gifted, with which she advanced her studies much after, she also got the chance to learn more languages (she already knew English, Irish and was beginning to learn French).

Bastian had no idea how long it would last. What if someone one day realized that Carter Hall didn't really have any brothers? What if someone from his past happened to travel to Metropolis and recognize him? At times he also stopped to think about his sister, wondering if she was safe. She warned him they couldn't communicate, it'd be too dangerous; he had to make a clean break from his old life to keep himself and Silbhé safe. It should have been easy, after more than a decade not seeing his sister, eighteen years since she'd stopped being a direct part of his life; and yet, she'd dropped whatever it was she'd been doing and went looking for him, trying to protect him and his daughter. In the end, no matter how much time might pass, how many things might happen, Kathryn was still his sister, she'd always be.

xXx

Bastian always knew that Carter wasn't what most would call exactly normal. Same with those friends of his that would drop by once a week or so. And it wasn't even how they were all so inordinately attached to the stuff Carter kept in the museum (which hardly had any visitors and yet Carter still kept it going for some reason). It was the way Carter knew so much about the most obscure topics, the way he talked about certain topics (like authority, the government…) sometimes even in the very way he moved…

Then, when Silbhé was eleven and Kendra eight, things got interesting.

It began in the middle of the night, in the Summer, Bastian woke up, seemingly for no reason at all, except he couldn't help the feeling that something was off. Then he heard the crash. He was on his feet and rushing out of his bedroom and down the stairs before he was fully aware he was doing it. Once down he found a broken flowerpot and cursed inside, Silbhé had been working so hard with those desert roses (a gift from one of Carter's friends), waiting until they were ready to be transplanted into the garden she'd been carefully building over the last three years in the backyard. It wasn't very big, but still beautiful.

His attention was distracted from the desert rose when he heard noises, whoever had broken that pot was still the backyard. The noises turned out to be groans, and moans, there was a young man in the backyard, groaning and twisting on the grass. Bastian was about to call out to the guy who was probably having a bad trip, when he noticed something else, something that almost made his heart stop: Silbhé… She was there, in her off-white nightgown and white and lavender robe, feet bare, standing on the edge of the garden, closer to the moaning guy than Bastian himself. In her hands was a traversal flute and, even as Bastian stood there, trying to think of how to get his daughter without the drugged-out guy hurting either of them, Silbhé pulled the flute to her lips and began playing.

Bastian froze. It didn't seem to be any specific melody, or at least not one he knew and yet… he could have sworn he felt something. As if every note carried some kind of feeling, of power… it was absolutely ridiculous and yet. He also couldn't miss the way the guy on the grass stopped groaning; he gasped for several seconds and then he stopped that too. Turning towards Silbhé. Bastian was still so lost in the melody (he hadn't gotten so absolutely lost in music since Aislinn last played the piano for him, during their last anniversary, before the bloody miscarriage, before everything went so utterly wrong).

The young man turned onto his front then, before pushing himself to his knees. He tore at the shirt he was wearing, and Bastian could have sworn he saw some kind of mark, almost like a burn, vanish rapidly from his skin. And it seemed like the youn… no, not a man, a boy, on second glance Bastian was quite sure he couldn't even be out of his teens yet!

"Ho… how did you do that?" He asked, looking straight at Bastian's own daughter, who was reaching what seemed to be the end of the melody just then.

"You needed help, and if I could give it, why shouldn't I?" Silbhé replied in a tone of voice that sounded so young and innocent, and at the same time carried an odd, ageless serenity.

It was clear the young man had no answer to that.

"Thank you." He said eventually.

"It's my pleasure." She answered, still in the same tone and doing a small curtsy.

"I… I think I should go." He murmured, awkward.

"You should." Silbhé nodded. "Your family misses you."

"I don't know…" There was something in him in that moment, in that hesitation, Bastian just couldn't hold himself back anymore.

"They do." He called.

The young man spun around, so fast Bastian couldn't really see him move. He did notice that it looked like the boy would flee at any moment.

"I don't know you." He went on, in his most understanding voice. "I have no idea what you're even doing here, in the middle of the night. Why you looked like you were having a bad trip… but it is clear to me that you're not alright, you need help, you need support, you need your family. And that's alright, we all do."

"With all due respect sir, but you don't know me, the things I've done…" The guy shook his head, mostly to himself. "I very much doubt they want to see me."

Bastian did not know him, yet suddenly he could see the self-loathing hiding in the back of the boy's eyes; and even without knowing him, Bastian hurt for him.

"It's true I may not know you, or your parents." He nodded, speaking as softly as he knew how. "But no matter what they might do, the ways they might hurt us, a parent never does stop loving their child. It's simply not possible."

"I… I..." He just had no words with which to reply to that.

"Go." Silbhé told him, softly but full of unexpected authority. "They love you, they always have, and they always will. Go!"

"I… thank you…" He whispered, bowing his head in Silbhé's direction.

A second later, he was gone. Just like that, in an instant, as if he'd never been there. Bastian could only blink. He began wondering how that was possible, then decided he'd rather not know. In the years he'd been living in Metropolis he'd come to understand that some people were… different, in ways he couldn't always properly explain. Some were crazy and did awful things with what made them different; but most… most were just trying to get by, to live, some might even be trying to help. So he'd never hold it against anyone, being different.

Bastian turned towards Silbhé right then, was about to comment on the fact that she'd left her bedroom, had been standing in the garden, in the middle of the night, talking to a complete stranger, one who'd seemed to be up to his ears in hard drugs… when he noticed her swaying. She seemed to be falling asleep standing!

"Silbhé!" He cried out, rushing to her side.

"Papa…" She whispered, voice breaking at the end with a yawn. "I'm sleepy."

"Go to sleep sweetheart, I'm here." He whispered.

And she did, leaving him to carry her (and her flute) back inside the house.

Bastian wasn't sure how surprised he was to find Carter awake, standing just inside the house, by the backdoor; probably not at all. What did surprise him was the way he was looking at Silbhé, as if he'd never seen her before…

"Rossi…" He breathed out, extending a hand, yet not quite touching. "I can hardly believe it..."

"Carter?" Bastian asked, not quite sure if he actually wanted to ask what was going on now.

There had been enough shocks for one night, hadn't there? Then again, this concerned her daughter, so maybe he did want to know (needed to know).

"Why are you calling her Rossi?" He finally asked.

"It's short for Rossignol." He clarified.

"Rossig… Nightingale?" Bastian inquired, not getting it. "What does that have to do with anything? Is it for the music?"

"There's that… there's a lot more." That didn't explain anything at all.

"Carter! What the hell is going on?"

Silbhé was so deeply asleep that nothing woke her, not the trek up the stairs and all the way to her bedroom, or even her father's whispered shouts, woke her.

"It's… complicated." Carter ran a hand through his hair, staring at Silbhé for several very long seconds, than towards her father. "Tell me Bastian, do you believe in reincarnation?"

"Rein…?" That question took the older father so completely by surprise he hadn't the slightest idea how to answer. "You mean like, I die, get reborn, that kind of thing?"

"It's that, it can also be a lot more." Carter said, very seriously. "The first life I remember I was Prince Khufu, a somewhat distant relative of Ramesses II."

"Ramesses… you're talking about the freaking Egyptian pharaoh!" Bastian was shocked.

"Yes. My beloved, Chay-Ara and I found the remains of… something, we never knew what it was." Carter admitted. "But we made use of it, to forge armor, and weapons and… wings."

Suddenly Bastian saw, very clearly, in his minds eye several of the pieces in the museum.

"We did our best to serve our Pharaoh, and to protect our people." Carter went on. "Until we came across an enemy we couldn't defeat. We were cursed, Chay-Ara and I, to repeat history. To find each other, life after life, fall in love, only for one of us to loose the other. It's a curse we've lived through for millennia."

"That's what you call a curse?" Bastian scoffed.

"You don't understand…" Relieved as Carter might be that Bastian wasn't calling him crazy over the whole reincarnation thing, he still felt offended by his reaction.

"Maybe I don't." Bastian shrugged a bit, turning briefly to look at his sleeping daughter. "Truth is, I've never been one to believe in anything. See, my parents were hardly ever home, they never exactly instilled a religion in me, neither did my sister. My wife… Aislinn did believe, in God, and heaven, and all… and I did my best to follow her lead but I just… never saw the point. Then I lost her… I lost her and I couldn't understand how the supposedly loving God she so worshiped could do something like that. Take such a beautiful person as her from this world, while leaving all those terrible, monstrous people that go around hurting others; like the ones who threatened my life, and the life of my daughter simply because my sister was doing her job!" He let out a breath. "I didn't know, didn't understand, didn't believe… and you tell me. You tell me you know, for a fact, that your wife, the love of your existence, is somewhere right now, waiting for you. That you will get the chance to meet her again, to love her again; and yeah, it might not last forever, but what does? You will get that chance, over and over again. You can, potentially, love her forever! And you see it as a curse?!"

Bastian shook his head. Insane as the mere idea of reincarnation should have been, the potential of seeing his beloved again, of them being together again, it was stronger than any shock, any possible disbelief. If he'd such a chance… he'd embrace it with both hands, no questions asked, which was why he didn't understand why Carter saw it as a curse, instead of the incredible blessing it all was!

"I… had never seen it like that." The other man admitted after what felt like forever.

Bastian shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm sure you will see your beloved again too, in this life or the next." The reincarnated prince added, almost as an afterthought.

"That'd be a dream come true." Bastian admitted, very quietly; for something like that, he was willing to believe in almost anything… "But I doubt very much you brought the whole thing up just for us to get emotional."

"Yeah, I…" Carter cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus. "You asked me why I called your daughter Rossi. I cannot believe I didn't see it earlier, it should have been obvious. It's the music, and her eyes, and… I've been so blind." He let out a brief bark of laughter. "I knew her before. Your daughter I mean. Not as Khufu. My name was Kontar in that life, my wife's Sharifa. We were still in Egypt, still distantly related to the royal line, which was already in decadence. She was going by Rossi back then, and her match was Serrure."

"Match? Is that like a… like a husband?!" Bastian cried out, unable to help himself.

"They explained it to us once." Carter elaborated. "Said it was like a consort, but more. Being a match, it meant they were bound, their union had been blessed by the stars. They were meant to be together, for all time, in life after life…"

"Like soulmates. Like you and Shayera..."

"I… Yeah, like me and Shayera."

For the longest time Bastian didn't know what to say to that. On the one hand, the prospect of his daughter (his eleven year old daughter!) belonging to someone other than him already, even if she didn't know it, and probably neither did whoever that Serrure might be nowadays, he wasn't sure he liked it. On the other hand, it meant that Silbhé would have someone who would love her, as absolutely and unconditionally as he knew Aislinn loved him, and he her; and she'd have the security that if the worst were to ever happen, if she were to ever lose him, like he lost her mom, that won't be the end, it never will be. So maybe it wasn't so bad; not yet of course, Silbhé was way too young to even contemplate marriage, much less something more, but one day in the future… he could live with that.

He didn't even need to tell Carter anything, the other man seemed to understand all too well.

xXx

A few months later, about mid November, they got quite the unexpected visitor. It was already evening, dinner had passed and the girls were about finished with their respective homework (Kendra had joined Silbhé in the gifted program and both were advancing by leaps and bounds, far-ahead from where her age-mates were). Silbhé was about to play a piece on her flute, as had become her routine, when suddenly the flute fell from her hands, that called everyone's attention instantly. Silbhé did not care, she left the flute where it was and instead rushed to the backyard. Kendra and their fathers on her heels.

What they found in the backyard was the very same young man Silbhé had somehow helped that Summer night, months prior; except he was dressed in jeans, a blue shirt, red jacket and work boots; also, he was carefully holding a bald, pale young man in jeans and a white undershirt who looked completely out of it.

"I'm sorry," the young man apologized. "I didn't know where else to go. My friend needs help."

"Come." Silbhé said inmmediately, not even stopping to question the adults.

"That's Lex Luthor." Carter blurted out. "What the hell…?"

"Carter…" Bastian began.

"Come on Bastian!" Carter cried out. "You know what the Luthors are capable of."

Silbhé could tell the man in red and blue was completely tense, ready to run, with Lex still in his arms, if he had the slightest reason to believe he wouldn't be getting the help he needed. Bastian, while he didn't exactly like going against the man he felt he owed so much to (though Carter had told him to forget about any debt, and not just because of Eileen's own past actions, but the fact that if he'd known from the start it was 'Rossi' he'd have helped without a second thought).

"I know what Lionel Luthor is capable of." Bastian definitely knew.

He'd been fighting tooth and nail against the man, and his company to allow his current project for solar energy. The company he worked for was small, but the project Bastian was in would bring a lot of money, if he managed to get the patents before Lionel Luthor convinced everyone that they belonged to LuthorCorp (he knew someone there had been working on something similar, but they hadn't managed to make it work, not like Bastian and his own team had).

"I also know it's not right to judge a boy by the sins of his father." Bastian added quietly. "Also, do you want to be the one to tell our daughters they cannot help someone?"

Carter definitely had no reply to that. Though he could see that Kendra had finally convinced the gifted man (because to be able to run like that he had to be gifted) to lay Lex down on a sofa, where Silbhé approached him carefully.

"What's your name?" Kendra asked him, curious.

"Clark Kent." He answered honestly. "Thank you for your help."

"I'm Kendra Hall." She offered with a bright smile. "And I'm not the one with magic."

"Magic?" Clark inquired, confused.

"That thing Silbhé does when she plays, it's what I call it." She explained.

Clark nodded. He obviously didn't understand, but he didn't need to. He'd gone there because the girl had helped him once before, when he'd honestly believed no one possibly could have… and he wanted to believe she could help Lex too, somehow. Not the most logical train of thought, but it was all he had for the time being. Lex seemed to be going crazy, his own parents (Clark's) did not seem too willing to help, and the authorities were unlikely to believe them when Lionel had clearly taken care to cover his tracks. Clark still wasn't sure what it was he'd done, exactly, but it was bad, he needed to help his friend somehow… so he'd done the very thing he never imagined doing; he'd given himself away. But if that helped him save Lex, it would be worth it.

"He feels… wrong." Silbhé said after a long while, running a hand slowly down Lex's face. "I… I don't know how to describe it. Something's interfering with him…"

"Like he's drugged?" Her father suggested.

Carter had explained to him that Rossi was an empath and a healer, to a degree. Ever since learning that Silbhé had tried to call those gifts up. Thus far there was no healing (Carter thought she might be too young for it, or maybe it had something to do with Serrure; he remembered the story of how his old friend obtained more power after his marriage, like some kind of blessing for joining with his match), but the empathy… that one apparently had been there all along, they just hadn't known it. Silbhé was still learning to hone it. Then there was what Kendra called her magic, Carter and Bastian believed that playing music somehow allowed her to wield her own empathy better, more directly, even with more power; she could manipulate other's emotions, rather than just sense them. And it wasn't just emotions, like she'd just mentioned, she could sense when someone just wasn't right even if she didn't always know what was wrong exactly.

"Drugged?" Carter almost snorted.

"He's not a junkie!" Clark defended his friend instantly.

"Could someone have drugged him?" Bastian offered.

"Maybe..." Clark admitted, pondering. "Things just haven't been right since Lex came back from that freaking island. And something is really wrong. Yesterday… he told me someone had broken into the mansion, killed his head of security. But this morning when I dropped by he was just fine. No one seemed to know anything had happened."

"So he had a bad trip?" Carter scoffed.

"You mean like I thought he was having one that night Silbhé helped him?" Bastian reminded him calmly. "Carter… I know you have misgivings about this but give the boy a chance, please?"

"Fine." Carter relented.

He really had nothing against Lex Luthor personally. It was all his father, and he knew that Bastian was right the young man didn't deserve to be judged by his father's sins, but Carter had always known he could hold a grudge, it was just a flaw of his.

Silbhé said nothing, instead she took the flute when Kendra offered it to her, brought it to her lips and, without a thought, began playing. It was a different melody, more structured than what she'd played for Clark in the summer. It took almost a minute, but most of those present soon began thinking it sounded very much like a lullaby…

The first thing those present noticed was the way Lex relaxed into the sofa, no longer trembling and muttering under his breath. His brow smoothed out, his breathing evened out, like he was just having a nap. Clark was the first to notice, about the same time Lex fully relaxed, that something was off with Silbhé. She seemed to miss a couple of notes, and she was sweating, very much. She'd just about finished the song when the girl dropped the flute and ran, out the backdoor and straight onto the backyard, where she was violently sick in a corner.

Clark didn't even stop to think about it, he ran at his full speed, getting there just in time to hold her up, and then pull her back. The girl was shivering, her whole body trembling in his arms, and she was crying, softly but nonstop.

"Oh my god!" Clark was suddenly terrified that helping his friend might have hurt her. "Are you alright? Are…?"

"I'm…" She took a deep breath, controlling herself. "Not alright, but I will be. Can you take me back inside please?"

He did. All eyes turned to them instantly. Bastian guided Clark to place Silbhé on another sofa, while Kendra rushed to get a cool cloth to run it across her cousin's face.

"I just..." Silbhé took another deep breath, searching for the right words. "Someone really wanted to hurt your friend Clark. Really bad."

"What did you do?" Clark wanted to know. "Why did it hurt you?" Something else occurred to him. "Were you hurt when you helped me too?"

"Not like that." She shook her head. "I got some phantom pains for a minute or so, but it was like… what I do, empathy is not healing, not really. Emotions don't just vanish, they need to be processed, to be transformed. What I do… I switch, take something or yours and give something of mine. Back in the summer, I took your pain and your hurt, and your rage, they had nowhere to go in me, so they didn't really hurt me, as for the burn. It was connected to all those emotions, couldn't exist without them, that's why it disappeared. Your friend… what was wrong with him was translating into fear, so much fear, it went beyond terror. That is an emotion I understand, all too well. When I helped him, there was so much of it I just couldn't handle it and my body reacted the only way it knew how."

She didn't explain why she'd rushed outside instead of to the bathroom. That was one thing even she didn't truly understand. She knew it had something to do with the stars, and with the past life Carter had told her she had, but never wanted to talk too much about, claiming it wouldn't be right and she needed to live her own life, rather than worry about the past. She had managed to get him to reveal that she had a soulmate though, and that had been enough for her. Knowing she had something to look forward to helped her deal with not knowing how to use the gifts she'd been born with (and the ones that hadn't manifested yet).

"I'm sorry." Clark murmured quietly. "I didn't know helping us would hurt you like that."

"It's not your fault." She assured him. "I only reacted so badly because I'm young yet, still learning to use my gift. And I don't regret it, I'll never regret helping someone. Also, I'm much better now. So no need to feel guilty."

She was saying the truth. She was no longer trembling, and though she did feel a bit tired, that would pass too.

Even then, Clark insisted on leaving as soon as they were sure there was nothing wrong with Lex anymore. Promising to keep the secrets about Silbhé's gift and name, as well as her family. The last thing they wanted was for other people to go looking for them.

xXx

They didn't see Clark again for years, two and a half years. And then, one day Clark appeared abruptly in the middle of the backyard, again. The entire city was shutting down and no one had the slightest idea why, other than it had something to do with a virus. It was why Bastian and Carter weren't home, they'd been called in to their respective jobs, to try and make sure someone wouldn't take advantage of the whole situation to steal their project (they worked together) especially considering they were so close to going public. Clark was alone, and looking so wired up it surprised no one when Silbhé dropped the just-dried dishes she'd been helping Kendra put away and hurried outside to him.

"What do you need me for?" She asked without hesitation.

She was fourteen years old, and while her dad and uncle would probably disagree, she didn't see herself as a child anymore. For years she'd been having dreams; though she was sure they were more than that, that they were connected to Rossi. Though she wasn't called that in most of those dreams, no, most people called her Tinúviel… Princess Tinúviel. It'd seem that her past was much more complicated than Carter ever knew. She hadn't told them much yet, didn't want to worry them; she only shared with Kendra, who more than a cousin was her sister, and the person Silbhé trusted the most in the world.

"I wish more than anything that I didn't have to get you involved in this." Clark admitted grimly. "If your dad's around he'll probably say you shouldn't."

"He's not." Silbhé cut him off. "And even if he were, even if he didn't like it, he'd let me go, because he knows I have to help. Now tell me how I can do that."

The story Clark told her (and Kendra, who'd followed her out) was beyond insane: meteor showers and spaceships, a boy who'd grown up believing himself human only to discover he was not, insane AIs obsessed with controlling him, and the Luthors (both Lex and Lionel) smacked dab in the middle of it all. They both knew about Clark, about his gifts, and while Lionel seemed to like to pretend that he'd turned a new leaf (like that somehow excused what he'd done in the past), Lex acknowledged the mistakes he'd made and was trying to do better. He'd helped Lana Lang leave Smallville when she didn't want to stay anymore, helped the Sullivans handle things when Lionel turned on them (because Chloe was a witness in the trial against him), he'd also done everything in his power to help gather the kryptonian artifacts spread across the globe, and protect the Swanns (father and daughter) when the Teagues (mother and son) went nuts on them and tried to kill them. Things had been a bit touch and go since the second meteor shower and the revelation that there might be other kryptonians, ones who did not follow Clark's moral code. When he got to the part about Fine, Zod and what his (Clark's) father's AI told him should be done, and exactly why he couldn't do it…

"Nor should you." Silbhé told him vehemently, taking Clark's hands in his, channeling as much serenity and confidence as she could. "No matter what may happen, if there's one thing you should never do Clark, it is compromise your principles. Never do something you do not believe in. For if you so much as try, you will regret it forever."

It was odd, how she was so small (she'd always been small), and he by comparison was taller and broader than the average grown man. And yet… in that moment she sounded much older than her years, and her voice held a power and an authority that Clark couldn't help but feel like she was much, much more than her body should be able to encompass.

"I will help you." She assured him for good measure.

Kendra stayed behind. Their fathers were already going to go nuts if they arrived before Silbhé got back. Also, like Kendra said, she had nothing to offer, not yet. While both girls had been training with Carter and some of his friends for a year already, they were nowhere near ready for a battle; then again, Silbhé wasn't going there as a warrior, but as an empath. Clark believed that, just like she'd been able to take away the fear and other effects the drugs were causing Lex, she might be able to take away what Fine had done to him to turn him into the vessel for Zod. Silbhé could only hope he was right.

They stopped running just outside of Clark's barn. Silbhé could sense the two presences inside and she signaled to Clark to stop. She whispered in his ear, so low she couldn't quite hear herself speaking (and hopefully low enough the other two wouldn't hear her even with their enhanced senses) to leave her there and go ahead, she'd find her way inside without being noticed.

One of the first things Silbhé had recalled from her past life was her penchant for climbing trees, it was something she'd begun practicing even before she started training with Carter and the old members of the JSA (and who could have ever imagined that her uncle was an honest-to-the-stars superhero?!). She found her way straight into the second floor of the barn, where she carefully kept herself to the shadows, making not a sound, and hoping that the argument and fight going on would keep her heartbeat and breathing from being too obvious. Even then she barely managed to control herself when Clark suddenly landed less than ten feet from her; a moment later Lex was there and they each did their best to make the other submit. It ended with Lex on his back, Clark holding a clearly not-human blade against his neck.

"Do it, Clark." The voice of the other person Silbhé had known was there, called right then. "Let's see if you're really your father's son."

"I am." Clark announced, before putting the knife down and holding Lex down by the shoulders. "I am Johnathan Kent's son. Silbhé, now!"

She didn't need anything else to be said. In a second Silbhé rushed out of the shadows to throw herself just over Lex, pressing her palms against his temples and calling her power as strongly as she could. She had no flute at hand, and she needed skin-to-skin touch to make sure it'd go alright, but she still needed the music. The hazel-eyed girl wasn't fully aware when she began humming something that sounded very much like the Moonlight Sonata, her favorite sonata. It focused her, and her power, like nothing else could have.

"What is happening?" The alien entity bellow them yelled. "What is she doing?"

"What I cannot. What is right." Clark answered solemnly.

Silbhé had used her powers on Lex before and that helped her, it allowed her to differentiate between what was just him, and what didn't really belong there. She could also tell that the part that was all Lex was aware of what was going on too, and he was fighting to help her. That was a good thing. She held onto him and the two together turned the combined force of their wills, and her gift, on the force trying to control him.

It wasn't an easy fight. At some point Silbhé felt like she might not be strong enough, she was feeling faint… yet she refused to surrender, it just wasn't her style. And then, something inside her seemed to snap, except it wasn't as if something had broken, all the opposite in fact, it was as if something had just fallen into place.

*Tell Clark I'm sorry.* Lex's mind whispered straight into hers.

*You tell him.* Silbhé replied, power seemed to be pouring into her all of a sudden and she took hold of Lex's core, pulling on it at the same time as she forced herself back into the real world.

Silbhé came back into the real world panting, Clark kneeling to one side, one hand on her back, the other on Lex's shoulder; he looked beyond worried. What shocked her most was that her uncle Carter was there too, in her Hawkman get-up, mask included, and sword in hand. Also, only a gray-and-black pool of gunk remained of what had once been an alien entity (Fine, Clark had called him).

"Hey…" Silbhé called out-loud, only then noticing how scratchy her voice sounded.

"You were screaming for a little while there." Clark answered the unasked question quietly. "Scared the life out of all of us."

"It also gave me an opening to take down that freakish thing over there." Hawkman pointed out, pointing at the gunk with his sword, before turning to Clark. "My brother is not going to be happy you put his daughter in danger again."

"My life, my choices, Kontar." Silbhé stated purposefully as she got on her feet.

"Rossi!" Hawkman cried out, catching up with the significance of her using that name.

"I remember." She nodded in acknowledgment. "It's giving me a hell of a headache… and I just might be sick. But I do remember."

Clark sped off and back in a second, carrying a bucket. Hawkman actually chuckled.

"Clark…?" Lex woke up right then.

He blinked, either surprised by all the people around, or his mind was just catching up.

"He was doing it on purpose." Silbhé informed Clark matter-of-factly, mainly because she knew Lex never would. "He knew what was happening to him and was trying to provoke you into killing him before it became too late. That's the only reason he said the things he said."

Clark's expression softened then, Lex just groaned.

"Do you think I could ever do that Lex?" Clark asked, not really trying to mask the hurt in his tone. "That I could kill you? You're my best friend! Almost like my brother…"

"Precisely." Lex nodded. "What do you think it'd have done to me if that… that thing had managed to take over me, used me to hurt you?"

Clark just shook his head. He shouldn't be surprised, he and Lex were both equally stubborn.

They were about to say something else, when suddenly Silbhé doubled over, would have fallen if it hadn't been for Clark holding her up.

"Silbhé?!" Everyone cried out in shocked.

"Dad…" She forced out, panting for breath all over again. "Something's wrong with my dad."

They weren't anywhere near Metropolis, of course not, but she was an empath, one who'd just received a huge boost in power (even if she still had no idea how that had happened, though she suspected her match might be involved somehow). Her dad… he was her dad, so of course she was connected to him in someway. It's how she knew something was very, very wrong with him.

"I need to get to my dad." She declared, it wasn't a question.

xXx

Clark insisted on taking her, if only so they might be a little faster (and because he could stop just around the hospital, to allow them to be inconspicuous, unlike Carter in that getup). It was too late by the time they arrived anyway. Bastian was alive, but just barely. Silbhé rushed into the hospital, screaming her name, and wanting to see her father. The nurses and doctors were so overworked with the virus mess (that had apparently resolved itself just a few minutes earlier -around the same time a certain alien entity had been destroyed…-) that no one wondered how the teenager knew her dad was there when the ambulance carrying him had just arrived and they hadn't even begun trying to contact family just yet.

No one tried to keep Clark back either, probably realizing the girl was going to need someone with her. They lead the two to one of the beds in the corner of the ER, separated by a curtain. There were no doctors around, it had already been declared there was nothing they could do. Bastian had bled out too much, even if they connected him to a bag, or two, it wouldn't have been enough, he was already slipping. All the doctors could do (and they'd already done) was make him comfortable.

Silbhé didn't stop, she got on the bed, curling against her father's chest.

"Papa…" She sobbed.

At least he wasn't in pain anymore, she didn't think she could have handled that.

"It's okay, everything will be okay sweetheart." Bastian whispered, kissing her hair. "Carter will take very good care of you. You will be alright."

"Will you tell Mama I love her?" Silbhé asked, barely managing to keep her voice from breaking. "And I love you too, love you both, very, very much."

Neither of them saw the point of hiding what they knew to be true. Bastian was dying. But there was no point in getting hysterical over it either. Silbhé was going to miss him, of course she was, she hurt like hell at the thought of losing her dad and yet… and yet in that moment she had an understanding of life and death that even an hour ago she hadn't had. The most important part? She knew death wasn't the end. She knew her dad was going to meet her mom, the woman he loved most in the world, again; and one day, just maybe, if the stars willed it so, she would see them both again. And even if, for whatever the reason, she didn't, she wouldn't be alone, she never would. Because she had Uncle Carter, and Kendra, and other friends like Courtney, Clark, and maybe Lex.

Bastian Hall died a few minutes later, holding onto his daughter while she played the Moonlight Sonata on her flute for him (Clark had gone and gotten it for her). Carter and Kendra were there too by then (him back in civvies).

They didn't find out what had happened exactly until much later. Apparently the company Carter and Bastian worked for was a subsidiary of Swann Solutions, a company that had belonged to Dr. Virgil Swann, and inherited by his daughter Patricia (the world was small, and apparently getting smaller every day). Their boss had insisted that all employees stay inside the building when the loitering and vandalism began, to keep them safe. Some had chosen to go anyway, fearing for their families. With Carter being gifted, the 'brothers' had agreed that he'd be the one to go see to the girls. Until Bastian heard a girl crying and calling for help outside the building…

In the end Bastian… Sebastian had been a good man, the kind that couldn't just stand and do nothing when someone needed help. He'd managed to save the girl: Bette (who, as it turned out, was a gifted herself) from being raped and possibly murdered, though it cost him his life. Carter had made arrangements, to find a foster family for the girl, make sure she'd be alright, that his brother's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

The funeral took place three days later. Silbhé had decided her father should be cremated, she hoped to one day be able to take those ashes and pour them on her mother's grave. It was symbolic, as she knew her mother wasn't there, nor was her father, but still. It felt right. Clark and Lex were both there (Lex had actually called to ask permission, not wanting to bother them if he wasn't welcome), and even Miss Swann made an appearance. It was during the wake that the two heirs sat down together to talk, deciding to join forces in order to launch the project the Hall's had been working on, once and for all.

Perhaps the most shocking presence at the funeral was the black man in the black slacks, tunic-like button up and what looked like a metallic necklace made in the design of teeth. He was accompanied by a girl about Silbhé age's, perhaps a bit older, in a demure black dress. They introduced themselves quietly, they hadn't known Bastian directly but both, especially the young girl, had been great fans of Bastian's work. They hoped it would be continued, and the man expressed an interest in supporting the project, when it was finally properly launched (which made Silbhé send them to Lex and Patricia to work on that).

"Who was that?" Kendra hurried to her as soon as they were all gone.

"Who?" Silbhé inquired, surprised by the depth of interest Kendra was showing, it was unusual in her. "The Wakandans?"

"Wakandans?" Kendra repeated, surprised. "What are Wakandans doing here? And in Uncle Bastian's funeral?"

"Well, you remember how the whole project was made public during the legal battle against Lionel Luthor?" Silbhé reminded her. "Apparently they've been following things since then. They claim to be very interested in the project, in seeing it go through and become a success."

"Did they tell you their names?" Kendra insisted.

"Why are you so interested?" Silbhé was really curious about that.

"Don't know, I just am." Kendra shrugged her shoulders, as if trying to make less of it, though she was still waiting for an answer.

"The girl is Shuri and the man is T'Challa." She finally revealed.

She almost thought she could see her almost-sister repeating T'Challa's name under her breath but she couldn't be sure, particularly since Kendra was already walking away.

Clark Kent, who was there with his new girlfriend (and oldest friend) Chloe Sullivan, approached Silbhé next as she stood close to her father's urn, with a picture of him and her mom, laid before a huge arrangement of burnt orchids, her dad's favorite flower, with which he'd proposed to Aislinn (the arrangement had been sent to Kathryn, as a way to express her sentiments, even if it was too risky for her to be there personally).

"Are you alright Silbhé?" He asked her quietly.

"I will be." She nodded, at Chloe's disbelieving look she explained. "Look, I know this is bad, okay? And I know some might think me… emotionless, because I've stopped crying already but the thing is. I know my dad is in a better place."

"You believe in heaven." Chloe deduce.

"Heaven, paradise, the Other Side… it doesn't matter what you call it, doesn't even matter what it actually is." Silbhé tried her best to explain. "He's with my mom, that's enough for it to be a better place for him. I mean… it's not that he didn't love me, because of course he did, always. He did everything for me, I know that. But he never stopped loving my mom, and missing her. And now they're together again, and that's a good thing. Yes I will miss him, I'll miss them both, but I'm not alone. And he knew that. It's what allowed him to be at peace when he died. So I will not be a brat and cry about the injustices in the world, about forces taking him from me, because I know it wasn't like that. And I know that, wherever my parents are, they're watching over me, and if I were to cry and go hysterical that would only hurt them. So I won't do it."

Chloe just blinked at her, seemingly not knowing what to say to that.

"Hawkman wants to talk to you." Silbhé announced just a moment later.

Clark's eyes widened as he turned to look at his girlfriend, then back at the hazel-eyed girl, who was rolling her eyes at him.

"Please, I can sense, stars, I can practically see the bonds that bind the two of you together." She snorted. "Even if you hadn't told me she was your girlfriend, I would have known." The part that had truly surprised her was learning they'd just gotten together, the bond was quite strong (the kind that spoke of years together, not a day), but she didn't mention that. "In any case Hawkman wants to talk to you about what's been going on in Smallville over the last few years. Maybe you could reach an accord of some kind, make a plan on how to deal with any future trouble, because what happened last Thursday? It cannot happen again. And I'm not saying this just because of my dad, it's everything and everyone. You… we cannot let it happen again."

"No, we cannot." Clark agreed.

And thus the seed for what would come to be known as the Justice League was planted. It wouldn't be easy, for a reincarnated Egyptian prince, an intergalactic traveler (which would later become three), a group of 'retired' heroes, several young gifted and two millionaires with far too much money and time on their hands, to learn to work together. Especially with Lex Luthor hanging around the fringes and offering his aid where he could. Many didn't trust him, but Clark refused to allow his best friend to be insulted, and when even Carter vouched for him…

xXx

Worlds away, the Crown Prince of Asgard, Thor Odinson, followed his mother's (Queen Frigg) directions to one of the private gardens. He'd never been there, it was very different from any of the gardens he'd been to (usually when he was trying to find his mother, or impress a conquest). The flowers were different in ways Thor couldn't fully explain. The garden was limited by bushes of dark-purple small blossoms (lavender), flowers in a dozen different colors and shades all around, in a manner that seemed more eclectic than he ever expected to see in an Asgardian garden (then again, this was his brother's garden, and he did always love chaos), and at the very center of it was a huge tree he was quite sure was from Alfheim (it was a white ash). Loki was actually sitting right on the ground, his back against the tree.

Thor vaguely noticed the way the flowers were swaying, as if moved by an invisible breeze. And there was a sound in the air, like some kind of instrumental music, the blonde prince did not recognize it. Still, his focus was on his brother, who just sat there in his forest green linen tunic and black leather pants. His feet were bare, his hair down, hardly combed at all… Thor wasn't sure he'd ever seen his brother quite like that.

"Plan do you to stand where you are all day?" Loki asked, not even opening his eyes.

"Are you recovered, brother?" Thor wanted to know.

Loki knew why Thor worried. What had happened three days prior… Loki hadn't seen it coming, hadn't been able to do anything about it as his magic flared brightly. It'd been just for a moment, no more than a heartbeat, but that was enough. The fact that he'd blacked out for several minutes, and had actually cried out at some point before that, did not help matters any. He'd had all sorts of visitors the following morning, from healers, to Thor's friends and even both of his parents. There was a reason why he'd chosen to forsake his quarters and take refuge in his private garden. A reason he couldn't explain to anyone, because no one remember his match but him!

"Brother…" Thor began, finally stepping into the garden.

Loki had pondered long and hard about what to do when Thor finally went looking for him, he'd known he would, eventually. And while he knew the old him (the one he'd been before the return of his memories) would have never trusted Thor with something as important as the matter of his match; he also remembered the old Thor, his brother, the one who'd been his whole world, his best friend, his confidant, his greatest support, he wanted that Thor back.

"I'm going to tell you a story Thor, and I want you to pay attention." Loki announced, finally opening his eyes, looking straight at the blonde.

"A story about what?" His brother asked, curious and confused.

"Not what but who." Loki corrected. "The lady with the most beautiful voice in all the realms, Princess Tinúviel… my consort and match."

So... yeah, that happened. How do you like this verse? I wanted to do something different and realized I hadn't done much with the JSA, Carter and the others yet, and considering the past Carter and Shayera have with Nightingale and Loki... it was a perfect opportunity.

This piece only have two parts, so the remaining part will be up in two weeks. See ya then!

As always, full-sized poster/cover and set of wallpapers can be found in my DA account.