The Bond was practically gone.
Alex had never felt so alone in her life.
Occasionally she got glimpses – glimpses of cities, of people, but never for long and never in enough detail that she could trace her somehow. The Bond itself was barely atoms, dust that was so, so slowly, knitting itself back together into a thin, plaited rope, different from the Bond of before. Her only consolation was that it was shorter than before – it was if she were right next to her, rather than on the horizon.
Alex supposed it proved the long-debated Theory of Distance. Stretching a Bond really did make it stronger.
Her parents were very supportive. They missed Astra too, her father especially, as she taught him about Krypton and the known universe, while Alex was taught things by Astra's cellmate that while she subconsciously knew from Astra, she didn't actually know. Kara was a great help too – they'd developed a rapport, of sorts, and Alex had even met her two sons, her adoptive son Kal-El, otherwise simple known as Kal, and his older brother Carter. The fact though that Carter was quite literally Cat and Kara's son made her stomach flip.
She missed Astra.
She wanted their Bond back.
She wanted to meet her.
And knowing that Fort Rozz had crash-landed in Nevada, and that half the aliens there were missing, Astra, Non and both the Kryptonians and Lunarians included, only made it worse.
Alex had to get on with her life though, she had to deal. Thankfully, with Fort Rozz and its escapees, Alex had a lot to do rounding them up and getting them either a) back into a cell, or b) integrated into society, due to having lived out their sentence. Also, the Guards themselves were a problem, though Kara as the Spectre helped with that.
It was six months before she finally Saw through Astra's eyes again.
Alex sucked in a metaphorical breath as her surroundings changed, becoming brighter as she flew through the Bond without control, before clouds filled her vision. Her viewpoint lowered, a park appearing, one she recognised. In front of her was a large pond, with a small horde of ducks quacking and circling two teenage boys – Carter and Henry!
Immediately there was a spark, and the vaguest impression of a thought reached her. Carter and Henry?
Alex latched onto it, Yes – yes, Carter and Henry. Kara's son and his soulmate. A foreign yet familiar sense of elation ran through her, before there was a dash of fear. Astra, go up to them, they can take you to me, please!
Confusion.
I am afraid.
Don't be, Astra, Alex despaired, feeling her control slipping. Her vision flickered between the park and the sky, unfamiliar faces surrounding her. A pain started to filter through, and both she and Astra let out a pained gasp before Alex completely failed to hold on, Looking through her own eyes, head throbbing.
I cannot, I'm sorry – I am not brave like you.
"Hey, are you with us?" A woman asked as Astra's thoughts faded from Alex's mind, brow furrowing. "Weren't your eyes green a second ago?"
"Soulmate," Alex got out, cringing at the aching pain from the back of her head, "She's an alien." The woman let out a tiny smirk.
"Well, I know enough about that to understand. Mine's one too, sort of. C'mon, sit up – slowly now." Alex let the woman help her. Detective, she corrected herself at the badge on her belt. "I'm Detective Sawyer. Someone's already got an ambulance on their way, so they can check out your head. Name?"
"Alex. Dr Alex Danvers."
Maggie grinned, "Ooh, then you can check yourself out, then?" She looked around at bystanders as Alex rolled her eyes. "She's good, nothing to see here."
"Not that kind of doctor. Well, not really," Alex could technically start an internship at a hospital at any time, with what degrees she had, and come out a doctor a couple of years after. "I'm bio-tech. Not…bio."
"Cool," Maggie said, shifting from kneeling to crouching…then holding up her wallet. And her DEO ID. "I wonder if I should be calling you 'Director' though. The name Danvers has been drifting around. You overthrew that Henshaw guy, right? Did an interview and everything with CatCo like, last year?"
Alex shrugged, "It was a team effort. My dad's the Director though, not me. But I did do that interview, yes."
"Awesome – can you let up on the apprehending then? Not everyone's a criminal."
Alex raised her eyebrows, "You are aware that every alien we capture was convicted already by the Kryptonians? They just came out of Fort Rozz – it touched down in Nevada shortly after that article."
Maggie shook her head though, "You arrested my girlfriend's mom. She did nothing – she was living the quiet life. They just found each other."
The 'did nothing' bit was what Alex had trouble believing. "Detective, I assure you, before we even go looking for them, we have an entire casefile from the Fort Rozz database on them on hand to refer to. Even…" Alex hesitated, "My soulmate, she's from Fort Rozz too. She was an eco-terrorist. She knew how and why Krypton was going to explode – I know everything she's done, all the people she's hurt, or even ordered killed. When we find her, I'll have to arrest her too. No-one gets to go live a happy life before they've been through our system."
Maggie looked up as an ambulance approached, "And once they've been through your system?"
"Depending on what they'd done, they could go back to prison, be released on parole, or even given a new life – with a new identity and papers and everything." Alex was quiet though, as Maggie nodded, standing as an EMT approached, looking her over.
"Good. Right. See you round, Danvers," she dropped her wallet and DEO ID on her lap, waving before walking off. Alex watched her leave, answering the EMT's questions – but her mind was consumed with thoughts of Astra.
And how, when she saw her, she'd have to put her in cuffs.
"-so pretty. She's gorgeous, an absolute babe, and she's a lawyer too, on her planet," Lucy babbled, face fraught with fear. "God, Alex, my dad's going to hate her. It's bad enough that Lois has a convicted supervillain for a husband, I have an alien lawyer divorcee for a fiancée, who has a missing kid who would apparently be grown up by now and trouble adjusting to human culture, let alone American culture. And I've not told him she's a woman, or an alien for that matter. Fuck."
"You need to calm down," Alex put a hand on her shoulder, smiling tightly. "Hey, why don't you introduce her to the gang instead? Reschedule with your dad, and take us all out for dinner with her. We can have a get-to-know-you party, and we can be your emotional back-up if things go sour."
"Too late to reschedule," Lucy groaned, before looking at her watch, sighing. "I'm meeting her for lunch in half an hour. You should come."
"What, now?" Alex blinked, dropping her arm. Lucy seemed to consider it, before nodding, smiling tiredly.
"Yeah, sure, come – we're meeting at that new coffeehouse on eighth."
Alex hesitated, before Lucy pouted, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's go." Looking over at her dad, she caught his attention. "Going on my lunch-break. When do you need me back for?"
Jeremiah waved her off, "Don't worry about it. Take the rest of the day off – you too, Major Lane. Your panic is infectious." Lucy, new to the DEO and surprised by Jeremiah's nonchalance and kindness, let Alex, who was not at all surprised by her father's lenience, pull her away, towards the exit. Once they were on the way, Lucy slowly stopped panicking, instead talking about her fiancée's looks.
"-and she's just so beautiful, she's got this amazing red hair, and her face is just, ugh, I love it."
Alex rolled her eyes as they pulled up into a parking space that had just been pulled out of. "Well, point her out to me, because despite your description, the most I got from that is 'redhead'." Getting out of the car, they headed to the coffeehouse, entering and looking around, Lucy obviously spotting her girl if the violent tugging was anything to go by.
"Alu-lu-ra-ra, ra-ra, ra-ra, ra-ra. Gimme, gimme that coffee, coffee, coffee…" Lucy sung before kissing a…very beautiful woman, snagging a coffee from beside her as Alex blinked, unusually shell-shocked by her appearance. "Alura, meet Alex. Alex, Alura."
Alex opened her mouth to say hello, but suddenly realised exactly what Lucy had just called her girlfriend. "Wait, Alura? Like, Alura In-Ze, Alura?" Alura's eyes widened.
"How do you know that name?"
Alex stared. "Oh my god." She looked to Lucy. "How did the name of Kara's mother never come up in your vicinity? Astra's twin?" Lucy spluttered, choking on her coffee before coughing for about a minute, before weakly replying.
"What?"
Alex looked back to Alura, memorising her face, sticking out her hand. "Hi, I'm your future sister-in-law, hopefully."
Alura shook her hand, confused. "I thought Lois was Lucy's sister…"
"No, no," Lucy shook her head violently, "Alura, this is Astra's soulmate." Alura looked up sharply, wide-eyed.
"She's still alive."
"And in America," Alex lowered her hand. "But she's scared, running. Our Bond is really, really weak. She had a chance to meet Carter-" her eyes widened suddenly, very wide, "Oh my god – Lucy, Carter!"
Lucy gave an undignified noise, "Oh my god, oh my god."
"What- what is going on?" Alura was extremely confounded by their conversation, looking quickly between both the two ladies. "Who is Carter?"
Lucy went to tell her, before Alex made a noise, "No, Lucy, don't – it's not our place! We should probably phone Kara, like, right now." Lucy immediately nodded, getting out her phone as Alura's eyes began to glisten, things beginning to connect.
"You know Kara."
"Yeah, we do," Alex put a hand on her arm as Lucy phoned Kara, the two silent, as to listen in on Lucy's conversation – she always had the volume insanely high, so even the completely human Alex could hear.
"Hello, lesser Lane."
"Cat," Lucy began, voice full of barely hinged emotion, "Put Kara on the phone."
"Kara is busy, at present-"
"My fiancée is her mother." Lucy interrupted, waiting a beat before continuing. "Alex put it together. I didn't figure it out, but yeah – oh, and this means I'm your future mother-in-law."
"Oh my god, that can't be allowed to happen. Really? I'm getting her right now. She's just finishing up a call to Emma about who's paying for Henry's plane ticket to California. I'm paying for Carter's, obviously, but Emma's insisting-"
"Who is Carter?" Alura asked again, a little louder than perhaps necessary.
"-Is that her? Did you not tell her about Carter?"
"That's a conversation that I will be present for, but not part of," Lucy replied, "How long until Kara-"
"Here." There was a muffled conversation, before Kara's voice came on the line.
"Hey, Lucy, Cat said you have something to tell me."
Lucy took a breath, looking to Alex briefly. "It's really important Kara…I'm not sure whether or not this should be in person." She paused, before cursing, hitting her head. "Oh heck, this is going to make the conversation with my dad real amusing now."
Kara chuckled, "I'm sure it won't."
"Oh no, it will," Lucy muttered, before looking to Alura, pressing the phone to her chest, "Do you want to tell her over the phone or not? Nod or shake your head." Alex watched Alura like a hawk as she slowly shook her head. "Okay." Lucy brought the phone back to her ear. "Kara, can you meet us this afternoon, on vaguely urgent business?"
"…yes, why?"
"You'll find out when you meet us. Cat knows, and can extrapolate the rest from it, but I really think you should meet us first before talking it over with her."
"Okay. I'm free after lunch, barring any emergencies – where are you?"
"That new coffeehouse down on eighth?"
"Oh yeah, I know the owner. Saved him from protesters against the anti-conversion therapy laws. I'll be there in like, half an hour – if you haven't paid yet, tell them that I'm coming to join you. You'll get it on the house."
"Thanks. See you soon." Lucy hung up and leant back into Alura, looking at Alex. "And on that note, let's change the subject. Alex, do you know that Alura here is taking correspondence courses in Law?"
Seeing a family being reunited is good for Alex's general wellbeing, but she hesitates to be a proper part of it without Astra there. Astra is her only link to that messy family tree, and even though Lucy says, "You're as good as my sister Alex, don't go backing out on me", Alex needs some time alone. It doesn't help that Maggie is bugging the DEO via her. She wants an 'Artemis' woman released, because she's 'been good for the last fifty years'…
Which totally makes no sense, when Alex actually thinks about it.
She investigates this 'Artemis', and it turns out she's not a Fort Rozz prisoner – she's simply a Most Wanted figure from back in the sixties, seventies. She was one of Wonder Woman's enemies, from a place called Bana-Mighdall. Alex has never even heard of her, though her mother, Eliza has.
"Some terrible things happened. A woman who called herself 'Circe' controlled her tribe and ordered them to attack Wonder Woman's home island, Themyscira, so she could take it over. Artemis and her people failed though, and Circe turned her attention on us – people don't like to talk about it, but Circe did once have two entire States under control. Artemis and her people became Wanted after the FBI managed to assassinate Circe though. She was one of the few to escape. I think Wonder Woman took the captured ones with her back to Themyscira when she left our world."
Alex has so many questions after, most revolving around why they would blame them, if they were mind-controlled, and how more people didn't know about this – why wasn't it in history books? The answer turns out to be the one Alex dislikes the most: wilful ignorance and denial of the truth, except in the highest circles of the government.
Also, 'my girlfriend's mom'?
So, Alex finds herself sitting with Maggie Sawyer in an alien bar, with Lena Luthor, who is apparently the daughter of Artemis and the President of the United States.
Yeah.
Lena Luthor is the daughter of Diana Prince.
Lena Luthor is the daughter of Wonder Woman.
"Of course, Diana doesn't know," Lena shrugs, swirling her olive, "My birth mother didn't tell her, and I was kidnapped anyway – she didn't see the point, even with their Bond. They parted badly, apparently. And now she's President, so Artemis can't get near her."
Alex looks at Maggie, who's grinning and seemingly takes great pride and finds it fun to secretly being the soulmate of the President's daughter.
"This is unbelievable," Alex shakes her head, "Do you even class as an alien, then? Because if you don't, you were lying earlier, Sawyer."
"Oh no, I think I count," Lena smirks, "Our Bond is quite strange, as I believe yours is, if in a different way. Maggie told me that you collapsed when Looking through her eyes."
Alex finishes her beer. "I only collapsed because I was fully assimilated – if I had wanted to, I could have taken control of her body. She could have done the same. The first time we switched, it was completely. That time, it was just me. Our Bond…it's pretty odd without context. My entire life, we built up our Bond, and then last year it just…she was in a space-station, a ship, and it was stuck in a place called the Phantom Zone, a kind of…different dimension. Then, it somehow got out, and all of a sudden we were so, so far away from each other. Our Bond's only now healing from being strung across so many lightyears."
Lena winces, and Maggie grabs another beer from behind the counter for her. "That sucks."
"Thanks," Alex takes the beer, opening the cap with her bare hands. "So, I've somehow got to get your mother out of custody."
"I've got records from her time spent in America available, from about eight years after her original disappearance to now," Lena immediately offers, "I'd be happy to reveal myself to the DEO if that's what it takes."
"I don't think you have to do that just yet," Alex smiles a small amount, sipping her drink before her eyes trailed off the CEO to the bartender. Alex expects her alien-ness to be more prominent, but she looks perfectly human. Some aliens do, she thinks of Alura, Astra – they're twins, Alura says, except for their hair. Astra's parents dyed a thick strand of Astra's permanently white, and in turn made sure that Alura could not do the same. Kara has drawn her, and painted her – it was easy, with her mother as a stand-in.
Even now, she has a portrait hidden between twenty and five dollar notes. The green paint of her eyes and the blue of her necklace are grey to her.
"Tell you what though," Alex starts, taking out her phone to text her mother what's going on. "I know that the DEO is receiving a visit from Madam President tomorrow morning. I can get you in." She doesn't tell Lena what she's asking her mother to do, though she notes how Maggie's eyes flicker to it briefly, around the corner of the bar, where Lena can't see, a smile hiding itself. Good call, Danvers.
"Really?"
"Yeah, even with Lex Luthor being a supervillain. If you have a cop to vouch for you, of course, that would be even better," she looks at Maggie, who openly grins, raising her pint glass.
"To Alex Danvers."
"To Alex," Lena agrees, raising her own. Alex rolls her eyes, before clinking the end of her beer.
"To me, and alien soulmates." Lena laughs, before Maggie discreetly nods at Alex, who receives a text from her mother at the same time.
Done.
Alex nods back.
Another family, reunited. Everyone seems to be reuniting these days. The only reuniting thingy Alex has to do is her graduating class' ten year reunion next year, and literally, no-one there will actually want her there, because she was like, five years younger than them or something…or something more like four years, but it's still the same thing. And her Bond with Astra is nearly fully healed now, but Astra doesn't let her get anywhere near her consciousness, let alone allow her to See.
"Maybe I should just give up," she mutters to herself as the plane jolts for the eighth time in thirty seconds, preventing her from falling asleep as she thinks to her soulmate. All the time I spent waiting for you, Astra, and for what? For a coward? Something stirs on the other end at that – something angry, but still too distant for Alex to care. Bring down your barriers and then we can talk, bitch.
…so perhaps she's had too many of the in-flight mini alcohols, as well, but what the hell, Astra doesn't care – who does?
Above her, the seatbelt sign pings, and the intercom switches on. "This is the pilot speaking. If all passengers would please put on their seatbelts, immediately. We're hitting a very rough patch, and it's only going to get worse from here on out. I've already called ahead to the nearest tower, and we'll be landing at-" the intercom cuts off abruptly, buzzing filling the cabin, immediately causing panic. Alex sits up, alert and wary, looking out the window over her fellow line of passengers – she's aisle, luckily – that the window-seat passenger has opened up.
"Holy shit," she mutters upon realising how bad the storm actually was. Soundproofing on planes must have increased a lot since her last flight on this airline for her to have missed the thunder and lightning lighting up the sky. Scoping out the rest of the cabin, Alex locates a hostess, who is trying to make a panicky man get back in his seat. Too busy. She looks back at the storm, and a woman in the next row forwards says something very interesting and very worrying.
"This could be a hurricane for how bad it is."
Because Alex doesn't know about hurricanes, but she does know that once upon a time, she lived in East Georgia during one, and it was terrible and disastrous – and it had been small. The plane she's sitting in is small, and the wind is picking up as she thinks – even now, the jolts are back-and-forth, one after the other. Lightning is perilously close to the plane wings, and Alex…
Well, if Alex had ever been vaguely frightened by dying in a plane crash, she's scared now.
Astra, I'm sorry, please speak to me, Alex begs, fear spiking as lightning hits the wing of the plane, causing a panel to fly off, revealing mechanics and metal bones. Astra-
I'm here, brave one, Astra is a comforting warmth in her mind, her body, her blood. Her soulmate takes stock of the situation, and recedes quicker than the lightning outside.
"Astra-" Alex panics out loud, clawing at her armrests before Astra pushes a feeling of phantom kisses to her forehead, arms wrapping around her torso.
You need to be brave, heart. Be calm. Breathe. Be brave. I am coming. The echoes of touch don't leave Alex as she takes Astra's advice, trusting her. She was coming. She was Kryptonian – she could fly. She was coming. Looking to her neighbours, Alex can feel Astra pluck stray thoughts from her own, her mind close and almost one with her own, but with a distinct separation of consciousness.
Alex talks to her neighbours, convinces them to stay in their seats, then unbuckles and turns to the next row, and the next, and the next, holding on tightly as she did. Astra was coming. She would save them, and meanwhile, Alex would do crowd control. She isn't dying today.
Astra is coming.
The pilot's voice is joyful when he announces that something is taking the weight of the plane – that a superhero was carrying the plane on their back as they dropped out of the sky, guiding them to an airfield in the middle of nowhere. The lightning had gotten a wing, and they lost an engine, and they had been falling. Alex knows that it's Astra, and not just because they've been saved.
Alex had seen her through the window first, and then the blue and green appeared.
The colour of an old woman's jumper, a young girl's dinosaur backpack, the icon for Spotify on her phone. Green, green, green. More things are blue. The chairs, the airline's logo, jeans. A sea of navy – or what she thinks is navy. Alex can't imagine what it must be like for Astra, when everything for Kryptonian's without their soulmate is in shades of red. To see everything on the full colour spectrum, even in this storm, and especially with superpowers…
When they touch down, staying inside the plane, Astra hovers until Alex convinces the hostesses to open the door.
She's soaking, is what Alex notices first, and that her white streak looks like a really bad dye job, is the second. The third, is that she really is Alura's twin, and she's very glad because then her alone-time would have been awkward.
"Hello," Astra breathes, staring at her, ignoring the thank-you's and other questions that the passengers and staff of the plane shoot at her.
"Hey," Alex steps forwards, hesitantly, before holding out her hand, watching Astra take it, a soft current flowing between them. Everything felt in place, and her heart felt lighter than it had ever before. All her resentment, doubt – all disappeared. Alex tugs her off to the side, into the corridor between corridors that the hostesses hang out in. It's private as they can get without seeming like they're about to join the mile-high club. "I've been waiting a long time."
"I waited longer," Astra smiles at her, before stepping even closer, till they're nose to nose. "Your eyes are the most beautiful colour I have ever had the honour to witness."
"Flatterer," Alex mutters, curling her head sideways slightly, "I like your eyes, too, though. I like this too," she brings up a hand to her white streak slowly, tugging on it gently. "It'll be the only thing that'll keep everyone from calling you Alura."
Astra's eyes widen.
Alex pauses.
"Wait, did I not ever mention that part?"
They kiss when they're warm, under Alex's covers in soft cotton shirts and shorts. It's too hot for anything else – almost too hot for shirts, but they're not at that stage quite yet. The plane came down less than a day ago, and everyone has met each other and cried and hugged. Astra even got to meet Carter and Henry.
It starts out soft, a press of lips on lips, and there's a hum under Alex's skin that wants contact, closeness. They move closer together, arms wrapping around each other, and it gets heated only briefly before it all dies down, and they lay there.
Together.
Soulmates.
Not alone anymore.
Between them, their Bond shines brightly.