According to Wikipedia, "In law, an alien generally refers to any person who is not a citizen or national of a given country, though definitions and terminology differ to some degree. The term alien includes a foreign national and a refugee or asylum seeker."
A story in which Supergirl is only a fantasy that Kara Zor-El, foreign "alien", uses to understand her journey as a war refugee.
Author's Note (IMPORTANT - please read before beginning!):
As I start this story, I want to begin with acknowledging this addresses a very sensitive topic.
Let me begin by saying what this story is NOT. It is not a perfect representation of a very complex issue. It is not a sensationalization of real human suffering for amusement. It is not a manipulation of emotions for a political purpose.
Now I'll say what I hope this story IS is and can be. I hope that it can be an acknowledgement something that has been and is happening all over our planet. I hope it can be a more direct exploration of the themes that I think are very present in Supergirl as a TV show. Above all, I hope this story can be a call to compassion in its own small way.
I've tried to do good research on the topics that I have not personally experienced, but again, this is not perfect and neither am I. I always welcome your constructive criticism and thoughts!
TRIGGER WARNING: this story contains violence, death, war, trauma, & PTSD
Alright. Here we go.
"Once upon a time, there was a girl and a very special baby boy. They were happy together with their family on the planet of Krypton, a place of great beauty. However, there was something wrong with Krypton. Its soil became contaminated with evil, sprouting explosions. Destruction erupted from the cracks in the ground and the earth shook day and night."
"Today the nation of Krypton was rocked by an…."
"Kara, turn off the tv right now!"
The golden-haired girl spun around, her blue eyes meeting her mother's gaze guiltily.
"I just want to see…" Technically she was supposed to ask before turning the tv on, but her mother's intensity seemed out of place.
Her mother moved past her, pointing at the remote at the screen which instantly went blank.
"Mama!" Kara protested. "I just wanted to watch the news! I'm supposed to do a social studies report..." She took in her mom's serious expression and slowly it dawned on her that something beyond what she knew was going on. "Mama, is… is something wrong?" Kara suddenly wondered what she would have seen on the tv if her mother hadn't turned it off.
"Kara." Her mother stopped and turned to look at her. Her dark hair tumbled around her face and Kara couldn't help but notice that there was an unfamiliar edge to her mother's features, something almost like fear residing there. "Listen to me."
Kara swallowed as her mom placed her hands on either side of her face, forcing her to stare into the woman's piercing gaze.
"There was an attack in northern Krypton today."
Kara was filled with a million questions and a sickening feeling of fear.
"What kind of attack? What happened? Was anybody hurt?"
Her mother didn't answer any of her questions. "An infection has come upon our land and now it is sick," was all she said. "I don't want you to watch the news. It is not meant for the ears of children."
"I'm not a child," Kara protested. "I'm almost twelve!"
"Your father and I will tell you what you need to know," her mother's voice was firm. "We will keep you safe."
Kara knew better than to argue.
But she did wonder.
Kara didn't understand how a land could be sick. But she began to feel it, hear it, breathe it as at school rumours circulated and in the marketplace people did not linger as they once did. Boisterous conversations withered into hushed speech and whispers were stained with fear.
Something was happening.
Kara knew it was the sickness of her home that everyone was talking about but nobody would really tell her exactly what it was. Whenever she asked what was happening, she would be told not to worry, that everything would be okay. Kara desperately wanted that to be true, wanted to trust the adults like she always did, so she pushed her fear away and tried to ignore the rumours and words like war and bombing and guns. Those thing that were happening, they were far away, happening to other people in Krypton. They didn't affect her.
Until they did.
It was a couple weeks after Kara had been scolded for watching the news that a soft knock disrupted her studying. Grateful for the distraction from math problems, Kara made her way to the door and pulled it open.
"Uncle Jor-El! Kal-El!" Kara blinked confusedly at the man holding a baby standing in the doorway.
Uncle Jor-El, Aunt Lara, and Kal-El lived far away, in Kandor, the capital of Krypton. What were they doing here?
She examined them further and noted that they had barely any luggage, just a garbage bag held in Uncle Jor-El's free hand.
"What happened?" Kara took Kal-El quickly from her uncle as he slumped against the doorframe and began to shake. "Where is Aunt Lara?" Her uncle didn't respond. He seemed to be looking straight through her with hollow red-rimmed eyes. "Uncle Jor-El? Uncle?!" Kara held her baby cousin close as Kal-El began to wail. Panic rose in her chest when her uncle did not respond to his own child's cries.
Something was really wrong and she had no idea what to do.
"Papa! Papa!" she screamed for help.
Her father appeared, freezing for a second then rushing past her to kneel beside his brother.
"Go inside and calm Kal-El, Kara." His voice was tight in a way that Kara had never heard before.
"But Papa…" she was peering past him at her uncle, trying to understand what was happening.
Why was the man who was strong enough to lift her up and swing her around curled up on the ground? Where was her uncle? Surely this man was not him, could not be him, could not be so… broken. "Why aren't they in Kandor? What happened? Where is Aunt Lara?"
"Now, Kara!"
She reluctantly retreated to the bathroom, attempting to soothe Kal-El as he shrieked at the top of his lungs.
"Come on, little one," she cooed. "You're safe now. It's all going to be okay."
The baby just screamed angrily at her, inconsolable.
Kara wanted to wail right alongside him, but she was far too old for that.
Instead, she held him close and promised him that everything was going to be alright.
She found out later that her reassurances were lies. Kal-El and his father would be moving in with them.
Kandor and Kal-El's mother were gone.
At least, Kara thought, Argo City was safe.
They weren't in Kandor. They were far away, in their home, and everything would be all right. They would take care of Kal-El and Uncle Jor-El and keep them safe.
They placed a picture of Kal-El's mother in a little wooden boat and pushed it out onto the waters to find Rao. Part of Kara worried that maybe Rao wouldn't accept Aunt Lara into his light if he didn't have her body, but she quickly discarded that thought.
Rao would understand.
Later, Kara went to the market with her mother to gather the necessary items and foods for the mourning period. As her mama bartered with a shopkeep over the price of their oregus plant, Kara found her friends and joined them in wandering the market.
They were admiring a fiery display of blood-blooms at the florist when a loud bang rang through the air, soon followed by screams.
"What was…" Kara turned, staring at the smoke that was rising in the distance. Around her the market surged into frantic motion, some running towards the smoke and others away from it. One of her friends immediately ran off while the other clung to Kara's hand and stood frozen.
Panic was building but Kara couldn't tear herself away from the scene that was rapidly unfolding.
Out from the smoke, a boy emerged, no more than a couple years older than her, being carried by a sobbing man. Crimson poured from places limbs should have been and suddenly the air was saturated with the heavy smell of iron and fear.
What… what was wrong with that boy? Why was he dripping red?
It was like a scene from a some horrible movie but she was right in the middle of it. Part of her brain wondered if this was actually real.
"Someone help, someone help please! There was car bomb; he's my only child! Oh Rao, oh Rao, have mercy!"
Although people rushing to help quickly blocked her view, Kara could hear the man's screams clearly.
"My mom is a doctor, I'll find her; she will know what to do!" Kara's friend finally became unfrozen and ran off.
"Kara!" Her own mom appeared, pulling her close.
"That boy…" Kara stared at the crowd surrounding the place where the boy was. "Mama, that boy… do you think he's…" Is he dead? Why is he dead? Why is this happening in our marketplace?
She couldn't look away from the mass of people, couldn't blink away the image of that boy bathed in scarlet.
A sudden keen wail pierced the air and the crowd paused to bend their heads in sorrow. Kara's chest contracted around her heart and all the air left her lungs.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
She tired to peer through the crowd to see the man and his boy, to see if it really was real...
"Come on." Her mother rushed her away. "Let the man grieve in peace."
She stumbled on numb feet, unable to comprehend what she had just seen.
How could someone be alive one minute and dead the next? How could this happen in her own marketplace?
"Stay away from crowds, okay?" Her mother's grip on her hand was strong as iron. "They have planted explosives. Don't go anywhere without asking me first."
Mutely, Kara nodded, her mind reeling.
As soon as they were home, she wrapped her arms around her mother's waist and held as tight as she could. She didn't want to let go, not ever.
She did not want a bomb to tear her away from her mother or her mother away from her.
It was two weeks later, just when the mourning period for Aunt Lara was complete, that Kara's school closed and watching Kal-El became her main job whenever the adults went out, for she and Kal-El were no longer allowed out of the house.
"Don't let anybody in, no matter what, unless it's us," her father warned her, showing her how to deadbolt the door and prop a chair under the doorknob.
"How will I know if it's you?" Kara asked, trying to ignore the way Kal-El was drooling on her shirt.
"We'll have a code word, okay? How about… El mayarah. Stronger together."
"El mayarah," Kara agreed. Her father turned to go and she stopped him, catching his hand. She couldn't stop the quiver in her voice. "Why can't we just leave, Papa? Why can't we go somewhere safe?"
He stopped and knelt beside her. "Right now, this is the safest place for us. The whole land is sick, there is war everywhere. We are trying to find a way out but there are no safe routes for us to take at the moment. But we will keep looking, we will find a way for you and Kal-El." His tone left no room for argument.
Still, Kara didn't understand why he had to go outside the refuge of their home. "Why do you have to go out there? Why can't you just stay in here until we find a way?"
Kara had heard the screams, the gunshots, the wailing of families over loved ones lost. She could sense the growing fear, could see the fire, and feel the world shake as it was pounded with missile after missile.
Please, she wanted to beg her father. Please don't go out there. I don't know if you will come back.
"We have to try to help," her father kissed the top of her head. "We have to try to save our home, to do what we can. When we give in, fear wins." His gaze was gentle and sad and determined. There would be no changing his mind, although she was tempted to fling herself sobbing at him to try. But she was twelve, she was old enough to also be strong, for her family.
"Then I want to help too."
The words terrified her even as she said them. Really all she wanted was to turn back time, to be safe and happy with her family like they used to be. She didn't want to worry that their house might be the next to be hit by a missile, didn't want to worry that her mother would be shot when she tried to get groceries, didn't want to prepare herself to never see her family again every time they went out the door.
But if they would fight, so would she. Anything but being alone.
"You are helping, Kara, by taking care of Kal-El. You and Kal-El, you are our future. We fight so that you may make this world a better place in your time." Her father leaned close and kissed her forehead and Kara wished she had the power to keep him there forever.
"Papa…"
He was heading toward the door. He was leaving with Mama. She was going to be alone.
"Remember, Kara. El mayarah."
"I remember, Papa. El mayarah."
Later that night, when Mama and Papa had returned, Kara dreamed of a time when their land had not been infected. She prayed that her parents would find a cure for its sickness before there was nothing left to save.
Please let me know what you think.
~silverliningineachcloud