Notes: All characters, locations, etc… are owned by Warner Bros and DC comics. Written for the February fan fic grab challenge on 'The planet' forum. The prompt used was: Soothe. Fan-fic is separate from the 'Half & half' storyline. Quotes in italic are Kryptonian. To read more about Stella and Ryen check out the story 'Half & half. Special thanks to Christycat for beta reading.
It was a standard Wednesday afternoon in the city of Metropolis, but for one particular dog it was anything but that. Krypto pressed his nose against the living room window and sighed. Ever since Clark had left for work early that day; Krypto had been somewhat bored being stuck in the apartment. For the most part, he either looked out the window and barked or chewed on his rawhide bone. Once he was through with barking at Taxi cab that drove by; Krypto walked away. He sniffed around the apartment looking for something to do. "What else can I do?" he asked himself, the Kryptonian dog spotted a tennis ball in a corner next to the TV. After staring at the ball for a moment, Krypto shook his head. "No, too boring" continued. Trotting into Clark's bedroom; Krypto found something that seemed to get his undivided attention. He noticed Clark's bedroom window leading to the fire escape was open!
Wagging his tail, Krypto had an idea; sticking his head out the window he sniffed the air. "That does it, I'm going out" Krypto concluded. He was about to step out onto the fire escape but stopped in his tracks. Looking back, Krypto wondered if going out on his own was a good idea. It didn't take him long to think it over.
'I'll be ok, I've gone out before' he thought.
A few seconds later, Krypto stepped out onto the fire escape; he glanced at the ground below. "Funny, I don't remember being this high up" said Krypto. Making sure he didn't take any chances, the male Kryptonian dog slowly made his way down the stairs. As he got closer to the lower level; Krypto lost his footing and nearly fell. The super dog quickly grabbed the bar of a ladder attached to the end of the fire escape. The rest of his body hung a few feet above the ground while his front legs and paws were securely holding the bar on the ladder. After a moment Krypto let go and landed on all four paws. He looked up at the fire escape and smiled, "Eat your heart out, Streaky" Krypto said triumphantly. If only his tabby cat friend was there to see his 'performance'. Streaky lived on the Kent's farm and only came to Metropolis occasionally with Kara.
"And they say cats land on their feet, who says a dog can't do it?" Krypto asked himself. The male super dog trotted down 3rd St; greeting people he walked by with a friendly bark. It was the middle of March, spring had started and the weather was mild. So far Krypto was enjoying himself. Walking off leash allowed him to have more freedom and he was able to go at his own pace. Taking a short cut through Centennial Park; he spotted a few kids on the playground. From what he could see some of them were playing in the sandbox, going down the slide or using the swings. Once he was out of the park, Krypto continued on his walk, across the street he noticed Cat Grant out on her lunch break. He shuddered for a moment; the last time Krypto met Cat didn't turn out too well. One reason Krypto didn't get along with Cat was wore too much perfume causing him to sneeze. Two others were she often called him 'Kato' by mistake and when he licked her hand she shoved him.
In an effort to avoid making eye contact, Krypton continued on his way; passing the Daily Planet. Now heading in the direction of the pier; Krypto lowered his trot to a steady walk. His I.D. and rabies tags made a small: 'rattling' noise as he walked. One thing was certain; Krypto hardly worried about being hauled off to the shelter. As long as he wore his collar and tags he was fine. Just then, Krypto heard the sounds of two dogs barking and yelping. His ears pricked forward "What is that?" he wondered. No sooner did he finish his thought, a couple dogs darted out of an alley. Krypto stepped back as a fawn colored Great Dane bolted out in front of him. Behind the Dane was a black and white husky. "Whoa! Where's the fire?" Krypto asked, the Husky stopped to reply. "If you want to keep your limbs then run away now!" she answered. Krypto watched the two dogs run off; he tilted his head at the site.
"How strange." Krypto said to himself.
Feeling curious, Krypto slowly approached the alley. He quickly noticed another dog; that appeared to be an American foxhound. The dog was chewing on an old T-bone steak. Krypto assumed the dog must've picked up the steak behind Chez Joey's restaurant. He had gone into that alley many times himself with other dogs to get whatever meat the bus boy threw out. After a while Krypto stood in the middle of the alley's entrance and barked. The foxhound looked up; looking startled at first after a few seconds the dog growled. Krypto's tail was now tucked between his legs but nonetheless he stood his ground.
"What do you want?" the other dog asked,
"N-nothing, I just came to see what was going on" Krypto explained.
"You mean those other dogs? No big deal, they tried to take my steak" the foxhound answered. Krypto noticed the foxhound had a collar and some tags.
"Listen, maybe we should find your owner, where do you live?" Krypto asked. The female hound simply looked at him and attempted to walk away. "
"I'm fine, thank you. I'll find my owner by myself" she answered.
"I'm serious, I can help you" Krypto offered. Seeing that the other dog continued to ignore him, Krypto leaped out in front of her. The foxhound however was too quick and darted out of Krypto's way. Once he stood up and shook himself he turned around and stared back at the hound. A normal dog can't move that fast! There was something different about this particular dog; Krypto glanced at her for a moment.
The foxhound had the standard markings of her breed. She was tan with white on her neck, legs, underbelly and paws. She also had white on the tip of her tail and snout. Snapping out of his staring contest; Krypto looked at the dog's I.D. tag. It was different than any other tag he had seen. The tag was diamond shaped and silver colored. In the center of the I.D. tag was aqua colored paw print. "I think you'd better come with me" Krypto said.
"Forget it, I'm staying right here" the foxhound replied. Krypto sighed; he knew he couldn't force her to go with him.
"Alright, I won't push you anymore…see you around and take care of yourself" he told her.
"Thank you, I will" the female scent-hound replied. Krypto walked by the tan and white hound he noticed her claws were an unusual ebony black color. She also had a large cut on her right hind leg and another on her lower back. The male Kryptonian dog quickly shook himself and continued on his way.
For next hour and half Krypto was down at the pier. He sniffed around the docks and chased a few seagulls. While there, he also found three corndogs and an old ice cream cone. Surprisingly, some of the people he encountered stopped to pet him. Krypto watched a few of the boats out in the harbor. Although he was enjoying himself his fun filled afternoon came to a stand still when he heard the distant rumble of an approaching thunderstorm. He quickly looked up at the sky when he heard a loud thunderclap followed by several drops of rain. "Swell" he groaned; now he had no choice but to go home.
Heading back in the direction he came, the mixed breed super dog noticed the female hound in the alley. Currently she was hiding under some crates trying to stay dry. Krypto smiled "You're welcome to stay at my owner's place" he offered.
The foxhound only snarled and snapped at him in reply.
"This is ridiculous, why do you have to be so stubborn?!" Krypto asked.
"I don't understand you want to help me?" the foxhound answered.
"Superman does it everyday, why can't I?" said Krypto.
The hound dog was shocked; he actually understood what she said! "You're Kryptonian aren't you?" he asked.
The other dog stared at him unable to hide her surprise. "Yes, I am... but how did you know?" She asked him.
"You speak Kryptonian!" Krypto replied. "Listen, how about we continue this conversation later? Right now we gotta get out of this rain." he continued.
The foxhound nodded, stepping out from under the crates and proceeded to follow Krypto.
By the time he got home, Krypto managed to get in just before Clark and Lois entered the apartment. Over the next half hour the two of them cleaned the foxhound's cuts.
"So are you gonna keep this dog or what?" Lois asked.
"I don't know, she has a collar and tags so she must belong to somebody" said Clark as he flipped over the dog's tag. His eyes bugged at what he saw. Written on the I.D. tag was this:
Stella
31-040-11024
Riverside, Lurvan
Clark remembered that Lurvan was actually a continent on Krypton!
"Listen, I'll let the dog stay here tonight and tomorrow we can start looking for her owner" Clark suggested.
"Ok, that could work" said Lois. For her, being 'Mrs. Kent' wasn't a bad title but it took some getting used to. Meanwhile, in the living room Krypto and Stella continued their conversation from earlier that day.
"You seemed surprised that I was willing to help you" Krypto pointed out,
"Yes I was, not too many people want to be around a dog owned by one of Krypton's most wanted" Stella replied.
"What are you talking about?" Krypto asked.
Stella sighed before she went on to explain. "You probably don't remember me, but this might help" she said to him. Turning to the side; Stella showed Krypto the crescent moon shaped spot on her left ear. Krypto tripped over himself at seeing it.
"Now I realize why you looked familiar, you're Ursa's dog!" Krypto exclaimed.
Stella nodded, "And you're Kal-El's, you were a puppy the last time I checked" she answered.
Krypto grinned for a brief moment, "Yeah, I was but…I grew up" he explained.
Stella snickered, "I think it's obvious"
Stretching out on the carpet; Stella allowed her body to relax. Krypto did the same. Despite their differences; the canine duo seemed too be enjoying each other's company. Krypto had been rather lonely ever since Lois' Pitbull mix, Ryen went with Sam and Lucy Lane on a camping trip two days ago. For the next twenty minutes, Stella went on to explain that she and two other dogs had been placed in a shuttle and launched into space. One of Jor-El's friends, Gal-Eth thought it was a more humane way of sweeping the problem under the rug, so to speak. Once the shuttle had gone into 'hibernation mode' it drifted miles away from Krypton. It crash landed on earth sometime later. Since then, Stella had accidentally been separated from the other dogs that were in the shuttle.
Before heading off to cover a fashion convention in Gotham; she decided to stay for a while and help Clark with the other dog. Krypto noticed Stella hardly looked up from her bowl when Lois gave her some kibble. Finally after a few minutes, the female hound dog licked her chops and moved away from the bowl.
Krypto and Lois both stared with surprised looks on their faces; as if to say: 'What was that all about?'
Later that night, after Lois left the two dogs had settled down to sleep. Before Krypto could do anything Stella and curled up in his bed. "Um…excuse me that's where I sleep so if you could…" Krypto was cut off when Stella whined. "Fine, I like the floor anyway." he lazed over to the floor, turning a few times before sinking into a warm spot by the radiator.
Around 1:00am, Krypto got quite a wake up call. The sound of thunder from outside startled him. Looking over at the window he could see the rain drops hitting the window. Krypto jumped when he saw some lighting. Stella on the other hand was shaking and whimpering. The Kryptonian dog moved closer to her; Stella growled at first but calmed down after a while. In an effort to make her feel better, Krypto licked Stella's face. The tan and white foxhound smiled and lowered her head. Sometime later the downpour had stopped; though it was still raining things were quieter now.
Shortly after, Krypto and Stella fell asleep; the sound of the rain seemed to be soothing to them. The next day, Clark went through a box he kept under his bed. The box contained information on certain Kryptonians. He had kept these files on hand when he wasn't able to access the original archives at the fortress. Starting from A to Z, he stopped when he reached a small folder marked: "Ursa". Sorting through the papers Clark finally stopped when he found a photo of her. It didn't take him long to notice the collar and tags looked exactly like Stella's. Clark's eyes bucked, he found out Stella was Ursa's pet!
Meanwhile, Krypto noticed Stella was chewing on her bandages. One thing he never had to worry about was Clark or Lois hearing his conversations with Stella since it all sounded like a bunch of barks.
"Ya know you really shouldn't chew that" he warned,
"I can't help it…this stuff itches!" Stella told Krypto.
"Try the edge of the coffee table that should help" he suggested.
Stella stood up and walked over to the coffee table and rubbed her hind leg and lower back against the edge. Over time, the inching stopped; after a while Clark removed Stella's bandages and took her outside.
'The sunlight should help her' thought Clark.
A few minutes outside and a bandage change later; Lois was back from her trip to Gotham city. "So you plan on finding the dog's owner today?" she asked.
Clark grinned "Yes, after work I'll start looking" he answered.
Meanwhile back up in the artic, one familiar trio of Kryptonians were slowly getting themselves together. "If I ever come across Kal-El again…he's in so much trouble" Zod growled. "Would you stop flapping your gums and give us a hand?" Ursa called out as she and Non climbed up from an icy shaft.
Back in Metropolis, Clark and Lois were about to head off to the Daily planet. He turned and looked back at Krypto and Stella. "I think these two will get along fine while we're gone" Clark added.
Lois smiled at the two dogs sitting beside one another; "I doubt that's going to be a problem" she agreed. Krypto looked at Stella and started wagging his tail. "Same here" he said…
The end...
Well that's it, side note: Gal-Eth is a character in the novel 'The last days of Krypton' written by Kevin J Anderson. Keep an eye out for more new short stories and updates. Until then, please read and review!