Prologue

Though it should have been impossible, Thara was in disbelief when she felt feeling in her body. Not the searing pain she'd been experiencing in what felt like forever, the thoughts of keeping the planet her adoptive brother was going to be living on the only thing that made her go through with it.

She loved her brother before he had even been born because she saw how happy it made her adoptive parents. Her only regrets would have been she would never get to see Kara again, or that she would never be able to see Kal ever. It hurt knowing that the meteor shower was her home going up in bits of pieces, and just as she had been going out to find her baby brother, she discovered that the sun was going a bit dim, which she could only have assumed was from the meteor radiation.

So it had been her suicidal desire to see that even if meant her own life, she at least wanted Kal-El to have a place to live. She'd flown into the sun and used all the power her fire ability allowed to keep the sunlight going until the shower subsided, and though she had the expectancy of dying for giving all she had, she had never expected to be alive after that stunt.

But here she was, lying in a field that was clear as far as the eye could see. She looked down at herself to see she was still wearing her Guild suit; no burns, no tears or anything appeared wrong with it. Thara tentatively rose to her feet, looking around and tried to see if there was those road things she'd seen before nearby. Those usually lead to a town or a city of some kind.

Thara had no luck, so she used her super speed, only for nothing to happen. She looked down at herself again to see if there was something wrong; she'd been under the impression that the sun gave her the extra powers, not take them away. She bent her knees and jumped into the air, letting out a confused sigh as to why she could fly, but she wasn't going to complain about that.

If people saw her flying through the air, then they'll just be passed off as crazy or something she hoped. Her first and foremost mission was to find and protect Kal-El after all. As she was flying through the air, she decided she should at least try to be discreet as any attention to her wouldn't be good for Kal in the future.

When she finally came across a town, she landed a little ways away before causally strolling through it; hoping people just thought she was wearing a costume. She walked by a window, but immediately backtracked and simply stared at her reflection. The face was still the same, but before she had blonde hair up in a ponytail and blue eyes, she now had the same ponytail but with red hair and red eyes.

Thara raised one hand, her disbelief only increasing as she saw the reflection do the same and her chest felt constricted. She breathed heavily as she tried to grab the first passerby and ask what the heck was going on, but her hand simply went through them. She stared at her hand and tried another person, her desperation quickly turning into terror as she went through all of the people.

Was she dead? Thara couldn't help but find the bitter irony in this mess; of course she'd come back as a ghost, only in this state she wouldn't be able to keep her promise and take care of her brother even if she found him. Thara let out a laugh, high and psychotic; no one would give her a strange look this time because they couldn't see her, this was her punishment for all she'd done in her short life, wasn't it? To wander around unseen, especially if she ever found Kal, what a fitting punishment it was.

Thara's laugh quickly turned into a sob as she knew she might not even get to see Kal in this state; how many children were there in this world? She didn't even know where or how long she might have had to wait around to come back as a ghost. Kal could have been a grown man now for all she knew (and didn't that hurt even more), and she didn't even know what he looked like.

Thara clutched her chest and closed her eyes at the thought her heart would burst forth from her chest-wait, dead people don't have heartbeats. She snapped her eyes open and looked down at her chest, furrowing her brow at the beating under her hand. It shouldn't be possible, but she could still feel it beating. How did this happen? She couldn't be alive, people would have seen her and she definitely wouldn't have gone right through them. Yet how could she be dead if she still had a pulse somehow?

What had happened after she blacked out?

Thara closed her eyes once more and thought back to flying into the sun, but excruciating pain had taken up most of her thoughts as the only thing from that was like she was being burned from the inside out as she felt her own fire going out and restoring the sun's. So what had happened? She still had her flight, but no speed, had her other abilities stayed?

Thara tried to see through the wall of the shop she was in front of, but nothing happened, so she switched to heat vision and cast her gaze onto her hand. It…worked. Thara blinked at two things; one, she could still use heat vision, and two; she was still invulnerable. She tried out the hearing, but again nothing worked. And then came the big one of her arsenal, the one she'd had before the others; her fire ability.

Thara held out her hands in front of her and closed her eyes in deep concentration, and only opened them when she suddenly heard screaming around her and saw her hands on fire. She saw people running from the flames that seemed to be attached to nothing and she halted the flames, letting her arms fall to her side. So people could still see the fire then? Huh, that was something for her to store away for later.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this calm behavior wasn't normal, but she had never been very normal. Though people she could go through, Thara wondered if she could go through things or still had her super strength. She placed her hand on the wall, feeling the smooth bricks under her hands and then slammed her palm into the wall, the force breaking through the wall, causing even more screaming to erupt.

Thara looked around quickly and took to the air, thinking that even if they couldn't see or feel her, she didn't want to draw any more attention. She really should have found a more secluded place to do this. But she needed to be able to find out how long she had been…gone for. She knew she had 'disappeared' in 1978, but what year was it now?

She had no idea how old her brother even was, and the only thing she knew was that he was either a child or an adult most likely, but either one didn't ease her thoughts as it still meant even though she kept the sun going, she had still missed out on Kal's life. Bitterly she reminded herself she wouldn't be able to do anything anyway.

But even all through that, Thara was still going to find Kal, just to see him at least and know that this had not been for naught.

A/N: I've had this idea in my head for a while and thought about how to go about it, so here it is. A little known Kryptonian probably, but Thara Ak-Var intrigued me, and though her bio won't be exactly like the comics one and a fan of the comics probably knows that, but I took some liberty though kept her death similar to how she died in the comics.

The timeline takes place before both ROTG and Superman Returns as it serves a way for Thara to meet Jason.