"You must go, now," Alura says desperately, holding the door open for her daughter and sister to rush through. "There is no more time, we have waited too long."
"You should be going with her," Astra says as they watch Kara rush down the hallway towards the launch bay, running after her despite her words.
"That argument is the reason you are not already safely away," Alura says through tears she's barely holding back, watching as Zor-El gives their daughter last minute instructions for the pod she'll take to safety. "I swore that neither I nor Zor-El would leave, if we attempt an escape, even now the council will stop us. Out of spite if nothing else."
"It was the only way to save Kara," Astra reminds her sister, knowing how hard this moment is. She will be losing enough by leaving, the knowledge that her sister's last moments will be nothing but the pain of watching her daughter leave knowing she will never have a chance to see her again will be far worse. The only consolation will be the fact the pain will soon end, that Rao will hold her safe and offer the comfort of his warmth. Astra will spend the first two weeks of her journey offering her prayers to guide her world to Rao's arms, only engaging stasis once she knows they will be safe.
"Look after her," Alura whispers into Astra's hair as she pulls her close for one last desperate hug before rushing to Kara's side to say those goodbyes. Astra can see Kara struggling to be brave, to avoid allowing her tears to fall, and suddenly she can't take it any longer. The plan was always for her to launch first, to arrive first on the faraway planet that will become home to Kara and herself, and Astra is glad of that fact now. It means she can rush to her own pod and launch without feeling as if she's abandoning everything. She's doing it to protect Kara, and nothing else is important now.
X
Kara isn't scared when her parents push her into the pod that will take her to Earth. She's too overwhelmed to be scared, too unsure of what's happening to feel anything really. All she knows is her aunt has already left, her pod flying through the bay and into space to reach Earth ahead of her. That her planet is dying, and her parents will not be coming to safety with her. So although they don't have time, Kara can't help clinging to them for a moment longer, needing one last memory of their embrace to last through the cold of space and the entirety of her new life without them.
When her mother places her necklace around her neck, Kara loses the battle against her tears, but she knows she's lingered too long already, so she manages to climb into her pod and sit back, waiting for it to fly her to her aunt's side and the safety promised there. She can be strong, if not for herself then to live up to what her parents will expect from her. She is the last daughter of the House of El, and she will bear that legacy proudly on her new planet.
When Krypton explodes, twisting her pod around and giving her a clear view of the rubble of her planet slowly expanding into space with a silent dignity that ignores the millions of deaths she's witnessing, that's when the terror hits her. She can see the Phantom Zone rushing at her as her pod continues to spin, pulling her in, but she doesn't know how to adjust her course to avoid it. Her parents had locked the guidance system to handle navigation for her so that she could spend the long trip in stasis, and finding the release is beyond her knowledge.
Kara screams as her pod enters the darkness, screams for herself, for her lost world, for her parents. She screams for Astra, who will land safely and alone. Screams for the years she will spend trapped here, the endless eternities she will face in this endless void. She screams until she has no breath left, until her tears have left her eyes swollen and aching, cold seeping through the walls of her pod as the darkness around her seems to reach out, urging her to give in and give up. There is no room for hope here, and Kara soon gives up trying to hold on to the last flickering spark in her chest.
Her last thought before stasis finally takes over to free her from the torment around her is that she finally understands why this place is named after the demons of legend.
