Wraith
Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.
During early December, the super gang all know that the topic of home is taboo. No one really knows what to do for Kara, nor does anyone really want to try, so they do what they always do: leave her alone and wait it out. However, Lena, her girlfriend, was not notified of such a slump and notices slight changes in actions and behavior, then awakens to find the young blonde imprisoned in a nightmare and resolves to make her feel better.
TRIGGER WARNING: BLOOD, UNINTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF PAIN.
"Hey."
The voice was gentle, magnetic, like it was trying to coax her out of a trance.
"Kar?"
The tone was pitched up in question, a hint of worry in its sound.
"Kara."
It was more insistent, coincided along with a slight tremor.
The blonde's head bobbed up to face a pair of warm umber eyes, and she realized the tremors were from a pair of strong, but tense, hands shaking her gently.
James.
"Y-Yeah?"
His eyes softened, but held a sort of barred look that complemented his bulky features.
Kara did not realize that she gradually lowered her head down onto her empty paperwork and the blank canvas on her computer.
He sighed, hesitated, reluctant with his next statement.
"I think you should take this week off."
This time, Kara found enough energy to snap her head up at her friend, expression painted with surprise and perhaps annoyance.
"What?"
James gestured to her workspace, "You're clearly out of it, I think it'd be best for you to take some time off and then come back when your wits are back. Snapper doesn't take too kindly with unproductivity during work hours. If anything, it'd be better for you to finish your article in the comfort of your h - apartment."
He coughed, cleared his throat when he caught his near slip-up, though it did not go unnoticed by Kara if her frown was anything to go by.
He continued, "I know you don't like to take any days off, so we'll compromise; take at least three off if you don't want to be gone for a week, okay?"
Kara did not have the energy to argue, though she would not have put up a very convincing fight otherwise anyway.
She quietly packed her things up and left without a word, much to James's relief and Winn's too, as he was called in to cover for Kara temporarily.
Even Mon-El was called in, or dragged in by Winn anyway, and everyone knew he loathed working without utilizing his abilities to complete such mundane and menial tasks.
But he would do it, for his friend, his mentor.
And Winn's insistence definitely encouraged him.
Kara could not say that she was not bothered by everyone's...reluctance, to hold a conversation with her during this time.
Even Alex, though she appreciated only her older sister's distance, not everyone else's.
When they were younger and the Kryptonian was still learning Earth's differences from her home planet, the very first things they went over was the concept of time.
It started when Alex converted her new little sister's birthday, which was determined to be the twenty-second of September.
Then Kara gave her new older sister another date, which the human girl found to just be a random one, and converted it for her anyway.
Since then, during that time, the Kryptonian found herself in a slump during the month of December.
After a few years of that peculiar routine, Alex noticed the oddity and eventually found out it was the day Krypton died and a sacred holiday known as the Day of Truth, which insisted on portraying pure honesty towards others.
The older Danvers pitied Kara at first after the discovery. Her alien sister, who had to abruptly assimilate to a new planet with new animals, new customs, new cultures, and new languages... Her alien sister, who had to keep to herself and lie to her friends and relatives about her background, her history that she wanted to share, that she so badly wanted others to understand.
Her sister, Maggie, Winn, James, Lucy, and Cat...they would never be able to grasp anything, and they all knew it.
J'onn was a father-figure, but the comfort he offered was stiff as he struggled to revert back to his parental depths.
That was why they were partly thankful to find Mon-El in the pod.
Though his presence eased Kara's tension, she found it was not quite the comfort she was exactly looking for.
They both lost entire planets, families, cultures... But Kara was simply a child when she witnessed Krypton's destruction, her brain still developing, her mind traumatized by such a catastrophic event. Then she was stuck in the phantom zone for decades, with nothing to do but learn about the planet Earth, sleep, think, and dream. She despised the latter two, as her mind would always wander to Krypton and her family, stuck in the prison of her head.
Their next hope laid within Clark.
But he was only a baby when Krypton was destroyed, no memory of his origins and parents; he could only feel a sort of unfamiliar longing for his home planet, but was content with his life on Earth.
He was more human than Kara could ever be, and though she refused to admit it, she often found herself discontent with life on Earth at times, often found herself missing Krypton's red sun.
How they all tried to cheer her up, and how they all failed to do so.
James took her sightseeing to what he called the little wonders of the world, things that Kara appreciated, and taught her to photograph something in the moment that made her happy.
Winn took her to Comic-Con, but found that she was less enthused about the event.
Cat took her out to a comfortable cafe with Carter, some place that felt homey, and had faith that her son would lighten the mood.
To no avail.
Lucy forced Kara to release her pent-up emotions with punching bags, or in this case cars, to leak out the negative emotions.
Though they always came back with a vengeance.
Alex and Eliza would take her birdwatching, but found that her fascination had long since dissipated with the strange creatures.
Mon-El stopped taking her out to alien bars and getting her drunk to the point of throwing up. His goal was innocent, to induce her into an inebriated state so that she would spill out her feelings. Only she vomited her innards instead and he found himself in front of a very angry Alex Danvers.
Maggie took her to clubs in the hopes that the loud music and swaying bodies would distract the alien from her trauma.
Eventually, they all stopped; they all agreed to keep a close eye on Kara, but keep their distance and wait it out.
No one ever thought that a Luthor would ease the Super's pain.
Alex was internally thankful that Kara found Lena; she understood, but not to the extent that the blonde wanted since her secret identity was still, well, secret.
The spread of the Luthor's knowledge was that her girlfriend's parents died, as with the rest of her blood-relatives, in a horrible incident, leaving her as the sole survivor. She knew that Kara was adopted just after ten years of age when it happened, that she had to learn a new tongue in a short amount of time.
Lena never asked her for specifics, and both Alex and Kara were thankful for that, that the Luthor would wait for the blonde to tell her on her own time.
However, it had only been several months since their relationship started, and Alex was concerned that Lena was unprepared for this...slump.
And she was.
Though it did not produce significant change. Kara found herself subconsciously more silent, restless, and oozing an aura and mood of deadness and melancholy no matter how hard she pretended to act fine.
She always let things slip, no matter how trivial.
Not that Lena needed Kara to slip up to know that something was wrong.
Nor that a ponytail and a pair of glasses would derail her from her girlfriend's true identity.
A Luthor's intelligence is never to be underestimated.
Kara's big blue eyes that were always filled with hope and optimism usually dwindled into something empty, like a void, like it was deprived of life and happiness.
Lena did not probe when her lover returned to their home, she acted as if everything was normal, and patiently waited for Kara to talk.
But she did not.
Not that it bothered Lena that her own girlfriend refused to speak to her, nor that when they went to sleep, the blonde increased her distance to the edge of the bed, until the couple's skins were ice cold.
What did bother Lena, though, was the fact that whatever was haunting Kara was gradually eating her alive, feeding on her anger, fear, and grief.
She considered before resolving to call Alex come morning about this new...obstacle.
Not that she really had time to consider the moment she was gently pulled from her slumber in the middle of the night.
Lena could feel the bed shaking, its vibrations crawling up her spine and tingling at her fingertips, which were placed on the damp bed.
She rotated her head to see that Kara was trembling in a cold sweat.
She often had nightmares and mumbled in her sleep, so it was nothing new.
But something nagged the Luthor in the back of her mind, telling her that this time was immensely different.
The raven-haired woman slid over to her girlfriend's side in the dark and called out to her softly, "Hey, Kara..."
She was not expecting the blonde to bolt upright and fall to the floor in an attempt to scramble away into the farthest corner of their bedroom.
"I want to go home..."
Her voice was small, broken.
"You are home," Lena smiled tenderly, approaching and sitting in front of the frightened Kryptonian cautiously.
Kara shook her head, like she was still in a daze, a lucid dream, "No...home."
Her voice cracked at the last word and it immediately made Lena's heart drop and stutter for the blonde.
Here blue eyes had a ring of exhaustion around them, like she had not slept the past few days, not to mention she woke up in a cold sweat.
The Luthor frowned, comfortingly placing a hand on the Kryptonian's knee, rubbing soothing circles along with her other hand that was doing the same to Kara's palm.
"I can help you make a home here," her left hand trailed up to caress the sniffling blonde's teary cheeks, who grasped her wrist in a firm hold, "We all can."
"No!"
Lena was taken aback by how vehement the reply sounded and before she knew it, she felt a hand's crushing pain around her wrist as the weight of the pressure shattered her bones.
Kara, in a frightened fury, slapped the same hand away and the speed of the whip dislocated the Luthor's shoulder.
The blonde's consciousness returned when she heard a familiar voice rip a bloodcurdling scream.
Lena cradled her left arm and scrambled away, resting her back against the wall of the bed and scanning the damage. Her wrist was crushed and a bone tore through her skin, and her shoulder joint jutted out, dislocated.
She reached for her phone and dialed Alex, who blearily spoke, "Hey, what's up?"
"I need you to come over to my place, Kara's been acting...different lately and this is the last straw for me. By the way, I know she's Supergirl, so don't leave any details out."
"How'd you–"
Apparently, she was unable to conceal the pain laced in her voice, and it made Alex stop in the middle of her sentence.
"Lena, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just..." a shaky sigh, "I'll explain later."
Alex decided to ignore it and save it for when she got to her destination, "Alright then, I'm on my way."
She hung up and winced at the tear-inducing pain in her arm, she was thankful her brain was shocked enough to numb part of it.
"Lena?"
Her head snapped up, meeting the familiar blue eyes, which were now more awake.
"Are you okay, Kara?"
"Y-Yeah, it's nothing, just another nightm - why's there blood on my hand?"
The Luthor could not help but chuckle, almost humorlessly, "Don't worry. It's not your blood."
The blonde noted Lena's swaying and her slurred words and implication, squinting her eyes to find that the woman's left arm was bloodied.
"What happened?" Kara panicked, eyes wide and rushing to her girlfriend's side and analyzing, her stomach plummeted when she caught sight of white bone protruding from her arm, "Oh my God, there's so much blood."
She reached out, but retracted her hand when Lena flinched at their close proximity, automatically curling further into herself into a protective position.
Then the gears in her head clicked together to form a rather daunting revelation.
A nightmare come true.
"I...I hurt...you..."
It came off of her tongue like poison, the words tasted bitter in her mouth.
"No," Lena quickly denied, grimacing at the pain, sweating with the effort of how much she was trying to hold in, "It was...it was a nightmare, you didn't do it on purpose, it was an accident."
"But it doesn't change anything, I still hurt you," her voice whimpered back as fresh tears spilled from her blue eyes, which she did not bother to wipe away.
Alex quickly turned the key into her little sister's apartment and knocked on the closed bedroom door.
"Come in."
She rotated the doorknob and the mechanism unlatched as she swung the aperture open.
She flicked the lights on and halted mid-step, "What the hell?"
Lena's head was bobbing up and down, her body swaying from the blood loss as Kara tried to stem the liquid's flow.
Alex had to swallow the bile in the back of her throat when she noticed the Luthor's nasty compound fracture.
"I-I had a nightmare," Kara began to explain between hiccups, "And I ended up hur..." she took a deep, shaky breath, "I hurt her..."
After a moment, Alex nodded and strode over, supporting Lena's weight and guiding her out as she grunted in pain, "I'm taking her to the hospital."
"I'll come with-"
"No."
Kara stumbled back, shocked.
"You can't," Alex sighed, rephrasing herself, "With the state of mind you're in right now...your actions could be unstable, it's best if you stay here and take a moment to yourself, and you know Lena's in good hands with me looking after her."
The blonde nodded fervently, willing to cooperate since her mind wandered to the possibility that she could've done much worse, "Yeah. Okay. Got it. I'll...I'll stay, make sure I'm not...not...like this."
Alex grinned sadly, "We'll be back as soon as possible. I'm sure the D.E.O. can pull a few strings with the hospital. And since Lena hates them, I'm pretty positive that she'll make sure she gets discharged the moment she can."
Kara nodded solemnly, but did not return the smile.
"I'm her girlfriend," Lena groaned, tugging at the wires in her arm with disdain, "You didn't think to at least explain the gist of her behavior?"
Alex nodded, understanding, "I should've, but I didn't want to risk any unanswerable questions and potentially expose her identity."
The Luthor rolled her eyes and sighed, "I get it, Agent Danvers, I really do, but it still doesn't make it sting any less."
She nodded again, "I know," then a smirk, "But I believe that we'd be on a first name basis, at least by now."
"Anyway, Alex," Lena corrected herself, "When can I get back to Kara? It's been way too long since I've last seen her and I don't feel comfortable with her being alone knowing...what transpired, especially at this sensitive time. Plus," she patted her bed gingerly, "I hate hospitals."
The older Danvers rolled her eyes, "It's only been, what, three hours? Four? You can wait another or two, then we can get back."
A moment of comfortable silence descended upon them as they pondered with their thoughts.
Alex drifted off into nothingness, expression impassive, while Lena's face signaled she was pensive and deep in thought.
"All of you..." the Luthor started.
"Hmmm?"
"You all...you all haven't found any way to..." her hands gestured in an almost awkward manner.
Alex smiled.
Seems like someone's picked up this age-old habit of Kara's.
Then she frowned, shaking her head, "No, and to be honest, we're all worried what her reaction would be. It's like collateral damage and we're all at an impasse. She doesn't do well with change, we all know that already; she doesn't like that we're cautious during this time, that we treat her differently, like she's fragile and that we're walking on ice just because she's walking on glass."
Lena nodded, silently asking for her to continue.
Alex sighed, running her slim fingers through her auburn locks of hair, "She appreciates it when I keep my distance around this time though."
The Luthor tilted her head curiously, "Why's that?"
"Her adopted family reminds her of her real ones, after that, her thoughts descend into something more...negative... But I mean, after a while she does revert back to her bubbly self, so I'm not always worried about her to this extent."
"Seems quite peculiar seeing as you two are practically inseparable," Lena commented, surprised at the confession.
"Yeah," Alex chuckled, "It's pretty odd, but I understand that sometimes she needs her alone time."
"I'll be honest, Kara doesn't seem like the person to thrive in solitude," Lena began.
The older Danvers grumbled, "Which's why I've never really understood the fact that you two are together."
"You're right, we're almost polar opposites," the Luthor mumbled, continuing her explanation, "Almost. She's a social butterfly, she thrives off of the wellbeing and happiness of others. And maybe she does need space, but I also know that she doesn't want to be alone."
"Yeah..."
"Which's why everyone's going to help me finish my project."
Alex quirked a brow, "Project?"
Lena smiled, "I've been meaning to construct this device; it's roughly done so far, or at least the internals are, the design is relatively accurate to the architecture of Krypton with her family's crest engraved on it. Kara looks at the stars a lot, and the basic idea of my project is to provide her with some semblance of her home, some sort of tangibility; it's constructed from the metal inertron, so virtually nothing will break it," a pause, "It's also made from Kryptonite."
Alex's eyes narrowed.
But before she could reprimand her, Lena explained further, "I stabilized the element, it's completely harmless to Kryptonians. It's just a pretty green rock to her, simply for the aesthetic appearance of the device I designed."
The agent let out a relieved breath she was not aware that she was holding, "Then what do you need everyone else for? I don't think I've forgotten that you hold an engineering degree."
"Well, not everyone, just those that can help me with certain aspects," she elaborated, "You're her sister, so I'm obviously going to need your input. Winn's experience with programming and technology would definitely shorten the project's development. J'onn has otherworldly knowledge I'm not aware of, it'd be helpful to have him around."
"What about Clark?"
"Kara complains about his lack of knowledge of Krypton and his accent when he tries to speak Kryptonese," she chuckled, then frowned, "I know that deep inside it hurts her though, her only blood relative can't give her anything from Krypton except for the fact that he's her last living blood relative."
"We can plan a Christmas party as well, for Kara," Alex suggested, "So, what does this...thing actually do?"
"It's like virtual reality, an immersive experience to the user, like the person is holding the entirety of the universe in the palm of their hands," then she chuckled nervously, "I also, uh, programmed Kara's mother and father in the device; they're not...factual like the artificial intelligence you have at the D.E.O., I tried to make them as close to life as possible. With more help, it could be perfected, but I need it finished before this Christmas party you're planning."
"That's...amazing," Alex breathed, then her eyes squinted, "How exactly did you..."
She trailed off.
"Lex is very meticulous when it comes to his obsessions."
The agent nodded in understanding as she continued, "He stole a lot of information on Clark from the Fortress of Solitude and I decided to make a positive use for it. Plus, Kara sometimes tells me stories about her family and home."
Alex placed her hands on her hips with a smirk, "Well then, let's get started, shall we?"
Kara was in a better mood after Lena returned with a cast and medication, and not bleeding out on their bedroom floor.
However, she found that her girlfriend began to act weird as well, like everyone else who knew, and she found herself slightly disappointed.
Though, the Christmas party was only a few steps away.
It was something she could look forward to.
Snapper had called her in to work over time since she missed three days of her job, not that she minded, it served as a mediocre distraction at best, but it was a distraction that she still appreciated.
Kara clicked the door open and found her apartment empty.
She glanced at the clock.
8:30.
There was still half an hour to prepare.
But she was just so exhausted.
The blonde dragged herself into her dark bedroom and shut the door with a quiet thud.
At this point she was unable to control her breathing any further and crumpled to the floor, sobbing as the weight of her burdens finally crippled her.
"Kar?"
She flinched at the sound of her name, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes.
How could I be crying on Christmas?
Lena padded over to where the Kryptonian sat and took her hands into her own, thumbs stroking comfortingly on the backs of her palms.
Kara relaxed into her touch, but quickly pulled away when she caught sight of the cast holding the Luthor's frail arm.
Lena frowned, "I'm okay."
The blonde nodded feebly, as if to constantly convince herself of that, "Y-Yeah. Yeah..."
The party went without a hitch, the gifts were opened and everyone was enjoying themselves.
Winn and Mon-El were fighting over the last shot of their favorite alcohol.
"I'll buy you more!" the Daxamite groaned, pulling the glass away and pushing his other arm out towards the I.T. man's chest to keep him at bay.
"But I want it now!" he pouted.
Mon-El made the mistake of looking into Winn's eyes and conceded, "Fine."
"Yay!" he cheered, but when he reached for the shot, it was teasingly pulled away.
"What's the magic wor–"
He was cut off when Winn gave him a long peck on the lips.
Mon-El was slightly dazed and confused from the action, which the shorter man took advantage of and swiped the drink away, downing it in one gulp.
The alien chuckled happily, "You could've just said please."
"That's no fun," Winn giggled.
"But I like it when you beg," Mon-El winked, chortling at how his boyfriend's face reddened even further.
Lucy, James, Lois, and Clark were chatting up. Though it was a bit tense between the Lanes, James was able to desensitize it with the help of Clark's awkwardness that resulted from his discomfort between the sisters' unspoken problems.
Kara rested on the couch with Lena's warm body comfortably draped over her, legs entwined as she stroked the raven hair.
However, J'onn was unable to attend due to his position at the D.E.O., nor did he actually want to and jumped for the chance to cover for Lucy when she expressed her desire to go to the party.
Cat was spending time with her two sons, Adam and Carter.
The blonde whispered, "Where's Alex and Mag–"
"'Kay, bitches!" the detective shouted, bursting through the door with Alex carrying an object in tow, "Time to open gifts!"
Clark tilted his head, "But we already opened them."
Maggie gasped, "Oh for fuck's sake. Seriously?" then whipped around to glare at Alex, "I told you we shouldn't have stopped the car to–"
"Anyway!" the agent interrupted with a nervous chuckle, cheeks slightly tinted pink, "This's for you, Kar."
She glanced tenderly at her little sister and placed the box on the coffee table as everyone gathered around.
The blonde sat up with her girlfriend, looking for a tag, "Who's it from?"
Lena smiled, "All of us," then placed her supple lips against Kara's forehead, slowly dragging them down to her cheeks before reluctantly pulling away.
The Kryptonian lifted the lid and gasped at the sight.
The device was spherical, barely bigger than her hand, and on it was carved several Kryptonese phrases and had her house's symbol emblazoned on the front.
Maggie scratched her head, "Sorry we couldn't, um, exactly wrap it. It was barely finished before Christmas and–"
"It's a prototype," Lena interrupted, "If it has any problems, just tell one of us and we can all fix it for you."
"You mean," Kara started, "It's not for decoration?"
The Luthor chuckled, "No, but I'm sure you would've been happy if we gave you a stick instead."
She pouted, "How dare you."
The heroine twisted the object around, surprised at its strength against her superhuman grip.
"It won't break, it's made from the most indestructible metal known to humankind," Winn stated, leaning back against Mon-El's chest as he rested his chin over his hobbit of a boyfriend.
"What does it do?" she inquired reaching to touch her family's house of arms.
Lena gripped Kara's forearm with her good hand, "Not yet. This device connects with your brain, which I'll explain the science for later. I just...I don't want you to be...alarmed at what it does, so..."
"I'm prepared," the blonde smiled genuinely.
Lena returned the expression, clasping her fingers over her girlfriend's, "Together then."
She guided their hands against the symbol.
Kara gasped, shaking her head, and a pair of strong arms caught her before she could fall to the ground.
"Are you all right, darling?"
"You should be more careful, you've always been...well, not really aware of your surroundings."
She froze, snapped her head back, "Mom? Dad?"
The blonde let out a tearful sob and pulled them in for a hug, "I've missed you guys so much."
"We have too, and we're finally reunited all thanks to your mate."
A familiar chuckle resounded behind her, "Sorry, Kara, they're A.I., so I'm still working on making them more...life-like, for lack of a better word, but crafting Krypton's and your solar system's likeness was perhaps the easiest part."
The blonde's tears blurred her vision, but she still managed to find her way to Lena to tackle her into a fierce hug.
"So, you like your gift?"
"I love it. These A.I.s are a million times better than at the D.E.O., I can actually hug them!"
"Then I'll leave you to it then, I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do."
"But I want everyone here," she pouted.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought that you'd want some alone time–"
"I want everyone to be here with me," Kara repeated, grinning.
Lena smiled, "I'll be right back then."
She dissipated and her consciousness returned to the real world.
The Luthor looked at everyone, "She wants all of us there."
The group linked arms in a circle and were transported back to the artificial Krypton.
Kara squealed, still in tears, "I love you guys!"
She pulled them into a group hug, "And I don't have to worry about crushing any of you!"
The gang sat down in what used to be the blonde's former home, sharing stories here and there with each other, and much to Alex's and Lena's delight, Kara's parent's reactions actually seemed very...alive and real.
And much to Mon-El's delight, Winn notified him that they constructed the same device for him as well and they shared a tender, loving kiss.
Clark burst into tears when he was surprised to see his own parents materialize and interact with him and glanced at Lena, who confessed that she might have taken the liberty to add them as well, along with Astra.
"Lizrhom raogrhys vot zehdh, zhaol, chao bysh."
Kara cried at Lena's near-perfect accent, even Clark teared up, and the three shared a knowing look.
"Stronger together."
Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.