Minor warnings for a panic attack at the end, nothing in depth or bad, but enough that I don't want anyone to read it unaware.
Just a note because I realized after a comment that I never specified, Superman does not exist in this story. It didn't really work for the AU, so I didn't try to force him into it. Kara and Astra are the only ones who escaped, and later chapters will explain how Kara managed to get free of the Phantom Zone.
Everything is too bright when Astra lands on Earth, and for a moment it's enough to distract from the crushing sense of loss that had hit her as soon as she'd been released from stasis. The warmth of the yellow sun in the sky is foreign and unsettling, but she knows she'll adjust eventually. That's why they'd chosen Earth in the first place, for the edge the young sun will give them as they struggle to find a place on a world so unlike their own.
The need to prepare for Kara's arrival keeps the grief at bay for the next few weeks, Astra knowing that time travels differently when dealing with intergalactic travel, and that she can't expect her niece to be right behind her. It's better this way, she tries to convince herself. The time here without Kara will allow her to secure a stable environment for the two of them as they deal with their loss, before they make this world their home.
But when days turn to weeks and then months, Astra begins to worry. Even if Kara's pod had hit a disturbance in space time, it shouldn't have taken her this much longer to make the trip to Earth. Even so she forces herself to avoid panic, rationalizing that if such a thing had happened, it could have altered the landing coordinates locked into the pod's system. Perhaps Kara had landed elsewhere on Earth, and all Astra will have to do is find her.
Her new powers, while a struggle to adapt to, help her with the search. She does not go unnoticed, but nothing on this planet can harm her, and what care does she have for the people here when Kara could be lost and confused, in need of her presence?
Eventually she realizes she can use these humans, can enlist them in her search. She does not offer details, only the vaguest of information. She does however offer a reward, one of the few things she can give to the people of this world without first taking it from them. To the person who brings her Kara, she will give a full and complete interview of who she is, what her history is. It's a reward worth more than money to some, and she knows that those who care only for the money will gladly sell the opportunity to the highest bidder. She doesn't care about that, doesn't care who she tells the story of her lost planet and all the souls lost with it. She cares only for Kara, wherever the child is.
The next months of imposters clamoring for her time strain her patience to the breaking point, and eventually she reveals another of her powers to them, scorching the ground in front of the latest pretenders and sending them running. She would have killed them for daring to believe they could fool her into forgetting Kara's smile out of a deep need to have her niece near again, but she knows enough by now to hold back from that. Even if killing them would be satisfying, it would be wrong, would set the whole world against her. She may be immune to damage on this planet, but the humans have been surprisingly creative in the past, and she can't risk them finding a way to imprison her. Not when Kara could still arrive at any moment.
After the near attack on those trying to fool her, the number of answers she gets to the ad dwindle sharply, until eventually Astra hides herself away from the world, flying across its surface in careful patterns that eventually devolve into random loops, always searching for her niece. She will not, can not rest until she knows Kara is safe, even if she spends an eternity searching.
X
There is a brief moment when Kara regains consciousness that she remembers the entirety of her life before this moment. When the loss of her family and world presses down on her, when the horror of the Phantom Zone wraps around her chest and makes breathing difficult. And then her mind simply shuts down, pushing the pain and all the accompanying memories away. It's safer to forget, to allow herself a new start.
As she sits up, she wonders for a second at the people around her, not knowing who they are, or whether she should be afraid of them. At that moment she realizes she doesn't even know who she is, or what she's doing her. Her life is now a blank, and so she sits quietly, waiting for them to fill in the blanks.
"Can you tell us your name, sweetie?" the woman at the foot of the bed asks, and Kara doesn't know how to answer her. Her name is gone with her planet, with the rest of her memories. "Do you know your name?" the follow-up question comes at her silence, a frown crossing her face as Kara shakes her head no.
The rest of the questions follow a similar pattern, the woman asking as the man sits quietly in the background and the young girl stares at her with a blank look. Kara can't answer most of them, but slowly she relaxes and begins to trust these people. The woman in particular seems to pull her in, filling an ache in her chest that she barely notices against the emptiness that fills her.
They begin to call her Celeste when nothing jogs her memory, the teenage girl who Kara has learned is named Alex scoffing slightly when her father suggests it, earning a pointed look in return that quiets her quickly. And Kara knows it isn't right, the name never sitting properly in her mind, but thinking too much about it always makes her head hurt, so she learns to live with it. She can be Celeste Danvers, foster daughter of Eliza and Jeremiah, sister to Alex. That can be enough for her.
X
Kara slowly settles into her new life, slowly beginning to understand the world around her. She has times where everything is overwhelming and she just shuts down, but they gradually fade as time passes. Jeremiah manages to help her with most of her struggles, his comforting voice giving her something to focus on, a now familiar sound to cut through the chaos. She doesn't understand what's happening to her, why she's so different, but she feels like she should. As if there's something in her missing past that could explain. She just isn't sure she wants to know.
By the time she graduates college the episodes have mostly passed, faded into memories she rarely thinks about. It's easier to look forward, though she still isn't sure to what. Nothing feels right to consider, no career path stands out to her. Despite picking up her lessons with an ease that had left Alex jealous for months, nothing appeals to her. Only painting gives her a reprieve from the sense that she's drifting through the world with no place to call home, and Eliza hadn't been able to hide the doubt in her voice when she'd tried to be supportive of that option.
So rather than settle, Kara wanders. First just around their small town, then gradually into the city, searching for anything that can capture her attention and give her a path forward. She can tell Eliza doesn't approve of this either, but Alex had simply chuckled and told her to get used to that. "Mom likes things in nice little boxes," she'd said with a dark look that Kara hadn't understood at the time.
It's almost as uncomfortable to consider as the brief flashes of her past that used to come whenever she'd get scared and things would happen to her, so she pushes the feeling away the same as she always had, and resolves to always support Alex as best she can. They have to look out for each other, if no one else will.
Her wandering leads her to a small café on the edges of National City, the farthest from home she's ever been. But when she opens the doors, something about the air seems to calm her, the scents in the air familiar in a way that she doesn't understand. There's nothing strange about the smells, cinnamon heavy in the air along with a few other spices, but it speaks to her. It's not quite a sense of home, but rather that she's been here before, which she knows is impossible.
Still, she gets a table and places an order, already intending to stay for a while to soak in the comfort. This is the first place she feels truly comfortable, and while she doesn't see herself becoming a waitress with her weak arms and poor endurance, she can easily see herself as a repeat customer.
"You're in my booth," a cheerful yet slightly pointed voice startles her halfway through her meal, and Kara looks up in shock to see the most beautiful woman she's ever seen standing in front of her, hands on her hips as she looks down with a soft smirk on her face. "I've sat there for two weeks now keeping an eye on the idiot across the street, and today you're in my spot."
"You could always join me," Kara manages to say, though her delivery isn't as smooth as she'd have liked. Still, it seems to work because the other woman is sliding into the booth across from her, setting a pad of paper carefully on the seat next to her as she balances her cup of coffee with her other hand.
"I don't often share what's mine," the woman says with a pointed look, but there's enough of a teasing lilt to her voice that Kara knows she'll be sitting here tomorrow and probably the day after that, just to have a chance to talk to this woman. "But you seem decent enough that I think I can manage at least a few minutes."
"To be fair, I didn't know this was your table," Kara says nervously as she adjusts her glasses. "I'm glad I didn't though," she continues at the woman's sharp glance, glad when it softens into a knowing smirk.
"Well now you know," she says, arranging her notepad carefully where she can jot notes down without being obvious, glancing out the window for a moment before turning back to the conversation. "And you being here might be a good thing, I don't want anyone getting suspicious of me sitting here alone every day."
"I'm Celeste," Kara offers, the name sitting uncomfortably in her mouth for the first time in a long time. It's the only name she remembers, but something about this woman makes it seem wrong. She isn't even sure why.
"Cat," the woman offers in return, and Kara smiles a little, because it somehow fits her. "And before you say whatever ridiculous pun you have in mind right now, know that I will throw my coffee on you and expect you to pay for the new one." It's an empty threat, Kara knows that immediately, but she can also tell that Cat has heard enough of those puns to last her a lifetime, and she has no interest in pushing.
"Well, I would hate to stain my new blouse," she teases back, loving the smile it earns her. Cat's face, already gorgeous and more than a little distracting, is radiant when she smiles, and the soft laugh that slips out is one of Kara's new favorite sounds.
"I can't say I share the same hesitation," Cat says with an eye roll, and Kara looks down at her outfit with a pout. "You look like a kindergarten teacher in that outfit, you know."
"Oh no, children scare me," Kara says immediately, shuddering with unfeigned dislike. "They're cute enough, but I'm always afraid I'll break them somehow."
Cat's laugh is stronger this time, surprised out of her as she goes to take a sip of her drink, and Kara sees the look of panic cross her face as it begins to spill, heading directly for her notepad. It's obviously important to the woman, and Kara's body acts without her brain's permission, hand shooting out faster than the eye can see to grab Cat's mug and collect the coffee in midair, setting it back to the table without a drop spilling.
"Well, that's a talent," Cat says with a shocked look, and Kara knows she looks just as surprised.
"I don't know how I did that," she whispers, head starting to ache as she hears a voice telling her she will have great powers, panic settling into her stomach as she fails to shove the memory completely away. She's normal, she's Celeste, she doesn't have powers, or memories, or anything in her past to cause the crushing fear coursing through her veins. She doesn't want any of those things.
"Celeste, breathe," Cat is saying, over and over again, as Kara manages to come out of her panic, memories once more shoved into the depths of her mind where they can't hurt her.
"I'm okay," she whispers, catching her breath as she notes Cat has moved to her side of the booth and is rubbing calming circles across her back. She hates that she's managed to make probably the worst possible impression on the woman, and wonders if she'll have the courage to come back tomorrow as she'd planned.
"Yes, you're doing wonderfully. Deep breaths, that's it. Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Cat's voice is still worried, and Kara wonders at it for a moment, having expected the woman to make some excuse and leave as soon as she'd recovered.
"I was going to grab a bus home to Midvale," she says with a shrug, because while Eliza is happy to pay for her meals as she wanders aimlessly, she draws the line at hotel rooms when Kara has a perfectly good room at home.
"You're in no condition to be stuck on a germ ridden death trap right now," Cat says disapprovingly, earning a slight chuckle from Kara. "You can stay with me, I have a guest room." Her tone brooks no arguments, and Kara is too tired to make an attempt anyway.
If Cat has seen her like this and still cares enough to offer her a bed for the night, maybe she doesn't want to complain anyway.