Dear Diary,
This life is not easy. It's hard work. Today I had an aching desire to 'assess' the fusion cycle I assembled for one of my projects. But no, I have to study every day and lately father has enrolled me onto one of the most gruelling fighting classes in the city. I barely have any free time if any, and when I do my father forbids me from 'interloping' with any males. Yesterday I was with Kor-Vul studying in the great public library when my father came looking for me. He warned that members of the Science Guild, more so members of the House of El shouldn't be so openly mingling with the Workers.
Shame really, Kor-Vul is a very handsome, polite and intelligent male; he would make a great scientist if he had the chance. He loves science and his dream is to be an artisan of some sort. But he told me that his father, his grandfather and his great grandfather all the way to the earliest Vuls worked in the deep-core mines so abiding by the birthing matrix he must follow in their footsteps when he comes of age.
It's moments like these that it's evidently convincing that the segregation we impart is because of a fear of change rather than the "Paramount Social Efficiency" my teachings tell me that Krypton and Kryptonians strive for.
I remember a week ago when uncle Jor-El presented his findings that Krypton would explode. His findings were completely dismissed as heresy and Uncle Jor was stripped of his position. I understood why the council did so, Uncle Jor is a very radical thinker and it was only a matter of time when one of his proposals went too far in the Council's eyes.
Still, I am thankful to Rao for the life we lead. We want for nothing and we are not endangered. I just wish my family spends more time together instead of devoting so much of their time to the work we do. I understand that research and development is important to Krypton, but we are already one of the most advanced races in the galaxy and it wouldn't hurt to have some time for fun. Uncle Jor and Aunt Lara together with my parents have barely been out of the laboratory lately; they're feverishly working on something and even I'm not allowed to lay my eyes on it. They said it was important and no-one must know of it. Oh well, it must be a contract commissioned by the High Council for our house must complete in order to regain some credibility.
Tomorrow I will get to look after my little cousin Kal for a whole day, exciting! He doesn't say much though, he just eats a lot. How in Rao's name can a baby eat so much?! Then afterwards father will finally show me what he has been working on with Uncle Jor. That I am not looking forward to very much. I have had enough science for a week.
-Kara Zor-El
The sleeping body opens her eyes, immediately her surroundings are alien to her. But it still looks Kryptonian to her. She sees that the walls are white, not the grey she usually wakes up to. Her sleeping blanket is not over her. Intense white lights are beaming down above her and she tries to move her arms to try and look for anything to put over her eyes. To her dismay her arms are restrained to the bed she is lying on. She looks around, this is definitely not her bedroom, there are screens all around her and wires are stuck to parts of her body.
"NO!" Clark shouts at the top of his lungs, "I'm coming! Just hold on!"
Clark starts running faster and faster, but the meteorite seems to be increasing speed with every stride he takes. "Mom! Dad! Please! Don't!" Clark can almost touch them with an outstretched hand, he can see their happy faces. Jon is watching TV and Martha is making a nice pie…
Too late, a flash of white light then everything is gone. Clark falls to his knees and the tears threaten to fall. In his head, he hears a faint thud, he concentrates his senses on this intriguing staccato. A minute, maybe two. The beat increases every second and he discerns what it is. It's his cousin's heartbeat, it's the fastest it's been since she was here.
Kara saw an attractive-looking black-haired young male sitting on a chair next to her. His eyes are closed and he must be sleeping. She has never seen this man before and her blood is pumped to her extremities. Where is she? Who is this man? Why is she being monitored? Why is she tied to the bed?
She was supposed to be babysitting her little cousin Kal-El today. She put him to sleep an hour ago but from the looks of things she must've been kidnapped or something horrific of that nature. Oh Rao! Where is Kal-El?!
Her instincts took hold, it was either fight or flight and Kryptonians can't fly. With all her strength she tries to free her arms. To her surprise, the restraints on her wrists buckle and snap and she can move her arms again. She pulled herself up and proceeded to rip off the wires on her body and the other pair of restraints on her legs.
Clark quickly realised that Kara is waking and snaps out of his nap. That was as much sleep as he's had for days; sleep is something he desperately needs but he staves it off as much as he can because of the unforgiving nightmares that attack him. He opened his groggy eyes and adjusts them to the light. He saw Kara on the bed, she's up and she's launching herself towards him.
Kara moved fast to head-butt the man in the nose. She pins the man to the floor with her knees and puts a firm hand on his throat. "Who are you?!"
Clark is taken by surprise, it's the first time he's ever felt a chokehold and he hasn't even woken up fully yet. "I…I…I can't-" he barely croaked.
Kara didn't give him a chance to plead his case, Kal-El might be in grave danger. She released his throat to give him two pile-driving hits to the ribs, but it was like hitting a steel wall and her knuckles redden in pain. "Owww! Where am I?! Who are you?!" She demands.
Clark is in a tight spot here, he can't say anything due to his not knowing what to say and he can't understand anything Kara says. And he knew that Kara might hurt herself if she tried to punch him harder. He tried to bat off her arms but she easily pulled a reversal on him, turning him on his stomach with his arms roped behind his back.
Kara's normally contained temper was threatening to spill, this man won't answer. "Rao help me I won't ask again, who are you, where am I and where is Kal-El!" she shouts at his ears with gritted teeth.
Clark heard his Kryptonian name at the end of the angry sentence. Finally, a breakthrough! He used his strength to push Kara off him and gets up to his feet. Kara once more launched herself at him but he takes hold of her wrists and puts her in some sort of bear hug.
"Let me go! Fiend!" Kara struggles to free herself. "Kal-El!" she calls out in a cry, "I'm coming!"
"Chill Kara! Kal-El is fine!" Clark says as he looks at her with a calm expression that hopefully can cool her down.
Kara registers the names coming off the man's lips and stops her struggling. She needed to know where Kal is, where she is and this man can't speak without a pulse. Kara would get him to spill then she would exact revenge if need be. There is no mercy when anyone endangers her family.
Clark lets her free and immediately puts his hands above his head in a gesture of surrender and gingerly moves towards the command console. Kara's eyes were trained on all his movements and her body was coiled to strike. Very very slowly, Clark presses a button on the console and turns on the holograph projector.
Lara is the first to appear, "Kara! You're finally awake! How are you?" she asks in relief.
Kara is caught like a deer in headlights. "Aunt Lara! Where are we?! Who is this man?! I can't find Kal-El." she frantically blurts out after she collects herself.
Lara realises that the crash must've had an effect on Kara's memories.
"Kara, calm yourself. It's clear that you have some sort of memory loss."
"Memory loss?! What do you mean? What happened? Is Kal-El alright?"
"Everything will be explained, just take a deep breath." Lara says as Kara starts to hyperventilate.
Clark, despite the initial shock of meeting his cousin for the first time finds the situation oddly bemusing. He can't understand a thing they say but he's slightly amused at Kara's outward reaction. He realises it will some time before everything becomes clear to Kara and he takes the chance to sit back down on the chair and rest his eyes.
It's been half an hour now of Kara and Lara talking. Clark noticed how Kara's facial expression became more and more distraught as Lara explained the details to her as the conversation went on. He didn't know which particular parts they were touching on but when he noticed Kara's blue eyes seem to glisten over that's when he thought Lara was explaining Krypton's demise.
After some more talking, Lara walks over to Clark with Kara in tow. "Kal, this is your cousin. She doesn't understand English but she wants you to know that she's very sorry for attacking you."
Clark gave a smile, "That's okay. No harm done anyway," he assures as Kara looked to Lara for a translation.
"He says not to worry." explained Lara in Kryptonian. "Why don't you offer the gesture I taught you?"
Kara stretches out an open hand to offer what Lara termed a 'handshake'. It was a gesture of greeting she explained. Krypton didn't have such customs so she found it a little strange. Clark shakes her hand and introduces himself,
"Hello Kara, I'm Kal-El."
After some meaningful seconds the two cousins finally broke the handshake. Clark tried to start the conversation first, "So uh, how are you?"
"I'm fine." replied Kara as Lara translates the dialogue between them.
"How was your trip?"
"I don't remember a thing."
"Oh, umm…"
Awkward. Clark gave the back of his head a rub as Kara looked down pensively at the floor. She remembered their earlier meeting and she's still coming to terms with the fact that the little child she cradled is now a grown man.
"You're strong." Kara commented.
"I know." replied Clark. Suddenly it came to him, Kara is like her and she too will be developing the gifts he has the longer she spends time on Earth. "Are you feeling anything weird about yourself at all?" He asked with concern.
"Not particularly, but I seem to see brighter and feel stronger. Apart from that I'm fine."
Clark sighed in relief, he mentally gave himself a pat on the back for suggesting the Antarctic since it is deathly quiet here. He used the crystals to erect a settlement of some sort which thankfully blocked out any outside noise, otherwise Kara might faint from when her senses get finally assaulted.
Clark turned to Lara, "How long do you think before she starts, you know?" he asked as he looks over to Kara.
At this point Jor appeared at Lara's side again, obviously to say something scientific. "Kal, I estimate it would be a week before the powers that you have start to manifest themselves in Kara, but she will not be as powerful as you in all respects."
"Why?"
"Kara was not a free birth, her genes are optimised to be a scientist like the rest of us. She will need to adapt to the environment of Earth since she didn't grow up here." he explained.
"I see."
"She will need help when she finally develops her abilities."
"Of course," Clark acknowledged. He remembered the time when her deceased mother came to school and helped him get through the fit he had. "I'll be happy to help her."
"Excellent," Jor agreed. "And you can take this an opportunity to familiarise yourself with her."
"What's she like? I mean when she was on Krypton?" he asked.
Jor seemed to ponder for a second before answering. "Kara was always a shy and modest girl. She was very talented of course, but she seemed to be aspiring for more than just being a scientist. And she always was eager to see you, it's as if having a baby cousin brought out a side of her that she only kept to herself."
"She doesn't seem very open," Clark observed, "a bit reserved maybe."
"That's a personality trait all Kryptonians share, we were very repressive with our emotions because we saw them as unnecessary."
Jor's words hit home with Clark. Even when he grew up on Earth as a human he had a lot more in common with Kryptonians than he thought. The loss of his parents and home hit him hard, and he pushed down all his emotions as a defense mechanism. But what about Kara? She's lost all that she's loved too, and her home is just as destroyed. Furthermore, her memory loss must've accentuated the shock of it all. What turmoil she must be going through right now. Clark was surprised at how good she kept control of herself all this time; one day you're a teenager and the next you wake up and everything you knew is gone. He knew from first-hand experience what living through that was like. Yes, he had a lot more in common with his cousin than the everyday human.
"Kal?" Lara asked,
"Yeah?"
"Kara wants to learn English, can you give her some time to grasp it before speaking to her again?" she requested.
"Uh, sure." Clark said, he doesn't know how long it'll take her but he's slightly disappointed that he won't get to talk to his cousin for a while despite the lingering awkwardness between them. "How long will she take?"
"Approximately an hour." Lara responded.
"What?!" gasped Clark, "An hour?"
"Yes," Lara nods, "she is an El after all." she stated with pride, mildly amused at Kal's reaction.
An hour?! Seriously?! Clark knew Kryptonians were smart but an hour to learn a new language was on some other level. He was expecting a few weeks but an hour? Woah he thought to himself.
Clark took the opportunity to take a two hour-long nap, to his surprise there were no nightmares this time. He was woken from his nap by a strange voice,
"Kal-El?"
"Huh?"
"I've finished learning your language." Kara said to him.
Clark blinked upon hearing Kara speak English for the first time, "How long did it take you?" he asked quickly.
"47 minutes according to the timepiece. I took the rest of the time learning about Earth's history."
Clark raised a bemused eyebrow at her, her accent was very intriguing to say the least. "Where did you learn English from?"
"English is originally from medieval England correct?" she explained as Clark nodded. "So I adopted their dialect and mannerisms in speaking the English language." she said with a very convincing Tudor-slash-Victorian accent.
Clark couldn't help but break out into a smile and chuckle; his Kryptonian cousin sounded like Queen Elizabeth!
"What is it that you find amusing?" Kara asks.
"Nothing." Clark said with a wry smile.
"All right."
Clark snorted, he found the whole irony of an alien girl speaking like Juliet Capulet so amusing.
"Kal-El, what is it that you find so humorous?" Kara asked with irritation.
"Nothing!" he said through giggles.
"Kal-El!" she demanded.
"All right all right," he conceded, "I just found your accent slightly strange."
"Care to explain why?" she asked with her arms crossed.
"It's just, I don't know, it's just out of place."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for once we're not in England." he argued.
"But the landmass we're on is not a part of any sovereign nation, so it would be logical to adopt the articulation of those who invented the language." Kara eloquently countered. Clark thought her reasoning was very valid and sound, certainly very in-character for a member of an advanced race. But the novelty of it all was still there, and he once again broke out into a laugh.
"Kal," Kara warned, he noticed that her tone was becoming more menacing rather than annoyed. "Are you finding ridicule in me for who I am?"
Clark's face straightened up instantly. He realised that being logical is what Kara was brought up to be like, she was programmed to be blunt and calculating and it was very hard for her to override that given what she learnt lately. He needed to apologise. "I'm sorry Kara, I just didn't expect it that's all. I didn't mean to offend you." he said sincerely.
Kara's face softened at his apology, there was something in her cousin's demeanour that made her feel relaxed. Maybe it was because she's never met someone who wasn't always straight-faced and forthright like all Kryptonians were. "I suppose I could change the accent to American, or French. Even Greek maybe, it said in one internet article that when men find women with an exotic accents such as Greek they are allured and aroused. Much in the manner of how in the animal kingdom peacocks are drawn-"
Clark cut her off. "No that's fine, really. You can keep the English accent, just tone it down a little. Make it more modern maybe?"
"I'm not sure as to what you propose?"
"I mean like make the accent more up to date and less obvious, surely there are some media that you can use to you know how," Clark struggled to explain what he meant. "Basically what I mean is to make it seem like you're from England and not from Shakespeare."
"I'll try." she offered. "I'm sorry about Jonathan and Martha Kent." she said remorsefully. Lara told her of what happened when she arrived and she felt guilt at being the reason why it happened.
Clark was moved by her apology, he assured her, "It's alright, it was an accident, wasn't your fault." He tried to keep the conversation going, "What was all that stuff about Greeks and peacocks though?"
"When I was trying to understand the concept of accents and their inflection I came across this piece of writing that highlighted the reaction of Western males regarding females from other parts of the world, such as Greece. The article didn't elaborate further but I think this behaviour might be explained that on a biological and psychological level it might be due to the glamour effect of female Greek mythology characters such as Helen of Troy, the goddess Aphrodite and such on a male's selection process."
"Oh." Clark muttered. Not for one second will he ever doubt his cousin's scientific credentials. He can't argue with her either, he's never met anyone out of Smallville except for Kara and he had to admit someone exotic could be attractive to him. "Did you have accents on Krypton?"
"No, we did not." She informed him. "It was a very uniform society. It was much less 'multicultural' than Earth." Clark wondered what it must be like living in a society where you couldn't make a difference because you were part of a system. "What was it like?" he further inquired with a soft voice.
"It was," the memory of her last coherent days in Krypton came to her mind "it was restricted and I felt as if we could achieve more if we tried to change. Your parents tried to spearhead that philosophy but," she faltered; suddenly the impact of the loss of her world came to her again and her voice choked on her throat,
"It doesn't matter now, that world is gone."
Clark saw the barely contained pain return to her eyes. He knew what he had to do, he drew close to her and pulled her in for a comforting embrace.
Kara, taken aback widened her eyes in surprise and her first reaction is tense up and push Kal-El away, but she doesn't.
Kal at first can't fully rationalise why he jumped to hug Kara instead of saying something humans would like 'I'm sorry for your loss'. But he remembered how he saw sadness flash in her eyes as Lara talked to her and now the sadness was back. It was the same look he had in his eyes when he last looked at himself in the mirror; the look of someone who's lost everyone they've loved. He knew why he hugged Kara now, it was to silently offer comfort and condolence to someone that is obviously in sorrow.
Somehow he felt that mere words of condolence wouldn't be able to carry the same power that a physical embrace would and he hoped a hug could express his sympathy. He was never used to open and verbal expressions of emotion and Kara never knew how to. But he remembered how Jor and Lara offered him the same comfort and he was very grateful for it; it was very moving for members of an emotionless race to show empathy like they did. He's just merely showing the same kindness to someone who needs it.
Over the past few weeks, Clark trained himself to never show vulnerability as long as he could help it. It was just too painful to do so; it was the reason he broke up with Lana even when her heart was so open to him. But with Kara it was different, he didn't feel the pain he felt for himself. He felt pain for her. In a way she was also the last of her kind, the last Kryptonian female in the galaxy. But now she was just his cousin who's lost all everything she had except for him. He felt compelled, obligated and duty-bound to try and offer her comfort because he can, and it would make him feel good if he was able to do so.
"Kal?" Kara asked mid-embrace.
"Yeah?" he said as he pulled away.
Kara never knew what this was like, this open sharing of feelings. The most she ever had close to this back on Krypton was a diary that she only kept to herself as an outlet. But that didn't mean she didn't appreciate what he did. He did it because he can. She barely knew Kal, but he never hesitated to make her feel loved. It was what Krypton lacked, it was what she always longed for in her family.
She looked sincerely at him with those blue eyes of hers and in Kryptonian said softly, "Thank you."
Kal-El didn't understand what she said, but he didn't need to. He knew what she meant.
A/N: I didn't plan on Clark and Kara's first meeting to take a whole chapter. Right now they're all they have and I felt the need to create a strong bond between them. In canon Kara is a Red(rage) Lantern and she and Clark don't exactly treat each other like close family. I'm not going to write them like that, N52 is dark and depressing enough as it is. I know the story has seen Clark undergo heartbreak but I think he needs to understand pain and loss before he takes up his mantra and before he finds happiness. Speaking of dark and depressing, check out the selfie cover of Superman/Wonder Woman #11. It's adorable.
