Chapter - 25
"Mon-El, are you okay?" Kara asked, reaching to grab his shoulder.
He simply looked up at her and nodded. Pulling himself up on his feet, he kneaded his forehead and blurted out, "Kara, I love you."
Kara's eyes widened hearing that. This was not what she was expecting to hear from him.
"But…" he started again. "I'm not in love with you. I'm sorry, Kara. Since I've woken up from the coma, whenever I see you, I see a little girl. I see the little girl I met on Daxam. The one who was chasing a dragonfly in the gardens." His lips twitched as he said that. "The little guy I took riding on Aermy. And all I want to do is protect you, Kara. My feelings are messed up. And I don't know, I just… I just feel so helpless."
Without saying a word, Kara moved closer and hugged him. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "I'm so sorry," he muttered.
"No, don't apologize." Kara pulled away and gave him a small smile. "Things have changed after your blood bond with Kai, haven't they?"
Mon-El nodded. "At least this way Kai wouldn't be rude to you all the time."
"Oh, we are sort of getting along now."
"You are?" Mon-El smiled brightly. "Also, I don't know why I was so mad at him earlier. Things are suddenly… making sense, Kara. When Kai was banished, he was put on trial and I could have gotten him out. But something happened to me, I just don't remember anything clearly after the lunch I had with my parents one day; the same day Kai didn't dine with us. Things have been so blurry, but I feel Mother is doing all this because she doesn't realize what she's doing. Maybe I could talk to her."
"About that," Kara started. "Your mother was here earlier. She asked me to convince you to meet your parents."
"Did she now?" Mon-El let out a sigh. "I guess I can have a word with them. But first, I need to apologize to Kai. I was so rude to him. And now that things are making sense, I was the only one who could have stopped that banishment. I failed my brother."
Kara moved closer and wiped the stray tears that slid over his cheeks. "Hey! Don't be so hard on yourself. I know Kai doesn't blame you for what happened. Also, I think maybe you need to give it some time. Talk to him after you are feeling better. Let him calm down?"
Mon-El nodded in understanding. "Hey! We are okay, right? Kara, I really don't wanna lose you. You were my first Kryptonian friend, both on Daxam and on Earth. I know things were different before the blood bond but now I—"
Kara cut him off by shaking her head. "Mon-El, trust me. I understand how you feel. And yes, we are okay. You will always be my best friend and I will always love you. That's never gonna change. And whatever we are feeling now, maybe we will figure it out soon. Okay? So please, don't be so hard on yourself."
Seeing him nod, Kara leaned closer and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Pulling away, she said, "I need to get to CatCo., to get some work done. I'll see you later?"
"You bet." Mon-El smiled before pulling her closer and kissing her head as he gave her one last hug.
Finishing work that evening, Kara headed home, got changed and went out to get some groceries. It was around seven in the evening when she got back home. To her surprise someone was standing near the window, looking out.
Her heart raced when she saw Kai turn around. "Hey!" he called, moving towards her. "Sorry, I let myself in."
"Hi, it's okay." Kara gave him a quick smile before hurrying into the kitchen. "Would you like something to drink?"
Kai shook his head. "No, I just… I came here to talk to you about something important."
"I wanted to tell you something to," Kara said, kneading her forehead lightly. "It's about Mon-El."
Nodding, Kai said, "You go first."
"No. No. You obvious want to say something more important. You go on."
"Fine. This is about my father," Kai began. "He's not safe up there. If Rhea is serious about taking Mon-El back to Daxam, then it could only mean one thing; she wants to make him the king. And Mon-El cannot be King unless my father gives up his title or worse… dies."
Kara's eyes widened hearing that. If the King was not safe, there was no way she could let Mon-El go with his mother. "What do we have to do?" she asked solemnly.
"I need to get on that spaceship and bring my father back here, keep him safe. Before that, he needs to take the potion I made for Mon."
"How? It was easy to get it to Mon-El, but your father…"
"I know." Kai started pacing around the room. "I know, this isn't going to be easy, but I also know my father isn't safe up there." Letting out a loud sign, he finally turned to face Kara. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
Kara took a seat before looking at him carefully, wanting to see his reaction. When she saw Kai urge for her to go on, she nodded and said, "Mon-El told me that he loved me today."
She had expected shock, but what she got was disappointment. Kai looked disappointed, sad even.
"And what did you say?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest.
"That I love him too." Kara saw Kai sigh and turn away. "But he said he wasn't in love with me. That he saw me as the little girl he met on Daxam. And I told him that he would always be my best friend and I'll always love him."
"This is all happening because of the blood bond," Kai said gravely. "Mon-El was in a hurry when he performed it and I was too strong when we bonded. We messed it up. I'm sorry. You have no idea how horrible I feel about this."
Kara gave him a small nod. "Look, I don't understand what is happening. I know I will always love Mon-El. But I don't hate you, in case you are wondering."
Kai's lips twitched hearing that. "And I don't think I'm capable of hating you either, Kara Zor-El. A lot has changed."
"I'm glad. At least this way we can work together." She held out her hand for him to shake. "Let's start over? I'm Kara Zor-El of Krypton. Like you, I'm a refugee on this planet."
"Kai-El Gand of Daxam. But I go by Kai Parker now." He shook her hand with a smirk. "Because it sounds cool!"
"Typical Kai!" Kara giggled and mock-slapped his chest.
Just as these two had been chatting, they hadn't realized Mon-El had gone up to the spaceship again and had asked his parents to leave. His father looked heartbroken, but Rhea was furious.
"That Kryptonian girl has poisoned you," Rhea had yelled at him.
Mon-El flinched lightly. His mother thought he wanted to stay back for Kara? Yes, she was part of the reason, but not entirely. She didn't deserve to get all the blame.
"I'm done being your prince. You should leave this planet and never return," he said before asking them to send him back.
Once Mon-El had returned to Earth, he headed straight to the bar. To his surprise he found Kai near the counter, talking to M'gann about something. When he sensed his brother walking in, Kai looked up. Mon-El's eyes looked blood red as if he had been crying. Without a word Kai got up and held his arms open for his brother.
"I'm sorry, Kai! For everything! I let you down on Daxam. You have no idea how horrible I feel." Mon-El held onto his brother tightly. Scared that if he let him go now, he would disappear forever.
"Hey! It's okay. It wasn't your fault. Something was added to your drink, Mon, back on Daxam. That was why you weren't able to think straight." Kai moved away and patted his shoulder. "I gave you an antidote today."
"No, you didn't. We didn't talk after—"
"Kara did. The bottle of water she brought for you? It had the cure I made. You have no idea what we found at the Fortress of Solitude. An underground chamber! There was a box, a potion making kit belong to the Dars."
"The Alchemists?"
Kai nodded. "Kara asked me to have it. And all the ingredients were available at the Fortress."
"Who could have done this to me?" Mon-El asked as Kai led him to a booth, gesturing M'gann for two drinks.
Sliding in, Kai replied, "Not just you. I remember Father couldn't defend me as well. It was a simple potion to confuse your minds. I think it was Rhea who did it."
Mon-El looked down sadly. Despite all the proof laid out in front of him, he was still having a hard time believing his mother would do something so cruel to Kai.
"Mon, I need to get the cure to Dad!"
"But you can't go up there, Kai. I went there just now and told them to go back."
Kai's eyes widened hearing that. "Why the hell would you go back there alone, Mon-El? Are you out of your mind?!"
"I'm sorry. Mother was at the DEO earlier and asked Kara to get me to talk to them. So I did just that."
"And you told them to leave? You do realize Father's life is in danger as long as he's with her?"
"Kai, I had no idea Father was not well like me. If I had, I wouldn't have asked them to leave. And knowing them, they would still be hovering up there."
"You boys okay?" M'gann, who had just reached their table, asked. When she saw Mon-El give her a feeble nod, she placed the drinks on the table, patted his shoulder and walked away.
"What do you suggest we do?" Mon-El asked Kai, who shrugged with a sigh.
"I suggest we sleep on this. Figure out what is going on. Anyway, I spoke to Kara earlier. What happened between the two of you?"
"I think the blood bond went wrong," Mon-El confessed. "I know I love her, but it just feels different… A part of me still loves whatever we had in the past. But a part of me sees the little girl from Krypton, and I want to protect her so bad. It's really hard to explain, Kai. How do you feel?"
Kai cleared his throat before taking another sip of his rum. He ended up chugging the whole thing before speaking, "I don't hate her. I'm still not a fan of the Kryptonians, but I don't hate Kara Zor-El. Right now I don't even want to think about this. I just want Father safe and with us. If Rhea agrees to leave without him, that would be good. If not, we have to do something."
Mon-El was unable to reply. He knew very well what Kai was talking about. What exactly he was planning to do. He was worried about their father too, but he didn't know if he was strong enough to stand up against their mother.
A/N: Well, well, well... A confession, but not really! :) Do you think the boys will be able to save Lar Gand?
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