Honestly, Scarlet wasn't quite sure if her Master was playing dumb or was just trying to subtly tell everyone how important they were to her, how they were all her family.
Fifteen thousand years since she met the first Master Danvers and her Master was still painfully awkward when trying to convey her true feelings. She had mastered quite a lot of skills over those years, but never the art of just speaking plainly what she really felt. Her Master was honest, sure, but also ridiculously awkward about her own honesty.
Fifteen thousand years and only barely one-fifth of it was spent being with Master Danvers. Barely was an over exaggeration, but let's say it was accurate. Majority of those years were spent in immense, inarticulable pain as her soul clawed and ached to be reunited with she who holds her heart in aeternum.
Those agonizing years where her Master was seemingly lost, if not for a singular driving force, a goal, if one must: to keep the human realm separate from the demon realm. All so that Master Danvers will always be reborn in a place where there is always hope. It didn't have to be a perfect world. It didn't even have to be a peaceful world. So long as there was hope, the Master knew she could find a way to keep Master Danvers safe.
For if the residents of the demon realm found a way to come back, all hope would be lost.
Scarlet watched as her Master half-heartedly tried, and gloriously failed, to convince Master Luthor and young Master Danvers that they should rethink joining Master Danvers in the demon realm. And now, Scarlet was not sure if her Master was deliberately trying to be dense, or was she not aware that this was still part of her compulsion?
Then again, that would make a lot of sense, too.
After all, her Master had a skewed view of what family really was, what it truly meant. She never grew up with a family, not in the real sense anyway. With all her talk of familial traditions, Scarlet guessed that her Master was not aware what that word truly meant for people who grew up with a family, regardless of the level of functionality that family had.
The eldest child of the Lord of the Purebloods, Scarlet's Master was born of royalty and was raised to be royalty, with none of its perks. When Scarlet was given as a gift to her Master, so many years ago, Scarlet was mildly surprised to find a lonely, single-minded creature of focus and commitment—a far cry from what people thought of spoiled royalty. Her time was consumed by lessons in politics, war, and the art of killing with impunity. She was taught to be determined, ruthless, and unrelenting. All her Master had were orders, objectives, all of which she executed with deadly precision. She had no goals, at least not for herself. Not until young Master Kaneh. But that was a thought for another time.
There was never any talk about love, compassion, joy, kindness, or even the wonders of being a child. These things, the first Master Danvers would eventually teach her…for which Scarlet would forever be grateful.
Now, Scarlet mused. It seemed that her Master had unknowingly stumbled on the mysteries of what real family was. Her Master had correctly surmised that she had to bring her wife to the gathering, of course. Scarlet suspected that her Master did not fully understand that family meant she had to bring Master Luthor and young Master Danvers too.
But it was not Scarlet's place to meddle in such lessons. This was something her Master had to discover for herself…even if it did take two humans and one Kryptonian for her to learn.
Scarlet was a loyal servant, her Master's shadow.
Kara was calm.
She shouldn't be. She should be anxious and jittery, but she was not. She was calm. She attributed most of it to the fact that Lena was seated beside her, her left fingers intertwined with Lena's right. Lena was studying some complicated-looking charts on a heavy tablet. She had earlier assured Kara that she was more than capable of studying these charts with just one hand, so long as Kara was holding the other. This brought on a wave of relief and warmth that Kara wasn't quite ready for. She blushed. And so that was how she had managed to hold on to Lena's hand as they waited, seated inside the DEO conference table.
Alex was three minutes away, no doubt Taja or Shadow just behind her, and Kara could hear Director Henshaw and her cousin, Clark, walking towards the conference room.
When they entered, Lena was the first one to stand up, her fingers still firmly intertwined with Kara's.
It did not escape Kara's notice that Clark was looking pointedly at their hands but did not say anything.
"Superman. Director Henshaw." Lena did not move to shake their hands but gave them both a polite nod. Kara was familiar with this Lena. This was distant Lena, guarded Lena. It dawned on Kara then that Lena was relying on Kara to keep her calm as much as Kara was relying on Lena to do the same.
She was, therefore, grateful when Clark walked towards her to give her a half hug. "Hi Kara." Clark muttered into their hug before separating and sitting beside Hank, on the other side of the table.
She smiled a small 'thank you' kind of smile to her cousin, which Clark returned with a knowing look and a slight grin. This way, Kara did not need to let go of Lena's hand…which was now becoming an anchor for her.
"I'm sorry I'm late." Alex said, looking slightly flustered, as she entered the conference room, with no Shadow or Taja in tow. "There was a bit of a delay in processing the last aliens Supergirl brought in earlier."
"Not a problem, Agent Danvers." Hank waved the apology off. "You said you had something to discuss with Superman and me?"
Alex nodded. "Not me, actually. Shadow?"
The telltale hiss of Shadow's portal was the only sound that could be heard inside the conference room for a good two seconds before Shadow emerged. Kara could see the interest spark in Clark's eyes.
"Superman, I want to introduce you to Shadow." Alex began as soon as Shadow's portal had closed.
Shadow smiled as she slightly bowed her head towards Clark. Whereas Lena's nod was curt, Shadow's felt more gracious, as if it was almost an honor for Superman to meet Shadow.
"Shadow has been helping us out on our missions when we are a bit shorthanded. But mostly, she has overseen Supergirl's training." Alex continued.
"Beat me to a pulp every day, more like." Kara couldn't help but mutter with a mock eyeroll, which earned her a smirk from Shadow.
"And you're all the better for it, just ask the last alien you brought in." Shadow answered.
"Anyway—" Alex interrupted. "—before we begin, I want to thank Superman for coming all the way here on such short notice."
Kara watched as Alex turned to Shadow who nodded and pulled a chair for Alex to sit.
"In the interest of full disclosure, Alex Danvers and I agreed that I should do this in my human form."
It was still fascinating to Kara whenever Shadow phased to Taja. Shadow would become blurry, out of focus around the edges and in the next second she was Taja. It was as simple as that. No fancy lights or smoke and shadows.
"Hello, Clark Kent. My name is Taja Cunningham." Taja began.
"Lena figured it out when I told her who I was. Taja…well she just knows pretty much everything." Kara hastily added when she saw the fleeting panicked look that crossed her cousin's face as soon as his name was mentioned.
"Thank you, Kara Danvers." Taja said, nodding at Kara before continuing to explain their current situation and plan.
Kara was staring at Clark and Hank who were both quiet until Taja finished with "…and all in all, it should not take more than one week."
"Hold on—" It was Clark who found his voice first. "—I'm sorry but this just all seems incredulous. Do you have any proof of this history you have with Alex?"
To Kara's surprise, it was Lena who answered Clark.
"We do, actually." And still with one hand on Kara, she opened a file on her tablet with her other hand and slid the tablet across the table. "Those are scans of Taja's journals. I have taken the liberty of carbon dating the older ones and the dates on the journals significantly matched the result of the carbon dating. If Taja permits, the DEO can run their own independent tests, but all of it will be off the records, of course. The translation is still rough as Taja and I have not had time to work on a translator. We have both been rather preoccupied."
There was something about the way Lena said 'preoccupied' that sounded, at least to Kara, both delicious and hot. It sent an involuntary blush to Kara's cheeks.
"And if that's not enough, I can always allow J'onn J'onnz to scan my memories. Although, as I have warned him before, there are nightmares in my head that can be quite… traumatizing… to put it mildly." Taja offered and Kara could see the visible discomfort on Hank's face.
Clark chuckled. "Vampire Diaries…"
Kara wanted to laugh and saw Alex try to hide her laughter in a sudden fit of cough. But then Kara saw the look of confusion on Lena, Taja, and Hank's face.
"It's a YA novel that got eventually picked up for a show about a vampire—" Clark began but sensed the atmosphere and waved it off. "—you know what, never mind. Please continue." He gestured at Taja.
Taja did not miss a beat and continued. "If it were just me and Scarlet, the entire trip would take about three days. However, since we have two humans to cloak and a Kryptonian, the trip should take five days. And this is the amount of time we are asking for you to help watch over National City while these three are gone."
Hank cleared his throat and clasped his hands together. "And what about the rest of your kin? How are you going to protect Alex, Kara and Lena from them?"
Kara watched as Taja's face, already gravely serious, turned somber. It was the same look she wore when she was talking about family traditions over dinner.
"There will be no one else there, save the five of us."
"But you said it was a gathering of your kin?"
"Indeed, and I am the last of my kin." Taja's words were hollow and dead.
Kara felt the gravity of those words hit her more than she thought it should. She finally understood why Taja always looked somber when talking about family. For the longest time, she and Clark thought they were the last of their race. She knew how lonely it felt, how it felt like you could never truly belong anywhere.
And somehow, as before, Director Hank Henshaw managed to say the absolute worst thing he could have possibly said. "Well, don't despair. I thought I was the last of my kind too. And so did Kara and Clark. But recently, we managed to find Martians and Kryptonians. It is entirely possible that you still have kin hidden somewhere."
And he sounded genuinely hopeful too.
Kara saw it before she felt it, a slight tightening of Taja's fist and suddenly the room was oppressive, heavy and suffocating. Kara could practically feel the air around them vibrate. Taja had phased to Shadow and her markings had crawled up from her arms to the top of her neck and on to the half of her face. Her eyes were dull and red. And when she spoke, her words were clear and deadly.
"I had two and a half millennia to make sure that is not possible. I had two and a half millennia to hunt down the very last ones and kill them. Do not speak to me of despair. I do not weep for my kin."
Kara saw the markings crawl delicately, slowly now, like vines threatening to take over Taja's other shoulder until Alex stood up and grabbed Taja in a tight embrace.
Kara knew that at that form, Shadow would have quite easily killed them all. But it was also the first time that she had seen exactly what power Alex had over Shadow…and it was overwhelming. The first moment of contact, Kara saw the an almost instantaneous change. The markings receded in one second and Shadow had phased back to Taja…the only measure of rage left were that Taja's eyes were still red and trained on Hank.
But what interested Kara even more was Lena. She was not at the very least surprised by all of this. Kara's hearing, almost always attuned to Lena's heart, perceived no change in her heartbeat. And the hand that held hers did not so much as move or twitch. Exactly how much did Lena know about Taja?
Alex murmured something so soft, even Kara had a hard time hearing it, and Taja visibly melted under Alex's embrace. She buried her head in the nook of Alex's neck and breathed deeply before slowly detaching herself from Alex.
"We're good?" Alex asked softly.
Taja nodded and stepped back. When she opened her eyes, they were back to their usual amethyst ones, but the edges were still bleeding red.
"Apologies for the outburst. But as you can see, this is a rather sensitive subject for me. All my kin are compelled to attend this gathering and I have been attending on my own for quite some time now. Thus, I assure you, there will be no one else there, save the five of us."
"I'm sorry, but I cant quite let go of the fact that you killed all of your kin…" Clark said warily. "I don't want to judge you. I'm sure you have your reasons, but unless we know them, how can we trust you with people we care about?"
Taja inhaled sharply and was about to answer when Lena called Alex.
"Alex? Do you mind if you take Taja out until I call you again? Perhaps it would be safer for all of us if I take over the explanation from here?"
Taja stared at Lena and Kara wondered what the stare meant. It wasn't hostile but there was an edge there that Kara could not place. Alex, on the other hand simply nodded, and tugged on Taja's hand, leading her out of the conference room.
In some form, Kara understood the power dynamics between Taja and Alex. It was pretty much the same with her and Lena. Except Kara wasn't easily capable of destroying Earth and its surrounding systems on a whim, and Taja was. It was therefore quite impressive that a single look and simple tug could bend Taja's will so that whatever she felt was redirected and all that would be left would be this need to make Alex happy, to comply to whatever Alex demands. And Alex has learned to wield this power completely.
As soon as they were out of the conference room, Lena began speaking and was back to "business Lena" mode.
"When Taja's father died, the mantle of the Master, basically the king of all the vampires, was passed down to Taja. At the time, Taja was considered still too young. Some of her kin thought that the title should have been passed to her father's brother. It created a rift in their kind and for a few years there was uneasy peace that settled over their lands. Until, that is, the next Blood Moon gathering. Those that supported her uncle killed everyone there that supported Taja, but Taja was late in coming and when she arrived, the slaughter was over."
There was an almost clinical quality in Lena's voice that unsettled Kara.
"She mentioned two and a half millennia earlier. That was how long it took for her to track down her uncle's supporters and kill them one by one. They knew Taja was powerful that's why they had made themselves scarce. But she was decidedly even more powerful when she was unhinged. The Blood Moon would not show up for two and a half millennia. And when it did, sure enough, the last of them, her uncle, showed up and she killed him then. Unfortunately, it was also the final nail on Taja's hope that someone else, anybody else, had survived. Nobody came. It was going to be just Taja from then on."
There was a heavy silence as Lena finished her story.
"You asked me before how much I knew about Taja. I'm going to ask you the same thing now, Lena." Kara said, breaking the silence that had fallen on the four of them.
"I am still studying her language. All that I know are snippets of things she has written from before she met Alex. Her language is a little bit complicated and it takes time to study. Why?"
"And you didn't tell me this because?"
"I'm sorry, darling. But it wasn't my story to tell."
"But you just told us..."
"You have super hearing. She does too. If she did not want me to tell that story, she could have stopped me. Surely you understand that right here, right now, I am the most vulnerable of all of us. But she didn't…she just needed someone else to tell her story now. I would have thought that you of all people would understand exactly how painful and traumatic losing your family is. Except that in the end, you didn't actually lose your family, did you? Not entirely, anyway. But she did."
Kara watched Lena's face, searching for any reason to doubt her but found none. When no one seemed capable of speaking, Lena continued, this time addressing everyone in the conference room.
"The Blood Moon gathering is a social event, a mark of belongingness for a clan that seemed intent on being hermits. It was the one time in every so many years that they actually come together and celebrate being a family…imagine how that feels for someone who had half her family murdered and the other she executed herself. On top of that, she is compelled to risk the life of the one person she cares about the most just because she couldn't not go. Do you all understand the stress this is putting on her?"
"I concede that Alex has to go, but why do you want to go, Lena?" Clark asked.
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious. I am. It's what makes me excellent at my job. But the greater part of this is that she is family to me, too. And I won't live as long as her or Kara, nor would I be resurrected like Alex. This maybe the only time I can support her and be there for her like real family would."
And Kara finally understood. She had always known that beneath the stone-cold mask that Lena always wore was a heart that deeply cared about people, no matter how much thick or high the wall she had put up for herself.
Despite that almost-argument they had, it did not escape Kara's notice that Lena did not let go of her hand. And perhaps that was what relationships were truly all about. Never letting go of each other's hands, no matter how rough or shaky things are getting.
In the end, and with an understandable amount of reservation, Clark and Hank agreed to cover National City while Alex, Kara and Lena were gone.
Afterwards, the four of them decided to meet up at Taja's penthouse in a few hours as Lena insisted that she had a few more things to take care of before she was free to leave.
Kara flew Lena to their apartment and as soon as they had landed, Lena turned around to kiss Kara deeply. It was only out of sheer necessity, being that humans needed oxygen, that Lena had to, regrettably, pull away.
"You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired of kissing you." Kara murmured lovingly, her head resting on Lena's forehead.
Lena hummed, her heart soaring a million miles in the sky. "Hmmm. Good. Cause I really want to do that as often as we can every day for the rest of our lives."
"Sounds like a solid plan." Kara agreed, flashing that smile that always made Lena's knees buckle and her heart clench.
Lena buried her face on the nook of Kara's neck and sighed happily as Kara wrapped her arms around Lena's waist to pull her closer.
"I'm sorry, Kara."
Lena felt Kara shift but did not say anything. Add that to the already long list of things that Lena loved about Kara. She knew when Lena needed to talk. Kara could ramble on and on, but she always had a knack for shutting up and just listening when Lena needed to say something…and the silence between them now was comfortable. It was Kara's invitation. Still with her head buried, unable to summon the strength to look at Kara's piercing eyes, Lena continued.
"I have always lived in a morally ambiguous world. I grew up with sharks and wolves and lions, all threatening to devour each other at the first sign of weakness. Playing things close to my chest has just always been the best way to go. I learned to compartmentalize my feelings and priorities, to make little boxes in my head and store whatever emotional baggage I had in them. I just didn't think that I would also be compartmentalizing you."
Lena could feel something in her chest slowly unclench, like a tightly wound up chain that was just now releasing its hold on her.
"I realized this earlier when I saw that look of shock on your face. How could you have known that I was working with Taja and collating her memories, her journals? I never told you about it. It didn't seem so important at the time. I realize now that that's what I do. I compartmentalize and shut people out. It seems so wrong given that Taja never even asked me to keep it secret. It was just a thing we did on our spare time. And I…I'm a shitty girlfriend for keeping things from you, when you are always so open and honest about everything…even things you know I would worry about. I'd like to change that part of myself."
Lena felt Kara's smile more than saw it. It was perhaps in the way she exhaled and inhaled, Lena couldn't be sure. But she knew Kara was smiling long before she looked up to stare at Kara's eyes, and found nothing but love and understanding.
"No more secrets then?" Kara asked.
Lena thought for a second. "I cannot promise with absolute certainty that I would never keep a secret from you. After all, I like surprising you. But maybe, I can promise you that whatever it is that I'm keeping secret will always come from a place of love. Everything else, no matter how mundane or boring or dark or painful the details are, will be open to you. In fact—" Lena reached for her mobile phone and fiddled with it, still within Kara's embrace. "—there we go."
Kara looked at Lena, curious. "What did you do?"
Lena smiled and kissed Kara deeply before muttering, "I hacked into the DEO and got your biometrics. Registered those in my security mainframe which means you now have unfettered access to my phone, my laptop, and everywhere else that needs my thumbprint or eye-scan to access."
"You know you could have just asked for those from me, right? I mean, I'm right here."
"Yes, I know, but I wanted to impress you and also admit to you that I can, in fact, hack a government black site using nothing but my phone."
Kara shook her head before laughing out loud. "You…you really are amazing."
"Oh you should see what I can do in bed." Lena replied with an all too serious look on her face.
It would take another four hours before Lena and Kara would 'finish' whatever it was that they needed to 'finish'.
When they landed on Taja's apartment, Lena was mildly surprised to find Alex alone, curled up on Taja's massive couch, nursing a scotch and watching Netflix.
"Where's Taja?" Lena asked.
Alex shrugged. "She's been avoiding me since we got back from the DEO. I think she still feels guilty about losing it. So, she's been moving in and out of her portal, arranging something in the guest bedroom but she wouldn't look at me, nor would she let me in."
"Do you want us to talk to her?" Kara asked.
"No. I have learned to give her time. That's all she ever really has." Alex answered, but Lena could hear the painful truth of what she said, not sure whether Alex was aware of it or not.
"And Scarlet?" Lena asked, diverting the conversation.
"In the guest bedroom with her"
A door opened somewhere and Taja padded slowly towards them, a proud but anxious smile on her face.
"A few things, before we begin. We cannot take anything from this realm to mine. Not a single thing. Second, we have prepared a bath for all three of you in separate guest rooms. In due consideration to Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor, we had to procure a bigger bathtub to fit you both. We need you to thoroughly scrub yourself as well as you can, to remove any smell of the human realm. The waters in the bathtub and the adjacent bins were all taken from a spring near my home. The bathtub and all the accessories you will be using were also all taken from my realm. In the same rooms, you will find the clothes you will be wearing for our trip, and the cloaks you will need to securely fasten on you at all times."
"Once you are done with all that, we will cross the gate to my realm."
The guest bedroom where Scarlet led Kara and Lena was stripped bare and lit by strange looking candles and lamps. The curtains were drawn for privacy and in the middle was, for lack of a better term, a mini-pool. It was square, could easily fit six people and about as high and deep as a normal bathtub, except it was made of stone that closely resembled obsidian, if a bit duller. To the left of the 'bathtub' was a wooden table, that Lena guessed was made of wood that was not from this realm. It had an odd purple sheen about it but otherwise looked like a normal table. It held a few towels, some folded clothes, all in white, and a pair of deep black cloaks. Lena noted how it seemed to absorb the light around it.
She turned to Kara who was just taking everything in and was gingerly playing with the water.
"The water's warm." Kara murmured.
"I can't believe I'm about to undress you again." Lena said with a grin on her face.
"The two of you better not have sex in there. The walls are thin and it is the last thing I want to hear right now" Alex shouted from the other room, which set off laughter from Kara and Lena.
"We'll try to keep it down then, but no promises." Lena shouted back, slowly unbuttoning her shirt for Kara's viewing pleasure.
"Luthor, I swear to god if I hear so much as an untoward sound from the both of you, I will string you up and hang you, upside down, naked, from Taja's balcony."
"Untoward?" Lena teased. Her blouse gone, she walked languidly towards Kara who looked like she suddenly had difficulty swallowing.
"You know what I mean, Luthor."
"I'm not sure I do." Lena smirked and leaned toward a grinning Kara, who finally caught on and captured Lena's lips. It's not that she wanted to moan that loud on purpose, but the way Kara was exploring her mouth, the way Kara's tongue was almost massaging her own…the moan was completely involuntary and set off something in Kara.
"Oh. My. God!" But Alex's protest sounded off and into the distance as Kara's hands travelled from Lena's neck, stopping briefly to unclasp Lena's bra, then continued down to gently but firmly grope both her ass cheeks.
"If you two don't stop, Kara Danver's face will be all that I will be hitting during training sessions for one whole month." Taja finally said, calmly, from the other side of the room.
"Fine," grumbled Kara, much to Lena's disappointment.
To say that Lena enjoyed the feel of the fabric she wore was an understatement. It moved like silk, felt like vicuna wool, and looked like cashmere. It was light and comfortable and pristine in its whiteness. Going by Kara's face, she enjoyed it just as much, if not more so. She couldn't stop running her hands over Lena's arms, feeling the fabric over and over again.
The top was long-sleeved, collared and buttoned just below the neck, and the pants were loose and flared. Even the soft footwear was white.
"Taja! Can I keep these?" Lena nearly squealed in delight as she burst through the adjacent room.
Taja's grin was back but she shook her head. "Unfortunately, they don't last very long here. Something about the harsh conditions of this world runs them down. I tried before. But I'm glad you liked them. Because I have six pairs of those packed away. Unfortunately, they are all you can wear, plus the cloaks."
"Okay, but can I keep the cloak?" It was Alex who asked this time. She emerged from the other room with what looked like a form fitting, deep black cloak, its hood down. There were silver specks in its lining that twinkled like little stars in the darkest night.
"Yes, the cloaks you can definitely keep. But you will not see its full effect until we are in my realm."
The room was suddenly silent as Taja snapped her fingers. A soft golden glow filled the room as a portal opened.
Scarlet appeared in gray smoke beside Shadow as she gestured to the portal.
"Shall we?"
A/N: Ugh finally. Done with this transition chapter. And on we go.
^_^'
Oh and uh…If you know any really patient beta readers. All of this has been done with no beta so like and English is not my first language..I need help!
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