DAY ONE – MORNING
Alex Danvers has always been fit.
Even in her more carefree, sort-of-rebellious phase, she had always been careful about her body, eating just enough, indulging only when she absolutely deserved it…like that time she ate a donut in the middle of the day because she was just figuring out she liked women. It was a whole other world of stress, so of course she deserved that donut.
Working for the DEO and fighting aliens several times stronger than her had forced her to always be on her toes. This meant that she had to make sure her body was always at its best shape. Hours at the gym and regularly sparring with the other agents made sure of this fact.
It was therefore disconcerting when, as soon as she stepped into the golden light of Taja's portal, she felt as if her weight had tripled. She could still stand, but the effort of walking, even the effort of breathing, was tiresome. It was as if her knees strained to support her weight and her lungs were constricted. The very act of standing beside Scarlet's shadow, waiting for Kara and Lena to pass through the portal, was taxing and she wished for her bed.
Alex barely had time to register her surroundings when she felt something scoop her up like a bride and begin running. In her head, she heard something echoing, a familiar voice, as they ran.
"Young Master Danvers, would you like me to carry Master Luthor as well? Or would you be able to keep up even with her? We will need to run quite a distance in order to avoid my Master's powers from crushing all of us."
Alex looked up and it was only then that she realized that the shadow she had been standing next to, that had scooped her up, and was now carrying her to safety, was, in fact, Scarlet. Except Scarlet, in what Alex assumed was her demon form, was like a smoky, obsidian cloud, with a stretched-out humanoid shape. She seemed like the same shadow one would have if one stood against the setting sun. She was lanky, but with a long torso, and could easily clear fifteen feet if she stood straight instead of always stooping down. Her head was nothing but a round shape, with two flaming scarlet orbs in place where eyes should be. She had no other features.
"Scarlet! You're a telepath?" Lena asked as she settled in Kara's arms.
"Of sorts, Master Luthor." Scarlet answered. She still had the same voice, but inside Alex's head, it sounded like Scarlet had been given a microphone with too much echo and bass.
"So, how long are we going to be running?" Kara asked. Alex could hear an unambiguous strain on Kara's voice as they ran.
"At our current pace, we should be safe in about thirty minutes. If you are comfortable to hasten a little bit more, young Master Danvers, we can perhaps cut that time in half."
Alex could swear she heard amusement in Scarlet's voice. But it was difficult to tell as Scarlet didn't have a face to begin with. She watched as her little sister held Lena closer to her chest and whisper something. It made the youngest Luthor smile as Kara turned to Scarlet and with a grin.
"Let's go faster, then."
Alex looked around.
There was nothing but idyllic rolling hills all around them as far as her eyes could see. They were running on a carved dirt path surrounded on both sides by green fields, punctuated by random patches of blues, oranges, yellows and purples. There were a few odd trees here and there and, in the edges, she could see the shadow of what looked like a mountain range. By all accounts, except for the difference in gravity, Taja's realm looked pretty much like Earth. It even had the same yellow sun set against a cerulean sky and a smattering of clouds.
It was evening when they left their Earth, but here, it looked like the sun had just risen. There was a cold and slightly damp nip in the air. The fact that Alex was being held by nothing but smoke and shadows should have made her worry, but there was this distinct knowledge in Alex's mind that she was held by the one other entity that Taja trusted…and Alex knew she would be safe.
It amused her to hear, for the first time, her little sister breathing heavily as she ran. Alex could almost see a slight sheen of sweat forming between Kara's brows, furrowed in concentration.
After a while, Kara's heavy breathing turned into full-on panting.
But Alex didn't have that much time to revel in the knowledge that Kara could actually run out of breath, because soon enough Scarlet started to slow down and eventually stop. Carefully, she let Alex down.
"Rao! Is this what exercising feels like, Alex? Why? Why do you torture yourself like that?" Kara said, in between gulps of deep breath. Lena was wiping Kara's brows with one hand, and rubbing lazy, comforting circles on her back.
"Fascinating what a little bit of added gravity and weight could do to a Kryptonian." Lena teased. Kara huffed but smiled anyway.
"What's the plan now, Scarlet?" Alex asked, preferring not to tease Kara as Lena was doing a fine job anyway.
Without a word, Scarlet extended an arm to the direction where they came from. Alex could no longer see the portal of course, but in the distance, she saw a bright flash of light. Immediately afterwards, she felt it.
It reminded her of what they felt in the DEO conference room earlier. But this was worse, much worse. Alex felt like the very air was being squeezed out of her lungs, like something crushing had just fallen on her chest and it was threatening to press all life out of her. Gravity worked against her and she fell to her knees, gasping, desperate for air that her lungs could not quite hold. She felt herself fading in and out of consciousness.
And just as suddenly as it started, it ended.
"What was that?" Lena gasped as Kara helped her up.
Alex took Scarlet's obsidian hand and pulled herself up, taking deep breaths as soon as she had straightened up.
"We were at the very edge of the reach of my Master's power. If we had been slightly closer to her, Master Danvers and Master Luthor would have died instantly. We wanted you to experience for yourself what my Master meant when she said the pressure alone from her powers would kill you. And she will have to consciously and consistently keep that power tempered within her while you three are here. Otherwise…"
Scarlet left her thoughts hanging. She didn't need to say it. They all understood.
One slip, one moment of weakness or distraction, and the three of them would die. This was what was stressing Taja out so much, and they had to experience it to understand.
It was just now beginning to dawn on Alex exactly how powerful her wife was. If her mere presence could wipe out humans several kilometers around her, Alex shuddered to imagine what she could do on Earth if she unleashed her full power there.
"Apologies for the wait."
There was no wait. Or it couldn't even be considered a wait since they spent the five minutes it took Taja to run to their side as time to recover their breaths and compose themselves. When she turned around, Alex found Taja in Shadow's form…but it wasn't exactly the Shadow they were familiar with.
On top of her dark blood red hair was a crown made of twisted metal vines, wrapping in and out of each other in a beautiful sort of chaos. Thorns jutted from the bottom of the crown and looked like it was painfully impaled on Shadow's head, securely fastening the crown. There was a terrible black sword protruding from Shadow's back. It looked like someone stabbed Shadow from her left shoulder, angled it down, and buried it to the hilt. If Shadow was in pain, she didn't look like it. She didn't even look like the sword bothered her at all.
But what fascinated Alex more than anything was the amount of scars Shadow had. She was wearing her usual black, sleeveless ensemble, and the scars on her arms and shoulders where visible and pale. It was perhaps only a miracle that Shadow's face was at least untouched.
"Whoa, Fangs, what happened to you?" Kara said, openly gawking at Shadow's scars.
"Don't look so surprised, Sunshine." Shadow replied. "I have been fighting most of my life, and every three hundred years, I enter a tournament to the death. I am bound to have scars."
"Don't mind Kara. I like your scars." Alex said, reaching out and tracing one of the longer scars on Shadow's arms.
"Now, who's being gross and cheesy?" Kara teased.
"Nice crown, Taj." Lena said, grinning widely and doing a mock curtsy.
Shadow grinned in return, her sharp fangs showing. "That's High Lord Taja to you."
"We should get going. I would prefer that we get there while there is still light so you all can settle and rest." Shadow said after looking around.
"So how are going to do this?" Alex asked.
"I should have asked if any of you were allergic to fur." There was a playful grin on Shadow's face, a kind Alex had never seen her do before. The kind of grin only a child would have if it had something hidden that it thought was fun and that perhaps nobody else will. And before any of them could react, Shadow put two fingers against her lips and blew out a whistle high, loud, and long.
It was almost as if the realm went still for a few precious seconds. There was a dead silence, as if even the winds stopped breathing.
And then Alex heard it.
The padding of heavy feet and loud panting. But it was Kara that saw them first.
"Puppies!"
Sometimes, Alex wondered how her little sister viewed the world. Her hope was almost always infallible, and she had the biggest heart of anyone Alex had ever known. For an alien, she placed more trust on humanity than humans ever did. Clearly, she saw things differently than most people… But the creatures that had streaked past them and were now turning back, decelerating, were not puppies. Not at all.
They were dogs, yes, wind sweeping moonlight colored, thick and shaggy fur. But they were also gargantuan.
They were bounding now, straight for Shadow whose hands were splayed in front of her, knees bent and ready, as if she was anticipating to actually catch the huge dogs that were hurtling towards her. Which was exactly what she did.
Both dogs bent their heads down, low enough so that each head hit Shadow's palms, dead center. They pushed Shadow a few meters back before all three of them came to a full stop. When Shadow released them from her grasp, the two dogs lumbered beside her and sat, one on either side, their heads turned to Shadow in full attention.
Shadow looked even smaller now beside the two dogs.
"This—" Shadow gestured to the one on her right, "—is Datu. And his brother Lakan. They are twins."
"Can I touch them?" Kara asked, barely hiding her glee.
"Patience, Sunshine." Shadow's smile was almost benign. Her childlike demeanor was gone and she was back to being a regal little god. "There is an order to these things." Alex watched as Shadow walked directly towards her, stopping only when she was a couple of steps away. With both eyes trained on Alex's, Shadow's voice sounded gentle.
"My friends, I would like to introduce to you my wife, Alex Danvers, the purpose of my life, the bearer of my heart and the better half of my soul. Guard her as you would me."
Now that they were mere inches away from Alex, they looked more like the pictures she saw of Holocene era wolves, with the exception that they were much more massive. They looked so similar except for their eyes. Datu, the one on Shadow's right had silver pools in his iris, while his brother, Lakan, had gold. Sitting beside Shadow, they fell just a little shorter in height than Scarlet. They had broad shoulders, thick necks, and ears raised up and alert. Four fangs, two at the top, and two at the bottom, peeked out from at the front of their snout.
They padded slowly, carefully towards Alex and sniffed her once, twice, before bowing, two pairs of canine eyes looking expectantly at her.
"They are waiting for you to touch them, Alex Danvers." Shadow said.
Slowly, carefully, Alex extended her hands placed them gently on top of their snouts. For a moment, Alex felt like her world stopped and all she could see were three pairs of eyes: red that looked at her with love and devotion, silver and gold that searched her whole being, as if the very fibers of her memories were being stretched out, challenged, and examined.
It felt like an odd and peaceful place to be in.
Eventually, silver eyed Datu retreated and padded back behind Shadow while Lakan stayed, his golden eyes still fixed on Alex, his snout still beneath Alex's hand. She stared for a moment before warily looking at Shadow, not knowing what to do. Shadow, on the other hand, had a curious grin on her face.
"That is interesting…" Alex heard Shadow breathed.
"What is?" Alex asked.
"I'm not quite certain yet. But it is interesting, to me at least, that Lakan stays." She said, her eyes now trained on the golden eyed dog.
"So…so, High Lord Fangs, can I touch them now?" Kara was almost squeaking with excitement behind Shadow.
Alex, Shadow, and Lena all laughed while Kara looked at the three, confused.
"I doubt Lakan will let you play with him, right now. He is still very much fixated on your sister. However, I must introduce Lena Luthor to Datu, first. Then we'll see if Datu wants to play with you."
Kara huffed again but said nothing. Alex watched, her hands still on Lakan, as Shadow turned around, with a giant Datu padding behind her and stopped in front of Lena. Lena, in pure Luthor form, looked slightly interested but mostly unperturbed.
"Datu, this is Lena Luthor. In my heart, she is my sister and I care for her just as much. I leave her to your care."
Datu's massive head bowed and waited for Lena's hand. Alex heard Lena gasp when her hand made contact with Datu's snout and her jade eyes suddenly became glassy and distant. She was still watching Lena interact with Datu when Alex heard a slight whine from Lakan, forcing her back to golden orbs.
"Wow, you're needy, aren't you?" Alex chuckled and rubbed her hand against Lakan's head. Lakan, in turn, laid down on all fours, looked behind him, then looked back at Alex expectantly.
"He's allowing you to climb on his back." Shadow explained, seeing the inquiring look Alex gave her.
"Hold on. So, Alex gets to ride Lakan and Lena goes to Datu…which means—" Kara was saying before Shadow cut her off.
"You are running. This is a perfect opportunity for you train and become faster." Shadow said, smiling. "In fact, I'll do you one better. If you can outrun Lakan or Datu, I will give you one day, from sunrise to sunrise, where I will completely remove my defenses and you can beat me to your heart's desire."
"Oh you are so on, Fangs."
By the time both Shadow and Kara had shaken on their agreement, Lakan and Datu were standing up, with their respective riders holding fast on their furs.
"Now, Sunshine…I can finally introduce you." Shadow said, a curious smile playing on her face. She turned to the two giant dogs and gestured to Kara.
"Datu, Lakan, this is Kara Danvers, my dear friend, my charge, and the keeper of my sister's heart. Treat her accordingly."
Alex felt strong muscles between her thighs bristle and twist as Lakan's head turned to Kara. Datu on the other side of Shadow did the same. Instead of bowing down, however, the two giant dogs stepped on either side of Kara, bent their knees, trained their heads low and parallel to the ground, and waited.
Shadow laughed.
"Well now that is something I have never seen before."
"What's happening?" Kara asked, suddenly uncertain.
"They see you as an equal, and a challenge. They are waiting for you to ready yourself to run alongside them, or to race them. Either way is fine. I suggest you do not disappoint them."
Alex saw Kara grin. "Lena, Alex, hold on tight. This is going to be fast."
The trip to Taja's home was unremarkable, and boring, if Alex was going to be honest. There was nothing else to see beyond the idyllic rolling hills and by the first hour of their journey, she had grown tired of it. She glanced over at Lena, astride, proud and straight on Datu's back. Her eyes looked like it was taking in everything, remembering every detail. She looked far from being bored.
Kara on the other hand was focused. She was neck to neck with Datu and Lakan and looked like she was enjoying the challenge, judging by the grin on her face. Scarlet was keeping up behind them and Taja was nowhere to be seen.
"Scarlet, where is Taja?" Alex asked.
"She had run back outside the borders of her province to feed, Master Danvers. She will not be feeding again until after we come down from the gathering, before we head back to your realm. Do not worry, Master Danvers, she is ever watchful of us. After all, all that is precious to her is here now, making haste to her home." Scarlet answered.
Perhaps because Taja had a steady supply of blood or those pills from Lena, Alex would sometimes forget what her wife was. She would join Alex for dinner and eat human food as well as a normal human being but admitted that it tasted bland and gave her no satisfaction. She preferred to drink scotch only because she liked the way it burned down her throat. Taja had made sure to always feed before meeting Alex or training Kara. Lena's pills made sure that Alex never had to see Taja actually drink human blood.
But now that they were in her realm, where the blood of demons, Taja had also admitted, was more nourishing but tasted far, far less appealing than human blood, Alex knew Taja did not need to keep blood stored in bags or pouches…and that perhaps she would witness her wife drink from other demons. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, to be honest so she decided to put it at the back of her head and cross that bridge if ever they get there.
Eventually, knowing that they were as safe as they ever going to be, and with the wind cool on her face and back, Alex fell asleep.
When she woke up, Lakan was lying on the green grass next to Datu who no longer had Lena on her back. The two dogs were both growling gently in their sleep.
Kara was sprawled on the short grass, asleep too but with a grin on her face.
"She collapsed of exhaustion when Scarlet told us we were here. She won." Lena explained when she saw Alex looking at her. She had an amused smile of her own as she sat next to Kara.
"Of course, she did. Where are we?" Alex asked, looking around. The sun was just past midway.
"Taja's home." Lena answered simply, her attention still on the contented sleeping figure of Kara.
Whatever it was that Alex expected her wife's home would be, this was not it. After all, Taja lived in a penthouse suite at one of the more expensive hotels in National City. She was also supposed to be the High Lord of this realm, so it was once again a surprise, but not an altogether unpleasant one, to find that Taja's home was a square, stone cabin, made of the most beautiful red and gray marble Alex had ever seen. Despite its color, it looked like it was glimmering under the afternoon sun. It sat at the very edge of a thick, dark forest.
Taja's home had no doors but instead had an open archway as its entrance. Its windows were perfect circular holes carved out of the marble at even intervals. It was plain, simple, and perhaps the most unsecure house Alex had ever seen, if she hadn't known who the owner of the home was. It had no gates, no doors, and all the windows were open.
She could see Scarlet's looming figure, literally sitting, cross-legged, on top of the marble house, her eyes trained towards the forest.
"Do you need help getting down?"
She turned to the familiar voice and saw Shadow standing behind her. Alex figured she could just slide down Lakan's smooth fur, but the thought of being carried by Shadow, and nestling her head in the crook of her neck, even for just a second, was too delicious a thought to pass up. So she nodded and smiled.
As soon as Alex's feet were firmly on the ground, Shadow moved beside Lena and offered to lift Kara's sleeping figure.
"Don't worry, she's much too tired to wake up now." Shadow assured Lena as she picked up Kara. "Follow me and I'll show you to your beds."
When they stepped inside, Alex was once again pleasantly surprised that the interior had bare furnishings. There were no paintings or sculptures, or shelves with baubles, and the walls were bare. The floor and ceiling were made of silver and white marble stones.
In the middle of the square home was a simple, wooden chair, paired with a heavy looking table. Alex could see scrolls, stone tablets, and interesting devices arranged neatly but covering almost the entire table.
In the farthest corner, there were piles of fur stacked on top of each other. On top of the stack of fur were sheets of cloth, the same white ones they were wearing.
"If I had known, ages ago, that I would be bringing people here, I would have made actual beds, and made my home look as if someone lived here." Shadow murmured as she laid Kara on the make-shift bed.
"It does look a bit empty, Taj. I'm guessing you don't stay here much?" Lena asked, settling beside Kara, and sitting on the fur bed.
"On the contrary, I spend most of my time here. I have just never seen the need for furnishings as I never really have visitors. Scarlet stays outside and Datu and Lakan prefer to sleep in the forest, under the trees. I don't have a dining table because I don't have conventional meals. There is, however, a bath in the basement and a shed in the forest nearby where I do some of my research." Shadow answered.
"I think I'll join Kara with her nap. Do we still need to wear our cloaks here or-?" Lena tugged at her cloak.
"You can take it off as long as you are inside my home. If you want to wash up, the bathroom, as I said, is in the basement—" Shadow pointed to a corner with what looked like stairs going down. "—you should be able to figure out how things work from there. Feel free to use all the amenities there."
"Thanks, Taj. Although, I think I'll just remove the cloak and take a quick nap, for now." Lena said, pulling herself out of her cloak. She folded it neatly and placed it beside her. As soon as she stretched herself beside Kara, placing her head on Kara's shoulders, Kara automatically moved and draped her hands around Lena's waist. Not a second after that, Alex was watching Kara and Lena as they slept, content in each other's presence.
"I wonder if we look like that when we sleep." Alex said softly.
"You like sleeping on your side, your head tucked just below my jaw. I lay all night feeling your breath down my chest and it feels like the warmest, safest place I can ever imagine. It feels like home, Alex Danvers."
Alex searched Shadow's eyes and found love. She wondered if she will ever feel things with the same intensity Shadow does. It's not that she didn't feel anything for Shadow. She cared for her. She liked her, that much she was certain. But love…
The problem was that Shadow has never actually asked Alex to love her. All Shadow has ever asked for was the opportunity to love her, to take care of her, and for Alex to accept this love. And she did.
"Would you like to join them, or would you like to walk around with me?" Shadow's voice broke Alex from her thoughts
"I think I'll go join you for that walk."
Outside, Scarlet was still sitting on top of Shadow's home, still watching the forest. The sun was behind her, slowly climbing down, so that Scarlet looked like she had a halo on the edges of the deep darkness of her head.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is Scarlet?" Alex asked as they walked along the forest edge.
"Scarlet is an ancient entity, older than my father and his father. Older, perhaps, than this forest. They live in deep mountain caves and dark forests like this. We call them Ghosts, but not in the same way humans see ghosts. See, Scarlet and her kin, they feed on the memories of the recent dead. She's mostly harmless, at least that's what most of us think of them."
"How did she become your servant?"
"It's a long and convoluted story. But basically, she was captured, and bound to become a servant. She was then sold from one demon to another until she landed in the hands of one of my kin, who thought it would be funny to give her to me as a gift."
"Funny?"
"Well, a secondhand servant, who did not even know how to fight or hunt, wasn't really fit for the heir to the throne. At least that's how my father saw it. But I've seen her and know better. After all, most of her kin do not wait for someone to die to feed. They bring death with them"
"That's…yeah. And the two dogs?"
"Lakan and Datu are this realm's version of wolves, but much smarter. They live in complex packs and need quite a bit of land to hunt. Their parents gave them to me when they were much smaller in exchange to be allowed to hunt in these lands. I refused, but the two pups had already grown attached and followed me everywhere. I felt too bad, so I gave them permission to hunt anyways, making it clear that their sons are free to leave and are not bound to me in any way…And speaking of attached." Shadow gestured to their right.
Alex turned and found Lakan staring at her, his golden eyes fierce and focused, while he padded alongside them, keeping a respectable distance.
"I'm starting to suspect that I'm irresistible to demons." Alex chuckled.
"…or you're just irresistible." Shadow answered, a shy smile on her face, making Alex blush.
Alex and Shadow spent the next few hours gathering food and supplies.
While they gathered, Shadow explained that while she thought the idea of bringing Alex over to the demon realm was something she did not want to consider, she had also prepared for it—sort of. Over the years, she had experimented on which fruits and meats from the demon realm were safe to eat for humans. She did skin tests first, then ate them in her human form. If she didn't get any negative reaction, she would forward with human testing. The taste though, was entirely based on her human subjects for even demon food tasted nothing to her.
She shyly admitted that there were some humans that had gotten sick, but that they were well compensated for, as a way of apology. Eventually, she had narrowed down just enough fruits, vegetables, and methods of cooking meats that were not just edible but tasted well enough for humans to eat.
All the while, Lakan stalked and followed them so that Shadow was forced to make him hunt for specific kinds of meat. When he came back, an hour later, he had more than enough meat to feed a Luthor Charity Gala. It earned him a vigorous pat on the head by Alex which emboldened the giant dog to step closer as they walked back home.
They were at the entrance of Taja's home when Scarlet, Lakan and Datu (who was waiting in front of Taja's home), and Shadow all suddenly and simultaneously looked down the road where they had all earlier come from.
Without another word, Scarlet jumped down and was suddenly standing at her full height. The two dogs were growling, fangs showing and hair standing on end, their eyes focused on something distant that Alex couldn't see.
Shadow, on the contrary, was calm. But when she spoke, Alex heard a voice that she had never heard before.
It was commanding, still, but left no room for questions or doubts
"Alex Danvers, I need you to listen to me and to listen to me carefully. I need you to go inside and stay with Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor. Wake them up and instruct them to wear their cloaks. Once that's done, I need you to stay in your beds and not move or make a single sound. You have five minutes. Go now."
Alex wasn't quite sure why, but she did as commanded and woke up a disgruntled Lena and a snoring Kara. Shadow followed Alex soon after but was not looking at any of them. Instead, she sat at the lonesome chair in the middle of her home, behind the table filled with scrolls and folded her hands in front of her. She looked different. She looked like…a king. At least more so than usual. She looked taller, more stately, more focused, and colder.
There was no warmth, no love, nor any filial devotion on her red eyes.
This was High Lord Taja, absolute ruler of the Demon Realm.
"You ask for death by coming here, unannounced, my lords. This better be worth your lives."
A/N:
Hi Sorry for the delay. My brain refused to function for a few days. This entire chapter is written in Alex's perspective because I decided I just wanted to make life that much harder for me and stick to one POV in this chapter. It was a bit challenging, but at least now I know I can do it. I have another fic planned and I was sincerely thinking of doing it entirely on one POV.
Anyways, so this is the first half of Day One.
A bit of an introduction to Taja's realm, a little bit of a tour of Taja's home, and a peek into the life of the High Lord, all seen through Alex's eyes.
Except Taja's, who's POV would you like the second half of day one to be written on?