Oh my goodness, you all are the best and sweetest! Thank you so much for the beautiful reviews and encouragement! It makes me so happy!
I think there's probably about 2 or 3 more chapters on this story. And I have an idea for another story... and I think I'm going to need your help on some decisions about it. I definitely don't have everything figured out but here's what I'm thinking: Kara + Alex as kids in the foster care system. One big thing I need help deciding is whether or not Kara will be Kryptonian or if it'll be even more AU and she's human. Let me know what you think! What can I say - I'm a sucker for AUs!
This chapter is a heavier one so hopefully I can update soon with a happier one! Also I totally made up some stuff about Kryptonian culture lol. There's only so much information the internet has to offer on the subject.
Again, let me know what you think of the AU idea and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
The city was louder than anything Kara had ever experienced.
Coming to earth, her pod had landed in a desert. Astra had taken her to a place far from humans. CADMUS had robbed her of her hearing.
But here, the city was full of noise: cars and trains and people talking, laughing, crying, dogs barking, things clattering... Every sound possible was here, coming from everywhere and pouring over every second of every moment..
Kara had the feeling she could get lost in such a sea of sound. And perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. When memories had crept too close these past couple days, the distraction was welcome.
Yet nothing could distract her from the man that now stood before her, his hair slightly windswept, her family's crest hugging the curvature of his broad chest.
Kara hadn't wanted to believe Alex when she had told her that Kal-El was alive. She had denied its possibility, continued to deny it up until this very moment.
But now a stranger gazed at her with her father's piercing blue eyes from a face that held her uncle's chin and her grandfather's nose.
Joy and grief battled for her heart and in the midst of her warring emotions, she willed the overwhelming noise of the city to fill her mind so that she could retreat into its chaos.
Kal-El was alive and she had missed his entire life. Her only living family did not know her, did not even know his own culture, could not offer comfort in this foreign world but rather would forever remind her of what was lost to both the fire of Krypton and the void of the Phantom Zone..
A gentle pressure on her hand brought Kara back to the moment and she turned to look at Alex, who had taken her hand.
"You don't need to do this right now," Alex murmured softly, despite them both knowing that Kal-El had the same super hearing that she did. "We can do this later."
It was as if strength somehow flowed from Alex's grasp and Kara shook her head.
"Now is the time," she assured her sister. "I am alright."
Before them, Kal-El stepped forward, closer, opening his mouth to form a word, "sejehb." He ducked his head as he spoke, the word coated with an accent she had never heard linger on her language. Yet she felt a small burst of joy to hear him speak in their native tongue.
"sojehb," Kara kept her expression neutral. "ehrosh :bem."
"ehrosh :bem," he repeated back to her before pausing, a sheepish expression apparent on his face. "That's a big chunk of the Kryptonian I know. I just learned the word cousin. It's good to finally meet you, Kara. I am so sorry for everything you have been through."
Kara tried to hide her involuntary recoil at his words. If Kal-El had been raised on Krypton, he would have known to wait for her to begin their conversation. It was not his place to speak first but rather hers, as the elder female.
But Kal-El did not know that. All he had were a few clumsily memorized words in a language he had never really spoken. He did not know the order of things, the intricacies of Kryptonian formality, what his position was. He spoke as a human man to a human woman, not as a Kryptonain of their House to their matriarch.
And yet, looking at him, Kara felt her heart go out to him. Of course he didn't know. She had not been there to teach him.
"I am glad you are well." Kara forced words from her mouth, trying to ignore the way her lungs screamed for air and her mind pulled her in all directions. "I had believed you were lost forever." She blinked rapidly, the realization even if he was here she had still lost him pressing down on her, and paused, completely overwhelmed.
Just when she thought she would lose herself in the spiralling emotions, a lifeline was thrown in the form of Alex's hand landing on her shoulder.
She had come with a purpose. Fulfilling that would be enough for this moment. Later, when her House and her own heart were at rest, she could decide what her relationship with Kal-El could look like. Later.
"Kal-El. I have come to present you with a request on behalf of the House of El."
Alex watched as Kara stood before the smooth metal pod, the Krytponian's fingertips trailing over its cold metal surface.
Alex knew that Kara Zor-El was no stranger to grief. As a child, she had grieved almost every single person she had ever known. Indeed, she had grieved every single person except one.
Astra.
And now Kara had to let go of Astra as well.
Alex felt as though her own heart would break as Kara bent over the pod that held her aunt's body, her hair falling in front of her face as she touched her forehead to the metal. The young woman was dressed simply in a flowing white dress and a thin red shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Red gladioluses were woven into her golden tresses, the flowers also entwined in Alex's own auburn hair, as well as sitting in the breast pocket of Kal-El's suit.
Red, Kara had explained, was the color of Rao's light and it was to be worn to death ceremonies in Kryptonian tradition.
"Should I help...?" Superman looked lost as he stood beside Alex under the small seaside pavilion.
Alex just shook her head. If Kara needed anything, it was a moment alone.
Before them, a broken sob hitched from Kara's bent form, a sound of pure grief. It was followed by a choked out succession of smooth sounds that Alex now could recognize as Kryptonian.
Beside her, Superman shifted uneasily.
"Let's give her a moment," Alex murmured, steering the towering Kryptonian toward the sand.
"I don't understand why she wanted me here," Superman raked a hand through his hair, cerulean gaze drifting back toward the pavilion. "I can't imagine my presence comforts her."
Alex gave him a sidelong glance. "She didn't bring you here for her sake or for Astra's."
"What do you mean?" As he asked, Superman looked so... human. Confused. Possibly even vulnerable.
Alex tucked her hands into her pockets, looking back at the churning ocean waves. "She brought you here as a gift to you."
"I don't understa..."
"Superman. When will you ever see a funeral in the tradition of your birth planet ever again?" Alex tried to keep her impatience from bleeding through her tone. "When will you have another chance to learn the customs of your Kryptonian family?"
"Oh." He was quiet. Then, "There will be more time, now that we have found one another."
Alex shook her head. "I don't think that will be how she sees it. Her job was to protect and raise you. You no longer need that. You no longer need her. And are you really going to pretend like you have spare time to get to know your long-lost cousin when you barely spend time with the family you've had all along?"
Superman looked properly chastised.
"Kal-El," Alex used his Kryptonian name and turned so she was looking directly at him. "Whatever you do, do not make promises you can't fulfill. Kara has lost everything. She doesn't need to lose anything else. Do you understand?" She kept direct eye contact, hoping that even though she didn't have laser or x-ray vision, she could still communicate through the intensity of her gaze.
"Yes." Superman nodded solemnly. "I understand." He paused. "But Kara didn't lose everything." Alex raised her eyebrows and Superman hastened to explain. "She has you," he said simply.
"Alex?"
Alex was cut off from replying by Kara's soft call.
They made their way back to the pavilion, Kara waiting for them, the ocean wind blowing her hair around her tear-streaked face.
"I am ready," Kara held her head high despite the obvious weight of her grief. "It is time to send my aunt into Rao's light." She moved so that she was beside the funeral pod, glancing upward briefly, sunlight catching a tear as it rolled down her cheek. As she began to speak, Alex recognized the words from when Kara had her memorize them in the woods.
"Astra-El. You have been the sun of our lives. Our prayers will be the sun that lights your way on the journey home. We will remember you in every dawn. And await the night we join you in the sky. Rao's will be done."
It was silent, Kara catching Alex's gaze for a moment. And then she was gone with the pod, soaring into the sky.
Let me know what you thought!
And also let me know what you think about the next story idea (idea in author's note above)
Thank you again for your amazing support!