Krypton: Fifteen Years Before it's Destruction
Non was nameless, Houseless, but he was a good soldier who loved Krypton and served it's people faithfully, loyally. He was also very charming, and he had used that charm to pursue Astra and convince her father that while he was in fact House less, he was guilded. He wore the sigil of the Military guild as proudly as any member of a nobel house wore their family crests. It had not been an easy campaign to win. In Ze was notoriously protective of his twin daughters, his beautiful rare jewels, his heart and his soul, but Non succeeded in getting In to agree to the arrangement of the marriage between himself and Astra. And Astra couldn't have been more pleased by the match. Her father had not been the only Ze charmed by Non.
The Genesis Chamber however could not be charmed by Non. It had determined that Non and Astra were not genetically compatible and therefore they would not have offspring. Astra had been heartbroken over the news that she would not be granted the joys of a child. While she mourned her dreams of their future together Non began to whisper in her ear. It was the planet's dwindling resources and Council manipulations that were denying them the right to a child, not their incompatibility. If he had come from a noble house, like her pompous brother-in-law Zor, they would have been allowed to conceive a child. The planet was rotting from within and their leaders refused to do anything about it, refused to take off their blinders to the truth, to afraid of letting go of the status quo they clenched in their fists like a child clenching a blanket.
Slowly Astra began to see the truth behind her husband's words. With each passing year Krypton became weaker and weaker as it's resources were pillaged and plundered. What Astra did not agree with was Non's aggressive proposals on how to deal with what was happening. Astra had been raised to have faith in the ideals and principles that governed their society, to be brave in seeking change when it was needed, and to have patience when working towards that change. And since Astra was in command, since she was the general and Non merely one of her lieutenants, they did things her way.
It was as rare among the nobel houses as her own birth. Twins on Krypton were seen as a double blessing from Rao himself. So rare were twin births that the number of twins born in the last century could be counted on one hand. Natural, biological births however, especially among the guilds and the nobel houses, were not looked on with so much reverence and favor. Though they were known to happen more amongst the Houseless, those once called rankless in Krypton's past, they were known to happen from time to time in a noble house. Most notably the House of El. The paitrach of the House of El, Seg, was known for his detest of the Genesis Matrix despite the fact that his sons had been conceived and born from it. HIs wife's choice not his. When Astra discovered she was pregnant she was torn at first. It went against what was normal for their society, but it was the only way she would have a child of her own.
It was Alura, her beloved sister, who reassured Astra that this was a joyous occasion. Alura admitted to her sister that, "Zor and I will use the matrix if we must, but we would very much like to have our child this way. Imagine it, Azzy, a child with limitless possibilities? Zor and his brother believe that children born this was will have the kind of freedom and potential children of Krypton haven't had in millennia."
"You make it sound both terrifying and wondrous, Ally." Astra replied.
"Soon Zor and I will have our child, and our little ones will grow up together and be as close as we are." Alura said brightly as she held her sister in her arms. "It will be wonderful, Azzy. You'll see."
It would have been wonderful.
"Here." Non says softly as he hands Astra a ceramic mug. "Drink this. It will help."
Non had been so attentive during her pregnancy, even finding a Priestess with knowledge about biological birth. They had been giving her a special tea for months to help with the discomfort that came with pregnancy, so she didn't think twice about taking the mug from her husband and sipping at it's warm contacts. She frowned a bit as she looked at the dark liquid inside. The tea tasted a bit different, but a lot of things she was use to tasted strange these days.
Alura had been with her, much to Non's annoyance, when the first burst of pain hit her. It was unlike anything Astra had ever experienced before. As was the fear she felt with each bout of worsening pain. It was to soon. Zor had given her all the information he could regarding biological procreation, and with his and Jor's help they had calculated when the baby would come. They were still weeks away from that date. It was too soon.
Alura never left her side. It was her beloved twin who placed the tiny crying child in Astra's arms. A girl. A beautiful baby girl with a wisp of brown hair and brown eyes just like Astra. Her daughter, so tiny and fragile to behold, grasped Astra's finger tight as she held her against her chest. Astra knew in that moment that Alura had been right all those months ago. This tiny daughter of the House of Ze would be someone remarkable someday. Astra knew this without doubt because the baby was only minutes old and she was already someone remarkable to her.
Alura's presence had not come as a great surprise to Non. The bond between the In-Ze twins had proven most difficult to sever. He simply had to make sure that both sisters ingested the sleeping herb the High Priestess had given him. Once the twins were unconscious Non picked the child up from it's cradle. The child, his child, was wrapped in a blanket baring the sigil of the House of Ze. Astra's house. He was this child's father. It should be his sigil on her chest. And someday, it would be.
Non took the child out of Argo City, across the dark sands, towards the ruins of what was once Kandor City. The child whimpered and fussed at first, and then began to cry and wail the further they got from it's mother. Non looked down at it as he carried it into the dark fortress hidden in the blackened crater of the lost city. "Soon my child you will no longer be so weak and pathetic. Soon this world and countless others will kneel at your feet."
The dark High Priestess had once been a small child who'd been burned figuratively and literally by her faith in Rao. Cast from his light, thrown out into the darkness, near death and alone, she found a new path. Non approached the withered old woman and presented to her the child. The baby stopped crying as the High Priestess looked down into her face. "Yes. Yes. It will be made strong."
Non watched as the High Priestess handed the child to another woman in a black robe whose face was concealed by a hood. This figure held the child while another injected it with something, then placed it in a device that looked somewhat like the birthing chambers of the Genesis Chamber. He watched as the pod sealed itself once the child was placed inside and began to fill with fluid. "How long will this take?"
"As long as it needs too." The High Priestess replied. "Patience boy. In time your sacrifice will bare fruit."
"What happens then?" Non asked.
"We unleash it." The dark woman hisses. "And we rejoice in it's reign."
Astra didn't understand. She was fine before she fell asleep, the baby was fine. How could something have happened? How could her child have died? She was absolutely distraught, and in her grief she took out her anger on Alura. If only her sister hadn't fallen asleep as well. If Alura had just remained awake and watched over the fragile newborn perhaps her daughter would still be with her. It was a small fray in the bound between the In-Ze twins, but not enough to break it. Non used his wife's grief, her anger, her loss, to continue pushing her to his way of thinking.
Surprisingly it wasn't the loss of a child that would finally push Astra to give into Non's methods, but the birth of one that would do it. Alura's daughter. Astra's beloved niece. Kara Zor-El. Astra would do everything in her power and some things beyond her power, to save Krypton. Not for the child she lost, not for herself or Non, or Alura or the people of Krypton, but for Kara.
Anything for Kara.