81. Kara's Visitor part 7

"Kara?? Kara, is that you??"

"Hey Ma! Hey Pa!" Kara bounded into the kitchen as I trailed in after her. She smiled and waved. "We're back! Well…some of us."

John and Martha Kent looked up from where they sat behind a newspaper and a mug of tea at the kitchen table. "Kara! You're back!"

"And in one piece!"

She smiled as I stood beside her. "Today was a real success," she said with her hands innocently behind her back. "The Titans and I really cleaned house. We got to the Kryptonite before Metallo and his creepy pals could!"

"Well, if that isn't wonderful news!" John remarked. "Nobody was hurt, I hoped."

Kara bit her lip, but managed to say: "We're s-still standing! Proud and tall!"

Martha looked at me. "Are the other Titans here too?"

"They're off doing finishing touches," Kara said. "They should be back here in an hour or two, I'm guessing."

"Well, I hope they have a safe trip," John spoke. "Make sure to remind them not to frighten the cows with that car of theirs."

"Hehe….I'll check into that, Pa."

I glanced at the Kents. They seemed so pleasant. So happy. Not worried in the least…

"Any milk left in the fridge?"

"Plenty. Did you want a glass for your friend and yourself? I'll be glad to hel—"

"No thanks, Ma. I got it. Really."

"Oh. Okay. Enjoy your stay, Noir. This is becoming a regular hero's club! Hehehehe!"

I chuckled breathily, but kept my eye on the Kents. I'd never seen adults so…..passive about superheroism in the family before. It was remarkable…

Before I knew it, Kara had a glass of milk poured for herself and I. "Come on, Jordan…," she motioned towards the hallway while handing me my glass. "I don't think I've properly showed you around the place!"

I shrugged, smiled, and followed her into the adjacent room. I felt the eyes of the Kents on my shoulders…and a chuckle or two.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Even a Supergirl drinks her milk!" Kara quirped with a wink. "Does a body good. Even yours."

I was halfway through a sip before I paused, gave her a wyrd look, shrugged it off, and continued drinking.

We stood in the living room of the Kents'. And Kara was eagerly showing me pictures of the family in its various stages of life. A greater percentage of the pictures depicted a young but growingly older Clark Kent with the dashing John and Martha. Then a handful displayed Kara with her 'Ma and Pa'. Her age didn't seem to change in the pictures. I soon figured that the life of Kara on earth was just about as old as the legacy of Supergirl.

"And here's a picture of me with my friends Nicholle and Tom. We met on the bus route when I joined the local high school. And when you're on a bus route in Kansas….believe me….you get to know people REALLY well."

She giggled.

I smiled, only half understanding.

"When I first hung out with the two of them, Nicholle and Tom were just friends. But I think I helped persuade Nicholle to make and move and well……she's won bashful Tom's heart. They were together at the homecoming dance last year. They seem so happy together."

I smirked. I pointed at her.

She glanced at me funny. "What about me?"

I looked at the school picture. I looked at her again.

"Huh? Oh….pfft! Tom doesn't appeal to me. He's a wuss."

I nearly spit my milk out at hearing that. I coughed and chuckled breathily.

She smiled. "Just because he's right for my best friend doesn't mean he's right for me. To tell the truth, human males are just so….so…..dull."

I gave her a smug look.

"Th-They are! At least, in this 'America' they are! When they're not flinging their egos everywhere in some 'macho' fashion, they're suffering from cultural pressures to appear stronger than they really are! Guys on this planet seem to have two extremes. Either they're really-really arrogant or they're really-really naieve. There's no go between. No perfection. Just….the poles. You know what I mean?"

I shook my head.

"Of course not, you're a guy," she rolled her eyes.

I shrugged.

She looked at the pictures and spoke to herself: "But….then again. Every guy on Argos was dull too." A beat. She looked at me. "They were all too nice."

I wanted to laugh at that…but I knew it'd be rude.

I was silent…as always.

Kara sipped some more milk and was still staring 'at the pictures' when she asked me. "How about you?"

I blinked under my shades. I glanced at her.

She looked my way. "Assuming you've been only to one planet…," she smirked, "…any earth girls ever hold your interest?"

My black eyes glanced over her. And in the photos I saw a flash of a green field with three sword-slinging apprentices and a master. And one apprentice was an angel with short-short blonde hair and eyes that hung the sky on marionette strings.

I took a deep breath. A breath that said more in its own inhale than any vocal cords could emulate.

And Kara got the picture.

"Oh……," she blinked. "I see." A beat. "I-I won't pry…."

I looked at her. I looked at my glass of milk.

It was half empty.

I drank the rest of it greedily.

Silence…

"H-Hey! I know!" Kara beamed suddenly. She placed her glass down on the mantle and turned to face me. "Wait here! I want to show you something! I know it's a little off topic…but it reminds me of something we spoke of earlier…"

She scampered off down a nearby hallway and up a flight of stairs.

I stood by myself. I tapped the glass in my hand with a metal finger. I ran my tongue over my teeth and leaned back and forth as I eyed the room. The wholesomeness of it all. The quaintness. Quite a tame place for a butt-kicker like Supergirl to be housed in. Or Superman for that matter…

I heard some crazed rummaging through the floorboards above the ceiling, and my curiosity was piqued. Certainly, it had to have been Kara. But regardless of that understanding, I found myself wandering into the hallway, up the stairs, and towards an open door where a light was emanating out into the darkness of the evening settling in. There was a shadow scurrying about inside. And sooner than naught, I was peering into Kara's room as the Girl of Steel frantically looked through the top drawer of her dresser for something.

"I know it's here somewhere….," she mumbled to herself. "…come on, Kara….where did you put it…..?"

Subconsciously, my eyes darted around the room. It looked like just about any teenage girl's room---in that I only knew what a 'teenage girl's room' looked like from t.v. or magazines. Starfire and Raven were hardly your typical teenage girls and—besides—I had hardly stepped into their rooms. Kara's walls were adorned with posters of rock bands of various talents, and the furnishing of her bed and nearby desk were certainly adequately…..feminine.

I thought Kara might want some help, so I stepped inside and--

"Got it!" she held something to the light but turned around before I had a chance to see it and---"YAAK!! J-Jordan, what're you doing—"

I winced. I spun to leave the room in a flash when--

I froze.

There was quite evidently a poster on the wall just to the left of the doorway. Quite evidently a poster meant to not be seen by just about anyone who stepped inside. Quite evidently a poster not meant for me to see. And soon, a panic-stricken Kara was rushing up to it and trying her futile best to block the image of the poster with her petite figure and thin limbs.

"Um….it's….n-not what y-you think! Seriously! D-Don't look…."

But it was too late. The picture had already registered into my brain. For a second or two, I tried to rationalize it as just another rock star photo. But I wasn't aware of any famous rock star who wore combat fatigues, dark shades, and had black hair hanging back from a bandanna….not to mention holding a long, curved wooden sword in his grasp.

The fact that I was still able to hold securely onto the empty glass in my hand was a feat all in itself.

Rather deadpan for anyone's liking, I stared at the half-covered photo and then at the girl half-covering it.

Kara blushed more than I thought a living thing could manage. It must have been an Argosian trick…

"Yeah…um….," she swallowed hard. "I'm….ya know….r-really pathetic and……er……jeez!" She 'hit' herself in the head and hoarsely uttered: "Stupid! Stupid! Kara! You should have torn it down! You should have torn it down by now! J-Just one second, Jordan. Allow me to—" she reached to the top of the poster to shred the paper thing off the wall.

But soon my hand was on her shoulder.

She winced. She looked at me. "Please tell me you're not making me keep it up…..it's embarrassing enough as it is."

But I smiled…blushing a bit as I was myself. Well, naturally I was flattered—no matter how wyrd it was. I didn't even know they had posters of me out so soon. God, consumerism is wild….

"I swear…it's less than a year old," she tried to excuse. "It's pathetic. I know it's pathetic."

But I shook my head.

"Why're you so cool about it! Is it that—," she suddenly stopped in mid sentence. She blinked. "Supergirl posters. You have one, don't you? P-Please say you do….it'll make me feel better."

I froze. I thought about the printout the Messenger had made for me long ago. And how I almost put it up…but then shred the thing to pieces. There was something absurdly ironic about it all, and I started to chuckle hysterically.

Kara sweatdropped. "Must you make it worse?"

I waved my hands. I placed the glass down on a nearby dresser and tried to hand-sign something.

"………," Kara watched blankly.

I sighed with a helpless smile and thought aimlessly for a way to convey what I wanted to convey to her. This pathetic confession of my own. That—in my own secret way—I had been infatuated with 'Supergirl'. I was a badass superhero of my own caliber, and yet I had one of those helpless fanboy crushes. Even if I didn't want to admit it.

There was something about Supergirl. Something about how fragile and graceful she looked on the outside, and once that concept was merged with the stark reality of her ability to smash things apart and stop flaming comets with the force of her body alone…I sensed something akin to self-sacrifice in all of that. And the fact that she did it all out of happiness and the pure motive of servitude to the justice and welfare of people instead of some dark, egotistical vendetta…

No, I didn't have a poster of her up on some wall in my bedroom. That wouldn't do her justice. She was plastered on the walls of my mind…the part of my mind that admired the charisma of a woman for merely existing, and left me ecstatic that she existed in the same universe as myself and there was always the risky chance of us meeting. I wished there was some way for me to tell Kara that—in spite of the unlikelihood of it all—I wanted with all of my spirit to meet her once. My mind and heart sang jubilantly with it, as there was not much else in my beat-up body that could anticipate our eventual meeting.

But over the last twenty-four hours, in spite of our meeting, I had held back. I had not leapt upon the ecstasy of having actually met such a fair idol of mine. And I wondered if I was punishing myself for some reason. But whatever the case, I wasn't about to punish her. There's no reason to punish a person for being in the same boat as yourself…howbeit a different sea.

Kara was still staring at me and I was still unable to convey a message.

So I walked over to the poster, placed my hands on my hip, stared at it through my shades, glanced at Kara, pointed at the illustration's butt, and shook my head.

Kara couldn't help it. She giggled. "What are you trying to say?"

I shook my head more fervently.

"There's nothing wrong with it!" she laughed. A beat. She coughed and blushed more. "Okay….so maybe a l-little poetic license on the artist's part…"

I folded my arms and smirked.

"But…if you've seen the Supergirl posters," Kara winked. "You know very well they take a license of their own."

I leaned a head to the side curiously.

"Well….you know…," Kara bashfully hugged herself and looked down.

I blinked under my shades.

She leaned her torso forward provocatively. "…..yeah."

I mouthed 'Oh'. I rubbed my chin, thinking.

Standing there with the real deal….I had to admit. The artists' scale is ironically right on.

Not that it mattered to me much……..heh.

I reminded myself to look at myself backwards in a mirror later…

"So….um…..y-you don't think it's pathetic?" she embarrassingly asked.

I emphatically waved my hands, mouthed 'no', and smiled for good measure.

"Whew….," she breathed, winded. "I was hoping you wouldn't see it. I should have took it down or something."

A beat.

Silence.

She looked at me.

I was looking steadily at her. Mute curiosity.

Kara bit her lip. "Um….I-I think it was…..ya know….during Blake Glover's crusade. His mean stuff about you was practically broadcasted across the country. I-I think it got more people interested in you than abhorred…"

I smiled—fascinated. 'Really?' I mouthed.

She went on: "And shortly after that…they started making posters of the 'Sixth Titan'. And websites started popping up. Fansites. There's this one message board called 'The Black Blade' that's like a 'Noir Shrine'. It's actually kinda special, considering there're over four times as many shrines for each of the other Titans. Gawd…you should see the fangirls flocking the Robin Message Board." She rolled her blue eyes. "But hey…your fame is up and coming."

I was blushing again. I wasn't much of an Internet surfer. The occasional e-mail with the Messenger was just about it. But now…..I wondered if I should pick up a new habit….a rather flattering habit. I felt a twinge of guilt as I realized I had never been to many Supergirl sites…much less a message board or a 'shrine'.

'Shrine'…..wow. Wyrd world we live in.

Kara shook her head. "Okay….enough of this. I came up here to show you something."

I nodded. I glanced at her hands.

She bit her lip. "Er….let's go downstairs."

I shrugged.

Whatever.

I chuckled and followed her out into the hallway. I couldn't help but wonder….was I starting to fluster the Girl of Steel for once?

Perhaps…I always had been.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

In her hands, Kara twirled what she had rummaged through her room for. Oddly enough, it was a hairband. But not just any hairband. And certainly not like the one she was presently wearing. It was of an alien material. A hard substance not quite plastic and not quite metal. Presently, it was of a dark obsidian color. Shiny and reflective. But with each graze of the Girl of Steel's fingers, something seemed to change about them. And I wasn't sure if I was seeing everything I was meant to see with my limited human (and mutated) eyes. There was something magical about the hairpiece. Something mysteriously Argosian and indefinable.

Only….Kara was presently defining them to me.

"I got this when I was approximately thirteen in earth years," she explained. We sat on the front porch to the farmhouse. It was dark. The moon shone down on the Kansas expanse of farmland. I had my back to the edge of the patio, positioned in a wooden chair. Kara sat on a rocking bench. But it didn't sway one inch. She was perfectly still, her legs in a lotus position. The night wind of the Plains swept in and danced her platinum blonde hair behind her braid like a windsock.

"It was a gift from my mother. Part of my rite of passage. Ceremonial, of course." She was deadpan. Solemn. Reminiscing. "The hairband would mark my age until I was fifteen. And then I would visit the Argosian Temple for the first time. I would be on the path to becoming a Woman."

She held the hairband up and I saw through its frame a much older girl than I knew sitting in front of me.

"I was wearing this very same ornament on that day…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

FLASH!!!

The teenage girl gasped and spun around from where she stood at the bench.

Families and picnickers gasped and looked out from the grassy lakeside.

The girl's father and brother stood on wobbly legs.

All eyes were trained to the sky…a sky that was turning from red orange to pale green.

A halo of fire was coming their way…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"When Krypton exploded…," Kara's blue eyes reflected across the black surface. "…ninety-nine percent of my people's population perished. The fact that my family and I lived through the first wave is nothing but a miracle. We were commiserating under the hanging gardens of the Temple. In the very shadows of the gods…we were kept safe."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The girl's body was thrown to the ground as the earth shook.

Everyone was screaming.

Everyone was running past her.

And beyond the scurrying bodies, the lake was erupting towards the sky in bright blue plumes of chaos.

The girl trembled. She struggled to get up.

Two soft arms enveloped her from behind.

"Kara…we must hurry!"

"M-Mother! B-But where?!"

"No time to think. Just join us!!"

Kala Inze pulled her teenage daughter to her feet just as the rest of the family caught up. Together, the four joined the scrambling bodies towards the sheltering wings of the Temple's interior walls.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"As the blast wave came…w-we joined hundreds of others in the Temple. It was the only thing we could think of. The Temple was our place for spiritual support. So naturally it could save us from apocalypse itself. When your world collapses in on you, Jordan…logic and reason are left to the wind. There were no atheists on Argos that day. None in the whole deathbed world…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"I-I'm scared, Mother!! What's going to happen to us?!"

"Shhh…just stay close, Kara. Stay close."

Kala held her daughter in two encircling arms. Her son and husband were soon by the two's side. They pressed their backs hard into the side of the wall underneath an overhang of rock. The ground shook all around them. Families huddled and whimpered and muttered sobs of desperation.

"It's Krypton!" the brother panted. "It has to be!"

"Everyone…," the father spoke. "Follow along with me…"

The rest of the family nodded.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"The Argosian prayer…," Kara's lips moved lightly as she softly spoke, "….it was known in every household. Practiced in every city square. 'Kela d'ral melana th'liel enz—'"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"—ieken b'al. Valaal senzekkel m'ral zi dal sen'lukken. Zel'dul zi sek'al thri." Tears streamed down from Kara's eyes as she clenched them shut and hugged her mother's side desperately. In a wavering voice she did her best to mimic of words of her father. Her mother and brother echoed the words with similar fervor.

The whole Temple full of huddled families murmured the prayer.

The ground started to shake harder and harder… "K-K-Kela d'ral melana th-th-th'liel enzieken b-b'al. Valaal senzek-k-kkel m'ral zi dal s-sen'lukken. Zel'dul zi sek'al th-thri."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"'Kela, give us strength with flowing life. Honor humbly we pay you and to you we submit. Protect and cherish your children'."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Kela d'lalathriel ensepzukkun k'lai zi lanakral…," the father continued.

Kara was too overcome with sobs and fear to continue the prayer. Kela would have known by then the sincerity of her needs.

She hugged her mother's side and tearfully looked up.

Kala Inze managed a smile amidst the chaos. And her hand parted the bangs peeking under Kara's hair ornament as she smiled and said: "I love you, my daughter. My young woman…"

Kara's lips quivered.

And the blast wave hit the temple.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"And….," she swallowed a lump in her throat, turned the hairband over, and stared into space. "…when it hit. They were there. And more than any prayer…more than any ceremony…I felt completeness and security in their arms…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Kara shrieked.

Her mother held her close.

The father dove in with a bear hug that incorporated the rest.

The brother completed the picture with his arms.

And somehow…Kara was in the center of the embrace…as if the family subconsciously knew that she was the only one of their numbers to survive this Hell.

The walls of the Temple started to crumble. Unbearable heat bore into the place. A huge section of wall came crashing down on two screaming families across the way…silencing them.

Kara's tearing eyes clenched shut once again and she drowned herself in the warmth of her family's arms.

The entire world was crumbling apart…but for a split second she felt as still as a millennium old stone in their hold.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

A tear trailed down Kara's immaculate cheek.

She let out a shuddering sigh.

"I became a woman after all…," she whispered. "…with my mother's blessing and my family's love…I finally entered the Temple. I had my final rite of passage. I graduated beyond the innocence that was my Argosian youth and was prepared for the eventual collapse of Everything that was to follow."

Silence.

My empty throat was sore. I politely looked towards the floorboards of the patio.

Kara slowly started to rock in her bench seat as the wind won over.

"I….I-I haven't been faithful to Kela….or to religion in general since then," she bit her lip. "The destruction of one's entire culture and the relocation to a different planet sorta does a number on reintegrating the 'atheism' factor, ya know."

I had no response.

She blinked back to reality and twirled the hairband once more in her grasp. "But….," she smiled painfully as another tear trailed. She sniffed. "I have my memories. And….nothing in life will ever compare to that experience." She looked up at me with hallow sapphires. "I'd give anything to see anything or anyone try and make me feel as secure as I did in their arms when the Temple and the world beyond it came crashing down under Krypton's blast wave."

I leaned my head to the side.

She took a shuddering breath. She removed her plastic, Terran hairband and slowly—gracefully—slipped the Argosian one on. As if magical, the black converted to a deep blue.

I marveled.

"Reflects emotion," she explained.

I nodded. 'Sadness', I figured… "As much as I am Supergirl…," she spoke, "…I am still and shall always be Kara. And I have always sworn and always will swear….there is absolutely nothing keeping me from protecting the ones I now love and care about. I had everything and everyone around me perish in the fire and cold before. I won't see such annihilation happen again. I just won't allow it."

I nodded.

Silence.

Kara sniffed for once last time. Suddenly, the hairband turned a bright orange. And she smiled.

"That's really why we all kick crime's butt, isn't it?" she remarked. "We wanna preserve something?"

I smirked.

"Even if that something is already gone…" Her hairband flashed blue again, but only for an instant. It was back to orange. Just like her face, things were taking a brand new tone. She stood up on the patio. "You wanna see something really cool?"
I looked at her hairband…then at her face again. I blinked under my shades.

She giggled and the red increased slightly in the orange. "Something else, silly!"
I shrugged, stood up, and smiled.

Her hand took mine.

I looked at it…then at her.

She winked. "Just trust me, okay?"

I nervously nodded.

WOOOOOSH!!!

My mouth hung open in surprise as she was suddenly hoisting me up off the patio and flying with me in tow over the landscape. She kept low to the ground—to my relief. I looked beneath us and saw pastures and farmland fences cruising by underneath. The night yawned before us. I glanced up and saw Kara's graceful figure with her platinum hair flickering in the wind like a dull flame in the darkness. She looked back at me, smiled, and winked again for good measure.

I bore a helpless, crooked smile and went along for the ride.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

A few minutes later, Kara touched down and I in turn. For a second, it looked like we were on top of an ordinary hill like all the others in the rolling Plains. But the Girl of Steel was gazing fixedly at me, smiling mischievously and pointing over the crest of tall grass.

I shrugged and walked over. I came to the crest in the hill and suddenly found myself teetering over the edge of a huge and incalculable drop. I gasped and swung my arms around behind me till I teetered back, panting.

Kara giggled from behind. "Surprise!"

Surprise indeed. I looked straight down. The earth had risen brown and naked and had formed an inexplicable cliffside. It must have been a five story drop at least. I couldn't help but wonder if it was an old impact site from a crater in the middle of Kansas or something.

"Clark says he was here the day he discovered his powers," Kara remarked. "I bet you can't imagine which power it was…"

I nodded, looking straight down.

"Flight!"

SHOVE!

MY black eyes bulged. I was weightless…falling…plummeting down the Cliffside. If I had vocal cords, I would have been screaming.

SWOOOOOSH!!! A certain Kara flew down. She 'stood' in midfall in front of my flailing body, as casual as could be. There was less than a story between me and a crushing demise when she winked, swept me up like a tango dancer, and soared the two of us in a blood-rushing arc back into the air. She twirled, made me dizzy, and set me down on suddenly present—and safe—ground. I teetered as the world spun outside my shades.

"Hehehehehehehe!!" she covered her mouth and reeled.

I shook my head and frowned at her.

"Oh come off it!" she hugged herself and giggled more. "I told you to trust me, didn't I?!"

I folded my arms, looked off, and pouted.

"You gotta admit…," she spoke, her voice suddenly close to my ear. "It was exciting…wasn't it?"

I exhaled. I was about to gesture something when I suddenly felt the world leave my feet below me.

I gasped, then realized Kara had her hands under my arms and was lifting me gracefully into the air. And pretty damn high too.

Naturally, I trembled.

"Relax…," she whispered. "Just enjoy it."

I swallowed nervously and nodded.

She smiled. She angled her body horizontally and accelerated forward. Gently at first, and then with greater velocity.

The result: I was stretched out underneath her with her chest to my back. If I closed my eyes and imagined it, it'd feel like I was flying all by myself. The land blurred underneath me so naturally that it was hauntingly relaxing. I breathed easier and let my mouth hang open in awe.

Kara stifled a giggle and said: "Here comes the best part."

SWOOOOOOOSH!!!!

I exhaled a silent scream as she dove the two of us straight down towards the wide stretches of farmland. The ground plummeted up towards us. At the last second, Kara let out a whoop and pulled us up. Blades of tall grass whipped by at my chest. I gasped and then she turned us over and spiraled upwards like a stunt plane. The moon did flips before my shaded vision and then dipped down as she dove us towards Kansas again. We arced sideways and curved about. She playfully dipped us down in the path of an incoming wooden fence and lifted us at the last second. I kept wincing in surprise. She laughed and got braver. She aimed us at some family's barn in the distance. I squirmed and shook my head. She only increased speed. We zoomed straight towards the opening of the second story loft. I squinted my eyes and winced. We sailed in through the small opening, kicking up hay and disturbing sleeping birds and livestock far below. We came out the opening on the other side, the wind once again hammering blissfully on us. Perhaps it was the simple thrill of survival, but a smile came to my face as I whimpered out a breath and suddenly found myself enjoying the winged chaos.

"Welcome to the Troposphere Express!!" Kara exclaimed.

WOOOOOSH!!!!

She sailed us straight up. We spiraled again. The moon did more flips…then disappeared behind a veil of cloud cover. I held my breath. We burst through the thick mist. Moisture licked at our faces. And soon we were rocketing out the top side. Kara hovered us to a standstill with a carpet of silver clouds in the moonlight beneath us. And all around were pinprick stars and the looming sphere of a mysterious night sky.

I couldn't help it. My breath left me.

I felt Kara's chin—soft and warm—resting on the crook of my left shoulder. I felt her chest against my back as she sighed and said: "Always best to go 'vroom' at night."

I whole-heartedly nodded.

Through the corner of my shades, I sensed her blue eyes darting at me.

I turned to look at her face.

She smiled. Her hairband was a deep burgundy.

I blinked under my shades. I smiled with a red face.

She mouthed something.

I leaned my head curiously.

"I said…'grand finale'," she winked.

I gulped.

SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!

The cloud exploded as the Girl of Steel swung us down into a roller coaster plunge straight back to the earth. Kansas twirled suddenly as she spiraled us. I let out an insane, breathy chuckle and extended my hands outward under her hold. Like an airplane or a psychotic bird. Gravity was gone, and so were the Cardinal Points. There was no East or West. Just the two of us. The warmth of two heroes and the cold of a dead world turned suddenly into a carnival ride. There was nothing to regret and nothing to look forward to. No guilt. No rewards. Just a fire in the heart that burned brighter and ate more and more at the heart with the increasing velocity of our plummet.

And maybe my vacation hadn't started until just then.

SWIIIIISH!!!

We were suddenly upright as once again the grass of the earth was less than two feet away and whipping by my chest. I fought for breath, but Kara behind me was giggling like mad and soon I joined her.

She found a lone tree on the top of a majestic hill and set us both down. On wobbly knees, I shuddered for breath and waited for the blood to return to my tingling body. I spun around dizzily and could see the entire horizon of Kansas rolling around me until I came to a stop with Kara standing in my presence. She was dizzy herself—to be honest—but nowhere near as dazed as the rookie bird I was.

Nevertheless, when we both plopped tiredly to the earth…we did so at the exact same time. And we laughed at it.

Tears came out of Kara's eyes as she hugged herself and shook with giggles. Her hairband was a bright orange.

I tried desperately to straightened my black strands of hair back…but eventually gave up. I chuckled with a shuddering breath.

"Ohhhhh man…," Kara shook. "I've soooo wanted to share that with someone." She smiled at me as a touch of burgundy returned to the orange. "Just….n-never had anyone around who could truly understand—" For whatever reason, her voice trailed off. I'm not sure even she 'understood'. But I was glad I could fit the bill.

Somehow…

My laughing gradually ceased as I became aware of how long and fixedly she had been staring at me. Or rather…she was staring at something on me.

"Jordan…," she gently asked with a grin. Almost a whisper. "Let me see your eyes……"

I stared at her. I hesitated.

"Please?" she asked.

I took a deep breath. I smiled warmly and nodded…

She scooted over and sat directly in front of me. Slowly—with trembling hands—she reached up and placed her hands on my shades.

Suddenly my hands came over her wrists.

She gasped…eyeing me.

"………." I stared at her. I smiled. I assisted her fingers in removing the shades and exposing my mutated black eyes to Kara for the first time.

She held the shades folded to her chest and leaned her head to the side with her lips slightly parted. She drank my optics in. Jumping a little when I blinked them.

I was used to that…

"They're so……." A beat. "….awesome."

I bore a crooked smile and lifted an eyebrow.

'Awesome'???

Oh well.

This was Supergirl after all….

She extended a meek finger and traced the edges of my sockets. I didn't protest. She studied how the blackness of my eyes occupied the entire cornea, leaving no room for pupils or irises.

Suddenly, something overcame her. She giggled like mad and blurted: "A squirrel!!"

I did a double-take.

"They're like squirrel eyes!!"

I rolled them. I pouted.

"Th-They are! All beady and bright and yet 'noirish'. Squirrel eyes! They're cute!!"

I chuckled breathily and batted her hand away with the shake of my head.

"I'm serious!" she smiled. "You should have left your alias at 'Squirrel'! It'd make the media less wary of you, for one thing! And also clue people into your soft side!"

I gave her a wyrd, sideways glance.

"Well, you have one, of course," she smiled. "If your friends haven't seen it, surely I have."

I shook my head again.

She giggled.

Silence.

It was my turn to stare at her this time. And without the shades on, I saw every shade, shadow, and tone of Kara's complexion that could possibly have been hidden before. And she was so very alive. In every dimension. Moving. Breathing. Heaving. All while 'being still'. Animated life at its fullest. At its most remarkable. At its most…..

I took a deep breath.

Kara leaned her head to the side. Her hairband turned a light shade of green and she had a softness in her voice as she said: "Do you see somebody you know, Jordan?"

Her intuition was haunting.

I swallowed. I leaned forward.

Kara remained perfectly still as my hands raised to her head. I slowly, gracefully slipped the Argosian hairband off of her crown.

She smiled slightly, patient. Curious.

With a look of focus, I leaned in further and gently cupped my hands around her face. I trailed my fingers upward across her warm cheeks and pushed the bangs out from her temples and forehead. I stroked my hands back up again, and soon I had her long locks hanging behind her ears, and as I cupped her face all I could see was the shortness of her blonde crown, her deep blue eyes of sealike sapphire, and an angelic smile as she looked at me with such sudden adoration that there was no such thing as time or aging.

And somewhere in the distance, some magical thunder rolled and I was once again sparring gently with her in an open field of swaying grass with a cedar forest stretching under a pale yellow sky above. Myrkblade and Choral exchanging blows and showering sparks. And the two of us laughing at our 'might' and 'furiosity'. And how she spoke about her life to me like I was nothing more than her third ear. And how I felt blessed for witnessing the dictation of an angel who didn't even realize her own divinity. I thought of her when I went to bed, dreamed of her at night, and longed for her face when I woke up. Food and water and oxygen were overrated. Life was a pair of blue eyes that never died out, a smile that appeared each time I so much as acknowledge our existence, angelic blonde hair trying its best to dance in the wind. A vessel of innocence. Life blood in a giggle and curtsy. Calling my name across the fields with the Pacific winds blowing in.

Tears were streaming out of my black eyes. They quivered and struggled to stay open. To preserve the memories before the inevitable death of a blink.

Kara's hands came up and wrapped around my wrists. My metal and flesh arms went limp in her grasp. I would have teetered over and died right then if I had to. My breath was shuddering. If I so much as turned my head, I would explode in sorrow.

She leaned in and spoke softly to me: "Are you alone too, Jordan?"

My lips parted. My darted my black eyes to truly look at Kara and Kara alone. Her statement seemed like blasphemy. And she saw it in my face.

"We are not all that different, Jordan," she said. "So what if I've lost all my people? Loss is relative…just as relative as recovery. I can see in your eyes—black as they are—that you've lost a lot, Jordan. And you're still recovering…"

I sniffed and struggled to stay standing upright as she continued;

"You were recovering even when Slade stepped in on you and your friends…"

I gasped. My lips quivered.

"I watched all I could on the news. Gathered all the information I could on the web. Read people chat endlessly about it on the message board…," she spoke. "All those days…those endless hours…doing the Wyldecarde charade. Fighting for your friends by fighting them…."

A lump formed in my throat. I shook my head and clenched my eyes shut to filter her out.

"Shhhh….Jordan…," she placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned in so that she was practically speaking straight into my ear: "I could not even begin to comprehend what a sacrifice that must have been for you. To give up your friends to preserve them. It must have been so…..so terribly hard for you…."

I bit my lip and opened my eyes again. Brimming with tears.

"I don't know what past you may have, Jordan," she spoke with a look of sincere concern that nobody needed an Argosian hairband to interpret from her heart. "But I know that it still haunts you. Much like mine haunts me. But one thing's for certain…," her hands trailed down and gently stroked the metal skin of my left prosthetic. "You've given more than enough to prove…you don't have to be alone anymore. You must stop struggling, Jordan. You must stop punishing yourself and embrace what you have." She swallowed a painful lump of her own as she said: "For a long time on Earth, I refused to call Martha and John as 'Ma and Pa'….until I realized that I needed to. I needed that closeness. And it wasn't that they were replacements. No….they really are my 'Ma and Pa'." She smiled and her own eyes watered slightly as she added: "Because life is constantly changing. But love is the sort of thing that always stays true. More true than blood or gold."

I shook. The shivers came back. I fought through them. I lifted my hands and desperately tried to hand-sign something. Anything.

But Kara grabbed my hands and spoke gently: "Rest your hands for once, hero…."

And I broke. I teetered forward and into her embrace. I sobbed without regrets. I soaked her shoulder with my tears and wailed with whatever power a mute soul can wail. For it had never ended. The pain and remorse of the Wyldecarde days were still there. And they never stopped biting at me. And they never stopped poisoning. The words of my friends when they mistrusted me. The looks on their faces when my fists or Myrkstaff flew a them to hold them at bay and keep Slade's iron grip from closing around their throats. How I had to kick against the stone that was the nightly hell of fighting my very own loved ones. The friends…the Titans who had done so much to resurrect the West-spawned ghost that was 'Noir'. But I was too attached by the pains of my past that I couldn't tell them. And I had no voice to weep it to them. That I was so…so alone. That for five years I had so many things stolen from me, stabbed into me, and ripped off of me to possibly have any nerves left to grab their hands and fall into their grace once and for all. It was so impossible. So hopeless. So lonely. So god damn lonely.

But…if only….if only it was all an illusion. If only what Kara said was true and tomorrow I could simply slay the stubborn ghost and smile an honest smile with Beast Boy or meditate thoughtfully with Raven or spar leisurely with Robin or laugh happily with Starfire or ride wrecklessly with Cyborg and do it all like the person I really was: the Sixth Titan. And not some stranger with black eyes born yesterday like I had felt since the day I was first handed a communicator and invited to kick butt along their sides.

All I could dream for—as much as I even robbed myself of it—was the warm, amnesiac oblivion of a pair of loving arms. And I had enjoyed that once with the Titans in full. But I was still too wrapped up in my own depravity to truly enjoy it. And even with Kara there—alone on the hill—I couldn't fly away from myself.

But I was trying…with each tear and sob and heave I was trying….

Honestly, I was the closest I had ever gotten to it.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Well over a half-hour later…when my sobs had died down and the field once again returned to its gentle breezes and rural silence…Kara and I were lying on the ground a couple of feet from each other. Gazing at the stars.

My black eyes were barely beginning to dry. My face was slowly melting back to a deadpan stone. My breaths shuddered into relief. It was bitterly relaxing.

Starfire was smiling suddenly as the wind kicked at her hair and she said in the direction of the stars: "You know what was the most stupid thing I've ever done?"

I shrugged.

"I flew my body into a comet…..Oh yeah! And I nearly died too!"

A beat.

I turned my head and looked at her through the swaying grass in the moonlight.

She smiled and glanced back at me through the corners of her sapphire eyes. "Superman carried me over to STAR Labs where I was looked at and nursed back to health. He said it was a stupid thing that I did. I said I didn't care. I had to save the City of Metropolis, ya know. I wasn't gonna let a damn rock show a couple million people who's boss!"

I smiled at that.

She looked back up at the stars. "I did that stupid thing and saved a bunch of people because I've stupidly seen a bunch of people die from a stupid astronomical event before." A beat. She sighed and hugged herself in the wind. "But I also did it for another reason."

I leaned my head to the side. Curious.

"I-I frankly didn't care if I survived the comet or not…," she said. "I saw it as 'going out in a blaze' of glory. After all, everyone I knew died on Argos. If I could join them by doing a bunch of other people a good deed….then….so be it, ya know what I mean?"

I closed my eyes and nodded, biting my lip.

"I've grown out of that…..angsty phase. I no longer see things so fatalistically. When I'm saving people, I'd like to save my butt too. Hehehehehe…….I-I've got things worth living for on this planet now. It's a waste to throw that all away."

Silence.

She looked at me again. Silence. She had a solemn expression as she said: "I wonder…..Jordan…..were you doing something similar when you were Wyldecarde? As brave as your actions were…..perhaps you also were trying to obliterate yourself?"

I took a deep breath. I very well knew the answer to that. But I didn't want to tell her. I wasn't as brave as Supergirl.

I shrugged.

Kara's eyes lowered. "Yeah….it's all so very confusing." A beat. She sat up and hugged her knees. "But…I suppose that's what we have each other for."

I raised an eyebrow. I sat up straight next to her.

"I think about the day of the comet a lot," Kara spoke. "And I look and try to find patterns in life. An-And when I started learning more and more about you, Jordan—on the news, the Web, whatever—I saw it in you. I-I saw myself in you. A lonely soul trying to come to terms with himself. And…….it was just so….." She smiled and took a deep breath. She looked at me with wonder, her mouth trailing open. She blinked. "……I wanted to meet you someday. I wanted to so much…..but……didn't th-think it's actually happen, ya know?" She giggled.

I chuckled.

We both smiled against the wind for a moment…and then we were staring at each other. The moon reflected off the glistening surface of my black eyes and momentarily blinded me as I leaned forward and she leaned forward at the same time.

But then a gust of wind…

And…

We both froze.

Our noses were nearly touching. And something awkward inside each of us made us blush and hesitate.

"Um….," Kara bit her lip. She chuckled once or twice and stuttered: "S-Sorry….I….g-got carried away……I didn't mean t-to…"

I leaned in the rest of the way.

Kara froze. She expected a kiss. She got something different.

I was gently leaning my forehead to hers. And soon my hands were gently grasping her temples, my fingers dug into her blonde locks. I rested our brows together. Our breaths commingled and we shuddered into a still serenity.

Kara breathed: "H-How ya doin'?" She let out a nervous chuckle…then gave in. Her face was flushed as her hands reached out and held me close by my shoulders. And we simply blended in with each other, like two statues with one head. And once we were both warm enough, our necks moved and we rested our chins on each other shoulders. Just….holding each other.

If we were truly so alike as insinuated…then nothing more was needed. I always believed that there are things in this world far too beautiful to totally 'possess'.

A couple of blissful minutes later, we parted from the hug, stood up, smiled, and walked hand-in-hand towards the distant splotch of land that was the Kents' farm under moonlight.