The Other
June was born on a cold dark night of June 20th, 2024.
That was the reason why the witches had called him June. It was the summer solstice. It had to mean something.
It was a weird name for a child, even more so for a little boy. The boys in the orphanage kept bugging him with it. But the witches had told him that he was meant to do grand things.
"A name is just a name. When you'll conquer the world, nobody will care about your name."
That had been their words, so he had believed them.
He didn't know better, anyway. He didn't know his mother or his father. He didn't know why he was an orphan. He had asked the witches but he only had received a slap in the face as a reply.
"Your parents didn't want you, boy. They gave you to us. You're better without them. Don't talk about them again." Sister Helen had said severely, while caressing gently the cheek she had just hurt.
Again, he had believed her. He had nobody else to believe anyway.
On a hot night during summer, the witches had put him through a portal. He had only been 4 but he remembered it well. Sister Helen had grabbed his pajama collar and drug him out of his bed without a word.
"The Unique has risen. It's time for you to train." Sister Adriana had said before pushing him through the blue glowing light.
He hadn't known who was the Unique or what that could mean for him. He had been scared of not seeing the orphanage ever again. A bit relieved too to never see the boys there. To never have to endure hours of punishment, standing alone in the dark, naked, his behind still hurting. But he had mostly been scared. He had peed in his pants, he remembered.
When he had walked out on the other side of the portal, it had been all dark and red. There had been no sun. It had been even hotter there. A tall muscular man had welcomed him. Or more so, had been waiting for him. He hadn't felt welcomed. The man had frowned and looked down on him, his arms crossed. Unimpressed, June would later describe him as.
The man then had turned around and stepped forward, not addressing him once. June had followed, not wanting to stay close to that blue glowing light more than necessary. The man had stopped in front of a hut. As June had looked at him, confused, the man had groaned and shoved him inside, locking the door behind him. June had been met with darkness again and had started to cry.
Since then, he had felt like nothing more than a burden.
The man, Kratos, was not really a man, June had learned. He was a warrior. A God. But also a creature of Apokolips.
That was where he had landed. A new planet. In his child's mind, he had never imagined that other planets could be this awful. Apokolips had no sun and no light. No order either. No nature. Everything was rotten on Apokolips and that was why he had to train. Because he was their only chance to conquer Earth and find a new home there. Once again, he had believed them.
So, he had trained. Hard. Every single day. He didn't have a choice anyway. It was either practice or a hundred lashes.
At 8, he had been able to defeat Kratos.
At 10, they had put him against Kalibak, Lord Darkseid's first son. He had failed and nursed his wounds for a week before going back to practice with a broken leg.
He killed Kalibak on his 11th birthday. His majesty was there. He saw everything. June looked at him coldly, as he had been taught, and brandished Kalibak's head to his father, blood running down his young arm as the remnant tendons of Kalibak's spine flew in the air. The crowd applauded, calling out June's name. Darkseid didn't move. Didn't say a thing. Just looked at him through dark piercing eyes.
June got a price for beheading Kalibak. He received a wish to ask to Darkseid's sorceress. And he wished to know who he was.
The answer was unequivocal. He was the Other. He was to defeat the Unique. He was the son of Guilotina, one of the strongest warriors of the Female Furies, and Lionel Luthor, the smartest man on Earth. Both dead. He could live with that. He only had to pursue his mission, now.
Two days later, he was sent to practice with Granny Goodness. To train more.
The old lady was one of the strongest warrior June had ever seen. She trained him like no other, sending him on missions in other dimensions, expecting him to fail. But he never did. He always came back with what she wanted. He always killed who she wanted. She never praised him for his accomplishments. She hit him harder. She yelled at him louder. Because he deserved it. Praises were for weak minds and he wasn't weak.
By the age of 14, he was ready. Granny Goodness had told him that if he was able to fight her, he could go back to Earth. He didn't know if he wanted to, but it was his purpose. His fate. He was supposed to fight the Unique and win. It was the mission the stars had written for him. So that they could spread Darkseid's ideology on Earth and never lived like rotten dogs ever again.
He beat her. Badly. Granny bled on the arena's ground. In front of the entire army. It was a first. The arena had fallen silent as everybody was watching her grab at her arm on the ground. Nobody knew how to react.
Granny Goodness was respected. Feared. She was Darkseid's first counselor. She had an important role in the daily decisions made for Apokolips. She had trained most of them, participated in numerous wars. Brainwashed numerous prisoners into joining their mission. And she had been beaten. Thrown across the arena like a rag doll. Lost an arm in the process. Been burnt by June's firing breath. And had been collecting her teeth and cut limb from the ground.
June had only been able to focus on his heartbeat, slowing his organ so he could take his usual shape back. As his physical appearance shifted from the monster he could be to the young boy they all knew him as, Darkseid stood up from his throne slowly. And he applauded.
Suddenly, June felt welcomed. As every torture he had gone through had only been for him to live this exact moment. When he was finally recognized for his talent. Accepted for the monster he was.
He didn't dare smile. Any form of joy was for the weakest minds. He wasn't even proud of it. He couldn't be. Proud and ego were for weak minds too and he wasn't weak. It was just normalcy. He had a goal and he worked to reach it.
Instead, he met Granny in the middle of the arena and stood in front of her, an eyebrow raised in challenge. The old warrior looked at him and smirked. She pushed herself up and put a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"The boy is ready." She exclaimed loudly so the whole arena and Darkseid could hear.
June turned his look to His Majesty, questions in his eyes. The dark lord only nodded.
He was going back to Earth to kill the Unique and spread Darkseid's words.
They sent him on a ship to Earth. He had to stay on orbit for a year. Observe. Gather information. Plan a strategy.
The first months went by quickly. Humans were weird. He wasn't human, he knew it now. Sometimes, he would laugh at the young boy he had been. Yes, he had red hair and black eyes. Four limbs. Two ears. A snub nose. Yes, he looked like a human. But he wasn't one. He was the Other. He was better than them. Stronger. He was the son of the darkness. He was the only one capable of conquering Earth. He was going to do just that.
Around the sixth month, though, curiosity took over. It could be loneliness or boredom, but June felt freer than he had ever been and decided he could bypass some stupid rules Granny had given him. And it was his enemy's fault anyway. They deserved it.
He had found the Unique. She was a teenage girl. His niece. Well-trained. Athletic. Intelligent. But he already knew it wasn't enough. She would fail. She had too many flaws. Her biggest weakness was her heart.
She had a family. That was the most curious thing to June. He didn't know what it was. There were a bunch of people, gathering around a table, eating dinner, playing games. She had parents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Too many words June didn't know the importance of. So, he observed.
He watched them train and play and talk together. On his screen in his ship, he could see them looking for him. One of the Unique's parents was determined to find him before the time would come. Her other parent was adamant to train the Unique every day but was too kind and praising when she would succeed just a bit. It made him laugh. The Unique was weak and soft. She couldn't win like that. He had already won.
He kept watching them anyway. Because he was supposed to. He saw them fight other enemies. One of them was a doctor who tried to conquer the planet by mind-controlling everyone. That was when it happened. June had watched them work together to succeed. He had thought they were going to lose. Because they were too weak. Too soft. He had thought the doctor would win because he showed no mercy, had no weakness, like the Unique and her family. But they had won. Together. And it was the most disturbing thing he had ever seen.
It seemed that they had found the strength within each other. As if being together was helping them be better. June couldn't accept that. That was against everything he had learned.
You can't count on anybody but yourself. Your brothers can betray you. This is survival of the fittest. Heart is for the weaker ones.
Granny Goodness' lessons had been proven wrong. He couldn't accept it.
So, he kept watching them but with another purpose. He wanted to see them fail. To have proof that what he had noticed was just a one-time thing. That they had gotten lucky. But he was proven wrong multiple times.
He noticed them fight several enemies without failing once. The Unique's parents were powerful. One seemed to have magical powers. The other seemed to not be human, just like him. And they always worked together to succeed. They always supported each other, helped each other, even if the Unique would have been able to defeat the enemy by herself. It was striking. June started to doubt Granny's lessons.
If the Unique's family were using their hearts to fight and it succeeded, how could he be so sure he was ready? He had watched them fight enemy after enemy without flinching, he couldn't be sure the battle was already won. What if he was the weaker one, now, because he was alone? His brothers had stayed on Apokolips. Granny had told him he was ready to conquer the Earth alone. But what if he wasn't? June was convinced that he had to train harder. He had to know what he was supposed to face. He had to go on Earth and learn from the source. Be one of them to beat them from within.
He landed on Earth the first time during summer. It felt strange. His heart was beating hard but it wasn't the same beating as when he was training. His lips wanted to stretch but he didn't let them. The air was brushing on his face. The sun was bright in the blue sky. He focused on slowing his heartbeat to keep his human appearance. It wasn't necessary to attract attention yet.
He had chosen the city where the Unique was going to school to understand her environment. As he walked on the streets, humans crossing his path without acknowledging him, he understood where their determination came from. Earth was everything Apokolips wasn't. There were smells and sounds everywhere. There were trees and animals. Humans were talking. Children were playing. Babies were babbling. Everything was living. Alive. Breathing. He had forgotten how it felt to be a part of something bigger.
As he stopped in the middle of a plaza, June realized two things. One, he understood why it was easy for the Unique's family to succeed here. They had a life worth fighting for. That was where their determination was coming from. Their heart wasn't only based on the sympathy they had for each other. It was also for their world and their lives there. He could understand why they wanted to protect it. It was lacking on Apokolips. Determination was only linked to power. More dominance over your neighbor. More power meant more comfort and since Apokolips had already been drained from any sort of comfort, anything was always better than what they had.
The other thing June realized was how unfair his life had been. He had been deprived of a life here because he was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. He could have had the family the Unique had. He could have known what it meant to have friends and not enemies. His human father was dead but he could have known his sister. The Unique's mother. But he didn't. He had been forced out of this potential life. And that realization made him furious. So furious that he was ready to kill the Unique, to conquer the world and then, to kill Darkseid and every single one creature on Apokolips. Conquer worlds and kill everybody who thought they could control his life. Starting with these fucking witches.
He took a deep breath in. He felt his fangs and claws retract. This wasn't the time to let impulsiveness win. For now, he was 15. It was summer. And he could do whatever he wanted on Earth without Darkseid or anybody knowing.
So, once his body had shifted back to its human form, he went to buy a coffee and tasted his first Earth drink since he was 4. He walked in a park and watched weird birds swim on a lake. He walked around the city and listened to the strange language humans were using. It sounded melodious. He remembered some words. He understood some of them. He promised himself to learn it again, once everything would be done.
As he was walking on the seawall, he came across a huge statue. It was Supergirl. The Unique's other mother. She had a statue because she was seen as a hero by the humans. They were seeing her as a Goddess. June surprised himself by thinking he wouldn't be bothered to be seen as such himself. Conquering the world didn't mean he would do bad things. He could end poverty. He could prevent the humans to destroy their planet and transform it into another Apokolips with their cars and their industries. A deep frown crossed his face. It could be the follow-up to his plan. Conquer them all and eradicate the pollution and other sins the humans were guilty of. Killing every human who would dare contest his decision. Yes, he wanted to do that. But he had to know more. He had to learn more about Earth and its inhabitants and its customs. The ship could help him.
That was when it happened the first time. It was surprising. Unpredicted.
He heard a laugh in his head. As if it was his own. But it wasn't. He knew that, because the voice of a girl spoke then. And he knew that voice. It was the Unique's. In his head. She was talking to someone, laughing with them.
June was confused. He didn't understand how it was possible. Was it a magic trick? Did the Unique have succeeded in entering his head to manipulate him? If it was the case, she would have tried to reach him. To communicate. But she was only speaking to someone else. Unaware of what was happening.
June sat on the floor on the seawall. Humans were grumbling as they passed him but he wasn't focused on them. Only on the Unique's voice.
"Parker's not that handsome. Leo is."
"I don't know. I like Parker's dark side."
Was it a capacity he had developed thanks to Earth's ecosystem? He shook his head. This was just nonsense. The Unique was talking about somebody else. A boy apparently. June frowned. Her interests were only showing more weakness. He stayed there for a long time, sat in the middle of the seawall, listening to the Unique's discussion.
Eventually, it stopped. And June was left wondering if he had imagined it at all.
The second time, he woke up in a gasp. The Unique had been in his dream. Not just in his dream. She had watched his dream with him. Lived it with him. As if she had been in his skin.
June pushed the covers away and rushed to the small bottle of water he had stolen on Earth. He loved this liquid so much. It was so refreshing. They didn't have it on Apokolips. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He had to find a way to stop these communications. It wasn't normal.
He walked to the main console of the ship and entered key words. Mind reading. Because it was at least what it looked like. The results were only more confusing. It wasn't his situation. It was as if he was sharing a mental link with the Unique. As if they were connected to each other.
Deep in thought, he went to dress himself in normal clothes for humans. If the ship didn't have answers, maybe Earth had some. At least he could search himself on their outdated computers and see what he found. The Unique and him were linked by a prophecy, as it had been taught to him since he had arrived on Apokolips. There had to be information about it somewhere.
As he landed on Earth, he was shocked to feel water on his skin. He had forgotten how rain felt like. The smell of wet tar in the air. The sky lightening up under the summer storm. He stopped there, in front of a huge building and left the rain fall on him. There were humans passing him by with umbrellas but he wasn't interesting in them. What caught his eyes was the name on the building in front of him. Luthor. He knew that name. It was his father's name. Lionel Luthor. But that wasn't that name on the building. It was the name of his sister. The Unique's mother.
Intrigued, June forgot about his actual reasons for his landing on Earth and instead went into the building. The receptionist saw him immediately.
"May I help you?"
June could only observe the new environment he was discovering. His eyes traveled around the big entrance hall and its minimalist decoration. Humans everywhere, walking fast, talking through small devices, laughing while drinking what he smelled was coffee in small paper cups.
"Sir?" The receptionist insisted. "Are you a new intern?"
June finally looked at her. He shook his head and cleared his throat.
"No. I want to see Lena Luthor." He articulated as normally as he could.
The receptionist frowned and looked to the right. June followed her gaze towards two men wearing blue uniforms. Human or not, he knew how to recognize a military uniform. He turned back towards the woman behind the white polished desk and stretched his lips as wide as he could.
"I am from family."
It only made the receptionist frowned more. It wasn't the right thing to say. June knew when it was time to back down.
A good warrior knows when the time to give up has come.
He took two steps back and stretched his lips again. "Tell Lena Luthor her little brother says hello." He said before turning on his heels and quitting the building.
He walked fast and purposefully. Outside, he went left and waited to cross a little hidden alley to hide. He looked at his transmitter disguised as a watch around his wrist. It was time to go back to the ship. His curiosity had cost him enough for the day. So much for doing it his own way.
The next time the Unique's voice resonated in his head, he was ready.
He sat crossed legged in the middle of his ship and focused on her voice. He wanted to reach her. To communicate. If he could reach her, he could manipulate her. Enter her mind and install doubt. Fear. It was Granny Goodness' favorite method. The mind was a solid weapon. It was only a matter of who was tricking who. Who was the most persuasive.
He waited to feel calm to expand his energy. He felt it flow freely in his nerve endings. In his blood. In his muscles. Until it reached his brain. He focused on the voices he was hearing and projected a simple word in repeat.
Hello
He waited patiently for a reply. Beathing in through his nose, out through his mouth. Focusing on his heartbeat not to shift into the monster yet. Or else, he would not control his urges anymore.
He kept sending the same message. Indefinitely. But it didn't work. Because it wasn't a discussion he was hearing, June realized too late. It had rhythm. Music. He remembered it vaguely from his time on Earth. Before all of this. He stopped sending the mental message. He just listened, wondering what was the weird feeling developing in his chest. Why did he feel calmer than he had ever felt?
Cries. It was new. It was inconvenient. June didn't know what to do with these. He knew sadness only from his time on Earth, when he was still a child, afraid and weak. There was no sadness on Apokolips. Only fear of the one above you in the ladder. Only authority towards the one below you.
But the Unique was crying and he was feeling what she was feeling all throughout his body. In his chest, where a ball had been growing. In his throat, where sounds seemed to be blocked. When he felt his eyes water, he decided that he had enough. He couldn't let this girl dictate his feelings. It wasn't normal. Their link had to be severed.
He sat down in the middle of the ship, crossed legged and tried to reach her once again.
"Stop whining!" He screamed aloud, his fingers grabbing at his hair. She was making him crazy. The pain was too intense. He didn't know what to do about it.
He went to the console and search for her location on Earth. Maybe if he could see her physical form, he could reach her. The link could be easier to form that way. He found her in Ireland but he couldn't zoom in on her. It was blocked. As if an invisible barrier was blocking him from reaching her.
Huffing, June pushed away from the console and put his shoes back on. He would have to go himself. He needed her to stop crying. It was infuriating.
Landing just outside of her bedroom window, he watched as the Unique was shedding big crocodile tears. Looking as pathetic as he thought she would look. The rain was pouring outside, as if she had an effect on the weather in her emotional state. He sighed and screamed internally. She couldn't see him. He couldn't make his presence known or they would have to fight and it was too early for that, he knew it. But it was really making him regret of coming in the first place.
Now that he was there, he could at least try to severe the link and stop this nonsense. Focusing on her form in her bed, he tried to express comfort through his mind. The brunette frowned but never opened her eyes nor seemed to detect his presence. He tried harder, forcing his brain to see the virtual link that was linking them. And then, she opened her eyes and saw him.
He couldn't be more surprised. She couldn't either. In a rush, she stood up from her bed and ran to the window but June had already left. Vanished, thanks to his transmitter watch. In his ship, he sighed and fell heavily in the chair in front of the console.
He had broken at least three rules.
But the cries had stopped.
As he was eating dinner, June felt a presence in his back. He didn't turn around immediately. His training had taught him it was better to let his enemy think they had an advantage. He could sense the anxiety though. The attraction. The person behind his back wanted him to turn around and realize who was there. June continued eating quietly.
He heard two steps behind his back, rounding him to his right. It was just a question of time now. Who was there? He already knew. He could perceive her energy as if it was his own. When the Unique appeared a couple of feet away to his right, he turned his face nonchalantly and watch her. She didn't seem afraid. Just nervous. Excited too. He didn't know why.
"You're…"
He sighed and closed his eyes. They shouldn't be friend. Going to her house three days ago was a mistake but her making the trip here, finding him, it was stupid. He could kill her. They were meant to be enemy. They shouldn't even talk.
"How did you find me?"
"I found your ship on orbit on our computers."
Her voice was meant to sound sure but he could detect some tremors in it. He took a last bite of his dinner and pushed the plate away. He stood up from the bench quickly, taking a step or two to face her.
She was beautiful, he could admit that. Attractive. Older than him too. He knew that because he had seen her celebrate her birthday. Celebrate. As if there was anything to be thankful for in their birth.
They gauged each other for a moment. He watched her analyze him. His body. His aura. He did the same. She was standing there, in the middle of his ship, with confidence he knew wasn't fake. She wasn't afraid of him. Because she knew, deep down, that he wouldn't hurt her. How could he? They were linked. June was now sure that if she was in pain, he would be too. He didn't want that. He didn't want to hurt her either. There was something preventing him from doing so.
"You look like my mom."
"I'm her brother."
"Half-brother."
June snorted at that. They were family. They were enemies. They were sharing far more than it was expected from them.
"I am the Other." He said solemnly with a bit of arrogance. Because he was more than Lena Luthor's half-brother.
"And I am the Unique." The girl replied on the same tone, mocking him. A smirk grew on her face. She extended a gloved hand. "I'm Liz."
June looked down at the hand then back at her face. He could recognize some of his human features on her. The corners of her lips. The glint of intelligence in her eyes. The electricity was sparkling between them. The air felt thick. As if everything around them wanted them to be reunited. Because they were sharing the same fate.
It was his turn to smirk.
"I should kill you."
The girl frowned. "You can't."
"I will."
The girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked around them, analyzing every little detail she could find. June let her. He knew a lot about her, he could leave her have some information about him too. After a moment, she cleared her throat and looked back at him, her blue eyes sparkling with the neon lights.
"I can feel it too, you know." June squinted in question. "The link." She motioned between them. "The energy around us. There's something that links us. That's why I can hear your thoughts."
June was surprised for a second by that. He knew she could have access to his dreams but he never thoughts she had access to his brain. To his every thought just like he was able to hear her think sometimes. The surprise disappeared quickly from his face though. Coldness took its place instead.
"Why are you even here?"
The girl smirked again. Her confidence was back. She shrugged, her dark hair falling from her shoulders in cascades. "To measure the competition."
June cocked an eyebrow, amused. "Competition? There's no competition. I'll win, you'll die. That's the end of it."
The girl nodded with a smile. "We'll see about that." She put her hand in her pocket.
"Until then, stay out of my head." She winked then scrolled at a wristband around her wrist. "See you soon!" She saluted before pushing a button and disappearing in a purple halo as quickly as she came.
June stood there a bit longer, astonished by the meeting. Was it real? Did she just wink at him? What a weak and insignificant little brat!
He shook his head and went back to the table where the remnants of his dinner were cold now. He sat down and softly smiled. She wanted a challenge. He was ready to give it to her.
A/N: Guys! Short chapter, I know. This one was hard and I'm still not really satisfied but I'm sick of working on it. Anyway, I don't know I'll make these two fight but you know what, the joke's on me eheh. Don't hesitate to give me your thoughts. Any thoughts on June's personality ?
Thanks for reading!
Take care.
PS: You can follow me on Twitter at MGoemaere27