And She Was

Kara
Season 7 (SPOILERS)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

Now she's starting to rise
Take a minute to concentrate
And she opens up her eyes

The world was moving and she was right there with it
And she was
The world was moving she was floating above it
And she was
-"And She Was," Talking Heads

The sun was too bright.

Kara lowered her head, blinking hard against the glare of the white sun that rode high in the blue vault of sky overhead. Everything looked so different. She'd seen holos of this world, of course, but in real life it was all... overwhelming. So big.

So different.

She thought of the world she'd loved, a world lit by a giant red sun, a world with lush lavender foliage and brilliant crimson sunsets, a world of crystal cities and beautiful green-gold oceans.

A world she'd never see again.

She blinked back tears and steeled herself to do what she needed to do. She'd been sent to this world, this Earth, for one purpose-- to protect her cousin, Kal-El.

He was only a small child, and he was alone on this planet, alone among a strange and savage people. He would need her guidance and protection in order to survive.

Squaring her shoulders, she stared over the flooded farmland one last time, praying to Rao that her young cousin hadn't gotten caught in the floodwaters. She'd searched the water for some time, but hadn't found him or his ship. Nor did he seem to be anywhere near the river.

She had no idea how to find Kal-El, but she knew he would be somewhere nearby, and she refused to believe he'd survived the explosion of Krypton and traveled halfway across the galaxy, only to perish in a flood. He had to be somewhere. She simply had to look until she found him.

Sighing, she decided to turn her search away from the water. She found what appeared to be a road or a path, and followed it.

Wide fields, filled with some sort of tall green crop, spread out on either side of her. This place seemed flat, but apparently the land was somewhat higher here, because the floodwaters hadn't covered these crops. She stared across the terrifyingly alien landscape, seeing no signs of habitation. She was lost and alone.

Beneath the vast blue sky, she suddenly felt very small and very insignificant.

The too-bright sunlight began to dry the sodden mass of dark gold hair that hung down her back. She could feel her skin absorbing the white light of the sun, could feel the sunlight streaming into her body. She remembered the tales her uncle Jor-El had told her, wild stories of the great powers Kryptonians supposedly possessed while under Earth's sun. She had never truly believed the tales.

But now, feeling the sunlight pour into her skin like a physical thing, feeling the raw energy that surged through her body, she began to believe.

Overflowing with energy, she began to run, and suddenly found herself racing down the road far more quickly than she'd ever thought possible. The crops on either side of the road waved wildly at the breeze created by her passing.

She halted herself quickly, afraid that if she left the area, she might never find Kal-El. She found herself near a wooded stretch of land. The tall, towering plants were recognizably trees, despite the strange green leaves. The breeze whispered through the leaves, and she shut her eyes for a moment, imagining herself running through the forests of Krypton, as she often had while growing up.

Despite the strange and alien appearance of this world, it sounded like home.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. Nearby lay a felled tree, bigger around then she was. She remembered Jor-El's wild tales, and hesitantly, she reached out to try to lift it.

In her grasp, it rose into the air as if it weighed no more than the feather of a iguer.

She lowered the log and stood gazing up at the vast blue sky for a long moment. Everything Jor-El told me is true, she thought, awed. Here, I am a goddess among mortals.

It was an intoxicating thought, and yet a disturbing one. She wasn't sure she wanted to wield so much power. She wasn't sure she trusted herself to use it appropriately.

As strong as I am, I could rule this planet.

She pushed the idea away. That wasn't what she was here for, and she knew it.

Kal-El was her primary purpose here. She must find him, and soon, because he was far too young to care for himself. She remembered his head of rumpled brown hair, his ocean-colored eyes, his beaming smile, and her throat ached.

Suddenly she felt a strong longing to see him again, to feel his little arms wrapped around her neck, to remind her that she wasn't entirely alone. To remind her that even though her world was gone, she had a purpose to her existence.

She had Kal-El to care for.

She hoped he was all right. So much could have gone wrong. He might never have made it to this planet, and even if he did, he might have perished in the rising waters, or died on impact...

No. She pushed the grim thoughts aside. Kal-El was alive. He had to be. She would know if he were dead.

The two of them had always been close, and she had spent a great deal of time with him on Krypton. She couldn't have loved him more if he had been her own brother. And if he hadn't survived... she would know it.

Jor-El had sent his only son here, to this primitive planet, in the hopes that an Earth family would find him and take care of him. But her own father, Zor-El, had hated the idea of Kal-El being raised by savages, and he'd secretly sent her in a separate ship, so that she could look out for him.

She imagined how overjoyed Kal-El would be to see her again, and her throat tightened. She didn't have time to explore her new powers just now. She had to find her cousin. She had a mission to carry out, and couldn't let herself become distracted.

Lifting her chin, she turned back to the road and began walking.

Her feet left the ground.

She froze, finding herself suspended in the air, a hand's width off the ground. Her heart pounded with fear of the unknown as she realized she had absolutely no idea how to get herself back onto solid ground.

Down, she thought at last, rather helplessly. I need to go down.

Slowly, she drifted back to earth.

She wasn't sure how she'd controlled her newfound ability, but it seemed to have something to do with willpower. She thought about rising up into the air. She took another step, and suddenly she was floating again.

This time she didn't try to stop it, just closed her eyes and concentrated, letting herself rise higher into the air.

Despite the lonely awareness that her world and her people were gone, the sensation was so unexpectedly lovely she couldn't stop herself from laughing in delight. Floating in midair was a marvelous sensation, the stuff of dreams and fairy tales. It was magical.

She wondered if she could sail through the air like an iguer. She thought longingly of swooping through the clouds, and despite the urgent nature of her mission, she couldn't stop herself from experimenting just a little further.

She stretched out in midair, so that the air seemed to cradle her body, and thought about moving.

Sure enough, as she concentrated, she began to move forward.

She told herself to go faster, and suddenly she was whizzing through the air, so fast that her long hair whipped behind her, drying rapidly in the breeze. It was glorious.

She wanted to learn more about her powers, wanted very much to explore this particular power further, but she reminded herself that her first purpose here was to find Kal-El.

And find him she would. She had to.

Once she located him, she would somehow carve out a life on this planet for both of them. She would protect him from harm and raise him to be a true Kryptonian. The two of them were the last Kryptonians in the galaxy, and despite her own youth, she would guard him, and at the same time guide him in the beliefs and values of his people. She would bring him up to cherish his heritage.

She would be Kal-El's protector. His defender.

His last link to Krypton.

The thought of her home world brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away. She missed Krypton, missed the people she'd loved and the world she'd known, missed it with a fierce ache.

She would never forget Krypton. Never. But Krypton was gone now, destroyed in a massive explosion. This planet-- Earth-- was all she and Kal-El had now. Somehow, they had to make a life for themselves here.

As she arrowed through the air, rising up toward the blue sky above in order to gain a better view of the landscape, she had the sudden powerful conviction that she would learn to love this planet every bit as much as she'd loved her home planet. And her conviction wasn't born merely of the incredible power she could feel rolling through her body, either. Something about the strange alien landscape appealed to her on a deep, visceral level.

For whatever reason, she already liked this world very much. And that was fortunate, really.

Because now, Earth was the only home she had.

-The End-