Chapter Text
Blinking awake, Kara felt a dull throbbing in her skull. Movement hurt, as if she had spent the previous day exerting every muscle in her body, each their own variation of sore or strained. She stopped the moment she was sitting upright, and leaned against the cool, rough wall she found was behind her.
The room was dark, she noticed. There were no windows, and her eyes hadn’t quite adjusted. She had no idea how big the floor was, only that it was concrete under a soft blanket she had been laying on.
She remembered the pain - how long ago had that been? How long had she been asleep? How long had she been here? She would have thought she’d wake up in a hospital or her bed or Clark’s guest bed. Something was wrong, but when Kara tried to shout she found her throat was hoarse and her mouth was as dry as sandpaper. Her face was caked with the remnants of sobbing and dirt she assumed was from the floor. She felt around for the enV Touch that the Danvers had finally let her get for her eighteenth birthday, but it was gone.
There was a groan of metal that come with a wash of light as a door opened and Kara could see that she was in a basement-like room. It was primarily used for storage, judging by a handful of cardboard boxes and plastic tubs and two bikes in the corner. Kara didn’t recognize anything and fear swept through her body. She tried to skirt back, away from whoever had opened the door, but she was already at the back wall. She moved a few feet into the corner.
“Alex, she’s awake!” a voice cried. Eliza, Kara recognized, and she felt herself beginning to cry again in a mix of confusion and relief as her foster mother ran over to her and drew her into her arms. “Oh, my sweet girl,” she said. “You’re going to be okay.”
Alex sprinted into the room. She’d been crying too, it seemed. She knelt next to her mother and rubbed Kara’s back while passing over a bottle of water. Kara guzzled it and Alex laughed softly.
“Where am I?” Kara asked, gulping down air after she was done drinking the water. She put her head on Eliza’s shoulder as the three of them curled up together in the dingy basement.
“Smallville,” Eliza said with a sigh. She pulled away and took Kara’s hands, looking her in the eyes in the dim light. “The Kents’ farmhouse, in the basement. We had to hide you and Clark, but you’re safe now.” That didn’t make sense to Kara. Why did she need to hide? Why did Clark need to hide? How did they even get here from Metropolis?
“Where’s Clark?” she asked, trying to get her thoughts in order. Alex nodded into Kara’s shoulder.
“He’s safe,” Alex said. “He’s awake. He woke up before you. I’ll go get him.” She moved to get up but Kara panicked and grabbed her arm. She was scared. She didn’t want her sister to leave her, not now. Alex sat back down and wrapped her arms around Kara. “It’s alright,” she murmured, “how about we take you to him when you’re feeling up to it?” Kara nodded, tears threatening yet again.
“She’s exhausted,” Eliza told Alex. She turned to Kara. “You get some rest. One of us will be here when you wake up, and then we’ll get some food in you. Then you can see Clark.” Eliza pulled the blanket over the three of them and Kara curled into her. Alex stroked Kara’s hair and she found herself falling asleep.
When she woke, Alex was holding her hand. The lights in the basement had been turned on, and Kara found that the walls were a deep cream color painted over brick. The blanket covering her had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it, probably from Clark’s middle school years. Alex looked haggard. Her hair was a mess and there were deep circles under her eyes. Kara shifted and Alex helped her sit up neither of them saying anything. Alex was waiting for Kara to speak first, she realized. Alex was nervous, and Kara felt the same nerves beginning to creep up inside of her as well.
“How long?” Kara asked, finally. “How long since Clark’s apartment?” Alex gave her a small smile.
“A few days,” she said. “You can Clark gave us a scare. You’re lucky Mom’s a doctor.”
“And you’re going to be one too,” Kara added, and Alex laughed.
“Yeah, I am,” she agreed. She looked Kara up and down for a minute. Satisfied, she asked, “are you ready to go upstairs?” Kara nodded and Alex helped her stand.
Her muscles still hurt, but the headache was fading and the disorientation from standing after being on the ground for so long wasn’t bad after a few seconds. They walked through the door into a larger basement area. This room was furnished, with two old couches and a few pieces of exercise equipment facing a television, and a desk with a computer in the corner of the room by the stairs. Alex helped Kara with each step until they were in a white-tiled kitchen where Eliza and a salt-and-pepper-haired woman Kara assumed was Clark’s foster mother sat at a table, chatting and drinking coffee. They stopped talking when they noticed the two girls enter the room.
“Oh, Kara, it’s so good to see you up and about!” Mrs. Kent said. She walked over to them and gave Kara a hug that reminded her of the first time she’d met Eliza. She put her arms around Mrs. Kent and then pulled away.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Kent,” Kara said, and the older woman laughed.
“No, no, no,” she said. “Call me Martha.”
“Alright,” Kara said, nodding. “Martha.” Martha smiled at that, and gestured toward the fields beyond the screen door.
“Clark’s out with the tractor,” she said. “I’ll go give a holler.” She headed out to the porch and Kara joined Eliza at the table while Alex poured each of them a cup of coffee.
“Is it safe for Clark to be out in the open?” Kara asked. “What exactly is going on?”
“Half coffee, half milk, with two heaping spoonfuls of sugar,” Alex said instead of answering, setting the coffee down in front of Kara. Kara grinned, and took a big gulp, the milk making it cool enough to drink. Alex laughed. “Once you get to college you’ll end up drinking it black like me,” she said. Kara gasped.
“Never,” she promised. The sound of a motor running found its way inside before dying down, and Martha and Clark walked into the kitchen. Kara stood up and Clark pulled her close. Neither of them needed to say anything. Their family was quiet to let them have their moment, but Clark turned to Eliza over Kara’s shoulder.
“How much have you told her?” he asked. Eliza’s smile disappeared and the faces at the table turned serious and somber.
“I was waiting until you got back,” she said. Clark nodded and let go of Kara, taking a seat and pulling out a chair for her so that she was seated in between him and Alex.
“So what happened?” Kara asked. Clark swallowed, his face paling.
“It was my fault,” he said. “I let this happen. I told Lex.” He wouldn’t look Kara in the eyes. She looked quickly at Eliza and Martha, and then back at Clark.
“Told Lex what?” she asked. Clark wouldn’t answer. He just shook his head. “Clark, what did you tell him? What happened?” Kara was raising her voice, and Martha put a hand on her arm to stop her.
“He told Lex about cupids, honey,” she said. Kara stilled and slowly looked over at Eliza.
“It’s okay,” Alex said, a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Mom knows.”
“My daughter is from outer space,” Eliza said, laughing, though panic was in her eyes. “It could be worse. You could have gotten a bad tattoo.” Everyone chuckled, but the attempt at humor was weak at best.
“The Astral Plane,” Kara corrected. “It’s not the same as outer space. It’s not outer, really. It’s more...another. It’s here, in this same space, but on a different level.” Eliza nodded, though it was clear she didn’t understand. They’d talk about it later. Clark, his voice cracking, spoke up again.
“Lex and I met in college,” he said. “He was my Assignment. That’s why I didn’t go to UM for undergrad.” He hesitated, and Kara passed him her mug of coffee, which he took a sip from, and grimaced. “What is in that?” he asked.
“Mostly not coffee,” Alex answered for her. Kara stuck her tongue out at her, and Eliza rolled her eyes.
“Not the time, girls,” she said. They both mumbled apologies and Clark continued.
“I got to know Lex, and we ended up best friends. He was smarter than me by a long shot, but I was better socially, so we balanced each other out. He reminded me of you a bit, Kara,” Clark said, giving her a smile. “At least in the beginning. And then he met his soulmate. And getting them together was tough. He refused. He used logic to insist that no matter how much he wanted her, she would never want him back. The kind of logic that meant my Nudges didn’t work.”
“Nudges?” Eliza asked.
“They give your heart incentive,” Kara said. “Just a little. Just enough.” Alex looked suspicious, and Kara remembered that Alex had caught her after she’d Nudged Jimmy. She added, “Nothing that would overpower free will or consent or anything. Just something to open your mind a bit and put it at ease.”
“I had to tell Lex,” Clark continued. “It was the only way to get him to listen to my reasons and break through his own. They were soulmates. And he trusted me. And they fell in love.” Kara remembered that Jimmy had told her the rest of this story.
“She died,” Kara said, her voice barely above a whisper. Clark nodded.
“He blames you,” Alex said. “Because you were Assigned to him.” Clark nodded again. “What does that mean, exactly?” Kara and Clark looked at each other, silently asking which of them should explain. Clark inclined his head, so Kara spoke first.
“All beings have a bit of the Astral plane in them,” she explained. “A gift from Fate. At least, that’s what cupids are taught. It’s kind of like a string, and it shines through onto this plane. It links between soulmates. Clark and I can see them because we’re cupids. Or, most of them. We can’t see our own, or the strings that Fate doesn’t want us to intervene with.” Alex, Eliza, and Martha were all leaning forward, fascinated.
“When we pass Trials, which I guess is kind of like your elementary school in ages, but more like high school in content, each cupid gets Assigned a human to find a soulmate for,” Clark said. His brow was furrowed. He wasn’t sure how to make them understand. Kara wondered how much he had told Lex, ultimately.
“Fate gives us our Assignments so that, once we get to Earth, we’re able to affect the souls around us, and try to find their soulmates,” Kara said. “The main objective is the Soul Bond of our Assignment. Our Assignment is complete when the Soul Bond is complete. Then we can either stay here or go back to the Astral plane.” Clark had chosen to stay. Even without knowing that he and Lois were meant to be together. Kara smiled. She wondered if she would go back, after she had found Alex’s soulmate. She loved Earth. Maybe she would stay, like Clark.
“So who are you Assigned to?” Eliza asked. Kara winced, and tried not to look at Alex.
“I’m not allowed to tell you,” Kara said. “I’m not allowed to tell anyone, human or cupid or any being. Fate is kind of particular.”
“Too many cooks in the kitchen,” Clark added. Kara nodded.
“We could get in a lot of trouble just for telling you about cupids,” Kara said. It was too late now.
“Doesn’t matter much anymore,” Alex muttered. Kara looked at her, questioning.
Martha sighed and reached behind her to pull a newspaper off of the counter and place it in front of Kara. MORE CUPIDS CONFIRMED DEAD IN WAKE OF SECOND LUTHOR ATTACK, it read.
“He’s declared war on us, Kara,” Clark said. “He found the House of El and the Krypton Guild. He’s hunting them and killing them and the government is on his side.” Kara swallowed. She scanned the article. Most of the bodies were unidentified. They had no record of ever existing. No social security or dental or fingerprints.
“He’s pulling them out of the Astral plane,” Kara said as she realized the severity of what was going on. She felt like she was going to be sick. There were children in the Astral plane, little cupids who hadn’t even been enrolled in Fifth Trials yet, and Lex Luthor was killing them.
“No one’s heard from Astra,” Clark said after a moment. “But she’s not an El, she should be okay.” Kara blinked, unsure of what that meant.
“Have you heard from your dad?” Kara asked. Clark looked like he could break down in tears at any second.
“The House of El is gone, Kara,” he said, so soft Kara was almost certain she heard it wrong. “He killed them all.” He got up and slammed his chair into the table as he left the room. He stormed upstairs. Kara felt bile rise in her throat. He’d killed them all. Her parents, her Uncle Jor, her Aunt Lara, her cousins...
“How?” Kara asked, struggling to keep her composure. “How did he kill them?”
“There was technology that targeted Clark’s DNA,” Alex explained. “It searched the Astral plane and opened some sort of bridge that dropped them on Earth, right at LuthorCorp. Then it killed them all. Everyone, not just the House of El, but everyone who came through the portal. Clark says they were all Krypton Guild.” Kara’s stomach turned. She looked back at the article. There were children in one picture, laying unconscious next to a target. They couldn’t have been in more than Seventh or Eighth Trials.
“He attacked a school,” Kara said, with more breath in her voice than sound. Clark nodded.
“They only found kids with Field uniforms,” he said. “Astra didn’t teach any Fields subjects. No news is good news. She should be okay.” He’d said as much earlier. Astra was her mother’s sister, of the House of Ze. The House of El was dead, but she could still be alive.
Kara would never see her parents again.
She’d known loss. She’d felt the heartbreak of losing Jeremiah, the man who had become her father on this plane. But she remembered the pain she’d felt from the technology connected to Clark’s DNA. If she’d felt that much pain, her family must have felt a far worse pain, a pain enough to kill them. Kara couldn’t breathe. She would have gladly endured more of that pain if she could have more time with her family, one more moment, just to say goodbye. And now she never would. A squeeze on her hand brought her out of the frozen state she had found herself in.
“We’ll have to move soon,” Martha said. “Lex hasn’t officially named Clark, but he says he’s hunting the cupid who ruined his life. He knows where Clark grew up. It’s only a matter of time before he shows up here.” Kara nodded.
“Alex says we’ve been here a few days?” she asked.
“We didn’t want to move you more than we had to,” Martha confirmed. “Now that you’re up and about, though, we should get going.” Kara thought about her friends back home. The Danvers’ disappearance would stir up rumors. Everyone would suspect all three of them, not just Kara, of being cupids. It would be hard for them to get jobs or for Alex to go to graduate school. Kara and Alex might not even be able to go to school if they were in hiding, unless they found someone to get them new identities. That would take time, and more money than they made, probably.
“You three will go home to Midvale,” Clark said. Kara snapped her head over to him.
“What?” she asked, incredulous. He couldn't possibly think that splitting up was the best idea right now.
“No one knows we’re cousins,” he explained. “If we keep our distance and sever our connection to each other now, Lex can never find you. I’ll burn the letters and delete the emails. Erase my hard drive, whatever it takes.” Kara stilled.
“You and I are the last of the House of El,” she said, pleading. “You can’t do that. You can’t push me away.” She looked at Alex and Eliza for support, but they gave her expressions of sympathy. “Jimmy and the Lanes know we’re pen pals,” she added. “Doesn’t Lex, too?”
“He doesn’t know your address,” Clark replied with a shake of his head. “Or even that your name is Kara. I’ll get rid of all that stuff.” His voice was even, but his eyes betrayed how much this was hurting him. He hadn’t made this decision lightly, Kara knew. She took a deep, shuddering breath, calming sobs she hadn’t remembered starting, and leaned into Clark’s shoulder. He put an arm around her. No one said anything for a while.
Their final goodbye that evening reminded Kara of their first goodbye, when Clark left for the Earth plane when they were twelve. This time, though, seeing each other again was not an expectation but a hope, a pipe dream even.
“Stay safe, little cousin,” Kara told him, in Astral, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Clark said. He pulled away from their hug to look her in the eyes. “You’ll always be taller than me in spirit,” he said. He squeezed her hands and blinked back tears as he turned to get into his mother’s pickup truck. Kara fell to her knees. Everyone in her family was gone now. She didn’t cry, but she shook violently. She was still shaking when Alex picked her up and carried her to Eliza’s car. Kara nestled into Alex in the back seat and tried to remember that she did have family left. She had Eliza and Alex. In that moment, it didn’t feel enough.