Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Through fire we are reborn.”

Ash and smoke fill the air as the fiery blast dies down. Kem’s mouth hangs open in speechless horror as he takes in the scene of destruction in front of him. Seg has been shielding him from the explosion, but he frees himself from the other man now, knowing that the threat is gone.

She is gone...

Just a few moments ago, Jayna-Zod was warning them about what she thought might be her grand-son’s true intentions for coming back to this time, when Kem’s attention was caught by the tiny figure that appeared in the doorway to his bar.

Ona! He had been worried sick about her, Adam’s assurance that at least he had tried to help her not having done anything to appease his concerns. The little girl had always been like family to him, after all. He had known her since she had been a baby and had more than once offered shelter to her mother and her. He hadn’t been able to save Rhom, but he had sworn to himself that he would be damned if he let anything happen to Ona.

“Thank you, Uncle Kem. Taking me to him was the greatest thing you could have done.”

Ona’s words from earlier that day cut through his mind now as he looks around, searching for a sign of life that he knows he’s not going to find. His mind is still reeling to catch up with what just happened, but he has no doubt that Ona was in the centre of all of it. That she is... gone. Forever.

“Through fire we are reborn.”

He was so happy just seconds ago, to see that Ona had come back to him. That she had sought him out on her own. Of course her strange demeanour confused him a bit, but it was only when the writing on her skin began to glow, accompanied by that ticking sound, that a part of him started to realise that something was wrong. But after that everything happened too quickly for him to make any sense of it whatsoever. The glowing becoming more intense by the second, the scream in the distance, Adam suddenly appearing in the middle of this entire mess - he was there, right? Kem suddenly isn’t so sure of that anymore - and then Seg pushing him against the wall right as a huge explosion tore through his bar, ripping a gaping hole in his heart in the process.

“Through fire we are reborn.”

With trembling lips and wide eyes Kem now looks down at the small flames still smouldering on the floor of his bar, and he feels as if the world around him has suddenly gone mad. Or maybe it’s just him who’s gone mad...

He pushes the heels of his hands against his forehead. For a moment it’s as if he can’t breathe; there’s still so much ash in the air. But then, in a slit second of horrified realisation, he remembers what the source of that ash is. Kem clasps his hands over his mouth as the answer to his previous question becomes appallingly obvious. It is the world that has gone mad. And he is perfectly willing to follow it.

Ona is gone and his sanity with her. The fire is all that remains.

Through fire we are reborn.

Chapter Text

“Through fire we are reborn.”

Seg cannot even begin to recall the countless times he has already heard these words before in his life, and yet, not once have they ever filled him with anything even remotely resembling the cold terror he is feeling right now.

For a moment there he was infected by Kem’s happiness at seeing Ona return to the tavern, but the young girl’s silent stance and the lack of familiarity in her eyes was enough to set off all the warning bells in his head.  Only that they didn’t ring loudly enough.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, hesitating, and only now does he realise the terrible mistake he’s made. That those precious seconds he wasted were enough to doom both Kem and himself, and probably Jayna-Zod as well, who is standing only a few feet away from them.

“Through fire we are reborn.” Glowing markings illuminate the small face in the relative darkness of the room and Seg’s eyes grow wide as the meaning of it all reveals itself to him. Ona is a bomb. A trap. An innocent child transformed into a deadly assassin, send to kill what little family she has left. He knows he has to do something to stop her, to save his best friend’s life, but a part of him fears that it is already too late.

Seg instinctively positions himself between Kem and the little girl in front of them, but it’s the only thing his shell-shocked mind can come up with right now. He briefly considers grabbing Ona and dragging her away from the others, but given her current state, he isn’t sure that the slightest movement won’t set her off right away. Not that it matters anymore, as the light coming from the letters on Ona’s skin becomes ever brighter, indicating that she’s close to reaching a critical point.

As Seg’s eyes remain entirely focused on the girl who’s about to kill them all, the sound of a familiar voice shouting reaches his ears. It’s not a voice he expected to ever hear again, so at first his mind blocks it out, convinced it can’t be real. After all, Adam isn’t even on Krypton anymore. He has gone home, Seg was adamant about that.

His attention solely on Ona, he doesn’t even see the figure rushing into the tavern before he is suddenly being pushed back hard, away from the danger. The dirty blond shock of hair is unmistakable and Seg knows it’s him before they’re even fully facing each other. Desperate blue eyes – yet full of conviction – meet his brown ones in a silent exchange right as an energy barrier appears between them. Adam is holding the Zeta Beam device in his hand and Seg can only stare back at him as he’s being hit by an overwhelming sensation of both understanding and confusion all at the same time.

Of course he knows what Adam is doing, that he is protecting him and Kem from the explosion that’s about to happen with the force field of his transportation device, and yet he has not the slightest idea why. Adam is supposed to be gone, away from Krypton, away from Zod, the Voice of Rao and from all the fighting. Out of his way, yes, and unable to interfere with them saving Krypton, but also safe and sound at home. Where he is absolutely not supposed to be is right here, standing between Seg and certain death, with only some unreliable, previously broken piece of tech to protect him.

Seg can see it in his eyes as they look at each other now. Adam isn’t sure. He doesn’t know whether he will live or die and this might just be the last time they will ever get to see each other. Seg wants to say something, to shout, really, and ask the crazy alien what in the name of Rao he is thinking, but then it’s already too late. The moment between them is gone, interrupted by fire and a sound so deafening it makes him feel like his eardrums are going to burst.

Seg turns away from the explosion and pushes Kem against the wall with his own body, shielding him as best he can. He can feel the blazing heat radiating through the back of his clothes, but the blast is not nearly as painful as he expected. It’s not immediately evident, what with the fire and the noise all around them, but Adam’s insanity actually seems to be working.

And then, just a few seconds later, it’s all over. Gone. In fact, they both are. Seg turns around as Kem frees himself from his protective grip and there’s no sign of Ona or Adam left in the room. None other than the smoke and ash billowing around them and the scorch marks on the ground, that is.

“Through fire we are reborn.”

Once words of comfort, now the last cruel, taunting message of the maniac out to kill them all. Sweet innocent Ona gone, torn to pieces in what Seg can only assume was the Voice of Rao’s plan. And Adam... disappeared. Probably dead as well. Without a body in sight, he obviously cannot be sure, but right now Seg simply cannot find it within himself to be hopeful about his friend’s chances of survival.

His friend’s...

“We’re still friends, Seg.” At the time, Adam’s insistence in the tunnels outside Kandor has left him cold, but now Seg knows better. Of course they are!

As he lays his hand on Kem’s shoulder in an effort to provide whatever comfort he can to his best friend – uncertain whether the other man is even aware of it – Seg tries not to let himself be overwhelmed by his own loss. A loss that has become so much more glaringly obvious, now that it’s been forced into the light.

Through fire we are reborn.

Chapter Text

“Through fire we are reborn.”

It were the guards hurrying through the corridor outside the magistrate’s office that initially caught Adam’s attention, but they are quickly forgotten as Ona walks past him now, constantly repeating the religious blessing he has seen her give out in the marketplace earlier that day. The fact that she entirely ignores his attempt to stop her, to find out what has been going on, doesn’t help matters either, prompting the vague sense of curiosity he has been feeling to turn into actual worry.

He knows he is supposed to wait for the return of Daron-Vex, so they can plan their next step against the resistance, but instead he finds himself following Ona through the bleak corridors of the government building. Adam rubs a hand across his forehead as he briefly shakes his head at his own actions. He is being stupid, really, given his current plans for the city and the death toll he is well aware will accompany them. Nevertheless he is unable to shake the urge to protect Ona and so he doesn’t let her out of his sight as she heads out into the streets of Kandor, no clue where she might be leading him.

“Through fire we are reborn. Through fire we are reborn. Through fire we are reborn. Through fire we are reborn.”

Adam has only a vague idea about Krypton’s religious system, but he has seen people take solace in the phrase Ona keeps muttering to herself. He, personally, considers it rather ominous, though, and he can only shudder at the thought of the stories he has heard about the Voice of Rao stepping into the flames at the nova cycle celebration. Not an image of comfort or salvation, as far as he is concerned.

He is fidgeting with the small golden lighter from his pocket at this point; one of the ways it frequently comes in handy to calm his nerves, aside from him using it to light one of his emergency cigarettes. This time it isn’t really working, however, as the frown on his face becomes deeper with every step he takes down the increasingly familiar streets and alleys of the Kryptonian city. Kem’s tavern isn’t far anymore, and aside from wondering what the hell is going on with Ona, he now has to consider what might happen if he runs into any of his friends - or should he say ‘former friends’ - unexpectedly.

“You can come with us back to Kandor, find your Zeta Beam gadget and ride it back to wherever you came from. And never come back!”

Seg’s harsh words still echo through Adam’s mind, and despite Kem’s willingness to mediate between the two of them, he is certain that the last son of the house of El is not going to welcome him back with open arms. That’s nothing to say of how the rest of the newly founded resistance against Brainiac might react to seeing him, walking straight towards their headquarters no less.

Pushing his free hand into the depths of his pocket, Adam lets his fingers run over the finally fully repaired Zeta Beam device and now he can actually feel his nerves calm down a bit at last. He might not have extraordinary abilities like Superman or the other members of the Justice League, but this device, this is his superpower right here. It allows him to go where he needs to be and he doesn’t even care to remember how many times it has already saved him from a tight spot. Considering the direction Ona is taking him in right now, Adam figures that a portable way out in his pocket doesn’t actually sound like the worst option to have.

“Through fire we are reborn. Through fire we are reborn. Through fire we are reborn. Through fire we are reborn.”

Kem’s tavern is just around the corner now and Ona still hasn’t stopped her constant muttering, much to Adam’s dismay. He hasn’t known the kid for very long, or particularly well, but he was there when her mother died and just like Kem and Seg, he wants to make sure she is alright. This behaviour of hers, however, it is anything but alright.

“Ona—“ Adam tries to call out to the girl one more time, to get some sort of explanation as to what she is doing, but before he can say anything more than her name, his eyes fall on two men heading his way from the direction of the tavern. Their gazes are scanning the streets – for what or whom he doesn’t know – and as one of them adjusts his coat, Adam can make out the rifle hidden underneath it. It doesn’t look like the type he has seen the Sagitari use, but still like it packs quite the punch.

General Zod’s people. Black Zero. Adam has no doubt about that.

Without hesitation, he ducks behind the nearest corner just a second before they can see him. He doesn’t even know for sure whether they are actually looking for him to begin with, but given the fact that he has not made a secret about his intentions towards Lyta-Zod’s son, he figures it is best not to take any chances in that regard.

Adam curses under his breath, as this interruption means he has lost sight of Ona, who continued on her way without drawing attention. Then again, at this point he is certain that there can be no other logical destination for her than Kem’s tavern and it’s not as if he could lose her tracks over that small distance.

As he is standing there, back pressed against the wall, waiting for Zod’s goons to pass him by so he can continue on his way, Adam tries one more time to make any sense of what’s been going on over the last hour or so.

First the delay in Daron-Vex’s efforts to gain support from the Voice of Rao, then whatever incident in his chamber that the guards he overheard were heading towards and now Ona’s seemingly nonsensical behaviour.  Adam lets out a frustrated sigh, because, if there is any connection there, he doesn’t see it. As a matter of fact, he can’t even figure out why Ona would come to Kem’s tavern in the first place, not after having insisted just earlier today how happy she is as one of Rao’s disciples.

“Through fire we are reborn.” Adam mutters the words himself now, the frown back on his face. As much as he knows that Ona is a devoted follower of Rao, he has never seen her act quite so single-mindedly in her belief, so... blind to everything around her.

“Through fire we are reborn.” As far as he can tell, the young girl’s behaviour right now has more in common with a crazy fanatic, than with the innocent child he has known so far. If he didn’t know better, he would even consider that she has somehow lost her mind or... has been brainwashed.

The thought seems ridiculous at first, but then Adam’s brow furrows even more as he suddenly realises where exactly Ona has been heading all this time. Not just towards Kem’s tavern, a place where she would know people cared about her, but also towards the current hideout for Black Zero operatives in the city and the only centre of the resistance against Brainiac on all of Krypton.

“Through fire we are—“ Adam’s voice catches in his throat as the full weight of this realisation hits him. He has no doubt that whoever is in that bar right now – Kem and Seg most likely – is in terrible danger and it is in that moment that he entirely forgets his earlier concerns of running into Zod or any of his allies.

Adam leaps back into the street and starts running the rest of the way, panic rising in his chest. He can already see them as he tears around the last corner – Kem and Seg standing right in front of Ona while the girl’s skin is literally glowing. He has no idea what kind of messed up Kryptonian technology this is, but if the theory that Ona might carry a bomb has crossed his mind before, it is now time to correct that. She is the bomb and Adam knows immediately that it is too late to stop her. He is too late.

“No!” His scream carries down the street, but none of the people he’s looking at seem to hear him. Or at least none of them react.

Ever since he made the decision to stay on Krypton despite Seg’s instructions, to find a way to save Superman, he has been full of plans, of schemes to get what he wants, no matter what it might cost, and yet, now that he could actually use a plan, his mind is entirely blank. He’s running head first into mortal danger and as of right now, he has no idea what he’s going to do once he gets there. Still, he doesn’t stop. On the contrary, his feet carry him forward even faster and then, without thinking about it, his fingers close once again around the Zeta Beam device in his pocket.

It’s the only thing he has that might be able to make a difference right now – his superpower – and Adam knows that, if ever, this is the time to use it. The outlines of an idea begin to form in his head, but there is no time to actually come up with a plan. All he can do right now is to rely on his instincts as he closes the last remaining distance between himself and Seg and the others.

Timing is of the essence right now, that much is clear. If he pushes that button just an instant too late, the bomb is going to blow up in his face and he highly doubts that his body will be enough of a shield to protect Seg and Kem from the blast. A moment too early, however, and he ends up somewhere else, safe and sound, while leaving his friends to die.

As he is now out of time and options, however, Adam simply does what he has to as he barges into the doorway, interrupting the confused stares of the two Kryptonians facing Ona. He pushes Seg away from her and the instant the dark haired man is out of his way, Adam goes ahead and hits the button on the Zeta Beam device, praying that all of this isn’t going to be for nothing.

He has invested too much into coming here to this time to now just stand by and let Seg-El, Superman’s grandfather, die. And also – maybe even more importantly – he has invested too much of himself in all of this to just stand by and let his friend die.

Seg stares back at him in disbelief as the protective energy field of the Zeta Beam comes up around Adam. Their eyes meet for a moment, shock, fear and confusion written all over the Kryptonian’s features. Adam wants to say something, to explain his sudden reappearance and tell Seg that everything is going to be alright – hopefully – but there is no time for that. There is no time for anything, really, because the force field of the transportation device has barely fully established as the bomb standing behind him – Ona – already goes off.

Seg turns away at the blast and that is the last thing Adam sees of him, because now the Zeta Beam fully kicks in – the transport even rougher than usual – and a moment later he is no longer on Krypton.

Instead, he is in hell.

Or at least that is what this new world feels like, its people frozen in time.

“Brainiac doesn’t want his collection to change. Ever.” He told this to Daron-Vex mere hours ago, but never did he think he would see it with his own eyes. There is no doubt about it in his mind anymore; he truly is in hell.

A desperate chuckle escapes Adam’s lips as he realises how right he has been about Ona’s words all along. For him, they never promised salvation.

“Through fire we are reborn.”