Chapter Text
Lena leans her head against the window, the cool touch of the glass against her cheek stealing the thoughts from her mind. She watches as the trees fly by, the leaves blending together into a green blob. She enjoys the silence, the peace, however fleeting it is. But, alas, she soon arrives at her destination, the trees reverting into sharp focus at the same time that reality comes crashing in.
The large wrought iron gates that the car stopped in front of creak open, like the maw of a great beast from the stories that her mother used to tell her. Lena’s eyes well up, tears falling down her face in a familiar track. Ma. Oh, how she missed her Ma. Her warm hugs, her funny jokes, how her mom would smile at her every time she saw her, without fail. And now she would never see her again, would never be welcomed home by a warm house and her mother’s smiling face again. And it's all her fault.
As they roll to a stop at the end of the long driveway, Lena is finally able to curb the tears, at least for now. The only thing that could be heard in that backseat was the sound of her sniffles, silence permeating the air thickly throughout the long drive. She jumps slightly when Mr. Luthor — Father now — moves, having forgotten that he was even there. Out of the pocket of his immaculate suit he pulls a handkerchief, monogrammed with his initials in the corner, and offers it to her. His face is cold, unmoving, but his eyes are kind. He doesn’t say much to Lena, at least not so far, but he tries his best to comfort her in the ways that he can.
Mr.— Father opens the door and gracefully unfolds himself from his seat. He isn’t a small man, but every movement he has is fluid, never a crack in his armor. Everything he does is careful, Lena knows that already even from the small amount of time they’d been together. Every movement, every offer, every command is well thought out and executed to perfection. Well, except for deciding to bring her back with him. Lena doesn’t think that's very smart on his part, she really isn’t worth his time, but it's not like she has much choice in the matter. For the life of her, she can’t figure out why one of the richest families in the world decided to take in a random orphan.
Lena knows there’s more to it and she plans to find out why, but she can’t bring herself to care in that moment. Her mother is dead, all her friends have been left behind, and any trace of her former life has been washed away by the storm cloud that is Lionel Luthor. Despite that, he is the only one that’s keeping her sane, the only human connection that she has left. So when he reaches his hand in to help her out of the car, Lena takes it without hesitation, stepping out in front of the biggest house she had ever seen.
No, not a house, a mansion. What do you call a mansion that's even bigger than the average mansion? Lena thought she knew what rich was but now knows that’s not the case. She has never seen wealth like this. Lena had grown up in an average neighborhood but attended a private school on scholarship and observed rich kids in their natural habitat. She’d seen their frivolous spending, their expensive clothes. Her mom drove her past their homes every day, had noted how large they were, how sprawling. But this place, this place put them all to shame. Put even her school to shame, the mansion in front of her so large that she can’t even fathom the amount of time and effort that building it took. It’s old, very old, but not unkempt in anyway. Every brick was clean, every plant was trimmed, every window gleamed. Immaculate is the best word that Lena can use to describe it.
With all her gawking at the mansion, it takes Lena a moment to notice the people standing at the entrance of the building. A woman with short blond hair and sharp features, her eyes cutting in their glare at her; a young man, a mop of brown hair on his head and a smirk resting on his lips; and another older man, off to the side in a suit.
Lionel rests his hand on her shoulder, guiding her to the woman and the teenager. ‘This is your new brother, Lex, and your new mother—‘
Lena’s heart stops, her eyes welling with tears once again. New mother? She doesn’t want a new mother, doesn’t need a new mother. She just wants her mom back. Fury fills her, her chest burning with the blatant disrespect of her mother’s memory, the disregard of her own feelings, her face flushing from the rush of blood to her head. Lena wants to speak, needs to say something, anything, to let him know how wrong he is, but the woman interrupts before she can.
‘Lillian will do just fine.’ She glares at her husband before moving her piercing eyes to Lena. Lillian reminds Lena of her old principal, as they both seem to look for anything that is erroneous in appearance to reprimand you for it. She isn’t sure how she feels about her adoptive mother yet, can only look her in the eyes and try to return the intensity of the look she is receiving.
Interrupting the silent staring contest that has accidentally been initiated between Lillian and Lena is a hand in her space and a confident voice. ‘Hi. Happy to make your acquaintance.’
Lena slowly takes his hand, meeting his eyes and shaking firmly in return. She replies quietly, talking for the first time in possibly days, ’Nice to meet you.’
A grin erupts across his face, his green eyes sparkling, and in that instant she knew she was going to like him. Lex was a breath of fresh air in the stoic silence that was Lionel Luthor and the suffocation that seemed to be Lillian. Lena could only hope that he stayed that way.
~~~
It’s so cold. And everything is so dark? Why can’t she see? What has happened? Where were her mom and dad? Why did everything hurt?
She’d been woken up by a loud noise and a hard impact, her chest sore from the seatbelt yanking harshly across. Her head felt like it was full of cotton and her body ached like it never had before. She sees nothing, and for a moment she thinks she’s died. Her heart stalls in her chest, her breath catching, her hands tightening on the arms of the chair she’s in.
Screeeeeech
The grating sound of metal scraping against metal draws her attention away from the possibility of her death and to the light now seeping in above her. A person cloaked in shadow, towering and broad, stands above her and she can only whimper. She shrinks back into her seat, trying to get as far away from this stranger as she can.
The figure jerks back, his face revealed in the pale, white light filtering in from above. But the face was of no consequence to her. No, she was consumed by the symbol on his chest. The house of El, her house, was emblazoned in red.
~~~
Lena is meant to be shown to her room inside of the house, mansion, whatever this beast of a building was called. It’s just Lex and the butler, Charles, taking her there, as Lionel and Lillian had ‘business’ to discuss right after their short introductions. Lena assumes that the ‘business’ to discuss was her, but there is nothing she can do about. That doesn’t stop her from worriedly wringing her hands while on this short walk that has somehow turned into an impromptu tour of the whole estate.
Charles enthusiastically points out each little detail about the house, how this room has welcomed certain foreign diplomats or how some momentous occasion has occurred here due to prestige of the Luthor family. It’s all a bit overwhelming, what Lena now has to live up to after being bestowed with the Luthor name. Lex, meanwhile, makes eye contact with Lena behind his back, rolling his eyes and miming hanging himself. Lena can’t help but giggle at his antics, happy to be around someone…well, normal.
When they finally make it to Lena’s room, her mouth falls open. It’s ginormous, easily twice the size of her previous bedroom, probably even more. It’s tastefully decorated with a desk, vanity, and giant bed within the four walls. It’s fantastic, but it’s not really hers. It doesn’t have any of her pictures, no posters of her favorite scientists, no scuff marks on the wall where she’d accidentally thrown her shoes against the wall after practice. No Ma. Lena grits her teeth, swallowing thickly. No, no more crying today. She’s already cried enough, and the tears don’t do anything.
She manages to keep the tears at bay, but from the pitying look that Lex gives her, it seems her attempts to hide her sadness were all for naught. The pity doesn’t stay for long however, as a mischievous sparkle soon appears in his eyes once again. He turns to Charles, asking, ‘You wouldn’t mind if I took her off your hands for a while, right?’
‘Of course not, Mr. Luthor.’ Is all Charles says before he walks off to do whatever a butler does. Lex turns back to Lena, smirk in full force.
‘Ready to go have some fun?’
~~~
The man says something, but she doesn’t understand him. Why can’t she understand him? Is there something wrong with her? No, what he’s speaking isn’t Kryptonian, or any of the other languages that she knows. This is something different, something foreign. How does she not know him? She knows all the people in the house of El.
‘Who are you?’ She asks, voice quivering. The fear dissipating slightly after seeing the familiar symbol, but it’s not completely gone. Surprise rolls across his face, but after a moment he reaches a hand in to help her out of wherever she was. She hesitates but takes it nonetheless. She has no other choice, there’s nowhere else to go. Maybe he’s here to help her, to tell her what’s going on.
She steps out and looks around. The grass is tall, the wind rustling through and making the strands flow like the sea. The sky is dark, but the light of the moon is enough to see by. Wait, only one moon? Krypton has two moons! When she takes a closer look at her surroundings, she knows it’s true. She’s no longer on Krypton.
She whips herself around to look at what she just stepped out of and sees a silver pod. Small, just enough room for her. The ground is torn up from her landing, bits of grass and dirt littered around the spacecraft. Steam billows out of the back of the pod, its time come and gone. She looks back at the man, taking him in. He’s tall, broad shouldered and muscular, but younger than she first thought he was. His outfit is strangely colorful, but she is still stumped by the crest on his chest. Could it just be a symbol identical to her family’s, but means something completely different to the natives of this planet? The chances of that are astronomically low, but never impossible.
What she is sure of is that she shouldn’t be here. There’s something wrong, this isn’t right. Nothing here is right, but she just can’t remember. Why can’t she remember? Something had happened, something big, something bad, but what was it?
She clenches her fists at her side, eyes filling and lip quivering. How is she supposed to communicate with this person if they don’t speak the same language? What is she going to do? She sees the pity in his eyes, but she doesn’t want it. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down when she hears him.
The stranger speaks as if the words don’t fit correctly in his mouth, saying in kryptonian, ‘I am Kal-El.’
~~~
‘This is what you do for fun?’ Lena asks as she sits across a chess board from Lex, carefully planning out her next move even as she speaks.
‘What?’ He asks with mock-indignation, ‘do the young people nowadays not find chess absolutely riveting?’
‘To be honest, I’m not sure what other young people find riveting.’ Lena rolls her eyes but still makes her move, Lex giving her an impressed nod. ‘I’m not one to keep up with trends.’
‘I see.’ Lex scratches his chin, eyes glued to the board, searching. The glint in his eyes is not longer mischievous but competitive. ‘Well, you’re a Luthor now. Blood or not, you have the name so you’ll have to uphold it.’
He makes his move. Aggressive, a little reckless, but for a lesser player then Lena would mark a decisive victory in his favor. He looks into her eyes, the stare reminiscent of his mother’s, bearing straight into her soul. ‘You will be watched by all, scrutinized by all. You have to be the best. You won’t be following the trends, but setting them. You’ll be a public figure, whether you like it or not. Check.’
Lena just looks at him for a while, before slowly turning her attention back to the board. She didn’t want this, any of it. She didn’t choose to be adopted by them, any more than she chose for her mother to die. But maybe this is her penance for letting it happen. Maybe she has to suffer this fate that’s the opposite of anything she has ever dreamed for herself because she’s a coward.
Lena clenches her jaw, eyes squinting in concentration. Well, if she is going to do it, if she’s going to truly be a Luthor, she’s going to do it well. Lena looks at the board a little longer before making her move. Her green eyes meeting his, she finally responds.
‘Good to know. I’ll try to live up to all of your expectations.’ She smiles at him, although her eyes are as cold as steel. ‘Oh, and checkmate.’
~~~
Memories flood her mind like the worst recording she’s ever seen. The fire raining down, crashing around her and her parents as they rush through the streets of Argo City. Her parents ushering her along quickly, telling her not to look, but she can still hear the screams of the dying. Her school, crushed to rubble, a hand sticking out of the wreckage. She’s not sure if she knew them or not, her parents dragging her by too fast for her to get a proper look. The port, where they rush her into a pod so fast that she doesn’t even see that they don’t have one until she’s already locked inside. Her parents ask her to do one more thing, for them. Her duty, her parents’ dying wish, is for her to protect Kal-El, her baby cousin, once they get to Earth. The cold, quiet darkness surrounds her before she knows it, suffocating her, as she has to watch her world explode, and all those she loves on it. Suffocating, panic inducing darkness that surrounds her for what feels like an eternity.
Her knees go weak, her chest heavy with the weight of her lost world as she clutches onto her mother’s necklace for dear life.They’re gone, there is no coming back. For them or for her planet. Bile crawls up her throat as oxygen evades her lungs. She can’t breathe, she can’t, she can’t. Black starts to crawl into the edge of her vision until she feels crushed by two strong arms.
Oh.
He’s still here. Kal. The baby she was supposed to protect is now a grown man, and the only thing that is keeping her grounded.
‘Breathe.’ He says, voice somewhere above her. ‘In, out. In, out.’
And she does what he says. She breathes past the tears that continue to run down her face, past the terror that consumes her every cell, past the sadness that aches in her bones. She keeps breathing because that’s all she can do.
When she finally seems steady on her feet, the tears falling from her eyes more slowly than before, her breathes coming in hiccups and gasps instead of full body sobs, Kal releases her and asks this young girl the question that’s been itching at him since he saw the pod fall from the sky.
‘Who are you?’
She takes a deep breath, to steady herself, then replies, ‘I’m Kara Zor-El. Your cousin.’