Chapter Text
“Oh, Krypto— really?” Clark groaned, slowly rubbing the sleep and slowness from his eyes.
The Fortress of Solitude was a pigs stye. Worse, honestly. Even surrounded by the icy and pure, clean blue shards that made up the walls and floors of the fortress, everything was a mess. Dogs toys littered every inch of the floor, with piss and bits of dog feces in corners.
It’s never been this bad before.
Yes, Kara lived in a mess. Of dog piss and toys and thrown-around clothes, but Krypto was never like this at home. Not with Clark. Not even with Kara.
No amount of playing or cuddling or attention could calm him down, not like before.
“No, no, come on, Krypto. We don’t need to break the ice wall!” Superman cried out. It was early morning. Kara was still undoubtedly asleep, and Clark hadn’t even the chance to change out of his pajamas before the dog started crashing into the thick ice walls.
The white dog flew around the living room of the fortress, gaining acceleration and force to run into the walls again.
How could Kara possibly sleep through this? Clark exclaimed internally, moving from a walk to a run after the flying dog.
His white fur almost blended in with the ice and snow surrounding them, but Clark had amazing eyesight.
“Don’t make me catch you, Krypto!” Superman warned loudly. “You know I’ll do it! Honestly, what’s wrong with you? It’s just been go-go-go since we got home.” Clark pushed his glasses up his face to see better, hovering just above the ground in an attempt to catch up with Krypto who was running in circles around him. “Did something happen? Do you… miss space? We could go up and play later. Doesn’t that sound fun, Krypto? Going to space? We can play fetch!”
The dog froze in the middle of his lap, spinning to face Clark.
He grinned. “Ah. There we go. Got you to calm down, huh? Let’s go play fetch in space before Kara wakes up. Why don’t we do that?”
Oh, Clark was naive.
As Krypto stilled, he went back on the floor, no longer hovering.
But then the dog kept flying. Around and around and around the room. So fast! Superman could hardly even tell what was going on!
Until a loud crack!
To the living room wall.
In the middle of the ice wall was a Krypto-shaped-hole, cracked and broken, with shards of ice and pieces of snow on the floor below it.
As was Krypto.
“Nope. Nope. That’s it! This is the third day in a row!” Clark declared. “I am waking Kara up, and we are doing something about this.”
_________
“I don’t understand what you want me to do.”
Clark sighed, putting his forehead in his hands.
“He’s a dog. He’s Krypto. He’s always breaking something or damaging things. Nothing we can do about it.” Kara, Clark’s cousin, shrugged nonchalantly as she sipped on a Monster.
They were in the kitchen now, and Krypto was still unconscious from bashing into the wall. Kara stood leaned against the cabinets, her hip resting there while having a Monster energy drink for breakfast, to Clark’s dismay. Who, sat on the dining table, opposite his cousin.
“But there’s something wrong, can’t you feel it? At night, he sulks, and whenever we’re awake he’s breaking something. He won’t listen to us. He won’t use the bathroom outside like he used to—”
Kara frowned at that. “Maybe ‘cause he’s been living in a spaceship for the past year.”
“Well—” The man paused, before sighing. “Yeah. But, he’s sad. And upset. Maybe he misses space, I mean, he was there for so long. It’s not the fortress he doesn’t like because he loved being here with me when you were gone. There just— has to be something, Kara.”
She held her hands out, as if to show she had no clue what could possibly be making him upset. “Maybe… it’s a side effect from the antidote. Maybe now he doesn’t like Earth. How should we know, Clark?”
Superman immediately deflated in his seat. He pursed his lips, eyes moving to the floor. “I just hate seeing him like this. He’s unconcious! And purposefully ran into a wall. That’s not normal Krypto behaviour.”
Kara chugged her white Monster.
“There wasn’t anyone you met in space? Someone he could have, I don’t know, gotten attached to? Someone he could miss?” Clark asked hopefully, grasping at straws to figure out what could be wrong with their dog.
And he noticed Kara pause. Mid-chug.
Suspicious, Clark squinted at her.
“No.” The blonde threw the can in the trash. “No one.”
Uh huh. Clark didn’t believe that for a second. “Not one person?”
“Uh-uh.”
“You didn’t make any friends?”
“Not a one.”
“And you worked entirely alone, the whole time?”
“Just me, yup.”
“I think you’re lying.”
She inhaled, and swallowed. “I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Am not!”
“Are too! Who did you guys meet?” Clark demanded. Well, not strongly. Or scarily. It was more of a soft question, really.
Kara let out a small tsk and looked out the window to the snowy plains around them. “Just… a girl.”
“A girl?” Clark frowned from his seat in the table. He begged Kara for a full debrief the second she got back home, and not once did his cousin mention anything about a girl. Oh! Wow, this was amazing. Kara’s first relationship! Of course she didn’t want to share it with Clark. “Wow, Kata. I am so proud of you.”
She frowned in confusion at him. The look became worse as he laughed softly and placed a hand over his chest. “I was so worried you’d always be alone. I mean, I have Lois. But you? You never showed any interest in anyone. Certainly not guys. Ever since you were young. So, tell me about her. Is she pretty? How old? Is she smart? I think you’d need someone smart. And controlled. Clean. What planet is she from? Is she a humanoid or—”
“Clark!” Kara hissed with an annoyed look. “Oh my god. Seriously? A girl like a girl. A thirteen-year-old. I can’t believe that was your first assumption.”
Superman froze. “Oh. Oh! I see now. Of course, of course! That makes a lot of sense. Sorry, Kara. So, a little girl. One the Brigands captured?”
Tapping her thigh just a bit anxiously, Kara sucked in a breath. “No… just— a girl. Ruthye. From, I don’t know, Holler, or Holland, or Zelfer…”
“Hollzher?” Clark guessed with a deep frown. He’d never been to the planet, but had heard a lot about it’s beauty from intergalactic travellers. It was supposed to be like Switzerland. Rural, faraway, but beautiful. “With the red sun?”
“That’s the one.” Kara cocked her head and stared at him. “We met her at a bar there. Trying to get revenge on a Brigand. The one who posioned Krypto. She… came, with, uh, me. A lot.”
“I see.” He nodded slowly with a thoughtful look. Clark looked at the table with a bite of his lip. “And she’s with her family still?”
“Eh…” Kara winced. “Nah, they got killed by the Brigands. You know, the revenge. She’s staying with her aunt now, or… something.”
“Or something?” He repeated. “You don’t know where she’s staying? Are you even still in contact with her?”
He received a weird look from the woman. “Why would I do that? She has her aunt.”
“So you can talk! If she needs help, or, or support, she can call you.” Clark explained with a worried look. “Okay, you aren’t in contact. But, you’ve met the aunt, right?”
“Uh…” The weird look returned.
“Kara!” Clark scolded her softly. “You didn’t meet the aunt?”
“She’s not my sister! Or my daughter. Why would I meet the aunt? Krypto wanted to get home.”
“Well, now Krypto probably misses her! I think we should pay Ruthye a visit. I’ve always wanted to visit Hollzher, you know…” The chair he sat on scraped the ice as Kara groaned. Clark began walking away, muttering something about hills and sightseeing.
Kara couldn’t believe this. The last thing Ruthye needed right now was for Kara to come back. And Clark! Oh, this would be a mess.