Spaces Between the Stars

[amvsuperman]

Who: Clark Kent, Kara Zor-El
Where: The Kent Farm, Kansas.
What: Post-Christmas musings.

The cup of eggnog was cold in Clark's hand as he walked along the fencepost, heading purposefully towards the barn. Kara had been quiet after Christmas dinner and had wandered off a few minutes ago. His parents had been worried, but he'd reassured them that she

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[amvzorel]

Kara turned her head to him with a weak smile; how had he known she would be here? Surely he hadn't been looking that long. Somehow, he had known just where to find her, and had the foresight not to immediately ask her if she was okay or what she was up to. As she accepted the cup with trembling hands, the girl wondered where a Kryptonian had learned such compassion, and how a stranger seemed to understand her.

It was just so alien. The "eggnog," the heartfelt celebrations, donations to "charity," apple pie, unquestioning acceptance of their new alien niece as an equal- all of it. Even the sky, the moonlight- this Earth had only one moon, and with her new powers she could feel the moonlight -- feel how it was hotter than anything reflected from Krypton's sun had ever been -- and even that felt wrong

[amvsuperman]

Clark smiled warmly at her. Kara had recruited Jor-El and made gifts for himself and his parents out of crystal. His mother and father had gotten a crystalline apple, apparently inspired by Clark's glowing reccomendation of his mom's apple pie. For Clark, Kara had made a glowing, crystal flame, the burst of colors inside shining out.

"She loved it, we all did." Clark settled in beside her, glad he couldn't feel the cold. "I never thought about using the crystals that way. They're beautiful."

They stared up at the sky in silence for a moment. Before Clark could think better of it, he asked, "Which one is Rao?"

[amvzorel]

Shit. Just when Kara had herself collected and calm, Clark had to go and say that. Then Kara had to go and think of an all-too-human profanity, the earliest proof that she was losing her Kryptonian-ness.

She gazed out into the stars, as terrified as she was focused; she was so scared of seeing the empty solar system, so scared she could vomit from it, but would sooner chew off her own foot than show it. It was by the grace of Rao itself that Kara Zor-el's voice only wavered to a minuscule degree, that her eyes only welled up with tears for a brief second when she replied in extremely heavily accented English slash Kryptonian, "That one," pointing with a trembling finger. "The far-off star that shines with the exact colors in my gift to you

[amvsuperman]

Clark shifted a little closer until he was shoulder to shoulder with Kara. He couldn't really hug her when they were both laying flat, but he could at least offer some body heat. He stared up at the dim, red star, nothing surrounding it but a massive asteroid field. Rao was huge, even for a red giant, and Clark wondered if it would go supernova before it died.

"After my folks told me I wasn't from around here, I used to stare up at the sky every night and wonder where I was from," Clark said. "It wasn't until I activated the crystals in the ship that brought me here that I found out anything about Krypton, or my parents. Before then, I would just lay here on the barn or on the grain silo and wonder about my birth world. What it was like, what my parents looked like...why they gave me up." He turned his head to look at Kara.

"Sometimes, knowing the truth can be the hardest thing in the world."