Forget Me Not 3/3
Title: Forget Me Not
Pairing: Chlara, hinted Clark/Davis and Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon
Rating: PG-13
Summary. Post S8 Abyss, spoilers for Bride. Kara comes home for a day to find out that Chloe has forgotten all about her. She decides to do something about it.
Author's Note: Thank you to herohunter and lexalicious
For thelittlebang
Word Count: 18115 overall
Part One ♥ Part Two
Part Three
Kara's fingers on Chloe's body felt electric. Each kiss was like the gentle shock of a battery. They took comfort in one another's touch, slowly, deliberately. Chloe wasn't certain when she decided that this was okay, but when one is going to die, she supposed, it's better not to waste time.
He stares at her. She stares back.
Every moment she felt Brainiac pressing at her consciousness. He was only suppressed for a short time, and now, with her memories returning, she could sense his consciousness there. Pushing, pushing. He didn't have to press hard. Mostly. He waited.
Black eyes, glittering. Showing her his passive menace.
After all, Brainiac was practically eternal. Chloe knew from his memories that Zod and the Council had thought they had Brainiac under control, but he was merely collecting data from their planet. All the data he could from the race that didn't know it was going to be snuffed out.
That AI was one cold bastard.
So Chloe lived, and she kept warm. It was a gallows love; the damsel and her failed savior exploring one another's bodies while both of them were complete, alive, sane. Now that she had her memories, her connections to her life in Metropolis were few. The wrongness of touching another girl while she was technically someone's fiancée was lost in the revelations her memories, as well as the menace of an alien intelligence threatening to merge with her own, brought her.
Fingers trailing down Chloe's neck, Kara's ears picked up a familiar voice, and she pulled her mouth away from Chloe's breasts. Her cousin. Jimmy. Lois. They were here, with two others.
"They are going to be mad," Kara whispered into Chloe's ear. Chloe looked up and spotted them just as it appeared that they had been spotted themselves.
Jimmy looked on in utter disbelief. "Kara?"
"Oh my God," Lois exclaimed. "My baby cousin is a lesbian. Did I know this? I had to have known this!"
Before any of the other shocked members of their party could say anything, behind them a deep, guttural growl began to grow louder and louder.
Chloe's eyes widened, and she didn't even notice Kara's hand cupping her breast under her blouse. "Davis? What's happening?"
His eyes were the color of fresh blood, and he was shaking, first with his fists out, and then he hugged himself tightly and stumbled backward.
"No, not now…" he muttered.
Clark moved to his side quickly and looked into those horrifying red eyes, which were quickly being overtaken by a sense of helplessness in the anger.
"Don't you let me kill her!" Davis screamed at Clark through clenched teeth. Bony horns ripped through the flesh of his forehead, and instinctively Clark grabbed Davis' shoulders.
"What the hell?" Lois backed away from them quickly, grabbing Jimmy's shirt and dragging him with her.
"Please…" Davis begged. The bony spines split his clothes, and he appeared to be growing, growing.
Kara stood in front of Chloe protectively and buttoned up her shorts. "You stay away from her," she commanded in a firm voice.
Davis let out a loud snarl in response.
"Kara!" Clark shouted. "Not helping!"
Except it was too late; almost seven feet tall now, the gristly gray and white creature in Davis' place was unrecognizable to the human that had been standing there a moment ago, and it threw Clark effortlessly across the beach.
Kara rushed the creature and caught its fist as it attacked her. In a blur of blows, they moved back and forth, back and forth in a deadly dance across the beach.
But Kara was taking damage. The monster's bony protuberances cut her skin whenever it landed a low, and she didn't know how long she could hold this thing off, but the important thing now was for Chloe to get away. In a move of desperation, she pushed it back and let forth a blast of her heat vision, but the monster charged her as though the lasers were nothing. It sent her sprawling to the ground.
There was a screeching, ringing sound in the air that Kara could discern; separate from the sensation of what was surely her first concussion on Earth. The monster stopped a moment, picked Kara up by the neck and charged in another direction. Kara cried out in protest as it used her to beat someone else. The sound stopped.
And the monster began thumping Kara against the ground like a rag doll.
Across the beach, Chloe was running. They'd gotten away from her as the fight had moved, and surely, surely, this thing would kill them all. She couldn't provide mental space for the concept that Davis and this thing were the same. She just moved closer, feeling her anger rising.
Her eyes turned black.
The man stands. He grins widely. It is time.
Chloe's hands rose, fingers splayed, and the monster was sent flying. Her hair flew around her from the telekinetic force coming off of her, and as the monster shook itself off and spotted her, her lips twisted into a smirk. Her head tilted to the side in a sharp motion, almost as though clicking into place.
She lifted one hand to beckon the creature, and a low, oddly accented voice rose out of her throat, "Come to me, Doomsday."
The chilling order caused the beast to straighten up and rush for her. She spun around the creature and caught its arm. It shook from head to toe. Coding ran over its red eyes, until the beast began to shrink and grow still.
Chloe dropped Davis and stared at him coldly. "I alone am Brainiac. Kryptonians are inferior creatures. Do not attempt to cross me again, meatbag."
Davis looked up at her, confused and aching, then passed out.
***
Clark was knocked unconscious when he'd fallen, but only for a few moments. It was enough. There was a small crowd of people staring at the crater in the beach where he'd landed. Clark looked at them for only a moment, then disappeared as he ran back to his friends.
Dinah was unconscious, but intact. Kara sprawled on the beach, bleeding quite a bit. Davis was in a crumpled, naked pile. And Chloe was standing over him, looking at him almost disinterestedly. Clark threw a look back to Kara, knowing she would heal in the sunlight, before moving closer to Chloe.
"Are you alright?" he asked tentatively.
"I'm perfect, Kal-El," she replied in a voice that seemed uncomfortably familiar to him.
Clark shivered. "Please give her back. Take me-"
"The name is Brainiac, Kal-El. I need something with a brain. Unfortunately, the majority of you Kryptonians and humans are far too low functioning to even call properly sentient, let alone to be good enough for me." She twisted her neck to the side and looked at him with her shining black eyes. "Always make a back-up copy. In case someone sends your chips flying."
Clark shook his head and looked down at Davis. "I… Then make a back-up copy. Make one and leave her alone."
"Hrr hrr hrr," Brainiac laughed and looked up at the sun. "No."
"Why not?" Clark demanded, balling his fists. He needed to go help his fallen friends, but he didn't think that letting Brainiac out of his sight would be a good idea. Especially since he had been able to take out that monster where Kara and Dinah had failed.
"I can feel this body dying all around me," Brainiac said with a tinge of disgust in his voice. He sounded less cocky than he had in earlier incarnations, more tired, more broken. "But it serves my purpose for now. I have work to do. This planet doesn't have long to live. And I want to know everything your civilization has available."
He began to walk away from Clark, but just as Clark began to follow him, Brainiac stopped. Clark stopped as well and watched as Brainiac raised a hand to his temple. Then he began to writhe.
Coming around to see what was going on, Clark was pushed back by the telekinetic field. The sand around Chloe's body was beginning to form a circle. Brainiac groaned.
Then he screamed.
The slight blond girl with soft round cheeks looks up. Her eyes lock with the black pits staring back at her. The man with unearthly sharp cheekbones shakes his head and smugly twists his lips, certain of victory. She slowly rises.
A bloodcurdling scream rips out of her throat as she barrels toward him, her limbs lengthening and her eyes going white. She grows, she changes, she encompasses her Self. And finally she leaps upon the man, pressing her thumbs into his eyes and continuing to scream barbarically.
"This is my mind. GET OUT!"
Pushing against the invisible telekinetic field, Clark tried to break his way in, but he couldn't budge it. Behind him he heard transformers blowing, glass shattering and people running for cover.
The pitch black eyes began to fade to white. Then, there was an explosion, and once again, Clark saw stars.
***
Kara came to on the beach. There were no houses nearby, and for one horrifying moment her body tensed and she felt as though she was in the Phantom Zone. However, there was blood all over her, and if she were in the Zone, then the Phantoms would have been attracted to the blood and attacked her by now, so somehow Kara forced her heart to slow to a reasonable pace and sat up. She wondered for a moment if she were on some other beach, if she were still on Earth. The stars still looked like the ones over Coast City, though. Turning her head, she narrowed her eyes to look once again at the skyline.
All of the buildings were reduced to rubble. She came to her feet quickly and looked around the immediate area, spotting Clark and the dark haired man who had transformed lying beside one another and the woman clad in black. They had blood on them, but there didn't appear to be any injuries. Sitting by them was Chloe, legs crossed underneath her as she stared at the ocean.
As Kara came nearer, she realized that Chloe was hovering above the sand.
"Chloe?" Kara whispered almost fearfully.
Chloe looked up at Kara with glowing white eyes.
"You're…" Kara drew nearer, even though this time, Brainiac would probably kill her.
"I am Chloe Sullivan." Chloe blinked, and her head tilted to the side in a slow, strange movement. "I'm also Brainiac, in a way. I think… I reprogrammed him. My ability was helping me to fight him all along. I suppose I'm about the forth or fifth version. Brainiac… 5.0. His AI is gone. I've searched all of my memories. He lost."
Kara knelt beside Chloe. A tear ran down her cheek and her fingers slid along the curve of Chloe's jaw as it narrowed towards her chin.
"Brainiac," Kara whispered. She took in a shaky breath and moved her hands over the sides of Chloe's face. "Say something. Say something… you."
"Something me? Um… Insert, obscure cultural reference here. I'm a little fuzzy. We haven't slept properly since you brought me here. And then there was that… Thing." Chloe looked over at Clark, Davis, and Dinah.
"No?" Kara pinned Chloe's body flush against her and sighed. "God, I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm like a weed from hell. Can't kill me. Not even with an evil computer."
"Mm." Kara sucked in her lower lip and closed her eyes. When Chloe's cold hand touched Kara's face, she shuddered, but didn't try to move away. The creature that had tortured her and thrown her in that desert hell was pressed up against her, safely tucked away in this warm and inviting body. A new and improved version to be sure. Kara just hoped that Chloe hadn't had to trade too much of herself to survive.
Chloe's lips brushed against hers, and Kara felt Chloe's breath against her face. "Is that… still okay?"
"As long as it's you."
"I alone am Chloe Sullivan, Brainiac 5. Accept no substitutes." Chloe laughed softly.
***
The two women sat by the ocean together for some time, waiting for the others to wake up. Chloe occasionally saw a string of code in front of her eyes.
But this time it was because she was thinking of it. It was part of her thoughts, and not his.
It had been such a long time since her mind had been hers. He had been in control for far longer than Chloe had realized. Freedom almost felt unsettling. Like she was a child's balloon that had been suddenly let go. She was floating along, unfettered. She held tight to Kara and watched the tide lapping at the shore.
After a time, Kara looked up, tilting her head to the side. "Someone's hurt."
"Take me," Chloe said. "I'll heal them."
Chloe wrapped her arms around Kara's waist and smiled as the world blurred for half a moment. They stood in front of a collapsed building, and Chloe approached, scanning for life forms. With a frown she hurried forward. Kara tossed large pieces of debris over her shoulder so that Chloe could find the person crying, and then they both knelt before a little girl trapped under a piece of the building.
Kara lifted the piece. Chloe's hands formed a small dome over the girl's wound and a white light emerged. Her lips curved happily as she felt the pain in her belly. It began to diminish almost as soon as she felt it, but the length of the pain hardly mattered. What mattered was that this little girl was sitting up and crying, not from pain but from looking for her mother.
"We'll find her," Chloe said certainly. She looked up at Kara. "You need to tell me where the hurt people are. I can find life forms, but I can't pinpoint the wounded."
Kara lifted up into the air and looked around. "I'll find them. You find her mother."
"This is awful." Chloe shook her head and frowned.
"This is the kind of thing Brainiac does. He doesn't- didn't care about living creatures, just his plans. I'm sure he knew that this kind of destruction was likely to occur from a confrontation. It just didn't matter." Kara looked down and smiled a Chloe. "Luckily, we have the new and improved version."
"I’m just glad my healing power came back." Chloe lifted the little girl onto her hip and began scanning for a genetic pattern that matched the little girl. She could only self-heal as the after-effect of taking on someone's pain, and even then, sometimes it took time. Regardless, she was brimming with energy at the moment. They would take care of this mess.
***
Lois lifted her head groggily and rubbed her hair, grumbling in annoyance. "Smallville?" she called in irritation. She hadn't passed out again, had she? She'd really been trying to watch her ass about that.
"Nope."
She found herself lifted up. Licking her lips, Lois opened her eyes a bit more. "My head hurts."
"Well, you bonked your noggin pretty hard."
"Yeah." Lois swatted the hand on the side of her head. "Watch it."
"I'm just tryin' to keep you from giving in to a concussion."
Lois let her head fall back and bit the side of her lower lip. "Oh. Olsen."
"Oh. Lane." Jimmy sat next to her. "I think the quake is over. We can probably venture out now."
"That wasn't a quake. That was an alien monster," Lois argued.
"After the… That was Davis."
"Who is an alien monster," Lois insisted. "You were the one who said something weird was going on. That's it. Aliens. Like flying barn doors and mini-tornadoes and eclipses."
"What? Lois, just, c'mon." Jimmy pulled her to her feet. "We need to find the others."
Lois felt her head once again as they left the phone building where they'd been hiding. "How did we get here?"
"I dragged you. After the first tremor, I figured there'd be a bigger one comin'," Jimmy explained.
"Whoa." Lois's eyes popped open wide when she saw how the coastline of Coast City was much, much flatter. "You saved my life."
"Well. You saved mine first when you got me outta there." Jimmy shrugged.
"Hmph. Guess I did." Lois preened a little as they walked along the streets.
***
Clark sat up suddenly and looked around himself. Davis was sitting right there beside him, arms on his knees, waiting.
"Welcome back. Did I? Was I the one who hurt you?"
Clark shook his head. "No, well, you tossed me, but I wasn't hurt. Kara was…"
Clark jumped up, and Davis followed him.
"Black Canary woke up first. She went out to check on the people out there," Davis said quietly.
"Yeah? So she's alright?" Clark looked back at Davis.
"She looked at me kind of strange. Told me to stay put. She had blood on her, but no wounds."
"Huh." Clark paused, but then headed for the rise of the beach. "I hear Kara flying around. They're out there taking care of this."
"Did I do that?" Davis pointed to the city.
"What?" Clark pinched his lips together and arched a brow. "No, Brainiac did that."
"Brainiac." Davis took that information in and sighed.
"It's an AI from the planet Krypton."
"Why is it that everything from Krypton is insane?" Davis demanded, throwing his hands in the air.
Clark stopped and turned to Davis. "What other things have you seen from Krypton?"
Davis jerked his head to the side and pointed to himself. Clark felt his heart tug sympathetically and his lips parted. That made sense. It made a lot of sense.
"What else?"
Davis shrugged as though he had nothing left to lose. Maybe he didn't. Clark had seen the monster.
"My mother. She possessed Lois and tried to kill me. She said it would make me stronger."
"Faora?" Clark asked in shock.
"How… How do you know about that?" Davis tented his brows and looked at Clark more closely.
"I just do. This is bigger than you think, Davis. Come on. We need to find Brainiac. He's more dangerous than you are. I'm pretty sure he kicked your ass."
"What's this? When you suspected I was killing people before, you jumped down my throat. Now you know I have, and you're treating me like a brother," Davis protested as he closed in on Clark's heels.
"You didn't kill those people. That thing did, and that thing isn't you. I don't know what to do about that, but I'm not going to condemn you for it." Clark stopped a moment, then looked to the side. "They're this way. Follow me."
He took Davis's wrist and pulled him along.
***
A large group of people were clustered around a fountain that had somehow managed to remain standing. They were talking with one another, a bit shell-shocked but nonetheless unharmed. Or they were now.
Lois and Jimmy approached nervously, and when they spotted Davis and Clark, Lois waved her hand, screaming out "Smallville" until the two came toward them.
"What's going on here?" Davis asked.
"After the earthquake a couple of angels saved us," a little girl who was sitting on the edge of the fountain swinging her legs told them.
"Angels, huh?" Lois asked skeptically.
"They were so angels. Angel are tall and have long blond hair." The girl thought for a moment. "One was short, and I thought angels were s'posed to wear more clothes, but they were still angels."
"Kara," Clark surmised.
"Yes?" Kara descended into the group.
"And Black Canary and Watchtower," Dinah announced coming up from behind them. She eyed Davis warily. "It's funny. I don't really like working with the group Green Arrow has assembled, but this threesome isn't bad."
Clark turned to Dinah quickly. "Is she okay? Chloe?"
"She's something else." Dinah shook her head and laughed.
Kara tugged Clark's sleeve and jerked her head to the side. They followed her behind the ragged half of a building where a white light was beginning to fade. There stood Chloe, hair tousled and wild, holding her hands over a young couple.
"You can go. Please don't tell anyone what you saw," she said calmly. The man and woman stood together, thanking her profusely before running off, glad that they had survived.
Chloe turned to see her friends, family, and fiancé.
"Chloe!" Jimmy ran for her and stopped just short of throwing his arms around her. He seemed confused about how he should react. "You, God… Chloe! You ran off to California with another woman?"
"You betrayed me and were content to let my faulty memory let you skate by." Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring, then pressed it into his hands. "I didn't run off anywhere, but we're over."
"What? I've waited for you, and trusted you-"
"Trust requires actual trust, Jimmy. You never trusted me. You flipped out over a letter I wrote when I was a teenager. Take a guess that Clark isn't the Kent I'm interested in anymore." Chloe walked past him to approach Clark, who wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I'm sorry."
"You didn't do this on purpose. I'm just so glad that it's you!" Clark laughed. "And you have your power back. Does that mean Brainiac is gone?"
"It means that version of Brainiac has been deleted. From me, anyway." Chloe pulled away a little and looked up at Clark sadly. "I'm saying I'm sorry because I'm leaving."
Clark blinked dumbly.
"Hey!" Lois moved in on them and put her hand on Chloe's shoulder. "I know Jimmy's not the catch you wanted, but you don't have to leave. Kara can stay with us in Metropolis! Maybe I overreacted a little, but I'm okay with you dating a girl, really. I mean, military brats move all over the place, and I've seen some gals with great relationships!"
Chloe shook her head. "It's not you, Lois. I just have to get away for a little while," she whispered, feeling tears in her eyes. She couldn’t say how glad she was to feel that grief, since the likelihood of losing her emotions permanently had been great.
"Chloe, wait-" Jimmy protested.
"She said it's over, buddy," Davis snapped. Jimmy took a step back. Davis crossed his arms and held on tightly.
"You're not going to wolf out on us again, are you?" Lois asked.
"No. Well. I guess." Davis looked at Chloe hard. "Kara's better than Jimmy. Can't say I don't wish it was me."
Kara and Davis exchanged a dark look, and Kara breezed past him to Chloe's side.
"We're going to go search for Kandor together. Chloe needs some space, and I could use a partner. It's not forever," Kara promised.
"We'll be back," Chloe agreed. "I just need to do this. Everything is so different. We tried to clean up Brainiac's mess. But I still need to be doing something. Please understand."
"You!" Lois pointed at her, blinking quickly to keep tears from falling. "You had better come back. And call, whenever you're in cell phone range, okay? God, this is insane. We find you just to lose you again!"
Lois hugged her cousin and held her tightly.
"This won't be like Lucy. I'll come back. I swear." Chloe kissed her cheek. "And when I do, I'll explain what's going on."
"Love you, little cousin."
"I love you too."
Lois pulled back and wiped her cheek. "Okay. Um. I've got to go. Now. But call me when you can." She wiggled her fingers at Chloe and hurried out of sight.
Kara put her arm around Chloe's shoulders and squeezed tightly.
"Do you guys mind if I have a moment alone with Clark?" Chloe asked softly.
"Chloe, we need to talk," Jimmy protested.
"You can talk to yourself. You've dumped me twice. It's your turn. This relationship never worked. Find yourself another dumb blond," Chloe snapped a little coldly. Kara rubbed her arm and kissed her hair, which seemed to calm her just a bit.
Jimmy backed away, face crumbling, and disappeared around the side of the building. Kara gave her another squeeze and followed after, smacking the side of Davis's shoulder as the man cast a puppy dog look over his shoulder at Chloe.
"Well," Chloe said after a long pause. "I think I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow."
"Does that mean you think I don't have a brain?" Clark joked halfheartedly, thinking back to Brainiac's comments and wondering how much Chloe would be like him now, and if he would ever come back to threaten her.
Chloe giggled, as tears rolled down her cheeks. Clark wiped them away with one finger.
"You know, the Scarecrow really had his brains all along. He just thought he didn't." Chloe nodded. "You'll be fine, too."
"I don't know about that. You're my best friend," Clark swore fervently.
Chloe took a long pause, then more tears came and she shook her head, saying bitterly, "I loved you, Clark. I'd have done anything for you."
"What?" Clark put his hands on her shoulder gently.
"I told you that I wanted to keep my memories," she whispered, looking at his red shirt stretched across his chest.
Clark's eyes widened, realizing what she was referring to. "Chloe, you don't understand! You were in danger because of me."
"That wasn't your choice to make!" she shouted back angrily. Her head lifted and her tearful eyes met his.
"Chloe-"
"You're no different than Brainiac. I'm not yours to do with what you will. I don’t want to hear it, Clark. I don't even want to look at you." Chloe's lower lip crumbled, and she turned away from him. "This is why I have to leave. Because I can't be near you right now. I need a mission, and I need to be around someone who understands, and you don't understand. Even now, you're telling yourself that I'm overreacting. That you had the best of intentions. That for my own good."
She hugged her arms and took a few steps away. "Well, Lex had the best of intentions. Lionel had the best of intentions. I'm sure even Zod had the best of intentions, from his point of view. But in the end-and believe me, I know I'm not perfect-but in the end, it's your actions that distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. And until you accept that your powers don't mean that you get to pull rank and be right, no matter what the circumstances, you're one of the bad guys."
"Chloe…"
Clark found himself unable to formulate anything else to say. When Chloe turned around, her eyes were as soft and sweet a green as ever, but the intensity was so much greater that Clark took a step back just as she began to lift off the ground.
"I'll always love you, Clark. But I have to protect myself, too. And when I find myself understanding what Lex tried to do, then we just need to be apart. Especially if I have the power to do something about it."
"Don't go," Clark pleaded, reaching up for her.
"You've really got to get on that flying thing, Clark," Chloe said with a weak laugh.
"No, Chloe, please!"
"Goodbye."
Like a colt on its first legs, Chloe was still unused to the new abilities the Brainiac software afforded her. Interfacing with technology was one thing, something she had vague memories of since she had first been infected, but her little human body had never flown independently. Her mind had worked out how the telekinetic power propelled her body forward, and as the wind blew in her face, she moved her hand above her head, the way Kara did when she flew, to break the air coming at her.
Steadily she rose higher and higher into the night sky. The crisp air moved against her skin like silk, ruffling her clothing around her. Her eyes explored the stars, then she filled her lungs deeply. She gave one sad look to the sight of her best friend, standing there alone, growing smaller and smaller.
Then with a surge of courage, she shot into the sky and out of view.
***
"You can breathe, can't you?"
"I'm fine, Kara."
Kara's strong, sleek arms folded around Chloe's waist, and she lifted her legs up to support Chloe's as they floated together, looking out over the Earth's horizon, just inside the atmosphere. Kara looked a bit distrustfully at the transparent field Chloe had constructed so that she could breathe this far up. It only flickered occasionally when the light hit it right. Kara supported them because she was stronger, and very much the better flier, probably always would be. And so much faster, faster than Clark even.
"It's so beautiful. So blue," Chloe murmured. "Looks peaceful."
"Pity it's not.
Chloe narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder. Her lips crooked to the side. Kara grinned and captured them in a kiss.
"They're going to be fine a little while without you, you know," Kara whispered.
"Did you talk to him?"
"He's upset." Kara tensed her lips and sucked in her cheeks a little. "He misses you."
"I know."
"Oh, we can check in on him. Steal his cereal. Leave him little notes. Whenever you're ready."
Chloe drew butter-colored lock of hair behind her ear, looking down on the billions of sentient life forms on the planet. "Well, I'm afraid it won't be any time soon. I kind of need a break from life here on Earth."
Kara's hand moved down Chloe's abdomen, down her leg. She squeezed her thigh. Chloe reached back and carded her fingers through Kara's flaxen mane. Her heart fluttered, and her eyes closed slowly. She tried to be still, and to feel Kara's heart beating as well. In the stillness, there was peace. Nowhere on Earth was this quiet, this alone. It was like nothing Chloe had ever felt, this stillness. Nothing in the cold atmosphere besides stray space flotsam and their warm bodies.
"I think I'm ready for adventure now." Chloe opened her eyes, sighing as she took in the sight of the Earth once again. She'd never imagined that she would see it from this angle. She moved upward a little, then turned in Kara's arms. Kara's lips curved as their bodies pressed together, and Chloe hooked her arms around Kara's neck.
"You ready?"
"We'll never be freer than we are right now, Kara." Chloe smiled as Kara secured her arms around her, for a squeeze. Then she smirked wickedly.
"Then let's go."
Kara shot off, leaving Chloe where she was. Chloe hovered a moment uncertainly, until she spotted Kara floating backward, waiting for her. Then beaming, grinning ear to ear, Chloe flew after her.
Two lights chasing one another through the sky.
Pairing: Chlara, hinted Clark/Davis and Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon
Rating: PG-13
Summary. Post S8 Abyss, spoilers for Bride. Kara comes home for a day to find out that Chloe has forgotten all about her. She decides to do something about it.
Author's Note: Thank you to herohunter and lexalicious
For thelittlebang
Word Count: 18115 overall
Part One ♥ Part Two
Part Three
Kara's fingers on Chloe's body felt electric. Each kiss was like the gentle shock of a battery. They took comfort in one another's touch, slowly, deliberately. Chloe wasn't certain when she decided that this was okay, but when one is going to die, she supposed, it's better not to waste time.
He stares at her. She stares back.
Every moment she felt Brainiac pressing at her consciousness. He was only suppressed for a short time, and now, with her memories returning, she could sense his consciousness there. Pushing, pushing. He didn't have to press hard. Mostly. He waited.
Black eyes, glittering. Showing her his passive menace.
After all, Brainiac was practically eternal. Chloe knew from his memories that Zod and the Council had thought they had Brainiac under control, but he was merely collecting data from their planet. All the data he could from the race that didn't know it was going to be snuffed out.
That AI was one cold bastard.
So Chloe lived, and she kept warm. It was a gallows love; the damsel and her failed savior exploring one another's bodies while both of them were complete, alive, sane. Now that she had her memories, her connections to her life in Metropolis were few. The wrongness of touching another girl while she was technically someone's fiancée was lost in the revelations her memories, as well as the menace of an alien intelligence threatening to merge with her own, brought her.
Fingers trailing down Chloe's neck, Kara's ears picked up a familiar voice, and she pulled her mouth away from Chloe's breasts. Her cousin. Jimmy. Lois. They were here, with two others.
"They are going to be mad," Kara whispered into Chloe's ear. Chloe looked up and spotted them just as it appeared that they had been spotted themselves.
Jimmy looked on in utter disbelief. "Kara?"
"Oh my God," Lois exclaimed. "My baby cousin is a lesbian. Did I know this? I had to have known this!"
Before any of the other shocked members of their party could say anything, behind them a deep, guttural growl began to grow louder and louder.
Chloe's eyes widened, and she didn't even notice Kara's hand cupping her breast under her blouse. "Davis? What's happening?"
His eyes were the color of fresh blood, and he was shaking, first with his fists out, and then he hugged himself tightly and stumbled backward.
"No, not now…" he muttered.
Clark moved to his side quickly and looked into those horrifying red eyes, which were quickly being overtaken by a sense of helplessness in the anger.
"Don't you let me kill her!" Davis screamed at Clark through clenched teeth. Bony horns ripped through the flesh of his forehead, and instinctively Clark grabbed Davis' shoulders.
"What the hell?" Lois backed away from them quickly, grabbing Jimmy's shirt and dragging him with her.
"Please…" Davis begged. The bony spines split his clothes, and he appeared to be growing, growing.
Kara stood in front of Chloe protectively and buttoned up her shorts. "You stay away from her," she commanded in a firm voice.
Davis let out a loud snarl in response.
"Kara!" Clark shouted. "Not helping!"
Except it was too late; almost seven feet tall now, the gristly gray and white creature in Davis' place was unrecognizable to the human that had been standing there a moment ago, and it threw Clark effortlessly across the beach.
Kara rushed the creature and caught its fist as it attacked her. In a blur of blows, they moved back and forth, back and forth in a deadly dance across the beach.
But Kara was taking damage. The monster's bony protuberances cut her skin whenever it landed a low, and she didn't know how long she could hold this thing off, but the important thing now was for Chloe to get away. In a move of desperation, she pushed it back and let forth a blast of her heat vision, but the monster charged her as though the lasers were nothing. It sent her sprawling to the ground.
There was a screeching, ringing sound in the air that Kara could discern; separate from the sensation of what was surely her first concussion on Earth. The monster stopped a moment, picked Kara up by the neck and charged in another direction. Kara cried out in protest as it used her to beat someone else. The sound stopped.
And the monster began thumping Kara against the ground like a rag doll.
Across the beach, Chloe was running. They'd gotten away from her as the fight had moved, and surely, surely, this thing would kill them all. She couldn't provide mental space for the concept that Davis and this thing were the same. She just moved closer, feeling her anger rising.
Her eyes turned black.
The man stands. He grins widely. It is time.
Chloe's hands rose, fingers splayed, and the monster was sent flying. Her hair flew around her from the telekinetic force coming off of her, and as the monster shook itself off and spotted her, her lips twisted into a smirk. Her head tilted to the side in a sharp motion, almost as though clicking into place.
She lifted one hand to beckon the creature, and a low, oddly accented voice rose out of her throat, "Come to me, Doomsday."
The chilling order caused the beast to straighten up and rush for her. She spun around the creature and caught its arm. It shook from head to toe. Coding ran over its red eyes, until the beast began to shrink and grow still.
Chloe dropped Davis and stared at him coldly. "I alone am Brainiac. Kryptonians are inferior creatures. Do not attempt to cross me again, meatbag."
Davis looked up at her, confused and aching, then passed out.
***
Clark was knocked unconscious when he'd fallen, but only for a few moments. It was enough. There was a small crowd of people staring at the crater in the beach where he'd landed. Clark looked at them for only a moment, then disappeared as he ran back to his friends.
Dinah was unconscious, but intact. Kara sprawled on the beach, bleeding quite a bit. Davis was in a crumpled, naked pile. And Chloe was standing over him, looking at him almost disinterestedly. Clark threw a look back to Kara, knowing she would heal in the sunlight, before moving closer to Chloe.
"Are you alright?" he asked tentatively.
"I'm perfect, Kal-El," she replied in a voice that seemed uncomfortably familiar to him.
Clark shivered. "Please give her back. Take me-"
"The name is Brainiac, Kal-El. I need something with a brain. Unfortunately, the majority of you Kryptonians and humans are far too low functioning to even call properly sentient, let alone to be good enough for me." She twisted her neck to the side and looked at him with her shining black eyes. "Always make a back-up copy. In case someone sends your chips flying."
Clark shook his head and looked down at Davis. "I… Then make a back-up copy. Make one and leave her alone."
"Hrr hrr hrr," Brainiac laughed and looked up at the sun. "No."
"Why not?" Clark demanded, balling his fists. He needed to go help his fallen friends, but he didn't think that letting Brainiac out of his sight would be a good idea. Especially since he had been able to take out that monster where Kara and Dinah had failed.
"I can feel this body dying all around me," Brainiac said with a tinge of disgust in his voice. He sounded less cocky than he had in earlier incarnations, more tired, more broken. "But it serves my purpose for now. I have work to do. This planet doesn't have long to live. And I want to know everything your civilization has available."
He began to walk away from Clark, but just as Clark began to follow him, Brainiac stopped. Clark stopped as well and watched as Brainiac raised a hand to his temple. Then he began to writhe.
Coming around to see what was going on, Clark was pushed back by the telekinetic field. The sand around Chloe's body was beginning to form a circle. Brainiac groaned.
Then he screamed.
The slight blond girl with soft round cheeks looks up. Her eyes lock with the black pits staring back at her. The man with unearthly sharp cheekbones shakes his head and smugly twists his lips, certain of victory. She slowly rises.
A bloodcurdling scream rips out of her throat as she barrels toward him, her limbs lengthening and her eyes going white. She grows, she changes, she encompasses her Self. And finally she leaps upon the man, pressing her thumbs into his eyes and continuing to scream barbarically.
"This is my mind. GET OUT!"
Pushing against the invisible telekinetic field, Clark tried to break his way in, but he couldn't budge it. Behind him he heard transformers blowing, glass shattering and people running for cover.
The pitch black eyes began to fade to white. Then, there was an explosion, and once again, Clark saw stars.
***
Kara came to on the beach. There were no houses nearby, and for one horrifying moment her body tensed and she felt as though she was in the Phantom Zone. However, there was blood all over her, and if she were in the Zone, then the Phantoms would have been attracted to the blood and attacked her by now, so somehow Kara forced her heart to slow to a reasonable pace and sat up. She wondered for a moment if she were on some other beach, if she were still on Earth. The stars still looked like the ones over Coast City, though. Turning her head, she narrowed her eyes to look once again at the skyline.
All of the buildings were reduced to rubble. She came to her feet quickly and looked around the immediate area, spotting Clark and the dark haired man who had transformed lying beside one another and the woman clad in black. They had blood on them, but there didn't appear to be any injuries. Sitting by them was Chloe, legs crossed underneath her as she stared at the ocean.
As Kara came nearer, she realized that Chloe was hovering above the sand.
"Chloe?" Kara whispered almost fearfully.
Chloe looked up at Kara with glowing white eyes.
"You're…" Kara drew nearer, even though this time, Brainiac would probably kill her.
"I am Chloe Sullivan." Chloe blinked, and her head tilted to the side in a slow, strange movement. "I'm also Brainiac, in a way. I think… I reprogrammed him. My ability was helping me to fight him all along. I suppose I'm about the forth or fifth version. Brainiac… 5.0. His AI is gone. I've searched all of my memories. He lost."
Kara knelt beside Chloe. A tear ran down her cheek and her fingers slid along the curve of Chloe's jaw as it narrowed towards her chin.
"Brainiac," Kara whispered. She took in a shaky breath and moved her hands over the sides of Chloe's face. "Say something. Say something… you."
"Something me? Um… Insert, obscure cultural reference here. I'm a little fuzzy. We haven't slept properly since you brought me here. And then there was that… Thing." Chloe looked over at Clark, Davis, and Dinah.
"No?" Kara pinned Chloe's body flush against her and sighed. "God, I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm like a weed from hell. Can't kill me. Not even with an evil computer."
"Mm." Kara sucked in her lower lip and closed her eyes. When Chloe's cold hand touched Kara's face, she shuddered, but didn't try to move away. The creature that had tortured her and thrown her in that desert hell was pressed up against her, safely tucked away in this warm and inviting body. A new and improved version to be sure. Kara just hoped that Chloe hadn't had to trade too much of herself to survive.
Chloe's lips brushed against hers, and Kara felt Chloe's breath against her face. "Is that… still okay?"
"As long as it's you."
"I alone am Chloe Sullivan, Brainiac 5. Accept no substitutes." Chloe laughed softly.
***
The two women sat by the ocean together for some time, waiting for the others to wake up. Chloe occasionally saw a string of code in front of her eyes.
But this time it was because she was thinking of it. It was part of her thoughts, and not his.
It had been such a long time since her mind had been hers. He had been in control for far longer than Chloe had realized. Freedom almost felt unsettling. Like she was a child's balloon that had been suddenly let go. She was floating along, unfettered. She held tight to Kara and watched the tide lapping at the shore.
After a time, Kara looked up, tilting her head to the side. "Someone's hurt."
"Take me," Chloe said. "I'll heal them."
Chloe wrapped her arms around Kara's waist and smiled as the world blurred for half a moment. They stood in front of a collapsed building, and Chloe approached, scanning for life forms. With a frown she hurried forward. Kara tossed large pieces of debris over her shoulder so that Chloe could find the person crying, and then they both knelt before a little girl trapped under a piece of the building.
Kara lifted the piece. Chloe's hands formed a small dome over the girl's wound and a white light emerged. Her lips curved happily as she felt the pain in her belly. It began to diminish almost as soon as she felt it, but the length of the pain hardly mattered. What mattered was that this little girl was sitting up and crying, not from pain but from looking for her mother.
"We'll find her," Chloe said certainly. She looked up at Kara. "You need to tell me where the hurt people are. I can find life forms, but I can't pinpoint the wounded."
Kara lifted up into the air and looked around. "I'll find them. You find her mother."
"This is awful." Chloe shook her head and frowned.
"This is the kind of thing Brainiac does. He doesn't- didn't care about living creatures, just his plans. I'm sure he knew that this kind of destruction was likely to occur from a confrontation. It just didn't matter." Kara looked down and smiled a Chloe. "Luckily, we have the new and improved version."
"I’m just glad my healing power came back." Chloe lifted the little girl onto her hip and began scanning for a genetic pattern that matched the little girl. She could only self-heal as the after-effect of taking on someone's pain, and even then, sometimes it took time. Regardless, she was brimming with energy at the moment. They would take care of this mess.
***
Lois lifted her head groggily and rubbed her hair, grumbling in annoyance. "Smallville?" she called in irritation. She hadn't passed out again, had she? She'd really been trying to watch her ass about that.
"Nope."
She found herself lifted up. Licking her lips, Lois opened her eyes a bit more. "My head hurts."
"Well, you bonked your noggin pretty hard."
"Yeah." Lois swatted the hand on the side of her head. "Watch it."
"I'm just tryin' to keep you from giving in to a concussion."
Lois let her head fall back and bit the side of her lower lip. "Oh. Olsen."
"Oh. Lane." Jimmy sat next to her. "I think the quake is over. We can probably venture out now."
"That wasn't a quake. That was an alien monster," Lois argued.
"After the… That was Davis."
"Who is an alien monster," Lois insisted. "You were the one who said something weird was going on. That's it. Aliens. Like flying barn doors and mini-tornadoes and eclipses."
"What? Lois, just, c'mon." Jimmy pulled her to her feet. "We need to find the others."
Lois felt her head once again as they left the phone building where they'd been hiding. "How did we get here?"
"I dragged you. After the first tremor, I figured there'd be a bigger one comin'," Jimmy explained.
"Whoa." Lois's eyes popped open wide when she saw how the coastline of Coast City was much, much flatter. "You saved my life."
"Well. You saved mine first when you got me outta there." Jimmy shrugged.
"Hmph. Guess I did." Lois preened a little as they walked along the streets.
***
Clark sat up suddenly and looked around himself. Davis was sitting right there beside him, arms on his knees, waiting.
"Welcome back. Did I? Was I the one who hurt you?"
Clark shook his head. "No, well, you tossed me, but I wasn't hurt. Kara was…"
Clark jumped up, and Davis followed him.
"Black Canary woke up first. She went out to check on the people out there," Davis said quietly.
"Yeah? So she's alright?" Clark looked back at Davis.
"She looked at me kind of strange. Told me to stay put. She had blood on her, but no wounds."
"Huh." Clark paused, but then headed for the rise of the beach. "I hear Kara flying around. They're out there taking care of this."
"Did I do that?" Davis pointed to the city.
"What?" Clark pinched his lips together and arched a brow. "No, Brainiac did that."
"Brainiac." Davis took that information in and sighed.
"It's an AI from the planet Krypton."
"Why is it that everything from Krypton is insane?" Davis demanded, throwing his hands in the air.
Clark stopped and turned to Davis. "What other things have you seen from Krypton?"
Davis jerked his head to the side and pointed to himself. Clark felt his heart tug sympathetically and his lips parted. That made sense. It made a lot of sense.
"What else?"
Davis shrugged as though he had nothing left to lose. Maybe he didn't. Clark had seen the monster.
"My mother. She possessed Lois and tried to kill me. She said it would make me stronger."
"Faora?" Clark asked in shock.
"How… How do you know about that?" Davis tented his brows and looked at Clark more closely.
"I just do. This is bigger than you think, Davis. Come on. We need to find Brainiac. He's more dangerous than you are. I'm pretty sure he kicked your ass."
"What's this? When you suspected I was killing people before, you jumped down my throat. Now you know I have, and you're treating me like a brother," Davis protested as he closed in on Clark's heels.
"You didn't kill those people. That thing did, and that thing isn't you. I don't know what to do about that, but I'm not going to condemn you for it." Clark stopped a moment, then looked to the side. "They're this way. Follow me."
He took Davis's wrist and pulled him along.
***
A large group of people were clustered around a fountain that had somehow managed to remain standing. They were talking with one another, a bit shell-shocked but nonetheless unharmed. Or they were now.
Lois and Jimmy approached nervously, and when they spotted Davis and Clark, Lois waved her hand, screaming out "Smallville" until the two came toward them.
"What's going on here?" Davis asked.
"After the earthquake a couple of angels saved us," a little girl who was sitting on the edge of the fountain swinging her legs told them.
"Angels, huh?" Lois asked skeptically.
"They were so angels. Angel are tall and have long blond hair." The girl thought for a moment. "One was short, and I thought angels were s'posed to wear more clothes, but they were still angels."
"Kara," Clark surmised.
"Yes?" Kara descended into the group.
"And Black Canary and Watchtower," Dinah announced coming up from behind them. She eyed Davis warily. "It's funny. I don't really like working with the group Green Arrow has assembled, but this threesome isn't bad."
Clark turned to Dinah quickly. "Is she okay? Chloe?"
"She's something else." Dinah shook her head and laughed.
Kara tugged Clark's sleeve and jerked her head to the side. They followed her behind the ragged half of a building where a white light was beginning to fade. There stood Chloe, hair tousled and wild, holding her hands over a young couple.
"You can go. Please don't tell anyone what you saw," she said calmly. The man and woman stood together, thanking her profusely before running off, glad that they had survived.
Chloe turned to see her friends, family, and fiancé.
"Chloe!" Jimmy ran for her and stopped just short of throwing his arms around her. He seemed confused about how he should react. "You, God… Chloe! You ran off to California with another woman?"
"You betrayed me and were content to let my faulty memory let you skate by." Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring, then pressed it into his hands. "I didn't run off anywhere, but we're over."
"What? I've waited for you, and trusted you-"
"Trust requires actual trust, Jimmy. You never trusted me. You flipped out over a letter I wrote when I was a teenager. Take a guess that Clark isn't the Kent I'm interested in anymore." Chloe walked past him to approach Clark, who wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I'm sorry."
"You didn't do this on purpose. I'm just so glad that it's you!" Clark laughed. "And you have your power back. Does that mean Brainiac is gone?"
"It means that version of Brainiac has been deleted. From me, anyway." Chloe pulled away a little and looked up at Clark sadly. "I'm saying I'm sorry because I'm leaving."
Clark blinked dumbly.
"Hey!" Lois moved in on them and put her hand on Chloe's shoulder. "I know Jimmy's not the catch you wanted, but you don't have to leave. Kara can stay with us in Metropolis! Maybe I overreacted a little, but I'm okay with you dating a girl, really. I mean, military brats move all over the place, and I've seen some gals with great relationships!"
Chloe shook her head. "It's not you, Lois. I just have to get away for a little while," she whispered, feeling tears in her eyes. She couldn’t say how glad she was to feel that grief, since the likelihood of losing her emotions permanently had been great.
"Chloe, wait-" Jimmy protested.
"She said it's over, buddy," Davis snapped. Jimmy took a step back. Davis crossed his arms and held on tightly.
"You're not going to wolf out on us again, are you?" Lois asked.
"No. Well. I guess." Davis looked at Chloe hard. "Kara's better than Jimmy. Can't say I don't wish it was me."
Kara and Davis exchanged a dark look, and Kara breezed past him to Chloe's side.
"We're going to go search for Kandor together. Chloe needs some space, and I could use a partner. It's not forever," Kara promised.
"We'll be back," Chloe agreed. "I just need to do this. Everything is so different. We tried to clean up Brainiac's mess. But I still need to be doing something. Please understand."
"You!" Lois pointed at her, blinking quickly to keep tears from falling. "You had better come back. And call, whenever you're in cell phone range, okay? God, this is insane. We find you just to lose you again!"
Lois hugged her cousin and held her tightly.
"This won't be like Lucy. I'll come back. I swear." Chloe kissed her cheek. "And when I do, I'll explain what's going on."
"Love you, little cousin."
"I love you too."
Lois pulled back and wiped her cheek. "Okay. Um. I've got to go. Now. But call me when you can." She wiggled her fingers at Chloe and hurried out of sight.
Kara put her arm around Chloe's shoulders and squeezed tightly.
"Do you guys mind if I have a moment alone with Clark?" Chloe asked softly.
"Chloe, we need to talk," Jimmy protested.
"You can talk to yourself. You've dumped me twice. It's your turn. This relationship never worked. Find yourself another dumb blond," Chloe snapped a little coldly. Kara rubbed her arm and kissed her hair, which seemed to calm her just a bit.
Jimmy backed away, face crumbling, and disappeared around the side of the building. Kara gave her another squeeze and followed after, smacking the side of Davis's shoulder as the man cast a puppy dog look over his shoulder at Chloe.
"Well," Chloe said after a long pause. "I think I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow."
"Does that mean you think I don't have a brain?" Clark joked halfheartedly, thinking back to Brainiac's comments and wondering how much Chloe would be like him now, and if he would ever come back to threaten her.
Chloe giggled, as tears rolled down her cheeks. Clark wiped them away with one finger.
"You know, the Scarecrow really had his brains all along. He just thought he didn't." Chloe nodded. "You'll be fine, too."
"I don't know about that. You're my best friend," Clark swore fervently.
Chloe took a long pause, then more tears came and she shook her head, saying bitterly, "I loved you, Clark. I'd have done anything for you."
"What?" Clark put his hands on her shoulder gently.
"I told you that I wanted to keep my memories," she whispered, looking at his red shirt stretched across his chest.
Clark's eyes widened, realizing what she was referring to. "Chloe, you don't understand! You were in danger because of me."
"That wasn't your choice to make!" she shouted back angrily. Her head lifted and her tearful eyes met his.
"Chloe-"
"You're no different than Brainiac. I'm not yours to do with what you will. I don’t want to hear it, Clark. I don't even want to look at you." Chloe's lower lip crumbled, and she turned away from him. "This is why I have to leave. Because I can't be near you right now. I need a mission, and I need to be around someone who understands, and you don't understand. Even now, you're telling yourself that I'm overreacting. That you had the best of intentions. That for my own good."
She hugged her arms and took a few steps away. "Well, Lex had the best of intentions. Lionel had the best of intentions. I'm sure even Zod had the best of intentions, from his point of view. But in the end-and believe me, I know I'm not perfect-but in the end, it's your actions that distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. And until you accept that your powers don't mean that you get to pull rank and be right, no matter what the circumstances, you're one of the bad guys."
"Chloe…"
Clark found himself unable to formulate anything else to say. When Chloe turned around, her eyes were as soft and sweet a green as ever, but the intensity was so much greater that Clark took a step back just as she began to lift off the ground.
"I'll always love you, Clark. But I have to protect myself, too. And when I find myself understanding what Lex tried to do, then we just need to be apart. Especially if I have the power to do something about it."
"Don't go," Clark pleaded, reaching up for her.
"You've really got to get on that flying thing, Clark," Chloe said with a weak laugh.
"No, Chloe, please!"
"Goodbye."
Like a colt on its first legs, Chloe was still unused to the new abilities the Brainiac software afforded her. Interfacing with technology was one thing, something she had vague memories of since she had first been infected, but her little human body had never flown independently. Her mind had worked out how the telekinetic power propelled her body forward, and as the wind blew in her face, she moved her hand above her head, the way Kara did when she flew, to break the air coming at her.
Steadily she rose higher and higher into the night sky. The crisp air moved against her skin like silk, ruffling her clothing around her. Her eyes explored the stars, then she filled her lungs deeply. She gave one sad look to the sight of her best friend, standing there alone, growing smaller and smaller.
Then with a surge of courage, she shot into the sky and out of view.
***
"You can breathe, can't you?"
"I'm fine, Kara."
Kara's strong, sleek arms folded around Chloe's waist, and she lifted her legs up to support Chloe's as they floated together, looking out over the Earth's horizon, just inside the atmosphere. Kara looked a bit distrustfully at the transparent field Chloe had constructed so that she could breathe this far up. It only flickered occasionally when the light hit it right. Kara supported them because she was stronger, and very much the better flier, probably always would be. And so much faster, faster than Clark even.
"It's so beautiful. So blue," Chloe murmured. "Looks peaceful."
"Pity it's not.
Chloe narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder. Her lips crooked to the side. Kara grinned and captured them in a kiss.
"They're going to be fine a little while without you, you know," Kara whispered.
"Did you talk to him?"
"He's upset." Kara tensed her lips and sucked in her cheeks a little. "He misses you."
"I know."
"Oh, we can check in on him. Steal his cereal. Leave him little notes. Whenever you're ready."
Chloe drew butter-colored lock of hair behind her ear, looking down on the billions of sentient life forms on the planet. "Well, I'm afraid it won't be any time soon. I kind of need a break from life here on Earth."
Kara's hand moved down Chloe's abdomen, down her leg. She squeezed her thigh. Chloe reached back and carded her fingers through Kara's flaxen mane. Her heart fluttered, and her eyes closed slowly. She tried to be still, and to feel Kara's heart beating as well. In the stillness, there was peace. Nowhere on Earth was this quiet, this alone. It was like nothing Chloe had ever felt, this stillness. Nothing in the cold atmosphere besides stray space flotsam and their warm bodies.
"I think I'm ready for adventure now." Chloe opened her eyes, sighing as she took in the sight of the Earth once again. She'd never imagined that she would see it from this angle. She moved upward a little, then turned in Kara's arms. Kara's lips curved as their bodies pressed together, and Chloe hooked her arms around Kara's neck.
"You ready?"
"We'll never be freer than we are right now, Kara." Chloe smiled as Kara secured her arms around her, for a squeeze. Then she smirked wickedly.
"Then let's go."
Kara shot off, leaving Chloe where she was. Chloe hovered a moment uncertainly, until she spotted Kara floating backward, waiting for her. Then beaming, grinning ear to ear, Chloe flew after her.
Two lights chasing one another through the sky.