009 - I can't go back to yesterday

[notdreaming]

[ Since learning what's going on with the network, Kara has changed into her ceremonial armor. If she's broadcasting to the multiverse, past present and future, she wants to be wearing her family crest when she does it. Her expression is hesitantly hopeful. ]

If there are any Kryptonians out there, please, I'd like to speak with you. I am Kara Zor-El, daughter of Alura and Zor-El, and I am very, very far from home.

[ Yeah that's all she's got for today. ]

Comments

[hetrustsme]

Kara?

[He'd just left her behind after the whole time-traveling fiasco, and now she's somehow gotten his Clark Kent number? Not that he wouldn't give it to her now, but-]

Far from home? [Now he's just confused, and worried. She sounds so sad...]

[notdreaming]

Kal. [ She actually smiles, because the time away has sweetened her memories of him being kind of a sanctimonious jerk. She misses her family that much. ]

It's hard to explain. I'm on a sort of inter-dimensional prison ship. I think the man I'm working for can bring back Krypton, without hurting anyone else.

[hetrustsme]

[Give him 5 minutes and you'll remember it just fine, Kara.]

You said that last time. [He doesn't mean to admonish her but seriously.] Where are you? Why are you looking for Kryptonians?

[notdreaming]

I'm being careful this time. [ SHE KNOWS, KAL. SHE WAS THERE. ]

Like I said, it's interdimensional. Right now we're probably in a dozen or more places at once.

Normally we can't communicate outside of the barge like this. I just wanted to talk to someone from home.

whoops notif got lost :c

[hetrustsme]

'okay. [It kind of reminds Kal of his stunt with the fifth dimension and Mister Mxyzptlk, which means he's more thank happy not asking questions about it.]

Did you manage to talk to someone?

Damn you Al's inbox!

[notdreaming]

Yeah. [ She smiles, though she isn't sure how he would feel about her talking to an alternate universe Jor. ]

It's nice. A little weird, but everything around here is weird.

It's been six months since... H'el died. How long has it been for you?

[hetrustsme]

[A sigh] Which of the times? But- no, we just managed to turn the timeline right to where it should be.

[And lost Kon in the process.]

[notdreaming]

What? What does that mean?

[ That's a 'first time' answer. ]

[hetrustsme]

What does- ['What does that mean', he was about to say. But two and two = four.]

... I was always so bad at keeping things like these a secret. If you want me to explain I will? If your ship is outside of time me slipping won't really change things over here, will it?

[notdreaming]

I'm not sure how it works, but changing things is part of the deal here. Please explain it, Kal.

I thought... I thought I killed him.

[ And she loved him :c ]

[hetrustsme]

[Here goes nothing] You didn't kill him, even though you harmed him badly. There was this time portal, he ended... he ended back in Krypton, Kara. Before its destruction.

He changed the past so Krypton wouldn't die, but he also slaved the entire planet. Stopping him was [A motherfucking mess] difficult, but in the end we managed to fix the timeline... while Superboy sacrificed himself to save Argo City.

[notdreaming]

[ Her expression goes from confused to concerned, then shocked, then horrified. ]

He... what? But... but why?

[ They had made their peace here, however small and fleeting it may have been. She didn't want him dead. ]

[hetrustsme]

I wasn't there, but.. he wanted to prove he wasn't- [He finds his voice breaking, and he has to look down. This might be news to Kara, but Kal himself hadn't had yet time to mourn.

Or process the guilt, and it's now coming in waves.] To prove he wasn't just a weapon, to prove he had his own destiny. He made a choice that was his own.

[lookedtothestars]

[He did not expect the equipment he was experimenting with to pick up any messages from the direction it was angled to receive from, much less attached to a name that held historic importance, from someone whose ship had vanished thousands of years ago.]

Your message has reached at least one of us, Kara Zor-El.

[notdreaming]

[ Well, this is strange. He sounds like her uncle, and he looks a bit like her uncle too, but there's none of the recognition she was looking for in his voice.

But he's Kryptonian, and that? Well, that's wonderful. ]

Hi! Oh, hello. Rao, it's so good to hear from you.

[lookedtothestars]

I am Jor-El, of the Science Guild. If you are Captain Kara Zor-El, you have been missing for some time. [Enough time for dozens of generations to live and die and Krypton to leave its golden age.] Where are you? [He's allowed more than a measure of warmth to enter his voice in response to her.]

[notdreaming]

[ For a moment she's just stunned. She's heard about alternate versions of people, of course. She just... hadn't really expected it to hit home quite like that. She bites her lip and shakes her head. ]

I'm not a captain of anything. I hadn't even graduated yet. I... I'm on a ship that's going to take me home. [ She can't explain that Krypton is gone, and she doesn't want to. This version of Krypton isn't gone, clearly. ]

[lookedtothestars]

[Her reaction doesn't escape him entirely. His own is reserved, however, kept back, even as he hears she is returning, presumably, to Krypton. While the planet is still intact, his warnings to the council so far are being ignored...]

I apologize for the mistaken assumption. I know of no other Kara Zor-El in the history of our house.

[notdreaming]

[ She shakes her head, tries not to think of the familiar face in her device as her uncle Jor. This is someone else entirely. She'll just keep telling herself that. ]

It happens here. There are different universes, and different versions of universes. We must be from different worlds.

[ Or else you would know her :c ]

[lookedtothestars]

[And with her words, one cautiously constructed idea to at least save their people is quickly dismissed. Tentative proof of one of their seed ships and its crew surviving may have helped convince the council that colonizing other worlds was still tenable.

Saying he made contact with a Kryptonian from an alternate universe would make him both a laughingstock and potentially prevent him from doing anything to save their people.

Her explanation makes him wonder if it is at cause for her previous reaction, however.]

From your own Krypton, do you know some alternate version of me?

[If there is no expansive time dilation at fault, it is a reasonable question; she identified herself as part of the House of El, after all.]

[notdreaming]

[ She isn't entirely sure she wants to tell him, but she doesn't want to lie either. There's just no helping it. After a moment she recovers her voice. ]



You're my uncle.

[lookedtothestars]

[That is not an answer that he was expecting, but there were very few options for how she could be a member of the House of El. The daughter of a nonexistent brother- or rather, one that does not exist in his own world- is as good an option as any.]

I see.

[He's going to need a moment to process this. And be thankful that Lara is busy elsewhere.]

[notdreaming]

I know this must be strange for you.

[ It's strange for her too. Please don't leave. She misses you. A lot. All the time. ]

[lookedtothestars]

As it must be for you.

[Her reveal had rendered him as close to speechless as he has ever been. No small task.]

You spoke of traveling board a ship. What is it like?

[The questions he is interested in asking of her he is avoiding, for now.]

[notdreaming]

[ Yes, good, something to talk about that doesn't make her want to burst into tears. ]

It's an interdimensional prison barge. I'm working here as a warden, and if I can help an inmate to graduate I get a favor from the Admiral. Mine is to go home.