Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For such an unusual day, nothing was unusual about Kara’s morning routine. She woke up, took a shower in boiling water with her diamond-powder exfoliator, ate three packages of sticky buns (including one raw because she couldn’t wait long enough), and put on her favorite brown pants, blue button-up, and sexiest belt. She was ready for another day of perfect solitude.

Unfortunately, the world had other plans. While she was enjoying her alone time, her favorite and only hobby, Lord Lockwood had been rounding up all the aliens from near and far (very far) for reasons unfathomable to the reasonable, and certainly unthinkable for Kara, whose humble abode was chosen by escapees as a hiding place.

Kara floated slowly up towards the roof of her ice castle. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY FORTRESS?” she bellowed.

Everyone froze, though she hadn’t used her freeze breath.

“We’re hiding from Lockwood,” said one small, green person.

“Why’s that?”

“He’s been rounding up aliens for reasons unfathomable to the reasonable, and we thought we’d be safe here. It’s so empty, and secluded.”

“Damn right it’s empty and secluded! Why do you think I live here? They don’t call it the Fortress of Solitude for nothing.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, miss…”

Kara was briefly silent, hoping that if she pretended hard enough that she wasn’t talking to a trespasser, everyone would go away. It didn’t happen, so finally she answered, “Danvers.”

“Hmm? Oh yes, Miss Danvers, if we could just hide here…” the poor alien started before falling asleep. Perhaps Kara’s pause was longer than she had thought, for it seemed as though everyone was sleeping, even the extra-large bats.

She supposed they could spend the night. She wasn’t totally heartless, after all.

Back at Lord Lockwood’s palace, things were getting out of hand.

“Hurry up, it’s my bedtime,” Lockwood shouted from his bed to a hallway, not knowing if anyone was even outside.

Five minutes later, someone walked in. “I have some… unfortunate news,” he said.

“Well, tell me what it is,” said Lockwood, sounding alert, though his eyes were closed.

“You can’t become a king unless you’re married.”

Closed eyes were no longer a part of the equation. Actually, Lockwood’s eyes had popped open so forcefully that they had almost fallen right out of their sockets. His blood was boiling. He could feel rage strong enough to burn his whole city to the ground coursing through his veins. He hated everyone who wasn’t himself, how could he possibly be married? But he wanted nothing more than to rule the world. This would really slow his plans of world domination.

“That is unfortunate,” he replied, and promptly fell asleep.

Yet morning came for Lockwood just as it comes for everyone else.

“I need a wife,” he announced at his breakfast of eggs and toast. Don’t ask where the eggs came from.

“Sir?” said one of the guards after a moment’s pause.

“If I am to be king, I need a wife. And I am to be king.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Lockwood slammed his fist on the table. “I do not wish, there is nothing I want less than to be married, but there are times when one faces no other option. By the way, you’re fired.”

The brave guard gulped.

“Just kidding! Just kidding good fellow, haw haw. But watch your mouth. And someone, please find me a wife.”

Locked away in a the tallest of many towers, in a castle surrounded by lava and guarded by a dragon, sat Princess Lena. She knew the tales well – one day, a knight in beautiful, shiny armor would cross the warm moat, slay the beast, run up the 200 flights of stairs, and whisk Lena away to a life of love and happiness. He would be kind, and brave, and handsome, and they would be the loves of each others’ lives, incomplete without one another. A match made by the stars.

Lena was very excited for this day to arrive. There was literally nothing else going on in her life, so she hoped it would happen soon.

“That’s the long and the short of it,” the henchman — sorry, aide — finished explaining.

“So she’s just sitting there, waiting to be rescued? And she’ll marry whoever rescues her?” asked Lockwood

“Yep, that pretty much sums it up! Beautiful princess, ready to be a wife, no strings attached.”

“Interesting. I like this idea. We shall hold a tournament. Whichever lucky fellow wins gets to go save my bride.”

Back at Kara’s swamp, things were getting out of hand. No one was leaving. In fact, the population of hideaways had doubled in the last hour. She needed to do something.

“You say this is Lockwood’s fault?” Kara asked another refugee, a girl with long black hair wearing a blue bodysuit.

“Sure is! He’s been building up to this for months, I can’t believe you haven’t noticed anything before.”

“I live alone. Completely alone. At least, I would like to.”

“Right, so, what are you gonna do about it?”

Kara hadn’t thought about that yet. She wanted these people to leave; she wanted her home back. As an alien herself, she also wanted justice for the mistreated, though that was secondary to her desire for peace and quiet.

“Kara?” said the girl.

“Oh right. Yeah. I’m gonna talk to this Lord Lockwood myself,” resolved Kara.

“Good for you! I’m coming with.”

“Oh no you’re not.”

“You want me to leave, right? That’s what this is all about? Think of it like I’m just leaving early.”

Though Kara hated company, the girl made a point.

“Fine, you can come, but you have to tell me your name so I can stop calling you ‘the girl.’”

The girl turned around, said “Yes,” softly, and did a little dance, before facing Kara. “My name is Girl. But you can call me Nia Nal if you want.”

Kara stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Nia Nal.”

Nia shook it. “Just Nia is fine, actual–”

“Nope. And I’m changing first.”

After what felt like hours of trekking through unfamiliar territory, but was actually just a twenty-minute walk down the road, Kara and Nia finally arrived at Lockwood’s palace. They were greeted by an automated puppet show, which Kara had to resist burning to the ground.

Just beyond the gates, they found themselves in the middle of a battle between all of Lockwood’s best guards. Kara was just as confused about what they were fighting for as they were about her presence. Whatever, no one was doing anything anymore.

Now was her time.

“Lord Lockwood, I’ve come to speak with you,” Kara called out to him.

“So speak.”

“There are aliens hiding in my fortress, and I would really love for them to be gone.”

“I changed my mind. Stop speaking. Guards, kill her.”

“Foiled, yet again!,” said Kara, before realizing that she wasn’t a supervillain and that she should fight back.

It was too simple. Kara flew above them all, knocking them out with her freeze breath, punching a few guys who got too close. Nia seemed to dodge every attack as if she knew they were coming.

“Stop fighting!” shouted Lockwood.

Just like that, every one of his men stopped.

“You, flying woman, have won the tournament. The prize is unbeatable: the chance to face a dragon and rescue my future wife from a tower.”

“Did you just say dragon?”

“Yes. And lava, and stairs, but you can fly, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“But why would I do it?”

“Because,” Lockwood paused to think, “if you do, I will free all the aliens within a five-mile radius of your home to encourage them to return to their own.”

“Make it twenty.”

“Ten.”

“Fifteen.”

“Deal,” said Lockwood. “You’d better get moving."

Chapter Text

Nia was asleep, yet again, and not peacefully. How one girl could constantly be having such vivid dreams baffled Kara, but not so much that she would bother asking.

“There’s something wrong with the dragon,” Nia said as she jolted awake.

“I hardly see how that’s a bad thing.”

“It could be.”

“It isn’t. Let’s get moving.” Kara held out her hand to Nia and pulled her up before Nia had a chance to react.

The pair walked for a few minutes, Kara’s stomach constantly complaining of hunger. She had to admit, an empty stomach put her in a sour mood, and also was not entirely sure where they were going. Only that some unknowable force was guiding her in this direction, and Nia wasn’t stopping her.

Over the hill was a small café. Kara finally noticed the smells of hot, delicious breakfast foods that had filled the air, drawing her nearer.

“Let’s eat!” she said to Nia, who suddenly had a new pep in her step.

The café was made of stone, painted white; its roof was a lovely brown hay. The inhabitants, at closer glance, were all aliens, and froze at the sight of strange incomers.

“How can I help you?” asked a tough-looking man with horns.

Kara answered him, “we’ve been walking for miles, and hoped you would have something to eat.”

“And directions to Princess Lena’s tower,” added Nia.

So, she had known that Kara was lost.

The man peered at the two of them for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Alright,” he finally said, “we have waffles and giant waffles, grab yourselves some seats.”

Kara and Nia sat at a table by the window, Nia humming the Sharknado theme song while they waited.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go—”

“That’s enough,” Kara cut her off.

Finally, Kara’s two orders of table-sized waffles, and Nia’s one regular waffle with a very large coffee, arrived at the table.

“Lena’s tower is about eight miles due east. Breakfast is on the house for our heroes,” said the horned man from earlier with a wink.

Kara had never saved anyone from her, but she thought she might do the opposite Nia if she couldn’t shut up about shark-filled tornadoes.

On the road again, Kara and Nia walked directly towards the sun. The climbed every mountain, forded every stream, and followed every rainbow – which were suspiciously plentiful for a place that hadn’t seen any rain in months. Kara thought nothing of them.

They paused again for lunch in a meadow two hours later to Nia’s merry tune of Ed Sheeran’s overplayed “Castle on a Hill.”

Kara announced, “I’m going to go foraging.”

“I can help,” said Nia.

Kara thought about, but decided she needed a break from Nia’s dreadful optimism. “No thanks,” she said, “and I’ll carry you piggyback style the rest of the way if you stop singing.”

Nia huffed, “I don’t like your tone, and I’m not sure I can stop when the weather is so wonderful!”

Kara rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I’m going to go eat these red berries over here.”

Nia’s eyes bugged in fear, but Kara had swallowed them before she could say anything. She had already seen what Kara’s stomach could handle and opted instead for some apples off a nearby tree.

They both wished they had packed food.

When she finished eating, Kara suddenly remembered that she could not only fly but also had super strength, so there really was no reason for her to hike eight miles with Nia, whom she maybe didn’t hate.

“You ready to go?” she asked Nia, whose mouth was full of apple.

“No,” Nia said once she finished chewing.

“Good,” said Kara as she scooped Nia into her arms, snatching the apple core out of the air as it fell from Nia’s unprepared hand.

They arrived at the castle shortly after. It was surrounded by a lava moat with a single rickety bridge across. They could hear the roar of the dragon coming from inside.

“Whoa,” said Nia.

Kara did a quick X-ray scan of the castle, but couldn’t see any sign of the dragon. There was a person, though, at the top of the tower, moving her arms in a strange way… Could she be doing the zipper? No, this was something else, something almost sinister.

“I don’t see the dragon, so I’ll just grab Lena and go,” Kara said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, let’s bounce.”

And bounce they did, off of the dragon that appeared out of nowhere.

“Yowzah!” Kara yelled. She barely saved Nia from plummeting to her death.

“I thought you said there was no dragon!”

“Clearly, there is a dragon!”

Kara retaliated with a few shots of laser eyes, which the dragon dodged easily. Nia, still in Kara’s arms, tried to coil her dream rope around its legs, but missed. Yet this angered the dragon, who fought back with a loud roar and fire, singeing the end of Kara’s hair. Nia took Kara’s momentary distraction as an opportunity to free herself from her grip and jump onto the roof. Kara then flew directly at the dragon’s eye, which was a mistake, because the dragon tried to bite her when she got close. Maybe its stomach was a good target? No, too many claws.

On the ground, Nia went again for the dragon’s legs, this time from behind. She did manage to lasso one foot, but the dragon simply shook it off, almost knocking Nia off of the roof with its tail in the process.

The dragon’s attention quickly turned back to Kara, who was once again trying to get close enough to throw a punch. It swatted her away with the back of its hand, sending Kara flying through the window to Lena’s room.

Nia had nowhere left to go. The dragon reached its arm out to grab her.

“You seem really smart for a dragon,” she said.

This made the dragon pause. Perhaps even smile.

“It was like you, um, you knew when our attacks were coming. You avoided them so easily! And your aim, it’s impeccable!”

The dragon grabbed the terrified Nia anyways, but not to crush and eat her. Nia had seen enough skeletons through the castle windows to know this was a possibility. Instead, it took her inside. Nia was still scared, but now also curious.

She was carried to the basement, to a room where a man sat surrounded by computer screens. The dragon set her down.

Meanwhile, Kara was sitting in a small room at the top of the tower, watching Princess Lena pretend to sleep. Her heartrate gave her away.

She took no time to dwell on Lena’s beauty. “It’s time to go,” she said.

Lena opened her eyes. “Oh, you’ve come to rescue me!” said she, though her enthusiasm sounded fake. “I was expecting—”

“Someone different? Aren’t we all,” Kara finished for her. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

She picked Lena up and jumped out the window. Lena screamed the whole time, which gave Kara a little chuckle. Perhaps she stayed in freefall for just a moment too long, but no matter. They landed safely on the roof.

“Nia?” Kara called out.

“Who’s Nia? You didn’t come alone?”

“No, Princess, I didn’t. And as much as I want to, I think Nia would kill me if I left her here alone with the dragon.”

“You didn’t kill the dragon?!” Lena yelled. This was her last straw.

“I had no time!”

Kara did another scan of the castle, ignoring whatever Lena was going on about. Still no dragon in sight, but she did see two people holding hands in the basement. She didn’t want to think about what that might mean, only to make a beeline towards the only other sign of life in the castle.

The dragon was asleep by the door, if asleep is a word that could be applied to something so lifeless. Did Nia actually kill it?

“Oh, Kara, this is Brainy,” Nia said as Kara walked through door.

“Pleasure,” said a man with long hair and green skin, shaking Kara’s hand.

“It’s all mine. But tell me, Brainy, who are you?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, “I am the dragon. Well, I control the dragon. I built it, too, out of material undetectable by modern technology. Which includes X-rays; they pass right through.”

“I told you something was wrong with it!” Nia interjected.

“But why?” asked Kara.

“Someone had to do it! Rescuing a princess is not meant to be easy work, no. You see, Lena is a very special princess, and I was charged with her protection. And she really deserves it, you’ll see.”

“I’m sorry, have we met?” Lena asked.

“My apologies, Princess. Your parents asked me to keep my identity a secret, which is why I built the dragon.”

Lena didn’t seem to believe it. “Thank you for making my life harder,” was all she had to say.

“I think it’s best we leave now,” Kara said, anxious to leave this strange man behind and get Lena, who still seemed upset about the situation despite the fact that she had just been rescued, off her hands.

“Yes, I think it is too. Goodbye crew, and goodbye Nia Nal,” said Brainy.

Kara picked up Lena and Nia and flew them back across the lava moat.

Chapter Text

The new trio had been trekking through the woods for an hour already, Kara unable to handle the weight of two extra people. She felt she was the only one with any sense of urgency all at once.

“I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine, I got a love and I know that it’s all mine…” Nia sang softly. Kara tried to ignore it.

Lena didn’t know the song. It was as though a lifetime of isolation had deprived her of any pop culture knowledge. Kara was grateful her annoyances weren’t doubled, but the fact that Lena had never even heard of One Direction troubled Nia deeply.

Nia then started a rendition of “What Makes You Beautiful,” glancing often to her companions to join in.  Lena was touched at the descriptions in the song, as though she was truly lighting up Nia’s world like nobody else.

“Do you want to learn the words?” Nia asked.

“Why, you would teach me?” Lena replied, tears swelling in her eyes.

“Of course, Lena. It starts, ‘you’re insecure. Don’t know what for.’”

Lena was full on sobbing by now. Nia felt that she had overstepped by now, but allowed the princess to cry, unsure what type of comfort she would need.

Kara had not been able to block out any of the conversation, despite trying her very hardest, and her heart went out to Lena.

“…You’re turning heads when you walk through the do-o-oor,” Kara continued in Nia’s place.

This left both of her companions slightly stunned, as Kara had hardly spoken the entire time except to complain, but Kara carried on singing as if she was the one who couldn’t get enough of Harry’s rich voice.

Maybe she’s not so bad after all, Kara and Lena thought simultaneously about each other.

Out of nowhere, a figure dressed in black swung in on a rope and snatched up Lena.

“Princess!” Nia called out, to no avail.

The figure, who appeared to be a DEO agent with short auburn hair, landed on a nearby tree branch with Lena.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now. I’m here to rescue you from these aliens!” said the agent.

“Give her back! That’s my princess you’re trying to kidnap!” Kara yelled.

“Rescue me,” Lena said, “from these aliens? I think you’ll find that’s unnecessary. Who do you think you are?”

“Why, I’m Alex Danvers,” said the DEO agent, “second in command of the DEO. I’m here to keep aliens from harming humans!” Alex’s voice was all too cheerful for anyone’s taste.

“Not if I have anything to do with it!” Kara shouted again, forgetting briefly that she was the dangerous alien in question. She soon remembered and flew up at Alex with every intention of knocking her to the ground (in a non-lethal way, of course).

“Agents, assemble!” Alex called out, and somehow one of the many agents who appeared from the bushes was able to push Kara off course.

The fight broke out all at once. Kara naturally had no issues fending off various agents, flying around them all and setting only a few trees on fire with her laser vision, herding them towards Nia. Nia then used her Dream energy to lasso a few of them to the ground and tie them up to the trees Kara hadn’t hit. Lena somehow got a hold of a sword, and handled it impressively, especially for someone who hadn’t had a fencing partner in over a decade. It almost made Kara blush.

Kara was momentarily distracted by Lena’s prowess, but quickly came back to herself when someone shot a taser at her. She barely felt it, but it did annoy her, and she resumed her quick work of freezing and punching until all the DEO agents were tied up to trees.

Nia had to remind her to put the fires out.

Kara found another bush of those bright red berries just as she was starting to feel hungry. She offered a handful to Lena.

“Lena, don’t, I think they’re not poisonous only to Kara because she’s Kry–” Nia called out, but it was too late. To her horror, Lena ate the whole handful right out of Kara’s hand.

“Yes, I am Kryptonian,” Kara started, “but these berries aren’t poisonous at all. They’re only buffaloberries.”

“Oh,” was all Nia had left to say. She did wonder, though, why Kara would ever need to know about Earth’s wild fruits.

Eventually, night fell upon the group. Thankfully this happened as they were approaching an abandoned cabin. They cooked a hearty meal for themselves of foraged plants. Kara had suggested hunting, but Lena protested, stating that the birds that flew by her tower window were her only source of company for years.

As the food settled in their bellies, Nia fell asleep yet again, though fitfully.

“Is she okay?” Lena asked.

“Yeah, she’s just… like that,” Kara responded.

They sat in silence for a moment longer, both eventually lying on their backs.

“That star right there,” Kara said, pointing to a dim star in the night sky, “is where Krypton used to be.”

Lena paused to think of her response, realizing that Kara might actually be opening up to her. “Do you miss it?”

“Yes, every day. It’s my home. No one else on Earth quite gets what it’s like. I lost my family, my friends, my culture, everything when Krypton exploded.”

A heavy pause saturated the air between them.

Lena cut it: “I’m sorry Kara. I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

“No one can. I think that’s why I keep to myself so much. Nobody else on this planet can know how that feels, and it’s not a burden I want to put onto others.”

It felt like too much for Kara to share so soon. But something about this moment, about staring up at the sky with a stranger whose familiarity with loneliness rivaled hers, felt right. Maybe, just maybe, she could trust Lena.

“I’ve felt big losses too,” Lena started. “My mother died when I was only four. My father, who I barely even knew existed, took me in. But his wife hated me. I had an older brother, who tried to protect me, but he was always the favorite child. My stepmother didn’t want my father to be distracted from raising him and insisted on sending me away. I moved into that tower when I was ten years old, and I never saw another person again.”

“Until today.”

Lena smiled. “Yes, Kara. Until today.”

“Ooh, are we stargazing?” Nia’s voice shook Kara and Lena out of their heartfelt moment.

“Uh, yeah! We are,” answered Kara.

“Well, that star over there is Naltor…”

Nia and Lena eventually found themselves alone in the cabin, with Kara left outside to ponder the meaning of life and the mysteries of the universe.

“Oh Nia, why don’t you check on Kara?” said Lena, some unknown anxiety tugging at her vocal cords.

Nia looked out window. “She seems fine. Still staring at the sky.”

This wasn’t enough to satisfy Lena. “Yes, but see how she’s feeling?”

“Well, how are you feeling? You seem nervous.”

“Pfft, me? Nervous? No way.” Lena ran her hand through her hair, and a surprising amount stuck to it. “Okay. Maybe I’m a little nervous.”

More and more hair kept falling off Lena’s head. Nia thought it was some sort of extreme stress response.

“What are you so worried about?”

Lena gestured to her head, now bald. “THIS! I’m worried about this! Before I was locked in the tower, my stepmother who hated me left me with a curse. Every night at midnight, I lose all my hair. Only with true love’s kiss will I take true love’s form. But how could someone love someone like this? So ugly and shiny?” Lena sobbed.

Nia walked over and wrapped Lena in a tight hug. “It’s okay to be different, Lena. It doesn’t make you any less loveable.

Kara, who had been waiting outside to admit to the comfort she felt around Lena, unfortunately heard Lena say she couldn’t love someone shiny and ugly. Were her big, silky muscles really all that bad? Heartbroken, Kara walked away without hearing the rest of the conversation.

The next morning, Lena was abruptly awoken to the sound of fanfare.

“What’s all this about?” she groggily asked Nia.

“I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about it.”

She went outside, startled to see Kara talking to a very evil looking man on horseback, surrounded by slightly less evil looking men on horseback.

“Ah, Princess Lena!” called out Evil Man No. 1, “allow me to introduce myself.”

“What’s going on?” Lena asked Kara.

Kara didn’t make eye contact. “I figured, we were already this close to National City, I may as well complete my mission.”

“Mission?” Lena repeated, unable to hide the hurt in her voice.

“Princess Lena,” Evil Man No. 1 repeated more sternly, “I am Lord Lockwood of National City, and it is a… pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise,” from Lena.

“My, my,” Evil Man Lockwood said, turning to his men, “you are more beautiful in person than I ever could have imagined, isn’t she, boys?”

The boys made vague sounds of agreement.

“Why, I just can’t wait to be married to someone so gorgeous! The wedding shall be tonight!”

“Wedding!?” Lena shouted, looking only to Kara for answers, but Kara still wouldn’t look at her? “I will have no such thing! I don’t even know you!”

Lockwood scoffed. “It matters not, my dear. Soon, you shall know me, and I will make you my queen! I, I mean we, will rule the kingdom together!”

Lena tried to protest more but was all too soon whisked away by Lockwood’s men.

“Why’d you do it, Kara?” Nia asked.

Kara couldn’t answer.

Chapter Text

Kara and Nia watched as Lockwood and his men became dots in the distance, approaching his palace, Lena in tow.

“I can’t believe I, I, I almost…” Kara’s voice trailed off. “Rao, I’m so angry! I should have never let myself feel anything.”

“Hey, Kara, it’s going to be okay.”

“Okay? Of course, it will. I’ll go back to my fortress like nothing ever happened.”

“Nothing?” Nia pried, feeling only a little bit hurt. Many things had happened since the pair had left.

Kara didn’t seem to notice. “Nope, nothing. Back to living on my own. No one to bog me down anymore.”

That stung, it really did, worse than Nia had thought the buffaloberries would. She found herself unwilling, in that moment, to argue with Kara. Kara was a lot of things, and wielder of many deadly superpowers was near the top of the list. So, Nia left to wander home alone.

At Lockwood’s palace, wedding preparations were happening in a flurry. Lena, whose life had been a long series of events she couldn’t control, accepted that Lockwood intended to marry her and insisted it happen that day. She needed some agency in her own life, after all. And Lockwood didn’t seem the type to like anyone who was… different. Lena wasn’t really an alien, but she somehow knew that wouldn’t matter.

She took a moment to ponder her surroundings. Tall grey walls made of stone surrounded her. She had spent her life staring at walls like this and was almost comforted by the familiarity. Several women were with her, helping her to change into her wedding attire. Admittedly, the dress was beautiful, though not her typical style.

“What do you think of Lockwood?” she asked one of the women.

“Oh, he’s wonderful! He works so hard to bring peace to all the humans in National City.”

“Yes,” another chimed in, “he certainly has a way of leaving an imprint.”

Then a third, “Never met an alien in my life! And thanks to Lockwood, now I won’t have to.”

Lena sat with this for a moment. It didn’t feel good to her. “Maybe aliens aren’t so bad,” she said.

The statement was met with death glares and a silence that was somehow loud and angry.

Why would Kara send her here?

Back at the Fortress of Solitude, all the aliens had cleared out, as promised. If anything good could be said of Ben Lockwood, he was a man of his word.

Kara felt a tightness in her stomach. Could she be… guilty? Sad? No, probably just hungry. She scrounged up some potstickers and sat down to eat them.

Lena had been so nice, for a while. At least it seemed that way to Kara. But then, she told Nia how much she hated Kara’s strength. Her identity. Kara couldn’t miss her now. But she couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her eyes, hands, the way she spoke so confidently.

No. Kara wasn’t going to do this to herself now. Lena was about to be happily married.

A sound in the distance pulled Kara from her thoughts. It sounded like…

“You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset…”

…Nia!

With instrumental accompaniment, this time. What was happening?

“Oh, hey Kara!” said Nia upon entering, with Brainy in tow.

“Nia? What are you doing here? This is my fortress!”

“Yeah, you say that, but I did a lot of work getting Lena out of that tower. I figured I deserve half the reward.”

“I disagree.”

Brainy cut in, “She has a point, Kara. She did slay the mechanical beast I built. And my heart.”

Nia blushed and gave Brainy a peck on the cheek.

“Ugh, get a room,” said Kara.

“That’s why I’m here,” said Nia.

Kara rolled her eyes. “A room outside my fortress.”

“No. I think we should talk. I came with you to save Lena, kept you company, kept your spirits up with my joyous singing–” Nia began.

“I hated that, actually,” Kara interrupted.

“You loved it. And you never even thanked me. But that’s okay, because I’m willing to forgive you.”

“Forgive me? For what?”

“For pushing me away. And Lena, too,” Nia pleaded.

“Pfft, I didn’t push Lena away! I overheard you two talking about how shiny and ugly I am. How Lena couldn’t love someone like that.”

“She wasn’t! Talking about you. Is that really what you thought?”

“Yeah, obviously! Look at me, in my beautiful blue suit, with glistening muscles. Ugly to her!”

Nia was too stunned to speak, for once. Again, Kara was a lot of things, but ugly was never one of them. Objectively speaking, she was stunning.

“Kara,” said Brainy, realizing no one else was going to say anything. “She wasn’t talking about you. I swear. She was talking about…” he calculated the odds of something going wrong if Brainy, who obviously knew the truth this whole time, revealed it now. Too much of a risk. “…someone else.”

“Oh yeah? Who?” Kara pushed.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What does matter,” said Nia, “is that we’re here to help you get her back. If you apologize.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” said Kara, “but why are you helping me?”

“That’s what friends are for,” Nia said with a soft smile.

The words had a familiar ring to them but sounded off coming out of Nia’s mouth. Either way, it was comfort enough to Kara.

She gasped, “the wedding! It’s today!”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Nia.

“I’ll grab the dragon equipment. Kara, can you fly us there?” said Brainy.

“Yes, let’s go!” said Kara, and they were off.

Lena and Lockwood were already in the middle of the ceremony. It was getting dark, and Lena wanted to hurry things along before her hair fell out and Lockwood had her beheaded or something.

“Look, I’m so madly in love, can we just skip to the ‘I dos?’” she asked the priest.

“Um, yeah. Okay. But first, any objections?”

Outside, Kara and the gang made quick work of all the guards.

“What’s happening now?” she asked Nia.

Nia used her Dream powers to sense what was going on inside. “Oh, now! Now is the time! But remember Kara, you hurt her, and you’re going to have to do something really romantic to win her back over. Fill her office with flowers or something, I don’t know.”

“No time,” said Kara, “I can figure that out later. I need to get in there!”

Kara shot up into the sky and burst through a window to witness the wedding ceremony.

“Lena, stop!” she cried out. All eyes turned to her.

“Guards,” said Lockwood, “arrest her!”

Lena looked away; her feelings still hurt. She missed an epic action sequence, though. That’s too bad, because Kara looked so hot fighting everyone, she might have forgiven her on the spot.

“Let’s kiss and get this over with,” said Lockwood.

Lena braced herself.

“Lena, no! He’s only using you to become king! He doesn’t love you!” Kara shouted.

“So untrue! And what would you know of love, alien?” Lockwood pushed.

“More than you.”

Much to the crowd’s astonishment, Kara leapt forward and swept Lena off her feet.

“Guards!” shouted Lockwood, but it was too late. Brainy’s dragon broke in and swallowed him whole.

“Lena,” said Kara softly, the sun setting behind them.

“Kara, look away,” she said.

But Kara didn’t dare take her eyes off Lena. Slowly, then all at once, Lena’s hair fell out. Her head really was shiny.

“Oh, now I get it, you were embarrassed of your bald head,” said Kara.

Lena ducked her face away from Kara, just waiting to be let go. She was so mortified that death may have been better.

“I still think you’re beautiful,” said Kara, “I love it. In fact, I love you.”

Lena looked up at her with big, wet eyes. “I love you, too.”

They kissed and floated higher and higher towards the ceiling. Everyone cheered.

Guests were abundant at the Fortress of Solitude today. Lena and Kara were getting married, and they had so many friends to celebrate with.

The ceremony was beautiful. True love was really in the air. As the couple flew off into the sunset, Lena tossed her bouquet behind her. It was caught deftly by Brainy, who turned to Nia and kissed her.

There could not have been a better end to the adventure.