481. Chapter 481

Alex grins over from across the diner at her little sister and her new friend, leaning conspiratorially into each other in a booth at Noonan’s.

Both in glasses – one to conceal her identity, one because why the hell not? – both moaning as they dig into the massive ice cream sundae on the table between them.

“I only had to cross an ocean to encounter this delicious cream,” Diana is telling her. “You had to cross – what did you call it?”

“The Phantom Zone,” Kara nods, closing her eyes as she leaves the spoon upside down in her mouth a little longer than necessary, oblivious to the way Diana stops eating to stare wide-eyed at Kara’s lips.

“Was it lonely? That Phantom Zone?”

Kara shrugs as she opens her eyes, and Diana wonders at the kind of blue.

“I don’t remember it. Being stuck there. Except sometimes in dreams. Alex would wake me up screaming when we were kids. My planet would be burning and I’d be stuck in what felt like an abyss, in my pod, and I couldn’t…”

Diana reaches a hand out for Kara’s, and their eyes lock hard.

“It must have been beautiful. Krypton.”

Kara’s smile returns even as tears prick her eyes. “My father used to take me to the edges of Argo City to watch our sun rise – it was red, not yellow like this one – and so much of our cities were just… awash in silver, in our technology, and it could have been sterile, I guess.”

She adjusts her glasses and swipes her spoon through a river of chocolate fudge and licks it off slow, thoughtful. Accidentally seductive, even as Diana’s heart bleeds along with her words.

“But it wasn’t. The way the rising sun would reflect off of all that metal… it was anything but cold. It was… Anyway. It’s gone, now.”

Diana shakes her head slowly. “Not in your heart, Kara Zor-el. Nothing can ever truly be gone. Not if you keep it alive inside you.”

Kara sighs and creates the ultimate sundae spoonful: wet walnuts, fudge,ice cream, a piece of banana, sprinkles, whipped cream. She offers it out to Diana, who accepts, and her eyes fly wide as she moans so loudly, so joyously, that Alex – now joined by her girlfriend – isn’t the only one in Noonan’s turning to stare. Kara giggles.

“The first time I tried it, I got so excited I started flying without even trying to. Alex tried to hold me down but wound up just coming along for the ride.”

Diana laughs, and it’s light and it’s happy and it’s so damn full.

“Your sister’s a brave warrior, it seems. Angry. Frightening, perhaps. But loyal. And that police woman seems to make her smile more easily.”

Kara nods and they both glance over at Alex and Maggie, who catch their eyes and wave.

“She’s the only reason I ever felt at home on this planet. Alex. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

Diana thinks of Steve, of gas and of planes. She thinks of her aunt, of generals and of last breaths.

Kara doesn’t have J’onn’s telepathy, but she knows anyway. She knows that look.

She sees it in the mirror far too often.

Nearly every time she looks.

“My aunt died, too. Was killed. She survived – she survived, I got her back, a piece of my home, and then she – “ Kara shudders, and tries not to think of Alex.

Alex, protecting her space father.

Alex, loyal to a fault.

Alex, her sister, her world, who somehow became a hardened soldier without her noticing.

“She died. In battle. A renowned General.” Kara smiles softly, and it’s Diana, this time, who tries her hand at creating the perfect spoonful of sundae and offers it to Kara.

“I thought the world would never be able to go on when I lost my general. My mother’s sister. It felt like… you know what it felt like, Kara Zor-el.”

Kara nods, and remembers holding Astra, dying. Remembers holding Alex, weeping. Remembers holding her hand out for J’onn, breathing, breathing. Breathing.

“I have a projection of my mother. Maybe we could try to make one of your aunt. At the DEO. It… it’s not the same, and sometimes… sometimes I don’t know if she left me with the burden of caring for Earth or the burden of righting the wrongs I didn’t even know she’d done, but it… it’s comforting, anyway. Being able to see her. Talk to her. Even if it’s not really her.”

Diana’s eyes sparkle at this girl’s generosity. The way this woman bears the weight of multiple planets on shoulders that somehow still manage to look carefree.

This warrior who doesn’t at all think herself a warrior.

But perhaps that’s what makes her such a powerful one.

“How have you done it, Kara? Seen all you’ve seen, and still… Ares told me that this world doesn’t deserve me, that I should rule it, enslave it, rather than… they kill and they torture and they… how have you done it?”

Kara pokes at their slowly disappearing, slowly melting sundae with her spoon.

“Ice cream helps,” she smiles softly, and Diana looks at her like she’s the sun. Because maybe she is.

“Love,” she amends more seriously. “If I let go of it, I… Alex does terrible things. The person I love most in the world. She hurts people, and she thinks… she thinks it’s alright, because it’s always in defense of someone she loves. She doesn’t think about the people who love the person she’s beating. Or, she does, but… after. Maggie’s helping her with it. J’onn too. And I’m trying. Sometimes I feel like it’s my fault, like I turned her into someone this ruthless, but I… I guess what I’m saying is… I love her. I love her more than my own life. All of her. And she helps me understand. Humans. This planet. The things people do out of fear. Out of love. Out of terror of losing love. The people you’ve found, Diana. They have to be your anchor. Otherwise it… otherwise it consumes you. The things Ares said to you. And you can’t let it. You’re too good.”

“As are you, Kara. As are you.”

Kara licks her lips and lets her eyes lock hard into Diana’s.

“You know what also helps?”

Diana shakes her head, her eyes starting to sparkle, her lips starting to quirk up into an excited smile.

“Pool,” Kara grins.

“We have pools on Themyscira! Mystical pools, with water that – what?” she trails off, smiling in slight confusion, because Kara is laughing and touching her hand and god, she can feel the undercurrent of Kara’s power even in her gentle, affectionate gesture, and it makes her gulp.

“No, I mean a game. Come on. Alex and Maggie will show you.”

Kara is up and offering her hand, and Diana is taking it but her eyes are wide and her lips are playful.

“Can we get more ice cream there?” she asks, and Kara beams.

“Great thing about this city? We can get ice cream almost anywhere.”