[ Sorry i just got the time to make and upload a chapter for the week, i totally chose the wrong week to upload a new fanfic, i just got bombarded by end of semester project, and i still need to finish my capstone project with my group and that one is still ongoing. So I will try to update the fanfic once a week until I finish this semester.]
And this is also the first time writing 2 character that is pretty important to the story so i need to get the personality right ]
"Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us. And on my soul, I swear... until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice becomes the reality we all share -- I'll never stop fighting."
― Superman (ACTION COMICS #775)
(Kara POV)
Dream changes us, to dream of something greater to achieve something that will make you proud that is something that she want to achieve
But nightmare haunts us, it haunts every waking moment, and it will not let you escape even in your own sleep.
She dreams of Argo city, of her parents, of the kryptonian that slowly died on by one, she helps with all she could but it's all for nothing, she can see it in her parents eyes.
To be launched into space, to survive the explosion of krypton it was supposed to be a moment worthy of celebration but all seems to go down hill, the ground of krypton that houses us, that saves us.
It slowly kills us. With our travel to the stars we encounter. We also met a yellow one. Its radiation causes the ground that drifts through it to mutate, to become the source of our own death to become our own kryptonite.
It feels like a joke that the piece of home that we brought to become the blade that slowly bled us. The times that I spend slowly seeing my kind die one by one.
Slowly seeing my parents dying. And even in their last moment they scramble to build a space pod with only enough resources they send me. To be their hope.
And the smile on their faces when they send me. It broke something inside of me.So she carries them with her. Their dreams stitched to her spine, their wishes pressed into her chest like an ember. Like the symbol on her chest, Even if their dream was simple: live well. Live free. Live.
But something seems different, it started with a sound
A strange rhythm, quick and relentless, a march for death she seems to not know how to explain it. Kara stirred beneath the blanket Rafael had tossed over her the night before, her forehead scrunching at the unfamiliar beat clawing at her half asleep.
Her eyes blinked open slowly. Pale morning light filtered through the tinted windows of the RV, scattering dust motes in the air like floating stars. The melody cut through the stillness, sharp, digital, persistent. It didn't belong to birdsong or wind or anything she'd learned Earth sounded like not that she knows much about earth.
She sat up, groggy, hair a tangled halo. The music continued. A looping motif—DUN da-da-DUN da-da DUN—like it was trying to get under her skin.
She followed the sound and found in the backside of the RV that an Echo Echo shape rafael vibing to the music. That sight flabbergasted her with her still groggy brain. She thought that this is such an odd thing to see first thing in the morning.
Rafael, as if knowing she woke up, turned to her awkwardly and said with a metallic echo to it " ahh yes. Hello there good morning, don't mind me i am just composing a music"
That sentence totally did not make it less weird, but she will take it. In the middle of all this happening and Kara processing the thing that just happened, Rafael turns back to a human.
" I almost forgot, I have made some food in the kitchen, you can grab some," he said pointing at one of the cabinets. On top of it one can see what looks like cooking ware. She is still confused about what is what. Everything is so different from krypton
But she takes some either way. Her stomach rumbles, it has been quite a time since she last ate, after picking up the food she sat in one of the chairs beside Rafael while he continued mixing his music now back to his 'human' form.
She sat there silently, eating an earth dish. It is quite tasty but it is quite different from what she usually eats.
While eating she thinks back to the dream that she has. The things still haunts her but she doesn't know why but listening to the song that Rafael makes her slightly more hopeful, it feels like she can power through all her problems and solve it all.
She sat there in silence even after finishing her food.
" is there any other song that you make" she asked, wondering how's the other song that he makes differ from this one
Rafael turn to her, his brows raised in question before he turn back and said " i have a lot of music prepared with different beat type, i think you would like this one"
He plays another tune, this one feels melancholic, like a person who was forced to fight on to finish a promise but suffering through it all, it somehow feel relatable to her
"What's the name of this one" she asked
"ASGORE"
⧪⧪⧪ Chapter Break ⧪⧪⧪
(Kara POV)
"how's your english lesson going" he said
"Going good, yes. I just… get into the, uh, middle level now. That new upgrade you get from the pod's… data place? It helps. Make translate more better. I can understand much now." she said with somewhat an accent
She has seen him scrapping all the useful things from the pod and robot that attacked us. Now all of it is store down in the storage of the RV, he also have been experimenting on the thing,
He had been scrapping parts from the pod and that ruined Kryptonian assassin bot. Everything useful was cataloged, labeled, stored in the RV's back section like a mobile workshop. She'd watched him for Hours, bent over alien cores and data drives, soldering Kryptonian tech to Earth computers so he could read the data that is stored there.
And somehow… he'd found a data module. One with enough linguistic material to make a Kryptonian-Earth language bridge.
He joked about making a language learning app "better than that bird one." She thought she mistranslated it
because what bird teaches language?
But no. He meant it. He actually did make an app.
He actually did make a language learning app for real that he put in some digital app store so people can use it, with a paid version that have more feature, he said that it was based on the language module that he gave her so he already have the skeleton and he only need to polish the app experience
The app was working. People were using it. It made some money. She saw him feeling relief now that he has somewhat a good income stream, and not needing to stress
⧪⧪⧪ Chapter Break ⧪⧪⧪
(Rafael POV)
It has been quite stressful in the financial section of my life, he thought to himself, now that the app has somewhat found an audience he could relax a bit.
It still make some money even tho it is not a lot, it is enough to live by, he need to make a couple of update to make it the best language learning app in the app store so then he can have more user and it and make more money from the paid user
Now he is tinkering and workshopping an idea about making a hoverboard, he has the trusteer and energy core ready but it still needs more R & d. The parts didn't like each other. Yet.
His game engine has been making quite a wave, and he is now searching for talent for his own gaming studio, he actually found some in central city , there is a game studio that just bankrupted because it was bought by a bigger corporation and the corporation make the studio create a game that not its expertise and it just blew in it face and bankrupted the studio and they are forced to close it
I guess greedy microtransaction is spreading even to other multiverse
So he plan to hire some of the talent for the studio and relocate them all to new york to make his own gaming studio
He has been searching for some real estate in new york and it is still in the work, the size of the building and the budget is totally not talking to each other it is so expensive
'Well i guess i'll need to make more money i think i need to put more awareness and market the app more so i will do it' he thought of some marketing idea to increase awareness
He is struck with an idea, that if he makes the community good he can make it more welcoming because using a new app alone is hard but with the community to help if they have some difficulty it will be easier.
He plan to make some tutorial video on how to use the tool from the app and make an art competition with prize pool, 'everyone like money so it surely attract people that have not use the app' and when professional that use other app now use the app for the competition and knowing that it is better that the app that they use before they will stay and bought the pro version
Another thing to think about, 'I guess there's a lot to do in the next few days, I also have to spare time for kara.'
And that is another thing entirely. He sighs loudly while he rests his back in the chair. A lot of things to do now but what he is doing now will make it easier for his future self so he needs to do it. He tried to motivate himself
⧪⧪⧪ Chapter Break ⧪⧪⧪
It has been a few days that we are on the road, she has slowly get into the flow of thing with him, he told him that when we pass metropolis we will try to get superman attention and get him to meet us, it has been one of her goal to meet her cousin but she doesn't know why but it causes some feeling to flare up in her chest that make her hesitant
But Rafael told her that " it's going to be alright knowing superman you will be accepted with open arms" with somehow a familiarity level that doesn't add up
These past few days she also catches that he has looked at her or someone from the news like other superheroes with surprising familiarity, but looking into it deeply she concludes that he just looks up to them and probably researches and follows them from the beginning.
But what about his familiarity with her
But before she can follow that thought she heard Rafael taking another call, he has been taking more and more of this call, she has asked what it was for and he told her that it was for a game studio that he is making so he is trying to recruit people for it, he said that he found some that are located in central city so he is trying to set up a meeting with them.
She found that the perseverance of the first person that he met on this planet is so motivating the eagerness to create somehow motivates her, this is the thing that makes kara willing to follow him from city to city and finish in metropolis by land.
Even if she could just fly there on her own.
⧪⧪⧪ Chapter Break ⧪⧪⧪
Later that evening, Kara noticed Rafael hunched over his laptop in the corner of the RV. His fingers moved with practiced speed, eyes focused. Every now and then, he muttered something under his breath.
She stepped closer. "You've been staring at that screen for hours."
He didn't look up. "Deadline."
The screen blinked: BUILD UPLOADED - UNDERTALE v1.0.
Kara narrowed her eyes. "Undertale?"
"A game," he said simply, then leaned back, stretching. "I am Releasing it tonight."
She crossed her arms. "You made it?"
He nodded, rubbing his temple, fatigue was getting to him "Yeah. Took a while. Remember all the music that i make that's for this game right here"
"What's it about?"
He paused, choosing his words. "Monsters. Choices….. determination."
Kara didn't respond right away. She glanced at the pixel art on the screen, then at him. "People like that sort of thing here?"
"Guess we'll find out." with a strange smirk on his face
She gave a small, noncommittal shrug. "Strange name."
the smirked, not leaving his face. "You get used to it."
And just like that, the moment passed, quiet, brief, and telling in its own way she has been having moments like this and she found it oddly comforting.
⧪⧪⧪ Chapter Break ⧪⧪⧪
If he could scream, he would scream like there is no tomorrow, do you know how hard it is to keep a straight face in front a character that you once saw in comic book, and let me just say that the beautiful girl that comic book have doesn't compare to the real life version
Now all he could do is focusing on the grind
He could do all the other stuff after the company take of and i am somewhat have a footing in this world
Focus no distraction
Don't follow the horniness
But seriously just reading comics or watching an animated show doesn't do it justice. Just tonight kara got comfortable enough to share what happen after krypton happen
Obviously he knew that the planet exploded. Not only did he know it from the comic but superman has also told it in an interview with the daily planet.
From listening to her story he could pinpoint it that she has the backstory from the supergirl : woman of tomorrow comic book love that one, the art is totally gorgeous on that
But now that he is listening it right from the source it felt more real, more deep it has more to it than what could be said or explain from a comic book page
Seeing her face contorted in sadness, make him feel the sadness of losing her parent, and it also reminded him of his own
Many people would say that superman and supergirl is almost the same but he would said that it was night and day in different
Superman might be a kryptonian but he only spend days maximum month on krypton before the planet exploded, but kara
She was already a teen by then. She knows people from there, she has people that she knows, a parent that raised her, a planet that home her. And to see it destroyed one can say that it affect her deeply
If you say that superman is krypton hope than Kara Zor-El is their dream
Because to dream you have to remember and she remember what krypton was
⧪⧪⧪ Chapter Break ⧪⧪⧪
Yesterday was kind off heavy but he is glad that kara could share the burden of her story, he could see now that imaginative burden that sit in her shoulder was alleviated even by a little
So today he plans to have an outing. Kara has improved so fast in learning english even he was surprised to become that fluent in english in a few days is such a feat.
So we'll go shopping for clothes and maybe get some ice cream. He parked the RV on the side of the road. Nearby there are a couple of clothes stores on the block.
"Are we stopping again" asked kara curiously
" yup" he said matter of factly " you need some new clothes, you can't just use mine all the time"
Kara tilted her head, frowning faintly. "But it's comfortable," she said, tugging lightly at the oversized hoodie she was wearing.
his hoodie, to be exact. It practically swallowed her.
And all he could do is shake his head in amusement
Kara looked at the small clothing shop with curiosity. It wasn't flashy, but the colors in the window caught her attention, pale blues, bright reds, soft yellows. Earth fashion still confused her. Why did humans need so many types of shirts?
Rafael led the way, pushing open the door with a quiet creak. A bell above jingled lightly, and a warm draft of lavender-scented air met them.
She trailed behind him, still in his old hoodie and sweatpants, her shoes slightly too big. He glanced at her and smiled softly.
"Alright," he said, rubbing his hands together. "We're gonna get you some proper clothes. Something that you can call your own. I have… no idea what I'm doing, but we'll figure it out."
Kara raised a skeptical brow. "You're going to choose them?"
He held up his hand. "Attempt to. No promises. Unless of course you know what you want"
They started wandering through the racks. Rafael picked up a few pieces that he think will mash on well but it was totally a failure, kara either look like she was from the 60s or somehow smoke something before choosing what to wear
Kara voices her concern. She felt that the outfit that he chose sucks "Do people actually wear these?"
"Damn i suck at fashion" Rafael thought
A young store clerk, a woman in her twenties with style that was totally better than Rafael could put together, not that he could put a style that is any good had been watching the whole exchange with amused patience. She finally stepped in.
"Hey," she said, smiling at Kara. "Mind if I help you out?"
"Oh, absolutely," Rafael said immediately, stepping aside with exaggerated relief. "Please. Save us both."
Kara hesitated, but gave a small nod.
The clerk guided her gently, asking a few questions, showing her combinations, colors, fits. Kara disappeared into the changing room with an armful of clothes. When she stepped out, it was like a light had clicked on inside her.
A simple blue jacket over a white T-shirt, dark jeans, and boots that actually fit. Her hair was brushed out of her face.
"Well?" she asked, tilting her head.
Rafael blinked. "That looks way better than what I chose," he said with a small laugh.
She smiled. It was a small thing, but genuine. "I like this."
The clerk winked. "Told you I got this."
Somehow in the span of that little interaction she made friend and become familiar with the store clerk , he groan in his mind all he could said is ' to be an extrovert'
—
Later that afternoon, they walked out of the shop, a small paper bag in Rafael's hand with the new clothes folded neatly inside. The sun had warmed up the pavement, and the quiet street buzzed with lazy summer energy.
Then they passed an ice cream truck.
Kara paused. "That's the cold food, right?"
"Yep," Rafael said, already heading over. "It's a celebration. First Earth outfit needs to be celebrated with dessert."
She peered into the window, wide-eyed at the choices. "There are… so many colors."
He got her a swirl cone—vanilla and strawberry. She licked it cautiously at first. Then her eyes widened.
"Oh. Oh, this is amazing."
Rafael grinned. "Told you."
She devoured it like someone who'd discovered joy in edible form. They sat on the curb, sun on their backs, cones in hand.
For the first time in days, Kara laughed as if there was no burden enjoying the small thing, Just the taste, the warmth, the ridiculousness of Rafael's fashion attempts.
He looked over, watching her with a quiet smile. He didn't need to say anything. The weight she carried was still there, but lighter now, even just for today.
And that was enough.
Better to enjoy the journey and make memories, not that he forgot his goal in this universe.
But moment like this make he feel like he belonged in this world
Later that night they continued their journey the rolls in the road smoothly like it was handled by a professional driver. Even if there is no one controlling it
the RV rolled past a sign:
WELCOME TO CENTRAL CITY
….
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. What do you think is it going an alright pace or is it too slow? These few chapters I try to flesh out the character so later on we could do the exciting stuff. What do you guys thing so far about the story any expectation or any ideas
Till next time