Back to the Right Future

It’s the first Thanksgiving since the Crisis and defeating both Leviathan and Lex. Celebrating a major holiday on a new Earth, and in a new timeline, feels weird to say the least but it’s not a bad weird. It’s a good weird. In fact it makes the occasion feel more special. As if they have more of a reason to celebrate, which they do. Apparently bringing back an entire world and its civilization from past the point of extinction can make you appreciate all that you have. Who knew?

With help from both Alex and Kelly, Eliza has prepared a beautiful dinner. A feast worthy of a nobility banquet, or in this case a ravenous Kryptonian dressed in chinos and understated pastels. Kara wanted to help prepare the meal, she really did, but her duties as Supergirl came first---as they always do. Also, Eliza would never admit this out loud but if the younger blonde hadn’t been called away to save the day, she probably would have come up with some excuse to exempt the young woman from helping. It’s not that Eliza doesn’t appreciate the help, she just knows that despite her youngest daughter being an excellent baker, she’s a terrible cook with a penchant for burning literally everything.  

Once J’onn, Nia, and Brainy have finished setting the table Eliza, Kelly, and Alex grab the side dishes, leaving Kara to carry the turkey. As everything finds its place on the table they all take their seats, leaving one chair unoccupied. Kara subconsciously stares at the empty chair before she is pulled out of her reverie by her mother’s voice next to her, at the head of the table.

“First I would like to thank my beautiful daughter, Kara, for hosting today’s dinner. Even if she didn’t do a darn thing to help.” Eliza teases as they all laugh. 

“Guess criminals don’t get the holidays off of work either, huh?” Alex quips as she winks at her sister seated across from her, who smiles in response.

 “I also want to thank my eldest--”

“--Hey! Kara got beautiful and I get eldest?” Alex cuts her mother off in mock offense.

“--You didn’t let me finish Alexandra. I was going to say my eldest beautiful daughter--”

“--Much better.” They laugh as Kelly gently slaps her girlfriend’s thigh, Alex grabbing Kelly’s hand and holding it firmly in her lap.

“--And her even more beautiful girlfriend, Kelly.” Eliza pauses for a brief moment waiting for Alex’s remark but is happy to find her eldest silent, with a smirk on her face and wiggling her eyebrows at her girlfriend. 

“For helping prepare this wonderful meal to share with our even more wonderful family and fr--” Eliza cuts herself off contemplatively and shakes her head before she continues. “--just family.” She says with a radiant smile that is matched by everyone at the table. 

“And of course I want to thank all of you for coming.” She looks around at each and every person at the table, her eyes settling on the empty chair briefly before she continues speaking. “Unfortunately not all of our family members can be with us today. Whether it’s by choice, or circumstance, or God’s grace--” Kara and Alex both reach out, each holding Eliza’s hand from their respective seats on either side of her. They all take a brief moment to lament the absence of their beloved ones. Some think of James and Winn. Others of M’Gann. Eliza and her daughters of Jeremiah. And Kara thinks of another life. Of another world. Of another family. But her gaze has drifted to the empty chair at the end of the table and all she can think of in that moment is Lena. 

“But I am so incredibly thankful, and grateful, for the family that we do have here today.”

Just then a resounding boom of crackling electricity is heard overhead. They all look up to see a storm of indigo lightning swirling up above. They push their seats back as their eyes remain focused on the unwelcomed, paranormal anomaly.

“Oh no, not this shit again.” Alex says as they watch the swirling storm overhead grow, creating an opening identical to an interdimensional portal. Alex starts to wonder if Kara’s dining room table is cursed as something similar had happened years prior. She hopes that this too will evanesce into nothingness after a moment but her hopes are dashed when a figure falls through the portal, crashing onto the middle of the dining room table. They all jump to their feet in surprise, taking a few more steps back, leery of the intruder that just ruined their family dinner.

Just as quickly as the portal appeared, it is gone; leaving the unwelcome stranger lying unconsciously in the middle of their feast. They all remain still and silent, shocked as to what just transpired and wary of the danger that this stranger’s presence will bring. Kara takes a step towards the young woman when Alex calls out to her.

“Kara, don’t!”

Kara waves her sister off and continues walking closer until she is standing next to the unconscious girl, staring down at her oddly peaceful resting face. There are a few things Kara notices about the girl right off the bat. For one: she’s beautiful. She has dark brown hair, so dark it’s almost raven. And somehow still looks silky smooth even covered in mashed potatoes and a bit of cranberry sauce. Her cheeks are slightly rosey and she has a rather pronounced cupid’s bow. She also has a jawline that Kara thinks might just be sharp enough to cut diamonds. Two: she’s rather young, at least younger than she is. The sleeping beauty appears to be maybe eighteen, nineteen tops. And three: something about this skyfallen stranger seems...familiar. Not in a “hey she kinda looks like Becky from my tenth grade geometry class” way but rather...she feels familiar. 

Without realizing it Kara’s hand has been reaching towards the girl and now hovers above the young woman’s shoulder. She slowly moves her hand closer to the girl’s face and gently runs the back of her fingers along her cheek. The girl seems to stir for a brief moment, a crinkling furrow forming between her eyebrows that Kara knows she’s seen before but just can’t remember where. The blonde pulls her hand back slightly at the young woman’s stirring but reaches out again when the girl doesn’t wake. This time though Kara pokes the girl’s cheek, minding her own strength, when suddenly the girl’s eyes fly open and she gasps for breath. Kara takes a surprised jump back when the young woman jolts up and unceremoniously falls off the table and onto the floor. J’onn moves to protectively stand in front of Eliza. Nia does the same for Brainy, and Alex the same for Kelly. 

The young woman scrambles to her feet and gives herself a once over, hands searching and patting---checking for any injuries, before surveying her surroundings. She seems slightly dazed and confused but instant recognition flashes in her eyes when she looks at everyone in the room. A smile spreads across her face as she looks from Kelly, to Alex, to Eliza; dropping by an almost imperceptible margin when her piercing blue eyes finally land on Kara’s. 

Something stirs in Kara’s chest when she makes eye contact with the younger woman. Almost like an ache. It’s an odd feeling that she’s not sure she’s ever experienced before. The closest thing she can liken it to is the way she felt when she first met Lena, but that was different. That was an almost uncomfortable ache of longing, of wanting; an aching for the start of something new. She rationalized that feeling years ago as Rao, or perhaps the universe, telling her that Lena was supposed to be in her life---as her best friend, of course. This is a much different, more comforting ache. An ache of familiarity, of assurance, of completion. Not an aching for the start of a new journey but rather the peaceful acceptance of that journey’s conclusion.  

Kara is once again pulled from her thoughts by someone else’s voice.

“Who the fuck are you?” 

Alex asks, drawing Kara’s focus away from the younger woman. The young woman however seems to either not have heard Alex or decides to completely ignore her as she looks down at the smorgasbord of somewhat ruined food, eyes lighting up in wonder. Ignoring the off-duty agent she walks right up to the table, reaches over its culinary ruins, and tears a leg right off the turkey, voraciously biting into it. She lets out an unbridled moan at the taste and throws her head back as she begins to laugh with joy while barely managing to chew her large bites before swallowing. Everyone watches her in curiosity with the exception of Alex, who watches her in disgust and Eliza, who watches her with affection. 

“Hey, garbage disposal! I asked you a question.” Alex tries again.

That seems to get the girl’s attention as she snorts at the redhead’s insult and turns to face her.

“What was the question?” She asks, cheeks full of food.

Alex crosses the short distance between them and stands directly in front of the girl, hands on her hips, intimidating as ever. The girl however does not seem intimidated in the slightest, quite the opposite actually. She seems amused. This of course doesn’t sit well with Alex so she asks again, demandingly. 

“Who, the fuck, are you?”

“Alexandra!” Eliza chides.

“Yeah Alex, chill.” The girl replies raising her free hand in a placating manner. 

Alex takes another step towards the girl, invading her personal space.

“I’m not going to ask you again.” her voice dropping dangerously low as she places her hand on the hilt of her holstered pistol that she somehow managed to grab out of Kelly’s purse during all the commotion. The girl’s eyes glance down at the agent’s motion and she rolls her eyes and sighs.

“My name is Lura. And don’t worry, I come in peace. Besides I’m pretty sure I’m outnumbered if I was dumb enough to try anything, which I’m not. So just...chill.”

“Chill?” Alex repeats incredulously. 

The girl, now known as Lura, seems to be aware of the oncoming tirade she just invited into her life with that last comment so she takes a seat at the table, dropping the now meatless turkey leg bone onto a plate. She begins to plate remnants of the food that wasn’t completely destroyed by her Newtonian-esque entrance and continues to chow down. 

Kara’s stomach rumbles at the sight of Lura openly enjoying their once family dinner. She wonders if it would be weird or out of place, given the circumstance, if she were to just pull up a chair next to the girl, fix her own plate, and chow down as well. Probably. It would probably be weird, she thinks. So she reluctantly restrains herself while her sister tries to get a handle on the situation. 

“You expect me to be chill when some random, possibly hostile, stranger with an appetite that could rival all four of the Ninja Turtles drops out of a fucking portal on the ceilinginto the middle of dinner...literally, the middleof dinner!” She says as she gestures to the ruined feast. 

Lura sighs with a mouth full of food and before she can remark Alex is next to her once again with her pistol drawn, pointing it at the young woman’s head.

“Alex!” It’s Kara this time that chastises her sister’s aggressive overreaction. She takes a step towards her sister and places an arm on the redhead’s shoulder, silently pleading for her to lower her weapon. Alex, however, keeps her pistol directed at the young woman who has now stopped eating. 

The two sisters watch as Lura slowly stands, never taking her eyes off of Alex’s. Once she’s standing she closes the distance between herself and Alex’s pistol that is now pointed at her head. Lura inches closer as she places her hands on her hips, squares her shoulders, and presses her forehead into the barrel of Alex’s gun---never breaking eye contact. This makes Alex’s resolution waver slightly and terrifies Kara, causing nausea to bloom in the pit of her stomach. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Alexandra LeAnne Danvers is that anyway to treat a guest in your sister’s home?” Lura’s words make Alex’s stomach drop. How does this stranger know so much?

“You and I both know Eliza raised you better than that.” She says with a smirk and a raised eyebrow as she looks over at the older blonde woman. Eliza releases a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and agrees.

“She’s right.” 

“Mom?!”

“Alex, sweetheart, put your gun down. The poor girl obviously isn’t a threat, at least not to us. Turkeys, on the other hand, are clearly a different story.” The eldest Danvers says with a small smile directed at the youngest girl. Alex sighs and reluctantly reholsters her gun. 

“It was delicious by the way! As usual.” She mumbles that last part under her breath, almost inaudibly. Kara barely registered what she said and if not for her Kryptonian hearing would have never picked up on it, despite being the closest to the girl. Eliza just preens at the young woman’s compliment. 

“And I’m sorry for ruining your dinner. I haven’t quite mastered the art of portal hopping so please excuse my less than stellar landing. And excuse my table manners as well. I wasn’t raised by wolves or feral cats or anything. It’s just that quantum leaping can really work up an appetite and well, who could resist?” The girl rambles slightly as she points to the mess of a meal behind her.

“She’s most certainly right about that last part.” Brainy chimes in. 

Kara had almost forgotten everyone was still present with how quiet they’ve been but she supposes it’s because they’re all as shocked as she is. Or perhaps it’s because Kara has been able to pay attention to nothing else but Lura since she crashed their family gathering. 

“I’m sorry, wh-who are you? And how do you know our names--” Kara asks, curiosity getting the better of her before she’s cut off by her older sister.

“--Yeah, we want a last name too, not just a first. And tell us what the fu-...uh, what the hell you’re doing here?!”

Lura chortles and Kara knows she’s heard that same breathy laughy before but for some stupid reason her oblivious brain can’t quite place it. 

“Look, I’ll explain everything but you have to promise me you won’t freak out.” 

“We won’t.” Kara says at the same time that Alex says, “Well don’t give us a reason to!”

Lura breathes a huge sigh of relief as she leans back against the edge of the table and meets everyone’s curious gazes. 

“My name is Lura.” She holds her head a little bit higher as she says, “Lura Luthor.” She turns her attention to Kara as the blonde gasps in surprise. 

“Luthor?! As in like, Lex and Lillian Luthor?!” Alex asks in trepidation.

“No. Luthor as in Lena Luthor. You know, the good one?” She crosses her arms as she challenges Alex glare, confidence never wavering. 

Kara remains, mouth agape, staring at the young woman---internally chastising herself for not noticing the resemblance. The two could be freakin’ twins for Rao’s sake! The cut of her jaw, the bow of her lips, the sound of her laugh! Some of Lura’s features are more rounded than Lena’s, sure, like her nose and her eyes---which are also a different color to her best friend’s but she sees it. She’s related to Lena...but how?

Apparently kara had said that last bit out loud and so Lura elucidates. 

“I’m Lena’s sister. Younger sister.” She can see the cogs in Alex’s mind turning so she continues, “Not on this Earth but on my Earth, in my timeline.” 

J’onn steps forward as he interjects.

“That’s not possible. The multiverse was destroyed when the anti-matter wave hit. The remaining paragons’ realities and timelines coalesced into this one remaining world. Earth Prime.”

“Yes, they did. However, alternate timelines can be created and when they are, they in turn produce alternate realities.” She replies.

“How?” Kelly pipes up.

Before Lura can answer, Brainy beats her to it.

“Time travel! Yes, of course it’s so obvious!” 

“Care to explain it to us lowly Level 2 intellects?” Alex asks.

“Don’t be ridiculous Alex, you’re a level 1.45 intellect at best. A healthy .03 higher than our dear friend Winn Schott, the variation accounting for your superior emotional intelligence of course. But yes to put it in layman’s terms---IF there is only one world, such as Earth Prime, and that one world has technology capable of time travel, which we do, theoretically speaking, an individual who travels back in time will inevitably change the outcome of a past event, no matter how small, simply by their mere presence in that time. The effect would ripple throughout the fabric of space and time, ultimately creating alternate timelines that have branched off of the original timeline, all existing at the same time but in a different space i.e. an alternate reality.” 

“Yeah, what he said.” Lura adds on with a smile. 

It’s silent for a moment while everyone processes what Brainy has just so fervently explained. 

“Wait so, like a butterfly effect?” Nia asks.

“Precisely.” Brainy and Lura both say at the same time as well as nod to each other in the same manner. 

“So because of this butterfly effect, there exists a reality in which you and Lena are sisters?” Kelly asks, just to clarify.

“Correct.”

“Are you guys close?” Kara asks out of genuine curiosity. She thinks of the relationship Lena had with Lex and all the late nights she and Lena stayed up talking about her broken relationship with her once beloved brother. Kara just held her on those nights while Lena unpacked those tiny little boxes in her memories. The younger woman’s walls momentarily lowered like the gate of a castle, only to be raised again---once the candor a lovely Cabernet provided, washes away. Kara knew Lena longed for a relationship like the one that she and Alex share. And even if it’s not her Lena from this timeline, she hopes that the other Lena got what she always wanted. Which is why it melts Kara’s heart when Lura replies:

“She’s my best friend.” It’s said with such adoration in her voice and tears in her eyes that Kara has to restrain herself from lunging forward and wrapping this practical stranger in a bone crushing hug. 

“So why are you here?” Alex asks, still trying to understand what the girl wants.

“I’m looking for Lena, your Lena. I need her help. I already went to LCorp but she’s not there and I already checked our h-- our apartment but she wasn’t there either. So I thought maybe she would be here but...obviously I was wrong.”

“Normally she would be but, it’s kind of a long and complicated story.” Kara starts, rubbing the back of her neck. A nervous habit she defaults to whenever she feels uncomfortable. “You see we, well, I mean-- uh, we had a bit of a--”

“--Falling out?” Lura asks, seeming to already know the answer to her own question. 

“Yeah. How’d you know?” Kara breathes out with the drop of her shoulders as she goes to push up the glasses that aren’t on her face. 

Lura’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Everyone including Kara, unaware---except for one. J’onn was the only one who seemed to catch the slight hesitation that flitted across the young Luthor’s eyes.  

“I just figured. I mean by the looks of it it appears that I have crashed Thanksgiving dinner, which is obviously an occasion to celebrate with family...and friends!” She quickly adds. “And I’m assuming you guys are friends, or at least were, ergo...I thought she might be here.” She finishes with flailing hands that remind Eliza of a young Kara. Interesting.  

“Why do you need her help? Can’t your Lena help you?” J’onn asks as his curiosity of this girl piques. Especially since he can’t seem to read her mind, which he finds disconcerting but temporarily excuses it as a result of a different timeline/reality. 

“Uh, I can’t really say.” Lura deflates as she turns her gaze to the floor, looking smaller.

“You said you’d tell us everything.” Alex reminds her.

“I know! But, I can’t...not about this, okay?” She looks at Alex imploringly. The redhead just scoffs and shakes her head.

“Look, I’ve told you the truth! I know I’m a Luthor but in my world it’s not a tainted name anymore. It’s a respected and valued one that I’m proud to have and that’s only because of Lena. I can’t tell you everything but you have to trust me! We need her help. I need her help but please...I can’t tell you why. If things were different--” She cuts herself off as she tries to reign in her emotions. She pushes back the tears in her eyes and swallows the tension in her throat. “I wouldn’t be here if there was any other way but there’s not. Please, I just need to find Lena.”

Kara nods resolutely before she says “I think I know where she might be. I’ll take you to her.”

“Kara you can’t be serious.” Alex says.

Kara turns to face her sister. “What if it was me?”

“That’s not fair.” Alex says with a shake of her head.

“What if it was, Alex? What if it was me looking for you, or you looking for me?”

Alex sighs resigned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “So what?”

Kara is disappointed by her sister’s words until the older Danvers continues. “Are we just gonna take her to Lena and say ‘Hey, Lena! This is your little sister from an alternate reality in a different timeline and she needs your help but can’t tell any of us why. You got a minute to help a sister out?’”

Kara smiles and shrugs, “Sounds good to me.” 

“Me too.” Lura agrees. 

After a brief moment of contemplation Alex huffs out a sigh and says “Fine, let’s go.” 

They agree that Alex and Kara will accompany Lura in search of Lena, while the others insist on checking in at the DEO and making sure to keep an eye out on the city while Kara and the girls are busy. Alex moves to grab her jacket but before she can even take a step she is crushed by a pair of surprisingly strong arms. Lura has wrapped herself around the older Danvers sister and buried her face in the redhead’s neck.

“Thank you, Alex.” She whispers, trying her best not to cry. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing.” Alex wheezes as she struggles to breathe in the boa constrictor’s grasp. The sight for some odd reason makes Kara’s heart ache a little more as she’s overcome with affection for the two of them. 

Lura finally releases her death grip on Alex and let’s the redhead grab her jacket.

“Jeez, I know turkey has a lot of protein but damn.” Alex jokes as she grabs her jacket, Kara doing the same. 

Lura chuckles at the agent’s joke as they make their way out of the apartment. 

“What do they feed you in your reality? Dumbbells?” 

That earns a roaring laugh from both Lura and Kara. Alex freezes for a brief second, passively noting that the two have very similar laughs. Hmmm. That’s weird.