Night time encounter
Minute 4320
Three days. That's how long it took for the nightmares to begin. Astra knows that they never really go away but now they are more intense. At least now she doesn't have to worry about blowing a hole in the ceiling. Small mercies she imagines. She had to change quarters often while repairs were made. There were plenty of rooms in the ruins of her prison. Kryptonian or not, having the ceiling fall on your head is not fun.
She sits up putting her elbows on her knees and resting her head in her hands. She takes a deep breath. She rubs at her throat; it's sore from the screaming. She wipes at her cheek; it's wet from the tears.
This was one of the bad ones. The one where she is helpless to stop anything. She lost Kara this time. She knows the outcome of the battle was different and Non is the one who died. She knows, Rao, does she know. But seeing her niece lying on the ground with her head sharply twisted in an unnatural direction is enough to cause her heart to constrict.
She snaps her head up as the hydraulics of the door hiss and Agent Danvers walks in, gun pointed and sweeping in every direction. She stands, Brave One or not, she will be damned if she will ever look up at a human.
"Why are you here?" Her voice is cold and sharp.
The human tilts her head slightly and looks into her eyes. Astra stares back, defiant and cold. She will not let anything show. Those brown eyes take in everything. Still she does not waver. She does not tick, quiver, shudder, she does not even breathe. Moments later, the gun is holstered.
"I heard a scream. I was making sure you hadn't escaped." Ah the first lie of the night and she didn't even need her powers to see it.
"And is there something wrong with the gadgets fixed to the walls? I imagine those are used for recording or surveillance purposes." The human swallows.
"You can never be too sure."
"Well, here I stand Agent Danvers." Her arms are spread to the side; her chest puffed out.
The Agent narrows her eyes and leaves. Perhaps she has gone to get her preferred tools of torture. It's about that time anyway. 3 days in captivity is long enough before starting torture. Too long really. The officers of Fort Rozz started mere hours after her incarceration.
Rao knows that the humans can be creative when it comes to torture. She's seen as such in the books that detail the period called the Middle Ages. Strange how a planet so young could have a middle age. Perhaps even then they knew that they were killing their own planet.
She is brought out of her thoughts when the door opens again. This time Alex is holding a cup of something in her hand, hot if the steam rising from it is any indication. It was not what she was expecting at all. A blade of some sort, or even perhaps a mallet but not a cup.
She eyes the cardboard cup warily. Accepting unknown food and drink has landed her on the wrong side of poison in the past. It is not an experience she wishes to repeat. She doubts that any Earthly poison could effect her Kryptonian body but she has doubts about the effect of the Kryptonite. It has taken away her enhanced hearing, sight, strength, and ability to fly. She wonders if it was taken away her enhanced immune system as well. Better not put that to the test. Not yet.
She returns her gaze from the cup back to the eyes that studied her intensely moments earlier.
"Kara has them too." The image of Kara lying on the ground pops up again and it takes everything she has not to close her eyes to try and wipe the image from her mind.
"I do not understand, Agent Danvers. What does my niece have that I have as well? Besides superiority over humankind." Never admit weakness she repeats over and over in her head.
"Nightmares." There goes that feeling in her chest again. That sharp squeeze at the mention of her niece in any sort of pain.
Nightmares. They reach deep inside one's mind and claw and squeeze at their sanity. It shakes the very foundation of a person until their mind can no longer stand it. They are never simple. 24 years in Earth's concept of Hell has shown her just how damaging nightmares can be. She knows it is impossible for Kara NOT to have them but she wishes she didn't. She never wants to see pain in her Little One's eyes ever again. Losing one's planet is enough fuel for nightmares to burn intensely and long lasting.
"Kara drinks hot chocolate after she has them. I figure it could help you."
Astra stares back at her.
"Why do you wish to help me, Brave One? I have done nothing to earn it. You owe me nothing."
"You're Kara's Aunt." She shrugs. "Besides, I thought Krypton taught that accepting help was not a shame but an honor?"
She tenses. Every muscle in her body coiled tight; only a hair's breadth away from snapping.
"Do not speak of what you do not understand…human." She stands taller and with every ounce of military bearing instilled in her bones. Agent Danvers does the same. Such a fine warrior this human makes. A pity to see such a passionate soul trapped in a weak, fragile body.
"I may not completely understand, but I do know plenty. Do not talk down to me as if I were some inconsequential speck of cosmic dust. Take a look, General. Which side of the glass are you standing on?"
"You speak of Kryptonian customs yet you are not a Kryptonian yourself. Tell me, Agent, just how close are you and my Little One?"
Ah, there's that fire. That determination that sets Alex above most humans. Alex takes a step forward, the cup in her hands protesting under her grip. They would be chest to chest if it were not for the glass wall that separates them. Both jaws are clenched, nostrils flared. A burning fire turning one set of eyes a deep emerald and the other a dark obsidian. A square off for the ages. She likes this human just a fraction more. It really does take bravery to square off against a Kryptonian, imprisoned or not.
"As you said, General. Do not speak of what you do not understand. My relationship with Kara is none of your concern." The venom, the fire, the calm rage that flows out along with the word startles Astra, although she does not let it show. Clearly her niece is of some import to this human just as this human is of import to her niece. She wonders, Rao, does she wonder.
And like that, the woman is gone. Astra stares back at the empty space left behind by Agent Danvers. She sits back down and holds her head in her hands again.
She thinks back to ever interaction she has seen between her Little One and the Brave One. The fierce protection they have for one another; the way they always seem to stand next to each other while they are in the same room. The look in their eyes when they catch each other's gazes. That's love. There is no other definition for that look. She knows it well, once upon a time she looked at Non that way. She smiles at the memory of the man from lifetimes ago and galaxies far way. The man that she married was not the same man that perished 3 nights ago. She cannot mourn that man but she can and will mourn the man she married. Her thoughts stray back to her niece. Her not so little, Little One.
She tenses at the thought of her Little One in love. She never thought she'd see the day. So she sits, and she waits for the next time one of the agents come in. Hopefully it is one of the lesser agents that she can easily scare into bring her niece before her. It is time for Kara to know about the rituals between lovers on Krypton. Even if her lover is Alex Danvers.