Kara took pride in her work, all of it. She took pride as an assistant to Cat Grant, who ruled the world from her glass office like a queen. Kara took pride in her work as an artist (though her paintings were always very personal), and she took a lot of pride in saving people; being the superhero her cousin always had been. At first Kara had thought that it was some sick rumor. Kryptonians were bulletproof...fireproof...just about everything proof, almost completely indestructible. There was no way that Kal-El had been beaten, his only living blood family would have felt it, right?
Then, Cat Grant had called Kara into her office and offered her a few days off if she wanted them that Monday at work. She seemed horrified when Kara looked at her with confusion in glistening blue eyes.
"Did no one call you? Your cousin, Clark Kent, is dead. I am so sorry, sweetie. You should not have had to hear that from me." Cat stood up quickly when she saw Kara blanch and stumble.
"We... we were the last..." she stutters.
"You mean that he was...him?" Cat asks, glancing to layouts for a tribute edition of The Tribune on her desk. Kara had just brought them to her, the crest of the House of El staring boldly up at her.
"It was my job to protect him and I wasn't there. I should've been there." Kara isn't crying. She's trembling hard, though, her fists clenched at her sides, knuckles white and shoulders tense.
"I can't believe that no one told you." Cat's heart breaks for Kara, and for the world in general. "I can have someone to take you home if you like, or to whatever country town he'll be buried in."
"Buried? I can't... I'm not going to get to give him a proper funeral... his rites." Kara's voice cracks. "Just... can I have a moment?"
Cat watches as Kara leaves her office and heads up on the elevator. She understood completely. Her girl needed to grieve and to think. Kara had always done that best in the air. The sky was where she had always belonged.
It wasn't long before Cat could see her, hanging dejectedly in the sky. Winn came into her office to look too. Cat knew that the boy loved her, it was written all over his face every day.
"There has to be only so much that she can come back from." he says. "The only question at this point, is where is going to draw the line?"
Cat sighs heavily. She had been thinking much the same thing. What ended up drawing her attention was the scream. It was impossible to miss and Cat had to believe that it could be heard in Metropolis. It was all kinds of rage, pain, and anguish all wrapped up into one.
Kara held it for as long as her lungs would allow, a considerably larger period of time than any human could hope for. Then, her voice echoed out over National City, strong but understandably hoarse.
"You have been the sun of our lives
Our prayers will be the sun that lights
Your way on your journey home. We will
Remember you in every dawn and await
the night we join you in the sky."
Cat felt a chill go down her spine as Kara visibly took shuddering breaths, despite being miles up in the atmosphere.
"I am the last Kryptonian. I am the last of a great House and I claim patronage of this people. Those who man them harm will face me first. I will defend them until my last breath and all who come against me had best tremble in fear." she reaches for the sun as though to grab it in her hand. James Olsen then approved beside of cat on the balcony with his camera.
His own eyes were pink and swollen. Every now and then he would still sniffle Cat had forgotten that he too had been friends with both Clark Kent and Superman. The tall man stood straight despite his grief and the shutter snapped closed. Even in her own despair, Kara was beautifully distraught.
