𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓜𝔂𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯

[1] - ᴄᴏᴜꜱɪɴꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴇʟꜰ-ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ

tell me atlas, wh
at is heavier - th
e world, or the w
eight of its people

Kara felt useless. Utterly useless. And broken. That's how they treated her at least. Like she was some... china doll that was too fragile for the real world. Ever since that day, everyone has been walking on eggshells around her. Not that she noticed, no. She was too busy feeling like shit.

And wow, did that feeling bring up bad memories for Kara.

As a child, Kara grew up in Argo⁠-a city in the country, Krypton. Her parents were well-respected people in Krypton. Her mother a well-respected lawyer, and her father a genius scientist and engineer. They, to the rest of their community, were the perfect family. But behind doors? It was far from pretty.

Her father, while genius, analytical, and kind to the public, was harsh, mean, and abusive to his wife and daughter. Every day he would emotionally manipulate and physically hurt young Kara. That is, until Krypton's destruction. Soon after her cousin, Kal-El was birthed and after she turned 13 years of age, it was revealed that Krypton was collapsing in of itself.

Kara's father died while researching to stop the destruction, not that she or her mother missed him at all. But nobody ever found a solution. The day of Krypton's destruction, Kara and Kal-El were put into separate ocean pods with a course for America. However, almost like a final ironic straw, Kara's pod was unstable and she drifted into an ageless coma for years, while Kal-El⁠-now known as Clark Kent⁠-grew up.

Years later, when Clark was in college, Kara finally had awoken from her coma and was adopted by the Danvers family. Among that family, Kara began to suffer from panic attacks along with the fear that Eliza or Jeremiah might abuse her. But they never did. She never went through something as traumatizing as she did for the first 13 years of her life for a long time.

That's when he showed up. Two years after college and moving in with Mike Matthews, Kara's beloved boyfriend, he stepped into her life. Mxyzptlik, he called himself. He was the one that made Kara's life hell yet again.

At first, it was small. Flirts and whatnot. But then it slowly increased. Touching her where no person should ever touch another. And then he finally did it. He raped her.

That was hardly even two years ago. And then he came back and did it again. That was not even a week ago. Two days ago Mike and Alex got her into a support group, and she hated it. Today, Clark was at her door.

"What do you want?" the blonde complained as she opened the door to her apartment. Clark stood in front of her, his identical black frames resting on his nose as he peered down at his older cousin. "If you're here to pity me, then go back to Metropolis."

Clark sighed, pushing up his glasses. "I'm not here to pity you, Kara," he promised, "I'm here to offer you a trip to Metropolis, actually!" Kara raised an eyebrow as he beamed down at her. "I heard about what happened, and I personally think you need a break from National City," he explained as Kara continued to stare at him. "And... you need to heal."

There it was. The word she'd been waiting for. Heal. She knew all too well of that word. It had been used repeatedly throughout the week and Kara was sick of hearing it. "Trust me, you're not the first to say that..." she grumbled, although his suggestion was not lost on her. Going to Metropolis would mean seeing her girlfriends again, as well as being free from the never-ending concern and worry that was emitted from Alex and Mike. And it was an escape from Mxyzptlik, as well. Clark's right, Kara thought to herself, I do need a break. "Alright, I'm in," she voiced, looking back up at her cousin.

He grinned brightly at her response. "Great! Let's go, your old clothes are in your old apartment back in Metropolis!" he exclaimed. Kara gave him a finger, signaling to wait one second, as she moved over to a nearby desk to explain her absence. After that, the two cousins bolted out the door.

They had arrived in Metropolis a few hours later, and Kara already had texts and calls from Alex and Mike, along with Winn, Lena, and James, her other friends. While she responded to the texts, she didn't answer the calls. She and Clark were deep in conversation.

"Do you know what self-worth is?" he had asked, much to her surprise. Kara had nodded quietly, hanging up an incoming call from Alex while doing so. "Do you have self-worth, Kara?"

Now that was a question. Words fell dry in Kara's mouth as she evaluated the question, ignoring the calls from her friends and boyfriend. Do I have self-worth, she thought to herself. "No," she stammered out, after long minutes of silence. "No, I don't."

Clark sighed. "I know you don't," he expressed, his eyes glancing over to her. "You're insecure, think you're worthless, right? A disappointment?" he questioned, and Kara felt a weight being pushed down onto her shoulders. "You feel it because of your dad, don't you? And Mxyptlik? They told you that you're worthless and you believe them."

The blonde stayed silent as her cousin continued. "You don't love yourself as a person, you rely on Mike and Alex to help you in your dark times," he rattled off effortlessly. "You forgot how to love yourself, and you just feel broken and fragile, unwanted by yourself."

"How do you-"

"Because I know you, Kara," Clark interrupted as they arrived at his apartment in Metropolis. It was in the same complex as hers, and she had shared hers with Zee Zatara and Kate Kane. It was their friend group's headquarters, they would joke. "I know how you think, I know how you do things," her cousin continued, knocking down Kara's train of thought. "I know more about you than anyone else does. I was there when you were stuck in a coma and I was there when you woke up."

As they walked out of the car and into the apartment complex, Kara finally broke her silence. "That's why I'm here isn't it?" she asked, looking up at him. "I'm here so I can learn to love myself?"

Clark only gave her a smile as he walked towards his apartment. "Damn it, Kal-El," Kara muttered as she trudged over to hers. She should've expected that. Her cousin always had those double motives. She just wished they'd been more clear before. But who was she kidding, she needed this.

He was right. She needed to learn how to love herself.