Chapter Text
Kara Zor-El was born on Krypton in Argo city in the Earth year 1966. Kara had a normal childhood by Kryptonian standards. She visited other planets, marvelled at Rao’s light and began her education to follow in her fathers footsteps as a scientist. It was standard on Krypton for a child to follow in the footsteps of one of their parents. In fact it was frowned upon if a child didn’t follow in their parents footsteps as it would be seen as a failing of the Kryptonian birthing matrix which all Kryptonian children were born from, including Kara. The matrix itself worked by combining the best DNA qualities of the two parents and making one superior child. Some people on Krypton believed that this process was what lead to Kryptonians having such long lifespans, no matter the sun which they were under. So because of this Kara followed in her father’s footsteps to become a scientist. She had no interest in what her mother did.
Kara’s life on Krypton was pretty good. She knew that her family were clearly one of the higher up families in society so she lived a comfortable and probably sheltered life. In fact her life was so sheltered she didn’t find out about Krypton becoming unstable until she was 13, Earth year 1979. Kara was just about to join the science guild having excelled in her studies. There was a ceremony planned and she would have gone down in history as the youngest member of the science guild in history. Everyone praised Kara for this achievement but it wasn’t until much much later that Kara realised most of the people were just praising the matrix which created her.
Anyway everything changed for Kara before she could be inducted into the science guild. Her aunt and uncle Lara and Jor-El had a Kryptonian baby which they named Kal-El. This was incredibly controversial for Krypton because it was the first baby to be conceived without the matrix in hundreds of years. It wasn’t that Kryptonians decided they no longer wanted to have babies that way, it just seemingly was no longer possible. That said the news of Kal-El’s natural conception was frowned upon. People no matter the planet don’t take well to the unusual or strange.
Shortly after Kal-El’s birth the planet began experiencing mass earthquakes. This is when Kara was finally told that it looked like Krypton was going to explode. Kara herself didn’t understand how this had been hidden from her. She was going to be a member of the science guild after all, how could this not be knowledge she had access to. But before Kara could ask questions her parents told her that Krypton was doomed but they could save her. They were going to send Kara and Kal-El to a planet called Earth. A planet which had a yellow sun and so they’d both have incredibly powers. Kara’s mission was going to be for her to look after and care for Kal-El. Kara tried to refuse, she didn’t want to leave her parents, she wanted them to come with her. But they told her Krypton is dying because of their and people like them’s mistakes, Kara and Kal-El shouldn’t pay the price for it. So ultimately after many tears and goodbyes Kara got in the pod and was sent to Earth.
Being in the pod was horrifying for Kara. Her parents told her that it would put her into a sort of hibernation sleep, but it wouldn’t be immediate. So as a result of this Kara witnessed Krypton exploding with her very eyes, the only living creature in history to do that. Kara’s heart broke and she screamed in disappear. But what was worse is the explosion knocked her pod off course and she saw herself begin to drift towards the phantom zone. She got closer and closer until she was sucked in, and then everything went black.
Lena Luthor was born in 1993. Her first four years of her life were very different from the rest of her childhood. For the first four years Lena lived with her mother. She felt so much love and affection every day she spent with her. Lena remembers her mother being gorgeous. She grew up believing her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world.
But in 1997 Lena’s life changed forever. Lena and her mom where enjoying time outside by a lake. Lena wasn’t a confident swimmer but her mother wanted to go for a quick swim anyway. That’s when Lena witnessed at four years old her mother going into the water and swimming around before suddenly being pulled under and never returning to the waters surface. At first Lena thought it was a game her mother was playing. But she soon realised something was wrong. Lena froze, being four years old, and not knowing what to do. Even though Lena was only four this didn’t stop her from blaming herself for not doing something to save her mother.
A few days later Lena was picked up by a strange man called Lionel Luthor who told her he was going to take care of her from now on. Lena was scared of this man, and still in shock from her mother’s death. She didn’t cry however, she didn’t really know what was going on. Lionel took Lena to his home in Metropolis, a mansion where she met Lex who would be her older brother, and Lillian who would be her adoptive mother.
Lena’s childhood in the Luthor household was not a happy one. Although she now had two parents who were legally obliged to take care of her it felt like she had none. Lionel was far too busy spending time doing things with his business to spend time with his daughter. Then when he was at home most of the time he was incredibly drunk, and sometimes abusive. This left Lillian to mostly take care of Lena and that wasn’t any better. Although Lillian never said it, it was made clear to Lena that she didn’t care about her, and she shouldn’t expect anything from her. But at least Lena now had her brother Lex. Lex was an amazing brother growing up. He was several years older than her but he still took care of her. He encouraged her scientific mind and protected her from their father when he was in a drunken rage. All in all Lex was a great brother growing up. Lena just didn’t realise that it was all a big long manipulation. Lena had become Lex’s first subject for one of his manipulative long con schemes. So overall Lena’s childhood was mostly sheltered and full of emotional abuse. But for Lena one of the most important days of her life occurred in 2003 when she was 10 years old, and she didn’t even know it.
In Earth year 2003 Kara finally woke up. She was exiting the phantom zone. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep for. She then witnessed herself fly through space and eventually approach Earth and come crashing down. Moments after she landed her pod was ripped open and that’s when she saw this man in his 20s with dark brown hair wearing this red and blue outfit with a cape. But most notably on his chest he wore the crest of the house of El. That’s when Kara realised that she had been asleep a lot longer than she thought, 24 years.
Kara’s life from then on was difficult. Although it had been 24 years for Kal-El her planet exploding for her happened literally moments earlier to her. So for many many months Kara was an emotional wreck. She was taken in by Jerimiah and Eliza Danvers, a family that Kal-El, who now called himself Clark Kent told Kara he trusts. He told Kara that she was a kid and now that she was living on Earth she deserved to have a real childhood like he had, even if it was only the second half of it. Clark didn’t want Kara to have that childhood being raised in Metropolis by him, it would be weird, and also just not a good environment for Kara with her new found powers. So the Danvers took her in.
Neither Jerimiah or Eliza pressured Kara into anything. At first Kara was worried that they were going to try and get her to call them mom and dad, but they never did. Kara thought they may flinch at Kara calling them by their first names but they didn’t, they were great about it. But also in being adopted by the Danvers family Kara had gained a sister called Alex. At first they didn’t get on that well. It was mostly because Alex was just being encouraged to look out for her weird strange sister which caused her to be embarrassed in front of her friends. While at the same time Alex was going from being an only child who got all their parents attention to having to share that attention, even if Kara never actively searched it out. Things however did eventually get better with Alex and they grew to be real sisters and best friends. But once Kara grew close to Alex a new fear appeared in her mind, something she hadn’t thought about until this point. Kara realised that at the end of the day she was Kryptonian, and so that meant she was going to live a lot longer than everyone around her, including her new found sister Alex. Kara realised that she would eventually have to watch everyone she loves die, and she knew that would eat her up inside. Kara decided to keep this realisation bottled up inside as after all there was nothing anyone could do about it. At least she’d have Kal-El when the worse came to the worse.
In 2007 a several years after Jerimiah’s death Eliza took Kara and Alex on a trip to Metropolis. At this point Kara was 17 years old while her older sister Alex was 18 and about to head off to college after the summer. It would be the first time Kara would have to spend away from Alex since she got to Earth. Kara had never really been in a big city until this point. She’d obviously been in some large towns and other populated areas, but never to a big city like Metropolis. This was mostly because Kara had been specifically told to never use her powers, as it was unsafe for her, and a city would be a hard place for her, considering her super hearing. But after many years Kara had her powers under control, so Eliza decided to take her to her first city.
The three women spent their time exploring Metropolis, none of them having been there before. Kara actually got to witness first hand her cousin saving a woman from being hit by a car. Kara watched in awe at what her cousin did. It had been made clear to Kara since her birth that she was not to use her powers. So as she watched on at Clark a part of her was of course jealous. After he saved the woman Clark gave Kara, Alex and Eliza a wink before flying off. What none of them knew at that point and wouldn’t find out until many, many, many years later was that standing about 10 metres away from the three women was a 14 year old Lena Luthor. Kara and Lena didn’t see each other, not even catching a glimpse, but they had almost bumped into each other almost 9 years before Kara and Lena met in 2016.
From then on Kara’s life followed the route as planned. She spent a year living with Eliza missing Alex until she finally went off to National City University to study Marketing. The decision to attend National City University was a difficult one for Kara. She had considered applying to Stanford to go to the same university as Alex, but she realised that it may not be the best thing as Alex had become a lot more distant and reliant on alcohol since leaving home. So Kara decided to go to the university in the closest city to Midvale, National City, and give Alex the space she clearly wanted. It was just lucky for Kara that a few years later Alex attended National City University to do her PhD. This allowed Kara and Alex to grow close once more, even if Alex was still incredibly troubled.
Lena on the other hand graduated MIT with PhD’s in many different fields, nothing less was expected of her as she was a Luthor after all. During this period she spent part of her time living in Boston with her boyfriend Jack while she was studying, while also spending her time in Metropolis working for her brother at Luthor Corp. This was until Lex went crazy and told her of his plan to kill Superman. Lena came back briefly in 2015 to help the police arrest Lex after her turned the sun red.
Kara’s life changed in 2015. She was working as Cat Grant’s assistant at CatCo in National City when for the first time she used her powers to save her sister’s plane from crashing. That was when she first came out to the world as Supergirl, the female Kryptonian that lived on Earth. Over that next year Kara would learn about Alex’s true career and all about the DEO, and the threats the world truly faces.
In 2016 after Lex had been sentenced, thanks mostly due to Lena’s testimony, and after news of recent heroics by Supergirl, Lena made the decision to move Luthor Corp to National City. She wanted to share her home with a Kryptonian. She wanted to show the world that not all Luthor’s are evil, but she mostly wanted to prove to herself that she wasn’t like Lex, while also trying to make up for some of the damage Lex had caused. Lena knew that it was unlikely Superman would ever work with her, but she hoped that Supergirl was distant enough from Lex to at least consider working with Lena, even if it was only ever indirectly.
After Lena had moved her company to National city in 2016, a day that Lena would later consider to be the most important day of her life occurred. The day where Kara Danvers and Clark Kent walked into her office and asked her questions. At first Lena didn’t know what to think of Kara. But when she realised Kara was nervous to meet her and not seemingly because of her family name Lena felt an undeniable connection to Kara. Even if for a while after that she tried to deny it. Kara’s aura was just too hard to defend herself against. Lena was just drawn to Kara which was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before in her life. Equally Kara was just as drawn to Lena. Kara really felt connected with Lena when she explained she was trying to make a name for herself outside of her family. After that Kara just felt this desperate need to become Lena’s friend, and eventual best friend, but it wasn’t easy at first.
Lena and Kara’s friendship grew from there. They had many ups and downs. Although most of the trouble originated from the fact that Kara was still leading a double life with Lena, as she never told Lena she was Supergirl until it was too late. Lena spent an entire year hurt, and in being hurt doing some awful things. But eventually she realised what she was doing was wrong and she came back to Kara. At first Kara didn’t accept Lena with open arms as he trust in Lena had been broken. But after they had teamed up and helped stop Leviathan Kara accepted Lena’s apology. They shook hands and agreed to take down Lex, together.....