AgentCorp : The youngest daughter of Thorul, Lena is being promised to the heir to Krypton, both of them knew it was coming, neither can object.

a/n : This is my attempt at practicing my angst writing, something that I can't seem to do with Kalex, because I love them and Kara is sunshine and rainbows and golden retriever puppies to me, and I just can't. And I just felt that Lena's character is more suited to it anyway. This is not to say that I don't love Lena, because I do, and all the giggling ladies are precious to me.

This is an AgentCorp chapter that may or may not made it into a full story, or series, so after a lot of waving back and fort I've decided to add this here, and marked it as such. If there's more than 2 or 3 parts of this pop up I will take it out and put it in its own post. Next should be more of otter!Alex since I miss her.

agentcorp : arranged

by XavAcid

The Kingdom of Krypton and Thorul were long standing allies going back centuries.

They were more friendly at times, and less the others, but they remained on the same side through the years. The Kings and Queens, however had decided that they could be closer, especially after the recent war, to tighten the ties between their lands, so King Lionel promised his young daughter to be wedded to the heir of Krypton throne.

And Krypton's monarch accepted.

Lena hated this, she didn't want to be traded away like so much cattle, no matter the lofty station of her new position. But she knew that this was necessary; for long lasting ties between the two nations, she had no choice in it. Mother had been preparing her, everything was in place and readied. But it didn't feel real until now.

Now that she knew it was coming.

Now she knew that her freedom had a definite expiration date.

She'd overheard the talk around the castle that the Kryptonian had sent their second daughter, Princess Kara with a contingent of soldiers to finalize everything and to bring her back to Argo City. And when her parents told her of the news later on that evening, over dinner, she muttered bitterly about how they couldn't even send the first Princess herself to meet her, the bride to be.

Even though she barely said it loud enough for herself to hear, her mother still did, and that garnered the disapproving look her way.

Not that Lena cared much anymore, her mother always looked at her with disapproval, like her entire existence was an irritant. It probably was. Unlike Lex, her big brother. He was her pride and joy, her golden boy, the heir to the throne, and she was just a spare.

He would take the throne once it was time, and she knew he wouldn't hesitate to sell her to the highest bidder, so it might be better this way. At least from what she knew, the Kryptonian were peaceful and the royal family was not some bloodthirsty tyrants.

But that did not mean she was happy about this arrangement. She wanted to be able to choose her own path. Her futile wish.

Her father gave her a small, assuring smile.

"Princess Alexandra is a very strong warrier." He told her. "Very smart and capable."

As if that made everything better.

She didn't even know what the princess looked like.

He went on to tell her about what was going to happen next in detail, something that was never offered to her. No matter how much her father loved her, he always treated her like she was not bright enough to understand, or maybe he thought that she didn't need to know, she was just a girl. He told her that the second Princess was coming with tribute, no doubt enough to fill their coffer and then some, and she was to travel with them back to Krypton. Bought and sold, indeed.

Soon after she excused herself from the table, her stomach revolted at the thought of another bite of her dinner.

Her father excused her, her mother on the other hand…

And Lex… Her big brother, said nothing.

And the date came sooner than she would've liked.

She'd been dreading it, her mood was going in the opposite direction than the rest of her family, the rest of the country if what she'd heard when she snuck out to the town market was to be believed.

Lena reluctantly - with the push of her mother - went to welcome Krypton's dignitary. She wanted to throw some kind of tantrum, or maybe show up looking as dishovel as possible, just to see what they would say. And if they found her unfit to marry to Krypton's first Princess, but she didn't. Last thing she wanted was to bring war to the gate of her people.

So, she allowed her handmaiden to dress her up in all her finery and headed for the grand entrance.

She didn't know what she was expecting to see, a grand procession of calvary and caravan of cargo, and there was that but more somehow. And they still managed to be fast and near silent.

In the middle was a large ornate black carriage pulled by six beautiful stallions.

But then the retinue of guards stopped just beyond the thick plush carpet that they laid down for their royal guest, they made way for a rider from the middle of the group to dismount.

Second Princess of Krypton.

She was dressed similarly to the rest of the guard, long coat, calf skin breeches, her riding boots were shiny and clean, despite the distance she'd been traveling. Her head was covered with the hood of her coat, scarf covered half of her face. From where Lena was standing, she couldn't even tell the color of the Princess' hair.

And when a scarf was pulled away, hood lowered, a big smile that reached all the way to her bright, sky blue eyes appeared. Long blonde hair tied up, and even though there was no crown upon her head there was no way to mistake her for anyone else.

And her smile got even brighter, if that was even possible.

It wasn't really something she expected. Who would smile this bright after such a long journey, and from the nice warm place like Krypton to the cold, damp of the north. But the smile only grew brighter when she finally stepped out, seemingly happy to see them. Lena watched her parents and brother moved forward to welcome the princess and only presented herself when Lex nudged her just a bit too hard on the side.

"I'm Kara."

"Lena," she said quickly, with a small curtsy. And the smile became a small sun. "Your highness," she added a little late.

Then the princess was swept away by her parents, then her brother.

Lena trailed behind them.

The banquet that was held in her honor that night was the like of which had never been seen in a long time.

Things went by in a blur. Things were moving so fast and Lena felt like she was moving through some kind of dream, where everything felt a little bit surreal. Like she was removed from it all. All she could think about was soon she was going to have to leave her home. While she was not exactly the favorite of her mother; that was her big brother the golden prince, she didn't have a horrible childhood. There were worse things than being relegated to spending time with her nursemaid for days on end.

While they kept telling her to get to know Princess Kara, they - her parents and Lex - kept taking her to see things, showing her their country in its Northern glory. Which actually was very nice this time of year, with the weather milder than the rest, snow and ice melted away to reveal greenery.

Lena was made to come along, but she didn't get the chance to really interact with the princess, her future sister in law. It was probably a good idea to at least made friends, regardless of how much time they were going to spend together in the future.

And it seemed that she wasn't the only one making the effort. Princess Kara took every opportunity to engage her, not that there were all that many opportunities, with her mother and father trying to gain as much interest from her as they could.

It was less than a month later that the day she was to leave arrived.

When she stood in her own bed chamber for the very last time, she took in the emptiness, her chest constricted. Lena never thought about what it would be like to leave her home, although when she was younger she imagined herself going on adventure, to explore, seeing new places. Somewhere that wasn't so cold, but that was just her imagination.

It wasn't that she didn't think she was going to be married off to some prince, or king or whomever someday. Her parents would never let her live her life a spinster. But that thought was far off in her mind, like abstract concept that never seemed to really materialize into anything tangible.

Even when Princess Kara was right in front of her, marking the beginning of her journey, a part of her still felt like everything was just a dream, that she would wake up and it would just be another day. That she would spend the day in the library, or snuck to the nearby village with her maid.

But now, with the last of her favorite books packed away, she it all came crashing down on her.

She was leaving.

Lena couldn't help the tears.

By sunrise Lena found herself crying like a child in her mother's arms.

Something she had not been permitted since she was literally a child.

And her mother the queen, whom had always been slightly cold towards her, always preferred her big brother, the heir over anything she had ever done, held her close and told her many things. All the last minute advice that she never even thought about. So many things that she couldn't keep up in her present state of mind.

Her mother murmured into her hair about how she was no longer a child, that she could not run around and do as she pleased like she had been doing, like they had been letting her get away with for so long without saddling her with a lot of responsibilities like they did with her big brother.

There were kisses in her hair, her mother's arms tight around her. Lena cried harder.

Lena left that morning, the entire castle and surrounding towns all came out to send off their princess.

They started off the journey with Princess Kara riding in the carriage with her. It was surprised at first when she found that the carriage was sent specifically for her travel and nothing else. Lena expected fully to ride on horseback and insisted that her traveling clothes was such that would provide her with as much comfort as being on the saddle for days on end could afford her.

Had it not been because she was leaving her only home, the whole thing would probably excited her to no end. The opportunity to see other places faraway. But right now her experience was colored by her sadness, and apprehension. She still didn't know what Princess Alexandra looked like. Well, with Kara in front of her looking like she did there wasn't a possibility that Alexandra would look anything but beautiful.

And she would like to think that the sisters should be similar in their temperament and personality, or she hoped. With how Kara was and her sunny disposition, it seemed that not even the cold of the north could get her down.

She'd heard some gossip around the castle whenever someone traveled to Krypton and back about their princesses, but she'd never put any stock into it. Lena rarely ever paid attention to any gossip floating around. She had better things to think about.

Everyone, on the first day of the traveling, left her alone to her sadness, and even though the second princess accompanied her in the carriage she didn't say much, only smile. And deep down inside she appreciated that.

With only her handmaiden to accompany her, she spent most of her time traveling with Princess Kara, who did her best to keep her spirits up. On every stop that they made Kara would pull her away, for a walk, to stretch her legs to take her mind off of things.

Lena hoped that whoever Princess Alexandra was, she was at least as kind as her sister.

The princess also talked up her big sister whenever possible, it was clear that she adored her big sister, she spoke of her as if her big sister hung the moon and the stars. Lena wished she could be assured. But she let her new friend talked and nodded when appropriate, her sadness for leaving her only home made it hard for her to really listen.

And as they travel south, Lena was amazed at the contrast of the foliage, it got so much thicker, greener the more they traveled. They only got short summer months in the north and it was always a busy time for everyone. She also appreciate the frequent stops along the way, even as she knew that it made the travel time longer.

"Have you ever seen the ocean?" Princess Kara asked. Her sunny smile seemed brighter the closer they got to Krypton.

"Yes, once, but I don't think that the ocean of the north was anything like what you have." She paused, thinking back of that memory, "it was mostly gray and cold."

Lena found herself more contemplative as the journey went on, and it was nothing in particular. She thought about what was going to happen next, once she got to Krypton. Not that she thought there would be any hardship awaiting her there, at least not the physical kind. She was to be wedded to the heir to the throne, physically demanding work was never going to be something required of her. But that did not mean there would not be some hardship in other ways.

Lena was a Luthor, she knew all about dark underdealing that went on in the palace even before she could read. There were so many ways to sabotage her position. Her mother reminded her to mindful of those surrounded her, and to build up her influence if only for her own protection.

Those are what she pondered over.

She also recalled things that she hadn't thought about in so long.

When she was little she would dream of things, and places that weren't familiar to her, of castle and forest that she'd never seen. She wasn't aware of those things at the time, but Lena was a smart, observant child, and she made those observations as she grew older.

And of a girl. Dark, reddish hair, eyes colors of earth, all brown and swirl of gold and green.

She's told her brother once about her, and of adventures they went on together in her dreams. Lex had dismissed all of it, and told her that it was just her imagination, that she should pay more attention to her studies, it would please their mother more than her flight of fancy.

She'd dream of the girl again, and again, the frequency of which could not be predicted. She'd dream of her more at one period than others, but what was constant was her smile, and her growth.

Lena essentially grew up with her dream girl.

But she never mentioned her to anyone ever again.

That did not stop her from looking for her in the crowd from time to time whenever there was some sort of gathering. Lena knew she definitely not an offspring of the nobles, she knew all of them by sight if not by name. And none were her beautiful girl. The only possibility - in her young mind - was that she was of surrounding towns. She'd never find her.

And now she was going to the distant land, and she would never get to spend any significant amount of time in Thorul ever again. Lena would've liked to meet the girl once, if she even existed outside of her dreams. Now she would never know.

a/n : So, this popped into my head, and I just had to, it's intended to be my practice in angst, it seemed to turn into soulmate au instead... I don't know.. I have a few more scenes in my head that I will most likely write more, but as of now, with it being a single part, I'm going to leave it here, among all my other thoughts turned short writing. I do hope someone find enjoyment out of it. In any case, comments are most welcomed, as well as any favs you lovely reading bestow upon me. Thank you.

As for the comment about extreme couponing.. I made note of it, but didn't start writing yet, so it'll happen, but can't say when. Stay tune. :D