Chapter 1

The Girl in the Rocket

The sun shone bright on the Destiny Islands, its light reflecting and shimmering on the ocean waves. Several islands basked in its light as the grown-ups worked and the children played.

On a small island that was only a mile away from one of the larger islands, six children built sand castles together. Among them, there were four boys and two girls. The oldest among them were a fair-skinned boy with green eyes and silver hair, named Riku, and a well-tanned boy with brown eyes and orange hair styled into a fauxhawk, named Wakka. At the shared age of eleven, they were deemed old enough to command the rowboats on their own and take their friends to the island without adult supervision. The others were a ten-year-old boy with a light tan, blue eyes, and spiky brown hair named Sora, a ten-year-old girl with fair skin, indigo eyes, and dark red hair named Kairi, a nine-year-old boy with a light tan, blue eyes, and light brown hair named Tidus, and a nine-year-old girl with fair skin, blue eyes, and brown hair that curled up at the tips named Selphie. While they were all very close, they tended to sort themselves into trios more often than not, influenced in part by how Sora and Riku's parents and Kairi's adoptive parents were close friends themselves, how Tidus, Wakka and Selphie grew up in the orphanage together, and how Sora and Riku had been the first ones to find Kairi when she first appeared.

That calm, breezy June day was just like any other, or at least that was what they thought. In the process of adding a tower to his, Sora and Kairi's sand castle, Riku stopped when he felt a sudden change in the wind. Curious as to what brought about such a shift, he looked out to the sea, then up to the sky. He shielded his eyes from the sun's glare and squinted to make out an unusual shape as it broke through the clouds. He gasped and lost his balance, falling onto the sand castle and causing it to collapse.

"Aw, man," Sora complained. "What gives, Riku?"

"Look!" Riku pointed into the sky. His friends followed his gaze and gasped as they saw a dark object falling from the sky. After a few seconds, they realized that it was not going to hit the island but rather land in the water. The younger kids were relieved, but Wakka quickly recognized what it meant for them.

"Everyone get to higher ground, ya!" he warned, speaking in a thick accent that he had picked up from one of the elementary school teachers.

Following his lead, the kids ran up the beach, climbing up a ladder until they reached an elevated walkway on the wooden fort that had been built years ago around the trees and rock wall. While Riku, Wakka, and Sora reached the walkway and Kairi, Tidus, and Selphie were still climbing, the object crashed into the water, creating a huge wave. Kairi and Tidus made it up and Tidus helped Selphie up as the wall of water swept over the beach, slapping against the rock wall before draining back out to sea. The rowboats were tossed around, but because they were tied securely to the pilings on the short pier stretch, they did not go far. The shovels and pails that the kids had brought, however, were carried out to sea. Fortunately, the wave did not rise nearly high enough to threaten the kids on the walkway.

When the water calmed back down, the kids stared out to see what had crashed. It appeared to be a metal capsule with thin fins extending out of the back. It did not seem to be very big, no more than fifteen feet in length. Riku estimated that it was only submerged in the water halfway up, having crashed in deep water but propelled itself up into the shallow end, digging a rut in the sand which piled up on its sides. There seemed to be something different about the hull on one side, as if it were a glass cover.

"Let's take a look!" Sora said excitedly. He did not wait to hear Riku's protest of caution before he climbed down the ladder and began running down to the water. Riku sighed at his impulsive friend while Kairi and Selphie giggled. Relenting, Riku climbed down after him, and the others followed suit. Sora ran into the surf and began swimming when he got deep enough. He quickly noticed that the water had become warm from the object, which had to have been incredibly hot on entry. When he reached the capsule, he stepped up onto the wall of sand that had been pushed up around it and began to examine the hull. He touched the metal and found it to be very warm, but it had cooled significantly when it landed in the water and was not searing to the touch.

He turned back to the island and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, I think it's a rocket ship!" he shouted as loud as he could to his friends, who in the meantime had climbed down off of the fort and were back on the now-wet sand. Encouraged by Sora's lack of concern and their own curiosity, they ran down to the beach and began to wade in. Riku and Kairi joined Sora around the rocket while Tidus, Wakka and Selphie hung back to observe from a distance.

Sora, Riku and Kairi tried to look into the glass cover, but the sun reflected a glare off of it, and they could not see what was inside. Riku climbed on top of the ship and leaned over to try to block the sun as much as he could while he and the others looked inside. They all gasped when they saw what was sitting in the ship.

They saw what appeared to be a human girl, about ten or eleven years old, from what they could guess. She had fair skin, blue eyes and wavy blonde hair, and she wore a plain white tunic and pants. She looked up at the island children in fear and confusion.

Sora and Kairi smiled in an attempt to reassure her that she was not in any danger. "Don't be scared. We're not going to hurt you," Kairi said.

The girl said something in response, but they could not understand her. Sora and Kairi looked at each other with perplexed expressions, hoping that the other had been able to make out what she said, but they were equally lost.

"It's nothing I've heard before," said Sora, who, as the son of a linguist, was at least somewhat familiar with many different languages, but this was not one of them.

"Let's try to get it open," Riku suggested.

The others nodded. Sora made eye contact with the girl. "We're gonna try to get you out of here," he told her, rapping his knuckles on the glass and opening his hands like a book to convey what he meant. The girl nodded, seeming to understand. She looked around the cockpit to see if there was any way she could open the capsule from inside, but if there was something, she could not find it.

Riku climbed down and stuck his fingers at the lip of the lid to the capsule as best he could. Sora and Kairi did the same. On Riku's count, they tried to pull the ship open with all of their might, but to no avail; they did not even manage to budge it. They only managed to dig their feet into the sand.

Riku stopped trying to lift the lid, and his friends gave up as well. He put his hand to his chin as he considered what to try next. "I'm going back to town and get help," he told his friends.

Sora and Kairi nodded. "We'll stay here and keep her company," Kairi replied. Riku nodded and swam back to shore. He explained the situation and rallied Wakka and Tidus to accompany him. They climbed into one of the rowboats, untied it, and set off for their home island.

Sora and Kairi turned back to the girl. "Our friend is going to get help. Sit tight." He knew that she would not understand his words, but he was sure that if he maintained a friendly tone, she would understand the heart behind his words. He pressed his hand against the glass, offering his comfort and friendship. The girl reached up to put her hand on the glass, lining it up with Sora's. She smiled, seeming at ease despite still being trapped.

Sora put his hand over his heart, gesturing to himself. "I'm Sora," he introduced himself.

"I'm Kairi," the redhead said.

The girl took a moment to register their names, then spoke up. "Kara," she said.

They remained there for a little over an hour before they heard the whirring of a motor. Sora and Kairi turned around and saw that a speedboat was arriving at the island. Among the passengers were Riku, Wakka and Tidus, Riku's father, Wilson Malverne, Sora's mother, Rosetta Danvers, Kairi's adoptive mother, Dolores Kelley, and half a dozen others. They had brought a range of tools, probably more than were necessary and likely including some that were not necessary, but it seemed like it was better to be safe than sorry. Wilson and one of the other men each carried a crowbar, which the children were certain would be helpful. Sora and Kairi turned back to Kara, only to see that she had tensed up. They quickly gave her reassuring smiles to let her know that help had indeed arrived.

The speedboat pulled up a few feet away from the ship. Wilson and his crowbar-wielding companion asked Sora and Kairi to step aside so they could work. Rosetta and Dolores scooped their kids up into their arms and brought them onto the boat. Wilson told Kara to stay calm, and the men shoved their crowbars into the thin space under the cockpit lid and pushed down. After a few seconds, they heard the hinges creak. After a few more seconds, the lid popped open. Water lapped into the cockpit, but Kara was only hit with a few scant drops. The men stuck their crowbars in the sand and lifted the lid up manually. Wilson helped Kara out of the ship and carried her into the speedboat, setting her down on one of the seats.

Dolores knelt down so that she was level with Kara and checked her pulse. "Are you alright?" she asked. Kara answered with an unintelligible phrase, much to the grown-ups' confusion.

"Fascinating," Rosetta mused, curious about both the language and the embroidered symbol that was now visible on the front of her tunic. The design resembled a diamond shape with a stylized "S" inside. "Can you tell me your name?" she asked. Kara simply blinked, not understanding what she was saying.

"She said her name was Kara," Sora answered.

Kara nodded, now understanding what Rosetta had asked. "Kara Zor-El," she added.

Rosetta smiled. "My name is Rosetta Danvers. You've already met my son, Sora. Kara smiled in Sora's direction. Sora grinned in return and crossed his hands behind his head. "Your language is very interesting, Kara." The girl returned her attention to the linguist. "Would you mind telling me where you came from?" Kara furrowed her brow in confusion. Rosetta chuckled, remembering that Kara could not actually understand her. After considering for a moment how she would convey what she wanted to ask, she pointed at the rocket, then traced a line up into the sky with her finger.

Kara nodded, understanding. "Krypton," she answered.

The grown-ups blinked in confusion, equating the name to the element. They had never heard of a place whose name related to a noble gas before, and wondered where Krypton could be.

"Is that your home?" Rosetta asked.

Despite not understanding the word, unless it sounded similar to her language's own word for "home", Kara seemed to understand the meaning, and nodded. Tears began to well in her eyes and her expression turned sad. Everyone looked on as Kara began to cry.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked, forgetting that Kara would not be able to answer.

"Oh. It's okay, Kara. It's okay," Rosetta whispered, pulling Kara into a comforting hug.

Riding in the speedboat, they all returned to the main island of Hopena, except for Wilson, who took Selphie with him in Wakka's rowboat and rowed back that way. On the way back, Riku, Tidus, and Wakka introduced themselves to Kara, and Selphie did the same when everyone reunited on the dock. When they were on stable ground, Dolores checked to make sure that Kara was healthy, which she appeared to be. The grown-ups discussed what they should do regarding the newcomer. Sora suggested that she could stay with him and his parents, to which Rosetta agreed.

They escorted Kara through the town. A crowd began to gather as word spread of the girl who appeared in a spaceship, but Dolores told them to shoo, not wanting them to bother Kara, intentionally or not. Sora held her hand to assure her that she was secure with them. As they walked, Kara looked around, taking in the sights in what was undoubtedly an unfamiliar environment. Riku noticed from her expression that she seemed to be looking for something, or someone. Was she not the only one to travel through space?

When they arrived at the Danvers' house, Kara was introduced to Sora's father, Reeve. The Danvers family offered to let her rest, but she seemed to have no interest in going to sleep, and she did not appear to be tired. Reeve made her a sandwich, and she ate it happily.

They quickly determined it to be a priority to establish a means of communication. Over the following weeks, Rosetta worked to teach Kara the English language. She taught her the alphabet by developing a romanization of the Kryptonese alphabet, and then set about teaching vocabulary and grammar, while she and her family learned Kryptonese in turn. In the meantime, Sora and Kara came up with their own form of sign language, which they also shared with Riku and Kairi. Kara was withdrawn at first, as she had difficulty adjusting, but the island kids were able to get her to open up. The bond between the island children and the Kryptonian girl grew, as Sora came to care for Kara like she was his own sister.

When Kara had a good enough understanding of English, Rosetta, Reeve, and Sora decided to ask her about where she had come from. What Kara described sounded like something out of a science-fiction novel, a world filled with skyscrapers, flying vehicles in place of cars, fantastic creatures whose closest comparison to what the islanders knew to be real were dinosaurs, and intelligent robots and computer systems. She recounted how her father, Zor-El, was a scientist while her mother, Alura In-Ze, was a judge. Kryptonian society was divided into three "guilds": Science, Military, and Labor. She spoke of her maternal aunt, a general in the Military Guild, as well as her paternal uncle, Jor-El, who was one of Krypton's most brilliant scientists, and aunt, Lara Lor-Van. She then began to gush over her infant cousin, Kal-El, but she quickly trailed off. Detecting that there was something wrong, Sora asked what was bothering her.

"Where is Kal?" Kara asked.

Rosetta and Reeve exchanged glances, unsure how to respond. It occurred to them that, while she had been telling them about her home planet and her family, she had not explained how or why she had come to Destiny Islands. Now that she was showing concern for her cousin, and also had not addressed her parents in the same question, they realized that the answer was most likely not a charming one.

"Kara, sweetie, did something happen?" Rosetta asked. Kara's only response was a sniffle.

"Kara, why did you leave Krypton?" Reeve asked.

Tears welled in her eyes. She took a breath to stay calm while she told her story. "Jor-El found out that there was something wrong with our planet. I-I do not remember all the details. Something about how we were eating up too much of the planet's resources, and it had become unstable. Uncle Jor tried to warn the Science Council, but they refused to believe him. He could not save everyone on Krypton, and he only had enough time and resources to build two small rockets. Dad helped him put them together: one for Kal, and one for me. We were supposed to follow the same path and go to a new planet together before Krypton… Mom and Dad told me the plan. I wished it could be different, but Dad said it could not be avoided. Then… it happened. Mom, Dad, Uncle Jor, and Lara prepped the rockets for launch. Kal and I were in separate pods, but we were supposed to follow the same path and go to a new planet together." Kara was breathing heavily now, having difficulty in controlling her emotions. Tears were streaming down her face as she recounted the horrible experience of being separated from her family. "Krypton is gone! It's… My home is… It is gone. We… We got off the planet before… before… But then, my pod was knocked off course. I hit a rift, and I ended up in this weird space. I do not know how long I was there, but it felt like a really long time. After what felt like years, a portal somehow opened in front of me and my pod went through. Next thing I know, my pod was crashing in the ocean." At this point, Kara completely broke down, crying. Rosetta pulled her into a hug. "I was hoping that Kal would have landed here, too, but… but my pod was the only one that got here. Where is Kal? Oh, Rao, where is Kal? I was supposed to take care of him. I was supposed to protect him. Where is he?"

"Shh… It's okay, sweetie. It's okay," Rosetta whispered. However, she did not know how it could be okay. Kara had just lost her family and her entire planet, and the only family she had left, her infant cousin, was nowhere to be found.

It was then that, while they could not bring back her home planet or find her cousin, the Danvers clan decided that they would always be there for the little girl lost. Over the following days, adoption papers were drawn, and formalized to the best of social service's ability given that she effectively did not exist for the past eleven years, and Kara Danvers became an official member of the family.

Over the following weeks, Rosetta and Reeve brought Kara to see Riku's mother, Claire Malverne, for therapy sessions. Reeve also taught her about the islands' history and the history of the worlds, and Rosetta read some books to her. Kara was fascinated with the stories that they told. They gathered together with Sora, Riku and Kairi for regular movie nights, sometimes bringing Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Riku and Kairi's parents to watch with them. One night, Tidus suggested they watch Star Wars Episode IV, but Riku and Rosetta dissuaded him, pointing out that, with Kara's experience, it was probably a bad idea.

Kara was enrolled in Hopena Elementary School, where Reeve Danvers worked as principal, being placed in the same fifth-grade class as Sora and Kairi. At first, most of the kids and teachers found it amazing that they shared a classroom with an alien, but over time, they grew used to her, and they came to think of it as if she was just another kid in the class. She ran afoul of a few bullies, but Sora and Riku stood up for her. However, within a few months, that image was shaken once again as Kara and her friends came upon a startling discovery.

One day, while the kids were playing on the smaller island, Sora and Riku were engaged in another of their little contests. To prove his strength, Sora had begun to climb one of the palm trees with a thicker trunk, wrapping his arms and legs around the trunk, gripping the rough bark, and shimmying his way up. Kara and Kairi cheered him on as they watched, while Riku smirked, holding in his laughter as he was amused by the manner in which his friend climbed. Two thirds of the way up, he stopped to catch his breath, but then continued his climb. He reached the top, reaching his arm up and weaving it through the fronds to grab at the highest point he could reach, just as an extra jab to Riku. He released his grip with one hand and turned to wave to his friends. "Check me out!" he shouted. Kara and Kairi clapped and cheered, while Riku nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.

Sora heard a tear as the frond that he was holding onto began to rip from the crown. Before he could react and recover himself, the frond came free, and he lost his grip and began to fall. His friends gasped. Riku prepared to run over and try to help him, but Kara was faster. She ran to the base of the tree and caught Sora before he hit the ground.

Sora groaned. "Thanks, Kara," he said.

Kara set him down on his feet. "Are you okay?" she asked. Sora nodded. Turning back to Riku and Kairi, Sora grinned and rubbed the back of his head nervously. He and Kara then noticed that they were not looking at Sora with concern, nor were either of them prepared to scold Sora for his recklessness, but they were staring at Kara in shock. "What?" Kara asked, confused.

"How did you get there so fast?" Kairi asked. Kara tilted her head in confusion, but Sora realized what Kairi meant. While he was climbing the tree, Kara was standing next to Riku and Kairi, twenty-five feet away from the base. In the time that Sora fell, which was less than a second, Kara had closed the distance in time to catch him. If Riku had started running, he would have made it several seconds after Sora had hit the ground.

"How did I get there so fast?" Kara wondered.

Riku directed Kara to run across the beach and back as fast as she can, while Kairi kept time with a stopwatch. When Riku told her to go and Kairi started the stopwatch, Kara ran to the other end of the beach, turned around, and returned. Her friends saw her become a blur, and when Kairi hit stop, a full two seconds after she returned due to needing to regain her senses at seeing Kara move so fast, the watch read just over four and a half seconds—she made that run in two and a half seconds.

While Riku and Kairi tried to process what they had seen, Sora was excited. "Wow! My alien sister can run at super speed!" he declared in amazement.

"But… I couldn't run like that on Krypton," Kara said. "No one on my planet could."

"Hmm… I wonder if there's something about our world that gives you powers that you didn't have on Krypton," Riku mused.

"I wonder what else you can do now," Sora said, eager to find out the answer, not noticing Kara's apprehension and worry at what was happening to her.

Kara felt something bump against her leg and turned around to see that a volleyball had rolled over to them. "Hey, guys!" She and her friends turned to see Wakka waving to them from the back end of the shore. He had been playing with Tidus and Selphie all the while. "Could you throw the ball back, ya?" he asked.

"Sure," Kara replied. She picked the ball up, drew her arm back, and threw it. To the shock of her and everyone else, it sailed higher, farther, and faster than she expected. It flew over the elevated walkway on the fort and out of sight. The only indicator of its trajectory after that point was the crunching noise of breaking wood that resounded immediately after the ball was out of view. Kara, Sora, and Riku stared after it in utter shock. Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie's jaws dropped. Riku ran to check out where the ball had gone, closely followed by Kara, Sora, and Kairi, and they were then joined by the other three kids.

"That's some arm, sista," Wakka remarked. The compliment did not calm Kara down. Not only had she not known she had that kind of strength, but she had no idea that she had put anywhere near that much force into it.

"Hey, did you see that weird blur a minute ago?" Tidus asked innocently as Riku and Kara began climbing.

There was a brief pause as Sora and Riku considered how they were going to answer the question, since they knew what the "blur" actually was. Finally, Riku simply responded "Yes" without elaborating further.

When everyone was up on the walkway, they stopped and stood in shock as they stared at the volleyball, which laid broken and deflated on the floor. Some of the boards that formed the wall on the tree trunk that the walkway wrapped around were broken and splintered, having been smashed by the same great force that had broken the volleyball.

"Man, brudda, what have your parents been feeding her?" Wakka quipped to Sora. "Can you do that? Have you been holding out on us, man?" Sora shook his head, denying the suggestion.

"Sorry," Kara said quietly, her head hanging low.

Sora put his hand on Kara's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll talk to Mom and Dad, and we'll figure out what's going on," he assured her.

They recounted the incident to Reeve and Rosetta, and Kara demonstrated her newfound strength by lifting Reeve's pickup truck from the front. The adults consulted Dolores, who was a physician, and she suggested running a blood test to determine what was happening.

On the morning that the Danvers had scheduled with Dolores and her coworkers to have Kara's blood drawn, Reeve knocked on Kara's bedroom door and entered to wake her up, but he stopped as he was stunned by a bizarre sight. Kara did not lay on her bed, but rather she hovered two feet above it. Her blanket lay over her, the sides hanging limply off like a sheet ghost. Without waking Kara, Reeve brought Rosetta and Sora to see. A gasp in shock and amazement from Rosetta caused Kara to wake up with a jolt, at which point, she promptly dropped back onto the bed.

At the doctor's office, one of the doctors attempted to stick a syringe into Kara's arm, but the needle would not penetrate her skin, even bending as enough force was applied before the doctor gave up. The doctors checked her vitals, which seemed to be normal, then took a saliva sample and requested a urine sample for alternative testing.

When they returned home, it was clear that Kara was despondent and unsure of what to think in light of recent developments. Riku and Kairi stopped by to check on her. Rosetta told them what had happened that morning.

"What's happening to me? I can do these things that I shouldn't be able to," Kara muttered.

"Whatever this is, it won't change the person you are," Riku assured her.

"Riku's right," Sora agreed. "Besides, I think it's really cool that you're super strong and can fly." Kairi giggled and nodded, indicating that she felt the same about both points.

"But what if I can't control it? What if I hurt someone? What if I hurt you guys?" Kara asked.

"You won't hurt us. We believe in you," Kairi countered.

"We'll help you figure it out," Riku said. "You can learn to control your strength. You can learn to be fast and slow, strong and gentle."

Kara smiled and wiped a tear from her eye, glad that she had such great friends who would always stand steadfastly by her side.