Candyland?

[themanoftomorrow]

Heavy footfalls resounded through the halls of the Fortress of Solitude, the cavernous halls of the building magnifying the sound. They sped up as Superman felt something was just a bit off, and when he entered the main hall he stopped and stared. The gigantic memorial of Krypton, supported by statues of Jor-El and Lara, his long dead parents, had been replaced…

By a gigantic jawbreaker being held aloft by peanut brittle likenesses of his parents.

“What,” he all but shouted, looking around the room for intruders. And it was then that it hit him. It wasn’t just the memorial, it was the entire fortress. The ice caverns had mysteriously changed into translucent rock candy, the chairs were constructed entirely out of solid peppermint, and there were boxes upon boxes of sweets of all shapes and sizes all over the floor, stacked neatly into every open space.

“…What’s going on here?”

He had to be dreaming. There really couldn’t be any other explanation, but then again maybe Mr. Mxyzptlk was up to his old tricks…

Comments

[waterfell]

"You don't call that home?" The question is neutral, because she understands the question itself all too well: Is she a girl from Earth, a soldier from the Moon, or a princess from the planet Mercury? She has Mama to tell her the first, a grudge to push her away from the second, and pride to claim the third.

[themanoftomorrow]

"I've never been there. My home is Earth," he replied in a flat tone. He was raised on Kansas. In Smallville. His home was Metropolis.

[waterfell]

It must be nice to be so sure, Mercury thought with more than a small trace of cynicism. Even without living there in this lifetime, there is something about her former planet that makes her curious and want to see it. Even with her dislike of much about humanity and Earth, there is her mother - and the comrades she finally found.

"What made you decide that?" she asks him.

[themanoftomorrow]

"It's where my family is, the only family I've ever really known. I've never even seen Krypton."

[waterfell]

"If it were me, I'd also want to see where I was born, and know about the life I would have had there."

[themanoftomorrow]

"Yea, I wish I had that option. Krypton was destroyed, Mercury. It's dead and buried."

[waterfell]

"It was the same for the Mercury Kingdom," its last remnant acknowledges. She tells herself this doesn't mean that she sympathizes, only that it's a similarity. "That's why I want to know more about when it still existed, and how it was then."

Even back then, she hadn't seen it since she was very young and sent to the Moon Kingdom - an honor to her family, to have their daughter chosen as a companion and guardian to the Moon Princess. It meant leaving Mercury.

[themanoftomorrow]

"I've scoured the universe for Kryptonian artifacts and information. This is everything I've collected so far," replied the final son of the House of El. "This fortress, my cousin, and the dog are all that remain of Krypton."

Krypto whines plaintively until Clark rubs his head, touselling his ears. He didn't know about a kingdom on Mercury, but he could certainly empathize with her.

[waterfell]

"Would you build it again?" If you could?

Would she? A part of her would want that, life where she was meant to rule again - but she's had clear warnings in her dreams that it might not come about in the way she believes.

[themanoftomorrow]

"No," he said flatly. Brainiac had offered him a way to, and he'd turned it down.

"It wouldn't be the same without the people, and like any culture it had it's good and bad elements."

[waterfell]

Oddly enough, she agreed. After awhile, her thoughts had started to turn when it came to this subject. And she started to think, what was the point in talking about keeping Earth, in talking about not handing it over and not letting it be destroyed, if not for inhabitants? What would be the point of an empty planet?

It's the same with Mercury. As much as she would like to see how it was, now there are no people there. There is nothing there but silence and craters like the moon's.

"Maybe that's true. However, I still want to see more of what used to be there."

[themanoftomorrow]

"That," he replied, "I have seen. And it's possible I could show you the kingdom you're talking about too."

[waterfell]

Her head turns sharply. "What are you saying?"

[themanoftomorrow]

"I'm saying that it's possible I can show you a glimpse of it. I guess you're familiar with who I am, so it's possible you're familiar with the machine-being known as Brainiac?"

[waterfell]

"Can that be trusted?" she asks skeptically. The words fall from her mouth without any thought.

[themanoftomorrow]

"If Brainiac had it in his memory banks, yes."

[waterfell]

"I might be able to see it that way," Mercury acknowledges, "However, it wouldn't change anything about what happened since then."

As much as she's curious, and wants to see it, does she want to hold something right in front of herself that she can't quite truly reach?

[themanoftomorrow]

"It's up to you," he nodded, "It might give you some sort of peace, but I don't know if Brainiac knew about it."

[waterfell]

"It's something that's been forgotten," she says, which means that he probably didn't know about it, and is a reminder to herself that she shouldn't anticipate success in this.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Well, I'll give it a shot," he said, punching in a few commands, and the hologram turned into one of the planet Mercury.

"It'll take a few moments to search."

[waterfell]

It's alright; she's eyeing the hologram anyway, mentally comparing it to charts and depictions she's seen of the closest planet to the sun. From what she knows, it's extremely accurate - and precise.

"A simulation?" she asks.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Yes, it'll run through and see if Brainiac ever discovered civilizations on Mercury. If he did, there will be a record of it."

[waterfell]

"He recorded the data of everything he saw?" Ever? She's impressed, despite herself. It would have been a notable feat, even with the technology of the Silver Millenium, she knows.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Yes, and everything ever recorded on Krypton. He's an artificial lifeform, a sentient AI."

[waterfell]

Like Cortana, or Mist, or the hologram of Queen Serenity, thousands of years later. Mercury nods crisply.

"I understand the theory." The image of Mercury begins to take on detail.