World's Apart

s i x | m o n - e l

"You will marry Mon-El."

These four words keep ringing in my head, not allowing me to focus on the situation at hand.

look at Kara. She doesn't say anything, neither do I.

A few minutes pass and the room is still silent.

"Please say something. Kara? Mon-El?" Alura, Kara's mother speaks, with a hint of guilt in her eyes.

Kara looks up and looks at me. Not with lust, but with confusion.

"Okay."

I look around and see who spoke.

"If it will stop the war, I'll marry Mon-El," Kara says.

I speak after her. "I'll marry Kara," I say.

My mom smiles. "This is great. We should start arranging a festival for this arrangement. The wedding will be in less than a month, so we have to start preparations."

"Less than a month? Aren't we a little too young to get married at this age?" I question. I'm only eighteen and Kara's only seventeen, how can we marry this early?

"Well, yes, but this madness must end now," she says, looking at me with hard, cold eyes. I look down quickly, not making eye contact with her any longer.

Instead, I look at Kara. She still seems to be in shock from the information, like me but isn't questioning their decision.

"Kara, our guests will be staying with us for a few nights to prepare for the wedding. Why don't you spend the rest of the day with Mon-El, get to know each other? He will be staying in the room beside yours." Kara's mother looks at Kara and she nods.

She gets up, without making a noise and walks up to me. I get up, knowing we can leave, and follow behind her.

Once we are outside Kara speaks up."Let's go to the park I was telling you about," she says.

I nod and walk beside her in silence.

It only takes a few minutes until we step foot in the park. "What is this part of Krypton called?" I ask curiously.

"We're in Argo City," she says simply.

She points to a bench and I nod. We make our way there and sit down, enjoying the view of kids playing and couples walking.

"I'm sorry you are caught up in all of this," I say.

"It's the right thing to do. If it will stop this war and prevent innocent people from dying," she says slowly. "You seem to be handling it pretty well, considering I wasn't your first choice."

"On Daxam, I wouldn't have a choice either. I would marry a stranger. I don't have much of a say in anything, I do what my parents tell me to do," I say. It's the first time I've shared something so personal. Kara is someone I only met today and I already feel comfortable sharing my life with her, like it's natural.

"What do you mean you don't have a choice? Aren't you the prince?" She questions.

"Yeah," I sigh. "That doesn't mean I can do whatever I want. I'm like a dog tied to a leach, having to obey every order that is thrown at me."

"What your parents do on Daxam, it's not right. It's bad enough they do it to their people, but their own son?"

"When the time comes for me to become King, I won't be like my father or mother. I'll be better, at least I'll try to be. And with you by my side, guiding me, I think I can be a good King."

I look at Kara and notice her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink, however, I don't acknowledge it.