Okay, so I had a whole storyline in my head that was basically what if Zod had a daughter who was banished to Earth because of her father's crimes, and she was raised with Kal-El by the Kents? And what if she had to make the choice between her father and her "brother"? Where would her allegiance lie? I hope it isn't too far fetched, it's just a thought that I needed to get out in a OneShot. If you like it, a review would be lovely. ;)

Look to the Stars

"Sometimes, I sit alone under the stars and think of the galaxies inside my
heart, and truly wonder if anyone will ever want to make sense of all that I am."

― Christopher Poindexter

"You have grown, Daughter of Zod."

Faora-Ul glared at me, her eyes baring into mine with venom lacing her voice.

I glared back at her.

"Your father will be pleased that you are here, Aarora."

There was no stranger thing to be called more than that.

The past twenty years that I had spent on Earth, I was called Bailey Kent, and had two humans as parents. I'd lived on a farm in Smallville, Kansas. Now I was back to being called what my father had called me all those years ago, when I was at the age of merely five on Krypton. I remembered the way he said my name, too, like he was so proud, like he couldn't love me anymore if he tried.

I'd grown immensely; I had gotten the dark hair like my father, brown eyes like my mother.

I was back to being called Aarora-Zod.

Even though I remembered, faintly, being called that name, it was unbelievably odd to me. I was the daughter of General Dru-Zod, the destroyer of Krypton, and murderer of Jor-El.

I had no idea when I was growing up in Kansas; simply, I was sent away from my home planet because my father would not be able to raise and protect me. I didn't know until he came back to Earth it was because he had been imprisoned and banished to the Phantom Zone. I didn't know that I was not only sent away because my father couldn't care for me, but also because I was the daughter of a disgraced general of Krypton.

Growing up without him to teach me, to guide me, to protect me, and love me was difficult.

While Clark, or Kal-El, as I now know him, was quiet and reserved when bullies tormented and harassed him, I was entirely different. While Clark did as our "father", Jonathan Kent, told us to do and not retaliate, I could not stop myself.

It was as if I was born with an aggressive instinct and a fiery, uncontrollable temper, even as a child.

I guessed that I had inherited it from my father, and I was right. When I was eleven and Clark was eight, and bullies were picking on him for no reason at all, I'd punched one of them so hard that he had gone flying to the other side of the schoolyard. Kids were in shock, as well as teachers and parents.

My "father" was livid, reminding me that, like Clark, the world was not ready for the abilities that we had.

But no matter what Jonathan had told me, I couldn't help myself. I couldn't ignore the people who were so cruel to my brother and I. I wanted to fight back, to show them who they really were messing with.

Clark had reassured me that when the time was right, we could show the world. But even he seemed unsure. I was always there for him, and he for me. He was like my brother, the last two children of our kind. He was so unsure himself, but he was always willing to put on a strong face for me when I had my dark moments.

I remembered one summer night the year I turned fifteen, I'd had an argument with Martha and Jonathan at the dinner table about how I did not belong on this Earth, and I never would. I was, like Clark, an outcast. And everyone knew it. I'd gotten up from the table and stormed out the back door, sitting on the steps of the back porch and staring out to the night sky.

Twelve-year-old Clark came out a few minutes after me, sitting beside me.

"Bailey, you'll see," Clark had said, "One day, we will show them what we can do."

Two very young, lonely, and scared Kryptonians, with no one else on Earth to relate to.

All we really had was each other.

Clark had always been there or me.

It was so hard as a child, knowing that you didn't belong and that you could triumph over all these humans that were so mean and to Clark and I. With one measly kick, I could knock anyone of them out. But we couldn't. It was hard knowing that all these kids thought we were freaks; that we were nothing. It was hard to know you were a far superior bloodline, but you couldn't display your power.

I remembered when Clark had had meltdowns at school, once locking himself in the janitor's closet because his powers were too overwhelming.

My behavior was different than Clark's. Instead of scared and innocent, I was "uncontrollable, disobedient, and headstrong", according to my teachers. Throughout my childhood, Martha had to come down to school frequently to get me from the principal's office. She always sighed, saying that this behavior had to stop. But it never really did. I hated humans aside from Martha and Jonathan Kent. The rest of them were nothing but cruel.

Clark and I were known at school and all around Smallville as outcasts.

It was hard knowing that my father was out there somewhere, and he would understand me and tell me how to deal with the human bullies. It was hard knowing that he couldn't comfort me when I was upset about not fitting in.

I always dreamt up things he would say if I was upset.

If I had had a particularly terrible day at school, such as when Clark and I were harassed on the bus one day, I'd imagine my father was here. The great General Zod, holding me tight, telling me it was okay, and telling me that I didn't need any of these humans; that I didn't need to fit in. I was a Kryptonian, not a human.

But it was only a fantasy, a defense mechanism for a lonely child who'd been tormented and missed her father.

He couldn't be there. It was hard knowing what could've been; it was hard knowing he'd never teach me, he'd never raise me, and he'd never see me grow from the child he once knew into a young woman.

I didn't remember that much of my life on Krypton as a child before I was sent away, aside from a few faint memories of my father and I, seeing that I had only been five when I left. But I did know I wasn't of this place called Earth, and that my father was elsewhere in the stars above in the night sky. I knew that I didn't belong there, and never would. I was an outcast, always would be.

I waited endlessly for him to return for me, to take me away from this cruel planet. My "mother", Martha, always caught me laying down in the backyard or in the field, laying down with the dog and staring at the sky. I would hear the creak of the screen door open in the back of the house and she'd call my name into the night, telling me to come inside. She'd say it was getting late, it was time to come in and take a bath and go to bed.

I would stare up, my arms lazily out to the sides, my eyes examining the stars as they stayed splattered across the black sky like they did every night. I'd sigh as I stared, and if I was alone I'd ask my father to come back, to not leave me behind.

If I didn't come in right away, Martha would walk out into the summer night into the field, give me a sad smile, and lift me up into her arms and bring me inside. After taking a bath and getting into bed, I'd look out into the sky above from my window that was right beside my bed. For years, I did this.

Every night I waited for my father to come, but he never did.

I remembered his face. Even though the world saw Zod as a murderer, he was still my father and capable of being kind.

It was the last time I saw him before he was frozen and banished, which I witnessed. He had put his hand on the back of my head and pressed me to him. I'd linked my arms around his neck and hugged him back, clinging to him like I'd never let him go.

I remembered bits and pieces of certain memories, like a wonderful dream you have and you wake up but can't really remember parts of it. I remembered the way my father held me, the way he'd comfort me and care for me. I remembered when I said goodbye to him; a faint smile on his face when he kneeled down and hugged me, tight, one final time.

"Aarora," He'd said, "You need to be brave, now."

I looked up at him tearfully. "Father, I..."

"Look to the stars," He said, "That is where I will be. I will come back to find you, Aarora, and we will be together again. Do you understand me?"

I nodded, tears streaming down my swollen cheeks. I wrapped my little arms around him, hugging him tight.

"Remove the child," Lor-Em, our Kryptonian leader, had said to the guards. "Prepare Zod for exile."

I'd been forcibly pulled off and away from him by two Kryptonian guards. I'd cried, and begged to have him hold me again.

He'd told me to look to the stars.

That that's where promised he would be, and that one day, he'd be back for me. I kept my promise by going out every night and looking up at the stars, waiting for him. My father was everything to me. I was born to be a warrior, just as he had been. I remembered him explaining to me that our bloodline was strong.

My father was back.

He was back not only for me, but to re-establish Krypton on Earth, to start our planet over from scratch.

I remembered when the message of You Are Not Alone flashed on every television screen in the world. I worked as a waitress in a coffee shop in Metropolis. My jaw had dropped, and I'd dropped a serving trey filled with coffee on the floor in shock. All the nights of my childhood, of looking up at the stars. He had finally come back for me.

It was amusing that no human would ever know that their waitress was General Zod's daughter. I was an alien of a dying race.

Static filled every television screen in the coffee shop, and my father's commanding voice boomed through the speakers. I hadn't heard that voice in twenty years.

"My name is General Zod. I have journeyed across an ocean of stars to reach you. Your world has sheltered two of my citizens. They will look like you, but they are not one of you. To those of you who know of their location, the fate of your planet rests in your hands. To Aarora-Zod, I say this: come back home and take your place as the Kryptonian warrior that you are. But to Kal-El, I say this: Surrender within 24 hours or watch this world suffer the consequences."

When he had seen me, and how much I had grown and what I had become, he was so proud.

Faora-Ul smirked at me when she realized who I was. The remaining Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone had shown up on at the Kent home, and I'd had to battle it out with Faora. I defensively stood in front of Martha, my adopted mother, after they had tried to attack her. I narrowed my eyes and adrenaline pumped in my veins.

"Aarora, you are quite impressive fighter, like your father."

"I know." I said, glaring at her.

"You're a Kryptonian woman now...albeit a bit humanized." Faora-Ul said, looking mockingly at Martha, who was looking terrified on the ground. "One of the last of your kind. You will join us, and restore Krypton to its former glory."

Faora-Ul turned, and the rest of Zod's group had parted way so Zod could make is way to me. I felt my knees tremble and my heart begin throbbing in my chest. The man I hadn't seen in twenty years was here, the man I had waited under the stars every night of my childhood for. He was tall; more than six foot and clad in black Kryptonian armor. His handsome, harsh face, and even the scar that resided by his left eye, had not aged nor changed in the years of his exile.

"Aarora?"

His harsh face broke into a faint, sheepish smile. I looked up and I ran to him.

His daughter, twenty years later, all grown up. I had hugged him like the day that we last did before he was banished; I hugged my father like I would never let him go again.

"Oh My God," I said into his chest, "It's really you."

I looked at the House of Zod symbol on his chest. It was a symbol that looked almost like a cursive "Z". It was the same symbol I had on the clothes that I had worn when I was sent to Earth.

"I'm back." He murmured into my hair. "I came back for you. To see you standing before me as an adult…it's astounding to witness. It is surreal."

"You have no idea how much I've missed you. I've waited up for you every night since that day on Krypton. I did what you told me to do. I kept my promise. I swear." I said.

"I know you have. I know." He had said, kissing my forehead and holding me tightly. "There isn't a day that went by that I did not think of you. I've missed you more than I am able to describe. And you've grown so much. You look just like your mother."

His faint smile returned.

I nodded at him, tears streaking down my cheeks from happiness. I did not feel Kryptonian; there I stood in Earth clothes, while my father and my other fellow Kryptonians were dressed in armor.

"It has been so many years." Zod said, "We were imprisoned for so long, and I have missed so much of your life. You are not the little girl that I once held."

I shook my head sadly. "No."

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret not being able to raise you." He said, his eyebrows furrowed with guilt.

"You've taught me more than you know." I said, looking up at his softened face. "You've taught me loyalty, and patience, and hope."

He lowered his eyes. "I have watched over you during those years, Aarora, even if I was far away."

"I know." I said, "I know."

"But I need you now," He had said, "I need you to help me."

"Kal-El?" I asked.

"You and I will take revenge on this Earth; we will restore Krypton and start anew. And we will take revenge on Jor-El's son. We will stop him, and we will kill him. We will find Kal-El. Do you know where he is?"

My heart had felt like it stopped. I looked back at Martha, who looked terrified. Terrified of the great General Zod and his fellow Kryptonians. Terrified of me, her adopted daughter, who she now knew came from the terrifying Kryptonian warrior in front of her. She had heard me speak of my father for years, but never imagined him to be this menacing, tall alien that wanted nothing more than bloodshed of humanity.

"Krypton?" I had asked my father. "But Krypton was exterminated when I was―"

"Earth will be the new Krypton. It will be better than it was before. And you and I will restore it together, as I promised." He said. The other Kryptonians were standing expectantly behind him, watching as the almighty General Zod reconnected with his estranged daughter.

I looked at them, then back at Martha. She looked at me with terror in her eyes.

"Father, the Earth has never been kind to me. I have never belonged on this planet, nor will I ever. When I was little I wanted nothing more than to show these weak people what I could do. I wanted to show them I was the superior race. Humans are savage and animalistic." I gestured to Martha. "But there are ones who aren't. She is human and she was never anything but loving and kind to me. She raised me."

"Aarora," Zod said sternly, "You are strong, and are sure of yourself. The power that you have inherited from me makes you strong. The fact that we have a lack of morality and they do not, give us an evolutionary advantage. And if history has proven anything, it is that evolution always wins. Humans are mere savages. Unintelligent, un-evoluntionized sadists who obliterate everything in their path."

I nodded, looking down at my feet. He was right.

"Will you join me?"

I stared up at my father.

Now, I had to make a choice.

Being the daughter of Zod, did I take my father's side against Kal-El and oblivtherate the humans who were once so cruel to me? Or stay with the boy I had grown up with and become so close to, the boy who was always there for me?

Was blood truly thicker than water?