Known Abilities: Somehow trying to keep up with Kara, who insists on making friends with any humans she can. Try not to startle him. He’s a nervous wreck.
Background: After losing his wife to humans years back, and Mikael’s wife to a rat, Christian was afraid to leave his young daughter Kara alone at home. With the humans taking people like him and Mikael away from the motel, the insects began to encroach on their homes, leaving it a dangerous place for a little girl to be without her father. All of this was rendered moot when Christian was captured, leaving Kara on her own anyway.
Kara stared up into her dad’s big grey eyes, a match for her own. Where hers were bright and hopeful, his were worn and older, creases in his skin formed from the hard times they’d survived in the motel. Hard times that had taken away her mother, his loving wife.
Nodding, she didn’t say a word as he turned and darted away. Of course she trusted him. She would always trust him. Her daddy had taken care of her ever since she could remember. Thin and underfed, Christian put his daughter before himself in all things. If there wasn’t enough food to feed them both, he would fast to let her eat.
Still, she was underfed and needed more food to survive. The scarcity of food in this motel showed in the ribs he could see clear through her skin. Too thin. If he couldn’t find more for her to eat, she’d waste away to nothing.
He’d only just reached the table when the door of the motel room swung open with an ominous creak. Christian froze, and chose to dive behind the leg of a chair before the human spotted him.
It wasn’t check-in time yet, why were they here?
He had his answer seconds later, when a hand descended around him. He struggled. “No!”
One hand reached out, grasping at the air where he knew Kara was waiting for him as the fingers shut tight, trapping him.
“Looks like we’ve got another to show Mina.”
“Hopefully this time she wants to bargain. We can’t wait much longer before the cash runs out.”
“Whatever, dear. She’ll come, the moment we call her. She always does.”
Christian didn’t have time to puzzle these strange words before under him, a gaping black purse opened up and he found himself tumbling inside. He landed with a thud on his side, groaning as he kicked a strange black cylinder, almost as long as he was, away.
Darkness fell over him, but his eyes could make out the shadowed interior without a problem. Huge items were scattered about, human possessions that he didn’t care to understand.
All he cared about was two very worried grey eyes he could see in his mind’s eye, looking up at him with all the trust in the world.
A little story from Kara while her daddy was missing!
Kara sniffled, brushing away a tear as she curled into a ball.
Her dad was gone. Christian was gone, and she had no idea how to get him back.
Her tiny form was hidden away in the walls, just like he’d always told her to do if she was in trouble. Stay out of sight, out of reach, beyond notice by any humans. She had to choke down her cries, forcing herself to stay quiet in the vents.
She’d run long and hard to get away from that terrible, horrid room where he’d been taken from. Why? Why him, why now, why did she have to lose the last person she had in her life?
Her mom was gone, nice old Mikael had vanished a week ago, and now daddy had followed, grabbed in huge hands.
She blinked her grey eyes open again, and uncurled enough to creep along the vent. The metal was cold to the touch, but it wasn’t on. If she heard the clanking motors activate deep in the bowels of the motel, she’d be forced to find a new place to hide.
Ahead, there was a slit. She came up to it, peering out to see where she was.
One of the motel rooms stretched out before her, and she very nearly ducked back down. But there were no humans up and about, just one guy sitting on the bed down there. The television was on nearby, and she stared at it. Her dad had told her about televisions before. How they could show humans things that happened very far away.
This one had a white forest on the screen, and her grey eyes reflected the sight of gentle snowflakes landing on the ground.
It was so peaceful and idyllic. A scene that Kara would never be able to see outside of the walls.
She took a deep breath, holding the image in her head. Peace. She needed to get her daddy back so they could find some peace of their own.
The human shifted, and her terrified eyes flashed back to him. He was huge. Why did humans have to be so massive?
Him moving caught her attention to something she’d missed. On his shoulder, there was another man.
The human’s voice was drowned out by her shocked reaction. She almost scrambled away from the vent, then inched forward once more to see if she’d been imagining things.
But no. It wasn’t her imagination. There was a man on the human’s shoulder, and he looked as relaxed as anyone she’d seen. No fear, no worry. Casual words exchanged between the two of them as they argued over what they should do next. The human stood and snapped off the television, dispelling the image of the snowy forest.
Kara blinked, then her resolved firmed. When the human wasn’t around, she needed to talk to this new guy. Sam.
“Okay, now you pretend to be the big human, here to save everyone!”
Kara gave Sean a big grin, excited about the game he’d introduced her to. Playing pretend, something that humans did when they didn’t have any toys (not that she had toys, but most of her time was spent learning the rules about their life under the floorboards).
Sean flushed red. “Y-you mean like Dean, when he saved everyone?” he asked shyly, always nervous when he thought about the human that had rescued Kara’s daddy.
Kara nodded excitedly. “Yeah! Just like that! He beat up the bad guys and got everyone out, just like in the stories!”
She slapped her little hands against the floor, pushing herself up. Throwing her hands out as far as she could (barely two inches wide, but she tried), she declared. “He’s the biggest, safest human, and he helped us!”
“Kara?” A voice came from outside the room. Christian stuck his head in, his grey eyes finding his daughter and Sean instantly in the darkness he was adapted too. “You two should get to sleep, sweetie. It’s past your bedtime.”
“Aww!” Kara said in dissapointment. “But we were gonna pretend to be Dean, here to save everyone!”
Christian came in to tuck her into bed. “You can play tomorrow,” he smiled at her. “Sean’s staying with us for a few days. There’s plenty of time for games later.”
She let him slide her under the covers, bundling down into the fabric nest she loved so much. “You think Dean will come back and see us?” she asked tiredly.
Christian leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Of course he will,” he said. “We’re his family, remember?”
He tucked Sean in next, smiling at the formerly-human boy. Sean was still very shy around everyone, but he was adapting to his new life faster than expected. They’d decided to give him a few days away from the little home Walt and Bree were sharing with Krissy and her family, so he could spend time with Kara again. They’d bonded fast, the only two kids in the motel.
“Sleep tight, okay?” Christian said, and he got sleepy mumbles in return. He let the fabric fall back over the doorway, letting the curtain block the small children from the world. Where they could be safe for a while.
The character is in a story that’s been displayed on this page before in the past… not necessarily from Brothers Apart. I’m so excited to see what everyone thinks!
Appearing in Taken, Kara was a small girl standing two inches tall that lost her father, Christian, to a pair of abductors.
Even as Dean discovers Kara hiding in his room Sam finds her father when he wakes up in captivity. Christian is able to help set Sam’s broken arm to keep it from healing wrong.
They are two of the last three people their size that are living in their motel, with the last being wise old Mikael, who treats Kara as he would his own granddaughter. She’s so desperate to find her father again that she’s willing to be in the room of a giant, searching for clues after watching Sam get abducted. Her luck holds when she’s caught, with Dean treating her like a very small sister. They band together to find their missing family.
“I think I got lucky, having a brother like Dean. He hasn’t come close to stepping on me since we met back up. I think all those years apart wore on him. He seems afraid anytime I’m out of sight. Of course, I know better than to let my own guard down. Anywhere that humans walk, normally, I stay away from unless I’m absolutely certain I’m safe. You don’t live at this size without learning a few things about safety and being cautious. I think having Kara around made him a lot more vigilant. She has a habit of popping up when you least expect it. She keeps slipping away from Christian and Walt just so she can visit Dean.
“Oh, and if we’re talking about Dean accidentally grabbing me, he’s already mistaken me for a screwdriver, put his hand in the pocket I was sitting in and the asshat dumped a dirty t-shirt on my head and grabbed me with it. I thought he was going to do his laundry with me in it! Jerk.”
Brothers Apart 