Memoria

Prologue

I know what they say about me, what they think. They think I cannot hear them when I'm asleep. They think that just because I go by a burning building, I lack empathy. That I'm a monster. This "Harvest" is the worst. He thinks that he can manipulate me by making me live this "Kon's" life. They are all wrong. I know about the history of Kon, and the reason that I walk by the fire without doing anything is because I know it's just a simulation. If this were real, I would do something about the people trapped by the fire, but it's not. Fortunately it's not, and neither is my spar with my 'father,' Superman. I certainly hope that when I actually meet my father that I will have a better reception than Harvest has led me to believe. In any case, I play along with their scenarios simply because I have nothing better to do.

"Run the virtual reality program again. Let's see if anything different happens this time."

Ah, here we go again. Dr Fairchild wants me to exhibit signs of humanity in a false reality. Oh well, at least I get to learn something during the scenario, and neither Harvest nor Omen are awake, which means no second scenario about Krypton's clone revolt.

Except, there's something different about this go around: a new 'person' has arrived in the school. He seems about my height, though he's built more like a bodybuilder or football player, he even had the same colour hair and eyes as I do. He's wearing a simple black T-shirt and blue jeans, yet somehow I know that something is missing from the shirt. "Hi, can I sit here?" he asks.

"Sure," I tell him. I'm curious about this new player, did Fairchild create him?

"No, I'm as real as you are," he answers, almost as if he's reading my mind. "And I don't need to read your mind, Connor, because I am you, or rather, you as you were before the Flashpoint."

"The Flashpoint?" I ask. "What's that?"

"A Crisis of such magnitude that it changed the face of the multiverse forever. Entire realities were altered by a single person travelling back in time, and the memories of every single person in the universe except one was altered to fit this new reality," he explained.

"Okay, first, why did you call me Connor? Second, if what you say is true, then why do you, why do I know of it?" I asked.

"Because we did not exist in the Flashpoint reality, we retained our memories of what happened before, and during the Crisis. As for why I called you Connor, that is what Dad named us when he finally decided to take responsibility for us. Kon-El, he called us, and it had none of the negative connotations that it does now."

"Well, if you're going to call me Connor, what should I call you?"

He thought about it for a minute before finally deciding. "We had a very good friend before the Flashpoint, one that I now realize I've been in love with for quite some time. Call me Tim."