Chapter 2- Jor-El's Crystal

There was a light breeze as Superman flew around the main skies of Metropolis, looking for a blonde surfer wannabe, who apperently moonlit as a firestarter. He didn't feel the breeze. Even if he wasn't Kryptonian, he wouldn't have felt anything other than the pain that had gone numb after a few weeks of mourning Lois' death. He tried to focus all this time on work and even saving Metropolis, but it never helped. All it did was remind him of all he'd lost. He may have had the nickname 'The Man of Steel', but if anyone really knew, they'd call him weak.

Clark continued to look for the arsonist, but he knew deep down that even if he found him, it just wouldn't matter. Someone else would start some trouble some other time, if not for attention or love, then for revenge somehow. Either way, there would always be crime in Metropolis, and even he, with all of his power couldn't stop that.

Clark changed course after about an hour after he realized that he wouldn't find the arsonist that night, and he headed to the Fortress, where he was greeted at once by the sound of his birth father's voice. "How long has it been? How long will you continue to mourn the humans, Kal-El?"

"Until I die, if that is what it takes," Clark replied curtly as he paced the icy floors of the Fortress.

"They were your distraction, the humans were. It isn't too late to fullfill all that you must."

"There is no destiny. There is nothing else. I'm done here."

"You will get over it, son. You will soon forget-"

"Never!" Clark snapped. "I will never forget Lois. She was my soulmate."

"There is no such thing, not for a Kryptonian and a human. The loss of this Lois and your child should have told you as much."

"There is nothing else," Clark repeated, though whether he was referring to his destiny or his soulmate or his lost son was uncertain. What was certain was that he said this so loudly that it echoed for many seconds afterwards.

"Your destiny-"

Clark was having no more talk on his so called 'destiny', a destiny he never wanted, and certainly never wanted without someone to share it with. "Give it to someone else! I told you, 'I'm done here'."

There was a silence in the Fortress for a minute or two, and Clark thought that maybe Jor-El would strike in anger, but there was nothing for a long time. "I see within you that your words are true. You've fallen, my son. Even if you wanted your destiny, you are no longer the Kryptonian strong enough to take it on."

Clark didn't know what to say to this, but deep down, he hoped this meant that Jor-El had given up on him. "I'm leaving," he finally said. "I'll not return to the Fortress. I may not even return to Earth."

"And where would you go?"

"I do not know."

"What of your humans? Who will save them once you're gone? They're weak and have come to depend on you."

This stopped Superman's pacing. His decision to leave hadn't been spontanious, but he hadn't meant to tell his father just yet. Telling Jor-El made it final. Still, even as he thought of just running away, he hadn't considered what he would do about the people of Metropolis and Earth. He didn't want to leave them defenseless, but he couldn't stay. After a silence lasting almost five minutes, Jor-El spoke again.

"If you insist on leaving Earth- and me- behind, then I shall give you something- a farewell gift of sorts." Along the corner of the Fortress, 3 crystals began to glow, but 2 of them went back to normal immediately, leaving just one to glow in an emerald green light. "Take the crystal. Look around your Earth for a champion to take your place. With the touch of the crystal, he or she will gain all of your strength and power, but not being Kryptonian, will have none of the weakness you or I would experience."

Clark moved slowly and touched the crystal that continued to glow. As soon as he touched it, he could feel some of his energy draining before he felt fine again a moment later. Jor-El continued to speak. "There are conditions, my son. The one you choose must be worthy of your power. They must be as strong at heart as you once were, as devoted to saving others as you were when your humans were alive. And- this is important- They must be willing to sacrifice themselves. That is the test. Once they show that they are willing to sacrifice themselves, either for a loved one or someone they don't even know, then the crystal will activate, and only then will the transfer happen."

"Why would you do this? For me, for the humans you seem to think lower than you?" Clark asked as he held onto the crystal, which had by then stopped glowing. It was now as white as all the others in the Fortress.

"At the end of it all, you are my son. You may not understand, but I do love you. In my own right. And you forget that though I do not belive humans to be as strong as Kryptonians, I have met two nobel humans, humans that I chose to care for you. Because of Johnathan and Martha Kent, a part of me will always be indebted to humans."

"I'm not sorry that I couldn't be the Kryptonian you wanted me to be," Clark said after a moment of thought.

"No, perhaps not," was all Jor-El said to this.

"Then this is goodbye," Superman said as he stood up straighter.

"Yes. Goodbye, my son."

"Goodbye... Father." With those words, Clark flew out of the Fortress with the crystal firmly in his fist. He was about to head for the clouds when a loud crunch sounded, causing him to turn back. Before him, he saw the Fortress begin to crumble to the snow outside, creating a cloud of its own out of the powdered snow. Part of Clark was sad to see the Fortress gone, but he knew as well that were he to leave as he planned, that there was no more need for it to be there. The Fortress of Solitude was gone, and soon, Kal-El and Clark Kent would be, too.