Welcome back to The Other Side of Possibility everyone! It's good to be back, especially with how well Broken Gears ended. I'm SO happy that BG mangaged to get to the 100 review marker with some new readers commenting on earlier chapters. I'm really looking forward to what everyone thinks of all the stuff from the past in this chapter. So, ON WITH THE SHOW!
Chapter 21
When Wisdom arrived back at the room she and Brainy had left Kal-El, her nanny was leaning against the wall looking exhausted. She wondered if her nanny had so much as sat during the last ten hours.
"You may go rest now," said Wisdom.
Standing up straighter, the nanny suddenly looked alarmed.
"Princess, what happened to you and Brainiac Five during the alignment? Your father is going to-"
"Cut my hair himself? How tragic," said Wisdom, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now leave."
"But princess-" began the nanny.
"Leave," shouted Wisdom.
After a quick bow, the nanny rushed away.
Wisdom turned to the door and tried to open it only to discover it was locked. There were no internal locks in any of the rooms except the main royal chamber so the nanny must have locked Kal-El in the room.
"And the idiot left with the key," sighed Wisdom. She concentrated on the lock, smiling when it clicked open. Walking in she was surprised by the mountain of pillows in the shape of a pyramid.
Coming out from behind the pillow pyramid, Kal-El looked relieved.
"Thank Krypton! I was so bored."
"So you built a pyramid," said Wisdom, somewhat impressed since all of the pillows were different shapes and would have been hard to keep together.
"Several times. You've been gone a long time," said Kal-El and he tried to look behind Wisdom. "Where's Brainy?"
"Sleeping upstairs. The alignment exhausted him," said Wisdom. "We'll fetch him in a moment but I wanted to talk with you."
"What about?" asked Kal-El, moving out from behind the pillow pyramid.
"Brainy," said Wisdom simply. "Do you remember meeting him before?"
"Meeting him before what?" asked Kal-El, confused.
"Before he came to Krypton this time," explained Wisdom.
"This time?" asked Kal-El. "You think he travels between dimensions frequently?"
"No, only once before, though that time it was without his body," said Wisdom.
"You're not making any sense," commented Kal-El.
"Are you saying you don't remember Smarty?" asked Wisdom.
"I get how you may know about Smarty through the alignment but what does it have to do with Brainy? Smarty was my imaginary friend a long, long time ago. I don't even remember him," said Kal-El.
"Imaginary friend," laughed Wisdom. "Is that how you explained it to yourself?"
"Wisdom, if you have something to say, say it," said Kal-El.
"Brainy and Smarty are one and the same," said Wisdom.
"I think Brainy would have said something if he had been Smarty," said Kal-El.
"He wouldn't if he didn't remember," said Wisdom.
"I don't understand how any of this is possible," said Kal-El.
"You don't remember Smarty and Brainy doesn't remember much of anything before the procedure that made him the hybrid he is today," said Wisdom. "Why is it so hard to believe?"
"We're from different dimensions! How could he have been here as my imaginary friend back when we were kids?" asked Kal-El, trying hard not to shout at her.
"I don't know how, but I can show you that it did happen," said Wisdom.
"How?" asked Kal-El.
"Think of it as a miniature narrowed alignment," said Wisdom.
"But I'm not Coluan and the alignment is over," said Kal-El.
"True, but what if I said I had mental super powers and could create a miniature narrowed alignment between us anyway," said Wisdom.
"I'd say that I learned to expect anything from Coluans but I don't like the idea of your messing with my mind," said Kal-El.
"Kal-El, if I wanted to mess with your mind I wouldn't be asking your permission," said Wisdom.
"Wow," said Kal-El.
"What?" asked Wisdom.
"I think that's the first time you've called me by name," said Kal-El.
"Do you want to know about Smarty or not?" asked Wisdom, agitated.
"Has the alignment made our little princess cranky?" asked Kal-El in the voice he usually used when talking to Martha.
"Don't make me hurt you," threatened Wisdom.
Kal-El made his, "oh, I'm so scared" face and laughed.
Glaring at him, Wisdom gathered up her mental abilities and blasted Kal-El into his pyramid of pillows with a thought.
Sitting up Kal-El threw his arms in the air in surrender.
"If I rebuild the pyramid, would you do that again?
"You certainly are a strange one," sighed Wisdom, anger gone. It was truly hard to stay mad at Kal-El. She imagined it must be very frustrating for her adoptive brother to deal with this Kryptonian on a daily basis.
"Thank you," grinned Kal-El, getting out from his destroyed pyramid. "Can we still do that narrowed alignment thing?"
"Sure I won't mess with your mind?" asked Wisdom.
"No, but since Brainy trusts you, so do I," said Kal-El.
"The same goes for you," said Wisdom. "Sit on the bed."
Doing as he as he was told, Kal-El hopped on the bed and crossed his legs into a pretzel. He jokingly put his fingers together as if he was going to meditate.
Sitting across from him, Wisdom stared at Kal-El's hands. She, like most Coluans, were uncomfortable with touch outside family but she was determined to do this for Brainy. She nervously ran her hands across her lap, trying to get rid of the sweat that developed there.
For Brainy, for Brainy, for Brainy, Wisdom mentally chanted, trying to will away the lessons that other species were idiotic and diseased.
"You okay?" asked Kal-El, watching her fidget with her hands as she stared at his.
"Fine, fine," insisted Wisdom. "Hold out your hands, press your forehead against mine and close your eyes. The memories will come shortly.
"Wisdom, I know Coluans don't like touching. You don't have to do this," said Kal-El, moving his to rest his hands on his own lap instead of reaching for Wisdom's.
The concern on Kal-El's face reaffirmed Wisdom's decision to do this. Not only for Brainy, but for Kal-El as well. She took hold of Kal-El's hands from his laps and held them firmly in her own. She leaned forward and closed her eyes.
Not wanting to make Wisdom feel uncomfortable Kal-El did as he was told, touching their foreheads together and closing his eyes.
Brainy was scared. He couldn't remember ever feeling so scared. His mother had gone somewhere and no one would tell him when she would be back. Then those men had came and took him to a dark and cold place and told him he would be sleeping for a long time yet he wasn't sleeping. He wasn't even the same place as before.
Only three years old Brainy sat in the middle of a different dark room and though this one was warmer it didn't stop him from being scared. He was crying, trying not to make a noise in fear something would come out of the dark and get him.
"Hey," called out a soft voice, making Brainy stifle his crying. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Looking up Brainy saw someone who was clearly not Coluan. Next to him was what appeared to be a boy his age with pale peach colored skin, black hair and blue eyes. Though he looked concerned, Brainy was still scared.
"Don't be scared," said the boy, sitting don't next to Brainy. "I won't hurt you. My name is Kal-El, what's yours?"
"Q-Querl," stammered Brainy, tears temporarily forgotten out of curiosity about the strange being next to him. He thought the boy looked strangely familiar, but when did he ever see a non-Coluan.
"Nice to meet you," said Kal-El. He tried to say the Coluan name but it wouldn't form properly on his undeveloped tongue. "Do you have another name?"
"Mommy says I'm the fifth Brainiac," said little Querl, his eyes tearing up again at the thought of his mother.
"I'm not allowed to say that name," said Kal-El. "There's a computer with that name that Daddy really hates. Do you have another name?"
Querl shook his head and put his head on his knees, sniffling.
"Being one of those mean you're really smart, right?" asked Kal-El.
Though Querl wasn't sure what the other boy meant by 'one of those' he nodded.
"Mommy says that I'm the smartest boy in the universe."
"That's amazing," exclaimed Kal-El. "My mommy says I'm the cutest."
Looking up at Kal-El, Querl wasn't sure if cute meant the same thing in this alien's language as in his but he thought Kal-El was certainly interesting looking.
"Can I call you 'smarty'?" asked Kal-El, smiling brightly.
It was the first time Querl ever saw someone other then his mother smile at him and this was the first time in a long time he saw any smile at all. Wanting it to stay in place, he nodded.
"Asher," exclaimed Kal-El happily. "So what's wrong Smarty?"
"I don't know how I got here," said Querl. "Or where my mommy is."
"Well until we find you a ride home you can stay here with me and my mommy can be your mommy," said Kal-El. He hugged his new green friend, amazed how similar the mark on Smarty's forehead, three white unconnected circles, looked like that computer's marking. Maybe his parents wouldn't notice?
Since it was late at night, Kal-El said they had to go back to sleep. They crawled into Kal-El's big boy bed and he pulled the covers over the two of them.
"Don't worry Smarty, I'll take care of you," said Kal-El as the two boys drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Kal-El practically bounced out of bed, waking up Smarty in the process, and ran to the kitchen shouting, "Mommy, Mommy, come meet my new friend!"
"New friend," asked Laura excitedly. "When did you meet a new friend?"
"Last night, he appeared in my room," exclaimed Kal-El, grabbing hold of Laura's hand and dragging her into his room. He pointed at Smarty, who was sitting up and sleepily rubbing his eyes. "See?"
Laura looked around but didn't see anything.
"Kal-El, did you dream your new friend?"
"No," protested Kal-El. "He's right there!"
Seeing Laura look straight at him, Smarty nervously waved.
"Sweetie, I don't see anybody," said Laura.
Kal-El and Smarty exchanged looked, both equally confused.
"Never mind," said Kal-El, letting go of his mother's hand. He waited until she was gone before turning back to Smarty. "You must be invisible to everyone but me."
Alarmed, Smarty looked at his hands, relieved when he could still see them.
"If Mommy can't see then Daddy probably can't either," said Kal-El. "We'll have to keep you a secret."
"Why?" asked Smarty.
"So people won't try to make you go away," said Kal-El.
And so they kept Smarty a secret. Talking in secret and super secretly making plans to leave the planet so they could get Smarty home.
"I don't know how to fly a space ship," said Kal-El. "I guess I'll just have to learn how to fly like a bird."
"I think we should wait for my mommy to come get me," said Smarty. "We shouldn't leave the planet on our own."
"But what if your mommy doesn't know where you are?" asked Kal-El.
"She'll find me. My mommy is the greatest at playing hide and seek, you'll see," said Smarty confidently.
They learned soon enough that Smarty didn't need to eat. He never felt hungry and when Kal-El tried to feed him some food from his plate during dinner, the food fell through his mouth and onto the floor. They felt bad about making Laura clean it up so they decided not to try again.
Smarty followed Kal-El wherever he went. He sat next to him in the hovercraft, with Kal-El holding onto him so he wouldn't fall over, and attended daycare with him. Since no one could see or hear Smarty he would often help Kal-El in the games, but never helped with the work.
"I can't know things for you. You gotta learn it," said Smarty.
Time went by and life with them always together became second nature to them both. They slept together, played together and Smarty would talk to Kal-El when it was time to eat and splash him whenever Laura wasn't looking during bath time. On more then one occasion they thought Jor-El discovered their secret. They would freeze, wait for Jor-El to make the first move, and be relieved when he only said to "have fun". Over time Smarty even started to call Laura, "mommy" and Jor-El, "daddy" even though they couldn't hear him.
When they were five they met Zel-Kar when Smarty pushed away am older boy that was bullying her. Since she was the only one who didn't believe the wind did it they told her about Smarty and she became a keeper of their secret. Her and her mother since she told before she knew it was secret.
Though Zel-Kar couldn't see or hear Smarty like everyone else she became just as much his friend as she was Kal-El's. She talked to him, waiting for Kal-El to tell her what Smarty had said, and played many games with them. She even cried once because she wanted to be able to see Smarty too.
"Smarty, when is your birthday?" asked Zel-Kar.
"I don't know," said Smarty.
"He doesn't know," said Kal-El.
"Why not?" asked Zel-Kar.
"We don't celebrate birthdays until after the procedure," said Brainy.
"His people don't celebrate birthdays until after the procedure," said Kal-El.
"What procedure?" asked Zel-Kar.
"I don't know what it is, but it's suppose to be a good thing," said Smarty.
"He doesn't know but it's a good thing," said Kal-El. "Can we play something else know? Or at least include me in the conversation besides being the note passer?"
When they were six Kal-El and Smarty were in their room playing with their toy rockets when Smarty suddenly dropped his.
"I don't feel so good," said Smarty, his image slowly disappearing before it completely vanished.
Brainiac Five woke up on a slab with many other Coluans standing over him. He regarded them for only a moment before looking at his own hand. It was harder then normal flesh and he instinctively changed it into several different tools. The procedure had been completed.
"Come this way Brainiac Five and we'll show you your lab," said one of the Coluan's beckoning the boy who no longer remembered anything before that day.
Kal-El re-opened his own eyes, feeling them immediately tearing up. He remembered now. He remembered being so panicked when Smarty disappeared. He called for him to come back and cried for weeks. Nothing his parents could say consoled him because he wouldn't tell them what would happen and he stayed home for ages.
When Smarty didn't return Kal-El thought that maybe Smarty had never existed at all. He stopped looking for him and stopped talking about him and when Zel-Kar didn't say anything he thought that Smarty had never existed after all. He buried the memory of Smarty deep in his mind and never thought of green boys from other worlds until Brainy appeared on the beach that fateful night.
Separating Wisdom pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve and dabbed Kal-El's eyes with it. She said, "Those were deeply buried memories so Brainy doesn't know anything about this. I trust you'll be able to determine when the best time to tell him is."
"I'm not sure if there is a good time," said Kal-El. "But thank you for showing this to me. I know now, more then ever before, that Brainy and I were meant to be together. I'm never going to let him go."