Jon only moaned. But he avoided to yell out a loud 'what the fuck'.
His father just said something about a surprise. But he was not in mood for surprises. Not after this terrible day. His father just said to get dressed in warm clothes and meet him outside. He wondered what kind of surprise his father could have on a Saturday evening at half past 8 in a town that had nothing to offer, instead of a bonfire sometimes. But he was sure that neither he nor Jordan will ever be invited to one ever again after the terrible end of their first one…
Dressed in a warm jacket and with winter-boots, Jon walked downstairs. Jordan was in his room, talking with Sarah over the phone and his mother was waiting downstairs at the stair. She had a bright smile on her face and nodded. Wishing him a lot of fun with his father 'over there'.
Slowly Jon began to realize what his father's surprise was…
"Awww… No!" he moaned when he met his waiting dad outside. Dressed in warmer clothes, too. "Don't tell me you want to show me your fortress?"
"It's long overdue…" his father said well-tempered.
Before Jon was able to say, that he does not want to go there, his father already holds him by his arms, lifting him from the safe ground…
Jon screamed. Not because it was too fast, or too high. He screamed because he was surprised. So, this was flying?! Just feeling blurred, not able to see anything and after a few seconds, stopping somewhere and suddenly feeling the icy air of the Arctic region. It didn't hurt or was anyway unpleasant. Even some kind of disappointing because Jon didn't feel anything. Jordan said that it felt great to fly with him. His mom praised it as a wonderful feeling. But Jon didn't feel anything…
Being dragged beyond the Arctic circle, to God-knows-where was not how Jon imagined spending the evening. His father slowly and carefully landed them both in a hilly area. It was dark and cold but at least there was no strong wind and no snowfall right now.
"You will like it…" Clark said after he placed Jon next to him and showed him the area. "It is right here!"
"Where?" Jon said annoyed. Everything he was able to see was snow. When he tried to make a step away from his father, he was falling. "AGHHHH…"
"Jonathan are you okay?" his father said scared, when he pulled his son, who sank into the deep snow up to his chest, up again. "Watch your step! Since the fortress is not active anymore, the snow around it is not as safe as before."
"Really?" Jon moaned. A cave that automatically dense the snow around it to make it safe to walk on it? Seriously?
His father began to blush about how he came here for the first time and witnessed the crystal creating this place before he used his heat-vision to clear the entrance from the snow. Another automatic feature that wasn't anymore.
Jon was led by his father to the dark entrance. He didn't see anything instead of pitch-black-darkness. "You know I don't have night-vision, don't you?"
"Just a second…" his father said.
Before he left, he kept sure that Jon stood safe this time. Then he super speeded into the fortress and Jon could see brief flashes of his heat-vision and steadily the cave filled with light. After the fortress was destroyed, his father went here several times, looking for a way to restore or to repair it. While doing so, he brought some kerosene lamps from the farm. These lamps were able to light the cave up just enough to see how big it once was and how it was shaped.
"Come in, no need to be nervous!"
Jon wasn't nervous. He just felt out of place here. Why today? Why after dark and why now? There was nothing to see here anymore. It was a lifeless cave in the Arctic that was filling more and more with ice and snow. It was just a matter of time before it would be swallowed completely by the nature.
"What do you say?" his father asked, presenting him the 'leftovers'. "Here I figured out where I came from and learned to use my powers for better. And right where you stand, I asked your mother to marry me."
A thousand thoughts shoot threw Jon's head. Like: Who cares? Why now? There is nothing to see here! It Is just a dead cave! But everything he was able to ask (but just because he couldn't believe it) was: "You used to live here for years?"
"I know it's not the same anymore! But when I arrived here for the first time it was astonishing."
What followed was a weird tour threw the cave, in which Clark explained his son what this place was able to do or to show him. He explained him the control-panel (at least what was left of it). And what it showed him.
"His holographic-image would be right here. He would look on you and say…"
"That I will never be like you!" it blurted out of Jon, annoyed. It was the same it once said to Jordan.
His father's bright smile faded away. "I'm sorry, Jonathan! I know, it is just some stupid ice-cave in the middle of nowhere now. And it was not fair from me to just take Jordan here the first time. I should have taken you with here back then. I mean, just because Jordan has powers…"
"And me not?" Jonathan asked with an annoyed shrug.
His father moaned: "That's not what I mean. I mean… It was really not fair from me! It's part of your heritage, too…"
Hearing this, Jon was sure that his parents never received a letter. And he had no clue what the woman (gosh he doesn't even know her name) told him a few hours ago. But does it mean that his father believes he is a Half-Kryptonian, too? Should he be relieved, that his father cares for him? He was too upset and too tired to think clearly now…
"…and it's sad that you will never ever meet your grandfather now. Telling you about Krypton, about our family… Jonathan, you can be honest to me! Does it bother you to have me, a literal alien, as your father?"
"What?"
"I mean… I know it can be bothering. My question is… Are you sad?"
"About what?"
"Are you sad that only Jordan got powers and you not? Or are you afraid of getting them?"
"THAT'S THE REASON YOU DRAGGED ME TO THIS ICE-TRAP?" Jon screamed mad. "SERIOUSLY… YOU DRAG ME ALL THE WAY HERE TO THIS… THIS… I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CALL THIS CAVE!"
"Jonathan, I was worried about you. I thought… It would be good to see where you…"
"YOU MEAN WHERE YOU COME FROM!" Jonathan continued screaming, before he realized that his throat starts to hurt from it. "Do you really think that it is about powers, or Krypton or any of that crap? NO… You know nothing! You have no clue about how I feel…"
Clark watched his son turning around and walking towards the entry. "Where are you going?"
"HOME!"
"Alone?"
"SAFE YOUR POWERS! I'LL WALK…" Jon yelled, turned around and made just one step before he stopped and realized how ridiculous the last sentence was… He could try to walk the around 3.000 miles back to Kansas, but he won't make it far without to freeze to death.
Reluctantly, he waited for his father to turn of the lamps and fly him home. This time he didn't scream. He already knew how boring it feels to fly…
Without greeting anyone, he entered the house just a bit later, stormed upstairs and went straight to his room and smashed the door close strong enough to let the whole house vibrate.
"You're home again?" Lois asked surprised when she came out of her office and saw Clark in the hallway earlier than expected.
"I thought, he was struggling with being the powerless child!" Clark said. "But I was wrong! It's something else and I don't get what."
"What could it be?" Lois asked. "Gosh… did I…"
"No, Lois it's not you!" Clark said before he suddenly heard a job for Superman far away. "Sorry, Lois…"
"Okay, I try to talk to him. Go!" Lois said and Clark super-speeded away to safe the people on a Greek island from the ongoing earthquake.
In his room, Jon could hear the familiar 'swoosh'. Knowing that his father was out, to safe the day again. Just seconds later, he heard his mom knocking on the door.
"Jonathan?"
"Leave me alone!"
Hearing this, Lois became just more worried. But she didn't want to start another argument. "Okay… Jonathan, I'll be downstairs if you want to talk…"
Jon felt the urge to talk to someone. But not his parents! But who else? Jordan would tell him that it is impossible and then tell everything to the adults. Sarah would tell everything Jordan. John-Henry would tell everything Lois and Natalie couldn't stand him. In her eyes he was fully Kryptonian, with no permission to be on this planet anyway. Jon had no idea… He had no close friends here and no true friends in Metropolis. Still asking himself why he was so stupid to think that his team-members in Metropolis were true friends.
But he had to talk to someone… someone who was not biased and would not spread it around… someone who was not connected to Smallville or to his old High-School in Metropolis… suddenly he remembered an old friend who moved to Germany a couple of years ago…
Without really thinking about it, he used his computer on the desk to open Facebook and to start a video-chat… using headphones and talking quietly… his father was not home, and his brother was distracted…
9:41 p.m. in Kansas meant 4:41 a.m. in Berlin, the capital of Germany. Where is old friend Timmy Tanner lived with his parents for five years now. The first calls were ignored. Which was no surprise, considering what time it was in Europe now.
'Timmy, please call me back. It's really important. Don't forget our swear!' Jonathan wrote in the chat.
Timmy, he and Jordan were good friends before he moved to Europe. His father worked for the planet, too before he was sent as a correspondent to Germany. As far as he knew, he was never in touch with anyone from the Metropolis football team or anyone from Smallville. Before he moved away, they swore to be friends forever and help and support each other when there is trouble. It was time…
A minute after he wrote his message, his friend finally called back…
"Hey, Timmy… good evening!" Jon said relieved and a bit happy again.
His friend in Germany responded with a loud yawn… "Jon… yawn… you mean… good morning!"
"Yeah, good morning! Ehm… Guten Morgen!" Jon said in German. One of the few words he knew.
Timmy Tanner, a slender boy, with short brown hair and normally an always friendly smile on his face, was not happy to get dragged out of bed in the middle of night. For some reason, the first what catches Jon's attention was a big Superman-poster on the wall behind his friend.
"Aww… Timmy, I know it's a bad time but I have a really serious problem…"
Jon told him everything what happened. The woman, everything she told him, her clues, her theories and her proofs…
He watched his friend's expression change from tired and disinterested to shocked and upset. Now he was fully awake…
"WHAT?!" his friend screamed, loud enough to wake up his parents.
"SHHH… Stop screaming." Jon hissed. Glad that he used headphones and that his brother did so, too while playing games right in this moment.
"You… you don't really believe that?"
"I don't know what to believe! Everything is just… aww… I don't know…"
"A Moldavian woman, stalks you for days, tells you that she is your real mother, and you think it could be true?" his friend asked shocked. Jon just shrugged. "Oh my gosh… Just because you look like your dead husband… that does not mean anything I mean… look at me! A classmate told me I look like a famous Turkish actor. But that doesn't mean that I think that I am the son of that man."
Once again Jon just shrugged.
"You are very kind-hearted. You always have been, Jon. Did you tell her that you have a twin-brother? Oh…" Timmy suddenly remembered that Jon and Jordan were as different as day and night. "Ehm… anyway… what makes you so sure that she could be right? I mean, what's the issue in your family that makes you sure that they are not your parents?"
After that question, Jon's eyes wandered to the Superman-poster again. "It's complicated!"
"Jon, what you tell me sounds like a television-drama, or a soap-opera! You know that there are a lot of easy ways to figure out the truth? Blood-tests for example!"
"I… I don't know… A blood test sounds… well…"
"What? Are you afraid of needles? Or what makes you so afraid of a DNA-test?"
Once again, Jon's eyes wandered to the Superman-poster in the background. "My family is… pretty special…"
Timmy was right: There were easy ways to figure out the truth. A blood-test could easily show him what is right and what is wrong. But otherwise… if he is really Clark Kent's and Lois Lane's son, a blood-test could reveal things, he was not sure about how he will handle them. It could prove that he is human, without the burden of always thinking about Krypton. But it could also show that he is not fully human. And he already has enough issues… not knowing where he belongs…
That's how his brother felt all these years and especially after the reveal. His brother always felt out of place. So does he now. But a blood-test could bust the whole family. If he is their son…
"You can't imagine how complicated my life is. You wouldn't believe me the things I could tell you but not able to."
"So bad?" Timmy asked.
Once again, Jon's eyes wandered to the Superman-poster in the background. "Even worse."
"Okay Jon, now you become scary."
"I don't know… There are a lot clues that the woman could really be my true mother. Otherwise there are also some clues that make it impossible. I just don't know what to do now…" Jon explained before he told his friend about the past year and everything what happened since their move to Smallville. Of course leaving everything Superman and Kryptonian related out.
"I was allready wondering why your room looks different…" his friend murmured and rubbed his tired eyes. "…aww… Jon, you need to tell your parents. No matter how weird it is or how freaky your family. Better an end to terror than endless terror. Otherwise, they love you… Are you afraid that they throw you out if you are not their son? Or why is it such a big issue with your parents?"
Jon had to look on the poster behind his friend again. "That's a long story!"
He wouldn't have to be worried about 'alien-hunters'. He could live his life as a human again. Never having the concern or thinking of getting powers or forever beeing the powerless one. And Timmy was right: His parents love him. He can't imagine that they throw him out just because he is a full human. But he was also afraid to tell them… Gosh, beeing part of a human-kryptonian family is no fun…
"Sorry, for waking you up Timmy." Jon moaned and rubbed his aching... "I have to find a solution for this by myself."
"Talk to your parents. Really! And who cares if you are Moldavian? That's better than beeing an alien!" Timmy said with a smile. Not knowing how offending the last sentence sound (would sound) for Jon if he is (is not) his father's son.
"Aww… thanks. And sorry again." Jon said, ending the call…
Jon, closed Facebook and saw the latest breaking news about the earthquake in Greece. And a photo of his (supposed) father, holding a wall and preventing it from crushing two children…
Photos like this, always impressed Jon. When they were small, he and his brother were so impressed by absolutely everything about Superman. The powers, the costume, the heroics, the bravery…They always asked themselves how it would be to meet him. How it feels to fly? How it is to be so strong? How it feels when nothing can hurt you?...
Jon opened Google to find out more about Blood-groups. His parents never told him his blood type. Always being convinced that he has no normal 'blood-group'. Just like his brother, or his father. He knew his father's and his brother's one: K positive! K for Kryptonian. Even Edge's one: K negative!
He googled the hospital he was born in and about children that got switched at birth. He found old articles proving that the woman told him the truth!
On May 3rd, 2007, the day he was born, an overworked and overtired nurse made a mistake. After a child died of 'sudden infant death syndrome', a nurse accidentally panicked, and the mistake happened. 3 babies were switched after.
Was it true? Is he living in the wrong family? Being part of Superman's family just by mistake? Did his mother loose another child? Or is it somewhere out there? Jon turned of the computer and laid down on his bed. Brooding about it for hours. He could hear that Jordan was already in bed. Downstairs he was able to hear the TV. Jon had no clue how, but somehow, he managed to fall asleep.
Just to wake up after a couple of minutes. He had weird dreams. Nightmares! The craziest things ran threw his head. He barely managed to sleep longer than a half an hour at once…
He dreamed of being guest in a talk-show, with the host (Timmy) and the audience (his former and his current football-teams) laughing about him, believing that he is Superman's son without powers… he felt so embarrassed.
He dreamed of meeting Jordan's real twin, who is mad on him that they live in freedom, while he was put into a lab because he was developing powers.
He dreamed of being in a foreign country (Moldova he guessed, he had no clue how it looks there) drinking Vodka with a bunch of Cossacks and eating Shashlik with them.
He dreamed of an elder man, wearing the Superman symbol (Jor-El maybe, he never met him and didn't know what he looked like) scolding him for wearing a Superman-t-shirt, because he has no right to wear the crest of the house of El, as he was never part of it.
He dreamed about being the matter of online-discussions and Internet-videos, all making jokes about why he believed he could be Superman's son without having at least one of his powers…
But there was one dream… that was very confusing…
Please review and keep well!