This is going to be longer than expected. Another chapter will follow after this one. This contains some scenes that were supposed to be in my previous story 'Lose your humanity'. Mainly the nightmare-scenes in this one.
It was without doubt, the biggest crisis ever since Superman's debut but once again it was solved. The Allys were separated again, the worlds divided again and everyone (expect Tal-Rho) was back on his original Earth.
With things finally settle down again, Clark had time to think about Jon again. It was the day before the town will celebrate a party for him. He was laying in their bed, Lois cuddled next to him, and tried to sleep. But everything still bothered him. At some point, he finally fell asleep and suddenly found himself in a terrible nightmare…
Clark found himself in their old kitchen in Metropolis. Watching himself with a cup of coffee in the hand and with the five years old boys sitting on the table.
"What is going on here?"
"Shhhh… Jonathan is now telling me what he wants to ask us if he ever met our alter ego." His other self hissed before turned back to the boys.
Clark suddenly saw his five years old son Jonathan again…
"If I ever met Superman, I want to ask him if he can teach me to fly!" the little boy said happily.
Clarks other self, spit his coffee on Jonathan and start to laugh maniacally.
"What? Flying? You?! HAHAHAHAHAHA…"
"Hey, I didn't react like that!" Clark said offended. "I spit my coffee on Lois and said it's cute!"
"Come on… Do you really want to teach this worthless human to fly?" the other Clark said.
"Yeah, I am the one who gets flying lessons!" the young Jordan said with a smile while the young Jonathan start to cry.
"Hey, that's mean!" Clark said and tried to comfort the crying little boy but suddenly he found himself in the living-room of the Metropolis brownstone. Jonathan laying on the ground and looking fascinated on the screen where Clark could see himself in his Superman persona. Footage of him using his powers.
"Superman is so cool, isn't he?" the around 6- or 7-years old Jonathan said to Clark. "Impressive! He is invulnerable! Nothing can hurt him! And he is so awesome! So strong and so fast!"
"Oh, yes! Yes, he is!" Clark said when he sat down next to Jonathan to watch himself on the screen. It was footage that was so close, as if someone filmed him the whole time. "Who filmed that?"
"Wouldn't it be cool to be like that, too? I wish I would be bullet-proof! Or could fly! Or be so fast!"
"Everyone wants powers!" suddenly general Anderson appeared next to him. Saying that in the same manor he told it to Clark when he was in treatment at the DOD.
"Everyone wants them!" Clark realized before suddenly the surroundings changed again, and he stood in front of the farm.
Jonathan passed him with lowered head, carrying his backpack.
"Why Jordan can fly with dad, and I have to go school?"
"So, you can deal with the fallout of his auctions while he has fun with your father!" Lois said a bit harshly. "You prepare the team for the arrival of your cheating brother. And as soon as he leaves, and everyone takes X-K you deal with the trouble."
"Of course I prefer players with superpowers!" Coach Gaines' voice yelled from somewhere.
"Useful… it is your fault when you get killed!" suddenly Lois yelled again.
Suddenly Clark was with Lois and Jonathan in the kitchen of the farmhouse and watched her yelling on Jonathan.
"I was no help with the truck, so I hoped…"
"To get yourself killed! You are supposed to stand by the lines uselessly. Your brother has the powers, so he is helpful with everything! With the repair of the truck, with saving your dad, with everything." Lois yelled.
"Lois, this is mean!" Clark interfered, realizing that Lois was verbally abusing Jonathan.
"Clark, go and make a costume for Jordan! While I soothe Jonathan with speeches about extraordinary humans!" Lois snapped.
"Am I not Kryptonian?"
"If you would be Kryptonian, you would have powers!" Lois yelled. "And not standing there, watching your brother fighting and your father getting hurt."
Clark suddenly stood on the porch and watched Jonathan witnessing his brother beating up Jon-El.
"Please… Don't kill him! You kill a part of me! You kill the only one who understands me!" Jonathan whispered.
"Jonathan, please look at me!" Clark said. "He is not a part of you! I am!"
Jonathan looked on him.
"Everyone hates me! I have no future!" Jonathan said to him with a sad expression when they suddenly stood next to the tractor in the barn.
"That's not true! We find a solution!" Clark tried to comfort him.
"After our flight training!" suddenly Jordan jumped between them and took Clark away. Leaving Jon behind. "Jon… clean the barn! I go to have fun with my father.
Clark tried to shy away but suddenly he saw himself again and Jordan jumping happily like little kids in a white snowy area.
"That was cool! And now show me the Kessel-run!" Jordan said excited.
Clark stormed towards them to scold them.
"What? NO! No Kessel-run!" Clark screamed desperately. "Jordan, you are grounded for skiving your chores. And you Clark… you go back home and help Jonathan with the chores!"
"I don't care for Jonathan. He can't fly!" his other self said to him mockingly pointing on Jonathan, who stood next to them, and desperately tried to fly by jumping up ever and ever again. But was not able to keep himself in the air. "This is much more fun than stinking chores that useless bungler can do for us."
"Yeah…" Jordan smiled. "I am more important than him!"
Clark wanted to scold himself and Jordan again, when he suddenly found himself in Tal's fortress…
An elder man, looking like around 80 years old or even older, walked slowly and exhausted with his crutches towards the podium to activate the crystal.
"Who are you?" Lara asked when she appeared.
"I am your grandson! Jonathan!" the old man wailed.
"Who? I don't know a Jonathan?"
"Did my father never mention me?"
"No!"
"That is not true!" Clark interfered and went closer.
"This place is only for Kryptonians!" Lara said to the old Jonathan before she turned to Clark. "He has no right to be here. Good that you never told him how to get here."
"Please, I spend decades to find this place. My father never told me where it is. But I need to talk to you. Do you love me, too?" the old Jonathan asked desperately.
"How dare you to come here and bother your brother's grandmother?" suddenly another, much younger looking Clark entered and grabbed the old Jonathan violently by his arm. "This place is only for people who can fly!"
"But…"
"Only for people who can fly!" suddenly Jordan appeared. He was wearing a Superman suit and still a teenager. "She does not even want to see humans!"
"But… she is my grandmother, too!"
"Come on! I am going to be at least five times older than you, thanks to my Kryptonian biology." Clark said. "I don't care that you got elected president five times, or that you speak more languages than your brother. You will die like every other human your age…"
"Or earlier!" Jordan said.
"NO!" Clark yelled.
But suddenly he stood in the barn again. A lot of people stood there, watching a boy who was hanging from the ceiling with a rope around his neck.
"I wonder what took him so long to do it?" Zeta-Rho asked when he appeared next to him. "This boy is a shame for out kind. Not even worth to merge with his other self. Weak and worthless!"
Clark looked on the boy, who was hanging from the ceiling. He slowly turned around to reveal that it was Jonathan. A suicide note hanging from his chest.
'Sorry that I can't fly!'
Clark woke up in shock, with tears in his eyes and bathed in sweat...
He lifted out the bed to check Jonathan in his room immediately. That nightmare was intense. It was obviously a summary of Jonathan's greatest fears. And he was responsible for them.
Clark used his hearing to check Jonathan. He was okay. But obviously, like Jordan does for a while now, he only pretends to sleep. Clark thought about going in there and talk to him. But Jonathan was still pretending that their brief talk after his return from his brother's flight training never happened. The boy was still not opening after that humiliation. And going to his room would just prove Jonathan that he spied on him again.
Clark felt that urge to grab him and take him to the fortress immediately. But he was sure that Jonathan gave up to ever met his grandmother and would hate him only much more if he acts on his own. But maybe… no! He was too upset now. Clark speeded out of the house and flew multiple times around the world just to calm down. Thinking about everything and letting his own tears flow. He needed to talk to someone. Someone who would know what he should do. The only person that came into his mind was Lara.
Clark flew to the desert fortress and inserted her crystal to let her appear.
"Kal-El my son. What brings you to me?"
"Mother… there is something about my son Jonathan, that you should now."
"Jonathan? Oh yes, your other son. I would love to meet him, too one day. What is the reason he never accompanies you here?"
"The reason is me!" Clark said and lowered his head. "I need to confess you something."
And so, Clark told her as detailed as possible, what happened between him and Jonathan and why Jonathan seems to have given up his relationship with his father.
"I can't believe what you say. I am deeply disappointed in you Kal."
"I am sorry, mother."
"Don't apologize to me. Your son Jonathan is the one you need to apologize to. Your father and I feared, you could lose the crystals and you and your family could never learn where you come from. That Jonathan never got the chance to meet his grandfather makes one of my biggest fears come true."
"I know now better that I should have taken him to his grandfather, too."
"You excluded your son from his Kryptonian heritage just because of powers?! Because you call him the human-one. He isn't fully human. He never was. As your son, he is a Kryptonian, too. A heir of the house of El. The powers you have, you have only because of the yellow sun. On Krypton, you and your sons wouldn't have powers. Would you had treated them on Krypton like that, too?"
"No! It was a mistake. I know that now, and I can only try to apologize for it. I wish there is a way I can show him that I truly care for him."
"Your father and I hoped your powers won't be so strong when we choose Earth as your new home. I am proud of your heroics, but it is absolutely no excuse for neglecting Jonathan. I will help you, Kal. But there will be conditions!"
"Yes, mother. I will do everything! Which one?"
"First of all, I want you to apologize to your son for not introducing him to your father and to me. Also, I expect you to bring him on the same knowledge you brought Jordan to. I also expect you to bring him to me regularly, so I can share my knowledge with him, too. And also, I want to check him, why his powers haven't shown up yet."
"Yes, mother. Ehm… yet?"
"I also expect from you to treat Jonathan like a full legit member of the house of El, too. I will talk to him, and should I figure out that you prohibited him to wear our crest only because of his lack of powers, you will be a shame for the house of El."
"Yes, ma'am!" Clark said ashamed.
"Jonathan is a Kryptonian, too! He is your son, too! Powers or not. Being Kryptonian has nothing to do with powers. It's culture, knowledge, legacy, and pride. He definitely has inherited the El-pride. Maybe therefore he never opened to you about his struggles."
"Maybe!"
"Will you promise to me, that Jonathan will be treated equally like Jordan from now?"
"I do!"
"Good! Then I will show you how to make Jonathan proud of his heritage!" Lara said and turned around to face the wall behind her.
Suddenly a little opening appeared. Then a crystal came floating out of it and landed in Clark's hand.
"Take this crystal. It will help you create a whole new fortress."
"A new fortress?" Clark asked.
"Yes, a fortress for everyone. For your whole family."
"A place for everyone. That's… that's a great idea." Clark said.
After the destruction of his own fortress, he felt lost. And this is Tal's fortress. As nice as it was to see his mother here, this place was not able to warm his heart like his fortress, did. Maybe because of Zeta-Rho's evil plans that were made here. A whole new fortress would be great.
"Let me remind you Kal, that the new fortress is for the whole family of yours! It is not only you and Jordan. It's for everyone. I would love to meet your wife, too and show her everything about Krypton. And I could teach your son Jonathan a lot about the technology of our people? Or our language?"
"He… He will be excited! Thank you, mother. I must return home again. But I will look for a suitable location and bring my family over there."
"Remember that Jonathan is allowed to visit it every time he wants and as often as he wants. So, take care that he has no problems accessing it!"
"I will take care of it." Clark said before he left to return to Smallville. Just in time before Lois woke up and they all prepared to go to the party in town.
Clark knew a great spot for the new fortress. Even though he knew that Jonathan would say, it is only for the people in the family who can fly…
After the previous seasons, I couldn't imagine that Clark had the idea for a 'family-fortress' by himself. Everyone is so fixed on Jon being human, that I can't believe that Clark really meant it when he said the fortress is for everyone. I guess Lara was involved. I hope you enjoyed this one. Another chapter is in progress!