Hey, guys!

I think it's only been a month, but it kinda feels like forever, lol. I hope you're all doing well!

Chapter Twelve

The next day found Jon-El in the barn. It was a little bit of a surprise to him, but he found out that he didn't actually mind the farm chores all that much. As long as he didn't have to scoop any sort of animal poop.

He had been doing them with Clark, but he was called away in the middle of tractor maintenance. So while Clark was gone he decided to polish it. The tractor could use a bit of polish, and it would keep him from accidentally breaking anything.

It was slow going, but it gave him the time to think about what had happened the night before.

He still couldn't shake the hug out of his head.

Lois had hugged him. He still couldn't believe that she didn't hate him, and now she had hugged him.

He couldn't even remember the last time his actual mother had hugged him. It was probably when he was little…

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps pulled Jon-El out of his thoughts and he looked up.

"Hey," Jordan said as he walked in. Both of his hands were stuffed into his gray hoodie, and he looked pretty nervous if Jon-El was being honest. For the first time since he had been on this world, Jon-El could actually see his twin in Jordan Kent.

"Uh, hi," Jon-El greeted.

Jordan walked up to the tractor, then leaned against the hood. "What are you up to?" he asked.

Jon-El frowned. This was the first question Jordan had asked him that wasn't actually accusatory. "Just polishing the tractor."

Jordan nodded. "Hey, I have a question."

Jon-El looked around. He wasn't really supposed to be having a conversation with either of the twins without Lois or Clark around. "Okay," he said. "What is it?"

"So, I get that everything is square on your world and that the sun is red, but what else is different?" he said.

Jon-El raised his eyebrows. This was the question that Jordan was asking him. "Uh… I mean, the fashion is different for sure," he said. "I don't think we have the same celebrities either."

"Oh yeah!" Jordan said, maybe just a little bit too enthusiastically. "You were a celebrity. What was that like?"

Jon-El hesitated. His status on his own earth was something that he hadn't really talked about much… On the one hand, he had finally gotten the attention that he had been craving, even if it wasn't from his parents. But on the other hand, it was the fame and attention that had ruined his parent's marriage, it had meant that his father was never around…

"I mean… I guess the interviews were kinda cool," he said. "But I wish Dad had been around more…"

"Wait, he wasn't around?" Jordan asked.

Jon-El put down the polishing rag as he shook his head. "No, not really."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. If he knew the answer to that question, then maybe he could have fixed it. Maybe he wouldn't feel so empty. "He just… wasn't."

Jordan stood up so he wasn't leaning against the tractor anymore. "Was it cause you joined Ally's cult?"

Jon-El tensed, unsure of where this conversation would go next. "No," he said. "He was like that long before I joined."

"Did you know what she was up to?" Jordan asked. "That she was killing people?"

Jon-El swallowed. "I mean… I knew that there had been a couple of riots, but she said that it was all a misunderstanding."

"And you believed her?"

He had. Jon-El had just let it slide. He hadn't researched it himself afterwards, he hadn't even considered that maybe what she was saying had been a lie.

"Yes."

Jordan let out a chuckle. "Really?" he said. "You didn't even think to see if she was wrong, you just went with it because she, what? Promised you world domination or something?"

No. She had promised him that he would be whole. That the empty feeling inside of him would go away…

"She showed me proof," Jon-El said as his cheeks burned with guilt and shame.

"Yeah, that a different world existed, not that she wasn't some crazy cult leader," Jordan said. "Seriously, how could you fall for such an obvious trap?"

The words were out before Jon-El could stop them. "Because she promised to help!"

Suddenly, there was a fire in Jordan's eyes. It wasn't the fiery glow that Jon-El was used to though, this wasn't heat vision.

Jordan took a step closer. "She promised to fix your daddy issues," he laughed.

Jon-El's cheeks felt like they were on fire. "Shut up!" he said. "You don't know anything about me."

"Do you have any idea how pathetic that is?" Jordan said. "You joined a cult because your daddy wouldn't pay any attention to you."

If only it had been that simple. If only that was all of it… "Just stop," Jon-El said as his eyes began to water against his will.

"You gonna cry?" Jordan asked, closing the distance between the two of them. "Why don't you run back to your cult leader and let her wipe away your tears?"

Jon-El clinched his fists, and tried to will away the fiery anger that was growing in his chest. "Jordan…"

"You say your brother was the weak one, so what does that make you?"

"Please, stop," Jon-El begged.

Jordan shook his head. "You're the crybaby, the one who had to run away to a cult to get anyone to realize you even existed," he said. "You're the murderer, the freak, the disappointment."

Jon-El tried to swallow down the guilt and the anger, but he couldn't.

"No wonder your father didn't love you."

Before he could stop himself, Jon-El swung.

His fist collided with Jordan's face, and he watched as Jordan stumbled back.

"Shut up!" Jon-El shouted. "You don't know anything about me!"

Jordan's hand went to the injured area as a sick feeling began to settle into Jon-El's stomach.

He had hurt Jordan.

He had broken the rules…

Jon-El took a step back, and he looked down at his hand. There was blood on it. Not only had he punched Jordan, he had punched him hard enough that he had bled.

What had he done?

Suddenly, in a burst of cold air, Clark was in the room. He looked between the two of them, seemingly taking in the scene.

"Jordan?" he asked, and Jon-El could hear the concern in Clark's voice.

Jordan looked over at Clark. "Dad…"

At the sight of his face, Clark's expression darkened and he turned towards Jon-El. "What did you do?"

Jon-El shrunk. Clark's eyes were filled with anger, with coldness… The same look that had always been on his father's face.

"I…" Jon-El began, but then he stopped. They would never believe him.

Clark turned back to Jordan. "Go get your mother," he said.

Jon-El watched as Jordan left the barn, leaving him alone with Clark.

Never in his life had he expected himself to actually be scared when Jordan left the room, but now Jon-El couldn't ignore the way his heartbeat spiked when he left.

If Jon-El had learned anything over the past week, it was that Clark wasn't exactly like his father. But now… Clark was angry, more angry than he had ever seen him.

Would he hurt him?

"Clark…" Jon-El said desperately. He knew that no one would believe him if he explained, but maybe he could help his situation.

Clark looked over at Jon-El. "I trusted you."

The words broke Jon-El, and the floodgates he had been keeping back.

Clark had trusted him.

He had ruined everything…

He couldn't stop the heavy sobs as Lois and Jordan came back into the barn. In fact, they only got worse when he saw the look on Lois's face.

"Clark? What's going on?" she asked, completely ignoring Jon-El.

"I don't know," Clark told her. "When I walked in here Jordan was hurt and Jon-El had blood on his hands."

Lois's eyes widened. "Jon-El?" she said.

Jon-El ducked his head. He knew that her words weren't raised as a question, but as a chance for him to explain himself.

But could he? They would never listen to him…

Why would they?

He was a delinquent.

"I'm sorry…" he said. It was all he could get out.

"Jordan, what happened?" Clark asked.

"We were just talking and he got super angry," Jordan said. "Then he punched me."

Jon-El kept his head down and his mouth shut. Technically, nothing Jordan had said was a lie, he was just omitting a lot of details…

"Jon-El? Is that true?" Lois asked, and Jon-El could hear the heartbreak in her voice.

He nodded. He couldn't lie to them. It was true. "Yes."

Lois and Clark shared a glance, and Jon-El felt sick to his stomach. They were going to send him back…

He couldn't spend the rest of his life in that cell. The cell made of glass where everyone could see everything that he did, the cell with the yellow sun lamps that burned his skin… The cell that he would never get to leave again.

"Please," he begged, the words out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Don't send me back."

Lois and Clark shared another look, this one lasting much longer. Jon-El wished that he could read minds… Maybe he never would have gotten himself into this mess if he had that power.

"Please," he said again, this time much more desperate. He couldn't go back there.

Clark looked up at him, then shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But my children come first."

Then Clark grabbed his arm.

Clark tried not to focus on the ache in his chest as he entered the familiar DoD building.

Part of the way there, Jon-El's tears had turned to sobs, and the sound was breaking Clark's heart.

On the one hand, he didn't want to do this. He wanted to ignore what had happened and selfishly keep Jon-El.

On the other hand though, he had to do this. Jon-El had hurt Jordan, he had broken the rules. They couldn't trust him. He had proven that to them today.

Jon-El hadn't even tried to defend himself either, which only proved that he couldn't be trusted. Maybe he was trying to take down Jordan before going after Jon? Who even knew.

Either way, they couldn't trust Jon-El anymore. He couldn't stay with them.

Clark placed Jon-El in the glass cell, then turned on the yellow lights. He tried to ignore the tears in Jon-El's eyes, but he couldn't.

He tried to ignore the tears in his eyes too.

"Superman…" Jon-El said softly, but Clark shook his head.

"I don't want to hear it," Clark told him. "We trusted you."

Jon-El lowered his head, and for a second, Clark wondered if it was in shame. "I know."

Clark looked at Jon-El, then towards the entrance to the building. There was no reason for him to stay here. The longer he saw Jon-El's tear-stained eyes, the more the heartbreak was going to hurt.

He swallowed, wondering if this would be the last time he ever saw his son's doppelganger. The boy he had tried to save.

He had failed.

He had put his family in danger, something he would never do again.

"Goodbye, Jonathan."

Yeah, uh... This chapter hurts. I hope you all enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!