Hey guys!
So, I wasn't planning on posting this chapter so soon, but I caved and decided that I had to. I hope you guys enjoy! This is a big one!
Chapter Seventeen
Jordan wasn't sure how long he had been stuck in his room, but every second dragged on like an eternity.
He had heard the sound of Jon-El's backwards beating heart, he heard the sounds of the bathroom door closing and the shower water running.
He knew that his parents should be coming in any second to talk to him, but they hadn't yet.
Perhaps suspense was a part of the punishment?
Jordan slowly exhaled and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. In his ears, he could hear his own heartbeat, it was beating much faster than he wanted it to. He felt like he was going to explode.
That was when the door opened.
His instinct was to stand up as soon as his father walked in, but every muscle in his body was frozen. All he could do was look up at the angry face of his father.
His father closed the door behind him, then crossed his arms. Jordan couldn't help but wonder if only years of practice kept the red glow of heat vision out of his eyes.
"I want you to tell me what happened," Clark said, his voice low and harsh. "The truth this time, Jordan."
Jordan bit his lip, then swallowed. Sure, he had seen his father angry before, but he wasn't sure that it had ever been directed at him before… At least, not this much anger.
"I didn't want him to hurt Jon, so I waited until you and Mom weren't around and provoked him," Jordan said. He forced himself to keep a stable voice, to not break down over his father's first words.
The guilt gnawed a hole in his stomach. It had been since he had talked to Jon, but it was worse now with his father's disapproving look of anger aimed at him.
"How did you provoke him?" Clark asked.
At this, Jordan ducked his head. "I-" he began, but his dad cut him off.
"Look at me, Jordan," he told him.
Jordan winced and looked up at his father again. "I lured him into a conversation then…" he said, then stopped.
What had he done? How could he have been so cruel?
"Then what?" Clark asked.
Every fiber of Jordan's being wanted to duck his head again, to hide his face and shame from his father, but he couldn't.
He was no better than the people who had bullied him for years.
"I started insulting him," he whispered. He didn't feel the need to raise his voice, he knew that his father could hear him, and the thought of saying it any louder made his stomach twist.
"What did you say to him?"
Jordan winced at his father's demand. He didn't want to repeat it. He didn't want to relive what he had said. "Do I have to say it?"
For a second, Jordan could swear that he saw his father's face soften just a little, but only for a second. After that, it was back to being as cold as Jordan's ice breath. "Yes."
"I teased him for joining Ally's cult, and then I… I said some stuff about him and his dad."
At this, his father winced, something that Jordan hadn't expected him to do. "Like what?"
Jordan felt his throat tighten. Before they moved to Smallville, had he wished for the same things that he had bullied Jon-El about? His father's attention? His love?
Sure, Jordan had known that his father loved him, but he had heard what his father had to say about that other world, about how they treated each other, about how awful and ruined the relationships of their doppelgangers were…
If Jon-El had joined a cult over those broken relationships, and he had bullied him about it…
He deserved far worse than just that single punch.
Suddenly, it was a lot harder to speak. "I… I laughed at him and said he joined the cult to fix his issues with his dad… I called him a freak, a murderer, and I…"
Jordan ducked his head, he couldn't finish it. He couldn't repeat his final line. How could he have said that to someone? What kind of a person was he?
He didn't want to be that kind of person… Not anymore.
He sniffled and wiped at his eyes. The guilt was burning a hole in him, bigger and worse than ever before.
"What did you say?" his father asked, though his voice didn't sound as harsh as it once had.
"That… It was no wonder his father didn't love him."
"Jordan…"
At his father's gasp, Jordan could no longer hold back the tears.
He had let hate blind him, he hadn't even given Jon-El a chance…
He was the monster here, not Jon-El.
Jordan couldn't even defend himself. Sure, he could say that it was because of Jon, but was that even true? At what point was it just because hated Jon-El?
He hadn't even given him a chance…
"Was that all?" his father asked.
Jordan looked up at him, then gave a small nod. "Yes, sir."
His father nodded, then stayed quiet for a moment. The only sound in the room was Jordan's heartbeat.
The guilt was overwhelming, so was the fear of whatever came next. Jordan's stomach twisted, his chest squeezed.
Finally, his father held out his arm. "There's something I need to show you."
Hesitantly, Jordan made his way over to his father. He wasn't sure what this was, he had never done this during a punishment before.
His father wrapped his arm around Jordan, and before he even knew how they were out of the house, they were in the sky.
Normally, Jordan loved flying with his father, but not this time. The freezing wind tore at his cheeks, and the rain chilled him to the bone, but he refused to seek refuge by burying his face against his father's chest. He wanted to see where they were going.
It didn't take long for them to get to where they were going, but as soon as they did, Jordan's stomach churned.
"What are we doing here?" he asked, though he could barely find his voice.
It was a DoD facility, he knew that much. But what did that have to do with any of this?
His father let go of him, then began walking. "Follow me."
Together, the two of them walked down a long, dark hallway. The entire time, Jordan's heartbeat began to spike again.
What were they doing here? Why were they there?
His father stopped in front of a room, then opened the door. With his hand, he motioned for Jordan to walk in first.
Hesitantly, he stepped inside.
The second he walked in, he felt like he was going to be sick.
In front of him was a small cell, much smaller than his own room back at home, much smaller than even his bathroom…
Three of the walls were made out of a material that Jordan couldn't identify. They were black and covered in lights, which didn't make any sense. The room Jordan was standing in was lit fine.
The other wall though was made of glass. It was the front wall of the cell, and it allowed Jordan to see every inch of it. The bed, the toilet… Everything. There was no privacy here. None.
"This was Jon-El's cell."
Jordan turned around to face his father, then looked back at the small cell in front of him. The bare cell with nothing but a toilet and a bed, the cell that was so small it made Jordan's legs cramp just by looking at it.
"There's more too," his father said, and he walked up to the control panel right outside of the cell.
Jordan hadn't realized that there was a roof to this cell, and he definitely didn't expect the harsh yellow light that flooded out of it.
As soon as the lights turned on, Jordan felt his body warm. It accepted the fake sunlight.
But he knew Jon-El's body wouldn't have.
The lights would have drained all of Jon-El's energy, they would have left him weak and vulnerable.
He tried to swallow back the tears, but he couldn't.
"When you lied about what happened, this is what Jon-El came back to," his dad told him. "This is where he would have spent the rest of his life."
Jordan took a step closer to the cell. What had he done? How could he have done this?
He could almost imagine his brother's doppelganger in the cell, but the image made him feel sick.
Jon-El had been stuck in there for ten days, because of him.
He should have trusted his parents to keep him and Jon safe, he should have trusted that his parents wouldn't be fooled by Jon-El. In fact, he didn't even know if Jon-El was actually faking anything.
He hadn't even given him a chance.
"You say that you want to help protect the people who can't protect themselves, yet you condemn the person who needs it the most right now."
Jordan turned to his father. The words he had spoken burned like acid.
His father was Superman, the world's greatest hero.
Jordan wasn't a hero. He was a bully, a monster.
The sob escaped his mouth, and he didn't even try to stop it as the guilt and shame bubbled to the surface.
"I'm sorry," he gasped out.
As soon as the words left him, he felt his dad's strong arms around him.
He didn't deserve the hug.
"You have the power to change the world, Jordan," his dad whispered. "I want you to change it for the better."
At that, Jordan couldn't keep the sobs quiet. He buried his face in his dad's chest and wailed.
He wouldn't have blamed his dad if he had let go and told Jordan to stop crying, he wouldn't have blamed him if he left him in the cell.
But instead his dad held him close, soothing him as he sobbed out the guilt and shame.
When the tears reduced to hiccups, his dad spoke again.
"I want you to apologize to him," he told him. "And Jordan… Try to give him a chance. I know you're scared of what could happen, but talk to me or your mother. We can help."
Jordan sniffled, then nodded. "Yes, sir," he said, then added. "I'm sorry for lying to you and Mom."
His dad brushed Jordan's curls away from his eyes. "Thank you," he said. "And I forgive you, but… It'll take awhile for me to be able to trust you again."
Jordan ducked his head. His dad didn't trust him. Once again, he had broken the trust of his family.
But he would try his hardest to earn it back.
He looked over at the cell. The cell that had once housed Jon-El.
Maybe this time, he would try to trust Jon-El too.
Jordan sniffled again, and wiped at the remaining tears in his eyes.
"Ready to go?" his dad asked.
Jordan looked up at his dad, then nodded. "Uh huh."
His dad smiled, and then gently picked up Jordan. "Let's go home."
After seeing that cell, Jordan had never been so relieved to be home.
He knew that he deserved his own cell after what he had done, but it hadn't happened. He was allowed to come back home.
When he walked in the front door, Jordan heard the sound of Jon-El's backwards heart.
Maybe it was the guilt and loose ends, maybe it was the unnerving sound of a heart thudding backwards, either way, Jordan couldn't get it out of his head.
So he followed the sound.
The heartbeat led him to the kitchen.
Jon-El was sitting at the table, a plate of food in front of him. He looked sunburnt, tired, and just… sad.
And it was Jordan's fault.
Jordan swallowed, then took a step further into the room.
"Jon-El?"
Jon-El jumped and turned at the sound. "Jordan."
Jordan tried to ignore the sound of fear in Jon-El's voice, but he couldn't. The entire time Jon-El had been staying with them, Jordan had viewed him as a threat, but in reality, he was the threat.
He was the one who would threaten the other with heat vision every chance he had. He was the one who never even tried to see the good in him. He was the one who hadn't even tried to extend an olive branch.
"Um…" Jordan began. "I'm sorry. About everything."
Jon-El ducked his head. "I was the one who punched you…"
Jordan nodded. "Yeah, I guess, but I was the one who never even gave you a chance," he said. "And I was the one who said all of that awful stuff. So, I'm sorry."
Jon-El chewed at his lip for a moment, then looked back up at him. "I'm sorry too."
Jordan looked at the person in front of him, the person who looked like his little brother. They had a lot of bad blood between them, and a past that could never be erased.
But that didn't mean that they couldn't be friends in the future. Maybe they could even be brothers.
All Jordan had to do was extend the olive branch, right? Show Jon-El that he was willing to give him a try.
It would take time, but he was willing.
Jordan smiled at him, the first smile he had sent Jon-El's direction since he had first come to live with them.
"I forgive you."
This definitely marks the beginning of something new for the Kent and El boys.
Thanks for reading! Love y'all!