Description: To leave for New Krypton, or not to leave for New Krypton? Clark’s life goes into a tailspin when he receives not two, but FOUR Kryptonian visitors in this multi-chaptered extension of the author’s vignette, “Voices in My Head.”
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A [PARENT’S] LOVE THAT RISKS NOTHING . . .
by DSDragon <DASWillow783@gmail.com>
Rated G
Submitted: 2006
Author's Notes and Acknowledgements: At least a few of you have been waiting for this, the full-length, chaptered story based on the idea I originally started with “Unexpected Visitor.”
I’ve decided to go with vignette #4, since I had a clear timeline in mind when I wrote that particular story, and I feel that it’s the best out of the five vignettes anyway. The vignette, “Voices in My Head,” has actually been integrated into this story as Chapter One.
Thanks go to LabRat, for GE work on at least one of my past fics, as well as for taking care of the archive so well.
I’d also like to thank Terry Leatherwood, from the LC Fanfic Messageboard, for his great comments and almost blown-away reactions to the first and fourth vignettes. I don’t think I’d actually be sitting here typing this longer story if he hadn’t expressed such enthusiasm--or such frustration--to my teasers.
*As with “Voices in My Head,” this story is set near the end of “Through a Glass, Darkly,” in the third season, branching off from there with possibly some references to "Big Girls Don't Fly," and the title is a direct quote from Jonathan Kent at the end of that episode—with a word added, of course.*
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the settings in this fanfic. I only own the idea. The rest belongs to Warner Brothers.
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Prologue
*Long Journey’s End*
It was with some relief that Jor-El brought the large space craft into geosynchronous orbit with the planet Earth. At the beginning of their journey, he had not dared hope this day would come--the day that he and his wife, Lara, would finally be reunited with their son, sent and received so long ago to the blue and green planet below them.
Looking to his right, he watched Lara as she prepared the ship’s instruments to scan for their son’s life force. It had been a long journey--nearly thirty years had passed since the destruction of their home--and yet even three decades inside the cold, sunless walls of their vessel had not dimmed her beauty in his eyes.
To this very day, he still found her a great comfort and companion to him. Had they not had each other in their long journey, he believed, he might have long ago succumbed to space dementia, if he would have had the courage to leave Krypton at all.
As it was, even together they almost could not escape the dying planet's gravitational pull. Kal’s ship had barely gotten into orbit before Krypton’s death throes came to climax.
They had known that their home was going to explode very soon, of course. But the discovery had almost been too late. The couple had barely had enough time to record a few all-to-brief messages to their son about his heritage, and to install the prototype faster-than-light drive into his tiny ship, and did not have time after its launch to grab the second drive for installation into their own, larger ship before it became imperative for them to leave as well.
That was the plan: send Kal-El to Earth first, no matter what happened--so that at least he would have a future--and then do what they could to join him afterward in their own ship. Of course, they had hoped to install their own faster-than-light drive shortly after leaving the star system, but without the drive itself, they had to resign themselves to a three-decade journey through the cosmos at sub-light speeds.
And so it was that they finally came to orbit the world beneath them. Jor-El was jolted out of his memories as Lara spoke--not in his mind, but out loud. Over the past three decades, the couple had made it a habit to speak vocally as much as possible, not only so that their voices would not become strained from disuse, but also that they might not become senile from the almost-constant silence that even Kryptonian telepathy cannot hide on such a long journey.
“Odd,” his wife said.
Jor-El jumped at the word, raising an eyebrow at her puzzled expression as she bent over her readouts. “What is it?” he asked.
“I’m picking up more than one being with a molecular structure as dense as ours,” came the distracted answer.
“That is strange indeed. Can you bring up a visual?”
Lara pressed a few keys and toggled a couple of switches as she tapped into one of the many artificial satellites orbiting the Earth. “Yes, they’re all coming from the same area in the north-western continent—“ One final button, and an image flickered to life on the viewing globe in the center of the floor.
Both Jor-El and Lara gasped involuntarily at the tableau playing out on the screen before them. There was no sound, but they could tell that the man in black Kryptonian garb had just challenged another Kryptonian on the balcony of what looked like a residential establishment in the midst of a large city.
The other Kryptonian was not wearing traditional garb, however. Instead, they could only see a bright-colored cape, in the center of which was the symbol of their house, the house of El.
So they’d found their son, but who was the other Kryptonian man? And who was the Kryptonian woman holding back the other woman? The instruments had not found a fourth Kryptonian, and the second woman was not wearing the traditional Kryptonian black, so they could only conclude that she was a native of the planet.
Abruptly, their son launched himself through a conical force field which was the most menacing shade of green that Jor-El had ever seen.
“NO!” Lara screamed at the image. Jor-El could only stay silent--they’d traveled so far, only to watch their son die just as they arrived.
But wait! The other two Kryptonians had fled the scene, and had done so in a most unusual manner--they simply raised their arms and it was as if their bodies were weightless--they literally flew away! Jor-El could not help but think for a minute, underneath his concern for Kal-El, that this effect of a yellow sun on Kryptonian biology would be quite interesting to explore.
Just then, their son began to move again, and the Earth woman was not the only one who seemed relieved that he had survived the encounter with the other Kryptonians.
Jor-El heard his wife beside him. She had nearly half-sobbed in relief, and he--who had had always rebelled against the traditional Kryptonian denial of emotions--let out a long breath, expelling the fear that had clenched his heart a moment ago.
“I have to speak to him,” Lara said suddenly as they watched Kal-El stand. She looked into his eyes, her own swimming with unshed tears of happiness, and relieved fear. He nodded, conceding to her need for the first contact. His own wish to speak to their son could wait until she had been reassured.
He “listened” as Lara tuned her mind to the younger man on the planet below them--so familiar, and yet at the same time so unfamiliar to them both. And then, Jor-El merely watched as his wife thought the words they had waited so long to say to the only person other than each other who would know their meaning:
*Kal-El, my son?*
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