This was created for a one sentence challenge over on LiveJournal, though I think I’m using the wrong challenge tables. What the heck. The challenge was to write a single sentence for every prompt on the given table.

I’m starting with the man in blue. As you can see, I cheated in a few places –they aren’t strictly one sentence long, but close enough. Several episodes are references here. For a little bit of fun, see if you can guess which they are.

“If life's lessons could be reduced to single sentences, there would be no need for fiction.”

– Scott Turow.

Superman.

001. Love: Lois accepted this fact above all others long ago –the Man of Steel has a Heart of Gold, and enough room in it for a lot of people.

002. Hate: It’s impossible for him to hate the Justice Lords, no matter how much he wants to, because he can’t hate someone who made the same choices he’s considered so many times.

003. Pain: Mom is never going to forget the time Clark (he’s always Clark to her) took his first kryptonite bullet –and the look on her face when he walked through the door the day afterwards hurt him more than any physical injury.

004. Joy: “Superman, I swear to god the next time you pull that kind of a stunt on me, I’m going to find some big wig sorcerer to resurrect you so I can kill you again myself!”

“It’s nice to see you too, Lois.”

005. Fear: “He won’t kill him, he can’t... not the last bit of conscience he has left, he won’t kill him... I wouldn’t kill him, I wouldn’t, so surely he...

....He is me, isn’t he?’

006. Trust: “What’re you waiting for, boy scout? Sweep me off my feet already.”

007. Betray: He’s the only person who hasn’t yet raised his hand to pass judgement, but then, Batman already knows how Superman will vote, and her betrayal won't affect his decision half as much as his memories do.

008. Promise. “You don’t think that... I know, dear, but- oh, there’s someone at the door, I’ll call you back later, but please, promise me you’ll be careful... I love you.”

009. Appreciate. “Jimmy, look, I appreciate your trying to help me here...”

010. Annoy. “...But this is really not a good time.”

011. Death. They say “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”, but Superman already knows all about the number of times they’ve defeated that law – the real last enemy is still out there, and when it arrives, it isn’t going to be pretty.

012. Blood. The first time he tastes his own blood in his mouth is almost enough to paralyse him –but only for a moment.

013: Grave. Staring up at the statue marking the burial place of his empty coffin, Superman isn’t sure whether to feel more humbled, touched, or totally embarrassed.

014: Life. He knows his lifespan will be so much longer than most humans, and that frightens him if he thinks about it too much.

15. Breath. A single breath is enough to keep him going right through the stratosphere and into the vacuum –but this isn’t something he really thought about, until the day something forces him to let that breath out and, for a moment, he feels as ordinary mortals must in the pitiless depths of space.

16: Mind. Their minds and the minds of the Justice Lords are configured in the exact same way right up until one fateful point, and Clark swears to heaven, hell, and everything in between that he will never allow that moment to occur in this universe.

17. Think.It takes him less than ten seconds to work out what must have happened, in between hearing Lois’s distant call and tasting the acrid scent of smoke on the breeze.

18. Share.“Peanut brittle?”

“....”

“Just asking.”

19. Toy. Of all the people who could’ve possibly killed the Man of Steel, nobody had put the damn Toyman on the list.

20. Guard. Seriously, Supes, you can quit it with the pacing and the flinching and the uneasy looks every time someone drops a penny; Braniac’s in pieces and Luthor’s locked up, so he’s not gonna kill me, and you’re not gonna kill him either, right?”

21. Moonlight. Looking at the moon is an entirely different experience when you can look up there and think “I was standing up there this time last week.”

022. Sunshine. The fact that Superman’s powers are born from the light of yellow sun is common knowledge to almost all the villains in his rogue’s gallery –and is of absolutely no use to most of them because come on, who the heck knows how to change the colour of the sun?

023. Wish. “I wish you could understand how much better our world became because of his death, Clark.”

“I hope I never do.”

O24. Undecided. The seventeen seconds it takes Kal-El to figure out that no –he isn’t going to kill Lex Luthor, he isn’t like that, are the longest seventeen seconds of the League’s life.

025. Heaven. It’s not like he’s ever been dead before, but Superman is pretty sure that the afterlife shouldn’t come with giant cockroaches.

026. Dispose. Sometimes he dreams about how easy it would be to dispose of them; all of them, everyone who ever tried to hurt the ones he cares about.

027. Illusive. “Oh-kay, it’s not a bird, it's definitely not a plane... I think that narrows down the list of possibilities to exactly one, wouldn’t you say?”

028. Inside. Being within the alien realm reminds him of being inside a living being, complete with a giant bacterial invasion –it’s not a comfortable thought, so he shoves it away and prepares to fight his way out.

029. Home. You can always tell when Clark’s been home for the weekend, because he comes to work on Monday whistling some obscure tune that you just know came from his father’s music collection.

030. Sleep: “Mista Supaman, my daddy says that you sleep onna cloud on Mount Av-a-rest, is that true?”

031. Phone “Hello, Kent residence? Oh, hello Clark, it’s so nice to hear from... Why, no I think you took the mind controlling helmet out of here last weekend, didn’t you?”

032. Discover. “Seriously, Smallville, how long did you think it would take me to work out that Superman always shows up moments after you disappear?”

033. Investigate. When he says he goes through everyone’s trash that includes Superman, and you’d be surprised by how much the quantity of bananas someone consumes is indicative of the world’s descent into Armageddon.

034. Confide. “...You know when I told you that I never even got my first merit badge?”

035. Follow. "There's no sense in holding your breath, Wally; I have super hearing, too, I already know you're there."

036. Threat. “Sorry, mom, I know I said I’d call straight after the apocalypse was over but I was really busy and... sorry.”

037. Survive. Losing his powers is a painful reminder of how hard it must be for many of the less durable –read: normal– Justice League members to even stay alive, some days.

038. Together. “I’m not sure if we’ll be able to, but... no, don’t think like that, kid; we’re in this together, understand?’

039. Remember. It's not something he cares to think about, but he does anyway - every time another Metropolitan building topples under the stress of yet another battle: "The whole damn world is made of cardboard."

040. Mistake. It’s in that moment, just as Captain Marvel is receding from his line of vision, that he realises the worst decision he’s ever made was not trusting a ten year old.

041. Try. (sequel to 008) ‘I know it’s dangerous... Heh, yeah, I know, this is an old conversation, one day we might even stop having it, but... alright, I’ll try my best. Love you too, mom.‘

042. Fall. First lesson about being trapped under a red sun –not being about to fly is really, really annoying.

043. Redo. He runs through every act he imagines his duplicate going though; traces every movement he’s ever made, trails through every memory he has, and then, when the day finally comes, he tries to repeat it – only this time the outcome will be the right one, Clark is sure of it.

044. Experiment. Clark has never been much of a scientist, but he knows that that many pieces of exposed wiring can’t possibly make for a safe working environment, not even if the guy who works here happens to be Batman.

045. Hollow. It’s difficult to think about the Justice Lords; and harder still to have the hollow face of the Question gazing at him, as he is forced to remember everything that he (another he, but nonetheless) did wrong.

046. Missing: “Hey there; your name’s Annie, isn’t it? We’ve been looking everywhere for you, your parents are really worried; it’s time to go home.”

047. Broken. The world is made of cardboard, but in the case of Batman, Clark thinks, it’s highly resilient cardboard, and nothing is going to be broken in this battle, except maybe for Darkseid.

048. Sympathy. “My planet was destroyed too, Shayera; believe me, I may not have been there but... I understand better than you realise.”

049. Collide. Quite frankly, Clark thinks, he’s getting really tired of alternate versions of himself that for some reason always turn out malevolent.

050. Writer’s choice. It’s with a grim, cold frustration that he finally (reluctantly) loosens his grip: “I’m not the man who killed President Luthor. Right now I wish to heaven I were, but I’m not.”