Smallville: Embracing Destiny

Chapter 1

Clark exited the holographic circle for the last time and placed the Fortress' Knowledge Crystal back into its proper space and turned to look around the crystalline structure sighing. This place, this unbelievable structure, it was the last remnant of his entire race. He ran a hand through his hair cursing himself for not seeing it for what it was sooner, for not doing all that he could have to have kept Lex from finding and destroying it.

That had been a mistake, one that he had paid for. It was a mistake that he would not make again. Once the Fortress had been rebuilt after spending almost a year trying to find the Mother Crystal he had placed defenses around his fortress that only a Kryptonian could deactivate. He hoped they would be enough.

He slowly made his way to one of the many rooms that he had created during his training, this one slightly smaller than many of the others that he had made. It was the room that he had created for himself. When he realized that his training would take far longer than he had anticipated he had decided that he would rather have something that he would be comfortable in, rather than sleeping on one of the many uncomfortable flat table like structures.

Clark sat on his makeshift bed and grabbed his old backpack that contained not only a few items of clothing that he had brought with him when he had left Smallville, but also a few items that he had collected during his travels. But when he picked the bag up a few items had fallen out littering the pristine white floor. He bent over to pick them up but stopped short as he noticed the African necklace lying in front of him.

He grabbed the item with great care and held it in two hands staring at it. He had received it during his final trip away from his fortress that his father had instructed him to take. It had been a gift from a man named Kobe Asuru, after Clark had saved him from an assassination attempt. Clark respected the man; he had been fighting to give not only his people a better life but also his sister. But there were some that felt differently and hadn't stopped at the first attempt on Asuru's life. They had succeed the seconded time, and Clark hadn't stopped blaming himself for letting it happen, especially after he had seen the look on Kobe's sisters face as she held her dying brother.

Clark had sworn that he wouldn't let that happen again. He had seen too many friends, too many people that were close to him die over the years and he wasn't going to let another person be killed. He had returned to the fortress after that with a new perception on what he had to do, and he had studied under his fathers A.I. harder than before.

He sighed one last time running his hand through his hair and zipping his bag up before he slung it over his shoulder as he stood. As he was making his way out of the fortress a voice drew his attention.

"Kal-El." the booming voice of Jor-El announced.

"Father." Clark replied making his way to the consul.

"This part of your journey is now complete. Your destiny is now your own."

"I know we always haven't agreed father, and that's mostly my own fault. But thank you, for sending me to Earth, for saving my life. I understand now what I must do. And I thank you for that."

"You are welcome my son. It pleases me more than you may know that you are safe and well. It is only my greatest hope that you will do what I could not by leading Earth's fate away from that of Krypton's. Live as one of them Kal-El, to discover where your strength and power are needed. Always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be, they only lack the light to show them the way. It is for this reason above all else my son, their capacity for good that I have sent them you… my only son."

Clark nodded as the voice faded. Placing his hands in his pockets he looked up towards the fortress' peak and nodded whispering "I'll do everything I can to succeed, I promise you father, mother."

Slowly but with an air of confidence Clark bent his knees with a slight smile on his face before propelling himself into the air and away from the fortress. He can still remember how disastrous his first attempt with Kara had been and how hard he had practiced since then. How he had finally learned to accomplish the feat after he had finally given into who he truly was after a few months at the fortress. How truly terrified he was that first time when he had flown out of the fortress making his way to Brazil, only to find the prospect of flight to be truly relaxing. Now all he wanted to do was fly.

Clark hovered over the fortress for a few moments allowing the suns rays to energize him in ways that nothing else possibly could. When he opened his eyes, they held a determined look as he turned south and shot forward with a sonic boom marking his exit. He watched as the white of the Arctic quickly turned into the green of America's heartland and soon he could see his home. He slowed himself down wanting to take in the sight of Smallville from the air for the first time in a long time.

It was truly beautiful as the sun was rising creating a warm calming feeling. Clark didn't think he had ever seen anything so breathtaking in his life and he doubted that he would ever again. He smiled a true wide smile as he saw the yellow Kent farm house before him and threw his hands out in front of him and straightened his body as if he were standing. And then finally he descended to the back door of the farm house.

As he opened the back door and walked into the house he searched for his mother's heartbeat, wondering if she was home or elsewhere. He found his mothers, the soft thumping beats telling him that she was still asleep. He briefly contemplated about waking his mother, but he decided that their reunion could wait until she woke.

Martha Kent groaned as her alarm clock began to go off waking her. She sighed as she leaned across the bed to turn the alarm off. As she was straightening herself back up her eyes fell on the picture next to the alarm clock and she felt the tears that always seemed to come when she looked at it. It was a picture of her family, back when Clark was still in high school, and Jonathon was still alive.

She missed them both so much. She had lost her husband years ago, and yet the pain never left her, she doubted it ever would. Though the pain with not having Clark around was different. She knew where he was, what he was doing, and that someday he would come back. But she didn't know how different he would be when he did, she didn't know if she'd recognize him at all.

Just as she was getting up the soft aroma of coffee met her senses, waking her up even more that the alarm clock had. It didn't hit her until she had put her robe on and had left her room that she realized that the coffee couldn't have been made yet, that there wasn't anyone in the kitchen to have made it. And that worried her slightly.

As quietly as she could she crept down the stairs, trying to see if she could hear or see anything that would put her mind at ease. There were no voices, she couldn't hear feet shuffling, or anything else; and she wasn't in the position where she would be able to see anything yet either. As she turned the corner of the stairs she gasped slightly. There was someone in her home.

The man standing before her turned, with a frying pan held in his right hand. She could almost feel her legs going weak underneath her, and just when she thought she was going to collapse there he was holding her up.

"Clark?" she asked in way that suggested she didn't think he was real.

"It's me mom, I promise I'm real." He said. He walked her over to the table and sat her down before sitting down himself next to her. He turned his chair so that he could face her.

"You're not going to leave again?" She asked in such a way he knew that he should have written her more, if only to just to let her know he was fine.

"No, I'm not going to leave again." And then he smirked, "At least not until I have one of your famous pies."

Martha frowned at him "Don't forget that I'm your mother Clark. I know you better than anyone else and that smirk has never worked on me before."

Clark laughed and nodded. She was right, it had never worked on her before. But he had to do something that would remind her that he wasn't kidding.

"Are you really here to stay?" she asked as he stood up to take the eggs off the stove that he had been making.

"Yes, at least until I figure out exactly what I'm going to do." Clark said as he brought two plates over to the table and set them down in front of the two of them.

"What do you mean by that?" Martha asked looking up into his eyes. She had been expecting to see his bright green ones; but somehow they had changed to a rich almost alien blue. She wondered how that had happened.

"What I was sent here to do."

Martha's eyes widened as she thought of the message from the ship that he told her and Jonathan about. "You don't mean you plan on ruling us do you?"

Clark's head shot up "No. I misinterpreted the message like I originally thought thinking that it was telling me to rule Earth with strength, when it really meant to lead with strength." He sighed and stood up from the table and walked over to the window to look out side for a moment to collect his thoughts before he turned around to look at his mother again.

"I was sent here to save humanity, to lead them away from Krypton's fate. I need to help people become better than they are by setting an example to follow. I just haven't figured out how to do that yet."

Martha thinks that through a moment "Wont that mean showing yourself to the world?"

"That's the problem. I need to come up with a way to do what I need to do while keeping you and everyone else safe." He walked back to the table and sat down next to her and took her hand. "I met a lot of people during my training mom. And I'd like to say that their all still fine but I can't. One of the them was named Asuru, he was a good man doing everything he could for his people. He was killed for it. I can't let that happen to anyone else I care about."

He really hadn't changed as much as Martha had feared he would. He still put others before himself. She sometimes wished that he would put himself first and cared more about his happiness than others.