“Now, Clark, I have absolutely loved hearing of your journeys” she said after hours of me going over story after story. “But, what’s next for you?”

“I want to do what you and Pa always knew I could do. I want to use my abilities for good and protect people that need it. I know you’re worried about this secret coming out, but I have decided that Clark Kent will not have any connection with the superhero life. I need to keep a normal life intact, which is exactly why I need to learn more about my other family. Kal-El of Krypton can save people in ways that Clark wouldn’t be able to. But I will always be Martha and Jonathan’s son at my core.

The cultural clothing that I had saw in Zimbabwe really hit home with me. They embraced their heritage and the legacy of their ancestors. I wanted to do the same, so I returned to the place I had run from 9 years ago. Ma had the key for the cellar, so I got that from her and then moved all of the old parts that cluttered about this area of the barn. Fitting the key into the lock, I opened the hatch and started to descend into the cellar.

I came up to the pod and on contact it started to replay the message I had heard before. I let the message continue to play knowing it would switch to English. It just continued in the foreign language, however, and I realized it had changed languages when I spoke to it. I asked the hologram if there was anything more it could tell me, the language changed to English but also continued its message. The rocket reopened revealing the sunstone I had tried to blast with my heat vision. This time I took it and the message continued.

“Always hold in your heart, your special heritage. This is all I…”, he paused for a second as tears came to his eyes, “all I can send you with my little Kal-El.” Jor-El and the woman Lara fade from view and I was left wondering how I could honor my heritage if I didn’t know without knowing anything about my people or planet.

As I sat pondering, I noticed the chest my mother had placed my baby blanket I was found in. The blanket still looked like it did nine years ago when I first saw it, the colors were still as vivid and there were no signs of wear and tear. As I held it in my hands an idea started to form in my head.

“Clark, I have gone through three pairs of scissors and bent all of my bobby pins. This is fabric is impossible to work with”, Ma said looking quite frazzled.

“Well at least we know it probably won’t tear when I am helping people right”, I said sheepishly, “Maybe we can use my heat vision to cut the fabric.”

“Do you really think that could work? Can you focus it that finely?” she said putting away a new pair of scissors she had got out.

“I’ve been practicing, Ma. I know I can do this. We can do this. Together.” I told her and that’s what we did working through the night together we got part of my super suit ready.

The suit started at my collar bone with sleeves that went to my wrist. The chest and torso were all sky blue until it touched the yellow belt and red tights that separated the suit into a distinct look of a top and bottom. Below the belt and tights, the blue fabric continued for my legs all the way to my ankles. Ma had crafted sturdy, well supported, glossy red boots with the help of my heat vision. The boots went up to just below my calves and my mom wanted to make my me gloves to go with the boots, but I wanted my hands free.

The last part of the suit was a red cape that Ma had crafted from the remains of the blanket. The cape hung around my neck and looked as if it was just tucked in well, although it was sewed on. The cape reached just before my Achilles heel and featured the exact same S symbol, I had seen everywhere this time in all yellow.

I tried to learn what the symbol meant or why it was everywhere, but the recording wasn’t much help in that regard. Ma had theorized that it may not be an S and was actually a shape from my home planet that only resembled an S. She thought it could have been a family crest, that my family wore with pride. If that was true, I wanted to be able to represent my family well.

“Do you think you have enough fabric, to put the symbol on the chest?” Ma looked at the what she had left, “Depends on what color you want for it.”

“I was thinking a yellow background with the actual S being red.” I said, grabbing a pencil and sketching out what I had in mind next to our previous sketches for the suit.

“I can definitely make that happen.” Ma said with a smile on her face. We went to work on creating the new chest symbol. As we finished up Ma turned to me and said, “You’ve got the suit now, what’s next? Are you planning on wearing it around Smallville?”

I chuckled, “I’m going to go to Metropolis. I saw an ad that they were looking to hire another experienced reporter. I sent in my resume and got a call that I would need to meet the editor-in-chief but its almost a guarantee. If I don’t get it, I can always apply at the Daily Star, but that place is more tabloidy than I would like. The Planet is the heart of Metropolis and I intend to be at the very center of all the action.”

“Okay, so you have thought this through. What about a place to live though? I assume you’re not going to fly to Metropolis every morning for work. As much as it pains me, you can’t live out your whole life here”, Ma said to me.

“I know, Ma. That’s why I have already applied for a lease and yesterday before we started on the suit, I got an email saying I got the apartment. It’s a one bed one bath in the center of Metropolis. It’s not sketchy or run down but it does fit into my price range.”

“Well Clark, I’m excited for you. I think you are on the right path, and I support you 100%” she said getting up and handing me the suit.

I grabbed it from her as she pulled me in for a tight hug, “I don’t know about you but I’m tired.” I told her as the air was squeezed out of me. “Let’s get some rest before I leave.”

The next few days, I had a few things to do before I could leave Smallville. I started re-packing my bags along with packing up parts of my room I wanted the movers to take to my new apartment in Metropolis. I also need to see Lana one more time.

She had shared her feelings with me while I was in France, and I was just not in the right headspace and those feelings never got reciprocated. After my time in France, communication got spotty as I started traveling through third-world countries. The times I did get to call back home, I chose to spend it talking to Ma and seeing how she was doing. I knew I needed to say something to her before I left and let her know that I didn’t feel the same way as she did.

I headed for the Lang family home to ask them where I could find Lana. As I was still a little way off, I could tell that Lana’s truck was in the driveway with my super vision. Perfect, I wouldn’t have to go through the awkward situation of explaining why I wanted to talk to Lana. I took a look inside the house to avoid any other potential awkward situations.

I saw her parents and I saw Lana sitting in the living room. But I also saw Pete Ross sitting next to Lana holding her hand with rings on both of their fingers. I was taken back; my two best friends had gotten married to each other while I was gone. I no longer had the desire to talk to Lana anymore, she didn’t need me bringing up old feelings. So, instead I walked back home and finished packing my bags. I said goodbye to Ma as she dropped me off at the bus station and then I left Smallville for the second time.