[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/M3SfSt4.png[/img][/center]

[sub][color=PaleVioletRed]"Clark?  Are you okay, hun?"[/color]

[color=RoyalBlue]"....I had a bad dream, Mama.  I can't sleep."[/color]

[color=PaleVioletRed]"It's okay, Clark.  It was just a dream."[/color]

[color=RoyalBlue]"But it was....it was so [b]real[/b], Mama.  There were people crying and screaming, and everything was on fire.  I heard voices talking to me, and I couldn't understand them.  I was so scared, and they were just.....sad.  It was the end of the world, Ma."[/color]

[color=PaleVioletRed]"Well, that does sound pretty scary.  But it's still just a dream, Clark.  It's not the end of the world.  Your daddy and I are fine, nobody's hurt, everything's okay."[/color]

[color=RoyalBlue]"Okay, but....but can you stay here for just a little bit.  At least until I fall asleep?"[/color]

[color=PaleVioletRed]"Of course, hun.  I'll be right here as long as you need me."[/color]

[color=RoyalBlue]"....thanks, Mama.  Love you."[/color]

[color=PaleVioletRed]"Love you too, Clark.  And don't you worry.  The world isn't going anywhere."[/color][/sub]

[hr]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]"Fools, damned fools,"[/color] he curses.  [color=DeepSkyBlue]"I could have stopped this, I could have saved us all, if they'd have just listened--.....too late now, far too late."[/color]

I've had this nightmare before.  I'm being held in someone's arms, gently rocking me to try and soothe me as I cry out in confusion and fear.  There's so much noise-- thunderclaps and earthquakes, the ground beneath us trembling.  Dust and smoke chokes the air.  Fire scorches the land and scars the sky.

It's the end of the world.

I've heard the voices before, desperate and angry and sad.  I've only ever heard them speaking in babble, a language I could never hope to understand.

Now, I can grasp every word.

[color=Salmon]"We knew the Council may not want to hear you, Jor,"[/color] says the voice of the person holding me, a woman with bright blue eyes.  [color=Salmon]"Even with the evidence staring them in the face, one can't expect to simply uproot a hundred thousand years of tradition.  And after the devastation brought about by the war with Zod...."[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]"Zod,"[/color] the man, dark-haired with a short beard, spits the name out like poison.  [color=DeepSkyBlue]"I can't believe I ever trusted him, thought he could help us.  I let him blind me with flattery, and then he led us all to this ruin.  The Underverse fissures, the Doomsday Plague, the abduction of Kandor......it's almost [i]obscene[/i] that he and his followers will outlive us all."[/color]

[color=Salmon]"Eternity in the Phantom Zone is hardly 'living,' Jor,"[/color] says the woman, stroking my forehead with her finger.  [color=Salmon]"And at the very least, Kal and Kara will live on.  There's still hope in that."[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]"Yes,"[/color] the man says, stepping toward me and looking down on me with a weak smile.  [color=DeepSkyBlue]"There is at least that."[/color]

[color=Lime][i]"Attention,[/i][/color] says a third voice, seemingly from nowhere, [color=Lime][i]"the Star Drive reactor is charged, life support systems and guidance are nominal, and target coordinates have been set.  Chances of a successful evacuation are currently 91.338% but dropping quickly; I recommend we begin the evacuation process now."[/i][/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]"Thank you, Kelex,"[/color] the man says, taking me from the woman's arms and walking me into a large domed room.  [color=DeepSkyBlue]"You're right; the longer we delay, the worse Kal's chances are."[/color]

He holds me up, and I see tears in his eyes.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]"I'm so sorry, my son,"[/color] he says.  [color=DeepSkyBlue]"I wish upon Rao and all the stars that I could have done more, that your mother and I could have joined you.  But I can at least save you...my boy, my son.....the [i]last[/i] son of the House of El.  The last son of Krypton."[/color]

The ground shakes violently, and out of fear and confusion, I begin to cry again.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]"This is the end, Kal,"[/color] he says as I feel a force begin to lift me away toward a bright light.  [color=DeepSkyBlue]"It is my time, your mother's time, our world's time, to join our ancestors in infinity.  But it is not [i]your[/i] time, my son.

It is not your time......"[/color]

[hr]


My senses slowly return to me, a hot and sharp wind beating against me, nearly knocking me off my feet, rain pelting down in sheets.  I'm stumbling through sand and gravel, soaked to the bone, salt water washing up at my ankles.

There are sirens going off in the distance.

I begin to realize how tired I am, and how much pain I'm in.  Every inch of my body feels bruised and beaten, muscles aching, bones creaking.  The only reason I'm not face-down in the dirt is that it genuinely hadn't occurred to me to fall over.

My memory starts to rush back to me.

It was the end of the world.

.....and then, it wasn't.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/IeuMQC4.png[/img][/center]

[color=RoyalBlue]"I'm.....I'm alive,"[/color] I realize.  [color=RoyalBlue]"I'm okay........[i]how[/i] am I okay?"[/color]

Last thing I remember, the Toyman had launched a missile toward Gotham City, carrying a nuclear warhead.  I'd managed to steer the missile out over the ocean, but couldn't get away from the blast.  I'd accepted that, was okay with what that meant, had made my peace.

I screamed, and my lungs filled with fire.

I burned, and I choked.

I fell.

I drowned.

.....and I [i]lived.[/i]

I can't get my head around it.  If I can survive something like that.....what does that mean?  I've been hurt before, sure, but if even a nuclear blast can't put me down for good......what can?

As shocking of a realization as that is, I can't dwell on it for long, as my thoughts quickly turn to how tired I am.  More than anything, I just want to lie down and sleep.

Perched on a rooftop, however, looking down at me, is my former enemy from earlier tonight, the Batman.  Lord knows how he was able to find me, but I feel like I should probably say something to him before I meet up with Lois and go home.

I don't push off into the air so much as I begin to drift, like a balloon, before touching down on the rooftop in front of him.  His mask has come off, and I swear, I must still not be all there yet.....because I swear, he looks for all the world like Bruce Wayne.

[color=RoyalBlue][b]"I, erm, I know we've still got plenty of differences to work out,"[/b][/color] I say, still in something of a daze, [color=RoyalBlue][b]"but I gotta tell ya, I don't think I've got it in me to go another twelve rounds.  Is there anywhere around here where we can grab a cup of coffee and just talk things over?"[/b][/color]