The Man of Tomorrow: A Spark of Hope (DC) [REWRITE]

I opened my eyes slowly and saw a ceiling—the ceiling of the living room.

My head was throbbing, and my face stung a little, but it also itched, like the pain was starting to fade. I felt something pressed against part of my face. Bandages. They must've patched me up.

"What do we do, Jonathan?!"

"Calm down, Martha… I figured something like this might happen. There was always a chance..."

I heard my parents talking. Their voices weren't painfully loud anymore. I didn't hear everything at some unbearable volume. A wave of relief washed over me.

I shook my head lightly and moved, sitting up on the couch. "Ugh… my head," I muttered, clutching my forehead.

"Son?" A voice startled me. I turned and saw my parents looking at me.

They didn't look terrified, but they were clearly on edge.

"My little one," Mom said, rushing over. She bent down and hugged me tightly.

I felt a chill crawl down my back. I moved my arms to hug her back—but I hesitated. My hands hovered in the air, not touching her.

What if I hurt her? What if something went wrong again?

Damn... this is already way more complicated than I expected. Having powers sounded cool in theory—but now?

I literally flew through a wooden window and smashed a wall. Hugging her probably isn't the best idea.

"Are you okay? Is your face hurting? Does it hurt a lot? God... son, we were so worried."

"Martha."

My dad's voice cut through her worried rambling. His tone was serious—dead serious. I'd never really heard him speak like that. Sure, when I was a more young, he'd get strict now and then, but not like this. He was usually gentle, cracking dumb jokes or teasing Mom.

Mom slowly pulled back from the hug and walked over to stand beside him.

"You're going to tell him, aren't you?" she asked, her voice unsure and tense.

"Yeah. It's time. I always knew this was a possibility, but… well, looks like it's no longer just a possibility," he said with a sigh.

"Son, come with me. We need to talk," he said, already walking toward the front door.

I watched him go, then looked at Mom. She gave me a small nod.

I got up from the couch and followed him.

So... he's gonna tell me about, right?

Dad and I left the house, walking deep into the cornfield. We didn't talk much.

Eventually, we reached a different part of the field. There wasn't as much corn here, and the ground looked slightly sunken—but only if you were really paying attention.

"Alright, son, so… like… you know, this is… god, this is hard," he said, rubbing his eyes.

He pulled something from his pocket, looked at it, and then held it out to me.

I stared at it—and my eyes widened.

It was a necklace with a pendant. A familiar symbol. The "S".

"Take it," he said.

I took it, staring down at the pendant resting in my palm.

"That came with you when you fell into the cornfield—the day we found you, son. You're not from Earth. You came here in a small ship. Well… we assume it was from space," he said, crossing his arms, looking at the sunken ground.

I looked down too. "So… what about the ship?"

"It disappeared. When your mother pulled you out of it, the thing just started melting. Like, visibly melting. It sank into the ground—right here. The earth just swallowed it up. I even dug around later, tried to find it, but it was gone. Like it never existed," he explained, scratching his head.

I nodded slowly, still staring at the ground.

So the ship just… vanished.

"You're different, son. Ever since you were a baby. I'll be honest with you—at first, I was scared. Martha and I had no idea what we were dealing with. I mean, things falling from the sky, glowing stuff, you… That's not exactly normal, y'know? But your mom—she wouldn't leave a helpless baby out there. And neither would I, not after I saw you."

He smiled faintly.

"We raised you. And over time, the fear went away. We gave you a home, a life. Our life. You're our boy, Clark."

He stepped in front of me, placed a firm hand on my shoulder, and crouched down to my level.

"Listen, son. You are special. You always have been. And now, yeah, maybe you're even more different than the other kids at school or anyone else you know. But you don't have to be afraid. We're going to help you figure this out. You don't have to face any of this alone. The Kents stick together. You're a Kent. You're our son."

-

-

A year has passed since everything happened—my powers awakening, my dad telling me about my origins, and all the other stuff.

Time flew by. I'd been training with my dad to control my powers. I did all kinds of things: running, jumping, punching tree trunks. Sometimes I even broke them with a single punch. My strength is pretty high—hell, I could easily smash wood. One time, I accidentally slammed my arm into a metal door at a store and left a dent in it. My arm hurt a bit afterward, but still.

Man, lucky for me there wasn't a camera in that part of the store, or I'd be totally screwed. That day, luck was definitely on my side.

I looked up at the ceiling of my room. The wall with the window had been repaired. I helped Dad fix it.

Now I could control my powers decently. I still couldn't fly or use super hearing, though. Those abilities had only shown up when everything first happened—then they went wild and disappeared again.

Honestly, that might be for the best. Super hearing didn't sound great. I'd probably get non-stop headaches. And training it? That sounded like a total nightmare. I'd probably hear all sorts of awful stuff from miles away.

"Ugh…" I shivered just thinking about it.

I sat up in bed and grabbed a notebook from the nightstand next to me. It was sitting next to a pair of glasses.

I opened the notebook and flipped through the pages—random drawings, scribbled thoughts, some math stuff, and a training method Mom told me to try for better strength control. It was just her idea, but it actually worked.

It helped me manage my strength more precisely.

I set the notebook aside on the bed.

Then I walked back over to the nightstand and opened the drawer. There it was—the necklace Dad gave me. I picked it up and stared at it.

It's a necklace I really like. Looks cool. At first, I thought it might have some sort of high-tech Kryptonian stuff in it or something. But a year went by and… nothing. Maybe it's just a normal necklace after all.

I put it on around my neck. I usually didn't wear it outside, just at home.

It felt good—comfortable.

I picked up the glasses from the nightstand and looked at them in my hand.

For a while, I didn't go to school because I was in a training arc to get my powers under control. Now that I've got a grip on them, I've gone back.

Ever since I returned to school, I've been wearing the glasses. My parents had to come up with a cover story for my absence: something about an accident that partially damaged my eyes, and now I need glasses to see normally. An accident involving an eight-year-old isn't exactly unheard of, so it wasn't that hard to sell. But still... I hated when other parents said stuff like how irresponsible my mom and dad were—like it was their fault I "got hurt." That whole story was fake, obviously. But hearing people talk about them like that... it pissed me off.

"Idiots," I muttered, a bit annoyed.

I looked at the glasses again and smiled. I'd gotten pretty used to wearing them. I always had them on whenever I went out—into Smallville or anywhere else. It made the story more believable, too.

I slipped them on.

Then I got out of bed and walked over to the door of my room. I opened it and headed out into the hallway, then down the stairs.

"As I was saying, it seems crime in Gotham City has increased significantly—more than last year."

I heard the TV and saw my parents sitting on the living room couch, watching the news.

"I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back later," I said casually as I walked toward the front door.

"Okay, son, and no making a mess—we don't want another crater."

That was Mom. I winced in embarrassment. I remembered once jumping so high that I landed in the cornfield and made a crater. Total accident.

"Okay, Ma…" I sighed and stepped outside.

I walked out and took a slow breath.

"Haaa... feels good," I said with a small smile.

I felt calm. But even now, I still had this lingering fear—what if my powers went out of control again?

Back when I first started training with Dad, I was paranoid I'd hurt them by accident. But over time, that fear faded a little. I was still scared—but not as much as before.

I walked outside the house and into the cornfield.

After a while, I reached the spot where my ship had crashed.

I sat down on the ground and looked up at the blue sky.

"Do you see me...? I mean, you're everywhere and you know everything... surely you know about me, right? You're omnipotent and all. You brought me here? You reincarnated me?" I said, gazing up at the sky.

Will he answer me? A sign, maybe?

"Why me...? I was just a normal person, you know? No talents or anything. Just a simple college student, nothing special," I sighed.

A while passed, but still no response. No sign.

"Heh... figured as much. Still, it'd be nice if you gave me at least some kind of sign," I muttered, a bit disappointed.

I kept staring at the blue sky in silence; the sight was oddly comforting.

Most likely, I'm living in an alternate universe. the Waynes exist—I saw it on TV once. There are also cities from my old world, cities from the DC universe, and my past life.

New York, Metropolis, Gotham City, Central City.

things I saw on television, in newspapers, and so on. Apparently, no metahumans have made themselves known yet. Seems like this is a world where metahumans haven't revealed themselves to society. A world still unaware of the people with powers living among them.

Maybe one day, they'll appear.

I closed my eyes and let the wind wash over me. It was cool and refreshing. I could feel the sun warming my skin. It was a strange sensation—like the sunlight was embracing me.

I stayed there for a while, just enjoying the moment, until suddenly I felt something strange.

"What's happening now—?"

My words froze as I realized I was floating off the ground.

"…"

"Oh... damn, not again!!" I shouted nervously, afraid I'd crash back down like last time!

But nothing like that happened—I just kept floating gently, gravity no longer pulling me.

It was a weird feeling, hard to explain. Like... having an extra muscle? No, not exactly, but something like that. I couldn't really describe it.

Slowly, I floated higher into the air. "How do I get down?!"

I started rising higher and higher.

"No no no no!" I said quickly, trying to move, but I just kept going up.

I hurriedly grabbed my glasses so they wouldn't fall off.

"I hate this!" I yelled, both annoyed and anxious, watching the ground get farther and farther away.

But then I stopped, suddenly. I was floating, high up in the sky.

"Okay... calm down. I'm really high up. God... so high," I muttered, unable to stop myself from looking down.

"Oh... god, I'm gonna throw up."

My stomach was turning, and I felt nauseous.

I moved my limbs, trying to regain some control—without looking down.

Slowly, I began drifting in one direction. "Okay... I think... I can control this. Maybe."

I looked in the direction I wanted to go, and I felt something shift inside me. I began to float faster.

"Good, I'm doing well,"

I said with a small, relieved smile. But it didn't last.

*WHOOOSH*

Suddenly, I shot off at insane speed.

"AHHHHHHHHH NOT AGAIN!!!"

I was flying uncontrollably, wind roaring in my ears, moving at breakneck speed.

"STOP, STOP, STOP!!"

I screamed, but I couldn't stop. I gritted my teeth, trying to stabilize myself. I clenched a fist and threw it forward to steady my flight.

That's when I felt something missing from my hand. I looked down—my glasses were gone. I saw them tumbling through the air, falling fast.

"MY GLASSES!" I yelled, instantly reacting. I surged forward, instinct taking over.

Both fists forward, I launched myself at them at full speed.

"Almost... almost... GOT IT!"

I snatched them mid-air, but I didn't realize where I was until it was too late. I was plummeting toward a forest.

"I'm screwed..."

I gritted my teeth and covered my face with my arms, bracing for impact. I shut my eyes tightly.

Seconds passed.

But nothing happened. No crash. No pain.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw the grass in front of me. I glanced around and realized—I was just a few inches above the ground, still floating.

"I'm alive..."

"I AM—"

Suddenly, I dropped face-first to the ground.

"…"

I got up and quickly wiped the dirt off my face.

I looked around and saw the forest. Damn... I must be pretty far from home.

I checked my glasses, breathing a sigh of relief—they weren't broken.

"I need to get back home now."

I looked down at my feet and watched as they lifted off the ground again, floating.

"I'm starting to get it…" I murmured with a smile.

And I shot up into the sky, fast.