Star Child

Part Three

The next month might have been the happiest Alex had ever been in his life. No, there was no ‘might’ about it…it was the happiest he’d ever been. Simply the fact that he and Kal had been lovers for a month and Alex wasn’t bored yet was something he’d never experienced before. Every night with Kal was like a new and wondrous beginning and Alex couldn’t envision ever being without him again.

It wasn’t completely perfect, as Kal was still a little too reticent for Alex’s taste about all those things he was supposed to reveal ‘in time’, but he could be patient. Or at least he could pretend to be patient. Alex had never been with a partner who was so dominant before and it was a struggle not to let himself get completely swept under by the force of Kal’s personality. They had a few heated arguments about many aspects of their new relationship, but if this was their destiny as Kal had proclaimed, Alex was determined that he’d have as much say in it as Kal did.

Kal revealed pieces of himself a little at a time, showing incredible strength and speed, and no matter how hard he tried, Alex could not make a lasting mark on his skin. Alex wondered how his lover had come to possess such astounding abilities. They were certainly beyond anything Alex had ever heard of before, and he pondered if perhaps Kal wasn’t a god come straight from the mountains of Olympus. He didn’t truly believe that, of course, but he knew there was more to Kal than he was telling so far, and Alex very much wanted to know the rest of the story.

He also told Alex about his life with the farmers that he’d lived with before the Kawatche had taken him. Their names were Jonathan and Martha Kent and they had called him Clark while he was living with them. Alex asked him why he called himself Kal if that was the case, but apparently that was another thing that wasn’t to be shared with him yet.

Alex had the feeling that the Kents had not been his first family either, as he did not refer to them as mother or father, instead calling them by their first names. But again, that was one of the subjects that Kal dodged when Alex asked about it. He hoped that full disclosure would be coming soon, because for the last couple of days, Alex had been feeling unaccountably anxious, as though something were on the horizon. And whatever it was, was not good.

Kal had endeavored to begin teaching Alex the Kawatche language and he was picking it up relatively well. He could have simple conversations with the others in the tribe, and naturally, he used this to try and find out more about Kal from someone else. Frustratingly, no one would tell him anything about Star Child except that he was a much revered member of the tribe. It was strange, though; sometimes Alex got the impression that they almost feared him as much as they loved him.

Whether it was fear or love that held their tongues, the rest of the Indians accepted Alex’s place as Kal’s…whatever he was in their eyes…without comment or protest. For all that they protected their lands with ferocious violence, the Kawatche seemed overall a peaceful people, and discord among them was very rare. Which was why Alex was so surprised one morning when an uneasy rumbling ran through the crowd gathered in the center of the village.

Following the gazes of several people, he saw Kal in a heated argument with another warrior. Alex recognized him as the same man that Kal had overruled on the day of the stagecoach attack, whose name he had learned was Gray Deer. Alex had noted that there was a constant low level of animosity and competition between Star Child and Gray Deer, and more often than not, Kal ended up having the upper hand.

The chief, called Great Father by everyone in the tribe, was watching the disagreement silently. From what Alex could tell, he was the arbitrator of the dispute, because Gray Deer was gesturing towards Kal while appealing to the elder. Alex wished he was close enough to hear what was being said, although he might not have been able to follow it, as limited as his Kawatche was as of yet.

When the three of them turned to look straight at Alex, that bad feeling that he had been suffering the last couple of days spiked, making his insides twist with agitation. Finally, Great Father spoke, pulling the attention of the two squabbling warriors back to him. When he was finished, he turned away, heading back towards his own teepee. Unfortunately, it appeared that this was not one of the times that Kal had prevailed because he had a set, grim look on his face as he stalked over towards Alex, and Gray Deer was definitely looking smug behind Kal’s back.

“Kal? What was all that-” Alex started to ask.

“Inside, please, Lex, and we will discuss it there,” Kal said, cutting him off.

Alex wasn’t sure if he had ever seen Kal this unsettled before. It was making him very nervous, but he got up and followed Kal back to their teepee. Once inside, they sat on the floor, facing one another. Kal huffed out a sigh of irritation, before he looked at Alex with his usual intense gaze.

“Gray Deer has challenged me.”

“What does that mean?” Alex asked when Kal said nothing more.

“It means he wants something that I have, and I have denied it. It means that we will be required to confront each other to see which of us will get to have what we both want.”

“What is it that he wants?”

“You,” Kal said simply.

Alex’s heart leapt into his throat. He felt the need to reassure Kal that no one else could ever take his place in Alex’s heart. “I’ve never done anything to encourage him, I swear that to you, Kal.”

Kal gave a harsh laugh. “He does not want you like that, Lex. He wants to kill you.”

Now Alex felt the stirrings of real fear for the first time in weeks. “What?” he asked, his face going pale.

“He will not be allowed the chance to even come near you, Lex. You are mine and I have sworn to protect you. This, I will do,” Kal vowed seriously.

“But why does he want to kill me? I haven’t done anything to offend him, have I?” Alex asked in confusion. Sometimes the particular customs of the Kawatche still eluded him, and he feared that he had brought this down on Kal’s head by accident somehow.

Kal sighed. “It has nothing to do with you personally. Gray Deer and I have fought against one another from childhood. I was brought into the Kawatche tribe at ten summers old. At the time, Gray Deer was only eight. He is Great Father’s son by blood, but I am Great Father’s son in spirit, and I am the one that he has chosen to lead the tribe when he is gone. Gray Deer cannot accept this, and has always tried to bring me down in Great Father’s eyes, so that he can be the future leader of the tribe.”

“Still, how does killing me bring you down in Great Father’s eyes?”

“Our crops were smaller than usual this year. Game in the forest is not as plentiful the last couple of months. Gray Deer blames this on you for bringing bad spirits to haunt the tribe, and thus on me because I prevented him from killing you when we pulled you out of the stagecoach.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Alex scoffed.

Kal shrugged one shoulder carelessly. “It is what he believes.”

Then Alex worried that he had offended Kal with his words, while at the same time he felt a little hurt if that was what Kal thought. “Is that what you believe?”

Kal smiled at him tenderly. “Lex, you could never bring bad spirits. You are everything that is good in this world.”

Alex found himself blushing at Kal’s words. The compliment would have sounded absurd coming from anyone else, but from Kal, it was quietly sincere, and meant more to Alex than he would have ever thought possible. In gratitude, Alex leaned forward and kissed Kal, which quickly led to other things and they were distracted for quite a while.

Afterwards, they lay quietly on the furs together, Kal on his back, Alex on his side to Kal’s left. Alex was curled up as close to Kal as he could get without lying on top of him, and he had his leg nestled in between Kal’s knees. He reached up to pull a section of hair away from Kal’s face and absently began to braid it, a skill he’d asked one of the tribeswomen to teach him when he’d seen her doing her own hair. As they were both fairly relaxed, Alex felt safe in bringing up the issue of the challenge again.

“What exactly will this challenge entail?” he asked quietly.

“A fight, with weapons. We battle until one man can no longer continue.”

“To the death, then?” Alex asked.

“Not always. Sometimes the victor will have mercy and allow the other man to simply yield.” He glanced over at Alex and gave him a teasing smile. “Are you worried about me?”

“Of course not. I anticipate Gray Deer’s thorough ass-kicking, courtesy of you,” Alex said flippantly.

“I am allowed to hit him in other places besides his ass, right? Because I think that kind of limits me,” Kal said, his grin widening.

Alex whapped Kal in the face with the braid he was working on, and then they were both laughing too hard to worry about anything for a while.

~*~*~

The days leading up to the challenge were slightly more stressful than the ones before it had been issued, and Alex tried to relax as he knew logically that there was no way Gray Deer could hope to best Kal. He had seen Kal punch through a boulder once when they were down at the river. Gray Deer had never demonstrated any enhanced strength, so how could he possibly hope to stand up to Star Child?

Which is what worried Alex. The Kawatche were very much aware that their Star Child was different from them. Although Alex suspected he held back from showing his full potential, he had never been shy about using his strength or speed around them. Kal was, in fact, considered one of the primary protectors of the tribe for that reason. Gray Deer must know that there was no way for him to win, so why had he put forth the challenge?

The only thing Alex could conjecture was that perhaps Gray Deer did not realize how impenetrable Kal’s skin was. If that was the case, Alex feared that the jealous warrior had some plan in mind to cheat, even though Alex couldn’t figure out how he intended to do so. To Alex’s dismay, when he tried to bring these concerns up with Kal, he was told quite firmly to stay out of the matter.

So Alex kept his mouth shut, but he also kept his eye on Gray Deer, as unobtrusively as he could, watching to see if any foul play was brewing. To his frustration, the man did nothing out of the ordinary, or at least nothing that Alex had been able to catch him at.

A challenge such as this one was a serious affair among the Kawatche and when the appointed night arrived, every man, woman, and child in the village was present for it. The battle was to take place in a sacred clearing, about half a mile into the forest from the village itself. There were torches placed around the fighting ground to provide light, since tradition demanded that the fight take place under a full moon.

The other tribe members sat in a loose circle around an area large enough for the two men to clash. Alex, as the prize in the challenge, had been placed right beside Great Father. He had been so worried about Kal that Alex had almost forgotten if Gray Deer won this challenge, his own life was also forfeit.

The two men faced each other, dressed only in loincloths. Kal had his unique blade, and Gray Deer had chosen to use a hatchet. Alex thought it would be extremely ironic if Kal were to be killed by a weapon he had probably crafted himself. He shook his head, trying to clear it of such negative thoughts.

Great Father shouted a command and the battle began. The two combatants circled one another warily at first. Alex wondered what the hell Kal was waiting for. Why didn’t he just step up and take that hatchet out of Gray Deer’s hand before he knew what was happening? That was when he noticed that Kal was not acting like himself. He was sweating, his face held tight as though he was trying to hold back a grimace of pain, and had he just stumbled?!

Alex had been in this village for nearly two months and he’d never even seen Kal stub a toe, much less nearly fall. He was incredibly graceful for a man of his stature. Alex tensed, every instinct in him screaming to jump up and get his lover the hell out of there. Great Father must have sensed his distress, because he laid a hand on Alex’s arm and said something. He was so anxious he didn’t quite get the exact translation, but Alex got the intent: don’t interfere.

Now the warriors were starting to truly fight, each taking experimental swings with their weapon to feel out his opponent. Kal was only barely dodging Gray Deer’s blows, which just didn’t make sense. Then there was a strike in which Kal didn’t move quite fast enough, and Gray Deer’s hatchet scraped across his stomach. Alex, and every other person in the village, gasped in shock as Kal’s blood seeped from the wound.

How was this possible? Alex saw the look of surprise on Kal’s face and realized that even he didn’t quite understand what was going on. Gray Deer began to speak, and Alex grasped just enough of it to hear that he was taunting Kal, calling him unworthy of the Kawatche people and proclaiming himself their new protector. When he glanced over at Alex, and his smile turned vicious, he said something about how he was going to enjoy killing Star Child’s whore.

At that threat, Kal’s expression turned murderous, and he suddenly charged Gray Deer, taking the other man by surprise and plowing the both of them into the ground. Somehow, they’d both lost their weapons, but Kal was still handicapped in some unknown way. Gray Deer took advantage of the chance to beat Star Child with his bare fists. Seeing the sheer pleasure he got out of it, Alex thought it must have been something that he’d dreamed of for a long time.

Alex was about to explode with fear and rage. He was watching his lover being beaten to death right in front of him. Damn the consequences of what the onlookers would do to him, Alex was two seconds from leaping to his feet and ripping that bastard’s head off his shoulders. He had half-risen to his feet when he noticed something odd. Gray Deer was wearing an amulet with a green stone around his neck, where he’d never worn ornamentation before. If it was a ceremonial thing, wouldn’t Kal have one as well?

What really caught his attention, however, was the way the faintly glowing amulet was hanging from Gray Deer’s neck as he kneeled over Kal. It swung back and forth with its wearer’s movements and every time it came closer to Kal, the glow intensified. Suddenly, it clicked in Alex’s mind and he realized where he’d seen the necklace before. It belonged to Great Father, and Alex had seen the way Kal flinched whenever Great Father came too close.

The amulet was the thing that was making Kal weak, and the closer it was to him, the worse the effects were. Alex had to do something, or Kal was going to die. But he couldn’t interfere directly or they might both die through the wrath of the tribe.

There were mutterings growing ever louder from the crowd, who were stunned that their invincible one was being defeated. Alex hoped that Kal would be able to hear him, just as he also hoped that most of the Kawatche didn’t understand English very well.

“Kal!” he shouted. His call went unheard by the tribe, but unfortunately, Kal didn’t hear it either. “KAL!” he shouted a little louder.

Gray Deer had started to choke Star Child at this point, obviously wanting to end his rival’s life with his own hands, but Alex thought that Kal’s head turned slightly towards his voice.

“The necklace, Kal! Get the necklace off him! Get it away from you!”

Kal’s hands were desperately trying to pry Gray Deer’s fingers from around his neck, and at first, Alex didn’t think he had heard his plea. But then, one hand slowly crept up Gray Deer’s arm towards his neck. Gray Deer was so intoxicated with the realization that he was about to destroy his enemy that he had neither heard Alex’s warning nor did he realize what Kal was attempting.

With a frightful roar, Kal ripped the amulet from around Gray Deer’s neck and threw it several feet away. At the same time, obviously feeling a rush of renewed strength, in one move he flipped a shocked Gray Deer off of him and rolled over to take the dominant position above him. Somehow, he’d come up with his blade at the same time and it was quickly pressed against Gray Deer’s throat.

Kal’s eyes were blazing, and his jaw was clenched tightly as he growled a sharp order in Kawatche to his adversary. Alex recognized the command to yield and held his breath, hoping that Kal would be able to hold him long enough, because the amulet was still too close for his comfort.

Kal shouted the demand to yield again, pushing the blade a little deeper into Gray Deer’s throat, and finally the defeated warrior gasped out a surrender. Kal’s body relaxed but as he straightened slightly over Gray Deer’s supine form, Alex thought he still looked like he was about to collapse.

Great Father stepped forward and declared the challenge over, proclaiming Star Child the victor, and granting him the prize…which Alex was a little abashed to remember was himself. Not caring anymore what the rest of the tribe thought, Alex rushed forward to help Kal to his feet before he fell over. He wrapped an arm around Kal’s waist, doing his best to support him, not an easy task since he probably outweighed Alex by at least fifty pounds.

They had only taken half a dozen steps, and Alex was softly murmuring to Kal that he was going to take care of him, when an agonized shriek had them jerking back around in surprise. They stared in shock as they saw that Gray Deer was staggering away from them, his hatchet still clutched in his hand, and there was an arrow in his shoulder. He was staring at the bow in Great Father’s hands in disbelief.

Alex was appalled as he understood what Gray Deer had done. Great Father then condemned his son as a coward and a disgrace for not respecting the outcome of the challenge and attempting to exact his revenge against Kal. Gray Deer tried to protest, but everyone had seen it and there was no way he could deny his actions. Great Father sadly pronounced punishment on Gray Deer by banishing him from the tribe and ordered him never to return.

Gray Deer stared at his father, devastated by what he’d just said, and then he looked at Kal and Alex with such fierce anger in his eyes that Alex imagined he could almost feel the heat of his hatred. Kal stared back at him impassively, before turning to leave the battleground, pulling Alex gently along with him.

The further they got away from the field – and the necklace – the more Kal seemed to improve. By the time they’d reached their teepee, he was walking much easier, and some of the cuts and bruises had begun to heal. Alex insisted on pampering him a bit anyway, and made Kal lie down while he cleaned some of the blood off of him.

Kal seemed distracted as Alex washed him, and then he suddenly said, “Gray Deer is a fool.”

“Yes, well, we knew that when he challenged you to a fight, didn’t we? Do you think he knew the effect the necklace had on you?”

“Yes, I believe he must have known somehow. That is why he was so confident, but that is not why he is a fool.”

“Enlighten me,” Alex murmured as he trailed the cloth across Kal’s stomach.

“He had gained the tribe’s respect, even if he did not win the challenge, by almost defeating me. No one has ever come so close to killing me, Lex. Ever. And then he threw it all away because he could not handle the fact that I defeated him despite his underhanded ways.”

“Why did you even go into that battle when you saw him wearing the necklace?” Alex asked, a little bewildered.

“I could not suddenly refuse the challenge. Besides, I had no idea the necklace had that effect on me. I was as confused as everyone else until I heard your call to me.”

Alex dropped the cloth he was using to wipe Kal’s wounds in astonishment. “How could you not know that? I’ve seen you cringe around Great Father, and I never understood why, but I thought you knew.”

“I never connected the two. I have never told you about the day the Kawatche took me from the Kent farm, have I?”

Alex shook his head no, and Kal continued.

“The reason they did not kill me is because they were unable to. They tried shooting me with arrows, bashing my skull, stabbing me, beating me…none of it worked, and they were suddenly frightened that I was some sort of demon.”

“You must have been terrified,” Alex said, feeling sympathy for that ten year old boy.

“I was. I had just seen the only parents I had ever known on earth killed, and now their murderers were trying to kill me. And even though their attempts did not succeed, they were still incredibly painful. My abilities have increased as I’ve gotten older, and at ten, my skin was not as tough as it is now. I carried scars from that day for several years, but they eventually faded.”

“So what happened then?”

“The warriors in charge of the raid took me back to their camp, to ask Great Father what they should do with me. The moment that he stepped close to me, I collapsed into a heap at his feet. They took it to mean that I was acknowledging his superiority over me. I have never been sure what Great Father himself was thinking, but when I looked up at him, he must have seen something in my gaze, because he declared me a member of the tribe. By my sixteenth summer, he had announced me as his successor for chief.”

“How did you not realize later on that it was the necklace that caused you to collapse?”

“He wore it all the time. He was the only person who made me feel that pain, so for a long time I believed what they told me about him being some sort of demi-god. I was only ten, remember. Anyway, I suppose once I became older and realized that he was just a normal man, I could have run away, but I had nowhere to go, and I decided that living with the Kawatche was better than being on my own, so I stayed,” Kal said with a shrug.

“But you still didn’t connect a glowing green necklace to your bouts of flopping and flailing all over the place. Not the most observant guy in the world, are you?” Alex teased.

Kal gave him a gentle push before responding. “I saw you and decided to save your life, did I not?”

Alex leaned over and kissed his hero softly. “Yeah, you did. Still not sure exactly why you did decide to do that, but trust me, I’m very grateful.”

Kal’s expression went utterly serious, startling Alex. He startled Alex further when he suddenly leapt to his feet and grabbed his lover by the hand, pulling him towards the door of the teepee.

“Come with me!” Kal said urgently.

“Whoa, hold on! I know you’re tough, but you were just in a battle for your life. Don’t you think you need to rest?” Alex protested, trying to resist Kal’s yanking on him, and having about as much success as he had that first day.

Kal turned to grip him by the shoulders and gave one of those blinding grins. “I think it’s time for you to know the truth, Lex.”

Well, hell.

How was he supposed to refuse that?

~*~*~

Kal led him unerringly through the woods, almost as though he could see in the dark. With everything Alex had learned about Kal, he wondered if that wasn’t exactly what he was doing. Alex had thought they were heading towards the river, but he quickly realized that they were going in an entirely different direction.

“Tell me about the day you lost your hair, Lex,” Kal asked suddenly, taking Alex by surprise.

Alex stumbled in the dark, grateful when Kal’s hand was there to steady him. “Why do you want to know about that?” he asked. Alex did not like thinking about that day.

“Please. It is important,” Kal insisted.

Seeing as he was on his way to being told the truths he’d wanted for a long time from Kal, Alex didn’t see how he could refuse the request. Starting a bit haltingly, he explained to Kal how he had been on a trip with his mother. He had been nine years old and so excited to be traveling with her without his father. Even at that age, Alex and his father had not gotten along.

Lillian Luthor had family in Wichita and they had spent the summer with them before Alex had to go back to school in New York. Alex had loved that summer with his mother’s family so much. They’d ridden horses, hunted rabbits, explored rivers and forests…it had been the most wonderful time of his life, and sometimes remembering that was the only thing that had gotten him through the horror of what had happened on their way back home.

The stagecoach had stopped at a tiny settlement called Smallville to stock up for the last part of the trip to Kansas City. Alex had wandered, following a squirrel he’d been trying to tempt to his hand with a few sunflower seeds. And then the sky started to fall. It was such complete devastation, that in the aftermath the settlement of Smallville was utterly destroyed and never rebuilt.

Alex’s voice grew flat as he related the story of the burning rocks falling all around him, but for some reason, with his hand firmly held in Kal’s, the usual pain of the memory eased a little. He hesitated when he got to the part where he remembered the young boy, wondering if Kal would be understanding if he said that the boy reminded Alex of him.

“You can tell me,” Kal urged softly, and Alex wondered if mind-reading wasn’t one of his abilities as well.

“There was a little boy nearby when I woke up. He said something to me…” Alex trailed off, unsure. “My mother said that I must have imagined him because he disappeared and I never saw him again.”

Kal halted their walking and turned to face Alex, cupping his hands around Alex’s face as he was so fond of doing. He smiled that smile that Alex had begun to think of as his own special Kal expression.

“Yes, you did, Lex. That little boy was me, and that is why I saved you that day by the stagecoach. As soon as I saw you clearly, I knew who you were. And I knew that I was meant to save you. I often dreamt of you and I knew that we would someday meet again,” Kal said.

Alex was stunned, shocked into silence, and yet he felt the truth of Kal’s words. Had he not sensed their connection from the very moment Kal had touched his face that day?

“Are you all right, love?” Kal asked with a tender smile. Alex managed to nod.

“I just…it’s so fantastic, I can barely wrap my head around it…” he half-stammered. “That word you said, mish…” Alex asked, stumbling over the pronunciation.

“Mishidhal,” Kal said.

“Yes, that. It’s not a Kawatche word, is it? What does it mean?”

“That is what I am about to show you,” Kal grinned. “Do you trust me, Lex?”

“You know that I do,” Alex said.

Kal stepped forward and lifted Alex off his feet, holding him around the waist. “Then hold on to me.”

Alex wrapped his arms around Kal’s neck and Kal shifted him slightly to the side. He grinned at Alex briefly before he started to run. Alex’s breath left his body in a whoosh of awe and amazement as the world around them blurred into simple stripes of color and shadows. It felt like flying and Alex couldn’t restrain a laugh at the sheer insanity and joy of it.

Less than a minute later, Kal stopped and set him back on the ground, but kept holding on because he seemed to know that Alex would be a bit unsteady on his feet. Alex found himself gasping for breath and he looked up at Kal.

“Oh, my god. That was…that was the most incredible…I can’t even…how do you keep yourself from just doing that all the time?”

Kal laughed. “I do it a lot more than you know. Sometimes I slip away for a few minutes and just run because I can.”

“Wow,” Alex breathed and then he glanced around to see where Kal had brought him. “Where are we?”

“A special place. Come, and I will show you.”

He turned and led Alex to the entrance to a cave just a few feet away. Alex had been so enthralled with the trip here that he hadn’t noticed it at first. They stepped inside, Kal once again having no trouble navigating their way in the dark. Suddenly, a bright light began to glow from one of the walls and Alex shrank back a bit, apprehensive in spite of himself.

Kal sent him a reassuring smile, and then walked towards the light. Alex watched as he tapped on a spot on the adjacent wall, and gaped when a small hole opened up there. Kal reached in and pulled out a small piece of metal, shaped like an octagon. He then placed the metal piece into a matching depression where the wall was glowing.

He took a step backwards and then spoke in a loud voice at the wall. Only, he wasn’t speaking English or Kawatche. Alex suddenly remembered the language Kal had spoken when they’d met the first time and wondered if this was the same one.

Alex nearly fainted with fright when the wall answered. “Kal-El,” it boomed, the only sound Alex recognized and then there was a babble of the same language that Kal had used.

“May we use English, Father? Lex cannot understand what we are saying,” Kal said.

“That would be acceptable,” the cave wall intoned.

Kal turned to face his lover, gave him an encouraging smile. Alex was glad someone was able to be so happy, because he was having a goddamn heart attack.

“I know this is a lot for you to try and accept, Lex, but please believe me when I say that you are safe. I meant what I said about protecting you.”

Alex nodded numbly. He knew that, he did, and any minute now, he was going to get his voice back so he could tell Kal that he knew that. Finally, he managed to get his brain and his mouth working together again.

“F-father? You called him father?” he asked.

“Yes, Lex. This is Jor-El of Krypton. He is my first father.”

“Your father is a cave wall?”

Kal smiled at Alex’s words. “No, Jor-El is no longer living. This is sort of like his spirit, a memory of him.”

“I…see,” Alex said, even though he really, really didn’t.

“Lex, you know all the things I am able to do? Things that no other human on earth is capable of?”

Alex nodded, his voice seeming to have deserted him once again.

“That is because I…I am not human, nor am I from earth,” Kal said softly and he stared hard into Alex’s eyes.

For the first time, Alex saw fear in Kal’s face. Fear that Alex would not be able to handle this, that he would reject Kal. Alex had always been an open-minded man, but this… This was almost too incredible for his mind to process. Alex’s brain began to whirl with the realization that Kal was alien to this planet, like those fantasy stories that Alex had read as a child, and he had powers, and he was an alien.

And then he looked again and saw the man who’d been his lover for the last two months, the man who’d made him feel more emotion, more joy, than any other person in his life. This was his Kal, who loved him, and had sworn to always protect him.

He could see the light dimming from Kal’s eyes the longer Alex stood not moving, just staring at him. Decision made, Alex stepped up to Kal and reached up to trace his fingers along the side of Kal’s face just the way Kal had so often done to him.

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re mine, and I love you,” Alex said.

Kal’s whole body relaxed and he swept Alex up into a bone-crushing hug, followed by a deep kiss, and then more squeezing and hugging. Kal was laughing and telling Alex he loved him, and Alex could practically hear the relief flowing in his voice.

“Need to breathe here, Kal,” Alex gasped.

Guiltily, but still grinning like a loon, Kal set Alex back down on his feet, but kept hold of his shoulders as though he couldn’t bear to stop touching him. Alex liked that; he liked it a lot.

“So, my Son, you have chosen a mate. This is good, for you will need a companion by your side during your life on this planet.”

“Yes, Father. This is Alexander Luthor, and he is…” Kal stared at Alex with his every emotion shining in his eyes, and Alex had never seen him quite this open before. “He is everything.”

“As you are to me, Kal,” Alex said.

“This is what mishidhal means, Lex. Soul mates.”

“Yes,” Alex agreed, and he was suddenly eager to know more, to know everything. “Tell me more about your planet.”

“It would be easier to show you, Alexander Luthor,” Jor-El’s voice interrupted.

They both turned to look at the glowing lights where Jor-El’s memory resided. “Show me how?” Alex asked.

A brightly colored beam of energy shot out of the metal piece Kal had placed into the wall, and completely enveloped Alex. Gasping aloud as a multitude of images began flashing through his head, Alex suddenly knew everything. He saw the beauty that the planet Krypton once was. He watched as Jor-El pleaded with the council to believe him about their world’s imminent destruction, only to see his warnings go unheeded. He grieved and hoped along with them as Jor-El and Lara placed infant Kal-El into a tiny space pod to send him across the stars so that their son might live.

Alex fell to his knees with a shudder as the beam left him, and for a moment, he couldn’t speak. His brain felt stuffed full of all that he had seen and learned, and he breathed harshly as he tried to process it.

“Father, you could have given him a little warning!” Kal was shouting at the wall, a bit angrily.

Alex laughed softly, touched at Kal’s concern for him.

“I’m fine, Kal, it was just a bit startling, that’s all.”

Kal jerked his gaze to him in surprise. “Did you understand what I said?”

“Yes?” Alex said, wondering why Kal seemed so shocked.

“I was speaking Kryptonian,” Kal said, his eyes wide. “And now that I think of it, so are you!”

“Wow,” Alex replied. “I guess he gave me more than a history lesson then.”

They spent another couple of hours in the cave, while Kal answered every question Alex could think to ask. It was information overload, but Alex was more ecstatic than he’d ever been in his life. At least one hour of that was devoted to examining Kal’s spaceship, which was hidden in the caves.

Kal remembered very little about his time before the Kents, although he did always know that he was not from earth. Alex felt very honored when Kal told him that he had never revealed this information to anyone, not even the farmers who’d taken him in.

Jonathan and Martha Kent had found a young Kal-El wandering near their small homestead, and had immediately taken him in, figuring that he’d lost his parents in that odd storm that had so devastated Smallville. Their farm was closer to Granville, and so was spared any damage. Alex and Kal realized that the Kents must have found him literally hours after the two of them had their encounter in the field.

Once Star Child, as Great Father had named him, settled in with the Kawatche, he had given little thought to the way he’d arrived on the planet…until four years ago when he’d turned eighteen. He began to have odd dreams, of a man that looked like him, but that he somehow sensed wasn’t himself. The thing that puzzled young Star Child more was the nearly overwhelming need to go and look for something that had been lost to him.

One night, Star Child could stand it no longer, and he followed the urge, letting it lead him as he used his speed to blur across the Kansas countryside. Buried deep within a hole, and glowing as it called out to him was a small octagonal shaped piece of metal. This key led him to a nearby field where he found something else.

As he’d stood looking down at his spaceship, long hidden in the middle of an abandoned field near the dead town of Smallville, Star Child felt a sense of homecoming that he’d never felt before.

When the ship directed him to the caves where he spoke to his birth father for the first time, Kal-El finally remembered his true name, and had called himself that ever since.

Kal was eventually able to convince Alex that they’d spent enough time in the caves for now, and that they needed to return to the village before they were missed. He promised Alex that they would return soon, and Alex pouted slightly, but admitted grudgingly that he agreed it was time to go.

Alex might have gotten a little carried away in his excitement about all he had learned in the caves, because when they got back to their teepee, he couldn’t stop talking. Kal gave him an exasperated glare, because it was still very early in the morning and he wanted to sleep, but Alex was having none of that.

Alex was bursting with ideas of things they could do, places they could go, everything they could accomplish with the knowledge they had and the power that Kal possessed. He kept poking at Kal, questioning why he was wasting his time in a small Indian village when he could be conquering the world.

“Lex!” Kal finally shouted.

Alex paused long enough to give him a surprised glance.

“The world is not ready for the likes of you and me, not yet. Do not worry, we will have plenty of time to enact all these grand plans of yours. Right now, the Kawatche are my responsibility, and I take that responsibility very seriously. Great Father is old and he knows that he will not live much longer. He has entrusted care of his people to me, and I will not let him down,” Kal said carefully.

Alex felt shamed that he’d let his enthusiasm get the better of him. The Kawatche had spared his life and taken him in, just as they’d taken Kal in so many years ago. He apologized to Kal, and promised to try and be more patient.

“But once we do decide to conquer the world, can we make sure that it’s my father’s job to massage our weary feet at the end of every day?” Alex whispered into Kal’s ear, and was pleased when his mishidhal laughed.