Chapter Text
“Jon!” Despite the stillness of space, Konnor’s voice calling out to his younger brother filled the air as he saw the young super get sucked into what looked like a black hole. It happened so fast for the super brothers. Jon was flying around one moment, as carefree as he was, then suddenly, he was pulled into the dark portal that even supers feared.
‘This can’t be happening!’ Superboy thought to himself as he tried to fly to his brother. ‘Jon!’ Kon reached out in desperation, but no matter how close he felt, impending doom came upon him.
“Ko-” Jon cried out before disappearing into the confines of space, leaving Konnor adrift.
“DAMMIT!” Kon shouted to the sky and blasted a floating meteorite with his heat vision, sending rock and ash around him. Why did this have to happen? Why Jon? Why not him?
‘Kon! Kon! Look, I can fly!’ Jon’s voice echoed in Konnor’s mind as he drifted into space, the memory of a few hours ago playing in his head.
“Kon Kon! Look at what I can do now!” Jonathan Kent jumped onto the teen's back, almost causing Kon to stumble. The older Kent stopped himself from falling into the hay he was cleaning up for the daily chores.
“Hey, watch it little man!” Konnor adjusted his sunglasses and glared at his ten-year-old brother. “Trying to clean up the barn for Pops, you know! Did you even finish your chores, Jon?”
“That’s not important!” the younger Kent beamed.
“So that’s a no, then?”
“Like I said, not important! Look at what I just discovered!”
“Alright, I’ll bite.” Kon sat on a nearby barrel and watched as his younger brother bent his knees. “Stretching? Oh wow, impressive.”
“Oh shut up, I’m trying to prepare myself!” Jon took a deep breath and jumped into the air, and quickly landed on his feet. “Huh?” he blinked and straightened his back. “Let me try again.” Jon crouched down and jumped again, but as he did earlier, he landed on his feet. “Come on! It was working this mornin'!” He grunted.
“So you just wanted to show me that you can jump?” Konnor chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s sooo impressive, little man, but come on; we gotta finish our chores.”
“No, Kon! I promise whatever I’m going to show you is the coolest thing; maybe I just need a little help?” Jon grabbed his older brother’s hand and pulled him outside. He darted around the barn and looked at the top of the roof. “Ah, there!”
“Jon, what are you planning?” Kon followed his brother’s gaze and stood in his tracks. “Oh no, you don’t! I am not risking you getting hurt like that!”
“But, Kon! Trust me on this! I promise I will be fine.” Jon held up three fingers and smiled, “Scouts honor!”
Konnor took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. “Alright, but no funny biz, you got it?”
“Yeah!” Jon ran into the barn and quickly climbed the ladder that led to the roof. He stepped onto the creaking wood and scanned the fields, spotting Konnor, who was watching him, and waved to him. Despite it being summer, Jon could feel a cool breeze blowing through his curly hair. “READY?” he shouted.
“Yeah, sure.” Kon threw a thumbs up at Jon and watched as Jon crouched yet again.
‘Surely he’s not going to?’ Kon thought to himself. Yeah, Jon was prone to doing crazy stuff, like claiming to be able to take a punch when he discovered his invulnerability…that was a fun way to explain the black eye to their mom. “Nah, surely he’s learned his lesson by now.” Kon sighed and waited for Jon to come climbing back down.
“Okay, Kon here I go!” Jon shouted as he jumped off the roof.
“OH WAIT, HE’S SERIOUS!” Kon jumped up from his seat, ran towards his brother, and braced himself to catch Jon.
“What are you doing, Kon?” Jon asked from above him.
“What do you mean? I’m trying to keep you from falling-” Kon looked up and spotted Jon’s smug face staring at him. “Whoa, you’re-”
“Flying! Isn’t it great?” Jon flew around Kon and the barn, giggling as he felt the wind through his face.
“Holy shi- cow.” Kon watched as his brother flew. “Look at you! You’re flyin’ Jon! That’s amazing!”
“Yeah! I found out this morning when Krypto surprised me from my dream.”
“So that’s what the ruckus was.”
Kon continued to watch Jon fly a bit, smiling proudly at him. Explaining this to their folks is going to be interesting. Probably not the jumping off the roof bit though.
“Hey, Kon. How do I land?” Jon stumbled in the air, desperately trying to grasp the ground below him.
“Uh, you sort of just choose a spot! Just be a little caref-” Kon didn’t even have time to react as his younger brother landed face first into the ground. “Oooh, that’s gotta leave a mark.” Konnor walked up to Jon, who shot up from the spot, spitting mud and grass out of his mouth. “You good?”
“Yeah! How was my landing?”
“Could be better, you’ll get used to it. Soon you’ll be able to fly higher than ever if you keep that up.”
“Like…space??” Jon’s eyes sparkled at the thought of seeing the stars, not even thinking about if he could breathe in the vacuum or not. “KON can we-?”
“Nooo, way!” Kon shook his head at the notion. “Pops would have my head if I took you to space…and let’s not even mention what Mom could do.”
“Awww, come on, Kon! Please! I promise I’ll be by your side the entire time!” Jon held up his three fingers again and crossed his heart. “Scouts honor!”
“Could’ve sworn dad was the scout and not you.” Kon ruffled his brother’s hair. “But, I can’t argue with that face. Alright, let’s go, but only for a little bit. And stay close!”
“Okay, I promise!”
Those were the last words Jon spoke before getting sucked into that black hole. Kon looked around in the void of space, breathing heavily as his mind raced frantically.
“I…I gotta tell Dad…” Kon flew towards the earth as fast as he could. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew Superman can figure it out.
“Hang tight, Jon!”
“Ugh…my head…” Jon blinked and coughed as he slowly sat up. His head rang and buzzed with a noise louder than anything he’s ever heard before. “Where…where am I?” Jon quickly scanned the area where he landed. Around him, lava spewed from the rocks that pooled into a lake in front of the ten-year-old. The last thing he recalled was Kon staring at him, reaching toward him, but Jon felt something grab his leg and pulled him through the darkness. “Kon?...Kon!! KONNOR!”
Jon’s throat felt hot and dry like the air got sucked out of him. His voice strained as he tried to shout out to his brother. He felt weak and exhausted like he just did a lot of manual labor for weeks.
‘I gotta get out of here, but I feel so tired.’
Suddenly he heard something from behind him. He turned around and spotted a familiar figure floating above him. “Dad?” The figure sneered as it inched closer to Jon. It looked like Clark, but the face was more twisted and more sinister.
“Oh cute…he thinks I’m his dad.”