Work Text:
Dear Laurie,
This place is so cool. Seriously, so cool! I’m meeting all of my heroes (okay, not all of them but a lot! I mean, meeting even one from the comics is mind blowing), and I really can’t even explain how awesome it is. I’m writing this letter to give to you when I get back! Or if someone finds a way to send it to you, whichever comes first.
They’re calling me Superboy Prime (I’m the real Superboy now! I can’t wait to get home, I’ll show everyone actually, I’ll probably have to keep a secret identity. (Just like Superman!)) since our Earth is apparently Earth Prime. It’s a little nerve wracking to go out and beat up the bad guys and my powers are just so new but Superman is helping teach me to use them. And isn’t that so weird?!?? My superpowers?? I always felt like I should have been able to do more, to be more, but it’s still crazy to just do this stuff. It’s like my brain doesn’t understand what I can do now. Maybe when I get back I’ll take you flying.
Okay, I have to go now. It’s been kind of scary, but I think it’ll all turn out okay. I’ll keep writing letters so I don’t forget anything or in case my mind gets wiped or anything. Agh, I shouldn’t have even thought of that.
Superboy Prime (!!!)
Clark Kent
Dear Laurie,
They're saying that home Earth Prime was destroyed by the antimatter wave. I mean, that wouldn’t happen, right? Things like this get retconned all the time in comics, so it’ll turn out that they just couldn’t find it, like it was hidden by something, or it’ll come back, or something. I’ll keep writing to you for when I see you again.
It’s me and three others whose Earths are gone for now. There’s Kal-L and Lois, who you can probably guess are Superman and Lois Lane from another Earth. Huh. I just thought of it, but I guess my name is also Kal-el? I don’t know. But everyone calls me “Superboy Prime” or just “Prime” here, since there’s two Clark Kents. It’s weird. But anyway, they’re old and married and pretty nice to me. It makes me miss Mom and Dad. Sorry, that’s too sad. I need to remember that I’ll see you guys soon, when they find Earth Prime.
There’s also Alex, or Alexander Luthor Jr. He’s Lex Luthor’s son, but he’s from a world where his dad was the only superhero. Isn’t that crazy? Anything can happen in elseworlds I guess. But he brought us to this paradise dimension to hunker down since the antimatter waves would have destroyed us or something. He’s closer to my age, I think. I don’t actually know. We’re friends, since I feel like it’s kind of weird and screwy to be 15 and friends with 80 year olds. You know, I don’t actually know how old Kal-L and Lois are either. I’ll tell you how when I find out.
Would it be weird to ask them? I feel like we’re past the asking how old you are stage. I don’t know when that stage is, but I think it’s before ‘living together because you’ll die if you go anywhere else’. Oh man, when I write it down like that, it sounds crazy. It’s not that bad. Well, we can’t go out of this dimension but it has everything we need… never mind. Ignore all of that. It’s peaceful here.
I’ll see you soon,
Clark Kent
Laurie,
I’m passing the time here, so I keep rewatching my memories of Earth Prime. I miss you. So much. I just want to go home. At first, it was fun, and I got to literally meet my heroes and everything, but I think I’d trade it for my normal life in an instant. I really really miss you, and Mom and Dad, and the beach, and the little comic section of the store that never had the most recent issues, and even just going to school. I think I’d do anything to go back even if I had to be called Superboy for the rest of my life and could never read a comic again.
There’s a new Superboy on New Earth, and he’s so stupid. I’m Superboy, I’ve been called that my entire life. It's not fair for a stupid clone to take it.
I don’t think I like New Earth.
Superboy Prime
Clark Kent
Dear Laurie,
I’m going to see you again soon, if this works. Alex said it will, and he’s super (ha! But not in that way) smart. I’m about to go out, and it’s like my nerves are just buzzing under my skin. I really really hope this works. I know it will, we’ve all done so much and it wouldn’t be fair.
I can’t wait to go home.
Superboy Prime
There’s no paper in the Sciencell. Instead, when he stares at the endless green walls of the tiny box of his prison, he imagines what he’d write. His hands trace letters on his bare legs, the tattered edges of his suit rubbing painfully against the sensitive, raw skin where the veins of yellow sunlight had run.
Dear Laurie,
I’ll see you soon.
Dear Laurie,
I will get out of here.
Dear Laurie,
I feel so angry all the time. I don’t know what to do.
Dear Laurie,
Please let me out. I can’t be here any longer.
Dear Laurie,
I miss you. I miss you. I miss you. I miss you. I miss you. I miss y
Laurie,
Laurie,
Why am I even writing this? This doesn’t matter. I’ll get home and this won’t matter, it doesn't matter. I think about the letters that I wrote to you before and I don’t know what I was thinking. There’s better things for me to do.
Laurie,
I’m just so angry. I don’t know what to do. I don’t feel like myself. I hate everyone. Nothing makes sense. No one wants to fucking acknowledge me. They’re all making me evil. I’m good, I’m Superboy.
I’m good.
I don’t know why I’m writing this. No one wants to talk to me. That’s why. This is pathetic.
I’m going to get my happy ending.
Superboy Prime
Dear Laurie,
You won’t talk to me anymore. Why don’t you understand that it didn’t matter, they didn’t matter. I’m in Smallville again but it doesn’t feel like home anymore. No one will even look at me and I can hear Mom and Dad arguing upstairs all the time, talking about me. I feel like I’ve been scraped hollow and filled back up and hollowed again. I’m not going to stop. They can’t stop me. This isn’t fair. I did so much, I sacrificed everything, and this is what I get.
I know you’re reading this. Yes, you, the reader. I hate you. I hate this. Why can’t I go back?
Superboy Prime
I'm not going to write anymore. I love you. I don’t know why I did started doing this in the first place.
Wonder Woman gave me a chance. I think that I trust her. I just want to go home. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I said I wouldn’t write anymore, but I just don’t know. Why did I do all of those things? Why am I like this? I’m not evil. I don’t want to be evil. I’m supposed to be Superboy.
I can hear everyone talk about me. They know I can, but they don’t care. They’re waiting for me to slip up, to punch someone’s head off.
I’m 19 now. I don’t know how that happened. It feels like yesterday that I was 15, and you and I would walk around Smallville.
I miss that so much. Being normal. These past four years haven’t been real. It’s like I’m not here anymore. Clark Kent floated away and he’s gone now and I don’t know who’s writing this.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to write to you anymore. If anyone else is reading this after, please just remember me. I gave everything up and I think I fucked everything up too and I just. I want to do some good. I want to be good.
No, I can do this. I can be good. I am good.
If you’re reading this in the real world, please listen: I was Superboy.
Dear Laurie,
I don’t know how to tell you any of the things that happened. I don’t want you to look at me like that again. Like you were scared I was going to hurt you.
I’m writing this because I need to get my thoughts in order. My mind feels jumbled nowadays, now that I'm paying attention to it.
I’m just so happy to be home. I don’t know how to express it. I walked Krypto today and I felt the sun on my face and got to wear my clothes, not a suit or something that I borrowed. I got to eat a dinner that Dad made for me. I can’t remember the last time I ate before that.
I think I’ll tell you later. For now, I just want to enjoy the feeling of being alive and real.
Clark Kent
Superboy Prime
I don’t know what I expected
You, the reader. Did you know? Was it in a narration box? Meanwhile, Superboy Prime is captured into a pocket dimension, imitating reality…
It's never been real. Of course. I thought I would get a happy ending.
I haven’t been talking to anyone. It’s not like it matters. They’re not real, I wonder if they’ll even notice I’m gone. How well made is this place?
I don’t hear anything outside of Smallville. Ever since I realized what was going on, it felt like my body just turned back to its old self. My clothes don’t fit anymore. I mean, it doesn’t really matter. It isn’t real. I wonder if Mom and Dad would still recognize me.
I thought about leaving, but I imagine someone will come find me when it’s my time to go back into the plot. That’s how these things go, at some point the writers will remember a character and bring them back. I kind of hope it’s sooner than later though, this place is getting a little boring.
Superboy Prime