Perspective

“What is this?”

Clark Kent stood atop the Daily Planet facing a man dressed in a blue unitard that had a golden oval in the center. The interesting thing about the emblem on his chest was that it had moving images on it. Things from Clark’s past flickered across it as he gazed into it, showing him images from his life in Smallivlle and his life in Metropolis as Superman. More than fifteen years of his life played out before him.

It took effort but Clark pulled his eyes away from the emblem and the imagery and looked at the crimson stone in his hand.

“It is a key,” the stranger said.

“Who are you?”

“I am the answer,” he replied cryptically.

“Do you have a name?” Clark pressed.

“I am called Imago,” he said.

“I don’t understand what you want from me.”

Imago took a step forward. Clark tensed. “You cannot move on to live your life because you have a lingering desire that you have not purged yourself of. The question of the woman, Chloe Queen, and what could have been had you made different choices, remains at the back of your mind. I am here to show you the other life you could have had.”

Clark tossed the crimson stone back to Imago. “Thanks but no thanks. My life is exactly as I want it.”

“If that were so she would not have sent me.”

“She who? Lois?”

“Chloe,” Imago said. “You have not moved on and she knows this. Years have passed and you are still waiting for something that you will never have. Meanwhile she has married and has a child, the life she wanted as a reporter, while you have avoided the commitment you desire.”

“What would that be?”

“The life that could have been.”

There was a flash from the emblem on Imago’s chest. Clark saw a very clear vision then, of his younger self, and Chloe, standing in the basement of the Daily Planet. That had been so long ago. It was, literally, a different life that had been so much more fulfilling than the life he had now.

The image seemed to move closer to Clark but he was unable to look away. His vision shimmered, and he felt as though he’d passed through something cool and wet.

Chloe emerged from the rooftop entrance just as she saw Clark turn into shimmering energy and flow into the emblem on Imago’s chest. She knew she couldn’t talk to him while he was bonded to Clark. She would have to wait until Clark returned before she could speak. Instead of talking, Chloe approached Imago and looked into the emblem on his chest. She watched as that very familiar night played out. The night they’d shared their last kiss.

Then, to her surprise, Imago faced her and held out a hand.

“You need to be there to help him through this. Simply reliving that moment won’t do it.”

“Isn’t that dangerous, having two people inside you?”

“If it were dangerous, I would not have suggested it.”

Chloe watched Clark going through the motions of that night. She took Imago’s hand in hers and felt herself lift from her feet. A moment later she, too, was back in that night.

.

Clark felt lightheaded, a sensation he didn’t often feel, before his feet felt firmly planted on the floor and the dizziness passed. He was in the basement of the Daily Planet. He watched as a younger version of himself talk to Chloe. She had such passion for the situation they faced. She had such a desire to help, to save the world, and he sometimes forgot what that felt like.

He’d forgotten what it felt like to be with her, facing dangers, saving humanity together.

Suddenly the perspective changed. Suddenly he was walking away and Chloe was saying his name. He remembered this. He needed to stop and turn to face her, so he did.

“I don’t know if I’m ever gonna see you again,” she said, moving toward him with a look of fierce determination and fear and…love.

This was Imago’s doing. He’d sent him back here, to this moment, so that Clark could work something out inside him that he had been avoiding all these years. This time when she rushed to him he knew what was coming and he put his current life on hold. He put Lois out of his mind. He put his responsibilities to her, to the world, aside, and embraced Chloe with more passion than he had that night. He had more to give in return because he knew now, better than he did then, what it meant to have Chloe Sullivan in love with him.

When the kiss was over he was ready for her the phone to ring and for her to encourage him to go. When he turned away from her the perspective had once again changed. This time the Daily Planet wasn’t a wreck. There was no car sticking through the window. There was no imminent threat from Zod. The room was filled with soft golden light and he was facing Chloe.

She wasn’t the same girl he’d come seeking after his return from the Phantom Zone. She was the woman he knew now. Chloe Queen, and she was smiling at him.

“What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

“Imago said I needed to come through with you. I got here just in time for that awesome kiss,” she said, and winked.

Clark nodded and sat on a desk that had her name on it. He crossed his arms and regarded her.

“So, you feel like I need to get over you?”

“No,” she said. “You need to get over what could have been. You need to stop regretting your choices. I need to stop regretting mine.”

“What choices do you have to regret?”

“Loving you.”

“God,” he said, blanching at her words. “That really hurt, Chloe.”

“I know and I’m sorry. It’s true. When I saw you were never going to choose me over Lana I should have given up on you. I think that, had I done that, I would have a very different life now. I think I’d still have Ollie but I wouldn’t have had so many resentments and hang-ups and…and scars.”

Clark considered that. He remembered that kiss and how intense it had been. “What would we have been had I stopped chasing Lana and gave a relationship with you a try?”

As soon as he asked the question they were away from the Daily Planet. This time they were on the rooftop. It was nighttime and he was dressed as Superman. They watched as another version of Chloe, and another version of Clark, stood talking. She was hugging him and they were floating a few feet off the ground.

Perspective shifted again with blinding speed. He was in his uniform and he had Chloe in his arms. They were floating, just as they’d seen a few moments ago. Only now they had years of new memories. Good memories. They weren’t married but they didn’t need to be. They were perfect. They were the team of Kent and Sullivan, regardless of the uniform. They were in love. They saved the world just like they always had, only this time they were lovers, and had a life in the sheets as well as in the bullpen of the Daily Planet. It was a satisfying life.

It was the life Clark realized he wished he had.

.

Chloe pulled away. Those memories remained for a few moments before largely fading, though what could have been lingered with both of them. Chloe smiled up at Clark, pulling away from the passionate kiss he’d pulled her into.

“You’re really over it, aren’t you?” he asked. “You’re over me but I’m not really over you. I don’t think I ever will be, Chloe. Now that I’ve seen what could have been…”

“I know,” she said, nodding. “Coulda woulda shoulda, huh?”

He set Chloe back on her feet and he realized he had the key in his hand.

“We could stay in this life,” he said.

“Leave Ollie? Leave our son? You leave Lois?”

“None of that would have ever been if we stay in this universe.”

“I know, but I won’t. I have a good life. I have a life I’m happy with. Let go, Clark. That’s the whole point of this. So you can see that what could have been won’t be. Then you can let go.”

“Let you go.”

“Yeah. Let me go.”

Clark took a deep breath and gripped the key. He was ready to return home, to his life, his world. When he opened his eyes he was back on the roof of the Daily Planet with Imago and Chloe.

“I have served my purpose,” Imago said.

He was gone in a wisp of golden mist.

“Did it work?” Chloe asked.

Clark nodded. “You’re right. We’re friends and we always will be.”

“Always,” she said. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and then disappeared through the exit.

When she was gone, Clark took off his suit, took off the costume of Clark Kent and became who he really was, Superman. Then he flew toward the stars, rising high above the city until it was a glowing, glittering shape in the darkness. He let the tears fall then. He had Lois, he loved her, but when he’d glimpsed that other life he’d wanted to keep it. He’d lied to Chloe on the rooftop of the Daily Planet. He wasn’t over her and he knew he never would be.

He’d just have to live with it.