Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 28 January.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

"Winter Storm"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

Unknown Location,
Above the Arctic Circle.

He loved the snow, especially after a fresh snowfall. It was pure and clean, untouched by human hands, untainted by humans... or by Kryptonians. It was one of the things he enjoyed about his speed, he could use it to go anywhere he needed or wanted, including as far away from people as the top of the world where there was nothing in any direction as far as the eye could see but snow, pure white snow. Soft and clean, it reminded him of her skin, of all the times his hands had caressed it along with his eyes.

'After all,' Clark Kent thought to himself as he set on top of a glacier looking out over the white, 'I was only human... I guess...'

There were things no one would ever know, things that didn't matter to anyone but him anymore, but they mattered to him... they mattered to him... things like forcing Jor-El to honor Alicia in a way she deserved, a way she'd understand. The Kyptonian program had finally gotten what it wanted in a way, Clark unrestrained by human upbringing and human beliefs, but it had come at a price; it had came by Clark raising his fist and threatening to smash with his bare hands the crystal that allowed Jor-El to exist if Alicia wasn't added to the records of the House of El as his wife.

'The wife I refused to recognise, the wife I didn't believe,' Clark shook his head sadly.

The computer program of Kal-El's biological father would never understand that for the first time it was on equal footing with Clark's human parents; a target of Clark's anger for trying to make him into someone he wasn't, could never be; a perfect Kryptonian son, a perfect Human son, there was no difference between them anymore. There was only one thing he could've been perfect at, only one thing that biology and upbringing could not have interfered with and he had still let them. If he hadn't, he would've had the chance to be the perfect husband for the one girl that never saw Clark Kent, Kansas Farmboy; Kal-El, Last Son of Krypton; or the unknown meteor 'freak' that saved people from other meteor 'freaks' - all Alicia ever saw was Clark as he was, and he had failed her, failed himself.

'If you'd show them the things you can do, they would have no choice but to accept us,' Alicia had said and Clark had refused and that refusal had helped cost Alicia her life.

Clark stood up suddenly, straightening his spine and setting his shoulders, it wouldn't matter to anyone but him anymore, but it mattered to him now, it mattered to him. Before, he had Jor-El and Jonathan Kent pulling in seperate directions, human and Kryptonian, but now they were pulling in the same basic direction; away from the man he wanted to be, away from the man Alicia thought he could be, and it was time for him to make a stand for that man.

Smallville High School,
Smallville, Kansas,
United States of America.

Any other time, Clark's change in attitude and stance might have been attributed to Red Kryptonite and, in fact, he had considered wearing the necklace Alicia had given him for this so that she could be there for it in a way, but then he had concluded that he needed to do this himself, without the effects of the Red rock. He wore a black leather jacket - Alicia had always loved him in jackets and if he wasn't going to wear the necklace, at least this way something about her would be there for what he was about to do - and black denim jeans with a blue shirt, he had gone out of his way to make sure it was the same blue as Alicia - as his wife's - eyes.

After finishing the first part of his plan, Clark stood in front of the school's display case, looking at the trophies for 'Most Valuable Player', 'Student of the Year' and 'Kansas State High School Football Association Rookie of the Year' that he had been awarded over the years and allowed to be displayed at the school, waiting for what he knew would come sooner or later. He didn't have to wait long and he didn't turn to acknowledge them when someone finally approached him demanding answers.

"Kent!" Chloe Sullivan snapped harshly, "What's this rumor about you transferring to Wichita?"

Clark didn't answer and his continued silence just caused Chloe's temper to rise, "Dammit, Clark, answer me!"

"That's you, isn't it, Chloe?" Clark answered calmly, unmoving, "Finding answers and sharing them, never caring who might be hurt by it, no matter who they are. She didn't deserve that."

Chloe frowned, "She didn't... Look, I apologised for being wrong about Alicia, Clark. Can you blame us? I mean, she attacks Lana and as soon as she gets out of the psycho ward Lana gets attacked again, what did you expect people to think?"

"We'll never know, will we?" Clark remarked rhetorically as he closed his eyes, "Because someone put out a news article telling everyone Alicia's secret and coloring their opinions of her. She didn't deserve that, Chloe. She didn't deserve that any more than I deserved her... and a lot less than this school and this town deserves these..."

Clark swept his hand in front of him to indicate the trophies he had been staring at, "I'll probably never be able to be the kind of man she really deserved and there's nothing you or this town can do to make up for your part in her death... but I can do something about this. They're my awards, mine to let the school display, mine to take if I wanted to... mine to destroy to prove a point."

Confused and a little afraid, Chloe stepped around him so that she could see his face, "Destroy? Clark..."

Clark opened his eyes and Chloe took a step back at the fact that they were glowing red, a glow that attracted the attention of everyone in the school's front hall. After giving them a moment to be sure that people were watching, he focused and lanced out with his heat vison, cutting through the glass of the display case to the trophies and melting them into shapeless puddles of metal on the shelf before ending it. Slowly letting out a breath, Clark turned around to face the students and teachers who had gathered in the hall.

"I was always taught that there were consequences for any action. This town commited the action of treating Alica Baker-Kent like a pariah..."

There were gasps and expressions of shock, whispers when Clark referred to Alicia as 'Baker-Kent', he could hear them all, but he continued speaking, "...Accusing her of things without evidence, refusing to give her any peace or safety... Now you face the consequence; I can't punish you, I made the mistake myself of not trusting the woman I love..."

Clark paused and looked around, making sure his eyes stopped on Lana and Chloe both so that they knew this part was directed at them specifically along with everyone in general, "But from now on, I don't have to save you, either. I don't know about anyone else affected by the meteor rocks, but as for me... this town doesn't want us, fine, I'm leaving. Anyone else with powers that feels outcast, afraid, intimidated..."

Now Clark seemed to stand taller and stronger than ever, "You are not alone anymore. I'm leaving Smallville and anyone else like me is free to follow."

Like a human Red Sea, the crowd before him parted as Clark started towards the front doors of the school.

Author's Note: I am currently under the grip of Winter Storm Leon - or at least the fringes thereof - and was inspired by the snow outside to the first part. The second part... Just flowed out. Which is a good thing, creativity flowing...