"What's wrong with me?"
David looked at the two stunned people in the room, confusion written clearly across his face. Clark and Cassandra both seemed shaken in ways he didn't understand, and he couldn't figure out what had caused such a reaction.
"What did you see?" he asked Clark calmly.
It made sense that Cassandra might understand something strange. After all, David had no idea what kind of abilities she possessed beyond vague rumors. But Clark's expression was harder to explain. The mixture of shock and fear on his brother's face made the situation far more unsettling.
"Y-you…"
Clark opened his mouth, then hesitated. His voice stalled in his throat as conflicting thoughts battled inside his mind.
Should he tell David what he had seen?
If David learned about that horrifying future, how would he react? Clark feared the knowledge itself might push his brother closer to it. If David began to believe that fate was already decided, he might simply stop resisting and fall deeper into the darkness Clark had witnessed.
"Did you see it too, kid?"
Cassandra suddenly turned her blind gaze toward Clark. Though her eyes were clouded and empty, her head tilted precisely toward him as if she could sense his presence.
Her voice carried a note of surprise.
"I… wasn't I supposed to see it?" Clark asked uncertainly.
"No one has ever seen it before," Cassandra replied, gently shaking her head.
Whenever she used her gift to glimpse another person's future, she alone witnessed the visions. The images appeared only in her mind. No one else had ever shared that sight.
"It's like when I helped Mr. Ross earlier today," she explained calmly. "He lost his car keys, but you still had to tell him what I saw before he could know where to look."
But this time had been different.
Clark had clearly seen the vision with her.
"Why… why did that happen?" Clark murmured.
Cassandra's expression softened.
"We already know that you're different from other people," she said kindly.
"I…" Clark froze for a moment.
The shock of everything he had just witnessed had nearly wiped his mind blank. Only now did he suddenly remember the most important problem.
His abilities had been exposed.
And David had been revealed to be different too.
"Don't be afraid, Clark."
Cassandra smiled gently, her tone warm and reassuring. During the vision earlier, she had seen Clark's face clearly from an observer's perspective, and now her voice carried a quiet certainty.
"I've just realized something interesting," she said. "It seems I actually met you a long time ago."
"Ma'am, you've seen me before?" Clark asked in surprise.
The idea sounded impossible.
When Clark had first arrived on Earth as a baby during that meteor shower, Cassandra had already been blind. There was no way she could have seen him back then.
David's expression shifted slightly.
He had already guessed what Cassandra meant.
Cassandra paused for a moment, then gave a mysterious smile.
"Kid, go close the door."
Clark blinked in confusion but didn't question her request. He stood up and walked toward the door at the far side of the room.
Outside in the hallway, a black-haired figure who had been quietly lingering near the wall heard the voices inside. The moment Clark approached the door, the figure slipped away quickly and disappeared down the corridor.
Clark didn't notice anything unusual.
He simply closed the door that Pete had accidentally left slightly open earlier, then returned to Cassandra's bedside. This time, however, he didn't sit beside David like before.
Instead, he remained standing nearby.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Clark?"
David raised an eyebrow as he noticed Clark's complicated expression. His brother's eyes were filled with tangled emotions that were difficult to decipher.
"What exactly did you see in the future?"
David chuckled lightly, pretending not to care.
Inside his mind, however, the system quietly displayed a stream of emotional feedback.
[Worry from Clark +32]
[Panic +30]
[Fear +25]
David wasn't especially interested in knowing the future. He had never liked the idea of someone else telling him what his fate would be.
But Clark's reaction was hard to ignore.
It made him curious.
"Clark's current emotions…" David thought calmly. "They're basically an amplified version of the fear he used to have that I might walk down a dark path."
David's eyes flickered thoughtfully.
Based on Clark's emotional state, he could almost guess what his brother had seen.
But something still didn't make sense.
How could the future Clark feared possibly happen?
Outside the room, the black-haired girl who had been eavesdropping quietly reappeared around the corner. She glanced toward the closed door and frowned slightly before preparing to slip away unnoticed.
"Keira?"
A cheerful voice suddenly called out behind her.
"What a coincidence! I didn't expect to see you here."
Lana approached while pushing a small cart of supplies. Her face brightened with surprise when she recognized the girl she had met at the party the previous night.
"Are you here for volunteer work too?" Lana asked.
Keira turned around awkwardly. A slightly stiff smile appeared on her face.
"Y-yeah… I am."
"Some things are the same everywhere, even if you're a transfer student," she added casually. "Thirty hours of community service per semester."
Lana nodded and began chatting with her enthusiastically. The two girls stood together in the hallway, talking while Lana continued organizing supplies.
But after a while, Lana felt a little puzzled.
Yesterday at the party, Keira had been lively and talkative. The two of them had chatted happily for a long time, and Keira had asked endless questions about the high school.
She had seemed especially curious about the well-known students around town.
But now Keira appeared distracted.
Her eyes kept drifting toward the closed door of Cassandra's room.
…
"You will become an incredible person in the future."
Inside the room, Cassandra laughed softly.
"In the futures I've seen for other people, many of them face terrible disasters. Some encounter pain, despair, and darkness beyond imagination. But whenever you appear in those visions, hope returns and the disaster disappears."
David's eyes flickered with surprise as he listened.
It sounded like Cassandra had indeed glimpsed the future Clark many times through other people's destinies.
In other words, she had already seen Superman.
Perhaps he had underestimated the elderly residents of this small-town nursing home. If Cassandra could see fragments of Superman's future across so many different timelines, then she might know far more about the world's future than he had assumed.
That thought intrigued him.
Maybe she held clues about the coming era.
"Me? Incredible?"
Clark pointed at himself, completely bewildered.
He had always known he possessed unusual abilities, but he had never imagined someone would describe his future in such grand terms.
"You seem destined for it, child," Cassandra said gently.
She spoke slowly, her voice filled with quiet certainty.
"You will help people escape fear and darkness. You will give them hope when they believe there is none left."
Clark listened in silence.
He looked overwhelmed and unsure how to respond.
Cassandra smiled kindly at his confusion.
"I've helped people glimpse their futures many times," she said. "After all those visions, I discovered an important rule."
"Do you know what it is?"
Clark straightened slightly.
"What rule, ma'am?" he asked respectfully.
Even after witnessing such astonishing things, Cassandra still carried herself with calm composure. It was as if nothing in the world could truly shake her.
"The future can change."
A mysterious smile appeared on her lips.
"In fact, the moment you learn about the future… it has already begun to change."
"Just like Pete," David said slowly.
Once people discovered what their future might hold, they rarely allowed events to unfold exactly as predicted.
If they didn't like what they saw, they would try to change it.
"Yes, exactly, child."
Cassandra nodded approvingly at David.
Although she had glimpsed a future where David might stand against Clark, her voice remained gentle.
After all, she had seen countless possible futures.
Human beings were complicated creatures. A person could not be defined by a single moment or a single destiny.
"A child raised on a humble farm in a small town might one day become the most beloved figure on the planet," she said thoughtfully.
"A respected prosecutor with a bright career might fall into darkness after just one terrible day."
"A mercenary who values nothing but money might someday risk everything to save the world without expecting a reward."
Cassandra's voice softened.
"People are complicated. Their futures are even more complicated."
She slowly opened her hand and extended it toward David.
"Now it's your turn, child."
David hesitated briefly before reaching out and placing his hand in hers.
One second passed.
Then two.
Then three.
The room remained silent.
Several more seconds went by, and nothing happened.
David began to wonder if perhaps he simply wasn't special enough to trigger Cassandra's ability the way Clark had.
Then Cassandra suddenly spoke again.
"The Kent brothers… you truly are unusual."
Her cloudy eyes slowly opened.
A faint white mist seemed to swirl within them as she let out a quiet sigh.
"Child, I cannot see your future."
She sounded genuinely surprised.
"In all my years, that has never happened before."
David blinked.
"You can't see it?"
"I'm afraid not," Cassandra said, shaking her head gently.
"It seems I cannot offer you guidance about the road ahead."
She studied him quietly for a moment.
"Your future is something only you can shape."
She glanced between the two brothers thoughtfully.
"One of you can see the future I witness," she murmured, "and the other has no visible future at all."
David felt puzzled.
Could it be because of Thanos's physique?
That body was extremely resistant to mental interference. Perhaps Cassandra's power worked through some kind of psychic connection, and that resistance blocked her ability completely.
Meanwhile, Clark stood frozen.
He had been hoping Cassandra might reveal something reassuring about David's future. Instead, the answer left him even more uncertain.
Clark clenched his fists quietly.
No matter what the future showed, he had already made up his mind.
He would never allow his brother to walk down a dark path.
"Ma'am…"
Clark spoke again, his voice carrying a hint of nervous determination.
"Could you help me see my future one more time?"
Cassandra sighed softly.
Though blind, she understood his intention immediately.
"Child, I'm not a radio you can tune whenever you like," she said helplessly.
"I can't simply flip through channels and look at whichever future you want to see."
....
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