The Boy from Kanza (Superman, shortfic)
Title: The Boy from Kanza
By: aishuu
Series: Superman
Character/Pairing: Superman
Rating: T/PG-13
Spoilers: None
Wordcount:825
Warnings: History is evil. Historical rewrites may be just as evil, and not as accurate. No disrespect intended.
Notes: Invaluable help was provided by sophiap. We're gonna get that groove back. For 31_days, Day/Theme: September 2 - 3. just like kites with no strings
Summary: Superman arrives 500 years earlier. Truth, justice and the “American” way.
When the boy appears mysteriously in a field, a childless couple takes him in as their own. No one knows where he came from, but any child is a gift. The woman has grown too old without having children of her own, which she has always desperately wanted and hasn't given up on. Her husband, a more pragmatic man who has resigned himself to having no offspring, decides it's a sign from the spirits that his wife should be the one to stumble upon the foundling.
The child is healthy, and they come to love him as their own. He doesn't look like them, and as he grows, it quickly becomes evident that he isn't like them. His eyes are the color of the prairie sky in the summer, but that is the least exceptional thing about him.
He learns to walk and talk at a young age, and he soon is joining his father and other men on hunting and fishing trips. He has deft hands that adapt readily to any task, but it is soon apparent those are not his only gift. He has never suffered a cut, his strength is twice that of the strongest adult in the village. None of the children will play with him because he always wins the games.
People start to whisper about spirits taking on human skins, and some start to turn away from him in fear. Others follow his parents and believe he is a gift, because no hunting party he accompanies returns without game.
Soon enough, he is old enough for war, and he becomes the most prized member of the tribe. He gains prestige by being untouchable by the other tribes, and becomes notorious for not only winning, but winning creatively. One Pawnee war party finds itself without both its weapons and horses in the time it takes to blink an eye, and are forced to retreat before truly engaging.
His legend spreads, and people begin to ask him for help. He stops a flood before it can happen by re-routing a small stream. He keeps a woman from being kidnapped by a war party, and during one harsh winter, travels for hundreds of miles in a single day to retrieve more food and fuel for their lodges. He does everything he can to support his people.
Then he takes to the skies, and he becomes an accidental god.
They are the people of the South Wind, and they know their place in the universe. As long as he chooses to walk among them, they will revere him. He becomes their chief because there is no one greater than he is. He rules them wisely, protecting the least among them even as he makes sure the Kanza tribe is first among the plains.
Over a hundred years later, when the first European explorers arrive, he is there to greet them, a spirit still wrapped in the guise of a young man. The white men are surprised to see someone who looks like them, and one accuses the tribe of kidnapping him. He explains firmly that he has lived here longer than any of their grandfathers, and doesn't welcome their intrusion.
The white men have never been known to listen to reason. They take out their guns and fire at him, expecting him to fall as all the other natives have done before.
They don't even manage to scratch his skin. In his turn, he takes their guns and warns them to get off his land.
They refuse to leave without a fight.
The Europeans push; he pushes back. He pushes back so hard that he wipes the invaders off the continent. He first pushes them out of the prairie, and then, because the other tribes ask him, he forces them back onto their ships and back to where they came from. Every time they try to send another ship, he turns it around, protecting his people from those who would hurt them.
This happens for years, and he refuses to yield. Finally, they send the blankets and jewelry as a peace offering, and he starts to hope that the world is ready. But his people start to die of illnesses that he quickly traces back to the Europeans “gifts,” and he realizes that he cannot keep up this fight indefinitely.
He awakes at dawn on the first day of the new year, and takes to the skies. He traces the ocean path so many of the invaders have taken before as he flies into the sun.
The only way to stop hornets permanently is to destroy their nest.
By: aishuu
Series: Superman
Character/Pairing: Superman
Rating: T/PG-13
Spoilers: None
Wordcount:825
Warnings: History is evil. Historical rewrites may be just as evil, and not as accurate. No disrespect intended.
Notes: Invaluable help was provided by sophiap. We're gonna get that groove back. For 31_days, Day/Theme: September 2 - 3. just like kites with no strings
Summary: Superman arrives 500 years earlier. Truth, justice and the “American” way.
When the boy appears mysteriously in a field, a childless couple takes him in as their own. No one knows where he came from, but any child is a gift. The woman has grown too old without having children of her own, which she has always desperately wanted and hasn't given up on. Her husband, a more pragmatic man who has resigned himself to having no offspring, decides it's a sign from the spirits that his wife should be the one to stumble upon the foundling.
The child is healthy, and they come to love him as their own. He doesn't look like them, and as he grows, it quickly becomes evident that he isn't like them. His eyes are the color of the prairie sky in the summer, but that is the least exceptional thing about him.
He learns to walk and talk at a young age, and he soon is joining his father and other men on hunting and fishing trips. He has deft hands that adapt readily to any task, but it is soon apparent those are not his only gift. He has never suffered a cut, his strength is twice that of the strongest adult in the village. None of the children will play with him because he always wins the games.
People start to whisper about spirits taking on human skins, and some start to turn away from him in fear. Others follow his parents and believe he is a gift, because no hunting party he accompanies returns without game.
Soon enough, he is old enough for war, and he becomes the most prized member of the tribe. He gains prestige by being untouchable by the other tribes, and becomes notorious for not only winning, but winning creatively. One Pawnee war party finds itself without both its weapons and horses in the time it takes to blink an eye, and are forced to retreat before truly engaging.
His legend spreads, and people begin to ask him for help. He stops a flood before it can happen by re-routing a small stream. He keeps a woman from being kidnapped by a war party, and during one harsh winter, travels for hundreds of miles in a single day to retrieve more food and fuel for their lodges. He does everything he can to support his people.
Then he takes to the skies, and he becomes an accidental god.
They are the people of the South Wind, and they know their place in the universe. As long as he chooses to walk among them, they will revere him. He becomes their chief because there is no one greater than he is. He rules them wisely, protecting the least among them even as he makes sure the Kanza tribe is first among the plains.
Over a hundred years later, when the first European explorers arrive, he is there to greet them, a spirit still wrapped in the guise of a young man. The white men are surprised to see someone who looks like them, and one accuses the tribe of kidnapping him. He explains firmly that he has lived here longer than any of their grandfathers, and doesn't welcome their intrusion.
The white men have never been known to listen to reason. They take out their guns and fire at him, expecting him to fall as all the other natives have done before.
They don't even manage to scratch his skin. In his turn, he takes their guns and warns them to get off his land.
They refuse to leave without a fight.
The Europeans push; he pushes back. He pushes back so hard that he wipes the invaders off the continent. He first pushes them out of the prairie, and then, because the other tribes ask him, he forces them back onto their ships and back to where they came from. Every time they try to send another ship, he turns it around, protecting his people from those who would hurt them.
This happens for years, and he refuses to yield. Finally, they send the blankets and jewelry as a peace offering, and he starts to hope that the world is ready. But his people start to die of illnesses that he quickly traces back to the Europeans “gifts,” and he realizes that he cannot keep up this fight indefinitely.
He awakes at dawn on the first day of the new year, and takes to the skies. He traces the ocean path so many of the invaders have taken before as he flies into the sun.
The only way to stop hornets permanently is to destroy their nest.