I Will Go to You Like the First Snow (Part 9)

He didn't want to part with his Fuzzball and cried for a long time while holding it.

In the end, he buried the kitten on the hillside by the house at his parents' urging.

He thought his kitten would forever look peacefully at the moon from there.

Yet he did not realize that at the moment he finished burying it, someone with a diamond soul was already heading to the ends of the universe.

At the universe's edge, this soul revealed its true form.

…He wore a white high-collared combat uniform, his golden hair pulled back as if he were a white poplar growing naturally among pink gravel.

He even cautiously looked in the direction of Clark.

Clark could no longer bear his longing for him.

Just the thought of Soren standing there—a living, diamond-like Soren right in front of him, still looking at him—made his heart race, blood surging through his veins.

"Soren…" he sighed, softly uttering Soren's name in another dimension.

Then Soren saw it: in the darkness behind Dr. Manhattan, it seemed as if a ripple had appeared.

Unbeknownst to him, Soren cleverly maneuvered with Dr. Manhattan.

In his world, there was no famous comic Injustice, so he was unwilling to believe that the beautiful, bright sun he envisioned could darken as Dr. Manhattan had said.

But in the end, he couldn't resist the longing for happiness and agreed to Dr. Manhattan's request.

…One of the most uncontrollable things in the world is a person's desire for happiness.

Even knowing that a trap lay ahead, he still jumped in without hesitation.

He transformed once more into a twinkling star, a diamond.

Falling into Clark's palm.

Clark caught his star and stepped out of the darkness behind Dr. Manhattan, asking him, "Is the you I see now the one I've known?"

"Each one is the present me," Dr. Manhattan replied calmly, "This is… the universe's predetermined law."

Clark closed his eyes.

He was about to take Soren on a long, irreversible journey.

In 2005, he brought Soren to Earth once again.

He witnessed how Soren transformed into an Angemon, appearing before Batman.

On September 9, 2005, Soren, having moved from New York to Smallville, stepped out of his room, placing his hand on the staircase to look down, where he saw seventeen-year-old Clark Kent sitting on the sofa.

Clark Kent looked up at that exact moment and saw the blonde-haired boy smiling at him.

But in the corner, another Clark clutched his heart in agony, suppressing a howl of pain.

... On this day, Clark thought he hadn't yet met Soren, but in reality, they had already spent a lifetime getting to know each other.

Soren.

If only they hadn't met at this moment...

If only they could avoid meeting here.

Would the turning point of fate have changed?

Could they have avoided everything that would follow?

But everything had already been predestined.

Their fates were intertwined like a Möbius strip, a loop with no beginning or end, forever unchangeable.

On September 12, 2005, Clark Kent was rescued from the cross by Soren.

Soren yanked the necklace from around Clark's neck and furiously threw it aside.

The necklace rolled into the shadows at Clark's feet.

He bent down, picked it up, and placed it on the edge of a field.

On December 22, 2005, Soren—appearing before the public for the first time in his Angemon form—had a steel wire pressed against his throat by Natasha.

That year, S.H.I.E.L.D. was still just a national security agency dealing with Hydra.

No one had ever seen such a powerful and terrifying extraterrestrial being like Angemon.

In an instant, all guns were pointed at him.

—And right before everyone's eyes, Clark used his super-speed to whisk Soren away.

He placed him in an alley, and then that seventeen-year-old Clark Kent, guided by the pulse of Soren's heartbeat, with the heat of Kansas still pulsing through him, with the freshness and excitement of touching the clouds for the first time, and bathed in the divine light favored by the yellow sun, arrived in front of Soren.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2005, Soren lay by the window, racking his brain as he tried to write a letter to seventeen-year-old Clark Kent.

Meanwhile, the weathered, silver-haired version of Clark Kent could only pretend to be a gentle breeze.

Hidden behind the curtain, he softly brushed the back of Soren's hand with the lightest, most restrained touch.

Soren sensed something, and looked outside curiously, but found nothing unusual.

Scratching his head, he returned to writing his letter, "I've told you a thousand times, you should really watch more sci-fi shows…"

It was a peaceful and quiet Christmas Eve, the lights of countless homes flickered with warmth, and everyone was drifting into a blissful sleep.

Only an ancient, white-haired god in human form stood outside Soren's window, covered in falling snow.

On April 3, 2006, the Smallville High School bus collided with Lex Luthor's sports car and veered off the road, sinking into the lake.

Soren refused Clark's attempt to save him first, insisting Clark rescue the other students instead.

As he inhaled a mouthful of murky lake water, he felt someone gently patting his back, preventing him from choking or being injured.

In the confusion, he thought it was just the weight of his backpack pressing down, but as his vision cleared underwater, he saw Clark lifting the entire bus.

On February 28, 2010, Soren, in his Angemon form, evolved and soared into the sky, catching a falling Superman who had yet to don his iconic red cape.

The newly emerged Kryptonian rescue dog wagged its tail excitedly. "Are... are you an angel?"

Angemon flashed a menacing grin. "No, call me Angemon."

Together, they defeated the bounty hunter who had come to Earth, with the young Superman carrying the defeated Lobo toward the sun.

After the bounty hunter was hurled into the scorching furnace of the sun, the god-like figure stood before the once-again resurrected bounty hunter.