(no subject)
3/13/07 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roxyTitle:Mariposa
Fandom: SV
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating:2
Summary: Canon? What? Who? I can’t hear you….
Previous Parts are here, contemplating their deep spiritual connection with Anderson Cooper…though were the lube comes in I have no idea….
end of part three
“Of course, when Director Smi—I—I mean when the new Director told us you were coming, we immediately prepared for you—the lab is at your disposal, sir. We’ve also made a new room ready. Naturally we’re very excited. We doubted any new subjects would be arriving since your father passed…”
“Oh, there’ll be no need for a ‘room.’” Lex smiled, and took note of the doctor’s name. He’d pass it on to Lucas, if need be. “This is a personal favor to me. This person isn’t a subject; he’s a friend of mine.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, we made a mistake—it’s just that…well. The results of our exams have been interesting. The subject—your friend---seems to have an entirely different reaction to the meteorite than what we’ve seen so far. Most of the subjects don’t retain the meteorites in their systems, even if it’s been purposely introduced, say in the form of…tattoo ink, as one of our subjects here has used. Your friend’s case is very different; it’s as if he’s infected with the meteorite. It’s under large areas of his skin—I can show you.”
She asked Lex to follow her to her desk, and turned the computer to face him. A series of scans were on the screen. “You see these white areas,” and the doctor pointed at a line of white specks around Clark’s ear. “Encapsulated meteor fragments--the body trying to protect itself. And this large area here--it's in the ink used to create the tattoo. Really fascinating, the way his body seems to hold on to it--” At Lex’s look she hurried on. “We’ll remove what we can, starting with the larger fragments, and watch him--look for a change. He definitely seems to be suffering ill effects from the meteorite. It’s been in his system a long time, there are some very odd changes here…”
Lex studied the scans thoughtfully. “If these fragments aren’t removed, will he continue to decline? Are you certain that it’s only these fragments affecting him, or is there some other cause?” Now that he was here, now that it was happening, he felt a strange reluctance, an odd feeling of foreboding. He growled at himself and fixed the doctor with an impatient glare.
“Oh, he’ll certainly decline--” She stopped, continued and this time her tone was slightly less colored by fascination. “I—I mean,” she stammered. “Perhaps months, maybe longer—hard to tell. For all we know, it could be weeks…” She winced, as if suddenly hearing her own words. “But he’ll come through this fine. When he heals, we’d like to examine him further, if he—you—you--agree.” the doctor said quickly, aware of Lex’s ice cold stare.
“Let’s do it. I’ll wait.”
“Um, certainly, certainly…you mean…in the Luthor apartment? We can send word when we’re finished.”
“No.” Lex smiled, and pointed at the doors. “I mean right here. Watching. Waiting for good results.”
She grinned sickly. “Oh. That’s—that’s--great.” She was perfectly aware of the sudden disappearances of a lot of the staff, and wisely, was determined not to be one of the disappeared…
******
The clippers buzzed, and sheared hair away, left him feeling a little chilled and light headed. The nurse left and he stared at the mirror above the small sink in the corner of the exam room. He looked…sick. He ran his hand over the crest of spiky hair that was left, and grimaced at Lex behind him. Lex ran his fingers too through Clark’s hair, a quick slide and a little tug. “It grows fast, don’t worry,” he said softly, whether to himself or Clark, it wasn’t clear.
Clark leaned back against Lex; let his weight rest against him for a brief and pleasant moment. “I’m not worrying about that.”
The tips of Lex’s ears flushed pale pink, and he stepped back. “Everything’s going to be fine, you know.”
Clark nodded. His mouth was dry, and his heart was beating hard, but he tried to look nonchalant. He didn’t want to give Lex more cause to worry. “Sure, I’m ready for it. It’s not that big a deal, right?”
“Well, the fragments aren’t deep. It won’t take long.” Lex dropped his hand onto Clark’s neck and kneaded the tension stiff muscle gently. “You’ll close your eyes and when you open them again, I’ll be right beside you.”
Clark smiled, and leaned into Lex’s hand. A soft cough at the doorway made him glance back. Lucas was leaning in the doorframe of his room--he blew Clark a kiss, and winked. Now, Clark felt safe. Lucas would make sure everything was what it was supposed to be. He’d never let Lex down. Clark nodded, and Lucas was gone.
“All that matters is you get better. And you will.”
Clark hoped he was right.
******
The nurse poked a needle into the crook of his elbow. “This will relax you.”
He thought that was highly unlikely. He’d been nervous all day, thinking about the past, worrying about the future. Worrying about Lex. Worrying about his mom and dad. It felt wrong doing this without them knowing, but he couldn’t imagine putting them through even more pain than he already had. If he died without them knowing, it could only be better for them. If this worked, and he had a chance—then he’d take one more chance, and go back home.
Clark sighed, and closed his heavy eyes, a wave of warmth and sadness so deep it felt almost comfortable swept him. They’d be so angry to find out he was breaking one of the big rules, the important one—he’d broken so, so many rules. Oh, rules...breaking rules…were there any left to break—what hadn’t he done, he’d done…all the rules unraveled…broke and broke and broke….
Clark. Kal-El. Clark! Kal…
The hall tips back and forth and makes it hard to walk, I feel like I’m at sea. The world is rolling and tipping, but I keep walking because at the end of the hall is a bright light, and I’m supposed to go into that light…and that makes me giggle. Go into the light…it’s pretty funny. I try to walk faster, push myself along because I feel something at my back, just an impression of something big, dark, and painful and deep. I’m not sure if the feeling is outside or inside me… I start to run a little and I hear my name again, someone’s calling me—up ahead, I can see someone in the light—Whitney? My heart jumps and shivers inside, I run a little faster…closer…Whitney.
Clark!
Oh god…Whitney.
Hurry up, you need to hurry. He’s jogging next to me, smiling. It’s been a while…
I look at him and laugh, well, yeah, it has been.
Shut up he grins, and speeds up, come on slow-poke…he runs and I reach out for his hand but don’t ever quite make it.
Okay, Kent this is it, don’t blow it, he says and I’m a little hurt. Whitney, are you mad at me? Why are you in such a hurry?
No no, I just want you to be the best you can be. It’s your job now, to be the best. Take all the help you can. I’ll see you. Hey, you know I love you, right?
He’s gone.
—the disappointment spears right through me, but it’s eclipsed by terrible pain—I yell, my head hurts so bad. The voice calls my name again, and I’m back on the red plain and far in the distance I see the city, glowing gold and red and green…It’s night, the sky is a deep velvet navy and stars are everywhere, a moon hangs low and orange in the sky…two moons…and it’s him next to me. The Boy. The relief is so intense it hurts…my boy, he’d holding out his arms. Wow. I’m finally safe.
It takes forever to get close—the air fights me, the ground pulls at my feet... but I’m getting near, and he’s smiling, encouraging me, and suddenly I know—
if I touch him, I’ll never see him again—we’ll never go flying again, we’ll never walk under the red sun again, he’ll never kiss me again…I can’t, I just can’t give him up.
You protected me all those years, how can you abandon me?
He shakes his head. I won’t. He gives me a picture and in the picture a man is walking through a field. It looks like hay; it’s our land the man is walking on. He’s wearing a purple shirt that glows like amethyst in the sun…
You won’t be alone. Kal-El, I’ll always be right here he says and touches me and his hand goes through
…right…through…the …center of my chest…
Clark stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling, bright white light made his vision blurry. he felt dizzy, odd. Where was he? No, the question was why was he alone? Lex said….
Then the pain came.
He felt like he was being flayed, washed in acid, scrubbed with salt...
It centered on his eyes, his ears, skin lungs brain heart--he could hear himself screaming and didn’t care—people screamed, in the room, outside of the room, the building, he was in the middle of the city and heard everything and he heard the threads that made up the fabric of his sheets slide and scrape against each other like shrieking violins. His head felt like it was wrapped in a sheet of flame—he blinked and a fireball flashed through the room, turning every flammable thing to ash, black heavy smoke filled the room and he heard fans whine and grind, struggle to clear it—was this really happening or was this a hallucination? Was there really fire? Was there really sound? He heard Lex scream, maybe he heard Lex scream—
His eyes slammed shut, his hands flew up to cover his ears and all was silent and dark—“Lex!”
******
When he opened his eyes again, he felt no pain—nothing. He was on his knees, the room was black and shattered, Lex weaved in the doorway, his face and scalp tomato red. He was sunburned, gasping, staring horrified at Clark. Clark felt like he was suspended in time—no movement, no sound—
With a weird internal snap—time flowed on, alarms were sounding, piercing shrieks of warning. “What the fuck happened? Where is—Where’s the staff?” Multiple voices beat at him, shock, anger, fear vibrated in the air, men with drawn guns and staff in hazmat suits plunged into the doorway, reaching for Clark, aiming for him—
And Lucas was there, between Lex and the men—their guns were centered on them, taut nerves, and fear making the situation dangerous. Clark was afraid for Lex’s life, his own…what if the men started shooting, what if Lucas made them angry? He shivered. What if something he did made them angry enough to hurt Lex?
There was a demand for conformation of ID and threats from security, there was a heated argument….somehow, miraculously instead of worsening it, Lucas managed to take control of the situation. “I’d suggest you stand down,” he said, and pointed at Lex. “Before you shoot your boss.”
Clark watched in awe as Lex stopped yelling, grew taller and fiercer than anyone else in the room. He moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lucas. He snarled, “If you don’t know who we are, you’re about to learn. Lucas?”
Lucas laughed lightly and asked, “Who wants the first lesson?”
*******
Clark watched Lex get rid of security, and direct the suited staff in cleaning what little was left in the burned out shell of the operating room…he could clearly hear how much pain Lex was in…and suddenly his own pain rose off the scales…he was sweating blood, he knew he was—he had to be—
He fell forward, and Lex was grabbing him and he tried to pull away, his touch was making his skin scream. Blood, and a greenish oily substance, ran down his back, leaked from his side…the butterfly was melting off of him and it hurt. Something warm and golden came out of the fog the pain, it was sweet and thick like honey and slowly the pain flowed out of him and away. He closed his eyes and slept, he was safe.
tbc!!!!!
Fandom: SV
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating:2
Summary: Canon? What? Who? I can’t hear you….
Previous Parts are here, contemplating their deep spiritual connection with Anderson Cooper…though were the lube comes in I have no idea….
end of part three
“Of course, when Director Smi—I—I mean when the new Director told us you were coming, we immediately prepared for you—the lab is at your disposal, sir. We’ve also made a new room ready. Naturally we’re very excited. We doubted any new subjects would be arriving since your father passed…”
“Oh, there’ll be no need for a ‘room.’” Lex smiled, and took note of the doctor’s name. He’d pass it on to Lucas, if need be. “This is a personal favor to me. This person isn’t a subject; he’s a friend of mine.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, we made a mistake—it’s just that…well. The results of our exams have been interesting. The subject—your friend---seems to have an entirely different reaction to the meteorite than what we’ve seen so far. Most of the subjects don’t retain the meteorites in their systems, even if it’s been purposely introduced, say in the form of…tattoo ink, as one of our subjects here has used. Your friend’s case is very different; it’s as if he’s infected with the meteorite. It’s under large areas of his skin—I can show you.”
She asked Lex to follow her to her desk, and turned the computer to face him. A series of scans were on the screen. “You see these white areas,” and the doctor pointed at a line of white specks around Clark’s ear. “Encapsulated meteor fragments--the body trying to protect itself. And this large area here--it's in the ink used to create the tattoo. Really fascinating, the way his body seems to hold on to it--” At Lex’s look she hurried on. “We’ll remove what we can, starting with the larger fragments, and watch him--look for a change. He definitely seems to be suffering ill effects from the meteorite. It’s been in his system a long time, there are some very odd changes here…”
Lex studied the scans thoughtfully. “If these fragments aren’t removed, will he continue to decline? Are you certain that it’s only these fragments affecting him, or is there some other cause?” Now that he was here, now that it was happening, he felt a strange reluctance, an odd feeling of foreboding. He growled at himself and fixed the doctor with an impatient glare.
“Oh, he’ll certainly decline--” She stopped, continued and this time her tone was slightly less colored by fascination. “I—I mean,” she stammered. “Perhaps months, maybe longer—hard to tell. For all we know, it could be weeks…” She winced, as if suddenly hearing her own words. “But he’ll come through this fine. When he heals, we’d like to examine him further, if he—you—you--agree.” the doctor said quickly, aware of Lex’s ice cold stare.
“Let’s do it. I’ll wait.”
“Um, certainly, certainly…you mean…in the Luthor apartment? We can send word when we’re finished.”
“No.” Lex smiled, and pointed at the doors. “I mean right here. Watching. Waiting for good results.”
She grinned sickly. “Oh. That’s—that’s--great.” She was perfectly aware of the sudden disappearances of a lot of the staff, and wisely, was determined not to be one of the disappeared…
******
The clippers buzzed, and sheared hair away, left him feeling a little chilled and light headed. The nurse left and he stared at the mirror above the small sink in the corner of the exam room. He looked…sick. He ran his hand over the crest of spiky hair that was left, and grimaced at Lex behind him. Lex ran his fingers too through Clark’s hair, a quick slide and a little tug. “It grows fast, don’t worry,” he said softly, whether to himself or Clark, it wasn’t clear.
Clark leaned back against Lex; let his weight rest against him for a brief and pleasant moment. “I’m not worrying about that.”
The tips of Lex’s ears flushed pale pink, and he stepped back. “Everything’s going to be fine, you know.”
Clark nodded. His mouth was dry, and his heart was beating hard, but he tried to look nonchalant. He didn’t want to give Lex more cause to worry. “Sure, I’m ready for it. It’s not that big a deal, right?”
“Well, the fragments aren’t deep. It won’t take long.” Lex dropped his hand onto Clark’s neck and kneaded the tension stiff muscle gently. “You’ll close your eyes and when you open them again, I’ll be right beside you.”
Clark smiled, and leaned into Lex’s hand. A soft cough at the doorway made him glance back. Lucas was leaning in the doorframe of his room--he blew Clark a kiss, and winked. Now, Clark felt safe. Lucas would make sure everything was what it was supposed to be. He’d never let Lex down. Clark nodded, and Lucas was gone.
“All that matters is you get better. And you will.”
Clark hoped he was right.
******
The nurse poked a needle into the crook of his elbow. “This will relax you.”
He thought that was highly unlikely. He’d been nervous all day, thinking about the past, worrying about the future. Worrying about Lex. Worrying about his mom and dad. It felt wrong doing this without them knowing, but he couldn’t imagine putting them through even more pain than he already had. If he died without them knowing, it could only be better for them. If this worked, and he had a chance—then he’d take one more chance, and go back home.
Clark sighed, and closed his heavy eyes, a wave of warmth and sadness so deep it felt almost comfortable swept him. They’d be so angry to find out he was breaking one of the big rules, the important one—he’d broken so, so many rules. Oh, rules...breaking rules…were there any left to break—what hadn’t he done, he’d done…all the rules unraveled…broke and broke and broke….
Clark. Kal-El. Clark! Kal…
The hall tips back and forth and makes it hard to walk, I feel like I’m at sea. The world is rolling and tipping, but I keep walking because at the end of the hall is a bright light, and I’m supposed to go into that light…and that makes me giggle. Go into the light…it’s pretty funny. I try to walk faster, push myself along because I feel something at my back, just an impression of something big, dark, and painful and deep. I’m not sure if the feeling is outside or inside me… I start to run a little and I hear my name again, someone’s calling me—up ahead, I can see someone in the light—Whitney? My heart jumps and shivers inside, I run a little faster…closer…Whitney.
Clark!
Oh god…Whitney.
Hurry up, you need to hurry. He’s jogging next to me, smiling. It’s been a while…
I look at him and laugh, well, yeah, it has been.
Shut up he grins, and speeds up, come on slow-poke…he runs and I reach out for his hand but don’t ever quite make it.
Okay, Kent this is it, don’t blow it, he says and I’m a little hurt. Whitney, are you mad at me? Why are you in such a hurry?
No no, I just want you to be the best you can be. It’s your job now, to be the best. Take all the help you can. I’ll see you. Hey, you know I love you, right?
He’s gone.
—the disappointment spears right through me, but it’s eclipsed by terrible pain—I yell, my head hurts so bad. The voice calls my name again, and I’m back on the red plain and far in the distance I see the city, glowing gold and red and green…It’s night, the sky is a deep velvet navy and stars are everywhere, a moon hangs low and orange in the sky…two moons…and it’s him next to me. The Boy. The relief is so intense it hurts…my boy, he’d holding out his arms. Wow. I’m finally safe.
It takes forever to get close—the air fights me, the ground pulls at my feet... but I’m getting near, and he’s smiling, encouraging me, and suddenly I know—
if I touch him, I’ll never see him again—we’ll never go flying again, we’ll never walk under the red sun again, he’ll never kiss me again…I can’t, I just can’t give him up.
You protected me all those years, how can you abandon me?
He shakes his head. I won’t. He gives me a picture and in the picture a man is walking through a field. It looks like hay; it’s our land the man is walking on. He’s wearing a purple shirt that glows like amethyst in the sun…
You won’t be alone. Kal-El, I’ll always be right here he says and touches me and his hand goes through
…right…through…the …center of my chest…
Clark stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling, bright white light made his vision blurry. he felt dizzy, odd. Where was he? No, the question was why was he alone? Lex said….
Then the pain came.
He felt like he was being flayed, washed in acid, scrubbed with salt...
It centered on his eyes, his ears, skin lungs brain heart--he could hear himself screaming and didn’t care—people screamed, in the room, outside of the room, the building, he was in the middle of the city and heard everything and he heard the threads that made up the fabric of his sheets slide and scrape against each other like shrieking violins. His head felt like it was wrapped in a sheet of flame—he blinked and a fireball flashed through the room, turning every flammable thing to ash, black heavy smoke filled the room and he heard fans whine and grind, struggle to clear it—was this really happening or was this a hallucination? Was there really fire? Was there really sound? He heard Lex scream, maybe he heard Lex scream—
His eyes slammed shut, his hands flew up to cover his ears and all was silent and dark—“Lex!”
******
When he opened his eyes again, he felt no pain—nothing. He was on his knees, the room was black and shattered, Lex weaved in the doorway, his face and scalp tomato red. He was sunburned, gasping, staring horrified at Clark. Clark felt like he was suspended in time—no movement, no sound—
With a weird internal snap—time flowed on, alarms were sounding, piercing shrieks of warning. “What the fuck happened? Where is—Where’s the staff?” Multiple voices beat at him, shock, anger, fear vibrated in the air, men with drawn guns and staff in hazmat suits plunged into the doorway, reaching for Clark, aiming for him—
And Lucas was there, between Lex and the men—their guns were centered on them, taut nerves, and fear making the situation dangerous. Clark was afraid for Lex’s life, his own…what if the men started shooting, what if Lucas made them angry? He shivered. What if something he did made them angry enough to hurt Lex?
There was a demand for conformation of ID and threats from security, there was a heated argument….somehow, miraculously instead of worsening it, Lucas managed to take control of the situation. “I’d suggest you stand down,” he said, and pointed at Lex. “Before you shoot your boss.”
Clark watched in awe as Lex stopped yelling, grew taller and fiercer than anyone else in the room. He moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lucas. He snarled, “If you don’t know who we are, you’re about to learn. Lucas?”
Lucas laughed lightly and asked, “Who wants the first lesson?”
*******
Clark watched Lex get rid of security, and direct the suited staff in cleaning what little was left in the burned out shell of the operating room…he could clearly hear how much pain Lex was in…and suddenly his own pain rose off the scales…he was sweating blood, he knew he was—he had to be—
He fell forward, and Lex was grabbing him and he tried to pull away, his touch was making his skin scream. Blood, and a greenish oily substance, ran down his back, leaked from his side…the butterfly was melting off of him and it hurt. Something warm and golden came out of the fog the pain, it was sweet and thick like honey and slowly the pain flowed out of him and away. He closed his eyes and slept, he was safe.
tbc!!!!!
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![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
3/13/07 05:26 pm (UTC)OMG!!!
Dude.
I mean, *yay*, getting that crap out of him but...omg!!!
And um.
Your previously link is not a link.
:)
*smooooooooooooooooooooooooooch*
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:08 am (UTC)Thanks lovey!
yes!
OMG!!
(no subject)
3/13/07 05:31 pm (UTC)I love how there are still creep doctors at the lab - there's only so much clean out of a Lionel Luthor facilities that can be done and still have anyone working there. At least all who are left have health fear of the remaining Luthors.
Awwwwwwww, no more dreams of the boy, sad. Beautiful because Clark is finally completely himself, but Clark's boy was such a comfort to him, I hate for him to lose that and Whitney at the same time. Although Lex ascendant is wonderful - I can't wait for Smallville and caves (and Alien mating).
I like how pulling the larger fragments out of Clark kicked in his invulnerability and that made the tattoo melt off and all the pain go away.
Great section, I can't wait for Part 4!
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:14 am (UTC)You know it was never about keeping the good guys, as much as the loyal ones.
I like how pulling the larger fragments out of Clark kicked in his invulnerability and that made the tattoo melt off and all the pain go away.
So glad that worked!
I'm going to miss his boy too, and Whitney, but I hope the new parts coming will be worth the wait!
(no subject)
3/13/07 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/13/07 05:47 pm (UTC)I always love reading Clark's dreams. Though it was sad Whitney and his boy leaving again. But I guess with the Kyrptonite being removed from his body, his boy became part of him now.
I will never get over my love of Lex protecting Clark and Lucas (is his weird way) protecting Lex. :D
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:19 am (UTC)This Lucas has been a whole lot of fun for me, with a lot less breaking my heart (and brain) that Dis Pater Lucas does. *g*
(no subject)
3/13/07 06:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/13/07 06:43 pm (UTC)terrific section. the others have already pointed out the stuff i responded to too.
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/13/07 06:45 pm (UTC)Poor Clark, too bad for the doctors his powers all came back in a rush like that.
Ouch.
*grins*
Nice update, although I was a bit confused at first... I had to read it again to get what was going on.
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 03:08 am (UTC)I'm a fast reader and I don't always remember to read each word, if that makes sense.... I don't really skim, but if I'm not careful it'll be almost like that. Some fics need closer reading than others, I just had to work a little harder to read every word...
It's all good.
I'm glad Clark is finally gotten his powers back, I hope Lex can help him understand what happened, he seemed so confused the poor boy.
*pets Clark*
(no subject)
3/13/07 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/13/07 08:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:47 am (UTC)Thanks so much!!
(no subject)
3/13/07 10:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:55 am (UTC)And welcome aboard!!
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/13/07 10:33 pm (UTC)Um, yeah.
I kind of feel a little like Clark when everything just exploded.
Wow.
Did I say how great...wow.
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:56 am (UTC)Thank you!!!!
(no subject)
3/13/07 10:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/13/07 10:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 01:58 am (UTC)thank you!! *grins*
(no subject)
3/14/07 12:15 am (UTC)Poor Clark, Poor flam-bayed Lex lol... At least he doesn't have to worry about being burnt hairless i guess **sniggers**
(no subject)
3/14/07 01:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/14/07 03:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/15/07 02:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
3/19/07 04:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
12/21/08 06:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
12/21/08 01:36 pm (UTC)