FIC: Something New (11/?)
Name: Something New
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Smallville
Summary: Clark/Lex sort of rewrite of the series with much less Clark/Lana. Much.
Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas is the rights to Smallville ... but I won’t get it.
Chapter Summary: Lex thinks Clark is his brother.
Author’s Note: I recently started watching Torchwood, which made me an avid Jack/Ianto slash writer. Now, though, when I rewatch Smallville, all I can see is potential slash storylines! What has Torchwood done to me? Haha. Anyway, I’ve had Clex bunnies in my head for so long that I have writer’s block so, to alleviate that problem, I decided to write a Clark/Lex story. I’m not rewriting every episode, instead I’ll be writing chapters that encompass three or four episodes (as I don’t want to write the fights etc.). Hope you’ll stay with me through it!
Beta: skullgirl013 .
Chapter Note: This chapter is for episodes 2.08: Ryan and 2.09: Dichotic.
Previous Chapter(s): Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9 Ch.10
Author’s Note: I am ashamed to say I’ve nicked more from episodes for this chapter than my other chapters (I’ve been trying to cut down) but it was necessary. Sorry ‘bout that. Oh, and I considered making Kyla into a Kyle but I decided confusing Clark would be more fun. Does this make me a bad person...?
Chapter Eleven
Confusion
Something Clark had learned in his fourteen years on earth and sixteen years as a whole was that his abilities made competitive competition boring, because he always had to try and lose.
But when he was on motorbikes with Pete he could go hell for leather to win. Admittedly, he couldn’t get hurt, so if he hit a tree then the only casualty would be the wood, but it was still nice to be able to compete with Pete on something his abilities couldn’t aid him to win.
They skidded to a halt by the metal fence surrounding the new LuthorCorp construction site and Pete pulled his helmet off. Clark followed suit.
“What are the police doing here?” Pete asked.
“Some sort of an accident last night,” Clark explained. “An explosion.”
“Well, maybe this will convince LuthorCorp to finally get the hell out of Smallville,” Pete said.
“It's an office park, Pete, not a toxic waste dump. What's the harm in that?” Clark looked down the muddy road. “Come on, I'll race you back to Miller's Bend,” he said, pulling his helmet back on. The two of them zoomed off down the road - much to the annoyance of the construction workers - and, at the fork, Clark went one way and Pete the other.
When he hit a tree root and went flying over his bike, slamming into the ground in front of him, which disintegrated, sending him falling many feet down to slam into the floor below, Clark was hugely glad of his alien status.
He’d be dead if he’d been human.
As he lay there, trying to recover enough brain power to move, pulling his helmet off and sending it rolling across the ground in the dark, the sound of footsteps approached. He looked up in the pitch darkness and said, dumbly, “Lex?”
“Don't move.” The person moved into the light from the hole above and Clark saw, to his embarrassment, that the person was not Lex, let alone a man. She was a woman. A gorgeous woman.
“I'm fine,” Clark said, as she opened his shirt to examine the wounds he didn’t have.
“You're in shock,” she told him. “You fell over 100 feet.” She looked at his chest. “You don't have a scratch on you.”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Clark offered, lamely, staring up at her. He hadn't been so smitten with a woman since his obsession with Lana had faded. He swallowed.
“That's some incredible luck you have,” she said, softly.
“Where'd you come from?” he asked, hoping to distract the conversation away from Clark’s amazing feats of death defiance.
She pointed behind her. “I was just over there doing research for my grandfather. The landslide must've opened up that wall.”
“I didn't even know there were caves down here,” Clark said.
“If LuthorCorp has its way, then there won't be anymore,” she said. “I'm Kyla, by the way.” She offered him a shy smile.
He blushed, stood up and said, “Uh... Clark. Clark Kent.”
“The invincible Clark Kent apparently,” she said, with a smile.
“Clark!” Pete yelled from up above. “Clark! You down there?”
Clark didn’t reply for a moment, staring at Kyla intently. Then he shouted back, “Yeah, Pete, I'm all right.”
“Hey, man, you gonna need some help or can you jump your way out?”
Clark blushed, pulled a face and called back, “I've got some company down here.” He looked back at Kyla. “Funny guy, huh?” he said, in attempt to cover up what Pete had unwittingly revealed.
“All right, man. As long as you're all right,” Pete shouted back.
Kyla looked over his shoulder and her jaw dropped. “Oh my god,” she breathed.
“What is it?” Clark asked, blankly, following her gaze to see some cave paintings.
“It's the legend of Numan,” she explained. “My ancestors have passed down this story for generations. They said it had been written in the earth long ago, but nobody ever knew where it was until now. Thank you.”
Clark blinked. “Sure, no problem,” he said.
“You don't understand,” Kyla told him. “My grandfather's been searching for this wall his whole life. It was prophesied that Numan would fall from the skies in a rain of fire. They say that Numan will have the strength of ten men and will be able to start fires with his eyes. It probably sounds silly.”
Clark blinked harder. “Not to me,” he said, quietly.
“I've got to tell my grandfather about this!” Kyla exclaimed. “Come on, I'll show you the way out. Try and keep up!”
He stared at the paintings for another moment before following. As he started to walk away his eyes landed on an octagon carved in the cave walls. He traced it gently with his fingers.
By the time they’d left the caves, Clark had invited Kyla and her grandfather for dinner with the Kents. He had a feeling he should have asked his parents first, but he was so excited at the time...
But the entire meal, all Clark could do was stare at Kyla, only taking in half of what her grandfather was saying. The rest of the information he hoped would seep into his brain to be processed at a later, less-smitten date.
After dinner, he and Kyla left her grandfather talking to his parents and went up to the barn. Out of habit, rather than anything else, Clark went straight across to his telescope and looked up at the stars.
“You want to have a look?” he offered, with a smile.
“I kind of like seeing it with my own eyes,” she replied.
Clark nodded his understanding and watched her walk towards the window. “So these legends, you don't think that they're like Venus and Apollo and all the other myths?” he asked.
“Just because something's a myth doesn't make it not true,” she said. Clark stepped up behind her and she took his hands, holding one pointing at the star, wrapping the other around her waist. “Here,” she said. “Do you see the bright one right there? If you follow the stars around it, it makes the shape of a wolf's head. See how one of the eyes is missing?” She brought his hand down to rest on the windowsill and put her hands on top of it. They were so small compared to Lex’s. “Our ancestors say that there used to be a star there. That's where Numan came from.”
“And what happened to it?” Clark asked, nervously.
Kyla looked round at him. “You tell me,” she said. “You're the one who fell from the sky.”
Clark grinned nervously down at her until he heard the sound of breathing. He looked round to see Lana stood, watching them. She looked like she was being cheated on. We’re not even together. Never will be. “Lana,” he said, in greeting.
“Your message sounded urgent,” Lana said, apologetically, “so I just came over. I didn't realise you had company.”
“Thanks,” Clark said, genuinely. “Lana, this is Kyla.”
Lana’s smile became real and she turned it on Kyla. “Hi,” she said. “I don't think I've seen you at school before.”
Clark watched her and Kyla talk for a moment and explained why he needed Lana’s help. He wondered why he felt like a cheating boyfriend and very slightly wrong at the same time. Looking at Kyla seemed wrong. And right. And confusing. And weird. And why was she the only girl he had feelings for these days? Was it a teenager thing or what?
“Earth to Clark Kent,” Lana said, gently.
Clark looked up. “Oh. Sorry. I was thinking about ...”
“Don't finish that sentence,” Lana begged.
Kyla laughed softly. Clark blushed.
*
“The pictographs are a lot more detailed up here!”
Clark and Kyla were in the caves, looking at the paintings. He’d never been interested in cave paintings before but, he supposed, when they were about you they were more likely to intrigue.
“What do they say?” he asked, as she climbed up the wall.
“It promises that one day Numan will protect the entire world,” Kyla said. The cave shook around them. “Luthor's bulldozers. It's been happening all week.”
The entire world? Will that include a lot of flight time? I really don't want frequent flyer miles...
“I don't know if it's very safe for us to be here right now,” Clark said, in reference to the ever more shakey caves.
“Oh, Clark, get up here. You have to see this,” Kyla said, ignoring him.
He propped his torch up and climbed the wall next to her. “What is it?” he asked.
“It's Ziget,” Kyla told him, pointing at a painting of two snakes, a blue and a red. The red was turning on the blue. “It’s like a sibling to Numan. Legend has it, one day it'll turn against Numan, and together they'll be the balance between good and evil.”
Clark blinked at the picture. Like a sibling? Chloe? Lana? Pete? Someone else? He swallowed. “Who's that?” he asked, pointing at a faded picture. It was obviously a person, but beyond that Clark could make nothing out.
“It's the person he's destined to be with,” Kyla said, smiling. There was a design beneath the picture, a pale blue diamond. His eyes wandered to her bracelet on which there was a pale ... blue... diamond. “That was handed down through my family,” Kyla said. “I don't even know how old it is.”
The cave shook again and Kyla slipped, falling from the cave wall. “Kyla!” Clark yelled. Without thinking he ran around to catch her. As rocks fell from the ceiling he covered her body with his own. The rocks crumbled when they hit him.
He pulled himself off her and helped her to his feet.
“How'd you do that?” Kyla asked.
“Just adrenaline, I guess,” Clark said.
“No, yesterday you didn't have a scratch on you and...” She laughed a bit. “What, you shoot fire out your eyes too?” Clark turned and walked a few steps away. “Oh, my God. I was just joking. You really are Numan!”
“I don't know what I am!” Clark said.
“What, are you gay or something?” Lex asked, with a chuckle.
Clark bit his lip.
“Oh! Shit, I’m sorry!” Lex exclaimed. “I didn’t realise! You’re not, are you?”
“I don't know what I am,” Clark replied, deadpan.
Clark swallowed and pushed back the memory. He wasn't going to stay hung up on Lex for the rest of his life if he could help it. “You don't seem very freaked out,” he said.
“Because I know what it's like to be different,” Kyla said. “Clark, it's okay. Maybe this could explain everything I've been feeling the last few days.”
“There are a lot of things about me that I can't explain,” Clark told her, gently.
Like how I can be madly in love with a guy one minute and smitten with you the next but feel less than nothing for all the girls Pete lusts after...
“Clark, you don't have to,” Kyla said. “I grew up around a lot of things that seemed unexplainable.”
“Yeah, but I'm ...” Clark stammered.
She looked up at him and ran her hands up his arms to his neck. “You try and use logic and reason to try to make sense of it, but you just have to give in.”
He leant down and kissed her.
*
When he kissed Kyla he swore to keep away from Lex for a while. Things were still too confusing. But when her grandfather, Joseph Willowbrook, ended up in jail, he realised there was only one place he could go for bail money.
“Lex?” he said, nervously, walking into the Lex’s office in the mansion.
“I'm gonna have to call you back,” Lex hung up his phone. “Clark, is everything all right?”
“I need to raise bail money for Joseph Willowbrook,” Clark said, deciding to jump straight to the point. “He's being set up, I think by LuthorCorp.”
“That's a pretty serious accusation, Clark,” Lex said. “Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed by your conviction, but going head to head with my father? You're a little like David trying to slay Goliath.”
“Where do you stand?” Clark asked.
“Any culture that's left a legacy that would endure for centuries has earned my respect,” Lex told him, standing up. He sighed, carrying his books across to the stairs. “I'm afraid it's a losing battle.”
“Didn't David beat Goliath?” Clark enquired.
“Your newfound advocacy wouldn't have anything to do with a beautiful doe-eyed crusader, would it?” Lex asked, with a smirk. “Your mother told me about Kyla.”
Clark blushed, hugely. “Lex, have you ever wondered if you were destined to be with someone?”
Lex gazed at him from above for a long moment. For a second, Clark anticipated more of a response than he got. “You're asking someone who's been fighting his destiny his entire life,” Lex said. He sighed. “I'm a little surprised to see you've moved on so quickly.”
Clark looked at his feet. “I decided it was best. Considering ...” He looked up, locking his eyes with Lex’s. “How is Helen by the way?”
Lex continued to smirk, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Ah, so you heard we were dating.” Clark nodded. “Helen’s good. We’re going out tonight. I really like her, Clark.”
What do you want me to say to that, Lex?
“I’m happy for you,” Clark said, gently. “If you’re happy.” He sighed. “It's a completely different feeling when things aren’t complicated. Lex, please, can you help me with the bail money?”
Lex sighed. “I'm sorry, Clark. But I don't make it a practice to bail out alleged murderers.”
Clark took a deep breath. What would it hurt...?
“Maybe I can get you to change your mind,” he said. “Got time to go on a field trip with me?”
It took them less than half an hour to get to the caves and the car journey was spent in total silence.
“Not that I don't find the dank stench of a cave invigorating -” Clark couldn’t restrain a slight shiver when Lex said that. Caves turned him on? “-but what does this have to do with Joseph Willowbrook?”
Clark shone his torch on the cave wall. “I wanted you to see them for themselves. This is what he wants to protect.”
Lex gazed up at them. “Incredible,” he breathed. “These may be more impressive than the caves at La Scalle.”
“Joseph and Kyla are trying to get a team down to authenticate them,” Clark said.
I’ve got him.
“So you're doing all of this for some cave paintings?” Lex asked.
Clark swallowed. “I'm doing this because I think it's important for people to understand the past. Don't you?”
“Looks like a fascinating story,” Lex said, flashing his torch around the cave.
“Makes you wonder if the people who drew these paintings thought that we'd be here a hundred years later looking at them,” Clark said.
Lex nodded, following him through the cave. He walked past the octagon without a second glance.
“Lex, these caves are part of our history. Saving these paintings might be the most important thing you'll ever do. What do you think, Lex?”
Lex sighed. “I agree with you,” he said. “And ...” He shot Clark a small smile. “If it’s this important to you...”
Clark had to resist the urge to hug his friend. It would have been too awkward at this point. “Thank you,” he contented himself with saying.
*
His mother getting attacked by a wolf, however, as she left work, managed to put a damper on his subsequent mood. As did finding out that Kyla’s tribe name stemmed from ‘Skinwalker’, which meant they could ... wait for it ... turn into wolves.
He suspected her grandfather, something Kyla took offence at. Which he wasn't surprised by. It hurt, though, when she yelled, “If this is how you think of us, then maybe we weren't meant to be together after all. My grandfather's right. Lionel Luthor controls you all!”
He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He knew that Joseph would go after Lionel next. He supposed it was obvious. Which was why he went to Lex’s mansion.
He got there just as the white wolf was about to rip Lionel Luthor limb from limb.
“Joseph!” he yelled. The wolf stared at him. Something in his stomach flipped. The doors opened and the cops came in. “Don't shoot!” he told them. As he turned his back the wolf fled, smashing through the window and running away. “Joseph!” he shouted, running to the window.
No!
The glass was broken and there was blood all over it.
Clark ran from the room as fast as he could, going into super-speed as soon as he was out of sight and running through the woods by the mansion. He found the wolf lying, dying, on the floor.
And she transformed before his eyes.
“Kyla?” he exclaimed. “No.” He ran towards her, pulling his jacket off as he ran and wrapping it about her naked body as he lifted her into his arms. “No! Kyla. Come here...” He held her close. “You're okay. Come here. You all right?”
Kyla looked up at him. She was dying and he knew it. “I didn't want to hurt the foreman or your mother, Clark.”
“Okay,” he said, “okay. Why didn't you tell me it was you?”
“I didn't want to lie, but I saw the look in your eye when you thought it was my grandfather,” she choked out.
“I'm sorry, Kyla,” Clark said, gently.
“You're the first person I thought I could trust. I knew that you knew what it felt like to carry such a big secret.” She clung to him.
“I have to get you to the hospital,” he said, trying to stand up. She stopped him.
“Clark, stay with me,” she begged. “I'm sorry,” she said, breathlessly. “I'm sorry I can't be the one for you, Numan.”
Her eyes closed and Clark held her closer. “No...” he said, desperately. “No!” Why do the ones I love always die?
*
He was stood in the barn, watching the stars when she walked up the stairs.
“Lana,” he greeted her, calmly.
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about Kyla,” Lana told him, approaching slowly.
“I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to know her better. You had a lot in common.” He smiled warmly at her.
“That means a lot, knowing how important she was to you.” Lana stepped up to the window and Clark looked up at the sky.
“Kyla told me there used to be a star right out there by the bright one. But it disappeared,” Clark told her.
“It's amazing how quickly a light can go out.”
Clark looked round at the girl stood next to him. She was trembling. “Lana, you're shaking. Are you okay?”
“No,” she said. “No, I don't think so. I guess it hasn't sunk in yet.”
“Lana...?” Clark was worried about her.
“Whitney's mom just called. He's missing in action,” Lana said, bursting into tears.
Clark wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. “I’m so sorry,” he told her, gently, as she cried.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who’s loved ones left.
Next: Chapter 12
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Smallville
Summary: Clark/Lex sort of rewrite of the series with much less Clark/Lana. Much.
Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas is the rights to Smallville ... but I won’t get it.
Chapter Summary: Lex thinks Clark is his brother.
Author’s Note: I recently started watching Torchwood, which made me an avid Jack/Ianto slash writer. Now, though, when I rewatch Smallville, all I can see is potential slash storylines! What has Torchwood done to me? Haha. Anyway, I’ve had Clex bunnies in my head for so long that I have writer’s block so, to alleviate that problem, I decided to write a Clark/Lex story. I’m not rewriting every episode, instead I’ll be writing chapters that encompass three or four episodes (as I don’t want to write the fights etc.). Hope you’ll stay with me through it!
Beta: skullgirl013 .
Chapter Note: This chapter is for episodes 2.08: Ryan and 2.09: Dichotic.
Previous Chapter(s): Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9 Ch.10
Author’s Note: I am ashamed to say I’ve nicked more from episodes for this chapter than my other chapters (I’ve been trying to cut down) but it was necessary. Sorry ‘bout that. Oh, and I considered making Kyla into a Kyle but I decided confusing Clark would be more fun. Does this make me a bad person...?
Chapter Eleven
Confusion
Something Clark had learned in his fourteen years on earth and sixteen years as a whole was that his abilities made competitive competition boring, because he always had to try and lose.
But when he was on motorbikes with Pete he could go hell for leather to win. Admittedly, he couldn’t get hurt, so if he hit a tree then the only casualty would be the wood, but it was still nice to be able to compete with Pete on something his abilities couldn’t aid him to win.
They skidded to a halt by the metal fence surrounding the new LuthorCorp construction site and Pete pulled his helmet off. Clark followed suit.
“What are the police doing here?” Pete asked.
“Some sort of an accident last night,” Clark explained. “An explosion.”
“Well, maybe this will convince LuthorCorp to finally get the hell out of Smallville,” Pete said.
“It's an office park, Pete, not a toxic waste dump. What's the harm in that?” Clark looked down the muddy road. “Come on, I'll race you back to Miller's Bend,” he said, pulling his helmet back on. The two of them zoomed off down the road - much to the annoyance of the construction workers - and, at the fork, Clark went one way and Pete the other.
When he hit a tree root and went flying over his bike, slamming into the ground in front of him, which disintegrated, sending him falling many feet down to slam into the floor below, Clark was hugely glad of his alien status.
He’d be dead if he’d been human.
As he lay there, trying to recover enough brain power to move, pulling his helmet off and sending it rolling across the ground in the dark, the sound of footsteps approached. He looked up in the pitch darkness and said, dumbly, “Lex?”
“Don't move.” The person moved into the light from the hole above and Clark saw, to his embarrassment, that the person was not Lex, let alone a man. She was a woman. A gorgeous woman.
“I'm fine,” Clark said, as she opened his shirt to examine the wounds he didn’t have.
“You're in shock,” she told him. “You fell over 100 feet.” She looked at his chest. “You don't have a scratch on you.”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Clark offered, lamely, staring up at her. He hadn't been so smitten with a woman since his obsession with Lana had faded. He swallowed.
“That's some incredible luck you have,” she said, softly.
“Where'd you come from?” he asked, hoping to distract the conversation away from Clark’s amazing feats of death defiance.
She pointed behind her. “I was just over there doing research for my grandfather. The landslide must've opened up that wall.”
“I didn't even know there were caves down here,” Clark said.
“If LuthorCorp has its way, then there won't be anymore,” she said. “I'm Kyla, by the way.” She offered him a shy smile.
He blushed, stood up and said, “Uh... Clark. Clark Kent.”
“The invincible Clark Kent apparently,” she said, with a smile.
“Clark!” Pete yelled from up above. “Clark! You down there?”
Clark didn’t reply for a moment, staring at Kyla intently. Then he shouted back, “Yeah, Pete, I'm all right.”
“Hey, man, you gonna need some help or can you jump your way out?”
Clark blushed, pulled a face and called back, “I've got some company down here.” He looked back at Kyla. “Funny guy, huh?” he said, in attempt to cover up what Pete had unwittingly revealed.
“All right, man. As long as you're all right,” Pete shouted back.
Kyla looked over his shoulder and her jaw dropped. “Oh my god,” she breathed.
“What is it?” Clark asked, blankly, following her gaze to see some cave paintings.
“It's the legend of Numan,” she explained. “My ancestors have passed down this story for generations. They said it had been written in the earth long ago, but nobody ever knew where it was until now. Thank you.”
Clark blinked. “Sure, no problem,” he said.
“You don't understand,” Kyla told him. “My grandfather's been searching for this wall his whole life. It was prophesied that Numan would fall from the skies in a rain of fire. They say that Numan will have the strength of ten men and will be able to start fires with his eyes. It probably sounds silly.”
Clark blinked harder. “Not to me,” he said, quietly.
“I've got to tell my grandfather about this!” Kyla exclaimed. “Come on, I'll show you the way out. Try and keep up!”
He stared at the paintings for another moment before following. As he started to walk away his eyes landed on an octagon carved in the cave walls. He traced it gently with his fingers.
By the time they’d left the caves, Clark had invited Kyla and her grandfather for dinner with the Kents. He had a feeling he should have asked his parents first, but he was so excited at the time...
But the entire meal, all Clark could do was stare at Kyla, only taking in half of what her grandfather was saying. The rest of the information he hoped would seep into his brain to be processed at a later, less-smitten date.
After dinner, he and Kyla left her grandfather talking to his parents and went up to the barn. Out of habit, rather than anything else, Clark went straight across to his telescope and looked up at the stars.
“You want to have a look?” he offered, with a smile.
“I kind of like seeing it with my own eyes,” she replied.
Clark nodded his understanding and watched her walk towards the window. “So these legends, you don't think that they're like Venus and Apollo and all the other myths?” he asked.
“Just because something's a myth doesn't make it not true,” she said. Clark stepped up behind her and she took his hands, holding one pointing at the star, wrapping the other around her waist. “Here,” she said. “Do you see the bright one right there? If you follow the stars around it, it makes the shape of a wolf's head. See how one of the eyes is missing?” She brought his hand down to rest on the windowsill and put her hands on top of it. They were so small compared to Lex’s. “Our ancestors say that there used to be a star there. That's where Numan came from.”
“And what happened to it?” Clark asked, nervously.
Kyla looked round at him. “You tell me,” she said. “You're the one who fell from the sky.”
Clark grinned nervously down at her until he heard the sound of breathing. He looked round to see Lana stood, watching them. She looked like she was being cheated on. We’re not even together. Never will be. “Lana,” he said, in greeting.
“Your message sounded urgent,” Lana said, apologetically, “so I just came over. I didn't realise you had company.”
“Thanks,” Clark said, genuinely. “Lana, this is Kyla.”
Lana’s smile became real and she turned it on Kyla. “Hi,” she said. “I don't think I've seen you at school before.”
Clark watched her and Kyla talk for a moment and explained why he needed Lana’s help. He wondered why he felt like a cheating boyfriend and very slightly wrong at the same time. Looking at Kyla seemed wrong. And right. And confusing. And weird. And why was she the only girl he had feelings for these days? Was it a teenager thing or what?
“Earth to Clark Kent,” Lana said, gently.
Clark looked up. “Oh. Sorry. I was thinking about ...”
“Don't finish that sentence,” Lana begged.
Kyla laughed softly. Clark blushed.
*
“The pictographs are a lot more detailed up here!”
Clark and Kyla were in the caves, looking at the paintings. He’d never been interested in cave paintings before but, he supposed, when they were about you they were more likely to intrigue.
“What do they say?” he asked, as she climbed up the wall.
“It promises that one day Numan will protect the entire world,” Kyla said. The cave shook around them. “Luthor's bulldozers. It's been happening all week.”
The entire world? Will that include a lot of flight time? I really don't want frequent flyer miles...
“I don't know if it's very safe for us to be here right now,” Clark said, in reference to the ever more shakey caves.
“Oh, Clark, get up here. You have to see this,” Kyla said, ignoring him.
He propped his torch up and climbed the wall next to her. “What is it?” he asked.
“It's Ziget,” Kyla told him, pointing at a painting of two snakes, a blue and a red. The red was turning on the blue. “It’s like a sibling to Numan. Legend has it, one day it'll turn against Numan, and together they'll be the balance between good and evil.”
Clark blinked at the picture. Like a sibling? Chloe? Lana? Pete? Someone else? He swallowed. “Who's that?” he asked, pointing at a faded picture. It was obviously a person, but beyond that Clark could make nothing out.
“It's the person he's destined to be with,” Kyla said, smiling. There was a design beneath the picture, a pale blue diamond. His eyes wandered to her bracelet on which there was a pale ... blue... diamond. “That was handed down through my family,” Kyla said. “I don't even know how old it is.”
The cave shook again and Kyla slipped, falling from the cave wall. “Kyla!” Clark yelled. Without thinking he ran around to catch her. As rocks fell from the ceiling he covered her body with his own. The rocks crumbled when they hit him.
He pulled himself off her and helped her to his feet.
“How'd you do that?” Kyla asked.
“Just adrenaline, I guess,” Clark said.
“No, yesterday you didn't have a scratch on you and...” She laughed a bit. “What, you shoot fire out your eyes too?” Clark turned and walked a few steps away. “Oh, my God. I was just joking. You really are Numan!”
“I don't know what I am!” Clark said.
“What, are you gay or something?” Lex asked, with a chuckle.
Clark bit his lip.
“Oh! Shit, I’m sorry!” Lex exclaimed. “I didn’t realise! You’re not, are you?”
“I don't know what I am,” Clark replied, deadpan.
Clark swallowed and pushed back the memory. He wasn't going to stay hung up on Lex for the rest of his life if he could help it. “You don't seem very freaked out,” he said.
“Because I know what it's like to be different,” Kyla said. “Clark, it's okay. Maybe this could explain everything I've been feeling the last few days.”
“There are a lot of things about me that I can't explain,” Clark told her, gently.
Like how I can be madly in love with a guy one minute and smitten with you the next but feel less than nothing for all the girls Pete lusts after...
“Clark, you don't have to,” Kyla said. “I grew up around a lot of things that seemed unexplainable.”
“Yeah, but I'm ...” Clark stammered.
She looked up at him and ran her hands up his arms to his neck. “You try and use logic and reason to try to make sense of it, but you just have to give in.”
He leant down and kissed her.
*
When he kissed Kyla he swore to keep away from Lex for a while. Things were still too confusing. But when her grandfather, Joseph Willowbrook, ended up in jail, he realised there was only one place he could go for bail money.
“Lex?” he said, nervously, walking into the Lex’s office in the mansion.
“I'm gonna have to call you back,” Lex hung up his phone. “Clark, is everything all right?”
“I need to raise bail money for Joseph Willowbrook,” Clark said, deciding to jump straight to the point. “He's being set up, I think by LuthorCorp.”
“That's a pretty serious accusation, Clark,” Lex said. “Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed by your conviction, but going head to head with my father? You're a little like David trying to slay Goliath.”
“Where do you stand?” Clark asked.
“Any culture that's left a legacy that would endure for centuries has earned my respect,” Lex told him, standing up. He sighed, carrying his books across to the stairs. “I'm afraid it's a losing battle.”
“Didn't David beat Goliath?” Clark enquired.
“Your newfound advocacy wouldn't have anything to do with a beautiful doe-eyed crusader, would it?” Lex asked, with a smirk. “Your mother told me about Kyla.”
Clark blushed, hugely. “Lex, have you ever wondered if you were destined to be with someone?”
Lex gazed at him from above for a long moment. For a second, Clark anticipated more of a response than he got. “You're asking someone who's been fighting his destiny his entire life,” Lex said. He sighed. “I'm a little surprised to see you've moved on so quickly.”
Clark looked at his feet. “I decided it was best. Considering ...” He looked up, locking his eyes with Lex’s. “How is Helen by the way?”
Lex continued to smirk, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Ah, so you heard we were dating.” Clark nodded. “Helen’s good. We’re going out tonight. I really like her, Clark.”
What do you want me to say to that, Lex?
“I’m happy for you,” Clark said, gently. “If you’re happy.” He sighed. “It's a completely different feeling when things aren’t complicated. Lex, please, can you help me with the bail money?”
Lex sighed. “I'm sorry, Clark. But I don't make it a practice to bail out alleged murderers.”
Clark took a deep breath. What would it hurt...?
“Maybe I can get you to change your mind,” he said. “Got time to go on a field trip with me?”
It took them less than half an hour to get to the caves and the car journey was spent in total silence.
“Not that I don't find the dank stench of a cave invigorating -” Clark couldn’t restrain a slight shiver when Lex said that. Caves turned him on? “-but what does this have to do with Joseph Willowbrook?”
Clark shone his torch on the cave wall. “I wanted you to see them for themselves. This is what he wants to protect.”
Lex gazed up at them. “Incredible,” he breathed. “These may be more impressive than the caves at La Scalle.”
“Joseph and Kyla are trying to get a team down to authenticate them,” Clark said.
I’ve got him.
“So you're doing all of this for some cave paintings?” Lex asked.
Clark swallowed. “I'm doing this because I think it's important for people to understand the past. Don't you?”
“Looks like a fascinating story,” Lex said, flashing his torch around the cave.
“Makes you wonder if the people who drew these paintings thought that we'd be here a hundred years later looking at them,” Clark said.
Lex nodded, following him through the cave. He walked past the octagon without a second glance.
“Lex, these caves are part of our history. Saving these paintings might be the most important thing you'll ever do. What do you think, Lex?”
Lex sighed. “I agree with you,” he said. “And ...” He shot Clark a small smile. “If it’s this important to you...”
Clark had to resist the urge to hug his friend. It would have been too awkward at this point. “Thank you,” he contented himself with saying.
*
His mother getting attacked by a wolf, however, as she left work, managed to put a damper on his subsequent mood. As did finding out that Kyla’s tribe name stemmed from ‘Skinwalker’, which meant they could ... wait for it ... turn into wolves.
He suspected her grandfather, something Kyla took offence at. Which he wasn't surprised by. It hurt, though, when she yelled, “If this is how you think of us, then maybe we weren't meant to be together after all. My grandfather's right. Lionel Luthor controls you all!”
He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He knew that Joseph would go after Lionel next. He supposed it was obvious. Which was why he went to Lex’s mansion.
He got there just as the white wolf was about to rip Lionel Luthor limb from limb.
“Joseph!” he yelled. The wolf stared at him. Something in his stomach flipped. The doors opened and the cops came in. “Don't shoot!” he told them. As he turned his back the wolf fled, smashing through the window and running away. “Joseph!” he shouted, running to the window.
No!
The glass was broken and there was blood all over it.
Clark ran from the room as fast as he could, going into super-speed as soon as he was out of sight and running through the woods by the mansion. He found the wolf lying, dying, on the floor.
And she transformed before his eyes.
“Kyla?” he exclaimed. “No.” He ran towards her, pulling his jacket off as he ran and wrapping it about her naked body as he lifted her into his arms. “No! Kyla. Come here...” He held her close. “You're okay. Come here. You all right?”
Kyla looked up at him. She was dying and he knew it. “I didn't want to hurt the foreman or your mother, Clark.”
“Okay,” he said, “okay. Why didn't you tell me it was you?”
“I didn't want to lie, but I saw the look in your eye when you thought it was my grandfather,” she choked out.
“I'm sorry, Kyla,” Clark said, gently.
“You're the first person I thought I could trust. I knew that you knew what it felt like to carry such a big secret.” She clung to him.
“I have to get you to the hospital,” he said, trying to stand up. She stopped him.
“Clark, stay with me,” she begged. “I'm sorry,” she said, breathlessly. “I'm sorry I can't be the one for you, Numan.”
Her eyes closed and Clark held her closer. “No...” he said, desperately. “No!” Why do the ones I love always die?
*
He was stood in the barn, watching the stars when she walked up the stairs.
“Lana,” he greeted her, calmly.
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about Kyla,” Lana told him, approaching slowly.
“I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to know her better. You had a lot in common.” He smiled warmly at her.
“That means a lot, knowing how important she was to you.” Lana stepped up to the window and Clark looked up at the sky.
“Kyla told me there used to be a star right out there by the bright one. But it disappeared,” Clark told her.
“It's amazing how quickly a light can go out.”
Clark looked round at the girl stood next to him. She was trembling. “Lana, you're shaking. Are you okay?”
“No,” she said. “No, I don't think so. I guess it hasn't sunk in yet.”
“Lana...?” Clark was worried about her.
“Whitney's mom just called. He's missing in action,” Lana said, bursting into tears.
Clark wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. “I’m so sorry,” he told her, gently, as she cried.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who’s loved ones left.
Next: Chapter 12