The Bittersweet Ballad of Pete Ross - Epilogue
Title: The Bittersweet Ballad of Pete Ross
Author: The Satyr Icon
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Set in Icon AU; Freshman Year
Classification: Smallville; Chloe/Clark; Pete Ross; het_fic
Disclaimer: All characters, references, and other things pertaining to 'Smallville' are property of the WB, DC Comics, Tollin-Robins, Al Gough & Miles Millar, and J. Siegal & J. Shuster; I am just writing for fun, and if I owned them, all would be good and clean in the World.
Summary: Pete and Clark go camping, but why is Chloe coming along? and why does that infuriate Pete?
Word Count: 46,164
Written: Start: Plot: December 2004 Actually Writing: July 2006 Finished: August 2007
Chapter Sixteen
http://the-satyr-icon.livejournal.com/131057.html
~The Bittersweet Ballad of Pete Ross~
~EPILOGUE~
Two weeks later, back in the cave...
The pit was still there in the forest clearing, the mud now solid dirt. The entry to the cave was still intact, too, but the symbols no longer glowed as Clark and Chloe walked to the middle of the cave. He held up his green lantern, casting light onto the walls. "So what do you think, Professor...um...or is it Chief?"
"Young man, you can call me your friend. I think you two stumbled onto a wonderful find for my people, Clark," Joseph Willowbrook said, and patted the teen on his back. "I hope that this cave gives you the material to write another excellent article for the Ledger, Miss Sullivan."
Both Clark and Chloe smiled at the prominent Kawatchee tribesman and professor at Central Kansas A & M who specialized in languages and prehistoric paintings. Dressed in a natty overcoat with a black and burgundy Native American design, a tan button-up shirt under that coat, black denim jeans, comfortable hiking boots and topped off with a snappy brown felt fedora, the older man gazed up at the walls, amazed at what he saw on them. The cave paintings were magnificent and he recognized their significance to his tribe. They walked around, going into new passages in the cavern that the teens found on their supposed fact-finding missions.
"Kids, these caves...and these drawings are rather important to our people. That drawing...there," he said as he walked, and Clark raised the lantern higher for Willowbrook to see better while Chloe aimed her micro cassette audio-recorder closer to the Chief. "That one describes a Kawatchee legend...A hero that has the strength of more than a hundred men...Look at that particular mural: the hero is burning things with his eyes," Willowbrook informed them.
Clark's heart raced and he felt Chloe squeeze his hand. They continued to listen to the Kawatchee Chief, hearing his descriptions of Clark's abilities as the older man looked at the markings on the walls that were made centuries ago. "...And this set of drawings here show how our legendary hero came to our land from another planet."
"Do you know what planet?" Chloe asked, hoping that the professor couldn't tell just how eager she was to find out. Clark, of course, wanted to know, too. He saw the shape of his spaceship drawn on the wall.
"Exactly what planet, Miss Sullivan? I'll have to check our records," Professor Willowbrook grinned and she gave him a sheepish smile. "Where ever he had came from, green stones came with him." Clark shot Chloe a look and she bit her lip.
"Stones, Professor?" Clark wondered, trying to keep his tone light. "Could that mean...meteors?
"That could be, young man." He also pondered over that in his office at the university. "We have to adjust our language to their meaning, so that is very possible."
"Does this Kawatchee legend have a name?" Chloe asked. They stopped, and they looked at the craggy 'S-shield' impression.
"We Kawatchee call him Naman...and a sacred prophecy said he'd return."
Chief Willowbrook gave Clark a sideways glance; Undoubtedly, he had heard of the young man's exploits in Smallville, that the teen being at the right place at the right time, doing heroic deeds. And the meteor shower that hit Smallville did make the chief and the tribal elders talk of it being an omen of Naman's return. He looked at Clark carefully. And Chloe. "Was there ...a bracelet somewhere in here?"
"A bracelet?" Chloe hid her wrist behind her back. "Nope."
Clark said, "There was one. Show him Chloe."
"I...I hope it's okay that Clark put it on me," Chloe said with a tiny voice, showing the metallic band around her wrist. "It matches with everything I own."
"Oh my goddesses!" Joseph Willowbrook gasped, knowing the magnitude of what Chloe blithely admitted. The Chief secretly knew that no one but Naman could find the cave and knew no one could wear the bracelet except for Wakl'óe. His legs buckled.
"Is something wrong, Chief?" Chloe took hold on the older man's arm. Clark grabbed his other arm, and they straightened him up.
"No...I guess I'm overwhelmed with who you two are - - I mean, what you two found...all of this," he said. The Kawatchee looked at the kids with awe and wonder. Then he smiled at them and leaned in, out of earshot. "I know," he whispered. He repeated it for emphasis. Chloe looked at Clark shared uneasy looks. "I won't tell anyone, Naman... Wakl'óe."
Both Chloe and Clark's eyes went eyed.
A louder voice spoke up from behind them.
"You're right, Clark. This is a fascinating place," Lex Luthor said, in his trademark black clothing, walking over to them from where he stood on the other side of the cave, looking at the painting of Naman and Sageeth, hero and nemesis, locked in battle. Wielding a yellow lantern, Lex slithered up to Clark and smiled him, Chloe and Willowbrook. "Utterly fascinating."
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