Happiness - August 31st
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 31
Title: Happiness
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Batman/DC/Smallville
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Batman/DC/Smallville people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Athena returns a dozen years after leaving.
Notes: Part 9 of Athena Follows Bruce
Word Count: 1600
Athena’s attention was still outside the car as they drove through rural Kansas. Cerberus was in the back seat, with his snout out the window, enjoying the fresh fall smells.
Bruce’s hand on her knee made her look at him. He took his gaze from the road for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“This is where everything we weren’t here for happened,” she said softly. “I have to find out.” She squeezed his hand in her own. “The Guardian gave me prophecy when I met Constantine the first time.”
He looked back at the road. “Oh?”
“Lex was on a path I could not turn him from. I set something in motion when I left. Or, more accurately, I returned the flow of his destiny.”
“But you never gave up,” he stated softly. “You sent him letters every three months, at least. Magic time released from the previous location.”
She gave a rough chuckle. “I thought you knew about it.” She looked out the window. “I think I only did it to assuage my guilt.”
“He’s your brother, Athena. You had every reason to try.”
“But don’t you think it was crueler to just send the letters and postcards? Yes, it was proof I was still alive, but it was also…one-way. Me talking to him and giving him no way in which to tell me to stop or contact me.”
He sighed and flicked the turn signal. He pulled to the side of the road and stopped. Once the car was idling, he turned to look at her. “Anything that happened with Lex is not your fault.”
“Intellectually, I know that,” she admitted. “Emotionally, as we near Smallville, I’m having a harder time making it stick.” In truth, she had never been able to turn off her emotions the way Bruce had mastered. One of the masters who understood Slayers had told her that the Slayer could turn off their emotions, it was even a teaching of the Watchers Council, but it also attributed to their high mortality rate.
“Maybe this won’t be what you think,” he suggested.
She raised an eyebrow, because they both knew that her predictions over the years had been fairly accurate. What Bruce was able to do by looking around a room, his investigation methods, things he had learned and honed over the years - she could do it to a point but her instincts led more often than not. They often got to the same place but their paths were different.
Athena tapped his leg. “Just keep driving.”
He leaned over and kissed her before pulling the car back out on the road.
88888888
“Smallville, we’ve got company,” Lois called.
Clark grinned and moved down the steps of the loft. He caught sight of his wife when he reached the barn floor. She was looking down the drive, but she appeared confused. He approached her. “Chloe wearing something wrong for the weather?” he asked.
“That’s not Chloe and Ollie,” she replied. “I don’t recognize them.”
He saw what she meant. The passenger side door opened and a woman with strawberry blonde hair got out. She wore large sunglasses and her attention was on the house. She stilled slightly and moved her sunglasses to her hear. “I have traveled the length and breadth of the world, and I can still sense you like being plugged into an electrical socket, Clark Kent.”
He stared as the answer slapped him in the face. Her gaze met his and his heart hitched somewhere in his throat.
She didn’t seem to have the same problem. She closed the car door as the driver opened his. Clark was aware of but did not acknowledge the other person. He saw Lois look between them.
Athena halved the distance. “I know this is a dozen years too late, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I left like that.”
“I thought you died,” he admitted.
She raised her hands in a helpless shrug. “It didn’t take the first time, I’ve been outrunning it ever since.”
Clark let out a surprised laugh, emotions churned in him. Tears rose that he didn’t know were so close to the surface.
A bark and a black blur took off out of the car.
“Cerberus!” Bruce called.
“He’ll be fine,” Lois promised. “Probably saw one of the other dogs.”
“Athena…” Clark said softly.
Tears filled her eyes. “My brother?”
He shook his head. “Alive but…he’s not someone you would recognize.”
She nodded, her lips pressed together in pain. “What happened?”
“I couldn’t save him.”
She closed her eyes at the words, tears spilling down one cheek.
The sound of another car, with a hand on the horn pulled their attention.
Chloe Sullivan jumped out and ran for the door of the house. A few moments later an exasperated male parked the car and got out. He stopped, looking around at the others.
“Whatever is happening here, we should wait for Chloe to come back. You know how much she hates to miss things.”
“Perhaps, some explanation about who they are,” Lois suggested.
Athena used a hand to wipe away her tears. She took a deep breath.
“Athena Luthor,” Chloe’s voice was high, her surprise clear.
“You slap me and my dog will bite you,” Athena threatened with a grin.
“Hey!” Lois said, taking a step between them to protect Chloe.
Chloe moved around her and faced Athena. “You got tan.”
“You got fat.”
“Hey!” Oliver threatened.
Bruce snorted from where he was leaning against the side of the car. “No wonder they didn’t miss you,” he said.
“Chloe and I were always one insult from a hair-pulling fight,” Athena replied with a grin.
“Okay, enough,” Lois snapped. “Smallville, explain.”
“This is Lex’s little sister,” Chloe answered instead.
“The one that ran away when you were freshmen?”
“One and the same.”
“I thought she was dead,” Oliver said as he looked her over.
“Lana knew she wasn’t,” Chloe replied.
“How?”
“The letters she sent three or four times a year to Lex, Lana found out about them when she was married to Lex.”
Athena’s eyes widened. “Lex and Lana?!”
“Complicated, didn’t last.”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Nieces? Nephews?”
“No,” Chloe replied.
“You have a dog,” Bruce reminded Athena. “A very spoiled dog.”
“But little humans,” she said as though it explained anything.
“We need to talk,” Clark cut in.
“Oh, you are so not pulling that,” Lois said. “I am curious as hell.”
“Same,” Oliver admitted.
“If they know about you, I don’t care what they know about me,” Athena told Clark.
“We know nothing about you,” Lois replied. “I’ve only heard your name a few times in passing.”
“I kept your secrets,” Clark said.
“I kept yours,” she assured him.
Chloe looked between them. “Damnit, I still have to pee. Bring this into the house.” She turned and stomped up to the Kent house and entered at a run.
“I don’t plan to piss off my pregnant cousin,” Lois said, “we should go in.” She led, Oliver followed.
Athena and Clark remained in place.
Bruce gave a sharp whistle.
They both flinched but Cerberus dashed to sit at Bruce’s feet.
“He can go in too,” Clark told Bruce with a gesture to Cerberus. “We’ll follow in a second.”
Bruce looked between them before shrugging and taking Cerberus into the house.
Time seemed to stretch between Athena and Clark before she shook her head. “Bruce’s Christmas party, he offered an opportunity to travel and study. I wasn’t going to take it, it was just going to be a really nice offer from my best friend before he disappeared for years and years. I had a Slayer vision the next night and I knew I had to leave.”
“And you couldn’t tell me?”
“It was more impulse than plan. And it broke my heart to walk away from you and Lex and Smallville. But if I hadn’t, I would have died a long time ago. I wouldn’t have learned about the Slayer or magic.”
“And him?”
She gave a lopsided smile. “We aren’t going to stand here and pretend that a short relationship a dozen years ago is as important as everything since then.”
“No.”
“Good.” She turned towards the house.
“But you need to know something. About your father.”
“Is he why Lex…Is he responsible for what happened?”
“Some, yes. But he tried to fix it. Tried to turn Lex back from what he was becoming.”
“He failed,” she pointed out.
Clark swallowed. “He left something for you. When he changed, when he protected me - my secret - he revealed that he knew what you could become, the Slayer.”
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
She frowned at the ground. “How?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that he thought you were taken by the Council.” He gestured to the field. “I can run and get it for you.”
“I don’t think I’m ready for that.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to see the kind of man he could be.”
Clark approached and set a hand on her shoulder. “Me too.”
“How long?”
“Five years.”
She gave a sudden laugh. “What do you think he’d say if he knew I not only followed Bruce Wayne but I plan to marry him?”
“Probably find it funny,” Clark admitted. “Especially since the other guy - Chloe’s husband - is Oliver Queen.”
She snorted and relaxed. “Of course, but who is more favored by the market?”
He squeezed her shoulder. “He wouldn’t care as long as you were happy.”
“I am,” she promised. “I really am.”
And that is the end of my participation in Twisted Shorts FAD for 2022!! And it was busy on the personal side. 1st week: Job offer, 2nd week: last days of old job, 3rd week: organizational training online/virtual, 4th week: new job hands on. And I still managed to feed (starve?) half a dozen plot bunnies. Thank you mods, thank you readers, thank you reviewers. Next year, my friends!
Title: Happiness
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Batman/DC/Smallville
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Batman/DC/Smallville people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Athena returns a dozen years after leaving.
Notes: Part 9 of Athena Follows Bruce
Word Count: 1600
Athena’s attention was still outside the car as they drove through rural Kansas. Cerberus was in the back seat, with his snout out the window, enjoying the fresh fall smells.
Bruce’s hand on her knee made her look at him. He took his gaze from the road for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“This is where everything we weren’t here for happened,” she said softly. “I have to find out.” She squeezed his hand in her own. “The Guardian gave me prophecy when I met Constantine the first time.”
He looked back at the road. “Oh?”
“Lex was on a path I could not turn him from. I set something in motion when I left. Or, more accurately, I returned the flow of his destiny.”
“But you never gave up,” he stated softly. “You sent him letters every three months, at least. Magic time released from the previous location.”
She gave a rough chuckle. “I thought you knew about it.” She looked out the window. “I think I only did it to assuage my guilt.”
“He’s your brother, Athena. You had every reason to try.”
“But don’t you think it was crueler to just send the letters and postcards? Yes, it was proof I was still alive, but it was also…one-way. Me talking to him and giving him no way in which to tell me to stop or contact me.”
He sighed and flicked the turn signal. He pulled to the side of the road and stopped. Once the car was idling, he turned to look at her. “Anything that happened with Lex is not your fault.”
“Intellectually, I know that,” she admitted. “Emotionally, as we near Smallville, I’m having a harder time making it stick.” In truth, she had never been able to turn off her emotions the way Bruce had mastered. One of the masters who understood Slayers had told her that the Slayer could turn off their emotions, it was even a teaching of the Watchers Council, but it also attributed to their high mortality rate.
“Maybe this won’t be what you think,” he suggested.
She raised an eyebrow, because they both knew that her predictions over the years had been fairly accurate. What Bruce was able to do by looking around a room, his investigation methods, things he had learned and honed over the years - she could do it to a point but her instincts led more often than not. They often got to the same place but their paths were different.
Athena tapped his leg. “Just keep driving.”
He leaned over and kissed her before pulling the car back out on the road.
88888888
“Smallville, we’ve got company,” Lois called.
Clark grinned and moved down the steps of the loft. He caught sight of his wife when he reached the barn floor. She was looking down the drive, but she appeared confused. He approached her. “Chloe wearing something wrong for the weather?” he asked.
“That’s not Chloe and Ollie,” she replied. “I don’t recognize them.”
He saw what she meant. The passenger side door opened and a woman with strawberry blonde hair got out. She wore large sunglasses and her attention was on the house. She stilled slightly and moved her sunglasses to her hear. “I have traveled the length and breadth of the world, and I can still sense you like being plugged into an electrical socket, Clark Kent.”
He stared as the answer slapped him in the face. Her gaze met his and his heart hitched somewhere in his throat.
She didn’t seem to have the same problem. She closed the car door as the driver opened his. Clark was aware of but did not acknowledge the other person. He saw Lois look between them.
Athena halved the distance. “I know this is a dozen years too late, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I left like that.”
“I thought you died,” he admitted.
She raised her hands in a helpless shrug. “It didn’t take the first time, I’ve been outrunning it ever since.”
Clark let out a surprised laugh, emotions churned in him. Tears rose that he didn’t know were so close to the surface.
A bark and a black blur took off out of the car.
“Cerberus!” Bruce called.
“He’ll be fine,” Lois promised. “Probably saw one of the other dogs.”
“Athena…” Clark said softly.
Tears filled her eyes. “My brother?”
He shook his head. “Alive but…he’s not someone you would recognize.”
She nodded, her lips pressed together in pain. “What happened?”
“I couldn’t save him.”
She closed her eyes at the words, tears spilling down one cheek.
The sound of another car, with a hand on the horn pulled their attention.
Chloe Sullivan jumped out and ran for the door of the house. A few moments later an exasperated male parked the car and got out. He stopped, looking around at the others.
“Whatever is happening here, we should wait for Chloe to come back. You know how much she hates to miss things.”
“Perhaps, some explanation about who they are,” Lois suggested.
Athena used a hand to wipe away her tears. She took a deep breath.
“Athena Luthor,” Chloe’s voice was high, her surprise clear.
“You slap me and my dog will bite you,” Athena threatened with a grin.
“Hey!” Lois said, taking a step between them to protect Chloe.
Chloe moved around her and faced Athena. “You got tan.”
“You got fat.”
“Hey!” Oliver threatened.
Bruce snorted from where he was leaning against the side of the car. “No wonder they didn’t miss you,” he said.
“Chloe and I were always one insult from a hair-pulling fight,” Athena replied with a grin.
“Okay, enough,” Lois snapped. “Smallville, explain.”
“This is Lex’s little sister,” Chloe answered instead.
“The one that ran away when you were freshmen?”
“One and the same.”
“I thought she was dead,” Oliver said as he looked her over.
“Lana knew she wasn’t,” Chloe replied.
“How?”
“The letters she sent three or four times a year to Lex, Lana found out about them when she was married to Lex.”
Athena’s eyes widened. “Lex and Lana?!”
“Complicated, didn’t last.”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Nieces? Nephews?”
“No,” Chloe replied.
“You have a dog,” Bruce reminded Athena. “A very spoiled dog.”
“But little humans,” she said as though it explained anything.
“We need to talk,” Clark cut in.
“Oh, you are so not pulling that,” Lois said. “I am curious as hell.”
“Same,” Oliver admitted.
“If they know about you, I don’t care what they know about me,” Athena told Clark.
“We know nothing about you,” Lois replied. “I’ve only heard your name a few times in passing.”
“I kept your secrets,” Clark said.
“I kept yours,” she assured him.
Chloe looked between them. “Damnit, I still have to pee. Bring this into the house.” She turned and stomped up to the Kent house and entered at a run.
“I don’t plan to piss off my pregnant cousin,” Lois said, “we should go in.” She led, Oliver followed.
Athena and Clark remained in place.
Bruce gave a sharp whistle.
They both flinched but Cerberus dashed to sit at Bruce’s feet.
“He can go in too,” Clark told Bruce with a gesture to Cerberus. “We’ll follow in a second.”
Bruce looked between them before shrugging and taking Cerberus into the house.
Time seemed to stretch between Athena and Clark before she shook her head. “Bruce’s Christmas party, he offered an opportunity to travel and study. I wasn’t going to take it, it was just going to be a really nice offer from my best friend before he disappeared for years and years. I had a Slayer vision the next night and I knew I had to leave.”
“And you couldn’t tell me?”
“It was more impulse than plan. And it broke my heart to walk away from you and Lex and Smallville. But if I hadn’t, I would have died a long time ago. I wouldn’t have learned about the Slayer or magic.”
“And him?”
She gave a lopsided smile. “We aren’t going to stand here and pretend that a short relationship a dozen years ago is as important as everything since then.”
“No.”
“Good.” She turned towards the house.
“But you need to know something. About your father.”
“Is he why Lex…Is he responsible for what happened?”
“Some, yes. But he tried to fix it. Tried to turn Lex back from what he was becoming.”
“He failed,” she pointed out.
Clark swallowed. “He left something for you. When he changed, when he protected me - my secret - he revealed that he knew what you could become, the Slayer.”
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
She frowned at the ground. “How?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that he thought you were taken by the Council.” He gestured to the field. “I can run and get it for you.”
“I don’t think I’m ready for that.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to see the kind of man he could be.”
Clark approached and set a hand on her shoulder. “Me too.”
“How long?”
“Five years.”
She gave a sudden laugh. “What do you think he’d say if he knew I not only followed Bruce Wayne but I plan to marry him?”
“Probably find it funny,” Clark admitted. “Especially since the other guy - Chloe’s husband - is Oliver Queen.”
She snorted and relaxed. “Of course, but who is more favored by the market?”
He squeezed her shoulder. “He wouldn’t care as long as you were happy.”
“I am,” she promised. “I really am.”
And that is the end of my participation in Twisted Shorts FAD for 2022!! And it was busy on the personal side. 1st week: Job offer, 2nd week: last days of old job, 3rd week: organizational training online/virtual, 4th week: new job hands on. And I still managed to feed (starve?) half a dozen plot bunnies. Thank you mods, thank you readers, thank you reviewers. Next year, my friends!